Feliz Navidad!

Dad! 

I am so excited to talk to you and the family!! Wow it is already Christmas! I hope all turns out well with your job plans! I will be praying for you! Well I always do! And yes your statistic is correct 1.2% of Peru are members! But we are plugging away with the work! We had changes in our companionship this last week the day Tuesday! I now have a Peruano as a comp! He carries 20 months in his mission! And I am learning how to be super patient with him! He is always listening to his music and sometimes doesn't want to work but I am just learning to have a good experience. But don't worry I am not participating in his activities! I am trying to get him to work which is good I need a goal to fulfill! In January we are going to help a family get married! They are so kind and amazing! 

Elder Spencer 

Hola todos! 

In this time of the year he have the opportunity to remember our Savior Jesus Christ in full! I am full of emotions during this time of year! But remember we need to remember Him always not just during Christmas! Everyday we need to strengthen ourselves in order to be able to become like Him! Which includes doing the things that He would do if we was here on the earth! I know we all have a lot of things to do in our lives with our families and with school and work! 

Well a lot has happened this week! We had changes in our companionship and I am currently sitting next to Elder Pauro! He is from.... Peru! He was in the Lima West mission but they change him to Lima North! He really is crazy and a good worker! I has 20 months in his mission... sometimes things are tough! But I am learning so much from him! We have found many people to teach and we will continue searching for the lost sheep and bring them back to this wonderful knowledge! 

Currently we are working for January! We have a lot of things that we need to do! When I was with Elder Ortiz we baptized a lot of people! But now with my new comp we have to teach all the lessons to them again in order to make sure that they are totally converted! We have many lessons to teach this week and things to prepare! 

This Wednesday we have an activity as a mission! We get to wear P-day clothes all day in this activity! It should be really fun! I hope all is well and Happy Holidays here from Peru! 

Elder Spencer 

Cambios (Changes)

Dad! 

So glad to hear from  you sorry for my short letter to you last week I didn't have a lot of time. But hey thank you for setting up an account for me that was really thoughtful of you! I don't have time to really do anything except teach and teach. That really is my life right now. I haven't figured out a way to use the money that Grandma has given me... But I am thinking of just buying clothes for some of the members that I see that they are in need. I am really excited for Christmas here! I want to see what it is like! Spanish is so much better! I still struggle sometimes but I have come a long way with my Spanish and I have a long way to go to! Always I am trying to learn new words or phrases to use! Sounds like your work is coming along just great! I hope all goes well! I will pray for your success! I am going to write a longer email to mother with pictures and such! 

Elder Spencer 

Mother!

Today we have changes in our companionship! Either I stay here in my area or I leave my area and start fresh in a new area! I don't know what is going to happen but we are going to see! This week has been really long. But a lot has happened this week! 

Welcome to Peru! 24/7 we climb them hills! 

Well to start of we found a family way, way up in the mountains! We got lost multiple times! But eventually we found the house! We found out that they are members and that they have 15 people in their family! We are going to teach them this week on Tuesday! Also we found another family! They are cool we taught them a little in the street and we are going to teach them as well!

Last Saturday we had baptisms! We baptized 2 people! And there are more to come! I will send pictures in order to describe what happened! But the work here in my area is good! Always there is someone to teach! Not much has happened that I can remember my memory is so bad I can't even remember what I ate for lunch yesterday!

Our baptism! Her name is Rosario! 

But last night we went to the stake center to hear the Stake President speak! He talked about the Book of Mormon and the power that is has in conversion of the hearts of the people! It was really inspiring and made me want to share the truth with all the people through the Book of Mormon! He also talked about that the members are the key to our success. If you aren't using the members to get references you are not doing your job! He said the easiest way to get a reference is through the members! Because they know the area better and the people! That is one thing that we have not been doing! Using the members! That is one thing that is going to change if my companion leaves I am going to use the members! 

Grass exists in Peru!!! 

Elder Clawson and I during service!! 

Hope all is well!

Elder Spencer 

Late

Mom! 

