Happy 4th of July!!!

These pictures were texted to Mom last week!
Sis Beckstrand & Sis Anderson

She got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(The woman Sis Beckstrand & Sis Brummett were teaching
before the transfer)

This week was so fun and crazy! We had so much going on! Monday we just hung out and then saw some people in the evening. We actually had a pretty interesting lesson sitting on the ground in front of the temple. That was pretty neat. Tuesday we had a fun district meeting. We have a senior couple in our district! They are really fun. I like it here! The  we did some studies, had a great lesson with a part member family, the kids are getting baptized this Saturday by the way, so that's exciting. Then in the evening we had a lesson with this super nice couple. The husband had done some research of the Book of Mormon and couldn't quite agree with it. But his wife understood everything we had to say in answer to his questions about it. They were super kind, but he did not understand and it was so sad. But if there is ever a question, all you need is 2 Nephi 33:10-11. That is the simple truth, and Moroni 10:3-5 is the key to make it work. The step that was missed was to just read it. Just like President Monson said in this last General Conference, there is "...power of the Book of Mormon and [there is a] critical need...as members of this Church to study, ponder, and apply its teachings in our lives. The importance of having a firm and sure testimony of the Book of Mormon cannot be overstated.
"...If you are not reading the Book of Mormon each day, please do so. If you will read it prayerfully and with a sincere desire to know the truth, the Holy Ghost will manifest its truth to you. If it is true--and I solemnly testify that it is--then Joseph Smith was a prophet who saw God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
"Because the Book of Mormon is true, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s Church on the earth, and the holy priesthood of God has been restored for the benefit and blessing of His children.
"...If you do not have a firm testimony of these things, do that which is necessary to obtain one. It is essential for you to have your own testimony in these difficult times, for the testimonies of others will carry you only so far."
And it is so true! I am so grateful for my personal testimony and love for the Book of Mormon.

Ok, then on Wednesday we had Missionary Leadership Counsel in NLR, and I was amazing. That was President Wakolo and Sister Wakolo's last day in the mission. It was so full of love and the spirit and revelation. I love the things I have learned from President Wakolo. I have learned of love and leadership and of becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ, and there is nothing I love more. That was such a fun day, and I learned a ton, and we got home at 9 pm, so that was all we did that day.

On Thursday we went out to Jackson to do a blitz with the sisters there who are whitewashing this transfer. We had a lot of fun with them, and their area is about an hour and fifteen minutes away, so that took up a large chunk of the day as well, then we finally got to do some work in our area. It was fun.

This whole week was so fun and full of revelation. I have felt the need to study more modern revelation because that is where we get the most things that apply to our lives today. And I learned a lot when I read the talk by President Monson. Also it was really dumb on Friday because I ended up having a pretty bad headache all day, but we accomplished much, and had a really good dinner with some killer hush puppies, mmmmmmm. But then that night I could not sleep, and around four in the morning we had to call a member in the ward and ask them to come give me a blessing. After that I was able to sleep, ("I revere the priesthood. I have witnessed it's power time and time again. I have seen its strength. I have marveled at the miracles it has wrought." President Monson 2015 April General Conference) and we had a pretty good day on Saturday. And a really great lesson with the family that we are helping get baptized this Saturday. But the best part of that day was when we got to go to the temple and help clean, an they really needed us because barely anyone come that day. Everyone is out of town for the 4 of July.

And yesterday was really rough, nobody wanted to open the door. They would peak through the blinds and decide they didn't want to talk to us and not open the door. So dumb! But after a long day of all that rejection we were tired, and I was pretty annoyed, which is also dumb because I'm supposed to be Christlike. So, as we were driving home at the end of the day I saw this couple sitting out in their driveway, and the Spirit told me to pull over and talk to them. Sister Anderson was writing something down and I was tired, I didn't want to.  But the Spirit is perfectly diligent, and He knows me. We turned around and went and talked to this couple, and they were beautiful. They were so excited to talk to us and I loved being able to share the Book of Mormon with them and promise that that will answer the questions they were asking us. We even got to give them a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. They loved it! Silly Sister Beckstrand, just listen to the Spirit and your day will be better!

