Month: May 2019

[S8E5] Get down with the sickness

Yeah, I got sick again, not enough veggies and staying up too late playing board games will do that to ya.

1: Before I got sick we had a good gospel talk with D- D- is a pastor for the local – – church and we help him out with pickups and stuff. As we were driving out to some Boonie area to pick up a couch we started talking about the gospel. It was a really good conversation, we talked about how the gospel will bless us in our lives as we let it in. God isn’t passive in his love for us and we shouldn’t be passive in our worship of him. 

2: Yee Haw Hyer Just watch the attached video for this one lol

3: Safety Zone marathon!! A couple of months ago, the church put out some safety videos for the missionaries. You can watch them on gospel library (Go to Missionary>Missionary Training>Safety Zone have fun cringing yourself into a singularity) We had to watch them (duh) to make sure we stay safe and all. However, you must watch them through the missionary portal, and check off when you’ve finished watching them. I had watched all if them before, but on someone else’s account, or on gospel library. Which led to Saturday, when we got a call from the mission office telling us we had to both watch them. Oh joy. So we made our way to the church, sat down in the family history center and spent the rest of the day there. The sisters dropped by for a few minutes, and we talked while the videos played in the background but that wasn’t enough. Those videos are cringy as a trench-coat wearing middle schooler whose favorite character is Shadow the Hedgehog.But that time dis allow me to recuperate from my sickness without just sleeping the whole day long.

4: What kind of sickness? Cold+Flu+some kinda Local thing I was starting to feel it on Tuesday, and it hit me hard Wednesday after service. I was out of it Thu and Fri. Was feeling well enough Sat and was pretty much fine for church. CHEST VAPOR RUB FTW!!

5: The Feng Shui just isn’t right in this room. So while I was incapacitated on the couch in the Empire elders apartment, they decided to re-arrange the furniture after they got back from service. I wasn’t much help, but I was a pair of eyes and a steadying hand. Moving desks to a new study room, changing where the couch is, and throwing a fake fireplace in a spot where it really won’t be used but dang does it look good, makes an apartment feel much better! Bigger too!

6: My second Phone Call home! Is what I’d be saying If the change a few months ago didn’t happen. Regardless I tried calling home anyways. Huh, the Wi-Fi at the Empire elders apartment is a little weird. Huh, maybe it’ll fix itself in a minute. Nope. Well, let’s text the member they live with. No response. Okay, how about we go knock on their door? Nothing. Okay, I’ll just wait until elder Kerbs is done talking with his family, then I’ll call the old fashioned way. That’s how what lead up to the mother’s day call. Pretty silly but whatever, it was still good. 

7: I wish to burn this puzzle While I was waiting for the phone to be free, I decided to do a 500 piece puzzle with the end result being a nice dock scene.  IT TOOK ME 4+ HOURS!! The whole time i was muttering like a madman, listening to classical music, and occasionally yelling nonsense.  It must’ve looked like quite a scene. Then I called mom, had a nice chat, and I finished the puzzle. Except for 1 missing piece. I’m fine with that though. Honestly. 
Well, for today’s pday we’re going to the beach, so I’ll be sure to take plenty of pictures! (As you do at the beach)

Love ya

Ya boi

Elder Berky 

[S8E4] Phase 2, Zone conference, sand boarding!

1: Phase 2 So what phase 2 is, is the second part of mission efficiency improvement, the main thing being member involvement. Members will be involved with the people we are teaching within 48 hours of us “finding them” which is fine.

2. Sand boarding will bruise your freaking tailbone.  Yeah, we went sand boarding. Which is a lot like snowboarding, but for stuff that’s coarse, rough, and gets everywhere. I’ve never played with any type of board before so I was 100% new to this. It was a lot of fun, and I’ve totally bruised my tailbone. Oof ouch owie, my bones.

3. Elder Bangader Is an area seventy who came to our mission to help roll out this new phase 2 program. It was really cool, he talked about how it got approved by the quorum of the twelve! I thought that was really cool, cause I like learning about the internal logistics of how stuff works. What I learned is that it not only passed a logical perspective, but they sought the approval of the Lord as well.

4. Seeing other missionaries!  Because an area seventy was coming we gathered the mission into 2 big zone conferences. The northern half, and the southern half. Getting to see some of the missionaries who are up north was great! Especially since i might not get to see them again! We will be losing a lot of missionaries coming up soon, so our mission will be getting pretty young. But it was great to see them!

5. I am a boat-man! Helped out a jew named Doc on his boat. 

6. Fat ole Borger from Vinnys Yeah, look at that guy, I had the food sweats something awful that night. #worthit

Love y’all I’m going to go ice myself. Oof. Ya boi

Elder James Berky

Passing of Uncle Carl

From David’s father, Roger Berky:

Received word yesterday that your uncle Carl (Roger’s oldest brother) died in his sleep a week ago on May 3.  His life time companion Ewald had him cremated and his ashes will be put in the Delaware River.

 Memories of the Life of Carl Berky:

Just heard about the passing of my brother Carl Berky from his best friend Ewald.  He passed in his sleep on May 3, 2019.

My name is Roger Berky and I am the youngest of four boys in our parents family.  Some memories of Carls life that I have are in the following statements:

He provided constant piano music in our home early in the morning and late at night.

He adapted horn music for our high school quartet that we played in school and church meetings.

His high school typing class teacher could not understand why I was so poor at typing because my older brother was very good at it.

He played the piano at many school events and earnd many awards for his piano skills.

He shared an apartment with me his younger brother to help him adjust to the big city life while he was going to Business school.

He earned a master degree in music and took all the classes for a Doctor’s Degree which required the knowledge of two languages.  He did not get his Doctor’s Degree because his dissertation or the music he wrote for his Doctor’s Degree was not approved because  he would not make the changes that were necessary for acceptance. 

He learned to play the organ and had several jobs with different churches over his adult life.

He learned to live with and love his best friend Ewald all of his adult life.

He was a kind, compassionate and caring person who shared his talent for music with others.

David: Our family had the opportunity to meet/visit with Carl and Ewald a few years ago on a trip back East to see some church historical sites. It was fun exploring Carl & Ewald’s home and seeing the many musical treasures they’d collected over the years.

We had lunch with them and enjoyed learning more about their lives and history. I hadn’t visited uncle Carl too many times in the past due to the distance and busyness of life. I remember as a child visiting once or twice.

I remember visiting when he and Ewald lived in a geodesic dome house next to a pond. The pond was formed by a family of beavers that moved in and dammed up the creek that went through the property. When they moved in the’d wanted to create a pond, but were prevented from doing so by local rules – until the beavers moved in. Since it was naturally formed, it was then allowed.

I remember going out on the pond with my brother Dan in a canoe and viewing the moss covered trees that were now submerged several feed deep. For years afterward I was also fascinated with the idea of living in a geodesic dome and developed an interest in architecture and drew many home plans (and plans for cool forts and secret bases).