July 7, 2008

Dear Mom,

This transfer has gone by so very fast! It's incredible! What a blessing it is to work and not worry about anything else. It's something I treasure to be able to NOT be homesick that much on the mission, because I know that the Lord will provide for His children in some way. My companion is a bit interesting, but we get along well for the most part, and we get a lot done. It was funny because this morning I was whistling the Super Mario video game theme walking to the car, and continued it in the car. He just screamed! It caught me off guard, and for a split second I wanted to hit him in the face because he does that a lot and it irritates me a little. But, I waited and asked him why he screamed and he told me it was because he doesn't like whistling. Phew! I'm happy I'm a bit more patient now...or there would've been some problems! He's awesome! It's just he sings a lot and it gets annoying...but it could be worse! He could be a lazy companion!

We set a baptismal date this past Friday with Mike Price! I was so excited for this, and when we did it I just felt like I was on Cloud Nine. Almost like the person that said this following statement:

'And we're going to the White House.......

BYEAAAAHHH!!!'

That's how excited I felt. No joke. It was a great experience! We sat down and started to teach and testify that there is only one authority by which God's children can be baptized. I have learned one thing in the mission- the Bible is amazing! I shared a few scriptures from the Book of the Acts and BAM! Straight up doctrine from the Bible on the power of God, the importance of such power, that it is exclusive to members of the church, and also that no one else has the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was frank, but he was open to us. We're such good friends that we can be really frank about a lot of things, and he won't take offense. He was in shock, which was expected, and so we encouraged him to continue to pray to receive an answer. He even told us, earlier that week, that he called his family and told them of his decision to join our faith. He knows this path is the path for him, and he wants to take it. He admits he's changed a lot, and he has. I've only seen a part of the change in him. He doesn't like being in the underworld among low-life people (he works as a bouncer), he knows that happiness is only temporary according to the world's standards, and he definitely knows he must comply with what he's doing and feeling, which is to join the Church of Jesus Christ. He said he felt overwhelmed and alone at times. He doesn't know what to do, and felt insecure. Then, my awesome companion said, let's read a revelation from our prophet Joseph Smith. The section, 122 or 124 or something like that, which is when Christ consoled Joseph in his afflictions- "The Son of Man has descended below all this. Art thou greater than he?" The part that always gets me, without fail, is when Christ describes Joseph being thrust from his family and children, that his young six-year old boy asks, 'father, where are they taking you?' I can only feel a part of the pain the Jospeh Smith felt, but only a tiny fraction of what Christ felt in Gethsemane, abandoned by all his friends. That section of revelation really boosted Mike's spirits, and we left with a prayer. Talk about true conversion. The Spirit is motivating him to do the right things, and he wants to do it, and change. Wow. Why am I so blessed to be here?

By the way, he played football for the Redskins and for the Bengals before dropping out for some reason. Can you find out why and let me know? His name is Mike Price, a black man (HUGE MAN!)

That was probably the best appointment all week. One more committed to baptism!

One cool experience was when we were driving around, and we ended up stoping in parking lot. Erickson said, 'I feel we need to talk to someone here' so we got out and went contacting. All in Spanish, but we managed. I ended up having a brief discussion on the question, Why are there so many churches? The man wanted to know, he knew there has to be one true church, but yet...he denied us the chance to visit and teach him. I don't have time, he said. I hope God will give him another chance, or he will give us a chance someday. It was awesome! We talked of how people work for money, but I said we don't in our church. We have a prophet. But yet, he wasn't ready to hear us. God will remember all His children, sometimes they need a lot of preparation before they hear us. It took the Cardenas 5 years to meet us, and by the time they met us they were baptized in three months! A miracle indeed!

The members are really opening up to us. No referrals yet, but I know that they really like us both. Erickson is really outgoing and could charm anyone. I'm sorta the serious one, but I have my moments too. We have felt the Spirit very strongly with our members, and there's no doubt they know this is the only path to salvation then exaltation. A convert is preparing for the temple, and we helped him out yesterday in our visit. He's having a rough time, his old self is trying to come back. So we stopped by to give him that charge he needs. We read 2nd Nephi 31:19-21 and chapter 32:8-9. He really needed that. Just a wonderful older man, 69 year old Bruce Saylor. He's anticipating going to the temple, and he just needs a little push once in a while of encouragement and love. What a funny guy! Always a light moment with him, but the Spirit is strong with him. He nearly threw a rock into the ZL's car when they were serving here (both have gone home and one was my AP when I got here), and now here we are sharing scriptures and many light moments. How precious are these moments! We told him, keep that fire going! Read the scriptures! Go to the temple! The Lord blesses us in many ways, and opens our mouths to speak the truth to all according to their needs.

I'm still the Filipino here...ahhh!!!! I really want to learn Korean when I get back. Everyone is giving me a guilt trip about not knowing Korean or Japanese...I hope I don't snap and mouth off on them! All the Latinos point that out...it gets annoying!

And another heat wave is headed our way...oh great!

The work is going well, and I'm happy here! I can only hope to stay a while here, and have obedient and fun companions. I wish you all well, and God keep every one of you safe and sane.

Love,
Spencer