Dear Family,
What a week! We were so blessed!
This week I want to show you a little I learned about faith from the Ramos family, They are so willing, so faithful! We taught them this week about tithing! They had had bad experiences in other churches seeing tithing abused and seeing church leaders set their hearts on money, so we were a bit nervous to teach them this law! When we taught it and they learned about tithing in the true church, their response was: Do we have to wait to be baptized to pay tithing?
The biggest show of faith for me, though, was from Gabriela! She has a heart of gold! She works as a nurse! You remember how last week we saw the miracle of her coming to church? well this week we were kinda worried about how it would turn out because her boss only let her have last Sunday off! Well, Gabi in order to come to church on Sunday worked two days double shift (16 hours straight) just to be able to come to church! You remember how I told you that last week they all went in matching pink? Well this week, we showed up to their house to go together to church and Carlos, without us saying anything to him, was in a suitcoat and tie for his second week in church! What a love for God! What a desire to please him!
There is an 18 year old member boy here who works a lot with us! His name is Alan! In a lesson the other day he shared his testimony of tithing and fasting and the blessings that come from living those commandments! The gist of it is that he was blessed with another chance to finish his last year of Highschool! His only desire is to graduate this year so next year when he turns nineteen he can serve as a missionary! Because he slacked off a few years ago and didn’t pass a couple classes, he might have to stay an extra year, but in the last couple months he changed his vision and now his greatest desire is to serve the Lord as a missionary! He fervantly prayed and fasted and tithed to be given the opportunity to retest his last couple classes and the windows of heaven were opened upon him because of his faith and righteous desires.
It’s really inspiring for me to see the great love that these people have for God and their desire to serve Him! It makes think a lot of Matthew 5:6 "And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." ("...with the Holy Ghost." see 3 Nephi 12:6) I feel so blessed to see people change their lives and start to hunger and thirst after righteousness! How blessed they really are! That promise is so true!
So family, as my time soon comes to see you, I leave you with that. What do we hunger and thirst after? money? recognition? commodities? fleeting diversions? Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled! I love you all so much! I know with all my heart that the church is true! I feel very very blessed and very "filled" after having been given the chance to serve in the Lord’s vineyard.
See you soon!
-Elder Spencer
Friday, March 16, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
March 5, 2012
Dear Family,
I think this has probably been one of the best weeks of my mission. It was incredible, mainly because of the miraculous experience we had on Sunday. So we have this family that we’re working with: the Ramos family. They’re a different Ramos family than the one I’ve told you about before that has two identical twins named Carlos Eduardo and Eduardo Carlos. This new Ramos family is incredible. Since the first visit we had with them we’ve felt the Spirit so powerfully in their home and they are just such willing, faithful seekers of truth. For example, this week we taught them the Word of Wisdom. Quite often when we teach that commandment the people protest saying: why can’t we have tea or coffee?? Gabriela, the mother, upon learning excitedly told us that she would give away her new coffee maker to one of her friends. They’re just awesome.
The only and main problem that they’ve had has been attending church. A few weeks ago, the whole family accepted the baptismal invitation, but since they hadn’t attended, we had to keep pushing it back. There was so much opposition for this awesome, celestial family to attend church. Somebody really didn’t want them to get there. At first it was that Gabriela was afraid of coming, then it turned out that she had to work on Sundays, then the family was going to go, but they didn’t wake up on time, then someone got sick. And there it went on and on. Well, this fast Sunday we decided to do a special fast so that Gabriela would have work off and they could attend church. We prayed for a miracle.
A miracle happened. We started our fast at 4:00. At 4:30 we passed by their house and Gabriela was just bouncing up and down to tell us that her boss let her have Sunday off and that they were all going to attend church. The only thing that could possibly go wrong was that their 10 year old daughter Sofía was pretty sick. We arranged with them to pass by their house Sunday morning at 8:45 to go together to church. We kept fasting and praying.
Sunday morning at 8:45 finally rolled around and we knocked on the door. Out came their 12-year old son and their daughter, miraculously better, and then out came the parents and... the whole family was wearing matching pink shirts! It was pretty much the cutest thing I’ve seen in quite a while. They live close to church so we went and took a tour of the church before it began. We showed them the sacrament room, the classrooms, and last of all, the baptismal font. We had the Elders Quorum President share with them the experience of his own baptism, and we all just kinda stared together at the font. The spirit was really strong.
Then, after Priesthood and Relief Society, Gospel Principles rolled around and Carlos (yep, we’re teaching 2 Carlos Ramoses) and Gabriela were sitting together. It was my turn to give the class, so before starting right up I had everyone introduce themselves. When it got to Gabriela she said her name and shared how awesome she felt and the beautiful tranquility she had felt from the moment she walked in. The Spirit was very strong. Carlos introduced himself and, almost breaking down to tears, affirmed what his wife had said and shared that he planned to come back every Sunday. The Spirit was even stronger. Every eye in that room was watery after that beautiful couple shared their simple testimony of what they were feeling. It was one of the more powerful spiritual experiences I’ve had on my mission. They loved Sacrament meeting (on top of everything, a beautiful testimony meeting) and left glowing.
In Alma 27:16-18 it talks about how Ammon was so happy he fainted. I always kinda chuckled reading that part, trying to imagine him collapsing from happiness. This Sunday I got somewhat close. What a beautiful, miraculous week. I don’t know what I did to be able to feel the spirit so much and so strong, but I probably didn’t deserve it. The church is true! The Gospel brings everlasting happiness! The Spirit changes hearts!
Love
-Elder Spencer
I think this has probably been one of the best weeks of my mission. It was incredible, mainly because of the miraculous experience we had on Sunday. So we have this family that we’re working with: the Ramos family. They’re a different Ramos family than the one I’ve told you about before that has two identical twins named Carlos Eduardo and Eduardo Carlos. This new Ramos family is incredible. Since the first visit we had with them we’ve felt the Spirit so powerfully in their home and they are just such willing, faithful seekers of truth. For example, this week we taught them the Word of Wisdom. Quite often when we teach that commandment the people protest saying: why can’t we have tea or coffee?? Gabriela, the mother, upon learning excitedly told us that she would give away her new coffee maker to one of her friends. They’re just awesome.
The only and main problem that they’ve had has been attending church. A few weeks ago, the whole family accepted the baptismal invitation, but since they hadn’t attended, we had to keep pushing it back. There was so much opposition for this awesome, celestial family to attend church. Somebody really didn’t want them to get there. At first it was that Gabriela was afraid of coming, then it turned out that she had to work on Sundays, then the family was going to go, but they didn’t wake up on time, then someone got sick. And there it went on and on. Well, this fast Sunday we decided to do a special fast so that Gabriela would have work off and they could attend church. We prayed for a miracle.
A miracle happened. We started our fast at 4:00. At 4:30 we passed by their house and Gabriela was just bouncing up and down to tell us that her boss let her have Sunday off and that they were all going to attend church. The only thing that could possibly go wrong was that their 10 year old daughter Sofía was pretty sick. We arranged with them to pass by their house Sunday morning at 8:45 to go together to church. We kept fasting and praying.
Sunday morning at 8:45 finally rolled around and we knocked on the door. Out came their 12-year old son and their daughter, miraculously better, and then out came the parents and... the whole family was wearing matching pink shirts! It was pretty much the cutest thing I’ve seen in quite a while. They live close to church so we went and took a tour of the church before it began. We showed them the sacrament room, the classrooms, and last of all, the baptismal font. We had the Elders Quorum President share with them the experience of his own baptism, and we all just kinda stared together at the font. The spirit was really strong.
