8/31/11 Transfers!

oi mãe! :) tudo bem com voce? ill start with the qs since theres like 50000

How are you? ótimo!!!

How was your week? great. we had some good times. and taught some good people haha

Were transfers this week???!! DETAILS! yes they were. and it looks like pres moved the whole mission. no one in my district stayed. all 6 were moved. my comp went to open an area and i came to Sabará. and im with elder martinez. i figured he was already here. but he wasnt we got here without much instruction. will be pretty interesting. elder martinez has been out 4 months and hes from ARGENTINA! from Rosario at that! crazy huh! but he didnt recognize devin. he said hes from like 3 streets away from the mission home there.

Are you still teaching Ana's fiance and brother? How is that going? Have you talked to her brother about "families being together forever"? I am sure you have... I can't believe that there was 15 people there when you were teaching!!! Were you able to help them understand the importance of being bapized by someone with authority? well. yeah to pretty much all of those but im no longer there, so idk.

Anyone else you are teaching that is showing any interest in being baptized? we had a velha that will be baptized this sunday and possibly silvana, but shes got some doubts, but im sure the new elders there will get it done

Did your comp have to have another bicho cut out? nope

How is the tracting going? it was going pretty good, we found a few news, but we'll see how it goes here in my new area

Are the ward members giving you referrals? not really, but we didnt really ask, thats something i need to work on

How is your ward? i dont know yet! haha we'll see

Are there any interesting sights in Guarni? nothing too crazily exciting haha

What do you eat for snacks? nothing. haha once in a while we stop in a padaria or buy some cookies or something but not too much snacking. theres no time for that haha and im already getting fat as you can see in the pics

What do you guys have for lunch each day? lunch we at the members houses, usually rice beans meat salad and once in a while a pasta

Do the members feed you? yup ^ haha

Are you exercising? yeah. i made myself an ab wheel haha

Are you writing your MP like you are supposed to?? uhhh....ill do that right after this haha

Do the ward members feed you in this area? i dont know yet haha. in guarani yes, and when no they give money to eat in a restaurant

Tell me about a time this past week when you felt the Spirit.... i think it was in the first lesson with this lady who didnt even accept a date, but we actually stopped and tried to help her and apply the lesson to her life and stuff, which is what i learn everyday that i need to improve, not that i dont do it, just need to do it better, but the spirit was really strong when we did that so well in that lesson. the Lord know his children and wants to help them, and its our job to listen to the spirit to transmit that to them. not that they dont still have theyre arbitrio, as that woman showed, but it helps a lot for people to accept.
what scripture do have for my plaque right now?

anyway i love you mom. and all the rest of you too haha
Um abraço!
Elder Bergquist
p.s. jackson isnt really allowed to write me. pres said parents, siblings and grandparents....
p.s.s. where are dianas fruit pictures? haha when is she due? and i love the pics of weston, keep them coming haha

8/24/11 its amazing to see the changes in people

We got a couple of pictures this week!
This is a pic of a little gecko that is "investigating" Elder Bergquist's scriptures!
Elder Bergquist took this picture for one of his best friends, Elder Hemphill who is serving in Rio de Janeiro!

To Brad
Parabens pra você,
nessa data querida,
muitas felicidades,
muitos anos da vida!
Parabens pra você,
nessa data querida,
muitas felicidades,
muitos anos da vida!
Happey birthday pops!
tchau

To Chad
CHAD! you wrote me! thanks boi. you know what that means in portuguese? bull. hahah mom does tell me a lot but not that much about you. hows school? did you meet cool people at EFY? any girls you like? haha your almost 16 now huh? wow thats weird. and i keep hearing that in letters too that your "exactly like me" haha. love you bud. sorry i bossed you around so much, but youre the younger brother and thats how i learned that it worked with the younger brother haha. welp, see ya later. Amo você!
Elder Bergquist
(that will be your name too some day, and its the best name ever!! haha)


How is everyone??! how are you mom? I'm doing great down here on the south side. ha its starting to get hot though haha. but its all good. im lovin the mish and improving everyday. i hated practicing teaching at the beginning of the mish like in comp study or in district meeting or zone conf or training and all that stuff, but im starting to like it more and more. i learn so much. we had our lz's (zone leaders) in our district meeting this week and it went really well. i learned a lot, and he seems to like my teaching a lot, but i definitely still have a lot to learn and improve.

