BE PURPOSE DRIVEN

 After a busy morning last week we made it to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Thanks Grace and Tony!

Today (Tuesday) we were antied as the missionaries call it. Elder Berry and I were at a Sisters home talking to her and encouraging her to attend the temple the next day with three sisters in the ward. This Sister went to the temple for the first time in November and hasn't returned. When we drove up a repair man was making repairs on her apartment. Not long after we got there the man knocked on the door and asked the sister if she would help him replace the screen on one of the windows. The lady went in the other room and was gone for a short time and we could hear them talking but not what they were saying. When the lady came back she said the repair man ask if  that was Mormons she was talking to and if so don't listen to them. He also asked if he could come in and talk with her and the Mormons. What an experience! He had a very distorted understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He told her the only thing she needed to do to be saved was to believe in the atonement of Jesus Christ, there were no more prophets, no more revelation and many other things. He pulled a little Bible out of his pocket and proceeded to get us to read or read to us a scripture but he wouldn't turn to the scriptures we suggested. The lady told him she was a member of the church and that we weren't trying to convince her of anything because she believes the Church is true. We all boldly bore our testimony of the atonement, faith and works, prophets, of the Book of Mormon and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored on earth. He didn't give up easily. The only regret we had is we didn't stay calm enough, this was a really smooth talking and convincing man. After the man left the sister said he had a cold look in those beautiful blue eyes. What she was describing was a lack of the spirit.  On the fourth Saturday of each month we have a mission wide conference call. Saturday President Holm's message to all is to be more more purpose driven. The more we think of others the more purpose driven we will become, we will increase in faith,we will have power to touch lives, we will have more confidence, we will have more desires to do right, we will be better in teaching, planning and our faith grows more. The repair man was purpose drive. His purpose was to cause doubt, disbelief, and loss of faith.It should have been no concern to the repair man who was sitting in the lady's living room but when he knocked on the door he was invited in. In life we sometime invite the enemy in and if we aren't purpose driven and grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ we could have doubts and even loose our faith, there is "opposition in all things" (2 Nephi: 2-11) .

If you look real close you will see a squirrel sitting on the edge of the roof. This week as we were driving by Elder Berry spotted the squirrel, turned around and took this picture.When we first arrived in Augusta we were fascinated with all the squirrels. They could be seen everywhere, running across electrical wires, scampering up trees and jumping from limb to limb, clinging on the side of buildings and on the roofs of houses. We were fascinated with the squirrels so we went to the store and bought bags, and bags of peanuts, placed them on our patio, waited and watched and took lots and lots of pictures. We had more fun until we learned more about the squirrels and the damage they do to homes and property. As we were driving in an apartment complex Elder Berry noticed this squirrel sunning on the top of a building. It all looks very innocent.  

Elder Berry zoomed in on the squirrel and if you look closely you can see a small whole in the corner where the boards meet.The squirrel lives inside the attic of this building. Once inside he does hundreds of dollars worth of damage, even chewing through electrical wires which causes home fires,  at times exterminators even need to be called in to get rid of  families of squirrels in the attic, and they even destroy gardens and potted plants. We didn't recognize the damage or danger these friendly little fuzzy creatures do.As harmless as these little squirrels look they can cause homeowners grief. We innocently fed these little creatures until we learned of their destructive ways. In life we need to be aware of the hidden dangers we encounter. If we are purpose driven we will be able to recognize the dangers no matter how harmless it may appear.

St John Towers, downtown Augusta - Assisted living for Seniors 

Three sisters in the ward live here

Krystal restaurant is only in the south and we eat here often. Tuesday after DDM meeting we took the Elders to lunch here because everyone needs to experience the Krystal at least once while on their mission. At dinner Sunday we learned what they really thought about the Krystal. Elder Berry grilled hamburgers and each Elder ate two big burgers with the works. While they were eating, smacking and licking their lips one of them said, "this is what a hamburger should be, not a once in a lifetime experience with the Krystal." We do allow everyone the freedom of speech and choice but we don't have to agree. 

This week it seems we have operated a taxi service and hopefully assisted many in helping them to improve their lives. Thursday we drove a person to practice taking his GED test so he can pass it in a few weeks and then be able to apply for jobs so he can support his family. We will do this until he takes his test. The bus service in Augusta is terrible plus they don't have bus fare. We drove another man to his destination but dropped him off and he had to get his own ride home. Holly accompanied us to visit Katy in the nursing home and loved every minute of it. Now Katy will have someone else from the ward to visit her when we leave. Thursday evening we drove a sister to the stake center for addiction recovery class, who is attempting to overcome smoking. Another sister who was scheduled to come with us cancelled because her daughter was sick. The sister who did attend just loved it and was so excited about the class and is looking forward to attending again. This sister was scheduled to be baptized Saturday but her mother went in the hospital with this awful flu and so the baptism was cancelled because her father (recent convert) was to baptize her and wasn't able to make it. Another sister and her two sons were to be baptized but was cancelled also. Saturday was a very disappointing day for all of us.We look forward to this coming Saturday as we anticipate the baptisms of these wonderful people. As our service is quickly drawing to a close in Augusta we hope that we can become more purpose driven, that we will have the power to touch lives for good.

Love, Elder & Sister Berry

One of Elder Berry's favorite scriptures: 1 Nephi 3:7
".....I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."  So set goals and be more purpose driven and you can accomplish what you set out to do.

SMALL AND SIMPLE THINGS

Following are a few of the small and simple things we did this week.
Monday - Elder Berry drove a member, who doesn't have a car, to the hospital for a procedure and stayed with him and drove him home.
Tuesday - Drove a sister and her grandchildren to school. The children had been sick and hadn't attended school for a few days so the grandmother had to take the children back along with a note from the doctor,
drove another sister to Augusta Housing Authority to get her lease renewed, and made a visit to the hospital along with other visits.
Wednesday - Drove a brother to donate plasma, visited an older sister who's heart was heavy and just needed to be reassured that we can be forgiven of our sins, and drove a brother to pick up a car that his sister gave him.
Thursday - Baked cookies and delivered a plate of cookies and baby gifts to two families in the ward with new babies, visited an older brother who was in the process of installing a new DVD player and needed assistance, and in the evening drove a sister to an addiction recovery class who is trying to stop smoking.
Friday - Inspected Elders apartments in Aiken, SC,  second one in North Augusta, SC, and the third one in Stevens Creek, Georgia, visited some less active members and about seven in the evening we got a call from two of our Elders so off to the rescue. Elder Tippetts had an extremely bad headache and just couldn't go anymore. When we arrived he was sitting on the sidewalk, so Elder Berry and Elder Olsen loaded up the bikes and we drove them to their apartment so Elder Berry and I decided it was time to go home too.
Saturday - drove a sister to a college class in the morning and picked her up in the afternoon and drove her home, spent the rest of the day hunting and finding less active members, some homes people were inside but chose not to answer, then we got a phone call from a sister who just needed comfort.
Sunday - We had missionary correlation meeting on Sunday morning, all the people we pick up for church were sick and weren't able to come to church so this was the first Sunday since we have lived there that we didn't pick anyone up so we made two visits before church but found no one home. My sister Patti cooked dinner for all our missionaries and guest (7) plus Elder Berry and me and her family. They even brought the food to our apartment and ate with us. Delicious!!!!!!!

SUNDAY DINNER

Sunday dinner guest

Liz a beautiful investigator who is in graduate school here in Augusta

My sister Patti, grandchildren and husband sitting on couch, Holly sitting on chair 

We had two special experiences this week with our district. The first was at District Development Meeting on Tuesday morning. Elder Meyer our new district leader conducted his first meeting and challenged us to be a more unified district so miracles will happen. He talked about the small and simple things we need to do to invites the spirit and that leads to complete obedience. It was very humbling to be taught truths by our young district leader and the spirit bore witness the things he taught and promised are true. He asked us will you and we answered him we will. The second experience was at Book of Mormon class Wednesday night. As mentioned before we have a Book of Mormon class for recent converts, investigators, and less active members. A chapter is read each week as everyone takes tunes reading, then what is read is discussed, then we talk about how it applies to our lives today. The spirit was strong. In the introduction to the Book of Mormon Joseph Smith said, "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book. This is true! Reading the Book of Mormon is such a simple thing but a necessary thing.

As we visit we meet so many wonderful people, some people are happy and continent and others are struggling with health, finances and are weighed down with the cares of the world. Those who actively participate in the church and serve are much more content and happy. We visited three different people this week who have three different stories and three different ways of handling their situation in life. One lady was upbeat and happy, continuely learning although she was up in years, another lady was confused and burdened with past sins, and one man had no family, poor health and was bitter. Our week is filled with small and simple acts but we hope the small and simple things we say and do as we visit will help others overcome some of their trials and give them hope in Jesus Christ and his atonement.

The dinner my sister Patti brought over was no small and simple thing and we all enjoyed it! Thanks Patti and Dan for all your hard work and supporting the missionaries.

Alma 37:6 ".....that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass:"

DON'T LET THE SMOKE OUT

Tuesday Senior Training & Dinner

You may recall about our pumpkin pie episode on Christmas Eve. As Elder Berry tells the story he always tells the Elders, "we got there just in time, when the pie was taken out of the oven smoke wasn't coming out." We still couldn't eat the pie but all wasn't lost because the pie wasn't on fire because we got there before the smoke started coming out. In other words there wasn't a fire in our oven. After he made these remarks the Elders looked at him really strange trying to figure out what he meant because the Elders have caught on to his sense of humor. One by one as they caught on they gave a little chuckle. Now that phrase "don't let the smoke out" is quoted often. Elder Olsen came in one day and told us he cooked oatmeal for breakfast that morning but he accidentally let the smoke out..He forgot to put water in the bowl with the oatmeal and it caught on fire, burning up the oatmeal and bowl. Elder Meyer, our newest Elder wasn't here when this foolishness started and every time someone says don't let the smoke out, he gets a confused look on his face and says he just doesn't get it. Yesterday we had spaghetti for Sunday dinner. While we were having dinner Elder Meyer noticed he had spaghetti sauce spots on the shoulder of his white shirt. He looked down at the end of the table and said, "Sister Berry look what you did to me." Everyone laughed because I wasn't even sitting close to him and of course don't let the smoke out was said and everyone laughed except Elder Meyer. Then we noticed Elder Meyer didn't have his name tag on his shirt and he was asked about that and his answer was he didn't want to get it dirty. We got a good laugh out of that because it's much easier to clean spaghetti sauce from a plastic name tag than a white dress shirt. Moral of "don't let the smoke out," if you let the smoke out of things you are doing or attempting to do it will go bad or in other words your efforts aren't good enough.

Elder Meyer at the end of table

 Holly joined us for dinner along with an investigator Liz. 

Our Elders are hard working and we can't praise them enough. The car Elders (Elders Potts & Meyer) drive their car to an area, get their bikes off and bike miles as they visit less actives, recent converts and seek people to teach. Friday evening about time to come in for dinner we were in an area quite a distance from our apartment. While we were stopped at a red light these Elders crossed the street in front of us on their bikes. Elder Potts was so re-leaved and glad to see us. They were headed back to their car which was quite a distance from them. The bikes were loaded onto our bike rack, they jumped in and were returned to their car. As we drove they mentioned they talked about calling Elder & Sister Berry and if we were close ask for a ride. They decided not to call, they didn't let the smoke out. We know Heavenly Father watches over our missionaries and is aware of their needs and puts someone in their path at their time of need. We are grateful that we were able to rescue. Our bike elders (Elders Olsen & Tippetts) can be seen biking over the neighborhood and at times we are able to load up their bikes and drop them off. 

ZTM -  ZONE TRAINING MEETING - TUESDAY MORNING

Tuesday morning was zone training meeting. What a joy to attend these meetings with our whole zone, to stand accountable, and to be taught under the direction of the zone leaders and other Elders and Sisters as assigned. 

TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING - SENIOR TRAINING & DINNER

PRESIDENT & SISTER HOLM

SATURDAY EVENING - PRIMARY DINNER - TRIBUTE TO TEACHERS

 Sister Berry and Amethyst

Deacons served the dinner

Children gave teachers rose

Saturday morning we got a phone call from a member of the Primary Presidency asking if we had received an invitation to the Primary dinner. We had not because we aren't Primary teachers although I have substituted. She invited us to join them that evening if we weren't busy, fortunately we were able to attend. The evening was well organized, food delicious and speakers excellent. The best part of the evening was we sat by Amethyst and her boyfriend who is not a member of the church. During the dinner we discussed our beliefs with the boyfriend and Amethyst would say that's exactly what I wanted to say but it wouldn't come our right. We were able to teach the plan of salvation as we ate dinner because we had a captive audience but he was also interested and asked lots of questions. We knew we were invited to that dinner for a purpose but didn't know until we were seated. Amethyst is a  young girl, a recent convert with two small children which we have had the privilege to get to know. There were many people in the room closer to her age but she sat at our table, so we were free to share the gospel. We know this was no accident and we hope we didn't let the smoke out. Before the meeting was over Elders Meyer & Potts called and asked if Elder Berry could go to the hospital with them and give a blessing, so off we went with the elders to the hospital. Earlier Saturday morning these same Elders made a trip to a different hospital and gave a blessing. In the afternoon as Elder Berry was finishing up a service project we got a call from Elders Olsen & Potts asking if we would be able to drive them to Grovetown (to far to bike) to assist with a service project. Elder Berry put his tools away and off we went. During this very busy day we also found the time to knock on the doors of a few less active members, finding only one home and a short visit.

This week as we were searching out the less active we were able to visit a very special lady. The week before we called to get an appointment to visit. She told us she was sick in bed and couldn't get up and answer the door. We asked if we could call back another time and she agreed. Many times we call or go by someones house and are told they can't come to the door because they are sick. Wednesday morning a phone call was made and the lady said we could come visit. We found a very frail, sick lady sitting in her motorized wheel chair waiting for us. This lady joined the church almost two years ago but shortly after joining the church was diagnosed with uterine cancer, and underwent surgery and other treatment. Her name was on the membership list but due to her illness was unable to attend church and no one ever got to know her. Our hearts went out to her. We gave her a short message, and asked if she would like a blessing. She immediately said yes then asked what that was so we explained. A blessing was given and this was truly a humbling experience. We hope to make many more visits.

This has been a wonderful busy week as all of our weeks are! Sometimes it would be easy to stay home but we don't want to let the smoke out, or in other words we want our efforts to be good enough and acceptable and not go up in smoke.

Love Elder & Sister Berry

We have had a lot of fog lately. This is what our apartment complex looked like during Elder Berry's early morning walk. This past week our temperatures have been in the high 70's

 Elder Berry loves to feed the ducks. These ducks were little ducklings this spring.