Hello Everyone,

This week it was a really good week. It was a little different then a regular week just because of meetings and all that stuff. But i felt like it was great and full of the Spirit. Elder Ferguson finally got better on tuesday. We stayed in half of the day and it finally went away for the most part. Tuesday night we brought a member with us Arylisia, she actually served a mission in Temple Square, so it was cool taking a exmissionary with us. But the lessons went really well and again the spirit i thought was great with the lessons especailly when we taught Aleina. She actually was paying more attention and showed her desire to follow the example of Chirst.

Then wedsday we had our Misson conference. Lets just say it was an amazing day!!! Elder Kevin S. Hamilton of the Seventy was here. I loved it you can totally tell he is surely called of God to do this great work! The training was super good, Presidente Merrill he spoke of many things from being obediente and showing that we are surely called of God. I love one thing that he said as you walk by everyone, Have them think, THERE GOES A MAN OF GOD!!! I love that a ton!! Sister Hamilton spoke about the importance of unity within the companionship. Then Elder Hamilton he spoke of many things. He started off just asking the thing we need and what we could need help with in becoming better missionaries. Then he just applied it to us and spoke of multiple things. From marriage of investigators to working with member, all of it was taught amazingly and the spirit was felt. I loved it, it was an amazing day. One ill remember for ever.

Elder Ferguson and I had a really great experience Thursday. One that i will not forget. We went and taught a new investigator her name is Yolanda. She actually received a pamphlet a year before that then some other missionaries ran into her last week. So we passed by and spoke with her. We got to know her then taught her the first lesson. And as we were teaching the first vision and about the Church getting restored, after we asked if she had a question. And then she got emotional. It was crazy though because the first thing that popped in my head was a story out of Preach My Gospel that i had read that morning that spoke about the same thing the missionaries were teaching and the lady started crazy and she said she had recieved a answer and she knows its true. It didnt really happen like that with us but i could just see the spirit working through her and she felt something especial. she kind of acted like nothing happened but we could see it. She said she has the desire to know what the truth is so i guess we will see. I think she has great potential!

The rest of the week was pretty good though Sunday Everyone canceled on us! But the lord guided us to Adãos house where there he took us to a friends house. ANd this older lady she was great she asked 2 of the greatest question. I want to know what the real church is. How can i know? and what happens after we die! it was great! i could see the lords hand in the work this week. Sadly this was my last week in Viana i will be transfered to a differnet area( Benfica). I don't know much about the area its just by the ocean.  It is still in Luanda. And ill be serving with Elder Montgomery, who only has 3 transfers left. OUr mission still didnt receive anyone! and Elder Chandler, Hobbs, will be going home and Elder Fransciso will be going to the MTC in the United states so he can finally start his mission in Guanna. Pretty crazy but hopefully the next transfer we will recieve a ton of missionaries. Visas are being difficult.

Well that was my week hope everyone is well and the week goes well. I love you all!

Love Elder Banta

Thanksgiving in Angola 2013

Hello Todas!!!

Well this week was a pretty good week though. It was the best with the work alot of our investigators and people canceled on us but it ended up being pretty well. Weds My birthday it was a good day! 20th birthday in Africa i dont think it can get better than that right or i guess just any birthday in general! But it was a good day. We had Zone Meeting that day. Everyone before the meeting they sung Happy Bday to me so it was just like my family doing it ha! But the meeting went really well i enjoyed it also. It was a training on recognizing the characters of God and Jesus. And also making sure those we teach they understand who God is and the role He and Jesus Christ can play in our lives. I really enjoyed it, because it is so true without knowing that God is our Heavenly Father and because of him we are here then honestly whatever we teach, there is no point. It starts with him!! After the meeting though we all went to lunch it was good. That almost took up most of the day by the time we got back to Viana. We tried to teach some other people but they canceled or they didn't have time. But that night we had dinner at one of our investigators house, she pretty much is a member just needs to be married she has been investigating the church for 3 years her son is a member actually the Deacon quorums presidente. It was fun though and ate some good food some type of casserole! Then we taught one more lesson and that was the day It was a great day!

Next day the 14th hit my year mark. wow talk about time flying by!!  It really doesn't feel like it has been that long. But it was a pretty normal day. Everyone though we tried to sit with they would just say noo elder im busy ha! okay thank you. But we got to sit with Durval and his brother Antonio they are super legit! Antonio speaks English he studied in the US and Canada for 3 years.  But wow only have one year left super weird. I still  feel like i have so much to learn and do! but i still have a year for that. So this last year im going to do that learn learn learn. But by Helping this great people of Angola also!

          love you all!!!             Elder Banta

                   

New Church Building

   

Elder Banta, Elder Ferguson , Elder Dunkley, Elder Domingos, and Elder Dredge

Ciara was baptized

Hello Everyone!!

This week it was a pretty good week. First thing great that happened during this week is on Tuesday IT RAINED!! During the day it was all fine we actually left our house to go teach early in the day. We taught a girl named Alaina Campos she actually was really cool just had some beleifs of a Jehovas Witness so she didnt except everything we said but we still got to speak more with her. Then sat with Adão. He is still doing amazing and is progressing really well. He knows for a fact he will be baptised at the end of this month the 30th im really excited for that! Then we taught one more person then Elder Kearney who went home this week was in Viana and we had to go take him to some old Members houses which they werent there. So that took more of the day so we ended up not getting home till later than expected to eat lunch. It was actually dinner by the time we ate ha! but luckly we went home because it started Pooring rain! But we had some other lessons to be taught so put our rain jackets on and went outt! yeahhh we were walking though water up to our ankles and we were just getting soaked(Ruined my dailey planner). All of the lessons canceled but great experience!:)

The rest of week went well also. One thing i forgot to say in last weeks letter is that we have one more person in our house. Elder Francisco he is just from another branch here and is waiting for his visa to the United States to learn english he will serve in Ganna. But he is with Elder Dredge and Elder Dunkley he is fun. But went on a division with him and Elder Dredge it was fun and a good day. Friday we set another baptsimal date with São for the 14th of December she is 15 and already has a baby but her dad is a member and she is progressing well also! That was pretty much my week i enjoyed it and it went super fast!

I hope all your weeks went well also and this week is great too! i pray that the lord is with you all during the week, I know he loves you all, and i surely love you all! Have a great one!

Love you Elder Banta

We went to an orphanage! It was fun!!

Hello Everyone!

How is everyone doing? And the week how was that?  

I hope all is going well I haven't really heard anything new going on??

This week it was a really good week, honestly I enjoyed it!  It seemed like it went by really fast and it was full of work!  By the end of the week we had taught 23 lessons which is really good I don't think that has happened since like my first couple transfers here so it was really great and felt productive!  But  everything I felt went well we didn't really have that many people cancel on us which was really great! But i feel like our area it is really starting to grow little at a time we have been trying to contact more people on the side of the streets and we also have been receiving a ton of references! So that is really great it helps the work alot! 

Nothing super crazy happened though during the week we taught some really great lessons i felt. We also had a division and I walked with Elder Dunkley.  It was fun!! We taught a really cool family and the wife only speaks french so we had to have a member come and translate, It was fun!!  But Saturday Ciara she finally got baptized after being an investigator for over 2 years. She is only 21 but she is really awesome and she was prepared. The Baptism it went well and she was super excited. Then Sunday i had the great oppurtunity to Confirm her. That was my first time and it went pretty well i think!  It was a great experience to do that though!  Now i hope she can stay strong,  I have a feeling she will and she is actually helping her friends come now.  Like we are teaching her friend now and she seems really great! 

So the week it went well we have some people who we will be marking more baptsmial dates with them this week so that will be great!  I can't believe though this transfer is over though we will know next monday who is going or what?  I hope I stay because I actually really love this area.  Ohh and this Saturday we are moving into a new church hope it is bigger than the one we are in because there is no room anymore.   We also get to watch Priesthood session and Conference this weekend!   I'm super excited for that!  It will be great!

Today our district we went to an orphanage and we got to teach English and we did math with the kids!   It was really fun and the kids were really great.   I didn't want to leave!!   There are some really smart kids I was really amazed.  Yes,  we were only teaching simple English and Math in English, but some would just speak like they knew everything!  I though it was Awesome and a great experience!!  Wow I can only say I am grateful to be serving here in Angola!!   It is such an amazing place to be!   I can see the work improving everyday!   I know that this is the work of our Lord and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to help these great people here come unto Christ!!   ITS AMAZING!!!!:)

Well i hope you all have a great week and may the Lord be with you all!! Love you all tons!!

Love Elder Banta

 I cant believe this week is the last one of the transfer. Next monday we will know if there are any changes. Wow it honestly FLEW by!! I feel like i just got here last week. Soo it's going good though!!

SAFARI

Hello Everyone!!

How is everyone doing?  We noticed this week that our area yeah it has slown down so we set a goal to try and get references from people and try and get contacts. We have been praying for it all of the week. And then all of a sudden we found two new, and 3 new investigators who seem really cool and we set a baptismal date with one of them. I hope they work out. And we also stopped by a house of a investigator who has been searching the church for 2 years and we marked a baptismal date with her so it went really great, and after her she gave us a reference! It was a day full of miracles!! Then sunday 6 of our investigators showed up to church including Stela and her Family!  I am hoping this week though it can continue on and we can continue to encounter the people who are prepared and willing to hear our message.

