Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful time talking with Chad on Christmas Eve! He looks so great and has such a great testimony. He bore his testimony to us in Spanish and although I could only pick up a few words here and there, I could still feel the spirit so strongly! (He said he knew he didn’t say everything perfectly but all that matters is the spirit that is felt!) He also said his testimony and faith have grown so much on his mission; and although it was kinda weird not being home on Christmas Eve, being on the mission is awesome!!   

He sent just a quick message today along with some great pictures:

On Christmas Eve (in our neighborhood) there was tons of fireworks and music and fiestas! We had a really good Christmas day! I opened my presents, made pancakes for breakfast for us, we went shopping at Walmart and I found Jif peanut butter and Waffle Crisp! (I told my comp it was a Christmas miracle! Haha). Then we cleaned the apartment and ordered pizza for lunch. After 6 we went out and tried to visit some of our investigators, but we couldn’t find any of them. No one was home and there was hardly anyone in the streets, so we went back to our casa to talk to familia Valencia about getting more gas and they invited us in to talk and have some food. It was really nice.

(Side note, when he was talking to us on Christmas Eve he said they currently have no gas for their water heater so they’ve had to take cold showers, brrrr.)

I love you so much Mama! Oh and PS we have to email on Tuesday next week as well because of New Year's Day.

Skype call from Chad's view :)

Awesome package he got from family in Duchesne

Stone tablet depicting Nephi and his family
around the Tree of Life!

Another cool hanging he saw in the
Valencia family home

His daily planner :)

Christmas Eve dinner courtesy of his wonderful neighbors!

Chad and his companion Elder Anastacio

Pancakes for Christmas breakfast :)

Snow in Mexico, haha jk this was an ice ball from the
freezer they were trying to de-ice a little.

I'm Staying in Tepalcapa!!

Monday – after emailing everyone we went to teach a lesson and my companion said he was sick so I would be teaching. I hadn’t planned anything but luckily I had the spirit with me and I thought about charity. So we talked about that and then about Ilumina el Mundo and the lesson turned out great! When we got home we opened the few presents that were for both of us from my family (because transfers are coming up). We got nerf guns, marvel mugs and tim tam cookies. We had a nerf war for like 30 minutes in our casa. It was super fun. My family is the best!

On Tuesday I went to the Colinas with Elder Bernaby for intercambios. He doesn’t speak much English but luckily I have learned enough Spanish to mostly understand him. We went to a lunch appointment and I learned that I don’t like Mate that much at all. I really don’t understand how people like it… We had a few other appointments as well.

Wednesday we switched back to our companions and I had an interview with Elder Coltrin. After I answered a few of his questions he told me that I’ve changed and progressed so much since I have been out here. Then he told me that during his interview with Elder Martinez they both said they wished they could be here during my last few months of my mission because of how awesome of a missionary they know I’m going to become. That meant and will mean a lot to me for a long time. I know I have the potential to be great, but only with the help of my Father in Heaven!

On Thursday all the missionaries who have been out for 6 weeks had a reunion with President and Hermana Urrea and their assistants to see how we are doing, talk to us about the things we need to improve, and about our responsibilities as missionaries. It was good to see the missionaries I arrived with! We had a lesson with Anaid later that afternoon into the evening. I feel like we helped answer any questions or doubts she has, to the best of our ability. Since we have cambios next week and don’t know what’s going to happen, we took photos with her and her family. She is super awesome and I hope to stay in contact with her and follow-up and make sure she gets baptized February 27, 2018!

Friday I was pretty sick. I seriously thought something ruptured inside my body from how much pain I had. After drinking Gatorade, some pepto and eating some crackers I felt a lot better. Oh and Elder Martinez told me we are giving talks on Sunday. He gave me a talk last Sunday and I thought he said we would be teaching a class. Turns out I was wrong and only barely read the story he gave me. This is going to be rough. I know that Heavenly Father and the spirit will help me though. Also, there was a 9-year old girl we had scheduled to be baptized tomorrow but her baptismal interview didn’t go so well because they have some family issues they have to work out first. So Alisson needs to wait to be baptized now. I know God will help them overcome their trials so she can be baptized though.

