Hello Ry Mamako!
It’s your silly son Austin here again, out here on my big adventure.

No, but seriously, how are you doing? I’ve got some pretty big news today. Remember how I said that transfers were coming up? Well, my time here in Mahajanga has officially come to an end. I am pretty sad to be leaving this place. It’s crazy how you can just live somewhere for almost six months, and then once the time comes to leave, it feels like it all went by in two seconds. I guess it all has to end sometime though.I’ll be getting on a taxi and leaving here tomorrow morning to go back to Antananarivo. That’s where I’ll be getting transferred. My new area is called Betongolo, and it’s actually a ward! I’ve never worked in ward before. I am pretty stoked about that. I have heard a lot about the ward already and I am stoked to be getting down there. I’ll be a serving there and I will also be serving as an office missionary. Me and my new companion run errands for the office, I guess. I honestly don’t understand much about it yet, but we will see. We are actually one of the only three companionships on the island (as far as I am aware) that has a car. I have also heard that my companion doesn’t have a permit, so we’ll see how that goes. I think I’ll be learning how to drive stick. Sweet. I’ll tell you more about my companion next week, for I have only really met him once. His name is Elder Mocellin and he’s from France. Like I said though, I will tell you more about him next week after I have worked with him for a good couple of days. Maybe I’ll send you a picture of us if your lucky.

That’s the news about the transfer though. I am going back to the big city for my fourth area.

I will miss Mahajanga a lot though. This place is so cool. Well, perhaps the hottest thing in the world, but figuratively cool. Soaring eagles and breathtaking baobab girth cool enough to cool down the heat just enough to smile. Will I miss sweating every hour of every day? Will I miss that funky smell I have picked up from that sweat? Perhaps not, but will I miss all the crazy dialects and saying ‘talilio rika!’ to the posiposy drivers? Certainly I will.

“kara kory ma laolo e?” “tsisy kabary ma”

It’s all good though. There are a few baptisms coming up that I am a little bummed I won’t see, but it’s all good. That’s just the way it goes.

That was honestly the biggest news though. I’ll be getting transferred. I feel like now that I have got that across.. there’s not too much to add now.

I talked to some American guys at a restaurant on Saturday. THAT was interesting. I haven’t spoken English face to face with someone like that since I was with Fox. Two months isn’t really that long of a time I suppose, but it sure was different. They were cool though. They were studying to be doctors here and were visiting a hospital here I guess. They are from Texas. One of the guys actually knew a good bit about missionaries and about the church.  I mean, he knew we were out two years and he even told me that I don’t have much longer left. Would you look at that? Haha, but yeah, they were cool though. I could definitely see how much different I am now. I can talk to strangers much more easily. Of course I have seen that when I speak Malagasy, but doing it in English is a whole different way to play the ballgame.

We will be going to a nice beach today though, which I am pretty stoked about. I’ll be sure to send you pictures next week. It’s called ‘Grand Poivre,’ and although I don’t know anything about it, I have heard that it’s pretty nice.

I’ll be leaving with an elder from my mtc group again, Elder Ewell. I am pretty stoked on that. We got along well back then. He really helped me at the beginning of it all. We are both into skateboarding and stuff of the like, and that really helped me in the beginning, haha.

One thing I have been pretty powered up on lately is working out. My companion and I have been going to a gym every morning for about two weeks. It’s way close to our house, and it’s way raddd. I’m a little bummed I won’t be about to take full advantage of my one month membership.. but that’s just the way it goes. Pumping the iron is nice though. I hope I can get something similar going in my new area so I don’t just get double flabby all over. I still have a pretty big rice belly I need to be working on.

So this next week is going to bring a lot of changes to my mission pattern as it has been of late. I’ll be living with more missionaries than I have seen in months. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Okay, so I actually just barely got to log in to the email (I wrote this in Word) and look at Brittany’s email, and wow! I wasn’t expecting that at all! I mean, of course I knew she was going to be giving birth soon, but now it’s already all done! Haha that’s crazy! He looks like a way radical party dude for sure! Just know that I’ll be keeping him in my prayers though. We’ll get him home in no time. A little slow breathing won’t stop Liam, he’s too much of a man!

I feel like this letter is really long though, so I think I’ll give it a break here.

