An absolutely incredible week 3/28

Wow the miracles we have seen this week are absolutely incredible!!! It's starts with last week right after preparation day. So there is a family we have been trying to get in contact with for quite some time. They are a family of 4 and they go to the evangelist church but they said they were willing to meet with us. Well let's just say it's been a bit difficult trying to meet with them, we've had to call frequently for a few months, and last week was going to be the last time we passed by because they had fired on us a few times as well. So we go to their house and the Dad, Edison, answers the door and he goes to talk to his wife, who didn't seem to want to let us in. She told us she's very busy and does not have any time.

Well, they eventually let us in their house and as my companion and I start talking the mother, Leonela, just started to loosen up. Our words were being guided by the spirit and by the end of this first visit we asked them if we could return and teach them the visits. And this mother who at the beginning said she didn't have enough time to let us in, said that she now had time every single day for us to come and teach them.   The spirit is incredible and it touched her heart in that moment. We were then able to go back and teach them the restoration and it was incredible! It was a huge miracle.

This week we have more than doubled our teaching pool, the Lord is showering blessings down on us. Not only that but the people we are teaching are progressing and reading the Scriptures and wow it has been absolutely amazing. We have had quite a few ups and downs this transfer, but we have been able to get in contact with so many people we've been trying to meet with. We've been able to find quite a few less actives as well! Another miracle story, we were knocking doors at a building last week, (everything up to this point was so guided by the Lord) and we knocked on a door and a women let us in, (which is very rare). We were so confused until she told us she was a member and hadn't been to church for years but was thinking about coming back this week! This week I have seen how God's hand truly is in all the small moments of our lives. This is the work of the Lord.

Update on our investigator Anna, we met with her yesterday and she was a little frustrated with the fact that she had not received an answer yet. She had a few doubts that we were able to help her resolve. She said she would continue to read and pray and attend church. It's now just getting her to recognize the spirit. 

Well have a wonderful week! 

Love you all!!!

Hermana Bangerter 

Following Inspiration 3/22

Hello family!!!! How are you all? Life is good here in good old Barcelona. So an update on things, last week was a very slow week, we had all of these 2nd visits set up and every single one of them fell through. The week ended and I was a little down because we weren't able to find very many people but I knew that there were miracles waiting for us this week. So Monday comes and we didn't have any citas (visits) lined up and I was just praying for a miracle. That afternoon we had planned to pass by a few less actives. We were on a street we walked past quite often and I felt inspired to look at the menos activos (less actives) that lived on the street. We decided to visit a less active we had passed by a few times before. As we were ringing the timbre (bell) we realized that when we were ringing the wrong one! haha So we rang it and a man named Jorge answered, it turns out that he is the members father and had previously met with missionaries quite a few times before. We started talking and he said he had a Book of Mormón but he didn't understand the purpose of it. So what did we do!? We taught him and helped him understand the importance of the Book of Mormón. He got so excited, he told us he finally understood and that he wants to meet with us more and read it! Such a miracle!

Another miracle, we were finally able to meet with a woman we contacted on the street a few weeks ago. Her name is Karina and she's from Bolivia. We met with her yesterday and she told us that she had actually met with the missionaries before about five years ago and went to church and loved it. But since that time she had moved and lost contact with them! She loved hearing about the Book of Mormon and we are meeting with her again this week!

Another great thing we saw from el hábito misional that we're using with all the members: we have officially presented it to all the members and now we are starting to meet with the members and talk about each of the people they wrote down. We are setting goals and making plans for each person that they wrote down. Yesterday we met with a member and set all these goals and made all these plans. As we were talking with her she just lit up, she felt like she could finally start doing things for all these people in her life, even as we were talking with her she started writing down more names! It was incredible! I'll send a picture of the hábito misional we created!

Life is good here! Love you all, have a good week!

