October 28, 2013

Hola Familia! 

Thanks so much for the letters and updates! I love being up to date! 

That's so funny that it's such a small world. I totally know Alli Gillespie. She was at my apartment all the time, we had fun. Congrats to Brittany on the mission call! That is SO exciting. She will absolutely love being a missionary :) I didn't know Olivia was engaged yet! WOW! If you get a chance, tell her congrats for me and I want to see pictures!

Thats so fun that mama Lopez is visiting you! Tell her hi for me and love getting the emails each week!

WOW Dallin! I am impressed. You look like a stud in your pictures! When I come home, you will have to teach me the art of hunting.

This week was yet another good week. We started off the week with exchanges. I stayed in Sudley and Hermana Argueta left. I had Hermana Dopp, one of the sister training leaders come to me and work with me for a day. It was VERY helpful. I learned a ton. Hermana Dopp has been out for a very long time and she is very experienced. We started a bit of training and Hermana Dopp felt impressed to ask ME for some help with some trials. I was very touched. She just felt like I would be able to help her and give her good advice for some companionship problems.  

That night we went to go teach a few lessons that fell through. She said "well, might as well go knock some doors!" (bleh). The first door we knocked let us in. We had an amazing lesson with this entire family. It was a huge testimony builder for me. We taught them the first lesson and the one lady, Marta, had a lot of questions about prophets and the Book of Mormon. We aren't sure if anything will come of it, but regardless we had a really good lesson and I learned a lot. 

This Friday we had Sister's conference. All the sister missionaries met and we heard some great talks. Sister Riggs said she really felt like she needed to talk to us about the woman and the Priesthood. She talked a lot about priesthood power versus having Priesthood authority. It was very inspiring. She mentioned that we ALL need and have access to the priesthood in our lives. It made me very grateful for my dad and for other worthy priesthood holders in my life. They also talked about Dress, Manner, Distractions, and even self defense/being safe. It was very good. 

I think my favorite new quote from president Riggs is our DC South mission Three C's of no-no's. "I will Not complain, criticize, or compare." Something I definitely need to work on!
 

Friday night we had Trunk-or-treat in our branch. All the missionaries came and were able to meet some friends of members. Me and Hermana Argueta switched name tags and dressed up as each other. (Clever, huh?). We got candy and we were going to decorate our trunk, I was so bummed because they decided to just pass candy out in the building because it was too cold outside. Regardless it was fun and we might have a few new people to teach from it! 

We are completely out of miles for the month, so it looks like we are going to have do a lot of walking this week! We were so frustratedThursday night because we confirmed and everything, drove out to Warrenten (45 min drive) to teach our progressing investigators, and they weren't home. That was frustrating, but the rest of the night ended up good and we were able to work more with Jamie and Jennifer, two daughters of a member. 

This Sunday we taught a great lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ, to Jamie and Jennifer and we both felt prompted to give them a baptismal date. They said "we just want to get baptized already!" after we brought up the idea. They are getting baptized at the end of November. We are very excited for them!

 

I had a really great interview with President Riggs this week too. He mentioned a lot about hastening the work. Each of us are called to be here at this time for a reason. We were chosen before the world was to take part in this work! 

OKAY. So, HUGE NEWS. Our mission is going to implementing Facebook, Ipods and Ipads! We are going to be using facebook in the next month, and we get Ipods and Ipads in December. Isn't that CRAZY!? We are going to be able to use facebook to teach friends and family on our facebook. We are going to be able to teach lessons over facebook and skype, and we can use friends and family as a member present lessons as well. Our Ipods and Ipads are going to replace our planners and area books. Everything will be electronic. We also are going to be able to use videos and other lesson materials on our Ipads in lessons.

I love you all so much!

Hermana Spencer

It's always a great week in the work of the Lord

October 21, 2013

Hola familia!

It has been yet another good week. A week of work, a week of fun, a week of learning and a week of teaching. 

We did a lot of work with less-actives this week, and our work paid off! We had 5 less actives come to church this week! We have been working with Rosi, a 28 year old woman who was baptized over 10 years ago and hasn't come to church in 10 years. We have been trying to get her at church for weeks and she always flakes out on us. We always joked that we were going to come and make pancakes for her and help her come to church. Well this Sunday, we made a huge plate of pancakes and stopped at her house before church. She was NOT planning on going, but I think the pancakes did it. She came a half hour late and left after sacrament meeting, but SHE CAME! And better than that, her YW leader from when she got baptized is in our branch. 

We invited and visited a lot of less actives this weeks and most of them came to church. We had the primary program this Sunday so it was a sweet and relaxed Sacrament meeting. 

