Sunday, November 17, 2013

Faith Proceeds the Miracle‏

Hey everyone! 
 
Well this was a week definitely well needed.  At District Meeting on Tuesday our District Leader Elder Holyoak gave the most inspired meeting that I have been in on my entire mission.  The work has been really slow in our area.  It's been really hard to stay motivated.  For the first 15 minutes of his training all he talked about was hope.  I just sat in awe at how that was exactly what I needed to hear.  I said a simple prayer of thanks to God for hearing all of my prayers of need for help to soften my heart and help us find the people here that need the gospel.  I wish I could just type out everything that he told us but I don't have the time or memory.  We talked about the hope that the Plan of Salvation brings into our lives.   I left that meeting full of fire to go do the work.  My planner cover currently says, " Everything is going to be okay in the end.  If it's not okay it's not the end."  That has been a big strength this week as well. 
The next day I did a massive study on faith.  It's amazing how everything goes back to faith.  Faith is to believe in something that you can't see but know is true.  I have been trying to increase my faith a lot lately.  In the Gospel of Jesus Christ it all starts with faith.  I can't repent unless I believe that it will help, that it will change, and that things will continue to get better.  Faith is the key.  
 
On Friday we taught a lesson to Jayanthi and Morgan.  They are a couple we are teaching.  They are from India.  Jayanthi is Hindi and Morgan her husband is Christian.  We instilled the hope of the Plan of Salvation into their home.  Jayanthi the whole time was just smiling ear to ear.  She understood completely.  She so badly wants to see her family again.  I haven't felt the Spirit so strong in a lesson in a long time.  Last time we met with them we mentioned baptism and Jayanthi said, "Oh I can tell you right now that I won't be baptized."  At the end of the lesson on Friday she said, "What do I need to do to repent so I can have that (the celestial kingdom)?"  We told her that she needs to keep the commandments.  She asked what those were and we went through some but not all of them.  We are going to teach more this upcoming Friday.  We mentioned how baptism was one of those commandments and she took it a lot better.  It was amazing to see the change within her from just feeling the Spirit and giving her that hope.  We also talked about church and invited them to come.  They couldn't come this week but were super pumped to come next week.  I sure hope they progress here soon.  It will be amazing to be a part of.  We pray for them constantly.  
 
My scripture of the week comes from Romans chapter 12 verses 12 and 21.  They are great.
  12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
  21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
 
Yesterday we were kind of in a slump after church so Sister Terry and I just went out and got to work.  We tried to figure out what we could do to help boost our excitement and drive.  Sister Terry said that bearing her testimony would help her.  We tried about 6 doors (3 closed as fast as they opened) and we weren't feeling much better.  I said, "I just want to find one person that wants to talk about Jesus Christ!"  We started walking and I walked straight up to the next house and knocked.  This girl came to the door and after saying hi I said, "We are just looking for anyone who wants to talk about Jesus Christ."  (I was pretty sick of trying to just ease my way into a conversation.) Come to find out her name is Gloria.  She has been church hopping for about the last year and really is looking for a church with a good group of people her own age.  She is 29 so we told her all about YSA.  She was totally keen!  She is bringing a friend to church next week.  I asked if we could come back and she said yes Friday at 5.  I wrote it down and Sister Terry asked if she wanted us to shoot her a text on Thursday to remind her.  She said, "Oh no worries. I won't forget." It was a miracle.  We left the house and I was just in awe.  I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father knows just how far we will go to find these people.  They don't just fall in our laps.  I have a greater testimony on enduring to the end after this week.  
 
We had a ward party on Saturday.  It was awesome!  We had heaps of less actives and investigators from the Elders show up.  It was so much fun.  My camera isn't reading on this computer so I can't send pictures this week but I will upload them next week and show you all the fun.  We had face painting by the young women, line dancers came to teach us how to line dance.  It took me back to all of the dances that I used to go to.  We were able to dance with the members and have some innocent fun.  I had a lot of members come up and tell us how nice it was to see us join in.  It was a good way to show the ward that we wanted to be involved.  We mingled with everyone during dinner and were also able to judge the apple pie baking competition.  That was great!  They did pretty good.  Little Jordan Crooks baked a pie because I told him that he should give it a try when we had dinner with them last week.  He is like 9 and my best friend.  
 
Well Happy Thanksgiving to all!  It will be weird not celebrating it with all the Shelton's but I am definitely sending my love and thinking about you!  We will hopefully have dinner with the only American in the ward that day so we will see if she can throw some kind of little Aussie Thanksgiving.  Even though it's not a holiday here our lesson in Relief Society on Sunday was still focused on gratitude.  There were some quotes that I really liked.  She taught about living a spiritually abundant life and how blessed we are to even know how to have that.  She said, "In our quest for a spiritually abundant life we will find our destiny." "Your spirituality can be measured by the depth of your gratitude."  I encourage you all to write the things that you are grateful for this Thursday.  Not only the temporal things that bring us happiness but also the spiritual blessings that enrich our lives.  I know I have heaps to be grateful for!  I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful holiday! 
 
Much love!
Sister Beckstrand

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