Oh my heck I’m here and everyone is so cute and welcoming! I feel like I’m on ‘New in Town’ they all have cute little accents and every meal is like a BBQ! Its super rainy and humid, but I’m here safely and love it already! Muah love you all!!! <3
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Family,
What a day! It was definitely a good one. Something super great happened to me. I read my patriarchal blessing for the first time today since being here and something that stuck out to me was that I am going to be a leader for my sisters and the youth. I kind of just laughed in my head thinking "pffft. Eliza being a leader?"
Well, a couple of hours later we did a mini group activity where we'd split into groups of 3 and there would be one facilitator to choose a chapter in the BOM for the group to read and the facilitator had to "lead the discussion, ask inspired questions, and help the group recieve personal revelation." I was the facilitator!
Of course I was really nervous to do this because I am NOT a leader. I was wondering why Br. Crockett asked me to be the facilitator! Anyway, I did it. We read Mosiah chapter 2. I felt impressed to have our group read that chapter for some reason. Ironically, Mosiah 2 is basically about King Benjamin and the qualities of a good leader. King Benjamin wasn't any ordinary king. He SERVED continually. The best leaders are the ones who look out for others and sacrifice their time and serve always.
Most leaders come off bossy and want power. We can not only learn about King Benjamin, but look up to his EXAMPLE. So after reading in my patriarchal blessing about my future leadership, getting called to be the facilitator and reading about the qualities of a good leader, Br. Crockett came up to me and said, "Sister Beeson, I want you to know that the Lord told me to choose you to be the facilitator. I don't know why but you are a natural born leader!" FAMILY! That made my day....my life!
It was soooo comforting to know that someone believes in me as a LEADER! By this point I was already crying because 1) I was being hard on myself for not believing in myself to be a leader..no confidence.
2) Because of what Bro. Crockett said!
Anyway, we head back to the classroom, and I'm just being a girl overcome by all sorts of emotions and then Sister Balif declared a "compliment circle". It's when you sit in a circle and compliment someone...pretty self explanatory. Haha. AHH. My district is SO great. I have grown to love each one of them so much. ANYWAY...the moral of the story is: I AM SO BLESSED to have an amazing district I feel genuine love for EACH one of them.
SO, the words about my leadership in my blessings will happen on this mission, guaranteed. I know I'm going to have to get out of my comfort zone and GROW. I truly am going to be a new gal when I get home, I already am!
Sorry if this letter seems super braggy, that's not my intention! I just want to let you all know that I am growing and learning so much and recognizing God's love for me more and more each day. I am SO blessed. Know that I am so happy I am here. I am continuing to pray for the people in Minnesota that their hearts will be ready and softened and prepared to receive the message I will be sharing with them. I pray for all of you daily and multiple times. I love you!!!
Love,
Sister Eliza
What a day! It was definitely a good one. Something super great happened to me. I read my patriarchal blessing for the first time today since being here and something that stuck out to me was that I am going to be a leader for my sisters and the youth. I kind of just laughed in my head thinking "pffft. Eliza being a leader?"
Well, a couple of hours later we did a mini group activity where we'd split into groups of 3 and there would be one facilitator to choose a chapter in the BOM for the group to read and the facilitator had to "lead the discussion, ask inspired questions, and help the group recieve personal revelation." I was the facilitator!
Of course I was really nervous to do this because I am NOT a leader. I was wondering why Br. Crockett asked me to be the facilitator! Anyway, I did it. We read Mosiah chapter 2. I felt impressed to have our group read that chapter for some reason. Ironically, Mosiah 2 is basically about King Benjamin and the qualities of a good leader. King Benjamin wasn't any ordinary king. He SERVED continually. The best leaders are the ones who look out for others and sacrifice their time and serve always.
Most leaders come off bossy and want power. We can not only learn about King Benjamin, but look up to his EXAMPLE. So after reading in my patriarchal blessing about my future leadership, getting called to be the facilitator and reading about the qualities of a good leader, Br. Crockett came up to me and said, "Sister Beeson, I want you to know that the Lord told me to choose you to be the facilitator. I don't know why but you are a natural born leader!" FAMILY! That made my day....my life!
It was soooo comforting to know that someone believes in me as a LEADER! By this point I was already crying because 1) I was being hard on myself for not believing in myself to be a leader..no confidence.
2) Because of what Bro. Crockett said!
