In August Ashley got to go to girls camp. I can't believe that next year will be her last year!
This was her cabin group. She got to help plan and prepare for camp before and with my help prepared the sign in the background for them.
I ended up painting 3 different cabin flags on sheets.
I also painted a bunch of these shields for an activity for camp. Since I wasn't there helping I felt like this was something that I could help with.
A great group of girls and women!
Girls camp and braids go hand in hand
A couple of times this summer Jeff and I had the opportunity to hear cover bands. One night we listened BeeGees and this night it was an ABBA cover band.
With the start of the new school year Ashley is starting a new season of mascotting.
Every year she remembers how hot and uncomfortable it is in the suite but she hangs in there.
Friends like Jaeden help Ashley have fun while they are helping others have school spirit.
Ashley has had a great experience mascoting but she's pretty sure that this will be her last year. Two of her best friends are graduating this year.
I started student teaching in August. I was teaching at a high school in Rialto.
I had a pretty rough start at the beginning but I hung in there and pushed through. The principal ended up switching mentor teachers after a couple of weeks and it ended up better for everyone.
At the end of summer we had a pool day with family.
We also got to meet Taylor's sister Morgan and her cute son Galileo.
We ended the evening making smores with the fire.
Right before school started we enjoyed the beach a few days.
Ashley, Jolene and I stayed a couple of nights down at the beach.
One of the days we met up with Cindy and Penny.
One of the other days we met up with the Thompson family and hung out with them in front of their beach house.
The last day we went to Huntington Beach and went to the US Open and watched a surfing competition.
We also watched skateboarders and bikers.
Ashley on her first day of school, and Maddie knowing that she's leaving...
Taylor also started school. He's down in LA working on his Master's degree at Cedar's Sinai this year.
I played real estate agent this month for Taylor to help him find a decent place to rent in the city that didn't have too much of a commute. It was crazy going out there for viewings and having things snatched up. Everything is expensive but we finally found a decent place.
Moving day we came down to help him set up.
He is a 1/2 block from Mann's Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame
We met up with my family for dinner because they were in the area!
Joel was sporting blue hair when we met up.
Paisley wasn't liking having to sit still in a booth for so long.
Ashley with her young women group
Update from Jacob
Hello
Sister Beaulieu!
This is Sister Tebbs, Sister Erickson and Sister Roundy, sister missionaries serving in the Hickory zone with your son Elder Beaulieu. We wanted to write you an email to express our gratitude for your son. We have tried to express our feelings and thoughts but our words are inadequate! After some events that happened this past week your son was instrumental in our survival. Because of his worthiness and willingness to act on his priesthood and spiritual impressions he literally saved our lives. Heavenly Father trusts your son with His children's lives and with spiritual promptings.
We want to let you know how grateful we are to you for raising him in a way that allows him to be a powerful emissary for the Savior. We are eternally grateful for him and his decision to serve. He is by far the most positive, charitable, and diligent elder we have ever met, and all three of us have had the pleasure of serving around him for a long period of time on our missions. Throughout the time we have had the privilege to get to know him, he has made our day on more days then we can count. He has become one of our best friends, and someone we can never forget. We all can testify that being around him brings us closer to feeling the Savior's love as he is one of the most Christlike people we know. He is also absolutely hilarious, and you can not help but smile and "be happy" around him.
Elder Beaulieu is a powerful and incredible missionary and a leader to the missionaries around him. We admire and love Elder Beaulieu so much and thank you again for allowing him to serve and for being his mom. Thank you for raising an amazing and wonderful disciple of Christ. We can not thank you enough.
Sincerely,
This is Sister Tebbs, Sister Erickson and Sister Roundy, sister missionaries serving in the Hickory zone with your son Elder Beaulieu. We wanted to write you an email to express our gratitude for your son. We have tried to express our feelings and thoughts but our words are inadequate! After some events that happened this past week your son was instrumental in our survival. Because of his worthiness and willingness to act on his priesthood and spiritual impressions he literally saved our lives. Heavenly Father trusts your son with His children's lives and with spiritual promptings.
We want to let you know how grateful we are to you for raising him in a way that allows him to be a powerful emissary for the Savior. We are eternally grateful for him and his decision to serve. He is by far the most positive, charitable, and diligent elder we have ever met, and all three of us have had the pleasure of serving around him for a long period of time on our missions. Throughout the time we have had the privilege to get to know him, he has made our day on more days then we can count. He has become one of our best friends, and someone we can never forget. We all can testify that being around him brings us closer to feeling the Savior's love as he is one of the most Christlike people we know. He is also absolutely hilarious, and you can not help but smile and "be happy" around him.
