Tuesday, September 28, 2010

1st letter from New Zealand - Sept 27, 2010

How are you all. I have been having a pretty busy week already but I will tell you about it in a minute. P-day is mondays here so I am thankful for the email before Sunday. For this area, it would be best to email becuase if you send things to the mission home, I wont get them right away. But you still could if you wanted, I would not complain. I would just get it later rather than sooner.
I arrived early wednesday morning and had a pretty full day. After I wrote to you via email we went back to the motel and took a nap. Then we went over to the mission home for a few lessons and dinner. Then after dinner we had an awesome testimony meeting with all the new missionaries plus the A.P.s, the missionary couples in the office and president and sister porter. It was very nice to hear all of the testimonies and the spirit was very strong. Then we turned in early that night. We got back to the motel just after 9.

The next morning we got up early and went back to the mission home for breakfast and one last lesson before transfers. They demonstrated a friend share which is you acting like a members friend and then demonstrating how they could start a conversation with them so that they would feel more comfortable with the missionaries coming over. It seems to be an effective way to get referrals. Then we were off to transfers. Like you know, my companion is Elder Tham and I don't know if sister porter told you but I am in Gisborne. I don't know if Grma Grpa, served all the way over here. So after transfers, I put my luggage in the trailer and off we went on a eight hour car ride. Wahoo, not! We stopped at a kfc to eat and it just wasn't the same as back home. We arrived in Gisborne around 9:30 or so. We didn't have any time to unpack so I just changed and found sheets and a blanket to sleep with. The next morning was good. I got to study and we just rode around meeting as many of the investigators as we could. We checked up on our baptismal candidates and they were all great. So friday wasn't to big of a day.

Saturday however was a pretty big day. We got up and had to be to the chapel by 8:30 to start filling up the font. Yep, we had a baptism. Four actually. It was the Ngaro family. Two 14 year old boys and 12 and 10 year old girls. There mom was a less active that has now been coming back to church. We were planning to study before the baptism which was a 11 but we got roped into helping set up for a dinner that night so no study time for us. The baptism went really well. It started a little late because the father was cooking but other than that, it went very well. Elder Tham baptized all four of them which was fine by me. It was great to see those four kids be baptized and I wish I could have seen the conversion process. One of the members said it was just amazing to see all of them change over the months and weeks. Apparently it took 4 months to get them baptized. So, it was a great morning. Then while we were out later that day we had a lesson with a girl named Noell. She is 18 and very interested it seems. We read 3 Nephi 11 with and then asked if she wanted to be baptized. She said yes but we haven't set a date yet so its not official. After that great lesson, we had another lesson with 3 of our other 4 baptismal candidates. The mom is another less active and she has two daughters and two nieces we are teaching. They are the Maats family They are all set for the 9th of October which is general conference weekend for us down here. One probably wont be baptized because she is out of the country until the 7th or 8th and you have to go to church 3 times in order to be baptized ands we don't know if she has wherever she is. The other three seem close to being ready however. We need to teach them all a bit more but I am pretty sure they will be ready by the ninth. Also, we went to another less active family and he said he wanted us to teach his son who is nine. We gladly obliged and we started to teach him. We taught him about prayer. I hope to teach him and get him baptized before I leave. So saturday was a pretty good day for us.

Sunday was also a busy day in the morning. Again, no studies because of ward council. After that we had 6 investigators at church with us. I just wish Noell could have been there. Oh, well. Next week for sure. All four Ngaros were confirmed. Three by Elder Tham and one by the Bishop. It went very well and the spririt was very strong. I hope it touched the hearts of our investigators. The six that were there were the three Maats and then Catherine and her 2 children which I don't know at all. She is apparently wanting to be baptized but her partner wont marry her. So what to do, I know not. After all three of the meetings, the elders quorum president came up to us and said that his daughter was nine and wanted to get baptized. So he wanted us to teach her and then help her get baptized. She seemed to know a lot already but apparently her mom is a non-member and is allowing her to now get baptized. So miracles are already starting to happen on my mission. The rest of sunday was mostly seeing investigators and missing investigators. We were able to give two investigators blessings yesterday. They are flying to Auckland on tuesday to get a Gastroscopy I think it is called and they wanted a bit of comfort. It went really well and they both felt peaceful afterwords so I hope we can teach them more and they will progress faster.

So, to sum things up, I have had four baptisms and confirmations and we have four others with a date. We haven't taught a whole lot of lessons but they few we have had went really well. We also have 10 lessons scheduled for next week. I am loving New Zealand but it is a little cold down here. I can't see to get warm some of the time. My bike is nice although my legs and bum are killing me from overuse. and yeah I love it so far. Time is going so slow though, I am going to have a super long mission.

Well It was really good to here from you and I will write again next week and tell you how things are looking for our investigators. Know the church is true and miracles do happen today.

Love you all tons,
Elder Trevor Beckstead

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

New Zealand

Trevor has arrived in New Zealand. We will let you know details of his companion and where he is assigned when we find out.

Welcome to New Zealand!

Excited to get to New Zealand - Sept 18, 2010

I am so excited to leave the MTC and go to New Zealand. I love the MTC, but there is something about the idea of going to New Zealand. This is the epitome of leaving the world behind. it is weird yet kind of nice at the same time.
That quote (one Dad sent me about scriptures) is exactly what we learned yesterday about the scriptures. Scriptures help investigators gain faith in Jesus Christ and gain a testimony.
I am glad to hear that Baptisms or the number of them doesn't define how well your mission goes. I think I have always known that, but it is nice to hear all the same. The biggest part for me is just believing I will be a good missionary.
I want to say that I am thankful I had you as parents and you as brothers and sister. I love you all so much! I will email you when I get to New Zealand ... I will probably be on my way when you get this letter. Thanks for all you have done and will talk to you next from the Los Angeles airport ... and then I will be in New Zealand.

