Week of Humility‏

Wow this has been a remarkable week. I've been humbled more than I ever thought I would and have learned some great lessons. Tuesday started with us not getting to some places that we had planned and our attitude and faith dropped quite a bit. I was really getting down and as we biked I just prayed that our day would pick up. We continued to bike and kept our eyes open for any opportunity to talk to people. We finally saw this lady weeding her front yard and decided to stop and ask her if she needed help. We had a good chat with her and her son. They accepted a Restoration DVD and committed to watch it and write down any questions they had. We are going to follow-up on Wednesday and hopefully it will turn out well for us.

Then that night we decided to visit a less active family named the Pearsons. It's mom, Vikki, sons Caleb Josh and Jacob and their little sister Rebecca. They are an awesome family. They welcomed us right in and chatted with us for nearly an hour. They were super open and just talked with us about everything from daily prayers, missionary work, trials they've been through, and even preparing to go through the temple. I talked mainly to the mom and daughter while Sister Kennar talked to the boys. Josh is 21 and Jacob is 17. Jacob at the end of the conversation mentioned that he wanted to serve a mission. He knows he has to get his life into shape to do so but it is a small desire in his heart right now. We have made it a goal to make this family a priority for the next month or so to help them get back on their feet and back into the swing of full activation. Rebecca is a sweetheart. She is the driving force that will bring their family back. She is amazing. It was incredible to go home that night and realize how the Lord had answered the prayer of a struggling missionary. I knelt in prayer that night and just apologized for my lack of faith at the beginning of the day and for my overall attitude in the morning. I want to just work and see miracles but it's not my will that is being done out here. I know I have to just act how the Lord needs me too and I need to be where He needs me.

Sister Kennar woke up 2 days this week with a wicked migraine that left her in bed until about 11 both days. It gave me a lot of time to study and really dissect our area book to find people and make our work more effective. One day I was studying the Book of Mormon for our challenge from President and we are all the way to the end of Ether now. I was reading this particular day in Mormon chapter 9 when I came across verse 31. I had been feeling like a really crappy trainer because we aren't having a ton of success and haven't been able to teach real solid lessons for Sister Kennar to experience and I just wanted to do more but we bike for nearly 6-7 hours everyday trying our hardest to get to as many places as possible and we really just can't fit anything else into our day. I was being really hard on myself and just wanted to be a super missionary or something. That verse reads, "But rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise that we have been." I felt rebuked by the scriptures and knew that I was being tried so that I could learn and that we could find a more effective way to work in our area. It's taken a lot of work but we are finally starting to see some progress and miracles come forth. Another scripture that I liked came to me as I was studying Christlike attributes. It's Alma 32:41-43. It just talks about faith, diligence, and patience. All things that I am constantly working on. Then I read a talk by Elder Holland from the 2012 April General Conference titled, "Labourers in the Vineyard". I encourage everyone to look it up and read it. It just seemed that everything I read solidified my purpose here and built my faith. Then a couple days later I was reading in Ether 9:35. It says, "And it came to pass that when they had humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the earth." Now that was when they were having a famine in the land. Well I've felt like we've had a famine of teaching opportunities in our land of Alexander Heights and after sufficiently humbling myself this week we saw a miracle yesterday. We had a recent convert bring 2 friends to church that want to be baptized. We told them that they have to have the lessons first and they set up an appointment with us today at 6:30. They are from Iran and don't speak English very well so we will have someone come to help interpret but they loved being at church yesterday and just want to learn more about Christ and God and follow them. I'll keep you posted on what happens with them. Sister Kennar yesterday said, "Sister Beckstrand, we have worked so hard and now Heavenly Father is blessing us. Thanks for always setting the example of hard work and obedience. You are a great trainer." I wanted to cry. I had been so hard on myself all week and just prayed that we would find success in this area and the Lord answered my prayers. He always answers our prayers. I love this gospel. It's perfectly simple and simply perfect. I love you all and pray that all is well at home. Know that I love you and think about you daily. You are the best family and support a missionary could ask for :)

Much love,

Sister Shayne

Ok here are the pictures of the week.

First pic: You know you are a missionary when you get blisters from walking and biking in the rain. You tend to the blisters and they heal then you head out a couple days later and the skin peels away and you start to bleed. Yes that on my shoe is blood and my cute little bandaid on my ankle :)

Second pic: This is me and Elder Baptista. Will someone forward this to Blaine Salisbury, probably through facebook? He served a mini-mission in Queensland before his mission and he served with Blaine. The tie he is actually wearing is from Blaine. Small world being a missionary haha