Elder Beaulieu is a powerful and incredible missionary and a leader to the missionaries around him. We admire and love Elder Beaulieu so much and thank you again for allowing him to serve and for being his mom. Thank you for raising an amazing and wonderful disciple of Christ. We can not thank you enough.
Sincerely,
Sister Roundy, Sister Tebbs, and Sister
Erickson
August 6th Jacob
Hello
family!
It is crazy to think that I will be 20 next week! We also have
transfers next week on Thursday! Really exciting week! This last week has been
pretty eventful as well. Yesterday we had a fireside at the church, where the
mission president came to Hickory and talked with some of the new members and
non-members! It was a very spiritual experince talking about some of the basic
principles of the gospel. We got there a little early because we had to set up,
and the mission president was already there. We had some time to go on a walk
with him, and talk about some of the things going on in the stake and with the
missionaries. I love him so much, Germans are the best people! We get to see
him tomorrow too with a meeting in Charlotte. There I am playing for a special
musical number, which happens a lot when you play piano as a missionary. I was
also able to play for church yesterday, a musical number at church the week
prior, and at the meeting we had yesterday. Thanks mom and dad for not letting
me quit!
We also had zone conference last week, and I was able to give a
talk! I was assigned a 15 minute talk on having joy, it was a very joyful
experience! In my studies, I learned that there are a couple things that are
essential to having joy! The first thing, is that true joy can only come
through Jesus Christ. Think of the miracle of the feeding the 5,000. After this
miracle of being fed, the multitude saw that this man could bring them sustenance,
so surely they couldn't leave him. However, he taught a vital lesson that can
be seen as pertaining to happiness. He tells them not to labor for meat that
perisheth, but to come to him, for he is the bread of life. In our own personal
pursuits of happiness, we can find immediate satisfaction in hunting for the
things of the world, but true and lasting joy can only come through
Christ.
The things we can do to find this joy are quite simple. The gospel of
Jesus Christ is the blueprint to joy. If He is the only way to happiness, then
it would make sense that He would teach the way of happiness. After living the
gospel, we need to choose happiness. I explained it this way: Everybody is
blowing bubbles in this world. There are happy bubbles, sad bubbles, angry
bubbles, and others. We need to choose to focus on those happy bubbles, they
are always there, we just need to shift our focus. So that was my talk! Giving
talks has become much easier on the mission, now I love doing it!
I'm anxious to see what happens this next week with transfers, being
that It will be my last. I should know if I am going by next week, and I'll be
able to tell ya'll if I do end up going. Love ya'll!
Elder
Beaulieu
Hello Everybody!
It's weird to say that I'm finally 20 years old! The people here have
been so kind, and I was able to have lots of brownies yesterday! I don't think
it's hit me yet, not until someone asks me my age and I say 20. And tell the
Grandparents on both sides that I really appreciated their letters they
sent!
To answer your question before I forget, the 30th would be perfect for
the homecoming talk! It's crazy how soon that is! We did get transfer news
already though. I will be staying here in Hickory my last transfer, and will be
getting Elder Olson as my new companion, which I have already had as my
companion once before haha. This will be fun to see how this goes. The work
here in Hickory is going really well, the ward is very involved with missionary
work. I'll be glad to stay another 6 weeks.
This summer has been really quite nice here. It's a lot cooler than it
was last summer, and it seems like we've already passed the hottest of it.
There has still been a lot of thunderstorms though, which I always love. It's a
good thing we have full car! Something pretty sad/ funny happened not too long
ago. A few days ago we got a call from some of the Elders in the zone, and they
told us they had bed bugs! They sent us pictures and they were infested with
them. They had to spend all of that day deep cleaning everything, washing all
their clothes and putting them in garbage bags. They are now staying with us
for the next couple of weeks, so it's been pretty fun in the apartment.
It seems like so much is happening right now at home! Ashley's starting
school? Are you excited? Jr year is the big one! Do you know what you want to
do in college yet? And Taylor is moving out, you need to let me know how it
feels living on your own haha. And good luck with your teaching mom! I love
yall so much and look forward to seeing you soon!
-Elder Beaulieu
Thank you
everyone for the birthday wishes! It really means a lot getting the letters
from all ya'll! And tell Steve that I would love to help teach mission prep
when I get back, I've had many opportunites to teach that here. That will be
good to be able to see Shawn and Kevin again soon!
