Dear Family and Friends,
What an amazing week I have had! I have learned so much this week and
hope every week just gets better and better! Thank you for your love
and support on this journey of mind! I can feel your love and prayers
everyday! So this is what happened this week!
What an amazing week I have had! I have learned so much this week and
hope every week just gets better and better! Thank you for your love
and support on this journey of mind! I can feel your love and prayers
everyday! So this is what happened this week!
Week of October 5-11 2015
Monday:
Wow today was a very enjoyable and relaxing day for me today! We had
just enough time to email in the morning and get laundry done before
we went shopping at Walmart, and then we were able to come back and
take some more time to visit with sister Peña and change to go to the bowling alley! So we payed 10 dollars for two rounds or bowling and a lunch! It was a pretty killer lunch deal and the there was a lot of missionaries there so that we could have fun with one another! I didn't do to well on my scores and got a 109 and 106! I got beat by one of the Hermanas and was a little upset! All I know is that she had some sort of training before the mission! However it was fun getting to know the missionaries a little better and be able to email the family as well. So after that we went home and cleaned the house for the week so that it could be clean for any unexpected visitors like our inspectors that seem to randomly appear out of no where! So as we went finding tonight we were expecting to not find a lot of people, because there have not been a lot out the last few nights. Well tonight we were blown out of the water! The Lord blessed us with a,aging weather which brought many people out on their porches in this apartment complex and we were able to get 4 quick contact lessons and give out 4 books of Mormons!! Also we set up 3 return dates to teach so we will see how they go! Contacting for me was very scary at first,but as I do it more and more I feel natural and love learning about other people! I feel I am improving how to have a really good conversation to help people understand our church!
May I invite all of you to go past your everyday normal conversation
status with your non member friends. So when they say hey you don't
believe in smoking do you? You can say no I don't and this is why!
Testify. It is the easiest way for others to feel the spirit, and I
promise that they will understand you even if they don't agree with
you! What an amazing time to be alive! And don't worry. During pday we even have a chance to just have fun without stressing about our days ahead!! It is a good stress though!!
Tuesday:
Today was kind of a more relaxing day for me! We went to the church today after studies and destroyed all of our area books in paper, because we have been inputting all the information to our iPads since the day I got here! We finally finished and followed the directions to shred every paper to avoid other people getting ahold of personal information. Well this project took from 12 noon to 315 to finish. It was really fun to be able to get to know my district even more before the changes all come in next Monday! So after that project I went to the North Side elders area for an exchange with Elder Hornberger again! We were not able to have any lessons, but we got to go visit with Sunny, the more recent convert that I had a picture of a few weeks ago that has a hard time walking and is blind. We had a lot of fun with him! As we left to grab dinner and return to his house he said, "I will have the tequila ready when you get back!" He always says something funny! After our dinner with him we went with Elder Sinascachi and elder Allison to their area for Elder Hornberger to do 2 interviews for baptisms this next week. The family Santiago is super nice and hopefully the elders can get the dad interested so the whole family can go through the temple one day! I learned a lot about becoming a leader and the things I can do to be a better teacher! I always enjoy my exchanges with Elder Hornberger, but sadly this will be his last one, because he is dying this next week on Wednesday and going home this next Thursday! Tonight all he could tell me was, "wow the time has just flown by, I still feel like I am a new missionary!" I know time is flying and will only get fast, but sadly I don't think it slows down after the mission and I really would like it too! What an amazing day I had!!
