Home...

Hey Everyone!

Another summer day...has come and gone away (First line from the song "Home" by Michael Buble...just in case no one's making the connection.)

This was probably the most surreal week of my life. It was a great one though, things have been going really well in the area. We picked up some new people to teach this week and Pierce and Colman S. were baptized on Friday. It's been absolutely incredible to see so many miracles in this ward during our time here. I'm so grateful to have been called to this area- I have no doubt that it was an inspired assignment. I love the Lord's timing. I understand that these miracles still could have just as easily happened without me here; I just feel pretty blessed that the Lord allowed me to experience them right at the finish of my mission.

My mission president made a promise to me in one of my interviews about six months ago. He said that if I made these last few months about someone else, the spirit would touch me in a way that I would never forget for the rest of my life. That promise has been fulfilled multiple times. I can't even describe the joy I've felt as I've watched people change their lives completely as they came to know their Savior, or the spirit that I've felt in some of the most simple moments. Whether I'm just saying a personal prayer, playing and singing a primary song on the piano or (of course) singing Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, the spirit has spoken to me in ways that it never has before. 

I HAVE LOVED THESE TWO YEARS!!! I can't believe how much my Savior has helped me grow and become something so much more than I was. I've come to a much greater knowledge of my own imperfection, but I know through Him I can continually overcome my weaknesses and flaws. I've been blown away by my Heavenly Father's willingness to bless me and to forgive me despite my profusion of imperfections. I know that He loves me!

I'm excited to come home! I can't wait to see everyone and thanks for everything!!
THE GOSPEL'S TRUE!

Elder B

Week #100 - The Final Countdown

Hey Everyone!

 

I think it's finally sinking in that I'm about done. This last week was great and we've got two baptisms set up for my two year mark on Friday! I was pretty lucky to get to go back and see Lauren Fisher's baptism from Sonoma on Saturday with Elder Bankhead. She asked me to sing at it, so I did the classic "Come Thou Fount" as usual (the only cool hymn I can play and sing). I also got to perform it in sacrament meeting yesterday as well- so that was really cool and probably the last one of my mission.

 

We picked up two new investigators this week who visited the Temple Square and really enjoyed it. They ordered a Restoration DVD and wanted to learn all about the church. They're looking for something that will strengthen their family and help their kids have solid direction, so hopefully we can be their hookup. We had a nice talk with them a few days ago and we're meeting with them again tonight.

 

We have a temple trip this Wednesday- always a pleasure. Sidenote to the Mom- I got my recommend renewed- so I should be good to go with the whole watching Jonny get married thing.

 

I don't even know what to write home about anymore. Things are still awesome and the gospel's still true!

 

I'll make my final email way legit to make up for how short this one is. I gotta make my last one awesome anyway.

 

Have a good week!

 

Elder B

Week #99 - Hail to the Chief!

Hey Everyone!

A beautiful Father's Day Card to the Chief is on its way to Forsyth. My Chief is the greatest ever and I am grateful for his awesome and his mustache and his being the best father ever. 

It's been another good week. It's blowing my mind how close I am to the end. I had my final President's Interview- we had a really good talk and he gave me some very wise advice. It's a bit more of a reality to me now that I'm about done which is pretty weird but exciting. 

As for the area, things are still going well. We need more people to teach, but we've got some great potential at this point. There's a who seem pretty promising. We saw them this week and they scheduled a dinner and lesson with us for last Friday. Unfortunately, David's father went in to the hospital Thursday and it sounds like he may not make it- so our appointment was canceled and we've just been praying for them. His wife is the one who called us about the situation and she started crying as she asked me to pray for them and said how she knew we had the Holy Spirit and she knew that this was the true church- she's just waiting for her husband.   

Pierce and Colman S. passed their baptismal interviews and are set for July 3rd. They're really excited and love to learn about the gospel. Their dad is also a major support for them which is great.

Life is still great. In free time I've been studying up and organizing some thoughts on aspects of the work that I think would be helpful for anyone to know...or at least stuff that everyone needs to know from the beginning. It's been pretty nice to reflect on the two years and think about all that I've learned. Even though there are plenty of things I wish I would have done or tried harder on, I've at least become better in a lot of ways- and I have a much clearer view on things that I want to be better in and things I need to improve in. 

Happy Father's Day and the gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #98 - Save the Last Dance for Me

Hey Everyone!

Things are still great in Petaluma! We had a good week and found a few more people to teach so we're pretty excited. Pierce and Colman S. will be baptized in the next couple weeks so we're pretty excited about that. I'll also be going up to Ukiah to baptize and old investigator pretty soon, and on the 26th Lauren F. from Sonoma asked me to sing at her baptism. Life is awesome!!

I forgot to mention last week that I had my last zone conference. It was excellent but it was also a pretty crazy experience. I had to give my "departing testimony" which was great but hard. To sum up the experiences of two years being a missionary isn't the easiest thing, but I basically talked about how if I've learned anything it's that God knows us personally and that anyone regardless of circumstances can be changed through Jesus Christ. That has been the coolest thing to see while I've been out here. It's incredible how the Lord can change our natures and help us become something so much better than we are. I read in a book recently that that is one of the big lessons we learn from Jesus turning water into wine- he can take anything or anyone and change them.

Anyway, I also got to sing "Come Thou Fount" one last time for everyone. I didn't really have any time to give the piano music to anyone to learn it, so I played and sang it. It went really well- I had a few mistakes, but I was satisfied with how it went. When President introduced it, rather than say I would be singing a hymn, he said how I would be testifying to them through my hymn. I thought that was a really cool way of putting it. I really do feel like that's exactly what I'm doing when I sing it. It's pretty much the most effective way I have to tell people how I feel about the Savior. President also said that I'd be singing that song at his funeral. Hahahaha.

Anyway, things are great. Our ward is amazing and so is our area. I have my last interview with President Bunker tomorrow. Crazy. 

The Gospel's true!!
Elder B

Week #97 - Call Me Irresponsible

Hi. Everyone.

So exactly one month from this very moment, I will be sitting on an airplane for the first time in quite a while. 

