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