Elder Berto's Homecoming Talk

Elder Berthelson's last act as a missionary was to speak in church and report on his mission to our congregation. 

Elder Berto comes home

 Elder Berto got to fly home from Boston with some of the missionaries that he served with.  There were 30 missionaries that were getting released today, as well as President and Sister Packard.  Elder Slade was one that extended his mission to be released with President Packard and was a big part of the reason why Elder Berto extended as well.

 

Elder Villar, Elder Berthelson's last companion, is from Chile.  His sweet mama sent some Chilean candy for Jasmine to enjoy.  She was so excited!  Thank You!!!

 

First stop for this kid was Portillo's.  

 

We had just finally gotten Galaga fixed the week before he came home (Thanks Carl!) and Alex was so excited to try and beat his dad's high score.

 

IN THE POOL!  and boy is he WHITE!

 

Elder Berto officially getting released from his mission by President Weathersby.  No more missionary tag!

Elder Berto's Boston Slideshow

As Elder Berthelson prepared to come home, Bret created this slideshow for him.  He knew for almost the entire mission that he wanted to create this.  The video starts with Elder Berthelson opening his mission call while at SVU.  Then transitions to pictures that span the 4 trips that Alex and Bret had taken to Boston.  Some of the trips included Jasmine and where when they were little, the last trip is from Alex's senior vacation with just Bret.  The last section of the slideshow is pictures from Elder Berto's mission and the people he served with and for.
Bret wanted to surprise Elder Berto with this gift before he left his mission.  I contacted the Bishop's wife of his last area and asked if she would help us with our surprise.  She said she would be happy to.  I explained some more details, including that it was put to music.  Sister Doughty said as long as it wasn't something like AC/DC, she thought it would be fine.  Then I had to tell her that one of the songs was AC/DC.  :)

She and her husband, Bishop Doughty, showed it to Elder Berto with just less than one week left on his mission.  And now, we are posting it on the blog for anyone else who wants to see some amazing Boston memories.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/okdi0g7lxe9jq2m/BostonStrong-Large.m4v?dl=0


Click on the link above to watch the slideshow - it is just about 10 minutes long.

New England Latinos Conference

Elder Berto had the chance to participate in this conference.  

https://www.lds.org/church/news/stand-in-holy-places-elder-holland-tells-latino-members-in-new-england?lang=eng

June 15th

Family,

Thank you for all your letters and support. 

Dad, I received your letter in the mail this past week and I'll be sure to look for the last remaining ones in the mail at some point either this week or next. And Karen, thank you for the offer on the new phone! I kind of feel spoiled lol but at the same time I am truly grateful and blessed:) Again, thank you guys.

I can't believe the time has come to this. I only have 2 weeks remaining... But because the Lord has blessed me to endure to the end, I will have the privilege to be a part of another baptism held in our ward this upcoming Saturday. This is for an ex-communicated member, ______, who has been faithful and worthy to re-enter into the waters of baptism. This is someone who the missionaries have been working with for a long time. And now he has finally been approved by Salt Lake City to become a member again. We are all excited for him! 

Everyone will find out their new companions this Friday, and then next week on Saturday (June 27th) is when we will hold our transfer meeting. It will be the farewell for President Packard, his family, and 30 other missionaries that are going home as well. I am grateful to have been companions with Elder Villar. He has strengthened my testimony and has helped me grow, even only during the 2 months that I've been with him. To be honest, I believe he has taught me more than I have been able to teach him. He has been one of my favorite companions by far! I know why the Lord has put us together during this time.   

As I explained in my last email, this will most likely be my final email that I will write to you all on my mission. Elder Villar, A___ D______, and I are planning to make the trip to Boston next week for my final P-Day. No better way to end the mission than being in the city I love, while being with Villar and my other best friend A____, who I had the opportunity to literally see change his life by accepting the gospel! It's a storybook ending for a roller coaster ride of a mission that I experienced. No doubt, we'll have a great time:) 

I will end it all with my testimony that I know that our Savior lives and loves us. I've come to a knowledge of these truths by the Holy Spirit. It is real. This gospel is real. People do change by accepting Jesus Christ in their lives, I am a witness to that. I am a witness to the power of the Atonement. I have been able to exercise it myself and experience the divinity and power of the atonement on my mission. At a certain point of my mission, I have felt the lowest I've ever felt in my life. Only coming to realize later on that it was only to experience true joy, in a sense. That is what this gospel is all about. The Lord humbled me to know this. It's not about me, it's not about the personal gain, or popularity, or any of that. No, it's about the Lord and being a  blessing for his children. This is my purpose as a Saint and a servant of the Lord. It is my humble testimony that I know this church is true. And how blessed I am to have been raised into this church by an amazing family to help me get to this point in my life! 

I accomplished His work as a Full-Time Representative of Jesus Christ here in New England by the hand of the Lord. And for this, I couldn't be any happier.

Pat, I will hopefully be seeing you and your family soon! Jazzy, I can't wait to give you a big hug as well:)

This is it. See you all in 2 weeks! Les Quiero mucho! 

​Go Sox! 

Elder BerthelsonBostonStrong

June 9th

Family,

This week has been a good week. Elder Villar and I were able to visit and teach all of our investigators that we've been working with this past week, which was awesome! D____, M____ and the T_____ Family are the ones that we are continuing to work with. They are progressing little by little. In due time, I know they will accept the gospel in their lives. 

Another exciting thing that happened for us, was that an investigator that our Senior Couple in the ward have been working with for about 6 months, was baptized this past weekend. Her name is Leila. This was the first baptism for this ward in over a year and a half. Although we didn't teach her, Elder Villar and I participated in her confirmation and I also got to conduct her interview for baptism. So that was pretty neat.   

