Voice recording highlights Dec 26 - part 2

Well, hi again mom! Uh,  So I’m actually going on an exchange to Greybull today, and apparently I need to pack a bag or something.   So I figured while I’m sitting here packing I would just leave you another voice memo, since this is actually really easy to just record and then send it off.  Too bad I am losing this tablet in like a week.   Maybe I will find a way to see if the ipad will do it.  No, I think I’ll just probably keep using the voice recorder that I got, and then figure out a way to actually find a way to remember to send them off to you.

Anyways, things here are again going good.  We just had the Cody elders come over randomly.  They want to head over to Lovell with us.  Oh, I swear those guys… They’re gonna be the death of me.  They’re the kind of people that are I guess just obedient enough.  Which, to be fair, is fine, I know we all have things we’re working on, and I respect that.  It’s just… it’s hard when you see people that just don’t want to get any better. If that makes any sense?

Let’s see… What tie do I want?  I really liked a lot of the ties I got yesterday.    I’m gonna admit that ties are starting to grow on me.  Like I think I’m most likely gonna go back to bow-ties with like the occasional tie, but… Let’s see, I’m thinking elder Hendricks and oooh, where’s my elder Hatch tie? Elder Hatch gave me this nice purple one.  Yup.  Elder Hendricks and Elder Hatch!  I’m wearing them!

But yeah, I’m trying to think if there’s any questions you asked that I didn’t get to answer.  Having a one way conversation is a lot harder than having like, a two way.

(Starts whistling Star Wars) Nope!  Can’t whistle that one.  Oh my goodness it was so bad we were playing some games with one of the families we were visiting for Christmas last night, the Lee’s.  Oh, I love the Lee’s so much. They’re just hoots.  They’ve got like four younger kids,  I think the oldest might be like 12.  Eleven or Twelve.  And oh, they crack me up.  Those kids I swear will do anything for laughs.  We were playing cards with them, and it was so bad, I was just whistling anything and everything.  

I need to run to the other basement to get some clothes.  Say hi Elder Tucker!  “Hello!”  That’s Elder Tucker.  I don’t think you got to see him.  You’ve seen pictures, but… To the other basement!  Our house is very long with like two basements.  The other basement is where we have the washer and dryer.  Got to love kneeling, right?   Uno shirt-o, because I can totally speak Spanish-o.  Two.  This is another bad habit I’ve gotten into, of like leaving clothes in the dryer, because no one uses it.  It’s bad.  Ugh.  One of the other missionaries coming here says he needs to do laundry, so that means I need to get everything cleaned up down here. 

Umm I probably want these, I theoretically want those, and there’s a slight probability I want some socks too.  Oh! No!  That’s right!  I have all those wonderful new pairs of socks to put on!

Let me think… I don’t know if I’ve told you much about Powell.  Powell is a small town.  We’ve got a, well, it’s bigger, we’ve got a McDonalds here.  

Sister Jeide’s house is so big.  It’s so big that I was convinced that it was a duplex, that they just kind of bought and tore down the wall and made it into one house.  But no, apparently it was legitimately built  this way,  like two basements, proportionately equal on both sides… like it totally looks like it would be a duplex.  You could almost see where the wall would be, but no, it was never a duplex. 

Ow! That’s a bed.

I’m gonna put my stuff in a bag, and then I’ll resume.

(singing parts of “Joy to the World”, “I hope they call me on a mission”)

Uhhhh. The only thing coming next is the rap lyrics from “Popcorn Popping”.  I don’t even know what that album is, I’m fairly certain it’s something from one of those movies like “The RM” or something.  It’s a bunch of primary songs all ‘popped up’.  It’s hilarious. 

Anyways, I think this recording is reaching it’s max. So I’m probably gonna send this off.  Sorry that it was kind of a lot of nothing.  I hope you got something out of it?  I don’t know.

Love you mom!  Bye!

Voice recording highlights Dec 26 - part 1

Hey mom, it’s me, Elder Berrett!  Just trying out this voice responder, I don’t even know if you’ll appreciate it.  You probably will hearing my voice but I don’t even think you can listen to it at work. But I’m going to send this off so I can be like, “Hey! You can hear my voice!  I love you!” 

Ummm…. (♪♫♪sings ‘Joy to the World’♪♫♪ )

Yeah, honestly this week has been really, really good.  We’ve gotten to see quite a lot of people.  I was actually surprised at the amount of lessons we were able to have this week. Because of Christmas and in small towns people leave to go visit their families elsewhere.  But it was really good, we not only had a wonderful Christmas, but we got to see a lot of Christmas miracles. And in all reality I think that was one of my favorite parts- seeing people make changes to their lives, or really the Lord forcing them like he does.  I don’t want to say “forcing” but like he…  there’s this one family we are teaching, but they didn’t want to get married because their disability checks would go down, they said a lot of loopholes in the government would close if they got married, but then like their 15 year old son ended up getting a girl pregnant and then they just moved in together into the girl’s mom’s house down in Southern Wyoming, ummm and there was a couple days where they didn’t have their other kids and it was just like, the Lord, I feel like really, getting them to see what he wants them to do, and they’ve been humbled. Really humbled, and now suddenly they’re willing to get married, they came to church, and we gave them a super powerful blessing.  So, it will be exciting to see how that goes from here.

Uh, things have been going really well. We just finished shoveling the whole freaking house. (laughs) Apparently it’s a rule here that all your sidewalks have to be shoveled.  I’m pretty sure that’s a rule everywhere, but I don’t know. Like, I’ve always had to do that on my mission, I don’t know why I just said “here” but the postal service half-like threatened to not deliver our mail if we didn’t shovel the side door that we never use, but for some reason they are convinced that that’s our front door.  So we just shoveled everything today.

But yeah, that’s about it for me right now.   We were planning on having a big zone preparation in Greybull but a lot of the areas here got a foot last night, so we’re thinking of not doing that.  We’re thinking of just heading up to Lovell and meeting up with some elders there.  My companion really wants to play basketball with some of them.  So we’ll see how that goes!  Lovell has the world’s second biggest church building.  It’s huge.  Their gym is in a whole separate building.  It’s this complex.  It’s insane.  The parking lot is massive.  So we’re going there today.  Got a district meeting this Wednesday and zone conference next Wednesday, actually President Wadsworth is coming down for that.  Again that’s just our zone. (laughs)  Gotta love being isolated in Wyoming where it’s 2 hours to Billings and the other closest zone is on the other side of a big pass through the mountains which is covered up in snow, so it’s blocked off. 

Ooop! Ah! Umm.  Bat.  Almost broke a lamp.  It just flew out of my hand, at least it only hit the bed.

Love you guys so much! I hope again that you have a wonderful day.  Bye!

(mutters to self)  If I can figure out how to turn this off…

Christmas Letter from Nick

The Best and the only Berrett Family,

Real quick, sorry that this letter is totally going to be late, I am literally writing this letter Dec 21^st J  Love you guys!

Anyways, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I literally don’t know what to say!  I guess let’s consider this letter the rough draft for SundayJ

You know, I’ve been thinking about you guys a lot.  Definitely in a good way, not like I’m getting all sad, but you know, I definitely can’t wait to see you guys!  Dang, I literally get to see you guys in a couple of days!  I’m So Excited! Members have been asking if we are excited to skype home a lot lately.  Some have even been volunteering their homes.  However, I think I’ll settle for the Jeide’s house.  When else can I literally skype you guys from the comfort of my bed or a couch!  (Except he can’t sit still when talking and tends to pace around the house, there was no sitting for him at any time during the skype call, and even dropped and cracked the screen to his ipad during our call. ) You are going to be recording it however so I probably shouldn’t wear my pj’s……..:)  (We didn’t end up recording it after all.  I didn’t know how.)

So we just had a pretty cool experience about an hour ago.  We had about 20 min left before we need to be inside and I ended up feeling prompted to stop by a family’s house and sing them a Christmas song.  While my poor companion wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of singing, it was wonderful!  We sang them O Holy Night.  Turns out they will be having a pretty stressful day tomorrow.  The dad might lose his job.  Long story short, they needed it.

Being on a mission has been so wonderful!  I honestly can say that I truly feel I can recognize the spirit way easier!  I really do feel as if I’m constantly being led by the spirit (as long as I’m willing to listen) and it feels wonderful!  I’ve literally grown from someone afraid to give blessings to having no fear.  Remind me sometime when I’m home to tell you about an amazing blessing I gave back in Basin.  But it’s been insane how much the Lord has helped me to grow.  While I still, and probably always will, forget things left and right, I do feel as if I’ve grown. 

Random side note:  What are your favorite hymns?  Mine has definitely come to be either “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”  or “A Child’s Prayer.” I sing that last one all the time, especially when I’m having a bad day or something like that.

Have I ever told you that the Jeide’s love Star Wars?  Like LOVE it. It’s everywhere in the house from mugs to giant Darth Vaders and Yodas to their dog named Jedi to remote controlled BB-8 droids running around!  Sorry another random side note.