Hermana Bangerter 

BiRtHdAy WeEk And 9 MoNtHs!!! 3/15

Hello family and friends!!! Wow it has been such an amazing week! I have felt so much love from so many people around me. First off, my companion is amazing. She was able to surprise me with so much even though we live in a two-man apartment. We woke up and went on a run then she made me some French toast and homemade syrup. Then I got all ready and walked out and she had decorated our entire piso and had balloons everywhere and confetti cannons. It was amazing. Then for lunch we ate with some of the greatest people here in Barcelona, they asked me what my favorite food was and I said I loved Mexican food so they made me the greatest burritos of all time and we just laughed so much they whole time, they brought me cake and all. Oh also the Sunday before my birthday we went to a member’s house, they are all Philipinos and they surprised me with cake and ice cream and sang happy birthday to me in English, Spanish, and Tagalog. But wow Heavenly Father blessed us so much as well. The same day we were able to find some amazing new investigators and we taught our investigator Anna and we had a few members come with us. We taught her the plan of Salvation and the spirit was so strong, it was one of the most spiritual lessons I've had on my mission. One of the members, Maite, who is also from Barcelona, told her conversion story and the spirit was so strong. We saw a big change of heart in Anna that night also! And after this amazing lesson, we went back to piso and Hermana Fausett and her companion needed a place to stay cause they had zone conference the next day and they showed up at our piso and we celebrated my birthday and our nine months together! Honestly words can't describe just how amazing it all was. I am so grateful I get to be here doing the Lord’s work on my 20th birthday! So I've officially completed 20 years of life and 9 months in the mission. Time is a weird thing, but I've really learned on the mission how important it is to cherish each moment because it really does fly by. This work is a miracle and I am so grateful to be apart of it. I'd love to share a quote I found this week!
 “Courage is the word we need to hear and hold near our hearts—courage to turn our backs on temptation, courage to lift up our voices in testimony to all whom we meet, remembering that everyone must have an opportunity to hear the message.” It is not an easy thing for most to do this. But we can come to believe in the words of Paul to Timothy:
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.”
These are two of my favorite Scriptures and they are so true.
I love you all!
Hermana Bangerter 

She is 20 years old!!

Taking her 9 months pregnant picture, because she reached 9 Months in the mission!!

Katie and her companion :) 

Members in the Work 3/7

Hello family and friends!!! This has been an amazing week. We have been able to do some finding which is something we've been struggling with a bit the past few weeks. But we've found some great people and I'm very grateful! So an update on the ward here, I was honestly just starting to wonder a bit if what we've been doing to get the members involved had even done anything but then we had fast and testimony meeting this past Sunday and there were so many people who got up and shared their testimonies about missionary work, it was so humbling to hear so many sweet testimonies about the importance of missionary work. When the members are involved in the work it brings miracles.

So an update on our investigator Anna, she is progressing very slowly but she is progressing well. We met with her again this week and she had read more than 100 pages in the Book of Mormon and still told us she felt like she hadn't read enough. Haha she's amazing. She still has not received her answer but she said as she's been reading the Book of Mormon she's been able to feel a little bit more each time she reads it. It has been incredible to see.

So in district meeting this last week we talked about discouragement and I would love to share one of the stories that was shared. "Once upon a time it was announced that the devil was going put of business and would sell all his equipment to those who were willing to pay the price. On the big day of the sell, all his tools were attractively displayed. There was envy, jealousy, hatred, malice deceit, sensuality, pride, idolatry, and other implements of evil on display. Each of the tools was marked with its own price tag. Over in the corner by itself was a harmless looking wedge shaped tool, very much worn down. But still it bore a higher price than the others. Someone asked the devil what it was, and he answered "that is discouragement." The next question came quickly: "and why is it priced so high even though it is plain to see that it is more worn than these others?" "because," replied the devil, "it is more useful to me than all these others. I can pry open and get into a man's heart with that when I cannot get near him with any other tool. Once I get inside, I can use him in whatever way suits me best. It is worn well because I use it on everybody I can, and few people know it belongs to me. This tool was priced so high that no one could buy it, and to this day it has never been sold. It still belongs to the devil, and he uses it on mankind." (author unknown)

This really impacted me, so many times it's our own discouragement that holds us back, when in reality we have eternal potential! through our Savior Jesus Christ, we can get through everything and we can become the people we are meant to be.
Les quiero!!! Que tengan una buena semana!
Hermana Bangerter