And Good morning Gilbert, Arizona! It is 9:04 am, well where
you are it is 8:04 am. Over here it’s a
beautiful 52 degrees. Over in Arizona
supposedly it’s a beautiful 72 degrees.
Skies are clear, it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Continuing on – talks in Sacrament meeting. So I have that old tablet of mine, this is
just a bit of background, it’s cracked and everything, the LCD doesn’t work,
still it’s in its box. I got a hold of
this cable, and I’m like “I can hook up my tablet to a tv in district meeting!”
and I’ve been sitting there, and I’m just like, you know, Moss 360 is no longer
on that old tablet. And these have just been thoughts that have been in my
head. Not constantly, but those little
things that Satan puts in there, like “Hey you could put a game on there, you
could do this… you have a means to hook that old tablet up to a screen.” And I obviously have chosen not to do that,
but if I had to say that I had one weakness, that would be it. You know, this is just proof that the Lord
strengthens us so much. Sacrament
meeting – amazing, amazing talks, and they are all on obedience, the power that
the Lord gives us to be obedient. And I’m like, “okay, where’s the candid
camera here?” I’m like, “that’s
awesome.” Just really powerful
talks. And then that evening we had a
priesthood meeting, one there was a returned missionary that just returned
recently, and he got up and gave experiences from his mission, and then
testified of the power of keeping the mission rules and preparing yourself for
it, being obedient…. And I’m like, “yes.” President Wadsworth and I even had a
talk, he’s like, “you’re in a crunch time Elder Berrett…” and I’m like “Stop
talking… don’t remind me.” But they were
just really, really powerful spiritual experiences that I had there. That were
just reminding me, I CAN do this! Just really strengthened that desire to shove
all those thoughts away. And then I was
reading in the Book of Mormon this morning, Alma 24, and that’s the Anti-Nephi
Lehi’s. They had just formed themselves
and they talk about, ‘These are our weapons of war, things that we’ve sinned
with, and all these things and “How merciful is our God, behold it has been as
much as we can do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made
bright. Let us hide them away that they
may be kept bright as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day
that we shall be brought to stand before him and be judged, that we have not
stained our swords with the blood of our brethren, since he has imparted his
word unto us and has made us clean thereby.”
And I was thinking about it, I was listening to a Hank Smith talk awhile
back, and he was comparing this to our weapons of rebellion these days. They buried them deep in the Earth. And he’s like, “We all have stuff that keeps
us from coming closer to the Lord. We
need to take those and bury them deep, deep within the earth, to the point
where…. I mean obviously they could access them again, to the point
where the anti-nephi lehi’s sons who hadn’t made this covenant were able to dig
them up and use them as weapons of war, the stripling warriors, but you know,
they were buried deep, they were out of sight, it’s not like they threw an inch
(of dirt) over it, “Oh, I can’t see it… but it’s right in my back yard, and I
just need to shovel one or two shovels and grab it and go…” But I imagine it would have been like, for me
I’ve always pictured it in the center of town, had a monument built over it,
and they all KNEW that under that were the weapons of war. Deep, deep in the Earth. And that gave them strength to know that they
had thrown those down there. And I’m
sure that if someone were to go and start digging, his friends would have gone
up to him and been like, “hey! No! Come
on, you made this covenant, stay true to it. “ It was something they had all
committed to, and all strengthened each other in. And Hank Smith gives a wonderful, wonderful
talk on really burying our stuff, our weapons of war. And as I’m reading that, I’m like, “you know,
there’s that family that is moving to Gilbert, Arizona…” well for one, the
thought was this has been sitting on my desk here, because for awhile I was
working on it, seeing if I could try to get any old information off of it,
figure out exactly how to do it to help sister Wood out, and I’ve been
struggling with that because Moss 360 has been blocking all my attempts. And Moss 360, you know it’s an old tablet, so
they erased Moss 360 which reset the tablet anyways, so now there’s nothing to
get off of it. But, so it was sitting
next to my desk for awhile there, and I’m like, “you know, I’m just going to go
put this up, bury it deep in my suitcase, you know the part of my suitcase that
I never use, all zipped up, with all my winter clothes, and then the thought
that there was this family moving to Gilbert, Arizona, and they are driving a
big truck down, I’m sure if I asked, they’d be willing to send a suitcase down
with them. Well, technically they are
moving to San Tan Valley, for a year or two, but they are looking to eventually
get to Gilbert, but I’m sure they’d be willing to let me send that home with
them. So that’s what I am going to
do. I’m going to bury that so deep, so
that I will be able to finish my mission knowing that I was obedient, it was
just one of those cool moments, where I’m like, “This applies to me, right
now.” I love it! I love reading the scriptures! They’re the
freaking best. The Lord knows how to
take us and be like, “Hey, I KNOW you’re struggling with this, here’s a way to
help you out. Strengthen you.” And I’m
just like, “You’re the best! I love you
so freaking much.” It’s amazing how the
Lord doesn’t judge us, I mean obviously he does, but in the sense that
like, “Elder Berrett, are you kidding
me?!? You’ve been on your mission HOW long, and you want to do this?? What’s wrong with you?” No, it’s “Hey, are you kidding? You’re turning to me, you’re paying
attention…” He’s always going to be
helping us, we just have to tune in. And
if we sit down and make the time to read our scriptures and go to the temple,
seek his help, pay attention in Sacrament meeting, go to our meetings, we’re
going to be strengthened, endowed with that power like what Moses did. To be able to throw off all the temptations
that Satan gives us. We don’t HAVE to
give in. That was a big thing that
President Wadsworth and I were talking about.
