Category: James

Wow! I would start off by saying the things that have happened since last week, but I think the better statement is what HASN’T happened since last week.

5: Who egged our house?  We came home to our apartment after going out for a bit and saw a pigeon perched upon our porch light. Later after we came back from tracting, we saw that this bird had laid an egg, and there was quite a splatter and mess made on our porch. Stupid bird. 

4: Elder Line, you better stop that coughing or I’m calling the police! Elder Line started to not feel good, so we chalked it up to a regular old cold. Well, he still wasn’t feeling the best by the next day. Starting to get worried, we called our mission nurse, and she said to get some rest and take some medicine. Problem is, all the shelves are clear of medicine as well as toilet paper. After a couple of days though, he was fine. It really was just a cold.

3: It’s not like we infected anyone, we haven’t seen anyone! On Wednesday we were instructed that we should not go tracting. Okay, that’s cool, we just had a good conversation with this guy named Billy earlier that day, so we got to do some missionary work. We then came to the church and did some stuff with the bishop, so that was a pretty good day. Well, as the week progressed, we were told that we couldn’t go to investigator’s homes, and then members homes. Yeah. It’s starting to get wack. We can still leave the apartment, and go shopping, but for the most part the only face to face contact we have with people is by walking around. You know, with everyone staying home from work, people have decided that it’s really nice to go on walks, and enjoy the early spring air. So we see lots more people out and about than we did previously. That’s good, plenty to talk to.

2: So, what else do we do with our time? Well one of the things that I’ve capitalized on is the extra time we have to work out. I’ve been going HARD, doing a full workout twice a day. When Imma get home I’ll be massive! Another thing that we can do with our time is extra studies! I may get through the Old Testament for the first time ever! But that’s not really missionary work is it? The other things that we’ll be doing is contacting people on Facebook, or use whitepages to call random homes, etc. We’ve seen some success in the zone, but Elder Line and I haven’t seen any personally.

1: Let’s address the title By telling you a story. Last week, we got the news that missionaries over 20 months had the choice to go home. I thought; “Oh no, I won’t take that, I’ve only got 12 weeks left, it’s fine.” But when I told Mom that, she said something that stuck to me. “Have you asked the Lord?” As soon as she said that, I had the end of Jacob 4:8 came to mind. “Despise not the revelations of God” As soon as I knew that I knew that I had to ask. Even if I wasn’t going to like the answer. So that night I asked the Lord, and told him that I would accept his answer, but was told that I wouldn’t receive an answer immediately. The next morning, I studied my partirachical blessing, and while I was praying, I got my answer. I was to return home. Dang. So close to the end of a natural mission. Oh well, despise not the revelations of God right? Shortly after that experience we went to do service for a food pantry, halfway through that we got a call from our mission president. Never a good sign. We told him that we could call him in 10-20 minutes. That ride back to our place was stressful, then he said he wanted to video chat. That was a stressful walk to the church. President then informed me that I no longer had a choice, and will be going home at the end of this transfer. Pretty funny right? I had received my answer when I was ready for it. When I had humbled myself to accept the Lord’s will, then was I permitted to receive it. So yeah, I’ll be coming home on April 22nd.

Crazy. Actually, I might go crazy by the end of this transfer, cause we can’t even meet with other missionaries, except to buy groceries. Even then, we can’t go into the store together. It’s all wack out there, but the hand of the Lord will steady us if we let him.

Ya Boi

Elder James Berky

Hello!

Sorry for not emailing the past few weeks, my Gmail wasn’t syncing up with my phone, and lots of other problems. So after a couple of days working with Tech support, I got it fixed. They had to take Maas360 (the church’s nanny program) off my phone and put it back on. It was kinda weird seeing youtube on my phone. The weirder part? I’ll have that in 11 weeks.

Yeah, I’ve only got a little bit left on my mission and We’ve been going HARD. Or at least we will until we get quarantined. Yes that’s right, this Coronavirus has got everyone acting CRaZy! We’ve had several conference calls about it, and even got a load of extra cash to stock up on food for 2-3 weeks in case us missionaries get locked up. (Pic included) Don’t worry Mom, we also have plenty of frozen fruits and veggies. 

Well, I’m no longer in Roseburg, I’ve been transferred out and came down to Medford! The North Umpqua area will be in the faithful hands of Elders Duering and Schmidt. I’m glad for my time there, but I’m also glad to be back where I started my mission. It’s like poetry. It rhymes.

At any rate, I came down to be a part of a baptism! Devin was baptized this Saturday and confirmed after some deliberation and confusion on whether it was happening or not. We got it okay-ed after being told it would have to be very short and small. We had no more than 20 people there, and Elder Line and I gave the only talk. Pretty wack if I do say so, but we got the most important thing done, so ehh who cares if it was kinda weird.

Speaking of weird, how about Sunday? No church as a missionary makes everything feel super wack. The sabbath didn’t even really feel like it, it was just a normal day of missionary work. I sure hope we get something figured out with this. But how inspired is our Prophet? He knew this was coming, so he prepared us for the past year to be getting used to doing scripture study at home!

I’ve got to say, I really like Come Follow Me, yesterday was the first time I’ve been able to actually do it. I look forward to doing more studiously at home with more than just one other Nerd.

Oh, by the way, that other nerd is Elder Line! My new companion is from Logan Utah, but will be going home to Kenya! He’s great, we’ve been grinding (as long as we don’t have any bike troubles) and he’s been out for just under 18 months. That makes us the oldest missionaries in the Zone! Wack. 

Well, looks like the Zone Leaders are here, so imma head out and get some groceries. Need some more milk for my protein shakes. (Thanks mom!) I finally have multiple dumbbells so I can build up my body as a temple to God. Love you all, but Christ loves you more!

ya boi

Elder James Berky 

4: Where did he come from? Elder Seegmiller got Emergency Transferred (Transferred to a new area in the middle of the transfer) I’ve served around him plenty of times before, he’s great! He will be going home soon so he’s trying to work as hard as he can to forget about the fact that he is going home. 

3: I’m not spending any more money on card games, but I will play After spending waaaay too much money on Pokemon cards I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t spend any more money on card games like that. However quite a few of my companions play Magic The Gathering, and so with both Elder Seegmiller and Schmidt wanting to play… I…. played with them on the condition that I will not spend anything on the game. It’s pretty fun. Good way to spend the time when we have nothing going on at 8:30pm.

2: Interviews! We had interviews with President Orton this week, it went really good, President and I talked about how I can continue to help my companions and keep focus for the time that I have left. We also talked about a video of Grandpa Leavitt that Mom sent me. Turns out he knows a few Leavitts! Small world huh?

1: How has my testimony grown? I would just like to say, how much our Father loves us. He wants all his children to come back to him again, no matter who they are. Even when we make mistakes he loves us, he doesn’t condone our actions, however. That’s an important distinction.Good doesn’t give us a pass to do as we please, we have all seen parents who let their kids do as they please, those kids are not good people. But God will stay with us through thick and thin, and will forgive us of our mistakes as long as we are willing to improve and grow. This growth and return can only be done through his Son, Jesus Christ. John 3:16 shows us that Jesus is the proof of God’s love for us. 

I love y’all, and God

Ya boi, Elder James Berky

Was plenty fun, got to see some of my mission friends, and Elder Seegmiller gave a great departing testimony. 

3: Goats!  We had a great lesson with the Browns, talking about how important the restoration of the Gospel is. After we were done they wanted to show us their goats. They were cool, and looked exactly like goats, I don’t know what else to tell you. Some of them were small, no bigger than a Labrador, and the Browns had no idea why they were so small. (Pic included)

2: My buddies! Got to see my mission friends at Zone Conference, like Elders Hyer, Griffith, Ethington, and more. It was really cool and good to see how much everyone has grown. 

1: Mrs. Applesmith While tracting we ran into Mrs Applesmith, I forgot her first name, and talked about families for well over an hour while her grandkids played. She had been going through quite a bit lately, so us sharing the message of the Plan of Salvation really helped her out. It was good after a whole week of fruitless tracting to have a good experience with some one. Hopefully we can catch her again, she’s pretty busy. 

I’ve been able to see my testimony grow much this week, I love the Lord, and my Heavenly Father.

