Elder Balagna's Mission

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2010-07-05T13:39:00.003-05:00

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

2010-06-29T15:13:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-06-21T16:32:00.000-05:00

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

2010-06-14T13:25:00.000-05:00

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

2010-06-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

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

2010-06-01T09:37:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-25T14:24:00.001-05:00

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

2010-05-17T13:37:00.000-05:00

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

2010-05-10T18:28:00.006-05:00

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

2010-05-03T17:20:00.000-05:00

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?

2010-04-27T13:12:00.001-05:00

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!

2010-04-20T18:03:00.001-05:00

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

2010-04-12T15:42:00.002-05:00

Week #89 - I'm Still a Guy

2010-04-12T15:10:00.000-05:00

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

2010-04-05T13:54:00.001-05:00

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

2010-03-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-03-23T23:21:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-03-15T23:02:00.000-05:00

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

2010-03-09T14:59:00.000-06:00

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

2010-03-01T14:54:00.006-06:00

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!

2010-02-22T20:06:00.001-06:00

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

2010-02-15T20:05:00.001-06:00

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

2010-02-08T21:03:00.000-06:00

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

2010-02-01T17:29:00.001-06:00

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?

2010-01-25T21:25:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-18T23:21:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-11T23:35:00.000-06:00

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

2010-01-04T13:18:00.001-06:00

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

Week #74 - Happy Newbert

2009-12-28T22:08:00.000-06:00

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

2009-12-21T13:05:00.001-06:00

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

2009-12-14T21:30:00.000-06:00

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!

2009-12-07T15:24:00.000-06:00

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

2009-11-30T22:57:00.001-06:00

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

2009-11-23T13:19:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-16T13:37:00.001-06:00

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!

2009-11-09T13:17:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-02T22:20:00.002-06:00

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

2009-10-26T21:37:00.001-05:00

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

2009-10-19T21:47:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-12T23:14:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-10-05T16:54:00.000-05:00

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

2009-09-28T13:20:00.000-05:00

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

2009-09-21T13:38:00.000-05:00

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

2009-09-14T23:05:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-09-07T15:03:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-31T23:20:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-24T17:46:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-17T22:52:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-10T22:03:00.000-05:00

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

2009-08-03T18:19:00.002-05:00

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

2009-07-27T13:24:00.002-05:00

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

2009-07-20T13:37:00.002-05:00

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

2009-07-13T13:24:00.000-05:00

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

2009-07-06T13:43:00.002-05:00

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

2009-06-29T13:12:00.001-05:00

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"

2009-06-15T09:50:00.002-05:00

Singing "Nearer My God to Thee"

2009-06-15T09:48:00.000-05:00

Week #46 - Congratulations!

2009-06-08T21:45:00.000-05:00

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

2009-06-01T17:42:00.000-05:00

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

2009-05-20T16:52:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-11T20:05:00.007-05:00

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

2009-05-11T15:43:00.003-05:00

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

2009-04-30T09:00:00.001-05:00

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

2009-04-20T16:58:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-04-13T16:30:00.001-05:00

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

2009-04-06T13:24:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-30T15:57:00.001-05:00

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

2009-03-23T17:18:00.003-05:00

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

2009-03-16T14:47:00.001-05:00

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

2009-03-09T13:12:00.002-05:00

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

2009-03-02T20:53:00.002-06:00

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

2009-02-23T13:29:00.002-06:00

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

Week #33 - Minced Ice and Building Blocks

2009-02-16T17:45:00.002-06:00

Hello from Benicia!
And a very Happy Valentines Day, especially to friends who didn't send me anything (guilt trip...). Thanks to the family though for sending me stuff! The chocolate covered strawberries were an excellent surprise, as well as the cookies. Transfer information is out in the open. I'm pretty excited- Elder Shaw's headed to Santa Rosa and I'll be sticking around Benicia. My new companion will be a brand new greenie so I don't even know his name yet. I kinda had a feeling I'd be training this transfer so I'm pretty pumped but still a bit nervous. They're splitting my area into two so we're getting two more missionaries, which means fourteen total in the zone. I'm not really sure why they aren't splitting the zone up into two districts (right now I'll be a solo district leader for the zone) but it'll be cool. Our zone's awesome. So, I guess it's high time I started following the rules so I can teach my greenie how to be a stellar missionary. I might even start waking up before noon and going to church every so often. Just so everyone is aware, though, this is important: Odds are, because he is brand new, he'll get mail just about every day. Unless you want me to feel small and insignificant, feel free to send me TONS of mail this transfer. TONS.

Anyway, this was quite the weekend. On Valentine's Day, I was fortunate to get to play piano for someone's funeral, and then two hours later I got to play for someone's wedding. It was quite the contrast. I played a lot of Jon Schmidt so I really enjoyed myself. I didn't know the man who died and I also didn't know the couple who got married but they seemed in love which was good.

Not that we didn't have other pressing appointments with investigators and families who REALLY wanted to meet on Valentine's Night, but Saturday night Elder Shaw and I were invited to a singles ward social that was in Benicia. Some nonmembers were expected to be there anyway but I was expecting this to be WAY awkward given that it was Valentine's Day in a SINGLES ward and everyone wanted to be married. However, it was actually really fun. Elder Shaw knew them because he served in their ward when he was in Napa (we're in the Napa Stake) and it was really fun. There was a guy there who knew some insane card tricks that I had nightmares about later and at the end we were asked to serenade everyone by singing to guitar and piano stuff. It was awesome.

Anyway, I'm excited for the new transfer. We've got a lot of potential work at this point, so hopefully we'll start seeing some things happen soon.

Have a good week (and cross your fingers that I won't get a weird companion)!

