Week 3: July 29

YOOOO!!!

How are my favorite people doing!? I hope everything is well, I feel so disconnected from the outside world (even though I love the MTC) like I really have no idea what is going on. What is the top song? Anything crazy happening with the government, new technology, the Iphone 8 come out yet haha? Also thanks for feeling my pain with the whole snoring thing haha. But, I have gotten used to it now, I just think of it like I am sleeping in the same room as a bear, or right next to a waterfall. If I think of it as that then it becomes rather peaceful and nice lol.

But seriously this week has been really great. I was able to see my two best friends Elder Woodland and Elder Olsen and they are doing so well!! It was so awesome to see them! I wish they were not leaving so soon though, like they will be in the field in only a few days. I wish they got to stay until Tuesday though cause I heard that we are having an apostle speaking to us. If you want to tune into that I think you can cause I know they broadcast those! But, before they leave we will somehow have to meet up and all get a picture because that would be so sick. I was actually able to see Elder Woodland on Wednesday night which was so cool, but he was in a meeting outside (kinda like an intro to the MTC tour thing) so I couldn't say hi. Probably one of the hardest things i have done haha is to walk by and wave to him and not get to give him a hug. But it was all good cause we saw each other the next day.

This week has also been a really successful week with teaching Maria and Francesco (and yes I know it is a really weird name for an Asian man). We also started doing this thing last Thursday where we teach members a spiritual message with finding their needs. So we taught them (one had family from Flower Mound; his name is Brother Hainey) about how Jesus Christ loves us one by one and that went really well. But we have been teaching Maria about the apostasy/restoration and we had a super powerful message with her on Friday that ended up lasting for 50 minutes without us even meaning to go long so we are trying to work on making our lessons shorter. You could still feel the spirit super strong though so that was really great. Haha so Francesco has been really interesting. The first few lessons were awful; my companion and I had a mix up when we were trying to teaching him about Jesus Christ and we accidentally mixed up the word Fratello and Figlio. So instead of saying, "We know that Jesus Christ is your Fratello (Brother), we said we know that Jesus Christ is your Figlio (which means son) aww man he was soo confused. And so were we. I was just like "Francesco please accept that Jesus Christ is your Figlio" until I finally realized it and switched it to Fratello. Hahah Mama Mia it was sooo bad. But, now things are progressing a lot better with him, and yesterday we taught him about the Holy Ghost and the difference between the Power/Gift of the Holy Ghost. He accepted our invitation to read the Book of Mormon so things are looking better. With Maria things are progressing amazingly, and something that has been really cool is every time I testify to her how I am grateful for the Book of Mormon because it has blessed my family, or how we believe that families are forever that the words just flow and I don't even really have to think about the language. It is so awesome how amazing the Gift of Tongues really is!

Grandma and Grandpa!! Okay so I met a man (he was touring around the MTC with his family) and my teacher invited him into our room so that we could talk to them! Anyway they are from Ghana and he was actually the head maintenance worker when you were the temple president!! His name is Francis, and he had a son and two daughters with him. He is living in Provo for a year so hopefully you can see them!

Also shout out to my brothers Damian and Justin--I am so happy that y'all got your mission calls!! That is so amazing and I am so happy for you. Missions really are awesome, and even though they are hard I am so grateful that I have this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father for two years and have the privilege of wearing his name on my chest, and I can't wait for y'all to serve out in the field too!

So this week I have been focusing on strengthening my attributes of Jesus Christ and so the attribute that I am working on is Courage. It has been very strengthening as I read in the scriptures examples of those who have courage: Jesus Christ, The Stripling Warriors, Sammuel the Lamanite etc. I chose this attribute because I am still nervous with the language, and I will be leaving for Italy in 2 and a half weeks but I know if I rely on my Savior then I can do all things!

I have gained my four pounds back so that makes me really happy. I was doing the dirty dozen push-ups with one of my friends who actually was baptized a year and a half a go. So it’s amazing to see him on a mission. Anyway, he could only get up to 5 so SHOUT OUT TO CADEN/BUBBA for getting up to 7!! That's my little brother!

Anyway I love you all, and I hope things are going well!

Hurrah for Israel!!

Love,

Anziano Spencer

P.S Hailey- that was such an awesome analogy with Christ and lifeguarding. Honestly it was seriously so cool so thank you so much! And Lindsey... Awww I AM SOO HAPPY FOR YOU haha!

Love y'all and I will talk to y'all next week!! Also, sorry for not responding to some of the letters. Matthew and Logan thank you for the letters I will send you one soon! Everyone else, I am so sorry I will get you one soon!

Tristan with a favorite friend: Elder Grover.

Missionaries love going to the temple!