Category: James

This has been a pretty quick week, who would have thought that would happen when you work?

4: Food challenges are fun when you know Christmas trivia  We had dinner with at our bishops place, and they sure do enjoy being mean to missionaries. They do food challenges with all the missionaries who have dinner over there, and this time they did a Christmas trivia quiz. When you get a question wrong you have to take a shot of something gross, like cold squash soup (Not bad), a raw egg (I mean Rocky did it) assorted jelly beans (the pear ones are the worst) lime juice (Really? How is that bad?) and Slightly fermented Fish oil. There is not word enough in the English language, or hours in the day that I would take to describe to you the horror and revulsion that was this Fish Oil. I will have flashes of terror in the future about this fish oil. It will haunt my dreams and cause me no end of mental anguish.

3: I won a pinewood Derby I didn’t even know I was participating in! On Wednesday the senior couple asked us if we wanted to go to a Pinewood Derby in a branch we both cover. We rarely go out there because we only have the car on the weekends, and often times we have things come up on the weekends, so it was an invaluable opportunity.As we were having fun looking at the cars these kids designed, the Branch President asked Elder Stringham and I if we wanted to participate too. We didn’t have cars, but he loaned us some. The one that I picked out, an orange Camero was the fastest of them all. So I got a cute little wall trophy with the wrong Elder’s name on it. Had fun anyway, talked to plenty of members!

2: I finally wrote down my Testimony! Here it is! After being asked to by President Orton, I listened to the spirit and cast my mind back on why it is I believe in Christ.

I have always known that Jesus is the Christ, that God is the Father of my spirit, and that his church is re-established on this Earth preparatory to his son’s second coming. As Nephi said, “I… having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of [the Gospel]” The same is with me. Being raised with the knowledge of God is the greatest blessing that I could possibly ask for. But knowledge is not conversion, and although I knew of the truth of divine nature of such things it didn’t mean all that much to me, because I was not converted. But as I have been anxiously engaging myself in a good cause I have gained that heartfelt understanding of who God is, and what his Son Jesus Christ has given me. All this I have learned and been blessed to receive by the third member of the Godhead. The Holy Ghost has brought me to conversion by testifying in a way that is undeniable. Although I never had any doubts, that is not enough to mean anything. Faith is the first building block that everything is built upon in this life, I didn’t have much faith, I had knowledge. But ever since I have had ample opportunity to test that fledgling faith I have been blessed so greatly. The pure joy that faith brings is truly undeniable. I am so grateful for opportunities the Lord has given me to build that faith, I am incredibly thankful for the calling I have received to come on a mission. It has made me into the man that I am. I am exceedingly appreciative for the Founding Fathers and their divine inspiration to create the only country in the world that would allow the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I write these things under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

1: I really should have put that one at the end.  That would have been perfect to end on! How about I tell ya about how great Grocery Outlet is? Have I already? Too bad, here I go again! EVERYTHING IS SO UNBELIEVABLY CHEAP!!!! Sorry for that, but I just want to say that I got a YYUUGGGEEE thing of BBQ bar nuts for $7.00. Heck yeah!

I love you all, I love the Savior, and grocery outlet.

Ya Boi, Elder James Berky

We were talking to a guy this week, and apparently the Bubonic Plague has been found in California. Scary right? But hey, maybe we’ll get the plague doctors back, they look pretty cool. Speaking of sickness, guess what happened to us this week?

6: That’s right, we caught the plague! Not really, we’d probably be on our way home. I got the common cold, and my companion got food poisoning! Protip, make sure your chicken stew is fully cooked before you eat it. So this week we were absolutely laid out. But whoever was cognizant enough to go out tracting did with the Zls, until they got sick. So uhhh, fun week.

5: WHAT? No lifting while sick?? That was real sad, while the both of us were laid out, our weight room was just collecting dust. So sad.

4: But when not sick, Missionary Leadership Conference is totally unnecessary The district leaders got the Privilege of going to MLC this week. In which we talked about useful things, like the Light The World Campaign, talked to missionary friends, and had some awesome chilli! but we also discussed for too long some useless things. Like the new District leader teaching program that I am not a fan of, but President Orton has decided that this is a thing we will be doing so there was no sense in discussing it. 

3: Service out in the boons! Yesterday someone asked us if we could help an older sister with chopping and stacking wood. It’s about 30 minutes away, but was plenty fun. The sister we helped really appreciated it, and it helped build ward trust! 

2: Christmas time should be in your heart all year long! Because I thunk Christmas should be in your heart all year long, we’ve been listening to Christmas music for the past couple of weeks. I’ve found a couple new favorite Christmas songs, like there was a man named Parson Brown, and white winter hymnal.

1: Whät? I løve böąřđ ğåmëß Today we are playing board games, like cataan today. I’m pretty hungry so imma wrap this up with the fact that Jesus loves you, and you will live with your family after this life.

Ya boi

Elder James Berky 

5: Elder Stringham’s enjoying Oregon! My trainee is Elder Stringham, he’s from South Jordan Utah, and we’ve had a good time working, and getting to know the people of Klamath Falls!

4: Time to go to leadership conference! I am very much absolutely ecstatic to go to a leadership conference that I have heard my zone leaders complain about for the past 18 months! For some reason President Orton wants to bring all the District Leaders to participate. Lucky me, I wonder what he is going to talk about that requires the district leaders to be there.

3: I am going to purchase a Del Taco cheeseburger I will not say anything further about this subject.

2: It’s so nice to be able to study the scriptures For the past week, we haven’t had the chance to do a normal personal study, because of meetings and the such. So when we had the opportunity to do a 45 minute session before church, it was incredible! I was able to read about faith and how we need to be watering that seed continually. After a week of not having a study that hit me hard. I will do my best to do studies even on days with meetings.

1: It’s nice seeing my old companions As my Zone leaders, I’ve seen Elder Randall before, at transfer spots and Zone conference, but it Has been quite some time since I’ve seen Elder Jeanselme. It’s been good catching up and seeing how much we’ve grown as people in the past year and a half. 

I love you all, and want to let you know that Jesus loves ya too!

Ya Boi,

Elder James Berky

New-Trainer-Elder-Berky

4: Transfer calls!! We got our calls from president Orton and while I will be staying in Klamath, I will be training! I’m heading up to eugene for a couple of days, and then I’ll bring my trainee all the way down here. Long couple of days in the car ahead of me.

3: White washing Zone Leaders? That doesn’t happen But it did! Elder Jeanselme and Randall will be coming in, two of my previous companions! It’s going to be a lot of fun.

2: the 2020 Tacoma has an eject button  Not really, but our new 2020 Tacoma does have an automatic 911 button. It’s pretty neat, pretty clean, and has under 1000 miles on it. I’m never going to drive a car this nice or new again.

1: lil Thanksgiving!  Because we are impatient our zone is doing a little Thanksgiving today. Complete with stuffing, green beans, rolls, rotisserie chicken (cause Turkey is expensive) and more. I’ve actually gotta start cooking the green beans now, so don’t have much time to embellish. Here’s some pictures!

Love ya – Ya boi,

Elder James Berky

This week has been plenty fun. In way of meetings not so much, but we have been very busy.

4: Last week, Mt. Shasta!! Last week we went down to California and went as far up Mount Shasta as we could. We would have gone up much further, but the state of California demands sacrifice of $25 for a federal park. Oh well, we went up where we could, and took some nice pics.

3: After a long night of less-than-fruitful tracting; Laurie! We had been tracting for quite a while, and no one seemed to be listening, or wanting to listen. Got in an argument with a guy who kept talking about church history, and when we would ask him where he got his information, he would just say “Well, I’m not a historian, but it is common knowledge…” or something dumb like that. Many more encounters like that we had, but we ended the night with meeting Laurie. She is super excited to hear about the gospel, even though she has some conspiracy theories bouncing around. (Did you know that signs in front of a dollar store promoting blood donation means that the big Island of Hawaii is going start a new world war?)

2: Lots of contacting done, and cleaning of area book We have figured out that in the spare time between appointments, we can clean up area book, instead of gunk it up with fruitless tracting! Quite a bit of dropping, re-contacting and teaching has been done this week. 

