Week 41--April 28, 2014

Here's how he titled his email...

The week our investigator got Shanghaied the day of his Baptism

Well this week has been an interesting one, as the subject of the e-mail so nicely indicates. It has also been a pretty hard one, but that's okay!

Well I'll start with some happy things that happened this week. First, we got to got to the temple on Tuesday, which I always enjoy. It is such a great feeling to be able to go to the the House of the Lord. My prayers are always answered there. We went with Brother and Sister Wilson from our ward, and did some names for them, which they appreciated very much. I have some pictures but I will wait until next week to send them.

We picked up a new investigator this week that was so enthusiastic about learning about the church! Her name is Stormy, She is the mother of 5 kids, and was raised Southern Baptist. We had a super good Restoration lesson with her on Thursday, all was well. Now here's the catch, her husband is meeting with the Jehovah's Witnesses, and after first being okay with her meeting with us, they discussed it as a family and decided that they did not want to investigate the church and therefore Dropped us.

Then there is Kenny, he got back from LA this week and gave us a call and said he wanted to schedule a lesson, which was pretty cool. We set up a lesson with him for Thursday, and (as we were asked to) gave him a call on Thursday, to which there was no answer. So we went over for the lesson and he wasn't there, so we called again to which there still was no answer, so we left. The next day we got a voicemail from him basically chewing us out for not calling him and not showing up to our appointment, and how he is starting to loose faith in us because we "lack basic organization and planning skills." Oh how it frustrated me! We did call, we did plan for it, we even rearranged our schedule so we could go see him. Then when he isn't there and doesn't answer his phone and then calls us out about it, it makes me angry, but I just deal with it and move on, We ended up having a lesson with him on Saturday, and it went very well, we taught about Faith and Alma 32, which ironically Dad suggested a few weeks ago via letter. The lesson went well, and we tried to commit him to be baptized. He said No.

Saturday was the National Day of Service and we helped out with a Mormon Helping Hands project repairing trails at Box Springs Mountain, it was a lot of fun and we got a lot done.

Sunday we had 3 investigators at church none of which were Tony, I'll get to that a little later,

and I was asked to teach Gospel Principles class. I taught about Baptism, and everyone there seemed to enjoy the lesson very much, and we were able to answer a lot of concerns that J.S. Ross had. It was good.

Now for the story of the week. How Tony got Shanghaied. We had lessons everyday this week with Tony, they all went really well. He got interviewed on Thursday and was cleared to go. We met with him Saturday night and I gave him one of my White shirts and a tie. Everything was all good. Now we get to Sunday, we go to Ward Council and talk about the baptism, everyone is excited, and happy that the ward was having a baptism. So we are in Sacrament meeting and Bishop announces it and Tony isn't there. So we go over to Brother Batchkoff (WML Ward Mission Leader) and He and I go looking for him because he usually walks to church, go to his house nobody was home, call his phone and it was turned off. We go back to the church to see if we just missed him, but he still wasn't there, and we missed the sacrament. So then I teach my gospel principles lesson, and we go out to try and find him again, and one of his roommates answers the door and says that Tony's brother picked him up and was going to give him a ride to church. So we try getting a hold of him by phone again, and then a number that we had never seen before called us and it was Tony. His family cornered him and made him go with them right before he was going to leave to go to church, and they made him go to Mass with them, and then tried to Anti him to the church. After talking to him on the Phone I calmed him down and we tried to see if we could get him to another Sacrament meeting, which he didn't make it to, therefore he didn't get baptized, but we were able to have a lesson with him. Then Our Zone Leaders chewed us out and said "get his butt down to the church and get him baptized" and "Just Baptize him today" and so on. I refused to do either because it was contrary to mission rules, and they would not leave me alone about it. It really irritated me, because I did everything I could to make it happen and they wanted me to do it anyway for the number for the month of April. It isn't about the number it is about the people! 

Tony is set to be baptized next week, he talked to his family and figured things out.

That's it for now

Elder Bangerter

Week 40--April 21, 2014

Well another week has come and gone. It seems like time keeps moving faster and faster, and It's hard to keep track of, but I guess that is how it goes sometimes.

Things here are going very well, Tony is going to get baptized this weekend so it is exciting for us and for the ward! He asked me to be the one who baptizes him, I am very humbled that he asked me to do that for him. This past week was an emotional roller coaster with Tony, he didn't come to church yesterday and he left us a voice mail on our phone that was 5 minutes long and it wasn't very clear, but he sounded like he was dropping us. So I called him back and talked to him and listened to him, and I am glad that I did, and because I did listen I was able to resolve his concerns and help him progress. He said that he feels guilty that he didn't come to church and that he relapsed drinking on Saturday, and he thought that we would be mad because of those things, and then he feels like crap because he comes to church in tattered clothes and he feels dirty and like he doesn't belong in the church, because of it. I told him "Tony, we are here to help you, not to get mad at you, yes we are disappointed, but we love you and are here to help you, and we are going to take it one day at a time, and concentrate on one day." I then asked him how he feels when he is at the church in the building, and he said that it was the best feeling in the world. I told him that that is the spirit and it is telling him that he does belong in the church, and it doesn't matter what you wear to church that matters, it is that you are there. I then told him that I would give him one of my white shirts and a tie to wear to church. 

It was a crazy experience and I am glad that I was able to be a part of it. I think I am probably going to be nervous until Tony steps into the water to be baptized. Satan is going to be working so hard against him this week, and I am going to be praying so hard for him this week.

Well besides that we have a few other people we are teaching, one of which is still Kenny J. Kenny has started to progress a little bit, but not a crazy lot. He had to go out to LA this weekend, so we haven't been able to see him for the past few days.

We do get to go to the Temple tomorrow, which I am excited about, I love going to the temple it is truly amazing every time we go.

I guess that is it for now

Elder Bangerter

Week 39--April14, 2014

Sorry this is late.  I thought I had already put it up.  :-(

Wow it has been a good week!

The first week of a new transfer, and we came so close to getting the Standard of Excellence this week! We are definitely going to get it this week!

I guess last week I forgot to mention anything about Tony, Tony is still on date for baptism and he is progressing great and he is definitely excited to get baptized, we gave him a blessing this past week to help him stop smoking, and he has been going strong ever since, he is great. Other than that we picked up a lot of new investigators and focused a lot on a less active family that is trying to get to the temple. They are an awesome family and they are one of my favorite families in the ward. The only problem is the husband has started drinking again and it is having a negative effect on the whole family, because instead of coming home and spending time with his family, he comes home and drinks half a liter of tequila. We turned the issue over to the bishopric and they are starting to fellowship and work with him more.

This week the church is putting out a special message and video, an Easter initiative called "Because of Him" and it can be found on mormon.org/becauseofhim,facebook.com/mormon, google.com/+mormon, and twitter.com/mormonorg 

The church is reaching out and asking us as members to share this video and these sites and posts from them, We watched the video last night and It is amazing, and very powerful, it is also very different then video's in the past. I hope that everyone watches it and shares it with friends, it is shareable with the hashtag #BecauseofHim.

As this Easter week comes up I challenge all of you to think about what is possible in your life because of the savior, and to keep your thoughts focused on him, as this week we celebrate the most important event that ever happened on this earth, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, His death, and his Resurrection from the dead.

I love Y'all

Elder Bangerter

Week 38--April 7, 2014

Well a transfer has come and gone, and It was a good one. Well I guess I'll start with the biggest news, and that Is I am getting a new companion today. The story of what happened this weekend finding out who my new companion will be is an interesting one. So we were all over at the Zone Leader's home share and the call came, It was an interesting transfer. I'll start with what happened to my companion, Elder Mulcahy, he is getting transferred to the La Sierra Heights ward and he and his companion are sharing the ward with The Assistants to the Mission President. As for me, I am staying put and getting a new companion, except my companion is not really a new companion, in fact he was my first companion, Elder Elliott, my trainer. I will admit that I was not very excited nor happy, but I decided to keep my head up and have a good attitude about the situation. I decided that it was going to be a good thing and I was going to be happy about it. Then came along this morning, I got a call from President Smart saying that instead of being with Elder Elliott I am going to be with Elder Rock. I don't know too much about him, but I am excited to be with him.

Well General Conference has come and gone It was absolutely amazing So many of the Talks seemed to speak directly to me and I got so many impressions from conference. I really enjoyed Elder Jeffery R. Holland's talk, the first one of the conference, I can definitely relate to the sister missionaries that he described at the beginning of his talk, I have had beer thrown at me, beer spit at and on me, food thrown at me and so on. I really liked how he focused on how we need to stand up for our faith. Several of the Apostles spoke about that. Sister Reeves, who is the wife of the last president of the California Riverside mission, her talk was really good and the principles were really good that she taught. I really enjoyed Both of President Uchtdorf's talks, as well as President Eyring's, and of course I liked both of President Monson's  talks. I really liked Elder Ballard's talk about missionary work, I encourage everyone to take his advice, and make Preach my Gospel part of your personal study of the gospel. If you want somewhere to start my personal favorite chapter is Chapter 5 about the Book of Mormon, I also really like Chapter 1 about My Purpose. One thing that I felt as I was listening to President Boyd K. Packer speak was that I think that this was his last conference address, It was a good one at that, and it was his Testimony of Jesus Christ.

Well I hope that everyone is doing good,

I love all of you

Elder Bangerter

Conference addresses can be accessed here.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/04?cid=HPSU040614654&lang=eng