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

February 9th

Family,

Thanks for all the updates on what's been happening. That's exciting for dad how he has a new calling as a ward clerk. Perfect- Now I can make sure to pay my tithing in pennies when I get home:) lol. Glad to know that Jazzy is doing well in BA and attending the temple out there as well. 

This past week was pretty exciting! Elder Terry and I were able to set 2 baptismal dates this week. Our first one with M___ ____ and the other with M___ A____. It was amazing because M____ has been investigating the church since June of last year, and this past week she was able to self-commit herself to be baptized in March! It really was a miracle for us that she was able to do that. M_____ plans to be baptized on March 7th and M_____ for the following week on March 15th. We will be praying that everything goes well for them. Also, we were able to meet with another one of our other investigators, V____ V_____, as of yesterday. We extended a baptismal invitation for her and she simply told us she was going to pray about a date. She knows that its true, she just needs to pray for a time when she feels like she would be ready. This next month will be the month when all our baptisms will be in check, for everything that we have planned for. The goal of the mission (if I hadn't already mentioned it yet) is to bring 420 people to the waters of baptism by the end of June, or when President Packard goes home. This means that as a mission we are working our tails off doing everything we can to extend baptism and to help these people come unto Christ. It truly will be amazing when we will accomplish this goal. I know and the Lord knows that we are capable of achieving it. This has been one of the coolest concepts I've been able to learn on my mission, how to set goals and prioritize my time to accomplish them. 

Last week we also had our Zone Meeting, which went great! We really do have great missionaries in our Zone. Everyone is way excited and is working hard. For this upcoming week, we also plan to extend baptism to a couple of our other investigators that we are working with, including J_____. We are pumped for what is yet to come.

Tomorrow is the day when we plan to have our one on one interviews with President Packard. This will possibly be my last interview that I will have with him before my departing interview in a few months... crazy how much time is going by.

Even with the weather being as miserable as it is, I am blessed to know that I can still rely upon the Lord to help me bear challenges as such. And to answer dads question, my health is good. I don't work out at a gym anymore, I just do daily exercises in the apartment. My weight is pretty much the same... I am not really gaining muscle. This is just part of the sacrifice I need to endure on my mission though. I don't think the Lord intended for me to be physically strong over the course of my mission but for me to rather gain greater mental/spiritual strength. That is the point of all of this. I will just hit it hard again at the gym when I return home.   

Thanks for the blanket by the way! I received it today. Glad to know that everyone is doing well and is working hard.

Les Quiero Mucho! 

Elder Berthelson

BostonStrong

Pic 1: The Candelario family with other missionaries

Pic 2: Elder Lee  

Pic 3: Elder Smith

Pic 4: The Blanchette family

Pic 5: Missionaries in the Springfield Zone!

(My companion, Elder Terry, is on the very left with the glasses)