Letters from Kelsey -3

Before I post the letter, several people have asked about emailing Kelsey.  She says that people can email her but she has to write letters back so make sure and include your address if you email her.  She can only check her emails on Monday for a limited time so it might be better to write letters or use DearElder.com.  This website lets you write a letter like an email and they will print it out and send it to the missionary.  It is free for missionaries in the MTC and if you send it before noon, Kelsey will get it the same day.  Just select 'Write a Letter' and choose Provo MTC from the dropdown menu.  Then you can enter your name and address and send it to Sister Kelsey Berg, MTC Box # 230.  Thanks everyone for your support and interest, Kelsey loves getting letters!

Howdy y'all!!

So good news! My jeans still fit!! Ha ha. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas spending time with family celebrating the birth of our Savior. I did miss you all but... I got to spend Christmas and yesterday with Elder Russell M. Nelson and his amazing wife Wendy, so please forgive me if I didn't want to switch places with you. ;) Just kidding. I do miss and love you all and just wanted to make sure you all knew that. A huge thank you to everyone that sent me packages and Christmas cards, it makes me feel so awesome when I get letters and know how much love and support I have pushing me and keeping me in good spirits.

So this was a good week. On last Tuesday night we had Elder Shayne Bowen of the first quorum of the 70 come and speak to us and something his wife said really struck me, she said "Decide today to be happy." Ever since that talk and I decided to take her counsel I haven't had the normal emotional rollercoaster that I have had in the past. I finally decided that I was going to be happy and I was going to enjoy learning Spanish. I know that the Lord will fulfill His promises to me and that He will help me with the language and that I don't need to stress about it. I have started taking a closer look at everything and seeing spots where I have improved and the Lord has blessed me. I am learning that it is okay to make mistakes with the language when I speak and that I'm not going to have to stay here longer if I don't speak fluently in 6 weeks. I am learning patience and that is something that has been difficult for me- as I'm sure you all know, because I am not a patient person. I keep telling myself that its a marathon, not a sprint- but then that doesn't make me feel better because I hate running. So then I tell myself its like climbing Kilimanjaro- ha ha- even though starting out we felt like the mountain wasn't very high, we learned it was and that it really took the full 4 days to get to the top. Its the same way I felt, the first couple weeks I felt like I should know everything right now but now I'm realizing that we have 8 weeks for a reason. I just want to thank my parents right now for giving me the opportunity to do hard things so that I can handle hard things in the future, such as now.

So there is my update. The spanish is coming along- I feel like I can't speak English or Spanish now because I keep trying to spell prophets 'profets' (profetas in spanish) and I sound out words as if they are spanish, but I'm told that is a good thing so we will see. Oh! I would love if you all looked up some awesome scriptures I found this week. 1 John 4: 7,8,10,11. I'm sure you all have read them before but they are great scriptures on love. Well I hope you all have a great New Year, make lots of noise for me because I will be in bed at 10:30.

I love letters so keep them comin'!! Love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 2

Hello all,

 

Well I can't believe its already Monday again! This week went by so fast. We are now into our schedules and don't feel like zombies anymore. This week was a good week. The MTC is hard because it's such a time warp- the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. I'm glad I have a calendar or else I would have no ability to tell one day from the next. The language is coming along but it is not coming along as fast as I would like (learning more patience). I'm doing my best to be completely obedient and to do everything I am asked but I feel like there is more I should be doing for the language to come more. Last night- after we watched a recording of a fireside Pres. Utchdorf gave a couple years ago at the MTC- I felt better, I know that the Lord called me on a mission for a reason and that I'm learning spanish for a reason. I think I was trying to do it all myself before, now I just need to have faith that if I do pay attention in class, study the best I can, and be obedient that the Lord will bless me and the language will come. Granted I have learned more spanish since I came than I have learned in my entire life but I get frustrated because I can't express myself as well as I would like to when I speak Spanish. I pray for the gift of tongues every chance I get because there is no way I can learn this by myself. We had a district in our zone leave for El Salvador this morning and I can only hope and pray that I am half as good at speaking spanish as they are when I leave.

