So remember that FAITH is more than a FEELING, it is a DECISION!!!

So ask me if I can curl 20 pounds? 

What’s that country song that is like " if your going through hell keep on going, don’t slow down, if your scared don’t show it cause you might get out before the devil even knows your there"!! Well sadly I think the devil knows I’m here, ha-ha and he’s got me chained to the fiery death bed of hell!!! 
This week has been the worst of my life!! I laid in bed for the past week and a half not being able to do anything, finally my mission President came and took me to the hospital and I did the same thing there.  Just laid in bed, it’s been terrible.  The doctors and nurses have stuck me with about 20 different needles trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. They think they have it figured out but I don’t believe them.  They have given me 13 different medications to take and then they said I will be fine. 
Yea, so the one night I was in the hospital I woke up in the middle of the night and my bed felt like it was wet so I thought to myself did I just wet the bed?  Are you kidding?  Here I am a 20 year old man and I just wet myself then I got looking around and I realized it wasn’t pee but blood. I had pulled the I.V. out of my arm during the night and I was bleeding everywhere.  I tried to wake up the Elder that was staying with me but he wouldn’t wake up so then I tried to get the attention of the nurse and that didn’t work so I just laid there in my blood thinking that this was it, I am going to bleed out and die.  I had comfort in knowing I would be in a much better place but then I thought to myself are you kidding me I can’t die like this and that was about the time the nurse came in and got be plugged back up. 
I came to Mexico weighing 205 and now I am a solid 170. Squi I think I can now take over the nick name “chicken legs” ha-ha!    But while I was laying there in the hospital bed the scripture in Joshua 1:7 came to my mind.  I don’t have it in English so you will have to look it up but it talks about how God is with you always. That scripture honestly got me through the week. I’m supposed to baptize José and Lupita this Saturday so I am really trying not to die this week. I hope I will have enough strength to pull them up out of the water.  By the way the answer to my question can I curl 20 pounds is NO.......!
I think I set a new world record reading the liahona this week. Like that’s all I have done all week is read.  If you haven’t read the one for Septiembre I would invite you to read it because it’s got a lot of good stuff in it. Ha-ha! I have never been so happy for books and stuff like that!! Never in my life have I loved reading as much as I have the past couple of weeks.  One of the articles in the liahona was titled "we know enough" I was just going to skip it but when I read the title it reminded me about how I didn’t think I knew enough to serve a mission.  The story was about a man who wanted to serve a mission but he didn’t think he knew enough to go.  But it was pointed out to him that he does know enough.  In fact we all do.  As long as we know the church is true then we know enough because the simple testimony “I know this church is true” is all one needs to serve.  What you believe in is the only true thing on the earth, so go out and share it with everyone. You don’t need to be on a mission to be a missionary!! I promise you what you know is enough, and everything else will fall into place. You Know enough!!!!
Another thing I learned this week from my reading was in the book by President Eyring about how we need to follow the guidance of the spirit by listening.  In order to receive guidance from the spirit we must follow the 4 point program. First we need PRAY. Pray diligently, pray with each other, pray in public (in the proper places), and learn to talk with the lord, call upon his name in great faith and confidence.  Second STUDY and LEARN the gospel!!! Third LIVE Righteously. Repent of your sins by confessing them and forsaking them, and then conform to the teachings of the gospel. Forth, GIVE service in the church!! If we follow the 4 point program president Romney has set up for us we will have the spirit with us always!!!
Most of the less active members don’t come anymore because they have problems with other members in the ward.  So I have been studying way hard on this topic and trying to find a way to change there mind and I think I have found it!!  Remember that scripture I shared a couple weeks ago Alma 5:27? Yea that is the perfect scripture!!! So the question I have for all those less active is this: "If you don’t come to church anymore because of what you think they are doing wrong, or if you don’t come to church because you can’t stand to be in the presence of people who you think are making mistakes, then how are you going to stand in the presence God and his son who are PERFECT? So yea that’s my solution.  I haven’t tried it yet but I’ll let you know how it works!! That’s what I got this week from my death bed. Pray for me for another week!!!
 I love you all and miss you.
You can not fail in the gospel unless you quit!! So remember that FAITH is more than a FEELING, it is a DECISION!!!

Elder Berry