May 17, 2010

Well I wont lie it's been a pretty rough week down in Recife. Peanut Butter supplies are running low. We've been forced to eat mere crackers and the apartment reeks of my roommates sardines. The other day I hit my head on the top bunk. My companion never makes me cookies. I know I'm not supposed to complain but I think there is a line to be drawn when I dont even have a spatula to flip my pancakes. I think this week should go a little better though, I found a spatula. Oh and I saw a geo metro so that made me happy too. But really though, it was pretty good week. A few times this week, I tell you what, I rocked at Portuguese. Of course I stunk the next day but hey it's a process. We had a baptism scheduled for yesterday but the guy, Reginaldo got sick so we'll have to postpone it. Hopefully we'll have at least one this week. Something kinda crazy happened yesterday. We brought a guy to church named Louis and he brought his 9 year old son and he was really enjoying it and all but then after church he went to get his kid and nobody could find him. So were all thinking great, his first week at church and we alreasy lost his kid! Anywho we spent like an hour searching but it turns out he just walked like 3 miles home half way through church. Pretty ridiculous. Anywho I'm about out of time but as always, love you all, send pictures and updates, anyone can send me emails just so you know but I can't respond to them. Oh and mom how have things gone with Lefty.

 

Love Elder Bangerter

May 10, 2010

Well not a whole lot to talk abobut this week since we had a phone call yesterday but I'll still update everyone else I suppose. This week went really well, we've been working pretty hard and we had our first baptism with a sister named Maria. Her son joined the church and is now on a mission so I'm sure it's an awesome surprise for him. We're still working on gitting some more investigators but I'm sure they'll come. It's amazing how willing people are to let you into thier homes here. In truth when we do knock on doors we almost always get in. My companion is pretty good at talking but still it's a pretty big blessing. LIke one lady at first was like, oh I've alreasy talked to the missionaries, no thanks... but we managed to get it and by the end of the lesson she was like almost helping us teach it to her kids, it was pretty cool. We're also working with an old man Reginaldo who came to church on Sunday. We were walking and we passed him but my companion turned to me and said I think we need to talk to that guy and we turned around and as we started to teach him I really couldnt understand much of what he was saying but he began to cry saying that we were sent from God during this hard time in his life. I'm really trying to look for all the miracles of everyday. We also had a mission conference with an area seventy that was really awesome even though I only understood about half of it. He spoke for like 3 hours straight it was crazy! Oh one other random thing this week, I met a guy named brother Jones who said he knew uncle Jared from a finance class. It's funny how often people see my name and start saying things about my family that I dont even know. It's pretty awesome, and I'm so blessed to have the family that I do. Anywho, love you all and thanks for your support as always!

 

Love Elder Bangerter

May 3, 2010

Well, I've made it through the first week in the field and as far as I can tell I'm not dead yet however I've not had this confirmed. Wow, I don't even know really where to start but it really was a great week. Since it's a new area for both of us, we're still working on gettin more investigators but we've got a few at least and one potential baptism for this weekend for a lady that's been investigating for awhile. I've definitely gotten to be great friends with my companion Elder Martins and I think we'll work very well together. He's a member of only three years like many of the Brazilians, the only one in his family, and he has a very strong testimony of the gospel. I feel like each day gets a little better as I become more comfortable with the area and with the people. I'm doing alright with the language. Which means I basically can't talk to anyone but it's alright, I'm looking forward with faith and know that it will come in time. Actually, sometime I can really understand pretty much everything that's going on but it totally depends on the conversation and who is talking. The accents here are really hard to follow because they speak very quickly, slur their words and use alot of slang, but I try to at least pretend like I know what's going on, smile and say yes. So pretty much nothing has really changed at all. We've been riding buses everywhere and basically the bus drivers think they are riding motorcycles. I cant really think of a more accurate description. The temple president of the Recife Temple had grandpa Bangerter as a Tennis coach at BYU so that was pretty cool as well. As always I'm sure ther's way more to tell but I'm about out of time and my memory is about useless. I'm loving Recife and I'm loving the people, thanks for you prayers and pray for me to find more people to teach.

 

-Love Elder Bangerter

April 28, 2010

Well it's official, I graduated from the CTM and they let me into Recife. The trip was altogether quite uneventful and I arrived entirely free of harm for your peace of mind. I did have one casualty actually, my ipod dissappeared somewhere in transit which I'm pretty bummed about but it turns out you can actually still serve a mission without an ipod. We got there yesterday morning, then they took us to the temple and we met the president and had an intro meeting and such. The president seems really cool and I'm way excited to get to know him better! The Recife temple is absolutely beautiful if you havent seen pictures yet, unfortunately we didn't get to do a session but we will soon I think. We just kinda hung out for a while on temple grounds and slept in the little hotel thing they have there then today was transfers, where I met my new companion. He's a Brazilian that speaks a little english and he is on his last transfer I believe but I'm very excited to be working with him, he seems like a hard worker. He told me to tell my family that I got a handsome companion. unfortunately my area is boa viagem which is like right next to the beach and is apparently the most wealthy area in the mission. Who woulda guessed? But dont worry, I still got a dirty nasty apartment so its all good. I guess we're opening up a new area so my trainer doesn't really know anything either but I'm sure we'll be up and running soon enough. We'll see what the morrow brings. Oh and for future reference, my normal Pday is monday. We got to see Elder Nelson last week which was a pretty neet experience and he had some great things to say about Uncle grant. As he spoke about him and President Faust, I felt very strongly of their love for this people. He really spoke of the focus of the gospel on the atonement and it was very powerful talk. Among the things he said was that the Lord usually uses the unlikely to accomplish his work.It was pretty cool to see him and shake an apostles hand for the first time. Apparently he, Elder Holland, Bishop Edgely, and several others were all down here last week and are probably still here . It's great to hear about everyone and as always I'm praying for you. As far as business is concerned, my area is right next the office so I should get mail fairly quickly here besides just at transfers so that's lucky.  I am allowed to recieve email from friends here, I just cant send them. Mom I was wondering if you could send me some sort of history of Grant's service here in Brazil so I can learn more about him. Anywho I'm sure there's more to tell but I've already written a book so I'll let you go this time. Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Bangerter

April 20, 2010

Hey thanks mom for the list, I appreciate it so much. To answer you questions right off the bat, I leave next tuesday and I'll put my new address at the end, I will get the conference liahona so dont worry about it, and the Portuguese is definitely coming along and I can comunicate decently with people on the street so I'm not too worried. I still have a ton to learn but if nothing else, I know how to testify. As far as the letters go I dont really get it, I've given them to the place that's supposed to send them but oh well. I still dont really get how that program works, but maybe you could research a bit and figure it out. I also think you can send packages really fast with it well. If there is any way you cuold just get Katy's and Stephanie's addresses that would be great! That is crazy news about uncle Grant, I'm sure there will be alot of sad people here, my branch president and several others had him as thier president and I can't waith to get to know him better on the other side. That is so awesome about James' internship, that's such a blessing, I'm sure your glad to have them back this summer! Looks like the internships are really working out this summer. Glad to hear about the blessings in you lives. I don't know if you said you were gonna send a letter wityh pictures a couple weeks ago but I never got them if you did. Anywho, as far as things here are concerned, we're pretty excited because we get to hear Russell M Nelson this week for a devotional so I definitely can't wait. I'm also singing prayer of the children with a quartet for the sunday devotional so I'm pretty excited about that as well. I dont know if I told you but I also played the violin for a devotional a few weeks ago. I'm not really sure why they keep letting me get up there? We went proselyting again last Friday and it was pretty awesome. I'll just start from the beginning. so first as the van was backing out of the CTM a car flew by and missed it by like a foot with me sitting in the back seat. Then on the way there we almost ran into a car in front of us. Then we did run into the car in front of us. Then the van driver just kept going. Then we got there and as soon as we started proselyting a drunk man ran up and wanted very badly to talk to us. Or rather he wanted to wave his arms around and mumble at us. then we got stuck in a 30 min conversation with a Jehovas Witness. Then we actually got to teach some people so that was good. We were only able to give out 4 books this time because of time constraints but one of them was really awesome and after we left the other elders saw him reading it like crazy and asked him if he liked it and he told them how much he loved it. Then on the way back to the van a crazy man started chasing my companion and he just started running. It was pretty hilarious. Anywho we're all alive but I'm outa time, love you all           Elder Bangerter

April 13, 2010

Recife Brazil Temple

Last week was pretty awesome, I finally got some mail woo!!! Not that I was waiting. anyways ya our branch president, President Van Orman, gave the devotional last Tuesday and it was extremely powerful. Among the things he said was "all missionaries give some, but only some missionaries give all." I've been trying really hard to be that "some" and I'm amazed at how increasingly long my list of things to pray for is becoming. President Van Orman also gave me a blessing on Sunday and I am again remeinded of the power of the priesthood. I can slowly feel the Lord humbling me and I tell you what, I need it! Along with my goal to memorize a scripture every day, I have now taken on the new challenge of translating the entire Book of Mormon into English. Well see how well I can juggle everything considering all there is to study but I really feel like it will help me. I've done about 2 pages :). I'm not sure on the Ensign mom, I'll try to find out so ask me again next week if you could. Thanks for forwarding those emails I really appreciate it a ton. That's so awesome about Lefty dad, I'll definitely be praying for you and him. I'd love to hear how it's going. That's way cool about Ben and Whitney, I'm so jealous, where did they go? It's about time they got out and did something fun like that! As always my companionship is still runnin strong, gettin along(no ryhme initially intended), and gettin better at teaching. I still have a long way to go but I really dont use notes when I teach anymore. Need less to say, I keep it quite simple. But it's fun to be able to do it nontheless. Only two weeks and I'm out of this stinkin place! Just kidding. But really though. Anyways, I'll be praying for you, make sure you pray for me!         -Love Elder Bangerter

April 6, 2010

Hy fam and friends and such, this last week was pretty awesome, what with conference and all. All of the talks really made me appreciate how much my family means to me. Also, one of my favortie quotes was "the saddest words of tongue and pen, are those who say, it might have been." That really hit me hard and made me realize how much I have to take advantage of every minute. I also thought of you a ton mom as mothers were talked about so much. There is no equal for what you and Dad have given me. We also got to go proselyting for the first time last friday what was pretty awesome. It was a holiday so the streets were pretty much deserted but we still managed to place 12 Copies ofs thes Books Ofs Mormons. It was an awesome experience, and despite our broken Portuguese, we could really feel the spirit as we testified of it's truth. I look forward to going out again in a couple weeks. Only 3 left, then its gonna be easy sailing from there! Can't wait to sit back and relax finally. Good luck with the Cheneys, I'm slowly learning through prayer to be more humble myself. It's not easy. It's so great to hear about everyones lives, I wish I had time to respond individually but Adam that's so awesome about the internship, I know you'll do great and have lot's of important experiences with that. James and Nicole, good luck finishing up, I'll be praying for you as weel as for all others finishing up the semester. Crystal and Steven, good luck with that little guy and with finishing up school. Ben and Whitney, so glad to hear the business is getting up off of it's feet, I'll be praying for you as well. I think of all of you often, and wonder about the many experiences you had on your missions. It's so wonderful to finally share this piece of life with you, and now that I know what it's all about, I can't wait to talk about it when I get home. Mom, yeah I chose that scripture but I found a better one. It's 2nd Nephi 28:24. That should keep everyone on their feet. Something cool, for those of you who know Danny Gessel (dont know how to spell it, he got here on wednesday and when he saw me he ran up and gave me a big hug, it was pretty awesome. We've been eating together and such so that's pretty fun. Well love you all and thanks for everything!                -Elder Bangerter