 

It was interesting this week because my companion and I taught a lesson to a companionship that is having problems and it was one of the worst lessons we taught. It took us about an hour to figure out why it went so bad because there wasn't one thing that stood out. We figured out that because the other companionship was having problems, their contention effected us and our abiblity to have the Spirit. That lesson was the only lesson we have taught with out the Spirit and that is why it went so bad. There was just no flow and we didn't feel good after, which is unsual. I know how important it is to have the Spirit and that I can't convey the true message of the gospel without the Spirit helping me and guiding me on what to say.

 

I'm working hard to enjoy the journey- it is sometimes difficult though but that is life right? It is cool to see all these young people that all love the Lord and the gospel. Oh, funny story- I found out this week that my companion is a Democrat and voted for Obama.... lets just say that we have learned that politics is something that we should not get to know about each other. Ha ha. I hope everything is going well for all of you! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and you are all safe during the holidays. If Heber is anything like Provo then it has been snowing/raining for about the last 4 days. Just a reminder.... I love letters!! Ha ha it makes my day when at 9:30 I get back to my room and get to have my spirits bouyed up by all your love and support... but its only a suggestion... ha ha. (Those who wrote me this week you have a letter coming your way today!)

 

Merry Christmas!!! May our Heavenly Father bless you all!

 

Love,

Sister Kelsey Berg

 

P.S. Aunt Madilyn thank you so much for the card!

 

P.S.S. Grandma & Grandpa thanks for the present- I haven't opened it yet and a letter is coming your way.

 

P.S.S.S. If someone doesn't send me an update about the Jazz and let me know if BYU won their bowl game on Saturday I might have to break out of here to find out ;-)... ha ha jk... but seriously

Letters from Kelsey - 1

This is Lindsey, Kelsey's little sister. We got her first e-mail today, and since her p-days are mondays I'll most likely be updating this every monday night from now on. If you want to send her a letter her address is on the side, or you can go to dearelder.com and type one, then they'll print it out and give it to her. Here's her letter:

Hello all!

 

Well I have survived the first 6 days and have almost been here a week. I'm not going to lie, the first couple days were some of the hardest of my life- especially Thursday but after that the days have been okay. The days are long and I feel like I have been here forever already. It's been difficult to have the right attitude because being in the MTC and sitting in class all day is not the reason I chose to serve a mission but the language is coming along and I'm hoping that once we get into the same schedule and we get into a routine the days will go by faster.

 

My companion's name is Hermana (sister in spanish) Pack. She is from Provo and we have gotten along really well. She has a great desire to learn the language and that helps me when I get discouraged and get back into my old mindset of disliking spanish. She is going to Ft. Lauderdale, Flordia. Hermana Pack also arrived on Wednesday so we are a pair of greenies together. We have two other sisters in our room, Hermana Hunt (from South Jordan) and Hermana Gonzoles (from Jacksonville, Flordia). These sister are both going to Argentina. Our room takes me back to freshman year in the dorms- its not quite that bad because our room is bigger and everything isn't as packed in as my dorm room was. The beds are bunk beds and we have an empty set that we are hoping stay empty for our duration in the MTC. There are the 4 of us sisters and 5 elders in out district. I'm the only one going to Texas, but the district is pretty cool, we all get along really well.

 

Our day starts at 6:30, then we have personal study at 7:00 until breakfast at 8:15. Then we usually have class around 8:45. Classtime can either be filled with language learning, gospel priciples,companionship study, teaching, or MDT (missionary directive time) which is our time to study, run to the bookstore, practice teaching or what ever else we chose to spend it on. We usually have different variations of that until 1:00 when we have lunch. We then usually have gym for an hour after that, then back to class and dinner at 6:00 then class from 6:45 then class til 9:00. Then daily planning session til 9:30, personal time til 10:15 then quiet time til lights out at 10:30. So it makes for a really long day. Sundays are different with a lot of study time. All of the sisters have Relief Society together and yesterday we heard from Sister Christofferson. We get to listen to Music and the Spoken Word before Relief Society which was awesome. We then had sacrament meeting with our zone. We do get firesides on Sunday and Tuesday nights. Last night our fireside was the BYU Men's Chorus.

 

I'm starting to like learning the language, I am learning to be patient (something y'all know I am not) when it comes to spanish. I now know how to pray in spanish, and today I finished memorizing the first vision in spanish. I know that slowly but surely the language will start to click. Its been a long couple days but I know that the days will start going by faster!

 

I hope everything is going well with all of you! I love you all and thank you all so much for your love and support! If any of you want to send me a package you need to do it before December 22nd if you want it to get here by Christmas- hint hint ;)

 

 

Love,

Sister Kelsey Berg

 

P.S. Millett's!! Thank you so much for the cookies! They were fantastic and my roommates loved them as well!

See you in 18 months

As I get ready to enter the MTC tomorrow I figured I would write a little goodbye. I'm excited to go serve the people of Houston. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for the gospel in my life. I'm thankful for the many blessings I have received. I'm thankful for all my friends and their love and support. I'm thankful for the color green.

My little sister will update this with my weekly emails while I'm gone. My addresses are also on the right if you feel the urge to write me!!

Adios!!

Last Ride

Lynsee and I had been talking about and trying to go a ride for a while and yesterday we finally got to go! It wasn't the prettiest day or the warmest but it was still a decent ride. We went up Dutch Hollow and it wasn't too cold until about the end of the ride then the wind picked up. It was a good time and fun to go for one last time before I leave.

Me and Kenai

 Lynsee and I

Gorgeous Timp

BYU Football

Well this past weekend I finally got a chance to go to a football game! The campaign had taken up all my Saturdays until now so it was fun to be able to go and hang with the group. I'm glad this is the game I went to because BYU actually played awesome! They won 55-7. You get bored when your team is winning by that much so Nicole and I took pictures... ha ha

Michelle, Nicole, me, and Deidre

Decision 2010- Election Night Party!

Last night I had the great opportunity to spend the evening with friends at the Republican Victory Party at the Hilton in Salt Lake. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see and talk with friends in a very casual, exciting atmosphere. We won our race with 61%! Great results for all of the State Legislators and a great turn around across the nation.

 With my good friend Senator Stuart Adams

 The bottom line is my favorite.

 Krissy (other campaign manager) and I at the party with the big boss man, Rep. Jim Dunnigan.

This is the stage where the winners speak! 

I thought I would get in trouble for taking this picture, but the State Republican Party Chair thought it was pretty funny. 

 With my good friend Representative Todd Kiser.

Krissy and I with Governor Herbert. He is a great guy.

Elk Hunting

This year my Dad drew out for the Wasatch- any bull elk tag. He was super excited and was all giddy like a little girl. We went with my Dad's hunting buddies and his brothers. He ended up shooting his bull at 10:00 on the first morning. We got up at 5:30 and the 6 of us split up to our various posts but we didn't see anything big. We had seen the bull that my Dad ended up shooting a couple times and we saw it in a canyon the night before the hunt opened and because the weather was so warm we decided that he probably hadn't moved so before we called it a morning Kam Kohler and I walked down the mountain through the pines to try and kick it out. Of course we were so awesome that we kicked it out right in front of my Dad and he nailed it. The elk ended up scoring 360 and my Dad is super happy with it and that is the most important thing. I had a blast and was glad I was able to spend this time with my Dad before I leave.

Bear Lake

Well its been a long time since I have updated this and Lynsee told me I should while I am down with getting my wisdom teeth out.

All the way back in August we, Lynsee, Jena, Denise, and Jordan, took a girls trip to Bear Lake. It was a total blast! We went left on a Thursday and spent the night at Lava Hot Springs in Idaho. Friday we got up and went to Bear Lake and spent the evening on the beach. Saturday we played card games in the morning and spent most of the day on the beach again and got fried. That evening we went to a place called Pickleville Playhouse. They do parody plays there and it was hilarious! Sunday we played cards again in the morning and then headed home. It was a total blast!

Houston here I come

Well tonight I got my mission call and I have been called to serve in the Texas Houston South mission. I will be speaking spanish and I leave December 8. I am nervous and excited at the same time. Guess we will see what happens next!

Great friends- love you all

This is what I look like after waiting for my family for 45 min longer than I wanted

Most of my cousins. All but 2 in this picture are on the Berg side.

Now we play the waiting game

Well my mission papers are in as of Sunday night. My bishop said that if the the trend holds I should get my call next Wednesday as in the 25th. I will know on Friday if this holds true. Let the guessing game begin.

J. Ruben Clark Law Society luncheon

On Monday I flew home from Maryland, but before my flight I was able to attend a luncheon of the J. Ruben Clark Law Society, D.C. chapter with my aunt. She is the chair so it was really cool to meet all the attorneys. The luncheon was in the Senate Caucus room of the Russell Building on Capitol Hill. This room was awesome and had a lot of history in it. There have been a number of important hearings in this room, hearings on topics such as; the sinking of the Titanic, the Watergate break-in, and the Supreme Court Nomination of Clarence Thomas. Senator Bennett came and spoke about his life before he became a senator. It was a very cool experience and I kinda really liked walking around D.C. and being on Capitol Hill.

I know its a bit cheesy and he is lost in the primary but he is still Senator Bob Bennett and is still kind of a political big-wig, at least for a couple months.

The office of Senator Jim DeMint, pretty legit.

The office of Senate Minority leader Senator Mitch McConnell. 

Me at Union Station

Maryland

A couple weeks ago I was at my cousin's baptism and I was talking with my grandparents and they were telling me that they were going out to Maryland for the baptism of my twin cousins out here, and I decided that I needed a little vacation so I went home and figured everything out and bought my plane tickets the next day! I got here on Wednesday while my Mom ( she took the place of my Grandpa who wasn't feeling well), Grandma, and cousin Kimi came on Tuesday. On Thursday we went to DC and did a little sightseeing there because Kimi has never been out here before. Then on Friday we drove the 5 hours up to the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania where my cousins, Mason & Josh, got baptized. We met my aunts parents, Jim & Sharon Tate, up there, they have just finished being mission presidents for the past three years in the Birmingham, Alabama mission. They are great people and good friends of mine. I have known them since I was 10 and I sailed down the East Coast with them on their sailboat. The baptism was really cool having it be on the banks of this great river where the Aaronic Priesthood was restored.

On Saturday I rode back with the Tate's and we got to catch up. We helped them move back into their home that night. My Mom, Grandma, and Kimi left today and I leave tomorrow after a Law Society luncheon I am attending with my aunt up on Capitol Hill. I love being back here with my family. There is kind of a cool feel back here in the middle of everything. Maybe I will come spend a summer or more back here at some point in the future.

Chillin' at the Capitol

Chillin' at the White House

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial lookin on the Mall

Mason and I

On our way to the Susquehanna River we drove through Scranton! Yes there is really a Steamtown Mall. My life is now complete.

The whole group at the baptism

The view from Jim & Sharon's backyard. You go down these gorgeous steps to the dock where the amazing sailboats are. This is on part of the Chesapeake Bay.

Wing- the name of the boat. This is where my love of sailing and the ocean was born.

Amazing sunset.

Canoeing on the Chesapeake with Kimi and Josh.

Wheelin for the 24th

Yesterday Lynsee and I went up to Dock Flatts where Jena was camping. We rode the 4-wheelers up to Broken Reservoir. It was super dusty but we had a lot of fun spending the day up there.

Starting out

Broken Reservoir 

Leave it up to Lynsee to ruin a good picture

Today is also the 24th of July. Happy Pioneer Day! I'm so thankful for the sacrifices the pioneers made to trek across the country to find a place where they could be free from persecution. I love living in Utah and everything about it; from the Utah Jazz to the Holy War between the U of U and BYU; from the snow on Timp to the red rocks of Zion.  As Brigham Young once said "This is the Place"!