June Jacob's update

June 5^th, 2017

Hello Family! 

This week was pretty amazing! It was jam packed full of spiritual experiences! I'm sorry I don't have much time so I'll make it up to you next week! So I'll first answer your questions.

I didn't get any ticks yet! 😁 there are tons of bugs here though haha

The work here is going great! As always there's always something that goes wrong in missionary work, but the baptism we should've had last week should be this Saturday! And weve got a couple more lined up! Exciting! 

I would probably say, there is no one person that has been a big inspiration, but I would say the members you meet out on the mission are each inspirational! I have been taking things learned from each of them to help in my daily discipleship. 

The biggest thing that I'm learning right now is the principle of goals and plans. I have been setting them for the future, not just mission but after too, so I can continue on the right path after the mission as well. And not just stay the same but keep progressing! I have high hopes for the future! And I would love for ya'll to be setting goals and making plans so you can keep getting better and better! I love ya'll and have a great week! 

-Elder Beaulieu 

June 12, 2017

Family! 

That's so great to see all that's happening at home! And congratulations Dean! That had to be an exciting time for Jared! It's also so crazy to see all the graduations happening! I feel so old now haha.

This week was absolutely amazing here in Danville! 

It all started on an emergency exchange on Tuesday. Nothing Scary or anything, the District Leader came down to interview Natasha. I was kinda nervous because so many events transpired in the weeks approaching baptism, but she passed! And something crazy that happened, when we were looking for something for her to wear to be baptized in, a member was looking in her closet and she found and random white dress that fit Natasha perfectly and she didn't even know where it came from! It was a pretty great miracle! 

I was able to play piano at the baptism, which was great, and my companion got to baptize her! The member turn out was great! A lot more then we expected! She felt really great, and the members loved finally having a baptism! It had been since August since they had one last, and the ward has been slowly dying off, so they were very happy to have a new member come in. 

She was confirmed yesterday and that was amazing to be a part of the blessing.  There is actually a youth temple trip this Saturday, and she might be going to that! What really made our day, was when we were talking to her after church. Apparently while bishop was interviewing her he said that she was the most knowledgeable convert that she interviewed. Then he told her that we are the best missionaries this area has ever seen. Which was very nice to hear.

Then, yesterday, President Alexander came up to interview Leslie. And she passed as well! So she will be getting baptized this Wednesday! He also said that she was one of the most knowledgeable people he has interviewed for baptism. He was really impressed with how much she knew from the Book of Mormon, and how much she referred to "Nephi as her hero", and she "just needs to get back to the rod." So that'll be exciting to see just a few days after this past baptism. 

This past week humbled me a lot. It showed me how much of an instrument in the Lord's hand I am, through these wonderful people were teaching. I feel I did almost nothing, but apparently, they are doing really well! I'm just glad that I can be a part of his army.

One scary thing that happened though, was after Presidents interview with Leslie, he said he wanted to talk to me. I was terrified, I was just wondering what I did wrong. Then he continued to ask me how I'm doing health wise. Which was a big relief, cuz I knew what he was talking about.

     

So this last Tuesday I found a tick on me, and it was in the bathroom I found it. It was on my no-no's. I got it off but it was scary, cuz I though I was gonna get Lyme disease. I thought that was send me home so my anxiety went up kinda, and it made me feel like a had a fever. And that's a symptom of Lyme disease and so I text President about it. He directed me the the Medical missionary Sister. And apparently, I am ok! So I got to talk with President one on one which was nice after knowing i wasn't in trouble or nothing bad happened. 

     

 And we were talking to Sister Alexander and she was talking to us about Transfers. So they are coming up next Tuesday and I'll find out next P-day. but she was telling us that 18 missionaries are coming in this transfer and 27 are coming in next! Its gonna be crazy! But I'm excited to be a seasoned missionary. I hit 9 months this Wednesday!

Another Highlight of this week, is we found out we got in the Newspaper! We do service at a baptist church and we got in the picture for that so that was pretty awesome. 

