Elder Kyson Spendlove: Transfers are here and President Ames is Going Home!

Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been a very busy week for me, but one that I have been able to learn from and really enjoy and love.
So yesterday Elder Lewis and I found out that Elder Lewis will be getting Transferred to Arrington and that this Wednesday I will have a new companion named Elder Langi! He is a Tongan and I have met him, he is just a "Tad" bit bigger than me?! (Meaning he is a giant!) I can't wait to meet him and get to know him!! And I know this is what God wants!

So President and Sister Ames will be leaving this Thursday and we already said our good byes and President and Sister Whitney we will be meeting this Friday in a meeting around 1 pm!! I am so excited to get to know him and the best part is I will be able to get to know him really well with all of the meetings we will be having in the this week and the following!

Here is how my week has been!
June 20-26 2016
Monday:
So today was a bit of a quick day for the both of us, but it was also I day where I learned a lot from a man in my ward! So today was a wonderful day for the both of us, because we had a lot of things we were able to accomplish, and it was just really nice to be able to just relax today because we had no major activities!! So today after emailing and cleaning clothes and our car and buying groceries, we went to the Church and just played Frisbee us two!! We had a blast and were enjoying ourselves when we realized that we only had an hour left of pday and the time had just flown by!! It was funny for me to looking into a clerks office and see a missionary that is almost ready to go home who is trying to be registered for classes and get life ready, but he seemed a little scared and stressed. I was thinking in my head that it was such a blessing to be were I am and that would scare me so bad!!
So this evening we had a wonderful dinner with the Rivas family where the Hno. talked to us about going home and how important it is to get a calling right away! He pretty much bore his testimony to us about what happened to us, and he just promised us blessings and wonderful wives if we did!! As we visited with them he showed us his mission pictures and told us experiences and it just made me so happy and even prepared him to help us teach his friend this Friday!!!
Today was a simple day, but a wonderful one!

Tuesday:
Today was a little bit of a tough day, because it seemed like no one wanted to answer our calls or even answer their doors! So today after giving wonderful service at the food bank, we went out and had like 3 lessons planned, and found out that the members feeding us were so far away, so we are and were not able to teach them anything, and as we got back into our area our next lesson wouldn't open the door, so it was crazy to just try and find people, and we really didn't find anyone interested today!! However, to end our day we went over to Bianca and Hermilo Trujillos house, who are recent converts and planning to be sealed in September, where we had dinner and had a wonderful lesson about Eternal Families!! It was so wonderful and we didn't want to leave!! They are just so much like home and I really just love them! When we leave Hermilo always gives us a hug and I really just love it, because not many gives us hugs!! So yes today was hard, but it was still wonderful in the service of the Lord!

Wednesday:
"Obedience brings blessings, and exact obedience brings miracles."
This is the truest quote that I ever did read! Today I can testify of this quote with the experience that we had while contacting today!! So all day yesterday we were talking about how important prayer is to our days as missionaries, and so this morning we were praying that we would meet someone who was ready to hear the gospel and who wouldn't just shut the door on the first sight of missionaries, Which happens a lot, but has helped me grow so much! So today we contacted over 15 houses that we had in our records, and literally every single person would not answer or wasn't interested in what we had. Then we walked by a man in his truck on the side of the road and you could tell something was either wrong or he was just super anxious. So Elder Lewis and I began to talk to him in his truck and asked him if he was waiting for someone, and he said no, he was just sitting. So we talked to him about what we do as missionaries and he finally opened up as we asked him where he was from and how he felt that God had blessed his life. He said he had left his wife and 3 girls and he moved and got into drugs, and now he just feels like he is wasting his life and wants a new start. Plus he just ran out of gas, had no money, or house and had no where to go, he was lost completely! So he sat down outside of his truck with us and we talked a lot! While we were talking I was thinking, " we prayed for this experience and God blessed us with it because of our obedience to getting outside and working in his Vineyard!" So I told him we had prayed to find someone who wanted to change their life and would listen to us, and I testified that I knew he was the person God put in our path and that God wanted him to learn and follow his Gospel. As I said those words he got teary eyed and agreed and began to just cry and was so sad for what he had done and what he wanted to fix! The amazing part was that my companion was calling trying to help him find some jobs, so I taught him the full restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. He hadn't eaten in almost 2 days so we went and bought him a Burger and a drink and when we came back he already had questions about the church and the book that he began to study right as we left to get him food!! There was so much more that happened today, but I think that was a miracle bigger than anything I could have asked for from my Father in Heaven and I could feel so much love for that man!! The miracle will only grow if he comes to church this Sunday!!!
Be obedient whether the blessings come or not, and God will bless you more than you know in the next!!

Thursday:
Weekly planning days can be one of the hardest days as a missionary if you are not planning with a purpose or if you do not understand how to plan correctly. But for those who understand how to plan as God does, they have wonderful weekly planning's and are super happy as they do it!! So our mission president had made a PowerPoint that we follow on our iPads to plan with purpose and it follows some simple steps that I believe apply to everyone whether serving a mission or not!
The steps go as followed,

Step 1: Prayer (Council with the Lord Alma 37:37)
Step 2: Review PMG pgs. 147-150. (“So the principals are fresh in your minds.”)
Step 3: Schedule Known Events. (•Teaching Appointments•Meetings•Ward Activities, etc.)
Step 4: Make a list of names: (•Those with Baptismal Dates.•Those with Potential Baptismal Dates.•Your progressing Investigators.•Other Investigators, Potentials and Referrals.•Recent Converts.•Less Active members you are or can work with.•Active members you are or can be working with.)
Step 5: Make Goals (“Set goals based upon the information from step 4 and key indicators from prior weeks.”)
Step 6: Complete the schedule. (“Schedule the remaining week and plan how to accomplish these goals.”)
Step 7: Plan Other Proselyting Activities. (“Prayerfully consider finding opportunities as discussed in Chapter 9 of PMG to achieve your goals.”)
Step 8: Companionship Inventory and iPad Audit

These steps seems like there is a lot to do, and you are absolutely correct! There is a lot to do, but I have learned something from President Ames that has changed they way I look at planning, and it is that God literally planned everything spiritually before he created it physically, like in an engineering class where you must measure stuff out, test models on CAD or even ponder on what the outcome might be before you make the final product. Well God wants us to do the same for our weeks!! I plan on making this apart of my life as I finish my mission one day, and really take time to sit down and talk about what the plans are for the week to keep myself busy so that I will stay out of trouble!! I promise that this can help you as well! So today we taught one lesson that started out as just a man wanting to see how we were different, to him saying, wow! How can I know that it is true? He now wants to learn for himself, and even his parents want to learn more!! It was just a wonderful day!
And this evening I did a small surgery again on my foot!!

Friday:
I learned something essential to life today that I always have heard, but never applied it! "Do not judge anyone by how they look, until you get to know them and their story. So today I had just this happen! We went and had dinner with the Martinez family who I have come to love just so much, but before that I was finally able to meet one of the sweetest investigators we have that has been busy for around 6 weeks! We went to her house for her yard-sale, and she is so nice and caring and will be a great member one day! Then after both of those this we were out contacting and I saw a younger lady sitting on her front porch and just waved as we knocked a door and I admit I felt like just walking by thinking she wouldn't listen, but my companion Elder Lewis has taught me we talk to everyone, and I am so grateful for his help, because we made a friend! Her name is Destiny and she was so happy to get to know who we were! She was even interested in what we were teaching and wanted a Book of Mormon! She committed to read it and we promised her amazing blessings! We connected so well I didn't want to leave and I felt bad I thought how I did before! Really I just learned that looks mean nothing, but the heart is who they are!! I love what I learn as a missionary!

Saturday:
We had such a special experience happen with us today! So last week we contacted into what we would call a Golden investigator, someone who wants to learn so much more and is just on fire and going to progress, and we set a wonderful return appointment. Well this morning we had the chance to go back by her house to teach her the first lesson, and when we arrived her gate was locked and she was gone! We were so devastated and just upset that she was gone and had no interest, so we were going to send her a text, when suddenly she pulled up and opened her gate and waved us in! So we went in and began talking to her, and she said she was waiting for us when she felt bad because she had no good treats of snacks to offer us and she knows we get rejected and walk in he heat a lot! So she ran to the store for that sole purpose of grabbing us Doughnuts and milk! So we thanked her and had a wonderful lesson with her where we really planted the flag with her and helped her understand what we were really trying to say! It was cool at one point, because she set her own commitments and a return appointment with out even asking and we were so excited about it! I think the part that was so cool to me is when she said why she let us set a return appointment with her! She said, I heard you knock and looked out, and my first thought was I don't have time, and then I had a feeling when I just couldn't walk away from God, so I opened the door and after that I had a wonderful day because of the things that you told me!! It really was a blessing and I am so grateful for Gods hand in the Fort Worth North side area!! Also our zone has set like 8 dates and it is amazing how it is growing as we just lift their vision and help them see their potential!! I love my Mission!

Sunday:
Today was quite a wonderful day! However, I would not call it a day of Rest!! It was one of the busiest days I have had this week, but it was by far worth it!! I have seen Gods hand in our area this past week so much and it is so wonderful to look at our area book from when we started together and just had lots of Green (meaning lots of Finding), to now looking at it and seeing most of the time we have as blue and any extra time as finding time with specific people we want to get to know or find! I think one of the biggest things I have learned from Elder Lewis is how to have a full golf swing, meaning that I teach and find and retain instead of just being focused on teaching and then latter being stuck in a finding rut!! Then we always stay teaching finding and retaining!! So today while sitting in church, we had a really cool experience. I have mentioned earlier this week that we found a man named Claudio in his truck out of gas and just very down, and we taught him, bought him some food and gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to come to church! Well, today we were sitting in church, a little upset that none of our investigators came, and while sitting there I looked to the back of the Gym and saw Claudio! So without waiting I went strait to him and sat by him as happy as can be!! He felt very at home with all the members coming and welcoming him to the ward and even our bishop met him!! We were so happy for him and we actually also found a job for him that we hope he is able to make it too so that he can get his feet under him and be a solid investigator!! So that was one of our miracles for the day, and the other one was when we went out after church to find some less active members. So we were walking down the street getting ready to find a member when we heard a lady in English yell at us and ask if we wanted some water! So we accepted and went up to say hi, and come to find out the member was there with this lady and it was the members daughter who offered us water!! The daughter is around 32 years old and had been taught 2 years ago and was interested again and just said the only reason she didn't get baptized is because her husband and her are not married civilly and don't want to do it for the wrong reasons, and so we taught a lesson on why marriage is important in Gods plan and she loved it and said she would talk with her husband!! Really it is a blessing to find new people to teach and have struggles on where to put people in our schedule instead of having to many hours of finding!!

Had an exchange last week with this Elder! Elder Rarotoga!