Well what a week
I have had. I was able to accomplish so much and I have learned so much
in this week then I have on my mission entirely so far. Sorry I didn't
finish my letter last week. We emailed from the library and it has a time
limit on the computers and I went over, so I just hit send so you would at
least get an email. But you know what the rest of my testimony would
consist of. It's hard to think that Thanksgiving is next week, and
Christmas is right around the corner. I've almost been out for 2 months
and time is flying by. It seems like just yesterday I was standing on the
sidelines at the game coachin’ them up, and now the season is over and
wrestling is starting. I am glad to hear that everything is going well
back home. I pray every night that yall will receive the blessing from
having Taylor and I out on a mission, and I know you will continue to receive
these blessings the more faithful and unified we all are. It is funny how
Taylor wrote that he was so in tuned with the spirit this week, because I was
the exact same way. It had a rough start, but it was a very very good
week for me. Like I said, my companion has been pretty tough to work
with, I mean he has been at this for over a year, and he knows that he knows
everything, but he doesn't wake up and work out in the mornings, so even though
I am being obedient, he isn't so it is hurting our companionship. But I
will get to some of this later.
Monday
Monday we went bowling as a zone, and it was awesome. I forgot my camera gosh darnit, so I didn't get any pictures :/ but it was super fun and some of the other elders got some pictures. That night we ended up biking way out into the boonies to see a sister in our ward who was in a car accident a month ago and hasn't been to church. We gave her a blessing and even though we didn't want to ride out there we knew that we were sent there for a reason. Since it was way out there and we didn’t want to bike home, since its pitch black out at 6:00 now, we called a member with a bike rack, and we were invited to their family home evening, It was awesome and we were able to bring a large portion of the spirit into their home. I just love our ward so much, and I wish I could stay in this area my whole mission.
Tuesday
So on Tuesday, I went on my trade off with Elder Howell, the District Leader. He is awesome, I was able to open up to him and just tell him what has been going on with my comp and stuff. One of the things that the new missionary has to do is take the lead in teaching lessons, and he hasn't let me do that like at all, and when I try it just sounds like we are trying to talk over each other, so we are WAY un-unified and it really bothers me. Anyways Elder Howell let me take over some lessons, and I even was able to bail him out of some situations that he didn't think I had the ability to do, so it was such an awesome day. So I decided to try and take this leadership with me throughout the week.
Wednesday
We had District meeting, and it was good. The Assistants were there and something that has been overly stressed thus far on my mission has been qualifying for the work and just being able to train at any time possible. So after this meeting, I was talking to my comp and was just like look I need to teach or else I won't be able to train in 7 weeks, and he pretty much said that he doesn't trust my teaching ability because I haven't shown it yet, and because he feels he can teach it better and he finds joy in teaching others the Gospel. So I told him I find that same joy too, and my skill isn't going to increase until I can actually teach. So we had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader and his family, and they invited a friend and his girl friend over to take the lessons. I took over the whole lesson, and it went really well, Bro. Mecham was impressed. My comp still has the tenancy to talk over me when I'm explaining, or just speed talk right past me.
Thursday
So we received a media referral text and we went and saw this lady. She has a huge house in Haile Plantation, a mini community inside our area. Her daughter is going to a private high school in Utah, and she went down and visited her and met some Mormons, and just loved them. On her way home she sat next to a missionary on his way to Orlando on his mission, and just talked about the church and how she is investigating it. I tried to lead that lesson, but my comp just told me he felt he could explain it better. So I have been pretty fed up with this lack of trust, which I thought we had resolved. We met with Donovan again, and we found him a ride to church and everything, and he called the person we set up a ride with for him and he said his dad would bring him. Ya he didn't come to church. Mike and Meagan keep cancelling on us, but we are still in contact, Vincent, we were able to talk to his dad, and his dad is excited that Vincent is taking the lessons. We have an appointment with him tomorrow hopefully.
Friday
I was able to take over weekly planning again, and it went awesome. Elder Lisonbee, and Elder Howell have said that I am the best planner in the mission, and they think I am ready to train already. I have learned so much, and it has all been led by the spirit. I keep reading the scriptures, and I am on 3 Nephi and I started like 2 weeks ago. I have begun to liken them and apply them so much in my life, and it makes me wonder why I never did it before my mission, why I never focused more on them. This is why I advise Grant and M'Kay to start studying now, because the time is short to prepare, especially for Grant. Ohh one thing that I have been doing is cleaning up all of our Formers, and looking at who was being taught and then why they weren't being taught or baptized. I found this one family, and the mom is super less active, and the boyfriend has been investigating for 6 years. They want to start coming to church again, and the daughter is ready to be baptized. She is 9 and keeps asking why she wasn't baptized last year. I connected really well with them and was able to teach them about the importance of church and just blessings and stuff, it was all spirit led. So hopefully we get a baptism here soon.
Saturday
Saturday we didn’t get a lot done, I can’t even remember who we saw this day. But my comp slept most of the day, and then we went and helped some rednecks move into the ghetto. They had soo much junk that they crammed into one single apartment. Ohh and the guys mom she had a MUSTACHE!!!!! it was sooo thick and nasty, and yes it was a lady I made sure to find out. EWWWW.
Sunday
We were supposed to have like 5 investigators at church, but none of them showed up, so we were pretty mad about that. We did have a good day though. We found out that President Barry is speaking in our ward next Sunday, and we are having dinner with him and our Bishop who is super rich. We had a lesson with a member family last night. It was soo awesome. I was able to actually give my first blessing in the mission field. We also left a mighty Blessing upon their home, it was awesome. The Sirmans are awesome, like I said, I love my ward soo soo much.
Well I love this area, and I am excited to see what the rest of my mission brings me. I don’t have that much time left, only like 97 more weeks. Mom that means only 97 more emails. So I hope they bring you joy ;)_So we aren’t allowed to wear sweaters or jackets. We have to wear our suit coats, soo I have been freezing the last couple of nights, because I don’t want to ruin my suit by wearing it every night when it gets cold. I can survive until January when it heats up. Ohh I’m excited for Thanksgiving cause we get to play football. :)_Which reminds me. I would really really like my cleats and kicking tees. I do agility stuff in the mornings, and I can’t get any grip on the grass, and I want to keep my leg fresh on kicking, so if you could that would be nice :) Taylor, I cannot wait until we are both home, we are going to live close to each other and just tear people up with the gospel. I love where I am at, but I still just want this to go by so I can come home and start my life and just be with my family. Other missionaries say they love their families, but they don’t miss them. I'm just like I really miss my family, and yes I do miss you Grant. Ohh and don’t wait to get back in shape. Start ASAP. Do as much as you can cause I am so weak cause I didn’t lift after surgery, and I have a long ways to go to get into D-1 Football Shape. I love you all so much keep praying and reading and stuff, the scriptures help every aspect of life. Lots of Love, God Speed and Hoorah for Israel!!!!
LOVE,
Monday
Monday we went bowling as a zone, and it was awesome. I forgot my camera gosh darnit, so I didn't get any pictures :/ but it was super fun and some of the other elders got some pictures. That night we ended up biking way out into the boonies to see a sister in our ward who was in a car accident a month ago and hasn't been to church. We gave her a blessing and even though we didn't want to ride out there we knew that we were sent there for a reason. Since it was way out there and we didn’t want to bike home, since its pitch black out at 6:00 now, we called a member with a bike rack, and we were invited to their family home evening, It was awesome and we were able to bring a large portion of the spirit into their home. I just love our ward so much, and I wish I could stay in this area my whole mission.
Tuesday
So on Tuesday, I went on my trade off with Elder Howell, the District Leader. He is awesome, I was able to open up to him and just tell him what has been going on with my comp and stuff. One of the things that the new missionary has to do is take the lead in teaching lessons, and he hasn't let me do that like at all, and when I try it just sounds like we are trying to talk over each other, so we are WAY un-unified and it really bothers me. Anyways Elder Howell let me take over some lessons, and I even was able to bail him out of some situations that he didn't think I had the ability to do, so it was such an awesome day. So I decided to try and take this leadership with me throughout the week.
Wednesday
We had District meeting, and it was good. The Assistants were there and something that has been overly stressed thus far on my mission has been qualifying for the work and just being able to train at any time possible. So after this meeting, I was talking to my comp and was just like look I need to teach or else I won't be able to train in 7 weeks, and he pretty much said that he doesn't trust my teaching ability because I haven't shown it yet, and because he feels he can teach it better and he finds joy in teaching others the Gospel. So I told him I find that same joy too, and my skill isn't going to increase until I can actually teach. So we had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader and his family, and they invited a friend and his girl friend over to take the lessons. I took over the whole lesson, and it went really well, Bro. Mecham was impressed. My comp still has the tenancy to talk over me when I'm explaining, or just speed talk right past me.
Thursday
So we received a media referral text and we went and saw this lady. She has a huge house in Haile Plantation, a mini community inside our area. Her daughter is going to a private high school in Utah, and she went down and visited her and met some Mormons, and just loved them. On her way home she sat next to a missionary on his way to Orlando on his mission, and just talked about the church and how she is investigating it. I tried to lead that lesson, but my comp just told me he felt he could explain it better. So I have been pretty fed up with this lack of trust, which I thought we had resolved. We met with Donovan again, and we found him a ride to church and everything, and he called the person we set up a ride with for him and he said his dad would bring him. Ya he didn't come to church. Mike and Meagan keep cancelling on us, but we are still in contact, Vincent, we were able to talk to his dad, and his dad is excited that Vincent is taking the lessons. We have an appointment with him tomorrow hopefully.
Friday
I was able to take over weekly planning again, and it went awesome. Elder Lisonbee, and Elder Howell have said that I am the best planner in the mission, and they think I am ready to train already. I have learned so much, and it has all been led by the spirit. I keep reading the scriptures, and I am on 3 Nephi and I started like 2 weeks ago. I have begun to liken them and apply them so much in my life, and it makes me wonder why I never did it before my mission, why I never focused more on them. This is why I advise Grant and M'Kay to start studying now, because the time is short to prepare, especially for Grant. Ohh one thing that I have been doing is cleaning up all of our Formers, and looking at who was being taught and then why they weren't being taught or baptized. I found this one family, and the mom is super less active, and the boyfriend has been investigating for 6 years. They want to start coming to church again, and the daughter is ready to be baptized. She is 9 and keeps asking why she wasn't baptized last year. I connected really well with them and was able to teach them about the importance of church and just blessings and stuff, it was all spirit led. So hopefully we get a baptism here soon.
Saturday
Saturday we didn’t get a lot done, I can’t even remember who we saw this day. But my comp slept most of the day, and then we went and helped some rednecks move into the ghetto. They had soo much junk that they crammed into one single apartment. Ohh and the guys mom she had a MUSTACHE!!!!! it was sooo thick and nasty, and yes it was a lady I made sure to find out. EWWWW.
Sunday
We were supposed to have like 5 investigators at church, but none of them showed up, so we were pretty mad about that. We did have a good day though. We found out that President Barry is speaking in our ward next Sunday, and we are having dinner with him and our Bishop who is super rich. We had a lesson with a member family last night. It was soo awesome. I was able to actually give my first blessing in the mission field. We also left a mighty Blessing upon their home, it was awesome. The Sirmans are awesome, like I said, I love my ward soo soo much.
Well I love this area, and I am excited to see what the rest of my mission brings me. I don’t have that much time left, only like 97 more weeks. Mom that means only 97 more emails. So I hope they bring you joy ;)_So we aren’t allowed to wear sweaters or jackets. We have to wear our suit coats, soo I have been freezing the last couple of nights, because I don’t want to ruin my suit by wearing it every night when it gets cold. I can survive until January when it heats up. Ohh I’m excited for Thanksgiving cause we get to play football. :)_Which reminds me. I would really really like my cleats and kicking tees. I do agility stuff in the mornings, and I can’t get any grip on the grass, and I want to keep my leg fresh on kicking, so if you could that would be nice :) Taylor, I cannot wait until we are both home, we are going to live close to each other and just tear people up with the gospel. I love where I am at, but I still just want this to go by so I can come home and start my life and just be with my family. Other missionaries say they love their families, but they don’t miss them. I'm just like I really miss my family, and yes I do miss you Grant. Ohh and don’t wait to get back in shape. Start ASAP. Do as much as you can cause I am so weak cause I didn’t lift after surgery, and I have a long ways to go to get into D-1 Football Shape. I love you all so much keep praying and reading and stuff, the scriptures help every aspect of life. Lots of Love, God Speed and Hoorah for Israel!!!!
LOVE,
Elder Spencer
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