New Letter with photos

Hola Amigos y Familia!

 

As you heard, we were in yet ANOTHER car accident. It was fine, but hermana simpson is starting to think that she is cursed or something. Last night she got pulled over for the first time because she waited a little bit for the light to turn green, so the cop thought she wasn't paying attention or something? I am not sure. She just got a warning though.

 

This week has been interesting. Because of the accident, Hermana Simpson's back was hurting and she had to take some medication for it that would knock her out. So I have been driving a bit.

 

I am learning patience. Our main investigators right now are  in that one family. Jhoana is the only one baptized, but Esperanza wants to get baptized, she just needs to get married! As most hispanics here, almost all of them live together. In one apartment, there is jhoana and her son, heidy (Their 15 year old neice), Adela (the sister), her boyfriend Moises, and their 2 kids. It is CRAMMED. All of the girls had kids when they were 16, so they are all extremely immature in a sense. I LOVE that family though. They are so special to me. I know that they will all come around eventually. It is so hard when they act immaturaly and make bad decisions.  Yesterday, 3 people showed up to give Jhoana a ride to church and she wasn't ready, so she had to get left. It was so frustrating. 

 

My birthday was an interesting day. It was a Saturday, which is normally a very slow day out here because NOBODY is home. For lunch, me and Hermana Simpson went to Red Robin, and then went to an appt that we had. Then we went to a ton of our investigator's homes and nobody was there. It was raining all day that day too and we were SO tired. We went to Panera Bread for dinner. At 8pm that night, we knocked on Jhoana's door for the 3rd time that day, and they were home! We got a really good lesson in, and that made the day great.  I did have 2 presents to open that day. I bought myself a dress last week, I got my demi tees and a package from the Nelsons to open on my actual birthday! At the end of the day, that was exactly what I needed :)

 

Have I mentioned that my legs are COVERED in bugbites? Hermana Simpsons jokes with me because it looks like my legs have leprosy. I forgot how bad the bugs were on the east coast, and they always go for my legs!

 

We have a few dinner appointments a week. I am totally okay with only having a few. Everybody that feeds us serves us a plate, and gives us enormous servings. I never know if I am going to be able to eat it all. I am getting better and forcing food, but that just means I eat less for lunch. It is nice though because our apartment complex has a little gym, and a lake that we can run around. If i do gain weight, it's going to be because of how much we eat out!

 

Right now we are  preparing for a musical fireside in our zone for all members and investigators. I am singing in the little choirs. It should be really interesting. If you get a chance, look up the song "nearer my god to thee" my BYU Vocal Point. That is one that we are singing, and it's really hard! But I am excited.

 

Also, you can send all letters and packages, to my mission office and they can forward them to me. It's 5242 Lyngate Ct Burke VA 22015 and my actual address to my apt for this transfer is 14054 Lotus Lane #8110 Centreville VA 20120.

 

I am so glad that you have had a good time at the family reunions. I hope you gve everybody hugs from me.

 

Much Love,

Hermana Spencer

1. my MTC district and my teacher Hma. Powell.

2. Me and the Kids that we walked to church last week. the boy in the checkered shirt, Kevin, is the one that      calls me Hermana Expensive :)

3. My Birthday Lunch!!!! :)

4. The Erastus Snow Building

Hot, Crazy Kids, etc

Hola!

It has been a CRAZY week this week. But it has been miraculous. Literally, Full of miracles.

 

The beginning of this week I had a expectations meeting with the new missionaries! It was really inspiring but our president basically guilted and scared us into to NEVER being disobedient.

 

Right now we are teaching an investigator named Esperanza. I LOVE her.  She is the sister of Jhoanna, who got baptized last month. She is 18 and has a little baby named Ryan. She knows the church is true. She already has such a strong testimony and she wants to get baptized. She is on date, but she has to get married because she is living with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, Jose, is a nice guy, but he like hides from us when we come over. He does not want to have to become the "church going type." This week we had some amazing lessons with Esperanza. It's hard because her sister Mary-Lou drops off her three girls everyday so our lessons are far from smooth. But this week we watched "The Testaments" with her.  After we watched it, I shared with her a journal entry I wrote about the movie in the MTC. As I read, she started to cry. The next day when we asked her if she read her scriptures, she said "Yes I did! I punched Satan right in the face!" It was so funny. We fasted for her and Jose yesterday, but sadly she didn't show up at church.

