Fun, Fun, Fun!

This week was so fun! We baptized D__!! And he loved it. He said that he really felt the difference. It was so cool to see how much he recognized and felt what he was doing.

They are the best!

Also, this week when we went to visit him a couple nights before his baptism his grandson who lives with him that we are also kind of teaching was really drunk. It was a super funny experience. And it really strengthened my testimony of the word of wisdom. And then later that night we went and played volleyball and at one point a lady hurt her knee, and it was so amazing that we all just stopped and gave her a blessing right then and there and were able to do that. In no other church and with no other group of people would hat be possible. And all those that were prepared and worthy to give a blessing were just able to jump up and offer that. No warning or anything. I just love moments like that, except for the part where someone is hurt.  

When we were finishing and printing off the program for the baptism!

Sister Fifield is still super fun. We laugh at everything. It's super fun to work with her.

All week I've just been jumping around in PMG  (Preach My Gospel, the missionary instructions book) and the Book of Mormon. It has been so wonderful to read all over in PMG. I learned so much about everything, and I just wish I could talk like PMG does. I don't have anything specific that I learned, but I learned a lot about how truly inspired that book is. I loved it!

Also, on Thursday, all the exciting stuff happened Thursday except the baptism, w E__ a deaf day and went up to North Little Rock and Sherwood (my old stomping ground!) and saw a bunch of deaf people! And I got to see D__!! And even C__! (D__, the recent convert sister, and C__, a reactivated less active sister that I found) it was so neat to see them and say hi! I love those people. It was a fun week. 

Love y'all! 

Kimber

Sister Beckstrand

Also, I ran into sister Lloyd in NLR (we were both getting tiwi -?- replaced) 
and she told me that B__ got baptized!!!!!
It was so cool to hear that. I love her!

On FB from Sister Houston in K's ward - Loved having our sisters over last night --they joined us for dinner & a family night on family rules & order and shared some fun growing up stories :)Sisters Beckstrand and Fifield in Little Rock Ward (ASL Sisters)!  

Hats, Hats, Hats & Otter Creek sisters with the Otters!🐍🐢🐗🦅🦁🐸🐒

The area is seriously picking up. We have so many set appointments for next week, we are going to be so busy. And we saw and met so many amazing people. There is a lot of potential in those we are seeing. And we are baptizing DB this Saturday, and he is so excited. He is amazing and so ready for the blessings of the gospel, and his interview this week went really well.

Sister Fifield is great. She's such a good example, and really challenges me to be better. We get along really well, and have a lot of fun.

This week we were at an investigator's house doing some service for her and she took us to a room to show us something she wanted us to do, but then we saw her fancy hats and got really excited about them. She was over the moon that we were so fascinated and loved her hats so much. So then she had us try them on and showed us all of them. It was especially incredible because when we first got here she was not happy that both of the last sisters were gone and hadn't even said goodbye, so she told us she didn't want to study with us anymore, but we were able to get in with her and do some service and she loved it, and we had a great time playing dress up with all her hats. She even gave us each a hat when we left. It was so fun.

Also, we went to the zoo today with the STLs. It was super fun.

P-Day at the Zoo

My studies have been a lot from PMG. I've loved reading the doctrine points and getting the important things from them even clearer. And it's interesting how every time I read them I learn something completely new that I didn't even realize. It inspires me to teach that point better.

It was such an incredible week, with a great zone conference thrown in the middle that really inspired us to do better! So much fun.

Love y'all! Kimber
PS The lion totally peed at us! And then roared a ton! It was incredible

Sister Beckstrand

Otter Creek sisters with the Otters!

Who's Counting?

My thirteen month mark...it snuck up on me. 

This week has been fun! We've met some interested people, and some people that are not willing to talk to us. This week we met a couple guys who had some questions about what Mormons believe, and we were able to answer them and help clear up things they've heard before, and they were really nice. One of them accepted a return visit. We were on walk week so we didn't get to see a lot of our investigators who don't live very close, and one day we decided to try biking, (I borrowed an elder's bike), but we had to bike for about two to three hours to get to our dinner appointment. Then Sister Fifield fell and got scraped up a bit, but she's all fine now. 

Sis Fifield & Sis Beckstrand.
"Crazy us!!"

