FB Live and a Tornado, October 25, 2021

Hello everyone!! Hope you all are doing well! Thank you to all you reached out and wished me a Happy Birthday! I felt very loved! It was a great birthday. Kinda weird to not be a teenager anymore, but oh well! 

This week flew by, and it was a good one!! We had a few good lessons with members. I can't say it enough but I love to be in their homes feeling of their love and spirits! We taught well this week and also had a really good lesson with our friend Ken! I always look forward to those lessons with him! 

We had a great lesson with our friend Jermazio which was awesome, he is slowly but surely progressing! We also had a really awesome lesson with a lady in our ward who's name is Patty. 

Elder Johnson and I planned to use a Primary song for our lesson, just to read the words and then discuss. But as we brought up our plan to everyone we were with (there were a few other members there) they encouraged us to sing it!! So Elder Johnson and I sang right there on the spot. It went really well, and can I say the Spirit was super strong. Music brings the spirit like nothing else!! 

Speaking of music, our district (which consists of Elder Johnson and I and then 4 Sisters) did a Facebook Live yesterday, we played some songs and shared some scriptures, I'll see if I can add the link in here and you can watch it if you'd like! It was fun to do. Also we put it together in like 3 mins so that's why we look like we don't really know what we are doing! 🤣 

We also had a severe tornado warning last night!! We got hit by a pretty big storm, lots of rain and lightning and thunder but luckily no tornado! It was crazy but exciting!!

Little spiritual thought: 

The gift of the Holy Ghost is a wonderful gift! (if you don't know what that is shoot me an email and I'd love to explain it!) Anyhow, I feel like I am just starting to understand just how much the Holy Ghost does for us! It is crucial to have as we teach and I am so grateful to feel it confirm truth to my soul! Strive to learn how you feel the Holy Ghost in your life and you will see he is there more than you think!! 

Love, Elder Spencer 

Link for FB live:

https://fb.watch/8SzwcaB5HB/

Tornado warning! 

Also Elder Johnson and I are no longer the FB Admins. :( I enjoyed my time but kinda glad to not have to worry about that anymore! 

Exchanges and Transfers, October 19, 2021

Hello everyone!! Hope you all had a great week. This week felt a little longer due to transfers making our P-day today instead of Monday, anyhow it was still an awesome week! 

We had lots of lessons with members which I love. I love getting to know the wonderful people of the Meramec River ward. They are all so loving and kind and I enjoy getting to know them. 

One night this week we were driving to visit some members down these back, windy roads which were fun to drive down, we got to their house and they weren't home. They forgot about our lesson. So Elder Johnson and I decided since we were already out there to visit some other members close by. We went and visited a great man named Jeff. He has long since stopped coming to church but we were able to have a good conversation that otherwise wouldn't have happened if that family remembered about our lesson. Plus Jeff had a bunch of cool Corvettes from the 60's and 70's that we were able to check out, sadly I didn't get any picks. 

I got to go on an exchange with one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Christiansen. He is an awesome missionary, kinda quiet but super powerful and very spirit led. He actually just went home this transfer so I was one of the last to go on an exchange with him. He taught me lots, including a reminder of how powerful focused prayer is. We had a great lesson with our friend Ken on those exchanges. We have been struggling to help Ken progress but Elder Christiansen and I with the Spirit's help were able to commit Ken to pray every morning! That may not seem like a big step but for Ken it's huge! It made me happy! God loves Ken so much and so do I!! 

Transfer news came in last night, Elder Johnson and I will be staying in Meramec River for another 6 weeks! I'm pretty excited about that! I love it here, and I feel like I'm just getting to know the ward! 

Quick spiritual thought: 

I've been pondering success lately and what it means to have success especially as a missionary. Sometimes it seems like nothing I do works especially when our friends don't progress. But I've found that when I strive to do the Lord's will that is when success come. When I humble myself and focus on what he wants me to do I find I'm happier and see His hand in the work!! Trust in His plan for you! It's the best one!! 

Love, Elder Spencer

Muffins for our neighbors

goofing around :) 

meeting

                                                                                    Exchanges

Running on Fumes, October 11, 2021

Hey everyone! Hope all is going well with you!! This week flew by, again! We had a pretty busy week! 

We did lots of contacting this week and had a few lessons which were all awesome. We also had lots of lessons cancel on us but hey that's the life of a missionary! We had a great lesson with Jermazio focused around the talk "One Percent Better" given by Elder Michael A. Dunn which was great! 

