Well good morning again, I’m standing in the kitchen, this
morning we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast. It was actually, we warmed them up from last
night. We made biscuits and gravy for dinner since we didn’t have one. The ward here has been really good at feeding
us, but something happened to our meal calendar last week I think? We had it in the Relief Society room, it was
all ready for the next week, and then somehow it disappeared. No one knew where it went. We’re like, “This is not good. We kinda need that. Where’d it go?” And then it just reappeared again this
Sunday. But we didn’t have a dinner last
night so we made biscuits and gravy.
They turned out pretty good. I
mean it was just instant gravy mix, we didn’t have the time to make real
gravy. But I mean, it worked out. It tasted decent. They were the biscuits that you get out of
the container thing. Pop open and throw
them on a cookie sheet and throw them in the oven for like 15 minutes. With like the Pillsbury Dough Boy on
them. So we made those. It was decent. Bachelor meal.
Oh, so Saturday, it was basically that whole day was just
service. We didn’t put on a white shirt
and tie until 7:30 pm. We woke up at the
normal time, and at 8:00 we were at the Daly mansion in Hamilton, cleaning up
the grounds and doing a giant stake wide service project there. At noon we went over to an investigator, we
have Chris, helped him more with irrigation, and doing some other things around
his orchard there that he’s trying to start for the community. We talked to him some more. He’s grown really really close to Elder Hand,
and Elder Hand is like, “You know what? I’m just going to ask him straight out
to take the missionary discussions. I
really feel like we should.” And he
feels like he’s close enough to do it, and I’m like, “Perfect.” We’ve tried to broach the subject before, and
he has some doctrinal concerns, he’s only been talking about the gospel funny
enough when he’s mildly intoxicated, like when he drinks Mike’s Hard
Lemonade. And then he’s like “So is it
true that you boys….” And we’re like,
“no, we don’t do that.” Or other things like that. He has a couple of questions that probably need
to be addressed. His wife isn’t too
interested and I think that’s a big thing keeping him back. She’s like, “I respect you boys, but don’t
start teaching me.” And he has these two
young kids. One however is like, when he
turned 11 missionaries invited him to go to the scout program, and the dad
loved it. He’s like “Heck yeah! Scouts is great!” And so he’s been with the
scouts. He’s 12 now. And he’s with all the scouts there, he’s
allowing scouting things to be held at his house, and so, we talked to ward
council and I think they are going to extend a calling and have him be a scout
master. Or not a scout master, but an assistant scout master or something like
that in the scouting program. So that’s
going to be really, really cool. He
really respects us missionaries a lot and the church a lot, what we do, we’re
family oriented, and he loves that. I
really think that his wife is going to be a bit of a hang up. But I’m excited to see where this is going to
go. Anyways, did service for him and had
a lot of fun.
After that we then ran over to our dinner appointment, so it
would have been 4:30 where we helped her install a hood fan thingy above her
stove. The thing that sucks up all the
smoke and so we installed that. She
called us up and said “I put it together, if you could just come over to dinner
early, and install it. Wire it in and
everything.” And we’re like “okay.” We
show up and it’s the thing assembled together and its sitting on the table with
this whole giant booklet of instructions and I flipped over to a page in the
middle, and she’s like “I have the instructions right there for you.” She said
that comment a couple of times. Like
she’s like “There’s the instructions.”
And we’re like, “okay.” And neither of us looked at them, we just like
take a look at the things, it would fit above the stove, figure it out, and
she’s like “Are you sure you don’t want these?”
She’s like, “I tried to read the instructions but I just can’t
understand them.” And we’re like,
“Yeah. Makes sense.” And at one point I’m like, “It looks like we
need to take out this bit of metal here…”
It looks like they’ve created a serrated (he probably means perforated)
edge, so you can just hammer it out or something like that to install it where
the hood goes, or where the pipe for the smoke to travel up goes, and I’m like
“Do you have a hammer?” And Elder Hand
is like “I got this.” And just punched
it real hard and the thing popped out. And I’m like “Woah. Okay.” That was fun to be able to help
install that and wire it in and get that going and screw it in. And you know, feel like, “Yeah, we did
this.” She made the comment, she’s like,
“I think I know how guys always manage to get their stuff done all the time. I couldn’t figure it out. And you boys
managed to do it, and I think I know why. ” And we’re like “Why?” And she’s like “Because guys don’t ever read
instructions. They just figure things
out and learn it and do it.” She was a
character. She was going to be a nun for
the Catholic church. And nuns, I didn’t
know this, they are married to Jesus Christ.
