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| More hats! |
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| I love her!!! |
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| District picture |
Then on Tuesday we started out with a miracle ride to district meeting, and that was just great. Lots of inspiration coming there. Then we were also able to get a miracle ride to our next appointment. It was a deaf guy and his son! We had a good meeting with them, and it was super fun to start teaching in sign, we were voicing at the same time, but it worked! The gift of tongues is real people. Then we started walking to the next person we wanted to see. And we did a lot of talking and finding as we walked. One sad part is we talked to this old guy, he's actually a pastor for a church, but we talked to him about the Book of Mormon, and he refused to take one. He felt the Spirit with it, and he agreed with the scripture we shared with him, but he was not interested in reading it. It was so sad. Someday he'll need it though, so hopefully he'll have another chance to take it. We really found a lot of people that day though, and mostly on that walk to our investigator's house. Also, this woman is amazing! One of my most favorite-est people ever! P is so funny, and so fun to be around. We were talking to her about things and she asked us if we needed anything to drink, and Sister Brumett asked if she had any water. P paused and looked down at her cup of water and said, "No, I haven't got any water." And Sister Brumett replied that that was a bad question and could she have some water? To which P said of course, and then she offered cranberry juice as another option, and so of course I took that one. She reminds me a lot of Grandmother. Then we continued talking-I think we were asking about the priesthood blessing she'd received a couple days earlier and asking what she felt from it, and then about helping her with anything she needed service-wise, and then talked about how she loves trees and rocks and flowers and just beautiful nature that Heavenly Father gave us -and we got onto the subject of how we didn't have a ride home and were quite stranded at her house, and so she offered us a ride. We gratefully accepted and we all got in her car. She had some white sticky stuff on her steering wheel that she said had come from an ice cream cone that was too soft and she hadn't gotten to cleaning if off yet, and of course now that we were talking about it we all had to go out for ice cream too now. So she took us to her favorite place and got us all a cone. One the ride back we talked a lot about temples and eternal families and how in order to go there one had to be baptized. She's been contemplating baptism for a long time, but hasn't committed yet, but by the end of our ride home we had committed her to look at a calendar and pray and ask Heavenly Father when He would like her to do it. It was such a wonderful time with her, and the Spirit was so strong. I just love her. Sister Brumett told her that the temple is better than trees and rocks and flowers and that she should try to get there as soon as she can because there is no better place on earth, and I totally agree. Then we went to do some service at the library. I just love libraries. They are so amazing, even though I cannot partake of their blessings at this moment, I still appreciate them. And the librarians there are so nice! I love them all, and we gave all of them cards with the link to he amazing new Easter video (which y'all should watch if you haven't yet-its amazing) and told them a little about it. I just love those people 😍. Then we got a ride from a wonderful member that is just a hoot to be around, and we met her for the first time when she picked us up there. I just love her. She took us to our next appointment who ended up not being there, which was weird, but then she took us back to the library after that because I ended up leaving my bag there and we barely made it there in time before the library closed, so all went well, TENDER MERCIES!!!😁 And then we saw Dick and Linda. They really are some of the best people ever! I love them. And it makes their day when we go by, and I love being able to stop by everyday for a few minutes to keep them uplifted. They are so cute!
And then came Wednesday. This is the day it stared to get really interesting. We were in the middle of trying to plan for the day, and were doing a terrible job of focusing when President Jones called and said to go over to the Hermanas apartment because Hermana Quigley was going to spend the day with us and then her companion was going to spend the day with the STLs. This was rather surprising, but we grabbed our sticks (Ezekiel 37:16-19) and ran over there. Then we continued to attempt to plan while we were all sitting there very confused as to what was going on and trying to figure it out and waiting for the STLs to show up. When they got there we went back to our apartment and finished planning, adding in the Hermanas appointments and our plans magically fit! Heavenly Father and the Spirit knew, that's why it was so rough before. Also, even though it was our walk week, it was not their walk week, so we now had a car to work with! Yay, life became so much easier, but we still wanted to focus on finding, so our goals were heavily focused on that. Then we went and taught a lesson to a Spanish investigator for the Hermanas, and I am thoroughly impressed with Hermana Quigley, she's only 8 weeks old, and she was able to teach a whole lesson in Spanish without any previous training. I understood nothing of course, but the spirit was strong. It was fun. Then we came home for lunch and language study which I totally enjoy, I love learning ASL. After that we went to contact some investigators we hadn't seen in too long, and met one of them and her cousins, we had a really great lesson one, and set a date with them. They are really cool, and they really liked the message of the restoration. And Hermana Quigley's testimony really got them. Heavenly Father is definitely in charge. We saw another investigator and did many other things that day, one of the most surprising things was at the end of the day, after Book of Mormon class (by the way we talked about Ether 3 this week, which is my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon because of the incredible events there. I love that book!) we found out that our little trio would last the night too. So we all went home, and grabbed Hermana Quigley's stuff from next door, it was useful having her apartment right next door. It helped with food and stuff.
