Monday, March 31, 2014
March 31, 2014 Bethal Maine
United
we Stand
Hey fam! March 31,2014
I hope that you have all had a
wonderful week of spring over there! Our spring is looking a little bit
on the snowy side still, but hey, it has been melting a bit! Well,
actually a lot. One thing that I have been informed of is that Maine has
a fifth season. It is called- mud season. Boy do I believe it!
Already after having one warm day there were HUGE puddles in the
road. The members told us to expect a lot of
flooding. The road that we live on gets flooded a lot I guess
and so does the road that we regularly travel to get to members and
investigators. That should be pretty exciting! We'll see how
it all goes. But, at this point I'll be happy to get that instead
of snow :)
So, where to begin with this past
week? It was pretty crazy! We started it out by teaching our
investigator Arleen the stop smoking program. It went really well.
I love her so much and she is so strong! She seemed pretty hesitant about
it all at first, but by the end she was more determined. It has been
really cool to see her through the week and talk about how she is doing and how
much she is relying on the Lord to do it, even though it is hard. She did
have one cig once, but she rededicated herself to stopping again, so we keep on
praying for her and keeping in regular contact with her. Sister Lilly has
also been such a huge help with all of this. She is one of the best
member missionaries ever. She is always working with people and sharing
the gospel with them bit by bit. It is amazing to see! The examples
of the members out here have changed me so much! I'm so blessed to have
been able to serve in the greatest ward and branch out here!! :)
The excitement has also been
building and building for... ADAN'S BAPTISM!! He is doing amazing!!
We were able to have a great lesson with him about baptism and confirmation and
he had a great interview on Thursday! He has a lot of support from his
aunt and uncle, Sheny and Luis, and we're all so happy that it is coming up
soon! :) He had practically no religious background before we started
teaching him, and it has been great to see how much the gospel has truly
blessed him! I'm so grateful that I've got to be apart of his conversion!
:)
The rest in-between has been pretty
crazy! We keep quite busy, it is great!! We went to Rumford which
was great. We had a lesson with Michael, and helped brighten his spirits-he
hasn't been doing super great, but he hasn't given up hope! District Meeting
was amazing! All about teaching others about Easter. Easter!!
I can't believe that it is coming up, I am so excited!! We were able to
go on exchange with our sister training leaders, which was great! I love
exchanges! I stayed in Oxford with Sister Davis, a sister that was is my
first zone. I love her so much, and we had a great time and got a lot of
good things done! And then, to top it all off- The General Women's
Meeting!! I felt the spirit so strongly! The music and words
were so touching! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to hear from our inspired
leaders!
I loved the themes of unity and
covenant-keeping throughout the meeting! I feel like it was exactly what
I needed to hear. I've been thinking a lot about service and helping
others along the path. Breaking down barriers and looking outside myself
is something that I have continually been working on and it is quite
the process. Very up and down, but I've been seeing growth the
more I try to stick with it. I'm just so glad that Heavenly Father
doesn't leave us down here to do everything alone. We are
all brothers and sisters and we can strengthen and lift each other closer
to Christ. I have definitely seen that as I think about the
relationship that we have as a family. I have also seen that with my
companions! I'm so grateful for companions!! I've really learned
the importance of being open and honest and how crucial it is to rely
on each other! The more united we are the better we teach and serve and
everything else because the spirit is there :) I especially love teaching
with Sister May! It has been amazing! We both care and love
the people that we have the opportunity to share the gospel with and uplift,
and we work together :) I'm just so grateful for the opportunity that I
have to serve and teach! It has been a blessing as I have been able to
see the ward become even more united as new members join! That is exactly
how it should be! :) The more the merrier! The principles of the
gospel are so true! I just love it so much!
Also, I am soooooooooooo
excited for General Conference!! I can hardly wait! I've been
studying past conference talks in preparation and I know that those who speak
are inspired of God. I'm also grateful for the chance we have to invite
others to watch as well and feel uplifted and strengthened!
I hope that you have a fantastic
week and have a fantastic conference weekend!! I love you so, so much!
"Behold, how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren (and sisters! :)) to dwell together in unity!"
(Psalms 133:1)
Sister Bergeson :)
March 26, 2014 Bethel, Maine
Lord, I
would Follow Thee
Hey Hey
Family!
March 26, 2014
I hope you
all had a fantastic week! I got your
letters and wow! Shorts and flowers? That is quite the opposite of what we are
experiencing here in Maine! This has
been a very long winter, and even though it can be pretty, I wouldn’t mind a
change of scenery. And temperature.
So this week
has pretty much been a blur. It’s been
busy and I can hardly remember everything that has happened. District P-Day was great! We played Mystic Wood again :) Then we had a lesson with Arleen (we’re
teaching her the stop smoking program today) and she’s been progressing
well. We also had a great lesson with
Sheny and Luis. I love that Guatemalan
family!! They are great! Luis had read 40 chapters in a day from the
Book of Mormon, which was awesome! He
still has some reservations about being baptized right now, but he’ll get
there! Tuesday, we went and volunteered
at a food pantry, then we dropped our car off at the body shop in Norway. Our poor car had a cracked bumper that needed
to be fixed. We don’t know how it
happened, but it’s been cracked for a while and we finally got the go ahead to
get it repaired. It was sad though. We pretty much felt homeless. We drive so much we practically live in
it. Thankfully we have amazing ward
members here who drove us around and helped us out! They are great! Wednesday we had a lesson with Michael. He is amazing! His health isn’t very good, which is sad, but
he really has a desire to learn and change!!
We also helped someone move, had a great lesson with a determined
less-active who just needs a bit of motivation to get back into coming to
church, and had a lesson with Jessica, our 13 yr. old investigator who really
wants to be baptized :) After that, we
went to the YW fundraiser dinner and talent show. Sister May accompanied me on the violin and
we played a hymn for it. It was
fun! Such a great, busy day!
The next day
we got hit with a huge storm. Had we
have had the car, it would have been grounded.
I still just can’t believe the amount of snow we have! Crazy.
We were able to get out and contact a couple people down the road
though. So that was great!
Friday we
had district meeting and the ride down there was pretty crazy. The GPS tried to take the Elders down this
one short-cut road that didn’t go through.
The road wasn’t plowed. The roads
here seem to have a lot of dead ends. On
the way though they totally lost the undercarriage of their car. This is the third car they have done some
damage to. The weather really isn’t
liking the mission vehicles it would seem.
District meeting was great, and on the way back, we picked up our car!! Yay!
Later, we had a lesson with Adan.
He is doing great and things are working out for his baptism on April 4th
:) We are all very excited!!
Saturday we
went from appointment to appointment, and Sunday we were able to set a
baptismal date with Jessica for April 19th!! :) Easter weekend! We also had dinner with the Lilly’s and a
movie night with the Rodriguez’s.
Overall, it
was a really wonderful week!! Sister May
and I have a good time and we both love missionary work :) I’m really grateful I get to be with her
because I’ve learned a lot from her. One
day we had a conversation that really got me thinking. We talked about not judging people, and it is
weird because in my studies that has kind of been a theme. (I’m reading about Christ’s trial in Matt.
27.) I read in Alma 32 about the humble
people who were cast out and who came to Alma wanting to know what to do. They were judged by their apparel and how
poor they were. However, it was because of that their hearts
were opened to the truth. As a
missionary especially I’m learning, and will continue to learn it’s important
to talk to everyone, no matter how they look, etc. It’s not up to me to judge who will or who
won’t accept the gospel. Judging in
general is something I’ve been trying to work on. In Sacrament Meeting yesterday we sang a
great hymn, #220. It says “Who am I to
judge another when I walk imperfectly?”
It really hit me. I need to be
better at looking outside myself, and stop comparing. The Savior is a perfect judge. He looks on the heart! (1 Sam. 16:7)
I need to make sure that I’m doing my part to love and serve everyone no
matter what, and don’t judge them. The Savior
is the perfect example of self-less service.
