Kumusta sa inyong lahat!
Wow, this will be my last time to email as a full time missionary here in the Baguio Philippines Mission. The time has gone by so fast, it seems like just yesterday I was in the MTC, and now, I'm reaching the final days of my mission. It has truly been a wonderful journey and I've learned more in these past months than I would have ever expected. No one really tells you what serving a mission will be like, and honestly, it's hard to put into words, but I know that this is the best decision that I've made, to come out and serve the Lord. I've learned to love and to serve others more than I ever could have imagined, and I know that I will remember these people that I've met and the experiences that I've had for a lifetime. I know this church is true, and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God, and through him, we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ here on the Earth, and it will never be lost again. I know that missionary work is essential, and the Lord is truly hastening HIs work in our days. Every member is a missionary, and my service will never end. It's going to be a sad day when people no longer call me Sister Bangerter and I have to retire my nametag. I love my mission so much, and I can't wait to tell ya'll everything that I've been doing for the past year and a half, and how it has changed my life.
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
02/01/15
Kumusta sa inyong lahat!
So I'm really enjoying my new area here in Pacdal! I live in the Ibay's Zion Hotel (It's owned by a member in our ward who I consider to be the Great Gatsby because she's super rich and we never really see her and she feeds us and throws big partys so yeah, the Filipino Gatsby), so pretty much living a life of luxury with all the souvenirs I want right outside my door. But really, it's a tender mercy that I was transferred here, this is a great area to end my mission, and the people here are so prepared too! And my companion is my batch mate Sister Sidwell who I've lived with for 11 months of my mission, and we've always been in the same zone until last transfer, and now we're finally comps! I think my future husband will have a lot of her qualities or something haha. Anyways, I really love my area here, and we have been working hard and found so many people who are really prepared for the gospel, so I'm excited to see how they progress for the time I have here. Also, we taught the most lessons this week that I've taught since being back in the highlands #nottrunky! So the work is going really well and I'm excited to keep preaching the gospel and inviting others to come unto Christ in these last two weeks. I've really been looking back on my whole mission, and I'm so grateful that I chose to come out and serve. My mission has really blessed my life and taught me the importance of living the gospel, and I know that I'll remember what I learned here for the rest of my life. I'm so lucky that I got called to serve in the Philippines, I love this place so much. We had a ward family home evening on Saturday, and as we sang the closing hymn "Famlies Can Be Together Forever", I just looked around the room and wanted to cry seeing all these sweet and humble Filipino's with their families singing proudly in their English accents. I love it here so much, and I've learned so much from the Filipino people. If we were all a little more charitable like the Filipino's are, the world would be a better place.
Next week will be the last time I email before I go back home. This has been a great journey and experience, and I'm so thankful for my mission.
Mahal Ko Kayong Lahat!
Sister Bangerter
So I'm really enjoying my new area here in Pacdal! I live in the Ibay's Zion Hotel (It's owned by a member in our ward who I consider to be the Great Gatsby because she's super rich and we never really see her and she feeds us and throws big partys so yeah, the Filipino Gatsby), so pretty much living a life of luxury with all the souvenirs I want right outside my door. But really, it's a tender mercy that I was transferred here, this is a great area to end my mission, and the people here are so prepared too! And my companion is my batch mate Sister Sidwell who I've lived with for 11 months of my mission, and we've always been in the same zone until last transfer, and now we're finally comps! I think my future husband will have a lot of her qualities or something haha. Anyways, I really love my area here, and we have been working hard and found so many people who are really prepared for the gospel, so I'm excited to see how they progress for the time I have here. Also, we taught the most lessons this week that I've taught since being back in the highlands #nottrunky! So the work is going really well and I'm excited to keep preaching the gospel and inviting others to come unto Christ in these last two weeks. I've really been looking back on my whole mission, and I'm so grateful that I chose to come out and serve. My mission has really blessed my life and taught me the importance of living the gospel, and I know that I'll remember what I learned here for the rest of my life. I'm so lucky that I got called to serve in the Philippines, I love this place so much. We had a ward family home evening on Saturday, and as we sang the closing hymn "Famlies Can Be Together Forever", I just looked around the room and wanted to cry seeing all these sweet and humble Filipino's with their families singing proudly in their English accents. I love it here so much, and I've learned so much from the Filipino people. If we were all a little more charitable like the Filipino's are, the world would be a better place.
