Yes, the big Berky boys went to the ballet. Their cousin Brynn Lewis was performing in the BYU annual ballet recital. LaReita sat up in the balcony with, Grace, her mom. On the way in they passed out ring-pop candy to the kids. During the intermission Jacob shows off his new tongue tattoo:
Yeah, it has shockingly snowed in Springfield! Like, a lot. About 14 inches overnight! Because of that, the entire city is on shutdown, they just don’t have enough infrastructure to deal with this. The power is going out, the church building is getting… colder… there is little food… a fat tray of brownies, some slightly frozen salad. We might have to resort to eating each other. It’s getting darker as the snow begins to pile up against the doors. I fear we won’t be getting out unscathed.
5: Helping out at the Bishop’s Storehouse! For service, the bishop’s storehouse needed some hands moving microfilm from truck to truck. Took a while, and it was good work. We tried to convince the bishop to let us grab a few rolls of toilet paper and sugar, but they said no. 🙁
4: Oh yeah, Transfers!! So I will be staying, (Shocker) and Elder Tarazon will be heading to New Port to be in a tri-pan!! (Triple Companionship) He’s excited, mainly because it is the nicest apartment in the mission. Elder Randall will be replacing Tarazon! I’ve served around Elder Randall before, he’s a good kid, we’ll get some good work done.
3: The snow situation as of 10 o’clock We are at the church, hoping that there would be wifi/power, and there was for about 5 minutes. But it started to flicker, and went off about 30 minutes ago. It’s kinda cold, but we have jackets. The walk here took a while, which was cold, but fun. I brought some stuff in a p-day bag, but I was worried about the snow getting it wet, so I threw a garbage bag around it. I probably looked like a homeless man, but whatever I will be playing settlers of catan, and they won’t be! HAHAHA.
2: Helping people out (cause they don’t know what to do in snow) When we woke up this morning, there was snow everywhere, and without even really thinking, I put on some jeans, some spare boots that were lying around the apartment, and headed out to go shovel some snow. All our neighbors were just looking at it, and being wary of the falling branches. (Even the trees arn’t accustomed to changes in weather. C’mon you dang plants! Evolve faster!!) I asked one of our rather salty neighbors if he had a shovel, he grabbed one and I set at it. It was small and crappy but better than nothing. I tried my hardest but could only do a little bit, the big branches that had fallen really impeded progress so I only got a little done. Hopefully that makes it a little easier for the landlords. As we were walking to the church we saw a car stuck in the Walgreens parking lot, with two dudes behind him trying hard to help. We went over, and got him into a parking stall cause he was not going anywhere. It’s a good thing that he was working at Walgreens, cause we would not have been able to get him out if he had to go anywhere else.
1: Had some really good, genuine conversations about the gospel You have no idea how nice it is to just talk to people about Christ, not having to be in some sort of intellectual battle of the scriptures, and that’s what we had this week. We knocked on a door, and started talking to Brittany about the gospel, she’s Catholic but doesn’t go as often as she should. Then her boyfriend came out, and so we talked with Robert for a while about all sorts of different religions, what God meant to them, etc. they said they would love to come to our church (Didn’t show up (Hopefully because of the snow)) Then, later we talked with Andrea, who is a Pentacostal. We just chatted on her doorstep for a while about Christ, different interpretations of the Bible, Keanu Reeves, and the nature of God. She’s a cool lady, we’ll talk to her again if the weather permits.
Today will be a long day of playing Catan, and wondering when the power will come back on.
Love ya! Ya Boi
Elder Berky (P.S. We found a playground. And played.)
5: Yeah, big news, it’s kinda weird So I called home this morning as soon as P-day started, and talked to Mom for 20+ minutes. It was kinda weird, as the only other time I’ve called home was on Christmas. Surreal is the best way to put it.
4: Put somebody on date on the doorstep!! We were talking to this guy named Brenden, who has very little gospel knowledge, so after describing what baptism is to him, he accepted to be baptized on march 30th! Now we have to meet with him to actually teach him about how much God loves him, and the blessings that are in store for Brenden!
3: The Spanish Elders got kicked out of sacrament meeting! (and Relief society) The Spanish Elders who we share our ward with got kicked out of sacrament meeting! Why? Did their phone go off, playing loud Mariachi music? Did they bring chips and salsa and hold a fiesta during Gospel Doctrine?No.They were “too loud” while translating for the Spanish people who they brought to church. Yeah, the ward council told them they can sit out in the foyer to translate, but not in the back. This isn’t the first time that they have gotten backlash from our leadership, Bishop has repeatedly said that he thinks they shouldn’t be speaking Spanish at all, as they are in an English speaking country. Well, sure, but it’s better for people to learn the gospel using language that they know! We teach to understanding, not integration. Our leadership is wack.
2: Elder Tarazon and I found a game-breaking exploit in one of his card games Elder Tarazon has a game called “Smashup” it’s a lot of fun, and we have been playing it at night. The game is card based, of different factions, which are things like; Zombies, Dinosaurs, Superheros, bugs, Mythical heroes, etc. The way to win the game is by getting 15 victory points. These are gained by putting cards on bases and scoring. There is this one faction, the Aliens who score victory points just by playing one card. I figured out how to exploit this by picking the scoring cards up, and playing them again! This makes for a quick game, and a huge oversight on the game devs part. So we have added them to a ban list of other combos that are exploitative.
1: Interviews went well! (And late, as always) President and I talked about my potential as a missionary, I feel like I’m trying, but not hard enough. Going to be working on that more, studying harder, praying more fervently, and focus on getting out of the apartment more. That was the majority of my interview with president, but Elder Tarazon’s went for 30+ minutes. I really don’t know why President tries to keep to schedule, I’ve never had an interview day go according to plan. But that’s alright, it went well for everyone, and we got Mongolian Grill afterwards, it was pretty cheap too! (only 2 bowls tho)
Well, I’m going to call home right about now, so see ya next week!
Ya boi, Elder Berky
This week was pretty good at the start and then got crappy towards the end. Lets get riiiiiiiiigghht into this email!
6: Do u play fortnite?
As we were cleaing out our areabook, we texted this one number, and here is how the conversation went;
Me: Hey is this Ken?
Not Ken: No
Me: Sorry, wrong number then, God Bless!
Not Ken: Do u play Fortnite
Me: Haven’t in a while, been doing other stuff. You any good at it?
Not Ken: No I only have 2 wins
…
Me: Darn, I’d love to help ya boost that, but as a missionary, I just don’t have time for video games
Not Ken: Ah
Well I hope you have a great day
Me: You too buddy. Just remember when playing, do a double ramp rush. It’s easy but intimidates the opponent.
God bless
5: Actual snow!! Wow!!
After missing out on a white christmas we had a good snowfall this week! Unfortunately nothing really stuck, so kinda disappointing, but whatever. Which leads into my next thing;
4: Oregonians are a weak race
This one needs a little background. The Oakridge elders had a baptism on saturday so they came down to Springfield, on account of their building is lacking in the baptismal font department. They stayed the night, and we had district council and exchanges Friday! Come Saturday, the Oakridge elders got lots of texts and calls from their members telling them that 6 inches of snow is enough to postpone a baptism. The best part? The girl (9) who was getting baptised was coming in anyways to visit some family! After considering going forward with the baptism, but not because members would get angry at the elders, we finished our exchange, and they headed back. They encountered no snow. On Sunday Oakridge texted in that church had been cancelled. For the same reason. Bad Drivers + light snow + no testimony = church cancelled
3: I finally burned a tie for my 6 month mark, 2 months late.
The tradition goes; burn a tie at when you hit 6 months, burn a shirt when you are at a year, and a pair of slacks at 18 months, then a suit at 2 years. Of which I probably will not do, cause I don’t have the resources. But I might if I find the right stuff. Which I did for the burning of a tie. Elder Tarazon was igniting his pants, so I grabbed a spare tie lying around the apartment and joined the party. It seemed to be primarily plastic, so it stank.
2: Interzone Gatorball today!
So we got a call last night telling us that we will be doing p-day activities with the Eugene zone, mainly a big gatorball tournament. It’ll be fun especially since it’s pretty balanced.
