Week 34 (Feb 29)--Trapani

SCIROCCO! 

What is up to all of my favorite people!! I hope you all are doing
gooooddd and life is awesome! I titled my email SCIROCCO because that's what 
Italians call this wind that comes in from Africa and it’s sooo strong,
it's intense. Apparently sometimes the sky is yellow because of how
strong the wind is. (I have no clue how that works lol). But yeah we
get woken up all the time during the night because of the wind. It
makes it sound like there is a woodpecker or something going ham on
the house. It's horrible, but at the same time I love it. We just got
finished playing soccer for Pday and I could actually play! My knee is
really sore now, but it's holding up fine and there is no locking up
or anything so I am really happy. It was so much fun and not gonna lie
our team wrecked, so hopefully I brought honor to Gavin's and Caden's
names.

This week was really good though, we have been having a lot of success
and something that I am sooo excited about is there is a couple that
is moving into the branch that are young and both returned
missionaries!!! They are sooo sick, and it makes me so happy too, cause
they speak English so they can come to our lessons that we are doing
with some of our investigators that prefer to be taught in English.
Like he told me it makes sense that I am from Texas cause I said y'all
during Sunday school. Ohh man I love him already. I really am super
excited and wish that I could describe it better haha.

So something that went really well is Thursday evening we planned to
share the Joseph Smith video in English (the hour long one that's
really well made) to our advanced course because they all understand
English really well and we are trying to invite all of them to take
the lessons with us because we have such a good relationship. It was
really powerful. They all really enjoyed it and it really helped them
to understand why we talk about how the Book of Mormon is so important
for us and why we believe that there is a prophet on the earth today.
It helped them after to ask some questions that they have had about
who Mormons really are. My favorite was how Mormons are apparently
part of the Illuminati... Umm what?! Lol Wikipedia is not an accurate
source for who we are and what we believe in. We told him to search
Mormon.org to find information about us. He is such a boss though and
we are going to start working with him soon, so I am really excited.

We had a really good lesson this week with one of our English course
students who has actually been coming to corso for about 4 or 5 years
and so he already knows a lot about who we are. One time we were going
to go out and do a survey with people and we drew the Angel Moroni on
the board and he was llike, "Oh hey that's Moroni|" Hahah that was
totally unexpected. We had a really good personal lesson for him
where we focused on his concerns and needs. It was a really good
testimony builder to me because the spirit was so strong and as we
were talking he was teaching himself with different things that he was
saying from the things that we asked. We brought everything back to
reading in the Book of Mormon and asking God. It is really that simple
and he understood so we are really hoping that he reads and prays
cause he is super humble and a really good guy. He said something that
really meant a lot to Anziano Garrett and me: a while ago he
was pretty upset and depressed cause he lost his job. What actually
helped him and continues to helps him is our English course, which
really meant a lot to me. Those friendships and being around others is
what he needed and it was awesome to hear that.

Okay so my funny experience for this week--
We were doing a Scambio with some other missionaries and so I was in
Trapani with Anziano Jensen and we had planned to do a lesson with
Fratello Carucci. The really short awesome one who has a bomba
testimony. So we show up at the church thinking to go on in and have
our lesson but he was like, "Anziani get in the car" "Ummm okay?" "We
are going to visit my friend; he needs service." "Ohhh Soo awesome!!" So
he drove us to pick up this guy's groceries for him and when we show
up at his house to help him with his groceries and we get out of the
car, it starts to rain. Not bad but a lot. So we are out of the car
trying to help and all of the sudden we hear Fratello Carucci from the
car screaming "ANZIANI GET IN THE CAR… IT'S RAINING.. YOU’RE CRAZY!"
What? It's just rain... "GET IN!!" So yeah Italians are kinda scared
of rain and literally they all disappear when it even starts to rain...
We sat in the car and it was just funny for me as he was like, "Ma che
face!?" Just basically like what are you doing?! So make sure you are
careful of rain, it is very dangerous hahaha.

Another one was yesterday we were having an appointment with one of
the best families ever in the branch and the very blunt awesome
Italian grandma was there. Basically for about 10 minutes she was
asking me if I would marry an Italian and my preferred age... What?..
She was totally trying to set me up with her 16-year-old granddaughter
(for after my mission) who was just sitting across the table. It was
hilarious cause she was being completely serious.. Funny at the same
time but she was completely serious. Ohhh, my, that was awkward...

