A New Mission President!

Hello, hello family! 
This week has been insane! There have been so many changes, so many experiences, and some challenges that have made us run hard to keep up with our schedules! But in case you think this week was a bad one from that last sentence, it was quite the opposite! Isn't it strange? I feel like the more busy you are as a missionary, the more that you enjoy every day, every moment- hard times too! 

So... as far as Changes....
1.We have a new Mission President now! President Mangum! I haven't met him yet, but we get to meet him this upcoming Thursday and we are so excited! 
2.We are TRANSFERRED. It was an emergency pull out. All the Sisters in our apartment are transferred to the same new area. So I'll have the same companion and roommates, just new location. We are going to a Elder's apartment and we are anxious to see the state of our new living environment... :) But we hear the ward is really great! My new area is in Lipa Zone and we leave later today. 

As far as Challenges....
1. We were instructed not to tell anyone in our ward that we were transferring. So we have been saying our goodbyes "undercover." I feel like the Van Trapp family, sneaking off to Austria!  It's been really hard to say goodbye to some our members and investigators because we had to act normal, like we would see them next week. Sister Peters was especially hard! Even though I've only been here for 3 weeks, I love her so much! 
2. Because we are transferring we've been going crazy cleaning, teaching, and packing. I feel that I'm learning the life-skill of not panicking when everything hits you at once. On top of packing, cleaning, teaching our shower broke (meaning bucket showers this whole week), our toilet really had it with us and it's been a struggle to flush anything, a mirror in our apartment randomly fell and shattered everywhere, our freezer is slowing down and it's been hard to keep things cool or frozen, AND we ran out of gas for our stove. Gah! It reminded me of when we were renovating our house and I just told myself that there are probably worse times to come when I'm a parent, haha!    

And as far as Experiences....
1. I fell asleep in our lesson with Sister Peters. It was really hot this week and we had been punted all afternoon, on top of everything happening in the above paragraph. I was trying so hard to stay awake, first trying to keep both eyes open and then just one... when suddenly, I was dreaming. I dozed off for about 5 or so minutes and woke up to Sister Peters and Sister Maagad laughing really hard at me. 
2. We went to a very-easy-to-offend investigator's house this week. When you read that statement about her, you can imagine I've got a good story coming. :) She always makes food for us. (Actually, this was my first time teaching her, but Sister Maagad told me that she does.) And you have to eat it, ALL OF IT, or she will lecture you on being respectful. We went in, not thinking about my allergies to wheat. And of course, she sets down a big bowl of Pasta soup and some crackers. I looked at Sister Maagad and shook my head, like, "I can't!" She looked at me with big eyes and whispered desperately, "Just this once. We'll pray hard for you! You have to do it!" So we sat down and prayed. I know Heavenly Father blessed us with revelation, because immediately after the prayer, Sister Maagad leaned across the table and whispered, "When she's not looking, give me all your pasta." While we ate our investigator wandered in and out of the room, doing little chores. Whenever her back was to us, I dumped spoonful after spoonful of pasta noodles into her bowl. Each time our investigator looked back to us, we would innocently pretend to eat it. Sister Maagad and I were laughing toward the end, especially because her bowl was so full of noodles, it had turned into pasta instead of soup. And because she was trying to eat it quickly so it wouldn't look I had given her extra noodles, she literally started sweating big drops down her face. Thankfully, our investigator never caught us. That's the power of prayer, everyone. 
3. This is a story about how amazing my companion is and how dedicated to the work she is! 
This Wednesday, after eating out at District Meeting, Sister Maagad came home feeling really sick. She tried to start Companion Study with me.... but ended up running from the room and to the bathroom to throw up. She threw up 6 times in about 3 hours. Poor thing! BUT.... she insisted, INSISTED, on going to our last appointment. She promised me that the feeling was gone and it was probably just food poison. So, off we went to our lesson, all the while I kept asking, "Are you sure?" She would always reply, "Opo. Wala na!" (Meaning, yes, it's gone.)  Towards the end, I noticed that she was not really not okay. I could tell that she was swallowing back her vomit. I immediately began to end the lesson so that we could hurry home. But she interrupted me and after swallowing down some more vomit, asked, "Brother, have you prayed  to know if this is true?" Our investigator got really quiet and then said "I did this morning. I know it is true." I was so amazed with my companion. Had I finished the lesson, we would have never found out that our investigator received an answer. Because she cares more about the people she serves that herself, we learned that our investigator knows it's true! I was so proud of her! What a wonderful missionary!  
4. We taught a really fun, memorable FHE with one of our part member families this week. (I wrote about them before. They have 5 daughters.) We started out in one room and pretended like we were in the pre-existence. We told them that they had the opportunity to go to earth and have a body. We taught them that they would have their family to guide them and support them while on earth. Then one by one, starting with the parents down to the youngest, we sent each family member to "earth". (The next room.) Once on earth, we taught them that they needed to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and endure to the end. They all committed to being baptized and following Christ. Then we taught that after this life, we will all die. One by one, starting with the oldest to youngest again, we sent everyone back to the room we had come from. We then went back and said, "Now we are all together again in Heaven." We talked about how happy they were to be together again in Heaven. It was such a powerful way to introduce the plan of salvation and really drive home the possibility of living together forever! 
5. Sister Peters received an answer this week. I am so grateful that I was apart of her life and that I was able to witness the light and joy in her eyes as she told us, "I know it's true Sisters. God did answer my prayer." I love, love being a missionary!!!!!!!!! 

