February 28, 2011 North Hollywood, CA

(Speaking of wordplay - a favorite hobby of the Beauchamp clan:)

This week we were actually talking to an investigator about "stupors of thought" for when we're headed in the wrong direction, and I had your voice pop into my head saying "stupid of thought!" with a little chuckle. It was a precious moment. I love you, mama.

 

Speaking of investigators. This week we actually had training every day but one, so at least half our day was spent discussing how to be better missionaries. I kind of felt like I was back in the MTC....talking about missionary work all day but never actually doing it. The main topic of most of our training was how to involve members in missionary work.  Presidente used velocity x mass=momentum in which velocity represents how hard we work, how obedient we are, etc.( i.e. our own efforts). Mass represents how many missionaries there are and momentum is how many progressing investigators we have that are having quality conversions (meaning that they don't get baptized and then just drop off the face of the earth--or get baptized but never confirmed, which incidentally has happened twice in the last year in our ward.....lame.)

So they figure that we're working pretty dang hard and we can't really request too many more missionaries, so according to our stats, we're working at full capacity and the missionary work can't get a whole lot better than this. 

 

False.

 

You know how you always say "work smart, not hard"? In something as important as this, why not work hard AND smart? We can multiply our mass by a bajillion times if we involve members in our lessons and they talked about how many more quality conversions there can be if investigators have a friend (or more than one, even better) to relate the gospel to daily life. Yes, we as missionaries can share personal experiences, but since this is our full-time job, it often doesn't seem to carry as much weight as when a member is there teaching and testifying. Also, it seems like a lot of our lessons get stuck because of the language barrier. We speak just fine, but either the little tiny mistakes are super distracting or the fact that we're whities is sometimes just too much to take in, combined with our message which is soul-shaking, ground-breakingly amazing.

 

So this week we put in just a little extra effort to call members of the ward to come with us to our teaching appointments. We told them what we were going to teach, asked them to share a few specific experiences from their lives and their testimonies about certain principles, but more than anything to  listen to the Spirit, since our lessons rarely go according to plan, and then let them go for it. The members in our ward are absolutely incredible. I'd say about 80% are converts of 5 years or less and so they still have the "this is something new and exciting and it's changed my life, please oh please let me share it with you"  fire and it's so cool!! We have quite a few investigators who were starting to get into the perpetual investigator slump of either knowing quite a bit but just being afraid to act on their knowledge or were just having the hardest time understanding principles. Like Erick. We brought a recently re-activated member with us to one of our lessons, and it turned out that they had so much in common and they got along amazingly well (we actually had this member as a last resort because he's a bit older than Erick, but Heavenly Father is just so dang smart. I love His micromanaging skills.)  Another man named Beto just doesn't seem to understand quite a bit of what we say, but we brought the Relief Society president's husband with us. We didn't have time to even tell him what we were going to teach or what commitment we wanted him to extend to Beto, but he was paying such careful attention to what Beto's needs are that he pretty much took care of the lesson for us. I love members of the church!! So please please please ask to go out with the missionaries. And start begging them to have lessons at our house. It's SUCH a blessing to everyone involved.

 

Here's how you can help us:

please pray for Martha. She's just the sweetest woman and we started teaching her a while ago, but she works nights and never has a set schedule. It's taking a toll on her relationship with her family and she wants to make more time to meet with us, so we've talked with her about asking for a more fixed schedule or maybe even a better job.

 

Also, maybe a couple prayers for Daniel would be appreciated. Sometimes I just don't know about him. He KNOWS it's true and he wants to build that relationship with the Savior and he knows he needs to get baptized, but it feels like he's holding out for attention's sake. You know how there are some people who want to be kind of martyrs in that they feel like their beliefs are so strange? My reaction:  Get over yourself, man. Just do what God wants you to do. I got so frustrated with him last night on the phone because he kept insisting that he's not worthy to be baptized. I went over Mosiah 18 with him at least four times. I kept asking "Are you willing to do these things?" "Yes." "Then you're worthy" Just enter that gate, man!! Jeez louise!

Anyway, he's great, really. Just frustrating.

 

Things are awesome. I gotta run, but I love you bunches, family and friends.

Love you more than all the oranges in NoHo

 

Hermana Beauchamp  (also known as Al)

NEW ADDRESS!

