Hola familia y amigos!
Well we went to visit Melanie again this week. Came home after to
find a bed bug on Sister Colemans coat. She kind of freaked, poor
girl it was her first time seeing one. Then we had to go pick up the
Elders from an appointment (their car is in the shop) and on the way
home we hit a MASSIVE pothole. The roads here are sooooo bad and the
lighting is very far and between. There was a lot of loud noises and
then we pulled over. But thankfully, both of the Elders had worked in
car shops previous to their missions so they knew what they were
doing. After calling up the other set of Elders to bring us a tool we
needed, we finally finished putting the spare tire on by 11 pm. It
was a looong evening and poor Sister Coleman is emotionally exhausted.
But we are getting it fixed today at PeP BOYS.
My favorite part of this week was culture night! The ward met at the
church building and everyone brought something that represented their
culture. ( mostly just dishes, but I didn't mind) The beginning of the
program went through each country and someone would stand up and
represent that place, say a little about it and some people even
performed. There were dances, songs, and even poems. It was so cool!
There are so many different places in my ward! Then after all of the
performances we got to taste all of the food. Holy cow was there a
ton of food! It was so good! Sister Savionón (she's from the DR)
taught us earlier in the day how to make a sweet bean drink. It is
literally my favorite drink, and it is super easy. I will try and get
the recipe. Then after everyone ate and chatted for a while, the
party really got started. The bishops son was the DJ and everyone
started dancing. Utah needs to learn what real dances are like. It
was so much fun! The Bishops wife was teaching me how to bachata. It
is a dominican dance. Best. Party. Ever.
We have a couple appointments with members set up for Thanksgiving, so
we will not starve on Turkey day. We also have the mission "turkey
bowl" where different zones come together to play football. Our zone
leaders had t-shirts made for the zone with our nicknames on the back.
My district has nicknamed me Teacher Beecher, so that is what it says.
:) I don't think I will actually get to play in the game but I will
be wearing the team jersey!
The work in Lynbrook is still pushing on. Love this place.
Sister B.
Ps. I don't know if I mentioned this last week, but Emma is getting
baptized! She is coming here to Lynbrook to have it done. I'm so
excited! Dec. 9th!
Sunday, December 14, 2014
This week has been a roller coaster!
First off, I absolutely love the He is the Gift initiative. This is
going to do huge things for the church, I know it! We have been
knocking more, sharing pass along cards and showing the video. Please
take the time to research this initiative and to help others
understand the true reason for the season. If you are hesitant to
share the Gospel, this is a great way! #SharetheGift We already have
two new investigators from this initiative! One of them is named
Junior. We met him last week knocking. All we did was ask if we
could share a Christmas video with him and then talked about it after.
I asked if he read the Bible and then told him about the Book of
Mormon. He told us he would be willing to read it if we gave him one.
So we got his info and told him we would bring one by in a few days.
We called him this past week, set up an appointment for this past
Saturday and then went and met him. Literally, a miracle happened.
We went to his house, sat down with him and read the introduction of
the Book of Mormon. We told him of the promised blessings that can
come to us when we read and pray about it. He said he would read it
all and pray to know if it was true. Then he asked us how our church
differs from the other churches and we taught him about the
Restoration. He said that makes sense and asked what you have to do
in the Mormon church to be redeemed/saved. We briefly explained the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and as soon as I got to Baptism he said " yeah,
I think I am ready for that. I have been thinking about being baptized
and I think I found my church." We were like, woooooow. No way! He
asked if we had strict laws in our church. We gave an example of the
word of wisdom and the blessings that come from it. He said that he
already lives like that and if he had to cut drinking at parties out
that was not a problem. What!! Then he ASKED us when and where
church is. He is amazing! And all we were doing was dropping off a
Book of Mormon, look what it turned into! He wasn't able to make it
to church yesterday. But he will be there next week! We are so
excited. President Calderwood always talks about trying to find the
"Pure in Heart" to teach. Well, we found him! We are meeting with
him again this next Saturday.
I also had to tell sweet sweet Melanie that we couldn't come back to
her house. (It's where we got the bed bugs). That was really hard. I
knew it was going to hurt her. She agreed to just have phone call
lessons with us for now. We had our first one yesterday. It was a
little awkward at first, but I know that if we can invite the spirit
she will still be able to learn and progress.
But the most exciting news is that Emma is getting baptized
TOMORROW!!! This has been such a journey for her and us. But it is
happening, and she is on the plane over to New York right now! We are
having the baptism at 8 in the morning and the confirmation at 7 in
the evening. President Calderwood wanted to make sure that she could
feel the difference between baptism and confirmation, which is why
people who are over 8 are confirmed the next week at church.
President is also coming to both the baptism and confirmation
tomorrow, it's going to be so great! I am so excited for Emma. I can
see the difference this Gospel has made in her life and how much she
has changed already. I always tell her that she has taught me more
about this Gospel than I have ever taught her. She is like a sister
to me, she is so amazing.
Overall it has been a wet, rainy, on the verge of snow type of week.
I've had a nasty cough, but all is well! The work is moving along and
the Lord is blessing us. Thank you for your prayers sent my way, I
love you all.
