A Wonderful Valentines Day and a Spiritual Week

Dear Family and Friends,  I hope that you had such a wonderful week and that you learned and grew more than anything else. Progress on earth is Gods purpose  for giving us hardships and trials, and if we don't progress we will never become like him. Before I forget  I want all of you to know and I want my parents to know I love them and Happy Anniversary on the 23rd! With 32 years of marriage unless I counted wrong? It's a lot!  I am so grateful for both of you! Without you I wouldn't be here and with you I can do anything! Week February 13th - 19th 2017 Monday: Well today was a wonderful day! So today we had a Zone Activity planned and literally no one from the other district showed up, so our Spanish District had a party! I was able to practice my cello and play with Sofia Ayala and Hna. Clark as they both played the piano and sang, Savior Redeemer of My Soul, but in Spanish! It was super pretty, and we are ready for our performancenext Sunday! Next Sunday for me is going to be a crazy day! From meetings, rushing to perform and then also speaking! So today as we spent time as a district we went out to the field behind the church and played ultimate frisbee and soccer, and it was so much fun! Everyone participated and it was fun to have Hna. Farnes back! Her and Hna. Hall are just full of jokes and are super funny and the other Hnas are just as funny! It was a very enjoyable time after which we had dinner with Hna. Dominguez! The dinner was amazing and she made something Chinease because she told us we had probably gotten tired of Beans and Rice! So as we got going for the evening we only had time to go and teach AG Ybarra, and it was a wonderful lesson. He was saying he had been reading the Book Of Mormon and looking for scriptures that would make him think about his life. As we were talking we read Alma 34:30-34 with him and it really made him think about his life and what he wanted and how if Jesus came tomorrow he wouldn't be prepared! It made him nervous and anxious to get married and start living life better! It was a good lesson and we hope that him and his wife can have a better communication! Tuesday: A day of Service and Love! Happy Valentines Day! Today I have been thinking a lot about my studies and how I study, and I realized that I have a long ways to go as I study. I tried to study and follow Chapter 2 of Preach My Gospel, but I am not the best at it yet! I will be learning for a few months on this one! So today we had the opportunity to go with the other Elders and give service in a food pantry, and as we were serving there, I had the chance to meet a lady named Barbara! Immediately I thought of my grandma! As we began conversing, I realized that she was open to talk and she told me that she was born and raised in Fort Worth/Hurst area and that she had lost her husband to cancer in 2008. You could tell it was a touchy subject for her and still she had to comfort. The part that I regret was that I didn't share anything to help her understand that her husband is okay. I didn't have he chance too! But I did ask her about her belief in Christ and she told me that she would have been lost without him! I wish I would have followed he prompting that I received to just tell her what I believe! If there is one thing I have learned in my time as a missionary, it is that you have to follow your promptings to show faith and trust in your Heavenly Father, and that is when the miracles happen! As we finished the service there I was ready to get out and teach and we were able to go and see Isaac Sanchez and his wife Anna. Sadly Isaac is still waiting for clearance from his insurance to be able to have surgery. This has been roughly 6 months of intense pain without a job or ability to sit normal or lay normal. He has to and has been sitting cross legged for these past few months. He is frustrated and it was nice to be able to go and visit about the lesson on Gordon B. Hinkley and the importance of always being happy and having optimism! He is a happy guy, Isaac! So then we went and I was able to practice English with a lady named Elendeivy, while Elder Graham taught her son math. I came to realize that I have a love of not just teaching, but helping others learn English. I loved every moment of helping her and left super happy! I would love to teach English just as a service when I get home!  Wednesday: Exchange day! So today was a fun time for us to first attend our District Meeting, after the which we had an exchange with Elder Paxton and Brady! So this morning we had a wonderful time at our district meeting where we focused on the needs of our investigators, and we even found out that there are two investigators with dates that would like to move their dates up to the 25th of February instead of waiting for March! That was exciting news, because our goal is 7 and we only have 2 so far. Then we talked about how we are doing on our personal and companionship studies and we had Elder a Lakey train us on how to better our studies! As I was sitting there I was amazed by the simple and amazing spiritual impressions I received that I knew I needed to work on specific things and how I could better my studies. I was so happy to hear that by having a study journal I would be able to be better at remembering what I studied. So I know that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass! It was also funny to see that Hna. Farnes, who started her mission in Denton with me, and to whom I had to teach how to lead music, now leads music really well. Not because of how I taught her, but because of lots of missionary experience! Haha but she was smiling at me like I should have been impressed with her abilities! It was funny! So today I was blessed with the opportunity to go and be with Elder Brady in the Park Glen 1st/2nd Ward! We were on bike for the day and we had wonderful lessons with one family who are members, named the Streets family, and then another man named Jimmy! A man I have taught before! They were both outstanding lessons, but what I learned from my time with Elder Brady and everything was how much studying I need to keep doing to become a better and more well rounded teacher! Also when I arrived home that night I was more than ready to pass out from a long day of biking! It felt so stress relieving! Thursday: We were able to exchange back this morning and have a wonderful visit about things we learned, and I am so grateful for this opportunity I have had to be in this position of learning! I am so far from understanding the Gospel or even how to be a missionary, but I know that God helps me as I try and as I take the step of faith first on my own! So today we had a really busy day planned and for me it was so nice to be back in my area! I just love it so darn much! I really never want to leave it! So today we had alright weekly planning, where I just feel like we are not planning correctly like it is explained in Preach My Gospel. However, I can't seem to figure it out, so we just keep doing what we have always done! So today we had a really good lesson with a less active man and his mom from Peru, and they gave us small gifts from Peru and we taught them about Prayer. They struggle to pray correctly and as we taught they loved it. And as we ended the lesson the Hno. still struggled to pray correctly, but it was tons better! We then went and had a good service with Randall and Elendeivy, a family we tutor for Math and English, and next week we plan on bringing up the Gospel with them! Then to our surprise we went over and Pablo Martinez was there and was ready to learn. We had a good lesson, but somehow we are still not getting the full truth of why he doesn't want to get baptized. He just needs to spill it out so we can help him! However, we had a great lesson and I am so grateful for the relationship we have with them! True relationships and love don't come through playing games or joking with one another, but by having Spiritual Experiences with one another! Friday: Holy smokes today was a Spiritual Day for