January 19th

Family,

Everything is going well for me in my new area! I have no complaints of anything whatsoever in regards to the missionary work in this area. So far, we have 3 baptismal dates set for a family, all that are going to occur for the month of Feb! The elders and sisters that are in the Springfield Zone are awesome as well! And yes I believe this is the place where I will most likely end my mission.

As far as the members go here in the Ludlow Ward, they are great:) There are so many members that are willing to come out with us during the day, which has been the most I've been able to see on my mission. For my first Sunday in the ward, I was able to meet 3 families that are also from out west in AZ. So yesterday at church I was able to have some sweet conversations with a few of them, with one of the members also being a graduate from Mountain Ridge H.S. back in the 90's. Such a small world...    

For the majority of this week, I've just been pretty busy with good-byes being said back in Nashua and new work that I was able to do here in Springfield. It's great! Plus the Pats are in the Superbowl, so the people here in NE are pretty content as well:) 

 

I'm glad you all had a good time at the Hathaway's! That is awesome how you guys were able to see one another. The pics in New Orleans reminded me of when Jazz and I went before I left for college. Great times! I will make a trip out there soon enough. 

Keep me posted on the cruise with Grandma and Grandpa. I'm sure it will be a hoot lol. Tell them I say hi and I love them as well.

Have a great week. Les Quiero Mucho!   

December 8th

Family,

Glad to know everyone is doing well and that you guys enjoyed your trip to San Diego! It sure does bring back a lot of good memories going to watch the Chargers and of course visiting Old Town. I received all of your packages, letters, etc. by the way, so no worries on that. Thank you for those! Its definitely a blessing to know how much you guys are thinking of us (Jazz and I- esp Jazzy at this point I'm sure;) We will all be back to go to San Diego as a family for sure around this time next year!

I am doing well. I felt very welcomed from many of the members and people that I've worked with before- both from Lowell and Nashua. There were also a lot of hugs and greetings from the Spanish folk yesterday when I was able to make an appearance in the Nashua Spanish group at church. The C______, L_____ and M____ family are absolutely a blessing! That was the highlight of my week, being able to see these families and also to see the growth of the Spanish Group since the last time I saw it last spring. I'm also blessed to know that I was able to make a positive impact on a few people from the time I served here before. Right now though, the work in the English ward is not as great as what I had back in New Haven... in fact, I went from the point of almost baptizing an entire family to working with zero investigators. Its kind of frustrating, but maybe this is why I was called to be back in this area. I know that the Lord has plans for me and a work for me to do no matter where I'm assigned to serve. 

I don't really have too much else to say... I am working well with Elder Smith, he is pretty chill. It turns out that we only live about 15 minutes away from one another. He lives south of Thunderbird. Good guy to work with.

Dad- That's awesome that you know a few people that can hook us up to go watch the Chargers play next fall. It's all about the connections:) Be sure to let Ron know that I am looking forward to his offer to go to a few games. Can't wait for that!

Karen- Thanks for the pics. Glad to know that you were able to reunite with your friend. You're right, we are very blessed to have great friends and to know that we can reach out to them. And yes, can't wait for Christmas too! :)

Jazzy- Sigue andelante hermana!! Sola tres semanas mas... que vas a hacer?!?!?! Leave it all in Chile:) Love you J!

Enjoy the rest of your week, I know that the Lord is continually blessing us. Be sure to always remember Him and do what you need to do in order to be touched by the Spirit in your lives. Whether its by scripture study, prayer or continual service for others, I know that the Spirit may be present with us if we are striving to come closer to the Savior.

Les Quiero mucho! GO CHARGERS!!!

Elder BerthelsonBostonStrong

May 12th

Family,

I'm so blessed knowing that you guys are doing well!! You guys look great and are HAPPY! That I believe is the most important thing. I too am doing great. Although I may have seemed a little frustrated at the begging of our call, I just had a lot of things going on in my mind... A lot of which included good-byes to be said to the people here in Nashua and the change I'm going to have in Lowell. I'm not going to lie, it's a little stressful, but I believe it is for the best and I truly am excited for what is going to take place with the new change I'm going to have working with different people and serving in a new area. All and all, I am blessed to have been able to talk with you guys and to see Jazzy and her companion was pretty cool as well! 

I know that we just spoke yesterday but I just wanted to quickly share my thoughts from the skype call we had and some of the things that I'm grateful for. First, I just like to thank you Jazzy for giving me the opportunity to at least talk with you for the time that I did. Even though we really didn't speak for too long, I was grateful to at least see you and know that everything is going well down in Chile. It does sound like the work is a little difficult down there as well, but your always in my prayers Jazzy. Keep working hard and trust in the Lord for everything. Love you Jazz!

K, thanks for making me smile:) You really do make me laugh and I'm grateful for that. .........

