11 months Down and a Call from President Ames

Dear Family and Friends, 

I truly hope that this past week was a good one for you and that you had a wonderful sabbath a day!! This past week was a very emotional one for me with a lot of amazing experiences and new opportunities!! I thought I would start by saying that I was called by my mission president, President Ames, and asked to be a Zone Leader in Fort Worth! I accepted and realize how much work that it will be! Also I know that it has nothing to do with popularity, because in Gods eyes everyone is equal! I am going to be there to serve others and to learn where I can improve!! I will be going back to the same ward I was in before, but just a different area!! I am super excited and my new address will be 

4600 Barbara Road New 55 River Oaks, Tx 76114

Week May 9-15 2016

Monday:

So today was quite a different and wonderful P-Day! Today we had the opportunity to run fast and get our haircuts before we went and picked up Elder Lakey and Escobar to go shopping, and it was so nice being able to get such a nice hair cut for the hot weather that is coming! We were able to get shopping done with really fast and then we went to the house of Sam Strasser where we got in his car and he took us out to Lake Roberts where were we went fishing for about 2 hours!! It was a blast even tho we did not catch fish for a while! However, I was able to catch 2 fish, Sam Strasser caught 2 and Elder Wardle caught 3!! Of course they were not monsters because we weren't anywhere amazing but we definitely had a blast at the lake and then next to the lake at the river!! It was the most stress reliving thing I have done in a long time, and I really enjoyed it!! As we came back and my emails were all done, I played some basketball and then the piano for about an hour and it was so relaxing!!

I think the night made the whole day though, because we were able to teach our Maintenance guy in his apartment and give him a Book of Mormon, and he seems some what interested! Also, we were able to go by and teach Kevin another follow up lesson, and he seemed to know just so much he surprised me!! He is such a wonderful member to know have and I hope he never forgets the feelings that he had!! What a wonderful day! 

Tuesday:

Today was a very busy and stressful day for me! I say that because of a crazy experience I had this morning with Elder Wardle. We were studying and talking about our investigators when the phone began to ring. In my head I thought, "It is probably a missionary or investigator," but then I saw the phone and it was President Ames. And it isn't that we don't like him or he scares us, but he does not just call to talk, he always has a mission or purpose for his call. In my head I was thinking, "Okay he can't be calling me as a zone leader, because they were called and trained last week. Maybe he is calling for Elder Wardle?" So I answered the phone and he began to talk to me, he had me put the phone on speaker and then he said, "Elder Spendlove, I have been praying and thinking about what you need to do right now in your mission, and I have felt you need to serve in Fort Worth again, but this time you will be serving with Elder Lewis, as a Zone Leader!! And Elder Wardle, you will be serving as the senior companion in your area!" I was in shock but accepted the opportunity to serve! 

So today we had Zone Council, And I went and spoke with Elder Broberg and come to find out, he is going to Fort Worth in the other zone to be the Zone Leader and we are so excited for one another!! So, afterwards I went and spoke with the zone leaders and they gave me some good advice! Elder Farr told me, "If I could give you any advice I would say, first you are not becoming anything better than anyone else, and second, if you love the missionaries with all your heart you will work wonders in your new zone!" He really is such an example for me, and so is Elder Bird!! They have changed my outlook on everything!!!

So the rest of the day we were able to go and find Janet Ibarra whom we haven't seen in a bit, and we taught her son and husband and it was super good! Then we Found Magdalena, a lady in the same area. As we started talking she just seemed so lost in what we wanted and she didn't have lots of time. We showed her a small video of the Book of Mormon and then explained more of our beliefs and she began to open up so much!! So we set a return appointment and we can't wait to go back and help her understand why we have another book!! So this evening there are some weird things happening!! During the day it was super hot and way humid, and then all the sudden clouds came in and it got super cold! So someone told us it is the weather for tornadoes and seems to be like that for about a month!! So some crazy storms are all around us, but we will be safe!! It was a wonderful day and I am super excited for my new position even tho I am scared out of my mind!!

