Penúltimo día de Junio

Hola!
 

Well today is the second to last day of June!

 

 

 

June has flown by super fast and it is crazy to think that in 3 months I'll be completing one year of  my mission! The time is flying by so fast. It's crazy.

This week has been pretty calm and not very much to report. But we did have a baptism this past Sunday. I say we had a baptism but the investigator wasn't ours. It was the investigator of the sisters in our ward. We just had the privilege of being able to baptize him. Woo hoo for having the priesthood. ;P 

After the baptism we had on Sunday, we went and ate dinner with a family from the ward. They were really funny and very kind. At the end of our visit with them, they gave each of us a pair of dress shoes! My companion is pretty jealous about the shoes I got. He wanted them but they don't fit him :) Next week I'll be sure to send a picture of them, I forgot my camera in the house this week. 

Other than that not much else has happened- other than raining a ton. But I hope that all of you have been good and have seen the hand of God in your lives. Thanks for writing me and thinking about me.

Love,

Elder Berry

Here's some pictures we took at the member's house! He lent us some boots and hats. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey!

This week has been one of the most exhausting weeks of my mission. On Saturday I just didn't have any strength at the end of the day. Having the second biggest area in the mission means that we have to do a lot of walking... and it's all hills. With that said, after we had finished planning Saturday night, I went to bed ( 10 is the earliest we can go to bed). 

My companion is definitely working me hard in this area. He only has like 4 weeks left in the mission and he is teaching me a ton. He is also whooping me into shape! He walks the hills so fast that when I try to keep up my calf and shin muscles start to burn ha ha this guy is a hill speed walker! It's alright though because I'm going have some killer legs at the end of my mission!! 

Nothing eventful has happened this week but I am looking forward to the weekend! I am so excited to be able to Skype my family and celebrate Mother's Day. I don't think I really realized how much I have been blessed with a great Mom until I got to the mission field. I love you Mom! And I also want to wish all Moms a Happy Mother's Day! 

Take care and I love you all!

Love,

Elder Berry 

Families are Forever

Buena Tardes a todos,

This week we went to the visitor's center instead of on Friday. It was my first visit (after 6 months in the mission) and it was pretty awesome! We rented a 15 passenger van, which cost us about $50 US dollars (700 pesos) and filled that baby up with people. We went with the other pair of missionaries in our ward and in total we had about 16 people in the van, plus the driver. 

The visitor center was really cool and the tour focused a lot on the family and how we can be with our family's for eternity. I was thinking a lot about my family during the tour and was so glad to know that I can be with them for eternity thanks to Jesus Christ and the covenants we make within the temple. 

I am so happy to be here on my mission in México. The people here are ready to be taught the gospel and learn how they can be eternal families. It has been a little hard at times but I know that this is where I am supposed to be. I am also so grateful for the love Jesus Christ has for us. Thanks to his  sacrifice we can be with our families forever and have eternal happiness. It is something I will never be able to payback to Him and will be eternally grateful for.

I thank all of you for checking up on me and for keeping me in your prayers. I hope you all stay safe and enjoy your week. 

Love,

Elder Berry

6 Months already!

On Wednesday I will already have 1/4 of my misison completed. It is very weird to think about and the time passes by super fast. We are already almost half way through one change and it feels like I just got to this area yesterday with my companion. For being one of the most dangerous zones of the mission, nothing has happened to us and I'm not really expecting that anything will. Everything is pretty calm during the hours that we are out proselyting and teaching. There is a ton of drunks and problems with drugs but nobody does anything to us...

This week we had companion exchanges and I went with Elder Lucero. The first time I saw him I was pretty weirded out because he looks like a Mexican version of my brother Isaac. He is literally just as skinny and seems to have an equal Mexican sense of humor as my brother. I am attaching photos of him from the night of companion changes. 

This week I am super excited to watch general conference. I have no idea where we will be watching it but it's going to be great. I think I appreciate general conference more than I ever have and don't think I'll take it for granted  again. I know that the leaders of our church have prepared messages to answer our questions and give us guidance in our every day lives. We are hoping that our investigators will come watch with us! 

The only other major event that happened this week is that we watched a duck attack, kill, and eat a mouse. That was a very disturbing/interesting experience. I don't think I will ever look at a duck the same way ever again. 

Espero que todos ustedes tengan una buena semana! 

Love,

Elder Berry

Moved to Elder Payne's zone!

