Hospitalized!

Sister Beckstrand - before mission

FYI - we won't be getting an email from Kimberly this week. We got an email from one of her companions saying that it had been a crazy week, and that Sister Beckstrand will email when she can.  Then not an hour later, I got a phone call from the mission president saying that she was in the ER. She has been sick for a few days, finally becoming dehydrated enough that she had to be admitted. I just got word this morning that she has been diagnosed with infectious gastroenteritis. They will be giving her IV antibiotics and plan to keep her in the hospital for a couple more days.

We sent her on this mission, knowing that there's lots of bad out there. I remember people saying, "Aren't you glad she's stateside, and not in one of the more dangerous missions out there?" Frankly, we decided not to worry either way, because we were turning her care over to God - it's ultimately in His hands anyway, including at home or on a mission, and we know that He takes care of His missionaries. Both Kimberly's dad and I served missions, and experienced this. On my mission in the Philippines, I was attacked by a burgler, and ended up hospitalized, needing hand surgery but I still knew that God had protected me from much worse, and I was okay. I tangibly felt that protection many times during those 18 months, and that has carried over to my faith that He will watch over my/ALL missionaries, even all my children where ever they are and whatever they are doing. He loves them more than I do, they are more His than mine. We know that she'll be okay, whatever God wants that to mean. From her diagnosis, it sounds like she'll be back to work in a very little time, fully recovered, God willing. I am grateful for this age of instant communication - that we know now - unlike my parents who didn't know anything until weeks afterward! ...I think...then again, it's in His hands anyway! Trials are a part of mission life, an integral part of mortal life really, the part that helps us come to know Him when we turn to Him in the midst of the depths, and that is worth any cost.

One advantage, with their companionship a trio, it's easy for them to find a member to come be with Sister Beckstrand while the other two continue with the appointments they already had, and the work goes on in spite of this setback. 

Another advantage, I got to talk to her mission president, who went on and on about what a great missionary she is, and how much she is growing. He is a wonderful, spiritual man!

Another blessing was that Dad & Mom received BEAUTIFUL personal Fathers' Day and birthday greetings in the mailbox earlier this week, and we can read these over and over while we wait for her next email communication!

Mission conference - Hitting the Ground Running! H O T !

First, happy birthday!!! Love you Mom!

This week has been great. On Tuesday we had a mission tour where Elder Arnold came and talked to us. I learned so much (plus I got to see Sister Hirschi). It was incredible. Talk about being spiritually filled. We have so many things to improve on, and we have been so excited to apply all the things we were told to do. You know all those fire sides where you go and get a huge spiritual high, but the you go home and your not sure how to apply all the wonderful things you just learned? Ya, it was nothing like that. We got things to stop doing, things to start doing, and how to apply everything we talked about. It was amazing. He told us to stop scheduling in time for tracking, if an appointment falls through visit the less actives around them, and then if the time scheduled for that area is not gone, then we tract. And even the way we teach, like always always use a pamphlet, and don't leave a,embers house without asking for referrals. It was so good! We all hit the ground running after all that spiritual high. We had a lot of fun this week.

Sister Wilson has been out so long, I believe she is going home in the next few months. She is technically from Colorado, but she has lived  everywhere. She's a "military brat" as she calls it. She's a really sweet sister. We were having a tough time this week with trying to figure out how for all of us to be successful missionaries together, and it wasn't working. Then we had a much needed and spiritually lead comp inventory, and we have figured it all out! I have a testimony of comp inventory! We have always gotten along, but now we are not stressing each other out nearly as much, and we laugh a lot more.

Sister Wilson knows some ASL, and she is so excited to be learning it too! It's awesome. I love learning it, and Sister Havran knows her stuff so that makes it a little easier. We are teaching one deaf couple , but mostly Sister Havran teaches, and we try our best to follow along.

And it is getting really hot here now. The humidity is coming too. It was over 100 degrees this week, and it felt hotter because it's humid. I just want to say that I am grateful I came in the middle of winter so I could be conditioned to the heat as it warms up. That's all I can say about it. So many good things this week, and I  love it all!

Love,
Kimber

(Mom's note - I had to rephrase one sentence that didn't make sense, and I hope I caught the main meaning of what she was trying to say. What she is experiencing is the common experience with all human interactions where more than one person are working together - companions, work mates, friends, husbands and wives. Communication solves so much, especially "spiritually lead" ones! I'm glad she's learning how to do that now!)

An incredible Sunday

Probably the most tiring walk week ever. All of our teaching pool was basically on hold this week, and it was really hot. Kind of an unproductive week. But, Sunday was incredible. We got the car back, which was awesome, then we saw a family that we had previously had an anti scare from that we haven't been able to contact since Sister Hirschi left. We were so grateful. We had even fasted for them we were so worried. They had even been looking stuff up and about the church, and that morning they had found Meet the Mormons and watched it! Then we had an amazing dinner with another family of investigators. They are so cool. We've been going over the plan of salvation with them the last couple times, and the mom asked for the scriptures for it so she could look it up and make a lesson plan to teach the girls again. They are so cool. I love all these families that are looking and learning even when we are not there. It's incredible!

This week has been exhausting, but awesome-mostly according to Sunday afternoon. So many blessings! We got saved from heat stroke by some members on Saturday, we were walking and were getting nothing done, it was too hot, and we were smelly. So they came and got us, we went home and changed clothes, then they took us to another members for an hour to do service, then we had dinner with them. They probably saved our lives on Saturday. It was so hot. So we're not doing that again. But adventures all around.

Love y'all! Kimber

Transfers...boo hoo...

This has been a really good, and super crazy week. Last week we got the call that Sister Hirschi is leaving and is going to trio train. She was going to have all week to say goodbye to everyone and pack up her stuff. Then Wednesday morning Elder Cunningham called and said that because the companions of the sister she's training with are going into leadership positions she needed a companion right away, so she has to leave Thursday morning. So we tossed all our plans for the day and started texting people to be able to visit them so she could say goodbye. We ran around all day, packed everything that night, and sent her off with a member because we had to go to a teaching appointment that day morning. We were all very sad about it. Then I was made the designated driver. And I had to drive everywhere. I don't really know the area at all, even though I've been here since January. (This, our directionally challenged daughter!)

Oh well. We were super stressed all week because we knew Sister Hirschi was going, and then she did leave, we had to do everything without her all of the sudden, and we still weren't sure if either on of us were staying or going. But, we made it through. We got hold of ourselves and did it. Then we found out both of us are staying, and we are getting a new companion. We picked her up today, her name is Sister Wilson. I like her. This will be a fun transfer. Starting with walk week. We had a member take us shopping today, and she is totally one of my favorite people. I love the members here!! We got to see Sister Hirschi today when went to pick up Sister Wilson. That was really exciting. I also go to see Sister Pochop, which was also pretty exciting. So many exciting things today.

That's us, figuring out how to missionary without Sister Hirschi

It's been a crazy week. And a good one. I love all that people here. I'm so excited I get to stay and continue to love these people and get to know hem even more. there are so many people we are teaching. This week we walked into an investigators home and they told us that they had been organizing their closets separating their regular cloths form their church clothes. That was so cool!! They really love church. It's been so good this week.

Love Kimber