The Craziest...

Dear Family, Friends and Strangers,

This last week was so crazy. Literally crazy.

1. La Familia Mancera (our rock star investigator family) got kicked out of their house last week. So we helped them look for boxes, apartments and storage. We were having such a hard time finding an apartment because they don't have papers. I don't know how they all do it, but they get jobs and find apartments. Sadly, the family moved out of the mission. All five of them were on date for the 27th. They live less than a mile outside the mission. I won't lie we were devastated, but we feel much better about it now.

2. Our other investigator, Yeni, decided to go to Mexico randomly....hopefully she will get back soon. She still is great. We met with her on Tuesday and she is just so great. She is already half way through first Nephi with lots of questions. She even prayed that she could be ready for her baptismal date.

3. Church....As a missionary, church is so exhausting. We have a meeting at 7:45 with the bishop. Afterwards we made copies and confirmed rides for our investigators. We had a lady with 6 children come. I felt like a mom. Luckily we were prepared with crayons and coloring pictures of Jesus. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting. President has asked us to have at least one missionary bear their testimony every month. I really wanted to share my testimony yesterday. I went up there and the people ahead of me took a while. A member of the bishopric got up and closed the meeting before I could share my testimony.....all the ward members were looking so confused. It was the weirdest thing.....so I just sat up there and sung the hymn. Also we are having our huge activity about missionary work this next Saturday. We are doing so much work for this. Next week, we are also staring our English classes.....or we think so. We are having a hard time organizing it with the stake and the ward. So wish us luck. We had a less active, Yazmin, bear her testimony about las hermanas and the BOM. I was so filled with joy! She is reading every night and it is changing her. I then went to primary...with all of our investigator children. I love primary lol!

4. Rivera Family! They are totally changing. La hermana called us this week and told us about her reading from the scriptures. She really is increasing her testimony. She wants to start FHE now. Yesterday we went to visit another family in the ward and they were there. We visited the Fam. Palacio. They also love us. Hermana Rivera called me Mija....lol...crazy El Salvadorian lady :) Both of these families are growing the gospel.

I really love being a missionary. Its been 8 months now! Sorry this is a short one.

One more thing. This week I had a really hard time, personally, loosing investigators...etc. Heavenly Father really taught me a little about the Atonement. It is so real. He wants us to us it so much more than we do. Also there is power in going to the temple. I went on Wednesday and it was so amazing. Remembering our covenants really gives us power.

I love you all!

Hermana Spencer

P.S. Cathy - in Bro. Merrill's institute thing from last fall....is stuff from my mission president...Alan Maynes. Its about questions....could you find that for me and send it? I love you!

Will you marry me?

Dear Family and Friends....

This week was an interesting week. I felt exhausted...and so did Hna. Coughlen. This week we put Yeni on date for the 20th of August! We are super excited. She is doing well. Also Fam. Mancera are great! Maria "proposed" to Alfredo. . .She asked him to marry her and he said can I have a week to think about it. lol.  We are making plans for their wedding. She wants to go look for a dress to wear and Freddi said "I'm not marrying a dress...we've been together for 23 years." They are just really funny. I told them I would make them a cake for their party. So we called some English Elders and asked them if they knew anyone who would have the pans and it turns out that they have 3 people in their ward that make wedding cakes. . . so now we are getting a professional wedding cake done for free! Yay. Another member is also taking pictures. So things are going well.

Also the ward really trusts us here. We might be going shopping with some of the YW today and help with dress more modestly. The ward just loves to see us. We were also surprised attacked to teach sharing time in primary. It was really odd....she stopped me in the hall and asked if I could help a little in primary. We soon learned it was all the missionaries and we were not just helping we were teaching. Luckily we were just helping the kids talk about the temple. I really do love primary. We are trying to memorize more songs to teach to children.

We are worried that we might have to drop one of our favorite investigators, Maricela. She is a great person and I love her kids. She just is not progressing the way she should. She has been meeting with us for almost 6 months and still does not want to read the Book of Mormon as much as she should. Really that action of reading the Book of Mormon is so important. We fasted for her this last weekend because we really have no idea how to help her progress. I remember meeting with her one time and just feeling like she would get baptized. Hopefully something will change soon.

