Walk Week, Bikes, Exchanges...and Discussions by Telephone?!

Guess what? This week was the first time I have ridden a bike all mission! it was only to the leasing office of our apartments and back to our apartment because our ride was here. But, it was very fun. This week was walk week. It was really exhausting. But not too bad, we just had to coordinate rides with members a lot.

Dinner!! Probably the best part of the day. It could happen. Plus Sister

Hugentobler is the cutest lady ever! We just love her.

 The ward is is really great. They are all so helpful. The only issue was that because it was the week before school starts there were a ton of people out of town. So that was hard, but other than that we had a lot of help.

We also went on exchanges! Sister Esplin's first exchange! It was great. Sister Hirschi came down here with Sister Esplin, and Sister Evans and myself went up to Conway with Sister Skordas. We had a great time. Lots of things learned, and great relationships built.

Ok, I don't know what to write about this week. It was a good week. It rained a lot. That as fun. We had great lessons with people. We also had my first two lessons over the phone. They really work. Plus they were with the same person. I feel like that will be a useful tool in teaching that I'm going to keep using. Lesson over the phone are great for people who are always busy when you are over, and people who are never home. And they work out surprisingly good. It was fun.

Sister Esplin has been feeling sick this week, so we had to stay in one day. But because we are a trio, we were able to have members go out with one of us healthy ones go to appointments that we had scheduled that day. It was a really great stretching opportunity for me to go out and be THE missionary in the lesson who had to keep it on track and end with a good commitment all by myself. The member was a great help.

Also, as of today, it's been two weeks since we've been bugged ;) by the bed bugs!! Looks like we might be in the clear (keep your fingers crossed). It was a really great week.

Arkansas is beautiful!

Love Kimber
 

Look what we did! President asked us to make it look pretty, so we did our best.

Before...

After!

🌂⛈🌦☔️

This week was super busy. We have had really good lessons with a couple investigators. We also got a referral of an investigator that has been working with missionaries for almost a year. She really wants to work with sisters, and we have high hopes for her. She set her own baptismal date for the 3 of September. It's so exciting. We are working closely with three people that are really close to baptism. One of them just needs to set a date. She (well really two of them) could baptized this week!

There were a lot of promptings that we could really notice this week. One day we were out trying to contact a member way out in the boonies. And they didn't answer, so we knocked on another door, like we're asked to. A guy came out and we started talking to him. Then he went over to his car and tried to open it to get something out, then he said he was going to go inside to get the keys and said to wait for him to come back out. While he was inside Sister Esplin said this didn't feel good, Sister Evans and I agreed, so when he came out we just gave him a card and left. As we drove away we looked at him through the window, and he was holding this giant knife. It was crazy!! We were just so grateful for the spirit that day. 

It also rained a ton this week. We really needed our umbrellas ☔️. I have to say, I love all the rain. It's really fun to walk through it, with and umbrella and without. It's super fun. Even when the roads are flooding (which they seriously do here every time) and it's a little scary to drive, I love it!! Especially the thunder. Lightening and thunder is incredible here. There is a member in out ward who's house was struck by lightening a couple weeks ago, and she said that she looked out the window when that happened and she could see the blue and orange electric waves going around and around the house. Really freaky to hear about, and incredible show of mother natures power. All week I have been thanking Heavenly Father for his beautiful gift of this world. It truly is gorgeous.

Love Kimber

Sister Beckstrand

Now this is serious commitment!

We are now off chocolate until Dana quits smoking and is baptized. Pray that she has the strength she needs!

We are now off chocolate until Dana quits smoking and is baptized. Pray that she

has the strength she needs!

We are now off chocolate until Dana quits smoking and is baptized. Pray that she

has the strength she needs!

Our little greenie is always stuffed in the back with a ton of stuff (it's worse 'cuz of the bed bug stuff, so we have a lot of our things in the car).

Isn't it beautiful?

A silver lining...

Bed bugs. Trunks. Passing out. Flying copies of the Book of Mormon...Missionary Life

Gosh, y'all sound like your having a lot of fun. Did you know that I make little bowls of fresh tomato toss every now and then. And it's really good. I even did parfait once.
But we've been running around too much in this new area to be able to completely settle in yet. Can I just  say, this week was crazy. Missionary work, and life wise. We had a lot of amazing lessons this week. We are teaching some pretty amazing people who need the gospel and I can't wait to share it with them. I love how excited the ward is for missionaries, we had so many member presents this week. We really only had maybe one or two lessons without a member present. It was so good. Also we had someone to church yesterday!! It was so cool. She really liked it. I'm excited to continue teaching her. We also went on splits for my first time actually. And we did it twice! Because there is so much to do and the members are so willing to help out. I love it when during dinner the members tell is to bring them to lessons and are basically begging us to take me out. It's so fun to have so many want and ask to go with us. Also having a ward missionary who drives and has no job currently and doesn't have anything to do is super helpful. Unfortunately she leaves for Samoa tomorrow and then off to college a few weeks later. So she's is off having a life now. :/ but we are really excited for stories about Samoa before she goes to college.

So, this week we moved out of the hotel because the bug guys said that they couldn't find anything in the apartment. So we moved into the apartment, despite our trepidation. And we definitely have bed bugs. We saw a few. We are getting bit every night. No fun really. So we are living out of garbage bags that hang out in the car. Ahh, the stress of bed bugs. So the next huge drama that happened was because of our living out of the car is that we have to get our clothes out of the trunk every night for the next morning. And Friday night, Sister Evans accidentally closed the trunk on my finger. And then Sister Esplin dropped her iPad, she now has a crack in the corner. We opened the trunk quickly, and my finger looked a little squished. And it was bleeding a bit. So we went inside. It didn't look too bad, just pretty squished. We weren't sure what to do, so we called the mission nurse to ask. She said to send her pictures and if it looked like it needed stitches. I said no, it looked ok, but we weren't sure. So we hung up and took some pictures to email. Meanwhile Sister Evans said that she was feeling lightheaded. So Sister Esplin told her to sit down and drink some water. Then while Sister Esplin was trying to send the email of pictures Sister Evans passed out!!! I was stuck at the sink with my finger so I couldn't do much. Sister Esplin was a boss and told me to call Sister Thompson (mission RN) and was helping Sister Evans trying to wake her up. So I called Sister Thompson right back and told her what was going on. Sister Evans is ok, just no gore or anything for her - ever! And my finger started looking less squished by this time, so everything turned out ok. My finger is fine, just a cut and a bruise. Sister Evans is ok, just not around fingers stuck in trunks. And Sister Esplin handled everything like a pro. Our greenie has had a dunk into missionary life from the very beginning. (Not that finger getting squished in normal.) So everything is ok.

But, funny story, on Saturday we were driving out of a parking lot and our windows were down cuz it was hot. and Sister Evans had her Book of Mormon and Bible and iPad on the dash and when she turned they flew towards the window. She barely caught the iPad and Bible, but the Book of Mormon went flying out. It was pretty hilarious.

For real, this week has been an adventure. Guys, missionary life is weird. And super fun. I love it.

Love, Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

She and I went back and forth a bit by email, and she explained that her mission president was aware that they were living out of their car, and that he had just given them permission to get a new apartment. Whew, on that.  I also sent her a picture of three teens sleeping through family scripture reading, and she wrote back, "Haha, I remember that :) I don't do it anymore though. Study time is too valuable for sleep." My response, "Yeah, your study time has a real purpose now, huh!?!" Her response, "Yep!" What a new life she's living, love it!!

This came in a text message Saturday from "a ward missionary serving with your wonderful daughter...I know parents like pictures... Your daughter loves and misses you!" :)

New area, new comps, old comps and BED BUGS!

This week has been crazy!! A week ago I was packing up my stuff and heading up to the church.  I met Sister Evans (from Bountiful, Utah) at the church before we got in the car. She is super cute. Even shorter than I am. Turns out this is her last transfer. So our greenie I and I will be killing her.

Then we went to Little Rock. I got to see Sister Hirschi there, and she will actually be my sister training leader! I'm really excited about that. We did splits that night because there were so many people without companions. There were 20 missionaries that just came out. It was cray. Then on Tuesday we got our greenie!! Her name is Sister Esplin. And she is from Farmington Utah. She is so cute! And so excited to do missionary work. I have the best companions. We are already really
good friends.

New missionaries & their comps - Can you find Sis B? Check out the mission pres & his wife...

This week has been extra crazy for us because besides the training and orientation for the new missionaries this week, when we went to our new area (which Sister Evans has been in this ward before, so it's not a complete pink-wash, but pretty close) we couldn't go to our apartment. First, we learned on about Tuesday that our apartment has bed bugs in it. Then all week long we have been checking up on it and waiting to hear back that they were gone. As far as we know, there are still bed bugs there. Sister Evans just came from an area at had bed bugs, and she had just gotten rid of them, only to come to a new apartment that has them, so we were having none of that. We stayed the first night at a members' home and then the mission got us a hotel room. So later today we are going to go to the apartment and do a lot of cleaning to get rid of anything, and the exterminator should come in a few days.

