Only 3 weeks left with my baby!;) Time flies!

Dear Family and Friends!
I hope your week was as wonderful as mine!! God truly blessed us every single day weather we realize it or not! Here is how my week went!

Week April 18-24 2016
Monday:
So today was such a fun day for me! To go from exercising everyday for multiple hours, to not having lots of time during the mission to exercise, Monday's are for sure the days to exercise for the missionaries, and today we did! So after emailing and buying groceries, we headed to the church, because it was raining, and we had an awesome time as a zone playing basketball, speed, and even steal the flag! So we played for quite a few hours and now as I am typing, I am just a little bit sore!! It was worth it though! Especially after the eventful week we had! Well, this evening, we were able to both teach the family home evening, and do the activity afterwards, and it was super awesome! We taught about Priesthood, Missionary Work, and Temples and then played Jeopardy to help them remember what they learned!! However, the whole Jeopardy thing became a huge issue with kids, because of course they don't know how to stop talking and screaming out the answers, and then the parents have to yell and it just ends up really bad!! We almost had to just stop playing multiple times, but we both just decided we would try one last time!? And it turned out alright!! And then, as we finished up we had the Hna. Corona come and ask us if we would help her do this game with the youth in 2 weeks and we excepted happily!! As we finished the home evening, we went into the kitchen where Daniel Rodriguez made nachos and there was drinks and desert, and we just got to know the members better!! I think the highlight of my whole day was of course my emails, but on the spiritual side I would say, watching the video about missionaries, on the LDS Library App, and then being able to testify of the wonderful blessings and feelings you have as a missionary!! I hope I never forget how I have felt, or the people I have helped!!
What a wonderful day!

Tuesday:
Wow what a crazy and wonderful day we have had!! I would say it was one of happiest days and most spiritual days I have had just with everything that has been happening lately! So today we focused on really two things! President Interviews and what we call Rescue Visits! So all morning we had the chance to be uplifted in a wonderful training on planning by our zone leaders and it just amazed me how I have been trained hundreds of times on planning and I still learn amazing things every time I go with my mind open and my heart set on learning! The thing that stuck out to me most about the whole planning is that even the Gods council and plan. And us learning how to plan is something we will use not only for the rest of this life, but on through the eternities!! So after lunch we had the chance to sit for 3 more hours and just focus on personal studying and thinking about the things we felt necessary to bring up with President Ames, and let me say that it was a wonderful opportunity to learn from the Spirit and the scriptures! So many ideas came into my head! Then it came my turn for the last interview with President Ames, and it was the most special and wonderful interview ever. I love personal interviews and the insight I receive! For instance, one of the main things I learned was how to change my area here with just one member who has so much family! Also I asked the question, Why did God only command Jehovah and Michael to go and create the earth, but then when man had to be formed, then he went down? And his simple response was, Doesn't everyone need a companion? Where was Michael  in this process? It all started to make sense and brought a whole new meaning of two by two! I am going to miss President Ames tremendously!!! So this evening we gathered for Rescue Visits at 7 and separated as ward leaders and missionaries to go and visit members and investigators and we had a wonderful success!! As we came back and headed home we received 3 text messages from the Zone Leaders saying that 3 people accepted baptismal dates tonight, and more are on the edge of saying yes as well!! I can testify that this is the had of God in our Zone for trying our hardest and truly loving those we teach!! Miracles do happen and we are part of them everyday!! What miracles have you been apart of recently!? I know that the promise Elder Christofferson gave us is coming to pass, because he is a representative of Christ and spoke in behalf of him when he said, "as you strengthen yourself and are converted, people will not be able to deny the testimonies you have!"(not exact words, but close!) What a wonderful day!

Wednesday:
Today was such a hectic day for the both of us!! So today we started off by having our wonderful studies very based on our investigators and exactly what we want to teach them today with the help of Hno. Hildreth! We had a good time and then even got through language study and 12 week!! Then after that we were able to go to the Family History Center to work with a less active member on helping him find a job!!! Well we couldn't find him one, but we did however, get him involved and excited about Family History and helped him find information on his father and mother and their family that he didn't have before! It was wonderful! Then we had the chance to eat with Hna. Evans there at the Family History Center and share a scripture about Enduring to the end by doing all that God asks us and commands us to do!! Then we ran outside late for our exchange with Hildreth and went to our set appointments!! We had a wonderful lesson with Kevin Garcia based on the Priesthood and how we must be clean to use it and also that the Spirit works the same way! Then we were able to sit down and teach Janet Ibarra!! We taught her about the plan of salvation and she loved it and believed it! And then she accepted to be baptized when we invited her, and said that she has to first Divorce her old husband first and then marry her boyfriend and she will do it!! But she will be at church!! So she is starting the paper and talking with a judge this week!! I will not see her get baptized, but I know that she will and I am happy knowing I was a part of her Journey, and I will never forget her and I hope she never forgets me!! We had to rush home after our wonderful night with Hildreth because we went over in our lessons, but wow was it worth it!! I love my mission!

Thurday:
So today was a wonderful day for me to learn a lot!! Today we had an exchange with the Sptls, (Spanish Training Leaders) and Elder Parkin came here to my area with me and Elder Wardle left and went with Elder Lickiss to his area in Hurst, and for me I learned so much!! At first I always seem to be nervous, but then after the day is over I look back at everything that happened and I always think, wow, he taught me so much today that I should have known, without him today, I would still be lost! So today we had the chance to have around 3 hours of finding and we decided to really focus on Inactive members in the ward. Come to find out, there is a lot that I didn't know about until we tried to go and find them. One of them we found, Maria Pinedo, and she was super sweet and just was to busy to have a lesson, but said she would have some service we could do for her, so we will keep checking up on her! After dinner we went out for just an hour to find some people and I had the feeling that we needed to go and visit a recently dropped investigator that was just to busy for us. So we passed by and they were home and opened the door for us. We went in and taught Filipe all of the first lesson and were able to even get a return appointment for him and we are so excited about how he took the lesson!! We left that house so happy and then we were able to go on and exchange with Hno. Zendejas where we visited Jesus Gloria, a less active member. As we were sitting there I asked a question maybe a little to direct and bold as I asked him, "Why are you not coming to church?" And all he said was it was personal and so I felt bad, so we are just going to keep passing by and trying to help him realize that the atonement is for everyone and that he can use it as well!! Really I feel like today I learned how to make a lesson focus more on a person by just asking them questions to connect it to them, and it made my teaching feel a lot more connected to the person!! Today was a wonderful day! 

 Friday:
Today was probably one of the longest days for me of being stuck in the house, but by the end, it was worth every minute of it!! So today Elder Parkin and I finished our exchange at my apartment and we were able to take some pictures as companionships and altogether, and it was lots of fun! He really taught me a lot on how to find and I was able to use it throughout the day! So after they headed out, Elder Wardle and I, we able to go and have some lunch at Chick-fail-a and then come back to have our weekly planning! The whole planning took a long time, because we were trying it a new way and now we realize we should have done it this way all along! However, after all of our studies and everything, it was dinner time and then we only had 3 hours before we had to be in the apartment again, so we got out and got to work right away!! The whole time, until around 7:30, we were out contacting some potential investigators, and we had a really fun time with it. As we were knocking some trailer doors, we were able to find 2 different Hnas that set return appointments with us! And one, named Elisabeth, didn't really want to talk to us at first, and was saying the normal routine of, Oh we go to a church, and I just explained that we are not trying to take away what she believes, but just add to her beliefs, and she let us teach her about the Book of Mormon, and we were able to give her one! Something that President Ames explained to us was that every time we give out more Books of Mormons, 2 months later we have more baptisms without fail. So Elder Wardle and I want to work more on making sure every person we see has a Book of Mormon to always be able to go to if they have questions or just decide to see if what we testified is the truth! It was a wonderful time talking to them and right away I felt a love for both of them! I can only imagine how our savior and Heavenly Father feel for them! So this evening we went by Kevin Garcias house for the main purpose of having his dad sign the baptismal form so that we knew the baptism was a for sure yes, and we had to wait for awhile, because his dad wasn't home for over a half hour, so we were able to talk to him about being baptiszed and then also kick the soccer ball around with him. Funny enough, he really enjoys talking with me and playing with me because I know how. And he sometimes says, "how are you so good?" Haha it is super funny!  As his dad showed up, we went inside to have him sign it and his dad blew it off saying, "I am super busy trying to get my sisters car back for her and you will have to come and pick it up tomorrow morning." So we are taking that very seriously and will be there right at 8 to show him how serious we are about this happening for his son! So we finally figured out that it is not Kevin that is holding back from being Baptized, but Kevin's dad! However, God wants this to happen, and we are going to do everything possible to make it happen!

