Monday, May 26, 2014

Last Week's Post!

Dear Family!

Well this past week has been pretty good! Don't really have any new updates on the people that we have with a baptismal date... they seem to be playing the "I will avoid the missionaries at all cost" game. Gotta love that game. :P *roll of eyes* Really though, we have seen a lot of cool tender mercies with some of them though. So, do you remember Austin? He's the 18 year old cowboy that we have with a baptismal date. We found him by calling a person named "Leah" in our phone. This past week we were finally able to meet with Leah. When we went up there, Sister Neil and I were prepared to teach her the Message of the Restoration and commit her for a baptismal date so she could be baptized with her step-son. Sounds awesome, right? Yeah, we were super stoked for this lesson. As we were talking when we first got there, we asked her what she knew about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Right there, she proudly said "Girls, I've growned up in the Mormon Church. I've been a member mayy whole life. I was baptized at 8. I'm proud to be a Mormon!" That through us for a curve ball, but we were SO excited! Apparently she has been a truck driver for a long time so she never went to church because she was always on the road. We committed her and her step-son, Austin, to come to church yesterday, but they never showed... We'll talk to them later today and figure out what happened. It is super good though, Leah is super supportive of her Austin getting baptized! 

We had a really awesome zone conference that we went to! Sister Irion talked a lot about the armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-18). She went into detail about all of the specific armor pieces and what they represent, I won't go into detail about all that she said, but I'll share a few of the things that really stood out to me. They mentioned how when we put our shoes on in the morning, we are preparing to go somewhere or to do something. Likewise, when we put on the full armor of God, we are preparing to fight against Satan in this war that we have waged against him. Almost all of the armor that it describes is defensive, to protect us from the blows that the devil will throw at us. The only offensive piece is the sword of spirit, or the word of God. I thought that was cool because it is the word of God that helps us to decipher between good and evil, truth and lies, light and dark. God does not work in darkness, only the devil does, so as we use the word of God in our daily lives, we can come to know more of the truth, or more about Christ. It was a super good Zone Conference and I learned a lot... hopefully some of what I said makes some sense. 

I am continuously amazed at all of the different gifts that God has given to each of his children. This past week, we got a phone call from one of the less-active members in the ward. She, and her whole family, were getting evicted from their house, they had to be out by the next morning, and they needed help packing. When we went there, the whole house was in a disarray. Nothing was organized, the kids were screaming and acting up, broken boxes were everywhere, and it was just chaotic. If I was in the mom's situation, I know that I would be very stressed. We were able to help her out with packing for a few hours. I know we were a lot of help to her, but really, I think Heavenly Father showed me something much more valuable in the mom. With the whole situation, the mom was extremely patient, loving, and kind towards everyone. She was getting kicked out of her house, but she was already trying to see the positives and the Lord's hand in her life. The mom was a really good example to me of how during hard times, we really need to turn to the Lord and accept his divine help. The mom truly did have a gift for being optimistic, no matter what circumstances she was placed in.


I went on exchanges this past week.... it was fine, but lets just say that it is nice to be back in Bristol. I like this area and I really like working with Sister Neil. It was really nice though, because even for that one day that I was gone, Sister Neil told me that every appointment that she went to with the other Sister, everyone asked where I was and if I would be coming back... it feels good to be loved! :) 

We have still been helping out with the Habitat for Humanity. This upcoming week will be our last week helping out. I have REALLY enjoyed helping out though. This past week we put siding up on a house.... talk about Legit. I love it. All of the people there are SUPER involved in their churches and would be the type of people that would normally just shut their doors in our faces. But, because we have been working with them, we have been able to tell them what we do as missionaries and answer some of their questions. It has been really cool to see some of their walls come down and their curiosity come out. I'm hoping that we might be able to teach a few of the people there... we'll see what happens this next week! 

Well, ya'll are just great and I love you so much!! Hope you have a good week! 

Sister Spencer

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