25 May 2011 North Hollywood: Adventures with the Spirit of God

Oh my goodness, mom. You are too precious. I love when your neurotransmitters poop out on you! (Editor's Note: my last letter was just a list of news items spilling out badly spelled from my brain - I usually blame the neurotransmitter issue.) Thank you thank you for Mattie's letter! (Sister Mattie Smith and her sister Sister Hannah Smith are lifelong friends of Allison's who are serving missions in eastern France and Milan Italy, respectively - the mamas trade letters around so the girls can share experiences sometimes.  Mattie is almost finished with her mission, and Hannah has just begun hers. Their parents are currently living in China.)  Even though I'm plenty far away from that last transfer, it's still an intimidating and scary thought. I love the way she handles things with such tenacity and such grace. She's so great! How's my Hannah? That would be crazy cool if Hannah got to teach Mattie's contact.

Hooray for Ryan and Chelsea! (Allison's brother Ryan just got a new job) Hooray for Jared and the potential Mrs.! Can I see some pictures? I'm glad Josh and Lauren are with the Fuersts again. They're such great people! 

 

Daddy I'm so proud of you and your missionary work! Past and present. :)

 

Hermana Waite went to a few leadership trainings this week so I got to go on exchanges and visit other parts of the valley. We visited a recent convert who lives with a kind-of relative from Shela, Guatemala. I told him that my dad had served in the Quetzaltenango (Shela=Xela=Xelaju - the Mayan nickname) mission round about 1979 and he wanted me to ask you if you recognize the name Raul Godines. He says that Raul got baptized around then and I think he said that he's a patriarch now. It was funny to talk to this man because he bore a super powerful testimony to us about Joseph Smith being a prophet, how this is Jesus Christ's church, etc., although he started kind of prophesying to my companion about her future calling as a Young Women's leader. We asked what his current calling in the ward was, and he said,  "Oh I'm inactive. I haven't gone to church for a long long time." We thought "Well goodness gracious, sir! Why the heck not??" I guess he has a major issue with tithing because he feels that we as the Lord's church should have all things in common. One of my companions (I was in a trio that day) said "Hang on, what you're talking about is in the scriptures. The early saints tried to live this law, but they couldn't yet live it, so we were given the law of tithing to help us kind of work up to it. Have you heard of the Law of Consecration?" He said he hadn't, but he got super excited and we invited him to read the Book of Mormon again so that he can learn more about the things he already knows to be true. He loved that.

 

So that was fun. Earlier that day we had visited with a less active member and she invited her roommate to come listen as well. We sang "I am a Child of God" and then asked the roommate, Luz, how she felt. She said she felt calm and really happy. Just really good. So we talked about the Holy Ghost and how it testifies to our hearts and minds about the truth that Heavenly Father wants us to know: namely that He loves us and wants us to be happy. She shared with us that she had lived here for about 14 years to provide for her kids in El Salvador, but one of her sons is terribly sick so she's going to go back soon. We had a good lesson, but afterward when we were giving goodbye hugs, Luz began to cry and said that she had never felt quite that way before. We talked a little bit more about Heavenly Father and introduced the Plan of Salvation. She was so so sweet and I really hope that the Hermanas in that area keep me updated on how she's doing.

DANIEL IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! He really didn't like our ward (I'm really not sure why) so he started going to the next ward over, met the missionaries, had some amazing conversations with them, even came to play soccer with the missionaries, and now he has a baptismal date! And he's so excited!! Miracle of miracles. I think some people just need elders, just like some people just need the sisters' teaching manner.  AND Manuel came to a baptism yesterday! He pretty much never leaves his house and is very sweetly stubborn, but he CAME! and he didn't have a terrible time! AND!!!!! Erick came all by himself to church (we somehow forgot to remind him and his usual ride was sick) and he learned a TON in Gospel Principles and Priesthood.
The elders in our ward are amazing with Erick and they get along super well. I guess before the baptism Erick had been talking to one of the elders about how he'd like to serve a mission and such. I was sitting next to him during the baptism and when the little girl got baptized, he got super excited and told me how he got the chills and felt something electric inside him. He also said that he felt like he was the one getting baptized. I know I say this every time, but I LOVE THE HOLY GHOST!!!! I told him that that's exactly what I feel when the Spirit's really strong and he told all of the missionaries and some of the members about his experience after the baptism. SO cool. 