But throughout my time here in the mission, I have really seen the Lord's hand in changing my mind and my heart. I've been able to feel more of his guidance and strength. and i think it comes mostly from consistency in the simple things. I've found the most strength and guidance through regular scripture study and prayer. So the most important thing I can invite you to do is those simple things. Through time you will see the difference it makes. I Love you all and I hope this was a long enough email! Oh, and ask Elder Olson's mom to send you the video he sent her!

PS. First off, if I could get another flashdrive with some mo-tab and any other good music you could find that'll be great! 

and second, So some of the screws on the extensions broke. When another missionary was trying to get it on he cross threaded a couple bolts, and when we went to home Depot to get them off, they used a drill and they broke off. So I'll send you a pic of the pieces I need and if you could get them that'll be great! Love You!

June 19, 2017

This past week has been amazing! Last Wednesday was just about the best day you could get on a mission. It started with an amazing Zone Conference in the morning. The trainings we got were very applicable which those are the best, and I got to be a part of it! The assistants had me be "List man." They were giving a training on how to use all the tools of missionary work. And one of the best tools are the part-member, less-active, unbaptized children of record, and prospective Elders lists. So right before the conference they asked me to be list man.

   

 They had me wear a mask and a cape with a bunch of lists stapled to it. Once it was time, the mission president’s wife started playing some batman theme song music on the piano. Then I ran in throwing punches and kicks. I ran out, then came back in on the stage, emerging from the curtains, I rebuked the two zones for not having the lists. and told them we needed it to fight the enemy! 

     

That was the exciting part of Zone conference, everything else was great, but ya'll probably don’t wanna hear about that ha-ha. But once we got back, we started preparing for Leslie's baptism! It was an amazing experience to be a part of, and she even brought some of her family who really seemed to love it! Wanna hear something amazing?

     

So Leslie is a grandma, and has 3 of her own kids. Two of them were talking one night for a few hours, marveling at the change they have seen in their mother. We've seen a big change in her, but apparently, they’ve seen an even bigger change. And hopefully we'll be getting her children and grandchildren on Date soon!

Yeah, she was the hardest to say goodbye to. But when I was saying goodbye, I had the strongest feeling i was going to see her again in the Spirit World. And I knew that in the pre-existence I promised her i would find her and bring her into the gospel. It gave me a huge sense of peace knowing that i kept my promise to her. I've heard about these things before, and I didn’t doubt it was true. But yesterday i truly understood. It was amazing!

     

So through reading this last paragraph, you’re probably like, why is he saying goodbye? But it is true, that I’m getting transferred. It's bittersweet. But i'm leaving the area better than i found it, and that's all i can hope for in an area. I've seen many miracles in these last two transfers and it's really humbled me, and shown me how this is all the Lords work, and i really am just an instrument in his hands. 

The place I’m going to is Albemarle, the biggest area in the mission! I've only heard good things about it so I’m excited! My new companion is Elder Stewart. This is gonna be his last transfer on the mission!  He's a really funny guy, and cool story, he was List man for one of the other Zone conferences! So were gonna probably have too much fun together ha-ha. And get this, I’m gonna put this is blue because of how exciting this is!!!!! 

The District I’m going to, Elder Montandon is in!!!! He's been there 3 transfers already, so he's probably going after this one, but we'll be serving together! It's so crazy! 

Y'all have a great week! I'll keep you posted on how this next transfer goes!

-Elder Beaulieu

Disclaimer: don't have much time, next week I have much more time

But I will talk about the highlight of the week. I got to go on exchange with Elder Montandon! I know y'all got pictures but I sent a few more.

But it was so weird to be with him again! It was awesome though. He has in a way changed a lot, but he's also the same. We had tons of fun and stayed up until 3 in the morning. And I got to know a lot about him that I didn't know before. And while we were out, we were followed by a goat, it was pretty hilarious. But I'm so sorry that I can't get a lot out. I'm actually a little over the time when I was supposed to end. But I just wanted to let you know how much I love y'all. I pray for you every day and think of you as I go out to work. I'll get this better next week! Don't worry!

Elder Beaulieu 

The new address is 1002 Foxrun Dr Apt D Albemarle NC 28001-3053

From Elder Greg Montandon’s letter:   Friday was when the true party happened we had district meeting and then we had exchanges and I went on exchange with the one the only Elder Jacob Beaulieu which was probably the greatest thing that I have ever done we went and visited my recent convert Mylinh Boltwoods house and they had so much going on so we calmed her down and everything and retaught her the restoration and she felt good and it was pretty funny because Mylinh gives everyone nicknames so she called Elder Beaulieu "Boo Boo" put it was a very powerful lesson.