Elder B

Week #32 - The Mormon Cricket (see Encyclopedia M-N for details)

2009-02-09T13:03:00.002-06:00

Last week of the first transfer in Benicia! Anyway, kind of a lame week. Elder Shaw got a pretty severe cold/flu type thing on Monday and then I was lucky to pick it up from him around Wednesday. I only got a pretty bad cold though- I seemed to have dodged the flu for now. We're doing much better though and we even got to sing at a baptism on Saturday. We made an arrangement of Nearer My God To Thee and Redeemer of Israel that Elder Shaw accompanied on the guitar and it sounded pretty awesome. We tried recording it a few times on my camera but it's REALLY hard to work out the sound. I've also tried playing piano and singing and I've been getting really fed up with how hard it is to get the sound not to blare on the camera or have one thing drown out another. Pants. So, aside from that things are good.

It's been a little disappointing lately as far as the work goes; pretty much all of our investigators are kind of weak right now and one of them who seemed really promising at first is turning out to be a very odd person (understatement). But, ol' Elder Shaw and I are working hard to be way obedient and trying all that we can to improve and increase our teaching pool, so hopefully the Lord will bless us with more people to teach sooner or later. The lady across from me in the library just shoved my computer toward me. I don't really know if she realized it or not but my keyboard is now almost hanging off the desk.

I'm so excited for this week (Valentine's Week) because I'm sure I'll get a TON of letters from everyone I know wishing me a Happy Valentine's Day. I'm just assuming I will because all of my friends are really friendly and always send me mail for Valentine's Week. Anyway, sorry there wasn't a whole lot to update everyone on this week- it was kind of slow due to more sickness. But, despite colds, flues, and other stuff, the gospel's still true, Christ is our Savior, and I know this work is what the Lord wants done. Word to your mother. Oh- everyone in northern California uses the term "hekka" as in "That sounds hekka cool!" or "I'm hekka excited!" I refuse to ever let that word slip into my vocabulary and every time I hear someone use it I think about throwing something at them. I've been hearing it ever since I got into the mission.

Much love and a Happy Valentine's Day!
Elder B

Week #31 - Freep Who?

2009-02-02T15:43:00.002-06:00

Happy My Seven Month Mark!

So life is fantastic in Benicia, AND I received mail EVERY day last week. Thank you to everyone who contributed. That's how it should be. :-)

It turns out I am no longer in a threesome companionship, but it was great while it lasted. Elder M. was emergency transferred to Crecent City (the northernmost area in our mission...I'm currently serving in the southernmost) because the loser companionship that was up there was sleeping in until ten or eleven every day and not doing anything. So, one elder was taken out and stuck with another two elders and the other will stay up there with Elder M.whipping him into shape (hopefully). Crazy Elder P. He came out seven months ago with me and now look at him. Sleepin in and what not. What a doof.We ran into some apostates on Saturday. One was a less active woman who says she's "no longer a member" because of a book she read. It was quite the experience. It's pretty amazing how good the ol' adversary is at twisting things and hardening people. Elder S. is quite the companion. No matter what we'll be splitting up at the end of the transfer which is kind of sad. We get along really well and we can teach really well together. Also, he's a good singer and is way impressive on the guitar. We've done a lot of our own arrangements of hymns for members and church stuff (I'll be taking video of some and sending them home). So, it's been a really good transfer- I guess it's just a six week relief from the past few months. That's about all I've got for today. It's been a bit of a crazy week with the whole emergency transfer stuff so not much has happened.

Anyway, thanks again for all the mail and have a good week!

Elder B

Two Guys in Suits, by Elder Balagna

2009-01-26T20:44:00.006-06:00

We were a little late in posting this, but we got this a couple weeks ago and finally are getting it on the blog. Elder Balagna and his companion were fellowshipping a ward member who put this together for them:

So, here's the ol' rap I wrote. I sing from the beginning to the end of the second chorus (look up in the sky it's two guys in suits...etc) then I'm throwin down (rapper lingo) with Elder Prescott, then Elder Wheeler takes the stage and I do another verse (whatchyall think a dis beat beat beat) and then Elder Vigil does his part. Enjoy!

(click below)
Two Guys in Suits

Week #30 - Request for Mail Please

2009-01-26T13:02:00.002-06:00

Hey Everyone!

It was quite the week this week. Before I say anything else, I'd like to throw out a quick reminder to all of my friends reading the blog that they should be sending me mail more often.

Speaking of mail, thanks a ton for the Superman sweatshirt! It's awesome! I've worn in a lot already believe it or not. It gets pretty chilly in the mornings and at night, so it's always a nice time to use it. Also speaking of mail, my dear companion Elder S. received the infamous Dear John letter this week. He's a way cool guy but he was pretty attached to his girlfriend. So, he struggled a lot last week. It really wasn't even that bad (he read us the letter), but he was still pretty depressed. She just told him he was spending way to much time on her and a bunch of stuff like that. She just wants to write much less frequently. So, he spent Friday throwing up and feeling terrible while Elder M. and I studied and watched uplifting movies at the church. Sidenote, the Glenn Beck one (An Unlikely Mormon) was really good. Thanks for sending it out!

We had Zone Conference this week and it was really good. Lots of crazy amazing talks. We also had some really good lessons this week- we did a lot of testimony bearing which is always a plus. There were some excellent spiritual moments.

It turns out Colin Stoddard was just companions with the son of someone in my ward. What are the odds? Anyway, sorry this one's short. I don't have a whole lot of updates but thanks for everything and what not. Happy late Martin Luther King Jr. Day as well as inauguration.

Elder B

Week #29 - Telephone Wires and Coaxial Cables

2009-01-19T15:16:00.002-06:00

Hey Errbody!

I'm a bit pressed for time so this may be short, but life is spectactular. First and foremost, a big giant thanks to the Chief for his left handed letter! It made my month and I showed my companions and they thought it was the coolest thing in the world and they were all jealous that they didn't have as cool of a dad. Also the video that the Vreg sent was absofruitly awesome, and the ol' Lucy can say my name!! I s'pose the video makes up for not talking to me at Christmas. Gracie's also getting crazy big. Pants.

So that's pretty cool that I hit two hundred days. I had no idea. But, to celebrate, I might try and get my camera fixed because some doof dropped it on its lens and now it's jammed. So, pictures will be delayed for a while.

Anywho, I had a crazy awesome experience last week. We ate at an inactive family's house- they're AWESOME and you'd never guess that they didn't go to church. At the end of the meal, the dad says "I don't mean to bombard you or anything...I'd really like it if you elders could give our whole family blessings...it's been so long since I've been to church I don't really feel like I can do it." So, we agreed and he asked me to give him one. It was probably the first time I felt impressed to say such specific things to someone and I was giving advice and direction about different things that I didn't even know about (I'd just met him that night). I actually finished the blessing a little worried because I didn't really know what I had been talking about, and the dad just said thanks a lot and we went on with the rest of the family. After everyone had gotten a blessing, the dad said he wanted to bear us his testimony. He started getting really emotional saying how he knows so much that the power of the priesthood is real and that he knew without a doubt that I was guided by God on what to say in the blessing. He went on to say how I had said things in his blessing that there was no way I could have known to say any other way and he could feel the power in it. It was definitely one of the strongest testimonies I'd ever heard (why don't they come to church??) and the whole experience was pretty incredible. Heavenly Father knows how to speak to His kids. Plus, to top things off, they showed us a Book of Mormon that had been passed down in their family that was published in 1870. That was pretty awesome.

We picked up a pretty good investigator this week. Basically, we're offering her lots of hope which is pretty awesome. We had a good lesson with her and next week she's inviting her friend. Anywho- I'm pretty out of time. Have a good week!

Elder Al

Week #28 - Ben Knee Shuh

2009-01-12T22:13:00.002-06:00

Good Day to errbody!!

So the new area's pretty awesome! The new companions are awesome and we're getting along really well. We're covering two wards- Lake Herman and Benicia. I guess the plan was originally to have me open a new area (Lake Herman), but a missionary decided to go home after his first transfer unexpectedly...so we are now in a nice lil' trio. It's way cool though- lots of work going on in the Lake Herman ward which is excellent- and the ward mission leader actually does his job (and does it well) which is a major plus. We'll do what we can! Anyway, the new area is great and I love it. We had a baptism Saturday and it went REALLY well. President came and said it was one of the best he'd attended. I got to play piano and we sang Amazing Grace and Blessed Assurance. Hehe. It was awesome. Everyone loved it. It's not every day you get to sing hymns like that in church.

Sorry about the new address stuff- I assume that's why I didn't get ANY mail this week. :-) I'm expecting at least ten letters before next Sunday.

Here's my new one:

Elder Pants Balagna 50 Chelsea Hills Apartment 7 Benicia, CA 94510

I'm a wee bit short on time so I need to wrap it up, but thanks for everything! Have a good week!

Love,Pants

Week #27 - Transferred!

2009-01-06T11:33:00.012-06:00

Hey Family and Friends!

It seems I will finally be bidding adieu to Fairfield. I'm getting transferred to Benicia, which is about forty minutes away. I leave tomorrow morning and I'm pretty pumped. I guess I'm in a companionship with two other elders, so it'll be interesting. From what I hear they're both pretty cool. I don't have the address or anything yet, so just stick with sending everything to the mission home until further notice. It's pretty neat though- two other people who are way cool from this zone are going to my new zone as well- so we're pretty excited. Sister Benning (the member in the house I live in) cried when she heard the news of me getting transferred. Other than that, I made my rounds and told everyone goodbye and got some pictures with some cool families of the ward. It's been a mighty fine area and it'll be missed. Good ol' Fairfield.

Here's a video of my "Farewell to Fairfield" tribute.

Our temple trip was last Tuesday and it was crazy awesome. They had an exhibit at the visitor's center of all of these brass sculptures a lady made all about Christ. They're incredible. It was really cool to see them and the stories behind them are pretty nifty. They all depict parts of His ministry during the New Testament (i.e. Christ walking on water, healing the sick, raising Lazarus from the dead, etc) and there was also one of the First Vision and a lifesize sculpture of Christ with open arms. That one was way cool. The organ playing went really well in the temple. It was really neat to be able to play there. I was kinda hoping it'd be a white organ just because I thought it would make the experience cooler somehow, but it was brown. Still amazing though. I probably won't have many more opportunities to do something like that, so it was quite the experience. Our mission conference was the next day and it was really fun. There were lots of good talks and afterwards we did a bunch of fun stuff and watched the Olympics highlights. It was also great to see a bunch of people again that I'd met before in the mission.

Here's a picture of me opening my Christmas gifts - my reaction when I opened my Project Linus t-shirt!

I hit six months! Yay me! Here are some pictures of my 1/4 mark celebration. I burned a tie (one that I found in our old apartment. Really ugly)

That about wraps it up for the week.

Happy New Year!

Love-Elder Al

Week #26 Happy Newbert!

2008-12-29T15:32:00.002-06:00

Hey champs!

The ol' phone calls this week were awesome! Thanks for calling, family. I was REALLY hoping you would. Anywho, long story short, I don't have too much to update everyone on- Christmas was great and the Bennings even got us some way cool gifts. Though it couldn't even hold a CANDLE to Crimbo with the ol' family, it was still a splendid day.

Can't say a whole lot happened the rest of the week that's worth writing about. It seems California isn't quite as excited about missionaries as you'd expect during Christmas and New Year's. We did carol to some nursing homes though and that was fun. They were very appreciative. Some of them even threw out requests and applauded. Some of them slept.This is probably my last week with good ol' Elder Wheeler. It's been real. Odds are I'm definitely getting transferred this time, so the last day I will receive any mail at this address is a week from today (Monday). Any mail that comes after next Monday to the Mecca Court address will not be received by ol' Elder Balagna. So, if anyone is unsure about when a letter will get here, send it to the Mission Home address.