Speaking of Elder Dunn, we had a Stake Conference this weekend and he came to it!!! Our Stake Presidency was getting re-organized so he came!! Stake Conference weekend was super spiritual it was amazing! Saturday evening was probably my favourite session. (Not gonna lie this session is probably the best kept secret in the church!) If you ever skip out on this session you miss out on lots! Anyways there were so many great talks given and I took a few notes! I'll share one for my spiritual thought at the end.

The rest of the week was great, we got a surprise on Thursday this week! So as you know we are covering a new area which is significantly bigger than our last area making it pretty much impossible to ride a bike in the area because it's so big. Anyways we get a call Thursday from the AP's telling us that we are getting a car and it'll be there later that day!! So Thursday we got a car!! Big blessing! They didn't take our bikes so we will get to use them to save miles when we have a lesson close by. 

So for the title of this email. So Sunday morning we hop in the car and realize that we are pretty much out of gas. Which was no good because we had church we needed to drive to and then a lesson at the farthest south you could go in our area. So we hoped beyond hope that we would make it. And since it was the Sabbath we didn't want to buy gas. So we make it to and from church just fine. We then leave to go to our lesson that night around 6:30, we make it there just fine then go by and pick up some homemade soup from a member. Then we head back home and not gonna lie I was pretty nervous, prayers were offered but we made it home with fumes to spare! Now all we have to do is make it to the gas station which we will be heading to shortly after I send this email! :) So hopefully we make it! :)

We also drove right by the Arch on the way to a service, very cool to see it close again! We got a keyboard in our apartment now from some Sisters in our District! So that has been super fun! 

Anyways now for my spiritual thought of the week! 

So one thing that was said that stuck out to me was this: "Callings are temporal, covenants are eternal" 

For those who don't know what callings or covenants are I'll quickly explain. Callings are certain positions we hold in the church. (Teacher, leader, secretary) There are lots. Covenants are sacred promises we make with Heavenly Father. The gist behind that saying is it doesn't matter what callings we recieve in the church. What matters is that we fulfill our covenants, we do our best to remember and honor them! Food for thought! 

Love you all!! Elder Spencer

                                                    

Wow, What a Great Week! October 4, 2021

I seem to say this every week but wow it was a super busy but super amazing week!!! 

There was a ton that happened! To start off the week we had the TNT (Traveling and Training) Elders come over for a blitz. Where all 4 of us missionaries work in one area. They came stayed Monday night, all day Tuesday and also stayed Tuesday night before leaving Tuesday morning. 

We had some really cool miracles happen with them. First of all we learned a great way to get in contact with members and to set up lessons. Basically we call members when they pick up we offer to share a 2min message right there on the phone. Most members love that so we sharea short message and then talk about it for maybe another 2min and then we set up a more formal 15min lesson for the next week. Elder Johnson and I were able to have 12 of those this past week and set up at least 7 lessons for this upcoming week so we are starting to get real busy! It is awesome! 

The second miracle that happened was we found 3 new people to teach in one conversation!!! We had just picked up Elder Johnson and the TNT Elder he was with from walking around (we had split up the other TNT and I drove to a few people's homes) and we were driving home. We passed a house with their garage open and a man sitting there. Elder Lambson (The TNT driving) suddenly stopped the car and told Elder Johnson and Elder Linney (The other TNT) to hop out and go talk to him. I expected them to only be talking with him for about 5min but they ended up having like a 45min conversation and two other women came out as well and joined the convo! Alex, Alexis and Jessica. They had a lot of cool experiences that led up to them being outside right when we drove by! God is in the details!! 

Another miracle that happened this week occurred the next evening, Wednesday. Elder Johnson and I left our apartment at around 6:20pm to go and talk to people in our apartment complex. At about 6:30pm (the time is important I promise) We ran into a lady walking her dog in her yard adjacent to our complex. We offered to share a message about Christ and she was not interested. BUT we used the STICK which is to find when you teach and teach when you find. So we asked her if she knew anyone who would be interested in hearing a message about Christ and boy that got her talking. We ended up talking to her until about 9:15pm! Yes a whole 3 hours pretty much just from asking if she knew anyone who would be interested. It turned into a conversation about family history and the Book fo Mormon. We were able to give her a copy and she said she would read it! Deanna is her name! Keep her in your prayers!! 

