Ruben's Baptism

Well this week was awesome. Ruben's baptism was on Saturday and there was a lot that was just the most awesome thing in the world. And hey you know what baptisms mean. I have pictures to send, hurray!

So Tuesday night we had another lesson with ruben in which we taught the plan of salvation, plus the law of chastity, plus the law of tithing, plus the law of the fast. So it was a jam packed lesson. But it was incredibly good. We had the lesson over at the Hite's again. And they were awesome always. Sister Hite had us draw the plan of salvation on a whiteboard as we were teaching it and I was the designated drawee. At one point they couldn't stop laughing about how my grave looked like a sock but everything else was about my best work. It was so good ruben even took a picture of it, hopefully not to show others and make fun of my sock. But he really liked the lesson. He loved the law of chastity and commited to follow that, he understood fasting and tithing and seemed very excited to share those as well, because quote "I need all the blessings I can get and I know that if I do this I will be closer to God.". So he's like the most greatest person in all of the world.

Wednesday we had a lesson with Sara, someone we had found just two days prior. We had hoped to share the gospel of Jesus christ but after the first two principles we found out that she is already a master of that doctrine and didn't really need to be taught that. So we asked if she had any questions about our church and she said she has some family members that are members of the church. And she was wondering where the differences between our church and other churches lie. So we taught a bit if the restoration and explained why we are out teaching and all of this stuff and she seemed to really enjoy it and seemed really interested in having us back to explain it more. After that not much more happened until the night in which we had our last lesson with ruben. We went over to the Hite's early in order to make and print off some programs, which took a lot longer than it should have. But it got done. Then we had our lesson with ruben. We taught the remaining commandments, all of which he easily accepted to follow. Then the Hite's brought up the temple and asked if he would go with them the next Saturday. He was very excited about that and said that if he could go he will go.

Thursday was the first day of the mission wide English fast for the Spanish missionaries that we are doing for a week. Now when we are within ourselves we only talk in Spanish. And it is a great idea in theory to help our Spanish, but its giving me is a headache. Since we are in a English and Spanish area we have to speak English a lot, so we're just switching between English and Spanish so frequently it doesn't even really seem effective to speak in Spanish. But it has kinda been fun I suppose. Thursday we spent the day up in the north. We had a lesson with someone up there which went well and then we visited some members around there too. Later at night we had dinner with the Campbell's and proposed that they invite one of the neighbors over for a game night and invite us there as well, as a non threatening introduction to the missionaries and the church. They loved the idea, already have someone in mind, and will call us with the details later. And that was about it for Thursday.

Friday we had weekly planning and we also cleaned the font and set up the room for the baptism on Saturday. And then not much else happened that day, we went around trying to contact people but nothing came from it.

Saturday was the big day of the baptism. We arrived early to fill the font and make sure everything was ready. An hour before the baptism the district leader and ruben arrived to have the interview. Ruben passed with flying colors. Then we waited as the people showed up. As usual people were late but everyone eventually did get there. Ruben chose bishop Keller as the one to baptize him, and the baptism went really well. Bishop later asked him to give his testimony later during the program and he just kept saying how thankful he was to have been led to this church at this time and how good and close to God he felt. Super awesome and spiritual experience. Right after the baptism we had bishop interview him for the priesthood and a temple recommend. He also passed that, of course. But bishop worried us and said that recommends work differently as they are all done online now. So ruben needed to be put in the system before he could be given his temple recommend. Which would mean some awesome ward clerks and a lot of prayers that the system works fast. The rest of the day we didn't have much of anything happen, it was actually a huge struggle to find much of anything to do. We knocked on probably close to 50 or 60 doors and not a single person let us in. Plus it was like 35° and raining pretty hard. So we knew that Satan was trying to discourage us. But we're not going to let that happen.