Anyway- this week was awesome! Yesterday at church Steven bore his testimony- probably one of the most amazing ones I've ever heard. He's so sincere and has such a solid witness of the gospel. He talked all about how he knows that God blesses us for keeping His commandments and that we're changed through Christ. He talked about how he loved Nephi's example in the Book of Mormon and that he knew that the Book of Mormon was exactly what the introduction claimed it to be- then he bore witness that he knew that "man could get closer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book." Needless to say, his testimony really impacted a lot of people and the entire meeting was one of the best I'd ever been to. It really took on a missionary theme after Steven. At the very end the bishop went up (he wasn't the one conducting the meeting) and basically said as the bishop he had the responsibility to make sure everyone knew when the spirit was present and when we were being ministered to by angels- and then went on to say that both had happened in that meeting. It was powerful. Our bishop's awesome.

Steven's baptism was awesome. Steven was glowing. He greeted everyone (there were a LOT of people) and knew everyone's name by the end. He was confirmed there too- and his mom was blown away by the whole meeting. She's not a member and hasn't looked into the church- but she kept telling him how she felt God there and that she knew he was following Christ. His brothers and a few of his friends came too. It was amazing. Steven wanted to say a prayer with Elder McBride and I alone before everything started- so we went to the chapel and each of us took a turn praying. The spirit was so strong in that room especially as Steven started praying last. The whole night was so good!!

In addition to baptizing Steven, I baptized our cellphone. The irony of it all is that I put it in my shirt pocket because I figured if I put it in my pant pocket I'd forget it was there and go into the font with it. But, as I went to do my final check of the water's temperature, out fell the cellphone. It's currently in a tub of rice, so hopefully that fixes it. I tested it a few minutes ago and it mostly works but the sound is really quiet. 

Things continue to blossom in good ol' Petaluma. Life is good and the gospel's true!!

Elder B

Week #96 - Casper the Friendly Erin

Hey Everyone!

So I don't know if any of you were invited, but it sounds like Jonny's getting married! Her name is Erin and she seems like a really nice girl from the picture I received in the mail. Anyway, I want the family to be sure to congratulate him when you see him and maybe I'll see a few of you at the wedding. 

As for life in Petaluma, it continues to be awesome. We baptized Brian and Brett on Saturday- it was a pretty amazing experience. For Brett (the paraplegic) we had six people in the font helping him get baptized. It was a pretty cool thing to see the two of them so excited- they knew what they were doing was right. I took pictures and they are awesome.

Other than that, we had quite the lesson with Steven (the one with the total change of heart) on Tuesday. He wanted to meet again and learn more about the baptismal interview questions and make sure he knew all about everything he'd be asked about. We told him that the baptismal service was completely up to him as far as speakers, prayers, hymns, etc. He told us he really didn't have any preference who did any of that...and then he said "But...Elder Balagna...would you mind baptizing me?" I graciously declined. HA! Kidding. I was pretty blown away. This whole experience reminds me so much of Cara in good ol' Fairfield. As soon as she read the Book of Mormon, she knew it was true and was baptized right away. You could see the change in her entire appearance when she had the testimony and it's the same with Steven. He looks like a new person. I was extremely grateful for him asking me to baptize him. 

He's currently in Pennsylvania, but he's been calling us and telling us about his reading of the scriptures and asking how we're doing. He's such a good guy. I talked to him this morning and he said "It's good out here but I've been so busy- I only get time at night to read the Book of Mormon...and I want more. I'm hungry for it!" 

Anyway, Petaluma's awesome. I haven't decided if I'm really going to leave yet. Yesterday I got to give a talk in Sacrament meeting about the atonement. Overall it went really well. When I was writing it I didn't quite know what direction I should go with it since it's a pretty broad topic. But, I started off talking about God's laws of justice and mercy and getting into the doctrine of it and then talked all about the role it plays in our lives/how we can apply it and be changed by it. It was probably one of the better talks I've given, so I was content with how it all worked out. But, I'm about out of time, so I hope everyone has an awesome Memorial Day and I'll talk to you soon!

Much Love,
Elder B

Week #95 - It Had Better Be Tonight

Best Week Ever.

So I kinda wish I could do this week's happenings justice through this email, but sadly I can't. However, here's what went down:

For one, Brett and Brian passed their baptismal interviews and are set for this Saturday. They were at church Sunday and they brought a friend who's interested in taking lessons. They're really excited and so are we.

We taught Pierce and Coleman who are still set for June 5th for baptism and loving the lessons.

Our other investigator Mitch is pretty set on July 4th to be baptized.

And last but not least: Steven. He was my first lesson in Petaluma. The first time we met with him, we were asking about his background, and he basically told us he really struggled with the idea of there being a god at all. He told us he wished he could have more faith, but he's always been lacking. He's about 23 years old and just a very honest and sincere person. 

Way back in the day in the first lesson, I told him about a cycle that Elder Bednar wrote about in an article he wrote in the Ensign a few years ago that has to do with gaining faith. Assurance, Action, and Evidence. If we receive any sort of assurance that something is true, we act on it. When we act on it and be believing, we'll see the evidence of it's truthfulness which in turn will give us a stronger assurance, cause more action, etc. Well, Steven's a really bright guy, and loved the reading assignments we gave him in the Book of Mormon. He'd always have great insights and questions about the things he read the following week. 

Last Thursday he called us, and I talked to him for about ten minutes. He basically told me that he's been loving the reading and he wanted to thank us for meeting with him every week. He told me what a blessing it was to know us and that he was looking forward to our lesson the following day. The next day, the lesson went well, but not a whole lot different from usual. Then comes the awesome part: he started talking about his prayers. Our big focus with him this past month was just getting him to experiment; try testing out commandments, try praying, see what happens.  The lesson as a whole went really well from that point on, and at the end I asked him how he was feeling about Sunday (coming to church...he always declines when we ask and never really says why even when we ask). He asked "Is that an invitation?" I told him he's always invited, and he said "Absolutely. I'd love to come."   So Sunday, he comes to church, the ward fellowships him like crazy, and after church he was talking to us and he said "Hey I was talking to my mom about all this and she said if I decide to be baptized she wants to come to it." The words just kinda came out of my mouth after he said that... "Do you want to be baptized?" 

"Well yeah. I've been testing out my faith for the past few weeks and God keeps confirming that it's all true. Why shouldn't I be baptized?"

