Week 25 (Dec 28)--Trapani

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Hello my favorite people!! I hope y'all had such a good Christmas. Thank you so much for the pictures that you sent with the Merry Christmas signs! I don’t think I can describe how much that meant to me! Christmas was different this year being not at home but Skyping with my family was by far the best Christmas gift that I could have ever gotten this year. It just made me so grateful for my family. It was sick being able to see my bros being absolute studs and talking with my parents who are studs (but I don't think that’s the best word to describe them lol). They are the best.. so yeah, that was a special moment that I won’t forget. It went by way too fast but Mother’s Day will come quickly!

This week was really good though. We didn’t see a lot of success with visiting with our investigators just because some of them haven’t been able to meet because of the holidays which has been frustrating. But a really good experience we had though was last Monday when we had our Branch Christmas Party. It was packed!!! I am not kidding, like a solid 45 people were there so it was so loud haha. It was really awesome though because literally all the people that we are working with and even some of our friends that we have met on the streets came and the members immediately friendshipped them and took them all in. And of course for the Christmas party the members ordered pizza. 10, 1-meter long pizzas. It was insane; they gave us some to take home after the party after like triple-wrapping it in bags so that we wouldn't get attacked by all the stray dogs here. For the Christmas party the members set up a really good Christmas program where we were able to share a spritual thought and then there were Christmas songs sang and a little program. It really brought a special spirit and tonight we are actually meeting with one of our contacts that came that night so I am really pumped!

This week I was also able to do a scambio with Anziano Trejo who is such a boss. He is from Mexico and actually started his mission here in Trapani. He has really good relationships with a lot of people that he introduced me to. So one of the reasons that we do scambios is so that we as missionaries can learn from one another but also these Zone Leaders have had a lot of experiences here in the mission field and so I actually love doing scambi and just trying to learn as much as I can. One piece of advice that Anziano Trejo gave me is he told me how stress is good (at a certain level) because it can help push me, but to make sure that I never let Satan take advantage of that stress and use it against me. I was super grateful he told me that cause not gonna lie being in a new city and trying to get to know everything and even finding my way back to the house can be frustrating sometimes. But using that stress to help push me and become better is something that I am trying to do. 

After our scambio we took a bus to Palermo to sing in the piazza and talk to people. It was so much fun being with a huge group of missionaries all doing the same thing. And then right afterwards we went to a Chinese buffet which was the best thing ever. It was so good to take a break from pasta. Then we all went ice skating together cause our Pday started at 1:00. I wasn’t able to do it cause of my gimpy leg (it’s not really gimpy now, I am just being careful.. it’s actually getting a lot better. I can walk now without pain and bend it most of the way back. I know that this is a miracle through faith and through the many prayers I have received; thank you) so that it will heal. It was a really fun day though.

For Christmas we also were able to watch one of my favorite movies that I watched as a kid. "Treasure Planet." It was a bomba.  So here for Christmas really the only tradition that Italians have is eating. On Christmas day and then after. And it’s kinda offensive if you don’t eat the food that they give you so you still eat it. With a smile. Last night (I am sorry to tell y'all this) I woke up and for about 5 minutes I was in and out of sleep and I thought I was being attacked by like a monster. Straight up I had no idea what was going on. Like the grudge or something like that.. and then once I finally came to my senses I realized that it was my comp dry heaving and throwing up in the bathroom cause he felt so sick from all that we ate yesterday. So yeah hopefully things will be better this week lol. I am sorry for that!!

So my spiritual thought for this week is about something that I am learning about: the importance of acting. We are working with this one guy who has a lot of really hard things happening in his life right now. We have talked to him a lot about how if he starts to pray, starts to read in the Book of Mormon and the Bible, and comes to church willing to learn, that yeah, his problems might not get fixed right away but he will start to feel better. But he never acts. He expects God to do everything for him. This made me think of the video clip Remember the Giants. And how there is the boy that’s doing the "Death Crawl" carrying the other boy on his back. And his coach blindfolded him and told him that I want you to give me your very best, and because of that I don’t want you to stop if you can still go farther. And in the middle he’s like "It hurts Coach!!" And the coach is right there and he is like "I know it hurts, but you don’t stop. You keep going, you keep going!" This boy didn’t stop until he had nothing left. He acted and he moved forward until he made it into the End Zone. Without him even realizing it cause he was blindfolded. I like that a lot because I can relate that to my life and how I can act and move forward. Always, even when things are really hard and when it hurts and things kinda really suck. Cause Jesus Christ knows exactly how I feel and what I need and how far I can go. And I want to give my very best to God by serving a mission and even in the future after my mission. 

There is this quote from Elder Holland that I really love about being strong. Even when times are hard to just keep moving forward:

"Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around you don’t live it at all. Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them. A long history of inspired voices, including those you will hear in this conference and the voice you just heard in the person of President Thomas S. Monson, point you toward the path of Christian discipleship. It is a strait path, and it is a narrow path without a great deal of latitude at some points, but it can be thrillingly and successfully traveled, “with … steadfastness in Christ, … a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.” In courageously pursuing such a course, you will forge unshakable faith, you will find safety against ill winds that blow, even shafts in the whirlwind, and you will feel the rock-like strength of our Redeemer, upon whom if you build your unflagging discipleship, you cannot fall. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."

I really like that cause I know as we continue on that path, when we are doing the things that we should. We will never fail.

I love y'all so much!! Have an awesome new year!! If you know me well enough, you know that I will be missing going to a dance on New Year’s Eve, so if you can.. go! Dancing is the greatest thing haha. 

Love,

Anziano Spencer