Sunday was the extremely chaotic day. We went to church and had the confirmation, which Brother Hite did, and right after that we were on the ward clerk's back about getting his record put in. He went to do that immediately. During sacrament meeting we were also confronted right before hand and asked to sing in the choir that day. I cheerfully agreed that we would all sing while looking right at my companion who hates singing. They for some reason had chosen a really difficult piece to do, with the only 10 people that were singing, of whom all of them were basic level singers. But I think it turned out okay. Everyone was really excited that we sang as well since the last sets of elders haven't sang for quite some time. After church we went with ruben to have the priesthood conferred upon him, and to have him be set apart in his new calling of ward missionary. Then the clerk came up and said that the record needed to be mailed to Salt Lake first to be put in the system, and the bishop was like no, find a way. So he went back working at it until he ran around all the obstacles and found someway where he could put in the record manually. So then ruben was in the system. So then bishop was able to print him off his temple reccomend and life was so good after that. All that chaos had only lasted an hour, and so did my heart almost. After church we went around and visited some members and had dinner with the family history consultant so that we could get something set up with her and ruben this week before he goes to the temple so he can bring some names. And that was Sunday.

So super awesome week and I am really looking forward to this week as well because we are able to go with recent converts to the temple their first time. So I am really looking forward to that and I know that this week has a lot in store.

Elder Bertoch

Un año nuevo de milagros

Hola hola yall!! This week has been just about as great as the last week. We've been seeing miracle after miracle here in Greer.

Monday we had a great time celebrating new years eve at the stake president's. We played ping pong and pool and darts and some other games. It was a lot of fun and we won the hearts of the McClellans as well so that's a bonus too.

Tuesday we had district council and had a great time there. Everyone is really excited about the baptism and the other successes we are having in the area. After DC we tried some people, the first one we had contact with was the Patrons (some former investigators that love missionaries). Justin Patton was out washing his car so we went up and tried to spark a conversation with him but he never really said a word to us, so we just stood awkwardly watching him wash his car. Finally after like 30 minutes we realize he won't stop to talk with us so we walked away. As we are getting in the car and backing away his wife comes out and asks her husband why he didn't talk to us and gets after him. We were already backing away and were cringing too much to go back so we just drove away. It was super awkward.  We also saw some semi active members of the ward and they expressed to us that they want to start new this year and be active members of the church. So we went over a plan to help get them all get back and active. After that we had dinner with the Pipers, who really out did herself. She cooked a 3 course meal with a really good cream of potato soup and then a Japanese pork meal with potato salad, and some good cookie bars/ice cream. Very good and we were stuffed to the brim afterwards. I also made the mistake of telling her that I could kinda not really play the piano so she sat me down at the piano and had me play some hymns. So I played the easiest of the hymns, God be With You till we Meet Again. And the spirit helped me play it and I got through it and it was okay. And that was about all for Tuesday.

Wednesday we found someone in the afternoon, Leonard, a guy from el Salvador and we taught him the gospel of Jesus christ. He didn't seem all that interested at first but later on he warmed up to it and wanted us back. We also went by someone in our area book who has been taught everything and has gone to church and had a baptismal date. We stopped by and he answered the door and I knew the guy. He is an active "member" in GV1 and goes to the book of mormon class on Wednesday nights and all these things. He goes over to the other ward becuase his girlfriend lives over there. The entire time while I was in GV1 I thought he was a member, because he knows more about the doctrine and the church then most members do. He's read the book of mormon like 30 times. He doesn't want to get baptized because he lives in GV2 and doesn't want to come to this ward but wants to go with his girlfriend in GV1. Super weird situation but the whole thing was mind blowing to me. After him we visited a new move in less active and had a nice conversation with her. She works on Sundays so can't come to church and her husband is not a member. Then we had dinner with the Hites and they took us to fudruckers which is a really good hamburger place. Then after the Hites we had our lesson with ruben at the geohagens (the ones that had us over for Christmas dinner.) We taught the restoration and it went wonderful. Both of the Geohagens are converts so they had cool stories to tell ruben. Ruben really enjoyed the story of Joseph Smith and he told us that he believes it. So it was a very cool day.

