Broken hearts and contrite spirits

 what the crap is up fam bam?? 

I suppose I should prob update yall on the recent changes heh

Im currently in the Columbia YSA ward serving with my MTC comp and legend: Sister Coltrin 😻😻 (not to be confused with John Coltrane🤓) its been incredibly blessed here in ysa, we have the USC campus in our area so we meet lots and lots of people everyday. When we whitewashed into this area (meaning we came in brand new together)(no previous missionary to show us around) they had been consistently finding between 3 and 5 new people to teach a week and this week we found 48 peeps interested and wanting to be taught🙏 

its def weird being in the city - everyone here is a tweaker 😻 

- we found a guy mid rap video recording so he featured us in the music video (its horrible dont worry) his name is Rich Gunna Big Unc Da OG (he'll be famous someday)

- met a guy today who speaks Arabic, Hebrew, and English - hes part of the Moroccan government, and joins government zoom calls from over here. he also doesnt have a phone. so not sure how the logistics work on all that but I believe anything Leo tells me😊

- met a guy named DJ Parks (shout out Parks Russell🤑) whos a christian dj and got personally invited to their next event 😻 (we're definitely going) 

- we meet at least 6 people a week named either Montrell, Daquan, or some variation of Emanuel, Immanuel, or Ammanuel. 

- also met some sorority girls who lived in Logan last summer and became besties with Brother Chang from institute and tried not to shoot my foot for 30 minutes as they tried to explain how the trinity makes sense and why we're going to hell for not believing in it😜 they hugged us afterwards so no hate🙏🙂‍↕️

- had SO many beautiful lessons and miracles and just inspired interactions. The amount of people we talk too who tell us we were an answer to a prayer, or brought them some light, or helped them to feel God's love makes all these insufferable sorority baptist girls worth it 🤞🙂‍↕️ nah I actually do really love to learn about all the religions out here. attended church of Christ this past Sunday on base, (ooh also I teach the soldiers about the gospel on base every Sunday up at Fort Jackson)(they're incredibly humble and cool the spirit is always so strong there)(its so blessed) 

 its cool how much more prone to feeling the spirit we are when we're in those low and desperate moments. Broken hearts and contrite spirits are open enough to cry out to God, to read scriptures, to seek wisdom and peace. To seek God and His Son! when I think back to some of my most spiritual experiences they all occurred when I was low and humble enough to reach out to God and rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

go read Galatians 2:20 its like top ten fav verses ever. 

ok anyway theres a phat info dump for you hope you all are doing so very well - send me some updates ay sorry its been forever since ive emailed heh. My bad 😜 but ya loving it here in ysa, we watched Lego bible videos during our last member meal if that explains what its like being in ysa, all the members are like 28 and either chill asfreak or autistic (or both😎) i love it.

and I love you! 🫵 stay blessed 

- bec 

old southern cutie lady

 holy forgive me its actually been too long since ive written an email... I swore I was gonna be better at writing emails than Jiggy was but idk if I have been heh... 

ok updateeee 

We got transfer news this past Wednesday! I officially had to leave Cedar Falls and my homegirl Sister Johnson 🙂‍↕️ left it in good hands tho☝️and very exciting things happening over there, we were able to get two investigators on date for baptism by the time i left😈 super mega hype. 

ok and my new area?! : Martinez, GEORGIA 😛😜🤑 pronounced (martin - ehz) ayy Rachel you guessed it right i am now serving in georgia ☝️🤓 holy hot mama tho it feels like im walking in steam its so humid hottie - I aint never sweat outta my knees until this past week 🙉 we good tho the area is fire, the ward is even more fire, and my new comp Sister Thayer is double fire. I got called to be a "sister training leader" 🤓 this transfer so im extra grateful to have such a good stl trainer - also the sister here before me was "sister Seifert" which im pretty sure multiple ancient temple workers have called me before so that def confuses the ward but its fine we chillin. 

the people down here are already more southern, lol Sunday school yesterday in the new ward was a lotta fun - some ancient guy introduced himself as Brother Walborn and made sure to clarify its walBORN not walBURN because "babies are born they dont burn" 🤓🤓 and then some old southern cutie lady ranted for 15 minutes about the new David and Goliath movie it was cutie :)

heres some pictures from the last however long to get you guys back up to speed on the mission 😜🤑 love youuuu

also happy father's day papa sorry I forgot to call last night heh...

also send prayers we're getting a new mission president like tomorrow?!?!?!

also congrats on the upcoming wedding Jiggy and Emory 😻😻 cant wait to see the pictures 🙉🙉🙉🙉🤑🙏

peace in knowing you are living the life that God has planned for you

 hola friends and family 😃 

Made it to my third transfer yayaya! Officially outta training 👏 🙌  We still have extra training time everyday tho because my new companion is a greenie 🤑 her name is Sister Johnson she's a queen, pro missionary already. Also shes a tall queen, got me looking even shorter than I already am 🤧 we have good times tho so I forgive her 😌 

Last transfer was super hype, definitely gonna miss cutie Sister Price but we're having a good time so far - this is second transfer here in Cedar Falls Simpsonville we have actually the best ward ever... it feels very Utah vibe, prolly cause everyone is like 32 with four kids each. There's a constant flow of baby noise in our church meetings :)

But ya mission life is lit - we had some BARS meetings this past weekend because it was Stake Conference, got to hear from area seventy Elder Boddain? (i would look up how to spell it but thats a LOTTA work) he was awesome tho, talked a lot about having greater love as disciples of Christ. A line I loved from conference was "the only surrender that leads to victory is when we surrender our will to God's" and I know with all my heart that its true! There is peace in knowing you are living the life that God has planned for you - fighting against it leaves us constantly searching for something more, and that aint no way to live ☝️

Anyway, hope everyone's doing well (I hear gas prices are going up again) (sucks for you guys, all my gas is paid for🤑) haha love you all so much :3

also let's start a tally, how many of my siblings will get engaged as soon as I leave on my mission: II (CONGRATS ASHLEY AND JOHNNY😻😻)

heres a link to like every pic ive ever taken: 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/j9j9cozGuZKQib2G8

Without a living prophet there's no accountability

 ok what the crap is up fam ?!

wow my motivation to write emails is rapidly decreasing 😻 but dont worry I'll keep up the updates because I love you all and wanna hear updates on life back home (when I call the kids all they give me updates on are brain rot and stranger things)

aight random fun things that happened this week: 

• gloria serenaded us again ANDDDD she let me record this time 😜

its moments like these that I thank the Lord for sending me to South Carolina (no one asked Gloria to sing us a song she just started singing) 

• met Frederick - this guy looks EXACTLY like Grandma Belnap, like exact same face like could easily be siblings. So if Grandma happens to mention a long lost brother - I found him. We pulled up on Frederick and interrupted a convo he was having to share a scripture and chat. He told us later that he prayed that God would "cut out his tongue" if he were to say anything hurtful that day - and APPARENTLY the convo we interrupted was headed there... "yall were the knife" ok thanks Frederick glad to be of service 

☝️😛 he also told us (tearfully) that he prayed that God would speak to him today and that was the day we showed up 😻 then he didnt show up at church on Sunday🔫😐

this is what he texted me during church lol

holy most southern thing ive ever read. dont worry Frederick I wont give up on you😖🤧

Let's seeeeee what else happened... not too much crazy, just living the good life over here in simpsonville, its becoming more and more BEAUTIFUL everyday - holy greenest place i ever seen. 

here's a bar I heard this week about prophets: (lots of people ask why we need prophets or leaders like we have today, why cant we just believe in Jesus and be good people) and I always think about a line from Holmes talk in conference,  he said that (paraphrasing) without a prophet Jesus Christ becomes whatever we want him to be. AND ITS SO TRUE😻 without a living prophet there's no accountability or validity to keep His church ESTABLISHED ☝️ people can basically interpret the scriptures however they want and there's nothing to prove whether they're right or wrong according to God's teachings. In our district testimony meeting last night an Elder shared a quote "when we choose to neglect prophets in our own lives we find ourselves in a personal apostacy." BARS 😻 God calls his prophets☝️ all we have to do is listen to their council and do our best to faithfully apply it to our lives, just another way to trust in God no matter what 😌

oh also this last week we sheared alpacas for this random chill guy named Rob- he thought it was so hilarious to make me collect the poop they use to test for parasites. bro holy most rated r thing ive ever seen what the crap. the Shearer guy put on gloves and then reached up into the alpacas ah and grabbed the poop out of it (all while I stood there like a retard with the zip lock bag ready) wow holy trauma 😛

also we found an abandoned ancient school for lil black kids from the early 1900s - there was a sign but besides that it was basically just sitting there abandoned, no gate no nun. pretty cool😃

