Hey everyone!
Sounds like you had a pretty busy week!
Angels Landing is awesome, I have done it one time. But its beautiful at the top.
We have what is called here in Fiji a "flat" which is what they call their houses. I'll try to send you a picture of it. I don't know if it will work today though. But yeah there are grocery stores here. They are way small though and don't have a big selection like they have in America. In Rakiraki, where I'm currently serving, we have like 3 main stores and they are all about the size of your house, on the main floor of your house anyway. Maybe smaller. But we get enough food. Rakiraki town is really small. There is a block that has a bunch of small stores in a big square and everybody lives away from it. It's hard to explain.
This is kind what it looks like. Just a big square with stores on all sides. But everybody lives away from it. Its a 10 minute walk from our flat.
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l l
l l
l l
l l
l l
l l------------------------------------------
l l (this is a road going in to town.)
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But this week was good. We didn't have much lessons because we have been out of our area a lot this week. We had to go to Suva on Monday which took all day to go there and back. Tuesday we had district meeting in Tavua which is an hour away. Wednesday we had to leave at 5 to come to Ba which is 2 hours away. Well I stayed in Ba and my companion and our District Leader went to Nadi which is 4 hours from Rakiraki. We didn't get back till 10ish on Friday and we had to do weekly planning that day. Had to go to Lautoka(3 hours from Rakiraki) on Sunday morning for Stake conference and we are staying in Ba right now because we have Zone p-day in Lautoka Today and Zone Training Meeting tomorrow. So we haven't even been in our area much this week.
It has been crazy. We had a couple of good lessons though.
Anyway, thanks for the update and the e-mails. I appreciate them!
Love you guys!
Love, Elder Beilman
*Sorry, I can't send a picture today. I don't have to right cord to plug in to the computer.
Elder Beilman
Sunday
April 20, 2014
Hey everyone!
Thanks for the e-mail! I really appreciate them. We had a good week this week, we were able to have sacrament and we can get authority to preside if it happens again so we will be able to have sacrament. We were watching the Sunday session of general conference and my companion realized that is was Oct 2013's session. The Stake gave everybody the wrong one haha. But the Saturday session was the right one. We previewed it. But we watched the last conference one anyway. It was actually perfect because in one of the talks, it was about the law of chastity, and one of our investigators is awesome but we can't get her baptized until her "husband"(they aren't techinically married, that's just what the fijian's say) gets divorced from his "ex-wife" who I haven't ever met or seen. And he is a member of the church. We met with them a week or so ago and talked about the Family Proclamation with them so hopefully everything can get figured out with that soon.
Thank you for sending a package! You didn't have to do that. It will probably be a while before I get it, it will take at least 2 weeks. So I'll let you know when I get it.
Thanks again! Love you guys!
Elder Beilman
Thanks for the e-mail! I really appreciate them. We had a good week this week, we were able to have sacrament and we can get authority to preside if it happens again so we will be able to have sacrament. We were watching the Sunday session of general conference and my companion realized that is was Oct 2013's session. The Stake gave everybody the wrong one haha. But the Saturday session was the right one. We previewed it. But we watched the last conference one anyway. It was actually perfect because in one of the talks, it was about the law of chastity, and one of our investigators is awesome but we can't get her baptized until her "husband"(they aren't techinically married, that's just what the fijian's say) gets divorced from his "ex-wife" who I haven't ever met or seen. And he is a member of the church. We met with them a week or so ago and talked about the Family Proclamation with them so hopefully everything can get figured out with that soon.
Thank you for sending a package! You didn't have to do that. It will probably be a while before I get it, it will take at least 2 weeks. So I'll let you know when I get it.
Thanks again! Love you guys!
Elder Beilman
April 13, 2014
Hey everyone!
Sounds like you will be busy! Yes that is the correct address. You can just mail the packages to the GPO box #215 if you want, I guess it doesn't matter. My companion got his packages sent there.
So I guess we were supposed to watch General Conference this weekend, but our Branch President is going back to his old ways. Our 2nd counselor is less active again (my companion and the Elder before me reactivated him) because our Branch President doesn't listen to him at all and he is fed up with our president. We didn't even have church yesterday because President Ratu was at work.. and he didn't tell anybody. Our 1st counselor is in a different village looking over a unit that is there in Nakorokula which is about 30 minutes away(by bus). So we usually go there on Sunday's as well to pass the sacrament, but the bus ran late and we were unable to do sacrament because all the men that were in the unit had to leave to go to a different village that some of them live in and help out with the 2 deaths that happened on Saturday. But I guess most missionaries watched General Conference this weekend. Our president was supposed to get it so everybody can watch it, but that didn't happen. We talked to him on Saturday night because we had a lesson with these 2 investigators that wanted to meet him so we told our president after the lesson they want to meet him so we were going to try to set up a lesson that he could come with us and teach them. But while we were there, he didn't tell us he would be working in the morning on Sunday. So its really frustrating here in RakiRaki. I don't want to tell our investigators to come to church if we aren't going to have church. We had a lot well, most people who showed up on Sunday are less active members some walked way way far!! And we had to tell them we can't have church. It sucks! I feel bad for them. They don't deserve to have this bad experience at church. Almost all the recent converts in the area are less active. I don't want to baptize someone and have them go less active because we don't have a good president. There are no callings in the branch at all. Only the Branch Presidency. Its really frustrating. But we'll see, it can only get better from here right? haha. I've been told "if I can survive RakiRaki, I can survive my mission." haha- coming from missionaries and our 2nd counselor who is less active.
