Alrighty, first off I will just email pictures as I get good ones that I
want to send. I have emailed my President to see if I'm allowed to check
the blogs and he hasn't replied so therefore I haven't checked them and
haven't commented on anything or how
awesome they are. Which I'm sure they are awesome because you are doing
them. I hope he clears it soon so that I can check em out. I just
don't want to be doing something I'm not allowed to. Rules are weird
sometimes and I'd rather be safe. I'll let you
know as soon as I know. I can print some pictures off and send them home to like
Sophie and Josh but for the most part I will just email them to you.
Let me know if you get them all.
I'm glad to hear that grandpa's thing went well. I thought about him a lot this week.
Dad wrote me all about the game. I can't believe Kobe is out! That's crazy!
How as Nikki's wedding? I want to hear that story. I can't believe that she is married. That's so weird.
I absolutely LOVE hearing about the soccer games. Oh my giddy aunt they are sooo awesome to hear about. Tell David that he is my hero and is pretty much a stud. Sophie wrote me all about soccer. Her team is a beast. My companion thinks Josh is pretty sweet. I told her about all of my siblings and she said that he is pretty awesome. Mainly for the unicycle and bowties :)
Thank you sooo much for the updates. Sorry about being a stickler about checking if I can look at the blogs before I just check em out. I love you soo much and love hearing the updates about everyone. You are the best mom ever! I can't express that enough.
This week was awesome and crazy. Tuesday we had a New Missionary Training and a Women's Conference. It basically took up our entire day but it was totally worth every bit of it. The Sister's Conference was awesome! Sister Mullen felt impressed to gather all of the Sisters from the entire mission for one day to give us some awesome knowledge. I got to see Sue again and chat with her. It's such an awesome blessing to see someone from home and get to visit with her. One of the things I learned and that is very important is that it's okay to not be perfect, because I'm not perfect! And we won't be until we leave this life. We had someone come speak to us about stress and how stress is actually good for us. There is opposition in all things and it's meant to be that way. Without stress we might as well just be dead. After Stress Management 101 we went into the gym where Sister Mullen lead us in yoga. Yes yoga. She is the most flexible lady I have ever met. I severely lack in that ability. She kept telling us to relax and just enjoy the stretches. I couldn't focus on anything but trying to not pull a muscle or fall over. My favorite part was when she had us lay down and do visualization and relaxation. That really has helped. We jump in bed around 10:15 every night and I can't get myself to fall asleep. My mind is always wide awake when I want it to crash. The first week here I woke up at 2:30-2:40 every morning just because my body knows it's supposed to be on a sleep schedule and jumps back to high school where 4.5 hours was enough. This last week I only got up at 4am twice. It's getting better. A full nights rest is super needed out here. So Sister Mullen's relaxation method has helped a lot to just get my body to relax and allow itself to fall asleep.
The next lesson we had was one about perfection. I wish I could have just recorded that whole lesson and sent it to you. He had some great analogies that I can't wait to use either in the mission or just in life in general. He talked about how Satan hates us. He really does. He doesn't want us to be happy and really hates the fact that we are out here trying to make others happy! It really opened, I think, all of our minds to just how important our calling is.
After we got home from that conference we did our Companionship study. I learned that I know nothing about the Book of Mormon. My advice to all is to open a Preach My Gospel to page 107 and look at all the ways the Book of Mormon can answer questions in our lives. This last week I have done nothing but read and dissect the Book of Mormon. It has been such an incredible blessing. I've always had a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I've always known that it give us answers to our questions because I have seen it answer questions for me in my life. But I had no idea as to what extent it can really relate to ever single person and situation in the world. It is the word of God! There is no doubt about that. No man can draw closer to God than abiding by it's precepts. I know that with every fiber of my being! The book is true. I challenge anyone who says otherwise to read it with real intent and if they really want to know if it's true all they need to do is pray and Heavenly Father will let them know that it is true. If they read to try and prove it to be false, they won't be able to. Miracles come from reading and applying that book in our lives.
