Week 2

Well, today is my most favorite day of the week! 

 I used to love Fridays, but now I live for Tuesday's! :) 

It is a rainy, rainy day in Georgia and I have to admit a letter from Kyler, sure does bring a little ray of sunshine!

 

He seems to be doing really well and adjusting to mission life.

 

This week he got a little idea to write his letter on paper and take a picture of it and just send that.  Pretty ingenius, I thought!

 

Hey Everyone!!

 

Everything is going great!  I miss you all so much. You have no idea. This is easily the hardest thing I've ever had to do.  I love every minute of it though. I'm learning so much day by day. My Spanish is getting so much better.  I can hold a simple conversation and I can pray and bear my testimony!  I'm getting there! HAHAHA  I hope everyone is doing well!  It was good to hear that baseball is going well for Kayden and Carston. I'm feeling some really good years for the both of them. They both just have to remember that slumps and errors happen, so just move on and keep their heads up.  Tell Berkley to never give up and keep up the hard work!  I know she'll do great things this season!!  And tell Manning to start practicing and get ready for next season!  Tell Team Prince and everyone hello for me!!  I miss everyone a ton.  Tell Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Tom, Grandma Joan and Grandpa Paul, and Grandma Linda and Papa Sherrell hello and that I miss them all so much.  I want you all to know I'm safe and having a blast.  I'm proud to be all of ya'lls grandson!

 

So, I'm starting to love the work!  Yesterday, we got to leave the MTC and went prosylyting!!  We got paired up with real missionaries in the area and went to a neighborhood in West Lima and what a humbling experience that was.  I cannot even begin to explain to you how people live down here. There are no paved roads in the neighborhoods, only in the city.  And all the houses are literally the size of our living room with no roof.  Their floors are dirt that look like someone took a jack hammer to.  There's random piles of trash in the middle of the street, every where you go, smells awful, dogs are on every street corner you turn on.  It's so different.  I truly do now know how blessed I have been,  So I just want to say thank you for giving me everything I have.  We are all beyond blessed.

 

As we were prosylyting we knocked on a door and a man named Javier answered.  He was very nice!  We couldn't go inside because he had a sick daughter so he brought us 3 chairs to the door and we talked right there, basically in the street, just talking about the gospel for over an hour.  He loved what we had to say.  I bore my testimony and said a prayer for his daughter to have good health (bueno salud) and he was so thankful.  It got me so excited.  I can't wait to be fluent and be able to teach everything I know to the people of Bolivia.

 

I love my district.  We get along so well.  It's amazing how close we are compared to the other disctricts.  It's just 7 of us, all going to Cochabamba.  We are literally like brothers. We all have our bad days and we just pick each other up and help one another move on.  They've helped me so much!  Elder Roth is awesome!  We are going to be great friends after these 2 years! I can't wait!  Also, another elder named Elder Bennett from Boise, Idaho is the man!  The 3 of us get along so well.  My companion is great too.  He loves baseball, like I do.

 

As for the little things that happen here, I'm good and adapting.  The food is good but getting old.  Not one meal has not consisted of rice, potatoes, and chicken.  That's in the CCM (mtc) at least.  I'm sure I'll experience new stuff outside of here.  My bed is nice.  I'm just using the sheets they offer here, so I can save the ones I brought for later.  I've only used 3 shirts.  I just keep reusing and washing the same 3 white ones over and over.  Everything is going great!  You have nothing to worry about.  I love you all so much.  Only 102 weeks until I see ya'll again!!  It will go quick!!  I love you guys!

Be safe!

 

Love, Elder Berrett

 

He also included this with his emails...

 

hey everyone!! Im a slow typer so i wrote my emails and sent them as pictures!!! so i want to do this dear elder thing everyone here has them and i want them!! i want letters!! they're like gold around here!! haha and look in that book thing we got about information for the pouch mail!!! im doing well! still tough but im getting used to it and falling in love with the gospel more and more everyday!!! i love and miss you guys everyday!!!

Love Elder Berrett

 

It was so good to hear from him!  I can't explain how awesome it is to receive a letter like this from one of your own kids!  Not only for the fact that I miss him, but more importanly to see them mature and grow in the gospel. 

