A wet, fun, busy week

...(Chatter about what the family is doing at home.) I love that the boys are doing so much, even though I'm missing it all, I love to hear about it.

 

This week has been just crazy. It rained a ton, and there were a lot of flash floods. Our weather radio went off a ton warning about floods, and last night there was a tornado warning,. We almost had to go spend the night somewhere else because we live in a second story apartment. But the thunder was so cool. It was so wet this week. I was very grateful to have an umbrella. 

 

We found a really awesome family that is so ready to hear the gospel. They even read the Book of Mormon when we asked them to. They even have a baptismal date for the 9th of April. It's a mom, and her two kids, a 12 year old boy and a 9 year old girl. The 9 year old, S, is really interested in the Holy Ghost. We also had a great member present lesson with them again. They were supposed to come to church yesterday, but didn't make it. We haven't had a chance to talk to them about it yet. 

 

But, T got confirmed yesterday. His mom didn't come though. We've only seen her 3 times. There were five confirmations, and we got a whole new bishopric yesterday. It was crazy. And really sad, but exciting. The old bishop was awesome, and he got really emotional the whole meeting, especially when he was giving his testimony. We went way over the time. It was a really good set of meetings. Then there were a tone of people out of town, most of whom were interpreters, or deaf people. There was just Brother Foote and Sister Hirschi and me to interpret for the one deaf couple that was there. So Sister Hirschi and I interpreted for Sunday school and relief society. It was nuts, but really fun. (Maybe I can give it a try when I get home, right mom? ;) only if I remember it though.) 

 

J (the part member family) is going out of town this week, but he moved his baptism up to the 26th of this month instead of the 9th in April so that one of his brothers in law could still be there. This guy is so cool. He also told me about something called "praise flags" and I gotta say, I really want to try it out. 

 

Members feed us a lot, and I have enjoyed all the food they have made, even the potatoes!! There have been no baked potatoes so far though. I'm wondering if I'll like those too if someone ever serves them. Oh well, there is a lot of good food here. (This from the girl who won't eat french fries, potato chips or baked potatoes or nearly anything else potatoes; amazing what a changed state of mind can do!)

 

One thing Sister Hirschi is a big fan of is getting people's story. I love hearing everyone's story of how they met, how and why they joined the church. Especially the older people. They have the best stories. So fun. 

 

It has been a wet, fun, busy week. 

 

Love Kimber 

Phill and I are good friends ;)

Baptisms and Walk-Week

...Lots of family stuff, like about driver's licenses, first dates, miracles that happened at home this week, past and future plans, then...

This is the end of my first transfer. It was also my first walk week. We did not have a car this week, and we had to either walk wherever we went, or get rides form members. It was really stressful. We didn't get a ton done this week, but we did get to do a lot of service. Hopefully our numbers will get better this next week. At least those we did talk to were really good lessons a lot of the time. Small miracles. 

The absolute best part of this week was last night. Last night five people got baptized. Elders Wilson and Zakella (the zone leaders, and in my district) had two people and Elders Claridge (the district leader) and Carter also had two more, and we had one. There were so many people there that we had to move from the relief society room into the chapel, and even the chapel was full. There was a TON of support from the ward. It was amazing. T got baptized. His mom even came. We were really stressing about how much we knew she needed to be there and hoping that she would make it. Bronzie is amazing, she picked T and his mom up for his baptism, and then her and all the other deaf people in the ward were there to make friends with his mom, S. We were so happy. T was so happy about being baptized. Usually it's hard to get much expression out of him, but he was beaming so much after it. Everyone is getting confirmed next Sunday. It was so cool. My first baptism, and he is so awesome. We are hoping to be able to start teaching S soon. Maybe even T's whole family. 

It was really weird to think of how Elder Wilson is going home today. His last day in the field was with those five baptisms. In the last two weeks of his mission he had four of his investigators get baptized. That is a very good way to end a mission. What a wonderful accomplishment. I would love to have it like this all the time, but I know that it was a rare thing, and it is ok if that is not how a mission ends, but that is a very good way to end it all. It was a very good end for my first transfer. "The field is white already to harvest," so true, and to think that president was on the verge of shutting his area down when he put in the zone leaders and us to whitewash this area. "No unhallowed had can stop the work from progressing;" this is God's work, I am his instrument, and "the truth of God [is going forth]" and I am part of that. 