Sounds like a lot has happened these past few weeks! I am so jealous that you got to put up the Christmas decorations with out me! But don't worry I got to decorate a tree for 2 hours. We were helping our ex-pensionista set up her decorations last Wed! She is really particular about the things she does. It is either her way or the highway I have noticed! Well this week has been so much better! My Spanish is getting better day by day! I miss our Christmas traditions so much! Thank you for the package! What did you send in it? Just want to make sure everything arrived! I have a question should I just by a new camera that is cheap? like 300 soles or so? I don't know what to do! Cause we go to Lima tomorrow and if it is going to cost we money to fix my camera I should just buy a new one right?? Please mail me bacK. 

Anyway we don't have much time to write today! We had to take a survery of the Church... it was not fun.. Well my comp said that we will have more time to write tomorrow! I don't believe him.. but if we do have more time I am going to write an email for the blog ok? 

Love you mommy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS  

Elder Spencer 

Busy Missionary

Mom, 

Well today I can't send pictures or write much because thanks to my district we only have 30 min to write. I am not going to say what I am feeling it wouldn't be nice words. 

Well a lot has happened here in Mariscal Caceres! First off my Spanish is so much better wow I can feel a difference. It is a little bit more natural and free flowing! We have been teaching a lot lately! I love teaching. It is really humbling to teach, I learn a lot about myself and about the Gospel! It is amazing to see! 

We had 2 baptisms Saturday! That was awesome I got to baptize again! We have done a lot. I am going to try and remember what we have done! Here we go! 

Well the first thing that comes to my mind was when we helped people carrying long pieces of wire and cement up a mountain! That wasn't too bad we contacted some people and found a less active member! Second thing that come to mind is one of our investigators! She is sincere and eager to learn! We have a date for her baptism 13 of December! Also we did some service in a members house 2 weeks ago! We help take out dirt from her house in order to expand her house! 

So I was reading this packet named , " The Fourth Missionary" and it really made me want to change my look on the mission. It basically is a packet of how to become the best YOU and Missionary! Because first I was just going on a mission because that is what members of the church do. But after reading it is said something really cool it said, " There is a difference between obedience and intelligence. And the intelligent thing to do is to apply the Gospel in your life." I thought that statement was really cool! Also found some really cool scriptures that helped me! 

2 Nephi 21:2    Alma 26:12     Moroni 10:20-23

Omni 1:26       Alma 41:5-6    D&C 18: 17-19 

Mosiah 4:9      Moroni 7:6-7

The next experience I want to share happened recently in a lesson! We started sharing the Plan of Salvation with them. When we were sharing this lesson I felt like a real missionary, I wasn't reciting anything. I was helping the person understand this wonderful plan that God has for his children! I was teaching for real! Well to finish I am really glad and humble to be here! I have learned to much of myself and of the beautiful Gospel! I have had to many ups and downs I can't even count, but I know God is my strength and will always be with me! Hope things are awesome for you all! 

From Peru, 

Elder Spencer 

Families

Mother! 

Wow sounds like life is full right now for you with work and such! And sounds like a lot is happening in the ward!!! 

Well I want to explain what happened this week! Here we go! 

Well first we have been teaching our investagatores who are going to be baptized this Saturday! Which is awesome! I am soo excited for that! We have been searching for inactive families recently and we went to an area that we normally don't go because it is pretty far. But we went and we were knockin some doors in which we had the addresses and we didn't find anyone! We called our Zone Leader who had been in this area before and he told us which house we need to visit! So we went to this house and we found a really cool lady! She had some crazy stories to tell and we were there for like 45 min listening to her stories! After we told her that we have been looking for her family because they haven't been coming to our ward for 4 or 5 years something like that I don't really remember... but she said that she was active and that she was attending the ward in another stake. We congratulated her but we told her that she is in the system of our ward records and that is it important to attend her home ward which is our ward. And after she said she would start attending our ward! 

We are really focusing on family! We have about 7 inactive families that live in this area of the lady I was talking about. And we asked her if she knew any of the families but unfortuneatly she didn't know any. So right now we are searching for them in order to rescue them! Each day is an adventure! Peru is amazing and I am loving it sooooo much! This place, the experience, the people! It is something alright! Hope all is well! 

Elder Spencer 

This was a note in the blog of Elder Spencer Bradford who is also in the same mission and was MTC roommate with Nate:

Elder Spencer is doing amazing with the language and is going to be a truly amazing missionary. We have talked many times about life in the field and life afterwards. We have helping each other and I know that God put us here together for a reason. 

Pressing Forward

We have three baptisms this month on the 29 on Nov! I want to share a little bit about each person that we are going to baptize! 

