There
is Sunshine in my Soul Today :)
Family!! June 2,
2014
What a beautiful day it is in
Bethel, Maine today!! I just love it here so much! Finally the sun has
decided to stay out :) And all the leaves on the trees have made their
appearance!! I've seen more green here than I have probably in my entire
life! Ahh... so good! But well, I've also been attacked by bugs,
and even had an allergic reaction to some of them, so I'm covered with bumps,
but we bought bug spray, so that is good! I hope things are going great
at home! Summer is practically here, it is crazy!
This week lots of stuff
happened! Pretty great overall! :) We were able to do a lot of
volunteer work! Yay! I love being able to serve so many
people! It all started off with a meeting with the pastor of the Alliance
church here in town. It is the popular church here, and we wanted to
get involved in their community meal they put on so we went there
and asked if we could help out. He said that he wanted to meet
with us first, so we did, and boy it was exciting! He wanted to get
to know more about what we believed so he could see if we would be able to
volunteer or something like that. We need to be up to par with their
standards of beliefs, I guess. Anyways, the meeting went
well. He was kinda intimidating, but it was great to be able to clear up
a couple things. All he knew about Mormons was polygamy and the FLDS
church. So, we pretty much gave him a run down of everything! We
gave him a Book of Mormon and the Articles of Faith and he said that he would
really look into it and talk with us later. Pretty sweet! We were
also able to help a lady at the Methodist church as well. We helped rake
leaves a bit ago and this time she needed help cleaning the sanctuary. It
was such a great experience and she appreciated it so much! :) We
helped Sister Smith paint and I learned how to edge a wall
:) And we miraculously found the Bethel Volunteer Fair
15 minutes before it closed and were able to find a whole bunch of
opportunities to get involved in the community! I love the responses we
received when we were so willing to help others, it was great!! :)
Service...it is just awesome!! :)
Our investigators are doing well,
but most especially Michael! We have been working a lot with him, and he
is doing great. He felt like he had a whole lot of trials when he started
learning which was hard for him, but he decided to turn to God and he feels so
much stronger! He is such a great example to me! He has so much
love for God and he is so grateful that we've been able to help him and we've
never given up on him. He is a modern day Alma the Younger, that is for
sure!! Andrea, another investigator of ours is also doing well, she came
to church yesterday and bore her testimony! It was a really neat
experience! It has been a great experience helping my new companion to
adjust to being a missionary. I've definitely needed to be patient, and
it will be a process before teaching together will really flow, but it will all
happen in the Lord's time, and boy I sure am growing in the process.
Sister Banda extended her first baptismal invitation to Josephine and Tony,
which was pretty neat! They said they had been thinking about it, but
they really won't be able to make it to church right now because of different
circumstances. It was great to see her stretch herself though and go by
the spirit and ask them :) I'm a proud momma! We've also been doing
a lot of real playing (aka role playing), which has been great! I love
real playing because it helps me put things into words better. I've had
to work at it a lot, but I feel like my ability to teach has really
grown. It has been great now to be able to help Sister Banda and we're
both learning as a result! :)
Other cool news! We had a
lesson with Adan and he told us that he has been reading the scriptures and
thinking a lot, and he keeps going over the idea of serving a mission in his
head. He wants to help other people improve their lives, especially by
bringing them closer to God. He is such a great example! He comes
to mutual on Wednesdays and includes everyone, so the youth have bonded a lot
because of him. It is great!! He has a strong testimony and he is
going to do amazing things! Also, we had a lesson with the McLarens
yesterday which went really well! We've been focusing a lot on the
scriptures the past couple of months, and likening them to ourselves, and it
has been great! Yesterday we went over the Psalm of Nephi and focused on
asking inspired questions. They were able to open up more, and Sister
McLaren told us that she has been praying for the desire to quit smoking
because she really wants to be sealed in the temple!! :) Ahh!!
Miracle!! We kind of talked about quitting with her a bit ago, but she
was pretty set that she wasn't going to do anything about it until she decided
she desired it, and the desire is coming!! :) I love being able to see
change and growth in the people that we teach! I've truly come to love
the McLarens and everyone else here! I have such a strong desire to help
them come closer to Christ, and when they decide that is what they want it is
the greatest feeling in the world!! :) I just love it!!
One more story. It was the
last day of the month and miles were running low, but we wanted to go to
Rumford, so off we went! We parked in a central location and walked to a
less active we were going to help, but she wasn't home. Alright, so we
went to a super awesome potential investigator we found there last week.
She wasn't home either. Bummer. Our plans had all fallen through,
except finding. So, we looked and looked. We walked all over town
and met nice people who wanted to talk to us, and people who didn't.
Overall, a lot of walking. We were finishing up a street, and then I saw
another street and decided we should just give those few houses a try, and what
do you know? The sweetest lady answered and let us in and made us
lemonade. Miracle. I was so grateful to give my feet a rest and
quench my thirst :) Such a blessing! We talked with her about books
and reading and I shared with her my favorite book- The Book of Mormon.
(I totally thought of you when I said that dad :) I remember you would
always tell me that when I asked what your favorite book was). How I love
the Book of Mormon!! It is so wonderful!! :) I know that it is
true! I was so grateful that I was able to share with that sweet lady
such a treasure and she was glad to receive it :)
Being a missionary is
wonderful. I just love it so much! And love all you so much as
well!! Have a great week!!
All my love,
Sister Bergeson :)
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