Drop
by Drop
Hey family!! :) May 5, 2014
I hope that this past week treated
you well!! I can't believe that it is Monday again! It really just
goes by so fast. Crazy! Congratulations on finishing your fist
semester of college, Amy and Erin!! :) Can't hardly believe it! Now
off to New York! You will love it so much!! The east is where it's
at!! :) Most definitely! Also, I just have to say that I'm SO
excited to Skype you on Mother's Day! :)
This week has been pretty
great! I've learned a lot and felt so uplifted! It has had it's ups
and downs, but overall, fantastic!! We've really been able to do lots of stuff
with members and strengthen our relationship with them. I love this ward
so much, it really feels like coming home every Sunday. They are super
open and friendly and it is so great to see how they fellowship anyone and
everyone who walks in the doors. They rely so much on each other and they
sincerely care and love everyone. They aren't perfect by any means, but
no one is! They just do the best they can :) I just love the members
here!!
On Monday we had a lesson with
Arleen. We took Brother Hathaway, and it was amazing! Brother
Hathaway is the sweetest Mainer 80 year old man on the planet! He just
loves the missionaries, especially sisters! He takes us out to eat a lot and
then goes teaching with us! I've learned so much from him! Usually
when we take him to lessons he is super quiet though, which is just kind of how
he is. But it was amazing because that isn't how he was with
Arleen! We taught tithing and he bore such powerful testimony of how the
law of tithing has strengthened and blessed him. What a great way to
bring the spirit and ease Arleen's uneasiness. She has been going through
a lot lately and it has been hard for her to maintain the habit of not smoking,
sadly. The devil works hard to stop any good that is happening, I've seen
it time and time again. But, I know that with God we can overcome
anything Satan throws in our path! And Arleen knows that too! It is
amazing to hear her prayers, she has so much faith! :) She is such a
great example to me, and we were so grateful Brother Hathaway came with us!!
On Tuesday and Saturday we pretty
much spent the whole day with Sister Lilly. She sacrifices so much to be
able to help us. She came to two lessons with us and fed us dinner on
Tuesday, which was totally amazing! And she also drove us and our
investigator Andrea to Women's Conference (like 2 hours away) even though she
was super stressed getting everything together and needing to meditate a bit
because she taught one of the classes for it. She is just awesome!
She did an amazing job at Women's Conference and the whole thing was
exactly what Andrea needed! Andrea is different than anyone that I've
ever met before. I really don't know how to explain her. Nope,
really, I don't. The gospel is exactly what she needs, and it was great
to hear her describe how the conference touched her. It really touched me
as well. I'll get into that later though..
Wednesday was our Sister Smith
day! I sure do love that lady!! She came with us to Michael's
lesson, which was great, then we did her visiting teaching with her after she
fed us lunch :) Then, she drove us down to Oxford for Jessica's lesson
before Young Women's. It was so great to have her there for her lesson,
it was totally the best one that we've ever had with her. Jessica is
pretty awesome! :) And....exciting news!!!!! She is getting
baptized on Saturday!!!!!! We are so happy for her! :) She is so
strong! She doesn't really have a lot of family support, but the Young
Women here are awesome and have fellowshipped her so well, along with her
leaders! It has been great to see! :) It certainly has been an
adventure teaching her, and we've had to change her date quite a few times, but
things are working out so we're just going to see where this week takes
us! The elders are also having a baptism on Saturday which will be
neat! This little ward is growing pretty fast! :) It is such a
comfort to know that our recent converts will be well taken care of by the ward
:)
Thursday and Sunday were our Sister
Ripley days. She has so much energy!!! And she absolutely loves
helping us out! :) (She is the one we got in a crash with a while back...but
we've been pretty safe with her since!) We go around to less actives and
members and drop in to see how they are doing, and it is always a blast!
:) We were able to meet some pretty awesome less actives this week
with her, which was great!! We also had dinner with another couple in our
ward and they invited their friend and her son as well!! :) It was great
to be able to talk with them about the gospel! It is such a blessing to
see the work moving forward more and more here in this area!! :) One more
thing about Sunday... Adan was ordained a Priest!! :) It was so
amazing!! He has been so diligent at getting a ride from S. Lilly to
church when his aunt and uncle don't come (sad news, his uncle kinda dropped
us...they cancelled every appointment we tried to set up with them though, so
we knew that it might be coming, just very sad though. He'll come around,
but he's just going to need a bit more time. Good thing that Adan is such
a solid example though!!!!!). He is also a huge example to the youth in
the ward. It is great to see how well he's doing! He is reading a
lot in the scriptures and you can just tell on his face, he is happy!!
I've been thinking a lot about
happiness lately! Our purpose here on earth is to have joy (2 Ne 2:25),
and the way that we do that is following the example of the Savior :) I
LOVE the scripture in Mosiah 2:41 and I think that it pretty much sums up the
week. It says, "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider
on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of
God. For behold they are blessed in all things, both temporal and
spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into
heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never ending
happiness." It has just been so great being able to serve a
mission, and it has brought me so much joy! But it's not a walk in the
park, that is for sure! None of life is. The holding out faithful
thing is the key! Not easy, but possible because of Jesus Christ!!
:) Women's conference was amazing and it was great to hear from such
strong women and the stake president. They talked about the little things
adding up, and that was just what I needed to hear. This is certainly a
planting seeds mission, and I totally love it!! It definitely takes
patience though because well, trees don't grow overnight. But, little by
little growth happens, and when it does it brings so much happiness!
:) I've been thinking a lot about how to apply this to me. I'm
definitely planting seeds in myself, and drop by drop I'm nourishing them.
They aren't growing as fast as I'd like sometimes, but well, they are
growing. And the more I see the growth the happier I am!! :)
The gospel sure is great!! Because, well, it's true!! :) And it
makes me even happier when I share it with others!!
Love you love you family!!!
Have a great week and I'll talk to you on Mothers Day!!!!!!!
Be Happy!
Sister Bergeson :)
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