Down to lasts...

We are getting down to lasts...

Today was the last email we will send to Eldrew on his mission. Tomorrow will be the last email we will get from Eldrew before he comes home.

Just a few more 'lasts' and he will be home. It is sad, happy, and exciting all at the same time.



Basketball, and other Sugar Land News

Now that Eldrew is no longer a Assistant to the President, he is focused on being a regular prostlytizing missionary. He is training a new missionary (Elder Hesterman) and they are working hard finding people to teach in their area. (And playing a little B-ball!)

His letters are getting longer. And, seems to be having regular preparation days now.

In his last few letters he reports:

1. The photograph of Elder Bellomy with the mystery missionary — Mystery Missionary Photo turns out to be his companion, Elder Bayles the other assistant. He was wearing another missionary's name tag because his was lost.
2. The weather is getting brutal and hot. (We are teasing him because the weather in Utah is wet and cool.)

3. He is playing basketball on preparation days. Eldrew says that he can play for about 15 minutes before he get tired.
4. They still have a car...but don't drive too much because of the small milage allowance. Eldrew says that he loves riding the bike anyways. He says you get out more, connect with the area, and talk to more people.
5. Elder Bellomy reports that with the summer weather, he is getting SUPER tanned. He says that some people say that he looks Cherokee. (Funny thing is that his great, great, great grandmother is reported to have been full Cherokee) However, I don't see that with his blond hair and blue eyes that anyone can think that.
6. He and Elder Hesterman were touched and pleased that they had six people that they are teaching come to Church on Sunday. They have a number of people planning baptisms. Getting six visitors who are committed to baptism is a BIG deal. Eldrew credits the blessing as being 90% the Lord, and 10% Elder Hesterman!

7. Riding bikes is having the effect of Eldre losing weight and getting into shape. He is now 180lbs.

8. They taught two "awesome" gentlemen from Iraq...Muslims. The taught a lesson that Elder Bellomy describes as "filled with the Spirit." They met them tracting (Mormonspeak: "Tracting" is when Mormon missionaries go door-to-door knocking and introducing themselves. They generally teach a short lesson and leave LDS Tracts (pamplets)...hence..."Tracting.)

9. He and Elder Hesterman had a outside their area. Two missionaries going home with long international flights needed to leave a day early. Since Eldrew is near the airport and knows Houston really well, he and his companion were asked to get them to the airport.

10. After nine months in Sugar Land, Elder Bellomy announced that he is getting transferred. We will learn the particulars later. He is looking forward in faith to serving in what may be his last area of this mission. Wow! I can't believe that we are getting to that point.

Transfer announcement (not Eldrew) and THE WRECK.

Why he hasn't been writing. (Same old, same old.)

 I apologize for not sending the newzy emails I should be sending...These passed two weeks have been crazy!!!  Transfers tied us up, then it was moving the mission office (not home), and then it was ZLC, and then, and then, and then... ha ha Those are my excuses! 

An unanticipated expense...a car wreck.

So...I tell you this not so you will freak out, but so that you know of some upcoming financial needs that will be rising. I am fine, I was not hurt, nor was my companion, but I got in a car accident last Monday. I was driving and right after an intersection, right after I was turned to check my blind spot I turned back and traffic was stopped at a point when I was not expecting it to be, so I turned the wheel, slammed on the brakes but I hit the back of a truck. It hardly did any damage to his truck but it got our truck pretty good. Long story short, I got a ticket and our vehicle coordinator said when all I said and done it will come to about 250 out of pocket for me. Which I just feel foolish about and I am so sorry because obviously it won't be coming out of MY pocket and I feel bad because I can't work to pay for it. So, I am sorry in advance. I am going to go to court and plea poverty because I don't make any money and I'll see where that will get me. But anyways, I'll answer your questions now.

New companion.

So there was a transfer in my area.  Elder Peterson is now a District Leader in the Richmond 1st and 2nd wards.  It is a very large area geographically and it is also extremely wealthy.  In that area there is only 1 apartment complex, the rest is ritzy homes with large plots of land.  My new companion is a Spanish missionary named Elder Bayles.  He is an all state middle line backer from Green River, Wyoming.  He is a stud, he went to BYU before his mission and practiced with the team before he came out on his mission.  He plans on playing football at BYU.  We are getting along great and we are really similar to each other, it's eerie.

Mission office move (Answering our questions about it.)

It went as well as a move can go. We actually moved the mission office, not the mission home. The responsibility to move the office was firmly placed on our shoulders, we just got a whole zone to help us. We moved it in 2 days and the office couples and missionaries are putting all the pieces together and unloading boxes.

Q. Where is your apartment in relation to the new mission office?

I don't actually know what my apartment address is, because I don't get mail sent there because I could get transferred and I don't want to tell people to send it other places and have mail for me where other missionaries can lose it...though, the chances of me receiving mail are slim! ha ha I don't write letters and as a result I don't get letters and any letter I would receive wouldn't be very interesting. Plus, I am in the office everyday doing something so the mail being sent there is really convenient for me. The mission office is now in the Eldridge chapel. I was in this chapel for 4 1/2 months when I was a Zone Leader in the Alief ward. It used to be the Richmond stake center so it had the stake offices, but they built a new building for the stake center with new stake offices so the church converted that section of the chapel into our mission office, it's pretty neat and it will save the church money! The mission home is about 15 minutes away from the office, President Saylin also has an office at his home so he has two interview places.

The mission is doing great!  When I started my mission we were the lowest baptizing mission out of the 3 in Houston.  Now, we are the highest.  In the America Southwest area (Which includes all of Arizona and New Mexico where the church is really strong) we are above average on all key indicators AND we lead the area with the most baptismal dates!  421 investigators preparing to be baptized!

Q: Are you teaching anyone?

The Chen family, brother Chen accepted a baptismal date for April 16th. It was awesome!

Random photo.
Eldrew sent this photo without any explanation of who the other missionary is.

(Commentary: Reporting how a mission is doing is always a somewhat odd thing. On one level, the number of baptisms is a concrete sign of the lives that are being brought to the Gospel — and the hard, faithful efforts of missionaries and members. Yet, it can come off as overly statistical and calculating. So, I take the above statistics as a measure of joy at the success rather than boasting or competitiveness.)Q. How is the mission going?

No glasses. Dental work. Zone Conference.

Another long letter from Eldrew. Whooohooo! In his own words...

Glasses NOT needed.