Next week will be the last time I email before I go back home. This has been a great journey and experience, and I'm so thankful for my mission.
Mahal Ko Kayong Lahat!
Sister Bangerter
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| Ruado Family in Quezon Hill |
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| Members in Quezon Hill |
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| Bishop Duque's family from QH |
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| De La Pena Family from QH |
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| Me and Sister Sidwell |
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| My new area |
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| My first Ward Mission Leader from my first area in Burnham! |
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Ano ba!? 1/25/15
Kumusta everyone!
Well this week has been just... magulo haha that's the best I can describe it. I'll start form the beginning.
1. I went down to San Fernando on Monday for the career workshop, and get a call that my companion has pneumonia and will be out for 3 days. She has been really sick since after Christmas, and she went to the hospital and found out it was pheumonia. But don't worry, she's doing great now!
2. I had exchanges in La Trinidad for two days, so the sisters with my companion had a nice day staying in the apartment and making BR pages (book of remembrance pages). Actually, staying in the apartment is really no fun at all. My area has been so kawawa (poor) this whole week :/
3. Had to handle come sisters companionship conflict. Let's just say that I had to climb through a window to talk to one of them, but whatever it takes right! To make a long story short, I've learned that communication is key and when we just talk about our problems, they get resolved a lot faster. That's something that I've really learned on my mission, and I think God has blessed me with the talent of listening which I'm so grateful for and now I've just learned how to not be afraid of confrontation. So yay for no more drama!
4. My investigator in Lingsat got baptized on Saturday! Me and Sister Lunar started teaching Sister Analyn before I got transferred, and she's a boss and has a strong testimony and is so excited to be a member now.
5. Our investigators Jovy and Jean are getting close to their baptismal date of Feb 14! Even though they're young, they really are excited to learn, and they enjoy coming to church. Their grandpa was less active, but now, they always come to church, and I think they will be a big factor in helping their family come back.
6. This week has been so up and down and we didn't get to work a lot, but I really love this area in Quezon Hill and I will miss the people here becasue...I'm getting transferred! For my last three weeks, I will be in Pacdal Ward with Sister Sidwell! Yes, we have been together our entire missions, and now we're finally companions. We were both born in Baguio, and now we'll kill each other in Baguio haha. I've come full circle so many times on my mission now, but I'm still enjoying every moment and curve ball thrown at me. I will remember these experiences for the rest of my life!
Shout outs to Jaycee and Sami for the letters!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
Well this week has been just... magulo haha that's the best I can describe it. I'll start form the beginning.
1. I went down to San Fernando on Monday for the career workshop, and get a call that my companion has pneumonia and will be out for 3 days. She has been really sick since after Christmas, and she went to the hospital and found out it was pheumonia. But don't worry, she's doing great now!
2. I had exchanges in La Trinidad for two days, so the sisters with my companion had a nice day staying in the apartment and making BR pages (book of remembrance pages). Actually, staying in the apartment is really no fun at all. My area has been so kawawa (poor) this whole week :/
3. Had to handle come sisters companionship conflict. Let's just say that I had to climb through a window to talk to one of them, but whatever it takes right! To make a long story short, I've learned that communication is key and when we just talk about our problems, they get resolved a lot faster. That's something that I've really learned on my mission, and I think God has blessed me with the talent of listening which I'm so grateful for and now I've just learned how to not be afraid of confrontation. So yay for no more drama!
4. My investigator in Lingsat got baptized on Saturday! Me and Sister Lunar started teaching Sister Analyn before I got transferred, and she's a boss and has a strong testimony and is so excited to be a member now.
5. Our investigators Jovy and Jean are getting close to their baptismal date of Feb 14! Even though they're young, they really are excited to learn, and they enjoy coming to church. Their grandpa was less active, but now, they always come to church, and I think they will be a big factor in helping their family come back.
6. This week has been so up and down and we didn't get to work a lot, but I really love this area in Quezon Hill and I will miss the people here becasue...I'm getting transferred! For my last three weeks, I will be in Pacdal Ward with Sister Sidwell! Yes, we have been together our entire missions, and now we're finally companions. We were both born in Baguio, and now we'll kill each other in Baguio haha. I've come full circle so many times on my mission now, but I'm still enjoying every moment and curve ball thrown at me. I will remember these experiences for the rest of my life!
Shout outs to Jaycee and Sami for the letters!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
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| La Trinidad |
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| Me and Sister Steedman |
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| FHE and Deguzmand family |
Monday, January 19, 2015
Manila and Back 1/19/2015
Kumusta everyone!
Wow, so this week literally flew by so fast I can't even remember what happened! But I know that it's getting close for me to go home because I passed the trunky check points of finger prints and the career workshop! Not too much happened this week, so I'll just tell ya'll about my trip to Manila!
So this was the first time for me to go to Manila since I got here. Sister Sidwell, Elder Masame, Elder Paz, and I left Monday night at 11 PM for Manila. We arrived at the bus stop at 3:30 AM with no sleep, and started walking the sketchy streets of Manila to wait at a Jollibee for our driver at 5:30. On our 5 minute walk, we saw three giant street rats, past about 50 homeless people, and lots of bars. Manila is scary and I'm so grateful that I'm in Baguio mission! When our driver finally came, we went to the airport hotel to pick up an Elder from Naga mission. We slept on the couches for about an hour, and that was all the sleep I got the whole day. Then we went through the crazy Manila traffic to the immigration office. We were there for about 4-5 hours doing finger prints and signing papers, then we got permission to go to the famous Mall of Asia! It's the biggest mall in Asia and so far, no other missionaries have gotten to go there. It took about an hour to get out there because of all the traffic with the Pope coming to the Philippines, but we got an hour there to look around, and of course, we took advantage of that time to eat all the American food we could find! In that hour, we got Wendy's, Subway, and Krispy Kreme. Eating my chocolate frosty with my fries tasted like home. After going to the mall, we thought we were going back to the bus stop, but after about 2 more hours, we pull up in front of the temple! Oh my goodness, I haven't seen the temple in over a year, and even though we were all dead tired, it was so worth it to be on holy ground again. I love the temple, I can't wait to go there in a few more weeks and report to the Lord what I've done with the time He's given me to serve. So after a long day of no sleep, we headed back to Baguio and arrived at midnight. It was the longest and most exhausting day of my mission, but it was all worth it.
The weeks are flying by so fast now, soon it will be the end of the transfer, and we have a baptism coming up on Valentines Day (also my half birthday ;)) so I'm excited for the work being done here in Quezon Hill. I love my mission and I love this gospel!
Shout outs to Mary and Sister Behrmann for the letters, love ya'll!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
PS- sorry no pictures this week, the computer is being dumb :(
Wow, so this week literally flew by so fast I can't even remember what happened! But I know that it's getting close for me to go home because I passed the trunky check points of finger prints and the career workshop! Not too much happened this week, so I'll just tell ya'll about my trip to Manila!
