Christmas!

IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!

Being a missionary at this time of the year is legit so fun, especially with our Light the World video we are sharing with everyone. In finding, sometimes we just have the person pull out their phone, and watch the video right there and then. It immediately invites the spirit, despite what's going on around them. It's wonderful and amazing to see how the spirit works.

Not a lot to report this week because people are gone for the holidays, so it's a little hard to work with our investigators at the moment, saipei though. However, with Christmas this week, we've had so many members (I believe at least 7 members have come up to us, oh and an investigator) have invited us over for to spend Christmas and Christmas Eve with them. It blows my mind. Before my mission, I would have been so selfish and would want to just spend Christmas with my family, definitely NOT with a couple of ding dong missionaries. But this area is not like any other area! Or like me at all! Haha, thank heavens! The members are so Christlike! Yesterday as we were singing Away In a Manger at church, I reflected on the many members who have approached me and asked if we wanted to come over. I began to tear up as I had wished I could've been there to witness and see the Savior at his birth on that first Christmas day. But this Christmas, I actually see Christ in all of these people. I am overwhelmed at the generosity and love I feel from these people in Canberra. I hope the Lord blesses me and allows me to stay for one more transfer.

Happy Christmas everyone! Remember you Savior this Christmas day!

Love,

Sister Beck

-So yesterday the community had put together a walk-in Nativity scene and they asked the whole zone of missionaries to be the Angelic choir singing to the shepherds and sing Christmas songs. STRICTLY only Christmas songs, because we were singing in another church and other churches (along with ours) were pulling this together. So no proselyting was allowed, BUT cool story, one non member bro had one of our hymn books and was just flicking through the pages and asked us to sing a bunch of random songs like, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives", "Be still my soul" and the best one..."Families can be together forever"! How awesome is that! The Lord still blessed us as we were able to teach through songs :) But yes, we quite enjoyed our gospel choir sashes, and yes we were praising, swaying, snapping and hallelujah-ing haha.

-Dad, I did the traditional bike pic the family does! Oh and Sister Whaanga wanted to do one too hahaha. If you wanna print that out and add her to the collection she would appreciate that haha.

-We did a lesson with TJ on missionary work and service and made him a missionary name tag, he LOVED IT!

-His siblings wanted a pic with Elder Hippi haha

-Roman soldier-aka our Stake President haha

-And Sister Mariner!

David Archuleta and Elvis spicing up the season!

So usually in our mission we're only allowed to listen to Mormon Tabernacle Choir music but our President gave us a handful of Christmas music we are allowed to jam out to and my David and Elvis are on there! Blessings ya'll, blessings. Although Sister Mariner changes the songs when I start swooning over them haha. Crack up.

Well Theresa's son TJ is on baptismal date for the 31st of December!! Woot woot! Me and Sister Mariner prayed for what day the Lord wanted him to be baptized and I wasn't sure until I actually said it in our lesson. The spirit brought out the 31st and Theresa and TJ were so happy. Theresa just kept saying "Really? Really?" Haha. She said it was perfect because she wanted it to happen before the new year. Hopefully I don't get transferred before that!

Tammey is on date for the 31st as well and hasn't smoked in 2 WHOLE FLIPPIN WEEKS!

Another cool experience we were doing some finding and Theresa called us up and asked us to come over immediately. We did and she told us that she felt unsafe and wanted us to just be with her and her kids because she could feel God with us and feel that spirit in her home. It was very humbling to hear her say that. People recognize us as disciples of Christ not just because of our name tags. Hearing her say that has motivated me to be exactly obedient and to be worthy of the Holy Ghost at all times. Because if we're not, who would we be effecting? Our actions as a missionary not only effect us but the people we are meant to help.

One last thing before I finish this email was a lesson we had in Relief Society yesterday. It was about a pig and a chicken on a farm lolz. One was a contributor and one was a committer. The chicken contributed an egg and the pig committed it's life *hand motion of me slicing my neck...you get the picture right?* Liken that to your lives. Are you committed to this gospel or are you just a contributor? After church we had so many members come up to us and asked to have us missionaries come over for a feed, to come out with us in our appointments, and inviting us and our investigators over. It was awesome. So many committers! Ask yourself that tonight and show your commitment to the Lord by helping the work press forward and build up His kingdom with the missionaries.

I love you all! Have a jolly week!

Sister Beck

-Zone conference

-Teaching my sisters how to eat my unhealthy american snack food lol: Quesadillas, chips and salsa, oh and we were making mac 'n cheese at the time...Australian version, not so good.

