Week #74 - Happy Newbert

Hey everyone!

First of all, I gotta say talking to the family was absolutely splendid. I felt bad that during all the hustle and bustle of Christmas that I forgot to make a list of things I wanted to talk about but either way it was an utter delight. Sorry if I didn't have too much to say.

Anyway, life's still good in Ukiah. We're taking a trip to the Oakland Temple on Wednesday so we're way pumped about that, Devin's getting baptized on Saturday and has a ton of people from work coming to see it (at least one of which wants to start taking lessons)- so it should be pretty packed. Our investigators Tina and Dana agreed to come to the baptism as well so that will be a huge step for them- I think they'll enjoy it a lot.

Our investigator Sharon came to church for the first time yesterday and the ward was VERY welcoming. The talks were really good as well so it was a good week for her to come. She bought us really nice ties for Christmas and told us we had to wear them when she came to church- so it was a great day. The only downside was I was asked to play piano for primary on the spot, and unfortunately they do NOT sing the same songs they did when I was a kid. I knew ONE of the eight songs we sang (Give, Said the Little Stream) and it got to the point where the chorister said "We're giving our pianist a workout today!" I was sufficiently humbled. I had to ask before every song how it's supposed to sound/how fast it's played/etc. I quit primary forever.

I'm hitting my 18 month mark on Saturday! Outrageous.

That's about all I've got- thanks for everything and it was awesome talking to everyone!!

Much Love,
Elder B

Week #73 - Have a Furry Christmas

THANKS FOR THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS!!! IT'S AWESOME!
Hey Everyone!

I'm crazy excited to call home on Friday, so make sure to answer the phone when I do. It's been an excellent week before Christmas and tomorrow is our half mission conference, so that will be even more excellent. I don't even know what to write about on account of me being crazy excited to call home. Devin came out and worked with us on Saturday- he's planning on a mission next year and is way pumped about it! We went tracting and got in the first house who answered the door- so that was unusually awesome. We had a really good conversation with him and at the end Devin prayed- fantastic.
Other than that, we had a bunch of crazy awesome things happened. This computer's being way annoying and sometimes I type things and it just doesn't do anything.
Thanks to everyone sending me Christmas stuff!
I don't even know what to write. Merry Christmas to everyone and I'll talk to you on Friday!!! Other updates will be given then. YEAH! Pants.

This email's pathetic, but I'm a little low on time anyway. Next week will be the most prodigious email ever written.
Much Love-
Elder B

Week #72 - Jungle O Fun

Hey everyone!

Not a whole lot to update on this week, but things went well. Devin's baptism is still set for January 2nd (My 18 Month mark!) and we had some excellent lessons this week. We also got to clean out an apartment of two elders who are going home together.

We had leadership council on Friday and it was amazing as usual. We discussed how to improve things in the mission and talked about some new things we'll be doing/focusing on, President blew our minds with some scriptures, and then at the end all of the new and departing zone leaders bore their testimonies. It was really powerful. It was also kinda crazy because I'm rarely brought to tears in a meeting regardless of how spiritual it is (just not the real emotional type) but this one I was, and during the last testimony the spirit basically told me to keep my composure because I was going to be asked to say the closing prayer. Lo and behold, the last elder finishes, President says and few short words and then "Elder Balagna, will you say the closing prayer for us?" It was a great experience. Not only was I prepared to speak despite my emotion, it was probably one of the most heartfelt prayers I've ever given in a large group. Long story short: good meeting.

We got a new ward mission leader!!! It's also the same guy who had us over for Thanksgiving. He's going to be a huge help and already has tons of ideas for how to get things moving the way that they should. We're so excited! Not that we didn't like our last one.

We had a great and full gospel principles class in church yesterday. Always nice to see a full room for that one. Our investigators all stayed for the full three hours and loved it so that's always a major plus.

Life is great, thanks for the mail, Merry Christmas soon and the gospel's true!!

Much Love,
Elder B

Week #71 - Happy Marshday!

Hey Everyone! I'm so excited for the Marsh's birthday that I jumped into a lake yesterday. I didn't really though.

So here are the week's highlights:

1) Devin set a baptismal date for January 1st!

2) We had a new family come to church that wants to take the lessons and be baptized (the dad is the only member and has only been one for five months)

3) We had transfers and Elder Berry and I are both staying.

4) The Christmas Devotional was amazing and President Uchtdorf's talk was excellent. I also really enjoyed President Monson's story. Classic.

5) Danny Weidman sent me a letter. This is a shoutout to him. He is an utter delight. I will send him a response letter soon.

6) I came across the scripture Ether 4:15 and thought it was awesome. My new motto is Rend the Veil.

7) The trainee (son) of the first boy I trained (Elder Bush) is training next transfer!!! That means that I will have my grandson AND a GREAT grandson in this zone with me. If my great grandson trains I will then have a great great grandson, in which case I'd probably just go home early because there's not too much more to accomplish in my life.

Anyway, life is lifetastic and I hope you all have a great week!

The gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #70 - Turkey Potatoes

Hey Everyone!

My final mission Thanksgiving was about a hundred times better than my first mission Thanksgiving. Here are some reasons why!

1) The family we spent it with was awesome
2) The food was absolutely delicious (even though there was no corn...or broccoli with cheese. the mom still takes the cake for best Thanksgiving dinners)
3) I got special permission from President Bunker to shoot skeet (he said I could shoot the gun three times. I hit the clay pigeon with my very first shot which made me feel way awesome, but then I missed the second two. Either way, I got to play with a shotgun and even hit something).
4) It was a delight.
5) Thanksgiving morning, the senior couple in our zone hosted a bake-off for us missionaries. As expected, I won first prize with my cookies and received an award that said "You're The Best." I can't say that was too earth-shattering, but it's nice to have it in print now in case anyone ever questions my best-ness.

So, it's been a good week. We had an incredible lesson with Christina on Wednesday. The spirit was there and it was powerful. We were very excited with how things went and Christina is solid. Devin is currently praying for a baptismal date, so we'll see how that went tomorrow. Life's exciting!

I don't really have too much else to inform everyone on, but basically the week was awesome. I got some good mail this week so thanks to all who contributed!

Merry Crimbo to all and to all a good pants. The gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #69 - Turktacular

Hey Everyone!

Before I forget- this has been bugging me ALL week. Has Mom been using her Snorflat or did Jonny swipe
it and give it to Erin? I guess it doesn't matter that much (for me at least) but either way I'm excited for Thanksgiving.

Anyway, this week was awesome!! I have gained a much deeper testimony of

A) The Book of Mormon (I finished it...still true)
B) The Ability of God to soften hearts
C) The Hand of God in the work

So, beginning with letter A, I finished the Book of Mormon. This was the fastest I've ever read it and probably the best experience I've had doing so. I constantly prayed over it and just looked at it from a logical point of view- and I also came across some pretty intense information about how the entire book is written exactly like a literal Hebrew translation would be if translated directly from Hebrew (wasn't quite sure how to put that explanation into words, so hopefully that made sense). I started seeing all of these examples of things that you wouldn't typically say in English, or ways things were worded that almost didn't make sense in English, but apparently, they make perfect sense in Hebrew. But anyway, on top of all that, I'm closer to Christ by reading that book, and that's one thing Satan can't do for anyone.

Letter B: We have an investigator and yesterday was her second week in a row going, and it was PERFECT for her. She ever stayed for gospel principles. I was teaching and we had a really good lesson/discussion about the Atonement.

C: The High Councilor gave an AMAZING talk about a bunch of stuff- but the big one was tithing. Our investigator had briefly brought it up at our lesson because she mentioned how "if I need to feed the kids, I'm going to feed the kids". We didn't feel it was the right time to explain any of it, so we just left it at that. But, this man's talk had the most incredible tithing story I'd ever heard. He basically talked about that same thing- how he could barely support the family, he started selling things from the house, but he had committed that he would never not pay his tithing. Long story short, he needed five thousand dollars (he had told no one a dollar amount- let alone that he was struggling financially) and got it as a gift from anonymous people of a congregation in one envelope. Our investigator loved it. Hoorah for Israel!

Anyway, it was a great week. Another investigator called us on Wednesday to see if he could come out with us and "see what we do." We took him tracting, visiting people- he loved it. Within two years I bet he'll be serving a mission.

Well- I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and remembers the importance of sending letters to missionaries during the holidays. :-) Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder B

Week #68 - A Brief History of Time

Hey Everyone!

This has been the best week ever of my stay in Ukiah. Elder W. Craig Zwick from the Seventy came and did a conference with the mission in Santa Rosa and it was amazing. When I sat down for lunch, he came and sat in the seat RIGHT next to me with his wife, so that makes me way cool by association. We chatted it up and I gave him some tips on how he could better fulfill his calling (not) and he helped me out a bit too. It was pretty cool though- we had a good conversation.

I got to sing (for about the 10,000th time) Come Thou Fount at the conference- but it was definitely the best one yet. I had some help on that one. Every time I sing that I gain a deeper appreciation and love for the words. Elder Chaichana played piano for me and it just went really really well. After the conference, he had a short meeting with the zone leaders and that was really good too. He just told us how to include the ward more in our work and how to get them going.

Other than that, we had some intense miracles this week. We picked up an investigator who's the wife of a very less active member (only less active because his wife is against the church and makes him go to hers instead). She's a really cool person but just has her issues with the church that we starting resolving on Saturday. We started answering tons of questions she had and she was liking what she was hearing. Anyway, it was a pretty casual discussion, but we were VERY shocked to see her and her husband attend church the following day. It was the primary program, no less, which is probably the best sacrament meeting she could have attended for her first time. She loved it. We're teaching her again Wednesday, so hopefully things go well there!

There's a lot of potential stuff popping up and the members are really starting to cooperate more with the work which is excellent.

That's about all I've got for this week, but send me mail! Please and Thank you.

Life is good and the gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #67 - Go Yanks!

Happy 500 Days to myself! Yay me! I had no idea!

It was a great week this week- Ukiah is continuing to treat us well. We had some good lessons with a few of our investigators. An investigator came to church and and really enjoyed it. He's a really cool guy - he's 20 years old and he's got a nice lil' head on his shoulders.

We were asked to teach gospel doctrine on Sunday because it was all about "every member a missionary" which was awesome. The lesson went really really well and there was a lot of class participation. We committed them to be awesome instead of not awesome, and it was received pretty well. Also, a shoutout to the birthday boy, I used an experience Jonny told me about a few weeks ago when he was praying to recognize missionary opportunites in medschool and then ended up having two shortly after. The Lord will give them to us if we're sincere in the prayer. Booyah. Anyway, the attitude toward missionary work in the ward is starting to look up a lot.

I did not get one letter this entire week.

I've been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and I just started 3 Nephi. Samuel the Lamanite was right again with his prophesies of Christ's birth. The signs were all given just as he said. Take that, unbelievers. Also Captian Moroni still ended being amazing and the sons of Helaman were the bomb.

I got to accompany Sister Crawford (a Spanish sister missionary in the ward) on the piano for a song. As usual, I ended up messing up at the climax of the song (something about playing piano in church...) but I was just glad I wasn't the person most of the focus was on. Other than that, though, it went well.

This Thursday we're going to have Elder Zwick from the Seventy do a half-mission conference with us so we're all pretty excited about that. Also on Saturday Elder Berry and I did service for about five hours. She was very appreciative and she said we could start teaching her, so it totally worth it.

Welp, that's about it for the week. The gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #66 - Happy Prelated (opposite of belated) Birthday

Hey Everyone!

A very happy birthday wish to my favorite brother:

Jonathan, you have really impacted my life for each and every one of your years on this planet. If it wasn't for you, the hope of me being named Hordak would never would have been there. If it wasn't for you, I would have never learned how to get a worker in a furniture shop off my back when I'm playing on all of the couches and comfy chairs. If it wasn't for you, I never would have been properly taught how to apply make-up to a black eye. I will never forget you. Please, for me, have a happy birthday this year. You are the man.

I can't wait until Friday. I've told just about everyone in the mission that someone's going to be WAY cool in the family.

This week was crazy excellent. I'm healthy (with the exception of a very minor cough), I'm slowly regaining my favorite fourteen lost pounds, we picked up three new WAY solid investigators and had some awesome lessons with current ones, we have a much stronger zone this transfer with people who are actually willing to be obedient. Also I haven't asked, but judging how our first meeting went, I think they might even believe in prayer.

We've had a ton of baptismal dates come out of nowhere across the zone this last week which has been AWESOME. Miracles in the ol' Ukiah zone. Miracles. We had an incredible leadership council with President Bunker on Thursday that blew our minds as usual. It's always nice to see old mission friends- and the spirit at those meetings is amazing. They never cease to get us fired up for the transfer.

I'm working on finshing up my camera card. I still have to record a Halloween video. It's going to be awesome with a VERY spooky costume.

The conference cds have been GREAT. Thanks a ton. I listened to Elder Christofferson's talk again about covenants and I also reread his talk from this last conference about moral discipline. I'm thoroughly convinced that he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. His talks are some of my favorites. He's the bomb.

Life's great in Ukiah. I'm way glad I stayed up here. The gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #65 - Total Weight Loss for the Week - 14 pounds

Hey Everyone,

I didn't think last week could be topped, but the flu did it. So, work didn't really start up until about Friday. The rest of the week wasspent in my nice warm bed. So, not too much to update on this week other than it was way boring and a waste of time. I got a nice amount of mail though so that made life better.

As for transfers, I'll be sticking around good ol' Ukiah for another six weeks. I'm pretty glad I'm not leaving. My companion will be staying too, so this will be the first companion I've had in 2009 for more than one transfer.

There are a lot of crazy things happening in the zone this transfer. There are three whitewashes AND Elder Bush, the first person I trained, will be training his first greenie this transfer in our zone, which means I will officially be a grandfather this week. I'm way excited to meet him. He'll be my favorite grandson I've ever had.

For Halloween I'll be carving a pumpkin today with my companion, and it's probably going to be just as cool as last year's (if not cooler).

Other than that, I'm still a missionary and the gospel's still true. Thanks for all of the support and have a good week!

Elder B

Week #64 - Professional Thug for Life

Hi Everyone!
Quite the week. You have no idea how long I've been planning this scheme to talk to Mom on her birthday. As expected, everything ran smoothly. I took one for the team when they drew blood from me twice (I was kinda hoping I'd dodge that when I went to the hospital) but it was every bit worth it to wish the mother a happy birthday. Looks like my position has again been reaffirmed as best child in the family. This might be another crazy week- so we'll see what happens. Thanks for all the prayers and what not- they're much appreciated. President Bunker called and asked how I felt about a transfer to Santa Rosa next transfer in case anything happened. I told him to talk to the Chief to see if it was necessary- but I've got a feeling it may end up happening either way. So, any mail that will get here after next Monday can be sent to the mission home just in case. Whatever transfer news we get this Sunday should be pretty exciting.

I wish I had some cool stories from this last week other than a couple of very flirtatious young nurses Wednesday night in the hospital. I'm getting more and more grateful I didn't have surgery there after seeing people's reactions when they heard I had to go in. I guess for a spiritual note, I've been reading a ton from the Book of Mormon and it's been crazy awesome. The more I read it the more I'm blown away and shocked that anyone could deny its truthfulness. Also on Sunday in Elders Quorum they talked all about the power and importance of priesthood blessings, and how no one should ever hesitate to ask/give them. At the end we all gave blessings to everyone in the group who wanted one (most did). It was way uplifting and pretty powerful.

That's about all I've got for the week. I hope all is well back home and have a fantastic week! The gospel's true.
Elder B

Week #63 - Happy Birthday to Mrs. The Mom

Happy Birthday Mom! I'm so excited it's finally the Mom's birthday again! I've been waiting an entire year.

This week was crazy busy. Unfortunately not much was due to actual work in our area, but it was still good. We had president's interviews which were awesome. President Bunker's pretty amazing. He's very helpful and very encouraging. We also had stake correlation yesterday with him and the Ukiah Stake Presidency. It sounds like things are going to improve a lot in the stake with the missionary work and combining the ward and missionary efforts more which will be great. It seems like every ward I've been in has had the same problem: they do great with the people who come to church every week and whatever else but don't really look at the people who aren't coming anymore or who might want to come (i.e. the wards will hold activities where there's not even an effort to invite less active members or non members, they just have active members sign up for the missionaries at dinner in relief society rather than at least trying to call a few less actives who would be willing to have us, etc). Someday.

Life's great in Ukiah. We baptized a ten year old boy Saturday and that went really well. There's always a great spirit at baptisms. I asked him how he felt afterwards and he said he felt "just really really happy." Thattakid. He's the bomb. We taught Sharon the Plan of Salvation and it was awesome- she's very ready...BUT...she just got really really sick so we haven't been able to see much of her which is too bad. Hopefully she recovers soon. She's in our prayers.

Other than that we've been trying to work with the members a little more and we've had some really good experiences.

Anyway, things are good. It's insane how fast this transfer's been. We're already in our second to last week. Time doesn't ever slow down in these parts. Crazy California.

The gospel's true!
Elder B

Week #62 - Jeffrey R. Holland is the Bomb!

