In which Sister Beer does some repenting and finally writes a blog post

Okay.  I really did mean to write last week, I promise.  So many good things happened that I wanted to share with you!  I even wrote a little outline in my planner of what I wanted to write.  And then suddenly there were lessons and no internet at the chapel and... no blog post.

But I'm here now, and that's what counts, right?

Chinatown is still here, in case you were wondering.  There is still missionary work happening, and I am still incredibly happy and grateful to be here.  Even though not every day is easy, I always seem to be learning something.  Actually, it is because days aren't easy I am learning something.  That seems to be how the Lord works, if Ether 12:6, 27 are any indication.

Sister Murray, you will be happy to know your son is still as musically gifted as ever.  On Monday I had the awesome opportunity to go to President Morgan's home and perform with Elder Murray and Elder Foley at a special Family Home Evening for a departing member of our mission presidency and his family.  We performed three pieces (all arranged by Elder Murray) with Elder Murray on piano, Elder Foley playing flute, and me singing in various combinations.  It was awesome.  I am so grateful for the opportunities my mission has provided for me to share my testimony through music!  Also, it was a lot of fun to work with the Elders doing music things - they are both pretty fantastically talented.

It was especially cool to do since Elder Murray is currently serving upstate.  Usually when missionaries go up that means that we have little-to-no contact with them at all for the time they are out of Chinatown.  This will make time number two I have seen Elder Murray since he left.  (The first was at the Yankees game a few weeks ago, which was a lot of fun, by the way.  Once the church computer is up an running again I'll send pictures!)  It was pretty awesome.

We are teaching this awesome woman right now who is literally the best investigator ever.  She likes to begin lessons by asking us questions she has written down while studying the Book of Mormon.  I think this may be a first for me on my mission.  She is a true seeker-of-truth, which I absolutely love.  We taught her a lesson earlier this week and Sister Lee sat in with us.  After we were done she said "wow, she really is the best investigator ever."  Yeah.  It's true.

Making up for two weeks without boring you all to tears is hard.  I'd better not skip again.

One thing before I go.  This morning I was studying in 2 Nephi 12, at the beginning of the Isaiah chapters.  I love that the first thing Nephi decides to record from Isaiah is about the temple.  "[...] Come ye, and let us go to the mountain [temple] of the Lord, [...] and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths [...]"  How awesome is that?  In the temple we are taught about the ways of the Lord, and how to become more like him.  We are taught more completely how we fit into the Plan of Happiness and what we can do to better fulfill our role in that plan.  What an incredible gift!  The blessings of the temple, the knowledge of God, are available to any who are willing to follow Him and keep His commandments.  It's pretty incredible, when you stop and think about it.

I love all of you.  I hope this week is everything you want it to be and more!

Much love,

Sister Beer

The Gift of Tongues

Dear all,

I don't have much time to write, since we are going to a Yankees game in about two seconds.  I just want to say I love you all, the gospel is true, and we'll see you next week!

Much love,

Sister Beer

P.S. A section from a letter sent to Sister Beer's mother:

On a side note: the gift of tongues is real.  Before I left on splits [with a spanish-speaking sister] I said a fervent prayer that I would be able to understand and contribute in the lessons I attended while in Inwood.  I figured this wasn't too grand a request since 1) the Lord can do anything and 2) I took a few years of Spanish in high school, as well as grew up with Spanish influences in my home.  

In the first lesson we taught we worked with a less active member named Candida who has no real desire to come to church.  She is a wonderful, sweet woman, she just hasn't quite made the connection that going back to church will help her with the problems she is facing right now.  While we sat talking with her, I felt impressed to share my testimony of sharing testimonies.  I turned to Sister Portugal and asked if she could translate for me, but then Candida said "No, she can do it," I would assume since she heard me reading in Spanish before.  She then looked at me expectantly.  

I started speaking, and, while it wasn't perfect, and I needed help with a couple of words, I was able to bear my testimony to her about how much Heavenly Father loves her and wants her to share her testimony with other people at church.  I told her that she would be able to help build other people's faith with her own.  I'm pretty sure I didn't learn most of those words in Spanish class.  I could feel the Spirit, and I was so grateful for that answer to a prayer.

