Newsy letter from Edrew.

January 17th and a long, newsy email from Elder Bellomy. In fact it is one of the longest letter of his mission.

For starters, he promises to write longer letters home...that will be great.

After two very busy weeks without the chance to do a lot of missionary work.

He and his companion are teaching two sisters (Lucia and Sandra) who originally took missionary lessons in Mexico City. They have testimonies and are getting ready to be baptised. Sandra loves the Gospel Principles lesson book. She said that "If the whole world would live the teachings of this book, it would be a great place."

The companionship also had this experience this week:

"Meanwhile in our area we are still teaching the Grants (the couple that got married a few months back).  Elder Peterson and I weren't sure if she was prepared for baptism but we went through the baptismal questions with her and took a member.  We all felt she and her son were ready.  So we prepared a baptismal service for Sunday (16 Jan.).   It was the best baptism I have ever had.  The Sugar Land 1st ward is amazing!  Powerful talks on baptism and confirmation.  The room was full.  The Bishop who married them did the baptism.  After she got baptized she yelled, "Yay!" ha ha it was really funny.  While she and Cullen were getting changed Elder Peterson and I taught the Restoration of the Gospel (Lesson 1).  It flowed really well and was really spiritual.   And as exciting and great the baptism was, the fantastic things just kept on going.   There is a family in the ward that is just awesome.  They are way strong, the mother is a convert from Orthodox Judiasm, the kids are all really intelligent and musically gifted and really spiritually inclined.  But the riddle the ward has been trying to crack for 10 years since the mother's baptism is why the father hasn't been baptized yet...even though he has come faithfully to church with his family for the last 3 years.  HE EVEN COMES WHEN SHE DOESN'T!!   Well, the oldest son was playing the piano for the baptism so the mother and father were there...after the baptism as everyone was mingling I walked over to the father and started a conversation.  He started asking questions about the "discussions"...and asked if we could teach him the discussions.  I was floored!" 

It was a good week for missionary work in Texas!

Christmas photos.

Christmas time photos from the Saylin family. (Elder Bellomy's mission president.)



Elder Bellomy helping to load Christmas packages.





Christmas box photo. (I don't know who the kids are, so I obscured their faces.)




Garage full of Christmas packages from home for the missionaries.



 


Happy New Year from Houston, Texas.

Here is Eldrew's New Year's message...reproduced in all of its fontastic glory.

2011!! Wow....It feels weird. I was talking to my companion about the year I got my tonsils taken out. Is that crazy how that was 2 whole years ago! I was thinking about that again today when I woke up and shaved my stubble! My stubble. If I didn't shave I'd have a legitimate beard! It's awesome. ha ha Well, I haven't gotten my glasses yet. I still need a check up. I don't know if my vision is that much worse from when I left home but the difference is the fact that at night it is harder to see. So maybe I'll just get some glasses to wear when I feel like it...at $38 who can complain! I'll send a picture when the time comes...I love ya'll!



And happy new year to you Elder.

The day after Christmas.

The regular Monday email came the day after Christmas. I guess Eldrew didn't see the need for a long email. But this email had some news...

So, we had like 2 or so minutes to email this week so I was just going to say a few informational things. I'm thinking I need glasses. There is a member in the mission who gives free eye exams which will save me like 80 dollars on that. He'll give me a prescription and then at Walmart they have these $12 frames I liked and they said it'll cost like $38 dollars total. So I'll pay out of my tax return money. I love ya'll!

That, by the way, is the entire letter this wek.

Given all the years of Eldrew wearing fake, goofy glasses...we tremble to think what he will choose...or what he can choose for $38.

Merry Christmas Elder Bellomy

We heard his voice, enjoyed his spirit, and laughed at his jokes.

It was a great Christmas present.

Funny story...

During the Christmas season, the Texas Houston South Mission has a Christmas party for the missionaries.

We were asked to send a package for Elder Bellomy. (Like we need prompting.) Well, actually...they asked to have it arrive by a certain date to be passed out at the party.

