Alaminos

Well, I'm still in the mission! Yay! I'm so relieved that I get to finish off my last 8 weeks. Sorry to any of you who were secretly hoping I would be sent home (best friends, younger siblings) , but I'm here to stay and finish what I started! 

So, for news, I've been transferred into a new area, one that is more safe for my asthma and circumstances. I'm really hoping that this is my last area now and I can make it through the next and last transfer without getting another one! So Alaminos is my new area, and it's so beautiful here. Its right up against some beautiful mountains and there are trees everywhere. It's definitely the most beautiful area I've been assigned to and I've been taking a lot of pictures. 

I really love the sisters here. I'm companions with a Sister Pablo. She's almost six months into the mission now, Filippina, and super fun. We are really close. Then I'm living with Sister Ricketts, (she goes home in 2 weeks) and Sister Viatohi. Sister Viatohi is Tongan and I'm starting to think that Heavenly Father knows I always need a Tongan in the house to feel at home.:) (I've only had 2 transfers out of the 11 that I haven't had a Tongan/poly in the house)  Like I said, we are all super tight and have fun laughing and joking after work. 

When I first got to the apartment, it was really disorganized, not really because of the other sisters but because its really small and so there wasn't much space to organize. They also were missing some important things, like laundry baskets and whatnot so there were books and clothes everywhere. We did some really deep, deep cleaning the first two days I was here and it looks completely different than it did before. I've been practicing Walt Disney's theory. When he first built DisneyLand, there was a lot of trash and liter everywhere and it bothered him. So he hired thousands of workers whose job it was to pick up any piece of trash they spotted. After a while, people were uncomfortable throwing trash on the ground because of how clean everything was and he was able to rehire them to other positions, because the park eventually took care of itself. I figure it can be the same with apartments. :) 

Well, as far as investigators here in Alaminos, we have some really potential looking investigators who are progressing towards baptism in May. I'm excited for them, they have good support from the members and are really interested. It's really refreshing to be able to teach after last weeks fiasco with hospitals and whatnot and I really enjoy the spirit of regular missionary work. 

Well, Love you all! 

Have a good week! 

-Sister Beaumont 

Hospital to MRC

Emilee was in the hospital for a couple of days last week due to asthma attacks again.  She had passed out at her apartment and they took her to the hospital.  The area she is in has a lot of pollution and she wasn't using her maintenance inhaler everyday like she was supposed to, but, she promised to use it everyday from now on.  After she was released she was feeling like she might pass out again and so the Mission President had her pack all of her bags and took her to the mission home.  From there she had to call us and let us know that she was being taken to the Mission Recover Center (MRC) in Manila the next day, and depending on how she recovered or didn't they may have to send her home a couple of months early, (This was on Saturday morning).   She assured us she was feeling much better.   We all fasted and prayed for her and I am happy to report that she was only there for a couple of days and then was released back to her mission.  I got a letter from her this morning to let me know.  She was staying at the mission nurses house with her today and  but expected to be driven back to the mission home to stay tonight and then back to her area and regular companion tomorrow.  Here is the letter she sent me this morning.  

The MRC was a really great break and I'm glad I got to breathe a little before coming back out. Here is some of the stuff I was up to there...

I did service in the temple, had FHE, learned how to play the ukelele, and learned a little Chinese from my companion ;-)

I went to a shelter home for children who are waiting surgeries for cleft lip, club foot, and cataract. We played games with them and sang to them and it was so fun. Afterward, we came back and I prepared to go to the temple, only to find out that I was being discharged early. I packed up instead and, here I am. 

I'm doing good, Sister G  (the mission nurse) is one of my favorite people and I'm excited to spend the day with her. She's my companion right now. :) Later, President and Sister Mangum will come back and I'll spend another night at the mission home before going back to my area. Everything looks really good and I think I will be able to stay in Lipa and what not. I've picked up some good tips for managing stress and I feel like I just took a spiritual, emotional spa. I feel great! I'm excited to get back to work soon. 

The MRC is the only one of its kind in the world, and I think it's interesting that missionaries from the Philippines so often need it and go there. I was talking to a woman there who said that she and her husband served for a long time in Brazil, and that the poverty in the Philippines is worse than in Brazil, and that the problems that the missionaries face are greater and all across the board, being spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally. And here I thought I was in an easy mission! :) 

It really was a great, relaxing place where you don't have to worry about your companion, investigators, members, area, duties, or anything like that... just breathe. Now I know why I went there. As one sister said, "I thought I was going there to be physically healed, only to realize I needed spiritual healing as well." 

Just as a fun side note, The MRC has hot running water. I haven't had a hot shower for 16 months and had a hard time adjusting at first. And then when I went to wash my hands for the first time, I was so surprised that the water came out hot too! And was even more surprised to find that the kitchen sink was hot water as well. I had completely forgotten that that was possible, or even normal! I was surprised that i didn't have to go around looking for the water filter and could just drink out of the tap. Weird! Imagine how it will be when I go back to the States! 

Well, just to finish it off, this is what I sent to Trevor and I thought you might enjoy it too. 

I'm okay and on my way back to my area. Don't jinx me, I want this to be the last time I visit the hospital.  I have been to the hospital 5 times now.... don't rub it in. :) But results are good, and I'm going back out. 

I definitely did not take it to hard. It is an awesome place! I got to do lots of service projects and guess what, I played chess against my Chinese companion and I won! I didn't think that was possible! They all joked when we were playing and said, "Looks like China against the USA." Haha, maybe I'm getting better at chess. Okay, the truth is it was only her second time and I had to keep telling her far they were supposed to move and whatnot, so that might be why.... I also got calluses from playing the ukelele all day- seriously, all day. It's probably really quiet at the MRC now. :) Yes, it was so relaxing and fun and I miss it a lot , but I'm happy to be back. 

Time to finish off the best 8 weeks! 

Love you! 

-Sister Beaumont 

Happy Easter - Letter April 5, 2015

Happy Easter everyone! I hope that you all got the chance to watch that video from last email. I really loved it and have seen it about 6 times now. We are focusing on it as a mission and trying to work it in to our teaching and finding efforts. Our mission president has encouraged us to come up with "Because He lives" Statements to share with other people while street contacting. Its been really effective to testify in that way. "Because He lives, we have a message that will change your life." I especially love the ending part of that video, FIND HIM. 

I hope that we will all spend our time Finding Him, because He does live and He is always here, in the good, the bad, and the in between. 

Well, this week we didn't get around to much working because there was some illness in the apartment. For my concerned parents, It wasn't bad and it wasn't all me. :) Just a little bit me... I had a strange allergic reaction this week, but It's okay, I'm fine now. Anyway, it was good though in a round about way, because it gave my companion and I lots of time to get to know each other. Literally, we just spent the week laughing. We have so much fun together and are super tight. I love her so much and I hope she kills me next transfer. I don't want another companion after her. 

We have been working hard to build the relationships of trust with the sisters in our zone, with the members, and with our investigators. It's been hard hard work, because the trust was a little broken because of previous missionaries, but there are noticeable changes and it is so exciting and gratifying. I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father's help in this and I know that we couldn't do it with out much prayer and following the spirit. Once we have the trust in those three areas, the work will be so much easier. 

Well, my brothers have asked for more funny stuff in my emails. 

I don't really remember anything funny that happened, but my companion is super funny. She has a mixed accent because she grew up half of her life in California and half in New Zealand. Sometimes I start to speak a little like her and I think she thinks that I'm mocking her or something, but I can't help it, it's unconsciously done. :) But we honestly don't have any problems. She always jokes whenever she sees Americans and says, "Hey, it's your cousins." I always crack up. One time I got her and said when we passed an american, "Oh no! It's my ex boyfriend." She believed me for a little bit. It was funny. 

I'll have to watch out for more funny stuff next week. But hey, it's time to go. I love you and I'll talk to you next week! 

-Sister Beaumont 

Testimony - March 30, 2015

Hello everyone! FIRST, BEFORE YOU READ MY EMAIL, TAKE 7 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME, AND LOOK AT THIS. http://www.mormon.org/easter

If you go to that website, you will find a wonderful video that was and is being broadcast in hundreds of different ways to all the world. Please take your time and visit it. It will be worth every second of you time. Don't just watch the video, but take time to explore the website as well! There is much to be learned about our Savior Jesus Christ this Easter Season. 