Thursday we had some good lessons. We found a woman named Onatha and that went well. Taught the gospel of Jesus christ and she expressed interest. We also found a Hispanic woman named Sonia and we taught the gospel of Jesus christ and she really enjoyed it and said that she recognizes she needs more of a relationship to our savior. So we said we will help with that and we'll go back this week. We had a drop lesson with Juber and Surma too. They haven't followed any commitments so we went in and told them why we give commitments, that it is for their salvation, and they said they don't want to change but if you want to come by again you can. Then we had a great lesson with ruben at the hites. We taught the word of wisdom and he said that he has already been following that and we don't have to worry. We were worried about this one but turns out we didn't have to be. Oh the other revelation we had is that ruben is 49, that might not mean much to you but we have been thinking he was 20-25. That's what living the word of wisdom all your life does I suppose. The hites also brought up temples and ruben got really excited about that and wants to be given the priesthood and go to the temple right away which is awesome.

Friday we had weekly planning which took forever because we had the baptism to plan. After weekly planning we went to see a few people and finally had dinner with a member who has had a lot of hard things happen in his life recently and is all alone right now. So we stayed over there the rest of the night and just made him feel loved.

Saturday was a terrible day turned into a great day. We were tracting in a large trailer park and as we were knocking this trailer a car pulls up and rolls its window down and watches us. We were like okay that's weird. Then the woman answers the door and we give our little speech, she says no, and the guy in the car asks her if he needs to take care of us for her and starts getting out of the car. We're all like, NOPE, and we get off that porch and start heading back to our car. The guy calls after us for a while but eventually gets back in. Then as we were walking to our car another lady comes out of her trailer and starts heckling us. Saying that she has a message from God and God told her that He doesn't want us knocking on people's doors and that all our efforts are in vain. (I told her thats a nice message, but ours is better, turned around and walked away leaving my companions just standing there.). So we decided to go to dinner after that and while we were at dinner we decided that something great is going to happen that night and Satan was really trying to discourage us. We decided to go and give Nori, Rusel, and Ivan a try again. We went over and they let us in again, but it was super awkward again with just Nori and Rusel, but then Ivan comes out of his room and saves it. We teach the plan of salvation and he is super into it and at the end he tells us it all makes sense and he believed all of it. He then proceeds to ask us how he can get baptized into our church. So we went through the requirements and he says that it is worth it to have the truth and follow the path of God. So take that Satan, you can't discourage us. We also had a really great lesson with Marisol and Miguel that night and taught them the plan of salvation and they loved it quite a bit too.

Sunday was great as well. We had a great time at church. The members are all really excited for rubens baptism and he is getting equally excited feeding off of their excitement. We saw some members that we've been trying to see for a long while. A really cool young member family just moved like half a mile from us and we saw them and got to know them and they are just really cool and should help us out quite a bit. We also saw some other less Actives and they seemed to appreciate us dropping by.

Oh my gosh this is so long. Monday we had a mission tour hence the email on Tuesday. Elder stanfill of the area presidency came up and taught us how to call down the powers of heaven using faith, prayer and our own efforts. It was very good, one of the best conferences. After that we went by Sara, someone we contacted a couple of weeks ago and have been stopping by just about every day to see again and she was finally home. She was very nice and chatty and we shared a video with her and talked about it and she has been to the temple in Washington DC and loved it so we are going back tomorrow and talking more about temples then.

That is all I can manage today. 

Love,

Elder Bertoch

Todos de los milagros

This week was so great. It really was, we had so many miracles and great things happen, it all was just such a testimony to me of God's love for us and the people that we are teaching and finding.

Well Tuesday of course was Christmas and I got to call home and have a great time with that where I could clearly see and hear my parents the entire time😬😡. But it was nice to see yall for the however good it was and I will patiently wait until mothers day for a hopefully better call. And if not I'll only have 74 days till I come home anyway. Which I did get a definitive answer on btw I will be home on Friday the 26th of July.