We were also asked to contribute a gift for a game in which the missionaries somehow trade gifts and attempt to upgrade to a gift that they like. (I don't know how that works.)

While shopping, we saw this cool, small, blender. Perfect for protien shakes, etc. We knew that would be a winner. So we got it.

Knowing our Eldrew...we knew that he'd love that gift. (He was a Magic Bullet) frequent flyer before his mission. Guessing that he would have a very small chance of winning the the mixer in the game, we bought him one for his gift package.

On the call, we asked him if he got his Christmas Package...he proceeded to tell us the story of how he and his companion really tried to win this "cool" blender in the Gift Game...and failed. But in an amazing coincidence, his Christmas package had the exact same mixer as he'd tried to win. We all laughed and told him the secret of where both gifts came from.

Almost a year and a half away from home...and we can still read his mind!

It was a great Christmas call. We have three of our four calls down...one to go.

December 20: Not much news.

Very little news from Eldrew this week. Almost the shortest letter yet.

We think he is buy with all of the things described last week.

Elder Bellomy made arrangements for us to have our annual Christmas phone call. The entire family is excited. We will all gather around the phone on Christmas Day and hear his voice.

His investigator, Brother Hale, is progressing but struggling with his smoking habit.

Looking forward to hearing his voice!

December 13. Touching his heart.

First the news...Eldrew didn't get transferred.

After a week where we didn't hear from Eldrew, he sent a long letter.

He shared a story of how his mission, under the direction of his Mission President are trying to apply hard work and faith to find and to bring people to the Gospel before the end of the year.

As Assistants to the President, Elderw and his companion don't get as much missionary time as other missionaries. In fact, Elder Bellomy reports that he and his companion are very busy with Zone Conferences, Mission-wide meetings, Christmas activity planning for the Mission, and TWO transfers this month. It seems that missionaries going home this month were given the choice of early December (be home for Christmas) or after Christmas (spend one last Christmas on their mission).

Anyways, Elder Bellomy and his companion have been striving to contribute to their mission's efforts to find, teach, and bring people to the gospel. Elder Bellomy shared this experience:

Elder Peterson and I were praying to find someone. We had gotten a referral from the spanish missionaries a week before that we couldn't find. It was a bad address. But...while walking through another complex in the area we saw a familiar apt number. We knocked on it and ask for Ashley Hale. It was he. He said he was busy that day but said he would come to church (a day he would HAVE to come to for baptism on the weekend in white). He came. and he loved it. We went that night and taught him, extended a date for baptism for December 19th, the evening of his third time at church. He jumped up and wrote "baptism" on his calendar. As we left his very humble and run down apartment, smelling of cigarettes, Elder Peterson and I were full of faith that the Lord had provided a miracle. Though we knew this would be no easy task, it was well within the realm of reality for a work so guided by God..


Brother Hale has lived a hard life. He was born into wealth, being the son of a father whom inherited a great fortune. His father didn't work and spent his time drinking and doing drugs. Ashley was often beaten by his father and ran away frequently. As he grew older, he turn his life into one of drinking and partying. Realizing the hollowness of the party life he changed his life around leaving only one vestige of his past life-- his heavy addiction to tobacco.

Brother Hale smoked 40 self rolled cigarettes a day. We taught him the word of wisdom 2 days after we met him...knowing he had one week to be through with it. That night he gave us half of his tobacco and coffee. The next day he made a plan of how he would quit by the 12th, the next day he made a numerical goal, the next day he called and told us of how his desire to smoke had curbed dramatically. Friday came around and he smoked 26 cigarettes. That night we talked about miracles, about baptism, and about priesthood blessings. He counted out 13 cigarette papers, grabbed just enough tobacco for 13 cigarettes and then put his ash tray and remaining papers and tobacco in a bag for us to through away. The last 13 cigarettes of his life--Saturday's ration. We gave him a Priesthood blessing. The single most spiritually powerful blessing I have ever been a part of. There was such a feeling of God's love and power. When I annointed I felt as if an agent for God as I stated the authority I acted under. Brother Hale told of the immediate change he felt in his clarity and physical strength. He said he felt the spirit. Tears welled up in my eyes as we made our way to the dumpster to through away Brother Hale's sacrifice to the Lord. Given with a willing heart and a contrite spirit.