Anyway, we head back to the classroom, and I'm just being a girl overcome by all sorts of emotions and then Sister Balif declared a "compliment circle". It's when you sit in a circle and compliment someone...pretty self explanatory. Haha. AHH. My district is SO great. I have grown to love each one of them so much. ANYWAY...the moral of the story is: I AM SO BLESSED to have an amazing district I feel genuine love for EACH one of them.
SO, the words about my leadership in my blessings will happen on this mission, guaranteed. I know I'm going to have to get out of my comfort zone and GROW. I truly am going to be a new gal when I get home, I already am!
Sorry if this letter seems super braggy, that's not my intention! I just want to let you all know that I am growing and learning so much and recognizing God's love for me more and more each day. I am SO blessed. Know that I am so happy I am here. I am continuing to pray for the people in Minnesota that their hearts will be ready and softened and prepared to receive the message I will be sharing with them. I pray for all of you daily and multiple times. I love you!!!
Love,
Sister Eliza
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
My MTC Experience is almost coming to an end! Too fast
Fam,
AH! Yesterday was an amazing day! Clean clothes, emails, Temple and welcoming our new Districts!
Yeah, all those emails to reply to was kind of overwhelming but I was sooooooo happy to hear from everyone!
I ran into Nonna's friend /your old neighbor at the Temple....I wanna say her name is Kathy Robinson? She said she was gonna call you right after the Temple to tell you she ran into me...she gave me a hug from her and you:) Comforting.
Dad:
Hi:) I miss you. Thanks for the Dear elder letter..mail is great. I think that's what gets me through the day.
Dad! I have learned soooooo much!! I love being here. The spirit is so special here. A lot of adults see my name on my tag and ask, "Are you related to Sam Beeson? or Gaye?"...I feel famous ;)
Just know I LOVE you!!!! So much!! Miss you. Let me know if you need me to fast for you or put your name on the temple role, anything!
Mom: I. Love. You. I got your cute letter in my suitcase the day I arrived here and read it again for some reason and noticed the scripture! I looked up the scripture once I got to class (great scripture BTW (: ) and I noticed glued in that page was a quote from seminary. I read it. It was by Richard G. Scott and the jist of what the quote was saying was:
when you face trials, you will be led to ask many questions, like "why me?"..."what did I do to deserve this?" "why now?" ...it does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition. Rather, ask: "what should I do?" "what am I learning from this experience?" "what do I need to change?" We need to trust that God's reasons are for a purpose.
Anyway, about 20 minutes later we taught Kyung-min (the investigator I told you about in my email) and one of her questions was, "why, if we had a loving God, would he have bad things happen to us? Even if we are good people?" AH!! I LOVED that I remembered the quote that I had read about 20 minutes earlier, and if it weren't for the scripture you shared with me, I wouldn't have been able to find that quote that answered Kyung-min's question! Obviously, I went more in depth with her, but it ended up with her understanding it the way I do! :)
The spirit is SO amazing. I have already had countless experiences where a scripture pops into my head and it's exactly what I need at that very moment!:)
I love you so much! You are a faithful writer:) I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting your sweet letters.
Love you forever
Love, Sister Liza Diza:)
AH! Yesterday was an amazing day! Clean clothes, emails, Temple and welcoming our new Districts!
Yeah, all those emails to reply to was kind of overwhelming but I was sooooooo happy to hear from everyone!
I ran into Nonna's friend /your old neighbor at the Temple....I wanna say her name is Kathy Robinson? She said she was gonna call you right after the Temple to tell you she ran into me...she gave me a hug from her and you:) Comforting.
Dad:
Hi:) I miss you. Thanks for the Dear elder letter..mail is great. I think that's what gets me through the day.
Dad! I have learned soooooo much!! I love being here. The spirit is so special here. A lot of adults see my name on my tag and ask, "Are you related to Sam Beeson? or Gaye?"...I feel famous ;)
Just know I LOVE you!!!! So much!! Miss you. Let me know if you need me to fast for you or put your name on the temple role, anything!
Mom: I. Love. You. I got your cute letter in my suitcase the day I arrived here and read it again for some reason and noticed the scripture! I looked up the scripture once I got to class (great scripture BTW (: ) and I noticed glued in that page was a quote from seminary. I read it. It was by Richard G. Scott and the jist of what the quote was saying was:
when you face trials, you will be led to ask many questions, like "why me?"..."what did I do to deserve this?" "why now?" ...it does no good to ask questions that reflect opposition. Rather, ask: "what should I do?" "what am I learning from this experience?" "what do I need to change?" We need to trust that God's reasons are for a purpose.
