Look At All the People

Hey all! This week has been pretty good. Sister Dees heads home tomorrow (RIP) so we have been working our tails off. 

Last Monday we started off the week with some fun and went to Zoo Miami once again but this time with our members Kaity and Joseph! It was seriously such a blast. I love all the members in this branch with my entire heart.

 

Tuesday morning we started with our District Meeting. We talked a lot about how important members are. I don't think any of you truly realize just how much of an impact you make on missionary work. And those of you living in Utah, I know nothing gets done in missionary work there without you. If you have an opportunity to go out with the missionaries this week, go! You will be an answer to a prayer and I can promise you that an answer will come to questions you have as well. Our day was kind of all over the place and I honestly can't remember very specific details but that night we had dinner with our member Michael. I love spending time with our members. We saw a super cool miracle that night. It was getting pretty late and all of our plans had fallen through but we knew that we had promised God we were going to find a new friend so we went out to knock a few more doors before heading home. The third door we knocked, a YSA opened. First miracle because it's usually pretty hard to find YSA knocking. Second miracle, there were 3 more standing behind him in the doorway! Third miracle, they all told us to wait a second so they could go grab their shoes and come out so we could teach them. We were able to share the Doctrine of Christ lesson that we had practiced that morning and they were so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon and follow the example of our Savior! Miracles happen all over the place :)

 

Wednesday morning we started with our normal studies and then had to head up north for a couple hours because Sister Dees had her departing interview with President Garns. Ah I'm going to miss her like crazy. After her interview we headed straight to UM. Classes started this week and we were excited to see who was there. Well, last week we had a problem with just the fact that there were no people there. When we showed up on Wednesday we literally felt like we were getting trampled on because there were so many people there and we had no idea who to talk to or how to talk to anyone. We have definitely been working on how to follow the Spirit more. That night at Institute we talked about how God answers our prayers. Sometimes he answers them right away and we receive the answer we are expecting. Sometimes its not right away and sometimes it's not the answer we want to hear but he will always answer them. I know that God has a lot of trust in us as his children. Sometimes he doesn't give us specific direction because he trusts us just to figure it out. I also know that God will never let us lead ourselves down the wrong path for too long. If we make a wrong choice in our life he will always be there to stop us where we are and figure out what way we need to be going in our lives.

 

Thursday we spent a ton of time on UM. We talked to a lot of people and met some pretty cool people through out the week but they all kinda dropped off and told us they don't want to hear from us. But that's okay because it gives us more time to find the people who are ready to hear from us! We had dinner with our member Andrew that night. I can honestly say that I have learned something from every member here. They couldn't be more different but they have all put a huge impact in my life and I am excited to keep learning from them and hopefully I'm helping them along the way as well. That night we stopped by Kevin's house on our way home to say hello and share a message. He wasn't home but we did get to talk to his mum. Ah I just love them all!

 

Friday morning we had a Sisterhood Council. Basically its like a district meeting but with just the sisters. We talked about having courage and the importance of just opening our mouths. I shared the story of my favorite Bible hero, Esther. I know that when we have God on our side, nothing can stop us. And when we have God on our side, even if the outcome isn't what we wanted we can know it is what God wanted. After our council we made a million phone calls it seems like. We are trying to get a club on campus at UM so we can have Institute there and so we can set up a booth. It would be super effective if we could but we are still trying to work out the details. I'll keep you updated on how it works out. That night we had dinner at this place called Pincho Factory (literally the best) with our friend Kaity that Sister Goldstein and I taught. It was a good time to catch up and get to see her again.

 

Saturday we had lunch with a returning member and her little brother at a Cuban place. I love all the food here so much! One of the perks of living in Florida. You get basically anything you could think of and the majority of it is pretty good! We spent some time knocking today and got to finally visit a returning member that we have been trying to get in contact with for a while. They were busy but invited us back for dinner next week so I'll tell you more then. We had dinner with Joseph. Once again, learned a lot of things that I hope I can always remember. We had a chance to talk to the waiter that asked about our Book of Mormon so that was cool too! We went to UM that night which was nice because there weren't near as many people there haha. Back to normal for a second. 

 

Sunday was Sister Dees' last Sunday which was super sad. She spoke and gave a musical number which was super cool. There were a ton of people which was super awesome! We had Ricky teach 3rd hour which was a neat experience. I know that God loves every single one of his children. That has been a cool thing to learn on my mission. We had dinner with our member Andrea who served in Josh's mission so I always love eating with them and hearing about where my little bro is. We knocked for the rest of the night but didn't find anyone. But that's okay because we know there are miracles coming!

 

Yesterday we spent a lot of time outside in the sun and working hard. We spent a bunch of hours talking to people and then had a blitz with our district and knocked doors for a bit. We had dinner with Kevin and his family that night. It was all pretty sad honestly. I'm going to miss this goon like crazy. At FHE last night the members attacked Sister Dees with shaving cream and then after standing there for a bit she realized that no one else was getting attacked so she jumped on me. That was a fun car ride home. Sister Dees will sadly be going home but I will be staying here another transfer and Sister Hammond will be my new companion! I am super excited and I am so happy to be staying here!

 

I hope you all are doing well. Stay awesome and keep praying and reading your scriptures and going to the temple :) 

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

 

Florida Sunshine: Sister Dees. Literally she makes me smile every day and even though she is going back to Utah, she will always be a ray of sunshine in my life.