Sept. 30, 2013

 Graham Lake

 Sand Beach

Splitting and stacking wood 

Sept. 30, 2013 Bucksport, Maine

Hello hello family :)                  Sept. 30, 2013

How are you all doing this week?  I feel like I have no idea because the letters that you send me take super a long time to get to me for some reason or another.  I hope that all is well :) 

I really don't have too much to tell you this week that was any different from last week.  I love this area so, so, soooo much it is amazing!!  Yet, the Lord really wants us to learn patience and diligence because it has been so slow lately.  It has been two weeks and we haven't found any new people to teach regularly which is kinda hard. We did tract someone down who checked out our groceries at wal-mart.  She gave us her street name and we figured we'd go find her, and it actually turned out well!! Her mother-in-law just loved us:)  it was super fun, and we're going to go back soon, but no real lesson. The people here are great and we set up appointments with investigators, but they just keep falling through.  Although it is a bit discouraging, I know that everything that I'm going through is meant to be for my good.  Not everyone is a Kaila, that is for sure!!  But there are people looking, we just need to keep on praying they will be put in our path and have the faith to open our mouths and share the greatest message they will ever hear :) 

So, even though we didn't get any non-member lessons, we have done a lot of things with the members in the branch this week!  More than we ever have I feel like, and it is awesome!! :)  I love the members here in Maine!  They are amazing!  We have set the goal to try to visit every active member in our area's house, and it is going great! :)  They are so nice and inviting to us.  I told one of the members that I loved license plates and he got me a Maine state license plate!! I just love it!! :) We also went to three dinner appointments, which is always so much fun to be able to be in the member's houses.  Saturday was such a fun day, too!  All our appointments fell through so when we went to a member's house to help split and stack their wood ( wood stoves are super common out here, and so there are huge piles of wood outside of everyone's houses, it's awesome!!)  we stayed like all day and did about 3 cords of their wood!! It was hard work, but they were so grateful for our help. Service!! I just love, love, love service!! :)  I'm super sore, but it was well worth it!! :) 

Then later that day we had the Relief Society broadcast, and it was amazing!! A great reminder about the importance of the covenants I have made at baptism and in the temple.  It is such a blessing that we can make sacred promises to the Lord!! :)  I am so grateful for Him and the love that He has for me.  I am also so grateful for a living prophet on the earth!  General Conference is coming!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am so excited.  actually more than excited!  I love this time of year and I'm grateful to have the chance to hear what the Lord has to say to us through the prophet and apostles :)  Although, I have to admit I will really miss adding on squares to the conference blanket.  Make sure that you do lots :) 

On Sunday we had lunch at a member's beautiful lake house. It was incredible!  We had a New England boiled dinner, and vanilla ice cream with pure maple syrup and pecans.  Delicious!  I just can't believe the love that I have for the members.  They are such great examples to me, and I have learned so much from them.  They are so willing to sacrifice and to help us out! 

Also, today was a fantastic P-day!  The weather has been great, the trees are changing a bit more, and Sister Millis took us to Sand Beach again :)  She is so great, I just think she is awesome!  We had such a great adventure with her and her cute daughter :) I love the ocean so much!

One thing that has really been on my mind lately is the importance of scripture study.  What a blessing to be able to read the word of God every day.  I'm learning so much from my daily study and it really brings the spirit :)  The little things really do make the biggest difference :)  No matter what goes on around me I am in control of whether or not I pray, read the scriptures, go to church, and live the gospel.  I know that if I do these things the Lord will be with me every step of the way!

Have a fantastic week!

Remember to do the little things!

Sister Bergeson

 Leaves changing color

With companions Sister Fratcher and Sister Wallentine

Sept. 23, 2013 Bucksport, Maine

Hello family!                    Sept. 23, 2013

How are you all doing?  I can't believe that September is coming to an end, it's crazy!!  Time just flies!  I got your letters today, which was great :)  It had been awhile since I had heard from you.  I am so sorry to hear about grandpa, I'm definitely keeping him in my prayers and please tell him I love him for me and to keep on smiling :) 

So, this week has been pretty up and down for me. I've found that missions are like that a lot, but boy have I learned a whole bunch this week!  I'll start with the not as great stuff first.  Our numbers have been the worst they have been in awhile.  We haven't really got to teach anyone at all, and all of our set appointments fell through.  Joe has been having a hard time and he has asked for some time to think about whether or not he wants to continue learning about the gospel which has been hard. He can recognize the spirit, but it just seems like he doesn't want to change his lifestyle and accept Christ into his life. Kaila has had a hard week too, and didn't come to church yesterday.  Finding can be quite the challenge, but this week it has seemed like it has been the hardest.  We are still adjusting to our trio too, which hasn't been that bad, it is just that we have to get used to teaching with each other.  It can be pretty easy to start thinking negatively, but it is so harmful!  So... what have I been doing recently to conquer these not so happy thoughts? 

SING HYMNS!!  I absolutely love the hymns :) They make me so happy!  They take my mind off of current small problems and help me see the big picture!  They give me hope and joy!  Even though the work has been slow, I've found when I turn to God and sing and smile I am so much happier than if I dwell on the negative things that may be happening. I have also learned and am continuing and to learn to laugh and enjoy the small things!  It makes all the difference :)  I love being able to laugh with my companions, and we have so much fun together that it takes the burden off of what may be happening with our numbers despite our best efforts.  Plus, on the bright side we had a great week for working with the members!  We visited and ate with a lot of branch members and it was so good!  I love getting to know the members out here, they have such amazing conversion stories and love for the gospel!  Also, we had zone interviews this week which is always great and we exchanged afterwords.  I love exchanges, they are amazing!  The sister that came out to Bucksport with me also taught me what I would love to become my new talent.... Beat boxing!!  Yep, I'm not super good at it, but that didn't stop me from trying!  It was so much fun, and it sounds so cool when done well.  When it isn't done well..not so much, but boy it made me happy to try!!

Other happy things that happened this week: 

- We called James on the ship in Michigan and he is doing really well!!  He finished the Book of Mormon and he is starting to read it again :)  He told us that before we met him he already had four copies of the Book of Mormon other people had given him, but he hadn't read them and had no desire to.  Now he told us that this is the perfect time for him to learn and read more in his life.  How cool!!  Also he has completely kept the word of wisdom.  As a sailor all by himself in Michigan, that is so impressive!!  He has withstood the urge to drink coffee and alcohol because he has turned to Jesus Christ.  It is amazing!  He also said he understands the necessity for baptism and he wants to be baptized!  It is super tricky with his work schedule though so we'll see how it will all work out.  Hopefully it can happen in November though! :) 

- The elders in Ellsworth had a baptism on Saturday!  A sister (13) and a brother (11)  whose mom is less-active.  It was the most unique baptism I have ever attended.  Yep.  Lets just say that a cannonball took place in the baptismal font.  Unique is definitely the right word.  But, hooray, this little Ellsworth branch has grown leaps and bounds since I have arrived here!! We have had three new families move in in the past month!! :) Now we just have to find and teach more people to add to the growth!!

I love this gospel and I love being a missionary!!  It is hard.  I'm tired and it can get discouraging at times, but I know that I'm a daughter of God and that all these things that are happening are meant to give me experience!! :)  Prayer, the scriptures, hymns, laughter, all of these are tools that we have been given by God to help us succeed and we just need to use them!!  The Atonement is real and it gives me such great hope!  I am so grateful I have the chance to serve the Lord right here, right now!  It's a miracle :)

It reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures :)  "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.  Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Chrsit, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."  What a great promise! 

Carry on!

Love,

Sister Bergeson :)

Bucksport Miane, Sept. 16, 2013

Hello dear, dear family!!     Sept. 16, 2013

How are you doing?  It feels like it has been forever since I have heard from you!  I just got the letters you wrote on the 2nd today and haven't got the chance to read through them all yet.  I hope that things are great back home!! How are you all enjoying fall?  The leaves are changing a lot more here, and it is just beautiful! :)  It is getting a bit brisk, but nothing too bad so far.  Driving around is amazing looking at all the trees.  I have officially figured out my favorite tree (so far).  Silver Maples.  Sister Wallentine and I were driving and both of us spotted one for the first time and had to turn around and drive by it again to see it!  The leaves are silver and they look like they shine :)  I have never seen a tree like that before, and I just love them!  I can't wait when the leaves are all fully changed!  It will be so wonderful :) :) :)  I love fall so much!!

So I think I may start with the big news first because I just can't wait to tell you all!  We picked up our new companion on Tuesday night, and I had no idea who it could be at all.  I didn't know what to think still about being in a trio, and I was pretty nervous about it all.  Then when we called to pick her up we got to talk to our new comp and find out who she was, and lo and behold it was Sister Fratcher.  Yep, it is most surely the smallest world ever!!  Sister Fratcher went to high school with me and we graduated the same year.  We are also in the same stake.  I still can't believe it!  I didn't think that I would ever be with someone from American Fork, but here we are! :)  It has been pretty cool being in a trio so far.  Although there really isn't that much room in our apartment, we have made it work.  We get along really well so far too! I think it helped a lot that Sister Wallentine and I got along great before she came and joined us :)  I can't even describe how amazing Sister Wallentine is!  I am so grateful that I get the chance to be her companion again.  It is crazy that this is her last transfer though!  She is just the most loving, patient, and selfless person :)  I have learned so much about myself as I have been out here with her, and she has just helped me along every step of the way! 

One of the greatest things that I have learned from Sister Wallentine has been to use the Atonement every day.  When she would first tell me that I was a bit confused. I thought of repenting and repentance everyday, and it just made me feel bad because I knew that I was making mistakes and there was so much room for improvement in my day to day missionary life.  However, we have talked a lot about the Atonement since and I have really liked discussing the definition of the Atonement and Repentance in the Bible dictionary.  It talks about repentance being a turning of the heart to the Savior and aligning your will with His.  I know that I repent each day when I draw nearer to my Redeemer and strive to become more like Him.  I love Jesus Christ.  I know that He loves me and He cares about me.  When I feel burdened and tired I can give it all to Him and he will make my burden light.  I know that I could never be able to be a missionary without my Savior and His Atonement.  He is the center of what I teach.  He is the center of my life.  And it all started because He is at the center of our home.  Thank you mom and dad for teaching me about the gospel!  I know that your examples have shaped my life, and now I am able to be an example to others and help them shape their lives after Christ.  What a wonderful and perfect plan He has!! :) 

Now, as far as teaching that plan to people in this area, it has been a bit slow going still.  We taught Joe twice, and when we teach he has told us that we bring a light into his house and he feels really good.  He started crying in one of the lessons, too but he has just been struggling accepting that there is a God when he can't see the physical evidence of Him.  He wants it to be obvious that He is there, but the spirit doesn't shout, he whispers.  He said that it is easy for him to doubt the soft, quiet feelings that he gets when he prays and listens to us teach the gospel and bear our testimonies.  It is pretty rough sometimes because I really care about him and Kaila and their daughter so much.  They all know that since they have allowed Christ into their lives they have changed, but sometimes it just gets hard because keeping the spirit with you and praying takes work!  It is easy to take a wrong step and then get lazy.  We have been praying for him a lot and praying that Kaila will continue to stay strong.  We have moved his baptism date to Oct. 19th and hope that he will be ready to make that sacred covenant with the Lord on that day!

We have been doing a lot of finding, and so far there has been some good success!!  We have been in the Blue Hill area where people are just so nice and friendly :)  It is like that pretty much everywhere we go too!  People generally are polite on the doorstep and we have even have people come up to us and ask us what religion we are and want to know more.  It is a lot different than I expected, this area is great!  Now we just have to start teaching them :)  What has helped a lot has been the members!  They are such great examples to their friends and neighbors, and we have been getting to know some of their friends and that has really helped us out and we hope to start teaching some of them :)  I also love going to member meals, it is great to be able to be in a home and feel the spirit and really build a relationship with them!  We also went to our branch presidents house and helped him stack his wood which was a new experience, but totally great!  Lots of people heat their homes with wood stoves here (I had to be reminded of what that was when I got out here, haha).  I love this area! It is slowly but surely growing, and there is a lot of fertile soil here :)

Alright, well I better get going, but just know that I love you all so so soo much!!  I am so grateful that we have the gospel and that we are sealed as a family for all time and eternity!  I love my Savior, Jesus Christ and I know that by using the Atonement every day and putting off the natural man we can truly become saints :)

Onward and Upward!

Sister Bergeson :)

Sand Beach Photos Sept. 9, 2013

Bucksport Maine, Sept 9, 2013

Sept. 9, 2013

So today I didn’t get the chance to do a big email.  We got to the library later in the day, then we got kicked off.  I can’t tell you how frustrating it can get emailing at that little library!!  But, hey, at least we get the chance to email!  I can’t imagine having to write a long letter like this (well, we’ll see how long it will actually be) every single week.  But, I guess that it will be a good change.  Hopefully this will only have to happen this once though!  Really.  But, even though it was kinda depressing not being able to email.  I’ve had a super great day!!  We are in a great branch, and one of the members took us sightseeing :)  She picked up Kaila and Autumn and then us, and we headed out to Acadia National Park.  It is so pretty there!!   We went to Sand Beach and stayed for a couple hours.  It was really beautiful to see the rocky cliffs with pine trees right next to the Atlantic Ocean.  I loved it so much!!There were two other sisters who met us at the beach and we all had lunch.  I’m so glad that we got the chance to go! :)

So how have you all been?  Amy and Erin wrote me and it sounds like they are doing well in college!  I still can’t imagine how quiet it must be at home.  I love getting your letters.  I’m glad you all sound happy :)

Hmm – Well, what should I start out with?  The week started out with me going to Waterville to stay with Sister Jensen!!  Boy it is so crazy that I’ve gone on three exchanges with her already!!  I love it so much :)  We have a whole lot of fun together, and this past exchange was one I’ll never forget!  We had an appointment with this guy and we met him at a public park for the lesson.  More than halfway through, the sky started getting a bit darker, but we didn’t really think much of it.  Then a bit later there was a huge flash of lightening and the loudest clap of thunder I’ve ever heard followed.  Then all of a sudden there was a huge downpour!!  We were soaking wet within 2 minutes and we were standing under a tree.  It was crazy!!  We had parked our car about a block away, so we had to run for it.  I’ve never seen rain come down that hard in my entire life!  Definitely not Utah rain.  We were totally drenched when we got into the car, and we just laughed the whole way home.  The gutters in the street turned into small rivers, and it was just way too much fun!! :)  I’m so glad we got to experience that together!  Such a great exchange!! :)

Then, Wednesday we got to be in charge of the YW’s activity :)  We have some stand up girls here in Ellsworth, and I just love them so much.  We had a great time doing a missionary themed activity, and it turned our great!  We each talked about how we decided to go on a mission and bore our testimonies, and answered questions they had for us.  Then we played some games then ended with them writing their testimony in a copy of the Book of Mormon and challenged them to prayerfully find someone to give it to.  They were very involved, which was great, and it was really a testament to me of the strength of youth.  These girls here are so strong and they love the gospel so much.  The work here will really start with them and hopefully they will be an example to the other branch members about member missionary work!  I just love working with the young women!! 

Alright, another story!  We went to a members house, the Keatings’, for a meal, and it was so much fun :)  They went with us to a lesson with James (who has left for 2 months to work on a ship, but called us and let us know like yesterday that he is reading the BoM regularly and has been keeping the word or wisdom!! Hooray! :) )  While they were leaving, James gave them some moose meat because he is a big hunter.    The Keatings then invited us over to try some so we did.  I actually have eaten a moose!  It was pretty weird to think about, but it didn’t taste too different.  I can’t say that it was the greatest thing I have ever tried though.  Then we went outside and they got their campfire going and we had smores.  It was fantastic :)  I love being able to be around members in their homes.  There is such a great spirit there  :)

Update on Kaila:  She was sick for two weeks, so we didn’t really have much contact with her.  But when we did she seemed dis-heartened and we didn’t really know what to do.  So, last week we really prayed and made a good lesson plan before we got there, and it was amazing!  We talked about the Spirit and it was exactly what she needed to hear.  It’s hard being sick, and she hadn’t read her scriptures for a bit and she was feeling gloomy.  However, she told us how the day before we came she had this really cool dream about her reading the scriptures and praying every day and getting better,  then her reading the scriptures to other people.  She told us how the Book of Mormon really does make a huge difference in her day-to-day life.  We talked about the different ways the Spirit works with us too.  She has always described the Spirit as being a feeling of butterflies in her stomach. Which it is.  But there are so many other ways the Spirit can influence us!  In Preach My Gospel, it lists many ways we can recognize the Spirit, and there is a quote that talks about how any thoughts that comes to mind that inspires us to do something good is from the Spirit.  Recognizing the Spirit is hard to do all the time.  I always feel like I’m second guessing myself, and Kaila said that she has been doing that too.  But, the Spirit works behind the scenes.  It’s not loud and certainly not always easy to recognize, but it is good to know that if I am living a righteous life, the Spirit will always be with me.  I know that the Holy Ghost has played such a large role in my life as I’ve been serving a mission.  If I don’t have the Spirit, I can’t teach.  I’ve felt the influence of the Spirit more here and now than I have my whole life.  I’m not perfect at recognizing and acting on promptings, but I’m getting better, and doing the best that I can, and that is all that I can do.  And that is good enough!  I’m so grateful that I have the opportunity to have the Holy Ghost as my constant companion.  It is such a wonderful gift!  Through the Spirit I have been able to feel more love for another than I've ever felt.  I’ve been able to teach, and I’ve felt the witness that this Church is true!!  It is great to see Kaila recognize the difference that the Holy Ghost has made in her life too.  I just love her so much!  And she is doing so well!  Last Sunday her husband Joe came to church the whole three hours!  It was so great!!  It was amazing seeing the whole family there  :)

Alright, so last but not least I have some news regarding transfer calls.  I was nervous about them because I really didn’t want things to change, but I kinda knew they would.  Boy, there certainly will be!  Around nine at night we got a call telling us that…  Sister Wallentine and I will stay here, but we will be adding another sister to our companionship!  Wow.  It was so unexpected!  A trio!!  I never would have guessed.    I still don’t even know what to think!  Sister Wallentine and I get along really, really well, but it will be weird with another sister who we don’t know at all.  I’m way excited though!  The change will definitely be good, and will give me more experience.  And help me grow!  But yup.  Not expected.  We’ll have to have everything ready for her here by tomorrow when we go to pick her up.  It’s weird not knowing who she is, but I know that it will all work out well if we focus on the reason we are all out here  :)

It’s been a crazy, crazy week, but it has been amazing!  I’m so grateful that I get to spend another 6 weeks in this beautiful area with Sister Wallentine (it’s her last transfer :(  )!  I’ll let you know how the trio is when I write you next week!  I’ll hope and pray that things will go well with this emailing situation!

Love you so much and have a great week!  Never stop striving to recognize the Spirit, and always act on promptings you receive! :)

Love,

Sister Bergeson