And all of you can be too. Every member a missionary. Just like Abish in the Book of Mormon brought all the people to Ammon so he could teach them, Ammon would not have been able to teach and those who were converted would not have learned if it weren't for her bringing them to him. Don't be afraid to talk about Jesus. Ask people about what they believe. Talk about what you learn and do not shy away from rejoicing in Christ. That is one of my favorite things down here. Religion and God and church are openly discussed in public, with strangers. It is not weird to ask if someone has found a church home yet. I love it. I love the work. I am so tired every night, and not eager to get up in the mornings, but I do because I love it. Do not wait to do the things you need to, do not put off receiving blessings from God. Be eager as you work towards them. Learn of Him. He is incredible. And He is your best friend.

Love, Kimber

I wrote back a couple of minutes after I got this email:

This letter is making me bawl like a baby, thanks! This is what a parent lives to hear!!

Her response:

Tell everyone I love them ❤️❤️❤️

T is getting baptized!!!!!!!!

All those who got baptized, and their missionaries,
and the ward mission leader (WML)

Brother Foote the WML signing with Bronzie
(who is holding his son) and S. T sitting in front
watching the conversation.

Phil moves only once a week, this is the new one for this week.

Baptisms and Gold

Sorry this is a day late, folks. I was sick over the weekend, and was still getting over it yesterday, so postponed this posting until today. All is well, not to worry...

A random field that we thought would be more exciting because of an interesting looking path. Such a let down :p

 

It's ok that you don't have any notes, dad sent me some. They were pretty good. I'm sorry that you've been sick. You know...(she appreciates the mail she gets from her some of her brothers.)

This week was busy as always. We pushed Ts date back a week because we wanted to be sure that he was ready, so now he's actually getting baptized on the 6th, along with a bunch of the Elders' investigators. But we did have a baptism on Saturday, a grandma and a granddaughter. It was amazing. So wonderful to see them making covenants with God. It was great. 

 

I've been trying to improve my personal studies, it's coming slowly. I'm still working on the lesson points. It's really crazy to think that my first transfer is almost over. The time really does fly. I'm learning so much, and improving myself a ton. I'm learning to really change myself to be more Christlike. At least that is what I am focusing on right now. I'm learning to better love those around me. 

 

It's super weird spending all day every day with a girl. I can say something like "this house is so cute!" and she'll agree with me. I'm so used to boys and their indifference to such frivolous things that when I "indulge" if that's event the right word, in girly moments it's really refreshing. (Now it's her mom that stuck with the bunch of boys...come visit me girls!)

 

I have had a lot of opportunities to serve. There is a sister in our ward who likes to have the missionaries come help at her gym. And we've helped clean the church. We offer to help out a lot, but nobody actually asks for it. 

 

That part member family, the husband, he's totally awesome!! We had stake conference last Sunday, and he came to that. We were getting a new stake presidency, (and our bishop actually got called to the position of the first counselor by the way) and there was an area seventy there. He was talking about the power of conversion in the Book of Mormon. I really wish I had takes notes, it was incredible. So we walk into our lesson on Tuesday with this investigator, and he tells us that he is ready to be baptized. We're like, "What! No way!" We weren't even going to ask him to be, we were just going to teach him what we believe. This guy is totally awesome. We learn later from his brother in law that he has a big thing for coffee, and he said that J (the investigator) was not going to give it up. So we planned to skip lesson three and teach about he Word of Wisdom the next time we meet. So we walk into our lesson on Saturday, and his wife says that he's been reading about the Word of Wisdom. Just out of the blue he started studying it while they were driving to Louisiana this week. And we're like, "What! Now way!" All over again. He's always one step ahead of us, just preparing for the next lesson by following the prompting a of the Spirit. This guy is totally golden. He is basically teaching himself. Now they are going to be out of town a lot this month so we had to set a date for the beginning of April. I just hope that we will still be here, and I'm pretty sure we will be. President Walkolo has pretty much said that we will be here for a while. 

 

This week is walk week. So we will not have a car, and it's going to be awesome! I don't know how we're going to get to a lot of our appointments yet, but as we plan and coordinate with members, the Lord will provide a way. This will be my first walk week, at the end of my first transfer. Always with the new experiences.

 

I love you all, me thanks for your letters of support. Keep me in the loop with all that is going on, and don't hesitate to send a random letter by snail mail, it's fun to get.

 

Love, Kimber 

Everything in italics was added by Mom B.

Quite a week!

Hello all!!

I love getting all your letters and hearing about the things you are doing. I'm so glad that you got to spend so much time with Ari and Ava (her new cousins after her uncle got married). I miss those girls a ton, I miss you too. A lot, but only when I think about it. Usually I'm too busy to remember that I'm not at home.

We have been focusing on getting to know the members here. Last week our focus was the Primary. We even offered to sub for all the Primary teachers. It'll be interesting. We even offered to sub for Seminary.
It's all going to be learning experiences.

