January 3, 2011

Dear Family,

Wow! It is sooooo different being here in Frías, Santiago del Estero. It’s got a population of about 30,000 and it’s actually quite large for just two missionaries. It’s a really nice, calm little city and has various clean, pretty plazas. The people are all really nice and everybody will at least talk to you. In other areas I’ve been in, it seems kinda over-proselyted because everybody puts on this aggravated face when they see "another" door to door religion person, but here even the rich people come out and greet you before shutting you down, haha. President Hinckley once said something to the effect that wére preaching the Gospel to a world that doesn’t want it, or at least they don’t know they want it yet. Our job is to help them see they actually want it.

The branch here is small. My companion and I got to the building (It isn’t a chapel, it’s a house on a street corner remodeled, I’ll send a picture next week) an hour early to set up chairs, prepare the sacrament, and so forth. The first members came about 15 minutes late. About 15 minutes later, a few more trickled in the door and we started Sunday School. Neither the Elders Quorum leader or Primary leader arrived, so my comp and I pulled off simultaneously teaching those from the doorway of each classroom. The Branch President got there for Sacrament meeting, which made the total church attendance 14 people. It was kinda crazy for me to sit up there and look at all the members and think how the church started the exact same way, a small room with six members. The only way it could have grown from such a small size, despite such vehement opposition is because it is true and it was backed up by heavenly guidance. I’m excited for the challenge of helping excite the members and strengthen the branch here and I know that the Lord will help us as we rise to our callings and seek for his help. Time to put the shoulder to the wheel down here in Frías.

My new companion Elder Mayhoffer is great! He’s from La Junta, Colorado and is studying computer Engineering, so we always have lots of good conversation topics. He’s also an excellent cook, which is nice because we only get food from the members here a couple times a week. We rang in the new year by making homemade biscuits and gravy and toasting a sparkling pineapple juice at 9 o’clock, haha, I know, we’re pretty boring, but we still have a good time. Anyway, that’s about it from Frías. I love it here! The only downside is that we’re about 3 hours away from the closest missionaries, but we get along super well, so it isn’t that bad. I love you all! The Church is true! Happy New Year!!

-Elder Jonathan Spencer



Saying goodbye to Elder Garay in the bus terminal



Salta la Linda (Salta the Beautiful)



Biscuits and gravy and sparkling pineapple juice



Me eating



Elder Mayhoffer and I eating

December 27

Dear Family,

So great to hear from all of you. For those of you who I couldn’t talk to, I love you tons, and don’t worry, my voice hasn’t changed much. Perhaps a little manlier, but still just as awesome. It was fun to hear you guys and I hope you all had a merry Christmas and have a happy new year.

I just got here to the Capital City of Santiago del Estero, my new province, after a nice 6 hour bus ride, and now my comp and I are waiting for the bus that will take us to our area, another 3 hours of fun. The nice part, however, is that the Zone Leaders went all out and bought me first class on the bus, which means super comfy seat and a huge window to enjoy the view. Salta is soooo green right now. I love it. Tons of forested hills and valleys. I’ll send the pics in the next email. Santiago, however, is pretty flat and deserty, so the Colorado boy in me is a little bit disappointed. Oh well, it’s pretty in its own way. It’s got what we call a "sweet spirit" as far as looks go, haha.

The last Sunday in San Ignacio was super cool because all of the less active families that we had been continually inviting for the last 3 months finally showed up to church. I got to give a talk and it was a big blessing for me to see them feel back at home again. I hope they keep coming and feel the fullness of blessings that come when we obey. It was also kinda sad to have to say goodbye to another group of people and another area, but I’m also excited for my new area and can’t wait to get to work. The highest church attendance they’ve ever had was about 45, (the lowest was 5), and right now the average is 15-20. Sounds like it’ll be a challenge, but I’m ready for one.

Also, cool story about Freddy. The other day we were talking about what he had read in the Book of Mormon and it was amazing. He completely understood everything he was reading and he told us that when he read he tried putting himself in the shoes of the people in the stories. Wow! He learned in a month what it took me 19 years to learn. He’s doing great and should be baptized within a month.

Anyway, that's about it. I’ll let you know all about my new area next week and be sure to send pictures, now that I’m in a place where I can take out my camera without worrying about it getting robbed, haha.

Love you tons! The church is true!

- Elder Spencer

December 20

Dear Fam,

Great week! First things first, Freddy’s doing great! He hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol this week. The other day we had a lesson with him where he told us that he had decided to read the Book of Mormon from the beginning. This is a huge step for him because earlier he was very hesitant to read. He’s 31, but doesn’t have a high school diploma so it is one of his weaker areas. Last week we read Lehi’s dream with him and showed him the painting of it and explained it to him and that had a really good effect on him and built up his confidence for reading the scriptures. We had always left him sections to read that we thought he might like, but we got to our appointment and he told us that he felt like he should start from the very beginning. We were super excited for him! We also challenged him to be baptized that same appointment. He told us that he wanted to wait and see because he felt like he would do it right now for us because he loved us so much, but he wanted to do it for God. We challenged him to pray and ask God if that’s what he should do and the next day he told us he had prayed and God responded to him and told him that that was what he needed to do. Yay! He should be baptized by the end of January

And that’s about it on the mission front. We also had a baptism yesterday of a lady who had talked to the Missionaries about a year ago but didn’t get baptized for one reason or another. We found her about 2 months ago knocking doors and she’s progressed super well. As it turns out both her daughter and sister are receiving the discussions and her daughter got baptized a few weeks ago and has been a super good support for her mom in helping her progress to baptism.