Wednesday:

What a crazy and amazing day we have had today!! So today we had the opportunity to go and give service at the Our Daily Bread place and it was such an enjoyable day to be able to just serve and show my love for people and to be able to get to the know the missionaries more! Also our studies we so amazing and we were very prepared for teaching our investigators for the evening!! During our studies we got a call from Elder Farr, our Zone Leader, because Elder Bird was becoming AP and was leaving and Elder Farr needed a place to stay. So after dinner with Hna. Evans, I went and had the chance to interview Jordan Gloria for baptism. I was so excited to be able to teach him, and he seemed so excited to be baptized and was happy just answering all the questions I asked him! Angela, his mom, was so excited to know it was this Saturday and they have asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. So this evening we had an amazing opportunity to teach Kevin Garcia again and to actually be able to learn and help him grow with Elder Farr! Then we went and had a wonderful lesson with a lady named Lourdes. She has been taught before, but just didn't have interest, and now she is letting us come around more!! She is such a sweet lady, but very straight forward and does not sugar coat anything! It was wonderful reading the Book of Mormon with her and helping her understand it, and then she even let us teach her a small lesson where I could feel the help of Heavenly Father through every point we taught!! She would express points in Spanish and I would translate for Elder Farr and I felt like the lesson just went to her needs and just what she needed to hear!! I hope and pray I can continue to teach like that and be bold like Elder Farr was and I felt as I reached with him and Elder Wardle! What a wonderful day!! And Elder Wardle really knows how to sing praises!!

Thursday:

Wow it is amazing how even the longest days in the mission field seem to go by so fast! So today we had the amazing opportunity to go during a little bit of our personal study time give out book of Mormons to a few men that were standing at a triangle park looking for jobs. We call it the mexi pavilion, not to be racist, but that is who usually is there and we are always able to talk and give out waters and talk about the Book of Mormon. We even made a sign that says, What is your greatest treasure! I believe we had a huge success because there was 4 Hermanos there that asked if they could have a Book of Mormon and so we freely gave them out to people! Then we returned to the house and finished our studies and weekly planning! So today we had the chance to go and pick up a cot for Elder Farr to stay the night with us tomorrow night, from Hno. Hildreth and then we went and had a wonderful meeting with the Relief Society presidency where we were able to get help with our investigators and also get things that we could help them with! It is amazing how much can happen in a ward when they plan out perfectly and then execute their plan by even just trying! So to end the evening we finished teaching Kevin Garcia his new member lessons and he was very excited about that! However, while we were there, we had brought a family tree paper for him to fill out with his parents and it was amazing to see his mom, who is not a member, to come over and just become my friend and just talk about her family! She seemed very interested in what could be done with her family and how she could find more stories! I hope that one day people can get her baptized as she shows this kind of interest now! Today was a wonderful day!

Friday:

So today was quite the crazy day for us!! So today we had the chance to be with Elder Farr after giving service at Our Daily Bread! And Elder Farr was able to stay with us all day! So today we were able to have some really good studies where Elder Farr pretty much bore his testimony to us of  how the mission has changed his life and how he has just realized that just working is what God wants. You may never baptize anyone, but you are a hero to someone for leaving your family and giving it your all, and in the long run, you did change someones life! So to start off the time after studies, we went to the church to make some invitations to the fireside that is coming up in the next week! And we are hoping to begin passing them out this weekend to everyone so that we can be able to get a few people to be at our fireside with president Ames!! So our lesson this evening was with Janet Ibarra, and we were able to learn a lot about her and her life, and then we were able to bare strong testimony of what it means and why it is important to be in church and then invited her to be there. She said she will be there, but I am afraid she won't make it!! All I can do is pray and then give all my faith to her on this one! I know she felt the spirit testify to her tonight and that she needs to be in the church and I know she knows it!! What a great day it was!

Saturday: 

God ceases to amaze me and I know that he lives and love me and everyone here in Texas! So today being a Saturday we had a lot of finding time that we thought we would never get filled, and we were right, it never did! However, so many things began to pop up for us!! So this morning we were able to give service at a Food drive where we helped people shop in the volunteer build grocery market and then we were able to help these people take their food to their cars! It was a wonderful opportunity for us as Spanish people to find people that we could teach, and we also saw a few of our members there getting food as well! So after our wonderful service we went to the Baptism of a young boy named Jordan!! I really never thought that his mom would let him get baptized, and out of the blue she decided he was ready and even lets the missionaries teach her!! One day she will be baptized too! So I feel I helped get Jordan ready to be baptized because I actually got to teach him like his first few lessons and even got to give him his interview!! He did amazing and I can't wait for tomorrow!! So for his baptismal service he asked me if I would talk about the Holy Ghost, and so I was blessed to be able to give a talk to all of his family and focused on him on the spirit works! It was really a wonderful chance for me to have! 