Then, after Priesthood and Relief Society, Gospel Principles rolled around and Carlos (yep, we’re teaching 2 Carlos Ramoses) and Gabriela were sitting together. It was my turn to give the class, so before starting right up I had everyone introduce themselves. When it got to Gabriela she said her name and shared how awesome she felt and the beautiful tranquility she had felt from the moment she walked in. The Spirit was very strong. Carlos introduced himself and, almost breaking down to tears, affirmed what his wife had said and shared that he planned to come back every Sunday. The Spirit was even stronger. Every eye in that room was watery after that beautiful couple shared their simple testimony of what they were feeling. It was one of the more powerful spiritual experiences I’ve had on my mission. They loved Sacrament meeting (on top of everything, a beautiful testimony meeting) and left glowing.
In Alma 27:16-18 it talks about how Ammon was so happy he fainted. I always kinda chuckled reading that part, trying to imagine him collapsing from happiness. This Sunday I got somewhat close. What a beautiful, miraculous week. I don’t know what I did to be able to feel the spirit so much and so strong, but I probably didn’t deserve it. The church is true! The Gospel brings everlasting happiness! The Spirit changes hearts!
Love
-Elder Spencer
Monday, February 27, 2012
February 27, 2012
Dear Family,
This week and last week we’ve been working a *ton.* The problem is that we baptized all the investigators we had, so we had to look and look and look for new investigators. It was tough, but we sure saw some miracles:
It’s always a big battle to get people to come to church. We invited all of our investigators, but at 11 still just one person had come. Then, out of the blue a guy shows up named Maxi. Maxi was an 18 year old that we had talked to in the park the night before on the way home. We always invite everyone to come to church, but we never actually thought that a street contact would come. He had a great time and this week we’re going to teach him. :)
The two Morales brothers that we baptized are such studs. We taught them about missionary work and they were all disappointed because they are 4-6 years away from being able to be missionaries. Then we explained to them that you don’t need to wear a nametag to be a missionary, and that they can just invite their friends to listen to the missionaries and come to church or activities and it’s basically the same thing. This week they gave us more references than I have ever received from a member. On Tuesday we went with Facundo to teach his best friend and his friend’s mom and it was an awesome lesson. Facundo gave a great testimony and his best friends mom gave the last prayer and finished up crying because of the beautiful spirit that was present. What an excellent example of inviting all to come unto Christ.
Work hard, keep up a great attitude, and keep focused, and the Lord will bless you with success in your callings. I love you all
-Elder Spencer
This week and last week we’ve been working a *ton.* The problem is that we baptized all the investigators we had, so we had to look and look and look for new investigators. It was tough, but we sure saw some miracles:
It’s always a big battle to get people to come to church. We invited all of our investigators, but at 11 still just one person had come. Then, out of the blue a guy shows up named Maxi. Maxi was an 18 year old that we had talked to in the park the night before on the way home. We always invite everyone to come to church, but we never actually thought that a street contact would come. He had a great time and this week we’re going to teach him. :)
The two Morales brothers that we baptized are such studs. We taught them about missionary work and they were all disappointed because they are 4-6 years away from being able to be missionaries. Then we explained to them that you don’t need to wear a nametag to be a missionary, and that they can just invite their friends to listen to the missionaries and come to church or activities and it’s basically the same thing. This week they gave us more references than I have ever received from a member. On Tuesday we went with Facundo to teach his best friend and his friend’s mom and it was an awesome lesson. Facundo gave a great testimony and his best friends mom gave the last prayer and finished up crying because of the beautiful spirit that was present. What an excellent example of inviting all to come unto Christ.
Work hard, keep up a great attitude, and keep focused, and the Lord will bless you with success in your callings. I love you all
-Elder Spencer
Monday, February 20, 2012
February 20, 2012
Dear Family,
Another miracle week! This week we baptized the really old mom of a recent convert. I don’t remember if I told you guys the story, but what happened was that when we were in a lesson with her daughter a month ago, the mom suddenly burst out, "I want to get baptized." We were all pretty unsure if she would be able to do it. First, she is in a wheelchair because half of her body is paralyzed and she’s 77. Second, she doesn’t remember almost anything, so we didn’t think she’d be accountable, or able to pass the baptismal interview. We always taught her with pictures to help her understand, but really, she didn’t capture much of what we tried teaching her. The day of the interview came and we explained everything to the missionary who would do the baptismal interview and he, upon doing the interview, would determine if she was apt to be baptized. He started the interview and she just was totally lost. She didn’t remember a thing we had taught. The missionary who was doing the interview in that moment said a silent prayer asking the Lord to show him if that woman needed to get baptized or not.
Immediately, a miracle occurred. He asked her what a prophet did and she responded that a prophet restores the truth. We had never even mentioned to her that word because we thought it might be too big for her to understand. Nonetheless, the Spirit spoke to her and taught her a very correct, concise definition of a prophet. The missionary showed her a picture of Joseph Smith and she told him "That’s Joseph Smith; he’s a prophet and he restored the truth." The rest of the interview went wonderfully and this Saturday she got baptized. It took two of us, me and her son-in-law, to be able to sustain her and baptize her. We tried putting a chair in the water, but that didn’t work. Then we just took it out and between the two of us we dunked her. It was a really special moment because I knew very clearly that it was the Lord’s will that this woman, despite her current condition, should be baptized.
The church is true! I love you!
-Elder Spencer
Another miracle week! This week we baptized the really old mom of a recent convert. I don’t remember if I told you guys the story, but what happened was that when we were in a lesson with her daughter a month ago, the mom suddenly burst out, "I want to get baptized." We were all pretty unsure if she would be able to do it. First, she is in a wheelchair because half of her body is paralyzed and she’s 77. Second, she doesn’t remember almost anything, so we didn’t think she’d be accountable, or able to pass the baptismal interview. We always taught her with pictures to help her understand, but really, she didn’t capture much of what we tried teaching her. The day of the interview came and we explained everything to the missionary who would do the baptismal interview and he, upon doing the interview, would determine if she was apt to be baptized. He started the interview and she just was totally lost. She didn’t remember a thing we had taught. The missionary who was doing the interview in that moment said a silent prayer asking the Lord to show him if that woman needed to get baptized or not.
Immediately, a miracle occurred. He asked her what a prophet did and she responded that a prophet restores the truth. We had never even mentioned to her that word because we thought it might be too big for her to understand. Nonetheless, the Spirit spoke to her and taught her a very correct, concise definition of a prophet. The missionary showed her a picture of Joseph Smith and she told him "That’s Joseph Smith; he’s a prophet and he restored the truth." The rest of the interview went wonderfully and this Saturday she got baptized. It took two of us, me and her son-in-law, to be able to sustain her and baptize her. We tried putting a chair in the water, but that didn’t work. Then we just took it out and between the two of us we dunked her. It was a really special moment because I knew very clearly that it was the Lord’s will that this woman, despite her current condition, should be baptized.
The church is true! I love you!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, February 13, 2012
February 13, 2012
Dear Family,
What a miraculous, marvelous week! We had four baptisms! Facundo and Mauricio Morales, Damean Lara, and Maxi Reyes
So Facundo and Mauricio were the only baptisms we originally had planned for this week, and it was also pretty miraculous that they got baptized. Last weekend they were fine and excited, and then suddenly both of them got pretty sick. We went over, taught them about priesthood blessings and they both requested them. We blessed them and the next day they were both completely better. They passed their baptismal interviews with flying colors and were super super excited for their baptisms. Their dad was a little opposed, saying that it was too soon, and they should have more time. We shared with him Acts 2:38-43 where it talks about how Peter baptized 3000 people the same day he taught them for the first time. He opened up, accepted, and went to the baptism and really liked it.
Maxi was also a big miracle. We hadn’t seen him for about a week and a half. He was supposed to get baptized about a month ago, but because of family complications he couldn’t. Then, we lost contact with him because he went to work in a town 3 hours north where there isn’t even cell signal. We thought we had lost him completely. Then, last Sunday while planning for Monday we decided we would try to pay him a visit. We called him, and miracle of miracles, he had returned. Monday afternoon we had a lesson with him and we asked him how he felt about everything we had taught him. He said, "Great! Can I still get baptized?" We said, "Sure, when do you want to do it?" He said: "This Saturday?" And so it was. :)
Damean was a huge miracle. So he’s a super cool guy. He’s 19. I think I wrote to you about him a couple of weeks ago. He’s really really solid, but several times we talked about baptism with him. He always refused saying he didn’t know why, or giving some dumb excuse. This was really weird because he’s prayed lots and read lots, even gone to institute, and has a solid testimony and has also mentioned several times that he wants to be a missionary. We concluded that he had some fear and prayed really hard for Heavenly Father to teach us what to do. We decided that we weren’t going to invite him to baptism again until he brought it up. Well, Monday night my companion called him to confirm an appointment, and on the side mentioned the baptism of Maxi, Facundo and Mauricio. Damean told him that he felt something really weird right then. My companion asked him what, and Damean replied that he felt a strong desire to get baptized. My companion asked him when. He replied, this Saturday! And so it was!
I know that God is a God of miracles. He really loves each and every one of his children. He desires their salvation. He knows that only in the pure restored gospel can they find happiness in this life and peace in the world to come. He weeps when one soul is lost. He rejoices when one soul is saved. As members of the only true and living church it is our solemn duty to bring the knowledge of the gospel to all men so that they might enjoy that happiness and peace. Be brave! Open your mouth! Share the gospel! Those people need it, they need you to share it with them!
I love you all!
-Elder Spencer
What a miraculous, marvelous week! We had four baptisms! Facundo and Mauricio Morales, Damean Lara, and Maxi Reyes
So Facundo and Mauricio were the only baptisms we originally had planned for this week, and it was also pretty miraculous that they got baptized. Last weekend they were fine and excited, and then suddenly both of them got pretty sick. We went over, taught them about priesthood blessings and they both requested them. We blessed them and the next day they were both completely better. They passed their baptismal interviews with flying colors and were super super excited for their baptisms. Their dad was a little opposed, saying that it was too soon, and they should have more time. We shared with him Acts 2:38-43 where it talks about how Peter baptized 3000 people the same day he taught them for the first time. He opened up, accepted, and went to the baptism and really liked it.
Maxi was also a big miracle. We hadn’t seen him for about a week and a half. He was supposed to get baptized about a month ago, but because of family complications he couldn’t. Then, we lost contact with him because he went to work in a town 3 hours north where there isn’t even cell signal. We thought we had lost him completely. Then, last Sunday while planning for Monday we decided we would try to pay him a visit. We called him, and miracle of miracles, he had returned. Monday afternoon we had a lesson with him and we asked him how he felt about everything we had taught him. He said, "Great! Can I still get baptized?" We said, "Sure, when do you want to do it?" He said: "This Saturday?" And so it was. :)
Damean was a huge miracle. So he’s a super cool guy. He’s 19. I think I wrote to you about him a couple of weeks ago. He’s really really solid, but several times we talked about baptism with him. He always refused saying he didn’t know why, or giving some dumb excuse. This was really weird because he’s prayed lots and read lots, even gone to institute, and has a solid testimony and has also mentioned several times that he wants to be a missionary. We concluded that he had some fear and prayed really hard for Heavenly Father to teach us what to do. We decided that we weren’t going to invite him to baptism again until he brought it up. Well, Monday night my companion called him to confirm an appointment, and on the side mentioned the baptism of Maxi, Facundo and Mauricio. Damean told him that he felt something really weird right then. My companion asked him what, and Damean replied that he felt a strong desire to get baptized. My companion asked him when. He replied, this Saturday! And so it was!
I know that God is a God of miracles. He really loves each and every one of his children. He desires their salvation. He knows that only in the pure restored gospel can they find happiness in this life and peace in the world to come. He weeps when one soul is lost. He rejoices when one soul is saved. As members of the only true and living church it is our solemn duty to bring the knowledge of the gospel to all men so that they might enjoy that happiness and peace. Be brave! Open your mouth! Share the gospel! Those people need it, they need you to share it with them!
I love you all!
-Elder Spencer
Thursday, February 9, 2012
February 6, 2012
Dear Family,
What a great week! So many miracles! This week we ended up giving six priesthood blessings because of listening to the spirit and showing up to the right place at the right time just when people needed us. I learned a lot about being guided by the spirit. Being a missionary has by far been where I've felt the spirit more powerfully and more frequently than any other time in my life. I think that's one of the great benefits of missionary service, is being able to testify to someone of the truth and feel the Spirit ratify that testimony. Nonetheless, I've learned that being guided by and following the guidance of the Spirit doesn't always mean I'm going to feel those powerful spiritual impressions in everything I do. This week I learned that many times the Spirit speaks in very very subtle urgings, and that if we live righteously we will always be guided in what we need to do.
For example: Two months ago my companion and I were walking down a street and we passed a young couple with a toddler. After walking past them a few yards I felt a little guilty for not talking to them since we are missionaries, and families are our focus, so I turned around and we went back and talked to them. We told them that we shared a message about how the families can be together, even after death and invited them to listen to our message. Although hesitant at first, they gave us their address.
What I didn't know then, but learned this week, is that the wife was very preoccupied at the time because of the death of her mother. She was ready to hear the gospel. This week two of her sons are getting baptized. (She can't yet because she isn't yet legally married to her husband.) I learned this because of another subtle impression to call her this week to confirm our appointment. I had no idea, but the day I called her was the day of the anniversary of the death of her mother and that phone call made all the difference in the world to her.
Neither of those impressions were powerful spiritual experiences like we sometimes have, but gentle urgings of my duty. If we live righteously we qualify for both types of guidance. I know the church is true and that Heavenly Father loves, remembers, and cares for each and every one of his children.
Love
-Elder Spencer
What a great week! So many miracles! This week we ended up giving six priesthood blessings because of listening to the spirit and showing up to the right place at the right time just when people needed us. I learned a lot about being guided by the spirit. Being a missionary has by far been where I've felt the spirit more powerfully and more frequently than any other time in my life. I think that's one of the great benefits of missionary service, is being able to testify to someone of the truth and feel the Spirit ratify that testimony. Nonetheless, I've learned that being guided by and following the guidance of the Spirit doesn't always mean I'm going to feel those powerful spiritual impressions in everything I do. This week I learned that many times the Spirit speaks in very very subtle urgings, and that if we live righteously we will always be guided in what we need to do.
For example: Two months ago my companion and I were walking down a street and we passed a young couple with a toddler. After walking past them a few yards I felt a little guilty for not talking to them since we are missionaries, and families are our focus, so I turned around and we went back and talked to them. We told them that we shared a message about how the families can be together, even after death and invited them to listen to our message. Although hesitant at first, they gave us their address.
What I didn't know then, but learned this week, is that the wife was very preoccupied at the time because of the death of her mother. She was ready to hear the gospel. This week two of her sons are getting baptized. (She can't yet because she isn't yet legally married to her husband.) I learned this because of another subtle impression to call her this week to confirm our appointment. I had no idea, but the day I called her was the day of the anniversary of the death of her mother and that phone call made all the difference in the world to her.
Neither of those impressions were powerful spiritual experiences like we sometimes have, but gentle urgings of my duty. If we live righteously we qualify for both types of guidance. I know the church is true and that Heavenly Father loves, remembers, and cares for each and every one of his children.
Love
-Elder Spencer
Monday, January 30, 2012
January 30, 2012
Dear Family,
We had a great week. We had lots and lots of investigators come to church on Sunday, and a ward family home evening Sunday night where lots came too. We're just working super hard.
We have these two awesome Young Men who are going to get baptized Feb 11th. They're brothers and they're just screaming through the Book of Mormon. Right now one's in Mosiah and the other finishing up 2 Nephi. They came this week for the first time to all 3 hours of church (before they had just gone to sacrament meeting) and loved it. The whole family come to the family home evening.
We also found this excellent family, the Obanda family. First we taught the mom and one of her daughters. The first visit when we invited them to pray about our message, they said, "I don't need to. From the moment you walked in, and even more so when you offered that prayer, we knew what you were teaching was true". Then the second visit it was the mom with a different daughter and the daughter's daughter. Again, a powerful spirit. At the end of the visit we asked them if there was anything we could do for them. Their petition: return. We were happy to oblige. At the third visit the daughter presented us to her husband and, miracle, they're already married! He was great and offered the last prayer even though it was the first time he prayed. When we came back the next time they had all prayed about our message and felt it was true. Because of work they couldn't come to church this week, but next week they will.
God is still a God of miracles! He's preparing people all around us to hear his message. We just need to be a little bold and open our mouths. I love you all! The church is true!!
-Elder Spencer
We had a great week. We had lots and lots of investigators come to church on Sunday, and a ward family home evening Sunday night where lots came too. We're just working super hard.
We have these two awesome Young Men who are going to get baptized Feb 11th. They're brothers and they're just screaming through the Book of Mormon. Right now one's in Mosiah and the other finishing up 2 Nephi. They came this week for the first time to all 3 hours of church (before they had just gone to sacrament meeting) and loved it. The whole family come to the family home evening.
We also found this excellent family, the Obanda family. First we taught the mom and one of her daughters. The first visit when we invited them to pray about our message, they said, "I don't need to. From the moment you walked in, and even more so when you offered that prayer, we knew what you were teaching was true". Then the second visit it was the mom with a different daughter and the daughter's daughter. Again, a powerful spirit. At the end of the visit we asked them if there was anything we could do for them. Their petition: return. We were happy to oblige. At the third visit the daughter presented us to her husband and, miracle, they're already married! He was great and offered the last prayer even though it was the first time he prayed. When we came back the next time they had all prayed about our message and felt it was true. Because of work they couldn't come to church this week, but next week they will.
God is still a God of miracles! He's preparing people all around us to hear his message. We just need to be a little bold and open our mouths. I love you all! The church is true!!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, January 23, 2012
January 23, 2012
Dear Family,
What a great week!
We had another zone conference. It was super good, super inspiring. It was just what the zone needed because lots of missionaries had gotten a little out of focus from Christmas, so this helped to get everyone back on track. They talked about vision and showed this really cool video about soap sculptors and how you can create anything, it just depends on what you see in the soap bar. Try and see if you can find it. The message was that in our lives and in the lives of our investigators, we can take any possible form we desire, we just need to have a vision of what we or they can become. Neat. So we have this really cool investigator named Damian. He’s 19 and his older sister is a convert from about 3 years ago. Anyway, we’ve been teaching him for about the last 3 or 4 weeks but we could not at all get him to commit to come to church. Some people will say yes, and not go, but Damian wouldn’t commit at all. We tried so much to find out what was holding him back and he told us he didn’t even know what was holding him back. So, we prayed really hard, and prepared a lesson about faith. We talked about how we use our faith to gain a testimony of the truth (Alma 32) and we talked about how we can also us faith to produce miracles in our lives, using the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5), and finished up talking about the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. The spirit was really strong the whole lesson, and at the end my companion and I bore our testimonies, and then, without us even asking him he blurted out, "I’ll go to church this Sunday." Sunday rolled around. Sacrament meeting here is at the end. We waited outside church before Priesthood meeting started. Nobody. We went back and waited before Sunday school. Nobody. Finally before Sacrament meeting we waited until it started. Nobody. We walked in a little downcast, and then right as we were singing the opening hymn, in walks Damian with his sister. We were pretty happy. He really liked it, and this week we’re going to set a baptismal date with him. He’s going to institute with his sister, and just loving it too. The funny part is that he’s totally a punk rocker with long hair, bad habits, and again, one of the last people you would expect to get all excited about the gospel, but when the spirit works on somebody’s heart it changes. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Everybody needs the gospel. Everybody has some empty spot in their soul that is looking for the spirit to fill it. Parties, Music, Money, and things will not fill it. Only the restored gospel of Jesus Christ will fill it.
Well. This week we have lots of work cut out for us. I love you all, I thank you for your prayers and support. The church is true! He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
-Elder Spencer
What a great week!
We had another zone conference. It was super good, super inspiring. It was just what the zone needed because lots of missionaries had gotten a little out of focus from Christmas, so this helped to get everyone back on track. They talked about vision and showed this really cool video about soap sculptors and how you can create anything, it just depends on what you see in the soap bar. Try and see if you can find it. The message was that in our lives and in the lives of our investigators, we can take any possible form we desire, we just need to have a vision of what we or they can become. Neat. So we have this really cool investigator named Damian. He’s 19 and his older sister is a convert from about 3 years ago. Anyway, we’ve been teaching him for about the last 3 or 4 weeks but we could not at all get him to commit to come to church. Some people will say yes, and not go, but Damian wouldn’t commit at all. We tried so much to find out what was holding him back and he told us he didn’t even know what was holding him back. So, we prayed really hard, and prepared a lesson about faith. We talked about how we use our faith to gain a testimony of the truth (Alma 32) and we talked about how we can also us faith to produce miracles in our lives, using the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5), and finished up talking about the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. The spirit was really strong the whole lesson, and at the end my companion and I bore our testimonies, and then, without us even asking him he blurted out, "I’ll go to church this Sunday." Sunday rolled around. Sacrament meeting here is at the end. We waited outside church before Priesthood meeting started. Nobody. We went back and waited before Sunday school. Nobody. Finally before Sacrament meeting we waited until it started. Nobody. We walked in a little downcast, and then right as we were singing the opening hymn, in walks Damian with his sister. We were pretty happy. He really liked it, and this week we’re going to set a baptismal date with him. He’s going to institute with his sister, and just loving it too. The funny part is that he’s totally a punk rocker with long hair, bad habits, and again, one of the last people you would expect to get all excited about the gospel, but when the spirit works on somebody’s heart it changes. Don’t judge a book by its cover. Everybody needs the gospel. Everybody has some empty spot in their soul that is looking for the spirit to fill it. Parties, Music, Money, and things will not fill it. Only the restored gospel of Jesus Christ will fill it.
Well. This week we have lots of work cut out for us. I love you all, I thank you for your prayers and support. The church is true! He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
-Elder Spencer
Monday, January 16, 2012
Dear Family,
This week was great! Dario got baptized! It was so awesome. He invited three of his friends to come see it, and the spirit was so neat in the baptism and now his friends are really interested. He told us that he just feels so great, so clean, so awesome now that he’s baptized. It has really been such a blessing to witness such a mighty change in heart.
So I pretty much love this ward. Because of how well the Christmas activity we did turned out, the new Elder’s Quorum President is really excited to do lots of activities and so now we’re shooting to do one every other week. This week we had another winner: A Karaoke Night. It was super great and lots of investigators showed up. The best part was this: We have this investigator that’s a 65 year old man and super cool. As it turns out, he’s a charro (the lead singer in a mariachi band) and he’s really good and has a band of 12 mariachis and they have CDs and such. Mariachi is purely Mexican, so here they are very uncommon. Well, when we told him about the Karaoke night he got really excited and told us he would come. And he showed up with his entire mariachi uniform and a mariachi guitarist to accompany him. It was really quite the treat.
We also had quite the miraculous experience last night. We were at the house of a recent convert, Monica. She’s not that strong in the church, and she isn’t able to attend that much because she usually ends up staying home taking care of her mom, who’s old and wheelchair-bound. Well we were going over the restoration again with Monica and her husband (a member for many years) and suddenly her mom says: "I want to get baptized!" My comp and I were kinda shocked because we didn’t even know she was paying attention, but we obliged her request, and set a date for early February. Although because of her age she didn’t understand much of what we were teaching, she had felt the spirit as we sang and prayed and taught, and knew that it was good. Moral of the story: when the Spirit reaches a heart, the heart changes.
I love you all! The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
This week was great! Dario got baptized! It was so awesome. He invited three of his friends to come see it, and the spirit was so neat in the baptism and now his friends are really interested. He told us that he just feels so great, so clean, so awesome now that he’s baptized. It has really been such a blessing to witness such a mighty change in heart.
So I pretty much love this ward. Because of how well the Christmas activity we did turned out, the new Elder’s Quorum President is really excited to do lots of activities and so now we’re shooting to do one every other week. This week we had another winner: A Karaoke Night. It was super great and lots of investigators showed up. The best part was this: We have this investigator that’s a 65 year old man and super cool. As it turns out, he’s a charro (the lead singer in a mariachi band) and he’s really good and has a band of 12 mariachis and they have CDs and such. Mariachi is purely Mexican, so here they are very uncommon. Well, when we told him about the Karaoke night he got really excited and told us he would come. And he showed up with his entire mariachi uniform and a mariachi guitarist to accompany him. It was really quite the treat.
We also had quite the miraculous experience last night. We were at the house of a recent convert, Monica. She’s not that strong in the church, and she isn’t able to attend that much because she usually ends up staying home taking care of her mom, who’s old and wheelchair-bound. Well we were going over the restoration again with Monica and her husband (a member for many years) and suddenly her mom says: "I want to get baptized!" My comp and I were kinda shocked because we didn’t even know she was paying attention, but we obliged her request, and set a date for early February. Although because of her age she didn’t understand much of what we were teaching, she had felt the spirit as we sang and prayed and taught, and knew that it was good. Moral of the story: when the Spirit reaches a heart, the heart changes.
I love you all! The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, January 9, 2012
January 9, 2012
Dear Family,
This week went grrrreat!!! So a couple of months ago we were working with lots of families that weren’t married. They were super nice people, but unfortunately they didn’t progress much and they’re still floating around the same status of wondering if they should get married even though they have several children together. Oh well. Well since then we’ve been fasting and praying a lot so that we could find new investigators who are ready for baptism. Our prayers were answered and last transfer we found lots of great people through the randomest of ways. A little old grandma who always sits outside told us she doesn’t want to listen to us, but she gave us two references and they turned out to be some of our best. One’s getting baptized next week, the other, early next month. I really know that the Lord listens to, and answers prayers.
This week, the biggest miracle we have seen was in one of our investigators, Dario. He’s a 30 year old single guy and has pretty much lived the life of the party for the last 10 years. When we first met up he seemed really depressed. He said that he had lots of fun living his life, but he didn’t feel peace in his life. He didn’t believe that he could develop the kind of will power that would help him resist the temptations that offer that kind of lifestyle. Well now he’s been coming to church for the last month. He wasn’t reading very well the Book of Mormon at first, but now he’s devouring it and marks up his copy a lot and is starting on 2 Nephi. His baptism is this Saturday and he’s so excited. This week in church he sat next to one of our other investigators, Maxi. Maxi was telling him that he didn’t think that he would be able to make it, to resist all the temptations and make the true change in his life, and Dario totally pumped him up and told him that he could do it, that they would change their lives together. Yesterday Dario brought us to the house of his best friend so that we could teach him and helped out a ton in the lesson.
If you knew the background and the lifestyle of Dario before we met him, you would probably think that that type of person could never change, but I really know that it is possible. The Holy Ghost can work a mighty change in the heart (Mosiah 5:2) of anyone that looks for it. All we have to do is start to experiment on the word (Alma 32:27-28), feasting daily on the words of Christ, and the Lord will work miracles. Never give up on anyone! The church really is true! The gospel really does change lives!
I love you all!
-Elder Spencer
PS - Transfers came in and.... I get to finish up my mission here with my trainee, Elder Bárcenas!! Yay!! We’re totally going to tear up the area here in a BIG STRONG FINISH!!
This week went grrrreat!!! So a couple of months ago we were working with lots of families that weren’t married. They were super nice people, but unfortunately they didn’t progress much and they’re still floating around the same status of wondering if they should get married even though they have several children together. Oh well. Well since then we’ve been fasting and praying a lot so that we could find new investigators who are ready for baptism. Our prayers were answered and last transfer we found lots of great people through the randomest of ways. A little old grandma who always sits outside told us she doesn’t want to listen to us, but she gave us two references and they turned out to be some of our best. One’s getting baptized next week, the other, early next month. I really know that the Lord listens to, and answers prayers.
This week, the biggest miracle we have seen was in one of our investigators, Dario. He’s a 30 year old single guy and has pretty much lived the life of the party for the last 10 years. When we first met up he seemed really depressed. He said that he had lots of fun living his life, but he didn’t feel peace in his life. He didn’t believe that he could develop the kind of will power that would help him resist the temptations that offer that kind of lifestyle. Well now he’s been coming to church for the last month. He wasn’t reading very well the Book of Mormon at first, but now he’s devouring it and marks up his copy a lot and is starting on 2 Nephi. His baptism is this Saturday and he’s so excited. This week in church he sat next to one of our other investigators, Maxi. Maxi was telling him that he didn’t think that he would be able to make it, to resist all the temptations and make the true change in his life, and Dario totally pumped him up and told him that he could do it, that they would change their lives together. Yesterday Dario brought us to the house of his best friend so that we could teach him and helped out a ton in the lesson.
If you knew the background and the lifestyle of Dario before we met him, you would probably think that that type of person could never change, but I really know that it is possible. The Holy Ghost can work a mighty change in the heart (Mosiah 5:2) of anyone that looks for it. All we have to do is start to experiment on the word (Alma 32:27-28), feasting daily on the words of Christ, and the Lord will work miracles. Never give up on anyone! The church really is true! The gospel really does change lives!
I love you all!
-Elder Spencer
PS - Transfers came in and.... I get to finish up my mission here with my trainee, Elder Bárcenas!! Yay!! We’re totally going to tear up the area here in a BIG STRONG FINISH!!
Monday, January 2, 2012
January 2, 2012
Dear Family,
Wow, talk about a crazy week! New Year’s here in Jujuy is like WWII. Haha!! Seriously though, there were soo many fireworks. I normally sleep like a rock, but man, oh man, not even a bear in hibernation could sleep through that.