Saturday:
Today was quite the day for the both of us!! We went by the home of Kevin this morning to find that his dad didn't sign the paper and is just stressing us both out! So today we had the wonderful chance to go with Hno. Tryon and repaint some steps for an English sister who has been super sick and in bed, and it was a wonderful project for us!! We not only had the chance to do service, but we got to know Hno. Tryon better and then we got to go and learn from him!! Then as we finished there, we hurried home and showered so that we would be ready to go with the Zone Leaders! We were picked up and Elder Wardle was dropped off to spend the day with Elder Neilson, a ASL Missionary, and I went with the Zone Leaders and District leaders in the Zone to a mission wide leadership meeting where Elder Foster came and talked to us!! As we walked in, President Ames said something that changed me. He said this with tears in his eyes while giving me a hug, "Elder Spendlove, I am so grateful that you are finally hear! Please learn as much as you can!!" And then, these are things that Elder Foster said that changed me! 
"Leader means Educur, which means Educate. So in other words, To draw forth, Pull out, or recognize someone's potential."
"What do you want to say in the last prayer of your mission? Because you will have the rest of Eternity to think about how you did!"
"Our job as leaders is a trust to help God exalt his people. (Become a God.)"
"2 Things change people: 1. Show their Eternal potential and they will want it.

1. Love them, support them, and they will do it!"

I am very grateful to have been able to learn at the feet of these great leaders all the time, and to be able to become like a God!! 
After the wonderful meeting, we headed home and had some dinner in a store called Mooyahs Denton, where we found a giant chalk board and drew the whole plan of Salvation. The most awesome part about that was that everyone in that story was not talking or eating, but watching intently on the plan of salvation being drawn! It was amazing! As we got home the zone leaders challenged both me and Elder Broberg to give a Book of Mormon away tonight, so while elder Brobergs companion was sick, we went and found 2 guys and were able to teach them and give them a Book of Mormon and they loved it all together!! It was a wonderful day! And God does stuff for specific reasons!

Sunday:
Today for me, was one of the Longest days of the mission so far, other than the days I left home or came into the mission field!! So today we had some really good meetings and our sacrament meeting was super good, but we had none of our investigators show up that committed to do so, not even Kevin who will be baptized this Saturday!! So all I could do was think about them and what we are not helping them understand, or what we are missing as missionaries! So it made church super long for me to sit through with this on my mind. Then I received an email from the Zone Leaders giving us ideas of what to base our District meeting on to help our missionaries so I was planning to have a good District meeting set up! So today we had a miracle occur! We went to pick up Kevin for his Baptismal Interview and as we picked him up, we sat and visited with his dad for a few minutes about his little Toyota Truck he had been fixing up, and Elder Wardle asked him, "Will you please sign Kevin's baptismal paper so that he has your permission?" And he said yes!! He signed it and it was so cool to see how fast Kevin's attitude changed and he was super excited and happy about his decision! He had a wonderful baptismal interview and passed, and we were even able to have the program all figured out for Him!! So this evening we were looking through the area book for who we wanted to go and try to find tonight, and Elder Wardle found a full trailer park we had never heard of or seen before, and we were able to go and find in just the short amount of time we had, 3 people that were interested in us coming back and sharing a small message and we were able to give away 2 Books of Mormon!! We taught a man named Abraham from Muzquiz Coahuila Mexico and he was super interested in our message. He talked about some problems his family was having and that his nephew killed a man and so he was here to help the family, and he said he wanted missionaries to visit him in Mexico!! Also as we were there, a guy was fixing his car breaks, so we sat by him and had got to know him and had a small lesson on the Book of Mormon, and he seemed interested. As we were leaving I feel he was a little surprised when I tried to shake his hand, because it was super dirty. In the Spanish culture they feel super bad to shake your hand if their had is dirty, because they feel it is a disrespectful!! So he was super impressed! Today was a wonderful day!! And Even better finding more investigators!


I hope that you have a wonderful week and always remember to have a vision for life and to share it with everyone you meet! I love y'all and hope to hear from y'all! 

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

 

Service With True Intent is the Best Love you can Show!

Dear Family and Friends!

I have to say that this week has been an amazing one! I feel I say it every week, but why complain when blessings are falling all around! All you have to do is open your spiritual eyes, sometimes just your physical ones!

To start off for this week, I want to wish my Brother, Skyler, Happy Birthday!! (Wow, you are getting old!!! 28! That means your hair is definitely receding fastly!:))

Also Happy Birthday to one of my little princesses, Carolee!! Already 2! Wow! Also Aunt Jackie and Trasen!!

I hope all of you have a wonderful week and know that I love you!!

So this is how my week went!

Week April 11-17 2016

Monday: 

Wow it is crazy to think about how fast not only the days go out here, but the weeks as well! I am slowly starting to realize that I am not a young missionary that I used to be, still young, but finally getting older and not sure what I think about that!

So today was a wonderful and tiring day for both Elder Wardle and I! We of course had a wonderful time going shopping and then had the wonderful opportunity to go to the church and finish most of our emails when a lot more missionaries showed up to play Soccer and Basketball! We had a wonderful time and even the Zone Leaders showed up! So as we were finishing our p day, we started to hear something hitting the roof super hard in the gym, so we went to the Kitchen door to see it hailing super hard and raining mixed with it! The hail was the size of a golf ball more or less, and it was crazy. Then as we sat there a little longer the Tornado Sirens went off and we realized that we probably needed to close the door and stay inside! So we stayed for a little bit longer and it took us a while to get going home, because the rain was coming down so hard that it was literally a wall of water and you could not even see our cars just outside the doors! So after 15 minutes we went back to see if we could leave and it was sunny again and just super wet! The Texas weather is so drastic and very bipolar! Kind of reminds me of Hurricane at times! So this evening we had the chance to go and get to know the Islas family more and have dinner with them! They are super sweet, and you could feel that they were good people in their wonderful home! They are spiritual Giants and are also missionaries to the max! We had a wonderful time with them, and i feel I am slowly getting my "Me" back, if that makes sense. What a such needed day we had!!

Tuesday:

Wow today was a crazy day, but worth every second! So to start off the day we had the wonderful opportunity to go and give service to Hno and Hna Parry. We were able to clean out their front flower garden and it was super relaxing for me, and then we went and had a wonderful lunch with them! As we finished there, we went and started an exchange with Elder Lakey and Elder Escobar. Elder Escobar is with me today and tomorrow and Elder Wardle is with Elder Lakey are in their area! So today Elder Escobar had the chance to go and contact quite a lot of people and with all the houses we knocked, we found one family, and so it was well worth our time! I have to write this sad, but funny experience that happened to us as well. So while knocking these doors, we saw this Hispanic couple talking and sitting with some yard tools, so we started walking towards them and they saw us. As we walked towards them they began to make a move! The wife ran in the house and closed the garage door as fast as she could, and her husband grabbed the wheel barrow and pushed super fast to his back yard and then slammed the back gate before we could even get close. It was super sad to see them so scared, and also super funny because they really didn't want to talk to us, and my response was, "they probably thought we were Jehovahs Witnesses, we better leave them a card!" So we left them a card and went on our way!  Also while walking back to our apartment, we had a guy stop us and ask a lot of questions and so we taught him a wonderful short lesson and get his address, so we can refer him to other missionaries soon! This evening we went by our investigator, Janet Ibarra, and we had a super powerful lesson with her! So when we taught her, she just seemed to open up so much and finally tell us that she needs to start with her. So our next lesson we are going to help her understand that they way to start with herself is through baptism and it will be so wonderful! I am having such a wonderful time on my exchange!

Wednesday:

Wow what a fast and wonderful day we both had today! Something I for sure learned today is that we all have our own talents and gifts and that is what truly makes us unique from one another, but if we get down to the basics, we are all children of God, and that means everything! If we want to be better, our father is here to help us! So today we had an awesome district meeting focused on staying and being consecrated missionaries and how that can help us find more people, and then I gave a training and a role play on how we can be ourselves in our contacts! It was very good to get everyone's ideas and input on the many things we could do to be unique, and then to put them to the test with our role plays. After District Meeting we exchanged back and elder Wardle and I went to our ward mission leader, Hno. Hildreth's house to grab a few stacks of cards that he had for us. As we pulled up to his yard for the first time, we were both in shock by what we saw. He lives on 50 acres of green grass, Forrest, river, and ponds and he has the rights to hunt right from his back porch, and to make everything even more in awe, his house was a giant! We had to call in to have the gate open and he had everything you could imagine, even a man cave with a view of all of his hunting grounds! He loved giving us a tour and he is just a wonderful man. One day I hope to be able to just afford a nice house, but his house would be a dream for sure, more for the property! We left after about a good 40 minute visit about our ward, and went to dinner with a sweet lady named Hna. Chavez. She works translating for people and loves her job and is a spiritual giant as well. She loves the missionaries and we had a wonderful time at Rosas cafe for our dinner. As we went to our main lesson with the Monzon family, we arrived to Hno. Monzon all dressed up in his church close thing he was going with us on and exchange. So we told him we could only teach his family and we would have to go on an exchange next week, it was good to see his enthusiasm and energy to want to go out with us! So we taught their family about charity and the importance of being humble, and they all had many things they could do to change, so we set some goals with them and set some of our own, and it was wonderful! So we were heading to Sanger to go on exchange when we arrived at the house of the member who when arriving told us that he was having to go and get another members car fixed that just broke down. So we tried a few doors before we had to head home for the night! Today was a wonderful and needed day for sure! Also it drizzled rain all day which made it super perfect!

Thursday:

The busier the day, the faster the day! So today we had just that happen to us! So to start the day off we biked to the church to try and make some copies that come to find out we saved wrong, so we had to bike all the way back with no success and begin our weekly planning, but it was very nice to go for a nice bike ride again after not riding for a while! So we had a wonderful planning session and then began our day of craziness! We had 4 planned lessons and at the last second one canceled on us, so we were able to pass by and check up on Janet Ibarra and see if we could still come by and serve her tomorrow, and then check on her reading as well! She was very happy to see us and she was even able to meet our exchange for the night, Hno. Ornelas! So we went just down the road after our small talk and taught a sweet and shy lady named Marta, some English! She is very appreciative of us passing to teach her and doesn't want to come to our church yet, but is okay with reading the Book of Mormon for the purposes of learning English, it is a bit weird! After our lesson with her we were able to go and teach A sweet lady, Alicia Castor/Moratalla. As I was there, I realized that I was one of the first missionaries to come and knock on her door after being so inactive, and she and I have a wonderful connection with one another. We taught her about decisions we make and how they determine our future, from the talk given by Thomas S. Monson, and she just loved it! She knows that she needs to get back to church and is just trying to find out how she can do that with her job and still make the needed money she needs! As we were wrapping up the lesson, I began to ask who she wanted to say the closing prayer, and before I could finished she smiled and said, "You Elder Spendlove!" It was a great feeling to know that she is super energetic about us coming over and is always super willing to let us come and teach her what God wants her to do! To end the night we went by the house of the Pumphreys to teach a work of salvation lesson on being the best leader by first following and then helping others to follow as well! They loved it and we challenged them to give out 3 pass along cards by next Sunday and they are very excited to do that! Really the day was super fast because of us keeping it packed with lessons! It was a crazy and fast day for the both of us!

Friday:

As a missionary you dedicate your life for 18 months or 2 years to the Lord. Leaving behind everything you have to serve him. However, one of the best ways to serve him is by serving his children, and today we did just that! So today we literally didn't even put our white shirts or ties on! We started our day by going to Our Daily Bread, because they texted us and asked if we could come in and help today, and I was stuck cleaning out a walk in freezer again, and it was Sooooo cold I was just in pain, however, we are so happy that we did it, because we saved another man from having to do it by himself! As we finished there, we went and helped set up some tables and chairs at the church for a stake relief society night that they will be having tomorrow. So after that bit of service we had our investigator, Kevin, call us wanting to play a little soccer, so we made the deal that if we could teach him we could play for about an hour with him! He accepted and we had fun playing and he is super excited for his baptism that is coming up in 2 weeks! As we were at a small field in a park area a little black boy, named Malcolm, around 9 years old came up to us to see if he could play. We let him play and we were just having a blast, when he asked who were were. We told him we were missionaries and that we taught people about Jesus Christ, and he looked at us and said, "is that why y'all so nice to me?" With all sincerity he thought we were being nice only for that reason. Then we explained that we always try to be nice because Jesus was nice, and he just could stop smiling! It was a lot of fun!  As we left there we went over to our other investigator, Janet Ibarra's house, to help her clean up around her trailer, because she  had a lot of leaves and a little bit of trash to be thrown away! It was a great service and it was good to be able to get to know her and her son more! We are super excited to keep teaching them and this next week we are going to invite them to be baptized! They have accepted a date before, like 3 years ago, and it never happened, so we are ready to make sure it happens!! We make that house look super good, and we left definitely making a difference in the way they were acting and talking! We even got her son to say the pray for us to leave! Service really does touch the heart of the people!

Saturday:

Well today was a little bit of a struggle for us, but it was very necessary I feel! I have started to realize as I have been studying about the opposition, that when times in the mission get hard, it is for my own benefit and strength! And so I try to enjoy even the hardest times! So today we had nothing but pure finding time, so we decided we were going to start trying to find people a little differently! We decided to go to the library and to type some scriptures on some papers and then put them on some water bottles to give out! Then we are going to go to a corner that is always covered with Hispanics waiting for work, and we will be handing out Books of Mormon and water bottles to everyone! However, today, we went around to a few potential investigators and had no luck, but as we started to walk around a neighborhood a little later, that is when we had a cool experience! We we went passed this older guy playing with his grandkids at the end of a street while knocking some doors and he was super nice and said hi, but we didn't think to try and talk to him. So we walked around and around and no one wanted to listen to us, so we then asked ourselves, "why don't we just talk to him?" So we walked up to him and had a wonderful talk with him! He told us about a friend he had that was from our church and then we shared a wonderful video about our true identity and he really loved it! We told him that we knew God loved him and cared about him and we walking back to the car when we felt we needed to give him a Book of Mormon, so we hurried back, gave him a Book of Mormon, and it sparked a whole new conversation! He wanted to know what the book was and how it could happen and where our church was, because the other churches he was going to just wanted his money! It was such a testimony to me to realize that God really does put right in front of you, the people he wants you to talk too, so talk with everyone! It was a super fun and enjoyable day looking for those ready souls!

