Sunday, November 19, 2017

Jacob's mission updates for August 2017

August 7th 2017

This week has been insane!
Let me give you a little run down of what has happened recently.
So on Tuesday i went in, dropped off my companion, and anxously waited 3 hours at the mission office to find out who my trainee would be.... long story short, His name is Elder Richardson! He is an amazing man, and we are getting along great! He kinda scared me at first though. He was very quiet, and i got really worried, everything came to mind, except for what it really was. It turns out... he was a new missionary! So he was just adjusting to his new surroundings! I was relieved. 

In the mission field, there are of course ups and downs. Usually they last weeks, transfers, months, basically pretty long. But with all this responsibility, everyday is a rollercoaster! I get really happy, and really worried, and really excited, and really confused like every 5 minutes... Its great! Haha it was crazy being called the district trainer at first, and the days were just like i described, but im starting to get the hang of things now, so im more relaxed :) 

Well... I thought i was getting the hang of things. I had district meeting last Friday, and i think it went really well! We did perfect time-wise and the district seemed to like it. That was the first relief is passing the first district meeting and having it go well. But... I found out next week President and his kids are coming to visit my district meeting. It's actually the 3 districts in our zone hes visiting, but one of them is mine. And ive never seen him at a district meeting before, until its me the one leading it haha. So im kinda nervous for that. But i have a good excuse if anything goes wrong, im a brand new district leader! 

The work here has been kinda slow. This week we didnt find a lot of success but we were able to have a lot of things prepared for the future. We might be teaching a short message to 20-30 non members every thursday so thats exciting! We have been working though! Training is scary though! I want him to learn everything hes supposed to, but im always scared im gonna mess up. But its all good lol, the Lord will provide a way! He is a great man though, were getting along great, and hes opened up a lot. 

About the driving... i have been doing a lot of it, and i think im getting too comfortable with it lol. It's really easy here since theres only deer and trees to run into, so there is nothing to worry about.

Overall with the whole week, it has been great, i was very nervous/excited/anxious in the begging of it all, but im starting to calm down, and i know the Lord will qualify me for this calling. 

I hope yall have a fun time in Hawaii! And is Ash excited to drive? Is it weird for everyone else to think thats shes old enough to drive? Haha i hope yall have a great week!
-Elder Beaulieu




August 14th 2017
This is so wierd! I'm old now! 

This week was very eventful! So I will begin to tell you all the events. And good news! I have pictures! So lets start this:

Choking Story: Pretty big miracle. So apparently, my companion has a small throat. We were eating roast beef at a members house, and he got a peice stuck in his throat. It wasn’t enough to block his airways, but it made it so he couldn’t swallow. Even spit. So he had to step out, and had to keep spitting up, since it wouldn’t go down. Skip to when we get home, he was still spitting up, so we called the mission nurse. She said the nearest urgent care didn’t open till the next morning, so he was told he had to sleep and just drool all night. But since we are eagle scouts, we were devoted to find a way.
long story short, I was just like, hey, why don’t you drink vinegar? And we tried it. After a few seconds, a chunk of roast beef comes flying out of his mouth, then a couple seconds after, so does the rest of his food. Boom, miracle.

What is the most common food we are eating? 

So you would think being in the South, we have deep fried barbeque everyday. In Albemarle, this is not the case. This past week, we have had eggrolls everyday, lunch and dinner... eggrolls. There are a ton of Hmong people here, who make amazing food. But they all cook the same thing. So we have tons of leftover eggrolls we've been eating, and then we go to dinner with a member to get more lol.
 Barbara: In the last 2 days, i've driven 200 miles. Today was for zone activity and yesterday we went to the bottom of our area. We had a bible referral down there, nd we were able to contact her! She was super nice, and my companion extended his first baptismal invite! She said yes of coarse because Elder Richardson is that amazing. It was a great experience.

So thats all the main events. Last week was the hottest and most humid I’ve felt since I’ve been here. Really makes me appreciate having the car! The Bugs are also everywhere now! Its kinda cool but creepy, but I’m no longer scared of bee's anymore! The ones here are bigger than at home and everywhere, so I’ve become accustomed to them.

Other than that everything is going great! Going on to my 3rd district meeting tomorrow which is exciting, and I think Elder Richardson is turning out ok! I hope yall have fun at Hawaii!
-Elder Beaulieu



 









Woah! 

I just saw the eclipse! Elder Richardson’s mom sent us some glasses so we could see it! It was amazing! But also kinda creepy haha. Were ya'll able to see it? It made for an amazing end to an amazing week. 

Last Tuesday we had interviews with the mission president, which are always great! But he was kinda behind so it was a little rushed, but it was still great! Afterwards we went on exchanges. I went with the zone leaders, and they live in Charlotte, so i finally got to serve in the city! Highlight of that exchange, I was able to conduct my first baptismal interview! 
       
