March 24, 2008

Dear Irvine Family:

Truman G. Madsen has written some sweet books, from what I can tell. That is really great to hear someone with a strong testimony share their personal witness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lucky! About the call, I'm broke right now because I got no card nor money...to get photos and stuff that I'll need a little later on. Oh well, I'll wait for next week. Thank you so much for the Easter package, I got it on Thursday I think. I didn't even know when Easter was when we made our plans this week, until about Wednesday I didn't even know it was that close. It was pretty good, but the work has been a bit slow this week. But, it's going to get better. 15 months until I get to snowboard...ahhhhh....and the sun is coming out. Great weather.

So I've been stressed out a lot as of late because I'm the senior companion and my new comp is still learning Spanish. Not his fault, it's just that it puts a lot of pressure on me to teach and to listen and then teach for understanding. Every night I've gotten home, planned for the next day, and just got ready for bed. I've had no energy lately to do anything. It just takes so much out of me to be the senior comp and in Spanish work. But, it's getting better since my comp is slowly learning and catching up to speed in Spanish. I really took my skills in Spanish for granted. And my two native comps and Hansen who was at the end of his mission. Yup, so I've just been exhausted. Such is the work! And I kinda let my concerns fly with some really cool elders in my zone the other day and they suggested a few things to help me cope with the new responsibilities. But, it's really rough.

This week went pretty well, I guess you could say. Our best lesson by far was with the new recent converts, the Cardenas. Tuesday we had the bright idea to watch The Testaments movie with them, and we did. They love movies, they have a room full of them! It reminds me of back home a little. So we watched it, and at the end we couldn't say anything. The Spirit was there, and they were both crying. Lynn just quipped, 'well, there's not words that can describe this right now' and we prayed and left them pondering and feeling the Spirit. It was pretty sweet.

But, we did get a surprise call from President Goodrich wondering if he could accompany us to our appointments on Friday night. I was super nervous! I really like President Goodrich and all, but I was really nervous! So we taught Alberto Cardenas' brother Gustavo and his girlfriend Berenice, with both Alberto and Yadira there. And President. Talk about a lesson with the best testimonies ever! It went really well, just talking about the commandments of the Lord and it really was a good lesson. Thank goodness President was there because Yadira basically called Gustavo to repentance without giving him much room to say anything else. She was like, 'well, we were married because we were previously living in sin' and 'you have a family now, with a little baby and the best thing to do is to get married'. So basically she was very blunt. One of the only times I've heard her be so blunt and I was taken aback. So President just cooled them off with, 'ain't the baby just so precious' sorta attitude and it really helped. Gustavo told us 'in 20 days I'll let you know'. So we got a goal now for marriage. Lynn froze because President was there, so I was on my own the entire lesson. But, I froze sometimes because President was there. But, it ended up well enough. It was good though.

To be honest, Saturday really stunk. I've had a few rough days in the mission field, and this is one of them. We had all our appointments set up in Saugus (15 minutes away from the house) so we figured to knock some doors over there too. We found out that all our appointments fell through, and so it'd be a waste of time to just go home, put more study time in (we left during study time so we could make it on time) and come back. So, we stayed at the other elder's apartment over in Saugus and just rested. Lynn had to call President and his other comp up in Bishop because some members were spreading some false rumors about missionaries up there, so he did that while I relaxed in their apartment. Went to knock some doors, with mixed success because the layout of the apartments made it hard for us to distinguish which ones were duplex's or a 4 apartment complex...it was the weirdest thing I've seen! So we knocked, then went and ate lunch at the elder's pad again. Then, off to visit some members around Saugus and back home. It was really a rough day, no one was home too because it was Easter weekend. But, we got a few lessons with a local member and another less active (who fed us dinner before we had our actual dinner appointment- I was so full!). It was a really rough day. I felt tired and overwhelmed, but that's how the work is supposed to be, right?

My comp is way cool, and he can deal with my stressed self really well. I'm learning to take it a bit easier now, and he's a reason for it. I was wound up really tight for the past few months, and it really showed this transfer so far. He's so cool! We get along really well, and he's really humble about his Spanish abilities. He's too shy sometimes to speak, but then again I don't want to be anal and push him way too much at one time. So I'm going slow with him, and he'll learn step by step. He's a way chill elder. I'm so lucky to be here with him as my comp. It's gonna be a blast this transfer!

I've been really thinking about this transfer. I want to work hard, but I don't want to die like Neira and I did. I want to be obedient, but not robotic. It's a really delicate balance, and I am doing my best to find the balance. It's tougher than expected. And talking over everything with the other elders in Saugus made me realize how stressful Spanish work can be. My MTC comp Wheeler apparently stressed out too much and could've had a breakdown at one point. Other elders were called Spanish but gave up after 3 months and are stuck in English for the rest of the mission. I might ask President to give me a breather in English, because I'm really stressing out a lot and I don't want to breakdown in the field. But, we'll give it another 4 weeks and see what happens. And it doesn't make it easy trying to gauge whether President should keep 4 missionaries or put in 2 more next transfer, and I have to gauge it for him. It's a learning experience for me, no doubt. But I have really seen the blessings come, I just have to be patient, remember what I have, and move on. It's a great experience though, and I just have to hold on and go forth.

We got a few more investigators this past week, and we could be having a bunch of success coming up in a few months. Members trust us even more with the two apostates gone and so we got some referrals from them. The members are slowly getting a bit better, and the greatest news is that we finally have a complete elder's quorum presidency! Now to get the home/visiting teaching done. I'm a bit optimistic about these coming few weeks, but I can't get my hopes up too high can I?

The work is going well, it's just this past week that people have been busy with Easter stuff and the both of us have been exhausted. But, we're both adjusting to our new roles. It's sweet.

I love you all, and I wish you all well. And I'm sorry Mom missed my emergency calls. Well, there's...Mother's Day!

Love,
Elder Spencer Irvine