 

Beatriz is doing amazingly well, too. Something that we hear very very often is that people are afraid to get baptized and make that commitment because they don't want to mess up afterward and disappoint heavenly Father. We usually share with them that one of the major blessings that comes from being baptized is that afterward we receive a best friend in the form of the Holy Ghost to teach, guide, protect, and console us. It doesn't make sense that He would just leave us by our lonesome to fend for ourselves after we've made a commitment like that to Him. We're going to prepare a few really dynamite lessons about the Atonement to help address those concerns further. 

 

Have I mentioned that I love being a missonary?

 

Hermana Waite and I sang for a couple of baptisms this week and it was WAY fun.

These last 2 transfers have taught me a lot because I really had to have confidence in myself and my abilities. It was a little rough at first because I felt so weak in comparison to Hermana Waite, who is basically Superwoman of missonary work and many other things too. She's incredibly capable and is such a hard worker. It's really inspiring and I've started to set goals and actually work towards them. One of those little things that I could never do because of my fear was sing in front of people. I know I've done it a couple times, usually with other people, but it was kind of a painful experience just because I was so scared and wouldn't allow myself to do well. Anyway, Hermana Waite and I were practicing the song for the first baptism and she said "I think you should do the first part, I'll do the second part, and then we'll do the last bit together." We both gave it our all and I think we did super well. I'm so grateful for her encouragement! Sorry I keep gushing about her, but she won't let me do it to her face. She'll read this eventually and realize how much I appreciate her.  Mwa ha ha.

 

Anyway, we're trying to come up with piano accompaniment for my cousin Micah's version of "You can make the pathway bright" and we're hoping to do that soon. If you could send along some of Micah's music, it doesn't have to be that specific song because I don't think he has another recording of it apart from my MP3 player, but I just love his voice.

I gotta run but I love you all more than all the questions in Alma 5

Hermana B

 

PS I just barely got the Hermana Manzana thing. That's cute. ( I addressed her last letter to Hermana Manzana, another Beauchamp word play example:  we call Allison "Appleton" or "Apple" sometimes because  a dear little child used to call her "Appleton".  Manzano means apple-tree, manzana means the fruit itself  (apple) and there are lots of agricultural references in the scriptures, especially about the subject of grafting in the Book of Mormon.)

May 16, 2011 North Hollywood, California: Progression!

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

Beauchamp Family Christmas 2010, Colorado

Steve, Elijah, Laura/ Ryan, Chelsea, Allison, Jared, (missing Lauren & Joshua)

Life in NoHo May 2, 2011

Hey good lookins'

Thank you thank you again for the package! the pictures bring me immeasurable joy! Also, the letters from Mom and Lauren. I'm super sorry to hear that the tests came up negative. Things will work out though. I know it.

So, we didn't get any investigators to the river cleaning project, but it was supremely fun anyway. We pulled out a dozen or so shopping carts, a couple mattresses, we pulled an old-fashioned fishing net out of a tree....it seemed quite successful and it was fun to do something very productive and helpful but just a little different than our usual activities for a change.

We've been experiencing some little miracles this week in the form of finding new people to teach. We usually try to schedule in at least 2 or 3 hours of door knocking a week to find new investigators, but we just haven't had time this week. HOWEVER. We found a ton of new people, just from looking for referrals and deciding to talk to everybody we come into contact with.
Sometimes I really love people.

We started teaching this guy named Marvin from Honduras that we met while looking for another person. Marvin lives in this teeny tiny room that is smaller than many of the closets in Highlands Ranch and we taught him about the Restoration the other day. He had really great questions and I could just see all the wheels in his brain spinning faster and faster as he understood the principles we were teaching him with the Spirit. He's a really cool guy and I'm really excited to see him again. We also started unofficially teaching Milagro's daughter Beatriz. She really hasn't shown any interest in what we teach, but as we've gotten to know her and just talk about life, we've gotten to share how our understanding of who we are, why we're here, and where we're going, and most importantly WHY has shaped our lives and given us comfort and guidance. I just wish everyone could understand their divine heritage and potential. I feel like if everybody just had the tiniest understanding of that concept, the world would be a much better place. At camp this last summer, we said the same thing, that if everyone in the world spent just a week working at a special needs camp, the world would be a better place, and I really think that it's because of that very principle. When we can see the divine in ourselves and in others, we value relationships, lives, experiences, we judge less, have more gratitude and patience, and find more joy and purpose in life.

