Elder Jackson Bertoch: 6 Month Anniversary

FELIZ ANIVERSARIO!!!🤘🤘🎈🎈🎉🎉🎊🎊
(de 6 meses)

Okay so this week has been pretty exciting, considering that I am now sort of ranked in the mission, people respect me a bit more now that I have made it to that 6 month mark. I only got one sister mission to go, so that's pretty weird to think about. But other then that this week has actually been a little slow, not much has happened, but at the same time a lot happened, or at least the stuff that I wanted to happen happened so I'm pretty stoked about that.

Monday after P-day we didn't have anything to do, and it was pouring rain so we couldn't really knock all that much. So we started to plan how we can find more effectively and what we were supposed to do with the investigator that the other Elders left for us that was in prison. So we planned out a bunch of stuff for English class and how we would start to advertise that more effectively. And we got a bunch of information about the guy in prison from one of the other elders. Then we cleaned the apartment and that was that day.

Tuesday in the morning we wrote a letter to the guy that was in prison and told him that we are the new elders here and that if he has more questions we will be here, we were also told to send him a D&C and Pearl of Great Price, so we did that and wrote a summary of each one and such. Then we went off all the way to Elgin to have lunch with the second counselor in the branch presidency and his wife. There we had some amazing food and we were treated as if we were at home. Hermana Perez is a really funny lady who also radiates “grandmaness” and Hermano Perez is a super funny guy that has some pretty cool stories to tell as well. That lunch was definitely one of my favorite member meals I've had yet. Something cool about Hermano Perez is that he was a president in a quorum of the seventy, back when they had those just all over the place, designed for missionary work, so he knows quite a bit about missionary work and is always able to give us tips and advice which is super nice. It also means that he does his part for missionary work quite well and visits many less actives and invites them to dinner and church all the time. After that we had some studies up until dinner at Hermana Escobar where we also did some service for her, taking off all her cupboards. We shared a little something that my companion had read during his personal study and then we were on our way back home.

Wednesday in the morning we went to the family history center in order to learn more about family history. We went down there with the senior couple in the branch and they helped my companion find names and helped me find anyone who hasn't had any temple work done that can be completed. It was a difficult task for both, and we found one name that I could do for me but not until Oct 31st. So I guess I had a good experience doing family history. My companion is very excited to do his though, so he can testify a lot more on that than I can I guess. Then when we got home we ran around looking to see if we could catch anybody at home that night, with just some former or potential investigators. Well it was a major bust and we didn't find anybody, except we did talk to the teenage son of one potential for a little while. That day we also taught english to someone in their home and taught them a little spiritual thought as well. Then we had english class at night as well where we had our best night so far with 7 people there, so that was super exciting.

Thursday we had zone conference which was really good. I got to see some familiar faces there since West Columbia was joining as well. Plus West Columbia spanish branch had the assignment of making desserts for us so I got to see a lot of members there that I knew as well. Zone conference was really inspiring.

We talked about how we need to hear the music like that mormon message by Elder Anderson and how we need to gain a vision to baptize. We also did some role plays of how to be more natural when conversing with random people, and we talked a lot about self worth and expectations and such and how we will never reach God's expectations for us without the help of the Savior. So that was super good definitely one of the best zone conferences I've been to. Then later we had soccer night which was super fun, but it was a lot more exercise than just playing soccer. We did a lot of drills and a lot of running, so that was super unexpected. Then later we played soccer where many a person got hurt and I got beamed in the face not once but twice.

Friday was my 6 month mark!!! So we had a nice breakfast and such to celebrate in the morning and then we cleaned up facebook and friended a bunch of different members and investigators then later we went to the branch president's house for lunch/dinner where they fed us a lot of food, like a lot of food. But it was all super good so I didn't mind. Then that was that. Later we went to find and we passed out a bunch of english class fliers in order to boost attendence. But our efforts were in vain because that night in english class we only had one show up, so instead of teaching him english we just had a nice conversation with him and now we are really good friends. And that was that day.

Saturday we made more english class fliers and then we later planned for the week forever and then we had a bunch of studies and then we later had a frenzy of handing out english class fliers up until it started to downpour rain. And that was that day.

Sunday we had church in the morning where we had one investigator show up and where we also taught priesthood with the talk the plan and the proclamation and I also spoke in sacrament for a little bit in challenging the branch to mark every scripture in the book of mormon that talks about the gospel of Jesus Christ per the request of the branch president. Then after church we had lunch and later studies. Then we made cookies for some members for this week. We delivered the cookies to one family who's sister is our investigator and then we had a nice conversation with them and shared our favorite scripture and later shared a lot about faith in god and what he wants for us. Then we left and that was that day.