18 months in the Outback!: Christmas in a ghost town‏

Hey there! First off I have to say how much I loved seeing mom's blogs from Christmas! It was good to see that everyone got lots of goodies and that Santa didn't miss anyone. I loved the pictures from hiking. My favorite one was David planking between the two rocks. He just barely made it. I got a good laugh from it. I like the new kickball tradition. The pictures from that are priceless! I also loved the photo from Christmas past with dad and his siblings performing the nativity. Classic Beckstrand tradition.

Well this year for Christmas Eve we went over to Brother Timu's house, our ward mission leader, to drop off his Christmas present from us. He asked where we were eating for dinner and we told him that we didn't have any dinner plans. His jaw dropped and he said, "That's it you aren't leaving here until after dinner. You don't have any appointments that that interferes with do you?" We didn't have any set appointments for the rest of the night so we enjoyed an awesome dinner with them. As we finished dinner Brother Timu said, "Do yous have a spiritual thought for us?" I said, "Right now?" and he replied with, "No more like 10 seconds ago." We all laughed and being missionaries we are always prepared so we went into their living room and I opened up Luke chapter 2. I told them about our family tradition of the nativity. Sister Timu's friend was there and she isn't a member so I was grateful for the opportunity to share my testimony about the Savior with her. I read about Mary and Joseph going to be taxed, having no room in the inn, and then I read the account of the shepherds and the angels. I stopped our story there and talked about how each of us can relate to either the shepherds or the angels. The shepherds were humble and when they heard the truth about the Saviors birth they went straight away to worship Him. After their faith had been solidified by seeing the Savior they went about telling everyone what they had seen and heard. The angels knew what had happened and were gladly spreading glad tidings of great joy. I was able to bare my testimony on getting to know the Savior better. Every time I study more about the Saviors life the closer I feel to him. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have been a shepherd and have been able to see the Savior in the manger. I agree with dad however that I, along with all of you reading this, were definitely angels in the heavenly choir. What else could we have been doing that would have been more important that night? Nothing, that's what. We had all chosen to come to earth and we knew that the Saviors birth was going to be the start of His life, ministry, death, and resurrection making it possible for us to repent and live with God again after this life. I know I was praising that little babies birth that night in the fields to the shepherds.

What about you? Read the account of the Saviors birth again. Where you one of the humble parents who came to know the significance of their child's birth by spiritual revelation? Are you a faithful Elisabeth or are you like Zacharius who needed to see an angel in the temple and be given a sign to know. Are you an angel or shepherd spreading what you know to all who will listen? Are you a Simeon or Anna who worshiped in the temple day in and day out until they saw the Savior and upon seeing him knew who he was immediately? Are you a wise man bringing gifts of your talents, time, efforts, or mistakes to the Savior to show your love for him? There is so much that we can learn from this beautiful little nativity story. I'm grateful that we read it every year as a family. It's made me really appreciate the life of the Savior. After our spiritual thought we went around and looked at Christmas lights. There was one house that had their lights done to music on a radio station like the house in Washington fields. I was the only one in our group of 8 people that had ever seen that before. It was cool to see everyone else ooh and aww over it. Then we went home and set out cookies for Santa and celery and carrots for the reindeer.

For Christmas day I woke up and jumped out of bed. I didn't sleep very well that night anyway because I was so excited for Christmas. I've never been that excited before in my life. I had my camera right next to my bed and I recorded waking up Sister Vaiula. It was so worth it. Then we ran out and opened up our packages. It was so much fun. I got a package from the Relief Society that had a photo album in it. They had all signed a Christmas card for me. I definitely felt the love. I got a fun little package from my trainer with all kinds of goodies in it. The Elders made scripture cases for us. They are pretty amazing. They made them out of cereal boxes and pictures from Ensigns. They are awesome. And of course I got a white Christmas from all of the snowflakes that came out of that box. I loved reading everyone's letters. They each touched my heart in more ways than you'll ever know. I loved every one from Grandma and Grandmas all the way down to little Luke and Jenna. Thank you to everyone who wrote :) Then we drove over and dropped off our presents to the Elders. We bought them stockings that we filled with lollies. Then we bought a tie for each of them, wrapped it, and placed it in their stocking as well. We just doorbell ditched it at their flat. Then for lunch we went to Christmas in the park. We went to Centennial Park where they had bounce houses, a dunking booth, big blow up balls like the one the Wells have, food, ice cream, and music blaring the whole time. Lunch and every single thing was absolutely free! No charge for anything. It was fun to see a bunch of members there. We decided that that would be the best place for everyone who is still in Kalgoorlie to see the missionaries.

