JULY 11, 2016 GROUP EMAIL!!!!

JULY 11, 2016 GROUP EMAIL!!!!

Hello Family,

I'm sorry that I am the worst at sending emails, don't blame my mom for my sins. But I love and miss you all and have been thinking of you a lot lately! 

These past few weeks have been really good!! Super busy and really good! I got to take my old seminary teacher and his family of tour last week and that was a really neat experience. His class changed everything for me and that is where my testimony really started so it was a nice refresher for my testimony. It meant a lot that Heavenly Father allowed it to happen so perfectly. 

Summer time is crazy and very busy at the Visitors Center! We give tours by ourselves most of the time because there are so many people coming through, but I love solo tours so much! I hope you're not too sick of me talking about the Visitors center, but it has been using a lot of my time lately. I just feel so blessed that I get to serve in a place where I get to meet so many amazing people throughout the world and help them strengthen their faith. Yesterday, my companion and I took a large family of about 25 and they were from Taiwan and a lot of them didn't speak English, but Heavenly Father gave us the gift of tongues!!.... Just kidding, one of the family members interpreted for us. Haha. But the grandpa bore his testimony in the Revelation room and the lady was translating for us and it was so powerful! It really strengthened my testimony a lot, just knowing that God speaks to ALL of His children, no matter where we are, who we are, what language we speak, sinners or not, He speaks to us all. 

Next to the School of the Prophets, my favorite part of the tour is the Revelation room where Joseph received the revelation of building the Kirtland temple. In that room I love to talk about that and the appearance in the Temple of Christ, Moses, Elias and Elijah. Elijah is the one who gave Joseph and Oliver the sealing power. Testifying of eternal families and the sealing power in a room where is started is so special. I just think of my crazy, wonderful family and extended family in that room every time. 

Our investigator, Joe is this SUPER awesome younger black man and he is just wonderful! He loves the church and has such a strong testimony all he has to do is get married to his atheist girlfriend.. So we are trying to convince her to have the wedding at the Visitors center! He came for a tour on Saturday and it was awesome! He had already been before but this time he finished the whole tour. We walked into the school of the prophets and it sits down and says "there's that feeling again." The spirit in that room in undeniable. I would invite you all to study on the school of the prophets but you can't find all the information on LDS.org. But the spirit in that room is life-changing. The experiences that I have been apart of in that room have been life-changing. 

So I am just finishing up training Sister Langlois and this week I will begin training a new missionary this week! So this last week I got to go with the other sisters who are training to the mission office in Cleveland and that is always super fun! I LOVE Cleveland. It's SO ghetto and everyone is just so weird and funny. Heavenly Father really knew me well to send me to a ghetto town but also have a normal area to serve. But I am very excited to train again and I know that this will be a humbling and strengthening experience for me. 

Not much else is up. I will try harder to send more group emails! I love and miss you all so much and pray for you everyday. I want you all to know how grateful I am for you all. I am grateful for my grandparents and my ancestors who accepted the gospel and started this path for the rest of us to be on. I know that families are eternal and I know that God is a just, yet merciful God who loves all of His children. There is no greater happiness than through the gospel, I know that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God and I know that Joseph Smith endured so much pain and heartache because of how true this gospel is. Have a great week everyone!! Love you all so much!!!! Email me updates and pictures!!

Love, Sister Berntsen

1. When you are still excited about the Cavs game that you didn't watch. 

2. The "This Is Kirtland" musical started this week and this is my 5th great-grandpa Isaac Morley! 

Monday, April 25th -- GROUP EMAIL

 Monday, April 25th

Hi family!

How is everyone doing? From what my family has said, everyone is doing great which is great to hear! I miss you all and think of you throughout the week.

Everything is going so great in Ohio! We got our new schedule for the summer. And for now we will be in Kirtland for 2 days in the week and at the Johnson farm for 1 or 2 days in the week as well. I have been trying to get the history down in the Johnson farm because I have never given a tour there. But it should all go great! I feel so blessed to serve at the Johnson farm in the summer time. Only 2 sets of sisters out of around 30 of us get to serve there in the summer, and I am one of those lucky sisters!

I was told last week that I would be training this next transfer so I prepared myself so that but got a call the day before transfers telling me that one of the sisters wouldn't be coming. It's sad but all okay! I got a different companion and shes great! The Lords timing is perfect and I know that everything happens for a reason! So I'm excited to see where this transfer will take us.

Our area is great! We do a lot of finding. My companion is from the Kirtland ward and isn't so used to it. Haha. We get the Johnson farm in this area but not too many investigators. So we are doing a lot of finding for the Lords elect.

On a fun note, I still got to go to the trainers meeting a little past Cleveland this week (before I found out I wouldn't be training.) And on our way home we took a wrong turn and we some how made it to downtown Cleveland! And you know I was singing to myself "Downtown" by Macklemore the whole time. (I sing too much "Babylon" on my mission) It was an adventure. But here's the best part. We were driving to find a gas station and we were at a stop light, and a nice young (African American) man pulled up next to us. So I just smiled and waved and we kept driving. When we came to the gas station in the heart of downtown Cleveland, one of the sisters is getting gas and this nice young man that I waved to pulled up, walked up to her and says "you're beautiful can I get your number?" So of course the first thing she says, being an awkward missionary, "hehe yeah, come meet my sisters." So we are talking with this guy and start talking about the Gospel and he tells us how much he loves God and that he has tattoos all over about God. So he lifts up his shirt and insists that we look at his tattoos and the 10 commandments that he has tattooed on his back. But moral of the story we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and got his phone number. It was the craziest and funniest thing ever. There is a reason that sisters aren't allowed to serve in Cleveland.

Thank you for the love and prayers. I miss you all so much and would love to hear about how you are all doing. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest blessing in our lives. We are the only people who have the true power of the Atonement. He knows us better than we know ourselves. Hope you all had a great week! Love you! :)

Monday, April 14th - LETTER TO MOM

Monday, April 14^th

Hiiiii, I have like NO time because we went to the Columbus temple today and it was SOOOO awesome! It felt so good to go to the temple finally. A ton of missionaries were able to go and that was fun. All the senior couples gave us a ride. Its able 2 and a half hours away and we JUST got back and p day ends at 6. So I dont have much time. But the temple was amazing and I will be sending you pictures in a second.

BUT I have very very big news...

IM PREGNANT!!

That means that I will be training a brand new missionary this next transfer. It is a HUGE responsibility and I am very nervous, excited, scared, inadequate, and so happy all at once! But the Lord called me to be a trainer and I trust Him. When you get to the field you go through 12 weeks of training. So basically you are just learning how to do everything and in the morning you have an extra hour of study called "12 week." I JUST got done being trained and now I am called to train a brand new missionary. It is actually quite rare that you get called to train right after you get trained so I am very humbled that I have been trusted with this responsibility.

I got a call from President Brown on Tuesday morning and he told me the news and I was In SHOCK. I had NO idea I would be called to train. It is honestly one of the biggest responsibilities as a missionary. You set an example for this persons entire mission and you are responsible to help them become an obedient and hard working missionary. Its a little bit overwhelming but I am honestly SO excited! The relationship between your "mom and daughter" is very special and such a neat experience. So Sister Adame is my mom, her mom is my grandma, and so forth. So right now I am pregnant with my baby. Its kinda funny. But that is the big HUGE news for the week! And ALSO! My mom, sister adame has been called as a sister training leader!! We both got called to some big responsibilities ahead. I hope I can be as good of a trainer as sister adame was to me. Just pray for me to do my best and pray for my baby, whoever she is that we will get along and she will adapt well.

Email me back when you can!

I LOVE YOU

Monday, April 4^th

Hello everyone!

Easter in Historic Kirtland has been a blast this week! We got to help out with Easter Egg hunts, tours, chick hatching, tours, hay rides and more tours! The summer season is coming closer which means lots of people at the Visitors' Center! It's been too much fun though. I feel blessed every day to serve in a place where Jesus Christ and God the Father have been. Every time I step into the school of the prophets, I feel their spirit. And I will never take that for granted.

General conference weekend went by too fast, and was too good. All the talks were so inspired and uplifting. I am grateful for sweet Thomas S. Monson and his apostles. It was truly such a spiritual weekend. The call that I have to help others find Jesus Christ is the best calling in the world. 

I love you all!

Here's some fun pictures from this week! One of them is Elder Heward giving the Hay rides in 30 degree weather.  (Senior couple missionaries are my absolute favorite)

Love, Sister Berntsen

Monday, March 28th

Monday, March 28th

Hello friends and family!

This week was so great! We were at Kirtland Tuesday and Wednesday this week. It has been really busy with tours because of Spring Break so that has been fun! But the hard part of that is finding time to call and email our online investigators. 

A miracle that happened this week was that our investigator that we call at sites committed to FINALLY have missionaries come to her house and teach her! She's been embarrassed because of living conditions but she knows that what we teach her is true and she knows that she needs to be baptized. So she finally committed to them coming! She also told us that someone dialed the wrong phone number and called her, so she and this man started talking and she told him about the Gospel! She isn't even baptized and she is doing missionary work! She is the sweetest older lady ever.  

Easter was also so great! It is such a special holiday as a missionary. On Friday we had an Easter event at the Johnson Farm that we were able to help out with, and that was so much fun! There was a hay ride, homemade bread, a baby goat and a lot of other super fun things! 

I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That the most amazing miracle of all time is that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that we all have the chance to do that as well, and live with Him and our families forever. I know that Jesus Christ knows us all and loves us more than we can comprehend. There is no greater happiness than through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I hope you all had a great Easter and are looking forward to General Conference this week! Thank you for all the love and support! :)

Love, Sister Berntsen

March 14, 2016 -- Kenya's Group Email 

Hi everyone!

This week was great! On Wednesday and Thursday the Kirtland Visitors center directors wife put on an event that was a "Feast for the poor." It was the 180th anniversary of this event that Emma Smith and Ann Whitney started 180 years ago. They cooked for 3 days giving all the food away for whoever needed it in the Kirtland area. So Sister Wynder did something kind of like that this week. It was really neat because the LDS church, the Community of Christ (the church that owns the Kirtland temple) and the church of Christ' restoration branch all came together to help out with it, and it was a really good time! 

This week I took my first solo-tour, basically. I had to go on a last minute exchange with a brand new sister, while our companions went to the Hospital to see a sister who is there. She had only taken 1 tour and been out in the field for a week, so didn't know anything about the History. So we got called on tour and it was a realization point seeing how much I actually know and how much more I need to learn. But it ended up being such an awesome and spiritual tour! 

Other than that, we are doing a lot of service and trying out hardest to find more people to teach! The Lord is preparing the elect, all my job is, is to find them and teach them, and have the faith that we will find them. There are miracles everyday. 

Thank you for all the love and support! I love you all so much!

Love, Sister Berntsen

Ps. Shout out to Emily McGee who is opening her mission call tonight! She will be such an awesome missionary!!

Pps. The church came out with a new Easter video yesterday and it is AMAZING. Everyone needs to watch it! It is called Hallelujah

Caption of photo from Kenya:

"This is the only picture I can get to you this week. This was taken at the VC by the loudest and funniest Elder. In the email he sent he said "sister Berntsen looks hungry" probably true.. hahah"

Group Email from Kenya:

March 7, 21016

Hello family!

I made it through my first transfer! It has been a crazy/amazing 6 weeks. I have really learned so much about myself and the gospel and how truly important it is. But this week was great! One of the busiest and funnest weeks for sure! Sister Adame and I were at sites only 1 day this week which really scared me. I was used to having 2 full days at sites and was worried to be a normal missionary for 6/7 of the days this week. But the Lord knew the situation and really blessed us. 

Monday, we got done shopping and came outside to see that a sweet older lady had hit the back of our car a little. Long story short, she felt really bad but we set an appointment with her for this week! That was really awesome. Tuesday we were at sites, Wednesday was transfers. So everyone in the Kirtland stake who was getting transferred or was getting a new companion came to the Visitors center and did their transfers. Thursday, Friday, Saturday we had filled days with a lot of service and appointments with some less-actives, and the usual missionary stuff. 

Sunday evening we taught our investigators Holly and Thomas. They are 8 and 12 and their dad is a less-active that we are working with. They are great kids!! We are working with their dad to quit smoking so he can get the priesthood and baptize his kids. They are a great family!

Thank you for the love and support you all give me. I am so grateful for each one of you. Hope you all have a blessed week! 

Love, Sister Berntsen

ps. we only served at sites once last week, and this week we serve 3. #blessings