Random Photo Silliness.

We got a photo CD album from Eldrew. No captions, no commentary, no explanations. To be honest, most of the photos make no sense whatsoever. But, for your holiday-weekend viewing pleasure...here are a few selections with our best attempt at a desciption...

(Click on any image to see the larger version)

Why pets are not allowed at the Missionary Training Center.

We think this is Eldrew's call center station at the MTC. (The missionaries at the Missionary Training Center take turns calling and arranging delivery of materials that folks have requested from the LDS Church)

Eldrew's room at the Missionary Training Center. (Looks more organized than his room at home ever did.)

Placing the spire on the Provo LDS Temple...or...preparation day fun at the MTC.

Group shot of Elder Bellomy's MTC district. Most of the missionaries in this group were going to the Texas Houston South Mission.

Houston skyline. We are pretty sure this is on the way in from the airport when Eldrew arrived in Texas from the MTC.

Just one of Eldrew's many, many roomates in his first missionary apartment in Maplewood, Texas.

Salon-quality missionary haircut.

????? (We can only guess that this is Eldrew's idea of creative pumpkin carving at a missionary Halloween activity.)

Eldrew's training companion (Elder Rios) driving.

Morning scripture study. (Elder Rios) We can hardly believe that it gets that cold in Houston, Texas.

Another photo from the car series. Elder Bellomy and Rios going somewhere in their car. (Elder Rios is a 'District' leader. He oversees and coordinates about five companionships. Thus, they get a car to use to visit other missionaries.)

The last photo from the car series. We should name this photo: 'Cars-are-better-than-bikes-because-it-rains-really-hard-in-Houston.'

Roof leak at the apartment.

Catching the rain.

These are just a few selects from the photo CD from Eldrew. You can see all of these and more at Elder Bellomy Photobucket album

Bike. Crash. Book of Mormon. Thanksgiving.

Eldrew reports that all is well and he is happy and engaged in the work. We can tell that he is getting more confident in his abilities.

In a story that did nothing but frustrate his mom...Eldrew mentioned in passing that he'd been hit by a car while riding his bike. Susan had to wait a week and demand the full details to get the confirmation a week later that Eldrew was okay.

From what little Eldrew did share..., a driver did not see Elder Bellomy and managed to bump him off his bike. No harm was done, no broken bones, cuts, or bruises. The bike was not damages.

For Eldrew...no harm...no foul. However, the driver who was at fault was very upset and kept asking Elder Bellomy what he could do. Finally, Eldrew told the driver that all that was required was for the driver to accept a copy of the 'Book of Mormon' and read it. Thus, Eldrew turned a bike accident into a missionary moments.

Speaking of missionary moments, Eldrew reports that they are teaching a father and son who have committed to joining the LDS Church. They met them while street contacting and Elder Bellomy reports that he was inspired to discuss the importance of families. The father and son were interested and are taking the lessons from Elder Bellomy and Elder Rios.

In another story from Eldrew, he and Elder Rios arrived at their apartment early one evening last week and were determined to stay out and work until 9:30 pm when the missionaries are supposed to be done for the night. They decided to meet some of the other people in their apartment complex. They ran into a lady in the Laundromat and struck up a conversation. It turns out that this woman had taken the missionary lessons from the missionaries some time ago...and had lost contact. She still had her copy of the 'Book of Mormon' the missionaries gave her and still reads it on occasion. She told the elders that she loves the Joseph Smith story, and gets tears when she thinks about it. She has agreed to take the missionary lessons again. The Elders were sort of amazed to run into someone with someone so interested in the LDS Church in such a random manner...right in their apartment complex. What are the chances of that happening in Texas?

Elder Bellomy and Rios are working hard, teaching wonderful people, and having fun.

This week, I had an assignment to speak in one of our neighboring LDS congregations. Also speaking was Elder Whipple. You may remember Elder Whipple as a returned Texas Houston South Missionary who is from our neighborhood and who came home from his mission the same day Elder Bellomy arrived in Houston. They got a chance to meet and talk in the airport terminal. Elder Whipple is doing well. He gave a great talk. He is certainly out of missionary mode as his hand was wrapped in a HUGE cast. It seems he broke his hand playing basketball! (I guess it is true what they say about the intensity of LDS Church ball.)

We wrote to Elder Bellomy this week about how much we will miss him this Thanksgiving. One of the things that we are thankful for this holiday is to have a wonderful son who is serving a mission and working hard. The Lord is blessing Eldrew and his family. We hope that he can bless the lives of the people he meets. We hope that someone in Texas will look out for Elder Rios and Bellomy and invite them to Thanksgiving Dinner.