Saturday was a very funny day. Earlier, I was telling Hermana Argueta about how I really hadn't had to eat any really bad or weird food yet. I spoke too soon....

We had a lunch appointment at a members house that lived a half hour away. We got there and while waiting for the food they had us watch their daughter's wedding video (very cute). Then they served us this Peruvian food called...Ceviche.   

It is this seafood dish that is soaked in lemon juice. It is an arrangement of raw fish with a few spices. It was HORRIBLE. We all ate it with a smile on our face and told them how good it was. Then they mentioned that nobody ever takes seconds or eats very much. Well nobody else was getting seconds, so I felt guilty and got more. I was so full and so grossed out. 

2 Hours later, and still completely full, we had a dinner appointment with some more members with all the missionaries from the branch. The second we walked in, we smelt it.....Ceviche. This time was worse. 

It was entirely raw fish, shrimp ( with legs!), octopus, some bug, and other strange meat I dared not to ask about. The octopus got me. I WAS EATING TENTACLES! It was so horrible. One of the elders snuck it into a napkin and put it in his pocket. I was jealous of his technique. I am officially scared to eat dinner at any Peruvian house. 

Other than horrible food, we had a good week with miracles. 

We got dropped a few weeks ago by this couple, Alex and Rosi. Hermana Argueta was heartbroken because she had a lot of hope in them. The other day, I felt impressed to go visit them, but I was nervous because I never met them. I asked Hermana Argueta if we should and she said "I was thinking about them this morning!" We decided to go. We get to the door and somebody is home. We knock, and somebody looks in the peep-hole, but nobody answers. I say a silent prayer and ask heavenly father to "please allow them to open this door and let us talk to them." Right then, Rosi opened the door. She let us in and admitted that she has missed us. 

We talked with her a bit and she admitted that she is stuck on the Book of Mormon, because it's not the bible. Hermana Argueta reads a scripture on faith from the BOM and I felt prompted to also share one from the bible that supports it. I shared James 1:5-6.  At closing prayer, I felt like we were really supposed to bless the home in the prayer, but Hermana Argueta was praying. Right before she closed her prayer, she blessed the family and the home. Right after that Rosi asked us to come back and read with her sometime. We were SO excited. The spirit was definitely guiding us and we felt very humbled by the experience. 

Something I learned this week was, how important it is to be grateful. Grateful to the Lord, and grateful for other people. Yesterday at church I got asked to do a lot to help with the music, ward council,  the class and with investigators. I realized that nobody thanked me besides the other missionaries. I realized, how little I thank my heavenly father for all that I have, and thank other people for helping me. We are so much more obliged to help when we feel appreciated. I think that's the same thing with our Heavenly Father. He wants to bless us, but why would he continue to bless us if we are ungrateful for the many blesses we already have? I've also noticed that the more we are grateful, the more we find things to be grateful for. 

My testimony is definitely growing. I am being refined and improved everyday. The reason I know that is because I am becoming more and more aware of my many imperfections. The second I think that "I'm good" I am in trouble. We always have room for improvement. There is something we can always be doing to become more like our savior. Whenever I make a mistake like "wow, I really shouldn't have said that" or "I could have handled that better" I take it as something I can use to do better the next time. 

I also learned something this morning in my personal study. I read an article in the Ensign (I love the ensign) about parenting. It mentioned how perfect parents are not the ones with perfect kids (that fits perfectly because my perfect parents have a far from perfect daughter :)), but perfect parents are the ones that teach their kids the gospel and try their hardest to love them and help them. It is the same thing with missionaries.  A perfect missionary is not the one that baptizes everybody or has the perfect investigators, the perfect missionary is the one that works hard, teaches with the spirit and does everything in their power to invite others to come to Christ. 

The spirit that we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ is unexplainable. We were invited to stop in help with Esperanza's son, Ryan's 1st birthday. She rented a place, ordered a cake, rented a DJ and had decorations everywhere (that was a little ridiculous) but regardless, we had fun. 

My favorite part was that almost all of Esperanza's family and Jose's family  was there, who are all non-members. We could feel their eyes ALL night. Jhoana and Esperanza told us later that everybody kept asking who we were. They notice something different in their family members who got baptized and they notice a difference in the missionaries.  There really is a light that each of have. It can only get brighter and brighter as we get a closer relationship with our heavenly father. 

