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Not too much to talk about I’m afraid, its been very slow, so let me think of what I can say. I’m just gonna look at the pics I took and talk about what I see.

3: Exchanges!  We had exchanges with the zone leaders and it went well, nothing much to report except for a nice lesson with a lady named Gina. Couldn’t teach her for too long cause it was cold and she had to go inside.

2: Drawing bread people For our D&D games I came up with some original ideas for enemies and NPCs. Bread and banana people; one is civilized and the other tribalistic. So to show the others what I was thinking I drew them! I thought they turned out pretty well all things considered. 

1: Ward mission leaders dogs When we went to our ward mission leader for dinner he had two big dogs that were the best!

That’s kinda all I have, sorry I’ll try to get more interesting experiences to tell yall about this upcoming week!

We sure had a busy week, now that I think about it. Zone conference on Wednesday, interviews on Saturday, and all sorts of stuff that happen in between. 

6: Sweater weather!  This whole week has been very rainy and cold. As I was looking through my pictures, I noticed that every single one of them was raining and Elder Horne and I were wearing sweaters. Kinda funny, just noticed it. The kicker will be later in this week when we are supposed to get snow all up through Thursday! Pray for our little Corolla and that it will be able to stay on the road. I miss my Tacoma.

5: Super discount! When Elder Horne and I were looking for service, we saw there was a Salvation Army near our place! We went over there, and to make sure that they could use our help we looked through their store a little bit. Walking past the board games we noticed a familiar green box. Betrayal at House on the Hill! The price tag said $   200 so we weren’t sure if it was two hundred dollars, twenty dollars, or just two dollars. So I took it up to the front desk ready to pay for $20. It was used, and I wasn’t sure all the pieces were there, so that was an appropriate price. But when I asked, the cashier said “Yeah, that’s $2.00” I even asked if it should have been twenty dollars, but they insisted on Two dollars. So I bought it with the Christmas money Grandma and Grandpa Berky sent me (Thanks!!) With the exception of  some loose slider pieces, everything in the game is there!

4: 

3: Zone Conference  Was great, talked a lot about the new handbook, and how the Bretheren know that we are out here to be converted and to convert, not be be baby-sat. It was also really good to see some old mission friends! 

2: Interviews Also went well, I went in wanting to tell President Orton that North Umpqua needs to be white-washed (taking both elders out, and bringing in two different elders) but as I was saying the opening prayer, the Spirit whispered to me that that was the coward’s way out, and that I needed to work hard to bring this area back to life. So I told President that, and he was rather impressed that I was so willing to listen to the Spirit and accept the path the Lord has set up and prepared. I also got to call my son (Elder Stringham) and ask if he’s seen my flash drive with all my mission pictures. That was nice. 

1: A Sunday of ups and downs! After Church we went back to our apartment and had lunch, while we were eating, we called one of the people we had been working with, Lena. She told us that she didn’t want to meet with us anymore. We were devastated. She was coming along so well! So  we told the members that she was being friends with to keep being friends with her. Instead of being really sad, we decided to go out and work even though it was raining. We didn’t really find anyone except a snake. (Pic included) Then I used the wonderful technology that God has given us to teach a lesson to my friend back home. When your day is going the wrong way, work and do all that is right in the sight of the Lord.

Ya Boi,

Elder James Berky

Or not according to some Elders in the Zone “The decade starts at 2021!” Eh, that’s alright if I’m wrong, wouldn’t be the first time, so there’s no need to keep a streak going. At any rate, what has my week looked like?

3: New Year’s drawing games! For New Years we gathered together as a zone and played some games, some like Lightning (the basketball game) and other weird, back of the closet games that only 4 people on the face of the planet have played. But as we learned them they were fun! My favorite game actually didn’t include any box or anything, we just got strips of paper, and someone wrote something on the top, and handed it down. The next person would have to draw what was written, they would hand it down, new person would look at the drawing, guess what it was, and hand that down for another person to draw. It’s telephone, but with stick figures! Lots of fun. Here’s a picture I took of one game and it’s progression.

2: Wow, what a neat waterfall! This morning we got up early so that we could head to a waterfall in our area. It was a nice drive, leisurely walk, and a beautiful waterfall! After just admiring the gift that God has given us, we took some pictures! We took a lot of pictures too, I felt like any basic Instagram chick. But I got over that quickly, and just appreciated the wonderful place that we get to serve in.

1: Speaking of service, we helped someone move!  Sometimes I feel like we should just open a moving company we do so much of it! It was good though, we had a really cool conversation with Brother Fellows, super interesting guy, was part of several gangs before he joined the church so he sure had some stories to tell! But unfortunately I had to leave half-way through with Elder Boley (Exchanges) to go teach a lesson. What impressed me is that even though the lesson wasn’t for sure going to go through, members of the Harvard ward still came to get familiar with the people who could be joining them in sacrament! Unfortunately the person wasn’t home, but it still left an impact on me. Even if something doesn’t have a 100% chance of happening, we should still push through, not give up hope and act as if it will! Be that making any preperations for an event that may be cancelled, the important thing is that you showed forth your faith and effort. You will be rewarded for that in the last day.

Love you all, and wish that we can all strive to come closer to Christ and by extension, become closer to each other.

Ya Boi,

Elder James Berky

4: Christmas the last This Christmas was kinda weird, because I was thinking the whole time; This is my last one. That was really weird. It was good though, we had fun, and we all got some great presents. I got plenty of gift cards and socks. Thanks everyone I really do appreciate it!

