I am loving THIS Medicine!

Hi there!!!! Oh my gosh. I am ONE. HAPPY. MISSIONARY. 

 I am now in the Medicine Lake Ward (Plymouth) with the lovely Sister Szabo! Mom, I LOVE her. I am so so so incredibly blessed to be companions with her. She's blessing me so much already, and it has only been 4 days. Within FOUR days, Sister Szabo and I taught NINE Restoration lessons in 3 days. That's insane! If you don't quite know what I mean by that, it means, finding people on the street, stopping them, getting to know them, telling them we are missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, talking about how when Christ was on the earth He established His church and gave His apostles authority, going into people rejecting Jesus Christ/Disciples & power taken from the earth, then going into the Restoration, telling Joseph Smith's story, reciting the First Vision, inviting that random person on the street to be baptized, then saying a closing prayer. It's pretty intense. It was really scary at first, but Sister Szabo and I are a power house and busting these puppies out:) Sister Mansfield and our Zone Leaders found out and were SOOO proud of us!

 

First day there, we had dinner at the Ojo's house. Mom. Sister Ojo was YOU. A black YOU. She was hilarious, amazing cook, cute decorated house, went on a mish, and doesn't take crap from anyone. It was a blessing to be there:)

On Saturday, we went to a baptism for a teenager named Aminata, we were asked to teach the Restoration while she was getting dressed back into her church clothing. That went well, the Spirit was very strong. I met a lot of the ward members after that, (and btw I have only heard the BEST of things about the Medicine Lake ward) they were all SO nice... Everyone was so happy to have me there, and I felt at home immediately. TIt's so great! We were invited that night to Bishop Henstrom's house for a 'get to know the new ward members BBQ' and Mom. You would have DIED. Their house was beautifulllll. It's honestly something you'd see on Country Living magazine.. antique deck/little area that had furniture with hanging lights, and their backyard was MASSIVE, with huge beautiful willow trees, a lovely garden, and a super pretty lake in the back. I loved it. Anyway, we were there to 'mingle' with the new wardies. We met some really great people, and there was some really great food.

Sunday was looonnnggg... We were at the church from 8-3 with meetings n'stuff. We were sitting in Sacrament meeting singing the Sacrament hymn, and after the hymn ended, Brother Ojo got up and said in his lovely African accent "We ah oot uff breed, soo, we will haff Seester Beeson come an sheh her testeemony" (we are outta bread, Sister B will share her testimony) Didn't see that one coming! Went up, introduced myself, bore my testimony on Missionary Work, The Atonement of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. It was a really nice opportunity. And after Sacrament meeting, people just swarmed up to us and were introducing themselves. Those Minnesotians! They're just the cutest.

That night we were invited to the Camps for dinner. The Camps are a LEGEND. They're an older couple and are just 100% missionary minded. I LOVE them. The people at dinner were supposed to be the Camps (obv) the Spitzenburgers (another awesome missionary minded couple) us, and the Asamoahs (member husband, non member wife) We had a lovely Gospel Discussion.

 

After that, we visiting good ol' Brother Larry. He read SO much!!! He read all of the Introduction, all of the Testimonies, 1 Ne 1-7, and the whole Book of Moroni! Whaaaaat? What a stud. He took about 30 min to tell us what he learned, and we are just so proud of him. He's great.

And yes, the Johnson's. That was why I was upset to get transferred. BUT. If we have an investigator to come with us (which we do as of now) then we can go! I'm so excited. It's this Thursday at 7! You guys should come ;) Sister Mansfield asked us to teach the Restoration at that baptism too. So that'll be fun!

I have a great district! They're super cool.  I feel like I'm gonna be here--Med Lake for a while :) I'd be fine with that!

Sorry, I feel like this email is super scattered and unorganized. But just know that I am oh-so-happy, a wonderful companion, I live in a tidy member home, I get to drive, I have a nice bunk bed, and the best ward in Minnesota. I love this Gospel! Being a missionary is great. :) Love you all, thanks for your prayers!

