Busy, Busy, Busy! Sept 7, 2021

Hello everyone!! What a week it was! It flew by, we did a lot. 

We had lots of awesome lessons with members in our ward, I love this ward. The members are awesome! 

We had exchanges this week with the Zone Leaders, they went well. I went with a great Elder, Elder Ross. It was one of his last exchanges as he went home yesterday. We were able to do quite a bit and he was a good example of being a great missionary and finishing strong. 

We had 3 other missionaries in our zone go home yesterday, two from my district. I am going to miss all 4 of those missionaries so much, they have helped change me for the better! I am so grateful that God knows who we need to have in our life, His plan is perfect! Trust Him!! 

We had a Zone Council this week as well. I was asked to give a training I gave in district council last week. The just of my training is that we need to teach simply. So, being the only Canadian in my zone and probably my mission I came up with a bunch of words that we say in Canada that they don't use down here. Words like: Garborator, Toque, Pylon, Soother and others. I wrote them on a whiteboard and had people guess what they meant. That was kinda funny having them try to guess. After I told them what they all meant I related it to sharing the gospel. As missionaries and members we use words that we are familiar with but most people around us are not, so we need to adjust our teaching and the words we use to help them understand, when we do that the Spirit can help us even better to carry the words into the hearts of those we teach. It is so important to teach simply!! 

This week was really good! We had a few great lessons with those we are teaching, I'll save you from telling about them. They went well and people are surely but slowly coming closer to Christ which is the goal!! 

I've been studying about hope recently. I've always thought hope was kinda a less important attribuite to develop but boy oh boy it is super important. A quote from Elder Holland's talk in April 2020 titled "A Perfect Brightness of Hope" reads this:  

"As disciples of Christ, we can in our day rise above those ancient Israelites who moaned, “Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost.” Indeed, if we finally lose hope, we lose our last sustaining possession. It was over the very gate of hell that Dante wrote a warning to all those traveling through his Divina Commedia: “Abandon all hope,” he said, “ye who enter here.” Truly when hope is gone, what we have left is the flame of the inferno raging on every side. So, when our backs are to the wall and, as the hymn says, “other helpers fail and comforts flee,” among our most indispensable virtues will be this precious gift of hope linked inextricably to our faith in God and our charity to others."

I really liked this bit, honestly the whole talk was awesome, you all should read it!! But this quote shows me that without hope, true hope in eternal blessings, things would be sad and not looking very promising! Hope in Jesus Christ is what will help us through life!! 

Well sorry this email has been ultra long, it's almost over I promise. :) 

We got transfer news yesterday. Elder Storment is getting transferred. He is excited and ready for a change. I'm excited for him. I just wanted to write that he has been exactly who I have needed to serve around these last 2 months or so. He has helped shape me into who I am now. We have really become super united in the work as well which has been awesome! I have loved serving with him and I will miss him for sure! 

I found out that I will be training another missionary. I am super pumped to be staying here and having another opportunity to train a new missionary! I don't know who he is yet, I find out tomorrow so stay tuned! I love you all, trust in God's plan for you!! 

Love, Elder Spencer 

Conference and Piano, August 30th, 2021

Hi everyone! 

This week went by super fast, and it was a great week!! So much happened! We had lots of lessons with members and friends this week. Some of my favourite moments were these: 

We have "Come Follow Me" lessons with a few people in our ward 3 times a week, I love having these discussions, and this week was particularly good! We talked alot about light, truth and glory. A set of verses that I really liked from this week's section were D and C 93:12-14 which talk about how Jesus Christ learned bit by bit. That is the best way and really only way to learn! 

Another highlight was going to a family in our wards home last night for dinner. We got there a little early and they have a piano. No one in their family played. We asked if they had a hymnbook and they did. Elder Storment and I took turns playing some hymns on the piano, it felt so great to play a piano in a home again! Reminds me of playing at home! They really liked it and we were able to share a powerful message with them as well after an awesome meal! 

Some other awesome things that happened this last week: 

We had a district council and I got to see Elder Kimball, one of my past companions. That was awesome, I have a ton of respect for him! 