The next couple days we did lots of contacting, had a giant service project with some other Elders painting at a members home! It was great. Then General Conference rolled around! Wow what a powerful weekend! If you didn't get the chance to watch or if you don't even know what that is shoot me an email and I'd love to talk to you about it and give you a link to watch it was super cool!! I learned lots and want to study a few different concepts including Purity, Truth, Compassion and Peace to name a few. I had lots of favourite talks but the spiritual message I want to share today didn't come from this weekend.

This is a quote from a talk President Russell M. Nelson gave in April 2017 titled: 

"Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ Into Our Lives" 

"It is doctrinally incomplete to speak of the Lord’s atoning sacrifice by shortcut phrases, such as “the Atonement” or “the enabling power of the Atonement” or “applying the Atonement” or “being strengthened by the Atonement.” These expressions present a real risk of misdirecting faith by treating the event as if it had living existence and capabilities independent of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Under the Father’s great eternal plan, it is the Savior who suffered. It is the Savior who broke the bands of death. It is the Savior who paid the price for our sins and transgressions and blots them out on condition of our repentance. It is the Savior who delivers us from physical and spiritual death.

There is no amorphous entity called “the Atonement” upon which we may call for succor, healing, forgiveness, or power. Jesus Christ is the source. Sacred terms such as Atonement and Resurrection describe what the Savior did, according to the Father’s plan, so that we may live with hope in this life and gain eternal life in the world to come. The Savior’s atoning sacrifice—the central act of all human history—is best understood and appreciated when we expressly and clearly connect it to Him."

I really love this quote it explains perfectly Jesus Christ's role in our lives!! 

Love you all and hope you have a great week!!  Elder Spencer 

All you can eat Sushi! 

A friend oreo! 

Conference!

Service! 

TNT and sleepover for Conference! 

                                                                                Flowers! 

Meramac River and a General Authority! September 27, 2021

I love being a missionary!!

Hey, everyone! Hope all is well with you!

So to start this email off I wanted to give a update on some technical things for a minute so bear with me. 

In our church different congregations are split up into groups called wards, or branches depending on the size. Then a group of usually about 6-9 wards or branches then make up a Stake. Sorry if this is confusing but it is important to what I have to say! :) 

So in our Stake, the South St.Louis Stake, they created a new ward. They announced the boundary changes about a week ago. That new ward took parts of three different wards including Webster Groves Ward, the ward I have been serving in. 

So us missionaries were wondering who would be covering the new ward because they needed missionaries. Elder Johnson and I actually live just inside the new ward boundaries so we thought we would be a likely candidate. But we had no further details until about a day later. 

Monday night we get a call from our Zone Leaders informing us that we would be the new missionaries covering the new ward! The wards name is the Meramec River ward. At first I was kinda bummed, I loved serving in Webster Groves, I developed some great relationships with ward members and the friends we are teaching so I'm sad we will be losing them. After a few days of feeling kinda sad though, I started to get really excited! 

I mean getting to be the first missionaries in a ward ever that is kinda cool!! So I was really excited to go to our new ward on Sunday. Also we are staying in our same apartment which is really nice! 

So Sunday rolls around, we show up to church. Everyone is excited and kinda nervous. It is everyone's first Sunday! 

When we sat in our seats after greeting ward members I looked up and saw more people on the stand than was normal. Oh, I thought we have some visitors. I recognized some. Our area 70 and his wife. But then there was another couple that looked super familiar but I couldn't put a name to their faces. 

Our Bishop gets up and introduces the visitors. Turns out the couple I couldn't recognize were President and Brother Bingham! President Jean B. Bingham is our general Relief Society President!! 

It was so cool to be in the same sacrament meeting as them. They both gave some short remarks. President Bingham focused her remarks on Charity, the pure love of Christ. 

After that awesome meeting and second hour we had like 3 families come up to us and offer to feed us! We really want to work with the members in this new ward to get the work moving forward and that was an answer to prayers!! 

I am super pumped to get to work in this new ward, teach new people and get to know so many others! It will be awesome! 

To end I'd like to share a quick spiritual thought. I don't have a quote or scripture to reference today, just wanted to share some thoughts I've been having recently. 

So I've been focusing on making my prayers more meaningful and sincere. Really trying to communicate with Heavenly Father rather than just dump my problems on Him and end the conversation. 

