LICE EWWWWWWWW

Okay, once again, I'm so sorry that you didn't get an email last week. I felt so bad all week! 

But it's okay because I have sooooo much to write this week! 

Oh and congrats to Blake! I can't wait to hear about your adventures in Guam. 

So I think I've written a little bit about our investigator from the part member family. Just in case I haven't, he is the only person in his family who is non-member. He is the father, and they have been praying hard and long that he will join the church. On fast Sunday, he attended, an answer to many prayers and much fasting. Then he didn't attend for a few weeks and we had to move back to square one. We decided that he needed a firmer testimony of the restoration, so we focused on teaching different aspects of the first lesson. We emphasized praying to know and reading the Book of Mormon in every lesson. After two weeks, we finally had success. At the end of our lesson tuesday, Sister Maagad invited him again to be baptized. My breath stopped, because we had extended many times with the same result. "I don't know it's true yet." But this time, his head dropped. He began stuttering out something, clearly uncomfortable with his emotion which was beginning to show. We could almost make out tears as he said, "I asked the Lord. I prayed to know if it is true." After a few moments he said, "A strong feeling came. A voice said to me, 'You know it's true. Look at your children." He said that he pictured his children, and realized how good they were, how strong their testimonies were. He said, "I know it's true because my children are good kids." YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He still hasn't accepted a date yet, because he feels social pressures from his work. We are working and praying hard to help him overcome this. But we can see that he is beginning to really gain a strong testimony because he came to church on Sunday! We were so happy! 

We had another wonderful experience with one of our investigators, a referral from a member. Right from the start, she has been golden and ready to accept everything we teach! It's been so exciting to watch her grow. We focused a little longer on the Restoration than  most investigators, and we weren't really sure why. It always felt wrong to move on for some reason, even though she was accepting everything really well. Well, I think we know why now. When we taught Plan of Salvation, or lesson 2, this week, she shared with us that her family member had just passed away, someone she was really close to. The Plan of Salvation was exactly what she needed. I could see so much hope in her eyes as we shared the message of the resurrection and eternal families.I testified to her that, even though I had my own sister pass away, our family was confident in the hope that we will be with her again one day, if we follow the plan. Though loosing Lilee was hard for our family, I am grateful for the experience. I have seen it bless other's lives many times on the mission as i testify of the truth of eternal life and family. 

We had a feeding program this week, which is where we feed lunch to people who might not otherwise get the change to eat. It was really heartbreaking to see the faces of so many malnourished children. I wanted to hug each one and tell them they were loved by the Savior. I feel like these people are turning me into a totally different person. We shared mormon messages with them as they ate. We were able to get 15 potential investigators from that activity. I hope that we can find some who are ready for the gospel! 

Okay, and some news about me. For the past week and a half, my head has been really, really, itchy.... and I'm sure you've already guessed it.... LICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!! 

It's been a traumatic experience, to say the least. Last night after planning, I looked up after itching every inch of my scalp with deeply with my nails and said, "Why is my head so itchy?! It's like I have lice!!!!!!' Sister Maagad was writing in her journal, but when she heard the word lice, she looked up appalled. "What?!" 

"I don't have it!" I said quickly, (unaware at that time, that I actually did) "I just feel like it." 

"Eeeww! Don't get lice!" She said warningly. "I'll kill you!"

It was then that I remembered my ever wise and prepared mother had sent me with a lice checking kit. I dug it out, still confident that it wasn't lice. I was down in the kitchen, combing out my hair with the special purple lice checking comb and I kept thinking, "Weird. There is a lot of dirt in my hair." (I thought lice was white, not brown.)

Finally, I stopped and examined the dirt closer. The dirt had legs. No way. 

I took it to Sister Maagad, who had just spit out her toothpaste and said, "What is this? Is that a bug?" 

Sister Maagad squinted.... and screamed. "LICE!!!!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE LICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

We both started jumping up and down screaming, "Lice! Ewww!" 

Well, the long and short of it is, I spent all night having my hair combed by the other sisters. It was nasty! There were so many lice eggs and lice bugs and I was just so grossed out!!!!!!!!!!