Anyway, about 20 minutes later we taught Kyung-min (the investigator I told you about in my email) and one of her questions was, "why, if we had a loving God, would he have bad things happen to us? Even if we are good people?" AH!! I LOVED that I remembered the quote that I had read about 20 minutes earlier, and if it weren't for the scripture you shared with me, I wouldn't have been able to find that quote that answered Kyung-min's question! Obviously, I went more in depth with her, but it ended up with her understanding it the way I do! :)
The spirit is SO amazing. I have already had countless experiences where a scripture pops into my head and it's exactly what I need at that very moment!:)
I love you so much! You are a faithful writer:) I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting your sweet letters.
Love you forever
Love, Sister Liza Diza:)
Thursday, May 23, 2013
My first and LAST Pday...so here is an email!
MOMMY!!! :)
I am freaking out! I had 42 emails when I opened my email and I only have 30 min left! :/ But I'll try to fit everything in.
Ok. First, thank you SO much for the package. Made my life. Tell Nonna thank you too! Also thank you for working out the whole bike dealio! I love you all so much, I am so blessed for such a loving fam :) Umm, I leave in 6 days... the 29.
My departure time is 8:43 am so I'm guessing I'll be calling around 6-7:45ish... I don't really know.
LIFE IS INSANE. It honestly feels like I've been here for 5 months. It has been the absolute longest thing in the world. But I'm sure things will start speeding up once I reach Minnesota. I LOVE everyone here. My companion, my teachers, my district, my friends from school I see, and YOU GUYS! It's always the biggest treat to hear from all of you :)
Umm, I'm not sure of what I've already told you yet, my mind is just scrambled, but hmm..I guess the jist is: I hardly have time for anything, I am kinda tired, the food is...decent. The Spirit WEARS ME OUT. I didn't realize how tiring it can be to recieve personal Revelation and continually have the Spirit with me... Sounds kinda weird, but it's true! I have been recieving Revelation like no other. It's INCREDIBLE. It's like magic! :)
I'll just tell you of a quick investigator my companion and I taught yesterday, her name is Kyung-Min and she is the cutest Asian in the world. Basically, she said she grew up Buddist, and then when she grew up she decided she didn't believe in any of that anymore, and we asked her if she believes in God. She said no. Eekk.. This is where I started to get worried, how am I supposed to talk about ANYTHING if she doesn't believe in God?! Well, we just started from the beginning, and during the whole thing, she was just so sweet and smiley, and asked very good questions which we responded with inspired answers from the Spirit which started to change her heart. Well, we were teaching her for about 30 min, and then we asked her to pray. She prayed the MOST sincere, heartfelt, beautiful prayer. My comp and I got teary eyed, and so did the investigator. I'm sorry I don't have time to go through the details of what we talked to her about, but just know that the Spirit was SO present. My companion and I left that appointment just speechless. I could not believe what just happened. I couldn't believe the words we said! Everything came from God in that appointment. So incredible. We just broke down right when we left, we were SO happy! :)
I think it is SO interesting how the Lord trains his missionaries, whether they are real investigators or actors, the Spirit is just the same and we can still recieve the revelation we need.
I hope all of that made sense, I'm rambling. Haha, anyway. I'm running out of time, but just know that I'm so happy, so safe, so loved, so blessed, and growing like crazy. THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!! Love you all forever and everrr :) MWAH! <3
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
EXERCISE....spiritual and physical!
Fam-Bam!
Guess what I am doing this very moment?! EXERCISING! I'm like a whole new gal! So, I got all your nice letters today!! It is SO good to hear from everybody. I especially appreciate all the letters you send me, mom! I definitely had the most mail out of all my district today:) I love you all so so much!
Well, my musical number went very well today. I got a lot of compliments, which made me feel good:0
Nonna should have snuck in a as a "senior missionary" because that's who I was performing for:)
Well, My companion has been called as sister training leader and so I am her assistant! I am so blessed to have Sis. Schwartz as my companion! She's 22 and she really is amazing. We get along unbelievably well. The Lord definitely had his hand in putting companionships together. I am also my zone's pianist for sacrament meeting n'stuff! Things are GREAT.