So the rest of the day from that point on was kind of shaky! We had no firm plans and did a little contacting in Krum with no success at all! So we went home for dinner and decided we were going to go and visit some trailers we had never knocked while serving in this area, and so before leaving the apartment, we decided to pray specifically to find someone who would be ready to listen to what we have to say and that we would have success. As we started knocking, we got rejected on one whole street. Both of us were to the point of just turning back when we just decided to go a little further. As we got to the next street we were able to find 3 people in a row that let us teach them a lesson and give them a Book of Mormon!! That were wonderful lessons and we hope to be able to return!! It was exactly what we asked for! Then to make the night even better, we decided to go and pass out some invitations to an activity that we will be having and as we went by Janet's house we looked to a trailer next store that we always see a lady outside of, and every time we go by she smiles and waves! Well we decided to go by and knock on her door, and come to find out, she waves because she is a less active member that has never been to church before! So we got Sofia's information and told her to come to church!! She seemed so happy to see us! That was a huge wrap up to our amazing night and I believe it was so amazing because we remembered to include God in our plans and ask for his direction and advice! So on the way home we went by our ward mission leaders house and was able to meet his wife who isn't a member, and just get to spend sometime talking about life and sitting on the back porch for about 15 minutes!! I am going to miss this place so much!! I really don't want to leave it yet!

Sunday:

Wow, what a crazy and sad day for me!! So today was pretty much an all day at church day, because of all of the meetings that we had, and it really was a good one! All of our meetings were so positive and helpful towards helping the Ward grow and become better!! Even the services were wonderful having Jordan Gloria confirmed as a new member of the church!! I am so grateful to have been a small part of that great process!! So today was sad for me, because I was saying good bye to a lot of members that I had made connections with and began to call my family!! You really become close when you spend 6 months with them 24/7, serving them with all your heart, might, mind and strength! However, I know that I am needed in Fort Worth again and that there is a person that needs me there more than anywhere else! 

So today we had the chance to have a dinner/ lunch with the Benavides family, which included just the dad and the daughter tonight, but it was all very wonderful!! The daughter, Jessica just returned from her mission in San Fransisco and was just loving having us there!! She is very funny and was good at making the dinner!! We had a wonderful time figuring out as well that Hno. Benavides is bible video movie star, playing in a few simple parts in different scenes!!

Really the rest of the evening consisted of visiting Janet Ibarra just to find out more problems with her family and that she has more things to complicate her already hard life! We pray for her and her family so much I know God is just helping her that she is learning a lot from what is going on, but will never know all until she begins to come to church for herself!!

Also it was my last time in this area collecting numbers and I loved it!! Poor Hna. Sperry is not ready to go home, and was sad to say it was her last time, but she is very ready to see her family!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

Pictures attached:

1-Elder Wardle & I

2-Hno. Adrian Arteaga with Hno. Brad Hildreth! They are huge examples to me!

3-Hna. Chavez, Our mom away from home! I love her!

4-Hno. Torres, he taught me so much about how to become better and to always trust in the Lord! (Elder Quorum President!)

5-Alejandro Hernandes, The mustache pro and funniest guy I know! Also the Spanglish master!

Mothers day!!

Hey Family and Friends,

Happy Mothers Day!

What a wonderful week I have had and the best opportunity to be able to talk with my family and my mom!!! I hope that y'all had a wonderful week and here is how my week went!!

Week May 2-8 2016

Monday:

Wow, today I just realized how fast time has been flying as I realize I will be calling my family again this next week!! I can hardly believe that it is here again, and I would say it scares me just a little bit! So today was a wonderful day!! We were able to go and shop and then have a wonderful zone activity at the church because of some rain, where we had about 5 baptist guys come and play basketball with us and stuff, however, usually the Zone Leaders say they are always bashing our church! We got along great and it just shows that we are all children of God, and some are lost more that others! It reminded me a lot of the story of the sons of Mosiah when they persecute the church, but I think it was amazing that they became changed!! So why couldn't they!? So after our wonderful pday we had family home evening and it was a blast!! We learned about Testimonies and then how important covenants are with God!! And I was so impressed with what these little kids know!! I love to listen to how they word the gospel!!! So today was a wonderful day! I do have to say that one of my favorite parts of the whole day now is Daily planning at 9 o'clock!! When the rest of the world is wide awake, or dead asleep, we are planning for the next day!! I love being able to call people and remind them about appointments and just create a spiritual plan!!! One thing that happened this past week was a friend of mine, Charlie Sefita, passed away from some heart troubles! I feel so bad for the family, but so glad to know he still lives! And I know this because of the plan of salvation!! I will be praying for that family!