We also had a super awesome Zone Conference over Zoom this week as well. It was all about obedience and the Safeguards for using Technology. Two Elders gave a training on obedience and it really struck me. They talked about the difference between justification and meekness. How we almost instinctively justify our actions. Sometimes we do so out of fear, or not wanting to go out of our comfort zone. It really opened my eyes to the things I could work on to be a bit more obedient and meek. Just to be more humble and to let God prevail more in my life. 

I really enjoyed my personal studies this week. Elder Storment and I both spoke in our church yesterday on the Plan of Salvation, I really learned a lot while writing the talk, I'll include it in this email for my spiritual thoughts for the week.

Love you all! Write to me if you can! Love, Elder Spencer 

Agency + Love in the Plan of Salvation (2nd Half) 

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be speaking to you today. 

For those of you who may not know me, my name is Elder Spencer and I’d like to introduce myself super quick. I am from Edmonton, Alberta, I have 4 brothers including a twin, and I love to play sports and board games with them. I also love to be outdoors with my family. Doing things like hiking and camping. I love the fresh air! I’ve been serving my mission for 10 months now, and 2 or so of those months have been spent here in this awesome ward! I have absolutely loved my time here so far, although it is a lot hotter than I’m used to! :)  I have loved getting to know each of you through messages and meals and I hope to continue to get to know you all! 

I hope that the Spirit will carry my words into your hearts today. As Elder Storment explained we were asked to talk about the Plan of Salvation. Elder Storment did a wonderful job explaining the first half, I will now do my best to talk about the second half.

I want to focus my remarks around two key principles that I think are very crucial in the Plan of Salvation. Our agency, or the power for us to make choices, and the love that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for each and every single one of us. 

First of all, the choices we make on this earth are very, very important. Our agency is one of the most important gifts we have been given! Alma 34:34 in the Book of Mormon explains it well: “34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.” 

What we choose to do, who we choose to follow, how we act in this life not only affects us in this life but it affects us in the life to come! Our choices have a huge impact! President Monson once said that “decisions determine destiny”. Our choices play a major role in the life to come. This motivates me to always strive to choose the right even when it is hard because there is a lot more at stake than just our time on earth. I hope you can all strive to remember that your actions not only affect you now but they will affect your eternal future as well! 

Alma 34:34 also explains that we can’t procrastinate our repentance, we cannot sit idly and wait until the last moment to repent. Elder Neal A. Maxwell in a talk given in the October 1974 General Conference titled “Why Not Now?” said: 

 “When Jesus called his first disciples, the scriptures record that they left their ships and nets “straightway.” They didn’t ask to join Jesus after the fishing season; they didn’t even delay their response in order to make just one more catch. They left “straightway”! (See Matt. 4:20.) Act, my brothers and sisters, for once the soul is tilted toward belief, and once there is even a desire to believe, then marvelous things begin to happen! Once one leaves the porch and comes inside the Church, then one not only hears the music more clearly—he becomes a part of it. Act now, so that a thousand years from now, when you look back at this moment, you can say this was a moment that mattered—this was a day of determination.” 

I love that last part about our future selves a thousand years from now looking back on our lives and seeing the moments when we chose to follow or not to follow Christ. This is sometimes called the eternal perspective, looking at life as a whole, not just our time on this earth. When we look at the Plan in this way it becomes quite clear that the choices we make today matter! Every day is a “day of determination”. One thing I’ve been taught as well is that every day is a clean slate, a fresh start. I sometimes get down on myself for past mistakes I’ve made, but having the attitude of a clean slate everyday has really helped me. It has also shown me the immense love our Saviour Jesus Christ has for each and every one of us! Because of Christ’s Atonement we can repent and make each new day a clean slate!  

While on Earth Jesus Christ taught us His Gospel, and although there are many people who have the chance to hear and accept the gospel in this life there are many who choose not to hear or who were never given the chance in this life to accept Christ. Part of our job as members of Christ’s restored church is to help others learn of Him and help them receive the full amount of blessings available to them in this life. Sadly there are many people who reject us, even though we know it can bring them lots of joy! So what happens to those who don’t listen or who never got the chance to accept Christ’s gospel? Are they just told “too bad, you never got the chance” or “well you already rejected the gospel before” No! Our loving Heavenly Father would never deny His children a chance to follow Him and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. 

After we pass on from this life, our Spirits and bodies separate and our bodies stay on earth while our Spirits enter a place called the Spirit World. The Spirit World is described in Alma 40:21 as “...a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time appointed of God that the dead shall come forth…”  Here those who were not given the chance to accept the Gospel while they were on earth are given the chance, those who rejected the Gospel are given another opportunity to choose Christ. 

1 Peter 3:18-19 explains this well: 

“18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison”

Jesus Christ suffered for us all! All those who have lived, who are currently living and for those who will yet live! Everyone will have as many chances as they need to accept Him and His Atoning Sacrifice! That to me shows me of His great and infinite love for each one of us! It gives me comfort and peace, and I hope it gives you those feelings as well.  

We will stay in the Spirit world until the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. While there we will either be in a state of happiness or misery like Alma 40:21 explained. Peter terms the miserable side of the Spirit world as “spirits in prison”. Now I don’t think they are going to be sad there, I think it is termed a prison because they can’t get out on their own, they need help getting out! That is a huge reason why Family History work is super important! Those in the state of happiness also aren’t just sitting around doing nothing, I believe that they are super busy teaching the spirits in prison about Jesus Christ and His Gospel! 

Alma 40:21 tells us what happens next: “...until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged for their works.”   

We will all be resurrected. Alma 40:23 explains what resurrection is really well: “23 The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.” I love this promise! It is so full of love and care! Everything that has caused us physical pain in this life will be removed. We won't have to worry! God cares so much that not even a hair of our head will be lost! (I’m sure that’ll mean a lot more to me if I ever go bald!) :) But seriously, what an amazing blessing from our loving Heavenly Father that is made possible through Jesus Christ the Master Healer.   

My time is running short so I’ll just quickly explain the rest! After we are resurrected we will be “brought to stand before God, and be judged for [our] works.” Usually the term “judgement” throws a negative light on the scene. I think that the Judgement will be one of love and mercy. Christ will do everything in His power to give us as many blessings as He can. However He can only give us the full amount of blessings possible if we have accepted Him and His teachings! Based on our commitment and conversion to Christ we will be placed in one of three Kingdoms of Glory or levels of Heaven if you will. The first is the Celestial kingdom where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. This is where They want you and They will do all that is in Their power to help you get there because They love you! The second level is the terrestrial kingdom. Here go those who lived good lives, they were honorable people. Unfortunately, they chose not to accept Christ and His Gospel so they can’t receive the highest degree. The third and final level is the telestial kingdom. This is where those who commited sin and didn’t repent go. They chose to disobey God and didn’t want to change, they are the “unrighteous”. Regardless of where we end up we will be comfortable there, we will not be sad with where we end up because it is where we will want to be. God’s love is so evident here, even if we didn’t accomplish what God wanted for us we won’t be punished, we will be comfortable and happy! 

I just wanted to end by bearing testimony of God’s love for each and every single one of His children. Without Jesus Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice the Plan of Salvation would be useless. Heavenly Father loves you and hears your prayers. Jesus Christ lives, this is His church led on earth by our beloved Prophet President Russell M. Nelson. The Book of Mormon is true, I feel its power each day as I read. I love serving my Savior and I say these things in His name, even Jesus Christ, Amen.   

 

Feeding Deer 🦌 and Lots of Lessons! August 23, 2021

How are you all? I hope things are going well! This week flew by again! Literally I can't believe it is P-day again....This week was packed full of lessons, awesome experiences and some great studies! 

Some highlights included a great lesson with our friend Ashley. She is the one who fasted from YouTube for a whole week. We were talking to her about blessings she saw that came out of her fast and there was a pretty significant one. So Ashley has had some struggles in the past, one of those being that she is unemployed and can't find work anywhere. She has had multiple job interviews especially these past few weeks. Well Ashley was very happy to tell us that she got a job!! We were so excited. now I'm not sure if Ashley would've gotten the job without the fast. But I know it helped her get the job. She showed God she was willing to sacrifice something to receive a blessing. I know that is the same in all our lives if we sacrifice things to come closer to God the blessings will heavily outweigh the loss. 

We had a great lesson with Brenda as well this week. We taught her more of the Restoration. Brenda doesn't live in our area so we brought that up and told her that in the future we would need to pass her off to the missionaries that live closer to her. She seemed to understand but just this morning she texted us and was quite upset that we were "dropping her". So please keep her in your prayers, pray that we will be able to continue to be her friend and that she will be understanding to the situation. 

We had a great lesson as well this week with Jermazio. He is a great guy, he hadn't returned our calls and texts on Sunday morning  so we decided to stop by his house after church in hopes to catch him. Lo and behold he was home and we taught a powerful lesson out of 2 Nephi ch. 31 about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Right now we are helping Jermazio build his faith by doing the "small and simple" things that "bring great things to pass" Things like daily prayer and scripture study quite often get overlooked but they are super important for us all to do!! 

Speaking of personal studies. I have had so many awesome ones this week. I feel like I have a new favorite scriptures after every personal study! The Spirit is definitely the best teacher!

A couple scriptures that have really struck me this week are: Alma 33:11, Alma 34:9-17. They are super awesome scriptures that touch on Christ's Atonement, Charity and Mercy! 

I also started reading the New Testament and have so far read through the first 3 chapters of Matthew. I have already learned so much and it has been awesome. For example Matthew 3:9-10 talk about how nobody is better than another and that it is by our works rather than our heritage that we are saved! 

We had interviews with President Bell and we also had a district council that our technology elders came to! I loved my interview with President, he is very spiritual and always has an answer to my questions. I got to see Elder Winn as well, he is a tech (TTT) Elder, that was another highlight of my day!! 

The ward is great, we had many member lessons/meals this week and I feel like I learn just as much as the members in those lessons. 

After one of those member meals/lessons. They took us to feed the deer at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. The cemetery is massive and so pretty. I loved all the white headstones in their perfect row. You could tell it was well respected and maintained. I wish all cemeteries were that well maintained. It was super cool to drive through there and to listen to the members telling us all about the history of the place. Definitely a must see if you ever come through St. Louis!

Anyways, hope all is well with you all! I'd love to hear from you all!!

Love,  Elder Spencer 

Fasting, August 16, 2021

 Hello everyone! 

Can't believe it is P-day again! This week flew by! This week nothing too crazy happened. We had some great days full of teaching, finding and other missionary activities. 

We have been changing up what we call daily-contact and it seems to be working well. Daily-contact is exactly what it sounds like it is getting in contact with those we are teaching daily. Usually we do that in the form of text but this week we felt inspired after a challenge by our AP's to change up how we do it. 

We sent some people a scripture first, some others we sent a fun little video. Others we sent vocie recordings! We got more response and were able to have better conversations with people it was awesome!! Changing it up worked wonders. 

We had a pretty awesome lesson with our friend Ashley this week. We taught her about fasting. She told us that she couldn't fast from food because of health reasons so we challenged her to pick something else to fast from. She decided upon TV. We told her we usually fast for only about 24hrs so we were surprised when she said she wanted to give up TV for one whole week!! However the greater surprise came about a day later. She texted us saying that she really doesn't watch that much TV and that she wanted to Fast from YouTube instead!! That was really awesome, she decided to do something that would be a greater sacrifice and I know she will be blessed for choosing to do the harder thing! 

I don't have a ton of time but a couple of scriptures that really stood out to me this week were 1 Nephi 19:9 and Alma 7:11-13. They talk all about Christ's love for us. Charity is something I have been studying lately. It is truly a great thing!! When you have a couple spare minutes give those scriptures a read and let me know what you learned or felt! I'd love to hear from you!!

Well sorry again for the shorter email but I gotta run, email me back, I'd love any updates from y'all!! 

Love, Elder Spencer

Below Average is A-Ok, August 9, 2021

Hey everyone! This week flew by!! We had lots of awesome things happen this week including zone conference, multiple service opportunities and a decent amount of teaching and finding!

For service this week we went to the Greenwood Cemetery as a zone and helped do yard work there again. It was a really good bonding experience I think I had a good one-on-one conversation with pretty much everyone in my zone! I absolutely love the missionaries in this zone!!

Other service we did was for Kelly, a lady who responded to our FB service page ad we made a month or so ago. We have served her multiple times but are still hoping for that normal and natural way to bring the gospel up. She is a super awesome lady, has some pretty crazy life experiences! 

We went and had a workout with our friend Jermazio at a park on Saturday. That was pretty fun, he worked us pretty hard and we were pretty sore the next day. We are hoping this will turn into a regular thing! 

As mentioned above we had a Zone Conference this week as well. I got to see some of my favourite missionaries Elder Winn and Elder Kimball who were both past companions. I wish I got some pics with them but it was still soo good to see them and many others who I've served around in the past. 

This zone conference was all about repentance. One thing that someone from our staff said really stood out to me. She said something along these lines: 

"Give Christ our change and keep the change" 

The gist of that is when we repent we give Christ change, we tell him we will change. However once that happens we can't stop the growth we've started we can't fall back on old habits after awhile we need to keep the change! Powerful to keep in mind! 

We had a really interesting interaction with a man named Brian in our apartment complex. He doesn't completely abandon the idea of there being a God but he doesn't accept it either. A huge part of that is he has experienced some pretty rough stuff in his life and he wonders why it happened to him being the good person he is. He is also super huge on evidence, hard core, feel with your hands evidence. It is hard to see and there were many times I felt kinda sad and a little upset that he wanted a sign. He literally said during our lesson that if we could call God down into our presence he would believe. 

It made me think. What I feel it comes down to- now I'm not trying to be mean about Brian he is a great guy- but ultimately he doesn't want to put in the work to find God and find truth. He wants it to just be given to him straight up. 

This reminded me of a quote by Jeffery R. Holland which says: "Salvation is not a cheap experience" 

It made me reflect on my past few months of being on my mission. I went through a real rough time and I feel like in a way I was like Brian, I wanted a sign. I wanted God to just tell me what to do. But as I realized some things and talked to the right people things got better. However it took WORK and still does every single day! 

This week had it's better days and not so good days and I was going through a not so good day. We were started a companion study and I was just not really having it, I was feeling frustrated with myself over a couple things. But we were reading out of "Adjusting to Missionary Life" great resource by the way for you missionaries out there. Anyways we were reading in the section which talks about being self-critical. 

This point really struck my this time through: "Realize that everything you do can't be above average. You still want to work hard to improve, but no matter how good you become at something, you will preform below your personal average some of the time. This is not a cause for alarm." 

I was having one of those below average days and this just hit me. I made the connection to professional athletes who spend countless hours training and practicing but yet still have off games or who make mistakes. Elder Storment and I got talking, well if professional sports players make mistakes, it is 100 percent ok that two very much beginner missionaries can make mistakes and perform under average days. It was a great realization to have right when I needed it the most. 

Well if you've read all this thank you, pat yourself on the back, sorry it was super long! Anyways, I'd love to hear from y'all!! Elder Spencer 

                                                    Sweet Corvette that pulled up at our complex

New Sisters and Service, August 2, 2021

Hello all! Hope everyone is doing well! This week was great! It had its ups and downs but overall was pretty good! 

Some of the downs were that we weren't able to have as many lessons with our friends as we had hoped for! We only had about 2-3 lessons with friends this week which was too bad! This week we are praying and hoping for more to work out! 

Some ups! We have two new Sisters in our district, they are fresh into the field and that brings our district size up to 8 now (6 sisters and 2 elders). It has been fun getting to know each new missionary. We had an awesome practice in our district council this week. Elder Storment and I made up 8 different bios (that was really fun). We then split off into 1 on 1 groups and practiced some teaching principles "How to begin teaching" and "Adjusting teaching to meet needs". It was a really fun activity!

We also got to go to the temple and do service! It was really fun! We found out afterwards that we were the last group of missionaries that they would have come and do service there for. Kinda a bitter-sweet moment. It was great to be back on the temple grounds and to do some work there. 

We had a couple pretty amazing lessons with members in our ward. One of my favourite parts of member lessons is getting to know the family and just talking with them! Our ward is pretty awesome and loves the missionaries so it is great! 

We also did some other service this week. The sisters joined us and we helped our friend Chuck clean his house out a bit. Later in the week, we helped a family in our ward move. Sad to see them go, but I was grateful for the chance to help them out. 

Just before this email, Elder Storment and I went to Fitz's again and we both got ice cream floats and they are massive! Soo good! If any of you ever come through St.Louis it is a must stop at! 

Spiritual thought for the week:

I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting yesterday on this scripture and just wanted to share some of my thoughts about it. 

The scripture is Alma 26:12. It reads: "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many might miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." 

Some context behind the scripture, this is when Ammon and his brethren have re-united after teaching and preaching to the Lamanites and they are in awe of the many souls they had brought to Christ, they had much success. 

What I got out of this scripture were three main points. 

First, we as human beings are nothing. We are as the dust off the earth, we can't do anything on our own. 

Second, we can do all things through Christ. The air we breathe, the bodies we have. The talents, and gifts, and skills we have all come from God. They give us power, They give us strength. As a missionary I need to constantly remind myself of this, it helps to humble me honestly. When I get prideful and think I am so great because I did this great thing I in reality need to remember where my talents and skills came from. Which leads to the third point. 

Third, after we remember it is Heavenly Father and Christ that give us everything we need to be grateful for the things we have received. We can thank them through prayer, or by serving others with the things we have been blessed with. When we thank them and remember where we have received all these great things, more joy and peace will be poured out among us! 

Well that is about it for me! I'd love to hear from you all! 

Love, Elder Spencer 

Meal with brother Chau at Fuzzy's taco shop! 

Service at Chuck's 

Ice Cream floats at Fitz's and standing outside at Fitz's

giant pancake I made

                                                                                biking!!

Catching Fish and Transfers, July 27, 2021

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! 

So I'll get transfer news outta the way quick. No changes. Elder Storment and I are staying together another transfer here in Webster Groves! I'm pretty excited! 

This week was pretty great! We did a ton of service this week which was nice, it was great to be out riding around and getting to serve people in our ward and in the community! 

We had a few great lessons this week with our friends as well. We met once with Michelle who committed to read from the Book of Mormon each day which is awesome! 

We had an interesting lesson with our friend Ken. Ken's got some different ideas about God and the afterlife and such, and not just different from what we believe but kinda straight up out there. But we love him and are doing our best to teach him while not getting frustrated at his beliefs which  honestly contradict themselves and seem to be slightly different every lesson. Anyways, he's great and has actually progressed a bit since I've been here which is great to see!! We had a wonderful lesson with our neighbor Pat. We were going into the lesson a little apprehensive because she was our neighbor and someone we see quite often, but we swallowed those feelings and went for it and it turned out great! Pat was quite interested in learning about what we had to say. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and taught a little of the Restoration and it went really well. She accepted a Book of Mormon and told us that her neighbor (John) wants to hear from us as well!! So that is really exciting!  

As I mentioned above, we did lots of service this week. Part of that included helping out at a community fishing derby that one of the members in our ward runs. I was excited to help out and was ready to help. When we got there however my excitement levels dropped a bit when I found out what we would be doing. Our job was to take the fish off of peoples poles and then to measure and weigh them! First off before this I have maybe touched like 2-3 other fish in my life and I did not enjoy it. I was kinda nervous, I just don't like it! However after handling a few and just doing it trying not to show my fear it became easier, and honestly a little enjoyable. I was amazed that in the matter of 2 hours or so I went from being completely nervous and grossed out about something to kind of enjoying it. This experience got me thinking about life and the things we are asked to do. Although we may not enjoy doing things,or life is hard, a little confidence, practice and not giving up help us grow and do things we thought we would never be able to do! Afterwards we got to do a little fishing and I caught a fish which was great! Super fun service project! 

Here's a spiritual thought to end off this email! 

In my personal study this morning I was reading in Alma 22. This chapter is when Aaron ( a Nephite missionary) is going to teach a Lamanite King (King Lamoni's father). A phrase in verse 18 really stuck out to me.  

It was this: "I will give away all my sins to know thee" I thought this was pretty powerful. The King had a change of heart and desired to do no more evil. He not only desired to do no more sin but we desired to know Christ and Heavenly Father! It was a good reminder to me that yes we can turn away from sin. But if we don't turn to Christ then it is kinda pointless. Sure we will feel better because we are trying to not sin anymore but we are missing out on a whole lot more joy and blessings that could be ours if we just turn to Christ and let Him in!

Anyways a bit of a ramble but I know that Christ can heal us and turn us into a person we never thought we could become! 

Love, Elder Spencer 

Our mini fridge is stocked full of gatorade, perfect after a long bike ride :) 

Fuzzy's Taco shop, soo good! 

Fishing

                                                                                The fish I caught