Week 23--December 23, 2013

Hey Everyone,

Merry Christmas in Two days! I am so excited to be able to Skype home on Wednesday! 

This past week has been crazy and this up coming week will be just as much so. This past week on Thursday we had Our Multi-Zone conference with the Riverside, Mount Rubidoux, and Moreno Valley Zones, in Moreno Valley, so we were in charge of putting it on. The conference was very good. We focused a lot on finding, and Teaching simply. I really enjoyed it it was a lot of fun. Elder Kirkland took some of the Finding ideas that we discussed in the conference and used them, and came up with a list of 40 people to go see that we could potentially teach that could be Part Member Families. So far every one of the people we have visited have been a Part Member Family, so it is good and we have a lot of work to do and we are staying busy. 

That Night we had a lesson with the Holmes family who we have been teaching a lot, and It was probably the most powerful lesson that I have been a part of teaching, we taught first Faith, and then we talked about Baptism, and Peter, the Dad, asked us why we push so much for baptism, and for a date? My reply to him was that it is a commandment, but also that I wanted him to be sealed to his family for time and all eternity, I told him that one thing that I learned from Elder Reed, was that we should share what we love the most about the gospel, and for me as for most people it is the fact that My family can be together forever. That hit him really hard, but then we talked to him about quitting smoking, and he said it was hard to quit, and that he was able to quit more serious drugs because he could see it hurting his family, but smoking was just hurting himself. I then told him something that I had been contemplating for weeks, I said through tears "Peter, are you really going to let cigarettes stop you from having an eternal family, isn't that stupid?" Peter almost broke down crying, and he committed to make the change to stop smoking. It was one of the most powerful experiences that I have ever had on my mission thus far, and It is the only time that I can remember crying in a lesson.

I hope that everyone is doing well and that everyone has a Merry Christmas

Elder Bangerter

**We were able to talk to Andrew yesterday on Skype for about 45 minutes.  It was great!  He is doing really well and is happy.  We hooked up the computer to the television so we could all see and talk to him at once.  It was great! **

Week 22--December 16, 2013

Sorry this is late...I just finished my semester of online school and I've been avoiding the computer this week.  Sharon

Well it has been another really hard week in MoVal, but this week has strengthened my testimony so much that Miracles happen. When the Lord gives us trials and a hard work, he ALWAYS places Miracles in our path. I have seen SO many Miracles this past week.

The week started off really slow but we did have a really good lesson on Monday that led to a miracle down the road. The lesson was with a young lady named Abby, so we had a lesson with her at the Garcia's house when we went over for dinner on Monday. Abby is very connected to the church but she isn't a member yet, All of her extended family on her mom's side of the family is LDS except her mom, and those that weren't are joining the church. On top of that a lot of her friends are LDS, so she has a lot of support. She had told the Garcia girls a few weeks ago that she wanted to be baptized, so going into the lesson we were Pretty excited. We taught her the Restoration and committed her to read 3 Nephi 11. We didn't hear back about her until Saturday, and Miranda Garcia showed us the text message that Abby had sent to her the night after our lesson with her. Abby had read the chapter and prayed and said that she definitely got her answer, and she knew without a doubt that it was true! Now we just have to work with her and pray that her parent's hearts will be softened toward the church. Sister Garcia is definitely helping with it too and talking to Abby's parents. It has been a crazy miracle that came out of nowhere and it is an excellent example of how missionary should be done, and that is Member missionary work. The Young Women in this ward are great, and they are being awesome missionaries. 

We then experienced a miracle on Thursday, my birthday, we had a lesson with the Holmes family, and Peter the Dad has told us that he was going to be baptized but he wasn't ready to give up his smokes and his drink yet. Well when we saw him on Thursday, he had been sober and off of smoking for a week! He is getting ready to be baptized most likely in January, and it was a much needed miracle, because when he gets baptized the whole family will follow!

