Sister Berrett update

Maddie’s mama here –

Sorry, I’m lousy at forwarding all her emails, (hence 3 weeks’ worth in one day – sorry about that) but as she didn’t send one this week I guess you know where she got it from.

The good part about missionaries calling home is that I get to talk to her every week and see her pretty face, but I think her emails might be suffering a bit. 

Anyways – News of the week – She finally got her Visa!  She heads to New Zealand at the end of the transfer, (July 8) and she’s both excited to go and super sad to leave. Supposedly she gets to go with most of her whole group from the MTC AND the new Hamilton, NZ mission president.

When Sister Howell (the mission president’s wife) told her the good news, Maddie burst into tears. 

Maddie – “I don’t think she was expecting me to cry.”

Me- “She doesn’t know you very well then”.

Anyways…

Thank you all for loving and being a friend to my little girl.

Kirsten

This week has been something.

Qotw:

Carol *doesn't want to get baptized because her Jehovah's witness fiance won't marry her if she gets baptized* 

Sister Ottesen ," Uh why can't Satan get a life? Literally hes so annoying." 

So this week has been an interesting one for sure. So the good old NDBM is a pilot mission which is cool and as missionaries we have to do at the very least 10 hours of service a week. Which doesn't seem like a lot until you factor in the mandatory 8 hours of sleep, meals, hour of study, hour of exercise an hour of getting ready, an hour of planning and two hour of companion study everyday. But it's been great. Because I feel like that's all I do is get to serve God's children and tbh I've never been happier in my life. That doesn't mean it hasn't been hard. Believe me *see the quote above* but doing the Lords work and getting to constantly serve his children, I've never felt so much peace and joy in my life. So we were able to talk with our pal Carol and just pray with her and remind her that this is God's plan for her so he will be there for her and get her through it and ya girl Carols gonna get baptized on Saturday.. as of right now. But I'm so excited :) 

SPEAKING OF BAPTISM I'm so happy my sweet friend Paige got baptized on Sunday and her entire family came and her mama who was hesitant because she was convinced by her neighbor that we were a cult barely allowed her daughter to be baptized and when she came to the ordinance she cried tears of joy through the whole thing. And she was like I can't explain it but I feel so much brightness in my heart we were like fun fact that's called the Holy Ghost testifying to you that this is what God want a for Paige and for 'll of his children and she was like wait really and we were like uh yes. So she want a to sit in on some of Paige's lessons :) Did I cry? I might have, thanks for asking. 

Any who. But long story short, this week has been something. I gave a talk, fought a pigeon, tried to enlist in the Air Force, locked myself in a shower, chugged four Mountain Dews in a row, attempted to learn Russian, gave a musical number and watched one of my friends get baptized, so it's been rad.

Any who I ran our of time again rip. Sorry mom. Don't forget to pray, happy Father's Day. And use your blinker 

-Sister Berrett. 

Pictures

-1  they had extra girl scout cookies and Mountain Dew at an event at the Air Force base they were doing service at, so of course she couldn’t say no when they offered.

-2 the front gate to the Air Force base

-3 Sister Berrett and Lindsay.  Lindsay runs the food bank where they help out regularly.

So RIP...

Sorry y'all I spent too much time geeking out on the piano today I definitely forgot to write my group email and my p day ends in like 5 minutes so... This week has been rad, we have a baptism this weekend and next weekend.  It's gonna be a blast but my fellow pal visa waiters at the MTC have been getting their visas, so cross your fingers I get to stay long enough to watch my sweet friends get baptized and make that amazing covenant with their Heavenly Father. 

Anyway I have like 30 seconds so I love you all don't party too hard with out me and don't forget look both ways before you cross the street. 

- Sister Berrett 

Also enjoy this awkward selfie with me and a bunch of shot gun shells I found out side of my friend’s apartment complex supposedly the old lady upstairs really hates the dak-rats so that's what those are for but who knows 

Greetings from Minot, North Dakota

So story time. Once upon a time in a place called Christchurch, New Zealand there was a very sad tragedy that took places like a month after I got my  mission call to the same country. So due to all the visas going to the many families of the victims (rightfully so) ya girl was temporarily  reassigned for the next probably 8ish months (according to the mission pres.) to the not so small mission of Bismarck North Dakota!! (apparently it covers like 5 states including mt Rushmore so that's cool. Also shout out to Sister Johnson hope the view is cool up there) so uh fun fact I didn't think anyone actually lived in North Dakota... I thought it was just I don't know... bison. And then maybe the occasional random weirdo person wearing an I heart North Dakota shirt and that's about it. Well I was wrong. They got too many people here actually due to the oil boom and the many many air force bases and the universities so. ya it's been cool.

 I got my new call on Saturday and then left on Tuesday and have been chilling in the lovely Minot State University dorm rooms (cause that's where the cheap apartments are) getting second hand high all the time but️ life's been good. I've spent a majority of my week on the air force base here watching the choppers blow stuff up while we try to preach about the restored gospel. And ya. Wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Some random drunk guy at Target ran up to me and tried very hard to convince us that Joseph Smith was actually a vampire. In case anyone is wondering.. He's not. So ya fun times. North Dakota's actually a really cool place. To quote my MTC teacher it's "12/10. Would Recommend. 5 stars. 4 children. 2 chickens." Its great. 

