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