. I know how much you want to help, I really appreciate it! Thanks again k. 

Dad- You are the guy. Thanks for all your support and advice. I look up to you not only as my dad, but as my hero. Man I can't thank you enough for how much you've been able to teach me, and I mean EVERYTHING. It is all being applied to what I'm experiencing right now. This is my test. Just like camelback, I just got to take it one foot at a time, little by little. I know what I need to do. Thank you for helping me realize what I need to do and to put it all into perspective for me. Just like I told you yesterday, I've never relied upon the Lord as much as I have had to here on the mission. This is all part of the experience though. Keep running towards the blast! (There goes a Fightah;)      

I'll just end this message with my simple testimony that I know that Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior. I know that there are many people that are lost and don't know where to find the truth of His gospel. We have the truth.  We have been blessed as a family, so we should do everything we can to give back. Continue to serve our family, friends, brothers, sisters. Bear witness of Him. The Lord has many things in store for all of us:)

I love you all.     

May 5th, Cinco de Mayo

amila,

Feliz cinco de mayo! Gracias por sus correos. Voy a escribir todo en espanol para celebrar este dia famoso! (cual no tiene mucha significa aqui en Los Estados para nada... jaja!) (disculpe K). Se recuerden lo que paso el ultimo ano durante este tiempo?? En realidad estuvimos en San Diego solo caminando alredador el parque en Old Town. (Despues asistiendo el templo por aya). Me extrano Old Town, SD. Pues, la proxima vez en que podamos visitar eso lugar, podemos hablar todo en espanol para toda la gente aya. Estoy emocionando a visitar San Diego otra vez y usar mi espanol. Eso seria muy chido! jaja. 

(eliz May 5th! Thank you for your post. I will write everything in Spanish to celebrate this famous day! (which does not have much meaning here in The States at all ... haha!) (sorry K). They remember what happened the last year during this time? Actually we were in San Diego just walking alredador park in Old Town. (After attending the temple aya). I extrano Old Town, SD. Well, the next time that we visit this place, we can talk all in Spanish for all people aya. I am excited to visit San Diego again and use my Spanish. That would be really cool! haha.)

 

 

Muchas buenas cosas pasaron durante esta semana! Entonces yo recibi las noticias sobre las transferencias y voy a quedarme aqui en Nashua. Todavia Elder Johnston esta mi companero. Estoy emocionado para quedarme aqui y continuar a trabajar con la gente en NH. Oh tambien, yo recibi buenas noticias ayer! Pues, hay va a ser una serperacion en el barrio de Providence, RI! Esta fantastico! Yo escuche las noticias ayer de mi otro companero, Elder Gonzalez, y el me dijo que el barrio crecio tanto que ellos necesitaban dividir el barrio... Entonces ahora, ellos tienen dos barrios, uno en Providence y el otro en Central Falls, mi primera area en la mision! Yo nunca pensaba en este pasando, por los menos mientras yo estaria aqui en la mision. Pues, hay muchos milagros que estan pasando, especialmente en las areas anteriores en que yo servi. Es una bendicion, que yo tenia la oportunidad a servir alli y ayudar esta maravillosa cosa pasa.      

 

(Many good things happened this week! Then I received the news about transfers and I will stay here in Nashua. We do this my companion Elder Johnston. I'm excited to stay here and continue to work with people in NH. Oh well, I received good news yesterday! Well, there will be a serperacion in the neighborhood of Providence, RI! This fantastic! I heard the news yesterday from my other companion, Elder Gonzalez, and told me that the district grew so much that they needed to divide the neighborhood ... So now they have two districts, one in Providence and one in Central Falls, my first area in the mission! I never thought about this happening, at least while I'd be here in the mission. Well, there are many miracles that are happening, especially in the above areas that I service. It is a blessing, that I had the opportunity to serve there and help this wonderful thing happens.)

 

 

La proxima semana, Elder Johnston y yo tuvimos la oportunidad a extender una fecha bautismal para un chico, se llama I___ R______! El tiene 17 anos y creo que el este listo para bautismo. Nos sentimos inspirados a extender una fecha para el primero domingo en junio (1 de Junio). Y tambien, esta semana, tuvimos 47 personas que se asistieron la Iglesia para la reunion sacramental ayer. Esta tiene significa que los numeros por el grupo espanol en Nashua esta creciendo y estamos tener mucho exito! Nuestras oraciones estan siendo contestadas! Por poner la fe y la confianza en Dios, podemos recibir muchas bendiciones en nuestras vidas. Yo tengo un testimonio en eso. 

 

(Next week, Elder Johnston and I had the opportunity to extend a baptismal date for a boy, I___ R____ called! He has 17 years and I think you are ready for baptism. We are inspired to extend the date for the first Sunday in June (June 1). And also, this week, we had 47 people who attended the church for sacrament meeting yesterday. This has meant that the numbers for the Spanish group in Nashua is growing and we have great success! Our prayers are being answered! By putting faith and trust in God, we can receive many blessings in our lives. I have a testimony of that.)

Papi- gracias por la proteina:)  Sigue trabajando duro con el trabajo y en el gimnasio!

Jazzy y papi, disculpen por la mala punctuacion que yo use por esta carta. No puedo poner los accentos y todo de esos... Y karen, voy a escribir un otro correo para ti.

Gracias a ustedes por sus ejemplos para mi. Yo se que este evangelio me trae gran felicidad y que me puedo expresar esa para todas las personas con que estoy trabajando. Disfruten su dia! Voy a comer muchos tacos y tener una fiesta hoy! jaja.

 

(Papi-thanks for protein :) Keep working hard with work and the gym!
Jazzy and dad, sorry for the bad punctuation that I use for this card. I can not put the accents and all of those ... And Karen, I'll write another post for you.
Thank you for your examples to me. I know that this gospel brings me great happiness and I can say that for everyone I'm working with. Enjoy your day! I will eat many tacos and have a party today! haha.)

Les quiero mucho!        

I love them very much!

March 10th

Family,

What a week all of you guys had! I'm still in shock that Rich is married... and not only that but Abuelita showed up to the wedding!!! What the heck haha. I got the chills when I saw all those pictures including the one of dad and Abuelita at the wedding. And now you guys are planning to have her stay over at our house. Wow! Talk about a small world. Make sure to buy some "masa brasa" and avacados when she comes over to the house then. Oh man they are the best tortillas! Las Guatemaltecas saben como a cocinar! Papi, creo que si tu la haces venir a abuelita a la casa, tu dieta irá en la direcion opuesta jaja:) But yes, she took great care of me, and I know you guys will do the same.

Anyways, thanks for all the news and info that's been happening. Its sounds like you guys had an awesome weekend! FYI I never served with that Elder Gonzalez... I actually finished the last 6 weeks of training a different Elder Gonzalez who is still serving in Providence right now. Oh yeah, I don't think I've ever made it known to you guys that I had the opportunity to be a part-time trainer on the mission. (I never had made it known because I didn't do much training, if anything that guy was the one training me). But yeah it sounds like the other Gonzalez is pretty cool too. I heard a ton of good things from Rich about him. Shoot, I can go on and on by asking you guys how everything went with Rich's wedding... still can't believe it, crazy! That's cool, I'm excited for him. 

As for me I am doing pretty good. Johnston and I have worked really hard this week as far as working with the less active members. Also this week we picked up one new investigator, O____, who seems really interested and dedicated to learning more about the church. We were able to teach him the Resturation this past week and it went really well. He has plans to write out a bunch of questions for us, so our next visit with him should be pretty interesting. Also yesterday was another big day for us. Even though we had 10 less people show up to sacrament mtg than what we had the week before- 48 in total, we still had great success. Like what I wrote earlier, we worked really hard with the less active members in the area; so as a result, we had a total of 4 less actives show up to church and they stayed for the entire time! 2 of those less actives are youth, R____ y R___ A____ while the other 2 include J___ P___-24, who told us he has the desire to serve a mission (even had an interview with the bishop yesterday) and another guy, Hermano C_____, who hasn't been to church in over 3 yrs. He was constantly attending the Catholic church after falling away from the church but we finally got him to come back. All we had to do was invite these people and the Lord took care of the rest!

So President Packard also got word of the amount of people that showed up for our Spanish group and was thrilled with our efforts here in Nashua. He was so impressed that he wanted to see the Spanish group for himself. So yesterday, him and his son attended our sacrament meeting, which was pretty cool too. They got to witness the Spanish group for themselves and be a part of our sacrament meeting, even though they had no idea what was going on because of the language barrier. But all and all yesterday was a great day. Don't get me wrong it is not easy whatsoever, I have a ton of days where I'm pretty miserable. But it is sure worth it to actually see of the successes from your efforts.

Speaking of successes... you guys mentioned that Abuelita told you guys that I was able to run into her at the temple a couple weeks prior. That's because I had the opportunity to help out my buddy A____ D_____ go through the temple for the first time a couple weeks back, Feb 22, 2013. A_____, the youth and most of the members of the Prov Spanish Ward were able to make it into attendance that day to do baptisms for the dead. Talk about the all time experience and blessing I had! Just incredible...... What a joy and blessing it will also be to maybe take him to the temple again to assist him in performing other ordinances down the road.          

Keep up the hard work. It's still snowing where I'm at, so I hope you all continue to enjoy the warm weather. 

I pray for you guys daily. I love you all.

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong

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!