Thank you for all the love and support. Keep working hard in the Lord's vineyard too. Every member a missionary :) 

Con Amor, 

Hermana Spencer

Mom: thanks so much for everything. I did get the package and I did get the DVD's. I already had one of them, but I haven't use the other yet. Thanks so much. Don't worry about other DVD's yet. I haven't asked President yet and I have a feeling he might say no. Anything thats online at LDS.org or Mormon.org is allowed, but I don't know if they put it DVD form yet. But if you happen to find a DVD of mormon messages (I know they make them, I just don't know where to get them) I would LOVE one. Most investigators don't have internet access yet, and we aren't cool enough to get Ipads yet in this mission. Maybe before I go home :) 

Oh how good our Heavenly Father is!

October 15, 2013

Hola Familia! 

Thank you so much for your letters. They are so uplifting to me! Right now I just filled with so much gratitude for how good our heavenly father is to us to give us the blessings of families and friends. The Lord truly loves us!

Sorry you didn't get to hear from me yesterday. It was a holiday so Libraries are closed. But, we go and email at our apartment office, which we assumed was closed, but wasn't closed yesterday. Bummer. Oh well. 

This week was a good week. But, of course :) 

Me and Hermana Argueta are really finding success. Not success as in baptisms left and right, but success in knowing that we are working hard and fulfilling our calling. 

We spent a lot of time this week doing service. There is a recent convert in our branch who needed help painting her living room. She has 3 young kids and a messy living room, so it took us 3 days. We had to cover up a lot of coloring on the walls. The walls also had a ton of peeling and a bad dry-wall, so I was proud to know what to do and be able to paint walls well. I really learned a lot and am grateful for our experience in fixing up the Bayberry house! I know so many skills I wouldn't know otherwise. I am a master painter :) Anyway, Leslie (the member) was very grateful and made us food everyday. That was a plus!

It rained ALL week this week. I was so glad that last P-day me and my companion took a trip to the mall and exchanged my other shoes for a pair of sturdy and cute boots. I've worn them all week!  

Me and Hermana Argueta also put Christian and Kayla Arias on date for November 16th! We are very excited for them. They live 45 min away from us so we only get to see them once a week. But, they just got here a month ago from Ecuador and are living with their Dad and his family who are all members. Kayla is 14 and is kind of snarky sometimes and laughs at my spanish, but has a good heart. Christian is 16 and kind of a punk, but he is really interested. He has been reading El Libro de Mormon and has been practicing his prayers in english.

We have really been focusing our teaching this week on the Book of Mormon. It literally can convert somebody on it's own. I'd encourage each of you to read the introduction to the BOM this week, we share it all the time. It points out that it's vital that we know the BOM is true. Because, if the BOM is true, than Joseph Smith was really a prophet and really translated it through the power of God. And, if Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God, than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints really is his church!

I am SO grateful for this gospel and being raised in a home that taught of Jesus Christ. The other night we were walking past a home and we hear a little girl screaming. Her dad was beating her and yelling. We got really close to calling the police, but got interrupted. It broke my heart to think of that little girl screaming. I am so grateful for a loving family and to be able to bring the gospel to other families. 

Hermana Wilde, my old companion leaves next week for Argentina so her companion is losing her. We aren't quite sure what's going to happen there, they might put us in a trio! But they also talked to me and Hermana Argueta about working with Jhoana, Esperanza and Heidy! SO I GET TO TEACH THEM AGAIN! :) I am very excited, but I also know that they are a LOT of work. None of them came to church this Sunday because they were lazy. Ugh. 

Yesterday, we went to Arlington and DC with the Elders and then met Hermana Simpson there! It was very fun. We went and saw the changing of the Guard, and walked Arlington cemetery, then walked across the Bridge over the Potomac to DC. We saw a few monuments, but because the government is shut down all the monuments are closed. But nobody was following that rule, there were plenty of tourists there yesterday. It was a very good day, but we all went home pooped because we walked over 3 miles! We rode the metro home and all fell asleep on it. 

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I feel like I just got off the plane and here I am on my Second Trainee and only have 13.5  months left. I think I am going to be home in time for thanksgiving next year! That will be neat. 

I love you all! Keep up the faith. 

Siempre, 

Hermana Spencer

1. All of us at the Metro

2. Me at the Kennedy Gravesite

3. Me and my old Companions in front of the White house

Septemeber 30th

September 30, 2013

Hola Familia!

What a week it has been. It has been one of the longest but shortest weeks on my mission. I have been trying to learn my new area like crazy. We spent a long time driving all over the city of Manassas because I don't know where everything is yet. Hermana Argueta and her last companion just barely opened this area so they had no investigators; they literally have been knocking doors every day for the past month.

Well, I said...none of that!

I worked a lot with other missionaries and I was able to ask the elders in our area if we could look through their area book. We were able to pull out like almost 40 women former investigators; we have been going to visit these people and a lot of less actives. We had a few poopy days where we didn't see a single person, but all is well. We are trying to find investigators like crazy. I had a huge self-reevaluation. I realized that I didn't have my trainer to lean on anymore and I needed to take some initiative to be the best missionary that I can be and push myself, and now my companion, to have confidence.

Hermana Argueta is doing great. Her last companion helped her a lot with her confidence. She is fluent in Spanish, but she doesn't know how to read or write it very well, so we are helping each other.

This week we did a LOT of organizing. I got a whiteboard and drew a calendar. Then we organized all the potential investigators, formers, investigators, less actives and members and wrote their names on the board. We realized we had a lot more people we could go visit than we thought. It has already helped a ton.

We helped 2 different people move this week, both less active families. It's hard because the branch doesn't really come to help with service like this, everybody just calls the missionaries. We helped this one family, and me and Hermana Argueta helped the Mom clean out the empty rooms. I was very grateful that I was taught to properly clean so that I could be helpful. The families were so grateful for our help.

We had a LOT of meetings this week. On Friday we had half mission conference. President and Sister Riggs taught a lot about getting back to the basics and teaching simply from Preach my Gospel. It was very inspiring.

We didn't see a lot of people this week, but we did work hard. On Thursday we made a 40 min drive to meet with these members. The Dad is a convert from Ecuador and he just had two of his kids sent here to live with him and his new family. They only speak English and are very homesick, but we were able to teach them and commit them to read the BOM. The 16 year old boy was very stubborn, but I joked with him enough to not think we were entirely weird :)

Yesterday, we got 2 other lessons. We got asked to teach 2 daughters of a member. The daughters live with their mom during the week but have been going to church with their dad and step mom. They are SO golden. They love church and promised to read and pray. We had a SUPER good lesson with them, but I think it was because I got to teach in English. I love it when that happens.

We also met with a former investigator the last Hermanas dropped but I really felt like we needed to try teaching her again. We stopped by and had a really simple, sweet, lesson with Jackie. Her mom fed us El Salvadorian food and Hot Chocolate. It's so good to just get to know these people and their culture. They really are such wonderful people.

The bummer about my new area is that our apartment is a former Elder apartment, so it has nasty stained carpet and a strange smell. Also, the apartment complex doesn't give missionaries gym passes or even parking passes because we aren't on the lease. So, I am afraid of getting lazy about working out the colder it gets!

We are really close to everything in our location. It's really nice to be so close to our investigators, the church, and shopping. I also lucked out and have a queen size bed!! We do live in the more ghetto part of Virginia though. We here sirens every morning before 8am and then throughout the day, it's great :)

So the other day, we went to go check on some former investigators and couldn't find parking. We had to park at the church and walk to the home. Well we were walking through one of the sketchiest 

neighborhoods in Manassas. Luckily we were out during the middle of the day. We got a LOT of strange looks. Everybody is looking at us like "Girls, what do you think you are doing here? Are you nuts?!" but me and Hermana Argueta just smiled and walked and said Hola to everybody. We ended up walking in the wrong direction and got completely lost. We ended up walking for over 2 miles in that neighborhood. We ran into these sketchy boys and when we said Hola they were excited we spoke Spanish. We told them we were missionaries and just gave them a pass-along card. Then one of the boys looks at me and says "Porque eres tan bella?" (Why are you so beautiful?). We quickly said bye and walked away. It became a running joke though between me and Hermana Argueta, it was just a really funny experience.

 The Relief Society Broadcast was SO good. It just made me excited for conference! I just remember how strong I felt when Thomas S Monson started speaking. It reminded me of when I said the prophet in person at the MTC. I remember then and I felt it again on Saturday, that he IS called of God and that he is our living prophet. I love him and I want to follow his counsel.

Things are going well. This week I had a few discouraging moments when it comes to training, leading and learning the language. But the longer I am here the better I feel. I'm learning a LOT and I am getting pushed in ways I wasn't expecting. It's scary and exciting!

We have a BBQ today with President Riggs because our whole zone got 90% baptismal invites for the month. We have a lot more fun on the mission than I thought we would!

I love you all, keep up the good work and help those missionaries find people to teach! Sometimes we know the people we know because the Lord knows they are prepared for you to share the gospel with them.

Love you all!

Hermana Spencer

My new address is 10841 Gambril Dr #23 Manassas VA 20109

Conference Weekend

October 7, 2013

Hola Familia,

Every day I am learning something new about myself. And here I thought that I knew myself pretty well, but I'm still learning.