Well in closing I will put in part of an email that I sent Sami, Brother Christiansen asked them to ask a missionary they know, What makes a good missionary?

What makes a good missionary? Anyone can be a good missionary. A good missionary isn't defined by how many people they baptize, a good missionary is a good missionary because they know why they are serving and who they are serving. Remember what King Benjamin said in his glorious sermon "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17) A good missionary isn't serving his or her mission, a good missionary is serving the Lord's mission in the area which he or she is called. It is my personal belief that the best missionaries serve the Lord because they love the Lord. Not because they want the blessings of serving a mission however great they might be, the blessings of serving a mission are great, but they are greater for those who serve because they love the Lord. A Good missionary gives everything that they've got to the work. Good missionaries will have lots of trials, but they rely on God to get through any trial. A good missionary NEVER gives up just like Ammon in the Book of Mormon says "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." Missionary work is hard but it is the work of the Lord and Every good missionary knows that and lets the lord support him.

So... a good missionary Works Hard, Never Gives Up, is Completely Obedient to every commandment and standard of the lord, is Patient, tries to be as Christlike as possible, and most importantly Loves the Lord!

I hope everyone has a good week,

Elder Bangerter

Week 21--December 9, 2013

Oh man it has been HARD week.

The Area split and we now cover the South part of the area, which happens to be the Ritsy part of the area, so consequently all of our really solid Investigators went to the North area, so besides our two good investigators we have no investigators, so it has been a hard week. But I know that the Lord will Bless Us.

On the Front page of my planner for this transfer I have written, "Believe in Miracles, Pray for Miracles, Expect Miracles." If there is one thing that I have seen on my mission it is that Miracles Happen, If we have Faith that they will happen. The other thing I have written on my planner is a quote by Elder Holland. "Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come." and then “Don’t give up, boy. Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead—a lot of it...You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come.”

We have seen a lot of miracles this week and I know that Good things are Coming. I am excited to see all the potential that this south area has.

Elder Bangerter

Those quotes from Elder Holland can be found here and here.

Week 20--December 2, 2013

So Transfers came again, and again I am getting a new Companion, Elder Kirkland, but that's not all! The area is Splitting so I am in charge of the split, Fun stuff. So Elder Kirkland and I will cover the Lasselle South area, but we will be all over the place this week because I will have to hand off investigators in the North to the missionaries that are coming in in the north. One of which was my first zone leader, Elder Albright, I love him to death and I look forward to working with him again. Elder Albright is getting a new Trainee on Tuesday. It's going to be a lot of hard work but it will be worth it.

Thanksgiving was awesome. We started off the day by playing Football with the Samoan ward, It was Nuts, But it was so much fun, the gospel must be so true in Samoan, everyone just loves each other and it's great. They throw out curse words at each other, but its all out of love. The prophet asked them to do genealogy, so they do it on their arms and Legs with Ink. They are great. Then We went to Dinner #1 with the Merrill's and Anderson's, it was great! We had lots of fun and then we had a pie fight with Brother Merrill and all his grandchildren. It was Lots of fun, I'll attach a picture from the aftermath.  Then we had Dinner #2 with the Jensen Family, It was a very nice dinner, and It was a lot of fun. I have never felt more stuffed in my life. Then we had dinner #3 with the Holmes family who is a Part member family, It was crazy.

Then Saturday after we had found out about Transfers we had dinner with the Poulter family, and we helped them decorate their Christmas tree, because it is one of their family traditions to have the Missionaries help decorate their tree. They are honestly one of my favorite families in the Lasselle ward, they do so much for us and they are so gun ho about missionary work. 

Then Sunday we Had another Baptism, for Brandon R, It was an awesome service and a great experience. I love Brandon a lot he is the Bomb. 

I hope all is well with every one at home and I'll send some pictures

Elder Bangerter

**Okay--It's not letting me add pictures, so I'll try again later.  Also, if you want to send him something for Christmas, please send it to the Mission Home address.  Sharon