Another Baptism

May 27, 2019

Hola familia. 

This week was really good. We stayed pretty busy all week.  Had some good lessons and of course the baptism. 

Monday I cant really remember what happened. 

Tueday was Elder Powell's birthday. So we had district council and then went out for lunch with the district to celebrate. We tried seeing some people in the afternoon, and in the night we got invited to a party where non members would be and all that cool jazz. So that was fun especially for Elder Powell's birthday. 

Wednesday we had a lesson with trish and made sure everything was good for the baptism. Everything was. Then we taught English class and people were actually there last time. So that was nice. 

Thursday we had a lesson with carla and we finally got her reading the book of mormon. So that was nice and hopefully she will start to progress. Then we had two lessons cancel on us. 

Friday we had apartment inspections and the baptismal interview, which she passed with flying colors. Then we had a birthday dinner with the zone leaders. Then we tried seeing a bunch of people and struck out over and over again.

Saturday was the day of the baptism and it went great. It was a very spirit filled baptism, and she was elated that she had finally done it. It was very cool to see. Directly after the baptism we had the funeral for the cousin of the Densmores, Jamal. It was very hot. It's been 95 and higher this past week, so an hour directly in the sun was not all that fun. But it was a really good funeral, apparently there was a lot of behind the scenes drama, but we didnt see any of it so that was nice. The rest of Saturday we tried seeing people until our lesson with Christopher, which was not as good as we hoped, but it turns out his friend Jay has a lot more potential than we thought, way more than Christopher and hannah. So we are excited to see how that turns out.

Sunday was church and lesson with Gail. That was all. But trish did get confirmed and was really happy.  

Today we played soccer with some members in the ward and then we'll be playing games with the other Elders. We were invited to a party tonight that we will be going to. 

Zone Conference Week

May 20, 2019

Hola todos. 

This past week was a good one. We had many lessons and things happen and it was all good. Tuesday we did a bunch of knocking and finding and then we had dinner with a member. Then we went and contacted some members we didnt know yet and we saw 2 families. I can now say we know/been in the homes of 95% of the active families here. 

On Wednesday we did some service in the morning and then had dinner and a lesson with trish who will be baptized this Saturday. The lesson went really well, we went over temples a lot more and made some temple plans. Then afterwards we had English class. Thursday we had two dinners one with the 1st councilor of the bishopric and he lives in the middle of nowhere but has a lot of land and gave us a golf cart tour. Very cool guy and he is going to be taking us to Chris' on Friday to help us out there since he doesnt work and has a chainsaw. Then we had another member take us out to chick fil a after that. 

Friday we had zone conference which may have been the least informative zone conference ever been to, but it might be because I'm old. But after zone conference there was a ward party and we did that and that was fun. Saturday we had many lessons. Saw carla and found someone named Dwayne. Talked with the Densmores and they said they would be at church. We had a really good lesson with Christopher and that clan. So you have to understand that these lessons are so different. They are not like regular lessons. First they feed us and then we have a theological discussion on the doctrine of their church and the true doctrine. It's actually been really nice because they start with questions and it really follows the outline of the lessons we teach. Today they asked us what we need to do to be baptized and we explained the covenant path and temples and such. They do have big hangups on why we need another book of scripture when we have the bible and also they have a huge thing about agency and why its not a thing. They believe God has chosen those who are going to follow and they will follow and the rest won't. It's a little weird to be honest. But they love having the discussions and learning about us. They havent necessarily understood the spiritual side of how we teach things, as in they need to listen to the spirit as we teach them. If they read the book of mormon they will know. 

Sunday we had church and tried to see some members and then had dinner with the Dominguezs who are the farthest away member from the church. Then we had a lesson with Gail and Ronnie. And then that was the day and the week. Today I finished I-plan. And got my courses all lined up. Things are falling into place.

I got my my plan email the other day and Elder Powell got his flight plans on Friday. So things are winding down to an end. 

Elder Bertoch 

A great day to be alive

May 6, 2019 

This short little week was good. Wednesday after pday we had English class but unfortunately no one showed up. And then we did something I can't remember.

Thursday we did service in the morning and then had a lesson right after with Carla. The lesson went really well and they seem more excited to learn more and read from the Book of mormon. After that we did weekly planning and after that we went and contacted some members and after that we went and helped one of the Spanish members here write a talk in English that he was going to be giving in stake conference.

Friday we had service with Chris. Super fun this time. We deforested part of his property with axes. Very fun, felt very manly. We got a tree about 20ft high down and cut probably 20 others down as well. So super fun. Then after the service we had a lesson with alaynah Densmore. Aliviah's sister who is currently on date for June 7th. The lesson went very good and it looks like good progress will be made with them.

Saturday we had a day trying to contact part member families and that went really well. We found one right off the bat and we have a lesson with them this Wednesday. Then we had a visit with some other people and didn't find the rest of them. Then later we had dinner and a zone meeting thing over FaceTime.