Overall, I just love Sister Fifield. We have a lot of fun together!

Sis Zollinger(?) & Sis Beckstrand

This week we had exchanges, and I went to The STLs area with Sister Zollinger and we had a fun time. We had some really good lessons with people and some successful finding. We found a cool guy who actually lives in our area, and he texted us a question after we left. We told him to read chapter one in the Book of Mormon because it answers his question. I had a goal to share doctrine in first contact. I did better that I usually do, and I'm trying to continue that every time I talk to people. 

Yesterday I interpreted in church! (ASL) I was fun, and a lot of people were surprised that I could sign. But it was fun to interpret again. We do language study every day, usually, and we've had two language studies over Skype with another companionship who are also doing some ASL work. It was really fun. And then I went and and played piano for the Spanish branch (it wasn't very pretty) but that was fun. 

And, this Saturday, we have an investigator getting baptized!!!! He is such an amazing mad, and he has a lot of fun stories. Last night we went to talk to our top investigator who is getting baptized the Saturday, but he was already asleep, so we talked to his grandsons out side, they are super less active. We were talking about the gospel and about how they know things, and he got onto us about how we were raised in the gospel and that it was easy and we didn't know anything because of that. I've been getting similar statements from a lot of people ever since I got here last January, and I've always known it wasn't true that I didn't know life, and I never felt that it counted against me that I grew up with it, but those comments always made me wonder how to describe that it was a very good thing that I grew up with it. At that moment I finally understood why I felt that way. I understood how to explain to him so my point of view on how that does not count against me was a good thing. This is sort of like I said it, but in my studies this morning I was thinking about what I said and decided to write it down in my journal because it is an answer I've been searching for ever since the first time it was mentioned. 

'I have been raised in this gospel. I have never strayed far from the path. That doesn't mean that I haven't messed up, and it doesn't mean I know everything and it doesn't mean I don't know any different. Enos 1:1, "...my father...was a just man--for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord--and blessed be the name of my God for it" I do not regret being born in the Gospel. I do not feel like I'm missing anything, it is not less sweet to me because I am used to it. I don't have to mess up to understand. I can be the smarter one, and learn as I observe others mistakes in the lessons they learned from it. It's like the concept in Alma 32:14–15, "...because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word? ...Yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble" In most cases these people are smarter, wiser. They don't have to hurt as much in the process. Again, that doesn't mean I don't mess up, but I like this less painful route, and it has been a blessing in my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve a mission, to see people from all walks of life, to talk to them and learn from them. It is a beautiful blessing that I will never let go.'

Love y'all! 

Kimber

Sister Beckstrand

The people are always golden on the Otter side of the Creek!

Sister Esplin is really good at these titles. 😃 (Asked her how she got a title from Sis Esplin already, and she said, "I just talked to her - we just talked on the phone - and asked her for a title, I've been doing it for all my areas since we got separated. ")

Sis Fifield & Sis Beckstrand

Also, this week has been so fun! Whitewashing is great! This Ward is great! We have a great guy we are teaching that is so excited for his baptism at the end of this month. And we have met so many great people! And we are going to be doing ASL work! We haven't been able to meet with many deaf people outside of church yet, but that'll probably change this week. And we found out yesterday morning that we were starting walk week right after church. So we are car-less. And so far it's been great 😅. At least we found a ride to grocery shopping this morning. So, ya, my area is a little section in SW Little Rock, and we can go outside of our area for ASL work, but we haven't done it yet. My new address is .... It's really nice that the church building is literally a five minute walk from where we live. It's like being back home again. Fun stuff!

And Sister Fifield and I have had a ton of fun already! This transfer is going to be so fun! We've gotten to know each other really well already, it doesn't feel like it's only been a week, it feels like it's been longer. And we are also in sync for our mission timeline! We will be going home together! She's from Kaysville Ut, and she does voice acting for people on YouTube. (Look up 'Bloctor Who' she's Scarlet). She does a lot of fun things. Lots of crafty artsy stuff, it's fun to watch her work! It's great.