So this was the first time for me to go to Manila since I got here. Sister Sidwell, Elder Masame, Elder Paz, and I left Monday night at 11 PM for Manila. We arrived at the bus stop at 3:30 AM with no sleep, and started walking the sketchy streets of Manila to wait at a Jollibee for our driver at 5:30. On our 5 minute walk, we saw three giant street rats, past about 50 homeless people, and lots of bars. Manila is scary and I'm so grateful that I'm in Baguio mission! When our driver finally came, we went to the airport hotel to pick up an Elder from Naga mission. We slept on the couches for about an hour, and that was all the sleep I got the whole day. Then we went through the crazy Manila traffic to the immigration office. We were there for about 4-5 hours doing finger prints and signing papers, then we got permission to go to the famous Mall of Asia! It's the biggest mall in Asia and so far, no other missionaries have gotten to go there. It took about an hour to get out there because of all the traffic with the Pope coming to the Philippines, but we got an hour there to look around, and of course, we took advantage of that time to eat all the American food we could find! In that hour, we got Wendy's, Subway, and Krispy Kreme. Eating my chocolate frosty with my fries tasted like home. After going to the mall, we thought we were going back to the bus stop, but after about 2 more hours, we pull up in front of the temple! Oh my goodness, I haven't seen the temple in over a year, and even though we were all dead tired, it was so worth it to be on holy ground again. I love the temple, I can't wait to go there in a few more weeks and report to the Lord what I've done with the time He's given me to serve. So after a long day of no sleep, we headed back to Baguio and arrived at midnight. It was the longest and most exhausting day of my mission, but it was all worth it.
The weeks are flying by so fast now, soon it will be the end of the transfer, and we have a baptism coming up on Valentines Day (also my half birthday ;)) so I'm excited for the work being done here in Quezon Hill. I love my mission and I love this gospel!
Shout outs to Mary and Sister Behrmann for the letters, love ya'll!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
PS- sorry no pictures this week, the computer is being dumb :(
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Maraming Natutunan 01/11/2015
Kumusta everyone!
This past week has been a true eye opener for me in so many ways. When I first got transferred up to Baguio, I just had this awful feeling, I did not want to go back to the highlands and remember all the struggles I had in my first six months of my mission. Baguio city is really so different from the rest of the Philippines, not only the people here, but the church too. There are some unique problems, that you will only face in Baguio. So I wasn't too excited to be transferred back, then at the beginning of the week, we got punted for hours straight. I felt like I was in my training again, in an open area walking around aimlessly just praying that someone will want to talk to us. But as we got punted this week, I realized that it didn't bother me as much, I knew what to do now if our planned lessons bailed out on us. I took that as an opportunity to find, and to continue to keep my head up and move forward.
I really have learned so much on my mission, and I've changed a lot. I think it took me coming back to Baguio to realize the growth that I've made in myself. That, and talking to all of our Less Actives this week. We finally were able to contact about four LA's and they just poured out their concerns to us. It was amazing, and in each lesson, I can't even remember what I said, but I know that it was guided by the spirit and I hope will help them to soften their hearts and return. Each of these lessons really just made me ponder about my mission, the church, and my conversion. Because of my mission and the experiences that I've had I know what it really means to say that the church and the gospel is perfect, but the people aren't. We cannot judge others, because we too are just imperfect beings as well. We all make mistakes and are all trying to be better, but it just takes times and trail and error to get to the point that we want to be at. We go to church to be perfected, it's not for perfect people. And because of that, we cannot let others determine our salvation. We cannot let ourselves be offended by the actions of imperfect people. 3 Nephi 12: 39, 44-45. This is my new life motto. Before my mission, I think I was really selfish, I only focused on myself and my own salvation. But, I've learned that we cannot think of only ourselves, when we're truly converted, we want to help out others on the gospel path. We want to be kinder, we want to be more humble, and to help lift our brothers and sisters so that we can all endure. In the end, heaven would be pretty lonely if we didn't have anyone to enjoy it with, so we need to rescue the lost ones and never lose hope for those that have gone astray.
I have been so humbled on my mission, and in this area. I know that my mission is teaching me what kind of person I need to be for the rest of my life. It's not only the best 18 months of my life, but for my life as well. I know that there are tings I've learned here in the Philippines, even here in Quezon Hill that I couldn't have learned anywhere else. My testimony gets stronger everyday, especially since I've been here in Baguio again. I know with all my heart that this is the Christ's true church and with the right Priesthood keys, we can have eternal life.