Sunday we had stake conference and that was really good. We had a young woman from our ward speak and the patriarch and the relief society president somewhere, and some of the stake presidency. We also had some really good stake choir numbers too. After the conference we went and contacted some people in Laurens we saw Katie after a long time and talked with her. We also saw a less active family and we had to explain that we were not associated with the flds church after he saw a documentary entitled the the Prophet of evil. They were really excited though because they are getting some Sundays off from work soon and they can come back to church.

Today we are playing games and bball. I have tried really hard to rep the nuggets out here since they are in the playoffs now. Wooohooo.

Elder Bertoch 

A Baptism Miracle

Last week Jackson called on Easter and did not send an e-mail.  He sounds great!  His p-day for the last two weeks has been on Wednesday.  One so they could go to the temple and this week was transfers.  He did not get transferred and will be staying in Simpsonville, which he refers to in the second e-mail. When he says he is staying there until he dies, he means until he comes home.  So there will be another transfer on June 11 (his current companion, Elder Powell, goes home then.  They are rooming together at BYU-I in the Fall).  Then Jackson comes home the transfer after that (July 26). FYI - at the end of this week's e-mail he refers to the Gross family.  Sister Gross’ grandparents, two aunts and one uncle and their families all live in our ward.  Then her parents and another uncle live in the ward right next to ours (the Jackman Family).  

May 1, 2019

Good week this last week. We went to the temple on Wednesday and that was really cool and such a good experience and all that. That was about it for that day.

Thursday we had our last lesson with aliviah and the whole family was there for the plan of salvation. Which was something we have been trying to do since we first started teaching then and it went amazing. We also went over the baptismal questions with her and she did wonderful.

Friday we had service with Chris again finally. We pulled a bunch of weeds and played basketball. And had some lessons cancel.

Saturday we had another lesson with Carla and we read the BoM. She seemed to enjoy it and said she would read more later. We also had interviews with the president which went well. He told me to set a baptismal goal for this area before I go home so he basically told me I'm staying here until I die. Hopefully. Then we had aliviah's interview which she passed. Hooray. Oh also in interviews we got president's permission to confirm aliviah the same day of the baptism, since it was right after church and stake conference is next week. So we broke some rules hahaha.

Sunday we had church which was really good. We had some really good testimonies and all that jazz. But the main attraction that day was the baptism which was super awesome. Aliviah was super excited and everything went good more or less. There were a couple hitches but she was dunked and confirmed so it was okay. After the baptism we had a lesson with a guy named Christopher and his friend Jay which went really good and they both definitely have some huge amounts of potential. Then we went to a fiesta hosted by a Hispanic family in the ward which had more Hispanics over and that was a lot of fun. And the rest of the night we ran some ward errands.

Monday not much happened, we had dinner with the Suarez family though and it was very yummy.

Tuesday not much happened again but we had dinner with the gross family (sister Jackman) and we discussed highlands ranch for a while and elder Powell was blown away by how the HOA works over there and all that fun stuff. They are a very nice family and am glad I got them in the ward. 

Today we did gravitopia (trampoline park) again and tonight we have English class and all that fun stuff. 

Elder Bertoch

Very Fast Week

April 15, 2019

Not much happened this week. A lot of cancelled lessons and some dropping of people. 

Monday during/after pday we went over to the rings (inactive no contact with missionaries for 2 years) and played a board game with them, and we got in with them and we are now coming over each Monday, so hopefully we can do something good for them. Last Monday we played a game called 7 wonders, it was very very fun, it might be the best game I have played, and I highly recommend it. It also plays 7 people so just saying. It plays in 30 minutes too. Anyways that was really fun and afterwards we had a lesson with Benjamin and we read a chapter in the new testament and explained it to him and really taught a repentance heavy lesson. 

Tuesday we had about 140 things planned and not a single one of them happened. 

Wednesday we helped someone move, the dolittles dropped us, but we did have this cool non member Colombian family at English class.

Thursday I dont have a clue what happened.

Friday we weekly planned, had lessons cancel on us, and talked with the woman that was over at bishops house during conference and made her a new person.

Saturday we had a lesson with one of the stranger people we are teaching in Laurens. It was quite a lesson but we finally got somewhere with it after a while, and she technically is progressing because she is reading the book of mormon, so we have to keep going over there for the moment.

Sunday we had church which was a very good sacrament meeting. I was a little disappointed with how little people sold their oxen and filled their mires but I guess that'll come in time. We had a linger longer afterward. And then we went to the densmores but they were about to leave to go to their cousins baptism and we now have a lesson with them today. Then we saw some other people until our lesson with ronnie and Gail. The lesson went good. But apparently there was a tornado warning down in Laurens that day so we had to get out of there and we tried by some other people but no one answered and that was that day. 

I may call for a little in the afternoon sometime. (update - no call)

Elder Bertoch