This transfer feels weird haha, it still hasn't hit me yet that I
go home pretty soon. The best way I can describe it, is I feel I have exhausted
all of my strength, and everything that I'm able to do now is solely because of
God. I've been very appreciative of this final time of the mission especially,
because it has been the hardest but most rewarding in bringing me closer to my
Savior. From all of the things I have gained from this mission, I'd say the
most important is the increased relationship and knowledge of a loving God and
His Son. The exciting thing, is that doesn't need to end at the end of my
mission! I have already been making plans on how I can stay faithful in continuing
to grow closer to them.
We did have transfers this week though! Last Thursday we got my
new companion and headed back to Hickory. He's brand new to being a zone
leader, so that's been able to help me to stay focused, knowing that I need to
help lead the zone and teach him how to lead the zone. We have a lot that's
happening this transfer, so it will be keeping us busy until the end. We have a
couple of meetings this next week, and a lot of echanges as well with some
missionaries. The amazing thing is, is that I feel I have just enough energy to
make it through one more transfer, then I feel like i will collapse haha.
Summer hasnt been too bad here! It seems like summer time is
thunderstorm time for North Carolina. There have been some pretty crazy storms
here lately, which I love! School for everyone here will be getting back in
shortly, so this week not a lot of people were home because of the last minute
vacations. Once school starts though, then everyone will be home! I'm excited
to see what miracles there are in this last little bit of the mission, and I
look forward to seeing yall soon!
-Elder
Beaulieu
From the
mission office
Elder Beaulieu is
scheduled to be released on 28 Sep
2018.
Please continue to help him remain focused on missionary
work by avoiding conversations about returning home. Your encouragement
will help make these remaining weeks productive and positive.
Please see the attached document with the travel itinerary
for Elder Beaulieu. All travel has been
arranged and confirmed by Church Travel in Salt Lake City.
A copy of this itinerary has also been mailed to your Stake
President.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Mission
Office.
Best wishes,
Sister Kitchen
Elder Beaulieu is
scheduled to be released on 28 Sep
2018.
Please continue to help him remain focused on missionary
work by avoiding conversations about returning home. Your encouragement
will help make these remaining weeks productive and positive.
Please see the attached document with the travel itinerary
for Elder Beaulieu. All travel has been
arranged and confirmed by Church Travel in Salt Lake City.
A copy of this itinerary has also been mailed to your Stake
President.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Mission
Office.
Best wishes,
Sister Kitchen
August 27th
Jacob
Hello Family!
That's so crazy to think that Taylor is moved
out now, living on his own! It'll be fun to go and visit him though. It's also
crazy to think my mission is almost over! The end of mission has a really weird
feeling, hard to describe. It's funny because I see some of the missionaries
that go home with me, and they're really trunky, but that still hasn't hit me
yet haha. I've just been super exhausted lately, but that's not a bad
thing!
Another crazy story, so there are Elders
living with us right now because they got bedbugs. I left on exchanges, and
when I got back they said they had found a bedbug! We freaked out and cleaned
everything, and we haven't found one since! We would do the treatment for it,
but we need a picture of it, and we havent found one since the first, so I
guess we just don't worry about it. There has been a big outbreak of bed bugs
in our zone alone, it's really weird. But! We are all doing really well, and
little bugs cannot stop the Lords work! Time is seeming to fly by a lot faster.
However, I still feel fully focused on the work, I just have to do some
occasional planning for home.
Well this last week, other than our experince
finding our friends, we had some meetings, exchanges, and really hot weather.
As we were out we found a little old lady who walked out and said "Hey
Shorty!" One thing about people in the south, is they have no filter haha,
I love it. As I stepped onto her porch, i realized that we were the same
height! She wasn't a dwarf, but just a small old lady! She was pretty willing
to listen, and we go back tomorrow to visit her! I love the south, all of the
people are very unique so it keeps things interesting.
Being in the circumstances I am in now, I have
been looking back on how my perspective has changed since the beginning of my
mission. It seems I now see things so much differently than I do before. When I
think about why, I think of spiritual light, and how when you act on it, you
gain more light. At the beginning I was so worried about always being the
perfect person, and not going astray. I see now that the most important thing
that will affect that is when you act on your agency. It is in the small
decisions you make determines who you are. That is why living in a way to have
the spirit there is so important, it helps you to make those right decisions
making you into the right person. I love you all, and am excited to see you
soon!
-Elder Beaulieu
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