All the sisters had to check their hair as well. Thankfully, I was the only one. All night and morning we have undergone the painful process of lice-killing the entire apartment. Our apartment is pretty strong with the scent of chemicals right now. We had to boil everything I touched and I have to boil ALL OF MY CLOTHES. EVERY. LAST. ONE. 

But don't worry, with some good humor from the other sisters, compassionate cooperation on their part, and some intense action on everyone's part... we are moving toward a no-lice-life. I won't be absolutely sure they are gone until next week, but I did comb through my hair after using the lice shampoo this morning and I didn't see any... so hopefully, they are all dead and gone. Whew, Lice! I never would have thought! Grosss!!!!!!!! 

Other than that, I'm great! I love you! 

-Sister Beaumont 

Copy Of Handwritten Letter Written This Week

Emilee didn't have time to write this week, so getting this letter in the mail was so LUCKY for us :-)


Dear Family,

As I am sending you my completed SD card, I thought I might send you a letter too.  I actually have made a goal to write home (hand written letters) more often; We’ll see how well I keep it, huh?

As I thought about what I wanted to write in this letter, I decided the best option/idea was to answer questions that I’d imagine you’d be asking me if we were face to face.

I’ll do my best to pretend that you really are asking, and that way I’ll answer things I’m sure you are wondering.  

First.  What is my Mission President like?  My old and new Presidents are complete opposites.  But, I have loved them both equally and as if they were my Mission Parents.  President Mangum is a very elequant spokesman.  He went from being a plumber to a C.E.O. without any college experience.  Haha my first mission interview with him felt like a job application interview- which in a way it kind of was, except that I’m already hired.  :-)  He has a very kind and loving heart and a desire to really know us individually.  His trademark is winking and he often gets weepy.  He loves quotes and has a humble teaching method.  Sometimes I can’t help but feel that we are running plays for an upcoming game because of the way he taches us.  Haha, all in all I’m very happy that he is my Mission President and I have already seen evidence that he was divinely designed for the calling.

My favorite thing about the Philippines?  I’am going to cover the actual Philippines people later.  So, other than them it would be the beauty!  Though my mission has been a lot of city, ther are always Jungle trees and wildlife around.  I have seen places that I literally didn’t think were real and if I closed my eyes, it would all disappear.

My favorite thing about the culture?  The strong sense of family.  Family is the most important thing here in the Philippines.  The families here are so close and supportive.  They don’t move out of their parents home until “they have more kids than siblings” as I like to say.

The strangest thing I’ve seen?  They sell a lot of fresh meat in the streets around here.  One day, just a block from our apartment all the neighbors started cheering we heard a pig squealing frantically.  Suddenly, it stopped we went out to look.  All the neighbors were circled around one butcher as he started skinning this pig.  It was so weird!  And there was a dead pig head and blood in the street for days after.  So weird!

The experience on the mission that changed me the most?  I really think I was changed most when the typhoon hit.  At first it was all fun and games, but when I realized that people were loosing their homes, and especially as I spent almost a week helping them to recover belongings, or get water and food - I realized that this all was real.  I am a missionary.  It isn’t a game.  These are real souls who need Jesus Christ.

My favorite Filippino dish?  I love Adobo and Sinigang.  These are amazing dishes!  I also love Shanghai rolls (but, I can’t eat them now)  boiled banana, and halo-hala.  I can’t wait to come home and make these for you!

What is my best memory so far?  Before my mission I would have thought my best memory would be baptisms.  While these are wonderful, I actually cherish more the moments when people tell us they really know it’s true.  You feel God’s love for them burn within you as you both cry for joy.  These are the happiest moments of my life!

Is missionary work hard?  Yes!  But, the harder you work, the easier it is.  I never regret a moment of struggle or hardship because I know these have been my greatest learning experiences.  I have felt God’s love and the grace of Christ more in those moments than any other time in my life.