We had a ton of awesome things happen this week. First we have been teaching a part member family for about a week now. It started out that we had gone by to meet them because we were trying to meet all the members, and the husband is not a member. So we went back again to visit and asked if he wanted to take the lessons. He said "not yet" we said that we'd take it and love to keep visiting them every once in a while because they are really fun to talk to. A few days later the wife texted us and said that he wants to take the lessons. So now we are teaching him, and he has come to church the last three weeks. He is a really interesting guy. Super fun to talk to, very smart, and does his research. We're really excited to talk to him and teach him the lessons. I'm not sure if he'll get baptized, but this is the first time he's ever consented to listen to the lessons, and he's been offered a lot. I have high hopes though. I think we can get him there.

Speaking of which, we have a baptism this Saturday!!!!!! Not the lady I talked about before, but a sixteen year old kid, T. He's pretty awesome. We found T in our area book, and went to meet him our first week. He really wanted to go back to church because he hadn't got to go in a while, so we got him a ride that first week. Ever since then we've been wanting to get him to baptism, but we weren't sure how to get him a reliable ride to church. So we finally got that all worked out, and then we had to figure out a way to talk to him and set up a baptismal date with his parents involved. Both of them are deaf so that had been a big barrier this whole time. But we asked a deaf member in our ward to come with us. Her name is Bronzie, and she totally rocked it. She is really good at reading lips and communicating with hearing people. So she was able to talk to his mom and help us set a date for him. It was awesome.

Bronzie is one of the coolest people I have ever met. She says that she is the missionary mom out here. It's really kind of true. She has been so fun to get to know. We rode up with her to talk to T and then when we came back we couldn't find our keys!! We searched all over the car, her driveway and her house. Her husband got out this big flashlight and was shining it all over the ground and under the cars and in them. It was crazy, and late. It even got to around 10 before we decided to go all the way back to Memphis to find them. Bronzie was so willing to take us, and we were so stressed out because we were supposed to be home an hour ago. We found them right as we got there and we were able to get home by quarter to eleven. We were so tired that we went straight to bed and did daily planning in the morning. It was a crazy evening.

We have been back to Bronzie's house pretty a ton since because she had T at her house for stake conference this weekend and we needed to go through the baptismal interview questions with him. We had to explain a lot of things about he questions so that he understood them, and her testimony during that was so incredible, it really helped him to understand because she explained everything in ASL. I think it helped him because he grew up with ASL parents. Then she has us over for dinner on Sunday. She is teaching us a lot of
sign, I'm just trying to remember all that we learn. She is so cool.

During our stake conference all the missionaries in our district had a ton of people there. It was so cool. We were getting a new stake presidency, and the area seventy that was here for that gave an incredible talk on the Book of Mormon. It was so good. Reminded me a lot of the way Elder Holland talks. But a little bit nicer though. Our bishop got called as the new first counselor in the stake presidency. So now we are about to get a new bishop in our ward. That will be an interesting experience.

We had zone conference this week. There were some really good talks. President Wakolo was sick, but he gave an inspiring talk anyway. It was just so sad to see him feeling so bad. He is such a big strong happy man. It was hard to see him so quiet and tired. His talk was great nonetheless. He talked about teaching and learning, and how they are like to two sides of a ten dollar bill. Neither one without the other. They come hand in hand.

I saw Elder Gram Carmen at the zone conference! We graduated from high school together. All four years at Maeser we spent there. It was really cool to see him and say hi. I didn't get to get a picture because I had to go to a training meeting for the new missionaries right after the zone conference. But we'll get one next time. It was really fun to see him though. Weird too though. I haven't seen him since graduation. Crazy how God works though, it was fun to talk about Maeser a bit.

It was a crazy busy week, but I enjoyed it all. I'm learning, and I'm pushing myself to talk more and get to know people. I'm getting better. One thing we all have to do is memorize all the doctrinal points in lesson three of preach my gospel, and have a Bible and Book of Mormon scripture for all of them. I've got a lot of the points down, but I'm still trying to find and memorize the scriptures. It's been so fun. I love the ward. I love the work. I love the gospel. I love the Lord. And I love all of you, thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Love you!!!

*If you want Sister Beckstrand's mailing or email address, contact Mom B, or if you have her old phone number call that-but not during school hours please-her brother will answer it and tell you how to contact her mom.

One Month Gone!

Hello all !!!

How are you doing? Congratulations to Jacob and Sarah. Is it fun having the little girls there? I bet it is. I'm sorry my letter won't be very long today, I don't have much time. I really love getting all your letters. The wedding sounds like it was a lot of fun, Mom...