Also some great news! One of our almost active less actives blessed the sacrament for the first time yesterday. He was so cute. I was praying so hard that he would get the words right. Later on we went by with his family and read the Book of Mormon. I asked him how he felt. He said he was super nervous but was glad he got to do it. They were also asking about buying the FHE manual and also nice scriptures. The teenage daughter, Ana, said....they're buying church books? What more do you want from us? LOL. They always say that we could move in with them. They just love us so much. They can't see how much their home has changed, but we can. They are all more happy and their is so much more love in that house. The gospel really does change families.

Sorry this is a shorter letter...I don't have a lot of thoughts today. I am planning on taking my first nap today :) Hopefully I will be able to.

Love,

Hermana Spencer

The Big 55!

Dear Family and Friends!

This last week was insane and amazing. Sorry I am writing late....a lot of crazy things have happened. First, I did not get transferred and neither did Hermana Coughlen. By the end of this transfer we will have severed together 6 months...or a 1/3 of our missions...crazy! We were happy because we really want baptisms together. So I still live at the same address and everything.

So last week we did it! We broke the mission record and got 55 lessons in one week. It was so rough, but great. We knocked and had some time in between appointments. We are really working on having smaller more powerful lessons. It was great. All of the leaders got a shot out from President about us...so we must not be doing that bad. Our district almost averaged 40 lessons! Also we have a family on date for next month, August 27! We are super excited. We will also be having a wedding before that so they can get married. All of the kids are excited. This is so much better than 55 lessons. They are a family of 6 - 5 of them will be getting baptized and the little one in November. They already want to go to the temple! Yay Fam. Mancera!

Also we have a rock star investigator. Her name is Yeni! We met her brother when we didn't have a car. The first time we met with them was two weeks ago. It was a super awkward lesson. The brother, Ramundo was cooking on the grill and the family was on the porch. So....they fed us (side note...it was a great hamburger). It was just a difficult lesson because we didn't know what to expect and the brother was cooking. Yeni was the most interested. Last week when we went by with them she was home. She was so glad we had come back...and we just thought "I hope one of them is interested." Almost two weeks ago...her friend's mom died. She remembered what we had said about families being together forever. She wanted to know how and invite her friend to learn. She had already told her friend about us. We taught her a little of the plan and committed her to be baptized next month. She already uses the Book of Mormon....prays with her friends and she went to church this last Sunday. She was so cute. She was worried about what skirts she could wear and was super nervous all through church...but she loved it. She can't wait to go back. She just wants it so much.

None of the Spanish sisters moved this last transfer. So next one will be crazy.

We have seen so many miracles. Just small ones. I really am so grateful that they still do exist. One is Hannah...I think I wrote about her a little. We found her. She is a less active that is gay. Yesterday we went and helped her clean her moms house. Her mom is a hoarder and the house was very dirty. It was so great to help her. We both felt so great about what we had done. She was also so grateful. Afterwards, she prayed for the first time in a long time. It was so great to hear her prayer. I found a talk I really like that says..."Love them today so you can teach them tomorrow." I feel like I can do a lot of loving. It is so wonderful to know that you have answered a prayer or followed the Spirit. I am slowly learning that God really is never that far from us. He was us all back.

It is official...I will be coming home the 27th of June. I talked to President yesterday and its done! So yay!

I have been thinking a lot of about my mission lately. It feels like I just started and everything. I know I am learning so many lessons. Yesterday one of the Elders who was going home said "Sometimes your mission isn't the best two years of your life, but the best two years for your life." I feel this way. I have hard times so much. Sometimes a day is really up and down. I feel like I used to find it easier to be happy...BUT I know that this is where I need to be and am so glad I am here. The Lord is truly blessing me more than I realize. My Spanish is progressing. My ability to teach is also progressing. I feel more comfortable as a missionary and honestly wish I had more time. We have a challenge from our mission president to change our attitudes and I want to be more happy, just more excited. I want people to still know me as the girl who always smiles.

