Week #74 - Happy Newbert

Hey everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Much Love,
Elder B

Week #73 - Have a Furry Christmas

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

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

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

Week #72 - Jungle O Fun

Hey everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Much Love,
Elder B

Week #71 - Happy Marshday!

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

So here are the week's highlights:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The gospel's true!

Elder B

Week #70 - Turkey Potatoes

Hey Everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Elder B

Week #69 - Turktacular

Hey Everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elder B

Week #68 - A Brief History of Time

Hey Everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

Life is good and the gospel's true!

Elder B