In closing today, I want to quote the final part of President Monson's talk to the world as the Holy Prophet of the Lord Jesus Christ, "...I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives. I so testify with all my heart in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Love y'all!
Kimber

The ride home in the transfer van. It was a long ride, but lots of fun
when we were literally stopped on the road for about two hours
(we inched along for most of that time), the elders in front
got out and handed out copies of the Book of Mormon
all along the highway. It was a lot of fun. 

Sisters Beckstrand & Anderson

Sister Ellis!!!!
(Former companions)

Good bye President Wakolo! We love you!!!

Memphis?

The Mississippi!

Mom-Post: New mission president, thanks & farewell

Here's a quick Mom-Post sharing a few pictures and memories. Kimberly will appreciate having these in her blog when she gets back. As of this week, ALRM got a new mission president:

Arkansas Little Rock Mission

Karen and Norman E. Hansen

Norman Edward Hansen, 57, and Karen Keysor Hansen, five children, Chehalis Ward, Centralia Washington Stake: Arkansas Little Rock Mission, succeeding President Taniela B. Wakolo and Sister Anita H. Wakolo. Brother Hansen serves as a Scoutmaster and is a former stake president, bishop, high councilor, stake mission president, and missionary in the Arkansas Little Rock Mission. Area field manager, Darigold. Born in Rupert, Idaho, to Vernon Anderson Hansen and Emma Josephine Baker Hansen.

Sister Hansen is a former stake and ward Primary president, ward Relief Society president, ward Young Women presidency counselor, stake public affairs committee member, achievement day leader, and Cub Scout leader. Born in Glendale, California, to James Brian Keysor and Rachel Patricia Keysor Wait.

Arkansas Little Rock Mission Office

Arkansas Little Rock Mission Home

Inside the Mission Home

Goodbye to Pres & Sis Wakolo!
Thank you, and MUCH LOVE!

But thankfully, because of his April call to the Seventy, he will be in Utah regularly! Kimberly will be able to see them much more often than otherwise!

From the LDS news page:

Elder Taniela Biu Wakolo has dedicated every day of his life since his baptism in March 1994 to serving the Lord.

Born in 1967 on the small island of Lomaloma, Lau, Fiji, to Taniela Vosa and Temalesi Buadromo Wakolo, Elder Wakolo was the youngest of six children. “I was raised in a very humble home, but we were rich in terms of the love we had for each other,” he said.

At age 12, Elder Wakolo left his parents’ home to attend boarding school with more than 500 young men, ages 12 to 19. “That was great training ground for me,” he said. “It is where I learned self-discipline.”

He dated Anita Herberta Moimoi, a recent convert, for more than a year. They married on August 22, 1987, in Suva, Fiji.

Conversion didn’t come overnight for Elder Wakolo, and over the first eight years of the couple’s marriage, he met with many missionaries. “I completed the [missionary] discussions four times in eight years,” he said. “I have 24 missionaries.”

It was a simple question from one of those missionaries about the name of the Church that changed his mind about baptism. “The Church needs to be named after its owner,” he said. “That was it for me.”

Elder Wakolo and his wife were sealed in the Nuku‘alofa Tonga Temple in 1995. They are the parents of two children.

Service opportunities quickly followed his baptism. Two weeks after his baptism, he was called to the ward Young Men presidency and to co-teach seminary with his wife. After less than a year, he accepted the call to serve as branch president. He later served as counselor in a stake presidency, stake president, and Area Seventy. At the time of his call as a General Authority Seventy, he was presiding over the Arkansas Little Rock Mission.

Elder Wakolo studied management and public administration and earned a master’s degree in management. Most recently, he was the manager at the Church’s Fiji Service Center.

(Find more info here)

The newly sustained Elder Taniela B. Wakolo walks to theConference Center stand 1 April 2017

Bartlittlepieceofheaven

I'm right by the temple now 💗

Look at these flowers!

