12/21/11 A new nephew... I almost cried...

first of all, those weeks you sent pics and i didnt was before the law was established. you cant set a law, expect to be just with me, but expect me to be merciful. hahaha but ill be sending a few this week dont worry. but why didnt you do a christmas card?? weird. and you still didnt send me a pic of the christmas tree...? that pic of the two of them by the tree is PRICELESS!!

haha such a good one. i almost cried when i saw it haha. its rough on me. tell derek and devin thanks for the timing. haha jerks.

So, THE PHONE CALL...!!!!! first of all, i think its 6 hours difference. just dont screw that up because i wont be able to talk past 5. but its just sacrament meeting here too, so well be done even if we have a baptism, before you guys wake up...oh wait, you'll be in utah huh? then yeah i think it is 5 hours...ta bom. that works better. but blake will probably have to leave sacrament meeting a little early.... and yeah the number i gave you, its the cheapest best way...and that family is legit haha. i love them. i feel at home in their house even though ive only been there 3 times haha.

What was your favorite thing I sent? Just curious... look at the pictures and you'll see...haha jk..kinda.

the peanut butter and the m&ms. i love those mint ones. and they like dont believe in mint here haha. and christmas isnt christmas without mint haha oh and the shells and cheese. oh and the face wash. ha i dont know! everything! it was all great!

Anything you want me to send for your Bday? for my bday? haha i thought that one was for christmas and one for my bday...? haha i dunno, you did a pretty good job this time. maybe some beef jerky...?more peanut butter. i almost ate a whole thing already.

When your MP asked you what you had learned from each of your parents, what did you tell him? i dont remember exactly. i think i told him love and friendship from you because everybody loves you because you love everybody, and hard work from dad, never start a job and net finish it or do it all the way to the best of your ability. at least thats what i think i said. if he asked me again i would answer like that now haha

Did you have the baptisms you were planning this past weekend? just one. but it was amazing! he was ridiculously happy haha he gave me huge hug after and thanked me slash us. hes going out with us saturday and sunday the whole day haha. he has nobody to spend christmas with so we invited him haha Do you have any for next weekend? we have one, maybe two, but theyre both really iffy :/

Do you use an umbrella? yes, of course. well this past two weeks no because my comp lost his, so hes using mine and im using my poncho haha. and im down to one pair of shoes that doesnt have holes. im going to get my other ones repaired again. i already wore of the plane tire soles haha

What video's on the church web site were you talking about? The Christmas devotional?? yeah. well, i dunno they said they put up videos of christmas that they filmed in the utah desert. (they talked about it and showed a clip from it in the devotional.

ill tell you more about the funny stuff on the phone. just remind me. haha ive got a few funny stories... but thats it for now...love ya mom! tchau! ate Domingo!
Elder Bergquist

12/14/11 (Today is the day his new nephew was born, but he doesn't know it yet!)

mom, well, first things first, i have my camera plugged into the computer here, but im not seeing any pics from you, so infelizmente, i'll have to disconnect it....WHAT?! you thought this was a one way promise or what? sorry you, made the rules not me...

and yeah, hangers. what are you gonna do about it? (The pic he sent last week of their Christmas tree had hangers hanging on it!) now that ive got the lakers ornament, (he obviously got his Christmas packages I sent... I sent him a Laker's ornament) we can take the rest down hahaha. that decorates it enough for all the rest.

freakin Blake. i have a year haha, what a good brother he is. but i guess i understand. i wrote to derek and devin each i think 2 times ha. (He sent Blake an email and asked if he got it coz Blake didn't write him back, Blake said, "What's the rush, I have a year...")

what the heck. i guess i got tricked about the whole birth thing. i thought once the contractions started it was like at the most 48 hours. Well, i guess i dont know anything still, but thats okay i dont need to know about that stuff yet, só daqui 2 anos quando eu to tendo meu primeiro filho hahahaaha jk....kinda...hahaha (I told him when I was emailing him last week that Diana was in labor... well, she had the baby today, 12/14/11 Krew James Bergquist, 6 lbs. 6 oz. 20 in. and a perfect 10!)

and skype con certeza nao haha. we have 40 minutos but theres a couple in my ward that hast "magic jack" which is like the same thing as calling to Boston because thats where they bought it. so you'll be calling to this number: 1 617 XXX XXXX viu? its just like a call to someone in boston, so you dont need to put the country code or anything. her name is gilda and his is fransisco. theyve got a couple of kids in the states studying at byu and byui. they lived in boston for a few years and speak english. (i dont know how well?) but she has facebook you can look for her. gilda (pacheco?) i think. they live in belo horizonte. let me know about the time that will work for you. for me it will have to be between 1 and 4. my time. so i think thats 7 and 10. we have to be done by 5 oclock and the call is 40 minutes.

How was your week? it has been great. the Lord is really blessing us! :)

How many investigators in church Sunday? we had like 7 or 8. 2 that are friends of recent converts that they brought without even saying anything to us. one was a girlfriend of a member and the rest we brought. que bêncão!

Any baptisms?? this past sunday no. but weve got at least 2 for this week!

Still raining a lot? yeah, pretty much everyday. and they say it will until like feb.

Hot? yeah. not super hot, but humid and were working, so it feels really hot

How are things going with Andreas? ahh...he didnt go to church, were still gonna work with him, but i dont know if its his time

And, how about Murilo? he hasnt gone to church the past two weeks too, although he was sick both times, but we went there last night because shirlei asked us to, but then he wasnt there he had to go help one of his clients....

How about Jonas? were working with him still but he didnt go to church, but one of the other guys that lives with him is getting baptized this week!

What did you do for hump day?? ha. MISSIONARY WORK!!! just like we do everyday pinkey

How is tracting/teaching going? just excellent

Is it going to be a white Christmas there?? you know it!! were working with a couple people for christmas day already!

Anything fun/funny happen this week? everything! id love to tell you but ive got 3 minutes! haha

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest?? the Christmas devotional on sunday! it was soooo good! rogerio and maria went (the two that will be baptized this week!) the spirit was super strong! did you already go on the site and watch those videos?

anyway gotta go! love you all! tell dad sorry but weve got like 8 appointments to get to before 9! were running everywhere today! thanks so much for the packages mom! they were OTIMO!!! you picked perfect stuff! love you! send me pics of the tree at home! and of the family christmas card!! what did you do for that? tchau!
um abraço!
Elder Bergquist

Here are a couple of Elder Bergquist's new nephew, Krew James Bergquist, 6 lbs. 6 oz. 20 in. and a perfect 10!

12/7/11 i love knocking doors, 90 degrees and rains almost every day!

hows it goin pops?
before i forget, yes i get the pics you send. sounds like chads doing well. they say to learn a language you have to mess up at least 1000 times to become fluent, or in other words, hes one error closer to being fluent haha. but i dont know if that applies to bergquists haha so i dunno....that would be pretty legit to have cp3 and dwight on the lakers. weird at first. but really good. but who knows they always talk about trades like that and never do them ha. byu is a joke. but i hope they continue with this kicker just one more season. that would be great! well see. ha the 9ers are lookin good, and the ward too. i think about the missionaries there often. how little i helped them. i feel terrible at times. ha. ive repented and ill make up for it when i get home. but it sounds like weve had a couple of good duplas there....and some good member missionary work. que bêncão! love ya pops. and im here til january dont worry. unless theres some kind of emergency. tchau!
Elder Bergquist


mommy!
well, lets see, im sad i havent seen pictures of Krew yet, but its all good, ill have a monte a semana que vem ne? ha tanners a good guy. ha miss that kid, but im writing him so its all good. i dont know if blake said anything to you, but i wrote him last week. i wrote a book to him. ha but really it was long. but he didnt write back...i hope it went through...you scared me with all that talk about grandma. nossa. i hope all is well...and about you getting better and me praying, yeah i'll pray for you, but i dont think my prayers are any stronger then the rest of the family haha. did you think about a bencao de saude?

Well, how was YOUR week? wonderful. 3 of our recent converts bore their testimony on sunday. it was amazing. Shirlei's was probably the best, most spiritual of the meeting(not to brag. it wasnt me that converted her. i was just an instrument...) and tawilly and pauliene bore their testimony together. but litterrally together at the pulpit. it was the first time i had seen that haha. good stuff.

Who all are you teaching now? the whole bairro de sao salvador, gloria, sao jose, ipanema, california, novo progresso, laguna, filadelfia, and a couple others too haha. were teaching everyone we can!! ha

How many investigators did you have at church on Sunday? 4 ha. todos homems! que bencao! haha

How big is your ward? on the list? about 800 haha. frequencia? about 80-100. they say that an american (bonitão) passed through here and baptized like 80 women and girls and guess how many are active? i think they said 1 haha. okay so its not really that funny, but a little. i dont know how these missionaries do that. haha

Do they help you with referrals? yeah, not a ton, and ate agora havent been super successful, but they give referrals sim

Are you doing a lot of tracting? yup. you know me i love knocking doors. (actually, now that i think about it, i dont think you know me exactly how i am now haha) i think back to wyoming and how many doors i knocked and talked. (i think 1 haha) ive changed a little bit on the mission haha.

What is the weather like there? its like 90 degrees and rains almost everyday. we took a good shower saturday and monday. good times. its sucks because you leave the house in the morning and its like 90 degrees and sunny and then you knocking doors like 5 oclock and BAM! flash fllod haha. its worderful.

How are things going with Andreas? pretty good. hes just a little insecure. were trying to figure out exactly why, he says he just wants more certeza.

How is Murilo? hes doin alright. were gonnna have a family night at theie house tonight! like 20 or 25 people vão. :D

Anyone ready for baptism? were working with the jonas, the profet, we rescued him from the whale and were trying to point him in the direction of where he needs to go. we'll see where he ends up going...

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest? well i told you about shirleis testimony, we had a really spiritual lesson about repentace today with tawilly and pauliene and luciene. it was really good.

Do you know an Elder McKell or a Sister Corin? I think they were both at your Christmas conference.... i know of elder mckell. mas sister...nao ha i dont know any sisters ha

Have you gotten the packages I sent yet? (the one that Kelli sent got sent back because she didnt put enough postage on it! so she is going to send it again) no. do you realize you sent them like 3 weeks ago? it takes like 3 months for them to get here haha. and bem feito kelli haha. gotta go my credits are acabando! tchau!
Elder Bergquist

Our Christmas trees