That Episode where Oprah gives everyone a new car

Bonjour! How is everyone doing? I hope everything is going well and that everyone had a great week. This week has gone by pretty quick. 

Last Wednesday we started off by driving down to Montreal and picking up our New Car!!! Its a super nice Nissan Rouge 2019. It only had 25 kilometers on it when I took it. It has heat warmers and so many buttons. It even had a button to start the car. Super cool. After that we went and had a lesson with our ami Ado. She is doing really good and really liked the plan of salvation and the fact that she can be with her family forever. She has seen many times in her life how God has blessed her and her family. We then went and stopped by our amis from Peru. They have been really busy lately and we haven't seen them in a while but we stopped by for a minute and set a time when we could come back. That night we had dinner with one of my favorite families here and spent the whole time just listening to their stories from their missions. It was really cool and I'm really glad that God has sent me here to Canada where it is safe and there are no bugs. 

Thursday we helped one of the older ladies in our ward who had a small fire in her house last Sunday. Her house really smelled like smoke and burnt plastic. Not good. She will have to find somewhere else to live for two weeks while professionals come in and clean everything. We helped clean up some things and throw away some furniture. Later that day we had a wonderful lesson with our Zimbabwean family. They really like the bible and the mom doesn't really trust the Book of Mormon so we taught the Plan of Salvation through the Bible with a few scriptures from the Book of Mormon. It was really cool and they understood it better too. Not a ton much else happened that day.

Friday we had district council in Granby with the Zone Leaders. We found out that they also got a new car. Same as ours. We had a really good council and found some new ways to go finding and to help pump each other up throughout the week. We then came back and did some knocking and passed by our ami, Emmanise. She and her husband are really nice but were busy and said to come back on Sunday when they would have time. After that we did some more knocking and found this really cool dude named Ben. He is a snowboard instructor and is super interested in learning more. 

Saturday we were supposed to have 4 solid lessons but they all fell through so we had a good amount of time to go knocking. We found this amazing Muslim family on the first door that we knocked. They seemed nice and interested and said we could come back next week! We kept going and didn't really find anyone until one of the last doors we knocked on. She was an older Quebecois lady. We stopped by as she was looking at pictures of her father because it was the anniversary of his death. We shared the plan of salvation with her and she loved it. We left her with the brochure and a date to come back on. That night we had volleyball and our Zimbabwean family came with a friend. Their friend had a couple questions that he wrote down on my phone. He asked if we could have a lesson the next Saturday before volleyball and discuss the questions! Super Cool. They are some good questions too. 

Sunday we went to church and found out that we had some miscommunication with a ward member so we had to grab a different ward member and went to go pick up our Zimbabwean fam. Fordi, Emanuel, and Danny all came to church! It was super good. We had a pot luck after so they got to chill and meet some members too.  After church we had a lesson with Emmanise and her husband. When we got there, he was watching a soccer match but turned it off so we could talk. It was cool. At the end of the lesson he said it all made since and he would pray about it because that's what John 1:5 tell us to do. He is super solid and so is the rest of that family. 

Yesterday we passed by a couple people but mostly used the day for knocking. We had some pretty cool things happen too. We went to this little town and we prayed before we started that we would be recognized as messengers from God. The second door we knocked on opened and saw our plaques. They asked if we were missionaries from Christ and we said Yes! They then slammed the door in our face but it was still an answer to our prayers. Later in the day we also knocked into this lady who works at a place where they discuss church and religion a lot and asked if she could have a brochure or something to share with others. It was really cool. She wasn't super interested herself but she wanted to share it with her son and those she worked with! It was super cool. That night we ran into this guy at a Tim Horton's that sat and preached to us for about 45 minutes. It was kinda cool to see his perspective on things but at the same time he was a little weird. Things that happen when you are a missionary ahah. 

That's about it for this week! I hope you are all still finding ways to give service to others and don't forget to continue to spread the love even though Valentines day is over! 

Love you all!

Elder Beckstrand

Funny signs we saw this week

 New car

Cold thermometer

Snow

Valentine's day = new friends to teach!!!

Bonjour! I hope you all had an amazing week and Valentine's day! Quick shout out to my amazing Valentine. Love you Mom! This week here in good old Canada was awesome. It wasn't as cold, we got more snow, and found some new friends to teach. 