Blessing this week:
Yesterday we were sitting in the foyer waiting for the bishop to text us back when I saw the Tithing slip and envelope on the wall, and decided to grab one, I was thinking why am I getting this now? I've got a couple weeks until the first of the month, but I grabbed it anyway and stuck it in my bible. Then last night we were teaching our investigator about Tithing and Sister Fifield started explaining how the slip looked and worked and then I remembered that I had one in my bible! So we were able to have that and to give it to him so he could see it and have one. It was so cool! And I loved to see how the Spirit was able to just make me grab one even though I didn't need it yet. It strengthened my testimony of following the Spirit, even if the lesson would have gone well without it, it made it better that we were able to have one.

It was a great week.

Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

PS - And no, I'm not in the area of the mission office anymore, so I don't get to go there unless it's a big meeting or something. But one of the office couples goes to this ward so I get to see them on Sunday, it's fun. 

The following pictures appear to be from Sister Beckstrand's previous area, Mountain View:

The best people in the world!

Hiking! In our service project!

 

Driving in the car!

My district!

Once upon a time there was a really happy story and something really happy happened!

Hey, sorry my email didn't make it last week, there was terrible internet connection, I'll send it after this. 

Anyway, I've been transferred!!!! I'll miss Mountain View like you wouldn't believe, but I'm excited to learn the new area. I'm also leaving Sister Lloyd behind. And I'm whitewashing. Again. My new area is Otter Creek. It's in Little Rock, or somewhere near there. I don't know yet! Also, my new companion is Sister Fifield. And this is an ASL area. And she is an ASL missionary. And I don't know if my mission language is being changed or not, but I'm in an ASL situation now! And I'm so excited to be able to sign again! Ok, so we also have a bit of an advantage, Sister Fifield has been here before, but the teaching pool is going to be very different. So still a whitewash, but we have information.

This week was great. We had a really good district meeting. Some reminders on things that we can improve on in our teaching. And fun moments as a district. And then we had interviews with President. It was a good day. There were so many wonderful people there I am so sad to leave. We were teaching so many amazing people that were so prepared for the gospel it was so wonderful to be part of their lives as they embraced the gospel.  It is a privilege to serve here and be able to help people come closer to Christ. It's a beautiful thing! 

It was a fun week. 

Love y'all! 

Kimber

Mmmm, iron. Who needs supplements when there's a cast iron skillet?

This is the email that never made it to us last week, because her internet connection wasn't good enough that day. It must have been all those pictures! Nice to get it this week.

It was a good week.  We did a lot this week. We had some really great lessons. Lots of progress made with those we are teaching. On Wednesday we had a really great zone conference, and some good challenges to work on.

And then for the rest of the afternoon we had back to back appointments with some great people. We struggled finding new investigators, but that's ok, we can do better this week! It was a busy week, that dragged and then was suddenly over. It was strange, and fun. One time when we were walking, we took a short cut through an amphitheater that was super neat. It looked like it's a lot of fun in the summer.

The first half of the week it hung out in the mid fifties, then Friday through Sunday it dropped to the thirties, until Sunday evening when it was back in the fifties. Arkansas is weird. I love it though. This place is gorgeous, and the people are the best!

And I got to hold a couple wolf cubs this week!! They were so cute! It was a fun week.

And look at that floor! That's all hand done. Crazy right?! It looked really cool though.

Love y'all!
Kimber
Sister Beckstrand

"He's shaped like a corndog"

Look at that tiny dog!! She's full grown too!

This week was so good. And so exhausting. So many times this week I just fell into bed and fell asleep so fast it was disorienting in the morning. We had a couple incredible meetings this week, first being the Worldwide Missionary Training Broadcast. It was so good, and there were some pretty crazy changes made. The key indicators have changes, we only have four now, and our schedule has been changed. It's going to be an interesting change, but so far it's been great 👍. The other meeting that was incredible was with Elder Neil L. Anderson. The whole mission was there. It was a great experience. I'm still reviewing my notes, but I loved how they talked about giving up everything to Heavenly Father. And Elder Anderson encouraged us to memorize scriptures from the Holy Bible and the Book to Mormon. It was such a great meeting. And it was made even better by the fact that our two recent converts and the Ward mission leader and his girlfriend (who happens to be another recent convert) were our ride, and they stayed for the missionary meeting, and then they went to the youth meeting right after! It was so great.

