July 8, 2013 Bucksport, Maine

Dear Wonderful Family,                                                               July 8, 2013

I seriously can't believe that I have been gone for a month already.  It has flown by so fast!  I don't even know where to start with this email.  We have done so much this week, and it has been fantastic! Crazy, but fantastic :)

The week started off with an exchange.  Sister Wallentine needed to go to a training meeting, and I got to go to Waterville.  What was amazing was that Sister Jensen, my MTC companion and I got to be together again because that is where she is serving :)  It was so much fun to catch up with her and see where she is and how she is doing!  We got to go do service on a horse farm, and I got to groom a horse for the first time.  It was really fun, and we had such a great time helping out.  It was such a blessing to be able to be companions with her again :)  Then the next day we  headed out to Bangor where we met our new mission president, President Stoker!  He and his wife are wonderful, and they have so much love for us already.  I'm excited to get to know them better.  He is so nice and I know that he will really help us as we spread the gospel to those in New England. 

I hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July!  Mine was most certainly the greatest ever :)  We had a district meeting, but afterwords we went with the elders in our area to Bar Harbor, where we helped prepare and serve at a community barbeque at a Catholic church there.  It was so much fun!  We met a lot of new people, and they were so nice to us!  We even met a potential investigator who seemed really interested and talked to us for a long time. The man in charge of doing the meals is really open and friendly, and he sent us home with five boxes of leftover food.  Our freezer is packed with all sorts of meat, it is incredible.  If only I knew how to cook meals with the stuff, haha :)  We also stopped by a member's house for another barbeque, which was fun.  I really can't believe how nice the members are in the branch, and I will probably say that in every email while I am serving here.  It is just so true :)  We did get to see a couple fireworks driving home, nothing much, but I can't think of another way I would have spent the holiday!

As far as investigators go, I have quite amazing news.  We taught Kaila, invited her to be baptized, and she accepted!!  The lesson started off well, lagged in between, but ended powerfully.  She opened up to us a lot, the spirit was really strong, and we were able to tell her what she needed to hear.  It truly was the first time I have ever felt like an instrument the Lord's hands, and by far the best experience I have had on my mission to date.  Being able to tell Kaila that she is a daughter of God and that she has divine worth fills my heart with joy because I know that it is true!  This gospel truly does change lives.  In the short period of time that we have taught Kaila I have seen her grow so much, and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to teach her.  She is so willing and eager to learn, and I just pray that she will have the strength to carry on through the opposition that will surely come.  There is no greater work than missionary work! As I have shared the gospel and focused my efforts on others I have seen myself grow so much!  Continue to pray for opportunities to share the gospel :)

We also went on another exchange this week that stretched me a lot.  My trainer left me in our area, and I was senior companion for a day.  It was hard, but I made it through!  We had a lot of things fall through that day and I had to plan a whole day from scratch, but we kept really busy!  We visited members and less-actives and gave them cupcakes left over from the 4th of July BBQ.  It was really fun :)  Just a random side-note, I think that we may be being stalked.  There is this homeless lady that hangs around our apartment all the time.  We have talked to her, and she seems nice, but she keeps talking about how she wanted to rent our apartment, and she'll come knock on our door sometimes.  Yep, interesting.  We just make sure to keep the doors locked :) 

This Sunday we had dinner at a member's home and when they were driving us back they stopped at some of their favorite spots and we got to see some more of Maine!  It is so pretty :)  I still can't believe how much water there is everywhere and it is so green!  It makes the humidity a little bit more bearable.  Hopefully I'll be able to get used to it in the near future.  We'll see! 

I'm just grateful that I am a missionary!  It is tough at times, but it is so worth it :) 

Love ya bunches!

Sister Bergeson