It's so crazy to think that I've already been out a month (as of Saturday). I didn't even realize until Elder Claridge (my DL) said something about it yesterday. And I'm halfway through my first transfer. I had my first exchanges this week with the Sister Training Leaders. It was really fun, I met a lot of really neat people in their area, and I learned a lot. We still have only one baptismal date, but I think we'll have another by tonight.

We have had such a great time getting to know the people here. They really are the best. I haven't had much southern food yet, but I did have fried catfish. It was an interesting experience. That's all I've had though. 

We made cookies yesterday with the last of my chocolate rocks. So we have chocolate rock cookies. They're very good.

It really has been super fun out here. I learn so much. But there is so much to read and learn that I don't feel like I have enough time to do it all. I'm just glad I have all 18 months to get through a lot of the things I want to. I started reading the Book of Mormon and marking the things in PMG pg 114. I think all of you should try to do that in your own spare time. Just get a fresh copy and go through it. It is so cool. It also gets pretty addicting. Good luck!

Dad, have y'all started the missionary bingo? I want to hear how it goes for you, the kids in our ward love it and love bringing it out to show us when we come over for dinner. 

Mom, I love getting the spiritual thoughts from the meetings you go to, they sound so good. One thing a family does every time we go to eat at their house is tell us one thing that we learned that day, he says that if the spirit does not teach us something every day, then we have to fix something. I'm still working on that. 

Good luck to all of you in the things you are doing. I miss you so much, but it is so worth it. Boys, get out here as soon as you can. This is such a learning and growing opportunity, and it is so worth it. I don't even know the half of it yet, but I know that this is the best place for me to be right now. Good luck at work, in school, with your friends, and at home. Every moment counts, and make it all worth it. I love you all!!

Love, Kimber

This is Phil, we found him on the side of the road and Sister Hirschi
really wanted him. He didn't fit into our trunk and barely in out back
seat.

I got home late last night, so this is a day late, sorry. With my brother's wedding, I totally missed her first month mark! I remember that being a big deal when I was a missionary! Who'da thunk it would already be one down?

White Washing and Loving It

Uggh, what's that? Never mind, I don't want to know!

Cousin Annie's friend from South Jordan?

Zone Conference, I think - fellow missionaries are some of the best friends you ever have!

Hi everyone!! I loved reading about all your adventures. Good luck Uncle Jacob and Aunt Sarah!! (Her uncle gets married this week. At least Kimberly got to know Aunt Sarah and be friends with her before she left!) And Samuel ... congrats on getting asked to Sweethearts'. That's awesome. It sounds so fun there with all the family over, cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. It's so cool that all those things are happening. And all that cool stuff Samuel is doing in school. Enjoy every moment of it all. And good thing Samuel and Jason's (dance) shoes fit now. New shoes are always fun, especially for dance.

For the ASL stuff, don't worry about it. We talked to the mission president, and he said to just focus on the English work. The ASL sisters still have this area, the just have a much larger area now. I still would like the dictionary, but there is a really nice lady in our ward who will help us learn it.

Sister Hirschi is from Washington state, Tri Cities area she says. Not sure where that is, but it's the east side.

It has been so fun here. I have met so many new people this last week that my brain sometimes feels like overload, but it's all good. Lots of wonderful people. Everyone is so nice, and we totally have the best ward. We have a car, and because we are whitewashing* this area we get lost a ton, but we get to meet more people that way. Yesterday we parked the car and went walking for about three hours and we met a ton of new people. We even ran into a member of our ward. It was really fun, but super exhausting. My feet were not happy with me after that. It's a good thing I wore my walking shoes. 

We have been working with a recent convert, Eva, and her son Bryan. They both came to church yesterday. We did not expect him to come, but it was awesome to have both of them there. 

We have also been working with a lady from Micronesia. She has talked to missionaries in the past, and I gave her the baptismal challenge! She wants to be baptized!! But she has to work things out with her husband first. I really hope that she can get baptized. She bore a beautiful testimony on Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She knows it's true, and she really really wants to be baptized. We hope she will come to church soon, she almost did yesterday, but she was not able to. 

...We also have an investigator called T_, and he has already had all the lessons. He even had a baptismal date last year, but something happened to make it fall through. Our biggest challenge with him is getting him rides to church. So we are going to work with him and try to get him a more permanent means of getting to church. Hopefully his parents will be able to. He is such an awesome kid. ...

It was a slower week, we tried to meet more people, but nobody opens their doors, so we are making slow progress in our area book. Saturday was supposed to be full of people we had appointments for, but every meeting fell through. But Sweet is the Work, and it was a fun day anyway. We also parked that day and walked around. 