Sister Whanga (from New Zealand), Sister Nilsson (Canada), Sister Mariner (Samoa)

-We had a ward activity on an island and got to ride in a ferry! Well they called it jetty lol. Sister Mariner and Elder Fifita 

- Last Pday we went go carting with the whole district (we got permission from President, no worries haha but it was soooooo fun) I got third, no big deal: Elder Fifita (Melbourne), Elder Murphy (England)

-The rejects...nah jokes haha the last three places though: Elder Paongo (Las Vegas) Elder Kapua (New Zealand)

 Helping to put up a tree at an investigator's house

 Tree in our apartment.  My stocking and Christmas stories under the tree.

The Field is So White!

Have I mentioned how much I love Can'bruh? These people man. They're so prepared. 

Tammey has gone a full week without smoking and is progressing towards her baptism! Stephanie, our recent convert, her sister came to our Relief Society and Ward Christmas Party this past week and said, "What do I have to do to be baptized?" Yeah. Mouth. Dropped. 

We're also working with a less active/part member family Theresa (member) who is a mother of 8 kids, her son TJ is 9 and wants to be baptized. About a week ago Theresa asked us to give her some space for a couple of weeks but then the other day she rang us and asked to come over. We dropped everything and came to her house and she was very distressed. We asked if she wanted a Priesthood blessing and she said yes. Brother Saddler, our member, came straight away and gave her and her daughter, May a Priesthood Blessing. In both blessings he mentioned that one day Theresa would be able to take her family to the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity. In her daughter's blessing he said that one day a worthy man would take her to the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity. I was just in tears. I began to realize that this missionary work is not just an 18 month work. It's an eternal work. And I'm so grateful to be apart of it.

I'll finish up this email with a dream that I had the other day. Yep, just call me Lehi. I feel like it's relevant to my family and to the world we live in today. 

I dreamed that I was in a running in a race. I was of course the slowest one and it felt like a long az race. Through the race I was in an out of my lane as I couldn't run straight because I was so tired. But, nevertheless, I finished. The person who had the stop watch told me my time at the end and congratulated me on finishing. After the Race all of the racers went under the track in some sort of basement. I heard a girl talking to the stop watch person and she was straight up trash talking me! Psh. she was saying that I should've been docked points because I was in an out of my lane lol. And that I was a terrible runner, pretty much putting me down after what felt like the race of my life. But I went up to her, looked her right in the eye, and then stole her medal hahahah jokes.I just brushed past them and walked up the stairs back to the main level. Up the stairs there was a huge ray of sunlight coming down on me. And then I woke up. 

That race is life ya'll. Running in and out of our lane is when we get off the straight and narrow path and life seems more difficult and harder to endure. And that punk of a girl was of course Satan trying to put me down even after I finished my race or endured through a trial, or discrediting me as a child of God. Don't let him do that to you! Just steal the medal and move on lol. And then Satan will stay behind in that basement while you climb those stairs back to your Heavenly Father. But we gotta finish the race and not waver from the straight and narrow path. 

I hope that all made sense but I'm so grateful to have the knowledge of this gospel. Without it I would be running in circles and definitely not on that straight and narrow path haha. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm grateful that I get to testify of them everyday for 18 months. This is His work. I love you all!

Strength and Honor

Sister Beck

 

1. Our Recent Convert let us decorate her Christmas tree! Made my life.

2. Peta (Recent Convert's daughter) and Sister Mariner

3. We went to Questacon last PDay (place with lots of fun hands on science experiements, mainly a place for kiddos but oh well lol) I've gained some weight on the mish...actually true, the mirror is not deceiving you lol.

4. We had a sleepover at our senior couple's house, the Clarks, for Sister Rollins last PDay with us :( She's dying!)

So Much To Be Thankful For

Hello family! Tammey is doing super well, however she has a smoking problem so we're not sure about her 10th of December baptismal date. But we will work with her. She has a strong desire to quit smoking and wants so badly to follow Jesus Christ. The Lord has definitely been preparing her. We taught her the Word of Wisdom and her response through the list of things the Lord revealed for us to not do was "Yep, coffee, that can go, tea that can go, drugs, no problem I tried to quit smoking for the doctors before and couldn't, but for God I can!" Hahaha. I love her. She will be baptized. Whether it's with us or some other missionaries it doesn't matter. She's so golden. 

