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!

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

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 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

April 27th

 

 

Family,

Things are starting to pick up for us in the work! Elder Villar was able to invite two of our investigators to be baptized this week, which was awesome! One of our investigators, M___A____, was recently married to a woman in the ward who is less active... But she is hopefully planning to come back to church, especially after Mike was willing to take the discussions with us. He was accepting to our baptism invitation and will decide on a date sometime in the near future. Our other investigator, M__A__ B____, who we found trying to contact a member of our ward who moved out, was open to what we had to say. We scheduled an appointment to meet with her last Saturday and we shared the Restoration lesson. It was so powerful and the spirit was so strong during the lesson. Elder Villar was awesome too and felt prompted to invite her to be baptized. Although she politely declined because she is very Catholic, she was still interested on learning more and plans to attend church with us in a couple weeks on mothers day:)

It really is awesome to train a new missionary and to see the progress of how they adapt to a life of 24/7 missionary work. It was just how it was with Elder Richardson and I when I first started. Yes there are some up and downs and a lot of the times it is not easy, but we have a great relationship. Elder Villar is awesome, one of my many good friends on the mission for sure!

Yesterday we also had our Regional Broadcast from Salt Lake City. Elder Anderson and Hales spoke from the General Authority to everyone here in the Eastern States. It was also announced during the Broadcast that Elder Holland would be speaking to all the Spanish here in Boston area. He plans to come here May 31st! It will be interesting and exciting to know what he has to say. I'm sure we will be getting permission to attend since his grandson, who is also our AP right now, is also one of the Spanish missionaries serving in Boston.

Thanks for all the letters and info on whats been happening! 

 
Dad- I got your letter, thank you. And that is awesome about Pat's Run! We should do that next year for sure. And whenever you want to take the trip out here to Boston, just let me know a date. I can probably start talking to some people and let them know:)

Karen- Thanks for the pics. That's great that Hayden is finally leaving for the mission. And wow he looks different too! Hope all is well with the other friends in the ward. Glad to know that you, grandpa, grandma and Jazzy had a great time in NOLA this past weekend! I'm sure it was a blast. FYI I'll let you know a time next week about skyping. 

Jazz- Let me know how life's goin for you. Love ya!

Gracias por todo. Se que nuestro grupo va a tener exito. Poco a poco con esto. Siguen adelante, les quiero mucho!

  

Elder BerthelsonBostonStrong

 

 

Boston Strong 2015, April 20th

Family,

I went to the Boston Marathon earlier today so I don't have time to write this week. It was freezing today... only 45 degrees and rainy. But of course it was awesome! No better time to be in Boston for sure!! I love it.

The work this week went well. Elder Villar and I are working hard and getting the members to jump on board with the missionary efforts in this area. Our Spanish Group is struggling big time though... I don't know what the Lord has planned as far as the Spanish efforts go in this area, but we sure do have a lot that is occurring right now in the Franklin English Ward. Who knows though, we just have to take things one step at a time.

Jazz- Elder Villar says that he is second-cousins with the Lopez' del barrio El Parque. Pretty neat, small world.

.......

Thank you for all your letters and support. I will send some pictures of the Marathon, hopefully by tomorrow if not next week. Keep working hard.

Les Quiero Mucho! Boston Strong:)

April 13th

Family,

Wow! Yo realice que mi espanol no esta bien, por nada... jaja. Por los menos mi nuevo companero me ha ayudado muchismo con el idioma. Por que el es de Chile, el habla muy rapido y es muy dificil para entenderle, pero todavia estoy bendicido a tener un companero que esta dispuesto a ayudarme con esto. Ahora yo se lo que Jazzy hablaba cuando ella nos decia como dificil a entender los Chileanos por la primera parte de su mision.   

 

(I realize that my Spanish is not good for anything ... haha. At least my new companion has helped me a ton with the language. For that is Chile , speaking very fast and is very difficult to understand , but I'm still be blessing to have a partner who is willing to help me with this . Now I know what she was saying Jazzy when we spoke as difficult to understand Chileanos by the first part of his mission .)

The phrase "running towards the blasts" is certainly taking effect for me at this point on the mission... I have so much to do in so little time, its crazy. We are in charge of the Franklin 1 English Ward and the Spanish Group that was formed about a year ago. The Group is barely staying afloat with only 6-8 active members that actively attend weekly. The goal is to increase the attendance with active priesthood holders and families attending and to work with the members of the English Ward to get them involved in missionary work. We already have a ton of work to do with both. So we are pretty much working back and forth in two separate fields of the work. I definitely have experience in both English and Spanish wards, but the real challenge is finally here... I feel like everything I've worked towards and learned is being put to the test all at once for the last couple months of the mission.

My new companion is awesome! His name is Elder Villar del estado Vitacura en Santiago, Chile este! (the same mission as Jazzy). Jazz did you know anyone with the last name Villar-Barrios??? Anyways he is way cool. Of course he is a soccer player and he came right from high school to come out here to serve a mission. He is super nice and humble too. He also lived in Provo for a few years so he is pretty much fluent in English as well, but is still helping me with my Spanish.

Elder Villar found out a few days before coming out to the field that his dad was called as an area 70 of Chile during this past General Conference. I thought that was pretty amazing that he was able to find that out. Jazzy, you gotta let me know if you know him at all. Sounds like my companion would've lived in the same area of Santiago that you served in! 

I will definitely send some pictures soon. We are going to play soccer or something for our p-day, its his first one so we'll have a good time of course:)

......

 

Keep up the good work! Les quiero mucho!   

     

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong