Week 46: May 23 (Trapani)

TRAPANI WEEK 23??

Wazzupp everyone! Okay, so today we are actually not going to Favinana;
we are planning on going there next week. Instead, we are going to go
down to the city center and walk around and get some play-off shirts
for Trapani. The city here is getting super hyped because of Calcio.
The way that it works here is there are different series like Seria A,
B, C and Trapani is in Seria B. But, apparently they are really good
and these past few weeks they have beaten Bari and Calgiari (in
Sardegna), so our little city is rising up with the big leagues. It's
pretty sick, not going to lie, and at night in the apartment we can hear
all of our neighbors yelling and going crazy over it. It's the best,
Trapani is sooo sick. So this week we have Zone Conference which
is going to be really fun.  I like seeing the other missionaries
from the Zone, and then we get transfer calls this Saturday. I don't
really know what is going to happen cause I have been here six months in
this city and so I could be getting transfered. Or I might stay, so I
will let y'all know next week.

This week, on the other hand, was sooo sick. We saw so many miracles, but
I want to tell y'all the main ones that really touched me.

Miracle Number 1- Okay, so we are seeing a lot more success with the
ragazzi here. We are working with a couple now and we met this one 16-
year-old atheist who is actually pretty interested. We were able to
have a lesson with him in this park right next to the biggest Catholic
Church in the city so that was kinda awkward, but there was nowhere
else to go haha. Anyway, after we explained the Book of Mormon and the
Restoration, we invited him to say a prayer. He told us that he has
never prayed before in his life, but we talked about it and he did!!
It was so awesome and it made me really happy. We have a lot to work
on with him but things are going well right now.

Miracle Number 2-So when I first got here to Trapani, we tried working
with this family with four kids but they were not that interested. We
would pass by every once in a while, but things were not really going
anywhere, so we kinda stopped going. Every once in a while we would
pass by but not a lot. So while we were heading back to our apartment,
I got a really strong impression to go to her house. I kinda shrugged
it off, expecting her not to be there and then I realized how lame I
was being and so we went to her house. We knocked on the door and she
opened it and let us in (which has never happened). She sat us down
and explained how that day she was extremely sad because she and her
husband have been fighting and that they for right now are living
separately. I asked her how long ago he left and she said that he left
that morning.. Umm what? And then she explained how she was sorry the
past few times she has never let us in because with her husband there
he didn't want to talk to us but she was willing. And in that moment
she really needed a message of hope. Ohhh my gosh, probably one of the
biggest miracles I have seen on my mission. The spirit is so real and
I am grateful that I was guided to go to that house because now we are
meeting with her again and explaining more about the Book of Mormon
and the Restoration for her to fully understand how much this could
mean for her and her family. The spirit is real, and I am so grateful
that God is watching out for all of his children. The first time we
left her with some specific scriptures to read about when Jesus Christ
came to the Americas. When we went back for the second time she had
read all that we asked and told us that she received specific answers

that she was looking for and feels a lot better. She then was like,
"It's weird because it's a book and how much it helped me but this is
true.. It's true.." OHHH YESSS that book is true haha. The lessons
with her are super fun and just a learning experience cause the kids
act like kids. While we are talking about our message, her kids are in
the back like messing with their little pet turtle, dumping water
everywhere, all this stuff. It's awesome, they are just like kids-- I
love it haha.

Miracle Number 3- We have been working with one of our good friends
from English course for a long time just to get him to pray. He had a
bad experience when he was younger and he kinda felt that God
abandoned him and so now he has not prayed for a very long time. Or
even come to church. So he came to the lesson super sad with some of
the things that are going on in his life and so we changed the lesson
to sharing hope of God’s light and reading 3 Nephi 11. At the end we
talked about prayer and challenged him to do it, and he did!! Oh my
gosh: he prayed! I am so happy and it might not sound like a big deal
but it really was; he is an awesome guy and afterward he was like,
"Ahh I always love talking to y'all cause afterwards I always feel
good and kinda like a protection.." Umm yeah, so sick we will be
talking more about what that protection is. ;)

It was a great week; we have still been looking for more investigators,
so finding is usually what we do, but it's sick. I don't really mind and we
get to meet a lot of new people. Last Monday we were walking and
someone drove by and was like "Missionaries" and it was this homie guy
fromTennessee. It was weird cause he stopped and I shook his hand and

then like almost kissed his cheeks like normal here, cause I am so
used to it. One of my most favorite members is still planning on going
on his mission and so we have been answering his questions with that
and that makes me so happy. Also, I was able to work with Anziano
Ridd, who is a new missionary from Texas. He is absolutely on fire
and his energy is incredible. I loved it so much as we were talking;

he was like, "Bro I still can't believe I am here, I love this, I

absolutely love being here. Talking about Christ with people for two
years. I love this so much.”
You're right, my man, being a missionary is so sick.