Me and Anziano Garrett are definitely seeing miracles with our work
and it is just a huge testimony builder to me that when you do your
best and even follow your own goals that we set, the Lord will bless
you. We have seen that a lot as we set a goal to speak Italian
together for 3 hours every day. Sometimes it's really hard, but as we
follow it we are showing the Lord that we are trying our best even
with the little things and we are being blessed. There is this one guy
who stopped coming to church and we had a lesson with him this week.
It was really cool because before we started our message he told us
that he wanted to share something with us. He then shared a quote
from Pursuit of Happiness that basically what he was trying to tell us
is God answers our prayers through other people. It was powerful and I
am really excited we are working with him!!

So my spiritual thought is from John 21:11

11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes,
an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet
was not the net broken.

So these are just some of my thoughts that I had on this scripture. I
know that this might not even be true but it really caused me to think
and reflect a lot.

I like how in this verse we can see that the net did not break with
the fishes. I feel like this is very symbolic because at the beginning,
when the disciples had cast their nets in and drew the fishes up, their
nets had broken because they were "young and immature" to the teaching
of Jesus Christ and so they needed to follow him and learn. They were
not ready to catch all the fishes of "men" so therefore their nets
broke. But now, the resurrected Savior is here again to teach and to
show love and to testify. This time their nets did not break, and this
time they are ready to bring in their fishes.

I know that the Lord knows how to prepare us for the things that he
knows we can do in our lives. Just like at the beginning the Lord
called the Apostles to follow him and they had many things to learn.
Now, I am not saying that after Jesus Christ came again for the second
time that they didn't have things to learn, but they were more prepared
because... Jesus Christ taught them and they had grown spiritually. I
know this is the same thing for us with learning and preparing and so
how I am trying to apply this to my life is preparing and trying to
learn as much as I can so that I can be an effective tool for whatever God
needs me to be on my mission but also for after my mission.

Ti Voglio Bene a saaiii!!!

Anziano Spencer

Anz Palazzo and Anz Spencer at a zone soccer game on P-day. 

Week 33 (Feb 22)--Trapani

Buon Dì!!

Whatttt upp everyone!! I hope everyone is doing well. Today for Pday
we are at Segesta again. (It's the place with the old Greek temple
that we came to about a month ago.) We came with Anziano Palazzo,
Anziano Trejo, and their sweet ward mission leader who served in
Ireland and speaks with an Irish accent and it seriously is so cool. There were
also these two girls who were from Palermo and one of them is going to
be getting baptized pretty soon, so it was a really fun day! Tomorrow I
will be doing another scambio with a guy named Anziano Jensen and he
is so funny so I am really pumped. Also thank you so much for all that
sent Christmas cards; they were really fun to get at zone conference and I really
appreciate them!!

This week went by super fast with doing a scambio and having zone
conference but it was still really fun and we had a lot of success.
The scambio was really fun because we were in the Zone Leaders' house
in Palermo for the first night and then the AP's came and slept there
the next night. Lolol... The first night it was hilarious, because it was
an accident of course but I accidentally broke Anziano Trejo's bed.
(We weren't even wrestling or anything, we were getting up from
praying and I just touched the thing and it broke into 3 pieces.)
Like the whole bed frame and everything, I don't even know how but
yeahhh he wasn't too happy but he doesn't mind now. We all thought it
was pretty funny how it happened. 

So we are still working with that one family who let us in their house cause they thought we were
Catholic. They are super awesome and the spirit was so strong during
our last lesson. We were teaching about the plan of salvation and the
mom told us how we really can't know that the Book of Mormon is true.
She said that we could "say" it was but there are always doubts in the
back of your mind. So then I asked her a question (and I know that
this was inspired because of what happened) about how she knows that
God is real. She then went on and explained how she doesn't know how
to explain it, there are just feelings inside of her that she can't
deny, knowing that there really is a God and he does exist. Then we
talked about how it was exactly like that with the Book of Mormon.
It's hard to explain, but I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It
was a really good lesson, and we have an appointment with them tonight
so I am really excited about them and have really high hopes for them.

We also are working with this one guy named M., one of our English course students. 