Today P-day we had the aweosme chance to go on a Safari. It was quite amazing seeing all of the scenery and how green Angola actually is. But as we first arrived to the location, we pulled in to go get in a truck so we could go out, and right when that happened a group of giraffes popped up with their babies and everything it was really sweet to see. We also saw a ton of monkeys and they would come steal food from us, ha they were kind of annoying but great at the same time, kids would love them. But we got to go out and we saw More giraffes, elephants and just some type of deer and Wildabeast. We didnt get to see like Zebras which would of been more awseome, but that is okay! It ended up being a great day and a great experience after we returned after a long day! I sent some pictures through email so hopefully you guys will see some of the things i saw!!

Elder Kelsey

Pictures from Africa

Hello everyone,

   I Hope everything is going good!  Everything is going good here in Africa. The past while alot of great things have happened here in Angola! So far i am here in the same area called Terranova, I have been here after this next transfer 5 transfers, with 3 companions. My first 2 I had the opportunity to send them home. I guess its a pretty cool thing. I still don't understand exactly why i had that opportunity. I learned alot though! Its still so crazy being here in Africa though. Alot has happened. I have come to love these people, and how humble they are, it still just amazes me. Past month though i had the chance to eat some caterpillars. They were definitely interesting. They were luckily dead and cooked! They had an interesting texture though!!! I Mostly just eat rice, beans, and chicken, not too bad. We also had a couple baptisms. It honestly is great seeing people change their lives and come closer to God, and follow on the right path. I am so grateful for this great opportunity I have to help the people of Africa to come unto Christ. It's an awesome experience so far. Starting the month off, our new Mission Presidente has arrived, and we are officially a new Mission. I'm so excited for all the great changes that will come through this. And to see the great growth of this mission. I hope everything is going good for everyone else that is on a mission though and they all are having the best times of their lives.   

                                                 Elder Banta

2 baptisms

This is a picture of me and Elder Chandler and a member in our branch.  Then a picture of a new baptismal font!!

Family Home Evening

This is the family of Almeida, Aida with all the lil kids is actually a member too. We had a family night last monday so these are pictures from there. 

 Here's pictures from our ward here in Angola

Here's a picture of the Presidente Baptista, president of the branch. Oh and the path where me and Elder Kelsey forever ago got jumped!

 
 These are the new Branch missionaries! They are all so Awesome and doing great! 

Pictures from the Mission President

New Pictures from Angola and E-mail February 11

                                                              District Conference
                                                     

Our apartment building

                                                         

Elder Kelsey on the way to our apartment

Ola, this week was a little better! we did a lot of work like always.  It was kind of a short week because we had conference and training. The training was really good. Elder Cook of the 70 came and spoke to us and to the people of Angola. It was really good I thought it applied really good here. Also Presidente Kretly spoke he spoke in Portuguese so haha I didn't understand a ton of that, but he is a really awesome president and he has the spirit with him. But this week me and Elder Kelsey have been trying to get everyone to do what they need to do. it has been better than last week more people showed up to church and I think we have more Progressing investigators, so that's good. We are still working on Kifica he keeps falling back into his ways and drinking a little? which is horrible but hopefully soon he will recognize what he is doing and fix it. But everything is going good here. It is still hot and I don't think I'm used to that and the humidity, cause I still sweat a ton. But I haven't got sick yet, except I did kind of have a little cold which is weird I don't know why? BUT!!!! my parents packed me with 2 year supplies of medicine and vitamins so I took that haha!! It is getting better no worries. The power never really goes out but the other night it went out all night and in the morning I took my first shower in the dark it was weird. Our apartment is lucky and always have energy and water just on occasions it will go away. The food like I said before isn't bad just a lot of chicken, rice, beans, and noodles. Also, and my secret recipe is egg sandwiches if i'm home and i'm hungry. Simple and fast. The eggs and the milk here can last for months sitting on the shelf it is really weird, good thing I only drink milk with cereal. Oh yeah and the cereal hah corn flakes every morning, yeah they pretty much have no flavor its great!! but usually we drink a lot of pop, juice, and water.  Usually if we go to someone's house and they offer a drink they will give us a Coke or Fanta they are pretty good.  The little kids here are super awesome you will be walking down the street and they will yell AMIGO!!!! and you just give them thumbs up and say FIXE (cool). yeah its great.

Well I hope you have a great week I pray for you all back home everyday. I know you all will get blessed for having a missionary out, Elder Cook even said so. I love you all so much and God be with you!!!

Love you all,  Elder Banta