He mentioned dear elder.  That is the service that I mentioned in an earlier post.  You send an email to dearelder.com.  They will print it out and deliver to Salt Lake City, and they in turn, place it in a pouch to mail directly to the mission with expedited shipping.  So it gets there a little quicker than if you were to drop it in the mail.

He said that letters are like gold around there!  So please take a minute to drop him a quick note.

Until next week! :)

Week 1

So today we learned that his prep day (p-day) is on Tuesday's.

I can't tell you how happy I was to check my email and see one from him.

(Not sure if you realize that I check my email everyday, like every 20 minutes) 

hey everyone!

i miss you all so much! you have no idea.  this is just about the hardest thing ive ever done......but i absolutely love it. its so hard but im so happy to be here. Its great to see everyone is doing well!! im proud of Kayden! tell him to keep it up!! Carston Berkley and manning too!!

my companion is elder Thurston from st george. Elder Roth who i met on facebook is great! I love him! we have gotten so close!! i love my district! we get along so well! all the Latinos here are great! they are so funny!!! and they are great at helping with the spanish. i play soccer everyday and love it!! i play goalie most the time so i can do sit ups, push ups and pull ups on the cross bar while the ball is on the other side of the field haha! so i get two in one! this saturday i am going out of the MTC to proselyte or however you spell it! im pretty nervous!

the spirit here is amazing! last night my district was really down and getting frustrated with the language so we all gave each other blessings. It was so spiritual.

Church on sunday was great! it was weird to be in a branch with 20 people but i loved it!

I NEED stamps!!!!! ASAP! you can send those in an envelope! they dont have any here for some reason. You cant send packages here so save those for Cochabamba!! just envelope mail!! no mom, i havent heard of dear elder...what is it?

So as you can tell i have P day on Tuesdays!! i Will email you then!!

I love you all and miss you so much!! Pieces of me want to come back so bad but i know the Lords got my back.

Love, Elder Berrett 

It did my heart good to see that he is doing so well.  He may be a little homesick, but is loving every second of it. 

I mentioned in my email to him about a website called dearelder.com

It is a service run by the church where you email them your letter and they will print it out and deliver it to the missionaries.  It's a free service!

Go to dearelder.com and select his mission (Peru MTC)

Click on "Write a letter"

Fill out the appropriate boxes, write your letter and hit send. Easy as that!!

They have a deadline of Sunday at midnight to make it in that week's run.  But, anytime you write is fine.  Just realize that dearelder.com is quicker than standard USPS mail, however, it still takes a few weeks.  

Missionaries LOVE to get mail.  They feel loved when they get something each week!

So, go write him a letter.  He will love it!

Until next week! :)

He made it!

We waited all night for a phone call from Peru.

 (We had read that he will get to make a 5 minute phone call to let us know that he arrived safely.)

Well, that didn't happen, and it's probably a good thing.   Because we were so exhausted, Rick and I both sleep like babies.  Who knows if we would have heard our phones, if he had called!

I was at work when I received his first email!  I was so excited!!! 

Hey guys!

 

I made it!! we got in at 12:30 last night and it took about an hour to get from the airport to the the mtc. sorry if my grammar is bad. we are limited to 30 minutes at the mtc so im typing fast!!. im not gonna lie, im pretty scared and nervous. the city is crazy! Lima is supposedly a ¨nice¨ city but its nothing like back home. its dirty and scary! haha its been such a culture shock! my companion has not arrived yet so im just taggin along with my roommates. they both speak spanish only but they are nice and trying to help me. I miss you guys and everyone so much. i got the surprise letters! they were great and made me cry! but thank you! they were awesome! how is  Lexi, i hope shes doing okay. ask her how her valentines present was!! im going on 3 and half hours of sleep so im pretty tired and cant wait for bed tonight. the weather here is very nice! its very humid! i can smell the ocean!! Im gradually as the day goes on getting used to the change. its still going to take awhile but hopefully i can adjust. im praying!! we havnt done anything spiritual yet, as a matter of fact ive only seen about 3 adults. im kinda just going with the flow for the time being! haha the only meal ive had was breakfast, and that was interesting...a sandwich with tuna, cheese, and a hotdog in it! good thing im not picky!!! I hope everyone is doing well and that mom can relax now that she has gotten this!! I cant believe that im actually here. im not exactly excited yet, well i am but im still sad and just in shock i guess. hopefully i can get used to this. I have learned that we are all very blessed and lucky to have what we have.

