May 4th

Family,

Its already May.... and it's 80 degrees and sunny today. Finally! If the mission has taught me one thing its to appreciate the tender mercies the Lord blesses us with. With the brutal winter we had, it sure is nice to enjoy good weathah. I now know what it takes to be a true New Englandah. Its no wonder why the people are tough out here too lol.

This week was an awesome week! We picked up an entire family of investigators, the L_____ family. D___, a 13 year old kid, is the only one in the family that is pretty much interested in investigating and wants to be baptized. We have plans to extend the invitation for him and the rest of his family for baptism for the next time that we see them. We are also working with the T____ family. They have been investigating the church for quite a while now and the missionaries in the past have not had good luck working with them. It is our goal to simply invite them to our Spanish Group (which they came this Sunday!) and to slowly work with the father. He has been the one who has been stubborn with the missionaries in the past and is not very open with them, we'll see though. Another family that has been our focus as well is the C_____ family. We plan to see them later tonight. It's also our goal to invite the family to attend the Spanish Group and extend that invitation for baptism at some point in the near future... We are also working with several other individuals. M____ A____, T___ H_____, and M___ H___B___, all of which have great potential too. 

So as the mission comes to a close, I am aware of the trend or the focus of what the Lord expects of me to accomplish in my final area. The focus of families. Two of which may also make the difference for our little Spanish Group as well. I am going out on a full sprint to the finish line. It does not matter whether or not any of these people accept baptism (right away), as long as I am willing and committed to doing everything possible to help them progress spiritually in their lives and allowing them that opportunity to come unto Christ.

Elder Villar is doing great! We had a cool experience last Wednesday as we went to the Temple to do an Endowment session. All the trainers and trainees in the mission have the cool opportunity to do a session at the temple with one another. So that was pretty special. This Thursday we also have our final interviews with President Packard in the mission home. This will be the final time that everyone else in the mission will be able to meet one on one with him (not including my departing interview next month). I'm looking forward to it. 

Thanks for all your letters. It's exciting to know that Dad will be able to work at the Temple! And I had no idea that my companion Elder Smith was related to Scott Smith, I wish I could've made that connection before... I figured he would've known someone from the north canyon ward since he also lives in Glendale. 

It's sounds like everyone is doing great for the most part. It's sad to hear that there are some people that we know are struggling right now. Continue to keep them in your prayers and find ways to reach out and serve them. 

Continue to work hard in all that you do. Remember how blessed we are and that the Lord loves all of us. 
Les Quiero Mucho!       

Elder BerthelsonBostonStrong

January 12th

Family,

This will be my final time serving here in Nashua, NH... As of Saturday night, I received the news where I will be most likely serve the remaining months of my mission. The Lord has called me to serve in Ludlow, MA (Eng speaking), which is in the suburbs of Springfield! I will also continue to serve as a Zone Leader in that area. My geographic region covers all of Western Mass. with a little area of New York, so we'll see if I can make it out there (been to almost all states on my mission lol). This place reminds me a lot of the final episode in Seinfeld, where their plane crashes in a random remote area of Mass. Yep, that's where I will be haha. Its super random but I'm excited nonetheless! 

There's also a ton of work that is happening over there as well! I already know who my new companion is going to be. His name is Elder Terry. I was able to serve around him before so I know we will work well with one another. I also know a lot of the other missionaries in this new zone so it will be an absolute blast to work with them! 

Surprisingly, I was not worried at all about being transferred so fast, especially during a time where the work here in Nashua started to progress much faster since the time I came in. This week was definitely the way to end off my time serving in the Nashua area though. We ended up extending a baptismal date for our new investigator, E___ S_____. He is from Puerto Rico and is a really good friend from a less-active we were able to get in contact with. I was able to extend a date for him for next month forFebruary 8! He is so ready to be baptized, I was blessed to have been able to contact him and to have also extended that baptismal invitation for him. Although I was only able to work with him for a week, I'm excited to know that Elder Smith and his new companion will even have more success working with Eitel along with working in this area. (This is one of the most difficult areas in the mission). It was great to serve here for both times that I had. There are definitely great families that I was able to re-establish contact with and will continue to do so later on:) 

Although I never made it out to Boston to serve as a missionary, its amazing to know that its all about the people. Hence, the Lord calls all missionaries to labor in certain areas for a reason.  I know that the Lord has more plans waiting for me for my final chapter of my mission. I can't believe the time has already come to this where I already know my final area of where I will be serving. This is my "final push," giving it everything I got for these last 4 months. Cont. #BostonStrong!

Be safe on your travels. Pat, glad to know that my dad has plans to visit you guys and that you will be able to see my sister as well:) Not too long until I will have the opportunity to come out to visit too.

Les Quiero mucho!  

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong

December 8th

Family,

Glad to know everyone is doing well and that you guys enjoyed your trip to San Diego! It sure does bring back a lot of good memories going to watch the Chargers and of course visiting Old Town. I received all of your packages, letters, etc. by the way, so no worries on that. Thank you for those! Its definitely a blessing to know how much you guys are thinking of us (Jazz and I- esp Jazzy at this point I'm sure;) We will all be back to go to San Diego as a family for sure around this time next year!