Wednesday and Thursday we spent a lot of time walking around campus trying to find people to contact. Satan's biggest tool among college students is the invention of the headphones (I struggled to find the right word to call those cuz I kept having ''listening cords'' stuck in my head hahahaha!) Anyway, we can't really talk to them if they have headphones in or are talking on the phone. Technology really sucks sometimes. I am learning though that as you tract in apartments or contact around campus that all you need to do is open your mouth and the words that they need to hear will fill the void. You just need to have one inspired question to spark their interest and they will listen. The hardest thing about a mission is tracting and contacting new people and Sister Dickerman says it's her weakest talent. I don't really know what to do or what I am doing when we go out so we are learning how to be better at it together. Our motto for the last week was, "Open your mouth." There are a TON of scriptures that talk about opening your mouth and it will be filled with the words of God. We are really building our faith in that principle.
Friday was incredible. We had a district meeting, met with a less active member, and then went tracting but to no avail. Then we met with the Bishop to go over the week. As we met with him he pointed out that we have almost 40 less actives in the ward. He expressed his concern about that and we promised to do our part to reach out to the list he gave us. I felt really bad leaving that meeting. I felt like Bishop Taite wasn't 100% pleased with the work we've been doing. We went home to eat and plan during dinner. After we ate Sister Dickerman took a short nap. While she was sleeping I remembered President Ellsworth's words from my setting apart where he told me that I would be able to work with the leadership of the church. I instantly knew that we needed to find/visit/call everyone that the Bishop had mentioned. I went into my bedroom and knelt down and offered a prayer that I would be able to find those lost sheep and let them know that they are loved and thought about. I prayed that we would be able to help Bishop Taite more fully in this work. When Sister Dickerman woke up I purposed the plan and we set out. My prayers were answered! We visited 4 less actives, talked with 2 on the phone, and found out that many just don't live here anymore. I felt soo much better. It was such a blessing to hand our progress record over to the Bishop on Sunday and see the relief and love on his face. We also had one of the less actives show up at church! It was a miracle and I was so grateful that the Spirit was able to bring that blessing back to my memory and guide me on what we needed to do.
Church was amazing yesterday. Testimony meeting in a YSA ward is better than anything. The strength of the members in this ward is remarkable. I wouldn't trade it for anything. The spirit was soo strong and you could feel it's power as each student got up and bore testimony of the truths they know. I'm so grateful to be serving in a YSA ward. It's such a blessing.
There are more random things that I wish I could share but I am running low on time. I love it here. I love hearing how everyone is doing. Keep the letters coming. I love you all so much! Keep the faith, set the example.
Much love,
Sister Beckstrand
I'm glad to hear that grandpa's thing went well. I thought about him a lot this week.
Dad wrote me all about the game. I can't believe Kobe is out! That's crazy!
How as Nikki's wedding? I want to hear that story. I can't believe that she is married. That's so weird.
I absolutely LOVE hearing about the soccer games. Oh my giddy aunt they are sooo awesome to hear about. Tell David that he is my hero and is pretty much a stud. Sophie wrote me all about soccer. Her team is a beast. My companion thinks Josh is pretty sweet. I told her about all of my siblings and she said that he is pretty awesome. Mainly for the unicycle and bowties :)
Thank you sooo much for the updates. Sorry about being a stickler about checking if I can look at the blogs before I just check em out. I love you soo much and love hearing the updates about everyone. You are the best mom ever! I can't express that enough.
This week was awesome and crazy. Tuesday we had a New Missionary Training and a Women's Conference. It basically took up our entire day but it was totally worth every bit of it. The Sister's Conference was awesome! Sister Mullen felt impressed to gather all of the Sisters from the entire mission for one day to give us some awesome knowledge. I got to see Sue again and chat with her. It's such an awesome blessing to see someone from home and get to visit with her. One of the things I learned and that is very important is that it's okay to not be perfect, because I'm not perfect! And we won't be until we leave this life. We had someone come speak to us about stress and how stress is actually good for us. There is opposition in all things and it's meant to be that way. Without stress we might as well just be dead. After Stress Management 101 we went into the gym where Sister Mullen lead us in yoga. Yes yoga. She is the most flexible lady I have ever met. I severely lack in that ability. She kept telling us to relax and just enjoy the stretches. I couldn't focus on anything but trying to not pull a muscle or fall over. My favorite part was when she had us lay down and do visualization and relaxation. That really has helped. We jump in bed around 10:15 every night and I can't get myself to fall asleep. My mind is always wide awake when I want it to crash. The first week here I woke up at 2:30-2:40 every morning just because my body knows it's supposed to be on a sleep schedule and jumps back to high school where 4.5 hours was enough. This last week I only got up at 4am twice. It's getting better. A full nights rest is super needed out here. So Sister Mullen's relaxation method has helped a lot to just get my body to relax and allow itself to fall asleep.