Ya Boi, Elder James Berky

4: Title of email  Elder Schmidt and I were having a nice conversation with an older guy about the gospel and. We told him our beliefs about how God isn’t just a mass of energy that became aware of itself, but is an actual living being. At any rate while we were talking about gospel stuff, this guy stops the conversation, and starts talking about how Donald Trump is the worst. I was like, What? What does that have to do with anything? He even recognized that he brought it up out of nowhere. Really wanted to say something, but it’s more important to be nice. 

3: Finally! A new Couch! We have had half of a ratty, gross green sectional that we needed to shove up against the wall in order to use it for the longest time. Well I finally got fed up with it, and called our mission office asking for something that was more befitting a missionary apartment. So after some finacking to get it upstairs we now have a great new couch! Thanks El. Henreditty!

2: Exercising my talents! This week, as Elder Schmidt and I were wrapping up our family history session (Yeah we’re starting that now) I printed out some sheet music. It was something that I knew wouldn’t be to difficult, but still familiar, and that’s Minecraft! It’s the piece called “Wet Hands” and it’s not too crazy, but still has given me plenty of trouble with the key signature. But I’m figuring it out! That’s not the only talent that I’ve been working to improve on, I’ve also been practicing my sketching. I unfortunately don’t have any pics of my sketches, but they’ve been pretty good. I’m trying to get realistic looking motion down, instead of just all my drawings standing still, with their hands at their sides. 

1: Member lessons, all day, Every day We’ve been trying to get to know the ward better, so we have been calling up lots of members and setting up lessons with them, not only during the usual time during the evening, but also during the day as well! It’s been going very well, and we hope that the momentum will continue so that we can meet all the members of the ward and be really close with them! Another great thing is that Elder Schimidt and I have been able to practice our teaching together. Every single time you get a new companion there’s a space of time where you try to figure out each other’s teaching styles, and get in unison. Elder Schmidt and I are already there I feel, because we have been teaching so often! 

I’ve been able to see my testimony grow a lot this week, through the constant bearing of it in all our lessons. 

Love you all

Ya Boi, Elder James Berky

Elder Schmidt and I have been getting along great! Its been kinda a weird week, not much success, we couldn’t even talk to anyone. No one wanted to talk to us at all, so that kinda sucks. But hey! It’s been pretty good otherwise! Don’t have much to talk about as a result, but here are some pics!(We tracted into a part member family who had a whole reptile zoo in there house.)

Love you all, my testimony of the atoning sacrifice of the Savior has grown considerably this week, and I invite you all to do the same!

Ya boi

Elder James Berky 

It is finally that time, Transfers! Elder Horne and I have had a good run, but now it’s time for him to turn the area over to me. I will be getting Elder Schmidt, I’ve been around him before and He’s great! 

3: I really didn’t want to lose this challenge As a district we wanted to spice things up for the last week, so we decided to focus on our purpose. For each part of our purpose we taught, we got a point. Whoever got the most points won a neat little knick-knack, and all those who lost, had to put condiments on their companion’s face, along with Taki’s (super spicy chips) and then wipe it off, and eat this face-sandwich-abomination. Unfortunately we lost because the sister’s fear drove them to get 70 points, so I had to get BBQ sauce poured all over my face, then Elder Horne had to eat a sandwich off me. He almost puked. I had to eat a sandwich off my Zone Leader’s face, and it wasn’t that bad, just wrong. Oh well, guess I’ll have to grind harder next week.

2:Sarah the skull crusher There are some members who are so kind as to let us do the laundry at their place who have the greatest dog ever! She is so sweet, playful and knows when you have to go, it’s okay. One day when we went up to do a load of laundry we saw her playing with a new toy, and so we asked for it so we could throw it. When Sarah happily trotted up, we saw that it was a deer skull! Neat, so we threw it around, and went inside to do our laundry. When we came out, she was sitting in the grass, just tearing this skull apart, absolutely going to town. Kinda surreal honestly.

1:Banana car Speaking of surreal things, we saw a banana car driving to McDonalds. I took some pictures because I knew I’d never see it again. Wack.

Sorry for not putting in anything super spiritual, this has kinda been a weird week. All the people we have been teaching have dropped us, all in weird ways too. But oh well, stuff like that happens, gotta keep working hard and find new better people to teach!

Ya Boi 

Elder James Berky

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