Have a lovely week and keep safe and cool!

xoxo Sister Beeson

Sister Beeson and her new companion Sister Szabo from American Fork!  

Mamacita & fam & friends!!

Ahhhh... WHAT. A. WEEK. I don't even know where to start. Let's see... I can't even remember the beginning of the week. hmm... well, the week started off with Sister Schwartz (my lovely MTC comp) and I being companions for the day!!!! That was the absolute BEST.

 I drove for the first time (since May 15...eek) and we really had no idea where we were, but hey, all our appointments worked out, we taught some Restorations, and we had success! Not as bad as I thought it'd be :D It was fun. She's the cutest ever. I am so happy to know Sister Schwartz! 

Ok... So. Cool story, ready? (I honestly can't remember if I told you any of this, sorry if I did, but there's more to the story anyway) So last Friday when I was on exchanges, Sister Mansfield and the comp she was with met a man named Marvin. Marvin is old. He's African American, he's BUFF. He has a rough background: Wife died when he was 27. Mom died 7 months later. Got remarried. Recently divorced. Ex & kiddies want nothing to do with him. He was prompted to move to Minnesota, first person he ran into was an LDS member, next day, ran into some missionaries, and a day later, got referred to us. We taught him Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. AHHH! Amazing. He is keeping ALL of his commitments, and feels strongly he needs to get baptized. We have a baptismal date set for August 3rd. How exciting!!! Well, Marvin is home-less & job-less. Quite unfortunate. So, he has been PRAYING like crazy to get a job so he can provide for himself. We have been praying for him too. WELLLL... He got a job! BUT. The shifts are Sunday-Friday. Boo. He'd still be able to come to church (9-12) but then he'd have to work (4-12) so, that was a big bummer. We talked to him on the 4th of July and taught him about the Sabbath, etc. We were lovingly bold and he knows the importance of the Sabbath. We talked with our leaders and such and we all decided that he just needs a job to get him back on his feet to provide for himself, and THEN start looking for a new job/asking for Sundays off. He's amazing. I look up to him so much, and I love meeting with him, because I learn from HIM! So, that's exciting. 

So July 4th!! AH! Thanks soooo much for the pics. I LOVED them. So so so good. 

So, the morning of July 4th, there was the Shingle Creek/Elm Creek ward breakfast! There were a lotttt of people there including loads of investigators! Right when I got there, this gal runs up to me saying "Sister Beeson!!" I didn't recognize her... She introduced herself saying, "I'm Amy Anderson, Michael Peterson's sister!" Awww... a relation to home! I was so happy :) and guess who was with her? Tuesday! It was good to see her too:) they were both so nice and told me if I ever need 'ANYTHING' to call her right up:) the breakfast was good, I love my ward. They're all so great! I really wish you all could just look through my eyes at Sacrament Meeting. It is THE BEST. 

It's quite empty most of the time, because... well... it's not Utah. But there are just tons of Liberians in there crazy, colorful garb, translators, for deaf people, the organist usually just plays right hand, Liberian prayers are so heart felt and...  I just love everyone there! 

So, onnnn... Friday I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Szabo from American Fork, Utah! She's just the cutest. I loveddd being with her, and I honestly thought we rocked it the two days we were together. 

Oh and  I'm getting transferred.  I am going just right next door to a place called Medicine Lake (Plymouth) I'm so excited. That was actually where I had my first exchange, so I'll be living in a members house! Wednesday is THE DAY. 

 I'm just way bummed because I have grown to love sooo many people down here in these past 6 weeks. It's crazy. And I don't get to go to the Johnson's baptism unless I have an investigator with me! So hopefully we'll find someone to come! 

Well e'rybody. Life is GOOD. I'm a missionary! I love it! The days go by fast, so I have to remember to use the Lord's time WISELY. I love you all have an incredible week for me! xoxoxo 

Sister Beeson and Sister Schwartz enjoying a BIG Minnesota treat:)

Hot DOG!

