Week 21 - Happy Easter!

We taught a really awesome lesson about family history to Jose. I showed him what I had with me and some of the stories that I knew. He got really excited and will be coming to the church building next Sunday to start filling out his family tree.

We didn't have an exchange last week, but the other elder companions had splits the night we wanted to do it. That means at some point for this transfer, we will be doing two exchanges in one week which will be fun. We did do a double in with the Kutztown sisters though. They didn't know if one of the people that they were teaching was interested in joining the church, or if they just like two young women coming over. So, the sisters sent us to judge what he is after in taking the lessons.

We just got a new video for Easter, “Because He Lives”, and we have been told to show it to as many people as we can. We also got special pass along cards just like for "He is the Gift" video for Christmas time. I really like the video. If you have not seen it, you can watch it at helives.mormon.org

Happy Easter to everyone!

Mom here -- The ward that Elder Bjerregaard is serving in does not appear to have the wonderful priesthood gathering (meal) before the priesthood session like Wickenburg Ward does. He says that he will be attending conference at different locations.

Sunday Dinner with the Burts

Elder Bjerregaard

#BecauseHeLives

Week 20

Friday, March 20 I thought that we were done with snow but guess what? It's Baaaaack! Sunday, March 22 never mind, it's gone again. It is nice to have this winter over with. I was getting tired of all the snow. I really hope that next winter will be a lot milder this winter then the one that I just went through. I don't know how I survived, but I did.

I had a really funny experience this week. We went to talk to someone who we thought was a less-active member. This would be the third time that we were able to talk to the person. We were talking to him like he is a member the last two times. This time he told us that we had the wrong person and that his name was Ed. It was really weird, but we were then able to find the person who we thought we were talking to. We are still planning on going back to teach Ed because he seemed like he really enjoyed it when we went over.

Brother Ricks gave a really awesome talk about the Atonement yesterday. I don't know how long he had to prepare for it, but he didn't have any notes with him and he did it all off the top of his head. He was able to pull up different scriptures and use them in a way that he could relate them to the Atonement. He told a story from his mission. He ran into a person who was passing out anti-religion pamphlets. To make a long story short, the guy told him that he is doing it because he can and that God would not stop him. Brother Ricks replied that the reason why God would not stop him is because that would make the sacrifice that Jesus made in vain and would destroy that man’s agency.

We had a really good lesson with Jessica and Jason. We were planning on teaching The Gospel of Jesus Christ, but instead, we answered her questions. She wanted us to share our testimony on how we came to know that this church is true. It was a really powerful moment and the Spirit was there. They are still a little hesitant to commit to anything firm. They don't know when that will be able to come to church because of their crazy work schedules, and Jason finds out each Friday if he has to work on Sunday.

Over all, I think I had a really good week. But this next week, it will be even better.

Elder Bjerregaard

Week 19

This is last week of my third transfer. I don't know why, but this transfer seemed like it went by very quickly. Mom here—Missionaries count their time in terms of transfers. One transfer equals six weeks.

I was on exchange with Elder Miller this week. Elder Miller is an awesome missionary. It is too bad he is going home at the end of April because I would like to know him better. He is an “odd” missionary because he is from Alabama and most missionaries here are from the west coast. We taught two less active members. One is difficult and refuses to read the Book of Mormon because she does not want to read it.

We had five lessons planned for yesterday (Sunday) and two of them didn't happen. One of them had to go to the hospital. The other had something come up, so we could not visit. Sunday is a day of rest unless you are a missionary. My past three Sundays have been my busiest day out of the week, but I am in the service of Jesus Christ and helping people come closer Him. That makes it all worth it.

I have been discovering that I need to rely on the Lord, because when I depend on my on strength I have found that very little work is done. When I follow the promptings of the Spirit, much work gets done. It is hard to rely on Him, but I have learned and am still learning that it with His help, I can do great things.

Elder Bjerregaard

The District

Elder Bjerregaard with Gerald

Week 18

I went on an exchange with Elder Leavitt this week. We had a really good lesson with Gerald about following the prophet and about the general conference we are having at the beginning of April. I cannot believe that I have been out long enough for it to be time for General Conference.

We have been teaching a person whose name is Jose. Jose lives by us. He has not really been going to any church, but he says he has been enjoying our visits. We have invited him to come to church, but he said it might be better to wait before he comes. He thinks that when we visit him, it is more "real" than when he comes into a church. He says that his dad must be a member of the church because as a kid they talked about a lot about topics that we cover in the plan of salvation.

Friday I will find out if I will be transferred. I would like to stay here in the Reading area because we are starting to get some really awesome investigators. I would really like to see them progress all the way to baptism, but I would also like to go somewhere else and meet new people. I just hope I will not be like Elder Thomas and stay here 9 months, 6 months is long enough I think. (He arrived in Reading four months ago Wednesday.)

I have been trying to be 100% obedient in my mission. It is difficult at times, but what is difficult is normally worth it.

week 17

The time is quickly adding up. I have already been gone for four months. At this rate I will be home before I know it. For the people who do not know how time passes for a missionary, I will enlighten you. For missionaries, a day feels like a year; a week feels like a month; a month feels like a week; and a year feels like a day. I don't know about the last part, but for the first three I can testify that it is true because I am living through it.

I am going to try a new format for these emails/blog posts. I am not going to write about every single day, but I will only put in highlights to see if I like this format better.

The zone leaders gave us a person who they got from mormon.org. Jessica is a person who wanted a bible. She is really excited to learn more about the gospel and what our church believes. She was asking questions about topics that we normally don't cover until later lessons. We should have answered them, but we were running short on time so we are going to answer them next time we go over.

We went on exchanges this week with the Pottsville elders. (Pottsville is northwest of Reading.) One thing I like about being a companion with the district leader is that I get to go on exchanges with all the elders in the district. We have two golden elders, or in other words elders who are being trained. (You are golden or new for the first two transfers. I am in my third transfer period, so I am no longer golden.) It is really fun to see what they already know as a missionary and therefore to see how much I have grown since coming into the field.

We also had a lesson with a person we found a couple of weeks ago. His wife understands English but she can only speak Spanish. She had a few questions, but she needed to ask them through another person. We got a little frustrated because we could not communicate with her easily, so we are going to give the teaching over to the zone leaders. They speak Spanish, so they can talk directly with her without relying on someone to translate for her.

This area is really awesome. I am really glad I have the opportunity to serve here. I am still not sure why I am in this area. I don’t know if I am here for someone in this area or for me, but I know that I have something that I need to do here. By the time I leave, I will know that I did the best that I could do in this part of the Lord’s vineyard and fulfilled His purpose for sending me here.


Elder Bjerregaard

Grandma here ~ We are so excited about this new opportunity Michael has in his mission. When we found out that our techie person is in a mission that is the first to do all of this digital work, my first thought was that is why he went to this mission. Then today, we read that he is wondering why he is in that area, but he knows he should be there!

Michael wrote that he “is going to get my mini iPad 2 tomorrow during the zone training. I am looking forward to getting a new iPad that I will be able to take home after my mission (even though I know that it will be outdated or almost outdated when I come home).”