Transfer 3 Week 3 - April 22, 2013

Peeps,

 

This week has been swell. We were able to find several new investigators and have been making a lot of progression with some of our other investigators. We are just really trying to work hard and give it our all. We are only given so many miles on our car so we have been being really proactive about walking and using members to get involved in coming teaching with us and giving us rides. It has proved to even be more helpful in really having our investigators fellowshiped especially when they are able to develop friendships.

Our investigator Linda is super dope. This week we moved her baptismal date from May 19 to the 12 because she says she feels more ready and is getting really excited. We just need to make sure she keeps all of her commitments and everything will be good there.

As for Dean he still is learning. A lot of the time I can just tell that he is blocking the spirit because he wants to analyze everything because he studied philosophy so much and was previously Buddhist. But if he will just keep reading the BoM and really ask for an answer I know that he will progress soon enough.

Well everyone, just keep on keeping on. Look for the positive in every situation. You guys are great.

 

Love,

Sister Beames

Transfer 3 Week 2 - April 16, 2013

I finally figured out why people say missions are hard! It has seriously taken me up until this last Sunday to figure it out but whoa, when I did it just hit me in the face. Don't get me wrong, I love being out here, I love the experience, and I love seeing miracles everyday. But when I first heard people talk about it being hard work I thought they were talking about the activities we do everyday.

Is it that we have to wake up at 6:30 every morning? No, that's not it. That is just like any other job. Well then maybe it is the exercise we have to do? No, I like to exercise. It helps keep me good looking ;) and gives my body endorphins. Well what about the tracting or coming up to random strangers? No, I'm like a social butterfly and don't really get offended if someone slams a door in my face. Doesn't hurt my feelings in that way.

So what is it? Is it teaching lessons about the gospel when I feel like I really know is my own testimony? No, that is not it either! That is what I enjoy when I actually get to bear testimony about something that has changed my life!

What really makes a mission hard is that I can't convince people! No matter what I do as a missionary is I have to understand that people still have their free agency. They still get to choose whether to accept or reject this great message. And all they have to do to know it is by reading a book! The Book of Mormon! That is all I ask. Read and pray about it.

So what is the ramble about this for? Because the other day I was angry. I was so mad after meeting with one of our investigators because we took about five steps backwards when we realized he isn't understanding things as we would have liked. He said he didn't think we were serious when we invited to him to be baptized! Oh, I am so sorry buddy, but I was not joking!

But after praying and then reading my scriptures I finally felt this calming reassurance come over me. And it was from the peace I had as I read. I know the Book of Mormon is real and I know that it changes lives. It changed mine!

Love you family.

 

Sister Beames

Pictures

This is a picture that i had with some of my favorite elders from the MTC that I saw at transfers, and then the two white sisters are the girls I was with on exchanges in Westchester when waiting for my new golden companion to arrive, and finally my new companion!

Transfer 3 Week 1 - April 8, 2013

Hey dear loved ones,

 

Can I just say how great you all are! You guys are freaking awesome! I love that I have so many of you in my life.

 

Did everyone get a chance to watch general conference? I thought it was so good. I love the talks that we were able to hear. And this morning I took the time to go back over my notes from what I took and I tried to make a list of what it was that I felt I could do differently and I realized that I never have really done that. I usually watch general conference and take notes and then tuck the notebook away without taking my own personal time to reflect. I know that they go over the talks in church throughout the year but that just didn't feel like enough. There are so many things that I can do to improve the quality of my life. I realized more fully how important it is to look back each day and reflect so that I can grow all the time. Because if I waited until the end of my mission to finally look back and see how everything went then I wouldn't get the whole picture! Everyday is such a gift and needs to become part of us.

 

So basically... lets make every day the best day ever!

 

Finally some good stuff,

 

I received my new companion last Wednesday night. Her name is Sister Malotutoatasi Osovale. She is from Samoa and she is pretty cool! She was actually supposed to enter the MTC in December when I did, but ended up being a visa waiter for about 4 months. But now she is here and we are looking forward to rocking Cape May. We are trying to learn things together seeing how we are both fairly new and we are already having some great lessons.

