Date
October 22, 2018
Area
Sikeston, MO
Companion
Sister Dixon
Sikeston!!!
I'M IN SIKESTON MISSOURI, aka Meth capitol of Mo, so it's a party. It's basically 4:20 at all times here. This area is low-key super sketch. We have restricted parts of town that we aren't allowed to go to when it's dark, we carry a tazer in the back of our car at all times, and a lot of people here have super nice cars bc they are all drug dealers, so I'm living the life. Sikeston is one of the most south parts of our mission. My area covers southeast Missouri and a little part of Tennessee. A lot of people here live in poverty so it's a super humbling experience. Their homes are INFESTED WITH COCKROACHES that crawl all over the walls and couches- yum. And as always, everyone smokes like a chimney. I'm seriously about to come home with the worst second hand smoking of all time, love it. I am follow up training Sister Dixon, so this transfer is going to be a party. We are the only sisters in our whole zone. The closest sisters to us live 3 hours away, so we're basically on our own down here.
Elder Neil L. Andersen came to visit our mission on Saturday, so I got to LITERALLY SEE AN APOSTLE IN THE FLESH. The Spirit was so strong when he was talking to us and it was so cool to be so close to him. He invited us to memorize 10 scriptures in the New Testament that I absolutely know to be true for myself, and 10 scriptures in the Book of Mormon. He told us that the New Testament is all about Christ's life and that the Book of Mormon teaches us about Christ's Atonement. He promised us that as we memorized scriptured from the New Testament and Book of Mormon, that we would see the difference in our teachings and be able to feel the Spirit more abundantly when we knew these scriptures from heart.
This week while tracting we met a lady who believes in Pegasism- literally worships Pegasus' so that was neat.
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT- Going to be brutally honest, I was honestly happy to be sent to Sikeston, but I did not want to go to Sikeston at all lolz. I was not ready to leave Columbia and I really did not want to get shipped out to the Boonies. So the first night was a little rough b/cuz every single part of me wanted to be back in CoMo. Was leaving Columbia harder than leaving my actual home? Easy yes- sorry mom, yikes. Literally, the hardest part of a mission is transfers. So the next morning I was studying my scriptures and came across this verse:
2 Nephi 10:24 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved.
I pretty much realized that I needed to humble myself the heck up and accept Heavenly Father's will. I realized that I was looking more at my own will rather than God's will for me. I know that I have been sent to the hood for a reason and that I need to trust in Heavenly Father more and be reconciled to Him. It's hard to leave the best city in the world and get sent to the boonies, but whatcha gonna do. It's honestly so cool because I've already grown a ton of love for this area that I really didn't think I could love and it's been 2 days. Praying for the gift of charity works and that's all I have to say about that.
xoxo, sister beal
Pic 1: all of the different BofM's I'm studying right now lol, it's a lot, I know
Pic 2: pic with a sleeping squirrel
Pic 3: twins
Pic 4: they updated PMG and have made different changes throughout each of the chapters. I've been adding all of the different words, so here's what one of the pages looks like!
Pic 5 & 6: sister dixon !!