To all the mothers happy Mother's Day. I hope that all the mothers that are reading this had a wonderful day yesterday. I know my mom and Grandma did because we were able to Skype with each other. We can only Skype twice a year, once on Mother's Day and again on Christmas.
This was the first Sunday with my new bishop. I found out that he is a professional organist. It is going to be fun working with him as we work together to help bring about the Lord's work to the people in our ward boundaries.
We are not teaching very many people right now, so we have been doing a lot of street contacting. Some of the people we have talked to are drunk, so they say some of the funniest things. Sadly we have not found anyone interested in listening to the message we share, but I know that they are out there and if I try long enough we will be able to find the humble seekers of truth.
Wilmington is very green and a lot of the houses have a lot of trees nearby. It is wonderful to be able to see this much greenery since I am used to the brown desert of Arizona. I have really liked being on the East Coast so far, and I am looking forward to what else I can witness when I am here.
It is a wonderful thing to know that I am doing what the Lord wants me to do right now. I have always been told that if you make a choice before you have to, it is much easier to make the right one. I think it is the same way with my mission. If I had not made the choice beforehand, it might have been easier to follow the counsel and the wisdom of the world. The world would say giving up two years and totally devoting myself to serving the Lord was fool hearty. The world says that it would be better to go through college and start my career. I have chosen a better path and I am serving the Lord. I can already see some of the blessings of doing so, and I know more are still to come.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
Monday, May 11, 2015
Monday, May 4, 2015
Week 26 --New Area
My six month mark happened on Wednesday last week. It is odd to think that I have already been away from home that long already. It seems like yesterday that Mom and Grandma dropped me off at the MTC. It also seems like I just got to Reading and now I am in my second area.
Transfers were moved to Wednesday for some reason. They never did say why, but a lot of missionaries think that it so the goldens will know what a normal transfer meeting is like. What they have been doing is the normal transfer meeting was on Tuesday and the golden transfers were on Wednesday. Speaking of transfers, I have been transferred to Wilmington, Delaware. I had a feeling that I would be going to one of the other states in my mission, or that I would be in the Philadelphia area. One strange thing about Delaware is that it doesn't have any sales tax. That is one thing that I need to be getting used to, but I think it is nice because I don't have to think about the tax.
My new companion is Elder Allred. So far, he has only been in Wilmington for a transfers, so he still doesn't know the area all that well himself. Also, Elder Clark is in my district so that means that I get to go on exchanges with him because Elder Allred is the district leader. Elder Weisler is also one of my zone leaders, so I might get to be on exchanges with him as well. I wonder if President Anderson knew that the three of us were MTC companions or it just happened.
We have an awesome investigator. Missionaries have been teaching him for a while, and he has the light of Christ in him. He says he needs some more time before he can be baptized, but he is truly ready whenever he does decide that he is ready.
I hope that I can meet many other really cool people hear. From what I have seen of Wilmington, I really like it and can't wait to see what other people we can meet.
We got a new bishop Sunday. They even changed the time church starts to allow him to accept the calling. He has to work in the morning on Sundays, so they moved the start of church from 9 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
They were given 20 pounds of rice and 10 pounds of chicken. This picture is courtesy of Elder Allred.
Transfers were moved to Wednesday for some reason. They never did say why, but a lot of missionaries think that it so the goldens will know what a normal transfer meeting is like. What they have been doing is the normal transfer meeting was on Tuesday and the golden transfers were on Wednesday. Speaking of transfers, I have been transferred to Wilmington, Delaware. I had a feeling that I would be going to one of the other states in my mission, or that I would be in the Philadelphia area. One strange thing about Delaware is that it doesn't have any sales tax. That is one thing that I need to be getting used to, but I think it is nice because I don't have to think about the tax.
My new companion is Elder Allred. So far, he has only been in Wilmington for a transfers, so he still doesn't know the area all that well himself. Also, Elder Clark is in my district so that means that I get to go on exchanges with him because Elder Allred is the district leader. Elder Weisler is also one of my zone leaders, so I might get to be on exchanges with him as well. I wonder if President Anderson knew that the three of us were MTC companions or it just happened.
We have an awesome investigator. Missionaries have been teaching him for a while, and he has the light of Christ in him. He says he needs some more time before he can be baptized, but he is truly ready whenever he does decide that he is ready.
I hope that I can meet many other really cool people hear. From what I have seen of Wilmington, I really like it and can't wait to see what other people we can meet.
We got a new bishop Sunday. They even changed the time church starts to allow him to accept the calling. He has to work in the morning on Sundays, so they moved the start of church from 9 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
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| Elder Bjerregaard with his new companion Elder Allred |
Monday, April 27, 2015
Week 25 - transfers
My last full week in Reading. Yes, I am getting transferred and it feels weird. I will not find out where until Wednesday. I have most of my stuff together now, and yes, I am working on getting it into the suitcases. It feels so odd to be leaving Reading after living here for almost six months. I am having a hard time getting my head around the fact that I have been out for six months. Time flies when you are doing the work of the Lord. It seems like yesterday that I was dropped off at the MTC and now my mission is almost a quarter over.
