Hello family & friends! Christmas is around the corner!! :)

We've had a lovely week.

Monday: Met up with a college gal and taught her an in depth Restoration and all she kept saying was "Holy cow, I just got chills..." She was so genuine. A true truth seeker. She's eating the gospel right up. AWESOME.

Later in the evening we helped miss Cwith some service and taught her the Restoration as well, she had some very good questions and we seemed to have addressed her concerns pretty well. :)

Tuesday: We drove to Minnesota for exchanges in Cottage Grove. I was able to spend the night in a MANSION. it was fun... It was neat being able to work with Sister Gessel for the day; we had the opportunity to tract in -10 degrees that evening. And she's just a cutie and I learned a lot from her.

Wednesday: We had our Christmas training with all the other missionaries. Ooooh man. I love those. They are so fun. As nervous as I was about spending the holidays here away from all familiarity, I know I'm gonna love it. I AM loving it. We had a wonderful lunch, (sat by Pres and Sister Clements who told us Sister Anderson aren't getting transferred:)) anddddd... watched 'Miracle' a real life movie... what the... that was too weird. Anyway, we had a good time! (I forgot my camera, so I'll send pics next week!)

Thursday: Back in Eau Claire... Did some service... cannot remember much...

Friday: Eau Claire ward Christmas Party. Sister Anderson and I decided last minute to do a little musical talent for the ward... We got Sister Cofax involved and what we came up with was fun! We all harmonized to 'Far Far Away on Judea's Plains' and then went straight into 'Angel's We Have Heard on High' and did it to the 'cup song' (it fit perfectly btw) and it was just sweet. I wish we would have recorded it. I think we will and send it to you sometime. :) But, point is, I'm singing in front of crowds now, happy? :)

We had 4 investigators come to the Christmas Party! They all seemed to really enjoy it! Lacey and I did the weird 'girl girl girl' voice in the tune of Jingle Bells for our talent, and everyone seemed to get a crack out of that one. :)

Saturday: We shoveled a LOT. I've got some buff biceps in the process...

Sunday: We had 3 investigators to church, they were all fellowshipped pretty well :) was fun... umm... oh, and then that night we had an appointment/service for our investigator C. She's the cutest thing in the world. Like 60's and she has a rough story as well... But we walked in the door, and she grabbed my arm, had me follow her to a room where she picked up a  button down shirt, told me to put it on and then gave me hair dye... Haha, so I dyed her hair... Not sure how appropriate that was... BUT I had a good time, and we were able to teach the Plan of Salvation afterward. "Ya know, the more and more I learn about this stuff, the more I am realizing that Mormon's aren't cults, and that I am wanting to be one." Whhhaaaaaaattttttt. Yes. Yes, C. You sure do.

So, it's been a great week. I just finished 3 Nephi today. I'm learning so much all the time. I'm seeing more clearly the blessing it has been to grow up in the Beeson family, to be raised by AWESOME parents and have the best siblings. You're all my favorite people. So so so so incredibly grateful for you all.

Welp, we get to Skype. It. UP. on Christmas! Whoooo! What time would be convenient for you? I was thinking evening-ish, but if morning is better, that works too. Just let me know asap and we'll chat next Wednesday! Rock onnnn.

Love you all. xoxoxoxoxo

-Sister B

Good morning, cuties!

Well, THIS is what the peeps meant by a cold winter. It's 0 today with windchill of like -20. Boo. I'm frigid. ALL the time. I walk outside for two seconds and my face feels like it's on fire. It hurts so bad! I don't have good gloves or hat yet, so I'm gonna have to buy those today. My boots are AMAZING though. Oh man, love em. But yes, Buzz, be careful driving in the snow. It's scary here. All the roads iced over overnight, and now it's just slippery everywhere, and we have to drive to Minnesota tomorrow! I'm the designated driver, so I'll be careful, promise :)