That's why I LOVE teaching the Plan of Salvation! anytime we teach it, our investigators' attitudes change and they just seem to understand life better. It's so much easier to put away fear and frustration when you have an eternal perspective and knowledge of the why of things.

Anyway, it's been a while, but here's a good  Elder Castro quote of the week : "Dont' touch me! I am tickle!"

Oh dear Ecuadorians.

Anyway, we're going to the zoo so I've got to run, but I get to talk to you soon! don't forget your cell phones on Sunday!

love you more than all the corn tortillas we eat at members' homes.

Hermana B

Support Details and Updates April 18, 2011

Business:

Thank you for going on the pants search. I love those pants. also, if it's not too late and you feel so inclined, my white button up shirt with the mandarin collar and tie in the back would be mighty handy too. I've been sweating buckets and I'm finding that I need more clothes that are a little lighter weight.

Thanks for supporting our local missionaries! You will be blessed :)

I AM getting the family newsletter and it makes my week every time I get it! It's so beautiful!

Don't worry about Pammy's address, I got it :)

Hooray for Hannah! I sure love her. She's great.

I absolutely adore you, mom and dad. You are such shining examples to me and I hope you know highly I think of you.

 

Updates:
 Craziness...transfers are happening again but I have no clue where these last 6 weeks went. But I get to stay! hooray! We really weren't sure what would happen, but I think Hermana Waite and I are really starting to make the most of our companionship so I'm excited for a fresh start with her. We had a TON of big changes last transfer, so not a whole lot changed for this one. Our district is mostly staying the same, except that Hermana Gerhartz (one of my first companions for the first few weeks) is going home. I'll sure miss her; she's such a great example to me and actually reminds me of Lauren in a lot of ways. There are about 23 missionaries going home in 6 weeks, so there will be some mighty big changes then, but I'm super happy for now.

Our investigators are doing quite well. One man named Elhy is going to get baptized on May 1 and we're out-of-our-minds excited. He's already doing member missionary work and sharing the cool things he's learning about the gospel with his coworkers. We had prayed and fasted for a number of our investigators to be able to get work off on Sundays so they could come to church (they need to come a minimum of 3 times before they can be baptized). Elhy was the only one who actuallyconverted his hope to faith by trying to ask his boss. He had a whole plan to approach her to ask for sundays off and was just looking for a good mood opportunity to talk to her when SHE asked him if he was happy with his schedule. He said "Well, actually, I need sundays off so I can go to church." She said she would try to arrange something for him, so we're 90% sure it'll work out for him :) AAAAHH!!! I love miracles! He's in the middle of the Isaiah chapters of 2 Nephi, but he's studying so so diligently and always has great questions for us.

We started teaching a family this week, the first family I've ever gotten to teach. A member in the English ward has been their good friend and basically guardian angel for the last 10 years or so. The father can't find a job and it's taking a great toll on his happiness and their family as a whole. They are such sweet, kind people and their 14 year old daughter has been trying really hard to find friends with high standards. Guh. She's so good. Hermana Waite is AMAZING at helping their 7 year old son to be involved in the lessons. It was so cool: we sat down and chatted for a just a few minutes, and then the kids ran off to the bedrooms, only to emerge a few minutes later with 4 copies of the Book of Mormon. We taught them about the Restoration and it went pretty dang well, I think. We had the father say the closing prayer, and it was just the most beautiful feeling to be kneeling with a family and seeing and feeling their faith and love for each other and the Lord. Oh my gosh I almost cried.

We have another investigator whose parents are super evangelical and they're always amazingly kind to us. His parents were listening in yesterday to our lesson and even sang along to "How Great Thou Art" when we sang it to begin the lesson. To be honest, the lesson didn't go all that well, mostly because our investigator insists that he doesn't want help to be happier, that he's afraid to make any effort, really because he rthinks that the higher to climb, the farther you can potentially fall. It's a front, I'm pretty sure, because otherwise he wouldn't allow us to keep coming and constantly tell us how good he feels around us and how glad he is for our friendship. I think it's another case of thinking too much and not acting enough. He won't come out of his house and interact with other people and shift his focus off of himself and onto others who may need his help. Anyway, the lesson was going in a really negative downward spiral, so I thought about what mom told me this summer about how thanking Heavenly Father is one of her very favorite things to do, so we went around the room and each listed 3 things we were grateful for. It completely changed the mood of the lesson and sour frowns were replaced with smiles and laughter. Awesome.

We asked his dad to give the closing prayer, since he mostly joined our lesson for the last bit anyway. He had expressed his gratitude for Hermana Waite and I coming to teach about the gospel, but then he said something like "Well, I guess I should pray since Paul taught that women ought to learn in silence. "

Wow, sir.

Dang misinterpretations of Bible verses.

Anyway.

You are all immensely precious to me and I love to hear from all of you

Be good! Happy Easter!

Love you more than all the machismo in the world!

Hermana B

 

Bike Wreck, Armenian Angels April 11, 2011

Hi fam!

So I had my first bike wreck...but don't worry, all I got were a couple bruises and a scrape.... I was following Hermana Waite down the street and a woman who was holding her 2 year old grandson wasn't looking my way and stepped out right in front of me; unfortunately, I ran right into her and all of us toppled. I think she hurt her knee, but otherwise she looked relatively unscathed. Thankfully the baby was fine, too, but they wouldn't let us help them or even really talk to us. I felt so so bad, but after they had left, Hermana Waite was making sure I was okay and we discovered that I had a cut on my leg. There was an Armenian family who had been watching the whole thing from their balcony and they beckoned for us to come up and drink some water. We headed up and the mother took care of my leg, gave me ice, they even gave us water and juice and Armenian goodies, but they only spoke about 10 words of English. They taught us how to say "how are you, I'm fine, you are beautiful and I love you" in Armenian. It was quite an adventure trying to communicate. They finally understood that we were teachers, but we tried I don't know how many languages to say God. I always forget how effective basic hand signals are. Pointing up always works :). The poor mother kept apologizing because she was sick and couldn't do more, but they were so gracious and sweet and I just wanted to hug all of them. We did, actually, and they even gave us kisses on the cheek. Man, I love Armenians. We have a plan to go back with a plate of cookies and all three of the church pamphlets in Armenian we could find.

 

Our investigators are progressing slowly but surely. I keep looking back to conference and wishing that so many more of them could have been there, but I'm so grateful for the Liahona and church websites. Speaking of church publications, I started reading this month's Ensign, and as per usual, it's phenomenal. There's an article called "Faith and Infertility"...totally not applicable to me and my situation right now, I know, but I learned some really great things. First off, they discussed the importance of sharing your burden so others can help you and so that you can help them too. Hermana Waite and I have had multiple discussions about our personalities and how to make them work together effectively. She and I are very different but we work really well together and as I've learned to open up to her and share my concerns openly, we've made a lot of progress. We're seeing that with one of our current investigators as well. We know from her best friend who is a member that she's having a really hard time right now, but we had to talk to her about communicating what her concerns and needs are so we can actually help her. She lives a ways away and we don't get to see her very often, but we've been encouraging her to tell us what she needs and when. We likened it to prayer in that we sometimes need to ask for specific things in order for Heavenly Father to bless us. Of course He already knows what we need, but if we don't ask specifically and then look for those blessings, our faith in those small miracles will never grow. We'll just chock it up to chance or good fortune.

The other amazing thing I found in the article has a lot to do with the talks from conference about trials and adversity. I really like what one of the general authorities said about how we need to be careful to not resent the opportunities to grow and be a little more like Heavenly Father. One of the women in the article wrote "When someone has an ailment or an illness and they are healed as a result of a blessing, their faith is being strengthened. But for those who aren't healed but continue faithful, their faith is being perfected. The first is a faith- promoting experience, the second is faith perfecting."

I really love that.

I love that Heavenly Father knows more than me. I love that He has a plan for us and that He shows His love to us every day through little miracles.

I love you more than all the Armenian I don't know,

Hermana Beauchamp

General Conference! April 4, 2011

THERE"S GOING TO BE ANOTHER TEMPLE IN COLORADO!!! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!

 

I may or may not have had a little freak-out session in my seat when President Monson announced it. (Ft. Collins)  Thankfully I was surrounded by missionaries who know I'm from CO, so they weren't alarmed.

Anyway, holy cow. I love conference. I loved Elder Robbins' talk about "being" and "doing". Also President Packer's talk about letting go of offense and hurt feelings. President Bednar's and Uchtdorf's talks totally blew me out of the water. Those talks in particular were ones that two of our investigators desperately needed to hear, but dang it, neither of them came. Actually, one came but left, telling me he'd be right back.( Thou shalt not lie, Beto! Jeez louise.) Point is: I loved that both of those talks made it abundantly clear that while revelations can and do come in the form of dreams and visions and hearing voices, it is in fact quite rare and we shouldn't expect our answers to our prayers to come all at once, or else, like President Uchtdorf said "we'll be waiting forever on the road to Damascus."

 

I had the chance to talk to a Korean-American history buff who is the son of an evangelical pastor and who lives up to his namesake, Paul. He had a lot of interesting things to say about the history of the Bible and how certain things had been changed, either for mere translation's sake or for more selfish, insidious purposes. I just kept thinking "yes! yes! yes!" So I told him about the Book of Mormon and how it addresses those things that were changed or taken out of the Bible and even examines them more completely. We also talked about where and when our conviction about Jesus Christ came from. I don't know how closely he had listened to President Bednar's talk because he seemed a little unsure of his faith in the Savior because he had't had a defining "aha" moment when he knew for sure that Jesus Christ is the Savior. I told him I hadn't either, but like Elder Bednar had just explained, we don't necessarily need those moments. It is by the small and simple things we do every day that help us to find faith in Christ, like reading the scriptures, praying, and attending church. Each of those positive experiences build our conviction, our testimony tiny bit by tiny bit, almost imperceptibly until we're bathed in the light of truth without even realizing it. Cool. He seemed to really like what I had told him, and he wanted to know more of what they had said that he missed, so hopefully he'll go back and listen or read the talks again. Sometimes I love the internet. 

 

      One of the elders in our zone is letting my companion and I borrow his copy of a compilation of C.S. Lewis' more famous works and I love it to death. If we have time or energy at night, we'll take turns reading to one another. In the first two chapters of  Mere Christianity, he completely rips apart the arguement that there is no real right and wrong, only individual perception. Read it, it's good.

 

      This week for our investigators has been a little.....rough. We've started over reading the Book of Mormon with them. Every time they have a fear or doubt or are just feeling lazy and acknowledge that they should be doing more to be closer to God, the answer is 9 times out of 10, to read the Book of Mormon. Mom, you mentioned the YouTube video of Elder Holland's talk a few years ago about the Book of Mormon and how Joseph Smith couldn't possibly have actually written it. I love Elder Holland. Man. Heavenly Father's just so smart. If we just decide to get over ourselves and listen to what the Holy Ghost is telling us, we'll understand that God's there, He loves us, He has a plan for us, He wants us to take care of one another, and to use the resources He's already given us.

 

Maybe I already shared this story, but it's been on my mind a lot lately....so, when I was in 3rd grade, I had a really hard time following directions. We did an activity one day were we were making "Ants on a Log." The directions were written out on the board and we had all of the materials on our desk. I didn't want to take the time to read the instructions so I went and asked my teacher if she would show me how to do it. She shook her head and pointed back up at the screen. I went back to my desk, grumbling about how she didn't want to help me, but started anyway. I followed the directions and every so often would look over at my teacher to make sure I was doing it right. She would usually give me a thumbs up or if I had made a mistake, she would point back up at the screen. I finally understood why that particular experience had stuck with me for so long and I realized that that's exactly how Heavenly Father works. He's given us scriptures and prophets and families to work with so we can know His plan for us. We can use that direct link to Him as a reassurance that we're doing things His way. He'll give us reassurance and encouragement but almost always refer back to the directions already posted. Love Him.

 

Anyway, gotta run soon. Read and reread those conference talks. They're totally worth it.  Be good!

Love you more than all the conference talks on service!

Allison