Me! I feel just like The King Lamoni, who fell on the ground exhausted as he had learned and felt the spirit! Today we were pleased and so grateful for the chance to have both Brother Gonzalez from the Missionary Department, along with Brother Glazier from the  MTC in Provo, come to our mission to train us on how to better our teaching, conviction and planning! It was something I have never experienced before and I received answers to so many questions that I had! We started at 9 am and were trained and trained until 4 pm on just the Doctrine of Christ more clearly along with training on how to be sincere and teach with conviction and then we ended by role paying how to give out a Book of Mormon open. As we finished and had lunch we then went in and learned the ways to plan correctly, and I pray I can get planning correctly so that we have success in the mission and I can take this principle on into my life!! It was a day I never want to forget. As we got done and had a little bit of time, we received a message that an hermana would like a blessing in the Hospital, so we went right away! As we arrived we walked into the room and I recognized a man standing outside that I didn't approach until I got out after the blessing with Hno. Oliva. As we got out the man approached us and said, "hi elders, I'm a member in the River Trails  ward and my wife is here with dizziness and they can figure out what is happening with her. I have the faith that the doctors can help her and figure out her situation, but she isn't a member and has agreed to having a blessing." I was surprised by her faith and the fact that God placed us in his path. It was amazing because it was literally the room right next to our members. So we gave her a blessing and as we finished she thanked us and the husband was so much more calm and ready for the experience that laid ahead! So as we finished there completely exhausted from the spiritual experiences, we went and had dinner with the Hna. Moreno! She is a single mother with 3 boys all over the age of 17 and they all still live at home in a super small apartment. The boys usually don't listen to our message, but after such a day like we had, we tried to involve them in our lesson and it went really good! All three of the boys are struggling and so we were able to get them excited to come back to church! It was wonderful! Then we had a really good lesson with the family of Hna. Ortega! It went really well and Emma, one of the ones that came, has been reading the Book of Mormon and as we talked with her, she said that she has heard and learned more with us in one lesson that all combined throughout her life and she wants to know if these things are true! And same with Laura! She is okay with baptism and we are going to try and set a date next time! As we were wrapping it up, Hna. Ortega husband came out, who studies anti Mormon and he was trying to twist our words and thoughts, but every time he asked us a question we answered boldly and simply and he would say, "well I can't say anything against that..... that is what is taught in the Bible..." It was a good way to help him see we are not bad, and that we believe in the Bible! To end the night we had another good lesson with Victor and Jackie and Victor finally got the okay for his Patriarcal blessing and to start working towards the temple with his wife! It is going to be so amazing!! And next week we are going to teach his mom, who is finally interested in our message! Saturday: Wow, Saturday already! It is a crazy thought to think that it is here so fast! And the rest of the weekend is going to be super crazy! So today we had the blessing of meeting early with the STLs Hna. Farnes and Hall to talk about the trainings we had and how we should apply them to our zone and about how long the trainings would take. As we got done there we went straight into a correlation with Mario where I was so happy to just see everyone so happy and laughing. Missionary work really is a fun thing if you make it that! And as we finished there, we went and practiced the song we are going to perform tomorrow, and it made me nervous but excited for how amazing the day is going to be! I would say the feeling I had today was a feeling of overwhelming thoughts as I tried to figure out how to find more people to teach that were interested. As we went we had no time to find and our referrals are not the best kind of referrals! Especially because English elders can't speak Spanish, so they never know what the person says. However, we had a great lesson with Rey Castillo, who is doing really good still and is super ready and excited for being able to go to church tomorrow! He has been waiting for his schedule to allow him and he can tomorrow! He really wants to pass the sacrament and also get his temple recommend so we are going to try and help him with that! I really am grateful I had he opportunity to get to know Rey! The rest of the evening we had the blessing of having a ward party where We met and found out that members are working with their friends more than I actually thought! There were a lot of non members who loved the dancing and music and just the time to be together with others! It was a hard time for me, because I love to couples dance and they had the really good music on for it! But it was good to see the couples in the ward going at it! Also I had a kind of creepy and funny experience happen to me when I was leaving. An older non member lady that an Hna. Invited, walked up to me and got really close to my face and began telling me she feels I will marry her granddaughter who is skinny, beautiful and is a Jehovah Witness. She kept telling me more about her and that she needed a good friend to go and dance with her and everything, and I was just embarrassed about it all. Then my companion didn't hear any of that and gave the lady our number and asked for hers and said we would call and set up an appoint,net and as we walked out I told him what happened and he jut laughed and messed with me the rest of the night! However, all in all it was a great night! And our main man, Hno. Schmidt DJed the music and it was amazing! Sunday: I don't know if I can say I have been this tired since the time I got out and started my mission! Today has been such a wearing day! So today we were blessed as it was the sabbath day! So for me personally there was a lot of things to prepare for and be ready for, and I was feeling pretty nervous and stressed to make sure everything was taken care of correctly. So we had a meeting that started at 12 in another church building, but has our sacrament meeting at 1, so we had to practice our song before had to be prepared, and the we had the sacrament earlier in a different ward where we then left and traveled to our SMC with the Stake Presidency and it was so good! As we finished there we traveled back fast to be able to be in our ward before the sacrament was over, because I was playing the cello and talking! So we did make it I enough time and the song went super well! It was super fun to play with Sofia Ayala and Hna. Clark! Then I gave a simple but powerful talk on the blessings of missionary work! I am grateful for my parents and the chance I had to talk about them in my talk! They are everything to me! So sadly we didn't have a huge turn out of investigators, but we had one here and that was good! And then for the evening we had really planned well to contact a lot of investigators or referrals and God placed us in the right places at the exact moment! We were able to contact and have 4 out of our 5 new investigators for the week! And as we met them and shared a message with them, they all seem open to another visit! The blessing was that when we started the day we only had 1 new investigator for he whole week, but God truly places the right people in our path and we just went crazy knocking doors talking to people! Today I am grateful for Elder Graham. In the past we have had our hard simple moments, but he is such an awesome missionary and helps me so much! I never want to leave this ward or area!

