Its going to be the best Christmas ever!

Dear Family and Friends,

I love you all so dearly. I love being a missionary! So I have some great news!

We had a zone conference this past week with a 70. We learned some really great things. We were also able to ask President about Hilda and her family and their situation with immigration and baptism. Well it may turn out that Hilda might not be able to be baptized until the laws change. This hurt my heart. In the zone conference we talked about having a white Christmas, or in other words a Christmas of baptisms. After hearing about Hilda and Juan and the fact that we would have to wait, the idea came to my mind that Alonzo and Jonathan could get baptized. I prayed about this and thought about it alot. I have always felt like this family needed to get baptized together. I felt like having the kids get baptized was just right. Well we went to talk to Hilda on Thursday. We told her the news and she was pretty sad. She wants to get baptized to keep progressing. She wants these blessing for her family. After this she asked, "what about the kids?" So then we told her what we had been thinking. We told her we have even thought of a date. When we said Christmas, the Spirit was just so strong. We all knew it was what the Lord wanted. So Hilda wanted to tell the kids. They are so happy! So this Christmas will probably be one of the most special days of my mission. These kids mean a lot to me. We asked them who they wanted to baptize them and Jonathan said, "Ovalle!" (He is one of the Elders that serves in the ward with us) and Alonzo said, "Bishop!" They both had already decided. Elder Ovalle is super excited as well. It will be his first time to baptize someone. This has made me so happy! CHRISTMAS = BAPTISM!

We have also seen small miracles this week with less actives. Elvia was baptized and almost immediately stopped going to church. Last week we asked her to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. She has been reading the Liahona edition about the Book of Mormon. We went by last week and it was one of my favorite sites, her kitchen table was covered with her scriptures and liahona. She was so excited to have us there. She talked about how she felt about the Book of Mormon. She said that it has to be true because of th way she feels. I really was surprised. She has had a really hard time reading the Book of Mormon. She has been praying for her answer every night and now knows that it has to be true and has the goal of going to the temple this next year. I am so convinced that if anyone will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, that they will know its true. The Lord is so magnificent. He knows exactly when and how we need to receive this answer.

In Zone Conference we talked about what does it mean to be a successful missionary. Elder Wilson said it means to make a difference. I know that I have made a difference here. I know the ward is better because I have been here. I now am going to be able to see two awesome kids get baptized. I love the gospel so much. It is everything to me. I think one of the purposes of me going on a mission was to help me see just really how it works, why its important and how I can love people. I also think another reason is because I need to get married and have children. I feel like my love for children grows everyday and my desire to have a family grows as well.....SCARY!

After zone conference we had a small sisters meeting with Sister Wilson and Sister Maynes. We were able to ask questions and I asked something that I really didn't want to ask. I asked how to overcome the feeling of always feeling like I have never done my best, that I could always do more. It is a feeling that is hard to describe. Sister Wilson read something so great out of 2 Cor. and she said something that I will not forget. She said that Satan wants us to feel this way and get us to focus on ourselves and not on others. He wants us to feel like we are never good enough and that we can never be good enough. This has helped me so much this last week. I feel like I have been suffering from this and for a while not even realizing it. So no more thinking about Hermana Spencer.

I have also been given another opportunity to grow. Something that I can't really talk about. I am so grateful for the mission. For everything that I have and every experience.

I love you all and hope that you get something from my emails.

Love,

Hermana Spencer