I can see the Miracles!

Dear Family and Friends,

It amazes me how fast time is going! I am loving so much my mission and this wee I really was able to see some amazing blessings and Miracles! I hope that your week was good! Here is how my week went!

Week of March 27th - April 2nd 2017

Monday:

Well today went a lot fast than expected and also I had a few things happen that were not all that exciting, but through it all I am grateful that the Lord gives me patience and also protects me! Some of the things were not I guess things to be happy about, but ever since I have found joy in my service I have a hard time not just pushing off he hard stuff and smiling! So today after cleaning the apartment good and emailing, we went shopping and as we were coming back we were all talking and I guess I just zoned out for a second and I ran a major red light! I immediately was pulled over and ticketed for $238. It was a shocker to me, but for me I was just so grateful that no one got hurt! God was protecting us so much, because literally, everyone was stopped and there should have been some cars crossing the lane, but nothing. It was a huge blessing. I took the ticket and just decided I would be happy knowing I lived and that no one is suffering. So the rest of the day we were blessed to go and have dinner with Sister Selvera, and it was so fun to go to Brahms and just see her talking with the manager and getting us free food left and right! She got us extra fries and so much! Haha she is a very crazy and fun lady! We then were able to meet up with Oskar and Cynthia, family of the Zuniga's from Hurst area, and the are so awesome! As we were there we talked about why they are not going to church and there was a lot of reasons, but they decided they could do more than what they were doing, so they committed to watching General Conference! We really hope they will! My favorite part was going outside and running into a Hispanic and having him invite us back to have a party with him because he was so impressed we could speak Spanish with him! Today was a good day! 

Tuesday:

Today I had the chance to stay in my area for the first time on Exchange and to be with Elder Hulse, a new missionary, who is super bold and sometime maybe a tad to bold. It was a super full day and the lessons we had were really good. This morning we were able to go by and teach a less active lady named Reba, and she is so awesome. What really touched me was Sister Afungia, a Tongan lady who has 2 serving missions right now and she was so sweet and perfect for Reba. She was all about hugs and it was just so wonderful! As we left there we were able to go and have a wonderful lesson with Aaron Cole, one of our investigators, and today he showed up with pen and paper to take notes on things that impressed him and questions. As we taught him we set a date or goal for baptism on the 15th of April! It will be so amazing! We then had a wonderful Institute class with Brother Richins, who I found out moved recently from St. George to work here. He was the director for institute there I believe!? All I know is he said he knew David Hirschi and love him! That was a pretty neat connection. So he taught about the organization of the church and explained using just 4 verses that Jesus Christ called 12 apostles and they did go through and receive every ordinance thAt we know receive in the temple today. The reason being is that if the church is restored today then It had to be something that was taught then on a restoration. It is hard to explain, but it was super powerful! We had a few other lessons, but one I really loved was our dinner appointment where we ate with the Stewart Johnson family, and the 3 kids were super funny he whole time! I felt so comfortable with them and we had a very simple and fun lesson about inviting a friend to come watch General Conference with you. They loved the idea and are working on it now! Elder Hulse and I had a wonderful day, but he was a tad to goofy and bold with one of our investigators, and now she doesn't want us to come back now. She didn't feel Gods love through his actions. It isn't that he is a bad missionary, but more that I should have tried to explain their attitude and help him focus and be serious. We try to be happy, but some can't take the happiness we have. That is alright. It they were ready they would have let that slide!

Wednesday:

This morning we woke up to find out that our power had been out all night from a major rain storm! So we went to the gym and worked out in the dark and then we came home and made breakfast and showered in the light a of flashlight! It was super fun! It has been so long since this has happened to me and it really made me happy! However, we hope the power goes on shortly, because we don't want our food to go bad! So I thought it would only be a simple problem with the power, but as we walked in the house this evening at 9:15 we realized, The Power is still out from the wind storm that we slept through last night! It has almost been 24 hours and we had to take our food to the church fridge to stay cold. So we have no food here in our apartment and no light but a flashlight and sunlight in the mid day! I imagine this is similar to many missionaries in other missions and it humbles me. I am grateful for the experience the Lord has given me! So today we have had such a long, but amazing day! We had a good district meeting and even were able to be apart of a Language Study and oh how I miss my native tongue, Spanish! I will go every week if I can! This afternoon we had quite a few lessons, but this evening we got a new investigator for the YSA and had such a wonderful lesson with her. Her name is Gabby and Ethan Starkweather was such a wonderful help to teach her! She is super prepared and going into the Marines. She is such an amazing lady and we hope she reads and prays! As we went out with Brother Peterson, a professional painter, this evening, we went and had such a wonderful opportunity to teach Cindy Spahr, and she loved so much the Women's Conference! It was so powerful!

Thursday:

So today we were supposed to have weekly planning, but by the time we had our day planned out and we're ready for what was going on, we didn't even have close to enough time to start planning, so our Thursday was quite different! So,today we were able to have a lesson for the first time with a referral named Devon'dre and he was super open and happy about what we taught, and I can see him progressing well. He just got out of jail and doesn't want to even think about going there again! Also we had a great lesson with Sam, a recent convert who has the coolest story about the Book of Mormon. He told us that he was catholic and that he would always here that we as Mormons didn't believe in Christ and that we were horrible people and one day as he was on line he saw that he could order a Book of Mormon for free and so he did so. As he read and e missionaries came by he found out the truth and that almost every page talks about Christ and he came to know that the Book of Mormon was a True Book! It was a very cool story! Then something that I really enjoyed was being able to go out with Hiva Afungia, a young man in our ward that really loves to serve and his brother and sister are serving missions right now. He is a Tongan and is super cool. Also he is getting ready to send in his paperwork and I am super excited for him! I am grateful I had the time to get to know him! 

Friday:

Today I have had the chance to go with Elder Cardona on an Exchange. He is from Frisco Texas and loves serving where he is! So today I learned a lot from this exchange, because he is just a more relaxed but hard working missionary. Something I really liked about what he does is how he connects with and puts himself in the shoes of those we were teaching. He tried to know them before teaching them or inviting them to act, and that was powerful! So many of our lessons canceled for today and rescheduled throughout the upcoming week and days, and I thought I would stress about it, but instead I just made the best out of what I could. Today we met up with Aaron Cole, and taught him and he is set for the 15th of April, because he has already told family members and is super pumped about it! He is so amazing and will be coming to General Conference this weekend. We also had a cool experience getting to know the Morris Family. Brother Morris is a professional artist and sketches amazing are and also paints amazingly. He told us next time we go by he will sketch our funny pictures! They are a different but cool family! I think one girl we taught named Nikki just needs to act. She knows everything that we teach and she has read and knows the Book of Mormon and she is just scared to act. I told her now that she has a truthful knowledge she must act. It was super powerful! She is a crazy girl and rarely sleeps and is a talker! Haha it was quite the lesson! To end the night, Cameron Anderson, an awesome younger member, helped us exchange back by taking us all the way to the edge of Mansfield and back by 10 o'clock! He is so awesome!

Saturday:

All I can say is WOW! I can hardly believe that General Conference can be as good as it was! Before my mission I don't know why this stuff didn't hit me like it does now! What an amazing day we had just being able to sit at the feet of loving Prophets and Apostles of the Lord! I felt the Spirit so strongly today in so many different moments to teach me the simple little things I must do to make a huge difference in my life! I think to make Conference even more special, we had a girl named Gabby, that we contacted this week, come to conference. As we got to the final conference message for the afternoon session, I believe Elder Ballard, she wrote on a 3/5 card a small message to us on how she had committed a sin and how the action was something that changed her life forever and made herself not feel worthy or feel like she could ever be clean and in the presence of God again. In that moment we stepped out and into another open room and began to visit with her. We taught the power of Jesus Christ and how he can cleanse and heal us. As we did, she began to cry. We shared scriptures and helped her see her potential and it made me feel so so grateful for the Spirit which directed our every word. We were patient and listened closely and were careful for the wording we used and the spirit truly guided our words. We do believe that she will progress and act now that she has felt the Love of God in her life. We then met up with Aaron Cole, another progressing investigator who has a date for the 15th and were super happy to go and eat dinner with the Gorbenko Family and Aaron. As we ate we talked and enjoyed a great conversation about each of their conversions. As we got talking Brother Gorbenko is from Ukraine and speaks Russian and he actually played the Accordion for us! We then attended Priesthood session with Aaron and it was amazing. Aaron said he had to leave and so after 30 minutes we went to check on him and he fell asleep in his car just being to exhausted from everything! It was an amazing day of Learning and Repentance! 

Sunday:

I have so many thoughts and things I want to say about this past weekend, but I just don't know where to begin! So for now I just want to share 2 experience other than Conference that mean a lot to me right now. Today after listening to and having a great time with General Conference we were able to teach Aaron Cole who is pretty determined for baptism on the 15th. I would like to explain how that is a miracle in my eyes and then share another miracle that I saw today! At the beginning of this Transfer we both had he impression and vision come to us to have members in our ward get fired up by setting their own baptismal dates or dates to have their friends of family take the lessons by prayer and revelation. As we began to do this we then thought, "how is it that we can invite others and not do the same?" So then we decided and set a date that we both felt comfortable with, April 15th. We had no one specific that was even close to be ready for baptism, but decided to try and have and use that same faith that we invited our members to use. That very next week Aaron fell into the picture from a YSA member and it was so amazing to just see him progress and become apart of the ward and want to take lessons! And now I can see as he works for that same date, that Goals/Visions and then plans truly do bring blessings and Miracles. And we will be getting him to that date by Inviting and Helping. That was one of the miracles I have seen today. The next one was following the spirit in a lesson where we had hit a dead end and seeing a GIANT miracle. We had arrived to the Bernard home to teach Victoria, the non member wife, when we realized that Sister Greenwood and her had a conversation and that she had been crying because of some past issues. As we began to talk she told us and began crying, because she felt at the point that she could not do it. As we talked with her we said, "we know you can not do it, and neither can we, at least not alone." We then showed the new #Prince of Peace video on Mormon.org and talked to her about how Jesus Christ is there with open arms for all of us. We asked her how she felt about prayer, and amazingly she said, "I would like to learn how to pray." His was the first time she desired to know. As we taught her we then invited her to pray for us, and as she did we felt so much peace and joy! She Felt peace. For the time we have been teaching her, this is the very first time she has felt a feeling!! It truly made her radiate and feel the energy that yes she could get through and overcome anything with the help and power of prayer! Today was powerful! Here are a few things I learned!

• Saturday Morning Session:

• Families are the Heart of God's Plan.
• Even the best technology can't beat Revelation.
• When Jesus called to his Apostles and said Come Follow Me, does that mean they were baptized?
• The Atonement is the great and Vicarious gift to us!
• We cannot be part-time Disciple.
• Give me you all. Every part of you!
• Our Savior atoned for the sins of the World because he said he would!

So many others that I would love to share, but not enough time!

Con Amor,

Elder Spendlove

De la Misión de Texas Fort Worth