Week 53: July 11 (Brindisi)

ANZIANO MORLOCK LIVES!!

What's up my favorite people?! I hope y'all are doing well, this week
was awesome and much better and back to normal than last week. We only
had to stay in the house on Monday night cause Anziano Morlock was
still feeling pretty sick so we made some brownies for our neighbors
so that we can become better friends with them. Turns out that all of
the neighbors that we tried did not answer their doors. Lolol dang..
Well at least we tried and hopefully we will be able to give them some
brownies next time I have a companion that can't walk cause of kidney
stones haha. Also we got transfer calls this week and I will be
staying with Anziano Morlock. I was kinda suprised because I thought
he would be leaving to go to Rome or something and be closer to the
doctors and so we are excited to keep working together.

This week we were finally able to get back to work after Monday and so
it was really nice to be able to leave the house and go find some
people. We saw a huge miracle this week as we find a guy named C. He is from Italy and was actually born near
Brindisi. He is probably the biggest Italian that I have ever met in
my life. He is taller than me and is just really big, with broad shoulders,
huge arms and his hands are massive. It's so sick, I would be so
scared if he was mad at me but the cool thing is is he is super humble
and really sincere and nice. We started talking to him and did a quick
restoration lesson and then he had to go and so we exchanged numbers.
That night he called us on the phone and asked when we could meet.
(Ohhh glory that does not happen very often!) So we set up the
appointment and the night before, he texted us saying that he is really
trying to find the truth and he has been searching for a long time but
has not been able to find it. Searching for someone to give him the
answers. (Ohhhh myy.) So we had a lesson with him with our sick Ward
mission leader (who is an ex-cop that would work on taking down the
Mafia). During the lesson Carmelo really opened up about how a few
years ago, because of the work he was doing he like fought against and
stopped the Mafia from harming people. (If I understood right) and
because of that the Mafia tried to harm his family and his parents and
they are okay now but it really affected him because he thinks it was
his fault. And so he was pretty sad about it and it was incredible to
see how one, our ward mission leader was able to talk to him about that
cause that was his work, but also how  he is so open and just really
wants help. He also speaks pretty good English and so he switched to
English and looked at us and says, "Can you help me? You both seem
like honest men.." It was really comforting and powerful to look back
and say, "Yes.. Yes we can help you." At the end of the lesson he
offered one of the most powerful prayers that I have ever heard and
then after he finished the spirit was so strong and he was just
sitting there quietly with his eyes closed and so after about 30ish
seconds I started to say a prayer. The spirit was incredible. We are
also really pumped because he is married and has three children. Ohh
baby!

The other really big thing that happened this week was this Sunday our
bomba branch president and his wife were released. I was seriously
really concerned and sad cause they have really worked hard to help
this branch. So in Sunday another Branch President was called (who
the stake president calls from a different city called Taranto which
is about an hour away from Brindisi) and so it was weird on Sunday
being at church and there were children there (because the stake
presidency was there with their families). Ohhh it was so good to see
some young energy going on. And so the new branch president is
actually sooo sick and I am so excited. He is from Spain and has two
young daughters that are 10 and 8. There is going to be a primary here
now!! He pulled us aside and talked to us about how he is really excited to
work with us and how he hopes we are staying here for the next 9
months so that we can really get things going. I am excited to work
with him and this change has just really brought me a lot more
excitement. Something else that was great on Sunday is C. was
able to make it to the last hour, and so one of the brothers that does
not live in Brindisi with his son was like "Anziani I want to help you
with your lesson... Do you think I can come?" Umm of course.. So we
were able to have another really good lesson with C. and the
brother introduced himself as Francesco to C. and so that's what
I called him during the lesson as well because that's all I knew.
Brother Francesco.. He was absolutely incredible and then after the
lesson I was talking to one of the other members and the member
mentioned that that was the stake president ... Ohhh probably
should have known that.. I felt bad for not knowing and not referring to
him as president but that humility from him obviously showed with our
investigator and then also with working with us. He would let us teach
and then provide his testimony when we asked and it just went really
well. He came up to me afterward and actually complimented me on the
lesson and my language and so that made me feel really good.