I hope you all are enjoying the long email today. It feels good to use this time for yall!

Funny story about a coupon. I went to the dermatologist last week. She gave me a coupon for a face cream that she said was kinda expensive. When we went to pick it up.....it was over $400 dollars. Seriously that much for a face cream....is it made of gold? Well with that coupon it was free! It was the best coupon ever!

Seriously - I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Everyone should do it! The Lord is so mindful of us and wants us to be happy. He wants to have everything....and one day we can have everything, but we have to learn first to follow Him first!

I love you,

Hermana Spencer

Shout outs!

Garrett - Happy Birthday! Enjoy Chile!

Hna. Ruiz - I loved your letter and expect a letter soon. You will love it!

Sam - Can you get Ally's address for me?

Cathy and Katie - I love you and was surprised....very surprised!

I'm 23!

Howdy Yall

So this last week was crazy. We were so busy! We taught 49 lessons! Sadly I do not have that much time to email because we had to help someone move.

My birthday was awesome! We taught 10 lessons. I made 2 cakes for other people and someone gave me cake....It was a lot of cake. I also got lots of texts from random missionaries. Thank you so much to everyone who sent mail. It was fantastic. It is a little weird to be 23. Also all of the packages and letters arrived perfectly! Thanks!

This last week I learned a little about miracles and how the Holy Ghost works on us.

1. We decided to go and knock this random apartment complex one night. The next day we were debating about what to do. We ended up going to it and the first door we knocked an old man answered and told us it was a horrible time to come because the whole first floor got flooded (it has been raining a lot). So we thought about leaving. Well luckily I have a brain and thought, maybe we could go to the second floor. So we did. We found this lady named Hannah. She is white/native American and is gay, but she also turns out to be a member of the church. We were able to be an answer to someones prayers. Her grandmother died recently and she has a horrible family. She has been praying a lot. We were able to testify to her that God loves her. She knew that we were sent by God.

2. Yesterday we had some down time...because no one was home. So we went knocking. We both thought of this purple house we had passed by when we didn't have a car. We usually go a way to get up there, but yesterday I had the thought to go up Willams....well we were on Willams and Hna. Coughlen sees a random less active that we haven't seen recently. And guess what it was her! We walked down the street and she was really happy to see us! We were able to teach her about priesthood blessings on the street :) Then we went to the purple house area....and we learned something. Some people opened when we knocked on the purple house and they said the lady only speaks Spanish and that they were leaving (perfect). Then they asked if she wanted to talk to us...she didn't. I noticed something inside - it was one of those ribbons for funerals. Then we saw lots of people come by and bring food. It was just a small thing, but we know we need to go back.

So in these circumstances we didn't feel the spirit really tell us anything, but we later learned we were doing the right thing. I have so much to learn.

The mission has a record for the most lessons taught in one week....54. We might be teaching 55. We have been focusing on shorter lessons more frequently (according to our mission president) and just have lots of new people.

Next week is transfers. I really hope we both stay here. I don't feel like I am moving, but we shall see! I think we will be having several baptisms this next transfer :)

I love you all,

Hermana Spencer

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a very interesting week. Right after I emailed last week....our car started to die.....It was really bad timing....but when is it ever good timing. So we took it in and luckily President gave us permission to get dropped off by the Elders. After our first appointment we walked to our next one and it was great walking. Our area is so huge so we already knew it would be hard getting everywhere we needed to go.

The next day we had the temple at 6:30 in the morning....and its like 25 minutes away....so we got a ride. The temple was amazing. I always love going to the temple because we get to be in the temple and because we get to see the other sisters. The temple just makes me smile and I always feel better afterwards. This day was one of the best in the mission. We asked President Maynes to drop us off down town. On the way we talked about the English class that we will be organizing and teaching here. When he dropped us off...it was like getting dropped off as little kids at school. We talked to so many people that day. We didn't realize how heavy our bags were. We found some great people to teach that day. Heavenly Father really leads us to people who need the gospel and helps us avoid the rain. We would get on someones porch and start to teach and it would begin to rain. We would then say the closing prayer ...and it stopped. We were so blessed this day. I felt like a missionary and we were so happy all day long. We also ate some great food....they have some great Mexican food down town. We walked a lot that day and luckily got a ride home. We were trying to find a ride for the next morning to district meeting, but so many people don't have cars or they have a car and they work.

