Good morning mom! It’s me, Elder Berrett! Happy sorta kinda maybe pancake Monday, even
though there won’t be any pancakes made today. I think I have all the stuff to
make the mix you sent me, and I’m really excited to try that out, but we’ll be
having lots of pancakes Wednesday, and also, I don’t know, my stomach doesn’t
feel right, so I don’t want to throw a bunch of sugar at it right now. Well, I
say that and now I’m going to go eat a….So for breakfast today I’m making a
bagel-egg sandwich, which is fine, but then I have a cinnamon sugar muffin that
we’ll see how I feel after the eggs.
But I figure continue the tradition and at least make
something today. I’ve been feeling
pretty good lately. Really, really
congested. Throat hasn’t been… I had a brief stint the other day where my
throat was feeling really bad. I couldn’t really talk too much, but it wasn’t
as bad as last week. So it’s been pretty good.
Still a little congested now if you can hear that.
So again Happy Monday.
How are you doing today? Because I am doing absolutely fantastic. What all happened this week? Let’s see, yeah, sent home a lot of the
sisters I came out with. Saw sister Crosland, sister, no I didn’t see sister
Hodgson, she came out with elder Hendricks so she went home last transfer. Saw Sister Unatowa, Sister Wong, sister
Fredrickson, she was in my MTC district, so was sister Wong…. Um, Elder Isley,
also in our zone but didn’t come out with me.
Finished his mission and was going home.
Everyone in the surrounding areas comes to Helena and drives off and we
run that so it’s… that was interesting.
Funny enough, the hardest part about all that was actually
seeing Elder Hendricks. It was wonderful and I loved seeing him, he came up
because he’s kinda with the assistants right now. Actually I’m not sure why
because he technically has a companion. I don’t know. He has another companion that’s with him, who
is actually his new companion since Elder Hatch went home. Bless his heart.
Elder Hendricks and I talked a little bit, it was so great to see him. We smiled, we laughed. I think it was just
hard because it really started my mind thinking, “Holy crap”… like, maybe it
was also a mix of like the sisters I came out with going home, but I was like
“What am I going to do when I get home?” If I’m going to BYU-I, I need to
figure out my life right now, I need to find a way to do things. But this last week was fast Sunday, I fasted
and prayed, and I received a lot of comfort in the decision that I shouldn’t go
to BYU-I, at least immediately. I don’t know what I am going to do a year or
two years after I get home, but immediately I need to go home, work, spend time
with my family, and go to CGCC. And that’s the impression that I feel I
received. It was really comforting
actually, and kinda powerful, just to… Especially, oh what night was it, Saturday
night, I was getting really, really stressed out. To the point where that was the only thing on
my mind. I was able to work, but I was
talking to my companion and I was like, “Listen, I am legitimately stressed out
right now.” It was on my mind, I couldn’t
let go of it, and pretty much as I was beginning my fast that night… Well, yeah
I started at the night, not right after dinner because I was feeling pretty
dehydrated and we both went home and chugged a bunch of water, cause we were
both a little low on water and then started our fast. We both had water bottles
and we pretty much just downed one, and then we began our fast. It was really
good, it helped me over. But anyways,
pretty much as I began my fast, a lot of that stress just kind of left. And the
thought kinda came to my head what I should do, and I thought about it, and it
seemed like the most logical decision to not pursue going to BYU-I right now,
and the spirit kinda really comforted me in that, so, yeah. That’s my decision.
Oh my goodness I am so congested right now. Anyways, cool experience. That was fun. I need to butter this pan,
where’s the butter? Oh my goodness the
butter is gone. Wow. Really congested.
Anyways, it was a really good week. I know for a moment
there I was like, If I go to BYU-I, that’s gonna be, the tri-mester would start
soon, I’d have to find a way to take the ACT or SAT. I mean I know missionaries that are doing
that on their mission, but, well at least I’ve heard of a couple that have done
it. That would be stressful, studying
for that early in morning. I would have
to go home from my mission 30 days early.
There’s a lot of elders that came out with me that are doing that, because
of school. And just kind of all these
things that I’m like, you know, it’s all this extra work, and I’m not feeling
the prompting that I need to do it. It’s
all this extra stress, all these extra hoops I need to jump through, and I don’t
know? Does that make sense what I am
saying? It just feels right that I need
to go home. And stay out the full time. Oh,
I’m so excited for that. I’ll admit, part of me was hoping I didn’t have to go
home 30 days early, cause that’s like in 5 months. But, yeah, I think the
tri-mester starts like 2 days after I would get home normally. So they’re going home early to see family,
prepare, you know. Umm, yeah, so that’s
that.
Other than that small, oh what was that article I saw on
LDS.org? They called it I think “A Quarter Life Crisis”. (laughs) That was a
fun read. So other than that, it has been
a really good week.
We got (redacted) and, oh, there goes the full names again.
We got the Sinclair family, it’s a part member/less active family that we’ve
been working with. She would totally
already be a member if it weren’t for the fact that, you know, parole and
stuff. So if you could please edit out
that first name that would be great. They’re an awesome, awesome family. She’s been struggling to get up for church at
9:00 am. And now that they got their kid
back they’re especially excited about that, but it’s been a struggle for
them. So she gave us permission at 7:30
to go and bang on the door like cops to wake them up and so that’s what we did.
(laughs) Called them a couple of times, and when they didn’t answer we went and
just banged on the door, and got the dogs just continually barking until she
came and answered the door and said thank you for waking her up and they came
to church. It was great! They did leave right after sacrament though,
cause their daughter was, she’s 3 or 4, and she hates dresses and she kept
trying to tear her dress off. I think
they were pretty embarrassed and weren’t sure what to do, they did just get
their kid back, they’re sober, they’re trying to get back into church and
everything, and this happened. I can imagine
that it would be really stressful for them.
We’re planning on visiting them tomorrow, having members visit them,
just trying to comfort and love them. I
mean, you’re a mom, and thankfully there are other members of the ward who
understand, any tips?? Ah, the joys of parenthood that I don’t know yet.
Where’s the butter? (crash) Oh! I found the butter. I
dropped the butter. The butter dish is gone.
This is so weird. There’s usually a small plate with the butter on it
right next to the stove. I guess I will just make a new one. (whistling
Jurassic Park)
Today I had a really fantastic, how long has this recording
been going on? Oh! Only 10 minutes. Ok.
Today I had a really fantastic personal study session. I recently
started re-reading the Book of Mormon and I have a bunch of fancy study tools
now. Normally I just have like a pen, you know, highlight, make notes in… But
Elder Shumway’s like, “no, no, no, no buddy, you gotta do this right.” So now I
have like little colored tabs that I can put in, I have twistable Crayola
crayons… you know to mark with different colors. I’m doing the Doctrine of Christ read
through. I did it a couple of times in Greybull and in Powell, but I kept
accidentally handing out the book I was reading so I never really got to finish
it. In fact I don’t think I ever got
through First Nephi. Or I got to Second Nephi.
I got through First Nephi a lot and I learned a lot in First Nephi, I
love First Nephi. But, you know it was
kinda funny because a lot of people are like “Oh, yeah, yeah, I just can’t get
through First Nephi cause I get out of the habit of reading…” And I just kept
accidentally giving out my Book of Mormon, or forgetting which one it was. But
I don’t feel like I was that serious about doing it, you know? Like I was doing it because President
challenged us all to, and it was great, and I learned a lot, and got a
testimony more of it, but now I’m sitting down and I’m, oh I’m just learning so
much.
(Stove clicking in the back ground) Hey! There we go, first try! #success.
Today I read First Nephi Chapter 2. It’s
preparation day so sadly it’s a little less personal study time. We used to have a full hour, now we have a
half hour, because preparation day starts at 8:00. It was really good. It was a lot about faith
in Jesus Christ and enduring to the end.
I saw Lehi teaching his kids or really trying to teach them about the
principle of enduring to the end.
“Lemuel, may you be like this river continually flowing unto
righteousness. Laman,” I’m pretty sure,
or maybe I’m getting the names mixed up, but the other one was “Laman, may thou
be steadfast and immovable like this mountain in keeping the commandments of
God.” Earlier a couple of verses, after
they get there, he builds an altar of stones, after they have just been
traveling three days and thanks the Lord. Showing their kids that we thank the
Lord for everything. That, this is how
we can keep our faith alive. This is how we find joy and peace. I see a great
example of that teaching, which actually is coming to mind right now as I’m
testifying to you of this, the spirit is just like “Boom! Boom! Boom! Here’s a
bunch more examples!” As I’m just thinking of it, there’s another great example
where Nephi applies that teaching, um you see, after, it’s like later in First
Nephi, they haven’t gotten to the point where he’s building the boat yet, but
you see, I think it’s in the same chapter, and Hank Smith, l love listening to
Hank Smith, he talks about this. The two
comparisons in attitudes you see between Nephi and Laman and Lemuel. Nephi:
“You know, it’s been a hard journey, but I’m so thankful for it. The Lord has made our women strong like unto
us men, that they might give plenty of suck unto their children. He’s let raw meat taste sweet unto us. He’s
helped us through all this, so that we might achieve all that he wants us to
achieve.” He talks about the blessings
they’ve gotten, and you can clearly see he’s applying the principle of thanking
God. And then you have Laman and Lemuel,
you know, who are going on about How “Their women have toiled, being big with
child, and how it would have been better had they been dead” and they’re just
basically complaining the whole time.
Elder Holland (laughs) There’s a quote from him, that says that “for all
the complaining that Laman and Lemuel” I’m paraphrasing here because I don’t
remember the exact quote, but it’s “For all the complaining that they were
doing, surely Nephi must have said once, ‘Hit me again for I can still hear
you!’” (laughs) I’m like, “Elder Holland!!” Oh, I love the scriptures. Really wonderful, I can’t wait for my study
session tomorrow. I was just finishing in my prayer, I’m like, “Heavenly
Father, thank you for this great session! Please bless me that I might continue
to have this strong desire to continue to study hard and to learn a lot as I do
this read through.” And already I’m feeling the spirit and it’s just, it was a
good day. It was a good day.
Why did I just wash my hands after cracking that one egg
when I still have more eggs to crack? I had a weird dream last night, it wasn’t
necessarily a dream, it was like 5:30, I kinda woke up and couldn’t go back to
sleep, and so I’m just kinda sitting there and pondering, or laying there and
pondering since you’re not really supposed to get up before your companion, so
I’m just kinda sitting there. And, I
don’t know, maybe it was the Lord continuing to help me see the wise decision
of going home and not going to BYU-I immediately, or even at all, I don’t know.
But, it was a lot of, I don’t even know how to describe it, almost like I felt
that I’d have a lot of joy, that I saw my family a lot. It was just kind of day dreaming almost, I
don’t remember much about it, but I remember being with my family a lot, you
guys, my friends, helping them… I don’t even know how to describe it, I’m just
gonna stop talking. It was super cool
and the Lord just basically confirmed to me this morning that that’s what I
need to do. I don’t even know what it
was. It was awesome though.
That’s my day so far, I’m gonna pause this recording and
send it off since it’s 18 minutes long now, oh my goodness, I really hope it
sends off. I love you so much! Happy
Monday! Bye!
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