I told him he was the bomb. He asked if he could meet with us again that night because he's going out of town this Thursday. So, we met, and he gave the most sincere and heart felt prayer I've ever heard from an investigator. He thanked God for the mercy that he receives from Christ each day because of the atonement, for the restoration of the gospel, for the commandments that bring us happiness, and just went on and on. It was amazing, and Elder McBride and I had some pretty watery eyes afterward.  He said that the Book of Mormon changed his heart completely. He bore testimony of how Christ had changed him, and it was pretty much incredible. 

Now tell me we worship a different Jesus than Christians do. He knows who Jesus is from the Book of Mormon. 

He wants to be baptized on June 6th (he actually wants to sooner, but he's going to Pennsylvania for a week). So there's a man who reminds me of Nephi. If he knows God gave a commandment, he knows he needs to follow it and that he'll be blessed for doing so. He doesn't really question it from that point. If it comes through the prophet, if it comes through the scriptures- he know he needs to do it and he does. He living proof that Alma 32 is truth. I could go on forever with more and more details. I wish I could but I don't have time. 

Long story short, the gospel's true. It changes lives, and even if I had only had one of those experiences my entire mission, it would have been worth two years of no other success. People like that remind me how fortunate I am to have all this. Pretty humbling to see someone thank God for His commandments. 

Petaluma 1st ward has been blessed almost to the point of unbelievable. SIX BAPTISMS!!! 

I feel like Ammon when he boasts in his God.

Elder B

Week #94 - These Days There's Dudes Gettin' Facials

Hey Everyone!
This week was awesome! Things are looking up like crazy for us in Petaluma. We have two baptisms this coming Saturday (Brett and Brian) and we set two baptismal dates with Pierce and Coleman for June 4th. They're both really excited about it and the dad is a major support, so needless to say, we are happy campers. We've had some great lessons lately with our other investigators- most of them are really solid aside from a couple small issues that are holding them back. One of them LOVES the reading assignments we give him in the Book of Mormon. He usually asks for at least five chapters or so and always has excellent comments about them the following week. It's always nice to have someone who's that excited about the Book of Mormon- just a nice reminder of how fortunate we are to be able to study it so often.

I was told this week that it's pretty interesting how there are people in other Christian faiths just as unshakable in their beliefs as we are...meaning they believe 100% that THEY have the truth and the correct gospel as well as us. I guess I've thought about that before, but a few things came into my mind about it this time around. Again, I was reminded that "Come Thou Fount" has some of the greatest lyrics of any hymn I've ever heard. It was written by someone who lived before the church was restored but who DID understand who the Savior was. I'm blown away by how perfectly it aligns with our oft-disputed view on "grace/faith and works." If we really do have a legitimate testimony of Christ, we'll feel constrained to be debtors daily to his grace. It has nothing to do with earning a place in heaven with our good deeds (and the Book of Mormon is extremely clear in many places that all the good works we can do will merit to nothing, and that Christ is the author AND the finisher of our faith). When I'm "wandering from the fold of God" even in the smallest way, Jesus seeks me and reminds me what true happiness and joy is.

I guess what I'm getting at is this: Anyone who has a true testimony of Jesus Christ is going to feel they have the truth, because the joy and the perspective He gives you in life is too incredible to deny. I don't know how many times I've been told "Trust me, I've found Jesus, and no one can make me any happier" while talking with people. What I wish people would understand is

1) WE can't make them any happier than Jesus already has, but Jesus can.
2) If they were talking with someone living an insanely worldly lifestyle (good example: Hugh Heffner[sp?]), they would essentially receive the same answer that they gave me: "Look at my life! How could I possible be any happier?" Yet, that Christian knows good and well that the worldly person could be a whole lot happier if they would just pattern their life after Christ rather than the world.

So someone who has found Christ lives a life of happiness, but what if that person also learned that in addition to everything Christ has done for us, He now continues to guide us- not only personally, but also by revealing His wisdom and His warnings through a living prophet (just as He did all through the Bible) with Twelve of His special witnesses (apostles) to help us all remember how to truly be a Christian (if there's one painful thing I've learned on my mission, it's that some of the most pompous, rude, exclusive and un-Christ-like people I've come in contact with are those that scream they're Christians), the priesthood authority of God that seals families together for time and all eternity and enables us to perform sacred and essential ordinances for salvation has been restored, and we now have the written testimonies and experiences of more ancient prophets to learn even MORE of how we can strengthen the relationship we have with Christ? You would think that person would be thrilled, and they should be. Yes, the Bible can teach us who Christ is and how to get to know Him, but God has provided us with so much more than even that, and why- to confuse us? To make it more complex? No! To make us happier because He loves us!! There's so much confusion and contention over His words, and He has provided us with answers! It's not complex at all. The only thing that makes it complex is skepticism and preconceived notions that blind people to what it really is.

Well that about wraps up my time on email, but there are my thoughts on that statement. THE GOSPEL'S TRUE!!!

Much Love,
Elder B

Week #93 - My Mother is Better than Your Mother

Hi Everyone!

It was a pleasure chatting it up with everyone! Thanks for answering the phone- I was hoping you would. I just want to throw out one last Happy Mother's Day to the Mom, and I s'pose also to the other moms in the family (i.e the Cealo, the Vreg, [Erin?]...etc).

As for mission life, the Lord blessed Petaluma 1st ward this week. Things went really well in just about every aspect of the work. There's a less-active family of eight years who decided to start coming back to church a few weeks ago and we're teaching two of the kids. Both were pretty excited when we told them they could be baptized and they're thrilled to keep learning and taking lessons. They couldn't attend church yesterday, but we still had four of our investigators come. Brett and Brian have rescheduled their baptismal date for May 21 and they're both pretty set on it. They wanted to look at the font after church and see how it all worked. Brian's really starting to realize the importance of all of this and recognizes the changes he needs to make. Brett is a major support in helping him with any issues that he has, so it's been great. The ward has also been extremely welcoming to both of them.

