"Mom, Dad, It's Him!!" -K. Brent Nattress

Dear Family and Friends,

This week I feel that this simple subject fits so perfect! I have come to realize that it isn't about just the spiritual experiences, but finding Gods hand in everything you do and every situation. And I have always felt that if you tell someone your goals they always are easier to achieve. So my goal is to not only tell you my testimony now, but when I return to tell you, "It's Him!" That simple line means so much and I know that as we suffer and realize that it is making us become like God that we will be able to see it him in every situation! God is real, and He does want us back!! If you question these things please read a story that I read earlier this week! (Alma 30)

Here is how my week went!

Week September 26-2 October 2016

Monday:

Today was a very amazing Monday where we were able to get a normal amount of stuff done! And I think the favorite part of the morning after emailing my family was getting a good haircut! It just seems to be a stress reliever and just so nice to have a good message on my hair just by getting a haircut! I sure miss my mom when she would scratch my head! So today we had a wonderful time as a zone just getting to know each other, and I had a blast, because I was able to play soccer that I have been lacking at playing in a long time! So today we were able to go and have dinner with the Stafford family, and I really felt like I fit in there, because the husband is a young dad who is gringo, or white, and the rest of the family is Hispanic! So for me I was like, man you understand me!:) ha but it was wonderful to be there and then we were able to go and teach a family that lives super far away from the church named the Gamboa family! They were fun to teach and loved the lesson on the priesthood! I think the thing that caught my attention now is the fact that a me,her we taught said two things that made me think. He said, "as humans in today's society we can both be lost in a so called darkness or apostasy, and we can be in the shoes of Nephi everyday as we just say that we are Mormons, because at that point we decide whether to be apart of the cool crowd, or the church of God!" As I thought about that I realized that each of us can be like Nephi and fight strong and frankly forgive others, or we can be his sad brothers and their wives that just fight against a God that never looses!

Tuesday:

I am just so amazed by the readiness of these new missionaries and wish I came out as ready as they did! Today I was blessed with the learning opportunity of going on a day exchange with Elder Hanks. An Elder that has a week in the mission field from Payson Utah! He is already on fire with his Spanish and really has an understanding of the Gospel. I am more than certain he has been a great example for his family growing up. As we studies for our lessons today he taught me how every commandment from God hinges off of just two simple commandments. Love God and love thy neighbor as thyself. And by those two things we receive all of our blessings like it says in D&C 130:20-21. "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundation of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated. And when we receive a blessing from God, it is by obedience to the law upon which it is predicated."

On our exchange we were able to do so all phases of he work where we went finding but then had lessons with Isaac Sanchez our recent convert, Marquez Family for dinner, and after family home evening, Sergio Hernandez our investigator. All of these lessons I tried my hardest to let Elder Hanks speak and help him where necessary, and as I did that I noticed he did a great job and the people were able to make out what he said. I am grateful that you can always learn new things in life, because even though I may be a more seasoned missionary, I am able to remember the basics of the gospel even more when I am with these new missionaries! What a wonderful day!

Wednesday:

What a wonderful day in Denton with Elder Warby!

So today I was able to go with Elder Warby in his area in Denton, and it was very tiring, but fun. I think the biggest thing I learned from him was Humbleness. He is so open to learning new things and even more humble when he teaches. He shows full respect, but sweetly and powerfully bares his testimony as he invites, and has been a huge example to me as we were out and about! We biked and contacted different people most of the afternoon, and then we were able to go to the church for a meeting, and I was hoping I would see a lot of members but the only one I really saw was Moises Garcia. We had a good visit and meeting and I was glad to hear that he has been giving out Books of Mormon to his family and friends in their hard trials. So the time came where we should get heading out and Elder Warby said, "We need to go by one more house and teach a small lesson." So we biked for what seemed like 30 minutes when we knocked on a door and an investigator came out named Luis. He had his Book of Mormon in hand and seemed a little anxious and stressed. As we began to talk he just said, "I don't have time, and this book is confusing me. I don't have time to keep trying to switch my religion right now." And it looked like he was going to try and give us the book back, so right away we both offered to read he first part with him, and hesitantly he agreed. As we read we explained how the book starts in the times of Jeremiah and then Lehi leaves after a vision from God. as we explained that I asked, "Hno. Do you think that this could be? Do you think that God would call prophets like he did in the past?" And he responded, yes and explained how his church believed in a leader who started back in Jesus time. So we asked him how he could receive and answer and talked about the spirit. He, however, had never felt or heard what it feels like. So we taught from the Bible and testified and he said with a smile on his face, "I felt that feeling when my daughter was born..." hearing that brought so much joy to me and I just helped him understand that feeling by saying, "hermano, that is how God speaks to us, through the spirit to tell us the things that are true and that will make us happy!" At the end of that simple lesson he went from not feeling like he had time to wanting to read it and holding it a little closer to him, and I know he will try to read it now!