The next lesson we had was one about perfection. I wish I could have just recorded that whole lesson and sent it to you. He had some great analogies that I can't wait to use either in the mission or just in life in general. He talked about how Satan hates us. He really does. He doesn't want us to be happy and really hates the fact that we are out here trying to make others happy! It really opened, I think, all of our minds to just how important our calling is.
After we got home from that conference we did our Companionship study. I learned that I know nothing about the Book of Mormon. My advice to all is to open a Preach My Gospel to page 107 and look at all the ways the Book of Mormon can answer questions in our lives. This last week I have done nothing but read and dissect the Book of Mormon. It has been such an incredible blessing. I've always had a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I've always known that it give us answers to our questions because I have seen it answer questions for me in my life. But I had no idea as to what extent it can really relate to ever single person and situation in the world. It is the word of God! There is no doubt about that. No man can draw closer to God than abiding by it's precepts. I know that with every fiber of my being! The book is true. I challenge anyone who says otherwise to read it with real intent and if they really want to know if it's true all they need to do is pray and Heavenly Father will let them know that it is true. If they read to try and prove it to be false, they won't be able to. Miracles come from reading and applying that book in our lives.
Wednesday and Thursday we spent a lot of time walking around campus trying to find people to contact. Satan's biggest tool among college students is the invention of the headphones (I struggled to find the right word to call those cuz I kept having ''listening cords'' stuck in my head hahahaha!) Anyway, we can't really talk to them if they have headphones in or are talking on the phone. Technology really sucks sometimes. I am learning though that as you tract in apartments or contact around campus that all you need to do is open your mouth and the words that they need to hear will fill the void. You just need to have one inspired question to spark their interest and they will listen. The hardest thing about a mission is tracting and contacting new people and Sister Dickerman says it's her weakest talent. I don't really know what to do or what I am doing when we go out so we are learning how to be better at it together. Our motto for the last week was, "Open your mouth." There are a TON of scriptures that talk about opening your mouth and it will be filled with the words of God. We are really building our faith in that principle.
Friday was incredible. We had a district meeting, met with a less active member, and then went tracting but to no avail. Then we met with the Bishop to go over the week. As we met with him he pointed out that we have almost 40 less actives in the ward. He expressed his concern about that and we promised to do our part to reach out to the list he gave us. I felt really bad leaving that meeting. I felt like Bishop Taite wasn't 100% pleased with the work we've been doing. We went home to eat and plan during dinner. After we ate Sister Dickerman took a short nap. While she was sleeping I remembered President Ellsworth's words from my setting apart where he told me that I would be able to work with the leadership of the church. I instantly knew that we needed to find/visit/call everyone that the Bishop had mentioned. I went into my bedroom and knelt down and offered a prayer that I would be able to find those lost sheep and let them know that they are loved and thought about. I prayed that we would be able to help Bishop Taite more fully in this work. When Sister Dickerman woke up I purposed the plan and we set out. My prayers were answered! We visited 4 less actives, talked with 2 on the phone, and found out that many just don't live here anymore. I felt soo much better. It was such a blessing to hand our progress record over to the Bishop on Sunday and see the relief and love on his face. We also had one of the less actives show up at church! It was a miracle and I was so grateful that the Spirit was able to bring that blessing back to my memory and guide me on what we needed to do.
Church was amazing yesterday. Testimony meeting in a YSA ward is better than anything. The strength of the members in this ward is remarkable. I wouldn't trade it for anything. The spirit was soo strong and you could feel it's power as each student got up and bore testimony of the truths they know. I'm so grateful to be serving in a YSA ward. It's such a blessing.
There are more random things that I wish I could share but I am running low on time. I love it here. I love hearing how everyone is doing. Keep the letters coming. I love you all so much! Keep the faith, set the example.
Much love,
Sister Beckstrand
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