First talk in Spanish in Sacrament meeting!

Hey there Everyone, 

Ok so this past week has flown by and has been such an amazing week. I'm doing good and having a blast. So this week is transfer week, I just found out that Elder Adams and Myself are staying in our area. Super excited that we are not leaving. Three missionaries in our district are leaving though. Sad to see them go because we have really grown on each other the last couple weeks. Also found out that we are getting new missionaries today and that two of them are from good Ol Rexburg, ID. I don't recognize there names but i probably know them ha. Anyways so the Mission gets split tomorrow so that means that i will not be serving in Chicago. Kinda sad but not really cause i love my area!

So some new news for our area is that in six weeks we will be getting Sister Missionaries, Great..... hah jk. Elder Adams said in his old area all the sisters were not very fun but hopefully the sisters here will be cool and ready to work. Our area(Joliet) is getting split though. We will be the Joliet south Elders instead of the Joliet Elders. Nothing big and our area is growing so fast that they are putting more in so I'm glad to see that our area is needing more help.

So this week we received two member referrals. We went and visited them and ended up getting two flippen solid new investigators. Both of them accepted the baptism invitation and one of them even came to church this week with us. His name is Jose Sanchez. He has had a ruff life and is ready for a new start. We have him on date for July 20 and we have taught him twice in three days so its going good. All of our other investigators are doing awesome. No new news on them but they are all still progressing and getting closer to baptism.

So this past Sunday we went to the broadcast. Wow, its so cool to see the missionary program growing so fast. President Monson looked very sick to me and hast lost a lot of weight. Make sure to keep him in your prayers.  I don't know if you went at all but i saw Elder Mason Rutledge in the stands. What a blessing for him to be out serving the lord when he was baptized just over a year ago! what a stud! So we are getting I-pads to use for missionary work. They said we will have one in a couple of weeks and we are also getting our own offices with computers and stuff in them. I'm so excited for this change and to watch it help missionaries all around the world. 

So Sunday i had to speak in church. It went very good and my Spanish is better then i thought it was. I'm so grateful for Elder Adams and his willingness to help me learn more rapidly. Elder Adams also had to speak and he did great. Our investigator came up to us after sacrament and told us good job and that he felt something when we were speaking. What a wonderful experience for a new investigator to fell the strong power of the spirit.

Anyways well that's it for this week and thanks everyone for everything. I'm doing good and working hard. My testimony of the gospel is growing more and more each day and i am so so glad i made the decision is be here serving the Lord. I know that Heavenly Father is looking down on us with a big smile on his face as he watches his gospel being spread thought the world. As it was said in the broadcast, just because you don't have a name tag on your shirt doesn't mean your not a missionary,  everyone is a missionary. Everyone can do something each day to be a member missionary. Keep up the good work everyone and remember that you should always be representing the lord, at all times and in all places. Love you and have a wonderful week everyone!!

Elder Banta   

This is Jose Sanchez. He is our newest Investigator.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert

Hey there everyone!

So this past week went very good and I'm doing awesome and still having fun! So we just returned from the Chicago temple! it was so beautiful and the rock work they did on that temple is awesome! i love the color of the temple. Its defiantly a small temple but it was good! 

So this past week we got a new investigator. His name is Felipe and he is awesome! He is having problems with his marriage so he heard about us and called us to meet with us. We have taught him twice and he is such a solid investigator.

Next is Jose Hernandez. The picture of him i will send is funny and shows how short he actually is ha. He is really short but has a huge testimony. We teach him every week at least two times and some days he will call and say Hermano Banta, Hermano Adams are you coming to teach me today? Hes so awesome and funny. We asked him to be baptized and he said yes but just not yet. planning for July!!

Next is our investigator Leo. He is only about 35 years old and reminds me so much of uncle Adam. I don't really know why but he just does! hes been taking the lessons from us for the last three weeks and he loves when we come and teach him. his wife likes us too but says she ius not changing from being a catholic. We Will get her ;). They have five kids and there all very young so we hoping to eventually baptize the entire family. There all so awesome and also have him on date for baptism for July. 

So the weather here has been so crazy. One day is hotter then hot and the next day its cold and raining and storming like crazy. We had two tornadoes touch down in our area and it was crazy. The tornado sirens were going off all week long and it was just a neat experience. Sad and scary but neat! I cannot remember which day but it got so bad we couldn't even work so we had to go home and just do stuff there.

On Friday we had our very first well my very first Zone conference. It was awesome and all the talks went good. I was asked to say the closing prayer and was nervous but did it without a st udder. President fenn is so awesome and his scene of humor is so funny. For all of you who know the story you will understand the following thing president Fenn said. We started zone conference and he got us and was sweating very bad. He took off his coat and was like holy cow!!! its so hot in here the neshak, shadrack, and abendego would probably die in here! ha hes just so funny and loves to keep us on our toes!

So Saturday night it was about 2 in the afternoon actually and the gastelum family called. The parents were going to the Mormon tabernacle choir that night. They had extra tickets so elder Addams and myself got to go and ride with them. They picked us up and they had a 100 thousand dollar BMW M3. It was so nice and Hermano gastelum like to drive scary fast. I wont say how fast we were going on the interstate cause i don't want to scare my mom hah! So the concert was so good and come to find out that my junior year seminary teacher was singing in the choir. Shes very young and her name is Sister Butikofer. I waved to her at the end and yelled hey you taught me in seminary and it was just funny ha. It was good and we didn't get home until about midnight but don't worry we had permission from our mission president 6to be out late for it.   

Well that's about it for this week and hope everyone and everything at home is going good! i miss you all and can't wait to see all you again. I was thinking of how old some people will be when i return and i just started laughing. Anyways well i love you all and please keep in touch. Sorry if i have missed anyone's emails but we have been really busy and i will get caught us next week. Love you all and will talk to you all soon. 

Elder Banta    

 

Cubs game!!

Chicago!

Elder Banta's apartment

Elder Banta with President Fenn

Elder Banta and Elder Adams (first companion)

First blessing in Spanish!!

Que pasa mi amigos y familia?

 

Ok where to start...this past two weeks have gone really good and fast as well! My area is asweome and is growing rapidly with new members! So I have some sad news.

 

Just like Fabian back at home, Cynthia will not get baptized because her parents told her that is she does that she cannot live at home! they are strict about thier religion and we had a very sad lesson with her last week when she told us that news. She told us that she is going to pray about this decision and is its right and she gets an answer that she is going to do it with or without her parents! we will see what happenes i guess.

 

Armondo also told us this week that he is gunna stay catholic and is getting a divorse and moving away to new York. What is happening???? Everything is going the opposite way that is should be going. This past week i have gotten really discoraged and Elder Adams is teaching me the importance of paitence! We did have some good things this week and got three new Investigators! So we are doing good but wil see what happebnes with Cynthia and Armondo!

 

This week we found a older guy named Jose Hernandez. WE taught him the first lesson and he is very sick with cancer throughout his entiore body and can bary speak! We told him about blessings and he said that sounds nice. Not thinking about it he then asked me to offer the blessing! I was so dang scared! ELder ADams said after we left that he has never seen anyone so nervous and as red as i was. Oh yeah the blessing was IN SPANISH TOO!!! i was so scared and Elder Adams had to hold the book with the giude to start off the blessing! After that i gave him the blessing and it went very good! i dont really remember what i said but Elder Adams said i did a good job so yeah. After That i went home and was so nervous that i studied for 30 minutres every night and memorized the beggining of all the blessings haha. But besides that ecerything went good!

 

So that Cubs game was so so dang cool! They lost ha but it was awesome and after the game i went down by the dougout and a player threw me and ELder Adams a ball. It was cool but it was really cold being right by the lake! Chicago was awesome! there were people everywhere and i just about got ran over by a stupid transit bus! The metro train ridfe was different and fun! everything is the city is so expensive though! Transportation all day costed 30 dolloars on is own!

 

Well everything isd going good and im doing really good! I just got told that in two weeks i have to speak in sacrament in spanish so im a little nervous for that! Church is going good and its really fun being imersed in the spanish! Well glad to hear that everyones graduation went well and congrats to everyone!! Also to bridon for being baptized!! Thats awesome! Thanks everyone for everything and keep in touch!! love you all!!!

 

Elder Banta