3: How did our car not get stolen? As we came out of Walmart with our groceries, Elder Horne started to feel around in his pockets for the keys. He couldn’t find them, so he started looking through his groceries to see if he might have dropped them in there. Nope.avi, nothing was there. Starting to get worried, we quickened our pace to the car. Maybe he left them in the car? We talked to the sisters just before we went in, so maybe we just forgot? Approaching the Silver Corolla we saw that the headlights were on, and it was sitting there, humming. We had left the keys in the ignition, and the car running!! Sometimes the Lord protects us and our belongings, even if we don’t deserve it because we are dumb. 

2: Dear the MORMONS Is what we saw when we walked up to a door of a lady we’re trying to teach. A small envelope taped onto her door sent our minds immediately to the worst. When we took it down, we read a really pleasant note from Cheyanne, saying she was sorry that she couldn’t meet with us that Thursday because she was having Christmas with her family. Lesson learned, don’t immediately assume the worst. 

1: Splits with the Zone Leaders!  The zone leaders had double booked themselves, and so needed our help with their lessons. It was fun spending an hour or so with Elder Romriel. When we went back to their apartment I saw a flag crumpled up in the closet. Pulling it out, I saw that it was an American flag! I got kinda upset at the disrespect that previous missionaries showed it. So I took it out, ironed out the creases, and hung it up for them. Feels good man. Oh, tangentially related I saw a book at Costco that was the Constitution and all the Amendments! I was so excited, mainly because we got a gift card from a member this Christmas! But when we came back they were all sold out! I mean, nice! So I asked a lady where I could get one, and she said online. So I’m going to do that now!

Ya Boi,

Elder James Berky

Is what I’ve gathered from my first couple of hours in the city of Roseburg. I’m not going to take super long since the first week is super wack, and we’re going into Christmas week things get crazy.

3: Elder Horne! Is from Colorado(exotic, I know) and has been out just a few transfers less than me. We get along just fine, he speaks his mind sometimes a little too often though lol. I’m looking forward to working hard with him and having a good time. 

2: Holy baptisms Batman! In this last weekend I’ve been to 3 baptisms and have missed one. This zone is doing great! We have someone on date for baptism, only problem is it’s a little far out (August) but we’ll see if we can’t move that up. I love the Spirit that accompanies a baptism, how you know in your heart of hearts that it is just right. Funny how the light of Christ works that way. 

1: The true meaning of Christmas Gets missed pretty often. I don’t just mean that people focus on the presents more than they do the birth of Christ, but people also get more wrapped up with the beautiful tale told in Luke 2. I love the story of Christmas, but often we think mainly of the newborn messiah, rather than why he was born. I can’t remember if I’ve shared this before, but many many parts of the Christmas story reflect on Christs mission on earth. Starting with the swaddling clothes, I always assumed and was told that they were just blankets, long strips of cloth to wrap babies in. Little did I know that using swaddling clothes wasn’t typical for newborn babies, but for lambs. Not just any lambs mind you, but pure, white unblemished ones. Lambs that would be used for sacrificial purposes, in similitude of the one who would also be wrapped in the same clothes they were. The shepherds who came, and testified of the newborn King of the Jews weren’t just any old shepherds, but ones who had  a priestly duty. They were to take the pure lambs, and protect them, making sure they remained ready for the purpose for which they were born. When these holy shepherds saw the child bound in the strips of cloth that held so much meaning for them they would have known immediately who this was. The lamb of God, their Saviour. Knowing this has brought so much more meaning to the tale that I thought I was so familiar with. I have loved reading through the scriptures and learning about the real people who were going through their lives, not knowing how it would be recorded and read millennia into the future. Merry Christmas, and may you all remember the baby dressed in the same way as a lamb. May you all remember how he was sacrificed for us. How that is why we are able to have the joy this season.

Ya boi,

Elder James Berky 

Yep, I’m getting transferred. On one hand I’m excited cause I’ve been in Klamath for a while, but on the other, Christmas is in like 2 weeks. Kinda hoping to stay for the Holidays, but oh well.

4: Sporadic Snow! We have been getting very random and not long lasting snowfall. It isn’t really a white Christmas, just kinda brown.

3: Saying Good bye! It’s been kinda weird going around and saying goodbye to some of the people in the ward. Unfortunately some of them didn’t answer, and the other elders will have to tell them I said bye.

2: Christmas Caroling! You know what’s fun? Christmas Caroling as a zone! Visiting people that we’re working with, letting them know that we care for them, it’s great. You know what’s not fun? Going to someone’s place and they’re moving lots of stuff and their neighbors are having a domestic incident on the front lawn. That was crazy.

1: Let’s have a fun time. In our down time Elder Randall and I have been playing a very loose version of Dungeons and Dragons. It’s a lot of fun, and we’ve been doing recordings of them as we play. It’s been good to keep his mind off of him going home and the girl problems he’s been having. Poor guy.

As I’ve been going about this week I’ve thought about what presents to get my companions. They aren’t the biggest, most expensive presents, but they’re thoughtful ones. Ones that I’ve spent time thinking about. That is the same way that we should think about Christmas and Jesus Christ. We can’t get him a physical pair of shoes or something, cause he doesn’t really need them. (I’m sure he has the best pair of Vans that ever did exist) and I’m not sure if USPS delivers to the Celestial Kingdom. But what we can do for Christ this Christmas is show that we do think about him, and care for him. Read your scriptures, be it Luke 2 the Christmas story, the Old Testament which foretells his birth, or the tale of the believers who were saved by the sign of the Messianic babe’s Birth in the Book of Mormon. That is something that is immeasurable in the eyes of God and his Son. Merry Christmas, watch the Christmas story for me, cause I don’t think that our mission President will approve that one. Hopefully we can watch Polar Express, or Muppet’s Christmas Carol!

Ya Boi

Elder James Berky

Here’s my new apartment, if you have a box of Chocolates, a package, just want to send Domino’s over, or SWAT me, whatever works for ya.

#### NW Edenbower Blvd Apt ## Roseburg  OR 97471