Siblings Reunited in Mission Field See How ‘the Lord Knows Us Individually’

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By Joel Randall, Church News

Micah Beckstead and Faʻafeai Anita Muliselu agree it was no coincidence they were led to serve in the same mission.

Brother and sister, the two were adopted young by different families and grew up on separate continents. They had met only once before, when 8-year-old Micah and his family visited American Samoa, where he was born and where Faʻafeai was living, while she was 11.

About a decade after the brief visit, as a young adult who had studied Spanish in school, Elder Beckstead was surprised to receive a call to the Samoa Apia Mission.

Priscilla Beckstead — the elder’s adopted mother from Orem, Utah — found out through social media that his biological sister had been serving in the same mission he soon would.

“It’s been a testimony to all of us that these calls are inspired,” Priscilla Beckstead told the Church News. “The Lord knows what they need, and the Lord leads them.”

Meeting in the Mission Field

As he started his mission mid-2023, Elder Beckstead was nervous to serve with his biological sister — who had started her mission six months prior — but excited to join together in the work. When they finally saw each other at a mission meeting, Sister Muliselu didn’t hesitate to walk up to him.

“I felt a missing part of me kind of fill in a little,” Elder Beckstead recounted. “We hugged for the longest time, and there were some weird glances, but we didn’t care.”

Sister Muliselu said of the encounter: “I could see the resemblance that he and I had. There was no doubt in my mind I was blessed to reunite with him. No better place than seeing him on the mission with me.”

The rejoined brother and sister kept in contact, occasionally seeing each other at missionary meetings or through Sister Muliselu’s traveling responsibilities as a sister training leader. Their rediscovered connection strengthened their service as servants of the Lord.

“With Elder Beckstead, I found safety and strength to faithfully accomplish the Lord’s work,” said Sister Muliselu.

“Throughout my mission, Sister Muliselu has always been someone I can look up to,” said Elder Beckstead. “She’s not only a great leader in this mission but an even better missionary who helps strengthen my testimony of the gospel.”

Eternal Bonds in a Marvelous Plan

Knowing more about their biological family, Sister Muliselu loves sharing photos and information about where they came from.

Priscilla Beckstead has seen the excitement in her son’s calls and emails home. She said: “This whole new world opened up for him in discovering who he was.”

And for Sister Muliselu, serving with her brother has been nothing short of a tender mercy: “The Lord knows us individually, personally and wholeheartedly,” she said. “He knew me best by calling my brother to the mission at the same time.”

Elder Beckstead’s understanding of Heavenly Father’s “marvelous plan” has also been eternally strengthened.

Her son’s mission experience has borne testimony to Priscilla Beckstead that “there’s a greater plan and picture for each one of us that we don’t see all the time, but the Lord does. The Lord knows what He’s doing, and if you trust Him, you’ll start to see what the plan is that He has for you.”

The Lord is aware of family ties, Priscilla Beckstead has learned. “I know that our son is ours through the eternities — we’ve been sealed — but they have a special bond, and I think that the Lord is mindful of that as well, that their family ties go beyond this life.”

Elder Beckstead said he will be forever grateful for a loving Savior who makes it possible for him to return to live with Heavenly Father.

Although he and Sister Muliselu “have both been sealed eternally to two different wonderful families,” he said, “by doing so we have also been sealed to an even bigger and holier family as a son and daughter of God.”

Time Shared ‘Meant Everything to Me’

The siblings-turned-best-friends plan to keep in contact, with Sister Muliselu having finished her mission mid-June and Elder Beckstead to reach a year in his mission by late June. He has a scholarship to play football at Utah State University after his service, and his sister — who moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, after living in American Samoa for 18 years — has already talked about coming up to watch his games.

For Priscilla Beckstead, the timing that allowed the siblings to serve together is a testament to Heavenly Father’s love. “You just see the Lord’s hand written all over, and I think they see it, and I think through that, they’ve come to have a closer relationship not only with each other but with Jesus Christ,” she said.

“Having that bond with her has helped to motivate myself to do better,” said Elder Beckstead. “I am truly grateful to God for the wonderful opportunity to have served with Sister Muliselu.”

His big sister added, “Our little encounters on the island he served meant everything to me.”

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