 

Our investigator Linda who has a baptismal date for May we ended up sharing the POS with her on Thursday and she says that she feels really good about everything. She had met with missionaries about 6 years ago and her only questions were that she didn't understand Joseph Smith. But since meeting with her she says she can't believe it didn't make sense to her back then and that she must of not been ready because everything right now makes perfect sense!

 

And our investigator Dean, boy is he a handful. I keep fasting and praying for this guy. He is super awesome. He was supposed to be baptized on April 14th so this coming Sunday, but I just feel like he isn't ready. I went over the baptismal interview questions with him and he always has so many questions. It is a good thing that he sees baptism as such a serious step and he is a very honest man that he doesn't want to lie when answering the questions, but he is really struggling at figuring out how God is our "Eternal" Heavenly Father, or how it is that Chist "saves" him, and finally how is President Monson the prophet of the "world." In that last one he is really looking for him to prophecy something big. E.g. when is Christ coming again. I kinda chuckle, but at the same time I have to watch myself to not get frustrated. I just really want him to understand it all. I just have to remember that he learns on a different time schedule than my own.

 

Well family, take care. Love you all tons. Lets be together forever :)

 

Sister Beames

Pictures

So this was some pictures from this last week. One is of our investigator Dean, and the other one is our investigator Linda. Finally that was my last few moments with sister Gunnell before she left me. love you all. have a good week!

Transfer 2 Week 6 - April 1, 2013

So guess what????......................

I am training this next transfer! I get my new golden missionary this Wednesday. I ended up getting the call from President this Sunday. I totally wasn't expecting it because they usually tell everyone on Friday or Sat so I thought. I totally don't feel ready or let alone that my training hasn't been fully finished. So it is definitely crazy!

Today I dropped my trainer Sister Gunnell off at the mission home. I am seriously going to miss her. She is freaking awesome but there are new things in store for her in the real world. 

But as for the rest of this last week it was super awesome. Me and Sister G talked about our focus this last week and how we would try and talk about the atonement with our investigators more. We didn't succeed all that well but I was able to observe what it is that a finishing missionary does in there last week of work. Something that I was able to think about a lot was how we never really know when will be our last meeting with our investigators. Which is why it is so vital to bear testimony and really express to them how important the gospel is with them every time that you meet with them.

From our investigators we have one more baptismal date that we were able to set this week with a lady named Linda. She is super awesome. I don't remember how much I told you about her but she is a single lady in her 60s, and her mother passed away about a little over a month ago so things have been kind of rough. When we were able to share the restoration with her we were able to see how it made her more happy. We know that she had met with missionaries about 6 years ago, so it is such a blessing that she was able to let us come and teach her. We knew that she had concerns about Joseph Smith but as we talked about how this was Christ's church and why it is important that there is a prophet to lead and guide us I know that she was comforted and it finally made sense to her. We ended up meeting with her one other time and started talking to her about the plan of s. and I am stoked to be able to finish this lesson with her so she can know that she can be with all of her family that has passed on.

As for the rest of the week we did a ton of tracting. We were pretty short on miles for our car so we walked a lot but were still able to find a few more potentials hopefully! :)

The work here in Cape May is progressing. Some of the people talk about how because it is a tourist town the branch will never grow but I know that that is incredibly false otherwise God would not have sent me here!

Finally, Happy Easter! So as many of you probably were thinking about the Easter Bunny this week I had someone tell me about the tradition of the decoration of the Easter egg. So it actually came from Greece! Something the member was able to show me that they did was they made a dye using onion skins and vinegar. You could probably look it up on line for the exact recipe but when it dyes the egg red it symbolizes the blood of Christ. Which I thought was kind of cool cuz I still remember the talk mom gave me at my baptism when I was little. She used a hard boiled egg and marked on it with a marker and talked about how those were our sins but when we are baptized all of those sins are removed (taking off the egg peel). But it was super cool thing to think about. Food for thought.

Remember Christ always in your life. I know that he is the reason I am so happy and that through his Atonement I can return to my Heavenly Father.