Back to the real reason I’m writing this letter, it’s the Christmas Season.  With Christmas just a few short days away, I wanted to let you guys truly know that I love you all! I think about you guys and pray for you every night!  And sorry, but I just saw the time … 10:17.  I don’t have too much time left, but I also want you all to know that I Do have a testimony of Jesus Christ.  As a set apart representative of his church, I really do not feel like I can bear testimony of him enough.  Madison, Zach, Christopher, Mom, Dad, I know that he Lives.  I know that he died for us.  I know that by serving him and by learning about him, I have really been able to come much closer to him.  I know that he loves us and knows us.  Before I came on my mission I used to think that every time I made a mistake, I added to his misery.  But upon coming out here and learning more about Him, I know it’s not like that.  I was thinking too literally.  To quote Matt Smith “It’s more like a big ball of wibbley wobbley timey wimey stuff”.  He already suffered for Everything.  And I know that he overcame it all!  I know that through him we will gain salvation and live together as a family literally as long as we keep trying!  And that I say in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you guys, Merry Christmas!

-Elder Nicholas Berrett

PS – so it’s now the morning and I actually do feel a little bad about quoting Doctor Who in the middle of my testimony.  While I do feel the thought explains it well J  At least in my head. 

Anyways, I love you All!

Never Give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

Christmas Eve / Nick's Birthday

A sweet lady in Nick's area reached out to me a month or so before Christmas wondering how she could serve Nick.   She suggested that I could ship any presents to her house, especially if they were free shipping, and then she would wrap them and give them to him for Christmas.  She also asked if there were any particular dishes he likes around Christmas, and she would be happy to make that.  I thought about it a bit and asked her to make him a birthday cake since his birthday is Christmas Eve.   Knowing that Christmas Eve is difficult for many, I asked that she give it to him sometime that week if it were possible.  She asked for a favorite recipe and I sent it to her.  I was beyond touched at her kindness and thoughtfulness.  Naturally he is missed all the more this time of year, but knowing he is being well taken care of and loved by others makes it so much easier for me.

Here's the letter and pictures I got back from them -

Hello,

We really enjoyed having your Elders at our home for Christmas Eve.  It was fun to have them here and think of our two daughters serving spending Christmas Eve with families. Thanks for sharing them with us. We have a family tradition of a Christmas recital. I think they enjoyed listening to our Christmas music. Elder Berrett was even willing to sing for us.  I think Elder Berrett was surprised we knew it was his birthday and he was grateful to have a cake from his mom's recipes.  Thanks for letting us help celebrate his birthday and Christmas with him.  We sent  them each home with a stocking to open on Christmas morning and cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Here are some pictures.  Love, Waite Family

Am I dreaming or is someone yelling "Powell Police!"?

So to start off, sorry I've really sucked at emails the last few weeks. The great Elder Hendricks chastised me so here's me trying to be better :)

This week was crazy! To start off transfers went great! We got to be with elder Earl and Bredsguard both for a couple of days so that was super fun. Honestly being in a trio can be a lot of fun, it can be a challenge at times, but it's super fun! 

Oh! At one point on Wednesday while my companion was in Lovell running transfers, I got to teach mutual! It was so awesome! It was a super spiritual experience getting to teach priests the restoration simply then watch as they role play it with me to their leaders. 

Other than that though it has been a really crazy week! We have been teaching this family for about 2 weeks now, the Quintana's. they have been definitely prepared to hear the gospel. While they are struggling to remember things like reading, they have been coming to church for a while now and are super pumped to learn the gospel! It's been really fun to teach them the gospel and hear their crazy stories about how they have come to know that the Lord is with them! 

Also we have been teaching this amazing YSA named Anthony, (by the way, serving in a YSA is the best thing ever, tons of spiritual experiences) who is super prepared! He comes to church and institute every week, reads the scriptures, and already knows it's true! At at one point we were teaching the plan of salvation and as we finished we asked if he had any questions, he responded with "no, I actually already learned all this. I read about it on Mormon.org! He's on date for December 31st so hope all goes well! 

But this has also been a super crazy week, due to some crazy weather, president closed down the mission for a couple of days, and that was around the same time that the heater in our basement went out! Thankfully we got it fixed by Saturday, but then that night, the wind blew a door open and our house alarm went off. The funny thing is being in the basement we couldn't hear it. So instead of waking up to an alarm we woke up to a bunch of police shining flashlights around yelling Powell police! Kind of a fun experience! 