We had zone conference this seek, and I ran into a friend of (cousin) Annie's from South Jordan. It was really fun. Did I tell you? I also ran into one of her friends in the MTC. So I have pictures with both of them to send to her. But one of them is on my camera, which I still haven't figured out how to get those picture to send to y'all. I'm not sure what to do there. But I'm gonna start taking picture more on my iPad so I can get them to you.

The longer I am out here, the more I love it. I'm so excited for all you boys to experience this. It is such a learning experience. Plus it's fun to be out here loving the people and learning to live on your own and learning of yourself and how to take care of yourself. The more I think about it the more there is to learn and grow through. It's incredible. Just throw yourself into the work and forget everything else. And it will all come.

Love Kimber

*If we're understanding the term "white washing" it seems to be that they are the first "English speaking" missionaries in that area, so it's almost like opening a new area.  Neither companion has worked the area yet, so they are both new there, but Sis Herschi has five months experience as a missionary, so they aren't without experience - just in the area. So they are both working very hard, learning together. What a marvelous experience to have in your first area.

Another email came a few minutes later with a pic and this note:

My ward is doing this awesome missionary bingo, and I think you all
should do it. We seriously have the coolest ward. Also try to go out
with the missionaries, they love it. 

Kimberly's dad figured out that her mission consists of five stakes, TOTAL. Our smallish Utah city has more stakes than that within it's boundaries! Whew.

First Area, First PDay, First Email!

Hey, it's good to get your letters. My address is ... Southaven, MS*

The humidity is not that bad, it's not even that cold, the felt coat is doing fine....

So my companion, Sister Hirschi is the same age as me, born 3 months later. She is really fun. She knows a lot too, I know I can learn a ton from her. It's pretty cool that you ran into someone from my mission. I still don't know a lot of people. I have a lot to learn still. I got a slight cold this past couple days, and so my brain is pretty fried by now. We did a lot of cleaning today, our apartment had a big mess in the corners of supplies for the mission, so we sorted through all that just barely. 

Yesterday we had an investigator.come to church! How awesome is that? His name is T__, and last year he was taught all the lessons and even had a baptismal date, but we don't know why, but that never happened. So we are going to get that set up for him. The ward here is really nice. They had a big fifth Sunday meeting yesterday third hour about the ward doing more missionary work. It was really cool. 

It turns out that we are whitewashing my first area. And it used to be an ASL area, so Sister Hirschi and I are going to have to learn it. It's a good thing I already know a little. Sister Hirschi knows nothing about it, but she is going at it in a way that makes me think that she will pass me up pretty soon. The only way I can stay ahead of her in by answering all her questions about it. I'm starting to remember a lot as we review stuff. 

Our apartment is huge. Two bed, two bath. We have to share a room, but we each have our own closet and bathroom. It's really big. Our kitchen is also pretty roomy, and we have a bit of a dining room, and our living room is quite spacious. There isn't much furniture, but we don't need it. We're never here to notice. 

Most of our time is spent trying to figure out our area, meeting with the members, strengthening our relationship with them. They are all very nice. They love to feed us. It's really fun to go meet all the members out here. There are a lot of people here for the optometry school that is in Memphis. It's so common that anyone who is a young family here from the west you can almost always guess that and you'd be right. 

Ok, I'm not sure what else to say, but if you write back before my time is up I may be able answer more things for you. (See below for some of that back and forth conversation!)

I just learned that I can read you letters during any down time I have during the week, I just can't reply. So go ahead and send more, just don't expect nearly as much in return :P

Love, Kimber
Sent from my iPad

Follow up emails for a few minutes:

Sent from your ipad! I was wondering about that... 

Hahaha, yea I got an iPad. It's pretty confusing trying to figure out all the apple software ;p

Is sister h a greenie too?

No, she's been out five months

That's a relief. My first comp was from my same MTC batch, it was crazy. I'm sorry you have had a cold. Thanks for the best letter! Praying for you! Love you, Mom

Ps any chance you could send more postum?
Hey, by the way, could you send me my ASL dictionary? It should be on my book case, I'm thinking bottom shelf

First email finally came - it was about 3:30 in the afternoon, AFTER I had left work. So much for watching email all day! I was in the carpool line picking up her brothers, and I thought to check my cell phone...there it was! Good thing, because then I was able to email back and forth with her for a few minutes.  Now that I'm at home, her dad is checking the area where she lives, counting the numerous churches in the area, noting how big the ward area is, etc. FUN! 

*If you want her mailing or email address, contact Mom B, or if you have her old phone number call that-but not during school hours please-her brother will answer it and tell you how to contact her mom.