Dear Family and Friends,
What an amazing week and week of learning for me! I am so grateful for my mission experience that I have had! Also I hope my parents had a wonderful Anniversary!:)
Here is how my week went!
Week February 20th - 26th 2017
Monday:
Most Pdays are not as enjoyable, but today really was! I wish we would have taken a picture, but sadly we didn't! However, we were able to go to a park right by our church and play soccer and ultimate frisbee as a Spanish District and as a English district of another Zone, because we live outside of our Zone! In total we had around 16 people there and it was a huge success! We were there most of the day after we went shopping and all and it was so much fun to just get some energy let out as well as just have a good laugh as different people just fell or slipped on the wet grass! I loved so much being able to just get to know Missionaries better! So as we finished there we were able to go by and contact Ana Avalos, a lady we were teaching awhile back that is going through a lot of family problems. As we went by, she was so happy to see us and we were even able to set up a time to go by and teach her! We were sad to hear she has to move out of her house, but glad, because she will still be close and in our area! So that was just an impression to go there and then after that we went to a member in our ward who is struggling with her son who is 16. He has been raised in the church his whole life and now wants nothing to do with it. She is taking it hard and blames herself. So we talked about Gods will and how sometimes it can be something that we want, but God is trying to help us grow and understand that we have trials to progress. It was super hard, but I was able to use my parents as examples of helping us as kids and teenagers. Our last lesson for the night was with AG and Samira, and we were able to,find out that they set a date for June 10th for their wedding, and we are excited for them, but sad it is still way out there! We, however, are also,working with hem on reading the Book of Mormon, and it is amazing to see them asking more questions and we are planning on just spreading more every time we go back by! I pray that Samira will read, because she will know it is true and it will help her through her trials with her mom! It was a great day!
Tuesday:
It amazes me daily how many people you can find that are members and how many know so much about you. So today we went and had a dentist appointment for Elder Graham who has had some sore teeth and gums recently. It was a great appointment and while there we found out a few things, first off many employees were members and both of the main dentists who owned the clinic were long time members of the church and had both served missions. The one who worked on Elder Graham was named Steven Robinson, originally from St. George Utah and who is related to like Elie Eves in Hurricane! It was super crazy to have him know people from where I am from and for just like how much his life has grown and changed from his short two years on his mission in Russia! He was an awesome guy and also was very kind to us. As we were sitting waiting we also met like 3 other members and it was super fun to talk with them! So today after a good time studying we were able to have a good lesson on Family History with Isaac and Anna Sanchez where we helped them with finding and becoming more interested in doing Family History! So something that really was great was being able to go in an exchange with a young 17 year old boy that was visiting from Peru. He is the brother of Hna. Stafford and will be going to BYU Idaho in 2 months! But his name is Sandro and we were able to visit 4 different houses with success with him! We had a good dinner with The Marquez, where we are trying to help their niece, Vanessa, to come back to church strong, and then we also we had a good lesson with a less active family who is working their way back as well! They have gone though a lot of trials the Catarino Family. Something that I enjoyed is just being able to speak all Spanish all day and then trying to really help Pablo to know he has to change. He hasn't acted much, but I know he knows he has to act. There will be no chance when the end comes. That scares even me and I am trying to do all that is right! I truly hope and pray he acts and I hope that Sandro had a good experience and that he wants to come out with us more!
Wednesday:
I love days where I can Lead and Follow! I am so grateful for the great opportunity I have been given to be a leader and a follower in my mission. Many people take leadership position as a way for publicity or personal gain, but for me it is just a chance to share what I was blessed to learn with all those that are around us in our zone. So today we had another Zone Council and in 2 weeks we will have another! This was a specially called one because of our wonderful training received by Brother Gonzalez and Brother Glazier. I am so grateful I get to be one who takes lead on trainings and Councils with Elder Graham, because I feel I benefit the most by having to study extra and try to make sure that those other missionaries understand me! Today we taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the Doctrine of Christ taught in 2 Nephi 31 and also how to plan correctly! It was wonderful, and sadly everyone felt like it was like taking a firehouse to the face! And I agree, it was a lot of information to take in, but so spiritual! So after we finished it was my luck and privilege to go on exchange with Elder Banks in his area! He is a great missionary who has about 5 months in the mission and loves what he does! He struggles with how to get to certain places, so this evening we did a lot of finding ourselves, but were able to teach 2 lessons out of it! However, to start, we had a wonderful service with Hno. Brown by helping him clean his back yard and fix a few things at his house, and it was a good service, just not something super successful to find new people to teach! But sometimes we just need to serve! We had a wonderful dinner with the Barajas family, a family in the ward that is super fun and crazy, and we went and biked around to different appointments! One of my favorite things that happened this evening was our lesson with the Moncada Family! So they are a family investigating the church right now and they are so awesome! They love what they are being taught and want to keep every commitment! They are reading and praying and they feel it is true! All they have to do is act and come to church which they are also working at! It just amazes me how God has been giving them answers and all we have to do is help them understand them! So we taught them about Tithing and they accepted it well and then they asked me to open and close with a prayer which was a pleasure. The wife really liked my prayers. It was a great time with them!
Thursday:
I love days like today!
So today was some what of a fast day, but one that was very worth it! So we were able to end our exchange earlier because of a dentist appointment that Elder Graham had to fill some cavities, and it didn't take much time at all. As we finished there we got back and were able to start our weekly planning with a lot for the planning principles in mind that we learned. As we were trying to plan effectively we Counseled and somewhat argued for a few minutes on what it meant to set a goal as if we were still somewhat confused. By talking it through we figured it out! And I learned that I sometimes have the "my way or no way" attitude, when I just need to be open. Elder Graham has helped me see that a lot! So we came to conclusions and were able to get around half way done with planning before we went to a lesson. As we got there and began teaching a newer investigator, we realized that she had a lot of concerns and we frustrated. She decided to be open with us and she learned a lot we think. As we left she seemed excited to come to church and read the Book of Mormon and we already know who we want to fellowship her. So as we got done we went and had a wonderful service opportunity teaching Elendeivy and Randall and today we had confidence and brought up the gospel with her more and invited her to read the Book of Mormon in English and Spanish for a while, and she agreed to it without fail! She was super pumped and told us she planned on coming to church on Sunday as well! As we were leaving we hurried and drove through crazy traffic to dinner with a recent convert of the Hnas, and she is so solid and set on helping others feel how she does! She took 17 years to say she wanted to be baptized. It was a cool dinner! We hurried from that lesson to pick up a priest who taught Mario Bencomo and his mom and sister with us, and I had a great time with Mario. He had a fighting belt in the house, so I told him after the pray we were wrestling for the belt, and I won! So I had to suck in with all my strength to get it to stay around me and I started walking out and he got super mad! It makes me happy to realize that it is so much easier to enjoy life and the mission instead of dragging your feel through it! So to end the evening we tried by a few other people without major success, so we called it a night! It was wonderful! Also recently I have been having more dreams that I have had in the past, and it is funny because most of them are knocking doors or teaching, but more recently they have been dreams that are with my family! Some are super weird, but oh well!
Friday:
It amazes me how pretty much every lesson can cancel and we still find some way of teaching or finding people and God still seems to bless us more that we ever expected! So today we realized we had a lot of canceled lessons on us within an hour of our lesson, so we just set lots of people to go and contact, and we were able to find a good amount of people that were interested and we hope to be able to get back in with them. As we talked with them and shared messages we were very impressed as we found one guy named Virgilio. As we began talking to him he let us know that missionaries had taught him before and that he reads the Book of Mormon all the time and loves it. He keeps it in his truck and he was happy to see us. He works a lot and a lot of times is out of town, but he was more than open at letting us come back and coming to church to see what we do there! Also another cool lesson was going to Pablo's house where we expected him to be at work being 4 in he afternoon, and he was home! So we taught him and his family. We finally go out of him what is holding him back. He doesn't feel he can change and he doesn't feel like or see himself in a tie or white shirt. Also he doesn't see himself or want the weight of a calling. However, all of these things go away as you have a true testimony of the Gospel by study and prayer. Many don't want to be called to positions, but do it for love of God and wanting to help those around them! Sometimes it is hard, but that is part of growth! So the rest of our lessons canceled on us, so we had the thought to go by and share a message with an investigator named Arturo. He happened to not be there, but the wife was and we had a half and hour lesson with her. She is super nice and was open to learn. Just felt lost! So we explained to her more about our church and we showed her a video of how our services go and she was a lot more open to going saying she would like to come and go to our church instead of driving clear to Grapevine! She loved the visit and thanked us and we then got home where we had a wonderful visit with the STLs from Trophy Club! We have wonderful leaders in this mission!
Saturday:
Wow! Today was a great day! It was also one that made me super tired and ready for going to bed at like 9:30 instead of 10:30 pm! So the reason the day was so tiring was because we went and helped the Parajon family finish moving into their new apartment and Ward along with the elders in her new Ward and the Elders Quorum President! It was really good! It took us a few hours, but as we finished it was amazing to see that everyone was happy and glad to get them moved in! Also they took us to lunch afterwards and it was way good! However the rest of the evening was a really good evening! We were able to go by and visit with Mariela and her family ( members in he Ward, and Mariela always has questions) and then we had an awesome visit with and lesson with a returning family named the Tirado family and to end the evening we had a lesson and Dinner with an Investigator and his wife who is a member. Jose Valencia and Gabriela Flores. We taught them about going to church and that it is a commandment, and they seemed to understand it clearly, but we will see if they understand it on if they come or not to church tomorrow! We pray they do! They also fed us dinner. It was Pozole and it was so darn good! I had two bowls of it! They are a really fun family! What I learned today is that you never know what someone learns until you see them acting upon it! Learning is something you begin to act upon!
Sunday:
What a wonderful day today was! I am so grateful for God giving us a day of Rest. It really isn't much of a day of rest, but for me it was amazing! I love so much being able to go to church and just being able to relax and reenergize for the week! So today we only had 2 people come to church. One was Pablo and one was a new investigator that came with his wife who is a member! It was good to have them, but everyone else that was going to come couldn't make it. However, today was a wonderful day because Rey Castillo came by surprise and also he got his recommend today! And we plan on going to the temple with him this week! Then as we went to Gospel Principles class I watched and participated in the first class ever taught by Manuel Valdez as a member! It was so cool! I love so much he joy that comes from seeing converts progress in the gospel! I love it so much! After church we were able to go and teach Mabel Bencomo for the first time after her baptism and she was just on fire with questions and answers! We taught the restoration to the whole family and then we asked her how her reading was going and she told us, "I have been listening to it as I play games on the computer, but I realized that didn't help me at all, so I decided to follow along and take notes to focus and I get a lot more out of what I read! And now I don't even like my video games." By the way, she is only 11 years old! I love it so much! What a wonderful week I had!
Hope y'all have a wonderful week and know I pray for you and love yall so much!
Con Amor,
Elder Spendlove
De la Misión de Texas Fort Worth
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