Temple and MTC Pictures

Chalet and some of her crazy family.

At the temple for the first time.

Are these missionaries or tigers?  Not sure if I should say, "Hallehlujah!" or if I should just run.

Ummm... companions are on the other side, Sister.

Apparently this missionary thinks she's a gangsta.

There it is!  Wearing it proudly!

January 22, 2013

Hi all,

So I made it to New Jersey! I am on the very bottom point near the ocean(Cape May). This town hasn't had a missionaries for about 6 months and it also hasn't had any sisters for about 3 years. There is a lot of work to be done already but there wasn't a very good record kept so we are definately going to have to work hard. The ward is about 3/4 inactive with maybe five families that take over everything. Well..it is just a branch I guess.

The people here are definately hick. I know sometimes people say that those that live in the west, or even Idaho are hick but they are very wrong in this case. They all talk with an accent and then they make fun of it themselves. And they also love sharing everyone's business even if they don't know you. ha.

My companion is Sister Gunnell. She has been out here for about 16 months so I will kill her off. She has reddish hair as well but she is very quiet and shy. I can definately see it in her eyes. Especially when we go tracting she gets this look like she waants to run away. Sometimes I am afraid I might scare her. She says I don't act like one of the greenies that usually come out because I am not as nervous but excited to go knock on doors or ask people questions. I'll take it as a good thing, but it probably is just because I am a little bit older.

The place I live in is pretty cute. We live upstairs from our landlord in a house and it is very homy. But the first couple days we were here we didn't have time to  unpack so we had to use bobby pins to put up our shower curtain and stuff until we later had time to go buy rings. And then on P day when we finally had time to clean I washed all the walls down in the bathroom cuz it was pretty gross and it was making me sick.

Well we have met some great people here. Last night we had dinner at the branch mission leaders home and they were very interesting folk. It seemed as though they had about 4 adopted kids come through their house while we were there and i swear they were all high. And then when we went to share a brief message they didn't really pay attention. The spirit just wasn't there. I am just going to take it all in though and look for the positive. Ha, these people are crazy but I love them. But most definately you all are missing out on church meetings. Especially Relief Society. Mainly because these people are converts they talk about really weird stuff and they are all very loud. I'll have to write letters.

Take care everyone. Send me some sunshine. This morning there was snow on the ground and we tried to go running. It was a blast. It is usually around 30 degrees here though and when the wind blows and it feels like 15.

Write me if you feel so inclined:

15B Romney Pl.

Cape May Court House, NJ 08210

Love you all. Keep it real. Sister Beames

January 8, 2013

Hey familia,

How is everything going at home? Is everyone doing their best to stay away from the flu going around? It finally passed in the MTC so that is a relief. I have raw hands from washing them so much.

So this week has been pretty good. Since we had to stay in the mtc an extra week because of the holidays we have been trying to take advantage of just learning the lessons better and how to apply them by practicing with the new missionaries coming in. It has been fun to see what it was like when we first compared to where we are now.

Story: I think I told you about one of our progressing investigators Luke, well he is so awesome. I have been praying all week for the gift of charity that I can relate more to others around me and that I can feel love towards those I teach. And as we went in to teach Luke after not seeing him for about a week he shared a story with us about his ex wife coming back with his son who he really wants to make a part of his life, but she saw that he had the BOM and was really angry and told him to stay away from us. So he almost called us and told us not to meet with him but then let us come over anyways and I was so glad that he did. As he told me this new difficulty in his life my heart just went out to him. I wanted him to know how much he needed his Savior. Just into talking with him my companion asked me to say the opening prayer and I was going to but then couldn't cuz I didn't want to cry. I know I am lame. But for a moment it seemed as if I got a glimpse of how the Savior feels because he loves us so much and wants to help us return to our Heavenly Father.

On further note, I think I had previously told you about how our dorm room is freezing cold because the heater doesn't work..?I did tell you that right? Well, it's like an igloo in there. We sleep with our coats, even after steeling extra blankets from the laundry room(you are only allowed one). So I had the bright idea of moving our beds into the hallway to sleep. Which we did on Sunday night. But we ended up not sleeping that well anyways because there are safety lights on in the hallway that kinda kept us up. So Monday night I built a fort. Kinda like how we always did when we were kids. So we safety pinned some blankets together and then drapped it acorss an ironing bored and some chairs and it is now a pretty legit tent. I will have to send pictures if I can get them uploaded.

Anyways, this was seriously one of the best nights sleep I had gotten while here at the mtc because I was finally warm, but it was ruined by the fire alarm which went off at four in the morning. There was this fire that started in one of the upper rooms and ended up spreading to several other rooms and was seriously hard to get contained. Nobody died but there was a lot of damage done. just kidding. But really, I guess some sprinklers went off somewhere because of some pipes that busted? Yeah i'm not sure what happened, but we ended up having to go sit in the gym. I took my companions upstairs and found some mats for us to sleep on until we were able toleave.

Today we also got to go to the temple!! It was so awesome. This will be the last time I will be able to go for a year and a half. It is sad that after going once or twice a week for over a year to not being able to go at all. I am really going to miss it. You all should go for me in return. muchos gracias.

Well all, there is about one week left. I depart on tuesday at about six in the morning i think. We will have a layover in Detroit and then we will be on our way to Philly where the journey will begin!

