Maria, October 14, 2024

This week was a pretty solid week! 

On Wednesday we programmed a baptism for our friend named Maria, she is the sweetest little old lady. Almost has 80 years! We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ which include 5 steps. Faith 🌱, Repentance 🙏, Baptism 🌊, Receiving the Holy Ghost 🔥, and Enduring to the End 🛤. And she said she's never been baptized in the way that Jesus Christ taught us. So I asked her if she would like to, and she accepted for the 27th of October! 

Then the next day, Thursday, we had our interviews with President Gutierrez. This time around we mostly talked about how the area is doing. He asked me how we are finding so many people, so I told him that when we went to knock doors, we wouldn't only just knock the doors we felt inspired to, we would knock every single door. Because "faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone" (James 2:17). And in this way we talked to more people, we were more focused, and we had more success.

We received news that we are going to receive an apartment in a couple days! As of now I've been in a 4-man, and as much as I love it and the comradery, only having one bathroom and laundry machine for 4 men isn't the best.. This new apartment that we are getting is in the same complex just different building. Apparently we are getting a nicer apartment, we will each have our own bathroom just for me and my comp. The other two are staying in the one I'm currently in.

I am very grateful for my Father in Heaven. I know He is there and that He loves me. I know when I may forget Him, He never forgets me. Ever. I know that His love for me is infinite and that He knows what's best for me. When I put my trust in Him, He will help me receive what's best for me. I know that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for me and help me return one day to live with Them in all Their glory and joy. I testify that this all applies to each of you as well. And that God wants to have a close, covenant, relationship with each of you. He invited each of us to become like Him before we came to this earth. We now need to choose that for ourselves. And that is why I'm here in Chile, to help the people know what God has in store for them. And then let them make their own choice with their free agency. I'm so grateful for this beautiful earth we have, I grateful to be able to follow God's living prophet on the earth (Russel M Nelson). 

Challenge of the week: share your testimony and believes with a friend and your family. 

I love you all!!

Elder Spencer

                                                            

                                            I love the Book of Mormon, I testify that it is another testament of Jesus Christ

Maria

our boy Scout found us again

Me and Elder Carlson cooking up on his birthday! Happy b-day Elder

this rooster kept interrupting our lesson with a man named Patricio

we got some free soup from some Venezuelans we are teaching

I love God's creations and taking moments to appreciate them

Scout, October 7, 2024

This week I met more atheists than I have in my whole mission, and I will say I was under prepared for those interactions as I hadn't had those encounters before. I'm always genuinely intrigued to hear their reasonings as to why they don't believe in God. And then I get saddened when they tell me how they are doing life on their own that it's only themselves that can make their own life better. I get sad thinking about it because of how much I've relied on God and the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how they don't recognize that Heavenly power in their lives. I just try my best to be an example of Christ and testify that there is a God that knows them and loves them.

We had a very interesting interaction with someone named Margarita. We knocked her door looking for her son, and she went to go look for him, 5 minutes later she comes back and tells us he doesn't have time. So we ask if she is interested in hearing a message. And she says yes. So we start talking about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement. She keeps asking a lot of questions, kept interrupting our responses. Wasn't the most productive conversation, but we are returning on Wednesday to conversate more. So we'll see how that goes.

We had a lot more interesting conversations with people but if I wrote them all this email would be very long haha, so I'll spare you.

On Friday morning I had a third companion doing door contacts with us. We named him Scout. He was this old dog that just followed us around, and when we talked with people at the door he layed in the shade taking a rest. It was awesome, I always love those moments of a dog actually loving us instead of barking at us jaja. 

It was also General Conference this weekend!! I wasn't able to watch a lot of it sadly, but in grateful they are recorded and I'll be able to study them more in depth!! We were able to watch bits and pieces with our friends and some new members, we saw some miracles there for sure, just being able to watch it with them!

A takeaway from conference was from Ulisses Soares. He talked about aligning ourselves with God, to put off our natural wants. Am I a lover of myself? Or am I a lover of God? (Matthew 22:37-38) To be a disciple of Christ I need to be disciplined like Christ was. God knows what's best for us, what will bring us the most joy, the most peace, everything. We will be blessed with these things as we align ourselves with God!

Love you all!

Elder Spencer

                                                    

Ironing Board...bonk! September 30, 2024

Another week has flown by.

It started off with a sweet district council on Tuesday. Where we did some practices. It was a little strange because there are only 4 of us in our district. During my mission I've been in districts of 8 or 6. But of 4? It feels strange haha. 

My companion and I finally received our Sim card on Friday! It has been nice having it, definitely is a blessing to the work. But I will admit our time without the chip has been a lot of fun! We found 14 people this week to teach. We felt like our fathers, doing the work without a cellphone, it was awesome! We definitely saw the hand of the Lord each and everyday, working miracles in our lives. 

This week we had zone conference! It was fun seeing a lot of my missionary friends. Sadly I wasn't able to see any missionaries from my last sector, I was a little saddened by that. The messages were great! We talked a lot about doctrine and principles. We finally got an ironing board! Because this house didn't have one and we all definitely needed an ironing board. But then... on our way home in the metro, my comp lost it.. bonk. But I guess someone was blessed with an ironing board! 

My roommates found out that I had some calesthenics workouts and they dubbed me workout coach. We completed our first day today, I ain't gonna go easy on us haha. 

Some weird/funny/odd experiences I've had in the streets:

- a group of men chanted Satan and the devil at us as we passed them.

- there was a drunk lady that tried to hit on us.

- flew a kite, cut my fingers on the string, and found some new people to teach.

- my white shirt got splattered from a bunch of berries the fell from a tree.

- someone threw an apple at us.

When we introduce ourselves as missionaries to doors we knock, I like to ask people a specific question: if you could ask God one thing, could be about literally anything, what would you ask Him? I like this question because it actually makes them stop and think instead of slamming the door and rejecting us out of habit. I've heard a plethora of interesting questions.

There are two scriptures I like, both from the Book of Mormon. The first is in Mormón 9:21 and the second is in Moroni 10:5. And they read:

"21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth."

"5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things"

Anything we ask God, in faith in Christ and real intention, the knowledge or blessings will be bestowed upon us throw the power of the Holy Ghost. This is a powerful and wonderful promise! Doubt not our faith but doubt our doubts and ask God. 

I love you all and hope you've all had a wonderful week!

Elder Spencer

-

cooked with Carlson

my mission parents

rip that van

alfahores with Carlson

massive lemons on a lemon tree

trip home from the zone conference... without our ironing board

Guess Who's Back? September 24, 2024

Wuena wuena! Como estamos??

I have left Compañía! It was pretty sad, I loved the members, the area and the missionaries. 

My last couple days were filled with packing, saying goodbye to members, making tacos with the district, and that's about it jaja. It was really hard saying goodbye to my companion, Elder Johnson. We had a great time together. He's become a real brother for sure. 

We got transfer news on Tuesday and I left Wednesday morning. Went to the chapel and found out I'm going to an area called Rosendes in the zone Zapadores. I've come to open an area. Basically Rosendes got split and me and my new comp are opening the new side. My new comp is named Elder Pierce. He's a great dude from Virginia and has about 6 months in the mission! 

We live in a four man with the other elders that are in Rosendes. One of them has been here for two transfers before, his name is Elder Harris. Actually Elder Pierce and Elder Harris were companions in the missionary training center at the start of their missions. And Elder Harris' new comp is the one and only.... Elder Carlson!!! Remember him?? We shared a ward and a house a year ago when we both came to Chile! He's a goat. Great Elder! He's an example to me and I'm very excited to work with him again!

The work here has been awesome! We don't have a chip for our phone, nor whatsapp to talk to anyone, nor a area book to know where anyone lives. So we've just been sending it to find people and pray they remember to let us in later. We started with 0 people to teach and 0 people with interest. And in this week we found 7 people to teach and 20 people with interest! We are making progress  from literally nothing. I feel happy and motivated in the work! We don't know when we will receive all the useful tools, so we will still be sending it until that point.