Sister Beecher
First off, I absolutely love the He is the Gift initiative. This is
going to do huge things for the church, I know it! We have been
knocking more, sharing pass along cards and showing the video. Please
take the time to research this initiative and to help others
understand the true reason for the season. If you are hesitant to
share the Gospel, this is a great way! #SharetheGift We already have
two new investigators from this initiative! One of them is named
Junior. We met him last week knocking. All we did was ask if we
could share a Christmas video with him and then talked about it after.
I asked if he read the Bible and then told him about the Book of
Mormon. He told us he would be willing to read it if we gave him one.
So we got his info and told him we would bring one by in a few days.
We called him this past week, set up an appointment for this past
Saturday and then went and met him. Literally, a miracle happened.
We went to his house, sat down with him and read the introduction of
the Book of Mormon. We told him of the promised blessings that can
come to us when we read and pray about it. He said he would read it
all and pray to know if it was true. Then he asked us how our church
differs from the other churches and we taught him about the
Restoration. He said that makes sense and asked what you have to do
in the Mormon church to be redeemed/saved. We briefly explained the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and as soon as I got to Baptism he said " yeah,
I think I am ready for that. I have been thinking about being baptized
and I think I found my church." We were like, woooooow. No way! He
asked if we had strict laws in our church. We gave an example of the
word of wisdom and the blessings that come from it. He said that he
already lives like that and if he had to cut drinking at parties out
that was not a problem. What!! Then he ASKED us when and where
church is. He is amazing! And all we were doing was dropping off a
Book of Mormon, look what it turned into! He wasn't able to make it
to church yesterday. But he will be there next week! We are so
excited. President Calderwood always talks about trying to find the
"Pure in Heart" to teach. Well, we found him! We are meeting with
him again this next Saturday.
I also had to tell sweet sweet Melanie that we couldn't come back to
her house. (It's where we got the bed bugs). That was really hard. I
knew it was going to hurt her. She agreed to just have phone call
lessons with us for now. We had our first one yesterday. It was a
little awkward at first, but I know that if we can invite the spirit
she will still be able to learn and progress.
But the most exciting news is that Emma is getting baptized
TOMORROW!!! This has been such a journey for her and us. But it is
happening, and she is on the plane over to New York right now! We are
having the baptism at 8 in the morning and the confirmation at 7 in
the evening. President Calderwood wanted to make sure that she could
feel the difference between baptism and confirmation, which is why
people who are over 8 are confirmed the next week at church.
President is also coming to both the baptism and confirmation
tomorrow, it's going to be so great! I am so excited for Emma. I can
see the difference this Gospel has made in her life and how much she
has changed already. I always tell her that she has taught me more
about this Gospel than I have ever taught her. She is like a sister
to me, she is so amazing.
Overall it has been a wet, rainy, on the verge of snow type of week.
I've had a nasty cough, but all is well! The work is moving along and
the Lord is blessing us. Thank you for your prayers sent my way, I
love you all.
Sister Beecher
Sunday, November 23, 2014
City Lights and Zebras
This week has been amazing! We had transfers on Tuesday. I am
staying in Lynbrook and Sister Russell went to Rego Park. My new
companion is from Las Vegas, has been out 9 months and this is her
second area. Her name is Sister Coleman, she is super sweet! She was
called spanish speaking so we are a zebra. (Missionary term for
multiple languages put together) it's pretty cool! I'm not promising
anything but I'm going to try and pick up some Spanish this transfer.
On Wednesday we had zone meeting, service at a soup kitchen, and an
adventure to the temple. We met the first little girl we baptized and
her father there to do baptisms. Thanks to a huge map and some really
nice people we figured out the trains and were able to make it to the
temple by ourselves. It was late, so we got to see all of the city
lights, it was so cool! We ended up getting there about a half hr
late, but they had waited for us. So we did confirmations and then
waited our turn for the font. When it was Tanishas turn, her Dad took
one look at the names, got a big smile on his face and motioned for me
to go look at the names. I thought he wanted me to check that their
family names were still there. I went and looked over the nice desk
mans shoulder to see not one, but four people with the last name Beech
from England. But there is a really good chance those are my
ancestors! So the first girl I helped get baptized then helped four
of my ancestors get baptized! How amazing is that! It was an great
night.
On Thursday, we did our weekly planning and decided to go find a
referral. We made contact with this referral about a month ago, but
she has been sick and out of town so we had never had an appointment.
We went and stopped by and she was there! She invited us in and took
us into the basement. The first thing she asked was if we were afraid
of cats... We said no. Haha. When we got downstairs, she introduced us
to Cleo the cat. She said that Cleo can be kind of feisty and doesn't
like strangers. But Cleo seemed fine so we went and sat on the couch.