Elder Olson’s letter: (his last companion)

There is a picture of me and Elder Beaulieu I found that pretty much sums up our whole companionship. 

May 2017 Family Update

May

Ashley hiked up to Flat top with her Young Women's group

Here is Ashley's seminary class. She had a great teacher this year.

On May 1st Jeff and I celebrated our 24th Anniversary

Ashley celebrated by trying on my wedding dress and I was surprised that it fit her!! (If she could cut the sleeves and hem the bottom. It was eerie. 

Ashley and Dad and I went back to Disneyland to meet up with Dale, Elsa, Liesl and Elsa's boyfriend. We found out that they were going to be there so we went after school and work and met them. It was pretty busy when we got there and we ended up waiting 2 hours in line for Toy Story!! crazy! The rest of the time we only did fastpass or short lines.

Our favorite ride was cars. It was the first time we had ridden it. 

Clam chowder in a bread bowl. Yum! Our favorite.

 We stayed until it closed and then hit Jack in the Box on the way home with Dale. The picture of dad was Ashley laughing that dad pulled up a chair to get himself some coke at the machine. They had one of those machines where you could pick your flavor but he couldn't reach it. When the homeless people started coming into the Jack in the Box we thought it was time to go home. We got home at 2 in the morning. Way past our bedtime! We spent the next day pretty much just recovering. 

Taylor went up to a cabin with his running club friends and stayed in Big Bear and it snowed while they were there on the second day. They even had a bit of a snowball fight. The roads weren't too bad until he was driving through Arrowhead then he said it got sketchy. He skid a could of times a little and a car going really slow in front of him was making it hard to keep his traction and his wheels were spinning. Glad he made it home OK last night! The picture of Taylor hiking was the day before when there wasn't any snow. 

My highlight of Mother's Day was Jacob's phone call. The details are more on the blog post of Jacob's update for May. The flower Jeff got me for church and the cards were the ones I got that day including a hand written one from Jacob, which was the best! Mother's Day was good but quiet. We just had grandma, Dale and Elsa over and had dinner and played some games with them. 

A close second for my favorite thing of Mother's Day was this pampering night hosted by the Young Women and performed by Ashley. 

Ashley had a mutual night that was a mother/daughter pampering night. I loved it. Ashley had to give me a pedicure and you know she was trying to not think about having to do my feet and gross out but she did good. It was such a nice night.

Ashley and her friends playing Mario Kart. They came over after school one of the days this week and they actually were doing personal progress. We have the rule that she can't get her license until she gets her medallion and Anna Hales has the same rule so they actually started trying to do some of it. After they were done they pulled out Mario Kart. Ha ha, whatever works.

we went to Disneyland to celebrate Dean's birthday with him. We decided to play hooky one day and go before we are blocked out the rest of the summer. 

It was a busy day because I guess that people who had a special southern California pass had to use it by this week so the parking lot was closed by 10:30 and we had to park somewhere else, crazy. 

Dean seemed happy to have Ashley with him that day. 

It was fun to celebrate his birthday with him!

Dinner at Rainforest Cafe

Ashley had the spring show for cheer. 

They did their performance they did for competition. It was a long show and we didn't get home until almost 10 at night (on a school night :)

This picture is of Cody who opened his mission call. He is going to ......Honolulu Hawaii!! So exciting. He leaves at the end of September which is around the same time Jacob did. There were a lot of people there to watch him open it. So exciting. 

memorial Day and we are having Steve and Tahna's family over along with Jenise and the kids. We really didn't have any plans previously until Steve called and asked...."So what are you doing memorial day..." We knew he wanted to come over to swim, ha ha. We didn't mind and just made it our plans and it ended up being a fun day. 

This is Ashley meeting her newest cousin Annora (Jared and Vanessa's baby)

Making cotton candy for the kids... and himself. 

