🎃Happy Halloween y'all!!! 🎃

Sis Ellis & Sis Beckstrands

Hi everyone! How are you? Sounds like you've had a fun week.

It was a busy week. On Monday we took brownies to the bishop and Ward mission leader, and then we got to talk to them about people we are teaching and just say thank you for everything. Also, that day I made the chicken on rice casserole again, but for us. It was sooo good. I love that stuff. I've been eating the leftovers all week. Mmmm. So good.

Tuesday started out with quite an adventure. We had district meeting that day, so we went to the church at 10:30 like normal and sat here for a few minutes. But nobody was there. So we texted the district leader and asked if we were having it this week. Yes, but forty minutes away in Frasier. What!? They forgot to tell us! It had been at our building for the last eight weeks, and now hey randomly switch? So we arrived halfway through the meeting and used so many miles (good thing we had an unusual amount for the rest of the month). Then we had to drive back. So many miles. Ew. Then we were running around all day trying to make up for the lost time and get to all our appointments. We were fifteen minutes to half an hour late to everything. It only worked because our last appointment cancelled. Really, the one day when most of our plans actually happened and we are so behind on them. It was a crazy day. 

We had a trunk or treat on Wednesday, that was really fun. We met some people there and got to know some members better. A couple members brought friends and we helped take them around and talk to them. It was really cool.

On Thursday we helped a member tie some quilts again! It was so fun to be doing that again. I've missed it. The. We went and contacted some referrals. We had some pretty good lessons with them. 

Friday, weekly planning. It was such a fast week. Already? Again?! Wow. We helped another member set up for a Halloween party the next day. Then we went and saw some people. That night we started our exchanges. I went to Bartlett with Sister Farr, and Sister Ellis stayed here with Sister Boren. It was a really neat exchange. We planned that night, and it was cool to plan for the day I was actually going to be there for.

The next morning we helped the primary kids prepare for the primary program, that was fun. I met a lot of members. Lots of them knew Sister Havran super well, (she served there for nine months). Then we had a thought, Donna (she got baptized in my last area), her brother and his wife live there, and we had referred them to the sisters there. I was with one of those referring sisters. So we decided to go see them. We didn't get to see her brother, but I got to talk to her sister in law, and she is really nice. Apparently they are golden investigators. It was really cool. Then we went and taught a lesson with a girl that is super busy and about to graduate high school this year. She plays the cello and is in a couple orchestras. It was so cool to talk to her and get to talk about music stuff again. She is really smart and really understood everything we were telling her. She would talk herself through the point and totally get how it works. It was awesome. We had a great time together, Sister Farr and me. We learned a lot, and had fun. I really like her. Then we went up to Millington to exchange back. We had missionary correlation before we were going to go the the Halloween party and see how it went, but the meeting got pushed back because the elders, (a different set,) had something go longer than they planned. So after a really good and much needed correlation, we went home to plan. Oh well, no parties for us.

Then on Sunday we went to church, church is just incredible. I love it. A start-over every week. So useful. After church we went and had a Halloween dinner with some members and they fed us Maggot-Chile and Mummy-Dogs. It was really good. We went end to end of our area yesterday, from the vey bottom to the top as we went to try some people while we still had miles. It was pretty fun up there. We gave out a lot of cards. And we met an amazing lady who told us that her grandmother was a member and told us about her going through the temple a few years ago. She thought it was really interesting and wanted to know more about us. So she invited us over to her house sometime and said that she'd feed us dinner. So yay. Also, she didn't live there, but down in Munford, a lot closer to home than where we found her. Double yay.

It was a fun fast week. Plus, last night we had a really great lesson with an investigator named Nicole and were able to set a date with her. She is so cool I really like her. And her kids are adorable. She really understands everything we share with her. 

It's been neat. Like someone once told me a couple months ago (if I haven't told y'all already) a mission is like toilet paper... you take the same amount every time, but the farther you get the quicker the roll runs out. I can feel it happening. This week has flown by. It's crazy, but I absolutely love it here. Best experience of my life. 

Love Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

Only in the south (with Women's Day on the table next to her,
it looks like she's not at the church, yet here's a Holy Bible.)

A ginger in a field of white that looks ready to harvest! 

That's for you mom! (Inside family joke)

My new favorite thing, I just gotta say I want one so bad. That's it.

Happy Halloween! Love y'all! 

Casseroles and Packs

The field is white...cotton fields?!

My new companion, Sister Ellis, from Arizona

Hey y'all! Guys, it's been a great week. We were so busy and we found a lot of new people to teach. We also totally made dinner for one of our investigators, and I made the chicken and rice casserole. It smelled great, but we didn't get to eat any, so we'll probably make it for ourselves again today. I'm excited :) plus, leftover rice!! 

On Saturday we went way out to a faraway member because the bishop asked us to go see them, and after about half an hour of looking for them we finally found the house. The number was really small and it was a confusing how the neighborhood was layed out that we kept missing it. Then because we were in the area we decided to try out a potential in the area book that we never would have gone to see because it was so far away. Again, we had trouble finding the house, but eventually we found the mail box, and then a little out of the way driveway that ended in a field. We were pretty confused, then we saw what looked like an old dirt driveway through the trees, but it looked like it hadn't been used in forever, but we decided to check it out. Turned out the car did fit through, but then we saw a gate way down the road. And we heard some big dogs barking. We weren't very excited about going forward, but we had come all the way out here, so we got out of the car and walked up to the gate. It turned out that the dogs could get through the gate, and soon we were surrounded by dogs. They were pretty excited about us. Then Sister Ellis thought she saw
someone at the door of the house, and called out to them. Eventually a guy came out and we asked for the lady we were looking for he said at there was not anyone by that last name, but the first name ya. So we asked if he was the guy mentioned in her record and if they had gotten married recently and he said ya, and that he could go get her and we could talk. So we totally ended up finding the potential and having a lesson with her and her husband! It was so cool, and she told us later that he had been feeling really down that day and we had come just when they needed us. It was a really neat experience. 

