He's Been There Before by Elder Whittle

The alarm bell rings at 6:30, I stumble to my feet
I grab my companions bedding and pull off his sheets

A groan fills the room, is it already time to arise?
It seems like just a second ago, I was able to shut my eyes
The morning activities follow- study, prayer and such
When it's time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven't accomplished much

"We have a super day planned,"
My comp. says with a grin
I lowly utter a faithless breath,
"Yeah, if anyone lets us in."

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street prepared to
Face another day of humidity and heat
It's 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through
My champion and I are riding home not accomplishing what we thought to do

We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot
Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate "air Box"
We go up to our apartment, the day is now complete
The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistery feet

It's past 10:30 p.m. My companion is fast asleep,
Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep
In the midst of sadness, I kneel down to pray
I need to talk to father, but I'm not sure what to say

"Oh, Father" I begin, "What happened to us today?
I thought we'd teach somebody, but everyone was away
My hands, my aching hands- worn, hurt and beat;
If our area was any smaller, we'd have knocked every street"

"Why on missions are the days so much alike?
The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike
Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it's very hard to see"

"Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn't your protection enough?
People always laugh at me, and call me stupid stuff
Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack
I want to give them Books of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back"

"And what about my family: They don't have much to say
I'm sick of not hearing from home day after day after day
Oh Father, Why am I here am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I'm sorry but that's on my mind"

"My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me?"
The way he rides his bicycle, I don't think he can see
Now you have it, I can't go on, I don't know what to do
That, my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you"

My prayer now finished, I stand up, then jump right into bed
I need my rest for tomorrow, we have another long day ahead
Sleep start to overtake me, I seem to drift away
Then it seems a vision takes me to another time in another day

I'm standing alone on the hill. The view is very nice
A man walks to wards me and says, "My name is Jesus Christ"
Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to His feet
"Arise," He states, "Follow me to the shade. You and I need to speak"

My attention's towards my Savior, total and complete
He says, "Your mission is similar of what happened to me
I understand how you feel, I know what you're going through
In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you"

"I even know how you felt when no one listened to you
At times I felt not quite sure what else I could do
I know you don't like to ride a bicycle, for you a car would be sweet
Just remember the donkey I rode wasn't equipped with 21 speeds"

"I understand you don't like sweating, in fact it's something you hate
I remember when I sweat blood from ev’ry pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don't like your companion- you'd rather have someone else-
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth"

"It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back"

"Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day
I guess when they pounded nails into mine, I ached in a similar way
It's hard not to hear from home when your family's not there to see
I lost communication on the cross and cried, "Father, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

"We have a lot in common, but there's a difference between us you see
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me"
He embraced me with His arms and His light filled me with His love
With tears in my eyes I watched as He went back to the Father above

I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head
I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed
My companion let out a groan, "6:30 already, no way!"
I sat up and said, "Come on, I'll even carry your scriptures today!"

No matter what we go through,
When we feel we can't take more
Just stop and think about Jesus Christ,
He's been there before!

By Elder Troy Whittle
Texas Houston Mission

(Sent by the Zone Leaders to Kimberly's zone.)

A good week! 😊 Feeling the love!!

More hats!

I love her!!!

District picture

This week was crazy! It was walk week, and it was super busy and productive. There was also a lot of weird stuff that happened, but it was all really amazing in the end. It all started out Monday night. We went walking, and as per our goal of truly talking to everyone, we found quite a few new investigators. For Monday night. One of the guys we met was walking down the street, and so we walked home with him talking about the restored gospel and such. It was super fun. He's a nice guy.

