Week 18--Nov 9 (Terni)

Transfer NUMBAA 3!! And I remain in Terni.. Lol

Hey everyone! It was so nice to get all y’alls letters and support this week; thank you so much! How is everyone doing by the way? Soo we got our transfer calls this week and I was super excited. Not gonna lie it was like the night before Christmas when I was a kid, that's how stoked I was. So the next morning I got the call from Anziano Pingree who was "born" in Terni like me so we have that like brotha connection which is pretty cool. Anyway, he starts talking to me and he was like Anziano Spencer what do you know about Calabria? And I was like oh I have no idea it's in Sicily thought right?!?? I I started getting so pumped with adrenaline going to a new city and everything and he was like I am just kidding bud you’re staying in Terni... What. All the adrenaline just gone hahah so yeah I remain here for another 4 weeks. Hahaha so yeah our house didn't change at all so it's still me, my companion Anziano Ray, Anziano Slade, and Anziano Palazzo. But, I am doing my best to realize that this is where the Lord needs me, and there are still always things for me to learn living in a house with the district leader, and the zone leaders, and then there is me.. The scrub haha. So life is good!

Anyway this week was pretty awesome! We have found 2 new investigators that are really interested and one of them seriously is super prepared to hear the gospel. She said she noticed something different about us when we prayed personally to Heavenly Father instead of saying memorized prayers. We had a very powerful lesson with her that was a really good experience for me so I am really grateful for that! The spirit was seriously so strong, we just haven't been able to meet with her since because she has to work so much. But, I have really high hopes for the both of them!

Umm another thing is that we finally were able to work at the Catitas! We met with the guy in charge and he said that we are allowed to come once a week to help out so we went on Saturday cause that's when their youth work there. So something that I have learned is that the Catitas serve food, as in we served food, to all the homeless drug addicts that have cussed us out in the streets, or yelled at us in the grocery stores. Oh man I guess I have to really develop my patience and love even more cause it was hard to give food to a person and smile with love [that has been rude to us] (I am being completely honest here). So yeah I have a lot of weaknesses and that isdefinitely one of them but I am trying to be better! We got along really well with the other volunteers though so hopefully something will come of it!!

Yesterday I had another very interesting experience. Again. This time with a woman begging me to take her dancing. I seriously don't understand it, like there are no boundaries here. So what happened is we were doing some sick finding like the normal. And we stopped this one 28 year old woman that ended up being one of our English course students that hasn't come for a while. We started talking and she told me that she was going dancing. And then asked me if I had ever heard of swing dancing?! Ummmm... Did you say swing dancing like OF COURSE I HAVE!! I love swing dancing!! So that was my mistake by telling her that I know how and I love swing. She then persisted for the next 5 minutes begging me to take her and how I need to call my "boss" (mission president lolol) and ask him to make an exception cause she had invited me and once I shut that down for like the 5th time she started to go into batting her eyelashes (as if that was going to do anything) and saying "Spencer, Spencer Dai Dai (meaning like “ 'mon”)”-- it was so bad. So yeah that was interesting, she said she will be at corso on Thursday to see what my "boss” had said.

So yeah those were some of the interesting things that happened this week. So to be honest I was really hoping that I would be transferred. For me I really like change and I wanted a different experience in a new city and to be honest Terni has been really hard lately. We basically do finding every single day and just different things that are going on that make it hard. So I was hoping for something better. So when I got the call that no one would be leaving and we would all be staying I was super bummed out and pretty upset. But then I realized that if I left that would be like running from my problems and I don't want to do that. I need to make this city better that I found it ( I sound like I am Oliver Queen from Arrow oh gosh haha) and right now it's not a whole lot better even though we have been working our hardest. That's just how it is I guess.. Sooo I am just trying to keep my head up and trying my best to stay positive. 

I was looking through my notes that I have made and I really liked this, especially for right now. It's from a talk by President Boyd K. Packer titled Called to Serve.

"It is not in the proper spirit for us to decide where we will serve or where we will not. We serve where we are called. It does not matter what the calling may be."

So yeah I really liked that. I love being a missionary and the Church is True!!

Love Y'all!!

Anziano Spencer