March 16th

Family,

It's that time of year! March Madness is underway and the weather is certainly getting better, even here in New England.

This week was another great week as far as the work was concerned. Elder Terry and I were able to extend another baptism date for an investigator whose name is J____. We were able to set a date with him for the end of May. So as of right now, we have a total of 5 baptism dates for our investigators, 1 for the end of this month, 2 for April and 2 for the month of May. M___ A____, S___ D____, J___ C____, V___ V____ and J___ G___ are the people who have baptism dates. We are also working with other investigators who are continuing to progress. The members are also very helpful. So the work that we have in our area right now is on fire! 

This past Thursday, we also had the Assistants come to our area to do exchanges with us, so I was able to spend the day with my good friend Elder Stones (him and I came out together in the MTC and now he is one of our assistants to the president). We spent the entire day on Thursday just catching up with one another about our missions. He is also another missionary from AZ and we will plan to end our missions together at the end of June.

Speaking of the end of June, I'll plan to respond to the email Karen sent out about the options that she gave me with regards to travel plans as well as schooling. 

That is awesome that Navy got her call to serve in the Philippines! She will leave the same time I left. Also that Holden was able to come home this past Wednesday. He's already dating lol, good for him. 

I also received letters from Jazz and Dad. Thank you for those! 

It sounds like everyone is doing great and that they are happy. I am also doing great and extremely blessed for the successes which I've seen and for the joys which I've seen from the success of others as well. Alma 29:13-16.  

Keep working hard this week. Les Quiero Mucho!

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong

General Conference Weekend and Transfers

So on Sunday, Oct 6 between the morning and afternoon sessions of general conference, I was able to baptize A______ (left of me) and Elder Stones, my good friend back from the mtc, was able to baptize F______. It was such an incredible experience! This gospel not only blesses the lives of others, but it is a blessing to us personally as well. D&C 18:15-16

 

I just wanted to share and remind you guys how grateful and blessed we were to hear such inspirational and powerful messages that were shared during General Conference! Honestly, this was probably the first time in my life where I actually had that "thirst" or desire to listen intently to the talks of each General Authority that were spoken. Not only because of the fact that I'm a missionary and we're required to do so, but with everything that's been happening, I really needed to be spiritually uplifted. And that's why I was so anxious to watch GC, it could not have come during a better time for me. I also can't tell you how blessed I was personally to hear the words from our beloved prophet, President Monson, especially the talk that he gave during the Sunday Morning session. I felt like he was talking directly to me. Definitely was an answer to my prayers, and I'm sure towards many others as well. 

 President Monson's Talk Sunday Morning, “I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee”

My new companion's name is Elder Santos. He's Mexican so he's a native speaker, but he's also almost finished with his mission so he knows pretty good English as well. I met him once, he's a good guy. I'll meet him tomorrow for sure in transfer meeting so I'll tell you guys more about him later and send pics as well.