1 Nephi 1: 11-12, November 18

Wow! I first have to say what an AWESOME experience that was to have Dad´s old Mission President come and visit. So cool, and I am sure y'all had a lot to talk about! Berthelson is definitely not a common last name. 

It sounds like your weeks have been pretty full. Weddings and crafting, etc. Sounds like a lot of fun! 

 

Elder Holland and his wife were able to visit! We arrived at about 5:30 am to get our good 4th row seats and waited for 4 hours until he arrived. There were 4 Missions in this conference which he said is the largest conference that they have had of missionaries. He mentioned something of Elder Perry: that this Moment with all of the Missionaries that are serving right now ranks with the events such as the First Vision, The  restoration of the Book of Mormon, and equal distribution of the Priesthood. One of the coolest stories and best applications that he shared was that of a world famous swimmer that he had known during college. When asked in an interview from the press how he did it, he said "kick when you don´t want to kick and stroke when you don´t want to stroke". Which I have taken in this week, especially with the rising temperatures here in Santiago. A few of these days have been cooler than others, but other days have been incredibly hot. Its also like Phoenix, a very very dry heat haah,, but it was such a wonderful experience to hear Elder Holland Speak.

 

One of the other things that we had this week was called a CVC, like the visitors center they have in Salt Lake. It was for the members to bring friends and invite them so that we could do a tour (the sister missionaries) then we brought them into a room so the Elders could explain baptism and each one of the auxiliaries had displays in different classrooms. It was pretty dead for a couple of hours. The ward members had a hard time bringing people, but it was absolutely incredible with the youth in our ward. They went out and at around 8pm there were about 20 kids who came in to do the tour. It was so cool! From what I hear they invited a birthday party hahah. There was def a spark of missionary work within the ward. A couple of our investigators came too! They were able to socialize with the members and they enjoyed the tour.

 

We have been doing a special fast for some of our investigators- M___ y G____ and E___ and E____. It was great that E____ and E___ were able to come to the CVC that we had. And we also invited M___ y G_____ to be baptized. They are absolutely wonderful, just a little unsure. But we are patiently working with them.

 

I am so glad to hear all of the new that is going on, in the ward, and with family and friends. I hope you (d n k) enjoy your travels to Chicago. People think that all that my parents do is vacation. True dat! ahah but i know you guys are working hard too. 

I will have to tell you about Hermana F______ someday. Kind of like the abuelita that you have. We bought her a "FUTURA MISIONARA" plaque. ......

 

We have been having a lot of lessons about the Book Of Mormon and how important it is. If anyone falls away from the church, the question must be asked if they are reading the Book of Mormon. This book was written for our day. I would hope that you are all continuously reading the Book of Mormon and strengthening  your testimonies about the divinity that come from reading it. Pray, read, go to church. Its the perfect formula. 

 

I attatched a couple of pics from my bday, a couple of the CVC and my comp Hermana salazar and Hermana ekins waiting for Elder Holland at 5:30. I love you all very much and hope that you are having and will have a wonderful week.- Love you!

1 Nephi 1: 11-12

1Nephi 8:10-12

Hola Familia-

Thank you for all of your emails. It was a great week! Maybe a little slow, but fun none-the-less.for my bday 

We had brownies and Ice cream for breakfast and We also had zone conference on my birthday,, and I got a General Conference Package to open! Thank you for sending my favorite candy! I love me some M&Ms! And it was fun to see the pictures. We had cake at the Bishop´s house too. But that was about it.. the rest of the week was work. I really wish I had more to tell you. A lot of Ups and downs this week as far as investigators go. I dont know if I told you about our investigators E____ and E___. A mother and a daughter. They are awesome... progressing slowly but are doing really well! E____ came with us to church yesterday which was a big step for her. We´ve been trying to get her to come for about a month now. She is so sweet and they love animals! 