Well, I love you all! I have to go now! 
-Sister Beaumont

PS. I accidentely packed my camera and forgot to bring it with me here! Sorry, I'll send you all the pictures of this week in my next email! 
Also, Sister Maagad worked for someone at a call center from Orem, Utah. His name is Chad Bennett. The name sounded familiar to me and I remember you saying that you knew someone who owned a call center here. Is that him?

Cobra

Yet another lake right by one of our investigators house

Sister Maagad 

Sister Maagad getting fruit

Companions

Sister Maagad dared me to do it

I finally got to see the end of a rainbow for the first time in my life!

Dear Everyone!! 

Thank you for all the letters, updates, and emails! I love receiving them! I'm really enjoying hearing the news from back home... 

By the way mom, If it makes you feel better about the whole year left, Sister Maagad pointed out to me that I only have 51 weeks left in the mission field. What?! Does that sound short to you? It does to me!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, Isaac asked me if I've seen any snakes. I didn't personally see one... but Sister Maagad did! We were walking home, five feet from our door when suddenly she whispered, "Sister Beaumont.... don't move." Of course, when someone whispers it in the creepy voice she did, your going to move. And instinct told me it was a snake. So I bolted to our gate and jumped on the platform. Once I felt save, I asked, "What is it?" 

"A cobra!" She said.  

No way. No way. No way. There was a flippin' cobra 10 feet from me! I freaked out, just like you all know I would. 

"Sister Maagad, come here right now and unlock this gate!!!!!" I demanded, backing up as much a possible. 

"No, I want to see it... It just fanned it's head... wait, I'm going to look...." 

"SISTER MAAGAD!!!! GIVE ME THOSE KEYS AND STOP BEING CRAZY!!!!!!!!!" 

Yes, that's how it went down. As soon as I she tossed those keys, I unlocked the door and ran inside. I didn't go back out for the rest of the night. It was really tramatic.... BUT It taught me a very valuable lesson. Almost everyday, I say a prayer as we walk through the jungles that I WILL NOT see a snake. And now I have a testament that Heavenly Father answers our prayers because even though a cobra was only ten feet away, I didn't see it!!!!!!!!!!! 

On a more serious note, we taught our investigator Sister Peters about temples and eternal family. It was so beautiful to see her eyes light up when she truly understood, my family can be eternal. I was truly touched. And I thought about how lucky I am to be born into a family that is already eternal! Truly, what a wonderful, priceless, gift you have given us Mom and Dad! We will be together for eternity! Thank you! 

We found an interesting investigator this week. I'm already confident that she maybe one of the most challenging investigators I will ever teach. She is Sister C. and she is a "Faith Healer." She is also a strong idol worshipper and even believes that her idols move around in the night and that they speak to her in dreams. Yikes. And, to make it even more interesting, she was dropped by missionaries twice. At this point, I'm sure you are asking, "Why are you teaching her?" 

We didn't know who she was and as we were tracting around, we tracted into her house. She was a little reluctant at first, but then finally let us in. Sister Maagad noticed all the idols in her home and started thinking, "Wait a minute..." Because I was new, I didn't know anything about her. 

As we taught her, she opened up and Sister Maagad realized who she was and that she had been dropped already. I think we might have dropped her as well after that first lesson, if she hadn't told us about her dream. (By the way, having spiritual dreams are really common here.) She told us that she had a dream that Christ beckoned her to the waters, (she lives right next to a lake) and asked her to baptized. She told him to wait, and went back inside. As she went inside, she saw all her idols, along with people gambling and doing other worldly things. She hurried back outside to be baptized, but Christ was gone. 

She told us in a whispered voice, "It really bothered me. I missed my opportunity. I don't want to miss my opportunity. I want to be baptized." We taught her about the Nature of God, all the while praying really hard. She told us, "I'm going to pray. If God wants me to remove my idols and be baptized, I will." 

Wow! I can't tell you how hard we were praying for an answer like that. What a miracle! 

Well, before I wrap up... I want to tell you a quick funny story. A few days ago, it started raining really, really hard. We had just come home from District meeting and so, we shrugged and went out with our umbrellas. We were standing out there, enjoying the pelting rain around us... (Sister Vaka and I were sharing an umbrella) when suddenly, Sister Maagad  reached over and flipped over our umbrella. (My companion has a playful spirit) Sister Vaka and I just looked at each other for a few seconds, confused at why we were suddenly getting drenched. Then, in unison, we slowly looked up and realized our umbrella had closed. We screamed and ran back inside, laughing. It was seriously like a cartoon moment. We had the classic comical reaction of , "Wait, what just happened?" 

Well, I love you! I pray for you all each day and I hope that you are all well! 

-Sister Beaumont 

Happy Father's Day

Saying farewell to my Mission President and his wife

 Hello! 

I'm really, really, really sorry! This is going to be an extremely short email! I've completely run out of time. I was emailing my Mission President a longer, farewell email and lost tract of time! (He leaves in 2 weeks and we get the new mission President, President Magnum.)

Also, the computer won't accept my memory card so I'll have to send them next week. Sorry! 

First off though, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I wish that I could skype on Father's day and Mother's day! Darn it! But I love you so, so much dad. I'm so grateful for everything you've taught me and how you have prepared me to serve this mission. Thank you for being a strong priesthood holder that I could have and rely on growing up, and thank you for your strong, strong testimony of this gospel which gave me the desire to gain the same! 

Well, because our mission president is leaving, we had our last Zone Conference with him. It was 10 hrs long. Crazy! We did get two breaks and lunch, so don't worry. But it was so amazing! He taught the doctrine of Christ. He really understands the doctrine of the Atonement and it was so powerful for me. He is an amazing speaker. I feel like I just couldn't learn enough from him! Six months was too short to have him as a mission president! But at the same time, I'm so excited to see our new mission president and what wonderful changes and things that he can teach us. His homecoming is in two weeks... in Arizona... if you want to go... :) 

He had us come up one by one afterward, and get one last hug goodbye. That was so hard! We were all crying! I love them so much and I will miss there spirits, wisdom, and leadership in this mission. 

By the way, speaking of six weeks... I know that you were asking about this mom. I feel like 1 year left is definitely not enough time. I can't believe I'm already here at the six month mark. What happened? I still can't speak Tagalog!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha, but I feel like I have changed more in these last 6 months than I have in my entire lifetime. I have learned so much. I am happy to be here and sad that it is just a year,  because I know it will go by all to fast. 

This week I was told a really funny story by one of our investigators. He was talking about his friend, who was doing a job application in English. He's not very good at English, which proved to be a big problem. When he got to the question SINGLE? He thought it was referring to his motorcycle, as in "Single, or Sidecar." So he put Sidecar. He failed. :) 

The area is a little harder here than in Batangas. We don't have many investigators, but the ones we do are really wonderful and I love them so much. One is Sister Peters (Name is changed). She is ready to be baptized, and so faithful and excited. Her only fall back is that she needs to come to church enough times. It's hard for her because her husband is catholic and not very supportive or interested, but she was able to attend this last Sunday. She expressed a strong desire to be sealed in the temple. I'm so happy for her! 

We started teaching a new investigator yesterday, that comes from a very modest circumstance. She lives in a one room home, with four tarp walls and bamboo sticks holding up her house. She has two young children and little to provide for them. As we taught yesterday, she pulled out a very worn copy of the Book of Mormon, given to her by some missionaries last year. The children were being very disruptive and so I handed them Jesus Christ stickers to help them be quiet. Her daughter got bored with it after a while and I noticed that the mother picked it up and started smoothing out over the cover of her Book of Mormon. As she did, I could see the love and admiration that she had for the savior. I recognized that from her poor circumstance, she had the strong desire to keep this 1 inch sticker, that hardly stuck anymore anyway, just to have a picture of Christ. It brought tears to my heart and I gave her a new one, that would stick better. I was overwhelmed with the joy that she had in the simplicity of that single sticker. It truly touched my heart.

Well, 

Love you! 

Sister Beaumont

Transferred To San Pablo!

Hello everyone! 

Well, I just read your emails. I can't believe that Nathan fell 25 feet. I'm so grateful right now that he was protected and that he wasn't injured seriously. What an amazing miracle, really! I'm still in shock about it. I can't believe that it happened, that he's still alive, and that he only had a fractured wrist. I will be praying for you Nathan, that you will have a quick recovery. 

Haha, I thought I was going to have the "news to tell". But you got me, everyone. 

My news, though not nearly as exciting/scary is I WAS TRANSFERRED. 

Ayaw. 

Okay, actually, now that I'm here, I'm so excited to be in a new area and I love my companion and the people. But at first, it was really hard. Really, really hard. 

It started with Tuesday, the day you get "The Call."  I was dreading that day like the plague. 

Sister Johnson got the call first, at 10am. We were all so shocked. She had just became companions with Sister Ebuen, so we figured if anyone was going to go... it would be me or Sister Feinga and if anyone was going to stay, it would be them. After she got her call, I thought for sure mine would come within seconds. We waited... and waited... nothing. There was no call. After about two hours, we decided we would be companion for one more transfer.

We were so dang happy! We were on an ecstatic proselyting high - doing above and beyond just because we were THAT HAPPY. 

And then... at 5pm I got the call. Transferred- to San Pablo 1. My new companion is Sister Maagad. 

Sister Feinga and I were literally in tears. Of course, we had ward council right after the call. It was so emotion and difficult, saying goodbye to everyone I had come to love so much. The ward was so sweet and treated us to a fancy bamboo hut restaurant in Batangas as a farewell and it was really great to just relax and socialize one last time with all our ward members. 

And then, in just two short days... I was on my way. 

My companion:

Sister Maagad. (Ma-ah-gah-d) 

She is the best! She is filippino and so much fun! She is from all over the Philippines and knows 3 of the Filippino languages here. Crazy! Not to mention, being really good at English. I am excited to learn Tagalog from her. She of course, is fluent and knows exactly how everything is supposed to be pronounced. She loves to have fun, but also loves to work. She has a deep, hearty laugh that always makes me laugh. Oh... and she also hums hymns a lot... but probably not as much as Sister Feinga does. :) I'm really, really happy that I have her as a companion and I know that we are going to have a lot of good times together. 

My area: 

San Pablo 1. 

Sister Maagad has told me two facts about the area since I've been here...

1. We are the luckiest missionaries because we have 6 of the 7 San Pablo Lakes in our area. (I've already seen 2 of them! Gorgeous!) 

2. We are in one of the hardest area in the mission. 

I don't know if the second one is so true... it seems like everyone is pretty open to listening to us, but she has been here a lot longer than me... so we'll see I guess.

Well the area is really, really pretty! And thankfully, about 10 degrees cooler than Batangas. I actually sleep with a blanket at nights again.

There is a lot more jungle life here... a lot more of what I was expecting when I came to the Philippines, and I love it all. This is also a more "pure" tagalog area, which means I'm back to not understanding a word that anyone is saying. But its okay, because my companion does and she is really, really helpful with learning/ understanding it all. 

My apartment:

I haven't taken any pictures of the apartment yet, sorry mom. I'll get onto that. 