1. Doctor Cesar, 

He is a doctor of teeth! He is really awesome! His cousin is the second counselor in a stake not to far from where we live! He has had interest in the church for a long time! And he never knew what to do! Until we showed up! In the first lesson we talked about the Plan of Salvation and when we were talking about the Kingdoms of Glory we invited him to baptism and he accepted! We are teaching him to prepare him for the 29! 

2. Irma 

Irma! She was a reference of a member! The member introduced us to her 3 weeks ago! And she has the desire to be baptized also! She is so sweet and genuine when we come over! She loves to here what we have to teach! She came to church yesterday for the first time and later that day we visited her and she said that she felt something different about our church! 

3. Isabel? 

I think her name is Isabel... Not sure... anyways she is autistic. At first with her we didn't really know what to do. Because of her condition she already has the Celestial Kingdom! But when she wants something she is going to get it!! We visited her family yesterday. The house was dark and we knocked and no one answered for a long time. But we waited and waited. And they answered! The mother is a member and tries her hardest to attend church! Her son works on Sundays but we invited him to baptism also and he accepted for the month of December! 

Wow! A lot has happened these past weeks! I went on divisions with the Zone Leader Elder Whitlock! Not the same Zone Leader who is strict because he is cool! Anyways we went on divisions in my area! I was kind of scared but all turned out well! I only got lost once!! On of lessons that we taught was awesome! We taught this less active family they have 2 sons and a mom. I don't know where the dad is... But we were teaching them and there was interruptions like every 7 mins it seemed like! But we were patient with them and we showed them our concern. Oh also the mother has cancer in her stomach. And she is on medication. Anyways we were teaching, and when we were talking about where we go after this life you could feel a spirit in the room and you could sense that everything was going to be alright. You could see it on the faces of the family. It was a very spiritual lesson! 

Elder Spencer 

Charity

My week has been full of things that are worthy to share. I have a hard time remembering things so that is why I don't really write much. But I am going to try better to remember. 

Well first off we found this lady. She is so sweet and sincere. She really wants to change her life for the better! She lives up in the hills of Peru! She told us that she has had interest in the Church but never really knew what to do from there. Until one day we showed up at her door and she was very grateful for that. She hasn't been attending church which she said she would do for like the past 2 weeks. I keep visiting her though and we keep promising that the Church is a safe place for us to learn and grow together. I think she has a little bit of fear of the church and applying the change. But no one is perfect and we need to be patient with her. We visited her 2 days ago. And we asked if she had been reading. I already knew that answer when she said no she hadn't been reading. From there my coampanion went of on a rant and he did what we call " quemado " the word means " burned " in Spanish. This means when you have asked your invesigador to read or pray multiple times and they haven't that you pull out your scriptures and tesitfy about the blessing that you can recieve and you ask a million questions about why they aren't reading and litteraly burn them with your words and scripture. I don't like this method at all. So I sat there like I knew what was going on! My comp likes to talk a lot when we are in the lessons which is good in a way but he says way too much I am pretty sure he talked for 40 mins to this lady. At the end of this he nudged me which indicated that it was my turn to talk. I didn't have many words or analogies to give but I used the words that I knew and I gave a sincere and caring testimony that was about 8 min long about the importance of reading, praying and about the church. It was sincere and caring. I don't like to "burn the people with scripture and words. 

Well I don't have time to write what I want cause every Monday we are late to Internet. Thanks to my comp... I don't have time to write what I want to write to you guys. And we have a new Zone leader who is not cool and is very strict about the time we have to write our families. 

We met this doctor and he has interest to be baptized we are preparing him right now to be baptized this month! He came to church yesterday. But he slept through some of the classes. Sorry I can't write more thanks to my companion and my Zone leader I can only give a little when I want to give a lot. 

Love you! 

Elder Spencer 

November 3

We walk by a Cementary everyday! I had to take a selfie! 

Baptisms! YAY! 

We went to the Temple! I understood all of it in Spanish! 

Short and Sweet

Dear Mother! 

Not a lot has happened this week! We had baptisms on Saturday! Which was really awesome! We have been teaching a lot of lessons and finding a lot of new people to teach! I know God is looking out for the Missionaries! He really does care about His children here in the Earth! 