New Cycle, New Expectations

Hello all!

Transfers were this week, and boy, are we seeing some change in Chinatown.

Possibly most significant is the fact that Elder Murray and Elder Ling are going upstate.  We are really going to miss them here.  I realized also that Elder Murray and I have been in the same district or zone for the last eleven months.  That's a long time.  He is a fantastic missionary, and someone who's work and dedication (not to mention musical ability) I greatly admire.  Upstate is going to love him.  In return, though, we are getting Elder Zander back, and he will be training Elder Leung from Hong Kong.  Hooray for new missionaries!

I have been transferred out of my area, but am still in Chinatown.  I will be working with Sister Woo as a Sister Training Leader in Manhattan.  What that means is that we will go and do exchanges with sisters in the four Manhattan zones to help train and evaluate their work.  It should be a great experience, and I have been wanting to work with Sister Woo essentially since the beginning of my mission.  She is from Singapore, rock climbs, is studying mechanical engineering at BYU, and is lots of fun to be around.  I'm super excited!

Looking back at the last cycle, I have seen an incredible amount of change.  Sister Lee (who I am really going to miss being companions with) and my area went from a mediocre to a strong area.  We have solid investigators who are progressing towards baptism, great less actives who are coming back to activity, and solid members who are willing to help us do missionary work.  What more could a missionary ask for?  It's incredible.  Beyond that, I have seen incredible personal growth and have felt an increased connection with my Heavenly Father.  It has been a great cycle, and one that has shown me that it really is through small things that great things come to pass.

For example, this last week we had one of our less actives officially come back into activity.  I have been teaching her since January, when she was not attending church, seldom praying and not reading scriptures at all.  Since then she has started reading, praying every day, has changed her work schedule to come to church, and has seen miracles in her life as a direct result of keeping commandments.  She is worthy and willing to partake of the sacrament.  Her testimony is incredible!  

As I was talking with one of my zone leaders this week I wondered how it was possible she hadn't become reactivated earlier.  He said "Maybe no one took the time to really focus on her like you two have."  It made me stop and think.  Our making the effort to go and visit, even when it seemed like she wasn't making progress at all, was an act of faith in her and in the Lord on her behalf.  That faith resulted in a miracle. (See 2 Nephi 27:23 for more on that note.)

I love you all.  You are amazing, and I am lucky to have your love and support!

Until next week,

Sister Beer

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles!

This week has been one of miracles!

As my good friend Christopher Dean once told me, "Miracles happen every day of your mission.  If you don't see one, you aren't looking hard enough."  Last week I wrote my mom about miracles, and what goes into accomplishing a miracle.  What it really comes down to, I have decided, is faith: faith that the Lord will provide the miracle when it is needed, not when I want it. Faith that when the miracle comes, that it will serve the people it needs to. And faith that God is a God of miracles; He loves us and wants us to feel that love. Our experiences this week have helped us to see how important miracles are in this work and how we have been blessed with an opportunity to serve. The past two days we have had several "surprise lessons" (where we either found someone on the street who was interested in the gospel, or someone's schedule opened up, that sort of thing) where I have felt the Spirit directing our teaching. It was exciting, since we had very short notice before the lesson started that it would be happening, and we had to rely completely on the Spirit to help us know how to move forward. It was a great experience for both Sister Lee and me to teach those lessons. I think these people have a lot of potential to progress!

What really happened to make these miracles happen, though, is trusting that the Lord would help us do the things that we need to do.  Every week we set goals as missionaries to direct our focus for the week.  We realized that in order to meet our goals this week, we would need to get a certain amount of lessons every day.  So far, we have met those goals each day for lessons, although in ways that we did not think we would!  Heavenly Father really is blessing us here in Chinatown.

This week is a shorter letter because we are meeting at one to go to the Bronx Zoo!  It should be lots of fun, but it takes a while to get there.  Even though what Chris said applied to missions, I think it applies to our everyday lives as well.  If you see any awesome miracles in your life this week, feel free to post them in a response here or send me a letter.  I would love to hear about them!