Yes I did survive the cold, it was freezing, but I survived! And I only lost an ear! :) In fact it was actually so cold that both friday and saturday our mission president called the mission and told everyone to stay inside! Of course being the completely obedient missionaries we are we went and helped someone move into the ward friday morning during the blizzard. How we all survived I will never know. My favourite quote was after we had just finished unloading the trailer and they told us that they still had another storage unit, with a piano. :) It was good though. We all laughed about it and we all survived. Thank goodness for 4 wheel drive though. I have no clue why the Lord has made me designated driver in both winters. He must be preparing me to live in someplace with snow. I hope not. I'm staying close by family in Gilbert. 

Oh my goodness I loved being in primary. My companion told me that he can't wait to hear from me when I get home and find out that after a couple of weeks I was called as a primary teacher. :) Not going to lie, it would be fun! We got to help out again this week and it was amazing! They just have a serious lack of teachers this time of year, and as long as we don't pick up any of the kids or let them sit on our laps we are totally allowed to! 

We do have some fun plans this Christmas! I get to talk to you guys! :) We also have a bunch of members that we are going to go see :) Oh and I just found out that we may or may not be moving apparently after Christmas. The stake wants other members to have the experience of housing missionaries and apparently the Jeide's have been housing missionaries the last year and a half. The high councilor over missionary work, the father of the family that found my Ipad, Is thinking of having us move in with the Akins. That's the family that we went over to on Thanksgiving and I got to play a viola! I am a little excited about that!

Anyways I just want to quickly finish off with my Savior of Jesus Christ. I was reading in Mosiah 3 this morning and wow. In that chapter a king named King Benjamin gathers all of the people in his nation so that he can speak his final words to them as he knows that he is going to die soon. And to me one of the most powerful parts of his speech is his testimony of Jesus Christ. He proclaims boldly that by no other name can we be saved. And that is something that, brothers and sisters, I know to be true. I know that our Savior lives, and that through Him all mankind may be saved. I love Him and I know that we can all come to know Him! I have truly seen His hand in my life more as I read about His ministry in the Bible and Book of Mormon. 

I love you all! 

Never give up, Never surrender! 

-Elder Berrett

Everything is wonderful :)

A Good Morning! 

I am feeling wonderful! Definitely back to fighting form!

We did have a big Christmas Zone conference! However due to some new rules from Salt Lake we could only have it as a zone. But president showed up and I got your Christmas letters! They were wonderful thank you so much!

Yes I did get my transfer news, I'm staying here with Elder Tucker for Christmas! It's going to be wonderful!

And thank you so much! I've slowly been giving out the package of caramels that you sent me. I just gave one to a family in our ward. They are the kids of the members that we live with and are always working to help us out. In fact they even found out that someone in Burlington found my iPad and have been working to get it back! While the kid is being a punk, the church's software with a little extra security boost from me is preventing him from resetting it. So yay! Christmas Miracle!

 I'm so excited to stay here! It's been wonderful! And honestly I really don't need anything else for Christmas.  Maybe some more socks, but that's really it.  Sorry I guess I'm turning into dad, :) I just can't really think of anything that I want! 

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

A sweet email I received the other day.  I was blown away by their thoughtfulness and generosity- 

Hello,

We had the opportunity to feed Elder Berrett and Elder Tucker on Dec. 3rd.  We enjoyed them and their message.  We are feeding them again on Christmas Eve.  I think you said that was Elder Berrett's birthday.  Anything he would enjoy for dinner?  What kind of cake or other dessert would he like?  We are still willing to shop and deliver for his birthday/Christmas. Thanks for raising a fine young man.  We appreciate his service in Powell.  Love, Neil and Sarah

Exchanges, more exchanges, and even more exchanges!

Good Morning!

Sorry for not sending out emails the last few weeks, it has been absolutely crazy!

I am actually feeling much better. I think it was just a really short relapse. I still have a cough but I'm totally feeling better! Emergen-C for the win!

We thankfully don't have anything out of the ordinary this week minus a quick drive to Billings to take some Elders home. One of which lives 30 min from us! #ElderGrissomforthewin

Sorry for the lack of emails. My tablet has been giving me some grief lately but I finally got it all sorted out. :) And I absolutely loved your emails this week. It actually inspired me to write letters a little more just because I was thinking, if I get this excited about a surprise email, how much would a letter make my mother's day?

Oh! and did I ever tell you that at Thanksgiving I got to play the viola? It was absolutely wonderful! Sister Akin had an extra one that I got to play! I am totally picking it back up when I get home.  It was absolutely wonderful! Did I tell you that I also got to sing in Sacrament meeting? That was fun!

