C Falls Week Two

hey everyone! things are going great here. its humid as all get out which really stinks to ride bikes in but its awesome when youre not. i love the humidity. its almost as humid as it was in hawaii. storms here come really quickly. it can be sunny and hot one minute then tornado warning the next. thats what this week has been like. i love watching the lightning. this week i went on exchanges with elder koford which was way fun. we stopped in a drug store to grab some water and we werent in there longer than five minutes and when we came out it was as dark as night and winds howling and raining like crazy! i couldnt believe how fast it changed. we ran out to lock up our bikes so they didnt blow away and we were completely soaked head to toe in just a few seconds. so we waited inside the store and had the other guys in the car pick us up for dinner there lol. last night another storm came through and we lost our power. it came back on at like one in the morning and the lights all flipped on cuz we forgot to turn them off lol. some huge huge oak trees got knocked down in the wind this week. its crazy to see em just layin around like that. so after district meeting this week we went out to lunch and this new place just opened so we thought we would give it a try. turns out it was their mock week (training week) and we needed reservations to get in but they let us in anyways and we got to eat for free! it was so sweet. it was like seventy dollars worth of food cuz they make you pick an appatizer and everything. so that was way cool. weve had some awesome lessons with rachel and mary beth this week. mary beth (rachels mom) told us that she knows the book of mormon is true and can see how it changes her days and strengthens her faith in Christ. the best part is rachel was telling us how she can see it change her mom and mary beth was saying how much it has changed rachel and how theyve become stronger as a family because of the gospel. its awesome to see it pull families together cuz thats what its all about. anyways i think thats bout the highlights of the week. i miss you all.
elder berry

Cuyahoga Falls Week One

this week has been awesome! i love this area and my companion. elder wright is awesome and were best friends already. he kinda reminds me alot of tommy which is cool. its been really humid this week. its not hot outside but you sweat like crazy. especially on the bike. im getting alot better at it though. i feel like i could ride forever. some of the hills still get to me and are huge but im doin better. we tried to fix up my bike a little too which i think has helped. the back tire isnt as bent anymore and the handlebars dont get crooked all the time. my chain still falls off occasionaly but im not sure how to fix that haha. not too much has been goin on thats exciting this week. we had an awesome lesson wth mary beth, rachels mom, on sunday. she came to church again and later that day we taught her half of the plan of salvation and committed her to baptism on aug seventh! we were way excited and so was rachel. the spirit was so strong in that lesson and i konw she could feel it. she loves church and learning about the gospel of jesus christ so its a blessing to be teaching her. its amazing how one person can affect the whole family. i love seeing the change that being baptized has made in rachels life. you can see it in her and all about her. she truly is a different person. anyways, i got bit by a dog this week. a stinkin german shepard. we were at a less actives house and it came over and bit my hand while i was standing on the porch. i went to swing at it but stopped myself just in time cuz the person wouldnt have been too happy if i punched their dog in the face. luckily it scared the dog away. i was upset though. nobody here trains their dogs. its the most annoying thing ever. their always barking and jumping everywhere. makes me miss hankers. i loved the pictures you sent mom. thank you so much. those were the best. i meant to send some today but forgot my camera cable. im really glad to hear grandmas surgery went well. we had interviews with president this week. one of the things he asked was what kind of missionary i want to be and promised me that if i continue to work diligently that ill become that missionary by the end of the transfer. i thought that was an awesome promise. so im really excited to keep working hard and work on becoming a better servant of the lord. anyways thats about all i can think of that happened this week. good luck at college g. let me know how it is. love you all!
elder berry

Transfer to Cuyahoga Falls

hey everyone! alots happened in the past week. ill start by finishing up what happened in lisbon. we set a baptismal date with heather and with brittnay. they were awesome. brittnay took work off on sundays and came just yesterday. i really miss teaching her and andrew. i miss e johnson too but my new comp is awesome. hes e wright from genola ut. were on bikes all the time here so im getting used to that. theres tons of hills and im still getting in shape. e koford actually got transfered too and were still in the same district and even go to church together which is awesome. its fun having four missionaries at church. e malbica is his companion. this week here in c falls has been awesome though. on thurs we took rachel, an investigator, to kirtland. that was amazing. i love it there. then on sat she was baptized. her dad brought her a bunch of anti right before but she was still couragous and knew it was true and got baptized. the spirit was so strong. her mom came and felt the spirit and now were teaching her this week. the ward here is awesome and on top of that feeds us every night. on sat we had mission conference too. elder foster of the seventy came and spoke to us. hes the one that talked bout the calves and the mothers getting them back to the barn in conference last time. hes an awesome guy. sis sorensen and e fosters wife came and inspected our apartment on sat too. they were very impressed with how clean it was. you would be proud mom. and they liked my hank flag too haha. whats garretts email? ill email him my letters while hes at school. unless youll just forward tehm to him mom. but things are going well here. i like this area. its alot different from anywhere else ive been. its actually a city not just out in the country somewhere. and theres some decent houses and stuff. its weird to be back in an area like that. glad to hear grandmas out of the hospital. hope you recover well. i love you. good luck at school g. im excited for you. write me your address as soon as you know it. love you all. give hank the lovins for me
elder berry

Lisbon Transfer Three Week Five

hey everyone!!! this week has been incredible!!! the best ...until i found out im leaving last night. im really sad bout that. i love this area and elder johnson and am really sad to see it go. i hope ill be close enough to come back at some point during my mission. anyways. we have seen so many miracles this week. elder johnson and i have really had our prayers answered. lets see i dont even know where to start. in the beginning of the week we got a call from an inactive member of the ward who is engaged to a non member and she wanted to take the lessons so we set up a time and went over there. her name is brittnay. the lesson went amazing! one of the best ones ever. she loved it and could feel the spirit. you could see in her eyes the excitement that she had to learn about the gospel of jesus christ. then on sunday she was working but andrew (her fiance) came to church and even bore his testimony! it was awesome. they are fun people too so its awesome to be teaching them. we are going to set a baptismal date with her tonight too so were excited. i wish i could be staying to continue teaching her. we also have seen heather a couple times this week and recommitted her to baptism on aug 28th. she is really set about making it this time. the new way we have been taught to commit people to baptism has helped so much and helps us to resolve their concerns and help them understand how they need it and want it. we had another amazing lesson this week with a part member family the pragers. she just started coming back to church and her husband started out not having anything to do with us. when we came over he would go in the other room and slowly started talkin to us and stuff. well last time we went over there we taught a quick lesson about joseph smith and prayer and invited him to pray before we left. he didnt want to at first but we helped him understand that he could and kinda helped him want to and he finally said the prayer. it was the first prayer that he had ever said in his life. it was pretty good too. the spirit was so strong and his wife was crying and just really happy and excited. the next day at church everyone was like "hear you had an awesome lesson with the pragers!" and it was weird cuz we had no idea how they knew but turns out she posted somethin on facebook so that was kinda funny. it helped the ward kinda be excited bout missionary work. hopefully it sticks. also at church on sunday two random people walked in for sacrament. so we wanted to talk to them but they left before we could get over there after the meeting so we kinda ran outside as they were getting in the car and knocked on the car door to talk to em lol. turns out they work with a really less active lady and wanted to see what the church was all about. so that was cool. wish they woulda stayed but it was still awesome. then on monday we were walking down the street and talked to this guy bout nineteen years old and he had taken the lessons before from missionaries and was really excited to see us and remembers alot of it and really wanted us to come over and teach him and to come to church which is sweet! you never run into someone like that. so we talked to him for a while and e johnson and the new guy will be teaching him. im really sad to see this area go but ill like the next one too im sure. i know the lord hears and answers prayers. ill let you know where im at next week. love you all!
elder berry

Lisbon Transfer Three Week Four

aloha everybody! this week has been fun but at the same time not very eventful. elder johnson and i still get along great and ive learned so much from him. hes an awesome missionary. cant believe its june already! it goes fast. congrats on getting your surgery moved up grandma. im praying for you and grandpa. so last pday was really fun. our district went to the browns house and helped them finish up the zipline. its four hundred and fifty feet long so its way fun. and theyre the ones with rope swings and stuff too but this time we brought airsoft guns and had a big airsoft war in the forest which was awesome! then i brought my guitar and we built a fire and made smores while e koford and i took turns playin. it was alot of fun. and yesterday for memorial day a family invited us over for a cookout and we learned how to play cornhole. its a game with a board on the ground and has a hole in it and you have to throw a bean bag type thing full of corn into the hole or on the board to score. kinda like horse shoes. it was actually pretty fun. ive never seen it played sober before haha. we also had zone conference this week. it was really good. every time i hear from president sorensen i like him more and more. we are focusing as a mission to double convert baptisms. its a stretch and weve been learning alot about setting baptismal dates and so far the baptism dates have sky rocketed. e johnson and i want so badly to set some baptismal dates and use the new committment patterns that we have been taught but just cant find anyone to teach. i feel like this area is right on the edge and has so much potential we just have to give it a little push. we are workin crazy hard to find people without much success yet but this week have been workin on new and better ways to approach and teach people so im excited to start workin with those and see how well they work. so its really exciting but at the same time makes for some long days when you work all day and still cant teach anyone. were just looking forward to find somebody who is really prepared and ready for the gospel of Jesus Christ. sometimes just takes time to find them i guess. next week is transfers so i wont email until tues again. chances are pretty good im leaving cuz in my last interview with president he told me that change would be good for me so well see. anyways i think thats bout all thats been going on. like i said fun but not too eventful. i really love studying from the scriptures though. i look forward to morning studies and nighttime when i have a little time to study them. they are such a blessing in my life and i know they have brought me closer to my Savior. it amazes me how many people lost their lives so that we could have the scriptures that we do. anyways i love you all. thank you so much for your letters. have a good week!
elder berry