Annette, Dec 2nd, 2024

It's december!! Christmas season!!

This week our friend Anette got baptized!! I almost wasn't able to write that line, and you'll find our soon enough why. 

On Sunday a week ago we had a lesson with her and she was excited to be baptized in a week. And then on Tuesday we pull up to have another lesson and confirm the interview for the next day. And as we enter she looks at us with a sad face and tells us she doesn't want to be baptized. I got shocked. She was so happy, excited, and peaceful about her decision. What had changed in the course of 2 days?? So we continued to talk (also this is after she invited all her friends family and neighbours to come to her baptism) to figure out what the problem was. We found out that a close friend of her mom talked her out of it, saying she didn't have any sins at the age of 12, that she is perfect already and doesn't need baptism for a long time until she's committed big sins in her life. 

So we rediscussed what baptism is and told her that it is her decision between her and God. We asked her if she had prayed about it and talked to God about it. She said she hadn't yet after deciding not to be baptized. We invited her to do it that night. Shared some scriptures, personal stories, testified and prayed with her. Then we left praying all the night. When we got home her mom started informing us that another of her friends was now talking to her saying if she felt that baptism is the right choice before it still is. And that was all we heard and we went to bed praying. The next day we sent a text asking for an update and if we were going to have the interview that night. And she updated us that she has been restored to having motivation to be baptized. And that we could carry on as normal. This is a powerful testament to me that God puts trials in our path so we may grow. If Anette hadn't gone through this trial, her baptism yesterday might not have been as special. And for her mom as well, she got up and bore her testimony in church and talked about the trial and how it had ended up being a blessing and powerful witness to her. God is good.

And then to top of the week. We are teaching a boy named Angelo who is actually really good friends with Anette which we didn't find out until this week. Angelo had been praying about it and said that God told him he needs to be baptized. He just doesn't feel prepared which is normal. So he has the goal of getting baptized on the 29th of December. His family is very supportive, his mom especially even though she and her husband are of a different faith. 

At church we had 13 friends pull up, mostly because a little over half of them were invited by Anette to go to her baptism. Attabe Anette thank you. Which is also crazy because 13 people at church was our districts goal.. for the month of December. Guess we will be over achievers this month thanks to our newly baptized Anette! That was another miracle this week. 

Spiritual thought: Mosiah 5:13

"13 For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?" 

I invite you this Christmas season to know our master Jesus Christ. To come unto Him in your thoughts and intents of your heart. You could study the names of Christ to know Him, study His actions and act accordingly. Think of Christ in every moment. Treat every person in your path as if they were pur Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Question of the week: How can you better know the Master this week?

Angelo!

Some pretty good burgers, although my American comp didn't think so haha

Noche de Hogar with a member named Guillermo, absolute legend. I learned how to make mayonnaise at his house. (That's not what we are eating by the way we had some Ecco floats, Ecco is a wheat based hot drink that kinda tastes like coffee but is not coffee)

 I wanted to be like my comp

Freddy cooked us some Lomo Saltado which is an incredible Peruvian dish. (Honestly like Peruvian food a lot more then Chilean food

A cool window bar design

Anettes baptism. The hermanas also had a baptism, his name is Freddy. I actually had the opportunity to give his interview, he is a very strong son of God.

Note to self, don't hire Chilean movers. They just kinda hucked everything in there and called it good, not wanting any recommendations.

Wrestle with God, November 25th, 2024

 

Hey fam and friends! 

I'll keep this short this week.

We had a lot of lessons this week, so we weren't out in the streets as much, which was a blessing because it is getting toasty down here. It'll still be a full year by the time I can feel snow!

We are teaching a 15 year old boy named Angelo, he is a really cool kid. Loves chemistry and Coldplay. We are helping him work towards baptism.

Speaking of baptism, our 12 year old friend Anette is going to get baptized this weekend! She is very excited and is telling all her friends to come!

God really does guide us in our path. On Wednesday morning we prayed and decided to visit the north western part of our area, to knock some doors. We ended up finding an 18 year old boy to teach and then we sat in a plaza to call someone and a recent convert to the church approached us and invited us to his home. I hadn't met him yet and I was grateful that we were in the right time at the right place. 

Spiritual thought: I love the account at the end of Genesis 32. It's one of my favourite Old Testament stories. It's when Jacob gets wrestled by God and in the end he gets his name changed to Israel, which means "Let God Prevail." They are wrestling on the bank of a river which was probably very muddy. I love it because our God is a God that is not afraid to get dirty and wrestle with us. He is not a timid loving from a far type of God. Ney, he is a God that will sweat and put in effort to humble us, to help us change. He expects to wrestle with us, as the natural man in each of us is an enemy unto Him. God will wrestle with us until we "let God prevail." Sometimes we return and wrestle more for a round 2 or 3. But God, as patient and loving as He is, will dislocate our hip as many times necessary until we learn to follow His will. I'm grateful that our God is a God that will fight for us, and get dirty helping us to become perfect even as He is. Let God Prevail in your lives! What is holding you back? For me my pride can sometimes get in the way. It holds me back. And it brings it's own consequences. But as we let God prevail we will find out that we are going from fighting against God to fighting with God against the devil.

