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