1/25/12 You can improve your life and have an eternal family!

oh pops. how are things?

sounds like the members and the missionaries are working well together there, good stuff. the members here cant keep up with the missionaries ha. we always run out of minutes on our cell phone with like 10 days left in the month so we have to conserve, and very few members have cars to be able to go on team ups with us. but this ward is doing well calling ward missionaries to teach the new member lessons and everything.
chad asked sarah pexton eh?? hahahes turning into a real bergquist! what torture! youre really gonnna give him braces right before haha jerk.
love ya pops!
até mais!
Elder Bergquist


welp, ive got some news for you guys ha but ill probably have to answer it in the questions, if not, ill share afterwards haha . here goes nothin! ha

So, how was your week? it was good. really good. but kinda crazy.

Are you going to need some long sleeve shirts for the winter since you left them all behind? ha, mom, you know im in Brasil right? just to remind you.....haha no i dont need long sleeve shirts. winter doesnt exist here. i passed the last winter in the coldest part of the mission and i think i used my sweater like 4 times....and never used a long sleeve shirt haha.

How many are in your ward? i dont know how many there are on the list...but there must be a lot...this ward always says the missionaries baptize a lot here....but very few stay active...

How many come to church on Sunday? like 100 mais ou menos (more or less)

Did you have investigators there? of course. haha what do you think i am? chopped liver haha

Did the couple and their granddaughter get baptized this weekend? yup :D sent pictures. and another grandson will be baptized this week :)

How about the couple that were trying to get married... were they able to? he went to the cartorio, but marriage demora muito aqui.... (takes a lot here) he said it will be about 60 days....he has to get a birth certificate and then get everything done with the cartorio.

Are you and your new comp a good team for teaching? well, that depends on which one youre talking about ha. I now have a new comp de novo. with elder cabral it was getting better, he was learning a lot. agora (now) with elder meura, he is a very good teacher and were doing really well

Did you find any new people to teach? sempre estamos achando os eleitos mae!! ha (we are always finding the elect mom)

Anything fun happen this week? fun...well interesting com certeza (certainly) ....some kinda crazy stuff

What day do you have district meeting? tuesday every week ha

What do you do at that meeting? (is it just for training or what?) well, first we all put our weekly goals on the board...then the LD talks about how we need to improve to reach our goals this week. but mostly its for practicing teaching and getting feedback on what we have to improve.

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest? in our lessons recently the spirit has been really strong. im being a lot more ousado in my teaching, ive changed a lot on the mission, some people dont want to accept that they are wrong and the church they follow isnt the church of God and that their pastor isnt a prophet and that their baptism wasnt really a baptism. for example last night. some lady kept saying my church is a good church. i said "yeah, we didnt say it wasnt good, but irmã, infelizmente (unfortunately), it isnt the church of God, but luckily, we are here to tell you that its here. he called a prophet and you can improve your life and have an eternal family, but only in the only true church on the face of the earth, the church of jesus christ of latter day saints...." i dont even know where it came from but depois (afterwards) she said, ill have to pray about these things to know.... she understood, the spirit testified....i just cant imagine myself ever doing that until this point in my life. i know God lives and he gave us His Son and a prophet and im really grateful for that! I love sharing this Gospel!!

alright, now you can know. so monday we went to the mission office and elder Cabral stayed there, and i left withe elder meura. hes got about 5 months on the mission. and he is a REALLY good teacher. we make a really good team. but he was in the office because hes been trying to get pres to send him home for like a week now, but pres doesnt want him to go. so now im trying to convince him to stay...its an interesting experience because he works really hard, studies hard, wakes up on time and does everything right, hes a really good missionary, but for some reason wants to go home...im still trying to figure it out....so it looks like president trusts me a little. he put me as LD and treinador (trainer), then put me with a missionary that wants to leave...not sure why he trusts me so much, but lets go to work! ha anyway, thats my news for this week, until the next time on Elder Bergquists Amazing Adventures, next week at the same time on the same channel i love you all!
Elder Bergquist

His pictures he sent this week....

aqui do batismo! eu batizei albata because she wanted me to, but my comp baptized the other two.

the boy there is the one that were gonna baptize this week

a pic of me on the flattest road in our area hahha jk....kinda

1/18/12 i cried a little and the Lord reminded me a little of why im here.

