I Love to See the temple!

February 18, 2014

Hola Familia!

I could never say that I have not learned anything on my mission. I learn something new every day. Whether that means, I learn how to be a better person, teacher, or friend. Or even if that means I learn how to back out of a parking spot with snow behind it. I learn something daily.

In that case, I learned a lot in the past week!

I didn't get to email you all yesterday, because of the Holiday, but that was good news for me because we got to go to the temple instead. I LOVE THE TEMPLE. There is an unexplainable peace and reverence inside the walls of the Lord's holy home.

Yesterday, we had the unique opportunity to attend a short conference on the 7th floor of the temple. The senior couple that drove us found out about it and we were able to attend. It was remarkable! We were able to go to the special conference room that most people don't get to go to, and we had a few speakers talk about (in more detail than outside of the temple) the sacred temple ordinances. I learned so much.

ALSO I got to see the new temple video! (Finally!!!!) Not the new new one, but the new one. It was absolutely beautiful, I cried almost the entire time. I was so grateful to be able to attend the Temple yesterday.

It snowed a TON this week. Okay, not that much compared to New Hampshire, but all of Virginia was freaking out. It snowed a little more than a foot, which meant school was out....and we couldn't drive. We were stuck in the apartment all day Wednesday. I got a lot of cleaning done...although it didn't last past Thursday (Surprised dad?).

We have been working with two of our investigators, Sara and Liz. Sara got to the US about a month ago, and she is staying with her cousin Liz. Liz has been investigating for over 5 years now. She has such a strong desire to get baptized, but something always got in the way so she is losing hope. But since Sara met us, she has been reading the Book of Mormon and asking LOTS of questions. We are trying to help her get baptized before she leaves for Peru again....NEXT WEEK. We will need lots of prayers and miracles, but we have the faith!

Liz's sister is in the Hospital right now because of her extreme anorexia. It is really doing a toll on the entire family. But Liz has committed that she will be baptized when her sister is out, so she can come to her baptism. Soon!

We started teaching Noel, Rosemary's son, this week. The first lesson was chaotic and confusing. He has lots of questions and personal opinions. He had 2 sister missionaries, his mom, and Melissa (who came with us) all throwing answers at him. We prayed that the next lesson would be better. IT WAS! We had a great lesson with him last night. We read with him and promised him the blessing of the truth through the Holy Ghost. He wants to know the truth. We see a lot of potential in him.

Melissa keeps coming out with us. We love it! She loves working with us and bearing her testimony. She has grown so much since I met her, and even more since her baptism. Her understanding is increasing. We had a talk on modesty with her, and she looked like she was about to faint (haha) but then we brought over a pile of Sister missionary hand-me-downs in our apartment and she got excited.

On the way to one of our lessons, Melissa said to us in the car "You guys make me want to be a missionary" and since then, she is thinking about going on a mission!!!!!!!! Even if she doesn't go, the process of deciding and preparing is life-altering. I am so excited for her. She is literally a light to our entire Ward.

Yamilet is incredible. But she is so darn frustrating! She has a testimony, she knows it's true. She comes to church every Sunday, she reads the Book of Mormon, and she says her prayers. She lives and loves every commitment! But she says she still doesn't have the "desire" to be baptized. She asks us to pray for her to have this desire, and she is as well, but for some reason she just doesn't want it!

We took her to the temple visitor center on Sunday night with a family that is good friends with her. It was remarkable. We watched the video on the family and afterwards we sat in the room and talked. Yamilet never cries. She cried! The spirit was SO strong. We all bore testimony of eternal families and how the gospel blesses families. I was so grateful for that experience. We are hoping that the experience helped her with her "desire." We care about her so much.

This week, when we went to go see Yamilet, Hermana Sorensen pet a stray cat outside and it started following us. When Yamilet opened the door, the cat ran in. We spent the first part of the lesson laughing our heads off and trying to get the cat out of her apartment! The rest of the lesson the cat sat outside the door meowing.