Hey everyone!
This week was excellent on account of an incredible General Conference. Lots of amazing talks- and of course, Jeffery R. Holland's was nothing short of crazy fantastic amazingness. That was probably the most powerful witness of the Book of Mormon I've ever heard in my life. I wish I could show that to anyone who questions it or thinks it's any of the pathetic excuses he threw out. I don't know how anyone can watch those leaders speak and not know that they really are called of God and special witnesses of Christ. They are!!
(Here's the link: http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-1117,00.html Then click on Sunday Afternoon Session - Jeffrey R. Holland. You can watch it or just listen to it.)

We picked up a pretty golden investigator this last week named Sharon. We tracted into her (how often does that actually happen?) and taught her a solid first lesson and she loved it- then asked if she could come to church. It was way cool. Miracles definitely happen. We've still got a ton of work to do in the area...lots of "rebuilding" and gaining trust...and helping the ward realize that missionary work is actually pretty important and worthwhile. We do have a baptism this Saturday though, so that will be great. Things are improving but still very weak in the ward. Hopefully Sharon works out and causes at least a little more excitement around here. I don't know if I mentioned it last week, but in zone conference our mission president encouraged us to start praying in every prayer to blessed with more frequent remembrances of the Savior throughout the day. It's been working wonders at keeping me more focused and helping me just feel a ton better during the week. If there's one thing I've gained a strengthened testimony of in the last few weeks it's the power of prayer. ...and the Book of Mormon. And lots of other stuff. But definitely prayer.

Life's good. The gospel's true. God's in the work. Capture the dream. The gospel's still true.
Much love!
Elder B

Week #61 - Bah

HI!

I'm pretty limited on email time today, because for some reason my ldsmail account isn't working. So, I can't read my email from President, I can't read any emails that were sent to that account, and also I'm frustrated. But, this week was spectacular. I actually didn't really get to do much missionary work until Thursday, but even so it was excellent. Tuesday we had our leadership council with President in Santa Rosa which was AWESOME and it went from about 9 to 4. Then, the next day we had our zone conference which was incredible as well. President blew our minds and topped himself again this transfer. I think it's safe to say no one was disappointed. We've been extremely busy and doing all we can to get the work rolling in Ukiah. On Saturday we were greatly blessed and picked up a new investigator, some solid contacts and referrals, and overall, things just went really well. We were pretty excited. At this point we're at a spot where we know there's a lot of good potential work, and we're just praying that it doesn't all fall through and end up being a disappointment (which unfortunately seems to always happen when you think life is great). So, we'll see!

We set some goals for our zone on Tuesday and went around presenting them to the districts as well as teaching some things that President wanted us to. Our zone used to be two and it's now combined, making it the biggest and it covers an insane amount of area (about three hours from one end to the other). So, we can't really get the whole zone together, and Elder Berry and I made a zone tour on Thursday and Friday. Well, the first two districts were great and very excited about everything- pumped and motivated to make stuff happen. The last district, however, caused our meeting to be the most ridiculous one I've ever been to. About ten minutes in, one missionary informed us that nothing we said was motivating. Then, when we talked about our goals, NO ONE in the entire district thought it was reachable. They said how they'd prayed for baptisms before and didn't get them. All in all, that one's going to be a struggle. The sad part was they all agreed with each other. Eight Missionaries. That's pathetic. Other than that though, the gospel's still true, prayer works (I KNOW it does), unity brings miracles (I know that too) and we're reaching our goals!!!

Elder B

Week #60 - Barbies

Hey Everyone!
I made it through the first week of Ukiah. I was a little disappointed to realize out that my expectations of cooler weather up north were completely wrong. It's pretty toasty up here...and it sounds like this week will be even hotter. But, hopefully the winter weather will settle in soon. It's been great to take over the area- whitewashes give you plenty of work to do and they also give you a great excuse to go meet everybody in the ward. We were able to set a baptismal date with an 11 year old yesterday which was excellent. We went through the interview questions and he knows his stuff. Other than that, there's really not a whole lot going on in the area all of the "great potential" left for us in the area wasn't nearly as golden as the missionaries made it sound...haha. Many people dropped us right on the spot and others mentioned the fact that "the other missionaries just came over and messed around with us" but they weren't interested in learning anything. The area's good though- I'm sure things will happen soon!

We've got some good ideas for the zone this transfer- I'm pretty excited. We have our leadership council tomorrow so we'll see what all President's got up his sleeve this time. He never ceases to amaze us and get us way fired up each time he speaks. Then on Wednesday we have our Zone Conference which I'm sure will be awesome as well.

My highlight of the week was probably being asked to go to a dance club with a woman in her mid thirties. My companion an I went for a walk at the end of the night last Thursday and a group of ladies were standing outside of the club- and the one asked me if I'd go in and be her partner. At first I figured it was another clever joke by someone who obviously realized we were missionaries and we would never do that, but I quickly realized she was totally serious. The beer in her hand may have had something to do with it, but either way, it was a tempting offer. Something about people with fifteen years on me...if only I weren't a missionary.

Our new apartment is small and I found an unopened can of Grizzly (chewing tobacco) in my desk. Anyway, things are great! Ol' mission life is fantastic, and also- my first son (Elder Bush...the first one I trained) just got called as a district leader in this zone- so that's been way cool. Have a good week- much love!

Oh and just so everyone knows, in his first week in the new area, my companion received seven letters. Mail EVERY DAY. Something to keep in mind.

Elder B

Week #59 - You Kye Uh

Looks like my stay in Santa Rosa has come to an end. I'm headed up to Ukiah (way up north) on Tuesday morning- I'm pretty excited.

So, most importantly, make sure all mail is sent to the following address:
875 South Oak St Apartment #2Ukiah, CA 95482

Anyway, it's been a good week to finish off the transfer. We picked up a pretty solid investigator who called us over and said he wanted us to teach him. He's very humble and just says he wants more happiness for him and his family- he also just wants to be closer to Christ. He's in his late twenties and he's a really cool guy. We taught him for about an hour and left him some stuff to read and he was pretty excited. We also set a baptismal date with one of our investigators- hopefully I'll be able to come down for it. I don't know though- my new place is about four hours north. Either way it'll be cool to hear about whenever it happens! I had a pretty intense experience when I was in somewhat of a bash (but not really) with a woman. She showed us a book that she had called "Kingdom of the Cults" which (what a shock) talked about Mormonism. She raised a few points and we ended up talking for about an hour. I've definitely bashed before and just gotten fed up and annoyed (which I kinda started to) but I've never really had a moment where I felt totally overcome by the Spirit. Usually I'm more concerned about correcting false ideas and thowing in a testimony at the end. But this time, near the end, I asked her if she would ever read the Book of Mormon. She said no, because she's afraid she could be deceived. Without a second thought I just started talking and testifying and I've never really felt the spirit that strong as I spoke with someone on a doorstep. Everything just came out without a second thought and I explained how plenty of things can deceive us, yes- Kingdom of the Cults being a perfect example- but what it comes down to is our willingness to rely on the Lord rather than the wisdom of men. I told her how she knows just as well as I did that God answers our prayers, and she had mentioned that she had prayed recently for help to come closer to Him. I said that us knocking on her door was the help and direction that God was sending her, but the only way she would know is if she'd open her heart and give it the chance. I then asked her if she would accept a copy of the Book of Mormon again and she just stood there. She didn't say a word for about seven or eight seconds- then she hesitated and said "I just...don't think so...no." AGH! Sorry the ending of that story sucked. But, the main point is this: she knew that what I said was true. She knew she should have accepted and that's why she actually hesitated like she did. Long story short, it felt pretty awesome even though she didn't accept. I got to a point where I was finally less concerned about just being right and more concerned about her happiness, which unfortunately isn't THAT common for me when people try and fight.

Anyway, that about wraps it up, I'm about out of time. Have a good week! The gospel's true!!
Elder B

Week #58 - Transfers...Just kidding!

Hey everyone! And Happy Birthday the Vreg!!!

Sorry to disappoint, but transfers aren't this week. One more left. But, it'll be exciting to see what happens- I don't know if I'll be sticking around here or not. Our area's been a little slow lately, so I'd feel kinda bad to have to leave when it's at a low point. But, we'll see- I've been here over four months. This week was pretty good- we're making some good progress with a few of our investigators so life is good. We ran into a lot of bashers this week which is always a blast (ugh...) but it was still nice.

