Elder Bolliger Hesperia Week 71, 73 & 74: Wonderful Letters to Share

Here's catching up on a few weeks worth of letters...

Well this past week was transfers and I stayed with my companion Elder McNeal, up here in Hesperia,CA
and this past week on Tuesday we had a meeting with our bishop, ward mission leader, elders quorum president and high priest group leader going over all of the ward directory and getting notes on it so that we can know better the ward and know where to focus our efforts on the ward. It was really a good thing for us as now we have a list of people to go and visit and people that we should focus our efforts on, so the next couple days after that we went and visited a ton of Part-Member families and we set up appointments with as many of them as we possibly could, and we have a few this next week.
But the most exciting thing that happened this past week was getting the 40 day fast up and running. From the Experience of the Greentree ward and how effective it was there I was excited to get this ward up and going on the fast, so with all of the lessons that I learned from doing this in the GreenTree ward, we went into ward council and we presented it before them, it went over well and almost all of them signed up for the 40 day fast, and before church started we went up to members (straight up) and asked them to do the 40 day fast, It actually went over pretty well but it was interesting to see them respond just like the other members did in the greentree ward, and by the end of Relief Society and Priesthood opening exercises we had the first 2 weeks filled out with easily going to get another week filled out, All before the fast even starts! Its so exciting to see how much this ward wants to help out in the fast and I can already tell this fast is going to do wonders for this ward, in the Greentree ward it helped to unify it considerbaly and helped to get some 'golden' investigators for us, everyone seems to be so on board with this and its just a really well thought out and good idea.
Here are the things we are fasting for
1. Missionary work
2. Ward Unity (Always needed)
3. Anything else as directed by the spirit

And as Alma 6:6 says
" 6 Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in afasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God."
Which is a good scripture that helps to explain the fast and helps to scripturally support the righteous action we are helping the ward to take.
But next weeks email will be better as the work really starts to speed up a lot.

Elder Bolliger


dear family back home Jan 23, 2012


well this past week we had a zone conference and there we learned well also relearned some of the things that we had already known, but i t was a good refresher on street contacting. Its one of the things that over my mission has honestly been harder then I previously thought but if you go fearlessly, miracles can happen, and its something that I have been needing to improve on.
During the Zone Conference they reminded us that Elder Ballard promised us that if we talk to 10 people a day our baptisms will double, and that was the main gist of the conference. So taking that and the notes from it Elder McNeal and I decided to try it out on Thursday as Wednesday was a day spent at the car dealership getting it repaired.( Not a fun thing but better than pep boys, katie I think you know what I am talking about). We took the initiative by literally talking to everyone that we saw on the road. So we started our day by going and checking up on a referral that we had tried contacting in the past, she wasn't available and we saw people on the road and decided to leave our car there and walk around, we started talking to a lot of people, a lot of them spoke only Spanish so my companion decided to speak some back and helped to get a couple of referrals for the Spanish elders, it was the perfect time of day because everyone was out side and the crazy winds were not blowing at all ( they kick up a lot of dust and dirt into the air around here) but katie this reminded me of a missionary you would know, Elder Rafa Something maybe sanchez from san bernardino, ca and just talking to everyone. One of the main ones that we talked too was an older gentlemen by the name of Raymond who missionaries had talked to in the past (10 years ago!) and who we had a nice long discussion with as we helped him to clean up his landlords yard that was next door, we helped to address concerns and problems that he had from the last time he talked to missionaries ( baptismal authority, etc) and had a good impromptu discussion and will hopefully be going back later this week. During all of this my GPS was invaluable as I have the entire ward on there so when we are going around I can see who is living on what street etc. And of course for getting around. During this day of finding we also tried contacting some part member families and like many ward directories it seems like we do a lot of cleanup work. But also talking to the neighbors about them is also a great way of meeting new people. Later in the day we tried contact yet another part member family but were unable too, so we parked our car again and started to walk around, we walked by this one household where there were some people and as we were walking by I had the thought " They are going to be the ones you are going to talk too on this street", not following that impression I continued onward and neglected to go and talk to them, we got to the end of the street and turned around and there was no one else out there so we made our way back and started talking to them, they had some kids that were out riding their bikes and we were playing around a little with them, so we ended up talking for about 20 minutes and then I got the interesting impression start asking them/committing them if they want us to come back and I began down that road and ended up they are interested and we are going back over there this next week.
So with these good examples of street contacting we decided to do it the very next day,
we could not have picked a worse one, we went out doing this about 2 hours later so like 2pm in the afternoon and no one was outside at all and especially because of the crazy santa anna winds that affect the high desert and IE were blowing and no one was outside at all, a disappointment but we saw the silver lining, if all that wind is blowing there are tons of leaves everywhere to be cleaned up!
So we borrowed and bought some rakes and bags and will be going around tomorrow and the next day for a couple hours cleaning up people's yards and helping to provide them with a positive experience with the church as people are completely dependent on their experiences to gauge how they will react ( thanks spiritual roots of human relations :), SERVICE FINDING, I am really quite excited to go out and try this as it should be fairly effective.
Well yesterday we had a multi-stake conference (88 southern California stakes in all ) where Elder L. Tom Perry was presiding with Elder Johnson of the Seventy and Sister Barbara Thompson of the General Relief Society Presidency. Well the main talked I really liked was Elder Perry's. It talked on how once in Utah there was a strong wind storm that blew a lot of trees, shingles and everything else around, so on late Saturday night the stake presidents were contacted and there was a short sacrament meeting held and then everyone ( thousands of people) went to work, and by the end of that or the next day almost all of the damage was cleaned up, he talked on how important it is for the stakes as a community helper and response to natural dis tasters and that was the part that really caught my attention. And also how the local media was shocked to see how quickly people cleaned up and how much faster they were than other crews. Mom this reminds me of that flooding story you told me once.
Well I hope everyone has a wonderful week back home, and mom here is your 'longer' email you have wanted.
Have a great day yall!

P.S. I turn 18 months on my mission this Saturday, its just nuts to think about!
Elder Bolliger




Hello family, Jan 30, 2012

Well this last week I had some interesting experiences that once again showed how much the hand of the Lord is involved in this work.
This past week, we visited a family that the first time we went over there she was kind and warm and wanted us to come back. The ward had no knowledge of her or her family so we went over there. After trying to go contact a referral for the 5th time I was thinking, oh what should we go and do right now? As I was thinking that, it suddenly rushed into my mind "Oh! lets go and talk to those people that wanted us to come back and talk to them."

So we dropped by and noticed that their cars were there, a good indication of them being home, when we showed up the mother who is a member while her daughter also is but they have been less active for years and the father is not a member.

When we were over there conversing and talking she explained to us how her father has been in a hospital in Riverside for the past week and recently he has been unresponsive so we started talking to them and ocassionaly her phone would go off, she would speak to someone in Spanish and we would understand enough to get a gist of it. She later told us that her mom called her and said that the bishop showed up to the hospital and started singing hymns to him and he started to be responsive once again. She cried a couple times and was like this was quite a coincidence that you two (us missionaries) came over right when my dad was being unresponsive and the bishop was talking to him. We said in return that's not a coincidence and we were prompted and guided to come over. On a side note, missionaries had not been over there ever at all in the 5 years they have lived up in the high desert. So these events took place on Tuesday, later on Friday I get a similar feeling to go back over there again for a second time and we talked for a good hour. She expressed appreciation that we helped and fasted for him the following Wednesday and that he was back to normal as of Friday morning. So we are building up a really good layer of trust with them and are having dinner with them this next Thursday. I hope we can have a good experience as we teach them the gospel.

Another interesting and unique experience involved baptizing a larger lady this past week, who was wheelchair bound and I helped to lift her from the front of the chair while the bishop helped her from the back, the baptism went smoothly and I am glad I could help in that unique situation that I will probably not do another like it on my mission at all.

Another good missionary experience happened just last night. We were over teaching a lesson to one of our eternal investigators and all the while the mother has not really been that interested in the message. Well last night we went over there and started talking and teaching about the Book of Mormon and prophets, we had a good long discussion but what really hit her was when we were talking about family prayer and scripture study. That really got to her and I testified of it and on how much it draws families together.

Well that's the email for this week.

Elder Bolliger

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

Elder Bolliger - Adelanto, CA Week 60 - 63:

No Letter - Week 60

Hello Family, Week 61
(non-blog) Lessons in Following the Promptings of the Spirit - Blessings and Baptisms.

Hello family - Week 62

Hello family from Adelanto,CA after a long week of people cancelling we had some really good lessons with some of the people that we have been working with, right now we are teaching a 'lost former area book investigator' and she has some really good examples of what being lds can really be to her family and doesn't have any misconceptions. Also one of the recent converts in the ward named Michael is doing missionary work already after being baptized 3 weeks ago. Tonight actually we are teaching his friend with him and I can't wait to do that actually. Its going to be awesome.

I am starting to get a grip on this ward and the people and its starting to pay off now but things are just moving slowly. This weeks email is no where near last weeks but next weeks should be a lot better progress. Sorry for the lameness but it rained up here and snowed in the mountains too!

Elder Bolliger

Well I am still in Adelanto, CA. - Week 63

The work here seems to take a step forward and a step backward at the same time, it changes often as in missionary work this is not uncommon, but is the life of being a missionary. Its not the most consistent thing in the world, and honestly I am amazed I can be so flexible when it comes to missionary work, because every time you think its going to be set in stone, people cancel, different people are there than you were wanting and other events happen that throw a lot of wrenches into everyone's plans. But over the course of the mission I have learned to trust in the spirit and to follow what its saying and what we should be doing. Its weird to think that I was more stingy about being flexible before as now its common to expect being flexible and I am grateful that I could learn such a skill.

Also this past week on Wednesday we had a really, really good day. We met with one of our main investigators and taught her the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, she is someone that has very good LDS friends that are good examples to her and a good example of what the Church can really do. It was really good and in the lesson me and my companion got the same prompting to give her a blessing of comfort and counsel. We weren't expecting to do this at all and in my mind the spirit said again 'she needs a blessing of comfort' but to myself I thought that this was crazy and giving a blessing on the first lesson. I was hesitating saying it and then suddenly my companion said it and I was like, yup that was a prompting and he said it before I could, we both got it at the same time. And after the blessing her demeanor completely changed from one of a sullen, depressed to a joyful happy one, and that's what the gospel does for people, it makes them genuinely happy and feels good in their life when they are following the gospel.

That day was not over yet, it turned into a very different one than we were expecting and than what we had originally planned. It was a good day though and the spirit was helping to guide me along through out the day on who to go see as we had nothing planned for dinner, but the spirit said 'go and see [these people] and they are going to get need priesthood blessings'. And the spirit was right once again, as we went over there and didn't saying anything other than being there supportively and talking and having a good time with them and then it wasn't until the husband said ' thank you for coming over' then I knew that the spirit was right. And they both asked for priesthood blessings and one thing that I have noticed as I have been giving them, every times is a learning experience, every time I give a blessing I learn something new myself. Whether it be how to give one, how the blessings are manifested, how sometimes the spirit gives more direction than others, and you can pronounce blessings without sometimes being specific as its what they feel sometimes rather than what you are actually saying. Its just a learning experience and like following promptings its a precept upon precept learning curve.

Then over time you can really start to see how far you have come.

But since then its been a little slow in terms of missionary work as this week wasn't the fastest one.

But I am curious to see how transfers will go now, and if I stay, my companion stays or one of us goes.

Elder Bolliger

Sister Bolliger - Returning With Honor Oct 2011

We attended the AMAZING missionary farewell fireside at the mission office on October 16th. As we waited to see Sister Bolliger, several other people gathered too. I think we overwhelmed her a bit as she seemed pulled between realizing that it was nearing the end, crying in the car listening to a song her mission president played for the sisters departing, and seeing her parents and others waiting there. We got some fun hugs and then off we were to listen to a very spiritually rich fireside. Sister Bolliger recited the mission motto for all the missionaries to rise and repeat. Each missionary invited 1 person they worked with to share their testimony. Siser Bolliger invited Chuck but he was out of town on a family matter so he was not able to speak.

The others that shared their testimonies were amazing. The spirit was awesome!

Later in the program she bore her testimony. She mentioned how much she's loved the people and how she's developed a love for the gospel beyond an intellectual knowledge. She shared how seeing the atonement work in her life, the life of her companions, and those that she served was wonderful. The mission president spoke for the last 30 min. giving a stirring talk about doing God's - His work and being on God's - His team! Photos and hugs followed. It was such a special night.

The next morning we arrived to pick up Sister Bolliger. We put her things in the car and were invited in to a final prayer with the mission president, his wife, and all the missionaries departing. I cried through the prayer. It reminded me of being in the temple. We all kneeled in their family room. There was so much love, faith, devotion, and willingness to serve in that room. I LOVED it! It is a precious memory for me!

The Assistants to the President took the others to the airport and we drove over to the temple to visit. It was great. Later we went back to the mission office to get see Sister Jackson from our home stake arrive from the airport and take a photo. Sister Bolliger also got to see Sister Biasayl from Mongolia, Sister Croft, and others. It was a sweet treat though a bit misty eyed for Sister Bolliger. It was hard to leave and talk about completing her mission.

Saturday morning the family went to our Stake President's home so that Sister Bolliger could give her report, talk to him, and be released. She didn't like taking off her name tag right away. It was hard. She loved being a missionary and could feel the mantle of love it brought to allow her to see others and love them the way that God does!

Sister Bolliger spoke about the atonement the next day in church - her "homecoming!"

Favorite thoughts I jotted down from her talk:

Read Scriptures - it's a handbook of life - Book of Mormon

Faith is not just believing - but acting
Gospel challenges us to be converted to do and become who He wants us to become.
Atonement - God takes us wherever we are at and makes us better.
God knows us personally.
The atonement is for all of us!

The Holy Ghost is like a GPS - if we are not understanding the directions....
maybe the volume is down.
maybe we are in a place where we cannot get reception.
When we choose to NOT follow the instructed course, we hear "recalculating."

Pres. Gelwix taught "Keep on Keeping on!"
"If you knew the final score of the game, would you switch jersey's mid game?"
"We do know the final score!"

"Which team are we going to play for?"

Pres Gelwix also taught "Repentance is like weeding the garden. If you go to the root - everything is gone"
She shared about people she'd taught like Andres that prays wherever and whenever he can.
She shared about Chuck that studied and learned and hungered for the gospel.

Finally she shared about helping a companion that struggled to love herself and learning it is not our pace but the direction that we are going that matters! We are all imperfect people trying to follow Christ! 2 Nephi 31:20 "Press forward in steadfastness in Christ..."

Christ revealed himself in his perfect form so we could have a perfect hope in him.

Again, she shared how she intellectually bought into the atonement before leaving to serve a mission. But now she feels it too!

She concluded with her testimony in Spanish.

It was a beautiful day.

This concludes the weekly updates on the mission of Sister Katalin Bolliger

Gratefully,

Sister Bolliger - the Elder :)

ps.

She's now a nursery leader working with the 18mo old - 3 years olds in our ward. Awesome!