Letters from Kelsey - 11

Howdy y'all!

So sorry this is a day late, I know you all were dying of suspense, but since yesterday was President's Day they changed our P-day. Today I made sure to leave me with enough time so I could write a good email to you all. So I'm not really as homesick anymore just in case y'all were wondering, only in the mornings during study time before we get out and work. So last week my mom sent me an email asking me questions and I should've forwarded it on here so you all could know too so I'm going to to it this week.

1. Tell me about your trainer, where is she from, how long has she been out, etc.
2. What is your apartment like?
3. Did you get your bicycle? Are you riding bikes or in a car?
4. What is your area like?
5. Have you taught anyone yet? Are you using spanish alot?
6. What is the weather like?
7. Are you close to places to go buy things you need?

1. My trainer is Hermana Tuckett. She is from Alpine, UT and this is her last transfer- she even extended, and we get along great.
2. My apartment is pretty clean and spacious. Our kitchen is little but its not like we cook alot anyway. Our bathroom is small but all is well. Its clean and in good repair and that is about all I can ask for.
3. I did get my bike and it is nice. We have both bikes and a car, we have rode bikes about 2 times already and we wear shorts underneath so all is good there.
4. My area is in the very far northeast corner of the mission (Houston mission to the north and Houston East to the east). It is in a suburb of Houston about 20 min from downtown. It is a decent area, not a whole lot of white people around. I like it though, it sure is different than Utah, and there are no mountains so I have no idea which way is north or where anything is relative to me. I miss the green... I know Utah isn't that green right now but here we don't really have a spring and my companion said the place we are doesn't really ever get green... We have a spanish ward (Houston 1) and it is full of great people and great member missionaries.
5. We have done a whole lot of teaching (I think we taught 23 lessons this week) and have 9 investigators with baptismal dates and we had 8 at church on sunday. I try to use the little spanish I know, but it is not enough. Like I said I understand easily less than 20% of what is said during the day, but all the ward members tell me it is getting better so I guess I better believe them.
6. The weather was cold when I got here but has started to warm up and the humidity is certainly coming.
7. Yeah we have a Walmart kinda close. (yes I have to shop at walmart... The things we will do for the Lord- I'm hoping that if I shop at one here He will stop the one they are building in Heber but I don't think that will happen) I did go to Ross last week and buy some shortsleeve shirts so I'm good to go clothes wise.


So things are going better. We have some great investigators that I am excited about and excited to teach. So this week we met Giovanni at a gas station, we went by to set up a time to teach and we ended up standing on his porch for 45 minutes while he told us his life story. He is an engineer and is very smart. He knows there is a God (sees the logical part of it) and there have been times in his life where he has had everything and yet still felt something missing (do any of you know what could fill this hole??? hmm... I wonder...) So we left him with a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it and I'm so excited to teach him because I know that the gospel will fill this whole and bring peace to some of the burdens he has been carrying. I'm excited to teach him the logical part of the gospel because there are so many logical reasons also to why this is tur true church.
This week did go by fast and I like being out and teaching a lot better than sitting in my apartment studying. We did have some fun adventures this week though, so part of our area is pretty south and it takes us about 30 min to get there so we don't go down a whole lot but on Sunday we didn't have any appointments so we took the bikes down and explored for a couple hours. It was pretty cool and it was a gorgeous day and a very pretty area. There wasn't a whole lot of hispanics but there were some pretty cool looking houses and apartments and it is totally a place I would come visit when I get home and am not a missionary. Well like I said things are getting better and starting to go by fast. I heard the heartbreak back home about Jerry Sloan resigning... I have to be honest and when I read that we were in the car coming back from a mission conference with another compainionship and I let out a gasp and they all asked what had happened and they didn't believe that I had gasped about that but come on! Thats big news!! I though the only way Jerry Sloan would stop coaching is when he died! (kinda like Orrin Hatch) ;) haha. That is all the politics and sports I am going to talk about for now (GO COUGARS!!).

I hope all is going well with all of you and you are all staying positive and keeping your heads up! I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can all be made clean and be forgiven of our sins and that He will take our burdens if we let him. Don't let discourgagement get you down, we have the blessings and fullness of the gospel in our lives!!! What more could be better!?!?! I love you all and thank you always for your continued support. I'm going to share a secret with you all... I probably wouldn't have stayed on the mission if I didn't know that me coming home early would disappoint you all. Sometimes the only thing that keeps me from calling my mission president and throwing in the towel is knowing that if I did that I would be letting y'all down. The knowledge that all of the people I love and respect know I can do this makes me believe in myself at times when I just want to give up, but the support of you all keeps me going so I thank you will all of my heart. May our Heavenly Father bless you and your families.

Love Always,
Sister Kelsey Berg