Question of the week: Do you want to let God prevail in your life? If yes, what are you willing to do to accept that? If not, we are you choosing to fight against Him? 

Love yall! Go read the end of Genesis 32!

Elder Spencer

its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Made completos, I learned how to make mayo

Teeter totter break

Steam roller

Rando ladder

The broth for our ramen came in bags

 Lesson with Anette and her fam

                                                                                Making sopaipillas 

I love being a missionary, November 18, 2024

Buen día a todos!

I just want to say that I love being a missionary!!! Everyday I have the opportunity to share the light of Christ in a personal way. Everyday I have the opportunity to testify of the truthfulness of the gospel. Everyday I get to serve people and help meet their needs. Everyday brings its own trials and challenges but everday I have the power to rely on God to overcome them. Everyday I have the opportunity to focus 100% on learning, growing and expanding my knowledge, testimony and relationship of and with God. I've come to love teaching the gospel and sharing it in a way that is hopefully pleasing unto the Father.

On Tuesday I went on an exchange to an area called El Salto (The Jump) with an Elder Cayulef from Argentina. It was a solid exchange! We found a couple people and we felt the spirit tell us to but baptismal dates then and there. So we did after we taught the doctrine of baptism so that was pretty cool!

On Thursday I had another exchange. This time I was with one of my zone leaders. His name is Elder Black from Tennessee. He actually replaced me in one of my old areas (Estrella Sur) and was with one of my old comps (Elder Sorensen). We had some fun conversations about the people there that we met and came to love. About the people we were teaching. Two of the people I was teaching proceeded to get baptized soon after I left! I love how even in missionary efforts we aren't alone! Anyways the rest of the intercambio was good, we had a goal to find two people and at the very end of the day we found the second person.

On Sunday there was a mom and a daughter that came to church from St. George Utah. The daughter had served here in this area for 9 months a couple years ago and was visiting her mission. The people we had lunch with invited them as well. So it was a spanglish lunch as the mom doesn't speak spanish. In amazed at how the brain works how after learning a language and you hear said language and your native language swirling around and you can understand both. It's weird but was fascinating. 

Spiritual thought: Isaiah 1:18

"18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."

I've been studying and pondering a lot on this scripture this week. It invokes a very powerful image in the mind of the effects of sin. Everyday I put on a white shirt (well, it isn't very white now it's more of a creamish colour haha) and after I read this scripture I imagine scarlet paint being dumped on my shirt. And it being impossible to scrub out and remove. But the Lord invites us unto to Him to reason together, and in that event of reasoning with the Lord our sins which tainted us shall be removed. And we can become pure again from reasoning with the Lord. And I LOVE that the scripture then makes a second example with red crimson and wool. This repetitive idea invokes the idea/reality that we will always sin, we will continually commit error and stain ourselves in filthiness. But as we confide in the Lord and reason with Him and repent we can become clean. I bare testimony that this is true, that we may be free from our sins. In the name if Jesus Christ, amen. 

Question: Whats a spiritual experience you had this past week?

Love you all!!

Elder Spencer

Our friend Gonzalo gave me some of his "drip" to wear

Big ol' rat. I actually think that's the first rat I've ever seen in my life. #IloveAlberta

We built a couch in the apartment with some extra mattresses we had

Sunset

Intercambio with Elder Cayulef, we invited them to be baptized and they accepted!

Elder Black and I dropped off their old water heater on the side of the road

Fighting preacher

We got...unrobbed? November 11, 2024

Hey everyone!!

Lots of things happened this week! I'm going to just list them off.

- Ok first about the title, I was on an exchange with Elder Pereira and we were doing some contacts at night. And this man approached us and I feel uneasy. Anyways he starts talking to us saying that he knows he looks like the typical person to rob someone else and usually he is. But this time he just want to talk to "the messengers of God." He then gave us the keys to his house as a way of saying I won't rob you. It was kinda funny. He then gave us a dollar to go buy whatever and insisted we take it. 

- Our friend Gonzalo got baptized this week!! I've had the privilege to teach and help get him ready for this moment for a week and a half. He's a really special soul. He grew up without parents moving from here to there. And he bore his testimony after his baptism saying he finally found his family. It was very sweet.