We got to know Amber for a bit, her mom came in and out a bit, and
then I asked why she was interested in the church. Amber had actually
referred herself online, which not too many people do. She said that
since the first time we met her she had been reading the Book of
Mormon daily and was somewhere in second Nephi! What! We taught her
the Restoration lesson and the spirit was so strong. That was one of
the clearest, most powerful lessons I have ever been a part of and
that is because the spirit was backing us up 100%. Well the whole
time we were teaching the lesson, Cleo kept coming up and smelling our
shoes, hands and even on the back of the couch by our heads. At one
point she sat down right next to my head and just watched us. Amber
was amazed the Cleo was being so well behaved. She pointed it out to
us about every 3 minutes. When the lesson was over and Sister Coleman
and I were headed out the door, Sis. C asked if I understood why the
cat was acting like that. The spirit was so strong that it had
literally tamed the cat, it was our "third witness". Hahaha how cool
is that!
On Friday we went to the Jeans (it's creole, not pronounced like blue
jeans.) for dinner. They invited all the missionaries, a couple from
the ward, and a two woman who are not members. They fed us the most
delicious Creole food, it was so good! Very different, but tasty.
On Saturday there was a mission wide fireside where Elder Donald
Halstrom, president of the 70 came to speak to us. He was about 45
min late because of traffic but it was worth the wait! He basically
just testified of everything in the Gospel and then opened it up to a
question and answer. One Elder asked about an article in the paper
about Joseph Smith and his "million wives". That question has added a
lot of controversy out here in both investigators, members, and
missionaries. But men are not perfect, the Gospel is. We can not
judge a person based solely on a few decisions verses their life's
work. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He restored
this Gospel! How can you condemn a man that has done so much good for
this church and for God. He saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and
was the vessel for receiving the Priesthood back on the earth. By
using that priesthood authority he was able to translate the golden
plates to put the Book of Mormon in our lives today. So no matter
what the world might say, I put my trust in Gods word not the word of
man.
Sunday. I love Sunday's. Seeing everyone in the ward is my favorite.
Then after church we go from eating "lunch" at sister Kovalys house to
the Pegueros for dinner.
Cool fact of the week: read Genesis 28 and then pg 100 in the hymnal.
Before my mission, I didn't know those two related to each other!
Love you all!
Sister B.
This week has been amazing! We had transfers on Tuesday. I am
staying in Lynbrook and Sister Russell went to Rego Park. My new
companion is from Las Vegas, has been out 9 months and this is her
second area. Her name is Sister Coleman, she is super sweet! She was
called spanish speaking so we are a zebra. (Missionary term for
multiple languages put together) it's pretty cool! I'm not promising
anything but I'm going to try and pick up some Spanish this transfer.
On Wednesday we had zone meeting, service at a soup kitchen, and an
adventure to the temple. We met the first little girl we baptized and
her father there to do baptisms. Thanks to a huge map and some really
nice people we figured out the trains and were able to make it to the
temple by ourselves. It was late, so we got to see all of the city
lights, it was so cool! We ended up getting there about a half hr
late, but they had waited for us. So we did confirmations and then
waited our turn for the font. When it was Tanishas turn, her Dad took
one look at the names, got a big smile on his face and motioned for me
to go look at the names. I thought he wanted me to check that their
family names were still there. I went and looked over the nice desk
mans shoulder to see not one, but four people with the last name Beech
from England. But there is a really good chance those are my
ancestors! So the first girl I helped get baptized then helped four
of my ancestors get baptized! How amazing is that! It was an great
night.
On Thursday, we did our weekly planning and decided to go find a
referral. We made contact with this referral about a month ago, but
she has been sick and out of town so we had never had an appointment.
We went and stopped by and she was there! She invited us in and took
us into the basement. The first thing she asked was if we were afraid
of cats... We said no. Haha. When we got downstairs, she introduced us
to Cleo the cat. She said that Cleo can be kind of feisty and doesn't
like strangers. But Cleo seemed fine so we went and sat on the couch.
We got to know Amber for a bit, her mom came in and out a bit, and
then I asked why she was interested in the church. Amber had actually
referred herself online, which not too many people do. She said that
since the first time we met her she had been reading the Book of
Mormon daily and was somewhere in second Nephi! What! We taught her
the Restoration lesson and the spirit was so strong. That was one of
the clearest, most powerful lessons I have ever been a part of and
that is because the spirit was backing us up 100%. Well the whole
time we were teaching the lesson, Cleo kept coming up and smelling our
shoes, hands and even on the back of the couch by our heads. At one
point she sat down right next to my head and just watched us. Amber
was amazed the Cleo was being so well behaved. She pointed it out to
us about every 3 minutes. When the lesson was over and Sister Coleman
and I were headed out the door, Sis. C asked if I understood why the
cat was acting like that. The spirit was so strong that it had
literally tamed the cat, it was our "third witness". Hahaha how cool
is that!
On Friday we went to the Jeans (it's creole, not pronounced like blue
jeans.) for dinner. They invited all the missionaries, a couple from
the ward, and a two woman who are not members. They fed us the most
delicious Creole food, it was so good! Very different, but tasty.
On Saturday there was a mission wide fireside where Elder Donald
Halstrom, president of the 70 came to speak to us. He was about 45
min late because of traffic but it was worth the wait! He basically
just testified of everything in the Gospel and then opened it up to a
question and answer. One Elder asked about an article in the paper
about Joseph Smith and his "million wives". That question has added a
lot of controversy out here in both investigators, members, and
missionaries. But men are not perfect, the Gospel is. We can not
judge a person based solely on a few decisions verses their life's
work. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He restored
this Gospel! How can you condemn a man that has done so much good for
this church and for God. He saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and
was the vessel for receiving the Priesthood back on the earth. By
using that priesthood authority he was able to translate the golden
plates to put the Book of Mormon in our lives today. So no matter
what the world might say, I put my trust in Gods word not the word of
man.