My companion... oh things are getting a little worse little by little but I am trying so hard to stand firm. But hey I know I can grow from this experience and as long as I am doing my best and keeping in line with Christ and what he wants his Missionaries to do! 

I will send pictures! You can count on that! 

Love you my dearest Mother! 

Elder Spencer 

A Missionary's Influence

Anyways I don't even know where to start! So at the start of the week we decided to visit this guy named Alfredo! We had visited him once before and he told that he wanted to change his life, because he had been drinking and all that good stuff. So we went to visit him. We arrived and we couldn't find him. We were going to leave when we heard him shout, "Brothers!" We turned around and he was sitting in a bus with his friends....who were drunk. He invited us in and we started to talk with all of them. We talked about how the Gospel can change your life and help you heal the wounds of drinking. Alfredo wasn't drunk only his 2 friends. One of them talked to me... and being drunk and speaking Spanish doesn't really help me... it is a double negative because I could not understand them when they talked. So we talked for a while and we asked if we could come back when they were sober. 

So we went back a couple days later to talk with them! But unfortunately the others weren't there... But Alfredo was! When we arrived he looked a little sad, so we asked him what was the matter. He told us that he went back to drinking again. We told him how sad we were with his decision. And started to talk about faith and repentance. That was the most spiritual conversation that I had had in a while. I got to teach him the principal of faith and why we need it. At the end he said the prayer. It was the most sincere prayer to Our Heavenly Father that I have heard. 

Yesterday was a little rough... because we watched conference in Spanish and I understood most of it but it still wasn't the same. But I want to share an experience that I had while I was going to bed yesterday. So Elder Ortiz and I arrived home and got ready for bed. We went over to our neighbors house to eat and came back and went straight to bed. I was almost asleep when Elder Ortiz shook we awake. I asked what was the problem and he told me, " Escucha" (Listen). I started to listen and didn't hear anything... but a couple seconds went by and I heard a shout of terror from the apartments in front of ours! I heard, " No me golpeo! " ( Don't hit me!) And heard the slap!! We looked at each other and I said, " ¿Que vamos hacer? Necesitamos hacer algo!" ( What are we going to do? We need to do something! While we were thinking the thought came to me that we need to pray. Before I could say it Elder Ortiz said, " Vamos a orar para ella" ( We are going to pray for her) So we knelt down together and Ortiz started to pray. During the prayer I felt something... I felt peace that she was going to be ok. 

Somethings in life are tough but I know and have seen many miracles here in Peru and all have come about through prayer! I hope we can all prayer to our Loving Father in Heaven and thank him for what we have! 

Elder Spencer 

Pictures from Facebook October 2014

Joseph Smith

Mother! 

This week has been pretty good! We have taught tons of people and we still have more we need to teach which is always good! My companion... he is good he just has a hard time following the mission rules. It is frustrating. But I stand my ground and say, " No podemos hacer ese." ( We can't do that ) Sometimes he realizes it and sometimes he doesn't.

Well this week we found this lady, her name is Viki. She is so genuine and kind. She has two kids a boy who is 3 years and a girl who is 7. We met her while walking to an appointment that we had. We were walking by her and she asked us if we were the Mormons. And we kindly said yes. She said that she had questions about the church and we asked her if we could come visit her one day. And she said yes. 

So the next day we went to visit her. I was expecting tons of questions about the Bible, the BOM, Marriage, etc. All that good stuff. We entered her house sat down and started to introduce ourselves. We had a prayer and we started the lesson. We asked her what her questions were and she said, " What do the Mormons believe? Because I have read a lot of things online of the Mormons and I want to know what you believe." So we taught her the first lesson. We taught and taught, and when we arrived at the section of Joseph Smith I knew I had to testify about this. So I started to explain the doubts that Joseph had, and that he wanted to know the truth. I related this story to her and said, " You have doubts correct? About the Mormons, well, Joseph had doubts to and he wanted to know the truth like yourself. So Joseph went to pray one day..." And then I described the First Vision. 

In this moment... I could feel something strange... an assurance that what I had said was true!  And I could tell in her expression that she felt it too. I paused for a couple seconds. And continued on. That moment I will never forget. It is glued into my brain into my memory! After we finished we invited her to baptism and before she said yes, I knew she was going to say yes. It is these moments that you really realize that you have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I a'm glad that Joseph Smith restored the Fullness of the Gospel. I have an immovable testimony of this! And I cant wait to share it with the people of Peru! 