So that was just Wednesday, on Thursday we had more fun things. It didn't start off super fun though. After our studies (which were great as always) we went to grab some food from Hermana Quigley's apartment and on our way back Sister Brumett felt prompted to go by Dick's to see if he was ok. We walked up at a time when he'd given into some temptation, and was feeling really down. We were so sad that he was struggling and we said that we would be back in an hour or so after we'd eaten our lunch and seen somebody we had an appointment with. During lunch we thought of a plan, and we were so excited to start with him. We stopped by after lunch to see how he felt about it and then went off to accomplish it, and see the person we had an appointment with. On our way back we stopped by the church to grab a wheelchair and see if the Family History Center was open, it was technically closed, but a member in the ward was still working in it, and they said we could still bring them. So we ran home to get Dick and Linda (the wheelchair was for Linda since she couldn't walk all the way to the church). They loved it! The whole walk there was so fun for them, and they weather was just beautiful. And Linda and I got there before Dick and Sister Brumett and Hermana Quigley, so she called them slow pokes! She is so cute! And they just loved it there! At first we were a little rushed with time, we had an appointment to get to, but we felt that this really needed to happen. And then our appointment cancelled, and it suddenly worked out to give them what they needed. And they really just loved it so much! We are so excited to take them back this week. After we took them back home we went back to P's house and did some exercise for her again. And then she took us out to ice cream again. I love her! Then we saw our other investigator, and it was pretty rushed with him, and we felt really bad, but it was so good that we got to see him. So that morning during exercise we received a phone call that brought information that Hermana Quigley's companion was going home the next day, so we had to then go meet up with them to give them the key to the apartment so she could go pack. Then our appointment fell through which was sad, but we got to go try another person that ended up not being there, but it was good stuff. The we went and got dinner at chick fil a, and then played volleyball with the Ward during dinner. It was so fun.
Then Friday came, we got most of our weekly planning done and then had to run out to an appointment, which also fell through, but we talked to an amazing lady, and started to teach her too. She is so great! I'm excited to keep teaching her. Then we went and had an amazing unplanned lesson with an investigator we haven't been able to see in a while. I love teaching by the Spirit. I learn so much, and it actually teaches the person what they need to know. Plus, there are things that I can say as a set apart missionary that I would not have the authority to say if I were not such. I feel like I learned a lot about the setting apart this week. There is a cool quote I found in PMG (Preach My Gospel, missionary study guide) this week that really helped me understand it, "The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance” (Spencer W. Kimball). It really is true, and from that we can say things that no one else can. It was amazing. Then we went to do more service at the library, but as we were walking in we met this wonderful woman in the parking lot, and we started to teach her right there. She has an amazing desire to learn, and she had all the right questions. She is so excited to meet with us again, and we can't wait to share more with her. Then we had more productive things happen including contacting a referral who ended up being amazing and we are going back soon. And then right as we were coming in for dinner, Hermana Quigley's new companions arrived. They took our Quigley away! It was so sad! But we truly enjoyed having her with us for those few days.
And finally Saturday, we were able to get a member to go with us to contact some people we planned on seeing, we had fun with her, and she was able to take us to a deaf family's home and we got to meet them and talk to them a little bit. They were super nice. And then she dropped us off at a less active lady's home for her granddaughters birthday party. It was fun, and we were able to help her out a bit with it. And then after that we were able to coordinate a ride home from a member, and then go see Dick and go out walking again. It was a good day, it a little less eventful than the day before. Also for some strange reason we were exhausted that day. It was a relief to go to bed.
And then on Sunday morning we were refreshed and ready to go again. We had a wonderful time at church, Sister Brumett is a great interpreter. I love the deaf people. And the sacrament was beautiful. I've been studying the sacrament prayers this week a little, and I thought it was interesting that it is blessed and sanctified for the souls. Not done thinking about it, but I think it is interesting that we bless it, like the rest of our food for our bodies, but then we sanctify it for to bless our souls. To renew our covenant with the Father. And it is especially powerful during a Fast Sunday because then your boys (body?) enjoys it even more, and your spiritual side is already being fulfilled, and then during the sacrament it is the most tangible physical way to feed the soul, and I just think that is beautiful, and there is definitely more to this, but I'm not done studying it. After church we got a car again! And it's another one of those fancy cars, Chevy Malibu. I'm a spoiled missionary. But it was great because we got to go out to see some people, and had a wonderful visit with a sweet lady who is less active, and she invited us over to dinner for Easter! I love her!!
And then the most beautiful lesson all week (maybe because it happened just last night, but it was incredible), we saw C, and he's been in a lot of pain the last few day, and he's having surgery his Tuesday, and we felt prompted to offer him a priesthood blessing. So we called the ward mission leader and as he was figuring it out we gave C a beautiful lesson completely by the spirit. It was a word of wisdom lesson, but the most beautiful way I've ever done it before. We started with the plan of salvation, with how we will get perfect bodies back in the resurrection and how when we lived with Heavenly Father before we accepted to come to earth and receive our bodies. We talked about how it is a gift from God and we accepted his directions. And then we talked about the instructions he's given us for it and we focused hugely on the blessings. He accepted it all and completely agreed with it. He is such a humble man, and the Spirit is working so strongly with him! Then the ward mission leader called and said he was there with an elder from the church. And they came in and gave C a beautiful blessing. The priesthood is amazing, and I just love this place. I love the people we are teaching, I love the ward, I love Arkansas. The Atonement is real! And the scriptures are the most wonderful things ever! I don't know how I lived without them! I barely touched them before, but now I can't put them down! Thank you for all your prayers, and thank you for making it to the end of my incredibly long letter, I love y'all and hope you have a great week!
Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand
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| Here we are again |
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| Aren't we cute?! |
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| Ice cream cones! |
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| Mmmm! |
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| Threesome in the park |
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