Today was a great and very tiring day!

Thursday:

I thought that just exchanges was hard to do in a week, but today tested the both of us on our ability to plan! So today I was picked up in Denton at about 10 and we went straight from there to head to our interviews back in Hurst, and we barely made it in time, and it was a blessing we showed up 5 minutes before! So we hurried and changed into our suits and into the interviews, then changed again to go back and drive to pick up lunch and good to Lewisville. As we started our exchange I was happy to be able to come back to my area with Elder Thompson again where we had a very busy day ahead of us! We had a wonderful time with 3 lessons that we had! We had a lesson with Rey Castillo, where one of our members showed up and was ready to teach the lesson with us by complete surprise practically, and the lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ went so well! We taught from 2 Nephi 31 and really gave him insight and helped him learn. I am so excited for him to be baptized! Then we went straight to a lesson with the Martinez family. The husband named Pablo is not a member and has been taught for years and just isn't budging, but we were able to teach him the need of being baptized after weeks of just being his friend with the help of the same member, Hno. Benitez, and it was just so wonderful! He was open and said, "I know I need too, but I am just wanting to learn enough to defend myself first, and then I will for sure be ready." That was a shocker to us, because he never showed that kind of interest, and here the whole time I was afraid that he was going to be offended or take steps back with this! So we are just so happy with how the work is moving along here in Our area of Hurst and Haltom and are never going to slow down!

Friday:

I am going to make my writing for today very simple, because this week has been so tiring, and I am exhausted and trying to keep up in my journal and also my eyes won't stay open! So today finishing our exchanges was amazing and on the way back, and I believe my favorite times with the Assistants is when they let us council with them about things going on in he mission, and we were able to get a lot of things taken care of, and also learned a few new things that we now have deadlines with! So it was awesome! Also I love today because we were able to get lost way out of our area up by Denton looking for some of our missionaries to whom we were going to have a Language study with! So as we were there with Elder Reich and Elder Mendoza we had a little different situation that usual. We went in and we trying to teach an English missionary how to help his companion Learn how to speak in English. Where he never has had to help someone learn or learn himself he felt very lost. So we gave lots of good ideas and gen also helped Elder Mendoza understand how important it was to keep going forward! Something that he did for me that I never want to forget was while he was praying to end our study he prayed specifically for him, and then said, "Also, father, please help Spendlove as he learns Spanish, that he can also have the gift of tongues" in his broken Spanish, and It made me realize how much love he did have for me and for just people in general! Also one more thing that really hit me this evening is when we were teaching a husband of another member, and he is ready for baptism, but we just have to teach him the lessons! As we finished the lesson he offered the prayer and he said, "Buenas Noches Dios, quiero......"(Good Evening/Night God, I want..) and he went on. To me that impacted me dramatically that he rated off by saying Good Evening. Why? Because to me It smacked me in the face and made me think, "when was the last time you had a real CONVERSATION with God? Do you even feel he is real and listening to you? Do you feel his response or even try too? As I thought about that I realized how much I needed to repent and find ways of not waking up at 12 and finding myself still on my knees. Standing for my prayers or whatever necessary to be able to stay away and have a conversation with him! Like President Whitney taught me yesterday in my Interview. There are four things that a missionary must do to become the best he can be. 1) Pray: Have a relationship with God. 2) Study the Scriptures: Learn of his teachings focused more in the Book of Mormon. 3) Study Preach My Gospel: To learn properly how to teach by the Spirit. 4) Study the Missionary Handbook/ White Bible: To learn the rules of the mission that have so many blessings for us as we obey. Today was a wonderful day!

Saturday:

How do you make a missionary truly happy? Surround him by more missionaries, let him listen to General Conference and then let him be with the Elders Quorum and get to know gem better!

