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 

Week 37--March 31, 2014

Well another week has come and gone and it has been a good one!

I guess I'll start off with our biggest things that happened, we picked up a new investigator this week named Tony. Tony is awesome, he referred himself to us, which does not happen very often. We went over and taught him the Restoration of the Gospel, and he committed to be baptized at the end of the lesson! He came to church on sunday, he is keeping his commitments, he came to see a baptism, Everything is going great with him. I am so excited. Then there is Kenny, Kenny seems to have dropped off the face of the planet and has gone back to LA and we don't know when he is going to be back. Other than that we are definitely in finding mode. Always looking for more people to teach.

Apparently there were some earthquakes this week, I didn't feel a thing, if it weren't for members I would have never knew that there was a quake. Oh well.

Well its the last week of another transfer, we'll see what happens this weekend. I think I'm probably going to stay where I'm at, and get a new companion.

Everybody should watch general conference this weekend, I am so excited for It, it is awesome to be a missionary during conference.

Hope all is well

Elder Bangerter

Week 36--March 24, 2014

Family and Friends,

Oh man it has been a crazy week, Lots of ups and downs as usual, but that's okay it was a great week.

We had some great lessons this week, and we picked up quite a few new investigators, which was exciting. Our lesson this week with Kenny was very good, and not to good at the same time. I was on exchanges with Elder Johnson and we went in and were very bold with him and made him promises by the spirit, and he was pretty committed after the lesson, then we were out later that day and Kenny called us, and asked us to 1) Call ahead of time before we come over. 2) Stop trying to force him into something he isn't ready to do, and 3) Don't promise him things "as representatives of Jesus Christ," because he will only believe that kind of stuff if Jesus Christ was standing right in front of him and telling him it... It was very frustrating, but then we talked to his Brother at church on Sunday, and he explained a lot about the situation to us, and things make a lot more sense. He want's us to keep trying with him and keep working hard. I have faith that If Kenny is really sincere about wanting to know if our message is true he will find his answer, but he has to want to know.

Other than that we picked up a few new investigators, and things are going well.

Transfers are the weekend of General Conference, It is almost certain that I will get a new companion, probably not a new area, but we'll see how it goes.

I enjoyed getting a Letter from Cody this week,

I love you guys

Elder Bangerter

Week 35--March 17, 2014

**He put the subject of his email as "Multi-Zones, Hospital visits, Earthquakes, and More"  That certainly sums it up!**

 

This week has been quite the week,

Monday P-Day: Not too much happened, but enjoyed E-Mailing with people.

Tuesday: We were out talking to people and we stopped by a Less active family, the Richcreeks, turns out that Brother Richcreek had just been sent to the hospital for pneumonia, and so forth.

Thursday: We had Our Multi-Zone Conference with President Smart, It was very good and we were able to receive a lot of personal revelation. Then we ended up spending the rest of the evening at the hospital with a Recent convert and her son with downs syndrome. He is an awesome kid, and I have grown to love him, we gave him a blessing and within an hour he started improving drastically.

This morning there was an earthquake, I felt it at about 6:20 and it woke me up but it didn't do anything else.

Anyways sorry this is short.

Elder Bangerter

Week 34--March 10, 2014

Friends and family,

It has been a very good week in Moreno Valley, We got a lot of stuff done and that was good. We were one statistic away from achieving the Standard of Excellence this week and that was investigators at church, but we were able to teach lots of lessons this week which was very good!

This week was an interesting week too, Our bikes almost got stolen, my lock stopped working last week so we were using my companion's Lock, so at some point, we aren't sure when someone tried to take bolt cutters to his lock to steal our bikes, but fortunately they weren't able to cut the lock. I did find out that there was no warranty on my lock so I had to buy a new one, and since then I haven't had any problems.

This week we did have a lot of lessons, which was great! President Smart asked all the wards to have a missionary dinner calender coordinator who calls less actives and try's to get them on our calender to feed us and this is the first week it really went into effect, so we were able to work with a lot of less active and Part member Families. It was great.

This up coming week we have Multi-Zone Conferences with President Smart, I am very excited for that! They are always good!

So We were at a member's house this week, the O'Connor family, and Sister O'Connor showed us a new Mormon Message that really touched me and Tugged on my Heart strings. It was about Bullying, it really hit me hard because of all the bullying that I saw in High School, and the fact that I found out from my dad that my high school made national news because of Cyber-bullying. I think that it is an amazing message and it can be applied to any, and everyone.

here is the video. 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3267475157001

On another note I have been reading a lot of talks recently and this quote stuck out to me from one of them.

"There are many others who, for different reasons, find themselves waiting on the road to Damascus. . . They remain waiting for the Christ to be given to them like a magnificent Carl Bloch painting—to remove once and for all their doubts and fears.

The truth is, those who diligently seek to learn of Christ eventually will come to know Him. They will personally receive a divine portrait of the Master, although it most often comes in the form of a puzzle—one piece at a time. Each individual piece may not be easily recognizable by itself; it may not be clear how it relates to the whole. Each piece helps us to see the big picture a little more clearly. Eventually, after enough pieces have been put together, we recognize the grand beauty of it all. Then, looking back on our experience, we see that the Savior had indeed come to be with us—not all at once but quietly, gently, almost unnoticed." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf Waiting on the Road to Damascus

I really do like that quote because a lot of people, weather they are members of the church or not, are waiting for some huge event like Joseph Smith's first vision, or Saul seeing the savior on the Road to Damascus, to convert them to the Gospel. Conversion is a life-time process, I am constantly learning more about the gospel. Too many people want some huge conversion, when in reality every conversion is through the spirit, whether big or small it doesn't matter. Most conversions are small, and gradual, the spirit whispers softly and speaks through our feelings, you just have to listen and pay attention for the soft feelings of the spirit. I may not know everything but one thing that I do know is that Jesus Christ Lives, he loves each and EVERY one of us. I know that through his sacrifice we can be with those that we love, our families, forever with him in the Presence of God. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel, My second companion Elder Reed told me to share the thing that I love the most about the gospel with people, and bear testimony of that, and that is what will help the conversion of others. What I love the most about the gospel is I can be with My family Forever, I know it is true, I want everyone to feel that joy.

I am spending 2 years away from my family, so others can spend eternity with theirs.

I love all of you

Elder Bangerter

Week 33--March 3, 2014

Friends and family,

It was quite the week here in Moreno Valley. We got Rain, and More Rain, and then when we thought that the rain was over we got some more Rain. A month ago Southern California we had a fast for rain, and now a month later we got it. A Lot of it!

In other exciting news Elder Mulcahy and I finally have someone on date to be baptized, Kenny, he is the brother of a member in our ward and he is living with his brother for the time being. So we have been teaching him and he has been to church twice now, and he is currently on date to be baptized for March 29th. We had been praying and fasting for someone to teach that would be prepared for the gospel. Kenny was our answer.

The other Big thing that happened this week is Elder Mulcahy (Mole-Kay-Hee) got sick this week and was out of commission for a few days, and the day that he got better was the day that it rained the Hardest, when we were riding that day I don't know if I had been more soaked in my life we literally had to ride through a river.

Well I hope everyone is doing well,

Elder Bangerter