Do I miss you?  Of course!  I don’t go a day without thinking about you.  As my previous Mission President said, “I’ve been in the field 3 years now and I’m still homesick”.  I miss you and love you, but, I am happy to be here and that “missing you” never makes it hard to work.  If anything, I want to work harder!  When I was in the MTC I heard this quote, “everyday your in the field, You’ll think of home and everyday your home, you’ll think of your mission.”  I want every moment of my mission to make a difference.  I want to leave a mission that I can be proud of, one that is acceptable to the Lord.  

Well today is P-day and I am excited to read your emails and hear from you.  I love you with all my heart, till we meet again.

-Sister Beaumont

No Time to Write

Here is her letter home this week.  :-(   Good thing she is such a good letter writer and usually writes more.  It is easier to forgive her  ;-)

Dear family! 

I am really really sorry that I was unable to write you this week! 

I first wrote my email to president and then the computer erased it all. I had to spent the rest of my time 

writing to him! (We have to report to him each week.) 

Please forgive me! I feel so bad about it! 

Love you! 

Sorry, sorry a million times over! 

-Sister Beaumont 

8 Months in the Field

Sorry mom had another busy week at home and am finally posting last weeks letter just as I get this weeks letter which was not much so that worked out well :-)  I guess. 


Hello my dear family! I love hearing about the news from back home each week and I am happy about all the good experiences you are having! 

Well, I can always rely on my mother to tell me when my letters are getting a tad short. Thanks mom! :) I'll do my very best to make this one a bit longer, haha. And yes, it is because I have been reading Trevor's emails. 

Just for the interest of news: This week I'll hit my year mark from the MTC and my 8 month mark in the field. Crazy how time is passing! I have really spent time this week pondering the missionary I want to be when I go home and how I can get there. 

This week was a really great week for us. We were able to find many new investigators, (thanks to the help of many members who referred friends) and we are excited to see where that goes. As far as last week, I told you that there were some really great experiences that I wanted to catch up on  this week. Well, here they are. 

1.On August 1st, I had my first interview with my new mission president. The best day to have it, haha! I learned so much from him and his wisdom! I hope that I can apply the things I have learned into everyday work. 

2. On Sunday we had a missionary focused fireside in which our ward invited our mission president to speak. (I got to see president twice in one week! Yay!) His talk was really inspired for our ward and we loved it. We had a musical number, (Brightly Beams our Father's mercy) In the which I played the piano! Wow, I feel like I'm definitely out of practice. It was a little rough practicing, but I hope it went well in the performance. 

Okay, Now for this week. 

The father from the part member family is doing great still. He told us that he wanted us read the entire Book of Mormon before he is baptized. He wants to really know it is true and I love that about him. Even though he wasn't able to make it to church this week, we have seen some wonderful progress in his life and we are anxious and excited for him to grow in the Gospel. His children told us that this week, when his drinking buddies came by, he told them no! For the first time! We are overjoyed, especially because he hasn't even learned the Word of Wisdom yet.

The investigator who has received an answer is doing really great. He is so anxious to learn each time we come and asks many inspired questions. He has copies of Faith in Christ and The Restoration that he watches often. I love it! 

We have another investigator that is moving up in the progressing area. We'll call her Jane. We watched the Restoration with Jane  this week and she told us that she felt the spirit really strong. She committed to being baptized and told us that her testimony is "Growing". We are so happy for her! 

So... I don't think I've ever shared a personal experience with you from my personal study, but this week I have one! 

This week in my personal study, as I was about to start into the book of Mosiah, (I'm reading it straight through,) I suddenly got a very strong impression to get a new Book of Mormon from our supplies and start reading over again, even though I had only started a few weeks ago. I closed my book, a little confused and followed the prompting. When I had my new Book of Mormon, I was prompted that as I read, I should mark whenever it talks of Christ in one color, whenever it talks of the Holy Ghost in another, and whenever it talks of Heavenly Father in another color too. This week I have been doing that everyday in my personal study and I have noticed the huge difference it has made in my study and testimony. I have been praying lately to understand better how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and how it testifies of Christ. As I have read my personal study this way, I have really come to see that the Book of Mormon is all about Christ! My testimony has soared in just these few days. Every page, and almost every column testifies that He is our Lord and Master. It has been an answer to my prayer and I'm excited each day to read and see the witnesses of the Savior. I recommend doing it really. You will see that the scriptures are not just stories, they are testimonies! Testimonies that Christ is the Redeemer. 