One big highlight, however, was definitely the Christmas conference! Holy cow! My testimony of Christ was seriously bolstered there. Plus it was super cool because we watching it at a members house and right after it finished I got to show the Light The World video and then bear testimony of Christ. I am absolutely so thankful for that opportunity!

But ya! let's see, oh! We had a ton of exchanges these last few weeks. From the other Powell elders, to Greybull! And then all the way to Thermopolis, it was a busy Week! Plus we even got 2 new investigators this week! While I didn't get to back to Greybull sadly, I did get to go to Thermopolis! It was pretty cool to go see the other side of the zone, and also to see these investigators that they are always talking about.

Other than that though, not too much to report, I can say however that thankfully I'm no longer sick! I still have a bit of a cough, but at least we are up and working again! Also my Foosball game has improved significantly! One of these days I might actually beat my companion!

This upcoming week we have Christmas Zone Conference! Granted it's only going to be our zone, but I am still so excited for it! It's going to be absolutely fantastic!

I love you all! and if you haven't already please look up the Light the World video. I promise that it will truly strengthen your testimony of Christ!

Never give up, Never Surrender!
-Elder Berrett

Happy Thanksgiving

Goood morning!

We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

On Thanksgiving we also went over to the Institute teachers house. We played signs and some name game with them for the rest of the day.

Sadly now that he antibiotics are gone I'm actually starting to feel sick again, however it isn't as bad so fingers crossed!

It was so hard to just lay around. I am so glad to get back to work :)


We have actually found several families to teach! We have Talena and her family,  Mark and his, and potentially new part member family. Talena is so close, she just doesn't think she's worthy to be baptized yet. And Mark has some family that doesn't want them to be baptized. So we'll see:) I got faith!

But ya! This week has been crazy! My first full week with Elder Tucker. We've hit a few patches but we have honestly gotten it all worked out. He thankfully is a good hardworking consecrated elder. 

Love you!


Never give up, Never Surrender!
-Elder Berrett

Finally feeling better

Not much from Elder Berrett this week.  I don't think he sent out a group email, just answered a few of my questions. Fingers crossed he will continue to feel better.  I think all this sickness has been getting to him emotionally.   But I did get an email from one member, and a text from another, so I will include those at the bottom of this.

Good Morning!!!!!! :) :) :)

Things are going much better! While I was super sad to see Elder Hatch go, Elder Tucker is a fantastic man! And yes I am finally feeling better! Its been wonderful! I'm still finishing off those horse pills that they call Anti-biotics, but its been great!

And my new companion is Elder Tucker. He is from Carlsbad, CA. And we do get along really well! While sadly he is still resisting singing with me in sacrament meeting, which went well yesterday thankfully, We are having a ton of fun! He is a master at Foosball and the members that we live with have a foosball table so its been fun to play :). He is just as sarcastic as me which isn't good. My goal was to be less sarcastic this transfer! oh well. Maybe next transfer. :)

Elder Hatch is doing better. Billings has been good for him as much as he misses the people down here. He is actually starting to get feeling better too! 

Sadly I still have not found my ipad. I'm still holding out for it, But I do have the tablet now. I have mixed feelings about it. It behaves much more like a computer, which is nice, it has a port for an Micro SD card up to 128 GB which is nice. Gotta love that External memory. And it does have an Octo core with 3GB of RAM so more processing power. But gosh dangit I keep trying to do things on it that I did on my ipad. Like freakin screenshots. That took ages to figure out how to do. I'm sure I'll like it eventually but its super new and confusing. Dang, I'm not normally like this when I get my hands on new technology stuff. I guess I had a little bit more of my mom in me than I realized. :) 

We do have some plans (for Thanksgiving) ! and thankfully we just have a lunch and a dinner plan. It's perfect :) I'm super excited!

Never Give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

"We had Elder Berrett and Elder Hatch over for dinner last night.  They are hard working young men. They were very grateful for dinner.  They left a really good spiritual thought with our family.  We appreciate the spirit that they brought with them.  We have two daughters out on missions and know how much parents like to receive pictures of their missionaries.  Here is a picture of Elder Berrett and Elder Hatch. If Elder Berrett is still here for Christmas I would be glad to shop for you (if what you want is available here in small town Wyoming) so you don't have to pay for shipping. You could use sites with free shipping and have things shipped here and I'll wrap them and deliver them if it would help you. If you would like to send him some Christmas goodies just let me know what and I'll make it for you. Have a great day! Neil and Sarah"

"Ran into your son in Wyoming tonight.  My parents moved to Gilbert about a year ago and my little brother is in Zach's seminary class!  Just wanted to send you a picture and let you know he is doing well!"

