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

Comings and Goings and Comings and Goings and Comings......

Today was my trainer's last day in the mission.  Sister Chueh has served wonderfully, and I am so happy that I had the opportunity to work with her, even though it was for a short time only.  Sister Chueh was part of the tri-panionship in which I started my mission, and I am grateful for the guidance she gave and the example she was to me.  She is off to a new adventure, and it's going to be awesome!

In the meantime, I am still in Chinatown, which is as crazy and awesome as ever.  We had a couple of changes in our zone, with Elder Williams leaving and Elder Foley returning.  One of the strangest changes to me is that for the first time on my mission, Elder Murray and I are no longer in the same district!  Nine months later... crazy.  He's still in my zone, so I'll still see him all the time, but it will be a change.

The other big news from this week is that we have a new sister in our midst!  Sister Chen from Taipei, Taiwan joined us in the mission and is being trio-trained by Sister Woo and Chan.  Yeah, that's going to be confusing.  (Chen and Chan are the same name in Chinese, only with different romanizations.)  They are living with us now, and Sister MacKay and Khong are moving out.  Hopefully Sister Khong and I don't experience too much separation anxiety.  We have lived together since we came into the field. All the same, I'm excited to be living with another native speaker again.

Today in transfer meeting, President Morgan posed a question that really made me think.  Every once in a while, it is important to refocus on what is really important.  I like doing self-inventories from time to time, and I think I will add this question to my personal list.  He asked us "Who do you love more?  What do you love more?  How can you better show your love [to the Lord]?"  I think the answers to these questions are some of the most telling of a person's character and their focus than anything else.  Can I really say that I love the Lord more than anything, or anyone, else?  Do I love Him enough to study His words every day?  To talk to Him on a regular basis?  To give up, as King Lamoni's father put so eloquently, "all of my sins to know [Him]?"  As missionaries come on their missions, leave behind their former lives, that is one step in telling Him how much we love Him.  The next is through exact obedience to His commandments.  Even though not all of you may be on missions, I would still encourage you to look for ways to be exactly obedient to the commandments of God.  He gives them to us so we can show our love for Him, and as a direct result of our obedience He blesses us more than we can imagine.

Whew.  Hopefully that meant as much to you all as it did to me when President talked about it this morning.  I love all of you, and I am grateful for all you do!

Love,

Sister Beer

Zone Conference! [Who can spot the Ginger?....]

Today's Weather: Sunny, with a High of 79

Someone flipped the switch for summer here in the city.  We went from temperatures in the 30s to the 70s in a manner of days!  We have enjoyed the warmer weather so far, but I hear things will cool down considerably by Friday.  It has given us a small taste of what summer in New York City will be like... it's going to be a hot one.

This week has been a week of miracles.  I am convinced that General Conference brings them.  Last General Conference, people just appeared out of nowhere, and this one was the same.  On Wednesday after we emailed, we went to the chapel and a girl in her early 20s walked in and asked for an English flyer.  She came the next day to class and heard the message we shared about prophets and told us later she wanted to go with us to General Conference.  Since that time we have met with her several times, she came to two sessions of Conference, and she brought her mom with her to her last lesson.  I was amazed.  She has been great about keeping commitments, too, which is awesome.

We also met a man on the street last week who told us that he was willing to try anything we told him to know if what we are teaching is true.  The best part? He was completely sincere.  It was incredible.  I am so excited for these people, and look forward to seeing them progress in the gospel!

General Conference itself was, of course, amazing.  I especially loved President Uctdorf's talk about light.  All of us are at some point on our progression towards eternal life with Heavenly Father.  It doesn't matter where we are on that progression, just that we are moving towards the light and towards Christ.  So often in the scriptures we read that Christ is the light of truth, and the light by which we can judge.  When I think about this, I often imagine someone holding a paper or a money note up to light to make sure that it is authentic.  Without the light we would not be able to see the watermark that indicates the authenticity of the bill.  The same is true with what we learn in the gospel.  Without the light of Christ to guide us, we have no way of knowing for ourselves through prayer whether or not the things we learn are true.  I am grateful for the modern revelation that tells us that God does communicate with us, and that He actuallywants to talk with us.

By this point many of you may be in the midst of or through with finals.  Good luck to those of you who are preparing, and congratulations to those who are already finished.  For those of you who don't have to worry about school, congratulations!  One less thing to worry about.  Regardless of your schooling status, you are amazing!

Love,

Sister Beer

"You said 'Hello' very well!"

This week has been great.  I love Easter so much!  The hope of the coming Spring, as well as the reminder of the sacrifices the Lord has made for us is awesome and inspiring.  Along with Easter we have had slightly warmer weather, which has made contacting a little more bearable.  Thank goodness for that!  I was afraid it would never get warm again.

While we were out contacting yesterday, the sun was shining and the missionaries were happy.  We said hello (nihao!) to everyone who passed by.  As I greeted one man, he turned and said (in Mandarin) "Ah, your Chinese is so good!" Confused, I replied "I only said 'hello,' how do you know my Mandarin is good?"  "You said 'Hello' very well!" he replied, and went on his way.  If I know nothing else, I know that I can say hello well.  A Chinese man told me that, so it has to be true, right?