Brother Hale came to church yesterday. He loved it again. Brother Hale is going to be baptized on the 19th. I know the Lord loves His children, for if He didn't, I wouldn't have been so blessed to be out here in this work. Words can't express how these months have changed me. This work is a work of miracles

As a former missionary, I (Eldrew's Dad) can relate to the faith-building experience of seeing someone turn their life around. If all goes as planned, this will be a wonderful Christmas for Brother Hale!

Holy Cow! Time to catch up.

It has been a very busy time for the Bellomy family. Sorry that we've not been posting on the ElderBellomy.com blog.

Our intent is that this blog is sort of our family journal of Eldrew's mission.

In that spirit, we will be adding blog entries over the next couple of weeks to get 'caught up.' We'll be  blogging as if in real time.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the mission!

PS: Item of business. Elder Bellomy's address has changed. He likes to get his mail at the Mission Office which has moved. The new address is:

Elder Andrew Bellomy
Texas Houston South Mission
602 Eldridge Road
Sugar Land, TX 77478

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.

A new record.

This week is notable for Eldrew breaking the record for his shortest letter home, yet. Here it is:

I love ya'll....waaaaaayyyy busy week. No time to talk. I gained a stong testimony of Home Teaching this Sunday...I'm gonna be a bomb home teacher. A shepard...not an hireling.  : )
Love,

Elder Bellomy

He is obviously focused, busy, and happy.

And with that, we are going for a record of our own -- the shortest blog entry so far!

Brother and Sister of the Ring.

You may recall this recent photo of Eldrew and his new companion.

Okay...we know that nobody but Eldrew's family spends endless hours staring at his mission photos. So don't feel bad if you missed the ring that Eldrew is wearing. Here is a close up:

What is the significance, you ask? Eldrew is wearing a 'CTR' ring. Not just any CTR ring; he is wearing the exact twin to the one that his sister Sarah wears. Before Elder Bellomy went on his mission, he and his sister purchased identical 'Choose The Right' rings as a mutual commitment to live by the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They each promised to wear their rings while he served in the Texas Houson South Mission. Here is the design of the ring:














Sarah wears her ring everyday. Evidently, Elder Bellomy does as well.

Brother and Sister of the Ring. Both committed to each other — and to Choosing The Right.

Eldrew request. You get a sneak preview.

In this week's letter, Eldrew made a request. He wants Halloween photos of his nephew Preston. For your viewing pleasure, here is a sneak preview of some photos of the little lion. (The photos come our way from Eldrew's sister's blog.) Eldrew will see the photos next week in his email. (Isn't he cute!)

Somewhere over the rainbow.



Preston the Lion



Preston the Lion

Great letter from Houston.

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.

Mormon corner.


Meet Mormons: Click here.




















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.

I invite you to meet some Mormons!
Meet Mormons

Have a great week!

Love from Edrew.

Looks like Edrew had time to write today. It was a short letter and that's okay with us.

The letter was upbeat, loving, faithful, touching...and highly personal.

He got his Halloween package. (Candy for he and his companion, and an EFY CD.) He was grateful.

He took a few lines to express his love and gratitude to us -- very sweet.

He also apologized that he has not written long, detailed letters.

He quickly shared some of challenges and blessings going on in the mission. The mission is picking up momentum from the last transfer when a number of experienced missionaries and leaders completed their missions and returned home.

Edrew sends his love.

More next week!

Meet Elder Peterson.

No email from Elder Bellomy this week. So, we'd like to introduce you to his companion...

Introducing Elder Peterson.
We were kind of sad yesterday that we hadn't heard from Eldrew...when we received a sweet email from the the Hulet family in Texas. The mail included a photo of Elder Bellomy and his new companion Elder Peterson. (Click image to enlarge.)

