She made it to Spokane!

There she is!  Right in the middle top row with all the Elders.  Hahaha!  I'm not surprised.  Her 2 favorite places to be, the Temple and hanging out with the boys.President and Sister Mullen are right in front of her.

This was taken Monday probably around noon.  She called us at 7:15am while she was waiting to board the airplane.  She was upbeat and happy.  No tears where shed and you could tell she was ready to go.  She said that she had hoped that they would get to email as soon as they got there but it didn't happen.  I was lucky to find this picture on the Facebook page instead.  The caption was "34 missionaries arrived today 27 + 7 Visa Waiters."  That my friends is a lot!  Many new young energetic faces ready to find those people who are searching for the truth.  And look at all the sisters!  I only hope Shayne isn't freezing.  She really didn't take a coat.  The winter in Australia is like here and she won't need one but it's probably still pretty cold in Washington.  She does have an umbrella though.:)

DELAYED to Spokane Washington

We got a phone call from Shayne today saying that her Visa was delayed and that she would still be leaving on Monday morning but it would be to Spokane Washington.  She said that they would arrive there around 9:50am and that was about all she knew.  We have no idea who the president is, what the address is of the mission home is to send letters or anything of the sort.  We only got to talk for 5 minutes and when the operator got on the phone and told her to deposit another quarter she started to cry which made me start to cry.  So when I got home tonight I started to look things up.  Here are some fun facts about the Spokane Washington Mission:

President and Sister Mullen are from Orem Utah and have their twin 18year old sons living with them finishing out high school.

 Sister Mullen keeps a Mission Blog that is awesome!  Here is a link.  I need to get some pointers from her.
http://washingtonspokanemission.wordpress.com/
She even keeps a Facebook Page up and going for the families with missionaries out and for missionaries who are now home who want to stay caught up on what is going on.  It sounds like something I'd do.  Not your typical Grandmotherly Mission Presidents wife.

I told Shayne that the reason she needs to stop in Spokane was to meet Elder Mendivil!  He just arrived there in Feb.  She can meet him, throw some Mormon pick-up lines on him so he'll remember her and move on.  Hahaha.  She has the world best pick-up lines.  Just ask her.

Last month the Spokane mission had 13 "Visa Waiters" missionaries and 6 in January.  So it is just the layover to many different missions.

They have a TEMPLE!  Shayne is a temple addict.  She would love to visit every temple in the world so she'll be thrilled to be able to attend this one. 

If you'd like to write to her the address for the mission home is:
820 S. Pines Rd. #101
Spokane Valley, WA
99206-5420

I'm sure she'd love to hear from you.  Packages will be about $60 cheaper to send to her in Washington than in Australia so if you were thinking about it.  Now would be the time.


I know that Shayne is just glad to be able to serve the Lord regardless of where she is.  It'll just be a new adventure for her.  She will arrive Monday so I will update you again then.

Pictures from the MTC!

This is sister Ensign, Shayne's first companion.  We stole this from her Facebook page because I stalked her as soon as Shayne told me her name.  She looks darling.

Here are some awesome pictures that we got from Sister Hadley's Mom.  I don't know what any of them mean so Shayne will have to explain them when she get back.

I do know that this is her district and they are all pointing to where they are going.

 Provo Temple

 

I also know that this last picture is of the nice Elders in their district that woke up at 4am to help Shayne and Sister Hadlock pack up and get on the bus that took them to the airport to leave for Portland.

1st Email from the MTC.

Family!

It was soo great to get all of your letters about Disneyland! I was so happy to here of everyone's excitement about it.  That was a hard secret to keep :)  Tell David that I'm glad to hear the he is finally tall enough for Indiana Jones and California Screamin! That's the best news ever! I was soo happy to see all of the hand written letter from FHE.  Tell Josh I love his letters no matter how short or simple they are.  I'm sorry I couldn't tell you about my travel plans until now.  We were told to write home the first week and then not write home again until P-day.   I had received a package from the Paddocks so I was writing them a letter of thanks and figured the news would get to you faster about my travel plans if I had Zack tell you instead o f waiting until today.  I didn't mean for it to come off the wrong way.  I just wanted you to know and had already written you so I was trying to be super obedient on when I wrote home.  I got a package from the ward.  It was a journal with tons of fun notes written in the first couple of pages of it from ward members.  It was awesome! I also got a letter from Grandma Sullivan with $50 in it.  It was greatly needed because I had to get my 2nd shot and it was $71.  I will just need a booster when I get back to make it lifelong but these two shots will work until I get back.  Zack told me that Buck got called to the Philippines.  Buck had him tell me cuz he was to busy to write.  I am excited for him! I really think he will do great.  I didn't hear about Austin or Alex though so if you can tell me where they are going that would be great! Dear Elder is a fantastic tool for letter writing.  It works wonders and is super easy for both of us.  Dad's worked perfectly and I was able to just put it with the rest of my letters. It's great.

