Loving Peru

Everything has been going so good here in my ward! My comp is doing a little better! I am trying so hard to help him adjust! I have grown to love my my companion! We are constantly talking. It is really cool to have a relationship that we are good friends!

Well just a couple of experiences! Well firstly we are going to have a baptism in April! After a long drought here in my ward! We are going good right now! We have found lots of families to teach. I am really excited for this. 

Yesterday we were contacting and we walked past a street that we have never contacted before. Before that we had contacted a guy that just yelled at us for knocking at his door. So after that I was bummed out a little. I didn't really want to contact in that moment. But I knew we had to keep going. So we started to contact this street. First door. Nothing. And the same thing with the second. Great way to start of this street I thought to myself. We knocked this one door and out came a lady she is 24 and she wanted to listen. We explained who we were and what we teach and we asked if we could  come back to visit her. We have her number and we are going to visit her. 

Another experience that was really cool! We were walking in the street called Alborada. And all along this street there are benches. We were walking at night and there on one of these benches was a family. I just had this feeling that we need to contact them! We shared a little bit about The Plan of Salvation. And they showed interest in what we were saying! I have a visit with them!! 

I am loving it here in Peru!!!! 

Elder Spencer

To DAD:

So cool to see that you are supporting UVU in all that they do? How are they looking? I bet stacked. So you guys went to that restaurant that we went to that one time! You need to try Lomo Saltado. It is the best thing in this world--to me at least. Time. Time has flown by so fast here. Finally after a long drought we are having more people come to church. And we have a baptism this coming month. 18 of April. And more to come. We have found TONS of familias and we are trying to help them so hard! They just don't understand sometimes but we are always ready to help them that really is what it is about. Helping and Inviting. 

Elder Spencer 

Say hi to Matt Warne for me!! Love that kid! 

Working Diligently

Me during service with my hipster hat! (They were painting)

This week has been a really long week for me. I have been a little stressed with my comp and the problems that he has. I am trying so hard to animate him with the work. It is difficult to see that each day is a little worse than the other. He really has to do it on is own. I can say all that I want but really he has to find why we came here. 

Well this week we have been working really diligently. We have found so many people to teach. My comp doesn't say much in the lessons right now. But we are practicing everyday to get him more confidence. We have found 2 families and a lady and a man and a young lady. They have tons of potential to be members of the Church. We have made plans to get them baptized this April. Sadly for us we didn't have a baptism this month. In a month or so should expect photos of baptisms 

We have found people that are soo cool! They just need to come to church and we can continue with everything... preparing them to bet married and to get baptized also! I am really excited for this week! I know it will be hard but I know with the help of God all is possible. 

I have been studying Jesus The Christ. I am learnng so much about The Atonement. And about Christ himself I know this work is the work of the Lord! I am so happy to be here! 

i

Elder Spencer 

I had to go to the Airport to send my comp to Mexico! Elder Perez and Elder Spencer

Zona San Felipe!

New Companion

NOTE FROM MOM:

I asked Nate how he is doing. This is his answer:

I am great!!! Happy! The most happy I have been in a while! 

I asked Nate if he ever gets homesick. He says:

No I am never homesick! Seriously. Like I miss you guys and all that much. But homesick? no

Nate has a new companion. He has now had a companion from Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and now Chili. He said the Spanish is different from each one. He said is can't yet understand this new companion. 

Now for his letter:

This week has been full of work!  I got a new companion! His name is Elder Parra! He is from Santiago, Chile. He doesn't have much time in the mission. He has like 3 weeks. So I am training him right now. It is going to be an experience I will never forget! We have been working really hard and we have been teaching a lot! I only want to share one experience that I had yesterday. 

On Saturday we were searching for a lady that we taught. We knocked on her door and her sister answered the door. We started talking and she told us that she had been receiving lesson from the missionaries before and she was wondering were they went. We explained that we sometimes get changed to other places to teach. And that we only stay in one place for 4 or 5 months and after we switch. We asked her is she could remember what the missionaries taught her. And she couldn't remember. But we invited her to listen to us. She said she would love to. But didn't have much time right then. We scheduled a time for Sunday so that we could talk with her and her boyfriend. 

Yesterday in the morning I called my District Leader and asked him if he would be able to help with this appointment to be able to invite them to baptism. He told me yes. So we went through out the day. We attended church and worked until we had to go to this appointment that we set with her. We were going to do divisions. But it took a turn for the worse. We met Elder Gilbert in the Stake Center and he told us that he couldn't go cause he had to go to Ward Council and that he had a interview at 7. When this happened I started to panic a little bit. But I told him that is was fine and he told me to really listen and talk through the Spirit. 

We left the Stake Center and we had to run to get to this appointment. We arrived and knocked on the door. But no one came for about 5 minutes. We were about to leave when the door opened and we saw the Sister in the door. She told us to wait for 2 minutes more. So we waited and during this time I started to pray to God to help me help this family see that we are representatives of Christ and that they would accept this message. She came back and invited us in! 

