Week 7

July 29, 2013

Hello!!!
First of all, sorry for the cow story from last week. I realized afterwards that maybe it was a little graphic. Maybe.

Mom, you asked about my comp. She is from Mexico, knows some random words or phrases in English but that's about it. I teach her some English stuff though. She has been serving 18 months. She extended a bit to be my trainer! She is leaving in 4ish weeks.

I’m tall here. I hit my head on doors and I had to hover over the pulpit in church. But its fun.

People have the hardest time saying Beckstead. Not sure why. But its kinda fun.

Also, its winter. Nothing like a Colorado winter, but still chilly. Especially in our room for some reason. I wear my coat and my fuzzy robe inside. Cold cold. 

This week Peru had their Independence day. Ollantaytambo is small but somehow they found tons and tons of kids to be in their parade and dress up cool. 

We are close to Macchu Picchu and are going on August 19th. Woohoo!

I haven't been seeing tons and tons of llamas, but there are dogs everywhere! Some are cute. And most are nice. Except the one that went to snap at my leg and got my skirt instead. Now I’m a little scared of some of them, especially when dogs fight. But all is well. 

President Harbertson visited this week and told us how strongly he felt he needed to send extra missionaries to Ollantaytambo (me and my comp). The Lord has big plans for this area. We hope one day there will be a branch and chapel. For now, we take a 40 minute bus ride. It is 3 soles round trip which isn’t a lot in dollars, but is a sacrifice for people here, especially for entire families to attend.

This week at church my heart was full. One of our investigators came and two less active members that we spoke with came. YAY! 

Our investigator that came is named Luz Marina and is getting baptized August 17. She is a reference of our pensionista, Hermana Juanita. When we taught the book of Mormon, she said she knew Christ came here because here they have a story of a man in a white robe appearing to the people. It is a very special opportunity to teach the literal descendants of the Book of Mormon.

We found an awesome lady named Eulogia. She has children recently baptized. I love how the Lord places people in our path that are ready and have been prepared. I know the church is true!

Love, Hermana Beckstead

Thanks for your support, prayers, and love! 

Week 6

July 22,  2013

Hola! I’m in Peru, es cierto.

We landed in Lima about 12:30 in the morning on Tuesday. Learned that we are not going to the CCM there, but are going to Cusco! What a wonderful surprise! I think I will go to Lima to get my visa soon. The drivers in Lima are absolutely crazy. Blinkers are optional, people change a million lanes at once, and everyone honks. But it was pretty fun. We slept for about three hours then caught a plane to Cusco. When we got to Cusco I learned that my first area is called Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. This area is way awesome. There are a bunch of ruins here. Also, we are the first hermanas in this area, so we have a lot of work to do! My companion’s name is Hermana Olivera. She is from Mexico and is very sweet, although I often have no idea what she is saying. I will learn though!

Emma, her companion Hermana Olvera, Hermana Harbertsom, and two others

Since we are the first sisters, we have been doing a lot of finding. Our best success has been references from our pensionista, Hermana Juanita. By the way, the food is awesome, and I haven”t gotten sick from it. I also haven’t gotten altitude sickness (at least I don’t think so) The most physically demanding thing might be trying to eat all the food that she puts in front of me. Seriously lunch is a struggle everyday. So. much. food. But good food!

I will tell you about the most interesting door we knocked on. We knock on the door, the Peruvian woman answers. We usually shake hands but she had blood on her skin. Strangely, I didn’t really think anything of it and she invited us in through the door into the yard. What I see is this:  A bull or cow hanging by its legs. The head is cut off and the insides are on a tarp and the body has been skinned. It must have been somewhat fresh because I saw some of the meat of the cow twitching. There was a lot of blood in their yard area.  Hermana Olivera tried the whole, is there a time when we could come back and teach your more, type things, but they insisted that we stay-and showed us where to sit-front row seats to the bull intestines on these stone steps. While we talked, the brother had finished skinning the head and had moved to sawing the cow in half at the spine. This made for a very strange soundtrack for our discussion. The sister was busy working a hose through the bull’s intestines and rinsing them out. At one point, she put the hose through the ventricles of the bull’s heart. It was interesting to watch after taking anatomy. It was all fine and I was proud of my strong stomach until the stomach, ironically enough. Imagine slicing open a lawn mover bag and taking out the piles and piles of grass with your bare hands, except the grass is more much and mixed up and it is the worst thing you have ever smelt. Seriously though it reeked awful. I couldn’t speak because I didn’t want to gag or throw up all over the place. Once the stomach was over I was much better and hna olivera had a companion because I could speak after the air cleared. While on the steps, I accidentally dropped my pen. Horrified with myself, I decided I should just cut my losses. I don’t know what cow remains it landed in, but I didn’t want it. Before leaving, to my great surprise and joy, the pen had been saved from the bloody intestinal abyss by a merciful plant who caught my pen before it could be contaminated. Little tender mercies, it’s one of my better pens. Anyways, she said she would never come to church. She is set in being catholic, but it was an interesting encounter. And we have a dinner appointment! Haha, just kidding. While we were walking down the street after, we saw a piece of intestine caught in the little streams that run down the side of the streets. I am glad I have a water bottle with a filter. I’m definitely in a different country but I love it! I especially love the people. They are so incredibly awesome and the children are hilarious and super cute. Hope this story wasn’t too graphic, but it may have spiced up the email a bit. I am sorry no pictures, but I will try and figure it out for next week. Just imagine a beautiful place. Love you all! 

Hermana Beckstead

Emma's Going To Peru!

Week 5

July 11, 2013

Hellloooo! Hope you all had a great week!

This week I found out I am flying to Peru on Monday! Before I thought it was very likely that we would be here for 7 weeks then be re-assigned for a while because that is what has been happening to groups of Peru missionaries that reported to the MTC before me. It was very exciting to find out we're going to Peru after only being in the MTC 5 1/2 weeks instead of 6 or 7. I feel very blessed that the timing worked out so perfectly! My companion and both my roommates and others are going too. We do not have our visas, but are traveling on our passports. I think we can be there for a while as tourists and our visas will come while we are there or something, although I am not exactly sure.

TRAVEL PLANS!!!

In other news, Spanish is still a trial. I am glad the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity to learn Spanish, and am also grateful that He knows me well enough that He knew that if He had given me a harder language I would have pulled out all of my hair by now. Peru will hopefully help me learn faster though as I try my best and rely on the Lord.

This week we were teaching a man on skype and I told him to keep Saturday holy. Oh dear. It was pretty funny though.

Fourth of July was pretty fun here. In the evening we had a speaker and watched 17 Miracles (seriously good movie about the pioneers that everyone should see) and sang patriotic hymns. We then went outside, ate Magnum Chocolate ice cream bars, and watched fireworks that were going on at the Stadium of Fire. They were pretty good fireworks too. It was pretty great 

 I saw Sister Megan Matheson today! Woot!

Mostly I don't have much to say about this week because the main highlight is Peru and I don't really remember much else that happened. I will be sad to say goodbye to my investigators (especially Bryan) and teachers (especially Hermana Haycock) at the MTC but there is sooooooo much to look forward to. This mission is just getting started! Trust in the Lord!

Love you all!

  Hermana Beckstead

Week 4 in the MTC

Week 4

July 4, 2013

Hey guys! Happy fourth of July! I hope you are having tons of fun on this excellent holiday! Here at the MTC, we celebrate the fourth of July by wearing red, white, and blue and by getting to watch fireworks tonight! We won't be at the stadium,  we will watch the stadium of fire fireworks from afar. Also, we are having a special devotional tonight as well.

On June 28, 2013, I woke up to a blaring fire alarm probably between 6:20 and 6:30. Surprisingly, I don't remember being very surprised, and my elementary school fire drill training kicked in. I put on some shoes, grabbed my keys, kicked out the doorstop (like we always do before we leave the residence. Safety, people, safety!) and filed outside. It didn't take very long before my mistake was pointed out. I LEFT MY COMPANION IN A POTENTIALLY BURNING BUILDING! I am a terrible human being. Poor Hermana Coffey had been showering at the time of the alarm. Even worse, I had kicked out the doorstop so she had to come outside in her robe. I am a terrible human being. Now since you all probably think I'm like the worst companion in the history of all time, I will tell you a story that is pretty much the opposite. In this story, we had just climbed the four levels of stairs to reach the level our classroom was on. There on the landing between the stairs and the hallway is this huge set of doors. On this particular day, Hermana Coffey was on the side of the doors closer to the classroom and I was on the side that was still on the landing. Suddenly, this weird alarm started going off (what is it with fire alarms here?) and the huge doors started to close. The doors were about closed and my companion was about to be out of my sight and sound. With desperation, I shoved my body through the narrow opening just as the gigantic automatic doors were closing. And for the record, this story happened before the fire alarm story, so I do have some loyalty to my companion.

On Sunday nights we get to watch a movie and this week we chose to watch the classic Mormon film, "Legacy". I love the pioneers and the movie is pretty tender, but Sunday I was reminded of the hilarity of the acting in this movie. There is a lady in the movie that says the classic line: "We will get to Zion, we will!" In this really obnoxious high pitched voice. If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch this movie right away. So many awesomely corny quotes to choose from. Also, the funny thing about watching Legacy in the MTC is that the film contains quite a few romantic scenes. When the pioneer guy kisses the pioneer girl (Eliza or Liza I think) applause and cheers erupt in the room.

 Sadly, the Provo Temple is now closed for cleaning, so we don't get to go anymore! This is sad, but I am glad I was able to have some good experiences there before I left. And maybe we will get to help clean it.

Visas. I don't know. But I heard of some missionaries in Wisconsin, I think, are getting their visas so they are now in Peru (or at least on their way, I'm not sure). So I hope that means that visas are coming in. If not, we will probably stay at the MTC for 7 weeks instead of 6 just in case the visas come, and then be reassigned somewhere in the US until they come.

On Sunday, our Relief Society speaker was Sherri Dew and she was incredible! One of my favorite things she said was- "Do you think Heavenly Father would risk the outcome of the last days by sending women He couldn't count on?" No, I don't think He would. I know the same idea is true for all of us here right now. If we weren't strong enough to handle it or not strong enough to help hasten the work of salvation on the earth right now, we simply wouldn't be here. We can do it! Also, it makes me think about sweet little Carson and Clara. They are super strong and awesome and are going to do a lot of amazing things during their lifetimes.

This week we got to teach a lesson to members who were native Spanish speakers. Via Skype. I was really nervous because this was like real people who are really good at Spanish! But it turned out. We talked with two young adult girls from and in Spain and they were awesome! They are both getting ready to serve missions! So it was really fun to talk with them. Sometimes I would have no clue what they had just said, and I must have had a blank face, because they would repeat themselves slower. It was fun because sometimes they would just laugh at us (in a fun way of course). I probably made lots of funny mistakes. One thing they would say is "que why", which I guess is a term for "cool" in Spain. We asked them if they knew what cool was in Peru and she said no idea but to me it sounded like it was word cause it was all cool and fast and Spanish-y. I repeated back to her, oh "noidea." Then they laughed some more. They had to explain what they had said. They had no idea what it was, not that the word for cool was "no idea". Haha oh dear. I have a long ways to go, but I definitely wouldn't have been able to do that when I entered the MTC, so I have learned. Plus, the Spirit will help me when they know I need it most.

This week I found a real live pear in the cafeteria! Not canned, but real! Not exactly sure why that was the only day I've ever seen one, but I ate it and boy, was it good.

This week we had the opportunity to be new missionary hosts. It was kind of fun to do something different than just class and I had fun showing the sister I hosted to her residence, to the bookstore for her books, and to her classroom. However, it was also bittersweet. Watching people say goodbye to their families made me sad because it kind of brought back my own drop off. I got to see the other side though. I know when I was dropped off, after I hugged and said goodbyes I just tried not to cry because that would make everything harder and I just followed my host and the instructions they gave me and tried not to think about how sad it was. But this time I watched the families cry and drive away without their missionaries and it made me really sad. So I don't really want to host again, but we'll see.

This week we were playing a game to practice learning weather words. Each team would send a representative. An English word would be given, and the representative had to try and say the Spanish word first. One of my teammates was up there with the word snow. The word for snow, is nevar, and I am still my competitive, sneaky little self, so I said to my team mate, "I hope it neeevvvar snows!".  

We are supposed to be learning Spanish but I think we have also started creating our own language. For example, a favorite reply of ours is, its true, or es verdad. Unfortunately, this is incorrect of something, so we had to start saying " es la verdad". Over the course of a week or so, as we spoke faster and less clearly and correctly, a new word was born(of Elder Stirling I think). The new word is slobberdog. If we say it fast, you can hardly even tell it's not Spanish. Spanish, I am so sorry for slaughtering you. You poor little language.

We have matching Peru Shirts. Cuatro Cuadro is going well, but now we also play some basketball.

Anyways, I'm having lots of fun here, but I am also trying to be a better missionary, and use more of my heart, might, mind, and strength. I am really tired every night, but I try to work even harder so that I am exhausted every night. It's how it should be.

Love you guys!

Hermana Beckstead

The Work of Salvation

Week 3

June 27, 2013

The apostles, first presidency (supposedly), and the mission presidents have been here this week to train the new mission presidents. I heard Hermana Hansen say on the way to our room, "maybe we will seen an opossum." Or at least that's what I heard. Really she said, "Maybe we will see an apostle." Sunday Hermana Coffey and Hansen spotted Elder Christoferson they thought, but I missed it so I just saw the back of him. Because they have been using building 1M for training the mission presidents, we have been eating most of our meals in the gym. I won't go into too much detail, but I never thought I would be so happy to return to eating regular MTC food in the cafeteria. The best part of the the mission presidents being here, though, is that I GOT TO MEET MINE! The missionaries here at the MTC going to the Peru Cusco Mission met with President Harbertson and his wife. I love them a lot. Something interesting is that my mission president and his wife don't even have their visas yet. They are going to Peru July 1st on a tourist visa I think is what it's called. There are 100 MTC graduates serving the US waiting for a visa to go to Peru. 75% of the missionaries in my mission are Latino, and about half of those missionaries are from Peru, so good chance I will get to be trained by a native Peruvian. He also said that Cusco is just like the quaint city we think it is. It is as awesome as we are imagining! Our mission has 11 zones. The lake Titicaca area with the floating islands has a dedicated chapel on one of the islands built out of reeds. Then he gave us some awesome advice. It made me really excited to get to Peru!

 On Sunday we got to go to the worldwide broadcast. It was kind of stressful at first because everyone kept hinting at some huge announcement. We were told of the "historic announcement" that was going to be made. That made us crazy because our imagination was going wild with all our guesses of what it could be. Are they opening China? Are they going to let sisters serve 2 years? At the beginning of the meeting we were just going nuts with anticipation. Well, the announcement wasn't nearly that big, but still very cool. I'm not sure how quickly the internet will get to Peruvian missionaries, but we see. I think the church tours are going to be really cool too. I am really excited for missionary work to become even more effective as missionaries and members work together better. I also had the wonderful opportunity to be in the huge choir. I watched our song later, and you could see Hermana Coffey teeny tiny in the background. I was standing right next to her, but my face was covered with a larger (on TV), much closer up person. The apostles weren't facing us, but it was fun because they would turn around and watch sometimes. I especially love love love Elder Nelson for turning around and waving at the missionaries with his cute smile on his face. I also really liked when Elder Scott looked right at me and gave me a thumbs up. Okay, maybe not right at me, but maybe so. It's hard to tell.

Quatro Quadro is going well. We played with our district and it was super fun. It gets intense. Someone told me it looks like I'm doing like a tennis stroke while I play. So that's probably why I'm doing well at it. I am also very pleased with the term-"You just got Becksteaded" that I have heard used a couple times. Four square makes me very happy. Not as happy as the gospel, but it's definitely up there.

      Welp, I love you all a lot. And I love your emails and letters and dear elders! Please keep letting me know how things are going for you! I love hearing about it!