"So, here is the what's what.  First things first.  I didn't end up getting glasses.  We were driving and I said to my companion, "That's a funny bumper sticker..." and he, wearing glasses said, "what?  you can read that?"...So, I figured, I may not NEED glasses. Ha Ha..."

Dental emergency.

"But, I bit of information I was planning on not telling you, Last week I and a root canal on my right top molar. I thought it would be funny for me not to tell ya'll til I got home but that would be kind of rude. I was having some major tooth aches and finally I just couldn't take it anymore so I asked Sister Saylin for a dentist. We went to a Bishop who's a dentist and he told me my tooth was abscess. He sent me to his High Priest group leader, the endodontist. I tell you, that operation was fantastic! Didn't hurt, he gave me a mouth prop so I didn't even have to strain my mouth open. It was great. I just got the permanent filling put in yesterday. It took 15 minutes to put in, he didn't even numb me...apparently, no roots, no pain. Best of all, the doctors didn't charge me a cent! Great men."



Elder Eduardo Gavarret














Zone Conference.

"Today was a pretty intense day...A member of the Seventy is touring our mission so we had zone conference. I conducted and messed up on his name...ha ha...I said, "Elder Eduardo of the Seventy who presides at this meeting." Instead of Elder Eduardo Gavarret of the Seventy who presides at this meeting"...Good thing President quickly corrected me...I'm glad I've gotten passed embarrassment on my mission. The meeting got started and EVERYTHING was changed last minute per Elder Gavarret's request. It was nerve racking! ha ha But it went smoothly and was an enjoyable experience."

All is well!

"Everything here is going great! I love ya'll and hopefully will get you some pictures soon!"

 

Sugarland.

This week's email from Eldrew was devoted entirely to answering the family's questions about his new companion, area, and assignment.

For starters, Eldrew is working in a city named Sugarland, Texas. You can read about the area in this Wiki article: Wikipedia: Sugarland, Texas.

Here are summaries of the answers to our questions:

What is the new ward like (demographics, neighborhoods, etc)?
 Eldrew seems happy to be there and likes the area and the members. As for what it is like, he reports that the area is fairly affluent with large homes. Most of the people he is meeting are engineers, vice presidents, attorneys, etc. He reports that he is going to gain weight because people are having the missionaries over to dinner almost every night.

What is your companion like?
Elder Bellomy really likes and respects his new companion. He is 23  years old. Eldrew compares Elder Peterson to one of his best friends who is on a mission. He describes him as being a great leader, sober, reverent, and with a strong will. Eldrew confirmed that as a companionship they are the Assistants to the President.

What is his routine like? (Missionary work and assignments)
Eldrew reports that a lot of time the companionship's time is taken up with administrative responsibilities. However, they still set goals to meet all of the standard missionary goals. It is hard, but Elder Bellomy thinks meeting their goals is "doable."

How is the work going in your area?
He reports that it is a little slow...but going. He and his companion don't tract. (Mormon speak: Tracting is what missionaries call visiting door-to-door and handing out LDS tracts (pamphlets) Instead, they go to public places and talk to people on the street. It is more productive than walking around and knocking on doors. They also get 'referrals' from the members of the Church that invite them to dinner.

What is it like to work with President Saylin?
Eldrew had this to say: "He [President Saylin] is an attorney so he likes to hear lots of ideas and then he likes to almost debate the ideas to get a feel for which one is best.  So in meetings with just my companion and me he'll ask..."Elder Bellomy, what do you think?" and I'll normally respond... "uhhhh,... ummm... uhhhh...well, I...uhh  think..."   Ha! That was just the first meeting but now I'm not afraid to give my 2 cents.  He told me the first day that he doesn't need or want a yes man.  He wants to hear all the opinions."

How is the old zone doing? (With Eldrew moving out and all new district leaders, they have had a complete change of missionary leaders.)
Elderw says: "Yeah...they are all new district leaders but the zone is tearing it up!!!  They are doing great... The new Zone Leader is Elder McKinney.  I was in his first district.  He's one transfer behind me.  He was serving as a district leader when I became a zone leader and he is just amazing."

One minor newsie thing.
Elder Jared Peterson's parents (a family Eldrew knows here in hometown Centerville, Utah) asked if they could have Eldrew's email address so their son who is serving in one of the other Houston Missions could write to Eldrew. Eldrew said no emails...just letters. However, he did report that he saw Elder Jared Peterson at the Elder Costa tri-mission meeting..."Ha. I gave Jared a hug at the Elder Costa thing. It was cool."

That is about all the news and reports from Eldrews letter. More next week.

Mormon corner.
For this week, I thought I'd share a video of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing a hymn that makes us think of Eldrew, Our hopes for God's protection over him, and our longing to see him again. Enjoy!

Transferred

We got our letter from Eldrew today. He starts by telling us that he was transferred last week.

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.


View Larger Map

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. 

Guitars against the wall.

Please excuse this overtly religious, long, and mostly un-mission-related blog entry from Eldrew’s Dad.

It has been a week of cascading nostalgia about Eldrew. It has been a week for me to ponder the some of the significance of Eldrew and his mission.

These feelings were triggered when we ‘de-junked’ the basement den. Leaning against the wall were guitars that Eldrew played before his mission. Seeing the guitars brought a flood of Andrew-related memories. Eldrew loves playing the guitar. Part of the rhythm and soul of our home were the sounds of Andrew singing and playing in one room or another. Each room had a different acoustic character and Andrew would choose a room to play in based on the musical mood he was in.

Playing the guitar has even been a part of Eldrew's mission. To his delight, Elder Bellomy discovered that he was allowed to play his guitar (with appropriate song choices) while on his mission. He found it very calming as he dealt with the stress of the new missionary transition. He and Elder Rios sang hymns to people they were teaching to Eldrew playing the guitar he had purchased. At one time, he even gave a few guitar lessons to the Bishop of a ward he was assigned to. However, the mission rules changed and Eldrew gave the guitar to someone in the ward.

This week's Eldrew nostalgia jumped a notch when Elizabeth (Eldrew’s older sister) found and posted a video of Eldrew playing and singing at a family get together in 2007. It was in the living room of his grandfather in  up state New York.



Seeing the guitars against the wall made me think of Eldrew…seeing the video of Andrew playing made me think of our trip to New York…thinking of the trip to New York made me think of our family visit to the Sacred Grove...thinking of the Sacred Grove made me think of the significance of Eldrew's mission.

To Mormons, the 'Sacred Grove' is a most unique and hallowed place. Located near Palmyra, New York it is the place where God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith the first prophet of the restored Church of Jesus Christ. Without getting into the theology of it all, visiting the Sacred Grove can be a profound experience for a Latter Day Saint (Mormon).