I am doing well. I felt very welcomed from many of the members and people that I've worked with before- both from Lowell and Nashua. There were also a lot of hugs and greetings from the Spanish folk yesterday when I was able to make an appearance in the Nashua Spanish group at church. The C______, L_____ and M____ family are absolutely a blessing! That was the highlight of my week, being able to see these families and also to see the growth of the Spanish Group since the last time I saw it last spring. I'm also blessed to know that I was able to make a positive impact on a few people from the time I served here before. Right now though, the work in the English ward is not as great as what I had back in New Haven... in fact, I went from the point of almost baptizing an entire family to working with zero investigators. Its kind of frustrating, but maybe this is why I was called to be back in this area. I know that the Lord has plans for me and a work for me to do no matter where I'm assigned to serve. 

I don't really have too much else to say... I am working well with Elder Smith, he is pretty chill. It turns out that we only live about 15 minutes away from one another. He lives south of Thunderbird. Good guy to work with.

Dad- That's awesome that you know a few people that can hook us up to go watch the Chargers play next fall. It's all about the connections:) Be sure to let Ron know that I am looking forward to his offer to go to a few games. Can't wait for that!

Karen- Thanks for the pics. Glad to know that you were able to reunite with your friend. You're right, we are very blessed to have great friends and to know that we can reach out to them. And yes, can't wait for Christmas too! :)

Jazzy- Sigue andelante hermana!! Sola tres semanas mas... que vas a hacer?!?!?! Leave it all in Chile:) Love you J!

Enjoy the rest of your week, I know that the Lord is continually blessing us. Be sure to always remember Him and do what you need to do in order to be touched by the Spirit in your lives. Whether its by scripture study, prayer or continual service for others, I know that the Spirit may be present with us if we are striving to come closer to the Savior.

Les Quiero mucho! GO CHARGERS!!!

Elder BerthelsonBostonStrong

December 1st - TRANSFERS

Family,

Its a great time for us here in the Mass. Boston Mission! We not only accomplished our goal of 70 baptisms but we were able to exceed that goal by 30 baptisms; which gave us the all time record for the number of baptisms in the mission for month. We were able to hit 100 baptisms exact yesterday, one of them which included Q___X___ (S_____)!

It was so cool to see his progress, from the first time we met with him- about 3 months ago- to yesterday, it really was incredible to see his transformation. I remember the first lesson we had when we taught Steve that God was our loving Heavenly Father. Trying to even explain the concept of God to a person that absolutely had no idea of Him was like explaining the concept of eternity to a 3 year old... The concept is so deep but yet he was able to understand, learn, and trust in both us and the Lord that what we were teaching him was true. That is the spirit. There is no doubt in my mind that all of us have the ability to learn truth through the light of Christ which leads us to feel of the Spirit, which confirms all things unto us. It really was an incredible experience and opportunity I had to work with him. Not only will he be blessed, but the rest of his family, F____, T____ and T____ X__ are also planning to follow to be baptized as well. They have baptism dates for next month and are actually taking the lessons all in Chinese. We were able to teach them the lessons via Skype just the other day. We have missionaries in Boston who are from Vietnam and were able to Skype the family to allow them to hear the discussions in their native tongue. We are very blessed to be a part of something remarkable, which is to allow Steve to baptize his family once he receives the Aaronic Priesthood. Again, a huge blessing I had during the time I've spent here in Connecticut for me to be a blessing to this family!

And that is where I will leave off as far as serving in this area in New Haven, CT. I received transfers the other day. The Lord has once again called me to serve in Nashua, NH... but this time as a Zone Leader in that area! I think it will be way cool to see the people whom I've already served around again, plus many others! Although I will continue to be in an English ward, I will also have opportunity to be around both Nashua and Lowell, two places that I know pretty well from serving there last year. The geographic region for the Zone includes Southern NH, Northern Mass. and even a small area in Vermont. I think it's pretty neat. Hopefully one time I can make it out to VT, never thought I'd go there before. My new companion's name is Elder Smith (typical lol). I heard he is cool and is also from Glendale, AZ. I've never met him before so he must be from another stake out there in AZ. 

Dad/Karen- My address will be the same haha. 1 Clocktower Pl. Nashua, NH 03060. Thanks for sending me those packages! I think I am all set when it comes to preparing for the winter though. Its actually 60 degrees again today, which probably hints that we will have a brutal winter here in New England later on... Its all good though. Glad to know that you guys had an awesome Thanksgiving! I also had the chance to play in our Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving and it was a blast! We were playing in the snow and everything. Later that day we ate at a member's house. We had the normal turkey and potatoes dinner that evening.

I really was blessed to have been around great members of our ward. Some of which I'll continue to contact for sure. A lot of which are students here at Yale and plan to only live in this area of CT temporarily. They plan to move either out to Utah or Arizona for their careers. But hopefully one day I can make it back out here to New Haven to see people like the X____ and others. 

Dad- I will have the chance to serve in Boston. There is no way the Lord had planned this to where I would never have the chance to be serve in a place that I grew up to love. But as I know, it is not my decision to make that call. I'll find out what He has in store for me during the "4th quarter" of my mission. 

Jazzy- Love you J, keep up the work. Great blessings are in store for you for sure!

I'm blessed as well to know how much we are loved by our friends and family back in Illinois. I could not stop smiling from looking at those pics with Nathan and Nikki. They're all grown... crazy. And Nate is already preparing to serve a mission himself! Tell Rex Bale congrats too! 

Have a great week. Keep working hard. Les Quiro Mucho!   

P.S. pics are kinda funky... They were taken from E. Lee's GoPro camera lol

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong