28 More Days to GO!

Family!!!! 

Well, just about everyone already knows that i only have 28 more days left!!!!!! And I am super super excited to come home. But at the same time, I am working hard and focusing on the work and not being trunky. I only have 28more days to be a representative of Jesus Christ in Brazil and i am going to work hard until the very last day! 

Miracles. This week has been a bit harder, a bit different. But still, this is the work of the Lord, so we´ve seen some miracles! 

- we went to visit an inactive member named Adelia. She´s an interesting lady, but she loves her family a lot. After our visit with her this past week, we asked her if she knew anyone who would be interested in receiving a visit from the missionaries. She passed for a minute and then said yes--her neighbor! Getting a referral from her was a miracle for us!! 

- Our cellphone is out of minutes now and so we´ve been going to the church to make our phone calls. This past week we were trying to get ahold of a member. It was urgent and we had the wrong number. She lives in an apartment complex that is restricted so we couldn´t go and knock on her door. We tried everything possible to contact her but nothing was  a few . We said a prayer and then continued working. That night as we were walking back to our house we found them! The had gone to the grocery store that is in front of our house (far away from their house) to buy a few things. Prayer works!!! 

- One of the missionaries who lives in our house blew out the lights this week. I don´t know if any of you have ever tried to get ready for a special day at 5 in the morning without any light. It doesn´t work out that well. We had multizona this past week and ended up leaving our house at 6 in the morning. When we returned it was 8:30 at night. We were thoroughly tired and it was hard to plan for the day without any light. We said a prayer that we´d be ableto have light again. Not even 5minutes later the lights magically turned on! I don´t know what happened exactly, but it was a miracle!! 

- We´ve been meeting with this less-active family-- Alinio and Isabel. This week Isabel opened up to us and started talking about the small ways that she is starting to see her testimony grow. It was a miracle because so many people dismiss the small ways they see the Lord´s hand, but she didn´t! She recognized!!

I am so very grateful to be a missionary! I know that this church is true and Joseph Smith really did see HeavenlyFather and Jesus Christ. Through reading the Book of Mormon, I know that every person can know this truth for themseves. We are teaching a person named Cristina. She is Espirita. (basically she believes in reincarnation). It is very clear to me that God is a God of order and if we want to know something, we can pray and ask Heavenly Father. And then, through the Holy Ghost, we can receive an answer. 

i love you all so much!!

Much love, 

sister Spencer

3 weekssss 3 weeeeeks 21 daysss 21 daayyysssss!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Sister-in-Law's Mission President's Wife!

Dear Family, 

Well to be perfectly honest it doesn´t really feel like my mission is coming to an end. Sister Peña and I are still working just as hard as ever here, and we have seen a lot of miracles! 

The beginning of this week was pretty hard. it felt like everyone was rejecting us. All of the first lessons that we taught, people flat out told us that we were crazy, that it was impossible for the story of Joseph Smith to be true because no one could see God. in all of these circumstances, we bore our testimonies and told them that we knew that Joseph Smith really was a prophet called of God, that the Book of Mormon is holy Scripture, and if anyone wants to know it for themselves, all they have to do is to ask God. 

During the end part of the week Sister Peña and I were really blessed. We were trying to find new investigators and we found this guy named Diego. We taught him the message of the Restoration, and invited him to be baptized on February 14th. He accepteddddd!!!!!! and it was a miracle!!!!! I am SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER excited about this!!!! We are going back to teach him on Thursdayand have an awesome member to go with us.This is going to be great!

We received a referral this week-- Lenice. We went there with a member to contact her. The lesson was super great. The spirit was SUPER strong. Lenice is super open. She is going through a lot of challenges in her life and really wants to strengthen her relationship with God and do His will. We taught her the message of the Restoration and also marked a baptism for her on the 14th of February! Wow! WHAT BLESSINGS!!! 

And, it doesn´t end there. At church on Sunday, we had 3 random people show up for church. One was a person who was always walking past the church and felt like she should go, so she went!She said she LOVED church and that she will be returning the next week with her husband1!!! The other two were friends of an inactive member. The inactive member decided that he needed to return to church so he brought his two friends with him! Miracles!!!!!!!

Well, I know, without a doubt, that this church is true. That Joseph Smith really is prophet called of God and that the Book of Mormon is Holy scripture. Through keeping the commandments, we can experience true happiness in our lives. 

I love you all tons!!!!

Much love, 

Sister Spencer

35 More DAYS!!!

Dear Family!!!

Wow, the days sure are dwindling down... but don´t worry. I am staying focused and working hard!! Just for a bit of an update of what has happened this past week. My companion Sister Galarza was transferred and so my new companion is now Sister Peña. She is from Ecuador and we get along really great! She helps me out with Portuguse when I need help and I am teaching her english a little bit. It´s pretty fun! I don´t have a ton of time in this area, only 2 weeks so it has sort of been like Sister Peña and I are opening an area. Things are good though. We´ve seen a lot of tiny miracles this week.

This week I thought I would write about some of the miracles that I have seen.

-Sister Peña and I were walking to an appointment. We were about 15 minutes early so we were talking to people on the street that were walking. There was this car driving past that pulled over to the side of the road and the driver started to yell "Sister Sister. I need talk with you" I went over there and started talking to him. Turns out this guy doesn´t speak Portuguese, but speaks English. He is super interested in the church and wants us to vist him! For us, that was a miracle that we really were in the right place at the right time!

- Another experience we had. We were walking to the bus stop. We past this one lady. She was smoking and looked a little sad. We said good afternoon to her and about 10 seconds later she responded. Once we got to the bus stop, about 10 feet from her, I kept getting these thoughts in my head saying "Sister Spencer, you are a representative of Jesus Christ in this area. If Christ were here, he would have talked to that lady. What are you doing?" So, I looked at my watch, looked to see if the bus was coming. It wasn´t and we had time so I went back and talked to her. This girl, Jessica, was having a REALLY hard day. She had gotten kicked out of her house and was feeling all alone. We invited her to go to church and got her address to visit her. For me this was something very simple, but I really did feel like I needed to talk to her... and I am glad that I did!

We´ve had a lot of success in this area working with some less-active members.We are working with a few of them with goals to go to the temple. It is really rewarding to see people progressing and accepting the principles of the gospel in their lives. 

Well I love being a missionary and I love sharing the gospel with other people! I know that this gospel is true and that through following the principles in the gospel and applying them to our lives we can have true happiness and joy. I am so grateful for the chance that I had to serve in Tennessee and especially for this chance to serve in Brasil!! I love Brasil!

Hope you are all doing well! I love you tons!!

Much love, 

Sister Spencer