Week 75--December 22, 2014

I can't believe it is already Christmas time again! I also can't believe that it is my second Christmas in the Mission field. It is crazy to me to think that I have been out that long. What a special time of year this is, it is a time for all of us to focus our thoughts on the Savior Jesus Christ.

About two months ago President Mullen challenged us to read all four Gospels before Christmas to become more acquainted with the Savior's Life and ministry. It has been an amazing experience doing so, along with my Book of Mormon challenge, It has given me such a greater testimony of the Savior! But right now I want to focus on the Birth of Christ, since that is what we are celebrating this week. 

Who would you be in that wonderful event. Are you Joseph, or Mary? How would they have felt being in such humble circumstances, they had very little, and there was no room for them in the inn. Then having nothing but a stable stay in, and then when the Baby Jesus was born, having nothing more than a manger and some straw to lay the baby in. I can't imagine how hard that would be. Imagine how much our Father in Heaven must have trusted them to raise his Only Begotten Son. Are you the Shepherds? It amazes me that when the Savior was born the first people to whom it was announced to was a group of humble Shepherds watching over their flocks by night. I wonder what it would have been like to see the the Angel, and to hear of the birth of the Savior, and then to see numberless concourses of angels singing praises to God. Then to see the Babe in person, how great an honor that must have been. Then the Shepherds went and shared what they had seen and what they had felt. Are you the Wise Men? I can't imagine the sacrifices that these men made to see the Savior. They traveled for two years! They left their homes and families, and brought some of the most precious gifts of the time, and then they returned back to the east. While we do not know very much about these men it to me how much they sacrificed. 

While there are more people involved in that event, I want you to think of who you would be, or perhaps who you would like to be. How would they have felt during this magnificent event? Ponder on that this Christmas week.

Well this past week here has been pretty good! We got a lot of work done, and things are going great, we picked up an awesome new investigator this week, her name is Sofie. She is from England, and she is currently living in our apartment complex. Some other missionaries talked to her initially and sent us the referral. Sofie is a musical theater student at the Young Americans Performing Arts School. She loves the Book of Mormon Musical, and through that she has developed an interest in the church. Things are going well! I am excited to continue teaching her.

We have our Christmas Conference tomorrow! I'm excited for that. It should be really good! This week will be interesting with the holiday but it will be fun.

Well I love you guys

Merry Christmas!

Elder Bangerter

Week 74--December 15, 2014

Wow, I'm really late in getting these put on the blog!  Sorry!!  Sharon

Hey Everyone!

Well transfers were this weekend, and... I'm staying in Corona!!! I'm so happy about that! as it Turns out Elder Wesche and I were the only Companionship in all of Corona that stayed together. It was a pretty crazy transfer, they combined the two zones in Corona back into one zone, there is a new AP, and Corona got totally flipped upside down.

Well the New AP is Elder McConkie. I called him up and asked him how he was feeling, and he said he was pretty nervous, but that he should be okay. Then he asked me if I was staying in Corona, I told him that I was and he said, "Dude, Elder Bangerter you are going to stay in Corona 'til Jesus comes!" my comment was "I'd love that but I don't think that will happen." to which he said "I'm gonna make sure you stay in Corona until Jesus comes." It was pretty funny. I am excited that He is the new AP, He is an awesome missionary, and he will do great!

My Birthday was Awesome! It rained for most of the day which was unusual, but it was fun. I appreciate all the Birthday wishes, and cards/packages that I got! We had a pretty cool experience too during the day, So there is a new ice-cream place called Creamistry, it is really good. Elder Wesche and I went out to get some ice-cream there for my Birthday, and we get there and we walk in and this lady comes up and starts talking to us, and then she and her husband pay for both of our ice-cream, We assumed that they were members because normally when we get payed for it is members, but it turns out that they were not members, but they have many friends who are members of the church. We talked to them for a while, and they invited us over this week to their home. It was really cool! We walked out and Elder Wesche leaned over and said "Elder Bangerter, that was Heavenly Father saying Happy Birthday to you!"

Well other news, We had a pretty good lesson with Candice this week, and we also had an awesome lesson with Sal this week too! Ridge Anderson, who just got home from his mission in Chile Santiago South, came with us. It was one of the most powerful lessons that we have had with Sal. Now we just need to get him to church!

Well I Love you guys!

Elder Bangerter

Week 73--December 8, 2014

Sorry for the late posting this week. I'm trying to finish up my school work and it's stressing me out! SB

Well another week has come and gone in Corona, Wow the time flies by. It is crazy to think that a year ago I was in Moreno Valley. It is also crazy to think that It is already December, and that my birthday is this week. On Friday I turn 20 years old, I don't know what has happened I still feel like I'm 18 and just getting out of High School!

Anyway, This week has been pretty good, lots of ups and downs but that's okay. So on to the investigators, Kassie, Kassie still isn't getting baptized, she flaked out of her baptism on Saturday, and she really isn't progressing. We were talking to one of the sisters in the ward that has become really good friends with Kassie, and she was talking to us about how she doesn't quite think that Kassie is going about things for the best reasons, and when she explained that to us it made a lot of sense. So we are going to work hard to figure things out with that this week. Then there is Candice, She just got back from Indiana, and we haven't really been able to see her since she got back, but we should be able to this week, and it'll be great!

Well things should be interesting this week. I hope that everyone has a good week.

This upcoming weekend is Transfers. I am really Hoping that I get to stay for another transfer, because I feel like there is still somethings I need to accomplish here.

I love you guys,

Elder Bangerter

Week 72--December 1, 2014

Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone! I definitely had a great week this past week.

Well Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! We started off the day by playing football with the members of the ward, It was a lot of fun. There were so many people there that we had two full games of 11 on 11. We were there for most the morning, and then at 2:00 we had our dinner, Only one this year ;) We had dinner with the Richins Family. It was a lot of fun, we got to play games with the kids, and Sister Richins made very good food. I enjoyed it quite a bit! Then in the evening we had a zone activity at the church, and we played indoor soccer. It was pretty cool.

Then there's Friday, Hopefully everybody avoided the long lines at stores, Friday I was on exchanges with Elder Reyes. It was really good, but unfortunately a big chunk of the exchange was spent at a meeting discussing the Church's new Christmas Initiative, and how we should be applying it in our missionary efforts, and helping the Ward missionary efforts. It is titled "He is the Gift" and it is much like the Because of Him initiative at Easter. The church Has Put out a similar video about the First gift of Christmas, and we are all encouraged to share the video. This can be done in many ways, Through Social Media, and the other very big way is through special pass along cards. Every copy of the December Ensign has 9 of these cards. It refers them to the church's Christmas website. I encourage all of you to share this video and to Discover the Gift, Embrace the Gift, and Share the Gift.

Also, I wanted to follow up and remind everyone of my Book of Mormon Challenge, Keep reading,

I love y'all

Elder Bangerter

 

PS- the website is christmas.mormon.org

 

Week 71--November 23, 2014

This past week was a very interesting one. Investigators going out of town for the Holiday, Investigators moving, Multi-Zone Conferences, Unexpected letters, and much more.

So, Lets start with our investigators. We were able to have a really good lesson with Candice this week. It is crazy how close she is to just stepping in the water. It is frustrating because when you talk to her you can just tell that she know's the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true, she just doesn't realize it. We have tried so much but she still doesn't realize it. Unfortunately for us she is now out of town visiting some family in Indiana until December 3. Then there is Peter, We tried to set up an appointment with him this week only to find out that he has moved to Long Beach. That was also a little frustrating! Then there is Kassie, Kassie finally talked to her friends and established that they will come down the weekend of December 13, and she will be baptized then. That is pretty exciting for us. It has taken a long time to get to that point.

Multi-Zone Conferences, Friday our zone and the Corona zone (I am in the Temescal Valley Zone) met with President Mullen and the Assistants to the President. It was a really good meeting, we talked about finding for most of the conference. There were some very good trainings given. President Mullen, along with his training on finding, trained on the Doctrine of Christ, and more specifically repentance. It was a great Conference! At the end of the conference they had The Outgoing missionaries bear their testimonies, and it was kind of sad for me, because all of the Sister Missionaries that I came out with are going home this transfer or next, depending on if they are Spanish or English, and also I saw my Trainer give his Outgoing testimony, and as much as we did not get along when we were together, he mentioned me in his outgoing testimony and it was a very tender moment. I will be very sad to see him go home in a couple weeks, but I am so very grateful for the opportunity that I had to serve around him before he goes home. 

Now, Unexpected Letters. On Wednesday Elder Wesche and I walked out to the mailbox to get the mail on our way out of the complex, and I open the mailbox and see a letter addressed to my Companion, no big deal, and then as I am handing it to him I notice the return address, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Quorum of the Twelve Apostles." I saw it and I was like "What the!" and it turns out that Elder Wesche had gotten a letter from Jeffrey R. Holland. He had a very cool personal experience with Elder Holland before his mission, and Elder Holland gave him permission to write him. It's not every day that there is a hand signed letter from an apostle in your mailbox.

Anyway I love Y'all,

Elder Bangerter

PS- Happy Birthday to My Mom who's Birthday is on Sunday!

Week 70--November 17, 2014

This has been a very good week! With Friday being one of the greatest days of my mission, and of my life so far.

A year ago I was in Moreno Valley in the Lasselle Ward, and Oscar had just gotten baptized. When I came into the ward, one of the first people that Elder McConkie told me about was Oscar. He had been struggling with Oscar. Oscar wanted to meet with us but all he would do is Bash with us. I remembered Chapter 5 in Preach My Gospel where it talks about how the only thing that any objector has to overcome is whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. We determined that with Oscar we would teach about the Book of Mormon, and focus only on that and him getting the answer that it was true. We went over everyday for a week straight and read from the Book of Mormon. Oscar was still Monotone and Sarcastic as ever, but his heart was beginning to soften. At the end of that week we shared with him Jeffrey R. Holland's talk "Safety for the Soul" and at the end of it Oscar said that he felt something. Then he realized that the something that he felt was the Spirit, and he prayed and thanked God for the answer that he had received. Then Oscar chose to act, he was baptized a week and a half later. Monotone, Sarcastic, Basher Oscar was baptized. That was a year ago. A couple weeks ago Elder McConkie and I both got calls from Oscar saying that he was going through the temple and was going to be Married in the Temple to his fiance. Elder McConkie and I were both ecstatic and we received permission to attend the sealing. It was truly amazing to sit in the sealing room with someone who has become one of my dearest friends, and watch someone who we have both come to love very dearly be sealed to his fiance for time and all eternity. Often times people say that one convert can bring thousands more. As I pondered about what was said about the mirrors, I realized that that was absolutely true, and it was as if I heard a voice say "Behold, the fruit of thy Labors." That day for me was one of the sweetest moments of not only my mission, but of my life. Because we did not give up on Oscar, countless people will be blessed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can't help but feel like Ammon, When he and his brothers were reflecting upon their mission to the Lamanites. Do we not have great reason to rejoice? 

I hope that everyone is doing well,

I Love all of you,

Elder Bangerter

PS- Here are pictures of Oscar a year ago and now

Week 69--November 10, 2014

Well this was the first week of the new transfer, and it was very good! Elder Wesche and I are getting along great, and things are going pretty well for us. We didn't have too much success teaching today but we did have some really good lessons.

Unfortunately a lot of our investigators flaked out on us and our lessons. But we were able to have some good lessons with our investigators Sal, and also with Candice. Sal has been investigating the church for a long time but he is finally starting to progress again. We had a very good lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him. Then there is Candice, We weren't actually able to have a real sit down lesson with her, but we did have some awsome experiences with her. So on Friday she got into a pretty bad car accident before our lesson with her, luckily she and her kids were okay. But she told us afterwards that she finally felt like she was getting an answer about the Book of Mormon, So I am really excited to see how our lesson goes with her in a couple days. 

Well that's it for this week, hopefully I will have more to write about next week.