The next day we had to have the Elders get us again :) We were really worried about another day with out the car because we had so many people we needed to see. We got a ride to district meeting and it was fantastic. We took the bus the first time. I won't lie it took a while to get to down town (we went there because it dramatically increases the chances of finding people who speak Spanish). We got down there and the third house we knocked on was Alex. Alex is super cool. He is 19 and has a phobia of leaving his house. He hasn't really let a lot in the past 2 years. He wants so badly to get over this anxiety. Hopefully we will teach him again today. While we were teaching on the porch...it started to hail....luckily we were teaching. It was raining really hard...and of course we wouldn't have anything for the rain. We had to leave the appointment eventually so we decided to walk. We got soaked so fast. The street we were on apparently floods a lot. We ending up walking in water almost up to our knees. It would not stop raining (Colorado keeps stealing Texas's rain). Luckily some nice ladies let us into a school where we waiting out some of the rain and the flooding. We got some good pictures. One of the ladies gave us a ride to a members house. She then took us home and we got a car!

Here is the account from Hermana Coughlen which is way better than mine:

So our trusty car Jonas (or Jonah in English) died Tuesday morning. What are two little Spanish speaking missionaries supposed to do in an area so big with no car! I'll tell you what we do... we walk and take the bus! The work must go on :) We didn't have a lot of success Tuesday because we had to go to the mechanic and we spent our day in Aurora which is more suburb-y and harder to walk around since there aren't many Hispanics and all the members and people we visit live so far apart. Wednesday we got dropped off in downtown (we call the suburbs around Denver downtown since there is no residential in the real DT) by President and Sister Maynes. They looked at us with puzzled faces when we answered their question to "how are you going to get home?" with smiling faces "we will ask a member... or take the bus... or walk!" We hoofed it all day with what seemed like 20lb bags and got a great missionary tan. We talked with everyone on the streets which was really fun because usually we are in a car and can't do that. We got home dog tired... but then had to move the furniture for the carpet cleaners that we coming the next day! All we wanted to do was crash but we had to move my 1974 teachers desk which may be made from led into the kitchen and stack another desk, boxes, chairs and a fan on top! Breakfast next morning was exciting as I climbed the tower of Babel to get to our cereal. We took the bus into downtown that Thursday morning prep-ed for another day of walking and talking. It started out well, but you have heard the Denver stories, storms that seem to spawn from the clear blue sky! Out of nowhere a rail-ice-marble sized hail storm was in full vengeance against all the citizens of Denver! We tried to seek refuge under a porch (where we talked to the owner for a good time) but knew that we had to move on. A member didn't live too far away so we decided it wasn't a bad idea to book it for their apartment. Well, we were obviously not expecting for the historic streets and ancient drainage system to fail us so quickly because soon enough we were wading through knee high water in the middle of the crowned streets!! We found it more then entertaining and were very happy that neither of us chose to wear white that day ;) We were welcomed into a school by some lovely middle aged office ladies who yelled at us from their window to come in. We camped out there for an hour or so. We watched as the street turned into a river and soccer balls, large pieces of wood, trash cans and shoes floated town the street! A few cars stalled because the water too... that is bad new bears because the engine is most likely a goner! One of the lovely middle aged office ladies gave us a ride to Monica Ruiseco's house where we received a dry shirt and a warm dinner of chicken tacos and watermelon water. Excellent way to finish the night. She gave us a ride home which was much appreciated. We got home to our wet carpet and furniture-less apartment. We moved the beds... goodnight.

We have a car now. A little Corolla (Gold) which beeps at everything! If the seat belt is undone for more than 3 seconds, if the door is left open for more then 5 or if the doors get locked before the doors are closed. We call him our little whinny old man. He needs a name soon. Suggestions?

So what should we name our car....post on my blog and vote...Sam please send me the results :)

We still managed to teach 30 lessons this week! The work is going great here. We loved walking! I got to go to primary yesterday we some of our investigators. I loved it. We got to sing and eat cake! They announced me as a special guest and were so happy to sing I hope they call me on a mission lol. I was so glad I was there. Those kids have such great testimonies.

Today we are going shopping, and I hope I find something! I am super excited about my birthday and am still trying to figure out how to make it special! I know it will be special. We are praying for miracles here. We see the Lord's hand a lot. I know that He loves us more than we know. I hope you all know that I appreciate every prayer and every letter.

I love you all,

Hermana Spencer

I love you all!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been really crazy and good. I want to tell you how much I love being a missionary. I wish I could say that every day wasn't a struggle, but it still is changing me and allowing me to help others. We have two new people on date Juana and Armando! We are really excited about them. I want to tell you about Hermana Ruiseco...I have mentioned her before.

The other night we went over there to visit. She told us about a crazy story involving domestic violence. I can't describe the way I feel about her. I only want what is best for her. I want her to be happy. I told her that the other night and she said I know. She said, " I know you all are always here for me." Then me...being me said, "We are not always going to be here." She told us there is always the phone and always mail. She says every time that she sees us, she feels she can do it just a little longer. She always listens to the things we tell her to do. That woman has made me want to be better. I will be going to her house for my birthday :)

Maria Mercedes....The other night we went to visit her. Her husband is in jail and will probably be deported. She has no family here and she works cleaning hotels over 10 hours every day. She wants to be strong. The other night she sobbed in front of us. She doesn't want her kids to know, but they feel it. She just doesn't know what to do, the only thing she knows is she doesn't want to go back to Mexico. Sometimes we feel so inadequate to help these people....but the thing that I have learned is that the gospel can help anyone!

The 4th! I celebrated with a lot of people who are not citizens :) I loved it. The ward had an activity. They played soccer and ate :) Hna Salazar was making hand made tortillas in the park! The food was great like usual. I spent most of the day playing Frisbee with little kids. It was great. I loved it. We spent a lot of time there and then did the things we needed to do. We had to be in early so we only really went to dinner. Tomorrow we get to go to the temple and I am so excited. I love the temple so much.

So last Tuesday we stopped by a newer investigators house. They sell fruit and some veggies. We were sitting in the back yard and the lady comes out with some corn.....covered in mayo and cheese. It was so funny. We were already full from dinner. She didn't even ask us if we wanted it. Hna. Coughlen hates mayo.....They gave us some toilet paper because they didn't have any napkins...so we tried to wipe it off secretly. Her sister was also there. La Hermana made everyone eat that corn on the cob. I tried to take my time. I finished and then she came out with another one....I just said no! NO PUEDO! All of us said no...and we just ended up passing on this corn that no one wanted. It was so hilarious. They were all laughing. I will send some pictures soon!

My birthday is next week...in case you have forgotten :) Transfers are on the 26th. So if you are worried about anything getting here in time...send it to the mission office!

I love you all. Thank you for helping me to be a great missionary!

Love,

Hermana Spencer

P.S. I wasn't able to write anyone yesterday....sorry I hope this will tie you over :)

One Year!

Dear my favorite people!

This week was fantastic! I always forget what I want to tell everyone. I will first talk about funny things we see/hear.

One day we were knocking in an apartment complex. We knocked on a door and a family was walking by and the little girl said, "Mom we live here....mom we live here." I don't know if they knew we could understand them lol.

Another one! We were trying to contact a referral and we saw this women outside. So of course we talked to her. It went well. We asked her for her phone number and she said she didn't have one. Well as we were walking away...her phone went off....LOL.

These experiences are always so Funny! But are also very sad.....so many people lie to us...even people we thought we could trust! Esta bien!