Tuesday:

It is crazy to me how you can plan out a day like crazy, then you can get going through the day and God seems to rearrange your schedule when you try to visit with people!! So today we had 3 appointments that were set and none of them happened when we had planned! To start off the day however, we went to the community garden with Elder Taylor and Lewis, who are from Utah, and we helped clean out a garden plot for a older lady who has cancer!! It was a lot of fun and the weather was so perfect! So we had to take a picture of the beautiful day and 4 handsome guys! so for lunch we had a Cousin lunch with Sam Strasser, because last week we figured out that Elder Wardle and I are 5th cousins! None removed, and it is through the same grandpa in which Sam is related to me! Grandpa Dudley Leavitt!!! We seem to all come from different wives of his! So Sam had us over for a lunch to be closer to each other! It worked miracles! After our fun morning of service and studies, we went to teach a young 18 year old couple who had a baby of 7 months already, but as we arrived and saw them on the front porch, we watched all of them run to hide from us, so it made a feel like we were horrible people and the rest of the day seemed to be a little harder after that! So the other lessons we had planned all canceled on us, so we had the impression to go and give out a few of our Mother's Day activity invitations and we went to Janet's house first! As we knocked, Janet was there and also Ruben her boyfriend and we were able to sit down and she shared pretty much her doubts with us! So we taught to her needs and she is excited for us to go and teach her tomorrow and also excited to go to the activity on Friday to take a video of us singing!! She wants to send it to my mom!! It made me feel good to hear she wanted to do that! So after that lesson we went and talked to another potential and shared a Book of Mormon with her, and she said she would read it!! Everyone does.... But it really hope she does! She is a single mom and needs Gods help more than a lot of people! Also we passed by Kevin Garcia's house this evening and were able to just visit and set up a lesson for the following day and invite his family to the Mother's Day activity as well!!! He is one awesome Convert!

Wednesday:

What a crazy cool day!! So today I had the wonderful chance to go to the church with the district and practice a mothers day program song, and it was a wonderful time!!

After practicing for our song we will sing in our ward party, we started an exchange with Elder Lakey and Escobar and I got to go with elder Lakey for the 24 hours!! So to start off our exchange we went to the Hurst building where we had a wonderful training on how to contact and use the family history with everyone we meet!!! It was super amazing! And it was funny, because President Koffman, president Ames counselor said in front of everyone, "It is so good to see all of you here! You all look so nice and dressed up, even Elder Spendlove over here!" And everyone began to laugh. He has decided that I am pretty fun to mess around with, and I a, okay with it, because he is one that speaks Spanish and French with English, so we always have our jokes back and forth!! So after our awesome time there, Elder Lakey and I had dinner with Hna. Evans and had a good lesson where we did a role play with her and then she practiced right there in the church with a non member, and it worked out so well!! She is such a wonderful missionary already!! So this evening we went and had a wonderful dinner later with Javier, a member, and his wife Jonna, a non member, but pretty much a member. Some people call them dry Mormons!! So she made us some amazing ribs and then we had a wonderful lesson on the Millenium, because Javier wanted to know about it more! It was an okay lesson, but we just feel like she is so ready and we don't know what is holding her back! So as we got home and began to talk, elder Lakey served in my birth area right after I left and he was able to talk,to a lot of my recently contacted potentials, and he told me of a family by the name Ernesto and Graselda Favela that we had taught 2 simple lessons too! It was so cool when he told me that the only investigators progressing when he left was them! I never thought they would have progressed, and so when I heard that I was so happy I could barely believe it and stay quiet!!! What a wonderful day!!