Then on Tuesday we started out with a miracle ride to district meeting, and that was just great. Lots of inspiration coming there. Then we were also able to get a miracle ride to our next appointment. It was a deaf guy and his son! We had a good meeting with them, and it was super fun to start teaching in sign, we were voicing at the same time, but it worked! The gift of tongues is real people. Then we started walking to the next person we wanted to see. And we did a lot of talking and finding as we walked. One sad part is we talked to this old guy, he's actually a pastor for a church, but we talked to him about the Book of Mormon, and he refused to take one. He felt the Spirit with it, and he agreed with the scripture we shared with him, but he was not interested in reading it. It was so sad. Someday he'll need it though, so hopefully he'll have another chance to take it. We really found a lot of people that day though, and mostly on that walk to our investigator's house. Also, this woman is amazing! One of my most favorite-est people ever! P is so funny, and so fun to be around. We were talking to her about things and she asked us if we needed anything to drink, and Sister Brumett asked if she had any water. P paused and looked down at her cup of water and said, "No, I haven't got any water." And Sister Brumett replied that that was a bad question and could she have some water? To which P said of course, and then she offered cranberry juice as another option, and so of course I took that one. She reminds me a lot of Grandmother. Then we continued talking-I think we were asking about the priesthood blessing she'd received a couple days earlier and asking what she felt from it, and then about helping her with anything she needed service-wise, and then talked about how she loves trees and rocks and flowers and just beautiful nature that Heavenly Father gave us -and we got onto the subject of how we didn't have a ride home and were quite stranded at her house, and so she offered us a ride. We gratefully accepted and we all got in her car. She had some white sticky stuff on her steering wheel that she said had come from an ice cream cone that was too soft and she hadn't gotten to cleaning if off yet, and of course now that we were talking about it we all had to go out for ice cream too now. So she took us to her favorite place and got us all a cone. One the ride back we talked a lot about temples and eternal families and how in order to go there one had to be baptized. She's been contemplating baptism for a long time, but hasn't committed yet, but by the end of our ride home we had committed her to look at a calendar and pray and ask Heavenly Father when He would like her to do it. It was such a wonderful time with her, and the Spirit was so strong. I just love her. Sister Brumett told her that the temple is better than trees and rocks and flowers and that she should try to get there as soon as she can because there is no better place on earth, and I totally agree. Then we went to do some service at the library. I just love libraries. They are so amazing, even though I cannot partake of their blessings at this moment, I still appreciate them. And the librarians there are so nice! I love them all, and we gave all of them cards with the link to he amazing new Easter video (which y'all should watch if you haven't yet-its amazing) and told them a little about it. I just love those people 😍. Then we got a ride from a wonderful member that is just a hoot to be around, and we met her for the first time when she picked us up there. I just love her. She took us to our next appointment who ended up not being there, which was weird, but then she took us back to the library after that because I ended up leaving my bag there and we barely made it there in time before the library closed, so all went well, TENDER MERCIES!!!😁 And then we saw Dick and Linda. They really are some of the best people ever! I love them. And it makes their day when we go by, and I love being able to stop by everyday for a few minutes to keep them uplifted. They are so cute!

And then came Wednesday. This is the day it stared to get really interesting. We were in the middle of trying to plan for the day, and were doing a terrible job of focusing when President Jones called and said to go over to the Hermanas apartment because Hermana Quigley was going to spend the day with us and then her companion was going to spend the day with the STLs. This was rather surprising, but we grabbed our sticks (Ezekiel 37:16-19) and ran over there. Then we continued to attempt to plan while we were all sitting there very confused as to what was going on and trying to figure it out and waiting for the STLs to show up. When they got there we went back to our apartment and finished planning, adding in the Hermanas appointments and our plans magically fit! Heavenly Father and the Spirit knew, that's why it was so rough before. Also, even though it was our walk week, it was not their walk week, so we now had a car to work with! Yay, life became so much easier, but we still wanted to focus on finding, so our goals were heavily focused on that. Then we went and taught a lesson to a Spanish investigator for the Hermanas, and I am thoroughly impressed with Hermana Quigley, she's only 8 weeks old, and she was able to teach a whole lesson in Spanish without any previous training. I understood nothing of course, but the spirit was strong. It was fun. Then we came home for lunch and language study which I totally enjoy, I love learning ASL. After that we went to contact some investigators we hadn't seen in too long, and met one of them and her cousins, we had a really great lesson one, and set a date with them. They are really cool, and they really liked the message of the restoration. And Hermana Quigley's testimony really got them. Heavenly Father is definitely in charge. We saw another investigator and did many other things that day,  one of the most surprising things was at the end of the day, after Book of Mormon class (by the way we talked about Ether 3 this week, which is my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon because of the incredible events there. I love that book!) we found out that our little trio would last the night too. So we all went home, and grabbed Hermana Quigley's stuff from next door, it was useful having her apartment right next door. It helped with food and stuff.

So that was just Wednesday, on Thursday we had more fun things. It didn't start off super fun though. After our studies (which were great as always) we went to grab some food from Hermana Quigley's apartment and on our way back Sister Brumett felt prompted to go by Dick's to see if he was ok. We walked up at a time when he'd given into some temptation, and was feeling really down. We were so sad that he was struggling and we said that we would be back in an hour or so after we'd eaten our lunch and seen somebody we had an appointment with. During lunch we thought of a plan, and we were so excited to start with him. We stopped by after lunch to see how he felt about it and then went off to accomplish it, and see the person we had an appointment with. On our way back we stopped by the church to grab a wheelchair and see if the Family History Center was open, it was technically closed, but a member in the ward was still working in it, and they said we could still bring them. So we ran home to get Dick and Linda (the wheelchair was for Linda since she couldn't walk all the way to the church). They loved it! The whole walk there was so fun for them, and they weather was just beautiful. And Linda and I got there before Dick and Sister Brumett and Hermana Quigley, so she called them slow pokes! She is so cute! And they just loved it there! At first we were a little rushed with time, we had an appointment to get to, but we felt that this really needed to happen. And then our appointment cancelled, and it suddenly worked out to give them what they needed. And they really just loved it so much! We are so excited to take them back this week. After we took them back home we went back to P's house and did some exercise for her again. And then she took us out to ice cream again. I love her! Then we saw our other investigator, and it was pretty rushed with him, and we felt really bad, but it was so good that we got to see him. So that morning during exercise we received a phone call that brought information that Hermana Quigley's companion was going home the next day, so we had to then go meet up with them to give them the key to the apartment  so she could go pack. Then our appointment fell through which was sad, but we got to go try another person that ended up not being there, but it was good stuff. The we went and got dinner at chick fil a, and then played volleyball with the Ward during dinner. It was so fun.

Then Friday came, we got most of our weekly planning done and then had to run out to an appointment, which also fell through, but we talked to an amazing lady, and started to teach her too. She is so great! I'm excited to keep teaching her. Then we went and had an amazing unplanned lesson with an investigator we haven't been able to see in a while. I love teaching by the Spirit. I learn so much, and it actually teaches the person what they need to know. Plus, there are things that I can say as a set apart missionary that I would not have the authority to say if I were not such. I feel like I learned a lot about the setting apart this week. There is a cool quote I found in PMG (Preach My Gospel, missionary study guide) this week that really helped me understand it, "The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity. The blessing is conditional upon faithful performance” (Spencer W. Kimball). It really is true, and from that we can say things that no one else can. It was amazing. Then we went to do more service at the library, but as we were walking in we met this wonderful woman in the parking lot, and we started to teach her right there. She has an amazing desire to learn, and she had all the right questions. She is so excited to meet with us again, and we can't wait to share more with her. Then we had more productive things happen including contacting a referral who ended up being amazing and we are going back soon. And then right as we were coming in for dinner, Hermana Quigley's new companions arrived. They took our Quigley away! It was so sad! But we truly enjoyed having her with us for those few days.

And finally Saturday, we were able to get a member to go with us to contact some people we planned on seeing, we had fun with her, and she was able to take us to a deaf family's home and we got to meet them and talk to them a little bit. They were super nice. And then she dropped us off at a less active lady's home for her granddaughters birthday party. It was fun, and we were able to help her out a bit with it. And then after that we were able to coordinate a ride home from a member, and then go see Dick and go out walking again. It was a good day,  it a little less eventful than the day before. Also for some strange reason we were exhausted that day. It was a relief to go to bed.

And then on Sunday morning we were refreshed and ready to go again. We had a wonderful time at church, Sister Brumett is a great interpreter. I love the deaf people. And the sacrament was beautiful. I've been studying the sacrament prayers this week a little, and I thought it was interesting that it is blessed and sanctified for the souls. Not done thinking about it, but I think it is interesting that we bless it, like the rest of our food for our bodies, but then we sanctify it for to bless our souls. To renew our covenant with the Father. And it is especially powerful during a Fast Sunday because then your boys (body?) enjoys it even more, and your spiritual side is already being fulfilled, and then during the sacrament it is the most tangible physical way to feed the soul, and I just think that is beautiful, and there is definitely more to this, but I'm not done studying it. After church we got a car again! And it's another one of those fancy cars, Chevy Malibu. I'm a spoiled missionary. But it was great because we got to go out to see some people, and had a wonderful visit with a sweet lady who is less active, and she invited us over to dinner for Easter! I love her!!

And then the most beautiful lesson all week (maybe because it happened just last night, but it was incredible), we saw C, and he's been in a lot of pain the last few day, and he's having surgery his Tuesday, and we felt prompted to offer him a priesthood blessing. So we called the ward mission leader and as he was figuring it out we gave C a beautiful lesson completely by the spirit. It was a word of wisdom lesson, but the most beautiful way I've ever done it before. We started with the plan of salvation, with how we will get perfect bodies back in the resurrection and how when we lived with Heavenly Father before we accepted to come to earth and receive our bodies. We talked about how it is a gift from God and we accepted his directions. And then we talked about the instructions he's given us for it and we focused hugely on the blessings. He accepted it all and completely agreed with it. He is such a humble man, and the Spirit is working so strongly with him! Then the ward mission leader called and said he was there with an elder from the church. And they came in and gave C a beautiful blessing. The priesthood is amazing, and I just love this place. I love the people we are teaching, I love the ward, I love Arkansas. The Atonement is real! And the scriptures are the most wonderful things ever! I don't know how I lived without them! I barely touched them before, but now I can't put them down! Thank you for all your prayers, and thank you for making it to the end of my incredibly long letter, I love y'all and hope you have a great week!

Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

Here we are again

Aren't we cute?!

Ice cream cones!

Mmmm!

Threesome in the park

🎄❄️💨🎄❤️ Merry Christmas!

Dear family and friends,

I love all your letters, thank you for your support and prayers. This week has been an interesting one. I was in a trio again for half the week, I mentioned that last week, but most of it happened after I emailed. I really like being in a trio. It's so fun when there's more of us. And Sister Wood is so much fun to be around. 

This week was busy, but not. First of all, our phone gave up the ghost. It just died. So we didn't have a phone for several days. Luckily Heavenly Father is in charge, and He knew that would happen, so he provided a way for us to survive, Sister Wood to the rescue with Arlington 2's phone!! So we limped along with the numbers in LDS tools
and whatever was right in area book. So walk week ended on Tuesday, and we got a car!!!  Yay, I love having a car. Especially when it's really starting to get cold out here. On Wednesday we went and did Toys for Tots, and were organizing toys all day. Then that night we had a practice for the Christmas program for the zone conference Thursday. It was fun, and we got to pick up Sister Wood's new companion for the night. It was fun. 

Thursday was the closest thing we get to a holiday here, we had a meeting all day that ended around 4-4:30. We got to hear from President, and others he asked to speak, then we had our Christmas program, and we got to sing Oh, Holy Night, it turned out really well, and the whole thing was just amazing, President said they recorded it to send home, so hopefully you get it soon. Then Elder and Sister Bahesti spoke to us, and it was so good. I loved what Sister Bahesti said about 'o to e' instead of saying 'I've got to do' say 'I get to do' and life is better. Also, Elder Bahesti told all of us to "get over being a sugar cookie." Marine stuff, if you want to get it, ask them I
guess. It was really good. Then we had lunch, and Sister Hugentobler, one of my most favorite people ever, (a senior sister that works in the mission office,) came to this side of the river for this meeting just to say goodbye to me☺️. I just love her!

Then we had a minute to win it game for everyone put together by Sister Wakolo. And we sang the 12 days of Christmas with all the fun things that missionaries could think up to do for it. Hen we had a super great talent show. There was one talent that the zone leaders and STLs put on of an islanders dance, just for president and sister Wakolo, they asked them to do it again, and they went up and danced with them the second time!! It was so fun to watch.

All that took basically the whole day. Then we went home and had dinner. We lost Sister Wood though ☹️, but we got a new phone!!! Heavenly Father is kind.

We did the Toys for Tots thing again on Saturday, and we got to hand out the toys this time to families, I like that part much better. It was so rewarding to be able to give those people presents for their kids.

And Sunday was just fun as always. We had an extra punch to get stuff done yesterday, and we were able to see some people that we haven't been able to see in weeks.

Also, interesting note, I thought that as missionaries that we wouldn't get much presents. I figured that we might get one package dorm home and maybe something else if we're lucky from a member or the mission president, but not likely. But that is so not true. We have so many presents under our tree from all the members in the area that we have gotten close to that I can't believe it! It's crazy, and a pleasant surprise.


Anyway, I love y'all, and hope you have a very merry Christmas, thank you for what you do, but mostly, thank you for who you are! I love you for ever, and I invite y'all to study Mosiah 16 this week, that is when Abinadi prophesied the coming of Christ. It is a beautiful chapter.

Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

 I asked her about the cold/humidity, and she said, "Our walk week ended on Tuesday, and just in time, it was getting pretty cold, and yesterday morning the temperature dropped. This morning with the wind chill it was 3 degrees outside. Crazy! It's been fun though." Brrrrrr. Our Utah dry cold, with the cutting winds is cold enough for me!

Serving the Lord

This week was busy, and exhausting. We were just so tired all week. And this week went by incredibly fast. We were so surprised to realize it was Friday when we planed Thursday night. Also, this is transfer week, and we are both safe and staying here in Millington. But, I have to say that Sister Hirschi and Sister Havran are companions again, STLs in Sercy!! I'm so excited for them. That will be a great transfer.

This week we did a lot of service. We helped a lady move, and it was funny because we were dressed in our proselyting clothes and we were moving heavy furniture. We ended up calling the elders because it was too heavy for us.

Then we helped a member set up her 10 foot Christmas tree. It was so tall. And tonight we are going over and decorating it. I'm really excited. We also helped another member clean/organize her pantry. That was really fun. And we got a toaster oven! 

A sister in our Ward and her husband got their mission call this week and they are so excited for that. We were able to be there when they opened it. She is such an amazing person. She and her husband are going to be an office couple in the Des Moines Iowa mission, and she is so excited. She is always asking us questions about it and what it's like and the rules and anything that she wants to know. It's so fun to see how excited she is. It was a great week. And all of it was a blur. 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission. I was thinking at church how much I love it here. Even when we are giving talks in church (which we did on Sunday) I am so beyond grateful that I made the decision to go, and I am grateful for all who have made it possible for me to be here now. (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!) I would not trade this experience for the world. Uncle Karl send me a list of things he's done and learned in his life and a list of things he did and learned on his mission, and he said that his mission was by far the more important of them all, and I totally see it. It's so true. The people skills, the gospel knowledge, the many things I'm learning about life in general, and the love that I feel from my Heavenly Father, and for those I come in contact with and teach. It is an incredible life on a mission. And 100% worth it.

Love Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

One of my favorite people, Sister Havran!! Love that Sister! 

The earth is a beautiful place to be

'Tis the season y'all!!!