Bring on the Holidays

Hello everyone! I hope your week was amazing and that you are all excited for the holidays coming up! I know I am :) Spending holidays on the mission is one of the greatest things. Especially when you have a super awesome ward like Boynton Beach. This week was a pretty normal one for us. 

Wednesday I got to spend the day in Boca Raton so that was way fun. We did some pretty normal missionary work. We had a meal appointment that night with one of their members and her sister who is super Catholic. The member wanted us to teach her the Plan of Salvation so we tried but she didn't want to hear it. So we just testified of our purpose as missionaries and of the church and now the rest is up to her for now. The member made us some really good fish and potatoes. I love being in a family ward. (no offense to my YSA friends) That night we had a Doctrine and Covenants class that was actually pretty cool. They are going over points in the book "Saints." If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. It is sooo good and teaches us soo much about the church. 

Thursday morning we had another emergency with some other Sisters in our zone so we spent the morning with them and then had a comp study with the Zone Leaders and the Assistants on how we can help chase the darkness out of our lives and the lives of our friends. As missionaries it is up to us to help bring the light into others lives and to help them feel of God's love. It was honestly really good and I am excited to apply the things I learned. That evening we had dinner with the Milton's which is always good. That night we went to visit our friend Chrissy. Her husband is a returning member and we aren't really teaching her but just trying to become her friend first. They had just got some kittens that morning to foster for a couple weeks so we got to play with them. It was super fun. 

Friday morning we went to visit our member Lauren. She was baptized back in April so we have been going over all the lessons again. We taught her the 10 commandments and helped her to learn the hand signs so she could remember them. It was a fun lesson. That night our member picked us up to take us to some lessons. We went and saw Kimberly first. She was almost baptized about 3 months ago but then called the sisters and told them she didn't want to hear from them. She called us Sunday saying she was being led back to us. She kept calling herself a "dry Mormon" so when we go back we will have to explain that we don't say that anymore so she might as well just get baptized all ready. She has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot so that is a miracle in itself. Then we went to see our friend Katie. She is a talker. We got as far as the Spirit World while teaching the Plan of Salvation and then it went off track for about 45 minutes and we had to leave. Next time. 

Saturday morning we had breakfast with David at this place called "The Diner." It is soooo good. Highly recommend. After we ate we went over the Plan of Salvation. It was one of the weirdest lessons I've had but it was good. After ward Sister Oliveira didn't feel good at all so we went home and she threw up for about the next hour. We stayed home until a blitz that we were having because Sister Oli refused to stay at home. We had Thanksgiving dinner after that with our ward. She didn't eat very much food but she did not last long before we had to go home again. But it was fun to be there with our ward and the Haitian ward. 

Sunday was really good. We were supposed to have 3 of our friends come to church but none of them did. We don't know why. They just keep making up excuses. Any one have any tips for me? Brother Milton got called as our new Bishop which was a huge surprise for everyone that we were getting a new Bishop. We taught Relief Society on the talk "Try, Try, Try" by Elder Eyring from this last conference. If you haven't listened to it since conference, I invite you to go back and listen to it tonight! You wont regret it. We had dinner with the Haws family that night. They have 4 kids and one that's about a month away. They are such a handful but so fun. Sister Oliveira got sick after eating again so we spent the rest of the night at home so she could rest. 

Yesterday we were packed from one thing to another. We saw Sherly first. She is awesome. Super Catholic but over time I know she will get baptized. We went over Joseph Smith's role in the restoration and why a restoration was even needed in the first place. Then we went to visit a referral named Gerry. He is really funny and was really excited to read the Book of Mormon on his Nook. Then we headed to see Yarelis and her son Chris. They are soo awesome. Just a word to the wise, if you ever go out with the missionaries, pleeeaaasseeee be on time. Our member was late and it threw off the rest of our night. We knew by now that Sister Oliveira was going to be leaving so we headed over to see the Jensen family and play some Foosball with them for one last time with Sister Oli. Then we headed down to see Dennis, one of Sister Oli's recent converts. We went over the Word of Wisdom and then headed to dinner with our members. They are great. Then we ran to the church for a lesson with Phillip. David came with us and was a huge help to our lesson! We are really grateful that we have him in the church now :) Phillip is doing good. We aren't too sure if he is really getting what we are teaching or if he really cares. We are going to pray about him. Then we ran to say goodbye to Kimberly. It was a good time. Then we headed home for transfer calls! Sister Oliveira will be transferring to Coral Springs and will be training! She is going to be awesome. I am staying here in Boynton Beach and my new companion will be Sister Dorlean! She is from Haiti and I am super excited to meet her! It's going to be a fun transfer! 

I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving this week! I am so grateful for this Gospel and my Savior Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be who I am today without him. I am also grateful for the Book of Mormon and the things I learn from reading it. I am grateful for my loving Heavenly Father who continues to answer my prayers and comforts me when I need it. And I am especially grateful for the temple and that power and blessings that come from attending it on a regular basis. I hope you all have a fantastic week!

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: these huge mushrooms outside our apartment! Apparently they've been here for a while but I just noticed them.

And a pic of my sad companion who doesn't want to leave Boynton 

Note from Penny - This is the kind of picture you get from a wonderful missionary who probably looked at this picture and thought it looked like the number 8 and remembered that she was baptized when she was 8 years old.