You are amazing. :)

Love,

Sister Beer

Life is Good

Today is a wonderful day.  As our rainy day backup plan, we are going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to check out the impressionist exhibit there, we have a lesson tonight, and even though we have done a lot of contacting so far this week, it has been a great experience.  We have even met people who want to hear about the gospel.  Who would have thunk it?  (Well, us when we set our goals to find them....)

We had Zone Conference this last week, which is where a whole bunch of zones in Manhattan get together and receive training from President Morgan and  his Assistants.  It was awesome.  We learned all about how to help investigators progress, which is something that Sister Lee and I have been thinking a lot about recently.  I loved learning about how to more effectively plan our time to reach goals (can any of you imagine those words coming out of my mouth a year ago?  The mission is a wonderful changing ground.) and how to really focus on the needs of our investigators, as well as Sister Morgan's words on really loving and serving our companions.

One of my favorite things President Morgan told us is something I think applies not only on the mission, but to every member in every area of the world.  He talked about being someone that the Lord can trust.  As we become that person, we will find that He will trust us with more, whether it be more blessings, more responsibility, or more opportunities to grow.  My favorite quote from his talk was "The Lord does not pay attention to tenure or to title.  He pays attention to trust.  Your trust in Him, and His trust in you."  As we learn to trust the Lord, He will guide us and give us the things or experiences that we need to progress. (Proverbs 3:5-6)  It all starts with us, though.  He's waiting for us to make the choice to trust Him.

I am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission.  I have seen and participated in miracles, which is awesome to think about.  Thank you for your love and support!

Love,

Sister Beer

Revlon Run/Walk for Women

 We went to Times Square last Saturday to help with the Revlon Run/Walk for Women as volunteers.  It was super fun, and I loved everything about it!!  Except for the embarrassing story that will be included in a future blog post... but more about that later.

Elder Murray was a great sign-hander-outer.

[Sister Beer promises a letter will be coming shortly.......]

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

I have been thinking a lot about about the Conference talk where the speaker referred his perpetually happy roommate.  As a result, this song is stuck in my head this morning.  And now it is stuck in yours. :D

This last week was super awesome.  Sister Lee and I set goals and achieved them!  I am such a firm believer now in setting goals and making plans! (For more on that, see my last post.)  Our success has prompted us to work harder and continue to improve.  This week: more member presents!

On Monday we had an awesome district meeting all about our relationship with God.  I had actually been thinking a lot about this recently, so it was well timed!  First, Elder Ling had us describe how we view a friend.  We know them, we love them, we trust them.  They want what is best for us, and we in return want what is best for them.  Friends are honest, understanding, people with whom we have good communication and a good relationship.  Then Elder Ling asked "is God your friend?  How do you think you are doing in all these areas with Him?"  He continued by illustrating that as we come to know more about our Heavenly Father, it becomes much easier and more natural to approach Him.  I love what the Bible Dictionary has to say on the matter: "As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. " (Bible Dictionary: Prayer) When we know Him, we want to talk to Him. There is no more worry about whether or not He will listen to our prayers, or whether or not He will answer them. We know He will, because He is our Father, our Friend, and our God.

How we show our trust in Him, in the end, is through obedience to the commandments He gives us. As we keep the commandments and actively build our relationship with Him, we are better able to recognize the blessings He gives us, particularly related to those of the Atonement.

It was a pretty awesome district meeting. I have to get going, since we are off to the temple today. I am so grateful to have a temple in my mission! It's a pretty incredible blessing.

Good luck as the semesters draw to their ends at your respective universities. Try and take a few moments to go out and enjoy the spring weather!

Love, 

Sister Beer

We went to Union Square (at 14th st) two weeks ago and got Pret a Manger to eat!  I haven't had it since going to London, and it was wonderful.  I had a really delicious sandwich with lots of veggies, made fresh, and a big chocolate chip cookie.  Sooooo good!

We went to Central Park last week, and it was awesome!  We ate Chipotle and played Ultimate Frisbee.

I love Central Park