Week Five

Dear friends and family, 

This week has been such a busy and crazy week I haven't had time to think! Seriously it is weird thinking I made it through my second transfer in the mission field! I will be here with my companion for another transfer, because a training takes 12 weeks to complete. So I will for sure be here until the 14th of October. If things change then and I am leaving, I will make sure everyone knows well in advance as possible! 

So this week a lot has happened to me to help strengthen my testimony of the Lord and I want to share them with you all!

Week of August 24-30 of 2015

Monday:

So today was a great day, because like every P-day I can email my family and see how there lives are going along with all of my close friends. Also we had a pday activity with our zone at the church. Some of us played card games while others emailed and played basketball. Sadly the iPads are a huge distraction and most the missionaries just email. It is a great way to relieve a little stress after a long and hard, but successful week. So today after P-day we went to see if we could teach a short lesson to a lady and she told us she was to busy like everyone does. However, we didn't let that get us down. We locked our bikes up across the street and began to contact every house we could see. In just half an hour we found 2 people that we taught simple lessons to and can possibly return and teach! I am so grateful for the language I get to learn. Today I felt a huge language barrier between me and the people, but I know that as I strive to speak this language that this wall will begin to crumble. I know I can do it, because I am trying as hard as I can and I am trusting in the lord. Today was a very fast day, but I loved it so much.

Tuesday:

So every Tuesday we study for about 2 hours and then catch two buses to the other side of town to go to a food bank. We go and sort food as a whole district, and it is so much fun!! I have grown to love the missionaries in my district so much. They have each taught me something that I will never forget!! Also a lot of them are going home so as you can Imagine I am a little trunky from the talking of home!! But everything is good!! So after the food bank today we have an exchange with our district leaders so tonight I am with Elder Cervantes. We taught Hennessy and Guadalupe and I learned so much about following the spirit and speaking the language! Elder Cervantes really has helped me out a lot and he is the friendliest person you will ever meet!! So I was the senior companion today, meaning I lead the lessons and answered most the questions!! It helped me progress in the language so much. Also we are doing 24 hour of Spanish and it is so amazing how that helps me as well!!!

Wednesday:

District meeting:

Elder Hornberger:

He taught us about the importance of teaching through commitments. How can we teach in our everyday with simple commitments. One way that really stood out to me was by explaining blessings that come from living the gospel and just asking the simple questions, do you want to feel this in your life? How do you think you could feel this in your life? These simple questions really help not only our investigators, but our friends open up and start thinking about what they really want in their lives. 

If you want to learn more about this topic, chapter 11 in Preach My Gospel has a lot of scriptures that really help you to understand how. I love this chapter because you learn how to really love your investigator.

So after our district meeting we ended our exchange and took some photos. This was my companion for the day, Elder Cervantes! And also this is a few pictures of my zone. The hermanas are in my district along with the three on the chairs and the tallest elder in the back! The rest are in my zone and English speaking!

So after our meeting Elder Schuhmacher and I had to go back to the apartment to finish some studies we had, after which we had dinner. I made dinner quick and then was so tired so I laid down to rest for about 45 min. And slept the whole time! As I woke up I was still so tired that I just didn't feel ready to get back in the groove of working and biking. But something that I learned this evening is that when you don't feel tired from the hard things you do just work even harder and the Lord will give you the energy you need. As I began to start working I saw a huge change in my feeling of being tired, into a feeling of so much energy! 

So as we were waiting near the Fort Worth JPS Hospital for our bus we realized that there were hundreds of birds sitting on the power lines and buildings. There is an awesome video of me showing all the birds flying around. And the best part of it all was that my companion got pooped on! It really made a hard, unsuccessful night a little bit better! I'm glad he has a good attitude about things like this. All in all today was hard, but somehow I learn the most important things on these kinds of days.

Thursday:

So today was a really different day for me! Every time my companion has doctors appointment I just feel out of the ordinary, because there is nothing I can do but just sit in a waiting room by myself and read the ensign or think about other things. I felt like I should have been out contacting or teaching. I felt like I was disobeying the rules because not very often do I get a chance just to sit down. However it was nice to slow down for just a second and relax before getting right back to work. So after my companions doctors appointment we had a couple come and do an apartment check on our house to make sure it is safe. They are an older couple and a very sweet. We learned a lot and have a few things to fix in our house. After we finished with them we had to squeeze dinner and weekly planning into 2 hours which really should have taken 4 hours to do all of it, but we didn't have any time to do it because of the appointment in the morning. After our dinner and planning we went and had a lesson with Hermana Fuentes. We talked to her about Tithing and had a great visit with her. Sadly that is all we had time for today, but we had a great companionship invigorate so I am excited for the new week!!