wow. sounds like all good news this week. the sports world is looking up haha. que bencao! kobe is the man! so is he still on that run of over 40 per game? or was it just 4 games? haha what a freak man. i love him haha. i wanna see the 9ers win it over the patriots. just for Gabe haha. (Gabe is Dallin's dear friend that passed away... this picture was of them at EFY in 2007. Gabe, Tanner, Dallin, and Michael)
do you think in the spirit world they know about the sports world here? ha theyre having a bball season in the church then? were they real crappy before? ha whos on the team? and does chad play? is he getting better? yeah, you definitely got way ahead of yourself there with that one. (Brad mentioned to him in his letter that he is having to figure out when RM's speak all year and he mentioned which week he would have Dallin speak, teasing him that he would have him speak the week after the world ends by the Mayan calender) haha ive barely got a year haha. who all is coming home? brennen, collin, hayden, mike, ricky, lia....? are there people im forgetting? ill give a real good talk about the end of the world. do you have my topic yet? hahahaha jkjkjk. ricky has always been a bit of a hippy. (I have NO idea what he means by that, do you Alanna???) haha is he LZ or something? why did he go? (Brad told him that Ricky had to go with the AP to break up a fight between missionaries this past week...and YES, Ricky is LZ!!)

(here are a couple of pictures of Dallin and Ricky. I think this was the morning that Ricky was set apart as a missionary! Ricky left to go on his mission in May, Dallin didn't leave until December. I have a picture of them hugging but it was blurry, do you have one Alanna? Ricky and Dallin are very close, Ricky lives just across the street!)

anyway gotta go.
love ya pops! ate o próximo!
Um abraço.
Elder Bergquist

hola madre! todo bien? haha thought id switch it up.
anyway. how are things? things here are just wonderful! thanks for the pics. man, i want to just squeeze those kids haha. and ring derek and devins necks! i dont think the timing could have been worse! jerks haaha. so for the questions.... (Dallin LOVES babies and he is always teasing his brothers about waiting till he LEAVES to have his 1st nephews! Here are the pics that I sent him this week)

Anyway... how are you?? fantastic

How is your new area? its pretty good, lots of hills and favelas ha, but thats a good thing, i think, mais humildade, só casamento que falta um pouco.... (more humility, only marriage that lacks a bit)

Your new companion? hes doing well, he has hard days sometimes, but hes improving a lot.

Your new ward? its good, they have a lot of like membros antigos (older members). more like the wards in the states...but they have a lot of primary kids too, its different ha. but i like it.

I am trying to get this straight in my head... so, you were serving in the city of BH and you are still in the city of BH, right? Just different areas? yeah. exactly. different stakes too. i was in bh oeste, now im in bh

How are things going with your companion? going pretty well, hes really humble, and willing to learn and listen

Is he getting the hang of things? yeah

Is he still wanting to sleep a lot? yeah, he goes to bed at like 10 every night while im on the phone haha

Is he figuring out your joking around? no, not really haha

Are his parents members? yeah, but he said like everyone was inactive when he left, but it looks like theyre coming back now

How is the work coming along? its going pretty well, were doing our best ha

How many people are you teaching? umm, not a whole lot, weve got one thats going to the cartorio tomorrow to see about when they can get married so he can get baptized, hes gone to church two weeks now and is loving it. he went the second time completely on his own.

Anyone ready for baptism? weve got a couple and their granddaughter that are getting ready to be baptized this weekend :) theyve got a grandson too thats special, he talks a little to us and all he says is domingo quero ir na escolinha. (Sunday I go to the kindergarten) haha he loved church!

I feel sooooooooooooo bad about your luggage!!! So, explain, you left one of the BIG pieces of luggage in your last area? yeah

does that mean you left clothes too? yeah some. i told you about the stuff i gave to rogerio and i left a few other things too, like my long sleeve shirts and a pair of slacks.

Will you be able to get it back? i dont think so, why?

Are you exercising? yeah, i made a plan this week to motivate me a little more to actually be effective haha

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest? (and don't just say at church.) i reached for my book of mormon one morning to study, and a bunch of papers fell off my desk (talks and things ive accumulated throughout the mission) the one paper that stood out was the email you send me in the ctm from the elders journal that baptized your parents. I started thinking about sometime in the future when there would be a family strong in the church with kids going on missions and one day when maybe that missionary would read an email from his mom or his dad that talks about theyre conversion, and one "elder Bergquist" that was there to help them be converted. needless to say, i cried a little and the Lord reminded me a little of why im here. because i have to help my brothers and sister change their lives and have peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come. i love this work! i love the Lord! I love you guys! I love life and all the blessings he gives us!

You said last week at district meeting it was good... tell us about it! i dont remember now, its been to long, we just talked about the spirit and the importance of creating an environment where he can testify...

How often do you have district meeting? every week

Do you have zone meetings? yeah every three months.
love ya all! tchau
ElderBergquist

Here are the pictures we got this week...
Elder Bergquist and his companion

And, inside their new "home"...
And, of all the pictures he could have sent... don't ask me WHY he sent this one! LOL

1/11/12

olá gente!

first of all, before i forget. parabens pra voçês, nessa data querida, muitas felicidades, muitos anos da vida! para Blake, Di, and Elder Marchetti, and whoever else i may have forgotten that had or will have a birthday at some point in time. hahaa.

i dont have a lot of time, so ill go straight to the questions since theres like 50 haha

SO, you got transferred, huh? Tell us about your new area... is it pretty? it is almost i the center of BH. theres like the center that you can see was all planned and the ave do contorno that is like the boundary of center, it is also the boundary of our area. it has a TON of favelas. i feel like im in Rio. tell tanner im getting a taste of his mission haha

What is it like compared to where you were? a lot more favelas. and more hills haha

How is the weather? rainy most of the time. and when its not, its super hot, or at least super humid haha

Still raining there? yup

Was Sunday Fast Sunday there? yeah

Did you bear your testimony? lógico

Tell us about your new companion... where is he from? hes from rio grande do sul. and hes got about 2 weeks on the mission. ha hes a good kid.

Does he speak English? nope. well like 5 words haha

What is his personality like? hes pretty quiet, and kinda shy and loves to sleep haha i dont know him real well yet because we get home, plan, and then he goes to bed haha.

Is he a hard worker? hes learning to be haha, were breaking in his shoes still, giving him a few blisters haha

Does the ward there feed you? of course haha

Have they given you any references? uhh yeah a couple

How many people are you teaching? were teaching a lot but not a whole lot of people are progressing

What is your house like there? really small, but i like it. its clean. and simple. and theres a bench press thing there! que bencao!! ha

Is this ward bigger or smaller than the one you came from? bigger, but not by a whole lot. the chapel is huge though!

How far away is your LZ? our lz is in centro. like 10 minutes by bus.

How far away is the mission office? like 15 minutes by bus. its pretty close

How far away from your last area? i dunno, probably like 40 minutes by bus.

Is it hard taking your luggage every transfer? yeah. ridiculously. both of my big bags broke. one wheel on each of them. its super annoying. i have to push them on the other 3 wheels instead of pull them. so i left one in my last area and im just bringing two with me. i think im gonna see if i can get it fixed. it sucks because they have a warranty but i cant do anything about it haha

Anything funny happen this week? not too much, this comp is a lot more serious. im sarcastic with him sometimes but he always just thinks hes serious. he'll get the swing of things here pretty quick haha

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest this week? church was realy really good. and district meeting was really good too ha. i dunno its close. i think at church. sacrament meeting was super spiritual!

Just curious what clothes you gave to Rogerio? i gave him my jeans. a couple tshirts, some socks, shoes....and i think thats it. i think i gave him deodorant and a toothbrush too, i dont remember haha

Do you need anything new? (shirts? pants? ties? socks? Pday clothes?) nope. im chillin. i still have a bunch of stuff i havent even used and some im just starting to use. p.s. pday clothes are the same as my other clothes haha. its like the cartoons where they look into their closet and just have like 10 of the same thing haha. except i switch my ties :) haha.

well, the mission is passing so flippin fast its ridiculous. and im absolutely loving it. i love seeing people change their lives for this gospel, and Christ helping them do so. theres no greater happiness on earth. i love you all, and am so grateful to know that we can be an eternal family, and with that knowledge i dont have to worry about being away from you for 2 years. i love my Savior Jesus Christ, and i love Missionary work. I know he lives and is the head of this church! Um abraço pra voçes!

Elder Bergquist

Here are a couple of pics that he sent... he is such a nut, WHY does he send us pics that he is NOT in??!!!

These are pictures of his home in his last area... (he would not send them to us when he was there because of the leak) There was a leak in the upstairs house... and it leaked down into theirs...

Here is there bedroom... again, from their LAST area...

1/4/12 Happy Birthday, gave him a bunch of my clothes, and Transferred!

sup pops. how you been home dogg? haha just playing... no but how are things there? the mish is pretty good. and sounds like the voting stuff is interesting...haha even though i never was into that stuff, but i probably should get into it at some point..byu eh? well if you think its worthy of saving for me then save it...voçê que sabe...any game you see worthy of saving for a year for me to see, ill be happy to watch. and kobe is the man. all know that, especially when hes hurt and people are talking trash. isnt it great getting up at 530 every sunday for meetings! que bêncão!! haha anyway, love ya pops. oh, by the way i was transferred....but im sure moom will ask all about that, so ill save some time by not repeating to you both haha. love ya pops!
Elder Bergquist




sup mommy! :D
Did anyone know it was your Birthday? yeah, a few people

Did anyone bake you a cake? yeah, Shirlei, and Pauliene slash Tawilly ha it was good, but i got a little sick i ate so much haha

Did you get any gifts? umm...Andreas made a little video clip for me and a couple of people like wrote me letters ha, but nothing de mais, but it was a really good birthday :) i loved it.

Did you get any more packages since we talked at Christmas? i got one last week from devin and di. Gracias!! and from Kelli Obrigado. and today from Brent and the fam! Valeu!

Is it flooding there? as we speak. haha its great.

Has the electricity gone out? yeah a few times, but not really bad like it did in my first area..

hey, are you using bottled water? HA! hahaha i drink water, dont worry mom, i only drink dirty water when im dying of dehydration. nao tenho como tomar so garrafa. but ill be okay. promise. i have promises from the Lord! :)

How was New Year's? new years? whats that? i didnt know about that one haha

Lots of fireworks? yeah, mais ou menos....i woke up at midnight because of them, so yeah i guess haha

When is transfers? today. haha im here in Paraíso. no mundo espiritual! haha jk but im in my new area, with my new comp. i start training tomorrow. Elder Cabral

Did the leak get fixed yet? yup, the day before me left. ha

How is the teaching going? i guess we'll see huh haha

Anyone ready to be baptized? we had one in that area that we left, here it looks like theyre teaching a few but nobody thats ready to be baptized this week

Are you teaching a lot? yeah. quite a bit, but well see if this areas different or what...

Anything funny happy this week? yeah a few things, well not really funny but kinda interesting. rogerio dormiu na rua uma noite (Rogerio slept one night on the street) and the next day we found out and went and talked to shirlei, he slept in her house the next day and i gave him a bunch of my clothes and the shoes that i cant even use in this mission haha. but it was because he told the truth. he worked for a company and lived in their house, with theyre furniture, his boss stared stealing stuff from their house (from the company) and he went and told the boss above him, and then he stopped delivering food to him, and then they moved houses and nobody told rogerio so when he got there nobody was home. but hes doing great! firme e forte! he has a member girlfriend as of Sunday hahah and he will be getting the priesthood this week(that was his biggest concern when he slept on the street, that he didnt have anywhere to study sobre aarão, like bishop told him to haha. then he was talking to a guy about a job offer, and the only thing he asked was "will i have to work on sunday? because if so i cant accept" hes the man. O CARA!! haha

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest? i think that story covered it, seeing recent converts willing to help each other, strengthening their testimonies together and PRACTICING what they had learned with us. wow. i love the MISSION!!! and love you guys!

sounds like you girls had a pretty good time together! i got the freshs christmas card today, and from grandma too! thank you! love you all! boa tarde! tchau!
Um abraço!
Elder Bergquist

Here are the pictures I got this week...
um pouco of my old house. (the pipe was fixed by the way, no worries)
and my "birthday party" at shirlei's house! QUE BÊNÇÃO!!!

12/28/11 it doesnt feel like christmas, i havent left any cookies on anyones doorstep. then he reminded me that we were offering something much better

sup daddy.
yeah i thought that too...its three days later. not too much new going on here haha. same old marvelous work weve been at for the last year or so...i didnt really feel too home sick, dont worry. mostly just because of krew and weston, but its all good, ill get to see them soon enough. and im trying to take advantage of this work as best i can and really put in practice president eyerings talk to just do a little more work than you thought you could. that way we dont have regrets right? and not just on the mission but in every moment of life. oh and dont worry about the pipe, we already called, theres a guy coming to fix it either this week or next. and sounds like the lakers are doing well good to hear. bynum got suspension?? that a boy! haha anyway, love ya pops. and thanks for the card slash ensign. i really enjoyed it :)
um abraço
Elder Bergquist




theres not much to tell, i just talked to you guys...haha... but ill answer your questions


So, how is the teaching going? wonderful, counselor....oh wait, just wonderful...haha


Any new investigators? weve got a couple but nobody super firm to be baptised yet, we'll see...


Did you talk to the sec. at the office about getting you a new place to live? we talked to them, it will be taken care of real soon. he already talked to the home owner...


Anyone ready to be baptized? not quite...


Did you have Christmas dinner at the house where you were when we called? nope, we ate at the pres da soc soc.

What did you eat? we had rice, beans, farofa, pork, beef, and fresh from the vine grapes with like you know that banana pudding with nilla wafers? kinda like that but with strawberry. it was good. i ate a grip hah


Did you get any gifts from ward members? umm...nope haha alem do apoio


Did you get any packages in the mail? i got one, but i havent recieved it here yet, i just know i have a package waiting at the escritorio.


So, tell us some stories of Christmas there in Brasil... the best story i have was christmas eve, we were walking home at about 9 oclock and i said to my comp, it doesnt even feel like christmas, i havent left any cookies or anything on anyones doorstep. then quickly he reminded me that we were offering something much better to these people. salvation and an eternal family. then i realized it, that this really is the best gift to give to our brothers and sisters, the restored gospel. i love this work. and love you guys. Ate semana que vem!
um abraço,
elder bergquist



Here are a few pictures that he sent us...

12/25/11 THE Phone Call

This will be Elder Bergquist's last Christmas out in the field. It is crazy to think that next year he will be home. ALTHOUGH, he won't get home till around Dec. 8th...

Christmas morning we were in Utah at my mom's house... we were gathered around the tree with Derek, Brittany, Weston, Devin, Diana, Krew, Chad and my mom.... my cell phone rang! I looked at caller ID and it was from an area code that I wasn't familiar with... normally I wouldn't answer but somehow I knew... I answered, it was a very nice gentleman and he asked if it was Shaila, I told him yes... he had an accent, again, somehow I knew... He said, "I have one of your family members here with me" and of course I started to cry... I was so excited! (We were supposed to call him at 11, it was about 10:30) He told me to gather my family around and call him back at that number (I am actually surprised that Dallin knew my cell number!) So, we got the speakers and hooked them up to the cell phone...

And, we called "Elder Bergquist"!!!
With us all gathered around the phone we talked to him for 40 minutes. That is the rule in his mission, 40 minutes. I took notes (you can see my pad of paper there on the ground beside me) but I have misplaced it so I will try to remember all he told us - which really wasn't much! When I find my page of notes I will add to this post).

Dallin told us that there are a couple of new rules... the new missionaries coming in will be "trained" for 2 transfers and with a new training manual. So, he is now through training his companion (this is his 3rd transfer in the field). He also told us that once you have hit your 1 year mark you do not have language study in the morning, so he is done with that.

He told us that the house above them has a leak in their bathroom that runs down into their kitchen! (I had asked him why he had not sent us pics of his apartment, he said he didn't want me to worry.) Brad and Derek (who served in the mission office on his mission) both told him that he REALLY needed to call the mission office and tell them, THAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED.

He told us how much he really likes the family of the home that they called from. He told us about their last baptism and what a great guy he is and how motivated he is. He said that he spent Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day with them... he had no family around to spend it with... he said how very much he loves him...

I really can't think of much more he told us... we just talked and laughed... it was SO great to hear his voice and his love of the mission!!! He bore his testimony in Portuguese at the end of the phone call, it was awesome!!!

One more phone call (Mother's Day) before he comes home..

His birthday is on Tuesday! I sure hope someone there knows and bakes him a cake or something! We will have cake here in memory of him... haha...

We love you Elder Bergquist! We are so proud of you! I LOVE that you are soooooooooooo very happy and love what you are doing!!! You are in our every prayer....