Happy year mark to me! Wild, right? The day of my year mark was one of the worst, most hard, most testimony building experiences probably ever on my entire mission so far. (So mom, I really know that the spirit prompted you to pray a little harder for me. Thanks for being in tune.:)) Oh, and it'll probably take up this whole email. Ready?

We are teaching J. She is soooo cute. She's 28 and single and attends a Pentecostal Church called 'Harvest Time' (creepy title...) anyway. She's been meeting with us, and is also trying out many many different churches. She's on the 'I want to find truth for myself' journey. And she's making some good progress!

Well, J told us she has a lot of questions about certain topics between our church and her Pentecostal church. She told us she was meeting with her pastor and would like for us to join her to talk about a few things.

EEK. But... we agreed to it. Thursday evening we followed her to the church. We walked in the door, and immediately I felt something different, something... off. I didn't feel like I was walking into a church, I felt like I was walking into a very worldly place. Like a mall, or a Jr. High. (And may I remind you... this is the first church I've ever been in besides the LDS church. LOL. ..ehhh.. besides the cathedrals on HT 2 summers ago... but I count that as art more than anything.)

The church smelled like coffee. There was a food stand. There was an auditorium with a band playing. Every thing about it so far was gross gross gross. We head to Pastor K's office, and J stops us before we enter and says:

"Oh, I should probably warn you... I didn't tell him you were coming... oops!"

AHHHHHH J!!!!! I already had a feeling he'd be ticked. But then again, everyone is 'Minnesota nice' here, right?

Pastor K was about 6'5. Had NO light in his eyes. And was immediately rude. Right off the bat.

We sat down and started talking and OH MY HECK. His posture on the couch was just disgusting. His arms were both out on his couch and his legs were sprawled out and... he was basically 'star fishing' (a move my companions and I make on the floor after a long day of working) anyway, according to a friend we told this story to a couple days later, she mentioned that that is an 'authoritative position' someone who thinks they have a lot of power. Which just disgusts me even more.

J started off by saying, 'Ok... I just had a few questions about the differences between these two churches; lets start with this question: Why do you guys have water for communion rather than wine like we do?'

Pastor K answered for himself first. Then for US. UGH! Instead of going on and on I'll just give you the juicy parts.

*He would never let us say our part.

*Wherever we could squeeze something in, he'd cut in and put in he 2 cents.

*Whenever we bore (or tried to) testimony, he'd mock it, LAUGH, and tell us our testimonies were wrong. In front of our face. That, to me, was the worst part.

Mom and dad, I don't know if you remember this, but it brought me back to that moment I had with you a little over a year ago about a week before I headed out, I had a complete melt-down/anxiety attack freaking out about leaving because 'I wasn't ready.' I wasn't a scriptorian and didn't have the confidence in myself to be a missionary. You both looked at me and said something that has honestly kept me going for this entire year: "You have a testimony and that is all you need."

Then a week later, I had my last inter with President Jones and he asked me what I'd be sharing with the people of Minnesota, and I named off a thousand things, and he said: "Yes, those are all right, but I think you're forgetting one of the most important things: You're going to share your testimony."

So, I think that that is why this whole experience hurt me the most, because I was trying to tell him what I believe with all my heart, and he took what I said and destroyed it.

One of the things we talked about was how we learn truth through the Holy Ghost and faith and that the Holy Ghost is also called 'The Comforter' so he testifies of truth through our feelings and by us doing our part through faith. He 100% disagreed with that.

I asked: "Pastor , how do you know what you know is true?"

"I just... know! If it leads me back to the Bible, it's true."

He'd compare the 'good feeling' of the Holy Ghost to a basketball game.

"You're confusing an adrenaline rush to the peace and comfort of the Spirit."

he said: "You just can't trust your feelings!"

Finally I asked J how she came to know what she knew was true. She shared two very beautiful personal experiences of how she came to know something was true because she FELT it. She got really emotional as she shared these stories, and then Pastor K replied:

"Aw! That is amazing, and so true! I can definitely relate."

WHAT?! GRRRRRRRRR. SO ANNOYED.

So after an hour of being disrespected, hurt, annoyed, and the lump inside my throat about ready to cry, I prayed HARD for charity and biting my tongue I told him we appreciated him letting us into his office tonight and what he did was great and that it was nice to meet him. His response: "Yeah, my door is always open. I just REALLY wish you shared the truth. You missionaries have so much zeal, and I admire that, but you think that that will buy your way to salvation by doing that, and it won't."

Man, I just really at that moment felt like scum. The spirit was gone.  I was frustrated. J felt really bad afterwards but thanked us for coming. The moment we got in the car, I broke down... it was just really hard for me. We headed to the Bible study that we were late to, and I cannot tell you the absolute peace and comfort I had when we walked into our church. The elders were teaching when we walked in there, and one of the elders said something as he was bearing testimony and it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear. It was perfect. Later, my 'Eau Claire parents' came and chatted with us, and we felt SOOOOO much better after that. I know know know with everything inside me that Christ's church is RESTORED. It's here in Eau Claire and people pass by it a thousand times a day not knowing that the truths and Priesthood and keys are all BACK! Even though my testimony was really hurt and hit on May 15th, it is even stronger than ever.