So for my spiritual thought I wanted to share something from the Bible
that I read that is so true to me,

"2 Corinthians 4

16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;"

I know that is true. I know sometimes in my past letters I have been
pretty hard on Trapani, just because yes, it is tough, but something that
I have seen is through my experiences and through the "affliction" but
I know also that my "inward man was and is renewed day by day" and I
absolutely love this city so much now. It's weird how that works but I
really do.  I love the branch, I love the people (even the little
drunk man that comes up and baches me and almost kisses me always.. So
awesome), I love the work, and I love serving the Lord here. I know
that maybe I won't be able to see the fruits of some of the things
that I have done here (maybe I will be here for the rest of my mission,
who knows) but I am grateful for the things I have learned and grown
from. I love y'all!!

Vi Voglio BENE!!

Anziano Spencer

The anziani with the guy from Tennessee that Tristan managed to refrain from "baching" (kissing). 

You just don't see that every day (or ever) in Flower Mound!

Add caption

A young man going back out on his mission (after health challenges brought him home). 

Members that Tristan loves!

Anziano Olsen receives some love from a drunken man. :-)

Finding.

Some of Tristan's favorite branch members.

Anziano Spencer's stomping grounds: Centro, where they do most of their finding (street contacting). 

Week 45: May 16 (Trapani)

CIAO OMPADEEE

What's up everyone?! I hope that y'all all had a good week! I don't
have that much time to write today because in 30 minutes we are going
to go climb Mount Erice with some of our friends and so I won't be
able to make this that long. We were planning to hike a different
mountain called Mount Kofono, but apparently it's "dangerous" and
unfortunately our friends don't want to go. It sounds so sick--there is
one point where you have to use a rope to climb up to the tip and like
get over the edge. [Editor's note: obviously, thankfully their friends have better judgement in saying no to this dangerous mountain!!!]

Dang, we wanted to go so bad, but that's okay;
climbing Mount Erice will still be really fun. Then next week we are
planning on going to Favinana which is an Island off of the coast
here. Some of the other Anziani are going to come down with us so it
will be really fun. I need to take advantage of all the amazing things
to do here on Pdays before I leave.

So this week was really great. I don't know how to explain it other
than yes, we are doing a lot of finding and we don't have a lot of
investigators right now but I am still so happy. I am content with the
things that I accomplish and do every day and we are really working
hard to help Trapani grow and to meet new people here. I love being a
missionary so much and we did see a lot of miracles from this past
week. One of the miracles is one of our families that we haven't been
able to see for so long invited us over because it was their daughter’s
birthday. There were like 15 people there and they were all super nice
and we were able to talk to a lot of them about why we are here and
what our message is. Hopefully we will be able to see some potientals
come out of that. Another lesson that we had that really touched me
was with our really good friends who we found a few months ago when I
was with Anziano Garrett. We have had a lot of lessons with them and
they are very faithful Catholics and to be honest not really
progressing. We had had some powerful lessons with them where the
spirit was really strong, but there were some things that they just did
not want to accept. Well, this week they are moving to another city
for the summer, so we had a last lesson with them and it was really
special because even though maybe I wasn't able to see the "success"
in them getting baptized, they explained to us how the husband (who is
practically atheist) never invites people over, so it was rare and very
strange that he invited us over to meet his family that first time;
their son (who is also atheist) accepted a Book of Mormon and said he
would read it even though we met him once for like 10 minutes; and
while sitting down at the dinner table, the father offered his first
prayer that he has ever said over the food. There were a lot of other
little things, but these were some main ones that really touched me,
because my purpose is to help invite others to come unto Christ and I
hope and pray that in the future they will be able to take the
necessary steps to receive an answer. I do feel like we were supposed

to meet for a reason with them and I was grateful to know that the
things we did were able to help them be closer to our Savior. At the
end of the lesson we were able to sing "God Be With You Till We Meet
Again." It was powerful and a special experience for us. [He sent a video of this; I will try and post on the blog.]

Other than that we have being really meeting some sick people on the
street lately and it's been great. There is this one homie that we met
a few days ago from Russia who is really interested in having a Book
of Mormon, so we are meeting with him tonight.  While we were talking
to him, I felt the spirit so strong just bearing my testimony, so I
really hope that he has a desire to continue to meet with us.
Yesterday was another powerful experience as we were with some members
for Sunday pranzo [lunch]. They are one of my favorite families as they have
the beast couple Vito and Sara, and then the missionary son (who was
talking to me yesterday and wants to go back out on his mission.. LET’S
GO!!) and the others are so awesome. The dad and I are really close;
yesterday he was trying to teach me how to Salsa dance, it's so hard
haha. Anyway, they invited us to stay a little longer so that we could
meet some of the friends of Vito and Sara. When the friends showed
up, it was not only so sick that the guy looked exactly like my bud Zach

Ruther from back home, but they are super sincere and have a lot of
really good questions for us. I was talking to the guy and he started
asking me questions and me and Vito were able to teach him a little
about the Restoration. The spirit was so strong, and it was really
cool being able to teach it with Vito because he is a returned
missionary and is an absolute beast with teaching. We will hopefully
be able to see them this week so I hope things go well!!

Yesterday in church the Stake President came and really gave a great
talk about the Church organization and things like that. I am really
excited because this Tuesday I will be able to go to Branch
Correlation which I have never really had the experience to do on my
mission, and so I hope that continues and together with the branch we
will really be able to help things grow!!

Also, this week I will be able to work with Anziano Ridd doing a
Scambio. He is new in the field and is actually from Texas (yes, that's
really important) and so I am super pumped. It will be his first
scambio and so I am excited to work with him and learn from him.

Well, I love you all so much!! For my spiritual thought I want to share
something that Vito said yesterday while we were talking to his
friend. At the end of talking a little about the Resotration he told
his friend, "Ya know, as these missionaries and then also while I was
a missionary, our goal was not to force anyone to do anything. We share
our message and then you choose to accept it. It's like for me saying
that this chair right here is yellow (and it was gray) and you say it
was gray. Okay we could just leave it at that. But, until you come
over to look from my perspective you could see that this part is
yellow. That's the beauty of the Gospel and the beauty of the Restored
Gospel because what we have to do to receive an answer is to act. To
see it from another one’s perspective. And to do that we have to move.
(Like reading the Book of Mormon, Praying, Acting, Going to Church) I
am so grateful for the restored Gospel because not only do we have
these restored truths, but we have the truth that we have a direct
personal relationship with him and can find things out for ourselves
personally.”

I am honestly not sure if that made any sense. But, I really liked it
and the way he said it and I know that is true. I know as a missionary
my purpose is to be a guide and find those people who are ready and
willing to accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth
today. I love being a missionary!!

Vi Voglio BENE!!

Anziano Spencer

Week 44: May 9 (Trapani)

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

I hope that y'all are all doing really well. It was the best thing
yesterday to able to talk to my family and to skype with them. They
are seriously the best, and it made my week. Now I just have to wait
another 7 months;) YESSSS! Anyway, today for Pday we went to Palermo
and played Zone Calcio again with everyone. It's always really fun,
but I really like all the Anziani in the Zone and so it's fun being
able to see them and relax and play soccer. Afterwards we went to the
Tie Cave (the super sketchy area with all the cheap ties that are
really nice) and got some different ties and now I can email. We will
be staying the night here and working in Palermo because we have a
district meeting tomorrow morning so it will be fun working with the
other guys in their big area.

This week there is not a whole lot to report to be honest. Sadly, the
Golden Dude from last week has cancelled on us the past two times we
have tried to meet with him and he did not come to church. So we are
pretty sad about that, but we really hope that we will be able to see
him again and that he still has that desire. Other than that we have
been doing a lot of finding which has been good. I like talking to
people and I know that even if I could be teaching a bunch of lessons
every day, the Lord would still accept my efforts just the same
because I am trying my best. We did have a cool lesson with this
pretty sick 18-year-old ragazzo. He is pretty religious and he is
really curious to learn more about what we believe. We were only able
to meet with him for like 15 minutes, but hopefully this week we will
be able to see him again and that he's read in the Book of Mormon.
Another lesson that we had was with our good friend from English
Course and he is awesome. He's super sincere and really likes to meet,
but the things that are holding him back is he had like a bad
experience in the past with his church and that really hurt him.
Because of that, he doesn't feel the need to pray or come to church, so
we are trying to help him realize how important those things are and
how necessary they really are to daily grow and strengthen our
testimonies.

I was also able to have a really good scambio with Anziano Bellows.
He's a really nice guy and something that he talked to me about and
that I learned is more about the Atonement. He mentioned how he is
trying to work hard on daily repenting. Daily trying to become better
and daily trying to grow. That really touched me and I am trying to do
better on that and become more accountable for my actions every day
and trying to be better.

So for my spiritual thought I wanted to share something that I don't
think that I have shared before but it's been going through my mind
lately because this quote was shared at our district meeting a few
weeks ago and I love it. It's from the Sixth Rocky movie... So sick.

"Let me tell ya something that you already know... The world ain't so
full of sunshine and rainbows. It's a mean and nasty place and it will
beat you to your knees if you let it. You, me, or anybody ain't going
to hit as hard as life. But it's not about how hard you hit... it's
about how hard you can get it and keep on going, it's about how hard
you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now
if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But
you got to be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers
saying that it was him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that
ain't you. You're better than that."

I know it's not word for word but I love this quote. Especially
because it's so true: life is hard. It's not easy because if it was
easy we would not be able to grow and learn. When things are 
hardest in life, we are still the ones to choose how to react and how to
fight against it. Not gonna lie, the mission is not at all what I
expected it to be, but to be honest the Lord knows exactly what I need to experience 
to learn and grow and become the man that He needs me to become. And I
know that I have been called to Rome, Italy to do exactly that and I
am so grateful to be a missionary.

There is this other quote from a talk by Russel M. Nelson (an apostle)
that I really liked that I also wanted to share.

"Why do we need such resilient faith? Because difficult days are ahead.
Rarely in the future will it be easy or popular to be a faithful
Latter-day Saint. Each of us will be tested. The Apostle Paul warned
that in the latter days, those who diligently follow the Lord “shall
suffer persecution.” That very persecution can either crush you into
silent weakness or motivate you to be more exemplary and courageous in
your daily lives.” (Face the Future with Faith)

Those are pretty hard words at the end, but it's so true, that we are the
ones that choose if we are going to be brought down by difficulties
and hardships or if we are going to use them to change and grow.

I love you all so much!! Thanks for your support. I am again so
grateful for Mother’s Day and I love my mom so much. If it were not for
her, I would not be where I am today. I am so grateful for her loving,
caring example. But even more than that, I am grateful for her
unshakable testimony in the Gospel of Jesus Christ because growing up
I was able to see that and it made me want to have my own testimony
and that's why I am here today. The Church is true!!

Vi Voglio BENE!!!!


Anziano Spencer

Week 43: May 2 (Trapani)

THE GOLDENN DUDEE

Ciao tutti!! I hope that y'all are all doing well! I want to say a
Happy Mother's Day to everyone for this Sunday. I am so excited to
skype home it's going to be the best. It's crazy to think how fast the
time has gone by from Christmas to this month. The mission kinda feels
like it's getting faster and faster which is really weird. Anyway, for
this week coming up I will be doing an exchange with one of the Zone
Leaders from Palermo which will be pretty fun. I always like working
with new missionaries cause I really learn a lot from it and it's
pretty fun.

This week was such a good week and we saw so many miracles. It made me
really happy and helped me realize that there are multiple reasons why
I am still here in Trapani and I am so glad that I am.

English Course- So our English Course has been growing a lot lately
which is awesome because we can meet new people and see if they would
be interested. There is this new guy that is coming that is 24 years
old and for both of the classes he stayed after and we talked for a
very long time about our church and what we believe. He is really
interested, and it's cool cause he is actually a Christian missionary
for his church but he is very open and wants to learn more. He
actually asked if we could do kinda like an "exchange" when I leave
Trapani and what he is going to do is he is going to give me his
Italian Bible and I will give him my English Bible. Sooo cool! So he
is really sick, and hopefully he will be more free so that this week
we can meet with him.

School Miracle- Okay so there is this girl from our English Course
whose mom is an English Course teacher at one of the schools here. She
was talking to us a few weeks ago and invited us to the
middle/elementary school so that the kids can meet actual Americans
and talk to us in English. We thought it would be a good idea because
the kids could meet us and get to know who we are. So we asked for
permission from our Presdient and he said that we could!! So this
Friday we went and it was insane haha and really fun because I really
like working with kids.. .we were treated kinda like super stars. So
that's why it was a little insane. I am not kidding like all the
teachers and students wanted to talk to us. At times it was kinda weird
when I had all these kids come up and ask for my autograph and 

then ask me to sign another thing for them too. (like literally when
we were in one of the classrooms I was reminded of the part of Emperors
New Groove when he is like running down the aisle and everyone is
bowing down to him.. Like obviously no one bowed to us lol but they
all stood up when we walked in the room and showed us some seriousl
respect) A lot of them are interested in our English Course too so we
are really hoping that tomorrow we will see some success with getting
more people. But, the biggest thing that really touched me is all
these little kids that we met haven't forgotten about us. We see them
on the street and they run over to us in big packs and just want to
talk and ask us for high fives and things like that. We hear a lot of
"IT'S THE AMERICANS!!" Things like that, like I don't think I have
bached so many people in my life as they came up (cause it's like a
sign for friendship.. Ohhh yess I seriously can't wait to Bach all of
y'all back at home;) Anyway, so that was a really cool thing for me to
see, and we were actually able to talk to the religion teacher and she
is going to see if we can come back and teach the religion class on
Mormons. Ohh boy that would be really cool.

Okay so the biggest Miracle that I have seen though is actually why I
titled my email like this. We literally have a new investigator that
is just absolutely so solid and the coolest guy ever. He is a straight
up golden simp (investigator) and it makes me so happy. So what happened is on
Thursday I was feeling pretty upset because a lot of things were not
going well and things like that. We left early in the morning to go
help one of the members with some legal document stuff to find a
lawyer so that he can find a job here in Italy. He is one of the most
solid members in the ward and he doesn't speak Italian because he is
from Nigeria so he needs help. We were searching and then got a call
from the office that there was a senior couple coming to check our
house so we had to rush to the church and not going to lie I was just
in a bad mood cause we hadn't found a lawyer and we didn't know about
the couple. So while we are going back all of the sudden this sick, 23
year old guy stops me and asks if we teach corso. So I told him yes
and then got his number so that we can make sure he really did come
and then we can teach him. We called him and he told us how he is
really interested to know more about who we are and things like that.
So we met with him Saturday and the lesson went so well. He accepted a
Bap date and then asked if he could have a tour of the church. Umm
what? Haha it was so cool. At the end of the lesson he went to the
bathroom and Anziano Olsen and I started freaking out cause we were so
excited haha.And then we're very calm and composed when he came back
in;) Then he met Vito (the cool couple that moved in) and is going to
start taking piano lessons from him. Then we had another lesson on
Sunday cause he wanted to meet and our branch President came and they
really hit it off as well. He is such a solid guy and I really hope
things go well with him, he has even mentioned about serving a
mission!!! We will be seeing him tomorrow so hopefully everything
continues to go well! I Wish I could help y'all realize how excited I
am about this guy!! He is so cool, we are really praying hard for him.

So for my spiritual thought I just wanted to bear my testimony about
how much God loves us, but especially in doing his work as a
missionary. I really saw that a lot this week because at the beginning
of the week I was kinda struggling about some personal things. Then God
blessed us with so many miracles it's hard to describe how that just
really boosted my spirit and made me so happy and positive again. I
was literally walking and not even trying to stop or look for people
cause we had to get to the church really fast and this guy came up and
talked to me. I know that God will lead us and guide us in our lives
for the things that we need. This guy is such an answer to my prayers,
and I know that God answered my prayers and I am seriously so
grateful. God is real, he loves us, and he is watching out for us.

Doctrine and Covenants 84-

88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before
your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my
Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to
bear you up.

VI VOGLIO BENE!!

Anziano Spencer

P.S. Share the Gospel!!! It's the greatest thing that we have in this life!!