Week 50: June 20 (Brindisi)

KRAI (tomorrow in Pugliese)

Hey everybody! I hope that y'all are all doing well, and that summer
break is going good. Sorry that I am not going to be able to send a
long letter this week; we went and played calcio [soccer] today which was really
fun. It was also really sick cause I was able to play with my cousin.
That family unity, though, is real! We had a fun time. Kinda reminded me
of all the ultimate frisbee tournaments that we used to do at the reunions.
Also, in two days I hit my half-way mark on my mission, which is really
weird to think about.

So this week was really great. We have still been trying to find new
people but things are going well and we are seeing success. Something
that I have really seen in this city is that again, this is not my
work. This is the Lord’s work and I have seen that many times and have
again been humbled and will continuously be humbled as we follow the
spirt of where we should go and if we feel like we should talk to
someone and they accept and they are interested. We had about 3
specific experiences with that this week with finding some ragazzi who
are interested and knowing what we should do. Serving a mission is
incredible. Our friend G. is
progressing really well and has been coming to church, reading, and
praying. I am really excited and we are hoping and praying that he
continues to progress. It has been really cool to see how much he has
grown from not wanting to really talk and now coming to church and
wanting to learn. It makes me so happy and, to be honest, it is really
nice to see the fruits of our labors.

I was also able to have my first real branch correlation!! It was
awesome, and it was nice to see how people will work together and it
just kinda reminded me of home with people willing to support us. It made
me so happy! Okay, so there is this family that we are starting to work
with and they are sooo sick. We need to help them understand our
purpose cause that wasn't really established in the past and I am a
little worried that they just want to be friends with us and not
really have a desire to know if this is true. But, they just have one
son who is 26 and is so cool. He is a lifeguard and studied
performance and dancing and travels around doing kinda like Broadway stuff.
He also teaches hip hop... Ohh man he is soo sick.

A good experience that I was able to have this week was with one of
the members from Africa. With that cute little family I mentioned last week.
His family moved to Germany for a time and he will go as soon as he
figures out his documents, but he is the most humble man that I have
ever met. He told us some of his sad stories about his past and then
just mentioned how all he wants to do is serve God and provide for his
family. He is incredible and something that he mentioned to us, "is
that if we are humble then we will see the world in a different light."
I have thought about that a lot and I think it's very profound.

For my spiritual thought I want to share something that I read from
Come, Join With Us by President Uchtdorf (one of the counselors to our
prophet):

"It’s natural to have questions--the acorn of honest inquiry has often
sprouted and matured into a great oak of understanding. There are few
members of the Church who, at one time or another, have not wrestled
with serious or sensitive questions. One of the purposes of the Church
is to nurture and cultivate the seed of faith--even in the sometimes
sandy soil of doubt and uncertainty. Faith is to hope for things which
are not seen but which are true.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters--my dear friends--please,
first doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. We must never
allow doubt to hold us prisoner and keep us from the divine love,
peace, and gifts that come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

This talk really struck me this week as we ran into someone from
America this week. We were doing finding and I started talking to him
and he responds and says, “You're not from Utah, are you?" Lol totally
not expecting that.. He then goes on and explains that he was raised
Mormon and then he changed and now he doesn't come to church anymore.
As we were talking, this exact talk came into my head. It was sad cause
anything we were going to say was not going to really help, and so I
invited him to read the Book of Mormon.. Again.. And we went our
separate ways. It was an interesting time though, because as we were
talking, the quote from Anziano Bednar came into my head how God will
literally send the Apostles around the world to find that one... I
really hope that our friend will have a desire to come back to church
in the future. I love what President Uchtdorf says about doubting our
doubts before we doubt our faith. Our faith is something that can be
grown and nurtured and, like Alma states, grow into a tree. It's the
little things that affect us, like scripture reading everyday,
prayers, and attending church that really make the big difference. I know that is
true!!

I love you all so much! Sorry this letter is kinda all over the place.

Love,

Anziano Spencer


P.S I also wasn't able to personally thank my dad for everything that he
has taught, done for me, and continues to do for me through his love
and his example. I absolutely know without a doubt that I would not be
where I am today without his guidance in my life. I love you Dad!!
Happy Father’s Day!!