 

We have been trying to visit Esperanza'a and Jhoannas Mom too. She loves anything to do with god, but she can't read at all, and she is not really understanding our message. We are going to keep working with her.

 

One miraculous thing that happened was that we got this other sister's boyfriend to talk to us! He also hides from us everytime, and his girlfriend won't listen to us unless he does. Basically, he has TONS of questions, he is just too afraid to ask. We got him interested in talking about the Book of Mormon. It really is a powerful converting tool, because it's true!

 

So I had Sushi this week. We get a call from our Ward Mission Leader and he wants to take us to dinner. I guess the elders picked sushi. First time ever! Not a huge fan...

 

On the drive, we had our ward mission leader following us, and at a read light, he totally rear ended us. It was extremely minor, barely a scratch on the car, but he bumped us pretty good, so we both had headaches from hitting the headrests.

 

Apparently, for liablities purposes, if we have any headache or neck pain, we HAVE to get checked out. Sister Riggs, the mission president's wife, told us to go to the ER the next morning to get checked. We both felt completely fine and looked like idiots going to the ER healthy. But Hermana Simpson had to get 3 X-rays, so we wasted like 3 hours of our Saturday at the ER. It was kind of funny.

 

Yesterday was halarious. Jhoana texts us sunday morning to tell us she wasn't going to church because  her sister dropped off the three girls at her place, and her other sister left her 2 kids and didn't have a ride. So we show up before church and convince her that she needs to go. We help gather 6 kids, all under age 6, and get then ready for church and eat lunch. We then WALKED 1.8 miles to the church building in 100 degree weather. It was absolutely miserable. We had kids complaining, crying, running in the road, and dripping wet. We show up for sacrament meeting late, red faced, and completely soaked. On top of it, me and Hma. Simpson were fasting. We spent the next 2 meetings taking care of the screaming baby that refused to go to nursery. We wanted Jhoana to listen to the meetings, so we sat outside the Relief Society door playing with the 2 youngest kids, completely pooped. We found a ride for everybody home, and we were very grateful because it started raining. Me and Hma. Simpson laughed about the experience for the rest of the day. But at least Jhoana got to church!

 

Also, we have a joke now, because one of the kids, Kevin, had a hard time saying my name. I am now Hermana Expensive.

 

My testimony and gratitude for this gospel increases everyday. Everyday is a great day in the work of the Lord. Hma. Simpson keeps calling me Positive Polly.  I love this work and I am excited to continue serving here for the next 16 months!

 

I love you all, keep the faith! :)

 

Much Love,

Hermana Spencer

I'm out in the field!

Hello There!

Well I wrote you an awesome email before, BUT It accidently got all deleted. SO your email this week won't be super awesome.

Long story short.....

I flew into DC on Wednesday and Pres and Sister Riggs were waiting for us. They had memorized our names and faces by our pictures and were so excited to meet us.

President Riggs is AMAZING. He loves that I am from his hometown.

Northern virginia is green. SO GREEN. It reminds me so much of NH. I get eaten alive by bugs everyday, and it's super humid. But it's SO beautiful.

That night we went back to the mission home and had dinner, a short testimony meeting/get to know you meeting (I was asked to play piano of course). Then we had interview with president. They were short but SO sweet. I love my president already. He knew exactly what I needed to hear. The first thing he said when I sat down was "You are so ready for this."  I chatted with him for bit, and he said that he knew who he wanted my companion to be.

That night they only had so many beds, so me and my companions went to a member's home and stayed there. They were so nice. The next morning though, I woke up with a sore throat. Bleh.

We went back to the mission home and then went to the stake center to have an orientation meeting.  I had a super bad migraine. They took a group picture and immediately I ran out the door to go find a bathroom and throw up. Hermana Stanford sat in the bathroom with me for a bit and then we went to find a couch for me. I slept on the couch for a good while. President Riggs came in after the first meeting and him and the AP's gave me a blessing.

We all went back and went to the next meeting where I met my new companion.....Hermana Simpson! Then we went had lunch, in which i felt a little better and ate. During the transfer meeting, I started feeling sick again. Towards the end, I ran out to the door to throw up again. Next to me in the stall throwing up was Hermana Wilcox. I guess we got the same thing. We both crashed on a couch again during the rest of the meeting. Our companions figured some things out and we left.

Me and Hermana Simpson had a dinner appt, but we had to cancel. They gave it to us to go, which was so nice.

When we got back to the apt, I laid down for the rest of the night and threw up again. What an awesome first day. And, what a GREAT first impression.

The next day I woke up with a stuffy nose and a sore throat, but no naseau! At least I had stamina. I've had a cough the past few days, but I am feeling good.

We have dinner appts almost every day. We had one on friday at the Pocori's tiny home. They only spoke Spanish, but theyhad all 6 missionaries there. They are such humble and wonderful people. They are from Peru. I was scared to ask what the strange meat in the pasta was though.....

I got to meet a new convert, Jhoanna. She is 19 and has 2 year old son. The gospel has really changed her. BUT, she still has a long way to go. She is an awesome missinoary though. We teach her 2 sisters, and have taught her mom and brother too.

Yesterday was so neat. We went to our spanish branch. I was asked to give a short talk/testimony. I felt like crying, but  not because of the spirit, but because of the spanish. There are 6 missionaries in that branch, 4 elder and us. Two of the elders talked and the President talked too about being member missionaries. This little spanish branch needs a LOT of help. They are definitely struggling. It was sad too because none of our investigators came to church :(

everybody was so nice to me, they all said I did good, but i know they were all being very polite :) I guess that last Hermana struggled with Spanish, so mine doesn't seem too bad.

Yesterday we saw a few miracles. We went and visited some investigators the missionaries lost contact with. We found this one guy, names Jeraldo, who this missionaries havent seen in a month. He ran to the door, Book of Mormon in Hand, and yelled "I thought I lost you!" he then goes on to say that he loves the BOM, he knows that it's the word of god, and that it is important to god. WOW! He is a interesting and unique guy. He is from Bolivia, so I was able to say, I love Bolivians! Becuase of the Lopez Carrascos :)

We then got to see Patrcia, who also had gone missing. She is Bolivian as well. She is really sick, so the elders are coming over tonight to give her a blessing. Hispanics are awesome. They don't have a hard time accepting everything we teach, but they don't really understand the  importance of it. We always try to stress the importance of the BOM, going to church and knowing for yourself of the truth.

It's so neat though! Hermana Simpson keeps explaining how grateful she is to be my companion, but I feel the same way. We are both exctied for this transfer and we feel like we can see great things happening. Hermana Simpson opened up this area 2 transfers ago and I am excited to work with her. I love her! She is so cute and so diligent. She is almost 22 and is from the Tri-Cities in Washington state. She was already fluent in Spanish, so she is helping me.

I get a TON of comments about my eyes and my hair, but mostly my eyes because they aren't brown. It's so funny. I love these people so much already. Some of the homes we go in are a tiny, but so humble.

I HOPE that you are doing your part as member missionaries. You don't have to invite people to be baptized, that's the missionaries job. Just give the missionaries names of friends. OR let the missionaries know that you are willing to be a part of a member present lesson. We are struggling with this in our branch, and I hope that you are helping the missionaries in any way tthat you can.

I love you all! Thank you for your support.

I miss you, but I know I will see you soon.

Hermana Spencer

Last e-mail from the MTC

Hola!

 

Yep. This is my last week here! All of us DC South missionaries hop on a plane next Wednesday. I just bought a calling card so I can call you in that morning! I get to the airport in the morning and I will probably be calling anytime between 6-10 am. Probably closer to 7. I will just call the house phone, so let me know before Wednesday if I should call a cell phone instead!

 

Of course, it was another incredible week as a missionary!

 

Relief Society on Sunday was awesome! Sheri Dew came and talked with us. She is such an incredible speaker. She talked about how "Conversion requires immersion." Baptism by immersion, and immersion in the gospel. If we do not fully immerse ourselves in the scriptures and good things, we will neglect ourselves of true conversion. Conversion is a DAILY thing.

 

Sunday night I had one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had. After being crazy and having fun with my roommates, we were falling asleep later than I had hoped. I got a really strong urge to get up and go to the bathroom although I didn't really need to. When I got in there, I saw a sister on the other side of the bathroom. When I came out of the stall she had left. I went back to bed and started to pray. I started to feel worried for this sister and continued to pray for her. I was SO tired and I didn't want to get out of bed. As I prayed for her, i was reminded of the story of the good Samaritan. Others simple walked past the man in need, or prayed for him, but neglected to help him. The good Samaritan stopped and showed mercy. Immediately I popped off my pillow and went out to the hallway. I found her sitting on the couches with a lap full of tissues. I sat down next to her and started talking to her. She is From Samoa and she was extremely upset. She had just gotten news that her grandpa was in the hospital and she was extremely homesick. She had just barely learned English in the MTC and was learning her mission language as well. I ended up talking to her for a hour or so. Every day this week I see her and chat with her for a little. She kept expressing to me how she was extremely upset and that me coming to talk to her was an answer to a prayer. It was a very simple but a very powerful moment for me. I was very humbled to see a girl completely leave her family behind (who are not members) and go to a country that she had never been to before to serve a mission.

 

Monday was Canada Day, so Sister Stanford went all out. Her mom sent us Canada Decor and she was able to have fun shouting "Happy Canada Day!" to everybody we past :)

 

Wednesday was also Sister Stanfords birthday and me and Hermana Wilcox kind of threw her a mini surprise party by decorating her desk. I totally used the Spencer family traditions. I sang our birthday song to her and did heavy heavy hangover!

 

Yesterday we had In-field training. We had a 9 hour meeting. It was surprisingly awesome! We moved from class to class and got trained on skills like, finding investigators, planning and goal setting and working with members.

It was really neat. One of my teachers was actually Elder Christianson from the District. They put together a play at the end and It was very fun and very informative.

 

Didn't Jordan help out with that or something in the past?

 

Happy fourth of July last night! We had a fun day. After In-field training we had a program where we had awesome musical numbers and sang patriotic hymns. Then we heard from......President Laney! Actually Brother Laney now. He shared a brief talk that was really neat. I went right up to him afterword to tell him that I was Elder Jordan Spencer's little sister. He was extremely nice. Afterwards, we watched "17 Miracles." I forgot that I hate that movie because it makes me cry the whole time. It was a really neat experience! Everything seems so much more spiritual as a missionary.  After the meeting, we got to stay up past bedtime and watch fireworks. We watched the stadium of fire fireworks that they do in the BYU stadium. It was fun, but we are so tired today from staying up late!!

 

Something that they really stress as missionaries is working with the members. In a "perfect zion" the members will be finding people, and the missionaries will just be the teachers. It is so important that we have help from the members. The statistics are something like, 1 of every 100 (or more?) street contacts taught will be baptized, but like 1 of every 5 member referrals get baptized. Those statistic are like completely off, but you get the picture.

My challenge to you all, is to think of somebody, a friend OR an acquaintance and give their names to the missionaries.

 

This week we talked our investigators a lot. In the beginning, our investigators were grouchy and frustrated. They wanted to change, but didn't understand how. They both get "baptized" next week and they have completely changed. The Gospel blesses lives. This week we taught the importance of commandments, like the Word of Wisdom and Reading Scriptures Daily. We really have started teaching in a way that involved them a lot more. Like we gave a reading assignment to our investigator Miguel, and then had HIM teach us about it. It's incredible to see the change in them, even if it's role playing. I am excited to be in the field and work! :)

 

I love you all so much! I testify that I am on the Lord's errand and this gospel is true. Keep the faith and thanks for all you do! :)

 

Much love,

Hermana Spencer

 

PS. Thanks so much for the package! The second I saw Toblerone and Cheez-its I knew I was loved :)