I love Bartlett!! It's so fancy here! And Sister Anderson is AMAZING!!!!!! It's crazy to realize how long I've been out, and how much I still have to learn. President Wakolo leaves this week, and we will miss him so much! This week was strange and super long, but as usual it's over before we knew it. I have met so many people, and they are amazing. Heavenly Father loves to keep me busy, we got super overloaded at church yesterday with so many people we had to talk to, and so many people that came that we wanted to meet and get to know. There was a missionary homecoming yesterday and he had a ton of friends there. It was fun because he actually got called to sign halfway through his mission, so he needed us to go welcome some of his friends who came a little late so he told me from the other side of the chapel in the middle of the opening hymn that we needed to go help them. Via sign language. It was fun. Plus his friends are great. Seriously, sign language is a super power! Plus there were a few random run ins with members from past areas. At church there were two couples from Millington. That was fun. Then on Saturday we got to go help clean the temple. And I saw some members from Otter Creek, and I saw a lady from Mountain View. Who knew? I love this place. Also Saturday was just plain amazing. We decided to take a walk day that morning, so we had a member pick us up for a lesson we were having in her home. It's funny because that is the bishop's wife, and we had a lesson with a part member family and another family came to support them. That was a lesson just like one from the district. In the bishop's home too. It was so cool. The bishop here is amazing! He is so ready to help. Also, this is the first time I've ever had a bishop who was able to give us a bishop's blessing my second day here, have a lesson in his home that he set up with the investigators, and then have us over for dinner again later that day. This guy is amazing. He's great (he also doesn't have any kids at home, that might help). Also Saturday we went to go talk to a guy who is married to a less active, and on the doorstep we asked him if he's read the Book of Mormon, yes. and he wants to come back to church. What does he know about Joseph smith? Not much, just everything about his vision and how he translated the Book of Mormon and how Jesus used him the re-establish his church. You know, just everything. So do you believe he's a prophet? Yes. Have you prayed about it? Yes. Seriously? Yes. Do you want to be baptized? Yes. So we set a date with him right there on his doorstep. He's amazing.

Then on Thursday we had prayed to find a new investigator and have a lesson that we did not plan for. Then Heavenly Father answered our prayers with a beautiful woman and her cute little boy. She was talking about stuff with who God and Jesus are, and it didn't really make sense, but we share the first vision with her and when we talked about what Joseph Smith saw (JS-H 1:16-17) her face lit up. Then when she said the closing prayer she thanked God for sending the ladies to give her answers she's been searching for for a very long time. She's amazing!! 

Those are just a few of the miracles this week. There were many more, but John 21:25 says it perfectly. The Lord is good (D&C 33:7-15). And Sister Anderson is wonderful. He birthday was yesterday! She just turned 20!!!!!! So we had a lot of fun yesterday. 

I love this! AND........Sister H. got baptized yesterday!!!!! I had to leave right before it, but she is beautiful! And I am so excited and happy for her! She is beautiful. It was such a fun week. 

Love y'all! 

Kimber

Sister Beckstrand

From Sis Brummett's email about their investigator baptism:

CONGRATULATIONS TO C FOR BEING BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!!!!

She has been waiting so long and it was so worth it! (D&C 20:37)The baptism was beautiful and the Spirit in the room was the strongest I have felt in a while. So many people came to support her. Beautiful talks were given and beautiful music was sung! C was glowing! You could tell how happy she was after her baptism! I love her with all my heart, and I cannot wait to see her grow in the true church of Christ! (I swear, she's going to become a Young Women's president.)

Look at that hair! 

Happy Birthday Sister Anderson!

The gospel of Jesus Christ!

Look at that sunset! Can you see us?

Happy fourth of July in a week!

War chapters!

Farewell to the Wakolo family! Thank you, we love you!
Final picture together.

The Otter Creek Sisters with REAL Otters!

Hello all! This Week has been crazy, and amazing. Last Monday we went to the zoo with the STLs and the sisters in Glenwood. It was super fun, and really warm and humid. Love it! After that we had an FHE at President Wakolo's house, one of our investigators came for the dinner, and a recent covert came for the dinner and the lesson after. It was amazing. President is such a great teacher! And we had a fun moment when the power went out for a minute and then came right back on. Then we had to slip out for a second to call someone, and there was this beeping that was quiet, but consistent and annoying. As we were coming back inside we saw Sister Wakolo and Jasmine trying to find where it was coming from. We finally found it in the pantry. And then we had to figure out how to turn it off. We tried everything, and repeated everything. For several minutes. Then Sister Wakolo tried something, and it magically turned off. Mommy magic is real. 

The on Tuesday we had exchanges  time with our STLs. It was really fun. I went to Pinnacle Mom (to) train with Sister Lange. We had a lot of fun, and some crazy experiences. Sister Lange is so fun!

Then on Wednesday we (we is Sister Lange and myself and Sister Brumett and Sister Crookshank) had lunch with a deaf member in the ward, she is amazing! And she went on a mission and showed us things from when she was teaching. It was fun. Then we went back (the exchange ended at lunch) and had a crazy busy day like normal. We never have time!

Then on Thursday we had our last zone conference with President Wakolo. It was amazing. We learned so much. And we got a new tiwi, and it took so long hat we were at the NLR building from 9:30am until 7:40pm. Wow, good thing the meeting was long and we had a lot of people to text and call. So it all worked out. (Definition of a "tiwi": "A tiwi is the black box in our car that monitors our driving and tells us to slow down and things like that."  Good plan!)

And Friday we had a super long weekly planning. Not much happened that day. It was fun though. I love being able to teach the restored gospel. We get so down and sad about nothing until we get an opportunity to teach and bear testimony, and then life is amazing and fun and beautiful. I love the difference that bearing testimony does in the lives of those who share it. It's an incredible spiritual boost.

On Saturday we saw more people, we were trying to talk to as many people as we could. I don't remember all that we did, but we were busy. Thy night we had our third ASL class, and this time we only had our investigators there. They loved it anyway, so that was good. It was really fun. Then we waited around for the transfer email to come. That's right people, transfer week. And I've been transferred. I'm going to Bartlett to be an STL! (Sister-Training-Leader) Crazy! I'm only going in Bartlett for one transfer, but it's going to be really fun. My new companion is Sister Anderson. I'm excited to work with her.

Ok, then Sunday was great. We had several people come, and they are beautiful and they all loved it! I'm so excited to hear how it all goes with them. It was such a fun day yesterday. I love Otter Creek, and I'll be so sad to go! But I'm excited to see what Bartlett has for me. It's going to be a lot of fun.

I was reading in Alma 52 and thinking about the strategy and how they had to coordinate everything and then follow through. And then I read verse 30 and I thought that it is amazing how much trust they had to have and did have to succeed. They didn't have cell phones to call and double check that things are still going according to plan. They just planned carefully and followed through. I thought that was really impressive.

I've loved everything. It's so fun here!

Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

Otter Creek Sisters!

Converting Kerchek!!...Set a baptismal date with him!

Farewell to the soul-sister companionship!
Thank you, Sister Brummett!

If You Talk to That Lady I'll Open the Door

All the ASL sisters and the Little Rock STLs visiting
over lunch about the exchanges

That's my boy! Love this kid, he loves the Book of Mormon
(She got to see him, her first mission baptism, while
on exchanges in her first mission area last week!)

♥ It looks like these sisters heart-attached their investigator's
door with notes and scripture hearts! ♥

Saw this girl again!

So many miracles this week. I can't even try to write them all.

So back when Sister Brumett was having her very first walk week, about 2 transfers ago, we met this great man, who was so ready for the gospel. We shared a bit with him, and then set a return appointment. And then he missed the return appointment. And then we were super busy, so we were never able to get back to his house. So, those two transfers roll by, and then we have an opportunity Monday to go by his house again. When we get there he's still waiting for us. Not only did he remember us, but he had read the pamphlet we gave him, and he wanted to know more, he wanted our number, and he accepted a baptismal date! He has been waiting for us this whole time. So now we are working with him, and he's really cool. (2 Nephi 2:24) (For Sis Brummett's account of this story, see below.)

This week we had ASL exchanges!!!! I got to go to Southaven! (I love that place) with Sister Vaitai! It was so fun! And I signed the whole time I was there, no matter what. It was hard, but not as hard as I though it would be. We had dinner with a family I had found while I was there, (and they are baptized now) and they totally remembered me! And we got to talk about the plan of salvation with them. It was so fun! And that night we Skyped with a deaf lady who is so cute! And she really wants to come to church, she just hasn't been able to find the address, so we texted it to her after. That was so exciting! She is so sweet!

