IT´S ABOUT STINKIN TIME!!!‏

Howdy fam,
Let me repeat, IT´S ABOUT STINKIN TIME!!! I´m glad to hear that my big brother is finally getting his act together. By the way congratulations Ben and Whitney. That rocks. In a month and a half I´m gonna have a sister that I´ve never even met. Really though, I´m looking forward to getting to know my new sibling(ings)( hint, hint, Crystal) when I get home. I always wanted another sister(and I guess I could handle one more brother).All right, enough with the joking around. I hope that everything goes well with the wedding.
I also hope that everything goes well with dad´s business endeavors whatever they may be. I don´t have any doubt that the Lord will take care of everything as he has always done.
As far as my life these days, it has been absolutely wonderful. I´m home in Rio Branco and life couldn´t be better. My last night in Manaus we finally baptized a man named Onassis, so I felt good leaving my area, in the hands of Elder Reese, even though I didn´t baptize quite as many people as I´d hoped there, but those that elder Sanatana and I baptized are people that I´ll never forget.
It is so great to be back in Rio Branco again. I already got to go back to my old area to do some baptismal interviews, and, as luck would have it, I saw Wesley the young man that Elder Kartchner and I baptized. It was really good to see him again and I was happy to find out that his Grandma( who raised him) is going to be baptized in two weeks. He is a great kid and has really become like a brother to me. He´s 17 and is planning on going on a mission as soon as he turns 19, and then he´s going to do everything he can to make it to the states, so maybe you guys will meet him someday.
We didn´t have any baptisms this Saturday, but we´re planning on a few this weekend between the conference sessions. I´m in the biggest area I´ve had yet and I´m enjoying it. I´m looking forward to the next few months working here.
Once again congratulations Ben and Whitney.
Love,
Elder Bangerter

I'M GOING HOME!!!!!!

Howdy Fam,
Thats right folks I´m going back home, to Rio Branco the greatest city ever. I can´t tell you how shock I was when my ZL read the transfers. The truth is I started dancing aroundthe room. I´m also a zone leader now. That means I´m going back to the same zone I was in and also to the area that Elder Evans went after being my comp. I thought that after leaving Boa Vista I wouldn´t Manaus again, because I´ve only heard of one missionary that left Manaus came back and left again. Anyway I think that you guys can tell that I´m more than just a little pumped. One thing that makes it even better is that we´re going to have a baptism tonight. The only sad part is that I won´t see a lot of missionaries again before they go home, but thats all right. I´m also quite excited to see me old area and say hi to some people that I thought I would never see again.
It has really been amazing to see the Lord´s hand working even in what transfers I have. I had an interview with President Parrella yesterday and I really saw that he does the transfers just by inspiration. I´m truelly blessed to have such an amazing mission president.
Anyway this week was really good. As I said, we had a conference with Elder Arnold on Saturday and it was wonderful. I got to see a lot of missionaries that I hadn´t seen in a long time. Elder Arnold is an incredibly spiritual man and I learned a lot (Now I´m just trying to put it into practice). Sunday was great too. The attendence was back up over two hundred the other elders and us had 18 visitors at church, so I was happy.
Well, life is great. Next time you here from me I´ll be in a different time zone.
Love,
Elder Bangerter

for gramps

Hey Grandpa,
First, I guess I´ll say the costumary happy birthday. Grandpa, it´s kind of hard to say in just a couple words the influence that you´ve had in my life. The truth is that you have always been a great example to me in many ways. Ever since I was little I have seen the strength of your work ethic, I don´t think I´ve ever been to your house without seeing you working on or fixing something. Also I´ve been humbled at times by your willingness to just help others without even thinking of your own comfort. An example of that was when our car broke down in the middle of the night on the way to Boise, and you came and took us all the way home that night then went back home the next day without a word of complaint, on the contrary I remember laughing a bit that night. One thing that I have really grown to appreciate as I´ve grown older is your wonderful sense of humor. Anyway, I could keep jabbering on but I guess I´ll just get to the point. I love you Grandpa, and once again, Happy eightieth birthday.
Elder Bangerter

rain drops keep fallin on my head‏

Howdy Fam,
I didn´t get the family email yet, but I´m sure everything is going fine up that way. Its great hearing how Bob and Brandon are doing. I had a fun week this week. Half of my investigators fell through and nobody went to church because it rained Sunday morning, and not just investigators, members too. The normal attendence in my ward is about 200 people, this Sunday there were only 104. I also won´t have anybaptisms this week because nobody went to church. I think I´m going to be transferred next week on Thursday so I´m fighting to have some baptisms that Wednesday night.
The last few days have actually been pretty fun though. I´ve been on splits with my ZL for the last three days. We are working on bringing the ward list up to date, so we´ve wandering all over our two areas trying to find roads and addresses. I´ve gotten to know my area a lot better. We´ve found I don´t know how many people that have already moved away and a few that have even died already, so its been cool.
I´m excited for Saturday . They called a special missionary conference because Elder Arnold of the seventy is in town. I´m pumped because I think I´ll get to see Elder Evans and some other missionaries that I haven´t seen in quite a while.
Oh ya, if anybody sees Tevan, tell him happy nineteenth birthday, and ask him when he´s going to send in his papers.
Anyway, life is good.
Love,
Elder Bangerter

Election Day

Howdy Fam,
Well he wasn´t exactly elected, but I found out who my new mission president is going to be.I don´t remember his name right now, but he´s from Southern Brazil and President Parrella spoke very well of him. Still the thought of not having president Parrella as my president makes me kind of sad. I can´t that he´ll only be here for another three and a half months.
Anyway, conference was great yesterday. The doctor thats in charge of the north Brazil area was there to speak to us. imagine my surprise when President Parrella called my name and said. "Elder Bangerter will translate for doctor Farnsworth". I was caught a little off guard at first, but it was fun. First he gave a health training, then gave a talk. He is a cool guy.
The best part of the conference was in the afternoon. Last month the mission didn´t make its goal. The mission didn´t do bad but could have done a lot better. President gave an excellent training and the spirit was very strong. As I said, I will miss him when he goes. He is the best president I could ever ask for.
This week we won´t have any baptisms, but next week I think we´ll have six or so, so that´ll be fun.
Life is good. I´m learning to love this work and the Savior more and more each day. Its great to hear things are going well at home.
Love,
Elder Bangerter
P.S. tell Ryan Matteson congrats and good luck on the mission. and give Steven Williams a hug for more when one of you sees him.

Last Lost Sheep

Howdy Fam,
Well, it looks like I'm the only one still out of the country and running from time. I guess I can handle that. Crystal, por favor não chore demais por saudades, e não preocupe-se você vai acostumar-se.
Anyway, I had a great week. We finally had another baptism. Roberto was baptized on Saturday, and everything went wrong, but we got him in the water so its all good. He is a great guy that has a lot of desire to serve a mission.
This week we had a few interesting experiences. The funniest was last Wednesday. We were walking down the street that night and a drunk stopped us, thats the normal part. Anyway, I told him to stop drinking and we'd pass by his house the next day. We went there and he had stopped drinking. We taught him the first lesson, he went to church on Sunday and is getting baptized next week. We always talk about stuff like that, but I didn't think it would happen to me. What makes it better is that the same thing happened to the other elders in our ward and they're going to baptize their ex-drunk the same day as us. Its gonna be a great party.
Sunday was a really good day. We had ten visitors at church, and our baptism was confirmed and recieved the priesthood( things move a little faster here in Brazil). As far as the visitors go, a few were surprises. One was a man that we contacted the first week that Elder Santana was here and he finally went for the first time. Roberto's mom went and liked it too. The other surprise was that a member brought his neighbor. We taught him the first on Monday and he's getting baptized next week. This last week we didn't find a lot of new investigators, but we marked quite a few baptismal date of investigators that weren't progressing before.
As far as Elder Santana's patriarchal blessing, we've got zone conference again on Tuesday, so we'll ask President Parrella what to do. Well, the gospel is true I'm happy, and stuff.
Love,
Elder Bangerter
P.S. Crystal if you want to get engaged or something like that before I get home, you can just go right ahead and do it.