Today was kind of a more relaxing day for me! We went to the church today after studies and destroyed all of our area books in paper, because we have been inputting all the information to our iPads since the day I got here! We finally finished and followed the directions to shred every paper to avoid other people getting ahold of personal information. Well this project took from 12 noon to 315 to finish. It was really fun to be able to get to know my district even more before the changes all come in next Monday! So after that project I went to the North Side elders area for an exchange with Elder Hornberger again! We were not able to have any lessons, but we got to go visit with Sunny, the more recent convert that I had a picture of a few weeks ago that has a hard time walking and is blind. We had a lot of fun with him! As we left to grab dinner and return to his house he said, "I will have the tequila ready when you get back!" He always says something funny! After our dinner with him we went with Elder Sinascachi and elder Allison to their area for Elder Hornberger to do 2 interviews for baptisms this next week. The family Santiago is super nice and hopefully the elders can get the dad interested so the whole family can go through the temple one day! I learned a lot about becoming a leader and the things I can do to be a better teacher! I always enjoy my exchanges with Elder Hornberger, but sadly this will be his last one, because he is dying this next week on Wednesday and going home this next Thursday! Tonight all he could tell me was, "wow the time has just flown by, I still feel like I am a new missionary!" I know time is flying and will only get fast, but sadly I don't think it slows down after the mission and I really would like it too! What an amazing day I had!!
Wednesday:
Wow today was a crazy day! We woke up and went running further than I have ran in along time, and now my knees are a little sore, but I need it, because I am getting a little belly! They say the bike elders usually put on the weight and the car elders loose weight because bike elders are constantly exercising, making them feel like they need to eat more, but who really knows! Anyways it was a good run and after we got ready for the day and had a quick study session before we had to head to the bus stop to take two buses to the church for Zone Council! Being on exchanges and coming back straight to zone council is hard because I had to take my suit to change into plus all my other clothes from the exchange. However, it was a really fun exchange that I learned a lot from! I really am going to miss the example of Elder Hornberger. So after Zone Council elder Schuhmacher headed home and got ready to go and find a few people!
Wow today was a crazy day! We woke up and went running further than I have ran in along time, and now my knees are a little sore, but I need it, because I am getting a little belly! They say the bike elders usually put on the weight and the car elders loose weight because bike elders are constantly exercising, making them feel like they need to eat more, but who really knows! Anyways it was a good run and after we got ready for the day and had a quick study session before we had to head to the bus stop to take two buses to the church for Zone Council! Being on exchanges and coming back straight to zone council is hard because I had to take my suit to change into plus all my other clothes from the exchange. However, it was a really fun exchange that I learned a lot from! I really am going to miss the example of Elder Hornberger. So after Zone Council elder Schuhmacher headed home and got ready to go and find a few people!
We actually decided to go and visit Hno. Peña, because he was taken back to the emergency room and is in icu because he has infection in his body that is giving his body shock! He is doing pretty good, but he is very tired. He actually got a tube put right next to his heart to draw blood and also to put the antibiotics right by the heart. He says it is very painful, but if it works it is worth it! We just keep praying that everything will work out for him and sister Peña. So after that we headed home and decided to ride up and down a few streets before 9 to find someone to talk to about the Book of Mormon! And today God put a miracle in our path like everyday! We were actually turning around and heading home with no success when a man stopped at the stop sign and started talking to us! He was an in active member who wanted to come back. We talked for a while and gave him a Book of Mormon to review again! We really hope and pray that we can help him like everyone! I know God answers prayers and helps us with our goals!