Thursday:

Oh have I got a story to write about today! So today we started off by switching back companionships and I was so excited to have Elder Wardle back!! I had such a blast with Elder Lakey, but there is just some feeling of peace and friendship that we feel when we are together!! And once we left the apartment the first thing we did give each other a hug because of the stress we had!! So as we got home we had just enough time to go and plan for the following week, and it seemed to flow very smoothly and we finished quite fast!! Sadly we don't have any progressing investigators right now, but we are working on it and we are getting close with a few different people and hope to be able to find quite a lot more people! So today after dinner we went and taught a RCLA lesson, meaning a Recent convert or less active member lesson with a less active member named Jesus Gloria! It was a very simple lesson and to the point on the revelation we receive through the Holy Ghost. We invite  him to pray tonight and ask God what he wanted him to do and he said he would! We left very quick from his house to be able to go over and be picked up by the Zone Leaders, Elder Farr and Elder Bird. Then we headed for a service called, Denton Interfaith National Day of Prayer, sat the Trinity Presbyterian Church, where we sat and listened to many different faiths stand up and pray in front of everyone to ask for Gods help in Denton and in the world we live in. There was a Counselor of the Stake Presidency who prayed and during his prayer he said, "By the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood that I hold, I pronounce a blessing upon all of you," and immediately I felt such a powerful feeling overtake me and I knew without any doubt that our church was the true church and only true church! During the service they had candles that people we able to go and light in front of everyone, and all four of us Elders went up separately to make sure that people saw we were normal and that we had a great love of God, and it was such an amazing first experience to just stand up for my beliefs and faith! After the service, many different Preachers came up and talked with us and it was so nice to see them not wanting to bash like normal, but just to show their love that we each have a belief in God. 

So after that service we wondered a little in the church and found a room that had what was called a Labyrinth (a sheet on the ground that has Archetypal patterns of Wholeness and journey that are found across the globe in many different cultures and times, that you walk on and meditate and let God speak to you.) So all 4 of us had the chance to go and take our socks off to show respect and that it is sacred and then we entered this Labyrinth and walked until we got to the center, meditated and then walked out!! All together it took about 15 minutes and was quite different. However, I didn't feel to much peace of God speaking to me, all I could think about was how trapped I felt and how badly I wanted to just go sit in the Temple and think and ponder! Because of my experiences tonight, I can with assurity say that I know the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true and living church on the face of the earth!! And I know this because the Spirit Testified of that! My first time in a different faiths church and I don't know if I ever want to go back?!

Friday:

What a simply planned day, but also what a crazy day! So today we had the opportunity to be able to study for our full time for the first time in forever, and it was actually quite enjoyable!! We had really good discussions on how we could improve our teaching and how we could connect better with those that we teach, and it really hope that we are able to use what we found because I can see so much potential in the ideas! So after our studies we went and helped some English sisters do a yard cleaning service for some members in their ward, and it was quite enjoyable! We were able to mow the lawn, rake the leaves and even build a flat rock fire pit in the back corner of the lot!! It made me feel like old times at home with my bother Skyler, making his fire pit and just laying stones down in his back yard!! The service was very appreciated and we were able to finish all of it and really make the family happy!! So for the rest of the night we were able to go and give a service for the ward at the ward party where we had a Mother's Day fiesta!! All of the men in the ward cooked the food for the mothers and kids, and all the missionaries went and helped deliver it to all of the mothers and kids!! It was super fun to go and see the moms so happy to be able to relax! And then we were able to sing a Mother's Day song for our moms back home and for the mother in our ward! It was a super fun to sing as a missionary district and a lot of the moms thanked us for our song! At the very end of the party we began to pick up the chairs and tables when the whole ward began to dance the chacha and a lot of other super fun songs, and it about killed me to hear that music and not be able to dance with everyone, but I know it is for my own good and that when I get home God will give me more dancing abilities for holding it all in the whole time! Haha Tonight really was an enjoyable night and super fun to get to know new people!!

Saturday:

It is amazing how even the most difficult days can teach you the most! I feel like every day this week has been some type of national day for something, and I would say today felt like the national Mormon Bashing day! So after some amazing studies we had a wonderful time in our DLC meeting where we learned so many wonderful things really straight from God through our mission president. One of the things I learned a lot from was what Elder Farr said. He said, "When Christ teaches us to come unto him and follow him in the bible, the Book of Mormon teaches us the How!" I thought that was such an interesting way to show people the way the two books go together!! So today after our amazing meeting , we decided to go out and contact a few potential investigators, and it was a bit of a mess! The first door we knocked I thought the door was closing on the guy, so I tried to grab it and hold it from closing and he flipped out on me! He looked at me like he wanted to just hurt me and screamed, don't you touch my door! Then he slammed the door... It was pretty rough, and then we went to another guys house and he just tried the whole time to explain how we were wrong and how his church was right through all these other books that he has read that aren't scripture, and we just laughed because he clearly didn't understand what scripture truly meant and how you can't just read anything and believe it in these days! So after a little time and getting out of there, we went to dinner at Texas Road House with Hna. Chavez, a sweet older lady who is divorced and loves the missionaries so much!! She shared her testimony and it was such an amazing testimony on how real the Book of Mormon is truly of God! To end the evening out, we went on an exchange with Hno. Arteaga and were able to go and teach Kevin Garcia his first lesson as a recent convert, and he was amazed to still be able to learn new things even though he had already had the lesson! It was wonderful and we are excited that he is doing so good! Today really was a good day in and of itself!

