"Do all missionaries have to be attractive to go on a mission?"
- One of our investigators. That was funny.

The mission just changed how we find out about transfers.  We are now
called and told on Monday morning rather than Saturday if we are being
transferred or not.  Which means you pack your bags Monday and head to
transfer meeting Tuesday and your gone.  No more saying bye to people
on Sunday, which kind of stinks.  So today we got a lovely phone call,
and the verdict is... I am IN!  Which means Sister Passey and I will
be staying together in South Shore for another transfer!  Yay :) There
is a lot of work to do here still, so I am grateful we get to stay. :)

This week one of our investigating families had us over for dinner
twice!  Not necessarily because they are enthralled with the Gospel, I
think they just like the company.  The first lesson was a little rough
and I'm not sure they got a lot out of it.  So the second time we
decided to keep it short and sweet.  We read Alma 7: 11-14 with them
and talked about the Atonement.  It went really well and Rose was very
engaged in the conversation.  She asked why we don't have crucifixes
in our church and said that she likes that because she finds that part
of the Atonement too brutal.  Joe her son was even asking heartfelt
questions by the end. At the beginning of every lesson he likes to put
on a tough face, but by the end the Spirit helps to soften his heart a
little.  They say they want to come to church, so we hope that will
happen soon!

I have forgotten to update you on Emma!!  She is doing great and goes
to church every week.  This past week she got her temple recommend and
went to the Sacramento temple twice!  She looooved it.  She plans on
going to the temple every where that they travel to while on tour.
She is also counting down the days until she can get her endowments.
I love her.  The other exciting news is...ever since her baptism, her
Mom has been having the missionaries for dinner.  Yay! She is so
excited, we are so excited, life is good.  :)

Sister Passey got to celebrate her year mark this week by going to the
temple.  So for that day I went on an exchange with... Sister Russell!
 My trainer.  That was so much fun to be with her for a day.  She
hasn't changed too much, but we have both definitely grown in out
testimonies since we were together.  She is a good egg.

We also had ASL class this past Saturday.  We had a few people who are
not members come, so that was good.  We learned how to sign physical
characteristics this week.  Sister Passey is wonderful and has been
teaching me all kinds of new signs.  I love it!

Overall, the week has been good.  We did get to set up another family
mission plan and teach a handful of lessons.  We are excited for this
new transfer and for the new experiences that lay ahead.  Love you
all!
Sister Beecher
These pictures are of the frozen bay.  It was gorgeous!

March?  When did March get here?

I can't believe how quickly the past 5 weeks have gone!  Transfers are next week!  Yikes!  Sister Passey and I are praying we can stay together in South Shore a little longer.  I had my 7 month mark this past week, that was weird.  I felt like I just had my 6th.  Sister Passey also had her year mark, so we went and got ice cream.  

We met two new ladies this past week.  One of them came to church with a less active we are teaching, so that was great!  Her name is Darby and she has a super cute little 2 year old.  We had an appointment with her for this past Saturday but she juked us.  So hopefully this next weekend we will be able to meet with her.  The other lady was found knocking by the Spanish sisters.  Her name is Sue and she is a (To quote her directly) " crazy, old, hippy lady".  She met with the Elders about 2 years ago. She came here from Chicago and has been on Long Island for quite a while with her family.  I asked her if she is very religious and she said she is "Spiritual".  She said that she would like to meet with us but is not going to convert.  So we will see what happens with her.  She has had some rough things happen in her life recently, so we are hoping she will come to understand how the Gospel can help her.  

We also went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders this past week.  I went to the Plainview YSA branch with Sister Pieper.  It was really fun!  We went to Family Home Evening Monday night and taught a few lessons on Tuesday.  Monday nightwas the "fondue party", so I got there at a good time.  :)  It was really fun to be back in a Young Single Adult atmosphere.

Nicole is still doing great and pushing forward.  She is amazing!  This past week when we went to go visit her she had read in the Book of Mormon from Alma 40 - 3 Nephi 6.  What!!!  She is on a roll!  She was so excited to tell us about her reading as well.  We are hoping that everything will work out for her baptism date in May.  Her goal is to have the Book of Mormon finished by then.  I think she is definitely well on her way to accomplishing that.  We also had Sister Hart the ward Relief Society President come to her lesson with us.  That was wonderful!  She explained what Visiting/Home teaching is and testified of the importance of it.  It was perfect.  