I love you all so much, and I'm so grateful for your prayers and for my friends who are on missions and inspire me to be the best missionary that I can be as well.
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
This past week has been a true eye opener for me in so many ways. When I first got transferred up to Baguio, I just had this awful feeling, I did not want to go back to the highlands and remember all the struggles I had in my first six months of my mission. Baguio city is really so different from the rest of the Philippines, not only the people here, but the church too. There are some unique problems, that you will only face in Baguio. So I wasn't too excited to be transferred back, then at the beginning of the week, we got punted for hours straight. I felt like I was in my training again, in an open area walking around aimlessly just praying that someone will want to talk to us. But as we got punted this week, I realized that it didn't bother me as much, I knew what to do now if our planned lessons bailed out on us. I took that as an opportunity to find, and to continue to keep my head up and move forward.
I really have learned so much on my mission, and I've changed a lot. I think it took me coming back to Baguio to realize the growth that I've made in myself. That, and talking to all of our Less Actives this week. We finally were able to contact about four LA's and they just poured out their concerns to us. It was amazing, and in each lesson, I can't even remember what I said, but I know that it was guided by the spirit and I hope will help them to soften their hearts and return. Each of these lessons really just made me ponder about my mission, the church, and my conversion. Because of my mission and the experiences that I've had I know what it really means to say that the church and the gospel is perfect, but the people aren't. We cannot judge others, because we too are just imperfect beings as well. We all make mistakes and are all trying to be better, but it just takes times and trail and error to get to the point that we want to be at. We go to church to be perfected, it's not for perfect people. And because of that, we cannot let others determine our salvation. We cannot let ourselves be offended by the actions of imperfect people. 3 Nephi 12: 39, 44-45. This is my new life motto. Before my mission, I think I was really selfish, I only focused on myself and my own salvation. But, I've learned that we cannot think of only ourselves, when we're truly converted, we want to help out others on the gospel path. We want to be kinder, we want to be more humble, and to help lift our brothers and sisters so that we can all endure. In the end, heaven would be pretty lonely if we didn't have anyone to enjoy it with, so we need to rescue the lost ones and never lose hope for those that have gone astray.
I have been so humbled on my mission, and in this area. I know that my mission is teaching me what kind of person I need to be for the rest of my life. It's not only the best 18 months of my life, but for my life as well. I know that there are tings I've learned here in the Philippines, even here in Quezon Hill that I couldn't have learned anywhere else. My testimony gets stronger everyday, especially since I've been here in Baguio again. I know with all my heart that this is the Christ's true church and with the right Priesthood keys, we can have eternal life.
I love you all so much, and I'm so grateful for your prayers and for my friends who are on missions and inspire me to be the best missionary that I can be as well.
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
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| Our IBD's Jovie and Jean! |
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| Me and Sister Steedman |
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| Our area is full of pine trees |
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| Members from my first area |
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| Our Agoo kabahay reunited |
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| My anak Sister Panganiban! |
Monday, January 5, 2015
Bilis and Panahon 01/05/15
Happy New Year sa inyong lahat!
Here's a run down of my week:
1. I had FHE at my first Bishop's house again! It was so weird to go back there and just to realize how much has changed on my mission. The last time I was there, I couldn't speak Tagalog haha, and they also kept mentioning how I had lost weight lol #success
2. I had my last New Years on the mission, and I got to see all the fireworks from our apartment. My companion and I went outside to count down to 2015, and it was so cool to see all the fireworks go off around us. There are little to no restrictions on fireworks here, so the whole city was going crazy! It was so loud outside from about 10:30-1 AM. But I can't think of any better way to start off the new year than here in my new area and back in the hills of Baguio.
3. WE had MLC this week, and President is really focusing on helping us improve our teaching skills. Can I just say that I have the best mission President. He is so inspired, and loves us so much. He treats us like his own children and he is really such a great leader, I always learn so much from him at MLC. His training was on how to help us become "Super Training Leaders/Zone Leaders," so we will all get a Superman shirt next MLC ha. I really want my last transfer here in the mission to be the best one. I'm starting to realize how much I have changed and grown, and I know that there's still so much for me to improve on, and I hope that I can be the best teacher that I can be right up until I leave.
4. Since we are an open area, there are some days when we just get punted and lost, Friday was that day for us. We spent about 7 hours walking from end to end and staircase to staircase of our area with no lessons. But instead of getting discouraged, we chose to be happy and at the end of the day, we had some really powerful lessons, and still felt successful. When we are helping others come unto Christ, and really loving them, that's how we know that we have been successful. I love my mission so much, I'm sorry that my emails are so lame, I just don't really know how to put everything into words at this point. I will just have to tell y'all in person when I'm back. But know that I am working my hardest and loving every day!
Shout outs to Dad for the Christmas package, better late than never! And to Sister Alvarez for the letter!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
Here's a run down of my week:
1. I had FHE at my first Bishop's house again! It was so weird to go back there and just to realize how much has changed on my mission. The last time I was there, I couldn't speak Tagalog haha, and they also kept mentioning how I had lost weight lol #success
2. I had my last New Years on the mission, and I got to see all the fireworks from our apartment. My companion and I went outside to count down to 2015, and it was so cool to see all the fireworks go off around us. There are little to no restrictions on fireworks here, so the whole city was going crazy! It was so loud outside from about 10:30-1 AM. But I can't think of any better way to start off the new year than here in my new area and back in the hills of Baguio.
3. WE had MLC this week, and President is really focusing on helping us improve our teaching skills. Can I just say that I have the best mission President. He is so inspired, and loves us so much. He treats us like his own children and he is really such a great leader, I always learn so much from him at MLC. His training was on how to help us become "Super Training Leaders/Zone Leaders," so we will all get a Superman shirt next MLC ha. I really want my last transfer here in the mission to be the best one. I'm starting to realize how much I have changed and grown, and I know that there's still so much for me to improve on, and I hope that I can be the best teacher that I can be right up until I leave.
4. Since we are an open area, there are some days when we just get punted and lost, Friday was that day for us. We spent about 7 hours walking from end to end and staircase to staircase of our area with no lessons. But instead of getting discouraged, we chose to be happy and at the end of the day, we had some really powerful lessons, and still felt successful. When we are helping others come unto Christ, and really loving them, that's how we know that we have been successful. I love my mission so much, I'm sorry that my emails are so lame, I just don't really know how to put everything into words at this point. I will just have to tell y'all in person when I'm back. But know that I am working my hardest and loving every day!
Shout outs to Dad for the Christmas package, better late than never! And to Sister Alvarez for the letter!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
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| FHE Canite Family |
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| New Years Eve |
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| MLC (13 of my batch mates are in leadership positions right now) |
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| MTC comp Sister Sawada |
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| Working with the members |
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Maligayang Pasko at Bagong Taon! 12/28/14
Kumusta everyone!
So this was my first full week of work here in my new area of Quezon Hill. It's called Quezon Hill for a reason because literally my area goes to the very top of the mountain, so it's a work out the entire day! This week we had some curfews for Christmas which made it a little hard to proselyte, but we were still very blessed to be able to find where more people live and find a lot of new investigators as well. It has been a little hard and stressful for both me and my companion opening this area, but we really are so blessed to be here in this ward. The members love us, and they're all excited to finally have sisters. Filipino's like to show their love by feeding us, so even though I'm climbing mountains everyday, we probably eat twice as much! On Christmas, every house we went to fed us, and finally when we couldn't eat anymore, they gave us food to take home, so don't worry parents, I'm being well taken care of here :). It's weird to think that this was my last Christmas as a missionary, I have really enjoyed being here during the Christmas season to celebrate the gift of Christ and share His gospel. Looking back on my week now, even though some days were hard and filled with walking for hours, searching for houses and people by Filipino directions (aka people telling us "over there" or up the hill") I still had a really great week and I just feel so happy to be here. I just always have a smile on my face no matter what. I love my mission, I love the Filipino people so so much, they will forever have a special place in my heart. I can't believe it's about to be 2015, my new years resolutions this year will be really become the person God knows that I am, and to work hard each day that I have left here on my mission. I hope that ya'll will always remember and appreciate the blessings of this gospel, because it really is what matters most!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
Shout out to Grandma for the Christmas card, love you!