After lunch we went to visit our investigator Christie and her kids. On pday we bought both of her girls teddy bears and bought her little boy hotwheels cars. We wrapped them all up, plus a box of chocolates for mum, and delivered them to them. They had the biggest smiles on their faces. It was my favorite part of Christmas day for sure. Then for dinner we went over to the Silipa's house where we had dinner. This family makes up about half of the ward. We call them the Samoan ward :) There were the Iosefas, Hunts, Paia'auas, Taupaus, and the Leitupos. Christmas dinner made Sister Vaiula feel right at home. We had fresh fish, chop suey, with fried rice and eggs. There was a whole table full of so many different kinds of Samoan dishes that I didn't even really know where to start. I only had one plate of food and was completely full. Dessert was pavlova, which is my favorite Aussie dessert. I don't know how to explain what it is. It's like a marshmellowy cloud-like spongey cake thing usually adorned with fruit. Haha How's that for a description?

Boxing day was the best! I loved being able to Skype home and talk with all of you! I'm glad you liked your Christmas presents :) It was a the best Christmas gift.

This week has been pretty slow seeing as everyone here that didn't have to work at the mines either went to Perth or to Esperence for the week. Those that did have to work, because the mines never stop working, weren't very friendly because they had either just gotten off a night shift or they were bummed that they had to work over Christmas. Anyway we made the most of our week and tried to find anyone who would listen to us. There were 2 highlights in teaching this week.

First off cute little Jay Tairua that we are teaching shared with us an experience he had as school last week. One of his friends (age 9!) took the Lord's name in vain. Well Jay being the amazing little kid he is says, "You shouldn't say that. It is against the 10 commandments. It doesn't make Jesus very happy." With his friends puzzled look Jay continued, "Did you know that there is a place for people that don't do what Jesus tells them too? You just don't get to live with Jesus." He then proceeded to tell his friend all about the Plan of Salvation. His friend at the end said, "I don't want to be bad anymore. I'm going to try to be really good so I can live with Jesus." Jay jumping on the opportunity added, "You should come to church with me!" Okay people if this little 9 year old can do it then we all can do it! We all have friends that need to know what they should be doing in order to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. We have the knowledge so we shouldn't be afraid to open our mouths and share it with our friends.

2nd Story- Yesterday we were trying to sauce out who was still in town and we dropped by an investigators house. His name is Charlie. He is about 76 and lost his wife a few years ago. Last time we taught him the Plan of Salvation and he asked about how our church started. We went back yesterday and taught him the Restoration. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that this gospel is true. Why? Because as we stood on his doorstep and shared the Restoration with him he felt that God loves him. He said it made sense that God would call another prophet, that he would give scripture and prophets to the whole world, and he committed to read the Book of Mormon! That though isn't why I know the church is true. I know it is true because every time, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I've shared the 1st vision with someone something interrupts it. I'll usually get through, ". . . which descended gradually until it fell upon me. . ." and something will happen. Either the child cries, or the dog barks, or the phone rings, someone comes to the door, you name it and it has happened. If this church wasn't true I would be able to just breeze through that story with no problem. However, that isn't a story. It is a factual moment in time when the veil was parted and God reached out in love once again to his people. It's a moment that changed the whole world all because of one boys humble prayer. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the face of the earth. It is the only church with the fullness of Christ's gospel including priesthood power, and sealing and saving ordinances for the living and the dead. Satan will always be around when we are the strongest. We must be the members of Christ's church that God needs us to be! We can be the kind of people that when we rise from our morning prayers Satan says, "Dang it, they are awake." I love sharing this gospel. I love being a missionary. I love feeling my testimony grow and my conversion deepen every day that I am out here. If we aren't closer to God today than we were yesterday then we are the ones who have moved. Keep building your testimony through reading your scriptures and saying your prayers. Those simple things are what build a strong foundation in the gospel. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week full of opportunities to share what you know! :)

All my love, Sister Shayne

Pictures are Christmas lights and cookies for Santa

Christmas presents, snowflakes, and a very tired but excited me :)

My presents

Stockings for the Elders. We wrote quick notes for them and gave them each $20 for food. We were just going to buy them gift cards to Subway but Subway didn't do gift cards .