The newest uncle on the block,

Elder ‘Office Elder’ Bergera

Dearest Mother,

I think there is a toilet (I used 'toilet' lightly) outside the window where I am writing this. I keep catching wiffs.

I must say that your closing line caught me a bit off guard there. I quote, "Take care, blood, bled  your food, accreditation." Now you say that your 'kindle hand-held camp fire' has an autocorrect function, so I could assume this is a result of that, but I could also assume it isn't. However; I assure you I will give an honest effort this week to bleed my food. I am not quite sure how to go about this, and willing to give it a try. That's what a mission is about, right?

Okay, for an answer about the internet problem.. yeah, I don't know. I guess just try to find some people that know what they are doing? Have them come look at it? That's all I can really imagine would help.

So I have attached some photos for your viewing pleasure.

First, it is the rainy season. Here we have a funny man doing a funny man pose. Funny man. Some of the little roads and paths get really backed up with water, like this one. According to the family we teach by here, this is isn't really to bad yet. It gets much worse than this some years.

Second, I don't remember which is second so I will describe just from what I remember. Here you have my awesome tan-line. I guess you could call this a 'missionary tan' or a 'white collar tan,' it'll all do. It's pretty cool, huh? Also, you can see the really short hair cut I got a few weeks ago. I don't really like it that short, but I don't really care either. At this point, it is all fine. I don't like my hair short, but it has to be, so no matter how it looks now it's fine. Might as well go way short sometimes.

Third, sometimes it is needful to hitch hike the indian ocean. 

Fourth, here we have a fruit. I don't know what this is called in English. It's a funny little fruit which tastes like.. hmm.. soursop, if you know what that is. Okay, I have never eaten a soursop, but I have drinken the 'pop drink' (a type of drink powder mix) version and they tasted similar. Okay, i just found out that it is called 'pomme cannelle' in french, or 'sugar apple' in english. It doesn't really taste like an apple at all.

Anyway though, things are going well. I have officially been in this area the longest so far, and it still feels like the shortest. 

I don't really have too much to say though.

Let me know how the internet goes!

Elder Berjerry

Dearest Maman,

I am not sure why my email didn't quite get to you last week. I suppose it got lost somewhere over the Sahara, but alas, I have sent it again and I do trust you have received it. I did write last week, so don't you think I have forgotten (heaven forbid). I did not forget. I also included a selection of photos for your viewing pleasure, which I trust will be welcomed greatly. If for any reason this 'ghost email' does not appear in your inbox for a second week in a row, please tell me and I will alert the guard! The little yellow friend-in-a-box told me that it 'sent successfully' though, so I do not expect any further problems.

As far as life this week though, it has been good. This is going to be very missionary-like of me, so I apologizes for those who are "in it for the thrill," but I had a very spiritually uplifting week. I can't really describe it super well, but after listening to some talks that a returned missionary put on my USB, I just felt the spirit this whole week. I mean, I would earnestly say I have felt the spirit abundantly these past however-many-months, yes, but this week it has been really strong. Every single thing that went wrong this week, whether investigators not being home or those little racial things people say that just sort of gnaw at you, meant absolutely nothing to me. I can't really describe it well, like I said, but it just felt like I had been lifted up to the next level. Like everything on this earth is just passing and none of the hardships or annoyances have eternal meaning. The scary part is that so many things can take this away. A stray thought about 'that girl over there' can rip that feeling away and your stranded back on earth, lost in the weariness of it all yet again. So, you have to watch your thoughts. That's what has been the hardest for me this whole mission so far. I have seen some cool blessing this week from it though.

It's crazy how real this gospel is, haha. Sometimes we are blind and we can't see it. Sometimes we even blind ourselves. Once the eyes are opened though... it's cool.

That's been the spiritual side of this past week. It's been nice.

By the time I get to talk to you all again, we will have received transfers (unless I am mistaken). I have been in this area five months, one week, and two days to be exact. Now, five months really isn't too long of a time. A lot of missionaries have been in areas much longer than that, but it has been my longest area like I told you in a recent email. It could go either way. I feel like I have already told you all this though.. so I guess what I am really just trying to say is that if I do get transferred, I will let you know in a week.

