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!

Store used as chapel

12 year old that Katie has been teaching and is to be baptized.

September 8, 2014
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

Life is a Mission

I gave a talk on Sunday about missionary work and came across this
quote form President Monson in 1988ish.
"God is our Father
Man is our Brother
Life is a Mission
And not a Career"
This is a quote that would be good for us to remember every day of our
lives.   Four simple statements can clarify the majority of the whys,
how, and what's of mortality.   I love it!

We are starting to teach a 12 year old girl who says she wants to be
baptized! I am excited! She is so cute and is from the Caribbean!
(LOVE her accent!).   We also had a TON of appointments cancel on us
this week so we were really under our goals.  Bummer.  But it is now a
new week!  It is going to be fantastico!  I got to try knocking for
the first time. Ya, that was different.  MEMBERS truly are the key to
missionary work!  It makes such a big difference in our success rate.

I don't have time to say much these week.  I will give more stories next week!
But know that I appreciate all of the Love, support, and prayers that
have been on my behalf.  Love you all, this Gospel is true, and HURRAH
FOR ISRAEL!!!!

Sista B.