Week 68: "OK SO WHAT IS GOING ON BACK THERE"

OK SO WHAT IS GOING ON BACK THERE!!!!

We got people getting married, we got people going to Honduras, we got someone with a narly mexi stash, like GEEZ santa vaca, what is happening without me!!!!!

I AM SO HAPPY AGAIN!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS TO MY BEST FRIEND IN DA WHOLE WIDE WERLD IZZY FOR HER MISSION CALL TO HONDURAS!!!!! CASI ME VUELVO LOCO. A LA TORRE MI HERMANITA VA A SER MISIONERA!!!!! the only sad part is they sent you a little too far south... I was totally expecting to have a sister in the same mission....

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY BIG SEESTER ADRIANNA FOR GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!! ITS OFFICIAL!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY BROTHER FOR THE NEW PET FERRET THAT HE HAS ON HIS FACE!!! YOU ROCK THAT LOOK BROTHER!!!!

AND SORRY TO EVERYONE FOR MY DADS POSES IN THE WEDDING PHOTOS!!!

And to finish up, Thank you so so so so so so so so much Shannon Sperry for your package. I now have enough toothbrushes to clean out all cavities and fight off all cockroaches, and enough candy to get more cavities. And yes, I was flooded with compliments for the block socks with the pink spots. They could not have been perfect.

Well to some up this week, Ruben got baptized and it was awesome! Next week I will send some pics!

I don't know if life can get any better. I am so happy I don't know how to put it in to words.

Elder Bernal
"Happiness is only real when shared"

- Chris McCandless

Week 69: "With gentle hands, one can shake the world"

BUENO!!!

Soooo it was a rough week because all of a sudden I got a little sick. But all is well now. Don't worry Mom.

Our mission president, Presidente Hernandez and his wife are finishing their three years of service this week, and so last week we had our last reunion and said our goodbyes. It was really sad but they are really special people and I am gonna miss them a ton. See the pic attached!

So this week we received news of the transfers in the mission, and turns out they sent me to PUERTO PEÑASCO!!!! It was pretty sad because I had to say bye to Mi compa Elder Hernandez and some of the best people I have ever met in my mission, but I have lots of time left in my mission so I really hope i get to see them again. After 6 very very fast months, I will be saying goodbye to Villa de Seris, which is actually pretty hard to do because it has been one of if not my favorite area in all of my mission.  I love villa de seris and I am going to miss it a lot. 

And here I am in PUERTO PEÑASCO!!! Even though it is Mexico, they are more signs in English because of all the gringos that come for vacation! I will be here for another 6 weeks at least so I am very excited. The other great news is that for the first time in my mission, I will be cruising down the streets on MY SWEET BIKE!!! Look out Peñasco!!

So Sunday was Fathers day, and I owe a huge happy fathers day to the man I love most on this planet. Happy Fathers day Fernando you big chump!! sigue guapo!! 

Not a whole lot of time this week, so it will be short. But hey, I'm in Peñasco! Super excited to get to work here. From what I have been told, the people are amazing and are willing to listen. Attached are some photos from when I said bye to everyone in my ward here, and also when I got Shannon Sperry's care package - Thank you!!!

That's all for now, until next week!!

Elder Bernal

"With gentle hands, one can shake the world."

     - Ghandi

Wee 67: "Forgive him seventy times and seven"

HI!!

LET'S GO MERCER ISLAND LACROSSE LET'S GOO STATE CHAMPS THAT'S WHAT I"M TALKING ABOUT!!!!!! I AM SOO HAPPY!!!!! JACK VASSAU YOU MY HERO MAN WAY TO GO OUT SWINGING!!!!!

If any of you have not witnessed the photo of Jack Vassau with his little stud of a brother Max following Mercers state championship victory, give it a look. It is the greatest photo that has ever been captured since the Mona Lisa (see attachment).
So today has been A GREAT DAY. It was full of lots of great great great news. I am so happy write now I cannot even begin to describe. Ok well here are a couple of awesome things that happened this week:

1. There is a member who lives in our area whose name is Adrian Cota. He and his family live in very humble circumstances, and are amazing and incredibly people. Despite a lack of economic necessities in a family of 9, they have always been willing to do anything for the missionaries. This Sunday, they invited us for dinner later that week. When we got there, we found that Adrian was alone with his 4 little boys, and his wife and her daughters had left the city to take care of some errands. We shared a message with them about the Law of Tithing. It was a very powerful lesson not because of what we said, but because of what Adrian told us. This man, living in a house of cardboard that he built with his own hands, and with the dusty earth as their only floor, began to tell us of how incredibly blessed he is by the Lord because of his obedience in paying his tithing. He bore us his testimony of times when he didn't even have enough money to buy dinner for his kids, but chose to pay tithing first. He told us of how grateful he was for this opportunity that God give us so that He can bless us. It was incredible. He closed with a prayer, and for the first time in a while, tears flowed to my eyes in humility for this incredible and faithful man. His humbleness and perspective of life is truly an example for all. He is what the Savior describes as one with "treasures in heaven" because "he who has eternal life is rich."

2. We are teaching a man named Ruben, who is also incredible. One of the greatest parts of the mission is seeing the changes that occur in the lives of these people. Ruben is one of those that had many changes in his life that we never realized until this week. He is going through a rough time since he and his wife are separating, but he has found much peace and happiness in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He told us that since we started meeting with him, everything in his life has changed. He was able to cope more with the divorce, he was able to overcome health problems that he was having, and he even saw a drastic change in his economic life when he stopped working on Sundays and started to come to church; his income nearly doubled! People like Ruben are why I am so happy to be a missionary.

3. Speaking of why I love being a missionary, teaching people about the Gospel is also one of the greatest things. As missionaries, we are promised that the spirit will guide us in teaching situations to know that to say. Many times when I teach, I wonder where I get some of the stuff that comes out of my mouth. When we were teaching someone named Luz, she was telling us that she wanted to know more about the love of God, because she didn't really feel much love in her life. It was in this moment that I told her something that did not come from me. I told her that If she wanted to understand how much God loves her, then she should let God forgive her. When we go through the process of repentance and we feel forgiven, we begin to understand how great Gods love really is for us. Think about our relations with our friends and family. When we forgive others, and when they forgive us, these are moments when we feel true happiness and gratitude for one another. A favorite poem says the following: 

O man, forgive thy mortal foe, Nor ever strike him blow for blow; For all the souls on earth that live To be forgiven must forgive. Forgive him seventy times and seven: For all the blessed souls in Heaven Are both forgivers and forgiven

I left that appointment learning from what I had just said. I knew that those words were not my own, but rather words that were given to me by the Holy Ghost, as promised to all Missionaries and servants of the Lord. And thanks to that promise, I could come to the important realization; that the beauty of love is epitomized in forgiveness.

Have an EXCELLENT WEEK, and may you all feel as happy as I do today.
Elder Bernal


Inspiration for the Week:

"EM EM EM EE ARE,
SEE SEE SEE EE ARE
EM EE ARE
SEE EE ARE
GO MERCER GO!!"

Week 66: Live A Higher Standard

Hey everyone!!

So, I don't know why, but we have been enjoying some relatively cool weather for the month of May. Normally its like already smoking hot during these days, but it has been pretty low key. I'm pretty happy about that but also dead scared for when the real deal breaks out.... pray for rain....

Normal week, but one of the coolest things was on Sunday. One of our converts whose name is Cynthia gave a talk, and OH MY GOODNESS. She is a convert of only 3 months, and this day she invited a ton of her friends to come to church to hear her talk, and she nailed it! It was SO incredibly awesome. She taught the doctrine, she bore her testimony, (she even got a little choked up when talking about Joseph Smiths First Vision) and then she invited everyone to live to a higher standard. OMG I was just so happy. So SO so incredibly proud of her to see the change that has occurred in her life. It really makes you happy to see someone like her grow so rapidly in the gospel. ah yeah so that was awesome. Go cynthia

SO MY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED!!! CONGRATS TO MY BIG SEESTER ADRIANNA on her engagement!!!!!! I dont really know the guy but I heard he had some wonderful long locks a while back and is a athletic trainer so I could probably play that to my advantage when i get back....... Congratulations to Adrianna and Jaime!! Invitenme a la boda!!

That's all for this week. Have a great one!

Elder Bernal

Week 65: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it"

Que hubo!

So let me take you back to Monday of last week. Elder Hernandez and Elder Bernal are cleaning up the house so its fresh and clean and so Rosy wont get mad, heehee. I go to my chair where I sit EVERY MORNING and I move it to the side so I can sweep a little. Then, from out of the bottom of my chair, there suddenly emerges A BLACK WIDOW SPIDER AND BEFORE I COULD DO ANYTHING IT BIT ME IN THE ARM!!! No jk.

Don't worry mom it was a joke, It didn't bite me. But it did come crawling out and I may have let out a 5 year old girl little scream that our neighbors from down the street might have heard. I thought about it for a little second, What are the odds that that spider has been there for a while? What are the odds that out of the many times that I have sat in that chair, and it hasn't crawled on my leg or even given me a nibble? I like to think that God protected me from any harm, but instead of thinking about it any longer, I whipped out the broom and practiced my lumberjack skills and chopped that widow to pieces.

So other than that, the week was great! More news to come in the next week. Stay Safe! Check for spiders!

Elder Bernal

Inspiration for the Week:

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

- Nelson Mandela

Week 64: "Another 6 Weeks of Adventure"

Hello everyone!

So this week was a great one! It went by really fast, and I dont have to much to tell you all about it ... All I have to say this week is that I was great to talk to my family yesterday. Miss you guys and it was great to see all your beautiful faces, yes, even yours Garret..... JUST KIDDING! LOVE YA!!!!

We had transfers this week, but I am staying right where I am with Elder Hernandez. Another 6 weeks of adventures.

Love you all!

Elder Bernal

"The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow."

Week 63: "Go Wherever Your Best Prayers Take You"

HEY EVERYONE

SO THIS LAST WEEK WAS A PRETTY GOOD ONE! MAYBE ONE OF THE BEST ONES!!

So about 2 months ago, I wrote a letter about how we found a family in our area, and today, and I am going to retell it for those who missed.

On one beautiful Thursday, Elder Guerra and I had just finished planning for the week. We were pretty anxious to find a complete family since that had been a common request in many of our prayers. This Thursday, we were tired of not finding one, so we decided to do an experiment to test Gods ability to lead us to a family that was ready to receive the Gospel. We grabbed the map of our area, and we divided it into three groups, and we gave a number to each one. Then, we got on our knees and said a prayer. We asked God to indicate to us which number was the location that we needed to go to, to find the family that He had prepared. When we finished the prayer, we agreed that on the count of three, we would say the number that was most predominant in our mind. 1, 2, 3, boom. We said the same one. OK, it was the first time, there are just three numbers, beginners luck right? So we took that area that we had agreed on, and we divided it into 3 again and did the same thing. Once again, we said the same number. We repeated this process 6 times, and every time that we prayed together, we said the same number (one time we decided to pray individually, and this was the only time that we spoke a different number. We took it as a hint that God wanted us to be united).  We got it down to three streets out of our entire area.This was the last time we would pray, and we could both feel the Spirit very strongly. After repeating the process for the final time, we both spoke the same street name: Calle Serena. This very hour, we left the house and practically sprinted to the street, absolutely sure that it was where God needed us to go, and not just the result of some silly guessing game. In search of a family, we spotted a parked mini van outside a house. We knocked on the door, a grown man opened, and a few moments later, we met the familia Torres Ibarra.  

2 months later on the 2nd of May 2015, that amazing and beautiful family entered the waters of baptism together. It was one of the most amazing days of my entire mission. Seeing their faces as they left the font and as they celebrated together in a group hug, was a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. 

I am absolutely 100% sure, and do not have a single doubt that Elder Guerra and I were once again led by the Lord to find this family, proof that not only does God exist, but that he answers the prayer said with faith and real intention. I love this work so much, and am so so so grateful to have been the means by which this family could grow one big step closer to God. 

Love you Mommys!!! Talk to you all on Sunday!!!

Elder Bernal

"Go wherever your best prayers take you."

   - Frederick Buechner