The week Where my companion almost gave me a heart attack, and practically had one himself.

Good Morning!

This week has been one heck of an adventure! Thankfully it has not snowed! Its gotten a little chilly, but no snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

To start off, MLC!!! (Mission Leadership Training) It was absolutely amazing! While I was still sicker than a dog, I got to be with Elder Hendricks for a couple of days! Its always wonderful being with that glorious man! Billings was absolutely wonderful! I finally got to eat at Panda, after what felt like ages thanks to Sister Nikkie. Also I got to sit by Elder Hendricks at MLC so that kind of made my week :) Also spending the night with them in the mission home was wonderful too! :)

After MLC though, I did start feeling a little better so we got to go outside for a couple of hours, it was wonderful! However the downside is that in that couple of hours I somehow managed to completely lose my ipad. So long story short unless I find it by Friday, I'll be paying a bunch of money and then getting a Samsung Tablet. I am seriously praying my half my guts out to find it. The other half I'm using to pray for you guys!

Wyoming is absolutely wonderful mom! I love it so much here! It seriously is the place that I need to be. My knee is doing ok. It still has its ups and downs, but I am again no longer taking pain medication for it! I've kicked that stuff! The headaches were pretty nasty after I stopped, but at least all of that is gone too :) But sadly we are still sick. Funny thing is the doctors don't know what we have. However the Good news of the week is that the antibiotics are working so I should hopefully be better by the end of the week!!!

Just to report on health this week, Elder Hatch got pretty sick and actually ended up the ER. Its been a week. I've taken my comp to the hospital, twice. Found out he's getting mid transferred to Billings, and still under quarantine. His resting heart rate got up to 175 (its supposed to be in the 80's). Thankfully we got that all sorted out and his heart is better now, however he is now getting mid-transferred to Billings this Friday.  So yes mid transferred. Because of how this is affecting his asthma.  They just want him to be near the actual hospitals. I don't blame them. and thankfully no, they aren't talking about sending him home. As for me because the Antibiotics and the codeine filled cough syrup are working they want me to actually train a new Zone Leader! He used to serve in the Gilbert mission too! That's all I know about him though. Well that and his name is Elder Tucker. Yes Antibiotics. They know that we have an infection of some kind. our white blood cell count is up to 24,000. normally its at 10,000. And all of the tests that they give us come back negative. Its really weird. and Thankfully no Black Mold. We are watching the members house for them and my companion with his asthma would have known if there was black mold. Plus thanks to the members we have a freakin Hospital grade Giant HEPA filter by our beds for him so the air we breathe is Hospital grade :) Plus EMERGEN-C for days has been great. 

However the lord has been seriously teaching me. I was going through those books that you have sent me and I have felt seriously impressed on how important the family is. I was going through all of those picture books that you have sent, those help a freakin ton! I love those things, especially on crappy days. I know that I am out here for you guys, and for others who can have this wonderful joy of eternal families. And all that has been such a relief to me this week. I love you guys so freakin much! I am so thankful for my wonderful family. You guys are all amazing!  

One perk to all of this resting however is the glorious studying that we have gotten to do! I am seriously so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I think I mention this a ton in my emails, but I am so thankful for what he did for us. Due to all of the Stake and regional events I haven't been able to take the sacrament for 3 weeks. Thankfully we had some wonderful members bring us the sacrament yesterday and it was so absolutely fantastic!!! The Spirit was so strong I absolutely loved it!

Well I love you all! Hope that you all have a Fantastic week!

Never Give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett     

The week where i finally get to sleep in my own bed.... sorta

Good evening!

As I write this, it is now 4:56 and we are on our way to Billings.

This last week has been nuts.

We got to start off this last week with transfers! We spent Monday through Wednesday with the Cowley elders. It was really nice to get to know them even better, even though they are both going home this transfer. That trip to Billings will be crazy. Also I got to say good bye to Elder Burch and wish him good luck. He's over in Elder Hendricks Zone now, so he's in good hands. :)

While we in Cowley Elder Hatch took the opportunity to introduce me to all of the people that he knows there. It was so wonderful! We got to play the piano and sing for families and eat tons of great food!  Seriously it was wonderful. We even got to make more Pumpkin stuff!  I'll attach some pictures of Elder Hatch and I's pumpkin.

As much fun as all that was, getting back to Powell and doing missionary work was just as great :) We got to actually meet quite a few more people in our area for a couple of days! We even contacted or set up lessons with all of the investigator/less-Active referrals we have been getting!