The week Where my companion almost gave me a heart attack, and practically had one himself.

Good Morning!

This week has been one heck of an adventure! Thankfully it has not snowed! Its gotten a little chilly, but no snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

To start off, MLC!!! (Mission Leadership Training) It was absolutely amazing! While I was still sicker than a dog, I got to be with Elder Hendricks for a couple of days! Its always wonderful being with that glorious man! Billings was absolutely wonderful! I finally got to eat at Panda, after what felt like ages thanks to Sister Nikkie. Also I got to sit by Elder Hendricks at MLC so that kind of made my week :) Also spending the night with them in the mission home was wonderful too! :)

After MLC though, I did start feeling a little better so we got to go outside for a couple of hours, it was wonderful! However the downside is that in that couple of hours I somehow managed to completely lose my ipad. So long story short unless I find it by Friday, I'll be paying a bunch of money and then getting a Samsung Tablet. I am seriously praying my half my guts out to find it. The other half I'm using to pray for you guys!

Wyoming is absolutely wonderful mom! I love it so much here! It seriously is the place that I need to be. My knee is doing ok. It still has its ups and downs, but I am again no longer taking pain medication for it! I've kicked that stuff! The headaches were pretty nasty after I stopped, but at least all of that is gone too :) But sadly we are still sick. Funny thing is the doctors don't know what we have. However the Good news of the week is that the antibiotics are working so I should hopefully be better by the end of the week!!!

Just to report on health this week, Elder Hatch got pretty sick and actually ended up the ER. Its been a week. I've taken my comp to the hospital, twice. Found out he's getting mid transferred to Billings, and still under quarantine. His resting heart rate got up to 175 (its supposed to be in the 80's). Thankfully we got that all sorted out and his heart is better now, however he is now getting mid-transferred to Billings this Friday.  So yes mid transferred. Because of how this is affecting his asthma.  They just want him to be near the actual hospitals. I don't blame them. and thankfully no, they aren't talking about sending him home. As for me because the Antibiotics and the codeine filled cough syrup are working they want me to actually train a new Zone Leader! He used to serve in the Gilbert mission too! That's all I know about him though. Well that and his name is Elder Tucker. Yes Antibiotics. They know that we have an infection of some kind. our white blood cell count is up to 24,000. normally its at 10,000. And all of the tests that they give us come back negative. Its really weird. and Thankfully no Black Mold. We are watching the members house for them and my companion with his asthma would have known if there was black mold. Plus thanks to the members we have a freakin Hospital grade Giant HEPA filter by our beds for him so the air we breathe is Hospital grade :) Plus EMERGEN-C for days has been great. 

However the lord has been seriously teaching me. I was going through those books that you have sent me and I have felt seriously impressed on how important the family is. I was going through all of those picture books that you have sent, those help a freakin ton! I love those things, especially on crappy days. I know that I am out here for you guys, and for others who can have this wonderful joy of eternal families. And all that has been such a relief to me this week. I love you guys so freakin much! I am so thankful for my wonderful family. You guys are all amazing!  

One perk to all of this resting however is the glorious studying that we have gotten to do! I am seriously so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I think I mention this a ton in my emails, but I am so thankful for what he did for us. Due to all of the Stake and regional events I haven't been able to take the sacrament for 3 weeks. Thankfully we had some wonderful members bring us the sacrament yesterday and it was so absolutely fantastic!!! The Spirit was so strong I absolutely loved it!

Well I love you all! Hope that you all have a Fantastic week!

Never Give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett     

The week where i finally get to sleep in my own bed.... sorta

Good evening!

As I write this, it is now 4:56 and we are on our way to Billings.

This last week has been nuts.

We got to start off this last week with transfers! We spent Monday through Wednesday with the Cowley elders. It was really nice to get to know them even better, even though they are both going home this transfer. That trip to Billings will be crazy. Also I got to say good bye to Elder Burch and wish him good luck. He's over in Elder Hendricks Zone now, so he's in good hands. :)

While we in Cowley Elder Hatch took the opportunity to introduce me to all of the people that he knows there. It was so wonderful! We got to play the piano and sing for families and eat tons of great food!  Seriously it was wonderful. We even got to make more Pumpkin stuff!  I'll attach some pictures of Elder Hatch and I's pumpkin.

As much fun as all that was, getting back to Powell and doing missionary work was just as great :) We got to actually meet quite a few more people in our area for a couple of days! We even contacted or set up lessons with all of the investigator/less-Active referrals we have been getting!