Here is a photo my kids and I at the Grove. (I love my son-in-law Spencer as one of my kids.)

In 1980, I (Eldrew’s Dad) visited the Sacred Grove while I was on my mission. At the time, I was a fairly recent convert to Mormonism. I had been an atheist and joining the LDS Church as the only member of my family caused quite a sense of cultural shock. As much as I loved the Gospel and the Church, I often felt as if I was a stranger in a foreign land. Mormonism was a life’s journey that I was walking by myself. When I knelt and prayed in the quiet of the Grove, I had a profound sense of loneliness and had only faith in the Lord as to how my life would unfold.

Fast forward to 2007 when I visited the Sacred Grove again. This time, I had my entire family with me. The fruits, miracles, and joy of living the Gospel flooded into my mind and heart. Words cannot express what it meant to me to be with Andrew and the rest of my family in the Grove. It was one of the most profound experiences of my life.

To bring this nostalgia full circle…Eldrew’s mission is an extension of that Grove experience. Andrew’s guitar playing brings joy into my life. Eldrew, as a second generation Mormon on a mission have created very deep reflective feelings within me.

I am deeply touched by the faithfulness and service of Elder Bellomy as he works so hard on his mission. I am amazed at the growth, commitment, and faith of a young man who is giving up two years of his life to serve the Savior and to bring light and hope to the people he meets. If the people he teaches experience a fraction of the joy I have had in the Gospel, then his time has been more than profitably spent.

Isn’t it amazing the feelings that can come from seeing a couple of guitars leaning against the wall?

Postscript:

No discussion of guitar playing in the Bellomy household would be complete without a shout out to Adam Bellomy — Eldrew's older brother.

Adam was the first guitar player in the Bellomy family and was the direct influence that led to Eldrew learning to play. Adam's playing has been every bit as much of the  rhythm and soul of our home as was Eldrew's. Adam came first and was more into amplified  rock and roll. When the two boys got to playing...the foundations of our home shook to the core!

"Stresses and blessin's." The week of September 13th.

A good week for Elder Bellomy. He describes it as a week full of "stresses and blessin's."

For starters, he got letters from three members of the family. He is always excited to hear from us. Three in one week is a great week for him.
Anyone is welcome to send him postal mail. He'd love to hear from you.

His address is:
Elder Andrew Bellomy
Texas Houston South Mission
4627 Austin Pkwy
Sugar Land, TX 77479-2146

More blessings and lives touched.
Elder Mulitalo and Elder Bellomy continue to teach and touch lives. This week Eldrew filled us in on the baptism of Ansu and Elizabeth. Steven, a recent convert to the Church...and newly ordained Priest performed Elizabeth's baptism. Eldrew is excited to see Steven grow and push himself in the Gospel.

Eldrew also reports that this week they began to teach a man named Ezekiel who has prayed and received a confirmation of the truthfulness of the 'Book of Mormon' and is going to be baptized early next month.

The missionaries also visit and teach members of the faith who have lost their way and no longer associate with the Church. Elder Mulitalo and Bellomy taught the Rodriguez family this week and the Spirit was very strong and they were able to answer the questions of one of the daughters who is about Eldrew's sister's age. He describes it this way:

We taught the first lesson and the Spirit was just very strong and everyone was paying attention and interested and it was just like D&C 50. When we teach by the Spirit of Truth, it is received by the Spirit of Truth and both are edified and rejoice together. There was just understanding on both sides...I could feel the spirit as I testified and the really less active daughter said, "you answered so many of my questions, I totally understand now." It will be cool to see them come back to church.

He finishes by saying:

Everything is going great here, I don't have much else to write about other than I love ya'll and I'm excited to have eternity with ya'll. It's all about enduring to the end (and no, I don't mean the last year of my mission...but that too).

And, of course...Eldrew PROMISES to send some photos home. (Have we heard that before?)

Hello home! A good week.

We got our weekly breath of fresh air from Elder Bellomy. He is doing well and is happy.

Hello home!


So, this week was a good one! The zone did great, my area did great, we had zone conference and moved our P-day to Tuesday so we could work on Labor day.

No weekly letter is complete without this promise:

I will get pictures and send pictures next week. Elder Bellomy Promise!

LOL...we will believe that when we see the photos.

One of Eldrews friends is serving a mission in Japan. Elder Turner is putting together a small photo album a way of 'introducing' themselves to people. I asked Eldrew if he thought this would be something he's like to do. He said:

Interesting about Mitch's mission. I've heard of that being done in Brazil and other foreign areas. I think it's because when you see a bunch of obedient, white kids they look like robots and you don't want them in your house. For us in Texas, everyone well knows us. In the more African parts we are called Church People or Preachers and in all the others we're the Mormons (angry and annoyed tone assumed and included). We strive hard to ask soul searching questions and teach with power and authority so they recognize us as servants of the Lord...I don't really care if they think I'm normal. ha ha

I guess that Elder Bellomy has been doing a little thinking about the time left on his mission and how he wants to serve.

I want you to look up a song and listen to it. It's an EFY song on 2005 track number 2. I think it's called "What will you do with the time that's left" It talks about life but I've been paralleling it to my mission. It's a great song...I've been thinking about it especially because 3 of the 4 district leaders [in the zone]are going home in 3 weeks. I love these great men...I couldn't help but cry when they bore their departing missionary testimonies in zone conference...No matter where we are in life or callings (or my mission), there is always time to make changes, repent and put it all on the altar. Like the song says, "What will you do with the time that's left? Will you give it all with no regrets?"

You can listen to the song here: Video: Time that is left

Here are the lyrics:

What will you do with the time that’s left
Will you live it all with no regret?
Will they say that you loved till your final breath?
What will you do with the time that’s left?

Oh, Hallelujah!
Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen

What will you do with the time that’s past?
Oh and all the pain that seems to last?
Can you give it to Jesus and not look back?
What will you do with the time that’s past?

Oh, Hallelujah!
Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen

What will He say when your time has come?
When He takes you into His arms of love?
With tears in His eyes will He say well done?
What will He say when your time has come?

Oh, Hallelujah!
Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
(Lord be present in all my ways,
help me follow You all my days oh Father God)
Amen

What will you do with the time that’s left?
Will you live it all with no regret
Will they say that you loved till your final breath?
What will you do with the time?


He finishes this week's letter with the following:

But, I wanna say I love you two very much and hope everything is going great. I love ya'll!

Busy times.

We were correct. Elderw sent his letter today.

