The Power of Change, July 15, 2024

 

This week was another great week! 

On Thursday we had an Attack on my area. Basically means that every missionary in my district (there are 8 of us in total) came to my area and I sent them off to different sectors to go talk to as many people as they can! We had a bit of success and we are looking forward to when we can do it again!

On Friday we had our zone conference! It was amazing! My favourite one yet. Our focus of this transfer is change of heart. It was very spiritually uplifting. And I also got to see a lot of missionaries that I've become friends with, some for the last time as they go home soon. One being Elder Gomez. The Australian that I was with for 4 ½ months in the beginning of my time in Chile. It'll be sad to see him go. On the brightside! We got another Canadian in the mish! Elder Runquist from Southern Alberta! He started his mission 5ish months ago but was serving in BC for that time due to some visa problems, but was finally able to come! We talked for a long time and connected fast!

On Saturday we had an amazing lesson with our friend Carlos and we put him on date to be baptized in the beginning of August! He is super excited and ready to change his life. My como and I are also very excited! 

Spiritual thought: "The power to change is very real and a spiritual gift from God." -Hna. Gutiérrez (my mission presidents wife). I love this quote from the zone conference because I've seen the realness in the power to change. I've seen it in my own life and the lives around me. And really it is a gift from God, to have so much faith and love that you desire to put away everything you knew and embrace the new. 

Question of the week: How can you experiment in this power to change? Or help someone in their process of change?

Love you all!

Elder Spencer

Good ol' Santiago

Me and Patricio

A Buffalo Waffles wrap that was amazing

The Holy Ghost, July 9, 2024

This week absolutely flew by.

Highlights:

- Canada beat Venezuela in fútbol, and being in a highly populated Venezulano area, I got yelled at a bit haha. Mostly in good cheer. I was actually with a venezulano family when we won jaja.

- With the American independence day being this week, there were riots and protest, by a group called "Anti Yankee". And it lasted for 3 days. And they targeted groups from the states including the church. So if we left the house we had to be cautious, we had to return early. And in my area especially, being right down town, and having the building where the president lives being a couple blocks away, it wasn't the smartest to leave for to long. We would take back streets and longer routes.

- We found out that a friend we've been teaching for 2 months was baptized 4 months ago. So now we are going to help focus on bringing her to church and prepare to go to the temple.

Spiritual thought: "In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." -Russell M. Nelson (Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives, 2018). I cannot testify enough about how true this revelation from God is. As a missionary I feel like Satan is trying to do his all to take me down, as I am on the frontline of this fight between him and God. And I've seen the difference, not only in my life, but also of those I teach, between living with the Holy Ghost and living without. If we live in a way to have the constant influence of the Holy Ghost, we will live in a higher and holier way.

Question of the week: What can you change in your life to have the Holy Ghost more fully in your life?

Love you all!

Elder Spencer

Jesucristo, June 26, 2024

Hey everyone!

This was an extra long week as I had the opportunity to go to the temple today! It was worth the wait! It was very spiritually uplifting.

On a different note, I should not be eligible to teach English anymore. This is a quote straight from my mouth trying to explain a certain situation. "When I had 18 years I was in the university"🫠 After I said that I paused, and the hermana that speaks English and I burst out laughing. And then I had to explain the difference between after and afterwards. And I couldn't do it. If someone knows please send me an email and explain it jaja. 

A couple nights this week the city has turned into a wailing city. That's what it sounds like anyways. But what it really is, is people celebrating for soccer. From our apartment balcony you can hear the cheering echo through the city, it's pretty awesome. And also last night a couple Peruvians were mad at me because Canada beat Peru. We'll see how it goes at church on Sunday after the game between Canada and Chile on Saturday night.

We will receive cambio news tomorrow. This is a sad cambio as a lot of my friends go home. Elder Maxfield, Elder Sorensen, Elder Johnson, Elder Anziani Elder Parsons, Elder Pond and Hermana Murer. It's been a fun time with them and I've learned a lot from them. Great memories. It's sad saying goodbye, but maybe I'll cross paths with them again. 

Spiritual thought: 2 Nefi 25:26 

"26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." 

This scripture is one of my favourites and it describes what I do as a missionary! I talk of Christ, I rejoice in Christ, and I preach of Christ. All that so that people may know where to look for a remission of their sins. I testify that Christ lives. I know that He loves you. I know that He suffered every pain, heartbreak, sorrow and anguish that has happened in your life. And because of that I testify that He knows how to succor you in these times. To heal you, to bring you peace, to bring you joy. I testify that Christ is our Saviour and Redeemer. I invite all to come unto Christ. For I testify that when you do, your life will change. And if you've witnessed this change in your life. Go. Talk of Christ. Rejoice in Christ. Preach of Christ. So that others will have the chance to come unto Him just as you have. 

Question of the week: How can you come unto Christ? Or how can you help others come unto Christ?

Love you all!

Elder Spencer

                                                    out in the rain                                

Noche de Hogar with friends

Temple trip!

Mate

Got to see Sorensen one last time before he leaves tomorrow

Lunch with the Elders

Saying goodbye to Hna Murer

11 Months, June 17, 2024

Hey everyone! Como están? 

I completed 11 months on the mission today! And wow has time flown by! 

This week we had interviews with President and some missionary training from the assistants of President which was really good! We dived deeper into the differences between someone that gives a presentation or like a practice and someone who gives a lesson.

We received a lot of references from people wanting to come unto God and grow their relationship with Him! Sadly they all live outside of our area so we sent lots of references. But I'm happy for the opportunity I have to meet and talk with each one of them!

Spiritual thought: This week during church when I had the opportunity to partake of the sacrament I felt the Holy Ghost strongly in my heart. I felt his power purifying me. And testify of the sacrifice of the only begotten son of God, Jesus Christ. I testify that the Holy Ghost hears witness and testifies of the Father and of the Son to help us grow closer to them!

Question of the week: when have you felt the Holy Ghost testify something to you?

Love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Spencer

                                            

God is our Stronghold, June 10, 2024

Hola buenas noches!

This will be a short email this week.

This week we found a couple new people to teach. One of them is Dé from Brazil that is only actually in Chile for a month. He is traveling the world spending a month in each country! Pretty cool that as he gets to knows the earth, he's seeking to find and know God!

We had a couple great family home evenings with some families this week! Lots of small children testifying of Jesus Christ is very powerful. Some of the most profound thoughts I've heard in the past couple weeks came from small children. 

Today was a fun day. We toured my area, going to stores, malls, parks, outdoor shops, and more! Then we played some fútbol and cards!

Spiritual thought: Nahum 1:7 

"7 The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him."

Question of the week: How can you let God be your stronghold in the day of trouble?

Elder Spencer

                                    

                                            sunset

 learned how to make empanadas de venezuela

my comp accidently knocked the bed down well I was in the other room

sushiii

horse statues we've found 

lesson with our friend Naru

New Friends, June 3, 2024

Hola a todos!

Another week has flown by!

Highlights:

- We found some new people to teach! María, Dahiana, Julio, and Alexander.

- María already knows a lot about the church, she has family that are members and she wants to be baptized! She also wants to learn English.

- Dahiana recently moved to Chile from Colombia. One of her friends reached out to us and told us to go visit her! She is very receptive and loves asking questions. 

- Julio had spoken with missionaries for a long time but lost contact for some years. He finally reached out again and said he wanted to start coming unto God little by little. 

- Alexander reached out to us. He moved to Chile 2 days ago and is in a difficult situation. But he wants God in his life and wants to do the will of God. We put him on date to be baptized. My companion was super excited (I was too), it's his first baptismal date in the mission! 

- I went on an exchange with an Elder named Elder Suarez. He's from Bolivia. He was baptized 2 years ago and wanted to go share the good news of the gospel right away! We came into the mission together and we were in the same zone for the first 4 and a half months. So we were excited to have the opportunity to work together! We ate some really really good sushi and went to a ward activity together!

- My favourite part of the week was when a friend, Gimena, from my past area came and took us for ice cream! It was so great to see her! She works in my area and it was her last day as she's about to take a leave for her pregnancy. It was wonderful to visit with her, I'm sad her husband wasn't there though. But it was a good stress reliever to see a familiar happy face that I've known for the past 5 months.

Spiritual thought: I know I've shared this scripture in the past but it has recently helped me a lot so I wanted to reshare it. 

1 kings 19:12

"12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."

In our lives we have many trails and tribulations, many errands to run, people to see, tasks to accomplish. Our lives are full and busy. It's like the chaos of an earthquake or the dancing flames of a fire. And we don't have time to seek God. It is only after the fire that we kind find and hear God. It's once we give time in our stressful or busy lives we will be able to hear the still small voice. I testify this is true, that I've witness it happen on my mission time and time again. If an interaction is stressful and there is lots of shouting, afterwards, or during I'll excuse myself to go to a quiet place and pray and listen to God.

Question of the week: How can you seek the still small voice of the Lord?

Elder Spencer

Kittie in my sweater

 Biblioteca with Suarez

Ice cream with Gimena!

Me and Suarez chilling on a bridge

Santiago

Sushi with Suarez

lemon bars!

Getting Settled, May 27, 2024

Que pasa mis queridos amigos??

This week flew by, which was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because I'm happy here and excited to work in this new area and bad thing because there is way to much information and things to keep track of. I've definitely seen my organization skills grow in the past couple days.

We are getting to know this area little by little. It rained a lot this week so we were limited to what we could do. We have some massive parks in the area, massive buildings and malls, lots of out door shopping, cool architecture and lots of tourists. I've heard a lot of people speaking English, it plays with my mind on the streets haha. As I'm accustomed to only hear Spanish. 

We had zone conference this week and even though I didn't get to see a lot of my friends it was a great conference. We are focusing this transfer on chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel (a book we use to help us teach and learn and grow as missionaries). And this chapter is about the power of the Book of Mormon. As a mission we are going to read the book of mormon together, we started yesterday and we are going to finish at the end of September. Reading with the focus of finding truths and scriptures related to Jesus Christ. So im really excited to do this! 

We are teaching someone named Juan from Perú. He has been here in Santiago for a while now. And his story is a very sad one. He is constantly depressed and dwelling in his sadness. He wants to change his ways and do things to help get out of his depression. But he isn't willing to act or do things to change which is sad to see. So we are helping him bit by bit to get the will power and desire to act.

Spiritual thought. At zone conference a scripture was shared that I've heard many times before. But this time it hit me a lot differently. 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." The imagery of that is amazing. I wear a white shirt every single day. And I often get stains on it, or just from wearing them so often there more yellowish then white. Whenever we sin we can imagine that our souls receive a scarlet stain. And we sin over and over again. And sometimes it seems like we can't get all the stains out. But Jesus is testifying that through the Atonement and repentance we can wash all our sins away and go from scarlet to white as snow. And it hit me harder as I've seen it happen during my mission. I've seen people go from a difficult place and completely change. I can see the red turning into white and it is very beautiful to witness.

Question of the week: How can you let Jesus Christ help you overcome a challenge in your life?

Love you all! 

Elder Spencer

                                    El Libro De Mormon

Some photos of our district hike this morning

 In the rain

Santiago