Week 104--July 13, 2015

ANDREW WILL BE HOME TOMORROW!!!

I can't believe that the time is already here. Two years really are short especially in the service of our Heavenly Father. As I have reflected a lot the past few days, I have thought of the things I have learned as a missionary, and the things I have come to know. I have reflected a lot and there are so many things that I have learned.

I have learned that Miracles happen every single day. It doesn't matter who you are, or who you were, if we look for Miracles we will find them. Please everyone Believe in Miracles, Pray for Miracles, and Expect Miracles, because as long as we are living worthily they will come.

I have come to know on a very personal level the Love that our Heavenly Father has for us. He knows each and every one of us, he knows you personally, he knows your struggles, he feels your pains, he rejoices in your triumphs. He knows you, and Loves you perfectly. He wants all of us to have the joy that he has. I know that his Love is real, I pray that everyone comes to know and to feel of his love.

I have loved the Parable of Laborers in the Lord's Vineyard for a long time, and on my mission I have been taught many truths from this Parable. The one perhaps that has stuck with me the most was what it meant to me right before my mission, when I first learned the parable. "For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good. So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen." I love this parable because it taught me that no matter who you are, where you have been, or what you have done, Jesus Christ stands there waiting for us. He invites all men to come unto him. The world would have us take people out of the slums, but Jesus Christ takes the slums out of the people, and they get themselves out. It is never too late to come unto Christ.He invites all men everywhere to come unto him and to partake of the tree of life. If you don't believe me study the words of Christ, because they will teach you the truth of all things! I have seen people from 9 years old to 89 years old come unto the Savior. The only way that we can do that is by being Baptized by someone who holds the Priesthood Authority to do so. Baptism is the gate and after we enter in, we need to Endure to the End with perfect Faith in Christ, Repenting daily, and doing our best to Keep the Commandments. If I could have a wish it would be that everybody entered into that path.

Perhaps the one thing that I learned and have come to know, that is the most important is that Jesus Christ lives. He lived every single day of his life as a perfect example for us. He lived for us, and then he Suffered every one of our pains, every one of our sicknesses, every one of our infirmities. He suffered for all of our sins, and he suffered agony for all of us. It is my testimony that he actually did that for us. He suffered, he bled, and he died for each of us. But Just as surely as he died for us, He rose from the dead! He Lives! I know that He does! There is no doubt in me that He Lives. It is my prayer that everyone in this wonderful world comes to know of that Truth. I testify to you all and to the whole world that Jesus is the Christ! He is our Savior. That is my Testimony.

I love you all,

Elder Andrew Bangerter

Week 103--July 6, 2015

Wow time sure does fly away,

This week has definitely been pretty good! I have definitely enjoyed it! I can't believe that I only have one week left.

Well I am running short on time today because we have a ton of stuff to get done today but here is a Quick recap of our week. Monday we had a really good and powerful lesson with the Tavis Family, they committed to come to Church, but for whatever reason they did not come. Later in the week however we did pick up a new family that was a referral from the Spanish Sister Missionaries, Their name is the Trug family, and it is a Mother and Father, and 7 children over the age of 8. It was definitely a miracle, and answer to our Prayers. We haven't really been able to get into contact with Diana, and that has been frustrating because she was doing so well, and now we can't get a hold of her.

Well I love you guys,

Elder Bangerter

Week 102--June 29, 2015

I swear the weeks keep going by faster and faster, I don't know where the time keeps going.

This week has been pretty good. We have been getting harassed a little bit because of the recent Political rulings, and the stance of the church on such rulings. It is frustrating that people get on us about it, but I guess that is part of being a missionary. Besides all of that stuff, we have had a pretty good week. We had the most lessons I have ever had in a week on my mission this week. Miracles have definitely been happening. We also picked up 3 new investigators this week. One came up to us and started talking to us, her name is Nancy. She is super cool! Next we picked up a guy named Mateo! He lives across the street from a less-active member. The other one happened while we were going through a new move in list. 

I hope every one is doing well this week. Here is a scripture from my reading that has stuck out to me this week, especially in light of recent events. "And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." 

Love you guys

Elder Bangerter

Week 101--June 22, 2015

Goodness sakes! There's only a week left in June! I can't believe how time seems to fly away.

Well If I had to sum up this week in a word it would be Frustrating! Our Investigators have all been flaking out on us, people won't respond when we try to talk to them on the street, nobody is home, and every other excuse that I can think of. It makes me sad. Not really angry but sad that they don't understand the importance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do all that we can to teach them so plainly that the Spirit can testify to their hearts of the importance of the gospel, but they still don't always understand. It breaks my heart. It breaks my heart because I have come to feel of the love that Jesus Christ has for each and every one of his children, and to see them blow that love off breaks my heart. If only they knew how much we think about them, if only they knew how much we pray for them. I can't help but wonder if this is how Alma felt when he went to Ammonihah and was cast out of the city, or how the Sons of Mosiah felt when "their hearts were depressed." Ironically I have read both of those stories this week, and good things always seem to come. In both instances the Lord comforts them and tells them to go back and labor with all diligence, and he would bless them with success. Alma found Amulek, Ammon found King Lamoni! If there is one thing that I know it is that Miracles happen. Miracles are going to happen for Elder Luedke and I this week. We are going to see the blessings come from our Hard work. This is the Lord's work, we will do whatever we need to do to accomplish the work he has set before us.

Well this week was another last for me, It was my Last time visiting the Redlands Temple as a missionary. It is always great to get to go to the temple. The Redlands Temple will always hold a special place in my heart for the experiences that I have had there.

Well I love you guys,

Elder Bangerter

Week 100--June 15, 2015

Well This week something happened that I thought never would, but I will get to that in a minute.

Tuesday, Elder Brent H. Neilson of the Seventy held a conference for the North Half of the mission. It was really good! He talked a lot about the enabling power of the atonement. Through Jesus Christ all things are possible. We can be cleansed of sin, but we can also be lifted up and strengthened by him. Such as in Matthew 11 when Christ invites us to come unto him and take his yoke upon you, that he can strengthen you. He is always willing to help us, but are we always willing to come unto him? Sister Neilson also spoke, she talked about relationships with our companions. It was really good, and I definitely learned a lot. In the Afternoon Elder Neilson opened it up for questions and of course one of the first questions was "When are we getting iPads?" To which he gave the answer "Hopefully soon." He talked a lot about them, and talked about a lot of things. One of them is from Elder Russell M. Nelson: Elder Nelson talked about how this generation has a much different struggle than the previous generation, the biggest worry of the brethren for the previous generation was the Word of Wisdom, now it is Pornography. He said that Perhaps the biggest reason they are giving missionaries iPads are to teach them how to avoid temptation, and keep themselves clean after their missions. Elder Neilson talked about the training for that, and as I thought about it I think that it is something that I am definitely going to apply when I get home. There are 3 steps: 1) Avoid Temptation, 2) Have a Plan for when Temptation arises, 3) Learn and Improve. In addition to those things, every four days have a Device Audit. A Device Audit is when someone else has the information to get into your device, and you trade devices and go through their device to hold each other accountable. I am definitely going to do that when I get home, If we are doing what we are supposed to we should have nothing to hide in our Devices. I really enjoyed the conference.

Well we did have some really good lessons this week. We had a really powerful lesson with the Tavis Family. We taught about the Plan of Salvation. I really Love teaching about the Plan of Salvation because it truly is what can make us the most happy. It was really good to see them come to understand Heavenly Father's Plan for them. I Love the Gospel! 

Well I guess it is time to talk about the thing that I never thought would come. On Wednesday Night I got a call from President Mullen asking me to come to Riverside on Friday for my Exit Interview. So on Friday I had my Exit Interview. I was the First one to have the Interview too. It was a really good experience. President Mullen gave me some really good advice. He asked about my goals, and told me that I need to get married. He said that if I am not married in 10 years that there is something wrong. I would probably agree. The Interview was good.

Well I love you all!

Elder Bangerter

Week 99--June 8, 2015

Can it really already be a week in to June already? Time surely flies by! I sure wish that I could slow it down.

Well this week has been good, hectic but good. It is really different covering the whole ward now. We do have some super awesome new investigators now. So we will start with Diana. Diana is super cool, and she is on date to be baptized at the end of this month. Her biggest concern is her family. They are Catholic and do not want her to be baptized. She already has a testimony and she wants to be Baptized but she is struggling with her family. So we have invited Sister Jordan from the ward to help fellowship her. Sister Jordan just returned from her mission and she was baptized at 16 or 17, and she went through similar situations with her family, in fact she was more or less kicked out when she got home from her mission. Hopefully it will be good! Then there is the Tavis Family, We got a referral for them from the Bishop, and we stopped by on Tuesday. It turns out that when we got there we found out that several missionaries have tried to teach them but none have got in the door. We were the first to get in the door, and not only that, the committed to be Baptized! They haven't set a date yet but they want to get baptized. It was definitely a miracle! 

I was reading in the scriptures this week in the Book of Mormon, and there was one scripture that I read that really caused me to ponder. I was reading in Mosiah 18, and Alma has just become converted because of the preaching of Abinadi, so he goes and he starts teaching and sharing his joy with others, and then he starts baptizing. The scripture that stood out to me in this chapter this particular time around was verse 30 "And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon, in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon; yea, the place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever." This verse talks about how beautiful the Waters of Mormon are to those who were converted there. This caused me to ponder upon my conversion, and how beautiful the places where I experienced my conversion are to me. Such as a Mountain side in New Mexico, or a Dance hall at a university in San Antonio (EFY), or by a swimming pool, or on a stage with a choir, or in a garage in Moreno Valley, California. Where are the places that you have experienced your conversion, are they beautiful to you?

Well I Love you guys,

Elder Bangerter

Week 98--June 1, 2015

It just hit me that tomorrow I will be in the most senior group of missionaries in the mission:( 

Well Another transfer has come and gone and........ I am......... getting..... to stay here in Jurupa 2nd with Elder Luedke for my last transfer! I am pretty excited! There will however be some changes starting today. Until now we shared the ward with another set of Elders, and as of now we cover the whole ward, and with that we get a Car (2015 Toyota Corolla). Along with that we also are moving to where the other Elders were living, and another set of Elders are moving into Sister Smith's home. I am sad about that I am really going to miss living with Sister Smith she is really great. 

With the combining of the ward we inherited a lot of investigators from the other side. We did have a blitz in our area on Saturday and from it we picked up 12 new investigators so we have a lot to work with.

Well We really don't have a ton of time today, but I love all of you guys

Elder Bangerter