Sister Sophia's Florida Fun: We'll Bring the WORLD His Truth

Hello everyone! This week was a great one!

Last week we started out the week by heading down to Marathon for a zone activity! We never see the Elders in Key West so we figured we would meet them halfway and play some sports. The bus ride down we had to stand for a bit because it was so full but it was so fun. The park was about a mile from the bus stop so we got our walking in for the day. When we got to the park we caught an iguana and then played some rugby and soccer. Everyone was all over the place but the three of us that had played rugby before were just having the time of our lives. We were there for a bit and got some nice sun. Sister Dees was pretty burnt but luckily my skin is from St. George and just absorbs the heat. We had a nice bus ride back and shopped in Florida City before heading home.

Tuesday morning we went to UM nice and early to find some people to teach. Luckily there were a bunch of people there but it was so stinking bright. It was not nice to the sun we already had from the day before and we could barely keep our eyes open. We headed to this place called Shake Shack for lunch and as soon as we stepped inside it started pouring rain. So for those of you who think Utah weather is bipolar, you obviously haven't lived in Florida. We saw an awesome miracle though! As we were ordering the girl taking our order asked us about the Book of Mormon because we each were holding one. Well we explained it pretty quick and she asked where she could buy one. We handed her one of ours and she handed us back her phone number. We haven't been able to get in contact with her since but we know a good seed has been planted and she couldn't stop smiling she was so happy to have her own. We went home and did some studies and then went knocking and visited some returning members before we had dinner with our member Michael. I love eating with him because we always sit outside on a little table because his mum is never home. It's a pretty fun time. That night we exchanged with the Country Walk Sisters!

Wednesday Sister Chugg joined me here in Snapper Creek YSA (aka. the best area in the world)! We tried to start the day after studies by going to UM but the only people there were teachers so we didn't really have anyone to talk to. We went and visited some formers instead. One of them lived by our Zone Leaders and they had just gotten back from being with the Key West Elders so we stopped by to say hi and they gave us some water. We visited a bunch of people and then had dinner with Grant at 5 Guys. We can always count on Grant to be there for us. That night before institute we had a really neat experience. Our friend Ernie is moving up to Orlando this weekend so we were able to skype in the Sisters that will be in his branch up there for our lesson on the Word of Wisdom. They are so awesome and they really just instantly loved him. We know he will be in good hands! At institute that night we talked about the Word of Wisdom so it was cool that that is what our lesson had been on. That night we exchanged back and I got my awesome Sister Dees back to myself :)

Thursday morning we had another lesson with Ernie. Grant came with us and we taught him the 10 commandments. When I was younger I remember going with the Sisters in my ward to teach one of my friends and they taught her the 10 commandments using hand gestures and I could never remember them. Now that I am a missionary they are my favorite thing. If you don't know them, ask the missionaries in your ward. I bet they can show you. Grant and Ernie are some of my favorite humans. Sister Dees and I are always laughing when we are around them. Then we went and taught our new friend Alejandro! Sister Dees found him on her exchange with Sister Remund. He just recently found God and got baptized in a different church but because he is so new to religion it has all made a lot of sense to him. As we were heading to his appointment we got a call from some Elders serving in Miami YSA who had a referral for us named Robert who said he was moving to UM in a couple weeks from Vancouver, Washington and wants to know more about the church. We were pretty pumped to call him after the lesson and then as we got in the car we got a call, answered it, and it was Robert!! He had gone to and FHE event recently and hadn't been able to stop thinking about the Spirit he felt while he was there. We had a nice talk and he couldn't stop saying how amazing it was that it was all happening. We had dinner that night with the Quiros family. Liz is engaged to Derek so we only get her until December which will be sad for the branch but we are happy we get to be with her now. Best time time be in Snapper Creek!!

Friday we had our interviews with President Garns. I always love being able to sit down one on one with him. We talked all about being able to start a Book of Mormon Experiment on UM campus. Salt Lake has been trying to pass us to do it so we have been trying to get permission to do a booth on campus for a bit so we are still waiting on that but President basically told me I'll be here for that so hopefully I stay here for at least one more transfer! After interviews President and Sister Garns took Sister Dees and I and the Zone Leaders out to lunch. It was fun to be able to sit down and chat with them :) We tried to go to UM again that day but found some apartments around there that were full of YSA so we knocked there for a bit but no one was really home. We had dinner with Kevin and his family that night. He had eye surgery so he was in a lot of pain but a little loopy. It was pretty funny actually. I love spending time with that family. We also had a chance to call Robert again that day! We taught him about where we came from and our purpose here on Earth. He is really new to everything that we have been teaching him but he understands it and loves hearing the things we tell him.

Saturday morning we called him again and taught him the Doctrine of Christ! We committed him to be baptized on September 15th once he moves here to Florida! We are all super excited. We got in contact with the Elders over there in Vancouver so they could watch out for him. We have been working with the Sisters in Orlando and the Elders in Vancouver so Sister Dees and I basically have the entire nation covered. We had the chance to head down closer to Homestead that day and and visit some returning members. They are all super awesome! We have been trying to get everyone to start coming back because the ones that we have are up and getting married on us so our branch is starting to dwindle!

Sunday is always good. We had a missionary come home so we had a solid 10 people in Sacrament haha. But it was still good! We talked a lot about the temple and revelation and how we can apply both in our lives. I challenge all of you to go back through conference and read up on how we can better receive revelation in our lives and then make the time to go to the temple this week!! Sunday night we had dinner with the Quiros family again and then got to knock with the Coral Reef Sisters. Because it is summer time in YSA it has been really nice to work with our Sisterhood more often.

I hope you all have an awesome week this week!! Keep being awesome and make sure you're reading and praying! Put God first and everything else will fall into place. I love you all! Keep being awesome!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: Ice Cream trucks! They are on every street and they are pretty sketchy but Sister Dees and I are going to get ice cream from one of them before she leaves in 2 weeks.