sorry....

Got this email from Nick with five minutes left in his pday...

Sorry to do this to ya'll again, but my Ipad has just been freaking out all day. I just had a big long letter typed up but then it deleted, serves me right for waiting till we practically have to go to send it off.  Sorry, expect a letter this week!

But I did get a few replies to some questions earlier in the day, including a picture, and a couple random pictures texted to me this week I can share.  I'm not so sure about his new found hillbilly accent though... "reckon...a'ight...aint..."

Good Morning! (At least it's morning when I'm writing this now, not sure when I can send it off.....) 

It is absolutely Fantastic! Not only is it superb being around Elder Hendricks a lot now, but the work is immensely progressing, we just had 4 people this last week commit to being Baptized! It's been crazy! (Not as crazy as it is in deer lodge, they have 5 people on date to be baptized next month that I can't wait to interview :)) 

My knee is doing alright, it's definitely functionable, (if that's a word) it hurts, and in the morning makes some sounds that doesn't exactly sound healthy, but I totally have faith that the Lord has a plan :) everything works out, completely :) I have not heard any word from insurance or president, the last I heard was you telling me that they need more information, but I don't know how to do that or what to do from here. I'm just kind of in limbo. I reckon it'll all work itself all out soon though. 

Our car is a'ight. We are getting the front repaired tomorrow and the trunk repaired next week. So that should be that :) The car is thankfully driveable since we have the trunk ratcheted down. :) 

Hmmmm, any inspirational/funny stories, well I found out that our fire extinguisher only works twice and now we need to get a new one :) ;) can I just take it somewhere and get it refilled or something? 

Oh! We got a pipe, seriously :) :) I'm so excited! It looks so cool! We got a bag of tobacco for it too :) It's from a less active who just quit smoking. We were going to throw it away, but we ain't ready to do that yet :) 

And then this random conversation- 

Oh my goodness, I just drove past a food truck. Cept it ain't a normal food truck, but a bud truck. Haha it's called mile high bud store :) I love Butte :)

A beer truck, huh?  That kind of thing probably wouldn't fly in Gilbert.

Uhhh that's not beer.

Bonus letters

A couple of people have generously shared letters or excerpts from letters that Nick wrote to them.

Hello Andersons!!

I just got your valentines in the mail yesterday and I love them!  Thank you so much!  I sincerely hope and pray that you all also remember how much love your Father in Heaven has for you all.  He loves us all so much more than we can imagine!  I am so thankful for that!

I can't believe it's already Feb!  And it's almost halfway over!  This whole mission thing is going by way too fast.  I swear, I blink my eyes and a transfer is already over!  I mean transfers are on the 17th, exactly one week from today.  His handwriting is pretty bad and this is the best translation I could come up with for the following sentence -  Wasent? Wasn't? Wase't? (eh, I can't English today) I could have sworn I just got assigned Elder Guthrie as a companion last week seriously.  Is normal life this fast too?  College? Kids? Marriage? (ya I meant to write that in a different order.)  If life is this fast too I'll be in the spirit world before I know it!

Oh!  So I finally got the chance to make some curry today!  The entire house smells Fantastic!  While for some reason it didn't quite taste the same to me, It was still great!  I'm not sure I liked the celery, but the bell peppers were a must for me. :)

Also thank you so much for the awesome letter! I am so grateful that The Lord has shown me how great writing/reading letters are!  Now I just need time :)

I absolutely love going to members homes and talking to them! I definitely totally have favorites in the ward here, and it really is one of the saddest things to have to cancel a dinner with them.  Anything I wish they would/wouldn't do?  Well, it's really uncomfortable when members purposely sit you next to their YSA (Young Single Adult) daughter so that we hopefully can have a good influence on her.  It Is So Awkward!  It's already happened several times and it's the worst!  Other than that, not too much.  Oh, don't let the missionaries get away with talking about topics like the weather.  I wish members called me on it earlier,  I had to read a General Conference talk to change my ways a few months back, thankfully.  But some of my favorite discussions have been those centered on the gospel, honestly.

Oh, It's 10:26,  I should probably go to bed now, love you guys!  I'll try to write more tomorrow! Good Night!