Spiritual thought: DyC 11:12-13

"12 And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit. 

13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy;"

These past couple days as I've relied on the Holy Spirit more and more. I've definitely received the blessings of having my soul filled with joy! I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and the many roles He plays in our life's. Look for the Spirit in your life and put your trust in Him.

Question of the week: Why is relying on the Holy Ghost important to you? 

Love you all!!

Elder Spencer

Orange Juice, September 16, 2024

This was an interesting week!

- We got a random call asking if we could go to a new glasses store that was opening and offer a prayer. So we went, gave the prayer, got free Ray Bands, went upstairs and toasted with orange juice well the rest had champagne, and ate some food!

- We saw a couple riots that got a little violent, we are safe. 

- On Saturday we had a ward party, celebrating Chile's national day! Lots if food, music, games, and traditional dances! 

- A guy with a saxophone laughed at us with his sax.

- I had the opportunity to give two baptismal interviews. They were both baptized on Sunday. 

Spiritual thought: "As we genuinely and continually strive to learn of the Savior and follow His example, I promise you, in His name, that His divine attributes will be written in our minds and hearts, that we will become more like Him, and that we will walk with Him." - By Elder Ulisses Soares (In Awe of Christ and His Gospel, April 2022)

Question of the week: How can you genuinely strive to learn of the Saviour?

Elder Spencer

The Famine, September 9, 2024

Holis! 

This week we had a famine in Compañía. We didn't have a single lunch this week. Usually we do just by members of our congregation, but this week, nothing. That's never happened in my year in Chile... one day we cooked, one day we had a little buy of food at interviews, another day the sister missionaries wanted to cook for us, 2 days we bought pizza, another day I was gone in another area and on Sunday we finally had a member meal and it was some amazing lasagna!

We had interviews on Wednesday with our mission president. It was very very good. I recommend that people read “Deny Yourselves of All Ungodliness” By Elder Neal A. Maxwell. We didn't talk about this in our interview but it talks a lot about what we talked about. 

This afternoon we had an interesting lesson with a man named Jorge. He wanted a Book of Mormon to read, because he's read the Bible, Quran, and other religious books. So now it is time to read ours. And we were happy to bring him one. We answered a lot of questions he threw at us. Aand he still has more, but he wants to wait to ask us so he has time to read and find out for himself. 

I went on two exchanges this week, both out of my area. It was nice leaving for a bit, to be outside in the fresh air. It has started feeling suffocating in the city. In the second exchange we were able to find three new people to teach, 2 with a very high chance of progressing, so that was great for the Elders there!

Spiritual thought: A quote from the talk afformentioned

"So it is that real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed! Such is the “sacrifice unto the Lord … of a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” (D&C 59:8)." This is an interesting image. In ancient biblical times they used to sacrifice live animals in a representation of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. Now God still asks us to sacrifice, but now in a more personal way. To give up the natural man, the animal inside of us so to speak. Our natural tendencies as animals is to do as we see animals do. We need to put our natural tendencies on the alter and offer it to Christ. Whether that be offering up your anger, your hate, your lust, your hunger, your addictions, your slothfulness,  anything and everything that will and can distract you from God. Lay it upon the alter and offer Him a broken heart and a contrite spirit. 

Question of the week: What can you offer up to the Lord?

Love you all!! I'll be praying for you🙏

Elder Spencer

Pizza

On our hike we ran into a group doing a photo shoot, and they were with redbull and speaking English. So we went and talked with a lot of them and they were all break dancers on tour! A lot of them were actually in the Olympics and one was a Japanese woman that one gold! (I wasn't able to actually watch said Olympics this year but we found out after talking to them!) Most were from different parts of Europe including: England, Denmark, Switzerland. Then some from Japan, Korea and Chile. Anyways we got a picture with some of them.

                                                                Preparation day hill hike

18 de septiembre is coming up! (National day of chile)

Niche de hogar with la famila Rosas

Noche de hogar with Jorge, Marisol and their daughter Olivia

My good friend Daniel

                                        I don't know how who needed the hug more, me or the dog

Jesus art

Comp had one of those weeks