Full Circle 12/21/2014

Oh my gulay, this has been the craziest week oh my mission! Well one of the craziest!
I'm start from the beginning, so last Monday, I was anxiously waiting for the transfer call. They called at about 3:30, and Elder Harris told me that I'd be transferring to La Trinidad Zone in Quezon Hill ward, and open area, and still an STL! My new comp is Sister Steedman, the trainee of Sister Tapusoa, and we are the first sisters in Quezon Hill since 2001. Not going to lie, I was really nervous after I got off the phone. I didn't want to go back to Baguio and I was scared to death to open an area, but like my good friend Sister Sawada told me, President must trust me a lot to put me here. So after hours of packing and mentally preparing myself to come here, I am now back in Baguio and loving it! I have officially come full circle. I was born in an open area in Baguio City, and I'll die here in the mountains in an open area. It's going to be challenging, but both me and my companion are up for it! Oh yeah, and my new comp Sister Steedman is from New Zealand, she plays rugby and TENNIS so we're going to find some courts up here too. But the first day that I got here, I was the only one that knew that we would be opening an area in Quezon Hill, the poor elders had no idea that we were taking over their area, but they showed us around our first day and it was a lot of fun getting to meet the members. I'm a little intimidated because the members here love the elders soooo much, but I think they're excited to have sisters again too because it's been like 13 years. Apparently the sisters in the past couldn't handle all the hills and stairs...so still wondering why President chose me to be here haha but I know he's inspired and at least now I can tone my legs before going home, always a plus right? But the past week, we have been going back and forth between our area in Quezon Hill and Sister Steedman's old area in Guisad because we switched with the elders, so both of us are in an open area and neither of us know where anything is, but it's been an adventure for sure, and I'm so excited to be here in the mountains again now. It's great to come back and realize how much I have grown and changed, and most of all I love seeing people from my first area. In my ward now is my first Bishop from my first area, and another family from Burnham 1! The first night that I got here, I saw Bishop Canite and he told me the best news, one of me and Sister Aroa's investigators just got baptized! I don't know if ya'll remember the Arellano family, but Brother Jon-Jon got baptized last weekend, and he and his family came to the Christmas party on Friday to see me! There's really no greater feeling than to see those that I helped share the gospel with accept it and just glow with the spirit. This gospel is true and I love my mission so much, I really never want to leave!
Shout outs to Lexie for the letter! And Happy Birthday Ryan and Shanoah!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter

Packing for days with the departing sisters too, I miss you so much Spjut and Rea!!

Ordona family, their relatives in Agoo are my recent converts, small world!

We are literally in the clouds

The cutest little boy I've ever seen, he looks like he could be my child ha

The Arellano family!! Brother Jon Jon got baptized and I can't wait for them to continue to enjoy the blessings of the gospel!

The new Quezon Hill sisters and the new Guisad elders

My comp Sister Steedman, people thing we're twins haha

Christmas Conference- 12/14/14

Musta!
Well this might be a little rushed, and I don't have much to say, and my mind has gone blank cause I'm waiting for the transfer call...so I'm sorry for this lame email. Here are just some highlights from my week
1. I went on exchanges with my old companion Sister Hatch and it was lots of fun and it was her birthday so people fed us so much desert I had a food baby, but it was worth it. Oh and during the day we got checked out by a Tomboy (lesbian) so that was uncomfortable.
2. We had the Christmas Conference and it was much better than last years mostly because I got to be there with Sister Tapusoa and Sister Sawada, my favorites from the MTC! We also got a nice key chain and woven bookmark from President, and we watched How to Train Your Dragon 2 which was really cute.
3. I got to see some people from my last area in Agoo, and it made me feel so great how excited they were to see me too. I think Agoo was my favorite area so far, I left a piece of my heart there for sure!
4. The work here in Lingsat continues to move forward, I love my companion and our area and the people that we teach are super great, life can't get much better, so I really hope that I don't transfer, but I know that it will be the right decision and will lead me to even better things in the mission if I do.
Shout outs to Mom and Tami Minnick for the packages, ya'll are the best! And the Christmas Card mom, thanks so much! Also, I can't believe you're home Whit, hope you're emjoying RM life!
Ok, I love you all, keep living the gospel and share the gift of Christ!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter

Birthday dinner while on exchanges with Sister Hatch

We crashed and FHE in Sevilla cause one of the members knew Sister Hatch's Dad from Canada!

Some of my favorite people in the mission

MTC4LYFE

Me and Sister Lunar

 Me waiting for my nice street pancake with all the other little kids

Happy December! 12/7/2014

Kumusta everyone!
This week once again went by so fast. We had MLC on Tuesday and President is making a lot of changes here in the mission! Not only do we have a new Standard of Excellence, but we are changing the way we have our meeting and conferences as well as transfer day even. It's all good change though and it focused to help us to use our time wisely and to be more accountable for our work and achieve our mission goal of 100 baptisms a month. If there's one thing I've learned on my mission, it's how to be flexible, so I'm going to embrace all this change and I'm excited to see how our work improves because of it. I love my mission President, he is truly inspired and is really helping our mission to live up to its potential. I'm grateful that I get to be here at this time, and I know that I was called to the Baguio Mission for a reason.
Other exciting things that happened this week, I got to have exchanges with Sister Dial, the only other Texan sister in the mission (she's from Austin), so yes it was a great day, and yes we did talk about all the things we miss in Texas, and yes we both agreed that it truly is the greatest state and promised land #proudtobeatexan. So it was a really fun day and she's a great missionary, she used to be an STL and she is leaving this transfer, but she's super diligent and we were able to teach 8 lessons that day and extend baptismal invitations so I learned a lot from her. We just said that it was too bad we only met at the very end of her mission, but let's be honest we probably would have gotten pretty trunky together with all of our talk about Texas ha.
The work here in our area is still progressing nicely, and we had a way good Sunday! Almost all of our IBD's came to church, and we were so happy cause the past few weeks we haven't had any investigators at church. But I am really seeing great progression in these people, and I know that January will be a great month of baptisms! We are still working with Gab for his baptism in December. We haven't had any contact with him or his Mom, Alalaine, for the past two weeks becasue Alalaine left her phone in Baguio :/. So we were kind of freaking out, but they were at church yesterday and we got Gab's number (luckily 9 year olds have cell phones these days) and we will be seeing him this week and helping him prepare for baptism, so please pray that all goes well for Gab!
Happy Birthday shout outs to Elyse, Bianca, and my former comp Sister Hatch, love ya'll!
Also, thanks for the package Mom, we now have Christmas decorations in our apartment, but it's nothing compared to the way you decorate the house!
I love you all, keep sharing the gospel and the Gift of Christ this Christmas season.
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter

My Batchmates at MLC

My previous comps S.Aroa in Baguio, S. Lunar now, and S. Sawada from the MTC

Me and Sister Dial

Me and Sister Dial

The Lingsat district

Happy Thanksgiving! 11/30/2014

Kumusta!
So this past week was Thanksgiving, and even though I didn't get to have a Thanksgiving dinner, I just wanted to share the things that I was thankful for this past week.
1. I got to go on exchanges with Sister Tapusoa and it was such a fun day, I wish I could be her comp again for an entire transfer someday ha. But we had a really good day together and it was great to be with my best friend again.
2. One of my favorite less actives (Big Mama) fed us lunch on Thanksgiving, so even though it was Filipino food, it was still masarap (delicious) and made me feel the holiday spirit. Oh and we call her Big Mama cause she's Filipina but sooooo tall and built like a Polynesian haha. She's married to the Patriach too who is was small and short, and kind of looks like the wise rat man from TMNT, so it's really funny to see them together, but I love them so much!
3. I'm thankful for this super nice member in Sevilla who helped me when I was sick while I was on exchanges there. So I had exchanges with Sister Tanner and during the afternoon, I wasn't feeling too great, so we go to this members kainan (food store? don't really know how to explain in English ha) so that I could sit down for a bit. I was feeling really dizzy, so they told me to lay down and they got me a pillow and blanket and everything ha. I felt a little weird just laying there though, so I rested for a few minutes, then sat up so that we could teach this little kid that was there. During the lesson, I just felt like I was going to be so sick, and then right as I said,"in the name of Jesus Christ, amen" a just threw up in front of everyone! Then within a second the super nice sister had water and paper towels for me, then they helped us get a tryke so that I could go home and rest haha. It was so crazy and sorry if that was kind of gross, but there's a first look into real missionary work, sometimes the unexpected happens!
4. I truly love the Lingsat ward and all the members and help that they give us. They are so willing to work with us, and that makes missionary work so much more enjoyable and effective when the ward is supportive, so go help the missionaries!
I love you all and hope that ya'll will always be thankful for the little things in life, because in the end, all that really matters is the gospel, so never take that for granted! And it's officially December, time flies too fast, remember the reason for the season this year!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
Shout outs: Happy Birthday Babou and Sami!

Work, Work, Work!- 11/23/2014

Kumusta!
Wow this week went by so fast and so many great things happened! We had a zone training this past Tuesday about being accountable for our areas and how to help our investigators receive revelation through prayer, church attendance, and reading the Book of Mormon. It was probably the best zone training that I've had because it was all really interactive and it was great to hear everyone's ideas about how we can help the struggling areas of our work. With all these new changes, President really wants to help us to work together more as a district and zone to achieve our goal of 100 baptisms a month. He wants to have a "White Christmas" and challenged each companionship to have one baptism in the month of December. The field truly is white and ready to harvest, and I feel like we have some pretty great potentials for this December, so we will be fasting and praying that they can make it to their dates!
But this week was really about hard work for us. I've been trying to really make sure that I make the most out of the time I have each day to work hard and prepare people for baptism. For the first time ever in my whole mission, we taught 10 lessons in one day, and at the end of the week realized that we taught 40 lessons (one of them we didn't count though because it was to the crazy Nigerians who we dropped after that...I'll have to tell ya'll the story once I get home ha). But I can honestly say that I am really exhausted but so excited to be here and working so hard. We had a really great week, and are finding more people who I feel are really prepared for the gospel! Sadly, Mary and Gina didn't come to church again and have been really busy so we couldn't really teach them last week, but this week we are going to refocus them and prepare them for their new IBD's! Then Gab is slowly coming around, and really praying to not be nervous for his baptismal day, so I feel that by the end of this week, he will be excited for his baptism rather than nervous. Also, we have a new investigator who is the grandson of our RC, he just moved back here from Italy to take care of his grandma (sister Dina our RC) and we've been teaching him and he came to church on Sunday, so we're going to give him an IBD and sana (hopefully) he will be our December baptism as well! Oh and I just remembered how on Sunday, a member brought her cousin to church who'snot a member and is studying here and she wants us to teach her and to attend institute, so people have just fell into our laps this week! So basically the work is great, I love my area so much and the members here and my companion is the sweetest, life couldn't be any better :)!
Happy birthday shout outs to Mom and Dori, sorry it's so late, but I didn't forget on the day, I just forgot to email ya'll!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter

Got to go on exchanges with Sister Smith again (fun fact, someone bowed to us on the road haha the joys of being two americans int he Philippines)

Met a nice Indian family while on exchanges with Sister Haider, they gave us some spicy Indian food

Made tacos for lunch!

Had to take the classic goat picture, there's tons of them here!

