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