Thursday:
Wow today was a really good day for me! We had a really good study section this morning and then we had a really good planning session as well! I am starting to love planning for the week and don't know how I lived without planning ahead as much as I do now! So after we finished planning we began biking to a street to contact when Elder Schuhmacher's tire popped again! His tread is so worn even the rocks are just destroying his tires! So we walked the bikes back to the house and walked to a closer street to contact! Let me tell you, the sun makes you so hot when you walk, and I never want to walk again anywhere! I love my bike so much and hopefully one day I will be able to drive a car! So we were able to contact 2 ladies and give them copies of the Book of Mormon! One of the ladies was very nervous to take the book thinking we were going to come back another day to ask for our money. We told her that all we wanted to do was help her come closer to God and she set up an appointment with us! The other lady was probably one of the sweetest people I have ever contacted, but just had no time to be taught. She works everyday and has a day of rest that changes every week! None the less we placed the copies of the Book of Mormon in two new hands for the better! After dinner we bussed over to the house of Hermana Fuentes and walked the rest of the way. On our walk to the bus stop a man yelled at us and said, "hey you Mormons, want a beer?!" Both Elder Schuhmacher and I just laughed and kept walking, almost a little sad he didn't realize what he was missing. We taught Hennessy and Mesmerize lesson 3 of there recent convert lessons and then fixed the computer of Hna Fuentes. As Elder Schuhmacher was fixing the computer I sat and visited with Hna Fuentes! I really love her so much! She is so sweet and loves to talk about the missionaries! She used to do a Monday dinner night with over 10 missionaries and loved it! So we left the house of Hna Fuentes around 8 and had to walk in the dark, because we didn't have our bikes. Let's just say we should have left when it was light, because there were a few people kind of acting suspicious, so we walked with a major purpose about half a mile or so to our bus stop! On the way a lady pulled up to us and asked what we were selling and she wanted us to stop by one day. Most random thing ever, but it is amazing how the lord prepares the people to receive the gospel! Today was a really good day!
Wow today was a really good day for me! We had a really good study section this morning and then we had a really good planning session as well! I am starting to love planning for the week and don't know how I lived without planning ahead as much as I do now! So after we finished planning we began biking to a street to contact when Elder Schuhmacher's tire popped again! His tread is so worn even the rocks are just destroying his tires! So we walked the bikes back to the house and walked to a closer street to contact! Let me tell you, the sun makes you so hot when you walk, and I never want to walk again anywhere! I love my bike so much and hopefully one day I will be able to drive a car! So we were able to contact 2 ladies and give them copies of the Book of Mormon! One of the ladies was very nervous to take the book thinking we were going to come back another day to ask for our money. We told her that all we wanted to do was help her come closer to God and she set up an appointment with us! The other lady was probably one of the sweetest people I have ever contacted, but just had no time to be taught. She works everyday and has a day of rest that changes every week! None the less we placed the copies of the Book of Mormon in two new hands for the better! After dinner we bussed over to the house of Hermana Fuentes and walked the rest of the way. On our walk to the bus stop a man yelled at us and said, "hey you Mormons, want a beer?!" Both Elder Schuhmacher and I just laughed and kept walking, almost a little sad he didn't realize what he was missing. We taught Hennessy and Mesmerize lesson 3 of there recent convert lessons and then fixed the computer of Hna Fuentes. As Elder Schuhmacher was fixing the computer I sat and visited with Hna Fuentes! I really love her so much! She is so sweet and loves to talk about the missionaries! She used to do a Monday dinner night with over 10 missionaries and loved it! So we left the house of Hna Fuentes around 8 and had to walk in the dark, because we didn't have our bikes. Let's just say we should have left when it was light, because there were a few people kind of acting suspicious, so we walked with a major purpose about half a mile or so to our bus stop! On the way a lady pulled up to us and asked what we were selling and she wanted us to stop by one day. Most random thing ever, but it is amazing how the lord prepares the people to receive the gospel! Today was a really good day!
Friday:
So today was a very flip flop day for us, and tomorrow will be about the same, however, that is what makes the mission so much fun! So today we had Elder Sinaschalci come and hangout with us all day until around 5 because his companion Elder Brown just get word that he will be the new SpTL! Which means the Spanish Training Leader. It is equivalent to an Ap for the Spanish missionaries! Also right after Elder Sinaschalci showed up we also had an English Elder, Elder Parkinson who is the cousin of Thomas Christiansen show up to hang with us all morning! So we had two extra elders for more of the morning and elder Sinaschalci for the evening, and we were able to contact quite a good amount of people using his car to go around town! It was so nice being able to drive and get from point a to point b so fast! As he was picked up by his companion, we received word from Elder Brown about what would happen to us from the transfers coming up, so I will most likely be staying for at least one more transfer and be with an elder named Elder Lopez who is from Arizona and native to speaking Spanish! That was really good to hear, and I hope that it is the truth! So we finished our day off by teaching a less active member Juan Rosas about the importance of church, and he shared his life story with us! It is crazy the things that he has gone through and his wife left him! He has been staying so strong, and we just didn't know any other way we could help him, but tell him that God loves him and will help him if he keeps following him!
