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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment