Goooooooooood Morning everyone!

Good Morning!

First of all, how are you all doing? I want you all to know that Heavenly Father loves you and wants to hear from you, even if it's been the crappiest day ever, tell him about it. He cares.

I'm fairly certain that a side effect of being on a mission is that your love for your siblings increases exponentially. Like LOVE= Love level from before mission + (Days on mission X 42) 

Dang, so My companion was just trying to cook bacon. Just 4 little strips of bacon, and now the entire house is filled with smoke. Also now we have 4 charred strips of bacon. Like literally every window and door in open right now, it's ridiculous. When interviewed, my companion says, and I quote "In all appearances it looks like I lit the Cheatham's house on fire. In reality I just cooked 4 pieces of bacon".

Anyways, Sorry in advance for the short email. Today we spent a good part of preparation day helping someone move, and they lived a little bit ways out of town. So ya, it was fun!

This week has been a giant roller coaster honestly. We have literally gone from having fantastic lessons cancel on us, to having 5 investigators at church!

But ya,  this week we got an amazing referral! Her name is Bertie and has apparently been taught my missionaries a little bit in the past in Lovell. Apparently she approached one of her close friends who is a member and asked if she could come to church with her and also be taught by the missionaries! Our first lesson is Friday, so excited!

As far as the work goes, it is still chugging along! One thing that has amazed me is how much the lord likes to humble me. I have seen people that I was literally about to give up on start progressing and truly opening up to us! It has been amazing! This week we have seen a ton of progress in 3 of our less-actives, Bro. Zeilke, Vicki, and Bro. Ledford! It's truly amazing when you see the hand of God in your area, I love it!

Also! We have an investigator named Greg who, while he is still constantly seeking God and loves coming to church, is really struggling, If you could please keep him in your prayers.

Quick thought, check out mentalhealth.lds.org, it is truly a fantastically spiritual site, I've downloaded all of them videos and they are amazing! Love you all!

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

An Unexpected Journey

Good Morning Everyone!

Hey, before I get too far and forget, I have a couple of people that if you guys could pray for that would be awesome. 

1. Greg

2. Sis. Flickinger

3. Sis. Vasquez

But if you could just pray that they will have the strength to endure the challenges that the Lord has put in their life and grow from it, that would be amazing!

Anyways, this week was absolutely, positively and stupendously Fantastic! 

To start it off, this was Elder Burch and I's first full week together! It's been absolutely amazing! In the beginning of the week, we actually didn't have too much going on, so we ended up doing a ton of finding. While WE, keyword we, only saw a few things come of it, we truly both grew and knew that we were doing the Lord's work. While normally I'm not too excited about 3-4 straight hours of finding activities, I am truly thankful for that time :) Not only did Elder Burch and I get to know each other a lot better, but I think that we both truly learned a ton. 

            Also, quick side note, I am so thankful for the spirit and how much it has been helping us! Honestly, this work would be completely impossible if it weren't for the Lord helping us :) I think It was J Golden Kimble who said "If the church weren't true, 19 yr old missionaries would have ruined it years ago." But ya GO SPIRIT!

            So let's see, quick look at area book, Oh ya! So we did actually have some great lessons this week though. We actually had several great miracles! So one of the less-active families that we are teaching, Jason and Cindy, finally let us in this week! One of the coolest parts is that they really opened up to us about a ton of their concerns that we can hopefully now resolve. :) 

            Also this week we finally found a fellow shipper for a less-active named Vicki that we've been working with! I now know why we have been having trouble finding one, literally we just brought this one member with us and it was amazing! She is totally helping Vicki, she even seemed excited about coming to church this week!

            We have also had some really cool spiritual experiences this week! We have gotten to give out several blessings and help a bunch of people grow their testimony in Christ this week, like one of our progressing investigators Greg! He is a nephew of some active members in the Basin Ward. He's going through some tough health challenges but that is not stopping this man from coming closer to Christ! He is so genuinely excited about the gospel I love it! 

            Ok, quick story. This last Saturday my companion and I got asked to drive up to Worland so that we could do a Baptismal Interview. The Sister preparing for baptism's name was sis. Vasquez. She is seriously going through some tough crap but LOVES the gospel and how much it has helped her family. Honestly I was really excited to come do this interview, I remember her from back when the Worland Elders were teaching her a while back, I think I actually taught her once on an exchange. Anyways, the Interview went great! However she found out that due to some insane family emergency she needed to fly out to her sisters house ASAP to watch her kids. Thankfully the Lord is awesome. There were several miracles that we saw that happened in the next few hours. 

1. The baptismal font, which normally takes hours to fill up was already being filled up during the interview for another baptism to take place shortly. 

2. She had a bunch of recent convert family members in town to love her and help her.

3. We actually had to stay in Worland for a little while longer so that we could get our oil changed and tires rotated. 

4. Right after her interview, Elder Burch and I, with the Worland Sisters had a super powerful lesson with her about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and testified of how vital it would be for her to have it during this hard time. 

            So long story short, sorry I'm really terrible at writing out stories, we ended up baptizing her about 2 hours after the interview. The crazy part is that she remembered me back from when I visited her and actually asked me to baptize her so ya! I actually got to BAPTIZE SOMEONE!

I think that's actually about it for the week. OH! ELder Burch and I got to play the piano for Primary this week #I_now_totally_want_a_calling_in_primary. #This_is_a_valid_reason_to_never_quit_the_piano

But ya! Anyways, I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to give people blessings or even participate. Also, thanks to the baptism, I've been reflecting a lot on what it means to hold the priesthood. One great quote I found this week in the talk "The Price of Priesthood Power" from the April 2016 General Conference given by President Russel M. Nelson. In in he says: "I fear that there are too many men who have been given the authority of the priesthood but who lack priesthood power because the flow of power has been blocked by sins such as laziness, dishonesty, pride, immorality, or preoccupation with things of the world.

            I fear that there are too many priesthood bearers who have done little or nothing to develop their ability to access the powers of heaven. I worry about all who are impure in their thoughts, feelings, or actions or who demean their wives or children, thereby cutting off priesthood power.

            I fear that too many have sadly surrendered their agency to the adversary and are saying by their conduct, “I care more about satisfying my own desires than I do about bearing the Savior’s power to bless others.”

I am so thankful for all that the Lord has done for us and I love you all! 

Oh also Zone training happened this week.

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berret

Week (Insert some random Number here like 42)

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!!!!!!

This week was absolutely, without a doubt FANTASTIC!!!!!

First of all, I had to say Goodbye to Elder Ison. That was actually pretty hard. Thankfully I got to at least spend the day waiting with my new companion with the Byron Elders so that was at least nice:). Anyways Wednesday was the day that it happened. The day that I got ELDER BURCH!!! I'll attach a photo that I just took :)

Elder Burch is pretty awesome, first of all we are both complete yuppies, second of all we are both total nerds. Unfortunately he doesn't really like Doctor Who, his words were, and I quote "Well, I can look past imperfections". Jokingly of course :) Also he is from MESA ARIZONA! Literally our houses are only 20 min apart. It is so cool! Someone else who knows the pain of summers but is too thick headed to ever leave :). 

(I don't understand the yuppy comment... maybe it means something else in Wyoming? )

But ya, This week has been amazing! While we unfortunately only had 2 investigators at church today, one that we will be dropping. But we found several new ones and committed quite a few people to come this week! Seriously training a new missionary is the most fantastic thing in the entire Universe! I never thought that I would enjoy, well I hoped I did, but I was also terrified. Seriously though, he is just training me, not the other way around. I love this guy so much. But in all seriousness, I am, so thankful for the opportunity to train. I am learning so much everyday, and I feel the spirit so much more. Maybe it's because I'm trying super hard to follow all of the rules with exactness and striving to love my companion, so it's really awesome :) :) :) :) :).  I am, honestly so thankful for the opportunity that I have to train.

But ya, that has been about our week. We have done a ton of finding lately, we are seriously trying to improve our teaching pool. Also We are really trying to do way more member finding. We are trying to implement the 21 days program with all of the members here., we followed up with one member yesterday and they loved it so much they wanted to do it again and asked for another sheet!

Christopher is in orchestra now!?!?!? But that's freakin 5th grade! I thought he was in 4th! Man, that is just crazy. You know that is the thing that I keep forgetting about being on a mission. Life just goes on.

But ya, I still want to live in Gilbert. My new companion helped me to realize that I honestly do like Gilbert more than Greybull thankfully. Don't get me wrong, it's great here, but I don't want to live in snow again. I've had to explain a few things to him that make me stop and go, oh ya, this place turns into a complete winter wasteland where nothing grows and nothing should ever live here bye. 

Quick spiritual thought: I know that Families truly are important to Gods plan for us. Yesterday we got to have the opportunity to testify to an excommunicated member here that they truly are and it was one of the most spiritual lessons that I have ever been in! I am so thankful for the gospel and I love you all!

 Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

Another Day in the Neighborhood

Good Morning Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😆😆😄

This week was absolutely wonderful! To start off we had exchanges with the Byron elders! I got to stay here in Greybull with Elder Demille and he is such a stud! It was actually pretty cool to be with him again, we went on a few exchanges back in butte, he was the other District leader at the time, so it was an absolute blast to say the least. The best part was that we even set up a return appointment for later that week with a potential investigator that we had been struggling to get a hold of!

Wednesday was also pretty awesome! We had our last district meeting, crap I forgot to get a district picture. How do I forget about that!?

Sorry. Anyways we also had exchanges with the zone leaders that day and I got to go with Elder Decker this time. This exchange was also a blast cause I got to go and do tons of finding with the guy! We even found a new investigator! ....for a different area, but they are still going to get the gospel! It was pretty cool being with Elder Decker because he has actually served in both Butte and Great Falls / Roe River! He is a total stud! I learned a ton from him!

Other than that not too much happened this week we had a ton of lessons fall through so we decided to go and do some finding over in basin this week. Get this, yesterday we found an amazing new investigator! His name is trevon and he is so awesome! While he seemed a little closed off at first, we chatted with him for a bit and got him to discuss some of his beliefs. He literally believes everything that we believe! So we sat him down and told him about the Book of Mormon and about the restoration of the gospel and he agreed to pray about it! He said that he doesn't take anyone's word for anything and that he prays about everything! Such a stud! He agreed to pray in faith and said that he would read it! I am so excited!

My knee is doing a ton better, I've been wearing tape for about a week  and a 1/2 straight now, it's definitely helping, no limp :)

Hahaha  and I've definitely been eating too much ice cream! My companion and I have downed 24 quarts since being here. Our member just keeps buying us ice cream! And clearly I can't just say no to ice cream. However I haven't gained any weight :) #thankful_for_biking.

Man everyone is growing up :) But you know what, as much as I miss you guys, I would never give up the experiences that I'm having out here. Amazing!  Any chance of Zach doing Cross Country or Track? Maddie is seriously Berrett 2.0, that is so funny, my siblings are seriously the best people ever #Best_Friends_For_Life #My_Family_is_Freakin_Awsome! 

Sorry for the short letter this week, but real quick transfer news!

Elder Ison will sadly be leaving me to go train in Butte, however I get to stay here and train! I am Seriously so excited for this! President called us up yesterday and asked us both to train! I am so excited! Honestly, I know that we aren't supposed to want to, but I've really wanted to train for a while so I'm super pumped for this opportunity!

I hope that you all have a fantastic week! Love you!

Also check out this cool mercury that I found!

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett 

THE Weekly Letter

Good Morning everyone!

This week was absolutely awesome! Super spiritual week, we had both a Zone Training and a stake priesthood conference, it's been great!

To start off, well I guess lets go in order.

The start of this week was fairly up and down. The up side was that we had a great evening on Tuesday! The fun all began when a member of our ward picked us up for dinner (we were just about out of miles) in his Shelby GT 500. :) what a car! The best part was that he offered to drive us out to Lovell (saving us 70 miles that we didn't have) that night for a baptism that the Byron Elders had. That was possibly one of the best rides of my life! So cool! At one point we were going about 110. Ya.

The downside is that one of the elderly members that Ward council has asked us to go visit was hospitalized. He probably won't be making it, and that same day found out that his wife just passed away. We actually attended her funeral this morning. :/

The rest of the week was quite a bit better. We had lots of great lessons with less actives and investigators. Unfortunately the Lancaster's cancelled on us. :/ although due to the fact that she's going in to be induced to have her kid this Friday, I'm not really pushing the issue. Thankfully though she still loves to talk with us through Facebook. It's literally Great Falls all over again. There was a family there that I never really met because of this same situation, thankfully Elder Hendricks is a boss and they were totally prepared.  :) But ya, the Lancasters have tons of desire and are really to keep on learning about the gospel so yay!

Also this week, Zone Training! It was FANTASTIC! This was possibly one of the most spiritual zone trainings that I've been to. It was all about having more faith, taking care of our selves mentally and physically, and of course role-plays! It was amazing! One of my favourite parts was a commitments that they gave us, to read the Book of Mormon looking for things that describe the character of Christ. We have to be done by Zone Conference this December. I am so pumped to do this!

Oh! Also this week we did some service for the Gemmels! They are the really super awesome family that gives me tape for my knees :) but ya, we helped them cut and load about two cords of wood. While we aren't allowed to actually do any of the cutting or splitting, we marked the logs for cutting then loaded the split wood into various trucks/trailers. Unfortunately about an hour in the Gimmels daughter got her thumb caught between the splitter and a piece of wood effectively removing 3/16th of it including a good chunk of bone. As much as I feel bad for her, it was a good reminder to me of how important ALL of the rules we have are. Honestly I was tempted to use the splitter. It seemed really safe and I couldn't see a reason for the rule. However this was a fantastic example to me on how everything has a purpose.

But ya! Grandma and grandpa surprised me yesterday, I had totally forgot that they might try and stop by on their way through Wyoming until I came home from church to see them on the couches here, seriously what a shock, I honestly didn't even realize it was them for 30 whole seconds. You know how you said it was weird when your work life met your home life back in college. That's totally what it felt like. It was honestly really great to see them though, they brought me jam, the most glorious raspberry freezer jam :).

 Not much else that I can think of, not too many people showed up to church this week However we are seriously going to be praying and striving to do all that we can this week to get people there!

For a spiritual thought, I started the character of Christ Book of Mormon challenge this morning. Before I had even gotten to 1st Nephi, I was just reading the title page and I was immediately struck with such an immense feeling that Jesus Christ truly loves us. I knew that he loved us, that he wanted this record to be published, another testament of Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon does contain the fullness of the Gospel and that through it we will come closer to Christ.

I hope that you all have a most wonderful day today and the rest of the week! I love you all!

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett