March 26, 2014 Bethel, Maine

Lord, I would Follow Thee

Hey Hey Family!                                         March 26, 2014

I hope you all had a fantastic week!  I got your letters and wow!  Shorts and flowers?  That is quite the opposite of what we are experiencing here in Maine!  This has been a very long winter, and even though it can be pretty, I wouldn’t mind a change of scenery.  And temperature.

So this week has pretty much been a blur.  It’s been busy and I can hardly remember everything that has happened.  District P-Day was great!  We played Mystic Wood again :)  Then we had a lesson with Arleen (we’re teaching her the stop smoking program today) and she’s been progressing well.  We also had a great lesson with Sheny and Luis.  I love that Guatemalan family!!  They are great!  Luis had read 40 chapters in a day from the Book of Mormon, which was awesome!  He still has some reservations about being baptized right now, but he’ll get there!  Tuesday, we went and volunteered at a food pantry, then we dropped our car off at the body shop in Norway.  Our poor car had a cracked bumper that needed to be fixed.  We don’t know how it happened, but it’s been cracked for a while and we finally got the go ahead to get it repaired.  It was sad though.  We pretty much felt homeless.  We drive so much we practically live in it.  Thankfully we have amazing ward members here who drove us around and helped us out!  They are great!  Wednesday we had a lesson with Michael.  He is amazing!  His health isn’t very good, which is sad, but he really has a desire to learn and change!!  We also helped someone move, had a great lesson with a determined less-active who just needs a bit of motivation to get back into coming to church, and had a lesson with Jessica, our 13 yr. old investigator who really wants to be baptized :)  After that, we went to the YW fundraiser dinner and talent show.  Sister May accompanied me on the violin and we played a hymn for it.  It was fun!  Such a great, busy day!

The next day we got hit with a huge storm.  Had we have had the car, it would have been grounded.  I still just can’t believe the amount of snow we have!  Crazy.  We were able to get out and contact a couple people down the road though.  So that was great!

Friday we had district meeting and the ride down there was pretty crazy.  The GPS tried to take the Elders down this one short-cut road that didn’t go through.  The road wasn’t plowed.  The roads here seem to have a lot of dead ends.  On the way though they totally lost the undercarriage of their car.  This is the third car they have done some damage to.  The weather really isn’t liking the mission vehicles it would seem.  District meeting was great, and on the way back, we picked up our car!!  Yay!  Later, we had a lesson with Adan.  He is doing great and things are working out for his baptism on April 4^th :)  We are all very excited!! 

Saturday we went from appointment to appointment, and Sunday we were able to set a baptismal date with Jessica for April 19^th!! :)  Easter weekend!  We also had dinner with the Lilly’s and a movie night with the Rodriguez’s.

Overall, it was a really wonderful week!!  Sister May and I have a good time and we both love missionary work :)  I’m really grateful I get to be with her because I’ve learned a lot from her.  One day we had a conversation that really got me thinking.  We talked about not judging people, and it is weird because in my studies that has kind of been a theme.  (I’m reading about Christ’s trial in Matt. 27.)  I read in Alma 32 about the humble people who were cast out and who came to Alma wanting to know what to do.  They were judged by their apparel and how poor they were.   However, it was because of that their hearts were opened to the truth.  As a missionary especially I’m learning, and will continue to learn it’s important to talk to everyone, no matter how they look, etc.  It’s not up to me to judge who will or who won’t accept the gospel.  Judging in general is something I’ve been trying to work on.  In Sacrament Meeting yesterday we sang a great hymn, #220.  It says “Who am I to judge another when I walk imperfectly?”  It really hit me.  I need to be better at looking outside myself, and stop comparing.  The Savior is a perfect judge.  He looks on the heart!  (1 Sam. 16:7)  I need to make sure that I’m doing my part to love and serve everyone no matter what, and don’t judge them.  The Savior is the perfect example of self-less service.  One of my favorite scriptures recently is Matt. 20:25-28.  Part of it says, “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:  Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  I need to be better at constantly looking for ways to serve others and I’m grateful that I’ve been able to work on it on my mission!  I’ve learned so much and it feels so good to help other people!  I have such a strong desire to keep doing so!  The last verse of the hymn I talked about sums up my feelings pretty well :”Savior, may I love my brother as I know thou lovest me, Find in Thee my strength, my beacon, For they servant I would be.  Savior, may I love my brother – Lord, I would follow Thee.”

I’m grateful for mu Savior and for everything I’ve been learning about Him as I read the scriptures!  I’m grateful for the chance I have to serve my brothers and sisters in Maine and the Lord!  I love them so much!  I love you so much too family and I hope you have a wonderful week!!

1 John 3:16-19

Sister Bergeson :)

Pictures March 17, 2014

 Huge snowstorm in Bethel

Sunday River Ski Resort by Bethel, Maine

March 17, 2014 Bethel, Maine

You can't get there from here :)

Dear Family!!                                    March 17, 2014

I hope that you are all doing well!!  I've heard that there is nice weather there in Utah.  I thought that it was finally starting to warm up here too, but well.  That isn't really how things work in Maine it seems like.  We got hit with a huge, huge, huge storm.  Like, 2 feet of snow.  It was insane.  This whole week was just a bunch of business and craziness!  So, Wednesday the snow started coming down really hard, but luckily we still got to meet with some people before we got grounded.  We weren't allowed to drive the car on Thursday because the schools were closed and even if they weren't we wouldn't have been able to drive.  We have a driveway that is one tenth of a mile long and a whole bunch of trees decided that they wanted to lay right down over it.  It was a feat just darting the trees to walk to the main road.  Way exciting!  We had a good time, and I don't think I've ever seen a scene that has looked more like Narnia in my life.  Beautiful and snowy!! :)  

But, luckily, even though our landlord and bishop (our only neighbors) were in Utah, they called someone to come and move the trees out of the way so we could drive to Augusta for zone interviews!  I love zone interviews :)  They are awesome.  We have a fantastic mission president!  The next day we had the adult stake conference session in Topsham which was amazing!!  All about missionary work!  Totally boosted me up! :)  And then the next day we had conference in Westbrook by Portland Maine.  Now we are going to go to Auburn for district p-day today.  If you can look these places up on Google Maps or something you will see that we have done soooooooo much travelling the past couple of days.  I've never spent so much time in a car in my life than on my mission.  But, I am so grateful for those things!!  I don't know how we would be able to survive here in New England without them!  

As far as our investigators go, they are doing well.  We had really good lessons yesterday.  My testimony of following the spirit to teach people instead of lessons has totally been strengthened!  We taught The McLarens, a wonderful less-active couple who I just LOVE, and were able to address some of their concerns, and we were also able to teach Luis and Sheny.  Luis's lesson was totally inspired and the spirit was so strong!  We'll keep on teaching and testifying!  Overall, the lessons that we were able to have were very good, and I am just so grateful for all the wonderful people I get to teach and my awesome companion I get to teach with!! :)

Alright, well, because we have to go to district p-day I don't have a lot of time, but I do want to say that I finished the missionary chapters of the Book of Mormon :)  Alma 17-28!! :)  They are soooo good!! :)  I love being able to learn from the examples of such amazing missionaries!  The Book of Mormon is such a blessing!! I am so grateful for it and for the influence it has in my life!

Love you so much and have an amazing week!!

Sister Bergeson

P.S. The title of this email is totally what Mainers love to say (in their great accents of course!) :)

Pictures March 10, 2014

 Having birthday cake with Sheny and Adan

 Birthday package

Sword from Revolutionary War

March 10, 2014 Bethel, Maine

Halfway and Birthday :)

Family!!                              March 10, 2014

I hope that you have had a totally fantastic week!!  This one has been way busy for us here, but it was really great!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone by though!  It was a landmark week, that is for sure! :)

But first I want to tell you more about one of our investigators!  His name is Michael, and he is amazing.  He is 65 years old and has been through so much in his life.  We have been teaching him for a while and he has been slowly progressing.  His understanding of the Book of Mormon has grown and we read it over the phone with him every week.  It is amazing to hear how the words of God effect him.  This week we read in 1 Nephi 19 and it talks about Laman and Lemuel living in the past.  He feels like he lives in the past and sometimes I do as well.  It was great to be able to learn and grow from him.  The next day we were able to teach him the Word of Wisdom.  His life has been really rough.  He started drinking and smoking under the age of 6.  I still can't believe it.  He has quit drinking, but he really wants to quit smoking, and I'm so grateful that we have the chance to try to help him!  We have been using members a lot.  We have a member that comes with us to every lesson, and she invited him to a ward activity that we had.  Karaoke night, quite fun :)  I just really love teaching him because the determination he has to be better.  He loves God and I'm just so grateful for his example to me.  It seems that everyone that I have had the privilege of teaching has taught me so much!  What a blessing!!

Alright, so March 5th was my halfway mark.  I really can't even believe it!  More than 9 months serving in Maine!  It has been filled with peaks and valleys, but overall the ride has been the best I've ever taken!! We were able to volunteer at the historical society here in Bethel that day and we got to hold a sword that was used in the revolutionary war.  That was really awesome!!  It was amazing to think that someone so long ago was using it, I wonder whose it was and the story behind that sword.  It was just really cool!  It was a great day!

The next day was great as well!!  It was my birthday!! :)  I really can't even believe that I am 21.  Nope.  Not at all.  It has just gone by so fast!  So, that day we had our district meeting which was really good.  I love district meetings and everything that I learn from them!  During lunch the elders brought out a cake for me and they all sang me happy birthday :)  It was really nice, and amazing cake too!!  I don't know how to spell it, but it is something like thres leches (three milks in English).  It was great!  Then we explored a town in our area that I'd never worked in before, which was good.  We did have a bit of a bit of a hang up with our phone though.  It was dropped and I guess there was a glitch in it because it wouldn't let us call people, which isn't very helpful as a missionary.  But we were able to call using a member's phone and get a replacement on the way.  So, for dinner Brother Hathaway, probably the sweetest old man ever, took us out to dinner at this super delicious restaurant!! :)  It was really nice of him!!  After that we had two lessons, the last with Adan and Sheny.  It went really well and after, Sheny brought out a cake!  Thres Leches! :)  It really is such great cake, and I thought it was pretty crazy that I had two of them in one day!!  They are so nice, I just love them! :)  After, we went home and planned then I opened the packages you sent :)  Thank you so much I love the gifts, they are perfect!! :)  I especially loved hearing the recording of you singing happy birthday to me!  It totally topped off a wonderful day! :)

The next day was really busy with weekly planning, but miracle!  Our phone started working again!! :)  Hooray!! Now what to do with the replacement when it comes...  Anyways, we went to karaoke night, which was good because we wouldn't really of had anywhere else to go because I kind of locked us out of the apartment.  Whoops...  But now we have a spare, so maybe it was more of a blessing in disguise. :)

Saturday was booked from beginning to end, and we had good lessons and a great member meal! 

Overall, this week was great! :)  A highlight of my studies was probably a talk I read called Look Ahead and Believe by Elder Dube from the past conference.  It was perfect!  Sometimes it is easy for me to look back and think about everything that I have been able to do on my mission.  It has been hard but wonderful!  But I love the council Elder Dube gives.  He points out that it is much more important to look ahead at what we still have to do.  I know that I need to make sure that I give my all and never start to live in the past.  Like Elder Holland says, "faith is always pointed toward the future."  I have loved my mission so far, it has been incredible, but I know that I need to look ahead at what I still have to do.  I still have been blessed with 9 more months of full-time service in the Lord's vineyard and I need to use it to the fullest!  I don't know where those future months will take me, but I know that it will all be exactly what I need to grow closer to the Savior. 

What a great week! :)  Well, again, I just love you all so much!  I'm so grateful for you, and I hope that you enjoy the coming week!!

Keep moving forward!

