Amazing Grace

Dear Everyone:

This week was awesome. And slow. But there were enough miracles that took place to make up for it being slow.

Miracle #1: Sister Jackman's "Best Two Year's moment".  It was about 7:30 and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. We were driving to visit a potential and invite her to the Stake women's conference this Saturday. We passed a Subway on the way, and, remembering that we had a giftcard from a ward member, Sister Jackman suggested we go to Subway for dinner, since we had no food in our apartment. I agreed, so after visiting the potential, we went to Subway. There, we discovered that the girl who was making our sandwiches is friends with our recent convert Eliza! Then, as we were talking to that girl, the other lady working there, Amber, heard us talking about church, and at the first pause in conversation asked "What church do you go to?" We started talking to her and found out that she's been looking for a church for her and her 6 year old daughter to go to. She wants to learn more and we're going to go see her this week!

Some people would say that was coincidence, we were hungry and happened to go to Subway. We prefer Elder Calhoun's view of it as inspiration. Side note - that potential, Peggy, also became a new investigator, and we're having dinner at her house Saturday :)

Miracle #2: A couple Elders in Massachusetts just got themselves a golden investigator. We had another lesson with Steven, Sister Miranda's friend yesterday. We taught him about the Restoration and talked with him about how he can know the Book of Mormon is true. And then, we committed him to be baptized!
That's where the Elders in Massachusetts come into play. Unfortunately, like I said in my e-mail a couple weeks ago, Steven actually lives in Mass. So although he's been coming to church up here, he has to be baptized in the church in his area. Which luckily is a singles ward (Steven's 25 and single), so that will be good for him. We got the phone number for the Elders down there and had Steven call them. While we are all at Sister Miranda's. We also had him put it on speaker phone, because we wanted to hear the Elder's reaction. Steven called them, they answered, and he said "Um hi. My name is Steven. I want to get baptized." Every missionary's dream come true. The Elders sounded awesome, set up an appointment with him for tomorrow, and Steven was stoked. I'm so excited for him! Bummed that we won't get to be a part of it anymore, but excited for him to draw closer to Christ!

Another fun part: right after Steven hung up the phone with the Elders, we all just sat sat there in silence for a moment. Then Sister Miranda said, "I never would have imagined this happening." It was really funny. And that is why you should share the Gospel with all your friends! You never know who's ready! The life it could bless next!

There were many more miracles than just those 2. But those were probably the most exciting ones from this week. We also had one of our less-actives tell us that she gave us our own ringtone on her phone- 'Amazing Grace'. That's how you know someone loves you. When you get your own personalized ringtone.

That's all for this week though. I can't believe May starts this week, and that Mother's day is in just 2 weeks! Time is going by so fast!

I love you all!

Love,
Sister Lindsey Berg

Butter makes everything better.

Dear Everyone:

This week wasn't too exciting. Yesterday was awesome - Easter! We had an amazing sacrament meeting out here, all about the Atonement. Which, speaking of the Atonement, if anyone feels like reading a talk that will totally change your perspective, read this one - 'Apply the Atoning Blood of Christ' by Elder Neal A. Maxwell. It's soo good. It goes along really well with Elder Bednar's talk from general conference as well, talking all about how the Atonement is so much more than just what we use when we repent. The Atonement is what helps us get through everyday. It's what gives us strength in hard times, what helps us become better and more like the Savior.

That's why Easter is so wonderful.

Other than that, our week was pretty slow missionary-work wise. We had Zone Conference this week, which was exciting. Those are always good.

This week I also had a true New Englander experience - ripping apart my own lobster. Brother Smith is our ward mission leader, and he is all about us truly feeling like we were born and raised in Maine. So he treated us to lobster and clams this week. The lobster was all nice and warm, and, dipped in melted butter, it was pretty good! The clams were a little interesting, but dipped those in butter as well and they aren't too bad.

Yesterday, for Easter we went to two different houses for lunch and dinner. The members here in Saco take good care of us! For dinner we had deep fried turkey - that was good. There were like 5 families from the ward there, as well as us and the Elders. Ward family parties are the best kind of party.

Nothing special is coming up this week. Just the usual - finding people to share the gospel with! It's been really hard to find solid people to teach out here. A lot of people are willing to listen to us a time or two, or they love us coming and sharing messages with them, but so many people are unwilling to commit to doing anything. 'Faith without works is dead' isn't commonly known around here apparently. So we're just trying to find those people who are willing to put in the effort to allow the Gospel to change their lives. Nothing good ever came without a little effort, and we're trying to help people recognize that.

Well, I hope everyone had a good Easter, and that you all watched the Because of Him video. If you didn't, go watch it now! It's amazing! It works for all the time, everyday, not just around Easter!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Lindsey Berg

Because of Him

Dear Everyone:

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE, GO TO THIS WEBSITE!

Mormon.org/BecauseofHim

WATCH THE VIDEO.

It'll blow your mind. At least it did to me. It's amazing.

You guys. Easter is on Sunday! Isn't that exciting? I love Easter. It symbolizes rebirth, new beginnings, new opportunities. Just as Earth is finally waking up from winter, we can wake up from darkness and coldness and find greater light and happiness in our lives!

Because of Him!