He has been coming to corso for about 5 years, speaks really good English, and is
a really black and white person. So we texted him and we asked if he
would be willing to meet with us and he said, "Hmm sounds interesting,
do you want me to convert? Hug." So then we respond and said, “ well,
if you want to;) Hug." and then we said stuff after that and being
serious but the last two lessons we have had with him were really
good. He also came to church which made me so happy!! And during
church there was one talk given that was like perfect and just for him
so that made me just realize again how true the gospel really is and
that everything really does work out. Church went really well;
everything worked out, so it was awesome.  We have a lot of hope in
M., and we are actually watching the entire restoration film
after English course on Thursday so I hope that he really likes it and
feels something different, obviously the spirit testifying to him that
what we are saying and teaching is true.

So because of Zone Conference this week we received a lot of really
good instruction on becoming better missionaries and really trying our
best. Something that I want to work on is becoming completely a
consecrated missionary. Our mission president and the AP's talked a
lot about doing things in the Lord’s way and not in our way. This stuck
out to me a lot because it always goes back to my desire and where my
heart truly is. When I go out and do finding, am I really doing it
because I love them and I want to bring them to the gospel, or is it
because I have to go out cause that's what I am here to do. I always
want to make sure that when I do anything on my mission, I am doing it
with that real intent and real desire that a consecrated missionary
does it with. I know I am not perfect though cause I have so much to
work on, so that's why I really like this quote from the Book of
Mormon- (Ether 12:27)

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I
give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is
sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they
humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make
weak things become strong unto them.

I know that as I humble myself and overcome my weaknesses the Lord
with help to bless me with this. He will help shape me into who I need to
be, and I know as I am consecrated and serving the Lord with all my
heart, might, mind, and strength that I will be blessed. I have
already seen that change inside of me and I am so grateful for that.


Vi voglio bene!!!

Anziano Spencer

Tristan finally gets his birthday and V-day packages, along with Christmas cards...most of which had all been in the mission office since December. Better late than never!

Happy 19th Birthday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Anziano Palazzo's last zone conference--he's been Tristan's  zone leader his entire time in Italy so far, in both Terni and Trapani, and is like a big brother to Tristan. He's from nearby Southlake and we look forward to attending his homecoming in early March!

Tristan with his great friend and current companion, Anziano Garrett, at zone conference.

Apparently things aren't always bigger in Texas! This Italian pizza looks huge!

Tristan reppin' his brother Gavin and wearing his FMHS Jags Soccer shirt (part of his Vday package).
I love Anziano Garrett's shirt too!

Beautiful Segesta!

And now starts a series of Spencer/Palazzo meadow-prancing and leaping pics.
These guys let loose on Pday!

Week 32 (Feb 15)--Trapani

BUON SAN VALENTINO!!

Hey everybody!! I hope everyone is doing well, and that y'all had an
awesome Valentine's Day yesterday! This week was really good, and it
was fun meeting the new missionaries in the district. They are all
hilarious, and so this is going to be a really fun transfer. One of
the sorelle said that she wants to teach me how to cook more which
will be super cool because she gave me all these recipes. My goal is
to get better but not gonna lie I am totally down just eating a can of
beans every night for dinner now;) Haha life is good. Tomorrow I am
actually going to Palermo for an exchange for the next few days with a
different Anziano so it will be really fun, and then after that we
have Zone Conference, so this week is going to go by fast.

Okay so we had so many miracles happen this week, yeah some hard stuff
happened too but seriously we were really blessed. So the first
miracle was this one guy that we met on Monday. We had these lessons
planned on Monday night, but everything fell through so we headed out to
go do some finding. Like literally nothing was going well that night.
So the last guy that we talked to ya know just kinda a last effort
kinda "please listen to us" sorta attitude. So we started talking and
he was like I am not religious and so just walked away. Dang. I
mentioned that we do a free english course if he would be interested
in that and we started talking. He was super sick and asked us why we
were here and we ended up doing a little restoration lesson on the
street with him. He listened the whole time and then told us about
some things he thought about religion and then said, "Okay I want you
guys to know that I have never talked to anyone about my religion
before.. Besides today.. And I think everything happens for a reason
and so I would like to meet with you." WHAT?! So we were super pumped
and we planned to meet two days later and he texts us asking "Why did
you stop for me, like why did you even try to talk to me after I
rejected you?" Like this guy was awesome, so we were super excited and
headed to the church for a lesson with him. This is when life just
changes cause he didn't show up, we tried calling him and he even
blocked our number. I don't know what happened but honestly I hope in
the future he meets the missionaries again. We kept our heads up about
it even though that moment when we realized he was not coming was
really hard. But, everyone can make their choices and decisions and so
we just gotta make sure we keep on going with faith and trusting in
God. That is something that I am definitely learning a lot more in
this city is knowing that if I do my part and obey, then I know that
God will provide for us. I definitely saw this Saturday.

Saturday was really good, because it really was like the first day
that things worked out and our lessons happened. Our first lesson was
with one of our English Course students (we have such a tight
relationship with them that we are literally trying to meet with every
single one because we love them and they really mean a lot to us) that
went really well. It was weird though cause he speaks really good
English and so he asked us for the lesson to be in English. Teaching
in English is the strangest thing. It just feels weird haha. But the
lesson went really good, and I really like M. because he thinks. 

 And he really understood and accepted to be
baptized. Me and Anziano Garrett were so happy. And then our lesson
that afternoon was with one of our friends who we met doing street
contact and I loved that lesson cause one, I felt more comfortable in
Italian, haha and two, because he is super humble. He really is so
humble and just willing to listen so I have really high hopes for him.
He wants to meet again, and sadly he didn't accept to be baptized but
he wants to read the Book of Mormon and was really excited when we
gave it to him so we are really excited!!

Something that Anziano Garrett and I are really trying to work on is
being more bold with people. Obviously in a loving way, but it's
something that we are both trying to work on and it really is paying
off as we are asking our really close friends to take the lessons and
meet with us. I am really excited for how things are turning out.
Another person that I just love is Fratello C. He is a super
strong member in our branch and he just gets missionary work. He
shares the gospel with everyone and talks to us about all the people
we are working with. And he is very strategic too. Like he took us to
see one of his friends who was working so that we could give him a
Book of Mormon and talk to him for a little bit. His work involves
people coming in and dropping off equipment and for those like 15
minutes while we were talking to this friend of his, Fratello C.
was distracting everyone outside so they wouldn't bother us. Little 4
foot 11 inch Fratello C... Aww man, I love him. And then after
wards he was like okay I am going to drop you off at this bread shop
and go in there and buy something. I gave a Book of Mormon to the
woman that works there and go and talk to her.  So sick!! So yeah I
love working with him; missionary work seriously is so important from
the members too!!

Another experience that I personally had this week was when we were on
the bus on the way to Palermo. We have to leave for district meeting in 

Palermo at the time we normally study in the morning, so I was planning

on studying on the way and then this girl and her mom came and sat

across from me. And then immediately this little thought was like,
"Talk to them" I was like "Gosh dang it (in the back of my mind).."
And then for the next ten minutes I was like no man that was just a
thought I don't need to do that and just this huge wrestle with the
spirit and me but then eventually I just got over myself and started
to talk to them. They actually knew a bunch of the members, and were
super open. They had heard of the Anziani before but had never met
them and we ended up talking for the next hour on the way to Palermo.
The Spirit is REAL and that experience definitely strengthened my
testimony of that.

Okay so for my spiritual thought this week I was reading in the Book
of Mormon about Nephi who I really love. This is when he was talking
about how his family had been in the wilderness for eight years, and
something that really stuck out to me was how the Lord does provide
for us.

3" And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And
if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he
doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they
can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he
did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness."

I have such a strong testimony of this. I know that when we sincerely
do our part the Lord will provide. He will always provide. I have
definitely seen this in my life but also on my mission too. Like right
now I am super happy, I am learning so much, and I love being a
missionary.

Vi voglio bene a sai!!!

Anziano Spencer

PS For P-day, Tristan and his companion took a 3-mile run down to Centro. They happened upon a burned out car, which wasn't nearly as beautiful as the beach that followed!!

A marshmallow treat--not raw bacon!!

No worries about sending Tristan any food-filled care packages.
I think he's eating pretty well over there! :-) 

Week 31 (Feb 8)--Trapani

Whatttuppp!!

How is everyone doing?! Today started my 5 transfer which I am really
excited about. It's crazy to think that 7 months have already gone by
since the time I left. Not gonna lie it feels like only a few days ago
that I started my mission when I was in the MTC not having a clue what
was going on haha. This week was really good, it felt kinda long but I
am super pumped to start this next transfer with Anziano Garrett. And
I found out that another one of my buddies from the MTC is in my Zone
now so it will be cool to see him at Zone Conference.