Well, I hope things are going well!
Love, Elder Beilman
Oh and yes, I'm adjusting to the food. This is what I had for lunch with some members on Sunday. It was pretty good. There is some gray potato like food called Dalo that is really bland and starchy that I hated at first, but I'm getting used to it. It's not in the picture though.
Sounds like you will be busy! Yes that is the correct address. You can just mail the packages to the GPO box #215 if you want, I guess it doesn't matter. My companion got his packages sent there.
So I guess we were supposed to watch General Conference this weekend, but our Branch President is going back to his old ways. Our 2nd counselor is less active again (my companion and the Elder before me reactivated him) because our Branch President doesn't listen to him at all and he is fed up with our president. We didn't even have church yesterday because President Ratu was at work.. and he didn't tell anybody. Our 1st counselor is in a different village looking over a unit that is there in Nakorokula which is about 30 minutes away(by bus). So we usually go there on Sunday's as well to pass the sacrament, but the bus ran late and we were unable to do sacrament because all the men that were in the unit had to leave to go to a different village that some of them live in and help out with the 2 deaths that happened on Saturday. But I guess most missionaries watched General Conference this weekend. Our president was supposed to get it so everybody can watch it, but that didn't happen. We talked to him on Saturday night because we had a lesson with these 2 investigators that wanted to meet him so we told our president after the lesson they want to meet him so we were going to try to set up a lesson that he could come with us and teach them. But while we were there, he didn't tell us he would be working in the morning on Sunday. So its really frustrating here in RakiRaki. I don't want to tell our investigators to come to church if we aren't going to have church. We had a lot well, most people who showed up on Sunday are less active members some walked way way far!! And we had to tell them we can't have church. It sucks! I feel bad for them. They don't deserve to have this bad experience at church. Almost all the recent converts in the area are less active. I don't want to baptize someone and have them go less active because we don't have a good president. There are no callings in the branch at all. Only the Branch Presidency. Its really frustrating. But we'll see, it can only get better from here right? haha. I've been told "if I can survive RakiRaki, I can survive my mission." haha- coming from missionaries and our 2nd counselor who is less active.
Well, I hope things are going well!
Love, Elder Beilman
Oh and yes, I'm adjusting to the food. This is what I had for lunch with some members on Sunday. It was pretty good. There is some gray potato like food called Dalo that is really bland and starchy that I hated at first, but I'm getting used to it. It's not in the picture though.
My companion(Elder Leota) and I.
April 6, 2014
This is some new missionaries and their trainers. We had a training on Tuesday last week.
Hey everyone!
Thank you all for the e-mail! Before I forget!! Julie, if you send a package, don't send meat including Beef Jerky, I guess customs confiscates it and they have been having problems with that. I don't know why so many people want to send meat through the mail, but okay. I guess they don't have much beef here though.
I haven't been able to watch General Conference yet. I heard we have to wait a couple weeks to get the DVD's then we can watch it.
We have like 15 or 16 investigators right now. They are all pretty great. My companion set a goal of 15 baptisms before he leaves this area, so we are shooting for that. He has had a total of 3 so far. Hopefully we can hit that number. Before I got here, there was a general authority that challenged the mission to find the best month they had for baptisms and double it. March was the month that they were going to try to double it. The most in one month was 50 so we had to hit 100. We had 78 the 3rd week and had to get 22 to hit the 100. I guess we got 42! So we ended up getting 122 baptisms in the Month of March!! Crazy.
My Mission president leaves at the end of June and we are going to try to get 120 that month. So it will be a good challenge. I think we will do really well in our area these next coming months though so that's good. We have 2 investigators with baptismal dates around May, and one hopefully in the next 2 weeks! I'm really excited for them. One of them is Shiyal, she is an Indian woman and really really wants to be baptized! The only problem is her husband's mom, who is catholic. I guess her husbands mom is putting a lot of pressure on her husband because he is catholic as well, but he isn't active. But he doesn't want to get disowned from his parents because of the decision his wife, Shiyal, is making. Its really sad, but I think she will be baptized. Her husband really didn't want to take the lesson's at all and always avoided my companion and the one before me, but the other day, we had dinner with them and read from the Book of Mormon. It was amazing, her husband( his name is Koresi) sat with us and I had asked him if he wanted to read a verse for us from Ether chapter 2 and he did. We just went around the room reading chapter 2 and 3. It was great! But one of our investigators before I came here, was an MJ(Micheal Jordan)-Investigator with a baptismal date. And I guess someone talked to her and the next lesson, she said she had already been baptized and that she will be busy. So my companion didn't see her for a month or so and she went down to a Shaq (Investigator that isn't progressing) But she went up to a LeBron(Progressing investigator) recently and after last week, she became an MJ again. Its amazing! Her name is Vasiti. We have another investigator that is doing really good as well, his name is Isimeli, we are going to extend a baptismal date next time we see him. Its really hard though, because he lives 40 minutes away in a small village and we have to take a bus every time. So we have a 10-15 minute walk to town then we wait for the bus to leave, then when we get there and finish our lessons, we have to wait for a bus to come down the road. Which can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours. so it would be way nice if we had a truck, but that's okay.
Well that's about all that I have for today. Oh yeah, last night, we went to visit our 2nd counselor in our branch presidency, President Besetmuala who was supposed to be in a different town, well we originally went there to visit his less active sons(they are 17, 19, and 21 i think) but he came back last night. And we have to go down this way long gravel road on the bikes and it sucks a lot! The gravel roads here are terrible, a lot of the rocks are pretty big and it sucks when you hit them on the bike. My butt hurts from the seat. I'm praying that we will get a truck soon, that would be so helpful. But if not, that's okay.
Much love!
Love, Elder Beilman
*Oh! and tell Kara happy birthday for me!
This is the bridge now. It was pretty sketchy when I was going over it.
Eating after church with the members. 2 boys that are members.
Some fijian food.
A spider that i had to kill with a 2 liter fanta bottle.
They have pineapple and raspberry fanta here! It's way good!
March 30, 2014
Hey everyone!
Sorry this will be short!
We had a baptism on Saturday. I did the confirmation on Sunday. It was amazing. Our branch president showed up 20 minutes late, so it's amazing that we were able to have the confirmation.
I prayed way hard that he would show up so we could have church and a couple of minutes later he came. It was awesome.
I gave another missionary, Elder Utai a blessing last night because he was way sick. He felt a lot better right after the blessing, but today he isn't feeling too well again. Hopefully he gets better.
We got 2 new bikes finally. But it doesn't help a whole lot because there is a bridge that is out that we have been able to walk/ride in a boat across so far, but there is no way we could get the bikes across.
I got an e-mail from somebody else with my same last name today!!! He spells it with 2 n's at the end though, that's how mine used to be spelled. Way cool! I'll send the email he sent me. Anyway, I love you guys!
Love, Elder Beilman
Oh, and I don't eat a whole lot of Fijian food, because they are super poor and don't have enough money to feed the missionaries, but I did have fish a couple of times. It's just in this area that I'm in that the people are really poor. My companion said its the poorest area he has had on his mission.
So the only thing you have to worry about with sending a package, is the postage. I don't have to pay to pick it up. Just probably don't send anything expensive. I talked to my companion and he said he hasn't had to pay anything to pick up his packages up.
*Below is the letter Clayton received from a guy at Dixie univ. with his same last name:
_____________________________________________________________
Bula,
I saw your picture on the wall of the institute in St George and I just had to write you.
I had always thought that the only Beilman(n)s that were members of the church were my immediate family since it isn't a very common name and my dad was a convert to the church and none of his siblings are members. I am interested in hearing about when your family joined the church. I am also into genealogy so it would be great if I could get some of that information too. Even though the spelling is a little different we could still be related.
It is also cool your in Fiji. I was there about 2 years ago. If you happen to end up in the ward in Nadi tell everyone hi for me. They may remember my mom Donna better since she has been there three times and I have only been there once. Too bad you can't go swimming, the waters great all year around. I suppose that is why I got sent to Peoria Illinois for my mission. I probably wouldn't have made it 2 years without swimming (no one wants to swim in the Mississippi river). At least I didn't have to drink kava for two years, it is gross. If you haven't had the pineapples yet go get some, they are the best I have ever had. Go get some strawberry Oreos, too. It is too bad we can't get either in the USA.
Well I don't want to take up too much of you preperation day so I'll stop here. Don't let the fijian's relaxed attitude and "Fiji time" get in the way of the work. That is especially true for the bishop you mentioned. He should know better.
Don't get eaten,
Eric Beilmann
_____________________________________________________________
Sorry this will be short!
We had a baptism on Saturday. I did the confirmation on Sunday. It was amazing. Our branch president showed up 20 minutes late, so it's amazing that we were able to have the confirmation.
I prayed way hard that he would show up so we could have church and a couple of minutes later he came. It was awesome.
I gave another missionary, Elder Utai a blessing last night because he was way sick. He felt a lot better right after the blessing, but today he isn't feeling too well again. Hopefully he gets better.
We got 2 new bikes finally. But it doesn't help a whole lot because there is a bridge that is out that we have been able to walk/ride in a boat across so far, but there is no way we could get the bikes across.
