Sister Sophia's Florida Fun: The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear

This week has definitely been a week full if singing for us! My favorite part about caroling is just the fact that every single person we sing to has never had carolers before. It's so much fun to see the reactions on people's faces when they open the door and see a bunch of missionaries. Its lots of fun :)

Tuesday was a solid day full of meetings. Actually now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that's all we did that day. We had Book of Mormon class that night which is always fun. Our teacher is back in town from Utah so it's just a big party now! We had correlation and then headed down to Boca Raton to exchange with the Sisters!

Wednesday Sister Gibbons joined me in Boynton Beach! We had a pretty fun day full of knocking and visiting people. We met with David and his friend Julien at a park for a lesson and passed a Frisbee around for a bit. And then I threw it in the lake... Something to note about Florida, every single body of water has an alligator in it whether you see it or not. They make these burrows at the bottom and just chill there forever. Especially when it's cold outside. So we were all very impressed when we retrieved the Frisbee without even touching the water. We had dinner that night with our friend Kimberly. She is such a good cook. We helped her understand that if she waits until August to get baptized then she is missing out on those blessings for an extra 9 months. She realized we were right and told us she would consider it so that's awesome. There is never a dull moment when we are around Kimberly. We were going to go see the other Kimberly after that but we got a call that Sister Wheeler and Sister Dorlean were in a car accident so we exchanged back and headed home. Everything was okay and the car is okay so esta bien!

Thursday morning we headed down to Fort Lauderdale for a comp study with the AP's. Because of the crash we had to take the car down there and Sister Wheeler had a doctor's appointment so we all took a road trip down. We talked more about the 6 things Elder Bowen told us about when he came and how we can continue to apply them. This mission is in such an amazing spot right now. It has been so cool to see how far this mission has come in the last 16 months of being here right after President and Sister Garns got here. President is so inspired. I love that man. It took us awhile to get home but we pretty much just went caroling for the rest of the night. Once it gets dark people get mad when you knock in their door so caroling is super effective for us :)

Friday I had Sister Ahlm join me in Boynton! Yay for two exchanges in one week. We started out our morning at "The Diner" with David for breakfast. That place is better than Denny's but the same price. Oh it was soo good. We showed him how to pay his tithing in his phone so that was fun. Then we went to see our friend Jerry. We showed him how to find the Book of Mormon and the Bible on lds.org

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). Find messages of Christ to uplift your soul and invite the Spirit.

lds.org

so he can make the letters bigger. We read the Intro with him and he then committed himself to read the entire thing and pray about it when he's done. He told us he will still be a Catholic when he's done but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We also visited Sona, a returning member. Our lessons used to be really long with her but they are getting better so that's good! We had a good time chatting with her. We watched "Taking Upon Ourselves the Name of Jesus Christ" from conference. I invite you all to watch that right now. It's so good and it's a good reminder of the covenants we made when we were baptized. We knocked with the Elders later and they came to dinner with us at a members house and then we all ended the night caroling. Caroling is the best in Florida because it's one of the few things that makes you feel like it's almost Christmas time! It's also fun to look at everyone's lights. This one neighborhood we've been in for a while is having a competition this year to see who can be the best. Palm trees covered in Christmas lights are awesome. Ah I love Florida!!!

We had to take our car into the shop on Saturday so not a lot happened. We had our ward Christmas Party that night so that was good. Kimberly, Nick, and Vivian came and they all loved it so it was really fun to be with them. The church community is one of my favorite things. It's just so nice to be a party of a ward family especially when you are away from your family. Every person we bring to church is always impressed by the Spirit that is brought with all the families around. I know God gave us our families for a reason. He didn't just put a bunch of random people together for no reason. We all promised each other before this life that we would be there to watch out for each other and support each other through everything and anything. If you haven't told someone in your family that you love them today, repent and do it now. Or if you have hard feelings toward someone, just let it go. It's not worth it. Having strong family relations is ordained of God and should be the center focus of our lives. Especially as we start off this new year with a more home centered Gospel. I am so grateful to God for blessing me with such an awesome family. I love you guys! I cant wait to Skype next week :)

Sunday was pretty good. Kimberly came to church which was awesome. She has been in a lot of pain lately so she got a blessing from the Elders. It was awesome. She also told us that she would much rather be baptized as a new year thing so she is praying about a way sooner date. We had dinner that night with the Papenfus family. They have a Legends of Zelda encyclopedia. It was probably one of the coolest encyclopedias I've ever seen. I love that family. We saw Dennis that night before we went caroling. He always makes us this really good guacamole. I have come to love avocados on my mission. Don't worry dad, you're not alone anymore!

As Christmas approaches I encourage you to all remember the real reason of Christmas. Christ offered his life for us. The least we could do is focus on Him this time of year and not get caught up in the things of the world. Gifts and traditions are fun but He is the ultimate gift and we shouldn't let him be blocked out by all the lights. I am so grateful for my Savior and everything He did for me. I wouldn't be where I am or who I am without him by my side. I love you all so much!

Keep reading and praying and make time for the temple :)

All my love,

Sister Beckstrand

Florida Sunshine: This sign! It's right as you are leaving the Boca Raton chapel. I love it :)

We stole the Elders Haiti bandannas because Sister Dorlean wanted to take pictures. I love her.

Because Sister Dorlean is from Haiti, the members from the Haitian ward have started giving us Haitian food. It is sooo good! I really love it. Sos pwa and legim. Ah. So good.

All the families were taking pictures at the Christmas party so we decided to take one too :)