Well, last week I really wanted to share this with you, but I feel like this week is more appropriate. I wanted to share my testimony. After bearing my testimony in Zone Conference, I felt impressed to also share it in my email home. For anyone reading this that doesn't know the word testimony- a testimony is a truth that you know in your heart that fills you with light and happiness, and cannot be taken away. It can only be given away, and returned to you with increase. 

I know that God is real. He is all powerful, all knowing. He is the supreme creator of all. And He prefers us to call Him Father. I know I am a child of God. I know that He has a plan for me. Central to that plan is my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He truly sacrificed Himself for us. That Sacrifice is called the Atonement. I believe in second chances because of the Atonement. I believe in hope, in light, in happiness and in life after death, because of the Atonement. I know that he established a church here on this earth and his true church has been restored to us through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that innocent blood was split on the floor of Carthage jail because Joseph Smith was truly called by God. He brought about the restoration of the important truths of the gospel, which enable us to come closer to our Heavenly Father. We can gain a testimony of Joseph Smith through prayer and sincere desire to know. I know, because I asked in prayer. My prayer was answered. Joseph Smith truly was a prophet. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is complimentary to the Bible, and both would be incomplete without the other. And I know, with all my heart, mind and soul that this church is the true church of God here on this earth. I am blessed to have the gospel in my life and I thank my father in heaven for it everyday. And I share this in the sacred name of our Savior, Jesus Christ Amen. 

I hope and pray that if anything I testified of is something you do not yet know for yourselves, that you will make an effort to know through prayer to your Father in Heaven. I promise you that He will answer. 

I love you! 

Because He Lives, we too will live again! 

Sister Beamont 

New Companion - Letter from March 22, 2015

Hello! I'm at the start of a new transfer~ second to last actually. It's so crazy how fast the time has gone by and most the of the time, I'd rather not think about it and just focus on the day at hand. My dear companion, Sister Dadivas went home on Sunday after church, (She completed her mission) and so I'm now in a threesome with the other two sisters in my apartment, Sister Gupit and Sister Melosantos. We are having a lot of laughs and fun and I'm happy to be their companions for this short time. On Thursday, my new companion is coming and..... she is..... TONGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe, I am going to have another Tongan companion in the mission!!? Her name is Sister Mahoni and she is my batch. So we are both going home together.... which probably means I will transfer so the area won't have to be a re-open. I really hope not though! I want to stay in Lipa! I love it here. I don't really know her all the that well, just that she is tongan, from New Zealand. I'm excited to meet her on Thursday. 

Well, as far as this week went, we had the opportunity to watch Meet the Mormons at the Zone Conference. I really loved it and the last story gave me hope for one of our investigators who actually is having pretty near to the same experience. I realized in the movie that she too has the chance for that life- a life in which she is enriched in the gospel, has a son who serves a mission, and even married to a returned missionary. She is starting to loose her hope and faith and I hope through our hope and faith, we can bring her back to her testimony. She used to be really strong, but too many trials have hit her and now she even questions if God is real and if He cares about her. So that message of hope from the other woman will be so helpful in her situation! I also loved the part about the candy bomber! It was so cool to see a childhood favorite story in a movie! 

I was on exchanges this week and we taught this awesome investigator in their area. She is well learned in the bible and in other religions, but after studying more about the life of Jesus Christ, decided that her current church was not true. Since then she has been searching for the right church. I love these ones. Well she told us that in the year of missionaries visiting her home, she has felt much hope and peace and a "light feeling." We testified to her that this was from the spirit. Then she asked about why we believed there were prophets. We testified about Joseph Smith and prophets and then she said, "Sister's, I think you are right. But I'm going to ask God first." We almost jumped for joy. "Yes! Ask Him!" She commited herself to prayer! :) I love being on exchanges. You see so many miracles in other people's lives from all across the board! It's so cool! 

Well, love you! 

-Sister Beaumont