Last Wednesday, we got over a foot of snow so we went around and shoveled for everyone. We helped a couple of random people and then helped a few ward members. It was a lot of fun and we definitely planted some good seeds out there. We then went out to lunch with Luz Nelly. She is an older lady in our ward. Every time we help her she gives us two big bags of food. She is amazing. We then passed by some of our amis. First was Ado. She is awesome and we just taught her at her door because her husband wasn't there. It was an awesome lesson and the spirit was super strong. That night we visited our Zimbabwean family. We had an amazing lesson with the son and then the mom came in with a few questions about us and the Book of Mormon. She wants us to teach only using the bible because she doesn't know if the Book of Mormon is true and wont read it to find out. We are praying for her and are going to be using the bible more from now on while quoting the Book of Mormon. It will be a fun challenge. 

Thursday was Valentines Day! We didn't do anything special for it. We had lunch with a sister in our ward and a super less active brother in our ward. We have been trying to meet him for a while and she was a good friend of him so we all went out to eat together. It was really cool. He is super cool but has had his share of problems in his life. We had a good conversation with him and he seems to really like us now. He will hopefully start coming back to church soon. After that we had a really cool miracle. We made a goal to find someone who was prepared for us and then went out finding. We passed by a couple of potentials and knocked for a bit. We finally passed by this potential named Klein. He immediately invited us in. He remembers a lot of the things he has been taught from the missionaries before but stopped meeting with them because he had some good questions. We answered a few of them and then asked if we could come back and continue and he agreed! He is awesome and is super spiritual. It was a great way to finish the night.

Friday we had district council and really focused on teaching simply because the gospel is simple and it only takes a simple truth to invite the spirit. It was really nice. Then went on exchanges after. I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Furness! It was soo cool. On the way back from Gramby, we had a member call us and he told us that we could call our families now on p-day. We didn't believe him so we went straight to the church and checked for ourselves. It was amazing. We couldn't believe it.  After that we passed by a few people and then helped clear the path ways at the church. We moved some snow and found 6" of ice. We got shovels and picks and started to break it up. We got most of it out of the way and then threw a lot of salt down to get the rest. We had volleyball that night because the youth had a dance Saturday night and a ward family was doing a birthday party Saturday at the church too. It all worked out nice. 

Saturday we unexchanged and then visited Klein again. We had another really good lesson with him and he asked us more questions. He also really likes the Bible so we have been using that to help support the Book of Mormon and doctrines. It was good. After that we went to Montreal to pick up some things from the mission office and then went over to LaSalle to watch one of Elder Moellmer's old investors get baptized! His name is John. It was really good to watch someone get baptized, especially for Elder Moellmer since he taught him. After that, we went back and visited a few more people and called it a day. 

Sunday we didn't do a whole ton. Church still feels super short to me aha. After church we did have a lesson with a new ami. One of our Latino members gave us a referral and let us teach them in their house. It was really cool. It was also completely in Spanish. Yes, that is right. Your French missionary taught a full lesson in Spanish. It was really cool and the gift of languages is real aha. We also had the members to help explain some stuff. It was a very good lesson. That night we visited Fanel. He is doing good but is getting ready to move. We went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him and are helping him learn more before we give him over to the other elders. 

Yesterday we started off with good studies and I was able to read some of my ancestors Patriarchal Blessings. If you log into lds.org, you can request the blessings of direct ancestors. It was really cool. The rest of the day was dedicated to finding. We went to some of the outer cities and did our best to find new amis. We didn't have a ton if success though out the day but we decided to pass by one more potential and knock two doors next to them and then we could head home. The potential and the first door we knocked were not home but the second door was a man named Christian. He has actually met missionaries before and knows a lot but has moved around a lot since then. He is currently having some hard times right now and is really open to hearing about the church again. He invited us to come back in a week and was really glad that we stopped by that night. It was a really neat experience. On the way home we got some pizza ahah. 

That's about it for this week. We saw a lot of miracles and had a lot of really good lessons. I hope you are all having a wonderful time. Keep up the good work and don't be afraid to share the gospel with someone this week! 

I love you all!