- Oh yeah my birthday was also this week. It was a blast! I loved receiving all the messages! Thank you for thinking of me. But it was a great day, we had zone conference, so I got to see a lot of my mission friends. And then that evening we set a baptismal date with a friend we are teaching! It was a very special moment! Her mom is a member of the church that is returning to activity. And we asked her to share about when she has felt the Holy Ghost in her life. And she brought up her baptism. And her daughter said afterwards that she wanted to be baptized and feel and have the power of the Holy Ghost in her life. We all felt the spirit strongly in that moment.

It was a good week!

I want to share some lines from a song that I've listen to a lot this week. It's a hymn titled "Gethsemane."

"The hardest thing that ever was done,

The greatest pain that ever was known,

The biggest battle that ever was won—

This was done by Jesus!

The fight was won by Jesus!"

It is talking about the Atonement or the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I love the line that says the fight was won by Jesus. Look the outcome of the battle between good and evil has already been decided. The fight has been won!!!! This is the good news!!! We need to decide ourselves if we are on the side thats already won or on the side that's already lost. As for me I am willing to do everything in my power to be on the side that already has the victory, and I'm willing to help others come unto Christ to be perfected in Him. Decide now. Actually decide. Don't just be like "yeah sweet, God's team" and do nothing about it. Decide and take action! 

What are you willing to do to actively chose each day to be on God's team?

Love you all!!!

God and Christ have prevailed!! Let them prevail. Your lives too!!

Elder Spencer

Horses! November 4, 2024

There were transfers this week and we received the news on Tuesday that I'd be staying with my current comp, which is what I was expecting. So we went out and worked all Tuesday. But then at 10:55pm I got a call saying I'd be leaving early the next morning! So I stayed up late packing my things and I left.

I'm now in an area called Vivaceta, if you want to see where it is look up Hipodromo Chile and you'll see what I can see off of my balcony. I'm finishing up the training of Elder Hood, and Elder from Missouri. Awesome guy! And I'll be serving as district leader again. And guess who is in my district, Elder Pereira! I trained him when he first arrived to the mission. I'm excited for the opportunity to be with him again!!

Speaking of the Hipodromo, it's this massive race track for horses, and every morning they have horses and riders training and I've also seen a lot of races with jockeys . It's some great entertainment because we have a perfect view of it all. The only downside is that in the middle there is a massive grassy area that they use for concerts. These concerts last until 3am and the speakers are loud and pointed at my apartment building. And then our neighbours downstairs like having after parties until 5am. So I'll probably buy ear plugs this transfer haha.

Halloween was this week as well, I actually have a couple more spooky stoies to tell with evil spirits, so if yiu are interested to hear those let me know. We also got some candy from when we did our door to door contacts haha. Also we had a couple trick or treaters show up we'll we did studies so that was fun haha. 

We had a funny moment while in a  lesson with a family. We were talking about the gold plates which mormon wrote on to put the Book of Mormon together. And the Mon asked her 7 year old daughter if she knew what they were. Now in spanish, to say gold plates you'd say "planchas de oro" so she said yes it's when you "planchar la ropa" which means to iron your clothes. We all got a good chuckle out of that haha.

Well there is a lot more I could write about, but it'll have to wait till next week.

Here is a scripture that stood out to me this week in Moroni 10:32-33

"32 Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. 

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."

Question of the week: How can you deny the ungodliness in your life? Or better yet, what are you willing to do or change to deny yourself of ungodliness?

Elder Spencer

Me and Elder Pereira back together haha

Francisca, we invited her to be baptized on the 19th of November

The Hipodromo

Me and Elder Hood

Yes that orange water came out of our faucet, no it doesn't taste like orange juice

Grubbing on some sopaipillas 

Me and Geraldine a 9 year old girl we are teaching

Dark Spirits and Dogs, October 28, 2024

Hola a todos!!

This was a long week this week, we found some people to teach, the most interesting being Cristobal and Elena. They are from peru and have 3 children. They are hesitant about receiving missionaries from any church because they usually end up getting yelled at to repent and go to church and get ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ. So... what did we do? We taught about faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end (which includes going to church). And how all of this is important to prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ. But the difference was, we didn't yell, we didn't force them to do anything. We shared our message genuinely, allowed them to talk, asked questions, extended loving invitations, promised blessings, and bore sincere testimony of what we shared. They invited us to come back and that they may go to church with us if they have time. 

And now a spooky/frightening/scary story for Halloween. On Sunday evening we visited a family in our congregation. We had a good visit, talked about Lehi's vision. Afterwards we asked if there was anything we could do for them. And they proceeded to tell us about a presence that had entered their house a week ago. When the mom walked into the house a dark shadow followed her in, she didn't think much of it thinking it was a reflection from the street or something. But then the next day early in the morning she went to go to the bathroom and saw someone in it, she thought it was her brother.. it was not her brother and she left running. Another day at 7am in the morning when the suns already been up for an hour or so, their house was dark, conpletly filled with this oppression. Then later they had a little niece visit them and she went to the bathroom, quickly running out saying she saw a ghost. Anyways after telling us more experiences they asked us if we could bless the house and their family to cast out this presence. Before I said the prayer aand before they told us these stories, I had been feeling uneasy. But after the prayer I felt the love of God and peace. The power of God is real! I testify of that. And the funny part of thay story is that the grandma said "that presence is just my dead husband coming back to bother us before I go." 