However of course near the end of the week I got sick. Again. Right now I'm on my way to MLC in Helena to infect the rest of the mission!

And at last my evil plans will be complete! Or elder Hatch will probably just give me one of his masks and I'll wear that. :) Right now I'm no longer weak feeling and dizzy, but now I can't talk because my throats is sore.  At least I can still work though! 

 I'm telling you my companion is absolutely fantastic! We have had so much fun together! And he does like nuts  :).  Speaking of nuts, I have a couple of people that I would send caramels to. :) And no, I don't have a deadline. And also there is a 99% chance that I won't be getting transferred. If one of us is, it will probably be my companion since he has been here longer. Also our land lady called and begged president to let us both stay till mid January because we are watching her house for her and she trusts us two. :) And I will be making it back to Greybull at least once, potentially. 

 My companion and I have found out the joys of mental health breaks. The lord has given us them with us being so sick lately. :) The only difference is that instead of watching Netflix we watched 17 Miracles, and the other two movies that are approved. Oh and animated Book of Mormon stories classics. :) Those are glorious! I forgot how cheesy those were. I actually wince at times while watching them. Kind of like a bad car wreck. 

 

Over all though, great week! Can't wait to see what this next week brings!

Never Give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

 

Elder Hatch and I with our pumpkin!

Our Pumpkin!

Those are all sugar beets. We have piles like that all over the valley here 

Found this traveling trash can with Elder Hatch.

Saying Good Bye to Elder Stone.

District photos!

Another District photo!

And another one :)

I received a random text from someone in Billings.  She says "Your son is amazing! He is making me laugh."