We had Mega Zone Conference this on Friday and we received our new iPads.  That was weird.  I did not leave on my mission expecting to come home with an iPad.  We are now doing a 12 week long training on our iPads.  Each week is designated a certain thing for us to study and explore to learn how to use it more effectively in our work.  This past week was the Gospel Library app and this week is exploring Mormon.org/beta.mormon.org, familysearch.org, and lds.org.  If you haven't explored any of these websites, you should!  There are so many amazing tools and resources you can use at these sites.  I am learning so much from them!  I am excited to see how missionary work is changing with all of these technological advances.  We are the pioneers for "Missionary work in the digital age".  I have loved having an iPad to help with the work here and it definitely opens up the opportunities for missionary work.  I know this is a part of the Lords plan.  We are to live in the world, but not of the world.  By training this generation how to properly use technology and the internet on their missions, the church is creating a safety net for families in the future.  It is wonderful.  

This week it is finally warming up a little bit which will hopefully melt some of this snow.  Today it is in the low 40's!  It hasn't been that warm here for a long time.  All of the Long Islanders are saying that this is an unusual winter.  It usually snows a lot like this, but it doesn't stick around like it has this winter.  I have been very grateful to be in a car area!

Have a fantastic week everyone!  As my mission motto goes "Forever Changing".  I can definitely see the blessings that come from constantly striving for change and improvement in our lives.  I invite you to try and find something you can "forever change" about yourself this week!

Love,

Sister Beecher

My wonderful companion is so kind and is sharing her weekly summary
with my friends and family!  I've been trying to plan a bowling party
with the zone for one of the sisters birthday so I haven't had much
time today.  But dear Sister Passey is here to save the day!  I love
her.  I will just add a few things and second what she has said.
We had 4 dinner appointments this past week which is crazy!  It so
great.  We ask members if we can come over to set up family mission
plans with them and they offer to feed us.  It's pretty great :)
We also found a "frozen ocean"!  I've never seen anything like that
before.  I loved it!  We were doing some look ups in Mastic, drove
around the corner and BAM! There was the ocean. Sometimes I forget I
am living on an island.  I have always wanted to see what the beach
would look like when it was snowing, this is the next best thing.
Oh. ASL class was amazing!  I learned so much in such a short amount
of time.  By the end I could start to pick up a little bit on to what
people were saying and learned many new signs. I look forward to
learning more.
But like Sister Passey said, this week has been awesome and we have
seen many tender mercies.  The Lord is taking good care of his
children here in Southshore, we just need to help them realize it.
Has anyone had any amazing experiences with family history classes or
enrichment activities?  We are looking for some good ideas...
I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!
Sister Beecher


>
> Hello all you lovely humans!
> This week has been awesome!!! On Monday we went to dinner with a less
> active member, and she really needs to experience the church on the
> east coast. Because it is the same gospel, but very different kinds of
> people. And it would be very good for her. But it was very kind of her
> to take us out to dinner and it was some of the most wonderful Italian
> food I ever had. :-)
> On Wednesday, one of the families invited us over for dinner and help
> them set up a family mission plan. They made amazing food and really
> seem to have some desire to do missionary work. One of the things we
> work on with families is getting to the temple. And when we talked
> about that, the teenage daughter, said "well I need to go to the
> temple!" Apparently She's been trying to get there for a long time,
> but something always comes up the day of. And so we are pretty excited
> to help her get to the temple. Actually, that reminds me, one of my
> favorite parts about this Ward is that we get to work with the youth a
> TON! :) I love getting to be in young women's and being with these
> girls that really have these great standards because they have to. But
> they are each so good and so strong. :) But also in thinking about
> that, the youth leaders asked us to help brainstorm some good youth
> activities to help bring some unity to the youth and also to the Ward,
> so if anyone has any fantastic ideas, please send them my way. :)
> Thursday is always a nice day because we get to meet with 2 of our
> investigators. :) So Nicole is still progressing like a champ. She is
> flying through the Book of Mormon and has such a desire to do what is
> right and follow Jesus Christ. She's fantastic and she has the best
> stories. The other that we meet with are a family and Rose is the mom
> and she is so funny, but has a good heart. She actually read this week
> and then this Sunday before church she called us wanting to double
> check what time church was this week! She wasn't able to come because
> we got a good 5 inches of snow, but she's planning on it next week.
> And it sounds like her son, who said he is 'not interested' but always
> shows up and stays for the lesson and participates at least as much as
> his sister, would like to come too. So it's great! :)
> On Friday, we had an incredible opportunity to hear from Elder David F
> Evans and Elder Stephen Allen of the missionary department in giving
> us training for 'Becoming a Disciple in the Digital Age' and it was
> just wonderful. That's part of why we are taking a break from
> facebook, but  it was really wonderful because the point of this is
> not just to help and change missionary work here, but also to help us
> to better handle technology at home and make sure it is a tool and we
> are not slaves to it. :)
> And Saturday was just crazy. We started the studies but then got a
> call that we needed to help clean the church. But when we got there it
> had all almost been done! So then we had correlation and we had ASL
> class. It was awesome!!!!! I have missed using ASL SO much!!! And it
> was fantastic! We had a really great turnout too. So it's been decided
> that we'll do that every other Saturday and it'll be great. :)  So
> then we had an appointment with  family for dinner so we went to that
> and set up a family mission plan with them and then we had planned to
> set up a family mission plan with our Ward mission leader right after.
> So we headed over there and set up the plan with them, which was fun
> because they were beyond excited and wanted to do so many things. We
> helped them to set some achievable goals, but then they sat us down
> for dinner! That was a surprise... And it was all very good, but at
> the end of that night, Sister Beecher and I were about to explode! :)
> Two things that keep coming up in my studies this week are humility
> and discipleship. And really, they're super connected because you
> can't truly be a disciple without humility. And true discipleship
> fosters humility. As we humble ourselves and 'becometh as a child' we
> can be more devoted disciples of Christ.
> Well, I love you all dearly and hope you're having a fantabulous week!!!
> Sister Passey