Christmas was spent first at our ward mission leaders house and they made crepes for us and provided wifi so my companions could call home. Then we went to the pipers who are a part member family. Brother piper is an aethiest with no hope of changing. They were neighbors with Tad R. Callister and very good friends with him. Brother Callister even gave him a signed copy of the infinite atonement with his testimony in it and still no change. But he loves the missionaries and is very friendly with us as well. We are actually going over there for dinner tomorrow night. After the pipers we went to the Jordan's and I called home and saw the babies and how much they have grown.  After that call we went to the Geohagens house. Sister Geohagen is a puerta Rican and brother Geohagen is an American with a lot of health problems. They are both converts with very strong testimonies and love the missionaries. After the Geohagens we went on by to a man who came to church for the first time in years just last Sunday, who is all alone after his wife died 9 years ago, and we went by and talked for quite a long time. It was crazy the love I felt from God for that man as he bore his testimony of the church and of how following the counsel of the Prophet has blessed him in his life. Even though he has been alone for 9 years, he knows that he has not been truly alone. After we saw him we went on home and I was so tired and dead I just immediately collapsed and fell asleep.

Wednesday we had district council in the morning. We have this board type of thing that has all of the progression steps marked on there, like if we've had a lesson with them or if they are reading and praying or going to church, things like that. And we portray the people we have as fish (like they're moving up a fish ladder) and we ran out of fish this past time and our district members are amazed. It's a real good visual to see just how blessed we are being in this area and how are many efforts are being received. Nothing else really happened that day until the night when we knocked into this Honduran family of 4 (all brothers and sisters over the age of 20), we had a really great time with them and shared the Because of Him video with them and they really loved it and seemed to love us.

Thursday was Spanish conference. That took the whole day and many miles but was really good. We managed this quarter as a Spanish body to find 228 people, but we only baptized 4. Which puts our ratio at like 1:56. So it was talked a lot about how we can become master teachers. So it was all really good and such. Then we went out and ate dinner and came back and the entire day was gone by then.

Friday was elder Barrus' birthday and so while he was in the bathroom I went to work decorating the apartment with some flag ropes and lights and balloon and the works. He came out and was very surprised. Then we had weekly planning to do and the only other interesting thing that happened would be the birthday dinner that the palmas had for elder Barrus. The palmas are from Nicaragua and they make some very good food. We had this soup type thing and cake for dessert. Her husband and mother in law who was also there are from Cuba. And we could not understand a word they were saying. Cubanos have the worst Spanish on the planet, like it is impossible to understand them. So that was fun.

Saturday we had a very very very good lesson with someone we contacted last week. We shared the Light Your Family video with Marisol last week and she seemed to like it and we invited ourselves back the next week and she was like okay whatever. Luckily when we knocked on Saturday her and her husband Miguel were there. We said we have another video to share and I asked if we could come in and she reluctantly let us in her home. But we gained a friendship with them so fast. It was just talk about this and that and how about this and what's your family like and what are your pass times and all of these different things. Actually, the thing that probably helped us get in with them the most was the mention of Juber and Surma, becuase they are very good friends with them, and it has made so much more sense as to why we met Juber and why he let us into his house that day, so that we could get in with Marisol and Miguel. There is a huge sign to know exactly when you are in with someone too, it's when they just get up in a middle of a conversation and without asking if you would like one, go to the fridge and bring you a soda. That is 100% how you know you are now their friends and they feel comfortable with you. It was just such a super fun time. Up until they started telling us their story of immigration. And then it got pretty serious, they shared their feelings of how hard it was to come up to America, but how much hope they had for a better life. Miguel shared that at one point he walked through the desert for four days without food and water. And while he was walking one of the men in his company died their third day. After they reached a place where they were fed and given water they went back for their friend so they could give him a proper burial. Marisol talked about all of the different murders and crimes and poverty she had witnessed in Honduras each day and her hope for a better and new life as she left her family behind and started walking to the states. She has been here for 2 years now and has 2 siblings who she has not met and probably will never meet. We were able to bear our testimony of the atonement of Jesus christ and how through him the afflictions and darkness lurking in our memories and our hearts can be cleansed, when we pray for that darkness to vanish and for peace to replace it. We shared the story of alma and his trials and how when he turned to the lord in prayer he was able to find that peace and comfort and continue to endure. And they loved it. They were crying the whole time and the spirit was so strong and they acknowledged the spirit and they want to know everything that we teach. It was awesome and one of the largest and most humbling blessings and experiences in my life. They are so cool and I am so glad we could meet them.

