Good morning, lovelies.

We've got a lot going today, so I'll make today's email brief, again.

We are teaching P and L. (Mom and daughter)

L lives in a foster home and gets to move back with her mom in January, so we only see her on the weekends IF that.

We've been teaching P, and she is the one who is flying through the Book of Mormon and who's countenance is legitimately changing. Yet, she doesn't have a baptism date because she is wanting to completely lay off her addictions before she commit to baptism. She doesn't want to let God down. 

Her daughter L, wants to be baptized soooo bad. She hasn't been keeping any commitments though. But we've been working with her, and she has a date set for January 18th.

WELLLL. This week (past few days) was a GAME.CHANGER. Earlier in the week, we taught them the Plan of Salvation, and the daughter was on her phone the whole time, and mom's eyes were 'tired.' It was a wreck. We left the appointment discouraged and bummed.

We went to the Napolitano's (ward mission leader&wife) and then Sister Napolitano came up with a genius idea for our next lesson.

A couple of days later we went to our investigators. We focused the lesson around daughter rather than the mom. We really put into L's mind how important baptism is. It's not something you do, then go back to old habits again. It's life changing. It's continual progress. So, we got out a white board and wrote, "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" She'd write things down. "What changes do you need to make now to get there?" She'd write more. She was getting pumped, I could tell. Then, we realllllllly emphasized how Satan attacks righteous women by hurting their self-esteem. He'll do anything in his power to make you feel 'not good enough' 'not smart enough' 'not pretty enough'. So, we put on the board, "What if's"... "What if someone on Facebook told you you're stupid for joining the Mormon church?" "What if you have the sudden urge to smoke?" "What if your friends pressured you to do something you knew wasn't right?" Things like that. Well, that helped her A LOT. And at the end we gave her a picture of the St. Paul temple and told her that that is her goal. She was BEAMING. It was awesome.

She and her mom came to church that Sunday (yesterday)--fast and testimony meeting. Everyone was bearing their testimonies, and all of a sudden L turned to me and said, "I'm going up." She stood up, walked to the pulpit, and said something along the lines of: "Hey. I'm L. Um... I've never been up here before, but I just wanna say that I'm thankful for God.   We have been reading chapters of the Book of Mormon together, and since I've been doing that, so many people have been telling me that I'm glowing, and I think I am too. My eyes look bluer. I used to cut, but now I don't, the Book of Mormon is changing things in my life, and I feel closer to God... and...yeah. In Jesus' precious name, amen." 

It was AMAZING. Such a sincere, heartfelt testimony that touched many people in the congregation, so when those who followed L's testimony, all thanked L for her words in their testimonies. After sacrament meeting, people kept coming up to her and telling her how wonderful her testimony was and how it touched them. And, to put the cherry on top of this story, P and L have a family friend named __ who, after every lesson, would call P and tell her that everything we were teaching her was"BS'. UGH. P would believe him, and then things would cause problems, etc. But yesterday, _ gave P and L his little 'shpeel' and they responded to him in a completely different way telling him to cut it out and that they believe what they believe... (they kinda chewed him out) and guess what? He had no words. ROCK OOOOOOOONNNNNNNN. P and L are getting it!!!! I'm so happy. :D

So that's the fun news. I'm so happy to be here! I can't believe I'm home in less than a year. I have a little missionary card that says my time being a missionary expires on November 26, 2014... AH. no. :(

Well, I hope I didn't bore you outta your minds. I love you all. So much.

Talk to you in 23 days :D :D :D

xoxoxoxox

-Sister B

HIIIII! Holy cow I feel like I haven't talked to you people foreverrrr. Well, we only have an hour to email today since today won't count as our 'p-day'... that'll be on Thanksgiving :) Which, by the way, we're havingg Thanksgiving at the Ness's house... I met them a couple weeks ago.. It'll be fun! Haha so I won't make this letter too too long. 

Oh my gosh! I ADORED all of the pictures you've sent. You're all soooooo beautiful. Everyone looks so much older, it freaked me out. Jack is the one that has changed the most... Andy looks bigger too! Claire is a gorgeous skinny minny and Buzz looks like he could grow a beard. You're all so handsome!

Well, we had a baptism!! Whooooo. M:) She's 19 and has a hubby and baby... cutest people in the world. Love them to death. Her baptism was in English/and Spanish, it was special (gave me a tiny taste of the ATM ;)) 

I'm sleeping a lottttt better, I'm happy, Heavenly Father is the best. We set a goal to get 3 investigators to church yesterday, and Saturday night, one of our investigators was going out of town, another got sick, and another dropped us :( bam bam bam. Our goal got shot dowwwn. 

So. We prayed. Hard. And we didn't know how it would be possible, but we both felt we'd have 3 investigators to church. After ward council, we were sitting in the foyer about an hour before church started, and there were 2 young gals... we introduced ourselves and they said they were doing a project for school and our church was the closest to campus, so they decided to come here.... well, we grabbed some pamphlets out of our car, and came back in, when there was another young girl. So we sat down with theses 3 gals, taught them the Restoration, and got 3 return appointments: BAM BAM BAM! We reached our goal..See? Heavenly Father is greeeeat!

We've met some wonderful people this week, and cannot wait to teach them!

My companion has such a good heart, and I'm thankful for her.

I didn't get the pics of Indiana! Send again? 

Anyway, thanks for being so wonderful... all of you. Miss you all!!!!

Talk to you in a month.... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT. :D

XOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXO ELIZA

Hi hi hi!

This week was better. Thanks for your encouragement and prayers. I am Sister Fisher-less! The ball is in my court. I'm glad I have Sister Anderson to help me out though. She's a cutie. She is 6'1!!!! I've NEVER served with anyone taller than me! She is from Idaho and is 21. She's great!

Umm... I honestly don't have much to say this week, I'm freaking out a bit that I'm in charge, but I keep praying and the Lord is the best comforter.

Sad news... Our investigator P broke up with us yesterday at church :( I cried. She was doing AMAZING! She has been investigating the church for 7 years, so I was sure this was her time to bloooom! She has been reading the Book of Mormon chapter after chapter, and there is a legitimate change... physical change... I can see it in her face! I have never witnessed that before!!! It has been incredible. She committed to baptism on January 18th with her daughter, but out of the blue yesterday, she told us she is done. She doesn't want to get baptized. She refuses to give up coffee and go to church for 3 hours. NOOOOO. Ugh. My heart literally shattered; I really have felt the love that our Heavenly Father has for His daughter P

We have a baptism this week, for M

:) we are soooo excited! She is so ready. Please keep her in your prayers :)

The week has been good, getting the hang of things all over again.

 

TELL me about finals!!! How did you all like Indi? I've been there twice.... bahhhhhhhhhhh... so fun huh?! Any BTR's? I want some updates, people.

I love you all. Keep on keepin' on. Talk to you in a month. :)

<3 Sister B

Miracles...Miracles

Our investigator H was BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! It was a beautiful service. Her mom is re-activating, and one of her siblings is not a member, and the other is, but really doesn't want anything to do with the church, and then of course, the two cute 18 mo. old twin boys :) Well, her whole family came to support her on the day of her baptism!!! It was wonderful. The spirit was so strong. It was neat because, like all of the YW came to support her, a ton of the leaders and other ward members as well. Hailie's mom gave the opening prayer, and I have never wanted to hear a prayer on repeat except hers! It was absolutely amazing. We had 2 of our investigators there (a mother and daughter), and afterwards, they both just break down crying, and the daughter said, "I'm ready. I want to be baptized." It was AMAZING. I'll send you some pics. :)

 

I wanted to share with you a miracle that happened yesterday. Sister Fisher and I had not taught any Restoration Lessons throughout the week plus we had to set things up for the baptism, etc. it was just crazy! So, we planned a two hour block for us to tract last night. Boo. It was so cold, so we went to one of the few apartment buildings in Eau Claire. We knocked on a couple people's doors, and amazingly, they were willing to listen to the message of the Restoration, so our night was off to a lovely start. We headed over to another apartment building, and knocked all the doors except one, and we started heading out the door to another building. This is where it gets good! Family: I can honestly tell you that I have never had the Spirit direct me so clearly like it did last night. As we were heading out the door, the Spirit whispered, "Knock on the door." We did. There was barking and a lady opened the door. We introduced ourselves, as she did to us. Her name was Wilma. We started talking to Wilma, and she suddenly interuppted us by saying, "Um... I'm not very comfortable talking to people I don't know" So, Sister Fisher got out a pamplet and handed it to her for her to keep, and while Wilma and Sister Fisher were talking, the Spirit whispered something else. It said, "Look at her dog." Look at her dog? Ok... well, her door was cracked open just a little so how was I supposed to see the dog? As my comp was talking to Wilma, I felt like an idiot, but I crouched down as smoothly as I could, trying to not look like a creep, and through the little space between her legs, I saw her dog, Star, who looked JUST. LIKE. HAPPY. Only difference: 10 llbs heavier. I interuppted the conversation between the two and said, "Oh! I love your dog! I have a dauchund (sp?) at home too!" Instantly, Wilma and I went from complete strangers to BFF's. She opened the door widely and smiled and told me I could pet her. As I kept petting her, again, the Spirit said "Keep talking about her dog" so, I did. And soon enough Wilma said in a Nonna voice, "Oh, come on in." We walked into her tidy apartment, and there was a gal sitting on the couch with her father. We all started talking a bit, and then out of no where, Wilma said, "Hey, my niece got baptized yesterday, you might know her... her name is H." H?! "We're the missionaries that have been teaching H!" What a small world. As we kept talking, I kept looking at Wilma's daughter and was wondering where I have seen her before, she looked so familiar. I finally made the connection that earlier in the week, we were at H's home helping clean clean clean before their home inspection, and right as we were headed out the door, and 3 person family walked into H's home with KFC. It was H's family! Funny, huh? Well, we start talking about religion, and Wilma was like, "I've been forced into religion my whole life, and I vowed that I'd NEVER do that to my children." So, we turned to her daughter, Tiffany, and asked what her stance is on religion, what she believes, etc. She told us that she is open to anything. "Can we share a quick message with you?" "Of course, come see my room." We sat in Chelsie's room. Taught her the Restoration. Invited her to be baptized, and she accepted. WHAAAAAT?! Huge miracle. Heavenly Father is the best.

 

Well, I'm gonna have to leave soon, transfers are this Wednesday, I've got sooo much to do today. I'll be serving with Sister Anderson. Don't know who she is! Hmm... I'm excited though. Also, Sister Schwartz took over Med Lake!!! Where J and D

Eliza and Elder Tubbs from American Fork, representing us well!

live!!! AHHHH cool huh? I'm so happy. :) Anyway, I love love love you all and hope the week is spectacular. xoxox

Sister Beeson

ps. Anything for Christmas is fine ;) I just can't wait to SKYPE

PSS.. I got your Halloween package... THANK YOU I LOVED IT!:)

Wet in Wisconsin!

I'm sure it's been a crazy busy week with Regionals and all. How was it? Thanks for the pics! Looks like it was a blast. Everyone looks SO good. You are all so beautiful. 

It has been quite the week for me as well!

We have a 12 year old investigator named 'H'... she is soooo funny. Her life is rough. Really rough already.

Her mom is a champ. She was baptized a couple years ago, but has kind of fallen off the deep end. She has 5 kiddies, 3 of them from different dads... The two teenagers are sooo rebellious and absolutely RUDE to her. It breaks my heart. 'H' is getting to that rebellious stage, but we've been teaching her and she is making SO many changes. It's amazing. There are also 18 month old boy twins. Her house just smells like smoke, it's a disaster, and she has a house inspection coming up tomorrow. Us and the Elders have been working our butts off to make things tidy...or as tidy as they can be. :/ BUT... point is: 'H' has been taught for a while, and she is getting baptized this Saturday! The Saturday before Sister Fisher leaves. :( But we are so so so excited for her. She is being an amazing example to her family at such a young age... She has grown up drinking coffee and breaking the sabbath, and other commandments, but she is making these changes and helping her mom make them too. It's awesome.

Earlier in the week, we had a 48 hr exchange in Cottage Grove, MN and Zone Training the next day, which meant we'd be out of our area for 3ish days! AHHH. Terrifying. Cottage Grove was... good. I worked with Sister Breedlove for the day. She's a doll. We are practically twins. I have never worked with someone who is my exact height, who isn't physically fit in the slightest, and who has my same eye color. Haha... Well, we biked. All day. In the rain. It was about 30ish degrees. I will neverrrr forget that. Haha... We walked up the 'Stairs of Death' with our bikes, then once we started riding, Sister B's chain fell off, we had to fix that... We biked to multiple people's houses, no one was home and people were telling us to get out of the rain and into a car... we biked up sooo many HUGE hills, and then she had a phone call to make to the ZL's so we looked for some shelter outside. We found a park, dug up a little hole under the playground, and sat in it with our hoods on while it was still drizzly and freeeezing. It was great. :) And as luck would have it, 2 out of our 3 appointments canceled, so we tracted most of the day. We tracted a ton the night before Halloween, it was SOOOO foggy. Pretty spooky. It was cool, because we knocked on a door and a lady with an accent opened it. SHE WAS FROM SCOTLAND! Tender mercy or what? I was blessed to have got a brief taste of what Elder Beeson's mission was like. She just talked and talked and talked and TALKED. I told her that my dad served there, and that he said it always rains. She did some sort of interjection that I can't type out, (the noise you make when you recite Jabez) basically, 'pfft' and said to tell my dad that he is WRONG. Haha... weird. Anyway, a thought came into my mind as she was talking. Dad emailed me a few weeks ago talking about the things President McConkie would tell his missionaries, and one of them was "Make Hell's bells ring: read the Book of Mormon." I remember dad told me that the average for any missionary was two baptisms in the entire two years. President McConkie told the missionaries that they were not to carry their Bibles. So. I interrupted her rambling, got a Book of Mormon out of my bag, and said, "Kathrine. We knocked on your door this evening to share this special book with you." I went on by giving her background of what the book was, and testified that that is the reason I am here and that I know it is true. Well, she interrupted (again) haha and I guess she supposedly had met with the missionaries a long time ago and actually knew quite a bit. That was interesting. But it was just such a cool experience to be in 'Scotland' for 40 minutes. :)

Halloween was fun. We weren't allowed to tract, but we had sooo much tupperware to return, so we did that, and got a lot of candy out of it ;) One last thing, then I'll stop: Sister Fisher and I went tracting this week and met a Hmong family. A beautiful gal named 'G' and she speaks pretty decent English, but her husband and 3 children don't. She has hardly ANY Christian background. It was really hard to put things that are so natural to me into simple terms, like: baptism, prophets, commandments, and even Jesus! But, we got a return appt with her, and we knocked on her door, and she was totally expecting us, pulled out two chairs immediately, and we had a wonderful discussion. We're seeing her again tonight with the Elders (one of them speaks Hmong so he'll help translate.) Anyway, it's just something so different for me. I'm excited to simplify. It'll help me personally more than anything.

WELLLL. I love you all. Sister Fisher leaves in a week-ish. Then I take over Eau Claire. AHHHHH freaking out a bit. Everyone absolutely LOVES her. It's gonna be quite the loss for Eau Claire. Anyway. Take care everybody. I'll talk to ya in a month :) whoo! xoxo

Love, Sister Beeson

P.S. I never got your Halloween package. My heart is broken </3 Did you Fed-ex it? That could be the problem...

P.S.S. My hands look like Claire's: SOOOO DRY and cracky. I'd love some Doterra for Christmas. (Wow, did I seriously just wish that?)

P.S.S.S. I don't sleep. Sister Fisher and I came to the conclusion that I have insomnia. I had an interview with President the other day and he asked me if I have 'a sense of urgency for the work' I told him I want to, I hope to think I do.

LOVE YOU!