June 23rd

Family,

Everything is going great for us here in Lowell, MA! We had another 25 total show up for the group so we are pretty pumped about that! 

As far as Larry Bunch goes, I just gotta say that he's a great guy, he drove all the way from his home ward in Littleton (30 min) just to visit me. He said he found out where I was serving by looking up some of the people in the surrounding wards in our stake to talk to them about ways to improve home teaching in the stake (the passion this guy has for his home teaching, I'm sure you guys probably know lol). But anyways, he said he stumbled upon the Missionaries and that's how he figured out where I was at- .... He plans to come back to visit next month in July with Carla when they'll come out for the Joseph Smith pageant they hold up in Manchester, NH. It will be a party for sure.

Something cool that happened this week- We were riding our bikes in Downtown Lowell trying to visit a less-active member. We were a little lost trying to figure out one of the street names, so we pulled over and asked a guy for directions. Right away he knew who we were, as far as missionaries, and so we started talking from there about the LDS church, what we do, and all that. He- R____ said that he was a Christian Pastor and was excited to meet "a couple mormons" who worked hard and were also of Christian faith. I later asked if there was any way we could reach out to more people, especially the Hispanics, in the area of Lowell that would be interested to learn more about our beliefs. He told us that he works for a local radio station and was interested to have Elder Johnston and I come to his studio be a part of one of his talk show where we would explain who we are and answer some questions. In my mind, I was super thrilled because I've never been on the radio before and it would give us an opportunity to make ourselves known in the area! But I also realized how dangerous it could be too, knowing that there would also be those people who would try to bible bash or stump us with questions. So we are going to get permission this week to see if we can do all this. But given the opportunity, we will be on the radio this Sunday afternoon on the 29th! I'm pretty excited to know that we have opportunities like this to let people know who we are and who we represent!     

Not too much else exciting happened besides that. We have just been working hard with figuring out who our "lost sheep" (less-actives) are, either by visiting or trying to contact them. As for me, I am doing well. I am studying a lot in the beginning chapters of 2 Nefi. I am blessed to know that my testimony and faith is strengthened the more I testify to others about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Dad- I am excited to receive your letters. And I'm glad you got that package- You know it man, BostonStrong!

Jazz- Chile es, como se dice, el "underdog" en la Copa. Que chevre! Estoy seguro que hay muchas personas locas en tu area durante este tiempo. De todos modos es un buen tiempo a hablar con todas las personas y la copa te dara muchas oportunidades a tener discusiones. Vaya Chile!!      

Thanks for all your love and support back home. Keep up all the hard work. Les quiero mucho! 

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong