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!

August 25th

hola familia! 

My companions always ask me where my parents are this week. They jump from the question of "how is your family" to "where is your family" . Sounds like everyone had a good week despite the accident Elder B had. Good thing that neither of you were hurt. I find it funny that you were sleeping Elder. Is that a Berthelson move or what?.- haha but glad you found the good in it. If it makes any difference, I would love a bike! My calf muscles are huge because we walk everywhere. 

 

Glad that you were able to vaca, Dad!! FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS! I was wondering what you were going to do for your 45th. I did think of you on Saturday.. I hope you had a great day in the baseball weather. I also think of Journey and smile! 

 

Seriously? Sister Bale is going to Africa?? Whoah, is that is awesome or what?? I am super excited for her! I can`t even imagine... dont know where that part even exists on the map- I hope she is excited and prepared! She is going to do great :) I also got a package (apart from the jdrive) with a letter from Dad and a couple of missionary items! Awww I love getting these hand written letters. I loved the account that K also had in Independence, Missouri. Our Pioneer heritage is something that I really want to know more of, especially when I get back. I am trying to see about getting more of my family history work done here. There are some awesome resources that we have as missionaries in our Santiago mission, so I want to take advantage of it right now. 

 

I heard yesterday about the Earthquake in San Francisco. A lot of people have no idea where these places are in the States, so a few families were worried about you guys... I told them not to worry because we are no where near SF, but we did have a 6.4 earthquake here on Saturday (Dad´s Birthday). We were in the house of one of our converts M___ G____ from Colombia and with her three small kids. Right at the end of the lesson, my companion started to feel the floor shake.. We had to run for the door, and Hermana M___ G_____ was the first one to run outside forgetting about her baby sitting next to her.. Hahaha! It was crazy and all over the news. There wasn't much damage, but it was called an earthquake and one of the more noticable ones that I´ve seen in the mission thusfar. 

 

So yes, we did have transfers this week. My companiera left our sector and I will be training a new missionary from the CCM . I should be training her for the next 12 weeks, so it is unlikely that I will change sectors before I leave in December. I don´t know who she is yet, but I will meet her tomorrow in the morning. 

 

The week wasn't exactly what we expected, but we were able to put a date for our investigator, M_____ for the end of September! We are hoping that she will be prepare herself because it is a month away. Also, we were able to contact a lot of people including P___ S_____ who is a new investigator. It is wonderful to see people put their faith in the Lord and act out of knowing that it will help them in the end. 

I hope that yall have a great week- I love you so much!

August 18th

Hey Yall!! 

Elder B, congrats on the baptism you had with L____! You are right, keep teaching the family and give them hope. I am writing a short email this week. Overall, not a lot has happened this week. I included a few pictures from last week. We took M______, our investigator to the temple. It was quite the experience for her. We are hoping to put a date with her this week to be baptized in September. A crazy situation, but we have to talk with her husband. 

We had a ward activity this past Saturday. The youth in our stake put on a show of dances from Europe-. Our ward chosen for Russia. Super hillarious becuase we don't hve a ton of youth, so the leaders stepped in. In the end it turned out AWESOME and the members made small things to eat from the country they were given. 

I was also able to go to the temple again with Hermana Salazar. We are only given one temple enterence during one year of our mission, so we were able to go through the morning session on Thursday. I loved it... It was such a great experience and just what i needed. We are also planning to try and go this week with one of the converts from our ward- J___ Z_____. 

On top of that we have a few investigators who are progressing. I told you about A_____.. he is awesome! He came to church for the first time this past Sunday. He´s already made friends at church. Such a great guy. We hope he continues coming. 

 

The weeks are really flying by. It seems like yesterday that I sat down to write y'all. I ask myself where the time is going. We have changes next week, and it is most likely that I will have a change in Compañera. Well i will keep you all informed.. Love you and I am praying for a lot of our friends. Thanks for keeping me updated as well. :))

 

August 11th

I need to get back to ya'll with a longer letter. 

Oh if only Da-Rell from West Haven CT was able to come to Santiago... it would bring a lot more Chile spice to our Zone Classes.. I was able to be a fill-in leader for our zone class because a few of the other Hermanas from the other sector had the chicken pox. We talked about how we could include more inspirational questions we analized a little bit of what Ammon taught King Lamoni in Alma 18 with ways to use the Spirit to ask questions and use scriptures. My comp is one of the other leaders, so I was teaching with her.

We did service in the morning for an investigating family this week. The dad makes bread so they have this giant oven in this small apartment building. The whole house smells like flour, but the house was filled with all sorts of "tresures". We were there all morning scrubbing down the house... really, really, scrubbing. It definitely needed a before/after pic. But the family was really appreciative that we could come and help them. 

 

N____,, the boy I told ya'll about a few emails ago had entered the psychiatric clinic and is now taking medicine. You wouldn't believe the complete turn-around. He is going to church with his mom now (Evangelical church) BUT we are able to come over still and he is reading the Book of Mormon. It is almost unbelievable... anyways, we have grown to care so much for him and know that we can help him make bigger changes in the future. 

The other night we were were walking and trying to find different investigators to teach. Walking at around 8:30 in the evening and no one wants to open the door, both Hermana Veron and I needed to use the bathroom. We went by a member's house. Well, a hard situation to explain, but the husband, an active member who has been a member for years, and also an expert of Biblical topics doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. His wife who is a less-active, has a pretty strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is often the topic we touch on when we go to visit them... 

We converse as we normally do in the beginning and like I mentioned above, we start talking about the need to read the Book of Mormon. The brother is an older gentleman who is pretty set in his ways says that with the few times that he has read the Book of Mormon, he has always had a hard time believing it. and Blah blah blah almost lecturing US for an hour about how no one can prove that these places exist.. Well, my first and natural instincts were "what is the point, why are we here listening to this" but my comp out of no where asks him if he has received his Patriarchal Blessing. And he goes off for a time telling us that the church lost it and he hasn't been able to get it back... more talking on his part.  But after my companion shared with him the need to read his Patriarchal Blessing. How she has seen the need to read the Book of Mormon through her Patriarchal Blessing.

She asked him a question: Do you believe that Satan knows our weaknesses?

After that he got quiet and everything turned around. We both testified the need to read the Book of Mormon has blessed our lives and how we mush put our faith first when we read it. Even he said in the end- two young people could convince me, a 70yr old man, to make changes in my life.

I think re-telling the experience in person would be better... but I know that this question is right. Do we believe that Satan knows our weaknesses?

It got me to ponder a lot in my own life. The things that I look at as my weaknesses and think i cant overcome them, but i know I can through Christ..  Jacob 4:7

I am also praying for the .............. family. I know it is all a part of the plan our our Heavenly Father. 

In response to dad... am also coming back to phoenix if that is okay. Ill have to be set apart by the stake pres in phx. It is decided Dec 29th. I'll be home for a short time and we will see from there. 

love you all and have a good week!!

August 4th

Disculpe por lo poco. Nos juntemos hoy con hermana Salazar en su sector y volvimos con poco tiempo para escribir- Elder B! I am super excited for you to begin. I know you will be an exceptional leader with your example of a dedicated and hard working missionary. 

So a couple of weeks ago, the Stake President came up to us and told us that one of the boys that was a familiar face at mutual wasn´t a member. We had thought that he was in the barrio of the other ward, but it turns out that he lives in our limits and his mom is a less active member. His name is J____ and he is 10 years old. He is so full of energy. Talk about a child with the wiggles!!! but he is so excited to listen. we are working hard with him to reactivate his mom. he wants to be baptized, we just have to work with the whole family on this one
Recibí algunos paquetes esta semana. Uno de papí y el otro de karen. Gracias por los dos!!! Por fín 

 

 

sé de los resultados del campeonato de los Spurs y Heat. Gracias papi por las pantuflas!! no voy a pasar nada de frio de mis pies. de hecho se ven como los sacos de dormir para mis pies. jaja.. Me alegro ver que todos esten bien esta semana. Les prometo que voy a escribir mas la proxima. 

from when we wnt to the museo last week....

July 28th

Yes I will stuff a little bit more into my letter this week. We actually had a few things "out of the ordinary" go on. Remember N______? The one with major major health problems? Well, he had a crisis, didn`t eat for a few days and was hospitalized this week. The kid weighs as much as I do and if and when he eats, he eats only rice and eggs. Things with very little nutritional properties. We were able to get permission from his parents to have the bishop come over and give him a blessing. The bishop came by to give him the blessing, and unfortunately he was doped up on medications. He didn't respond to the bishop, but all of his other family members- his mom, dad, sister, and brother, asked for a blessing. It was a very humbling moment for everyone in the end. We have taught all of them on occasion, but it`s a huge struggle to teach them, especially the mom who is a strict Evangelical woman and thinks that her son is captivated by the devil. Well, if we are making progress with them, it is very slow. 

The man I told you about last week- A_______- is awesome!! He came to our English class, something that was only mentioned the week before to him. We also invited him to have a lesson with us this last week in the house of Hermano C_____. Hahaha it was crazy. Mostly because both Hermano C_____ and A______ are social butterflies. May I remind you Hermano C____ is our re-activated convert. He told whatever kind of story about the miracles of being a "Mormona". We felt that maybe our lesson turned into a train-wreck, but in the end A______  asked us to share our testimonies. Another hermana that was with us shared a testimony of following the spirit. Hermana V____ also bore her testimony of the restoration of the gospel and I also shared my testimony that he could know through prayer and the Spirit. In the end it turned out being a great lesson. We just have to help him along and get him to church because he works on Sundays.

We also have an investigator named M_____. She came with us for the second time to church yesterday. Not sure if I mentioned who she is, but she is an absolute blast. She is fifty something but has major depression issues. Maybe not what you would think.. We have to teach her like we teach the primary children- with characters and pictures. For example, we sang a musical number yesterday at church the four of us missionaries and I gave a talk in sacrament meeting and she tried to applaud after our "presentations". But, she is progressing a lot more than our other investigators. We actually started teaching her husband who is a big Rod Stewart fan. and their son M_____. We have a lesson with M______ in a few min. 

Elder Berthelson!!!! Congrats! I am so proud of you. I know that this is a big responsibility and you are the perfect elder for the job. I hope you show love to your zone and everyone you are going to serve. I am so so so so proud of you :))

Hope everyone has a great week. Chao, besitos.

July 21st

Just a really quick email this week. Not much to inform about and actually a pretty slow week here. We didnt have changes again. My comp will complete 11 months in this sector... So shes feeling a bit like I did in el Parque plus 3 months. Really stinks, and the ward is the same. We met a man named A_____ the other day, a contact in the street that ended up talking to us for over an hour and a half. We had a lesson with him. The guy is crazy, but super funny and participated way back when in church activities. We have another lesson with him this Wednesday. 

Like Alex, I have been able to see the small miracles in the week. Nothing grand, just really really small instances where I thank my Heavenly Father for allowing me to be here. I appreciate the packages/letters that will be coming to me. Nothing has come yet, but I know what to expect. I love you all very much and hope everyone is well. Thank you for your weekly emails which always bring a smile to my face and keep me going. 

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