Baptism and Member Work, May 9, 2022

Hello everyone! This is gonna be short. Sorry about that. I have had a great pday! Elder Rivera and I threw water balloons at each other. 

Our friend Alaina was baptized this week! Her great grandpa baptized her. That was very special. I am so happy for Alaina! 

We had an awesome member missionary devotional a few weeks ago and the members here are getting really excited about doing missionary work!! I know more people will be invited to come unto Christ because of members serving and inviting.

Love you all!

Elder Spencer 

Early PDay, Zone Conference, and Exchanges! April 30, 2022

Hello all! Today is my Pday because on Monday Elder Rivera and I are going to be helping out with a funeral most of the day so, President said we could have our pday right now.

The death was unexpected and sad. It was a member of the branch. His name was Brother Savage. I met him once and that is why we are helping out. Sister Savage remembered us as=nd asked for support. I will play piano for the funeral and we will each speak for 5 minutes. It will be a good experience.

We had Zone Conference this week! I love being with President and Sister Collins. They are so wonderful. The AP's also came and taught a workshop on working with Less actives: a 6's list follow up. That was splendid and I am grateful I could practice sharing a 5 minute powerful message. We also practiced teaching the lessons in 4 minutes! That was really neat actually. I felt the Spirit. I need to do role plays more often. 

I had an exchange with the Talihina elders this week! They are awesome. Elders Hollingsworth and Jensen are both young but they are unified and love the people a lot. I was able to work with Hollingsworth and we invited two people to come to church! It was a big miracle!

I hit my 18 month mark on Thursday. That was crazy. I have served a sister mission! I am glad I still have 6 months left. I don't know if I would be ready to quit in a few weeks. Here is my testimony:

God is a God of miracles. Jesus suffered for your sins so you could be forgiven and feel joy. The Bible testifies and teaches about Christ's mission and ministry. The Book of Mormon teaches about Jesus Christ and His mission. Gratitude can heal you and give you perspective. 

Love you all! 

Elder Spencer 

I Love These People April 25, 2022

William Spencer	Mon, Apr 25, 8:54 PM
to bcc: me

Hello all! I love you and God does too!

This week I just felt so much love for members, friends and missionaries. It fills me with hope and faith. 

Our friend Ronda wants to be baptized on May 21st. Please pray for her. I know God can help her and give her the strength she needs to overcome smoking. God is a God of miracles. He can do anything. Ronda wants Jesus at the center of her life and she wants to have the Spirit with her always. She loves the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. 

This earth is beautiful and I got to see a neat summer storm. Lightning everywhere. 

Love you all!

Elder Spencer

God is Good, April 18, 2022

What a week! I testify the Lord loves you and His Son Jesus Christ suffered for you! I am still trying to comprehend and learn how He did that but I know He did it because He loves us so much! His love won't fail. 

I saw so many miracles this week! Here are a few:

•We were able to find 4 people this week! That was so amazing! 

•One friend we found is named Renita. We met her last week when we were trying to meet people in the branch. She said we could come back and share a message! So this week I went over with one of our Zone Leaders (we were on an exchange.) We shared an Easter message with her and began to talk about Jesus Christ and what He has done for us! Than she asked the question: "What makes yalls church different from others?" I was so pumped! We shared the Book of Mormon with her and explained that Joseph Smith Translated it. We also explained that he received the priesthood power from Peter James and John. We read in 3 Nephi chapter 11 when Jesus comes to the people in America. What a powerful event. She was really touched by it and agreed with everything we read. We invited her to read the rest of the chapter and to pray to know if it was the word of God. She said she would! Amazing!!

•Ronda was another miracle. We had an amazing lesson with her and she desires to be baptized so she can have an increase of the spirit with her. She said she has felt so good when she meets with us and when she is at the church building! She is so strong and is trying her best to come closer to God. I admire her so much. She also came to church! She loved it! That was a miracle too!

Love you all! God is good! So are all y'all!

Elder Spencer 

Fun river pictures 

My holding a dog and 4 flies!

Burnt Out, April 11, 2022

Hello everybody! I hope y'all are well. 

This week I just felt burnt out. With the new responsibilities as district leader, helping the other missionaries in their areas and still working in mine has been a challenge. I have been trying my best to unify the missionaries and show love for them and it has just taken a lot out of me. On top of that we had a baptism that was supposed to happen this week but we had to move it to May, we weren't able to find anyone this week and 0 out of the 4 people that committed to come to sacrament came... but the Lord knows better than I. I sin in my wish. I need to have a less myopic view.