This week has been a week of work and some changes. We had transfers this week, but as predicted, me and Hermana Argueta stayed where we are. Hermana Simpson, my old companion, got transferred out and was called to be a new sister training leader. She is going to do fantastic! We lost and got a new elder in our Spanish District too.

Hermana Wilde got a new companion, BUT she just found out that her and few other missionaries got their Visas to Argentina. So we aren't quite sure what’s going to happen there.

I LOVE my little Spanish District. We have a great group of elders and Hermanas that have taught me a ton and we have had fun too.

This is officially my 3rd transfer out in the field and I have been out on my mission for 4 and a half months. It is crazy how fast time flies. I feel like I just got off the plane!

This Friday we spent a lot of our afternoon helping somebody in our Branch move. Unfortunately, nobody from our flaky branch showed up except a few Hermanas to pack. The poor Dad had 5 missionaries (including 2 wimpy Hermanas) to help move his entire house. We spent a long time taking apart furniture and moving things to the truck. It was a fun, but very tiring!

Me and Hermana Argueta got more lessons in this week which is awesome! We have 4 really neat investigators. We are teaching these two teenagers straight from Ecuador, Christian and Kayla. Their entire family is members and they only speak Spanish, they are very interested. Also we are teaching Jamie and Jennifer who's Dad and step-mom are members. They live with their Dad on Weekends so we teach them every Sunday. They are very excited and interested too.

We taught “El Plan de Salvacion" a lot this week. Looking at that plan makes me realize how lucky we are to have that knowledge. To know and look forward to the day that we can return to our Heavenly Father again and be with our families for eternity. It makes me excited for my future family and grateful for the fact that our loving Heavenly Father has made a path for ALL of his children to be able to return to him.

My companion Hermana Argueta is awesome. She was raised in a Spanish home but never learned grammar or to read in Spanish, so we are working on that together. She isn't very shy when we teach Spanish lessons, but she gets really nervous and shy in our English lessons. We have been doing a lot of practice teaching to improve both our Spanish and English teaching skills. It's been a great learning experience. We are also trying to eliminate all the "garbage words" such as "like", "um", and "ya."

Conference was SO wonderful. It kind of put a damper on some of our work this weekend, just because it was at an awkward time for us. We went to the church and watched it in the chapel. It was all missionaries there and a few members. I absolutely LOVED conference this year. I think that it's more powerful as a missionary, or maybe I just paid better attention.

Yesterday in between sessions, my district put together lunch at the church. We all combined our ingredients in our cupboards (reminded me of missionary mess!) and we made homemade mac & cheese, and chicken Alfredo. It was a fun little lunch!

I loved all the talks, but I loved Elder Holland’s and President Uchtdorf's talks. I love the conviction that all of these men have. By listening to their words and their testimonies, you know that they want SO badly for other people to just taste of the goodness that they have experience. They plea with each of us to come unto Christ. That is why the work is Hastening!

I noticed a few different themes this weekend in conference. Like; "our little decisions have and eternal impact," "NOW is the time to hasten the work," "The power and the blessing of the Priesthood in our lives is irreplaceable" and "Even during our trials, the Lord is mindful of each of us."

I agree and sustain the prophet, his apostles and what they said this weekend. The time is now. That is why I am a missionary. Our leaders push us every day to talk to more people, teach more lessons, get more people baptized and invite everyone to come unto Christ. These people are those that don't have the truth only because "they know not where to find it."

We are so incredibly blessed to have this everlasting truth in our lives. Our responsibility as those with the knowledge of the truth is to spread and share the gospel. Something President Riggs said is that we are not only to defend the truth, but to fight for the truth! Not only live as examples in what we know is right, but to fight for what we know is correct.

I urge you all to take the challenge that was given on Saturday. If each member shared the gospel with one person, millions would partake of this rich truth.

I love you all so much.

Estoy muy agradecido por la oportunidad ser una misionera en este obra. Yo se que este iglesia es la iglesia de Jesucristo en la tierra hoy. El Libro de mormón es la palabra de Dios. Jose Smith fue un profeta de Dios. Yo se que por medio la expiación de Jesucristo podemos ser limpio otra vez. Se que podemos vivir con nuestro padre celestial otra vez y que somos hijos de Dios. Yo se que familias son eternas.

Los Amo Mucho.

-Hermana Spencer

Me and my district right before transfers.

Me and Sister Simpson one last time before she got transferred

Me and my new companion, Hermana Argueta