Exactly one week from this moment.

In exactly one week from this moment, Eldrew's plane is scheduled to arrive in Salt Lake City

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.



The one digit midgit rides his broken-down bike.

Eldrew is in the home stretch of his mission. Counting today, he is down to only nine days left. That makes him officially (to borrow an old phrase from his Dad's navy days) a "one digit midgit." In other words, he is down to single digits in the days left on his mission. The celebrations are almost ready to start.

A couple of notes from last week's letter as it relates to the final days of his mission...

Broken down bike.
Just like his Dad, Elder Bellomy is limping his bike* to the finish line. He writes:

Probably the funniest thing that is a part of my daily life down to nearly every second is that my bike is giving up the ghost. Gear boxes are breaking (i'm down to a 3 speed from a 21 speed), my crank arm is stript so when I ride I have to twist my leg and body to get it to turn over and all kinds of little things are falling off. ha ha I was going to send it home but I guess not.

Special experiences.
Elder Bellomy is having special experiences right down to the final days of his mission.

I think the cool thing to announce for this week is that I am going to have the best day of my life on Friday...I go to the temple with my departing group and then I drive home and 2 hours later I turn around and head back up north to a chapel in the north part of our mission where we will have the pleasure to hear from Elder Jeffery R. Holland!!!!!!! Yeah! He is taking a major unplanned detour to speak to the 3 houston missions. I am so pumped up. He is a power house.

Elder Holland has a special place in our family's heart. He was the President of Brigham Young University when Eldrew's parents attended. He is a great speaker, and is Susan's favorite Church leader.

Here is a short video to give you a sense of Elder Holland. He is speaking to young people of the Church...but is the spirit of him as a person and speaker.

 

 

* The photo of the bike is just representative. I will replace it with a real photo when Eldrew gets home.

Updates from Elder Bellomy.

Wow! Time is flying by.

We get regular emails from Eldrew, but not a lot of news. He is focused and working hard. He loves his companion...and tells us a few funny stories.
To be honest, there isn't a lot of news to tell.

Houston is blazingly hot.

Eldrew and Elder Tufaga are teaching a lot of people...but not too many are willing to follow through. He speaks of constantly sifting. He loves the area he is in.

Some snippets from his last few letters:

Learning charity:

We have some really exciting things going on in our area right now and I am learning a lot about charity. I think that is the lesson the Lord wants me to learn right now. It's not that I'm having my charity tested all the time or anything, but there are a lot of elements to missionary work where charity is intergral and I am finding that if I'm having one of those days it is hard to muster that love. It is a great lesson to learn to go even farther to get outside of myself and love more. Like Christ taught, if I love those who love me, what reward do I have?

Gladys Knight.

Did you know that Gladys Night is a Latter Day Saint? Eldrew reports the following news.

Another cool thing that is happening, which I will miss but it is still cool, is Sister Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices Choir is coming to do 5 free firesides in Houston (all with in our mission boundaries). She and her choir sing gospel music and she bears her testimony and shares her conversion story and makes some bold commitments to non members in the audience.

Elder Born update:

Elderew speaks of a great Zone Conference (a missionary get together for about 20-30 missionaries). He mentions Elder Born is an Assistant to the President...I think this is the same Elder Born that Eldrew trained and really thinks the world of.

Yesterday was Zone Conference where we recieved some awesome counsel from President Saylin and his 2 wonderful assistants--Elder Bayles and Elder Born.

Mormon moment...here is a video of Gladys Knight performing with the Mormon Tablernacle Choir.

Wednesday, 7:18 PM, Mountain Standard Time, September 6, 2011.

It is official.We got the 'coming home' letter and travel itinerary from Elder Bellomy's Mission President. As of tomorrow, we have 35 days until we see our missionary again.

He will be routing through Phoenix and will be arriving just before 7:30 PM.

Also planned...

Elder Bellomy will officially be released that evening by our Stake President, President Morris.

On Sunday morning, September 11th, he will report his mission to the High Council* of the Stake. (This will be cool since Eldrew's Dad is a member of the High Council.)

Then, Eldrew will speak to our congregation during our Sunday morning services. This will be followed by a family and friend gathering at our house...sort of shake-his-hand-and-say-hello affair.

At this point however, we have barely spoken to Eldrew about his homecoming. He wants to stay focused...and has asked us not to really talk about it.

 "Hoorah!!!"


*Mormon speak: The High Council in the LDS Church is sort of like an advisory board composed of 12 High Priests drawn from the congregations of an LDS Stake...similar to a Dioceses in the Catholic Church. This group advises the Stake President and carries out assigned administrative responsibilities.

July 4th and beyond in Sunnyside.

Eldrew has settled into the routine of his new area...and probibly last area...Sunnyside.

He is contacting and teaching. My impession is that he is teaching many more people than he did in his previous area. Elder Bellomy seems to be upbeat, happy, and committed.

It is not to suggest that there isn't anything interesting going on, but he is certainly in a sort of focused zone. He loves his companion and teaching people.

Here are a few highlights from his last few letters:

The difference in his new area:
"We are doing lots of good finding. We normally find about 10 new investigators a week...compared to 2 a week in Sugar Land. It is a lot of fun meeting the people we meet."

Some highlights from the people he is teaching:
"The 4th of July was good and hot. We worked a regular day, we did get BBQ! The Sisters brought us some from a member. It was really good soul food. The highlight of the 4th of July however was a man we met on the bike path...He normally walks around with a pack of dogs so we don't talk to him because Elder Tufaga and dogs don't get along (He got bit 2 weeks ago), but he was with out his dogs so we started up a conversation. He wasn't interested, but he is a professionally trained opera singer and he sang us 2 songs. ha ha I was trying so hard not to laugh. One was from Handel's Messiah."  

"There is a man ...I see so much potential in...He is about 40 or so, I think I told you about him...he didn't come to church, we saw him that day and he was drunk but I still can see and smell passed all of that. He will be baptized this month. He is way funny though, he is a martial artist...kind of...and he was showing us his moves...I was blow away, he actually knows martial arts. It made me laugh because I volunteered Elder Tufaga to spar with him and he was trying to egg Elder Tufaga on so he could show us his moves. ha Elder Tufaga was not happy with me! HA!"

"I think the spiritual highlight of the week [July 19] however, well, there were two. First one was actually not even our investigator but I baptized the sister's investigator on Saturday. His name is "W.W." and he is an amazing man. One of the most prepared investigators I have seen on my mission. His family is completely against it, especially his daughter whom he lives with, but regardless he knows it's true.

These are just a few of the stories that Eldrew is sharing of his teaching and contacting that we are comfortable sharing.

Pioneer Day in Houston:
(Mormonspeak note: Pioneer Day is a major state holiday in Utah. It is the holiday that celebrates the moment the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley.) "Wow, Pioneer day... I completely forgot about that holiday until the first talk at church. I thought to myself, "why is this person talking so much about the pioneers?" and then I realized and had to explain to our investigator next to me what a pioneer is and why the person was talking about it."

Talk assigned and accepted:
We were approached this week at Church to confirm Elder Bellomy's date for coming home. We were asked to arrange with Eldrew the date he will be speaking in Church. Elder Bellomy accepted and asked for an assigned topic to speak on. He also asked us not to remind him of the talk until two weeks before he comes home. He doesn't want us to discuss coming home because he wants to stay focused on his mission.

Transfers...not.

Elder Bellomy finished his July 25th letter with the following: "Transfer calls were today, I am staying in Sunnyside with Elder Tufaga. :)

Love ya'll!

Elder Bellomy"

 

And we love you too, Elder Bellomy

More transfer news...

With every transfer, we get a copy of the official assignment letter sent to Elder Bellomy from President Saylin. We got our copy of the letter today.

WE knew he'd been transferred and had a new companion. We also know the Church unit he is serving in. We don't know where the area is...or where his apartment is. Eldrew did leave out one small detail regarding the transfer. He has also been assigned as a District Leader.

(Mormonspeak: A district leader is the missionary assigned to lead and coordinate the missionary work in a smaller geographic area within a mission. We don't know the size of the district, but generally a 'district' comprises between 2-4 companionships. Up to eight missionaries.)