This week actually went great! We have this investigator named Micaela. She’s the 18 year old great granddaughter of one of our members. She was a reference and she seemed nice the first time we talked to her, but the first time we tried teaching her we heard from behind the door "if it’s the Jehovah’s witnesses tell them I’m not home." Haha. When her sister answered the door to tell us that Micaela "wasn’t home" we informed her that, all the same, we aren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses. Since then, Micaela saw us in the street a week or so later and told us that she actually did want us to teach her, so we’ve been teaching her and she’s progressing so great. She was usually a downcast shy girl, but ever since she’s been reading the Book of Mormon and praying, she’s totally changed, she's always happy, and she was so excited to give us a reference to go teach her aunt. She’s going to come with us and have a lesson all together. The gospel really changes lives! Put it into practice and it does wonders.
This weekend I got super super sick with a nasty stomach/intestine infection. On Saturday I was knocked out. I couldn’t even stand up. Between the medicine that the mission Doc had me buy and the bills I had to pay this month, and being right at the end of the month, I was completely out of money. One of the key things I needed to recover was Gatorade, and lots of it. The problem is, here, Gatorade is really expensive, like 3 times the cost of other beverages of equivalent size, and I had no money. Well, God worked a pretty huge miracle and on Saturday and Sunday I had an investigator and a member offer me big bottles of Gatorade, which is really uncommon for someone to just have on hand at home. It was just what I needed right when I needed it and it couldn’t have waited until Monday, when I would have received my monthly allowance.
I know that the Lord knows and loves each one of us. He provides miracles for us always. We need to recognize them and thank him for them. I love you all so much!
-Elder Spencer
Wow, talk about a crazy week! New Year’s here in Jujuy is like WWII. Haha!! Seriously though, there were soo many fireworks. I normally sleep like a rock, but man, oh man, not even a bear in hibernation could sleep through that.
This week actually went great! We have this investigator named Micaela. She’s the 18 year old great granddaughter of one of our members. She was a reference and she seemed nice the first time we talked to her, but the first time we tried teaching her we heard from behind the door "if it’s the Jehovah’s witnesses tell them I’m not home." Haha. When her sister answered the door to tell us that Micaela "wasn’t home" we informed her that, all the same, we aren’t Jehovah’s Witnesses. Since then, Micaela saw us in the street a week or so later and told us that she actually did want us to teach her, so we’ve been teaching her and she’s progressing so great. She was usually a downcast shy girl, but ever since she’s been reading the Book of Mormon and praying, she’s totally changed, she's always happy, and she was so excited to give us a reference to go teach her aunt. She’s going to come with us and have a lesson all together. The gospel really changes lives! Put it into practice and it does wonders.
This weekend I got super super sick with a nasty stomach/intestine infection. On Saturday I was knocked out. I couldn’t even stand up. Between the medicine that the mission Doc had me buy and the bills I had to pay this month, and being right at the end of the month, I was completely out of money. One of the key things I needed to recover was Gatorade, and lots of it. The problem is, here, Gatorade is really expensive, like 3 times the cost of other beverages of equivalent size, and I had no money. Well, God worked a pretty huge miracle and on Saturday and Sunday I had an investigator and a member offer me big bottles of Gatorade, which is really uncommon for someone to just have on hand at home. It was just what I needed right when I needed it and it couldn’t have waited until Monday, when I would have received my monthly allowance.
I know that the Lord knows and loves each one of us. He provides miracles for us always. We need to recognize them and thank him for them. I love you all so much!
-Elder Spencer
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
December 26, 2011
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
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
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.
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 28, 2011
Dear Family,
What a week! First I want to make a brief commentary about the weather here. It’s crazy. This morning we woke up and it was cloudy and cold. A few hours later when we went shopping it was roasting hot right when we got to walk 8 blocks home with grocery bags, haha, then while we were eating lunch it started raining. After we finished cleaning up it was sunny again, and right now it is POURING. The bad part was, today is a national holiday, so we went running all over the area looking for an internet café and got soaked before we found one. I’m telling you, the weather here is crazier than Colorado!
Well this week was pretty awesome. We have started working with a new family that is progressing really well. They are called the Avila family. Maria, Mario and 4 cute little daughters ages 7, 5, 2 and 1. They used to go to an Evangelist church, but got really tired of it because the only thing they ever preached was the importance of tithing, haha, so they stopped going. On Tuesday we taught them about baptism and invited them to follow the example of Christ by being baptized by one with the proper authority. They accepted, and then they asked us how soon they could do it! Talk about people hearing the voice of the Lord and not hardening their hearts! (D&C 29:7) Maria and her daughters went to a Primary activity Saturday morning with a member mom that came with us to one of the lessons, and the whole family came to church on Sunday and liked it a lot! The only problem is that, like every single other family here, they aren’t legally married, so this week we’re going to teach about the law of chastity and the family and commit them to get married so they can get baptized.
Well, I don’t have really any time left to write today because we spent so much time running around looking for an internet café, but I hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving, and I love you all. The church is true!! Miracles happen when we obey!!
-Elder Spencer
What a week! First I want to make a brief commentary about the weather here. It’s crazy. This morning we woke up and it was cloudy and cold. A few hours later when we went shopping it was roasting hot right when we got to walk 8 blocks home with grocery bags, haha, then while we were eating lunch it started raining. After we finished cleaning up it was sunny again, and right now it is POURING. The bad part was, today is a national holiday, so we went running all over the area looking for an internet café and got soaked before we found one. I’m telling you, the weather here is crazier than Colorado!
Well this week was pretty awesome. We have started working with a new family that is progressing really well. They are called the Avila family. Maria, Mario and 4 cute little daughters ages 7, 5, 2 and 1. They used to go to an Evangelist church, but got really tired of it because the only thing they ever preached was the importance of tithing, haha, so they stopped going. On Tuesday we taught them about baptism and invited them to follow the example of Christ by being baptized by one with the proper authority. They accepted, and then they asked us how soon they could do it! Talk about people hearing the voice of the Lord and not hardening their hearts! (D&C 29:7) Maria and her daughters went to a Primary activity Saturday morning with a member mom that came with us to one of the lessons, and the whole family came to church on Sunday and liked it a lot! The only problem is that, like every single other family here, they aren’t legally married, so this week we’re going to teach about the law of chastity and the family and commit them to get married so they can get baptized.
Well, I don’t have really any time left to write today because we spent so much time running around looking for an internet café, but I hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving, and I love you all. The church is true!! Miracles happen when we obey!!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, November 21, 2011
November 21, 2011
Dear Family,
This week was hectic and excellent. We had a baptism! He’s the 9 year old son of a less active family we have been working with to reactivate. His name is Agustín and he’s a super stud! They took notes in all of our lessons and know the stuff better than some of the old members, haha! He reminded me of my awesome nieces and nephews!
My birthday went awesome. We worked really hard and had a great successful day, the best way I could really ask to celebrate my birthday. The best part was that I was able to celebrate it doing something I’d never be able to do up there: Eating a delicious watermelon. We were thinking about buying a cake, but then I saw the fruit salesman and I couldn’t resist, so I got myself a watermelon for a whopping 4 US dollars (15 pesos). I forgot to bring my camera, so next week I’ll drop ya’ll the pictures. Thanks for your well wishes!!!
I had a great birthday! If you want to give me a present, go give your local missionaries the names of 2 friends who are going through a hard time or abrupt change in their life (birth, death, problems with teens, just moved, etc...).
The Ramos family is progressing great and we’ve found several other families we’re working with right now who are also super receptive. It’s all been happening because we’ve been accepting the challenge of our mission president to talk to everyone we see and to ask references from everyone we talk to. I know that miracles come from obedience. If you need miracles in your life look for ways in which you can more completely obey the Lord’s command and I promise you that the windows of heaven will be opened unto you. I love you all so much! The church is true!!