Glad to hear that your trip went well! Keep me updated on UVU and your lives. I love to hear about everything! 

With Love, 

Elder Spencer 

From Mom:  If you want to drop Nathan a line, his email is:

nathaniel.spencer@myldsmail.net

Mission World Cup

We are writing today because we have the World Cup for the Mission this Monday and we won’t have time to write Monday!!  I am so excited to play all day!! Everything here is good! This month we have baptisms! 

I went on divisions and that was way fun! I actually really like divisions. I get to play the role of senior companion for a night! My Spanish is so much better! I just need to learn as much as I can and have patience! 

Elder Nathaniel Spencer and Elder Spencer Bradford

Love you! 

Elder Spencer 

Have a great conference weekend! 

Questions Mom asked Nathan (and his answers)

Do you get hot water in your apartment for showers?

They have hot water installed... but sometimes is goes out...

Do you have a maid that cooks and cleans for you? How much does it cost?

We pay 350 for our apartment 

We don’t have a maid.. 

Where do you eat for dinner?

For dinner we buy food and cook it at a member’s house 

Do you get to play the piano much?

I play the piano sometimes they don’t really have piano here only in the stake centers

 Below are some pictures of stairs that people (and missionaries) have to climb to get to the areas where they work.

Adventures in Peru!

These weeks have been full of many adventures! First off last week we left our keys in our room! Ahh! We asked some workers near by if that had a ladder we could use! And Elder Ortiz climbed up to our room and got the keys! And now every time we leave the room I always ask him if he has the keys! Wow that was crazy! 

AMAMOS PERU (Love Peru)

My Spanish is so much better! Every day I learn something new about the language! I am trying to learn as fast as I can.

Our lessons have been great we have started to teach this family that their nephew is on a mission and that they want to be baptized! They are the coolest family ever! Also we are teaching this other family where the wife is a member but the husband is not! We talked about the importance of the Church is our lives and in our families. Also we talked about the importance of Family Night! That really hit home for me when we started to talk about these things. Because these three things really made me think. 

MI CUARTO (My room)

HOW I IRON MY SHIRTS EVERYDAY! 

Our pentionista is the coolest person ever! She isn't a member but every time we eat with her we try to bring up the church in some way or another! She cooks the best food and I think today was the last day she is going to pention for us! :( 

But yes everything is going well! I can speak English good with the gringos... ;) 

Nuestro proyecto servicio!! Tuvimos la oportunidad a tirar los ladrillos! 

( Our service project!! We had the opportunity to throw bricks! ) 

SERVICIO! 

Love you, 

Elder Spencer 

Time is Short

I don't have a lot of time on the computer and it is really hard for me to read all your emails and answer each and every question. So I am just going to write a big long email that you guys can read and then I will try my best to respond to everyone's email. 

Well this week has been really good! I have been really enjoying it here! I really is my home now!

My daily routine is wake up at 6:30, go play soccer at the stake center or do Insane Abs at the house. Then we eat with our Pensionista. After we shower at get ready for the day, then we study for an hour and a half. Then we have companionship study, which really means nothing here. So we just keep on studying until 11. Then I study Spanish for an hour or so and read out loud from The Book Of Mormon. After this we have lunch around 1. After lunch we share a message with the members that we ate with. 

After lunch we have appointments with investagatores. We dont' really knock doors that much because we always have appointments. We have appointments from 4 until 9 at night. This basically is my life everyday. 

We baptized 6 people this past Saturday!

All the people that were baptized!

I baptized Ayme la chica en el medio ( the girl in the middle) 

I had the opportunity to baptize 2 of the 6. I got to baptize a girl her name is Ayme and also had the opportunity to baptize the father of the family that we were teaching! We have a special connection, it is hard to explain. But I am so grateful that he asked me to baptize him! That really made me feel special! 

Hermano Jaime! My favorite person ever! 

My companion sometimes is really disobedient and it is really hard to be the example. But I do what I am supposed to do when I am supposed to do it. And sometimes he follows and sometimes not. It is really difficult! But I know only good will come from this! I have been thinking about my situation a lot and I have come to the conclusion that this experience with my companion is a model of the missionary that I don't want to be!! We never contact people which I ask him about everyday and he always says we will do it.... but we never do of course! 

These past couple of days have been great! The language is starting to flow out of my mouth without me having to really think about it which is nice! The people here are really nice and loving! I love talking with them! Well hope everything is good back at home! 

Last P day we went to Central Lima! 

We ate at Chilis! 

We went to a museum! 

Elder Bustamante y Hermana Arriaga 

Love you all! 

Elder Spencer

A Great Family and a Snake

Hola! 

This week has been really great! I had the opportunity to go on splits again which was a really fun experience! We taught this family that is Inactive in the Church. And we talked about eternal families. It is so amazing to feel the Spirit and know that they are feeling it too! We also helped this family a few days earlier move bricks to the back of their house to be rebuilt of something. I didn't really know what. But that was a really fun experience! 

Also this Saturday we are baptizing a family! And my companion says that I get to do it! I cant wait! They really want to accept the Gospel in their lives. You can see it when we teach them because they ask so many questions about what they should be doing and how they should prepare to be baptized. 

Mi con la familia que voy a bautizar este sábado! (With my family going to be baptized this Saturday)
!  

Also we taught this man, way up in the hill. And he happened to have a domesticated snake! He showed us his pet and we got a picture with it! 

Me con una serpiente (Me with a snake)

The thing I love about Peru is that everyday you never now what you are going to get! Or what type of people you are going to meet! 

Time--Message to Dad

Joe had sent a letter to Nate about worrying about the past or the future.  This is Nate's response.  It sounds like he gets it!

Dad! 

Time really is an interesting thing. The concept of time is still weird to me. What depends on how fast or how slow you want time to go depends on what you set your mind to. For me this month, wow where did the time go? My mind is on something very important in my life right now and when your mind is occupied with things, time goes by in a flash! 

But for the people that don't really have a sense of direction or no purpose in life and are always looking for something to do with themselves, that is where the time and life seems at its longest. 

It really all depends what you decide to do with the life that Our Father In Heaven has given us.

Elder Spencer 

Splits with the Zone Leader

Hola! 

So much has happened this last week! Each day is an adventure here in Peru! You never know what you are going to get! Well I had the opportunity of going on splits with the Zone Leader! At first I was not to happy... But it turned into an experience I will never forget! 

So that day I woke up and my companion told me we were going on splits and I did not know with who! So I packed my church clothes and we went to go play soccer like we normaly do. We played for 45 min and then I figured out I was going on splits with the Zone Leader! I was half and half not really sure what to think. He also is a Gringo. 

So we did all our studying that morning in his apartment and ate lunch with a member. Like we normaly do. Then we set out on our jorney!

We had an appointment with this family he told me ( In spanish ). I could hardly understand. But I went with it. 

This family is the most beautiful family ever! I dont remember their names but we talked for a while with them about work, family, life all that good stuff! Then we started into the lesson which developed into families and the importance of being with your family. Elder Whitlock, the Zone Leader, is so caring in the way he talks with the people. He really is a great example to me! But he shared is part and then he turned to me. And my stomach dropped. I had so clue what to say after such marvelous words. 

So like any good missionary I bore my testimony on families. I started to cry. Because I was thinking of my family and the families of all my friends. And how I was so blessed to be with them forever! I really started to think in that moment of these people have to idea that they can be eith their families for ever. It was an experience I will never, ever forget. 

I am grateful for my family and the support they give me in all that I do! 

Elder Spencer

Had the best experience ever baptizing Veronica!

Baptism!

My Mother!

This week has been really good! We have a lot of investigatores right now. About 3 weeks ago I met this girl named Veronica. And yesterday I got to baptize her! I was the best experience ever! I could really feel Gods love for her! And I have only known her for 3 weeks! Also we have this really cool family we are teaching. They have a father, mother, and 2 girls. One is 19 and the other es 22. I dont know their names... I am terrible with names here! But yesterday was a really good day. For the most part. The night before we had to fill the font for the baptism and we stayed up till like 1 en the morning. It was terrible. I will send pictures later...

I gave my camera to member to take a picture and he took my camera with him when he left the service yesterday....wow...

Wow from the pictures dad sent me UVU Soccer is off to a great start! I heard they won?
And yes packages do come they just take a while and they get sent directly to the offices so if you send one I might not get it for a while... but you can try if you want!

Ya JOE WHEELWRIGHT was in the Mexicio MTC! I saw him! And we played soccer together!!
Wow time is flying here! Everyday is a new adventure and a new opportunity to learn something new about the Gospel, about yourself, and about Peru!

Elder Spencer

Letter Collage

From Dad's letter:
Hey Dad!

I got your email! Thanks for the email! It really made me happy! Thank you for the advice. This last week has been a little hard for me with the Spanish and all! But yesterday everything I had learned up to that point started to make sense and it is becoming more natural everyday! It is hard to write and think in English a little bit! Last week we meet a family and they asked me to speak English to them! It took me a couple minutes to remember how to construct a sentence!

That is soo cool that UVU is starting to play! Thanks for the update and all! That is so cool that Greg [Nate's future coach told a friend of ours some nice things about Nate] said that about me. That makes me really happy to hear!

When I feel confident that I can speak the language, I am going to try and start a tournament. Right now that is not possible!

The people here always feed you no matter what time of day it is! They are soo kind and accepting! Most of the houses are made up really thin wood walls, not quite ply wood... and yes most of the houses here have dirt floors or cement floors! Ya most of the people here have families but aren't married. That is the case for most of the people here.

From Mom's letter:
Mother!

Loved your email! Things have been good here! I know it is crazy that Elder Bradford and I are in the same District! I love you so much! I have grown to love the people of Peru even though I have been here for 2 weeks! I know the Lord is giving me strength to do this difficult thing! The language is hard, communicating is hard. But I know with time it all will come together I just need to keep working hard!

Yes my area goes up into the mountains! Much climbing everyday! The area I am in is very poor. Most of the houses are barely standing up. The homes have walls of wood--very thin pieces of wood. And throughout the houses are pillars for support! For some very strange reason everyone has a really nice flat screen TV.... it doesn't make sense... I can't even say my campions first name so I am just going to go with Elder Ortiz for now.

TELL GRANDMA I LOVE HER AND THAT I AM PRAYING FOR HER!

So cool to hear UVU is up and running keep me updated!

Love,

Elder Spencer

From Clarissa's Letter:
Things here are great! The language is still hard but hey we need to go through trials in order to receive blessings! And in this case the Gift of Tongues. I eat three times a day! Hahaha silly! Sometimes only 2. The food here is great! Love it! Rice, Beans and Chicken and potatoes every day. Sometimes chicken feet... No me gusta!
The water comes in big gallon sized tanks! Spanish is always going to be hard but every day is better! We have 3 baptisms this Saturday! And more next month! 

My campanion! Elder Ortiz!

Service with a smile! :}

Bienvenidos a Peru! 
(Welcome to Peru)

I have arrived!

Hola a todos!

This is my first week in Peru! The people are so nice and caring! My campions name is Elder Ortiz! He is of Ecuador! My Spanish is still really bad. Pero cada dia es mejor!
Well where do I even start! My room is pretty small two beds and a bathroom! We live next to a member, his name is Luis, and every night we eat with him! Outside my room is a soccer court! But no one really plays there... When we go to appointments we take these little taxi cars made out of a motorcycle! They are the coolest thing ever! The food is the same everyday! Rice, potatos, and chicken! Siempre! My Spanish is improving everyday but it is still hard to communicate when people talk to you at a million miles an hour! My area is pretty big. We walk up big cases of stairs when we go to teach lessons! In the mornings we either run or do INSANITY in our room on our little tiny DVD player! In the lessons all I can really do right now is bear my testimony and give a little thought about what was taught, but hey that is better than nothing!! Hope all is well with you all! Today we played futbol and ate pancakes as a zone!

Love,

Elder Spencer

Elder Spencer with President & Sister Erickson in Peru

The new missionaries!

Just before leaving MTC for Peru

Hola!

We get to email today which is pretty great! And also unfortunately we are not able to call from the airport... Sorry about that... Anyways I am so happy that I get to go to Peru now! I feel like I have prepared to the best of my abilities and now it is in the Lords hands! I now the Lord will help me through the language! I am just writing to say that I leave Monday and I do not know if I will be able to email you then.
Anyways this week has been great learned lots of new things and every day i keep learning new things about the Gospel! I am almost all packed and ready to go I just need Monday to come and then off to Peru! My time here at the CCM has been great but there comes a time when you need to leave! and that time is now! I really cannot wait to be in Peru and helping the people there!