Busy boy:
In the letter he describes how busy and stressed he is at the beginning of each month. In addition to all the missionary work he is doing...and wants to accomplish...he has three additional activities this week — Zone Leader Council Meeting, Stake Correlation Meeting, and District Leader Council meeting. Of course there is a lot of planning and preparation for these meetings. Eldrew also got to pair up with Elder Peterson who is one of the missionaries who is an Assistant to the President for what is called an 'Exchange." This is in a different area and a different missionary than his usual area and companion. This switching up is a training opportunity for Eldrew.

Eldrew seems to be very happy and is taking the extra assignments in stride. He is very grateful for Elder Mulitalo who is working hard with Eldrew over the holiday to put in extra effort. Edrew reports that even with all the extra duties, he and Elder Mulitalo were able to reach all of their goals.

Tropical Storm Hermine:
I asked Elder Bellomy about the big storm...he reports that the mission car was damaged:

Tropical storm huh? Now that you mention it, our car was tipped over when we walked outside today...We thought it was vandals... We must have slept through the whole ordeal. ha ha jk.

(I don't think we will get a real storm report until next week.)

Passing the Sacrament:
He also had this to report on the progress of two recent converts and their progress in the Church...

This last Sunday was also a special one for me. Abraham and Steven, our recent converts, passed the Sacrament for the first time. There was some bumps along the way but they were happy with themselves after. It's helping them grow. The mission has seen me look at the Gospel in a whole new way. Before, the church as something you just do... and the doing was the end result. For example, you read to read, or pray to pray, come to church to come to church...I didn't see really why we do all those things. It's not just the doing, it's the testimony and knowledge we grow.

That 'year' thing:
I also asked him if now that he has been out on his mission a year if he needed anything...replacements...new shoes...etc. He commented on the whole year thing:

In response to the Year mark thing...That was weird. I was too busy for the fanfare. I've heard you're supposed to burn a shirt. That's a retarded thing to do, so I didn't do it. ha ha.

I date however I feel is more important than my one year anniversary of my departure is the date of September 6th--yesterday. In one year I will be stepping off a plane on the 6th of September ha ha. Weird.

Gratitude:
Besides the blessing of Eldrew serving a mission, our entire family has been blessed this year. So far, we are weathering the recession, Adam and Lindsay's wedding, Spencer graduating from grad school, Sarah turning 18, Sarah graduating from high school and going to college, our first grand child, and an empty nest! We mentioned to Eldrew all the blessings we are having and that we are praying for him and his health, safety, and success. He replied:

Well, I wanna let you all know that I love you. And I pray for ya'll as well.

The name of the game lately for me and I think for our family is gratitude. We have been blessed with so much and the Lord deserves the get the props! I love ya'll, bye!

(Did you catch the double "ya'll"? He really has down South for a year!)

It is good to see him happy, working hard, and positive. The Lord is watching over him and blessing him. More to come next week.

He's going to get soaked.

We did not hear from Eldrew yesterday. He usually writes home from a public library computer. Since yesterday was a holiday, we suspect that their prep day gets shifted and thus we get delayed emails.

So the only news so far this week is not from Elder Bellomy...but from the weather. Tropical Storm Hermine is coming ashore Southwest of Houston.

As you can see, Eldrew is no where near the center of the storm. Even so, they are predicting that the Houston area will get between 2" to 3" inches of rain in the next two days.

We'll see if he mentions the storm in the next email we get from him.

Catching up.

Elder Bellomy has settled down into a regular, happy, and hard working routine of mission-only focus. His letters (in spite of teeing up many questions are short and sparse on the details.) He isn't even sending any photos.

So, it is with apologies that I have not posted in over a month. I will attempt to do a little catching up.

First of all, Eldrew seems absolutely happy. What he does write home is unfailingly happy and content. When he does tell of a hard day, unsuccessful lesson, or exhausting moments...he does so with humor and literally "ha..ha" laughing it off. This missionary has absolutely nothing bad to say about anyone.

It is a point of joy for me that he has not truly complained once his whole mission. Well...not quite. On Mother's Day, he gave us the exact time and phone number to call him. When the number didn't work because he gave us the wrong one...he finally called us about 15 minutes later and mildly chided us because he had timed the call so that it would least interfere with his appointment schedules.

A few highlights from his letters home over the last month.

August 8: Elder Bellomy and his companion were blessed to have a baptism. The wonderful aspect of this baptism is that the member of the ward that fellowshipped the person being taught was asked by Elder Bellomy and his companion to perform the baptism. (Mormonspeak: Fellowshipper is a member of the congregation that helps a potential new member learn about the LDS Church and is a friend.) The member's name is Brother Konobe. Eldrew tells the story that Brother Konobe does not speak very good English and has not participated in too many LDS priesthood ordinances. Baptising his new friend was to be a new and wonderful blessing. In the days before the baptism, Brother Konobe's arms became swollen (for no apparent reason) to the point that he could not move it properly and would not be able to perform the baptism. The missionaries gave Brother Konobe a blessing and told him that he'd be healed so he could do the baptism. On the day of the baptism, Brother Konobe's arm was healed! Because Brother Konobe is older, somewhat frail, and cannot read the English language very well, Elder Bellomy stood in the baptismal font and assisted Brother Konobe as he performed the baptism. It was a special experience for Elder Bellomy.

On a side note. One morning, there was a knock at our front door in Centerville, Utah. Susan was late answering and found and older, grey-haired gentleman getting into a large SUV. Susan thought he might be a salesman. He looked at Susan and said, "I'm going to have an unusual conversation with you."

He introduced himself as Brother Platt -- the former home teacher President Saylin and family. (Eldrew's Mission President.) It turns out that Brother Platt was in Houston visiting a daughter and met Elder Bellomy at the mission home. He had come by to tell us that Eldrew was healthy and happy. It just so happens that Susan has been having very strong mommy "I-miss-my-missionary-son" feelings. She made Brother Platt tell all about his visit with Eldrew. Susan was delighted.

When we mentioned the visit to Eldrew...he laughed and remembered meeting Brother Platt. He was surprised that Brother Platt thought him so happy. Eldrew explained that he happened to be at the mission home because his companion was in the process of returning home to China...and that he (Eldrew) had actually been quite grumpy sitting around the mission home when he wanted to be out working. Eldrew got a good laugh that his impatience didn't come through to Brother Platt.

Thank you Brother PLatt! You were just what Susan needed.

The August 8 letter ended with the note that Zhang returned home to China. We would learn of transfers in the next letter.