Por motivo de la fe de los hombres...

Él ha preparado un medio por el cual otros pueden ser partícipes del Don Celestial... (Éter 12:8)

Dear Family and Friends,

I am very grateful for this week and all that it has taught me! Yes it has been hard, and yes it has been draining in every possible way, but it has also been a week of training and improving to be what God wants me to be. A loving and Christlike servant who will talk and do anything for anyone to help them receive the blessings that the Gospel holds in store for them. And through Faith we can move mountains! 

This is how my week went!

Week of January 30th - February 5th 2017

Monday:

Wow, today was our first P-Day with two extra hours, and it was so amazing! I was able to get Most of my emails out of the road fast and cleaned the apartment, after the which we went and were able to go shopping to get the necessary food for the week coming up! So today was a really good and busy day for us, but before I get into details of the people we were able to teach I wanted to talk about an experience that happened to me, that scared me to death! So when a missionary reaches the time of 3 transfers left, or 4 months, he/she receives a call from the Mission Office to receive correct information on where we plan on flying home to and just getting details of our home wards. Another name that it has is "Trunky Call." So I was in Walmart, when I heard Elder Lakey got his call, and another sister from our district did, and I was in shock and terror! I was next! Yes I received my trunky call and I hate to admit is, but I had to think about what I am going to do with my life after the mission. I do feel like time is not on my side and super nervous, however, I know as I just focus on the time I have left and my purpose, that all will be okay! So today i was asked again to play my cello in church, and luckily the man I am borrowing from has 5 cellos, so he doesn't miss this one to much! And it is so nice! So today we went and had a wonderful lesson with he Zuniga family focused on the importance of husband and wife, and it made me think of my parents and how amazing they have always been for me! Also we had a good visit with another member family, the Dominguez family, who are super awesome, and we taught them that what we do is showing how we feel towards God. As we did so, we could tell they loved the lesson and wanted to read and go to church more to show God what is their true feelings! Then we ended the night with AG and Samira. We taught him about the spirit, and I asked Samira, "now that you know what the spirit feels like, how did you feel when we gave you a blessing?" She said she felt a peace and warm feeling she had only felt one other time. As we taught her we helped her recognize that she was feeling the feelings of the spirit and we connected that feeling to the fact that if she reads and feels that feeling, she will know the book is true and that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by the power of God. She agreed, and they committed to read the Book of Mormon for 5 minutes every day!

Tuesday:

I feel like ever since we got our new key indicators I have been somewhat confused on how to be successful in my area. Not that the new key indicators are hard to understand, but our lessons are now not recorded and any we don't find non members often when we are with members. If they would let us talk with their friends then that would be different. So today we were able to go and give service with Elder Lakey and Banks at an old Members home named Alejandro Oliva. He was super nice and he can't hear very well... so we were able to clean his yard a lot, and then we sat and visited with him and his wife and daughter in law, and then we headed out! As we got out and about we had a good lesson with Isaac Sanchez, and were happy to see he was feeling tons better, and also we were able to go and look for other people to teach. We only found one lady that didn't speak Spanish, and she only listened to know what we believed, however, she said she didn't want to change. So as we got done there, we went to the church for dinner and for my song practice with Sofia Ayala and Hna. Clark, and it was good, however, the song has no cello part, so it will take all the free time I have to write it! So to end the night we had a good visit with Pablo Martinez and his family. He was just returning from work and he was exhausted, however, as we visited, we read 1 Nefi 1 with him and answered his questions that he had, and then he began to see why it is important to read the Book of Mormon and he began to glimpse over chapter 2! It was a wonderful opportunity, and we hope he will pray now for revelation from God! We heard tonight that Mable is to nervous to get baptized, and so now we want to go by her house and teach her about baptism and a little simpler on what it means and how you do it, so she isn't as nervous and still wants to be baptized.