      Ashley also gave a talk this week in sacrament meeting. She had to have every sentence perfect and she wanted to have help as she wrote it and she would re-read it over and over until it was perfect because she wanted to be able to read it from her paper from the stand. She did good though and she said she was less nervous and it was less stressful than doing a speech in Mr. Shauer's class.

      Taylor left early in the morning on Saturday and we didn't see him until the next day because he didn't get home until long after we went to bed but he was up early with us to watch Ashley at church give his talk. He's been doing a lot of things with his running club friends and they went into LA on Saturday. I guess they went to an art museum and took pictures next to a pink wall, and went to the Griffith observatory.

May 2017 Jacob's Update

May 1, 2017

Hello Family!

It's so crazy that mothers day is coming up! it seemed like we just had christmas! I don't know who we have for dinner yet, so I don't know any details for the Skype. But we'll figure it out by next week so everything will work well! 4 will most likely work but I'll tell you if anything changes.

It's crazy that mascot tryouts are here already! Next month Ash is gonna be done with freshman year! This is going by so fast! Thats also crazy that she got her mouth infected! It must have hurt A lot. Wisdom teeth was bad enough but getting it infected again! thats just terrible! haha but she'll be fine though, at least your not dead :D. 

One thing I love about here is all the rain! It rained like crazy for most of last week, and the river flooded high! Luckily this area is very hilly, so only parts of the area flooded, but it was so cool to see! The only downfall, was the next few days it was HOT and because of the rain it was HUMID. It was Bad, and it's not even summer yet lol. and something about the Humid, is your sweat does not dry off, when you sweat, it has no where to go so it just builds up on you. But I also love it, because it leaves you exhausted by the end of the day, and it feels so good to go to bed! 

Transfers are coming up next Tuesday but I'm pretty sure we're both staying, which is great! I love this companion and great work is doing great here in Danville! You'll get to meet him in a couple weeks! Most positive happy guy ever! And I look forward to talking to just you guys! It was great seeing the whole family, but I wasn't able to talk to ya'll much, so that'll be nice.

As for here the working is going great! We should have a few Baptisms this June! I'll probably tell you more about it on the Skype call, because there's so much to say and I don't have much time. As for me, I'm pretty sure I gained some weight xD. we don't have a scale so Idk but I'm getting a Lil more pudgy. It makes me feel better though because someone hat came out with me, gained 50 pounds in 3 months, so I feel better :) But I notice now so I'm working on it! I will say this mission is much fun! There are difficult times, but I feel different, just different about everything. It's a good difference and I like it. Hopefully its not just the bug bites haha, there's so many bugs out here! I gotta go though, but I love you and I talk to ya'll soon! 

-Elder Beaulieu

May 8, 2017

Hello again Family! 

I think ya'll will be glad to know that I got a haircut! and I got it really short this time! I actually like it lol, I should've done it earlier lol. You can even see my scar! I got it from another missionary, which was kinda scary, but it saved me 20 bucks! 

So I see ya'll heard about transfers! And I am happy to say we are both staying! We are getting along great! and the work is going great! I'll tell you all about the miracles that happened here on Sunday! And I got some information about it, and it might be at 5 this time, and I think 2 there. if that's alright. I have many stories to tell you next week! 

So yesterday, the most memorable day, is this day I will speak about most in this email. We had a really solid investigator at church, and all the classes were amazing. Then we went to Eden, and we cleaned up from a tornado wreckage a day earlier. It was crazy to see the aftermath of a tornado, but It was great to see all the people from different church's coming together to help out with it. We were lifting wood and chain sawing, it was great! That night we had a dinner at the Tubbs, (the guy I fed jello to) and we invited 2 investigators, but we weren't sure either would come. But 3 came! The one that came out church, Natasha, invited a friend to come, and her boyfriend might be interested too! So last night was a miraculous night! 

I look forward to talking to you Sunday! I love ya'll so much, but I don't have too much time, but luckily I'm talking to you soon! 

-Elder Beaulieu 

Sunday, I'll be at this family, Brother Christiansen. He doesn't know too much information yet, so I'll try and keep you updated as much as I can. But all I know so far is it will be 2 your time, it'll probably on Skype on my tablet too. 

   

Letter from Jacob’s companion this week… We have 5 baptisms coming up. That's because we are asked to invite everyone to be baptized on the first lesson, don't ask me why, I'm just an indian, not a chief. Only one is probably going to work out, I know, I have no faith, but as they say in the South, "I just say it how it is!" I don't know why everybody says that but they do. 😂😂 

One of them is on date for May 22nd, and we got him from the some Elders in Utah. They taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ (not even the Restoration), and said he didn't have to go to the Mormon Church if he got baptized.. that was fun to deal with. I love those Elders, they seem like great guys, but man.... 

We met a racist lady who said there is a different between blacks and *n words*. Hard to have charity to someone who says that, but she was still great in her own way! On the opposite end of the spectrum, I met a member of the Black Isrealites. They believe the 1/3rd of the Host of Heaven that fell was white people. He was a nice guy too though.

I'm starting to slowly get less and less defined, and more and more pugey, it's unfortunate! But having full car is nice. A tornado touched down in Eden, we went and helped clean up the aftermath, I'd never seen anything like it!

May 15^th, 2017

Hello again Family! 

   It was great to talk to ya'll yesterday too! So not much has changed since yesterday, but I'll just tell you how this week went! 

So we have 4 people scheduled for baptism soon, but it looks like only one will be able to make the date. Which is still great! She is super solid and has a really strong testimony already! She already considers herself a Mormon too haha. But this is great because Danville hasn't has a baptism here in almost a year, so this will probably help with the member trust and the missionary work here. A lot of missionaries talk down on this area, but I've seen nothing bad. All the members are great, the people are all so friendly, and this city and country out here are beautiful! One of my biggest hopes is to help the mission see Danville as a thriving area, where any missionary would be happy to go. And with the work I've seen lately here it looks like me and Elder Olson will be able to do that!

Don't got too many crazy stories from this past week. The only one I can think of is about those 2 dogs who loved each other very much. (Jacob told us that while they were teaching a lesson this guy had a breeder come over and the dogs were going at it while they were listening to the Book of Mormon being read on his phone, he said it was strange and quite awkward)

 But I will share something I got a strong testimony of this past week.

Praying constantly on the mission really helps you see how much God wants to answer them, and wants to help you. Although the answers are pretty specific most of the time, it mostly came in thoughts and feelings, so my testimony of it gradually was built. However, a couple weeks ago I kinda tested this. We had just finished a lesson and we were going in for the night, and I felt really good. (The spirit is so strong when you're teaching!) I was thinking, from everything I've learned and experienced so far, I know too much to leave the church. I wanted to make sure though, that my testimony was strong enough that nothing would take me away. And as I was talking  to Elder Olson, he brought up the talk mountains to climb by President Eyering. As I read it I got a little prideful thinking that my testimony was strong enough to go through tougher trails. So as I prayed that night, I asked for mountains to climb.

Now within a week later, my prayer was answered. This resulted in the hardest point in my mission. Two things happened as a result of this prayer. One, I knew God answers prayers. Two, I was truly humbled. When people say God will never put you past your breaking point, I can testify of that. But this past week he took me right next to mine. I was in the 'red zone' as described in adjusting to missionary life, to the edge of just quitting. It was tough, but I made it up that mountain! Doing nothing of my own, just giving it all to the Lord. 

Because of this experience, not only was I humbled, but I learned a lot about myself! Now I can't say I'll do it again, but it was a good experience to go through! I will say I am stronger now, and I know that God does hear and answer our prayers. Please don't get scared mom, I'm OK now :) I love you all and I hope your doing great! I hope I didn't scare you too much with this, but it was really a great experience for me! Have a great week!

-Elder Beaulieu

P.S. the toughness was nothing physical, not my companion or the area, just internal struggles. So don't think It was Elder Olson haha, I was actually lucky to have a companion as great as him at this time.