August 16th letter: Elder Bellomy has a new companion -- Elder Mulitalo from West Valley, Utah. Elder Bellomy thinks that Elder Mulitalo is great. He is a Polynesian from the west side of the Salt Lake Valley. He said that they often talk late into the night. Elder Mulitalo is a football player and is slated to play defense for the University of Utah after his mission. Elder Bellomy says that he is quite a large fellow (I think about 6'3" and nearly 300lbs. They are working hard and teaching a lot of great people.

Eldrew told us about an experience where he was conducting a Sunday evening Fireside. Attending the service was Elder Keith K. Hilbig an LDS General Authority and Seventy. Elder Hilbig is Sister Saylin's father. For reference, Sister Saylin is the wife of Eldrew’s Mission President. We have been impressed that she is a wonderful ‘Mission Mom.’ It means a lot to Susan that Sister Saylin is there for Eldrew. (Mormonspeak: A Fireside is a Sunday evening Church service. A General Authority is one of the senior leaders of the LDS Church. A 'Seventy' is roughly equivalent to a Cardinal or Archbishop in the Catholic Church.)

August 23rd letter: Not much news...Elder Bellomy and Mulitalo are working hard and are being blessed.

Elder Bellomy is excited that transfers are coming and he and Elder Mulitalo are staying together. Elder Mulitalo has had a different companion for every one of the last eight months...and Eldrew a new companion for the last five months. They are both pleased to be able to keep working together and have some continuity.

Elder Bellomy got to do a baptismal interview with a wonderful convert to the Church that has really changed his life. Eldrew was touched to see the blessings in store for this person and his family.

August 30th letter: Not much news. Still no photos for the last couple of months.

Okay...I admit it...there was more news than I remember...but Eldrew's letters still seem short to me. We are happy he is doing well and that the Lord seems to be blessing him so much.

I will be writing more in a couple of days.

Abraham from Liberia.

Elder Bellomy's reports that his current area is about 60% African immigrents. He recently wrote us about Abraham from Liberia.

Abraham had been attending a local church for four years without being baptized or becoming a member. The members of the Church gathered and prayed over Abraham. Elder Bellomy reports as an apparent result of the experience, Abraham had a dream after the prayer or later that evening. In the dream, Abraham saw people with white shirts and ties like the missionaries...but that the dream ended before he could introduce himself to them.

Abraham took the dream to have special spiritual meaning because he left that Church a few days later and began searching for the men he saw in his dream. His search ended when he found Elder Zhang and Elder Bellomy and recognized them from his dream.

In a special circumstance, Abraham had a Mormon friend, Brother Konoboe from Africa, that helped him take the missionary lessons.

Abraham from Liberia was baptised on July 17th as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

"Can You Imagine Me A Year Ago?"

You may remember that we did a post all about Eldrew's hair and how he has totally gotten over his obsession with perfect hair styling. (A parting of the ways) Well, Eldrew came to that realization on his own this week. In fact, the title of the post comes directly from Elder Bellomy's letter home this week. (More on that below.)

The letter home this week was back to the short variety. Susan thought that it would be a great idea to make the family letter all about announcing Preston's birth to his missionary uncle. No questions, just baby news. Eldrew responded with about as short an email as he could.

One of the things I admire about Eldrew is that he is obeying the mission rules. We weren't sure if he was allowed to view sites on Preparation Days at the library...but we included the professional baby photo site that has Preston's hospital photos.

(You can see the photos yourself until August 9, 2010. Click on this link: Bella Baby Website The password is: 0622PRESTONHANSEN.)

True of heart, Eldrew told us that he could not visit the site because it was against the rules. He asked us to send the photos seperately and that he'd want to see them.

We were able to send him this photo that he could see:

"Can You Imagine Me A Year Ago?"

Here is the one story that he did share from this week:

I will tell you a funny story. I call it, "Can You Imagine Me A Year Ago?"

Last preparation day I needed a hair cut. We went to the laundry mat and put our laundry in then set out for a barber shop or a hair salon. For some reason all the good ones were closed...so we succumb to "$3.99 Happy Cuts" in a strip mall more ghetto than anything in Rose Park. Ha, ha.

We sat down in the lobby and waited for the one hair stylist to finish. She was Vietnamese. Elder Zhang whispered to me, "I don't think she speaks English..." and I replied, "If she doesn't speak English, I'm not getting my hair cut here. " After a few minutes she was ready to cut my hair..."You wan hear cuah?" (misspelling intentional) I asked, "do you speak English" She was confident, "Yes." ....she lied.

I asked for a 4 on the sides, she gave me a 2 because..."4 too long!!" It was terrible...but I didn't care. It was weird, I parted my hair when I got home and did the best with it I could and I really didn't care in the end.

It left me saying...can you imagine me a year ago?

Three thoughts came to me regarding this "hairi kari:"

1. Elder Bellomy really has gotten to a place where he doesn't care about his hair.

2. I laughed at the notion of him doing his best to part this bad, short hair cut.

3. If the salon is named "$3.99 Happy Cuts" you are going to get a terrible haircut even if they speak King's English!

More next week!

Asked. And, Answered.

Every LDS missionary has a different letter writing profile. Some send long, detailed emails home every week. Others, you are lucky to get a paragraph or two. Eldrew falls on the few-paragraph end of the scale. When we mention this to other missionary parents, we ususally get a, "Oh-our-missionary-sends-wonderful-long-letters-full-of-details-home-every-week" sorts of responses.

Even though Eldrew's letters are short -- they are regular. Every week. And, we love knowing that he is alive and doing well. Even from a paragraph we can get a sense of his happy...stressed...tired...focused...excited...spirit.

But, I think we have broken the code for getting longer letters. We have taken to asking him the things we'd like to know about him and what he is doing. The result are markedly longer letters. The last couple of weeks he has taken the time to answer some of our questions. Here (in paraphrased form) are some of the questions and answers from the last two weeks:

Q: What are the missionaries in the zone like?
A: They are good missionaries. We have very obedient missionaries in out mission... our biggest struggle is the occasional elder that doesn't get out of bed until 7...so it's really good for us. There are some struggling areas but thus is life...I don't really know how to answer that question without taking a few pages ha ha

Q: How many zones are there in the mission?
A: There are 7 zones.

Q: How many English speaking zones?
A: 4 English, 1 bi-lingual and 2 all-Spanish.

Q: Do you spend a lot of time with individual companionships or elders?
A: We spend about more time with individual elders. We switch areas for a day and teach them by example...we apply the trainings, do everything right and inspire them... this week I took a brand new missionary out into our area...he'd been out for 3 weeks...we found 3 new investigators they all accepted baptism on specific dates and all our lessons were with a member present.