I love you all tons!
Elder Trevor Beckstead

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

MTC - Last P-day

Can you believe it is my last pday in the MTC? It has gone by pretty fast. I enjoyed all of your letters.

Things have been going well here. I love the teaching experiences and we have done a ton over the last week. I am super excited to get to the mission field though. It is so cut off from the outside world here, it is weird sometimes. One of my favorite things so far has been our experience last monday. We were in the TRC and we were teaching Melvin for the second time. We did really well I thought and the spirit was there. The cool part was after the teaching experience though. We ran into melvin as we were leaving and he stopped me. He said we did two things that really impressed him. We looked him straight in the eye as we talked and testified to him and he said we answered all his questions very well. What he said at the end made my companion and I think he might have been a real investigator, but we aren't to sure. He might have been role playing still.


Congratulations to Korin for making the school play and she will make a very cute dragon and the other two things. I hope her leg feels better. I enjoyed the letter from sam :) (regarding Stake Conference) and I'm sorry he was so bored. No we did not get to see it although I heard it was very good. We just had a regular Sunday except for the fireside. We didn't have one. The gym is closed and has been the entire time. It won't be open until around the 27th. I wish we could've played basketball because early morning gym is pretty cold. We have mainly played volleyball and I have juggled once just on my own.


Is crazy soccer over yet? Mom said it was still hectic around the house even though that first soccer week was over. I hope it isn't too busy for everyone.


One more thing before my time is up. Will you tell everyone to send mail to the New Zealand mission address after I leave the MTC. If it is sent here, it will be returned home, so to save the hassel, send it to New Zealand.


I love you all tons and wish you all the best.

Elder Trevor Beckstead

Sunday, September 12, 2010

MTC - Love Being a Missionary

Letter to Grandma & Grandpa Beckstead - Sept 8, 2010

How are you holding up? I hope your not missing me too much, but I am missing you guys a whole lot. Not playing games on Sunday was kinda hard. Anyway, I love having the opportunity to be a missionary. It is so nice being in the MTC surrounded by the Spirit and other missionaries. Teaching is so fun!! I am soooo excited to go to New Zealand and get to work. I am trying my hardest to learn everything I can so that I am ready to go in two weeks. Can you believe I have been gone a whole week? It feels like much longer here. I love the lessons we have here. Our teachers are so great and I have learned a tone so far ... I haven't really had time to be homesick because I have been so busy. It is just non-stop teaching and learning and studying here. Well I hope you are both well and having fun working in the temple.
Elder Beckstead

MTC - Spirit is so Powerful

Letter to my cousin Tara, Sept 3, 2010

"I love the MTC. The spirit is so powerful. My first day was hectic and confusing. I got here and an escort took my luggage while I went through and got my stuff. Then I went and dropped off my luggage in my room. I had time to get my scriptures and Preach My Gospel. Then I went to our classroom and did an orientation video. Then we got to meet our teachers and our district.I am in branch 37 District C. We then went to a welcome meeting with all the new missionaries. There was about 430-440 of us. In my district there are 6 elders going to Portland, Oregon and 4 of us going to Auckland, New Zealand.
After dinner we went to three live teaching scenarios. They were so cool. I wish we could just do those every day.
Thanks for writing me. Tell Brooke thanks too. Tell her I'll write to her next Wednesday on my P-day. Technically I'm not supposed to write until then, but they said write our parents tonight, so please share this with them so it counts :)
Elder Beckstead

MTC is awesome

1st letter home (Sept 3, 2010):

"The MTC is awesome! I love the atmosphere here and the spirit is so strong. I can't write again until P-day, which is Wednesday, but I still enjoy getting mail (hint, hint) ... I slept pretty well the first night. I got up at 6:20am and we had class at 7am. The rest of the day went smooth, but it was incredibly long. It felt like a whole day had passed and it was only 9:30 am. We learned about what the investigators and us as missionaries need to feel in order to be taught or teach effectively. The food is great here. There is a rumor to not drink the orange juice. It is true, it messes with your system.
Today we started learning about the Plan of Salvation and how to teach it. We had the opportunity to teach our companion today. Well, it was more of getting to know our investigator, not teaching doctrine. It is really hard to convey to someone that you care without knowing them at all, but the struggle just makes you want them to have the gospel even more. Later during companion study, we were able to teach someone in our district who pretended to be an investigator. Having a companion is definitely beneficial, and I'm glad I have one. His name is Elder Devey from South Jordan. He is awesome! Our district has grown really close even though we have been together less than a week. I'm glad I get to spend three weeks with these awesome elders.
Elder Beckstead

Friday, September 10, 2010

The Beginning

Welcome,

As a family we are super excited to have a missionary out in the mission field. We want to share Trevor's mission experiences with our family and friends. We will post letters, pictures, etc. that we receive from Trevor. So feel free to check back to the blog as often as you like. If you have received a letter or something from Trev that you would like posted, let us know and we will put it up on the blog.

Thank you all for your love and support. It has blessed Trevor and our entire family and we are forever grateful.

Kristin & Ryan