Sunday was just as great as Saturday. And you're probably asking how is that even possible. Well we met with Ruben again and taught him the gospel of Jesus christ and put him on date for the 12th of January which is super duper close and rapidly approaching. So we are meeting with him 3 times a week at a members home (the geohagens) and we are just going to cram everything down his throat. But he already knows everything (except the commandments 😯🤞) so it should be pretty fine. Our lesson with him went so well, what is faith to you ruben, "it's a belief in something you can't see and a conviction to act as God would want you to", good, and repentance, "its praying to God and asking for forgiveness so you can be changed and become a better person and more of a servant of God". It was such a cool lesson and it's just mind blowing how prepared he is. Like we haven't even done anything yet. He just knows everything. It's super cool. That night we went out and knocked for a while and met some cool people but didn't have anything eventful really happen.

Today the stake president has invited us over for new years and that should be pretty fun. 

Elder Bertoch

December 17, 2018

Well this week was rough. Not much happened in terms of finding people or teaching people or anything like that. My flu got progressively worse each day, although that didn't really keep us from going out. I am fine now however. Highlights of this week I guess would be our lesson with Freddie and phyliss which went well yet again, we taught the restoration and gave them a book of mormon which they seemed genuine about reading. We had dinner with some different members this week and had good times sharing light the world and brainstorming with them. We went to the most northern part of our area to visit a less active up there, but they don't have a car and live an hour from the church and 30 minutes from the closest active member so I don't know how we can help them. 

We had Christmas zone conference on Tuesday and I got the two packages from mom but am still waiting on Sam's and grandma's. But I will receive those tomorrow. We watched the other side of happiness for our movie this go around even though President was pressured from everyone to show coco. Oh we also started teaching Ruben this week and he is by far the most prepared person in the world. He is more dedicated to the church than most members, he is starting the new come follow me study program, and he reads several pages in the book of mormon each morning, and he loves church and said that he doesn't think he will ever stop going, and wants to know how he can receive callings and minister and be a part of the church. I told elder barrus after the lesson that if he doesn't get baptized I might as well go home because I will never find someone more prepared than he is. 

Oh the other thing that happened this week is that we found out what is happening with transfers which are tomorrow. Me and elder barrus are staying but we are having a baby. Kind of. An elder is being reassigned from Puerto Rico after he was pulled out because of the hurricane and he is tagging along with us and our job is to train him how it is done in South Carolina. So that should be a lot of fun. As far as the Christmas call goes, we know for sure that we have an appointment at 3 for dinner but we most likely will be going somewhere else in the morning to call. But we still have to get that figured out so be patient with me on that. That's really everything. Expect more news next week. If I even email. Which I probably won't. Sorry.

Love,

Elder Bertoch

Jackson is in the middle, second row, behind the mission president:

Winter Wonderland

Busy week this week. Although I can't remember too much of what happened. Monday is a really clouded day, I have no clue what we did on that day. We most likely went to visit some people but I don't think we got in to see anyone.