-Elder Spencer
This week was hectic and excellent. We had a baptism! He’s the 9 year old son of a less active family we have been working with to reactivate. His name is Agustín and he’s a super stud! They took notes in all of our lessons and know the stuff better than some of the old members, haha! He reminded me of my awesome nieces and nephews!
My birthday went awesome. We worked really hard and had a great successful day, the best way I could really ask to celebrate my birthday. The best part was that I was able to celebrate it doing something I’d never be able to do up there: Eating a delicious watermelon. We were thinking about buying a cake, but then I saw the fruit salesman and I couldn’t resist, so I got myself a watermelon for a whopping 4 US dollars (15 pesos). I forgot to bring my camera, so next week I’ll drop ya’ll the pictures. Thanks for your well wishes!!!
I had a great birthday! If you want to give me a present, go give your local missionaries the names of 2 friends who are going through a hard time or abrupt change in their life (birth, death, problems with teens, just moved, etc...).
The Ramos family is progressing great and we’ve found several other families we’re working with right now who are also super receptive. It’s all been happening because we’ve been accepting the challenge of our mission president to talk to everyone we see and to ask references from everyone we talk to. I know that miracles come from obedience. If you need miracles in your life look for ways in which you can more completely obey the Lord’s command and I promise you that the windows of heaven will be opened unto you. I love you all so much! The church is true!!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, November 14, 2011
November 14, 2011
Dear Family,
This week was fantastic!! The Ramos family is doing great and accepted the challenge to be baptized. The best part of the week, though, was being blessed with a personal visit from Elder D. Todd Christofferson!
So here’s kinda how it went. On Saturday we had a mission conference, where the whole entire mission traveled to Salta for the conference (a pretty big deal to have everyone together since some live more than 8 hours away from Salta). In the conference we had Elder Spitale (Area Seventy), Elder Arnold (Area President), Elder Jensen (Presidency of the Seventy), and Elder Christofferson (Apostle) and their wives. A pretty epic lineup. It was a really neat meeting. For the first hour there was a musical number and a few talks by Elder Jensen, his wife, and Elder Christofferson’s wife. President Levrieno and his wife bore their testimonies to the mission and that was really neat. Then, Elder Christofferson spoke. He is just a genuine wonderful guy. He even cracked a joke about how Spanish is better than Portuguese, haha. He talked for a few minutes and then left about a whole hour to answering questions. They were some great questions and some great answers. It was honestly probably the strongest I’ve ever felt the spirit in a meeting. Simply beautiful. We got to shake his hand at the end and when I did I told him my dad, Richard Spencer, said hi. He said I look a bit like him and told me to tell you hi, so there you go, Dad, consider yourself greeted. :)
Then on Sunday we had the extra special treat to be here in Jujuy because he came up here for a special stake conference. In it, he talked a lot about putting the family in order (D&C 93:50). He started out reminding the young single adults to get their act together and get married or they’d turn out ministering angels (D&C 132) and then talked about the utmost importance of the family traditions of daily family scripture study and daily family prayer. He finished up talking about how we need to be a light to the world (3 Nephi 18:24) and how the people around us need to recognize us as followers of Christ simply by the way we act.
I think what made the conferences so special was the special attachment that he had to this part of the world. He told us that he considered this mission sacred ground, and that whenever he assigns a missionary to come here he asks himself: "Really? Are they really worthy?" He said that we could probably all have the same if not more success in other parts of the world, in other missions, but the Lord wanted us here, now, for a very specific purpose.
It was pretty incredible. The spirit this last weekend has been a feast. After feeling that spirit there is no room for doubt that that man really is a Special Witness of Jesus Christ and has his Apostolic authority. Really, it’s the best birthday present I could ever ask for. I hope you all have an excellent week. I love you all tons! The church is true!!
-Elder Spencer
This week was fantastic!! The Ramos family is doing great and accepted the challenge to be baptized. The best part of the week, though, was being blessed with a personal visit from Elder D. Todd Christofferson!
So here’s kinda how it went. On Saturday we had a mission conference, where the whole entire mission traveled to Salta for the conference (a pretty big deal to have everyone together since some live more than 8 hours away from Salta). In the conference we had Elder Spitale (Area Seventy), Elder Arnold (Area President), Elder Jensen (Presidency of the Seventy), and Elder Christofferson (Apostle) and their wives. A pretty epic lineup. It was a really neat meeting. For the first hour there was a musical number and a few talks by Elder Jensen, his wife, and Elder Christofferson’s wife. President Levrieno and his wife bore their testimonies to the mission and that was really neat. Then, Elder Christofferson spoke. He is just a genuine wonderful guy. He even cracked a joke about how Spanish is better than Portuguese, haha. He talked for a few minutes and then left about a whole hour to answering questions. They were some great questions and some great answers. It was honestly probably the strongest I’ve ever felt the spirit in a meeting. Simply beautiful. We got to shake his hand at the end and when I did I told him my dad, Richard Spencer, said hi. He said I look a bit like him and told me to tell you hi, so there you go, Dad, consider yourself greeted. :)
Then on Sunday we had the extra special treat to be here in Jujuy because he came up here for a special stake conference. In it, he talked a lot about putting the family in order (D&C 93:50). He started out reminding the young single adults to get their act together and get married or they’d turn out ministering angels (D&C 132) and then talked about the utmost importance of the family traditions of daily family scripture study and daily family prayer. He finished up talking about how we need to be a light to the world (3 Nephi 18:24) and how the people around us need to recognize us as followers of Christ simply by the way we act.
I think what made the conferences so special was the special attachment that he had to this part of the world. He told us that he considered this mission sacred ground, and that whenever he assigns a missionary to come here he asks himself: "Really? Are they really worthy?" He said that we could probably all have the same if not more success in other parts of the world, in other missions, but the Lord wanted us here, now, for a very specific purpose.
It was pretty incredible. The spirit this last weekend has been a feast. After feeling that spirit there is no room for doubt that that man really is a Special Witness of Jesus Christ and has his Apostolic authority. Really, it’s the best birthday present I could ever ask for. I hope you all have an excellent week. I love you all tons! The church is true!!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, November 7, 2011
November 7, 2011
Dear Family,
Well this week, just like each and every week on the mission has been so great. Elder Bárcenas and I get along so well. I really like him a lot, he's really humble, happy and ready to work. It's really nice to be with a new missionary because they come onto the field with guns blazing ready to baptize the whole world, and that's exactly what we plan to do. :)
This week the best thing that happened was finding the Ramos family. Let me give you a little back story. President Northcutt used to have a required amount of street contacts and doors knocked per week. That went for a while, but for one reason or another he had the missionaries stop reporting the number of those that they did. As a result, all the missionaries completely stopped doing street contacts. A few months later, I got to Argentina. So basically, I went a good year and a half without ever doing more than a handful of street contacts because I didn't know it was something you were supposed to do. Then, President Levrino a few weeks ago challenged us to talk to everyone and promised us much more spiritual power as we "open[ed] [our] mouth[s]" (D&C 33:7-10) and shared with us a promise from Elder Ballard that if a missionary opened his mouth talking with everyone the Lord put in his pathway, he would have twice as many baptisms than if he had not. I took the challenge. It wasn't easy, nor still is, but miracles have followed as we have followed this promise from a man of God. (See 2 Kings 5:1-14.) The miracle that occurred this week was the Ramos family. Victoria Ramos was a street contact. We didn't think much of her, but one night after our plans had fallen through and we had a little time before we headed home, we dropped by her house.