We had a really good lesson with our investigator Mitch (21 years old) yesterday after church. The elders quorum lesson was about prophets in the Gospel Principles manual and he was blown away. He loved it and was REALLY excited to talk with us about it as soon as it was over. He just loved it and kept saying how important and cool it was to have a living prophet. We then taught him all about the plan of salvation which he also really loved- and at the end we committed him to baptism. He told us he knows it's all true and it makes perfect sense, but he's worried about his devout-Catholic parents being upset about it. We had a good talk about it and it basically came down to him deciding to just pray about what he should do. He told us he knows he needs to do it, he just doesn't know how to go about it. Anyway, we're praying for him- I'm sure it will work out soon. He's just working up the courage to do what he needs to even if he has a bit of a rough time with the parents for a while.

Other than that, congrats to the ol' Danny Weidman on the mission call and I'll be responding to his letter shortly, and pants. It was good hearing from everyone and the gospel's true!

Elder B(alagna)

Week #92 - Samuel Clam's Disco

Hey Everyone!


Congrats to Samuel Marshall Weidman for joining the family! I was pretty excited to get the call from Sister Bunker. The pictures were awesome! I'm pretty excited to meet him and Katie!

As for Petaluma news, I don't want to give away TOO much information since I'll be chatting it up with everyone on Sunday. But, here are some highlights:

We were thrilled to get two of our investigators to church yesterday. Brett was in a car accident about five years ago and is a paraplegic, so Brian lives with him and takes care of him. We had to go to their house a little before 7 am and get Brett ready. It was quite the process, but it was a cool experience. It was greatly appreciated by them, and they both enjoyed church a lot. It was a pretty big step for them to come, so we're excited to see how our lesson goes with them tomorrow.

In our ward there's a dad and two sons (ages 10 and 14) who started coming to church last week. They'd been inactive for over 8 years and the mom is an atheist, but she now agrees that the kids need some sort of direction. They're nice boys and enjoy church, the dad is set on getting them actively involved, so there's some major potential there. We get to start teaching them this week.

Anyway- it's been a good week. Life is splendid. The Gospel's true and I'm way excited for Mother's Day!

Elder B

Week #91 - Why Don't We Just Dance?

Hey Everyone!

Things are going well here in Petaluma. We had an excellent zone conference- the spirit was pretty intense during the testimony meeting and President Bunker's instruction at the end. He read us a letter from a missionary that went home a few months ago that I had a lot of respect for. It mentioned a lot of things that he was worried about that I worry about as well, so it was a very comforting thing to hear.

The past few months I've just been thinking a lot about my growth throughout my mission. It's a pretty hard thing to look back and wonder if I really used this time the way that I should have. Even after being out for 22 months I'm learning new things, better ways to go about the work and things I should have focused on when I was brand new. During the testimony meeting at zone conference I thought about where my desires are now, what my perspective on life is now, where my goals are, things I want to accomplish, etc. I finally started to see how far I've come. It hit me pretty hard that the Savior has changed me. I still do dumb things, I make a lot of mistakes and I'm a whole lot farther from perfect than I'd like to be, but I'm at least a much better person (I think) than I was when I left. It's kind of a depressing thing to know that soon I won't be able to devote nearly as much time to other people and help them feel the joy that comes from the gospel. It's a real thing!

Anyway, two months is a while, so I've still got time. Suffice it to say though, I felt a whole lot more comfortable with everything during conference. As far as things in the area go, we were able to have some really good lessons this week. Two brothers that we're teaching set baptismal dates for May 8th. We had a great lesson with one of our investigators. He's a great guy and loves the the Bible and the Book of Mormon. He wouldn't commit to a solid date yet, but he fully understands that he needs to if he finds this is all true (he pretty much already knows it is though). We really focused on teaching how we feel the spirit and how we recognize it- and I think it made a pretty big impact. He's one who struggles with faith in general, but he said he's really starting to develop a faith in Christ after meeting and studying with us. Alma 32 and Alma 30 were big hits with him.

Stuff's going really well in the area. We'll be teaching a friend of a member on Wednesday who apparently is really excited about the gospel and has been to church a few times already- so we're pretty thrilled. Life is good and the gospel's true!

Much Love,

Elder B

Week #90 - Happy 21st Birthday Alex!

Hey Everyone!
Thanks for all the birthday wishes and packages and other stuff! The movie list was classic and I read it to a lot of missionaries who also got a kick out of it, the cookies were delicious, the razor does a beautiful job on my face, and I went ahead and got the Droid already to make the Mother's Day phone call easier.
Things are great in Petaluma. I'm really happy to be working here- there's a ton of potential and the ward members are great. I was also really excited to hear that the work in Sonoma had some huge things happen the day after I left the area; an entire less-active part-member family that we'd been working with came to church for the first time in years yesterday after their son and daughter both set baptismal dates for May 1st last Wednesday. Brian (the son) is 15 years old and it sounds like he's taking the lead in his family to get things on the right track. He really recognizes that the gospel is the only thing that will bring things to where they need to be in the family. I'm so excited for them! This is a HUGE step for the family. Plus, our other investigators FINALLY followed through on coming to church for the first time, which is pretty amazing as well.

But...as for things in MY area, life's great here. We taught some good lessons to a few of our investigators. One of them had a baptismal date for April 24th, but the first thing he told us when we met him was that it was too soon. He's very set on working out some personal struggles that he has before he gets baptized.

Aside from that, my new companion's name is Elder M. He's a really good guy and he's also way into music, so that's a major plus. He sings really well so we've had some fun with that already. In response to the Chief's question about me getting taller, I'm currently 6'3'' and still growing, or at least it looks like that's the case from that picture. I didn't even realize how short those two were until I saw it. Hehehe.

Anyway, stuff's good here and this week we have zone conference. I'm pretty excited because I was asked to teach a workshop dealy on goal setting and making use of our weekly/daily goals. It's a subject I had mentioned to other missionaries that I wish I would have learned better sooner, and apparently rumor spread...so now I have to teach it to everyone. This is a pretty common topic that I feel no one ever really takes much from (including myself) when it's taught, so I've come up with some awesome things to tie it into. If everything works out as planned, this will be legendary. I'll let you know how it goes.

Stuff's good, I'm 21, and thanks again for everything! The Gospel's True!
Elder B

Committed to Preaching the Gospel to All Who Will Listen

Week #89 - I'm Still a Guy

Hi Everyone!

Well I can't say I wasn't shocked at the transfer news, but I'm pretty excited! I love training- and I suppose it would have been easy to get too comfortable had I ended my mission here in Sonoma. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the change!

