Alma 26:5

Pres Hansen & Sister Beckstrand

Sister Beckstrand at the Memphis Temple

Playing with Sis Beckstrand's long hair...

This week was so good. I loved it! On Monday a member took us to explore Downtown Memphis, that was so fun. We had a blast.

Tuesday was my last District meeting, and we all shared spiritual experiences. It was so good. Pretty much every story from the elders was a time they had given a blessing. It is so inspired to send young men new to the priesthood out to teach about it, and to have such amazing opportunities to use that power to help others. It is amazing. Also, I had my last exchange! I went to Walnut Grove with Sister Povey and Sister Anderson stayed in Bartlett with Sister Ellis! STL exchange, a new thing! It was fun, and it rained! I love the rain here!!  So fun. Sister Povey is amazing!

On Thursday we had Missionary Leadership Council in North Little Rock, wow, it was so good. And I just keep having my testimony of President Hansen grown every time I meet with him. He is so close to the Spirit! Everything was amazing.

Miracle
8:45 at night we have to drop off these cookies at our investigators (M's) house. So we run up to the door to drop them off, and she invited us in for a minute. We came in, and met her friend (W) who was over, and W mentioned a text we'd sent out a couple days earlier to M. She said that when we sent it at the perfect time, she has been stressed about things, and it was exactly what she needed to hear at that moment. (Something about Fear not and seeking the kingdom of heaven first, it was good.) So we got to talking and then started spontaneously having the first lesson with her. It was crazy because Sister Anderson had to focus on talking to M so she didn't keep moving the conversation away from where it was going, and hen I focused on talking to W and answering her questions and all the answers were in lesson one! It's so cool, because most of people's questions have to do with the answers that come from lesson one. It was incredible because W asked if we could set a date right then for her two sons to be baptized. And we set a return appointment to come back an officially teach them the lessons. Then we drove home as fast as we could while keeping to the speed limit. That was one of the most amazing lessons I've ever been in, and it was all because we were bringing cookies to our investigator! I love my life!!

To top it off, yesterday our recent converts were finally able to make it to church (they had missed the last three weeks due to being out of town, sick...) and the young man was able to receive the priesthood!!! It was amazing! His family is so beautiful! I love Bartlett!!

A scripture that I found a little bit ago, maybe last week, that I just loved: Alma 26:5, "Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted."

I though it was so beautiful! It connects so well with D&C 4, one of the scriptures I have been quoting my whole mission. This has been a beautiful and wonderful experience. I have learned so much. One of the most important things I've learned is the why of the gospel. The why of everything, and I would not trade it for anything! I love the Gospel! I love the Bible and a Book of Mormon! I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I love it all! And I know it is true.

Love y'all!
Sister Kimberly K. Beckstrand
Sister Beckstrand

Note the change in her signature? I did. She's on her way home!!! She's at the mission home now, and will be flying home tomorrow!

Wahooo!!!

Outgoing missionaries with President Hansen

Sis B & Sis Ellis saying their farewells - Love you!

Love y'all! Goodbye!

Sister B with one of the Mission Mamas,
Pat Baker Christensen from Millington

Outgoing missionaries got to go to the temple today!

We'll get to hug you in a few hours, Kimberly! Lots of love, Mom & family

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

Tender Mercies

It just gets busier and busier every week! For Halloween we went to a members house and I got to hold a little puppy for two hours as we handed out (pass-along?) cards to all the trick or treaters. It was so fun, and it kept me really warm 😊.

On Tuesday we had another district meeting, but they told us where it was this time. We double checked. We had a lot of good meeting that day. We had two lessons in particular that were really great. We talked to one guy who is really fun to talk to, and we read the Book of Mormon with him, and he said that he would try even harder to read because we talked more about what it talks about and he got a little more interested. Then the other lesson was also our dinner appointment, and we got a lot covered. This guy actually came to church Sunday to fast for a date he would be baptized! Hopefully after more thought he'll know what revelations he received at that time.

Wednesday felt less busy, but we had a really good day. We had a great missionary correlation mtg, and that was really helpful. And we met a lot of people, so things accomplished! We also contacted a referral! It was a pure miracle how we found him. The address we got had a good road, but the house number did not exist, so we decided to knock on a random door that had a number near it and ask for the guy we were looking for, and it turned out it was him! That was a tender mercy. He's a really funny guy. I'm excited to go back and teach him.  And I finally got to meet one of the most incredible investigators here that Sister Ellis has been really excited about but has been sick a lot lately, so it took four weeks to get back in with her, but she is totally awesome.

Thursday was a crazy day. Planning for that day was super rough. And then as we were trying to contact the people we planed for the next day they all cancelled. All of them. Our day fell apart before it even began. We were still in companionship study and all of our plans had fallen through. So we decided to scratch all our plans for the day and go to Covington, a town we don't get to very often because it's so far away. We had several miracles happen after that. We went and saw a lady that we found a week before and she was walking up just as we pulled in, so we got to have a lesson with her right there. It was really good. Then we tried some others, had good run-ins, and then went to contact a referral that had never been contacted from way back in May, and when we gave her the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon and told her about it she was super excited to read it and asked for our number so she could call us and set up an appointment. It was really cool. She also totally drove up as we were knocking on her door and we're just about to leave. Tender mercies! Then we went to an appointment with someone who had a baptismal date. Lately we had been thinking that we needed to talk to him without his wife there so we could get what he was feeling and thinking and we were thinking he wasn't saying much because she was super excited about it all. We had no idea how to facilitate that but we had been praying about it. Then we show up for our appointment, and he said that she was at the hospital with her dad (he'd had a surgery recently and it had gone over surprisingly well). So she wasn't there, but we asked if we could just talk to him outside right then. We had an amazing lesson with him. We got to talk about things and what he is feeling. He really opened up about things. We got to know where he is coming from more and just had an open conversation. He said that he still wasn't sure about his baptism, but that he just needed more time to pray about it all. It
was so cool. That day was full of miracles. All because we had had to re-plan the whole day, God knows how to get done what he needs to have happen.

On Friday you'd figure we would've learned to plan better after Thursday, but the same thing happened where everything feel apart as we were solidifying the day, so we had to re-plan the day, and then that day also miraculously turned out. After weekly planning we went and did service for a member, and her less active husband. He hasn't been open to missionaries in the past, but our service with him has really been softening his heat, and he super appreciates it, especially since they've been sick lately. We barely fit everything we needed to do that day, but it all worked out for the best. So many miracles that day too.

Saturday was really fun. We went way out in the country to see some investigators and we had a great time visiting with them and having a little lessons and being able to do some service with them too. They have a million animals. No joke. It's pretty much a farm. And we got to hold some kittens! It was really fun. That's mostly what happened that day. Except we did have an accidental less active lesson because we went to the wrong member's house, but it turned out great, and we have a dinner this week that we wouldn't have otherwise. It was fun. And finally Sunday... Well, we had a wonderful sacrament meeting. Church was as amazing as always. I just love going to church. We only had one investigator at church this week, but he is one that hasn't been here for a while, and it was really fun to sit with him and his family. We had a great lesson with the investigator that I finally met this week, and we were able to formally invite them to dinner with a member family that volunteered to have dinner in their home with an investigator. So we are really expected about that this week. 

 

Also, Sunday was such a funny experience when we went home to study. Sister Ellis took out one of the fruity tootsie rolls, and I asked her what flavor it was because with yellow you can never tell. We went through all the yellow flavors, and we came up with pineapple, lemon, pina colada, banana, and I was thinking really hard of other yellow flavors when I though of something that is yellow and yelled it out before I thought of what it was. CORNBREAD!! That's what I said. We laughed so hard I was sobbing. It was way too funny. 

 

Oh, it was a funny week. Just so fun. I love it. Also, something incredible that one of my district leaders once showed me, and I'm not sure if I've shared it with y'all yet. It's I. The Book of Mormon, a wonderful connection that means so much more when you understand the stories behind it. It's in 1 Nephi 1:20, "...But behold I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all the those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." That is how the Book of Mormon starts, and then in Moroni 10:3, "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall receive these things, if it be wisdom in God that he should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been u to the children of men..." That's how the book ends. Start to finish it is full of the tender mercies of the Lord.

 

I love his gospel. I know win all my heart it is true. He Book of Mormon is the word of God, as is the Holy Bible. They testify of the love our Heavenly Father has for us. It is a beautiful gospel that changes lives. I know it, and I love it.

Love Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

 

(This longest ever letter from my missionary with a testimony like that at the end...exactly what a mother wants to read!!! Cry, cry...

A Pomelo

 

)

Casseroles and Packs

The field is white...cotton fields?!

My new companion, Sister Ellis, from Arizona

Hey y'all! Guys, it's been a great week. We were so busy and we found a lot of new people to teach. We also totally made dinner for one of our investigators, and I made the chicken and rice casserole. It smelled great, but we didn't get to eat any, so we'll probably make it for ourselves again today. I'm excited :) plus, leftover rice!! 

On Saturday we went way out to a faraway member because the bishop asked us to go see them, and after about half an hour of looking for them we finally found the house. The number was really small and it was a confusing how the neighborhood was layed out that we kept missing it. Then because we were in the area we decided to try out a potential in the area book that we never would have gone to see because it was so far away. Again, we had trouble finding the house, but eventually we found the mail box, and then a little out of the way driveway that ended in a field. We were pretty confused, then we saw what looked like an old dirt driveway through the trees, but it looked like it hadn't been used in forever, but we decided to check it out. Turned out the car did fit through, but then we saw a gate way down the road. And we heard some big dogs barking. We weren't very excited about going forward, but we had come all the way out here, so we got out of the car and walked up to the gate. It turned out that the dogs could get through the gate, and soon we were surrounded by dogs. They were pretty excited about us. Then Sister Ellis thought she saw
someone at the door of the house, and called out to them. Eventually a guy came out and we asked for the lady we were looking for he said at there was not anyone by that last name, but the first name ya. So we asked if he was the guy mentioned in her record and if they had gotten married recently and he said ya, and that he could go get her and we could talk. So we totally ended up finding the potential and having a lesson with her and her husband! It was so cool, and she told us later that he had been feeling really down that day and we had come just when they needed us. It was a really neat experience. 

We really had a lot of similar experiences this week that we could totally see the miracles from. It was so cool. And we saw soooo many dogs all day starting with that pack. Just tons. I swear, everyone here has a dog, at least one, usually more. The south loves their dogs.

I have I say, I truly love bring a missionary. I love the people here, I love the members, and I love the Lord. Life is incredible. And Helaman is an amazing book. I can't even tell you. I spent two days reading Helaman 5, and that is such a cool chapter. Y'all should read it this week. It's amazing. I love y'all!! Keep being wonderful, thanks for all you do, thank you for your prayers and faith. Heavenly Father loves you, I know it. I will never doubt it. I will never question it.

Love Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

Sisters Beckstrand & Ellis

Apparently they BOTH love cats!

Isn't Tennessee beautiful?!

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!