We got home tonight and finished planning when we received a call from Sister Peña. So Hno. Peña has been in the hospital trying to get rid of the infection. She was in shock and she told me, "elder, Jimmy isn't doing good, he has a major fever and they are pulling his tube that goes to his heart out. He is being rushed to icu where really no one can go and see him to limit infection. He received a good blessing, but I won't be home for a few days. Would you be able to watch the house and dog?" I felt so bad and said, of course we can watch the house and dog! Is there anything else that we can do! All she could say was pray! So that is what we will do! I hope everything will work out right form doctors as they perform some time of surgery for him!
So today was a very flip flop day for us, and tomorrow will be about the same, however, that is what makes the mission so much fun! So today we had Elder Sinaschalci come and hangout with us all day until around 5 because his companion Elder Brown just get word that he will be the new SpTL! Which means the Spanish Training Leader. It is equivalent to an Ap for the Spanish missionaries! Also right after Elder Sinaschalci showed up we also had an English Elder, Elder Parkinson who is the cousin of Thomas Christiansen show up to hang with us all morning! So we had two extra elders for more of the morning and elder Sinaschalci for the evening, and we were able to contact quite a good amount of people using his car to go around town! It was so nice being able to drive and get from point a to point b so fast! As he was picked up by his companion, we received word from Elder Brown about what would happen to us from the transfers coming up, so I will most likely be staying for at least one more transfer and be with an elder named Elder Lopez who is from Arizona and native to speaking Spanish! That was really good to hear, and I hope that it is the truth! So we finished our day off by teaching a less active member Juan Rosas about the importance of church, and he shared his life story with us! It is crazy the things that he has gone through and his wife left him! He has been staying so strong, and we just didn't know any other way we could help him, but tell him that God loves him and will help him if he keeps following him!
We got home tonight and finished planning when we received a call from Sister Peña. So Hno. Peña has been in the hospital trying to get rid of the infection. She was in shock and she told me, "elder, Jimmy isn't doing good, he has a major fever and they are pulling his tube that goes to his heart out. He is being rushed to icu where really no one can go and see him to limit infection. He received a good blessing, but I won't be home for a few days. Would you be able to watch the house and dog?" I felt so bad and said, of course we can watch the house and dog! Is there anything else that we can do! All she could say was pray! So that is what we will do! I hope everything will work out right form doctors as they perform some time of surgery for him!
Saturday:
Wow today was a very jumbled day for us! So we started off by going to a doctors appointment for Elder Schuhmacher with a member named Hno.