I got an e-mail from somebody else with my same last name today!!! He spells it with 2 n's at the end though, that's how mine used to be spelled. Way cool! I'll send the email he sent me. Anyway, I love you guys!
Love, Elder Beilman
Oh, and I don't eat a whole lot of Fijian food, because they are super poor and don't have enough money to feed the missionaries, but I did have fish a couple of times. It's just in this area that I'm in that the people are really poor. My companion said its the poorest area he has had on his mission.
So the only thing you have to worry about with sending a package, is the postage. I don't have to pay to pick it up. Just probably don't send anything expensive. I talked to my companion and he said he hasn't had to pay anything to pick up his packages up.
*Below is the letter Clayton received from a guy at Dixie univ. with his same last name:
_____________________________________________________________
Bula,
I saw your picture on the wall of the institute in St George and I just had to write you.
I had always thought that the only Beilman(n)s that were members of the church were my immediate family since it isn't a very common name and my dad was a convert to the church and none of his siblings are members. I am interested in hearing about when your family joined the church. I am also into genealogy so it would be great if I could get some of that information too. Even though the spelling is a little different we could still be related.
It is also cool your in Fiji. I was there about 2 years ago. If you happen to end up in the ward in Nadi tell everyone hi for me. They may remember my mom Donna better since she has been there three times and I have only been there once. Too bad you can't go swimming, the waters great all year around. I suppose that is why I got sent to Peoria Illinois for my mission. I probably wouldn't have made it 2 years without swimming (no one wants to swim in the Mississippi river). At least I didn't have to drink kava for two years, it is gross. If you haven't had the pineapples yet go get some, they are the best I have ever had. Go get some strawberry Oreos, too. It is too bad we can't get either in the USA.
Well I don't want to take up too much of you preperation day so I'll stop here. Don't let the fijian's relaxed attitude and "Fiji time" get in the way of the work. That is especially true for the bishop you mentioned. He should know better.
Don't get eaten,
Eric Beilmann
_____________________________________________________________
Fiji first letter! March 23, 2014
Hey everyone!
I flew in on Monday morning. It was a way long flight, like 10 hours and I only got like 3 or 4 hours of sleep. And when we got here, it was like 6 in the morning so I had to stay awake the rest of the day or I would have been jet lagged so I was way tired when we got here. But the first day, we got our sulu's (man skirts) and they are so nice! It is pretty hot down here so its nice that we don't have to wear slacks.
The area where I'm serving is called Raki Raki. It's on the main island but pretty much at the north-most part of the island. We are in a bicycling area, but 2 of the 3 bikes are broken, so we walk a lot! It's pretty hard though, we have a really big area, sometimes it takes like more than an hour to walk to the house we are going to. It's an area considered "bush" which kind of means there are gravel roads and farms and wooded areas. The town raki raki is really small.
My companion is way awesome! His trainer was Brother Stock, who was one of my teachers at the MTC so its way cool. My companions name is Elder Leota and he is a fantastic missionary. He is teaching me a lot.
My first lesson that I taught was to the chief of the village!! It was kind of nerve racking, it was the very first time my companion talked to him too, so it was really crazy. we are meeting with him today so it should be good. We have like 14 Investigators right now and we are super busy. The big problem here in Raki Raki at the branch is that our branch presidency isn't doing their calling very well.
So there isn't a lot of good leadership. The 2nd counselor does almost everything, and he didn't even show up to sacrament yesterday because he is fed up with the branch president not doing anything. we were supposed to have a baptism yesterday morning, but the branch president cancelled it because he wasn't prepared. It's really sad, because the investigator Paula is doing awesome, his aunt and uncle are members and he lives with them, and they didn't come to church yesterday, but Paula walked all the way! It is a way far walk too, like an hour walk at least. He is 15, but we are going to do the baptism on Saturday, so hopefully everything works out.
We have a couple of other investigators that are doing way good too, we are going to invite one to be baptized sometime in the next couple of weeks tonight after we teach our lesson. But the only problem with teaching is that we have to have permission from their parents if they are under 18 and if they are married, their, spouse. And a lot of the husbands won't let their wife be baptized which is really sad. There is one investigator named Shyal that wants to be baptized, but her husband said he will leave her if she does so its way sad. Anyway, I have to go now. I'll attach some pictures.
Love, Elder Beilman
-Oh and the people here are super poor. It's way sad. Most of their houses are made from cement blocks and metal. It's crazy. And they sit on the floor all the time. It's hard to get used to that, but I'm getting there. Oh! And the food is kind of gross, not going to lie. But I'm praying that I'll start liking it because I don't want to be disrespectful if I don't eat it.
I flew in on Monday morning. It was a way long flight, like 10 hours and I only got like 3 or 4 hours of sleep. And when we got here, it was like 6 in the morning so I had to stay awake the rest of the day or I would have been jet lagged so I was way tired when we got here. But the first day, we got our sulu's (man skirts) and they are so nice! It is pretty hot down here so its nice that we don't have to wear slacks.
