Week 45--May 26, 2014

Well this week has been a very interesting week.

Hemet is definitely one of the weirdest places I have ever been. It is lots of fun here though.

I guess I will start off with that we have a Baptism this upcoming weekend, it is super exciting. This week has also been kind of a culture shock for me, for a few reasons, first of all I am living in an apartment with not only my companion, but one of my former companions, and a missionary I have served around quite a bit, so that is interesting. Then we are in Car for a few reasons, one being that our area is huge. The other really weird thing is that I am the Designated driver. My Companion is Elder Plotkin and He is from Riverside, CA, He was originally called to serve in New York, but because he has really bad Bi-Polar depression, he was reassigned to his home mission. He has 6 months left on his mission. So there are some challenges there.

Hemet is great, and I am Loving it here.

Sorry this letter is short.

Elder Bangerter

Week 44--May 19, 2014

Well I am getting Transferred to Diamond Valley in Hemet. I am splitting the ward with the ZL's (Elder McConkie & Taylor), My Companion is Elder Plotkin, and we are in car, because Elder Plotkin can't ride a bike due to some health problems. Hemet was actually the only place in the mission that I heard about before the mission, from Daniel Meehan, he said that it is a really interesting place, it is the international headquarters of the Church of Scientology, among other things.

I have kind of mixed emotions getting transferred today. I have truly come to love the people living in Hidden Springs. When I came in to Hidden Springs I wasn't too excited and I really didn't have the best attitude about the ward. I knew it was going to be hard, and I wasn't too excited to not have very much going for us. But as I served here I have seen so many miracles, one of the biggest of which happened overt the past few weeks. That was us Finding Tony and all the events that led to him getting baptized. We got referred to him 3-4 times in one week. Then as we taught him we could see him change as he embraced the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was great to see it. Then as we were teaching Tony, his friend Miguel, who speaks very little English, was listening from another room, and as one of us bore testimony it touched his hart even though he didn't understand what we said he was touched by the Holy Ghost, and was baptized 3 weeks later (last night) and he asked me to perform the Baptism. As I performed the Baptism in Spanish my heart was full of love and gratitude, and my testimony of the Spirit was strengthened because the Spirit transcends Language. I am truly grateful to have served here.

I am excited to see what Hemet has in store for me. I realized on Saturday that It was my 10 month mark, it is crazy to think in two months I will have been out for a year. Well I guess I am off to my 4th Area and my 7th Companion.

I love all of you guys,

Elder Bangerter

Week 43--May 12, 2014

Well another week has come and gone. It was great to get to Skype home yesterday and I hope that everyone had a good Mother's Day. It was definitely a good day for Elder Rock and I. 

Unfortunately because of Calling home yesterday this E-mail will be short. Tony got confirmed as a member of the church yesterday and received the Aaronic Priesthood. It has been great to see him grow in the gospel. Besides that Not much is happening, we are trying to find new investigators.

One thing that I would like to share is that in two days it will be 185 years to the day that the Aaronic Priesthood was restored to the earth. Not to long after the Melchizidek Priesthood was restored. I know that as I reflect upon these Momentous events, my heart is full of gratitude that the Authority to lead the Jesus Christ's Church has been restored, and how much that restored Priesthood has blessed my life and my family.

I love all of you,

Elder Bangerter

P.S. Congratulations to Joseph Siddoway and Jaren Strader on receiving your mission calls. Give'em Heaven!

Week 42--May 5, 2014

Well it has been a great week in Moreno Valley. It's hard to believe that I have been serving in the Moreno Valley Stake for 28 weeks. It has been a long time but at the same time it feels like it hasn't been very long at all. I don't think that I will be here much longer before I get transferred, probably in 2 weeks when transfers roll around, but we will see, I could very likely stay for another 6 weeks, and I wouldn't mind that at all. It is hard to believe that next transfer will be my 8th transfer, and that next transfer will be President Smart's last transfer, before President Mullen comes in.

Well the big exciting news this past week was that Tony got baptized! It was a great baptismal service, we had part of it in Spanish, because Tony brought a friend with him who is interested in the church who only speaks Spanish. It was very good. I did get to do the Baptismal Ordinance, which was exciting.

Some other pretty cool things happened this week, first we found a guy named Lester, while trying to visit a potential investigator. The cool thing about Lester, is when we asked him "How long have you lived in California?" he said, "Only a few months" so we asked him where he was from, to which he replied "I'm from Houston." I asked him "Where at?" he said "Houston" I then explained that I am from Houston, and I was wondering what part. It turns out that he is from the Spring/Klein area. He went to Klein Collins High School. We then taught him about the Restoration, and got a follow up appointment. It was just cool that he was from the same area that I am.

The other really interesting thing that happened, happened while we were going through the ward list. We felt like we needed to go see a specific name. We went and visited the name and it turns out that she was the mother of one of the people that Elder Rock was teaching in Lake Elsinore. Her name is Lisa, and she has a 12 year old Daughter who is not baptized. Elder Rock was teaching the daughter in Lake Elsinore, and she was about to get baptized, but her mom said no. So Interestingly enough we run into the girl and her mom, and her mom agreed to allow us to teach her at her home, so she can know for sure that this is what her daughter wants to do.

This week was full of Miracles,

Sorry for no pictures, My camera is dead so it is charging before I can upload the pictures.

Elder Bangerter