That's such a fun story, Mama! I remember that you had told me quite a bit about the Missouri Synod and that it was one of Satan's Reasonable Facsimiles....Don't you fret, I am quite proud of my ancestry. They're good ones :). I'm super sorry about the church building though. Kids are so dumb sometimes. (Taggers spray painted all kinds of nasty things on our chapel in Lone Tree, CO last Saturday night.)
You've been praying for our investigators, haven't you? Please don't stop! A bunch of them actually started progressing!! The father of the family we're teaching (who is insanely intimidating but a very kind, sweet man) started reading the Book of Mormon. The funny thing is that we asked at the beginning of the lesson if anyone had read at all but got a general "no." We read 3 Nephi 11 about Christ coming to the Americas and then watched the very end of the Testaments with them and then Pedro (the dad) started talking about Nephi in Jerusalem and his 3 brothers and such. I may or may not have yelled for joy. And then Milagro told us that she started reading again! AND we're meeting with her daughter and it's going really well AND our other investigator Angie is praying every day. I love them so so so much.
Angie's an especially cool case because she didn't even particularly believe in God before so we really started from the very very beginning with learning how and why to pray and I think the Plan of Salvation was a really good lesson for her. She has Lupus and as such struggles with chronic pain and the discouragement that comes from that. But talking to her about God's purpose for us to be here seemed to really resound with her and to hear her talk about her prayers is just the most beautiful thing ever. Beto stayed for all 3 hours of church yesterday!!! I'm so happy!!!!!!!! AND I GOT TO SEE JOSE! Jose is the one that Strong, Waite and I taught and was all ready to be baptized but then stinkin' moved. But he's still my convert. I count him as mine. He came to our ward with his brother yesterday and he was all clean cut with a white shirt and tie and all. He's so happy and he kept telling me how much he's learning. Gah! He's so great!
I may have already written about this, but Hermana Waite and I have had multiple conversations about that book "The Five Love Languages" with respect to how we can apply it to our companionship and communicate better. I think I must have forgotten how word-oriented our family is, or at least never realized the extent of it. She is largely uncomfortable with verbal expressions of appreciation and such so I've tried to focus on helping us to have quality time since that's her forte. But we had a "district inventory" the other day where we had to say one nice thing about each person and if we felt it was necessary, one area that the person could improve on. It mostly became an "I think you're great because..." session, and boy, I just ate it up. Not that I really feel like I need someone to constantly compliment me, but I think our family puts an emphasis on words that makes that form of communication really powerful for me. I think building relationships (any kind, friendships, professional, etc) in that way just helps orient me and helps me understand my role, expectations, etc. Anyway, I just love our family and I really appreciate how you've raised us, Mom and Dad.
Dad, you're making me so so so jealous and hungry. We have a number of mediterranean, thai, Lebanese, armenian, etc. restaurants around here but nobody in my district is particularly adventurous when it comes to food, so I haven't had the opportunity. Maybe I'll bribe them.
What are you doing in Puerto Rico, Dad? I'm actually a little ashamed...I can't remember what your new job is all about. I know you rock at it and that they love you and that you're racking up frequent flyer miles so we can go backpacking in the Lake District when I get home, but not a whole lot aside from that.
We also had interviews this week with President. I guess there have been a few problems around the mission so he was looking a little pooped by the time my interview came around. We had a nice little chat for a few minutes and then he said "Are you healthy?" "Yes." "Are you happy?" "Yes" "Do you feel like you're being the best missionary you can be?" "yes." "Then I don't know that we have too much more to talk about. I love you, Hermana Beauchamp. I love all of you missionaries."
Gosh, what a great man.
Anyway, love you more than all the discarded living room furniture on the streets of NoHo!
Bugs and fishes,(our version of Hugs and Kisses - bestowed upon us by Tomi Fowler Graves)
Hermana Beauchamp
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