For me, that is how I found my happiness even greater today! So today I would like to relate a few experiences that happened to me that give me a testimony where I know can not deny God at all working in my life. So today after some good 2 hours of studies we got into the truck and began to drive towards the Stake center for Conference when we were stopped at a red light. The light was always a long one, and as we sat, Elder Lopez remembered he forgot his Journal at home a minute back. So as the light turned green at the 3 way intersection we made a u turn back home. Right as I began to turn I saw a green car coming very quickly to the place where I would have been if we didn't have to go back. And to my surprise it wasn't slowing down. As we hurried and turned around and straightened out we saw that car fly behind us through a so,I'd Red light. However, happy we were that we, nor anyone else got hurt. Whether it was an accident or God that made him forget his journal it saved our lives this morning, and  going to the church to learn from the leaders really helped me understand that it was definitely Gods hand in our life today! I was blessed to be uplifted today by wonderful church leaders who know how to help the lost and the weary find their way, and who help those who are service ready to understand how to properly serve! For me I felt the main focus was on the restoration of Gospel truths and very focused on the plan of salvation, and I was very emotional by the talk given for the missionaries of the church! We don't need recognition, nor do we hope to get it, but knowing our leaders truly love us is what truly helped me this day! "Member Missionary work is not a program, but an attitude of the living of the Gospel." - Dallin H. Oaks 

Love one another as I have loved you. This simple line can be a very simple and easy thing to do, or it can be a task and one of he hardest things to do. But however we look at it, it is a commandment of the lord and must be fulfilled! As the conference went on I just kept thinking, I'm a missionary. I walk and talk to everyone and teach them about Christ, but where do I lack. And my answer came this evening as the priesthood session came to an end. As we pulled out of the church parking lot this evening we instantly saw hazard lights on and a truck pulled in the middle of two busy roads with very little space to work with on either side. As we pulled out however, I instantly decided to pull behind him and turn my hazards on as well. As we jumped out we went to him and could see him in distress as his tire had flattened in travel and had rubbed through to the rims. He was struggling to get the nuts to budge loose with the limited tools that he had, and to make the matters even harder, there were cars flying past him coming off the freeway going about 50 or so miles an hour with limited sight as the sun had gone down. We asked if he needed help and he hung up his phone, looked at us and said yes, and then said that all he knew where super far away and that he didn't have the tools. We sat and looked at the problems and realized that we also didn't have the tools. However, as we came to that realization we noticed another brother from the church, in his big truck, pulled up behind us and had the tools we needed. It took a while to get the spare tire on, and the cars were flying past us to the point we could feel the wind pull us around a bit as the car flew by. As we worked side by side with this man names Jesus we got to know him. We finished and he didn't know how to thank us, but without fail I gave him a card and told him how we found him, and he was very grateful. We know he was relieved and that God did love him. And one of the things I learned was this. When your focused inward you rarely look for or act on service opportunities, but when you focus outward on others you realize that service pops up and you desire to be helping at every moment possible. Also I came to the conclusion that Dirty tire marked hands don't bother me and I don't want to wash them, because I know what it means to me now!  Today was a wonderful day where God gave me the chance to serve and use the Priesthood that he has endowed me with!

Sunday:

It is amazing how the General Conference can just come and go so fast, and just a bit saddening thinking that it will be another 6 months before we hear from all of them in a group again. So today there was a lot of talks and a lot of things taught, but the one message that caught my attention like crazy was the talk by K. Brent Nattress.

He brought tears to my eyes as he said, I said, "Mom, I'm not listening." And she replied, "son, I received a promise that if I read the Book of Mormon to my kids everyday I wouldn't lose my children. And Brent, I will not loose you!!" It made me tear up, because I believe fully that this is how both of my parents raised me. They listened to the prophets voice, and even when times were hard and they thought we were not listening we truly were. I would say in times when they thought we were not watching, we truly were. As a son I am very grateful to God for giving me the earthly parents that he did. For their examples of faithfulness to the lord through service and through personal Study of Scriptures and through prayer and family time! Because of them I know have a goal that when I return home I can look my parents in the eyes and say to both of them, "Mom, Dad, I found Him, it's him! To end I want to bare my testimony. I know that this church is true, and I know it not because someone has told me, but because I have tested it and still test it. I have read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it. I have felt the spirit and found comfort in my hard times, and I know that Joseph is the prophet of the Restoration. I know the church is true not by the people in it, but by the Restored Gospel or Doctrine of Christ that is found in it! And I end by quoting Boyd K. Packer. "The Atonement leaves no tracks or traces. What has been healed stays healed!" I know that to be true!

I want to thank each one of you for your love and support and I want you to know that I love and pray for everyone of you daily!! Please know that you are loved by God and that he truly is your loving Heavenly Father that does know how you feel in every situation! Pray to him for strength and never, no never, give up!

Have a great week!!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

De la Misión de Texas Fort Worth