Peace, Be Still
Dear
Family, Nov. 25,
2013
I hope that you have all had a great week!! This has been
quite the crazy one for me. Hopefully I'll have enough time to tell you
about it! I guess I'll get right to it then! :)
So, Monday we had FHE with Tracy and Izzy again, and we made
sock snowmen. It is so much fun to have a craft night with them. I
feel like it has helped us get to know them so much better. I love doing
family home evening!! :) It is great! :) Then that night we went on
an exchange. I went to Brewer, and although pretty much everything fell
through we had a lot of fun. They have this amazing new investigator who
is so golden that it is crazy! I love teaching people who are so interested
and eager to learn anything and everything that they can about the
gospel. It is amazing, and I just feel so amazing to be able to share it
with them :) Although it was sad not being able to stay here and teach
our investigators. Exchanges can be pretty bittersweet sometimes, but I
absolutely love them!! :) The sisters that are in my zone are fantastic!!
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were pretty routine.
Not much to report, except for the fact that we got the most amazing phone call
I have ever received Friday morning. Our investigator, Valerie, called us
to tell us about her experience with the Jehovah Witnesses. They had been
coming regularly and she had tried to tell them to stop coming in the past, but
that morning she was a bit more bold with them. She said she flat out
told them that she is going to be baptized into the Mormon church. That
crazy moment when your investigator calls you and tells you that she is going
to be baptized. I would have never guessed. It is really exciting!
I love Valerie so much, teaching her is great!! :) We will definitely
have to get a baptism date for her soon!! While I'm talking about
baptismal dates, James is still set for December 4th, and oh, there is another
cool thing that I forgot to mention. On Thursday, his mom invited us over
while he was out on his hunting trip. She and her sister had a couple of
questions for us. Pretty basic. They pretty much wanted to have a
basic overview of the church. We had a great talk, and they were so nice.
Before we left we sang them I am a Child of God, and the spirit was there so
strong! They were both crying, and it was amazing to see the spirit touch
their hearts! They will both be at the baptism with their husbands and
James's parents are going to be at a pie night activity we are having on
Tuesday!! :) Great things are happening! :) It is amazing!
So, now maybe I'll get into the not so great. Saturday
was one of the craziest days of my mission experience to date. We were
following the daily schedule and were just finishing up with our companion
scripture study when we heard a loud bang. Our whole house shook.
We had absolutely no idea what happened, but I was thinking it could have been
some sort of earthquake or lightening bolt. We ran upstairs to see what
could have happened, and upon our arrival we beheld a hole in our
ceiling. The sheet rock had caved in and it was quite the mess right
above Sister Bickel's bed. A tree (another part of the tree that fell in
July/August time) fell on our apartment due to the harsh winds. From
there I don't even know how to explain what happened. We called so many
people we had people calling us our neighbors were over to see what happened,
our landlord came with a carpenter, and overall, we were informed that no
matter what, we would not be sleeping in our apartment that night. Maybe
not even for a couple weeks. The whole ceiling needs to be fixed.
So, we hurriedly threw some things into suitcases and hurried out of
there. I would never have guessed I'd have the opportunity to experience
homelessness while on a mission! Quite the adventure. I'm pretty
sure I'll do everything I can to avoid that when I get home. But really,
the world adventure doesn't begin to describe everything. We decided that
we would go and help a member move like we had planned, and after we headed to
the branch president's house in Sedgewick. He was nice enough to provide
a roof over our head and feed us food. It was a pretty humbling
experience, that's for sure. His daughters gave up their beds, and we
just tried to wrap our heads around what just happened. The next day was
just as stressful. I was so exhausted, and there was so much I needed to
do, but I kinda felt in a fog. We had branch council, and that just
wasn't very good at all. Pretty contentious, sadly. Then, we went
back to President Dauk's house, ate lunch, then headed to a less-active
member's house to visit. While we were there, her power went out. I
was sad that our visit had to be cut short, but that was how it was. It
was so windy and cold. 0 degrees with the wind chill...brrrr!! When
we arrived back at the Dauk"s we were informed that their basement had
some flooding because one of their pipes froze. Then, after dinner, a
tree fell on their power line and the power and running water shut off.
I'm pretty sure that we have become bad luck or something. It has all
just been crazy and stressful and not easy. In the midst of all of this,
I may or may not have needed a break and I put it off too long because it came
to a point where I didn't really feel like I could function. I felt so
alone and helpless. I didn't know what to do. Through the midst of
all of my emotions the thought came to just pray. Boy can I tell you I
prayed and prayed! I poured out my heart to my Heavenly Father and asked
for strength and comfort, and I felt so good afterwords! The scripture
comes to mind, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10).
I know that God is always there. He knows me perfectly and loves
me!! I could feel his love for me this weekend so strongly as I came to
Him and pleaded for help. He listens and answers prayers. He
cares. We just need to take the time to be still. In life it may
feel like a tempest is raging, but the Master is in control of all, and we can
have peace if we turn to Him. (See Hymn 105 :))
I am so
grateful for everything I have. I'm grateful for the members! We
are going to be back in Bucksport and living with members here
temporarily. We are continuing to pray that everything will work out
fine, and I know that it will go according to God's plan :) I know that
this all happened for a reason. I've learned so much! I'll continue
to learn so much! And I'll keep moving forward in faith :) I'm so
grateful for all of you back home. I love you so much and I hope that you
have a fantastic Thanksgiving!! :)
Count your many blessings!
Sister Bergeson :)
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