September 29th

hey yall

i am so sorry for what happened this week :( that totally stinks. I hope that the bitter feelings have passed. Like Alex said-better that nobody was hurt. So keep your head up and I hope you are able to appreciate the blessings even through the tough event

This week was absolutely incredible. We visited almost all of our contacts again this week. Let me tell you that we definitely had contacts of gold. We set 3 baptismal dates for our new investigators and we hope to set a couple more dates this week. We found 8 new investigators this week, some including families..

One of the days we were on divisions this week and a member was with us. Unfortunately our plans fell through and we weren`t able to visit the person we had planned. We walked by a little food vendor market and this one guy from behind asked me where my companion was and I explained that we have exchanges once in a while. I new he was a foreigner and so I asked him where he was from and he told us he was from the Dominican Republic and his name was J_____. I also asked J____ if he had heard missionaries before and he said no. I asked him if he would like to hear the missionaries and so right then and there he invited us to his house right across the street. Turns out there are seven of them from the DR and we started teaching J_____ and D_____. 

From a few weeks ago, there was a lady that contacted us and said she would like to hear the lessons and that she would like to be baptized, she gave us her address to visit her and unfortunately it was the incorrect address. but we found her again this week and she explained to us how she realized that it was wrong. we set up an appointment with her correct address and she has so many questions about what we are teaching. We have a baptismal date for her and hopefully for her 12 year old son as well. 

R____was one of our contacts during 18.. immediately she told us about her situation that she had a child about 5 years ago that only lived to be 6 months old. Since the time we met her, she has been reading the Book of Mormon and came to church with us for the first time yesterday. She also has a baptismal date for October. 

S____ is a friend of one of the members of our ward. He lives alone and he actually came to church the week before sitting in the front of the chapel and left before we could see an unfamiliar face. He is 70 years old and lives alone. He has severe depression, but has agreed to be Baptized after we explained to him that he wasn`t too "old" to make covenants and we are working patiently to explain to him the blessings of the plan of Salvation and why some sad things have happened in his life. 

 

We also met V____ during 18 when we were looking for a less active. She also has depression, but is a mother of 3 and is a stay at home mom. She and her son want to learn more from us and we were able to teach them this week. 

I got the package from you guys... thank you for the skirt- gave it to my comp who loves clothes. I am winding down.. the package was perfect. it was like you knew i had a headache (motrin) and i needed more laundry detergent,, 

So that is a little about my life at this moment. It was such a good week, but i think what is more important is what i am learning. It is about perseverance and just want to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands (Alma 17:11) I hope you have a good week and if you can pray for these people. I am so grateful for the message of the Restoration. It changes lives. -- 

service project from the other week and us singing"si vas para chile" for 18 at the ward activity 

 

Sister Jasmine Berthelson

Chile Santiago East Mission

September 22nd

Well, I am starting out a good pday. I'm sure K will mention the story. Had a Little scare with my card, but I learned there was nothing to worry about. All is well here! We definitely passed 18 with success!!! I am still full of empanadas and choripán. And we actually had a good week as well with finding new people to teach. The springtime is already here and it is starting to be delightful to work outside again.

So this week we were determined to put baptismal dates. We have another date set with C____, our long time investigator of 10 years, but with all people, there comes a long story- Well, C____ doesn't feel ready, but it is a work in process. It just takes support and a lot of love to help her feel good about her decisión.

We are still working with M_____ all I have to say.

We also have an investigator named M____ with a baptisimal date.

And another 10 year old boy named J____ who practically comes to church by himself.

So with these people, we are working on continuing on with lessons. Maybe a lot of prayers are needed on their behalf (and on ours) to be able to find them and teach them. Sometimes they go MIA and we call and visit with Little results.. but here we are. We were also able to find a ton of people this week which was awesome!!! Well, yesterday our Little investigator J____ might have had a rough time in the primary. He started fighting with some of the kids and the kids got scared. Man, all that babysitting comes in Handy because i had to be pretty stern with him in the hallway of the church and everyone Heard. Just picture me laughing right now, because in the end it was funny. The primary leaders afterwards explained to us that J___ is a kid of the streets and that the primary gets scared when he´s around. Pretty true. We are working with him and his parents. But this was just a Little bit of the crazyness that happened this week-

Glad to hear the Word about our friends k, and dad with Elder Cook, how awesome! I had Heard that statement made before. I think this misión is for me- not because I have had all of the success here, but because I have learned a lot and I might come back a Little more refined- I hope.

Keep sharing the good news and look for ways to strengthen others. Love you!

September 15th

kind of stinks, I have a few more pics to send yall.... but the computer i am at right now is pretty old and there is no where to plug in my camera. I am well!
This week has been full of conferences, service, work... We were able to have a conference with our President Wright and his wife and an area 70, Elder Resek were able to come and speak to us Thursday. It was powerful conference and we were able to focus more on helping South America Statistically. Startaling the challenge there is in South America for the members to 

1. Actively come to church and 

2. Pay tithing and fast offerings.

 

I am so blessed to have learned these commandments at a young age because it is sad to see the numbers in the members who are members and do very little in the building of Zion. There is only RECENTLY a construction of the temple in Concepción and our little temple in Santiago with all of the members in the whole country of Chile. It gave us a clear overview of what we can focus on as far as teaching... We were also cleaning out the area book and we found a name that the elders had been teaching a couple of years ago. We stopped by the house to find the gal they were teaching and another young woman came out. Her name is C_____ and she was an active member of the chuch up until she was 12 years old. She had family problems and her mom stopped taking her to church. She wants us to start coming back to teach her. Difficult because she only remembers a little of wht she was taught 8 years ago. But is was such a blessing to find her because she said she really feels "lost" in this time of her life. We have plans to continue to visit her this week. We are still working hard with our two investigators with baptism dates-. M_____ and M_____. Also C____ G_____ who is the daughter of our convert M___ G_____. 

Sounds like everyone was busy this week. Hope everything turned out for the funeral and it is good to hear that both dad and k were able to help out. It also sounds great that y'all are going to visit the Dodd's this Thanksgiving. And Elder B sounds like he is doing great! like the pics as well. Hope everyone has a good week. I will be sending pics the next week bc we are going to be celebrating a lot of 18 like last year!!! yeahhh

September 8th

Hola

There isnt a lot to report this week. It wasn´t as exciting as the week before. It is exhausting when our investigators dont progress. Not a complaint but I tell my companion that if they aren´t progressing, it just means that the Lord wants me to progress even more. For every person that isn't reading their scriptures or praying, I´m doing it for them. We´ve got some great investigators, I just hope they realize their worth as they come to recognize the value of the atonement. 

Wow, I am glad that both Karen and Dad have been there to support the Christensen family. I was just thinking the other day how much everyone in the NC ward pitched in to help Sister Christensen fight it out when she had first found the cancer. The Christensen's are a very special family and so strong. They are still in my prayers. 

 
I hope yall have a great week. I look forward to the weekly fotos and emails from everyone. 

Sorry there isnt much to this email. The computer that I was at before died and I am out of time.. so I added a few pictures of some of the things we do when we´ve got time to do something fun. Fun fact- the chileans love flying kites. We tried it today and I´m a natural :)

I love you all so much!

 

 

September 1st

Well, it was quite the semana. Even though I am still in J. P. Alessandri, I have a new companiera from Colombia. Her name is Hermana Villalba. It was a pretty crazy week with training, but we were able to have some AWESOME lessons....... more tender blessings than I could imagine. We found a few good investigators this week. We were also able to go to the temple with our Converso hno Jo___ Z_____. He is our convert of 78 years who lives alone. His parents, wife, and only son have passed on to the other side of the veil and we were able to do baptisms and confirmations for all of them- A super humbling experience. Even before going to the temple, we were waiting, the three of us for some members to come by and take us. A lady named C______ came with her 5 year old son and asked us who we were. We explained to her that we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ and she told us that she had once attended a baptismal service for a friend and also said that she wanted a change in her life. We were able to teach her a little bit, even with Hermano Z_____ to help us, and she agreed to take lessons from us. How cool is that or what??? I am also learing a lot from my new companion. She comes from very humble circumstances, but she has got a vigor and desire to share the Gospel! I´m so glad to have her as my comp!! 

 

Well I'm sorry this is such a short email. I also forgot my camera.. oops!! I will pray for the Christensen's.. I know it must be hard right now. It was nice to see that everyone is doing well and that Cambria had a good time. I forgot up until i got Dad's email that it was labor day- cool beans!! a day off.

Keep strong, doing what you´re doing, and doing a little bit more because as I reflect back on this week, we really had spiritual moments just going the extra mile. Love you all so much!