Some of the things we talked to Jacob about on our skype call – We asked him if he’s cooking and he said some but mostly at lunches. He said that day he had made marinated chicken over rice and was pretty proud of himself. He’s had some other cooking fails though too. He isn’t driving much yet because the car they have has some electric pedals or something where they don’t want him using his pedal extensions and messing it up. He is hoping to drive in his next area. He is the senior companion so he gets to figure out their schedules for the day and plan what they are going to do. He is very happy with the new missionary schedules that allow them to do things “in the morning sometime” rather than a specific ½ hour or hour. He said the area is pretty rough and other people have said it’s scary. They live in a tiny house and it’s just them but he said he doesn’t feel unsafe. The mission president even asked them if they want to move but he said he feels OK. Then he started telling me more about it and I thought maybe the mission president didn’t have a bad idea. They don’t jog or exercise outside though because they’ve heard gunshots and he doesn’t wear the fitbit we bought him for Christmas (that he said he wanted) because he doesn’t want to stand out and be seen wearing it. He said their neighbor is nice and they figure he will protect them if they have any problems. There was someone trying to break into the guys shed and he shot off some warning shots. They said he’s a big redneck. You bet we will now be saying extra prayers for safety for him! Ha ha. I guess Jacob mows the lawn at their place. He told his companion that he didn’t learn how to do it at home so he wanted to do it. He also told us about the battles they’ve had with the porch spiders. At first they left them alone and figured they were just eating the insects but it got to a point that there were so many that they were worried that they would start dropping on them as they walked in and out of their house so they better take care of them. He also said their area is big and there is a lot of wide open spaces. It would take about 45 minutes for them to drive from one side of their area to the other. He said it’s hilly and green, beautiful but very humid. He’s struggling with the humidity now but he knows that it’s not even into summer yet. He says you’ll take a shower and stay wet. At the beginning of his mission he was blowing through money a bit and he said that he had to learn how to manage it and now he’s doing a lot better. He bought a game to play with other missionaries and at zone conferences called Spikeball. It’s like a little trampoline that you bounce balls on and pass it to each other. I guess he’s planning to pack it up and move it with him when he gets transferred. Otherwise Jacob seems like he’s doing great. He’s not missing home though he had a couple of dreams about us a couple of days before the skype call. He says he loves his mission and is enjoying his time out there. He has 8 months down and 16 to go.

May 23, 2017

Hello Family! 

.....first off, last letter wasn't there to scare you or anything 😅 it was a big moment for me that was actually really great! I actually prayed to have a "mountain to climb" and it worked! It was the hardest week of my life but I don't regret doing it. And it was all emotional, there was nothing anyone did, it was a normal week, Heavenly Father just tested me a little more that week, but it was great! 

So this week was a little more difficult physically, I found out I have allergies lol. I never got them at home because there wasn't that many trees, but out here i got it! Luckily the members all have DoTerra, which helps a lot with everything! I'm feeling better right now but allergy season is until July. 

I think the biggest thing we did this week is help a teacher with his Eagle project. We were out there shoveling gravel and other manly things. And it was hot! It was supposed to be 4 hours but it ended up being 8,and we didn't bring sunblock so we got burned 😂 but it felt so great to be out there giving my spiritual work a rest and my physical work a workout! I did learn how humid it gets, but it's not even that bad yet lol. And our A/C doesn't work so our house is 83° all the time. Luckily we got it fixed now, a little, but we can sleep better now! 

Our bishop though is so great! We spent a lot of time with him this week and he's an amazing guy. I'm learning a lot of life lessons from him! Mostly how to not go less - active when I get home. And we're getting a lot of dinners which is nice! 

This past transfer though, 1:is halfway over (Crazy!) 2: has given me a lot of experiences which is great! I'm doing a lot better with my journal keeping to now so don't worry. We should be having a baptism in 2 Saturdays! Exciting! The WiFi is tacky picking up here in Danville! I love ya'll so much, and I want you to know to not be worried, I'm doing great! And last week was a great week, and it kinda talks about why in the mountains to climb talk I think. 

-Elder Beaulieu 

May 29, 2017

Family! 

That's so crazy that Cody's going to Hawaii! Tell him to give me his email so we can keep in touch! I also have another friend leaving on his mission this Wednesday! That's the picture! He's the coolest guy in this area! He's leaving to Utah today and going to Calgary, Canada. 

It's so crazy to think that it's almost been a year since I graduated! I hope ash did great in the spring show, I'm sure she did! Is she excited to be a sophomore? Sophomore year is a pretty OK one, but Jr. year is when it gets tough mentally! I will say one of the biggest things that has changed while on the Mish, is my work ethic. I realize now that I was so lazy in school lol, but now I'm getting much better at working hard! It's something that I'm still striving to improve but I've seen a big difference already! 

This week was a lot better with the allergies after I got medicine. Except we went to mow a yard for a member and I was so sore! It was a giant yard and it took 5 hours... So let's use say I'm not as excited to mow lawns as I was in the beginning. And we also got to see snakes there! And a turtle! It was only black snakes though and those ones aren't poisonous. It was really great to help this lady though. Shes a widower with 2 amazing kids and she's transitioning jobs so her life is really hectic. It felt really good to do service for her. 

Our investigators here are doing great! Natasha should be getting baptized this Saturday if everything goes well. I have learned that the adversary loves to jump on their shoulders the week of the baptism but she is really strong! We also have another great lady were teaching names Leslie. She has done great at everything and she loves everything about church especially the sister-hood! She should be getting baptized June 17! 

Something great about her is she is helping her sons now come to Christ! We met one last Thursday, and we were talking for a good minute. He told us about his life and how he really wants to get back to church. He got kinda emotional too which felt good, cuz he is a tatted-up big black guy and it was great to see his soft side! So at Sunday Leslie wasn't feeling good, but her son made her get up and go to church! It was so great to see how this family is helping each other out! She brought him to us, and he's making sure she stays good too! It's so much easier when people come together as a family. 

I'm slowly starting to see how the Lord works. In the beginning of the mission I was so worried I would go an a mission, have a great experience, and go home and be the same person. So I asked my mission president about it. He told me that as I do everything I can to fulfill my purpose then I will see me changed in the end. But stupid Elder Beaulieu said that was too basic. I started studying, asking others and doing my best to change. I didn't really see I big difference in that. But as I humbly started following the Lord's will with my missionary purpose in this work, and I will tell you. He is changing me. So I invite ya'll to do all you can to do the basics. Read your scriptures daily, pray constantly, and do all you can to do the lords will. As you do you will start to see differences in your life that don't make sense. It is strange how the Lord works, but for those who do his will they can see his works. I love ya'll so much and If there's anything I can do for you just ask! 

-Elder Beaulieu 

Letter from Jacob’s companion…Elder Olson

We found a new investigator this week! She ordered a Book of Mormon because she figured she might as well and she was in tears when we left her house after we delivered the Book of Mormon to her. It was cool because I got to teach her rather than force her to listen about the gospel. First she asked about being saved, she didn't know what that means. 

I told her, "Well ma'am.. I don't really know what that means either. But I do know about baptism!" She listened! And she began to cry when she said she wanted to change. We testified that God is always waiting for His children to comeback. 

Nope. She didn't keep her return appointment, and hasn't answered our texts yet. ☺

Leslie Proctor, (She's so funny 😂😂😂 She always shouts "J-EESUS!" when we say something she loves, and she loves the "Sisterhood" in the church, also whenever she starts talking and feeling the Spirit she closes by saying, "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen!") who is chugging along pretty nicely to being baptized has a son! His name is Aaron and we got to play ball with him this morning.

Now... this guy can ball. My goodness sakes, he reminds me of Big Mike (remember my Office analogy?) when he was younger and looked like a Predator! Also, Damien was there and he reminds me of Zaaaack!! (Happy Birthday Z-Champ, and Nick too!!) So it was nice, it was like I was back home again, relaxing, just playing some basketball with my friends, even if just for a second...

Bishop asked if we wanted to stay longer, but after much thought I said that we better get going to studies. He said good, that was a test. FINALLY, some member trust!!!!!! 😉

 I tried showing him how the 'Bad Boys from Roy' play, but I'm certain he went easy on me. I scored a few points and got a couple rebounds, though! It was fun. Him, Natasha, and Leslie seem to be loving the gospel and the church. Leslie is starting to say that this is the one and only true church! Natasha's baptism is this week and we need to teach her all the little lessons, also, get the whole thing organized and make sure people can actually come.. 😖😖 Oh boy..

We did service for a sweet Filipino lady and she gave me a Sombrero to wear. 😂 I found 5 ticks on me that day, and also a little turtle who I named Franklin.

Love, Elder Ron Olson