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.

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

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

September 2nd

Family,

I don't have too much time at this moment to write down everything that happened throughout this week. But overall, this week was great, especially yesterday for Labor Day! I have been very blessed to see miracles happen all throughout this week. All of which I can say helped strengthened my testimony by recognizing certain blessings and being reassured to know that the Lord is truly watching over me. One of the blessings included what took place yesterday during our Recent Convert Temple trip. We had 3 of our recent converts attend the session to do baptisms for their ancestors for the first time. The blessing of witnessing someone else have an incredible spiritual experience is just as amazing as experiencing it for yourself. I'm blessed to help serve those to take them to the House of the Lord, the ultimate goal that all of us should pursue.  

Dad you were right, I was in Boston all day yesterday as well, and for that reason I didn't have any time to email... Plus, there was too much going on in the North End;) (Fanuial Hall/Quincy Market was way fun as well). But FINALLY, for the first time on the mission, I had the chance to get some Regina's pizza- brick oven style crust with a little tomato, spinach, mushroom and sausage. Delicioso! Plus Mike's was only a short block away, needless to say there was also a Boston Creme Puff in dad's favor, haha. It was too bad that the Red Sox didn't have a home game yesterday, or else I would've gone. Can't get enough of Boston though! I'm blessed to be serving in my favorite city!

Another little experience I had yesterday- As I was walking down Hanover Street with about 10 other missionaries, I distinctly remember asking dad a little over 2 years ago. "What is one advice you can give me about serving a mission?" That piece of advice hit me as I was walking on that very part of the street yesterday as a missionary myself... And to add on to the advice that dad has given me, yes I can say that I am living it right now. I am doing everything I can to love the people whom I serve. I can honestly say the friendships that I have made so far is incredible. The guys that I've served with along with other people that I've met has made this whole experience worth it. Speaking of which, A____ is only 1 short month away from receiving his endowments. He was able to give me a call the other week telling me he made plans to receive his patriarchal blessing sometime this month along with considering even more to serve a mission. The change that I've been able to see in this guy's life is incredible. Like I said the people, like A____, make it worth it.   

Dad- Already looking forward to Oakland:) I got the letter too. Thank you man. I want to talk to you in person about these experiences when I get home. We definitely have some stories to catch up on! And for that, we have some more golf and dog trips we'll be catching up on as well. Looking forward to it, but you know what needs to happen first. Can you also let Brother Brock know that I received his letter from all the young men. Tell those guys thank you from me.

Karen- Thank you for your letter. Cambria is all grown up, wow. Glad to know everyone is doing great. I'll keep the Christensen family in my prayers.

Jazz- Glad you got the package! You are an example to me. Keep working hard as a trainer! That is awesome how you are able to have those experiences. Love you jazzy. 

Thank you for all your love and support. I love you all! 

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong

May 27th

Family,

I am just going to write a short email to let you know how my week was and how I'm doing. I wasn't able to write yesterday due to Memorial Day... so I am taking this quick opportunity I have today to do so now.

Starting off with last Friday, Elder Holland was able to speak to all of our mission and share his thoughts on our missionary/personal efforts and ways that we can better reach out to others. The spirit was so powerful during the whole meeting. I also had the opportunity to shake his hand and meet his wife along with Elder Hallstrom of the 70. All of them spoke and it was just incredible! There are many things that Elder Holland spoke to us about... too many to even be written in this email and many that are very personal, which I know helped further strengthen my testimony and was certainly a blessing my life. It was awesome nonetheless and I know that Elder Holland is a man ordained from God to be in the position of the church that he is in. 

On Sunday, our buddy J__ M___ was baptized. I had the opportunity to perform his baptismal ordinance as well. I attached a picture of J____, Elder Johnston and I. It's a blessing to be a part of something that will change that his life forever. I know that his family will

be blessed for the decision that he made as well. 

Yesterday, as you all know, I had the opportunity to go to the Temple. I can't tell you how much of a blessing it is to go to the Temple and to experience that peace and calmness we feel every time we step foot into the Celestial Room. Going to the Temple as often as I do is definitely one of the things I cherish most about my mission. 

As far as the people we work with, there are many families who we have invited to join the group and who are also willing to support us. Our only progressing investigators we have right now is an 18 year old from Peru, Hiro C_____ and his 14 yr old brother O___. Both have already taken the discussions from past missionaries. We will see how everything works out with them along with the group that starts this Sunday, June 1st!

I also had the opportunity to go down to Boston for our P-Day after our trip to the temple. Great times dad!! Can't believe it was 2 years ago... 
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and will continue to enjoy this week and work hard.

Thanks for all you love and support. Les quiero mucho!     

Nashua, NH - 2.19.14

Family,

In the last email that I wrote last week, I told everyone that we had a Spanish branch in the Nashua area... its actually not the case. We are basically starting what is called a "group," which means we are splitting ourselves from the two English wards in the area. This Spanish group is eventually going to start up beginning on the first Sunday in March. Although the group is made up of pretty much one family (la familia lopez, which consists of 20 active members) and 15 others, everybody is way excited for what is about to take place as far as the Spanish is concerned in Nashua! We are working hard and doing everything we can to get this group started, but the ultimate goal will eventually be to see this group turn into a legit branch/ward someday.

My new companion is pretty cool, his name is Elder Johnston. He is from Pocatello, ID and he is also a sports-guy and enjoys working out just like me. He just got done serving in the Cambridge/Boston, MA part of the mission and he's been there just about as long as I've been in Providence, so we share a lot of stories back and forth about what we've experienced with our different areas. He is a few months older than I am in the mission but only one day younger as far as age goes. We're going to work well with one another:) 

I was not able to write on my P-Day because we had the opportunity to down to Boston to do a temple session. I'm very blessed for the opportunities I have to go to the temple as much as I have on my mission.

As of right now we are pretty much in a middle of a snowstorm... so recently we have had to do more shoveling than teaching. Over the past couple days during this week though, we had to remain inside in our apartments due to the blizzards that is happening in New England. I am tired of the cold. Just remember how blessed we are to live in a place where you don't have to worry about the cold and you can just enjoy the warm weather, because I sure do miss it. I guess I only have to wait it out for a few more weeks though, then maybe we'll get to see the sun if we're lucky.

Glad to know everyone is doing great! That is so cool how Devin Hampton got his call to Salta, Argentina! I was guessing somewhere either in Mexico or Europe... I am really excited for him!

     

Keep working hard. I know that the Lord has something in store for all of us, its certain. Press forward with faith and good things will happen.

I love you guys.

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong

From Elder Berthelson's new companion:
My new comp is from Phoenix Arizona, and is one day older than me! He is fairly new in the mission, and his Spanish still lacks a bit, so I get to do basically all the talking in Spanish! Which is gonna be great, and my Spanish will hopefully keep growing! Elder Berthelson also played a year of college football before the mission at Southern Virginia, loves to golf, and enjoys working out in the morning! It will be great! We got a sick gym in the apt complex, with treadmills and weights, so we have been going hard in the morning!