Transfers! March 25, 2021

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying safe. This past week was great! It went by so fast. We did quite a lot of service and were able to be outside a good amount, I love being out in the sun!

We had a couple good lessons with Craig, he is progressing quite well but we have run in to a little issue that we are trying to resolve. Hopefully we can get it resolved and continue to teach him. We also had a couple great lessons with Leslie, she loves reading from the Book of Mormon which is great. 

Raychel was super busy with work this whole week so we couldn't meet with her, which was a bummer. We got to do more temple service which I loved to do!

We had a couple great lessons with some of the elderly people in our ward, they always brighten my day and they have great stories to share. 

Alright now for the transfer news. Elder Hales is being transfered!! :(( 😥😰 He has been such a great trainer and District Leader! I have loved these past 4 and a half months that we have been together! I got called to be the new District Leader and also a Trainer!! 😬😬 I am kinda nervous but also really excited for this opportunity! I meet my new companion tomorrow! 

A few things I learned about humility this week as I was studying some general conference talks. Humility helps us overcome temptation easier as we are always striving to do what the Lord wants of us and being humble makes it easier for us to receive promptings and revelation! We can't receive guidance and direction if we are being prideful and not willing to listen to God! He knows what is best for us and will never, EVER lead us astray!

Well that is all! I hope you all stay safe! I love to hear from you all, if you have any questions or anything, fire an email my way!!

Elder Spencer

Pics!!

Elder Hales and his guitar, I'm gonna miss him so much! 😥♥️🙁

Brother Rogers!! Such a wonderful man!

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Movin' Dirt and Mission Conference, Mar 15, 2021

Hello all! I hope you are doing well with one less hour of sleep! 🙃😉 (Daylight savings is just great!)

This week had its ups and its downs, we had about 4 lessons get cancelled. It really stinks when that happens because it is usually last minute and we then have to plan to do something productive for that time which usually means Facebook finding! 

I did have a few people accept my requests and we sent videos introducing ourselves, hopefully they go somewhere! We did a good amount of service this week which was awesome. On Tuesday we helped a ward member move a bunch of dirt that he ordered from his driveway to his backyard, it was great to be outside! 

On Wednesday we did some service at a cemetery preservation site, that was really cool, although partway through that service my nose started to gush blood and it got all over my mask, gross! Wednesday we also had exchanges! I went with one of our Zone Leaders, we had a good exchange. He gave me some great advice on being a better missionary!

Thursday we had our mission wide conference. It was so powerful! I always learn lots. We talked a lot about the Restoration, spefically the Restoration Proclamtion, if you haven't read that in awhile I encourage you all to go bakc and read it, and then read it again! It brings the Spirit so strong. It is so cool to think we are a part of the ongoing Restoration! During that conference our mission nurse got up to speak to us, she told us all a powerful message that I want to share with you all, I will attach it to the email. 

We also watched a missionary devotional this week that talked about the importance of prayer and how we need to consecrate our work to the Lord, there was a cool diagram shown that I then re-created, I will attach it below! Well this has been really long, haha. I love being a missionary and I love this Gospel with all my heart!

I know there will be ups and downs throughout my mission, I have already experinced both, but I know that Christ is there with me every step of the way! 

Love,  Elder Spencer

My mask (sorry it's really gross)

Message from our mission nurse

Diagram I re-created. Let God Prevail!!

 Movin' Dirt :) 

Setting up TV's and We Got "Cheesed!" Mar 8, 2021

Hello all! I hope you are all doing well!! This week was very busy, it has flown by, I know I say this almost every week but the time truly has gone by so quickly! 

We had lots of lessons this week again which is great! I am getting more and more confident teaching. I am still not perfect but every bit helps! Before I get to the subject matter I wanted to write about some amazing lessons we had this week. 

We had one lesson with Craig this week and it went very well! We had a member join us and we were able to have a great lesson on the Holy Ghost and how to feel it more and more in our lives as we read out of 2 Nephi 32 in the Book of Mormon. During the lesson the Spirit was so strong, it was a wonderful experince and afterwards Craig mentioned how calm he feels when he meets with us! That was very awesome to hear that he is recognizing the Spirit when he meets with us! 