Saturday started out a bit rough with me trying to teach Elder Martinez about prayer. I was getting frustrated because I didn’t know what to say to all the things he was saying to me. I felt like an awful missionary after that. I said a prayer in my head as we were leaving the casa apologizing for my lack of faith and letting myself get frustrated. Then I thanked God for the knowledge I have and all he has helped me with, and also asked for help with my struggles. To answer my prayer and help me feel better we taught an awesome lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When my companion looked to me to say or read or bare my testimony, I was able to do so and I know that what we taught really helped the elderly couple. We invited them to be baptized January 6 and they accepted! We have a few problems to figure out with the husband working on Sundays but I know we will be able to.

Sunday were our talks and I think it went really well. While I was giving my talk I would look up every once in a while and I would see this Hermana who has fed us a few times. Her and her husband and son are just super awesome. Anywho, I would see her looking at me with a smile on her face and seeing that made me feel so much better and calmer during my talk. I had a bunch of people come up to me after and tell me I did a great job! It made me feel so much better. Later that night we had a lesson with a less active member and then we got a call from Elder Coltrin telling us that Elder Martinez is getting transferred to Prados and I’m staying here in Tepalcapa! My new companion is from Peru, his name is Elder Anastacio. Transfers happen on Tuesday.

I love you Mama! Talk to you on Sunday!

PS are you studying Spanish?????? If you don't practice this week, then we won't talk on Sunday hahaha jkjkjk

Presents from CJ and Jess (they opened them because
they have transfers this week)

Other than the 2nd to last picture, the rest are with 

investigators they are currently teaching.

With a family from our ward!

4 Baptismal Dates This Week!!!

This was a great week. We had a Christmas party with 3 different zones! We started out by splitting up into groups and playing games or doing an activity. It was super fun. Then we had lunch and holy smokes it was so good! We had mashed potatoes, turkey, veggies, rolls and juice followed by cake for dessert. After lunch we got to watch Elf!!! It was so awesome! A little later President took us outside for a surprise and the surprise was piñatas!! Then we went back inside and they gave us our packages and a missionary themed stocking with each of our names on a missionary tag keychain! We got home a little before 10 and I couldn’t wait until the next day so I opened the package I got from my parents. They are the best ever! I got food, snacks, presents, a tree and stocking! Today was such a good day!

Elder Martinez was feeling sick still so we didn’t get a lot done on Wednesday morning, but we did go to an Internet café later to check referral manager and look up some Christmas videos. I love Christmas so much and all the videos and stories that come out. And the Christmas spirit that everyone has too. I wish people would keep this spirit with them the rest of the year too. We did have a lesson with Anaid, an investigator we’ve been teaching for a while. She has lots of questions and doubts about a few things but we got her to agree to a baptismal date of January 27. Step by step I know she eventually will be baptized. I showed her a picture of the Mount Timpanogos temple Melanie sent me and she loved it. We hope to take her to the visit the temple here soon.

Thursday we had a cita with Brenda whose husband is a member but she is not. She’s been going to church for like 4 years now but she hasn’t been baptized yet. She is just nervous and scared about getting baptized. During our lesson with her we talked about the importance of being baptized and the blessings that will come, like having the gift of the Holy Ghost and also to be able to be sealed to her husband and little daughter in the temple. When Elder Martinez looked at me and told me to say something, I decided to share my favorite scriptures D&C 50:23-24. While I was reading I felt this amazing power and spirit wash over me. I know that scripture and the words that we said will help her not be afraid. I know that Heavenly Father will help her too. Her baptismal date is set for December 23, just 2 days before Christmas!!! That would be such an amazing time to be baptized. I really hope I get to stay here for the next transfer, it’s not about what I want though, it’s about what God wants and his plan for me to go where I’m needed. We will see what happens! (cambios are next week).