Tuesday we had district council in the morning in which we set our goals high of finding 7 people this week. People were blown away at the thought of that. This district doesn't pull in numbers like my last one did, so they thought we were insane to have such a high goal, but when you have faith that you can do it and you work hard for it, it rarely is that high of a goal. So to start off with the goal that day we went and tried to visit many different potentials in our area book and the most contact we got with one was when someone told us through their ring doorbell to go away. So not the best results but it's just some trials of our faith that we had to overcome. We also have started English class this week, but it'll be a while before anyone actually shows up to that.

Wednesday not much happened until the joy to the world concert. The program was really good and had people from all these different faiths and even had this like Sri Lankan woman who is pretty famous in opera come down and perform. So it was super cool. Me and my companion were chosen as stage hands in moving the piano on the stage back and forth. And the first time we go to move the piano one of the wheels got stuck and the piano tipped over quite a bit and was fixin to fall, but by some miracle the piano like rocked back and was up righted again. God was looking out for us that day let me tell you.

Thursday was a cool day because first of all it was my 500th day on the mission! But other than me being ancient we also had a good time contacting some people and we even had a book of mormon referal, but she lives way, way, way, up in the north. Like all the way up in the "mountains". But we went up there and met with her and she was very interested in taking the lessons. So that was good news, then since we were already up there we thought we would run to some other members that people have been telling us to see but couldn't because of the distance, so we went to see someone basically on the north Carolina border, like we were a mile away from the cutoff, and we also tried by this one former super solid member but he had a big gate and we couldn't get through, and then we tried by one more whose kids aren't members. And their house is this giant log cabin on top of a hill. They have a very steep long driveway but we thought we could send it up there in our extremely low Toyota corola. We got pretty far up there until we hit the last little part of the driveway and we got stuck. So elder Barrus went to push we tried to get it out for 20ish minutes but alas it was stuck. So we walked to the house explained our predicament and they invited us in. They asked us to give it one more try while they have pointers to give as we do it. And I got it up the driveway and only made the largest ditch in the driveway by where our wheels were spinning for a solid 30 minutes. But we were invited back the next day to help move a dresser to another member.

So in the morning we helped move that dresser and brother hymen took us out to lunch at chick FIL a where a peppermint milkshake was had. Then afterwards did some weekly planning for a long while and tried to see some people's.

Saturday we had our ward Christmas party, which was polar express themed and had lots of breakfast food and non members there. And it was all very nice and good. The highlight of this day was when we found Freddie and Phyllis who are so prepared for the gospel. They understand how corrupt most churches are and the weirdness of having paid clergy and how not many churches meet any qualifications for Jesus' church that he organized. They just kept asking question after question and we just kept giving them answers and they loved it. We were there for over 2 hours before we realized and had to go to another lesson. But they are very excited for when we come back next week. It also started snowing in the evening and we got word from the zone leaders that we need to go back and be on lockdown.

Sunday was miserable. Firstly I woke up with the flu, then we learned that the lockdown is still in affect, and that church is canceled. It wasn't to bad of a situation for me since I was sick anyways, so I had an extra reason to just sleep that day, but it was quite the boring day. And then last night was miserable times 10 because I had a super high fever at 104 in the evening, and fought with all my life to get it to break, it finally broke, but then I was just fighting smaller fevers on and off, all through the night, so it really was not a fun time, but I am feeling better now, as in I don't have a fever and I don't think I'll get another one, so I'm hoping that by tomorrow all will be good.

Something else that happened but I cant remember which day is we visited this old cowboy who is in love with the people at our church, he has this huge farm and holds barn dances for the ysas. So we went up there and he talked to us for a while and showed us around his farm, he said that he needs some help one of these days so we're going over there soon to help him out.

Elder Bertoch 

December 3, 2018

Aloha!

This week has been really good. It started off well and ended well. Monday we had a good night when we knocked on this dude's door and he let us in. His name is Travis and he has realized that he has wandered off of God's path and would like to know how to get on good terms with him again. So we taught him a gospel of Jesus christ and he said he would be happy to let us come back another time.

