Hola!!
This is a longgggg email, I am sorry in advance. But I hope you enjoy reading and enjoy following along in my life right now😄 oh and Happy New Years!!!
This week has been my favourite week in the last 5-ish months. Not because of Christmas, not because of New Years, not because of good food (although I did have some great venezuelan food), not because of my neighbours puppies who greet me everytime I come home, not because of the cloudy cooler weather, but because I have felt closer to God this week more then ever. I saw His hand in literally everything. I just took a step back from my stress and let God take the reins. And wow did He reign. It was powerful!
Starting on Tuesday we had English class with a solid turnout of 4! One was our friend Catalina, another was a member of our ward named Carmen, and the other two were a father and daughter, Luis and Denis respectively. Ok as a spoiler, we had significant interactions with each person present at the English class this week. The class of English, as I wrote on the board my mind still being wired for spanish, went very well! We taught them how to say hello, goodbye, what's your name, my name is ____, where are you from, I'm from ____, how are you, I'm ____, their pronunciation, etc. You get the idea.
Now we are on Wednesday, a lot happened that day. We were out knocking doors trying to take to people and my comp said "why don't we go visit Carolina?" Me thinking he meant Caroline because we were very close to her house, asked "don't you mean Caroline?" He said "no." Then I said "how about we visit both." So off we went to Caroline first because she was closest. Now for a brief back story: we have been trying to get in contact with this lady for 3 weeks now. And we show up unannounced and she was there! With her son Vicente as well! She immediately welcomes us in and we were able to have a visit with them! They have this huge puppy with high energy, and Vicente is always tasked with pinning it down and dragging it outside so it doesn't jump all over us haha. It is a very funny sight to see as Vicente is only 10 and the dog is almost as big as him! Anyways, we leave and go on to Carolina, who we also have not been able to talk to in a while. And she was there! With her daughter Constansa. They told us that she is finally done her class and could meet with us the next week!
Now after that (still Wednesday) we had a lesson with Carmen, the one who was at English class, and it was a very special experience for all of us there. She opened up to us about some of her trials, and told us it was hard to find hope and strength. We were able to talk about Jesus Christ and that we can always always always find strength in Him. It was a very beautiful lesson. And afterwards we went to fútbol night and wow was it fun and productive! Luis from English class went, Andres and Catalina who previously told they wouldn't come, came! It was awesome! I was able to introduce Catalina to an Hermana named Anais, they immediately hit it off! And afterwards our ward told everyone to go inside where they had made food for everyone and for everyone to mix and mingle! That was super awesome! Then as it ended Luis came up to us and asked when we could meet and talk! Then later that night, at home, we made fried chicken sandwiches with spicy buffalo sauce and ranch, it was so so delicious. Then my good friend Elder Carlson texted me and told me about a guy that sent him a message and wanted to hear a message! And it turns out the guy lives right near my house to streets down! So we will be visiting with him this Wednesday. I'm excited! Apparently he speaks some English so that'll be fun!
Ok so now it is Thursday right? And we set up a lesson with Luis, this was more to get to know him. He is probably the most interesting man I've ever met, at least in Chile. So backstop muy rapido: about three weeks ago we passed by an ice cream shop and a little boy yelled "Hello elders!!" We immediately stopped and went to talk to them, and invited them out to English class! And they finally came this past week. Ok back to the lesson. Luis is in the military stationed up in northern Chile, visiting his children for 2 months right now. And Luis is a devoted Jew, extremely intelligent in the Bible, he also speaks Hebrew and interestingly enough he believes in Jesus Christ and that he came to the earth and is our Saviour and that He is going to come again. The Jewish religion doesn't really believe in this. So I find it fast that he does. Anyways we didn't really teach much but we were able to set something up for Saturday. So after this lesson we went to a Hatian family we are teaching, Eugenia and Naco. Naco speaks English, Spanish, Creole, French, Russian, and German! Anyways we taught them about the restoration of the church of Jesus Christ. That was one of my favourite lessons this week as I felt the Holy Ghost testifying strongly through me as I taught. We gave then Books of Mormon and invited then to read and pray. After that lesson we had another lesson with Andres Catalina and Bernarda! We taught the restoration again and it went very good, asking them to read the introduction, Moroni 10:3-5 and to pray if it was true.
On to Friday. This day we didn't have any lessons to set up. So it was mostly contacting in the streets until we were passing near one of our friends and decided to stop by! They were there and invited us in! There names are Raul and Giovanna by the way. And we got the opportunity to teach them the Plan of Salvation, which talks about our purpose here on earth. And invited them to read some scriptures! It was a blessing that we got to meet with them. Then not much else happened Friday.
Saturday. In the morning we went and worked out at a calesthenics park with Andres and Catalina. We had the opportunity to ask them about their experience with the Book of Mormon and they immediately told us they loved and felt peace while reading it. Naturally they had questions which we were more then happy to answer. Catalina was excited about the opportunity to study more scripture and to learn and grow closer to God. Later that day we had the lesson with Luis and he brought his two kids, Denis 9 years old and Efrain 6 years old. The lesson was at the church, when we walked in with them there is a poster of our Prophet and Efrain asked if it was the president of the United States haha. (He isnt by the way). We taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ which has 5 steps. Faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. After each principle we taught, Luis would turn to his kids and re-explain it in a way he thought was easier for them to understand. It was incredible. After we finished talking about baptism he turned to them and said, "close your eyes. Turn off everything in the room, the chairs are gone, the table is gone, the missionaries are gone. And open your eyes. Your spiritual eyes. And when you look at me, see that I have lots of messiness around me. These are my sins. When we are baptized the messiness goes away, replaced by cleanliness and order." And he would also use Hebreic words! It was so cool! And his kids are extremely intelligent. They were answering all our questions, and we weren't asking easy questions. After the lesson we invited them to come to church and gave them a book of mormon! They said they'd love to come to church.
Sunday. I was a little nervous for this day but I trusted in God that everything would go alright, and it did. Catalina, Andres, Bernarda, Luis, Efrain, and Giovanna all came to church!! And loved it! Luis went with Efrain to the little kid class after. And the rest came with us to the adult class. Afterwards Luis told us that Efrain said "I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know." The kids a menace with how much he knows. So the next time we are probably going to bring him to the adult class! He knows much more then some of the adults haha! And Catalina and Andres were participating in the class and afterwards told us they loved it! It was fantastic!
Then Sunday night we had a dinner with Bernarda, Catalina and Andres. They fed us some pretty great food! Some of the best chilean food I've tried so far. Afterwards we taught about temples, ordinances and different laws God has established since biblical times. Like the law of chastity, and the law of tithing. Afterwards we asked if it called interest to them to be baptized and they both said yes! But since it is such a big step they want time to prepare. Which makes complete sense!
Quick spiritual thought:
Alma 13:28-29
"28 But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering;
29 Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."
I love the part about praying continually to be led by the spirit. This is a truth I witnessed this week. And que poderoso it was!
Question of the week: What is something you can do this year, 2024, to be able to see the hand of God more clearly?
And a second part because why not; where and when have you seen the hand of God in 2023?
I love you all! I'm excited to see and hear what this year has in store for all of us! May God bless you!!
Elder Spencer
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