Another thing that made Sister Lloyd and me so proud, we felt like mothers to their children, was when our branch president switched up the speakers for sacrament meeting and had the youth speak on what they learned from Elder Anderson, and both S & A talked about things they learned and said how they knew the Church was true and gave the best testimonies ever!!! And S blessed the sacrament yesterday!!! It was the best. 😄 We just kept looking at each other and smiling and thinking that they were the best people ever. (Plus it totally let me off the hook for a talk I was going to give on the sacrament. So that worked out 😁)

This area is amazing! The people 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦👨‍👩‍👧‍👦here are the best! And there are so many prepared hearts💕! 

And the title of this letter comes from our conversation in the car on the way home (2-2 1/2 hour drive) - apparently that's a thing. They also said that there are some (persons?) shaped like a sucker. It was a funny moment. 

Last night was the first time we didn't have daily planning at night🌄. It's in the mornings now🌅. And it's a good thing because we shut down! We were so exhausted. Sister Lloyd and I were talking in the southern accent, and she said something so completely southern that I died! I just laughed until tears were rolling down my cheeks. 😂 It was the best. 

This week was so good! And we have a possible baptism this weekend. We'll see how it goes, cross your fingers and pray really hard! He is so ready and prepared!! It'll happen sometime anyway, but everyone is hoping this weekend. 

This was just a wonderful week. I spent a lot of time studying the sacrament, and it was neat to learn about it. One thing that I've appreciated understanding better is why we need to take it every week. I understood that that was a thing, and because we are so forgetful as human beings, but it was interesting to connect that as we partake of it weekly we are a continual representative of Jesus Christ. We renew our pledge to him that we will stand as a witness of Him, and the moment we decide to not take the sacrament we make that witness void. We are turning down the Atonement in our lives and put our access to it on hold until we partake of it again. It's a serious matter. That's not to say that if we can't take it for one reason or another we are making that witness void, it's the choice, us using our agency to run down that gift that He's commanded we receive weekly. That hit me pretty hard this week. There is such a thing as being too sick to get there to take it, and things like stake and general conference that prevent that from happening, but those moments are important to help us recognize the difference so we can appreciate it more when we have that opportunity again. Just like when we're sick and we enjoy being healthy so much more for it. Just never choose to be sick- not to take the sacrament. That is when we receive that damnation our soul-we quit growing and changing to be more like Christ. 

I love the gospel. I love the Lord. I love His mercy, His love, His peace, His comfort. Even though I fall so short of the mark, He is still there lifting me and helping me to be better. Sometime I feel like I can't do all He has asked of me, but then I remember who He is (or rather the Spirit reminds me) and I know that I can do it, because He is the one who asked it of me. Because He knows what I can became and He knows how to get me there. I can do all things with God, I just have to humble myself and accept His will. The great and spacious building that is the pride of the world is so huge!! Even the most humble of men still has a rather large corner of that building. There is pride in humility. But as I give it all to Heavenly Father there is strength and growth. I know He is real. God the Father lives. He loves us. Jesus Christ lives and serves us with all He has. I am so grateful for this knowledge and the opportunity to share it with so many people here. 

I love y'all! Thank you for everything you do, and especially for who you are! 

Love Kimber 

Sister Beckstrand

Here we are, enjoying dinner after the meeting with Elder Anderson

Everyone looks so good!

Bubbles! It was a fun week!

In her response to Mom's letter, (for one thing I asked her about the weather):

 You know, it's funny, but it's actually been really nice here lately. Not too cold, but still pretty chilly. It's been hanging around the fifties. Sometimes it gets chilly, but it's been staying nice. It's crazy because it's nearly January, but it feels like it's getting warmer. The trees have even started to bud!!! 

This area is significantly larger than my last areas. And here are a lot of dirt roads we drive on. We have full car (a car all the time) but we do have to take seven walk days a month. It's nice though, we get to plan it and put it on useful days. And the miles are specific for every area. It depends on how big the area is, and what other areas are in the car share. A lot of things go into it, but they work it out...

...It's funny, I can totally feel the difference when we sit down to plan for the next day and start discussing things and we start trying to figure it out, but it's not working and then we stop and remember that we were going to pray, and then it all works out somehow after we pray, it gets better and sometime the day seems to plan itself. It's really fun when ya happens. And it's interesting to note the difference. 

Love you Mom! Kimberly