Wednesday:

A crazy day has just occurred! I think this whole week will be very similar! So today we had our weekly planning instead of tomorrow, because tomorrow we have Zone Conference and the day after that MLC. So today we were able to spend 6 hours cooped up in the house just studying and planning, but it was a very effective time for us! Also we were able to use this time to fast for different reasons and it was amazing to see how the Lord blessed us as we showed him we needed him! We were blessed as we left the apartment, with a lesson with Rolando, an investigator who we rarely get in with, and he let us in and was telling us about his studies about the apostasy and how he was confused. As we shared the insight with him and explained the need of the Book of Mormon and he said, "Now I understand. This is the Book I have been looking for, you both have been helping me find my answers." He is a very vocal man from Bolivia and his accent is the best! He always says Spanglish phrases! After him we had a good lesson with Mario Bencomo and Rey Castillo! I love so much visiting with and seeing the converts I helped as they progress and struggle through the trials of life. I can be there as support and can show them how to rely on God! To end the night we contacted a neighbor of the Ramos Family, who I had been wanting to contact for a few weeks now. He helped us when we cleaned the Ramos' yard and was super nice. As we knocked and talked he expressed that he had studied and had a Book of Mormon, but would love to study more with us! He has taken courses and has a degree in Theology, and we are so excited to go and visit with him even more! He is very much a person we need in our church! As we finished visiting with him our last appointment was listening as Manuel Valdez taught us the lesson and as he talked about his life before moving here and how different it was. I learned who he was and how the Lord and his gospel can change us, and I know the Miracles are true! 

Thursday:

Wow it was good to get done with Zone Conference today! I have been nervous for this day for a few days now, because we were asked to give a training on Revelation through the Book of Mormon. I was super excited about it, but became nervous realizing we had to train on a simple topic for an Hour! Both Elder Graham and I studied and planned out how we were going to train for a few days as we also tried to study and prepare for our MLC that would follow the day after. I felt like my head was going to explode from reading and pondering so much, but as the moment came to stand in front of 40 people, or 3 Zones (including the Assistants and President and sister Whitney) I felt calm. For me that was a miracle. I haven't stood in front of a lot of people for a long time, actually since my leadership days in school and my farewell. I mean, yes I have born my testimony, but haven't had to speak yet in any wards and that made me nervous. But the Lord provided and gave both of us the words to say and the training was taken very well and President Whitney thanked us so much for our training. So today was a bit of a bummer! We had all our lessons cancel on us but one, and were left to just contacting people! I haven't had to do this for a while and it is scary or more uncomfortable again. So we are trying to do it more to be able to feel good about it again. Also as we try to focus more on the Key Indicators change we have decided to find more people to both teach and work towards baptism with!

I think the biggest thing I learned today was how to fully study and seek for understanding. As I did so I gained such a wonderful knowledge!

Friday:

Day #2 of big meetings, and last day of meetings for the week! Wohoo! So today we had another all day meeting called MLC! Where all the mission leaders gather together and receive training and guidance on how to help the missionaries in their stewardship. I received many impressions as I sat at the feet of President Whitney who holds the keys of the missionary work in a giant part of this state! I was amazed by the simple principles taught and the way he expounded and shared his life experiences. He always is so sweet to his wife and that really has been impressed on me on how I want to one day treat my wife! He said, "sister, i have a major problem, when I look at my wife I Sp don't see her name tag first, I see her beautiful face and it is so distracting!" They are so cute! Also I was very spiritually impressed with how Elder Broberg and Flake trained us today on Consecration and following full hearted the leaders that we have. I dream of teaching and studying like Elder Broberg. He is a master teacher and is very qualified for helping our mission become the best. A few things that I feel our mission is going towards is our personal conversion more, and working with the youth more effectively! We want a baptism Monthly and expect miracles as we work!

This evening we had a few lessons cancel again, but that didn't let me down after such a great meeting. So we decided to just go knock some doors, and sadly we were rejected by everyone. But that's okay! So this evening we went on an exchange with a member who has he most brilliant ideas! His name is Hno. Schmidt. He helped us out with the though process of how we talk to Hispanic people and is kind of training us, because we have no Spanish council of how to teach them. So this evening we went by Pablo Martinez and read some with him and he had some more really good questions! I felt very confident tonight in promising blessings but he still wouldn't Pray specific as he prayed to end the lesson, but he will. As we left the house, Hno. Schmidt said, "As it says in the movie theaters, coming soon in a font near you, Baptism!"

I hope so! He is so ready!

Saturday:

Wow this week has been a struggle for me! Not a struggle of wanting to come home or anything like that, but a struggle for energy! I have struggled with having the happiness to share the Gospel when our lessons fall through and no one else wants to listen. However, I can testify of the power of people and the actions they make, but more than that, I realized how much I was thinking forward to the Sacrament Meeting and how it gives me strength. I don't know if I have ever felt that in my life before, but it felt so good! So today we had a family from our ward move our of an apartment to a brand new house, and my companion and I, along with One other Hno. were the only ones to help him move out from the second floor! It was a lot of fun and all together we moved out and back in around 3 hours time. It was a great time to get to know each other, but my body is going to regret it later from the second floor to ground level so much with all the heavy lifting I did! I guess you could say I am pretty strong, but I guess I will know how strong when I wake up tomorrow! So as we finished there we had a lesson planned for Mable Bencomo at the church, the Investigator who has a date for next week and is 10. As times got closer our exchange canceled and we were not going to be able to enter and share our message with them, but a miracle occurred and our last phone call was a huge success for having someone come out with us 5 minutes before the lesson started! Hno. Brown from our ward was a huge life saver! As we taught, we could see her begin to relax even more, and she seemed excited to be baptized, and I was so happy and it boosted my energy! Then as we got out and about, we had more canceled appointments and just decided to keep contacting people and actually had an eventful night from that! We are searching for people to be baptized and receive our message and many people are so hard hearted! However, we know God is preparing these people as we keep working hard to find them! It was a really awesome day!

Sunday:

I am so very grateful for Sunday's in general, but Fast Sundays are even better for me! And to make my fast Sunday experience even better, it was so amazing to see 4 investigators at church! We had Pablo Martinez, Mable Bencomo, Derrick (son in law of members) and an awesome man named Rolando Aragon! We had a wonderful worship service and it was super cool to have so many people there and I just felt in heaven. I really feel so comfortable with my ward here and am so grateful for everything. So today we had a really good evening as we went and had a lesson a wonderful family called the Dominguez family. We had a really good lesson about Social Media and sharing the gospel, and they loved it, and then their daughter tried to kill us with her juices and food that her work makes. They say they are healthy, but they are definitely nasty! One had Jalapeño and other fruits and the others we pickles and lemons. And then some food that was not very good either! However, it was good to share a laugh with them! The rest of the evening we just went contacting and found a lady that doesn't believe in the Bible or really the reality of God. She told us she believed that there was a God, but not as a person. And she believes in Jesus Christ that he was a human, but he doesn't believe everything he did, because the Bible was translated to many times. As we talked with her we just tried to show and connect how we had similar beliefs and it was super cool to see her open up and accept a pamphlet that I never thought she would accept ad she even told us we could pass by and share more with her later, so that was a blessing from God! 

I love all of you so much and am so grateful for your love, support and sacrifice that you give to help not only me, but those whom surround you! Have a wonderful week!

One More Transfer in Haltom City!

Dear Family and Friends,

I have been thinking so much in this past week about how blessed I truly am to have this gospel. So many people are so lost in darkness and only we can help them by being a light! So many times in this week have I taut people and they just have not understood that literally all they have to do is have a real relationship with God to know if what we are telling is the truth. Read the Book of Mormon, even a verse, and gen talk with God, I can promise he will answer you! 

He is a God of love, mercy and peace, but most of all he is our Father! Without him we would not be and with him we can be everything!

I challenge you to read the Book of Mormon, and then Kneel down and ask God if it is true. I don't even care if you already have a testimony of it, he will make it stronger! However, you must act on what you receive! And that will mean finishing the Book of Mormon and being stronger in the church!

I love my mission!

Week January 23rd - 29th 2017

Monday:

I love how we seemed to plan so many lessons for every single day, and it see,s like half of them either cancel or we can't make it to them in time and we have to reschedule. It also makes me feel good to know we have people to teach! So I wanted to share what is a true problem for me right now! It seems like every house we go to they expect us to eat! I say that is a problem, because by the time I get home at night I feel horrible and the next morning is even worse for exercise. Also my belly is sticking out! Haha not really, but literally everyone tries to feed us! I guess it is better than having no food! So this evening we were able to go and teach Pablo Martinez, and when we showed up we realized that he was cooking Carne Asada! We lucked out, except for the fact we just ate! So we ate with him and then we shared a good message with gem and invited them to keep reading the Book of Mormon, but sadly Pablo is not seeming to understand the acting part. I am afraid we are going to have to drop him or be more straight up with him! He is a wonderful man and needs this, but keeps putting it off, and it is not helping him at all! I pray he will just accept a date and decided to change his life!

Tuesday:

Today for some reason my patience has been tried! I out of no where just became super grumpy, but luckily was able to keep it to myself! I feel like many of the things that my companion does have begun to bug me, not because I don't love him, but because I know him so well, and I know how he is going to respond and act. For me I know it is just because I am tired and I need to pray more for strength, but as I focused on looking at the things he does amazing, I found so much strength to push on! So today we were able to go and give some service at a place called Artisan, a theater, and then we were able to go have a wonderful lesson with Isaac and Ana! They are wonderful! Isaac makes me laugh so hard with his comments and see,s to feel somewhat better! So one of my favorite lessons this evening was with Arturo Ramon and his two sons. He is a man we knocked into about a week ago, and has let us return to teach him for a while now! We taught him the restoration and loved it, and we talked to him about baptism, and he said he wanted to know more first, but if he found it was true he would be baptized! And even his sons were interested!

So to end the night I was asked by Sister Black to give her a blessing! So we went to the church at 9 and gave her a blessing of comfort. She is nervous about training, even though we know she will do amazing! She cried, but it was wonderful to see her come to us for the simple guidance and strength! I am also grateful for her companion, a Sister Clonts that is so good at being herself as she teaches the gospel and loves her companion!

Wednesday:

Transfer day already! Today was a day that I thought would never come, or that I imagined was just a dream. The reason I say that, is because now, as Spanish missionaries, we have dropped so dramatically that we are like the last ones here, there are maybe 20 missionaries after Elder Lopez, Hna. Eyestone, Brown and Tibbets went home! And who knows when the number will begin to increase in Spanish Missionaries!? However, today was a wonderful day as we got busy teaching people. We had the chance to do some contacting which was not very efficient today, because it was in the 40s again. But we had a wonderful visit with Jesus Abarca and his family for a while and shared a small message. Hopefully next time we can share even more a message on the blessings of the gospel in our lives and the restored gospel. Also they have a daughter in 5 grade that really is excited about going to activities in the church! Then as we finished there we went and had a wonderful visit with the Oliva family. A family that stopped coming to church because the church wouldn't give her more money to help them in their problems. I understand their side and the bishops side, and they always say that their testimonies will never change and that they know the church is true, but if they have such a strong testimony why do they let people affect them and their relationship with God? I feel bad for them and their kids and know that God will work out their problems with more experiences and time! Then our last lesson was with Manuel Valdez and Tania Valdez. We taught about temples and ordinances and he had so many questions about what we do in the temple. As we were talking we tried to focus on how he needs to find people to take to the temple, and he got super excited. So this Tuesday we are going to start his family history! I really hope to see him not only go to do baptisms, but also to be sealed as a family!