Being a missionary is TRULY the BEST. We had the opportunity to walk around the temple yesterday.( I was secretly hoping to see a red mini van in the temple parking lot) :)
My companion and I have been teaching our investigator JC, and committed him to baptism today!!!! I almost started to cry. There was SO much satisfaction knowing that the knowledge I had to share about the gospel is changing someone else's life! I'm making a difference! There really is no better feeling. I absolutely love my district. We did a district fast today, so we fasted from about 5am to 6:45pm. It's amazing to see the blessings we receive from fasting. Also, the guys in our district have FINALLY warmed up to us! They have given each of us, sisters, a blessings so far. I am so so grateful they honor their priesthood. I love those Elders! Cuties.
I love you Mom, sooo grateful for all the letters you send! I can always count on you:) I love being updated.
To my lovely father...I LOVE you! When I was at choir practice, every time I squinted my eyes, the instructor looked EXACTLY like you. I squinted the WHOLE song:) Miss you.
Buzzard, oh please, you're hardly surviving without me. How's the bed? Lovely, right?! Miss you. Oh Claire bear..my seeeesta! I miss you dearly, I hope marching band is going well:)
Jack-O, I miss your slow blinks and smile! :)
Andy, Oh I miss your love. I want a hug from you:)
Happy, I miss you:)
When you hear someone play just the right hand on the piano, it's alright, right? But when both hands are playing, it's music. We can compare this to the gospel, or all religions. All other religions have only the "right hand" or only PART of the truth. But The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints fortunately has the "music" (both hands)..or ALL of the truth. God loves us and wants us to know of the truth! ALL of it, and we couldn't be more blessed to have it!
Wow, I'm horrible at articulating my words, sorry if that made no sense...I'm working on it:)
I love you all. I'm growing up sooooo much. I really knew NOTHING before I got here. I have amazing teachers and a district that I learn so so so much from. I head to Minneapolis in about a week and I get to call from the airport! I can't wait:)
Muahhhh
Love you blue-eyed beauties.
E-hem...you all should write some handwritten letters too:)
I pray for you all! Please be safe and good!
Love,
Sister B
Guess what I am doing this very moment?! EXERCISING! I'm like a whole new gal! So, I got all your nice letters today!! It is SO good to hear from everybody. I especially appreciate all the letters you send me, mom! I definitely had the most mail out of all my district today:) I love you all so so much!
Well, my musical number went very well today. I got a lot of compliments, which made me feel good:0
Nonna should have snuck in a as a "senior missionary" because that's who I was performing for:)
Well, My companion has been called as sister training leader and so I am her assistant! I am so blessed to have Sis. Schwartz as my companion! She's 22 and she really is amazing. We get along unbelievably well. The Lord definitely had his hand in putting companionships together. I am also my zone's pianist for sacrament meeting n'stuff! Things are GREAT.
Being a missionary is TRULY the BEST. We had the opportunity to walk around the temple yesterday.( I was secretly hoping to see a red mini van in the temple parking lot) :)
My companion and I have been teaching our investigator JC, and committed him to baptism today!!!! I almost started to cry. There was SO much satisfaction knowing that the knowledge I had to share about the gospel is changing someone else's life! I'm making a difference! There really is no better feeling. I absolutely love my district. We did a district fast today, so we fasted from about 5am to 6:45pm. It's amazing to see the blessings we receive from fasting. Also, the guys in our district have FINALLY warmed up to us! They have given each of us, sisters, a blessings so far. I am so so grateful they honor their priesthood. I love those Elders! Cuties.
I love you Mom, sooo grateful for all the letters you send! I can always count on you:) I love being updated.
To my lovely father...I LOVE you! When I was at choir practice, every time I squinted my eyes, the instructor looked EXACTLY like you. I squinted the WHOLE song:) Miss you.
Buzzard, oh please, you're hardly surviving without me. How's the bed? Lovely, right?! Miss you. Oh Claire bear..my seeeesta! I miss you dearly, I hope marching band is going well:)
Jack-O, I miss your slow blinks and smile! :)
Andy, Oh I miss your love. I want a hug from you:)
Happy, I miss you:)
When you hear someone play just the right hand on the piano, it's alright, right? But when both hands are playing, it's music. We can compare this to the gospel, or all religions. All other religions have only the "right hand" or only PART of the truth. But The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints fortunately has the "music" (both hands)..or ALL of the truth. God loves us and wants us to know of the truth! ALL of it, and we couldn't be more blessed to have it!
Wow, I'm horrible at articulating my words, sorry if that made no sense...I'm working on it:)
I love you all. I'm growing up sooooo much. I really knew NOTHING before I got here. I have amazing teachers and a district that I learn so so so much from. I head to Minneapolis in about a week and I get to call from the airport! I can't wait:)
Muahhhh
Love you blue-eyed beauties.
