Letters from Kelsey - 77

Hey y'all!!!

Well the days are getting hotter and more humid out here in Houston Texas. It was just a fantastic weekend with the baptisms of RJ & Daniel Pena and Sonia & Dylan Garza!!! It was so much fun to go back to Manvel to see people, that I had worked with for a long time and love, enter into the waters of baptism and receive the blessings of the gospel! I also got to see the Venegas'!! They are so great and they got callings yesterday too! It was great, its always worth it but it makes it that much more worth it when you know that all your work makes a difference, and it is so great when they remember you and are excited to see you too! We will never truly know how far our work or example reaches, so work hard and be a good example! ha ha. Well lets head to the Investigator Weekly! There are some good things happening in Houston 1 West!

Manuel & Brenda: They are just so great. So they came to church yesterday and also to the investigator devotional. We taught them about the Word of Wisdom last week when Manuel brought up his desire to quit smoking. I don't think I have taught anyone who has as sincere of desires as Manuel. I don't think that they will be baptized in my time here, because he needs to quit smoking and they need to get married, but I know that they will be soon. They love having us over and they read the Book of Mormon every day!

Magda: We fasted with her yesterday to help soften her 'husband's' heart so that he will marry her soon so that she can get baptized soon! (I forgot that nobody in the city is married). Its not that he doesn't want to marry her, he just doesn't want it to be right now. She keeps asking him to marry her now because she really does want to get baptized- lets just hope it happens soon.

We have some pretty good people but we are always looking for more, this week will be a big push on finding new people- even with the coming heat and humidity. Well my time is short- but y'all should check out my mormon.org profile! It is pretty good! ha ha Go to www.mormon.org and type in Houston Texas South Mission Kelsey in the search bar and I should come up in the next couple days! Well I love y'all and hope things are going good where ever you are! The Church is true!!

Love Always,

Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 76

Kelsey is coming home June 26th, at 7:15 PM!

Hey y'all,
Another week has come and gone in Houston, Texas. It is pretty hot out here, but not humid yet, thank goodness, but we decided to listen to Christmas music this week so that it will be less hot in our minds- ha ha. This was a good week and we have found some pretty cool people. We had a visit this last week from Elder Paul V. Johnson and it was a pretty cool experience. He was out here in because yesterday they created the 18th stake in the Houston area! It didn't really affect us that much, but our ward is now in a different stake, but nothing different for us. So lets go to the Investigator Weekly!!!
Brenda and Manuel: They are an awesome couple that we met on Saturday and they came to church yesterday! So they were a referral from missionaries in another area who are teaching her sister. Brenda has lots of family who are members in Honduras and her husband is pretty cool as well. They have a date for June 30 and we are excited to meet with them tonight!
Karina: So on Thursday we went all over Houston to help her get her stuff in order to get her marriage license, and we finally found a way to get her a passport from El Salvador so that she can do it! We are making progress!!
Mauricio & Jose: They are brothers and so funny! I'll write more about them next week.
Well... I always seem to forget what I want to tell y'all... I should probably write notes... ha ha. As I get closer to the end I do a lot of thinking about a lot of things... this week I was thinking about what life will be like when I really do go home... I mean I'm kinda expecting to go back home to the 'home' I left. This week I realized that I will be going home to something different and that things will never be the same. All the people- all of you- that I love will be different, y'all will have progressed and grown and changed for the better (hopefully). Most of my friends are married and moving on past school... but you know, I'm okay with it all. I am not going home the same person I was when I came out, and I am so grateful for that... so grateful. It would disappoint me if when I got home everything was the same as I left it. Anyway... just some random thoughts... so if y'all are expecting the same Kelsey Berg to step off that plane in a couple weeks, you will be disappointed, but its change for the better. Well I hope y'all have a good week! Love y'all!!!
Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 75

