February 25, 2008

Dear Irvine Family:

That'd be sweet! The Duffins in the field! It's the best decision she'll probably make other than marriage (that's what Pres. Goodrich says- marriage is number one followed by mission number two). She's gonna love it! And it's so awesome to have a sibling in the MTC...that's the best ever! About the apostate music, this other elder is going to be transferred in a few weeks so it's going to get better, hopefully. The zone leaders have intervened too, and are going on exchanges with them twice a week now to work the area. Yeah, it's that bad. I've been blessed with missionaries that were pretty much obedient and not flat out disobedient. I'm wondering what Pres. Goodrich will do with this area, I have at least one more transfer now that my comp is going home at the end of this one. These past two transfers have been a test of faith and perseverance and endurance, to be honest. So I talked to Pres. Goodrich last night to ask a few unrelated questions and he just told me that we'll talk about it all when we have interviews in two days. So, we'll see what happens.


This week went by so fast, as this whole transfer. It seemed yesterday that all this ET stuff happened, and now we're two weeks away from sending Hansen home! Ah! Yesterday was probably the best day. I got to participate in the confirmation of Lesley Diaz, and it was so awesome! My first recent convert! A blessing! The baptism by fire, and she's officially a member! Now to teach and baptize her step-father. So we went to church and all that nice stuff and we had a President's Fireside down in my old area in the Valley. So right before Gospel Principles class my comp asked the Cardenas to go down with us, and of course they said yes. They're that 'predictable' because they're really faithful and just awesome investigators. I hate to say that, but if all else fails the Cardenas come through! We get home, try to visit some people and no one was home (a fake address too...oh well) so we did planned our coming week out since we were super busy doing the work of the Lord and didn't have time last week. It was one of my best weekly planning sessions. We followed Preach My Gospel and actually discussed the needs of investigators and received revelation. For example, Alex. He's a bit tricky to decipher, so we opened the scriptures and just pondered..then the inspiration came to read a certain passage from the Book of Mormon. We both said the same passage when we asked each other what should we read? It was sweet. The sister missionaries (who are really cool) then called us saying their investigator needed a ride down there, and she lived 20 minutes away from us, so we scrambled and called the Cardenas to see if they could follow us (in our car and them in theirs) to pick her up. They said yes, so I was relieved. Then the sisters called again and said a member is going to give the investigator a ride, so we called the Cardenas back and they were cool with it. Because of mile restrictions we got a ride with the Cardenas (we had extra, but it's safer to ride with the investigators so they won't get lost!) Then, we went contacting for half an hour. The Cardenas saw us contacting and they picked us up to go down to the fireside. I played some games with their two little kids Adelay and Jeffrey (and I understood about 75% of what they said because they were talking at the same time and their Spanish is a bit unusual for me for some odd reason) on the way down and we got there really early. We chatted a bit and talked about the mission and missionaries and some of the paintings they had in the lobby (which they liked). Then they asked me if it's unusual for one to stay in the same place for 6 months at a time, and I was frank and said no. So they kinda know I won't be here for much longer, and I have that feeling too. But, they did say the other night that they felt that I would be here forever...aww! I really love that family. The fireside was very spiritual, and the Cardenas truly felt the Spirit. It was about the Holy Ghost, and President did a good job in explaining it clearly and simply. It really touched us all, and it was sweet that a newly baptized 'member' (hasn't been confirmed yet) attended so President mentioned the gift of the Holy Ghost too. The Cardenas liked the fireside and it was a great experience. It was really good to see them feel the Spirit in a setting other than a teaching situation in their home. We have to work with our members to get others involved so when I go, they won't be alone. That's my greatest fear. But, they're getting along well and they're getting married this Saturday then baptized (hopefully) the next Sunday. The blessings are flowing...

The bishop is getting better, he finally interviewed two recent converts for the Aaronic Priesthood, but didn't confer it to them even though they passed. He's getting better, slowly. It's a laborious learning process for him, and I'm just too impatient. But I believe with a little more time he'll learn. I just hope we don't lose more members to English wards or we won't have anyone left. It'll be a branch again...oh well what happens happens.

We found this man walking in the street. He looked busy, but Hansen managed a 'buenas tardes' before he walked on. Then we were like 'aw another dodge' but he stopped and said, 'did you want to say something to me?' We told him we were missionaries, and then he told us he wanted to know more. He was waiting for us when we arrived at his house, and he is really humble. I hope we can help him understand more of the Restoration in our next visit, but what are the odds? People walk past, we say hi, they move on. He went past us about 10-15 feet then stopped, then asked us as we were walking away with our backs to him. And he wanted us to teach him. Wow. You never know who is ready to hear the Gospel. He has potential, and I'm excited to see what happens with him.

In our district meeting, we received personal revelation. Hna. S was talking about how to use scriptures to relate to investigators, then it just hit me (as did my comp). We haven't related the scriptures to the Jaimes! So we planned that in weekly planning and I feel it'll really get them converted to the Book of Mormon. It was pretty sweet! A moment of inspiration.

This week was awesome! It was a bit rough sometimes, but it was really a good week and a good learning experience. We had two really bad days on Tuesday and Thursday (numbers-wise, but that's not important) like either no lessons taught and that sort of thing (unusual in Spanish work), and it rained a lot which kind of depresses me a bit and I don't know why. It was a week to just push on, endure, and do His work to our best ability. And, we were dead tired this week. I was really really tired. I drove all across the place on Thursday- 20 minutes to Val Verde and Castaic, then 15 minutes to Saugus and then 20 minutes back to Newhall and a lot of driving in between makes about 60-70 miles. I was so dead! But, it was a good learning experience for me to just suck it up and go on. And it helps having a senior companion that just pushes me more and more, and is patient with my lack of motivation at times. He's awesome! I'm going to miss him a lot!

Life is going great, and the work is progressing. "The work will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent...until the great Jehovah shall say the work is done" -Joseph Smith.

I love you all, and stay safe.

Love,
Elder Spencer Irvine

P.S. Sorry for the long e-mails, but I hope you love it (sans Kristy).