Sunday:

The Sunday's are definitely the best days of the week for me, because of the chance to recharge myself of spiritually being drained, but somehow every week I hear something that gives me the strength to keep trying, to keep knocking, to keep teaching people, because sooner or later someone will be ready! So today we had really good meetings on how we could help our investigators and members and then we had a wonderful church service hearing from a brother from the Stake High Council! Also I had the chance to go and sing in the choir and had such a wonderful time singing, Cuan Dulce La Ley de Dios. I miss the choir back home and am glad I am able to help out here in this small ward! Also we were able to have a lesson in Elders Quorum that gave me the energy I needed to finish the day off strong! It was focused on Missionary Work and how we all should take part in it! Then we also had a wonderful brother stand and say, "Brethren, Never think that going out with the missionaries is a waste of your gas, time or energy, because in reality, it isn't your gas,  time or energy, but the Lords, and this is what he wants you to do!" Then he bore his testimony on how much going out with the missionaries has helped him and how much he loves being able to just be around the missionaries! It was a wonderful, powerful lesson that gave me just the energy necessary to love love the time I had ahead to find people who were interested! So today we had the chance to go by Hna. Strasser's house just to take a picture of our meal calendar when she asked us if we had eaten. We responded yes, and she said, then you have to come in and have a piece of birthday pie with me and my family! Come to find out, they had the whole family over and we're celebrating her birthday and her moms birthday! So we stayed for long enough to eat and share a few fun stories and then we had to head out! We went straight over to a house we felt impressed to go and visit, and as we walked up a boy was out front, so we became his friend and asked if he could get his mom!! He did and she came out and cooked Taquitos  while we were talking to her and her boys, and she let us teach her a small lesson! We asked her if we could return to share a small message another day and she said she was too busy, but she gave us 3 Taquitos each and sent us on our way! We were a little confused, but accepted it and left! And they were the best Taquitos I have ever eaten!!!  It wasn't much, but I believe we touched the younger boys lives and gave them a chance to feel the spirit! We hope somehow they will want to hear more! What a wonderful day! And to end the day I was able to call for my districts numbers and then call the Zone Leaders!! This is one of my favorite parts of the whole week, because I get to talk to my district and help them in the best way I can, LOVE! And then I get to receive help and ideas from the Zone Leaders on how to improve! Today was great!

Thank you so much for your love and support! I hope that my email wasn't to long and that it was able to help you out in some way!! I really do love all of you so much!

Have a wonderful week!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

10 Months left and not enough months left!

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope that y'all have had a wonderful week! I can't tell you that I truly have! 

As I sit here and email this morning, it is beginning to rain and thunder like crazy and we are really just enjoying it so much! The rain is coming down so hard and it is just a lovely feeling of Spring. Also if you think it rains hard in Utah, just come and check out the rain here!! The storm drains are big enough you can jump down in them and run around! 

So this week we have had a wonderful week and just in our district have set 3 baptismal dates! Kevin Garcia on the 30 of April, and Julio and Carina Gomez for the 21 of May!! We now just need to help them get completely ready for that date!

Here is how my week went!

Week April 4-10 2016

Monday:

Wow today was a very tiring day for the both of us! So today we had the wonderful opportunity to finally get our haircuts again! It seems like every week we have to get them, and our hair just never stops or slows from growing! So after our haircuts and shopping we went to the park and played ultimate frisbee with our whole zone, and it was a huge success and a blast! I am very burnt on my face, but am just loving the perfect temperature at about 80 degrees and sunny! So after a bit of playing we headed back to the church and began our Family Home Evening and had a wonderful time! We made Get Well Cards for Hna. Meza, the bishops wife, who was in the hospital, and we are going to take them by her house with a picture we took of all of us gathered making cards! It was a wonderful scene seeing all of the kids and even members getting involved in helping brighten her trial with the best thing, Love. The kids put their hearts into the cards and letters and I am sure she will just love them so much. So as we got home this evening, a newer investigator called us and asked if we could help her. She was saying that her son is super lost and is just not wanting to listen to anything that she has to say and she feels that we could help. We were glad to hear she was asking for our advice. I sat with her on the phone for about 15 minutes and just told her my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it can help any situation, and invited her to read it. Also I challenged her to pray tonight for the help of the Lord and we would be doing the same to go and visit them tomorrow at 6. She was so grateful for the idea and the love we showed as she seemed so sad and hopeless on the other side of the Phone. I know God will help her if she has that real intent!

Tuesday: 

Wow today was a crazy tiring day for the both of us! So today after we finished all of our studying for our lessons, we got texts from two of our investigators saying that they would have to change their lessons to another day or until next week and so we were a little frustrated that had studied all morning for canceled appointments, but we learned a lot and won't have to plan their lessons again!

So to start off the afternoon we went by the sweet Hna. Meza's house to visit her and to see how she was feeling after being in the hospital with pneumonia, and she is just as energized as can be and is so ready to just be done with the sicknesses she has. However, her cancer has gotten her to the point that she really has no say of getting much healthier. So she is just so positive and focused on others when she is the one that is so sick! So before we left she made sure we got our picture with our companions and then she had to make sure she sent them to our moms right away!!

So today we went and had a little service finding and it was super fun! After the which we went and had a wonderful lesson with a sweet lady, named Marta, that is mostly focused on learning about English and being able to speak clearly in English, but our whole English lesson is based out of the Book of Mormon and our pamphlets, and she loves it a lot!! Also we met her husband for the first time and he is super nice as well! But both of them are just super shy and hard to get talking! So after their lesson we went just down the street the the trailer of Janet Ibarra where we were able to meet with her and her son and teach them about the importance of families and parents and how much they truly can teach us if we let them. Janet asked multiple times how she can let God take over of her family and life and we were able to testify that Baptism and the simple things are the ways to do it! She was super interested and we hope to invite her for a specific date to come to church and to accept to be baptized. Also we thought of a wonderful member who could really help her so much if she was teaching her with us! 

I just love my mission and the lessons I learn as I teach and get asked questions I have never been asked before! I will be forever indebted to my Heavenly Father for this mission and the experiences I have had!

Wednesday: 

What a weird feeling knowing that today Elder Wardle and I have been companions for 7 weeks, a full transfer, and only have 6 more weeks together before something happens with one of us! It makes me nervous, because I am not ready to leave at all!!

So today we had almost 5 hours of just finding time and we were very busy the whole time. As we started it was amazing how we just started to do simple things and things started to just fall into place so perfectly for us!! We started off by going to our Bishop's house while the whole family was away from the house and decided we would cut their grass and wash their windows for them, because bishops wife has been in the hospital with a few problems stemming from her cancer. So we were able to leave before any of them saw us, but somehow when we saw bishop at the church he thanked us, even though he never saw us! So after that, we went and welcomed some newer missionaries into their new house and gave them some Peanut butter Cookies and had a good visit with the both of them. As we were leaving they said they would be looking for investigators for us in their area, and we were very grateful for that! So we decided to go and check a few restaurants around Denton that are Hispanic ones, and we were able to put about 6 Books of Mormon out to replace the ones that we had put out that someone had taken, and we put out over 20 cards and pamphlets that we pray someone who is ready with find and call! So as we finished there we decided to go back to the church and do a half and hour planning for the next few days and it was a huge success. This evening we were able to meet and eat as a district with the new Hermana, Hna. Eyestone. She is super fun, outgoing, and not afraid of doing anything. She is going to be a wonderful asset and missionary not only in our ward, but in our mission in general! So we meet with the Relief Society tonight in their presidency meeting as a new push we have work on with our bishop.

Our bishop has called us as the 3rd counsellors of the presidencies to just be able to be in the meetings and give our advice and even talk about our investigators and how they may need help or even how we can help the presidency with the sisters or the people covered by the group, and was a huge success as well. The Relief Society presidency is going to go and visit with our investigator one day coming up, and we both have been praying that we would be able to find a sister who could help Janet, and we think we found the ones! So coolest thing happened tonight. We rearranged to have one of the young men pick up the son of Janet, to come to the Young men's activity, and he came and had a wonderful time, telling us he can't wait to come next week! So we are going to keep inviting him and making sure he has a ride every week along with getting him and his family to church! We went out, before heading home, to check on him with all the young men, and they were all racing each other, so of course I had to show them I could beat them all, and I did! It was super fun to get to know all the young men better by hanging out for a few minutes before heading home! Also we were able to take the bikes of the Hermanas to their house for them, because their car is in the shop for a week and they biked 5 miles to the church and we're going to get a ride home. So I told them they better let us know if they ever need anything and we can try to help them, but they try to do everything without making us get stressed. They are to sweet! 