So, How did this week go? wonderful. we baptized ana. she is 20 and is getting married in october. we taught the whole family, including her fiance and her atheist brother ha. hes not really atheist, hes just holding a grudge because his dad died a few years back, but i know he felt the spirit last night in the lesson when we taught the 1st message and showed the film of the restauração. the spirit was really strong and there were like 15 people there, hopefully they let the spirit in. we'll find out more tonight and as time goes. but the only reason the rest of the fam wasnt baptized is because the are "already baptized" they didnt understand fully apostasy, so we're going to talk about that and im sure they will, the are already going to church as a family, they just think its bad to get baptized more than once.

Is your comps feet better? yeah, well we think he has one more bicho, but hes walking good, we got our shoes back and were doing well

Do you have anyone that you are teaching that is ready to be baptized? not for this week no, well besides anas fam.

Last week you said, "you have a lot of people for 28 days", what did you mean? You had been teaching a lot of people for 28 days OR a lot of people planning to be baptized in 28 days or...??? sorry, something was lost in translation. dia 28. in other words, the 28th of august. but they pretty much all fell, we were working in a poor area kinda far from the church and nobody came.

Did you figure out what is lacking? a little bit, of course theres always something lacking or everyone we came in contact with would be baptized, but like i said we learned alot in dm (district meeting), and yesterday afterward our teaching was pretty good. better.

How many lessons did you guys teach this past week? i dont remember like 35 or so....

What is different about this area? everything haha. i dont know how to explain it. but everything, the attitude of the people, the houses, down to the accents, like i said last week

Did you get your shoes back? If so, have you worn them? (Derek had his resoled with airplane tires too!) yes i did and im wearing them now, they feel a little smaller, but pretty comfy and hopefully theyll last now

Did you think of anything else you would like in your package I am putting together?no, unless you can get 2 of the BYU football $5 shirts. everyone and their dog wants a byu shirt and theyre willing to pay big money slash trade for them. everytime i go to the office at least the 2 assistants bug me about it

Did you try making the no bake cookies? Can you get oatmeal there? no not yet. oatmeal yes. the problem is the peanut butter and the cocoa....? ha oatmeal is what i eat for breakfast most days.

When did you recognize the Spirit helping you this past week? like i always tell you i feel it everyday, and it was especially apparent last night with ana and glorias family.

What are you studying in your personal study time? this week a lot of the signs of the times. i made a list of them and im going to keep it with me checking them off as they come until He comes again. Im so excited! hahah

and a story i kinda forgot to tell you. it was really cool. i think i told you about her in my last area, marisa. she had well has still, like 18 kids, like 8 out of the home and like 6 or 8 living with her. when we went in the house the first time, she told us that we were representatives of Christ, which was really weird because normally we tell people that. but she said she never opens the door for anyone, especially religious people, and that for some reason she decided to for us. she also told us that she had been praying for some help, that her life wasnt good and they never left the house. we came back the next day to visit them again, the house, well yard, where we all sat and talked, looked completely different, they had cleaned and organized everything, we taught the word of wisdom and she hadnt gone a day without drinking since the age of 13, her son went inside got her alcohol(hes 11 years old) and poured it out on the ground right then and there. its amazing to see the changes in people. the happiness this gospel brings, but what was cool was when it got close to baptism day we found out about abortions she had taken part in and didnt know how that would go in the interview. come to find out at the last zone conference, she didnt have abortions just one or two still borns. and everything worked out. her and 5 of the kids were baptized the sunday after i left the area. :)

two more things:
can you get my line of authority to me some how? ha
and parabens para papai! what is it 57 this week? (haha, he will be 55 on Saturday!!) happy birthday pops
Love
Elder Bergquist

Dallin's Priesthood line of Authority

DALLIN DON BERGQUIST was ordained an Elder 23 Aug. 2009 by
BRADLY GORDON BERGQUIST who was ordained a High Priest 22 April 1990 by
GORDON ROSS BERGQUIST who was ordained a High Priest 6 May 1966 by
SAMUEL M. DAVIS who was ordained a High Priest 13 Jan. 1952 by
JOHN LONGDON who was ordained a High Priest 27 Sept. 1925 by
RUDGER CLAWSON who was ordained an Apostle 10 Oct. 1898 by
LORENZO SNOW who was ordained an Apostle 12 Feb. 1849 by
HEBER C. KIMBALL who was ordained an Apostle 14 Feb. 1835 by The Three Witnesses
Martin Harris was the mouth.