Love you!

Hermana Beckstead

I love the gospel!

 Mormon messages are the best.  Tell everyone to watch them!

Really good quote from the broadcast: "As we act in faith, the blessings are different than we expected, but better than we imagined."

Week 2 at the MTC

The "Best Zone Ever"

Week 2

June 20, 2013

Hola! How is everyone? This week was awesome!

First, I will tell you about how the MTC puts you on a roller-coaster.

MTC: Hi, little baby missionaries; this is your progressing investigator Maria. Teach her in Spanish!

Us: Um, well, okay, sounds good!

Us: (a  couple days later): Oh my gosh, I love Maria! She is so cool and I love her and I can see how much she's progressing and this is the best!

MTC: Hi, little missionaries, you're not going to teach Maria anymore. She's moving to Salt Lake.

MTC: This is your new teacher, Sister Haycock.

Us: Wait...that looks an awful lot like Maria (it is Maria).

MTC: Hi little missionaries, you have a new investigator. Her name is Carmen.

Okay, this is getting tiring so I will just tell you. Carmen is Maria and Maria is Sister Haycock and Sister Haycock is Maria. It's crazy. All one person but three different personalities and lives and stuff. It's weird but cool! We have two investigators now. Carmen (who acts a little different than Maria but they look exactly the same) and Brian (who bears a striking resemblance to Hermano Bartolomei (our other teacher).

Okay, another cool thing that's happening. On Sunday, the Church is having a worldwide training broadcast to train the new mission presidents. It will be at the Marriott Center and all the missionaries are invited. The cool part is that the Prophet is coming. Yeah, like as in President Thomas S. Monson. It's going to be so cool! (by the way, for the first time in MTC history, we are now having Tuesday devotionals at the Marriott center, because all the missionaries can't fit in one place in the MTC). Also, I've heard that all the apostles are coming. the MTC is going to be a little interesting with some tighter security, and weird things going on in the cafeteria (like some paper plates). Also, 1M (the main building) is going to be closed to missionaries on Sunday so I don't know if that means food will be somewhere else or not. Anyways, cool things are happening. But another cool thing is that I get to sing in the choir for the broadcast. Basically, we get to sing for the prophet. It's going to be really really awesome. So, watch the broadcast on TV and look for me!

The Lord protects missionaries, so that's cool. The other day I was walking in the cafeteria and felt like pausing. I did and an elder dropped his glass and it shattered. The little shards of glass stopped just before my feet. Obviously not like life or death situation or anything, but I thought it was cool. I didn't have to get attacked by little pieces of glass!

We started the TRC this week! It's fun!  A little stressful the first time, but I think it will be awesome!

Um, so okay. Best thing. I SAW HERMANA MERRILL! She called my name and I hardly recognized her at first for some weird reason but I knew it was her and I just pretty much dropped all my stuff and we did that weird girly screamy hug thing. I don't know what came over me but it was really really awesome. And then since then I have seen her many times. It's been awesome. Next, I saw Sister Shelley! and then Sister Clark! And it's just been a blast seeing all of them and getting to talk with each of them a bit. Maybe I will still be in the MTC and get to see Sister Matheson too! That would be cool! :)

 I still haven't heard about the visa. Hermana Coffey had a little scare. She went to immunizations for a shot and they told her that her departure date said June 18th. We were kind of freaking out because we haven't heard anything. But June 18th has come and gone, so the computer must have just been crazy. Speaking of Hermana Coffey, I am really grateful for her. She is awesome and a wonderful example to me. She is going to be the new sister training leader for our zone. If you don't know what a sister training leader it is, it's like a zone leader. Except for sisters to lead. Really really cool. She's awesome. My other Cusco hermanas: Hermana Ostler and Hermana Hanson are also awesome. Fun fact: Hermana Hansen is from Payson, but she doesn't know if she's related to a Maggie Hansen. Probably somehow. The elders in our district can be a little unruly at times, but they are fun. And usually good.