That would be greatly appreciated.Thanks again for all the Christmas stuff. The pictures utterly pleasant and the T-shirts are crazy awesome as well. The Great Apostasy is way way good and it has also really opened my eyes to the dangers of global warming. Thanks again for errbody who sent me letters/stuff during the season. It made life spectacular. Thanks to Lee for the Calvin and Hobbs comics!

Happy New Year!
Elder Al

A Christmas Video

2008-12-24T08:15:00.002-06:00

Alex emailed this video for Christmas, so enjoy! He said to apologize it is sideways...

Week #25 - Merry Crimbo!

2008-12-22T17:24:00.003-06:00

I can't wait to talk to everyone this week!

Speaking of outrageous, news for this week:

We picked up two new investigators tracting- both very cool and one was for the singles ward which is pretty awesome. He's a very cool guy and had lots of good questions. We're meeting again tomorrow afternoon.

Annie (the girl I knew from BYU) is back in town again and it's still weird. Pretty cool though. What are the odds? She has a bunch of my friends in her phone and she was texting them saying how I was in her house. Crazy.

Our host family is having us (or I guess keeping us...since we live there) for Christmas which should be way fun.

Cara's husband is softening up a TON toward the church...awesome. Pretty amazing.
Speaking of Cara, she bought us REALLY nice sweaters and ties for Christmas (not the one I'm wearing in the video- she got me a somewhat similar style that's green). The tie's awesome too.

Other than that, thanks a lot for the mail this week and thank you so much the Decatur 1st Ward and the Isons for the packages they sent!!

My presents might be a little late this year for everyone. Sorry. Hehe.

Much love all around!
Elder Al

Week #24 - yaD noitaraperP

2008-12-15T14:44:00.003-06:00

Dearest Family and Friends,

This week was a delight. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Cara has been taking her two eight and nine year old kids to church the past few weeks and they LOVE it (more than their other church). We're going to start teaching them both on Tuesday which is pretty awesome. It'll be pretty neat to teach kids. Also, on top of that, her husband came with her to the ward Christmas party (he drove separately in case he felt it necessary to head out early on account of not enjoying himself with those wacky Mormons) and it went VERY well. He stayed the whole time and made a bunch of friends and he's going to start golfing and hunting with some of them. In the words of Cara, "He doesn't stand a chance." Hehe. Maybe not for a while, but sooner or later he'll join the posse.

I was pretty psyched to see signs for The Day The Earth Stood Still remake. What an incredible movie.

In other news, the Oakland Temple trip is coming up and I'm way excited. President asked if I could play "Our Savior's Love" on the organ in the chapel in the temple. Given that I have had no organ experience I hesitated, but then I decided it's probably the only chance I'll ever have to play on a white organ (it's in the temple, no less). I practiced it on the organ at the church and it went really well, so it looks like it'll work out great. I'm pretty excited.

As for the ol' Christmas list, I've thought of a few things:The Great Apostasy (James E. Talmage); Any good vocal solo sheet music (I thought Jonny might know some good ones); Any good pictures of family (maybe even some with me in them); Broken Things To Mend (book by Elder Holland).

Anyway, that's about all I've got for the week. The ol' excursion remains awesome and the gospel remains even more awesome (and true).

Merry Crimbo!
Elder Al

Week #23 - A Brighter Yellow

2008-12-08T17:08:00.002-06:00

Hey pants!

Still kickin in ol' California. I had an insane case of food poisoning up until yesterday. Pretty rough. The last couple days consisted of me blowing up out of each end. Please make sure that makes the blog.

Anywho, I'm pretty recovered now, and Cara gave me a haircut this morning, so things are looking up. I don't have a whole lot to report this week due to said sickness, but things are excellent. One of our investigators named Ann just made a major turn. She started asking about modern day prophets and why they were important and stuff- she mentioned how she'd heard a lot about Joseph Smith but not too much about a prophet today and was curious. We had a REALLY good discussion and she really started to see how everything applied to her and why this stuff is actually important which was a MAJOR breakthrough with her. We also taught Cara's best friend this week (sadly she lives out of our area, but Cara invited her to sit in on a lesson) and it went VERY well. She's golden. She kept saying how all of her questions kept getting answered throughout the lesson and she couldn't believe how perfect it all was. We told her at the end how the Lord will answer our prayers if we ask Him with faith and then mentioned a bit how the Spirit speaks, and she said "Oh trust me, I've felt it. I feel it right now- I know it's all true. It's incredible." She had a bunch of questions that led STRAIGHT into the Plan of Salvation, so basically I wish she was in our area and we could keep teaching her. Oh the ol' gospel. Too true for school.

I was asked to sing a really cool song for our Zone Developement Council called My Shepard Will Supply My Need. It went really well. Pants.

Welp, I don't really have much else. Hope you all have a splendid week and what not!

Elder Al

What am I thankful for?

2008-12-05T22:27:00.003-06:00

In honor of Thanksgiving, I decided to make a list of the top 15 things I'm thankful for (not in any particular order):

1. The Mom and The Chief
2. The Chief's moustache
3. The rest of the fam
4. My titles in pool
5. The Gospel and all things related
6. The Priesthood
7. My magic box
8. Jesus The Christ (Amazing Book)
9. Music
10. My Bobblehead
11. Piano
12. How all my friends say "The Chief"
13. Superman and all things related
14. Support on the mission
15. BYU

Week #22 - Chalk and Chalk. Where's First Wok?

2008-11-24T17:22:00.003-06:00

Happy Thanksturkey!