Tuesday was a switch up in where we didn't have district council, instead we used the day to prepare for the start of English class. Making and printing fliers. Most of the day was spent at staples trying to print out the things, that was quite the 4 hour long ordeal, but it did eventually happen. Then we went to the lozanos and talked about setting up some family home evenings with some less active members and they fed us dinner and we had a good time with them.

Wednesday we had a day of trying to contact different less Actives and formers. We had some success with the less Actives side of things and got to know more people here. Then later we had dinner with Sister Smith at Arbys and she took us to a lesson with Scott and Ashley pitcher, the inactive part member family that they told us about before. The lesson went very well, we taught the restoration and the spirit was very strong and they were very excited to have us back once they return from vacation.

Thursday was a strange day. We had district council in the morning and afterwards had a very mini zone conference, the APs gave a training on how to contact referrals and then we were given a zone leader for the day and were told to do whatever we should do that day to be trained effectively and use the extra person to the best of our ability. Not much happened however until night when we knocked on a door and a guy named Huber from el Salvador let us in and we taught the plan of salvation and he was really excited to have us back and so we set up a time for Saturday to see him.

Friday was weekly planning, we helped someone move, had dinner with the young men's president who is a young guy with a new baby. And they are very missionary minded and we're great in giving potential referals and inviting some different people to some upcoming activities. Then we saw a Bible referral and invited her to the joy to the world concert as well and she said she would be there as well as invite all her friends to go too.

Saturday we finished up doing everything for English class and going around to tiendas to place fliers and stuff. We also had that lesson with Huber and his wife surma joined in as well. It was super nice because as we were teaching the gospel of Jesus christ he asked, why are there so many churches and how am I supposed to know which one is true? So we did a quick 180 and taught the restoration and gave a book of mormon and he seemed quite interested in reading it. Then we went over to the Salinas and did the same thing with them that we did with the lozanos.

Sunday was stake conference which was really good. We sat by a new member family that had just moved from Houston. I mentioned to them that my uncle was stake president over there and it turns out that they were in the same ward as David. So they took a picture of me and sent it to Stacy. Stacy should have a picture of me with brother Campbell if you don't already know about it. After stake conference we went over to one of the Ward members who is having surgery today to give a blessing to her. Then we later went to visit some more different less Actives and potentials. We are very busy all the time it is so nice and equally exhausting. But we are seeing fruits of it and we are very excited for this joy to the world concert because we should have a lot of people there.

That is all,

Elder Bertoch 

Thanksgiving

November 26, 2018

So this week was a lot of fun and every busy. We started the week off by going to a members house on Monday night, one of the Spanish speaking families in the ward, the Salinas. They are from Honduras and brother salinas has one of the strongest Honduran accents I have ever heard, he is very difficult to understand. But I somehow get by (thank you gift of tongues). We ate dinner there as is custom when you drop by a Hispanic family and we had a very good time.

Tuesday we had our first district council here which went very well, we have two other sets of elders, a set of sisters, and a senior couple. That day we had a nice time with one of the less Actives that the bishop asked we go see. She had just had surgery and was preparing to go in again in the next coming weeks, so we stayed there for a bit and helped around the house and entertaining her kids so she could relax for a bit. Then after that we had a dinner with the Hites. Who might be the most similar to mom and dad to anyone else I've met on my mission. Brother Hite does the same facial expressions as dad and has the same sense of humor. After dinner they even busted out Mexican train, of which I will not comment my score.

Wednesday was a day of contacting referrals of the bible and book of mormon type. We had quite a bit that had been uncontacted. So we did that for basically the whole day. But nothing came out of it, we were just told to go away over and over again. Then later we had another dinner appointment with the Ruffs. They fed us a huge dinner which was very good, and we were able to share our message with them, and they said they were already doing those things and then asked for some help with the people that they were ministering to. 