Things are looking excellent here in Little River. We are still planning and prepping for our huge event, Mundial Mormon! We are all really excited, and stressed :)

My companion and I are learning a lot together. She is unlike any companion I have had so far. I am learning a lot from her. I hope she is learning from me!

Our mission theme for the quarter is "Step out of the Boat." Meaning, when Christ came to his apostles walking across the water, he invited Peter to join him. Peter did in fact walk on water. BUT, he had to take the first step of faith, but stepping over the edge of the Boat. Oftentimes, when we are on the boat all comfortable, it is really hard to make the step. We are unsure if we will actually going to be able to walk on water, if the miracle will actually happen. BUT, by taking the step we are exercising the faith that it will happen.

I encourage all of you to "Step out of the Boat" and exercise your faith. I promise that walking on water and other miracles are possible! They happen every day in the mission field!

Never forget the goodness of this gospel. There is a sweet goodness from being a part of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I testify to that! Although life itself is hard, it is our reaction that determines our consequences. As Dieter F. Uchtdorf said "It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself that determines how your life's story will develop"  

So....react well :)

I love you all! Thanks for everything.

Con amor,
Hermana Spencer

Dallin: Happy Birthday! I cannot believe how old you are getting! I still think of you as the cute little brother who was once shorter than me! I hope your Birthday was fantastic, and I hope that you are still charming all the ladies. As well as doing your fair share of mission prep! Keep it up. Love you! OH....congrats on regionals! I hope you had a blast :)

1.Me and the Carliles...love them!

2.Me and Hermana Sorensen in front of the Temple

3.Yamilet and us after we caught the cat!

February 10th, 2014

February 10, 2014

Hello Familia!

I hope that all is well with you all. This has been a slow week for me! Not bad slow, just felt like so much has happened. Busy busy!

 Looking back though before my mission, I LOVE being busy. Being busy is such a blessing. Yes I love the occasion lazy moments, of getting to relax. But I love looking back at my weeks and seeing all that was accomplished in such a short amount of time.

Just remember that business is good. Don't ever try to run faster than you have strength, but it is a blessing.

 Monday, we had zone sports. Because in our mission, everybody lives so close to each other, we get to have activities as zones and districts pretty often.

 Last Monday, we did dart gun wars. We literally had Pvc pipes and we would shoot darts by blowing through them. It was SO fun. But, in the midst of our games, my companion went to go "tag" an elder, and he ducked the wrong direction and she ended up punching him right in the face. As a result, he has an amazing scratch across his face, and my companion sprained her thumb!

 We thought her thumb was broken for a while, so we had to go to urgent care to check it out. Sadly it took us 4 hours in a doctor’s office to find out we just need to ice it and take Advil.

This week we also started planning out giant multi-ward activity called "Mundial Mormon" which is basically the Mormon World Cup. Our district came up with the idea for our ward and we decided to make it bigger and go mission wide. We are inviting EVERYBODY in our mission (well, Spanish speakers).

We are doing an all-day event where we have a little bit of Volleyball and then a giant soccer tournament. We are having a bracket and everything. At night we are doing a talent show and food. Not to mention, we are planning church tours, movies and games throughout the entire activity in the other rooms. We have a Hermana who is studying marketing, so we are trying to get the word out to everybody. We are so excited! And the English speakers are all really jealous... :)

This week was transfers. Me and Hermana Sorensen are staying in little River for another transfer. Last minute, our mission president called the entire mission to come to the transfer meeting for a whole-mission conference (which isn't very common).

He had seen the new movie "the Saratov Approach" earlier that week and got special permission to show it to all of us. It was such an emotional experience for us. I am not sure if you have had a chance to see it, but it is a must see. There were many lessons that I learned. It's about two missionaries in Russia that got kidnapped and held ransom. They had incredible faith and amazing examples.

