July 2nd 2018
Hello Family!
We had transfers this week! It's sad to see my companions go, but I'm happy to be with Elder Rives! We're no longer in a trio, but my companion is someone that I came out with! We have only been together a few days but have seen a lot of good things happening so far! We were able to meet the new mission president last Friday, and he is a really amazing person. His accent is kinda like Elder Utchdorf, and he is the happiest guy you'll meet. We all had a 5 minute interview with him after our little meeting, and it was so wonderful to get to talk with him and his wife. They have a very rich history, being an Area 70 in Europe for quite some time. It's sad to think I will only have 3 months with him. Luckily, we will be seeing him tomorrow for our MLC to begin this transfer!
We've been able to meet with a lot of the ward members to introduce Elder Rives, and we've seen how great the southern people are out here. They all love to talk, but are just the kindest people. I still have yet to meet a rude person here in Hickory. The weather is staying at a consitent 90 with occasional surprise thunderstorms, not too bad. These next few weeks are going to be the crazy ones, with meetings and lots of exchanges. We've been trying this transfer to keep in really good contact with the zone, with lots of calls, and going on 2 exchanges a week.
The sad thing is, I originally though I would finish my mission here because it is normal to stay in an area for 3 transfers or longer. However, me and Elder Rives go home together and they dont whitewash ZL's, so on of us is leaving this transfer and I think it's me :'( Something I've learned though, that has been a wonderful thing to understand, is it's not where you serve, it's who your serving and how you're serving, something that Sean taught me right before I left. At the beginning of the transfer I was very caught up in distracting things that wer'nt bad, but didnt help me focus on my main purpose. I've been sprinting now, working as hard as a can, and it's been a wonderful experience so far, many miracles are happening. I love you all, and stay safe in Africa!
July 9th, 2018
Family! Hello!
Great week! We got to work with the mission president more closly! We had a meeting down in Charlotte on Tuesday where the new mission president presented new things to the mission. I'm pretty sad that I won't be able to serve around him longer, he is an amazing man, who is also very loving! He gives really good hugs! We get to talk to him again this Thursday, we have interviews with him, and I'm excited to learn all I can from him.
We also went on a couple exchanges this week, which were great! One of them was on the 4th of July, which was crazy at night! I got to go with an Elder i've served with for a while, and it was a lot of fun. He is going through a lot right now, but he said that I was able to help him through his tough transition right now. It's been amazing to serve these missionaries here.
This week I also got a little sick, I kept pushing on, but i am still sick :( It's just a little cold, but it makes it hard to think. Which if somethings don't make sense on this email, that's why haha. I've been pushing hard though these last few months! Things are getting so tiring, but i'm commited to sprint to the end! I love you all! And i'm sorry this is short, but my mind isnt working right now haha. Love yall!
-Elder Beaulieu
July 16th
2018
Happy Birthday Papa!
Wow! I just realized how close fathers day and
your birthday are, double celebration! Thank's again for everything you've done
in providing for me! Sure love ya dad.
Well this week was a little interesting. I got
caught with a little summer cold, which wasn't too bad, but left me aching all
week. I still didn't slow down though! Except after a week of being sick and
not getting better, i decided to slow down a little but. I am all better now
though! And I feel great! It feels good to be able to give %100 again.
What happened this week.... We had interviews
with the mission president! It was a wonderful experience to get to talk to
President and Sister Adler. I've learned how straight-forward, yet kind Germans
are. President Adler is a unique german as well, he is the most laughy bubbly
guy, yet still very direct with everything, I love them. This time around
things went a little differently. Usually the zone leaders get interviewed
first so we can talk about the zone needs. Instead the zone leaders were last,
so he could tell us what the zone needs. We also had district meetings that
day, so our day at the church building went from 9:30-6:30, which was
exhausting but super spiritual! The zone here in Hickory are all wonderful
missionaries, and I feel that there are a lot of attributes i'm learning from
them.
We were also able to go on exchanges with one
of the companionships. I stayed in Hickory with the other Elder. He is
currently living with another set of missionaries, because these missionaries
just recently get bedbugs! Not a fun time haha. But we had a lot of fun
together! His name is Elder Evans, and he is very similar to me in a lot of
ways! We had to do some time-consuming things that day, like taking the car to
firestone, so we had a lot of time to talk and connect! I felt bad, because we
didn't have much time to do missionary work, but by the end of the exchange, he
said that he loved it! He told me that usually his leaders are all work, and
don't take a lot of time to connect, and they don't usually open up much, so it
was great to still be able to help him!
The work here is going great! We have a
baptism coming up this Saturday, for someone named Nathan Moua. He's 10, and
his parents are all members, but he want's to be baptized! It amazing here,
because we've been working with a lot of kids, which I haven't had the
priviledge to do most of my mission. They have lots of faith in the promises of
the gospel, and are quicker learners than most adults here in the south haha.
The ward is amazing, a still super supportive of the missionaries. We usually
have ward coordination meetings every week with some people from the ward, but
we plan on meeting with the other set of missionaries in the ward and making
plans for the ward, and bringing our ideas to those meetings. There's a lot of
potential here, and we are just trying to harvest it!
Something I've really been learning a lot on
the mission, is the purpose of this work. I've been able to learn a lot of
skills, and develop great habits, but I think my growth in my testimony of the
Savior has been the biggest takeaway from the mission. It's something that I'm
starting to understand the importance of a lot more now, and it's given me the drive
to push as hard as I can this last league of the race. I'm excited to see how
much closer I can grow to the Savior with this better understanding. I love you
all, and encourage you to do whatever you do, with the same purpose!
-Elder Beaulieu
July 23rd
Hello family!
This has probably been the most eventful/ stressful week of my mission, which is great! Let me take you through the week of Elder Beaulieu:
Last Monday: We had one of the members take us out fishing! He bought us Bojangles, which is one of the fast food places out here that we don't have out west. They have the best biscuits there! I was never a big fan of biscuits until I came to the south, where it's covered in lots of butter. It was a perfect day in this park, and I got to break my first worm! It was nasty! No one caught anything, but it was still very beautiful on the dock! Later that day we played a little basketball, which I have not gotten any better at on my mission haha.
The next day we went on exchanges, which were amazing! The Elder I was with was Elder Evans, who I have grown super close to in just this past month. We were able to talk deep feelings and stuff and I learned a lot about myself! As I've been thinking from our conversation, and I had a moment of introspection. On my mission I've been able to find some of the talents I have to offer, and sometimes it's easy to get distracted from giving what you have, and wanting to give what others have. Kinda confusing, but what I mean is, the Lord has blessed each of us with certain abilities and talents, and he wants us to use those, not expecting us to use a talent we don't have. So I came out of this introspection with a question I've been starting to ask myself regularly, How are you doing at being you? Or How you were you today? Might sound a little confusing, but it makes sense in my mind 😅
So the family with the kids who were baptized this past weekend invited us over for dinner. It was a very special event, because they're a Hmong family and they made pha! It was my first time eating Pha, but it was really good! We got to talk to some of the family that usually didn't talk to missionaries, which was great! But back to the great food! So Pha is basically these noodles in this broth, and you can put all kinds of different toppings on it. It was tough, because I didn't know the right toppings for my taste, so it tasted really good to me, but I don't know if I unlocked the full capacity of the Pha.
For a few weeks now, I have been having unusually more anxiety than usual, and I was wondering why? Earlier this week, there was a problem in the zone that arose, that was bringing a lot of grief to some of the missionaries. We were able to get the whole situation figured out, and everyone was ok after many priesthood blessings. It was an amazing thing, because I think my anxiety attested to what some others in the zone were feeling, since I had this feeling before I even knew why. It was an incredible moment to experince the peace that came after all of these missionaries were at peace. We all came out with stronger faith and testimony of the Savior, so it was a good thing that happened in the end. I cannot say what happened as of now, but later. There's been a lot of experiences on the mission where it's grown my faith in the power in the Atonement of Christ, and this was the largest one. I could feel the peace that came accross all the missionaries that day. I love the mission!
