One of the best weeks I have had!

This week was one of the best weeks I've had since I started my mission! I really mean it! It felt like miracles were just falling out of heaven and into our laps! We saw some really great success and it made me so excited to be a missionary that I even thought several times about extending. If mom and dad weren't going to pick me up, I think I would! So here's what happened! 

Our miracles came first from two investigators being prepared for baptism They will be baptized on June 6th! They are so excited to be baptized and they are so active in the church! I am so happy each time I see them. They are 11 and 12 and are part member children, but the mother is finally active again and able to support her children in their baptism. They are far in their book of mormon reading and are so cute! I love teaching them.

Another miracle- We have a really great investigator that just took a big leap toward baptism! She needs to be married before she can be baptized, but she has no money to be married and has been taught for a 1year and half with no success because their income is really low. The thing is though, she is really active in church and is clear in 3rd Nephi 15 in her reading of the Book of Mormon. She has a really strong testimony and even told us that she is going to share her testimony on fast sunday. We really want to help her get baptized, so we put our heads together this week and prayed to see what was needed. We were able to talk to president about it, who suggested that we could hire her to do our laundry and then pay her, so that she could earn the money. (She has no job and all their income from her boyfriend goes to their children and food.) When we told her about she positively lit up. Seriously, she was beaming! It was so cool for us to see the light in her face that came from her faith and desire. She was so excited to have a way to gain the money. If all goes well, she might be able to be married in late June!  I'm excited for her! 

But my favorite miracle came from an oym that we contacted last week. On our first visit, she was very friendly and interested and requested that we come back when her whole family was available, so that they could be taught as a family. We said, "PERFECT!!!!" And came back this week to see her, her husband, her daughter, her daughters husband, her daughter's child, and her best friend all waiting for us. It was a really great lesson and the spirit really guided us to know how to share the message of the restoration. At the end of the lesson, before we could even say it, the asked if we had a book of mormon for them to read. They also committed themselves to attending church and the friend told us, "We won't try, we will come!" And come they did! The best friend and the husband came, (so both of the priesthood holders!) and they really really enjoyed church. They asked a lot of questions and even cried in Sacrament meeting. They told us that the feeling in the sacrament was so strong and they felt close to the savior. They were smiling so wide and said that they were so happy that they came to church. Then in gospel principles, at the end of the class the best friend asked if he would be able to be baptized into our church!!!!!!!!!  They are just so potential and we have found some really golden investigators here! I am so excited to go back and teach them this week and see what happens! 

Now for the funny corner this week in our apartment. I seriously love my companionship so much right now. We have so much fun together and we had some pretty great one liners this week happen. It's just too much fun to be companions with so many different cultures. We have too much to joke about! And I know how much my brothers have missed getting our funny moments. So here it is. 

First off, Sister Vaitohi, my Tongan companion was chopping up cabbage. Sister Pablo told her that she was chopping it wrong and then they started throwing comments back and forth, until Sister Pablo called her Mahana. Sister Vaitohi picked up the knife and said, " You better be careful. You won't like Mahana when she's angry!" It was so dang funny! 

When we were walking home in the dark one night, we passed by this little dog that started barking like crazy. He started chasing us and Sister Vaitohi turned around and shouted at him, "You! Shut your face, huh?!" The dog actually got scared and started whimpering and running the other way. She's so funny! 

Sister Pablo and I were sitting at our desks when a filippino bee wandered in.The bees here are all black and about three times bigger than the ones at home. It flew up by my face and we swatted it away until it went outside. I then asked her if they would sting here in the Philippines. She said, "Don't they have bees in America?" I replied, "Yes, but they aren't black. She then asked, "What color are they? White?" If you don't get that joke, it's because everyone in the US is white and everyone in the Philippines is dark. It was really funny. 

Sister Pablo was trying to take a selfy next to this beautiful lake earlier, and she started to slip. When I tried to catch her, I ended up catching her head only. It was really awkward because if I let go, i would drop her in the lake, but It was a little uncomfortable just holding her head. I had to lift her back up to her feet, holding just her head. It was so awkward. 

In the Philippines, the word dog is Aso and the word snake is Ahas. They are fairly similar and when you are new in the mission, you can confuse the two. We were walking along that same lake from the story above, getting further and further into the jungle, when someone shouted out to us, "Be careful! there are really poisonous and  big ahas there!" Sister Pablo and I got really big eyes, but Sister Vaitohi just laughed. "Big dogs? Poisonous? What is he talking about?" She turned to us and saw our faces. "What? are you scared of dogs?" "Not dog, snake!" I told her. "Ahas is Snake!" She screamed and started running the way we had come. She kept repeating as she ran, "Not dog, snake! Not dog, snake!" It was so funny! 

Well, that's all for this week. I'm sure I'll have more for next weeks email because these two are so funny! 

Anyway I wish I could keep writing, we have so many! But time is almost up! 

I love you all! 

Miracles are out there! Just have a heart of desire and eyes of faith and you will see how much God's hand is in our lives! 

Love,

Sister Beaumont 

Mothers Day May 10th

May 10th

There was no letter because we got to skype with her!  It was so fun and she was so happy and excited when she told us about everything that was happening there.  We did get these fun pictures from her though that we can share.

Cock-Fighters

I found this picture on the internet of cock-fighting in the Philippines

Well, this is it. The start of my last transfer on the mission. I had an interview with President Mangum this week and he talked with me about how in the last transfer of the mission, we are now reaching the climax of my mission and should be expecting the highest numbers I have ever got, the most people contacted, and the best work I have to offer. I am so pumped and ready for this transfer! I am sure that through diligence, obedience, and faith in God, this truly can be the very best transfer of my entire mission and I look forward to making it so! 

My companion and I started our weekly planning with taking our highest numbers of all time in the mission and setting a goal to achieve one or two more higher- for example, if the most people we had talked to in a week was 100, then we set the goal that all the end of the transfer, we want to achieve 105. I'm excited to reach these numbers, not for the sake of the numbers, but more because I know that it will be more and harder work, a challenge but one that will help me stay focused and firm until the end. 

As far as transfers go, I'm still here in Alaminos- thankfully! But we are adding one more sister to our companionship, meaning that we will be in a threesome. So the new sister is- TONGAN. If you couldn't have guessed that, I guess you haven't been reading my emails because every other transfer I get a Tongan companion! :) I will have now had 5 Tongan companions. I'll be honest, I thought that Sister Finau way back on number 3 was pushing my luck and that she was most definitely my last. That was a joke! Sister Viatohi is her name and she's actually the sister that I've been living with the last past few weeks. (She is super fun, kind and about 6 months in the mission as well.) We are really close as a threesome, despite how they can usually go. But it might not be for very long because President did say when we got the call that the threesome was "for now". We aren't sure if that means until the end of the transfer or until he has to move around a few missionaries, but either way, I'm happy to have ANOTHER Tongan companion. I'm sure your all thinking it too, but I'm getting a lot of teasing about what nationality my future spouse is going to be because of how many companions I've had that are Tongan.

 Well, this week we had some wonderful miracles. We have found 3 new investigators and have 6 potential investigators to contact this week, and it's only just started! We had some great experiences as a companionship, one that happened when I and Sister Pablo got on a jeepney. Usually, in fact always, when I have gotten on a full jeep here in the Philippines, there has been at least one other woman on the jeep. So, we had a first this week when we climbed on a full jeep, took a seat right in the middle, and then realized that we were the only girls! Not that that is a bad thing or anything, but there is a good type of 40 year old men in the Philippines, and a bad type. Unfortunately, it looked to us that we had just sat in between 11 of the bad type. They all had their chickens with them, ready to go cock-fighting and we were so uncomfortable, we didn't even know where to look, so we just looked at each other. They kept trying to engage in conversation with us, but we were so scared of them that we didn't respond. My companion looked at me and said, "What should we do?" I jokingly responded, "Open our mouths and share the gospel with them." She took my joke seriously, and with confidence that I hadn't seen just seconds ago, turned and began doing exactly that, to all 11 of the men there. I was a little quiet at first, watching and anxiously waiting to see what they would do. As it turns out, Heavenly Father placed us on that jeep for a reason- each one of them were extremely interested. They all told us that they wanted to come to church and asked us many questions about our religion. We were so pleased that we forgot when to get off and ended up having to take another jeep to get where we needed to go. However, I learned that we can never, ever judge a book by its cover, or even a 40 year old cock-fighter by his stereotype. We were able to plant some great seeds, thanks to my companion, and we both hope that we've been able to open some doors in their lives. 

The other miracles will just have to wait until we skype because I've run out of time! 

I love you all so much! 

Keep smiling and trusting in God. Follow the spirit and it will always lead you right! 

Mahal kita, 

Sister Beaumont 

Lehi's Dream

Hello everyone! 

Well, unfortunately, I didn't get to spend too much time in my area this week. 

Monday- we taught a member lesson because the investigator that we were waiting for wasn't there. The lesson was really great and we enjoyed it. 

Tuesday- we tracted and met a new investigator, who is really potential and excited for the gospel! 

Wednesday- We had district meeting and Mcm.

Thursday- This was the second day we were able to teach, and we taught some really great book of mormon and restoration lessons to investigators .I love seeing the desire in their eyes to know if what we are teaching is true. We shared with a less active mother, whose children are 11 and 12 and have not been baptized. We taught them from Lehi's dream and connected it to the mother, how she needed to be like Lehi, and bring her children unto the gospel. It was so wonderful because she came to church with her children on Sunday and stayed the full three hours! 

Friday- we had exchanges and we both went to the other area

Saturday- we stayed in their area an extra day and did zone service project, where we repainted benches. 

Sunday- we didn't get to go out and teach because my companion wasn't feeling well, but we had a great personal study and the spirit in our house was so strong! 

So there you have it, my week in a nutshell. I'm much more adjusted to this area now and don't really miss my old area anymore. I love my companion still and we have a lot of fun together. 

Next week is the start of my last cycle. Can you believe how fast the time has gone? I'm hoping to make the most of this last transfer and bring more souls unto Christ. I have faith that I'm here for a reason and I'm excited to find out why. 

Love you,

Sister Beaumont