Sunday. I love Sunday's. Seeing everyone in the ward is my favorite.
Then after church we go from eating "lunch" at sister Kovalys house to
the Pegueros for dinner.
Cool fact of the week: read Genesis 28 and then pg 100 in the hymnal.
Before my mission, I didn't know those two related to each other!
Love you all!
Sister B.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
"A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible."
I didn't send a blog email home last week, so this is covering the
past two weeks. Sorry it's long!
At church on Sunday a lady in the ward gave a fabulous R.S. Lesson!
She was talking about conference and how she was expecting (as was a
lot of the church) some kind of big announcement. I mean with all the
media and world problems and so much going on in the world right now
she said she was expecting something. So when conference happened,
and Pres. Monson gave his opening address. Nothing was announced.
Not a thing. No new temples, nothing. She said she was a little
dissapointed. But the very first speaker, Elder Packer, talked about
Christ and why Jesus Christ did what he did. Then she said that with
all of the talks about following the prophet and sustaining him, he
must be saying something very critical in his address to us this
conference. So she was very excited for his talk. And what did he
talk about? Christ, and walking as Christ walked. After she said that
she got very quiet and said, That was the big announcement. What more
do we need in our lives than Christ. Why do we expect so much more
and want new revelation when all we really need is to rely on our
Savior. I think that this conference fit together perfectly. But
what this Sister in my ward said impacted me. I guess I got so caught
up in all the talks that I missed the simple message of conference.
I feel so loved in this ward! I was well taken care of on my
birthday. My companion is amazing and made it a super fun day. She
calls me a wilderness explorer because of my love of the out of doors
and so she made me a wilderness/jungle to wake up to. Haha lets just
say she had a lot of fun with crepe paper and balloons. She is so
funny. Because it was both my birthday and Elder Hunters, we went out
to lunch as a district. We went got his little hole in the wall Thai
place. It was pretty good. Then we went back to the church for some
pie and ice cream. Sister Russell told the Elders to find Key Lime
pie for me. They found this pie that was a key lime meringue. It was
kind of nasty. Haha but they were so sweet for trying. Then 2 hours
later we had dinner at a members house. Sister Anderson is amazing!
She called my Mom and Dad and asked them what my favorite food was.
Sister Anderson made lasagna, garlic bread, and for dessert....My Moms
key lime pie recipe! Yay!! It was so good. I was so excited to have
key lime pie. Yum. Then when we finished eating she told us that my
Mom and Dad had told her some interesting facts about me and she had
put them on sticky notes on the bottom of our plates. Everyone took
turns reading these notes about me. Haha She also said that my Dad
told her an interesting story about me. If any of you know my Dad,
you know what story that is. Hahaha yep, the famous story of when I
almost crawled off a ledge. I think that story will follow me for the
rest of my life. Anyway, that was super sweet for the Andersons to do
that for me. Then on Sunday the bishops wife, Sister Peguero had us
over for dinner and gave me a present and had bought a cake that had
our names on it. It was so nice. Everyone here is so giving, even if
they don't have much to give.
I also got to go to the beach this past week on Pday! It was so much
fun! We didn't stay long, but it was an adventure!
So far, being in New York has helped me learn a lot more about myself
and how I interact with others. It's weird being the minority here.
Not only the minority by being Caucasian, but also by language. I
didn't know this when I came out of my mission, but Missionaries
called English are the minority. The majority of us are Spanish
speaking. For example in our zone conference, Sister Russell and I
are the only English called missionaries out of about 20. It's crazy!
Door knocking... It's always awkward. We get turned away about 94% of
the time within the first 8 seconds. We had one guy tell us that he
is a devil worshipper. He was a big, balding man that looked like a
biker. Sister Russell didn't hear what he said so she said, a what?
He said I worship Satan. It was really awkward and we were both like,
ok we'll have a nice day, and walked off. The sad part is he had a
little boy in the room behind him watching. That poor kid is going to
have a rough life. We found one lady knocking who let us come in and
we were amazed! But as soon as we sat down she went on to explain
that she is a Sunday School teacher and has been for about 40 years.
She first asked each of us what Sanctified means. Then told us we
were both wrong and that we couldn't really know Christ if we didn't
know what that means. We had a decent conversation with her, it wasn't
necessarily confrontational, but we both walked away being mad. She
would not let us get a word in to talk and she kind of just told us
how we could not be true. But we had made a return appointment with
her in the middle so we didn't feel good about backing out on it. So
we went the next week with a member. Sister Andersons daughter just
returned from her mission in Switzerland. So we took her with us.
The first thing she did when we sat down was pull out her "research".