I will take a picture of the Giant tortious (sorry I cant spell) they have. I was telling them what we eat in Louisiana, I mentioned alligator, and turtle, and she reaches for the ground and pics up a big the big turtle! and of course I ask to hold it and am playing with it.. and right as she was telling me that it likes to pee on "guests" it goes all over me. Haha.. They also have a cage of about 30 birds. crazy lol 

 

I have been studying Lehi´s dream this week. Picking it a part really. I have come up with some interesting things I hadn´t thought of before. Did you ever notice that it says holding to the end of the rod of iron? We can´t start in the middle and expect to get to the tree. We must start from the beginning. From the basic doctrines of the Gospel starting with Faith. Also The "vapor de tinieblas" will affect everyone who wants to partake of the sweet fruit that the tree has to offer. It´s not always easy to get reach that Love of God, in reality, it will be difficult, but I know that eating of the sweet fruit will be so much sweeter when we endure the difficult journey it takes to reach The tree. It will be worth it when we "hold fast"

 

(for more on the dream that Hermana B is referring to, here are two great talks that discuss in more detail: 

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/10/lehis-dream-holding-fast-to-the-rod

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/10/lehis-dream-holding-fast-to-the-rod )

 

 

Love you!

Doctrine and Covenants 123:16, November 4th

Doctrine and Covenants 123:16

Absolutely nothing has really happened this week... haha. Chile had another Feriado (holiday)- 4 days of no one working. I thought at first it was because of Halloween, but there is another Evangelico holiday which is also on Oct 31st so all of the Chilenos tienen dias libres 4 days without work makes for a lot of no one in the streets, or no one who wants to receive us, very very very boring. 


 One of the cool experiences that happened this week was with a lady who we contacted a while ago. Her name is E____ and she has a daughter named E____ who is about 23 and both of them are reading the Book of Mormon. I can´t remember if I mentioned them in one of my prior letters but they are both interested in taking lessons. We had an ex-misionaro help us with one of our lessons which really helped them last week, but this past week, we couldn´t get ahold of him and Hermana Salazar and I went by ourselves. When we came, they both told us that they didn´t want to continue to take the lessons. From that point, we didn´t really know how to take it. They both are incredible, they both read, but I guess prayer and faith are what they are lacking at the moment. They are also scared to leave the house to go to church for family problems. But our lesson was powerful and we explained clearly and simply what it meant to have faith. We talked about Alma 32 and shared our testimonies about acting on faith as long as we are dilligent and patient. They have agreed to let us return which is good news! 



I don´t know why I subject my letters in scriptures, but they are just scriptures that I have had on my mind this week. We always share a scripture with the members with whom we eat lunch with- I chose this scripture to share with this family in particular especially on the subject of missionary work. The Mom took it like I would expect in a sense of by small and simple things are great things brought to pass... the dad however told us that a small "timón" couldn´t move a large ship. And that is why I love the scriptures. We can all interperate them differently and our different viewpoints are all right. They are especially meaningful if we act of these things. On the subject of missionary work, they are both right. By our small efforts, we can see blessings of missionary work- but we can´t do it alone. One of the most challenging struggles has been to get the ward involved with Missionary efforts. It´s a tough mission, especially in our area, but I know that I am here in my area "el Parque" for a reason and I have grown to love the area, even though most of the time it doesn´t love me back. But I count my blessings and Hermana Salazar and I are constantly reevaluating to try and find small successes in our every day work as Missionaries, As always I hope you are doing your part en la obra misional.  
Also glad that my impala still has a picture of Christ to give it some character.


Thank you also for the Feliz Cumpleaños as well. I am celebrating by working this year... and my belated birthday gift might be Elder Holland next week. What a privilege it is to hear the Lord´s Servant-

Alma 34:15 - October 28

Alma 34:15

 

I love this time of the year too. It is a little different because it is getting warmer. I associate this time of the year with the crisp weather. And we are starting to walk in the heat although some days are better than others. They do celebrate Halloween here. Actually the US is a big influence on Chile so Halloween is not huge, but the whole weekend is a Feriado, so no one will be working. Chilleans just like to party.

 

This week has been really trying. A really good week with a lot of appointments, but also with the adversary. I don´t have too much time to go into the details, But two of our really good investigators, a mom and her son told us not to come back. One of the most spiritual lessons we had ever had where the mom was in tears with how strong the Spirit was. But in the end, she said she couldn´t believe it and politely told us to leave. On the other hand, we had a family reference. They are amazing!! Y_____, M___, M____, and J____.  

M and M came to church with us yesterday. They are absolutely incredible and accepted the invitation to be baptized. I don´t want to say anything too soon, but keep them in your prayers please!

 

We also had a lesson with one of our our investigators, M___.. I don´t remember if I mentioned her, but we had a lesson about the WOW with her and her friend M____ who have a problem with drinking tea. Ecco is really big here. It´s like a substitute for coffee, so we gifted them two containers of Ecco... and then took all of their tea home with us. M____ is crazy! shes the one in the middle. And she loves to talk about how important it is to keep the Commandments... although she has a problem with dia de reposo. (day of rest) I don´t know how many lessons we have had about keeping the Sabbath day Holy and going to church, but she is progressing slowly. 

Lucas 4:18 - October 14

Jasmine likes to put a scripture as her subject.

Lucas 4:18

Recibì buenas noticias de cada persona!! Primero, Muchisimas gracias porque recibì un sobre de fotos! Ahora, tengo fotos para mostrar las familias en mi Barrio. Jaja papi, no sè porque todos quiere ser amigos con la Karen. Ella es bakan, eso es la unica cosa que puedo pensar en. (Bakan=cool jaja). Eso es bueno que puede traducir! Y lo fue bueno para leer las noticias del misioneros de North Canyon! Muchas estorias de los misioneros.
I received good news everyone ! First, Thank you so much because I received an envelope of photos! Now , I have pictures to show families in my neighborhood . Haha daddy , I know no because everyone wants to be friends with Karen . She is bakan , that's the only thing I can think of. ( Bakan = cool haha). That is good which can translate! And it was good to read the news of the missionaries from North Canyon ! Many estorias of missionaries.

(A few of Hermana Berthelson's ward friends have facebook friend requested me - this way they can see pics of Hermana B - this is what she is referring to in her email)

Segùn a la Hermana Salazar, tuvimos èxito con nuestros menos activos. Tuvimos 3 menos activos asistir por la primera vez! Nos enfocamos en los menos activos este semana, entonces tuvimos esta bendicion. Una de las menos activos se llama Y_____. Fue bakan por que ella vive con su mamà (menos activa) y su hermana menor que tiene 16 años. En principio, enseñamos Yanina solà, pero un noche su mamà vino porque estaba curiosa y su hermana tambièn. Yanina nos dijò que quieria servir una misiòn! Ella tiene 21 años y queiremos invitarle a venir con nosotras.
According to Sister Salazar , we were successful with our less active. Less active had 3 attend for the first time! We focus on the less active this week, then we had this blessing . One of the less active is called Y___ . Bakan was that she lives with her mamà ( less active ) and her younger sister who is 16. In principle , Y_____ solà teach , but one night his mamà came because I was curious and sister too. Y____ quieria told us serve a mission! She is 21 and queiremos invite you to come with us.

Other than that we are working with the same people. We really have been able to see the small success of the past 9 weeks here. It is really hard. Partially because we haven´t been able to see much success as far as numbers go. We keep inviting and inviting people to come to the church, but it is a standstill. Conference was awesome because I feel that we were lacking support from the members. But we are trying to overcome these barriers as well. So I wish there was more that I could tell you yáll. I am always happy to get emails from my family on Mondays. I am glad everyone is doing well. I have been studying a lot from conference as well in my personal study. I recently studied the one from Edward Dube about the plough. If we have our ploughs and look back, we might not be able to receive the rich blessings that come from moving forward in a straight line aligning ourselves with the Savior and His will. The power of the Atonement is real. I can testify of that. I pray that y`all have an awesome week!! Love you lotsss!!!!