Okay so story time over and time to stand on my soap box for a hot sec. .... ... So I LITERALLY LOVE THIS GOSPEL! IT IS SO GOOD! God is so good :) and His message is so sweet. I've just come to realize that every lesson we teach, every principle we help others to learn, all leads back to our Heavenly Fathers love for us and how's he's just trying to give us so many tools to help us get through this life experiencing the most possible joy and help us eventually return back to him.  There is no way this isn't his restored gospel on the earth because everyday I wake up get screamed at, get doors slammed in my face and spit on by the drunk veterans but I've never been more happy in my life. I've never felt so much exceeding love and peace then when I'm doing His work. So how would that be if it wasn't His work?  I've gotten the opportunity to bare my testimony of the Savior over and over and the more I do the more the Spirit testifies to me of the truthfulness of what I was saying. I've come to realize how much God really loves us. And the more I serve him despite the outcome the more happy I am. I know with out a doubt that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth and that by living by his doctrine that he established we will be able to feel the truthfulness of it and feel the peace that comes through the Savior. Anyway Ted Talk over. I'm just so happy to be here I just wanna scream my testimony from the mountain tops :) 

Anywho I love you all. seriously. And I'm praying for you all. Thanks for all the love and support. Keep being the rad folks I know and love. 

-Sister Berrett

Oh also to my pals back in the 480 I got my mom to commit to read Preach my Gospel and to actually bare her testimony in church sometime so please hold to it cause I'm a little too far away to do  so..  k thanks 💛 😂

Sister Berrett and her Mission Pres and Wife

Crop of new missionaries (found this one on facebook!) 

Sister Otteson, Sister Strohl, and Sister Berrett

Sister Strohl, Sister Berrett, Sister Otteson, and Carol

Still team "No Visa"

Well dang my dudes, if I thought last week was amazing, I had no idea what this week had in store. So there were a lot of emotions, a lot of tears good and bad, so much testimony, prayer, pictures (I got you mom) and so much service. It was rad. 

Anyway ha this week has been great the food still isn't really edible so we've been doing a lot of "fasting" lately which is a fancy word for we are just gonna tell the other districts we are fasting for our visas but really we have come to the conclusion that we feel way better when we don't eat the food rather then when we do so. Except Wednesday we get BYU Creamery ice cream- that's always a good day. 

But ya we have taught so many lessons. It's so great I don't know why I was stressing for them like before I came out the thought of teaching someone a basic gospel doctrine lesson frea-ked me the heck out... what a wimp. They are awesome. Stressful, sometimes heart breaking, beautiful. But definitely awesome. Ya I don't really know what to say, I know I'm forgetting about so much but basically long story short I have studied and studied and probably still not studied enough but I can't think of a single reason why this isn't Gods Church here on the earth it is so true and it's funny I always would make fun of the missionaries emails for being so preachy but it's just the more time you spend studying God's word, serving others, and growing your testimony, the more you like literally want to shout from the mountain tops the Good Word ❤️❤️ uh God is so good. The church is without a doubt true and is just full of joy. it's just so Frickin amazing. :) 

So update on life. My mom sent me a bag of goldfish and her caramels and I cried :) I think my whole district and I  finished them off in like 3 minutes. So shout out to my mom Thanks for being a homie. We still have no word on our visas so we have all been transferred to different missions until our visas arrive. RIP team No Visa. And we are all being shipped out this Sunday literally so excited. I've ran into my pals Elder Jensen, Elder Cirks and Sister Benesch from back home a lot. It's been so nice to see those awesome friendly faces around. Also I have discovered my secret love for volleyball, and weight lifting. I feel like I have been missing out on so much in life. Any who sorry this is so long it's been good a fantastic week. 

If you haven't watched the restoration movie recently I definitely would recommend it made my whole district cry especially the elders maybe because we are hungry and tired but definitely a good watch would recommend. Other then that its been sweet. 

Oh almost forgot to put where I'm serving oops. So uh story time God is seriously so aware of us and our needs and this whole week I've been praying to know what I can do better and how can I be a better missionary. and I've come to realize my ego has been getting a little puffed up since I've been here mostly because everyone that goes to the Provo MTC (missionary training center) goes state side so when we showed up saying we were going to New Zealand we became like local celebrities. It was funny but Heavenly Father knew I needed some humbling and this week I was told they have no idea what my status on my visa is, they don't even know if my application has been looked at yet, and I am supposed to finally report to the field on Sunday so they pulled me aside and told me that I will be transferred to the North Dakota, Bismarck mission. Yuuuh and I leave next Wednesday. And uh in my family North Dakota is like the biggest joke we make fun of it all the time. So I'm gonna be honest, it was kinda really hard to hear it but I'm grateful tho because I know it will give me experiences I wouldn't have had before and it just goes to show that God really is aware of our needs and knows what we need even if we don't think we want it. So ya hit me up if you'd like to get a matching I ♥ my North Dakota missionary shirt with my mom haha.

Anywho I love you all. Keep being the rad people I know and love. Also feel free to write anytime or you can  be like my frickin awesome brother and just send memes if that floats your boat. I'll keep praying for you all. love you

-Sister Berrett

 enjoy these cute pictures of my family. #longliveteamnovisa