January 27, 2014
Hola familia!
Well, I just wrote you a very length letter and then
accidently hit the discard button. So here I go with take 2.....
We had a very eventful and productive week!
First things first,
we had 2 amazing baptisms this weekend!
Rosemary, our investigator from Bolivia got baptized this
weekend. She had only been taking the lessons for a little over a month, but
her testimony is incredible. Rosemary had a double baptism with another
investigator named Juan, who the other Hermanas were teaching.
Melissa, our other
investigator who is 17, has been investigating for about 5 years now. She has
had many people teaching her in the past. Her entire family recently got
baptized, except her. A few weeks ago, she opened up to us and some of her
concerns. We were able to teach and talk to her more and develop a relationship
with her. She finally decided to take the step! Her baptism was beautiful
though. She never looked more beautiful.
Saturday was a stressful day for us. We had a whole mission
conference all morning, and then we had the baptisms that night. We had to be
at the church early to fill the font and set things up.
Rosemary had to get her baptismal interview as well. President
Burton, of the mission presidency had to give it, but wouldn't be back in town
until an hour before her baptism. She was supposed to
show up at 5:00 and came an half hour late and didn't get out of her interview
until after the baptism was supposed to start.
Also, the member of the bishopric who was supposed to come
give us the keys to the font came 15 minutes before the baptism. So we had to
hurry and fill the font.
Another Hermana sang
a musical number in the first baptism, while I played the piano. (I am
officially named "the Hermana that plays the piano"...again). But
Melissa asked me to sing a musical number in her baptism. It was funny though because me and the other
Hermana ended up doing the same song....oops.
Our whole mission conference was awesome. We had S. Gifford
Nielson of the seventy come speak to us. Yep....Exclamation point guy! The
first thing he said when he walked in was "Exclamation point!" He was
a very animated and enthusiastic speaker. It was great to learn from him. He
told some great stories and talked about the hastening of the work, including
member and missionary work. He also talked about Ordinances and their
associated covenants.
President Riggs and Sister Riggs both spoke as well and it
was fantastic. Something I learned there was "Never settle for
mediocrity" We were not sent to this earth to achieve mediocrity, we were
sent to the earth to achieve perfection.
I also had interview with President Riggs this weekend. We
had a great interview and I walked away with a lot of insight. He mentioned my confidence. He asked how I became so
confident. I mentioned that my family moved a few times and I learned a lot
from that, and also performing has helped. But he mentioned how my companion
might struggle with confidence and in that case, I have to lead and support.
Something else he
said was "Hermana Spencer, you are never ever somebody that I have to
worry about." That makes me so glad. I never wanted to be a burden to this
work, I wanted to help. That was my goal, to be somebody he didn't have to
worry about.
But, I realized I have a new goal now. I don't only want to
be somebody that he "doesn't have to worry about" I want to be
somebody that he "Doesn't know what he would do without"
I don't want to settle for mediocrity!
Virginia is getting
colder. We had some pretty bad snow on Tuesday, so we were stuck in our
apartment all day. Unfortunately, in the Spanish program, if you can't drive
you are stuck. Our areas are just too big to walk! Virginia is crazy about school, they
cancelled school the entire week!
I love how I am
improving. Something I thought about this week is that my mission really hasn't
been that hard. It HAS. But it hasn't.
I have had plenty of trials and difficult, discouraging
moments. But the closer I get to my Savior and my loving Heavenly Father, the
easier they seem. I look back and I don't even recognize the hard moments. All
I see are the miracles. All the blessings I see on my mission have outweighed
every hard moment.
I love this work. I
hit my 8 month mark this week. How crazy is that!? I am excited to continue
working in this work of salvation.
Thank you all for the love and support. You are in my
prayers, and your prayers are felt and appreciated :)
Con Mucho amor,
Hermana Spencer