Elder Beckstrand

Quebecois

Bonjour! How is everyone doing? I bet everyone is super excited to have Sophie back home soon. Its crazy that she is done with her mission now and almost home! Make sure y'all go to the homecoming and tell her Hi and give her a hug for me. I hope everyone's week was amazing. This week here in Canada was so good.  

Last Wednesday we went around to a couple of the small outlying towns and knocked and passed by potentials. There wasn't a whole bunch of people who were open and interested but we did contact this one lady right after her husband denied us. She was super sweet and was kinda like a mom to us. She made sure that we were warm and had a good place to live while we were staying here and fun stuff like that. She wasn't super interested in changing religions but did accept a brochure on the restoration and we are going to try to contact her again later. That night we passed by our buddy Fanel. He is doing good but is moving soon. We will have to give him up to the other elders but they will take good care of him and baptize him soon. 

Thursday we had some studies and a member called us saying she had food for us to come pick up so we ran over to her place. We had a little English lesson with her because she is trying to learn English and then she payed us with two big bags of food. Super nice. Later that day we passed by a few more potentials and knocked quite a bit. It wasn't until the very end of the road before we decided to turn around that we found someone who was interested. She was awesome and really liked what we did as missionaries. We shared a quick message about the Restoration of Christs church on the Earth and she seemed to like it. We didn't have a ton of time with her because we found out she was working and had to leave but hopefully we will be able to meet her again soon. That night the Granby Elders slept over so they didn't have to drive as far the next morning to ZONE CONFERENCE!

Friday was zone conference! About 30 minutes into the conference we had power outage while we were talking about our spiritual power. I don't have my notes on me right now but the theme of conference was Fanning our Faith. We read and discussed Ether 12. I really recommend it. It was soo good but ended up taking most of the day because we had interviews with president after so we didn't get back to our area until later than normal. That night we had a lesson with our amazing Zimbabwe family and we went over the Restoration again and made sure they understood it and they said they would pray about it. They are progressing super well right now. 

Saturday not much happened. We had even more time to go out and knock and we got a couple return appointments. It was awesome. We stopped by the hospital that afternoon to help give a blessing to one of the Brothers who is sick right now. He was looking much better than the last time we saw him and he was very thankful to get a blessing. That night we had volleyball again and it went really well. Almost half the people that were there were non members and we got to share a little spiritual thought with them. 

Sunday was kinda rough for us haha. We both woke up a little sick. Elder Moellmer was more sick than me. We were also supposed to have 5 people come to church too but only one of them showed up. Kinda sad but they will come next time. I was also asked to give a talk in Sacrament meeting about the Joy that comes from reading the Book of Mormon. It was all in French and it wasn't too bad. After church we went and passed by a couple of our amis and then did some studies to finish off the day. 

Yesterday we were feeling a lot better and spent most of the day out and about. So quick little back story, a few days before this I had lost my mission card and had been looking everywhere for it. It was no where to be found. We had some plates we had to give back to some members so I set them in the car for later that day. We opened up the door to grab a Spanish Book of Mormon, We found my card just sitting there on top of it. It was crazy. It wasn't there early that morning when I put the book in the car but it showed up later. Heavenly Father loves and Blesses his children! After that we went out and spent time with this old man that used to meet with missionaries. He is super cool but is sick and is kinda lonely so he was glad to see us again and be able to talk with us. We talked about cars for a little bit too because I found out he was a mechanic. Oh man, If you think trying to understand Quebecois would be hard, try thick Quebecois while talking about differential and other things like that for cars. SOOO Hard but fun. I actually understood more than I though I would too.

That's about it for this week. The work is moving on here in Canada but the cold is still here. I hope you all have a great week and continue being awesome and sharing the gospel with your friends and neighbors. 

Love you All!

Elder Beckstrand

Temple

Temple

MTC buddy's elder Wai and Vargas

Tractor braking ice off the road

Tag pic

Thermometer for -30

Temple

Elder MOELLMER

Bonjour Yall! How is everyone doing?? This week has been an adventure up here in Canada. We have still been doing a lot of shoveling of snow and helping people move and I got my new comp! His name is Elder Moellmer. He is from the town of Tomball in Texas. This is his second transfer in the field so I am half training him! Anyway, here is a quick run down of what happened this week.

Last Wednesday we had some studies and then helped our bishop get ready to move by taking down a big tent for his car. Everyone has them here because no one really has a garage so they have tents that cover their cars in the winter. The only problem was that it was covered in snow and completely frozen to the ground so we had to get a sledge hammer and break up the Ice. That night we had a activity at the church with all the youth and some of their friends. We played some games and talked a little about the temple and going on missions. It was super cool. 

Thursday was transfers so we got up and Elder Furness and Halliday finished packing up their stuff and we headed off to the mission office. Once we figured out who everyone was going with we moved suitcases around and I got Elder Moellmer and we headed back up to our place. We dropped his stuff off and went back over to bishops house because the movers were there so we helped load the truck and move everything to the new house. We did that a couple of times and then had dinner with the Candia family and helped them learn more french. 

Friday we started off with district counsel in Granby. It was about an hour drive away and when we got there we found out that their meeting house is just part of this strip mall thing. They just bought part of this building and re did everything on the inside and made it into a church building. It was super cool. After that we headed back and passed by some of our amis and helped an older ward member shovel some snow off her balcony. We also had a lesson with our amazing family from Zimbabwe. We taught them about the plan of salvation and they loved all of it and kept saying how it all makes sense. It was really cool.

Saturday we had some really good studies in the morning and then went by a couple peoples houses and knocked a few doors. Not a lot of success but we did plant some seed with the people who let us in and out of the cold. Not everyone is interested but there are some really nice people who let us come into their house and let us warm up and grab a drink before continuing on with our work. That night we had volleyball and Elder Moellmer got to meet everyone and we had a lot of fun. Out of the 21 people there, about 8 of them were not members. It was amazing. Each week we are having more and more people come. Member and nonmembers. 

Sunday we had church and it was fast and testimony meeting. Its one of my favorites because of the spirit you can feel as people are bearing their testimony's. I had to translate almost all of it for Elder Moellmer but it wasn't too bad. We spent most of the day after church walking around and knocking. Planting more seeds! We also did some finding through Facebook because Elder has never tried it before and he actually found someone who was somewhat interested and was asking us questions. It was really cool to see that. As missionaries, we have soo many tools for finding and teaching people and technology is one of them. I still think that one of the best tools that we have though is all of you. Members have so many friends and know so many more people who live in your town than the missionaries do and you also might know who is more ready for the gospel than others. Don't be afraid to help the missionaries who might be serving in your ward or stake to find new people. You might be surprised with what comes out of it. 

Yesterday was a day full of service. We started with a member who needed help finishing her kitchen. We redid the ceramic backsplash on the walls of her kitchen. It was actually really fun because we were able to talk to her the whole time and learn about the things she is doing in her life to introduce the gospel to her friends and family who are not members. We finished up the walls and it looked really good once it was done. After that she ordered us a pizza and we ate some food before going to the next place. We then went to bishops again to move some furniture around in the new house and help put storage stuff away and some heavy outdoors stuff in their garage. It wasn't too bad but that whole night we had freezing rain and there was a 5mm layer of ice over everything. We had to spend some time breaking it off our car and everything that was left outside. It was crazy. We then went out to dinner with them at this nice restaurant and I got a really big poutine! It was super good. We then passed by a few people and then headed home for the day. 

That's about it for this week. Keep being awesome and going to the temple before it closes down if you are in the St. George area. Also don't forget to keep reading the scriptures everyday and find ways to serve others! 

I love yall so much. 

Elder Beckstrand

Moellmer

Trio

Church

Freezing rain 

The Bee Gees in 1969......Transfers

Salut toute la monde! How are all y'all doing? It's kinda weird to think that it's almost February! Time is just flying by. This week was crazy awesome. 

 

Wednesday we started off shoveling at the church because it snows all the time here and it needed to be shoveled. We were going to use the blower but we were told it was broken so we just did it all by hand and shovel. After we got done shoveling we went and got pizza for lunch and then went out and passed by a couple of our amis. We have a new family we are teaching right now and the moms name is Emmanise. She is from Haiti and is awesome. She has two little boys who are just full of energy but love us. We saw her and talked to her for a bit. She didn't have a ton of time so we left her with a prayer and she told us we could come back Friday. Later that night we got invited to a members house for dinner by their less active daughter. She is 24 years old and hasn't been to church in about 2 years. The other members have been surprised that we have been meeting with her. She told us that she was going to institute the next day and that she was bringing one of her non members friends. We were so excited! As we were leaving, we realized that their house wasn't shoveled so we hurried and did that. She came out half way through to help us too. It was super nice. 