Today was just a wonderful day!

Thursday:

I have started to notice that my Journals are getting long and I don't want to bore anyone who reads this, but for me, the things I write are the things I feel were blessings or things that happened in the day that were a miracle in the end! I will try not to just write how everyday went from hour to hour, but more about what I learned from every experience! So today was a wonderful, but somewhat longer day! We were able to start off our day with a DLC meeting with all of the District Leaders and their companions to talk about our districts and about what president taught the Zone Leaders in their Mission Leadership Coordination meeting. Something that caught my attention the most in this whole meeting was the thoughts that follow. Moses 6:63 states that all things bear witness of Christ. And so we need to be looking at everything seeing how the things around us testify of Christ. Also a few Quotes, "Leadership is a choice, not a position." And lastly, "An excess of Pride puts a burden on you and others around you, so don't think you are better by lifting the couch higher." 

I loved the meeting, however was ready to get out to work when I realized today was our weekly planning day! But I do have to say, I am one who gets super excited about weekly planning!! I love the feeling of calling and setting up appointments and just having the energy to do it! As we finished our weekly planning we had a full day of things to do, but focused on teaching the Cuevas family tonight about the importance of serving each other to have more love for one another. The lesson was based off a thing my mom taught me and my brothers and sisters when we began to fight. She got a wooden heart on a stick and told us if we found it on any of our things that were put away or cleaned then we needed to go and find a way of serving our family members without being seen. The family seemed to love the idea, but it was super hard to teach them, because the kids have no respect of their mom or of anyone else and had their phones out and would stop talking. However, we got in and little by little they will improve! As we were heading home for the night we decided to go and just check on Janet Ibarra, our investigator, and she was super happy to see us. We talked to her about her scripture study and encouraged her to make sure and read what we left her, and she couldn't stop talking about the experience her son came home and told her about as he went to young men's. We testified to her of the power of God and  reminded her of our lesson this Saturday with her and her husband! It was worth it to go and check on her!

Friday: 

Wow today was a wonderful day for me! So today we had the chance to go to our zone Council. And to be honest, I wasn't to excited for it because of certain missionaries who were just not real with everything and it really made it hard for me to open myself up and to put forth the energy of actually trying. However, today as we showed up to the Zone Council and began, the who meeting changed. Elder Bird and Elder Farr have changed the whole zone and especially me! They showed us that they truly love us and that they are here for us in whatever thing! Something I also realized is that I really missed just being my funny self. Sometimes I feel that I get so lost in being a robot missionary that I forget that God created me to be me! One of Hnas stated something that hit me so hard I just had to sit and think about how it would change my mission. She said, "Many people say forget yourself and go to work, however, I would like to rephrase that sentence, Be Yourself and Go to Work!" It is so true! Sometimes I catch myself in the mode of saying, Hi we are missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...., When really I know better than that, and I am not that person. I should be happy to see them, make friends with them and share a simple truth with them! Also I was amazed with a few ideas that I received. They follow like this,

"It is not a matter of do's and don't's, but a matter of Love."

"Stay in the Circle, But get Out of the Square!"

So today after the wonderful meeting, we were taking the others elders back to their house on a less traveled road, and we watched one, of the many thousands of squirrels get ran over by a car. As I slowed down because of the car in front of me that hit the squirrel, Elder Wardle yelled, while jumping out of the moving vehicle, "Stop the Car!!" So as I stopped the car and he already being in front of me he ran, picked up the squirrel by his tail and through him in our trunk! He jumped in the car and said, "we have to skin this one! He is just there going to rot if not!" So we kept it there till the end of the day, in a box, so we could skin it at the end of the day!

So this evening we had 2 wonderful lessons. We taught Sifrid again, and he seems to be progressing, but ever so slowly! He is trying to get his work off to come to church and he is trying to understand and pray fully to be able to understand! The part he struggles with is baptisms for the dead. He feels we should not baptize them without them giving us permission to do so. And then as we were driving home my companion had the impression to go by an investigator who recently moved into the area from the other elders. It was a wonderful idea and we went with Kevin to play some soccer, and as we took a break we were able to teach him a small lesson and help him realize he needs to be baptized and it was just wonderful! It really was a wonderful day! 

 Saturday:

"Just like Faith without Works is Dead, Love without Expression is Dead." If you are feeling love and not expressing it, you are wasting your precious time. The truest statement was made today and it is that the mission time, or even life time is short, so don't ruin it! I would say that one way of ruining it is not expressing your feelings. 

So today was a wonderful day where we felt earlier throughout the week that we needed to go over to the bishops house to help them clean up their yard, because of how sick the Hna. has been. So today we went over with the Hnas. Eyestone and Sperry and were able to clean their flowerbeds  and just visit with the Hna who was in tears with how we wanted to help. We had lunch with her and after headed off our separate ways when the sisters called us and said that their bikes were not working right and they needed our help. (Their car is in the shop getting fixed) So we went and picked up their bikes and they went with a sister that they live with, back to their house, and it was just a funny moment! So we had the chance to go to find a few people, but no one seemed to be interested or home, except for an inactive member. As we knocked his door he opened it and let us in quickly. We became his and his wife's friends fast and taught them a wonderful lesson about the importance of the church and he said he is just lazy and needs motivation to go, so we are going to try and be more motivating for him. Crazy thing is that he was in the Bishopric and then got taken out and just stopped coming to church. However, he listened to all of the conference and loved it! After our wonderful lesson with them, we went to the house of the Torres Family, members in our ward, Who both served missions and can speak pretty much fluent in Spanish and English! We had a wonderful time with them and their two sons, and then had a wonderful lesson on the Gift of Tongues and they both were full of emotions! I know that they are going to find someone for us to teach because of how they felt tonight! We just need to follow up! It really was such a wonderful day! "It is not a challenge of learning a language, but a journey of loving the people!"

Sunday:

Today was a wonderful day! Both me and My companion woke up and were so confused at how it could already be 6:30, but that is kind of how the mission goes, and we both just laughed about it! So today we had a wonderful meeting as a district in our Coordination Meeting with Hno. Hildreth, our Ward Mission Leader. We were able to get a lot of things across, and I really feel like Hno. Hildreth is on board with every idea that we have now! So we had a wonderful testimony meeting today where we had Hna. Meza, the bishops wife, stand up and bare her testimony the best she could about counting every blessing and how she knows and feels like the trials God has given her were blessings in the long run, and it just showed me how I can become better and be more grateful for what I do have and just the service that I give! However, after her testimony she had to be taken out by bishop to help her get feeling better and when bishop came back in he was crying through the rest of the closing song. He is going through so much, but still always focused on those people around him! So after a wonderful day at church, we went to a planned lesson a ways away in a city called Krum, and our investigator would not open his door. We were a little frustrated the whole night and were not able to find anyone who was interested, so we came home and called a lot of people for lessons throughout the week, and we are so excited for a literally packed week! As we drove through Krum, it was so much fun to see the fun houses all surrounded by farm land and animals and to drive through the old downtown that was similar to the Denton Square, but just less fancy! Really even though we had no lesson, we did have a wonderful day!! I love this Gospel, because perfectly trying is good enough! And we are always worthy to become better. Never Give Up, because God Never Gave Up on You! (Romans 5:8)

Thank you for your love and support!! It means the world to me! I pray for you all everyday, and I hope that y'all have a wonderful week!! Never forget, Every member a Missionary!