Sent from my iPad

Week 49: June 13 (Brindisi)

CUGGGI (I love dialects--that means like Bro.. It's short for cousin)

Whattt upp everyone!! I hope y'all are all doing good, it's still

weird for me to think that it's summer right now. Lol, we actually went
to the university to ask if we could put up some posters for learning
English and we talked to like the Dean of the college about it. He was
like super chill about it and totally down but then mentioned that
school got out that day so we should wait till September.. Dang,

totally forgot that summer actually came lol.

Anyway, I am finally starting to learn more of this city and meeting
all of the members which has been good. A lot of people have not been
able to meet with us, which has been tough cause we have been doing a
lot of finding, but it's been good. We have definatley seen the
miracles from it. And we are meeting YOUNG PEOPLE!  Oh man, there is
life and so, hope, for this branch haha!! Unfortunately the two young
men in the branch have not been able to see us this entire week, so
that has been pretty sad but hopefully we will see them soon! We are
starting to work with these two 25ish year olds who are super sick. I
was able to have a restoration lesson with one of them while my
companion was talking to the other one (because we were in like a
piazza kinda of place) and he accepted to be baptized if he receives
his answer, so I am really excited!   Soo because we did finding for
most of the week I will tell y'all some of the experiences that we had
that were either straight up weird or pretty sickk.

-While talking to an older couple, a police car pulls up and calls me
over. Not gonna lie I got a little nervous as he started to question
me about where I was from. Now remember that Italia is in like a
terrible crisis with jobs and things like that. He starts questioning
about how I am here and I started talking to him about my permesso.
Still getting a little nervous. And then he was like, "Alright that's
cool man, now I was wondering do you want to work for me? My wife and
I are going to open an English School in Lecce?" Umm what?.. Lolol
totally not expecting that and so I tell him that I am a missionary here
and he was like, that's cool-- how about after? So then I just pull the
my permesso ends man like I am going to have to go back home. He then
mentions how that's not a problem and he could take care of it all and
get me citizenship. Hahaha oh gosh so I was just like thank you for
the offer but I won't be able to. Totally not expecting that.
-A women wants me to marry her 16 year old daughter.. Gross
-Met some guys from Croatia, Romania, Iran, Iraq, and Poland who are
all pretty sick
-Met an English man who is part of a secret organization that he is
not allowed to talk to me about.. Sooo sweet. He was being attacked a
few years ago while like in Greece and the missionaries saw and helped
him. So he always takes the time to talk to us wherever he is
traveling.
-I was told that I have a dangerous face.. I don't really know how, haha?
-My companion has been told that he looks 17 from literally everyone
while people think I am 25.. We die every time cause it's so funny and
people always freak out that we are both 19.
-Challenging guys to a pull-up contest so they would listen to us did
not work... But hopefully it will in the future.. Haha lol

So yeah these are just some of the experiences that we have had these
past few days. Honestly, even though it is hard, something that I have
found that really helps is when you look at the little things and
laugh about everything. It makes everything better. We have seen some
really incrediable miracles from our efforts. The best day for me this
week was yesterday. We met a guy last week in a park while doing some
finding and we talked for a little bit about the Restoration. He told
us that he was evanglist and that he wasn't going to change, but we
explained to him our message and just invited him to church. He
accepted and then we saw him later in the week and he was worried because
he didn't have a tie. We promised that we would bring him a tie if he
would come. So right at 9:00 when most of the members are hobbling on
in, in comes our homie from the park. Oh, it made us so happy. He then
stayed for all three hours and literally all of the sacrament talks and
priesthood lesson were all perfect for him. Our branch president’s wife
actually gave a talk about why she chose to be baptized and then
brought a picture along with her (which was an ocean baptism cause
that's what they do here... SOO COOL) and it was good for him to see.
During second hour we went and taught him the full Restoration with
the branch president’s wife who is incrediable in lessons and has such
a strong testimony. The spirit was so strong during the lesson; it
was one of the times that I didn't have to think about the language
whatsoever and it was just coming. It was absolutely incredible and

at the end, he accepted to be baptized on July 9th (a day after my year
mark), which we are really excited about. We really hope he keeps
coming and he is still interested cause he is an awesome guy. I
testify that God does bless us and when we keep going even when things
are hard he will always help us see the blessings and bring us

more happiness  than we can imagine.

Also, during sacrament mtg there was a family who has been members here for
years from Nigeria and they have the cutest little three kids. The one
son is about 5 and me and him get along really well haha. I was asked
to pass the sacrament and so it was a special experience as I was able
to do that with him hanging on my leg. He is so adorable and I love
that family so much.