Hey y'all!! You can thank a gangster named Mike for the subject line quote, we sure find some interesting people here in the city. Well this last week was good, it went by pretty slow, but it was good. We are working hard to try and refill our teaching pool. We have some decent investigators but no one came to church on Sunday so that is now the hold up for all of them... here we go to the Investigator Weekly! Karina: She has been investigating the church for 11 years. We are trying to get her married, she has problems with her ID, so that she can get baptized on June 23! Her 12 year old daughter is a member and they are just so funny. Magda: She came to church last week, but not this week. She is a mom of 2 little girls and we are trying to get her married as well. She loved church and is starting to invite everyone to come to church! She is hopefully going to keep progressing. Well... I know this is short this week.. I'm sorry, I'm just short for words recently- weird I know. I promise I'm not getting trunky :), we just work and hit the pavement and thats about it. We really try and talk to everyone and find those the Lord is preparing in our area. The weather has been pretty decent, not too humid, really hot but its okay I'm getting a nice tan :). Well I hope y'all had a nice Memorial Day! Oh! We got to be able to DOWNTOWN Houston this last week because we had to go to the Police Department to get a copy of the police report of the break in last week and downtown was pretty cool. I can't wait to come back and see it again! Well I hope y'all have a great week! Love y'all! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 74

Hey ya'll!! So I'm back in Houston 1- the ward where I started my mission, but its a different area- more city than the first one, my compaion is Hna. Anna Baird from California and she goes home the transfer after me. Its okay here, it was really cool at church yesterday to see people that I had taught that were still strong in the church- it was cool. It was fun for them to remember me, I didn't think they would considering I was only here for 6 weeks and I couldn't speak Spanish at all. The work is kinda slow here right now, but we will work hard. I had an interview with President Saylin this last week and he told me that he had originally planned on just leaving me in Manvel for my last one (and my heart broke because it was at one point a possibility) but that he had a strong impression that I needed to be moved and he told me to make sure that I work with the urgency needed for these last 5 weeks because there in a real reason I'm in this area now. So it should be good :) I don't like the city very much though, its super easy to talk to the needed 10 people a day and we get a lot of return appointments, but not many of them progress. Our apartment is not nice at all- its decent- but I do not like cockroaches... no bueno. I have just been spoiled for the last 9 months is really what it comes down to. Here we go to the Investigator Weekly!!! Vanegas Family!!!!: BAPTIZED!!!!! WOOT!!! I was able to go to the baptism- Sister Saylin drove us and it was amazing!!! It was like going home, I had been homesick for Manvel all week and to see the way the branch supported the Vanegas family just made me love them even more. So we get there at 3:50 (baptism is supposed to start at 4:00) and only the missionaries and the branch president is there. Then by 4:15 everyone else shows up except the Vanegas'! Ha ha, I was freaking out a lot on the inside. They had come to stake conference that morning so everything was good. They were just so awesome! Hna. Vanegas cried a couple times and her 3 year old son Nicolas kept asking her why she was crying. It was just so amazing! That is why we as missionaries do what we do. This is why I came to Texas and sweat my brains out :). I'm excited to help them over this next year so that next May I can come back as they get sealed in the temple!!! So absolutely fantastic! Magda: She came to church yesterday for the first time, the Hermanas here have been teaching her for a while so it was really good for her to come! I think she liked it, her 4 year old daughter sure did. I don't know a lot about her but her husband's uncle in El Salvador has been a member for 30 years and he has cousins on missions, so they have a lot of potential. Thats about it for now... they have been dropping a lot of people so we are starting new! I love new starts. So on Saturday our car was broken into- my companion left her wallet in the pocket of the drivers side door, and they broke the drivers side window. It was at 1:00 pm and we were like 100 yards from the car the whole time as we ate lunch with an investigator for 45 minutes... it was a great welcome back to Houston... ha ha. Everything is good though and we get a new window tomorrow! yeah! Well I hope y'all have a good week! Love y'all!! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 73

Hey y'all, Well I hope y'all had a fantastic Mother's Day! We had a good one. We had a super crazy week. So Monday was P-Day, Tuesday we were supposed to move, but didn't (it was not a good day), Wednesday we moved (this apartment and complex is totally legit), Thursday I had a leadership conference in Sugar Land and that night I went to Sunnyside for an exchange. Sunnyside is English and super ghetto. It was super fun and it felt a little like a vacation. It was fun to see a different area, but I felt like I didn't do anything the whole week because I stayed in Sunnyside until Saturday afternoon and then that night we had a branch party for Mother's Day. It was a super fast and fun week. Well.... I found out this morning that I'm getting transferred... I'm super sad about it and not excited to go to a new area for only 6 weeks... I would much rather stay here, especially considering that the Vangeas' are getting baptized on Sunday and now I'll have to find a ride from someone in my new area. I'll do what the Lord asks of me and lift where I stand, even if its only for 6 weeks. I have loved serving in Manvel and serving these people. Its crazy to think that I have been here for almost 9 months, half of my mission was spent here and I can't believe it. The next 6 weeks will probably fly by because of it... its all good though. So here we go for the last edition of the Investigator Weekly: Manvel: The Vanegas family: Well the parents are getting baptized on Sunday at 4 and the branch is so stoked for them. The 13 year old daughter doesn't feel ready yet so we are going to wait with her. They are so great though. So yesterday in Relief Society they announced the baptism and one of the members commented that she thought they had been members for years! That is exactly what you want. They are so great and I'm gonna come back when they go through the temple next year. They have great fellow shippers in the branch and it has just been perfect... well besides the fact that I'm leaving. RJ: They came to all 3 hours of church yesterday and all the boys went to their classes. Christi is in Alma 14 and is loving reading the Book of Mormon. She is really learning and understanding tons about the Church and the way that Heavenly Father interacts with his children. She is starting to develop a different perspective of Heavenly Father and really understand our relationship with him. It is fantastic. RJ is set for June 9 and I will for sure come back for that baptism as well. Sarina: Still as solid as ever... just waiting on the parents. Well... I know its a little short this week... sorry. I am still in shock that I don't know where I will be Wednesday night. I was super excited for this next transfer, it was shaping up to be the best one of my mission by far. This area is going to have so much success that I'm so excited. All the work that we have put in the last 9 months are now paying off. I can honestly say that I am leaving my area better than I found it. The people here are my second family, and I know that it was inspired that I served here and that I spent so much time here. I have really enjoyed my time and have loved the experiences I have had. My mission has been amazing and I know the last 6 weeks will probably be amazing too- if I make them amazing, it is just another chapter in my mission that needs to be written. Well I better go but I hope y'all have a fantastic week. I love y'all and miss y'all tons. Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 72

Hey y'all!! Another week in the books! This was another week that flew by... I don't really have any super funny or witty things to start this email with today so I guess we will just go straight into the Investigator Weekly MAY edition!!! AH!!! MAY!!! The Venegas Family: They are just so amazing... Hno. has been so prepared its crazy. His family isn't supportive of them getting baptized but he has told them that he is old enough to decide for his family what is best for them. He also has said, which I think is totally true, that the Catholic church has taken him as far as it can, and that our church isn't anything different its just more. Which I think is true, you can only progress so far with out the fullness which is the same as the Bible with out the Book of Mormon, it can only take you so far before you need more to complete it. Their baptism is set for May 19th and the whole branch is so excited for them. Our branch is offering a marriage class during the Sunday school time and the Venegas' went to that class yesterday instead of Gospel Principles!! Oh man, they are just so great. Sarina: She is still awesome. Her commitment this week was to give a Book of Mormon to her parents and we had her write a note about why she likes to read it and why she is sharing it with them. We are hoping that that will soften up their hearts even more. Things are good with her though! RJ: So... last Monday we were at a driving range with the other Elders in our district and we got a text from Christi saying that she wants RJ and Daniel (his little brother) to be baptized on June 9th together! Daniel turns 8 the weekend before so it will be great! We had a lesson with them on Saturday and we got them the Book of Mormon reader thing and Christi has been using that to study and she loves it! The pages in her Book of Mormon are more marked than mine! ha ha. She seemed so much happier and a lot calmer than the last times we have been over. We just need them to come to church regularly and they will be all good for the 9th! She has a lot more confidence right how also, which all come from reading the Book of Mormon and feeling the spirit more! So as you can see things are going pretty decent! I'm just hoping that I don't get transferred next week. I really want to finish out here, I mean I have been here 9 months already, what's 1 more? I would love to stay here and keep working with these people and with the members. We are moving to a new apartment tomorrow so it will be like a whole new area!! Okay so maybe not really... but it will be good! Well I hope y'all have a good week!!! Love y'all!! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 71

Hey y'all~ It was a good week and it was topped off with a really good Sunday. So first of all I was one happy missionary yesterday when all the De Hoyos' kids paid their tithing on their allowance!!!! It took some work, some teaching, and lots of promising blessings, but it was helped out by the fact that Hno. De Hoyos pays his tithing all the time. It was so great to see them all walk up there after sacrament meeting to give their envelopes to the branch president. They are getting a little better in Sacrament meeting, its probably because I have started translating what is being said- sometimes its hard and sometimes I make things up so that it fits together but its all good! They don't know the difference. ha ha So here we go to the last April edition of the Investigator weekly! The Venegas Family: They are just so great- they came to church for the first hour before they had to go to a family party. We also saw them on Tuesday last week and last night. They all have dates for the 12th of May. They have said that they don't feel prepared for the 12th, but we told them to be patient and we will worry about that when the 12th comes. They are so solid though. Hno. already has the Book of Mormon on his phone and Hna. is defending the church to her Catholic mom and her Jehovah's Witness brother. Its pretty great. They are becoming awesome friends with all the members and Nicolas (3) was unhappy yesterday that he couldn't go to Primary. I feel so lucky to be teaching them and I'm praying that they will recognize their answers before the 12th- I would appreciate your prayers for them! Sarina: She is doing great and in our lesson yesterday we helped her write a couple notes to her parents that she could go put on their bed to help her open up to her parents about what she learns as church and to help them see how important everything is to Sarina and all the great things that she is learning- so hopefully they will be a little more open to her getting baptized. Those are really the only people that are progressing very well. This was another week that went by really fast. On Thursday- Saturday we went on exchanges and I stayed here while Hna. Ker went to Houston 1 and Hna. Romney (no close relation to Mitt) came here. She is in her 4th transfer and the whole time talked about how happy she was to be on exchanges with me to learn from a veteran missionary. I was flattered but at the same time all it did was make me feel really old. I feel old anyway when I find out that everyone here graduated from high school in 2009 or later... its crazy to me to think that there really is less than 2 months until I come home... I can't believe that it really is coming to an end. Well I can promise y'all that there will be no letting up here- its easy when you have been blessed with such awesome investigators. Well I hope y'all have a great week! Love and miss y'all! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 70

Hey everyone!! Oh man... this week flew by and all I can say is "Its about time!!". I have been waiting for time to go by fast for like 3 months. The first part of the week was crazy with mission stuff going on and Wednesday we got to go to the temple which was fantastic! Then we had to go to Sugar Land because I had an interview and long story short- we left Manvel at 6:45 am and didn't return until 6:45 pm! Then we had a quick lesson and more meetings. THEN! On Friday it was the closest thing I have ever seen to a tornado- I have sent a picture! So these creepy storm clouds were coming and then as they got closer it got really quiet and then all of a sudden it got really really cold and really windy and started raining really hard. It was crazy. The clouds were all swirling around and my companion and I were trying to figure out if we really wanted to see 'somewhere over the rainbow' or not. I said we should jump on our bikes and grab one of the little annoying dogs around here but she didn't think that was a very good idea- bahaha. We ended up not seeing a tornada (thats how they say it in Texas). That was really the only excited thing though that happened this week. We are teaching more people now than I have since the beginning of my mission- its fantastic! Which leads to..... The 'Wizard of Oz' edition of the Investigator Weekly!! The Venegas family!!: They came to church yesterday and it was all great again! The members have been awesome and there have been 3 sisters that have talked to Milena everyday this last week and even took her to the doctor when her husband was at work. We have a lesson with the whole family on Tuesday and I'm really excited. Carlos said last week that everything was like deja vu- it was like he had lived it all before. They are just doing awesome, they are reading the Book of Mormon and really want to be in the right path for their family. Sarina: We re-set a baptismal date for May 26th and we are really trying to work with her to verbalize things more to her parents so they can see how important it is to her and so that they can see that she is learning and not just going because her friends are. Adam and Juany: They are great older couple- I'm short on time but they are great also and Adam is really funny. Well thats it for today! Things are going good and we are just working like crazy. I can't believe that this is the last week of April! The rest of the transfer will fly by because we have a lot of work in our area and we have a lot of mission meetings- crazy crazy. I hope y'all have a fantastic week! Love y'all!! I hope you enjoy some pictures from this last week! Temple pictures of Hna. Ker and I, another one with President Saylin... he said the sun was too bright. And a funny one with the Hironymous family when we were helping them with spring cleaning! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 69

Hey y'all, Well things are good out here. There is a super crazy thunderstorm going on and when it thunders it like shakes everything! Its crazy but I'm really glad today is Monday so I don't have to go ride around in it- that sure gets old real quick. Everything turns into a lake when it rains and you understand why they have bayous everywhere! This week was a super long week, not a bad one- it just went by really slow. On Wednesday I went to a Leadership Conference which was really cool and Hna. Ker got to spend the day with some other Hermanas, I was happy for her to have the chance to meet some other sisters. It was a good experience and I left the conference with lots of things that I need to do better... I tend to be too complicated sometimes in my teachings- along with lots of other weaknesses- and sometimes I get overwhelmed with all of those weaknesses, but all I can do it try my best and have faith that the Lord will help me. We saw a huge miracle yesterday though! So we have worked really really hard these last couple of weeks to talk to our 10 people a day each and we haven't exactly seen a huge increase in our teaching pool until this week. We found a bunch of new investigators this week and I'm really hoping that they all pan out to be legit. Yesterday morning we stopped by some of them to make sure they were coming to church and nobody was home......... on our way to the church for our branch council meeting I was really questioning a lot of things and wondering what I hadn't done right and doubting myself and having lots of other thoughts. Well when we left our meeting and got to the chapel for sacrament meeting to start I was super surprised to see another new investigator there... which leads too... drum roll please.... the Investigator Weekly!!! The Venegas Family: They were the ones at church! We had received them as a referral from the English elders a couple weeks ago and had stopped by a couple times but either no one was home or they were busy, on Saturday we finally got in though. We were there for about an hour while they were talking about a whole bunch of random things and I was trying to keep it on topic. They are from Colombia and the mom met with missionaries down there a long time ago. They have a 13 year old daughter, a 3 year old son, and a 2 month old girl. The members were awesome yesterday and it was really a huge blessing and miracle to have them there. We will see what happens with them! Sarina: She is still doing well- we are really trying to figure out how to get the parents to change their minds about the whole 18 years old thing and helping them see how important it is to Sarina. I would appreciate y'all's prayers for us on this one :)! Well- I'm excited for some of the other new people that we found this week but since none of them came to church yesterday I'm not going to give them the glory of being featured- so they can just wait! ha ha. Everything is going well out here though- we are going to the temple on Wednesday morning so that will be fun, I'm really looking forward to that. We just keep pressing forward. There was something else I wanted to say but I don't really remember what it is... man, I should write notes on what I want to say... oh well- guess it probably wasn't that important. Well- I know that this work really is guided by the Lord and as much as I think sometimes that I have any control over things I quickly learn that it really has nothing to do with me. As long as I do my best and work hard then everything that is supposed to happen will happen. I hope y'all have fantastic week! Keep the faith! Love y'all!! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 68

Hey everyone! Well I hope y'all had a fantastic Easter weekend! We had a decent one out here. Only Sarina came to church yesterday when about 5 other people committed to come... that always makes for a rough Sunday evening. As a missionary the success of your week is determined by your turn out at church, so we weren't super excited last night. Oh well. We had dinner with a family from one of the English wards because they were supposed to have a non-member friend that speaks Spanish come over, but he is a heart surgeon and he was on call yesterday so as he was driving down their road he was called in, someone coded (aka their heart stopped) so he had to go... it seemed all too familiar :), I have seen that happen more times than I can count. That was really the only exciting thing for our Easter- we had ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, raspberry pie, and jello. I felt right at home! It was way too good to be true! We had a really fun branch Easter party on Saturday and I was introduced, so nicely, to confetti eggs. The pictures are the results of this introduction. The Young Men President- Hno. Ruiz- got me first and then all the little kids thought it would be fun so they joined in... So what they are are real egg shells that have been emptied, cleaned, colored, filled with confetti, and then covered. What you do is just smash them on people's heads... it was fun, yet I still have some pink and purple spots on my back from the coloring that didn't come off. A lot of Hispanics make their own and sell them but you can also buy them from the stores down here- quite interesting. It was a really good time though, it was a nice day so that was fun also. Here we go for out Easter edition of the Investigator Weekly!!! Sarina: Her parents don't think that baptism is something that is important to her, they feel like in a family with 4 kids she has just found something that is just her own so they they want her to wait until she is a little older. I think she knows there is something different about the Church and she knows she feels good when she is there and does the things of the Church. Our goal now is to teach her simply and to help her be able to verbalize everything so that she can talk to her parents about it and they can see that it really is something she wants and that she understands the commitment. Severo: He said he would come yesterday and then didn't... I guess we will have to have a DTR (determine the relationship) this week to see what he interest level really is. Maria S.: She is new and was a referral from the Silverlake Elders. She is super cool and accepted a date for May 5. She had 2 kids and was raised Catholic and has also gone to a non-denominational Christian church but has felt that they were both lacking something. She was excited to read the Book of Mormon and find out for herself if Joseph Smith was a prophet. I'm excited to see where she goes. That is really it... I feel like we are always struggling with our teaching pool, but we keep working hoping that we will be in the place where we are supposed do, doing the things that we are supposed to so that the Lord can bless us and we can find those that are prepared. Sometimes I get tired of talking to people though, this last week I talked to a lady who told me that I wasn't a Christian... normally when people don't want to talk to us it doesn't bother me because they just are prepared and they aren't worth getting all worked up about. There are really only two things that tick me off when we talk to people 1) when they tell me I'm not Christian or they tell me what I believe, 2) when they assume that because I'm only 22 I just follow blindly and am not old enough or experienced enough to know of these things for myself, or when they feel the need to 'enlighten me'. They are the ones that get me going... its all good though, we have to get through those to get to the ones that really are looking for something better in their life. Well... we just keep working away- yesterday was my 16 month mark! Can y'all believe it? I sure can't. Well I hope y'all have a good week and that the Lord continues to bless y'all!! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 67

Hey y'all! Happy April!! and Happy Easter on Sunday!! So as the subject line says... I got my first round of 'trunky papers' this week! It was really just a letter from President Saylin encouraging me to sprint to the end and to make sure I set goals to make the most use of these last few months. I, of course, already planned on sprinting to the end but it is always nice to have a little support/ challenge from your mission president. It also had a paper for me to fill out with all my home information ( home ward, stake, address, which airport is closest, etc.) so that they can buy your plane ticket!!! CRAZY! I remember when everyone else would get their trunky papers, and I can't believe that I am one of the old ones now! Oh and also, transfer calls were this morning and no surprise but I'm staying in Manvel for transfer #6. I'm fine with it but I have no idea what will happen next transfer. If I stay in Manvel it means that I will be here for 7 transfers and 10 months...which is a super long time, but 'vacation transfers' don't really happen that often. Vacation transfers are when you are in a new area for your last transfer, its called that because you don't really have to work on getting to know the area, but we will worry about all of that in 6 weeks. Well now to the Investigator Weekly!! Sarina: She is fantastic and watched all 4 sessions of conference with the Carters (her member friends). She is progressing amazingly and the only thing now is getting her parents on board with baptism. Sister Carter is going to talk with her parents about how important baptism is to Sarina because she is like every normal 12 year old and has a hard time verbalizing things. We went to a baptism with them last night and she really liked it. It is amazing to work with her and this really is how missionary work should be done. We really don't have to do anything, just be there to provide the support but because she was friends with members first it is a very natural thing ( just like Elder Evans talk yesterday!) She is just great Severo: He wasn't able to watch conference but his dad passed away last week and he is now a lot more receptive to the Plan of Salvation and we are excited to help him know the truth of the hope of the gospel. I love being a missionary for this reason. Rosales kids: Their mom is a less active member who is coming back to church. The kids are 12 and 10 and are really good friends with the Hironymous' (our branch presidents family). They love coming to church and learning about the gospel. They watched 2 sessions of conference and it was really good, their mom really liked it also! Well it has been a decent week- it felt super long though, don't really know why, hopefully this week will be faster. Well I hope y'all have a great Easter weekend! The knowledge and hope of the resurrection is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about! Yeah Easter! Well I love y'all and hope y'all have a fantastic week! The Church is true! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 66

