Week 84--February 23, 2015

Alfredo got baptized!!!!

It was such a great experience seeing him get baptized! He is so awesome and so solid! It has been a roller coaster the past few days with him. On Friday he tells us that he want's to push his baptism back a day so his family could be there, so we had to deal with that, but we were able to help his family get there so we wouldn't have to push it back. Then on Saturday, Alfredo went to the wrong building for the baptism, so he was late, then there was nobody there when we started the service. Luckily after we started, people came in and by the time it was said and done there were a really good number of people there. The baptism ended up going really well, and Alfredo bore his testimony at the end. It was awesome! Then on Sunday Alfredo was late to sacrament meeting. So that was another stressful roller coaster ride. Everything worked out in the end and now he is a member of the Church.

We ended up having dinner with Alfredo yesterday too, His mom made Pozole, and it was super good! His whole family was there, and we ended up watching "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" with them. It was super cool because we got to have some really good conversations with his nonmember family.

So Bishop Marcroft challenged the ward to read Alma before Ward Conference, which happened to be this week, as he was going to be speaking about it. It was a really good experience because when he talked about it, he talked mostly on probably my most favorite chapters in all of the scriptures, namely Chapters 36-42. This is Alma's record of him counseling his sons. These Chapters have always meant a lot to me because of the fact that Alma is taking time to teach his Sons one on one, and he is giving them advice. As I read these chapters they become more meaningful to me because I put myself in their shoes, and I imagine my Dad giving that advice to me. Often times I have felt like my Dad has given much similar advice to me. 

Well I love all Y'all!

Elder Bangerter

Week 83--February 16, 2015

Happy President's Day Everybody!

What a crazy week it has been. I have definitely seen many miracles this week. It's awesome how our Heavenly Father works. But to start off I got a text message on Saturday from Elder Child, and he was trying to make me trunky, the message went something like this, "150 days, 21 P-Days, 14 District meetings, 5 Zone meetings, 1 Multi-Zone conference, 2 Temple trips. We can show how many months we have left with one hand. If our mission was a marathon we would have ran 20 out of 26 miles, and If we were running at an 8 minute mile pace we would have 48 minutes left. If our mission was a football field we would be crossing the 20 yard line on the way to a Touchdown. Are you trunky yet?" It is crazy to me that I have been out for that long. It definitely does not feel like it. Luckily I am not getting Trunky yet. I really wish Time would slow down. This is already starting my 4th week in Jurupa.

So many miracles have happened this week, and it is so awesome. Perhaps the biggest miracle this past week is that Kassie got Baptized in Corona! It was so Awesome to go back and to watch that happen. It is definitely a testimony to me of the power of member missionary work. My last week in Corona, Jordan T returned home from his mission, and at his homecoming he blew off all of his family to come talk to any investigators that we had at church, that day Kassie was the only one there. Apparently over the past few weeks Jordan has gone with Elder Wesche and Kelley to go teach her, and she finally committed to be baptized. It was awesome to go to that Baptism and to see that happen, It definitely strengthened my testimony of why I am out serving a mission. It was awesome! 

Our week was crazy busy. We have had meetings everyday, but we were still able to get a lot of work done. We hit the Standard of Excellence in every category except for finding this week. I know that as we continue to be diligent we will be able to achieve our goals.

Alfredo had to push his Baptism back to this weekend because of various family problems, so He will be getting Baptized this Saturday.

Well things are going great here!

I love all of Y'all!

Elder Bangerter

Week 82--February 9, 2015

Hey Everyone!

Jurupa is awesome! I absolutely love it here! Things are going great! We had a great week and got a lot of work done. 

Elder Warren and I set a goal for ourselves that we would hit the Standard of Excellence at least once before the end of the Transfer, and we came so close this week but just barely missed it. It really came down to things that we could not completely control. So we did all that we could do, and just missed it. We saw a lot of Miracles, and some not-so-miracles, but I guess that everything has to have an opposite. Alfredo is still on track to be baptized this weekend, and he is doing great! It is amazing how much the gospel has changed his life. He referred his Mom to the spanish missionaries, and she got baptized on Sunday. He referred his sister to the missionaries in Eastvale, and her whole family is getting baptized with Alfredo on Sunday. It is incredible the power of the gospel, and how it effects families. I wish that every investigator that I have ever had would share the gospel with their friends like that. President Mullen has been harping on the whole mission to ask their investigators for referrals, and now I definitely see why! It is exciting! Things are going well with Veronica, she came to church this week and she is keeping her commitments. Unfortunately she is not progressing quite how we would like. Maybe the Lord has something else in mind!

I've been studying in the New Testament a lot recently and this scripture has stuck out to me. It is in Romans 5:19 "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners,so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." That really stuck out to me, because it shows that if we are obedient and keep the commandments like we know we should then we can influence many to good and to be Righteous.

Well I love you guys,

Elder Bangerter

Week 81-February 2, 2015

Well a week has come and gone here in Mira Loma. Mira Loma is definitely a lot different than Corona, or any of the other area's that I have been in. Most of our area is fairly rural compared to the rest of the mission. There are lots of Horses and lots of Dogs everywhere. We have 6 Horses in our backyard! It is so crazy!

So This week has been really good! We had a lot of really good lessons. Our teaching pool is pretty good sized so that is nice! We are teaching a man named Alfredo, He is awesome! He is on date to be baptized on February 15th. He is awesome, and very converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, he has been through a lot and has struggled quite a bit with several things, but he is making the changes necessary to change his life. We are also teaching a lady named Veronica, she also has been through a lot in her life, she has been involved with drugs, and the wrong crowd of people, then her husband was killed by a drunk driver, and since then she has been striving to turn her life around. She doesn't quite have a testimony yet, but she loves the church and going to it. She is going to eventually be baptized. Other People we are teaching, are Freddy, Morgan, JD, and quite a few more. They are all in the beginning stages.

So I have never been chased by a Dog on my mission until Saturday, then I got chased by 5 German Shepherds. Not too fun, but luckily I didn't get bit. There are so many dogs out here and really the only thing that you can do is kick them and hope they run away. 

Monday it rained pretty hard, and I crashed on my bike and ended up breaking my axle, but luckily our Ward mission Leader works on bikes and he was able to get it fixed.

Well that has been our Crazy week. Elder Warren and I are doing great! Elder Warren is awesome and I enjoy being with him. He is still super green and he is a work horse. He is a little bit nervous and doesn't quite know what to do in some situations, but he is new and this is his first time taking over the area so it doesn't surprise me.

Well I love all of you guys,

Elder Bangerter