June 16, 2014 Bethel, Maine

Families and Fathers :)

Hey hey!!                                      June 16, 2014

Family!! I hope that you've had a super great week! Especially with Father's Day :)  Hope to see a picture of dad in a silly shirt soon ;)  It has been a good week for us here in beautiful Bethel! :)  I've loved being able to see how the landscape has totally transformed here.  Everything that looked super dead is now alive!!  So, this week we were able to see quite a few people, and some great miracles as well! :) 

I have got to start with Michael.  Holy cow do I just love him!!  He, like the earth, seems to have totally transformed this spring!  Last winter he just seemed sad and hopeless.  He beat himself up a lot, and was constantly apologizing for his imperfections.  He did have quite a rough go there for a while, but the way he has reacted to his adversity has been a blessing in not only his life, but in mine as well.  He is such an example to me.  He turned to His Savior, Jesus Christ, just like Alma the Younger did!  And what a difference it has made in his life!  His whole countenance is brighter!  He is so much more positive, and he is working hard to do what he needs to so he can be baptized.  One thing that I've loved being able to teach Michael is being able to witness the fact that conversion is a process.  It has been since September or so when he started meeting with the sisters, and slowly but surely he has learned and grown to a point where his faith is becoming unshakable.  The trials and challenges he experienced in the time he's been learning about the gospel have been exactly what he has needed.  Even though it was hard and will continue to be hard, God knows what He is doing.  A couple of days ago we talked with Michael on the phone and he said that he had been praying about it and he would like to strive to be baptized by his birthday, July 18th. What a miracle!  He still has to overcome a couple things, but I know that if he trusts in God and does all he can to make it happen, his righteous desire will be granted.  We are so happy for him!! My testimony that God loves us each perfectly and individually sure has grown as I've seen Him work in Michael's life. 

Another miracle that we saw this week occurred on Friday the 13th.  Yep!  We had a lesson with our investigator Andrea.  She was in a great emotional place, which was awesome, and she definitely gets the gospel.  It is fantastic!!  She likes it so much, she has the desire to share it with others.  Background- She is living at a condo at the base of Sunday River.  Now that ski season is over she has been the only one living in the big condo building for weeks.  Miracle- Before our lesson she told us she got a new roommate and was excited to introduce us to him, so after we met Don.  Don is a pretty sweet guy who likes talking about religion.  He had already read a biography about Joseph Smith, so we had a great gospel conversation and set up a time to come back.  A new investigator!!  And Andrea played such a key role in all of it!! :)  It was awesome to see!!  It is always great when God gives such an unexpected tender mercy!  Like I said last week, we'd been working and praying to find someone new to teach the gospel too, and this week was no different.  We had some interesting run ins with some people, and we hopefully softened people's hearts, but no one was interested in listening to our message.  However, instead of getting discouraged, I was happy :)  My attitude and breathing definitely helped with that!! Even though Don wasn't a direct result of our finding efforts, God blessed us for striving to do what we could to find.  What a blessing! 

We had such great help from members this week, and I've definitely seen that there is such a big difference when a member comes to a lesson as opposed to going it alone!  We've been trying to get different members involved as well, which has been going great! :)  The members are just so great here!  What a great ward family I've become a part of :)  We were able to have Father's Day dinner with the Young family and it was wonderful!! :)  They are so loving and when we go there it feels like home away from home.  It was so nice of them to have us over for their family gathering :)  Boy I sure do love families!!  My family, the ward families I've been apart of and just the whole human family.  What a wonderful truth!  The most important social unit is the family :) 

And the head of that family is the father.  Hooray for celebrating fathers!! :)  I love you so much Dad!!  I'm so grateful that you are a worthy priesthood holder, that you've set such a great example for me, and just that you love me :)  You've really helped me develop a greater relationship God.  It was great knowing that although I wasn't home for Father's Day to see you, I have my Heavenly Father with me always :)  I love Him so much, and I know that He is the reason that I'm here.  I know He has a plan for me and that He'll help me accomplish it as I diligently follow His commandments.  I'm just so grateful for my father and my Father! :) 

Well, I hope that you have a wonderful week!! I love you so much! 

Focus on the good!

Sister Bergeson :)