Here's the new address once again:
Elder Alexander William Balagna
1124 Baywood Drive #119
Petaluma, CA 94954

Things went pretty well this week. We had a good lessons with Lauren all about Joseph Smith and then she committed to go on the Stake Temple trip. Unfortunately, she's still very set on June 26th for her baptism, but I guess she'll do it either way- so we can't be too disappointed.

We picked up a new investigator last week named Morgan. We had quite the discussion with him- it started off pretty heated on his part and he was convinced we were false prophets and deceivers- he's also read his fair share of anti. We started talking and ended up sitting down with him for quite a while- and it got better and better. He agreed to start meeting with us and by the end we were laughing and hand-shaking, so I think there's some potential there. The more he comes to realize the logic in this church and begins reading out of the Book of Mormon, I think he's going to be blown away. At the very least, he's a truth seeker, so although he may think we're false prophets and deceivers now, I think his harsh opinions will change soon.

I don't have too much more time to update, but I hope everyone enjoys my birthday week! Happy birthday to me!

The Gospel's True!

Elder B

Week #88 - Mud on the Tires

Happy Easter!
So this wasn't the most eventful week work-wise, but general conference was incredible! It was somewhat sad to realize that this is my last one in the mission. However, I went into it with some questions and concerns I've had about life and the obvious "mission coming to a close" idea, and left with more than sufficient answers. Those people are so inspired! It seems like they're getting more and more direct. Favorite talks included but are not limited to:

President Uchtdorf (both)

President Eyring (both...favorite was the mention of when we complete a task for the Lord, it's not license to rest. We pray, thank Him for the opportunity we had to do it, and ask what we can do next.)

Elder Christofferson

Elder Holland

Elder Oaks

President Monson

Anyway, I was also glad to see that the Mom is still an active member of the Tabernacle Choir. Last conference I didn't see her, but she was definitely back this time. She did an astounding job- the choir was terrific.

Transfers are next week, so we'll find out what's going on this Saturday. It sounds like things will be staying the same in our companionship (hopefully) but we'll see. I think either way I'm locked in Sonoma for the rest of my days, which I'm happy with. This is a nice place to finish out. I'd like to see some more things happen but as of right now it's still good. Hurrah for Israel! We have a lesson lined up tomorrow with someone who's agreed with our ward mission leader to start meeting with us. We're pretty excited to see what happens with there- it sounds pretty promising.

Well...things are good. My birthday's coming up, in case anyone forgot. April 15th. I always enjoy mail and new electric razors. Fun Fact: I turn 21 months old and 21 years old in the same month. I also hit the two year anniversary of my mission call and my endowments.

That's about all I've got. Have a great week and the gospel's true!!

Elder B

Week #87 - East or Something

Happy Easter and General Conference!

It's been a good week despite the ear infection I developed the night before our temple trip. It was a bit frustrating, but the temple was still a great experience. Other than that though things have been going really well. We had a great lesson with Lauren (she has a baptismal date for June 26th...) last Monday all about the Holy Ghost and preparing to receive it. She had some great questions and she's getting excited- in fact, she even spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday all about her conversion story. It's always a great thing to see investigators bear testimony of the gospel.

We picked up a new investigator this week who seems like a really good man. He's been Catholic all his life but kind of has his own beliefs. He's opening up a bit and feels that at the very least, Joseph Smith was an inspired man and did see what he claimed to have seen. Hopefully this week we can make the connection with him!

Last night we ate dinner at our ward mission leader's house and had a long talk about things we can do to get the fire going in the ward. I think we all left extremely excited for where things are headed. He's definitely doing whatever he can to get things moving- so we're trying to help wherever we can. He also has someone who's agreed to take the lessons with us in his home that we'll be teaching this week.

I did my district meeting on Tuesday about setting goals and doing everything you can to achieve them. It's kinda cool having a really young district and being able to tell them all of the things I wish I would have done better from the beginning. It's crazy how goal setting is such a commonly talked about topic and people have all of these insights on how we can do better with it, but people rarely actually do it. It went really well though and we've all committed to help each other daily with the stuff we're working on.

Other than that, life's good. I can't hear very well so that's kind of annoying, but the gospel's still true!

Much love,
Elder B

Week #86 - Well I love her...but I love to fish!

To Whom it May Concern:

We had another good week in Sonoma. Unfortunately a lot of appointments with our best investigators had to be post-poned, but we're looking forward to this week. We're meeting with a girl today who has a baptismal date for June 26th and we're pretty excited. We've both got a feeling that she'll be baptized sooner than June, so we'll see how today goes. This morning we planned out what we hope will be a very solid lesson all about the Holy Ghost.

Yesterday was a good day at church. We were asked to come into a primary class and tell all the children about being missionaries and how we prepared- and then for the young men we were "interviewed" in front of the class about our lives before the mission, how were got to this point, and what the mission has done for us. It went really well and it was a very cool experience to try and help them see the importance of preparing immediately. The less time I have left in the field, the more things I want to accomplish before I leave. My desire is quickly growing to tell every potential missionary everything I can that would prepare them better for serving...or at least help them understand how important it is to do so.

We were also asked to bear testimony in sacrament meeting about the Savior. I told the story of Cara and how she was the first person I ever taught in the mission field and the first person I baptized. It was amazing to see the change that occurred after four months of teaching a total skeptic when she finally read the Book of Mormon. When we finally got her to start reading it, she finished it in two days and was baptized a week later. The words of that book are the words of Christ- just as Nephi says- anyone who reads them will know that they are. I can't even explain the change that occurred in her- but it's amazing to see what the Savior can do for someone and how he can completely purify someone's heart. She went through the temple a few months ago which was great to hear about. Sounds like she remains a completely solid member of the church. I want to witness another conversion like that before my time here is over!

So life here is good. We had interviews with President on Tuesday- sounds like I'll probably stick around Sonoma for the rest of the mission, but we'll see. He promised me that if I make these last few months of my mission about someone else then the spirit will touch me in a way that I'll never forget for the rest of my life. It was a pretty intense promise.

The Gospel's True!
Elder B

Week #85 - Only Fifteen More P-days!

Hi Everyone!

