Elder Bolliger - Colton, CA Week 8: malo e lelei, fefe hake? marhaball, shalom kadeema? hola, como estan?

Wow yesterday was incredible.

Yesterday we had the baptism of Marcos who is a 11 year old son of a now active woman named Victoria who is someone that the Gospel has influenced and brought back onto the path and is holding onto the iron rod so so strongly. At the baptism we had very good attendance and I could feel the spirit so strongly in there, when Elder Hall and Marcos were changing people could come up and bear their testimonies, I felt prompted to do so and I went and bore mine first on the atonement and Jesus Christ and the saving ordinances, then some other people did as well then a bunch of little kids also came up and bore their testimonies, some of them not even baptized yet, the spirit was so strong there you could almost cut it with a knife. After giving a talk on baptism I gave Marcos the gift of the Holy Ghost, wow that was very spiritual as well, and gave him a blessing too.

So far I have had some incredible experiences on my mission and this last week I had the best day I have had so far and my companion agrees that its been one of the best, it was this past Friday and it started out waking up at 5:45 am to go play indoor soccer in our local ward building, that game was pretty fun and we had a good time and then we had a great personal & companionship study then we went with our roommates to our favorite place for weekly planning, Starbucks, which we love getting the non-coffee drinks there and do our weekly planning for this next week. Then we went to the church for another basketball workout with an investigator and challenged him to read the book of mormon and pray to know about its truthfulness.

Next, we taught another girl that was recently baptized by her grandfather into the church, another awesome lesson. Then we went to the Bowlers and had 2 great lessons one with Marcos who was baptized yesterday and the other with a sister and her four children who we are working on and probably gonna get baptized in the next couple of weeks. Our lesson which we taught was on Obedience because them being kids aren't exactly the most obedient and it went over very very well. It was that night that we had another district leader interview with Marcos and it went over well and he was ready for baptism. And at the end of the day we went on a nice jog and sprints/ leg work outs and stuff.

It was the best day so far!
Well I hope that yall have a great week where ever yall are!

And go forward with faith!
--

Elder Bolliger

We received the following e-mail this week from the Bowler family in John's ward. We wanted to share a little bit. The Gospel brings out the best in each of us and it is Good! - The Texas Bolligers :)

... I have the privilege of having Elder Bolliger in my home often for discussions and meals. He is doing very well as a missionary and is having success.

I have seen a lot of growth in him since his first day here. He and Elder Hall work really well together. The young people they are teaching like him a lot. My four year old grandson, Cole LOVES "Eddabodiga."

Elder Bolliger knows when he comes to my home that I want to be taught something.... and he is always ready and happy to teach me something he has learned from his personal studies that day.

You have raised a good son that is willing to make this sacrifice to teach my friends in this area. Your son blesses my life and I'm grateful! ...

Hooray for the Gospel!

Sister Bowler

Sister Bolliger - Visalia Week 24: No Clouds!Loved General Conference! "I Know You Love the Lord!" Amazing Lessons, Health Hiccup - no stress!

Greetings from freezing Visalia! The weather here is crazy. We had a ridiculous heat spell and then all of a sudden it's raining and 65 degrees. And this is a place where there aren't even ever clouds! I am so cold! I was wrapped up in my snuggie and slippers during studies this morning just trying to keep all of my appendages functioning.

What an awesome week it has been! It was the wonderful week of meetings! We had some amazing Sister training in Fresno and then completely loved General Conference! I can't believe that this weekend marked my six months on the mish! I feel like I should be more knowledgeable than I feel right now.. but I guess that's what turning to the Lord is for!

General Conference was AMAZING! I was in the MTC for the last one so it was interesting to see how I had grown spiritually and the kinds of questions I took and answers that I sought for certain investigators. A wonderful sister in the ward drove us to each session and fed us for lunch. It was so amazing that we were able to hear and listen to a prophet's voice! I took loads of notes but tried to focus more on what I was learning from the Spirit than the specific words that were being said. I loved Elder Bednar's (of course), Elder Oak's, Elder Christofferson, and President Uchtdorf's talks. My goodness. There is so much wisdom they have to give us! I loved the idea that we need to slow down when going through difficult patches. It spoke tons to me as I am contemplating another transfer of growth and need to allow myself to take things at the optimal pace for my spiritual, physical, and emotional benefit.

