Be
One
Hello
dear, dear family!! :) April 28, 2014
I loved getting your letters this week and it seems
like you've been having a great and busy time way over there in Utah! :)
Here it has been another busy week as well! As far as weather, I am
soo ready for spring! I can just feel it though; it is right around the
corner! The grass is growing and there are a couple flowers here and
there, but the trees still look dead. It is warmer though, and we’ve
actually been running a lot!! Dad Amy and Erin, I’ve been inspired by you
from many miles away!! J It also helps to have a runner as a companion. It is very wet,
but we haven’t had any more flooding luckily! Good thing too, because
driving through a river is not something that I want to experience again!
Ok, so I seriously don’t even know where to start. It is
such a blur, especially on Mondays for some reason. So, last week we just had a
lot of miracles. It was amazing!! First, it all started off with
our companionship. Monday we had our comp
inventory (it kinda got pushed back and back), and boy those things are just so
great!! It is such an awesome time that is set apart to come together and
help each other. I feel like my weaknesses have been standing out to me
now than they have ever been before. It is discouraging and frustrating
sometimes, but well, that is why the scriptures counsel to have patience.
Not easy, but down the road I’m pretty sure it will be worth it. I’m just
so grateful for Sister May! She does so much for me and she helps me as I
try to do better and become more of who the Savior would have me be. It
was just a great way to start out the week! It certainly helped us become
even more united!
Another huge miracle was our investigator Katy. It has
been incredible!! She noticed the first time we met with her that we have
a love that she wants so much to have but doesn’t know how to get it. She
has so many questions and she has tried to many different religions to get the
answers. She has been a Quaker and a Shaker and a Catholic and on and
on. She is so sincere and has such a strong belief in God, but she is
still so confused. We were able to teach her two times last week, the
first time with Sheny, a recent convert. We have really been trying to
get as many investigators at our lessons as possible, and it has been super
sweet!! It was the first time that she had been teaching with us and it
was soooo powerful! The spirit was very strong and it was just amazing to
see Katy feel it J She was very touched and so was Sheny. We really
did all learn and grow together! Katy called us later on in the week and
decided that she wanted to come to church with us, and also had some questions
and wanted us to come have another lesson with her as soon as possible.
She is very interested in the Plan on Salvation, especially the
resurrection. It was great being able to use the Book of Mormon to answer
her questions, and she was excited to come to church to see what it is
like. So, Katy is someone who goes to as many church meetings of all
kinds throughout the week to try to get as close to God as possible, so when
she heard our meetings are three hours she was super happy. She came to
Sacrament Meeting, and it was just an insanely amazing meeting!
Awesome! The spirit was so strong. We have some incredible and
strong youth and one of them bore his testimony and it was very powerful.
Then the Bishop spoke about finding peace and happiness through the Savior and
a member of the Stake Presidency spoke about missionary work (if you haven’t
already guessed it was Ward Conference). I loved it so much and Katy
really seemed like she did too. It was interesting though because she
said that she was going to have to go home and meditate and think about
everything she learned because it was so much and she didn’t want to forget
anything. She said she had a lot of questions and that she liked the
meeting. I hope and pray that she felt the spirit and heard with her mind
and heart the divine truths that were being taught. The experience
teaching Katy has been such a testimony builder for me. I know that the
fullness of the truth has been restored and is taught in this church!!
There is no need for me to be confused because of so many different
religions! I am grateful that we can show that to Katy as well!!
Miracle three is a pretty big one. Adan our very recent
convert had the experience to go to youth conference last week. He had no
idea what it was going to be like at all, but he decided that he wanted to go
and see. The conference combined the Augusta and the Bangor Stakes youth,
so pretty much all youth in the state of Maine over 14 years old were
invited. Pretty neat!! J We were way excited too because it was all
about missionary work!! So, he came back on Saturday
and we went over to see them and got to talk to him about it. (Side note:
we were there for an after-birthday party for Sheny and Luis’s super cute
girl. There were a bunch of Latino people there who didn’t speak English,
but they were just super super nice and funny!!! It was such a blast! We
ate some super ethnic food which was delicious, drank hibiscus juice made from
the flower and pretty much played charades trying to talk to the people
there. Guatemalan’s sure do know how to throw a party!!) So, Adan
just couldn’t stop talking about how AMAZING it was!! He loved every
minute of it! He made a whole lot of friends and he learned a lot from
the sessions they did. He told us that he bore his testimony twice while
he was there, and he felt the spirit really strong! I’m so glad that he
went!! We talked to his leaders about him and they said the whole time he
was doing all he could to include people who were shy and reach out to
wallflowers at the dances and just bring happiness to everyone around
him. They said that he was such a great example! On
Sunday he talked to the Bishop about getting the Aaronic Priesthood and
a member of the stake presidency also talked to him. They were talking to
all the potential missionaries! J The elders told us that
they talked to him and that he said he was thinking more about going on a
mission. He isn’t sure, but he definitely knows that it is an
option. Wow. It is so cool to look back and see where he
started. It is a miracle to see how far he has come!
Next it was a miracle in disguise. On
Friday night we got a text from Bishop asking if we would do a musical
number for ward conference. We (umm..well…I) kinda panicked because I gave the
violin back to the member, so pretty much the only option was to sing.
Singing a special musical number in church is not something that was ever on my
bucket list. We enlisted the help of the Elders and decided to sing
called to serve with our special mission third verse. Saturday
and Sunday morning I was super nervous, but we did
it!! It was really neat because once I got to the pulpit and looked out
at everyone I love, I wasn’t nervous anymore. I decided to smile the whole time
I sang, which wasn’t too hard, and it was actually really great! J
I’m so glad that we had that opportunity and I got the chance to conquer a fear!
So, the last miracle I want to write about comes from my
scripture study. I’ve been in the war chapters of Alma and I just LOVE
them!!!! It has been so neat to be able to personalize them to myself
right here, right now!! I love Alma chapter 51, especially verses
1-23. The Nephites are experiencing a time of peace until contention and
anger rise because of the pride of the king-men. A division occurs and
overall, the Nephites end up getting run out by the Lamanites. It took
too long to settle the division within themselves and they didn’t have enough
time to prepare to fight against the Lamanites. What a great way to teach
the importance of humility and unity. I know that when I’m one with
myself and God, with myself and my companion, and on and on I am much stronger
than I am when I’m divided! The Lord taught us there is to be one fold
and one shepherd and also “be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.”
(D&C 38:27). I’m so grateful for the scriptures and the chance I have
to study them and apply them to my life. We were also able to share this
in a lesson and it was incredible how much they needed this message. My
testimony of the Book of Mormon is strengthened so much when I liken it to
myself and share insights with others.
Overall, this week was just great!! So much to write and I
feel I hardly covered anything! Being a missionary is amazing! I am
so grateful for this opportunity to be able to serve and unify myself with
everything the Lord has taught as well as with others. I love you all so
much and I hope that you have another amazing week!!
Love one another!
Sister Bergeson J
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