And, in this one, Dallin's companion, Elder Rudolphi, Elder Snyder, and Elder Bergquist!
Monday, January 31, 2011
PICS!!!
I have made friends with a mom from the missionary mom's email group and she gave me a couple of pics of Elder Bergquist!!! So, she said this 1st pic is some of the missionaries going to Brasil. I think it is her sons district and Dallin's district. I wish I knew all of their names!
And, in this one, Dallin's companion, Elder Rudolphi, Elder Snyder, and Elder Bergquist!
And, in this one, Dallin's companion, Elder Rudolphi, Elder Snyder, and Elder Bergquist!
Friday, January 28, 2011
1/28/11 A Sprain
10:44 am
i just got on to print. so i'll read and respond later. about 4 or 4:30. but i need aimee's adress if at all possible. please. haha i wrote her a letter last week and then realized i dont know where she lives anymore hahaha. that would be greatly appreciated. thanks. love you guys! talk to you soon!
4:05 pm
Dear family,
Hows everyone doing?? I hope everyone is well...i'll answer the questions first to get them out of the way haha.
Do you want me to send you Elder Geer's journal entries via "DearElder" too? no i printed it out. thanks though
Did you go to the temple this morning? yes
Did you do a session or initiatories? we did initiatories. it was cool because i had pretty much forgotten that whole thing, since i did it the first time like 4 months ago haha
How is your friend? he seems to be doing better. he admitted to me hes having a little trouble feeling homesick/discouraged but its something every missionary goes through at the mtc and he just feels like hes the only one but we had a talk sunday about that very thing and the guy asked how many people had had the thought of going home since theyve been here and like over half the people stood up. so that made him feel better i'm trying to help him realize if you just pray thats the best way to do anythnig haha and let him know that i went through it too but you just gotta be confident, we're in the right place. theres nowhere better we could be
So, several of us wondered how it was "giving up your addition" to quoting movies this week? not that good haha i had like 2 a day still. it was hard.
What did the rest of your district have to give up? sister roy always says rude so she had to give that up sister enszer has a nervous habit of playing with her watch and sister taylor is pretty much perfect so we made something up but it was dumb haha
Are you going to send us some more pics before you leave the MTC? i'll probably send the sd card home right before i leave
Did you get to be a host again this week? yeah i hosted for a deaf elder it was interesting.
Have you guys had another General Authority come and speak? we get a general authority almost every tuesday night for devotional, this week it was elder gong of the 70
Did you get Mike and Ricky's emails that I sent you via DearElder? yes. thank you, please continue to do that. i've been giving them to elder deaton after i read them too haha so thats good.
Thank you for the journal antries, that was really cool. i cant wait to be like that for someone, and change their and their familys life forever. That will be great. I got like a week and half left and i'll be headed out there to start doing it! and thank you guys for the fast. i didnt get a chance to join but next sunday i will for sure. Thats cool what theyre saying about visas too. i'm really happy about that but at the same time im kind of excited to get to serve my mission in two different countries. so tell them to holf off for like one transfer haha. And thats really cool about scn 76 of dc. Really interesting. i kinda always wondered about that but its really that pertinent to missionary work and helping investigators come to Christ haha so i havent really studied it. but thank you for doing it for me haha. and i love that quote by president hinckley. i used it in my stake conference talk i believe. anyway, this week i sprained my ankle. gues what i was doing. playing basketball right? wrong. i was playing volleyball. so stupid! haha i was so mad, k so maybe it wasnt a sprain, maybe it was, who knows anymore with these ankles, i roll them so often i dont know the difference. so i'll probably be staying off the bball court and vball court till i get out of here which is kinda sad but oh well. also i got my haircut today haha. we're not allowed to cut our own hair in the mtc so i had to pay to get it done haha but i have like 16 bucks still on my account thing here so its no big deal. umm other than that, the mtc is great, but i've been here too long haha i'm ready to get out of here and start teaching actual people! i'm scared about the language but i know the Lord will help me. sei que o senhor nunca da ordens aos filhos dos homens sem antes preparar um caminho pelo qual suas ordens possam ser cumpridas. haha. i love you all! i love this gospel. i love my savior and i love this work already, even though i've only been practicing so far haha have a good week! i find out about my reassignment this week so that will be the first thing in the email next week haha eu amo voces! tchau,
Elder Bergquist
i just got on to print. so i'll read and respond later. about 4 or 4:30. but i need aimee's adress if at all possible. please. haha i wrote her a letter last week and then realized i dont know where she lives anymore hahaha. that would be greatly appreciated. thanks. love you guys! talk to you soon!
4:05 pm
Dear family,
Hows everyone doing?? I hope everyone is well...i'll answer the questions first to get them out of the way haha.
Do you want me to send you Elder Geer's journal entries via "DearElder" too? no i printed it out. thanks though
Did you go to the temple this morning? yes
Did you do a session or initiatories? we did initiatories. it was cool because i had pretty much forgotten that whole thing, since i did it the first time like 4 months ago haha
How is your friend? he seems to be doing better. he admitted to me hes having a little trouble feeling homesick/discouraged but its something every missionary goes through at the mtc and he just feels like hes the only one but we had a talk sunday about that very thing and the guy asked how many people had had the thought of going home since theyve been here and like over half the people stood up. so that made him feel better i'm trying to help him realize if you just pray thats the best way to do anythnig haha and let him know that i went through it too but you just gotta be confident, we're in the right place. theres nowhere better we could be
So, several of us wondered how it was "giving up your addition" to quoting movies this week? not that good haha i had like 2 a day still. it was hard.
What did the rest of your district have to give up? sister roy always says rude so she had to give that up sister enszer has a nervous habit of playing with her watch and sister taylor is pretty much perfect so we made something up but it was dumb haha
Are you going to send us some more pics before you leave the MTC? i'll probably send the sd card home right before i leave
Did you get to be a host again this week? yeah i hosted for a deaf elder it was interesting.
Have you guys had another General Authority come and speak? we get a general authority almost every tuesday night for devotional, this week it was elder gong of the 70
Did you get Mike and Ricky's emails that I sent you via DearElder? yes. thank you, please continue to do that. i've been giving them to elder deaton after i read them too haha so thats good.
Thank you for the journal antries, that was really cool. i cant wait to be like that for someone, and change their and their familys life forever. That will be great. I got like a week and half left and i'll be headed out there to start doing it! and thank you guys for the fast. i didnt get a chance to join but next sunday i will for sure. Thats cool what theyre saying about visas too. i'm really happy about that but at the same time im kind of excited to get to serve my mission in two different countries. so tell them to holf off for like one transfer haha. And thats really cool about scn 76 of dc. Really interesting. i kinda always wondered about that but its really that pertinent to missionary work and helping investigators come to Christ haha so i havent really studied it. but thank you for doing it for me haha. and i love that quote by president hinckley. i used it in my stake conference talk i believe. anyway, this week i sprained my ankle. gues what i was doing. playing basketball right? wrong. i was playing volleyball. so stupid! haha i was so mad, k so maybe it wasnt a sprain, maybe it was, who knows anymore with these ankles, i roll them so often i dont know the difference. so i'll probably be staying off the bball court and vball court till i get out of here which is kinda sad but oh well. also i got my haircut today haha. we're not allowed to cut our own hair in the mtc so i had to pay to get it done haha but i have like 16 bucks still on my account thing here so its no big deal. umm other than that, the mtc is great, but i've been here too long haha i'm ready to get out of here and start teaching actual people! i'm scared about the language but i know the Lord will help me. sei que o senhor nunca da ordens aos filhos dos homens sem antes preparar um caminho pelo qual suas ordens possam ser cumpridas. haha. i love you all! i love this gospel. i love my savior and i love this work already, even though i've only been practicing so far haha have a good week! i find out about my reassignment this week so that will be the first thing in the email next week haha eu amo voces! tchau,
Elder Bergquist
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Fasting and Praying!
Visa Snags Slow LDS Missions to Brazil
The Salt Lake Tribune
Jan. 25, 2011
By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake TribuneFirst
published Jan 25 2011 08:12PM
Updated Jan 26, 2011 09:29AM
Hundreds of Mormon missionaries assigned to serve in Brazil increasingly find themselves preaching not in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo or Fortaleza, but instead in Philadelphia, Pocatello, Idaho, or even Provo.
The LDS Church’s São Paulo Missionary Training Center, which can accommodate up to 700 trainees, currently houses only about 60, none of them U.S. citizens. And the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has lowered the missionary age from 19 to 18 for male Brazilians to make up for the loss of full-time American missionaries.
The reason? Visa snags. And who can Mormon missionaries and their parents blame for the delays? The U.S. State Department and its counterpart in Brazil.
This is no small headache for the LDS Church. Brazil boasts more than a million members, the world’s third-largest Mormon population, after the United States and Mexico. It has 27 missions, more than any country outside the U.S. About 10 percent of the faith’s 52,000 missionaries are called to Brazil. Any disruption in the flow of full-time missionaries could slow the number of converts and hamper the stability of LDS congregations there.
Waiting for weeks or months for visas takes an emotional toll on individual missionaries.
Rachel Smith, of Taylorsville, assigned to the Brazil Maceio Mission, was initially told to report to the São Paulo training center in October 2009. But a week before her departure, she got a call saying she would learn Portuguese instead at the Provo MTC. She ended up staying five weeks beyond the usual two-month training, waiting for her visa. (Some of those waiting on visas are temporarily assigned to other missions.)
“Rachel tried to keep a positive attitude,” said her mother, Susan Smith, on Tuesday. “But she said it was hard to see people arrive at the MTC after her and leave before her.”
Susan Smith also noted the issue’s financial impact. Her daughter left for Brazil a day after her visa arrived without warning and, her mother said, the airfare was several times more than it would have been if the church had been able to buy it well in advance.
Observers say the problem has escalated in the past 18 months — after the U.S. government moved to a fully computerized visa process and required visitors from certain countries such as Brazil to be fingerprinted, pass a background check and pay higher fees.
Brazil complained about the new rules, wrote Mormon blogger Kent Larsen (times-andseasons.org), who is in the South American country this week attending a Mormon studies conference.
“It has also retaliated against some of those trying to visit Brazil, including LDS missionaries,” Larsen wrote.
Gary Neeleman, Utah’s honorary consul to Brazil, acknowledges that retaliation may motivate some of the delays. But he says the Brazilian bottleneck is caused largely by “bad planning.”
“The new system was not thought out as well as it should have been,” Neeleman said. “There are too few people dealing with the rush of visa applications, which is overwhelming.”
All Utah visas for Brazil have to be issued in Los Angeles, he said, which has half as many personnel as needed. It would be nice to ship some of the applications to less-swamped San Francisco, Neeleman said, but the system doesn’t work that way.
He has suggested that, until the problem is resolved, the LDS Church call its Brazil-bound missionaries not from Utah but from other states such as Idaho, Illinois and Indiana, which don’t have to get their visas through Los Angeles.
The process on both ends is a long one, with dual background checks here and in Brazil, said Heather Barney, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
“There’s not a lot we can do to speed it up,” Barney says.
Neeleman is in contact with Brazilian officials and hopes the process can be streamlined. He is encouraged by the recent appointment of Antonio Patriota as the country’s new foreign minister. Two years ago, Neeleman said, Patriota was in Utah, where he met with LDS leaders and visited Provo’s MTC.
The LDS Church believes the Brazilian visa waiting game soon will end.
The church has “a long, congenial history with Brazil and its people,” spokesman Scott Trotter said, “and we’ll continue to work through the ebb and flow of the visa process.”
But one change may be here to stay: calling Brazilian men on missions as early as age 18.
“The Brazilian educational system doesn’t normally accommodate a two-year deferment as the colleges and universities do in the United States,” Trotter said. “This allows young men to serve missions, fulfill their military obligations and receive higher-level education.”
The Salt Lake Tribune
Jan. 25, 2011
By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake TribuneFirst
published Jan 25 2011 08:12PM
Updated Jan 26, 2011 09:29AM
Hundreds of Mormon missionaries assigned to serve in Brazil increasingly find themselves preaching not in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo or Fortaleza, but instead in Philadelphia, Pocatello, Idaho, or even Provo.
The LDS Church’s São Paulo Missionary Training Center, which can accommodate up to 700 trainees, currently houses only about 60, none of them U.S. citizens. And the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has lowered the missionary age from 19 to 18 for male Brazilians to make up for the loss of full-time American missionaries.
The reason? Visa snags. And who can Mormon missionaries and their parents blame for the delays? The U.S. State Department and its counterpart in Brazil.
This is no small headache for the LDS Church. Brazil boasts more than a million members, the world’s third-largest Mormon population, after the United States and Mexico. It has 27 missions, more than any country outside the U.S. About 10 percent of the faith’s 52,000 missionaries are called to Brazil. Any disruption in the flow of full-time missionaries could slow the number of converts and hamper the stability of LDS congregations there.
Waiting for weeks or months for visas takes an emotional toll on individual missionaries.
Rachel Smith, of Taylorsville, assigned to the Brazil Maceio Mission, was initially told to report to the São Paulo training center in October 2009. But a week before her departure, she got a call saying she would learn Portuguese instead at the Provo MTC. She ended up staying five weeks beyond the usual two-month training, waiting for her visa. (Some of those waiting on visas are temporarily assigned to other missions.)
“Rachel tried to keep a positive attitude,” said her mother, Susan Smith, on Tuesday. “But she said it was hard to see people arrive at the MTC after her and leave before her.”
Susan Smith also noted the issue’s financial impact. Her daughter left for Brazil a day after her visa arrived without warning and, her mother said, the airfare was several times more than it would have been if the church had been able to buy it well in advance.
Observers say the problem has escalated in the past 18 months — after the U.S. government moved to a fully computerized visa process and required visitors from certain countries such as Brazil to be fingerprinted, pass a background check and pay higher fees.
Brazil complained about the new rules, wrote Mormon blogger Kent Larsen (times-andseasons.org), who is in the South American country this week attending a Mormon studies conference.
“It has also retaliated against some of those trying to visit Brazil, including LDS missionaries,” Larsen wrote.
Gary Neeleman, Utah’s honorary consul to Brazil, acknowledges that retaliation may motivate some of the delays. But he says the Brazilian bottleneck is caused largely by “bad planning.”
“The new system was not thought out as well as it should have been,” Neeleman said. “There are too few people dealing with the rush of visa applications, which is overwhelming.”
All Utah visas for Brazil have to be issued in Los Angeles, he said, which has half as many personnel as needed. It would be nice to ship some of the applications to less-swamped San Francisco, Neeleman said, but the system doesn’t work that way.
He has suggested that, until the problem is resolved, the LDS Church call its Brazil-bound missionaries not from Utah but from other states such as Idaho, Illinois and Indiana, which don’t have to get their visas through Los Angeles.
The process on both ends is a long one, with dual background checks here and in Brazil, said Heather Barney, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
“There’s not a lot we can do to speed it up,” Barney says.
Neeleman is in contact with Brazilian officials and hopes the process can be streamlined. He is encouraged by the recent appointment of Antonio Patriota as the country’s new foreign minister. Two years ago, Neeleman said, Patriota was in Utah, where he met with LDS leaders and visited Provo’s MTC.
The LDS Church believes the Brazilian visa waiting game soon will end.
The church has “a long, congenial history with Brazil and its people,” spokesman Scott Trotter said, “and we’ll continue to work through the ebb and flow of the visa process.”
But one change may be here to stay: calling Brazilian men on missions as early as age 18.
“The Brazilian educational system doesn’t normally accommodate a two-year deferment as the colleges and universities do in the United States,” Trotter said. “This allows young men to serve missions, fulfill their military obligations and receive higher-level education.”
Friday, January 21, 2011
1/21/11 de repente! there he was! (Elder Deaton)
12:09 pm
just got on to print my emails to save some time on reading. i'll write you back later. hopefully i'll be able to write a little more this time. haha love you guys!
4:56 pm
Did you get the package Diana sent you? yes it was a charger for the ipod. i already have one but this one is better so it will be more reliable haha the other one i have is kinda crappy. so tell her thanks if you can because i may or may not get to write them back soon
Did you do initiatories this week? no we went to a session again. we for sure are going to before we go out to the field but idk when
What day do you go to the temple? Today/Friday? yeah. usually around 10 am
Did anything funny happen this week? yeah probably but i dont remember much haha all i remember is that i'm not allowed to quote movies for a week because we had a lesson on addictions so they took that away from me so i can see how in vestigators feel trying to quit an addiction. we all got a "habit" taken away
Are you taking lots of pics? (I am sad that I only have 3 of you!!!) not lots in your opinion probably haha but i feel like im taking a lot
How are you feeling the language is coming?? its comin alright. i love it! but i'm not that good at it. our lesson this week at the trc was pretty good though in all portuguese. we had to contact a guy in his "store" and share a little about the church based on what we found out about him and then ask to come by his house later to teach him more. it went pretty well i thought except he was old so had a hard time hearing us especially my comp because hes really quiet even compared to me
Tell us all about your experience as a "greeter"!!! HOW did you get to do that? i was going to ask if i could because i really wanted to host to see if i could find elder deaton but then i was just like oh well i'll see him around anyway...but then in the mail on tuesday we had an invitaion for our district to host so we did. and i was watching for him the whole time and i would like give the other new missionaries to other elders hoping that kyle would show up and then de repente! there he was! and they were supposed to be pulling in the curb space one down from where i was so i just walked over and said " can i take this one elders?" haah it wasnt too hard to pull off. it just kinda happened. maybe because i was praying for it but idk because thats something that i dont even know if it mattered haha but we just show them their bedroom, which kyles is in my building on my floor so we get to see each other every night ha. then we get their supplies, then we take them to their class room and leave them haha
How long did you do it? the "whole day" haha there are elders coming from like 12-2ish so i did it then
How was Kyle?! he seemes really excited and not to sad to be leaving home ha so thats good
Did you get Mike's email and I sent you via "dearelder"? (sorry but I didn't get one from Ricky this week) yes! and tell the brambilas that ricky can email me if he wants because i can print them, but i might not have time to write back
Tell us more about the spiritual experiences you had THIS week!!!! the only big one i can think of was that i was thinking and praying about some people and how i could help them and then opened my scriptures and it happened to be to 3 nephi 18 it talks about ministering to them and praying for them and holding up the light (our Savior) so that was really cool, it was like an instant answer. I know God hears our prayers and he knows us each individually and if we pray with intent, it works.
Have you heard anything on the visa? nope. we are kept in the dark unless we get it then they tell us what time our flight is at the next day.
other than that, thanks for the garments by the way, not sure why you sent me a pair that was 34 or 36 or something though, im not gaining that much weight! haha and thats a pretty good name for the new sobrinho haha i like it. oh and about the coat, yeah its pretty cold, its the middle of winter in utah haha but that day i was just outside a lot and it was raining that morning so i was wearing it. Tell JON TO WRITE ME!!!!! but its cool if you tell me about his call too i guess....tell him its free on dearelder. i dont need a real letter haha.
Dad: thanks for the updates and as always Charlie's job sounds fun haha. what does the lakers are doing fine mean? haha i talked about the language already and i'll tell you more about my comp in chads haha because he is chad.
Chad: sounds like you're doing a good job with pole vaulting, and sounds like you might be becoming an actual bergquist. better break that record, i dont really like the kid taht has it now hahah jk but seriously. and do better in spanish BOII!! haha anyway, i dont miss you too much becasue i'm still with you 24/7 haha my comp is just like you. i told him a story today and he goes, cool. i ask him what he wants to do, i dunno doesnt matter. what do you want to teach our investigator. i dunno...what do want to study i dont care haha its funny.
love you all! write you next week! tchau!
just got on to print my emails to save some time on reading. i'll write you back later. hopefully i'll be able to write a little more this time. haha love you guys!
4:56 pm
Did you get the package Diana sent you? yes it was a charger for the ipod. i already have one but this one is better so it will be more reliable haha the other one i have is kinda crappy. so tell her thanks if you can because i may or may not get to write them back soon
Did you do initiatories this week? no we went to a session again. we for sure are going to before we go out to the field but idk when
What day do you go to the temple? Today/Friday? yeah. usually around 10 am
Did anything funny happen this week? yeah probably but i dont remember much haha all i remember is that i'm not allowed to quote movies for a week because we had a lesson on addictions so they took that away from me so i can see how in vestigators feel trying to quit an addiction. we all got a "habit" taken away
Are you taking lots of pics? (I am sad that I only have 3 of you!!!) not lots in your opinion probably haha but i feel like im taking a lot
How are you feeling the language is coming?? its comin alright. i love it! but i'm not that good at it. our lesson this week at the trc was pretty good though in all portuguese. we had to contact a guy in his "store" and share a little about the church based on what we found out about him and then ask to come by his house later to teach him more. it went pretty well i thought except he was old so had a hard time hearing us especially my comp because hes really quiet even compared to me
Tell us all about your experience as a "greeter"!!! HOW did you get to do that? i was going to ask if i could because i really wanted to host to see if i could find elder deaton but then i was just like oh well i'll see him around anyway...but then in the mail on tuesday we had an invitaion for our district to host so we did. and i was watching for him the whole time and i would like give the other new missionaries to other elders hoping that kyle would show up and then de repente! there he was! and they were supposed to be pulling in the curb space one down from where i was so i just walked over and said " can i take this one elders?" haah it wasnt too hard to pull off. it just kinda happened. maybe because i was praying for it but idk because thats something that i dont even know if it mattered haha but we just show them their bedroom, which kyles is in my building on my floor so we get to see each other every night ha. then we get their supplies, then we take them to their class room and leave them haha
How long did you do it? the "whole day" haha there are elders coming from like 12-2ish so i did it then
How was Kyle?! he seemes really excited and not to sad to be leaving home ha so thats good
Did you get Mike's email and I sent you via "dearelder"? (sorry but I didn't get one from Ricky this week) yes! and tell the brambilas that ricky can email me if he wants because i can print them, but i might not have time to write back
Tell us more about the spiritual experiences you had THIS week!!!! the only big one i can think of was that i was thinking and praying about some people and how i could help them and then opened my scriptures and it happened to be to 3 nephi 18 it talks about ministering to them and praying for them and holding up the light (our Savior) so that was really cool, it was like an instant answer. I know God hears our prayers and he knows us each individually and if we pray with intent, it works.
Have you heard anything on the visa? nope. we are kept in the dark unless we get it then they tell us what time our flight is at the next day.
other than that, thanks for the garments by the way, not sure why you sent me a pair that was 34 or 36 or something though, im not gaining that much weight! haha and thats a pretty good name for the new sobrinho haha i like it. oh and about the coat, yeah its pretty cold, its the middle of winter in utah haha but that day i was just outside a lot and it was raining that morning so i was wearing it. Tell JON TO WRITE ME!!!!! but its cool if you tell me about his call too i guess....tell him its free on dearelder. i dont need a real letter haha.
Dad: thanks for the updates and as always Charlie's job sounds fun haha. what does the lakers are doing fine mean? haha i talked about the language already and i'll tell you more about my comp in chads haha because he is chad.
Chad: sounds like you're doing a good job with pole vaulting, and sounds like you might be becoming an actual bergquist. better break that record, i dont really like the kid taht has it now hahah jk but seriously. and do better in spanish BOII!! haha anyway, i dont miss you too much becasue i'm still with you 24/7 haha my comp is just like you. i told him a story today and he goes, cool. i ask him what he wants to do, i dunno doesnt matter. what do you want to teach our investigator. i dunno...what do want to study i dont care haha its funny.
love you all! write you next week! tchau!
Elder Deaton arrives... and Elder Bergquist hosts!
Look at all the cars lined up to bring missionaries to the Missionary Training Center!
Elder Deaton arrives! AND, Elder Berguist just happens to be a host!
Elder Deaton arrives! AND, Elder Berguist just happens to be a host!
Unloading the luggage...
Waving good bye... good bye for 2 years!
It was so exciting to get the phone call from Wende telling me that when they took Elder Deaton to the MTC they looked up and there was Elder Bergquist!
Waving good bye... good bye for 2 years!
It was so exciting to get the phone call from Wende telling me that when they took Elder Deaton to the MTC they looked up and there was Elder Bergquist!
I got an email from him today and he said that he WANTED to ask to be a host, hoping to see his buddy, Kyle, but he thought, oh, well... I will see him eventually. So, he didn't ask. But Tuesday there was a note in their mailbox asking their district to be hosts on Wed!
And, so... there was Elder Bergquist standing at the curb welcoming the new missionaries to the MTC when Elder Deaton and his family pulled up!
A nice message...
I got this message from one of Dallin's teachers in the MTC... he happens to be dating the daughter on one of my roommates from the BYU days! °Ü°
January 9 at 9:37am
Sister bergquist! So good to finally hear from you! Sister Taylor did tell me to expect a message from you sometime soon! What a great son you have! One of my favorite students! Well to answer your questions:
I have no idea why his district is so small. I guess it just has to do with when he came into the MTC and how many kids were delayed with his week. Most districts are at about 12-15 missionaries. It's actually kinda nice though because this way we have more time to focus on individuals.
As far as what I do; your son has two teachers. Myself and another returned missionary and we each spend about 3 hours a day over 5 days a week with the missionaries. We teach everything from language to preach my gospel. It's strange to think but there's actually no set curriculum at the MTC. My companion teacher and I both sit down once a week and plan what we're gonna teach the missionaries for that week. And that's it. No List of things to check off or anything. Just the spirit really. Pretty cool how that works I think.
3rd, about the language. Yes he's only been there for about 4 1/2 weeks but if you'll believe it we've already taught your son all of the portuguese language! It's amazing how the gift of tongues truly aides these young missionaries. He's not fluid quite yet but you can give him pretty much any sentence on paper and he can translate it pretty accurately every time. Not bad eh? He and his district have been a very fast group of learners and have picked up the language exceptionally fast. All they need to do now is speak the language as much as possible. There's a large gap between knowing the language on paper and speaking and understanding. I'm sure your son will do just fine though he's been doing really well at picking up the language!
Lastly, you have much reason to be proud. Your son is an excellent missionary and I'm sure will continue to be so on the field. As an MTC teacher I really appreciate missionaries who come from good homes that teach the gospel and who come in with a testimony. It's much easier teaching those types of missionaries. Elder Bergquist definitely falls into this category. He has a very strong testimony. Is obedient and very eager and willing to learn. He participates well in class and always has good comments to add to the discussion. One of the most rewarding parts of this job is that I get the unique opportunity to see what the missionaries are like on day 1 and what they're like on the last day. We're only at the half way mark but I've already seen considerable growth in you son. You can tell he's become more confident. A better teacher and has developed more love for those around him. It's a blessing in my life to be able to see how the lord watches over and guides the missionaries. I'm sure you've been able to notice some changes in him through letters already. You'll be even more surprised in a couple years when he comes home! Elder Bergquist is doing great and I'm sure he will be a great strength to his mission and a blessing to the people of Brazil.
I'm sure you're already quite aware of this but your son is engaged in the greatest work in the world. He is now latterly the lords hands in the work of the salvation of man. Please continue to encourage him and push him to do his best. Again, as his mother I'm sure you know of the many talents and capacities of your son, but your son is capable of doing much good for God's children as long as he continues being the committed obedient missionary that he is right now, so please continue to push him.If you have anymore questions, just go ahead and send them my way!
Matt Okazaki
January 9 at 9:37am
Sister bergquist! So good to finally hear from you! Sister Taylor did tell me to expect a message from you sometime soon! What a great son you have! One of my favorite students! Well to answer your questions:
I have no idea why his district is so small. I guess it just has to do with when he came into the MTC and how many kids were delayed with his week. Most districts are at about 12-15 missionaries. It's actually kinda nice though because this way we have more time to focus on individuals.
As far as what I do; your son has two teachers. Myself and another returned missionary and we each spend about 3 hours a day over 5 days a week with the missionaries. We teach everything from language to preach my gospel. It's strange to think but there's actually no set curriculum at the MTC. My companion teacher and I both sit down once a week and plan what we're gonna teach the missionaries for that week. And that's it. No List of things to check off or anything. Just the spirit really. Pretty cool how that works I think.
3rd, about the language. Yes he's only been there for about 4 1/2 weeks but if you'll believe it we've already taught your son all of the portuguese language! It's amazing how the gift of tongues truly aides these young missionaries. He's not fluid quite yet but you can give him pretty much any sentence on paper and he can translate it pretty accurately every time. Not bad eh? He and his district have been a very fast group of learners and have picked up the language exceptionally fast. All they need to do now is speak the language as much as possible. There's a large gap between knowing the language on paper and speaking and understanding. I'm sure your son will do just fine though he's been doing really well at picking up the language!
Lastly, you have much reason to be proud. Your son is an excellent missionary and I'm sure will continue to be so on the field. As an MTC teacher I really appreciate missionaries who come from good homes that teach the gospel and who come in with a testimony. It's much easier teaching those types of missionaries. Elder Bergquist definitely falls into this category. He has a very strong testimony. Is obedient and very eager and willing to learn. He participates well in class and always has good comments to add to the discussion. One of the most rewarding parts of this job is that I get the unique opportunity to see what the missionaries are like on day 1 and what they're like on the last day. We're only at the half way mark but I've already seen considerable growth in you son. You can tell he's become more confident. A better teacher and has developed more love for those around him. It's a blessing in my life to be able to see how the lord watches over and guides the missionaries. I'm sure you've been able to notice some changes in him through letters already. You'll be even more surprised in a couple years when he comes home! Elder Bergquist is doing great and I'm sure he will be a great strength to his mission and a blessing to the people of Brazil.
I'm sure you're already quite aware of this but your son is engaged in the greatest work in the world. He is now latterly the lords hands in the work of the salvation of man. Please continue to encourage him and push him to do his best. Again, as his mother I'm sure you know of the many talents and capacities of your son, but your son is capable of doing much good for God's children as long as he continues being the committed obedient missionary that he is right now, so please continue to push him.If you have anymore questions, just go ahead and send them my way!
Matt Okazaki
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
1/14/11 When I said, "Follow me", it was forever.
Friday Jan 14, 2011
7:17 am
i'm going to be getting on later to email at about 5:15-5:30 just so you know. but, for now, what year was grandpa measles born and how old was he when he passed? i need to know for my plan of salvation thing. i'm gonna have a little tribute to him on it. anyway i'll write more later. talk to ya. tchau
4:52 pm
What is your favorite thing about the MTC?Just being focused on gospel things all the time and the language. i love portuguese! its so tight! haha and i feel like i'm getting closer to Christ everyday :)
Is the temple open again? yeah. we have gone the last two weeks. i love it. i think i want to do initiatories next week though i havent since i did my own ha
Have you REALLY gained 10 lbs?? no not 10. its more like 5. and one of my new years resolutions was to not stuff myself at every meal and i hardly eat their desserts anymore because i have so much junk in my room haha so i think i've got it under control
tell us about the Brasilaian missionareis that you were talking about last week.. and are lthey leaving to go to Brasil or stateside? the americans here that are called to go to brasil haha and no they are getting reassigned. two left today to sacramento and the rest leave tuesday to alabama
When did you feel the Spirit the strongest this week? thats a tought one because this week was soooo goood! First of all i had a cool experience with the scriptures on sunday just studying about John the baptist and how he got the authority to baptize because i was a little confused about that. didnt realize apostasy only referred to the m. prieshood being taken. so now it all makes sense haha i love the scriptures!
then we had a really good lesson by the sisters in district meeting about Christ and i felt so close to him it was soo cool. I realized how much He loves me and how much I love him. and thats why im here. i mean i knew that but it was just a good reminder.