(Insert Sleep Here)

Alright so good morning!  Ugh, I feel like such a bad missionary right now.  I accidentally left the phone in the car again, so we didn't have an alarm to wake us up, we both slept in 35 min! Completely missing morning workout :/ Oh well, it happens.

Anyways, thank you so much for the letter again! I absolutely love hearing from people back home.  i know that Dani asked me this week on how I felt getting news  from home and I'm totally ok with it!  It's been nice (knock on wood) but I haven't really gotten homesick.

Thank you so much for the scripture :)  Lately I have found tons of comfort in D&C 12:8, While it's an old one, It's still my favorite.  It is literally a promise from the Lord that as long as we have love and care about those things that the Lord has entrusted to our care (The people around us, my area, family, etc) Then we will be successful in the Lord's eyes and we will be blessed. :)

I hope that you all have such a wonderful week, I love you all!
Never Give Up, Never Surrender!
-Elder Berrett

PS Sorry, but I'm pretty sure that I've turned into a dog lover.  Being in Montana, where I swear it's a law that you have to own at least 2, I have fallen in love with them :)

And here's part of a letter his friend Dani shared with us - 

There was some great stuff in this letter I just got today :)

*I told him I have a sudden obsession with rubik's cubes*

"I honestly never got too much into those, they mostly just frustrated me. I remember that I used to have one but I threw it against the wall too many times that it sorta just fell apart. I don't normally get frustrated but man those things. I know that there's a "trick" but I just wanted to solve it by myself sooo badly!

"I've been reflecting a lot on how much I have changed in the last year and it's been crazy. I love how the Lord truly manages to work the Refiner's Fire so beautifully. (By the way if you haven't seen the Refiner's Fire Mormon Message, do yourself a favor and look it up, it kills me every time) Also, you know what, I almost took our little night stand Christmas tree down, but I've decided that I like the reminder it gives me too much. While unfortunately we don't have any pictures of Christ or temples to adorn our apartment with, (but we do have Darth Vader) the Christmas tree provides a beautiful reminder of our Savior and I have found so much joy in waking up and seeing it every morning. 

"Oh! so we had glorious [there was dashes all around the word glorious like rays of sunshine] 45 degree weather all week and all of the snow is finally starting to melt :) It's been so nice, we even have a little stream that runs past our house now!

"So today we had kind of an interesting dinner lesson with a family. At first it was totally normal, we had pizza, talked about some less actives that they are working with.... then a poor wayward son started speaking up. Unfortunately he was a *little* high at the moment. Anyways he started ranting about how prideful we all are that we think that we worship such a loving God who will forgive our sins through Jesus Christ and how maybe only 15% of all sins will get forgiven, oh and how meth is okay. I'll admit, I was shocked. I had no idea what to do as his mom started Bible Bashing with him and started trying to calm him down. Thankfully we were able to intervene with a lesson, but before we could start the mom requested a blessing. It. Was. Amazing! Complete opposite from before, the spirit was so strong as we blessed her for her health and then, in the blessing, testified of God's love for her and for her family! So while Satan tried to completely ruin this poor family's evening, it totally turned around as we all FELT the spirit literally kick out Satan and comfort us all. I know that God is truly a loving Heavenly Father and that, through Jesus Christ [rays of sunshine around 'Jesus Christ' too] we truly all can be saved :)"

My dearest friends and family :)

This week was crazy!

So to start off, we may or may not have a car anymore :/ We got rear-ended the other day and so we are turning it in tomorrow for repairs. I honestly just felt bad for the poor kid. He had just gotten back from a terrible day at work and then ended up doing this :/

But other than that this week has been fantastic! We got transfer news the other day and I'm staying in Butte with Elder Guthrie! These last 6 weeks have been an absolute blast, and we definitely have our differences, but we have both learned so much from each other. For me one of the biggest things that I think I learned is how to truly love people. It's amazing how the Lord always puts just the right people in our lives, at just the right time, to help us learn and grow :) amazing!

In other news this week, we did end up having to push Lloyd's baptismal date back a few weeks :/ While he is loving the gospel and all of the things in it, he is struggling with attending church. Things just keep coming up in life and we just hope that he will receive the strength to continue choosing things that will help his testimony grow. :) He is completely living the word of wisdom and keeping all of the commandments that we give him, it's just attending church that he is struggling with. :/

Other than that, this week has been slow honestly. However the Lord has definitely helped us to stay busy :) it was crazy! We had one day that almost all of our lessons fell through, and then we had people calling us left and right asking for service! It was amazing!