I am sure that Elder Bellomy is excited about this assignment because he LOVES working with other missionaries. I believe that he didn't mention it because he is happy being focused on the work. This is sort of a best case scenario for him. He gets to do the missionary work he likes...and gets to share time with other missionaries.

From a trivia perspective, this also provides Elder Bellomy with chance to experience every assignment an LDS missionary can have on a mission — junior companion, senior companion, trainer, district leader, zone leader, and assistant to the President.

Tomorrow is letter day. I'm sure there are updates coming...and photos if we are lucky!

Photos of Eldrew!!!

It has been MONTHS since we got a photo from Elder Bellomy.

However, the Mom's of a couple of Eldrew's companions have sent some photos in the last week.

In case you have forgotten what Elder Bellomy looks like (we have)...here are some photos. Click to enlarge.

Elder  Bellomy in a group photo. He is the second from the left. Directly to his right is Elder Born...one of Elder Bellomy's former companions. (Thanks to his Mom for sending us this photo.)

This is Elder Bellomy with his last companion, Elder Hesterman. Eldrew was his training missionary. (Thanks to Elder Hesterman's Mom for sending this and the next photo.)

Elders Bellomy and Hesterman. I think this may be the day the two were made companions and were heading out to their area from the mission home.

General observations...

• Elder Bellomy looks more grown up than ever...amazing.
• Eldrew's haircut is shorter than I think I have ever seen it. Well...the shortest since he was about 12-years old and he shaved his head for football season. Since then, he has always had pretty long hair.
• Notice that Eldrew is wearing an orange tie in all three photos? A close look seems to show that all three ties have a different pattern. I guess he likes orange ties.

Wow...it is so good to see him.

Shameless...pandering.

In the nearly two years since we have launched ElderBellomy.com, we have had visits from 47 of the United States. If you know anyone in South Dakota, Vermont, or Alabama...please recommend they visit ElderBellomy.com. Shameless self-promotion...I know...but it would be fun to have a complete 50-state sweep!

Go South Dakota!

Go Vermont!

Go Alabama!

Final Transfer?

We don't know if this really is the final transfer...but there are only July and August transfers left on Eldrew's mission.

After only a month of training Elder Hesterman, Eldrew has transferred to the Sunnyside Branch in Houston. Elder Bellomy describes this as a "dramatic" change.

He has moved from what he has described as "the ward he wants to live in when he is married" to a tiny branch. The Sugar Land 1st Ward is a well established, affluent area. The Ward has a nice chapel and a lot of really great, active members. The Sunnyside branch has only 30 members and has no building. Until they recently rented space, they met in a member's home. The branch (Mormonspeak: a small congregation) can only rent the space for two hours, so they cut out the ususal Sunday School class.

Eldrew describes the area as "mostly extremely poor ghetto" with some areas near the University of Houston that has some nicer homes.

His companion is Elder Tufaga (pronounce Two-fong-ah) He is from Hawaii. He is part Hawaiian, Samoan, and Chinese. Eldrew says that Elder Tufaga is hard working...and he is excited to serve with him. The congregation is so small that Elder Bellomy and Tufaga took the responsibility of passing the Sacrament on Sunday.

Eldrew says that if they don't find, teach, and bring people into the Church, this small congregation will not grow. So, he and his companion are working hard.

We are excited for him and his companion!!!

Time for another Mormon Moment.

Here is an inspiring video of a young LDS mother who overcame the challenges created in her life from a terrible car accident.

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.

Historic Mission Milestone: Mother's Day call.

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!

Transfer! Sort of...

Elder Bellomy got "transferred"...sort of. He is still living in the same appartment and is working in the same ward — the Sugarland 1st Ward.

The big change is that he has been given a new assignment. He is no longer the Assistant to the President. After seven months, he is back on the bike and spending his days focusing on missionary work.

The other cool news is that he is training a new missionary!

Introducing Elder Hesterman. In Elder Bellomy's own words, here is an introduction.

So, the Elder Hesterman break down. He is 19 from Sandy, Utah. He is the oldest of 3 boys. He plays the guitar and is exceptionally talented. He played in the Jazz band in high school and actually played at private parties with a few different bands. He went to Snow College in Ephraim and there he played Rugby. He is a hard worker, is very opinionated, and isn't afraid to talk or teach or bear testimony.

