Berry, Benjamin T

Now you're probably wondering, why did Elder Berry say, "Now you're probably wondering." Now I bet you're really wondering. Anyhow, this week was hard but good! Bruh, there are so many stray dogs here it makes me mad. I just bend over and act like I pick up a rock or something and pretend to throw it at them, and they scurry off. I think it's from the chancla abuse around here. I also got an acoustic guitar now, so that's awesome. I've always wanted to learn and play guitar, so I have fun practicing and stuff. I got it for free-99 as well. We had a really good last week and set up lots of lessons and met some pretty promising people. Unfortunately, most of them canceled, which sucked, but that's okay. I feel like my faith is growing, but my patience was not very good this week. I gotta trust more in the Lord and His peculiar ways of doing things. Maybe He thinks we're the weird ones. We met some very kind people throughout the week and have bee...

What's up! It's a pleasure to be back on gmail.com to talk to you all. I hope your weeks were good. I'm enjoying Sanger, California! I'm in a trio! Trios are so fun. It's a hoot up in here. I'm training again! I got such a good trainee! I'm also with another missionary whom I'm "greenie breaking," which means they just got out of training. I'm a pretty immature fella, so I should not be the one impressing on the easily impressionable. But here we are. I enjoy each and every day here. The members here in Sanger are awesome! They have a lot of Hispanic members, so we get lots of Mexican food! I think I love tacos now. My first night, I almost had a heart attack as we were walking down a dark street when a big dog charged us out of nowhere, and I thought I was going to get bit good. Luckily, it stopped and backed off at the last minute. My adrenaline shot so high, it couldn't have been healthy. It's always a good day in California when...

I've been in Madera, California, for a quarter of my mission. I'm so absolutely grateful for all of the people that I've been able to meet and grow close relationships with. But like all good things, they must come to an end. I'll be leaving for Sanger, California, and will be in a trio! I will be training again! I think I might be finishing someone else's training and getting another brand-new missionary. I'll tell you more about my companions in my next email. I'm not going to lie... I feel inadequate to train haha. I feel like I didn't do very well training these past two transfers. I tend to be prideful and only like things my way, and if they're not my way, it's not as cool or efficient. But that's not how it works with companions. You have to work with them, or the work will NOT be efficient. Nevertheless, I'm excited to learn to lean more on my Savior and my companions and learn to be more humble and trusting. I've had the chan...

The eggs have hatched, egg-breaking animation with a glorious man with a nametag emerging, Elder Berry is here. Sorry, gotta captivate the reader somehow. I'm doing better than I deserve here in Madera. This week was amazing! We went to the temple with Victor, and I got to see my trainer, Elder Lovejoy! I hadn't seen him for so long. Truly a lifelong friend. The temple was nice and peaceful. Victor really enjoyed doing baptisms, and we ate In-N-Out burgers after. The burger was buss. I gotta learn to eat slower so I'm not just watching people eat. We have been teaching quite a few people, and it's been amazing to see the Spirit soften the hearts of all those in the room, including mine. I often am quite swift in pride because I "think" I've figured out how to be a good missionary, and the Lord never disappoints and always helps me be humble. I can't recall too much of what happened this week, but it definitely had its ups and downs. Tomorrow will be my...

Hola Hola Coca-Cola! I hope everyone is doing well! This week has been pretty insightful. As I write these emails, it seems like I completely forget every important detail about my conversion. The longer I stay out on my mission, the more I ponder what kind of person I want to be. It's something that's on my mind quite often. I often wonder if it's just my behavior changing, to be obedient unto the Lord, or if my character and nature are changing because of the Lord. I've been studying the Ricciardi letter, which is about a missionary who is a legend in a mission in England. Many missionaries are probably very familiar with this letter, and if you don't know what it is, ask me to send it to you. Ever since I've read it, my mind and vision have expanded. One thing that's helped in my missionary work is a quote that says, "When people know and feel your love, you can never be too bold." Absolutely true, and I've been more bold in my contacts and ...

Okay, this email is quick, but I don't want to hear griping, okay? Everyone likes smaller emails anyways. This week was fun, and I can't quite remember most of it, but I can testify that the power of God is real. We've had to drop a lot of the people we're teaching, which is okay. So we've been doing a lot of finding, and it's been great. Everyone's been pretty nice, but there are always the grumpy people. We talked to a lot of people, but there was this one man in particular who was quite special. We were about done for the night, and we saw this guy in the dark, leaning up against his car. He didn't seem too excited to talk to anyone, but I offered to share a scripture. After I shared the scripture, he was in tears, telling me that's exactly what he needed to hear. It made me choke up a bit, but the prayer we said after invited the spirit even more. I'm just absolutely so thankful for the love that's so readily available from Heavenly Fathe...

How’s it going, everyone? It’s been a long week, but fairly okay. This week, our house changed in the sense that we got three new elders in Madera, and one of them is in training. These elders eat SO much food. Like, it’s just gone. They’re also super stubborn about changing all of their flat tubes on their bikes, and their patches keep failing. But it’s a hoot up in here. Anyways, there are lots of stray dogs in Madera, and Elder Bunker and I had to bike. Some dogs started chasing us, and Elder Bunker yelled, “Elder Berry, help me!” I looked back, and he was really slowing down, and I was like, “Pedal!” (The dogs were small chihuahuas.) We’re okay, and he never got bit, but you can’t be scared of the ankle-biters. Most of this week was hard. It felt like a lot of stuff got canceled, and no one really wanted to talk to us. I went on exchange with one of the APs, Elder Gibson, and it was fun. We did get into a bash, but that’s okay. What’s been on my mind this week is trusting in the Lo...