Transfers are this Wednesday, and Sister Clark is leaving me heading to Lemoore! Where there is a Naval Air base. Sound a little oxymoronic? I thought so too. Haha. She gets to be in a trio with one of my old companions Sister To'a...the one who taught me how to flick Tongan style. Heheh. I know they'll have fun! And I, Sister Bolliger, am training. Again! Ahhhhhh. She is from Mongolia. And learned English in the MTC. There are 21 missionaries coming in this transfer and she is the lone sister! There are many missionaries in my zone training and actually one of the assistants is now coming here to be a district leader. We're rocking the mission and we've got to maintain the Visalia reputation! :)

When President Gonzalez calls you to ask you to train, he always begins with the question, "Sister or Elder So-and-so, do you love the Lord?" Well, this time, President didn't even ask me the question. Hahah. He said, "Sister Bolliger, I know you love the Lord and I know that you'll love to train the sister from Mongolia!" Ahem. I didn't hear any question marks in there. Haha. Thankfully I do love the Lord, but my am I getting a lot of chances to turn to Him!

Todd is progressing beautifully! We have had some amazing lessons with him and he is really really changing his life! I love watching how his countenance has developed as he has been receiving the lessons. He came to the afternoon session of Conference and was amazed! He asked if there was a way he could watch the other sessions because he had to work Saturday. When we informed him of the November issue of the Ensign he immediately asked what he needed to do to get one! He has experienced many challenges in his life but he keeps thanking us for finding and teaching him when we did because it is only blessing!

I had a little health hiccup the other day. We were at one of the sisters meetings in Fresno when all of a sudden I began to feel deathly ill. Sister Clark accompanied me outside for a bit of fresh air and we were quickly met by Sister Gonzalez. I happened to get sick when we were roleplaying with other companionships so Sister Clark was ushered off to practice and Sister Gonzalez became my companion. The pain was pretty unbearable so I was practically forced to lay down on the couch in the foyer of the mission office. Hahah. Yeah. Super rad. I just breathed and chatted with Sister Gonzalez until the pain subsided. But it was quite a random flare up of pain. I realized that I was feeling so because I was so anxious about transfers. Haha. And had been slightly stressed out this transfer with lots of crazy things and crazy people in this area. I just did some precious visualization and was able to get back up on my feet. It is amusing to lay on a couch in the mission office though. :) Sister Gonzalez is fabulous and we just laughed together at my ridiculous and random pain.

Things are going well! The Church is true! And God loves us!

Adios amigos!

Sister Bolliger

Elder Bolliger - Colton, CA Week 7: Being Filled!

Well this past week has been full.

This past week was transfer meetings and General Conference, so it felt like we didn't have any time.

Its really sad to see investigators and recent converts lose their hold on the rod as they start slipping and sliding from their previous position, but I hope that someone can reach out to them later in life if we are unable too. But for every bad thing that happens out here, a good thing takes its place.

So I'll start with Thursday/Friday. We had over a less active member with her four kids. We were talking with the mom and we set a date with them for baptism on the 16th & 17th of this next month. So that means that as of right now we have 4 baptisms coming up! One this weekend and 3 the following. It is very exciting to see people have a desire and want to progress.

Well the last couple days here have been General Conference!

(fyi - http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-1298,00.html)

Which being out on a mission and watching it is completely different as you are thirsting for the knowledge and I think I ended up taking somewhere around 22 pages of notes over all of the sessions. In the Priesthood session some of those talks were just powerful, especially President Uchtdorf's and President Monson's talk, another one that I got a lot out of was Elder Packer's talk in the Sunday morning session where he talked on how one of the hardest parts of forgiveness is forgiving yourself. And I really enjoyed conference as a whole this year more then in years past.

Well I am looking forward to Southern California being cooler than it has been the past. Some days its been pretty hot and humid here, kinda reminds me of home. But it should start cooling off soon.

In this email I am attaching pictures, one is of Elder Hall and I, who right now is my current companion and still training me but now being district leader.

The other picture (not posted) is of Eliza who was just baptized two weeks ago and her mom is coming back into the church and her dad is not a member.

The other picture is of a culinary growing experience on my mission. These are Octapi. I've also had pork skin and Lingua which is Cow Tongue. If the Lingua is prepared in the right way isn't too bad just a little rubbery.

Well I hope everyone has a great week and always trust in the lord with all your heart, might, mind and strength!

--

Elder Bolliger

Sister Bolliger - Visalia Week 23: What a Drive! Chicken Farm with No Reception, Disappointing Phone Message, Exciting Hospital Stay on Fast Sunday

This week was crazy. I know I seem to say that EVERY week, but honestly, this week probably takes the cake.

Friday we found ourselves in Fresno AGAIN for the trainer and trainee meeting. Things progressed as usual but then we were charged with taking some medication to an Elder in the Hanford Stake. Because Hanford is only about twenty minutes from Visalia, we readily agreed to it--feeling self-important because of the task at hand. :)

After receiving some very basic directions from the Elders, we proceeded down the 99 back home. All of a sudden we were in Goshen, a town that is in our ward boundaries. We had missed the exit! The next 45 minutes were spent driving up and down the 99 looking for the Jensen exit. The Elders weren't picking up their phone, etc., so it was super awesome. Haha. We finally got off on a different exit and started driving through fields after fields. We began to think that we had missed a street and proceeded to attempt to contact the Elders. This was when we realized that we had NO cell phone reception. Left to our own devices we decided to just keep driving until we saw some semblance of civilization. This proceeded for another 50 minutes. Oh yes. Beginning to get slightly nervous that we were going to be lost forever, and just as we were about to turn back, we saw the glorious next part of our directions. We took that and began to lose our faith again. Some 30 minutes later we happened upon the Church building--out of NOWHERE! We were met by some normal looking Elders and were able to deliver the medication with no problem. Turns out they live on a chicken farm and don't get cellphone reception either. Our phone doesn't automatically switch to Roaming so we learned how to fix that fast!

Taking the drive back to the 99 we saw that we had a voicemail from Leon, the man who was going to get baptized the next day. When we finally could use our phone, we called him back and found out some horrible news: he decided he was NOT going to get baptized. Because I was driving I had to sit patiently and listen to half of the conversation. Turns out Leon had talked to his Father, who is a preacher, with the intention of inviting him to his baptism. But, when Leon was talking to his Father, his father convinced him that he shouldn't get baptized. Apparently Leon wasn't as solid as we thought, and it was really frustrating to realize that we didn't have time to talk with him until later that evening.

Needless to say, it was probably the most involved of any road trip on the mission thus far. :)

Fast forward to Sunday. Sister Clark and I are fasting and at meetings all morning. During church, however, she begins to not feel well and we went on the long walk to the bano. I just thought it was normal, but as we went to Gospel Principles (the second hour), she began to indicate that she was NOT doing well at all. We went to the bathroom again, but this time she began to complain of lower right abdomen pain and couldn't stand up any longer. I quickly mobilized the fellow bathroom goers. One woman went to find the nurse in Sunday School, one stayed with Sister Clark, and the other came with me outside so that I could call Sister Gonzalez--our medical contact. After calling Sister Gonzalez and getting the process started for permission to see a Doctor, I came back in the building to be greeted by a host of members, one nurse, one doctor, and my companion in tears sitting on the ground. Before I knew it, I was ushered into a waiting car with my companion and we were off to the ER. I called Sister Gonzalez again and told her of the potential appendicitis, and we were cleared. When we got to the ER Sister Clark realized that she didn't have her insurance card with her. We then sent off the husband of the nurse who was with us to go retrieve it. Then the long wait began. It's a little jolting to have been sitting in a spiritual class and to then be thrust unexpectedly into the Emergency Room. Then the long wait began. Just imagine Sister Clark is moaning in pain while I'm trying to lighten the mood and ignore the football game being blasted on the big screen. Oh, temptation comes in many ways.

We finally get a room (which happens to be a Psych room--one of the ones reserved for psych patients. haha) and then the fun process of waiting begins again. I am fielding phone call after phone call answering Mission President's wife, Ward Mission Leader, Bishop, other missionaries, etc. Ah! Then Brother Drennan, our Ward Mission Leader comes to give Sister Clark a blessing with the other brother that was still in the waiting room. Somehow, though, neither man had any oil! So, the calls to the Elders began. They gladly came over, but left out the detail that they were coming on their bikes. Forty-five minutes later, they arrive and participate in giving Sister Clark a blessing. One of the missionaries was with Sister Clark in the MTC and looked pretty scarred after the experience. I'm not sure if that was because he learned Sister Clark's first name or had to come to the hospital on a Sunday. Haha.

Turns out the whole hoopla was for a nasty UTI. Sister Clark HATES drinking water with a passion (apparently no water is as good as Utah water--no matter if it's bottled or not) and because of that got herself in this particular situation.

In retrospect, we left the church building at 3PM, and left the hospital at 9:30PM. Yup. On a Fast Sunday. Sister Bolliger was seriously wigging out! Thankfully there was a vending machine with a Nutrigrain bar. The next hour was then spent trying to find a 24-hour pharmacy. A precious ward missionary had come to relieve the previous sister of her duties and drove us all around Visalia to find a pharmacy. We rolled into our apartment at about 10:45 PM and were both seriously dead--thankfully not figuratively. :)

We've been met by more meetings in Fresno this week, more opportunities for exhaustion, more heat, more speculation about transfers, and much more fun!

Crazy!

Sister Bolliger

Elder Bolliger - Colton, CA Week 6: Companionship together again in Colton, Golden Investigator, Great Missionary Ward,

Well this past week was transfer doctrine and me and Elder Hall found out we are going to be together another transfer here in Colton/Grand Terrace, CA. But he is going to be a District Leader. It's incredible how much the past 6 weeks have flown by.

Well this past week we set 4 dates for baptism, all of which are in part member families. The first one a boy named Marcos whose mother was inactive for a while but is now really starting to come back strong, is a golden investigator, he reads the book of Mormon constantly, and comes to church and comes to FHE and is really excited for his baptism on 10/10/10 @ 5 which is a date he picked out and we are progressing with him towards that date. Another family in which the mom was inactive also for awhile and has 4 kids, with 3 of them being over the age of 9 is also starting to come back into the gospel. It's exciting to see these young kids be excited for the gospel and excited for baptism, we are going to try to schedule it probably in 2 or 3 weeks from today.

Well the missionary work is going great out here in the mission field. Colton/Grand Terrace is a really good area for the gospel, and our ward is very missionary oriented. At a baptism 2 weeks ago we had almost 60+ people show up and support her, and it was for just one person. Bishop Kory Sorensen (yes mom spelled the correct way s-e-n) in this ward is an awesome bishop and really helps out in missionary work. When he was out with his wife the other night we called them and they came over and helped us out in an awesome object lesson. We were teaching some kids under the age of 12 about the plan of salvation. So we had three rooms, one for pre-existence, one for earthly life which had a "gate" signifying baptism and what to do to pass it. Then finally the family room was for eternal life. I taught the pre -existence and what we did while we were there and why we were coming here, and then Sister Kathy Bowler (yes mom the mother figure to me and Elder Hall is also a Kath___ B., ironic isnt it?) and Elder Hall taught the end, it was awesome to also have bishop there quadruple confirming what we said and it was an awesome lesson.

Well I am looking forward to meeting my new roommate and to really getting some work done this next 6 weeks and hopefully baptisms.

Well I hope that everyone is having a good week & trust in the lord with all your heart, might, mind and soul.

Elder Bolliger

Sister Bolliger - Visalia Week 22: Hakuna Matata, Leon's progressing! Twenty Sister Training, Lots of Miracles. I Love My Ward and Area!

Talofa!

This week is going to be quite an interesting one. We have Leon getting baptized on Saturday which is going to be quite a feat! And we have three all-day meetings in Fresno at the Mission Office. Gah! And today we had District Meeting. I think I'm starting to get a feel for the work when I get frustrated by all the time that I don't have to go out and spread the message of the restored gospel! But, these meetings are amazing. :)

We are having Sister Training. So it's all the sisters in the mission! All 20 of us! There is a new method of teaching, using Preach My Gospel, that we are all getting trained in. The Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and trainers all went to this same series of meetings, but because we never go on splits with Elders, or will have them as companions, the information won't be able to be disseminated in the same way. So we all get to be together! For four full days! We met Tuesday and Thursday of this week, and Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

This week we also have the Trainer and Trainee meeting. On Friday. Haha. But I am so proud of my little trainee! We did a roleplay in front of President Gonzalez yesterday and it was powerful! I was nervous because he was observing us, but through our courage and determination we were able to rely on the Spirit and work together!

We're seeing lots of miracles continually and I'm starting to get nervous about transfers! I really don't want to leave this area. There are so many families and people that I have come to know and love and I'd much prefer it if I could stay for a long time. :) But isn't that the attitude that usually means you're leaving? Haha. I have learned all the names of people, they are starting to love the missionaries, we're gaining trust from everyone, and generally I am so excited about the work here! I've been teasing Sister Clark (shocker I know) about leading the area next transfer and she actually has started stressing out about it. Haha. Maybe I should tone it down a bit..

In all, things are crazy busy. Haha. And Sister Bolliger's crazy. And this is ridiculous. :)

Sister Bolliger

Elder Bolliger - Colton, CA Week 5: "Has it really gone by this fast?" Things are going ... "Well"

Well its crazy how fast this transfer has really gone by, it feels like it just begun but soon in a week from tomorrow it will be 2 months already.

Well yesterday we had a baptism of a daughter of a less active mom who is coming back into the church with her non member husband, it went amazingly well and the 50 chairs that we set up weren't enough, and the husband that was for the past couple weeks not very interested in the church is becoming much more warm and interested and we are going to work on him.

Well we set a date with a boy named marcos whose mom was really inactive for a number of years and randomly came back to church around 3 months ago, since then she has given up some bad habits and is really starting to grow in the church, its cool to see people really start to grow in the church and how much it helps them in life.

Well a week from tomorrow is transfer meeting, which will be interesting to see what happens to my companero and I, but I'm hoping that we can stay together another transfer as it seems like we are really working well and teaching a lot of people the gospel. But I feel like another transfer would really help me and the ward to progress.

Well tonight we are helping to teach a lesson at FHE at an awesome members home, so we need to go prepare for it and teach it later today.


--

Elder Bolliger