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!

😰 No more walking!

So this week was a little rough. First, we ran out of miles. Little Rock is so far that living there took a big toll on our miles before we moved. So we walked, for three days we did pretty good walking to all the places we needed to go. First, we walked all the way from our apartment along Warden Road to a road about 2.8 miles away. That took about an hour. Then that night we walked 1.5 miles to the church, which took 30 minutes and then to dinner, 0.9 miles for about 20 minutes and then home, 2.7 miles which was another hour. Then the next morning we walked back to the church 3.5 miles away from our apartment, that took 1 hour and 20 minutes. We were on time for our ride to lunch. But completely exhausted and overheating a little bit. We were finding for all that time, but Sister Esplin's ankle did not like it and it was hurting her pretty bad, so we got permission for more miles and no walk week, but we have to be super sparing about it and ride with members whenever possible. But no more walking, doctor's orders. Sprained ankles cause problems as a missionary, but Sister Esplin is a trooper getting the work done even though it hurts. Over all in those two days we walked 11.4 miles in 4 hours of walking this week. We were so sore and tired. It was fun though. We feel like we accomplished a lot.

Then it turned out we had been handing out Spanish cards all along. Oh what a week! Also, all the people we have been teaching have disappeared. So we are officially starting over again. It's kind of funny, our focus now is all finding, but we're not supposed to walk... ☺️ Well, we'll just take it slow and knock every house on streets we feel inspired to go to.

We've been doing a lot of RCLA (recent convert/returning member) work lately. We have more  lessons with them than investigators. We have found great success with them so far.

It was a good week, but no exciting stories to tell, sorry. The women's broadcast was really good, and out recent convert, Donna, came to that. It was great.

Love y'all!
Sister Beckstrand

Walking in the Arkansas heat...

...we are so tired. (But still smiling!)

Poor Sister Esplin! :(

 

Lots of people to meet

This week was great. We did a lot of less active and new member work. We are helping one lady get to the temple, and we are so excited for her, another few ladies to start coming to church again, and always sharing our testimonies of Christ.

We had specialized training this week, and it was a really good meeting with lots of take always to help the missionary work. It was kind of rough this week for us. Sister Esplin wasn't feeling very
good, and she hurt her ankle a week ago, so that was hampering her mobility, and then I was struggling to balance getting all the work done we needed to and make sure we didn't push her too hard. But we were able to go to the doctor today and she'll be doing some physical therapy to help it get better.

We also got a list of all members and marked who was active and less active and who was a part-member family. And we've been going around all week visiting these people and getting to know them. It was a good week. Lots of fun things happening with the people.

Sister Beckstrand

We totally matched on accident! It was so funny 😂

That was pretty fun! Love ya Gregory!

Silly companions!

Someday I'll get this missionary thing right...

Counterclockwise: Sis B, Sis. Esplin, Sis. Decker, Sis. Hirschi

Together again

A Harry Potter Bedroom!

It's been a week. It was really good. Probably the first best thing that happened this week was when we had exchanges. Sister Esplin stayed here and I went to Conway again. And Sister Decker (who was in the MTC with me) was here with Sister Esplin while I was with Sister Hirschi!! It was really fun. I loved being with Sister Hirschi again, it was so fun, and so much like when we were together before, but better. Pretty sure. It was just really fun. And I have some great goals to work on now.

Also this week, we moved!! Finally, we have a real apartment for us. And it's huge!! (I'll send pictures later, like maybe next week.) It's a two story condominium. We knew it was coming at the end of the week, but the office elders called about half an hour before we finished weekly planning and told us to pack up and to be at the new apartment in half an hour. So it actually took us an hour, we had to finish a load of laundry and get the apartment neat, we only had time to fit half our stuff in the car and we had to leave. We stopped at the church to put our food in the fridge, and then we went and got the keys for the new apartment. It's truly beautiful. And way huge. With a dining room, a kitchen, a pantry, a Harry Potter bedroom under the stairs, a family/living room, 3 bathrooms- one downstairs and two upstairs- and two bedrooms upstairs. It's way too big for the two of us, but I'm sure we'll fill it. There is just a lot of bare wall space we get to find a way to fill now. And we are still living in bags, trying to prevent anything that may or may not happen.

We also met a really awesome family this week, and they all asked for copies of the Book of Mormon during our lesson! It was really exciting. There are the cutest little girls there too.

Crazy thing, it was stake conference his week, and we talked to Donna (our recent convert) Saturday and made sure that she knew about it and that she was planning on going. She said that yes she was, and she also told us what she was going to wear. We weren't worried about her. The next morning we texted a lot of people to go to church and pretty much nobody replied. Then we went to church and got Donna a seat saved with some members in the ward, then we went and sat with another recent convert and Jasmine Wakolo because President and Sister Wakolo were speaking in the meeting. So we kept watching and waiting for people to show up, and nobody was coming or replying to our texts. Donna wasn't there yet, but she is usually later because she is slower with her walker. Finally we decide to call her and she didn't answer, but still no worries, it takes her a while to find her phone when it rings. Then the meeting starts. We are sitting there and the first speaker is about to get up and speak when we notice that Donna had called us. We felt like we had to go listen to her voicemail and if she was there tell her about her seat we saved. So we go out and call her and she says that she had fallen the night before and hadn't been able to get up all night!! She was still on the floor!! We rushed back to our keys and told Jasmine and Cyrstal (the recent convert) we'd be back soon and ran out to the car. We went and helped Donna up, put her to bed to sleep, and then rushed back to church. We missed only the first talk and the begining of the second, and we were there for the rest of the meeting. It was a good meeting, full of good talks. All is well, and Donna is fine, we had a great day yesterday overall. And, last night we got to go with one of our investigators to the young adult fireside. It was really good. And I feel like it was good for her too. That was the most exciting things that happened this week. It was a good week. Super busy, I'm still really tired, and it was great.

Love Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

Isn't she cute!?

Testimonies and miracles

Hey all! It's been a crazy week, on Monday we lost sister Evans :( so we spent this week figuring out our lives without her. We're finally getting it by the end of  the week. It's also really weird to be in a duo companionship rather than a trio ;) So we should be moving hopefully tomorrow, but at least this week. So we're still in the transfer apartment. And training has been fun. It's not that bad, especially  since Sister Esplin is such an amazing missionary already. It's like she's  pre-trained. It's been really good.

Also this week, there are 21 more new missionaries!! And the apartment we are in right now just so happens to be the transfer apartment. So there were five other sisters staying there besides us. And we had to drive them to and from the church in the morning and at night. It's a good thing we have the van. (And hopefully we are moving sometime this week.) Then on Thursday when they sent all the new missionaries out to their areas with their trainers, they had to take 26 people to the Memphis side, and so they took our car; so we had an extra walk day. Then they kept the car all day, so we ended up helping out in the office a bit dealing with the new missionaries paperwork. It was really fun. I actually like the tedious office work. Is that weird? I like it though. Then this week we finally saw an investigator that we haven't been able to see for a couple weeks, and she had a baptismal date for really soon. And she came to church! We are really excited to be working with her again.

It was a good week, it took a few days, but we are back on our feet figuring things out. This week has been full of learning and miracles. Also, I have seriously loved the things I've been reading in the Book of Mormon this week. I read a lot of prophets testimonies, and the blessings they see in their lives and those of the nation they are with. It's really cool to see the things that are important to them and how in the hard time they always saw how God used it for the good of the people.

One big miracle this week happened yesterday, so starting at the beginning, our first week here we saw a less active couple, we only saw the wife for a minute and then she went into the room because she wasn't feeling good, and her husband told us that she never stayed when the missionaries came over, that she might have some beef with the church or something, but he's not sure. Now he would be at church if he could drive, but he can't anymore, and he doesn't want to push her so he doesn't come. So, for all of last transfer I've been
periodically thinking of her and praying for some opportunity to serve her and be able to talk to her. Then yesterday we finally felt like it was a good time to go back and see this couple again. When we came he welcomed us in, and as we walked in we saw his wife in the office printing a bunch of papers for school. She teaches kindergarten, and we got talking about it, (Sister Esplin is going into elementary education). We were able to have a nice long conversation with her. Just standing there and talking about her life. Then we asked if we could leave a thought after about half an hour or fourth five minutes, and she came out of the office and we all sat on the couch and we read 2 Nephi 32:9. They both really liked it. And before we left we gave them our number and told her to call us if she ever needed service of any kind. She said she would when she started cutting out stuff for school. My prayers have been answered!! We were able to talk to her, we build a good relationship and, more specifically, we found a way to serve her!!! It was great. I'm so excited.

It's been a great week.

Love Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

So I emailed her back and asked if anybody knew it was her birthday, and whether she'd gotten the package we sent her. I got this back: 

Thank you! Ya, people know it's my birthday. The whole office sang to me this morning. It was fun. One of our investigators wants to make a cake with us today. It's been really fun. Sister Esplin sang me all the birthday songs in the children's songbook. It was really fun. 

That really soothed my mother-heart that someone else was remembering her, and singing to her since we can't. Then a few minutes later I got an email from the mission secretary saying that a package had arrived but had been opened. She described what was inside, and I wrote back, "The fudge is missing! Too bad!" Then I got this:

Ok, the fudge did come, and I opened the package because it was a little ripped, and I stuck the fudge in the fridges do then left the package on the table next to sister Hugentobler's desk all weekend so I wouldn't be tempted to open my presents. And the fudge was in the office fridge because I haven't wanted it to melt in the car because we are so far away from our apartment right now. 

Then tonight at a RS activity, a sister from my ward turned to me and said, "I saw your daughter on Sunday!" Turns out she had gone to visit her brother and his family in North Little Rock and she recognized Kimberly there!! What a small world when you are in the Church.

I'm enjoying getting two sides of the story lately since I found Sister Esplin's blog! Now with this link, Kimberly will eventually be able to read it too!

Moving, President Wakolo our Companion, and a baptism!!!!!

Guess what we got yesterday (Saturday afternoon)?!

Hey, I'm emailing today, right now, cuz Sister Evans goes home on Monday...

This week has been crazy!! Monday was nuts! We finished emailing, and were driving up with our groceries when the office elders called, and told us we were moving. The next day. So we rushed home and started putting everything in ziplock bags and garbage bags. And we had to vacuum and lay out all our drawers and get the whole apartment ready for spraying. Our plans went down the drain and we cleaned and packed all evening. The elders came and sprayed the apartment. We slept without sheets because we didn't want to get them dirty (get bed bugs on them and have to wash and dry again, like we've been doing everyday since we've had them).

Giant garbage bags!

Then on Tuesday we had to cancel most of our plans. We did get to see Donna and Chelsea. So two lessons all day. Yay! They were really good at least. Then we had to go to the laundromat to dry ALL of our clothes and kill any bugs still on or in our stuff (that took two days). Then we actually moved to our new temporary apartment while they look for a new one for us to move into. It's a nice apartment. It's the apartment meant for transfers/trainers. So next week there are going to be six sisters there, (if we're still there). 

Wednesday was cool. Seriously. We had a great lesson with Donna. She has changed so much! You wouldn't believe how different she is now. She laughs and she smiles. She loves it when we come over. Then we went to the church and had a great lesson with a less active couple with President Wakolo. That was a wonderful lesson. It's so inspiring to be with President and to watch him teach. The Spirit there reminded me of the temple. It was amazing. Then Donna came to the church to have her interview. We were seriously with President pretty much all day because after that we had to go back to the laundromat and then the apartment to catch up on 12 week. (?)

Thursday was another adventure. Just before studies we read an email about MLC (missionary leadership training) and found out that we had to be at the church to get two sisters who weren't part of it for the end of the morning until mid afternoon. So we went there and studied with them. Then we found out that we had to do some more cleaning in
our apartment and get ALL of our stuff out so they could spray again before they shut down the apartment. So we had to go on splits with Sister Lange and Sister Kirby (the two sisters we had to be with). Sister Esplin and I cleaned while Sister Evans took the other sisters to our lesson. After that we went to a lesson that fell through, so we went back to the church to figure stuff out for today. We got to see all the leaders on the mission. I saw Sister Hirschi!! And Sister Decker! And Sister Pochop (who goes home with Sister Evans)! It was so great. We also saw President again. Super fun. 

On Friday we ran around trying to meet people, but not much happened. Then we had a lesson with Donna and her home teacher and visiting teacher. It was so good they are perfect for her. They have so much in common. Then we went and had dinner with a less active. We went home and did preventative measures against bed bugs at the temporary apartment.

Today Donna got baptized!!!!! It was so good. There were a lot of people there. What a great way for Sister Evans to end her mission. Donna is the best. There were so many people there to support her. There would have been a lot more, but a lot of people went down to Louisiana to help with the flooding this weekend. It was a really good baptism. I love Donna.

It has been such a good week. So much has happened, and we have all learned so much. It's going to be so hard when Sister Evans goes home. We have had so much fun. I just love it here! And I love learning so much from the scriptures and being able to read them so much. Every verse truly does apply to us. It's so cool. The other day I was reading Alma 19:36, and I was just thinking that right there it tells us how to get that blessing to "pour out his spirit upon them,...his arm is extended to all..." That whole chapter just describes ways of receiving those blessings. It says "and thus..." It just tells us what to do! I love it. So many learning opportunities.

Love Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

This is the best one. Donna!

Our district

Little Rock Arkansas Capitol

Our Threesome Companionship

Beautiful Arkansas 

A cute southern home

The Zombie Apocalypse & Baptist Missionaries

Gorgeous missionary, gorgeous country

This week has been full of highs and lows. But the best part is at this Saturday we are most likely going to have a baptism. Just in time for Sister Evans to go home next week.

Last week we had a sisters p-day and we played a lot of fun games with all the sisters in our zone. Lots of fun things. Also, if there was a zombie apocalypse and I could choose one person from the mission to be on my team, it would be Sister Hirschi. And Sister Esplin would choose me. I feel like that would be a fun experience.

The next day we had a more good lessons. There was an emergency lesson, that messed up our day for the better, with the lady we had the lesson over the phone with. She never keeps appointments, but we had to see her, so we dropped everything and went and saw her. It was a good lesson. Lots of lessons that day were good. Nothing too exciting.

Then it was Wednesday. That was a good day. Zone conference. All day. Seriously. From nine to six. It was so good. So many good inspirational lessons. Also, we had a testimony meeting where president had every single missionary bear their testimony. It was going to be for an hour. But, there were three zones here. All of the missionaries in Arkansas were there. It definitely took two and a half hours. It was so good. President asked us all to bear our testimony of the Savior. The Spirit was so strong. So many powerful testimonies. Also, thinking about it, in the two days (Wednesday and Thursday) every single missionary shared their testimony of the Savior for each other to hear. All together (Thursday was the day that the other two zones on the other side of the river had their zone conference) and it was so good.

On Thursday we had a had a bed bug scare again, so we were super stressed and tired and just feeling kind of depressed. Then we had one of our investigators drop us. With members there. It was a little awkward, but we had to deal. Then we went and had a great dinner with some amazing members who are such cool people. Then we went to the church and did a service with the Relief Society of packing backpacks for the homeless. It was really fun, and we had a great time talking to the members. Then we played a little volleyball before we went home. So overall, the day ended on a fun note.

Friday was so good. We had an amazing lesson with an investigator who is planning on getting baptized on Saturday, and she said that "if everyone lived by the principles taught in the Book of Mormon then the world would be a much better place!!!" It was so cool. I love her. (Mom's response to that was, "Be sure she knows that sometimes the members forget that too...")

And Saturday was a really interesting experience. We had a couple guys knock on our door during lunch. Turns out they are baptist guys who are sharing the word. It was an interesting experience to be on the receiving end of knocking doors. But another interesting thing was to see how they were doing it wrong and not being very nice about it. For real, only in the south! But they were doing good, sharing what the believe. It was a little funny though, when we opened the door the guy saw our wall that had a poster on it that said Mormon.org, and he was like, "so I guess you're Mormon?" It was just an awkward experience. But then we had a great day filled with missionary work that was really fun.

Finally Sunday was awesome. Mostly. Pretty much awesome. Church was so good. So many people there. Donne, the one getting baptized on Saturday (not to be confused with Dana, a different investigator) was there. Also a few less actives we have been working with. One of the best was Chelsea. She has been coming for three weeks now. She is pretty much completely reactivated, and pretty. It's just because of knocking on her door at 8:50 pm and not wanting to go in early. I have a testimony of staying out until 9:00! It is so important. Those ten minutes are miracle minutes!!! Obedience is key.

Seriously, it's been a great week. I've been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon, and it is incredible. And this week I started really reading the Old Testament, and I'm definitely obsessed. My companions are a little annoyed of me saying that I just love the Old Testament. It's just so good!!! All of the scriptures are. Also, I read a really cool quote this morning:

“The story of Joseph, the son of Jacob who was called Israel, is a vivid representation of the great truth that ‘all things work together for good to [those] who loved God.’ (See Rom. 8:28.) Joseph always seemed to do the right thing; but still, more importantly, he did it for the right reason. And how very, very significant that is! Joseph was sold by his own brothers as a slave and was purchased by Potiphar, a captain of the guard of Pharaoh. But even as an indentured servant, Joseph turned every experience and all circumstances, no matter how trying, into something good.

“This ability to turn everything into something good appears to be a godly characteristic. Our Heavenly Father always seems able to do this. Everything, no matter how dire, becomes a victory to the Lord. Joseph, although a slave and wholly undeserving of this fate, nevertheless remained faithful to the Lord and continued to live the commandments and made something very good of his degrading circumstances. People like this cannot be defeated, because they will not give up. They have the correct, positive attitude, and Dale Carnegie’s expression seems to apply: If you feel you have a lemon, you can either complain about how sour it is, or you can make a lemonade. It is all up to you.” (Hartman Rector, Jr., “Live above the Law to Be Free,” Ensign, Jan. 1973, p. 130.)

Sorry it's kinda long, it's from the institute manual. There are so many treasures there. I love it!! Mmm, so good.

Also, this morning I woke up to a bunch of bed bug bites all over my legs. They're back. And they're evil. So were stressed about that again. So I super feel that the quote super applies.
Anyway, thanks for all you letters of love and support. I love you guys, and keep up the good work!

Love, Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

Sis Esplin & Sis Beckstrand

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...