Dear Family,
This week was great! It started off with the greatest family home evening lesson ever! Out here there are several members who are the only active member in their family so we do a Branch FHE for them where we have about half the active members (5-7 people) show up and we do a lesson. This week we decided to teach about building upon the Rock of our Redeemer (Hel. 5:12) and so my comp and I labored tediously during companionship study to make little cardboard houses. I made a nice simple brick house and he made the Babylon house that was covered in glitter glue. Then we read scriptures about how we can build upon the rock in our lives by living the gospel (3 Nephi 11:38-39), taking the sacrament every Sunday (3 Nephi 18:1-12) and hearing and *doing* the words of Christ (14:24). And then we did a super awesome demonstration where we filled a cardboard box with sand and a brick. We super-glued the bottom of both houses and put my house on the brick and the Babylon glitter-house on the sand. We then took the hose and let the rains come down and the floods come up as my comp power-sprayed the houses with the hose. Miraculously, my house stayed stuck on, but both houses were so soaked that they were kinda falling apart. Oh well, it was fun. :)
This week we’ve also been working super hard to update all the church records here. There are about 180 members on the list, and about 40 of them have moved, but nobody tracked down their new address, I think 5-10 of them are dead, and only about 10-15 actually come to church. So, we are now making a huge push to visit every single household and encourage them to return to church activity. The first presidency sent out a few months ago a new mission plan for working with ward councils to reactivate (and hence baptize lots from part member families and references from reactivated families. Recent converts and recently reactivated families are actually some of the best reference sources), but since there is no ward council here we’re just gonna do it all by ourselves. Haven’t been on it long enough to see fruits yet, but we’ve been getting great referrals and hopefully it’ll have good yields.
Anyway, that’s about all that time allows. I love you all tons! Let your light so shine so that men may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven. A question I wrote in my planner once: Do I live in such a way that people, without even talking to me can recognize me as a disciple of Christ?
The Church is true!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
January 24, 2011
Dear Family,
Well this week we had double the church attendance! 15 people showed up, which was super awesome, and part of it was some of the people that we had Home Taught during the week, so that was pretty nice to see some immediate fruits of our labor. In Preach My Gospel at the end of the first chapter it has quotes from all the Prophets on missionary work and one of them is really good. It says something like: "Missionary work is Home teaching to those that are not baptized yet, and Home teaching is missionary work to those that have already been baptized." I guess I always knew that Home Teaching was important, but when a prophet of God says something like that, it kinda makes you think a little bit more. Out here in most of the wards I’ve been in (especially this little branchito) there has been hardly any Home Teaching, which I think explains the low retention rates. It is soooo important! Elder Bednar said that Home Teaching is part of what it refers to in D&C when it talks about the keys to the ministering of angels. As Home and Visiting teachers, members get a chance to be ministering angels for other members. What an amazing principle! What a blessing for all that participate! I’m pretty sure that that is a large part of what president Hinckley referred to when he said that every new (and active and inactive and returning to activity) member needs a friend and to be nurtured by the good word of God. Moral of the story: Home Teaching is awesome and it totally works!
Elder Mayhoffer and I are also preparing a "General Conference Night" activity where we are going to watch 5 or so talks from this last General Conference. Out here they don’t have cable, or internet in the church, so only the Members who can afford the 2 ½ hour trip to the capital city get to see General Conference. :( Sad, huh? General conference is so awesome!
Anyway, short on time, but I love you all tons! I got lots of Christmas letters in the mail this week. Thanks sooooooooo much! I have the best lookin’ family out there! (You probably inherited it from me ;) ) The church is true!