Also I got your package and it was amazing! I was practically in tears as I was reading all of the hearts. Thank you all so much!!!

Anyways, I thank you all for all that you do! You all rock!

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

P.S. I just found out that Elder Hendricks will be joining me as my zone Leader! And the best part is that the Zone Leaders are in my district, even serving in my ward! I'm so pumped!  

I made the comment to Nick that it sounds like there may be some sweet music coming from Butte.  (Elder Hendricks was Nick's companion in Great Falls and they were quite the musical duo.)  His response was "Oooooooh ya. :) both elder Hendricks, sister Granados, and I all sing :) it's going to be awesome! "

Also, we are having insurance issues, so he hasn't been able to get an MRI yet, they denied our first attempt at pre-authorization. Calls were made. We're working on it. - FYI

A Farsee - As far as you can see.

Good Evening Everyone!

Sorry that you had to wait to hear from me via snail mail, it definitely won't happen again.  Mum's probably ready to throttle me :) (I don't know why he's started referring to me as "mum" but that's Nick for you.)  But other than that, Life has been pretty Good!  Let me think where to start, let's do Highs and Lows.

High:  Well for one thing, I was told by a less active that we are working with that I had amazing handwriting!  While I know that this letter is proof that's not true, It was still kind of a funny moment :).  But Honestly my high was probably signing off on a "You Stopped Smoking!" Certificate.  I got to present it to a lady that we have been working with for awhile who really wants to go to the temple.  It's so awesome to see people make changes in their lives and better themselves!  #SoGratefulfortheAtonement! #Isthathowhashtagswork? #GreatScott! I think I've done it!  #Finally figured it out last year as a teenager!

Low: Black Ice.  Hands down, Black Ice.  It is totally of the Devil and I am certain Hell is full of it! I swear, one moment you are driving totally fine, the next you are fighting your car just to go straight!  I am so thankful that God is ever so mindful :)  Also apparently one thing you should never do when sliding is slam on the brakes and also pull the emergency brake.  Apparently traction is a thing or Something :) Moral of the story is that's how cars end up in Giant 6 ft deep snow drifts that take 4 missionaries, 2 nice people, a truck, and a whole lot of shoveling to get out of :).

Let's see, what else; oh, mum asked for a health update.  So Elder Guthrie is doing much better!  He is almost off of the crutches and, hopefully, has an appointment with the doctor this week :) I'm also doing quite fine.  Still licking my wounds a bit from being raked over the coals by Sister Wadsworth, my mission president's wife.  Once she found out about my knee and that I lied telling them that it was fine earlier I got quite the lecture.  Never the less I think I've learned my lesson :).

Oh! Story! So get this, there is this family that we have been wanting to contact for about 2 months now, and unfortunately have not been able to due to the fact that they live clear above Walkerville (way up on the mountain) and that's too much snow for our poor Corolla to handle.  However thankfully, a lot of it has just melted and they finally plowed the road so me  and my companion decided to brave it.  Well after a quick glance at a map we quickly realized that their street was no where to be found.  However after a quick chat with our Bishop, he thankfully told us how to get there using Farsees.  Seriously if I remember right, it was about 4 1/2 Farsees North, then take a left at the first Y, after that you take the 3rd Right, and then drive up another 9 3/4 Farsees!  It was crazy!  While we were unable to find them after about 1 1/2 hours of driving, we at least got to enjoy a very nice mountain drive :)

So this week I also got to have kind of a cool experience.  I was really struggling trying to plan out the next District Meeting earlier this week when my wonderful companion reminded me that in the last 30 minutes I had yet to pray and ask Heavenly Father what to do.  No sooner had I began the prayer and started to ask for help, then I got the perfect idea for a District meeting.  It was centered on Hope and how since this is God's work he can not fail.  Apparently this is much needed since I have already had several missionaries in my district come to me and ask for help.  I am so thankful for a Loving Heavenly Father who truly does help us in times of need and truly does answer all of our prayers!

Oh, that's right, I should probably talk about missionary work :)  While this has been a bit of a slow week, we got to make a lot of progress with our investigator Lloyd!  He is so amazing!  Even though he has trouble reading, he asks his loving wife to read the scriptures to him and his son every night!  He is so excited to be baptized and take upon himself the name of Christ.  The coolest part was that a few days ago we taught him the word of wisdom and in his own words, "Ya! I'll totally give that all up!  I didn't even like the taste of coffee anyway!"  True to his word, he has not smoked or drank anything since!  He has so much faith in the guidance of prophets today it is amazing to see!  I swear I learn way more from those that I teach than they do from me :).

Other than Lloyd, that's about it.  Most of our lessons canceled on us this week so we have mostly just been contacting former investigators that we found in the area book and old less actives.  While most of them showed us their expansive vocabulary of four-lettered words, there were a few that we found that were glad that we contacted them!  It totally rocked!

Um, let's see, thankfully Sunday (Superbowl Sunday) wasn't as hard as we were worried it might be.  We had several lessons after church, all of them were with people who didn't have cable :) Honestly though, that's about it for this week :)

Also, I've decided that I really like writing letters more than emailing, I just wish they were just as fast :).  Oh well....

Also!  If you could all possibly keep an Elder Patterson in your prayers, he is really struggling and just needs lots of love and care.

Seriously, thank you all so much for all that you do.  I am so thankful for the people in my life who have helped me to be who I am today, whether they be teachers like Flo, Gingerbeard, Dr K, Coach Dwyer, just to name a few, or family and friends, and members of the ward.  I am so thankful for you all.  I love you All!

Never Give Up, Never Surrender!
-Elder Berrett

PS- Got an MRI scheduled for Saturday Morning

And an excerpt from a letter Dani shared with me-

*I mentioned that this month is the 6-month mark for him*

"I did notice that! It's crazy! Let me tell you, it totally doesn't feel like six months, maybe a month at that. In fact just about everything on a mission feels like a time warp. Seriously! I can't even begin to imagine what the last 6 months of my mission will feel like, they say it just gets faster and faster. 

Oh! I just did a sports thing! I won extreme dodge ball against my district! Oh and now I just lost. :)"

Letter to Zach

Hello Zach!  Sorry for the late letter, I had planned to write a letter every day, but clearly failed at that :/  Sorry :/  But anyways, on with the letter, Geronimo!

How have you been alright.  If I'm being honest my companion and I have some issues, nothing major, but some.  I'm saying this not to complain, or vent, but I guess to let you know that yes, I'm not perfect, and that missions are hard.  Mum says that I've been too positive lately ;) and that I'm not honest enough.  So there ;)

Other than that though, the mission really is going quite well! So we have this one investigator named Lloyd, and he is awesome!  I'm not sure how much I've told you about him yet, so please  forgive me and if rebuking is necessary, remember D&C 121: 41-44 :)  Anyways, Lloyd is awesome!  He was the investigator that I said we put on date!  It's been an absolute blast teaching him, he absolutely loves the gospel and is so enthused by it... I love it!

Oh! So funny story, when I went to the hospital this week to get my x-ray (I have to go back again this week for an MRI too :/ ) I totally forgot my name tag!  Thankfully I still had the one on my shirt, but I totally looked like a dork wearing a suit jacket without a name tag :/.  The worst part was that I didn't even realize it til we were driving away :/. I don't know how funny you think it is, but I was practically dying when I found out :).

Oh, so confession.  It's fast Sunday by the way, while cleaning up some of my stuff on my writing desk (I'll email a picture of it) I discovered a giant pack of Lindor chocolate that I had totally forgotten about.  Torture.  I nearly broke my fast right then and there, thankfully, I didn't, but man, Satan is sneaky!

Oh, also real quick, before I forget, you should look up the song "This is my Garden" from the album 'The Garden' by Michael McLean.  It's a freakin' awesome song. That song is a bass duet between Satan (who takes on the role of a snake) and the prophet (who takes on the role of a gardner) Of course you should listen to the whole musical, but that one's my favorite.

Sorry, I have to go now, I'll write more tonight! Love you!

Hey! I'm back! It's the end of the day now.  So get this, we just had 2 awesome lessons!  The first one we got to present to someone the church's Stop Smoking program, and then in the second one, we got to congratulate someone who just completed it!  It was awesome!  I love helping people change their lives.  While missionary work can be hard, and definitely discouraging at times, it's times like this that make up for it :).  Also, one cool thing about giving people this program is that part of it is that they have to give us all of their smoking stuff, soooo Free Lighters! Fire! Yay! I've met a few missionaries who have collected some awesome lighters, so far I only have 2 cheap ones, but that's still 2 people that I've helped :).

Sorry for the torn paper, it's my last one. I'm buying more tomorrow thankfully :)

Man, I can't believe this transfer (a 6 week period) is almost already over.  Transfers are next Wednesday! Crazy, I will know my fate this Sunday.  Insane.

Well, I'm about to do some training calls to the Sister Missionaries in my District, be back real quick!  Hmmmm no answer.... I see how it is Sisters Nichols and Granados.

Well, while I'm waiting for them to call back, how are you doing?  I just saw that you got to go to a dance!  Honestly, I never went to those in Jr High, but I'm glad that you did it and at least had some fun with friends!  Just so you know, it's only been a year and already I can't tell you too much about dances or anything I went to.  I can tell you a few specifics like seeing Dani in that gorgeous dress for the first time, or laughing with a group of friends, but honestly not much.  The things that you will remember and cherish are all the other times that you spend with friends, lunch table conversations, singing in the choir room, eating good food with aforementioned friends.

Oh, phone ringing...

The sisters apparently had a lot of nightly planning to do... for p-day :)

Oh! so want to know something cool?  My bed is right next to the window in our house and right outside our window, probably only maybe down a block or two, is a giant clock tower!  Every morning, I get to wake up to see (after I put on my glasses) the time on the clock tower, It's awesome!

Living in Butte is totally different from living in Gilbert.  While I know Gilbert's way bigger than Butte, Butte's more city-like if that makes sense.  It's like it never sleeps, like New York.  Oh, and snow.  That too :) One thing that I've learned about driving in the witer is that you have to take turns very carefully! I've already spun out a few times and it's crazy! Serious respect for those who live in snow and ice full time.

Well, it's getting close to bed time so I should probably wrap this up.  I love you Zach!  It's funny, I look back a lot and think of how awesome you are all the time!  You truly are an amazing person and I never want you to forget that.  It's sad, I'm working with one missionary in our District who is having such a hard time believing that he is a Son of God!  That he is special and that God always loves and cares about him.  I hope and pray that you never forget that.  You are a Son of God!  Oh! Also read the talk "Becoming True Millennials"  by Russell M, Nelson.  It's written towards YSA (Young Single Adults) But it freakin' Rocks!! You can find it on LDS.org

Love You!
Never Give Up, Never Surrender!
- Elder Berrett

Random Surprises from Total Strangers

I opened up facebook the other day to check out what superficial news is going on in the world around me, and what did I find, but Nick's smiling face looking at me.  Some kind person in Butte posted this on the Billings missionary mom's facebook page. 

Elder Guthrie and Elder Barrett serving in the Butte First Ward.

That in itself, totally made my day.  And then when I got home from work, I found a letter waiting for me from a sweet sister who is serving with Nick.  The highlights - 

"Hello!  My name is Sister Nichols.  I serve in the same district as your son :) I wanted to write you because I wonder what amazing person raised such an amazing son!.  He's the new district leader and he is doing an amazing job at it.  He has such an amazing enthusiasm for the work. 

I live in Gilbert too! Small world!

One thing I look forward to every week is watching your son play pod ball with the other elders.  He talks with this German accent and broadcasts the whole game XD imagine your son saying this in a German accent "Ok elders I want a clean game, no punching, or killing, ok ready? Best, game, ever!" Then he throws the ball. Then he runs around in his socks and slides everywhere.  I wish I could have the same go lucky attitude about life that he does.  

Anywho, I just wanted to say hi and even though I haven't met you, i want you to know I already think you are an amazing person.  You win at life Sister Berrett haha :)

Love, Sister Nichols."

First off, that pod ball story is the best.  I am so happy she shared that little insight with me. I can 100% picture it.  Except I would have guessed a British accent, but German works too. And him sliding around in his socks? I can't tell you how many times I've seen him do that at school.  *update 2/8/16 - he told me he thought it was a Russian accent. :)

And I think she gives me way too much credit.  Nick has always been his own person.  Parenting him was mostly an exercise in keeping him alive, fed, and helping him to remember things (like his shoes). 

