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

Letters from Kelsey - 63

Hey everyone!!

Oh man what a week... part of it feels like it flew by and then the other part feels like it has been a month. So I'll start at the beginning. So like I said last week Hna. Ker wasn't feeling well and we were just kinda letting it take it's course. On Monday night we left a dinner appointment at 6:30 and she started coughing and wasn't feeling good at all, so we texted Sister Saylin to see what we should do and she was going to call us after FHE. Well Hna. Ker coughed almost non-stop for about an hour until Sister Saylin called at 7:45. She then had the area medical advisor call us to talk to Hna. Ker to see what we should do, she was having a little bit of a hard time breathing because of the coughing. The medical advisor told us that we should probably go to an urgent care- so we called Sister Saylin back and she gave us the address of one in Sugar Land. So we left Pearland at 8:30 and got there at 9:00 and didn't end up leaving until 10:45. It turns out she had/has bronchitis and an ear infection, so we where there for a bit getting things all figured out and having them call in her prescriptions and chatting with Sister Saylin who came a little after we got there. So we left Sugar Land at 10:45 and headed back. They called her prescriptions into a Walgreens but it wasn't the one I thought it was so then at 11:20 I had to call the Saylins back so we could figure it out. So I finally figure out which one it is, about 10 minutes away and we get there about 11:45. (I'm pretty sure the reason for calling in a prescription is so that when you show up 45 minutes later it's ready for you.. reminds me of "You know how to TAKE a reservation but you don't know how to HOLD the reservation" - ha ha) Anyway- we get there at its not ready so we wait in Walgreens until 12:45 am and then finally get back to the apartment at 1:00 am Tuesday morning. Such a great start to the week. Then Hna. Ker was pretty much ordered to sleep and rest so she did that until about Thursday. We would go out for an appointment here and there through the week but nothing big. So that it was our week until she was feeling better on Friday- and Friday we had a fantastic day and we ended up having one of the best weeks I have had in a long time lesson- wise.

In our planning this week I asked Hna. Ker what she thought the Lord wanted us to put have as our goal for 'other' lessons (investigators only) and she thought about it and said 6- at first I have to admit that I was very skeptic and was ready to make it a little lower because we already set a goal of 5 member-present lessons (lessons with investigators and members) and we hadn't had that many investigator lessons in long time; but I remembered a story President Saylin told us in our trainers meeting about how when he got to his mission he set a whole bunch of goals that were really outrageous and his trainer supported him and it was probably the best week of his mission; I agreed with her on 6 and committed myself to do everything to hit that goal. I was worried but the Lord provided, we didn't get 6 'other' lessons but we over shot our goal on member presents (7) and hit our goal to have 11 investigator lessons last week. It really all happened in the 3 days we had to work and it was a miracle, I'm thankful for President Saylin's about his trainer so that I could see the hand of the Lord and that we could have a great week that added some new investigators to our pool and helped some others progress a little more... which leads to the Investigator Weekly!

RJ: We are working with his mom right now with a couple doubts/misunderstandings she has that she has finally told us about and we are trying to help her see that the time when she was most happy in her life was when she was really involved in the Church. In her heart she knows its true but the adversary just gets into her thoughts and makes her doubt a lot of things. She was raised to fear God and we are trying to help her see that he is out loving Heavenly Father and that she is His daughter and that he doesn't really punish us. We will get there, but RJ's baptism is on hold until then.

Victor: He is all set to get baptized this weekend on Sunday after church and I'm really excited! We would appreciate your prayers so that we can have a little extra help making sure everything works out.

Sarina: We had a good little lesson with her this week on the way back from a fireside with a member, so hopefully she will start thinking about it more. We still haven't met her parents but hopefully this weekend.

Well thats about it for today- time is a little short. I hope that everything is going well for y'all. Spring is pretty much here and I hope stays for a long time, it makes me happy and I love the 75 degree weather with a slight breeze. I think we are actually going to go to the park for P-day and write letters outside, I'm stoked because I'm tired of being white! ha ha Well I love y'all and hope that y'all have a great week! Go Cougars!!

Love Always,
Sister Kelsey Berg