July 14, 2014
Week 57

Boy do I have a lot to tell you guys! At the beginning of this month when we made our goals, we had two new investigators that we were pretty excited about. We felt like we should put 2 as our goal for baptisms. I was hesitant because to be completely honest, I am tired of setting goals and failing at them but we prayed again and I felt a peace come over me. So we put two as the goal. Well, turns out one of them lives just outside our sector (we learned it wasn't part of our area when a member came with us) so we passed that reference over to ChanuChanu. And then the other one didn't come to church that Sunday and she isn't quite ready to give up dancing in the Candelaria, which is a really big festival where they dance for the saints. So I was just praying really hard that we could meet this goal. I remember what President Harbertson taught about real faith. I know Heavenly Father wouldn't just make me feel like we needed to put 2 just to set me up for failure. So I have been praying a lot. This week when we were planning, we had an appointment with two new investigators we had felt inspired to contact off the street. I just had a subtle impression--that's them. I just got so excited! Heavenly Father brought us to this awesome family. The parents aren't members but have three children that are. One is currently serving a mission. The dad is out of town for work except for the end of the month and we are excited to meet him but for now we are working with the rest. There are two brothers in their 20s that I feel like have just been so prepared. We invited them to be baptized the 26th and they are praying about it still. But I know what Heavenly Father's answer will be. They came to church. One of them especially has just been reading in the Book of Mormon and Liahona like crazy. I don't feel worried about it. They haven't given a definite yes but the Lord has just prepared them so much and heard all my prayers. I am so grateful for all my opportunity to practice having real faith I don't have to worry because God made me a promise and He is not going to back out on it. So let me go back to how we actually found them. We were just walking down the street and I had a prompting to knock on this random door. We met Evert who told us he used to go to church and listened to the missionaries but stopped because he was offended. We talked to him a little and invited him to church but didn't make another appointment. The next week we were walking down the same street and my companion felt like we should go back. So then we met Elmer, who is Evert's brother. He has a lot of admiration for his younger brother that is in the mission field. He has noticed how happy faithful members of the church are. They just love everything. Elmer is 23 and wants to go on a mission. They showed up at church! In a suit and tie and Evert had actually combed his hair. It was kind of one of those sacrament meetings where the speakers were making me nervous but I just prayed that God would save this sacrament meeting. In that moment, the counselor got up and announced the patriarch would be speaking.It was perfect and they loved it.  Prayers answered for sure! So they are doing great. We have an appointment with them tonight and we will see what they say. I love you guys! Have a great week! 

The pic in front of the tree is from carnival, the big water festival thing. They walk around this tree and chop it down and then collect all the goodies below. Like a piñata tree. 

Peruvians and Party Games

Week 56

July 7, 2014

Hahah. Well. We have an investigator Patricia who is pregnant. As a way to get some good fellowshipping AND eat cake we had a baby shower. Baby showers are relatively new here, and they haven't been Peruvian-ized quite yet. The word for baby shower here is "baby shower". The last ward baby shower was a family event that included a clown and was a little strange, so we showed them how it was done. Let me just say, at parts it was kind of like pulling teeth. But they got a kick out of pin the binky on the baby.

Also, Happy Fourth of July! My comp has this sweet American scarf (see pics) and we were very patriotic that day. The sad part of the Fourth of July was that we dropped Moises. He just is not keeping his commitments. I had to tell him we weren't going to stop by anymore until he started to show his faith by doing things like attend church. He legitimately looked sad. And it broke my heart to tell him that. As we walked away Hna. Hunter and I just cried. But it was one of those times where we were disappointed, but not in ourselves.We did all we could do for him, but in the end it was his choice to not progress any more. At least for now. I see a lot of potential in him. Maybe just now is not his time. 

This week we had a lesson with a less active. I won't use her real name but lets call her Martha. She is a return missionary who came back and fell in love with a non-member. They never got married but they moved in together and they now have two kids. It was so weird to teach her because she already knows everything. She already knows that she is involved in serious sin, but we did share a message of hope with her. She just started to cry and say "it's all my fault, it's all my fault". It was so sad. But I know we have to remember the message of hope we share for her. No matter how low we find ourselves, we can always be picked back up thanks to the Savior's Atonement. This morning I was reading in 2 Nephi 4. I love that chapter because so many times I have felt so frustrated with myself for not being as strong as I know I should be. My soul wants to do so many good things but sometimes the flesh wins. But I love the line, Pero se en quien he confiado. But I know in whom I have trusted. I know that if we put our trust in the Lord, we can overcome our weaknesses. As we make more and more righteous decisions it will become easier to do so. We can be triumphant through the Atonement. That is what the gospel has to offer our burdened down less actives (and everyone!). Martha has come to church a couple times and has met with the bishop. She is on the right track. We will help her experience the freedom from guilt and pain that the Atonement provides. And it is there for literally everyone at any time or place.Be free!  I love you all so much!

Hermana Beckstead

 

oh yeah. And the food is papa a la huancayina. We have a new pensionista and she is the BEST! It's my favorite and she made it.  Also, we went to the shore of the lake again. Have an awesome week! 

Guess Who Has Legs?

Week 55
June 30, 2014

Well, I do. But RUPERTINA HAS LEGS TOO! I know. What? I feel a little silly being tricked by a 76 year old woman, but hey. These sweet Puneños are quite the little tricksters. Starting off with the member family one of my first days here trying to get us to believe they were investigators and would be extremely offended if we didn't take their alcohol. They didn't get me that time but boy did they get me this time. You see, Rupertina is a little on the plump side. And here their native dresses are really big. So she just always had her tiny legs under there hidden sitting on the bed when we visited. You can imagine my shock when we caught Rupertina standing up in the street by their house one day. So yeah. But it's really nice that she has legs because getting her to come to church is going to be a lot easier now. And she came! It was so great! 

This week is going great with the less actives. Not so much with the investigators. We are probably dropping Moises at least for a little bit because if he won't even come to church there is no way he will have the strength to quit for good because he will be missing out on those blessings. There is a scripture in D&C that talks about how they received the glory they were willing to receive. We have done our part. It's up to him and his agency--where he wants to be.

And then there was the part of this week where a drunk man yelled at us, "get out of here Satan!¨ Twice. But it was one of those Elder Holland being a disciple moments and I'm just like just keep walking. 

Oh yeah, one funny story: We were talking with an hermana we contacted who had just had a baby. I asked her "where do you think your baby came from? She just paused and was like,  "well, I think we all know...when a man and a woman..."  WOAH woah woah stop. That is NOT what I meant. Like before that! haha so fun. 

Then we met this less active Thania. We have had her address for awhile from our area book but we hadn't found her house! This week we found it! And it was one of those awesome lessons where we just asked questions and found out why she really went inactive. I just felt like we were able to discern her needs and I felt so much love for her. I felt prompted to share the story of the Prodigal son and I just almost cried there with her. I felt that God loved her so much. She made a few bad mistakes that led her so far away from the path God wanted for her and as a result felt ashamed to come to church. But I really do feel like we helped her. And we stopped by for her on Sunday and she came to church for the first time in a very long time. I felt so happy to see her there! 

It was a great week. I love you so much! Have a wonderful week! God loves you!

Hermana Beckstead

Pictures- my hija finally got her first llama sweater! They are the warmest.

Our stake had a dance festival for the public. We went outside and got a bunch of people to come in off the street. Great missionary opportunity! The wards did dances from different countries. Ours did Bolivia and of course they were pretty much the best. 

Week 54
June 23, 2014

Dear Guys,

Well this week was a little nuts mostly because I had to go to Lima to do some more legal stuff. I spent some absolutely delightful hours in Immigrations and Interpol. So I think I am almost legal and stuff I just will have to go back to Lima once more. But the good news is that I don´t think I will be deported like my zone leader, who has three days to leave the country because his visa expired and he can´t renew it for some reason because of where he is from. The real good news is that while we were in Lima we were able to go to the temple! It's been almost a year and was sooooo good to remember some stuff and just be in there and feel peace. We had to kind of bully our driver guy into taking us there but we got there!  Do whatever you have to do to get to the temple because it is the best place in the world. Even better than Ragged Mountain. 