We've studied a lot about the Savior the last few weeks. We've been sharing a wicked awesome Easter lesson with the ward members and pretty much anyone else who'll listen. Definitely has impacted my life. Thinking about all the Savior went through is kind of depressing, but has so much meaning knowing that He did it all for ME. And the knowledge that He was resurrected also means so much. It's the ultimate happy ending. And it just has that much more power and hope it in, because of all that happened before.

Isn't Easter beautiful?

This week was awesome. So many miracles! The Saco ward just finished something we called the '40 Day Fast'. Everyday for 40 days a different family/person fasted for an opportunity to share the Gospel with someone, or simply to bless someone's life in some way. Then last night we had a fireside as a kind of closing celebration. There was an opportunity for anyone who had had a missionary experience to stand up and share what had happened - and there were a lot!

Seriously. Seek and ye shall find. Ask Heavenly Father to help you share His love with someone, and He'll give you that opportunity. The hard part is recognizing it.

One miracle that happened to us this week happened yesterday actually! After spending six hours (no exaggeration) at the church for different meetings and such, we had just pulled into our apartment and were about to go in and have a lunch break. But we decided to make a few calls first, make sure that there wasn't anyone else that we needed to go see right then. Sister Jackman decided to call a member of the ward, Sister Miranda, and make sure she knew about the fireside. So we called her, and right as Sister Miranda answered she said "I have a question for you!"

Sister Miranda's friend Steven has been driving up from Massachusetts to come to church with her for a few weeks now. And recently he started reading the Book of Mormon. Yesterday after church they watched some of General Conference, and Steven had all kinds of questions. Sister Miranda was trying her best to answer them, but had kind of gotten stuck. Right then, we called!

Talk about divine timing.

We went over and talked and answered Steven's questions for a while, and now he's a new investigator! It'll be interesting, teaching him when he lives in Mass. and only comes up for Sunday, but he doesn't want to meet with the missionaries or go to church down there, because he doesn't know anyone. So we'll figure it out.

We also had a really cool Sister's Conference this week! All the Sister missionaries in Maine and Southern New Hampshire got together and we talked all about girly things and stuff like that. I don't really know how to describe it. Extremely uplifiting, super motivating, and a ton of fun. Sister Dixon and Sister Burton - my last two companions who happen to be companions now - were there, and that was fun to see them again!

This week is Zone Conference (remember how I said that missionaries love conferences?) and that'll be exciting. And it's finally starting to get warm, so people are outside again! Biddeford and Saco are actually inhabited! It's great.

Well, that's about it for this week. If you didn't watch the video before, go watch it RIGHT NOW.

Heck, even if you did watch it before, go watch it again! Share it on facebook and twitter! Call all your friends and tell them about it! Easter only comes once a year, but the blessings of Christ's Atonement and resurrection bless our lives EVERY SINGLE DAY. Let's make sure that everyone knows that!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Lindsey Berg

P.S. I know I promised pictures from tapping trees, but the computer isn't working. Next week. 

Round 3

Dear Everyone:

 

Sister Jackman and I survived! So it'll be a third transfer in Saco and a third transfer with Sister Jackman!

This week wasn't too exciting teaching-wise. We aren't really teaching anyone at the moment. A couple people on our radar, but no one who is really progressing. The saying is that good things come in threes though, so hopefully Sister Jackman and I can use this third transfer to find some awesome people to teach!

So, now on to the most exciting thing that happened this week - General Conference!

I sure hope you all paid attention and took lots of notes. It was a good one!

And, to all you slackers (like me before the mission) who didn't watch Saturday's sessions, those were the best ones. Luckily, repentance is an option and you can watch them all online.

I loved Elder Holland's talk. That man is amazing. I loved Elder Andersen's talk. I loved Elder Bednar's talk. I loved President Packer's talk. I loved Elder W. Craig Zwick's talk. I loved Bishop Stevenson's talk.

Essentially, to sum it up, I loved all the talks.

This quote from Elder Andersen kind of sums up the biggest message I got from general conference though. That in today's world the best way to show our faith is by serving others and standing up for our beliefs. And just like Elder Perry said in his talk - it doesn't have to be hard. Humans are the ones who make things hard, who make things complicated. Sometimes the most complex problems require the simplest answers.

We just need to love God, love Christ, and love each other.

And we show that love through obedience.

That's the part that so many people don't understand today. If you say you love Christ, yet you don't follow any of His teachings, you don't really love Him. Love, just like faith, requires action.

And just like Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis spoke about, faith requires work. It requires effort. It doesn't just come.

But, going back to simplicity, that work is simple. Pray, read the scriptures, go to church, serve others. We aren't being asked to walk barefoot through hot coals here. We aren't being asked to sacrifice our first born - Abraham was, and he was still obedient! Luckily for him, he didn't actually have to sacrifice Isaac. He just had to show he was willing to follow - no matter what.

Yes, just prayer and scripture study isn't going to solve every problem. That's where more of the hard work comes in. But it definitely isn't going to hurt. And like Elder Bednar talked about, it's through that spiritual strength that we gain physical strength and help, because we're not going at this life and our problems on our own. We've got extra help - divine, omnipotent help.

 

 

Sounds like a good trade-off to me!

 

Moral of the story? Pray, read your scriptures, go to church, and be a good person.

That's all for this week folks. I'm off to go tap some maple trees. Seriously. I'm fully experiencing life in New England.

Love you all!

 

Love,

Sister Lindsey Berg