No group email this week... just some responses to questions I asked, and a bunch of pictures. 
~~~~~~~~~

How are things? Finally feeling better?  Is Halloween a big deal in Powell?  Is it the kind of place where it’s all family friendly, and you can go out and talk to people, or is it a “stay in the apartment” kind of night??  Do you have any plans? 

Halloween is definitely a big deal in these small towns. Especially this place being a college town. It's definitely still family friendly, however it's now a mission wide rule that missionaries aren't to go out after 6. We are actually heading to Cowley, we are going to be there working out all of the transfer stuff till Wednesday night. We actually need to head out now, I'm going to keep writing but you won't get anything until late tonight when my iPad gets in wifi. Love you! 

How are things other than that?  Still rocking the whole zone leader thing?  Get along pretty well with your companion?

Things are going really well! Hahaha I'd like to think I'm doing more of a Matt Smith thing when it comes to being a Zone Leader. I just make it up as I go, laugh a lot, and try to help others along the way :) 

Oh my goodness my companion is the freakin best! I mean, we are complete opposites, but we get along so Well! Do you know the myersberg personality test? Well we took it the other day. Turns out I'm an ESFP.  It's actually explains a lot. You guys should all take it and tell me the results! 16personalities.com

Maddie was involved in the haunted hallway,  Zach was too, he helped build some of the set pieces, so he was proud of that.  But this year Maddie was an insane asylum patient.  Apparently she made a grown man cry.  He even threw his wife between himself and Maddie to protect himself, and ended up calling out the safe word to leave the haunted house, and which point Maddie switched gears, turned into her sweet self, and offered to escort him out, but he was too flipped out by her prior performance.  “No!  I don’t want you!”  She felt a little bad, but a little proud of herself at the same time.  Of course she decided that that day was a good day to give blood for the very first time :/  so she was lightheaded and exhausted, but had to work for like 8 hours.  I warned her.   But what do I know?

Hahaha I have literally showed all of the missionaries that I have been around that paragraph about Maddie. :) She is so awesome. :) 

So my companion has been going through all of those picture books that you send me, (which are the greatest things in the entire world) and he loves them too! I've been showing him pictures of the family, basically showing you guys off and telling stories :) I'm just so proud of you all! 

Holy cow.  I'm getting to the point where so many of the friends that I have are going home. In fact 3 of my new friends here are going home next transfer. Like I have to be the one to take them to Billings. It's crazy.

But ya! Sorry it's been a crazy day. We have been running all over. Ok. 7 min. Left. I'm going to send this off with the pictures I have. :)

Oh and by the way, I've been journaling more! I'm getting better! You can thank my companion :)

The members we are living with have a school bus collection.

Shout out to Squish! 

Sick days

Got curious. :)

Getting a haircut at a barbershop :)

Super healthy breakfast. I also had some Reese's peanut butter cereal. :)

Exchanges in Greybull. Elder Burch's mom sent me this picture. 

A member in Greybull had the boys over to decorate pumpkins.  She sent me this picture. 

Elder Nicholas John Berrett, the First

I stole this picture off of facebook.  I think it's a district meeting.  I have no idea. 

See the above caption. 

SickWars V: The Sickness Strikes Back

Good Morning! 

So funny story, not even a couple of hours after I sent out my last weekly email, My companion and I were stricken with the same sickness as before. Thankfully at least I have since gotten better and have been able to go out on some exchanges and do work :) So if you could all please keep Elder Hatch in your prayers!

Anyways this week has been wonderfully spiritually uplifting! 

Like I said earlier, I've gotten to go on a couple of exchanges this week, most notably with Elder Stone our district leader. Elder Stone is such a boss! Being with him this last week was absolutely great! One of the things that he impressed upon me is the importance of prayer. While ive always known how wonderful it is, I saw how he truly turned to the lord about everything. My testimony in the power of prayer has truly grown! 

Also this last week we had a wonderful district meeting! It was all about Christlike attributes and on how by focusing on these things we truly can come closer to Jesus Christ and become better disciples of him :)

In my studies this week I have been reviewing conference talks (since we now have tons of time to study) and I would like to share a though from a talk that stood out to me. The talk is titled "Joy and Spiritual Survival" by President Russel M. Nelson. One of the biggest things that stood out to me is that no matter the situation or the trial that we are going through, we can find and experience TRUE JOY! We do this as we turn to Christ. For those that are struggling he gave a couple of ideas to get us started on turning to Christ. We can start by including our thanks for Christ in our prayers to our Heavenly Father, and also by striving to learn about him constantly. This last week I have strongly felt impressions from the spirit that I need to learn more about Christ and Increase my testimony of him. 

Brothers and Sisters, as I finish this email, I want you all to know that I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that he died for us and that through him we can change! We can become better people, we can feel love for truly everyone, and We can accomplish all things through Christ. 

I love you all! Hope you have a wonderful week! 

Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

P.S. Sorry I don't have any pictures this week, My ipad sorta broke. Its been stuck on the Apple logo.

Procrastination at its finest

Good morning everyone! My companion told me to put that as the subject line seeing as it's now 5:13. :)

Anyways wow. These last two weeks have been insane. Real quick we had a zone training two weeks ago and it was amazing! I got to see so many great people! (#President_Wadsworth

#Elder_Hendricks)

After that we had quick exchanges with the elders in Cowley. Great learning experience!

That Wednesday however was when it all started. We went on an exchange with the Cody elders. Now these poor elders have been stuck inside their house for the last 7 weeks prior to this. We have been trying to go on exchanges with them about once a week so that at least one of them can still work. The other has been sick as a dog. Anyways that was great! The sad part is that about Friday night, after we found two awesome new investigators, #Joshuaandhisdaughter We got a call saying that we needed to rush to Cody because they were in the hospital. So we spent the next three days with them helping them and then ultimately driving the sick missionary to billings so that he could go home. but wait there's more! Fast forward to Monday, apparently Sister Wadsworth got a call from the sick elders doctor saying that he tested positive for salmonella poisoning (among many other things). And because me and his companion were starting to get sick she quarantined us in Cody till Saturday evening. Needless to say, I took a lot of wonderful naps. :) I have since gained a glorious testimony of the power of napping and how it can truly help us grow :)

Anyways, I'm feeling much better! I'm so excited to get to work again! I've been down since Monday. Today is pretty much my first day back. I've been able to visit a couple of people but ya. I'm feeling way better today. /)

Holy cow. Did you know that Elder Hatch came out with me? 

So get this. In the last 15 days we have driven 1200 miles. We get about 2000 approved a month so it's been something :) lots of driving snacks.

Also fun fact, since I'm feeling better I just ate some amazing sweet pork and I'm going to get some ice cream out of the freezer since I've been on the brat diet for the last week. :) #I_Don't_Think_I'll_Regret_This 

#Famous_Last_Words

Even with all of that going on though, the lords work has still moved forward! I am so thankful to be a missionary in his church and now more than before I am ready to work! I love you all!

Tell the kids I said hi! 

Pictures!

1. Hospital Adventures! (They had free apple Juice!) 

2. #Sick_Buddies!

3. First snow!

4. Our front yard (in Cody- my view for 6 days)

5. Reunited at last

6. Monday morning form time!!!

7. Our varying joys in life

8. Quick selfie filling out paperwork.

Hey so we need to get going! I love you guys!

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett