Sister Sophia's Florida Fun: Lina Krey

Hey everyone! So, I had my email all typed out and then we lost Wi-Fi at the church on the computers and while waiting for it to come back on, my email got deleted and it wasn't saved due to there being no Wi-Fi. So I'm going to attempt to send it from my phone. #missionaryprobs. So I'm sorry mum but this email won't be as good as it was and it won't be the same as others but I will try my best.

This week was pretty slow. Not a ton happened honestly. I'm convinced that it's that point in the semester when tests are going on, people actually have to start studying, and when the missionaries walk up to talk to them they pretend they can't hear us because of their music or they say they have to get to class and simply change tables. But the work goes on and we saw some really cool miracles this week.

Wednesday we had our Zone Training which was really good. We talked about charity and how it's so necessary. You can be a perfect missionary, a perfect member, a perfect follower of Christ, but if you don't have charity, you have nothing. Charity is the pure love of Christ. With it we can do everything. That is something I have been studying a lot and will continue to study while here so I can have a better love for the people around me. After zone training we met with our friend Sharae at UM! She is from Philly and is so cute and awesome. As we taught her about faith she asked questions that seemed like they came straight out of Preach my Gospel. It was an awesome lesson. She has a lot of desires to follow Christ and even mentioned how she feels like her baptism doesn't count anymore and wants to be baptized again. We are excited to keep working with Her!

Friday we got to go on exchanges with the Coral Reef sisters! I got to spend the day with Sister Dalton down in their area again! I have been down there so much since I've been here. It's like a second area to me :) Our day was very busy. So busy that we weren't even planning on eating dinner. We started by visiting a recent convert in their ward. We sat down and prayed and then she made us stand up to help her with her family history work so she could have a name to take to the temple this week. If you don't currently have names that you can take to the temple this weekend, stop what you're doing right now and find some. Then schedule in when you will go to the temple this weekend. It will bless your life :) Then we went to go see one of their old friends. I forgot how much some people love to talk. It was a great time. Then we headed down into Homestead for a blitz with their district. We couldn't stay long but we got held up by a Jehovah's Witness that only spoke Spanish. We had an appointment to get to so I was just praying the whole time that Sister Dalton would be able to get us out of there. Luckily it worked and we picked up a member to go see their friend Yohandra. She is preparing to get baptized soon so it was cool to teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and answer some questions she had. Then we went to go see their friend Juliam. At this point we were starving and decided we would cancel our lesson after Juliam so we could eat something but luckily as soon as we showed up, he invited us and the member that came with inside for dinner. #miracles. They had some friends over that only spoke Spanish so we had a great night speaking Spanglish, which I think should be the official language of Miami. Our lesson with Juliam went well and the sisters are going to start teaching their friends as well! After our lesson we headed back to the church to exchange back.

The biggest miracle of the week came on Sunday. Sharea didn't come so we were pretty bummed but we were really looking forward to after church. So a little background, when I got to this area Uncle Kyle told me to go visit his convert Lina Krey. Well, in the last couple months I have thought a lot about her but just didn't feel like it was the right time. But yesterday we went. As soon as we knocked on her door I realized we didn't know what to say. She answered, I asked if she was Lina, she said yes, I asked if she remembered Elder Wells, she let us right in. We got to know her and she was so happy to know that he still remembered her. She has been living in Africa most of the year training troops for peace keeping operations and has been home for 2 weeks and she goes back next week. I'm so glad the Spirit told us to go at that time. While we were there she got a phone call and in her call she mentioned that God was looking for her and found her. Uncle Kyle, she said to tell you hi. She and Randy, who has a little family of his own, are doing well. She hasn't forgotten you and knows God hasn't either. She loves you and I love her so much!! After we visited Lina we went to visit our member Hannah. She got a concussion last week and it has gotten worse. We went with some branch members so we could distract her for a bit. She was very grateful and we had a fun time with her.

I hope your week goes well! As mum always says: work hard, pray harder! And don't forget to go to the temple :)

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: Avocados! There are huge ones here that are like the size of your face! The sisters have A huge tree in their backyard. This is Sister Dalton :)