Time here flies!! I can't believe I've been here for 6 weeks and only have 3 left! I'm actually to the point where I can wear every single tie I have and not have any repeats.
This week was, of course, awesome, but it kinda starts to get old so you have to be creative to keep yourself from getting burned out and going crazy. My companion and I keep things interesting by reading Revelations and trying to make sense out of it. We also try to look for language training books from other languages that people have left. Last week we found a whole stack of Portuguese stuff and a Chinese dictionary, so that's been pretty fun. One of the other lifesavers has been the natives. In my zone there are only advanced and intermediate districts, so there are a ton of natives. We hang out with them all the time during meals and at night and exchange jokes and such. I've tried to translate a few of my jokes to Spanish, but most of them are puns and don't translate too well. Here's a joke I heard, you Spanish speakers should enjoy it: "Cual es la diferencia entre una pera y la novia de un misionero? La pera es pera, pero la novia no espera!" I heard that from one of the sisters in our district and proceeded to tell it to all my native friends, resulting in lots of groans and punches in the arm. The coolest native I've met so far, and I've met some cool ones, is Elder Zayas from Argentina, and he lives in the province right next to my mission. We talked for about an hour one night before going to bed and I got to know him pretty well. He is actually here learning English (but he can't hardly speak a lick of it other than salutations, so we ended up having the whole conversation in Spanish) and he has a very thick Argentine accent. The problem is, I can understand Mexican Spanish fine, but his Spanish sounds so different that I only got about half of what he was talking about. I showed him the soccer bracket that Kevin sent me for Argentina and he was super excited and told me how all the kids will teach me soccer. I taught him about ultimate frisbee which he thought was really cool. It's fun to see him at meals and hear him try to talk in English to me. He'll be here for nine weeks so it'll be fun having him around.
The visas for Argentina are kinda half and half on who gets them. We've in the last week had about 6 elders get theirs and leave and we have 4 visa waiters who should get it in the next week or so, so not bad. On a completely unrelated note, I thought I might tell you all what a curse it is to be musically inclined among Latinos. They have a really good sense of beat, but they are all completely tone deaf. This will be a problem over the next couple years for me... Also, being one who is technologically informed is also a problem around my district. Last night I overheard a very funny conversation on lasers and ElectroMagnetic pulse emitters and how all the "crazy future technology stuff" works. It was a good night.
I'm excited for general conference! This week we had mission conference, which was amazing, and also really good devotionals and firesides. One thing that stuck with me from the fireside was this: "Multiply your habits of reading scriptures and personal prayer by 50 years and look at the person you might become." If you don't like what you see, probably time to change things up. The best time to plant a tree was 50 years ago, the second best time is now.
Love you all! Elder Spencer
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Week 5?!?!
Wow, I've already been here in the MTC for 5 weeks! only four more to go! This week was, again, incredible. It started off Tuesday night when we had another awesome devotional and the speaker was Quentin L Cook. That was super incredible. He talked about a whole lot of awesome stuff on being a better missionary, but the best part was the very end. He bore his testimony as an apostle and special witness of Jesus Christ. He told us that when he was called he felt completely inadequate, but President Hinckley told him that all that stuff didn't matter. As he bore his testimony of the divinity of Christ and how he leads the church the spirit was so strong you could cut it with a knife. He then bestowed a special apostolic blessing on us as missionaries. It was super neat. My favorite part of the whole evening was the music. The choir sang a song entitled "Behold the Wounds in Jesus' Hands" which is incredible, you should look it up. And the closing hymn was "I know that my Redeemer Lives." Between the two of those songs, about half the missionaries were crying because the spirit of the whole evening was just beautiful.
The rest of the week was almost as good as that night. Just a whole lot more of the same schedule here: study, class, eat, sleep. Our teachers realized they had been teaching us an extra 4 hours per week, so they decided to cut back on teaching time and give us more study time so they didn't run
out of material. This was awesome news for me because I always feel like I'm running out of time to study. This week I have been studying a whole lot in Alma, and his sermons. I really love Alma 5 because it gives a great example of good teaching through the use of good questions. One of my favorite from that chapter is the question in v. 27 that says: Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? Really makes you think....
I also was studying in Alma 32 about growing our testimonies through the experimentation of faith like Alma said when I had a cool thought. The end fruit of Alma's tree of faith is exactly that, fruit, which he describes as being delicious, white, and a whole list of nice things. This is the end efforts of our continual faith, diligence, and patience in continually nurturing the tree that started with just a seed. If you remember back to high school biology, you'll remember that the function of fruit is to be the vessel for a seed. As members of the church, our trees are producing lots of fruit, but since we just hang out with other members all the time, all that incredible fruit is going to waste. We need to go out, and share the fruits of our hard work on our testimonies with those who have nothing so that they may plant that seed in their hearts.
We had a cool lesson this week on the role of members in missionary work and how the missionaries always come asking members for referrals but they never have any. This is because members of the church usually only hang out with other members. The solution: make friends who aren’t members of the church. Not acquaintances, friends. Invite them (families) over a couple times a month for dinner and don't talk about the church, just be an example and let them bring up the conversation. This is the optimal environment for sharing the gospel. It was a great lesson, our teachers here are awesome. Anyway, sounds like you all are having a blast out there. Keep up the fun and remember the church is true!
Elder Spencer
PS. for all those Utah siblings wondering how they can send me lots of delicious baked goods, apparently if you go to the post office in the WILK they do free same day package delivery. Take advantage of that while I'm still in the states because I hear Argentina mail stinks.
The rest of the week was almost as good as that night. Just a whole lot more of the same schedule here: study, class, eat, sleep. Our teachers realized they had been teaching us an extra 4 hours per week, so they decided to cut back on teaching time and give us more study time so they didn't run
out of material. This was awesome news for me because I always feel like I'm running out of time to study. This week I have been studying a whole lot in Alma, and his sermons. I really love Alma 5 because it gives a great example of good teaching through the use of good questions. One of my favorite from that chapter is the question in v. 27 that says: Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? Really makes you think....
I also was studying in Alma 32 about growing our testimonies through the experimentation of faith like Alma said when I had a cool thought. The end fruit of Alma's tree of faith is exactly that, fruit, which he describes as being delicious, white, and a whole list of nice things. This is the end efforts of our continual faith, diligence, and patience in continually nurturing the tree that started with just a seed. If you remember back to high school biology, you'll remember that the function of fruit is to be the vessel for a seed. As members of the church, our trees are producing lots of fruit, but since we just hang out with other members all the time, all that incredible fruit is going to waste. We need to go out, and share the fruits of our hard work on our testimonies with those who have nothing so that they may plant that seed in their hearts.
We had a cool lesson this week on the role of members in missionary work and how the missionaries always come asking members for referrals but they never have any. This is because members of the church usually only hang out with other members. The solution: make friends who aren’t members of the church. Not acquaintances, friends. Invite them (families) over a couple times a month for dinner and don't talk about the church, just be an example and let them bring up the conversation. This is the optimal environment for sharing the gospel. It was a great lesson, our teachers here are awesome. Anyway, sounds like you all are having a blast out there. Keep up the fun and remember the church is true!
Elder Spencer
PS. for all those Utah siblings wondering how they can send me lots of delicious baked goods, apparently if you go to the post office in the WILK they do free same day package delivery. Take advantage of that while I'm still in the states because I hear Argentina mail stinks.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Hola!
What a week! So we get lots of good speakers, but we've all been holding out for an apostle since they haven't had one here since December. This week's devotional we didn't get an apostle, but it was still amazing anyway. We had Bruce C. Hafen talk about testimonies and it was one of the better talks I've heard in quite a while. Some cool things he said: You can have eternal life if you want it, so long as you don't want something else more. He also talked a ton about testimonies and how they are built on three legs: Reason, Spiritual Feeling, and Experience. That happened on Tuesday night, which was a great start to the week. We had our English fast on Wednesday, which was actually a really good learning opportunity. The rest of last week we spent preparing to teach our (fake) investigator in the TRC (Teaching Recource Center? I think..) for the first time in Spanish, and it went super great! We spent a whole hour talking nothing but Spanish to this lady answering her questions and teaching her about Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. On Sunday I finally ran into Sister Stoehr!! That was fun seeing her and we got a picture up at the temple I'll send later. She is doing great and leaves in a week! It's crazy how fast the time passes, I've already been here for a month and just have one more month to go! Anyway, life here is great. I love being able to learn about the gospel all day every day, and the time is always slipping away. I always end each day feeling like I never have enough time to study all the things I want to.
Anyway, as always, the time is short. Remember: The book is blue, the church is true: Go Cougars!!!!
-Elder Jonathan Spencer
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Hello for today
Hey All!
