Ciao!: Week 59: August 22 (Brindisi)

FIGLIO MIO [my son—reference to a brand-new missionary]

Hey everybody! I hope y'all had a good week and that everyone is doing
well. This week has been really good and I am excited to still keep
working in Brindisi. We received transfer calls on Monday night and I

found out that I would be losing my homie Anziano Morlock (he got

transferred down to Scaccia in Sicilia, which is next to Trapani) and
I will be staying here in Brindisi to train a new missionary. I am
pretty excited--it's fun to help him learn the language and teach
him the things that I have learned. So my companion’s name is Anziano
Young, and he is from Saint George, Utah.
He's a cool guy and likes sports, and his language skills are really
good already, so I am excited to work with him. Also, he's a beast at
the piano which means in church we won't have to listen to CDs anymore
when we sing, which will be really nice. Because I am training, I will
be in Brindisi (most likely) for a total of 6 months, which, to be
honest, I am still trying to be excited about. I know that I need to
grow my love for this area more so this will be a good challenge for
me.

So Wednesday was SICKK and I want to tell y'all about that. That
morning we were in the church helping our branch president with some
things and then we received a call from the ZL's telling us that we

needed to get up to Bari as fast as we can because all the travel plans
are messed up (because of Ferragosto so everything like shuts down)
and so it would be best if we were there. So we basically dropped
everything and cancelled our appointments and headed there. While on
the train we met some of the coolest people that I have met on my
mission. They were three homies that were from Foggia and they were in
Lecce for vacation. We started to talk and we taught them about the
gospel and the Book of Mormon and it was really special because
I showed the girl (20 years old) the promise (of how we can personally

know if the Book of Mormon is true we need to read it with a sincere
heart and real desire and ask God. Then he will tell us the truth
through the power of the Holy Ghost) and she was really touched by it.
She took out her phone and took a picture of the verses and kept
reading onward in the chapter. We then were able to talk about the
spirit and got their contact information for the sister missionaries
in Foggia, so I really hope that they continue to meet with them to
know if the message that we bring is true because they were so nice
and super cool.

After that I was able to go up with Anziano Nessen to a different city
to teach a family that is going to be baptized this Saturday (husband
and wife). This family is incredible and it was really cool to be

able to talk to the mom as she explained that she met the missionaries
when she was 13 and they gave her a Book of Mormon. Then something
happened and all the missionaries got taken out of that city and so
she completely lost contact. Then years later (as she was still
looking for the missionaries), the anziani knocked on her door the day
that she married her husband. Soooo cool, so now they have two kids
and are already saving up their money to go to Switzerland to be
sealed (married for all time and eternity) in the Temple. She still
has kept the Book of Mormon from all of those years ago and so this
really shows me that as missionaries we really do plant seeds. We
might not realize the total effect that we may have on others and so I
was really grateful and I am very excited for them to be baptized this
Sunday. They will be 2 out of 3 members now that live in that city,
and they have firm testimonies that they know this is true. They are
really good examples to me.

On Thursday morning we went to the train station to drop off my
companion Anziano Morlock. I am grateful for all of the things that I
have learned from him. He is a great missionary and we definitely had

a good time together. Everyone was very sad to see him go and in Corso
some people were crying, so it was sad but he was excited to go to
Sicily. So while we were standing at the station, we looked over and
there was this crazy lady over by the tracks yelling at this one guy. I
couldn't really understand her but then I looked in her hand and she
had a needle and she was cleaning it in a water fountain. Then she
like goes behind this bush and this guy injects her in the neck with
some kinda drug or something. What…?!?!!? I love Italy so much--that was just
one of the weirdest things I have ever seen. Super messed up... Then
Anziano Morlock and also Anziano Cannon and Anziano Larrain headed out
and I waited, working with the zone leaders, until my new companion
arrived.

Other than that we have been working hard to find new people. I have
enjoyed being with Anziano Young these past few days because he really
tries hard to be exactly obedient. I also like cooking and I have been
cooking all of the things that I know how to cook so he thinks I am
like a beast but within a week I am going to run out of ideas... Dang
lolol but things are going really good. I am excited to see what we can
accomplish these next two transfers together.

So for my funny experience-

In Brindisi I have had my worst experiences with women on my mission
so far. Just like women or girls hitting on us or drunk women or stuff
like that. So this Monday this woman (who is about 35) with her
daughter (who comes to corso) and her other daughter comes up to us
and says, "Hey!!! How are you guys? My husband’s at work right now.. Do
you guys go dancing?? "Umm no. (In my mind: what the freak lady are
you kidding me right now??!)" "Ohh okay, what about to the beach?"
"Umm noo (in my mind: what is wrong with you lady??).." "Okay.. Well how
about we get a picture together.. And then next week you can come over
to my house to eat dinner (in my mind: perfect, the husband will be
there and we will share a good message with them;))." So we will see
how that goes this week haha!

For my spiritual thought I wanted to share something from a talk that
I read called the Power of Self Mastery. Self mastery is something
that I am still struggling with and it’s kinda like a constant battle,
especially with my thoughts, because I want to have all my desire and

my thoughts focused on the work. To bring that power, I am working and doing
my best. But spending time in Bari and actually being around other
missionaries, seeing big churches, lots of movement in the cities…all that
really caused me to take kinda a hard blow when we came back to
Brindisi and it’s just... us. It's cool, but at the same time it's kinda
tough. But I am grateful for some of the things that I read from this
talk because it talks about perseverance, not giving up, and doing
your best..

There is this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson which he lived by: “That which we persist in
doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing
itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased.”

I think that is so sick and so true, the more that I persist and focus
and get my head here in Brindisi and put all my efforts here (which I
am really trying to do— it's just getting refocused after all the stuff
that has happened the past few weeks), I will have more power and
strength, will and love to continue and serve in this city. In the
talk he then finishes with this famous poem called Invictus..

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed. …

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I know that I really am the master of my own fate and the one that
is in charge of what I do with myself on my mission. There is that
quote that says, "My greatest enemy is myself" and I want to
master my weaker self into knowing that I can become something
stronger and be a better missionary.

I love you guys!! Have a great week and enjoy being back at school, my
little savage brothers Gav and Caden;)

Love,

Anziano Spencer