I think I heard that once. But it
didn’t really like stick in until now.
She had a picture of the day before she was going to be a nun, where
she’s in the full wedding white and everything. She was going to go take her
vows the next day. And she said that as
she laid in bed, she distinctively heard the spirit speak to her, “This is an
abomination before my eyes. You know this
is wrong.” She said that the spirit just
testified to her that she should not do this, and she immediately went and
stopped becoming a nun, so they put her on a flight back to the US, and gave
her $10. That’s all she had to her
name. Her family disowned her. And she started her life. I’m like, “Holy cow.” She ended up being a doctor over in Mesa, or
a nurse, that’s right because she met a doctor there who kept telling her
“You’re basically Mormon, you just don’t know it. You live the same way.” He convinced her to take the missionary
lessons and she did, and at the first lesson the spirit spoke to her and said,
“This is true.” It was kinda cool, she
shared part of her patriarchal blessing with us that says she has faith like
the Brother of Jared. And it’s
true. You can just feel the spirit
around this lady. She’s older, super sweet, and just loving. Loves the missionaries, to the point where
she’s like, “Yeah, like 30 years ago the missionaries used to come over all the
time, and I remember when the new Lord of the Rings came out, we sat down and
had a giant marathon and they watched Lord of the Rings with me.” And I’m like, “Uh… okay.” And then she’s like “But I think President
Monson is a little stricter, because apparently you’re not allowed to do that
anymore.” And she had us sitting down
waiting for dinner, while she cooked, and she’s like, “Are you sure you boys
don’t want me to put on the news or something?”
And we’re like, “We’re good.” She’s like “You can’t watch anything?” We’re
like, “Nope.” She’s a huge nerd, loves
all the Marvel movies, Doctor Who and everything.
Oh! I got my Doctor
Who blanket back, I left that in Helena.
I realized that at transfers. I’m
like “Elder Shumway, I left that back at the house!” And he’s like “Ok, I’ll
get that to you when I see you in a week.” Well they forgot. But I finally got
it back. I mean it was my fault for
leaving it there in the first place. I was so devastated, but I got it
back. And it’s great. Nina’s the best. Oh yeah, I heard from her
the other day. She’s doing pretty
good. She says that life’s still hectic
and crazy but it’s good. Super sweet of
her. She says that she’s been going to
the temple about every other week, just to get the strength and spiritual
upliftment and she says its been amazing.
She says that every time she goes in she puts my name and our family’s
names. She says she doesn’t know all of
our names so she puts Kirsten Berrett’s Family.
But I’m like, “Holy Cow.” I’ve definitely felt those prayers. I don’t know if you have. But it’s (crash!) Oh crap. That wasn’t quite empty. Elder Hand loves
drinking Sprite, and has decided to stack up all of his Sprite cans on our wood
burning stove, well he just started a couple of days ago, or it’s probably only
a week’s worth of cans, but it’s a, let’s see (starts counting) 17 cans. I do have two Squirt cans on there. I love Squirt. Squirt’s the best. I will admit, part of it is it still gives
like, there’s no Caffeine in it, but as I drink it, it does give a bit of a
burn. I’m like “I miss Coke.” Yeah, so that’s that. I love Nina.
Oh yes, so we were at someone’s house for dinner, we’re
sitting down to dinner, and she’s like, “So I love hearing romance stories, do
either of you have girlfriends back home?”
Elder Hand does and so he’s telling her his story and I’m like “Elder
Hand go for it.” And she’s like “Oh, I’m
coming to you Elder Berrett. Do you have
one?” And I’m like “Well there was a
girl I dated back before my mission…”
And I guess the funny story I am trying to get to is, she turns to Elder
Hand as he is speaking, and she’s like “Yup. You’re going to marry her.” And
he’s like, “What??” And she’s like, “ And you’re going to have 5 kids – 3 boys
and 2 girls.” She’s like, I just know
this sort of stuff. I’ve predicted several of the people in the ward.” And
we’re like “oh, okay.” (said sarcastically)
And then she turns to me, and she didn’t say anything specific, but she
said that it was within 6-8 months of me going home I’m going to be
married. And I’m like, “Oh, let’s
not. Holy crap.” But yeah, that was
kinda funny.
Let me think… I’ve had a cough lately, that’s kind of
annoying. Allergies are kindof annoying,
everybody is freaking cutting their hay.