First of all, happy birthday to Ian, Melanie, and Dad!! Second of all, this week was awesome!! It started out with our devotional which happens every Tuesday night. Honestly, the speaker was maybe a little bit boring, but he had some good things to say. The best part of the meeting, however, was the choir. I was in it and we sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" which sounded incredible. One of the things I like best about the choir is the director. He is very funny and talented and at the end of each practice (2 a week) he leaves us with a cool spiritual thought about the song. This week he talked a little bit about the part in the song where it says "Here I raise mine Ebenezer" and how for the children of Israel the Ebenezer was a big stone where they engraved how the Lord had help them win a great victory where they were impossibly outmatched and had to humble themselves. After that time, whenever they were having troubles, they just raised up their Ebenezer as a reminder of how greatly the Lord had blessed them and how with his help, they could accomplish amazing things. He then told us that for us, our mission should be our Ebenezer, and that if we perform valiantly, we will be able to look back the rest of our lives and see how greatly the Lord had blessed us and how we can do very difficult things. Very cool.
This week, and every week, has been crazy. The time just disappears and the days blend together. Our teachers are great, I'm getting along great with all the people in my district and I love my new companion. He and I study well and teach well together. (We have a practice teaching appointment every week.) He struggles a little bit in Spanish, but we are both working hard. Our last two teaching appointments have been in English, and this week is not required to be in Spanish either, but we have both set the goal that we are going to work our hardest and teach our lesson this week in Spanish. We have also instituted an English fast on one day this week where we can only speak Spanish the whole day, and then next week we'll fast two days, the next week: three, until by the time we get out of here we will speak only Spanish!! Not to say that we don't speak in Spanish the rest of the week, of course, but this forces our hand.
This week we had a mission conference since it was fast Sunday, and it was awesome (we scored really good seats again, second or third row). They talked a lot about goals, obedience, faith, all that good stuff. I don't have time, otherwise I would write some of it.
Another cool thing we do is on Fridays we have movie night, where we watch a devotional or fireside that's been recorded. This week we watched this really awesome one by Elder Bednar about following the spirit. His basic premise was an answer to the common question: How do I know if it's the Holy Ghost or just me? Answer: Quit worrying about it. Be a good boy/girl, keep the commandments, press forward, and the Lord will guide your feet, put words in your mouth and thoughts in your head when you need Him to.
Be a good boy/girl! The church is true!
E Spencer
First of all, happy birthday to Ian, Melanie, and Dad!! Second of all, this week was awesome!! It started out with our devotional which happens every Tuesday night. Honestly, the speaker was maybe a little bit boring, but he had some good things to say. The best part of the meeting, however, was the choir. I was in it and we sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" which sounded incredible. One of the things I like best about the choir is the director. He is very funny and talented and at the end of each practice (2 a week) he leaves us with a cool spiritual thought about the song. This week he talked a little bit about the part in the song where it says "Here I raise mine Ebenezer" and how for the children of Israel the Ebenezer was a big stone where they engraved how the Lord had help them win a great victory where they were impossibly outmatched and had to humble themselves. After that time, whenever they were having troubles, they just raised up their Ebenezer as a reminder of how greatly the Lord had blessed them and how with his help, they could accomplish amazing things. He then told us that for us, our mission should be our Ebenezer, and that if we perform valiantly, we will be able to look back the rest of our lives and see how greatly the Lord had blessed us and how we can do very difficult things. Very cool.
This week, and every week, has been crazy. The time just disappears and the days blend together. Our teachers are great, I'm getting along great with all the people in my district and I love my new companion. He and I study well and teach well together. (We have a practice teaching appointment every week.) He struggles a little bit in Spanish, but we are both working hard. Our last two teaching appointments have been in English, and this week is not required to be in Spanish either, but we have both set the goal that we are going to work our hardest and teach our lesson this week in Spanish. We have also instituted an English fast on one day this week where we can only speak Spanish the whole day, and then next week we'll fast two days, the next week: three, until by the time we get out of here we will speak only Spanish!! Not to say that we don't speak in Spanish the rest of the week, of course, but this forces our hand.
This week we had a mission conference since it was fast Sunday, and it was awesome (we scored really good seats again, second or third row). They talked a lot about goals, obedience, faith, all that good stuff. I don't have time, otherwise I would write some of it.
Another cool thing we do is on Fridays we have movie night, where we watch a devotional or fireside that's been recorded. This week we watched this really awesome one by Elder Bednar about following the spirit. His basic premise was an answer to the common question: How do I know if it's the Holy Ghost or just me? Answer: Quit worrying about it. Be a good boy/girl, keep the commandments, press forward, and the Lord will guide your feet, put words in your mouth and thoughts in your head when you need Him to.
Be a good boy/girl! The church is true!
E Spencer
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Happy March 1 (actually it was March 2)
Dear Everyone,
This last week has been incredible! Everything happens so fast here, and by the end of the day I feel like I never have enough time to get in the studying that I need. This week, I got a new companion! His name is Elder Matagi, pronounced mah-tong-ee, and he is a big, friendly Samoan. With him here we now have ten people in our district, which is nice, because being in a trio was fun, but cumbersome. So the best part about the MTC is all the wonderful speakers we get to hear. Every week we get two people, one on sunday, and one on tuesday. This week we got Elder Jay E Jensen, who talked about studying and teaching with the Book of Mormon, (It was of course incredible), and we also got to hear from Stephen B Allen, who talked about dilligence and obedience, also awesome.
Last week we were working on learning the first lesson and learning how to teach it, (The Restoration) and this week we have been working on learning the second lesson (The Plan of Salvation) The things that we are learning are incredible, yet simple truths. I feel so blessed to have been born into the knowledge of these things, unlike most of the world, but that's why we're here: to bring it to them. In our ward this week I understood about 97 percent of what was spoken in spanish, which is great, but then I heard a native speaker talking to someone and couldn't understand a word. Haha! The cool thing about the way they run sacrament meeting out here is that they assign everyone every week to write a 5 min talk on some topic and then at the beginning of the meeting, they randomly call on two people to share theirs, and then one of the bishopric talks for the rest of the time. This week, it was on faith, and I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to give my talk, because it rocked! I'll share a little bit of what I learned with you.
We read in the scriptures a lot about how faith is hope, but as I was studying I decided that I like using the word trust a whole lot more. Trust imlplies intent to action. Where hope is a passive word, trust is a very active word. If we have faith, we trust in God and that his will is more important than our selfish desires. Trust also implies humility, because you have to be able to tear down all the pride that you know what is best and rely completely on the Lord, being willing to do whatever He asks. When we have this trust, however, we have all the power of God on our side. In 1 Nephi it says that the Lord is able to do *all* things according to his will if we can just have faith. This of course is easy to talk about, and even easier to write about, but when it comes down to the choice between paying your tithing and feeding your family that week, do you have the faith? Do you trust that there really is a God and that he really is watching out for you and will take care of you? I testify that He is there, and and will always take care of His children in a way that only a loving father Can.
Much love,
- Elder Spencer
This last week has been incredible! Everything happens so fast here, and by the end of the day I feel like I never have enough time to get in the studying that I need. This week, I got a new companion! His name is Elder Matagi, pronounced mah-tong-ee, and he is a big, friendly Samoan. With him here we now have ten people in our district, which is nice, because being in a trio was fun, but cumbersome. So the best part about the MTC is all the wonderful speakers we get to hear. Every week we get two people, one on sunday, and one on tuesday. This week we got Elder Jay E Jensen, who talked about studying and teaching with the Book of Mormon, (It was of course incredible), and we also got to hear from Stephen B Allen, who talked about dilligence and obedience, also awesome.
Last week we were working on learning the first lesson and learning how to teach it, (The Restoration) and this week we have been working on learning the second lesson (The Plan of Salvation) The things that we are learning are incredible, yet simple truths. I feel so blessed to have been born into the knowledge of these things, unlike most of the world, but that's why we're here: to bring it to them. In our ward this week I understood about 97 percent of what was spoken in spanish, which is great, but then I heard a native speaker talking to someone and couldn't understand a word. Haha! The cool thing about the way they run sacrament meeting out here is that they assign everyone every week to write a 5 min talk on some topic and then at the beginning of the meeting, they randomly call on two people to share theirs, and then one of the bishopric talks for the rest of the time. This week, it was on faith, and I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to give my talk, because it rocked! I'll share a little bit of what I learned with you.
We read in the scriptures a lot about how faith is hope, but as I was studying I decided that I like using the word trust a whole lot more. Trust imlplies intent to action. Where hope is a passive word, trust is a very active word. If we have faith, we trust in God and that his will is more important than our selfish desires. Trust also implies humility, because you have to be able to tear down all the pride that you know what is best and rely completely on the Lord, being willing to do whatever He asks. When we have this trust, however, we have all the power of God on our side. In 1 Nephi it says that the Lord is able to do *all* things according to his will if we can just have faith. This of course is easy to talk about, and even easier to write about, but when it comes down to the choice between paying your tithing and feeding your family that week, do you have the faith? Do you trust that there really is a God and that he really is watching out for you and will take care of you? I testify that He is there, and and will always take care of His children in a way that only a loving father Can.
Much love,
- Elder Spencer
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