Week 22--Dec 7 (Last week in Terni!)

(Don't miss all the pics at the bottom!)

TRAPANI!!

Wazzupp my family!! I hope everyone is doing so good! Okay, so by my title of this email y'all can guess that I got transferred!! I got the call on Saturday and like I don't know why but Friday night before transfers feels like the day before Christmas for me.  Like Christmas Eve kinda just getting super hyped and excited. Anyway, so Saturday morning we wait for the AP's to call us and tell us if we are going to another city or if we are going to stay. So we waited... And waited. Goodness we had a lesson right after studies and so we go to that and 5 minutes into the lesson I feel the phone ringing and I was like are you serious. Lolol. Kinda like wanting to go downstairs to see what you got from Santa but you can't kinda thing. The waiting was agonizing haha. So finally we called them after our lesson and I was told that I am going to be transferred to Trapani, Sicily!! I am sooo excited!! It's the farthest I could possibly go on my mission (I have like a 12-hour train ride and I have to take a boat as well) to get there but I am seriously so happy.

My companion is Anziano Garret who I met cause he was in my zone and he's super sick. Into sports, fun, good missionary, and the only thing that I know about Trapani is if any of y'all have seen the new bible videos, that's where they filmed them. It's right on the coast, and there are actually islands in my area so that will be really cool. Anziano Palazzo got transferred too and he is actually the new Zone Leader right next to my city in Palermo and I think that he is in my district so we will be literally together for around 8-9 months That's a long time, but he's a really good example to me and teaches me so much so I have been really blessed. 

I am really sad to be leaving Terni though (I leave Thursday morning). I have made a lot of really close friends here who are very inspiring. Also, there are people every day who maybe don't want to hear about the gospel but who love to say hello and see how we are doing. Little things make the difference!! Yesterday I was able to give my farewell testimony and afterwards Sorella Petrucci leaned over and said, “You're a great missionary" which really helped me a lot because sometimes I feel like I can't be as effective as I want to cause I can't always communicate as much as I want. So that really meant a lot to me. And just a bunch of families who I have met that were saying goodbye, and our investigators, also the Tarzan-looking guy who literally crushes my hand every time even though I am trying to get stronger to crush his back. Things like that. So Terni has been a really good experience for me and I am super grateful that I got to serve here with my companion cause I have learned a lot from him too and really respect him. 

This week, though, has been pretty good, other than that last week I actually really hurt my knee in that football game that I played in. So I have been in a lot of pain because of that lately. I called a doctor on the phone who is a senior missionary here that's a specialist surgeon for this stuff. He said that I might have torn my ACL or my Miniscus but because I have been getting a little better he thinks that I tore it in a place where it will heal on its own. So it still hurts and sometimes my knee randomly will lock up where I can't straighten it, which is awful, and one of my companions will straighten it out for me--which is excruciating pain... but I was able to receive a blessing which gave me a lot  of faith and hope. It was actually a really powerful experience for me with the three missionaries that I have become really close to. So I am just doing my best to not strain it and to hope that it will get better. I was at a family's house last night and they are really into natural healing. They gave me "virgin soil" (umm what?) and so I basically put mud on my knee and wrap it up. She said it worked for her compound fracture on her shoulder and I am willing to try anything to get better so it's so sick now. I sleep with mud paste on my knee--like not gonna lie--how awesome is that?! I was actually super appreciative they were giving me all the advice they could to help me and to take care of me so that was really nice. (And I am only telling you this because when I write I try to be honest and let y'all know what's going on; I really don't want to sound like I am complaining or anything like that! I hope y'all can see that!!)

So one of the things that I really like studying is motivation, desires, effort...Things like that and there is this quote that I really like, 

"You may have learned endurance playing a trumpet, or throwing a football, or riding a bucking horse, or drawing a picture. But you learned what we all did. Effort only “now and then” didn’t take you far. The dreams that turned into reality stuck with you nearly all the time. You worked at them, either in fact or in your thoughts, every day and almost every hour."

I know that as I try to get better at the language, try to understand how to help people and know what to best teach people, that if I really put my full effort into it, then the spirit can help guide and direct me. I know that it takes time but as I continue to become a better missionary, to really bless and help people the way that Jesus Christ would and put in my full effort, then I can be the missionary that Heavenly Father would have me be!!  I am grateful for that and also for the knowledge that I have of Jesus Christ. Because of him we can be made clean again and we can be better. I have felt strength from him during trials like this week with being able to still work even with my now-pathetic leg. Things like that...I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a missionary and share that with everyone!! I love y'all! Thanks for your support and prayers; they really mean a lot to me!!

Love,

Anziano Spencer

Terni dressed up for the holidays