Q: By the way...how many missionaries in your mission?
A: There are about 140 missionaries so about 70 companionships. I think it's about 60% English[-speaking] and 40% Spanish[-speaking].

Q:What was the $85 bike shop charge on your account? Any problems with the bike?
A: I snapped my axis and I popped my tire so I had to get it fixed. Funny story...one day in my last area...I don't know if I've told this story. We were riding and nothing was going through all our appointments weren't there and I just looked up into the sky at the clouds and said...Heavenly Father, help me to have patience... then about 10 minutes later and hit a big nail and my tire went completely flat in about 8 seconds. I guess the only way to grow patience is to have your patience tested. Ha, ha.

Q: Does Elder Zhang (Eldrew’s new missionary companion from mainland China) speak English well?
A: Yes, he has great English. He has a very big accent but he knows the English language well.

Q: Is Elder Zhang a convert to the LDS Church?
A: Yes. He was an atheist all his life until 16 when he was invited to a cottage/baptismal meeting in his home town and after 4 hours of hearing the lessons and feeling the spirit, he got baptized. He hadn't ever prayed about the Book of Mormon, talked to his parents about it, he just knows it was right. He then converted is mom and after a year of reading the Book of Mormon with his dad, he got to baptize him. Their branch meets in his home and Sunday School is in his room. The branch is made up mostly of his family members.

Q: Where in China is Elder Zhang from?
A: I can't pronounce it. But, it's in central China. He is one of 100 missionaries in the world from mainland China...when he left one of the first 30 missionaries from his country.

Q: Tell us all about your new area.
A: It is very diverse. There is about every culture and religion here. In about 95% of the lessons I am the only Caucasian person participating. The major ethnic group is people from Africa — Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana. It's crazy. Right now we are teaching a Muslim. She had a dream the night we taught her where she was in the middle of a war and she was screaming, "Jesus Save me!" She was very confused because he doesn't believe he can...but she is slowly understanding why he is necessary as a mediator and feeling the spirit as she reads and prays

Q: What is the Ward like?
A: It's small and nice. The people love the missionaries

Q: How many missionaries in the zone you are in?
A: There are 16 Elders and 4 sisters.

Q: What areas does the zone cover?
A: Memorial, Alief, Richmond, Rosenburg and...well...the entire Houston area, including all 3 missions. We have the Vietnamese Missionaries and they cover that area. It’s called the Breaburn District. Bry Lines served in this branch when he was in Houston. If you ask him he was in the Richmond Zone.

Q: How many districts in the Zone?
A: There are 4 districts: Memorial, Alief, Richmond and Breaburn.

Q: What sorts of things do you do as a Zone Leader?
A:  Hmmmm…plan, pray, and get ulcers over struggling areas, ha ha. We help, lift and inspire the missionaries. We also do exchanges, calls, leading by examples, zone meetings, etc.

Q: How many splits (Missionary team-ups with members of the congregation)
A:  About 2 a week.

Q: Do you have a car?
A: Yes, a 2009 Malibu... V6!!!!

Q: What is it like to have a foreign missionary for a companion?
A: Interesting. He's been Americanized but he's hilarious. Some of the phrases he says make me laugh so hard.

Q: Do you like Elder Zhang?
A: Yes.

Q: I there anything we can do to help Elder Zhang?
A: He goes home in a month so, I don't think so

Q: How is the weather? Very hot, not a lot of rain yet.
A: Is it getting hot yet? Yes...see above

Q: What is your apartment like?
A: It's very big and clean. Zone leaders have to have clean apartments. We had bed bugs for a bit last week though...we killed them all though with some bug stuff....stupid buggers bit up my legs! Ha, ha.

Other letter-home items:
So, I had my first zone meeting this week...I conducted it and gave the training. I was really nervous...Elder Zhang said you could tell I was freaked out (ha ha) I will get better over time.

PS...If you could send some E.F.Y. CDs that would be great (‘E.F.Y.’ means especially for youth) It's approved listening and I need something other than Boremon Tabernacle Choir. Ha, ha. Send it to the mission home...Please?
I'm excited for pictures of Preston. I've been praying for him every night.

Phew, these weeks feel so long in retrospect but so short while living them. ha ha So many things.

------

That about covers the latest news from Houston. We will update the next time we hear from Eldrew.

Best man, from afar.

Elder Bellomy could not be home for Adam and Lindsey's wedding. We missed him. But we were all proud of his willingness to serve. We were touched by his wedding toast to the couple.

A & L,

Congratulations on this great and important day. I know it is the start of great times for each other and for all branches of the family tree. On the brink of such a momentous occasion I can’t help but to think of complementary colors (even though it’s snowy in Utah, it’s not snowing in Texas and the gardens are in full bloom, trust me).

My biggest fear has always been losing Adam. I know, I know…call it a corny thing to say, maybe it’s because I wouldn’t have anyone else to rip style from or maybe it’s because there wouldn’t be someone else to clean the bathroom with me on Saturday mornings…but mostly it’s because Adam has always been my friend. He’s always let me know what is cool, what I should wear, how I should talk, and, unexpectedly, how to be myself. It is a privilege of mine to see Adam become who he needs to be. He’s always been good, but Lindsey…with you, he’s become great. You are his complementary color. You bring out the best in him. I have never seen him so dedicated, so responsible and so concerned for another person…not even me!! (I’m not jealous, don’t worry, I understand).

I’m thankful for you Lindsey for being the one my brother was looking for, I love you. Adam, I love you too. I’ll give you both really big hugs in about 15 months. Ha ha Have a great night, congratulations again.

The Born Identity.

Introducing Elder Born!
This is a time when I wish I'd kept up with this blog on a more of a regular basis.

Last month, Eldrew wrote home and announced that transfers were in coming and that he would be training a new missionary arriving from the Mission Training Center.

Within a week we welcomed Elder Born into our mission family. We were very excited. I got a chance to call his mom and talk to her when he arrived. It was great to talk to her. Elder Born is from Phoenix, Arizona. Eldrew says that he is an AWeSOME missionary. In fact, Eldrew sees many qualities in Elder Born that he admires and wishes that he could be more like.