Saturday we had a lesson with Thandar, Angus and Clive about the Book of Mormon and they had a friend over, Josh. Angus and Clive were just little missionaries over here teaching him about the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11 (when the Savior comes) and about baptism. I was just crying over here in the background, no big deal, the Spirit was so strong as I was looking at these future missionaries. I was teasing the boys, when they go on their missions, they gotta come to Iowa and teach my kids :) 

We also had our Zone Training Meeting this past week and it was very Jesus Christ oriented as the holidays are rolling around. The most popular question that is asked around Christmas time is, "Are you ready for Christmas?" and as missionaries, we're going around and asking everyone, "Are you ready for the Savior this Christmas?" Pretty crazy, aye? If the Savior came right now, would we be prepared? What's something that would hold us back or that's not aligned with what the Savior would have us be doing? I invite everyone to ponder that question tonight in their studies and think about one thing you could stop doing, and one thing you could start doing to prepare yourself for the Savior and for this WONDERFUL time of the year :) Oh and check out the church's new Christmas initiative video called "Light the World" at www.mormon.org I love you all so much!

Have a great week!

Sister Beck

1. My boys! My crazy boys!

2. Another Joey! He's like, "Don't touch me, don't touch me, don't touch me" hahah.

3. Pat and Hank! Pat is a member and Hank is the one with Alzheimer that I told you about awhile back who we've tried to get on date, but he keeps forgetting everything :( so sad. Pray for him! I love that kid, he's my best friend!

kangaroo whisperer

This week has been crazy hectic but I'm going blank on what to write haha, I'm sorry. 

We got Tammey on baptismal date (the one I told you about last week) for the 10th of December, so pray for her! We're taking Stephanie to the Sydney temple this Saturday, so pretty stoked for that! Other than that, not much to report to yous but I have heaps of pics so don't worry!

Thank you all for your prayers! 

Ofa atu!

Sister Beck

P.s. Sorry these photos are all out of wack and different order...you'll just have to deal haha.

-My family! Sister Uelese's last Sunday, along with Stephanie, Thandar Angus and Clive

-High light of my life last transfer we had a mini MTC reunion with my Sissy's Sister Afatasi and Sister Stetson!

-MY AFI! Goodness I love that girl.

-Meet the new comp! Sister Mariner :) Taken just seconds before we left to write emails because we forgot to take pics this week-it was a busy week! 

-Kangaroo Whisperer. She bit me hard shortly after that haha but don't worry, no rabies yet!

-Look at that BEAST in the back left corner

-Zone Pday which was like 2 weeks ago haha: Elder Meyer and my girl Sister Rollins!

-Sister Mussin (who is now home in Argentina!) Sister Forman, Sister Uelese, me and then Elder Fifta in the back lol

-Moananu family! My Samoan family! That's Daniel and Vai, Daniel is a soccer stud and we played for my first time since being out in the field at our ward BBQ! Ahhh It was so great!

Transfers!

I'm staying in Can'bruh folks! Sister Uelese has been transferred to Nawra which is by the Coast and there's just a branch, so hardly anyone lives there but she will do great :)

My new Sis is Sister Mariner who's straight from Samoa! She's the cutest thing ever and has only been out a transfer longer than me. So once again-greenie fire! Oh and I'm leading the area, so that's fun and hecka scary. But we have the Lord as our 3rd companion, so no worries!

My last week was with Sister Uelese was so great. We just saw miracles left and right happening. The Lord is so good to us. We've found so many new people to teach and it's amazing. I'll tell you about one, Tami. Something that me and Sister Uelese would pray for in our companionship prayers is to find specific kind of people to teach and the Lord always delivers. We had prayed to find a part member family to teach and this past Sunday a part member family showed up to church randomly-like what?? Tami and her son are non-members, but her Sister-in-law, who is from Melbourne, came to church with her to introduce her to the church. How she became interested in the church: Tami's father has been in hospital and was in really bad shape and couldn't even talk, but he received a priesthood blessing and now he's talking, moving, and doing so much better! The power of God is real! So Tami witnessed this miracle and pretty much told us she wants to be baptized and be apart of this church haha. Ya. She also asked me if we could bring her a Book of Mormon when we stop by her house, and then I just pulled one out of my bag and she literally screamed and was so happy. She jumped up and down and hugged me and thanked me for it hahah. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN THE LIFE OF A MISSIONARY. Miracles everyone, miracles. But man the spirit was so strong in those few moments with Tami, I felt so much love for her! I'll keep you posted on that golden child of God!

I just feel extremely blessed to be here. The Lord has just been putting his prepared children right before us, who are ready to receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll finish with just a few scriptures in Alma 26:12 "behold, many might miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever" and vs 16, "We will rejoice, for our joy is full...I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part of which I feel." 

