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 

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