One of my favorite scriptures recently is Matt. 20:25-28. Part of it says, “Whosoever will be chief
among you, let him be your servant: Even
as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give
his life a ransom for many.” I need to
be better at constantly looking for ways to serve others and I’m grateful that
I’ve been able to work on it on my mission!
I’ve learned so much and it feels so good to help other people! I have such a strong desire to keep doing
so! The last verse of the hymn I talked
about sums up my feelings pretty well :”Savior, may I love my brother as I know
thou lovest me, Find in Thee my strength, my beacon, For they servant I would
be. Savior, may I love my brother –
Lord, I would follow Thee.”
I’m grateful
for mu Savior and for everything I’ve been learning about Him as I read the
scriptures! I’m grateful for the chance
I have to serve my brothers and sisters in Maine and the Lord! I love them so much! I love you so much too family and I hope you
have a wonderful week!!
1 John 3:16-19
Sister Bergeson :)
Monday, March 17, 2014
March 17, 2014 Bethel, Maine
You
can't get there from here :)
Dear Family!! March 17,
2014
I hope that you are all doing well!!
I've heard that there is nice weather there in Utah. I thought that
it was finally starting to warm up here too, but well. That isn't really
how things work in Maine it seems like. We got hit with a huge, huge,
huge storm. Like, 2 feet of snow. It was insane. This whole
week was just a bunch of business and craziness! So, Wednesday the snow
started coming down really hard, but luckily we still got to meet with some
people before we got grounded. We weren't allowed to drive the car on
Thursday because the schools were closed and even if they weren't we wouldn't
have been able to drive. We have a driveway that is one tenth of a mile
long and a whole bunch of trees decided that they wanted to lay right down over
it. It was a feat just darting the trees to walk to the main road.
Way exciting! We had a good time, and I don't think I've ever seen
a scene that has looked more like Narnia in my life. Beautiful and
snowy!! :)
But, luckily, even though our
landlord and bishop (our only neighbors) were in Utah, they called someone to
come and move the trees out of the way so we could drive to Augusta for zone
interviews! I love zone interviews :) They are awesome. We
have a fantastic mission president! The next day we had the adult stake
conference session in Topsham which was amazing!! All about missionary
work! Totally boosted me up! :) And then the next day we had
conference in Westbrook by Portland Maine. Now we are going to go to
Auburn for district p-day today. If you can look these places up on Google
Maps or something you will see that we have done soooooooo much travelling the
past couple of days. I've never spent so much time in a car in my life
than on my mission. But, I am so grateful for those things!! I
don't know how we would be able to survive here in New England without them!
As far as our investigators go, they
are doing well. We had really good lessons yesterday. My testimony
of following the spirit to teach people instead of lessons has totally been
strengthened! We taught The McLarens, a wonderful less-active couple who
I just LOVE, and were able to address some of their concerns, and we were also
able to teach Luis and Sheny. Luis's lesson was totally inspired and the
spirit was so strong! We'll keep on teaching and testifying! Overall,
the lessons that we were able to have were very good, and I am just so grateful
for all the wonderful people I get to teach and my awesome companion I get to
teach with!! :)
Alright, well, because we have to go
to district p-day I don't have a lot of time, but I do want to say that I
finished the missionary chapters of the Book of Mormon :) Alma 17-28!! :)
They are soooo good!! :) I love being able to learn from the
examples of such amazing missionaries! The Book of Mormon is such a
blessing!! I am so grateful for it and for the influence it has in my life!
Love you so much and have an amazing
week!!
Sister Bergeson
P.S. The title of this email is
totally what Mainers love to say (in their great accents of course!) :)
Monday, March 10, 2014
Pictures March 10, 2014
March 10, 2014 Bethel, Maine
Halfway
and Birthday :)
Family!! March 10, 2014
I hope that you have had a totally
fantastic week!! This one has been way busy for us here, but it was
really great! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by though!
It was a landmark week, that is for sure! :)
But first I want to tell you more about
one of our investigators! His name is Michael, and he is amazing.
He is 65 years old and has been through so much in his life. We have been
teaching him for a while and he has been slowly progressing. His
understanding of the Book of Mormon has grown and we read it over the phone
with him every week. It is amazing to hear how the words of God effect
him. This week we read in 1 Nephi 19 and it talks about Laman and Lemuel
living in the past. He feels like he lives in the past and sometimes I do
as well. It was great to be able to learn and grow from him. The
next day we were able to teach him the Word of Wisdom. His life has been
really rough. He started drinking and smoking under the age of 6. I
still can't believe it. He has quit drinking, but he really wants to quit
smoking, and I'm so grateful that we have the chance to try to help him!
We have been using members a lot. We have a member that comes with us to
every lesson, and she invited him to a ward activity that we had. Karaoke
night, quite fun :) I just really love teaching him because the
determination he has to be better. He loves God and I'm just so grateful
for his example to me. It seems that everyone that I have had the
privilege of teaching has taught me so much! What a blessing!!
Alright, so March 5th was my halfway
mark. I really can't even believe it! More than 9 months serving in
Maine! It has been filled with peaks and valleys, but overall the ride
has been the best I've ever taken!! We were able to volunteer at the historical
society here in Bethel that day and we got to hold a sword that was used in the
revolutionary war. That was really awesome!! It was amazing to
think that someone so long ago was using it, I wonder whose it was and the
story behind that sword. It was just really cool! It was a great
day!
The next day was great as
well!! It was my birthday!! :) I really can't even believe that I
am 21. Nope. Not at all. It has just gone by so fast!
So, that day we had our district meeting which was really good. I love
district meetings and everything that I learn from them! During lunch the
elders brought out a cake for me and they all sang me happy birthday :)
It was really nice, and amazing cake too!! I don't know how to spell it,
but it is something like thres leches (three milks in English). It was
great! Then we explored a town in our area that I'd never worked in
before, which was good. We did have a bit of a bit of a hang up with our
phone though. It was dropped and I guess there was a glitch in it because
it wouldn't let us call people, which isn't very helpful as a missionary.
But we were able to call using a member's phone and get a replacement on the
way. So, for dinner Brother Hathaway, probably the sweetest old man ever,
took us out to dinner at this super delicious restaurant!! :) It was
really nice of him!! After that we had two lessons, the last with Adan
and Sheny. It went really well and after, Sheny brought out a cake!
Thres Leches! :) It really is such great cake, and I thought it was
pretty crazy that I had two of them in one day!! They are so nice, I just
love them! :) After, we went home and planned then I opened the packages
you sent :) Thank you so much I love the gifts, they are perfect!!
:) I especially loved hearing the recording of you singing happy birthday
to me! It totally topped off a wonderful day! :)
The next day was really busy with
weekly planning, but miracle! Our phone started working again!! :)
Hooray!! Now what to do with the replacement when it comes... Anyways, we
went to karaoke night, which was good because we wouldn't really of had
anywhere else to go because I kind of locked us out of the apartment.
Whoops... But now we have a spare, so maybe it was more of a blessing in
disguise. :)
Saturday was booked from beginning
to end, and we had good lessons and a great member meal!
Overall, this week was great!
:) A highlight of my studies was probably a talk I read called Look Ahead
and Believe by Elder Dube from the past conference. It was perfect!
Sometimes it is easy for me to look back and think about everything that I have
been able to do on my mission. It has been hard but wonderful! But
I love the council Elder Dube gives. He points out that it is much more important
to look ahead at what we still have to do. I know that I need to make
sure that I give my all and never start to live in the past. Like Elder
Holland says, "faith is always pointed toward the future." I
have loved my mission so far, it has been incredible, but I know that I need to
look ahead at what I still have to do. I still have been blessed with 9
more months of full-time service in the Lord's vineyard and I need to use it to
the fullest! I don't know where those future months will take me, but I know
that it will all be exactly what I need to grow closer to the Savior.
What a great week! :)
Well, again, I just love you all so much! I'm so grateful for you, and I
hope that you enjoy the coming week!!
Keep moving forward!
Sister Bergeson :)
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