However of course near the end of the week I got sick. Again. Right now I'm on my way to MLC in Helena to infect the rest of the mission!

And at last my evil plans will be complete! Or elder Hatch will probably just give me one of his masks and I'll wear that. :) Right now I'm no longer weak feeling and dizzy, but now I can't talk because my throats is sore.  At least I can still work though! 

 I'm telling you my companion is absolutely fantastic! We have had so much fun together! And he does like nuts  :).  Speaking of nuts, I have a couple of people that I would send caramels to. :) And no, I don't have a deadline. And also there is a 99% chance that I won't be getting transferred. If one of us is, it will probably be my companion since he has been here longer. Also our land lady called and begged president to let us both stay till mid January because we are watching her house for her and she trusts us two. :) And I will be making it back to Greybull at least once, potentially. 

 My companion and I have found out the joys of mental health breaks. The lord has given us them with us being so sick lately. :) The only difference is that instead of watching Netflix we watched 17 Miracles, and the other two movies that are approved. Oh and animated Book of Mormon stories classics. :) Those are glorious! I forgot how cheesy those were. I actually wince at times while watching them. Kind of like a bad car wreck. 

 

Over all though, great week! Can't wait to see what this next week brings!

Never Give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

 

Elder Hatch and I with our pumpkin!

Our Pumpkin!

Those are all sugar beets. We have piles like that all over the valley here 

Found this traveling trash can with Elder Hatch.

Saying Good Bye to Elder Stone.

District photos!

Another District photo!

And another one :)

I received a random text from someone in Billings.  She says "Your son is amazing! He is making me laugh."

No group email this week... just some responses to questions I asked, and a bunch of pictures. 
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How are things? Finally feeling better?  Is Halloween a big deal in Powell?  Is it the kind of place where it’s all family friendly, and you can go out and talk to people, or is it a “stay in the apartment” kind of night??  Do you have any plans? 

Halloween is definitely a big deal in these small towns. Especially this place being a college town. It's definitely still family friendly, however it's now a mission wide rule that missionaries aren't to go out after 6. We are actually heading to Cowley, we are going to be there working out all of the transfer stuff till Wednesday night. We actually need to head out now, I'm going to keep writing but you won't get anything until late tonight when my iPad gets in wifi. Love you! 

How are things other than that?  Still rocking the whole zone leader thing?  Get along pretty well with your companion?

Things are going really well! Hahaha I'd like to think I'm doing more of a Matt Smith thing when it comes to being a Zone Leader. I just make it up as I go, laugh a lot, and try to help others along the way :) 

Oh my goodness my companion is the freakin best! I mean, we are complete opposites, but we get along so Well! Do you know the myersberg personality test? Well we took it the other day. Turns out I'm an ESFP.  It's actually explains a lot. You guys should all take it and tell me the results! 16personalities.com

Maddie was involved in the haunted hallway,  Zach was too, he helped build some of the set pieces, so he was proud of that.  But this year Maddie was an insane asylum patient.  Apparently she made a grown man cry.  He even threw his wife between himself and Maddie to protect himself, and ended up calling out the safe word to leave the haunted house, and which point Maddie switched gears, turned into her sweet self, and offered to escort him out, but he was too flipped out by her prior performance.  “No!  I don’t want you!”  She felt a little bad, but a little proud of herself at the same time.  Of course she decided that that day was a good day to give blood for the very first time :/  so she was lightheaded and exhausted, but had to work for like 8 hours.  I warned her.   But what do I know?

Hahaha I have literally showed all of the missionaries that I have been around that paragraph about Maddie. :) She is so awesome. :) 

So my companion has been going through all of those picture books that you send me, (which are the greatest things in the entire world) and he loves them too! I've been showing him pictures of the family, basically showing you guys off and telling stories :) I'm just so proud of you all! 

Holy cow.  I'm getting to the point where so many of the friends that I have are going home. In fact 3 of my new friends here are going home next transfer. Like I have to be the one to take them to Billings. It's crazy.

But ya! Sorry it's been a crazy day. We have been running all over. Ok. 7 min. Left. I'm going to send this off with the pictures I have. :)

Oh and by the way, I've been journaling more! I'm getting better! You can thank my companion :)

The members we are living with have a school bus collection.

Shout out to Squish! 