The pair have been working hard, teaching, and inviting people to accept the Gospel. Here is a photo of Elder Bellomy and Elder Born after a very heavy rain storm. It's not a great photo...but I remember working hard in rain, snow, and the heat. These are hard working missionaries braving the elements to preach the Gospel. (Click to enlarge)

The Mother's Day Call.
It was great to talk to Eldrew on Mother's Day. We were all prepped by Elder Bellomy. Being the serious missionary he is, he wrote in advance and notified us of the time when we could call him. He announced that he was timing the call with is Mom so that it would least interfere with his missionary work! At the appointed time, we called...and called...and called. No answer. Then after about 20 minutes, the phone rings and its Eldrew chiding us for not calling on time. It turns out that he'd given us the wrong number.

It was great to hear his voice. We did most of the talking...mostly asking him questions about how he is doing and what he is doing. The funny thing is that he kept giving us time checks. The call home is allowed to last 40 minutes. And, that boy was not going to go 30 seconds over.

"You have 35 minutes."

"You have 13 minutes."

"You have six minutes."

"You have one and half minutes."

Gotta love the fact that he is dedicated to follow the mission rules. It was great to get a sense of Andrew. We can tell he is happy because his warped sense of humor was in full force. He was teasing us, bearing his testimony, and generally glowing about his mission. Only six months until Christmas when we get to talk to him again.

The missing man at the wedding.
Last week was Eldrew's brother's wedding. We missed him. I confess that there has not been a moment since Eldrew left that I have wished him home. Last week was the exception. As we celebrated Adam's wedding, I really missed having Eldrew there for the big event. Eldrew wrote a very, touching letter to Adam and Lindsay. When we read the letter at the wedding dinner the night before the wedding, it brought tears to their eyes...it was a very special moment.

Playing dead.
Here is another random photo sent by Eldrew. It is of a possum doing what possums do...playing dead. (Click to enlarge)

The Wiki article on possums (opossum) describes the behavior of this indigenous medium-sized marsupial as:

"When threatened or harmed, they will "play possum", mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick of dead animal. When playing possum, the lips are drawn back, teeth are bared, saliva forms around the mouth, and a foul-smelling odor is secreted from the anal glands. The physiological response is involuntary, rather than a conscious act. Their stiff, curled form can be prodded, turned over, and even carried away. The animal will regain consciousness after a period of minutes or hours and escape."

Later, after this photo was taken, Eldrew reports that the possum had disappeared — resurrected you might say.

Meeting Elder Rios.
Elder Bellomy's first companion is coming home this transfer. We are planning on going to his sacrament service where he will be speaking. It will be great to meet him and his parents. Elder Rio's parents are top notch folks and have been super kind to us and Eldrew. We are looking forward to hearing from Elder Rios.

Transfers.
There are transfers next week. Stay tuned. More news next week.

A parting of the ways

For those of us who know and love Eldrew, know how absolutely fussy he is about his hair. Prior to his mission, he obsessed about missionary haircuts. Never in his life has he parted his hair on the side. Under no circumstances was he going to have a regular missionary (parted on the side) haircut while he was on his mission.

When it comest to hairstyles, Eldrew has has almost every hair style imaginable...but NEVER parted on the side.

Imagine our surprise when recently he sent photos and announced he was parting his hair on the side.

For kicks, here are a few samples of the many styles of Elder Bellomy before his mission.

It goes without saying that we love Eldrew no matter how he wears his hair. We love getting photos from him on his mission. So, we will share one last photo we got last week. It is Eldrew sleeping with the new pet beagle of the owners of the home where Eldrew is staying.

We get to talk to Eldrew!!
One last note. Missionaries call home on Christmas Day and Mother's Day. Today is Mother's Day and we have our call with Eldrew scheduled at exactly 5pm Mountain time. He has scheduled that time so that it will least affect his missionary work. The whole family is looking forward to hearing from him. We will report in a later blog entry what he has to say.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

This week I'll call it "The Good, the Bad, and the Funny"

Susan asked me to share this entire email from Eldrew.

First, the Good:

To answer your questions about investigators: (not that anyone is counting...) I have been a part of 3 baptisms. Jimmy, Malonni, and Lacey. But the way it seems to go in missionary work is that you can't really claim any baptisms of your own.

The other day we got our mission newsletter, 'It Is Written', which contains articles from President and Sister Saylin and the Assistants, pictures of incoming and outgoing missionaries and baptismal statistics and names of individuals baptized. It was cool to see names of people whom I began or helped teach on the list. Oscar was going to be my first baptism...back in December on the 12th. He had some things to still work on so I never saw it happen. BUT he did. And the word was passed along that he is preparing for a mission! Edwin in my first area got baptized as well as a boy named Brooklyn.

Hopefully people I helped come unto Christ! Miranda moved to Virginia with her mother, she hasn't been baptized yet but she asked the sister missionaries if she could get baptized as soon as she got to her mothers. They told her yes...so...I'm confident she is going to be baptized. Currently we are working with a 24 year old man named Eric. He is going to get baptized this Saturday. He is overcoming word of wisdom problems and this week he is going through "detox". He took work of so he could sleep, throw up and feel miserable at home. Will you please pray for him this week that he can feel God's comfort and have the strength to endure. He is a very passionate young man and will go on a mission! ha ha :) I will send pictures of it home next week.

Some more good...My birthday. No breakfast in bed but I did get to wake up at 6:30 and exercise ha ha. My birthday present was given to me on Sunday. Lacey bore her testimony. I got all choked up and stuff. ha ha to feel the Spirit bear witness of what she said. She's thankful for the gift of the Holy Ghost. :)

Also, I feel great riding on my bike. I hope I stay on it my whole mission.

Also, today I read Alma 17...its amazing how diligence, faith, scripture study, pray, fasting, optimism increase our effectiveness in the Lord's work (Whether you're a missionary, a Sunday School teacher, on the High Council or a Laurel) Effective teaching, testimony bearing and even rock slinging and sword work! Ha


Second, the Bad.

There's none of that.

Finally, the Funny.

So here's an interesting encounter for you:

We were riding through a trailer park in the bottom part of our area when a car pulled up next to us and said, "Are you Jehovah's?" I replied, "No, Mormons!"

He said, "Nice, I'll pull over!"

So, he drove up a ways and pulled over and got out of his car. He was wearing black boots, black tight pants, and a black and white stripped shirt buttoned half way up with his chest exposed and over ten necklaces. His hands were covered in rings and his wrists with bracelets. On top of his head was a fedora hat covering is dreads that went halfway down his back. I laughed to myself as we rode up to him.

So! Tell me! What are you all about...maaaaan."