Eliza and her companion (far left) and roomates show us how missionaries do a 4th of July Weenie Roast!

MinneWaCkY Weather!

Hello, beauties!

Wow. What a week. I first wanted to thank you for updating me with pictures and stories! I LOVE hearing about what's happening :) Poor Buzz. I'm sorry about the money. But that seriously is an incredible tithing story, thanks for sharing! I'll definitely share that within the next week or so, guaranteed. :) Mom and Claire! You both look soooo good! You're so pretty :)  Anyway, I'm glad you're all doing well... That's so great that you all watched the broadcast! It was very good. :) I'M A MISSIONARY AHHH.

So. This week. I'll start with Monday- I went on exchanges to a place called Minnetonka for the day and my companion on that exchange was Sister Quilter (Sister Shelby Ballif's comp) 

The Lord's hand was definitely in this exchange. Within the 48 hours of being with Sister Quilter, I felt God's absolute love and trust for me. It was incredible.

The first two people I taught in Minnetonka were well....kind of crazy!! L

.

Sister Beeson and Sister Mansfield in front of concert hall where Tab Choir performed.

 

 

Target Center

Sister Beeson and her MTC companion

A big group of us with  a gal named Martha who got baptized a year ago and went through the temple, and we got to go with her!!! :) What a success. (she's deaf by the way so it was cool seeing how the endowment was... it was different:)) and the one with me  is Sister Quilter who I went on exchanges with :)

Shoe Tree

Dinky Town

OL! The first door we knocked on, a man came to the door. He was old. Held a walker. Obese. Shirtless. Frightening. We said hello, and he didn't make any eye contact, he started YELLING.. ah! He was crashing his walker into the door and screaming at his walker... It was the most humorous/frightening thing in the world. Literally two seconds after leaving his apartment, this chick came out of hers and we talked with her. She TALKED our ear off about how her physical/spiritual bodies were separated when she was two years old and how she went to Heaven, and sat in a big meeting with Abraham and his posterity, and Isaac and his, so on so forth. And she said at this big meeting, God told her that her whole purpose and duty on this earth was to start some oil company. She was interesting... we handed her a mormon.org card and went on our way. So, that was my first impression of Minnetonka... WOW. Anyway, the next couple of days went well, it was fun. I seriously LOVE exchanges, get to meet new missionaries and see around Minnesota! It's just the best!

Hmm... Oh yes! On Thursday we were able to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert!!! WAHHOO!! It was AMAZING. I'd see Cheri & Rob on the screen a few times and it honestly made me feel closer to home knowing that a family friend was in the same building as me :) They performed at the Target Center and we were able to invite the Johnsons (the family that is getting baptized) ..(just the parents) they LOVED IT. They had music for all types of ethnicity's because... that's just what it is in Minnesota... SO DIVERSE. I love it. :) So that was definitely a treat. Alex Boye had a solo and he even danced and did the splits hahah it was great.

On Friday... Before Sister Mansfield and I were talking to Brother Johnson, the weather was just sunny, humid & hot. Well, we talked to him for about 45 min, and when we went back outside, it was STORMY. The sky was a super creepy gray, and I was joking around/half serious questioning if there was going to be a tornado... Sister Mansfield was like ''the sky has to be kinda green for that to happen'' well, sure enough, there's some green in the sky. The clouds were moving SO fast. It looked like fast motion. Scariest. Well, we drove about a block to a less actives house, and once we got there, it starts POURING. I have never seen rain like this. We ran out of our car to the less actives house, had our umbrellas and were out side for literally 5 seconds, and when we reached the door we were DRENCHED. Insane. Well, we got texts from our leaders telling us to stay inside because it was super dangerous outside. The power went out, we got some candles. The lightening/thunder/wind was CRAZY. I have never been a storm like this before. It was kinda thrilling! Anyway, once it settled a little, we hurry and got back in our car to get home, and we literally drove through a RIVER. People's cars were half way covered with water and broke down and had to push their way out. The water was up to their thighs/hips. There was no other way out, so Sister M and I went for it! We drove through the river! the water went half way up our windshield, it was freaky! On the drive home, we heard a billion ambulances and saw tonnnns of trees and branches everywhere fallen down. I felt like a survived something huge just because of what the after effect looked like. Haha... it was purdy cray.