Looks like I'll be sticking around Fairfield for at least six months, so go ahead and keep sending mail to the same address. I suppose I'm pretty content with that. I wouldn't have minded a change, but it looks like Ol' Elder Wheeler and I will be sticking around together for at least another six weeks.
Anyway, this was by far the best week of my mission! I was extremely fortunate to get to baptize Cara- it was absolutely incredible. It's amazing to see how much the gospel changes people. She was glowing the entire time and then when we were getting into the font I looked across and saw her- she looked like a little girl. She was so excited and she gave me a thumbs up. Definitely an incredible experience and the whole service was fantastic. Cara has become pretty tight with a ton of the women in relief society and is fitting in VERY well. They all love her. Pretty incredible. Definitely not the same person we started teaching!!

Here's a picture of us before the baptism.

I'm wearing jeans today for the first time since I left. They aren't as comfortable as I remember. I was kinda disappointed. It's getting pretty chilly at night around here, but the days are still really nice. It's really hard to believe it's almost Christmas. I can't wait to call the ol' household and hear the Chief's Barbara Streisand impression again.

Welp, that's about all I've got. Mail info's still the Fairfield address, the baptism was amazing, and the gospel changes lives. And pants. Enjoy Thanksgerrrrrrrrrving!

Elder Al

Week #21 - Skittles and Berries

2008-11-17T18:01:00.002-06:00

Well pants, the day finally arrived. Cara set the date for her baptism last Friday and asked me to do the honors. I'm pretty excited. It'll quite possibly be my last Saturday in the beloved area of Fairfield California, so this could be a nice finish. Who knows though, I may end up staying here for a full six months. I'll find out in about six days. But, either way, she's getting baptized! She's so excited which is really cool to see. I can't believe how much she's changed and progressed since we first started teaching her. She's a completely different person. She had her interview last Saturday, came to church Sunday where it was announced that she'd be getting baptized, and we're meeting tomorrow to get the program all set up. It was actually a little funny...we asked her last Friday if she'd be baptized a week from the following day and she said that she'd have to wait one more week (she had some huge service thing she committed to the following Sunday and said she'd feel really weird not making church after she was baptized). Maybe it was a cheap shot, but I said "That's fine. I might get transferred though, so I may be missing it." She then decided she'd be able to figure things out with her Sunday plans and get her shifts covered. :-)

Other than that, we talked with some really cool people this week. It never ceases to amaze me how exciting the gospel really is. I get so pumped when people ask questions. It bothers me a lot to look back at how I used to discuss religion with people back at home. I honestly thought I had the best answers and now I realize how much better I could have done explaining things and answering stuff. Oh past self. You have so much to learn. Odds are I'll probably be saying that same thing about myself now in a few months. Pants.

Anyway, that's really about all the big news I have this week. I'm a little low on time so I gotta head out but have a fantastic week and you'll get pictures soon of Cara's baptism! Also a big fat thanks to everyone for sending me absolutely no mail this week.

Love,
Elder Al

October 2008 Pictures from the mission

2008-11-14T22:51:00.016-06:00

Elder Balagna's Missionary District Photo
A HUGE Tree!
Elder Balagna hiding in the HUGE tree!
Alex posing in front of a lighthouse!
Alex ON the lighthouse!

A neat missionary closet!
Super Alex's Superman Quilt and Superman Pillow

Stake Pumpkin Decorating Event - everyone is welcome to decorate a pumpkin and display it.

Alex's Superman Pumpkin!

Halloween treats from home make a missionary very happy!

No mail from home makes a missionary sad...

Week #20 - Plasti-tack

2008-11-12T08:24:00.001-06:00

Best week ever!

So, for starters, we taught 25 lessons this week. Awesome. We had one really good lesson with an investigator for singles- Anthony. We had a guy named Chris from the singles branch teach with us who was a MAJOR help. He joined the church when he was about 18 and served a mission the next year in the Philippines. He's a crazy strong member and it's pretty amazing to hear him talk about how much the gospel's changed his life. Anyway, that lesson went really really well but that's not even why this week was awesome. The following paragraph will explain.

Cara (apparently her name isn't spelled with a "K" like I thought. Disappointing. That's how Supergirl spells it.) was at church last Sunday (and this Sunday) and loved it. The talks were PERFECT for her this week as well as the testimonies last week. Anyway, we got to her house for our lesson with her last Wednesday, and she said "Boy am I happy to see you guys!" and she had made us sandwiches. They were pleasant to the taste. She was much more excited than usual, which we were pretty sure was a good sign. Turns out, in the past two days, she had read over half of the Book of Mormon, and said she absolutely knew it was true. The first thing she said was "I'm ready to be grafted in!!" (referring to Jacob 4). She had some questions she had written as she was reading that she asked us and she was SO excited the whole time. She started getting a little emotional when she was telling us thanks for sticking with her for so long and she said after MUCH prayer, study, and research she finally understood that it was perfect. She was telling us about all of these experiences she'd had just in the past week that led her straight to the church and these discussions she'd had with people trying to "save" her from it that she completely came out on top in (one of them is now meeting with us this Thursday). It was so fun to hear her talk about that especially because one of her big issues before was that she was afraid she couldn't defend herself if people tried to talk to her like that. Long story short, she's ready to get baptized and we're setting the date this week. Yes! I'm crazy excited for her.

Other than that, things are splendid.

Thanks to everyone for all the mail and sorry to those that I've yet to respond to.

Happy early November!

Elder Al

Week #19 - Happy Novemberween

2008-11-03T22:50:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday you crazy lil Jonny!

This week was fantastic. Although my life is put at risk daily as I get into our car (the Lord is on our side. No one can tell me He doesn't give missionaries a little extra protection and I've never been so serious when I pray for safe travel) and I constantly have to swallow my pride knowing that I was voted best driver in my graduating class and instead I'm putting my life into the hands of someone who has just about demolished our hubcap on every curb we park next to, broken off a huge chunk of curb when he slammed the front of the car into it in the church parking lot this morning (which left many pleasant dings and scrapes), and is still working on understanding traffic lights and stop signs (I've yet to see improvement, but you never know...we've only been at it for six weeks), things are good.

So as for why the week was fantastic, we taught many many lessons, had an EXCELLENT lesson with Kara, who finally decided to come to church (the testimony meeting was incredible...they were all way good and Kara REALLY enjoyed it) and stayed all three hours. We went by her house later that day so we could talk a little more about how she liked it, and we drove up only to see her on her front balcony reading the Book of Mormon. She loved church, she's getting really excited about everything, and it made my month. On top of that, we had another "right place at the right time" experience with Emily - the girl we found for the singles branch. We showed up to her house just to see how she was doing, and it turned out her friend Amanda was there, who was Catholic but wasn't sure she agreed with a lot of Catholicism. So, Amanda was very open and asked us many questions, and Emily wanted to know about the Plan of Salvation because we told her we'd expand on it last time we saw her. Well, Amanda basically taught a huge chunk of the lesson we were going to teach when she explained her view of heaven, and she was also VERY thrilled to hear about our view on the fall of Adam and Eve. She also thought it was amazing that we had "such a better understanding" on all of the concepts and asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon. She told us "I'll read it. I really will." We didn't even ask her to, so we were fine with that. The lesson was probably one of the best I've ever had, and the spirit was crazy strong (and helping us out a ton). Both were at the singles branch today. Fantastic.

Halloween was awesome. Every year the stake president puts on this HUGE dealy where he buys about fifty million pumpkins and has anyone who wants to just go on over to his house and carve them. He's done it every year and then he puts them all over his yard and we light them all up. He likes having missionaries there so they can talk to people as they carve. My pumpkin, just so everyone knows, was absolutely incredible and probably my best work ever. The pumpkin itself was a BEAST so it was insanely difficult to do. But, long story short, it was the best one in the yard and pictures will be sent home shortly.

Other than that, Proposition 8 stuff is insane and I have absolutely no idea how not everyone sees it for what it is. If I hear that not letting gay people call their domestic partnership "marriage" is discrimination one more time I might jump off a cliff.

Anywho, other than that craziness, things are amazing. The gospel's still true so that's really nice. I've gotta head out but have a swell week!

Elder Balaaaaaaaaagna

Week #18 - Boo-gers!

2008-10-27T16:02:00.002-05:00

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

Welp, another week has passed and next time you hear from me I will have hit my four month mark. Time's going by like crazy. Things are certainly interesting with this new companion... :-D He's quite the character. Last week was pretty crazy- we had some good visits and some pretty fun tracting stories. One really old lady opened her door and went "I'm Jewish. ALSO I'M AN ATHIEST" and she slammed the door as hard as she could. I suppose she's not ready. I'm still not really sure I understand how she's a Jewish Athiest. We had a really good lesson with Kara this week. It seems like just about every lesson with her (she's picked up on this as well and has brought it up many times), what we planned to teach is exactly what she's recently had questions about. We resolved a big concern that we didn't even know was there- so that was fantastic. Slowly but surely. Rough week for Kelly. His son died unexpectedly last week and he's had a lot going on as a result. He called us to say that he "hadn't forgotten about us" and really wants to meet again as soon as he has time. We had an excellent discussion with Gary (the Frank Sinatra guy). I really think this one may actually go somewhere. At first with him it was pretty clear that he was an why he was an eternal investigator, but now we're really starting to crack him open. Good stuff.

Welp- I need to head out. Happy Halloween!

A Halloween Funny, by Yours Truly: Why did the ghost like being a ghost? Because it was "spook"tacular.

Boofully yours,
Elder Balagna

Week #17 - Free Smells!

2008-10-20T15:47:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

Thanks a ton for the swell, surprising, sensational and stupendous 100 Day present! You are quite the family! I'll have to let you know some of my favorites next week. They were all crazy awesome.

Aside from that it's been a crazy week. Nothing too exciting- we've been driving people around and having to do a bunch of stuff that took up time and wasted our miles because of transfers. This car situation is not the greatest. But, we've got some new people in our zone who seem pretty cool so that's a plus.

We had a really cool experience with someone who's now an investigator for the singles branch. My story telling won't do it justice and I don't have much time to write today, so here is a very basic version: We had just seen her Saturday and invited her out to stake conference, and then I remembered that I was given invitations for a Halloween dance party at the singles branch to hand out to less actives and what not. I was annoyed with myself for forgetting, and then the ol' trusty comp suggested we just go over and deliver it anyway. We were way lucky to even catch her at all Saturday and we felt a little "brushed off" but I decided we might as well give it a shot. When we were near her area, I suggested we park and just walk the rest of the way because we needed to save miles. So, as we finally get near her house, there she is walking from one of her neighbors and she said "Hi guys!" (sidenote: had we not parked and walked, she would not have been home when we stopped by her house, and during the week she's in San Francisco so it would have been at least another week before we could maybe get ahold of her) and she walked over. We invited her to the Halloween party, and then she just started asking a couple questions that were VERY basic. From what we had learned about this girl before, we were under the impression that she was one of those people that knew all about us and believed it was all true but didn't ever want to be baptized. After talking to her for about forty minutes in the street, we found out that's not at all the case. She had the perfect questions and they basically led us to teaching her almost two full lessons. It got to a point where I explained why baptism was important and what it really was, to which she asked "Well what do I need to do to be baptized?" Excellent question. We explained more and she asked if we could come over next weekend to teach her more about everything. We said thanks but no thanks. Ha just kidding. We set up a time and she gave us her cell number and was excited. Pretty awesome stuff. We were on quite the spiritual high the rest of the day.

Anywho, I don't really have too much more to update about. Sorry this one's a bit short. I think the "greenie mail" period has definitely come to a close but it was good while it lasted.

Just so all of you friends back at home know, I'm still accepting letters. :-D

Have an extraordinary week- much love all around! Elder Al

Week #16 - Ice Cream for I Scream!

2008-10-13T12:22:00.008-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! A very special birthday letter will arrive soon.

This last week's been pretty nuts. We've been insanely busy but unfortunately it wasn't quite due to missionary work. Our car was finally taken away and totaled, but sadly we are not getting a new car. The entire mission is down three cars, so instead of getting a new one like we were told we would, we didn't get anything. Being without bikes and having to cover a Singles Branch (which covers the entire stake) made this even more exciting, and our travel coordinator suggested bus transportation and rides from members. Easier said than done I suppose. Thankfully, the first ward elders (who used to be on bike but last transfer got a brand new Corolla) offered to pretty much give up their car for us and go back to bikes. So, after two days of walking (and accomplishing little), we did get a new car which was quite helpful.
Friday and Saturday our zone put on puppet shows of Bible Stories (Noah's Ark, David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lion's Den, and Jonah and the Whale) at a crazy big festival dealy in Rio Vista. They were a HUGE hit. Elder Walton, Elder Allred and I wrote all the scripts and they were pretty well done, if I do say so myself. We also did most of the voices and puppeteering and got pretty into it. The kids loved it and we actually got some good contacts as well.

Also, I made another trip to Rio Vista today because a sister that's going home in a couple of days wanted me to sing with her and the other sisters in sacrament meeting- Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. It went well and the woman who played piano for us asked me to marry her daughter. We blew a lot of miles having to make three trips to Rio Vista in three days though.

Other than that, we had quite the experience with Kelly (the 89 year old guy we're teaching). We had about four people that were somewhat nearby that we decided to visit (while we were on foot). Kelly was one of them- they were all somewhat scattered, but he was the farthest one away. So we were just going to visit all four, him being last, and then head back to the house. Out of nowhere I decided we should just go see Kelly first and then see everyone else afterwards (it really didn't make sense to do that...it added a lot of time to our walking). But, it turned out that we showed up about twenty minutes before he had to go to the doctors office all day. He wasn't thrilled about going at all and he told us that he had just been thinking about us and wanted to be able to talk and pray before he went. After reading a bit from the Book of Mormon we asked him if he'd like us to give him a blessing instead.

(FYI - If you're not familiar with what a blessing is, here's the definition:
Priesthood Blessing: A blessing given by a Melchizedek Priesthood holder, by the laying on of hands and by inspiration, to one who is sick or otherwise in need of special counsel, comfort, or healing. If the blessing is for the sick, consecrated oil is used (James 5:14–15). Priesthood blessings are given by the authority of the priesthood for healing, comfort, and encouragement. Brethren who perform ordinances and blessings should prepare themselves by living according to gospel principles and striving to be guided by the Holy Spirit.)

He asked me to offer it and afterwards he prayed and thanked the Lord for sending us and for the comfort he received- he also said how he knew the words spoken were straight from God. After the prayer he told us he felt tons better and was very grateful for us stopping by. It was way cool. It also turned out that the other three people we planned on visiting weren't even home.

I'm a little short on time- transfers are tomorrow so today's a full day. Everything's staying the same for me but a lot of people are leaving. Sounds like things will be interesting. That about wraps her up.

Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Al

Week #15: Native American Wind Chimes Festival 08

2008-10-06T21:16:00.004-05:00

To Whom It May Concern:

The Gospel's still true. This week was fantastic. It was a little crazy with all the moving and and the companion switch but overall it was quite fantastic. We had a pretty amazing lesson with Kara. She's basically at a point now where she knows being baptized is the right thing to do but she's just a little worried about it. Part of the reason is she feels she doesn't know enough, but hopefully the talk by Elder Neil L. Andersen at General Conference helped a lot ("you don't know everything, but you know enough"). She recorded conference on Tivo because she's out of town until next Friday and she was pretty excited about seeing it. I never really thought about how cool it was that we get to sit down and watch a prophet and twelve apostles speak to us twice a year. I'm pretty sure everyone who watches (including me) says that they feel like each speaker is speaking directly to them. Anyone who tells me our leadership isn't inspired can go paint a shed. :-)

(If you'd like to listen to any of the talks given at General Conference, here's the link: http://www.lds.org/conference/languages/0,6353,310-1,00.html )

Anywho, we're teaching a guy named Kelly who's 88 years old. I don't know if I've mentioned him but he's awesome. He's pretty spry for his age. It's pretty neat to be teaching someone all about life after death when he's actually pretty close to seeing it for himself. He loves the Book of Mormon and has been reading it like crazy. He says it's an "epic novel" and he just can't stop reading. He was telling us how much he loves the stories (especially Alma) and how he loves the way it goes more in depth about certain things like life after death. His wife passed away a couple years ago so he really likes reading/learning about where she is right now and what it'll be like later on. Nifty stuff.

My new companion is an excellent teacher. When we teach he's very smooth and knows exactly what he's doing. The first day he got here he wanted to call and see who the designated driver was. Sadly, it was him (he's been out for a year). His hands NEVER leave the ten and two position so we're good to go. Anywho, he's a good person. This whole "fresh start" thing has been EXCELLENT. The ol' self confidence level has gone way up and it's fantastic to kinda be in control of the area and lead all the lessons. Anywho, I gotta head out but love love and more love to all you peeps back in the states.

Elder Al

Week #14 - Pants!

