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!

Hospitalized!

Sister Beckstrand - before mission

FYI - we won't be getting an email from Kimberly this week. We got an email from one of her companions saying that it had been a crazy week, and that Sister Beckstrand will email when she can.  Then not an hour later, I got a phone call from the mission president saying that she was in the ER. She has been sick for a few days, finally becoming dehydrated enough that she had to be admitted. I just got word this morning that she has been diagnosed with infectious gastroenteritis. They will be giving her IV antibiotics and plan to keep her in the hospital for a couple more days.

We sent her on this mission, knowing that there's lots of bad out there. I remember people saying, "Aren't you glad she's stateside, and not in one of the more dangerous missions out there?" Frankly, we decided not to worry either way, because we were turning her care over to God - it's ultimately in His hands anyway, including at home or on a mission, and we know that He takes care of His missionaries. Both Kimberly's dad and I served missions, and experienced this. On my mission in the Philippines, I was attacked by a burgler, and ended up hospitalized, needing hand surgery but I still knew that God had protected me from much worse, and I was okay. I tangibly felt that protection many times during those 18 months, and that has carried over to my faith that He will watch over my/ALL missionaries, even all my children where ever they are and whatever they are doing. He loves them more than I do, they are more His than mine. We know that she'll be okay, whatever God wants that to mean. From her diagnosis, it sounds like she'll be back to work in a very little time, fully recovered, God willing. I am grateful for this age of instant communication - that we know now - unlike my parents who didn't know anything until weeks afterward! ...I think...then again, it's in His hands anyway! Trials are a part of mission life, an integral part of mortal life really, the part that helps us come to know Him when we turn to Him in the midst of the depths, and that is worth any cost.

One advantage, with their companionship a trio, it's easy for them to find a member to come be with Sister Beckstrand while the other two continue with the appointments they already had, and the work goes on in spite of this setback. 

Another advantage, I got to talk to her mission president, who went on and on about what a great missionary she is, and how much she is growing. He is a wonderful, spiritual man!

Another blessing was that Dad & Mom received BEAUTIFUL personal Fathers' Day and birthday greetings in the mailbox earlier this week, and we can read these over and over while we wait for her next email communication!

Mission conference - Hitting the Ground Running! H O T !

First, happy birthday!!! Love you Mom!

This week has been great. On Tuesday we had a mission tour where Elder Arnold came and talked to us. I learned so much (plus I got to see Sister Hirschi). It was incredible. Talk about being spiritually filled. We have so many things to improve on, and we have been so excited to apply all the things we were told to do. You know all those fire sides where you go and get a huge spiritual high, but the you go home and your not sure how to apply all the wonderful things you just learned? Ya, it was nothing like that. We got things to stop doing, things to start doing, and how to apply everything we talked about. It was amazing. He told us to stop scheduling in time for tracking, if an appointment falls through visit the less actives around them, and then if the time scheduled for that area is not gone, then we tract. And even the way we teach, like always always use a pamphlet, and don't leave a,embers house without asking for referrals. It was so good! We all hit the ground running after all that spiritual high. We had a lot of fun this week.

Sister Wilson has been out so long, I believe she is going home in the next few months. She is technically from Colorado, but she has lived  everywhere. She's a "military brat" as she calls it. She's a really sweet sister. We were having a tough time this week with trying to figure out how for all of us to be successful missionaries together, and it wasn't working. Then we had a much needed and spiritually lead comp inventory, and we have figured it all out! I have a testimony of comp inventory! We have always gotten along, but now we are not stressing each other out nearly as much, and we laugh a lot more.

Sister Wilson knows some ASL, and she is so excited to be learning it too! It's awesome. I love learning it, and Sister Havran knows her stuff so that makes it a little easier. We are teaching one deaf couple , but mostly Sister Havran teaches, and we try our best to follow along.

And it is getting really hot here now. The humidity is coming too. It was over 100 degrees this week, and it felt hotter because it's humid. I just want to say that I am grateful I came in the middle of winter so I could be conditioned to the heat as it warms up. That's all I can say about it. So many good things this week, and I  love it all!

Love,
Kimber

(Mom's note - I had to rephrase one sentence that didn't make sense, and I hope I caught the main meaning of what she was trying to say. What she is experiencing is the common experience with all human interactions where more than one person are working together - companions, work mates, friends, husbands and wives. Communication solves so much, especially "spiritually lead" ones! I'm glad she's learning how to do that now!)

An incredible Sunday

Probably the most tiring walk week ever. All of our teaching pool was basically on hold this week, and it was really hot. Kind of an unproductive week. But, Sunday was incredible. We got the car back, which was awesome, then we saw a family that we had previously had an anti scare from that we haven't been able to contact since Sister Hirschi left. We were so grateful. We had even fasted for them we were so worried. They had even been looking stuff up and about the church, and that morning they had found Meet the Mormons and watched it! Then we had an amazing dinner with another family of investigators. They are so cool. We've been going over the plan of salvation with them the last couple times, and the mom asked for the scriptures for it so she could look it up and make a lesson plan to teach the girls again. They are so cool. I love all these families that are looking and learning even when we are not there. It's incredible!

This week has been exhausting, but awesome-mostly according to Sunday afternoon. So many blessings! We got saved from heat stroke by some members on Saturday, we were walking and were getting nothing done, it was too hot, and we were smelly. So they came and got us, we went home and changed clothes, then they took us to another members for an hour to do service, then we had dinner with them. They probably saved our lives on Saturday. It was so hot. So we're not doing that again. But adventures all around.

Love y'all! Kimber

Transfers...boo hoo...

This has been a really good, and super crazy week. Last week we got the call that Sister Hirschi is leaving and is going to trio train. She was going to have all week to say goodbye to everyone and pack up her stuff. Then Wednesday morning Elder Cunningham called and said that because the companions of the sister she's training with are going into leadership positions she needed a companion right away, so she has to leave Thursday morning. So we tossed all our plans for the day and started texting people to be able to visit them so she could say goodbye. We ran around all day, packed everything that night, and sent her off with a member because we had to go to a teaching appointment that day morning. We were all very sad about it. Then I was made the designated driver. And I had to drive everywhere. I don't really know the area at all, even though I've been here since January. (This, our directionally challenged daughter!)

Oh well. We were super stressed all week because we knew Sister Hirschi was going, and then she did leave, we had to do everything without her all of the sudden, and we still weren't sure if either on of us were staying or going. But, we made it through. We got hold of ourselves and did it. Then we found out both of us are staying, and we are getting a new companion. We picked her up today, her name is Sister Wilson. I like her. This will be a fun transfer. Starting with walk week. We had a member take us shopping today, and she is totally one of my favorite people. I love the members here!! We got to see Sister Hirschi today when went to pick up Sister Wilson. That was really exciting. I also go to see Sister Pochop, which was also pretty exciting. So many exciting things today.

That's us, figuring out how to missionary without Sister Hirschi

It's been a crazy week. And a good one. I love all that people here. I'm so excited I get to stay and continue to love these people and get to know hem even more. there are so many people we are teaching. This week we walked into an investigators home and they told us that they had been organizing their closets separating their regular cloths form their church clothes. That was so cool!! They really love church. It's been so good this week.

Love Kimber