Thursday we got a call from one of the people that we stopped teaching a long time ago saying that she wants us to come over again. We went over to meet her and see how we could help and she wasn't actually interested in learning more about the gospel, she just needed help cleaning up her apartment. We cleaned up the whole place and made it look nice for her. At the end she mentioned a food bank so we asked were that is and if we were able to help there at all. Food banks are awesome service providers that also help us find new people. She gave us the address and hours. That was just proof to me that God will put people or things in our way to guide us to new and better things. After we were done there we passed by a few people and then had dinner with our Mexican family. 

Friday, we started off with district council which was the last one of this transfer. We went on exchanges after that and I was back with elder Musaalo for the day! He is such a good elder and is super smart. We went and knocked a couple houses but then had three lessons planned out too. We started with Emmanise and it was really good. We taught the restoration and she seemed to understand most of it. She asked a couple of really solid questions and asked if she could read the book of Mormon herself. We asked her which language she wants it in and she said French because her son understands French better and she wants to read it to him! It was super cool. We then passed by our buddy Carlos. He had a couple more questions about baptism and how it works. We told him that it could happen as soon as three weeks because there is some things to learn but it could also happen later whenever he feels ready and understands the gospel. He really wants to be baptized because he knows that is important but doesn't feel quite ready yet. After that we went to go check up on our buddy Fanel. He was home! We had though he moved but he was back for a bit. He is moving in 2 months to a town about 3 hours away. We are sad to lose him but the elders and members over there are awesome. He is still reading the Book of Mormon and loves it. After that we headed back home and made some dinner before we crashed. 

Saturday we un exchanged and did some studies and tried to see a couple people but we accidently locked our keys in the family history room at the church so we couldn't leave. Someone finally came to help us out but then we got our hair cut by this member and then ate some food and played volleyball. Our amazing family from Zimbabwe came and brought two more of their friends!! it was soo cool. They all played really well and had fun. We had about 22 people there at one point. After volleyball we got our transfer calls and Elder Halliday and Elder Furness are both leaving and I am Staying here in Mont-saint-Hilaire! I am getting a new elder and will be doing the second half of his training. He has already done one transfer but training is two transfers long so I will be finishing his training. I'm super excited. 

Sunday we got to church early and shoveled more snow and helped get rid of some of the ice too. We helped a couple of the elderly walk inside from their car too. We had a put luck after and most of the ward stayed and talked. It was super cool to see the change that has happened in this ward already since the first Sunday I was here. That night we had dinner with a member who invited our Mexican family over too. They were such a great example of Ministering. They didn't know this family very well so they invited them over for a dinner to get to know them better and gain a relationship with them. Ministering is sooo easy!

Yesterday was pretty good. we started with some studies and then headed over to a sisters house for lunch and to help her finish the backsplash in her kitchen. We placed and glued all of the little tiles in place and grouted it all in place on one wall. We still have a little more to do but we ran out of time. During the service we also talked to her about a couple of different things and shared a couple of spiritual experiences with her which we found out later, really helped her make a few decisions in her life. If we are in tune with the spirit, He will tell us what we need to share and who needs what. It is such an amazing gift that we have been given by our father in heaven. Last night we had dinner with the Dumas family. They made us poutine. It was soo good and then we kinda talked about how we can continue to help the members here because frère dumas just got called as the Elders Quorum president. We have some great things planned and this ward is going to be soo great! 

That is about it for this week. Not a ton happened but we had a ton of amazing lessons and our amis are still continuing to progress and find the joy that comes from this amazing gospel of Jesus Christ. Keep being awesome and hurry and go to the temple as much as you can before it is closed for a bit. If you live in St. George that is. I love this work and this church and all y'all! 

Love Ya, 

Elder Beckstrand

Not a ton but here they are.

Pancakes with cookies inside

Shoveling

That scene from sled dogs where teddy gets out of the plane and cant move because of the snow and wind.