Two books entitled cults. Haha ya not the best sources right? So we
sat there for an hour and a half trying to help "clarify" what Mormons
believe. But whenever we said something she didn't like she would
just say "no no. That is not true" and then go on rambling. She
didn't not listen to what we had to say at all. At the end she told
us that at judgement christ would ask us if we remembered the old
black lady that told us we were wrong and asked why we didn't listen
to her. Haha sister Russell said we will see and then we left. Ha, I
think that was enough bible bashing for a while. I think I can live
without it.
We set a baptism date for a nine year old last week! She is so funny!
Her Mom is semi active and we have been waiting for the grandfather
to come to the states to perform the baptism. Well it is finally
happening! This cute girl is so ready to be baptized, she is so
excited.
This past week was amazing and we were able to exceed all of our
goals! It was amazing and the Lord truly blessed us. I am so
grateful!
I didn't send a blog email home last week, so this is covering the
past two weeks. Sorry it's long!
At church on Sunday a lady in the ward gave a fabulous R.S. Lesson!
She was talking about conference and how she was expecting (as was a
lot of the church) some kind of big announcement. I mean with all the
media and world problems and so much going on in the world right now
she said she was expecting something. So when conference happened,
and Pres. Monson gave his opening address. Nothing was announced.
Not a thing. No new temples, nothing. She said she was a little
dissapointed. But the very first speaker, Elder Packer, talked about
Christ and why Jesus Christ did what he did. Then she said that with
all of the talks about following the prophet and sustaining him, he
must be saying something very critical in his address to us this
conference. So she was very excited for his talk. And what did he
talk about? Christ, and walking as Christ walked. After she said that
she got very quiet and said, That was the big announcement. What more
do we need in our lives than Christ. Why do we expect so much more
and want new revelation when all we really need is to rely on our
Savior. I think that this conference fit together perfectly. But
what this Sister in my ward said impacted me. I guess I got so caught
up in all the talks that I missed the simple message of conference.
I feel so loved in this ward! I was well taken care of on my
birthday. My companion is amazing and made it a super fun day. She
calls me a wilderness explorer because of my love of the out of doors
and so she made me a wilderness/jungle to wake up to. Haha lets just
say she had a lot of fun with crepe paper and balloons. She is so
funny. Because it was both my birthday and Elder Hunters, we went out
to lunch as a district. We went got his little hole in the wall Thai
place. It was pretty good. Then we went back to the church for some
pie and ice cream. Sister Russell told the Elders to find Key Lime
pie for me. They found this pie that was a key lime meringue. It was
kind of nasty. Haha but they were so sweet for trying. Then 2 hours
later we had dinner at a members house. Sister Anderson is amazing!
She called my Mom and Dad and asked them what my favorite food was.
Sister Anderson made lasagna, garlic bread, and for dessert....My Moms
key lime pie recipe! Yay!! It was so good. I was so excited to have
key lime pie. Yum. Then when we finished eating she told us that my
Mom and Dad had told her some interesting facts about me and she had
put them on sticky notes on the bottom of our plates. Everyone took
turns reading these notes about me. Haha She also said that my Dad
told her an interesting story about me. If any of you know my Dad,
you know what story that is. Hahaha yep, the famous story of when I
almost crawled off a ledge. I think that story will follow me for the
rest of my life. Anyway, that was super sweet for the Andersons to do
that for me. Then on Sunday the bishops wife, Sister Peguero had us
over for dinner and gave me a present and had bought a cake that had
our names on it. It was so nice. Everyone here is so giving, even if
they don't have much to give.
I also got to go to the beach this past week on Pday! It was so much
fun! We didn't stay long, but it was an adventure!
So far, being in New York has helped me learn a lot more about myself
and how I interact with others. It's weird being the minority here.
Not only the minority by being Caucasian, but also by language. I
didn't know this when I came out of my mission, but Missionaries
called English are the minority. The majority of us are Spanish
speaking. For example in our zone conference, Sister Russell and I
are the only English called missionaries out of about 20. It's crazy!
Door knocking... It's always awkward. We get turned away about 94% of
the time within the first 8 seconds. We had one guy tell us that he
is a devil worshipper. He was a big, balding man that looked like a
biker. Sister Russell didn't hear what he said so she said, a what?
He said I worship Satan. It was really awkward and we were both like,
ok we'll have a nice day, and walked off. The sad part is he had a
little boy in the room behind him watching. That poor kid is going to
have a rough life. We found one lady knocking who let us come in and
we were amazed! But as soon as we sat down she went on to explain
that she is a Sunday School teacher and has been for about 40 years.
She first asked each of us what Sanctified means. Then told us we
were both wrong and that we couldn't really know Christ if we didn't
know what that means. We had a decent conversation with her, it wasn't
necessarily confrontational, but we both walked away being mad. She
would not let us get a word in to talk and she kind of just told us
how we could not be true. But we had made a return appointment with
her in the middle so we didn't feel good about backing out on it. So
we went the next week with a member. Sister Andersons daughter just
returned from her mission in Switzerland. So we took her with us.
The first thing she did when we sat down was pull out her "research".
