BRaZiL! - MTC Round 2

Dear Family!!!

So in I'm Brazil and I absolutely love it!!!! I still can't believe that I am actually here. It surprises me a bit to be honest... seems like I have been waiting for it for so long, and now that I am here, it is just amazing! Things here are going really well in the MTC. I can say that I am definitely grateful for all of the practice and the diligence that I put into studying Portuguese before my mission. Without a doubt, it has definitely paid off and I am receiving a TON of help from Heavenly Father with the language. The Gift of Tongues is defintiely a real thing... and I am SO grateful for it. Also, thank you for all of your prayers in my behalf. I have definitely felt them and I know that it it is making a huge difference.

On Saturday we were allowed to get out of this place... I think we went to the Teatro Minicipal... don't quote me on that though... anyways, we got to hand out Book of Mormons. Man, can I just say that Heavenly Father really helped me out with that. I was actually able to understand about 65% of what people said to me. Definitely a miracle!! It's bit intimidating being around people that you don't fully understand and trying to talk to them about Christ and the Restored Gospel and then they say something and you have absolutely no idea what to say back because you don't know what they said. But really, things turn out okay. This truly is God's work!!

Theatro Municipal - Brazil (http://www.culturalexchange-br.nl/sites/default/files/Josine/Theatro%20Municipal%20do%20Rio%20de%20Janeiro.jpg)

As for the food here. Except for breakfast, I have had beans and rice for every meal. It's a good thing I like beans and rice because I have a feeling that I am going to have that a lot of it in Brazil... The food is pretty good though. They don't have a ton of variety, but that's okay. I think I've only had one or two things that I couldn't quite get myself to eat... one of them was a squid and rice dish... yeah, no thank you. I'll pass on that.

I get along with my companion, Sister Garnett, very well! She is super nice and has a desire to work hard, which I am VERY grateful for. My district is okay. To be honest, sometimes it is hard. They are all pretty much teenage boys and goof off a lot of the time. They don't really like to talk in Portuguese, and it is hard to always be speaking in Portuguese when everyone else in the room is talking in english. I'm taking things one day at a time though and just keeping in mind that I will soon be out of the MTC. I think it's interesting that some people here have the attitute that they don't need to be here because they already know how to be a missionary and that this is a waste of their time. The MTC is a lot different from the field, but I am enjoying it!

This past week I was called as a Sister Training Leader... that's basically just a person who watches over the other Sisters and makes sure that they are keeping the rules and everything. It's pretty great because I get to talk to the other sisters and get to know them a bit. Thank heavens none of them have trouble following the rules. :)

Well, I'd say that that is pretty much it. All day I pretty much sit in a classroom and learn how to speak Portuguese better. My teachers are pretty great. They don't really speak English at all so sometimes we have no idea what they are saying so we just smile and say "sim" (yes) and then that appeases them so they go away. 9\10 I know what they are saying though, so that is good! From what I have experienced about Brazil, it feels like a home away from home!

Interesting thing I learned this week: hashtag in portuguese =jogodevelhas= game of the old. y'all= gente.

I love y'all tons!!!!!

Last Day in Tennessee

Dear Family!!

Well can you believe it?!? My last full day in Tennessee!!! Yeah, I can't believe it either. It doesn't feel that real yet. This past week has been good, a little bit slower because a few of our investigators are out of town, but it has still been a very blessed week! 

We've been able to have some REALLY good success with Donna this past week. We officially taught her the Word of Wisdom and asked her to live it. She was a bit hesitant on that. She's been smoking and drinking coffee and tea for 60+ years. She's made a schedule for herself though to be off coffee and tea by the end of the week. And then, with smoking, she is down to 13 cigarettes a day now!! (I know that sounds like a lot, but when we first started meeting with her, she was at 30 a day, so miracles are happening slowly, but surely). When we left her house from that lesson, she gave us all of her tea and most of the coffee in her house! It felt very rewarding to leave her house carrying a huge tub of coffee and tea!! Donna came to not only Sacrament meeting this week, but also Sunday school! It was nice to have her and I feel like she learned a lot. Next week she is planning on coming to Sacrament meeting, taking a nap during Sunday School, and then going to Relief Society... Hopefully one day she'll be able to go without a cigarrette for a few hours so she can come to all three!!