Then! the best part! guess who came to speak to us!? Elder Holland!!! it was so tight! puxa vida! haha He spoke to us about how and why preach my gospel was born. Because so many elders were going inactive after their missions. so it is to convert us missionaries so we can then convert others. I love how passionate he is about his mission. i hope im like that 50 years from now haha. He always says in like very missionary direcctd talk how much his mission shaped his life and even will shape our lives beyond this world. and he talked a little about what the average missionary needs to improve on: studying, planning, and teaching to committment. but the best part of the talk was when he talked bout Peter and the Apostles after Christs death. They didnt lknow what to do so Peter was like Im gonna go fishing and they all went and then he came after a whole night of no fish and told them to cast the net on the other side anyway you know the story....john21...but he just made them feel so real it was crazy. Like i was laguhing at peter because he went fisshing haha idk it was funny. but then the point of it was that we have to continue in our calls throughout our lives. he said "If you love me feed my sheep. when i said follow me it was forever. when i said leave your nets and boats it was forver. when i called you to be an apostle it was forever. when i called you to be a missionary it was forever. you cant go back! feed my sheep! you know how passionate he gets its hard to say it like he does. anyway it was really good
Did you teach in Portuguese this week? and how did it go? yes. we have taught 4 lessons so far in only portuguese. one to the sisters in our district as a practice and one at the trc to a random. the other two are to our new "investigator" (irmao brough THIS IS ONE OF HIS TEACHERS, THEY PRETEND TO BE INVESTIGATERS), Cristian. We taught him the restauracao and then a follow up visit to see how his reading and praying went and talked with him about prayer and feeling the spirit. he loves the fact that he can pray from his heart and doesnt have to recite like a memorized prayer. Also we baptised our other investigator (PRETEND, IT IS A TEACHER) on wednesday, Roberto. Then irmao brough brought pictures and showed us the real people that he was pretending to be from his mission it was cool
Explain a little about classes and when you teach, etc... classes we have about 12 hours a day and teachers are there for about 7 probably other than that its personal, comp and language study.
Are you still playing basketball during PE time? yeah, and i run a little sometimes and play 4square a little sometimes when there a b ball game i can get in.
tell blake happy birthaday and diana too! i love you all! yeah send me ricky and mikes letters!
7:17 am
i'm going to be getting on later to email at about 5:15-5:30 just so you know. but, for now, what year was grandpa measles born and how old was he when he passed? i need to know for my plan of salvation thing. i'm gonna have a little tribute to him on it. anyway i'll write more later. talk to ya. tchau
4:52 pm
What is your favorite thing about the MTC?Just being focused on gospel things all the time and the language. i love portuguese! its so tight! haha and i feel like i'm getting closer to Christ everyday :)
Is the temple open again? yeah. we have gone the last two weeks. i love it. i think i want to do initiatories next week though i havent since i did my own ha
Have you REALLY gained 10 lbs?? no not 10. its more like 5. and one of my new years resolutions was to not stuff myself at every meal and i hardly eat their desserts anymore because i have so much junk in my room haha so i think i've got it under control
tell us about the Brasilaian missionareis that you were talking about last week.. and are lthey leaving to go to Brasil or stateside? the americans here that are called to go to brasil haha and no they are getting reassigned. two left today to sacramento and the rest leave tuesday to alabama
When did you feel the Spirit the strongest this week? thats a tought one because this week was soooo goood! First of all i had a cool experience with the scriptures on sunday just studying about John the baptist and how he got the authority to baptize because i was a little confused about that. didnt realize apostasy only referred to the m. prieshood being taken. so now it all makes sense haha i love the scriptures!
then we had a really good lesson by the sisters in district meeting about Christ and i felt so close to him it was soo cool. I realized how much He loves me and how much I love him. and thats why im here. i mean i knew that but it was just a good reminder.
Then! the best part! guess who came to speak to us!? Elder Holland!!! it was so tight! puxa vida! haha He spoke to us about how and why preach my gospel was born. Because so many elders were going inactive after their missions. so it is to convert us missionaries so we can then convert others. I love how passionate he is about his mission. i hope im like that 50 years from now haha. He always says in like very missionary direcctd talk how much his mission shaped his life and even will shape our lives beyond this world. and he talked a little about what the average missionary needs to improve on: studying, planning, and teaching to committment. but the best part of the talk was when he talked bout Peter and the Apostles after Christs death. They didnt lknow what to do so Peter was like Im gonna go fishing and they all went and then he came after a whole night of no fish and told them to cast the net on the other side anyway you know the story....john21...but he just made them feel so real it was crazy. Like i was laguhing at peter because he went fisshing haha idk it was funny. but then the point of it was that we have to continue in our calls throughout our lives. he said "If you love me feed my sheep. when i said follow me it was forever. when i said leave your nets and boats it was forver. when i called you to be an apostle it was forever. when i called you to be a missionary it was forever. you cant go back! feed my sheep! you know how passionate he gets its hard to say it like he does. anyway it was really good
Did you teach in Portuguese this week? and how did it go? yes. we have taught 4 lessons so far in only portuguese. one to the sisters in our district as a practice and one at the trc to a random. the other two are to our new "investigator" (irmao brough THIS IS ONE OF HIS TEACHERS, THEY PRETEND TO BE INVESTIGATERS), Cristian. We taught him the restauracao and then a follow up visit to see how his reading and praying went and talked with him about prayer and feeling the spirit. he loves the fact that he can pray from his heart and doesnt have to recite like a memorized prayer. Also we baptised our other investigator (PRETEND, IT IS A TEACHER) on wednesday, Roberto. Then irmao brough brought pictures and showed us the real people that he was pretending to be from his mission it was cool
Explain a little about classes and when you teach, etc... classes we have about 12 hours a day and teachers are there for about 7 probably other than that its personal, comp and language study.
Are you still playing basketball during PE time? yeah, and i run a little sometimes and play 4square a little sometimes when there a b ball game i can get in.
tell blake happy birthaday and diana too! i love you all! yeah send me ricky and mikes letters!
Friday, January 7, 2011
1/7/11 Big Gulps?
Here is Elder Bergquist's email I got this morning at 6:55!
Did you get your Birthday package? yes! thank you so much! and i didnt really say much about the Christmas package either. so here it goes...i didnt mean for you guys to send the nice new clippers! and i'm so excited for my ipod! but i cant use it yet. Dont send me anymore food. not that i'm not grateful for it i just have soooo much its ridiculous! i'll never eat it all. i got a package from Farryn, two from you, those cookies and those cupcakes, and then sister ashley sent me one too! i have way too much food for the 45 minutes i have in my room per day haha. especially when every meal is a "buffet" and they have like 5 desserts to choose from there too haha.
Did your district/zone know it was your Bday? yeah they did. the sisters made me another big gulp card haha. okazaki and i always quote that line from dumb and dumber because we love awkward moments. so they made me a card for christmas and a bigger one, with 20 straws for my birthday haha.
Did your teachers? yeah the district sang happy birthday in portuguese
Did they do anything fun for you??? ^ haha
Why is your district so small? (don't most districts have 8 or 10 in them?) yeah usually but probably some got their visas or are brasileiros so they are at the other mtc like theyre supposed to be.
Do you do much with your zone?umm...not really...we get like 45 minutes at the residence hall at night and we'll usuall chill for like 15 or 20. we just got 9 new brailian elders on our floor! and a bunch of the italian missionaries are leaving like this week or next so thats good! but our other brasilian distrisct is leaving the same time as them.
Do you think you will be able to help the new missionaries coming in on the 19th when Kyle comes? (How long do you have to have in the MTC in order to get to go out and help the new guys??) i think you only do it the last week were here so i dont think so...
Have any more missionaries gotten their visas this week that you know of? no. still just the 2 from our zone
Did you have your interview with the councilor in your bishopric this past week? nope. we were supposed to but the president wasnt here so he had to take on his responsibilities too
When did you feel the Spirit the strongest? last night we had a testimony meeting thing as a district and when i got up it was crazy how the words just flowed. i didnt have one time when i couldnt think of a word or a conjugation or anything. it was really cool. the spirit does help especially when your declaring the wrod of God!
When and how often do you teach? we have two progressing investigators (our teachers) and just started with the 3rd that will be in all portuguese. roberto (brough) has a baptismal date for the 12th and the other is a little slower because hes mozambiquan but hes set for the 23rd. then we teach once a weeek at the trc this week was the last week of english there.
can you get the pics that I email? yes. i got those rain ones. i cant send any though i guess...? sei la thank you guys so much for everything! I love you all! and tell kyle or wendi i'll be writing him a letter. in about 20 minutes probably haha. i only have 6 minutes left on here but i'm gonna save it in case i can gget on later and i think of anything else i wanna say. BYe! LOveYOU! and i love this work!
4:24
welp i guess you didnt wanna write back haha. oh well. the only other thing i could think of is thanks for the pictures too! i kinda wish there would have been more of the family, but most of them were really good. thanks for everything! i love you guys! i wish i had the time or the stomach to eat all that food though. i've already gained like 10 lbs hahaha. well i gotta go! hope evrything is going well at home!
Love Elder Bergquist
Did you get your Birthday package? yes! thank you so much! and i didnt really say much about the Christmas package either. so here it goes...i didnt mean for you guys to send the nice new clippers! and i'm so excited for my ipod! but i cant use it yet. Dont send me anymore food. not that i'm not grateful for it i just have soooo much its ridiculous! i'll never eat it all. i got a package from Farryn, two from you, those cookies and those cupcakes, and then sister ashley sent me one too! i have way too much food for the 45 minutes i have in my room per day haha. especially when every meal is a "buffet" and they have like 5 desserts to choose from there too haha.
Did your district/zone know it was your Bday? yeah they did. the sisters made me another big gulp card haha. okazaki and i always quote that line from dumb and dumber because we love awkward moments. so they made me a card for christmas and a bigger one, with 20 straws for my birthday haha.
Did your teachers? yeah the district sang happy birthday in portuguese
Did they do anything fun for you??? ^ haha
Why is your district so small? (don't most districts have 8 or 10 in them?) yeah usually but probably some got their visas or are brasileiros so they are at the other mtc like theyre supposed to be.
Do you do much with your zone?umm...not really...we get like 45 minutes at the residence hall at night and we'll usuall chill for like 15 or 20. we just got 9 new brailian elders on our floor! and a bunch of the italian missionaries are leaving like this week or next so thats good! but our other brasilian distrisct is leaving the same time as them.
Do you think you will be able to help the new missionaries coming in on the 19th when Kyle comes? (How long do you have to have in the MTC in order to get to go out and help the new guys??) i think you only do it the last week were here so i dont think so...
Have any more missionaries gotten their visas this week that you know of? no. still just the 2 from our zone
Did you have your interview with the councilor in your bishopric this past week? nope. we were supposed to but the president wasnt here so he had to take on his responsibilities too
When did you feel the Spirit the strongest? last night we had a testimony meeting thing as a district and when i got up it was crazy how the words just flowed. i didnt have one time when i couldnt think of a word or a conjugation or anything. it was really cool. the spirit does help especially when your declaring the wrod of God!
When and how often do you teach? we have two progressing investigators (our teachers) and just started with the 3rd that will be in all portuguese. roberto (brough) has a baptismal date for the 12th and the other is a little slower because hes mozambiquan but hes set for the 23rd. then we teach once a weeek at the trc this week was the last week of english there.
can you get the pics that I email? yes. i got those rain ones. i cant send any though i guess...? sei la thank you guys so much for everything! I love you all! and tell kyle or wendi i'll be writing him a letter. in about 20 minutes probably haha. i only have 6 minutes left on here but i'm gonna save it in case i can gget on later and i think of anything else i wanna say. BYe! LOveYOU! and i love this work!
4:24
welp i guess you didnt wanna write back haha. oh well. the only other thing i could think of is thanks for the pictures too! i kinda wish there would have been more of the family, but most of them were really good. thanks for everything! i love you guys! i wish i had the time or the stomach to eat all that food though. i've already gained like 10 lbs hahaha. well i gotta go! hope evrything is going well at home!
Love Elder Bergquist
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Birthday Wishes on Elder Bergquist's FB Wall
Elder Bergquist! I thought I would just copy your “Happy Birthday” wishes from everyone from your FB wall and let you see how many posted!!! I love you! MOM
Darwin Anthony Miguel Go
Ashley Karen Jorgensen
Long Beach Breezy
Patrick Ortiz
Kelly Orgill wished a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ** Tristan Hemphill wished a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ** Donnie Bonelli wished a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ** Kenzi Crompton wished a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ** Kimberly McKinley wished a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ** Kelsey Kay wished a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ** Kelsey Kay sent a GIFT!
Michael Spaleta
Kelsey Anne O'Connor
Robert Horspool
Andre Martin
Carissa Gossard
Adam Barry Bergquist
Rebekah Brambila
Joshua Villa
Cherie Argyle Hardy
Shaila Measles Bergquist
Tahni Bruno
Quentin Washington
Kristen Skye Bibbee
Samuel Kim
Adrianna Spaleta
Farryn Nichols
Luve Adams Hall
Tiffany Joy Lane
Matthew Bo Perez
Melody Sabooki
Vince Perez
Rose Hennessy
Heather Christine
Tristan Hemphill
Amber Baker McLaughlin
Marilu Bustamante
Blake Bergquist
Jessica Jenson
Monday, January 3, 2011
Happy Birthday Elder Bergquist!!!
TODAY IS ELDER BERGQUIST'S BIRTHDAY!!!!
We sent him a Birthday package... here is a picture of the contents... We sent hats and horns, I hope they have a party!!!
Happy Birthday Son, we love you!!!
We sent him a Birthday package... here is a picture of the contents... We sent hats and horns, I hope they have a party!!!
Happy Birthday Son, we love you!!!
Snail Mail AND Pictures!!!
He wrote on the back of the pics... the pics are not very good because I can't get our scanner to work so I took a picture of the pictures, haha...
My district, left to right:
Sister Enszer, Sister Taylor, sister Roy Elder Bergquist, Elder Rudolphi
Not sure why we decided to take a picture here, ha oh well, thats all the pictures I have so far really.
Sister Enszer Sister Roy, Sister Taylor, Elder Rudolphi, Elder Bergquist
Men Companeiro Elder Rudolphi
My district, left to right:
Sister Enszer, Sister Taylor, sister Roy Elder Bergquist, Elder Rudolphi
Not sure why we decided to take a picture here, ha oh well, thats all the pictures I have so far really.
Sister Enszer Sister Roy, Sister Taylor, Elder Rudolphi, Elder Bergquist
Men Companeiro Elder Rudolphi
This was mailed out on 12-29-10, we received it on 12-31-1
Mom,
Here’s the thing about my so called “short” emails that I send, I only have 30 minutes! AND, I have to read the emails you guys send and by the time I get started writing you I have like 10-15 minutes left and then, as you know I type REALLY slow haha. But, I always spend right up to the last minute writing you. 30 minutes just isn’t very long. Christmas sounds like it was a lot of fun. I can’t imagine dad in Sperry’s, haha but that’s cool. What “new” phone did Chad get? And, I feel bad for Devin, I swear he just brought 4 new tires? I knew that’s what they wanted to get, that’s why I was looking at one at Cabela’s haha but that one seemed over priced. I am glad you enjoyed it. (He is referring to the gift that the kids all pitched in and got Brad and I for Christmas, they got us a portable fire pit!) And it’s okay about the package, I’m just happy you sent one. So thank you! (his Christmas package was late due to downloading all the music on his shuffle) And we sang Come Thou Fount tonight as a district and it reminded me of the package and my music! I’m so excited slash not, because now I’ll be so tempted to listen to it haha. (That is his favorite song, and Kaitlin and Janae sang it with Sam accompanying them on the piano and we were able to tape it and put it on the shuffle for him!) I have some Christmas presents in here for you, that’s the main reason for this letter, so Merry Christmas/my birthday! (the pictures he sent!) haha I love you. Thank you for everything!
Elder Bergquist
Oh! P.S.
Elder Nelson came for Christmas! I’ll share a bit of what he said: He told us to talk about our language, the people, the gospel and our testimony in our letters home. He gave us examples of questions he has been asked and some answers: about polygamy: it’s the quickest way to get excommunicated… the others sins take longer… about our beliefs in the bible: of course we believe in it, our members wrote it! I thought those were really funny. He talked a lot about places and names and their origins, that was interesting. Then he left us with a blessing to be safe, show our love to our family and be a tool in Christ’s hand. This was all Sat. afternoon, then that night (Christmas) he talked about “A Christmas Carol” because we had just seen a sort of “play” performed by 2. And, said our missions are not only to (Bras!l) but to their ancestors also. Then Sunday morning in Priesthood he spoke about the Abrahamic Covenant and its application to us. He said add DC 86:8-11 to our Patriarchal blessings and how we are fulfilling that covenant made to Abraham. Then one more blessing J (I thought those were cool) to be strong in the faith, eloquent in example, blessed you! (Families) for my service, obedience will protect us, health & strength, this will be a time of great joy, and we will be able to withstand rejections and have the Lord on our side! We also had a talent show on Christmas and watched Mr. Krueger’s Christmas on the ‘Eve. It was hard getting back into it after a “3 day weekend” But its good now. Love you!
12/31/10 How can the children learn to read if they can't even fit inside the building?"
12-31-10 @ 1:57
Thats crazy about sal. dad said the same thing in his email. Grandma got a puppy?! haha that seems weird. but thats good for her. im sure she gets lonely and that way the grand kids probably will come over more often haha.
How is the language coming along? the language...ummm its coming...slowly but its coming.
Have you met more guys going to Belo? i think i told you last week. i only know of two others here that are going there but im sure theres more...sei la
Do you hear of any of the missionaries getting their visas and leaving? or does it seem like they are all going stateside and waiting? (I pray for your visa to come EVERY day!!!) we have had two from our branch get their visas and leave since ive been here. one in like the week before christmas and one like 3 days ago (a sister)
So, is 1/2 your ward Portuguese and the other 1/2 Italian? about that...well probably more italian now since we had one Portugal district leave and we've had one italian one come in and i dont think were getting anymore portuguese because they stopped calling them from the states ya know...i dunno i guess we'll see
How many in your ward? (approx) probably like 40 or so
Do you meet with your Bishop often? branch president...every week as leadership, but not like personal interviews. one of the counselors said he'd be interviewing with us this saturday
Do you meet with your Mission Pres often? never
Did you get the "yellow card" I mailed you (for the yellow fever)? yes. thanks for the "letter" you sent with it ha dumb blank piece of paper
What was the funniest thing that happened this week? we were talking about dear johns at dinner and seeing if anyone had a gf or bf at home or whatever and someone asked me and i said no and they were like are you sure? i was like yeah...they were like so you wont get a dear john and i said how could i get a dear john if theres no john to dear. then sister roy followed that up with "how can the children learn to read if they cant even fit inside the building?" (from zoolander) yes, we're missionaries. we're already going crazy and really dumb things are funny haha
Tell me of a time this week when you felt the Spirit? its hard to think when im on the spot especially when theres a timer on! but i'll think of something
I loved the story you told last week of feeling the Spirit when you were teaching!!! Is it hard teaching in Portuguese or do you feel that you are getting the hang of it? we havent started teaching in portuguese yet. we can bare testimony and like talk to people i guess but we dont start teaching in it til i think next week.
1:58
i have 10 more minutes so let me know if you have anymore questions haha
1:59
Hey there son! I forgot to ask you what you guys did for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day??!!! Did you have a general authority speak??? And, grandma wanted to know if you got the $ she sent you? i sent you a letter all about that...you'll see :) and i sent grandma a response. yes i got it.
2:00
also happy new years everyone! and tell chad good job on scandia. hahaha
2:04
probably felt the spirit most this week in a lesson okazaki taught about the priesthood. and we talked about joseph smith and read the verse about his calling and election being made sure. it was really cool. well and of course when elder nelson spoke to us. his talk about the Abrahamic covenant was really good. my letter talks about it more
2:06
big gulps huh? welp, see ya later. haha love you guys! talk to you next week!
12/24/10 I talk too much!
Elder Bergquist only gets 30 minutes to email us. It was kind of cute, he immediately emailed me "hi" just to see if I was on line... and then you can see after he answered all my questions he wrote a couple more short emails...
12-24-10 @ 2:41
hi mom
2:56
Have you been in the Provo temple yet? yeah we went last p day but its closed til january now
Are you guys having reg classes this week? (I keep wondering if the employees are home with their families or if they are still there teaching you guys!) most of them are gone. but we still have classes. if theres no teacher we just have MDT(missionary determined time) and do personal, comp, or lang study. our teacher irmao brough only left last night and the okazaki comes back monday and theres no classes today or tomorrow or sunday so we're alright. we had a couple subs for okazaki this week and will have a few for brough next week
How is the food? What kind of things do they serve? (I want you to take pics of the cafeteria! AND pics of the email and laundry room!) i cant take my camera in the cafeteria or the email room. the email room is just a computer lab where we do some of our lang study across the hall from our classroom and the food is the exact same food as the cannon center so its fine
Have you and your comp argued about anything? nothing. but he told me i talk too much in the lessons yesterday. but he talks about as much as chad so i kinda feel like i have to or it will just be quiet and awkward...idk
Have you met any missionaries that are going to Belo yet? yeah i met two this week. dont remember their names though. and i met that pilot kid haha he's in my zone.
How do you feel that the language is coming along? it ok...i feel like i'm behind but my teachers keep telling me im doing really well but i think thats just to keep my spirits up hah and i dont care if you email or call okazaki haha go for it if you want to. you can find out more about whats going on here
Is there anything that you need me to send you? no...not yet. i might need socks but i'll let you know. ask derek about socks in brasil...? like dress socks...?
Have you gotten the package from grandma yet? yeah :) it was consecrated oil from the garden of geth. and it was perfect because i accidentally left mine at home!
The one from Farryn? yes i did. lots of food haha and some homemade oreos :)
The one from Kaitlin? yeah. cupcakes from the cocoa bean or whatever. she said she thought it was from you too...? haha idk
Did you ever get the peanut butter cookies with the kisses on top that I sent? yes i did! thank you! thay were really good! obviously not as good as mine but they were good haha
What is the MTC doing for ya'll for Christmas? we have like 2 devotional/firesides and a talent show tomorrow. one devo tonight
Have there been any General Authorities there to speak to you guys? we've have had two 70's but i didnt recognize either of their names.
What has the Spirit taught you this week? i cant think of anything it taught me per say...but yesterday at the TRC it was really strong when we were teaching this guy the first lesson and i recited the first vision. it felt like the roof was about to pop off because it was so strong and after i bore my testimony he was like i feel something...i have like goosebumps, so naturally we were like thats the spirit testifying of the truthfulness of what we're teaching. it was really cool and i cant wait until we have the opportunity to teach the people of brasil like that and get o baptise them at the end of it! Haha
2:57
i only have about 3.5 minutes left
2:58
oh i went to the bookstore today to get some pictures printed. i should get them within like 5 days. so you should have them in about two weeks or less
2:59
i also got a padded envelope to send my sd card home in but i dont think its worth it. because i've only taken like 5 pictures. we're basically only allowed our cameras on p days. and we took them to the temple one week...
3:00
gotta go bye
P-Day???
We had NO idea when his Pday was... all of the new missionaries email on Saturday to let the family know they are doing well... but he either didn't know when his Pday was (the day he gets to email) or he forgot to tell us... so I emailed him several times... for 2 reasons, I was feeling REALLY bad that he didn't have a letter to read when he got on the computer on Saturday and just because I wasn't really sure when he would be getting on line again...
Anyway, we found out that his Pday (Preparation Day) is on Friday's... here is his 2nd email home! (I type up questions for him to answer... he cuts and pastes them onto a new email so, some of what you will read will be my questions - obviously!)
Anyway, we found out that his Pday (Preparation Day) is on Friday's... here is his 2nd email home! (I type up questions for him to answer... he cuts and pastes them onto a new email so, some of what you will read will be my questions - obviously!)
12-17-10 @1:08
Where are the sisters in your district from? sister roy is from san diego. sister enszer is from wisconsin...? i think haha. and sister taylor is from georgia
Do you want us to bring up dad's bball shoes when we come next week? no i'm doing fine with my indoors. its only half court anyway
Are you taking lots of pics? i took a few at the temple on sunday but i left my camera in my room! hopefully i can get back on a little later and send some to you.
When do you have gym? its in the mornings on mon, tue, thurs, and sat, and then in the afternoon on wednesday.
Do you exercise in the morning? i exercise in gym only. haha even in our afternoon period when we cant go to the gym because of the incoming missionaries i did like maybe 100 push ups in the whole 50 minutes and thats it haha i dont like working out just for the sake of working out. you know that haha
Do you happen to have Br. Okazaki for a teacher? (my roommate from BYU ~ her daughter is dating him.... he teaches Portuguese at the MTC so... she just wondered) weirdest thing ever when i read that. i was like how in the world did she know that!? yes i do. thats weird. tell me her name and stuff about her in a dear elder so i can freak him out this week
Since the only guys in your district are you and your comp, do you have 2 other Elders in your room or not?? no we dont. we both have bottom bunks on opposite sides haha. he reminds me so much of chad its crazy. he doesnt talk, he wears glasses, he's literal about everything haha
Who do you play Bball with? Are they in your zone or just random guys? some are in my zone but usually not. just whoever is on the court at the time haha theres like 6 courts and you just shoot for teams so whoever makes it plays and whoever doesnt goes to the next court and tries again haha
Is everyone in your district going to Brasil? yeah. my comp is going to terazina or something, then one to brasilia and two to somewhere else i cant remember haha
Did you get a preach my gospel in English or Portuguese? i got both. they normally only give it in port. but i left mine in the car so they gave me an english one too
I am guessing you got your scriptures in Portuguese, right? yes. haha
How many teachers do you have? just two. the other one is irmao (brother) brough. and he kinda reminds me of derek haha. but way shorter
Are they all young? i think brough is 23 or so and i'm not sure about okazaki you probably know better than i do
How big is your branch? probably like 60 or 70 but it changes every week with everyone coming and going
Was church in English? the missionaries give talks in their language(like 3 of them) either Portuguese or Italian. its about half and half. and then the president spoke in english
Are there a lot in the MTC that are going to Brasil? yeah but i dont really know haha i havent like talked to everyone but i havent met anyone going to my mission
So, how does it feel to have that name tag on??!!! :) it feels great! i love this thing haha it makes me so happy. especially that its in another language that i can understand now! and i was going to try to get on later to send pics but i cant now because i spent too much time answering your questions! haha so you'll have to wait. and the reason my email was so short last week is because i didnt have you interrogating me! but its 30 minutes 27 is just how much i had left after i wrote you haha. i love you guys. keep telling me more about stuff going on there i only have 3 minutes left now. tell me about okazaki and keep me updated. tell dad thanks for the email but he'll just have to read this one because i dont have time left. i love you! friday is my pday by the way haha and i'll probably email between like 1 and 3 most of the time but it depends. dear elders i can read ahead of time though so you can just send me both so i can respond quicker...idk. oh and music isnt allowed in the mtc! haha! sucks. oh well. well. bye now
Our FIRST Email
I felt soooooooooooooo bad that we had not emailed him yet!!! I had asked him in the car on the way to the MTC what his new email addy was and I miss understood him, so I had it wrong! I had tried 3 or 4 times and it would not go thru!!!! :(
As you will soon see he says haha pretty much after EVERY sentence! We tease that he and his friends use haha and a period! :)
12/11/10
You didn't even email me yet?? haha i figured i would have like 4 already haha. So first of all i need some immunization stuff. I need all the dates for my MMR shots or whatever. they want you to fax it i think. but i dont know where to! haha i left the card in my room and i only have 27 minutes on here! haha. so send that if you can. i'll send you a letter with the number or whatever and info. I also need a yellow card thing from my yellow fever? i have no idea what they were talking about but i hope you do! k so now about the mission. i've been here what? 3 days? haha it feels like forever and i've learned so much. we're already praying in portuguese as of the second night. dont ask how haha also we've learned how to bare testimony which is cool. those are the two main things but we've learned a lot of other stuff too. My companion is from colorado springs and is way into the army and likes history. he kinda makes me think of chad. i think he'll be a little like elder Rudolphi when he goes on a mission haha. We have class like 14 hours a day, so i'm tired pretty much all the time. mostly not physically just mentally. but thats good i guess...just exhausting. I love it though! I'm learning faster than i ever thought i could ha. oh yeah! meu distrito...i was made district leader. but before you freak out there was only two choices and i'm pretty sure we switch halfway through. haha but its cool :) there is just 5 of us. 3 sisters: sister roy, enszer and taylor. then me and my companion. so we're a really small district. but its cool because we pretty much do everything as a whole district. Also, we get a lot of like personal attention from our teachers because its just the 5 of us in class. its really fun though. we play b ball everyday for gym. well, so far haha...so i kinda wish i would have taken dads shoes haha but its cool how are things at home? i'm sure things have changed a lot in the last 3 days that i've been gone. haha did chad make the team? anyway talk to you later! love you guys! please look for that immunization stuff! and send it asap!
Love,
Elder Bergquist
WELCOME TO THE MTC!
The big day has arrived! I took the opportunity to snap a few pics of him getting ready...
Here he is getting his suit out of his hanging bag...
Tying the tie...
Tucking in the shirt...
Packing his scriptures!
We had breakfast at IHOP! Dallin LOVES breakfast food in fact the only thing he requested that I make before he left was biscuits and gravy, which I made the day before! IHOP feeds the missionaries for free, we saw several missionaries eating there before going to the MTC!
Here is Dallin on the phone saying good bye to Derek! He had seen Devin the night before and Blake was with us when we took him to the MTC so.... he had to call Derek!
After eating and on the way to the MTC we stopped at Verizon to switch the phones around... I got Dallin's and Blake got mine... what a good sport, do NOT ask me why we did this BEFORE taking him to the MTC, talk about putting salt in a wound! But, as you can see he has a smile! He was sooooooooooooooo ready to go!!! (He did ask the lady if she could keep his contacts in the phone and she told him no, when they added my contacts he would loose his, she went on to tell him, "Don't worry about it, when you get home you will have to make all new friends coz all THOSE girls will be married!" OUCH. haha...
We were told to stop across the street so we could get pics of him in the FRONT of the MTC, so we did... but, we didn't actually walk all the way up to the corner, there were so many people doing the same thing we were! I really like this one of Blake and Dallin!
Okeedoke, here we are at the MTC... these 2 sweet Elder's greeted us with, "Welcome to the MTC!" as soon as we opened the door! They were very kind, I felt a little rushed, there were about 25 cars parked along the curb (we were at slot 23) letting missionaries out.... but they were very kind and told us to take all the time we needed! We took several pics and gave many hugs...
You can tell this was rough on Brad too...
But Dallin was ALL smiles!!! °Ü°
One more look back...
...and he was gone!
Here he is getting his suit out of his hanging bag...
Tying the tie...
Tucking in the shirt...
Packing his scriptures!
We had breakfast at IHOP! Dallin LOVES breakfast food in fact the only thing he requested that I make before he left was biscuits and gravy, which I made the day before! IHOP feeds the missionaries for free, we saw several missionaries eating there before going to the MTC!
Here is Dallin on the phone saying good bye to Derek! He had seen Devin the night before and Blake was with us when we took him to the MTC so.... he had to call Derek!
After eating and on the way to the MTC we stopped at Verizon to switch the phones around... I got Dallin's and Blake got mine... what a good sport, do NOT ask me why we did this BEFORE taking him to the MTC, talk about putting salt in a wound! But, as you can see he has a smile! He was sooooooooooooooo ready to go!!! (He did ask the lady if she could keep his contacts in the phone and she told him no, when they added my contacts he would loose his, she went on to tell him, "Don't worry about it, when you get home you will have to make all new friends coz all THOSE girls will be married!" OUCH. haha...
We were told to stop across the street so we could get pics of him in the FRONT of the MTC, so we did... but, we didn't actually walk all the way up to the corner, there were so many people doing the same thing we were! I really like this one of Blake and Dallin!
Okeedoke, here we are at the MTC... these 2 sweet Elder's greeted us with, "Welcome to the MTC!" as soon as we opened the door! They were very kind, I felt a little rushed, there were about 25 cars parked along the curb (we were at slot 23) letting missionaries out.... but they were very kind and told us to take all the time we needed! We took several pics and gave many hugs...
You can tell this was rough on Brad too...
But Dallin was ALL smiles!!! °Ü°
One more look back...
...and he was gone!
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