Two books entitled cults. Haha ya not the best sources right? So we
sat there for an hour and a half trying to help "clarify" what Mormons
believe. But whenever we said something she didn't like she would
just say "no no. That is not true" and then go on rambling. She
didn't not listen to what we had to say at all. At the end she told
us that at judgement christ would ask us if we remembered the old
black lady that told us we were wrong and asked why we didn't listen
to her. Haha sister Russell said we will see and then we left. Ha, I
think that was enough bible bashing for a while. I think I can live
without it.
We set a baptism date for a nine year old last week! She is so funny!
Her Mom is semi active and we have been waiting for the grandfather
to come to the states to perform the baptism. Well it is finally
happening! This cute girl is so ready to be baptized, she is so
excited.
This past week was amazing and we were able to exceed all of our
goals! It was amazing and the Lord truly blessed us. I am so
grateful!
Friday, October 10, 2014
General Conference... Why did you end so quickly?
This week had some great opportunities! Pday we spent the entire day doing laundry. On Tuesday we were invited to go to transfer meeting even though none of us were getting tansferred. (In my district I mean, yay!) the WHOLE mission was there at transfers. It was super packed. Before we went there we were all guessing different reasons as to why everyone would be invited to go. One of the Elders said maybe some of the areas boundaries were being changed, I said that we were going to watch the Meet the Mormons movie, another Elder said that maybe there would be an apostle coming to speak to us...the guesses went on and on. But guess what it was! We got to watch the prescreening of Meet the Mormons!!! It was so good! And this is an amazing opportunity for missionary work! It basically asked what you think Mormons are and what they believe. Then it showed six stories of different Mormons around the world. It didn't get super deep into our beliefs, it was more about how we live because of our beliefs. It was really cool! It comes out October 10th, so everyone go see it! And then encourage everyone else to see it! Pres. Calderwood said that if it does well enough they would probably make another, but it has to get a good response opening weekend. So GO! Haha also, if it is not showing in a theatre in your area, if you get enough people to join you, you can request it be brought to your area. That is what we want to happen. Spread the Gospel through out the world!
Also this week we had the opportunity to teach mutual. Sister Russell and I made up a missionary jeopardy game to play with the youth. It was really fun and it made the youth find answers in Preach My Gospel, For the Strength of Youth, and the scriptures. I think it was a good learning tool for them. All of the missionaries started calling me Teacher Beecher cause I was the one leading it. Haha Not the first time I've heard that one guys... I hope I get to use that jeopardy game later on the mission, it was fun.
A lot of the people we teach have been kind of flaky the past couple weeks. So Sister Russell and I have a goal to go do some more finding this next week. We need to build up our teaching pool and there are too many people out there that still haven't heard of this Gospel! To the doors it is, I should have some interesting stories by the end of the week. Knocking always brings stories. Haha
Of course the best part of the week, General Conference! We watched all of the sessions at the church with some of the members. All of the sessions either were really short or they went by really quick! But wow was it an amazing conference! Sister Russell and I fasted and came up with questions for the people in our teaching pool, and our own individual questions to take to conference. A lot of them were answered. As I'm beginning to find out, I'm not very good at picking "favorite" things. So no, I did not have a favorite talk. But here are some of my favorite quotes, a few might be paraphrased...
- "God is not going to make us become something we do not CHOOSE to become."
- "Freedom comes not from resisting, but from applying it"
- "The process of gathering spiritual light is a quest of a lifetime"
- "Why does the Lord allow opposition against the good? Because it brings the good to their knees in faith."
- Elder Jorg Klebingnat...wow, I loved the whole thing!
- "You are pleasing God, despite your short comings."
- "You are not your brothers keeper, but you are your brothers brother!"
- "Walking where Jesus walked is less important than walking AS Jesus walked"
- "Are we prepared to leave our comfort zones to reach a better place?"
Some important things that I learned:
- We need to sustain with our hearts, not with just our hands.
- Sacrament is said to be one of the holiest ceremonies in the church. It needs to be made more holy to me.
- Is the way you are living fulfilling your promised blessings in your patriarchal blessing?
- As you turn to Christ, you turn outward to love and service.
There is so much to learn! I love that our knowledge can always be increased in the Gospel. Everyone should go read and reread all of the talks by conference. There are so many answers for so many questions to be found in those inspired words.
Love you all, have a good one!
Sister B.
There are really weird street signs here in New York. There are so many signs that have "fine print" on them. It's sooo confusing. Haha
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Some days are better than others...
The beginning of the past week has been some of the rougher days yet.
We have had a lot of negativity around. Negative people, negative
situations, negative attitudes. It was hard. I felt like my
companion and I were not connecting like we use to and we were not as
open. It's hard being with someone all day everyday. I don't know
how you married people do it. We are getting better and better...But
I know that the more we work on it and pray and serve each other it
will get easier.
But! One of the best parts of the week was when I got to see my MTC
district at the trainee meeting! We got so close at the MTC and I
feel like we really understand each other. I miss them all a lot. We
got to chat a bit and of course take silly pictures. It was so good
to see friendly faces from back in Utah. They helped me feel a lot
better. I hope I get to be in the same area as them someday.
