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
Monday, January 2, 2012
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
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