Loretta is just amazing. Blessed Loretta. She's been reading every single day and praying every single day. She wants to get baptized with her boy Sammy. They came to a baptism for an 8 year old girl this week and it seemed to be a super good experience. Sammy got a bit restless so right after the baptism, they left. Sunday she showed up for church again, and boy oh boy was it just great! During Relief Society, Loretta got up and said her testimony (the RS president had asked her a few days beforehand). It was super cool to hear it though. She told an experience that she had where she was reading the Book of Mormon for 15 hours straight. She stopped afterwards to take a 20 minute nap. During that nap she had a dream and she just knew without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true. She said how every Sunday from now on out, she will be at church. She wants to be baptized sometime in January. I am SO excited for her!!!! Kinda sad that I won't be here to see it all, but we are going to keep in contact!

We had a funny experience this past week. We were out trying to talk to people at the park. There was this guy that was out, so we decided to go and talk to him. When we came up, the very first thing that came out of his mouth was "I'm not homeless, I promise." We introduced ourselves and got to know him a little bit and all that fun jazz. We told him that as missionaries, we share a message about Christ and His restored Gospel and asked if he would be interested in learning more. He said he had to go, we said okay and asked for his number. He said he didn't want to give it, so we gave him ours.... okay, fast forward to later that night. We got this random text that said "Is this the Sister Missionaries...truecountryboy". Sister Linford and I were just ecstatic. No one. I mean no one, just sends us texts out of the blue. We had all of these high hopes of baptizing this mysterious person, and all that fun jazz. (We had completely forgotten about the incident at the park earlier in the day because things like that happen all the time). Anyways, we responded quickly and assured him that he most definitely had the right number, and asked who it was. The response "The really cute guy who yall gave the card too here at the park....truecountryboy". I won't lie, our high hopes of baptizing him started to decrease a little bit by getting that text. But, we persisted. We told him how we share a wonderful message about Christ and asked if he would be interested in learning more. Right away he responded and said: "Ummm no thanks sorry darlins..Just thought I would text yall but i can see you or ur blonde friend aint into talkn 2 me...truecountryboy." So yeah, that ended there. And the high hopes that we had of baptizing him ended there as well. Maybe one day. 

We volunteered at this Fair thing and had a booth this past week. All of the missionaries in the stake had to sign up to take a time. When we did it, there was a UT football game going on, so there was hardly anybody at the fair. So, it was really boring. But, we did talk to every single person that went past, so that was a good thing!!! 

I am really, really enjoying being with Sister Linford!! She is so sweet! I am really sad to be leaving her, I know she will do just great here though!!

Sister Beth Spencer

8 days til Brazil!

Dear Family!! 

So, we were just going to email on Tuesday since today is a holiday, but we found a spot that has internet access, so we decided just to email now. 

This week has been good! I officially got my flight plans. I fly out on Tuesday at 4 pm, fly to Atlanta Georgia, have a 4 hour lay over. My next flight takes off at 8 that night, and then I will arrive in Sao Paulo the next morning around 7. Man, that is going to be a lloooonnnngggg flight,  and I should go straight into learning at the MTC, but hey, I am still just SO excited for it!! My District Leader, Elder Cabral, is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese so I've been able to practice with him a tad bit. I feel okay when talking about a gospel subject, but when if we try to talk about other things, it gets a bit rough. I have a LOT to learn, but I am confident that the Lord will help me since He has asked me to do this! 

This past week has been a super good week! We had 5 investigators at church yesterday and man it was just so great!!!! Nam, Loretta, Donna, Sister Fritz, and Lin. Super good.  Best I've ever had. Well, I'll go and describe a bit about our investigators. 

 Nam is progressing super well. We met him at the church one day for a lesson with a member. We started to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, but he had a few questions, so we just stopped there and  figured out more of his concerns and taught him part of the Restoration. He said that hew as going to come to a baptism on Friday that another set of missionaries was having, but he showed up late so only made it to the closing hymn. He came to church on Sunday and we committed him to read and pray daily! He's all for it!! We tried to soft-commit him for baptism (if you come to know this is true, will you be baptized), but he just got super confused. He's Vietnamese. So, we'll have to go more over baptism later. 

Loretta is just doing so great! She wants to be baptized with her boy Sam Oliver. I think that is just so great. We finished teaching her the Plan of Salvation this past week and she accepted all of it, no trouble. On Sunday, she came to church!!!!! (first time ever!!!). And then, she has received a ton of Fellowship from ward members. Just wonderful!