1: D&D is fun, I might get into it when I get back home. Even though what we were playing isn’t actual Dungeons and Dragons, but a very light version of it, we had fun! It all started off with Elder Hoenigman asking Elder Smith; “A bear takes a swing at you in the woods, what do you do?” It has since evolved into saving a city from anarchists, only to get magic-nuked in the end. Very fun, big recommend.

Taking things to a more gospel tone, I have been able to see the hand of the Lord in my work out here, guiding me what to say, study, and search for. Christ will guide you to truth, and never steer you away, but it is up to you if you will let him steer you. I may be the captain of my fate, but Jesus is the master of my soul.

Ya boi,

Elder James Berky

I really can’t think of any other title for this email. It’s been a pretty chill week. I’ll try to think of some things worth writing down lol.

4: We really should form a moving company A member was moving into our ward, and so for a couple of days we helped them move their stuff out of 3 storage sheds into their big house. It wasn’t really big, but it had very tall ceilings and all the trimmings of a rich person’s house. But when I got to looking at it, it really wasn’t that big. But hey, we got a KFC and Little Ceaser’s lunch out of it!

3: Interviews went well We also got pizza for interviews! This has sure been a pizza-fueled week, I need to get a couple salad lunches. But yeah, interviews went great, I think I might be leaving Klamath, but I don’t want to jinx anything. Oh, I also had to re-do my temple recommend cause it expired. So I got to hear the new temple recommend questions only a couple weeks after they had been read off the pulpit!

2: Dudngons adn Dgarons lite Yes I am aware of how I spelled that. After the day is over, and we’ve put everything away that needs to be put away, Elder Hoenigman has been DM’ing for us in a very loosey-goosey dungeons and dragons game. We have only 1 dice (12 sided) and it all started off with; “Elder Smith, a bear takes a swing at you in the woods, what do you do?” “He doesn’t try to bite me or anything?””No, be’s boxing you out. What do you do?”

1: heading to mount ShastaWe have enough miles, and hikes are fun. Also we have some people we can visit in the small towns that-a-way.

Ya boi,

Elder James Berky

Honestly, this week didn’t hold anything too exciting. I may be getting to the point in my mission where this becomes mundane, after all, I have been doing it for ~18 months now. But let’s get into some events.

4: Bible study and Game night We have been meeting with a guy Joel and his theologist friend Ethan lately. They also run a bible study and game night on the campus here. We got invited, and honestly besides the Spirit-less bible study it was fine. I’m really glad that I was blessed enough to have been born into the true church, because all other churches can be proven wrong logically. I think that’s really why we were led there, To see how empty other churches are. Aside from some neat knowledge about history, there was no spirit. They certainly did have plenty of board games however! Aunt Julles you have nothing compared to them! Literally every game I could think of, or have seen in an obscure Eugene Oregon nerd shop, was there. Reminded me of some games that I’m definitely going to pick up when I get back, and have money and space for.

3: Sure, why not go to 2 sacrament meetings? Along with covering the Klamath Falls 3rd ward, Elder Hoenigman, Smith and I also cover the Keno and Yanna Valley branches. After church here in Klamath, we decided to send it the 30 minutes to the Keno branch and grow their Aaronic Preisthood class by 200%. It was cool, we met some cool people, and felt a great spirit there from the people who were so committed to the gospel that they were both the conductor, opening and closing prayer. (Very small branch)

2: Zone Conference Went over great, we had plenty of good segments, plenty of cringey segments, and segments that made me say; “If someone mentions the Hobbit one more time, I WILL consider it cannon” (Also, I am looking for cheap Tolkein books at thrift stores now for my morning studies) But I think the greatest part of Zone Conferences are the opportunity you get to meet the different missionaries that you haven’t seen for several months, catch up and see how each other have grown. It reminds me of the time when the Sons of Mosiah and Ammon meet up again after having completed their missions, and they talk of the success they had among the Lamanites, and how they glory in the Lord. (It’s Alma 25&26)

1: Swedish Meatböl? Because we have been able to pool 3 elder’s grocery budgets together we have been able to make better dinners for ourselves. My personal favorite was our Swedish Meatballs, fried in butter. We felt so bad after eating them, but it hurt so good. I think I have a picture somewhere.

I love the great goodness that the Lord has bestowed upon us. Greatness like Swedish Meatballs, and other such wonders.

Ya Boi,

Elder James Berky

What did yall think about conference? I thought it was great, even if I fell asleep for one of the talks. President Nelson’s subtle flexing with the church’s charities was my personal favorite.

4: The West Coast Avengers! Elder Hoenigman and I were talking about what the future of the Marvel movies might be, (Because he’s as big of a nerd as I am) and I said that “I don’t want any more big space battles, can’t we just ave something really low-key, like, the WESt CoAsT AvengERs?” After that we were off to the races, talking about who would be on the team, who they could fight, some basic plot elements, etc. But we weren’t finished there, we planned out a whole movie series of 4 movies involving low-tier, trash avengers that we want to see on the big screen. The one character who stole the show was the UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL! Who is now over 50, smokes, and essentially just harasses the rest of the Avengers. It’ll be great, trust me, I just need to get in contact with some Disney higher-ups.

3: Why are P-Day’s for the boys? During the Mission Leadership Conference President Orton said that all p-day activities will be segregated, with elders and sisters meeting separately. So, sad that we don’t really meet as a zone anymore, but hey, that’s alright. Now we just get to hang out with the boys!

2: Joel and Ethan have some very good questions Toward the beginning of the week, we had a lesson with a couple guys at the college. It was really good, we had a nice Theological discussion, trying to make sure that we understand each other’s points of views. It wasn’t really bashing, and we all bore powerful testimony. They gave me some good questions to think about, namely; At what point did God allow non-Levites to hold the Priesthood? So that’ll be a great point of study this week.

1: New Phone, who dis? Unfortunately my phone had become broke. The glue that holds it together has started to become undone. Fortunately, it still works, it’s what I’m using Right now, but the battery is totally unreliable. I pretty much have to keep it plugged in all the time to make sure that I can use it. The problem is the battery will just die randomly. I’m so thankful for a loving mother who is willing to get me a new one so that I can keep doing the Lord’s work in this modern day. (But it is really nice not to have a tether though)

Love you all, hope that the Lord could speak directly to you through his prophets this weekend!

Ya Boi,

Elder James Berky

5: I don’t have to worry about speaking spanish! That’s right, my companion elder Holiman is no longer with us, and I am a Tri-panionship with the Zone Leaders! It’s been fun so far, knocking on people’s door, and suprise! I’m there! It’s also fun just walking down the sidewalk, which are designed for 2 people, so someone is usually left walking in the street, or left behind.

4: Pizza time! So we haven’t had pizza at all this week, I was just thinking about Spider-man 2. Point is, we’re going to be doing some great dinners, now that we have the collective money to do stuff like Swedish Meatballs, and Chicken Pot Pies. So if anyone wants to send me some recepies, that’d be great!

3: Richard R has a fantastic house! That sounds like a movie title, and it would make a cool movie. Brother R is a member that we tracted into, and because it was cold out, he let us in and gave us a tour of his house that he has been remodeling. It is a masterpiece! Although small, because the house was built in the 1930s, there are a lot of hidden gems in this guys’ place. He has a fantastic kitchen with all sorts of neat appliances, and his shower was the shower that Elon Musk probably has. My new goal in life is to have a house like Brother R.

2: That’s all the snow we got for this cold? I want a refund. It has been getting CHILLY recently, and tracting has been ‘fun’ because of it. Everyone takes pity on us, but hardly anyone is letting us in. 🙁  We were hearing some rumors about a nasty snowstorm coming our way on Sunday, and the clouds rolling in were incredibly threatening. When I woke up Sunday morning, expecting a white Christmas, all I got was a light frosting of the trees and rooftops. I was upsetti spaghetti. Should’ve learned from No Man’s Sky, don’t fall for the hype.

1: Baby’s first district council! So after ~15 months of being a missionary, President Orton finally held me down long enough to make me district leader. And even with no training, (Still haven’t gotten any btw) my first district council turned out alright. We talked about how we can teach like The Master, and the ways that Christ taught. It went well, and I hope that I can pin President down long enough to get some actual advice on how to be a District leader. 

Well, that’s all folks! 

Love Ya Boi

Elder James Berky

Picture is of Last Transfer when we helped the senior couple in Alturus, California with their technological problems.