I'm sorry this is forever long, but an ending to this crazy tale: J was just flat out confused about everything even more after having us and Pastor K talk together.. Her family and friends are trying to anti her and are telling her not to get 'involved with the Mormons'. She told us she prayed and prayed very hard to know if she should go to her church, her moms church, her friends church, or our church. The answer was clear to come with us! So she came yesterday. And she was even taking notes. She told us she received answers to her prayers. YESSSS. Heavenly Father is wonderful. I'm so so so joyful to be a member of this TRUE church!

I love and adore every one of you's.

<3 Sister Beeson

Look who I ran into at Transfers!  So good to see Sister Szabo!!

Hi hi hi! Man, this week felt like eternity. After dropping of Sister Smith in Bloomington, I'm now with Sister Merrill in Eau Claire!! She's awesome. I really really like her. I've already learned SO much from her. She and I have a lot of things in common when it comes to our successes and failures and goals for missionary work. President was inspired to put us together. I'm feeling like this transfer is gonna be one that'll really change me.

Sister Merrill is from Kerns UT and is taller than me:)  Andwe've already had some miracles together!

She had an AWESOME first day (I hope.. I thought it was awesome) We went to some potential peoples houses... and we stopped by L (who is Nigerian) and usually she's never home or available, but she LET US IN... it was great. She really reminds me of you, mom. She has SO much faith, LOVES her family, would choose to be with her hubby, 2 yr old and 3 week old baby over ANYTHING, she named her kids by revelation (not you), and she just is so so so close to the spirit. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and she is still wanting to continue to read it.

After, we went to the M house for dinner... one of my FAVORITE families.. and she made my fav :) ( she made salmon, veggies, salad, and fruit... haha love her.

and thennnn... we went to mutual (at our bishops request) and long story short, the yw pres and all the yw were trying to get us out of the room by giving us silly pointless jobs to do... I was super confused, so we were about to leave, and then they said "WAIT! We have a gift for you sisters." they spent their mutual night making us little packages! They each wrote suuuuuuuuuuuuuper sweet notes to us and gave us little treats. It warmed my heart! Man, Eau Claire is HOME people. I absolutely adore it here. Everything & everyone.

Later in the week we did some service for a family who is stressed out beyond belief.. and we spent 4 hours RAKING. Like, non stop. Pretty sure I ripped a muscle in my back and arm. I have a really big bump on my arm and my whole hand is swollen, sooo.. not sure what happened there, but if you could pray that'd be great... typing this email is a killer.. eek.

We had our investigator, J come to church yesterday! She is so so so cute! I love her. She seemed to have enjoyed it and she (out of all investigators coming to church) actually sang the hymns and NAILED them... it was cool. :)

Well hey! We TOTALLY get to talk on Sunday! That's pretty great. 

 

ok. Well I love you all. I'm so grateful for the gospel. Mannnnnnn... life without it would be rotten. It is true true true! xoxox

Sister Beeson

 

PS.Man! Dad is the COOLEST. That is really really neat. Thanks for sharing that! I am so blessed to have you two as my parents who are STILL missionaries. I want to be like that! Also, Claire is the cutest thing I've ever seen. Man, what a doll. She looks so grown up! How tall is she? Her piano skilllllllllz are sssssssseriously ssssssssoo ssssssssstunning. ssssssseriously.

I love love love you!

Hey fam&friends!

Mom, your email was wonderful. I'm so glad you were all uplifted and edified during your stake conference, ours was wonderful as well!

So... before I go into the week... we found out transfers............ I'M STAYING AGAIN! OH my GOSH. I've been here FOREVER. (6th transfer...8th month) I am so happy :) Love Eau Claire. I really do still wonder why I am here... I'm obviously here for somebody! Sister Smith is headed to Maple Grove, and my new companion is Sister Merrill. So, that's exciting.

Yeah, I was quite sick at the beginning of the week, luckily, we had district p-day, so all the elders were able to give me a blessing, and wow. That was a powerful blessing... I felt a MILLION times better the next day. It was a blessing!

Our stake conference was wonderful! We had it broadcasted to Eau Claire... since... we're kinda in the boonies... but it was GREAT. Our Stake President is one of the most wonderful people I know! He reminds me a lot of dad actually... he is so fun to listen to. He is a convert and always shares the COOLEST missionary experiences that he has. He talked about how much of an effect we can have on somebody by the simple words we say. He was at a business/traveling meeting... and basically all the people he worked with aren't Mormon, so they were at a bar, and he (the stake pres) went to the bar, and instead of saying "could I get a sprite?" he said, "could I get something without ALCOHOL?" some gal overheard him and said, "You don't drink alcohol?" and that started into a conversation and...long story short after months and months, she ended up being baptized.

President Stanley G. Ellis of the 70 came and spoke to us as well. He talked a lot about, just like everyone else, hastening the work! I think that that is so neat that this is the 'hot topic' wherever we are as Latter-Day Saints! We are so blessed to be the Lord's hands, feet, and voices to spread His gospel. I'm honored that He trusts ME!

Well, I love all of you. I'm gonna talk to you in like 2 weeks...... WHAAAAAAT.. Didn't that just happen?! Wow. I hope you have a wonderful, bright, hope-filled week! xoxo

-Sister Beeson

Sister P was baptized this week! It was a beautiful service. Her daughter surprised her and came (when P didn't think she'd be coming) and it really meant a lot to Sister P. I got emotional as I watched her being immersed under the water, thinking about the past 7 months and all of the lessons we've had with her, how many times she dropped us, how much she has glowed since reading the Book of Mormon, and then finally seeing her enter into this beautiful covenant with Heavenly Father. It was spiritually filling!