The apartment is one floor. We have a shower and if the air here is about 10 degrees cooler, that means the water is about 10 degrees colder too. I feel like I'm jumping into the artic ocean each time I take a shower. We sleep on the floor in the kitchen because our bedroom is a little on the small side and the fans don't reach us as well in there. Don't worry, I actually love it. It's like having a sleepover every night. 

Which brings me to the roommates; Sister Williams and Sister Vaka. Yes, that Sister Williams. My old companion. It's weird to be living with her but not be companions. We realized that so far we have lived together 3 times on our mission. (MTC, Batangas, San Pablo...) Her companion is American, but both of her parents are Tongan. She is so fun-loving, but also has a really big heart. I can tell we are going to have some great times together.

The Work:

I don't really know many of the families well yet, otherwise I would be able to give more details about them. 

I do know that I love everyone we've taught so far and I'm excited to get to know them better. There is a family that I'm really in love with. The mom is a member, but the rest of her family isn't. They have 5 adorable kids. We taught the Word of Wisdom, using Lora's visuals. They loved it. 

The Weather:

It's Tag-ulan now. (Rainy season). It goes on and off. We have really strong rain and then nothing. 

My second day here we had a small rain storm after one of our appointments. It was really exciting. We got so soaked. The appointment was out in the jungle, and so we had to hike back to the main road through the rain and mud. I loved every second of it, especially as we went up hill. There was a mini river coming down our way and it was so exciting. I'm sure there are more stories to come from my experiences with rain. 

Oh yes, and before I forget. I saw my first monkey! He was actually a pet of someone at  the lake, and he was chained up to a bamboo stick about 10 feet up between two palm trees. He was really cute and liked to jump spontaneously off the bamboo stick letting the chain catch him. 

Well, that's all. Once again, I'm so happy that Nathan is okay. I will make sure to pray for you this week. 

I love you all! 

-Sister Beaumont 

Transfer 4

Basilica of St. Martin of Tours

Basilica of St. Martin of Tours

Basilica of St. Martin of Tours

Hello Family!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like it's been so long since I wrote you... only 7 days. It feels like 3 weeks.
Sorry I'm sending this off so late. Normally, we would be emailing a lot earlier but we had Zone P-day today. It was so, so fun. We went to one of the oldest Catholic Cathedrals in the Philippines called the Basilica of St. Martin of Tours. It's in Taal, Batangas if you want to look it up. It's so awesome!!!!!!!! It's the oldest and biggest Cathedral in all of Asia. Seriously, who else gets to see that? Once in a life time opportunity! The only part I didn't enjoy is that they charged all the Americans 100 pesos, while only charging everyone else 50. But it's on their recipets and there was nothing we could do about it. Oh well. That's life I guess. 

Well, this week is the end of transfer week which means I might be transferred. I am completely dreading it. I will of course be happy in the end wherever the Lord sends me, but parting with Sister Feinga and all of my investigators/ friends here in the ward will be so hard! I love everyone so much in Batangas... and my companion is like my sister. We are so, so close.
So this week I'm not going to be sending home any pictures... or probably for a while. Two missionaries in our zone have lost all of their pictures from the viruses on the computers and I'm really afraid of that happening to me. So instead, I hope you understand if I just send home the memory card when I done with it. That way, my pictures can stay safe and you can see all of them at once. I can't imagine losing all of my pictures! That would be so sad!! My memory card is pretty full now so that should be pretty soon ps.

Well, stories for this week....

This Monday we taught Family Home Evening at our Bishop's home, with a couple of other families from the ward. It was really fun and used the same lesson that I taught to all of you once... (the one where I hid my missionary tag in my pocket.) This time I hid Sister Feinga's. It was really fun and I'm beginning to really understand tagalog. Whether everyone understands me is different... but hopefully I know enough now to get by. Most of all, I'm beginning to fall in love with the Philippines and the culture... these people are so happy and so fun! It is definitely MORE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES. (One of their famous logos)

Tuesday we went to a devotional in San Pablo with... Elder Christensen!!!!!!!! From the Quorum of the Seventy. It was so amazing to feel the strong spirit of about 150 missionaries and all that church leadership in one room. He talked about prayer, which was perfect because it has been something that I have been praying to better understand. (Haha, yes... I did pray to know how to pray...) :)Secretly, the best part might have been seeing all the missionaries... I got to meet so many new people, as well as see all the Sister's from my mtc district. It was so great to catch up with them all. Okay, so yes. The best part was actually Elder Christensen though. I learned so much and I just kept thinking about how amazing it is to be a missionary and have all these cool conferences and meetings. I'm constantly being fed the gospel- and I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also on Tuesday, we came home to find that our laundry door had been left open. Don't worry, no person can get in.... but bugs, creatures and other such things CAN. And so of course, not 4 minutes after being home, Sister Johnson watches this black shape scurry from our fridge to our kitchen cabinets under the sink. Sister Johson and I were completely whimps about it. We jumped onto chairs and waited anxioulsy while Sister Feinga and Sister Ebuen pulled out everything... and I mean EVERYTHING in those cabnets. They found ... nothing. I was beginning to think Sister Johnson was crazy, and she kept insisting that she saw it.... finally Sister Feing and Sister Ebuen gave up and went upstairs. Sister Johnson and I looked at each other and slowly climbed off the chairs. We kept daring one another to clean up the mess (Yes, they had left it for us two whimpy American's to clean.) Finally, we got up the courage. As we approached, I said, "I just know as soon as we start, he's going to jump out." She said, "I know! I know!"
Well, I picked up my first item and suddenly, Sister Johnson was screamig. I started screaming too... and then I saw it. A BIG, BLACK THING RIGHT.BY. MY. FOOT. I screamed louder and jumped up and down, basically resembling a yodeling irish dancer. I didn't wait around to find out what it was or why it was in our house.... I was gone. I didn't stop running until I was all the way to the top of the stairs... at which point Sister Johnson and I just laughed and laughed. Thankfully, in all the comotion, we scared it bad enough to decide i had enough of our house and it scurried back outside. I don't know if it was a rat, mouse, or an abnormally large cocroach... all I know is that I hope it never comes back.

We also had the privilige this week of having a jazz band play right outside our house. Seriously. RIGHT.OUTSIDE. I'm not joking. They were on the doormat, playing their "Marde Gra" style music and begging for money. Of course we were studying, or course they interrupted, and of course it was really hard to get back on track after that. But It was fun while it lasted.
I took pictures so when I send my memory card, look for it.

On Thursday Sister Feinga and I had a cool experience with a new investigator this week. When we started the lesson she didn't seem very interested and kept rushing us through everything. She was just waiting for us to leave so she could get on with her life. It's hard to know exactly what to do in those situations, but for her, we just kept teaching.
But seriously, her body language and her expressions all said that she wanted nothing to do with us and was seconds from standing up and saying, "Sorry, that's all Folks."
But then we got to the part of Joseph Smith's testimony of the Sacred Grove. She suddenly interrupted and asked, "Why are you called Mormons anyway?"
We were taken completely off guard and confused, began to explain that it was a nickname, that we were really the church of Jesus Christ. We taught about the Book of Mormon and as we did, I noticed a change in her. She was suddenly interested, listening, and actually turned to face us. We both bore witness that the Book of Mormon was true and that the Church of Jesus Christ had been restored through Joseph Smith. After we did, she sat in silence for a few moments before asking, "How can I know?"
We both dropped our jaws. This woman, who had been searching for a reason to chuck us out suddenly believed that we were teaching her the truth. Furthermore, she wanted to know how she could gain a testimony too!!!!!!! It was like night and day with her.
We excited taught Moroni 10:3-5, she committed full-heartedly and eagerly to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it was true.
As we pondered over what had happened, we came to realize that her attitude only changed after we established that we weren't Mormons, but members of the Church of Jesus Christ. His true, restored church. Because of this, I have made a goal to correct someone when ever they say, "Oh... Mormons?" I now want to reply, "That is our nickname. We are really the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But we would love to teach you why we are commonly called Mormons."
I have already noticed that in the two people we have tried that with, they realized that we are more than people going around for "bible study." They recognize that we have a message to share, and it helps them become interested enough to accept a lesson.

Well, I love you all!
I hope you are all safe and well. I pray for you everyday!
-With love,
Sister Beaumont

Since Emilee couldn't send any photos I added some photos I found on the internet of the Catholic Cathedral they went to visit