Then will I make weak things become strong

Ok, wow! This week went by so fast! I can't believe it's over already. And that's the end of this last transfer. And I survived! This will be my third transfer here in the Otter Creek area, which is good because I just love the people here! We have made so much progress this week with our investigators. We did drop many, but Sister Brumett figured out a good analogy about raspberries that made it a good thing to drop people. We simply cannot focus on those who aren't ready yet, and just like with unripe raspberries, if you pull too hard you break them off and they can no longer grow. It is such a relief to not be spread so thin with all the people we are trying to teach. But we worked hard this week, and we made a lot of progress in ourselves, and our investigators made a lot of progress. It was great! And we have a man who is so prepared for his baptism this week. We are so happy we got to stay for that! It's funny because the weeks like we feel like we did the worst we actually did the best. This is such a thing that Heavenly Father does, the closer you get to Him the weaker and more sinful you feel,  up then it is a beautiful thing to feel that, Ether 12:27 talks about how the Lord gives men weakness so we can be humble, and then with Him weak things can be made strong. We just have to let him. Seriously this week is a perfect example of that. I am so imperfect, and I have a lot to work on, but I am happier than ever! There was one lesson we had this week with a wonderful woman who I love so much, but we could see no progress in her, so we planned a final lesson, one to find out what her iceberg is and planned to drop her if she didn't make the commitment to come to church. It was a beautiful lesson, completely lead by the Spirit. We both shared personal weaknesses that are similar to hers that we have that make our lives challenging, but we push through because we know that God wants it of us. Some of the things we shared were a shock to her and her member friend who was there (apparently 'shy quiet me' is not someone they know, I guess Ether 12:37 could apply here a little). And in one case we increased the member's testimony of coming to church, and she has committed to be better at that, but in the end, she did not make the commitment we needed to be able to continue teaching her. We said we'd continue stopping by now and then, but we could promise regular visits anymore.

As hard as that was, it is also a testimony building moment of what is described in 2 Nephi 3:21, "Because of their faith their words shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto their brethren who are the fruit of thy loins; and the weakness of their words will I make strong in their faith, unto the remembering of my covenant which I made unto thy fathers." I kinda really like how that connects to my personal fear of talking to people, and then how I've gotten over a lot of it. It's not completely gone yet, but my words are made strong in my faith in Jesus Christ. And that weakness was made strong when we talked to that member at church and she told us that she almost said yes, and we had gotten closer to getting that answer from her than anyone else. And then she had gone out and bought herself a dress, maybe not completely dropped yet. But is is so true how the Lord puts you with the person you need to be and in the people's lives He wants you in to be able to help them in their personal journey back to Him. And apparently we are not done yet because we are both still here! And I get to finish training Sister Brumett, who I just love so much! We have so much fun together, and we are always on the same page when we are thinking of things. We literally have the exact same thoughts all the time.

Some wonderful things that happened this week was when we had an amazing zone meeting, so much revelation there. We went to Hot Springs with a deaf member to try to contact some deaf people there. It was about an hour and a half drive there and back. And it was pouring rain like I haven't seen in a year. It was hard to see the road all the time, but we made it there and back safely, (Thank you Heavenly Father!) we also had several good lessons with a lot of wonderful people. It was so good this week! And we had many people come to church, many miracles as we just followed the Spirit. I love how amazing these people are. They all love Christ and they all want to come closer to Him, and they don't mind talking about Him!

Also, a really cool scripture I found his week is in D&C 38:3 "[Jesus Christ is] the same which spake, and the world was made, and all things came by [Him]." I especially loved it because it reminded me of a song that I've recently acquired where it says "To the One who spoke and set the sun ablaze, to the One who stopped the storm and walked the waves, to the One who died so He could say, You Matter! Don't you know you Matter? You Matter! I hope you know you Matter!" It's a song called Matter, and I really enjoy it.

Ooo, and another cool thing I though about this week comes from 1 Nephi 5:8, "And she spake, saying: Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them. And after this manner of language did she speak." Ok, first of all, this is an ending of a story about this family who leaves Jerusalem and walks for three days into the wilderness. And then they get told that they have to go all they way back for a very important book. Now one could wonder why didn't they just bring it with them the first time? That would have been a lot easier. And surely the Lord could have told them about it before, He knew they would need it. And maybe He did, and maybe He didn't. All we know is that it happened, and so there must be a lesson to learn here. And there are a lot, but one I thought of this week was really cool. I thought of this as I was reminded of an experience that happened to a family in a tv show that I'd seen (it's BBC's North and South) where the father uprooted the whole family and they went clear to the other side of the country. And his family followed him, because he is the Father and Husband. But they do not know why. Eventually they confront him, needing answers for this struggle they are in, coming to a completely new area with no friends. And he explains it to them. Similarly, Lehi drags his whole family away from all they know, and they follow because he is the Father and Husband, but maybe Sariah did not like being there, maybe she would much rather be at home and not traveling through the wilderness, and now possibly having her children killed for more of these crazy ideas of her husband. And her position as the Mother of these sons would greatly influence them in their lives, and her personal testimony would be important for them to become the righteous sons they needed to be, and until this experience happened, her faith was lacking. And the Lord knew that, and he provided a way for her to gain that testimony so she could be that example the sons would follow (all but the eldest two).

Also, as we were driving back from Hot Springs, we had already dropped off the deaf member and I was just thinking about how when people pray to Jesus instead of Heavenly Father, they don't get the answers they need because they are not praying to the right person. I told Sister Brumett about it and then we moved on. But then the next day during our 12 week study we read John 16:23-24, "And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." And it was exactly what the Spirit taught me the day before! It was so amazing! I love studies!!

It has been a fun week with lots of improvement, and lots of stretching. I love it!

Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

We went to the Big Dam Bridge last week with the STLs.
It's the longest pedestrian bridge I think in America, it was so fun!

My last full month with a Fijian Mission President, look what Sister Hirschi sent me!