Well, it's been a heck of a lot better week thanks to your prayers. I love you. I thank you for everything!!! You're all so amazing and I'll see you in 1.5 :)

Love love love you!

xoxo

<3 Sister B

Amazing Exchange

(What you are about to read is sort of a journal-entry-type letter.  We are only allowed to send letters on p-days, so I'll just kinda keep you updated on what's happening day to day until I send this on Monday:)

Mamacita and Family:)
Holy Cow I miss you all so much.  I think of all of you every second.  The mish has really made me appreciate you all so much more:)
It's rainy here all the time.  So many people are not interested in the message we have to share with them. It's super frustrating, but I keep telling myself they're not rejecting me or my companion...they are rejecting Christ's message.  It's pretty dang sad sometimes.

So, for the past couple of days a ton of our appointments have been falling through.  But when it reaches about 8pm, we're not as discouraged because miracles happen!
 For instance, on Sunday, literally no one came to answer their door, but at 8pm, we knock on a door, and a gal named Kataline invited us in and we stayed for a whole hour teaching her!  That is seriously so rare for something like that to happen.  We're going to continue teaching her, and hopefully more miracles will happen:)
Oh, and a side note: her husband is baptized.  An elder, by the name of Elder BEESON baptized him!! Weird, huh?

Monday night, same kind of thing was happening; appointments falling through and no interest in the message.  Then about 8pm I was suuuuuuper thirsty.  We stopped at a gas station to fill up my water bottle, and as I was looking for a water fountain, I made eye contact with an older man, dressed classy, smoking, sitting on a lazy boy in the back office and he motioned for me to come.  
He pointed to the water fountain, then we got talking.  I told him who we were, he told us who he was, and as about 5 minutes passed, he told us to pull up a chair and offered us orange juice.  We chatted for nearly an hour about everything! From polygamy to baptism, to prophets, to church, to word of wisdom, etc.  He literally had soooo many questions.  It was awesome.  His son is/was a Jehovah's Witness and supposedly "knows his Bible like the back of his hand." We  told him about the Book of Mormon and he is super interested in looking through it.  Anyway, the old man's name was Zuhair and told us that we are always welcome to come, especially if we are hungry or thirsty and they'd have food for us!  VERY nice people.

June 5th...yay!  I got sooo many letters today!  Perfect timing too because today was a rough day: 
White people scare me! 
Buzz would actually love Minnesota because there are lots of Africans. I LOVE them!  
I got letters from Mom and Dad, Grandma Gaye, Scott Gunther, Kailey Voucher, Matt Carlson and others! What a blessing.  

I went on my first exchange a couple of days ago! It was SO great!  I was companions with Sister K.  Sister K IS Hannah Peterson!  She talked like her, laughed like her..EVERYTHING was just like her!! It was soooo fun.  And to answer Dad's question: Sister K, is definitely the funniest person I've met here!
Anway..Sister K and I dropped by the H family's house.  We knock on the door and I hear a billion barks.  3 pit bulls :/ AHH! 

They were huge and they were jumping all over me and licking me like cray cray.  Sis. H is about mid 30's, has brown hair and her husband has lots of tats everywhere, gadges in his ears and a goatee.( you will soon learn here that looks can be deceiving)  We came to help them pack.  About two hours later, Brother H told me his life story.  Ready? I'll make it brief:
Brother H was just mean to everyone and everything.
He was a druggie and drug dealer.
He was in and out of prison and jail several times.
He told me a story about when he was on a train from Minnesota to Utah to go to work on some houses.  On the train with him was an 18 year old girl headed to BYU.  This girl was getting hit on by creepers on the train and was getting offered drugs.  Br. H protected her all the way from Minnesota to Utah. ( he beat up a few people who were treating her badly and helped her with her bags,etc.)
Well, once they got to Utah, they went their separate ways.  Later he got a letter from our church thanking him for protecting that gal all the way to Utah and gave him some money.  He sent the money back and told them it wasn't  big deal. 
Well, later he ended up meeting Sis. H. on some dating website.  Well, they met and totally hit it off and Brother H was introduced to Sis. H's mom.  Her mom was not fond of him.  They butted heads.  Sis H. wanted Br. H to meet her dad.  He was nervous to meet him because he didn't want to be treated badly or judged.  Well, Bro H met Sis. H's dad and it was not what he expected. Her father was sooo nice and accepting of Br. H. Later, Br. H found out he was a Mormon.  Because of Sis. H's father's kindness towards him, Br. H became interested in the church and wanted to be nice and caring like Sis. H's dad.  Long story short: 
-the missionaries met with them
-they got married
-they got baptized BY Sis. H's dad:) All this happened in February!  They have already been in the temple to do baptisms for the dead and are going to be sealed next February, so I'll still be here!  (They said they would invite me:)
Anyway, it is just SO neat to hear stories of people who made a complete 180 turn in their lives and it's amazing to hear that all that happened JUST because it started with kindness:)
Br. H speaks at firesides all the time and has given plenty of talks and is going to be speaking in stake conference soon.  Also, where are they moving to?  Shingle Creek!  My ward! Wahoo!

Anyway, that exchange was so great.  I  felt the spirit on that little 24 hour exchange! I love you all so much!
Love, 
Sister Beeson

From the Land O Lakes!!

HI!!!!! 
I just sent a huge hand written letter to y'all. Enjoy. 

To answer your questions....

Are you teaching tons?

Answer: We teach a decent amount! My first day was still my best out of all these days, but it's all good.

How many wards are you over?

Answer: I'm only over one ward... I think... haha Shingle Creek :) I'm getting to know everyone in the ward a little bit better and I've tried to pick out a family that could be my 'family' here... I have a couple in mind...So I love eating at members houses, it makes me feel soooo much less homesick surprisingly :)Oh, and ps, The Beeson family is one of a KIND. It took me until NOW to realize it.  I love our family. Honestly! I cannot believe how blessed I am and what I did to deserve to have Sam and Sarah be my parents with Buzz, Claire, Jack and Andy as my sibs. Oh, and Happy:)  You are a huge example, mom.  I've had the opportunity to clean tons of houses this week, and I've just remembered what you've taught me! I'm a better cleaner than I--or you may have thought :))

How far away are you from your mission home?
Answer:  About 30 min away

Are you on bikes EVERY day?! If so, do you like it?  Do you feel buff?:)

Answer:  I talked about this in my mega letter... Mom, I'm not on a bike. Haha every single one of your letters has asked that, and I finally worked up the courage to tell you that I'm not on a bike. :) CAR, BABY WHOO!!! But, we are sooo low on miles already this week because of exchanges (I elaborated in the letter) so we'll probs have to ride our bikes like next week. 

Have you gotten my mail yet?
Answer:
Yes, got all your letters!!! It was like Christmas!! I got so many:):):)

Well, this week has been great-ish.

I'll start off talking about the Johnson Family. I believe I told them about you last email, but in all honesty I can't remember... My mind is so jumbled! Johnson's are a young African Family--cutest. We've been teaching them a ton and the only thing holding them back from getting baptized is because they've 'already BEEN baptized' so we would explain authority lesson after lesson, and eventually we just had them fast about it. Well, last week, we visited them and were just PRAYING they received the confirmation to be baptized. President Clements even came with us to this lesson (Intimidating!!!) I'll just skip to the fun stuff: We asked how their family fast went... They looked at each other and they said that Sunday night, they were sitting at opposite ends of the room, looked at each other and Sister J said ''We need to do this'' and Brother J said ''I was just going to say the same thing''... sounds super dramatic, haha but I love how the Spirit works! They both got that confirmation at the SAME TIME! It was soooo exciting!!! So we set up a baptism date and they're gonna get baptized at the end of this month! 

