Dear Family,
It was great to hear from some of you on Christmas! I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and were able to remember the true purpose of Christmas. We celebrated Christmas by caroling to all of our investigators and all the members. They sure loved that and even though we finished the day completely dead it was one of the best ones I’ve had. The night before we had a ward Family Home Evening where we talked about the true meaning of Christmas. There was a super neat spirit and we had several investigators attend.
I also love the time of New Year’s. Last year’s resolution was to live more fully the song: "Have I done any good in the world today?" I like that line, "If not I have failed indeed." When we get to the final judgment, we will not be asked about how high of a salary we achieved, how big of a house we had, how many video games we beat, or how many sports events we attended. True success in this life depends on how many people we can make happy, how much we can give and sacrifice for the wellbeing of others. Jesus Christ lived a very successful life. Let us make 2012 a very successful year! :)
I love you all so much! The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
December 19, 2011
Dear Family,
This week was a little hectic, but it turned out great. This week we were planning on baptizing the son of the Ramos family. (Their marriage date in the civil register is in February, so we wanted to baptize him first and them later), but the mom started looking up about the church on internet and came across a ton of anti-stuff, so... we need to strengthen their faith a lot. The good news is we had a baptism anyway. It was the baptism of a member who had never been registered, and nobody remembered their baptism, so they had to do it again. We had several investigators attend which pumped them up a ton for their baptisms and we had six investigators come to church this Sunday, which was an awesome Sunday to pick! We had the Primary program, and the spirit was sooo strong! All the investigators loved it and we are definitely going to see good results out of the ones who attended after having such a good experience.
We have tons of work to do, so I don’t have much time today to write, but I hope you all know I love you tons and wish you a very merry Christmas. The church is true!!
This week was a little hectic, but it turned out great. This week we were planning on baptizing the son of the Ramos family. (Their marriage date in the civil register is in February, so we wanted to baptize him first and them later), but the mom started looking up about the church on internet and came across a ton of anti-stuff, so... we need to strengthen their faith a lot. The good news is we had a baptism anyway. It was the baptism of a member who had never been registered, and nobody remembered their baptism, so they had to do it again. We had several investigators attend which pumped them up a ton for their baptisms and we had six investigators come to church this Sunday, which was an awesome Sunday to pick! We had the Primary program, and the spirit was sooo strong! All the investigators loved it and we are definitely going to see good results out of the ones who attended after having such a good experience.
We have tons of work to do, so I don’t have much time today to write, but I hope you all know I love you tons and wish you a very merry Christmas. The church is true!!
Monday, December 12, 2011
December 12, 2011
Dear Family,
This week we had some super neat experiences!
The best was with the Ávila family. They really are progressing great. On Sunday afternoon we decided to teach them a little about temples. Mario has taken a special interest in temples after one day at church they showed the video "Only a stonecutter" in priesthood. We showed them lots of pictures of temples and told them that our goal for them isn’t just baptism; our goal for them is to reach the temple and be sealed as a family for time and eternity. We talked a little about how through baptisms for the dead our loved ones who didn’t have a chance to hear the gospel will be able to accept a baptism even after death. At that point María started crying and told us that she had two brothers who had died and that for years and years she had asked herself what would become of them and in all the churches she had attended she had never found the answer. There was a really sweet spirit in the room. We committed them to prepare not just for baptism, but for their sealing one year from now and they accepted. :) Those are the types of lessons that make your day, week, month, year, etc... :)
In pondering the passing away of Grandad, a quote from the April conference repeatedly came to mind: "We live to die, and we die to live again. From an eternal perspective, the only death that is truly premature is the death of one who is not prepared to meet God." (Russell M. Nelson, "Face the Future with Faith") I feel very at peace about the passing away of both of my grandparents in my absence, knowing of their good hearts and good works. In pondering death, my conclusion is the same as Mormon’s: "And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life." (Alma 28:14[10-14]) Our duty as members of the church, having a testimony of the reality of the resurrection of Christ and the full import of that in the eternal plan obligates us to respond to the great call of diligence to share that plan with those who do not have it. Mourning with those that mourn and comforting those in need of comfort means providing lasting consolation by sharing the great plan of the Eternal God (Alma 34:9). The best Christmas gift we can give is the good news of the gospel, the gift of "joy because of the light of Christ unto life". That brings everlasting happiness.
I love you all so much. I have the best family ever! Thank you for your prayers. The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
Me and my comp Elder Barcenas. He's such a stud! This is our little Christmas tree.
My birthday pancake
My birthday watermelon. mmm mmm
My birthday "cake" :) Lighting 21 candles wasn't the best of ideas ...
This week we had some super neat experiences!
