Elder Bolliger Hesperia, CA Week 68: Awesome experiences helping families, Christmas Day Confimation

Hello family from Hesperia,CA where its nice outside and I am in the middle of a desert.

This past week was really good as we had some awesome experiences and we have a baptism coming up this Thursday!

Well there is a family that we have been working recently with, they are a part member family where the dad has been off and on for the past couple of years, so we were talking to bishop and he told us to give the father a deal, that if he came and talked to him and was clean for w.o.w. for a week then he would let him baptize her, so we went over there and told him about the deal and he accepted, and said that he would be at church on Sunday, well we hoped that he would go and talk to bishop before Sunday and our hopes went down a little bit.

So on this story, fast forward to Sunday, we are at church and every one of his family is there except him. So I get a little down on myself thinking if only he would come and talk to bishop and baptize her! So while we are singing the sacrament hymn he walks through the door and sits down! My companion and I were so happy when that happened as it had been a long while since he came to church and now he really came, well he talked to bishop and after that bishop comes in and says, well we will be having a baptism on Thursday @ 6:30 and we need to start preparing it, so since yesterday at church we have almost all of it completely planned out now and ready to go.

So the baptism will be on Thursday while the confirmation will be on Sunday, yes confirmed at church on Christmas. This is going to be a really, really special one for them as well as for me.

There were some other highlights of this past week, but nothing really compares to the one that I just shared though, our work is looking to start picking up in Janurary/Feburary as February is now a missionary month with a 40 day fast and missionary themed speakers. So work is starting to pick up and I am getting excited for this ward.

I don't think that I will be moving but I think I have one more transfer after this.

Oh and my trainer just went home today, yes he trained me that young.

Elder Bolliger

Talk to you on Sunday!

Elder Bolliger - Hesperia, CA Week 67 : Food for Thought - Cooking up Success in the Maple Ward served with Lemonade!

Hello family from Hesperia, California.

Well this past week we had some major success in the Maple Ward, this past week we had our ward Christmas Party and our investigator family, the Leepers came to it! It was a great success as we had other less active and part member families show up. Yesterday at church all 3 of our investigators showed up and it was really, really good as one of them had never been or only been once to our ward, our work is paying off as last night we were talking to him and he said that he was going to come this next week.

Well we have a baptism coming up this weekend of a girl named Torri who is 10 and we are really excited to see how that turns out this weekend on the 17th, we are also working with some more families and will hopefully be setting some more dates for this next week.

It's an exciting time once again being a missionary and I love the work.

I have recently recommitted myself to being much more obedient and waking up on time, and I feel like this is the key I have been looking for my whole mission and just found it now. I feel so much better and even though today my lemonade might not be that good, tomorrow's will be better with what lemons it gives me.

Well Christmas is coming up soon and I can't wait for that to call you guys and when I do I will have 7 months left on my misison, this is too much crazy talk. The mission is moving way, way too fast.

P.S. For our Christmas party I made some Helgas Coconut Cookies and they turned out awesome! a ton of people asked me for the recipe and I still have like a dozen left over. So many memories of cooking back home, and I will be helping a family make Cloud Light rolls for the holidays. Also that chef's frock or whatever you call it is so handy to wear over my white shirt and tie.

Elder Bolliger

Parents Friends and Family:

We have moved into our new office. As of today, send all correspondence to the new address at:

California San Bernardino Mission

6541 Woodruff Place

Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91701

California San Bernardino Mission

Elder Bolliger - Adelanto to Hesperia Week 64-66 : High Desert in the Maple Tree Ward, 2 Thanksgiving Dinners, Singing Bass at the Creche Festival

Three Short letters make for one long entry :)

Elder Bolliger Week 64

Hello family, well I found out that I will be getting transferred again to the high desert on Tuesday and out of Adelanto, CA.

I really wasn't expecting to go but we will see how it all works out on Tuesday, I think I will be going to Apple Valley next. Well, yesterday on Sunday its was difficult leaving this ward after only being here one transfer, I didn't realize the effect that I had and it was not easy leaving the ward, I helped to get a lot of investigators/ and a few families a lot closer to listening then they had in a year or two but I believe all will be well as I move onto the next area. Although this transfer doesn't seem like much fun being only 2 days before Thanksgiving but it will also include Christmas and New Years so that should be a lot of fun.

Next week I will tell you guys where I am and I am also excited to find out where exactly that is. But we will have to wait and see.

Elder Bolliger

Week 65 - Hesperia Maple Ward

Hello family well I am back in Hesperia, CA and right next to my last 2 areas, its the same stake as the Greentree Ward, and I am learning to adapt and to apply myself here. And I also had Thanksgiving here actually 2 Thanksgiving dinners, and we have been getting too much food recently and unfortunately probably gaining some unneeded weight as well.

Well we had a really really slow week as pretty much everyone cancelled their appointments on the day before and day of Thanksgiving. But this week will be a good one for missionary work and it will be fun though, there is a cookie making competition at our ward Christmas party - Helgas cookies and cloud light rolls.

Well have a great week and I will send pictures the next!

Elder Bolliger

Week 66: Hesperia Maple Ward

Hello family or should I say Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad?

Well I had a pretty good week this past here in the Hesperia Maple ward, we had some good appointments but the best one was just last night, a little back story.

So yesterday during church we had an area authority attend our ward council, well that was a lot of fun actually as we all learned a lot from him thinking of asking the question for investigators and less actives - What is the next ordinance that they will be doing?

For some of them he would say - the sacrament which even I sometimes forget is one of the most important ordinances in the gospel. Using that knowledge we taught a lesson last night where we emphasized the importance of the sacrament and actually got a committment out of the family to all come to sacrament the next week, it was awesome! And the 10 year old daughter has a baptismal date in 2 weeks.

Also on Saturday in Upland,CA there was the Creche Festival where a ton of different groups came together and sang and during that I was part of the basses in the choir and after practicing for the past couple of weeks we got fairly good but no where near what happened on Saturday night, it was incredible it reminded me how much I love to sing in Choirs like being in the "He is Jesus Christ" contata and it brought back so many memories from it, it was awesome! And I hope to sing in many more choirs in the future as I forgot how much fun they all are.

Well up here in the High Desert it gets pretty chilly every day now in the 50s for a high and the 30s for a low, and I have come to realize "Red at night -sailors delight, red in the morning - sailors warning" about rain is completely true. Its worked the last 3 times I have seen a red sunrise even though there were no rain clouds in the sky, apparently it has to do with light defraction/refraction plus the low pressure system.

Well I can't wait to call in a couple of weeks, it will be so awesome to hear y'alls voice!

Elder Bolliger