The mission's still pretty awesome. Life's good. I never cease to be blown away by how much more helpful zone conferences are compared to when I first got in the mission. There were some really helpful classes and it was a nice reminder that although I may be nearing the end, I've still got plenty of things to work on and more success to see.

Elder B. and I have been blessed lately- even in tracting we've seen some great things happen. We've gotten some good contacts and actually got a referral at a door from someone we didn't know. We were able to talk to the referral and set up and appointment- he seems like a really nice man. We also got a new investigator last night named Doug who's a good friend of a girl in our ward. We got to teach him last night in her home and it went really well.

We had quite the lesson with one of our investigators this last week. A woman in her mid-seventies- has been taught for quite a while. She knows it's all true and knows all about the church, but she will just not act on it. We've stressed time and time again how important it is that she act on her faith, and she's told us multiple times that this is what she wants to do. But, unfortunately, she uses sickness constantly as an excuse- and if it's not sickness, it's something else. So anyway, our last lesson with her was very straightforward and the spirit was extremely strong. We let her know that if she didn't come to church then we wouldn't be able to teach her anymore (she didn't come). It was a tough thing seeing someone so close be unwilling to do what she knew she had to. But if anything, we at least knew that we did all we could and she got the best chance we could give her.

Welp, stuff's good. Send me lots of mail and the gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #84 - Pants

Hey Everyone!

Things have gone well this week- we had some great things happen. The Relief Society President's daughter got her mission call to Colorado, so they're very excited to share the gospel. They've got three people that they plan on asking to let her daughter practice teaching the lessons to while we sit in and "critique" her as she does, so we're looking forward to that.
It was a little disappointing that a dinner/lesson that we had scheduled with a new investigator (from last week that we taught once with his family) was cancelled Saturday on account of his mom being very sick. Fortunately, we're good to go for Tuesday night instead- so it should be great. There's a lot of potential there- and there's some great member support for the whole family as well.

I've still been making the effort to see the Lord's hand in my life more frequently which has been awesome. It's been amazing to me to see the small things He does for me each day- and praying to recognize them more often has helped me out a ton. I try and write them down at the end of each day and I've been blown away at how big of a role He plays in my life.

I was asked to sing at zone conference tomorrow- President Bunker said he needed to hear me do Come Thou Fount one more time before I go home (but he said I don't need to do that one tomorrow- which means I have a whole selection of three other songs to choose from). I'm pretty excited- Elder C. will be there yet again to play piano for me, so it's always nice to reunite with my favorite Thai friend.

Life is still good here! Sonoma's a great area. The Gospel's true!

Send me mail,
Elder B

Week #83 - Play-Doughs Anonymous

Hey Everyone!

It's been a good week. A lot of great things happened- we got some promising member referrals and we picked up a very solid new investigator. We're pretty excited for this next transfer. Speaking of transfers, all of the information was given out yesterday. I'll be staying with Elder B. which I'm happy about.

Anyway, things are going well. On Friday my ears started ringing again, and Saturday we were at someone's house and on the news it was talking about a tsunami in Hawaii and a huge earthquake in Chile. Fortunately, the ear ringing wasn't nearly as bad as before and it seemed to be pretty calmed down by Saturday night. Sounds like things were pretty awful in Chile though. What's with all these crazy earthquakes?

This week I made a big part of my district meeting about "being believing" (inspired greatly by the Cealo's letter) and making ourselves more aware of the little blessings we receive. I also talked about the "cycle of faith" I read about in a talk by Elder Bednar a while back. He says how the cycle of faith is assurance, action, and evidence. We receive a confirmation that something is true, we act on it, and after we act we see more evidence which in turn gives us a stronger assurance, so we act more- etc. In one of the talks Cealo sent me Bruce C. Hafen talks about how we need to be believing when things happen for our good and always view it as a blessing from Heavenly Father, so we talked about how the "evidence" part of the cycle is often dependent on our willingness to believe it's a result of our action. Anyway, it's really been helping the days go better. Each day in my planner I'm trying to write all the small good things that happened or requests in prayers that were granted, and it's been amazing in helping me recognize the Lord's Hand in the work more often.

I hit my 20 month mark tomorrow. I realized that month markers don't really mean much anymore. Really the next milestone is home. Each time I hit a month now it's just another month, so I don't really feel as much need to have mini-celebrations. However, I do have some glow-sticks, so now that I think about it, it would be foolish of me not to celebrate anyway.

Welp, life is great. I like Sonoma and work is picking up. It'll be nice to get back to focusing on only English work and getting some more members involved now that we're back down to two elders.

The Gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #82 - Quarrels of a Wildabeast!

Hey Everyone!

So the week was good and the work was not.

I think just about every appointment (there were many) that was scheduled for the Spanish elder didn't show except for two. Things went alright for english work. We've all had a good discussion on how we're going to improve things and I've been working a lot to come up with a stellar district meeting to hopefully get things going even faster. We have a few promising investigators right now, but we still need a whole lot more. We did receive an excellent referral from some members a few days ago for a husband and wife- the wife's father recently passed away. We contacted them and they agreed to meet with us in about a week (after all of the funeral things are taken care of). The husband was a really nice guy, so we're excited to see where it goes.

We had stake conference yesterday and Saturday and it was AWESOME. The talks were incredible and it was really cool to see everyone from Benicia again (Benicia's in our stake). It's crazy to think I haven't seen them in a year. That was the first time I ever really got to visit with members from an old area, so it was pants.

Welp, other than that, stuff's good. We're all committed to pick things up here in Sonoma, so we'll see what happens. Have a fantastic week and I hope to receive no fewer than 20-30 letters before Sunday.

The Gospel's true!
Elder B

Week #81 - Valentine-less

Hey Everyone!

It's been a great week in Sonoma. I hope everyone had a delightful Valentine's Day full of candies and awesome. Mine would not have been nearly as fantastic if I hadn't gotten a visit from the UPS man...who was kind enough to give me a bunch of delicious Mrs. Fields cookies. What a nice guy!

And, though I had no Valentine, I was at least assured that I was very loved by our vehicle coordinator. She has provided me with a brand new 2010 Chevy Colorado, which is MUCH nicer than the one I previously drove.