Hey so this week I got moved to a new area. It is called Pradera and is in the Prdaos zone. It is the same zone as Elder Payne but we are not in the same district, which is a bummer. It is said that this is the most dangerous zone of the mission but nothing has happened so far... people just stare at me because I'm white and yell stuff at us like "Hey good looking" and that's about all that happens haha

My new companion is Elder Osuna and he is from a state in Mexico that is really close to the border of the US and Mexico. In his state and the other states that are close to the border, they speak a lot of Spanglish. For example some of their Spanglish verbs are Watchar and Pushar, which mean To Watch and To Push. It's really funny and all the people from more southern states make fun of the people from the border states because of their Spanglish. 

We also have a really cool investigator that we met this week. She is the daughter of current investigators and is about 22 years old and goes to college (which is why the other Elders never met her). She has asked us a ton of questions and told us of experiences in her life that have proven to us that she has been prepared to receive the gospel. For example, she asked us "Where did we come from?". And this is exactly a question that we answer with the Plan of Salvation. We are super excited to teach her.

 

I forgot my camera in the house this week but next week I will send you all photos of my house and my companion! I love you!

Love,

Elder Berry

The Gospel changes Lives

Hey!

So it's the first week of March already and I just feel like the time is flying by. This week was pretty slow in terms of teaching but we are keeping our excitement up. Our area has been a little hard to find people to teach but we are coming up with new ideas everyday to try and find people who might be interested. 

The one lesson that we did have this week was really great. The person we went to visit is named Salvador. He lives in an area that has a pretty big problem with drugs and alcohol. He is an alcoholic and we don't know for sure but, we suspect that's the reason why his wife and children moved to another state in Mexico. They are still married but just don't live together. In the first lesson we had with him we told us that he wants to change his life and quit drinking. At the end of our lesson he accepted a baptismal date. Yesterday (Sunday) we went to visit him and check to see if he had kept his commitments and had read the book of Mormon. He hadn't read because he was working really late this week; so we read the introduction again and some of the testimonies of 11 witnesses of the golden plates. He is more excited than ever to find the time to read the book of Mormon. He told us that when we read the introduction (completely) with him that it answered some of the doubts he had. Our plans for the next visit is to teach him the gospel of Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation.
 

I am really surprised in how much he has changed in one week. The first time we saw him he was sloppily dressed, his hair wasn't combed, his eyes were super bloodshot and his face just seemed kind of sunk in and aged. Yesterday when we visited him he was well dressed, his hair was combed, his eyes weren't as red and his face seemed like it lost a few years of age. He is trying to change his life and it is showing. I hope he continues to progress. If he keeps his commitments and continues taking the lessons he will be baptized a few days after my birthday and that is the best present I could ever ask for. 

I'm sorry I didn't write last week! Time was strict and I had a lot of things to do. This is my little news update for this week. Thank you all for writing me and thinking about me. 

Love,

Elder Berry

Prepared investigator

Buenas Tardes a todos,

So this week was pretty sweet. Tuesday of this week we put a baptismal date with an investigator in the first lesson. He has been really prepared to hear the gospel and is really open to the gospel. His name is Carlos Maldonado and he's about 23 and a photographer (for this reason I have decided he's my new Mexican best friend). He has been surrounded by LDS church members the last three years. All his friends are LDS, he takes photos for tons of temple marriages, and he takes pictures for other church functions. He told us that at one of his photo shoots (at a temple wedding) someone asked him why he hasn't been baptized yet. And he told them that he hasn't been baptized because no one has invited him to do so. That's basically how we came into contact with him. BUT, because he is a photographer his schedule is super packed on the weekends. We had to put down his baptismal service for the first week of April. We seriously hope that he continues to take the lessons and continues to be faithful in commitments. 

My companion and I are doing super awesome. Today he taught me how to do the Usher moon walk (luckily all houses here have nothing but tile floors). I'll be sure to send out a video when I have it down super good. We are starting to really get missionary work going in this area and the time is flying by. My companion and I only have about 8 more weeks together and then it's most likely that I'll be leaving to another area. 

As far as news on me and how I'm doing; I'm doing awesome! I have never felt more eager to teach and my Spanish is improving little by little everyday. I'm starting to like Mexican music (but only the Reggaeton). I understand just about everything and I have more confidence in my Spanish abilities... expect in phone calls. 

Thanks for all your support and love! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Berry