They are from Bolivia and very humble. Two families live in the house: her family and the family of her brother-in-law. (Her husband and husband's brother are identical twins named Eduardo Carlos and Carlos Eduardo ... what a sense of humor that mother had. Haha!) Anyway, they are pretty much golden investigators. They have a 9-year old son who read the pamphlet we left with them and the chapter of the Book of Mormon and totally understood it all and had great questions. Carlos had read everything and even though we only left him 2 Nephi 31 to read, he read it and also started from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and read all of the introduction really thoroughly. They are probably the most sincere, humble seekers after truth that I have met in the mission. When Carlos gave the closing prayer in the last lesson he asked God forgiveness for having so many questions. What humility! They are great! I'll keep you posted on them. Pray for their progress.
On a side note, Ariel and Gisela are doing great! Ariel got the Aaronic Priesthood this week and they are so excited to be doing what God wants for them.
Anyway, that's been my miraculous week. I love you all so much! Miracles happen when we obey with exactness what the Lord asks of us.
The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
Well this week, just like each and every week on the mission has been so great. Elder Bárcenas and I get along so well. I really like him a lot, he's really humble, happy and ready to work. It's really nice to be with a new missionary because they come onto the field with guns blazing ready to baptize the whole world, and that's exactly what we plan to do. :)
This week the best thing that happened was finding the Ramos family. Let me give you a little back story. President Northcutt used to have a required amount of street contacts and doors knocked per week. That went for a while, but for one reason or another he had the missionaries stop reporting the number of those that they did. As a result, all the missionaries completely stopped doing street contacts. A few months later, I got to Argentina. So basically, I went a good year and a half without ever doing more than a handful of street contacts because I didn't know it was something you were supposed to do. Then, President Levrino a few weeks ago challenged us to talk to everyone and promised us much more spiritual power as we "open[ed] [our] mouth[s]" (D&C 33:7-10) and shared with us a promise from Elder Ballard that if a missionary opened his mouth talking with everyone the Lord put in his pathway, he would have twice as many baptisms than if he had not. I took the challenge. It wasn't easy, nor still is, but miracles have followed as we have followed this promise from a man of God. (See 2 Kings 5:1-14.) The miracle that occurred this week was the Ramos family. Victoria Ramos was a street contact. We didn't think much of her, but one night after our plans had fallen through and we had a little time before we headed home, we dropped by her house.
They are from Bolivia and very humble. Two families live in the house: her family and the family of her brother-in-law. (Her husband and husband's brother are identical twins named Eduardo Carlos and Carlos Eduardo ... what a sense of humor that mother had. Haha!) Anyway, they are pretty much golden investigators. They have a 9-year old son who read the pamphlet we left with them and the chapter of the Book of Mormon and totally understood it all and had great questions. Carlos had read everything and even though we only left him 2 Nephi 31 to read, he read it and also started from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and read all of the introduction really thoroughly. They are probably the most sincere, humble seekers after truth that I have met in the mission. When Carlos gave the closing prayer in the last lesson he asked God forgiveness for having so many questions. What humility! They are great! I'll keep you posted on them. Pray for their progress.
On a side note, Ariel and Gisela are doing great! Ariel got the Aaronic Priesthood this week and they are so excited to be doing what God wants for them.
Anyway, that's been my miraculous week. I love you all so much! Miracles happen when we obey with exactness what the Lord asks of us.
The church is true!
-Elder Spencer
Monday, October 31, 2011
October 31, 2011
Dear Family,
Wow, this week was super crazy. I’m so glad to be in this mission! I wish I could stay an extra two years!!
Ok first. My new companion came in!! His name is Elder Bárcenas and he’s awesome!!! He’s from Toluca Mexico and he’s pretty much a stud. So I went to Salta Tuesday at midday to pick him up because he was supposed to get in Tuesday night. To pass the time I went out to work in the afternoon with the elders who spend the morning doing office work. That was super fun and we had lots of great lessons. Then, about 6 o’clock we get a call that apparently he’s supposed to get in on Wednesday. I’m a little disappointed with that prospect because I didn’t bring any change of clothes with me from Jujuy, but still happy for a little change of scenery. We kept on working and went to their apartment at the end of the night. At about 10:30 we were all ready to crawl into bed when we get a phone call. Apparently the church offices in Buenos Aires had screwed up with the itinerary of my comp and he had actually flown in that night as we had originally thought. Here’s what happened. He waited at the airport for 2 hours. Then some friendly people who just happened to live a couple blocks from the church offices offered to take him there. Weighing his options, he accepted and got there about 10 at night and of course there was nobody there. They took him to a pay phone around the corner where he called the mission president from Mexico who called the church offices who called President Levrino (who was in Tucumán at the time). My comp headed back to the mission offices and Sister Levrino swung around to pick him up a few minutes later. Really, a pretty smooth turnout considering what could have happened. The next morning we went first thing to the mission home and picked up my companion. Yay! The only other bad news was that we had to stay another day in Salta to do his visa paperwork, and I still didn’t have any change of clothes, but that’s lo de menos. So that’s the big story. Now we’re all safe and sound and working our tails off here in Jujuy.
President Levrino is awesome. This month as a mission we had 177 baptisms. That’s more than the mission’s had since 1995. We’re just seeing so many miracles out here. We’re also all very excited for the visit of Elder Christofferson to Jujuy in two weeks (the 12 and 13 of November). I love the gospel so much and it’s so true! God is still a God of miracles! Look for them, obey, and you will find them.
Much love,
Elder Spencer
Wow, this week was super crazy. I’m so glad to be in this mission! I wish I could stay an extra two years!!
Ok first. My new companion came in!! His name is Elder Bárcenas and he’s awesome!!! He’s from Toluca Mexico and he’s pretty much a stud. So I went to Salta Tuesday at midday to pick him up because he was supposed to get in Tuesday night. To pass the time I went out to work in the afternoon with the elders who spend the morning doing office work. That was super fun and we had lots of great lessons. Then, about 6 o’clock we get a call that apparently he’s supposed to get in on Wednesday. I’m a little disappointed with that prospect because I didn’t bring any change of clothes with me from Jujuy, but still happy for a little change of scenery. We kept on working and went to their apartment at the end of the night. At about 10:30 we were all ready to crawl into bed when we get a phone call. Apparently the church offices in Buenos Aires had screwed up with the itinerary of my comp and he had actually flown in that night as we had originally thought. Here’s what happened. He waited at the airport for 2 hours. Then some friendly people who just happened to live a couple blocks from the church offices offered to take him there. Weighing his options, he accepted and got there about 10 at night and of course there was nobody there. They took him to a pay phone around the corner where he called the mission president from Mexico who called the church offices who called President Levrino (who was in Tucumán at the time). My comp headed back to the mission offices and Sister Levrino swung around to pick him up a few minutes later. Really, a pretty smooth turnout considering what could have happened. The next morning we went first thing to the mission home and picked up my companion. Yay! The only other bad news was that we had to stay another day in Salta to do his visa paperwork, and I still didn’t have any change of clothes, but that’s lo de menos. So that’s the big story. Now we’re all safe and sound and working our tails off here in Jujuy.
President Levrino is awesome. This month as a mission we had 177 baptisms. That’s more than the mission’s had since 1995. We’re just seeing so many miracles out here. We’re also all very excited for the visit of Elder Christofferson to Jujuy in two weeks (the 12 and 13 of November). I love the gospel so much and it’s so true! God is still a God of miracles! Look for them, obey, and you will find them.
Much love,
Elder Spencer
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