Time is flying...

I feel like February just started, holy cow!  This week was really
great.  I got to go to the temple last Thursday because it's my 6
month mark.  Yay!  It was wonderful and just what I needed.  The
temple is a place that can help any situation make sense and give you
a clear head to think.  It is amazing that God has allowed us to have
a place where we can help so many people, while being taught and
guided in so many ways for our own lives.
The crazy part is when I was leaving the temple.  I walked out and
heard "Sister Beecher?" and then I was enveloped in a large embrace.
It was Heather Childs!  One of my college friends who is here in
Brooklyn trying to get a job, was there at the temple!!  We sat there
hugging and crying for a minute, snapped a few photos and then it was
time to head back to the island.  But it was so wonderful to see my
sweet friend Heather!  Someday I hope to serve in Brooklyn, Heather
goes to appointments with the Sister missionaries all the time.  But
if not, that was a tender mercy to see her that day.

We got to skype Emma this week.  Which was really exciting because she
has been really busy with work.  We have only skyped a few times since
her baptism in December.  Emma is amazing though.  She has such a
strong testimony and should be getting her temple recommend soon!  She
is so excited to go do baptisms and is already counting down the days
until she can get her endowments.  We talked with her about building
her spiritual fortress and ways we can better "endure to the end".  We
used a really cool visual aid my brother Brad sent me for Christmas.
It goes along with some scriptures in Alma.   It was perfect and Emma
really liked the visual even though it was over Skype.  She is amazing
and continues to teach me new things about the Gospel every time I
talk to her.

Other news... Our "test" time for our iPads is over.  We are now in
the "training period".  Aka we return the iPads we have and they give
us new ones with more software and restrictions. I didn't plan on
coming home with an iPad.  In the beginning, I didn't even know I was
going to a mission that used iPads.  But I think it is amazing how the
church is teaching this rising generation how to correctly use the
Internet and technology.  They are teaching us to get in the habit of
using it for missionary work then sending us home with the tools we
need.  The world and technology is about to be hit by a powerful
spiritual force, get ready for it!  It's crazy!

As far as South Shore goes, we are still trying to work our hardest
and meet as many people as we can.  We have met the majority of the
active people in the ward and are currently working on setting up
family mission plans with them.  (They set goals for missionary work
as a family.)  I know that Pres. Calderwood was very inspired when he
started up these family mission plans.  They should help our
missionary work move along so much better.  The members will now be
working together to get referrals for them to teach WITH us.  It's
genius!  We have yet to find any Deaf people, but our fingers are
crossed.  There will be an ASL class taught by the missionaries
starting up in March.  Hopefully we can find some people that way!

This Gospel is amazing and I have seen the difference it makes in
people's lives.  I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of my Savior
Jesus Christ and sacrifices he has made and continues to make for me
daily.  I pray that we all strive to make repentance a daily thing and
continue to change for the better.

Have a great week everyone!
Love you all!
Sister Beecher

Me and Heather Childs outside the temple