Well, fast forward to yesterday. We invited the Johnson's to church (They have poor church attendance and wouldn't be able to get baptized on the date we scheduled if they didn't come to church) Well, we were so confident that they were gonna be there because Sister J didn't have work and we followed up with them the night before and said they'd be there. THEY WEREN'T. UGH!!!!!  That instantly put Sister Mansfield and I in a funk. We showed up at their house after church and Brother J answered the door, we told them how disappointed we were!! He apologized and said they 'slept in and the girls braids weren't done'
 Anyway, there was a baptism that night and we were asking if they were still up for coming. Brother J couldn't because he had a meeting, but he said to call Sister J. 
The baptism that we were invited to is the COOLEST story. Basically there is this guy from Kenya who is a pastor of a church and runs a little orphanage. Well, he traveled to America to find ideas to run a better orphanage (so I heard, idk if that's true) well, he was in America for about a month until he ran into some missionaries, the missionaries did their thang, and he ended up getting baptized! The pastor in Kenya traveled back home and told his congregation that while he was in America, he found the truth and was baptized. He started teaching HIS congregation the TRUE Gospel of Jesus Christ! How amazing, right? Well, this pastor had a friend named Peter. He told Peter what had happened to him and Peter decided to go to America to find the missionaries! Within 2 weeks, Peter found missionaries who happened to be my zone leaders, they taught him, and THAT was the baptism we invited the Johnson's to!! 
Sister Mansfield and I really wanted to go, but we could only go if we had an investigator come with us, we called Sister Johnson a billion times. No answer. The baptism was about 20 min away, and it started at 7. At about 6:50 Sister Johnson called and was like, "Hayyyy! Got yo' message, and I wanna come to da bapteezim!" YESSS. We rushed to the baptism, and literally got there when the speaker said 'amen'. Perfect timing! We were able to see Peter get baptized! It was such an incredible experience. Sister J really seemed to enjoy it too, and we told her that we have to push her date a week back because she wasn't at church, but it's ok. It's a good thing because she doesn't seem to be TOTALLY for it; yet. The baptism definitely helped her see the importance and feel the Spirit. So it's been pretty good, still cloudy EVERYDAY. What the heck. So not Minnesota. 
Also, my Bishop called and asked for me to speak on Sunday. No biggie right? Well of course Sister Beeson gets assigned the topic 'The Abrahamic Covenant' So, if you all wanna try to write me a letter asap on any suggestions, that'd be highly appreciative. Something that I learned this week that has really been stuck in my mind was a scripture found in.... Mosiah..10..verse.. 17? Ah dang, I cant remember. But basically it says if you have faith there will be miracles. I have been soooo discouraged this past week (normal, I know) but enough to make me believe that because every door I knocked on doesn't want to hear the message, that NONE of the doors will want to. But after I read that scripture, it really helped me realize there are still people EVERYWHERE who need to hear the truth! That night, I got a letter from Sister Clements and it said basically everything I just said, FAITH will bring MIRACLES. The Lord is amazing! He knows exactly what I need to hear. 
Also, side note: She said ''You should sing in your lessons." Maybe I'll take her up on that challenge! I've been singing way more anyway lately. Sister Kirkham even asked me to do a singing musical number... eek... I'll give ya the det's on that later.Anyway, hard week. But I'm learning. It's all good. I feel your prayers. I love you all! I'm a missionary!! Who'da thunk?! Crazy :) I love this Gospel. I love YOU ALL!!!!! <3 <3 <3 Sister Eliza