I love you all!!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

La Conferencia General

Dear Family and Friends, 

It is so crazy to see time fly by, and it is a blessing to serve a mission. I have seen so many blessings of serving and have come to a sweet realization. It is not about the outcome of the numbers of people taught, baptized or confirmed, but the outcome of how a person is changed by the things we have taught. Whether I baptize 1 or 200, I do not care. I would love 200 or even more, but the important thing is that "save it be 1 soul unto me, how great shall be you joy." So I would ask all of you, how is your missionary work going? Are you supporting the missionaries in your area, or are you a road block that they are always praying for and wondering how they can help you talk to your friends. Let me tell you something I have come to know. Friends are great to have, but our purpose in this life isn't to just have friends and to have the most likes or pokes on Facebook, our purpose is to help everyone make it back to God. Please don't worry about your friends reaction to the gospel, I think you will be surprised to see that most are very acceptive, when done by a friends first, instead of a missionary!

Here is my week!!

Week March 28- April 3 2015

Monday:

It is crazy looking at my calendar and just realizing the speed of the weeks now and how I am having to erase the calendar over and over again to put up the new months!

It is so crazy to think that within the next few months it will already be April and I will be 2 months away from a year!! So today was a wonderful P-Day! We started by taking my gray suit to a dry cleaners to be cleaned for the first time since Mexico, and it was past due! After which we went shopping and were able to buy just a few food necessities to tie us over for the week! As we finished there we decided as a car to go and do some shopping around the Square, and so we went into a lot of old thrift shops and it was amazing! We found a lot of fun stuff, and one of these days I am going to buy me my Texas belt buckle to come home with!! So far no luck finding one for the right price or what I am looking for, but I figure I will get one sooner of later!! So after a little bit of time we were sitting at the Institute building with Elder and Sister Bond when we decided to call the Hnas in our district and to have them meet us at an outdoor soccer court to play some soccer! They met us there with a ball, and we played for quite a bit and I enjoyed it so much! I feel that our district is really close and that means a lot to me! And of course we need to be focused on our calling, but we understand one another more because of the things we do with each-other! 

So after our good time at soccer, we head out to get ready for the evening and instead of going to the Family Home Evening we decided to go and contact a few investigators and potentials and to set up a good time to go back and teach, and it was a huge success! Well worth our time! 

 

Tuesday:

Wow today was such a crazy day!! So today we had the opportunity to have an exchange with Elder Lee and Elder Bird, our zone leaders! So this time I was able to stay in my area with Elder Bird, and I was so excited! Elder Bird is from Salem, Utah and is a lover of Base ball and just being outdoors, and he has 16 months in the field. It sounds like a lot until I think about it and realize that he only has 6 months more than me! However, he has the most brilliant ideas that I know will help us in our area. For instance, today we had about 4 hours of just finding, and he helped me to understand that our main purpose as missionaries is not to knock doors, our first and main purpose is to bring others closer to Christ by serving them. So for 4 hours, we found members in our ward who needed either their windows washed or a small service done, and when they asked us why we were doing it we would tell them that we didn't have any people to teach, so we decided to come over and to give service to our members. After we got a few services out of the road and they gave us a few people to go and visit, we decided to go and to put book of Mormons in different Spanish restaurants in Denton and it was a huge success! Now we plan of coming up with other ideas of getting non members to come to the church for activities or even get them to come to church! One of the families that we served was a old couple named the Parrys. They were super sweet and they even gave us old Book of Mormons as we were leaving a long with Tocos, because the Hna. Parry felt bad she didn't feed us anything.

So we went later in the evening to a new investigator, Janet Ibarra house, and got to know her and then taught her most of lesson one. I had to translate for Elder Bird, but it was a huge success! And one of the things Elder Bird asked me to translate was how she felt about what we were teaching. She responded with tears in her eyes, "every time life gets hard you missionaries knock on my door, and I just have denied the things you have taught, I am just ready to see if there is something here that I need to just become a part of." So I asked her what she felt God wanted her to do, and she said, "to follow the invitations that you give me!" It was a wonderful lesson and we invited her to church this weekend, and we hope she will be able to come! After that wonderful lesson we went and had dinner with the Lopez family and had a wonderful lesson on the blessings of listening to the prophets today, and committed them to listening the conference. It was a wonderful day!!

Wednesday:

It seems to be getting harder and harder to write in my journal and in this iPad journal I have, but I don't dare quite, because I don't want to forget anything that happened to me during my mission! I know that it will benefit me or my loved ones one day!

So today seemed to be just like another day, not really anything new, and not to much success with lessons. So after district meeting we sat down as a companionship and just because to council about our area, and what we do to find people, and we both have found something we feel needs to change. We both resort straight to knocking doors first off when we run out of lessons to teach, and we have that thought like we are making a huge difference, when really we are just passing by the same people we have already gone by, or passing people that might not have interest when we should really focus our attention of serving others and hen asking them for referrals! So today we had about 2 hours to do that, and it was super hard! So today we focused on putting some cards at different Hispanic restaurants and stores to see if we could have some success, and we pray that is works!!! We are running out of ideas and hope that someone will help us thing of some more creative ones!! So this evening I was asked by the zone leaders if I would interview their investigator, Windi Powell for baptism, and it was a super amazing experience! She answered the questions with a wonderful spirit and I believe she is more than ready for baptism! As we finished their we were about to visit a few potentials but none were too interested. However, we are not giving up, because we know that we are changing what we have done in the past so that we get new, and better results!!

 

Thursday:

So I had to type a little of what happened last night so you can see what happened to me, and how amazing my companion is! So last night I woke up at about 1 am with stomach pains, and so I went and relieved myself and then realized I was more that holding it in, I was super sick and throwing up as well! It seemed to be about every hour I was up for about 15 minutes or more because I was in so much pain! Finally at 5:30 in the morning, Elder Wardle asked me if I wanted a blessing. I accepted it gratefully and then he gave me a wonderful blessing to overcome my pain and sickness, of which we think is Food Poisoning! After his blessing it did not subside for a long time, but Elder Wardle stayed up until 6:30 with me to make sure I was okay! As I woke up finally this morning, I am exhausted, and empty of all substances, but super scared that if I eat anything I will just be in the bathroom again really soon! 

So today went pretty well! We had a trainer and trainee follow up meeting that we were able to attend at the Hurst stake center, about an hour away from Denton, and it was a huge success. However, my sickness was not subsiding. While sitting there my body began to ache and my stomach hurt so much that it was hard to focus. As we got home I told my companion I was going to go to bed and sleep it out, and so he agreed that was best! As I woke up, he had made eggs and toast for me to try and eat, and it was just so nice to know that he was worried for me! So ya, not a lot got done today, but I am very glad to know that I have a companion who is kind and understanding! And this evening I am finally feeling a lot better!

Friday:

So today was one of the most refreshing days for me! Today was the first day in 10 months that I was able to go to the temple and rethink about the many covenants I have made with God and even learn new concepts to the things taught in the temple. For me I feel my understanding of the teachings inside of the temple have grown because of being a missionaries and learning what I have so far, and I can't wait to study it more to be more prepared for the following time I get to enter the walls of that sacred building. So today we had the opportunity to teach Sifrid Aparicio again and really get down the the meat of things with a few of his commitments. One of the main ones was reading the Book of Mormon, Praying and coming to church. So as we began to teach we think we may have found a huge reason that he hasn't been receiving an answer to his prayers in turn helping him want to change his schedule to be to church. As we were teaching we came across what the spirit was, and as we asked him to explain what the spirit was he said, "from what I understand, it is the power of God that moves upon the face of the earth." And I would not take that as completely wrong, but what he didn't understand is that the Holy Ghost also can give us feelings to know good from evil and the truth from the false. We testified to him that the Holy Ghost doesn't testify through peace, love and many other forms as described in Galatians 5:22-23. And that he would receive an answer by listening to conference tomorrow and Sunday. I think the lesson was well needed for him and for us to understand him even more, and I think we are ready to progress onto the lessons found in the Commandments! So later this evening we had the chance to go to help the Elders, Broberg and Nielson, move a member to a new home with their Elders quorum, and it was a huge success, we had the stuff moved and put into the house in no time at all. Something that really made me happy was hearing Elder Wardle as me, "How many times have you moved a house in your mission?" I told him it was to many times to count and he just kind of half smiled, realizing I was completely serious! The moment I got into the mission I realized that the life of a servant of the lord, (Member) is not easy, but always worth it!

 

Saturday:

What a wonderful and uplifting day I have had today as I have been able to sit without distraction, and learn from the leaders of this true church! Today I feel like I received a lot of ideas of how to not only help my investigators, but how I can better myself in the process! I would say my two favorite talks of this mornings session were given by Mary R. Durham about how all of us at some point in our lives will feel that we are drowning and that the spirit is be drown out by the things of this world, and the talk given by Donald L. Hallstrom, who teaches us the most simple doctrine which somehow gets so looked over, We are Sons and Daughters of a Loving God.

After the wonderful start of Conference, we were blessed to participate in the baptism of one of our excommunicated members who has made his way back and taken amazing steps to come back to the church. Caine Espinosa was baptized today at 1:30, by Elder Lakey, with both Elder Wardle and I as the witnesses, after which, the missionaries along with Hno. Benavides blessed him with the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a wonderful break of conference and was well worth ever effort put into it. You could see true desire to change, and true commitment to live correctly.

As we went back to conference I was caught by the talk given on Family Councils by M. Russell Ballard. I found it so amazing how important those simple councils can be and I felt like that was something that was even meant for me to hear specifically. I feel like that talk will help me not only as a missionary, but as I focus on a future family one day. The one point that hit me super hard was the importance of praying as a couple and always holding your spouses prayer in those prayers to bring you both closer and help you receive further revelation for your family! 

I was amazed and uplifted by the wonderful choirs and was seriously in tears as I heard their power as they sang those songs. I think they truly sunk deep this conference as President Ames always points out that a song is a praise to God and that we need, and should sing with our whole heart and soul! 

To end the evening, I was in love with the talks given by all of the first presidency, but I feel the one given by Dieter F. Uchtdorf was the one that struck out the most to me in the world we live in today. As he talked about the disposable things of this world I couldnt imagine the marriages that were treated that way and felt horrible for those families involved. Also he brought up a moment that seems to be forever away, but is ever so creeping up on me. In his words he said, "If there were a perfect women, would she really be interested in you?" 

In closing, I noticed the fragile President Monson and am very worried for him, and pray for his health and safety in this time. Yes his talk was short, but his testimony was just as strong, Wherever you go, your priesthood goes with you!

These are the days I wait for, when I can learn how to become better, and the best part is, I can do this everyday through personal revelation, and so can you.

Sunday:

What an amazing day it was today! Listening to the prophets, for me, is like sitting in the temple learning so many celestial laws, and feeling the presence of the spirit and the love of God, You never want to leave, but as we learned today, sooner or later you will have to leave, but you can always have tomorrow like today as you strive to learn from the scriptures daily! So this morning we, as a district, were able to sit down with our Ward Mission Leader and discuss in our meeting, our investigators and what they need, and it was wonderful. We even had a few new ideas rolled around that seemed to be great ideas, but I would love to have some more. So in our areas here in Denton, we have knocked door after door with a few interested people, but they all arrive to the same conclusion that they are not interested in change. So I finally just decided to let everyone know I was done knocking doors just to knock doors. The only time I was going to contact by knocking doors was after receiving a reference to do so. As I said that I shared what Elder Wardle are going to be doing this week, and it seemed to be taken well. This week we will be focusing a lot on the members. We want to teach them, serve them and do all we can to be connected with them, so that we can begin to be apart of their lives enough that they will invite us to meet their friends or even give us their number or address. I also explained that I was going to be calling members for exchanges a little differently by calling and telling them that we were seeing if they were available for an exchange, and then help them realize that our purpose of the exchange was to go and visit their friends that might be interested. It was a well accepted idea, and for now, until other ideas spark, we will be sticking with that! So today I was just amazed with the things I was taught. I don't want to share all my thoughts in just one email, because I plan on sharing a thought or 2 in every email from here until the next conference so that I really thing about what I learned. However, the things that caught my attention today were as followed. First I loved the talk by our prophet Thomas S. Monson. Even fragile and weak, he bears a firm witness of the truth and said the words that echoed truth to my ears. "Let us choose the harder right instead of the Easier Wrong." That in full is the truest statement I have ever heard. Every choice that is right is so much harder that the wrong choice. And I think the other thought that really caught my attention and I will be studying more about in this week is the thought giving by Dallin H. Oaks that said, "Satan that goes against Gods plan, Actually facilitated it!" Meaning, that Satan's whole goal is to take away opposition and agency from all of us, but as he chose to fight against God, he actually used his agency to start the first opposition in heaven which lead to us having it here on the earth today!

I am so grateful for a living prophet and apostles who really do receive revelation from our Heavenly Father and know what is necessary for us to hear. I am grateful for a family who loves me, and truly prays for my success and protection, but most of all I am grateful for a God who loves me enough to send his first born son to make it possible to live with him again. I know that I am a child of God and that he loves me, and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to teach this gospel in the hardest of time, because I know that in order to grow it is necessary to have opposition in all things! 

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

Casi un Año!!

Hey family and Friends!

Feliz día de la pascua!

I hope that you all enjoyed your time through this wonderful Easter and that you all had a chance to be with your loved ones! Out here, I had a blast, and we were treated very well by our members!

Here is how my week went!!

Week March 21-28 2016

Monday:

Well today was definitely a different kind of Pday for us, but it was super fun! 

So today we had the chance to have our pday planned out really well and get a lot done, and one thing that made it fun was going shopping with them, Elder Lakey and Escobar, and just buying small Texas things to remember Denton by. Then as we finished our fun time together shopping we went as a district to the University Street Bowling Alley, named University Lanes, to bowl as a District, but as we started, one of the couples in our ward showed up. Alejandro Hernandez and his wife came and bowled with us, and it was so much fun! After which we went home and finished some emailing before we headed to dinner! 

So tonight we were blessed with the opportunity to eat with the Strasser family in their house, and the whole family was home! It was packed, but also such a fun time to be with them and get to know them! We shared a wonderful Easter message with them and they even took it further and made it more spiritual! It was a great time with them! So instead of going to our family home evening we just went out to a few areas and did some contacting, and had lots of success! We were planning on Family Home Evening, but a funeral service took over our chance to have family home evening and so we had the chance to have one extra evening to get some more lessons in. And this evening we had the chance to meet a young mother who at first was nervous talking with us, and then ended up telling us that next time we come we better have our coats on! We taught a really good lesson with her and even got a return appointment!! We also ran into our less active member that ditched us for church yesterday, selling his ice cream, and I had to take a picture!! It was a great evening!

 

 

Tuesday:

One scripture that was used today to help us teach in found in Romans 8:16-17. This scripture really helps me see how great we can become as we do the will of the father who sent us! So today I can definitely say that time few by so fast! So today we were blessed to be able to go out and find a new place to give service, and lucky enough we went by the Salvation Army branch that they had close by and we were able to sign up to volunteer there and to see how we could help! So today in our service I probably double bagged 400 or more grocery bags to put food into for the people that come in to get food! Also we had the chance to go and organize a pantry that they had, and I felt like I did a double exercise after I got done, because the boxes we arranged were so heavy! After our service we had the chance to go by with Hno. Parry and teach Sifrid. He was super open like usual, and we taught him the rest of the Plan of Salvation and it was so cool to see how his eyes lit up as he found the stuff we were teaching to be true, and found in the bible!! So we have realized that he is progressing super well and is just working on getting work off for Sunday's and then he will be a seriously amazing investigator! After our wonderful lesson with him we went to the Lopez Household, the family we are working with, where the husband is a very less active member and his wife isn't a member. Actually they aren't even married. However, we had Hno. Corona go with us and he connected perfectly with David and is now texting him to hangout sometime and to remind him about church! Our lesson we had with them really focused on how we may feel we are just ugly ducks, but God knows who we really are, and we can only know who we are by learning at church. They took the message so well, and today we could finally feel the desire David had for always having us come over. He really loves us there and wants us in his house everyday if we could!! So we are working to go over 2 times a week just to visit! I know that God is helping us in this area, because the work is really picking up! I love where I am and do not want to leave!!

