Mother's Day!!!

When you have a son or a daughter out serving a mission... the best 2 days are... MOTHER'S DAY and CHRISTMAS!!! They get to call home!!! °Ü°

Actually, in our case we got to call him! In our email we got from Elder Bergquist on Pday (Wed.) he told us what time to call him (10:30 our time) and the phone number to call.

So... at 10:15ish we got his phone number out... and the calling card... and proceeded with THE call.

We called Elder Bergquist and then called Derek, Derek then called Devin who called Brittany (she is in CO for a baby shower right now!!!) and Brittany called Blake! Once we were all on the line we got to chat!!!

Here are some of the things he told us... (now keep in mind he arrived in Brasil 9 days ago!)

*He gave a talk in church today! Yep, you read that right! haha... he said he is not sure if they could understand him! I asked him what he talked about and he said, "Well, since my language is so limited I basically gave the first discussion hahaha!" He said he doubted that they understood him because he could only understood about 10% of anything he hears! They speak too fast and only say about 1/2 of each word.

Funny story: He said that they were teaching this past week and he asked the lady "What are some things you have been blessed with in your life?" And she said, "huh?" So, he repeated his question and she again said "huh?" hahaha... he said he asked her 3 or 4 times and finally his companion asked her... Poor guy! haha... but, he said he can tell he is learning more and more each day. He said that even when he was in the MTC and was used to praying only in Portuguese every day (for 9 weeks) he got used to that and when he went to Powell and had to speak and pray in English he had to stop and think how... Brad told him that after about 3 weeks it will be much better. He was VERY positive and said he knows it will come! Another cute story he told us: (His companion sounds great! A hard worker!) He and his companion were at a bus stop and his companion said, okay, teach me all you can in Portuguese about prayer. He told him, "talk fast and act like your Brasilian". Dallin said he started talking as fast as he could and it was pretty much nonsense and they both just started to laugh!

*He said that teaching in Belo Horizonte is soooooo different than teaching in Powell. Example: They get in a lot of homes. They give about 5 1st discussions every day... AND, they ask them at the end of the lesson IF they would like to be baptized. IF they say yes, then they set up another appointment to come teach them again but IF they say no then they drop them. He said that is very much unlike how they would do in Powell, they might be "teaching" them and working with them for 9 or 10 years! (I think he was stretching it a bit there)

*He said they have about 3-4 people that is "progressing" right now!

*The baptism that he had the second day after he got there was a 12 year old girl. Her mother (or sister, he didn't seem to know and yes they have been by there about 3 times since haha) has been inactive and she came to them and said she wanted to get active so his companion and his former companion (before Dallin) had been teaching her! She came to church today and was confirmed. (He also said that some of the time that never happens... sad).

*We called them at the "church" which is actually a warehouse of sorts. They are in a branch and there is about 75 there each week. He said that if they get it up to 85 constantly then they can send the paperwork into Salt Lake to have a chapel built!!!

*He and his companion just opened up this area. They are currently sleeping at the Branch Presidents house. It has 1 bedroom, kitchen, and living room. He said that they pull out 2 mattresses and put them on the floor in the entry way each night to sleep. They are looking for an apt to rent. The house that they are currently living in is on a main street and when cars go by it is very loud. ;)

*He said there is a lot of hills and it is really pretty, but that the city is pretty dirty. He said it has only been in the 70's but it is humid and they run everywhere they go! He said it has only rained once since he has been there and that was only for about 1/2 an hour.

*Old news... but he told us that he gave a sister a blessing in the MTC the day before the left!

*He said his Mission President is really strict, he won't allow ANY sports or hiking on Pday. In fact he said that one of the elders asked him what he considered "sports", like... "Can we play ping pong?" and he said, "no." But he said he REALLY REALLY likes him! He said that he speaks English really well and doesn't really have an accent. He studied at BYU and is a head hunter.

It was wonderful to hear his voice! He sounded great!!! VERY happy and VERY positive!!! I did ask him to bear his testimony in Portuguese but he didn't want to (I think because Derek speaks Portuguese and he didn't want him to laugh) SO, Brad told him he could do that on our Christmas call! I am looking forward to THAT!!!