The best was with the Ávila family. They really are progressing great. On Sunday afternoon we decided to teach them a little about temples. Mario has taken a special interest in temples after one day at church they showed the video "Only a stonecutter" in priesthood. We showed them lots of pictures of temples and told them that our goal for them isn’t just baptism; our goal for them is to reach the temple and be sealed as a family for time and eternity. We talked a little about how through baptisms for the dead our loved ones who didn’t have a chance to hear the gospel will be able to accept a baptism even after death. At that point María started crying and told us that she had two brothers who had died and that for years and years she had asked herself what would become of them and in all the churches she had attended she had never found the answer. There was a really sweet spirit in the room. We committed them to prepare not just for baptism, but for their sealing one year from now and they accepted. :) Those are the types of lessons that make your day, week, month, year, etc... :)
In pondering the passing away of Grandad, a quote from the April conference repeatedly came to mind: "We live to die, and we die to live again. From an eternal perspective, the only death that is truly premature is the death of one who is not prepared to meet God." (Russell M. Nelson, "Face the Future with Faith") I feel very at peace about the passing away of both of my grandparents in my absence, knowing of their good hearts and good works. In pondering death, my conclusion is the same as Mormon’s: "And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life." (Alma 28:14[10-14]) Our duty as members of the church, having a testimony of the reality of the resurrection of Christ and the full import of that in the eternal plan obligates us to respond to the great call of diligence to share that plan with those who do not have it. Mourning with those that mourn and comforting those in need of comfort means providing lasting consolation by sharing the great plan of the Eternal God (Alma 34:9). The best Christmas gift we can give is the good news of the gospel, the gift of "joy because of the light of Christ unto life". That brings everlasting happiness.
I love you all so much. I have the best family ever! Thank you for your prayers. The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
Me and my comp Elder Barcenas. He's such a stud! This is our little Christmas tree.
My birthday pancake
My birthday watermelon. mmm mmm
My birthday "cake" :) Lighting 21 candles wasn't the best of ideas ...
Monday, December 5, 2011
December 5, 2011
Dear Family,
This was a hard working week, but we had some excellent fruits! So the main problem that we're facing right now is that we have 4 great families that we're teaching, but none of them are married (it's suuuper common out here), even though all of them have kids. When we asked them why they hadn't gotten married the most common response was that they weren't sure they were ready to make that kind of commitment. Apparently having kids together these days isn't much of a commitment. Anyway, apart from that, they're all super great families and we've been focusing a lot on the Law of Chastity and the Proclamation for the Family. The good news was that we had 6 investigators come to church, which was a huge blessing since we've been struggling to get people to come to church recently. Fast Sunday is usually a pretty risky day for investigators to come to church for the first time because you never really know what some member will say... ...especially in Argentina where the church isn't quite as mature as the USA, but this Sunday was super good and all the investigators liked it. Next step, marriage :)
The Ávila family is progressing wonderfully. We taught the law of chastity and Mario really understood how the family is key to the Plan and how God set up commandments to protect the family. The biggest problem is that all of the couples have disagreements here and there, so we have to do a little bit of marriage counseling as 20-year old kids who have never had any experience in the subject. Haha! Luckily, the prophets and apostles do have experience, so we mainly stick to things they've said.
The Ramos family is also doing great. Their son Rafael is such a stud. He's only 9, but he reads everything we give him to read and understands it so well. In Primary, he came as an investigator, and volunteered to give a prayer. This week they even assigned him a part in the Primary program! He reminds me of my awesome nieces and nephews!
Today we spent the day running around downtown and the municipality to print off a huge map of our area. It's pretty sweet, about a meter squared. Later I'll send you pictures of our apartment when we finish decorating for Christmas :)
I love you all! I love this time of year to be able to remember one of the most important events in the existence of humanity. Christ's birth was so anticipated that heavenly choirs could not be withheld from bursting through the veil in songs of praise. Take advantage of this special time to share your testimony of Christ with someone not of our faith. The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
My comp and I with Agustin and Alejandro Arenas. We couldn't get a picture the day of their baptism, so we took this the day after.
This was a hard working week, but we had some excellent fruits! So the main problem that we're facing right now is that we have 4 great families that we're teaching, but none of them are married (it's suuuper common out here), even though all of them have kids. When we asked them why they hadn't gotten married the most common response was that they weren't sure they were ready to make that kind of commitment. Apparently having kids together these days isn't much of a commitment. Anyway, apart from that, they're all super great families and we've been focusing a lot on the Law of Chastity and the Proclamation for the Family. The good news was that we had 6 investigators come to church, which was a huge blessing since we've been struggling to get people to come to church recently. Fast Sunday is usually a pretty risky day for investigators to come to church for the first time because you never really know what some member will say... ...especially in Argentina where the church isn't quite as mature as the USA, but this Sunday was super good and all the investigators liked it. Next step, marriage :)
The Ávila family is progressing wonderfully. We taught the law of chastity and Mario really understood how the family is key to the Plan and how God set up commandments to protect the family. The biggest problem is that all of the couples have disagreements here and there, so we have to do a little bit of marriage counseling as 20-year old kids who have never had any experience in the subject. Haha! Luckily, the prophets and apostles do have experience, so we mainly stick to things they've said.
The Ramos family is also doing great. Their son Rafael is such a stud. He's only 9, but he reads everything we give him to read and understands it so well. In Primary, he came as an investigator, and volunteered to give a prayer. This week they even assigned him a part in the Primary program! He reminds me of my awesome nieces and nephews!
Today we spent the day running around downtown and the municipality to print off a huge map of our area. It's pretty sweet, about a meter squared. Later I'll send you pictures of our apartment when we finish decorating for Christmas :)
I love you all! I love this time of year to be able to remember one of the most important events in the existence of humanity. Christ's birth was so anticipated that heavenly choirs could not be withheld from bursting through the veil in songs of praise. Take advantage of this special time to share your testimony of Christ with someone not of our faith. The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
My comp and I with Agustin and Alejandro Arenas. We couldn't get a picture the day of their baptism, so we took this the day after.
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