Letters from Kelsey - 28

Hey everybody!!

If sweat is a measure of progress that I'm doing AWESOME!!! They tell us it's supposed to get hotter next month but I don't see how that is humanly, physically, and environmentally possible. My companion and I- Hermana Wallet- have decided that the Lord puts a veil over us so that people don't see the sweat dripping off of our faces and will talk to us. Galveston is awesome! We cover the west half of the Island. There are 4 sets of missionaries- an English and Spanish set for each side, there are a lot more English people than Spanish on the island so we talk to a lot more English people. My companion is Hermana Adrienne Wallet and she is from Southern Cali and is a transfer younger than me. We are still on bikes but we get to use the car just a little bit more here than in Houston 2. We went to a place called Queen's Bar-B-Q last week and that was totally awesome Texas BBQ. I loved it. So on to the Investigator Weekly:

Emma: She came to church this week! She went to the English sacrament meeting because she had to work and its better to have them go to sacrament. She really liked it and is really searching for the truth. We have an appointment with her today and I'm interested to see if she is ready to change and do the things she needs to. She hasn't read any more in the Book of Mormon since she read the first two pages so we are going to try and get her to change that. She is super cute and I'm excited to see where things go with her.

Leonel: He is awesome and came to church this week for the 3rd week in a row and he was on time all 3 weeks!! (that's a big deal for Hispanic people- I think that Hispanic time is worse than Mormon time... ha ha) He is so great is totally on track for his baptismal date of the 16th! We went over the Word of Wisdom with him this week and he has never drank coffee which was also a big surprise because Hispanics start drinking coffee when they are like 4- that's just what they do. He is reading the Book of Mormon by himself and I'm really excited for him.

David: So last week I forgot to talk about David. He has been meeting with las Hermanas since January. He is a great guy, 21 years old, and he goes to volleyball on Tuesday nights and Institute on Thursday nights. His big hold up is the fear of falling after he is baptized. He says he wants to serve a mission and have an eternal family but his fear of falling back into old sins is, what he says, is holding him up from getting baptized. I have to wonder if that is his really doubt or if that is just the tip of the iceberg and there is some other hold up that he isn't telling us. We are going to fast this week so that he will get his answer that baptism is what he needs to do and that it is what our Heavenly Father wants him to do. We will see!

So things are picking up- well we had some really long days this weekend on the bikes in the 100+ degrees and 90+% humidity, with lots of appointments falling through but we are looking forward to this week and we have some new people that we are excited about. I really do love Galveston. Everyone is pretty nice and its just so cool to talk to people and hear stories from their past. Everyone is still cleaning up from Hurricane Ike, they all refer to it as 'the storm'. Some times people are cold when we tell them that we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I haven't had anyone be mean yet- now that I just said that I'm sure it will happen this week. I had a 15 year old ask me for my number, after I got done getting his information for the English Elders to come by he asked me for my number and I told him that we only taught in Spanish and then he told me that his mom speaks a little Spanish. I just had to get on my bike and laugh- it was a first that's for sure. The people here really are great and our little branch is great as well. They are the greatest member missionaries and always have people for us to teach. I feel super blessed to be able to serve on Galveston and Hna. Wallet is awesome at Spanish grammar so that is helping me as well. We are both just pushing each other to be the best we can be and to make sure that we are doing all that we can to get this area to explode. We broke the record this year in our area for people at church this last weekend with 3 (which is actually pretty sad), but things are only going to improve.

Its weird to think that I now officially have under a year left on the mission and with the way these last weeks have flown by- this is week 3 of the transfer- I can just see the next few months flying by as well. My Spanish is getting better, my tan is AMAZING!, I sweat more in one day than I ever have in my entire life put together, we are finding people to teach, the work is progressing, and I am continually amazed at what the Lord can teach me and what more I still have to learn. I really feel like Galveston has been a turning point on my mission where I changed from just enduring to persevering. The days are still super hot and my butt is still sore after a long day of sitting on that little seat, but it's all in the work of the Lord and I am excited to see what the next year holds. I love y'all and miss y'all tons. I hope that everything is good on the home front and that the Lord continues to bless you and your family!

Love Always,
Sister Kelsey Berg