This Saturday we were actually able to do one of the few service
projects that I have done on my mission. We went out into the
countryside to work with our ward mission leader and his brother on
his son's house and repaint the entire roof of his house. It was hot
and long and I loved it so much. It was so nice to do some manual
labor and then afterwards talk to his son because he is a member but
hasn't been to church in a while. It was also good to be in the
countryside where there is fresh air, so that was a good day.

The other miracle that we saw were these three teenagers that we are
starting to work with. Two are atheist and one is actually hard-core
Buddhist but they are interested to learn more about who we are, so we
had a good lesson with them yesterday and hopefully they will start
reading the Book of Mormon because that is the key. I am excited to
see the success that we are having and so hopefully we will be able to
really make a difference here!!

Some of the funny experiences that we had this week-

So, to be honest, less-active finding is not really my thing. I don't
know what it is but I think I am just bad luck with finding these
different houses or the people are actually home or what. Anziano
Morlock and I were in a city called Masagne visiting a member and then
doing less-active finding. So we had all the maps and where to go but
we still ended up getting lost. Finally, after asking for directions
and places to go we found the first house and there was no way to ring
the door. There was like this cover over it and we couldn't knock
either. It was so annoying and I know that really makes no sense so
basically just understand that we were like dang.. Okay at least we
tried. So then we go to the second house, not discouraged cause life
is good but just with really strong hopes that we would be able to
find them before we had to go back home. So we finally found the
street and the house number is 32. We are walking down the street and
I start to get happier as I see 26.. 28.. I am starting to get excited
"oh babyy we are finding this house".. 30.. "Let's go!" 34.. "Wait...
what the freak?" "Wait.. Where is 32?" The house was just straight up
not there. So we talk to people on the street and also talk to house
number 30 and 34 and they basically don't give us anything other than
it's not here.. Thanks for that. Lolol  and then we had to head back to
Brindisi. Moral of the story, I have to get better at less-actives.

One of the things that some of my friends back from home asked me to
do is to find them an Italian husband (Aves) and so I have just been
keeping that in the back of my mind. We were doing some good old
finding and we started talking to these 4 guys of which 3 were
brothers. And they were all studs.. Straight up studs, the oldest.. 28
year old is half middle eastern and half Italian and is the national
boxing champion for Europe. His little brothers were the kick-boxing
champions of Italy and they were all super nice and super cool. (I
don't know what it is about boxing with this city.) As we were walking
away I was like, "I think I found my friend a husband.." to my
companion. After a pause Anziano Morlock goes, "I think I just found
my husband." HAHAHA Lolol I just straight up died. He was kidding but
still it was so funny.

So for my spiritual thought I wanted to share something that I really
learned this week that I have heard all my life. It's that our
thoughts affect our actions. I hope I can explain this to where it
makes sense but basically that it is our thoughts affecting our actions
which brings power. Last week we did not have a lot of work because of
Anziano Morlock being sick and some other things and so we made a goal
this week to find six new investigators. I like setting goals and
trying to reach them but I don't think that I have thought harder
about a goal than this one before on my mission. We would talk about
it and really try hard to find people and to contact those that were
ready and by the end of the week we did find new investigators. Now I
am not saying that to be prideful or anything but it was a really

cool testimony builder to me about how the work that I am doing,
finding people and teaching them and thinking specifically all the
time about how we can help those that we are meeting with, really will
bring blessings. And I knew that before and throughout my mission but
it was cool to see how this week as I specifically focused on that
goal of six that we were able to find six new investigators. So
basically what I am trying to say is that I know that our thoughts
turn into actions, which is an increase of faith, which is added power
to our efforts. I hope that makes sense.

VI VOGLIO BENE!!!!

Anziano Spencer