So a couple weeks ago we started teaching this really cool couple that
have two kids who are 25 and 28. They are really open to talking to us
about what we believe. I mentioned them a few weeks ago I think when
they asked us when was the next time that we wanted to come back.
Anyway, so we had a lesson with them this week and we followed up on
where they were in the Book of Mormon and the wife has already read to

Jacob!! When she said that I was like.. Umm WHAT?!! It was crazy, both
Anziano Garrett and I were kinda blown away, they are seriously so
awesome. We are trying really hard to figure out their true desire
though. We talked to them about Baptism and they talked a lot about 

how they really like to study but they don't want to change, so we are
really hoping that as they continue to read they will have a change of
heart and understand that changing is going to bring so many blessings
and so we are really praying hard for them. We have explained it to
them, but as the spirit teaches them too they will hopefully have a
change with their desire.

We also had a really cool experience with this one family who we met
the husband on the street. He was walking his dog (named Spanky.. Okay
when I heard that name I was so blown away cause I am only used to
hearing Italian names like Vincenzo, Giuseppe, Francesco.. Stuff like
that. One huge dog that we met was named Champion.. What a beast name)
Okay so he told us that we can stop by his house to explain more about
the Book of Mormon. We found his house and it was right next to a
military compound  (so cool). We rang for the gate to open and
no one even asked who we were; they just unlocked the gate and we were
like "sick" so just walked right in. We then rang for their door in the
apartment and they just unlocked that too without asking who it was or
anything. So we just walk right up to their door and it opens and
there is the little dog thing, and these two women and they looked soo
freaked out. We think they were expecting something else other than two
Americans and so we were like “Hi, don't worry we talked to your
husband and yeah that's Spanky right there, don't worry we are nice…"
Stuff like that. And then the husband appeared and was like "Come on
In!!" Ohh yeah... So we started having a good lesson with them, except for
some odd reason the husband thought we were some type of Catholic
religion and so when he found out we weren't that was a little awkward
lolol as we are sitting on his couch. We ended up having a really good
lesson with them, and the spirit was really strong. The mother loved
the Book of Mormon and the First Vision, so we are really excited for
them. At the end she told us, though, that she is not interested in
changing at all. We said okay and then really challenged her to start
reading the Book of Mormon and asked if we could pass by again. We
will see what happens haha! God is so good!!

We also had our Family Night which went really well!! We were both
super nervous that no one was going to show up (I am being honest) and
there were eight people there! Meno male haha! [Editor’s note: This translates into “Not bad!”] Two of which were non-
members that I had the dinner with on my birthday a few weeks ago and that 
we haven't been able to meet with since then, so that was sick! We ended up
talking about Christlike attributes and more specifically on faith and
obedience. It was really awesome, and everyone was participating. For
the game we ended up playing Pictionary and not gonna lie I got so
competitive which sucked cause it was so hard to guess what they were
drawing in Italian. Like yeah I have no idea how to say “ant” in Italian (the bug).
Lol, just laughing at little stuff like that just makes life good and
fun haha. The game lasted for about a solid 7 minutes before they all
realized we brought brownies and they got distracted haha.

Last night we were doing some finding and we met this awesome couple.
They moved here to Trapani four days ago from Milan and we stopped
them and they started talking to us about how we have to be their
friends cause they don't know anyone here… Umm, yes, we will be!! I
then started talking to the guy and Anziano Garrett started talking to
the woman and we literally had an hour conversation on the gospel,
which he was super open about. It was awesome!! I can't wait to see
them again!

My funny experience-
So right now I don't have any main ones other than really small things
that happen every day that I just try to laugh about cause that's what
makes life good. Anyway, a while ago me and Anziano Garrett were
jogging home cause we didn't want to be late and there was this 14ish-old
girl walking ahead of us. So we didn't want to scare her but when we
ran past she kinda like gasped and then was like "Americano
Americano!!" Ummm what? So I stopped and she came up and baches me on
the cheek and then as Anziano Garrett walks over expecting to at least
get like a little acknowledgement or a hand shake or something she
just looks down at her phone and totally ignores him... Ohhh man, I was
dying. He was like "Arre you kidding me that's so bogus?!" I love
Anziano Garrett so much--he's so awesome! It's really cool to have such
a good friend to really lean on and try to just work the absolute
hardest with.