THE THREE WITNESSES were called by revelation to chose the Twelve Apostles and 14 February 1835 were "blessed by the laying on of hands of the Presidency."
Joseph Smith Jr., Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams, to ordain the TWELVE APOSTLES. (History of the Church. Vol. 2. pp 187-188.)

JOSEPH SMITH JR, and OLIVER COWDERY received the Melchizedek Priesthood in 1829 under the hands of PETER, JAMES, AND JOHN.
PETER, JAMES AND JOHN were ordained Apostles by the LORD, JESUS CHRIST. (John 15:16)

8/17/11 A Mini Eternity

I got a couple of new pics!!!!

"a picture of my shoes, two of them are like this already, and one im wearing for like the 3rd time today, but i took these ones in to be resoled, with airplane tire. ha we'll see how it works out"

To dad...

oi pai,
how are things? i laughed when you said it was great having him here(Weston), oh and derek and brittany too haha, pretty funny stuff. sounds like being bishop is pretty unpredictable at times. i feel for you, i cant imagine doing that kind of stuff, then i think of president monson doing all that when he was 22 years old... crazy, how does like a 50 year old ward member trust a 25 year old to interview him and stuff for the temple and whatnot...

i liked this idea a lot. its in a dentist office we went to today for my comp. it has the scripture about other sheep not of this fold, a Book of Mormon on display and then some passalong cards to get your own Book of Mormon. i thought it was a great idea and you could put something like it in your office...? idk just an idea.

i cant imagine chad at efy. i bet he had a blast, speaking of that little garoto, tell him to write me an email, mesmo que seja só uma linha ou duas... no sports updates this week, thats kinda weird, too busy being a bishop? haha

i wonder the same thing about the new ones coming in (he is talking about new babies coming to earth), if like grandma or barry or grandpa or anyone got to see him off into this world... its like i think of the mission sometimes, like a "mini-eternity" like we lived for some time before,learn a lot of stuff, go to school, get the priesthood, and get our endowments, get our patriarchal blessing (compared to our preearth life where we learned, received our first lessons in the priesthood... stuff like that, then we receive our mission call)i think it would be similar coming to earth, and on the mish you pass through all kinds of experiences and learn a whole lot more, that you couldnt learn at home with your parents and friends by your side, and help other people come to know the gospel... and the mission prepares you for pretty much anything you'll pass through the rest of your life (thats pretty much the same reason were on the earth). and you get to write to your parents (prayer) and even call them once in a while (when you really receive answers to your prayers and those big testimony strengthening moments) sei lá alguma coisa assim. sorry i went off on a tangent. but i think thats it, love you pops! tchau!
um abraço!
Elder Bergquist
ps this "tchuss" é german? or so a mess up on your phone or what?

oi mãe!!
tudo bem aí?? how is everything at home? you feeling lonely yet? haha now that weston is gone... questions first...

So, do you like this new area better than the last? i like them both, idk its different, the work, the ward slash branch, the city, the people, the accent. my last area was closer to sao paulo than here so things are a lot different.

Which is prettier? in the city part, here, but there we went on an hour bus ride every week to district meeting and that was really pretty.

How is the work going there? pretty good something seems to be lacking, were improving everyday though, we have um monte de pessoas for dia 28...we'll see how many pull through and realize what the gospel really means

Do you have anyone committed to baptism? (IF you baptize, wear socks! yikes) wear my socks? what do you mean? why? (Ding Dong!!! Because I dont want you to get those same jiggers that your companion got! Go HERE to see what they are! YIKES!)

Is your comps feet better? getting there, he took his shoes in too.

Are you gaining weight? no i topped out at like 78 kilos and im trying to watch myself now, and im working out better, i made myself an ab wheel haaha and we have gone running a couple times.