We have a baptism coming up though. It's for a young teenage kid named Francis. His baptism should be on March 2nd, so if I am still here, I will be there, haha. He is a cool kid. He is friends with another 16 year old kid who got baptised back in September, Patrick. We go out and teach with Patrick every saturday, and Francis is his friend that he has brought into the church. We honestly haven't had a ton of baptisms lately, but I feel like our RCLA work has been going well.

I like rice.

The storms are a brewin'.

I attached another picture. Here we have a little part of the town up close by the ocean. You see the water up the path in the picture? That is the tide coming up, or as the locals call it 'samota'. That's a very local word, and offical Malagasy doesn't have a word for that, as far as I can tell, but here in Mahajanga the locals have gave it a life of its own.

I always feel like my emails are kind of lame, but I promise I will let anyone read my mission journals when I get home. They are a daily log of how I feel.. well.. daily. It's cool. So yeah, y'all can read those in a while.

LOL!! (lots of love)

Elder Ber.chair.a

p.s. I am stoked Brittany won that Disneyland Trip! Her idea to wait until I get home to use it is great too. Let's do it.

Hey Mahm,

I'm glad the ward liked the letter I wrote for them. I figured it was the least I could do to show my support for the good ol' home ward. Hey, do you think you could do me a favor? I am just curious as to who else in the ward is out on missions. I can't imagine that my plaque is the only one filling up that Mt. View 1st ward display case, but the only other person I can remember is Brad Holdaway, which I am pretty sure he is either home or really close to getting home. So if you happened to take a glance at that thing in the church, it would be appreciated. Obviously I would be a-o.k. either way, but I've just got a case of that curiousity bug.

But yeah, I am glad they liked the letter. That was my goal in writting it, so it seems a success.

About that snow.. I am just happy you are all getting some nice snow. From what you all said last year, it was a bit of a let down, but I guess that is all getting made up for now? No more of this silly 'drought' business. It's like I just told Brittany, I hope that next year is the snowest yet. I will come right out of winter here, and go into a nice Utahn winter.

As far as the weather goes here, it has just been rainy. Just one big rainy mess. I have been utilizing my half broken umbrella really well though, so don't worry about that. Only sometimes do I have to walk through rivers. The house only leaks someplaces. The mud on my shoes is only bad if you look at it. The whole idea of the rainy season is all about how you look at it really. Once you get used to the idea of being wet, it's just like any other day. Any other season. In all honesty though, I am really stoked on it. You see, Mahajanga is hot. I think I have done a good job explaining that these last five months, but it is hot. Just... hot. Finishing a 1.5L bottle of water in a day's work is too easy, and really, it all comes out via sweat. Ever since the rain has come though, it's been nice. Not necessarily cool 100% of the time, but nice. Even cold sometimes. I would dare say that I have felt cold once since I have been here. Yes, the rain is a bit annoying, but it has it's perks.

In other news, like I just mentioned I have almost been in this area for five months. I will hit that mark this week. It has gone by so unbelievably fast. It feels faster than either of my first two areas, and it's already been longer than both. I feel like I have helped a lot of people here too. Not so much in great numbers of baptisms really, but just helping those recent converts and less actives get strong foundations of faith. That is the huge push in the mission right now. These past few years there have been huge numbers of baptisms, but the problem is there is a huge number of less actives. Just a huge number of people who haven't truly built a solid foundation of faith, and when those waves of tribulation came, they pulled back and hid away. The huge push in the mission right now is to help those people, and make sure that all the people being baptized now truly hold onto the iron rod.
We want a temple here in Madagascar. It is sad to teach people about the temple, and then tell them that the closest one is in South Africa. Many of these people have never left this island, so they don't think they will ever be able to go to South Africa, so the temple becomes a distant dream. Yes, there are those awesome people who just work hard and make that a reality. There will always be awesome people. But a lot of people don't have that great faith and hope, and become discouraged upon learning that there is no temple here. So that's what we are trying to do now. Get the church here on a solid foundation. It's doing pretty good, for we've got two stakes on the island, but we have to do better. We just have to keep going, you know? 

I trust there will be a Temple here someday.

Carpe diem! (that's not malagasy)

Don't forget to send me a picture of that calendar, okay?

Thank y'alls.

