May 29, 2017

Hello Everyone!


This was a really fun week! To start the week off we had a lesson with our investigator.  I don't know if I have talked about her much but she is a painter. She paints really good picture of Indians and she is really good. She gets all of the small details on to the picture and really doesn't miss much of anything when it come to the detail. Anyways we have been meeting with her for a little bit. Right now the only thing she is waiting for is her answer to whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. Her problem is she thinks that she will get a really big sign and that will be her answer. So recently we have been working with her about the fruits of the spirit. Hopefully she will be able to get her answer that the Book of Mormon is true and take that step to get back to her Father in Heaven.

Then we also met with another who is going to be baptized on July 1. He has received his answer to the Book of Mormon and can't wait to be baptized. With him his only concern was going to church. He is kind of scared of big groups. But he came this last Sunday with a member who has super key in his fellowship. And he loved church. He said that he will be able to get past all of the people and come hopefully every Sunday before his baptism. But he is super cool. The lessons that we have with him are always super spiritual and I love to be able to go and teach him. It's always so fun.

Then on Friday we taught an older gentleman and his grandchildren. He is looking for the right church and has been looking for the right church his whole life. He is raising his four grandchildren because there parents did not make good decisions. But they have come to church and really like to meet with us. He says that we answer his questions when all other faiths just tell him to believe in what he is told and he does not like that. But this week we are going to invite him to be baptized and see what he says. Hopefully he says yes.

Then on Saturday I was able to go back to my old area and watch a baptism of two young boys that I got to work with. It was really fun and I am glad that I got to go back and to see them get baptized. It
was also fun to see past companions and all of the members in that ward. It is such a blessing to have a small mission to be able to go to past areas and see the people there.

I hope you all have a great week!

Sincerely,
Elder Berry

May 22, 2017

This week was insanely fun!!

We had a lot of service. To start off we got to go to Coloma National Park and help setup for the California Pioneer Days. That was super fun we got to basically wear p-day clothes for most of the day. We setup for like 3/4 of the day. It was hard work but it was way worth it.

Then on Saturday we went and first participated in the parade. We were part of the Mormon Battalion. We got some fake guns and some olden clothes. It was pretty cool to see all of the work come together. There were about 17 stakes that helped in the planning for this event. Then after that we helped direct traffic so that people would not be hit by any cars. Some of the helpers were from the Roseville Mission. It was pretty cool to be able to talk with them for a little bit. Then Elder Carl Cook of the seventy was in town and we got to see him there. It was a super eventful week. It kind of felt like a brake from the missionary life because I was not in a tie as much as I normally would have been.

Today we went on an awesome hike to this place called Dutch Creek Falls. It was a beautiful and easy two mile hike  But we hiked that for a p-day activity and it was a blast. There was some amazing water falls that we saw. It was fun because we had time to relax and enjoy the scenery.


That was the highlight of my week. I hope that you all have a great week!!!


Sincerely,
Elder Berry

May 15, 2017

 

Hello,

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day!!!! It was a great day for me because I was able to skype home. It was great to see all of of my family and a blessing to have such technology in my life.

But this last week was a really good week. We met some really cool people by doing service. One guy that we wets name was Mike. He had just recently lost his mother-in-law and so we were able to talk to him about the Plan of Salvation briefly. We are going to go and teach him all of the Plan of Salvation this week. He seemed super solid a when we met him and super nice.

Then today we were able to go on a hike in Sly Park. It was so beautiful and nice to be really in the woods and to be able to see such a beautiful view. We hiked to Sly Park waterfall. It was so nice
when we got there. We were able to climb to the top of the waterfall and see out a little on the lake. I hope the pictures were able to capture all of the beautify there was that I was able to see.

I hope that you all had a great week and a great Mother's Day!!

Sincerely,
Elder Berry

May 8, 2017

Hello everyone,

This week was a blast. A lot of things happened. I don't know where to start. I guess I should start from the beginning. I guess we went to see this member in our ward. He has been less active
for years. We started to get to know him for a little bit and then he really opened about all of his struggles. He talked about how because he struggles with some things he is not going to lie and get a temple recommend and stuff. And all we did is kind of sat there. When he kind of finished venting to us the questions was asked why were you baptized. And he said he felt that he knew it was true. Then from there we asked him what he would do to feel that way again and he said he was willing to do what it takes. It was pretty cool. So we are going to go and see him this week and kind of follow up with him and see how he has been doing with his Book of Mormon reading and see if he has been focusing on what he feels more then anything. I think that was his biggest thing was he need to focus on what he feels! I think that's what a lot of us need to do more and seek after those things or times that we feel the Holy Ghost most strong in our life then that will give us a sure foundation in the gospel.

But then towards the end of the week we went on exchanges. I went with elder Hallmark up to Georgetown. And it was amazing. There are so many beautiful sights and places to really enjoy the view. The exchange was fun, but there was a lot of driving up there. It was also fun because we got to go on some dirt roads and really enjoy our time together.

But to finish up we went and also saw this less active member. A really nice man who was raised up in the church but kind of went astray for different reasons. He was very nice and hopefully we will be able to see him start taking the steps to get back to our Heavenly Father.

Then when we were doing comp study a member from my old ward saw us and stopped and said hi. It was kind of cool to be able to see them. They are in the first picture.

Anyways I hope you all have a great week!

Sincerely,
Elder Berry

May 1, 2017

Well, Hello Everyone,

This has been an interesting week. It is truly a blessing to be able to serve up here. There are a lot of great people. I live with members. They are the best and are super cool people. But last Saturday they had a water pipe go out on there property and they were out of town. So we shut off the water and waited for them to come home on Sunday for a plan of action to fix the water. So the past couple of hours we have been helping them fix their water line so that we will be able to get some water so we can shower with and to get living to back to the American that we are all so use to living. But you could say that we got it all Jerry rigged so that it will work. But i never thought that i would have to worry about not having water in Sacramento on my mission. But I guess you should never say, "never."

But then on Saturday we did about 8 hours of service up in Coloma National Park weed-wacking the weeds so that the park would look a lot nicer for when tourists would come to see the sights. You will not believe how many tourists that there are up here. It is almost as bad as Yellowstone but it really is not all that bad. I can't blame them for wanting to come and see this country because it is sure beautiful. Then after we had finished that service we went and did some yard work for an investigator. It was a lot of fun to be able to do so much service.

Then on Friday we go and volunteer at this place called the Upper Room where homeless people come to get food. We just bring them their food so that they can eat it. It is really fun to talk to those people. A lot of them have a really sad story on why they ended up on the street but they don't really have any desire to change that so it really is hard to feel sympathetic about it because they just kind of go from one hand-out to an other. But it is super fun to get to know them.

Then we had a lesson with an investigator. He is really a cool guy. He is very skilled at guitar, welding, and a lot of cool things. At the last lesson we invited him to be baptized and he said
that he would if he came to know that these things are true. Really cool all he needs to do is to pray with real intent then he will for sure be ready.

Then we went on a road trip and were able to go to Nashville. Just kidding there is just this really old building that has Nashville on it. There is a lot of really cool old things out here.

But I hope that all of you have a great week and this email finds you well!!

Sincerely,
Elder Berry