Demolition town

Bojour a tous! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! This week has been nice and fun here in good ol' Mont-saint-Hilaire. It is slowly but surely getting warmer and warmer here but we had two good little snow storms this week. I still love the snow so much. Everyone thinks that I am crazy. 

Last Tuesday we had a lesson with our ami Diane. She is super awesome! We had passed by her a couple of weeks before and she seemed interested but told us to come back in a couple of weeks so we left her with a little thing to read during that time. We went back and she invited us right in and said she had read the whole thing and had marked, underlined and made notes everywhere on it. It was super cool. She had a couple questions. Some were easy but she had some good ones too. It was a super solid lesson. 

Wednesday we started off with some solid finding through Facebook and I accidentally placed myself into this high school friend group of about 10 people haha. They are super awesome and I invited them all to volleyball. Later that day we had a lesson with Emmanise and Fere Candia. It was super. She had read a little in the book of Mormon and had prayed but didn't receive and answer yet. She told us she is looking for the true church that her Heavenly Father wants her to join. She is super open and is willing to act and do things to get an answer. The spirit was soo strong. 

Last Thursday we had a district council at Granby. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how we can use it more in every part of missionary work and life. We had a quick lesson with Fordi after that. He is still doing good but is struggling to read anything. We just took some time to read over some of the life of Jesus Christ in the Bible. We talked about the importance of him and why we need to read the books that He has given us. It was a really nice lesson. That night we had dinner with the Candia family and when we were done eating we did a little language study with them. I read 1 Nephi chapter 2 in Spanish and then Sister Candia read some other chapter in French. We helped each other with word and stuff like that. It was really cool. The spirit will always be there as you read the Book of Mormon no matter what language you read it in. Soo cool! 

Friday we had lunch with the Chacon Family. They are super cool and super nice. They asked us if we could help them learn English so we will be going back there more often for lunches to eat and help them practice English. We spent the rest of the day finding in the rain snow and slush. We didn't find anyone super interested but did get to talk to a lot of neat people. 

Saturday was fun. We got up and did our studies and then were on the road. We planned this big loop we were going to do to go finding in the cities that were kinda far away. We first went to Contrecoeur and found there for a little bit, then we went up to Sorel and passed by our referral that we meet a week ago. We also passed by a couple other people and did some tracting. On the way back we stopped by our awesome couple who live in St.Ours. They were not home but we talked to a couple of other people in the area. After that we were back home to eat and change and head over to volleyball. We had a good group there but not as much as normal. We were missing a few people and my little friend group didn't end up coming which was really sad but they will come next week. At the end we had one of the members in our ward sing us a song to practice singing in front of people before she sings for her professor at college. It was really good.  

Sunday was pretty good. In Priesthood we talked bout the importance of Mothers and the role parents play in raising children and the role fathers have of supporting their wives and children. They asked some of the younger elders what they appreciate most of their parents and of their mother specifically. It made me think about my parents and how grateful I am for them. Thank you so much mom and dad. I Love You!  After church we had a ward potluck and got to spend some time talking to different ward members and friends. It was nice. After that we were invited to a YSA meeting at the Bishops house. We had a big discussion on how to help the other youth and how to strengthen the ward. It was really good and they came up with really good ideas. They are going to do more actives together and focus on bringing every sheep back into the fold of the Shepard. Super cool. That night we had a wonderful dinner with the family Michele. They had awesome stories that they shared. Everyone loves sharing a good story. 

Yesterday was full of service. We started out by helping a ward member move some tires around and then we helped clean out and organised the basement. It took a little bit of time but looked so much better once we were done with it. We then all ate lunch together after. We then ran back over to Bishops house to help his demolish his bathroom. It was really fun. We took out the entire shower and all of the inner walls of the bathroom. There was so much dust and broken drywall everywhere but it was fun. Most of the walls and everything had ceramic tiles on it too so it was nice and heavy and kinda sharp. We had our safety glasses on and masks over our faces too. Don't worry mom. The whole bathroom was completely empty when we were done with it. It was awesome. We then ate dinner with bishop and his wife. 

This week was pretty good! I hope y'all have a great week.

I love you All!

Elder Beckstrand

Zone Conference week!

Bonjour! How are y'all doing? This week here in Canada was pretty good. We have had a lot of really cool experiences and saw some awesome miracles. 