It was really cool though, the day before we saw the movie, we were in a neighborhood we are always in. Me and my companion looked at each other and said that we needed to get back to our car. We are quite sure why still, but all we know is that we need to go back...and fast. The movie and the experience freaked my companion out a bit, but we had the senior couple across the street come over and give a blessing.

I honestly, felt at so much peace. I knew that I was safe. My patriarchal blessing, my setting apart blessing, and many blessings after that have promised me my safety on my mission. Obviously, as long as I am listening to the spirit. I have had so many moments in my mission where we have been guided to somewhere, OR away from somewhere. I feel at so much peace having the gift of the Holy Ghost and "Angels round about me."

 Saturday, we went to the Serrano's house (Melissa's family) for Pupusas. They are the most common food in El Salvador, and I am learning how to make them! But it was so fun. They were celebrating their oldest son's birthday, and they invited the missionaries on purpose because their family would be there that need the gospel. I LOVE getting member referrals. Going through the members is SO much more effective than our own efforts.

We also had a little girl stop us in the hallway yesterday to tell us she wants her friend to "join us." She was asking for advice on how to bring up the missionaries. It was so fun to give her the advice and tell her that we would pray for her missionary opportunity.

Melissa and her family both got their temple recommends on Sunday, so we are planning a trip to do baptisms for the dead. Melissa's mom looked like she was about to cry when we found out she was allowed to go in the ACTUAL temple. She's still waiting for her year mark to be sealed as a family, but they are so excited to go to baptisms.

We had an amazing lesson with Sara last night. I met Sara with Hermana Memmott a month ago, while helping her cousin paint. Sara was super cold to us at first, but over time has warmed up to us. She is reading the Book of Mormon right now and already is in 2 Nephi! At first she came to us with MANY questions and doubts, but after a few lessons about the Holy Ghost, she has changed. Last night she told us that she knows the book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that this Church is the Church of Jesus Christ. Sadly, she leaves back for Peru in 2 WEEKS! So we talked about baptism with her and we are hoping to help her get baptized before she goes.

 Noel, Rosemary's son wants to get baptized too! Honestly, because of his mom's example and the other youth's example, he has had a change of heart and mind towards the church. I am so happy for Rosemary, since her baptism she has just blossomed!

 We are working with a teenage girl that just got baptized a month ago right now. We are working on teaching her family, but right now she is suffering from extreme depression. We are doing the best we can to help, but we can only do so much. We are trying to keep daily contact with her and keep her spirits high. She is such an incredible, and strong girl, I just wish she could see that! Or we could help her see what we see! Or more importantly, what her Heavenly Father sees.

 Dad mentioned something in his letter that I have been thinking about ALL week. The basics. Our investigators cannot progress or come unto Christ unless they are doing the basics. We have so many people so close to baptism, and commitment keeping, but they simply won't read the scriptures, or say their prayers or come to church! It's frustrating knowing how much this will bless their lives, but they simply won't act. When people act, they receive blessings and answers. It is incredible how simple the recipe is, but so difficult it is for us sometimes.

 Even when we are missionary, or a parent, bishop, or whatever we are. We have to continue doing the basics. Every day! That is part of Enduring to the End. We have to exercise our faith, and keep covenants we made.

 We are going to Washington DC today. We are going to tour some museums and to shoot part of a commercial for "Mundial Mormon"

It is cold outside though! Washington DC is a LOT better than New Hampshire. We have barely been hit by bad weather. It is cold, but we get little snow and it doesn't get below 30 degrees normally.

All in all, Things are good here. I really can't complain. Things are not easy, but things are possible. Honestly, my mission hasn't been extremely hard. Not because I don't get trials and it is not a test of my faith. But I know in every circumstance that the Lord is with me. And, the burdens don't seem so heavy, because of that. Also, we are seeing so many miraculous things, that the good outweighs the bad!

I love being a missionary. It is incredible. I love being a part of this work.

I love you all!

 Con mucho amor,

Hermana Spencer 

 

1. Me and my district

2. Nerf gun war-zone. So fun!