Elder "Anderson" Bergera

"Coach's Pick"

Dearest Motherly,

Good Morrow! Good Morrow!

Okay, so I have been thinking about it. You probably do not need to send me an umbrella. If I have to use this slightly broken one for a couple of months, that's fine. I can do that. And you make an excellent point that it probably won't even get here until the rainy season is at the descending peak, so it's okay. And that way you can use that space to send me other things of greater importance. :) As far as anything I would need? Well.. I would once again say everything is great. I can't really make any requests. Perhaps the instructions to that metal puzzle-y chain thing you sent me, because I have made absolutely NO progress. At all. Even. 

The guy who owns the cyber here where I am typing my email is playing that one computer game you used to always play. Do you remember that old one? I don't remember the name, Zuma or something (which is extremely similar to Friday in Malagasy), but it's the one where the frog shoots different colored balls out of his mouth. It's all Mayan themed and what not. Anyway, yeah. He's totally playing that right now.

You better get that modem problem figured out, for by the time I come home I won't know any more about technology than you do!

I am afraid that all the Malagasy food i know how to cook may turn into gassy food, haha. Lots of beans. All I really like is beans, but I will be on the lookout for something nice and simple. The main thing to eat is rice though. Lots and lots of rice. More rice than you think you can handle, and then once you tackle it, you get more added on. That's how to eat Malagasy food.

We had a councilor from the mission presidency come and visit us this past weekend. He's Malagasy, and when I first met him he asked me where I am from. I told him Payson, Utah, a little hesitantly fully accepting that this man most likely has no idea in the world is Payson. Utah is easy to know for any member of the church, but a little town like Payson is a bit tougher. When I told him though, he acknowledge it, then replied that he has been to Payson. It is fair to say that this shocked me. Turns out, this man served a mission in Utah back when (as he put it) I "was this tall," he says gestering to mid-thigh length. He never worked there, but he had a Zone Conference there one day many years ago. Well how about that? To meet a Malagasy who has crept around my quarters was not on my list of things I expected that day.

I also got to see another wedding. I would say this one was a lot different than that one I saw last April. Even my Malagasy companion thought it was pretty crazy, and he is Malagasy. The reason fo this is because each of the tribes here in Madagascar have their own traditions, and the people her in Mahajanga are different than those in Tana. This actually wasn't the wedding even, just the "fangataham-bady" aka asking for the wife, aka a big party to commemorate ones engaged status. The actual marriage will take place in Antananarivo, so this was the party for the half of the family here in Mahajanga. I will try to send you pictures last week, but I just so happen to be using the same computer that caused all my pictures to be deleted last time, so I apologize if I am a bit hesitant to plug my card in this ol' machine. I got some doozies though, just you see.

This computer is getting all weird and laggy, so I best call it good here.

I'll see y'all in February.

Elder Tuff n Stuff

Earth to Matilda,
I am here!

Okay, I promise that I had a letter written last week and everything, all ready to send, but as I wrote it the connection went out in all of Mahajanga. The entire town had no internet connection. Something happened somewhere in Maevatanana (the hottest place in Madagascar, and on the road to Antananarivo) which killed the whole connection here. Lucky for you now though, I saved that letter which I wrote last week, so here, enjoy my revived one-week-old letter:

Hello Snow-Dwellers,

From the look of those pictures, it seems all you guys got kissed by the snow gods. That is a figure of speech of course, for we do not believe in such pagan gods, but hey, it's all good. Seriously though, that's way cool. Those pictures are looking way nice; a nice blanket of love covering everything in sight. Sometimes I try to explain snow to Malagasies, but hey just don't understand. They don't know what real cold is. It's good though. Antsirabe gets pretty cold though, but they don't have snow falling down so they only know half of what is winter. I am glad that this winter is much nicer for you all that what last winter sounded like. I hope that next winter will be the gnarliest one yet.

As for life here, it is going well.
We had that baptism on Saturday, and that went well. All according to plan and what not, so no room to complain. I had the pleasure of baptizing the man, Claude. As I finished the baptism prayer I told him to plug his nose while he goes under. Right as we were ready to go down, he started leaning forward. At this point I realized that I should have practiced with him before we entered into the water, but it was too late. I had to just semi-awkwardly lead him by force down backward into the water. Don't worry though, we fully submerged on the first go, so no silly seconds over here. After I finished, I gave ol' Claude a pat on the back and we walked out onto the shore again. My companion, Elder Rasolofonirina, baptized his wife Marie. They both bore their testimonies yesterday at church, and they both did great. Marie wears a nose ring, which a lot of people do here in Mahajanga. I am not quite sure where exactly that trend came from, but I think it is the large Muslim influence here. Anywho, it's about as normal as wearing regular earrings pretty much. The people here in Mahajanga do another cool thing too, for they wear golden teeth. For the lack of dental care which I am sure you can imagine, there are a lot of people with missing teeth. Sure they could just go around with gapped and dangling teeth, OR you could just put some gold teeth in there are you are good to go. That's what the people do here. Gold teeth, baby. (but not gold baby teeth.) It's way cool. I am thinking I might get my two fake teeth replaced with two fake gold teeth. A smart move? I let you answer that.

Hm.. what else could I tell you about?

We have been making a bunch of good Malagasy food, for my comp is obviously good at that. I am trying to learn, but I am not yet learned in the art of Malagasy cuisine. In just this past week we have made both voanjobory AND kabaro, both with sausage. It's been nice.

As far as fitness goes, I got a little lazy there for a while, but alas, do not worry. We went running this morning and I am feeling great. I will have to take my camera with me running sometime so I can show you where we go. It's not every day that you get to go running by the indian ocean, so I'll try to get that going.

I would hate for you all to think that I am only having worldly experiences though, haha. All this talk of “cuisine and oceans, cuisine and oceans...” HA. That doesn't even measure up to all the undeniable spiritual experience I have had lately, but I don't know how to tell you about all those over email. It just doesn't seem fair, haha, to the experiences I mean. I don't think I could even explain in words the greatness of it all. It is all so great. For example, once the sacrament ended yesterday, we were immediately asked to teach the young men and young women’s class. We accepted of course, and we ended up teaching it. The point I am trying to get across is that we didn't hesitate or were even scared at all, we just did it. We just had put ourselves in that position for the Spirit to work through us, and once we did, it was out of our hands. That's how it works. It just mandeha ho azy.

All in all though, it has just been another great week of the mission. Time is still going on hyperdrive, and I can’t believe how long I have been out here already. Yes, it feels it has been an entire lifetime out here sometimes, but at the same time, I can’t believe I have been gone 15 months already.

Here’s to 9 more!

;D

 Elder Austin “here’s looking at you kid” Bergera 

Okay, and there you have it. I am sorry if I caused you any worry or grief due to lack of communication on my part. I assure you that if was an eagle, I would've angelicly flown to Maevatanana and fixed whatever had broke just to get this email sent to you. "But behold, I am a man," (Alma 29:3).

As far as this last week has gone though.. it's gone well. The rain is a-coming still, but it's all right. It's not as big as a shock to me this time around as it was last time. I found a broken umbrella in our house which I have been using lately. It's not torn or anything, so it isn't broken that way, it just doesnt stay open by itself. I remedied this with a shoelace in which I wrapped around just right to where if I hold it, the umbrella will stay open. Umbrellas are really nice to have. I should've gone on more rainy walks before, because umbrellas are inventive. You could totally walk around in the rain and not get wet. It's crazy. I don't like wearing my rain jacket anymore, cause it doesn't really do anything. The way it protects from rain is by slowly absorbing it, which is to say, it doesn't protect from rain. '~'   I might as well wear a sponge.

I don't mean to complain though, for my new love for umbrellas has made me completely forget about my old jacket "friend." 

Oh yeah, and I found out something about myself yesterday. I don't like shark meat. It's potent. And perhaps 'potent'-ially dangerous. Okay, it's not dangerous, just gross. The way it was prepared for me was kind of weird, so that may be a good cause as to why I didn't like it so much, but still. Bleh. The flavor was very sharp, as millions of little shark teeth rested within the meat itself. The kind I ate was first dried into a long, odd strip. This was followed by it being deep fried, and then served with tsaramaso, a Malagasy favored local bean. I loved the tsaramaso, though the ankivy was quite mangidy.

All in all though, things are good. Life just keeps going on. 

Thank you again for the Conference New Ensign. I have been reading through it a lot lately, and I am really enjoying it. One quote I really like is in Elder Walter F. Gonzalez's talk 'Learning with Our Hearts" in which he shares a quote from a children's book. 

“Here is my secret … : It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

I will end this letter now. I hope you enjoy getting two letters this week, and that the joy will replace whatever disappoint which came from no letter last week. 

I love y'all.

Elder Misionera Bergera

Bonjour Maman!
Hey, funny to see you here!
So you asked me (direct copy and paste quote), "ANY NEW LESSONS OR BAPTISMS FOR THE NEW YEAR?" to which I may reply, yes. I am not quite sure what you meant by new lessons, but we have taught a lot of lessons, so I would reply that we have had many new lessons. With 2013 here and thriving, we put on our nicest boots and kicked all of those 'old lessons' out of the house. 
As far as baptisms go, we will be having a baptism this weekend. We have a couple here who have been coming to church for a good while now, and the only problem they had between them and baptism was that they were not legally married. They have been diligently working with the Branch President here to take care of that, and lo and behold it is now finished. On Friday morning we went with them to the 'City Center' of sorts, and we got their marriage all finalized and certified. They are an older couple, at least in their upper 50's. Claude and Marie are their names, respectively. 
I love what the church does for people. I already wrote a big ol' entry about this in my journal, but I'll paste a little blag on here anyway. You see, here we have one couple who have gone who knows how many years without being married legally. Oh how easy it would've been for them to go the rest of their days carefree, not worrying about this little blip. They would've finished it, sure, it was just a hassel tucked away deep in the storage sheds of their minds. But now, thanks to helping hands and a caring heart, they were able to get in finished. Their marriage is now complete. Now, I don't know if they love eachother now anymore than they did before, but it's official now. It's all.. milamina. I don't know a better word for that in English.
So yes, like I previously mentioned we should be having that baptism be taking place this weekend. Claude has had a coffee problem in the past, so if he happens to drink again we may have to postpone the baptism, but we are praying for him. 
I really liked that dream you had. It was funny. Here, I will copy and paste it in here so that when other people read this they can know what I am talking about:
"I actually had a dream about you the other night.  I dreamed that you and your companions were allowed to fly home for Christmas day, but because you had so many places to stop (kinda like Santa, I guess), then you couldn't stay long.  We families got about 1/2 hour each to visit and hug on you.  Well, your companions came in, and I'll like, "Where's Austin?", and then you came in and your hair was twice as long as it ever was in high school.  And I was like amazed, and you said it was because they decided you were the next Samson, and you had much more power if you had your hair long.  I was like, "wow", and then you laughed, and all your companions laughed, and you pulled off this long, dread-lockish wig, and you said, "Too bad it's not April Fool's."  It really was good to see you in my dream, even if you were pulling a trick on me."
Haha yeah. I like that. Samson in my hero, even though he did fall. He obviously wasn't strong enough though. Silly man, you never cut your hair for a girl. Unless that girl is a little cancer girl, then it's okay, then you can donate it, but for stinky Delilah? "Come on!!"
The rain has really been picking up. If you have room, a nice little umbrella would be a nice gift, if you were thinking about sending a package any time soon. I don't know if I told you this before, but the one we bought when I was getting ready for my mission broke in the MTC, so I left it there. But yeah, the rain is staring to come down pretty hard. It's rained every day this week. My Daily Planner is getting pretty thrashed up, haha. Sometimes i forget to put it in my backpack. It's all good though. You'll all be impressed when I show it to you and you see how rain-warped and tattered it is. My new companion has been counting everytime I fall and slip into the mud. I think we are up to three now. The trouble is the bottom of my shoes are completely flat, so I get into a lot of goofy situations. It makes sense though, because here in the Southern Hemisphere, fall is coming up.
In all seriousness though, things are going well. I am really trying to figure out how to best incorporate the branch council into the work, cause that's something that isn't as well formed here as I imagine it is in other places. The people are still all figuring out how to do it all. I believe we can get it going well and truly make a difference here. 
Things are going great though, and even though I am 86% I stepped in poop (hopefully dog) on my way to the cyber, the sun is shining so there isn't much to complain about.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Eldera Bergera