So for my spiritual thought this week I wanted to share something that
I think I have already shared before but it became very real for me
this week. This is from that talk that is called Never Give Up that I
quote a lot…

"How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more
effort, a little more patience would have achieved success? A little
more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed a hopeless
failure may turn into a glorious success. … There is no defeat except
within, no really insurmountable barrier save one’s own inherent
weakness of purpose.”

I know without a doubt that as we keep putting forth a little more
effort that we will be blessed. God knows exactly how much we can bear
and what we need at the right moment to bless us. Not gonna lie, this
week was a struggle. I was pretty ticked about some things that
happened that we couldn't really control... but then on Sunday at the
end of the week we were able to see the blessings and realize that as
we do our part, the Lord will always do his. I am excited to continue
to work here and I hope we can continue to find more and more people
who are excited to hear about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Vi Voglio BENE!!!

Love,

Anziano Spencer

Week 48: June 7 (Brindisi)

BRINDISI BABBYYY WEEK 1

Hey everyone! I am sorry that I am writing today, we had a special
training yesterday, so I was up in Bari and that's why my P-day is
today. I hope y'all are doing well though, especially cause it's
summer!! So sick, I will be hitting my year mark on my mission pretty
soon, which is pretty weird. So first I will give you some of the
details about Brindisi. It's right on the ocean, just like Trapani, so
that's really cool. It's actually a port city as well so there are a
lot of boats and there is a base where Marines come for
training, so we have made some homies with some marines that are around
our age, which is pretty sick. Not gonna lie, most of the people that
live in this city are very old. I honestly never thought that would be
possible, but literally 70 percent of the people I have seen and tried
to talk to have been over 65. Nice.. A little bit about our branch is
that there is a solid count of 15 members--and going off the trend of the city--
all of them are over 65 as well. Sooo sick, so I am really hoping that
we will be able to bring some young blood into this branch soon.

So last week was a very touching week as I was able to say goodbye to
all of my friends and members that I have met and become so close to
these past 6 months. I am so grateful that I was in Trapani for 4 transfers
and I know that my mission president is called of God and directed and
led by God to know that I was supposed to stay there for that long. In
Corso we were able to have a party at the end of it and everyone
brought so much food and there was a lot of support from some of my
homies. Even though some of them were not ready to accept the Gospel,
they wrote me different letters expressing how they were grateful for
the things that we were able to talk about (after Corso or different
times) pertaining to our beliefs and my stand on certain things. It
really was a good moment for me to realize that even though some of
these really good friends of mine did not want to take the lessons, I
still didn't fail in my efforts as I tried my best to explain certain
things to them for their understanding. I really hope in the future
they will have a desire to meet with the missionaries. I absolutely
love Trapani though, and I am so grateful that I served there.

Okay, so I went up to Palermo Wednesday night because I had a bus in
the morning at 6:00. It was nice to be able to spend some time with the
guys in my district and then we realized that we were going to have to
wake up super early cause there were no buses to the train station
since it was a festa. So instead, Anziano Morales (my Brazilian boss)
got permission and ordered a taxi for me. In the morning they sent me
off on the taxi and for the first time in almost a year I was all by
myself. Super weird but pretty sick feeling, not gonna lie. Then I had
the bus ride all the way to Catania (which is across Siciliy) where we
picked up two other Anziani. After that we headed to Brindisi and
after 13 hours we finally made it to my new area!! My new companion is
a really cool guy too; I am excited to work with and learn for him. He's a
really humble, chill guy, swam in high school, went to the same school
as my cousins (Alpine--another Utah missionary—let's go!!! lol), and has
really good desires. He actually mentioned to me that part of his
family did not want him to serve a mission and so they tried to bribe
him with different things like a car and stuff if he stayed. Wow. He's
awesome. I have a lot of respect for him already and I am excited to
hopefully get things really going here. Also, in our district there are
Anziano Zito and Anziano Larrian (who I was with when I was up north in
Terni). He was in my same zone but he is from Peru and only speaks
Italian and Spanish, so we couldn't communicate really well. Now we can
talk fine and he's such a cool guy, so I am excited to serve here with
them.The new house where I live is pretty nice too; there are train
tracks right next to it which is kinda cool cause when a train passes
the house kinda shakes and it's pretty loud. It's pretty sick.
Hopefully this means I can continue to jump rope at 6:30 in the
morning and the neighbors won't mind cause they are used to the train.
Even though we are on the 6th floor... Lolol hopefully I still can. The
church is actually held in a rented out place above a furniture store
which is pretty cool in my opinion. It's a nice area and I like it.