Thursday:

Today was such a simple and wonderful day. I learned today through an exchange with a member that the Work in a ward does not get done without the help of a member who has true desires to make the award the best it can be. A Ward will grow without Members help, but will grow and prosper into a strong refuge as the members put in their part! I have a hard time not having members at the lessons, even though it is one more moving part in the whole juggling act of missionary work! So today seemed to go super well for us as we had our weekly planning, because everything seemed to fit into place simply! So as we got al done we were able to have a very eventful night with two different exchanges! We we out with Hno. Barraza to teach Mario and his mom and sister, and Hno. Barraza was perfect for them, because he was the teacher of the sister and loved her and wanted to come back to help them progress! He teaches boldly and lovingly! Then as we finished there we went and had a wonderful lesson with Pablo Martinez, and Hno. Schmidt, who just recently moved in, was with us and it was a really amazing feeling to listen to Hno. Schmidt testify and invite Pablo to act while we were there to back him up! I hope and pray that from these testimonies it really will help Pablo to act on his own! We also had a lesson with AG and Samira, and it was was to see how he worked with them and tried to get them married like this weekend! He was super positive and happy about it all, and it made me want to figure out his style of teaching and try it out! I love this gospel so much and the fact that I am not perfect, but can be close as I use the atonement regularly and try my hardest to be better!

Friday:

Today was quite a day of change as we met together as a full mission of over 200 missionaries and watched a World Wide Missionary Broadcast. I was so impressed and amazed by the simple things taught. And even more impressed and amazed as I saw the changes coming to the schedule of a missionary and also the change of key indicators! We were informed and told to change everything immediately to our schedules to now have our nightly planning in the morning before we would have personal study, and that we would have an extra hour of sleep if wanted at 930. It was a wonderful meeting and I know that what was revealed to us is exactly what was needed! Also we have 2 extra hours on Pday, which will be so perfect! At first I was not sure about the schedule, but as I heard the testimonies of Elder Oaks, Bednar and Anderson I knew that is what would be best! And that as we returned home from our missions we would also be able to have more Agency and learn to always plan time for studies and prayer! Then there was the change of Key Indicators! We used to have 9 Key Indicators that we would focus on, but now we only have 4! We focus on Baptized and Confirmed, Baptismal Dates, At Church, and New Investigators! It is proven in our mission that ever 9 baptismal dates and ever 17 new investigators gets 1 baptism, so these 4 Indicators to focus on will help us succeed! I am so excited to not focus so much on unnecessary things and just be myself and talk with everyone to accomplish my purpose as a missionary!

Saturday:

I love my Saturday! I used to not like them at all, because it was to much time to just find, however, I have learned to love them! So today we had a wonderful correlation meeting with Mario Santiesteban, and then we went and had lunch with Bishop Olivera and his wife in Golden Corral as a district. So today one of the experiences that impressed me a lot is just how God really does prepare the people for our message. Today we decided and went to a house of a lady who is never home, and her car was there, we had tried to meet her for about two transfers, and as we knocked she opened and seemed sad. We explain who we were and she said, I'm sorry, I don't have time, my grandma just past away and I just need some space, I am mad at God and don't know my purpose here in life or why we have to go through trials. I felt prompted and shared my testimony and shared the Plan of Salvation pamphlet with her! I promised her she could live and see her grandma again, and she instantly said, can I have that pamphlet!? Then we left her to read a scripture in the Book of Mormon and she was more excited and was going to read it for peace! It was an amazing experience to see her hunger for answers! We also had a wonderful lesson and dinner with Jose Valencia and his girlfriend wife! We taught a good message and he was more open and said he would be at church, and just asked so many questions! And to end our night we went with Hno. Nickel to teach Mable Bencomo to get her ready for her baptism! She was super happy to see us and was just opening up even more! While being with Hno. Nickel it helped me realize who much of an asset I can be when I do go home. I still have a long time, but I have always worried that I won't be able to teach a lot, but I will teach as much as I decided to by going out with the missionaries! What a great day!

Sunday:

Sundays can be as special as you want them. Your desire to go to church and your desire to be better, it is all up to you. Today in sacrament meeting I loved being able to hear the testimonies of the missionaries that just transferred in, and it was awesome to have both Pablo and Mable at church today! We are working on a few other people coming to church within the next few weeks, but as for now they are the solid ones who love coming! And Mable is still good for her baptism on February 11th! So we had some wonderful classes in church today, and the reason I say that, is because as we finished church today we were able to go and have dinner with Pablo Martinez and his wife and kids, Hna. Soto. And as we taught a lesson to Pablo he was very open and had lots of questions on how is a prophet called and lots of other comments and so we taught him. And the best part was that he decided he needed to read the Book of Mormon for himself, so we imagine with his own desire he may except a date faster?! I always look for insight on how to teach someone who has been investigating he church for 10 years. Any ideas of how I can help him!? Anyways, to end he day we went and were able to visit the Ramos family in our ward, whose dad is a member, but doesn't really understand to well the covenant he made with God. We taught about the temples and he said, I don't want to go in there until I believe everything that is being taught. Right now my catholic brain is in gear a little. At that moment I wanted to tell him that when he got baptized it showed he believed and would follow what the prophets taught. I wanted to ask him if he had read the Book of Mormon fully and prayed about it, but decided to testify of the blessing of he Temple and showed him that it was taught in the Bible to do baptisms for the dead! As we did so, his mind began to change and he said, "let me keep studying into that!" I am so grateful for trials as a missionary, because they help me to grow! This next week is going to be super crazy busy with 2 giant meetings with Zone Conference and MLC in the same week, along with 3 hour planning. Then we were asked to give a training in Zone Conference and to prepare well for MLC by reading a long talk. So my studies will be Brain crunching!

I love you all so much and hope you have the best week!

I pray for you daily!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

De la Misión de Texas Fort Worth

Miracles have not Ceased!

Dear Family and Friends,

I know that the statement above is true! I can prove it to you through my week I just had! I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that Miracles have not ceased! That God lives and Loves us as we strive everyday to become more like him. No matter what we do, have done, or will do, he will always love us! However, the only way we can return and live with him and our families forever after this life it by Faith, Repentance, Baptism and Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then Endure to the End!

Here is how my week went!

Week January 16th - 22nd 2017

Monday: MLK Service Day/ P-Day

Today seemed to have been the busiest and craziest days of Preparation, because more than half of it was spent giving service in Fort Worth for Martin Luther asking Jr. Day! Many churches from all over came together today at the Baker Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church and had a worship service, and what do you know, we missionaries where their choir! It was a wonderful service and super funny! The people all screaming Hallelujah and Amen! Now I don't write this to make fun of, but to express how I felt for my first time in a church or surrounded by hardcore church goers. However, after we gave our service and came back to have lunch together, we sat down next to 2 older couples, both with a ton of money. They told us how they got their wealth and said that they love to give service to help them realize they are blessed and try to help others. It thought that was nice and even found our why they chose the church hey were in. One said because they let him drink. And the other because he mom was a teacher there. However, when I think about why I am a member of my church it isn't because of anyone else. I didn't ask anyone else or go because I could do certain things. I prayed to God and received an answer from him, and that is why I am a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Because I received an answer from God who told me it was the true church Restored to the earth today! As we ended we held hands together and a lady said a prayer that caught my attention. Because many of times we try to pray to an almighty who just wants a real conversation. Then I also realized she said, "father, let us seek for a restoration of all things." As she said that I just wanted to shout out and say, "that has happened!! Come and see!" But I knew that would have been bad. It was a fun day! As we finished giving service we went and had the chance to email and go shopping and then our Pday was over before we knew it! However, we were able to go and be with some of the amazing members and investigators today and we were able to teach the importance of the temple and the importance of reading in the Book of Mormon. We read 3 Nefi 11 and takes about it with AG and he expressed how he just wants to come back! Now we have to help him see it is through his acts of faith that this will happen!

Tuesday:

Today was a little bit of a unplanned day, because we woke up and from that moment on lessons began to cancel on us and we just had a great planning for all of them and were to the point we just had to fill up and try to find people all day! We didn't find anyone new to really teach, however, we taught 3 work of salvations and found one lady who is going to let us come back on Thursday! It was amazing to see how one can grow from Contacting. After knocking one door and getting someone with a return appointment it just seems like they all begin to accept, or you are happier and more willing to talk to everyone you see! We had a wonderful dinner with the Barraza family where we were able to talk about Temples and they told us they are going like 4 times this week because of the amount of names that they have! So this evening for Noche de Hogar, or Family Home evening, we had a few converts show up and learn how to do the Family History. As we were helping them we were asked last minute to teach Family Home evening for the adult s in the other room, because they hadn't assigned anyone to come and teach it! It was the second time in this week we have been assigned, and I did enjoy it! I always love spur of the moment experiences, because God seems to help you out with thoughts and scriptures! Something I have had to learn while here in the mission is how to combat with false doctrine without hurting feelings, because sometimes the members have certain thoughts that don't align with the doctrine found in the scriptures! However, It is a perfect opportunity to teach using scriptures! Today was a simple but wonderful day!

Wednesday:

“I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work--there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.”

                                      –President Ezra Taft Benson

                        The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (1988), 200

I love this quote, because I have seen this time and time again in the Lords work here in Texas, and today is another testament of how God puts people in your way to talk to if you just WORK! Or in other words, be outside, knock doors, talk to people! That is how God knows you are ready for someone serious! So today we were able to gather, Elder Hanks, Hermana Eyestone and I to practice a song we will be doing in Church this Sunday. It will be Come thou Fount, however, it is one that I have had to write a cello part too, and a brother from Fossil Ridge let me borrow his cello! It is a beautiful one and I have had a blast with it! Then we had District meeting and headed out to work! It was crazy to think that this was the last District Meeting for both Hna. Eyestone and Brown! So as we got out and started looking for people, we found 2 families that have interest that we pretty much found right there close by each other, and we taught them a good lesson and even got their numbers to stay in touch with them! So as we kept going on through the day we had an amazing dinner with a new family that just moved in called the Schmidt family. The husband is from America and served in Dallas and then went to Venezuela to work for 6 years and met his wife there! Then they returned and I love their accent and just their life style! They both are so excited about the missionary work and asked us about all our investigators and less actives! We talked about them a lot and are super happy with them in our area! A really happy moment for me is seeing my recent convert, Manuel, fellowship a member that just moved here from Honduras that is 20 years old. We were able to take him on exchange with us to visit Manuel and it was a wonderful. Also we love Miguel! He is a wonderful young member who is just trying to endure to the end!

Thursday:

Today I saw one of the biggest miracles in my mission when it come to teaching lessons! And I pray everyday that these people will look for us and that we will be able to teach them and have them except the Gospel. Today while studying and planning we remembered we had an appointment that was set for a lady we ran into in the trailer park, and she had a good amount of interest, because she had talked to missionaries before and had seen a temple in Maryland! She was pretty amazed by the temple and had lots of questions throughout our whole lesson. Her name is Alejandra and the amazing part was her husband Jose was there and willing to listen as well where he was out of work because of the rain! They both seemed to be understanding perfectly what we were teaching, and as we told them about the apostasy they both got wide eyed and the husband Jose said, "now I understand why there is so many church in the world today!" As we went on Alejandra expressed how she only worshipped God in her home and how she doesn't feel like God will appear to her like Joseph had happen. But we testified of the Book of Mormon and told her, "If you read this book and ask God we know he will guide you by feelings and thoughts." She immediately agreed and promised to read it! It was such a great lesson! Also the rest of the evening we had good appointments and sadly AG and Samira are breaking up for awhile, because AG is more focused on his phone and games than his wife and kids. He just hasn't grown up to much becoming a Dad. I feel so bad for them, because the Gospel would have fixed their lives if they would have just acted instead of waited to be acted upon! It doesn't make sense why they won't act more!

Friday:

Today we literally had ever single lesson that we were going to teach, but dinner, cancel on us! We didn't let that stop us though! We decided it was going to be a perfect opportunity to find more people to teach and baptize and again as we went out and had a temperature of 78 degrees in this winter season, you can imagine every person was out of their houses enjoying the weather, and we had quite a few lessons. Many just simple contacts, but also a few amazing contacts and return appointments! 

It seemed like God placed specific people in our paths as we has begged and prayed for in our prayers, and he answered his servants prayers. I was so impressed as this evening we were thinking of one more family to visit, and looked on the map and found a few different dots, but as we sat there, we found one and said it was he one! We went by and knocked the door and a full family was inside and invited us to come in! She mom, who seemed very religious was on a phone call when she saw us, and was so excited she just hung up and came to welcome us! We waited as they got the dad out of the room, and we met Jesus Abarca in his wheel chair with one less leg than he had a few years ago, but he was not letting that effect him and they were all asking us what took us so long to return and who sent us! We didn't know how to respond and were happy to get to know them! They are attending a church, but they were super willing to keep reading in the Book of Mormon and pray more about it! It was a family that I can truly say God has been preparing! Even the teenage daughter had been to activities at the church as was super sad she wasn't going as often with them now! She was dieting to go back, and right as we left the Book marked for them to read when Jesus came to the Americas, she began reading and couldn't set it down! What an amazing day!

Saturday:

Today has been such a great day! I seriously did not think it would be possible to have God give us more than what he already did in this week with miracles, but today was another day just full of them! Every single person we found today was just a miracle in and of itself! To start off our morning we were able to go and take part in the baptism of 9 year old Miguel Gonzalez, a boy who we were teaching, but whom we gave to the Bike Elders, because they needed a bigger area to find people to teach. As we did so they set a date fast with him and he was very prepared from the lessons we had taught, to help him get baptized! It was a very happy day for all of us!! So we were trying to find a referral we had tried to find for about 3 weeks and were to the point of just dropping him after tracking through a small trailer park looking for him, and as we were walking out we saw a man sitting on his stairs smoking and drinking some coffee. As we were walking we went right to him to of course give him a card, and try to get to know him, and as we did we found out he is from Cuba! The first Cuban I have met on my mission. We had a good conversation and asked him for his name, and come to find out it was Eduardo, the man we were looking for and we know that we were guided to him and he was also guided to us by feeling like he needed to go outside to pray on his steps. We gave him a bible that he had requested and also gave him a Book of Mormon. He was amazing and very friendly! Then as we were walking back to the truck we heard a guy yelling to us! So we stopped. As we began talking to them I thought they were going to bash us, but they just questioned us like crazy on our beliefs and why we believed in another book, and then we explained that Jesus came to the Americas, and they were very open and said things like, wow that could of happen and if it did that would have changed the world even more! And then one of the guys had been studying up heavily on our church, and explained how the natives of Mexico area had traditions about Jesus appearing to them. So we talked about authority and it was pretty amazing just to be able to testify boldly and lovingly for what we do every single day! Also today we were able to go by and try contacting a lady named Patricia La Santa! As we knocked they let us right in without any problem! Her and her son who is 21 listened to us as we taught the Restoration very simple, and they both understood it amazingly well! The both said, "that makes so much more sense then having a group of humans pick a man to be their leader. You are saying that your prophets are called of God and not by man?" And then we were able to testify. Today I testify that God revealed his hand, and I know that he will keep revealing his hand to me and to all of you as you live worthily and work diligently in the Lords Work!

Sunday:

Today was such a wonderful Sunday, and also a really busy one! I feel like my free time at 9:30 to 10:30 has been given up when I came here, because I usually don't finish everything required of me until 10:30! But I know that my zone will be blessed and our area will be blessed as I just keep pushing and working and focusing on nothing more that my mission! I had a wonderful Sunday service today and was able to play the cello while Sister Eyestone sang and Elder Hanks played the piano! The song we performed was Come Thou Fount, but in Spanish! It was super powerful, and as we did that and finished we had so many people that were crying! Haha it was a powerful song! So today as we finished church we were able to go to a JustServe meeting, a new program, or one that is being presented better, where we focus on fulfills the commandment of love thy neighbor even more! If you haven't seen it, go to JustServe.org and check it out! It was a really cool presentation and given to us by the First Presidency! Then this evening we had a wonderful lesson with Mable Bencomo, and actually set a baptismal date with her as well!! It will be February 11th, and gladly I will still be here for it, because I a, staying one more Transfer with Elder Graham!! I will be in this area for more than 6 months, and I am so grateful for that! I have grown to love the people here and really want to keep seeing them progress! So for all of you that new about upcoming transfers on Wednesday, no worries! I am staying until next transfer!

What a wonderful and busy week! We had an awesome 35 lessons this week!