That's it for this week. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

Now THAT's what I call a Presidency visit!

I am leaving my office tonight after a hectic day of meetings, deadlines, reports, and general paperwork. As I walk to my car, my cell phone jingles at me. I have a text message from a phone number I don't recognize.

I open the text message and up pops a photo of a smiling Elder Rios and Elder Bellomy along with a short text about how well they are doing.

The message is from Dave Stephen's – Eldrew's Elders Quorum President from here in Centerville! He is in Texas on business and had Elder Bellomy's mailing address. His Houston business was just minutes away from their address. He stopped by on a whim to drop off some goodies and take them to lunch. When he arrived, the Elders were no where to be seen. However, he knew he was in the right place because there was a car with bikes on a rack...with a picture of Jesus in the car window.

He decided to wait a few minutes...and soon after Elder Bellomy and Elder Rios showed up. Dave said he spent a few minutes with the missionaries and took this photo. Dave reports that Elder Bellomy is looking good...is happy...and dedicated. The Elders had just eaten...so he did not take them to lunch — just a quick visit.

When I called Dave, I literally got happy cramps in my cheeks from non-stop smiling and laughing at Dave's description of Elder Bellomy and Rios.

Dave is some kind of Elder's Quorum Super Hero...I mean going all the way to Houston to make a Presidency visit to one of his Quorum members! Thanks Dave for making my day.

(Photo note: Observe Eldrew's hair cut. Before his mission, he was obsessed with his haircut...I mean OBSESSED. You will notice the short and choppy missionary cut. For Eldrew to be smiling in spite of a that haircut...he must really be happy.)

Trick or treat.

We wanted to make sure the Elder Bellomy and Elder Rios had Halloween treats. The idea was that they shouldn't have to go out knocking on doors (Get it?) for treats. Here is a photo of the treats we sent.

We contacted Elder Rios' Mom to see what kind of candy he likes. We put the candy in a couple of Halloween bags with riddles on the outside. Ready to solve the riddles?


What do you find in a ghost's nose?


Boogers!


What's a Monster's favorite treat?


Ice Scream!


Okay, those were really easy. Anyways...Happy Halloween to Elder Bellomy and Rios.

Proof that miracles do happen on missions.

This apparently, is a photo of the results of Elder Bellomy's room inspection at the MTC. (Included with the photos he just sent.)

As his parents, we can see that he took some old habits with him into the mission.

And in what can only be described as genuine modern miracle...this is his room before he left the MTC.

Catching up...

Okay, I admit. I fell down on the blogging job last week. For all our loyal readers, I will get caught up on Andrew's news from the Texas Houston South Mission.

As mentioned in the previous post...it is a small, small world. Even  smaller than I realized. Eldrew described the small world story from his perspective:

So it is a very small world. 2 instances: The Ence family...I had dinner there and Sister Ence who's from Cali has cousins who went to Viewmont. She asked me if I knew them..."Do you know Nick Baker?"...

"Does he have a sister named Liz?"...

"Yes! Liz Baker is my cousin! Do you know her?"....

"Yes, we hung out nearly every night two summers ago, she brought me otterpops when my tonsils were taken out."

Then the story that you know about the Brame family knowing Elizabeth BUT it's even cooler than that...Brother Brame served his mission in South Carolina and I said, "This is a stretch but do you know the Vaughn family?" and he did. He was in their ward his first transfer. The Vaughns are Whitney's step siblings. Zion's a small paradise...i'm tellin' you...(But i'm trying to change that).

The work.

We are kind of focusing our energies on [some less active members of the Church] right now...an awesome couple that is actually a part member family so it's an investigator too I guess? ha ha he's not too interested but very supportive...they are into cool college radio music from the 80's like old cure, the cult, old U2, etc. He skateboards and used to listen to punk...awesome. I told him I used to skate and that I was in a punk band...he didn't believe it. Last visit I commited him to listen to a few new bands to break his cynicism towards modern music. Today we're having a family home evening with them and we are going to [ask] them to read B. of M with eachother.

Other sundry and random status update from The Elder.

This week was really good...

I have a tooth ache right now...

I'm getting really fat thanks to Blue Bell ice cream but I'm happy...

I'm getting better at door approaches and candid conversation...

I have gotten a lot of mail these passed two weeks...

Especially from Whitney...

More to come in the next few days: Houston Halloween, first photo CD from Eldrew, and another letter.Stay tuned!