Sick days

Got curious. :)

Getting a haircut at a barbershop :)

Super healthy breakfast. I also had some Reese's peanut butter cereal. :)

Exchanges in Greybull. Elder Burch's mom sent me this picture. 

A member in Greybull had the boys over to decorate pumpkins.  She sent me this picture. 

Elder Nicholas John Berrett, the First

I stole this picture off of facebook.  I think it's a district meeting.  I have no idea. 

See the above caption. 

SickWars V: The Sickness Strikes Back

Good Morning! 

So funny story, not even a couple of hours after I sent out my last weekly email, My companion and I were stricken with the same sickness as before. Thankfully at least I have since gotten better and have been able to go out on some exchanges and do work :) So if you could all please keep Elder Hatch in your prayers!

Anyways this week has been wonderfully spiritually uplifting! 

Like I said earlier, I've gotten to go on a couple of exchanges this week, most notably with Elder Stone our district leader. Elder Stone is such a boss! Being with him this last week was absolutely great! One of the things that he impressed upon me is the importance of prayer. While ive always known how wonderful it is, I saw how he truly turned to the lord about everything. My testimony in the power of prayer has truly grown! 

Also this last week we had a wonderful district meeting! It was all about Christlike attributes and on how by focusing on these things we truly can come closer to Jesus Christ and become better disciples of him :)

In my studies this week I have been reviewing conference talks (since we now have tons of time to study) and I would like to share a though from a talk that stood out to me. The talk is titled "Joy and Spiritual Survival" by President Russel M. Nelson. One of the biggest things that stood out to me is that no matter the situation or the trial that we are going through, we can find and experience TRUE JOY! We do this as we turn to Christ. For those that are struggling he gave a couple of ideas to get us started on turning to Christ. We can start by including our thanks for Christ in our prayers to our Heavenly Father, and also by striving to learn about him constantly. This last week I have strongly felt impressions from the spirit that I need to learn more about Christ and Increase my testimony of him. 

Brothers and Sisters, as I finish this email, I want you all to know that I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that he died for us and that through him we can change! We can become better people, we can feel love for truly everyone, and We can accomplish all things through Christ. 

I love you all! Hope you have a wonderful week! 

Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

P.S. Sorry I don't have any pictures this week, My ipad sorta broke. Its been stuck on the Apple logo.

Procrastination at its finest

Good morning everyone! My companion told me to put that as the subject line seeing as it's now 5:13. :)

Anyways wow. These last two weeks have been insane. Real quick we had a zone training two weeks ago and it was amazing! I got to see so many great people! (#President_Wadsworth

#Elder_Hendricks)

After that we had quick exchanges with the elders in Cowley. Great learning experience!

That Wednesday however was when it all started. We went on an exchange with the Cody elders. Now these poor elders have been stuck inside their house for the last 7 weeks prior to this. We have been trying to go on exchanges with them about once a week so that at least one of them can still work. The other has been sick as a dog. Anyways that was great! The sad part is that about Friday night, after we found two awesome new investigators, #Joshuaandhisdaughter We got a call saying that we needed to rush to Cody because they were in the hospital. So we spent the next three days with them helping them and then ultimately driving the sick missionary to billings so that he could go home. but wait there's more! Fast forward to Monday, apparently Sister Wadsworth got a call from the sick elders doctor saying that he tested positive for salmonella poisoning (among many other things). And because me and his companion were starting to get sick she quarantined us in Cody till Saturday evening. Needless to say, I took a lot of wonderful naps. :) I have since gained a glorious testimony of the power of napping and how it can truly help us grow :)

Anyways, I'm feeling much better! I'm so excited to get to work again! I've been down since Monday. Today is pretty much my first day back. I've been able to visit a couple of people but ya. I'm feeling way better today. /)

Holy cow. Did you know that Elder Hatch came out with me? 

So get this. In the last 15 days we have driven 1200 miles. We get about 2000 approved a month so it's been something :) lots of driving snacks.

Also fun fact, since I'm feeling better I just ate some amazing sweet pork and I'm going to get some ice cream out of the freezer since I've been on the brat diet for the last week. :) #I_Don't_Think_I'll_Regret_This 

#Famous_Last_Words

Even with all of that going on though, the lords work has still moved forward! I am so thankful to be a missionary in his church and now more than before I am ready to work! I love you all!

Tell the kids I said hi! 

Pictures!

1. Hospital Adventures! (They had free apple Juice!) 

2. #Sick_Buddies!