Anyway theres some lovely moments from my life recently, here's some more random pictures 

southern testimony meetings are my favorite

 what is up mi familia ?!?!

let's seeeeee this week was slightly slow but still good come on now, im tryna think if anything funny happened... 

we knocked on a door this week (only like three people answered their doors this day) and a guy answered!😻 we told him we were looking for Robert and he said roberts out rn but his name was JC and we said oh ok well do you have a church jc? and he said ya I go to the church down the road but you ladies are very gorgeous.🧍‍♂️... we were like well thank you jc thats very kind of you☺️😜 and then we left. 😻🐒😅🔫

this week we met our girl Gloria in person, wed done a phone call lesson before but never irl... we get to her house and she let's us in, and immediately get punched in the face by the aroma of incense in her house lol it was like going into one of those salt lake city antique stores, like full to the brim with stuff. but its chill she made a lil walkway to the couch for us 😛 so we go sit down, were talkin about personal revelation and the spirit confirming truth to us, shes like imma sing yall my lil song. oh um ok sweet let's hear it Gloria: (shes 72 btw) (she looks 42) she immediately starts BELTING the most beautiful soul gospel bars ive ever heard in my life i was fighting the urge to record her the entire time. she sang "my god is real" theres a good Johnny Cash version but her version is the best ive ever heard holy bars. and then boom just went right back to the lesson lol. like girl we gonna act like we didnt all just start levitating up to heaven just now??? holy amazing?!?!?! Anyway good times 😛

but ya besides that its been a chill week, southern testimony meetings are my favorite thing in the world now they just be so entertaining and bars. especially in our new ward there are infinite babies so its basically constant background noise of babies crying its kinda funny - the speakers be up there YELLING tryna speak over all the babies💀

but ya mega good week, remember jesus loves you so much much dont forget to pray☝️heres some pictures to show you how random life is in sc😛

pic explanations: 

• me and sis price at zone conference - it was so good, talked about the Book of mormon of course 😻

• me and brigger have been together for 1 whole year?!?! everyone go give him a kiss for me for sending flowers from 2000 miles away😻

• sister gilbert haircut 😻 she made me put my used toilet paper in a walmart bag because her trailer toilet cant handle it... she also made us FIRE caramel brownies🐒

• various random dogs

• 14 year old autistic recent convert drew me a beautiful picture😻 he calls me sister becca cuz he cant remember seffker lol

• our random member came up to us at church and was like hey I think ill take a picture of you guys in front of this jesus picture we were like oh ok sweet - then he tried to airdrop it to our Samsungs and eventually realized it wasn't finna work... so his wife texting it to us lol

• random emu ostrich thing 😛

and here's this picture of what it casually looks like here everyday holy most gorgeous state ever wtfreak

celestial marriage and elijah returning

 yo yo yo made it through first couple weeks in Simpsonville🤓

its been good I been liking it, not much crazy eventful happened this week just a bunch of cornball interactions haha its good times tho

saw lots of miracles, ive noticed that as I pray for specific things God blesses me with them - shoulda figured that out years ago😾😼 jk its prob cuz now I pray for things that directly pertain to His work hehe. so align your will with God's and your life will be mega blessed😻 

also conference was sooo mega good hopefully everyone could listen to at least a lil bit, im hyped for the published versions of all the talks I know theyre boutta be so fire - also I aint never paid more attention in conference than when we watched it with an investigator and they started mentioning celestial marriage and elijah returning to the earth and the pearl of great price and every bit of doctrine that we haven't got to yet😻

Anyway love you guys a bunch hopefully you all had a good easter 😻 ill drop some pics to give you a good idea of how LIT this past week has been😌

also go read 1 nephi 13 its a banger chapter that we've read with like 4 different friends this week haha its very bars

relying on Christ

 yo yo yooo made it through my first transfer on the mission 😻

So far its been lit lit, I was trained in a trio by Sister Smith and Sister Barrett (mi MEJOR amigas) in Sumter, SC. Sumter is basically ghetto Brigham City with lots of forests/swamps and trailer parks, it was actually SO much fun - might be addicted to nicotine now tho by the amount of smoke I been inhaling... 

It was definitely an adjustment coming into missionary life but its a good life, basically wake up and then go talk to people about Jesus everyday all day🤑 met LOTS of the weirdest people Ive ever met and can't wait to meet more now that I'm in Simpsonville with Sister Price. I can already tell Simpsonville might be a lil more chill compared to janky Sumter tho... there are significantly less trailer parks here haha

I think the biggest lesson I've learned so far is that hard times don't happen because of God loving us less or wanting to punish us, they happen to give us the opportunity to choose him again and grow our faith stronger than before. I heard the saying "you don't really have faith until faith is all you've got." (or something along those lines heheh) So imma just keep relying on Christ and getting lit everyday☝️🤑

But ya overall good times, pray for me - we agreed to buzz some random guy's alpacas next week and I have a feeling it aint gonna be as cute as we think...

love you all so much, lemme know how things have been 😛

here's some random pics to give you a good idea of what the mission is like lol:

lady named Lashawnda

 what is uppppp

crazy week, kinda feels like a dream (prolly cuz I slept so much this week) 

I got a lil sick on Wednesday heheh (I threw up like four times) but i got a blessing and felt pretty good the next day and got some hefty naps in and was basically completely better by friday😻

ill include a video of me sleeping to safety zone- a true missionary 🥲

but ya we saw lots of blessings this week despite all of us feeling pretty garbage, we were able to put our homegirl lakyshia on date this week we also had a few training meetings so that was goody - and we still reached our finding goal despite being mega sicky 😀

cutie moments from the week: 

• we got a media referral from a lady named Lashawnda (kip's girlfriend??!) 

• I found a cutie song recording in family search memories I think it was great grampa Harry Hicks singing? Scott you'd eat it up

• we talked to lots of good, hurting but humble people looking for some peace from Jesus

• found a man who loves all three of us more than anyone ever will😻 brigham take notes☝️ (ill include a screenshot) 

• celebrated sista Barretts bday this week (we have four cakes in our fridge rn) (no i dont think thats what got me sick) (prolly) + the little old lady in that cake Pic is from Brooklyn NY and worked in a bar her whole life - she also has like 10 kids and has THE best accent and stories ive ever heard in my life 😌

• Roaul the maintenance guy serenaded us and cut out a square of moldy carpet in our apartment😻

apparently the roof collapsed in the room above ours so that closet is leaking mega water (we have to change the pot that its dripping into like three times a day)

welp love yall a bunch hope things are good, lemme know whats happenin back home - wwIII happen yet?!?!?!

- sista seffka

holy best testimony

 hello hello 

what is up fam, happy march ! 🍀☘️

lets see what even happened this week...

We are currently apartment sharing with another companionship so the housing guy told us we're moving into the elders old apartment... we spent too long scrubbing eggs off those walls this week to get it ready for paint lol but painting it was fun😛

we had lots of good lessons and meals this week. we got 5 PEOPLE to church yesterday - praise Jesus for that🙌 it was also my first southern testimony meeting and

holy best testimony meeting ive ever heard?! there was one guy who got up there and was just like YA GOD WON THE WAR AGAINST SATAN RAHHHH🦅🦅🦅 but one of our friends has a 7year old who marched up and bore her testimony (5 year old emmie style) and then her mom eventually came and shared hers too. the ward loves them already🤭. but ya def lots of fire and brimstone preacher vibes but lots of tender powerful testimonies- and the accents just make it a million times better.

its also a crazy time for the ward right now because so many of them are military and from what ive heard things are getting kinda crazy... (someone should update me on that i cant watch the news) 

heres a rapid fire of random crap that happened this week:

- possum looked us directly in the eyes as we ran over it

- theres this guy that tells us hes not interested and to stop calling (Indian accent) but responds to our text messages and scriptures with very thoughtful answers...??

- lady answered the door and said sorry im busy unclogging a toilet (with her bare hands) (they were dripping wet) (shart on her hands) but she pushed her nephew out to talk and hes interested! 😛

- we have a bag of vapes✨️ on our coffee table that was recently confiscated from the other sisters friend - they flushed his meth down the toilet. (he's also a she)

- one of our friends at church signed up for a random singles ward potluck (shes had a boyfriend for 12 years) she said shes "mad at him" 

- talked to the most gracious basher anyone's ever met 🩷 she was very kind but also didn't wanna hear anything new she just wanted to ask us her random reddit questions and read us some bible🙏🙏

- random recent convert 8 year old is obsessed with the book of judges and recited the entire Christmas story by memory (she goes to a Bible school???)

- met NY Italian version of Cheryl Taylor - her house is FULL of precious moments figurines, the owner made her a custom figurine of her because she has so many. she genuinely says "forget about it" and "are you kiddin me?" in her Boston accent

but ya good times, I'll probably have lung cancer by the time i get home from all these random lessons we do... but its good times, I feel the spirit everyday all day and God is definitely hastening his work. we have lots to do everyday, people are seeking God like crazy. that's one thing about the south, even if theyre not interested they'll never turn down a scripture- and then they often feel the spirit and wanna hear more after that?! 

but good times, love yall 

also we studied the urim and thummim footnotes and guide to the scriptures this week and Holy lit? I didn't realize prophets have used them throughout the entire scriptures?? and the brother of Jared stones that God touched are the urim and thummim?? 

OK bye love you‼️

- Sister seffka 

The top of the mountain

 WUENAS

Quick update on the missionary work here in Gaira, Colombia:

a I got a new comp (like two weeks ago): Elder Romero a Hna Tricias got baptized last Saturday

a we teach a guy that lives on the top of some mountain

a dog bit me

a l've felt my testimony grow SO much

These last few weeks have been super great, we had emergency transfers and Elder Romero became my new companion. He's a really good missionary, I love how direct he is with the people we interact with.

We started teaching someone named Tricias that we met through a member a couple weeks ago. She's such a sweet lady, and has a strong testimony. We invited her to stop drinking coffee and she was able to quit cold turkey

This last Saturday she was baptized and now she's going to help her family do the same!

We also teach someone named Angel that ironically lives on the top of a mountain us he's got TONS of questions and we love helping him to understand them.

I want to testify of the living Christ, and the power he offers us through his commandments. It is part of God's plan for us to have agency, and for the blessings that come in our lives to be from our choice to follow righteousness.

As children of a loving Heavenly Father, we can become instruments in his beautifuly orchestrated

plan.

I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice, to offer himself up as the Lamb of God and be the Good Pastor.

God no longer requires an animal sacrifice, but rather a broken heart that desires to be perfected through Christ's blood. I testify that through Him, we can realize and achieve our divine potential.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Riohacha

 HEY I figured after a few months I'd better throw in an update:

So I'm in a new area again- it's called Riohacha- its a super cool area because it's right on the border of Colombia and Venezuela

My companion is a dope Brazilian named ELDER C he's a really funny guy

Here in Riohacha there's a lot of indigenous people and they speak a language called Waünakee. I'm trying learn it but there's not like any books on it so it's a slower process than I would like👍

It's a smaller branch but the members are AWESOME so the work is much smoother.

They eat a lot more lamb/goat (chivo) here and it literally tastes like beef jerky so I can't complain

This last month of March has been really good for our mission as well, we had 147 baptisms which apparently is the most in the last like 15 years so that's a fun fact.

I want to share my testimony of the Savior:

I know Jesus Christ is the Son of the God and his mercy extends to all people. I know that our efforts will be magnified by Him as we have a faith in Him. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple enough for a small child to understand but the most educated and intelligent minds can have difficulty applying it. As we become as small children, we can access God's power in our lives. Covenants make our relationship with Heavenly Father stronger, I love this Gospel and love spreading it. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amén.