Rain, Lots of Walking, and All is Good Here! I'm Still Happy!!

Si, cosas estan bien aqui en chile, no mucho excito la semana pasada pero la trabajo continua cada dia. :) (Roughly translates to…good things here in Chile, not much success last week but the work continues every day.) Yeah it is a ton of rain like every other day now. It snows on the volcano a lot, but only rain here. And it’s probably like just above 35 degrees Fahrenheit. I think… haha it’s just cold. But I love it still and love coming home wet to the house at the end of the night. Oh and we have firewood now too so that is good!! That stinks about Utah having no rain but it sounds about like usual. Yes it is so beautiful here and I will try and get more pictures for you with me in them, even though I don’t like myself in pics but that’s ok haha. It’s all about the memories right? We made Chilean bread with a member this week but I won’t have the pics until next week.

Yes my talk was in Spanish!!! It was a little scary but I had a way good talk prepared and it was about 11 min long about the First Vision. It was a little rough but I still felt the spirit and the members loved it. It is a branch here with about 50 people every week, but in the summer it’s like 180 because of all the tourists. It is amazing to me how much things happen in this church and there are such profound things behind the simple teachings. For my spiritual thought this week it is on John 11:35. It is about the story of Lazarus. He was getting ready to die and Jesus left to go and perform a miracle. When he came back he was going to heal Lazarus who now was dead, but he saw the family of Lazarus and they were all in such sadness and pain. In verse 35 it says "Jesus Wept." Why did Jesus cry if he was about to work a mighty miracle? Well that is because Jesus knows us and all the pains we are going through. Even though he was about to heal Lazarus, he still felt the pain of the family and that is how Christ is. He is always here for us and will cry with us even when in the short future ahead our miracle is coming. :) That is my testimony and thought this week for you. :)

So a normal day is 7:00 to 8:30 is exercise, shower, eat then 8:30 to 12:00 is different studies including my trainings and such. So after my training we will be able to leave a little earlier and proselyte more.:) but then we have lunch with Pato from 1:30 until 3:00, then for the rest of the day we are out proselyting and going to citas (meetings) and stuff. But we go out and "knock" doors a lot but mostly to knock you yell "Halo" and then they decide to come to the door or not...;) haha, but we also do street contacts when we are walking around and yes our area is HUGE. The top part is on a hill so we are walking a lot or taking colectivos (which are kinda like cheap taxis). I’m definitely getting in my walking though. Every day we walk that hill sometimes 3 or 4 times a day!! But to walk to Pato’s house for lunch, if we walk fast it takes 45 min... haha. And our investigators are good but we didn’t really have a lot of contact last week cause all the meetings we set with them fell though or they weren’t there but it’s all good. I’m still happy. This next week will be better I feel it. :) You just gotta keep the best attitude you can is what I have realized.

Dang your work really is the bomb that sounds so sick. I definitely hope you are there when I get back!! haha and can they give me a massage for free too? haha but no that is so sweet. I’m glad you like it there and I’m glad the whole family is doing good too. That is sweet about the 24th.  I bet it was a party, and tell Heather hi and to email me!!! I will definitely read those scriptures she shared in her talk (1 Chronicles 28:20 and Proverbs 3:5-6). :)

Love you mom!! All is good here and I hope you guys are doing good as well. Talk to you next week. :)

Love,

Elder Spencer (Shawners)

Here are my pics for the week. They are all cool pics from my zone that flooded from the rain. They are in the Los Volcan part of Villarrica and the volcano.

Villarrica for Another Cambio!!!

Well yes I get to stay with Elder Thomas for the rest of my training so that is awesome!!! But next transfer I definitely think he is going to get put up to Zone Leader but we will see. Well this week was a crazy week. We spent Monday and Tuesday traveling and in Osorno but we got all of the paper work done for Elder Thomas so that is good.:) But on Tuesday I stayed with the zone leaders in Valdivia while Elder Thomas went to Osorno with some other elders. But it was just a crazy beginning to the week because of transfers and everything. But it all worked itself out and we got home (Villarrica) Tuesday night. Then we had to do a lot of studying on Wed. and Thurs. to catch up on my training. But we got a lot of contacts in and some lessons with people we found knocking doors. Basically a lot of walking around in the rain this week.:) A lot of our citas or meetings we set up, there was no one home when we went; but we set more up for this week so I’m stoked!!:) And we went to Panguipulli on Friday for Consejo de lideres like every week and the zone leaders had to loan us money to get home because we have no money till Wednesday... haha.

Well yesterday this drunk guy came and started talking to us and was actually really nice. We were talking to him about who we are and how we can be better people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then he was like that’s good we all need to be better people in life... haha so that was cool, but I hope that he will call us later because we gave him a card with our number. Also yes the Arroz Con Leche is bomb and we made it this morning!!! I’ve got some other recipes from members and Pato as well.:) It is hard though cause no one really measures here. They just throw stuff in and it tastes good... Well if you wait for 2 years I can come and make some bomb Arroz con Leche for you.:) haha

Ok I will try to send a short description of the pictures when I send them, but it all depends on how much time I have in the cyber that day. Also yes I love my backpack. It’s super light but the zipper on the side in the back IS NOT water proof. It got a little water in my back pack (but I mean we walked all day in the rain). So I think Elder Thomas' backpack is better for a more water tight one. And yes the puddles are fun to jump in but then I get soaked cause the puddles are huge!! But yes my shoes are awesome and I’ve only been using one pair and then I’ll switch if something happens to these.

That sounds like a good week!! That is really cool about forgiveness. I never thought about it that way either. Also about the garden that is cool. Also this week I had to talk in church and was invited to talk about the First Vision. So I asked myself, I know the first vision is important but why? Why was it so significant? Why didn’t God just tell Joseph Smith through the Holy Ghost? Well there are several really cool reasons to this that I didn’t know. 1-The first vision was the witness that God and Jesus are 2 separate beings. 2-God never stopped talking to his people. 3-There were NO true churches on the earth at this time. 4-That God knows all of his children by name. This last point is the point I love the most because God loves us, all of his billions of children that he knows us personally by name. Also that he has given us prayer so that we have a personal communication with him. This is what Joseph did and that is why the restoration of the gospel started. If we have the faith to study the scriptures and pray about anything we have questions about in our life, I testify that the Lord will answer them. He is always there and waiting and willing to help us.:)

That is all for this week. Love you mom!! Talk to you next week!!

Elder Spencer (Shawners)

Herbal tea time with Elder Thomas

Catholic cathedral in Panguipulli

Volcano was beautiful today.

Sunset after the rain stopped

Gutters during the rain. It looked like a waterfall!

Gutters during the rain. It looked like a waterfall!

Crazy, Busy Week with Traveling, Meetings and Proselyting

Yeah we had a way busy week last week but that is also because we had to do a lot of traveling for meetings and such.:) Which is hard cause then after we have to come home and study and do my training which takes time away from proselyting... But it’s all good. We still got in some good lessons and I feel that we have some really good progressing investigators. I’ll tell you more about them next week after we hopefully get some more lessons in this week if I don’t change zones. I really am learning so much from the people here. It is so amazing how strong I can feel the spirit in a lot of our lessons.. even though I still don’t know everything that is going on cause Spanish is hard but I feel it is coming along really good.:) 

This week is transfers or ''Cambios'' as they are called here. But I won’t know till later today for sure if I’m moving zones but I think I will be staying here to finish my training.:) This week is crazy... because we have cambios for one and we are going to Osorno today to redo Elder Thomas' visa and so we are staying busy.:) but we know for sure that Elder Thomas isn’t leaving so that is good!!!

I’m glad you liked the pictures. I have a ton more but not enough time to send... As for the hedge hogs they are cute but they are not really very fun pets. They basically sleep all day until we get there...;) haha, but they are super adorable!! That sounds like such a crazy fourth of July. I miss the breakfast and definitely the lake and fireworks!!! It was literally raining all this last week so we couldn’t have done them here anyway.:)

Your work sounds really cool and also awesome because you guys are making a difference and helping people!!:) But yeah we looked it up and Top Golf looks pretty sweet.:) And what????? you haven’t seen Finding Dory yet???? haha jk. I’ve heard a lot of people say it’s ether really good or just so so. I want to hear what you guys think. :)

Haha yeah that was sad... :/ (He twisted his ankle on a curb, tripped and tore his pants last week but he is okay). I have a good bruise on my leg and little cuts on the other but mostly I was just sad about the pants... haha but it is all good. Thank you for the thought (which was about our covenants being like anchors that keep us from wandering off to places we shouldn't go and keeping us safe.) I never thought about it that way either. It is a super good example though, and so true. They are there to be our anchors in the good waters of the Gospel of Christ and keep us away from the bad things of the world.:) Shoot I might need some physical anchors here cause it is raining a lot!!! haha but I love the rain and the huge puddles.:) 

For this week my thought is to just look for the hand of God in your life every day. Try to look for the miracles in your day.:) Elder Thomas has a ''Miracle Journal'' that he writes 5 different miracles every day!! and that’s what I thought about the day I ripped my suit. I am so glad that I wore my blue suit that day and not my black one. Because with my black suit it doesn’t have the warranty on it, so I would have been out a suit. But with my blue suit I have washable pants that match and I can get new pants sent for free.:) So count your blessings and know that even in bad times or what seems like bad times, the Lord is always there.:)

Love you mom!!! Keep up the good work there and I’ll keep up the good work over here!!:)

Love,
Elder Spencer (Shawners)

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

It was hard but actually really cool that I was able to teach!:) haha I love talking in Spanish but it is still difficult for me, I definitely have a long way to go but it is coming.

Well last week was definitely a crazy week!! We had a lot of success in finding people and teaching people! We have 16 nuevos which means 16 new investigators and so we are going to hopefully have lots of lessons! And as for Carlos he is progressing really well we set a baptism date for him!!!!!! It’s not until the 6th of August because he has surgery but I’m so psyched for him!!! Also we have another city in our sector called Licán Ray and we have only knocked doors in this area for like 4 hours and already have 3 families we are meeting with!!! So definitely keeping busy and not to mention trying to learn Spanish during all this... haha. But tell everyone thank you so much (everyone who asks about him) and that I am doing very well. Also yes we eat with a member here his name is (santo papito) haha no its just Pato, but he is really cool and cooks awesome food!! Also he has hedgehogs!! (there is a photo of him in here:) )​

I’m glad you are enjoying your new work!! I tried to look up your work but I’m not really sure what they do. What exactly does you work do there? Also CJ said you have an executive membership to TOP GOLF???????? Me and Elder Thomas looked that place up and danggggg! that place looks so dope!!! I hope you still have that when I get back...;) haha no but that is sweet and I’m glad you are loving it.:)

You will have to send me lots of pics from the 4th and videos also.:) but that is so sweet you were able to go to the temple!! I love temples so much and I can’t wait till the one in Concepcion is built. I hope they let us go see it... haha:) but have fun today and BE SAFE. Tell Chad to blow stuff up for me haha.

That sounds like a really good lesson you had in church!! That’s what I wanted to tell you about today is following the promptings of the spirit and having the faith to do so.:) Because on Sunday (yesterday) we did divisions and I went and taught with Max. In the first lesson we invited Carlos to be baptized and he was so excited. But in our original plan we weren’t going to ask him that day but I felt it was right. Then after I had a feeling to visit one of our investigators who is never home on the weekends but when we went, she was there!!!!:) So we taught her (Geraldine) a short lesson and we are going back today!! She is catholic but she really seems interested in our church so we will see how she feels tonight.:) And don’t worry I’ll keep going and never give up!!! JUST DO IT haha.

Love you mama and once again thank you so much for all you do.:) Stay safe and I hope all is well at home. Talk to you next week!:)

Love, Elder Spencer (Shawners)

P.S. Hey those the pics I sent (below) were from our zone p-day party today!!:) We played sports and watched Inside Out!!!! haha and we had hot dogs!!!:) And the hedgehog is Patos. The mom had babies this week!!!:) Today was a fun day in all and it was fun to watch a Disney movie in Spanish haha.:) But have you seen Finding Dory yet?? I’ve heard it is so cool!!:)