Last Wednesday we started the day off with some good finding time. One of the first doors we knocked on, this older man opened and seemed happy to see us. He then kinda did a full body scan of us and saw the Book of Mormon in my hand and just started saying no and closed the door. Elder Moellmer and I both had a good laugh about it. Some people are so afraid of religion and other beliefs. We also passed by the sketchier side of town and found some people who were really interested! It was really cool to see the blessing of not giving up and still trying to do our best. That night we had dinner with Matthieu and his Family. They are awesome and know so much. Every time we go over there, we try to invite them to do some sort of missionary work and then they always answer with and experience from the week before where they had just done whatever we had asked. They are so solid and are not afraid to share the gospel with everyone. 

Thursday we did some more finding and found this older couple who are super nice and have two really big Burmese Mountain dogs. The dogs would not leave us alone. We had a solid conversation with this couple for about an hour talking and sharing beliefs. They were super open to learning more. After that we talked to the Victoria Elders and they are now teaching our solid ami who only speaks Spanish. We gave them all of his information and they went over and had a lesson with him. While they did that we had a short lesson with Fordi and his family. They are doing good but we are doing what we can to help them read the book of Mormon more. We then went and had dinner with the family Candia. They are awesome and we helped them study their french and they helped us study our Spanish. I read all of 1 Nephi in Spanish. That night we got another call from the Elders and they told us that our Spanish friend had a date to be baptized!! They had a really good lesson with him and he is on date to be Baptized the 20 of April! The only problem was he doesn't speak french or English so we want him to go to the Spanish ward to learn more but its 35 minutes away and he doesn't have a car. It will all work out in the end though.

Friday we had district council in Granby. Our district is still the same except for one new Elder from Salt lake. He is pretty cool. During district council we read and discussed Moroni Chapter 7. Everyone should read it. There is so much we can learn from just that one chapter. If you don't know what that is, Just google it. Moroni chapter 7 in the Book of Mormon! After that we had some more finding time and passed by a couple of our amis. We had a really cool lesson with Emmanise about Prophets and the priesthood. She had some really good questions but thankfully for us we have the Book of Mormon. It has answers to everything and if it doesn't have the answer to a specif question then reading and praying will help us find an answer anyway. That night we helped set up the Relief society dinner and then we also gave some service and helped wash dishes and then helped clean up. It was really nice. They fed us too which is always good. 

Saturday was really nice. We started with breakfast with the Family Micheal. I even stepped in and helped cook for a bit. I was in charge of the bacon, eggs and sausage. During breakfast, we found out that the less active Daughter went to the YSA conference this last week and had a really good time. She really likes all of the activities but not church so much. She is slowly coming back though. After that we did some more finding and passed by a couple of people. That night we had such a big crowd at volleyball. Even our bishop was there and talked to people as they rotated through the game. We had all of our youth and about 8 nonmembers and a few less actives. It was a really good game but Moellmer tried to spike the ball on me and landed on my foot. It didn't really hurt me but Moellmers ankle was sore for a little bit after. 

Not a ton happened on Sunday. We did have a less active come to church for the first time in years after coming to volleyball two times. He is super nice and loves the church but just hasn't been coming for a while. Our Mexican friend couldn't come to church for some reason but we will do what we can to help him come next week. After Church we went by our ami Fanel. He is really good still but is kinda waiting to see if his work is going to make him move. We are praying he stays. We talked about the Plan of Salvation with him. He really liked it but randomly asked some questions about church history so we will have to go back and teach him some more of that. That night we had dinner with the bishop and his wife. It was kinda nice not really having to go anywhere but still getting a nice hot meal basically in the same house. We talked about how we can help the ward and especially the youth. We are trying to help them go to the temple more. I shared with them our pictures from the temple trip we did as a family right before my mission. They really liked that and we also thought of some other things we could do to strengthen the youth and the other members of our ward. It was really nice. 