1: My Phone is kill
So during zone lunch on friday, mt phone was losing power oddly quickly then it just died at 30%. Kinda odd, I guess the battery didnt charge enough last night, and the phone was just displaying the wrong percentage. When we got back to hte apartment and I plugged it in, the phone said that it was at 90% during the charging screen. Okay, that’s really odd. So I unplugged it, and the screen went black. Plugging it back in seemed to work, and the phone started up, and started up, and started up… just this constant cycle. So I called Elder Klingler, one of the office missionaries and he sent me some directions to perform a hard boot. Still nothing. It’s got to be a problem with the battery. OUr next course of action was to head to a sprint store, since that’s where the phone was originally bought from. They told me stuff that I already knew, and sent me to a better equiped store in Eugene. After going the wrong direction a few times we made it there. (Saw a couple people who looked like they were from the Witcher 3, or Oregon, either one.) My boy Jose was going to hook me up with a brand new battery, but this saleslady was asking if I wanted an upgrade. I said no, she told me it was free, and I said something to the effect of “I’m not using sprint cause I’m using the churches sim card.” She shuffled quickly to the back and told Jose to not help me. Luckily cause Jose was cool he let me know where I could go to get it fixed. But being about $20 short I had to wait until today for my loving mother to spot me. (Love you Mom! I’ve told you it already, but I cannot state it enough!)
This has been a week of ups and downs it’s been hard, but I’ve met some really cool people who probably wouldn’t have heard the gospel if we weren’t being diligent. That’s the lesson I’ve learned this week, Diligence. Keep doing what is right always, from small things of doing the dishes (still don’t like it) to following through on promptings.
I love you all, have a good week.
Elder Berky
Wow, this week has been pretty spiritually fulfilling.
10: Zone Conference was great! We talked a lot about finding, and how we need to have more faith while being out.
9: Elder Tarazon got scared by some cool kids So there were some 12 year olds riding on scooters a couple blocks down from us, and Elder Tarazon just booked it. I was really confused, and followed him into the burger king parking lot he was being all sneaky in, and heard him muttering “Oh crap, it’s the cool kids, we can’t let them see us.” Apparently he would do that joke with his last companion. Just a weird experience and overall. Oh well, it’s whatever.
7: I found a cool “How to Play Hymns” piano book So whenever we are at the church for P-Day or District council I’ll bring it and practice. I’m sure it will be a useful skill to have, especially on the mission.
6: I got sick! Yaaaay! Nothing really bad, but more of a pile of inconveniences that led to a unproductful day. We did a little phone contacting, just to start on cleaning out our area book.
5: Had housing inspections today It was the most chill inspection, Brother Birdsoll didn’t really look for anything, he just walked in, checked the smoke alarm, and asked if everything was working. I am glad that I spent plenty of time after hours making everything clean though. It feels good.
4: Elder Tarazon really wanted to watch the superbowl, but we didn’t have anybody that we could go to. So we just heard the news (RIP the Rams) from other Elders that night.
3: On exchanges with the Zone Leaders we found a new, played some Catan, and helped some old people! Elder Leifson and I talked to this guy named Terrance, who had been through a lot o crap in his life, we played some more Catan, but it did not take 3+ hours, thankfully, and did service at the Eugene Old Folk’s Home! We helped set up and serve lunch, it was great!
2: It snowed!! WoW!!! A light sprinkling of snow awaited us this morning, not enough for anything fun, except maybe a snowball or two, but it was nice to see some snow anyways.
1: We talked to a guy who had a ton of Batman logos plastered all over his car. He was pretty cool, we talked about Batman for a little bit, some comics things, and I found out from him that Ben Affleck might be hanging up the cape! Darn, I thought that BatFleck was pretty cool, oh well. He said we could come back, and I think that was because we shared common interests. It will be cool to see where this goes, as he wasn’t too interested in the Gospel. I’ll have to make sure that we establish that expectation with him.
I love you all, and hope that you have been able to see the blessings that the Lord has sprinkled all over this week for you! That’s something that I have noticed, you need to notice the things that the Lord is doing for you.
Ya Boi, Elder Berky