The area where I'm serving is called Raki Raki. It's on the main island but pretty much at the north-most part of the island. We are in a bicycling area, but 2 of the 3 bikes are broken, so we walk a lot! It's pretty hard though, we have a really big area, sometimes it takes like more than an hour to walk to the house we are going to. It's an area considered "bush" which kind of means there are gravel roads and farms and wooded areas. The town raki raki is really small.
My companion is way awesome! His trainer was Brother Stock, who was one of my teachers at the MTC so its way cool. My companions name is Elder Leota and he is a fantastic missionary. He is teaching me a lot.
My first lesson that I taught was to the chief of the village!! It was kind of nerve racking, it was the very first time my companion talked to him too, so it was really crazy. we are meeting with him today so it should be good. We have like 14 Investigators right now and we are super busy. The big problem here in Raki Raki at the branch is that our branch presidency isn't doing their calling very well.
So there isn't a lot of good leadership. The 2nd counselor does almost everything, and he didn't even show up to sacrament yesterday because he is fed up with the branch president not doing anything. we were supposed to have a baptism yesterday morning, but the branch president cancelled it because he wasn't prepared. It's really sad, because the investigator Paula is doing awesome, his aunt and uncle are members and he lives with them, and they didn't come to church yesterday, but Paula walked all the way! It is a way far walk too, like an hour walk at least. He is 15, but we are going to do the baptism on Saturday, so hopefully everything works out.
We have a couple of other investigators that are doing way good too, we are going to invite one to be baptized sometime in the next couple of weeks tonight after we teach our lesson. But the only problem with teaching is that we have to have permission from their parents if they are under 18 and if they are married, their, spouse. And a lot of the husbands won't let their wife be baptized which is really sad. There is one investigator named Shyal that wants to be baptized, but her husband said he will leave her if she does so its way sad. Anyway, I have to go now. I'll attach some pictures.
Love, Elder Beilman
-Oh and the people here are super poor. It's way sad. Most of their houses are made from cement blocks and metal. It's crazy. And they sit on the floor all the time. It's hard to get used to that, but I'm getting there. Oh! And the food is kind of gross, not going to lie. But I'm praying that I'll start liking it because I don't want to be disrespectful if I don't eat it.
Here are some of my teachers at the MTC and everybody in my intake.
First meal and sunset. Here, they leave the bones in the meat, so when you eat it, you have to pick out the bones as you chew it, it kind of sucks, but oh well.
Friday
Fiji tomorrow!
Hey everyone!
Thanks for the email! I appreciate it when I get those from all of you.
Yeah, I received the banana bread, thank you! It was way good! I wasn't able to eat much of it, so I gave a lot of it to some missionaries that are going to Russia that I talk to every now and then. Their class is in the same building as mine so they have come over to our class to share their testimony and scriptures and other things in Russian and we share things with them in Fijian.
It's pretty fun here, I will actually miss it! I love my teachers, they are the best! I'm really grateful for the things they have taught me and for the love they have for us. I keep forgetting to ask what I can receive in packages sent to Fiji! sorry! But I am going to send you 2 boxes of clothes that I won't need and a couple of other things that I don't need to take with me so just a heads up on that. I appreciate the love and support I have from you! The next time you hear from me, I'll be in FIJI! Can't wait to get there. Just one more day! I can't believe how fast these past 5 weeks have gone by. Hopefully I'll be able to be able to kind of slow down a little when I get to Fiji and enjoy the time that I have there! I'll send pictures of me in the Sulu when I get them! It will be the best haha! My teacher actually brought some of his in the other day and we got to try them on.
Love you!
love, Elder Beilman
Thanks for the email! I appreciate it when I get those from all of you.
Yeah, I received the banana bread, thank you! It was way good! I wasn't able to eat much of it, so I gave a lot of it to some missionaries that are going to Russia that I talk to every now and then. Their class is in the same building as mine so they have come over to our class to share their testimony and scriptures and other things in Russian and we share things with them in Fijian.
It's pretty fun here, I will actually miss it! I love my teachers, they are the best! I'm really grateful for the things they have taught me and for the love they have for us. I keep forgetting to ask what I can receive in packages sent to Fiji! sorry! But I am going to send you 2 boxes of clothes that I won't need and a couple of other things that I don't need to take with me so just a heads up on that. I appreciate the love and support I have from you! The next time you hear from me, I'll be in FIJI! Can't wait to get there. Just one more day! I can't believe how fast these past 5 weeks have gone by. Hopefully I'll be able to be able to kind of slow down a little when I get to Fiji and enjoy the time that I have there! I'll send pictures of me in the Sulu when I get them! It will be the best haha! My teacher actually brought some of his in the other day and we got to try them on.
Love you!
love, Elder Beilman
March 7, 2014
Hey, this will be a super short letter! Sorry!
My time has come to an end on the computer today.... I feel like it was 10 minutes ago that I got on here. Thanks for the email and the updates on everything.
My time has come to an end on the computer today.... I feel like it was 10 minutes ago that I got on here. Thanks for the email and the updates on everything.
This week we got our flight plans! We leave on Saturday the 15th at noon and board a plane to LAX at 3:30 and land in LA at 4:25 or something like that. then we have a 7 hour layover and board a plane at 11:35 to Fiji and arrive in Fiji on MONDAY at 6 in the morning! We skip Sunday! That will be kind of weird. But we cross the international date line so we will be on Monday when it's Sunday here. its an 18 hour difference.
My companion and I were asked to serve as the zone leaders in our zone. So we will take over on Sunday. It will only be for like 5 days, but hopefully we do a good job. We have 24 new missionaries coming on Wednesday! And we have to give them the new missionary orientation Wednesday night. And we are hosting on Wednesday, too! We got to host on Wednesday this week and it was a lot of fun so I'm glad we get to do it again.
Oh and I did get the package Amy and Royce sent me, can you tell
them I said thanks? I don't have their email or anything. I guess I
should write them a letter soon. I'll try to do that.
Sorry I didn't send any pictures, I didn't really take any new ones this week.
Thank you for everything,
Love you all
Elder Beilman
February 28, 2014
Hey everyone,
This letter will probably be kind of short, I need to go downstairs to finish my laundry.
But thank you for the e-mails and everything. I really appreciate them. Sounds like everything is going pretty well.
We're getting ready to go to the temple this morning. The plan was to eat at the temple, but we decided to eat here instead. Maybe next week I'll eat at the temple. I hear it's pretty good as well, Curt.
Aunt Kathy sent me banana bread! that was really nice! I didn't expect it coming so when I saw I received a package I was wondering who would send me one. But there is 2 loafs of it! I love banana bread so that was awesome. I'll have to write her back soon.
That's good that Jess is getting to go to a new area. Even though she loved the Ponderosa ward, she will probably love the new one she is in. She is amazing. The new ward she goes to will love her.
Well its about that time.
Love, Elder Beilman
This letter will probably be kind of short, I need to go downstairs to finish my laundry.
But thank you for the e-mails and everything. I really appreciate them. Sounds like everything is going pretty well.
We're getting ready to go to the temple this morning. The plan was to eat at the temple, but we decided to eat here instead. Maybe next week I'll eat at the temple. I hear it's pretty good as well, Curt.
Aunt Kathy sent me banana bread! that was really nice! I didn't expect it coming so when I saw I received a package I was wondering who would send me one. But there is 2 loafs of it! I love banana bread so that was awesome. I'll have to write her back soon.
That's good that Jess is getting to go to a new area. Even though she loved the Ponderosa ward, she will probably love the new one she is in. She is amazing. The new ward she goes to will love her.
Well its about that time.
Love, Elder Beilman
February 21, 2014
Hey Everyone!
Yes, I did get the package on Wednesday, I think. Thank you so much for that!
I put the letter for the bank in the mail the other day.
Hahaha- what the. Why did Curt have to wear a dress at school? Just for the assembly?
That's way weird. There is no way I would ever do that!
My leg is doing better now. I didn't go to see anyone for it, I just babied it for a while and now
I can run on it. I actually ran the mile in 6 minutes the other day which was pretty cool considering
I haven't ran in like 5 months. But they have a bunch of records in the gym. The record for free throws made in a row is like 49 and 3 pointers is 12. I made 11 3's in a row the other day,
so I think I can beat that. It get frustrating though because after you make like 5 or 6 and miss,
it throws you off. But oh well.
My zone leader Elder Moli is the one who made the 12-3 Pointers. He is way cool.
He is leaving on Sunday though. I'll attach a picture of me and him. Actually more than half my zone is leaving within this week. We have about 22 missionaries in our zone right now and 12 are leaving!
The wall looks good! I didn't recognize it for a minute.
Here is a little Fijian:
Bula Vinaka!
Sa vakacava tiko? (How are you?) Vinaka tiko! (i'm Good)
Au mai missouri. (I'm from Missouri)
Au yambaki rua sagavulu. (I'm 20)
Na tama i keimami vakalomalagi (dear heavenly father)
E na yaca i Jisu Karisito, emeni. (In the name of Jesus Christ, amen)
Au via wasea na noqu ivakadinadina (I would like to share my testimony)
Tamada Vakalomalagi (Heavenly Father)
vosa vakviti (Fijian)
vosa vakalagi (English)
I know more, but for the sake of time I'll cut it short.
Thanks for everything! Love you guys!
Love, Elder Beilman
Yes, I did get the package on Wednesday, I think. Thank you so much for that!
I put the letter for the bank in the mail the other day.
Hahaha- what the. Why did Curt have to wear a dress at school? Just for the assembly?
That's way weird. There is no way I would ever do that!
My leg is doing better now. I didn't go to see anyone for it, I just babied it for a while and now
I can run on it. I actually ran the mile in 6 minutes the other day which was pretty cool considering
I haven't ran in like 5 months. But they have a bunch of records in the gym. The record for free throws made in a row is like 49 and 3 pointers is 12. I made 11 3's in a row the other day,
so I think I can beat that. It get frustrating though because after you make like 5 or 6 and miss,
it throws you off. But oh well.