We told him, we're all about Jesus Christ and told him about the restoration. He was really interested but was really just interested in everything possible. He was "spiritual" and prayed to everything and anything people pray to...while he does yoga. He's studying to be a lawyer but the Man (American politics) is going to keep him from making a difference. He informed us early on in the conversation not to look up, because the airplanes and helicopters that were coincidentally flying above us weren't actually coincidently flying above us. It was the government keeping tabs on him. They are scared of him because he's going to do something for the people...probably a communist thing.

He also explained his ridiculous policy on guns which...I am afraid to say though it is stupid is kind of clever. He wants to take away everyone’s guns but not their arms. He will give everyone an arm...a sword. Because when everyone has a sword and no one has a gun, you'll think twice before you kill someone. His rhetorical scenario, "If I'm standing right there and you're standing over there and we both have guns are you going to think twice about shooting me faster than I shoot you? Probably not. Or if I'm standing right there and you're standing over there and I have a sword and you have a gun are you going to think twice about shooting me? No, because you have a gun! But if we both have swords you're going to think twice before you kill me because you may die first." ha ha ha ha hilarious. He told us to look at his face and remember it because it was going to be famous someday and then he was off.

Famous or infamous he will always be funny to me!

Your son,

Elder Andrew Paul Bellomy



Translation:

(Eldrew's Dad with a little Mormon-speak translation and commentary for those who may not understand all the LDS references.)

Andrew has never really spoken in detail about the people he has/is teaching who have accepted the restored Gospel and have been baptized. We were wondering and asked him in his weekly letter. The first part of his letter is sharing with us. Obviously, he is happy that he is teaching and people are listening to his preaching...but he is not boastful about it. (I will say that I am eternally grateful to the Mormons who introduced me to the Church and missionaries that taught me.)

Testimony meeting -- a once a month sacrament or communion meeting in the LDS Church where there is essentially an open microphone for members of the congregation to 'bear their testimony.' They can speak on any topic they want regarding their feelings and experiences in the Church. (One of my favorite meetings...very unscripted.)

Restoration -- Mormons believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its pure and authoratitve form was lost from the earth and that through a modern prophet, Jesus Christ has reestablished (restored) his Church. If  you are interested in the concept, you can read about it here: The Restoration of the Gospel

High Council -- This is essentially an executive board of Elders that assists in the administration of an LDS Stake. They are sort of like a board of Deacons in a traditional Christian denomination. A stake is an territorial/administrative unit of the Church made up of about 5-7 congregations. The closest equivilent is that of a diocese in the Episcipal or Catholic Church.

Laural -- a member of a woman's youth class aged 16-18. Eldrew's younger sister is a Laural.

gkb

With love from Pasadena Texas.

This is the longest...by far...letter from Eldrew so far on his mission. He seems happy and content as he comes up on his six month mark. SIX MONTHS!! A quarter of his two year mission completed. Wow.

Here is the letter. (I've added a few photos for context and fun.)

This week was so cool ha ha and I'll tell you why.

First, Elder Beck and I were rolling down this street that we take as a short cut when we look over and see a guy playing guitar on his porch. We turned around and went to his trailer to talk to him. His name was Louie and he was playing a Fender Strat. We talked music. He likes blues and so we talked about Buddy Guy and Big Mama Thornton. He offered us some sodas and we accepted, so when he got up to get them I asked if I could strum on his guitar, he said, "Sure, Man!" So I strapped up and started ripping some blues. He said, "Man, not very many cats have rhythm like that, that was a good little ditty." ha ha so we brought up the gospel and we're going by this Friday to teach a first lesson.

Second. There is a section of our area called the Avenues. Just your typical grid system that goes by 1st street through 15th street and Avenue A through M. So one day we are riding down Avenue K and these kids are playing basketball. They yell, "Oh no it's the cops!" and some of them laughed and one of the kids hid under a truck ha ha We said no, we're not the cops, we're missionaries. And then they started talking, "Can I have that bike, that watch, that tie, that backpack...etc...etc" So I said, "I'll play you for it. ha They all agreed, but then I said I was joking but that I did have a proposition for them. A game of ball, if we won, they had to hear a lesson, if they won we'd leave, no lesson taught. They enthusiastically agreed. There was four of them and so they gave us their gimpy friend with a hurt arm. (not fair at all)...they tossed me the ball and asked if I had ever played before. I said, "Basketball? No, not really, but it doesn't seem hard." One of the kids yelled in repsonse, "you're hustling us aren't you? You totally are." I said "maybe" and checked the ball. I faked a drive and shot. Swoosh. 1 to 0. "You are hustling us!" They played winners ball so if you always make it the other team never gets the ball. I checked the ball, passed to Elder Beck, he shot. Swoosh. 2 to 0. I checked the ball, faked a shot and drove it. Off the backboard, in. 3-0. But then...they stole it from the gimpy kid and came back...we lost 11-15. Humiliating. We would have won if it weren't for the gimp! ha ha We're gonna try to get a rematch some day.

Third, Yesterday we got a call from our bishop. He said to Elder Beck, "Rumor in the ward is that you're going home?" He said yes. He then said, "Another rumor is that you and your companion play guitar?" He said yes. He then said, "Well, my wife is going to be out of town this week and so I'm gonna be a bachelor. I've been trying to learn the guitar, how about this week you and your companion bring your guitars over to teach me a lesson." He said of course. ha ha Preach My Gospel says to serve the bishop...so we are :)
   

Fourth and finally. This week was a special zone conference. Elder [W. Craig] Zwick and his wife were touring the mission and so they gave the trainings. (Note from Kim - Elder Zwick is roughly the equivilent in the LDS Church to what a Cardinal is in the Catholic Church)
 
We sang a hymn and had a pray and then Elder Zwick got up. "I want to do something a little different today, I want to have some missionaries come up to do something. Open your preach my gospel, choose a principle, teach it, the next companion will tell a story about it and testify and then the first companion will bear testimony and close. I'd like to ask the zone leaders to choose 4 companionships from each zone to do this."
 
Of course, Elder Beck and I were chosen to represent our zone. ha ha We went 3rd. The first companionship came up, rambled nervously and closed. Elder Zwick told of Elder Perry's criticisms, they seem harsh but they are done in love and he let them have it...told them that they rambled and that they didn't stay on topic. Gulp. ha ha then sister's got up. They did good because they're sisters and he didn't have much to say about it but good things.
 
Then it was our turn we taught fasting and I told Miranda's story. Elder Zwick said that we made him want to start a fast right then. He asked the audience for comments and they were all good. phew...good thing I prayed to not sound like and idiot before we went up. ha ha I taught a lesson in front of a General Authority. It was crazy! ha ha