 

Wednesday:

Wow today was a super awesome day! To start off the day we had an amazing District meeting that I have been stressing about for over a week. So for the district meeting I decided that we weren't really getting anything out of it, so I decided we were going to get rid of our tables in our meeting and get into a circle to see if it would open their mouths more and then instead of welcoming them to the district meeting I welcomed them to our District Council, and it was taken super well! I feel like they opened up a lot more and we really had some good success with goals and things we can improve on! After our district meeting we had the chance to go and begin our exchange with Elder Lakey and Escobar again, and this time I left my area and went to the other elders area with Elder Escobar! So I was able to bike again with him and go and find a few different  people to teach and it was a little tiring to start again, but it was a good feeling getting back on a bike! As we were finishing one of our lessons in the garage of Erika, an investigator, an English man ran up and apologized for coming up all crazy, but he was warning us about a bad storm that was about to hit, and it made us feel really good! So as we biked home we were literally being chased by a thunderstorm with lightening and thunder crazy bight and loud!! And as we got home about 15 minutes later it just started to rain super hard! We were so glad that man was willing to care about us and tell us to get heading home!! So now we are just planning and getting to know each other more in the house! Elder Escobar is from all over the United States, but he came from St. George and so we always argue about which school is the best!! He is super fun and we are enjoying ourselves! What a tiring day it was, but what a good day it was as well!

 

 

 

Thursday:

Wow today was a much crazier day than what we planned for!

So today we exchanged back to our normal companions by talking about how our exchanges went and how we felt about them, or what we learned from them, and then settled it by going out to eat lunch at Rosas Cafe, a Spanish restaurant that makes homemade tortillas, and has the best tacos! So we were there when we found one of our, less active members working there, so she took our picture for us! Also as we were beginning to eat, we had a lady walk up to us with her daughter, and tell us that she has a sister who has 2 kids on missions and that one thing her sister loved is when random people sent them a picture of their kids out in their missions. She was a very sweet lady and had tears in her eyes as she said, "would it be alright if I did your moms a favor and took your picture to fond to them?" She was not a member, and the feelings she had were wonderful to see and of course we were excited for that kind of action from her! So she took a picture of us to send home and it was so sweet! After lunch we headed to the house and had our Weekly planning take place while we prepared a meal that I have not had for over 9 months, and I missed it so much! We stopped by the mail to find that we both had received packages for Easter so we were able to open them together!  So after planning we made and then ate, Chicken Pillows, and it was so worth it! As we finished dinner we had a member, Hno. Tryon, call and see if we needed him to go out with us today, and so he gave us an hour before he would pick us up to do some contacting. So we headed quickly to one lesson with a lady named Marta, who right now just wants us to teach her English, but is willing to listen to the Gospel message as well. Then we went on our exchange with Hno. Tryon where we knocked themDoor of Alexandria, a contact from the other night, and she opened up and let us go in. We taught her the whole restoration, and she had some amazing questions, and said she would write them down for the next times that we would come to teach her. We also asked her how she would know if the Book of Mormon is true, and she said, "I would feel a Peace!" And so we were able to testify of that! The lesson was powerful, and we hope that we can go back!! Today was a truly good and crazy day, but worth every moment!

 

 

 

Friday:

So today was a very surprising day for the both of us!! So we were able to go and help move a family from their house and it was amazing to see all the hands out there to help them move! We were done in under an hour and that was a huge blessing, because it gave us time to go home and pack so we could be ready to head out to Gainesville. So after our service we headed straight out to Krum to contact a referral from some English Elders, and we were kind of scared it would just be another person that didn't want to listen. However, we went by this guys house named Alex, and he was super open to Listen, and I would say that he was more interested than any person we have found in a while. He bought us pizza and also we just became his friends super easy! We are going to pass by his house again next week!

So after his good visit we were able to go and make friends with the wife of Sifrid, our investigator, by having her teach us how to make Pupusas! She taught us how super fast and then said she had to leave with her husband, but the time with them really helped us to become closer, however, I can't wait to teach her, because we know we can grow closer through the spiritual moments we have together. After our time their we went straight to a dinner with our Hno. Torres and he took us out to the Matador. It was a Hispanic restaurant where their was a guy playing the guitar and it was super fun listening while it was packed with Hispanics and we could understand everything! We had a great time with them and we can not wait to go back and teach people with this member!! To end our day we came up to Gainesville to spend the night, and to add even more happiness to my day, we got a text from our investigator Alex and he was telling us all about the soccer game we couldn't watch and he was super awesome!! I am glad we have his connection too! Today was just amazing!!

 

 

Saturday:

It just can not believe how fast time is flying by as I focus on my investigators and just enjoy every moment I have with Elder Wardle!

So today we had the blessing of being out in Gainesville today to find more people, but as we woke up, the Gainesville elders informed us that we would be helping one of their members to move houses out of a really bad situation that she was in, and of course we agreed that we would do that! However, they did not inform us what we were getting into. As we were heading to her house, we literally we driving through country sides that were not all that beautiful and then found her house in one of the most trashy trailer parks I have ever seen. As we walked in her house we were blown away with what she was living through the because of what her husband had been putting her through for his drug addictions and so much more. The floors were covered in food and crumbs with 3 dogs running around and piles of poop in different areas of the small trailer. Not to forget the trailer was stacked down with clothes and dirty dishes along with all sorts of drug paraphernalia. As we looked at her she seemed so ready to get out of there and never go back! It was amazing to see all these members come into the house and just take it apart in the morning and help her move in with her parents! We know the house was literally worthless, because it sold for 6,500 dollars and was just still full of trash when we left! So after our service it was about 3:30 and we were also Fasting for our investigators and the investigators in the district, and it was a huge success! So as we went out contacting, everyone was busy, or gone because of the holiday, but we were able to find one sweet older couple who was home, and attend the ward up there in Gainesville, who speak in Spanish and are going to help us with Spanish referrals there and in Denton! After our night of hard finding we just decided to head home and begin planning, and as we began to plan, we received a call from the Elders Lakey and Escobar saying that they set a baptismal date for the 16 of April and so we are doing the interview tomorrow, and I love it so much!!! Today was such a great day!

 

Sunday:

Happy Easter! 

¡Feliz día de la Pascua!

So today was definitely a super busy day for us! We had meeting take up our whole morning that we super draining, but quite amazing as well! We were really able to discuss some issues of investigators and members and figure out how we can best help them in his week! For instance one of the investigators of Elder Lakey and Elder Escobar, that had been attending church forever, decided to finally get baptized on the 9th of April, and I was super surprised and excited all in the same moment! During our sacrament meeting we heard from a sister missionary who gave her homecoming talk, named Jessica Benavides. She did a great job, and was super powerful in her testimony, and I am so glad I listened to her stories and testimony, because I was so spiritually drained before from the whole week and how much we had going on, and afterwards I just wanted to get out and start talking to people again! After our meetings today I thought I would have time to get some studies in and even go and visit some potential investigators, however, we didn't have anytime because I had the chance to give the elders investigator his baptismal interview to make sure he was ready for baptism. It was a great first interview and it was a little easier than I was expecting, but now I just get stressed thinking that if he gets baptized and wasn't ready, then it is my fault for signing the paper. After eating and planning we had no time to do anything but grab the elders and head to the church to be ushers for the Handel Messiah performance that was put on tonight. They assigned us to do that because we could speak Spanish and English for anyone who was wanting to come and listen to a wonderful performance. There was not a lot of people there, but the music was so wonderful and It made me at peace! I miss being able to just relax and listen to music like that, but I think I enjoy the mission right now even with how crazy it can get! What a wonderful day!

 

 

I hope that your week was great and know I pray for all of you! Love you all!

 

Con Amor,
Elder Spendlove