Friday:

If you can't tell, everyday is like riding a roller coaster. Some days are crazy hard and some days God puts people right in front of you as you are biking.

So today was such an amazing day. I would say it is the day I will remember God answering mine and my companions prayers the strongest in the mission so far. So we had a follow up training meeting with President and Sister Ames and about 60 other missionaries and I just took some notes that are random that I loved. Most of the things I wrote down were things President Ames said or things I felt while he spoke!

President Ames:

We have a duty to do as we receive new missionaries.

Perfectionism is a disease not a quality. 

You do not have to be perfect. Get better everyday.

Whether you are new or not you are a leader in what you do.

Are you going to be the kind of missionary who brings energy to the group, or will you give in to being a missionary who is on putting the brakes. 

Be the first one and help those who are struggling, just like the Good Samaritan.

When you feel down or don't feel this is the place for you. Change your surroundings.

You have been called by God.

Ask yourself these questions when having a hard time. Am I hungry, angry, lonely or Tired. If that doesn't work go to the Lord.

Lose yourself in the Work even this means becoming something better.

Leave your nets, leave your world, leave your old self and do not, do not go back.

Blessed be the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven. Be humble.

Be someone who wants to do the will of the Father no matter who is watching.

Give up your will for the will of the father. The moment you do that your mission becomes powerful.

When someone is being disobedient are you a policeman or a Shepard?

Elders and sisters it can not be without you!

Planning:

Three things you can take home with you.

A testimony

The ability to hear the words of God.

To set Goals and Make Plans.

How do we get home by 9:00 o'clock?

We need better planning and then commit ourselves to do it.

Plan out every hour and know the times.

Set better expectations with our appointments.

Always leave a commitment!!! That is how you call others to repentance.

Be able to adjust your schedules according to your needs.

-Plan your work and work your plan.

You have to be all in.

As we do this we can become companions with the Lord all day.

Planning is not Scheduling, it is listening to the spirit and setting in place what the Lord wants you to do.

Say your words once and don't repeat. And let the Spirit do the rest.

Ask questions, teach with scripture, and bare testimony. Don't give a talk.

You will never an answer, only the spirit will.

Questions to ask your investigators.

What is your experience or what have you read?

Every point of the Gospel can be taught talking about OBEDIENCE to God.

A commandment is gods secret to happiness.

There is no wasted conversation. Never deny a prompting.

Assume it is the spirit and act on it anyway.

Revelation doesn't come in sentences, it comes in paragraphs. Don't just read the first line.

Ponder it over and over and the paragraph will come.

Spirit of the law is the purpose of the letter of the Law.

3 Nephi 13:33

Companionship unity:

Pray for your companion

Pray for yourself to love them

Forgive quickly, instantly.

Forgiving quickly:

1 Nephi 7

Bands were loosed not broken.

Presidents closing remark:

 I am not a mind reader, I can't even tell the future, but I was set apart to have the gift of Discernment.

Change personal study to being 30 minutes of BoM study and the next 30 minutes go to the principles of the gospel and find what they need and study according to what they need.

Preach my Gospel pg.7

Don't let a duty interfere with the people you teach.

The only thing that causes us to repent is the spirit. Teach with Faith.

Help them to increase their faith.

The ones that won't let go of addiction we need to love them no matter what.

We never drop anyone, we just move them down a little bit.

Our faith can remove opposition!

Ask yourself, Am I teaching with sufficient faith.

These we my amazing mission presidents words of wisdom to all of us, but mostly I felt they were for me!

Today we put the planning to work and Elder Schuhmacher and I tried planning Hourly.

We prayed for an opportunity to find people as we contacted tonight and prayed that the spirit would help us as we put ourselves to work as the Lords tools. 

