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

April 25, 2017

Hello everyone,

It is great to be able to email today. I am emailing today because it was transfers yesterday. I got transferred up in the mountains where there are as many people. It is absolutely beautiful here. It is so great and there are not a lot of suburbs in our area. My companion is Elder Pearson is from Blackfoot, Idaho. He is a super fun elder and we are going to have a lot of fun this transfer.

Yesterday we went and were able to see a few people. We started by seeing Bishop Smith. Bishop Smith is a funny man. He is very deceptive in the way he appears. He drives a Prius and is a big teddy bear but has several black belts in a lot of different things.

Then we had dinner with the Seller family. Oh they are just a super great family that has a ton of energy and is always on the go helping other people. All of the members up here are super great. It is cool to see how missionary minded they are. Up here where there are not as many people we really have to work with them so that we have people to teach.

Elder Anderson (I graduated with) is in my district so we will be going on exchanges and I can't wait to be able to see him. I will be able to see him in about an hour or so. He is going to come over where we live and play some pool together.

We live with members.They are a great family and I am exited to get to know them better. This is going to be a really great area to live and to be able to serve the Lord. I can't wait to really get my feet wet in this area. I am going to miss my last area because there are a lot of hard working members over there with a lot good things happening for them. 

I hope you all have a great week.

Sincerely,
Elder Berry

April 17, 2017

Hello everyone,

This week has been great. A lot of exciting things are happening and have happened. First thing I want to say is transfers are next week so I won't email until Tuesday. I really don't know what the Lord has in store for me whether or not I will stay. Anything could happen.

But this week we had Zone Conference. It was really cool because it was focused on who we need to become. A lot of Christ like attributes, work ethic, and attitude. It was cool to be able to see how everything just rolls all together.

Time has just flown by. I can't believe that I have been in this area for almost 5 months. Times totally just flies by if you are not paying attention. But I am really excited to see what happens this week a lot of great things are going to be happening in our area over the next couple of months.

But one things that I really love was being able to give a talk yesterday at church. I was able to recount the story of Jonah and the Whale and at the end how Heavenly Father will never leave us as long as we are trying to get better. It truly is a miracle to be able to be on a mission and see so many people's lives change. I know that the church is true and that I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

And last but not least is that there are ton of blessings all we have to do like one of my favorite hymns says to do is to count them and name them one by one and you will see how blessed you are. Have a great week!!

Sincerely,
Elder Berry




One more story......
One experience that we had with a member named Sister Karen really stands out to us. We were planning on sharing the Prince of Peace video. So when we called to confirm the dinner appointment we also asked if she would said a prayer to be more in tune with the Holy Ghost. Then to read Isaiah 9:6. She that they would all do that. When we got to her house the first thing that she asked us was if we could share the dinner message before we ate dinner. We said that we would love to if she wanted to, but we felt that it would be better if we had waited till after dinner. So she said that she would wait till after. She asked us a ton of questions why we asked her to do that. She was very curious about that. We then had a very pleasant dinner and got to the best part of dinner, the dinner message. We asked if she would reread Isaiah 9:6. And when she did there was an immediate different feel in the home. The Holy Ghost was definitely present. We talked about the scripture and what the scripture means to each of us. We both got to testify that Jesus Christ truly was and is all of the things that are mentioned in Isaiah 9:6. We then shared the Prince of Peace video and about half way through she Sister Karen started to cry. I have no doubt that she felt the spirit because of her spiritual preparation and her humbleness to want to feel the guidance of the Holy Ghost. As we do our part and put in the work then we will be able to see great things happen in the lives of many people.

Sincerely,
Elder Berry

April 10, 2017

April 3, 2017

March 27, 2017

Hello everyone,

Sorry I forgot to take the pictures of my journal so I will have to send those pictures next week.

Anyways, some of you might have notice that I no longer have Elder in my name on Facebook. That is because Facebook will not allow the church to do that. But I am still on my mission, I just can't have elder on my name anymore for the time being.

Then this week has been crazy. There is so much going on in our area. A lot of people that want to hear the gospel. We met this guy by the name of Jason on Friday and we invited him to come to church and he did. So after church we taught him the restoration and invited him to be baptized on April 29th. He said that he would so we will be working the next month with so he can be ready for that. But it is really cool to see how the Spirit works on people and prepares them to be baptized. He has definitely has been humble and has been prepared by the Lord for baptism.

Then I was able to give a missionary moment at a persons baptism named Neal. We missionary moment is where while the person is getting dressed from being baptized give the restoration. It was really cool to feel the spirit and to be able to share the restoration with the people that attended the baptism.

We are super excited for conference this weekend and I hope that you all take the chance to hear from all of the Lords servants because most people only get this chance twice a year.

I hope you all have a great day!

Sincerely,
Elder Berry