Sister Bergeson :)

Pictures March 3, 2014

 Saying goodbye to Sister Smedley

New companion Sister May

March 3, 2014 Bethel, Maine

In Process

Family!!                 March 3, 2014

Hello, hello! :)  I hope that you had an amazing week!!  This one has been extremely busy, but awesome!  So, I guess that I'll get right to it.  (Well, actually I've got to say first that although the weather is still cold, there hasn't been a lot of snow, and it is actually getting lighter outside!!  SUN! The promise of spring doesn't seem as many decades away!! :)  Hooray!!) 

Alright, so before I talk about transfers I have to say that Monday was super awesome!  We went and saw a bunch of people so Sister Smedley could say goodbye, then we went to a less active member's house and ate dinner with her and her daughter and did family home evening.  It was our first lesson with them and we had heard that her daughter wouldn't talk about the church, but when the time came for the lesson she stayed and even participated in it!!  It was so cool to see her heart softening, and I am grateful that we were able to have such a great lesson with them!! :) 

Now for transfers.  Sister Smedley and I got to go to transfer meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire, which meant that we needed to wake up at the crack of dawn and also that we needed to leave Maine.  That was such a weird feeling, leaving Maine.  I hadn't done that for almost 9 months.  Crazy!  I just love Maine, and I'm glad that I got to go back to it :)  After I found out who my new companion was, of course!  And that new companion is... Sister May!! :)  Pretty much awesome!  So, cool story.  Once upon a time I was serving in Ellsworth.  While serving there, I was told by the branch president and his wife (the Dauks) that their niece got called to serve in this mission.  They were so excited.  Their niece is Sister May.  Small world.   It has been so good already!!  We get along well and we have been working really hard in this area, because there is a lot of good work to do.

I have never been so busy!  We were able to teach more lessons than I have ever taught in one week!  Eight of those lessons were member present lessons!  The ward is hitting the pavement when it comes to missionary work.  Testimony meeting was all about it on Sunday!! :)  The spirit was so strong!  The members are really helping us out, and it is so great :)  We were even able to have three member meals! We were also able to pick up a solid new investigator who has been going to church for a year and has already read the Book of Mormon.  Also, we set a baptismal date with our investigator Adan for March 29! :)  We made a lot of progress with our investigators and less-actives this week and I wish that I had time to tell you all about them!  I just feel so blessed to have so many amazing and strong people that are now apart of my life.  Their examples and testimonies have changed me. 

Change.  I feel like that has kind of been a theme for this past week.  A lot of the lessons that we taught our investigators were about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how He can change us if we allow him too.  We also taught a lesson to Sheny and Luis about conversion.  We watched the talk Be Ye Converted by Bonnie L. Oscarson, and it was very powerful.  I like how she talks about conversion being a process, not an event.  She says, "Being truly converted means we are acting upon what we believe and allowing it to create "a mighty change in us, or in our hearts.""  I know that as I have continued to learn more about the gospel and do what God would have me do my faith increases step by step.  And then the more my faith increases, the stronger desire I have to share the gospel with others.  As I was studying this morning I found a great example of this in the book of Alma, chapter 19 which is the story of Ammon and King Lamoni. Verses 16-17 introduce Abish. She is someone who was converted and had the chance to share her testimony with others.  And in verse 17 it talks about her running from house to house to let people know what had happened to The king and queen and their servants so they could come and see for themselves and believe in the power of God.  She saw the opportunity and literally ran with it!  What a great example to me! :)  I am so grateful that I have this chance on a mission to declare the restored gospel and invite others to see for themselves!  I like what it says in True to the Faith about conversion.  "You have primary responsibility for your own conversion.  No one can be converted for you, and no one can force you to be converted.  However, others can help you in the process of conversion."  I am so grateful for the examples I've had in my life and on my mission that have helped me in my conversion process, and I am so grateful that I can help others as well! 

I love you so much and I am grateful for the impact that you all have in my continued conversion!  Have a fantastic week!! :) 

Remember to look up!

Sister Bergeson :)