I figure that that’s a big part of it, that and all the cotton in the
air from the cotton trees. Those two
things are… we were driving by the road one day, and the side of the road was
just completely white from all this cotton that was falling from the sky and
I’m like, “Elder Hand, that, that right there is how you know Satan is
real.” I’ve just taken some Claritin, it
was helping a bit, but I’ve got some stuff back home, but it’s awful and I feel
bad and I forget how bad it gets and after dinner I only have one more hour of
work left, so I ask, “Do you guys have any Benadryl I can have?” And so I take
it, and then the rest of the day is a bit of a fight, but then I can get home
and just go to bed.
Trying to think? What
else happened this week? We tried to
teach Mary, she’s been super busy and she hasn’t been able to come to church in
months because she’s been constantly working on Sundays. She’s trying to start a band. Bless her heart,
she’s like 65, 70, and she’s trying to start this band up. This Christian Rock
band, and she’s like “I’ll quit this job when it (the band) becomes big, and
then I can go to church.” And we’re
like, “uh… Maybe that’s the answer, but let’s really pray and let’s hope that
there’s another way that will allow you to come to church.” I feel bad about that, but it’s kinda true
though. I think I told you last week I
heard from Jacob, he’s doing good. It was really nice to hear. I’m excited to see where he goes.
That’s about all I think I have for right now actually, I’m
probably going to stop this recording, my laundry is going to be finished soon,
at least part 1 of my laundry, and then I’ll throw part 2 in the dryer. Oh crap.
I’m going to die. I’m hearing my voice now, I haven’t taken any allergy
medication today. My eyes are getting
itchy. Yep. I’m going to die. I’m gonna go up stairs and
take some. Allegra-D or whatever it
is. Love you so much. Hope you have a wonderful day, I love hearing
from you and love you guys a ton.
Oh. I remember. So, My Plan got sent out. My plan is a thing in the last six weeks of
your mission, so when it gets sent out, you’re like, “This is rude. Why are
they freaking sending this out?” I ended
up getting it, because there’s a bunch of people in my mission, tons of people
in my group going home 30 days early for college, to BYU and such, because
that’s just the way their track starts.
And so Salt Lake started our group for My Plan, like, I guess 30 days
early. So I got it a week ago. You know
this thing, “Do your My Plan! Last six
weeks of your mission! Start it!” And
then just yesterday I got this other notification, a second reminder to start
My Plan, and I’m like, “I’m not on my last six weeks! You shut up!” Cause I thought it was
(unintelligible) and ended the first week, the first section of it, which
thankfully that wasn’t so bad, it’s uh, let me see if I can pull it up
here… So My Plan is divided into six
weeks, six learning experiences things.
The first one is Remember and Become.
And basically it was all about what My Plan is, all these things…
There’s a video they had us watch that was about 4 minutes long, and I finish
it, and I’m like, “Did I just watch a trailer for My Plan?” Cause that’s what
it looked like. And it’s all these
returned missionaries talking about their mission, how they continue to… they said they finished their mission and
continued to, they said “I just finished my mission, and I just knew it doesn’t
end” or “I have to continue reading
every day” and all these things, and “continue becoming more Christlike” and it’s all these couples and they’re all
holding babies and stuff like that, and I’m like, “This is wrong. This is awful.” So, the only thing they really had me do
other than watch videos and listen to a couple of things, and read some
scriptures was just list ways that I’ve… uh, list things that the Lord has
taught me, and ways that I’ve become more Christlike. At least three things for each, and I’m like,
“ok. I can do that.” The next one is ‘My Vision and Goals’, which
you’re supposed to come up with like a year, like where you want to be in a
year, and goals on how to get there, then ‘Continuing Discipleship’ I have no
idea what that’s like, 4th week – ‘Self-Reliance’, 5th
week is ‘Dating and Temple Marriage’, supposedly one of the questions in there
is like “list the names of 5 people you will go on a date with when you get
home.” I’m like “Holy crap…” and then
the 6th week it says ‘My Plan’.
So that’s that.
(coughing) Oh, my cough drop wore off. I’m going to throw in
another one, and this has been 19 minutes, that’s all I have for today. Love
you to death. This week has been
good. It’s stressful near the end, but
I’ve learned a lot, and grown a lot, and I’m really excited to help this area
grow. We’ve seen some really cool
miracles lately, starting to get some more new investigators going, hopefully
have some new potentials, which we haven’t had in awhile, so this will be
nice. Love you, and goodbye.
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