April 14, 2014 Bethel, Maine

The Worth of Souls is Great!

Family, family!!!!                             April 14, 2014

Hey, so I hope that you all had a fantastic spring break!!  (I'm pretty sure that it was spring break for you right?)  I haven't got your letters yet, so I might be false.  Anyways, I saw the pictures of you at the Women's Meeting and the trees look so beautiful and springy!  The grass looks green and there are flowers.  It is nice to look at things like that!!  This mud season really isn't that bad here though!!!! :)  Which is SUCH a blessing!! It is definitely the not prettiest season here though.  But, the snow is totally melting!!  Hooray!  The snow banks are shrinking so much, it is fantastic!  We even got almost 60 degree weather here!! I've officially ditched my sleeping bag coat!  So, yes, spring is coming and getting a little bit closer every day! :) 

But, enough about the weather, I've got to make sure that I tell ya about the week!  Boy it sure has been busy here in Oxford!!  Monday we had a great visit with Arleen who has stopped smoking, she is wonderful!!  We taught Adan as well and he was just excited as ever to be baptized.  Then, Tuesday was kinda up and down for me.  We didn't have a whole bunch of stuff planned, except Andrea in the morning.  I have a hard time teaching Andrea most of the time.  She has pretty bad ADHD and I totally love her, but she doesn't focus, like at all.  Therefore, discouragement.  I just don't know exactly what I can do to help her.  So, yep, a bit of a rough start there.  We did find a new investigator, who is super open about religion.  She's had some interesting experiences, and she was a Quaker and a Shaker.  Not a dull moment with her!  After that though we had a big hunk of time to fill.  That doesn't' happen super often in this area, so it was kinda weird, and we decided that we would tract.  Tracting isn't my most favorite thing, but we did it for two hours.  And.....of course, the very last house that we knocked, we found a super solid potential investigator.  So, even though I didn't really have a super strong desire to do it at first, we were super happy with the result.  Just one person really wanted to listen to us, but still, ONE PERSON WANTED TO LISTEN TO US!! :)  Everything worked out exactly how it needed to, and I most certainly learned from it and was much happier afterwards!  

Wednesday and Thursday were super busy because we had district meeting get changed to Wednesday and a Sister's Meeting on Thursday.  We have two new members of our district, which isn't super much of a change.  All of the areas in our district are doing really well right now, which is super awesome!!  Our new district leader is also really dedicated and our new motto for the transfer is "to infinity and beyond!" which I think will be super great! :)  After district meeting we had a lesson with Jessica, and she is great, but isn't doing very well with keeping her commitments.  She really wants to get baptized, but she isn't putting the work into it.  We're really trying to figure out what we want to do to help her, so we'll see how things end up going.  Alright, so Sisters Meeting...Awesome!!!  Half of the sisters in the mission got together for a super spiritual day!  I feel like it was a super big answer to prayer!  Sometimes Satan tries to sneak up on me and tell me that I'm not doing a good enough job, and it can be pretty easy to believe him.  It's sad, but I can totally see why we can get caught in his trap without really even noticing it.  I just hadn't really been happy with everything I was trying to do the beginning of the week, and it totally took a bit of a toll on me.  Luckily I'm not alone.  I have my Savior to help me, but also my companion.  Boy do I just love Sister May!! She is so wonderful and she has been great and helped me out so much!  So it was great to be able to go the sisters meeting and hear all about how we can be happy, serve the Lord more, and love ourselves more.  It was great!!  The speakers were totally inspired!  I know that no matter what God loves me personally.  I am His Daughter.  I know that with that knowledge l can overcome anything that Satan tries to throw at me!  Also, some other cool events that happened at the meeting was that Sister May and I did a musical number.  I was kinda nervous, but it all worked out.  It is such a blessing for me to be able to tackle fears in so many different ways on a mission! :)  Also.....I got to see Sister Tabitha Sumsion!!!!!!!!!  Finally! :)  After more than 10 months!  It was pretty awesome! I just love her, and I still can't believe that we're able to serve in the same mission! :)  There was also two other people from American Fork there!  Sister Fratcher, and a member of the Portland ward who moved up to Maine several months ago.  It was pretty special :)

The next day was pretty much a blur.  Why?  Well.... ADAN GOT BAPTIZED!!!  Even though Luis wasn't able to come because of work (..sad), they decided he would get baptized anyways.  It was such a great day!!! :)  We went over baptism covenants the day before and he had been reading the scriptures a lot and was just so ready to make this big step.  I really think that he needed that extra week to prepare.  It all happens in the Lord's timing, and everything worked out! :)  The speakers gave their talks in Spanish and everything worked out with the Skype, so Adan's mom and aunt were able to see and understand the whole thing.  It was really cool, and even though I couldn't understand a thing, the spirit was there very strong.  We also got to play our musical number at it too :)  Overall, it was great!  Adan is such a great example to me, and I just feel so blessed that we've been able to teach him and see him make this important step!!  He was confirmed yesterday and his confirmation blessing was so powerful!  It hinted at the decision of a mission, which I haven't really thought about a whole lot.  Either way he is being a missionary by being an example to his peers at high school and his family.  Another cool thing though.  He is planning on going to youth conference, and their theme will be "mission possible" :)  It is just pretty exciting!! :) 

Sunday we were able to find another new investigator!! :)  Her name is Doris and she is 90 years old.  She is so sweet and spunky! :)  I just love her!  We visited her before, but this time she had questions about the church.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that she would read it!  Even though it would be very difficult for her to go to church or be baptized, it is amazing to see God's timing in everything.  He loves everyone and wants them to have the gospel, no matter where they are in life!  Another witness to me of how personal God is. 

I know that I am where I am in life for a reason.  The experiences and trials I have are exactly what I need to come closer to Christ.  Everything happens the way that God needs it to happen and if I allow Him to help me along the way everything I go through will be for my good.  I have a strong testimony that God loves his children.  No matter what!  It is such a blessing to serve others and show my love to God as well :) 

I love you so much!  I'm so grateful for you and for your examples to me!!  Have a great week and...

Be your best self!

Sister Bergeson :)