I went bowling on Monday because we thought it would be fun and that it would be my last chance to hang out with Elder Leavitt. He went down to the mission home to finish his mission there before his parents pick him up tomorrow. It is really odd seeing so many missionaries that I know go home because they finished their missions.
We had a multi-stake conference on Sunday. I don't know how well the speakers related to the people here. I think the best part is when they said that the Philadelphia Temple was about 67% complete. I am looking forward to seeing that temple finished in my mission because it looks really nice from what I have seen from the artist renderings of it. I hope I can go there during my mission, and it f I cannot, I will go sometime after my mission.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
I went bowling on Monday because we thought it would be fun and that it would be my last chance to hang out with Elder Leavitt. He went down to the mission home to finish his mission there before his parents pick him up tomorrow. It is really odd seeing so many missionaries that I know go home because they finished their missions.
We had a multi-stake conference on Sunday. I don't know how well the speakers related to the people here. I think the best part is when they said that the Philadelphia Temple was about 67% complete. I am looking forward to seeing that temple finished in my mission because it looks really nice from what I have seen from the artist renderings of it. I hope I can go there during my mission, and it f I cannot, I will go sometime after my mission.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
Monday, April 20, 2015
Week 24
In my district we are having two missionaries going home next week. For the last Thursday or Friday all the departing missionaries goes to the DC temple so we could not do the exchanges like normal. It was fun because I was with two golden missionaries (less than three months in the field) in Pottsville. I thought it was fun to be in a trio for a day because we always had something to talk about. One problem is that all but one lesson fell through for Elder Oldroyd, so we did a lot of tracting.
One thing that I have been working on is being more patient. I never knew how many scriptures mention patience. One verse I found says that hope is the combination of the comfort of the scriptures and patience. I found that interesting because I never connected hope and patience in that way before.
My exchange with Elder Riche was not smooth sailing because three appointments fell through. I thought it was very frustrating. We tried to contact couple of people that I knew of and wanted to get in touch with, but we got nothing. I got even more frustrated. I ended up just praying for help. We still didn't see anyone, but I felt better afterwards.
I cannot believe that Taylor is getting close to coming home. It seems like he only just left. Then again, it feels like I have not been in Reading that long and I have already been here six months.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
Monday, April 13, 2015
Week 23
I went on exchanges with Elder Levitt. It is going to be my last time because he is going home. It is odd to think that when I first got here, he still had 6 months before he was to go home. Now he is leaving to the "land of eternal p-day" (missionary talk for going home).
We had investigators come to church for the first time in months. The missionaries have been working with the Wertz family. They only came for sacrament meeting because that is the only part that they committed to. I wish they stayed longer, but I am not really surprised they didn't stay. I think what they did is a step in the right direction.
We had a memorial service for the mother of one of our members on Saturday. It was a nice little service and a lot of non-members were there because the member is the only member in her family.
Elder Bjerregaard
We had investigators come to church for the first time in months. The missionaries have been working with the Wertz family. They only came for sacrament meeting because that is the only part that they committed to. I wish they stayed longer, but I am not really surprised they didn't stay. I think what they did is a step in the right direction.
We had a memorial service for the mother of one of our members on Saturday. It was a nice little service and a lot of non-members were there because the member is the only member in her family.
Elder Bjerregaard
Monday, April 6, 2015
Week 22
One more week is over here in the mission field and this transfer cycle is already half way over.
This might have been my most unproductive week for a while because we had a lot of things that prevented us from teaching people. On Wednesday we had a zone conference that took up most of the day. Friday was weekly planning so that took up the morning and then we had a talent show that we helped set up for. Then the weekend was general conference, so that took up most of the time there. But what could we do? It is not like we can move things around to make everything work nicely.
We did have a couple of lessons though. One of them was when we helped Jose start his family history on the computer. We didn't find any names he did not have, but I am sure the more we try, the sooner we will be able to find something.
I also went into Pottsville for exchanges. That was the first time I went into another area for an exchange for over three months. I thought it was a nice change over being in Reading every day.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
This might have been my most unproductive week for a while because we had a lot of things that prevented us from teaching people. On Wednesday we had a zone conference that took up most of the day. Friday was weekly planning so that took up the morning and then we had a talent show that we helped set up for. Then the weekend was general conference, so that took up most of the time there. But what could we do? It is not like we can move things around to make everything work nicely.
We did have a couple of lessons though. One of them was when we helped Jose start his family history on the computer. We didn't find any names he did not have, but I am sure the more we try, the sooner we will be able to find something.
I also went into Pottsville for exchanges. That was the first time I went into another area for an exchange for over three months. I thought it was a nice change over being in Reading every day.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
Monday, March 30, 2015
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.
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
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.
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| Sunday Dinner with the Burts |
Elder Bjerregaard
#BecauseHeLives
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