We sat down and we were talking with her for a minute and then entered her boyfriend. We started to get to know them. I saw that they had a baby! He recently was born 14 days ago! But we started the lesson with a prayer and after we started talking about what they wanted in the future, and about what they wanted in that moment. I felt prompted to share The Gospel of Jesus Christ. We started to explain and testify about The Gospel. I don't remember what I said to them. But I wasn't saying what I normally would. I could tell in that moment that I was telling them what God wanted for them. There was such a strong Spirit in the lesson. During the lesson we started to explain baptism. I thought that they were going to say no. But.... they said yes!!! I knew the Spirit was working inside of them. Testifying of this message. They aren't married but we have put a goal for that also! We have another appointment with them tonight. We invited them to pray about what they need to do! They accepted!! 

After the lesson they invited us to drink soda! We talked about soccer with the guy and about cooking with the sister! I have the confidence of them that we are here to help them!! When we left and started walking to our next appointment I could feel a difference. We left the spirit with them! I could feel that. That is an experience that I would not change for the world!! 

Elder Spencer 

8 months out

This week has been a little bit difficult. My companion mentally checked out because he goes home tomorrow! Yep that is right he finished his mission! But the good thing is that he has left me with lots of things to do! He has been such a good comp this last transfer! It will be hard to see him go! But just a couple experiences this week to start this email! 

We did splits with my District Leader, Elder Gilbert! We taught this guy named A"". He is a really good guy. We taught him The Plan of Salvation but only in like 20 min because we didn't have much time. After Elder Gilbert said that we should have taught The Restoration. I agreed but I told him that I didn't have any pamphlets of the Restoration and that is why we taught The Plan of Salvation. Hahaha it was pretty funny for me and him! But we have another appointment with him! And he has potential to be baptized. 

I had a work visit with the Zone Leader! Elder Brimhall! He is the coolest guy ever! Well we started our day perfect had 2 lessons that went really well! And after that ya went downhill from there. Every lesson started to fall through and I was thinking. "No this can't be happening not today... " But we rescued the day and had 3 more lessons which was awesome! 

Friday nothing really happened! We taught and nothing else! 

Saturday same.. 

Sunday was an adventure for me! I had to teach the class Gospel Principles all by myself and that was really hard. We had two visitors and we are going to visit one of them. The other lives in the jungle and was only visiting for yesterday!  We had to do splits again And I was with a youth in the ward. I didn't learn until later that he was like 13 years old... and didn't have the office of a Priest. So technically I was alone all day.  And when we were contacting he was walking all around me like in a circle, around me literally. And I could not focus! 

Our investigators are great! But don't want to do anything. They don't want to come to church and that is the main thing. They can't is what they tell me! And that just seems to me like an excuse! But we have potential baptisms! We just have to be patient. 

Elder Spencer 

Teaching, Teaching

A Museum

This week has been a really, really good week for me and I am going to explain why. Well first off we have been helping the Less Actives here in my ward Sol del Pinar start to attend more. A while back we found a lady who had been in Chile for 5 years and recently returned back. While she was there in Chile she wasn't able to attend church. For 5 long years she told us. She told us that she always wanted to go but never could due to the situation. We have helped her get active in the Church again. She is really cool. She has 2 children. They are crazy. Along with her we have help 6 others regain there testimonies again. My area isn't a high baptizing area. But we are helping the people here recognize the importance of attending. It has been something really special to see little by little the strength in their testimonies grow. 

I taught this little girl how to put socks on her head! 

We have lots of people to teach in our area. But we can always do better. My companion is going home in 10 days. He is still working but not to his fullest. But he has been the best companion I have had here in the mission so far.

Last night we did divisions. I was with a youth from a different ward. His name was Moroni! That is the coolest name ever! But anyways we went to visit this family that we have been trying to teach for weeks now. Always when we have showed up the Mother has told us that she wanted to listen but with all here children present along with her husband. We have gone to her house at least 7 times to talk with her. But without success. But yesterday we were able to talk with this family. This experience I would never change for anything is this world. We started to talk about The Plan of Salvation and our purpose as missionaries. I told them that as missionaries we invite all people to come to Christ through his Gospel. I told them that through this message their desires will be to follow Christ will grow to the point that they want to follow Him to the fullest and be baptized. 

We eat breakfast with the couple that does our laundry! 

After that I taught all of The Plan of Salvation because my companion didn't know any of the lesson. During the lesson I could feel something different about my teaching. I wasn't just teaching to teach. I was teaching because I felt love for this family. That is a feeling that I am never going to forget. The love that I felt and feel for this family. I want the best for them. During the middle of the lesson I felt a strong urge to invite them to baptism. And they accepted. On the condition that I keep visiting them to learn more. hahahahaha.  At the end of the lesson they asked how we could know if all these things were true, and I explained prayer. They have committed to pray about The Plan that God has for his Children. 

We went to Center of Lima!

With lots of love,

Elder Spencer