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