Elder Nicholas Berrett is currently serving in the Billings Montana mission (serving most of Montana and a good portion of Wyoming) for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He is excited to serve the Lord and the people of Montana and Wyoming for the next two years!

Monday, February 1, 2016

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.



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