I have found that slowing down and thinking while praying has helped. Also trying to visualize what I am praying about. The faces of those in our teaching pool. Family back home, the work. Just trying to picture things helps it become more real to me and makes my prayers more real and heartfelt! As I have tried to do this, and I'm still working on it, I have a long ways to go. But I've noticed a difference in my prayers, even if it's not a whole lot I've noticed a difference. I know you can to if you make that effort and I invite you to do so!! 

Hope you are all staying safe and happy. Remember to trust in the Lord and like a punny sign I saw today on our way to Walmart says: 

"Fall for the Lord, He will never Leave" 

Haha :)  God won't give up on us so don't give up on him!!  Love,  Elder Spencer 

Conference, September 20, 2021

Hello everyone! Hope all is well!

This week was great. Went by really fast again! We were pretty busy doing service and teaching some lessons. We didn't have a ton of lessons this week due to our friends being busy with various things so those weeks are always a bit of a let down. However since we were so busy it didn't really matter a whole lot! We had a really awesome Zone Conference this week all about the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. It was really good, I learned about how enduring to the end is more than just holding on and trying to finish strong. We also talked about having short powerful lessons (SPF's). The idea of those is to share a short lesson with members. Maybe only 15mins and then schedule another one in a couple weeks. We had two of those this week and at the end of each one, both of the families reached out to us to reschedule! It was awesome! 

We had cemetery service again this week, it was awesome! 

A short spiritual thought for the week: 

"The good news is, there is hope. There is a solution to the emptiness, vanity, and Weltschmerz of life. There is a solution to even the deepest hopelessness and discouragement you might feel. This hope is found in the transformative power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and in the Savior’s redemptive power to heal us of our soul-sickness."

This comes from a talk titled "Believe, Love, Do" by Elder Uchtdorf in the October 2018 General Conference. 

I love how powerful the power of Jesus Christ is! If you want to find out how you can have that power in your life, study about it! 

Love you all! Elder Spencer 

Hit the Ground Biking, September 13, 2021

Hello everyone!! Hope you all had a wonderful week! This week was super busy, and really fun! 

Elder Storment left on Wednesday morning. I'll miss serving with that Elder. Him and I got really united over the time we served together and we became great friends! I am excited to keep in touch with him. 

So I got my trainee on Wednesday! We had our trainers meeting and then all 34 of the new missionaries walked in and lined up at the front. I feel like I was in their shoes yesterday! Time flies. They then proceeded to read off where they were going and their new companions! 

My trainee's name is Elder Johnson, he is from Perry, Utah. Right by Brigham City. He is half-Koeran which is super cool! He loves mountain biking and tennis so being in a biking area is so sweat for him!! He has already introduced me to some SPICY food. Really good but cleared my nostrils right out! I love him lots, he has an awesome desire to be out here and I'm really looking forward to our time together! 

Our first day together we had two lessons. Elder Johnson is a natural in teaching and we are slowly getting adjusted to our various teaching styles but we've already developed a sense of unity, so things are looking bright for the future! 

We taught lots of lessons this week. Something that Elder Johnson and I decided to work on this week was having more specific invitations at the end of our lessons and then following up with people when we meet with them again. It has been cool to see that making a goal and then focusing on it really works. Our invitations have not only been more specific since we've started to focus on it, they have become more meaningful!  So cool to see!! 

I am really excited to work with the missionaries in our zone, we've got a bunch of awesome Elders and Sisters and I can't wait to get to know them better and unify as a zone.

We had a giant service project on 9/11. We went to the Greenwood Cemetery and another Zone, the St.Louis Zone was there. That was the zone I served in before the South St.Louis zone so it was super fun to see missionaries that I'd served around. I got to meet the new Elders serving in Parkway 2, my last area. That was really fun, getting to catch up with them. I also got to see Craig. A man I taught in my last area. He remembered me and we chatted for a bit. He is still meeting with the missionaries so that is pretty great!! It was a fun time!! A mini reunion! 

A spiritual thought to end the email! :) 

Elder Johnson and I were talking about the reasons we decided to serve missions. The experiences we were hoping to have on our missions and such. We had a really powerful discussion and ultimately we both came to the conclusion that the reason we are both out serving others is out of love. Love for Christ, Love for Heavenly Father, Love for those we serve. We aren't as concerned about getting baptisms as we are helping people feel loved and wanted. Elder Johnson has caught that early on, whereas it took me a longer time to figure out! God is good, love is the answer to all problems!! 

Love you all!!!  Elder Spencer!