The MTC is amazing! I am loving every single minute of it.  I'm grateful to be here and be experiencing every bit of it. I just want to share some neat experiences. I told you all about day one and the craziness of it all. You just have to soak up all of the rules and information for the first 2 days.  My companion is incredible.  Her name is Sister Diondra Ensign.  She is from Bountiful.  We have grown and learned so much from each other.  We are completely opposite and it's great! I love every moment with her.  My district is remarkable! Our District Leader is amazing.  He has such a strong testimony and really cares about all of us.  Our Zone Leaders are also in our district.  Elder Plocher and Elder Edwards.  I was called as Coordinating Sister so I get to spend a lot of time with them.  We were the ones in charge of welcoming our new district yesterday when they entered the MTC.  I love them so much! It's such a fun calling.  I was able to show them around, tell them the importance of strict obedience, and tell them the other rules.  I love it! We've been able to start teaching investigators.  Some are real investigators and others are just volunteers.  I love it.  The spirit is sooo incredibly strong in every meeting.  Most of them are only 20 mins. long but they are such a blessing.  It's great to just get into the work and learn from our mistakes.

They tell you to just make it to Sunday and everything will be okay.  They were totally right! We were able to listen to Music and the Spoken word.  I had been praying to feel better about myself as a missionary and just that I would be able to really be intune with the spirit and make a meaningful connection to the people I teach.  I was feeling down and just wanted to make sure that I was really ready for this work.  As we listened to the closing song I received my answer.  The song was, Come Thou Fount.  The line that hit me was, "Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.  Take my heart, oh take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above."  I felt soo peaceful! I know that even if I feel down or that I feel the need to be closer to the Spirit that I just need to turn everything thing to the Lord and He will help me.  It's been the greatest experience here.  The biggest thing I've learned is that we teach people and not lessons.  Heavenly Father teaches me everyday, and it's not from lessons.  He doesn't sit down and read me something about the Plan of Salvation or the Atonement.  He allows me to repent and draw closer to Him.  We had the strongest experience yesterday about how we apply to each individual person we run in to.  I wish I had the words to express my thoughts and feelings.  It's been remarkable here.  I wouldn't trade this for anything else in the world.  

Mom, our passports and visa are to stay in the mission home.  Our MTC president and his wife were mission presidents in Perth so it was a blessing to be able to talk to them.  I brought tweezers, I got a lot of things in the bookstore that I needed.  Pictures are coming along.  I don't know if I'll figure out how to put them on here this time but I am taking them for you!
Dad, I have ran a mile at every gym time.  I ran 2 yesterday.  I will be running the marathon with you when I get back!
We leave the 25th at 8:05 from the airport in SLC.  We should have 2 and a half hours at the LAX airport.  I should be calling home sometime 9:05-11:00 pm Californian time.  We could call in SLC as well.  We really don't know when they will let us call.  Just make sure everyone is home on Monday for FHE. Sorry for the lack of knowledge there.  I wish I had a better answer for you.

I love you all. I am sooo grateful for the letters and love and support from back home.  I love you all so much :)

Love you,
Sister Beckstrand

1st Letter!

Dear Family,

I'm here!  I am a full-time missionary!  I just want to tell you about day 1 in my mission.  It's about 10:15pm and we have been non-stop since I showed up.  I first went straight in where they gave us a small packet of important stuff and placed our name tags on us.  Then we met up with a host who showed me my room and other basic stuff.  The Elder gave me my bags before I met my host.  Then I met my teachers, Sister De Boer and Brother Mosley, as well as my companion Sister Ensign and my district.  We have 4 girls all going to Perth, 4 Elders going to Boise, 3 going to Guam and 1 going to New Zealand.  My companion is darling!  I love her already :)  She is from Bountiful and is super cute but very laid back.  She's going to be great.  I've seen Sister Cox, Elder Whitehead and Elder Correy.  Super Fun. 
     We had some good orientation then went to a meeting with the President and his wife.  President & Sister Nally served as mission presidents in Perth!  Crazy right?  It was fun to talk to him.  Then dinner, that was slightly crazy but good.  Then we had workshops teaching real investigators.  It was incredible to feel the spirit in those meetings.  I'm sure I'm leaving things out but I've gotta get to bed.  Love you all so much and just wanted you to know that I am soaking up every minute of being here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else!
    The church is soo so true.  Every bit of it.  I can't wait to keep sharing and letting others know about it.

     Love you!

     Sister  Beckstrand