The second day of the exchange we went to go see the first person I baptized. His mom is deaf, so we got to see her (she's still not baptized, but she knows it! She'll get there) but it was a bad time to see her, so we went to the library to see him (the guy I baptized-well as much as a sister can 😂), and we taught him a lesson in sign language because we couldn't talk, it's the library. That was really fun, using my language. We tried a bunch of deaf people, but no one was home or available. So we went to dinner, which just so happened to be with the family that I got to go to the temple with a couple months ago. I was fun to talk with them for an hour and to continue signing. I think I've improved a lot. Then we got to go teach ASL class. That was a lot of fun. We started working on sentence structure. Also I got to see one of the deaf members again. We had a better conversation than I was able to have with him before. I've learned a ton in the last year. (2 Nephi 28:30) Then we had ward correlation. Wow, it was cool to see all the members again, to see how the work continues to progress, to see the new people they are working with. To meet the investigators, to find new people for them to teach, some that I remember from before. One time we were driving to a deaf member's house and we saw this lady and I got the prompting to get out and talk to her, so we went and talked to her and turns out she probably talked to me a year ago, and she's been reading the Book of Mormon and loves it, and she's been dropped, but her follow up date was three days from the day we saw her and talked to her, and the appointment we set was on her follow up date. That was a really cool miracle. And I don't know if that even made sense, but it was neat. I love Sister Vaitai, she is so fun to work with, and she is so strong. I love how much she devotes to the work, how important it is for her to serve, even giving up Volleyball for it. The Lord will bless her beyond her dreams for it, we heard a story about that yesterday from the general authority who came for stake conference. It was so cool.

Then the next day we came home and all of the ASL sisters, and the Little Rock STLs went to lunch to talk about the exchange. It was good I feel like we learned a lot, and I definitely learned a ton, and next time is going to be even better.

Also, this week we finagled a ride out to a family we really needed to see, but they weren't home, again, so we were debating between going home and going finding around there, or going to try to do service at a member's home who live near. We decided on the service thing. We show up and knock on the door. Her goddaughter was there and let us in, she said that the Sister was sleeping but we were welcome to do the dishes (yes!! our goal!) and so we got to work. About a half hour later, we are nearly done and Sister Brumett is struggling to figure out where to put the rest of the dishes, the Sister gets up and walks out into the kitchen, right then I remember that she'd had surgery the day before so I ask how she's doing and everything. She was so thankful that we had come by, she said that she was planning on doing the dishes when she woke up, and that she had thought about calling us, but had decided not to. And then we just so happened to show up. The Spirit is amazing. (Alma 26:27, 3 Nephi 5:13, Alma 18:16, Matthew 25:40, D&C 8:2-3, 8-9)

On Saturday we had our first (1 1/2) ASL class for this ward, and there were six people there! A member in our ward and her son, our recent convert and his wife, and one of our investigators and her daughter. It was super fun, we got to play some games that help remember the signs. They all loved it.

This week was stake conference! I love stake conference. We got to go to the Youth meeting, and then the next day we went to the Adult meeting with our recent convert and his wife. It was so good. And we were interpreting for it at the same time. That was fun. When President and Sister Wakolo stood up to talk, I hunk they had a shorter time than planned, and I was interpreting for them, and after Sister Wakolo said a few things President started to speak. I'm pretty sure he said everything he planned on saying, because he was talking super fast, the Gift of Tongues is so real! He was spouting scriptures so fast, and I could not keep up. But I loved it because it just shows how well he knows his scriptures and the doctrine, and literally I have no idea if the things I signed made sense, but no matter how confused I was, my hands kept moving, so I know Heavenly Father was helping. (It made more sense to those who weren't trying to interpret it because I'm trying to think of signs I know and sentence structure at that point. (Ether 12:27)) Then the next day was Stake conference!!!!!!!! And we had five people show up!!! It was amazing! And they loved it! There was a musical number with a violin and piano and flute (there was supposed to be a violist ❤️ but he got sick 😢) , and Sister Brumett sang! It was beautiful. And I got to stand up with her and sign the song. It was super fun because in our Stake we have 3 languages, English, Spanish, and American Sign Language. So Sister Brumett sang a verse in English, then a verse in Spanish and I signed the whole thing. 💗 (Acts 10:34 is one of my new favorite scriptures) It was so amazing! And President and Sister Wakolo and the other general authority Elder Thompson and then the stake presidency sitting right behind us. No pressure.

