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

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

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

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

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

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

Week #56 - Clippers and Flightplans

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

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

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

Week #55 - Carpools and Telephone Wires

Hi everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Week #53 - Drywall

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

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

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

Much love to errbody,
Elder B

Week #52 - Paper Clips and Rolls

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

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

Week #51 - Catnip & Playdough

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

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

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

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

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