Week 12--Sept 28 (Terni)

TRANSFER NUMBAA 1!

Hey everybody! It's so crazy to think that I have already finished my first transfer out in the mission. And to be honest it went by so fast. Sure there were some really hard and rough days but the amazing thing is is that God always blesses you with awesome and rewarding days too. So I am still staying in Terni which I already guessed because I still have to finish my training but my companion got assigned as a District Leader so that's pretty sick. And sadly Anziano Calvanga (my little Italian, Ginger, friend who is such a boss) got transferred to be an office elder:/ BUT the new missionary that is taking his place.. His name is Anziano Slayed.. I am just going to say that one more time cause that is the sickest last name I have probably ever heard Anziano Slayed... Goodness that's so sweet. And I heard he is super solid and is coming from the hardest city in the mission where he was a district leader, trainer, and zone leader all at the same time so I am pumped to have another missionary in the house that wants to work hard and he will probably push me  to try harder and be better like Anziano Calvanga did. 

So this week was honestly a really hard week. Not in a sense that people were really mean to us cause that's just a normal now haha but the fact that we got 10 bidones which means we had 10 appointments set up with hopefully potentials and new investigators and they all cancelled on us or just didn't show up. So that was really frustrating for me cause I am trying my best to work hard and help others but when they don't show up then that's on them. I was able to do a scambia this week with Anziano Palazzo (my Texas brothaa) and I honestly learned so much about goals, using my time effectively, and he gave me such great advice and told me to keep doing what I am doing which really helped me out a lot. He's awesome so I am super glad that he is staying in the same house for the next 6 weeks so that I can keep learning.

An amazing experience that I had this week was our lesson with our investigator, H. He has been working with us and I have mentioned him in my other emails. Anyway he called us on Monday and asked us if we could come over to his house that night to help him cause he was really upset. There are things going on in his life that are just awful and so he really needed help. He started talking to us and he took our hands and started crying and so a prompting came into my head (and later Anziano Ray had the same prompting, he told me after the lesson) to give him a priesthood blessing. We explained to him that this blessing is a very special thing that can help him have peace in his life which is what he needs. He asked me if I could give it to him and it was a really amazing experience for me to do that and then to talk to him after and see how he felt. When we left he was like "thank you, thank you I feel very happy!!" And then later in the week we taught him again and he told us that we have brought happiness into his life. He came to church this week too and is still reading the Book of Mormon and every time we go over he has really good questions. Aww I love H. so much. We have even talked to him about buying some African food and bringing it over to his house and we can all cook African food together so that would be soo cool! 

Another thing that happened this week was I gave a talk yesterday in church!! Probably one of the scariest things that I have done on my life not gonna lie. We got a call on Saturday that they needed someone to speak so I decided to do it cause I am trying to challenge and push myself with the language. I was super stressed for the talk though, but I was talking about missionary work so it wasn't too hard to prepare. It was just in a different language which was the difficult part. To show how nervous I was though, without realizing it I wore the wrong pants with my suit coat. (Noticed that after my talk lololol) Ohh managa!! Blue suit coat with black pants. It was awesome hahaha. But even though I felt like I didn't do that well, and I messed up a few times, people told me that they still understood me and that my talk went really well so I am really really grateful for all the support and prayers and for the spirit cause if it weren't for y'all I probably would have died up there in front of our big ward of 50 people haha. 

Well my thought for the week comes from one of the things that Anziano Palazzo told me when he was doing our review. He said that when you are at a very high point in your life (maybe personality, confidence, spiritually) and you are a companion or friends, with someone that is struggling with trials, following rules, things like that.. Bring them up to your point. Don't go down onto their level but help them reach their full potential that they can reach. I really like that a lot cause we can all help someone out there who might need it.

Alright well I love y'all! Thanks for the letters and the support!!

Love, Anziano Spencer

P. S so today we went to the Narni castle and it ended up being closed.. But we still got to see some sick views of our area, take some sweet pics, and get gelato so it has still been a good day! I guess I take it for granted sometimes that we were up in the mountains in Italy, walking through cobblestone streets, and seeing castles in the mountains. Awesome p-day today!! I LOVE Y'ALL!!

Shoutout to Benson you are going to kill it in the mission field dude I am sooo excited for you!! Can't wait for you to join me over in the European world!