Not much else is happening for us. The time is going faster and faster each day... I basically have the game plan of what I want to accomplish from now until the time I go home in 3 weeks. All my goals have been set and now is the time when I am landing the plane. Which means I will not have any regrets. 

Let me know if there is anything else I need to get done here before I come home. June 22nd is when we will be in Boston for the entire day, so I will most likely write my final email to everyone next week Monday.

​I love you all:) Go Sox! 

​(pic: The Fernandez family, Elder Stones and Elder Slade from the Elder Holland fireside last Sunday)​

Elder BerthelsonBostonStrong

June 2nd

Family,

These past couple days have been incredible! On Sunday, we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Holland at the Latino Conference held in Weston, MA. Almost all the people, whom I love very much, from all the Spanish areas that I've served in on my mission attended the conference. Everyone that I've basically worked  with was in the congregation that night to hear from an apostle of the Lord. It was the family reunion of my mission! It was very sentimental to see all these people again, one of which included Abuelita Argueta. I had not seen her for more than a year and a half, so it was amazing to be able to see her again:)

I'm attaching a photo of Elder Jeffery R. Holland. What an honor it is to be able to look this man in the eyes and to shake his hand. I know that he, as well as the other remaining General Authority, are called of God to lead and guide this church. I do know that this church is true and what a blessing it is to serve at this time. 

Thank you for all your love and support. I'm still running towards the blast! 

Love you all. 

Elder BerthelsonBostonStrong

May 24th

Family,

I am writing a quick email tonight because of the Memorial Day holiday. We are blessed to have the opportunity again to attend the Temple early in the a.m. tomorrow!  Although we will be in the Boston area, we're actually spending the rest of the day tomorrow in Cambridge where a group of missionaries and some other Brazilian locals and will be having a huge BBQ and playing soccer. I know that Elder Villar and I will have a blast, it should be a great day:)  

I am doing well. Elder Villar and I are continuing to work hard by helping our investigators progress, poco a poco:) We were also introduced this week to what is known as "Digital Missionary Work." This is a new concept of missionary work that the MBM alone has created, where we can communicate to others using Skype and other social media networks to contact people. We reach out to others through the net to introduce them to the Gospel! And once they are interested in further discussions or baptism, we will be able to contact the local missionaries in that area to further their progression. It's super neat. We are required to do this during the slow hours of the day, and then we go about our normal proselyting work for the remainder of the time. For example, just this past week I was able to Skype with a woman from Italy and also another from Venezuela. As well, I was able to call a guy over the internet from Mexico. So this next week, Elder Villar and I will possibly have the opportunity to share the first discussion over Skype with the two women both from Italy and Venezuela, hopefully by this Tuesday. Its awesome! The work is hastening all over the world.        

I am grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord, especially the blessings of great church leaders- specifically the bishop of the current ward I am serving. His name is Bishop Doughty. He was able to give me great advice in regard to keep working hard towards the end of my mission. As well, I received the letter from Dad that helped me even greater to understand what I need to do to finish strong. So Dad, thank you for the letter! We will talk about everything soon;)

I want you guys to know how much I love you all. I hope you are not too worried or concerned about me... I know I'm supposed to endure difficult times on the mission for a reason. I only know that this reason is making me stronger and building up my testimony even more. Thank you for all your love and support as well. 

Here is the link to the information for the parent Web-Ex for tonight. http://www.bostonmission.org/events/I hope you are able to get this in time, it starts in 5 minutes from now...

Have a great week. I love you all. BostonStrong!

 

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong

May 18th

Family,

I am doing fine. There have been countelss weeks when it has been difficult for me on the mission, but for some reason this week was just rough... It was difficult to find productive things to do after almost all of our appointments feel through. It's also frusterating that the majority of our investigators are not progressing as well. And because of this, we spent the majority of our time door to door tracting. No one was remotely interested, so it felt like a waste of time. And time is what I don't have too much left... I'm just glad to know that everything has its purpose though and to know that these experiences, as frustrating as they are, are helping me to grow stronger. Just as Dad put it, these will probably be the hardest 6 weeks trying to finish it out to the end. Maybe the Lord is preparing Elder Villar and I for something better though, we'll see.

To shed some light on the positives, we were able to go to the temple this past Tuesday to do baptisms for the dead with the youth in our ward. We felt that we were able to have a good connection with a lot of the youth and our members from our ward because we were able to help out. It's always a blessing to attend the temple. What an incredible opportunity dad has to work at the Phoenix temple now too. 

Congrats to Jazz!!!! That's exciting how she is moving on to the big leagues, L.S.U!! Ya no BRCC:)  haha. I'm proud of you J, love ya.

Karen- Thanks for sending a package. ..........

Dad- Looking forward to that letter. I want you to know how much I appreciate those and how much it motivates me whenever I read them. Keep it up working at the gym and now at the temple:)

Keep up all the hard work. I know that we have been blessed by the Lord greatly. And I know that he has more in store as well. This week will be a better week for sure, no doubt:)  

Les quiero mucho!

Elder BerthelsonBostonStrong

May 11th

Family,

This letter is not going to be too long this week since I had the chance to speak to everyone yesterday. It was awesome to hear and see everyone over Skype! I'm grateful that I got to receive some last advice from you guys, especially at this point on the mission when it will all come down to these final moments. I know that the time is going to go by fast but at the same time I understand that I need to buckle down these remaining 7 weeks and give my heart to serving the Lord, including the people who he has put in my path. I know that this is his work and his will. I am blessed to be a representative of Jesus Christ and to cherish these moments in my life. I only have one chance to do this, giving all to him.

Thanks again for all your love and support. Les quiero mucho!