2008-09-29T11:02:00.003-05:00

Hellooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Kind of an unexpected finish to the week. Yesterday afternoon, Elder Singleton got a phone call from president asking if he could do an emergency transfer today at noon. Apparently, one of the Elders who shared my room at the MTC- is going home. He was struggling a lot and decided to go home. So, that was a little unexpected and kinda depressing. Today I'll be getting a new companion named Elder Wheeler.

Aside from that, it was a pretty good week. We ended up teaching about sixteen lessons this week which was pretty exciting.

We move into the Benning's house tomorrow and that should be really fun. They have a really nice house and an incredible piano on the second floor. I did get everyone's mail last week though in case you were wondering - the Bennings gave me what was sent to their house and we're still in our old apartment so I got what was mailed there. I don't really have too much else to write home about. I had the greasiest...most garlicy and most disgusting meal I've had yet last week. Even the salad was garlicy and terrible. Oh and to top it off, there was again only an option of milk to drink. Milk is not a good thirst quencher. It also tastes gross without cereal, cookies, or chocolate.

Sorry it's a bit of a short update this week. Not too much to catch everyone up on. But, all is well and I'll let everyone know how the new comp is.

Bye!
Elder Al

Week #13: Hop Scotchin' It!

2008-09-22T11:13:00.004-05:00

Good day!

As of September 25th, my new address will be:

Elder Balagna
2114 Mecca Ct
Fairfield, CA 94534

However, we're not actually moving into that house until a week from today. We were first told that we'd move the 25th, so that may be the end of our contract in the apartment. Today the family we're moving in with said they wouldn't quite be ready until Monday, so we may end up living with a couple other elders for a few days (who knows though- we might stay in our apartment). To be safe, don't mail anything to the apartment that would get there Friday or later.

Anywho, The Jelly Belly Factory was nice. Not the most exciting tour, but it was good. They had a sample Jelly Belly Bar which was absolutely fantastic. You could sample as many as you wanted. They also had a gigantic Jelly Belly Man out front which really brightened my day (to say the least). (See pictures below)

As for other exciting news, we were fed Chinese food Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night. It felt like home except I really thought I might vomit after the third helping. Members had yet to feed us Chinese once since I'd gotten here, and then three different families fed it to us in a row (including lunch, which members rarely rarely rarely ask us out to lunch).

On top of that, Kara had quite the story for us. We taught her a lot about fasting and what it does for us and committed her to try it with us on Sunday. We told her it could really help her find more direction and figure out what she wanted to do. I guess that day, she opened the news paper and saw a huge article on some new machine that's basically trying to simulate the big bang theory. She was a little annoyed with it and turned a few pages to finish the article. Then, she turned back a couple of pages and a quarter (this was a brand new news paper that she just opened up) was laying face up displaying the "In God We Trust." This made her pretty happy, and then upon moving the quarter, she realized it had been sitting over a tiny box under a "this day in history" section (that apparently she NEVER reads) and it said something about the Mormon Pioneers. Needless to say, she was pretty excited and she said she went out and bought another skirt. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but one of her "big things" is that she HATES skirts/dresses and doesn't ever buy them. She even said the only fight she ever got in with her husband was over a dress, and she said she didn't think she could ever be a member of our church because she'd feel awkward not wearing one. Well, a couple of weeks ago she said she bought one "just in case," and then after this experience she went out and bought another in preparation for attending church often. :-D

I don't know if you've heard much about Proposition 8, but it's huge out here. It's about the gay marriage issue. Basically, the entire fight is over NOTHING but the word marriage. Apparently, because we don't say that a guy/guy or girl/girl couple with ALL THE SAME RIGHTS as a guy/girl couple is marriage, we don't practice "equality for all." If Proposition 8 fails to pass, public schools have to teach that gay marriage is the same as marriage and we can't preach in church that it's wrong or we could be sued, etc etc. The First Presidency got really involved and is having all the members in California work to make sure it passes, The church has joined a huge coalition of Christian and Non-Christian denominations to go out and do a bunch of stuff to help make sure that it does. Crazy stuff.

I'm out of time- but thanks for all the emails and mail.

Mucho (fancy word for "much") love,
Elder Al

Two Super Missionaries!

2008-09-20T22:47:00.003-05:00

A few photos!

2008-09-20T21:31:00.012-05:00

Two busy missionaries! Elder Singleton and Elder Balagna in sunny Fairfield CA!

Always time for fun - guess where these guys spent their Preparation Day?

The Jelly Belly Factory - Elder Balagna has been looking forward to this for quite some time!

A peak inside:

Week #12 - More Powerful than a Locomotive

2008-09-15T15:15:00.001-05:00

Good day, errbody!
This will probably be a quick update- I don't have a whole lot of time. But, things are excellent. Our investigator Anthony came to church and he brought his friend Rob, who also wants to start taking lessons. So, a new investigator! We were pretty excited. Seems like we've been blessed a whole lot more than usual lately as far as investigators go, so I'd like to throw a shoutout to the man upstairs for helping us out so much in the past few weeks.

I'm sorry to inform everyone that we never made it to the Jelly Belly Factory last week, so I'm holding off on sending pictures home because we're supposedly going today. I'm pretty excited- mostly because we get free Jelly Bellies. I may have mentioned that last week but I just can't stop thinking about it. It's almost too awesome for words.

On the 25th we'll be moving in with a family in our ward named the Benning's. They're way cool. I'll have more information on that next week with an address and hoohaw. The weather's been much more tolerable lately. Just a wee bit cooler and it'll be perfect for wearing a white shirt and tie. There's also a bunch of fruit everywhere, and a bunch of people are giving us free homegrown fruit. It tastes pretty amazing. Plums, pears, apples, etc. Delicious. Peach season I guess is over which is terrible news. The peaches out here are amazing. One family gave us some of their homegrown peaches all the time and it always made my week.

Anywho, that about wraps it up for this week. Thanks again to everyone who sent mail- mail makes my day. I'll try and respond to all of them soon!

Elder Al