Good Morning Everyone!

Good morning!

This week was pretty good! Not only did we find out that Elder Guthrie doesn't need an MRI, but we put somebody on date, at their request!

So real quick, our investigators are doing great! While we haven't found anyone new to work with, everyone that we are working with is almost progressing! All of our investigators have completely fallen in love with the Book of Mormon and the other scriptures and are reading like crazy, Randa, one of our investigators that we have been working with since I've gotten here, is already in Alma and absolutely loves the peace and knowledge that has come from reading it!

Andrea, another one of our investigators is also doing awesome! While we haven't been able to have an actual lesson for about a week and a half, we have been able to stop by quite a lot and has also told us about the peace that the Book of Mormon and the bible have brought into her life :) Also, her sister, a recent convert in Ohio, has been bearing her testimony and sharing her visiting teaching messages with her! Also the Ward has just completely taken her in and it's been amazing to see :)

Also this week we got to earn the trust of the Ward even more by teaching the priests quorum (young men aged 16-18) the first discussion and then answering questions that they have about missionary work. I am so surprised by the youth today. While they are only a few years younger than me, I swear they are miles ahead of where I ever was. They all have such a string testimony of the Book of Mormon, of Gods love for them, and that Jesus Christ is their Savior :) It's awesome! The bishopric was all there as well and seemed very proud of us missionaries so hopefully they might trust us a little more now :)

One of my favorite parts about being a missionary has got to be helping others and loving those that I serve with. The best part is that as a district leader I get to do that daily to my fellow missionaries and to their investigators :) It's so amazing to see how much the Lord is truly hastening the work :)

Also my thought for the week comes from the YSA devotional given by Russell M. Nelson. It's called becoming True Millennials. I would encourage you all to look it up, it rocks :) Anyways though in it he talks a lot about how much potential hat we all have and that the biggest stepping block that really anyone has, is failing to realize that they are a son or daughter of GOD and that they can truly do anything. :) I love this a ton because it is so true! When we realize that we have so much potential, and that we have such a loving Father in Heaven who loves and cares about us, we can literally do anything!

Think of all the good that can be done!

I love this gospel and I love you all!

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

And then there's this....

You know what sucks. Just realizing that you have a dinner appointment in 15 min. And that you forgot to shave today :/ seriously if I have any advice for anyone preparing to serve a mission it's, "Learn how to take lots of pictures " (Sorry mom) and "Get in a habit of shaving regularly!" The struggle is real! Our house is 20 min. The opposite direction away. :/ won't be able to shave in time.

 I love the fact that you took selfie in front of a urinal.

Hahahaha sorry :)

To put on the blog or not put on the blog?  That is the question. ;)  But I am always happy to see your beautiful smiling (even if a bit scruffy) face.

Haha feel free to put anything that I say (that isn't confidential) on the blog :) it'll be funny to remember. :) but here's a better pic.

Questions and Answers

I asked Nick a whole bunch of questions today, and I got some great responses that I thought I'd share.

My dearest darling Elder Berrett -

How are things?

My most magnificent marvelous mother-

Things are going quite superb! 

How’s your knee?

My knee is.... Alright ;) 

What exactly is going on with it, how long, and what are you doing about it? Are you being diligent about taking your move free? Do you need more?

So it's just still the soreness and pain from earlier. I have been doing all of the stretches they gave me but the pain is just still here. It was kind of funny actually, I called my medical coordinator Thursday wondering if there were any different exercises that I could do, because the ones that they gave me have been hurting. Anyways, after I told him that, he immediately recommended me for an MRI this Thursday then possibly surgery. Ya. That's all I know. I can still walk and work it was just this annoying pain and the occasional collapse of my knee.   I have now been taking my move free every day and it's been alright. It doesn't help too much but hopefully soon :) 

Is there anything else that you need?

I honestly do t need anything right now :) things are going really great! 

How’s the weather?

The weather is pretty good, we just got another 3 inches this weekend. Nothing too bad but still a little hard to get around. Thankfully we have had many great people offer to pull us out :) 

How’s Elder Guthrie?

Elder Guthrie is doing great! We still aren't sure exactly what he did, but because he has been healing so fast his MRI for to today got canceled. :) he is still loving the mission and has actually found some joy in being consecrated :) it was a little rough but he is so fantastic and especially easy to love when you are constantly serving him :) 

How’s his cousin?

His cousin Rachel is doing alright. She still hasn't read from the Book of Mormon, we are basically struggling to help her get a desire to come unto the Gospel. I think she is still afraid of her mom and going against what she says. Her mom definitely does not want her to be baptized so I definitely think that's something that is 

Who else are you teaching?

We are now also teaching someone named Lloyd and his wife, and get this, not only did he come to church and enjoy it, but he asked us if he could be baptized, and then he practically set his own date! Feb. 27! He loves the church and is so excited to be apart of it! 

Our other Investigators are also doing really good! Randa is already halfway through Alma and Andrea is in second Nephi, their only problem is Church attendance but other than that, they are both ready to be Baptized :) 

Do you have any pictures to send me? (wink, wink, nudge, nudge… ;) )

What are you doing to entertain yourselves while you are stuck in your apartment, aside from a lot of reading and letter writing? 

Thankfully I was only stuck in my apartment for 1 day with Elder Guthrie but I mostly just talked with him and read old General Conference talks. I feel a little bad but it was a nice rest :) 

Have you made any recipes from your cookbook?  

I haven't been able to make too much but I am making some homemade Pecan Pie and Some Enchiladas this week :) I can't wait. It's really nice to be able to cook. I mean, you do get a nice meal about every night, but to make your own food, to control what you eat, it's really nice. 

Hey I have a couple responses to the letter you sent last week- firstly, I’m thinking that your area must have had some bad experiences with missionaries.  They seem very wary of you.  Especially if the second counselor is totally testing you before he’ll give any referrals.   I know that your apartment was brand new to missionaries, I think because there were no missionaries for awhile in your area?  It sounds like you are fighting a bit of an uphill battle.  But I know you are up to the task, and the Lord trusts you to work in that area. 

Our area has totally had bad experiences with missionaries. It was actually closed for a while, about 6 months I think before we got here. I know that our bishop has made many mentions to the fact that he used to have the previous president on speed dial and weekly reported to him on our missionaries here and how they were behaving :/ it's a little sad. Just about all of the members here, except for the new college students, have all made mention to the missionaries before us as well :/ it certainly makes the work interesting but it's starting to turn around :) we were finally trusted to teach a lesson to the priests for mutual, but only if at least 2/3 members of the bishopric were present. We had to cancel it one week because only one could make it :/ HOWEVER, it went really well, we had it last time and it was amazing, both the first and the second counselor were there and said that we are completely different missionaries than the ones in the past and that they can't wait to continue to work with us :) 

Secondly, as your mom, I was a bit annoyed that I felt like you were lured into a trap,  but I am so proud of how you handled that.  Total class and dignity, and I’m sure satan would have loved to have you react to her and get confrontational.  

It wasn't really a trap that we were lured into. Poor Brother Bryant had NO CLUE that his niece was going to act like that. It was just that once she did, he kept quiet wanting to see what we would do. :) I think we passed :) 

And I think you should sing as much as you’d like J with or without elder Guthrie.  I miss your musicality, and I like to picture you singing or whistling all the time.

Don't worry I still sing all of the time. :) just not while tracting anymore, it would be a little awkward for me to start singing a solo at a doorstep. 

Also, I don’t think you should be such a martyr.  I know you are trying to treat elder Guthrie kindly, but I think you both should have equal say in music and what you listen to.  Like take turns or something.  Sister Anderson stayed up until 1 in the morning helping me with those thumb drives, and I put a lot of stress and effort into getting you some music you can listen to!  End of rant…. 

Also! I got a speaker that plays USB's so now I listen to my music all the time. :) The rule is Elder Guthrie gets the choose car music and the house is all mine :) I'm nice of course and play songs that he likes sometimes but then I also get to listen to all of that other glorious music that you and sister Anderson got for me :) thank you so much :) also another missionary got me the soundtrack from the RM that's basically primary songs but all pumped up, so I listen and rock out to those while working out :) 

Surgery…. Not fun.  Would they send you home, or keep you out there? Surely you must hear stories from other missionaries who get hurt?  Please keep me updated J I wouldn’t want to have to threaten to come check on you personally ;)  But I’m sorry it’s still bothering you.

I will! And if the recovery takes more than 2 1/2 weeks I go home :/. They said it might be a simple surgery like a knee re-alignment or a complex one like a prep surgery for knee-replacement when I go home.

Knee REPLACEMENT ???? you are not even 20 yet!!! What the heck?!?!? I’ll be praying for “simple”!!

Haha I don't think it will be that bad. The pain isn't too bad. :)

Teresa said she has sent you recipes that you requested?  She said something about adding them to a collection? Are you getting quite the collection of recipes?  Do you ask members when they have you over for dinner and the dinner or dessert was especially good if you can have a copy?  What are your favorites so far? (although I’m not sure how plentiful elk is in phoenix – fyi)

Sis Anderson has sent me several great recipes that have all been added :) And yes that's exactly what I do :) So far I only have maybe 12 or 13 recipes but they are all really great :) especially that Pecan pie one that I got :) I can't wait to try that. Most of my recipes are for a croc pot though so I have to have a little time to try them, or at least a free dinner (which is totally a blessing since the Ward feeds us a lot here) some of my favorites funny enough have been Elk stroganoff, Pecan Pie, Arroz con Pollo, and Carne Asada :) I've found some really great treasures here :) 

This makes me so happy.  There’s that whole “growing up” and “testimony building” and “helping others come unto christ” part that’s awesome too, but I also really love that you are learning to love cooking

Hahahaha! I love it! I've also started experimenting with cooking chicken, I'm just afraid of it I guess haha. Most of the meat that we get here is from the Food bank so I just kind of stay away from it. If I had a grill I'd be all over it but since we don't.... Ya. But definitely cooking rocks! So does having a clean kitchen. My companion thinks I'm practically OCD about it, but when you spend time in there making meals, it's nice to have a clean workspace :) I know I'm totally preaching to the choir here it's hilarious.

Mmmmm pecan pie J you’ll have to tell me how it turns out.

Extra letter this week

Good Morning Family!

Soooo ya, poor Elder Guthrie.  Right now we are just sitting inside doing nothing.  Thankfully we both have Gospel Library on our iPads, so we will probably be doing a ton of studying.

Anyways though, we had a pretty cool experience the other day that I forgot to mention.  So we had this investigator that we were really excited to teach, like Extremely Excited! She is apparently the second counselor's niece and asked him how she could get in contact with us and be baptized!  Really awesome stuff!  So of course we set up a lesson and prepared for it.  Eventually Saturday did come, and we headed over to our lesson.  Unfortunately.... it didn't go exactly as we had hoped.  Apparently, she had some huge concerns that she had failed to mention and used this opportunity to basically tell us that we were going to hell, that our church hates families, and that we were all devil worshipers, and so forth.  Basically this went on for about an hour before I finally just raised my hand to talk, then offered a prayer, bore my testimony, then said that we had to go.  As Bro Bryant (our second counselor) walked us out of his house, he told us right before we reached our car that that had been a test!  He knew that she might express some concerns (though not quite with the ferocity or extremeness that it happened though) and wanted to see how we would react and handle the situation.  He told us that we passed with flying colors and that he had a few referrals for us!  It was a crazy experience.

Anyways...ya, it's been a crazy week.

So, let's see, I'm going through your email right now... Sorry for the lack of stories, I'm pretty bad at that, even looking through my journal it's fairly lacking in stories, I'll try to include more. :)

Do I get many opportunities to sing?  Thankfully we sing a hymn every morning to start off companionship study, but really that's it.  Elder Guthrie doesn't really like to sing so we don't :/

My favorite members are probably either Elder Guthrie's family or the Smyths.  The Smyths live in uptown and are just the most hilarious new family ever!  They have two young kids and make the best food!

Other interactions with church members?  Not really much. :/ The occasional service project for some but that's rare.  The members here are a little more scared than most to get involved, so we don't get to interact too much.  We try but they usually refuse.

Well, I'm out of paper :) Love you guys!  I love this work and you all!

Never Give up, Never Surrender!
-Elder Berrett