I got your Christmas packages!!!!! THANK YOU! :D I was having a rough day when they arrived and couldn't contain myself, so I opened the one from Santa (ADORABLE pj's..that fit!... meaning length-wise...I'm not that fat--yet.) and the CUUUUUUUTE polka dot dress! AHH. Love. I'm gonna wear it this Wednesday to our Zone Conference. Then on Christmas Sunday how you'd want me to, mom. :) Love you, and thanks! I'm saving the package from the fam to open that on Christmas. I also got the package from Nonna/Grace and other fam members. Sooooo nice! I feel like I'm home with the DoTerra and caramelized graham crackers. Thank you tons and tons! And I got a THIRD package from the cutie Bushman fam! Oh my word. Made my day. They are too good to me. It was filled with all my favorite things. :) 

Well, after I got done emailing you all last week, we got a phone call from our church building..random... and it was some chick named Angie and she needed 'help.' We went over to the church, and met this Angie chick, and she just balled when she saw us, she cried and cried.

Our first question was... How in the world did she get into the building..?!

She told us that she hit her 'rock bottom' and that she was walking to the closest church nearby, and she came across our church. Supposedly, almost every other church, you can walk in there and just pray, right? Well, that's what she was going to do. She pulled on the handle of the LDS church door, and it was miraculously opened! What the...

She needed somebody to talk to, so she found a bulletin board, and there were papers everywhere, and she just called the first person she saw on a paper. It was Sister Peterson... Then Sister Peterson called us, and that's how it all happened. 

Well, Angie's story is wayyyyy too long. But lets just say she has gone through the wringer. She wants help. She wants to know God. She wants to come to church. She wants to learn. She wants to be baptized. 

Isn't Heavenly Father the best for bringing HER (who is struggling with life) to US (who are struggling finding people)?! Love it.

We've been working with her for a little bit, and I'll give you an update next week with the events that'll happen this week. :)

Then after P-day last week (when the snow REALLY started to crank down), we went to our recent convert Hailie's house, to visit her L.A. mom, and we were there for...about 5 minutes, when Sister H was having a severe allergic reaction. Her eyes got super dilated, and she broke out in a sweat and said her throat was closing up. I ran into the kitchen and got a cold wet rag and patted her face with it, and she told Hailie to call 911, Hailie freaked out, gave the phone to me, I called, and within 3 minutes they were there. They took Sister H out on a stretcher, and Sister Anderson and I were left with Hailie, her siblings and two screaming little twin boys in a house in middle of a snow blizzard. Quite the scenario. 

Needless to say, we were able to break a few rules (for the better) and I WAS ABLE TO HOLD A BABY. Best moment of my life. That's really the whole point of this story... anyway, Sister H is fine now, and all is well. Umm... Things are still progressing. Transfers are next week. I think Sister Anderson and I will stay put on where we are. I get to talk to you all soooo soon!! Cannot wait. 

Tell Grayson CONGRATS!!! That's so awesome! I'm proud of him. When does he leave?

Also, I got a mini package in the mail (I was stoked) opened it with a huge grin, annnnnd... it was string.

Lol. Want me to mail it back to you?

I love you all. Pray hard for miracles. They are EVERYWHERE. 

xoxo Sister Beeson

Something brief that I wanted to point out that I learned in my studies this week:

I was reading about 'fasting' in the BD, and about mid way through, it says that the day of the Atonement took place on the 7th month of the 10th day (I believe)July 10th. Interesting huh? Did you know that? Me either.

Umm... Things are still progressing. Transfers are next week. I think Sister Anderson and I will stay put on where we are. I get to talk to you all soooo soon!! Cannot wait.

Tell Grayson CONGRATS!!! That's so awesome! I'm proud of him. When does he leave?

Also, I got a mini package in the mail (I was stoked) opened it with a huge grin, annnnnd... it was string.

Lol. Want me to mail it back to you?

I love you all. Pray hard for miracles. They are EVERYWHERE. 

xoxo Sister Beeson

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