That was really cool, I’m like, “I love that point.” So, I’m like, yeah. That was that. That was the point I wanted to
talk about.
Funny note from the Priesthood meeting though, there was a
guy from another ward, I don’t even remember his name, but he was also kinda
talking about the Atonement, and he’s like, “People think that like if I want
to get from Butte to here,” and Butte is
in Western Montana, or at least it’s
west of here, way over west. He’s like,
“If I were to go to Missoula and go to this road and just head east…” apparently it’s like some freeway or
something that everyone’s familiar with, or interstate road or something like
that. “If I were to just head East, I’m
not going to get to Butte. Like
technically I could go all the way
around the world, but that’s besides the point.
That’s not how you get to Butte.
I don’t care what people tell you, you are not going to get to Butte by
traveling east. You have to turn around
and drive west. People can tell you to
make all the facts in the world, ‘Well it’s more economical and you’ll be able
to do this, and actually this is the faster way to get to Butte. Go east.’
But that’s not going to work. Obviously.
The same with the gospel. Satan is going to throw all this stuff at you,
and tell you, ‘No, this is how you get peace and joy. This is how you get to Heaven. Go east.’”
And then he stops and goes, “Uh, not to say that Butte is the Celestial
kingdom, or to be confused with Heaven.”
He kinda made a joke and I’m sitting there going, “Yeah, don’t want to
bash on Butte, but it’s definitely not there right now.” Not to say that there’s not lots of heavenly
messengers and servants there, because I know there are, there’s powerful work
there, powerful experiences to be had in Butte, but definitely not quite Zion
yet. So that was just kindof a funny
moment I had. He’s like, “The only way
to turn west is you have to take an exit. You have to turn around. Make a u-turn. You have to go back the way you came. Head down the right way. There’s no alternate path, “maybe I can take
this dirt road…” or do this… you have to go the straight and narrow way. I’m like, “that’s a really good analogy. I like that.”
Reading the Book of Mormon has been awesome lately. It’s just really been one of those fruitful
times. I’m reading about Ammon, and the
Sons of Mosiah, and Alma the Younger, and all these people, and I’m just like,
“These guys are studs.” But it’s more
than that, like small verses will just stick out to me. I’m like, “Oh! I love this!” Yeah. The Book of Mormon is great.
Let’s see… the Bowmans are a recent convert family that
we’ve been teaching. I don’t know if
I’ve said this, they have over forty rabbits.
Like they keep them in cages outside and they show them in this giant
shed thing, but they have over forty rabbits.
And I’m like “Holy Cow.” They all
have a name, her group is nationally recognized, Emma, she’s 18 and they’re
called The Nerd Herd cause they all have nerdy names. She did just buy a rabbit from someone who
names all her rabbits after heavy metal bands and so she has a rabbit called
Metallica now. And I’m like “Oh my
goodness, what?” So that’s kind of a fun new part of the world I’ve never heard
of before. We’ve been having fun
teaching the Bowmans, they’ve been struggling a bit reading, but they’re doing
good. I had fun with them last
night. We usually teach them every
Sunday night.
Phil. Oh, Phil is
this less active who for the last couple of months has been trying to change
his life around completely. You know from running with the devil to coming
back. He knows the church is true. He knows that Jesus Christ is there lifting
him up. It’s been amazing to watch this
and help him out. We haven’t been
visiting him too much lately and he gave us a call, and he’s like “Hey, I’m
really struggling and I need you guys to come”
and we’re like, “okay.” So we set
a time and came by and he had just broke up with his girlfriend of two and a
half years. The girlfriend doesn’t want
to get married, he’s been asking her for ages, because her deceased husband was
a member of the military and died out in the service, it was his career, and if
she were to re-marry she would lose the really nice military pension that she
gets. So she’s not re-married and he’s like “I’ve let this woman take away
really coming back because obviously we’re not married.” But it’s really hard for him. So we wanted to strengthen him and help him
draw closer, and so we decided to fast, and had an amazing fasting experience
this weekend with him. We’re having
dinner with him, or hopefully even just meeting with him on Tuesday, and we’re
going to hear a bit more of his experience fasting. We haven’t really met with him too much yet.