A lady named Patsy that we invited to church did come to the building but than got shy and left. But she came! That was a miracle. We also had a surprise dinner yesterday with a big family and that reminded me a lot of the family dinners I had back home. That was a tender mercy. And we got to eat at this really good BBQ food truck twice this week so that was awesome! 

Also, I've been doing a challenge to read the Book of Mormon in the same amount of time as Joseph Smith translated it and it has been amazing to see the pattern the Book has with the old testament story of Moses and the children of Israel! It is beautiful how the scriptures flow together. 

This week I have really been trying to give my will over to the Lord. I have been trying to listen to Him and do what He wants me to do in Mena. 

Love you all!

Elder Spencer 

Pollen on our car!

Really yummy BBQ place

General Conference, April 4, 2022

Hello mis amigos y mi familia! 

I hope y'all had a great week! It is getting warmer here and the air is mixing. Hence tornados baby! On Tuesday morning at 7:30am it started dumping rain and thundering and lightning. Than the sirens went off. I won't be able to send the video becuase it is too long but it was crazy! We stayed in our apartment this time and were safe. No tornado touchdown in Mena. No damage done. 

I has asked to be the District Leader a few weeks ago and this week we were able to do an exchane with the Poteau Elders! They are awesome! Good people. They are ready and geared up to work. Should be a better transfer for them. I am grateful I could be with them and bond closer with them. 

The world wide General Conference was this weekend! That was wonderful. I really enjoyed the Sunday morning session. The words were inspiring and filled me with light and hope! I also got really excited and pumped up!! 

We wern't able to meet with Dionna this week.... we hope to this week! 

Love you all!

Elder Spencer  

Buttered chicken 

Conference feast

Our favorite cat Kenny

Member Referral, Mar 28, 2022

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great week!

This week was amazing. I was able to talk to more people and find some great scriptures about where we came from! 

At the beginning of the week we had an incredible lesson with a member referral. The woman, Dionna, works with the Sister and has been wanting to change her life after God gave her a second chance. She has a 3 year old and is trying to figure out how to raise him and improve her life. We taught her about the restoration of the gospel and how much joy it has brought us. The members were able to share their life experiences and testimony to which brought a perspective we couldn't offer. Definitely an amazing experience and we are having another lesson this week!

A member of our branch also died this week. Elder Rivera and I were able to give him a blessing right before he passed. I have never seen anyone die before. Quite the experience. He is in a better place now, reunited with his loved ones. That would be quite the reunion. We went to the viewing and graveside service. 

I love this gospel and I love being a missionary! This weekend is General Conference and I hope you can watch it! The Prophet of God is going to speak to us and give us guidance for our lives. 

Love y'all!

Elder Spencer 

Big Marshmallows!

Before and after mildew pics

O Ye of Little Faith, Mar 21, 2022

Hello all! I love you and hope you are well. 

This week there was some disappointments. This happens a lot in missionary work. I started to feel discouraged because we were doing lots of stuff that was important but we weren't spending a lot of time finding. I also passed a lot of people and didn't talk to them. I didn't open my mouth to be filled by the Spirit. I didn't have enough faith. To make matters more difficult 5 people told us they were going to come to church and none of them came. That was a tough one to swallow.

So while I was sitting there with my feelings I had the opportunity to serve. The branch asked me to play the piano for our church meeting. As I played, my worrying and frustration melted away for a moment as I was able to play hymns. My feelings were replaced with peace and happiness. I was at least able to share one thing I had to a group of people who needed it. 

We are going to try to meet with Dionna tomorrow. She had to cancel last week. I hope it will go through. 

Hope y'all are well.

Elder Spencer 

-A big pile of brush a member cut up

-I stitched a hole in my vest up

-A spider I killed in my apartment

-Chicken fried Steak

-Our new Nissan Rogue!

Miracles and Snow, March 14, 2022

Hello! I hope you all are doing fantastic!

This week was amazing! We got snow, so that was cool but so unexpected. 

We have been working a lot with members and we have begun to earn their trust. This week we had some break throughs with the work! A member found a mom and her son who want to meet with us! We had two lessons with them this week! Ronda (the mom) was really excited and was asking us a bunch of questions the entire lesson. Alex (the boy) was a bit more resurved but by the second lesson he opened up a lot. we taught them about the restoration of the gospel and they seem to be egar to learn more! We are going to try to help Alex meet some young men this week!

Another member reffered her friend Dionna to us also! We have been trying ot contact her withlittle success but than finally TODAY she got back to us and said that she could meet with us and the member friend on Friday. I pray that it will go well!

We also had a meeting with our friend John. He is awesome. I love John. We discussed priesthood authority and reading the Book of Mormon to see if what it says is true. He recommitted to read it and has been. 

I love being a missionary. I love Jesus Christ and God. Y'all are awesome!

Love ya,

Elder Spencer   

Crab Sandwich

Buttered chicken 

Member Service and Leftovers, March 7, 2022

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great week 

I love the sunshine but I also love playing in the snow. I love Mena because it is sunny right now in March but I miss Canada because I can play in the snow there. 

We had a tornado siren go off yesterday at 9:30pm. It was insane! Or at least for Elder Rivera and I it was. We packed up essentials in a bag (phone charger, granola bars, water, scriptures, journal, wallet, knife, phone, a change of casual clothes) and floored it to the church building! We checked the weather on the computer and it said it was moving away from Mena. We are safe and sound now. Just rain and some wind. Crazy experience!

We did service for a member about every single day this week. We helped one member pick up rocks out of his water melon garden. Another we helped move a piece of furniture. A couple we helped pack boxes because they are moving soon! It was awesome. Built better relationships with them.

The members also pitched in for food a lot and we literally survived purely off leftovers for the entire week! I will admit. I didn't like leftovers back home. But on the mission they are a life saver! They come in clutch!

Miracles are happening everyday. Take a second to find one that happened to you today.

Love you all!

Elder Spencer 

Pday Stake out at the church 

We found some baseballs behind a field!

We Punched out our car windows, Feb 28, 2022

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great week!

This week I did something I have never done before. I punched the glass window of our car and it shattered! Just kidding! We had an ice storm this week and our car was covered in a sheet of ice. Elder Rivera had the genius idea to roll down the car window and then break the ice! It looked super cool! I will send a video below.

We also made some cookies for our neighbors this week. Trying to get on the Sister Missionary game! 

A huge miracle this week was our friend Bob and his two kids, Matilda and Milo came to church! It was awesome to see them come! I hope they will came again soon!

We had a really touching special miracle this week. So every Sunday, Elder RIvera and I take the sacrament to Sisters Corbett and Hansel. Well it was Saturday and we were close to their house. Elder IRvera said he felt we should visit them. I was hesitant because after all we were going to see them in less than 24 hours, but we went anyway. Some back story to this. Sister Hansel's husband died about a year ago and she really misses him. The other week Rivera and I were walking around and we came to a cemetery. We usually don't go in cemeteries because no one is in them but we went in this one. We were walking down the path and lo and behold we came across Brother Hansels grave! When we went to see sister Hansel in Saturday we told her about our experience! She started to cry and said that the last two days had been really hard for her and that she was really missing her husband... we were led by the spirit to see her and share this experience with her. God is one of miracles! 

Love you all!

God bless

Elder Spencer

A Week to Remember, Feb 21, 2022

Hello all! I hope you are well. 

This week we did service for a couple, Rose and Frank. We helped them move in from up north. It was awesome! I am so glad we could help them! I love helping people! They were asking us a bunch of questions like, can we eat breakfast and can we eat pizza! It was funny but they sincerely wanted to know more about our religion! We were able to explain some of our beliefs to them. They even tried to not swear around us and when they did they apologized. Sorry, I totally can't spell right how haha.

We met with John and he knows he needs to be baptized. He is praying and pondering about which church he should join and doesn't want to make a hasty choice. I pray he will be able to feel the spirit and peace with the decision he makes.

This week my Great Grandpa Halvorsen passed away. He was the Candy Bomber in Berlin after the war. He is a hero and helped so many people. He was an angel. He served and gave of himself selflessly. I am going to miss him and am so glad I got to know him for a short time while here on earth. I know I will see him again one day and that brings me peace. 

Love you all lots!

Elder Spencer 

World's largest hill!

Moving truck ramp from truck to the front patio! So sick! 

Rivera sleeping