Four square. Quatro quadro. I think square is actually quadrato, but Hna. Ostler said quadro and the teacher had no clue what she was talking about and it was funny and we have called it  that ever since. I fell off my throne one night when I tied with Hermana Coffey (got into the king's square some number of times). We had to have a draw off to settle the dispute. Hermana Ostler declared the theme. Dinosaurs: Sassy and Classy. I drew a picture of of dinosaurs in the 1920s. Picture a dino in a flapper dress playing the bass and a dino in a bow tie playing the piano. Hermana Coffey drew t-rexes having a tea party. She won, but I have since won back the four square crown. But don't worry,  I won't let anymore ties happen.

Here is a picture of our drawings. We hung them on our door and let people vote for them on the sticky notes underneath.

Funny things that have happened (some of these may not be suitable for small children) :

We were running and Hermana Hansen's MTC ID fell off. This wouldn't be funny, except we just happened to be right over a grate. Her ID went down down down. I guess it's not that funny, but it's pretty ironic. I have also lost my ID, but I got another one for a dollar. The little rascals are always falling off and running away and stuff!

There is a Spanish word for fear: miedo. In the TRC Hermana Ostler was teaching and said a word that closely resembles miedo. However, the word she said means a swear word in Spanish. (And kids, if you are reading this, don't look it up!) Hahaha whoops!

I didn't experience this one first hand, but still funny. A hermana was talking in sacrament meeting and was trying to say she was embarrassed to speak or something  The word she used to say embarrassed, however, means pregnant. The worst part of this story is that she said it was the Branch President's fault. Oops!

There is a teacher named Hermano Vargas. He is a native Spanish speaker. He was trying to use the expression, "work my butt off". But instead, he said, "work my butt out". I don't know, maybe these aren't that funny, but they seem funny to me at least, especially when I'm tired and you've been in class for days or whatever.

Another one I just heard about: an elder in our zone was practicing his testimony. He said, "Hola. Soy Dios." Hahahaha the elder that said that is really cool and great, but this is just really funny to me.

Anywhoo, I probably better go do my laundry. I may try to send some pictures if I have some. Love you guys! Be good!

Hermana Beckstead

Also, the pictures of Me and Hermana Merrill and sister Clark I accidentally didn't have my sd card in so it went to internal memory, so I couldn't just put my SD card in. So I couldn't get the pictures on. so I took a picture of the pictures on my Camera with Hermana Coffey's camera (I can just see Megan Matheson master photographer cringing right now) so some pictures are really blurry sorry.

We just came across some Peru missionaries that got re-assigned today. Some sisters are heading to New York city south, one to California Arcadia I think. I think an elder to Texas. The elders it was their 7th week I think they said. It seems like we will eventually be re-assigned as well, but I don't know, we just have to see. It might be kind of fun though, like getting a second mission call, except only temporary I guess. Anyways, love ya!

Yo se que la iglesia de jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias es verdad. Yo se que JesuCristo es mi Salvador y redentor. Yo se que Dios nos ama, y es nos Padre Celestial. Yo se que nosotros puedemos vivir con Dios otra ves. Tenemos un profeta en la tierra hoy. Estoy agrededida por mi familia, la evengelio de JesuCristo, my amigas, y mi companera(~).

Love you lots!

MTC!

Three weeks ago we dropped Emma off at the Mission Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah.  She had originally planned to go to the MTC in Lima, Peru, but she is still awaiting her Visa!  (It's been almost 5 months now since she applied)  She has limited time with computer access so it is my job to post a few pictures and letters from time to time to keep ya'll up to date.  So here goes!  Let me know if you would like her current address. 

Week 1

June 13, 2013

Hello from the MTC!!!

Today (Thursday) is my first P-Day! I can't believe I have been here over a week! But at the same time it kind of feels like I've been here forever. The first full day was soooooooo long. But now they are much better.  It seems like we just do so much everyday! I know that the Lord is directly involved in allowing us to accomplish so much with the time that we have. So here is a typical day in the MTC: Wake up at 6:30 (maybe one of the harder adjustments), 7:00 Personal Study (one of my favorite parts. It's nice just to have set-aside, scheduled time to study the scriptures!) 8:15 breakfast. The food here isn't bad, and I can see how you could gain 30 pounds here. You can have as much food as you want and there are lots of fried foods it seems like. 8:45 back to the classroom. 11:45 companion study. 1:10 lunch. 1:55 Additional Study. 2:45 back to the classroom. 5:45 daily planning. 6:16 Dinner. 6:55 TALL (this computer program to help with Spanish), 8:10 Gym if we're lucky.

