Happy Easter!!!

Dear Family, 

Hope ya'll had a very Happy Easter!!! 

Well this week has been so great! Sister Neil and I are being so very blessed in this area! I can truly say that Sister Neil and I are experiencing miracles in this area. This past Sunday, we had 3 investigators at church!!! Jared, Rocky, and Don all came. It was really great to see them there! Jared currently has a baptismal date for April 26th.... this coming Saturday! He is keeping all of his commitments, has stopped smoking and so he should be ready to be baptized on that date. He truly is awesome and prepared! We were teaching him earlier this week and he said a comment that really stuck out to me, he said: " I didn't know Jesus until I opened the Book of Mormon." I find it very inspiring how much time Jared has invested to know if the things that we are teaching him are true. Jared is super committed to the gospel and I have felt so honored to teach him. His countenance has changed since we first taught him. God is definitely a God of miracles! 

We have gotten Don to start reading and praying daily. He expressed how he expects to get some big, thunder bolt answer as to whether or not the Book of Mormon is true. We called him on Saturday night and invited him to come to all of church and he agreed! After church, we had a lesson with him and talked about the feelings from the spirit and how the spirit can teach us the truth to all things through different means and watched the Lamb of God video. I think it helped him out. I know that he felt the spirit really strongly in the lesson and during church. It should be really great to see where things go from here. :) 

I'm sure that you are all super happy to hear that there are no longer any teenagers in the family!!! I had a super great birthday! Sister Neil was super nice to me and took me out to dinner at this pizza place called Mellow Mushroom. It was super good, definitely a great way to celebrate the end of my teenage years. The Elders in this area were super nice as well, they made me a surprise cake! It was really sweet and we had a great time! Thanks so much for all of the Birthday wishes and everything! I felt very loved, and it was nice! 

Sister Neil and I had a pretty funny experience this past week. We went to go and see this lady named Betty. I don't even know where to start describing her. She's this old-ish lady who is partially blind. She says she can't see, but she definitely can see. When we got to her house, she had all of these signs up saying "God is real." "Believe in God." To get into her house, we passed through these two sheets hanging up, went past a creeper van, and then there she was. It was just weird. Anyways, we get in the house and start talking to her. She kept mentioning how the cops were watching her and told us that she had all of these pictures of cop cars watching the house. She showed us the pictures, and I don't think that she realized that there was a police station near her house... Anyways, the conversation moved on and she started talking about her neighbor who was a thief and a vagabond and to avoid her at all cost. It was just weird, we didn't take her too seriously or anything, but it was a bit creepy. When we were walking out to our car, after leaving her house, we see the neighbor that Betty was talking about.... and the lady was right by our car. As we pass by her, we greet her, tell her hi, and then keep going because she gave us no response. Once we got in the car, we sat there for a minute looking up which house was closest for us to go to next. I hear my companion gasp, so I scream as an instant reaction. Then, I look up, and there is the creepiest lady I have ever seen like 2 feet from my face. I shrieked at the top of my lungs. Turns out, the poor lady only wanted to know what time it was... but boy oh boy, she sure gave my heart a jump. I'm sure that you can imagine how Sister Neil and I were feeling now--aka nerves on edge. At the very next house that we went to, we were walking up to the door, and from behind us, we hear this super deep man's voice say "Ain't nobody live tharr." Because of the previous events and the condition of our nerves, my companion and I both shrieked because he had surprised us so much. Poor guy. I think he was just about as freaked out as we were at that point! It made for a good laugh for Sister Neil and I in the car. 

One really cool experience that happened this past week was when we had about 15 minutes before we were supposed to go in for the night. One of our appointments had cancelled on us, so we were left with this awkward time gap. Sister Neil and I decided to go and see one of the less-actives in the ward that we had not met before--Jason G. Both Sister Neil and I felt strongly like we should go there. We get to the house and it looked like a house from Jumangi. There was cutsu (sp? [kudzu] Weird ivy plant that over powers everything!) all over the place, part of the porch was caved in, and the house was not very well kept up to put it nicely. Nonetheless, we went up and knocked regardless. Nothing happened, no one was there, and at this point it was time for us to go home, so we did. What was cool though was that when our District Leader called us at night, he asked us if we knew anything about a person named Jason G. We told him how we had tried to go and see him that very night. Anyways, our District Leader told us how he had gone to see that very person earlier that day. It wasn't super big, but it was a great reminder to me that this truly is the Lord's work and that he is in charge! 

I am so grateful for this Easter Season that we have been able to have! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and that he came to this Earth, lived a perfect life, and atoned for our sins all because He loved us. I also know that Jesus Christ lives today and guides this church. He wants us to succeed in this life and follow the commandments because they will bring us the most happiness in this life. 

Love, 

Sister Spencer