I love you all so much. I invite you all to bear your testimony to someone this week, one of the greatest joys you will feel in this life is sharing the gospel!

Love, 

Sister Beck 

P.S. no pictures this week because I don't have a cord :( but I promise next week! I fed a kangaroo and her baby joey in her pouch. I FELT SO COOL.

Miracles over Numbers

This week our numbers were sooooo bad. Worst week of our transfer but our experiences far outweigh what the numbers showed so hopefully President Back will forgive us for that haha. 

Saturday, 5th of November 2016 my girl Stephanie got baptized! Guys I can't even explain what that meant to me. It has been such a priveledge to feel Heavenly Father's love for his daugther Stephanie. She is truly a miracle. I wish you all could see what I see out here on a mission. There is no way that Stephanie could or would be baptized into his church if the Spirit wasn't real or this church wasn't true. The Spirit is real, and the atonement works. I'm seeing it

hands on with Stephanie. Gahh I just love her with all my heart. She's incredible. 

I'm just so humbled to have been part of her journey to the waters of baptism. She is going to do so much for the church with her inspiring story and testimony. And she's already making goals to go to through the temple exactly a year from now!

Transfers are this week so I'll be emailing Tuesday (your monday).

And heaps of pics!

1.&2. So um  I held a pet mouse...yep you read that right...at one of our member's homes and I was so freaked out. As you can tell haha. 

3. Three amigos

4. Elder Fifta, Me, Stephanie, Sister Uelese, and Elder Paongo

5. Stephanie's cute parents 

6 &7. We see heaps of D&C licence plates in Canberra everyday so we started to take pictures of it and use it as our scripture for the day out of the Doctrine and Covenants book 

8. Shout out to my friend tyler for sending me this awesome shirt! I'd vote for this guy in a heartbeat over any of those noobs. Let me know how the election goes!

.Morning of Stephanie's baptism lol. She was blaring her Beegee's music. She told us that she got like 2 hours of sleep the night before because she was just so excited haha. 

Heaps of fun this week! And pics..you're welcome mom :)

Let's see Monday and Tuesday was tradeoffs OHHHH MY  best day ever. I went with Sister Rollins who's from Arizona and we had so much fun! She's in the Tongan program and we went to heaps of Tongans and Samoans which made my life.

Wednesday we met a potential investigator named Carly (for a week I thought it was Collie because of her accent lawl) SUCH a cool story, i'll tell you more next week! But she's way keen!

Thursday was a blur, my B.

Friday we had interviews with President which was sooo good! I was way nervous but he's so awesome. I really feel like not only was I called to the Australia Sydney South Mission, I was called to my Mission President, President Back :)

Saturday was our ward trunk or treat gig and as you can see us sisters are so lame and didn't dress up. Saipei (means all good) the elders dressed up as a Nephite and Lamanite, lawl. And the other picture there is me and Sister Clark- the senior couple missionary SHE'S DA BEST!

Sunday-wow no words to express. Sunday really is the best day for a missionary because we get to take the sacrament, think back of our mistakes from the week and start fresh again! Like my trainer says, "everthing is either a lesson or a blessing, there's no mistakes" Lot's of lessons were learned this week! Ha.

In other news: Stephanie's baptism is this saturday! Prayers would be greatly appriateted! Opposition is real, today we got a text from her saying she's in the hospital.

Love you fam! Strength and Honor!

Sister Beck

crack up week

What an odd week it has been. Don't have much time but here's a few funny stories to brighten your day :)

We've been doing a lot of door knocking and the other day we went to a flat building and the first person we spoke to was a Jew and she said, "Hi i'm a Jew we're not allowed to talk to you, bye." Hahah and then her neighbor we talked to was from Ghana and I swear the people here think we're immigration or something. The guy had his door open by like an inch and wouldn't even tell us his name haha. But we've been really trying to follow President Uchtdorf's advice "Last door on the 4th floor" We did exactly that and we met Peter who is from Zimbabwe, he was the last door of the building. He was high as but i could see in his eyes how sad he was and how desperate for help he was. We invited him to church and he came! He participated a lot in our class and even cried when one of our investigators (Stephanie) bore her testimony on repentance. It was so good. 

That's all for now here's some pics :)

We visited Thandar and her kids, Angus and Clive last night and ohhhhh boy they were crazyyy, jumping on the walls and ceiling and errything haha. If it looks like I'm in pain in these pics I am haha. It was hard to get them to sit still for a 2 sec pic. Love those boys :)

Sister Beck