Now that Eldrew is no longer an Assistant, he seems to have the time to take a "P-day". His fist letter is longer than they have been. And, he said that he even had time to plahy some basketball!

Here is Eldrew's update for the week.

This was a week of ups and downs we had some great lessons and days and some more trying days. But regardless, life goes on and we are thanking the Lord in the good and the bad...for we grow during both times! The absolute highlight of the week was a lesson with a man named Jaime, a new investigator. He has a baptismal date for June 5th. He is super humble and as we taught him he understood and felt everything. We extended the date and he said He would definitely be baptized, if he came to know the book of mormon is true, he would be baptized. After that we started talking about the Holy Ghost and how he was going to recognize his answer and as he discribed how the Holy Ghost feels he said, "Kind of how I'm feeling right now". it was awesome. We also had a part member family at church for the 2nd week in a row. The member has been inactive for like 10 years and her kids aren't baptized and her husband (who is a hard nut to crack) is starting to warm up as he reads the book of mormon and comes to church. Joe and Damien have a baptismal date for May 29th. We did a lot of biking this week which has reconfirmed my love for the bikes. There just is no substitue. You talk to more people, you feel great and you have fun. I'm going to bike everywhere when I get home.

Next up, the Mother's Day call report! Stay tuned.I can tell that Eldrew really likes Elder Hesterman. They have a lot in common. I have also had the chance to have a great conversation with his Mom, Ashley. She is a convert to Mormonism and is from the South...so she is excited that her son is serving in a Southern state. I am going to post a photo as soon as we can find it on Susan's Blackberry.

Plaque

It is a tradition in many Latter Day Saint wards (congregation) to put up a plaque on the bulletin board for each missionary serving from the ward.

It has taken a while, but our congregation decided to put up plaques for our missionaries. This is a terrible photo, but here is Eldrew's plaque. (click to enlarge)

I confess that I've always found this tradition rather quaint...but I have been truely touched by this plaque.

Other missionaries serving from our ward are Elder Price -- Mississippi, and Elder Turner -- Japan.

As soon as I get a getter photo, I will replace this one.

Caught up. Looking forward.

Well...we are finally caught up on Elder Bellomy's mission blog. To friends and family who have lived throught the drought...we hope this has not been too much in too short a time. We have been catching up by writing in as-if-in-real-time. I hope this still captured the spirit and flow of his mission. For us, it is almost like reliving this portion of his mission.

Going forward we will keep everything up to date.

At dinner tonight, we talked about the time Elder Bellomy has left. We are amazed. He has about four months left...where has the time gone. Yet, he has so much left to accomplish and grow. The interesting thing is that we don't really know exactly when he is coming home. It will be sometime in September.

The other BIG news is that we get to talk to him next Sunday for Mother's Day. This is the last of the four times we get to phone him. Wow! The next time after that we we actually talk will be at the airport.

Our mission now will be to support him, keep him focused, and not cause him to become distracted thinking about coming home. Now is the time to sprint across the finish line.

A touching letter from Elder Bellomy

No commentary this week. I'll just share Elder Bellomy's email.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This passed week Elder Bayles and I had a companionship study which makes the first part of this email, really a preface to my email, necessary. We had a conversation about our families. I remembered how the best day of my week before the mission was Sunday. I remembered how I used to pull up after church or after being with my friends to see Spencer and Elizabeth's Sonata parked out side with Adam's car right next to it. I remembered how warm and happy it made me feel to be with my family. It brought tears to my eyes to think about how I can be with you all forever. Through the Priesthood of God, our family has been bound together. It is powerful motivation to always stay pure. So I may stand spotless before the judgement bar of Christ and be let into Celestial Glory through His infinite mercy and grace, after I have exerted everything I have keeping true and remaining on the path.

Long story short, I love ya'll. I am so thankful to you for all that has been given to me. Support, love, finances, everything to get me out here and keep me here. YOU DO SO MUCH, I can scarcely summon adequate gratitude to pay you back. I am sorry I have been a terrible pen pal. I am going to be better!

Okay. Now that I have recanted, I can give you the news:

This week was a week of ups and downs...like most weeks and days in missionary work. We had an awesome week in our area. We found 2 new investigators, we have some awesome investigators, and we have been doing a lot more in our area than the weeks before. One of our investigators name is Andy Chen. Andy Chen is the husband of a woman from mainland china. He is Chinese himself but was raised in the Bronx and Queens. His wife joined the church in Switzerland while going to school. They just moved into the area and we went by after they came to church together and announced to the ward in introduction "We are the Chens, I'm Ting, this is my husband Andy...he is not a member YET, but we will be married in the Temple in a year or so"...talk about bold. ha ha He is scheduled to be baptized this Sunday evening. We have an awesome relationship with him and it is awesome to see how he is coming closer to God and Jesus Christ through the Book of Mormon and through the help of the Holy Ghost.

I would say the story to my life right now is really hard to put into many words when it can so easily and appropriately be explained as a blur. Time is moving so fast. It was my birthday yesterday right? ...RIGHT? Transfer week is coming up this next week so I am getting pretty anxious to see what will happen with me next week. The crazy time is going to shortly begin...Busy, busy. ZLC...Ebenezer, etc, etc. :) But I love it.
What is another weird facet of my life is that I am going to start applying for school in the upcoming week. I think BYU is going to be my big sell. Not that I have been thinking about it but...Business Accounting undergrad and then onto law school. Corporate attorney here I come!

I love ya'll...I did a lot better this time, eh?

With love from Houston--

Elder Andrew Bellomy

Busy boy II.

Well...we sort of got after Eldrew in our email this week about the short letters and/or no letters. His big sister Elizabeth also sent him an email complaining. Her email included a sample email from another missionary that is very newsy and much longer than Eldrew's emails typically are. This resulted in this very, very long email home this week.

I'm sorry! It makes me feel terrible hear that my emails are too scanty in details, but I am so void of time that long emails aren't possible. This week is no exception. As you can see it is 5 o'clock our time and p day ends at 5, we still have a few more projects to get done. I haven't had a p-day in a long time. I love ya'll and hope you can forgive me for these week emails. I am doing well and the creditable coverage letter should be coming. They said they would mail it. Love ya'll!

But, you can tell that he is working hard. If he doesn't have a formal "P" day...then he is a very, very busy missionary. LDS missionaries typically get one day a week to take a break. Break is a relative concept for missionaries. The "Prep" day is for doing laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, letter writing, reports, etc. On my mission (back in the dawn of time) missionaires had until about 5pm for prep day. That allowed some time for sight seeing or gathering with other missionaries to hang out. My impression now is that you have more of a Prep morning to get everything done. Even at that, Eldrew has so many tasks that they are giving up what little time they have to devote to getting the work done.

All I can say is, "keep up the good work Elder!"


We love Eldrew. For me (his Dad) his letters and occasional lack of a letter is just fine. I consider his mission an opportunity of a life time and is about working hard and serving the Lord. My teasing about long letters is just that — teasing. Others in the family...not so much. Long letters or short, he will get the chance to tell us all about his mission when he gets home. In the meantime, we know that he is healthy and happy.

Happy Birrthday Eldrew.

Eldrew turned 21 on April 6th. We sent him a package with some LDS music...and a BYU shirt. It amazes us that he is planning on going to BYU. When he attended the University of Utah before his mission...he'd spit on the ground whenever "BYU" was mentioned. I guess you change when get older, wiser, and more mature.

As far as Eldrew's letter goes...we are back to the famine.

I did get the package. Thank you so much! I love ya'll a ton. We are really swamped with work today so I am sorry this will be short! I love you and am doing well! Have a great week.

At least we know he is alive and well on the occasion of his Big 21!

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?

April 2...no news letter.

We are going through another famine period from Eldrew. A short, short email...then no emai...and this week's thin email:

Hey hey! This is going to be short, just a quick note really. Regarding the thing I was supposed to ask for, I know I asked for it because she verified my address and everything for it. I will call again on monday to take care of it. But I love ya'll, enjoy conference!

At least we know he'd alive and seems to be in good spirits.

(For what it is worth, the "thing" Eldrew is speaking of is a health insurance verification document that he needs to provide so we can fully insure him on Dad's health plan...we've been working on getting him to take care of it for months.)