We got on our bikes and began biking down a road, and next thing we know this guy pulls up next to us and asks if we teach about Jesus. We looked at each other and looked back at him and said, uh ya that is all we do! We taught him for about an hour and he had so many questions. As we were getting ready to leave he got a call from a friend and as he answered on speaker he said, " hey bro I am talking with these Mormons and they believe the same things that we talk about, not that crazy stuff our preacher talks about. I don't know about you but I am going to there church to learn more on Sunday!" We were so excited to hear that! One thing he really wanted to know was what the savior did after his resurrection, so we gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read 3 Nephi about Christs coming. It was such an amazing testimony builder to have him drive up to us not even 5 min. After leaving the House.

After that we went to another investigators house, but she was gone, so my companion said, " there is a reason God has us here, but why?" Right then we new we only had time to bike down the street and look for people outside. We had such luck we found 2 more people and taught them a quick lesson and even got return appointments for them!!! Today and forever I know what God can do for those that put their faith in God on making achievable, but high goals and work hard to achieve them.

Saturday:

So today was such an amazing day! We started off the day by studying, but then had to take a break and call a number on our phone. All the new Spanish Elders and Sisters and their trainers had a conference call with our Spanish Training Leaders and President Ames. It was an amazing meeting by phone. This was some of the small notes that I took, also the whole thing was in Spanish, except what Presidents Ames said.

Conference Call on August 29th 2015:

Conference calls can be just as spiritual if we listen harder to the Words.

Dive into the language. If we want to learn to speak this language we have to do everything we can to get into the language. Read, pray, speak, listen, and be corrected in Spanish!

How dedicated are you to the language? What more can you do?

Create a 6 step plan to make the language stronger.

It was a very help conference call. I gained more confidence in my language and how I can improve it as well. So today after our conference call we went contacting and had so much Success. We taught 5 people, before dinner, simple contacts and 2 people after dinner. Today I really felt into the work, but I also felt a little overwhelmed, because I can't understand the people all the way. My companion looked at me and said, "elder it doesn't come all at once, you have to work at it and realize that you know a lot more than most people who are Spanish speakers. You can form phrases that make sense, and the vocabulary will come with time." My companion is much more enthusiastic and wants to talk with everyone, so today we seriously talked with everyone, and it was amazing. We passed one lady on the street and said hello in Spanish, and she looked at us and said in Spanish, "sorry, I don't speak English." We looked at each other and looked at her again and replied, that is okay, we said hello in Spanish and would love to talk some more with you. She was so shocked seeing to white men speaking English, and sadly didn't have time to talk, but it is always fun for me to see those that only speak Spanish be shocked when we speak to them and they can understand us!! So tomorrow we hope that some of the people we talked with will be at church, so we know they really want to know more!

Sunday:

So today was a pretty good day! Sadly, none of our investigators made it to church, but I still was able to focus on why I was there. I am really picking up on the language and understanding what is funny to the Spanish speakers and to the English speakers. There is a huge difference and it is weird getting used to it. I had the opportunity to play the prelude for sacrament meeting and the Latinos are always so nice to compliment me on my songs. Then we as a district got to sing a song in church, because Hermana Jensen leaves this Wednesday and wanted to sing with everyone. We sang Divina Luz, direct translation meaning Divine Light. The real song is Lead kindly Light. It was so pretty and we sang without a piano. The spirit was so strong too! After church we had a chance to go and find some people that we were supposed to teach. Sadly, they were gone and we were really lost on what we should do. So we decided to pray, while standing in a pretty sketchy apartment complex, for guidance on what to do. I know my Heavenly Father answers prayers, because right as we opened our eyes a younger lady with 2 little girls pulled up and we noticed the lady trying to carry into her house lots of groceries and take care of her two little cute girls. We asked if we could help and we were able to make a few trips so she wouldn't have too. After we were done she wanted to know why we helped and what we do. We talked to he about our church and asked if she would be interested. She got tears in her eyes and told us her husband was stuck in Mexico trying to get his papers finish, and she really needed something like this in her life. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it and see what she felt was right. The spirit was amazing and we knew God put her in our path for a reason! It was an amazing day.

All I can say is when you need help with anything, pray and you will receive an answer in some for, because your Heavenly Father loves you!!! I challenge all of you to start doing the simple things of the gospel such as pray, read and go to church. I promise as you do those things you will see the biggest blessings in the world. Your families will be closer, you will see the hand of God in your life, and you will want to always follow him! I know this church is the true church!

I love you all so much!! Keep ahold of that rod!

Have an amazing week!

Through Christ we can do all things! (Alma 26:12)

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove