10/29/12 start to have the vision God has of us and our potential

hey dad. i dont really like halloween either ha. but its always good to have a party! chili dogs and root beer sounds good. i dont get byu...or the lakers for that matter. byu has lost a ton of games but they have the top defense in the country?? how did the lakers pull that off, losing all their preseason games? when does the season start? que bênção that the lakers made a deal with verizon. how crazy about the mission applications! theyre gonna have to build a new mtc haha. what a blessing!! sounds like things are going well then...with the missionaries. sports are kind of a let down but thats ok...im serving with all my heart might mind and strength! dont even worry about it. let me know about my tooth...like i said dr dias said hed take care of the tooth and seal the two broken ones for no more than 300 reais....but whatever you tell me ill do. thanks for the support always! love ya pops!

Elder Bergquist

mommy!!!

thanks for registering me!! que bênção!! i thought id have to stay on the computer all day today figuring this out. you saved my life! haha thats two lifes i owe you now because you gave it to me in the first place haha. i think ill just leave it how it is for now...and if when i get home i feel like i need to ill change some things...are my teachers good? did you look them up? im sure you did...thanks so much!! ill have to find a job i can work mon wed fri and sat...haha im sure it will all work out. thanks mom!

Are you in pain (tooth)? i was dying...i wasnt able to sleep and my leg would start like twitching at night because of the pain, but now that i took the antibiotic its not hurting much....

Is there an abscess? i dont know...he just said i had to do a root canal....?

Are you still on antibiotics? no...it was just 3 days worth

Did they drain it? no...? i didnt even know you could...oh wait...no there was a little like opening in my mouth, he said it was draining through there if not my face would be all swollen...i dont know haha

Did you get the emails about what the Dr. told dad?  (She said she would not do a root canal yet, it needs to be drained and you need a round of antibiotics... in fact, she said you might have to do both of those things twice.  Dad would really like for you to wait till you get home to have the root canal done if you can since they can do it for free at his office... please keep us posted on what you have done and what the Dr. says!!!!) sounds good to me as long as it doesnt start hurting again like it was...para mim tanto faz...

What do you want to do for a living (when you grow up, LOL)? i have no idea...my dream is still a lakers stats man haha...but i honestly dont have a clue....

Do you want to teach? i always hated that idea...but ive thought about it a few times on the mission...i dont hate the idea as much anymore...but it still doesnt sound good...haha

Are you not interested at all in becoming a dentist?? ive thought about it...but i dunno...INTERESTED, not a whole lot....but i dont think it would be a bad thing either...

Are you glad you stayed in the same area? yeah. i love it here. and this week is gonna be district conference...or should i say stake conference. elder mazzagardi will be here and were gonna have an open house from tuesday to friday in the chapel...we'll see how it goes...they say theyve never had more than 800 people in the chapel at once but the goal for attendance is 1220! and theyre saying that just from the city of cons. lafaiete they are going to bring 1000...and the 220 will be from the other cities: congonhas, barbacena, ouro branco, sao joao del rei, and ponte nova.

Have you guys had success this week in finding the elect? yeah...well weve got 4 baptisms marked for sunday. Marli and Gabriel (mom and son) and tais and tainã (a less active members daughters.)

Anyone ready for baptism? ready today, not yet, but they will be.

Did you guys baptize Washington? yeah. see fotos

Anyone else? yeah. janice (armezina and leia's friend/neighbor.)

How about Fiatceu? no. his mom told him it was too fast. shes studying with the TJ for like 14 years and they take at least one year to let someone be baptized....so he got scared and gave up...but we'll see if we can work that out...

Did you have zone conf?  (I think there were new pics from the ZC on FB???) no....well we did like a month ago...but hes doing zone conferences by zone and so hes always doing them...but we had lz council...

If so, how was it?  What did you learn? we learned about setting goals and reaching them...

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest this week? after we talked about goals in the council president showed us a video..its kinda dumb that it was in this moment, but when we watched this video i thought about the mission and my goals and stuff and it helped me to see how i need to give everything i have always, everyday. its from a movie called "desafiando gigantes" (im not sure what its called in english, but its about football) and the coach took the quarterback(?) and had him do bear walks with another kid on his back, but instead on having him do it for a certain distance he blindfolded him and said just give your all...give everything youve got....the kid didnt think hed make it 50 yards....but he did the whole 100 because he didnt know where he was...it was kind of an eye opener...how a lot of times we limit ourselves because of what weve done in the past or what others do, but if we just give it all, and stop comparing ourselves to others we can do a lot more! we can start to have the vision God has of us and our potential which is a lot greater than sometimes we thing it is.

Elder Bergquist

p.s. happy birthday chad!!!

and yeah i usually only take pics of baptisms haha then you recognize them when i introduce you to them in the kingdom of God...haha but ill take a few pics around here for you. Tchau!

10/22/12 the Lord works with all his children equally... if you want to know, you can.

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! ta louco!! byu makes me crazy! im working on my legs, but the worst part is stretching, theyre so stiff!! hahaha i cant believe they still have this guy kicking...it makes me sick. but i hope they keep him in there til the end of the season ha. the lakers are losing??! how? seriously? and time warner cable? what the heck is that??! 

but okay, im done with that stuff for now haha. president kerr was set apart by elder holland que chique!! when was it? he only liked being a seminary teacher so much because i was in his class hahah jk. Brennen is already coming home?? crazy! how is bishop romney doing?? haha he was a bishop wasnt he? hes active in the church right?? my new comp came out in a magazine that they wrote an article about mitt romney and the mormons the magazine is called VOX. its brazilian, but even here their talking about the mormon president candidate. they said some good things about the church, he has the article with him so i got to read it. they defended us with the common doubts everyone has about polygamy and stuff. anyway, thanks for all the support and encouragement always and for the sports report too!! love you pops!

Elder Bergquist

Mom, okay! first thing, before i forget, thanks for applying for me! and thanks for the info. please sign me up for that portuguese class or test or whatever it is! thanks and my major.... welll...i still dont know, but im still thinking along the same lines of statistics or physics or something of the sort. i looked at some just now. what interested me: stats, physics--astronomy, biophysics...and i think thats all...theyre all super hard majors, but i think i can handle it...i think...haha ill be praying for help to know, but for now we can look at what those majors have in common and work on those things...and the general requirements like D&C and english and whatnot.

So.  Do tell.  Did you get the companion that you thought you would? no haha, i didnt even think about him...ha

Was it Elder Carneiro that you had as a comp that just went home? ummm...yeah? if i understood the question right. elder carneiro was my comp and went home on wednesday.  (it just seemed like he was with him a long time so I was just making sure I didn't miss a comp)

Are you still in the same area? yeah!!

Tell us all about your new companion... where is he from? Elder Mileski! hes from curitiba! hes got a year and 3 months on the mish and hes a lz too.he seems to be a hard worker and a good teacher and knows how to work too. im excited. hes really humble and pretty funny. he plays violin and he has to practice for the christmas conference on pdays. so im gonna have him teach me hahahah jk...kinda

You said you have 5 that had set baptismal dates, did they all work out?? :/ no. we baptized indiamara and washington was super excited to be baptized but he had drank coffee so we marked his baptism for saturday. and fiatcéu ended up getting scared. hes really scared of commitment....but well help him.

Did you have a zone conf this past week? no

Did Armezina's sister come to church? no

Have you eaten Dobradinha (cows stomach)?  (some mom on the missionary mom's list said her son has, yuck!) no. not that i know of, but when i dont know what something is, ive learned not to ask! hahah ive eated feijoada thats got like pigs ears and snout in it ha.

Your camera is not working, right?  Were you able to get pics from your comp before he left?? yeah its working. the charger is just messed up but elder tupou'ata has the same one, so i just borrow it from him once in a while. 

Are you writing in your journal? im trying hahaha

Anything funny happen this week? i found elder carneiros tie at the chapel, you can let him know ill take good care of it haha. but that i can remember, no haha

when did you feel the Spirit the strongest this week? when we taught indiamara. shes only 8 years old but she shared her testimony of The Book of Mormon with us and i saw how the Lord works with all his children equally. her mom who doesnt know how to read, indiamara who is a little kid still… and those who are rich and instructed, if you want to know, you can. i love Him, He's so perfect! boa semana!

Elder Bergquist

(I can't get the pictures to load, I will add them when I get home from work)

10/15/12 through her baptism and example many from her family will be baptized

hey pops. yeah, sounds like a terrible post season. good luck with that ha. i cant wait to see the christmas day game between the lakers and heat. haha :D i dont know what the deal is with byu. they seem to do that with a lot of players. theyre always so loyal...the kicker for example......but what can ya do.... they lost to washington state then im guessing? thats their 3rd loss? looks like the whole independent thing isnt working out too well for us...who are the elders in potential in the ward now? whos out me and who else? the johansen kid? i dont remember...haha i love ya pops. thanks for always being such a great example to me! tchau!

Elder Bergquist

Mom! well...i tried to get on...but now its says that applications and registration will be postponed....so i cant do anything...i was talking to elder aley the other day (the ap) and he is going back to school in january too...i think were going home the same day...but he said that i am supposed to pick my own classes here on the mission...i dont know exactly how that is supposed to work out ha, but we'll see...when is it? but if you wanna look at my application just go to besmart.com
are you joking with me about Kaitlin?? dont mess with me...i thought she was only gonna put in her papers later...? Rome Italy? thats sweet! she'll be there for the temple dedication!!! what a blessing!! but i dont think that will be an easy mission..ha good luck!! im gonna get home and ill be completely broke and ill have to find a job up there... what did elder oaks talk about in conference?? we baptized armezina (that had a stroke) her daughter glauciléia, and a 15 year old kid jefferson (gerson's brother, the kid we baptised the week before...). all four of them were confirmed yesterday. i had never seen so many confirmation in one sacrament meeting haha it was cool. it looks like everything is working out now with the jobs! what a blessing! passed through a little test but now their doing well it looks like and blake already got a promotion...he switched "jobs"?

So, how was your week? wonderfullll!! and yours?? ha

Were you transferred?  no, next week is transfers

Who is your new companion?  Tell us about him.... i dont know yet...ill find out today or tomorrow....

Who else was baptized last week?  (besides the lady who had the stroke with great faith and her daughter)? jefferson. Gersons brother

Do you have anyone else ready for baptism? we have 5 that have their baptismal dates marked for this sunday...some more firm than others...but theyll all get baptised im sure of it!! and we had 4 more at church too...one is amanda...she keeps going but she cant make her decision!! haha and two arent married. the other we'll visit her today to see how it went. she went with armezina and glaucileia and her other daughter!

How is the ward with giving referrals? theyre pretty good...just for you to have an idea...everyone we have baptized here except Danielle has been a reference. either of a member, a less active, or a recent convert. of the 5 this week, one, we found through a contact that we went to visit (his sister) and 2 are members friends, one is armezinas daughter (who was a member reference) and the other is a recent converts brother. its all about referrals as you americans call them hahaha

How often do you meet with the MP? once or twice a month...

How is your zone doing? theyre doing okay. last month we had a dupla that baptized 14! but this month it slowed down a little... :/

How are YOU???? im mooore than goood....im grrrrrrrrreat!! haha

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest? i think it was in the confirmations....when the first councilor confirmed Armezina he told her that through her baptism and example that many from her family would be baptized. well this week will be one more daughter. amd we taught her sister too, she loved the message and is reading the bom, but she had to work sunday, but she'll get baptised too for sure in the future...The guy didnt know about any of this, but he blessed her with that, and i knew it was inspired..it was really cool.

Anyway, i love you mom! have a good week!

Elder Bergquist

 I have no idea why he took a picture in front of this church...

10/8/12 All of us can be faithful for one day. and then one more after that, and one more until one day we'll look up and realize we arrived in the presence of the Lord

que bênção!!!

sounds like things are going well! mitt romney is on fire then? what were they talking about when he got him stammering? they waste so much time trying to come up with excuses that they cant move forward its funny. elections were yesterday here...Dr. Ivar is the new mayor here in town haha. 

Conference was awesome! i got to see all of the sessions! except the last hour of the saturday afternoon one and the first talk on sunday morning. but i got to see priesthood!!! we woke up at 5 am on sunday morning to watch it at 6-8...president said if it didnt get in the way of teaching or picking up investigators to go to the other sessions we could go! que bênção!! the talk that elder holland gave was almost the same talk he gave to us when i was in the mtc. it was good, but the translation isnt nearly the same thing....the translator doesnt get as fired up as elder holland haha. the talks i liked most were president uchtdorf about finding happiness on the way and not complaining. it reminded me of what you always have taught me, to find joy in the work, no matter what the work is or how it is going. and president Monson about how men can change and the story of that missionary...i like elder bednars talk too, hes a really good speaker, but its even better to study his talks haha. and elder nelson that talked about "ask the missionaries, they can help" haha it was funny, i was thinking the whole time about his grandson that went home last month and how he had probably taken a few things from what he had said to him...a lot of people run from the missionaries here haha a lot of people that i have baptized confessed to us that in the past they had ran from missionaries and repented of it after accepting the gospel haha. i cant wait to see nash and kobe playing together! and to be the new byu kicker. anyway dad, thanks for all you do and all youve taught me and for never missing a week writing me. Im finding joy in the work thanks to everything youve taught me and all the many blessings of our Heavenly Father. Thank you! love you!

Elder Bergquist

Hey mom!! how're ya'll doin?? haha its funny sometimes i speak to my comp in english and he understands some stuff, but i speak to him sometimes in a texas accent and he goes crazy..."WHAT IS THAT??" haha its funny. yeah i freaked out when they talked about the new mission age...the YM here could already go at 18, so that didnt change for the guys here, but thats a huge change for the girls...i thought he was going to say 20 for the YW. but i got kinda sad, my choices will be a little slimmer at BYU hahahah, but i quickly forgot about that and got back to the mission, the Lord will provide. ha but chad thats super good! for the YM i think, a lot of them just sit at home doing nothing from the time they graduate until they go at 19 and thats dangerous. it was surely inspired!!

Did you get to go to Priesthood session? yeah we got to go...at 6 am it started so we got up at 5 to go haha

Did you get to go to any of the sessions on Saturday? yeah the morning session and half of the afternoon one! i missed my namesakes talk...he spoke saturday afternoon i guess....?

Did any investigators go? yeah we had 3 that went and were baptised between the sessions and 4 others...it was good :D

Which talk was your favorite and why? hmmm...i think elder uchtdofs talk saturday morning when he talked about finding happiness on the way...in every moment instead of complain, because in whatever moment we can do whatever we want. dont complain about how small the peanut bag is! haha

How was your week? wonderful. im super excited these days. i love conference and were finding the elect children of God. what a blessing!!!

What classes should I sign you up for at the Y? (at least tell me a few...) portuguese. haha ill have to do some sort of english too i think...i dunno, give me some option of what i need to do...did you get my application in?? let me know because if not i gotta get it done from here....?

Any baptisms? yeah, pics are on the way!

Anyone ready for baptism? theres a few that are right on the edge, but they cant take that last step, we'll help them this week!

How is the lady doing that had the stroke? she got baptized and her daughter too! theyre doing great, she lives like 5 houses down from a member that has a car and they offered to take them to church on sundays! que bênção!! shes walking faster and better everyday! she is a woman of huge faith! she took The Book of Mormon in her hands the first day she got it and said a prayer to know if it was true and got an answer!

So, does your comp leave to go home next week? (Mon or Wed??) he goes home on the 17th! finally! haha jk...we'll see who my new comp is. i have a feeling its gonna be elder jara or an elder from argentina thats an lz....haha we'll see

When did you feel the Spirit the strongest this week? in the conference!!! i have been studying a lot about what president monson said to the YW in the last conference about how many people come to him with the doubt of how they can be faithful with so many weaknesses and he said that all of us can be faithful for one day. and then one more after that, and one more until one day we'll look up and realize we arrived in the presence of the Lord...i really liked the story of ann rowley the pioneer that had to feed her children and made a soup/stew out of two biscuits and water that turned out filling the whole pot and feeding them all. and the words from the hymn lead though me on...no quero luz a fim de longe ver, somente luz em cada passo ter.

i know that as each one of us just seeks to be faithful for one day, as president told me we just have to wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and say, today i'll be faithful, and as we do that, before we know it, we'll be there in the kingdom of God with our family and loved ones, faithful each day there too! i love you mom! boa semana!