That was a great experience to have! However, she spoke very little English, she spoke mainly French, so we had to have a translator in there with us. But good thing is she passed! She should be getting baptized this Thursday which is so exciting! While I was there, I got these ear candle things that you stick in your ear, light it up and it pulls the earwax out of your ear! It was pretty sweet and it worked pretty well! 
   
 This week I have really appreciated having full car! It was crazy hot and crazy humid! It really drains you, weve been exhausted and we still have the car! Yesterday, we went out and walked for 3 hours, about 6 miles, which was fun! Luckily, we did it from 6-9 so it was a bit cooler.... just a bit. 
     
The work here in Albemarle is really starting to pick up. It seems like all of the members are having missionary experiences and calling us about different people! It really great to be a part of this ward while the member missionary work is increasing like this. I think its Elder Richardson, and his childlike faith! We've been getting along great, I'm glad to be his companion! It's been real fun while also working hard! I love you family and I hope Hawaii was great! And good luck in Sophomore year ash!

-Elder Beaulieu










Welcome back from Hawaii! oh, and I did get the birthday card! Thank you! It was cool to hear from the family. It's weird to think that ash is already starting her sophomore year! Time is going by too fast. 
      These past few weeks with Elder Richardson have been so much fun. He is a great man, and I could tell he prepared well for his mission. We've been getting a lot of work done while also having lots of fun. Luckily the heat is dying down, it’s probably only temporary, but it's nice to have some cooler weather to walk in. 
      It's weird to think that I’ve been a district leader and a trainer for almost a month now. I've seen a lot of change and had a lot of growth. And it's also very humbling. I've been able to love for these people and serve them, and that’s a big blessing. 
      So, I’m kinda exhausted right now so the only big exciting thing i can think of right now that happened last week, was we got fleas! We had just given a lady a blessing and it turns out her dogs have fleas. As soon as we found them, we drove home, ran into the shower, and washed our clothes. Kinda put a little detour on the day, but luckily we didn’t have any appointments that night. 
      And that is a great question! I love the Book of Mormon! My advice for her, is to study something specifically out of it, or at least have a purpose behind it. If you don’t really know why, it will be harder to get a lot out of it. I have seen a lot of the power that comes from the Book of Mormon. One thing I learned that helped me understand why commitments are so important to extend to these investigators, especially concerning the Book of Mormon, is the %95 of these people’s conversion happens when we (the missionaries) aren’t there. Kinda shows how much work the spirit does. 
     But aside from investigators, reading from the Book of Mormon everyday has made a huge difference in my life. I'll just share a couple quotes that I know to be true:

"I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven’s help in our lives"
-President Thomas S. Monson

"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost."
-Elder Kevin W. Pearson

So i guess my commitment to you Ash, and to anyone else who wants these blessings, is to read the Book of Mormon everyday. Especially when you really don't want to, that is the most important time to do it. As you do that, then you will see these blessings fulfilled in your life. I love you all! And I hope that helped!

-Elder Beaulieu


Excerpt from Elder Montandon’s email
Tuesday I went on exchange to Albemarle again but this time with Elder Beaulieu's Trainee and so I got to drive the brand new Malibus that they have and I will say that I do like the Chevy Malibus so we got there planned and took off on the bike for the rest of the day and we got to see and find alot of people and they are currently teaching a Jehovah Witness lady and it's pretty hilarious because her only concern is that God's name is Jehovah but she is a very smart lady she spoke Spanish but said English is her first language which I thought was weird because she is 100% but she is very smart. Then we go and visit a couple of people who had been interested before and so we stopped at this one guys house and he was getting ready to mow his lawn and we show up and start talking with him and share the Plan of Salvation with him and he breaks down crying so I gave him a hug and he was just crying because he just lost his mom and his brother and I shared a powerful scripture Alma 40:11 (check it out when you have the time) but it was amazing how powerful the scriptures really are. We ran into alot of people and I got some deep quotes that just blew my mind so I'll share those with you...
-"Once you know God you know who your enemy's are"
-"The easy part is falling down the hardest part is getting up"
-"Knowledge is Power, Power is Control"

Wednesday we returned from the exchange after an amazing district meeting by Elder Beaulieu












Jeff and I in Reno

 In July Jeff and I took a trip to Reno where he was invited to speak with New York Life. 


We made a long weekend of it so we could see Lake Tahoe. 







Jeff did good a good job with his speaking opportunity which he finished at the beginning of the trip and then it was nice to sight see and not have to worry about him speaking after that. 




Downtown Reno has a riverwalk area that is nice. 





