Transfer 2 - Week 1 - February 25, 2013

Hey family!

So not much going on here this week. Everyday seemed more casual than the previous weeks. Maybe it is my fault for not writing down all the miracles but I blame it on sickness. This is the second time I have been sick since being out here. I keep thinking it is allergies but yet the benadryl, and sudaphed don't work. I can't breathe through my nose and my throat is swollen so it just hurts super bad. I keep thinking that maybe if God loves me enough and I have faith I can ask for a blessing not to get sick the rest of my mission lol. That would be a true blessing. But hey, our mission president had a conference call with us and was talking about blessings and it really is dependent on your faithfulness. He even told the story of how Emma Smith wanted a blessing so Joseph told her to write down everything that she wanted and then he would sign it! Crazy right!

Well as far as our investigators some of them aren't looking to well. On valentines day there had been two that had dropped us and I was kinda forgetting about them but yesterday in church I felt like maybe I should fast for them and then go see them again. Not sure why though. That really sounds crazy. But hey, it is worth a shot...and if it doesn't work out, then thats alright too because at least I would have done my part.

On other good news. We have been teaching an 8 yr old boy. His mom is less active and her boyfriend/fiancee who isn't a member has been sitting in on all the lessons, and then she will text us and tell us about how he likes it and said that it makes sense why he should get baptized! That is super awesome. He came to the branch party we had on Friday and was going to come to church but then ended up having tons of appendix problems? they think and ended up going to the hospital last night. It's nuts, but we are still going to see them today. I hope all goes well and that he can start to see how this can be important for him in his life.

Love you all!

Love,
Sister Beames

Week 5 - February 19, 2013

This week was pretty awesome. I love being able to look back at each day and see what happened. Some times we meet really awesome people and other times we have appointments fall through, or people with baptismal dates drop us, or people tell us that the Book of Mormon is false and what we are teaching them is a load of poo..but I am learning from each experience and I'm grateful for the opportunity to at least share my testimony with them whether or not they actually listen.

I think I told you last week about these two investigators who were golden that we were able to talk to and commit them to baptism. I thought they were great but I think they got into some anti-literature so that was a bummer. I still want to go back though and see what the real reason is if I can convince my companion to let us.

One of the days we were able to go tracting for some of the potentials in our book. There was a lady that said she was a head-quarter referral but didn't have a date next to it. When we went there to talk to her we found out that it was 20 years ago that she actually met with the missionaries and she is still interested. Wow 20 years. That is crazy. And even more crazy that her name has been kept for that long.

We had a similar experience like this one when we went to stop by an investigator who wasn't home so we tracted a few streets down and then when we were headed back to our car I told my companion that we should go back and see if the investigator was home. And she said lets pray about it. So we did and as we were walking back the big mean dogs were out front so we didn't want to go through the gate. In my head I was thinking well that was weird cuz I felt like we should go back. So we then decided to tract a few houses on that same street instead and we ended up finding another lady who had met with the elders a few years ago but just wasn't sure if she had felt the spirit. We then ended up setting up an appointment and are going to go meet with her today in a couple of hours. I am so excited! Even though we were supposed to go back it wasn't for the other investigator but it was to find Paula! Yeah babay.

I participated in my first exchange this week. It was super different. I think from doing it I was just able to appreciate my trainer even more and see some differences that we do to make us more effective. But hey there is always room for improvement and always room to increase in the ability to feel the spirit.

Hope everyone had a good valentines day! We got to talk to a super sweet Jesus lady who ended up giving us a really creepy picture of what she thought was the closest likeness to the Savior ever drawn. I threw it away don't worry.

She also gave us a Saint Michael prayer card and some coins to ward off evil. So don't worry mom- I will be protected from anything bad that you thought might happen to me!

Well I love you guys. Love your letters too. Miss you and hope that all is going well. Keep things exciting.

Love Sister Beames

Week 4 - February 11, 2013

Hey everyone!

Another big exciting week here in Cape May. On Monday it was pretty cool. We were able to go to the ocean down by the point. We saw the Deleware Bay and then drove over to the other side where we were able to see the Atlantic. We were able to go swimming for about a half hour. The water was pretty cold but it was crazy cool and fun. Just kidding, we didn't go swimming. The water actually looks pretty brown here so that was sad, but the sunset was really pretty. I picked up some sea shells and also these rocks that are clear. The people here call them "Cape May Diamonds" when they are all polished up. It's pretty cool. I also got to see a light-house. I don't think I have ever been able to do that so it was awesome. I just wish I could have gone inside or something. That would have been so worth it.

But for the rest of this week we were able to have some awesome experiences. On Monday night we went to a house that we had tracted out our first week. When we had first met them we gave them a BOM and had a short message and they said that maybe we could come back sometime. And then a couple weeks later when we went back on Sunday we set up a return appointment. While we were setting up the appointment so we could have a lesson with them the next day I saw that the Book had been opened but I couldn't see if how far they were reading because it was turned down. So when we came back for our lesson on Monday the wife Penny had actually read to somewhere in Mosiah and was apologizing because she hadn't gotten all the way through it! Miracles happen. It was so cool because we gave them the lesson on the restoration and when we were describing what happened using the pictures in the pamphlet they really liked the picture with Joseph Smith in the sacred grove when he saw HF and JC. It was amazing to see how happy they looked when they saw that picture. But we ended up commiting them to a baptism and invited the husband Sean to read the BOM and we said we would get him a copy, but he downloaded it on his IPad right then. They are golden!! Looking forward to our next lesson with them.

Also family, have you guys ever had "fluffernutter" sandwiches?? They are pretty famous out here. Everyone eats them. Its marshmallow fluff and peanut butter. Yum.

Week 3 - February 4, 2013

To my loved ones,

This week was pretty exciting. I feel like I am learning so much each day as i try to better myself and think about how I can help my investigators.

Some of the experiences we had were with some of the people we had tracted into the first week I was here. I had been talking to my companion about how I was a little bit frustrated because I felt like we were just tracting streets but not going back to the people we have run into that looked like they were interested. And she was trying to explain to me that we have a different perception of time because this is what we do all day so if we don't go back to them for a week or two it wouldn't be likely that they would forget us. But I expressed I felt it was like job hunting where you contact them several times and bug them to make sure they know that you are really interested. And it was kind of funny cuz we had actually called one of the numbers we had received and they ended up just hanging up the phone on us. My companion took this as an indication of them not be interested. But I told her that when we first knocked on the door she was the one that had an impression to remember their house number. I said God does not do that just for fun, so I asked if we could go back again. And as we did we had an opportunity of meeting the wife this time and were able to set up an appointment to come back. I am looking forward to it, and hopefully this can be the family we are looking for. I really do feel like i have been able to see miracles every day. When the scriptures say that with great faith comes great miracles i really do believe that as we plan for specific streets to tract that God will have prepared someone on each street for us to find. And maybe sometimes this won't always work and we might have to tract 500 houses until we find someone but I am going to give it my all and I really have been able to see miracles each and every day.

On sunday we were able to have our two investigators Lacey and Derek come to church. They are super awesome. We had watched Finding Faith in Christ with them the night before and it was such a shock to me realizing that there are people out there who had never even heard of Christ performing miracles. They loved the movie but thought it was super sad that someone had to die. They really have no idea how great the price that was paid. But they love meeting with us and they said they had a great time at church and would definately like to go back. I am looking forward to seeing them progress.

Well there is a short preview of some of the things that happened. Hope all is well and that you guys are all in good health.

Keep it real.

Love,

Sister Beames

Week 2 - January 28, 2013

Hey family,

So I have now almost completed my first two weeks here in Cape May.

To answer mom's questions we drove here. Ha, we did not go by boat or bus but we have a brand spankin new car. It is a chevy cruz and because my companion can't drive because she has been in a wreck since being out here, I have been given the priviledge to do so instead. Which has been pretty cool. We serve in what I like to think is a pretty large area but then again that is all that I am used to, and we travel around to about four or five different cities. It is really quiet now in the winter though because it is more of a tourist location. During the summer there will be over a million people though.

This week has been a blast. I have given my first baptismal invitations to two investigators. We were hoping for March 3, but this probably won't happen because they both have to be married first. It is interesting to see how so many of us that made religion a part of our lives know so much... these two individuals really know nothing of Christ. They have not heard of the ten commandments before nor why there was someone that had to suffer for our sins. It is kind of mind opening. Especially since we have to teach them in more detail and slower than someone who is in primary.

The other two people we are teaching are two young men in their mid twenties. They are so awesome and have such strong testimonies of Jesus Christ. They are so willing to learn truth and hear what we have to say, but we are not progressing very much after our second lesson because they still don't see how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are separate.

And as I was completing some of my studies this week my gratitude towards my knowledge and testimony has really increased as I have come to know more for myself why these things are important and why I believe them myself.

This week has been pretty good other than that. We have been tracting a lot and trying to get to know the area so we can find people to teach. With every doorstep I knock on, and with every individual I am given the opportunity to talk to I feel my desire to share the gospel increase. I continually have to keep reviewing what I say so that I can make sure it is positive, includes my testimony, and in someone relating to the restoration.

Hope all is well back home. It is cold here and has been snowing the past couple of days which I guess doesn't really happen down here in Cape May. Send me sun please.