Elder Bergquist

mom!!! i dont know whats happening! its not letting me send pics anymore!! i get this email every time i try!! ill try to send it to dad! (unfortunately, no pictures came)

10/1/12 ...the rich, of the poor, of the intelligent, of the unlearned, of all of his children, we just have to be humble and have real intention to act on the testimony we receive!

thanks dad! nossa. sounds like last sunday was a killer. thanks for writing anyway!! its always good to hear from you....yeah i got the call from your secretary today to mark my interview (Brad was teasing him.  He told him that he is calling in the active people that do not have recommends to see if there is anything he can do to help them and that Dallin's name came up with an expired temple recommend) ...haha i already tried to mark one with president but he told me that because we dont have a temple in the mission that he'll just do it in my last interview. BYU is trash. USA too. The angels too. im just happy that the nba starts soon!! go lakers! haha. i dont even care about the other sports haha. my legs are super weak!! and super stiff! i started stretching more and doing some leg exercises because ive found out that just walking is terrible for the legs!! haha we'll see if i can loosen them up a little. but good bishoping to you dad! love you! até a semana que vem! (until next week)

Elder Bergquist

hey mom. How are you?

wow thats sweet they got jobs! (Derek, Devin and Blake all got jobs this week.  They will all be working for Honeyville!!  Thank you Ed!!)  Chad had a fireside with the mission president!? que bênção!!! how was it? what was it about?? hes a priest now huh?? weird!!

yeah im super excited for conference!!! im just a little sad because its like impossible to watch priesthood here, its at 6 am and we have to have an investigator there at 6 am on sunday to watch it...because we arent allowed to go at 9 on saturday and stay out til 11. oh well ill tell dad to review it for me...

Well, how was your week? wonderful 

So, did you reapply to BYU?  What did you have to do?  Just fill out a form saying you want to come back to school  in Jan? well im still working on it because i dont remember my id and password...haha

Did you register for classes? NO! ta louca! i cant worry about that now...at least i dont feel like i should...it seems like theres a ton of time still

What is your question that you wrote in the Book of Mormon (or is it too private)?  ;) how i can have a better relationship with my Heavenly Father

How many investigators did you have at church? 8

Who are you teaching and is anyone ready for baptism? theres a few people we´'re teaching... the family of the kid that was baptized sunday and another family, well a mom and a daughter.  im tired of just teaching women!!! haha Gerson's (the kid that was baptized sunday) dad and older brother went to church too, we're teaching them! this time i have a real stat at least i think it is...some members said it came out in the news paper: in minas gerais there are 7 women to every one man!! its ridiculous! haha anyway.....thats what it will be like in the celestial kingdom too haha

Are you getting excited for conference??!!! super extremely excited!

Do you have to have investigators go with you or you can't go? on saturday yeah. on sunday we have to go, but we have to take investigators too...its the same rules as last time...

When did you feel the Spirit this strongest this week? one lady we are teaching had a stroke in february. she only 45 years old! we gave her a blessing on wednesday and she started sleeping better at night. then we kept teaching her and her daughter and they were reading The Book of Mormon, even though she doesnt know how to read, she tries anyway! and she was able to read, with the help of her 10 year old daughter, the chapter heading. and she prayed about it and felt it was true...but even with that she wasnt sure if shed go to church on sunday because shes doing a "campaign" in her other church, so we talked to her a bit about that and how it was not the true church and how she shouldnt go to church because of a campaign, but because its the true church and that she should pray about it. she said she woke up the next day and wanted to read The Book of Mormon some more, so she called her daughter in and read a little with her, then she said a prayed and asked if she "should go to the Lord's church on Sunday" and she said she felt a strong desire in that moment to go to church. she cant walk real well yet, she doing physical therapy, but we had a member take her and she loved it! they are excited to be baptized! I know the Lord answers prayers. Of the rich, of the poor, of the intelligent, of the unlearned, of all of his children, we just have to be humble and have real intention to act on the testimony we receive  He loves us and I love Him!

thats all folks!

Elder Bergquist