Gonzalez! It was a long ride and when we got the the doctors office
was closed. So we waited an hour and they finally showed up and got
him in right away. After the doctors appointment Hno. Gonzalez bought us subway meals and took us home. He is such an awesome example of how to be a member missionary! The whole time we were with him he was telling us of different people he wants us to go and talk to at different stores in town! He even gave us like a best day and time for each person and gave us back ground info! So after that we had to go and buy another bike tube for Elder Schuhmacher and install it! It took some time, but worked out good! So we thought we were all set and ready to go, so we got about 3 miles from Walmart, and it popped again by some simple glass shards that are impossible to miss in this city! 3 bike tire popped in a week. So we just walked around and were able to teach on less active! After that we went to a member restaurant for the most amazing Mexican burritos ever! So if you can't tell I have gained a little bit of wait, and I am not liking the little belly I am getting so I am holding back on eating and making sure I exercise! I came out weighing 135 and right now weigh about 157! Anyways, after dinner we went over to an apartment complex to teach Anai and some other set lessons we had, but like normal missionary life they weren't home, or would not open the door. We decided to start walking home early so were wouldn't be in a crazy area in the dark walking when a guy walked out and started to talk to us. He was definitely on drugs,because he wanted one of our "bibles" in Spanish, and I can promise you he barely new English so he didn't know Spanish. He said he could decipher it and find its meanings! I think the funniest thing he said was, "wow right here talks about Hombres, I wonder what those are, I bet they are good." For you that don't know, hombres are men. It was funny on the spot, because I know Spanish now and this guys was making himself look really goofy! Anyways we gave him some cards and told him
he was welcome to church and started on our way again when a younger
man yelled to us from across a field! So we walked over to him and it was a man named Michael and his brother Garrett who are English
members of the church and moved here to live on there own for awhile. They are 20 and 19 and they weren't sure if they wanted to serve missions. We talked to them about missions and how amazing they are and they seemed a lot more interested in serving missions after! The coolest part of that was that they had motorcycles and went to buy us drinks and tire patches while we got the tire ready to fix. They were answers to our prayers and I hope we were answers to theirs! Today really was a crazy, but amazing day!
Sunday:
Wow today was a very spiritual and draining day for me! I feel as I
go day to day I have a harder time waking up in the morning. Every day we work harder and harder on finding people and they last few days we have walked a lot, and today it really hit me hard! However, church today was so amazing! We listened to a older man who served in Panama talk about his mission, and it almost sounded like he didn't know how to pronounce the Spanish words correctly, but his stories of the mission were so amazing! I also had the chance to play for the primary again this week, and you will be happy to know that I will be the pianist for the primary program this next week, because Hermana Ford is leaving this transfer in Wednesday to a different area! I am very nervous, but will find some time to practice I hope! Also all of us missionaries along with our amazing ward mission leader, Hno. Ashton, taught the third hour class on the importance of home and visiting teaching. I don't think they understand what a difference they can make in others lives and
they won't until they actually try to do the work! The lesson went so perfect and we were also able to eat dinner with the family Delgado tonight! Cool thing about them is they actually have a daughter that is serving in the Independence Missouri mission in the temple and visitor center! She speaks Spanish and English, and has been out the same amount of time as I have! I really love that family and feel like Hno. Delgado looks a lot like my Grandpa Spendlove's pictures! Also we went to a mission president fireside tonight with Jhonny and his kids, and it was so amazing! I think he liked it a lot, because I noticed him wiping tears away from his face during the testimonies! He is such a spiritual giant in the gospel and I am so glad I have had the chance to know him!
Oh also I received word that I will be here the next 6 weeks in Fort
Worth with my new companion Elder Lickiss. I thing that is how you
spell it, but I will know for sure this Wednesday! I really hope and
pray he will be able to help me with my teaching and everything, but
most of all I hope we can get along! It was a long, but always amazing day and I feel like my Spanish is definitely coming along!!!!
Wow today was a very jumbled day for us! So we started off by going to a doctors appointment for Elder Schuhmacher with a member named Hno.
Gonzalez! It was a long ride and when we got the the doctors office
was closed. So we waited an hour and they finally showed up and got
him in right away. After the doctors appointment Hno. Gonzalez bought us subway meals and took us home. He is such an awesome example of how to be a member missionary! The whole time we were with him he was telling us of different people he wants us to go and talk to at different stores in town! He even gave us like a best day and time for each person and gave us back ground info! So after that we had to go and buy another bike tube for Elder Schuhmacher and install it! It took some time, but worked out good! So we thought we were all set and ready to go, so we got about 3 miles from Walmart, and it popped again by some simple glass shards that are impossible to miss in this city! 3 bike tire popped in a week. So we just walked around and were able to teach on less active! After that we went to a member restaurant for the most amazing Mexican burritos ever! So if you can't tell I have gained a little bit of wait, and I am not liking the little belly I am getting so I am holding back on eating and making sure I exercise! I came out weighing 135 and right now weigh about 157! Anyways, after dinner we went over to an apartment complex to teach Anai and some other set lessons we had, but like normal missionary life they weren't home, or would not open the door. We decided to start walking home early so were wouldn't be in a crazy area in the dark walking when a guy walked out and started to talk to us. He was definitely on drugs,because he wanted one of our "bibles" in Spanish, and I can promise you he barely new English so he didn't know Spanish. He said he could decipher it and find its meanings! I think the funniest thing he said was, "wow right here talks about Hombres, I wonder what those are, I bet they are good." For you that don't know, hombres are men. It was funny on the spot, because I know Spanish now and this guys was making himself look really goofy! Anyways we gave him some cards and told him
he was welcome to church and started on our way again when a younger
man yelled to us from across a field! So we walked over to him and it was a man named Michael and his brother Garrett who are English
members of the church and moved here to live on there own for awhile. They are 20 and 19 and they weren't sure if they wanted to serve missions. We talked to them about missions and how amazing they are and they seemed a lot more interested in serving missions after! The coolest part of that was that they had motorcycles and went to buy us drinks and tire patches while we got the tire ready to fix. They were answers to our prayers and I hope we were answers to theirs! Today really was a crazy, but amazing day!
Sunday:
Wow today was a very spiritual and draining day for me! I feel as I
go day to day I have a harder time waking up in the morning. Every day we work harder and harder on finding people and they last few days we have walked a lot, and today it really hit me hard! However, church today was so amazing! We listened to a older man who served in Panama talk about his mission, and it almost sounded like he didn't know how to pronounce the Spanish words correctly, but his stories of the mission were so amazing! I also had the chance to play for the primary again this week, and you will be happy to know that I will be the pianist for the primary program this next week, because Hermana Ford is leaving this transfer in Wednesday to a different area! I am very nervous, but will find some time to practice I hope! Also all of us missionaries along with our amazing ward mission leader, Hno. Ashton, taught the third hour class on the importance of home and visiting teaching. I don't think they understand what a difference they can make in others lives and
they won't until they actually try to do the work! The lesson went so perfect and we were also able to eat dinner with the family Delgado tonight! Cool thing about them is they actually have a daughter that is serving in the Independence Missouri mission in the temple and visitor center! She speaks Spanish and English, and has been out the same amount of time as I have! I really love that family and feel like Hno. Delgado looks a lot like my Grandpa Spendlove's pictures! Also we went to a mission president fireside tonight with Jhonny and his kids, and it was so amazing! I think he liked it a lot, because I noticed him wiping tears away from his face during the testimonies! He is such a spiritual giant in the gospel and I am so glad I have had the chance to know him!
Oh also I received word that I will be here the next 6 weeks in Fort
Worth with my new companion Elder Lickiss. I thing that is how you
spell it, but I will know for sure this Wednesday! I really hope and
pray he will be able to help me with my teaching and everything, but
most of all I hope we can get along! It was a long, but always amazing day and I feel like my Spanish is definitely coming along!!!!
I just want to thank you all for your love and support and also want to invite you all to find a scripture to ponder this week! It have changed my whole thoughts for this week!!!!!
My new scripture for this week is D&C 88:63-64
I love you all!!
Through Christ we can do all things! (Alma 26:12)
Con Amor,
Elder
Spendlove
Spendlove
We both received some hot chocolate from my friend Stefani for the cold winter months to come!
This is my mission lineage! My great grandpa elder Olivares and my grandpa Elder Lopez both from Mexico with my dad! This is what you say for mission terms, but also I have another mission grandpa here in Texas! This is him! He is elder Meyers from st. George!
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