Well, That's all folks. I hope it was long enough! 

Mahal na mahal ko kayo! Ingat lahat! 

-Sister Beaumont 

The End of Another Wonderful Week

Emilee's Surprise Birthday Party
Thank you to the wonderful people who did this for her!

The blindfold came from my "surprise" birthday party at a members house. They initiated me in the "Booga club", which they've done to all the missionaries in Sto Tomas in the past. Basically, it was dark, and they take off my blindfold and then have me follow the "Booga queen", who does all these motions. Little did I know I was wiping charcoal on my face. Haha. Filipino's. 

The birthday pictures of course. My cake is leche flan. Anna was my cake topping. 

The paintings are of two down syndrome boys in the ward, born to the same family. They are the cutest! 

Weeks like this past one are the reason that I love being a missionary! There have been so many wonderful, life changing experiences that I don't know if I can even write them all! 

First of all, the work. We have received some wonderful new investigators with some really great potential this week. Many of them are friends of the members that were referred to us. I am so grateful for this ward! They are so hardworking and really take time for missionary work. Their efforts are really reaping some wonderful rewards in our Harvest of Sto. Tomas!

One such harvest is the investigator I began talking about last week. 

Here's what I wrote. 

We also had a really wonderful experience with on of our new investigators. He testified to us that he knew it was true. He told us that many missionaries have visited their home, but he always hid from them. After a while, missionaries stopped coming. When they did, he was really worried about his salvation. He began praying that Heavenly Father would send missionaries again, from the TRUE church. He promised that when he did, he would accept them.  Well, we were sent! And then he received a copy of the Book of Mormon, and by the second lesson he has prayed and received a witness. 

Well, he is so awesome! He is anxious to learn and to receive the gospel. It's so amazing to me that people can be so prepared and ready for you!

Another great progressing investigator is from a part member family. It is the father of this family, and everyone but him is a member.

For a very long time, missionaries have been going to his home, but unfortunately it wasn't his time. When we started teaching him, we were certain that we were part of the planting and not harvesting process as well, because he seemed a little distant to us. This week, we focused all our efforts and prayers on his behalf. We had a really amazing FHE with him and his family on Monday and we could see a change in his countenance. When he gave the closing remarks at FHE, he testified of the importance of a faith-united family. We could see that this was truly his desire. On Sunday, we fasted and prayed that he would attend church. (even though he had told us he wouldn't be able to) Suddenly, in the middle of Sunday School, in he walks- attending church for the first time in his life! He stayed the whole time. His children got up and bore testimony of how wonderful it was to have their father there. My favorite thing they said, "This is the best Sunday because Daddy came to church." 

I was so touched by that. This is what missionary work is all about! 

Well, I knew I would run out of time before I could tell you everything! Darn it! 

I'll have to catch up on it all next week. 

Love you! 

-Sister Beaumont 

Hello Family

The spider was as big as my fist and pretty reluctant to die. As you can expect, I was the only one who dared get close enough to measure his size with my hand. :) 

The tree and post are more damage photos from last weeks typhoon.

The dog is something that I thought Kaylee and Matt might appreciate. He fell asleep in my shoes, after fondling them with his face and caressing it with his paws. He really liked the feel of the leather and was really reluctant to get out when it came time to leave the home we were teaching at. 

The woman in yellow was Sister Peter's fellow-shipper and a really good friend of ours.

The woman in white standing with me and Sis. Maagad is Sister Peters, our old investigator who was baptized. 

The food is from Chowking, a famous chain food restaurant here.