Then we went to go see our other recent convert, the one we haven't been able to see in two weeks, and his wife, who's date got moved to this Saturday (it's happening this time, I know it) and they were expecting us, but again, just like usual, their door did not get opened to us. So like usual, they were either sleeping, or had forgotten or something and weren't there. So we are standing there praying that the door would open, and the thought comes to our minds, "If you talk to that lady I'll open the door." So as we walked up to their house, we passed this lady, we said hi, but we really needed to see them, so we didn't do much else. Then she went inside, and then came back out. We needed to talk to her. So we went and had a really good conversation with her, and we gave her a Book of Mormon, and invited her to an activity President Wakolo is putting on tonight. It was a really good conversation, and we are going back to teach her soon. It was amazing. Then we went back to the house and knocked again. Nothing. So we went back to our car. And right as were we're getting in the car, he called us, he opened his door, and we got out of the car, and went into his home for a wonderful lesson with him and his wife. It was so good, and the Lord always answered our prayers (Ether 12:6). That's how it works.

This week was amazing, and that does not even begin to cover all the miracles this week. It was so fun, and I learned a ton, and I want to say that I love the scriptures. When you teach from the scriptures by the Spirit, concerns are resolved, problems disappear. And it's the best when you can say, the Lord commands this because of this verse right here (a baptismal interview? Moroni 6:2, we are asked to do that by God). I love my life. It's amazing.

Love y'all!
Kimber

P.S.
This just happened:
Sis. Brumett-D&C 9:8 ...and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you. Yes! I love this scripture!
Sis. Beckstrand-My tablet is overheating.
Sis. Brumett-It's 'cus you have so many scriptures in there (referring to my email).
...
Sis. Brumett-It's bosom is burning!!
Haha 😂 I love her!

Sister Beckstrand

We saw President and Sister Wakolo on the long drive
to Memphis, and Jasmine was in the back seat!

I think this is Sis Vaitai

*Sis Brummett's account:

So, my first week out here in Arkansas, we met an older man named Kevin, but haven't been able to see him since. When we tried to visit him, he wasn't home, so we moved on. But, Kevin kept coming back to my mind every once and a while, so this week, we went to see him. He was home! We asked if he remembered us, and he said "uh... yeah!" (He said it like "no duh," it was hilarious!) We talked a little more, and I asked if he remembered anything we had talked to him about. Again, "uh... yeah!" We talked some more, and the Spirit said to ask him to be baptized. I was thinking, "We haven't even taught him anything about the gospel yet!" But, I listened to the Spirit and asked him. Guess what his response was....? "Uh.... yeah!" Haha I love this man! Now, he is loving the Book of Mormon, and says he feels so good when he reads it! (1 Nephi 1:12)

We also got another beautiful tribute email this week:

My wife are serving in the office at the Arkansas Little Rock Mission and we attend church in Little Rock, where your daughters are serving together as ASL missionaries.

Yesterday was our stake conference, and we arrived early to sit and wait for the meeting to begin.  As we waited, your daughters were there practicing to present a song during the meeting, and so we had the privilege of hearing Sister Brumett sing and Sister Breckstrand sign this lovely song, ‘Love One Another’.  They were accompanied by the piano, a violin, a cello, and a flute.  What a blessing to us to hear them sing and sign that beautiful song, done in English and Spanish probably 6 times with the practice and then in the meeting.  The practice was for the instruments, not for their performance. The angels in heaven could not have done a better job.  We are still touched by the memory of both of them. 

Thank you for raising such fine young women and supporting them as they share their great talents and their testimonies with the people here in Arkansas.

Sincerely,

Elder and Sister Hartzell

Miracles!! A little divine intervention...

Church, us and Sister Phillips (the sweetest woman ever!)