Some days are extra special, like Sundays. Sundays are the best. All the sisters have relief society together and it is awesome. We watch music and the spoken word and have relief society together. On Sunday we had 1297 sisters at our meeting. Awesome! Speaking of numbers, the Wednesday I came was the largest amount of missionaries they've had come in one day. It was over 900. I haven't heard if this last group of missionaries was larger but one of the host missionaries seemed to think this last group was much smaller.

Hermana Beckstead & Hermana Coffey

Celebrating a Four Square Victory?

 I am staying in the main MTC campus and our room is nice! 4 of us are headed to Cusco. Our other two roommates are headed to the Philippines speaking Hillygaynon. My roommate is Hermana Coffey (say coffee). She is great. She is halfway through the nursing program at BYU. The days are hard here, but spiritually uplifting.  One really fun thing to relieve stress has been THE GYM! Four square here is intense. We play with everyone and there are some reeaaaally good players. The Cusco girls keep track of our kings square points and if you win then you get to keep a pinata head by your bed or on your bedpost. (The pinata head was just in our room, I guess someone passed it on to us. Weird,  I know). I am really glad that I am in a group with girls going to my mission. Glad we are all in this whole Visa thing together! I don't know when my visa is coming, but I will keep you posted! Also, this last Tuesday was the first time in MTC history that all the missionaries met for devotional in the Marriott Center. I guess we don't fit in the MTC anymore all together! Today at 3:20 we get to go to the temple, so that will be really nice. I feel like this is a really scatter-brained email. Sorry, I just keep on thinking about things I want to tell you-there is so much!

Oh yeah, my branch president is awesome. His name is President Hollister. He used to be a drummer for Ozzy Osborne. And he has really awesome spiritual insights. And he has these really piercing blue eyes so you almost can't look away. Every week we prepare a tiny tiny talk for sacrament meeting in Spanish and at church you find out if you have to give it or not! I didn't have to give it so that was kind of a relief.

On Friday we taught our first lesson in Spanish! It was hard and we mostly quoted preach my gospel, but we did it. Our investigator's name is Maria and even though she is a "fake investigator" it's great practice and she asks us some good questions. Our third lesson with Maria was incredible. We taught her the plan of salvation and focused on the Spirit World and promised that that's where her father is and she will see him again (we had gotten to know her and had learned he had died). I wasn't expecting to be emotional! It was so awesome. There is no doubt in my mind that the Spirit was there and that he helped me bear my testimony in Spanish about the spirit world. That's hard enough in English and I don't really even remember all what I said now. I'm so grateful for the third companion! This lesson made me so excited to teach people the gospel in Spanish!  

My main teacher is Hermanon Bartolomei. He served in Mexico and is awesome! He just talks in Spanish so much it's hard but I know it's helping me learn.  

I have a lot to learn about missionary work but here are some things I've really enjoyed learning. I've loved practicing teaching the person, not the lesson. We always try to ask Maria lots of questions and get to know her so we can know what to teach her about. I've also learned that missionary work is hard! But we are representatives of Christ. After all Christ went through to become perfect, it only makes sense that we should have some hard things to go through to become just a little more like Christ. Who am I to say that is too hard after Christ's Atonement.  I think I remember Elder Holland saying, "Salvation is not cheap." Don't give up! It's going to be hard, but it is worth it if it will help us on our pathway to discipleship.

Anyways, thanks for all your emails!

Love you all! I probably forgot a lot, so sorry. But I am doing well and I hope all of you are too!

Love, Hermana Beckstead

(Emma's sister, Elise, had a baby the week after Emma left)

OH MY GOSH SHE IS SO PRECIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE MY SWEET LITTLE CLARA! Give her lots of hugs and kisses from me please!