The drink is the most popular and famous Philippino dessert, Halo-Halo. It has coconut, ice cream, ice, evaporated milk, leche flan (sometimes) jack fruit, beans, and gelatin balls. Masarap! :) 

So... why didn't anyone write me about Trevor leaving? :( Joke lang... I don't really mind. Just make sure to include it in your next email! I'm interested on how he felt and what is was like and so forth... :) Well, another busy week! 

We had interviews with our mission president, zone meeting, and a baptism to attend in another area. It's been a lot of running around this week, and a lot of traveling... Whew, I hope this week is a little more close to home base. I'm starting to miss my area, haha! 

Zone meeting was really great! We learned about some interesting changes as far as missionary work, released by the First Presidency! I also loved hearing some of the changes that our Mission President is making. It is fun to see new insights from him!

We actually didn't have the opportunity to do our interviews because when we got there, we were already running late for the baptism. So we had to schedule it again for this week and rush as fast as we could to San Pablo. And then, we were too late to actually see the baptism itself, but we were able to congratulate her! Sister Peters was the baptism, p.s. 

So, highlights for this week...

We are teaching a cute 8 year old. She is so adorable and has committed to baptism now. She has the biggest smile and I just love her to pieces! 

When we teach her, she just wears this adorable smile the whole lesson. I love it! 

We also had a really wonderful experience with on of our new investigators. He testified to us that he knew it was true. He told us that many missionaries have visited their home, but he always hid from them. After a while, missionaries stopped coming. When they did, he was really worried about his salvation. He began praying that Heavenly Father would send missionaries again, from the TRUE church. He promised that when he did, he would accept them.  Well, we were sent! And then he received a copy of the Book of Mormon, and by the second lesson he has prayed and received a witness. How cool! The story is much cooler, but time is up! I'll tell you more next week! 

Love you all! 

-Sister Beaumont

Note From mom-  This is the shortest letter she has sent.  I think she spent her time writing her brother this week who just entered the MTC as a new missionary.  :-)

Typhoon

Kumusta po kayo, ang aking pagmamahal pamilya! (I hope that isn't disrespectful... pagmamahal is used to say beloved son in the first vision...) 

*means-- How are you, my beloved family! 

I'm so sad to have missed such a fun, family weekend... Idaho, cabins, Yellowstone, and of course my dear brother's farewell and eagle scout award... What an exciting week! 

I too had an exciting week... in the opposite sense of the word. 

It all started on Tuesday, when we received a text, "Prepare your 72 hour kits, there will be a typhoon tonight." That's all it said, and that's all we knew. We get texts when ever a typhoon hits, be it big or small so we weren't too concerned. Just another day in the Philippines... until...  we noticed that there was a thick covering of dark clouds as far as the eye could see. We couldn't even see the tall mountains in our area. They were completely invisible because of the fog. I looked at Sister Maagad and said, "Is that normal?" Her eyes got really big. "I've never seen that before. This is going to be a big typhoon." 

And then we forgot about it and went on our way to our appointment. We had 5 lessons that day, one after another. We were so happy because we've been opening and it's been rough trying to get even 2 lessons a day. At our last lesson, the news was on when we walked in. We asked what grade the typhoon was supposed to be. She said 3. I shrugged and said, "Oh, iyan lang? Hindi masama siya." Meaning, "Oh, that's all? Not too bad." Sister Maagad laughed at me. "No, 3 out of 4!" If you are wondering, Yolanda was 4. So this was supposed to be just a little better than Yolanda. 

Of course, I was really excited. I mean, typhoon? Not many people experience those. And in the Philippines? Cool, right? Nope, not really, as I was about to learn. After our last appointment is when it began. It was about 8pm and the rain was beating down in sheets. The wind was whipping the rain into our faces, so that having an umbrella was pointless. I asked Sister Maagad if we could stop by the ATM before going home, but she just shook her head. "No, this is going to get worse. We need to go home now." The sense of urgency in her voice should have awaken me, but it didn't. 

