We reached a milestone. The Last call from Eldrew on his mission. On LDS missions, the Elders are generally allowed four calls over the two years — each Christmas and each Mother's Day.
This was the last of those calls for Eldrew. He will be home before Christmas. In fact, he will be home on September 6th. It is hard to not start counting the days.
The call was great. Mom, Dad, brother, sisters, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and little baby Preston all gathered at our house for our 40 minute call.
As usual, the call went fast. And as usual, Eldrew was giving us time checks as to how much time we had. (the kids obeys all the mission rules.)
Susan wanted to use a phone we have down stairs in the basement. It has a good speaker on it. So, right before the call, I tried moving the phone upstairs and messed something up. None of the phones in the house worked. After several paniced minutes, we got the phone working for Eldrew's call.
It was GREAT to hear his happy, relaxed voice. It is so funny how he sounds the same, yet so different. His usual humor came shining through.
We talke of mission, his companion, what he is doing, and who he is teaching. We had tender moments of expressing our love for each other. The one subject we stayed away from is discussing him coming home in a few months.
In a few minutes, our milestone was over. Eldrew had to go. We miss him a lot. But it was good to hear his voice. Knowing that we will see him in a few months makes it all the better.
Happy Mother's Day Elder Bellomy. The gift of your spirit and voice was a great present for Susan!
Got a nice, long letter from Eldrew today. Elder Bellomy mixed answering our questions with a few experiences.
Q. When is Trick or Treating in Houston? (Basis for question: In some Southern states and Utah trick-or-treating is held on a Saturday when Halloween falls on a Sunday...which is a Sabbath for most residents.) A. They do it on Sunday...though we didn't get any trick or treaters at our door.
Q. What to the missionaries in your mission on Halloween. Do you go out? Is it safe? The mission was required to be in at 7:30pm. It's safe physically to be outside...I don't think that there are riots or shootings are anything of that nature but the danger is the spiritual things. Halloween seems to be a very immoral holiday. Lots of drunken parties and inappropriate costumes. So, we were inside. Elder Peterson gave me a hair cut with the time we had. ha!
Q. How is the Assistant assignment going? Any interesting stories or experiences? A. Being an assistant is going great. We have just had sooo many things going on. It's crazy. So in my letters home I normally include things that I would consider to be out of the ordinary...but now...everyday is out of the ordinary so It's hard to think about what to write. We just finished the Texas Houston South Mission Quarterly Leadership Conference. It was really good. We had all the leaders come together and we have a training conference. I don't know if I told ya'll this already or not but Elder Born is training this transfer. I'm a grandfather! ha ha.
Q. Have you visited any other parts of the mission yet? A. Not really. I haven't gone to any new parts. Though, I have gotten to return to some areas. Like League City, Hermann Park, etc....I will get a chance to go to a place called Wharton Texas and out to Pearland Texas but I really don't go to any exotic far out there places because I mainly go to the Zone Leader's areas for exchanges.
Q. I'd be interested in knowing your impression of the southern part of your mission down the coast...and how it is different from the inner city areas you have been in. A. Well, I haven't been there yet...but it is surprising how quickly it goes from inner city to country...cowboys, cows, trucks, fields, etc. We have an entire zone that is country. The Bay City Zone.
Eldrew shares an experience.
I will attempt to paraphrase Eldrew's telling of a highly touching, but personal story this week. It is quite lengthy.
The companionship have been teaching a couple and son in a long term relationship, but not married. The father in this family was baptised as a child into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...but has no real memory of the Church or its teachings. One evening, Elder Bellomy and a member of the ward visited the family. They learned that the couple had been struggling with their relationship...brother Fletcher and Elder Bellomy could tell that the tension was high and the mother was upset. [Note...missionaries' do not get in the middle of family matters.] Elder Bellomy and Brother Fletcher listened, bore testimonies, and Eldre shared some passages of scripture from Alma 34 (Alma 34) a chapter of scripture from the Book of Mormon. After a prayer, they excused themselves.
Elder Peterson and Elder Bellomy were concerned for the well being of the family. On the day of their next appointment, they got a call from the family cancelling. They were disappointed and concerned. But the couple requested the phone number of the Bishop. The mother had been touched by the visit of Brother Fletcher and Elder Bellomy a few evenings before and had spent time reading, and rereading the scripture that Eldrew had shared. She and her partner had also accepted the invitation to pray together suggested by Brother Fletcher. As a result, the couple felt the guidance and promptings of the Sprit. As Elder Bellomy put it..."It changed everything." After prayerful consideration the couple decided to ask to meet with the Bishop and arrange to be married. The wedding was last Friday and the mother and son are planning to get baptised soon.
We have had visitors to this website from nearly 80 countries around the world. We welcome all of you. For those who are not members of our faith, I'd like to invite you to meet some Mormons. The LDS Church has a website that allows people to 'meet' Mormons. Profiles and stories of Mormons from all over the world are available. In fact, you can search the collection in a way to meet a Mormon that is similar to you -- gender, age, location, ethnicity, and previous religion. You may find that there are Mormons out there who share many things in common with you.
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!