So, lots of drama in the first week. Not to mention that because we are all coming from different areas, and there are three of us, all our luggage doesn't even begin to fin in the car with us, and the hotel room is pretty small, so half of our stuff is at the members home that we stayed with the first night.

But, on a good note, this area is so amazing! Our first night here we had a Relief Society activity about making family mission plans. Then we had a member out with us our second day. And on Sunday there were so many members that were so eager to go out teaching with us. They were all really excited to have Sister Evans back. This ward is going to be incredible. Also we have some pretty cool investigators that we are teaching. And there is one guy that we found our first day that we went back to see him and Sister Esplin totally invited him to baptism and he accepted!! She did so good. There are so many promising investigators, and we've already had some productive proselyting. This is going to be a great area.

Also, we definitely got caught in the rain on our second day, and we were totally soaked! Completely through. It was so fun! And the thunder and lightening was really exciting. We just walked down the road getting soaked and sang hymns and the mission song. It was so very fun. We had the biggest smiles and it was hilarious to see the expressions of the people passing us on the road. I love being a missionary! We get to be so weird.

If there are any questions I'll answer them, as long as they are within my hour of emailing, otherwise you'll have to wait until next week to get the answers you want.

Love Kimber

Sister Esplin, Sister Evans, Me!

Isn't our baby so cute?!

I got to see Sis Fogg!!

Sister Havran, me and Sister Wilson, I'll remember them fondly!

Btw, I made tuna fish casserole a couple weeks ago, if I haven't told you yet...

My last week in Southaven...CRASH!

Most of our family was on Trek M-W of this week, including the normal delivery of Kimberly's email. I decided to take my phone, but kept it off most of the time, but we got to read her letter Mon night. :)
 
This week was full of goodbyes and craziness. One of the most exciting things that happened this week was when we went to serve on of our investigators and pulled her weeds for pretty much an hour and a half.  We were all soaked with sweat, it was so hot. It was so gross. But we had a ton of fun. Then she demanded us let her take us to dinner for that, and since we didn't have a dinner and out next appointment canceled we said ok. We were going to follow her to the restaurant, so we backed out and parked to wait for her to back out of her driveway, and on her way other [another driver?] backed into our car!!! The passenger side door hinge was crunched. The door no longer opens all the way. So we had to call that in and take care of that. We didn't have to call the police because it wasn't a crash of any sort. But it was reported and we exchanged information and then we went to dinner. It was really good.  Yummy food, and pretty funny because of the little crunch of the cars. It was great.

Then we went and helped one of our investigators get a blessing. She was deaf, so Sister Havran had to interpret. It was so cool. I love it when investigators get to see and participate in priesthood ordinances. It was great.

Another day we did service at the old folks home here and helped do puzzles with the people there. It was really fun. Apparently I like puzzles a lot. We saw a lot of people this week and said goodbye to a lot of people. We got to see he two newborn babies this week and say goodbye to the families. I really love all the members in Southaven. They were so sad to see me go.

We had so many investigators and less actives we have been working with at church yesterday. It was great. There were 5 investigators and like three less active families that came. It was crazy and incredible. So fun. Then we had to go home early last night so I could pack. It was so crazy, and I had so much to do, but I did get to bed at least close to on time. This week has been crazy. I'm going to the mission home today with my new companion Sister Evans, and we'll get our new missionary tomorrow. It's so sad that I have to say goodbye to my two wonderful companions Sister Havran and Sister Wilson. I love them and I'll miss them. They are both the best.

Good luck to y'all on trek. Tell me all the stories. Love you guys!
Love Kimber

Look at me being all healthy!

I figured you might want some proof of my time there ;)

 This week was pretty busy. Monday we played volleyball as a district for 4th of July. It was really hot. We were invited to have dinner with the Johnsons who just moved here from Utah. Tuesday we had district meeting (because last week I was in the hospital so it didn't happen). It was walk week. Sis Parr took us to our next appointment and took us out to eat. Later that night Sister Pursur came with us to a couple people, and she also took us out to dinner, so that day we had two burgers. They were really good, but then we had to stop eating garbage. Wednesday we walked to Sister Pursur's and did some cleaning for her (Sister Wilson and I got really sunburned on that walk). Then we went to a dinner at the Lifforths, who also just moved into the ward. We got to go to ASL class this week, it's been a long time since we've been able to go. Also, to correlation, which has also been a while due to my being sick the previous week. On Thursday we had zone meeting. It was really good, and I learned a lot of stuff, lots of encouraging things. That evening we went to an investigator's house and Sister Havran cut the mom's hair while we talked . Then she gave us a ride to our next appointment. On the the way though, we found a couple dressers on the side of the road that we really wanted because the furniture in our apartment is pretty sad, so she helped us get it, but it had to stay at her house for a couple days.  Friday we walked around close to our apartment, and we found some pretty cool people. Also Bronzie drove by and gave us a ride to the people we were trying to see. Bronzie is so cool, I really like her. On Saturday we helped a member pack up her house for a while. That was fun. Then we were with one of our young women all afternoon and just went all over. She is so cool, she is thinking about a mission, but she's not sure yet. Then we went and taught a lesson to a little girl in the ward who is about to turn 8. Then we had dinner with a less active family. That night the Elders picked up the dressers in their truck and brought it over. All week we've been moving things around in the apartment to make it look more like a home than a hotel room. With the new dressers and a rug the elders didn't want it looks a lot better. It was really fun. So, no hospitals this week. That was a plus.

Also I had the best thing happen Sunday morning. I was in a meeting and we were about to wrap up when I looked behind me and saw Marie White!! My cousin!! It was crazy. Quite the pleasant shock. We had a lot of fun talking and catching up. The ward had fun meeting her and her husband, David. (David served his mission in the ALRM mission years ago, so on their roadtrip this summer they wanted to take in some of his old areas, including Memphis - and they decided to go to church in Kimberly's ward!). Then the rest of the day we had amazing lessons and lots of fun.

Sister Beckstrand with cousins, Marie & David White

We got these by text from Marie during our own Sacrament Meeting! Thanks, Marie!

Today had been an interesting day. We just finished playing volleyball as a district again, we also invited a couple others to play.

This morning we got the email that has the list of leaders and trainers for the next transfer. I'm training!! Trio training with Sister Evans, and we are pink-washing an area called Sherwood, (in Arkansas,) in the North Little Rock Zone. And Sister Hirschi is going to be one of my Sister Training Leaders. So, many changes starting next Monday.

I'm definitely freaking out a little bit, but I know it will all work out. I'm going to miss it here in Southaven. I love it here. I love all the people, but I know that God is in charge, and he's just giving me more people to love.

 Here's to me growing!!!

(Response to my quick questions back to her: Um, I'm not sure I'll be senior comp, we'll be in a trio and get the new sister on Tuesday next week. Don't know her name yet. And pink washing is basically whitewashing, like I did when I first got here where both of us were new, but we are replacing elders so it's "pink" washing.)

Look what I had for breakfast a couple days ago...

I also had fresh tomato toss a couple times. So good.

We had to throw him out. :( Goodbye Phil. :'(

Last Week, Hospital Week and FINALLY Back to Work!! Thanks Everybody!

Happy 4th of July!!

This week has been crazy. In fact the last two weeks have been nuts. Last week we talked to a guy named E for two and a half hours. He gave us a lot of dating advice, and him and his wife were so cute with each other it was gross. And they've been married for about 35 years. We literally stood on his lawn and talked for two and a half hours! It was so hot. So they sprayed us down with their hose and then she brought out ice water, and then some watermelon. They were really fun, and I now know a lot of dating advice.

Then one of our investigators has been having a really rough time of it, so we got her a blessing, and it was so cool. Her favorite word the last few months has been authority. It was really cool to see that. I'm excited to
continue to see how that will help her.

We also had a moment when we were going to an investigator's house for dinner when a bunch of cops  drove past us, they told us to turn around because there was a big disturbance down the road, so we had to go another way to our dinner that day. Guys, Memphis is crazy!!!

Then one of our top investigators tried to drop us, but we are still fighting for that. But we are really unhappy about the things she is saying. We have a lot of studying to do for her. (Prayers coming her way!) Then we had exchanges. They were really good, and we had a couple good lessons. And nothing super exciting happened after that.

Until Monday. That day I was super sick, actually I'd been feeling off since the morning of the exchanges. And it got progressively worse until all Sunday night I was definitely running a high fever. So that was a really uncomfortable night. One where I ended up in the hospital the next day. So this week I was in the hospital all week. Seriously, I got out Thursday night.

Then we hit the ground running. We visited a ton of people, and used a ton of miles. But there was nothing else really exciting all week. It was great. And I defiantly have the best companions. They did really good hanging out with me there and not going crazy.

It was a crazy week, but I'm glad to be back to missionary work, back to work. And seriously, nurse Thompson (mission nurse) is the best. It's been crazy. Thank you to all who's prayers I received. I needed them this week. Thank you for all you do, and thank you for who you are. Love y'all!!

Love, Kimber