Our district/ Lingsat missionaries at President Andrada's house

Season of Change-11/16/2014

Kumusta!
Well we had MLC this week, and there are lots of change here in Baguio mission! First off, we are officially changing our standard of excellence, and I'm really excited about it. It's putting more focus on investigator lessons, especially with members so that they have a fellowshipper, and to get us to reach our goal of 100 baptisms each month. In September, we ad 80, so we're getting closer just 20 more to go! I know that we can do it, and I'm so grateful for the council of President Balledos, he really is an inspired man and I'm so thankful that he is my mission president. We also talked about accountability and if we are willing to raise above the bar and really act upon our goals in order to reach them. I know that the time I have here is so short, and it's going by faster everyday, so I want to be as accountable as I can to the Lord and not waste any time that I have here! So it was a really great MLC and becasue President and Sister Balledos love us so much, they have decided to change our P-day. Now, our P-Day starts at 10 instead of 12 and we have an hour and a half to email, PRAISE! We were all so excited, so family, don't think that I was being pasaway (disobedient) because I was on earlier, it's a new rule!
This week really went by so fast, I can't remember everything that happened, but we are working really hard with our investigators Mary, Gina, and Gab. Please pray for them! For Mary and Gina, their desire is there, they just need to come to church! As a missionary, you get to see just a little bit of how frustrated God must feel sometimes when He knows what is good for us and what will bless us, but we just choose not to do it. Agency, it's a wonderful thing. So we are going to focus really hard with them to choose coming to church over catching that extra washing job because they will be blessed even more by coming to the House of the Lord! As for Gab, he is the smartest 9 year old I've ever met, and he is still deciding if he wants to be baptized. All I can say from this week, is that the actions of others really influence our decisions. Gab is afraid to be baptized becasue he will be the only member at his Catholic school, and we have some other investigators who are friends with less actives who hide from us, so it's hard to commit them when their member friends don't like us. So please everyone, just be good examples and take advantage of the gospel because it's what will help us the most!
I love you all, keep choosing the right and practice what you preach!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter

Our nice friend Rachel the Nigerian!

Pagbabago!-11/10/2014

Kumusta everyone!
I don't have much time, but this past week was so crazy and I got barely any sleep!
1. The departing missionaries of November left, so I got to say goodbye to my Nanay Sister Lazan, it was sad to see her leave, but I'm glad that she got to stay at my apartment and I could say goodbye to her right before she left the mission.
2. The new missionaries came this week and we got to greet them, and it was really weird to send missionaries home and then see all these greenies haha. But I was most excited to see Sister Tapusoa again! She came back with the new missionaries, and she's in my zone so I get to go on exchanges with her, so I'm really excited for this transfer!
3. So we had transfers again, and sadly, Sister Rea got transferred far far away on Judea's plains to Candon. I miss her, but I'm excited to be with my new companion Sister Lunar! She's my batch mate, Filipina and from Quezon City. She's so sweet, and I know that we are going to have a really great transfer together!
4.We have a few investigators with baptismal dates at the moment that we're working really hard on helping them come to church. That's their only kulang (what's missing) at the moment for them. I was feeling really stressed out about finding new investigators this week because things have been crazy in our area with all the people staying with us, but we were blessed as we went to visit a recent convert, and her neighbor was at her house and she was interested in listening to us. She told us how she was in jail for over 3 years waiting for a hearing, and then a member of the church came to visit and she asked him to pray for her, so he did, and then 3 days later she got her hearing and was released! Since then, she's wanted to come to church, and when she saw the church in Lingsat, she went up to the door but was too afraid to go inside becasue she didn't know anyone, but now she's friends with the recent convert and wants to attend church and accepted a baptismal invitation! I'm excited to see how things progress with her, so please pray for Sister Mary!
That's all I can think of, sorry this is so short, but enjoy all these pictures :) and thanks Sister Behrmann and Grandma for the letters and Mom for the package, love ya'll!!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter

Sister Lazan before she left

Our LA Sister Rosalina

Our RC Sister Chita (she's blind and the sweetest woman ever, I love her!)

Acting like a new missionary

Sister Adora's family

My last day with Sister Rea

My last day with Sister Rea

Reunited with Sister Tapusoa and Sister Sawada

My new comp Sister Lunar

The best district ever! :)