Oh hi, welcome.
Today I am going to review and talk about my first weekly I ever sent out! I'll talk about things that have changed or thoughts that I have now that I am on the other end of the experience! Thought it could be fun for me and for whoever might be reading this. I will make notes in a different color so you can tell :) Let’s get started.
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Hi Family and Friends! This is Sister/Hermana/Sœur Beck reporting live from my parents' house aka the @home MTC!
I started the MTC on Wednesday and I'm in a district of 8 people, four Sisters and four Elders! Four of the missionaries are going to Montreal Canada, two of the elders are going to Cameroon which is in West Africa. Soo cool. Then, there's me and my companion Sister Nielsen! I really love her, she is so nice and we are already the best of friends. We are both called to the France Paris Mission and like most missionaries called to France, she was called French speaking :)
I thought I would quickly explain my situation for those of you who may not know!
I was called to the France Paris mission SPANISH speaking! Kind of unique and cool. BUT, I was in Spanish Immersion since first grade and I put that on my papers. Turns out, if you say you have 12+ years of language experience they take that seriously because now I'm in the MTC for French only. Yep, you read that right. No Spanish in the MTC at all for me.
If reading that made you feel scared for me, same.
Haha but in all honesty, I trust that I know enough Spanish to teach and for what I don't know, I will just learn :) Plus, I am so thankful to be learning French. Not sure how it would work, not speaking French in FRANCE. Okay this was very real. I did “just learn” a LOT in Spanish. It was definitely a grueling learning process for a while. It was actually something that I really struggled with throughout the entirety of my mission. It was a lot harder than I expected trying to juggle all the languages and trying to decide which language should take priority. I knew French was a bit more essential due to my surrounding circumstances but my heart was being tugged towards Spanish and the fact that Spanish was my call. I took that seriously. I felt like there had to be a reason for Spanish being on my papers so I went for focusing on Spanish. Towards the end of my mission I had to start learning some Portuguese because all the Spanish branches were combined with the Portuguese speakers. By the end. I could barely speak anything haha. But I believe there was a divine purpose for the language struggle. Hopefully I’ll see it someday. But if not, that’s okay too. But I also talk about language way more in my emails so this will be a hot topic.
Here's a little French lesson for you non-French speakers. You pronounce "Soeur" basically as "Sir" but with what I like to call a “crunchy R” because the R sound sounds like the noise you make when you’re eating something crunchy, like an apple. If you ever see me in person, I’ll do a demo for you because I swear promise I’m onto something. Anywho the word Soeur makes me laugh. Maybe it's because here in good ol' America, sir is usually used for a man which I am not but let’s not get into that. It’s funny to me now that this was so funny to me then haha, I’m at the point now where “Soeur” is very normal. I also do not know WHAT I was talking about with the crunchy R. My brain is straining to try and remember what I thought I was doing with that.
As for the title of this email, "Forget Yourself and Go to Work". You may know that that is what President Hinckley's dad told President Hinckley when he was out serving his mission in England. Long story short Pres. Hinckley was feeling pretty bad on the mish and wrote his dad about it and all his dad said back was that phrase.
I really loved it because even though I have been so excited to start my mission, the past week I have been getting freaked out. Classic. I started doubting whether I could do it (you could ;) or if I even wanted to do it anymore you did. Because seriously, it's a lot of hours looking and listening to a computer screen it was and I'm only 19 but my back is starting to feel like it's 80 years old haha that was very temporary. But it was mentioned in a class that Jesus Christ could do this work if He wanted to. He could declare His word if He wanted to but He is allowing us to do it. Thought about that my whole mission. It is a privilege to be doing this work. It is a privilege. And in those moments of feeling uncertain I was only focused inward on me and my comfort. A problem I unfortunately faced my whole mission haha #selfish. I wasn't thinking about anything or anyone else. So from now on I'm going to try to just "forget myself and get to work". :) This was something I had to work on my whole mission and I still never got it quite down. But I love that I was trying to remember that from the get go.
And now the moment you all have been waiting for! I have been temporarily reassigned to the FLORIDA ORLANDO MISSION!! I am very excited and happy about that. Maybe I can pet an alligator while I'm there. Unfortunately, they don't let missionaries preach inside of Disney World, which personally, I feel is a loss because I think it would be a hub for missionary work. A free Book of Mormon with their $30 churro seems like a screamin’ deal. This is something I will forever be grateful for. I think about Florida at least once a day. I. Loved. It. I did see alligators and Disney World is now on my bucket list when it wasn’t there before. Florida has my heart and I feel so lucky to have been able to serve there and experience that as part of my mission. The best.
I am so stoked to be a missionary!
I love you guys
¡Espero que tengas una gran semana!
J'espère que vous passez une bonne semaine!
- Sir Beck
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It’s funny for me to read that and think about all that I didn’t know yet. Now, my whole mission has played out. It’s crazy. I had absolutely no idea. I’ve talked about this to some people but in all honesty if you would have told me all that my mission would consist of. I am almost positive I would’ve been scared out of it. I would have gotten so overwhelmed.
But that thought leads me to this next thought.
Most of us, if we knew exactly what our lives or certain events consisted of, I think we would get scared. Doubt ourselves or doubt like I mentioned in the email if we even wanted to do it. I believe Heavenly Father gave us a good idea that there would be hardship and suffering in this life, but I don’t believe we knew the specifics of the hard and suffering. I could be wrong but that’s what I think.
You want to know who knew exactly what He had to do before He did it, and still chose to do it?
Jesus Christ.
He knew what His atonement consisted of. He knew the pain and heartbreak He was about to partake of. He knew the bitterness of the cup He was destined to drink.
He chose to do it. He did it because He thought of you and that was motivation enough to keep going. He thought of me… that made it worth it for Him. He thought of the will of His Father and knew that overall that was the most important thing.
He was chosen to perform the Atonement but he didn’t have to choose it. He could’ve stopped it at any moment. He could’ve thrown in the towel and decided it was too much.
He didn’t do that. In fact, He overcame it all and He did it with grace.
Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
Father forgive them, they’re killing me but it’s because they don’t understand.
Forgive them. I felt what they are feeling. They are an angry and hurt people. They’re lost. They’re confused and blinded.
Father forgive them.
I love Jesus Christ and I hope to never take for granted the love He had and has for me. I hope to never take for granted His sacrifice for me. He overcame the world so that I can. I don’t have to have the stain of sin. I don’t have to die and be dead. I can live because He lives.
I love Him.
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