Now I would like to talk about Benji the dog. Look, when we are walking in the streets or knocking doors there are always dogs barking. Always. Sometimes we hit a quiet moment, but the exact moment we "haalo" a chaotic symphony ensues. There are dogs that will physically throw themselves at the fence barking trying to bite us. There are dogs with absolute hops, jumping meters into the air trying to get over the fences. Some dogs wait and as you pass by a gap in the fence they lunge their snout out, jaws gaping trying to munch on your arm. Or some will aimlessly bark. The most annoying ones are the little dogs, no offense to those that like little dogs, but they are yappers, just a high pitched annoying yap. But it's alright, all the barking from any dog gives me a headache anyways. But Bengi the dog is one of these little yappers. We weren't even haloing his door, we were haloing the neighbours. Anyways he was barking at us for a solid 3 minutes. And we usually just ignore the yaps. And then Bengis owner yells from inside for Bengi to stop and get inside, Bengi doesn't listen, Bengi is a menace. The owner comes out and Bengi continues to ignore her. Bengi dodges her once, twice, thrice while continuing to yap. Bengi is talented. Then the owner finally gets him to go inside and she shuts the door firmly behind her. Not even 10 seconds later and Bengi had escaped either through the back door or jumped through a window, and he came ripping around the corner with his back legs drifting and proceeded to bark his little heart out. That's when we left haha.

Spiritual thought time: Ephesians 1:3-4

"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 

4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:"

I love this scripture because it shows that before this world we were chosen by God. To follow Him and to choose Him here on this earth. To love Him with all our heart might mind and strength. Each and everyone of us was with God before the creation as spirit sons and daughters Him. And he looked at each and everyone of us and chose us and invited us to become Holy like Him. What a powerful invitation that we all accepted. I testify of this.

Question of the week: What are some fun Halloween traditions you have.

Have a fantastic week everyone!!

Elder Spencer

an oreo alfajor, probably the best alfajor I've tried

Elder Pierce and I learned how to make Sopapillas with an inactive lady in our ward

some pretty flowers

mote, it's either a hit or miss with this dessert, this one was a miss for me

I'm always amazed how chileans can park massive vans in tiny little space a

more pretty flowers

We Moved Out! October 21, 2024

This was a very slow week for the work. On Tuesday through Wednesday I got sick and on Thursday my companion got sick. And then on Friday we moved out of the 4 man apartment to our own apartment.  We didn't have fans in our new apartment for a couple days and it got hot this week, up to 31ish degrees. 

On Saturday we had a special experience. We were going to go with the other missionaries in our ward to visit a family. But we felt the Holy Ghost tell us not to go but to pass by a couple different families we are teaching. The first family we passed by... nothing. The second... nothing. But on the third we passed by and knocked (and when i say knock i actually mean yell "HALO" because each house has a big fence, so we "halo" to get their attention.)... nothing. Knocked again... nothing. We knocked a third time and we saw a little face peek through the window. And the door opened and our friend Mary and her grandchildren were standing there. Then we proceeded to have a our visit with her. During the visit we were planning on reading in 3 Nephi 18 about the sacrament, but we started talking about fruits we liked and all the amazing and different fruits there are in Venezuela. And we felt like we should share about the fruit most desirable of all fruits. So we showed her Lehis vision. And she had some great stories. It really impacted her when the sons of Lehi, Lamen and Lumual, didn't come to the tree and partake of the happiness. But left to the great and spacious building to live in the world. It impacted her because her son was the same, went to the world instead of God for a way of life. Anyways all in all we had a really good visit. If you want to read Lehi's vision you can find it in the Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi chapter 8. She told some absolutely crazy stories of her life and her sons life. She's lived a very wild, bitter, sad, troublesome life but she's maintained her faith and her happiness. Then she gave us some Venezuelan food so all in all it was a great visit.

Following the little promptings of the Holy Ghost is so very important. Especially because missionary work is the work of the Lord. And through the Holy Spirit, Christ can work with us more effectively!! 

Spiritual thought: 1 Nephi 8:12

"12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit."

There is joy in Christ. A joy not found in the world. A joy that unifies families. If you've partaken of this fruit, help your friends and family partake of it as well. 

Question of the week: What is a way you can serve someone this week?

Love you all!

Elder Spencer

Well I didn't take many photos this week. So here are the two I have. One is the view from our new apartment and the other is a training we had with our zone and our mission president.