On Friday during one of our meetings with an investigator, he told me that my Spanish sounds a lot better than it did a few weeks ago. I feel like I’ve gotten a little better but hearing him say that made me feel so good! A little while later I called Dani to see if he could come teach a lesson with us. While I was talking with him on the phone he said, “Wait is this Elder Spencer?” I said yes and then he said that my accent is a lot better. I thought to myself how awesome it was to have 2 people tell me I’m getting better with my Spanish and how grateful I am to my Heavenly Father for His help. I also got to help Dani with an assignment he needed for his English class, which was really cool I could help him with that. Then the family we taught has a 9-year-old daughter and we asked her to be baptized next Saturday! She has the desire and wants to learn more and is super excited to be baptized.

Saturday was a learning experience where I practiced teaching Elder Martinez who pretended to be one of our new contacts. He was really fighting with me on everything I said and I was about ready to give up and be done, but then I remembered someone tell me that if someone you are trying to teach won’t listen to you and just wants to fight and argue, you just bare your testimony and then walk away. I asked him if he wanted help and he said yes, so I bore my testimony that if he would read the Book of Mormon and follow the commandments and be baptized that he would receive help. I also bore about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith too. That moment was such a great and powerful experience for me because I listened to the spirit and he helped me know what to do.

On Saturday, we ended up going with the bishop’s son to see a man who literally lived in a room that was 15 ft x 15 ft and had a table saw for a table, a small stove to cook with, some utensils and kitchenware, some clothes, a TV, radio and a bed. That was literally all he had. Plus he had some health problems that slowed him down. He had so little but he bore his testimony to us about how God has helped him in his life and how grateful he is for what he has. He is such an awesome guy! Later we met with 4 other zones, President and his wife and ward members to talk to people about the Light the World initiative. We attached Light the World cards to balloons and let them go! It was so cool and fun. Finally we went and taught Eduardo, who we have been teaching for a few months now. He is super awesome but has a hard time committing. Well we got him to commit to a baptism date! January 6^th is the big day. I am super excited to have investigators say yes!

My thought for this week is to remember the there are lots of people who don’t have a lot especially during Christmas so please share and help out as much as you can! Have charity and help spread the love of Jesus Christ. It’s also in the scriptures too that we need to help others and have charity haha. But the feeling that you will get from serving and helping will be greater than you can imagine!

I love you so much! Thank you for everything you do for me and your prayers too! I pray for you guys every day!

Some Great Experiences this Week!

After emailing last week we tried to go contacting but no one would talk to us. We had no idea why either, it wasn’t even late. But since we didn’t have any luck we went to visit Eduardo and see how him and his family are doing. We also wanted to tell him about the Light the World event the church is doing in December. After our lesson with him, he asked us to give his son Gohan, who is very sick, a blessing. It was a really cool experience and I know he has faith and wants to learn more, he just need to commit!

On Tuesday we had district meeting then went contacting trying to tell people about the Illumina El Mundo event the church is doing. We only made one contact but we also made a new investigator as well! It’s a couple who are maybe in their 50’s but they are so awesome. They were very accepting of our message and want to learn more! After our lesson they were kind enough to feed us. The people here are super nice and they always try to make sure we have eaten and are more than willing to share. I know God will bless them all for how much they are willing to share and how kind they are.

Wednesday I was planning on writing about what my life would be like without the scriptures (a challenge from mom), but it was such a good day with awesome experiences I want to share them instead. During language study in the morning we had a random surprise visit from our Zone Leaders. They studied and practiced teaching with us and helped me realize that I have been trying too hard during lessons to think about what I’m going to say instead of focusing on what my investigator is saying, the few words I can understand, and that I just need to be confident in whatever I say and listen to the spirit also. It was a great learning experience and advice from them! After we studied and practiced we all grabbed some “Illumina el Mundo” cards and split up and went out and talked to as many people as we could and give out the cards. It was really fun! And it helped with my Spanish too. After our ZLs left we went to go see a reference in a part we had never been to. He wasn’t there so we started walking back but we didn’t have a map so we got lost. We at least knew what direction to walk and while we were walking we saw a family outside their house washing chairs so we offered to help them. It was my first experience doing any kind of service, besides missionary work, and it was great! One other man we talked to and taught for the first time was super sad and told us his problems and said he needed help. We were running short on time so we scheduled an appointment and I offered him a Book of Mormon. We also invited him to Church! He said Yes!

Thursday was a humbling day. We had interviews with the President, but before that during companionship study Elder Martinez told me that after interviews with the President, that he and Elder Coltrin would be switching areas so Elder Coltrin would be my companion for the rest of the day and part of Friday. He also told me that I would be in charge of teaching the 3 lessons we had planned too. I thought to myself, oh great I don’t know hardly any Spanish much less how to teach people I barely know or haven’t met yet, and I started to feel really angry and upset that I was being forced to teach/lead a lesson. During this time I also started to think about my responsibility and duty as a missionary and then it hit me that first off, I would have Elder Coltrin to help me and secondly and also most importantly, I was allowing fear to take over instead of having faith and trusting in Heavenly Father to help me. How can I teach my investigators to have faith and trust in God if I don’t even do it myself? That was a really humbling experience for me. After our interviews and other things, Elder Coltrin and I weren’t able to teach the people we had planned because we got back late from Enterevistas. We did however talk to and teach, a less active member family a little and that went great. We rescheduled previous appointments with other investigators and also scheduled one with the less active family. Today was a great day!

Friday (day 67 baby!) J. After our studies, we headed back to Elder Coltrin’s casa so we could switch back companions and all of our appointments that we had for the day fell through, so we went and visited an investigator we were supposed to teach Thursday. Elder Martinez did pretty much all of the talking because Anald’s daughter kept talking to me and wanting me to draw pictures with her. She is the funniest little girl ever and I love her but she makes it hard for me to pay attention. 

Saturday we taught a lesson to Carlos and it went good. I talked at first but then Elder Martinez did most the rest of the time.  We went and visited a member who had her brothers over and we ended up teaching them and getting them to be investigators. After that lesson we went to the church with some investigators to watch a Wizard of Oz play, in Spanish of course, and it was hard to understand but still really cool and fun to see. PS, our bus driver that drove us to the play drove very similar to the bus driver in Harry Potter. I don’t remember which movie it’s in because Spanish is starting to block out everything else, but yeah it was crazy!!

Sunday – church was really good. Elder Martinez and I taught Sunday School because the teacher wasn’t there. We taught about the restoration and answered questions and doubts people had. There were 3 investigators there that we ended up asking to get baptized next Saturday and they said Yes! After church, we went to lunch (comida) with a member family and had enchiladas with mole sauce and it was interesting, different but good. Later we went to another member’s house with Daniel to teach a lesson to some new investigators, well it was like a family home evening activity that we did but it was fun! After that we headed out to meet 2 of our investigators so we could all go to the Stake Center to watch the Christmas Devotional and they loved it! I really enjoyed the music because it was in English haha. I did my best to listen to the talks in Spanish. It was a little difficult, but from what I understood it was awesome!!

I love you mama!! Happy Anniversary!!

PS are you studying Spanish? If not, start!

me, ZL E. Dunkersgoed from PG, my comp,

ZL E. Wegner

Elder Bernabe, My comp, me, My DL E. Coltrin

hahaha!

me, ZL E. Dunkersgoed from PG, my comp, 

ZL E. Wegner

Elder Martinez bought me this scarf!

Some really good enchiladas!

Cake for Elder Martinez' birthday

The member that fed us

Funny faces

My comp, me, Daniel a member that comes with

us if theres no other men, and ​Dominic