So just to tell you more about this last week. On Wednesday we had such a hard day. We taught one person in the morning......and no one else was home.....we even had appointments. The day looked really promising. We would go to visit people and they just wouldn't be there. It was such a long day..... In the middle of it the bishop calls and wants to talk to me....WHAT? The bishop is always hard to understand because he mumbles and speaks in Spanish and on the phone it is almost impossible! I rarely talk on the phone because I am always driving. When he asked to talk to me he called me Hermana Kimball.....(lots of people think I am related to Spencer W. Kimball.....I know it makes no sense)....he didn't know my name?!?!?! He asked me to give a talk....about FHE. I was actually excited until I remembered it would be in Spanish.

So yes yesterday I gave a wonderful talk in Spanish. It went well mostly because Heavenly Father just really loves me. It really did go well....even though I felt like I would vomit. After my talk the bishop gets up to thank me for my talk and this is what he says, "I don't know if you all remember this, but when Hermana Spencer got here she couldn't speak any Spanish. Now look at her. We can all learn English!"

Now for more serious stuff:

Amalia got baptized! We were able to go to her baptism on Saturday. She was so happy. It was a weird baptism, because most of the people there couldn't speak Spanish and it was all in Spanish. She was just so excited!

On Saturday we went to visit a person that we have been trying to visit for weeks. Her name is Veronica and he sister in law is named Norma. We taught them the first lesson. I cannot even began to describe how much the Lord blessed us in that lesson. Questions came out of our mouth in Spanish that made sense. We were unified as a companionship. The lesson flowed and the spirit was there so much! While we were in the lesson, I felt prompted to ask them to be baptized. I have a really hard time asking this question. Not just because its a big question, but the Spanish always gets to me. Well I knew that I needed to do it. So I did....and they didn't understand the first time I said it...so I repeated. I just knew that I needed to. They said they needed to learn more. I felt really good about having asked them. I really really excited to go back with them on Tuesday!

This week is Zone Conference and everyone has been asked to give a 2 minute talk on faith. I am really thinking about using Elder Scott's talk from Oct Conference about Faith and Character! You all should read it! It was fantastic!

I love being a missionary. I only have one year left, yes I will be home on June 27, 2012. It doesn't feel like I have enough time, but I am so grateful that Heavenly Father had Patience with me.

Los Quiero,

Hermana Spencer

P.S. Don't forget its almost my birthday!

The big fat shoe

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was hard and wonderful. I always sit down and wish that I could tell you all amazing things that have happened...and they have but I forget a lot of them when I sit down in a random chair at a library somewhere in Denver.

Hermana Coughlen and Elder Valdez won the Habenero Challenge.....sort of......no one really wins. We went to ross about an hour after this....and she ran outside to trow up.....so I akwardly handed the skirt I was looking at to the lady and said ..."can you hold these...I think my friend is throwing up outside." She was fine....but doesn't think she will ever do that again.

We had transfer meeting last week. We got so many new Elders....no sisters. And a lot of missionaries went home....crazy to be thinking that this will happen to me in the not to distant future. Expect me to be weird....in a good way. I love transfer meetings because they hold all of the mail you get for like a week. And for me and Hna. Coughlen it was like Christmas :) I love it! We got some good letters! We then ate some breakfast with Hna Thomas and Hna Day. Then can you guess what we did? We worked!

Some days it is difficult to give it all....but most days no. Spanish is getting better, but some days I still stink at speaking. We have a new greenie in the ward (one of the Elders) and he is a native. He is able to do all of they things that I want to do. (Which means I have to get over it :) )

We have found some really great people. Heavenly Father really answers prayers. We have been praying to find people that are ready and we have found random people. We went back to contact a random contact and met her family. Turns out they were meeting with the missionaries last year. We also started teaching a husband of a lady were were already teaching. He has so many questions. Some of them crazy but all of them are fun. Looks like we will be helping with a wedding :) Hermana Ruiseco almost made it last week....she smoked on Saturday :( So we went back and talked about how she can do it. She is struggling a lot ( her husband still smokes) but she always feels better after we are there. We really have seen miracles. They are small. We find random people. We visit someone randomly or turn on the right street and are able to help people. I know that it really insn't random. Heavenly Father is using us and it feels so great to be used. We have also been teaching with members more this week than ever. The lessons with members are so different that I realized. So go with the missionaries :)

We still both feel super new. So inadequate. Sometimes we teach with other missionaries and just realize how much we need to improve. Today we are taking the rest of our p-day and creating a awesome scripture list. We are using our hall way and I am super excited. Weird to do that for fun...but thats how it is.