In other news, the weather here is crazy. Right now we are in the middle of summer. It’s been a little weird listening to Christmas music while eating watermelon, but it’s a nice twist. The weird part is that about once a week out of the blue it rains super hard for a day. So there is a week of grueling hot weather, in some parts up to 50 degrees Celsius (120 degrees F), and then one day it gets wet, cold and rainy. It’s actually quite refreshing having the break from the heat, but after it stops raining, immediately it all evaporates and it is nice hot, heavy air again. Nuts, huh?

Anyway, that’s about it. I look forward to hear your beautiful voices on Christmas and if I don’t hear from you, have a very Merry Christmas and remember what it’s all about. The Church is true!

-Elder Spencer

December 13

Dear Family,

Another great week! This week had some good and some bad, but all in all good. First good news, we had a baptism. It was a girl of a less active family we’ve been working on activating, so hopefully this will be a good motivation for them to come back to church. There are soooo many inactive families here, and they all have rather petty reasons for leaving the church and most of them tell us they want to come back to church. I totally wish I had 25-40 hour days, especially Saturday, to pass by all of them and motivate them to come back, because all they need is a nice little kickstart and they’ll come back. We’ve also been trying this idea of doing a few FHEs on weeknights and inviting the less actives and investigators to those so they make friends with the members and have a reason to come on Sunday. That’s actually been working pretty well and we have a family who is coming back to activity because of it. Neat, huh?

Bad news. Freddy made it 2 and a half weeks without drinking, but on Friday after work his friends all invited him and he caved. Incidentally, we had scheduled an appointment with him that night and he showed up super late and pretty out of it. I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed. He was our golden investigator and every time we taught him I imagined him in the future as a bishop or something because he was so good and progressed so well. That experience made me think a lot about how Heavenly Father must feel when we do something stupid like blatantly disobey him. Not mad at all, just disappointed because our actions limited our future opportunities. He sadly watches as we paint ourselves into a corner, captive to our own choices. Luckily, there is a way out. There is always a way out. Long, perhaps; difficult, probably; worth it, certainly. Faith and Repentance are always an option, no matter how far into the corner we go. The next day we talked with Freddy and he felt so bad for what he had done. He recognized how he had been disobedient and the consequences and he felt determined to not make the same mistake again. He is now even more resolute to change his life and not fall again. He told us that falling made him see how bad it was before and how much he wants to change and he is going strong again. A great lesson for him and me.

I love you all tons and pray for you all. The church is true!

Elder Spencer

Dear Family,

This week was absolutely excellent. Several good news. First good news: we had a baptism! It was of a 16-yr old girl named Mariel Chocobar. 3 of her sisters and her mom are members, and when the missionaries started teaching her family she wanted nothing to do with the church. One week she showed up at church with her sisters and we didn’t recognize her so we introduced ourselves and asked if she would like to have us teach her. She accepted and we started teaching her. She had already heard the lessons from like 6 different sets of missionaries, but didn’t have a testimony so we focused on gaining a testimony and every lesson instead of teaching the normal lessons we read sections of the Book of Mormon with her and explained it. The Sunday after her baptism (yesterday) was fast and testimony meeting and she got up and bore a sweet testimony even though she was very nervous. Her family was so happy and she’s excited to continue strong in the church.

Second good news: Remember Freddy, the guy we helped drop alcohol? He’s a stud. Last week he dropped alcohol and was doing great, went cold turkey and completely kicked the habit. Every time we teach him he tells us about times in the last days where he’s said no to alcohol. Well, he also smokes. This week we put him the goal to drop smoking completely and... he did it! He gave my comp his last pack of cigarettes (mostly full) and never bought another one. That one was a little harder for him and for the first couple of days he had a little depression problems, but now he is doing great and it’s been 6 days since he dropped smoking. He told us that he loves being free of his addictions. Before he could only think about smoking and drinking and was a really hateful person, always thinking about grudges and such, but now he told us he is so much happier and that he has so much more love for his 6 little kids. (They are so cute! 5 little girls, one little boy.) He loves reading the pamphlets we give him and loves the Book of Mormon and wants to get baptized super bad, now we just need to get him to church a few times and he can get baptized! Yesterday he asked us what he needed to do to get baptized and my companion told him he needed to go to church 3 times. He told us "I don’t want to go 3 times, I want to go the rest of my life!!!!" What an awesome guy! He’s the 2nd oldest of a family of 11 kids, mainly boys with similar problems. His youngest brother (18) after seeing his great example told him that he wants to stop drinking and smoking and drugging too because his life really stinks right now and he doesn’t feel good at all. We’re going to teach both of them tonight. Pray for Freddy and Maxi to keep progressing! They are such great guys!