Yesterday was Zone Conference! It was so good. I don't have my notes on me right now but we talked about Easter, the Holy Ghost, faith, And of course, Jesus Christ. Sister Phillips showed us all a Book of Mormon she had read and marked all of the times it mentioned our Lord, Jesus Christ. As she did that I opened my french Book and looked in my own because I have been doing the same thing in my French book. I think everyone should do it. The Book of Mormon is really another testament of Christ and as you mark Him throughout the book, you will see just how often he is mentioned and talked about. We can learn so much about the character of Christ as well by also marking every action he does and why. The Book of Mormon is just sooo amazing. Read It. When we were done with that, we came back home and helped bishop destroy his bathroom. It was so much fun and it will look good when they fix it all back up. We destroyed a couple walls and counters and then did some finding and passed by a couple people as well.  

Overall, This week was pretty good and passed by really quick. Keep up the good work and don't be afraid to share the gospel with someone this week!

Love You!

Elder Beckstrand

Demo project

One is Elder Varga

Elder Wai

And Elder Thacker from Lehi

Transfer Calls!

Bonjour a tous! How is everyone doing?? I hope you all are doing well and had a great week! This week here in Mont-Saint-Hilaire was great and we found a few new solid people and had a good time. 

Last Wednesday we passed by almost all of our amis and some of them were home but some we not. We had two really good lessons though. One was with Klien and I let Elder Moellmer take control of the lesson and answer the questions. He did really good and I helped when he needed it but his French is getting better. After that we had another lesson with Fordi and his family. We are really trying to help them read the Book of Mormon more and gain their own testimony. We did a little exercise with them. We had them read two scriptures and we timed it. It took them 30 second. We them invited all of them to read two verses out of the book everyday because it will only take 30 seconds and they would be blessed so much for just doing that. All of his siblings took the challenge but Fordi really doesn't like reading and didn't really want to but said he would try his best. If you are not reading the scriptures everyday, I also challenge you to start by just 30 seconds everyday. I promise you will see the blessings. 

Thursday we woke up and did our studies and then went around to do some finding but didn't get a whole ton. Later that day we went on exchanges with the Granby Elders. I went there with Elder Tarati! He is a super awesome Elder from Tahaiti. We went to a Members house that night to eat and they were super funny and fed us a lot. We then went and passed by a referral that they had received and he was this super awesome dude that had a lot of questions and super open to learn more! We then passed by a few other people and then called it a Day.

Friday morning we had district council which was really cool. We talked about how our faith not only helps us but can help everyone around us. The power of Faith is so strong! Keep working to always increase your faith!  After District council we went to a Chinese buffet with some members and one of their amis who was going to be baptized that Saturday! They were all super nice and she was super awesome and definitely well prepared to meet the missionaries and be baptized. For the desert, Elder Tarati and I both wanted Ice cream but also were craving a piece of steak so we had both! We got a little thing of steak that we placed on top of our nicely scooped ice cream! It was actually pretty good and the members had a good laugh out of it. We then went over some of the preparations for the baptism and then passed by a few people and then unexchanged. Once we were Back in St. Hailare we did some more finding to finish off the day. 

Saturday was kinda relaxed a bit. We started off the day with studies and a little bit of finding. We then passed by a few members and delivered a few things to members who were in need. After that we went and had dinner with one of my favorite families here and then we all went to volleyball together. Volleyball was super great! We had about 7 or 8 non members come and everyone had a great time. After that we got our transfer calls and we found out that we will both be Staying! Super cool! 

Sunday was one of the best days of the week! We got to the church first and helped set up some chairs and shovel some snow. Church was pretty great. nothing crazy happened but it was really good still. After church was when it was better though!  We had received a referral from some sisters in Salt lake a couple days back and couldn't get around to it because it was all the way up in Sorel so we had to plan ahead to plan the time to drive all the way up there and still be effective in our work. We decided to go up there last Sunday after church. We got up there and met with the referral and he is super solid. His name is Stéphane and had requested a book of Mormon and we exchanged information and plan on teaching him through messenger to save on time and klicks. He was super interested and had some good questions. After that we knocked a few houses in the area and passed by a couple of potentials. On the way home we stopped in another little town and passed by a few potentials and one was super busy so we asked if she knew anyone who might be interested. She immediately pointed to her next door neighbor and told us to try there. We did. The mother answered the door and was super nice but wasn't super interested because the are catholic and stuff like that. Right after that her husband came down the stairs and asked if that was the Mormon missionaries at the door. She kinda just looked at us and we nodded our heads so she said yes. He then invited us in and started asking us really good questions. We found out that their church is kinda dying and they are sad no one is believing any more but they saw the light in us and had so many questions on why and what we believed. We had such a wonderful conversation and ended up leaving them with a book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation brochure. They are super solid. They even accepted the invitation to come to church on Sunday! It was overall such a blessing and an answer to our prayers. All three of those people were super solid gold people! 