Hey everyone! It was a good and fast week out here in Manvel. As I sit here trying to remember what exactly happened this week... I can't really remember anything. One thing that comes to the forefront of my mind is our lesson with Sarina yesterday!!!!!!! YES!! It finally happened! I have been waiting to have a lesson with her for months!! I could talk about about it here but that would take away from the excitement of the Investigator Weekly! And I know that y'all are waiting on the edge of your seats to get this email today so you can finally quench that awe and wonder at what has happened this week... bahaha- okay, maybe not quite, but here we go: Sarina: So we finally had a lesson at the Carter home. They are the members that bring her to church every week and take her to all the other activities. We talked about the Restoration and watched the movie about Joseph Smith and his story- the short one, not the long one. She is awesome and the Carters have 12 and 10 year old daughters who are Sarina's friends that they did awesome to help us in the lesson. She accepted a baptismal date for April 21!! We just have to make sure the parents are on board with her getting baptized now. Sarina told us that her mom said that she wouldn't pay for a baptism and that Sarina needs to wait until she 18... well the good news is that baptism is free!!! Yeah! We are all praying that the Lord will soften the hearts of Sarina's parents so that they will agree to let her be baptized on April 21. We are going to watch General Conference with them this weekend so we are excited! Severo: We had a lesson with him on Friday night and we taught the Plan of Salvation. We talked to Hno. Aquino yesterday a lot about it... Severo has the desire to do what he is supposed to... we just need to help him have the desire to read and help him understand why this is important to him. I have a lot of hope for him, he is a good guy and we have a lesson with him on Friday and I'm excited for it, and we are planning to have him watch Conference with us this weekend! RJ: He is doing good, we are helping his mom understand the Book of Mormon more so that when they read it she can help them understand it. We have decided that the key is to strengthen her and then he will come... it's kinda been our focus all along but we have returned back to that recently. Well.. thats about it for the Investigator Weekly this week. It has been fantastic weather out here and I hope it lasts for the next couple months and doesn't get too hot and humid. I really don't have much else to say this week... weird... I know. The week just went by so fast that I don't remember a lot that happened. I'm sorry to disappoint y'all with this short email, I'll do better next week... but I am excited for Conference! I hope y'all enjoy Conference this weekend and remember the great blessing it is that we have the knowledge that God has once again called men to help him in His work. I meet people everyday that are so confused in life and listen to every wind of 'doctrine' that there is out there. It makes me really grateful for the blessing that I have of knowing in whom I can trust to receive guidance from the Lord. I'm super excited!! Well I love y'all and hope that y'all have a fantastic week!! As they say out here in Texas: Have a blessed day! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 65

Hey howdy hey y'all!! Well this was a pretty normal week out here in good ol' Texas! It started out slow but it ended well. We found a new guy who is pretty legit! His name is Severo! I'll talk more about him in a minute. So this week we were out scoping some different areas and we were riding a lot along these back country gravel roads and Hna. Ker had her first experience with the 'wild', stray dogs of Texas chasing us... one was a 3-legged dog, but don't let that fool you! He was a fast little bugger. Well... off we go to the Investigator Weekly!! Severo!: We talked to him on Friday, he lives across the street from our new ward mission leader- Hno. Aquino. (Off of one of those podunk country roads) He said that he had heard of Joseph Smith before and could relate the experience back to us. We got down his number and gave him pamphlet! We then went across the street to our dinner appointment with the Aquinos and told Hno. Aquino about it and then on Saturday he called Severo and invited him over to his house to have a lesson after church yesterday! It was a great lesson and he accepted a date for April 21. Hno. Aquino is 26 and got back from his mission in 2009 and it was great to have a fresh returned missionary in our lesson. He did awesome and I'm really excited to see how Severo progresses! He was excited to read the Book of Mormon and we get him 3 Nephi 11 to read so that he could learn about when Christ came to the Americas! I have high hopes for him! Sarina: So today we had an awesome phone call from Sister Carter- she is the one that takes Sarina to church every Sunday. Well Sister Carter talked to Sarina's parents and told them that we wanted them to have the opportunity to meet us before we started teaching Sarina. Her dad said that they didn't want Sarina to be held back on account of them so we got the OK to meet with her! Her parents are very supportive and love everything about the Church. Their boys are very involved in scouting and they love the Young Women program and said the it is everything that Girl Scouts isn't, in regards to the caliber of the program. It was a very good sign for us and her parents are so supportive and now all we need to do is teach her everything so she can get baptized! We are now going to have lessons with Sarina in the Carter home! I'm stoked- the miracles that we needed are slowly starting to fall into place! Well... I know that it is super short this week but those were the two biggest things that happen this week I feel. We are working hard to find new people that want to progress and it seems to be working. It has been nice weather out here and we rode our bikes a lot the last couple of days- on Saturday night I was a little pink, but my tan is coming back! How's that snow working for y'all? Ha ha just kidding- okay that was mean. I'm sorry. I will get my own though when it comes about May and I'm sweating my brains out... something to look forward to! One thing cool that happened this week is that I met a guy from Peru!! It normally wouldn't be that big of a deal but considering we are going there when I get back I tried to talk to him a little bit about Machu Picchu but he didn't think it was as cool as I did... lame. Well... I don't think I really have much else to tell y'all this week... sorry . I love emailing though- it sure is nice to share what has happened in my week with those I love! I hope y'all have a good week and that Lord continues to bless you and your families! I attached some pictures- I hope y'all like them! Just random pictures! Love y'all!! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg

Letters from Kelsey - 64

Hey everyone!! Well it was a wet weekend in Manvel, Texas- not only because of the thunderstorms we had but also because Victor Mendez got baptized!!! It is a very liberating baptism for me- ha ha. He has been ready to be baptized since the middle of January and he has been weighing on my mind and I have been stressing a little about it, but I'm very thankful that everything fell into place to where he was able to have a very awesome baptism yesterday. I was nervous because his parents didn't come until sacrament meeting was almost over because of the rain. Victor came early with his uncle so that he could have his baptismal interview, and I wasn't going to baptize him with out his family there- so I was very relieved when they showed up. It was great and it was a really good time for his family- his parents are returning to activity and so are 2 of his uncles and their wives. It was really awesome, one uncle baptized him and the other confirmed him. I was really happy for them and I was happy that Hna. Ker was able to get a baptism in her first transfer- even though she doesn't know Victor very well, its still an awesome feeling to watch a convert baptism. Well our investigator pool is a little dry right now but not from lack of trying. We talked to a whole bunch of people this week but... they were all English people! We tried to branch out to new neighborhoods but it didn't really work- but we have seen blessings for trying extra hard to talk to our 10 people (each) a day. We will keep doing it with the hope, prayer, and faith that the Lord will provide. Now to the Investigator Weekly! RJ: They had a busy week so we weren't able to see them but we will see them this week and we are trying to decide when is the right time to bring up baptism again. We don't want his mom to feel pressured but I think that him getting baptized will be a really good spring board for the family to keep returning to activity. His mom found out this last week that she is pregnant... so it will be boy #5... she has 3 of her own and 1 that is her sister's that she has custody of. She isn't really happy to be pregnant but we will try and use it to help her come closer to the Lord and to really work on keeping the commandments so that they can have His extra help in their growing family. Sarina: Well... we are still waiting to meet with her parents but we are getting a lot of support from the ward with helping her know about baptism and its importance. I'm excited for General Conference coming up so that hopefully we can get a member to invite Sarina and her family over to watch conference, which would be a really good introduction to the Church for her family. Well... sadly thats about it for this week. I'm hoping that next week I'll lots of new and awesome people to tell y'all about. It was a good week though and went by pretty fast. Its interesting to see the trends that happen in life. For example, this week we talked to a lot of people who go to non-denominational churches. I have thought a lot about that... I feel bad for those people. Yes they are being good Christians and going to church, but if you really think about it they are living beneath their potential and are okay with it. When people/churches don't require any real change or work, then what is the motivation? If they don't think that God requires them to change and improve and grow, then they don't understand the purpose of this life, or really the nature of God. If you go to church every week and your preacher tells you what a good job you are doing and how much Jesus loves you for just trying, then where is the growth? Do you leave with any real determination to become something more or do you know what you need to change to become more like Christ? I think of General Conference and the talks by the general authorities or President Monson. We leave those talks feeling up lifted and motivated even when we get chastised- like with Elder Holland :). We are called on to become better and to rise above the things of the world- and we know that we have lots of things to change and improve, yet we know that we are doing it because we have the goal to become like our Heavenly Father and we know the purpose of this life. I don't know if any of that makes sense but just some thoughts from this week... Anyway... I'm short on time but that was my week! I hope y'all have a great week. I miss and love y'all! I hope the good Lord continues to bless you and your families this week! Go Cougars!! Love Always, Sister Kelsey Berg