I went on an exchange this week. The Sister Training Leaders split up
with Sister Russell and I. I stayed in Lynbrook with Sister Harris
and Sister Russell went to Little Neck. Sister Harris is from Spanish
Fork. It was a really good experience! We only got lost a few times
with me giving directions. Haha we had 3 lessons and they all went
really well! We visited one less active who has cancer and hasn't
been to church in a few years. She has only been a member for about 4
years. She called us up one day and asked why she hadn't seen the
missionaries around for a while. So we went to visit her. She is
really sweet, but I don't know if she has a deep enough desire to
learn to really keep commitments. I hope so, but we will see this
next week. We also went to see a less active who hasn't been in
months because she went through a messy divorce about a year ago. But
she came to church Sunday!!!
Sunday was Tanisha's baptism! Yay! She was sooo excited, it was
cute. I asked her how she was feeling and she told me she couldn't
hold her excitement in anymore, like she was going to explode. Haha
before church started the Elders helped us turn on the hot water in
the font because the hot water comes out very slowly. We came back
almost 2 hrs later and the water wasn't even a foot deep! So the
Elders and Sister Russell and I grabbed a couple pitchers and started
carrying hot water from the bathroom sink Into the font. It was
literally a sauna in there, so much for curling my hair. Haha we sat
there putting pitcher after pitcher into the font during some of
Sunday school and all of Relief Society. By the end we had probably 2
1/2 feet of water. Then we had to start the cold, which came out much
faster to finish filling it up. Over all, the water turned out semi
warm. Goodness. Then the man conducting the program decided to do
his own thing when Tanisha was getting dressed, instead of following
what we had planned. He basically gave his own talk and then turned
it over for testimonies. But it felt super awkward and no one was
getting up. So I felt like I needed to fix this pickle, so I got up.
I talked about teaching Tanisha and the importance of baptism in all
of our lives. Then we sang another song and went on with the program.
I wasn't planning on that. We also forgot to bring towels for them,
but our superb Elders ran home and grabbed some right before the
program started. Haha but overall it was a success! We only had a few
minor dilemmas and it all worked out in the end.
Just about on every corner here, you see people with what we like to
call "hobo carts". They are basically mini shopping carts, but people
buy them at Walmart to push all of their "stuff" in. Haha
I got to try legit NY pizza the other day! It is super good! And the
slices are HUGE. One slice is 2/3rds of a little Cesar's pizza. I now
understand why people fold their pizza in half to eat it. Haha oh they
also have this place where you can get creamed ice. Yum! It is one
of the yummiest treats! It's ice cream that has more ice blended in
with it. It sounds really weird, but it is better than regular ice
cream. It's not like a shake, or snowcone. It's just different. And
comes in about 50 favors!
The beginning of the past week has been some of the rougher days yet.
We have had a lot of negativity around. Negative people, negative
situations, negative attitudes. It was hard. I felt like my
companion and I were not connecting like we use to and we were not as
open. It's hard being with someone all day everyday. I don't know
how you married people do it. We are getting better and better...But
I know that the more we work on it and pray and serve each other it
will get easier.
But! One of the best parts of the week was when I got to see my MTC
district at the trainee meeting! We got so close at the MTC and I
feel like we really understand each other. I miss them all a lot. We
got to chat a bit and of course take silly pictures. It was so good
to see friendly faces from back in Utah. They helped me feel a lot
better. I hope I get to be in the same area as them someday.
I went on an exchange this week. The Sister Training Leaders split up
with Sister Russell and I. I stayed in Lynbrook with Sister Harris
and Sister Russell went to Little Neck. Sister Harris is from Spanish
Fork. It was a really good experience! We only got lost a few times
with me giving directions. Haha we had 3 lessons and they all went
really well! We visited one less active who has cancer and hasn't
been to church in a few years. She has only been a member for about 4
years. She called us up one day and asked why she hadn't seen the
missionaries around for a while. So we went to visit her. She is
really sweet, but I don't know if she has a deep enough desire to
learn to really keep commitments. I hope so, but we will see this
next week. We also went to see a less active who hasn't been in
months because she went through a messy divorce about a year ago. But
she came to church Sunday!!!
Sunday was Tanisha's baptism! Yay! She was sooo excited, it was
cute. I asked her how she was feeling and she told me she couldn't
hold her excitement in anymore, like she was going to explode. Haha
before church started the Elders helped us turn on the hot water in
the font because the hot water comes out very slowly. We came back
almost 2 hrs later and the water wasn't even a foot deep! So the
Elders and Sister Russell and I grabbed a couple pitchers and started
carrying hot water from the bathroom sink Into the font. It was
literally a sauna in there, so much for curling my hair. Haha we sat
there putting pitcher after pitcher into the font during some of
Sunday school and all of Relief Society. By the end we had probably 2
1/2 feet of water. Then we had to start the cold, which came out much
faster to finish filling it up. Over all, the water turned out semi
warm. Goodness. Then the man conducting the program decided to do
his own thing when Tanisha was getting dressed, instead of following
what we had planned. He basically gave his own talk and then turned
it over for testimonies. But it felt super awkward and no one was
getting up. So I felt like I needed to fix this pickle, so I got up.
I talked about teaching Tanisha and the importance of baptism in all
of our lives. Then we sang another song and went on with the program.
I wasn't planning on that. We also forgot to bring towels for them,
but our superb Elders ran home and grabbed some right before the
program started. Haha but overall it was a success! We only had a few
minor dilemmas and it all worked out in the end.
Just about on every corner here, you see people with what we like to
call "hobo carts". They are basically mini shopping carts, but people
buy them at Walmart to push all of their "stuff" in. Haha
I got to try legit NY pizza the other day! It is super good! And the
slices are HUGE. One slice is 2/3rds of a little Cesar's pizza. I now
understand why people fold their pizza in half to eat it. Haha oh they
also have this place where you can get creamed ice. Yum! It is one
of the yummiest treats! It's ice cream that has more ice blended in
with it. It sounds really weird, but it is better than regular ice
cream. It's not like a shake, or snowcone. It's just different. And
comes in about 50 favors!
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
| 12 year old that Katie has been teaching and is to be baptized. |
This week was really interesting! One day started as follows: We had
an appointment cancel, normal. Then we had a zone conference, it was
so good! First we went over each districts stats, then did some
lightning rounds (it is a way to practice teaching in a quick way. It
helps with recalling the lessons with our muscle memory.), and then a
few workshops. The workshops the other Elders or Sisters prepare are
either REALLY good, or really lame. Hahaha 2 out of the 3 were
fantastic! So that is good. One of the workshops was about the story
of Jacob. Which I have really learned to love that story because of
what I learned about it in the MTC. All of you should go read the
story of Jacob (Genesis 25-28) and then if want your mind blown, read
the lyrics to Nearer My God To Thee! So cool! In the workshop we
talked about ordinances and how the rungs of the ladder are different
ordinances we have to have on our journey to heaven. But it is not
the ladder that gets us there. It is our desire to continue up the
ladder that help us reach our end goal. Really though, go read about
it.
Then we all travelled to Freeport (in our zone, but not my district.
So my first time there.) Once in Freeport we first went to the
Freeport Chapel. Whiiiiiccchh is basically just in the middle of an
old store complex. Haha there is a picture. We gathered materials and
then we did a street sweep! Basically we set up a lemonade stand on a
street corner and gave out free lemonade and pamphlets. At first I
was a little hesitant but then I really enjoyed it. Most of the
people who walked by would say, really it's free?? Or they wouldn't
trust our lemonade and say no and keep walking. But the some of the
missionaries did get quite a few referrals from it so that was good.
One big black guy said that he studied Theology and said he knew the
bible really well. He gave us his bible quiz. He asked us who were
the 3 people that went up with God? He thought he had us fooled. But
good news, we passed! Do you know who? Well that man was so
impressed that we knew the answers. He talked to us for a bit and
then we gave him our info on the pamphlet. He said he wanted to have
a religion discussion with us again. Haha we will see what happens.
We returned back to Lynbrook and after went to an appointment in an
area called CedarHurst. This is Jew central. There were sooooo many
men in suits with top hats walking around. Did you know the hat means
they rank higher in their church or have a different calling in their
church? I didn't know that before. There are so many cultures here
it's amazing! I got In trouble last week for clearing the table and
rinsing off the dishes at my bishops house after dinner. An Elder
told me in Hispanic culture it is rude to try and do their dishes.
Ya, my bad.
I don't know if any of you have ever driven in NY, but its super easy.
All you do is pretend like there are no traffic laws and whatever
goes. Haha it's terrible! I have seen cop cars around but have only
seen one person actually pulled over. The flow of traffic is at least
10 over and almost no one stops at stop signs. The best part are some
of the intersections. You can be stopped at a light with two lanes
going straight and one right turn lane. But once it's green you have
to merge in the intersection because the other side only has one lane.
Those intersections are everywhere, it has cause some intense moments.
I get my "green dot" to start driving this week. Yay! Haha we will see
how this goes. Our car is a Malibu boat. It is literally a boat. It
sounds like a boat and turns like a boat. But we love our Malibu! I'm
very grateful to have a car and not have to walk everywhere.
Especially when we are going through the sketchy areas.
I recently read a talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf called "are we sleeping
through the restoration". I really really like this talk. It talks
about things in our lives that cause us to let our earthly purpose
slip away. I think that talk can be applied to everyone in one way or
another. One of my favorite parts was where Pres. Uchtdorf says
"there is too much at stake for is to give only a half hearted
effort." That hit me because it's true! We are talking about
people's eternal progression!!! We have a great responsibility as
members of this church that I think we forget about all too often.
Here in my ward, we are really trying to push for member missionary
work. There is a huge success difference if the investigator was
referred by a member. Especially if that member is willing to sit in
on the appointments. I never realized before the mission that I could
play such a huge role in missionary work. Always look for
opportunities to share the gospel, daily! There is so much work to do
that we can't rely on the missionaries alone. Sorry. I will get off
my soap box now, this has just been on my mind a lot lately. And I
know that it is very important :) also another super good talk is by
Bruce R. McConkie in the 1985 April general conference. The title is
about gethsemane. I don't know it's exact name. But it's a great
talk! You should read it!
Overall, it's been a good week. It's had it's high and lows. But
life is good! So many tender mercies!
Love you all!
Sister Beecher
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