Week of Miracles!

Dear Family and Friends!

It has been such a great week, and right now I am at a service project in a different church emailing, so I won't be able to respond a lot, but I will try!

Here is how my week went!

Week January 9th - 15th

Monday:

It is super crazy to me how preparation days for me go by so fast! I feel like when I start I have so much time, but as I get going I realize that I don't have much time at all! I actually have a hard time getting all my emails and cleaning done! However, I love P-Days! So today we were able to go and just relax with a little bit of Basketball and Soccer, but had to end early because of a Family Home Evening and Dinner with the Noyola Family! They gave us some really good spicy food from San Luis Potosí, and we were able to share with them a message about the importance of Charity by reading in Moroni 7:45-48 and having them write a story in a minute about a service they have given, but then the had to X out every letter in their sentences that used C H A R I T and Y. Doug this helped them see that without Charity we are nothing!

As we continued on in the evening we were able to go and contact some different people to try and find or set up lessons. As we did so we were able to teach a 14 year old boy, a son of an investigator, who plays soccer. We connected really well and we shared just a simple message about the restoration, and he understood it so well! To end the night off strong we went and had a really powerful lesson with Samira and AG Ybarra. Something I have really gotten better at is just being bold and asking questions that need an answer even if it seems at all offensive. For instance this evening we taught using Ether 12:6 and talked about faith and then told them a story saying, "there was a man who decided to take his dog in he winter months and go and load wood in his truck to take home and burn. While he was driving it began to snow. As he got to his location he drifted off the road and was stuck on the side of the road. He tried and tried to get out and even tried 4 Wheel Drive. When he realized how alone he was in the back country and his chances of life he decided to pray. As he finished he tried to get out again with now luck. Thinking about what he could do, he divided to just continue on his way and cut the wood needed. It took a lot of work and he filled the truck to the rim. He was very tired and hungry as he finished and climbed back in his truck with his dog for warmth. As he sat in the truck he had an idea. He thought maybe with the extra weight he could get himself out. As he tried he did get out, and he prayed thanking God not only helping him, but for caring for him." As we finished the story I looked at Samira and said, This man didn't get out just by prayer alone did he? She responded, "No! He had to work a lot and keep praying!" And that is when I asked, "Samira, do you feel you have put in the necessary effort or work to receive your answer from God that this Book is true and the church from which we are is true?" She was quiet for a moment and then replied no. As we visited she expressed her desire to know the truth and receive the blessings, and we committed her to read and Pray for her answer daily. She committed fully! I love being there, because I learn how to teach and they both listen so well! What a wonderful day full of powerful lessons! I am grateful for a companion who helps me and works with me to have good lesson plans!

Tuesday:

Today while my companion had a doctors check-up I was able to really have a good study and put together a really organized way of using my study journal and my Scriptures! Teaching the Gospel never gets boring to me! I love so much to teach! Actually a really cool experience for me is this evening we were able to teach in Family Home Evening with the ward about the importance of Not missionaries, but missionary work or sharing the Gospel! It was so much fun to just see how scared they are to talk to friends because of things that could be asked, but seeing how they change as they just do open heir mouths! So we had to leave fast to get to another lesson with a less active member, but it was such a wonderful evening being able to learn from the members and connect with them even better! I feel so good being with Hna. Lebron and her family and Hna. Zuniga! What a great day!

Wednesday:

I love Zone Councils! I have really enjoyed being a Zone Leader, not that it entails anything crazy, but just more work. However, my favorite part is actually being able to help my zone by training and teaching and learning with them. As we had our zone council today I was able to give a good training on how to hold a better accountability, and the Zone fell in love with it! We seemed to have picked it up and are going to really strive to hold ourselves accountable to one another and to the Lord. I loved the scriptures that we talked about in DyC 104:11-12 and DyC 72:2-4. As we read these and applied them to ourselves we were amazed by the simple revelation that we received. So as we finished our Zone Council, Elder Graham and I were able to begin and go on exchange with Elder Lakey and Elder Hanks to make sure they are still doing good, and it was such a wonderful day in my area with Elder Hanks! We worked hard and had lots of lessons. Luckily they were all set lessons, but nice to be able to be on time and teach the necessary material. Something I feel I have a strength on is just getting to know people and connect with them. And from tonight I feel like I need to work on using he things I learn from the people and apply it to the way I teach. Miguel Tome, a member we are working with that is 20 years old, he is searching for ways to learn English, and so we are going to teach him English as he teaches us Spanish better! What a beautiful day at 80 degrees!

Thursday:

What an amazing day we have had! I have had such a fun just being a missionary today and not being afraid to be bold! So today I learned so,etching super important! No matter whether or not I am a missionary, I can promise the blessings I can find in the scriptures, because God already promises them! So today I just wanted to share an experience that I just had tonight that made me excited for the work again and gave me a testimony in members! So we have been teaching Pablo Martinez since I have gotten to the area, and he has been taught by missionaries for 10 years. As we have taught him there hasn't been great change until recently attending church more frequently. However, until this evening. We were just talking with Pablo, and Hno. Zuniga was there, and they got along so well! They both had funny jokes and the Hno. Zuniga said after the lesson that he had many of the same questions, doubts and problems as he has. As we taught we found the very core doubt and really taught to his needs and Hno. Zuniga testified powerfully of the Important of action in the process to see the blessings come. As we talked I invited boldly for him to set a date for the 4th of February, but he was shocked saying it was way to soon. So being stubborn we set two lessons for next week to keep him committed and progressing to setting a date! It was a great lesson and Hno. Zuniga asked us to not let him miss a lesson when we teach Pablo! He has caught the missionary work fire! It really does spread!