Elder Peterson (left) Elder Bellomy (right)

Sister Hulet included this kind message about Elder Peterson and Eldrew:

We have had the lucky opportunity to have your sons at our home. We love the spirit they bring into our home! The last two times they have came, they talked to us about the Holy Ghost and it is so amazing to listen to them. Thank you for sharing them with us. I hope that one day my children can be as awesome of missionaries as they are!

The email was as good as hearing from Eldrew himself. Thanks Hulets!

The email was sent to Elder Peterson's parents as well. So, we got the chance to email them and introduce ourselves and exchange emails with them. Double thanks.

Eldrew?
For newcomers, it might be a good time to explain "Eldrew." It is our nickname for Elder Bellomy:

• Elder Andrew Paul Bellomy...
• Elder Andrew Bellomy...
• Elder Andrew...
• Elder Drew...
• Eldrew...

Mormon Corner.

This week, we'd like to introduce you to Alex Boye. 

He is a professional musician, and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Interestingly enough, my wife and I had the chance to meet him this week. Susan (Eldrew's mother) directs the marketing and business operations for CenterPoint Legacy Theatre. CenterPoint is a new regional community performing arts center under construction in Centerville, Utah. The theatre is going to be a state-of-the-art performance center with a 540-seat main theatre and a 250-seat black box theatre. You can read about the theatre here: CenterPointTheatre.org. The theatre will be having its grand opening in January, 2011. (Please excuse the shameless plug for the theatre.) Alex was on one of the facility tours last week. That's how we met him.

Click here to view the Alex Boye video.

Pretty cool opportunity. And, he is a very nice guy. Hopefully he will perform at the new theatre.
 
That's all for now. Stay tuned for more Eldrew news if we get a letter this week.

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. 

Shortest. Letter. Yet.

We finally got this week's email from Eldrew. It was four days late and the shortest letter he has written home so far. Here it is:

Wowzers. Ya'll are looking a bit too far into the future on that one.


I don't have tons of time to email. The Richmond zone had some crazy things happening in it. There are 4 districts in the Richmond zone and there are 4 brand new District leaders and 3 brand new missionaries within it. Pretty crazy.

I love you! Follow the Prophet! That's the message I got from conference.


Hope everything at the homestead is great!Short and sweet. We are happy to know that he is focused, busy, and safe.

Eldrew was speaking in shorthand...so allow us to explain some of the context.
First, we teased Eldrew in the letter from home this week that his sister Sarah hoped that he didn't get married too soon after his mission because she wanted to hang out with him. Obviously, that got a "Wowzers" reaction. I don't think that Elder Bellomy who is living a monastic life can even comprehend such things.
Eldrew and his companion have an assignment to coordinate the efforts of a group of LDS missionaries known as a 'zone.' The Richmond zone has twenty missionaries divided into four 'districts.' Each district has two or three companionships (two missionaries) from which one of the missionaries is designated to be the district leader.
The zone apparently had almost all of its district leaders going home and ended up with a new district leader in every district. In addition to that, there are also three new missionaries who just arrived in the mission field. Eldrew and his companion are probably very, very busy coordinating all the changes, keeping everyone focused, and helping with all the transfer adjustments...moves...etc. A busy time for him.

His reference to conference is about the semi-annual church wide conference for the LDS Church. It is held in Salt Lake City and features a weekend of meetings, hymns, and sermons from Church leaders. It is a major event in the LDS religious experience. The conference is broadcast all over the world. The overall message Eldrew got from conference is that the faithful should follow the prophet.

The transcripts and recordings of the October 2010 conference can be found here: 2010 Conference talks -- language selector

We are going to add a new feature to the blog "Mormon Corner." In honor of, and to support Elder Bellomy's efforts to introduce the LDS Church to the world, we are going to occasionally highlight a story or aspect of the LDS Church that may be of general interest. If you are interested...great...enjoy. If not, thanks for visiting and readling about Elder Bellomy. We are grateful you stopped by and love all of you.
 
Mormon Corner.

 
Here is the story of Stephanie Nielson. You can read her blog at: Nienie Dalogues Blog.