It is amazing to me how time flies in the mission field!! So today was Mother's Day and it was a wonderful day at church being able to visit and see all of the wonderful members who I have grown to love so much!! One Hermana came up to me today and told me that she had the chance to go through the temple yesterday with her husband and she had the biggest smile on her face and so did her husband!! Next week they plan on going and being sealed as a whole family and they can not wait! So after church today we had a wonderful time to go and visit with Hno. Hildreth at his house and even meet his wife to give her some mothers day flowers! Then we were able to call home and visit with our families for an hour a piece and it was the most wonderful time ever!! I love my mission, and would never change it for anything, but it is one of the best feelings to be able to talk with your families and make sure they are doing good, see that they are happy and also share your wonderful experiences!! I know without any doubt that my family is and always will be one of the most important things to me, being the Lord first! I have gained such a strong love for my family while serving and can not wait to express it fully when I get home! But while I am out, I want to cherish every moment and make sure I make ever moment worth it!!

So after our phone call and speaking to all my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews, we were able to go and have dinner with the Monzon family and get to know them better!! It was a wonderful dinner and the rest of the night no one wanted to listen to what we had because it was Mother's Day, but not to worry we were able to get some good planning in!! What a wonderful day and only 7 months until it happens again!

I hope that y'all have a wonderful week and I love you so much!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

Baptism & Calling Home Soon!!

Dear Family and Friends!,

I hope that you have all had a wonderful week!! For me, my week was amazing!! Here is how it looked!!

Week April 25-May 1 2016

Monday:

Wow today went by so fast! We were able to really clean our apartment before we got to into our day and then we went shopping with Elder Lakey and Escobar!! After our morning of shopping and looking through a sports store we went to the church were we were able to finish our emails for the day!! And I received a few unexpected emails! I love getting letters or emails! It is by far the best part of my Pday being able to email my family!! However, my parents scared me a lot when they said that in two weeks it was already time to talk to them on the phone again!! I kind of freaked out a little realizing how fast time is going!! So today we were able to play basketball and even volleyball, and it was a lot of fun!! After that fun time I realized that I have a major ingrown toenail on my right big toe and it hurts so bad! However, we went and taught a wonderful lesson this evening to the Barreras family that are more recently converts to the church, and we taught them about Family History!! It was a wonderful time visiting with them and getting to know them more! So not a lot happened, but tonight we are going to do surgery to my toe, so hopeful everything goes well!!

Tuesday:

What a crazy day I have had today!! So where do you even begin when you have such a wonderful day!? Today I was able to have an exchange with the Zone Leaders and while Elder Wardle stayed in our area with Elder Bird, Elder Farr and I went back to the Denton YSA ward and had so much fun!! To start off our exchange we went and passed out free taco flyers for their taco Tuesday party that they have! Ever Tuesday they have free tacos to have people come over and talk to Mormons and eat as well for free. No broke college student would say no! So after opening up and realizing I have nothing to lose, I went with Elder Farr and we just walked around campus on UNT and we just had a blast talking to people and had close to 3 really good contacts with return appointments and were able to give out 2 book of Mormons!! It was amazing!! I came away from that time feeling super good about the myself and just contacting people and being myself!! So we were able to teach two people tonight and just had a wonderful time teaching a man about the restoration and he was just amaze by what truly happened and he said he was going to read and find out!! It was wonderful! Around 6 we had an exchange inside of an exchange where I exchanged with Elder Truchard!! And we had a wonderful time at a ASL club night where we taught a small lesson and then were able to eat with everyone!! Then we had a crazy night planned where we were going to go to a Baptist Service and were going to just listen to what they had, but all of that was canceled with the crazy storm and so we went to give a blessing to a missionary and headed home when we were driving by a building and watched a building get struck by lighting and catch fire, and within a few minutes the fire trucks were there and the rain just began to pound. Then we got a text from the APS to stay inside and to read over the tornado safety paper we all have! So we went home and now we are just sitting in the apartment watching the crazy weather as it just downpours and seeing that the storm is just beginning!!!

Wednesday:

Wow, the week gets going so fast that I forget to take lots of pictures and even forget what day is what!! So today we had our district meeting start at 10 o'clock so that we could have a Language Study as a District, and it was worth every bit of effort and time to do it, because we were able to learn a lot of good things! And I love my district so much and would do anything for them!! This evening we ate dinner with Hno. Saldaña at Rosas Cafe and I was a blast just being with him!! He drives his old car that had been wrecked so many times and he just pounds out the dents and it just looks like a tin can driving around, but we just love his attitude about everything! So today we had a lot of planes that kind of fell through, but as we decided to go out and find people, we were blessed by just going out and opening out mouth, and were able to hand out another 3 Books of Mormon to these wonderful people and it was just wonderful. Every book we handed out, we were able to also teach a small lesson, and it was amazing to see a small light turn on in their eyes as they realized that the truth was restored once more. Maybe they won't act on what they felt, but I know that each of them felt a sort of truth in what we said!! So this evening we got to talk to a lady named Lourdes Fuentes who has had a baptismal date easier and she was so nice to just talk with us and as we were teaching a small lesson, she said I needed to go home because I looked tired, and as we left she couldn't stop telling me I knew a lot of Spanish, however, I don't feel like I know a lot, but I guess I really do, I am just used to it! So this evening we sent in our baptismal program for Kevin Garcia and we are super excited for what is to come!! Today has just been a wonderful day! And I love having my companion back once more!! We left a funny voicemail in perfect intonation and after just laughed forever, because we have been together for so long that we think to much alike!!

Thursday:

The Temple is Beautifully Simple and Simply Beautiful!  I keep saying what a crazy day, when really I should just sum it up in one day saying, What a crazy week it has been! So today I was able to sit down with Elder Wardle and have our studies and weekly planning and it was so amazing!! I was thinking about it today, and it amazes me how I made it before my mission with the little amount of planning that I did do!! If I didn't have a weekly planning our whole week would be so pointless and worthless!! The prophets and apostles have given us an allotted time of 3 hours to plan each week, so I believe it is probably super important for us!! But I would say it is important for everyone, because God plans!! It would say that means we should be working on our planning skills a little bit more! So after a wonderful weekly planning we went with Hno. Hildreth and helped him teach a lesson to Hna. Flores, a lady he visits monthly!! She is so sweet and we were able to really talk and become good friends with Hno. Hildreth!! All I know is that he gave us permission to come over on Mother's Day to use his wifi to FaceTime home!! And he was super excited for us to be over there! Hno. Hildreth is such an example even if at times I can hardly stand him because he is always on us about the little things, but in the long run he is reminding us about the important things!

So today we were able to go and visit with a lot of people, but teach the Cuevas kids with their friends about the sabbath day and what we should and shouldn't do!! They loved it and it was a better lesson that I have ever had with them!! Then we went with Hno. Strasser for the last lesson with Kevin Garcia before his Baptism on Saturday, and it was a wonderful lesson!! We fitted Kevin into a jump suit and then even had a lesson on temples and how he will be able to go in soon!! We set a time to go and work on finding him some names and I am just so pumped to be able to go with Kevin and just see the progress he is taking on just trying his best and knowing God will help him through anything! Today was a wonderful day and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! 

Friday:

Texas storms are the craziest things I have ever witnessed! So today we went outside for our morning workout to humidity as bad a probably Hawaii or worse! We felt like we were chocking on air and it was just a cool slash warm mix, but it was nice!! As the day go going and we went and did some service for the Parry couple, we felt a little rain, but not much. We had the chance to build a small garden box for them in their far corner, and then we had a wonderful lunch with them where I played their piano, and the Hna. Parry told me she was going to make me play in church if I kept it up! I love that couple and I feel like they are like my grandparents! So after the wonderful service we went and tried to contact a few people without any answers and some even looked through their blinds and pretended that we couldn't see them. It makes me feel bad when people are that far from God, or won't even just be honest with you from the beginning. I have so much more respect for those that just say they have no interest right from the beginning! So we were able to go and make a small email from the ward and we are just working on and idea we had to help the missionaries connect better with the ward council and ward in general, so we hope that this idea actually will work and help them. We plan on just putting the upcoming events on the email along with baptismal dates and a scripture with a missionaries testimony!! It will be a huge success! This is when the crazy weather kicked in! We were walking out of the Library when the rain just began to come down so hard!! We ran to our car and by the time we got in, we were soaked completely!! Then as we sat there trying to wipe ourselves off a bit and figure out where we needed to drive next, the hail came out of no where and began to pelt the car!! They only stayed the size of a marble, but they hit super hard!! We headed for home to avoid damage to the car, when we began sliding over all of the hail on the street and we almost missed our turn for our apartment!! 

So this evening the storm calmed down and it was raining while the sun was shining!! We were able to go over and have small lesson with Osirus, a son of Janet, who wants nothing to do with God, but come to find out, he does believe in him, Just needs motivation! To end the night, we went by Hildreths house and had a wonderful visit with him in his nice house. He had us stay for a bit and then we took a program home us to take by Kevin's house to give to his parents! Today was a wonderful day!

Saturday:

What an amazing day we had today!! It is amazing how a baptism can change a persons life forever!! So today we had a huge day were we went and helped with a Family History Fair that went on all morning, and we were in charge of showing people who the were related too, and it was a huge success! I sat down with one lady, who was not a member of the church, but had a family search account that wasn't filled in, and we were able to find a lot of her information in the computer and put it all on her tree!! She got super excited and decided to go home to put in all of her information onto the tree!! Afterwards a lady came up to  me and thanked me for helping her, because she caught the genealogy fire and wants to learn more about her family! So after this fair, we went up to Gainesville long enough to contact a few referrals and they were a huge success!!! We really just got one guy that was pretty interested and were able to give him a Book of Mormon, and he told us he wanted us to come back in this week! We set a return appointment and can not wait to get to know his family better! So as we got home, we changed and went to set up for Kevin's baptism! The whole relief Society room was full of people and Kevin was so surprised and happy! As we sang in that baptismal ceremony, to me it sounded like more than just 48 people were there, but people singing praises on the other side of the Veil for his decision to finally be made after 3 years! His baptism was done by Hno. Tryon and he seemed to be so happy afterward with a smile stuck on his face!! We left that Baptism with so much love, happiness, and energy to find more people, but filled the most with gratitude to God for giving us the opportunity to teach him and help him get to that point. God truly does know where we need to serve and which people we need to touch, and I can say I know that Kevin needed to hear something I said or see something I did to finally decided. Also to be able to get his dad to agree it had to take a lot of love, patience and dedication. I testify that God works miracles in our lives constantly and this was one of them!! I love this work!!

Sunday:

What a wonderful day!! So today was such a cool day where I was able to see Kevin Garcia get the Holy Ghost! Also it really made me happy when we were sustaining people for advancements and callings and he looked at us and said, "I can do this now right?" Haha it was such a blessing to see him just seem so excited to know that he was just getting more opportunities!! Also Bishop Meza had a wonderful interview with Kevin and come to find out, he will be getting the Priesthood within the next few weeks and he is pumped about that as well!! I haven't seen him like this ever, but I am so glad to see the change! So today for Sunday School we went into the Family History Center and helped Kevin find a few of his ancestors, but really just got him excited to go to the temple with his family members! Today was just amazing when we got done with church! We went to a park across the street from our house and were able to draw with chalk in many different spots, the plan of Salvation and the many questions of the soul! We did it in both Spanish and English and just hope we can find a few people to be able to teach off of it!! All together I think we drew 3 giant Plan of Salvations, and wrote many many questions of the soul with Mormon.org information all over the place!! As we were in the middle a drawing, we had the Hnas, Sperry and Eyestone call us and ask if we could go and help them move a sister out of her house into her parents house, so we went and had a great time!! To finish off the night, I always spend Sunday nights calling in for numbers!! I really do love it, but it is such a tiring job!! I can only imagine how the Zone Leaders feel sometimes!! But I have a quote for those who get tired, You can sleep when your dead. Until then, don't stop! I love this Gospel So much and the fact that God gives us Second Chances, and thirds!!

I love you all and I hope that y'all have a wonderful week!!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove