He's Home!!!!!

After a trip to the temple and goodbyes at the airport with President and Sister Severson, Elder Spencer was on his way home. We are so proud of him and so happy to have him here and our family all together again!!

The crew eagerly waiting his arrival

Best hug ever!!!!

Koda sure missed him!

Some Great Lessons This Week, Plus a New Street with Lots of Contacts

Hola Mamá! I’m doing very well. Everything is going great with my companion and I! Last Monday after p-day ended we had an appointment with Fabiola, and had a great lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation! My companion is still trying to learn how to teach it and explain it well because it is pretty extensive, so I taught most of it and my companion was able to learn more about how to explain things that are more clear. Fabiola is progressing great as well!

Tuesday in our district meeting we talked about making sure the spirit is there when we invite people to do commitments so he can help us resolve doubts or concerns they may have. All from Chapter 11 in Preach My Gospel, but we are going to focus on sharing personal experiences when we invite them to do commitments and do so referring to our calling as representatives of Jesus Christ. Later in the afternoon we went contacting and found some good contacts. One of them is a guy named Omar who has a friend who is a member so he’s heard a bit about the church. He was busy at the time we contacted him, so we were going back. We also had a lesson with Fabiola about the Law of Chastity which is always an interesting lesson but it went really well!!

Wednesday when we went by with Omar, he was busy and told us to go back later but when we went back he didn’t answer the door or his phone. We’ll keep trying though. We had appointments with other people but they fell through so most of the day we went contacting.  We found a street that is all buildings with apartments so we found a lot of new contacts – 14 in total for the day! A couple of the people had talked to missionaries before so they know some things but were happy to let us set another appointment with them for another day! In the evening we went with Fabiola. All we have left to teach are the commandments and laws and ordinances, which is still quite a bit, but she is understanding everything perfectly.

Thursday after weekly planning we had an appointment with Martha where we were planning on inviting her to be baptized and teach her about the Plan of Salvation but she was really busy so we were only able to give her the pamphlet and a brief explanation and invite her to church to which she accepted! We went and visited Claudia and talked with her for a bit. She’s thinking about moving away to get away and start new, which might be the best thing for her. We told her to pray about it first. In our lesson with Fabiola we taught her about the commandments. She told us she has some concerns about fasting but we didn’t have time to talk about it so we were going to explain more the next time.

Friday in the morning we were able to find 8 contacts before we went to lunch! We went to the same street we went before with apartment buildings. In the afternoon we had a lesson with a guy named Miguel Mendoza who Elder Cruz and I found and started teaching a while ago but we haven’t been able to meet with him again until then. We talked with him about the first time the missionaries visited him and he had some issues where he didn’t like it when he went to church. For one, the missionaries didn’t explain things to him very well about what would happen, where to go for classes, etc. so we talked about that and asked him to give it one more chance. He couldn’t come with us on Sunday but is willing to give us another chance.

Saturday we had a really awesome first lesson with a couple named Loralai and Felix. Elder Cruz and I found them 2 cambios ago but weren’t able to ever find them to teach, but I called and set up the appointment and we were actually able to find them! They have a friend who is a member and because of it they really respect the church. We taught them about the Restoration and they accepted it. We invited them to be baptized and while they didn’t accept a specific date, they still accepted to one day when they learn and know more. We also had a lesson with another guy whose name is also Felix. He believes very much in the Bible and in the Holy Trinity. He has some misbeliefs about what we believe in so we did our best to explain things to him and invited him not to take our word for it all but pray about it.

Sunday Fabiola didn’t go to church, well actually nobody did. We talked to Martha Saturday and she said there’s some big family issues going on they are trying to deal with. Claudia decided to do things with her family instead and Fabiola was really sick with a sore throat and other cold symptoms. The poor girl couldn’t even talk, only whisper. But because she didn’t go we have to postpone her baptism to after I go home. We visited her later in the afternoon and finished teaching her the commandments and talked about her baptism with her. It’s not her fault but it’s sad because she said she wants me to either come back and baptize her or at least come back to see her be baptized. It's all good though. I'm just know she'll still get baptized.

Thank you so much for the thoughts you sent! I love you guys and hope you have a great week!

A delicious crepe that a sister made for us!

One of my friends from Las Alamedas. We baptized his cousin!
It was an awesome surprise to see him.

At our Stake Conference (pic courtesy of the Mission President)