So this letter is going to be a little sorter, mainly because today I can't type as fast as I normally do. Yesterday, I had a great testimony building experience. We prayed alot that the speakers would be prepared for our investigators. I had a hard Friday and Saturday. Saturday night I really poured out my heart to Heavenly Father....I just felt like I wasn't being effective and it really worried me. Sunday came and the talks were exactly what I needed to hear. The first speaker was a white man that served his misison in south america. He told a story from his second week in the mission. They had found a golden family and just felt so good about them. Well this family at the time was attending another church. One day they go by and the women opens the door a little and tells them that they can no longer meet with them and have decided to keep attending their church. Well the spirit told him to do something....he still couldn't speak spanish...and he is super tall. So what he did was put his big fat shoe in the door and say "No" in the best spanish he could muster lol. It surprised her and his companion. His companion in english said what are you doing? Well he told her that she needed the message and basically bore his testimony...which I sure wasn't the most eloquent. The lady then said I will go talk to my husband. They waited outside for like 15 mintues. She came back and said she will meet with them. Well now the husband is a bishop and two sons have served missions. I realized that I can do this even if I cannot speak. I just have to trust in the spirit more!

It was a wonderful experience for me. The Lord does answer our prayers!

I love you all,

Hermana Spencer

I hit 6 months!

Dear Everyone!

I am so excited to write you all of the wonderful things that have happened this last week. First, I am not getting transfered! YAY! Neither is Hermana Coughlen! This will be our thrid transfer together and it really looks like we will have a lot of success! Here are some highlights!

1. Hermana Ruiseco started the stop smoking program and is doing great!

2. We found 12 new investigators this week.....we set the goal for 5 and we had that by thursday! We were just so blessed last week.

3. Today a lot of the missionaries are doing what we call the "Habenero Challenge." This is where everyone sits around a table with one glass of milk....they all eat a Habenero and the first one to drink the glass of milk looses! I am not doing it....because for those of you who know .... Haberneros are really hot. My companion is in on the challenge......I hope she wins! She can really handle spicey stuff.....and I can only handle a little habenero.

4. We are seeing so many people progress. I love it!

5. The mission is getting me new scriptures! Yay so hopefully tomorrow at transfer meeting they will be there. Ohh and none of the spanish sisters are moving!

6. I still have Hermana Coughlen! YAY!

7. Part of me wants to be a part of a spanish branch when I get back. The food is just so heavenly. I thought that we had good food at our activities...but no. On Saturday we had a wonderful ward activity. It was in the church parking lot with grills....carne....agua de pina.....todo! Really I love it.

So here is a story that protrays a little bit of misisonary work. The other day we went to contact some people that we had talked to before. We saw a lady talking spanish....so our spanishdar went off. We went and talked to us and she told us to go talk to her husband....who was in the house with the door open....(it seemed like she was getting rid of us). So we walk up to this door and there is a man sitting there with out a shirt and we tell him that his wife told us that we need to go talk to him. So he went and got a shirt. We talked a little bit more and he told us to come in....so then we had to tell him that we had this rule where we can't go in his house with out another women there....so we stood out of the house akwardly. He kept waiting for his wife to come back (and it looked like he was trying to get rid of us). She finally comes back and WE GET IN! We sit down on the couch and then we both look at each other and with our eyes say "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!" Usually things flow before and its more apparent with what we need to say. Well luckily Heavenly Father really blessed us. We had no idea what we said, but I know that they listened. I really felt good in the lesson. I was even able to speak good spanish. A lot of times I stumble on my words, but this time I didn't. We have another appointment with them tonight and I really hope that they are ready for the gospel. Hermana Coughlen came up with a good analogy for when this happens: Its like your older brothers convincing you to ride a rollercoaster....so you do it. But when you get strapped in you are thinking....what was I thinking.!?!?! That was the lesson.

I have really been thinking about my mission so far. It has been hard. I won't even lie. So what do I want to get out of this experience? I really could go through the motions and help people...but I have to give myself. This is harder than I thought it would be.

MY GOAL: To come to know the Savior, Jesus Christ and through the process help others come to know Him too.

One of my favorite scriptures is John 17:3! It is wonderful. This is my goal.

So how do we come to know Him?

I have some ideas. I think a lot of it is Mosiah 5:13. We have to serve Him...and follow this scripture! He has to become a part of us. Elder Holland said that we have to walk some of His path to really know Him...the hard times and follow His example. I never want the Savior to say to me, "I never knew you, or you never knew Me."

I am doing well. Times are great and times are hard! Thank you so much for your prayers and letters. Every time I get a letter it adds more happiness to my mission!

I hope you all are doing wonderful!

Love,

Hermana Spencer

Girls are like flowers...

So another week has passed....and to me it only feels like a couple of hours.

So some news: We are no longer three.....Hermana Coughlen and Judd actually got in a fight....so Hermana Judd is gone. Well only half of that is true. President Maynes called on Saturday and told us that Hna. Judd would be transferred on Monday, a week before transfers. The English Sister world just went crazy last week. She is sort of white washing with another sister. Crazy...Spanish was just a sick joke for her lol.

Well the work is still going forward. A less active family, la familia Rivera, of ours is doing great. We don't have to go wake them up at 7 every Sunday! Miracles still do happen. We also got to watch Yazmin do her calling yesterday. She is the chorister. She did so well. She was just so cute. She bore her testimony too about how much she loves us :) She is doing great. So many people are opening up to us. Hna. Ruiseco is a less active that a lot of people have given up on. She opened up to me the other day at dinner. She told me the reason that she doesn't go is that she feels guilty because she smokes....we really had no idea that she did. So I am now learning how to explain the churches program to stop smoking in Spanish. It is amazing how the Lord lets us meet people that we can just love and care about instantly.

Well we and I really just want a baptism. We have seen so much success with all of the less actives. I really just want to meet people that are just ready. So hopefully soon we will have some news. We have some people that could get baptized this next transfer and obviously those we have not yet met. We found Mexican Mecca. It is bordered by a giant field, the north mission, and the north mission. It is barely in our mission, but we have so many great potentials and a new investigator. Her name is Maria...and she just let us in and told us all about her search for God and the right church. She doesn't believe that there is a perfect man to run a church but she does believe that there could be a person who tries their best to follow God. So we shall see.

A funny story for you all. The other day we were visiting Hna. Noriega. She really could die any day. Its kinda sad, but she is ready to go. She lost a toe recently and was in the hospital because she blacked out. She is such a sweet lady. I actually am really starting to like old people. We read to her twice a week. We went by the other night and her son's friend was there. He was drunk....or wasted what ever you want to call it. He was speaking in English and Spanish so it was a little hard to understand. He mentioned that he wanted to change. Well Miguel (the son) came in and apologized to us for his friend. He admitted that he had been drinking too. But he started talking to us. He told me that his cousin sells weight loss medicine and that he could get some for me really cheap. "You don't look bad, but you could be skinner and look better. Women are like flowers, you have to feed them." He then proceeded to tell us about what his dad taught him. He said " my dad taught me to drink and how to treat a lady. You don't hit them....unless there is a good reason." It was so funny. Then he went outside and got us the only rose that was in the yard. It still had the thorns on it and everything. All of this happened while reading in the Book of Mosiah!

Well so everything is really good here. My mission president wrote me today and said: God stretches us to our limits and that is when we see miracles....so its stretching time!

I love you all,

Hermana Spencer