So, I’m excited for that. This is truly
the Lords work. I love doing missionary
work.
Okay, another funny thing.
Lactaid free milk. Most glorious thing ever. I found this brand, Dairy
Gold, where basically they take milk and they add in enzymes that break down
lactaid, or they break down lac…tose? I think that’s what it’s called. Yeah,
not lactaid. Basically they added in
lactaid to it, so it’s lactose free milk, and they add in the enzymes that are
required to break it down, and so it pretty much tastes just like regular milk.
Because it is. A little sweeter, but
it’s milk, and it also lasts like a month, month and a half. Like the
expiration date on it is awesome. I’m
looking at this like “Holy crap.” We
had dinner with someone who is way more than me had to be lactose free, and she
had this and my companion hasn’t tried any, he’s from Florida, lives out in the
country, drinks milk all the time, goes through a gallon or two a week. Not quite like a gallon a day, but… we got
him to try it last night and like everyone else at the table and it was
funny. He had it in this fancy glass and
he’s swirling it around… smells it… “good texture, good texture. Very sweet, good year.” ( Laughs.)
He’s also been having some knee problems, poor guy. So we’ve both been taking ibuprofen and using
glorious horse liniment gel and having fun with that. I’m like, “yep. We’re gimps.
It’s great.” Also, so we’ve been cleaning out our apartment, and we came
across this… as we’re going through
stuff, I’m like “what is this?” and I pull out his giant manual thing and it’s like 2006, so
it’s a little old, but it’s a ‘Gun Values Manual’. I mean, the thing is huuuuge. Does it have page numbers? Yeah, like 700 pages, giant, “Fully
Revised! Over 7800 guns! 3500 photos!
For modern arms, 1900 to present. Twelfth edition.” I’m just like, “Oh my goodness. Some
missionary really, really had fun here.” I did sit down and look through it, so
yes, there was that. It’s just gun
values, can’t learn anything with this, thanks.
But I just thought that was kind of funny. Of all things to come across. We also found a sleeping bag, several air
mattresses, we clearly absorbed another whole apartment when they closed down
one of the Stevensville areas. The
missionaries were living above a bar, it wasn’t the best situation. But we absorbed all their stuff, so we have
like a random box spring, some really run down furniture, we’ll be getting some
new ones soon. We don’t even have a trash
can, we just have a big trash bag. But
then we have this whole corner that’s like “The old apartment stuff”. And I’m like, “Oh, I’m kind of glad I didn’t
live in that apartment.” But yeah,
that’s that.
And also we were in
Napa the other day getting new windshield wipers and corrosion cleaned off our
battery, we could have done it ourselves, but the church has an account there
and it’s easier, and saves us some time.
It’s just baking soda I believe that you just pour on the corrosion on
the corrosion on the battery, scrub it with a toothbrush, wash it off with
water, and you’re good to go. But we
just took it in. We needed new
windshield wipers anyway. And what they
charged us, it was ridiculous. I’m never
taking in a car back home. Like they
charged us at least $6 to install the wiper blades themselves. I’m like, “we didn’t want you to install
them…” it was… yeah. Anyways, as we walk in, they have this just
Sale sign, no, wait, that wasn’t at Napa, that was Tire-Rama we went to to get
all of that done. Why did we go to Napa?
That’s right because our check engine light came on, and we needed them to scan
it and get the error code. My companion
is like “Gosh Darnit! I need them to
send me mine from home.” And I’m like
“Of course you have one, because you’re a stud.” But so we walk in and they have this giant
Bluetooth rugged speaker, it looks like a miniature boom box practically,
waterproof, all these things, but it was $30, and my companion just looks at
it, and grabs it. “Dibs!” Slams it down
on the counter, “I got this!” And it’s amazing, holy cow. We teach several people who can’t always hear
what we have, so it’s going to be really good for him on his mission. I mean, it’s awesome. We played it throughout
the whole house… I’m like, “ This is sick.” So that was kind of fun.
That’s about all I immediately had for now. Oh, crap, 21 minutes. Love you! Hope you all
have a wonderful day, bye!
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