Is your area bigger or smaller than your last? bigger. a lot. haha like probably twice the size almost

How often do you have zone conf? once every 3 months. and interviews every 3 months too, but in between

I am going to get you a package together... what do you need? want? sei lá...give me some time, off the top of my head peanut butter, and reeses...ill think about it

When did you feel the Spirit this past week? everyday when i study, but we taught one lesson that was really good too. i think they learned by the spirit and at the end we committed them to go to church sunday and asked them why they thought it was important and they went off for like 5 minutes about why it was, haha it was pretty cool. its great when you dont teach well, but they learn anyway because you have the spirit. :)

Tell us somethings that happened this week!!! some drunk guy came up to us asking for money the other night and my comp pretended like he couldnt speak portuguese and he only could speak spanish (although he was speaking spanish slash italian slash portuguese and mostly with an italian accent. haha hes crazy. no hablo portuguese, tu queres pesos? haha

i love you mommy. tell chad and blake i love them too, and the rest of the fam when you talk to them. and that it wouldnt kill them to drop me a line once in a while. tchau!
Elder Bergquist

8/10/11 listen to the spirit and ask an inspired question

To dad...

alright so i'll respond to all your questions now haha. The area is great. i
like it a lot. its still technically BH but its not like CITY. its good work. and theres everything from rich areas to favelas that are really humble so you can kinda pick your poison. either have no one answer the door or be scared at night haha. and my comp is good. hes having some foot problems haha i guess you heard about the bichos el pegou. haha and then bought some new shoes so he got some mean blisters ha. were working hard again. he is from sao paulo too. but hes from the south, not in dereks mish ha. and hes the district leader so were kinda the example dupla for the others in the district. i like the pressure it makes me work harder. yes we have the spirit. his thing is to really teach with power and authority and then i come in with the testimony or the questions. he compared it to preparing meat, he beats it to make it tender and then you put in in the sauce and let it marinade in the spirit haha it was pretty funny. we have a lot of fun together. we joke a lot more than my other comps i like it. and yeah he gets it, when i can come up with it in the moment. his sense of humor is similar to mine im just a little slow because of the language, but im getting there. we dont do switches in this mission. my comp called pres to try to get authorization because one dupla was having trouble, but he basically said are you crazy?! ha but they are pretty close. other than that, thanks for all the updates. i always look forward to your emails. i love you pops, or should i say grandpa!! haha
Elder Bergquist (your favorite son)

Agora SIM!! haha yes, you guys do get the privilege of hearing from me this week. thank you, thank you, i know im great, but calm down. its just an email. haha and a few pictures. questions first?? alright sounds good. my comp is getting restless already haha, but i dont really care.

So, you got transferred, huh? yes.

How is the new area? great. its still the city of BH but pretty far from central. like 8 stops on the metro.

How is your companion? probably my favorite so far. he has a good sense of humor finally haha. like really similar to mine, and im getting to the point where i can participate in humor haha so that helps.

WHERE and HOW did he get those nasty bugs that he had to have cut out of his foot? (both feet or just one??) in this area in our area haha where they baptized a couple people. all 5 were on one foot! haha

Where is your companion from? he is from sao paulo. south side! ha

Is he helping you with the language? yeah. he loves to talk! so im not talking nearly as much as my last area where i did like 90 percent of the talking and here i do like 5 to 10 percent of it haha. but i learn from listening and he explains things really well to me and i can pick out words i dont know and ask him about them

Does he speak English at all? im teaching him. he does know quite a few words, but im gonna get him to conversational level haha

Did you have any fun this week? yeah we always have fun were doing the lords work! and theres all kinds of geckos and lizards here and he makes food for me and usually screws it up haha jkjk but he made tapioca that was...umm interesting. and hes gonna make me french toast. (his dad learned on his mission with and american comp and still makes it all the time.) and i wanna make him some american food but i cant think of anything good. help me out haha. i wanna make no bake cookies if you could send me the recipe please! its gonna be hard, but i'll make it work :)

Is he really serious? no not at all haha

Do you have very many people you are teaching? no we dont teach at all here......haha jk yeah of course we do, but like i always tell you it depends on the day. haha

Are you in a ward? or branch? its a ward. a pretty good sized one

How big is your area? umm i dunno, big...? how do i answer that? compared to what? haha

How far away from the mission home are you? the mission office is in central so like 8 stops on the metro to get there from here it takes like half an hour

Give me your address so we can google map it and see where you live! rua cambui 117 bairro guarani - belo horizonte

What is your apartment/house like?? its a 3 story house. its ridiculously big! but we live on the 3rd floor haaha. did i get you excited? but yeah it is pretty big.