So I don´t have much to report. Except that when we got back we did weekly planning because we had missed it. We talked about if we should keep our goal for Moises for the 28th. We have been calling every day to just check in when we don´t have an appointment. He hadn´t been answering the last couple days but I remembered what I've learned about setting goals you think are what the Lord wants and then doing all that is your part to make them happen. When we had set the goal of the 28th in our planning we thought it was right.We decided to stick with this goal. The next day when we called Moises to remind him about church he was just like, ¨Yes, Hermana I´m coming!¨ and I was just like ¨woohooo!¨ and he laughed. It felt so good to not hear excuses. Then in church we prayed one more time and saved him a spot in the chapel. He wasn´t there when it started but I thought he would just come in late. He never came. I guess his mom asked him to take over the family business for a couple hours or something. It was really disappointing to have your hopes crash like that but I am trying to stay upbeat because I know we did absolutely everything we needed to do . I know miracles come by faith. But I don´t think lack of faith got in the way of the miracle, only his agency. And agency is part of the plan, so we have to respect that. It´s frustrating, but it´s okay. We are ready to have a great week! Love you tons!

Hermana Beckstead

 Having fun at interpol!

Pizza. We were actually happy but for whatever reason sometimes Peruvians don´t smile in pictures so we took one like that too.  (Except for the guy down on the end...)

Dead Armadillos

Week 53

June 16, 2014

Dear Family,

I hope you had an awesome week!

 

This week we did some service and found some dead, hollowed-out armadillos! Why? Well that´s what I wanted to know too. Apparently they are going to use them to make charrangos, these mini guitar looking things. 

We had our first lesson with the less active, Kempis. who we are hoping will become our ward mission leader. He had an internal struggle about turning off the world cup to listen, but in the end he did! So I would say that´s an excellent sign.

We worked hard with Moises this week. He has been sober! So great! But then he didn´t come to church. Patience....

Also, the Familia Valencia. I think I told you about them in one of my first emails from Puno. It is hard to find them all at home but we were able to have another lesson last night. The first time we talked with the hermana she talked about having an eternal family. We talked simply about temples and eternal marriage and how if you want to be married after you die, you need to get married in the temple. We asked them when they wanted an eternal family and the hermano was just like, ¨Now! ¨ So they are getting married in August. July would be cool, but they have some tradition here about getting married only in even months and even years. So I´m just happy it's 2014. So August! I really hope I don´t go anywhere because they are an awesome family. Some of the kids are already members so we will help complete their family. 

Also, we are still learning more parts of our area all the time. We have been searching for addresses we see in our area book. We were walking down a main street and I just thought to myself, oh that´s a cool street when I saw this tiny, tiny, side street. And so we stop and it was one of the streets I had written down wanting to find who lived there. Then I just had one more street I had written down that I didn´t know where it was. And then like two minutes later I thought, oh that´s a nice street. And it was it! God is really nice to us.

So yeah. I guess besides all that the other thing you should probably know by now is that I am in love with these Peruvian cookies. I´ve kept it hidden from you all for quite some time now, and you know, it´s just better to be honest. They are called Casino cookies (google it) and they come in all kinds of flavors but the best is mint. Hermana Harbertson always tries to help the missionaries eat healthy and stuff but then she comes to Puno and she´s just like, it´s so high up your metabolism is working so hard so you can eat to your heart´s desire and not gain weight. So that has certainly not helped me decrease the amount of casino cookies I eat. So good and I get hungry really fast. Walking, hiking, teaching, talking to people, and eating cookies pretty much sums it up! 

Love you lots! 

Pics- the armadillos. I think you probably could have got that one...

And a picture with our pension family and the elders. 

Have an awesome week! 

Dead Inkans

Week 52

June 9, 2014

I hope you had a great week!
This past week we had a area authority come and give a training on ward councils to all the bishops and ward leaders and missionaries. Our bishop really took it to heart and our last ward council was awesome! Right now we are working on re-activating someone to be our ward mission leader. One of our ¨candidates¨came to church Sunday! So exciting! Ward mission leaders are nice to have. So yeah we are working a lot with less actives and it´s great.
We´ve tried some new ways to find new investigators from the ideas in the planner besides just contacting. We asked this one lady if she wanted to know more about her ancestors and she seemed really interested and I could show her my family pamphlet and I love that stuff.
We have this awesome Hermana named Rupertina. She doesn´t come to church because she can´t walk. Her legs are amputated at the knees because they were overexposed to the cold. So she is less active, I guess, but we got here and are making sure they take the sacrament to her home. We taught her family history this week and she cannot read or write but she told me what she remembered and I wrote it down for her in her my family pamphlet. She is just adorable and I love her so much!

