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

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