Sorry for not writing last week, but it was a weird week. We had our temple trip on Thursday, which was the new pday, so I just decided to not write at all. Anywho, I’ll make this short cause I want to go get some fried chicken from Albertsons.
4: Staying the several nights in Medford! While Elder Johnson went on his departing temple trip of the mission, I got to stay in Medford for a couple of nights with Elder Thorson! We did stuff like; do laundry, wait for the zoneleaders who forgot that the temple trip was that day, and… wait for the zone leaders. That was fun, we went to Costco, because I have a Costco card (Thanks Julles) and got some pizza (Kash Money Kerbs sent it on a full pizza, thanks bud.)
3: Cleaning and packing Because Elder Johnson is leaving, and so am I, we have been packing and cleaning. Sisters will be coming in, so we have to clean our apartment REAL good. But that’s not enough for me, so I’m writing weird things down on 3×5 cards and hiding them all over the apartment.
2: Why am I leaving? I’ve been transferred in-zone over to the 3rd ward, but that’s not enough Shenanagins for me, I’m also getting a Spanish Elder!
1: Ihr Sprachen paar espanol So in addition to doing our work in Klamath 3rd ward Elder Holiman and I will be finding Spanish people. Elder Holiman will be teaching in Spanish, and I will be sitting there, trying to follow along.
4: Service for Treasures! We regularly do service for a thrift store that sells people’s leftover stuff when they… well… leave. It’s a lot of fun, and usually we are cleaning dishes, testing electronics and tents, and whatever other stuff gets brought in. But this week we played board games! We had to make sure that all the pieces were there, and the games worked properly. Plenty of monopoly and Yahtzee.
3: Service that gets you shot We were doing service for someone in the sister’s area, and it kinda ruined our whole week. I can’t say much because there’s still an investigation, but what I can say is that there was an accidental gunshot that wounded 2 missionaries (Both are fine and joking about it) I’m okay, and grateful for the blessing of the Lord for protecting his servants. Yeah, crazy week, had to go through a lot of questioning.
2: Shortly after that service, we had more!! During our interviews with President, a guy named Shawn came into the church and asked if we could help him move off his lot by Friday. We told him we could after we were done with our interviews, and when we were we headed over. (After changing) His place looked a little sketchy, and he walked out with a glock in his shoulder holster. We all looked at the elder and his bandaged arm and kinda laughed. Later when he asked about it, we all had a good laugh.
1: The final service was moving and talking about Taika Waititi’s spiderman movie As we were moving out a very nice place one of the elders and I were talking about how good a Taika Waitit spider-man movie starring Jeff Goldbloom would be.
Hey I’ve got to get going, but I love you all, and my testimony has grown so much this week. Who would’ve thought that a trip to the hospital would do that? Ya boi, Elder James Berky
Wow, this week has flown by! It feels like I say that every week though.
5: So we’ve started working out with Bruce Lee every Monday. Not THE Bruce Lee, but he still works us hard. We’ve been doing chest and legs, and let me tell you, I hurt all over. But it’s a good hurt, a hurt that will build into something else. I’ve lost some weight, put on some muscle, and can now climb hills without being too out of breath.
4: Joey and Liz are so ready for the gospel! Joey and Liz are a fantastic couple, when we are teaching them, we have to hold back otherwise we would flooding them with too much gospel! They just ask so many questions, and are really excited for it. The spirit is so strong whenever we meet with them! The only problem is they have to run their business on the weekends, otherwise they would get baptized!
3: Grocery outlet is the truth! So I severely over-budgeted, and so I only had a $20 for groceries. Luckily grocery outlet covered me! We’re just going to be having Chicken, Rice, and Broccoli. I learned my lesson, and am going to be sticking to my budget strictly!
2: Talking about movies. Elder Hoeningman is a huge movie guy, and so when we have been together we talk about movies and stuff. It’s a good time, and I’m running out of things to write about….
1: Friday Feast! Every Friday we all get together and make dinner. This week we had chili. It was super chill.
Is what I felt when we drove into the Klamath Valley. It looks so much like southern Utah I got thrown for a loop.
5: Klamath is great! Even though it feels like I’m back home Klamath is fantastic. It’s nice and hot, but not too hot you know? We also have plenty of people to work with. Speaking of…
4: Jimmy please look at me! The previous elders had been working with a guy named Jimmy, who has a really bad Lazy eye. It’s really hard to tell who he’s looking at. But he has prayed about the Book of Mormon, and is willing to be baptized! He was even concerned that he wouldn’t be able to make the date of October 2nd because he wouldn’t be able to make it to church enough times! He’s the man!!
3: Puppies!! When we were heading to dinner with some members we saw a bunch of puppies! When we talked to the lady, she told us that all the little puppies had biblical names! Super cute! That’s the real reason you should be a missionary, so you can pet puppies!!
2: Elder Johnson is trunky!! So elder Johnson is going home at the end of this transfer, and everyone (including me keeps reminding him) But that doesn’t mean we aren’t working hard, just thinking a lot about home, and it doesn’t help that this place looks like home. But hey, when it gets too bad, we just lift weights until we’re so tired we fall asleep. (I’m so glad to have an actual bench.)
1: Friday Feast! Is a dinner on Friday that all the elders put together to just hang out and have some good food. This week we did Green Enchiladas, and next week we are doing chili. But we are doing it at our place next week, cause we have a better place.
Well, I’ve got to get going. Love y’all and love Jesus Christ!
4: Unfortunately not for our area But it doesn’t matter where, as long as they have entered into a covenant with our Heavenly Father. The first one was a baptism of an 8-year old that our Zone Leaders tracted into (interesting situation there). Then, we headed to a baptism for someone that Elder Clark taught when he was on campus. That was great, the missionaries who baptized her also did a wonderful musical number. Then after a full day of tracting (more on that later). Our Zone had 2 more baptisms. Those 24 hours were fantastic, spirit led, and spirit filled.
3: 12 hours of tracting! Something else that we did on Saturday was a nine-to-nine, where we got together as a zone, shuffled companionships, and tracted from 9 in the morning to 9 at night. Of course we took time out to go to baptisms, but you get the point. It was great, I talked to plenty of people, got a recommendation on some bluetooth headphones, and told a Buddhist we would get him a Cambodian Book of Mormon
2: But I will not be able to follow through with any of that 🙁 Because I am getting transferred. Yep, after only a short 6 weeks in Eugene I’m heading out. I’ll be going to the southern Part of the mission, Klamath Falls. Oh, the best part? I’m going to be white-washing again! My companion is coming in from the northern part of the mission, so we both know nothing about the area. Yaaay! I know that I’m being tested for something however, so I’m going to step up in ways that I haven’t been stepping up in. This will be a great growing experience.
1: Griff is metal AF I just remembered! During our nine-to-nine Elder Griffith and I came across a baby hummingbird! Cute right? NO! This little guy must’ve hit a car or something, because his beak was ruined, his jaw broken, his wings broken, several bald patches on his tiny body, etc. So, we picked him up, and asked someone if they knew where an animal hospital was, he didn’t (he also didn’t want to hear our message), so we prayed and felt that we should call a local animal care place. They said that their bird guy would be out until Wednesday, but we could take the bird to a wildlife refuge. We asked if they would just put him down and the lady on the phone said “Yeah, probably, as bad as the bird sounds.” We said don’t worry, we’ll deal with it. So sad. I knew what was going to happen as soon as we saw him, but still wanted to see if we could give him a chance.
I love you all, and can testify that the day of miracles has not ceased!
3: A very wholesome c-head We were out walking back to our apartment in 92 degree weather and 50 something % humidity. Needless to say, it was toasty. OH? A c-head is approaching? Well, he can’t tell me to drink water without getting any closer. Oh ho, come as close as you like! Sorry, point is, we came across a c-head who made sure that we were staying hydrated. He was very nice.
2: A double-booked night is a crazy night Elder Clark and I made an oopsie and double booked lessons. One with a lady we had been teaching for a while, and a less-active family. When we realized that, we scrambled to call the zone leaders, and get everything set up. It all turned out great, I had a fantastic lesson with Darcy, the investigator and Elder Clark had a great lesson/dinner with the less actives. I swear I’m not jealous of the enchilada dinner. I promise.
1: Public transport is the worst. So we wanted to go to lunch with the 2nd ward elders, but we’re kinda far apart, with no cars. So we went to Hot Mama’s Wings, but it was a 30 minute ride. It took another hour to get back by riding the bus. In short, I don’t like being poor and don’t like the bus. Look at this big truck!
This week feels like it has gone waay to fast. When I woke up to my p-day alarm, i thought my phone was broken. It’s not, so here I am!
7: Eugene Saturday Market is WEIRD We found out that there was a Saturday market going on and thought it would be a great chance to go talk with people! Also I wanted to see if I could pick up something cool. I’m going to give you the highlights because detailing everything would take up the character cap of this email. Highlight reel: Lots of high people, lots of girls who have GREAT relationships with their fathers, plenty of homeless people, quite a few guitar boys entertaining everyone, a really good lemonade and chat with the stall owner, a Spider-man magnet, but no knives (What is this, England?) Elder Evans talked with a stall owner in Spanish for 45 minutes, so I just sat to the side and talked with a lady who was selling handmade paper for $20. Didn’t buy any though, because it was really crappy paper. But hey, it’s good for the environment?
6: Patrick is a cool guy Last week we found a guy named Patrick, he was the first one who opened his door to us all night, and was also the nicest person we met that night! Well, he has continued to be the nicest person! We’ve had a couple lessons with him, going over the plan of salvation, and answering all sorts of questions he has. Good dude, has plenty of Scarface memorabilia
5: Being with Elder O’Bannon again! We had exchanges with our zone leaders, and I went with Elder O’Bannon, while our companions went together. It was great to be able to tract with him again, in an actual neighborhood!
4: Cereal is too dangerous I decided to TReAt mY SeLf and buy a fat bag of fruity pebbles. Well, because cereal is too easy to make in the morning I haven’t been making good breakfasts. Also I’ve gained a couple pounds. So I’m no longer going to listen to the siren song of Fred Flintstone’s breakfast delicacy.
3: Repentance is a happy thing We’ve been talking a lot about repentance this past week. A lot of people’s perception of repentance is that it is a scary thing, and something that you should avoid. But that’s not a feeling that is of Christ. He wants you to come and change for the better, just because you slipped up once on something doesn’t mean that you can’t access the eternal power of the Atonement. That’s Satan’s line of thinking, and he’s a punk. Screw him. Repentance is really a joyous occasion, you get to be better and feel better.
2: You know what else feels better? Air Conditioning! After weeks of hot, almost sleepless nights, we decided to jerry rig an AC. It’s sketchy and ghetto AF, but hey, we can sleep at night.
1: You cannot breathe Coke. No matter how hard you try. We have been doing service for the Eugene mission, and they had several large pallets of soda. The mission, should you choose to accept it, is to open all the soda cans/bottles and pour them out so the empty cans and bottles can be recycled. Because all this soda is expired, or can’t be sold for whatever reason, a good portion of them will explode. I regretted taking a shower that morning, cause I just took one as soon as I got back to the apartment. We spent several hours breathing caffeinated air. It was a barrel of fun!
I don’t have much time, so ill go over some quick stuff.
4: Tracting has finally turned up! After hours and hours of fruitless tracting we found Seth and Kat! A wonderful young couple who invited us in immediately! Turns out they had both been meeting with missionaries but since they had moved they lost contact. Kat loves coming to church, and the fellowship it provides! We are really looking forward to meeting with them again!
3: Somebody sure is confident I’ve included a picture of a doorstep we were on, where they left the keys just hanging next to the door. They might be fake, or booby-trapped (doubt) but it was funny either way.
2: church was awesome! We had some great talks about listening to the prophets, and Sunday school was awesome as well. Plus we got rice crispies!
1: addressing the title So, elder Clark woke up with a really bad migraine. So he took some pills and passed out. For 4 hours! Yaaayy, time to clean the apartment cause you can only study for so long. When he woke up, I asked him how he was doing, and he told me we were going to the Urgent Care so be could get an IV drip. We got a ride over, and he got taken care of while I watched one if those home-makeover shows on the clinic TV. I don’t think I miss TV all that much, cause they kept running the same few ads, ugh. We were only there for a few hours, and had dinner at a Mongolian grill with a Sister Cook.
Well, I’ve got to get shooping But I know this church is true, and if you follow the guidance and council of the Lord’s anointed, you will receive blessings.
Ya boiElder James Berky
P.S. I made a BLT by weaving the bacon strips and it was
So this week started off great, but then just hit a brick wall.
6: Wow, look at all this graffiti Because Eugene is a city littered with people who have too much time on their hands, there is naturally a lot of graffiti. Some really cool, and some… really lame. We see a lot of it on the bike path that we walk every day, and every time we pass this one hammer and sickle I spit on it.
5: can I buy motorcycle? Saw a nice motorcycle for sale, only $1000!! We talked to the owner of it, and he just wanted to get rid of it. Could use a little bit of tuning he said but otherwise it was fine. Dang, don’t think that President Orton would want a couple of missionaries cruising around on that type of bike.
4: How can I become an elder? We got a call on Sunday, a call from Zach who wanted to know how quickly he could become an elder. Well, the first step is baptism we told Zach at our first lesson with him. He agreed to be baptized on August 10th! He’s got some trouble under his belt, and isn’t in the best situation, but wants to change for the better. We can try to take the people out of the slums, but they’ll fall right back in. That’s why we give them the knowledge of Christ. Who will take the slums out of the people, and they in turn will take themselves to higher places.
3: Hello, is anyone home?? I wish I could have shared that message with more people this week, but for some reason, we just couldn’t find anyone to talk to!! Only one out of every ten doors would open, and those who would answer were “fine where they’re at”. Ugghh it’s fine. We were working, and that’s what matters.
2: I miss the coastal weather The Oregon coast is it’s own micro climate, where the weather never got over 70° F. It was so nice, but here it has gotten high 80’s. I’m so spoiled, but grateful, so is it really spoiled? I don’t know, I’m just tired of the spicy sun that is trying to burn my skin off.
1: Spanish missionary work is fun! Elder Clark and I were trying to figure out a way to get into this one trailer park. It says “no trespassing” and “no soliciting” etc. Normally I’ll obey the “no trespassing” because violating that could land you in court and court sucks. But this was a PHAT trailer park and we wanted to knock it anyways. Normally if we have an “appointment” set up the park management let’s us do our thing. We didn’t have an appointment, but we did have a member! Sister Garcia, don’t know her, she might be less active. So we sent, said “screw you” to the park management (only joking) and said hi to sister Garcia. She was a Spanish speaker, and didn’t know about Come Follow Me, so after briefly explaining what it is we said we’d be back with a booklet. The next day, we talk with the Spanish elders and go on splits. One set would talk to Sis. Garcia, and the other would react some janky apartments that had plenty of Latinos in our area. Win-Win!
That’s all, imma go make a dank BLT cause I’ve been craving one this past little bit.