Anyway, that was my awesome week. Today we went to another All-You-Can-Eat restaurant, which is pretty pricey down here, but I’d say we got our money’s worth. Hehe, the waiters kept on looking at us as we went up for the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th plates. I love you all tons and I hope you’re all doing great. The church is true! Keep on living the gospel! It’s not easy. President Packer said that it has never been easy to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. But even though it’s not easy it is most certainly worth it, so do the courageous thing and keep the commandments!

Love,
Elder Spencer


At the baptism. The girl between my comp and me is Mariel, the
rest is her family. The guy under my arm is the bishop. Awesome guy!



Me and some missionaries at the All you can eat. There were 6 of us.

November 29, 2010

Dear Family,

This week went super well. One of the highlights was finding an awesome investigator we have. His name is Freddy. We were walking down the street one day when a drunk man from the side of the road called out to us. Here that's pretty normal, and we usually ignore them and continue on our way to avoid safety issues. My companion, however, decided to go talk to him and I followed him pretty skeptically. Freddy then told us how he was separated from his wife and 6 kids by a horrible alcohol addiction. We started teaching him. We told him about how important his family was and convinced him that with the help of God he would be able to drop the addiction. We left him the story of Enos to read and committed him to stop cold turkey with alcohol. We knelt down in a circle and he gave his first prayer. The spirit was really strong. We came back the next day and he had managed to make it a day without drinking. He loved the story and showed it to his wife and kids and had them read it. We came back each day of the week to check up on his goals to stop drinking. On the weekend, Saturday night, he told us that it was the first weekend he had spent sober in a very long time and how happy he was and how great he felt. He was so glad he had spent the whole day working on building a house for his family in stead of drinking as normal. He is progressing super fast and doing great. We're going to visit him tonight to keep teaching him and see how he's doing.

Other great news, I talked with my old companion Elder Staker and his new ward is in the same stake as our old area. They had a stake conference and he was able to see several of the people we had worked with. Remember Alejandra, whose husband was an inactive and her and her daughter were baptized? They are now preparing to go to the temple in a year!! Her husband still has some problems with alcohol, but he is now completely active and the family is progressing great. How cool is that!!?! Elder Staker also told me that another investigator we had worked hard with, but that was progressing really slow, finally chose her own baptismal date for the end of December! Also, the missionaries had invited her to see a baptism (of Veronica's daughter), and it turns out that she and Veronica are really good friends, so she's already got a familiar face in church! What a blessing to see the people I taught progress in the gospel! That's really what makes it all worth the while.

Anyway, other than that, a normal week. I accidentally forgot about Thanksgiving, but celebrated it the day after with the only other American in my district by eating PB and J sandwiches. We decided that that was a pretty good substitute for turkey as far as traditional American foods are concerned. Anyway, love you all tons. This week I found an excellent quote by Elder Scott that stuck with me and I've been thinking about it all the time: "We become what we want to be, by constantly being what we want to become every day". Love you all, church is true!

Elder Spencer

November 22, 2010

Dear Family,

Another incredible week. It started out pretty interesting when we got home with my comp and it turned out that there was no power. My poor comp had all his stuff packed up and when we got back after teaching that night there was no light to unpack. Our neighbor gave us some candles and we spent that night in the dark. The next day, my birthday, there was still no light. I was planning on making some birthday pancakes, but with no power, I ended up taking advantage of the breakfast time to defrost the freezer. We worked that day, the member where we had lunch surprised me with a cake, which was super nice of them, and when we got home there was still no power. However, ten minutes after we walked in the door, they turned it back on and I was able to blow out the candles!

After that the week went great. We had lots of awesome appointments and we are going to have a baptism in 2 weeks, so we are pretty pumped about that. Every day I am more thoroughly convinced that the success of missionaries is 100% blessings. We can work the whole day with investigators who are nowhere near progressing and use our very best knowledge of the scriptures and we will not succeed. In the end, though, all the people who progress and are baptized are people that we have to exert almost no effort in teaching because they accept everything and understand everything amazingly fast. The Lord has tons of people out there who are ready to receive his gospel, but they just don't know where to find it. It’s been such a blessing being led to find some of them.

This Sunday we were running a little late for church and walked in during the opening hymn of priesthood meeting to find nobody other than the area president Elder Arnold sitting in the room. I immediately felt completely embarrassed and decided from that day on I would never ever be late for church, because you never know when a General Authority will show up to your ward. He is a super great guy and taught us a lot. We also had the Primary program this Sunday, so all in all, despite the embarrassment, it was an awesome Sunday. Today I decided to give myself another shot at cutting hair and it actually turned out really good! (Except I think it’s a little short in the back; oh well, the difference between a good haircut and a bad one is 1 week, so I’ll live.) My new comp and I are doing great and I'm loving it here in Salta. It’s hot, but beautiful.

Anyway, got to go. Love you all tons! Send me pictures! I want to see your bright smiling faces!

-Elder Spencer


Salta the Beautiful



Saying goodbye to Elder Miranda in the bus station



New haircut, done by yours truly!