Love always,

sister beames

January 1, 2013

so this week we taught an investigator named luke. it was our second visit with him. during the first visit the spirit was not there nor did we focus on the needs of luke in correlation with our goals for him. but this time after learnign about how to begin taching we were able to make that jump and invit eh spirit in. the doctrine of chrsit and the atonement needs to be included in the focus of the whole lesson. the spirit will make the difference in the lesson. we brought hope into lukes´ life and were able to invite him to read the bom, come to church with us, and to be baptized and he said yes. i am greatful for this experience. i feel like i have been filled with the spirit and i know i have a purpose in helping invite others come unto christ. even thought this was just a roleplay, it is an eternal principle. it is what we do in the temple and i feel like i have learned alot.

this sunday we also watched a devotional that was given in the mtc last christmas by elder bednar. it was one of the most powerful talks i have ever seen. in the devotional he talked about how there would have been no atoning sacrifice without the character of christ. he then proceeded to only give us a couple examples of this. e.g. when christ was in the garden and his apostles were sleepingand one betrayed him with a kiss he turned outward and wasn´´t angry. he even healed the guards ear when his apostle cut it off, and then when he was  on the cross he prayed for the comfot and peace to others. we should all turn out in love, service, and compassion for others.

i learned that this mission is not about me. even though the greatest conversion on my mission should be me, it won´´t happen if i focus on myself. i must turnoutward. Bednar then began to give a story about when he was a stake president and he got a call from a relief society president asking him to go identify three girls that had been in an accident and were now at the hospita. when he was listening to this lady on the phone, he began to relize that she was talking to someone on the other line. through the phone he heard that it was the hospital, and heard them confirm to this lady that one of the girls who died was this lady´´s daughter. This lady instead of breaking down proceeded to tell bednar that he must do all he could to identify the two girls and that they must provide support to the families of these girls. This was a perfect example of the characters of Christ. this woman had turned outward and was being converted through her service and love towards others.

it was such an amazing experience this week focusing on how i can improve in so many ways.

funny quotes of the week. one elder said, ¨im just going to lay my hands on his head and baptize him!¨ the sister then proceeded to say ¨i don´´t think you know the meaning of baptism...¨

and then from some polynisian dude ¨sisters, if you pray, study the scriptures, and eat your vitamins, someday, you´ll have a body like mine.¨

good times

the flu is going around. there were 60 people that were admitted to the ER last night because of it, 6 girls on my hall, and my roommate had it this mornign so we were quarantined(can´t spell). I think I am comming down with it. i hope that it doesn´´t hit me though. please pray for me.

well happy new years all,

love you guys tons.

sister chalet beames

December 25, 2012

so my p day is tuesdays while here at the mtc, this also being my temple day at 9 am. but the temple is closed but we still go on walks to the temple these days which is nice. but kinda sad we don't get to go in and plus i won't get to go while on my mission because there isn't a temple there. it just kinda sucks that i have to go from going to the temple every week to not at all.  today being christmas, i have only heard from dad, miranda, and janine. and paige sent me a letter through DearElder. so im kinda like what the heck guys. you already forgot about me.jk, but seriously. you should send me letters on dearelder while im in the mtc because we receive them the same day here.

also things are going pretty good.  i am in a trio companionship. the sisters are sister munson and carrigan. we are having great experiences together. sister munson is super sweet and tiny and cute. she is one of those choir nerds who thought when she met me that i was a gangster that just came on a mission just because and didn't really have a testimony, but now she seems to love me and repeats what i say sometimes which is kinda funny cuz aparantly i say funy stuff. who knew. and then sister carrigan is an only child from california and she is one of those artsy people who also is never on time to anything. so as i have the goal to be obedient is difficult to accomplish it because of the fact that i can't just leaver her. neither of them excercise so doing the 30 min a day without a compaion is different when their definition of exercise is laying on the ground. but im really starting to enjoy their company more. but it is just weird having to have them with me at all times. i realized im very independent and so just trying to slow down my walk for these girls and talk to them just so they don't think i hate them is something im trying to work on. but i am thankful for the companionship inventory so that way i can at least express how i feel with out being too negative. plus what a great thing, cuz it is like we are able to prepare ourselves for when we get married and then i can constantly be working on things to build my relationship. for those of you married people keep this up... if you don't do it then start cuz i bet your relationship will improve between yourselves and god.

i was made senior companion when i first got here. i guess we all have a chance at it but i didn't think i would be able to do it cuz i didn't think i have the leader personality type. so it must be the time to step up to the bar. my companions are laughing at me because i have this desire to just keep learning as much as possible and so they think it is weird that i am always reading, even when walking to and from classes but i don't see a point in waisting my time while i am here. further, i have realized the importance of obedience. i heard from jarvis, and camas to follow the rules very well, and it is true because if you do then the Lord will bless you, but if you have strict obedience then you will see miracles.

i am greatful for the time i am able to spend here. i feel like i am learning a lot. i love the feelings that i have and the opportunity i have to grow.

oh yeah, because of the holiday and changes in schedule, i probably won't be able to go to pennsylvania on the date originally scheduled. i was supposed to leave here the 2nd but now i might be here till the 15th which kinda stinks.

today for christmas we were able to here from russel nelson. it was a really great talk. his wife first talked about developing spiritual gifts and not letting them go to waste and how we don't just have a sleigh full of gifts waiting for us but galaxies of gifts available if we but put forth the effort and ask. then when bro nelson talked it was pretty good. he mainly talked about the priviledge we have to be missionaries, and then he said briefly about ignoring rumors and not spreading them. e.g. the whole thing about people getting blank mission calls and it meaning that they are going to china (not gonna happen cuz we the church doesn't do it in secret. when we enter we will go through the front door, not the back or an ally).

merry christmas

you guys better write!!!