As amazing as this lesson was, the cherry on top happened a couple days later during church. It was our ward's fast and testimony meeting, which is when members of the congregation come up and bear their personal testimonies. Well, the member who had joined us for the lesson with Craig got up to bear his testimony... and he talked about our lesson with Craig! During our lesson when we were reading through 2 Nephi 32 we got to verse 3 which talks about "feasting" upon the words of Chirst. We asked Craig what he thought and he said something along the lines of "Well a feast is usually a celebration, so I guess we should be celebrating when we read the scriptures" I had never thought of that and neither had the member. That is what he bore his testimony on and he mentioned Craig saying that and went on to describe how we should be celebrating when we read the scriptures because it is truly a wonderful gift and a guide in our lives, we shouldn't take scripture study for granted. Well when Craig heard his name he was pretty surprised! He loved being mentioned and a bunch of other ward members came up and talked to him afterwards! It was great!

Well, now to the subject letter. Craig needed help setting up his TV so we were able to get over and find some members to help him get his TV up and running, it is amazing all that our ward members do for those we teach! Now to the cheese. Well one morning as Elder Hales and I were walking out to our car, we noticed something yellow on our hood, as we got closer we saw it was a slice of cheese!! 😂 We have no idea where it came from, but it was pretty funny! 

The weather is starting to get warm here in St. Louis, I don't know if I'll survive the summer, it already feels like summer yet is hardly spring! We got lots of service in as it is getting warmer and warmer! It feels great to get outside and do something, cleaning up branches, or raking dirt clods, just being in the sun makes my day!

Well, that's about all for now! I love to hear from you! Take care and stay safe out there! Elder Spencer 

Cheese! 

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Lessons, Lessons, and More Lessons! Mar 1, 2021

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! This week was very busy!

On Monday we had a lesson/discussion with a young man in our ward who is getting ready to serve a mission. It was fun answering the questions he and his mom had about missionary work and life. 

Tuesday we had two lessons. One with Raychel and Kyla and one with Leslie! Both went very well! Raychel and Kyla are so cool, they are very both outgoing and kind, makes it fun to teach them! 

On Wednesday we had a service project. It had been raining the past little bit and the ground was still quite wet. At one point during the move, we needed to get a truck and trailer moved around so they decided to drive across their front lawn (which is very big by the way, more like a giant field) and while they were bringing the truck and trailer around they got stuck in the mud! Luckily there was another truck and a chain that we then hooked up to the trailer and with a little trial and error got the truck unstuck and back to the driveway! What a moving adventure! Later that night we joined our ward's youth activity and answered questions about missionary life. It was fun to hear some of their questions like "How many white shirts do you have?" " How did you prepare for your mission?" and so on, it was great!

Thursday and Friday evening we had lessons with Craig, they both went very well! He is fun to talk to and seems younger then he really is. He is about 58 but is just as lively as a 20 year old! 

Saturday we did some more service helping a member with his yard work, we then had a "Come, Follow Me" lesson with a few elderly ladies in our ward over video chat. It was really quite nice, they taught me more then I taught them!

Sunday night we had an amazing lesson with a member and a former co-worker of his. His co-worker and her husband (I forgot their names) are sooo amazing! They seem very open to our message and they are willing to "Let God Prevail" in their lives! We just had a great lesson overall. Sunday was also my 4 month mark of being a missionary, that is crazy! Those 4 months have flown by! 

As we were teaching all these lessons this past week I had a neat realization. One time as I was teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (which are 5 points, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost and Endure to the End) I had the thought that everything we do in the Gospel, everything I do in my life revolves around these 5 points! It was a manifestation to me that the Gospel is really quite simple, I tend to over-complicate things at times, and realizing that any point in the gospel, any topic relates back to these 5 basic points comforts me and helps me realize what I need to do. For example if I have a doubt or quesiton about something I read, I need to exercise more faith, develop more faith. 

It is also important to remember that it is a process, we aren't perfect even after baptism, we have to continue to try and keep going! Heavenly Father doesn't turn away after we make one mistake, He and Jesus Christ will always be there to help us no matter how much we may stumble, no matter how guilty or ashamed we may feel, we can turn to Christ and find peace. 

Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love to hear from you! I'd love to help any of you in any way I can so ask questions, I'd love to help! 

Love, Elder Spencer 

Service at the temple! 

A cardinal in a tree! 

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