We got home and planned and then sat around with the other sisters laughing and joking about. (We were celebrating the last day with Sister Vaka because she would be transferred on Thursday. )

Every once and a while we would hear a loud gush of wind or something and stop, but we really paid the typhoon no mind. We had been told that we were in a safer area and that typhoons don't normal hit us that hard. Finally, we all went to bed and tried to sleep. But after all the fun and it was quiet in the house, I realized that the storm was actually pretty strong. And it was getting stronger and stronger. I sleep right under the window and I was watching the trees across the street whipping in the wind like wet noodles. I was pretty sure one would come crashing through the window any second... It sounded like a motorcycle was ripping by our window no stop, or a train was going by or something. The wind was literally howling- the pressure was hurting my ears. About 2 am Sister Maagad sat up and exclaimed, "I can't sleep!!!!!" 

I laughed because I had thought I was the only one awake. Just then we heard something crash outside our window. We went rushing out onto the balcony to find that our laundry trolley had fallen and all the clothes were lying everywhere. We hurried about trying to pick up the clothes, literally soaked to the bone. Sister Williams came to help but a huge gush of wind slammed the door shut, catching her hand in between. Don't worry, she just has a bruise, no break... :) We didn't have any electricity or water, as we later discovered. 

If you want to really know what it looked/ felt like, go watch The Other Side of Heaven. That typhoon scene was EXACTLY what we were experiencing. We all gathered into the other room because my room at this point was flooded with water. (Only ankle deep though.) We started singing hymns together to help us sleep. That's when we started getting texts from members saying that they needed help, that their roofs were caving in.  We all felt really terrible. We knew that their was no way our mission president would let us go out and help until AFTER the storm. So we knelt together and said the most heartfelt prayer I've offered on my mission. As we thought of all the people caught in the storm, people with simple homes made of bamboo wood, we prayed hard that they would be safe. 

About an hour later, the typhoon stopped suddenly. It was unnaturally quiet outside. The rain and wind were gone and we couldn't even hear animals noises anymore. Silence, complete silence. I had no idea what that meant, (after all this was my first typhoon.) So I assumed it was over and went immediately to sleep. (It was 5 in the morning at that point and we hadn't slept all night.) Little did I know that we were in fact, in the eye of the storm. meaning the storm was hitting us directly. 

 At exactly 6:30 am, (Missionary wake up schedule) The storm began again. It was EXTREMELY STRONG, if not worse than before. All our doors started slamming open and closed, the windows were swinging back and forth like they were nothing. We were watching roofs fold like paper, fragments breaking off and blowing away in the wind. It was intense. The street started flooding and we decided it would be safe to start packing in case we had to leave suddenly. (Both the up and downstairs were flooded now.) 

Thankfully, we didn't have to leave and about 9am the storm stopped for good. (The storm lasted for over 12 hours.) As soon as we were sure it was safe, we began texting our Mission President to get permission to leave so we could help the members. But we couldn't get through to ANYONE in San Pablo. So we decided to just leave anyway. We went directly to one member in particular, that sounded like needed the most help. As we traveled, we were astonished by the damage. Most of the places didn't look the same. There were broken windows, caved in roofs, and even crumbled buildings all around. We arrived at the members to find the house was completely destroyed. It was made of concrete brick, which had crumbled down into nothing. We helped them all day uncover all their belongings from the rumble. I was so surprised with how they were taking it. Instead of being depressed or even angry, they were the complete opposite. They were smiling, even when the first met us at the damage. They have such strong faith and courage, that I could never have. I was so touched. Who are these amazing people that I am serving? Even when they loose everything, they have faith in Christ. They are such happy, faithful, strong people. This whole week we have been rescuing the members. We have helped repair damage, obtain food and water, and clean up. It's been crazy and busy, but I have been so inspired and I love these wonderful people. 

We did eventually get water and electricity back, after about 3 days. In the meantime, I learned to be thankful for those simple blessings of lights at night or even running water. We had to shower with 1 and 1/2 ladles worth of water (about 5 cups) which made me feel really, really bad for complaining about our shower and bathroom earlier. 

All in all, I'm great. Don't worry! It's been an unforgettable experience, this past week. But I'm fine and we are even going to teach later today. The work moves on! 

Love you all! 

-Sister Beaumont