INVITE OTHERS TO COME UNTO CHRIST

This has been a wonderful and busy week. We made three trips to South Carolina. Wednesday we drove to Irmo for training (all senior couples) and a dinner at the mission presidents home, President and Sister Holm. The training was motivating and inspiring and the dinner was delicious. Friday we had the opportunity to go with our ward to help clean the temple in Hopkins, just outside Columbia. The temple is cleaned twice a week and each ward has an assigned time once or twice a year to clean. I had the opportunity to clean the celestial room. We actually didn't clean because the temple never gets dirty we just polished and vacuumed. Four ladies were in a sealing room cleaning the crystals on the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and also the crystals on the wall lights. They said it took them about four hours. Saturday we returned to the temple to assist the youth in baptisms. While Elder Berry assisted in the baptistery I had the opportunity to do an endowment session. We got back to Augusta just before a baptism was over for a new convert in our ward. Leaving the baptism we drove to the stake center and participated in a super Saturday for the youth of two stakes. It was a mock MTC. When the youth arrived they were given name tags and paired up and sent to the cultural hall. The cultural hall had different activities, ironing, sewing on buttons, tying neck ties, etc. The youth were invited into the chapel and Sister and President Holmes spoke. President Holm invited the missionaries to come to the front and also the senior couples and we repeated our purpose. (My Purpose: Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. My purpose is to Baptize.) After the talks the youth were dividend into five groups and sent to different rooms for classes. We were assigned to assist the Alma group first as the teacher spoke about testimonies, then we had the opportunity to assist four more times as the groups rotated. Our day ended after our district gathered at our apartment and planned the pick up route for the van and our car for church Sunday (tomorrow). We had ward conference Sunday and it was such a special day, from sacrament meeting, adult joint meeting, and Relief Society. It was like attending a normal ward again. We were disappointed at the attendance of the recent converts. Our attendance has been gradually falling off. We have been given a list of names from Relief Society, Primary and Young Women to contact. The ward wants us to find and concentrate on the members who are serious about coming to church and get them there. So this week that is exactly what we will be trying to do.

We are finally experiencing southern weather, rain and lots of it. The past three days have been dreary and cloudy. We are enjoying it though. Come rain or shine missionary work will not stop nothing will stop the Lord's work because "the field is white allready to harvest."

Love, Elder and Sister Berry