Speaking of trucks, however, I had an interesting experience with our old truck last week. We were out knocking doors, and for some reason I was getting way more irritated than usual with everyone's responses. It was hitting me especially hard how rude or childish all of these grown men and women felt they needed to be to us, especially when the majority claim to be Christian. It was really nothing out of the ordinary, and I still don't know why I was getting so upset, but we got to the last door. I knocked, the fifty year old lady came to the window (without opening the door) and said "Can I help you?" I start to say who we are/what we're doing, and she cuts me off: "BYE!" I was furious. I said "Thanks for your time- God Bless" however I'm not sure how pleasant or kind that one sounded. In fact, I'm pretty sure you couldn't hear much love in my tone of voice at all.

We walked back to the truck without saying anything, and I tried to turn it on. It wouldn't start. I tried again, still wouldn't. We had about ten minutes to get to dinner, so I decided we should say a prayer that it would. We did, tried again, still would not. I sat there for a second and started to feel a bit of peace, and knew that I just needed to read the scriptures. I told my companion that the car would start in time for dinner, but I was just going to read a little bit. I opened the Book of Mormon to the story of Sherem and Jacob. I read the chapter and just felt completely calmed down. Sherem was trying to tell Jacob (despite Jacob's undeniable witness) that everything he believed and taught was stupid, unreasonable and worthless. Jacob, however, knew that it was true. Sherem cause him to question himself or the worth of the Lord's work. Jacob knew what he knew, and the moral of the story is Jacob is a stud. So anyway, for some reason that chapter made me feel much better. I closed the book, turned the key, and the truck turned on. Heavenly Father must've noticed I could use a little breather as well as some humbling.

We picked up some really good new investigators this week and we now have a third member of the companionship.

Anyway, stuff's good aside from me rarely getting mail. I'd like to give a shoutout to my broseph Jonny. You my boy, J- Dawg. You my boy.

Much Love,
Elder B

Week #80 - Fish and Chips

Hey Everyone!

We had another good week this week. Sonoma's pretty awesome. President Bunker came and did interviews on Tuesday and then had a quick meeting with our zone where he explained how to do better contacting. It was pretty amazing how much better things went when we started doing what he told us to (ask people "questions of the soul"). He explained how too many of us were too set on becoming friends with people right off the bat or trying to not appear intimidating that we're losing the focus on what we're actually supposed to be doing. So, we talked about different questions to ask right up front to get people talking (have you ever received and answer to prayer? Do you study the Bible? Do you think God could call a prophet today? etc), and I'll admit I felt like it'd just be more awkward. However, it was amazing how many people actually started talking with us and listening to what we had to say. Even people who weren't interested actually stopped for a while and had a good conversation with us. Awesome.

Other than that, we set a baptismal date with an investigator we picked up named Thelma for February 20th. That may change, but we were pretty excited. We're praying it works out! We've also been have a lot more success recently with getting referrals through members which has been really cool. It's pretty neat when they start getting excited about the work and invite their friends over to learn more.

Welp, life is good. I forwarded an email I got from one of my investigators in Ukiah to the mom and the Chief- it was pretty cool. Anyway- the gospel's true and have a good week!

Elder B

Week #79 - Baxters Anonymous

Hi Everyone!
I'm way low on time, so here's a quick experience and then I'll finish things up:

Every night, Elder Bankhead and I have our walk through town where we try and talk to as many people as we can. We began noticing our lack of success, and so we started praying about what we could do to make them more effective. We decided that each night we would decide on a good gospel topic to discuss with each other to keep ourselves totally focused as we walked through town. To start out, we figured it'd be cool to share good spiritual experiences that we've had or other people we know have had. We had a pretty amazing discussion and we were both feeling really good- and we decided to take a few different turns that we don't normally take. Out walks this guy about our age dribbling a basketball- and he comes over to talk to us. We taught him basically the entire first lesson and he gave us his number and took ours. He was asking a ton of questions and it was AWESOME. About ten minutes later, we were about to end our walk but decided to go talk to a couple people we saw at a bus stop. One guy was really weird, and the other one was (again) a guy about our age. At first he wasn't too interested, then we mention "God's plan for us" and he was blown away. "You know God's plan for us?" We taught the entire plan of Salvation along with most of the first lesson as well, and bore testimony of how Christ brings us happiness and how we can draw strength from his atonement. He loved it, gave us his number, and wants us to teach him and his girfriend!
Long story short, the gospel is true.

Elder B

Week #78 - So...no Ma?

Before I forget, here's some important info:

We switched apartments with the Spanish Elders here in Sonoma, so our address is not the one I sent home last week. However, any mail that was sent to their place I have received or will receive, so no worries.

My new address is:

Elder Pants Balagna
888 West Verano Ave
Sonoma, CA 95476

It's been a fantastic week. My newborn son Elder Bankhead is awesome. I immediately realized after being with him for a little bit that this is exactly what I needed. This past week has been excellent- my greenie just wants to learn and basically teach him everything I know. He's very humble but not afraid to do the work. It'll be a good transfer!

As for Sonoma, it's quite the place. We had a baptism on Saturday that went really well for a lady named Loretta- she's almost 90 years old. It was pretty neat to see her get baptized. Other than that, there's really not much going on here at all, but we just got a new Ward Mission Leader who isn't here to mess around. We're way excited- he knows what he's doing and he's excited to make stuff happen.

Because I am well loved by the vehicle coordinator, some switches have been made and I once again have my truck to enjoy. I was pretty excited when I heard, but the only problem is the only setting on the air conditioning/heating is 4. The 1, 2, and 3 don't work. That took away a lot of my excitement. I suppose I'll live though.

Elder Bankhead and I had a pretty neat experience on Saturday. We were out walking trying to talk to people, and Elder Bankhead finally said "I'm going to talk to everyone until I can hand out a card." We talked to I don't know how many people, and one of them actually grabbed me and shoved me away and told me to go get a blank-ing job. He was about fifty years old and I guess he was trying to impress his other friends that he had around. He dropped a lot of F-bombs. Anyway, after he shoved me, despite everything that was going through my head and my strong desires to punch him in the face, somehow a smile and a "God Bless" came out of my mouth. That gave a whole new meaning to scriptures that talk about how "the spirit restraineth me." In a totally different attitude, the man then told us to have a good night and good luck. My greenie was blown away and kept telling me how cool it was. I of course brushed it off like it was just something you learn to do after being a missionary as long as I have (hehehe...even though in my head, I knew I still wanted to punch that guy in the face). So, that was kind of off track, because that wasn't the reason I started this paragraph. What ended up happening was nothing- we talked to tons of people and no one would even accept a card. I started feeling bad for my discouraged lil' son, and we finished our walk and drove back to our apartment. It was about 8:50, and I said "Hey, we still have ten minutes. We can't go in yet. Let's walk." Our street was pretty dead, and I told him to go wherever he felt prompted to. We took a couple of turns, and lo and behold, there comes a man out of a house to his car. Very friendly, we start up a conversation, he accepts a card, our phone number, and gives us his. Score! That's why we don't go in early. My greenie is in tune with the spirit!

Anyway, out of time, but merry crimbo and the gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #77 - Pants Delight

Hey Everyone!

So transfer news is out, and I've got quite the new and different assignment. I'll be whitewashing into Sonoma (it's in the Napa zone) and I'll be training a greenie. I'll be a District Leader again, which I kind of had a feeling I would be. I guess it was kinda nice that this happened after our last zone conference where President stressed over and over how there are no "ranks" in leadership- and if he feels that even an AP would be of best use as a district leader or regular missionary after his time in the office, then that's exactly what he'll do with him (meaning it doesn't mean he "hasn't proved himself" or got demoted). So anyway, zone leader has been a lot of fun but I'm excited to go back to training- especially now that I've been out so long. I've got a ton of things I'd do differently now with a new missionary, so it'll be awesome to have another shot.

This last week was awesome in Ukiah. Our zone, for the first time in who knows how long, reached the baptismal goal! We were way excited, and also my companion and I set three baptismal dates with some of our new investigators. They're all excited about church and are progressing quickly. We had one of our investigators finally come for the first time and he loved it- and our other investigator Sharon came for the second time and REALLY loved it. Everyone's devastated that I'm leaving, but I totally knew they would be. It's always the best to give investigators the "departing testimony" and last words of wisdom that you want them to know. I wish I could testify like that all the time. It seems like it's a hundred times more powerful when I know it's the last time I get to do it.

As for the new area, they completely whitewashed it (Spanish and English elders) and so there will be me, my greenie, a spanish elder, and his greenie. What's even more exciting is that the Spanish trainer will be going home about half way through the transfer, so for the last three weeks I'll be in a threesome with two greenies. Intense.

Anyway, life's good, I'm excited for the new area, write me mail, and have a good week! The Gospel's still true.

Elder B

Week #76

Hey Everyone!

We had quite the week this week. It had a spectacular finish, too. On Sunday we were pretty disappointed that not one of our investigators came to church (two of them promised they would). However, during the first hour we realized there was someone we didn't recognize sitting in the back. We were fortunate to catch her before she left and found out that she'd been taught by missionaries about twelve years ago but ended up moving and just lost touch. She hardly remembers any of it, but agreed to start taking lessons. We went to her house after church and taught most of her family the first lesson. They're all high school age or older accept for Theo (fifth grade). All of them there were very interested and all asked for copies of the Book of Mormon (except for two of them [girlfriend and boyfriend] that didn't want them). They asked us to come back tonight and the mom mentioned that the one thing she DOES remember is that she struggles with our perception of the Godhead (she said she's been taught ever since she was a kid that they were all one being). Now I'm even more excited. It sounds like all of her concerns are my favorite topics to explain and testify of, so this should be a good week. I'm hoping to meet with them a lot before I leave next week (still don't know where I'm going though).

Anyway, on top of that we did two exchanges with some other companionships in our zone. One of them was awesome- which happened to be with my grandson and my great-grandson. It was really fun to work with them.

Our zone has been very blessed this transfer- and it looks like for the first time we will PASS our baptismal goal that we set for the transfer. We set a goal for ten (one per companionship) which is sadly MUCH higher than Ukiah zone's typical performance (when we got here in the area, the previous transfer baptisms was two). The last two transfers the zone has gotten five, and now it looks like it's going to happen! It's interesting to see how much obedience goes right along with the success the missionaries have. Each transfer has been better than the last for everyone here (obedience wise) and so have the numbers.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I've done more work on a farm in the past six months than I have my whole life. Whether I'm cleaning barns, shearing sheep (that was a hoot[not]. I will never own a ranch or a farm) throwing around and stacking bails (bales?) of hay (I felt like a true man doing that one. I may not own a farm or ranch but I'll definitely consider owning and truck and hauling hay), or cleaning up animal poop and digging trenches, I've done it all. Fortunately for each occasion, I've had a companion who used to live on a ranch so I always looked like the idiot.

Anyway, life is great except for me getting very little mail this week. Very little. Just so everyone knows though, I'm going to try and catch up on Christmas mail/thank you's today. The gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #75 - Pants

Hey everyone!

It was a great New Year celebration in good ol' Ukiah. Just so everyone knows, I will for sure be getting transferred at the end of this transfer (ends January 17th) so plan accordingly with sending me mail. Any mail that will probably arrive after the Monday after the transfer ends can be sent to the mission office address.

Devin was baptized Saturday! The service went really well and there were plenty of people there to support him. It was my first time confirming someone a member of the church yesterday- and that was an amazing experience. He'll be a great addition to the ward here. We quizzed him on everything the day before he was baptized just for fun and he knew it ALL. We were pretty shocked at how well he's studied up on stuff. For starting off as someone who didn't even know God existed, he's come a very long way in a short time.

We went to the Oakland temple on Wednesday with the senior couple in our zone. It was excellent.

I strongly recommend the talk "Jesus Knows I'm a Christian" by John Bytheway. It's deeper than his usual youth-oriented talks and very very well done. Definitely the best one I've heard him do.

Mormon Messages on youtube are still awesome. I saw a really short clip of one they did on hope (President Uchtdorf's talk) on lds.org's main page. I want to see the whole thing.

I hit my 18 month mark on Saturday. I was kind of annoyed that there was no fireworks display, no one interviewed me from the newspaper, and there were no congratulatory letters/packages all over my doorstep from friends and loved ones at any time throughout the day. Maybe people just got the date mixed up. I knew I shouldn't have put it so close to New Years and Christmas.

Anyway, it was a great week and life is still good. The gospel's true and thanks for everythiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing
Elder B