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

March 7th

Family,

I have been given permission and was encouraged to write this letter to all of you. This is to let everyone know that I have been invited by the Mission Presidency to extend my mission for an extra transfer (5 weeks) from my original date, which was on May 22nd. Being a Spanish Missionary, my original date of release technically falls closer to my 2 year mark on June 5th. But since that date from when I left the MTC to my two-year service falls in between transfers, they have given me the decision to choose whether or not I wanted to extend. So with this being said, I have thought and prayed heavily on this matter and decided to extend my service to the Lord. My release will now be on June 29th. 

As I mentioned, I prayed a lot on this matter and took all things into consideration. It was a difficult decision because I understand that travel plans were already made and I know how excited (esp. Karen) is to have me come home. This may also affect the potential job offer that Dad had planned for me. I do know though that my mission has given me so much growth and so many blessings that it would also be difficult for me not to take up this offer. I will be finishing my mission at the same time as President Packard and his family. This is a sprint for all of us to the end.  

Please email me back as soon as possible with any comments or other things that I should be aware of. I will continue to keep everyone updated to figure out the alternative plans to all this. But until then, keep going! 

I love you all.    

Elder Berto and Elder Garcia

Elder Berto had the opportunity to meet Elder Garcia in the Provo MTC when they were first out on their missions.  Elder Garcia is the cousin of our sweet Sydney.  Elder Berto had never met him before but knew of him.  Elder Garcia remembered Elder Berto's last name and when he saw that name on the missionary nametag introduced himself.  I'm so grateful that they had the opportunity to meet and talk with each other.

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.  

 Alex on his way to the Broadcast last Sunday

 Elder Berthelson with his companion, Elder Miller

 Elder Berthelson with his buddy Jake - from SVU.  Both happen to be in the MTC at the same time!

Alex sent us a great email today.  He talked of the broadcast last week and even though he was in the nose bleed section, he was uplifted from listening to the apostles in person and hearing what they had to say to him as a missionary.

Today is his 19th birthday! 
Here is what he wrote about celebrating it while in the MTC

I could not have had a better birthday than to do an endowment session here at the Provo Temple and complete one of the family members names from Uncle Max. (Last time we will go to the temple here in the mtc since they are closing it down for a couple months for cleaning).

My favorite line from today's email that Alex sent "I wrote dad a decent size message, but I dont have too much time on this one. (Its not like I dont love you any less, I just dont have time)"

He doesn't love me any less - gotta love that!


He also had some exciting news to share: 
I have been blessed with the opportunity to sing in the MTC choir this sunday where I will be singing in front of President Thomas S. Monson and the whole General Authorities! They are doing a special mission president broadcast that is going to be world wide. They are saying this is a big event because there is going to be a historic announcment made in regards to mission work or something in that aspect. I am so excited! I can testify that we DO have a living prophet on the earth who leads and guides us to draw closer unto our Savior and I hope to gain an even stonger testimony as I'm able to witness our prophet and his apostles this Sunday. 


https://www.lds.org/church/events/the-work-of-salvation-missionary-broadcast?cid=HPL1P01W01031&lang=eng

We got our first official email today from Elder Berthelson. He is learning and having a great time. He said that within 20 minutes of being dropped off at the MTC, he was in a full on Spanish class, and it has been all Spanish, all the time. He also said that he has seen 9 elders that he knows since he has been there - including Elder Meikle who is from our area. His companion is Elder Miller, who is from Queen Creek. Elder Berthelson also said that he got to go to the temple today. Each missionary has what is called p-day. This is their personal day. They aren't expected to have meetings, teach the gospel, etc. This is their day to write letters/emails, do something fun in the area - maybe play a game of basketball, and catch up on things like laundry. He said....

Its cool to walk out of the temple and the first thing you see is the BYU football stadium, I thought that was pretty funny. (I'll have to send some pictures)

Here is a map that shows you the 3 landmarks that he talked about in his letter today.....
View Alex Provo in a larger map

Today is THE day that Alex enters the Missionary Training Center in Provo. Aunt Mary and Uncle Allen picked up Alex yesterday from the SLC Airport. Aunt Mary served her mission in Italy and has some amazing culinary skills. She invited another family over and they had a great big Italian meal. Alex got to take a nice walk with his "companion" after dinner. Since Alex was set apart and needs to have a companion with him at all times from that point to the end of his mission. We believe that there is safety in numbers. Missionaries always serve in companion-ships. Aunt Mary got to spend the morning with Alex. They went to the Provo Temple. And then she dropped him off at the curb of the Missionary Training Center. He will be staying here until July 16th when he leaves for Boston. How happy does he look!?!?!?

One of the things that Alex was asked to do in advance of going into the Mission Training Center was to create his LDS.org profile. The mormon.org site is really incredible. You can enter different religions, races, many different parameters and view the testimonies/profiles of members of our church. Alex has finally created his profile. It can be viewed here.

Alex will be set apart as a missionary by our stake president Monday night in our home. After this happens, Alex will need to have a companion with him at all times - his dad or myself. Tuesday afternoon, he will fly to Salt Lake City, where he will be picked up by Aunt Mary. He will stay with Aunt Mary overnight and then she will drop him off at the Mission Training Center at his appointed time - 12:30. If you would like to write Alex at the MTC (Mission Training Center), his address will be: Elder Alexander Lee Berthelson JUL16 MA-BOS 2011 N 900 E Unit 229 Provo UT 84602