Donna is doing well. This was her 5th week attending church. She is still having a hard time quitting smoking.... but she has cut back a TON. She's gone from 30 cigarettes a day, to between 10-15. By small and simple means are great things brought to pass. Donna has passed the Isaiah Chapters in the Book of Mormon and she is still going strong!! 

Carol and Dale are doing pretty well. This past week we asked them if they would be baptized if they came to know what we were teaching is true. Dale said yes right away!!!! And then, Carol was super hesitant about saying yes and just asked us to move on. So, we'll keep on going over there to teach them! Except, I won't see them again because they are out of town for three weeks, and then I'll be going to Brazil. That's okay though. They are having major issues excepting that we are literally spiritual sons and daughters of God and that we existed before we came to this Earth. I think that is so sad. 

Maria is doing well.... sort of. She's signed her kids up to be confirmed in the Episcapol  Church... so really, not that great. She's committed to read the Book of Mormon again and she's told us herself that she feels so different around members (in a good way). But, she won't come to church and is pretty much actively pursing another church. I don't know if we'll keep going to see her. It depends on if she keeps her other commitments. We tried to soft commit her for baptism, but she got offended that we would ask her to be baptized again. We'll see what happens. :-/

Sister Linford and I are doing super well together! It is fun being companions with her. This will be our last week together. Kinda sad, but we'll make it fun! I'll take tons of pictures to send to y'all! 

I love y'all tons!!!! 

Sister Beth Spencer

Departure date for Brazil is Set!

Dear Family!!!! 

Well I'm sure that all of you are filled in by now with what has been going on with my VISA. At first, I said I wanted to go, then the Seventy who is over the missionary department asked me to reconsider staying. I got to call mom and dad, and I re-decided that I want to go again. I am still waiting for approval from the Seventy, but am pretty positive that I will be able to go. If it is approved, I will leave here on September 9th, go into the MTC for two weeks, and then go to Campinas! I have absolutely no idea what my address will be when I get down there or anything, but once I find out (which will probably be once I get there) I will let you know!! My companion is taking me leaving pretty hard. The other night she was bawling in bed and just wouldn't stop crying. I had to keep telling her that it was going to be okay and that the Lord is in control. I could tell that helped out a lot!! Thank goodness for the power of prayer!! ....Just kidding on my companion! She is doing great and is happy for me. She is sad that I will be leaving, but she is super stellar so I know that she will be awesome! 

Okay, enough of that Visa business. This past week has been a pretty good week. We taught Carol and Dale again. They are progressing well except for one thing. They have heard the phrase "Don't pray about the Book of Mormon... that's how they get you!" So, Carol and Dale will not pray with us or about the Book of Mormon! Utterly ridiculous! So, to sum it up, this next week we are going to teach them about the importance and need of prayer and ask them to pray about our message. If they are not willing to pray on our message and act on the answer they receive, we won't be going back. Pretty rough, but Sister Linford and I have prayed quite a bit about it and feel good about it! Cross your fingers that things go well!! We really want to keep teaching Carol and Dale!!!

Sister Linford and I found a SUPER legit new investigator this past week. Her name is Maria. She is a former investigator that the Elder's used to go and teach. When we went over there, we got to know her a little bit, and then did a few how to begin teaching things to introduce our message to her. It's great because we found out that she has already read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants and has a testimony of them!!! Apparently one time after the Elder's left, she said a prayer and asked God if the Book of Mormon was true, and then she opened up to 1 Nephi 15:24. That says: "And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken  unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction." Yeah, so super legit! We have a set appointment for Wednesday and we have an awesome member of our ward going with us! We are so excited!!!! :D

This past week the power of prayer has really stuck out to me. Heavenly Father is always there for us and is always eager to help us out. This past week I had an interesting experience with prayer. We were trying to find somebody in our ward to go out with us to a teaching appointment that we had. The appointment was at a bad time (3:30 in the afternoon) and so it was already a bit difficult. For about 20 minutes we tried absolutely every person we could think of on our own. With no luck, we came up with what we thought was a brilliant idea and that was to call up the relief-society president and ask her. We did that and she was super helpful and gave us a few names to try. We called all of them and guess what! No. luck. whatsoever. I was sitting there thinking and wondering why it was SO stinkin hard to get someone to go out with us. It's never been that hard in this ward. Everyone is so eager to help us out. And then this thought hit me saying: "Sister Spencer, Did you think to pray and ask Heavenly Father for help?" Sister Linford and I knelt down and said a prayer asking for help. The second person we called after that prayer was able and willing to go with us to that appointment. That experience really humbled me and helped me remember that  Heavenly Father is always there for us and eager to help us out. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. 

Well I love you all VERY VERY much!!! Thank you for all that you do for me! 

VISA has COME!!!

Dear Family, 

So the biggest news as of right now, is that I GOT MY VISA!!!!! SUPER EXCITED!!!! I have decided to go!!!! I am just waiting on approval and confirmation that I can go. I should find that out later today and will let y'all now once I find out! I found outon Friday and it has been a very eventful few days! On Sunday I fasted to know if going was an okay decision. Everyone that came up and talked to me on Sunday who knew about my VISA told me that I should go to Brazil! Pretty good sign that it is okay if I go. I am SUPER excited and a tad bit nervous, but I know that this is the Lord's work and He didn't send me out here to fail!  

Campinas, Brazil Temple with city view

So besides the whole VISA thing, this week has been very good! We've taught a lot of lessons and things are progressing well with our investigators. Donna is moving along quite nicely. This past week she has really strengthened her testimony of Joseph Smith and of prophets on the earth today. She has drastically cut back on smoking, but she is still having 15 cigarettes a day. We had the stake Patriarch come and give her a blessing. He asked her to throw out all of her cigarettes right then and to get rid of all the ash trays and to put her faith in God and have God help her stop smoking. Unfortunately, Donna was not quite to the point where she could do that yet. We are still working with her. She has been faithfully attending church and the Addiction Recovery Programs! 

Carol and Dale are also progressing well. We went back this past week and re-taught them the Message of the Restoration. Carol kept saying that the Bible was the authority so the authority never left the Earth. A member who was with us, very bluntly told her that the Bible was not the authority, but that God was the authority and He had given us the Bible. She didn't have anything to say back to that and completely agreed. They have been keeping their commitments to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Sister Linford and I are hopeful that soon we will be able to get the to church! 

We got a pretty legit new investigator this past week. His name is Nam. His grandparents are from Vietnam and worship a whole bunch of different gods, his mom had a dream of Christ and didn't know who it was for the longest time. Their family moved to TN, she found out about Christ, and is now a Christian. From the dream his mom had, Nam is now a Christian as well. Nam was a referral given to us by one of the members here. Yesterday night (Sunday night) we went over and taught him the Message of the Restoration. He felt the spirit really strong. In his own words, he said "I feel a level of joy that I haven't felt in years. That was like the most perfect combination of people possible for me." It was super encouraging to hear that. We should be meeting with Nam later this week. I am excited to see where things go! 

One less-active family that we have been working quite a bit with is the Millers. We go over there to read scriptures quite a bit with the kids.... in all actuality, they are more teenagers. But they are open to us coming over. They have started to do their own personal reading every day!! Two of them go off to college soon, but I'm glad that we have at least been able to start them in the habit of daily reading! 

Besides that, we had a great Zone Conference this week and it was Sister Linford's birthday so we celebrated!! Fun times, I am really enjoying in TN, but I am also super excited at the option of going to Brasil! We'll see what the Lord has in store for me! 

I love you alll very much! I will let y'all know as soon as I find out what will happen with Brazil. Thank you for all that you do for me!!1 Love you tons!!! 

Sister Beth Spencer

Weekly Email Aug. 11

Dear Family!! 

Well another week has gone by now. Pretty crazy. Things have been going well here for Sister Linford and I. We are really enjoying being together and we are working hard. As of right now, our most promising investigator is Donna.This past week we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and asked her to pray about baptism on September 13th. She was a bit hesitant, but she said she would do that. The next day, we saw her and asked her if she had prayed about baptism at all. She said she had and felt like it was too soon for her. We could understand that because of her circumstances. The next day she was meeting with her realistate agent and they were talking about baptism and how she was meeting with us. He told her "If they are good, God-fearing people, what are you so worried about?" At that point, she was considering baptism again!! Next day we taught her the plan of salvation and talked about the celestial kingdoms and eternal families. That really hit home with her and so now she is seriously considering baptism again!  And, she has come to church twice!! We are super excited! One of the members of our congregation who is helping to fellowship Donna is Sister Manion. Yesterday we were talking to Sister Manion and she turned to me and said: "You know, I was thinking that maybe one of the reasons you don't have your VISA is because you needed to be here to teach Donna." :)

We got a referral this past week for some people named Carol and Dale. We called them up and set up a time to meet with them for Thursday. On Thursday when we met with them, we found out that they were currently Lutheran, but had always been interested in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and finally decided that they wanted to learn more themselves. We taught them the Restoration. There were some parts were I don't think that they fully grasped what we were saying, but we left a pamphlet with them and will be going back this coming Thursday. I am excited to see where things go with them!

Training has been going very well with Sister Linford. I am really enjoying being her companion. She has such a strong desire to work hard and to follow the spirit. I feel like it is helping me to be my best self and to constantly strive to do all of the small things that I know I need to be doing. We are seeing miracles happening here and we love it!!! 

This past week our District Meeting I felt like was directly related to me and what I needed to hear. I've been thinking a bit about why it has taken me so long to get my VISA. In one of the trainings, they talked a bit about the character of God. They shared a few different stories, but to summarize they talked about how God is always watching us to make sure we are safe, but soemtimes he will let us continue in our struggles for a bit so we can learn and to grow. they talked about how God knows exactly what we need and He will give that to us, but he won't always give us what we want. I feel like that has been a huge test for me on my mission. I want my Visa super bad, but I don't need it, and the Lord is teaching me a lesson. The last thing that they talked about was Doctrine and covenants 98:1-3--how all of our afflictions will eventually be for our good and for the glory of God. I don't know if I will get my VISA, but I know that this experience I am having will be for my good. 

I love you all so much!! Thanks for all of your prayers and all that you do for me! 

Much love, 

Sister Beth Spencer

I am a Trainer!

Dear Family!! 

Well, Sister Hamilton has officially left and secretly I am a bit glad. It was difficult to be with her, but we worked through our differences and made it work the best that we could. I am now training a new missionary, Sister Linford. She is from Kaysville Utah and is ubberrr nice. She has a great desire to work hard and we have had a lot of success this past week. I can tell that she is super great at following the spirit and at listening to the needs of our investigators. I'm hoping that before I leave this area that we will be able to get a baptism or something. We'll see what the Lord has in store for us. I think it's going to be a great transfer!!

Our investigators. Donna is doing just wonderfully!!! This past week, we have had a lot of contact with her and it has all been positive. We've taken her over to a member's house for dinner, had a lesson with her, did service, she came to church, and the addiction recovery program! She is just on fire. She loves feeling the spirit. She wants to come back to church next Sunday and is hooked on the addiction recovery meetings. We've talked to her quite a bit about how she feels the spirit and she has identified herself that she feels it when we come over to teach her a lesson, when she comes to church, and when she goes to the addiction recovery program. We told her that the next time that we go over we are going to talk to her about how she can have the spirit with her all of the time... aka Baptism!! We are super excited! She does have some friends who are extremely anti-mormon, but we feel like we have gotten her to the point where she knows what they say is not true and can feel the spirit between us and when other people are saying negative things about us.

The Bishop this past week had us over for dinner and even had a non-member named Jenny there! It was SO awesome. And that was even Sister Linford's first day here. I'm not quite sure if the lady is open to hearing us teach her, she is currently just looking for a job. Our ward mission leader has been trying to bring up church stuff with her (she went to him to apply for a job as well), but every time he tried, she just shot him down cold. We'll see where things go. 

Things are going well with Aaron. He's been a bit sporadic in conversations in the past, but the lesson that we had with him this past week was super legit. He said he was super tired so I'm not sure if that just meant that his brain was too tired to take tangents so he actually focused on what we said or what, but it was awesome. We taught about prayer and committed Aaron to start reading the scritpures and praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He knows that if he gets his answer that it is true, then he needs to be baptized. It was probably the best lesson that we have had with him thus far. We are still trying to get his mom to come. Apparently last week she gave us a "test" to see if we really were real missionaries by not letting him go to church and seeing how we responded. We passed the test apparently so he can now still meet with us. 

Got pretty sick this past week. I had the flu. I'm pretty sure that Sister Linford brought it with her from the MTC, and then I just got it when she came here. So we were both sick for a few days... talk about companionship unity I guess... :P. those were some rough days, but things are MUCH better now. I just look like Rudolph and sound like a frog. no big deal. Great to get new investigators. :P

I know this gospel is true and I am so glad that I have the chance to serve a mission. Each day I am clearly reminded of God's love for his children and how God has a plan for each of us and wants all of us to succeed. I'm grateful for the challenges that I have had so far on my mission and how they have helped me to grow and to rely more on the Savior. This gospel is amazing and even better than that, it is true!

Well, I love you all tons! thank you so much for all that you do for me and all of your prayers! Best of luck this week!