E-hem...you all should write some handwritten letters too:)
I pray for you all! Please be safe and good!
Love,
Sister B
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
May 18, 2013 -Second Letter from MTC
Hello! I miss you all! I just got your lovely letters yesterday and it's true: mail is like gold here. So, I appreciate all of that. Thanks! Oh man, things are going sooooo well here. I was thinking about it and I honestly didn't know anything until I got here 4 days ago. My testimony is seriously a million times stronger. It's unbelievable. I pray differently, I think differently and I speak differently. I'm just like this whole new gal!
So, on day two I tried out for a musical number and the "judges" knew Grandma Gaye. That was fun. I got a "yes" on my performance and will be performing on Monday (20th) for some fireside. I told my Branch President that I tried out and he was so impressed and happy that I have a desire to share my talents. Speaking of my Branch Pres, he is so great and his wife is a doll. Their last name is McMullins and they are related to Paul and Mindy Atkinson! Cool eh?
I absolutely love my companion along with my whole district. We all get along. We are so close already!
Mom: My companion looks like how I'm imagining Priscilla looked when you two were companions. She even bought a burrito out of the vending machine and I had my popcorn!
So, something interesting to me is how we are being trained to be missionaries. We teach investigators by having our teachers act out/role play that person for us. I don't know why, but this is how the Lord has chosen how to train His missionaries and it works. It totally works. We pray for them as if they aren't just our teachers role playing. We take time in learning our lesson for this investigator. I have grown to love him!
Ah I just love this. Oh, and I have also been receiving personal revelation like on ones biz-niss. Really! I am SO amazed. I can definitely feel the difference of being Eliza to Sister Beeson now.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I am doing well. I'm tired and everyday feels like de-ja-vu, but somehow I seem to make it through each day.
Thank you for your sweet prayers. I'm praying for all of you back! Love you Mom, Dad, Buzz, Claire, Jack, Andy and Happy!
This church is soooo true.
Muuaah!
Love,
Sister Eliza
So, on day two I tried out for a musical number and the "judges" knew Grandma Gaye. That was fun. I got a "yes" on my performance and will be performing on Monday (20th) for some fireside. I told my Branch President that I tried out and he was so impressed and happy that I have a desire to share my talents. Speaking of my Branch Pres, he is so great and his wife is a doll. Their last name is McMullins and they are related to Paul and Mindy Atkinson! Cool eh?
I absolutely love my companion along with my whole district. We all get along. We are so close already!
Mom: My companion looks like how I'm imagining Priscilla looked when you two were companions. She even bought a burrito out of the vending machine and I had my popcorn!
So, something interesting to me is how we are being trained to be missionaries. We teach investigators by having our teachers act out/role play that person for us. I don't know why, but this is how the Lord has chosen how to train His missionaries and it works. It totally works. We pray for them as if they aren't just our teachers role playing. We take time in learning our lesson for this investigator. I have grown to love him!
Ah I just love this. Oh, and I have also been receiving personal revelation like on ones biz-niss. Really! I am SO amazed. I can definitely feel the difference of being Eliza to Sister Beeson now.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I am doing well. I'm tired and everyday feels like de-ja-vu, but somehow I seem to make it through each day.
Thank you for your sweet prayers. I'm praying for all of you back! Love you Mom, Dad, Buzz, Claire, Jack, Andy and Happy!
This church is soooo true.
Muuaah!
Love,
Sister Eliza
Friday, May 17, 2013
FIRST LETTER FROM MTC!
May 15, 2013
My Lovely Family,
Wow. What a day. I feel like I've already been here for a week!! The reason why I'm writing a hand written letter is because my p-day is on Thursday, excluding tomorrow:(
I room with Shelby!! Yay! My companion is Sister Shwartz. She is the cutest. She's 22 and looks like the girl from "Remember Me" (Minnie Driver)
Anyway, everyone has just been SO nice! It's the best. I've seen multiple people I know! Ben Peterson, Brook Hammon, Lydia Lind, Jacob Yamada, Carter Payne, Jen Squires, Alexa Walker...it's so fun to see people I recognize!
We had some "investigators" come into our big classroom and we'd have a group discussion...some were great...others didn't go so well! But that's alright! That's what we're here for: practice.
Well, love you all so much. I'll write ya lots if you do too!
Love,
Sister Beeson
PS. Got your cute note in my suitcase Mama! It made my DAY!
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