Love, Elder Spencer
Well this week we had double the church attendance! 15 people showed up, which was super awesome, and part of it was some of the people that we had Home Taught during the week, so that was pretty nice to see some immediate fruits of our labor. In Preach My Gospel at the end of the first chapter it has quotes from all the Prophets on missionary work and one of them is really good. It says something like: "Missionary work is Home teaching to those that are not baptized yet, and Home teaching is missionary work to those that have already been baptized." I guess I always knew that Home Teaching was important, but when a prophet of God says something like that, it kinda makes you think a little bit more. Out here in most of the wards I’ve been in (especially this little branchito) there has been hardly any Home Teaching, which I think explains the low retention rates. It is soooo important! Elder Bednar said that Home Teaching is part of what it refers to in D&C when it talks about the keys to the ministering of angels. As Home and Visiting teachers, members get a chance to be ministering angels for other members. What an amazing principle! What a blessing for all that participate! I’m pretty sure that that is a large part of what president Hinckley referred to when he said that every new (and active and inactive and returning to activity) member needs a friend and to be nurtured by the good word of God. Moral of the story: Home Teaching is awesome and it totally works!
Elder Mayhoffer and I are also preparing a "General Conference Night" activity where we are going to watch 5 or so talks from this last General Conference. Out here they don’t have cable, or internet in the church, so only the Members who can afford the 2 ½ hour trip to the capital city get to see General Conference. :( Sad, huh? General conference is so awesome!
Anyway, short on time, but I love you all tons! I got lots of Christmas letters in the mail this week. Thanks sooooooooo much! I have the best lookin’ family out there! (You probably inherited it from me ;) ) The church is true!
Love, Elder Spencer
Monday, January 17, 2011
January 17, 2011
Dear Family,
Another great week. It was also another pretty crazy/awesome week. So on Thursday my comp and I had agreed to do a service project for a little old grandma here in the ward who hadn’t cut her grass in quite a while. As it turns out, the grass was really tall, like 2 ft. tall, so instead of using the suuuper wimpy plug-in electric weed whacker we opted for machetes. I must admit, it is kinda thrilling cutting grass with a machete and I was getting the hang of it pretty well when suddenly... I got a nice big gash in my thumb. We went inside, poured on some alcohol and taped on a kleenex and got back out there to finish the job: proof that I really am Richard’s son. Well it turned out being a pretty big gash, but we didn’t want to mess with going to a clinic or anything here so I just kinda soaped it up, poured on some hydrogen peroxide and bandaged it up. A day or so later, however, I decided I wanted to close it up more securely so I squeezed it shut and put some super glue on top to hold it shut. Now it’s doing a whole lot better.
Sunday was a pretty cool day. The church had a whopping 14.28% increase in attendance from last week!!! (8 instead of 7) Haha, but it was still really great. A man who had been baptized the week before I got there got ordained. It was so cool being in the circle ordaining him and watching him as he blessed the sacrament for the first time. The Spirit was so strong that day, testifying of the veracity of the authority. So cool. It doesn’t matter if here in Frías we are smaller than any other religious congregation, we have the authority of God, and no unhallowed hand can stop the work from going forth. Oh, it was also sooooo hot. We had been baking cookies after eating lunch, and we walked outside to work shortly after and it seriously felt hotter than standing in front of the oven. :) I tried imagining what snow would be like, but my mind couldn’t wrap itself around that concept. :)
Anyway, that kills my time for the week. I love you all! Church’s true!
Elder Spencer
The Frías chapel. It's a house that they rent out. That's about the full size of it. The chapel's about the size of the living room and the classrooms and bishop's office take up about the space of the girls' end bedrooms.
A chopped thumb.
A better look.
Another great week. It was also another pretty crazy/awesome week. So on Thursday my comp and I had agreed to do a service project for a little old grandma here in the ward who hadn’t cut her grass in quite a while. As it turns out, the grass was really tall, like 2 ft. tall, so instead of using the suuuper wimpy plug-in electric weed whacker we opted for machetes. I must admit, it is kinda thrilling cutting grass with a machete and I was getting the hang of it pretty well when suddenly... I got a nice big gash in my thumb. We went inside, poured on some alcohol and taped on a kleenex and got back out there to finish the job: proof that I really am Richard’s son. Well it turned out being a pretty big gash, but we didn’t want to mess with going to a clinic or anything here so I just kinda soaped it up, poured on some hydrogen peroxide and bandaged it up. A day or so later, however, I decided I wanted to close it up more securely so I squeezed it shut and put some super glue on top to hold it shut. Now it’s doing a whole lot better.