Hey y'all! How is everyone doing? If I could sum up this week into three words it would be COLD, Walking, and service... yup. It has been crazy but super fun. 

Last Wednesday after we got some good studies in, we went and helped do some service where we did and redid the backsplash of a kitchen. It wasn't very hard but took a while because we had to some super weird angles and stuff but it turned out really good in the end. She was so happy with the results she fed us dinner and we talked about how we can help her and how she can help those around her come into the church. We all shared experiences from our life to help her find new ideas on how to help her family and others. It was super cool to see how everyone is put in different places with people for a reason. We are all with others because there is stuff we have done and gone through that can help others who might be going the same things. Make sure that you stay aware of the spirit and look for way to help others who might be struggling. 

Thursday wasn't super exciting but we passed by a couple people and helped some people learn a little bit of french. 

Friday morning we had district council and it was super good. We all shared our favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon and then talked about how we can use those to help others gain a testimony like us. We also talked about how we can help others better and our motivations behind everything. The best kind of motivation is LOVE but more like Charity. Seeing others as brothers and sisters and doing everything we can to treat them as such and want the best for them. After that as we were leaving, the sisters sneak attacked us with snowballs so we hurried and got them back. The snow was perfect for snowballs because we could pack them but as soon as they hit someones face, it would just explode into powder. Super fun. That night we passed by our amazing friend Carlos. The lesson was going super great and we were discussing baptism and his father came into the room. He was completely drunk and kept mentioning that he was black and that we are white but what we are doing is awesome because his son is not the best and needs to be baptized. Super funny. Carlos is doing super well though and has a really good attitude about learning and knowing when baptism is right for him. 

Saturday morning we had breakfast with our favorite member family. they take such good care of us. We talked a little about some less actives and then somehow got onto the topic of missions because the oldest son is close to leaving on his mission but is wanting to wait. We tried to give him some good advice and he is going to be a great missionary one day. Afterward we wanted to play a little street hockey but it didn't last long because of the cold. It was about -25 but felt like -35 because of the 85% humidity and super wind. That night we played volleyball and had a few new people come who are not members so that was really cool. As we were leaving we all get a text from the bishop saying that church was canceled because of a snow storm that was coming in. We were kinda skeptical about it because it is Canada but it happened. 

Sunday we didn't have church because we woke up to about a foot of snow or more and it was still a full blizzard outside. We had gotten another text from the mission office saying that church was canceled and to not use the car because the roads are too slipper and the engine might not start. They also said that we decide to go out at all that we need to bundle up. So we did. We layered up and walked to the next city over which ended up being about 20 kilometres one way. It took us about 3 hours. It was about -35 and a complete blizzard the whole time. We ended up walking across the frozen river too because we forgot that we had to cross it and didn't want to walk farther to find the bridge. It was super cool but super windy. When we finally got to where we talked to the family and they gave us soup and a ride home so that was super nice. After that we decided just to let the car warm up and drive around carefully. We went and shoveled some snow for an older lady in our ward and then went home to sleep. 

Yesterday morning we got up and just went out and started to shovel. There are this big things that we call Cois tanks because they are just giant tractors turned into snowplows. They do most of the snow removal but we helped a couple of people who don't use those. One of the members we were helping also had a broken door handle that just fell off so Elder Halliday got to work on that too. That night we passed by and visited our family from Zimbabwe! They love us so much. They are reading the Book of Mormon and love what the church and the gospel brings into families!

That's about it for this week. It has just been really cold and really service driven. It has been so much fun. We also found out this morning that the snow storm we had was the worst one since about 1920 according to the Quebec weather records. They have had that cold before and that much snow but never really at the same time. Super cool. Keep up the awesome work wherever you may be.

Love yall! 

Elder Beckstrand

Ice cream 

The weather

Snow and sunrise

House window

Us on our walk

Snow piled up on a balcony I had to clean off

Side note from Penny...Josh sent me these videos and I about had a heart attack.  He has been reprimanded and told NEVER to do this again.  Please pray for his stupidity.  Also, his Costochondritis has been acting up a lot with this cold weather.  He said that we woke up 10+ times the night before the storm with bad chest pain.  Please send an extra prayer up for Josh's chest pain.  It's going to be a long Winter for him.