One of the nights we saw a Circe de Sole type show that was good. 





After the show meeting the cast.





After a couple of nights in Reno we drove into an old mining town called Virginia City and saw all of the old buildings and businesses. A lot of them weren't open when we first got there but we drove around a bit to check things out. 





This was the first Catholic church. 




We did get into a few of the places...






We'll have to come back again another time. 




We drove to the Capitol of Nevada which is Carson City (its small).  




We then spent a quick 24 hours exploring Lake Tahoe. We didn't even swim in the water because we were so busy sightseeing but we did go on a boat on the lake to see it. 



The water was blue and beautiful and we took a paddle boat ride to the other side of the lake. 



This island had a castle like structure built on it where the owner used to take tea. 




Beautiful sunset in the middle of town.








That night we went to a magic show in a place called the Loft. 



Here is one of the tricks for the finale. 



I got to go on stage and my wedding ring ended up being in this tennis ball!




Checking out the lake at a resort before we are driving to the airport. 




Beautiful view of the Lake. We'll have to come back again sometime. 




On the plane ride out we met a 94 year old Holocaust survivor (there aren't many of those around any more) and he fascinated us with his story. He told us just a few of the miracles that happened to keep him from dying during the war. He said out of 100 family and extended family that he had only him and his brother and one cousin survived the war. When he was on a list to be sent to the gas chambers him and his brother hid in a locked room under some hay. This worked for awhile but then he told us about hearing footsteps on the stairs and hearing 2 Nazi policemen arguing about breaking the door down. They broke it down and then eventually found him and his brother hiding in the hay. Only he was supposed to got to the camp but his brother said the rest of the family was gone and he didn't want to lose his brother too so he would go with him. His brother ended up being shot by an antisemitic man waiting out in his apartment one night and he died just 2 years after the war. The man's name was Jacob too and he ended up coming to the US and becoming a dentist with his wife who he met in the concentration camp. He practiced dentistry until he was 92!! I ended up buying his book called "Where you go I'll go" and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the story.   



July Happenings


 Taylor, Ashley Cassidy and I went to the dog beach in Huntington. Ashley has been asking me to go there for a long time (years) and I thought I would finally take her. It was in Huntington and a little far to get to. The beach is kind of at the end of Huntington in a certain area and the only things there are a life guard and a bathroom with a toilet only, no sink. There weren't any snacks or even a water fountain so I had to keep giving Maddie our water. 





I found out she loved playing in the ocean but she bites the water...well then she throws it all back up (so there went all our good water I let her drink too). There were tons of dogs at the beach and it was fun seeing them play in the waves.



 I accidentally squeaked a toy that was in the snack bag and a bunch of dogs came running, ha ha. Ashley found out it was impossible to keep our blanket and towel free from sand because Maddie would come and lay right on her towel and if she didn't get sand on it the other dogs that would come over to visit would. 



Luckily on the way home I put down the seats and put a waterproof blanket in the back because sure enough she threw up a bunch of water again on the way home, ha ha. 





Ashley went with Steve and Tahna and their family on their family vacation this week. They drove up to Utah for a few days to stay with friends in their cabin. Ashley was loving riding the quads and she says she's ready for driving now. You have to be 16 to ride them alone so she had to have someone on the back of it with her. 




They drove up to see Josh and Darby graduate from BYU Idaho but had a lot of fun as well.






Hiking!




Enjoying some good food with Jolene.





Visiting Jackson...



Riding the go carts.




Meanwhile while Ashley was gone we celebrated Jeff's birthday.

He turned 47!





I went to the beach for a girlfriend beach day...



and let Sadie do henna tattoos on us. (I did the Hawaiian flower)






This summer Taylor has been working hard cleaning pools for Shawn Pederson. He works 3 days a week right now but with the drive he ends up being gone 12 to 13 hours each of those days. It's hot and tiring but he's happy to be saving up for the next school year.  He hasn't been with us on any of our trips so he's hanging out here with Maddie and taking care of the house while we are gone. 


He did start dating a girl from UCR this summer. She's roommates with his friends girlfriend. 

Would you believe her name is Taylor.















At the end of the month Steve and Tahna planned a barbecue at our house so we could all see Josh and Darby and the new baby. This is Darby and Carter and he's 4 months old and as cute as can be. 



He's not too sure about Taylor



There was a bunch of people over and it turned out good and last minute Joel and Virginia even ended up coming over. 




Hanging in the hot tub.




Swimming 



Jumping




Taylor brought his girlfriend Taylor over so we could meet her (she's wearing Ashley's bathing suit) 




We also played a fun game on Jackbox TV where we used our phones as controllers to answer questions.




Oh and we bought Ashley a used car so she can start learning how to drive on the car she will be using.