 

Okay well its time for me to go. i will be writing people also. i have no idea how long it will take to get there. Please tell everyone i love them and Lexi too! haha Im gonna get back to yall ASAP! Love you all!

 

Elder Berrett

 

PS- sorry for not fitting a lot in this letter. we are pressed for time bc its the first day, it will get better! ill cover more next time! Love ya!

Yay, on day one he was already aware of how blessed we are to have what we have here in America. Success!!

 Looking forward to next week.

Saying good-bye :(

Saying good-bye to Kyler was one of the hardest things I've had to do.  Although, I was so excited and happy for him, and really wouldn't want him anywhere else, it was very difficult.

We started the day by making a quick run to Walmart to get some last minute items.

Then it was home to squish everything into two suitcases. And I thought it was hard to pack for a week-long vacation!  However, eventually we got it all in.

Before we knew it, it was time to head out.  Kayden and Berkley had to say their good-byes at home.  (They both had practice that they couldn't miss)

Brothers and best friends!

Little Sister, who he is very proud of!

It was a cry-fest!  I'm surprised I was able to take pictures

Taken from the car as we were leaving.

We made a quick stop at Sonic for lunch.  None of us really felt like eating...but we did.  I knew Kyler needed something before he boarded the plane.

Talking with Grandma Sharon or Grandpa Sherrell

Headed into the airport

Waiting to check-in

One last hug for mom!  (His heart was beating so fast)

The little brothers who adore Kyler

Kyler and Dad

Hugs and a few words of encouragement

Carston

Manning

And he's off!

Watching as he goes through security!

I was a mess!! I did not want to leave!  We watched him until we couldn't see him anymore.

Uncle Taylor was able to see him at the gate, because he was flying that day.  He posted this picture to instagram...

We are so very happy for the decision Kyler has made to serve a mission.  Does that make it any easier to say good-bye?  Maybe just a little. :)

Here is a picture of Kyler before we left home.

One last feel of the glove :)

Love you bunches Kyler and see you in two!

Kyler becomes a Missionary

On Tuesday, February 12th, Kyler was set apart as a missionary.

We met with the Stake President at 7:00 pm.  It was very nice.  It was just our family, grandma and grandpa Berg and the Prince family.  President Wood had some very good advice for Kyler.  I particularly like the part where he asked Kyler to promise him that he would write home each week.  He said, that his mom would be checking every day for an email.  He also told Kyler not to get discouraged with the language and his companions.  He had a lot of nice things to say.

After, he was set apart we headed out to Steak n' Shake with the family.  

Putting on his official missionary badge

Mom and Kyler

Grandma and Grandpa Berg

Ryan, Michael and Tara Prince

All seven of us!

After dinner we headed home to start packing his bags.

Earlier in the day, he and Lexi said their good-byes.  They spent the morning running errands and getting a few last minute things.  Then they came back to the house and the three of us cried as we tried to pack, etc.  Soon it was time to say good-by.

She took with her some of his clothes and things to remember him. 

It was really hard.  I just cried and cried! :(

It was really hard for everyone and you could tell that Kyler was getting a little nervous.  

Less than 24 hours to go and we had so much to still do.  

I don't think any of us slept very well that night.

Open House

On Sunday, February 10th, we held an Open House for Kyler.  We had a great turn out.  It was so nice to see so many people there to wish Kyler farewell. 

Here are a few pictures from that night...

I put cards out and asked everyone to leave a word of encouragement for Kyler.  

A white shirt and tie banner and a missionary badge for the mantle.

Just a few of the goodies  

and the labels that we made for the water bottles.

The only pictures I got that night were of Kyler and some of his friends.

Sorry, everyone else who was there!

Cam Gazaway, Kyler and Ali Hicks

Lexi Baca (aka Kyler's Princess), Kyler, McCall and Hailey Peterson

Peyton Wehunt and Adam Hampton

Cam and Brian Malone

Again, we had a great time and we're able to chat with some friends that we haven't seen in a while.
Thank you to everyone that helped to make it so special!!