We have had a really cool lesson so far while I have been here with
this one less-active member and his brother. The older brother is 18 and his
little brother is 12 and not baptized and before the lesson my
companion explained to me that they have tried to talk to him about
baptism but the older brother is really nervous and wants to make sure
his brother is ready cause it's a personal choice. So we planned to
talk to them about it again and taught him the plan of salvation. It
was super cool cause I have never taught a young 12-year-old kid on my
mission and so I liked teaching the lesson more simply and he understood
everything. He's so solid and things were going well and at the end of
the lesson the thought or more like a prompting came into my head to
let him choose a date to be baptized. I know that was from the Holy
Ghost because he did and now we are trying to help him prepare, and
his brother saw that it was his personal choice and now we are helping
the brother with some of his concerns and we are hoping this will help
him come back to church. It was a powerful experience and I am excited
to keep working with these 2 guys.

That's about it for the lessons that we have had so far. We have been
doing a lot of finding and meeting a lot of people which has been
great. Like I said, yesterday we had a good specialized training and it
was nice to first off see my cousin!!!! Aww that was the best and I
was able to give him and his new greenie son a big ol' kiss from his
Uncle Spencer. It was really great to see him and he is doing well. It
was also nice to be able to see President and Sister Waddoups. They
are finishing their mission in a few weeks and so this was the last
time we are going to be able to see them. I am grateful for all the
powerful lessons that I have learned from them and the positive
influence that they have had on my mission and my life.

So for my spiritual thought, I want to share two powerful experiences
that I had this last week. The first one is a lesson that I had with
one less-active man we have been working with who has been struggling to find work and so he does not
have a lot of money to buy food. When we showed up to his house for a
lesson, he had brought out some bread and jelly cookies and milk to eat
cause that's all he could do and then was really excited cause his
sister was there and so Anziano Olsen and I had probably one of the
best lessons that we have taught together for the restoration and now
she is taking the discussions. That experience was powerful for 2
reasons for me: one, cause his sister was so open and now there is
another investigator in Trapani right when I left, but two, because
this guy literally spent most of what he had to feed us. And he would
have been offended if we didn't eat. It reminded me of the story in
the Bible of the lady that puts her two mites in for tithing and God
accepts that more than the people putting in a load of money for show.
It really meant a lot to me what he did; even though it maybe wasn't a
lot, he did it with his heart. It touched me a lot.

The other thought is a poem that I wanted to share. Sunday night I was
kinda struggling because I missed Trapani, the members, and my friends
so much. Just being in a new city and everyone all being so old (I
have nothing against old people; I love them, but it's just different
for me cause it's literally everyone), I was pretty down. I was
thinking how sick it would be to be serving in a big city for once
like Rome, or Napoli, or Catania. Then I read this poem that my
trainer Anziano Ray shared with me when I moved to Trapani. This is from a
talk called Your Personal Influence by Thomas S. Monson (our living
prophet today):

Father, where shall I work today?”
And my love flowed warm and free.
Then he pointed out a tiny spot
And said, “Tend that for me.”
I answered quickly, “Oh no, not that!
Why, no one would ever see,
No matter how well my work was done.
Not that little place for me.”

 And the word he spoke, it was not stern; …
“Art thou working for them or for me?
 Nazareth was a little place,
 And so was Galilee.

This poem really hit me. Not gonna lie, it was a really good needed
kinda like a slap in the face to get over the fact that yeah maybe I
am not in the biggest, coolest city where there are a bunch of other
missionaries and there is a ward and stuff. Instead, I have been called
to serve and work with the people in Brindisi, a city that I didn't
even know existed before I heard of it [during my transfer call]. But, it doesn't matter if all
the people here are rather old, or if it's a small branch. What
matters is I have been called and I am working for God, not for myself
or others. I know that maybe I don't have the love for this city YET
like I did for Trapani. But, I have been called here and I am going to
do my best to work my hardest to serve the people and love this area.

VI VOGLIO BENEEEE!!!

Love,

Anziano Spencer

 Saying goodbye to Trapani!!

Hello Brindisi!!!! On Monday, there was a specialized training that Tristan participated in as a new district leader.

President and Sister Waddoups will soon head home, having completed three years of service.

Sisters from Tristan's MTC district.

Cousins! With Anziano Ethan Cannon

With new companion

Brindisi!