So, last weeks email omitted a large detail of my life. I wasn't going to tell ya'll and let the letter from President Saylin inform you...but...I got transfered.
He has been transferred to the SugarLand 1st Ward and is companions with Elder Peterson from Taylorsville, Utah. That is a central Salt Lake Valley city about 20 minutes drive from our house. Eldrew's sister lives almost on the border of Taylorsville on the Murray side of the line. We don't know where Elder Peterson lives, but here is a Google map so you can get a sense of the general location of his hometown.
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Elder Bellomy also has a new assignment. He is going to be one of two administrative assistants to the mission president. Eldrew didn't give too many details as to what the assignment requires. So, I called Greg Whipple who lived a couple of block from us, served in the same mission under President Saylin and happened to have also served as one of his assistants. Elder Whipple, and came home from the Texas Houston South Mission the same day Eldrew arrived. In fact, Eldrew and he greeted each other as they passed in the Houston Air Port.
You may recall our blog about Elder Whipple's homecoming talk which took place in our next-door-neighbor ward — Elder Whipple...Hurricane Ike...FEMA.
So anyways...I called Elder Whipple to get some ideas of what Elder Bellomy might be doing assisting the mission president. He provided some great details. Elder Bellomy is companion to a more senior missionary. Together they have the same assignment. According to Greg, Elder Bellomy and his companion live about ten minutes away from the mission 'home' (the adminstrative office.). They are assigned to a regular missionary area and still do all the same missionary work as before. (Eldrew is excited about this.) They have a added administrative duties and spend about an hour or two in the mission home each day. The Elders assist the mission president with things like setting up conferences, meetings, interviews, assisting zone leaders. Greg confirmed that the companionship will get the chance to travel around the mission with President Salyn to assist in various functions.
Eldrew gave us an example of the sort of thing they do. This week, a visiting General Authority (Mormonspeak: An ecclesiastical leader of the LDS Church that is about equal to a Cardnal in the Catholic Church) visited Houston. Elder Peterson and Bellomy helped arrange and set up a special conference for Elder Costa to speak to the missionaries from all three of the Houston missions. Here is Elder Costa's bio: Claudio Roberto Mendes Costa (For what it is worth, Elder Costa is a terrific and inspiring leader. He came and spoke to the Church in our area last year.)
From what Greg tells us, Eldrew may fill this assignment for a few months or longer.
Eldrew is excited and looking forward to putting his heart into serving. So much so that he let us know that he will no longer have a formal prep day and that we should expect shorter letters from him because he will not have much time to write. We don't care as long as he is happy and doing well in faithful service. Go Eldrew!
Elder Bellomy ended his letter with the following:
I know that God is real. Jesus Christ is His Son and our Savior. President Thomas S Monson is a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true.
I love ya!
Elder Bellomy
Mormon Corner.
As promised, I wanted to occasionally share a few items of general interest about the LDS Church. As you might gather from this blog, Eldrew is spending two very focused years of serving the Lord. Occasionally, we get asked, "what do Mormon missionaries do?"
I found an article that sort of summarizes the daily life and routine of serving an LDS mission.
Life as an LDS Missionary: What LDS Missionaries Do. (By Rachel Bruner, About.com Guide)
This is quite true to what I (Eldrew's Dad) experienced when I was a missionary in New York City back in 1979/81. It is a wonderful time of dedication, focus, and spiritual living.
Well...that's all for this week.
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