We had a great lesson with Moises on repentance and forgiveness. Then we went to visit him and he was sleeping because he had gotten drunk again. So that was hard. He doesn´t like to drink, but he just does it for social reasons. His friends call him up and then yeah... But we have been bringing members to all the lessons and this week we found the perfect one! He was just able to share his own experience with him about how his boss brought him to go drink and he just prayed for help and then got the heck out of there. The next day his boss didn´t remember or at least didn´t say anything about it. He told Moises that he just decided that he was just going to say no to go hang out in situations in which he knew they would be drinking or that one ¨friend¨ who always tried to get him to drink would be present. That was exactly what he needed to hear and it was so much better coming from a member than us. We didn´t even have to ask him to to commit because at the end of the lesson he was just like I really need to read my scriptures! And come to church. And he committed himself by himself. That together with him continuing to pray I know he will be able to overcome it. We are going to keep up daily contact with him too. We´re not giving up on him.
So yeah. Then today we went to an Incan cemetery. They built these tower things and buried the well-off dead in the bottom of the tower. They curled them up in a ball because they thought it would make it easier for them to come back to life that way I guess. The Spanish have already come and cleared out all that for all the gold and stuff but I still got to crawl in there. Creepy but cool. Creepy, but cool.

Also, I was thinking about taquitos this week. And you mean to tell me that taquitos are just taco with cariño on the end! Literally a cute little taco? Sometimes really important things like that just click ya know? So I guess you could say it was a great week.

 Also, we taught the bishop´s wife how to make brownies. It was with a mix, and she just could not believe it was that easy. Like, *that´s it?* Haha. but in the end, they didn´t turn out that good. Maybe it was because we didn´t have any kind of measuring cups or spoons or the fact that we cooked them in something that looked like a crockpot. Que será? 

Love you guys! Have a great week!
Hermana Beckstead

Week 51

June 2, 2014

Cow Udders are what I ate for lunch this week. I´ll take the cow tongue anyday. Also we have been eating chuño. I´ve probably talked about it before but Puno is kind of famous for it, especially now that it is winter. Chuño is potato that they put into freezing water and then squish it with their feet. It´s a little nasty but we don´t eat it too terribly much and my pension actually prepares it the best out of anywhere I have eaten it. Mostly because she chops it up into little tiny pieces. 

on the roof with my comp

This week was a little rough just because I have been praying so hard for Moises that he can stick with it and read and pray everyday, and come to church this week. We had our appointment and early in the day I thought maybe to call him and remind him but I was like, oh but Moises is good about remembering our appointments. So I didn´t listen. When we went to our appointment and we weren´t able to teach him because he had drank and wasn´t sober. My heart was so broken because I care about him a lot. I know how much he wants to be baptized and he struggles a lot with this addiction. And my heart was broken because I thought back to that morning and I realized that was probably an idea from the Spirit. Why do I have to ¨put my trust in the arm of flesh?¨ and listen to my own ideas instead of being obedient to the Spirit? I know that everyone has agency and is responsible for their own choices. But I could have helped. I don´t want that to ever ever happen again ever because it was a terrible feeling. But we are going to press forward and I´m not giving up on Him.
I am so grateful for the gospel. That I have it. I am so grateful and remember what Grandpa Davis said, ¨I find it a miracle to have been plucked from the midst of humanity and recieved the gospel in the manner I did.¨ I am so grateful that Heavenly Father still loves me even though I make so many annoying mistakes. And I know that if we put our trust in the Lord we can overcome our faults. I love my Savior so much for making that possible for me and that He established his church so I can commit myself to do better every week during the sacrament. That is one thing I really have come to appreciate much more here in the mission. And we are moving forward!
I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week and keep moving forward! (Isn´t that from meet the Robinsons or something? I don´t know.) But I´m okay. And I hope you guys are doing great!  Lots of love.
The big sac of rice on the bottom lasts how long? Guess!
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(un mes!) Crazy. Love you! 

people use our roof to hang underwear. surprise!