3. First snow!

4. Our front yard (in Cody- my view for 6 days)

5. Reunited at last

6. Monday morning form time!!!

7. Our varying joys in life

8. Quick selfie filling out paperwork.

Hey so we need to get going! I love you guys!

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett

email exchanges, questions answered, and salmonella.

Usually on Mondays, Nick and I can have a bit of a back and forth email session.  Not much, I ask questions, and if he can get back to me, he can,  and then later in the afternoon he will send pictures and his group email.  I usually compile all (most) of this into one blog post, as the stuff he usually shares with just me are more anecdotal and more about how he is personally doing.  I do use my discretion, and edit as to not post anything too personal, for him or someone he may be talking about.  At any rate, on Monday, the group email never got sent.  I've been waiting for two days, as sometimes if he has to leave wifi before pday is officially over (5pm) he will continue to write as he can, (until 5 pm) and then when his ipad is in wifi it will automatically send anything he intended to send.  I've concluded that either the email never got written, or he is still under quarantine and hasn't been near a wifi signal in 48 hours...  At any rate- here is all I have- Our email exchanges from Monday.   (I'm in italics, as usual, and this is way more than usual. He usually has very busy pdays.  He must not have been feeling up to doing much.) 
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Good morning!

How’s Wyoming??  Getting cold yet?  Are you in a mountainy area, or flat farm land kind of area?  When do they think it will snow?  Got any pictures for me??  It’s supposed to hit 95 or something like that today here.  Starting to get sick of the heat.  It’s expected May through August, and I deal with September, but I would really like to just pretend it’s actually autumn before Christmas hits.

Speaking of which – Is there anything you’d need/want/like for your birthday/Christmas???  It’s not every day you turn 20. Holy moley, I can’t wrap my head around that.  Two Decades. Twenty.  You were such a tiny little peanut.  And I was utterly clueless.  Now you’re giant, and I only feel clueless half the time.  

It’s fall break so the kids are excited to be out of school.  Grandma and Grandpa are in town helping out, so that's awesome. 

So fall break… Zach’s marching band is doing pretty awesome.  They had another competition on Saturday and took first place again, (for 3A division) and swept all the other awards.  I made  Maddie go hang out with some friends this weekend.  She had a lot of fun, and thanked me later for making her go be social.  

Maddie had her choir concert-  Flo wanted me to tell you hi.  He apologizes for not being such a fantastic writer, he’s a pretty busy guy.  I think Maddie is learning to like the new auditorium manager.  Since she isn’t actively involved in anything currently this lady wouldn’t listen to Maddie when Maddie tried to tell her how to do the shell for the upcoming band concert.  She acted like Maddie was just a know it all who doesn’t actually know anything since she wasn’t actively involved in teching this semester.  So the lady dismissed Maddie until the band director flipped out that it was all wrong, and then the lady was like, “oh wait, you want it the exact way that annoying red headed girl tried to tell me?”  Needless to say the lady apologized and then asked for Maddie’s help. 

So Halloween is in 3 weeks.  The only kid who knows what they want to dress up as is Christopher – and he wants to be a missionary.  We’ll see.  He may change his mind between now and then.  He’s a funny kid.   I’m debating organizing some kind of block party on Halloween.  Get to know our neighbors and all that.  We kind of live in a good area for that.  It’s the very back of gemini, we actually back to the apartments, and our street is not a through street, so there’s not tons of traffic.  We’ll see. 

So that’s about all I’ve got for today. 

I love you!!!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥mom

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Don and Cosmo: So say Good Morning! 

Kathy: Good Morning!

Wyoming is absolutely fantastic as always :) Seriously if I could come back to any part of mission, if I had to pick a state, it would be Wyoming hands down. :) 

I'm not really sure, I asked my companion whether it was more mountainey or flat farm 

And and he just said it was the "butt ugly type". He doesn't really like desert. The land here reminds me a ton of home, but with a ton more green. Some mountains, also Ton of flat farm land. However I'm serving in a big college town now. :) we even have a McDonalds and a subway so you could say we're pretty big :) maybe someday I'll get a Walmart :) 

Actually it's supposed to snow for the first time tomorrow :/ I really like the perfect sweater weather. Plus all of the colours :) granted things are starting to die, but still I'd like to put off winter as long as I can :) 

I do have some pictures :) 

Holy cow. I'm going to be so dead when I get back. I'm just going to never go outside. Find a job that's inside. Go to college inside. And do outside stuff in the "Winter". 

You know, honestly just some money would be nice. I need to repair my iPad screen (apparently I trip a lot or something :)) and ice cream money is always nice :) and holy cow 20. I honestly still can't believe it. 

Hahahaha you are just so amazing :) 

Go Zach and Mad. 

Hahahahaha :) I love that she still has her awesome red hair :) honestly though, that shell is freakin confusing. I don't even remember how to set it up. 

I'm going as my companion for Halloween :) go Squistopher! You guys do have that brother Berrett name tag if you want to use it. :) 

And that sounds like an awesome idea! 

Love you! 

  

Never give up, Never Surrender!

-Elder Berrett 

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Hey just FYI. I won't be in Powell the next day or so hopefully. Me and another Elder (Elder Grissom) got pretty sick, so they are sending me to Cody (hahaha I get a Walmart :)) to be sick with him. We think it's just a 48 hour bug, but I'll be with him for a couple of days!

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What?!?!? Like flu sick? :(  nothing serious, I hope?  Do you need any emergen-C ?? 

(and what's with your newfound obsession with walmarts??)

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We think so, it shouldn't be anything serious, mission medical said that the missionary that was sent home wasn't too contagious. I just bought a box :) I'm a child of your making  :) The only reason they are putting us together under quarantine is because the missionary that went home did also test positive for salmonella. Just in case we have it they don't want it to spread. I personally think it's just a bug, since the only symptom I have is an upset stomach.

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Salmonella?  Isn't that just food poisoning?  I hope you get better soon ♥♥♥♥

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It is :) so worse comes to worse, I'm out for 4-7 days. And I'm already on day 2 so yay!

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Way to be positive!!

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Oh ya! Did you know that it was international smile day the other day :) that was so awesome :) I just spent the whole day smiling and whistling:)

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I love you :)  I miss your smiling face and your whistling, but if it brightened someone else's day, it's worth it.  

Joy to the World!

Good morning!

Hello everyone! Friends and family!

Sorry I don't have too much time today, it's been a really crazy week!

Things are going really well! It's....well interesting to say the least. :) As far as valuable skills go, thankfully we don't have any actual PAPERWORK to do, but tons of online forms and such. But actually I'm learning not necessarily how to be more organized, hut more how to get work done if that makes sense. I've learned about myself that I literally can't put anything off. If something needs to get done, I need to do it then, or else I will forget. The only exception is if I set an alarm, then I have to do it the moment the alarm goes off.  No delay. 

My knee is doing pretty good! The tape is helping a ton! I have the brand of it, if you could get some more for me within the next month or so that would be great! I just opened up my last roll of it and we aren't allowed to go on amazon anymore............... apparently some missionaries learned a pretty expensive lesson on free trials or something like that. Thankfully it wasn't all me, there were several as Sister Wadsworth said in MLC, there actually were a couple missionaries that had their accounts closed on them. :/ But ya. I can get you that info on the tape next week. We are currently on an exchange in Cowley with the elders there. We should be back in our area after a ZONE CONFERENCE with President freakin Wadsworth tomorrow! It's all the way in Worland, and our car is in the shop for some maintenance, so we decided to do an exchange and car pool! #Wasn't_there-some_how_ I_met_your_mother_quote_like_"you_haven't_ had_fun_until_someone_has_made_a_rule_because_of_something_you_did".

Thankfully we do get to teach a lot. :) There definitely are losses of time that we have, but we still get to do a ton of teaching. Thankfully for the most part, most of the stuff was just start of the transfer/end of the month paperwork stuff and also meetings, but now that all of that is done, it should be just about missionary work from here. :) 

This week so far, I have really gotten to see what Powell is like and meet most of the investigators that we have. It's been amazing! We have one investigator named Talena who is progressing so well! We got to teach her the restoration this week right before we watched general Conference! It was a power house of a lesson, so amazing!

So that brings me to General Conference! I freakin loved Conference, it was so amazing!!

I am so thankful to have modern prophets hat speak to us! One of the things that I got most out of Conference is an increased testimony of our savior Jesus Christ! I know that he lives! He is so amazing and is truly able to help us in all aspects of our lives!

I love you all!

We are taking a lot of pictures! I'm still not as good taking pictures of things I see, but I have some of me this week :)

Pictures!

A recreation of an old photo at MLC

The old photo

The best pork on earth!

Before my haircut

After my haircut

A selfie I found on my iPad :)

 Zone conference!