So this was my first full week of work here in my new area of Quezon Hill. It's called Quezon Hill for a reason because literally my area goes to the very top of the mountain, so it's a work out the entire day! This week we had some curfews for Christmas which made it a little hard to proselyte, but we were still very blessed to be able to find where more people live and find a lot of new investigators as well. It has been a little hard and stressful for both me and my companion opening this area, but we really are so blessed to be here in this ward. The members love us, and they're all excited to finally have sisters. Filipino's like to show their love by feeding us, so even though I'm climbing mountains everyday, we probably eat twice as much! On Christmas, every house we went to fed us, and finally when we couldn't eat anymore, they gave us food to take home, so don't worry parents, I'm being well taken care of here :). It's weird to think that this was my last Christmas as a missionary, I have really enjoyed being here during the Christmas season to celebrate the gift of Christ and share His gospel. Looking back on my week now, even though some days were hard and filled with walking for hours, searching for houses and people by Filipino directions (aka people telling us "over there" or up the hill") I still had a really great week and I just feel so happy to be here. I just always have a smile on my face no matter what. I love my mission, I love the Filipino people so so much, they will forever have a special place in my heart. I can't believe it's about to be 2015, my new years resolutions this year will be really become the person God knows that I am, and to work hard each day that I have left here on my mission. I hope that ya'll will always remember and appreciate the blessings of this gospel, because it really is what matters most!
Mahal Kita,
Sister Bangerter
Shout out to Grandma for the Christmas card, love you!
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| Found some prayer flags, made me think of you MC, I miss the Carlson fam! |
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| Our kabahay on Christmas Eve |
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| Our kabahay on Christmas Eve |
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| My area |
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| Me and Sister Steedman |
Sunday, December 21, 2014
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
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
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| Packing for days with the departing sisters too, I miss you so much Spjut and Rea!! |
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| Ordona family, their relatives in Agoo are my recent converts, small world! |
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| We are literally in the clouds |
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| The cutest little boy I've ever seen, he looks like he could be my child ha |
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| The Arellano family!! Brother Jon Jon got baptized and I can't wait for them to continue to enjoy the blessings of the gospel! |
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| The new Quezon Hill sisters and the new Guisad elders |
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| My comp Sister Steedman, people thing we're twins haha |
Sunday, December 14, 2014
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
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
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| Birthday dinner while on exchanges with Sister Hatch |
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| We crashed and FHE in Sevilla cause one of the members knew Sister Hatch's Dad from Canada! |
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| Some of my favorite people in the mission |
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| MTC4LYFE |
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| Me and Sister Lunar |
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| Me waiting for my nice street pancake with all the other little kids |
Sunday, December 7, 2014
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
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
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| My Batchmates at MLC |
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| My previous comps S.Aroa in Baguio, S. Lunar now, and S. Sawada from the MTC |
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| Me and Sister Dial |
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| Me and Sister Dial |
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| The Lingsat district |
Sunday, November 30, 2014
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!
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!
Sunday, November 23, 2014
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
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
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| 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) |
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| Met a nice Indian family while on exchanges with Sister Haider, they gave us some spicy Indian food |
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| Made tacos for lunch! |
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| Had to take the classic goat picture, there's tons of them here! |
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| Our district/ Lingsat missionaries at President Andrada's house |
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