It is official. No letter this week.

No email from Eldrew.

He emailed his sister Sarah and told her that he only had time to email one person. And, she was the lucky recipient.

At least we know (through his sister) that he is doing well.

More next time we hear from him.

No mail. Eldrew story, instead.

No mail from Edrew this week. We think it is transfer week. That means that Eldrew will be busy assisting with the arrival of new missionaires, the departure of missionaries going home, transfers around the mission, and training.

So, in place of a weekly update, we'll share a nostalgia moment about Eldrew.

Two days ago, Eldrew's dad drove past the Centerville City Founder's Park. They were just about to kick off the annual lighting ceremony for the city's holiday celebration. The trees in the park are festooned with tens of thousands of lights along with other holiday decorations. On the first Monday of December the lights are turned on, there is a concert, Santa arrives, and there is plenty of hot chocolate to go around.

A large Santa's chair was sitting in the center of the large stage on the center pavilion. It's a beautiful chair. I know; because building the chair was Eldrew's Eagle Scout project.

The LDS Church is big...BIG...into scouting. It is a great program for teaching morals and values...and keeping idle little teenage boy's hands busy doing helpful stuff. The Eagle award is scouting's highest award. Eldrew was never that much into scouting. However, with great leaders in our congregation, Eldrew was three months shy of 18 (the cut off date) for earning his Eagle and and only had his Eagle Service Project left to do. His Mom was determined that Eldrew would get earn his award and we all got Eldrew focused on the one final mountain to climb. Eldrew chose to create a Santa Chair for the City of Centerville.


Fred and Andrew




















With the help of Fred Beesley, Eldrew refurbished an old chair into a HUGE red velvet Santa chair and presented it to the city. Fred was wonderful and guided Eldrew through the process. He is an expert upolsterer. They stripped down the chair, did the carpentry to make the chair bigger and taller, and (with a LOT of help from Fred) added the red velvet finish. The end result is quite impressive.


The official Centerville City Santa Chair





















It was great to see The Chair. It is annual reminder of the experience...and brings back a wave of nostagia for the project and thoughts of Eldrew. We miss him a lot when we see things like the chair or other things that bring him to mind. We are, however, very proud and excited about his mission.

If we do get a late letter this week...we'll report. Just 17 days until Christmas when we get to talk to him!

(Christmas) green with envy.

Letters home:
Elder Bellomy's emails have been arriving on time, but are awfully short. Hence, not a lot to write about.

Here is the last email home:

I know I sound like a broken record...but...we have tons to do today. I have a talk I have to prepare for our Zone Leader Council tomorrow and it is proving to be a very hard subject. So, I will give you the low down of thanksgiving. We were well taken care of. Our ward mission leader had us over. He was for a long time the VP of finance at a big oil company. They had tons of good, traditional food. Then we went to see a family named the Crossgroves. We taught a lesson there and they filled us up with 2 plates each and a plate of dessert to share. She is from Louisiana so it was cajun. Spicy turkey, cornbread stuffin and dirty rice. Mmmmm. so good. We then went and taught some more lessons other places. We have to stay busy on thanksgiving, it's not a day off. :)

Eldrew sighting.
We confess to be a little green (Christmas green) with envy. We got a real-time Eldrew sighting report this week.

We emailed Sister Saylin with some details on Christmas packages. She was kind enough to respond with an email reply and share with us that she'd been with Elderw at a Christmas dinner the night before with the senior missionaries...and that he was in the office at the very moment when she was responding to our email. It was really cool, and sort of strange to get an email from someone who was interacting with Eldrew during the moments we were getting the email. Needless to say, we were excited, happy...and yes...a little envious...that she gets to see and talk to Elder Bellomy. Most of all, we were very happy to read her kind words about Eldrew.

Just 23 days until we get to talk to Eldrew on the phone. Now that will be a real-time experience.

Mormon corner:
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here is a Thanksgiving message produced by the LDS church.



This Thanksgiving Day, as our family gathered around the table and each spoke of the blessings we are thankful for...we thanked the Lord for Andrew. Our son, brother, and inspiration. We are grateful for his spirit and light. We are thankful that he is well taken care of and that the Lord has watched over him.