Do I get any pics this week? yes.

so monday was zone conference. it was great. president came and watched most of our practices (thats what zone conference is, mostly just practicing teaching and getting feedback from the other missionaries and leaders.) he stopped us in one practice and told us not to talk and just listen to the "investigator" and then he said "dont rush, listen to the spirit and ask an inspired question. do what the spirit says." wow the spirit was so strong. when we followed it, i dont even remember what was said, but it was good. then he came up to me after the conference and said "i like the way you teach Elder Bergquist, you ask good questions" or some thing along those lines. i was speechless haha but it looks like my teaching is doing okay even though im not great at the language. but i think thats it for this week! i love you all. especially you GRANDMAAAAAAA! hha tchau!
Elder Bergquist

a couple pictures.
first, a little gecko that was in our house that i did a little photo shoot with hahaa. (put this on the plaque haha)
our house. LAKERS colors!!! haha legit

the walkway down the side of the house

8/3/11 Come what may and love it!

Last week we didn't hear from Elder Bergquist. I was a little bummed even though I felt like he was okay. Anyway, I was really looking forward to his email today, he has a new companion and was transferred to a new area 2 weeks ago so I was really curious to hear about his comp and the area! I checked to see if he had emailed (it is 4 hours ahead of us there) and finally at 1:42 our time I got this email from him...

sorry i didnt write last week mom. it was really hectic. my comp is having all kinds of problems. and we were in the hospital for a surgery. my knee has been bugging me and i didnt want to tell you but i think with the surgery you should know......jk jk jk brincadeira. mas we really were there for a surgery but nothing big. my comp had 5 bicho de pé. or like little i dunno worms slash leeches. ha idk but we were in the house for 2 days because he couldnt walk on it. and today was hectic too. he went back to take out the last one and then to the dentist so i only have like 15 minutes to email before 6 and we have to work! but i love you and know that im doing great! ill try to send a better email but i wanted to let you know and then read yours to me.

That little stinker! His father and I both about had a heart attack while reading this! Anyway, I googled bicho de pé and here is what I found...



Here is what Wikipedia says about it...
The chigoe flea or jigger (Tunga penetrans) is a parasitic arthropod found in tropical climates, especially South and Central America and the West Indies, not to be confused with the larval form of Trombiculidae (called chiggers) found in more temperate climates. In Brazil, the parasite is referred to as bicho de pé. At 1 mm long, the chigoe flea is the smallest known flea. Breeding female chigoes burrow into exposed skin on the feet of mammals and remain there for two weeks while developing eggs, sometimes causing intense irritation. After this point, the skin lesion looks like a 5 to 10 mm blister with a central black dot, which are the flea's exposed hind legs, respiratory spiracles and reproductive organs.

If the flea is left within the skin, infection and/or other dangerous complications can occur, although they are relatively rare.

The parasitic flea lives in soil and sand, and feeds intermittently on warm-blooded hosts such as humans, cattle, sheep, dogs, mice, and other animals. In order to reproduce, the female flea burrows head-first into the hosts' skin, often leaving the caudal tip of its abdomen visible through an orifice in a skin lesion. This orifice allows the chigoe flea to breathe and defecate while feeding on blood vessels in the cutaneous and subcutaneous dermal layer. In the next two weeks, its abdomen swells with up to several dozen eggs which it releases through the caudal orifice to fall to the ground when ready to hatch. The flea then dies and is sloughed off with the host's skin. Within the next three to four days, the eggs hatch and mature into adult fleas within three to four weeks.

Infections are almost always on the foot of the host. During the first day or two of infection the host may feel an itching or irritation which then passes as the area around the flea calluses and becomes insensitive. As the flea's abdomen swells with eggs later in the cycle, the pressure from the swelling may press neighbouring nerves or blood vessels. Depending on the exact site, this can cause sensations ranging from mild irritation to serious discomfort.

I sure hope Dallin wears his shoes! AND, flip flops in the shower!