We really had a lot of similar experiences this week that we could totally see the miracles from. It was so cool. And we saw soooo many dogs all day starting with that pack. Just tons. I swear, everyone here has a dog, at least one, usually more. The south loves their dogs.

I have I say, I truly love bring a missionary. I love the people here, I love the members, and I love the Lord. Life is incredible. And Helaman is an amazing book. I can't even tell you. I spent two days reading Helaman 5, and that is such a cool chapter. Y'all should read it this week. It's amazing. I love y'all!! Keep being wonderful, thanks for all you do, thank you for your prayers and faith. Heavenly Father loves you, I know it. I will never doubt it. I will never question it.

Love Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

Sisters Beckstrand & Ellis

Apparently they BOTH love cats!

Isn't Tennessee beautiful?!

New Area...

Hey y'all! It's been a crazy week! The first week in a new area is always a strange one, especially if it turns out to be your walk week. Basically, we did a lot of walking his week. So I'm follow-up training Sister Ellis, but she's pretty much already trained. It's been great.

So I have met a lot of new people here. Apparently this has been a really hard area for the last transfer, but they managed to build up a teaching pool right as I got here, so we had stuff to do all week. There just aren't very many potentials in the area book. But there are some good people to talk to. Most of our time we walked around the area trying to get in people's houses, and we just smiled and waved at everyone as they drove by us. Lots of people we talked to on Saturday said they had seen us and were more open to talking with us because of it.

On Saturday we went out with a member and we tried to contact a referral in Shelby forest, and we ended up driving around the forest for about two hours getting lost and not being able to find the address. Turns out it doesn't exist, but we had a great adventure driving through a gorgeous forest, and because we got so close to the river in the meanwhile, we stopped for a minute and got to walk down the boat run thing and get our feet wet in the Mississippi River. It was really fun. But the pictures are on the members phone, so we'll have to get that sometime. That was a really fun day. And yesterday the elders had a baptism! So we got to go to that after church. So far I really like the area, and the ward is amazing. It was a really good week. A lot of things remind me of Southaven, Mostly because I can tell that this is NOT Arkansas. It feels like Tennessee. I can't describe it any other way. But it's really great to be so close to my first area. Lisa was actually at the church by the temple when the transfer van pulled up last week, so I've already gotten to
see her again. Plus, when we have zone conference I'll get to see Sister Havran! And meet her new greenie! It's pretty exciting.

Sister Beckstrand

Transfers and temples!!!!!

Hey, so not a lot of time today, but a lot has happened this week. First, and best, I got to go to the temple today!!! It was amazing. And the Bartlett temple is gorgeous. And tiny. I loved it!

Then, I got transferred!!! I'm in Millington, Tennessee now. My new companion is Sister Ellis. She's from Arizona, near Phoenix.

It was a fun time in Sherwood. We had a day exchange this week with Sister Decker and Sister Hirschi. I got to spend all day with Sister Decker, and we had a great time. We had so many lessons that day it was incredible. All transfer it has been hard to do work in Sherwood. We didn't have a lot of interested people to teach, and that day it all turned around. From that point on we have been busy busy with people to see. It was really fun.

We had Sister Forsyth with us this week, she was really fun to be with. She also helped a lot with some lessons that would have been rally tough without her. She is super cute. I like her. I'm really going to miss her and especially Sister Esplin, but I'm excited to start working in this new area and get to know the people here. It's going to be a great week!

Love, Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

The threesome before transfers...

Four generations!!

Conference - a Missionary Holiday!

It's just been a week. Last Monday we had a great lesson with a member's good friend. And she really loves what we've shared so far. On Tuesday, we helped a member clean her house, that was a big project, and we are going back this week to continue helping out. And we saw a less active who we can't really count as less active anymore. She is the best, she is so Deseret to learn and understand everything about the gospel, and she just loves it.

Wednesday was a busy day. We did a lot of finding. Also, we were in a trio for a couple days this week over Wednesday and Thursday, Sister Jensen is really great. We went visiting teaching with a member, and got to see some great dog tricks.

Thursday we saw our great less active again, and we got to talk to Donna for a while. We explained general conference to her, she though it was really interesting.

Friday was a day full of running around and meeting people. We didn't have a lot of lessons, but lots of good contact.

And then we had general conference all weekend. We had some people (all less actives and recent converts) come to general conference. It was really cool to see them there. It was a good week. Lots of things going on, not much to tell though. Sorry, I'm not a writer :) General conference was great, truly the missionary holiday.

Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

Response to a Mom-Question: Conference was great! Really the only holidays that we get as missionaries. We got to watch it at the church, we could go to a member's home if we wanted, but we wanted to see if any of the people we invited would come to the church. No one came though :/, except some recent converts and less actives, that was good at least.

Love the office people!!

Also, Sister Jensen!