For now, our special assignement is to make everyone in the zone feel happy! Which I feel is something that I can help contribute! I was actually assigned to give a 15 minute talk at zone conference about having joy, so I'm super excited for that! Other than that, everything is super well right now! Hasn't hit me yet that i'm so close to going home, which is good! But I did get the login info, thanks mom!
A takeaway from this, is as you continue being a worthy and obedient follower of Christ, there will be a time where he will need you to do something special. Like the 10 virgins, you may not see why now, or think that you being prepared is ever going to help, but when he does need you, it's good to be prepared! I am thankful for a loving God who is patient in all my weaknesses, and who sent His Son to allow me to feel peace in all the times I couldn't find it any other way. I love you all!
-Elder Beaulieu
July 30th Jacob
Hello family!
This has probably been the most eventful/ stressful week of my mission, which is great! Let me take you through the week of Elder Beaulieu:
Last Monday: We had one of the members take us out fishing! He bought us Bojangles, which is one of the fast food places out here that we don't have out west. They have the best biscuits there! I was never a big fan of biscuits until I came to the south, where it's covered in lots of butter. It was a perfect day in this park, and I got to break my first worm! It was nasty! No one caught anything, but it was still very beautiful on the dock! Later that day we played a little basketball, which I have not gotten any better at on my mission ha ha.
The next day we went on exchanges, which were amazing! The Elder I was with was Elder Evans, who I have grown super close to in just this past month. We were able to talk deep feelings and stuff and I learned a lot about myself! As I've been thinking from our conversation, and I had a moment of introspection. On my mission I've been able to find some of the talents I have to offer, and sometimes it's easy to get distracted from giving what you have, and wanting to give what others have. Kinda confusing, but what I mean is, the Lord has blessed each of us with certain abilities and talents, and he wants us to use those, not expecting us to use a talent we don't have. So I came out of this introspection with a question I've been starting to ask myself regularly, How are you doing at being you? Or How you were you today? Might sound a little confusing, but it makes sense in my mind 😅
So the family with the kids who were baptized this past weekend invited us over for dinner. It was a very special event, because they're a Hmong family and they made pha! It was my first time eating Pha, but it was really good! We got to talk to some of the family that usually didn't talk to missionaries, which was great! But back to the great food! So Pha is basically these noodles in this broth, and you can put all kinds of different toppings on it. It was tough, because I didn't know the right toppings for my taste, so it tasted really good to me, but I don't know if I unlocked the full capacity of the Pha.
For a few weeks now, I have been having unusually more anxiety than usual, and I was wondering why? Earlier this week, there was a problem in the zone that arose, that was bringing a lot of grief to some of the missionaries. We were able to get the whole situation figured out, and everyone was ok after many priesthood blessings. It was an amazing thing, because I think my anxiety attested to what some others in the zone were feeling, since I had this feeling before I even knew why. It was an incredible moment to experience the peace that came after all of these missionaries were at peace. We all came out with stronger faith and testimony of the Savior, so it was a good thing that happened in the end. I cannot say what happened as of now, but later. There's been a lot of experiences on the mission where it's grown my faith in the power in the Atonement of Christ, and this was the largest one. I could feel the peace that came across all the missionaries that day. I love the mission!
For now, our special assignment is to make everyone in the zone feel happy! Which I feel is something that I can help contribute! I was actually assigned to give a 15 minute talk at zone conference about having joy, so I'm super excited for that! Other than that, everything is super well right now! Hasn't hit me yet that I’m so close to going home, which is good! But I did get the login info, thanks mom!
A takeaway from this, is as you continue being a worthy and obedient follower of Christ, there will be a time where he will need you to do something special. Like the 10 virgins, you may not see why now, or think that you being prepared is ever going to help, but when he does need you, it's good to be prepared! I am thankful for a loving God who is patient in all my weaknesses, and who sent His Son to allow me to feel peace in all the times I couldn't find it any other way. I love you all!
-Elder Beaulieu
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