We had a cool experience with one of our less active members this week.  We had challenged her to talk to her husband about meeting with the missionaries (he is not a member) and getting more involved in her beliefs.  As we talked in the next lesson she expressed some concerns with talking to him about these things and making him uncomfortable.  We discussed ways that could help him be more open to the gospel, and as a result we are going to meet with him tomorrow!  It was awesome to see her have a concern, and then have the three of us work together with the Spirit to figure out how to help her situation.  After we finished talking to her about her husband, she told us that she had opened a dialogue with her boss (a Korean man) about the Gospel.  Neither of them speak the other's native tongue, but they both can communicate a little in English.  She told him about the Book of Mormon, and we may see if he's interested in getting a copy for himself!  We are hoping that as he learns more about the Church and her beliefs, he will be more willing to give her time off on Sunday to attend church.  Prayers are welcome in this area.  She really is a wonderful lady, and one of the nicest people I have met since coming to Chinatown.

My dear Sister Lee opened my eyes to a parallel I had not drawn before. This week as we prepared our lessons about the Plan of Salvation, she suggested that we use the vision of the Tree of Life (found in 1 Nephi chapter 8) as a way to illustrate Heavenly Father's plan.  It really is awesome.  I highly recommend all of you to go do a side-by-side comparison of the two, perhaps using one of the Plan of Salvation pamphlets that the Church prints.  I was amazed at how well the two went together, and I am excited to use it in our teaching!  Way to go Sister Lee.

I love you all, and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Beer

I found DRAGONFRUIT!! and it was delicious.  Yum yum yum.... it will be even better once it's in season!

We had a Relief Society event, and our Relief Society President made little rolls that looked like bunnies!  It was such a good idea I took a picture so I will never forget.

My companion looks really sad in this picture.  I think it might have to do with the fact that the cap of the permanent marker wouldn't stay on the back of the pen, but I can't be sure.  I promise you she's usually really happy.

Last P-Day while on a (fruitless) search for rubber boots, we got this cool above-park shot in Burlington.  I think it made the trip worth it.  Well, that and Chipotle.

Did you get your hair cut in Paris?

Today's post title comes from a wonderful old man I met while eating lunch yesterday.  Sister Lee and I went up to the Family History Center at the Manhattan chapel and got lunch while we were in the area.  As we were sitting out in front of the temple, eating our soup (and thereby fulfilling a mutual New York City dream of ours)  this older gentleman with thick glasses walks up and asks "Excuse me, did you get your hair cut in Paris?"  I told him that I had not, and that it had actually been a very long time since I had it cut.  He responded "oh, well it looks very nice."  I thanked him, and it was a bright moment in my day.  I love nice people. :)

This week we have seen the beginnings of spring in New York City.  I have never been so excited for warm weather.  See, for sister missionaries, warm weather = no tights!  It also means that it's not awful to go contacting outside, and that people actually don't mind stopping to talk for a minute since it's not like death outside.  Hopefully we will see more good weather as April starts, and the snow stays away. (Note: there is actually supposed to be snow tomorrow, but the high is 50 degrees... anyone else confused?)

I continue to be amazed at the incredible faith of our recent converts.  They give up so much to come to church, and I am so grateful for their good example to the people that I am currently working with.  I don't think members realize how much it means to missionaries when they are willing to fellowship and contribute to the work!  We can't do this alone, and every little bit counts.  Sister Lee and I were watching a video from the District (a documentary about missionaries in the field) as a part of her 12 week training, and in it the mission president talked about combining the "member church" and the "missionary church."  We are one church, he said, and we need to remember that.  The efforts of the missionaries are not something separate from the efforts of the bishop, the relief society president, the elders quorum president, the home and visiting teachers, from any member.  They are the same thing.  We are all trying to help others grow closer to Jesus Christ through the medium of His restored gospel.  What a great opportunity that is!

With the advent of spring, that means that Easter is coming.  I was a little surprised to realize that it was this week, but that just shows how time flies in the mission!  This week Sister Lee and I headed up a Zone activity where we had an Easter egg hunt with the other missionaries.  In each egg there was a little candy and a note.  Some of them were silly ("Thanks for saving me from that plastic egg.  It was getting stuffy in there!"), and some of them were spiritual.  Sister Lee and I had a good time preparing them and looking up some good scriptures to share.  One of my favorites that we found was Matthew 28:6, which says "He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.  Come, see the place where the Lord lay."  How awesome is that?  He is risen!  We have a resurrected Lord and Savior who loves us and is waiting with open arms for us to come to him! (2 Nephi 26:23-25, 27)  He wants us to utilize the gift of the Atonement and become worthy to return and live with Him, our Heavenly Father, and our families for all of eternity.  I am blown away every time I stop to really think about it.  We truly are blessed, and I feel blessed for the opportunity to share this message with others.

Thank you for the support you give me and other missionaries.  Every little bit you do helps, and we appreciate it so much!  Happy Easter, everyone!

Love,

Sister Beer