There were some pretty neat miracles this week. One time the Lord made our phone quit working for a couple hours, which was pretty annoying, but then it turned out that that needed to happen for our miracle. (Silly missionaries, don't you know that when inconvenient things happen it's because Heavenly Father wants something important to happen?) We hadn't been able see our investigator for several days, we really needed to see her because it had been so long since we'd taught her, we were having to push her baptism a couple weeks (her original date was going to be last Saturday 😕) so she could prepare. This is a really busy woman. She'd missed her appointment, we'd just had dinner, and we had to decide to go see her or go to Book of Mormon class where we just might be needed to interpret for class and our dumb phone didn't have any service to see if we were needed. So we decided to just go see her instead and be late for Book of Mormon class. We were also really on edge about the lesson plan we had because we had to tell her she couldn't be baptized in a few days. So we prayed really hard and asked for a stupor of things wouldn't come out right, and we decided to read Moroni 6 with her. I just love that chapter, it is so good! So we went in and read it and talked about what it outlines for a person to do to get baptized, and then we talked about how that applies to things she needs to do, what we have to help her do... all the things we as missionaries do, and then we talked about haw she will need a little more time to get everything done so she will be prepared for baptism. It was beautiful, and she is amazing because when we said we wouldn't be able to have that happen on the original date she said "okay, when's the next date I can be baptized on?" This woman is amazing!!!! I love her and her family! Then we left that beautiful lesson and went to Book of. Mormon class for that last fifteen minutes, and as we come in, there are two deaf members there and they totally waited for us so that we could interpret for them. They'd even calling and texting us, and we'd gotten none of it because Heavenly Father wanted us somewhere else, and when we got there our phone started working again. That was really fun.

Another time this week we were walking to an investigator's house in an apartment complex and we saw his lady and said hi, but we kept walking and then she called us back over and asked for a pamphlet or something if we were giving things out. So we had a really good conversation with her, she's neat, I hope we are able to see her again soon.

This whole week was full of things like that. We've had so many wonderful things happen. This place is the best. And this week we are having ASL exchanges, so I'm going to Southaven for a couple, days with Sister Vaitai!!! I'm super excited! Plus I'm excited to learn from Sister Vaitai. It's just so amazing here, I get a front row seat to he miracles of the gospel in people's lives. It's wonderful.

Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

We have fun skyping with the other sisters for language Study.

From Sis Brummett's email, including a story that Kimberly left out...

There were a lot of miracles this week!!!!

ROBERT IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!! (He is the deaf man we are teaching over skype.) He is so fantastic and I love him so much!!!! During our lesson with him this week, we talked about the Lord's plan for us; that we lived with Heavenly Father before we came here (Romans 8:16-17) and we want to be able to live with Him again after we die. (Moroni 7:41) We told Robert that we need to be baptized by proper authority so that we will be able to get back home. We asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said "yes! I want my sins to be removed!" After the lesson, he said the cutest prayer which went something like this: "Oh God, I want to be baptized so my sins can be removed. Thank you." I LOVE THIS HUMBLE MAN!!!!

We are going to be teaching the lessons to an adorable part-member family!!! The daughter, Amarie, is 10 and she loves the Lord with all her heart! As we were leaving, she walked up to us and said "Do you know what else I love about Jesus? He died for me. It was hard but it was worth it." I said, "because you're worth it, Amarie." I love how much the Savior loves us and he truly suffered that much for us because we are worth it; each and every one of us.

We were walking around an apartment complex when we heard someone say "this might be an awkward question, but do you have a pamphlet or something?" Her name is Aris and she is adorable! We did indeed give her a pamphlet along with the whole "Mormon starter pack" haha. (Card, pamphlet, Book of Mormon...) We hope to visit her again this week!

Waiting for the Sisters to get on Skype for language Study,
bags that Sister Breaux made for us, and SisB and I being goons!!

Some fun in the rain!

Sister B and I are making some cool wall art! We are almost done!

What a week

Wow. This week was so good! And not the best. What a missionary life we live 😍

Last week after we emailed we went to see what the elders were doing (they had walked through with a heavy looking cooler, a couple bags of potatoes, and lava lavas on. We were curious. Apparently President Wakolo wanted to put on a Fijian type luau for the local bishop and stake president of the ward he's been in for the last three years. So they were preparing for that. And President was there. So we said hi, then went off to get our grocery shopping done, then we had to come back for the wifi to finish stuff before we went home. They were still getting the luau set up. And then President asked if we were still working. We said, "No? We just emailed." (In my head I'm thinking, it's p-day right? We just emailed, I hope it really is Monday.) Then he asked why we were still dressed up. We just never thought to change, then he asked us to come over and get a piece of pizza. It was weird, but we had fun. 