My spiritual thought is something that we shared at the family night.
I really like the story of when Peter walks out on the water to Jesus
Christ, and I think there are a lot of things that I can learn from it
and apply to my life. So in Matthew 14 it says:

"29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he
walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning
to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and
said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

At the beginning Peter had immense faith when he started to walk out
towards Jesus Christ as he kept Jesus Christ in his sight. But, as he
started to fear and to see the winds and storms around him (I think
that he took his eyes off Jesus Christ, maybe for even a second) but
because he feared, he started to sink. But, as he looked back towards
Jesus Christ and realized that he needed him, needed him to save him
from sinking. I think this is super symbolic cause in my life there are
"storms" and "tempests" but I know as I look to my Savior Jesus Christ
and rely on him even when it is hard all around me, I have no reason to
fear, and I know that I will not sink.

Vi voglio a saaiii!!

Love,

Anziano Spencer

Tristan said: "Some food!! SO bad for you..." But apparently yummy, too!

Week 30 (Feb 1)--Trapani

Rimanero in Trapani!! (Lol this is not even grammatically correct but
I don't know how to type it haha)

Hey everyone!! I hope everyone is doing so well! So we got transfer
calls this week and I am staying with Anziano Garrett in Trapani for
another 5 weeks!! I am super stoked cause even though this city
is hard I have already learned so much and I really like working with
Anziano Garrett so life is so good! We also have a new sorella coming
into our district and two new anziani are moving in with the Zone
Leaders cause their work is going really good right now. So more
people in our district which I am pumped about! I am also super
excited cause I get to do Anziano Palazzo's last scambio with him
while he is in the mission, which will be really cool!

This week, to be honest, was pretty hard, but we saw some awesome
miracles too which were really cool. So every Tuesday morning we take
a 1 and a half hour bus ride to our district meeting which is in
Palermo. When we got back we were finishing our studies up in the park
and this one man came down and sat a few benches over from us. Me and
Anziano Garrett both felt really strongly that we should go talk to him
and it was cool because I felt the impression that we should just ask
him if we could practice our Italian with him for a little to build a
relationship, and Anziano Garrrett felt like we shouldn't talk to him
about his family (cause we had planned to do a family survey finding
for that night.) So we started talking to him and he was actually a
really humble guy that was really interested in who we were.  He ended
up opening up about how he does not have a good family situation
(super cool to see that if we started with that he wouldn't have been
very down to talk) and things like that. We ended up meeting with him
the following day and he has a sincere desire to know if the Book of
Mormon is true so I am really excited. Especially cause after that we
were able to see how the spirit guided both of us in different ways to
talk to this guy about the gospel.

Another miracle is this family that we are starting to work with. We
met the husband on the street last week and he was super sick and
really open to talk to us. He invited us over to his house and just
let us on in and we started teaching the restoration (that doesn't
happen very often haha) to him and his wife. They are super cool, and
right after the lesson he was like "Well, when is the next time that
y'all are coming over" SICKK!! Oh that was so nice, so this past week
just really strengthened my testimony that if we are doing what we
should, by being obedient and doing our best, the Lord really does
bless us and help us. I know that is true!!

I am sorry that's all I really have for this week; we have been doing
a lot of finding and things like that. We are also organizing a family
night for our branch on Friday night so if anyone has ideas about
games or anything, then that would be awesome and we would really
appreciate it!! We are talking about Obedience, Faith, and Charity. I
am really excited but also a little nervous cause I hope that it goes
well! So yes, if you have any ideas about games or anything to do... I
think it would be cool to teach them all to swing dance but I don't
know how well that will work out haha. Or just to dance in general. We
will see haha!!

So my spiritual thought this week is a quote that I really love from
Vince Lombardi. He says, "The harder it is for you to fight for
something, the harder it is for you to surrender." I really like this
quote a lot because I think it applies to almost everything in life.
Like I have had a lot of people ask me on my mission why is it that we
have trials or difficulties if we have done nothing wrong in our lives.
And something that I have been able to reflect on is the fact that
these trials and struggles really help us grow and shape us. God does
love us so yes, he wants us to grow and become better than who we
already are so that means life is not always going to be so easy. I
have already learned so much from being on my mission, and my desire
to share the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ keeps growing and
growing. Yeah, true, I wish that more people would accept it, but it just
makes me want to try harder and to be a better missionary. 

I know that I have a lot to improve on and the more I grow the
less that I want to give up. So yeah I hope that made sense. And I
know that this goes the same for anything, like school, family,
work, and all that life throws at us. I know that is so true!! The
Gospel is so true!! I love being a missionary so much!!!


I love y'all so much!!!

Love,
Anziano Spencer