"The pursuit of easy things makes men weak." Bruce R. McConkie

Dear Family-

This week i had my last MLC! it was a 2 day retreat at the mission home. We had a bonfire and i got to throw the football with President before the meeting- great memory :) my finger actually got jammed from it! haha he is stronger than he knows! but its going down now...it was pretty bad. but worth it. This week was intense. (they always are!)

first off- our investigator cora! i am so proud of her- we taught her the law of chastity this week and WOW. She really internalized it and took it to heart- she stayed up all night reading the pamphlet we gave her and read every scripture listed. she is determined to repent and live it because she is DETERMINED to be baptized. I am so proud of her. She meets with us faithfully 3 times a week. she comes to church each week. the best part was after our last lesson she volunteered to say the opening prayer. Now- when we met her 5 weeks ago she was praying for the first time with us- and i remember it reduced her to tears. well, this prayer she gave? incredible.I could literally hear and feel the difference in her prayer, and could and hear and feel that she was closer to God than she was 5 weeks ago based on the way she prayed this time compared to her previous prayers. This is what its all about!!!!!!!!! baptism yes- but helping people draw closer to Christ to Heavenly Father. It touched my heart so deeply. I am so proud of her. i have been praying so fervently for her. I love her so much. She is getting baptized on the 21st.

Now for Violet. Our investigator Violet is a miracle. I am so humbled at the people God has entrusted and led me to here at the end of my mission. Truly- it is nothing but a blessing and a privilege. we taught her twice this week as well- we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the POS. when we taught her the plan she cried bc it literally answered all the questions of her soul. she was feverishly taking notes of what we said! she is amazing! Then at the end we extended her baptismal date that we have been praying about- july 5th. and when we extended that- the spirit just flooded the room and she went stock still- for a moment i was almost worried bc she got so stiff and said nothing- then tears started streaming from her face and she said,"July 5th? I can't believe you picked July 5th.." everyone started feeling uneasy- but i got this awesome feeling- this feeling that July 5th is a powerfully significant day for her for some reason unbeknownst to us- and the fact that we picked it shows that it was from the Spirit bc He knows her and this is a beautiful tender mercy from the Lord! i felt it was a good thing she reacted like that. she then smiled and wrote down the date and cried and said she would tell us another time of why that date was so significant. it was a really CHOICE experience.  She really is amazing. Soooo prepared! all god.so humbling.I pray for her and cora every single day- pray for them that they will be strengthened and protected from the adversary!

     We had some tough times- but even those feel especially sacred to me here at the end of my mission- we got shouted at and told to "move it" by a woman once we told her we were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- but it was interesting bc it really didnt upset me at all- it made me sad of course that she had been falsely indoctrinated and wouldn't receive our message- but i got this very distinct feeling that those were words and encounters that Christ experienced as well as other prophets, missionaries, and servants of the Lord and I felt near to Him and those before me. 

    We had a really amazing experience with a woman named Francis- she had heard a lot of falsehoods of the church on tv- and started very defensively and attacked us even- but she said something that caught my ear- she said, "I am looking for the truth I don't want lies and a church of man! I have been through too much for more lies." the second she said that i took heart and felt very strong and empowered with the Spirit! I felt deep compassion for her. she was a truth seeker! I looked her dead in the eyes and said, "Then Francis you have come to the right place." I pointe out the name of our church- showing that we are Christ's church, not man's. I explained to her that anything we ever teach her pr tell her we advise her to not take our word for, but to ask god, the source of all truth, if what we say is true, or if what we say is lies. I told her i know she already has a relationship with God, and I know she is truth seeker, so I know He will reveal truth to her as she sincerely seeks it. Then her entire affect changed. she was calm- at ease...we then dove into the BOM and explained everything about it- how it relates to the Bible- how it came to be- why its called what it is- she was astounded- "that's it?!" she said- "That makes perfect sense!" she couldn't believe the lies that had been spun from the BOM- and how there was such a perfectly logical truth and answer to everything. we read how the Bible prophesies of the Bom- by the end she said, "I must read this book. or else I will never know if it's another testament of Christ or not." it was SO COOL!!!!!!!! That is one of my favorite parts about missionary work!!!!!!!!!! seeing people have a change of heart! that is one less soul who believes lies about the church, and about the BOM and one more soul who will begin to gain more understanding and knowledge of the truth!!!!!!! We gave her a list of scriptures top read. She asked us to pray for her family and opened up about some of the trials they were experiencing- we parted dear friends, bound by a spiritual experience because of the power of the Spirit contained in the BOM! it was a choice experience. many other things happened this week- but for the sake of time i will stop there. I love you all so much.

Love Sister Bertoldo

ps. found a turtle outside our apartment this week!