My zone leader Elder Moli is the one who made the 12-3 Pointers. He is way cool.
He is leaving on Sunday though. I'll attach a picture of me and him. Actually more than half my zone is leaving within this week. We have about 22 missionaries in our zone right now and 12 are leaving!
The wall looks good! I didn't recognize it for a minute.
Here is a little Fijian:
Bula Vinaka!
Sa vakacava tiko? (How are you?) Vinaka tiko! (i'm Good)
Au mai missouri. (I'm from Missouri)
Au yambaki rua sagavulu. (I'm 20)
Na tama i keimami vakalomalagi (dear heavenly father)
E na yaca i Jisu Karisito, emeni. (In the name of Jesus Christ, amen)
Au via wasea na noqu ivakadinadina (I would like to share my testimony)
Tamada Vakalomalagi (Heavenly Father)
vosa vakviti (Fijian)
vosa vakalagi (English)
I know more, but for the sake of time I'll cut it short.
Thanks for everything! Love you guys!
Love, Elder Beilman
Me and my zone leader, Elder Moli.
This is all the toys we found in our "narnia hole."
Haha- it was in that air vent.
Me at the temple this morning.
It's like the first day its actually been sunny for more than 1 hour.
Temple under water picture.
February 14, 2014
Hey everyone!
Yes, I actually saw Daagel on Wednesday when you dropped me off! But I see him at breakfast, lunch and dinner a lot too. So that's good. We took a picture together next to the map so I'll try to figure out how to send it. Not quite sure how to do that yet, another Elder said you have to have a special cord or something... but I went to the book store last week to get it and she said that the one I have should work.. I don't know. I guess we will see.
The MTC is great, Curt- they have so much food, you will never go hungry. Except maybe after dinner, I get hungry like an hour before bed, so I go to the vending machines and grab some things.
We play basketball just about everyday haha. But my knee is kind of hurting from when we went snowboarding and I fell and when I run on it, it kind of flares up. So I'm trying to stay off of it. Alli- Fiji is the best! The language is kind of weird, but its kind of easy to learn. I don't know how to explain it. It's a lot of fun. My teachers are awesome! And I cannot wait to go to Fiji! Jane- Yeah, the MTC is awesome! Guess what.. They have steak.. I've had it twice already haha. It's actually pretty good too.
That's great about Taylor and Kara's baby! Like 21 weeks left? I didn't get a chance to head over to the front of the MTC on Saturday to see if I could see you helping move Taylor and Kara. We are really busy. The first class I had, our teacher talked only in Fijian! It was crazy! But we are getting to the point where we can understand some of what they say so that's good. I can now bear my testimony, pray and a couple of other things in Fijian! It is awesome! I love it. One of our teachers had made a challenge for us to bear our testimony in Fijian 15 times before Saturday afternoon (and that was yesterday), but I told him to make it 20 haha. I'm at 8 right now, so I better step on it.
That's good that the wall is getting fixed. Is Curt the Slave of Sabi again? (Or however you say it.) That's good that the cow was good, I wish I could try it, oh well, you'll probably have some left when I get back right? Well its nice to hear from you! Thanks for everything. I'll look for the package!
Loloma iko!(love you!)
Love, Elder Beilman
Below are pictures of me and my companion, one of Daagel and I, one of me at the temple and I the other one is my zone's badges at the temple last week.
There's also one of the first day the sun has been out since I have been here!
Yes, I actually saw Daagel on Wednesday when you dropped me off! But I see him at breakfast, lunch and dinner a lot too. So that's good. We took a picture together next to the map so I'll try to figure out how to send it. Not quite sure how to do that yet, another Elder said you have to have a special cord or something... but I went to the book store last week to get it and she said that the one I have should work.. I don't know. I guess we will see.
The MTC is great, Curt- they have so much food, you will never go hungry. Except maybe after dinner, I get hungry like an hour before bed, so I go to the vending machines and grab some things.
We play basketball just about everyday haha. But my knee is kind of hurting from when we went snowboarding and I fell and when I run on it, it kind of flares up. So I'm trying to stay off of it. Alli- Fiji is the best! The language is kind of weird, but its kind of easy to learn. I don't know how to explain it. It's a lot of fun. My teachers are awesome! And I cannot wait to go to Fiji! Jane- Yeah, the MTC is awesome! Guess what.. They have steak.. I've had it twice already haha. It's actually pretty good too.
That's great about Taylor and Kara's baby! Like 21 weeks left? I didn't get a chance to head over to the front of the MTC on Saturday to see if I could see you helping move Taylor and Kara. We are really busy. The first class I had, our teacher talked only in Fijian! It was crazy! But we are getting to the point where we can understand some of what they say so that's good. I can now bear my testimony, pray and a couple of other things in Fijian! It is awesome! I love it. One of our teachers had made a challenge for us to bear our testimony in Fijian 15 times before Saturday afternoon (and that was yesterday), but I told him to make it 20 haha. I'm at 8 right now, so I better step on it.
That's good that the wall is getting fixed. Is Curt the Slave of Sabi again? (Or however you say it.) That's good that the cow was good, I wish I could try it, oh well, you'll probably have some left when I get back right? Well its nice to hear from you! Thanks for everything. I'll look for the package!
Loloma iko!(love you!)
Love, Elder Beilman
Below are pictures of me and my companion, one of Daagel and I, one of me at the temple and I the other one is my zone's badges at the temple last week.
There's also one of the first day the sun has been out since I have been here!
February 7, 2014~1st Mission Letter..... Called to be District Leader
Hey Everybody!
The MTC is SO great! I love it here. My companion's name is Elder Childers, he is from Preston, Idaho which is where Napoleon Dynamite was filmed... isn't that weird? It's kind of funny though, too. He said the high school looks the same in the movie.
I think I might have lost my journal that had all the people who I was planning on e-mailing in it. So hopefully I can find it. My p-day's are on Friday, so we went to the temple this morning and that was really good. It was a great way to start the day.
There are a lot of polynesians in my zone. There are 2 districts from the people in my zone that are going to Fiji. In one zone there are 4 elders and in the zone I'm in we have my companion, me and 3 sisters.
I was made District Leader yesterday which was pretty cool. I guess they didn't really have a big group of missionaries to choose from though, but I'm happy i was called.
I don't think I'll need that blanket, Julie. Thank you though! I didn't really sleep on Wednesday night. I couldn't really get comfortable for some reason, or that I was just really excited to be here.
Sorry I didn't write much, I'm kind of in a hurry to email right now. I took a couple of pictures today, but I'll try to send them next week.
Love, Elder Beilman
The MTC is SO great! I love it here. My companion's name is Elder Childers, he is from Preston, Idaho which is where Napoleon Dynamite was filmed... isn't that weird? It's kind of funny though, too. He said the high school looks the same in the movie.
I think I might have lost my journal that had all the people who I was planning on e-mailing in it. So hopefully I can find it. My p-day's are on Friday, so we went to the temple this morning and that was really good. It was a great way to start the day.
There are a lot of polynesians in my zone. There are 2 districts from the people in my zone that are going to Fiji. In one zone there are 4 elders and in the zone I'm in we have my companion, me and 3 sisters.
I was made District Leader yesterday which was pretty cool. I guess they didn't really have a big group of missionaries to choose from though, but I'm happy i was called.
I don't think I'll need that blanket, Julie. Thank you though! I didn't really sleep on Wednesday night. I couldn't really get comfortable for some reason, or that I was just really excited to be here.
Sorry I didn't write much, I'm kind of in a hurry to email right now. I took a couple of pictures today, but I'll try to send them next week.
Love, Elder Beilman
Thursday
February 5, 2014~ the big day!
The big day arrived for Clayton to be off to the MTC
(Mission Training Center) to begin his mission.
The night before (Tues., Feb. 4th) we met with our Stake President,
President Monsen for Clayton to be set apart as a missionary.
President Monsen read some great scriptures to Clayton from Luke 22 and D&C 31.
He gave Clayton great advice and counsel. The spirit was strong.
He blessed Clayton and his family that they would be protected and watched over during
his service and that he would have divine help during his service as a missionary in Fiji.
We went to Ideal Dairy after for ice cream treats, then went home, read scriptures, had prayer
and talked about the special night with President Monsen.
Then Clayton and Curt ran down to the playroom for their last ping pong matches before Clayton left.
Clayton usually wins, but Curt wanted one last chance to try to beat him!
Curt will be off on his mission when Clayton gets back, so they won't see each other for 3 1/2 years.
Wed. morning (Feb. 5th) after breakfast before leaving for the MTC.
The kids had to say good bye after breakfast because they had a lot going on at school.
We met Federico Leguizamon (one of the missionaries who taught Clayton the gospel and baptized him in St. George) for lunch at Tucanos before going to the MTC.
It was nice to have him there. He gave Clayton a lot of great advice for his mission.
Pictures at the Provo, Utah temple before going to the MTC.
At the Missionary Training Center......just about to go!
And he's off! We're going to miss him, but we know he will be a great missionary.
Please everyone-
write Clayton often and give him support and encouragement.
E-mail: clayton.beliman@myldsmail.net
MTC address: Elder Clayton Joseph Beilman
MAR18 FIJ-SUV
2007 N. 900 E. unit 26
Provo, UT 84602
Thursday
Farewell Announcement/Opening the mission call...
Richfield Reaper announcement in the Jan. 22, 2014 paper:
_______________________________
Clayton's mission call arrived on
Sept. 20, 2013 (the night of Curt's Homecoming dance.)
He came late that night (after his shift at Tuacan) to open it.
Opening the Mission call at around midnight........
Pretty exciting!
No one even thought of guessing he'd get called to Fiji!
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