Please note Hermana Beauchamp's new mailing address on the right side of the blog.  All missionaries are hungry for mail.  You needn't be a scholar, a genius, or even a Mormon to write to her.  She is still a human being and wants news of your lives.  Thanks, Editorial Staff

Feb 22, 2011 North Hollywood

Oh hey you really attractive and intelligent individuals!

 

Thank you bunches for all the updates on family and world events. I haven't heard a word about any revolts around here....I guess that's what happens when you don't watch the news, listen to the radio, or even really have time to discuss happenings around the water cooler. That's crazy cool about the excerpt from the Mishna (ha! look that one up!), though. It's kinda funny, this little bit on my mission has gotten me so excited to read and study all ancient religions and know at least half as much as you and dad do about the early Christian church. I love your brains. They are beautiful.

 

Oh also, HAPPY 30th ANNIVERSARY Mom and Dad!!!!  I love you. I'm so proud of what you have both chosen to do with your lives and the love and dedication you have put into your marriage and the family you have made together. I'm sure happy in it and I like to think you've raised us to be pretty well-adjusted folks. Aside from the weird traditions involving used socks (to scare away the imaginary Bad Things), stomping grapes for wine, twisting words for greater confusing enjoyment, etc. I like it.

 

Have you gotten my new address letter yet? We moved back to the apartment in our area because Sister Gerhartz's greenie came a few weeks early. We were all feeling the strain of not having enough time or resources to cover both areas and it was taking a toll on us emotionally. Hermana Strong talked to President about it and 2 days later, the APs (Assistants to the President) called Hermana G to say "Congratulations! You're training! and she'll be here tomorrow. Come pick her up from the office tomorrow at 4." It was the answer to so many prayers, even those that hadn't been realized yet. You know how I wrote last week about Heavenly Father taking care of things for me before they become major problems? I was having a really hard time staying self-motivated and working hard, my companions were feeling discouraged as well, and I almost stopped trying just because I figured they could handle things on their own. Wrong. But Hermana Busch's arrival gave Hermanas Strong and Gerhartz the time, resources, and opportunities to attend to their respective areas with greater dedication and it's offered me the chance to have the confidence in my own abilities and the things I've learned thus far on my mission to forge ahead and be and do better than before. This is the second missionary that President has brought out early from the MTC (which as I understand it, is a pretty privileged request), so his conversation with Hermana Strong went something like this:

 

Hermana Strong: Why didn't you send the hermana from the other trio down to be with Hermana Gerhartz?

President: Hermana Strong, where did the Doctrine and Covenants come from?

HS: .....Joseph Smith....

P: Why?

HS: He prayed....?

P: Yes but why did he pray about those specific things?

HS: ....Because people asked him questions....

P: Yes. You had a question, I asked the Lord what to do about it. I looked at the transfer board, didn't see any good inter-mission transfer solutions, so I looked at the list of incoming missionaries and thought " Hermana Busch is going to be Hermana Gerhartz's companion next transfer and she's going to learn Spanish out here anyway. That feels right."

 

Boy, but I do love modern revelation.

It's been such a cool thing to follow the Spirit more closely and begin to better differentiate between my own thoughts and the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I think I told you this before, but I started being able to better identify the thoughts, impressions, and feelings that came from the Spirit starting in October after I had gone through the temple, and that had always been a huge worry of mine: how to differentiate between my own thoughts and obsessive worries that I had missed something important and the whisperings from the Divine. In the MTC, we watched a devotional from Elder Bednar and in it he said "Quit worrying about it. If you are being a good boy or a good girl, keeping the commandments, and doing your best to follow Christ's example, you can feel confident that His thoughts will become your thoughts and His desires will become your desires. Do what you already know to be right and then go live life."

Or something to that effect. That was absolutely wonderful for me to hear and it has alleviated so much anxiety. Hermana Strong, I think I said last week, is incredible at following impressions and I'm trying every day to be obedient and then let go and just be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

Anyway, if you could pray for us this week that we can catch up on all of our goals for our investigators and lessons, it would be most appreciated. I guess one of the main things is to be punctual in our appointments. If they go over, we suddenly don't have time for anything else in the day. Also for health because we just don't have time to be sick. 

 

One last little bit of fun info for this week: our area has gotten buckets full of rain this week...it rained pretty much all day for two days and there were puddles in the road that I'm sure were at least 7 inches deep. Yay monsoon season! 

 

Oh also, I heard that one of my friends who was in the MTC with me was proposed to a few days before she left for the mission field. She said yes and then shook his hand. Baha!!. That's excellent. So I hear they are getting married in April. Hooray!!! Anyway, if anyone (from 55th ward who may be reading this) can send me her address so I can congratulate her, it would be most appreciated.

 

Also, I'm not receiving any letters via DearElder ( not sure why) but just so you know that it's not a super reliable mode of communication anymore. And if you email me, please be sure to send me your street address so I can write you back, since I can only write to family with my official email account. I love you all and I want to hear from you!

I hope you're doing beautifully! 

 

Love you more than all the chihuahuas in North Hollywood

Hermana Beauchamp

February 9-16, 2011

Happy Late Valentines Day!

I have some super cool valentines to send you, but I lost them and found them hiding among my envelopes, so I'll send those along pretty soon. I'm so so so so so so so happy to hear about the plans for Lauren's new clinic. (Allison's sister Lauren has suffered from terrible chronic head pain for eleven years, and she is now getting some great therapy to rewire the brain and be able to live a more normal life.  Allison has been a great support to Lauren and her family through these terribly difficult years.) I know I've mentioned this a few times before, but it's such a blessing to not have to worry quite so much about things at home. It was interesting because in the MTC there were 3 or 4 times when I was told specifically not to worry about home because everything would be fine. I wasn't worried about them at the time, but Heavenly Father knows me and knows that I need those kinds of preemptive consejos (advice,counsel.)

Man. English. You betray me again. I love Spanglish. For example, in my exit interview with one of the counselors in the branch presidency, he brought up Section 31 in the Doctrine and Covenants where the Lord is talking to early Church Pioneer Thomas B. Marsh about his calling to be a missionary and what blessings his family will receive, particularly in verse 5 where it says: (sorry I don't have my English scriptures with me..mom, can you translate this?) "Por tanto, mete tu hoz con toda tu alma, y tus pecados te son perdonados, y tus espaldas seran cargadas de gavillas, porque el obrero es digno de su salario. Por consiguiente, tu familia vivira"("Therefore, thrust in your sickle with all your soul, and your sins are forgiven you, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for the laborer is worthy of his hire.  Wherefore, your family shall live.") The counselor, Brother Hollister said "you know, Hermana, the Lord doesn't just mean that his family will live physically. He means they will be blessed with eternal life, that they'll be blessed with faith and hope in the Gospel of Christ." The interesting thing was, I had read that section the night before. I wanted to read something other than the next chapter in the Book of Mormon, so I opened up to the Doctrine and Covenants, found a really short section, and just read one verse (which happened to be verse 5). I was super tired, but thought "Huh. That's an interesting promise. What's this section about?" I just read the rest of it, liked it, but didn't think much else of it until the next day. In addition, there were a few talks the next few days that assured the missionaries that our families would be blessed for our full time service.......I'm understanding more and more that Heavenly Father has so much in store for us, we just have to ask for it, work to get it. I like the Bible Dictionary in the prayer section where it says "prayer is a form of work. There are many blessings God is already willing to grant, but are dependent upon our asking for them." And then that's where the Holy Ghost comes in to give us direction to know what to ask for in our prayers. Gosh. Heavenly Father's so amazingly smart!

That seems to be happening a lot lately. I'll have a worry in the back of my mind that I don't want to really think about or  I just don't have time to really examine it, but I have all these little messages from Heavenly Father that help me resolve the worry and the doubt before it even becomes a problem (or at least before it becomes a big problem). I love it.

Yesterday we had a Sisters' Training where all the sister missionaries in the mission got to come, President and Sister Martin talked to us, the mission doctor (frankly, I think a mom would have had a bit better advice. He mostly just talked about what a miracle IBuprofen is), and then we got to hear from the sisters who are going home after this transfer (6 week period) one of which is my own dear Hermana Strong. I guess I really haven't told you anything about my companions... sorry! 

Hermana Strong is from Utah and she worked as a first grade teacher for a year before her mission. She's really laid back and super cool, knows the ins and outs of the administrative aspects of missionary work and has so many object lessons up her sleeve, it's amazing. She loves loves music and we listen to it all the time. She's very encouraging and listens to the Spirit like no one I've ever encountered before.

Hermana Gerhartz is from New Jersey and reminds me a lot of my cousin Kristina, actually. She has a very direct, loving way of sharing the Gospel and is fantastic at finding small, simple ways to help our investigators have at least one positive daily encounter with the missionaries. She also plays guitar super-well, but I haven't yet had the privilege of hearing her play, since we have no guitar in our apartment. But she plays air guitar all the time. Legit air guitar. Awesome. 

We get along really really well, and I'm SO grateful. Everyone seems to have horror stories about trios (most companionships are two sisters or two elders, but it may vary), but I've been so blessed to have 2 great ones. We're covering two areas and that makes it harder to get to all of our appointments and give equal time to everyone who needs it. I'm starting to look forward to having just one area to keep track of.

Anyway, sorry I don't have as many fun stories as last week.... but oh! we had a 4-Zone activity the other day (several companionships form a district, several districts form a zone..etc) and Hermana Gerhartz taught me how to play tennis. Where has this sport been all my life? Me gusta mucho. Also, I got to talking to one of the APs (Assistants to the President - elders who are called out of the field to help the President with troubleshooting, administrative work, transfer logistics, and so forth) who is from the Dominican Republic but his family just moved to the Canary Islands. I mentioned that my favorite hobby is traveling, we made some cursory plans to play in the DR and maybe the Canary Islands sometime in the future. YESSSSSSSSS. Also, I told him he should visit Colorado because it's wonderful.

Anyway, gotta run, love you! be good!

Hermana B.

Letter February 9, 2011

CONGRATULATIONS KEENAN!!!

 

(Allison's cousin was called on a mission to El Salvador)

Aaah! I'm so excited for you! I think about 70% of our investigators and NoHo (North Hollywood) at large are from El Salvador and I'm really coming to love their culture. They're laid back, understanding, fun, cool people. Actually, that's something that I'm finding with all of the people (well, ALMOST all) we come in contact with. They just want to do the right thing and protect their families from all the garbage that's so prevalent and pervasive in our world today. Also, the food is excellent. The only food the missionaries talked about since I arrived were pupusas and how outrageously delicious they are so I finally got to try them last week and they are quite derricious. Me gusta. We got to go to the Hollywood sign on P-day (PreparationDay - their only day off per week)  and our district leader Elder Zundel made pupusas for us then, too. Then we got ice cream and played soccer. Not an avisable combo. Stomach pain ensued for all. But anyway, Things are going great. I got to meet with President Martin officially for the first time this week and he's so stinkin great. I love him. Also, I love missionaries. They are fantastic.

Funnies of the week:

 

We were teaching one of our investigators with one of the Gospel Art books and we were talking more about prophets.We went through Abraham, Moses, Christ, and then flipped to Joseph Smith. We asked if he remembered who he was,and as self- assured as the day is long, he said, "Yes! I know...his name's....Mike!" We don't even call him Joseph Smith, we call him Jose, so I could understand if we used some kind of white name, but Mike? Really? Man, I love him. He is just such a sweet man.

 

One of the elders in our district, Elder Castro, is from Ecuador and we've been teaching him some English idioms, namely "'Sup man/home skillet/ dawg" etc. So last week we met up with him and he decided to try out some of the things we taught him, though what came out was "What's up, homeless?" baha!!

 

There's an elder who had been on his mission just a couple months and his parents who were on vacation in Hawaii got a phone call in the middle of the night of a hispanic-accented man saying "your son's been killed" They highly doubted such news would have bypassed President Martin and his wife, so they called to ask Sister M if their son was still okay. She said, "well, I think so, I'll give him a call." So this elder gets a phone call from her at 6:30 in the morning, she says "Is Elder Houghton there?" "Yeah, Sister Martin, this is Elder Houghton. What can I do for you?"  "................just wanted to make sure you're eating your fiber....Okay.....well, have a good day...." Haha oh gosh. So great.

 

Okay so on to our investigators. We've been teaching this woman named Milagro who is just as sweet as can be and so so knowledgeable about the Bible, it's incredible. There are about 5 people (unrelated) who live in their little house, and thanks to Milagro and her invitations and great example in the home, we're now teaching 3 of them and we just got another referral to teach a friend of one of the men in that house. Awesome!! One of them is named Mario (from El Salvador--go figure) and he's an amazingly hard worker but he misses his daughter terribly. One of us usually says the prayer at the beginning of the lesson but we have the investigator offer the closing prayer. He was so nervous and told us that he didn't really know how and that he hadn't prayed in years. With a little encouragement and the 4 steps (open with directing the prayer to Heavenly Father, thanking Him for blessings, asking for what we need, closing in the name of Christ) he gave the most beautiful, heartfelt, sincere prayer I have ever heard. He expressed gratitude for his life, for his job and his daughter, and for us as visitors, but then prayed for help and told Heavenly Father how terribly lonely he felt and how much he missed his family. It made me think of the part in the Bible Dictionary concerning prayer that says "the moment we understand this relationship--namely God is our Father, and we are His children--prayer becomes natural and instinctive. Most difficulties with prayer arise from forgetting this relationship" It's so incredible to watch people begin to find what they have always felt missing from their lives. To see the look in their eyes change from one of hopelessness and confusion to understanding,  profound joy, and immense gratitude reminds me powerfully why I decided to be a missionary. It's such a blessing to be a part of that process and I love to see them grow closer to the Savior. That's why it's so frustrating when people simply won't act on what they feel and know to be true. We have so many people say in effect " I can't follow Christ in these steps because I am a sinner" Well yeah, we all are. That's why there ARE these steps and that's WHY we have a Savior.

 

One of our investigators, Daniel, has seen so many horrible things and is trying to be a better person each day, and he insists that he has the utmost faith in Jesus Christ, but won't believe that he or anyone is worthy to be in church because they are sinners too. I was getting so frustrated with him because he won't allow himself to see the difference between believing IN something or someone and BELIEVING them. I tried my best to bear testimony of my own experiences with trusting that the Savior can and will do what He says--making me clean again, taking away the horrible guilt and sadness that accompanies mistakes and replacing it with hope and blessings beyond belief. But it has to start with trusting the Savior and doing what He asks. Goodness gracious. I love Daniel and I want to see that hurt in his eyes go away and I know that if he trusts God, he'll feel relief and happiness heretofore unimagined. I want that voice that pierces to the heart and soul of the people I teach that makes them understand. Guh. I know I CAN have that quality. I just need to have greater faith in my calling as a missionary, in the ability of the Holy Ghost to work through me. I'll work on that

.

Also, thank you so much Chelsea for the email about your personal goals! Goals are becoming a very special thing to me, which is kind of funny, since just a few years ago words like "goal" and "persevere" were almost dirty words to me. I liked the idea of doing things how I wanted, going with the flow and getting there when I got there. I thought that if I made goals, I would get narrow-minded and anal about little things that aren't actually particularly important. But I love them now. I see them as road markers on that "going with the  flow" path that I like so much that help me to direct things how I want my life and my personality to go. It's awesome.

 

Also, I can't wait to hear about your new clinic visits, Lauren. they sound like they're going to be amazing!

I'm sorry, I need to run and send a message to Presidente, but I love you all so much and I can't wait to hear from you! Write me letters, dang it!

Love much!

Hermana B

Mission President Martin, Sister Martin and Hermana Beauchamp

North Hollywood -first week in the field

3 February 2011

Hi Hi Hi! I love you immensely!

So I don't know if you got my letter that I sent from the mission home yet, but here are the stats: I'm in North Hollywood in a Spanish-speaking ward (congregation), in a trio with Hermana Strong as my official trainer (or "mom") and Hermana Gerhartz as my "stepmom/dad" I guess my "dad" is supposed to be my district leader, an Elder by the name of Zundel. Both of my companions refer to me as "baby" on a regular basis. Purty Cute. Hermana Strong is on her last transfer, so I will apparently be replacing her but I'll most likely stay in this area for another transfer at least.(Editor:  a "transfer" is six weeks.) We're officially supposed to be on bike, but we're covering both Hermana Gerhartz's area AND ours, so we get to ride in sweet  Toyota Corolla style.

My first night, our trainers picked us up at around 6 and we already had 3 appointments and 6 more the next day. It's funny to see Latino culture (particularly in relation to time) as it pertains to missionary work. We are NEVER right on time, and it's completely ok. I love it! So my first full day, some of our investigators weren't home, so we were looking for someone whom the missionaries had taught a while ago but knocked on the wrong door. A young mom and her daughter answered and after my companions introduced who we are and that we have a message about Jesus Christ, they both looked at me to tell her what that message was. Gah! talk about a pee-my-pants moment. But I said something to the effect of "well, it's basically this: all of the truths and principles that Jesus Christ established in His church have been restored through a prophet and we are helped and guided by a prophet today. If you're willing, we would love to come in and share how these things have changed our lives." And she let us in!! Her name is Martha and she's from El Salvador (I think about 90% of our investigators are from El Salvador--cool) and she's very concerned for the welfare of her family in this time when such terrible things are happening and there's so much confusion about what is right and what is wrong. So we taught her the first lesson and I had the privilege of sharing the First Vision with her. Oh my gosh, it was amazing. So we challenged her to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and pray about it as well as our message. We have another appointment with her today and I'm so stoked!

Mom, you were right. I think my Spanish is a lot better than I give myself credit for, and I'm so so so grateful for my exchange year in Ecuador. We had a Zone activity the other day and some of the Elders asked me where I learned Spanish. I told them I learned from Google and had some of them going for a bit. I guess I'm a better fibber than I thought, too. 

It's just so interesting to see how many people have been prepared in special ways to hear the Gospel and I feel so privileged to share it with them. It's a beautiful thing to see individuals observe the world, take their experiences, and glean the little pieces of the truth from those and realize that there is something missing that needs to make all of those pieces fit together. Like our English-speaking investigator, Debbie. I guess she's been through some really hard things lately and she keeps feeling like she needs to better her relationship with God. She says she's never felt abandoned by Him, but that because of her poor choices, she has distanced herself from Him and she's having a rough time knowing how to go about becoming closer to Him, being forgiven, and feeling worthy of that relationship. So we've talked a lot about the Atonement as the means by which all of that is possible and what we need to do to use that incredible gift. First, we need to seek faith in the Savior, do our best to change (repent---that's something that is constantly being shown to me again and again: repentance means changing for the better and using Christ's help to get there) and showing our devotion to Him as our Intercessor and Mediator through following the commandments and making promises to do what's right. Debbie is trying so hard to develop Christlike attributes and better her relationship with her family as well. She's trying so hard to feel that closeness with her Heavenly Father again; I just love her so much and I want to give her everything I have. I feel that way about so many people. You may want to finish the basement so we can have room for all the people I'm going to bring home.

That's another thing I've been thinking about lately. Anytime I've found someone who needed to feel loved and jsut neeeded a place to feel comfortable and safe, I've always wanted to bring them home with me and have my family, who has been that loving anchor and safe harbor for me, nurse them back to emotional, spiritual, and physical health. But I'm realizing more and more that it is because of the principles of the Gospel that our family lives by that we are able to be and do those things. And I'm understanding that if they take those same principles and truly apply them to their lives, they can have the same things that I have. I always understood that in principle but it's becoming concrete for me now. Although there is this one investigator named Erick who really just needs a good family to be his friend and be a constant temporal support for him. So if an Erick Santos ends up on our doorstep, I sent him.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!

It's so fun to talk to people who have so many, many burning questions about life like "where did I come from?" / "I need to get rid of this guilt from doing all those things so long ago, I just don't know how."/ "why are things so hard?", etc and as they're exposing the innermost thoughts of their souls, I keep thinking "I know! I know the answers! Let me teach you!!"

Holy canoli. It's awesome.

The only thing that bugs me is that we don't seem to have enough time as we want to just talk with our investigators about their lives. We have enough time to discover some of their questions, but we're constantly running here and there, but I just love them.

So I loved hearing all about your talk, Daddy-o. Could you send me a copy? Also, I was kind of dumb and didn't bring ANY pictures, minus an old, old, family calendar (please thank Rick and Ron) so if you and any friends who are so inclined could send pictures, I would be most grateful. Also, please thank the Barnums and the Graves and the Hilemans for their gifts. They are immensely helpful and save my tush every day. I should be getting my Missionary debit card any day, so I'll quit using my card. But I'll need a new one come June, just FYI. I'm so so happy to hear that things with that new clinic for Lauren are going so great.Please please please keep me posted. Oh! and here's my apartment address (they won't forward letters from the mission home---I don't think---so you'll have to send them directly to my apt.)

Hermana Allison Beauchamp

5451 Hermitage Apt #5

Valley Village, CA 91607

Also, can you ask Emma to write me? I miss her tons and I don't have her new address. Gosh, there are just so many things to tell you! But from here on out, I have about an hour to write emails so that's much better than the 30 mins. at the MTC. The MTC was a great experience, but I'm glad to be gone. Sometimes I think they slightly overdo the reverence thing to reset the missionaries to not take weighty matters too lightly. Sometimes I felt like I would be ....castigada (punished) if I laughed too loudly.

Oh well. Whatever. I love it here.

Please write soon, via letters to my apartment. Also, if Meg reads this, write me back, woman!!

Love you more than all the times I played Fat Dog this week,

Hermana B.

("Fat Dog" is where you recline on the floor after a large meal and groan, "Fat Dog!" )