I kinda wish I had a bit more to update everyone on...it really was a good week though. We're still working to set a few baptismal dates with some investigators. James W. (the one living with his girlfriend) sounds like he's going to be a while- but he knows what has to happen. His girlfriend is unwilling to be married regardless, so she told him to allow her time to find another place to live. Probably a couple more months at the minimum...but I guess it's at least a work in progress now. We have another investigator named Wally who's read pretty much everything and developed a very strong testimony- but his work keeps him from 9am-1pm every Sunday so he can't make church. As soon as he does he's getting baptized- he really wants to. We're praying for him! Well, that's about all I've got. Sorry it's a little short this week.

I hope all is well at home and the gospel's true!
Elder B

Week #57 - The Course of French History by Pierre Goubert

Hey Everyone!
Life is fantastic in Santa Rosa. Transfers are only two weeks away, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. I could be out of here. It's weird to think it's already been a full summer. I was here when everyone was graduating or getting out of school and now they're all back. Outrageous. Time flies.

This week was way cool. We picked up a new investigator who's actually a referral from a member of another ward. She's basically just looking for the truth. She's of Native American descent also, so the Book of Mormon is something she's really interested in. It's been really interesting to talk with her- she sounds pretty promising. We set somewhat of a baptismal date with Sonja for September 13th. We'll see- we went over all of the interview questions and she's pretty ready. Her inactive husband came to church with her for the first time in many years yesterday too- so that was awesome to see. Missionaries have tried to work with her for years and it looks like she's finally ready. There are a ton of baptisms in the zone lined up for the 12th and 13th which is crazy awesome.

I was asked to sing Come Thou Fount in sacrament meeting yesterday- it went really well. It was kinda fun too because I don't think many people in the ward ever knew I sang at all. Sister Gamblin (the bishop's wife) played piano for me- she's way good.

Last Monday we went to the Charles Shultz museum in honor of the mom and it was pretty cool- we actually got a huge behind the scenes tour from the manager because Elder Hubbard met her on the plane coming out here. She told him that if he was ever in Santa Rosa to go there and ask for her and she'd get us all in free. So, she took us to all of the spots no one else got to go. Score! It was fun.

Anyway, that's about it for me. Things are great, the gospel's true, and have a good week!Elder B

Week #56 - Clippers and Flightplans

Hey everyone!
This week had a nice finish. It began as another struggle with lots of lesson cancellations and other stuff. Apparently, along with the calling of a missionary also comes the ability (and time) to find any genealogical information (i.e. Joseph Smith's great-great-great grandparents' names) total knowledge of California/U.S. Law- not only that, but great hookups, resources, and free attorneys. On Sunday a member told us that we need to figure out that genealogy for a friend of his by next week. After informing him that it wasn't going to happen, he replied "You'll figure it out." Our investigator James, for the past two months has been waiting on us to get all this legal information for marrying his girlfriend. He needed us to find attorneys in church to talk to who could give him all the answers to his questions. BUT: Prayer works. We knew James was just stalling because he knows his girlfriend (although they've lived together 20 years) doesn't want to marry him even if it's the least amount of "marriage" you can possibly have (confidential marriage) and he knows it'll come down to him having to move out. So, he's used this excuse of (in essence) telling us that the ball's in our court for about two months now. We've been praying constantly that somehow things would work out soon. Last Sunday, a high councilman was in PEC and heard our situation and said he had a client that James could talk to. He gave us all the information that week and got her to agree to a half an hour of a totally free question/answer session in this woman's office (she deals with all sorts of marriages and legal issues). That day, we called James and told him he needed to do it and call this woman. He told us yesterday that he couldn't sleep that whole night after we gave him the information and in the morning he knew that the reason was because he hadn't called yet and he was putting it off. He said the Holy Spirit told him in the morning to call, he did, and that day he went in and talked to her. He got all his answers, presented it to his girlfriend, and she still won't marry him. So, now he knows what has to happen and we'll see if he's willing.

Our president interviews were amazing this week. It made me feel a ton better about how the work's going in this area. Everything seemed as though it was at a hault for a while, but things really picked up towards the end of the week and President made me feel a whole lot more comfortable about not seeing progress at the moment.

Life is fantastic! The gospel's true, have a good week, and I love missionary work!
Elder B

Week #55 - Carpools and Telephone Wires

Hi everyone!

This week was quite the trial of our faith. One of our investigators had a baptismal date for August 22nd, and then Monday after church she called us and left a message saying it's not the church for her and we need to cancel her baptism (in so many words). So, that was a bit of a downer. We also had (what we thought to be) a pretty packed week full of appointments with new investigators that mostly ended up cancelling or being much less promising than we thought. Anyway, it made it a little difficult to stay positive and enthused, but I'm always up for a brand new week. I've got a good feeling about this one!

Our zone conference this week, however, was incredible. Elder Shaw and I got to sing our famous "Nearer My God To Thee/Redeemer of Israel" on the guitar which has become much more perfected since we recorded it. It went really well. President never ceases to amaze me when he speaks. He knows his stuff. He taught us for three hours and he could have easily gone longer without anyone caring. My companion and I also had our stake correllation meeting with the stake presidency, high councilman, and President Bunker...and special guest, Elder Trythol (the area seventy out here). It was pretty intense. It turned out REALLY well and it looks like the missionary work will be focused on in the Santa Rosa Stake.

That's about it- the gospel's true and I'm low on time. Have a good week!
Elder B

Week #54 - He Gave Me An Offer I Couldn't Refuse

Hey everyone!
Before I say anything else, July 10th sounds like a fantastic date for the wedding. I really appreciate you including me and planning for me to be a part of it. You guys are great. I want to throw this out to the fam: Thanks a buttload.

This week was pretty incredible. We had some amazing experiences with finding and teaching. We set a baptismal date for our investigator for the 22nd of August and she's way excited about it. We also picked up a few really solid investigators. One is a woman who knows the Bible extremely well and has church with her children in her home because she said she can't find the true kingdom of God on earth. Basically everything that came out of her mouth was something we typically teach, and she also talked a lot about the gathering of Israel and how we need a leader that's actually called of God. It was pretty awesome. We're meeting with her on Thursday. Her condition was that she wanted to see how our church was doctrinally accurate. It was pretty nice to talk to her after talking to a guy who is "constantly taught by the Holy Spirit" and "knows what EVERYTHING in the entire Bible means." It's interesting: There was someone who obviously went to his "non-denominational" church and had his "non-bias" pastor tell him what to and what not to believe. This man had developed twisted views (and and in the process developed quite a bit of pride), and knows that no matter what, he's right. Then, the other woman we talked to who actually studied the Bible without outside influences, actually questioned parts that no one could answer, and is still open to more truth- has her views lining up almost to the T with our doctrine. We also taught to a group of three ladies- a mother and two twin daughters (in their forties or fifties). Elder Hubbard and I were a pretty big hit. They loved us. We taught them all about the spirit and the restoration and had a really good discussion.

We had quite the leadership council with President Bunker. The meeting started at 9 am and went until about 5. We were given lunch in the middle. It was pretty incredible though. I would have been fine staying longer. Lots of changes are being made in the mission and we're becoming MUCH more focused on our purpose and how we spend our time. Already we've noticed huge progress throughout the mission and much more excitement and dedication to the work. Things are definitely headed in a good direction. We had a good meeting with our zone the following day where we really stressed the importance of everyone being on board and being unified not because we do fun things together or talk a lot but because we had the exact same purpose. We talked about how the Godhead is unified because they have the exact same focus and purpose. It went really well.

Anyway, that's about it for me. Thanks for everything and have a good week!
The gospel's true.
Elder B

Week #53 - Drywall

Hey Everyone!
It's been quite the week this week- for the first time in the Brush Creek Santa Rosa ward history, we taught twenty lessons! Also we picked up five new investigators that are pretty awesome and all around it was a great week. We taught the Word of Wisdom to Patty Rueter (one of our top investigators) who immediately afterwards went to her cupboards and took out all the coffee and tea and threw it in the dumpster. Then she took a huge pitcher of tea from her refridgerator and dumped it out in the sink. She was really excited. That's probably the best reaction to a commandment I've seen out here.

Lots and lots of changes in the Santa Rosa zone/mission the transfer. Many zone leaders/district leaders were released, all but one companionship in our zone had at least one person leave, so things are pretty crazy. I'm WAY excited about our new zone- Elder Norton unfortunately got transferred, but it sounds like the new companion I'm getting is a stud (I'm staying in Brush Creek Ward). This will be his first transfer as a zone leader and it sounds like he should have been one a long time ago. There were four missionaries in this ward, but now it's just my new companion and me covering it- so our new area is huge and we'll be kept way busy. The district leaders this transfer are going to be awesome. Anyway, our incoming leadership is made up of total studs, so I'm way excited to work with them. It's going to be an awesome transfer! These past two have really helped me out a lot in just learning how to lead and helping me develop a better focus on areas I need to improve and how to improve them. I've got lots of stuff I'm pretty excited to talk about with the new zone.

Things are awesome, the gospel's true, and I didn't receive any mail this week.

Much love to errbody,
Elder B

Week #52 - Paper Clips and Rolls

Hey Everyone!
CONGRATS TO JONNY! Way to go, Broseph! You're so grown up now...by the time I get home you'll probably be a father of three or four kids. That's crazy to think about. When's the wedding? Next July? Late next July? I'm pretty sure that's when it was going to be. I already talked to Erin and she said she probably won't stick with this if it has to be any sooner than next July. I want to see more pictures and I also want to have her fill out the survey from a few weeks ago and send it to me so I can see if she's funny or interesting at all. You my boy, Jonny. You my boy. Congatulations again, pants. That is absofruitly awesome.

It was a pretty awesome week this week- I got to attend good ol' Jim P.'s baptism in Benicia and see a lot of cool families again. The song went really well and Jim was way excited at the service. He cried and gave me about fifty hugs. His wife did as well (they're in their seventies...hehe). Anyway, it was awesome and I was pretty happy I got to go. We had interviews with President Bunker this week. I'm still way impressed. He's very easy to talk to and it was awesome to chat with him for a while. It made me realize even more how much I'm enjoying my time out here. At the end he said "Well, Elder Balagna, are you a happy missionary?" and it felt pretty good to honestly tell him absolutely I am. I guess I never really take the time to think about how much I love life out here. After the interview, Elder Norton and I got to meet with him at the same time and discuss the zone and he basically asked us what we wanted to do next transfer. There's a new area opening in this zone that he said he might "transplant" both of us to where the ward is in need of help. We said we wanted to go there ...and it'd be kinda cool to see what we can get going. But, it's the farthest we could possibly be away from the zone...so it might make it tough to be there as zone leaders. We'll see what happens- we find out Sunday!
Anyway- life is still good and the gospel's true!
Have a good week and thanks for everything!
Elder B

Week #51 - Catnip & Playdough

HI!
It's been quite the week. Lots of pretty amazing things are happening in the Santa Rosa Zone. This is definitely a totally different mission than when I first came out- I can't believe how much it's changed over the last year. President Bunker has played a huge role in getting everyone refocused on where our minds need to be and where our efforts should be put forth. In the past two weeks we had four baptisms in our zone, we have two more this Saturday, and seven scheduled for August 1st. Life's been awesome!

Last week we had zone conference which was definitely the best one I've ever been to. President gave and amazing talk/discussion about being Abinadis in the mission and pretty well threw down when it came to being obedient and working hard. Very inspiring. I reread the account of Abinadi about four times after his talk and I couldn't believe I never noticed how incredible those chapters were (Mosiah 12 through...17? Wherever he says his final words before they kill him). I was asked to sing an arrangement that Elder Chaichana and I put together of I Need Thee Every Hour and it went really well, so altogether it was quite the conference.

This Saturday I get to go to Jim P.'s baptism in Benicia so I'm way excited about that. He asked me to sing for it so hopefully I can work up something delightful. I was pretty pumped to hear he's finally going to do it. I had set a date with him while I was there for July 11 but he kept putting it off because his son in South Carolina was trying to work out a time to fly out and do it and couldn't. So, ol' Jim decided he's going get baptized regardless because he's ready. Thattakid.

I just finished listening to a series of eight lectures that Truman G. Madsen gave on Joseph Smith and everything about him from his birth to his death. He goes all the way through and bears a WAY powerful testimony at the end. Needless to say, I'm still firm in my testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. No one can tear that one down. Sidenote- one thing he mentioned was that in the dead sea scrolls they recently found a huge portion that talks about a second "messiah" (messiah just means annointed one) after Christ that would be a descendant of Joseph. This messiah it referred to was also given the title of being a "restorer" and there were all these prophesies talking about how he'll bring back the truth and stuff. I guess that sort of thing is why I'm impatient with people who tell me flat out that Joseph Smith was a conman.

Anyway, life's amazing in California. The gospel's true and it always will be. Have a good week!
Elder B

Week #50 - Alex's Answers

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Well, my middle name was actually taken from Blake Hickey. My first name was a last-minute backup once Mom finally agreed that Skeletor was way too common of a name in the late eighties.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I'm kinda surprised I'm the only one to mention the passing of Michael Jackson here.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Actually I love my handwriting. It's adorable. I'd be confident in saying that's one of the top 100 reasons of me being the favorite child.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? All I've ever gotten at Starbucks was hot chocolate or cider. I know that doesn't really apply but it's making it really difficult to decide on my answer.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? I own a baby goat, if that's what you're asking. Just kidding it's against mission policy. However, the other day I watched a goat get milked and it was nasty. Now I have no idea what to tell people what I'm going to do after my mission because goat milking is definitely out.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Absolutely. I'd always tell me how cool it was that I could grow facial hair so fast and then I'd go get owned in racquetball against myself. I wouldn't feel like a loser though because I'd know every second with me was worth it.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Your mom does
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Ugh why does everyone ask me that?
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I would if I had Jonny there to protect me
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I'll tell you what ISN'T my favorite. Plain Cheerios. There's no taste. I don't give a hoot if they're good for your heart. That's why I support Medtronic and all they do for the world. I'm surprised plain Cheerios stuck around after Medtronic started up.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Was this survey written in the 1200s? This is why we have shoe horns. I don't have that kind of time.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Maybe this will answer your question: I've been using perfect pushups for about six months now.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Black Walnut (just kidding I don't eat ice cream that makes me vomit)
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their tonsils.
15. RED OR PINK? Pink unless I'm dressed as Superman. Which is quite often. I guess red.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? The fact that I never have anything to improve. At least I don't steal my answers from despair.com. Count it!
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Sadie
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I hope nobody sends this back to me.
19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A pretzel.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The future
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Goldenrod or Macaroni and Cheese. Forest Green and Jungle green were the worst colors ever (sidenote).
23. FAVORITE SMELLS The smell of fear. Fear that no one will think my own ingenuity is clever enough. Fear that drives me to steal my answers from despair.com AND Family Guy. Just kidding I really like the smell of burnt popcorn.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Elder Kartchner.
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I don't have anything against them at this point.
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Basketball. It's a slam dunk.
27. HAIR COLOR? Dark Brown. If anyone thinks it's black you may want to have your eyes checked.
28. EYE COLOR? I have a patch of brown in my eye, so I guess my eye color is mutant.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? I pick up contacts.
30. FAVORITE FOODS? Turkey Roll. hehehe and a ton of other stuff.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I want to watch a movie that has NO ending.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Mallcop. It was pretty funny.
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? White. Something new.
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? There are no seasons in California.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Well I don't know what either of those are so whatever
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Dry, bland chocolate cake with no mild or any topping
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? I hate this question for that anything in the entire universe.
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Probably Tyler. He's never typed an email to me.
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The mission library and the standard works. And Harry Potter. Just joshin.
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Danger
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Fear
42. FAVORITE SOUND? Jonny's laugh. It's so cute.
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Rolleatles, mostly because it was really clever of me to combine the two possible options.
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Probably Wyoming

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I'm really good at life
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Under There
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
Katie's

Welp, I've got about seven minutes left of online time. Sorry everyone. I had a really fun time filling out this survey though. Life is awesome in California- we picked up a golden investigator this week. We were visiting a contact and then she called us over and said she wanted a church. She's been to ours before and loved it- we taught her three times this week and gave her a church tour. Way solid. Things are great though- we got five new investigators last week (very unusual) and we were able to teach a lot.

The gospel's still true!

Love,Elder B

Week #49 - Fire Doesn't Work

Hey Everyone!

This week was awesome. Our new mission president is AMAZING. We're all very excited to work with him. He has some very innovative ideas that I'm pretty pumped about. Basically he's awesome. Anyway, I'm really excited. I'm on the downhill of the ol' mission. It feels pretty weird. It was kind of a bitter-sweet day on the 2nd. Mostly good though, because now I know the things I really want to accomplish and work on with the final year out here. I know the things I want to change about myself and how I can change them, so I think by the time I get home I should be just about perfect. I think you all have a lot to look forward to.

We picked up some new people to teach this last week that seem really solid. We have a lot of work to do in the area so we'll be kept busy this transfer. We taught a guy named Donald yesterday that we met a few weeks ago. It was an interesting experience. He's in his late twenties and has obviously done a lot of hard drugs. He lives in a pretty gross apartment. But, when we tracted into him, he basically said that he really wanted us to come back and talk about God and the Bible. Yesterday, we taught him all about prayer and about Christ and he told us that he prayed every day but he wanted to feel closer to God. We talked about how to feel the Spirit and how to pray and stuff...it was actually very cool. He wanted us to come back Tuesday and teach him more. He obviously needs a lot of help in his life in general- so I'm pretty excited to see where things go with him.

Anyway- things are great in Santa Rosa. Life remains swell and the gospel's still true. Happy Fourth and have a good week!

Elder B

Week #48 - Sparta vs. Athens

Hey everyone!
It's been an insanely busy week. Unfortunately, the majority of the work done was stuff for the zone and errands and whatever else, so not too much happened in our area. The good news is that we picked up a new investigator yesterday and taught him a lesson which was pretty cool. He was really nice and wants his wife to meet with us too. We'll see what happens there.
So looks like Jim Pruitt has finally set a solid date for his baptism back in Benicia. He wants me to go back and sing for the service on the 27th- so hopefully the new president will be cool with that. I'm really excited to see it.
Everyone's pretty excited about the new mission president. I can't wait to see how he runs things. It'll be nice to be here and see him all the time. No one really knows much about him at all yet so it'll be a surprise for everyone.
I'd like to remind everyone that I'll be hitting my one year mark on Thursday, so please be prompt with congratulatory letters, packages, and videos of praise. :-D
I really don't have too much else for today. Life's just been really busy. It's good though- I'm way pumped for the transfer. Elder Norton and I are going to tear it up together.
Have a good week!!
Elder B

Week #47 - Singing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"

Singing "Nearer My God to Thee"

Week #46 - Congratulations!

So as for news out here, the mission's going to the Oakland Temple tomorrow! I'm way excited. The next day is all mission conference which is cool as well. There are going to be 23 departing testimonies this time which is a bit above average. That also includes our mission president and all of the office staff. Crazy. Lots of changes will be taking place in the next month. As expected, the ol' companion is getting a little trunky. I can't really blame him. He's doing really well for only having two weeks left. He's still awesome and we're having a great time together but he's quickly losing his drive. Haha. He at least feels bad about it. Elder Chaichana (the one who always plays piano for me) got emergency transferred here to Santa Rosa from Benicia. So, it's pretty awesome to have an accompanist in my zone again! I was pretty excited to hear he was coming.

We had some pretty amazing experiences this week with handing out copies of the Book of Mormon. On Saturday our zone did and all-day "blitz" where all the missionaries tract in one companionship's area for a couple hours and then go to another area and do it again. We covered three areas so we went from 10am to 5pm. Lots of success and the grand total was 64 for the day. It's also kinda fun because in each area we switch who we go tracting with and we get to see a lot of different methods. Anyway, in the first area, I was getting pretty annoyed and upset over the majority of the people we talked to and the lack of success we were having. We had handed out one and it was a really weak contact and everyone else had been a little more rude than they needed to be to say the least. I was constantly praying in my head for help to stay positive and help to have faith that we'd at least hand out one more before we finished tracting. We got down to the last three houses on the street, I saw a guy watering his lawn and went to talk to him. He was interested, accepted a copy, and we talked for a little bit- it was a good conversation. The next house, my companion talked to a man at the door who was interested and took a copy. The next house was mine- the last house on the street- the contact was pretty golden and we talked about about five minutes on the doorstep. She was really friendly and excited to learn more. Awesome! The last three houses were all friendly and willing to talk AND accept copies. Prayer works.

That's about it for the week. Thanks a lot for all the mail and have a good week!

I love you all! Elder Al

Week #45 - Weather Tools and Watches

Hi Everyone!
I have very little time today. Sorry- lots of craziness this morning with finding a place to do email. But, the week went really well and life is fantastic. Nothing incredibly exciting has happened lately, but things remain awesome.Jonny has my correct address- so wherever he's been sending his mail is the right place. It's the same one the Mom sent in her email. It's a different building in the same apartment complex as the other elders which is why it's 3717 instead of 3737 or whatever you had. Anyway, if there's any confusion, ask Jonny. He's been sending to the right place.
We picked up a new investigator this week. She actually came to church and loved it. She's read the Book of Mormon before too and really enjoyed it. Who knows what'll happen there. An insanely rich member of our ward had me play his Steinway Piano in his home which happens to be the most incredible one I've ever played on. He explained all this fancy stuff about how it was mades special in order to make the keys have almost a "bell" sounding quality and stuff. It was amazing. I'm hoping he'll let me have it before I get transferred.

Other than that, there's not much else to update on. Things are great!
Sorry it's so short- have a good week!
Elder B

Week #44 - Ping Pong Dairy Queen

Hey Everyone!

It's been quite the week. I gotta say I was a bit stressed and nervous the first couple days I got here. I felt like I was being trained again. Elder Hinckley (new comp) is amazing- it's his last transfer and you would NEVER guess. He's ready to go out working his lil' butt off which is awesome. I've learned a ton from him and realized I wasn't the pro missionary I thought I was. We're both brand new in this area- He had already been in the Santa Rosa Zone but he was in a different ward. So, it's been pretty intense. My zone here is very "old"...I'm one of the youngest here and the three district leaders have all been out for at least 16 months. They've all been in Santa Rosa for a while. Most people in the zone already knew each other and sadly I didn't know many of them at all. So needless to say, it was a little intimidating and I didn't quite feel like I was the zone leader or even part of the zone at first. Everyone looked to Elder Hinckley as the leader and I was just his companion. Things are way better now though- I'm quickly feeling more and more "in" and I'm way excited for the transfer. Elder Hinckley and I made a zone goal of collectively handing out 1000 copies of the Book of Mormon by the end of the transfer. The zone is WAY excited about it and we're all working like crazy. It's made things a lot more fun and gives a lot more purpose to tracting. The catch is in order to count it we have to have a return appointment, so we're not just passing them out like candy. It's been really effective and this past week our zone handed out 117- so not bad at all. Plus, we first introduced the idea on Wednesday so they didn't even have a full week to get that.

Oh- I believe everyone was given the wrong address. The one you have is another missionary apartment in the same complex so it's not a big deal, but mine is 3717 Sonoma Ave Apt #2 (not 1)Santa Rosa, CA 95405 As for other awesomeness, I am currently the driver of the only truck, a Chevy Colorado, in the entire mission. I'm pretty proud of that. Also I'm in President Stoddard's ward which is kinda cool.

Have a good week!
Elder B

Easter Thoughts on Christ

Alex asked that we add this video of one of our church leaders, Elder Jeffery R Holland, sharing his thoughts on Christ at Easter time. It's a great message- he hopes everyone takes the time to watch!

Week #44 - So Much To Say...So Little Time

Hi everyone!

It was an utter delight speaking with everyone yesterday. It made my year so far. I really don't have a whole lot to say at all. I'm pretty well cleaned out of fun topics and stories. I could make something up for everyone though.

A Really Good Made Up Story
The other night I had a dream where a woman came up to me and said "You will see me tomorrow. I need the gospel." I woke up shortly after. The next day, I didn't think much about the dream. But then, I saw the woman driving her car. I was on foot, but I knew she needed the gospel. I started SPRINTING as FAST as I could. It turns out I'm in really good shape so 35 mph isn't a big deal for me. I picked up the speed a bit and lunged onto her car. I noticed one of her windows was down so I tossed a couple of pass along cards and pamphlets inside. To my surprise, she immediately stopped the car. I was a little frightened at how she'd react to the whole situation, but she got out with a shocked look on her face. "You're the one from my dream!" she said. "You told me that the message you had was of utmost importance, and I needed to listen to it even if you had to jump on my car to get my attention!" So anyway, we taught her a solid first lesson and she was baptized a couple hours later. Too bad I still haven't received my camera card. I would have liked to take pictures before she moved to Nova Scotia.

That about wraps it up for the week. I'm excited to work in Santa Rosa. [Alex will be transferred to Santa Rosa on Tuesday and will have a new address.] It should be the bomb diggety. I hope everyone's still doing well. Have a good week!

Elder B

Week #43 - Skip to my brown shoe polish

Hey everyone!
Another week as passed, and I'd like everyone to know that my camera card has been MAILED and will be there sometime early this week. The pictures and videos will most likely blow your minds. Also, the week was full of awesome and a big thanks to the ol' mom for the cds. They're really good. I got them on the second delivery attempt- I really lucked out because we had a bunch of lessons that day and we stopped home for about two seconds and the UPS man came while we were there.

At the district council I gave last week I committed the zone to talking to at least ten people every day (aside from tracting or people with members- just random people) because as I was preparing I found a talk that Elder Ballard gave a long time ago saying that missionaries need to learn to do that- and if they do, finding will increase a ton. It's kind of new to me...I'm not real big on pulling people aside when it seems pretty blatant that they don't have the time/desire to listen to me, but we've actually had a lot of really good experiences and discussions. I also had the zone do "finding appointments" where you designate a time and an area for the next week that you'll go and pray for the Lord to place someone who's ready in that spot. In doing that, you also promise Him that you'll do all you can to be spiritually prepared and worthy to find that person, so it also encourages you to work a whole lot harder. I'm pretty excited about it- we set ours for tomorrow, so we'll see what happens! I'm pumped.

We're getting a new area in our mission along with the new president in July- San Rafael.

I really don't have too much else to update everyone on. Now I do! I just had a cool experience about one second ago. Someone just came up to me and said "Hey are you LDS? I haven't been to church in a really long time and right when you walked in I knew I needed to go." She JUST moved here and it turns out she's in our ward. Awesome! Anyway, NOW I don't really have anything more to update on- the gospel's true, it changes lives, and I ate an entire roll of bubbletape at once again on Saturday. It was awesome. I took video of myself chewing it that I'll send home soon. It was fruit flavored.

Well, transfers are coming up. I don't really know where I'm headed of if I'm sticking around here for the full six months. I guess I'll find out in a couple weeks. Next week I'll try and get times set up to call everyone for Mother's day. I hope everyone has a good week- thanks for the emails!

Elder B

Week #42 - Paperback Candies

This is pretty intense. This is the first time I've ever written an email home as a twenty year old. I can't believe I'm so old now. I'm practically older than the Chief. Pretty crazy to think about.Thanks to everyone for birthday awesomeness! The "seek and find" has kept me very busy, the cds kept me happy, the candy made me fat and unhealthily awesome, and the plastic ping pong shooting gun kept me in charge. Also for the blog I've been requested to give a shoutout to Kara Roney. She sent me a package and it even had poprocks and bubbletape, so it was definitely worth some recognition. In the past week I've been given five cakes from member families (candles and a "Happy Birthday" song every time), three of which were ice cream cakes and my zone threw me a surprise birthday party where they gave me a set of AWESOME superman sheets and some other nifty things. My bed is the coolest one in the mission (just so the mom knows, the pillowcase she made for me is still the one that I use along with the quilt she made me). The sisters made me a delicious cookie/ice cream cake with all twenty candles that I was able to blow out first try. I wished for world peace, so I'd like to tell everyone you're welcome in advance. Anyway, it was an excellent birthday week so thanks to all who contributed or are still going to contribute. It's never too late to celebrate my birthday.

Along with me turning nice and old, we had a pretty amazing week for missionary work as well. We picked up a really promising new investigator who's about 17 years old that's been to church a lot and has really enjoyed it. He loves the youth and he watched general conference and thought it was amazing. We started teaching him with the family he comes to church with and he's been really receptive and now his mom wants to come because she "loves the changes she's seen in her son." Yay for the gospel! I had a really cool experience with a less active person last Thursday. I was on splits with a kid in our ward and I just decided to go to a woman's house that hasn't been to church in two years. She always lets us teach her and her daughter when we go but that's about as effective as it had ever gotten at her house. Well, this time I started talking to her and felt like I should just flat out ask why she hasn't been to church. I was a little nervous about that, and then all the sudden the opportunity just presented itself out of nowhere. I asked in a polite way, and then she just opened up about all of these things about how she misses it and wants to get be worthy to go to the temple again. She stopped coming to church because someone really offended her and her daughter (her daughter's eleven) and she went on about how she knows that's no excuse and a bunch of other stuff. I started talking to her about the sacrament and she said how she used to be at a point where she hated going a week without it and she really wants to get back to that mindset. Weird and hard to describe the experience, but from then on I started speaking to her as...not really myself. I knew the things I started telling her were what the Spirit wanted her to know and it was just like a constant flow of information and love from Heavenly Father. It was a pretty incredible feeling...and she was very appreciative of everything when we left. We're going back again this week- and hopefully we'll get her to church.

That's about it for the week- thanks again for everything!

Elder B

Week #41 - Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

It was a great week. We had zone conference and I was asked to do a musical number and it went really well...and two days later, we had a conference thing for all the new missionaries and their trainers (there were only seven new missionaries this transfer) but I was asked to do another musical number there as well. It was pretty awesome- Elder Shaw (the first companion I had in Benicia) is training this transfer is well, so we both did the musical number together (a guitar arrangement we made of Nearer My God To Thee and Redeemer of Israel).

Probably the biggest news of the week is this: At zone conference, my car was decided to be the cleanest out of everyone's (it typically is), so as a reward, my car now has one golden hubcap and just about everyone in the mission is really jealous. Pictures will be sent home soon.

We had some really good experiences with lessons this week. One 17 year old boy that we're teaching named Elijah was really receptive and we talked all about baptism and read through 2 Nephi 31. It was way cool. Also Jim P. is still coming along and pretty ready to be baptized. We'll see!

Other than that, I'd like all of my friends on the blog to know that I appreciate the two letters I have received from them in the past month and a half. TWO LETTERS in SIX WEEKS. Only two letters in ONE week is what I would usually call outrageous. So, I just want to remind everyone that it's my birthweek AND Easter.

May all of your wildest dreams come true,

Elder B

Week #40 - Weekly E-mail

Hi!
Conference was crazy amazing. I had a lot of questions answered and a lot of direction added to the ol' mission. I'm pretty excited for President Uchtdorf's talk from priesthood session and Elder Holland's talk to come out in print. If anyone wants to somehow get those on a cd for the ol' birthday, that would be awesome. I never thought about the whole idea of Christ having to also know what it felt like to die spiritually and suffer without even the comfort of the spirit that Elder Holland mentioned. That was awesome. I love how every general authority pretty well has their forte in the gospel and they all spoke on them.

I'd also like to inform everyone that I totally called it with Elder Andersen being called to the Quorum of the Twelve. I knew he'd be the next one after last conference and I told everyone that he would be.

Also, I don't know if anyone else noticed, but I'm pretty sure the Mom joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. There was one woman in the choir that looked just like her. Did anyone else see that?

Our investigator Jim P. went to every session of conference including priesthood session and LOVED it. I'm pretty pumped to talk to him this week.

That's about it- have a good week!

Love,
Elder Al

Week #39 - Tubular Tubes

Good day to everyone!
This will be quite the packed email. Lots to write home about. For starters, my greenie is getting transferred...and my new companion will be yet another greenie. Prayers would be greatly appreciated. I'm a little nervous.

Next up, I hate to burst everyone's bubble (mine burst this week as well) about the reverend, but here's the story which was actually a pretty spiritual experience albeit pretty disappointing: Turns out the "member of the Seventy" was someone who used to be a seventy (back when that was a calling a lot of men had in the church...not the actual quorum of the Seventy) and he's kind of one of those guys who's WAY gung-ho about missionary work and very "everybody's ready." Not that that's a bad thing...it can sometimes prove to be a bit of a disappointment to missionaries however. So, my Ward Mission Leader talked to the man that referred the reverend on the phone, and was told for about twenty minutes how ready the reverend was and how the missionaries just needed to be bold and get in the door and how they just love missionaries. Anyway, we went to the house ready to baptize this man and having said many prayers that we'd say the right things. His wife answered the door and was friendly- but she told us how they told their friend (the seventy) NOT to send us (he had given them a heads up that we were coming) and politely told us not to come back. So, having been sufficiently humbled, we walked to the car wondering if we just weren't following the spirit well enough and if we went about it the wrong way. I felt really impressed to go back the next day at five o'clock. I knew that at the very least we had to catch HIM there and not his wife (kind of a long shot...how often are ninety year old couples separated?). The next day, after again- MANY prayers that this would all work out- that the reverend would be the only one home, that he would answer the door, that we would say the right things, and his heart would be softened, we went to the door. I had no idea what I was going to say to this guy when I rang the doorbell. He came to the door, I introduced myself, and he flipped out and told us he was a minister and we were told NEVER to come back so DON'T come back- and then he slammed the door.The reason this was a spiritual experience for me (even though it was difficult) is because absolutely everything that we prayed for that Heavenly Father actually had full control over was granted. He was home, his wife was not, he answered the door...but sadly, agency was the only thing God couldn't control, and obviously, the reverend didn't use it in the way we were hoping him to. And, what's even better, is we had NO chance to convince him to let us in. He gave us no room to talk or explain, and thus we left that house knowing for sure that there was absolutely no way that was going to work out. We weren't left wondering if we could have said something different that would have gotten us in or anything. So yeah. Didn't work out, but my testimony has been strengthened.

Nine months out on the second of April. I could have had a baby by now. We're way close to baptism with ol' Jim P. Pretty exciting. He's 74 years old and he's made a TON of progress. His son's going to fly out from North Carolina to do the baptism (whenever that might be). Speaking of baptisms, I attended probably the best one ever on Saturday. The spirit was way strong and I got to sing Come Thou Font which was a nice plus. It went really well. Pants. Anyway, that about wraps it up. Write me letters. I've gotten very little mail for about three weeks now.

Please make sure it's very evident on the blog that I need a LOT of mail. Hee.

Elder B

Week #38 - Paper Mache Paper

It was a pretty awesome week here in ol' Benicia. The Vallejo 2nd Ward had a baptism for a dad and his daughter that went really well. One of our investigators went and LOVED it- so we're committing him to baptism this week. I got to sing a really cool song for the service called Savior Redeemer of My Soul (not the same tune as the one in the hymnbook). I pretty well biffed the last note but the rest went well. Then the following day (Sunday) I got to sing the Reflections of Christ Come Thou Fount arrangement for a fireside which was pretty cool...and I'll also be singing it this Saturday for another baptism. It's been pretty awesome to have so many chances to sing lately.

Life is spectacular.We got an interesting referral this week. A member of the seventy referred a 92 year old retired Baptist Reverend and basically said he knew this was the time for it to happen. What's a little more interesting is the referral isn't in our ward boundaries...but we got a call from the mission home and were told that WE were the ones who had to teach him. We're supposed to contact him tomorrow so...I guess we'll see how it goes. It sounds pretty solid...they explained things to me for about twenty minutes over the phone.

President Stoddard came to my District Council last week which was pretty intimidating at first. It was pretty cool though- everything went really well and I asked him if he'd give us his testimony since we don't often get to hear that from him. He was happy to and it was a really neat experience.

I received very little mail for the past two weeks.

So here's the 20 Lesson program that L. Tom Perry introduced (there were some questions): Each ward has been assigned to provide missionaries with fifteen people to teach every week. Five names from the Elders Quorum, five from Relief Society, and five from High Priests. These are idealy nonmembers/part member families, then less-actives, and if must needs be: active members. It's partly to give us plenty of opportunities to help us with our teaching and get people fired up about missionary work, and of course to strengthen/build up the wards. Anyway, the names that the ward provides us with are people whom the ward has asked that have accepted the invitation to have the missionaries teach them all the lessons. Once one name/family is done with the lessons or doesn't want missionaries anymore, a new name should be provided from whichever auxillary it came from so there's always a constant pool of 15 names. Anyway, this was Elder Perry's instruction to everyone about six months ago. Not just a suggestion, but something he told everyone to make happen- and people are still complaining and saying they don't understand or saying how ridiculous it is and whatever else. It's been six months...but it's alright because it looks like it's finally going to happen now.

Well there's the week. Hope everyone's doing well- have a good week!

Love-Elder B

Week #37 - French Fried Oreos

Good Morning!

Quite the fantastic week. The work is excellent and things are great! We've been finding a lot of opportunities to teach which is always a major plus. Our ward is finally starting to really help us out with a new program introduced by L. Tom Perry to help us get more referrals and teaching opportunities. The program was introduced and (should have been) in effect about six or seven months ago, but for some reason every ward in the mission was less than cooperative and very "We don't understand" and "We've received no instruction on this." But, it looks like it's finally going to happen (at least in our ward) so I think it'll help the work a ton.

I have to throw a shoutout to my boy The Chief for the "puzzling" letter and the also the copied picture of the Nauvoo temple. That wasn't half bad for being like ten years old! The letter was a total hoot though and all of the missionaries were way jealous that they didn't have their very own The Chief to send them homemade puzzles. The quotes were awesome too. Thanks The Chief- I appreciate all you do and it's always a pleasure. My best to you and yours.

I went on exchanges for the day with another set of missionaries who are in a bike area last week. It made me a whole lot more thankful to have a car. Although riding a bike is fun it really limits the amount of work you can do and you lose a whole lot of luxuries that you'd have otherwise. Not to mention you end the day with a sore rump (butt).

Our bishop kinda let us down with the musical fireside we were planning. He called up a guest speaker that he thought would be really good and had flyers made for the fireside...well, the flyers are advertizing the speaker and say absolutely nothing about missionaries. When asking him about it, he said "Sorry- we must have had a misunderstanding. I figured you two could do a musical number at the beginning and then we'd have him do the fireside." I'm not really sure what he heard in the twenty minute meeting we had with him over why we wanted to do this and what we wanted it to be, but basically, a really good missionary opportunity just went down the tubes. We'd put in a lot of preparation so we were pretty frustrated.

Thanks to everyone for the mail this week- it's always fantastic to see a letter in the box with my name on it. Have a good week!

Elder B

Week #36 - Radio Flyer Telephone Wagons

Hey Everyone!

It was a good week. I met the most amazing golden investigator of all time on Saturday (sadly she's not my investigator...). It was incredible- she called the mission office and wanted missionaries and so the sister missionaries went there the first time and taught her the first lesson. Apparently, the investigator (Mary P.) started bearing testimony about everything about how true it was and she couldn't believe how powerful prayer was and stuff. Anyway, I was on exchanges with the elders in her area on Saturday and got to meet with her and teach the Plan of Salvation. She wanted all the reading material she could have when the sisters visited her, so she got every pamphlet, every piece of literature we have basically...and when I got there to teach (two days later) she had read it all, and she was half way through the Book of Mormon (for the second time. She read it once before she requested missionaries). She was SO excited about everything and said how it's been crazy finding time to do it but she can't stop looking into it. She's in her mid-forties and currently working on her masters degree (I will no longer take anyone seriously who says they couldn't find time to read a chapter reading assignment in a week because they were busy). Anyway, the spirit was stronger than I've ever felt during the entire lesson and it was probably one of the most amazing experiences I've had yet. She went to church the next day and everyone loved her and she loved everyone. She also baked us cookies for the lesson. They were tasty.

So life is fantastic in Benicia. Last week for the most part was kinda lame due to our loss of the car up until Friday. The DMV was giving the mission office a ton of trouble with getting a renewed registration for our car, so we couldn't drive it all week. We're probably the most inconvenient area in the zone to not have a car, but we do now so life is good.

Anyway- I'm way low on time today. Hope all is well with everyone and thanks for the mail from everybody!

Elder B

Week #35 - Scandanavian Artichokes with Whipped Cream

HI!
This was quite a week. Missionary work's the bomb. We've been working our hineys off and picking up new investigators and teaching and studying and it's been amazing. This week I've been working with Elder Chaichana (the one from Thailand who majored in music at BYU Hawaii) on a musical fireside we're going to do on the 22nd. It's going to be cooler than anything ever. He's incredible on the piano and so we're working on a bunch of songs to tie into everything. Most of the Stake's going to be involved so we're pretty pumped. I got to do my first baptismal interviews yesterday- it was a WAY cool experience. One was a fifty year old man and we had a really good discussion. He told me about how he'd been to so many churches and he never had been so impressed with the standards (and the people who actually try to live up to the standards) in any of them. He said this gospel has changed his life and he had an incredible testimony of all the different aspects of it. Then, I interviewed his daughter who was 13 but a very impressive girl- she was the same way. Definitely made my day. The ol' spirit was pretty strong with both interviews- I could feel they're desire to follow Christ. Good stuff!
Well, that's about all I've got for the week. I got some good videos of songs and stuff to send home soon- have a good week!

Elder B

Week #34 - Fischer Price A La Carte

Hey everyone!

This was a pretty amazing week. My trainee is way solid and he's a really cool guy. He's not very green either which is a major plus. We had a way good week this week too- we picked up three new investigators who are both really promising at this point- in fact, one of them called us and said she wanted to be baptized. We told her how she needed to come to church and take the lessons, and she was more than happy to. We'll see what happens!

Other than that, I found out that everyone in the zone had no one for dinner on Saturday (stake conference) and I organized a zone dinner in Benicia at a place called "Little Thai" to celebrate Elder Chaichana's heritage. (a Thai [legit Thai- accent and everything elder in our zone.]) He's hilarious and he's in the other Benicia ward. He was in my Fairfield zone too. He loved it and talked to all of the workers in Thai. The food was AMAZING. It was a way fun night- we had a really good time. I'm thinking about moving to Thailand.

Stake Conference was a broadcast with Elder Ballard and Elder Uchtdorf. It was EXCELLENT. There was a big focus on building stronger stakes- and they talked about how we don't need to move to find Zion- Californians Zion is in California (lots of people are moving to Utah to be out of here before California is destroyed). It was really good though and very inspiring. They directed a lot towards the missionaries here too.

Life's amazing. It's been a busy week but it's been spectacular. Missionary work is the bomb and the gospel's true.

Have a good week and send me lots of mail!
Cordially,
Elder B