Friday: Temple Day!

Today Elder Graham and I were blessed with the opportunity to go to the temple for a session at 6 o'clock! It was super early because we had to wake up at 5 this morning just to be ready and showered up, and it seems like there is no way to recover from that lost sleep as a missionary. However, it was worth the sacrifice and the experience was amazing! The session was super empty and there was only one lady in there. As we were going through I began to understand so much more and I think I came out with a more inspired way of thinking and acting, however, I also came out with so many questions to study up on! I am grateful for a temple close and I can not wait to go back on the mission! So today after we studied we had the chance to contact a few people, and then we went and had dinner/a lesson with the Zuniga family and motivated them to find the thing that brings them Joy and to focus on that! They agreed to it and now we are going to hold them to it! I have found a favorite question to ask couples, and it was super funny this evening finding out that the Zuniga's met in a Club! His was before their coming to church days, and they say they are so much happier now than they were then! So this evening we were able to go and visit a less active/ returning sister who left her husband because he never wanted to change. She has been taking it hard, but left because she realized that Salvation was personal and that she wanted to live with God more than have partial happiness here on earth without a relationship with God. So this next week she is going through the temple for herself, and she is just so excited! And she even has a return missionary that baptized her, coming in for her temple trip! Today really was a wonderful day!

Saturday:

At the first of my mission I couldn't stand Saturdays, because they seemed so long to me, but now, I am in love with them and just love being able to go out and find people to teach and visit with less active members and members! Today for me was such a fun day! We started out y going to the church for our coordination meeting with Mario, but as the meeting started my poor companion got a nose bleed and so we had to go take care of that, and we didn't get back in the meeting for 45 minutes. He was bleeding bad, but got his temperature down and got the nose to stop bleeding which was super good! So as our meeting ended Mario bought us Pizza and we ate Pizza and then we were able to interview Miguel Gonzalez, a young boy that I taught for a good while, until a boundary change for our areas, and then Elder Lakey and Hanks took over and got him super ready for baptism! I am so excited for him to get baptized and hope that he will be as excited as he was today! So as we finished at the church we had to go by the store and by some mouse traps, because recently we have been noticing a hole getting chewed at in our plastic covers on the ground around our cabinets, and we know it has to be a mouse, because we have been putting ritz crackers out and by the morning the cracker is no where to be found! However, we will take care of him! So today we ran into a guy by knocking doors, named Jose. He is from Guatemala, and I had knocked his door months before with his kids that answered it. However, as we talked with him and shared our message he showed a lot of interest and had a lot of questions. We invited him to come to church and he said he would try! We knew that was a likely no, but the way I felt teaching him was a good feeling and we hope and pray to have some good lessons with him again! To explain the weather lately, today was one of the coolest days for me in Texas as of weather, because in southern Utah it is to dry to see a lot of things. But all day today we had I guess what you could call a fog storm! It was super cloudy, but the clouds were touching the ground. No pictures really did it justice, but it was cool to have a traffic detour and go through downtown Fort Worth where the skyscrapers had big lights going all the way up them, but you couldn't see the tops in the clouds because of the thick fog. It made driving a little bit scary, but it was so much fun! It was like having the misters on all day long! It was the coolest weather I have experienced before!

To end the night we were able to teach Mable Bencomo, and her brother, George, who didn't like us before we came, because he didn't want to change, however, he also listened to our message and was super happy and had questions about the plan of salvation as well! Mable is so awesome and super shy, but finally opened up more tonight. She is studying with her mom and we are so happy that she is so excited for everything she is doing to learn! Now we hope we can help her find friends at church!

Sunday:

Today was such a wonderful day and it was super cool to see God bless us! So today we had a wonderful Sunday that was super busy, and we were not very smart and didn't attend a sacrament meeting earlier, so we didn't get to take the sacrament today, and it was super sad! The reason why is because we had a SMC (Stake Missionary Council) with the Stake President and his counselors. It was wonderful to sit next to both my companion, President Peterson and President Whitney as we worked on how to help our new Stake progress! I love them so much! It was at 12 and our sacrament meeting was a 1, and with the crazy weather we couldn't get back to our ward to take the sacrament. It was bad planning. So today we showed up late to our ward, and we noticed that Mable was there and then as we looked to the back, we realized that Jose and his family, the one we contacted yesterday, were there! They came! And we set a time to see them in the week! It was super cool! We had a teachers daughter get really sick, so last second we had to teach their 14 year old class, and it went good! And church was just super good! So we had a crazy evening too where we went contacting in the most rain I have seen in a while! It was raining so hard just stepping out for a second made me soaked! Then as we were teaching some members from El Salvador, we received a storm warning for the area with Flash Flooding and also Tornadoes and knew it would get worse. As we got outside we got more than soaked and it was super crazy driving home super slow not being able to see anything! Then as we got home we went in the house, dried off, and that is when we realized that we had a Rat! We found some holes in the plastic and bought mouse traps and some sticky pads, but as we walked in the kitchen we found our mouse traps all set off and the sticky pad flipped over. As we looked at the sticky pad it was covered with hair and even crazier is that there was giant dropping of poop all over. By the size of the poop we know that it has to be a Rat! So really today was both spiritual and weird! I love is crazy weather!

1. Pday Haircut from the best! Hna. Lebron!
2. New ways of studying!
3. Zone Picture!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

De la Misión de Texas Fort Worth

First Snow of the Mission!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week it was so cold we got into the 15 degree mark and we even got a blizzard for about 30 minutes! However, the weather is like Hurricane here and by the time I could take a picture the snow was melted and only left on the grass in the distance! 

My week was so amazing! I am so grateful for a loving ward family and for leaders of a mission who love me. I know that God called them!

Week January 2nd - 8th 2017

Monday:

What a wonderful way to start he new year off, by having a really good and needed P-Day! Today not only was I able to get the apartment clean and food bought, but I was also able to play a lot of Basketball and Volleyball to get some needed cooped up energy out! I am sure that tomorrow I will feel all of the soreness of how hard I played today, but it was worth it! I definitely feel older about the day after a rough make of sports here in the field! However, I have come to realized that my favorite part of the day after emailing my family, is just getting my mind focused and centered on my purpose again, which is preaching Repentance! So this evening we were able to have a wonderful dinner with a newer lady that recently moved in, and then we were also able to have a good lesson with the Catarino family, which is Alex's family, a recent convert! As we finished there we were able to go by and share a message with Samira and AG, whom are always awesome when we see them! Something I realized today is there is a difference from sharing facts and teaching doctrine. However, I haven't figured out how to share doctrine strongly without sounding like I am just sharing facts. But our lesson ended up really Good and Samira had even more questions, so we will keep going by to answer them!

Tuesday: 

Well the temperature dropped out of nowhere from 70 to about 30 again, and it was a rough change! I love the perfect 70 weather we have been having and then today out of nowhere we were contacting and walking outside in the freezing cold! So today we had a lot of green finding time, and last night when I saw it it made me nervous, because we had 3 hours of it! Right when I saw it I decided to pray and keep praying and focusing on it, or trying to think of how to make it effective, and today I can say God answered my prayer! God has answered thousands of my prayers! As we knocked on the first door, I had put in the area Book, a younger father answered the door and we just began to talk and teach him. He is a new father and 24 years old. I asked him if we could show him a small 2 minute video and as I opened my iPad it was on a page I had previously downloaded from a prompting I had this morning, and it was ready to play, and what was it about? How fathers also have a Father in Heaven! It was God directing everything we taught him! He loved our message and thanked us so much because he was thinking about God recently! My favorite question I asked him was, "How would you feel if you kids did something to thank you for all that you do? How would you feel?" He did not hesitate to say he would feel loved and amazing. Then my response to that was, "Do you believe God wants to feel the love from his son by taking steps closer to him?" And he again saw what I was saying and was amazed! He accepted a Book of Mormon and wanted us to come back! However, that is only one of  the many stories that we had today! I know God answers Prayers as we just work faithfully and strive to do the things he asks us to because we want to! When life is hard, forget yourself!

Wednesday:

Still the temperature is dropping like crazy! Today was about 35 degrees and just kind of going back and forth! So today was such a fast day for me, and really this whole week has just been super busy! Weeks like these are my favorites! So I think the lesson I want to talk about most tonight is the one with Manuel Valdez and talk a little about the lesson with Mario Bencomo. So as we went by and had a lesson with Manuel Valdez, we began to talk about the Ten Commandments and just about how he is doing, and he began to teach us all these things in the Pearl of Great Price and the time era of it and stuff, and it blew us away! I am so happy for him and how much he is just running with this Gospel! He is so solid and I can not wait to go back and be at his wedding! So we also had the awesome opportunity to go and have a wonderful first lesson after baptism with Mario! He is so funny and we have our secret handshake that we have to do every time we come or go! What I have learned is the importance of having a relationship with these converts. Of course you want them to be converted to the gospel, so you take more members over to teach and stuff, but I know that these people will stay strong in the gospel if I keep following up on them no matter what! My goal is to make sure no matter where I am in my life that I have contact with them converts and that I can support them in their different accomplishments in life!

Thursday: 

Every week I seem to have amazing experiences when it comes to seeing the hand of God in our work. For instance, we had a few lessons set up today to start off the day after weekly planning, and as time went on the lessons began to cancel and we had like 4 hours of nothing. So Elder Graham and I decided to go and just start contacting som potentials and try and find someone to teach and it was amazing the success we had. I have learned in my mission to never quite when things fall through, because God is just arranging your schedule the way he wants it to be done. It was funny to think that we only had a lesson and dinner at the house planned out, and as he lesson canceled and we just decided to work, we had more that 2 other lessons to replace it! So to end the night we went over to Pablo Martinez and Hna. Sotos house and were waiting for them to come into the room, and I felt so bad for them. They don't have a heater that works to heat their home, so they have like 2 electric heaters to keep 6 people warm. As we taught them in the freezing home, I felt the spirit so strongly in a video we watched that I couldn't help but become super warm and happy! The video of the temple was perfect! And I realized that Hna. Soto wants to adopt us! She calls us her kids and to her mother we have to call her abuelita! I am so grateful for members and relationships that can last for a long period of time! I hope to keep in touch with them no matter where I am in life!

Friday:

I just love the first Friday's of the month! They for me are wonderful days because of MLC with the mission leaders! I can say I always learn so much and today I felt like what we were taught was inspired revelation received by our mission president snd his Assistants. So today they taught about accountability and about Chapter 11 of Preach my Gospel that talks about We commit, they act, we follow up. As we learned I was impressed in many ways on how to become a better leader and how to hold my missionaries more accountable to their baptismal dates and it was just wonderful! Something crazy was that as we got down with MLC we went out to grab some stuff out of our truck and it had snowed and was partially snowing and their was snow on the vehicles and on the grass and it was so amazing! This is the first and probably only time it will snow while I am here on my mission! So as we finished there it was the day for Assistant Exchanges with us, and I was able to have Elder Baker, one of my good friends, come with me for the day to my area. So today we were able to have a packed schedule and go from Isaacs house to the Zuniga home then we went on an exchange with Hno. Zuniga and taught Pablo and Alex Catarino. The experience I will never forget was at Pablo's house. Elder Baker couldn't understand anything, but had a prompting to share his testimony about the passing,of his father hat he has never shared with anyone else, and it was something that not only impacted me, but impacted Pablo and his family. The spirit was super strong, but Pablo just doesn't want to act. He says he is in the process of it, but I really don't know if he is. I just feel lost on what to teach him! Really the day was amazing and Elder Baker told me ending the night that he felt prompted to tell me not to focus on my weaknesses, but to focus on my strengths and if I do that then my strengths will help my weaknesses become strengths. However, I I turn that around then my strengths will become weak! I love Elder Dallas Baker and am grateful for his example and testimony. He truly is a missionary hero for me!

Saturday:

Today was a wonderful time to exchange back with together Elder Broberg and Elder Baker with me and Elder Graham. The experiences we both had were amazing and I was very impressed with how well it worked out for the both of us! What I learned from the exchange was to recognize and write down my strengths and also to bare more personal testimony (experiences). So as the day went on and we had a wonderful coordination meeting with Mario, we went and got busy trying to teach people. So today we had the chance to teach a less active lady and her daughter Mable, who have not been back to church for about 10 years. Mable is 11 and the niece of Hna. Zuniga, and she is interested in being baptized. It was a wonderful experience to see how shy the both were as we began teaching, but to see them both open up to us and visit more and then to see how Mable, who never talks, open up and begin to answer the questions right on! I have come to realize that children are so much more prepared to receive the gospel and she is ready! Every time we go and knock the doors the kids want to listen, but the parents are the ones who have been hardened to the message. So today we were able to teach a few other lessons as well as do a little bit of finding, but all in all the day was full of success. One thing I remember from today was walking into a members home for dinner named Hna. Rosa and Hno. Julio Barraza along with their son, Micheal. As we walked in i saw a painting sitting on an isle and come to find out it was a painting by the Hna. Of the salt Lake temple and a beautiful flower scene. It was blown away and all my painting memories flooded in! I hope I can go back and still have a small amount of talent for my painting abilities! I love the moments in my mission where I can't help but laugh and smile, knowing that everything will be alright as we choose the right!

Sunday:

Today was such a wonderful day to be able to go to church! Today was also another really cold day until a little later in the afternoon where it warmed up a bit. So today as we were sitting in church we had an investigator come into church with his family and they all walked up to sit down at a different location and there was only a little bit of space by me, and Pablo sat by me instead of his family. Haha he was messing with them like he went home, and his wife got mad, but was glad he was just messing around. So today was a wonderful time to see a brand new investigator named Mable, come to church. Her mom is a member that is working on coming back to church, and is the sister of Hna. Zuniga. As i saw them come in i was so happy! Mable is 11 years old and super quiet, but super smart. Our services were great and we were in the presence of our new Stake Presidency, President Furniss and his councilors. It was a great sight to see men called of God filling the stand! So during Priesthood we were able to sit by an investigator of the sisters, and he was super cool. We talked about the restoration, and he seemed to understand everything. As we were talking after, he informed me that he knew the elders before and that Elder Leavitt had returned to visit him with his family! His name is Jose. As we finished church we ate quickly at the church with the members and had a fun time as they brought in a Rosca de Reyes (Sweet Bread Baked in a Oval shape where the stick a few small baby Jesus Figures inside. And if you cut your piece and it has one, you have to make Tamales for a party in February.) Some crazy tradition, but I loved it because it brought everyone together! As we finished there we were able to go and invite people to attend the fireside this evening with President Whitney talking, and we found Derrick, the husband of a member, who only speaks english. He wants to be sealed and so we are going to see if he wants to be in a spanish or english ward. Then we went and were able to get ahold of another fun investigator Rolando. I will get a picture with him soon! He is wonderful! So we went to the Fireside with Rolando and Derrick and had a wonderful time! And there i was able to see many wonderful missionaries and people, and President Peterson's wife asked me if i was the one who played the cello for Elder Christofferson, and told me she is searching for another piece for me! All in all our week was amazing and I was grateful for such a day! Also our Zone reached a wonderful number of 22 average lessons in the week! Meaning every Companionship taught about that much! It was amazing!

It snowed!

I love all of you so much and hope you have another wonderful week!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

De la Misión de Texas Fort Worth

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Dear Family and Friends,

How is 2017 already here! It is crazy to think I have been on my mission this whole year, and yes I was able to accomplish many wonderful goals, but this years goals are ones I need to accomplish badly! I hope everyone had a wonderful celebration but still focused on the Savior. My studies this morning were focused on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how when we have a change of heart we become not different people, but we become what God wants us to be, Kings and Queens in His Kingdom! (Romans 8:16-17)

Here is how my week went!

Week December 26th 2016 - January 1st 2017

Monday:

My Pdays seem to be getting more and more busy as my mission goes on, however, today was a wonderful day! So we were cleaning the house this morning and getting ready to go out and go shopping and all and Elder Graham decided he was tired of squinting at every little thing, so we decided to call and make an eye appointment today in the mid day to be able to get some glasses, so he did! So that appointment was added to the schedule, and I am glad he was able to have the appointment, and now he is so excited that he only has to wait about a week to get them ordered in and then he will finally be able to see with no problems! So today we were able to go and play volleyball with the Gonzalez and Noyola family and it was really fun for me, because we were only speaking in Spanish! I learned how to communicate better in Spanish while playing a sport, and it helped me a lot! So this evening as Pday came to an end at 6, we went and taught the mom of Hna. Lebron, a lady who cuts our hair, who is from Puerto Rico. She is a sweet lady and we were able to teach her part of the restoration with the Benitez family! She see,ed to understand really well and had a lot of questions, and we pray she will read and pray on her own. We were also blessed with the opportunity to go and have a wonderful lesson with Pablo and his family with the Benitez as well, and we just talked about his commitment and that the reason he must pray for an answer is for a more deeper commitment to act. As we did so Hno. Benitez bore a strong testimony of his conversion as was able to help him see the need to pray specifically. So we know he is trying to be more ready for his answer, because he already knows it's true. And he has a lot of support! Today was just a wonderful day!

Tuesday:

God never planned on us failing, so why do we give up when he hasn't given up on us?

I feel like this simple phrase says it all for today. I have had many of days where I have wanted to give up and just go home, or go back to the apartment because no one wants to listen or I am way tired, but when I realize the blessings in the scriptures I can't help but want to put my heart in the work to reap the reward! So today my companion had a small visit in Carrollton, out of our mission, with a doctor to help him a little bit, and it went great, but for me I was just sitting and waiting for him, so I decided to study, and got on a study tangent about the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ and what the differences were and how they were similar! We also had the chance to go by and have another good lesson with Mario Bencomo and only have one more visit before his baptism, and he just keeps progressing more every single week and is finally warmed up to us! Today we taught him about temples and the word of wisdom and taught that we have to be clean to enter and like the temple our bodies are temples and to feel of the spirit we have to be clean. As we taught we put water in a bowl and poured pepper in it. As we told him more about baptism and the Holy Ghost we touched the water with soap and the pepper scattered super fast and he was amazed and said, "that is what the spirit will to our bad things we have done after we are baptized and try to be better?" It was so perfect and Hno. Giles helped us out a lot! We then went and had a wonderful lesson with Elders Lakey and Hanks and Eyestone and Clark, in the church for a dinner, and we taught the Reina family about Our Focus, and the had wonderful testimonies of why came here and how the have a great focus which is God. Then to end the night we went and had a wonderful walk in lesson with the Moreno family, a family working hard to get back to church. As we taught, the boyfriend showed up and we had his baptismal letter from our mission president from two years ago, and he was so excited to see it, and we think that letter will help him come back to church! I think we might have finally connected with them enough to make progress. Nothing to new is happening, but our finding was not a huge success and we are really in need of new investigators, but we need to do the work to get them! Here we go!

Wednesday:

What a fun day! I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Paxton in his area and it was amazing! Their area has been struggling a little bit and it was fun to be able to go and see how to make it better. As we went through the day and even got to go to a Coordination meeting with one of there two wards and it was really good! So I think I may have helped them solve how to not only get their lesson goal of 20 but also to have more success in their area as we were talking about what they do. Come to find out the only time they visit members is when they eat dinner, and I talked with Elder Paxton and they are going to begin to visit members every time they have no investigators or less actives to visit! I have gained a huge testimony of how we have to work more with members to have success. We haven't been as good as we could, but it has been a huge help and without doing this there is no way we could have had the baptisms that we have had! So today was just a wonderful time for me to be able to see how I can lead by example! I love so much being able to try and share things I have learned to help the younger missionaries have more success!

Thursday:

Well, today was really crazy! So I have to say that last night was the first time in a long time that I have been able to remember my dreams! I just have to share them for the memory. So my first dream was I was on the fired department with my dad, brother and Uncle Chad and all I remember is going on fire call after fire call and just being so tired! Then all the sudden the dream changed and I was a missionary knocking doors and I ran into a Chinese couple when I knocked at a house and they began to speak Spanish to me and I was so surprised. As we kept teaching they wanted to be baptized, and that is when the alarm went off! I know, super random, but they were both really weird dreams for me to be able to remember. So today we were able to end the exchange with Elder Paxton and Peck and go to the church for our interviews with President Whitney. My interview was wonderful and we even had the chance to talk about my family and how much I loved them. As I was waiting for Elder Graham to come out of his interview, sister Whitney was visiting with me and said, "wow Elder Spendlove, you are almost done! When you get home I will make sure to send one of my granddaughters over to say hi to you!" I was weirded out! Not because I don't love her, but because I am not even close to ready for that dating life! Girls are ewe! So today after our weekly planning we were able to go and do a small exchange where I stayed with Elder Hanks and we went and made a visit to the Lugo family in our ward while Elder Graham took Elder Lakey to have the baptismal interview with Mario. Mario passed and even tried on his baptismal clothing and he is super excited for Saturday! Then to end e night we went and had a really good lesson with Samira and AG! The reason I say that is because they were both just in a happy mood and I was able to ask Samira why she folded the corner of the page over on the chapter 33 of 2 Nephi. She responded because she wanted to study it with the Bible as well, and it was so cool to see that question open her up! We are going to now begin teaching her more about the Book of Mormon with the Bible as well! Today was a wonderful blessing from God!

Friday:

So today we literally had every lesson cancel on us during our studies, but had a lot of people to go and find and contact, and so even though we were a little worried about having a good day, we went anyways and tried our hardest with a prayer in our hearts that we would find some people interested in our message. We started off the day going and serving an older couple in our ward by raking their leaves and helping them, and they were so grateful that they took us out to lunch! So as we finished up there, we went by and grabbed Elder Grahams new glasses and headed off finding! It was amazing how as we went and just did what the lord always asks of us, go to work, we were blessed with the opportunity to teach the Tirado family, who is a sweet family who live on a humble budget, but try their hardest to make us comfortable. They made us dinner and it was so sweet of them! Then as we finished the our visit we asked if there was anyone they new that we could go and share a message with. They gave us an address and said that they had been sharing videos with her and so we went by and the lady was super sweet. She had to leave at the moment, but we shared a small door lesson and gave her a pamphlet and we are praying that we can go back by and share another message with her sometime soon! Then to end the night we were looking for an investigator that we had just received as a referral. So we knocked on his door and someone else answered and said he wasn't home, so we called the number on his record and went back and he came out. As we got to know Miguel Tome we came to find that he is a member that had moved 5 months ago from Honduras! He is only 20 years old, and has been a member for 2 years! He is super solid in the gospel but just needs some help here in this country! It was super amazing and we are so excited to see how he does as we keep going by to visit with him!

Saturday:

What a crazy day it has been for us! For some reason my companion doesn't stress over anything and I am just going crazy pacing when there is a chance that things don't get taken care of! So today was a wonderful day where yes, the baptism of Mario was a huge success! There was a wonderful turnout and Mario was super Happy! Even President and Sister Whitney were there and supportive! Sister Whitney said to me, "we seem to be here quite often Elder Spendlove!?" And I couldn't help but say, "I wish I could tell you why! The Lord is just blessing us!!" It was a good experience and Marios mom and Sister were both there and were crying! It was a spiritual baptism and he was very happy and smiling leaving the water! It was amazing! So the rest of the day went flying by, but we had the chance to go and eat with our Bishop and then we got busy going and teaching lessons. We visited with Pablo and Hna. Soto and then we also went and had a great lesson the Benitez Family and Rey Castillo! As we were teaching him he got super excited to go to he Temple again and the Benitez helped us teach a Rey and they were able to help him feel comfortable and understand even better our lesson! It amazes me how much work he has right now and how he still just goes! I am so amazed by just what someone can do for his family! To end the night we had two more lessons with returning less active members! It has been just wonderful reflecting on my mission this evening and just reflecting on goals I have had. As I look forward I realize more fully my purpose in this life and am so ready for what this new year brings. One thing I have learned is "Don't look back!" What a wonderful year of 2016!

Sunday:

It is so amazing to see the change and beginning process of a new member! Even if he is only 9 years old! I have seen the biggest change in Mario that it is just the weirdest thing to see him now and just see how calm he is and how he is listening so much better! The Gospel can change attitudes as we study the doctrine, faster than the study of Attitudes can change an attitude! So being able to go to sacrament meeting today was amazing to be apart of the confirmation of Mario, bless the sacrament and the just be able to think clearly about how amazing our Heavenly Father really is! As we finished church, we went and were able to get rides to eat dinner with our bishop! As we were driving I had to go with Hno. Merlos, because there was no space for both me and my companion, and he went with the other elders. As we were driving we found the sign, Mormon Tr., so we had to take a picture there on our way to dinner! During dinner I just sat and pondered about how much my mission has helped me grow and really how my savior has helped me, and then as I looked at the Ward family there eating with us I was even more overwhelmed by how amazing my ward is! I feel so at home, even if it isn't the perfect ward with perfect people, but we all are trying!

To end our day because our ward started at 1, we went and gave a blessing to Hno. Nickel and Hna. Nickel, who have been sick with Head Colds! They didn't look or sound good at all, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to go and give them service by helping them! I love the feeling of giving a blessing to those in need and hope that I can work this year to strive and be as worthy as possible to give blessings and listen for the spirit! So this year I feel like I have set a few goals, but not super focused ones yet and every time I get ready too time just runs out and I can't think about me! But I know that by focusing on others I grow and change as well!

My pictures will be in the next few emails I send! 

Thank your all for your love, prayers and support! 

I love you all and I do pray for you!:)

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

De la Misión de Texas Fort Worth

1. Us with our soon to be member Mario Bencomo!
2. Mario and his mom and sis with President and Sister Whitney
3. Mario with us!

The True Light of Christmas!

Dear Family and Friends,

I love you all so much and was so happy to see y fam! Sorry it wouldn't send earlier! Have a great week!

Week December 19th - 25th 2016

Monday: Jesus calmed the storm and so can you!

So today was a unique Pday for the fact that from this Pday on we will no longer be able to go and be in the Stake Center because of another Zone meeting there and our zone would have to ask permission to leave the zone. So we are in the Building on North Beach Street that is a half gym, and we play sports and games there! It is so amazing to be a Zone Leader and get to know all of the missionaries in my zone! I feel like it is a huge privilege to be able to lead, and that sometimes I don't really know how to lead, so I just make people smile and try to lead by my actions and words. It seems to work and today we were able to have a wonderful dinner with Hna. Valdez where she also slipped 20 dollars in our pockets for more food later! She is to sweet and worried just like my mom about weather I eat good or not! So as we kept going we were able to go and contact people in the 30 degree weather and then we went and stopped by Jose and Gabriela's house where we had a wonderful visit and lesson with them. And as we taught I think we finally helped Jose feels the spirit and understand it. He said to us with an understanding smile on his face. "Every time I am at church or here I feel good and I guess that is the spirit telling me I am in the right place?" And we testified of it and then headed home for the night! It really was a special moment to see him finally understand!

Tuesday: Jesus saw potential in others and so can you!

Well today was such a wonderful day where we were able to go and have our Mission Christmas Devotional in the Bonds Ranch building because of a water leak in the Trophy Club building cause by the cold weather. So we were there gathered in the gym as about 4 Zones. We were able to watch a small video called "Christmas for a Dollar" and then had dinner and we had just finished another movie about a Shepard boy who was healed by the Savior when the fire alarms went off and we were all so confused! So we all got up and went outside trying to figure out what was going on, and here was water coming out of the light fixtures in the foyer on your way outside. Everyone was taking video as it flooded and we then watched as the whole ceiling came crashing in! There was about a foot of water that came flooding out and we had to move away not to get all wet! So the fire department had to come and turnoff the water and then the inspectors has to come find out what needed to happen before Christmas Day. During that whole process we were able to go back to the gym and just listen to the departing testimonies and then they gave us a packet with letters in it and it was amazing! So the meeting was cut short, but all in all I loved one quote said by a departing missionary named Hna. Brown. She said, "My mission has not changed me, but the Atonement has! My mission just opened my heart more for the love and power found therein!" For me that was powerful and something I didn't want to forget!

Wednesday: Jesus forgave others and so can you!

Today was a very powerful day where we I was able to go on exchange again with my MTC companion, Elder Lakey, who is now serving in the same ward as me! We were able to teach 7 lessons today and 2 of the lessons amazed me tremendously!  We were teaching Pablo Martinez tonight and we just talked openly with him about some problems he has and then we're able to talk to him more about baptism. We asked him about his thoughts on baptism and what he thought God wanted him to do and he said he knew God wanted him to be baptized. So we asked him what was holding him back and he has a few desires that he needs to get rid of! As we taught him and talked to him about the Holy Ghost and how he will receive an answer we saw him realize that he has felt the spirit before and that he really does need to act! So we invited him to pray and ask directly tonight and he agreed on it! We pray that he will! So the other lesson we were teaching Hno. Manuel Valdez, and as we went in and began to teach the Doctrine of Christ, he began to teach us and explain how the Sacrament cleans us again like the Baptism and we were amazed that he was learning so fast by doing 3 things. The basics! Read, Pray and Church Attendance! That family is the best and I told him I could leave in like 5 weeks and he almost started crying! And said he was going to talk to my mission president! It was a wonderful day full of hard work!

Thursday: Jesus showed Gratitude and so can you!

It is amazing how well a weekly planning can go and then how eventful the day can be once you are mentally exhausted from your extensive 3 hours of planning for every person you will visit! So today was one of those days where you are so tired and don't know how you are still running, and I felt it was definitely the help of my Savior and the Holy Ghost as I felt it! Today we were able to go by and get to know a member a little better named Hna. Cardenas, and then went to a lesson with Mario Bencomo. As we got to Marios house and taught him. By the way he is a nine year old, with a very short attention span, so we taught a lot by acting out as God and a Prophet and it worked really well! I just had to put my iPad in front of my face with a picture of Thomas S. Monson as I talked and it kept his attention. The part I loved was just how involved everyone was and that they were enjoying the time we were having together. As we finished the lesson the mom asked us, "so elders, you were saying we could baptize him on the 31st of this month correct?" And we were so surprised and said of course! So we will see him about 3 times before next Saturday for his Baptism! He is excited, even though he is a stubborn 9 year old, meaning he is one that takes forever to warm up too, and I can't wait for him to feel the goodness of the Gospel more in his life!

To finish the night off we had a wonderful dinner and lesson with the Alonzo family and then after our good lesson on Lighttheworld, they gave us Christmas gifts, so we had to take a picture with them! They are a really fun couple with their daughter Abby!

The last lesson was with Victor Hernandez and his wife and son, where we talked about Jesus' birth and how important it was, and it was a wonderful lesson. What I like about that family is just how happy they always are and I have seen the atonement work through that family fully! As we finished the lesson with Mario and sent out our baptismal date to the Zone we began to receive messages from that point on through the night, and we now as a Zone have 4 dates coming up, and we still haven't set a Zone Goal for January! We are so excited!

Friday: Jesus was a peacemaker and you can be one too!

To start off I have to recognize that today is the 211 year birthday of Joseph Smith! I never would have known that it it were not for learning more about him and his life along with what he has done to help this Church be reestablished on the Earth as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! It know this church is true because of the fruits of this man, The Book of Mormon. No one will ever take me away from that belief! So today we had the wonderful blessing of going and giving service in a Play shop called Artisan, where we worked back stage organizing clothes and props for the performances. There was a full room the size of a movie theater room full of clothes clear to the ceiling, and we were climbing ladders and everything hanging he clothes again to organize, and it was pretty fun! However, it was good to get out of there! So in my studies I found a scripture that I really found helpful or important for many people. It is found in 3 Nephi 6:18. It says, "Now they did not sin ignorantly, for they knew the will of God concerning them, for it had been taught unto them; therefore they did willfully rebel against God." Now that we have a knowledge we must press forward and not fall backwards! So today we had the chance to visit Mario again, and we only have about one full lesson about the Temple and the word of wisdom and we are ready for his interview! We are super excited for him and are hoping for the best as we go forward! He was able to pray today by himself with no help and not even a fight! It was amazing! Another blessing was the fact we were able to have a lesson with the Zuniga family and we were able to see the baby boy of AG, the husband/boyfriend of the lady whom we gave a blessing to as she prepared to go to give birth. He is a cute little boy named Josiah and is the same size as I was when I was born! Our lesson with them about Jesus Christ birth was also great! As we ended there, Hna. Zuniga brought out a present for each of us! She bought us small blankets to be able to use while we study! It was a happy moment for us! The last visit was a good one with Mariela Contreras and her family and we had a wonderful lesson about the Tree of Life! I love that story and how even the faithful can fall if they don't keep ahold of the Rod of Iron! May we keep ahold of the iron rod in every instant!

Saturday: Jesus cared for his loved ones and so can you!

¡La Noche Buena! (Christmas Eve)

It is so crazy how fast Christmas came this year! To me it is scary thinking that tomorrow I talk to my family and then next time I talk to my family in 5 months I will only have 3 weeks left in my mission! Time is not on my side anymore and I am just trying to live in the moment and have a wonderful rest of my mission blessing the lives of others! So today we didn't have a lot of success with teaching a lot of people but I can say that it was a blessing to be able to go to an old folks home and sing carols to them for awhile and I think my favorite part was being able to go and visit with them after. As we were visiting a sweet old lady came up to me and gave me a Christmas Card that was hand made and it was so sweet! Then we were able to go and have a dinner with some members and then as we finished there we went and played Secret Santa with the Missionaries in our Zone and it was super sweet! We knocked and ran at every apartment and no one knows it was us still! It was super fun and made me really feel like it was Christmas time! I love this time of year and wish it could stay all year round! What a great time!

Sunday: Jesus' disciples followed him and so can we!

Merry Christmas! ¡Feliz Navidad!

Holy smokes time has flown by! And today was such a wonderful Christmas Day at about 80 degrees! We were able to really enjoy our morning by making cinnamon rolls and opening a few really sweet presents from our families and it was so amazing! I think my favorite gift was definitely the Testimonies of just a few of my Heroes, however, I hope that I will be able to receive a testimony from many more of my heroes as well! We had amazing studies and then we were able to really think of Christ and his birth by going to Church! It was so wonderful! As church came to an end we went to the Santiesteban's house and had a wonderful Christmas dinner where we ate tamales and then we played some fun games as a small group of our ward! It was a blast! Then came the part of the day that really I had been waiting for. I called my family and was so happy to see all of them! They are the best thing that ever happened to me! I literally know exactly where I would be without them and that is why I thank my Heavenly Father for them every single day! I am so glad I was able to see my mom who keeps me going, my dad who pumps me up and helped me realize that working hard is what helps me, and the rest of my family to keep me smiling and talking to everyone! However, being able to see my grandparents was a true treat! I can't wait to see them again!:) So the rest of the day we had a wonderful time to get to know the Noyola family and then we had a wonderful lesson with the young couple, the Nickels! They are so sweet and they gave us a giant Hershey Kiss! And I just love being around them! I really have received the best gifts this year and this has been a Christmas I hope I will never forget!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

De la Misión de Texas Fort Worth