Then President called us on Wednesday and invited us to attend the Missionary Leadership Council (MLC) because he was impressed that we were able to take this hard area and be so successful here. So that was cool, thanks President. Then we spent the next day trying to figure out what we did. 

MLC was amazing. I learned so much. I'm so glad I got to go. And Sister Brumett is so lucky to have that experience so early in her mission. Sister Wakolo talked about success and shared a cool scripture we keep thinking about, Alma 26:27, "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

That wasn't the only good thing there, but that was just the beginning. It was so sad though when President was instructing and someone asked a question about how to prepare for the changes that will be coming with the new mission president, he said that the moment President Hansen steps into the airport, President Wakolo's keys are gone. He said "We become Old Testament" and he had tears in his eyes as he said that. We will be so sad to see him go, he and Sister Wakolo are amazing And wonderful, but we must let them go and embrace President and Sister Hansen, and they will be amazing. Anyway, President's new assignment puts him over the mission again, but in Salt Lake instead, and then other missions are added. 

I am so grateful for the opportunity to have starved ("started" or"served" can't tell which she meant) with President Wakolo. He is an amazing spiritual man, and I will always be grateful for his leadership here. We will miss him. And I am so excited to see what comes with President and Sister Hansen. 

Mother's Day meatballs, 😭 I'm so sad, I'll probably miss them, but they are so good, maybe I'll ask him to reschedule?? Who knows. 😄

Friday was really hard at first, we were getting turned down hard by everyone we talked to, and we were feeling kinda down. When we were driving to our next appointment Sister Brumett saw a lady on working in her yard, and the Spirit told her to stop. So we pulled over and went to talk to her. The first thing we see is her really inappropriate t-shirt, and we knew that she was ready for the gospel (mostly Sister Brumett knew, she's amazing). We had a beautiful lesson with her, and she is so ready for the gospel. We were even able to go into her home and bless it, and we are going to go back soon. She is an amazing lady!

We had a million dinners with the members this week this week. Ok, not a million, but pretty much every night this week. We had dinner twice at the ward mission leader's house two days in a row, the first day was not planned, and he had his youngest son talk to us on the phone and invite us. It was so cute!!! Also, we were able to tell him what the white handbook says about his job and he loved it, he's making a few changes because of that. I love the white handbook! It is so inspired!

There is this amazing deaf guy that the sisters in Searcy found, and we had our first Skype lesson with him on Saturday! He is amazing! So prepared for the gospel!!! He has beautiful questions! He asked why Jesus was so important. We said that he made it possible for us to go back to heaven to be with Heavenly Father again. And at the end of the lesson he opened his Book of Mormon and asked us that "HATH" meant, so we told him. He has many such random and perfect questions. This man is amazing!! We are so excited to continue working with him!

So we've started praying for the Lord to send us a particular elect person everyday, and as we pray about it we ask for them to have something to identify them, remember the person with yellow shoes? That kind of thing. And we promise the Lord we will talk to them and not leave until we give them something. Yesterday's identifying feature was: Leopard print pants. Well, that turned out to be an adventure. Again as we were driving to an appointment we saw this group of people out in their yard, they were a bunch of young people partying, a worldly kind of party 😕. We looked as we drove by and just as we knew but feared, the person with the leopard print pants was at the party. So we pulled over and got out to talk to her. It was a crazy experience and if I didn't have Sister Brumett walking right beside me I never would have gotten out of the car. We went and talked to the lady, and got hit on by a drunk man, and yelled at by another two drunk guys, then we felt like we needed to go, so we got the name of the lady with the leopard print pants and left her with a card and walked away. The Lord sometimes gives us hard things to do, but it always works out when we try our best. And we are perfectly safe. That was fun. I can do hard things. 

I love it here, I love the reality of the gospel and how I've come to know it better  is than ever before, and I am so gregarious for all I've learned. I love Arkansas! This place is wonderful. The people are the best. 

Also, the Watermelon here is amazing. 

Love y'all! 

Kimber

Sister Beckstrand