Monday was kinda lame in comparison. We did some finding, some service, lessons, and studies. 

Overall, this week was great and we saw miracles! Keep up the awesome work and keep being Christlike to everyone you meet and find ways to share your testimony with someone everyday!!

Love,

Elder Beckstrand

Volleyball

Snow

 Roads and snow

You just won.... New weekly communication and a new car.....but wait, ..there's More!

Bonjour! How is everyone doing? This week here has been kinda crazy but still fun. This week we packed up all of the stuff at the old apartment and moved everything into our New Apartment! It is so much better and now we live basically in the same house as the bishop and his wife and are only 2 minutes away from our chapel. It's so much better than what we had before. We used to be in the basement of this house and we only had three or four really small windows and one exit in case of an emergency. Now we are living on the ground floor and upstairs with many big windows for sunshine and 3 exits if we need them. It's a lot safer and overall nicer. The moving took a long time though.

Last Wednesday we spent a good part of it packing and getting everything ready to be moved by boxing it up and prepping it all. I have found out that I am not very good at this part of moving. We did have some time to get out and knock a little and passed by a potential we knocked into a while ago and he was open and interested. We talked about the restoration and the Joy and the Good things and lessons they can learn from the gospel. He seemed to like it a lot and we left him with a Book of Mormon and an invitation to read it. We then went home and ate dinner and finished packing.

Thursday was started with good studies and a visit to a member who needed help with throwing away a couple big things from her house and she payed us with two big bags of food. super nice. We then packed our new rouge with as much stuff as we could and started moving. We took about 4 or 5 trips with our car and then another trip with a member who has a moving truck to help move our beds and some tables. That was about all we did that day.

Friday morning we took one more trip with our car and then found out from the home owner that the washer and Dryer were ours as well along with a hidden closet we have never looked in. We had to take another trip and then wait for another member to come and help us with his moving truck. After that he took us out to lunch to get Lebanese food. It was actually really good. We were then able to spend a little time knocking and talking to a couple of our amis and potentials. 

Saturday we didn't do any moving for us at all which felt really good to finally be back out in the field finding and teaching. We had breakfast with my Favorite Dumas family. They are awesome. We then went on a couple visits with Frere Dumas. We stopped by and helped a sister move apartments. It was really easy because she had not a ton but she moved up to the fourth floor so we got our work out in. We then visited the Hospital and then an old folks home. It was really good. That night we had volleyball and had an amazing lesson right after we ended the game. A new kid had questions and the whole youth group sat in a circle and had a big discussion with him. It was sooo cool! Member missionary work! 

Sunday was nice. We woke up and were both super tired and Moellmer was kinda sick. We went to church and it just flew by like always. It was really good. After church we went home and organized all of our stuff into the new apartment and and then went finding and passed by a few new people. Didn't find a ton of new people or have a ton of lessons but it was still good. That night we ate dinner and had some really good studies. 

Monday was awesome. We spent the first little bit by passing by some potentials and new people. We knocked into this one house however and the guy was super nice and open to us. He said he had met someone from our church before and learned about family history work. We invited him to the church to use our computers and use the family history work technology. He was super interested and asked if he could come soon. We then went to give him a card with our name, number and address on it but we didn't have a card but we did have a Restoration brochure so we wrote it on the back of that and he looked through the book while we finished talking to him. He was Awesome! We then went and helped finish the backsplash on the walls of her kitchen. It looks really good and it is now finished. We then had dinner and and finished the night by tracting a little more. We didn't find a whole ton but we got blessed anyway because we got a referral from Salt lake City! Some dude here in town wants a Book of Mormon and is super interested! Heavenly Father Blesses his children. That's about it for that day. 

This week was taken up a lot by moving but we tried our best to get out and Find and teach and we still saw blessings both ways. Super cool! Keep up all the good work back home and don't be afraid to talk to some strangers this week about the Church. You never know if it might open them up to the missionaries later down the road. I love you all so much and I'll talk to y'all next week!

Love, Elder Beckstrand

Pictures of our old place.