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! 

August 5, 2014

Hola Todo!

Been having a great week here in the MTC. Can´t believe it is almost over and I get to fly off to Peru this Monday! Time really does fly when you are doing the work of The Lord. Anyways I just want to share a couple experiences/thoughts that have happened over this last week!
Well to start off we have been teaching "Investigators" and it has been a really spiritual experience! Even though they aren't real investigators just our teachers, I really have come to love each one of them even though they aren´t real! I can´t wait until I am sitting in Peru with a family teaching them about The Plan Of Salvation! This is truly what it is all about! Spreading the Word Of God to the His Sheep!
Another fun experience. So it doesn´t rain here that often but when it does you better get inside because if you stay out you will go for a swim! So last Thursday my companion and I were practicing for the devotional where he was singing and I was playing the piano! Soon after we started to walk back it was really, really dark! I thought to myself, "That is kind of weird..", but soon disregarded that thought! No less then 1 minute after leaving our practice session it started to pour! And I mean POUR! We ran from building to building until we finally reached ours! It literally looked like we had just gone swimming! Soon after we arrived we saw that the sidewalk and the streets were flooded with water! Flooded a good 4-5 inches!! It was insane!
Well again I am so happy to be out here! Everyday my testimony grows whether it is a little bit or a lot. But I know that the people of Peru need to hear the message of the Lord. And with Faith in Jesus Christ all things are possible! Love you all! Hope you have a great day after reading this!

Adios!

Elder Spencer

This is where the futbal goes down

My District! Love them All!!

Mi Casa

mi y Hermano Martinez! Best teacher ever!

Selfie with my District!

Getting ready to play futbol!