Exaclty Obedient, Work your Hardest, and Live Righteously

Hello Everybody!!   I am doing amazing.

Well I guess I will just get started with the crazy stories! This week has been one of intense learning and teaching, as well as the most fun I've ever had. At first I wasn't sure if I liked the MTC but I have come to love it. There is a saying here that the first couple days of the MTC is like trying to drink water from a fire hose. Of course you're going to get some water in your mouth but mostly it's just going to hurt your face. And I can now testify of the truth of that. We leave the MTC tomorrow and I feel like I have learned everything I can here and that I need to start serving the people of Ghana to learn the rest, so here goes another crazy email from a white man in Africa.

My dreams finally came true this week, I HAD FU FU!!!! And I actually liked it! So fu fu is basically exactly like bread doe except it is even stickier. Thankfully once you dip it in soup it softens up enough so that it will slide right down your throat. So it is very disrespectful to chew fu fu because Africans believe that there is an order to eating food. Some food you chew, some you drink, and some you just swallow whole, fu fu falls under the last category. Thankfully it just tastes like instant mashed potatoes to me and I was able to fill myself up on it.

The funniest moment this week was when I accidentally started a dance party in the Men's dorm. One night I was just in the bathroom doing my normal nightly routine of washing my face and brushing my teeth, when a group of Nigerians walk into the bathroom playing some traditional Nigerian music on a portable speaker and doing this awesome/hilarious dance. It's called the Shoki, and since they say I am a Nigerian inside and that I showed them I can dance, they taught me it. I asked them to show me how to do it so we walked out into the hallway and they started. Basically the move is you squat a little and step back and forth to the beat and then you move your arms in scooping motions and do these little hand flips. They were also doing things like eating, pretending to put on make-up, basically you just act it out and it is very entertaining. They were laughing so hard at me because I was really awkward at first but after some practice they said they would let me come to dance parties with them. 

Africans love to dance so there is another dance story! We were outside during Physical Activity and I had just finished working out and I looked over to see none other than a DANCE CIRLCE! Kaden Bergeson loves dance circles so I ran over to see what moves were being thrown down and holy smokes. I'm pretty sure that all of the Africans gave up professional dance careers because they were amazing. One after the other they would walk in and do flips and break dance moves, I'm talking spinning around on their necks/shoulders and stuff. It was awesome but I noticed that no one from America was going in and I didn't want them thinking Americans couldn't dance.... so I walked in. And everyone went really quiet because they weren't sure what I was going to do. So I used my go to lady killer move: THE MORMON SHUFFLE. And everyone erupted in laughter. Most of the Africans were rolling on the ground. Now whenever I walked down the hall people shake their hips at me and just laugh. 

Finally, my companion Elder Odili taught me how to wash my clothes. By Hand. And let's just say I did a little more of washing my hands then washing my white shirt. So you just grab a bucket, fill it with hot water, add washing powder, and then put your clothes in and wait 15 minutes. When we came back the powder had taken out most of the stain so I just had a little bit of scrubbing to do but Elder Odili said that I wasn't scrubbing hard enough so I scrubbed harder and after a little bit I noticed some red marks on my shirt... I had scrubbed the skin right OFF of my knuckles!!! I was so mad because Odili had to finish it for me so I wouldn't get blood all over it.

So despite all of the fun culture things I learned I also learned a little bit about the Gospel. :D My favorite quote this week was: If you like it or not, nothing's going to change. I just know that this mission is going to be one of the hardest things I will do. There is so much change. You are with a companion in an area for 6 weeks and right after you get used to him he gets transferred and it will be like that the whole mission. So I promised myself and the Lord that no matter who I am with or where I am I will always be positive. I also loved something Elder Bednar promised to missionaries. I don't have the exact quote but he said something like this. I promise, in the name of the Lord, that if you will be exactly obedient, work your hardest, and always strive to live righteously, your mouth will literally be filled, your steps will be guided and you will be where you need to be, sometimes not even knowing why. It was an answer to my prayers. I will give the Lord everything I have but in the end I am just a man and a man can do nothing. But an 18 year old boy who is called of God share his Gospel can do anything. I am so thankful for this opportunity to serve this mission. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. They have done everything for me and the least I can do is serve them for 2 years in Ghana. Thank you all for the prayers, I feel them every moment and I would love if you could continue to keep me in mind. 

I love you all. PREPARE IT

Elder Bergeson

Leaving the Ghana MTC and going to meet their mission Presidents! 

Army of God

Ow Fa Na Family and Others!!! (That means whats up in Pigeon English and the correct response is "No Wahala", which means nothing much. The Africans love me because I am learning Pigeon from my companion. I'll get into that later.)

Disoriented. That is definitely the word I would use to describe my first two days in Ghana and the MTC! After we made it through the insane traffic to the MTC we got to eat breakfast which is roughly the same thing every morning; Baked beans, scrambled eggs with chilies, two slices of bread, and a gourmet salad with tomatoes and LOTS of onions. They always pile up your plate and I can never finish the meals here because they are huge. The Americans here with me (18 of us in total) are getting kind of sick of the onions because Africans are crazy about them and we are just tired of the onion breath! But I am really loving everything in Ghana. Like I said I thought I was going to die the first day; I missed my family, I missed my mom's cooking, I missed being able to hear normal English, but now I've come to love everything here.

The first thing you do in the MTC is get a companion. My companion's name is Elder Odili! He's from Nigeria, he's 25 and he is seriously my best friend. He is the funniest guy I know and he knows his scriptures like I know how to sleep. Perfectly. We became fast friends. He eats like a horse and usually helps me finish my plate. He loves apples and I had one from Washington so I gave it to him one night and he literally walked to every dorm room on our floor yelling "My companion gave me an apple from the United States!" He is really good at rugby and is teaching me how to play. And finally he loves the Gospel. He's taught me a lot by his example and we work well together in this companionship. In the MTC the first few days are spent learning the doctrine so that we can teach by the Spirit and then we start teaching investigators. I do a lot of the talking and Elder Odili applies the scriptures. We are perfect companions and we keep getting complemented on how well we work together. 

My favorite story from this week is when we left the MTC to go get our Ghana ID cards. We went to a bank in Tema, Ghana that had a center to get these cards. We drove through town and I'm going to try to tell you what I saw but you'd have to be here to appreciate it. In Ghana no one follows traffic laws, you can dump your garbage everywhere, you are allowed to "relieve yourself" where ever you please and there are people everywhere! So we drove in a bus to this place. The drivers in the MTC would be considered pros in America. They were weaving all over the road, making turns going 40 and they don't slow down when people try to cross the road in front of them, THEY SPEED UP! And there are also people called "Hawkers" who stand in the middle of the road and try to sell things to people and it's anything they can get their hands on. They were selling cell phones, soap, grannuts, soap, hand sanitizer, kites, table cloths, furniture, and just imagine them running through out the road trying to get everyone's attention so that they can make a living. It's a lot of fun to watch! :-) But my experience happened at the bank. After I got my ID card we went outside to wait for the bus, that had left to go back to the MTC, leaving some fresh missionaries in the streets of Ghana. Kind of scary. But when I walked out some Elders were talking to two ladies and I was so impressed with them and honestly thinking to myself how I wished I was that brave. I saw a man who was a guard for the store next to the bank and I just thought that I should go talk to him. When we had left the MTC, none of us had brought our scriptures so I asked everyone if they had pass along cards and only one Elder had one, a pass along card with a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. I had no idea how I was going to teach with a picture of a temple that's in America but I felt like I should go so I showed it to Elder Odili and all I said was: "We need to go talk to him" and he just looked at me and said: "Elder Berg-e-sen (that's how he says it), I am your companion, I'll follow your lead." So we went over and I introduced ourselves to him, his name was David. I didn't get to talk to him for very long because his friend named Tony walked up. We talked to Tony for a while, he's married to his beautiful wife, has two kids and he is a Catholic who loves God. I told him I was a farmer and he thought that was pretty cool. So here we are, two missionaries who had been in the MTC for 4 days and we started teaching, asking him questions about why he thinks we are here, and where we came from, and how we can have eternal families, and he loved it. But pretty soon the bus came back up and he said goodbye to us so we walked back but again I had a thought that we needed to get their information and so I ran back and asked if he wanted to hear more and he said YES! I was so happy and afterward the only thing Elder Odili could say was "I LOVE MY COMPANION!!" The gospel is true wherever you are. 

I can't thank Heavenly Father and my Savior enough for sending me to Ghana. This is already one of the hardest things I have experienced and I can't wait for it to get harder so that I can come closer to Christ. I know that my Redeemer lives and that he loves me. He loves me so much that he died for me so that I could have the opportunity to return back to our Heavenly Father. I know that Heavenly Father cares about us and that when we pray to him he will answer us. If we truly ask in Faith he will help us. I love you all and I'm thankful to know that we will be together forever.

PREPARE IT.

Elder Bergeson

Kaden's New Companion-Elder Odili

The Americans

Temple Trip on P-day

All the bridges have the Ghana flag on them

Elder Bergeson isn't quite sure about the milk in Ghana

Temple Trip!

Ghana MTC

Hello Family!

Well I made it to Ghana and to be honest I feel completely lost. I walked out of the plane and right away people were trying to take my bag saying they would carry it for me and I almost didn't make it through customs because I didn't have my Yellow Fever Card (I need you to send it to me by the end of my mission) but I was very lucky! All of us Elders then went to Baggage Claim, and I waited for my bags.... and waited... and my bags didn't make it with us but I was blessed because they will be here in the morning. So we had to file for baggage return and at the end the workers wanted a tip and I didn't want to make a scene and so I took out my wallet and I had no small bills and they saw my $20 and then they all said a twenty would do and so I paid them, come to find out that that is not what I am supposed to do.

We then left the airport and drove to the MTC and holy cow it was crazy!! Our driver literally hit a lady's purse with his side mirror going like 40 mph. That's how close the people walking are to the cars, I didn't see any speed limit signs either...

Anyways, that's all the time I have, my P-day is Wednesday and I'll explain more then! Thanks for all your thoughts, I love you all so much.

Elder Bergeson

The American Elders have arrived at the Ghana MTC

Lunch time at the MTC!

Saying goodbye for 2 years!

Kaden was set apart last night as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is so excited for this time to serve our Heavenly Father and to serve the people of Ghana.

Kaden's favorite scripture: 3 Nephi 4:10- "But in this thing they were disappointed, for the Nephites did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection; therefore, when the armies of Giddianhi did rush upon them they were prepared to meet them; yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them." As Kaden goes out on his mission, he will go out trusting in God and relying on Him. He will be a great missionary!

Future missionaries! 

He's ready!

This morning we dropped Kaden off at the Spokane airport bright and early. He is ready to go and do great things in Ghana. We are so proud of him and his decision to serve a mission. In the words of Carli Barlow, "Two years is a time for me, to give back for I owe each breath that I breathe. It's only a small thing when you look at eternity." He is on his way to the Ghana MTC and will be there for 2 weeks!

And he's off!!