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

Week 80--January 26, 2015

I'm not sure if anyone is reading this anymore, but if you want Andrew's new address send me a message.  Sharon

Well another transfer has come and gone, It seems to go by so fast. I am getting transferred today, to the Jurupa 2nd Ward. I am very excited! My new companion is Elder Warren from Sandy, UT, I have only heard great things about him and the area that I am going into. Elder Warren has only been out for 3 months so he just finished being trained as a missionary. I am very excited to be with him. I am also excited that I am living in a Homeshare again. It is super cool because the Lady that we are going to be living with is the Grandma of my recent convert Oscar Solorzano's wife. It is very cool.

This week was pretty good. I got my ingrown toenail removed on Tuesday, it was a fairly interesting experience. So I get to the Doctor's office and they take me back and the Doctor (a member in Riverside) is talking to me and getting some information to put in the computer, and then he looks at my toe and says that we were going to have to remove the nail and said that I needed to have a shot to numb my toe, and he asks me if I want to give myself the shot. I have never been asked that before, but I let him give me the shot. So he gives me the shot and it turns out to be 3 shots, and I tell you what, getting shots in the toe is like one of the most painful shots ever. So he gives me the shot, and then leaves the room, and his nurse comes and cleans my toe up and puts some iodine on it, and tells me that the Doctor would be back shortly. Well whatever the Doctor was working on went longer that he expected, and so when he got back he started working on my toe, and i could feel it because the numbing medicine was starting to wear off. So he put 3 more shots in my toe, and it was weird because I was numb enough that I couldn't feel him give the shots but I could see that the needle was in my toe. Then He worked on my toe and I couldn't feel a thing. Now my toe is doing great, it is awesome.

Well, I am kind of sad to leave Corona after being here for so long, I am going to miss a lot of the people that I have met here, and that I have worked with. It is definitely hard to leave an area that I have been in for so long. I am excited to go to Jurupa though, It is going to be an awesome experience. I can't wait!

Well I love you guys,

Elder Andrew  Bangerter

Week 79--January 19. 2015

Hey Everybody,

Well another week has come and gone, and another transfer for that matter. There is one more week left until transfers, and I will most likely get transferred after this week. I have been in Corona for a long time so it is probably my time to leave.

Well this week has been quite interesting, and to make it more interesting I have a pretty bad ingrown toenail. I have to go to the Doctor tomorrow to get it checked out and possibly removed. It hurts really bad.

Well we got to go to the Temple this week and that was awesome. The member that took us took us to a citrus stand right outside of the temple, and bought us some bags of oranges. They are the best oranges that I have ever had in my Life.

Sorry that this so short,

Love you all,

Elder Bangerter

Week 78--January 12, 2015

Hey Everybody, It's hard to believe that another week has gone by, it seems like things just keep going by faster and faster. It's almost half way through January! I also can't believe that I have been in Corona since June, that's nuts.

This week was a good one. Still lots of people on vacation but School started back today for the kids living in Corona, so this week wee should be able to see a lot more people! But we were able to have a few pretty good lessons! There is however one experience that I want to share because of what happened. So we have an investigator who had met with missionaries about 2 years ago and she asked for a blessing on her home. In this blessing she also asked for a blessing that she would be able to get pregnant, because her and her husband were struggling to have another baby. So the blessing on the home was given and she was able to get pregnant very shortly after. So when I came into the ward we were looking through some of the former investigators, and we found her name and felt like we should go there. So we stop by and it turns out that she had been praying for us to stop by. So we have been meeting with her and one of her neighbors who is a member of the church told her about priesthood blessings, and she asked us if we were able to bless her to help her get pregnant again, we said yes, and she asked me to give her this blessing. So we found out this week that she is pregnant. It is amazing the power of the Priesthood! I have no doubt in my mind that the Priesthood is real and that it is the power of our Heavenly Father. That was an amazing experience.

Things are going well with Elder Wesche and myself. I can't believe that we have been companions for 10 weeks already. I really enjoy being with him, and he is a super funny guy.

Well I love all of y'all

Elder Bangerter