Thursday was Thanksgiving and as is tradition it was started off with the turkey bowl. We played football early in the day, and it was probably the best I have ever played. I caught a couple of touchdown passes and was even untrusted to be quarterback for a spell, and I even threw a touchdown pass, but I also threw 2 interceptions, one of which was run back for a touchdown. So I had some good plays and some bad plays. But it was a super fun time. After the game we went over to the Rowleys, where we had our first Thanksgiving dinner, and boy was it good. We had some very good food followed by some fun games and followed by some very good pie. Then after the Rowleys we went over to the Cohen and had dinner there, which was a miracle that I was able to stuff it down. Then we went to the Jordan's who had prepared a smoked turkey that was so good it completely ruined eating turkey any other way for me. Brother Jordan had to in the prayer bless our stomachs that we might have room to eat the food that they had prepared. I was pretty dang blessed because I wolfed down that turkey and stuffing, and marshmallow salad and pie. 

The next day I woke up and was so sore from the football I could barely walk, that's what you get for not stretching. But somehow I deemed myself in good enough shape to play soccer that morning as is tradition in this ward to have a turkey bowl v2 with soccer. Somehow I was able to run up and down the field and was even able to make some good moves. But after playing I felt awfully sore, because yet again I had skipped out on stretching. Doing more things that day was challenging, but somehow I got through. That night we had another dinner with the stake high councilor over missionary work, and he had invited all of our district to come and have another Thanksgiving feast and play ping pong. The feast was just as good as it was the day before, maybe even better because I could stuff myself without feeling guilty because we had another appointment in an hour. We also had a ping pong tournament where I surprised myself by going on to the finals, the second time around, but I was still brutally destroyed by the ultimate champion elder eaquinto 21-4. So that was a little embarrassing, but it was still all very fun. 

Saturday we had some lessons in the morning that fell through, we had a baptism of a child in the ward that we went to, and we did weekly planning for a long, long time. We tried contacting more members that day as well and saw a less active family, who was not interested in coming back to church anytime soon, and we saw an active part member family who was out of town last week, and they were just the best. The dad isn't a member and is from Puerto Rico, and the mom is and is from Michigan. They are super cool and love missionaries, and they of course fed us some really good empanadas, in which I had like 6. But well have to see what we can do with pedro.

Sunday was a good day at church. We went to church early to see who we can see before it starts, only to realize that nobody in that ward gets to church early but only about 2 minutes before it starts, so we'll see how that'll go next year with the new schedule. We had a good time in Sunday school, up until the time I started getting a migraine. I havent been sleeping much this past week because of the many things we have to do keeping me awake at night and the over eating and over working my body finally caught up to me. But I made it through church and had elder Barrus drive home so I could curl up in a ball on my bed and want to die. It finally went away around 7, and by that time it was kinda late to see people so we brainstormed ideas for the new light the world campaign and different things like that. So Sunday was actually the first day since I've been here that we have not gotten fed dinner. Which is so awesome it just blows my mind. 

Today we had a dinner appointment but it got canceled because they are sick. We are going to go over to the Tiptons again and play risk, hopefully I do better this time around than last time. That is all. 

This week I have been able to reflect on the things that I am grateful for most in life. And being out here serving my loving God it was easy to count the many blessings that surround me. I am grateful for a loving and supporting family. One that pushes me to do hard things and congratulates me when I overcome them. I am grateful for an awesome companion that loves to work hard and find those ready to learn the great truths of eternity. I am grateful for this beautiful world that we live in and the many things here that bring happiness to our souls. But most of all I am grateful for a loving heavenly father that would give his only begotten son as a gift to all who would live upon the earth. I am grateful for the ability that we have to repent and be forgiven of our sins. And the incredible ability we have to pray and have an open communication with God. That we may know with a surety in our hearts that he is there and he is listening. What a wonderful opportunity we have to live in a world such as this and take these steps of faith until we reach immortality and eternal life. 

Elder Bertoch

We saw a guard pig knocking doors this week: