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