Sunday was a pretty cool day. The church had a whopping 14.28% increase in attendance from last week!!! (8 instead of 7) Haha, but it was still really great. A man who had been baptized the week before I got there got ordained. It was so cool being in the circle ordaining him and watching him as he blessed the sacrament for the first time. The Spirit was so strong that day, testifying of the veracity of the authority. So cool. It doesn’t matter if here in Frías we are smaller than any other religious congregation, we have the authority of God, and no unhallowed hand can stop the work from going forth. Oh, it was also sooooo hot. We had been baking cookies after eating lunch, and we walked outside to work shortly after and it seriously felt hotter than standing in front of the oven. :) I tried imagining what snow would be like, but my mind couldn’t wrap itself around that concept. :)
Anyway, that kills my time for the week. I love you all! Church’s true!
Elder Spencer
The Frías chapel. It's a house that they rent out. That's about the full size of it. The chapel's about the size of the living room and the classrooms and bishop's office take up about the space of the girls' end bedrooms.
A chopped thumb.
A better look.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
January 10, 2011
Hey Family!
This week was great! It was also a pretty crazy week. Biggest news of the week, my comp and I are now famous in Frías. Last week we were knocking doors when we ran into a way cool guy who turned out to be a part time radio announcer here in Frías. We got to talking and I asked him if some time it would be possible for us to have a little radio chat. He was completely fine with it and told us the hours he was on and told us to come on in on Saturday. We came in on Saturday and had a sweet little radio chat. We taught most of the first discussion between the questions he asked and invited the whole city to come to church. It was super fun and now we are famous! Haha!
So this Sunday was also a pretty crazy experience. It ended up raining this Sunday and so the total church attendance was... 7 people. My companion and I were the only priesthood holders so we ended up teaching all the classes, presiding, directing, doing the Sacrament, and giving the talks all by ourselves. It actually turned out being a really great meeting. It was a chance for me to realize that the church is true no matter where you go and that no matter how many people a church might have, it is the power and authority of the priesthood that makes the difference. All in all, it was actually one of the better sacrament meetings I have attended. Well family, time is short, but I love you tons. Keep the commandments, in this there is safety, in this there is peace. The book is blue, the church is true, Go Cougars!!
-Elder Spencer
This week was great! It was also a pretty crazy week. Biggest news of the week, my comp and I are now famous in Frías. Last week we were knocking doors when we ran into a way cool guy who turned out to be a part time radio announcer here in Frías. We got to talking and I asked him if some time it would be possible for us to have a little radio chat. He was completely fine with it and told us the hours he was on and told us to come on in on Saturday. We came in on Saturday and had a sweet little radio chat. We taught most of the first discussion between the questions he asked and invited the whole city to come to church. It was super fun and now we are famous! Haha!
So this Sunday was also a pretty crazy experience. It ended up raining this Sunday and so the total church attendance was... 7 people. My companion and I were the only priesthood holders so we ended up teaching all the classes, presiding, directing, doing the Sacrament, and giving the talks all by ourselves. It actually turned out being a really great meeting. It was a chance for me to realize that the church is true no matter where you go and that no matter how many people a church might have, it is the power and authority of the priesthood that makes the difference. All in all, it was actually one of the better sacrament meetings I have attended. Well family, time is short, but I love you tons. Keep the commandments, in this there is safety, in this there is peace. The book is blue, the church is true, Go Cougars!!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, January 3, 2011
January 3, 2011
Dear Family,
Wow! It is sooooo different being here in Frías, Santiago del Estero. It’s got a population of about 30,000 and it’s actually quite large for just two missionaries. It’s a really nice, calm little city and has various clean, pretty plazas. The people are all really nice and everybody will at least talk to you. In other areas I’ve been in, it seems kinda over-proselyted because everybody puts on this aggravated face when they see "another" door to door religion person, but here even the rich people come out and greet you before shutting you down, haha. President Hinckley once said something to the effect that wére preaching the Gospel to a world that doesn’t want it, or at least they don’t know they want it yet. Our job is to help them see they actually want it.
The branch here is small. My companion and I got to the building (It isn’t a chapel, it’s a house on a street corner remodeled, I’ll send a picture next week) an hour early to set up chairs, prepare the sacrament, and so forth. The first members came about 15 minutes late. About 15 minutes later, a few more trickled in the door and we started Sunday School. Neither the Elders Quorum leader or Primary leader arrived, so my comp and I pulled off simultaneously teaching those from the doorway of each classroom. The Branch President got there for Sacrament meeting, which made the total church attendance 14 people. It was kinda crazy for me to sit up there and look at all the members and think how the church started the exact same way, a small room with six members. The only way it could have grown from such a small size, despite such vehement opposition is because it is true and it was backed up by heavenly guidance. I’m excited for the challenge of helping excite the members and strengthen the branch here and I know that the Lord will help us as we rise to our callings and seek for his help. Time to put the shoulder to the wheel down here in Frías.
My new companion Elder Mayhoffer is great! He’s from La Junta, Colorado and is studying computer Engineering, so we always have lots of good conversation topics. He’s also an excellent cook, which is nice because we only get food from the members here a couple times a week. We rang in the new year by making homemade biscuits and gravy and toasting a sparkling pineapple juice at 9 o’clock, haha, I know, we’re pretty boring, but we still have a good time. Anyway, that’s about it from Frías. I love it here! The only downside is that we’re about 3 hours away from the closest missionaries, but we get along super well, so it isn’t that bad. I love you all! The Church is true! Happy New Year!!
-Elder Jonathan Spencer
Saying goodbye to Elder Garay in the bus terminal
Salta la Linda (Salta the Beautiful)
Biscuits and gravy and sparkling pineapple juice
Me eating
Elder Mayhoffer and I eating
Wow! It is sooooo different being here in Frías, Santiago del Estero. It’s got a population of about 30,000 and it’s actually quite large for just two missionaries. It’s a really nice, calm little city and has various clean, pretty plazas. The people are all really nice and everybody will at least talk to you. In other areas I’ve been in, it seems kinda over-proselyted because everybody puts on this aggravated face when they see "another" door to door religion person, but here even the rich people come out and greet you before shutting you down, haha. President Hinckley once said something to the effect that wére preaching the Gospel to a world that doesn’t want it, or at least they don’t know they want it yet. Our job is to help them see they actually want it.
The branch here is small. My companion and I got to the building (It isn’t a chapel, it’s a house on a street corner remodeled, I’ll send a picture next week) an hour early to set up chairs, prepare the sacrament, and so forth. The first members came about 15 minutes late. About 15 minutes later, a few more trickled in the door and we started Sunday School. Neither the Elders Quorum leader or Primary leader arrived, so my comp and I pulled off simultaneously teaching those from the doorway of each classroom. The Branch President got there for Sacrament meeting, which made the total church attendance 14 people. It was kinda crazy for me to sit up there and look at all the members and think how the church started the exact same way, a small room with six members. The only way it could have grown from such a small size, despite such vehement opposition is because it is true and it was backed up by heavenly guidance. I’m excited for the challenge of helping excite the members and strengthen the branch here and I know that the Lord will help us as we rise to our callings and seek for his help. Time to put the shoulder to the wheel down here in Frías.
My new companion Elder Mayhoffer is great! He’s from La Junta, Colorado and is studying computer Engineering, so we always have lots of good conversation topics. He’s also an excellent cook, which is nice because we only get food from the members here a couple times a week. We rang in the new year by making homemade biscuits and gravy and toasting a sparkling pineapple juice at 9 o’clock, haha, I know, we’re pretty boring, but we still have a good time. Anyway, that’s about it from Frías. I love it here! The only downside is that we’re about 3 hours away from the closest missionaries, but we get along super well, so it isn’t that bad. I love you all! The Church is true! Happy New Year!!
-Elder Jonathan Spencer
Saying goodbye to Elder Garay in the bus terminal
Salta la Linda (Salta the Beautiful)
Biscuits and gravy and sparkling pineapple juice
Me eating
Elder Mayhoffer and I eating
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