YOU are important!

Hi all!

I have officially been in the field for 2 months and two days! WOOT!

I am going to jump right into miracles this week... :)
Miracle#1:

We have been trying to contact a referral we received named Wynter for a long time. Missionaries talked to her once about two months ago, but we have not been able to make contact since. We have had a feeling not to give up on contacting her, so we have stopped by almost every week to no avail..
THIS WEEK, however, we stopped by when we had a few extra minutes one day, and she was there! I finally got to meet Wynter, this sweet old lady who is anxious to learn and come closer to Christ. We were able to set up an appointment to meet next week! If we are persistent and have faith, God will show us miracles.

Miracle#2:

We have a new Investigator! She is an older Japanese woman who took the lessons 10 years ago, decided not to get baptized, and has since decided to come back to this church and wants to get baptized! We had our first lesson with her, and it went awesome! She told us that one of the things that really drew her to the church is that the only neighbors around her who ever visited her and were kind to her were her LDS friends. I am sure there were plenty of other nice people living close by, but nevertheless, it made a great impact on her! She wrote down everything we said (literally) and asked us all about ourselves and what missionaries do.  She was soo willing to learn and soak it all in. She kept saying "oh I am so blessed!!" We taught her how to pray and she was super excited to try it out. We invited her to pray day and night and she said "oh yes!!" She came to church yesterday in her Ward and loved it.

Miracle #3:

Our less-active member we have been working with came to church this last week for the first time in 20 years! After months of visiting him, teaching him, and loving him, he came to the sunday school class called Gospel Principles and loved it! He said he will come again.

Miracle#5:

We have a baptism THIS Sunday after Stake conference with Elder Ballard! We are SO excited for him.

Miracle#6:

One of our investigators told us about her friend who is interested in hearing our message. How cool is that? We are excited to meet her this week.

Miracle#7:

So there is a less-active family (I will say the McMillans) in our ward who I have not really been able to meet yet. Sister Quent, who was here for 7 months, has not even met the grandmother yet. Well, the grandmother fell very ill and was in the hospital. We called her husband, and he said his wife said we could come visit suprisingly! We did, and she was so nice and wonderful. She said she has pushed missionaries and the church away for a long time, but now she feels she better start letting us in :) We were able to share a video message with her, and she looks forward to our next visit!

We put up the banner for Meet the Mormons on Friday. it is hard to explain, but we had to uninstall the old banners and put new ones on this tension - roll up system. The instructions were AWFUL. It said it would only take 10-15 minutes...well...2 HOURS later, we finally got them installed!

Meet the Mormons is in the Visitor Center now for 6 months! We show it twice a day, so we have had a good amount of traffic through the VC this last week, which is wonderful.

Have any of you ever read "A Christmas dress for Ellen"? Well, the postman that delivered the crate in the snow to the starving family was Sister Holt's (one of our VC Senior missionaries) grandfather! It was her who was contacted by Deseret Book and helped write the story and put all the details of the event together! Years later, her son was in Colorado on a mission and he realized his companion was a Jensen (the name of the starving family). It turns out, he a descendant of the Postman, was companions with a descendant of the family the postman risked his life for! SO COOL!

Sister Quent and I are singing a duet in two sundays in church! We are singing "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" :)

On a more spiritual note:

A lot of you may wonder how influential your efforts really are in bringing people to the gospel. You may wonder if the referrals you give to the missionaries ever really make a difference. Like most, you may have thought of a person or two that needs a stronger relationship with Christ, but never passed it on to the missionaries, for fear that "they are not ready" or that "it was just a coincidence" to have recalled their name.

However, I want to assure you that your efforts to do missionary work make a HUGE difference.

EVERY SINGLE ONE of our investigators right now are because of referrals. If people did not take the time to think and pray about those in their circle of friends who could benefit from a Christ-centered message, missionary work would not really progress.

I encourage you to be missionaries! Pray for missionary opportunities, for ways to share the gospel in simple, unobtrusive ways, and for promptings of names of those you know who are ready to hear more about Christ. The people we teach are important, special, and valued children of God. We are very grateful for every effort you make to share the gospel, and every one of them makes a difference.

"Never stop striving for the best that is within you" - Utchdorf

I would like to share the poem with you that really puts things into perspective.

I'll Find You My Friend

I was thinking about our friendship, and these are my feelings:
In heaven we were the best of friends.
We did everything together.
One day, a grand council was called in heaven.
We knew it was an important event.
Everyone was there-Moses, Noah, and Jesus Christ.
Father presented a plan, and we voted Christ to be our Savior.
After the council, we ran to get in line to receive our life package.
In the bustle, we were separated.
I received my package and ran to you.
You were sitting under a tree.
We opened our packages.
Mine said I would be born at a time
When the gospel was restored to the earth.
It said I would have good parents,
And the fullness of the gospel in my home.
I jumped for joy and we hugged each other.
You were so happy for me. Then you read yours.
I saw the tears in your eyes and I asked what was wrong.
You said that you also would be born when the gospel was restored.
But you would be born in a different place,
And the gospel would not be in your home,
You looked me strait in the eye and said:
Friend, Find me!
No matter what it takes or the trails you have to endure,
Find me!
And bring me the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I love you ALL! Have a great week!

Sister Bergman