SOUP?

Dated:  February 17, 2014

Well, this was a crazy week. Transfers were this week. To start off, we were going to be taking out a new missionary with us on Wednesday, the day before transfers. That is usually our P-day on transfers week, so we took ours on Tuesday so that we could have the full day Wednesday to take the new missionary out. So Wednesday, it snowed like 8-12 inches. Now, that's not that bad in Utah, but out here, they only plow the main roads, and people are terrible at driving in the snow. They canceled the flight for the new missionaries coming in, so some of them were stuck in Texas and others were stuck in Georgia. They pushed transfers to Friday, but the weather was so bad still, they pushed it again till Saturday. The new missionaries finally got to the mission on Friday, and we took them out for a few hours. We went with Elder Lopez. It was fun.

On Friday morning, we started to go and volunteer at a soup kitchen called 'Manna Meal'. They had us make a salad. It was awesome, I was cutting up lettuce, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, and a bunch of other things. We also cleaned the kitchen and helped unload a truck. A lot of people seems to be a little leery of us, "the Mormons" there. But it is good because we will warm them up to who Mormons really are. We are going to go every week to help them with breakfast and everything. They feed 410 people a day and they do it 365 days a year. There are some cool people there. It is so fun to do service.

Today I was reading Mosiah 5. It stuck out to me about what it means to take Christ's name upon ourselves. When we are born again, we become His Sons, and His Daughters. That is why he is the Father. He is responsible for our redeemed soul. When we are born to this earth, we take the name of our parents. For example, I have the name SPENCER. People know me by that name, especially out here. I represent our family, because that name identifies our family. It is a part of who I am as a person and it signifies where I came from, and whom I came from. It is the same with Christ's family. When we take his name upon ourselves, we are a part of his family. We stand with him, we represent him, we know to whom we belong, where we are from. We know families can be together forever. Entering into covenants is how we are sealed to our families and to God. Covenants bind us to God, they make us closer to God. So "I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts..." and "that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life..." (Mosiah 5:12, 15) As we take his name into our hearts, it becomes a part of who we are.

This work is so great. I love it. I love all of you. Keep up the Faith. Study, Pray, and GO TO CHURCH because if you do, then you will be blessed!

Love,

Elder Josh!

SATURDAY WAS A FANTASTIC DAY

Dated: February 11, 2014

Howdy! So, we are taking our p-day a day early because Sister Pitt asked us to take a new missionary out tomorrow. They told us on Saturday that both Elder Ramirez and I are staying together (yay!). So I will be staying in West Side for at least another 6 weeks. I will know for sure this evening.

So, Saturday was a fantastic day (well, everyday is a fantastic day)! There were 19 Baptisms around the mission. That is the most we have ever had in one weekend. Karen was one of those baptisms. We were not sure when she was going to be baptized, but, as we were talking to her last week, she wanted to get baptized. So we met with her every day last week. We taught her with the Bishop, the Aliffs (who are some members) and we even went to teach her with President and Sister Pitt at their house. It was so much fun! Karen is just so great. She loves to learn. It made me think of this scripture.

Alma 26:30  And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

It was a great baptismal service. Church the next day was great too.

So, thank you so much for the cookies. They were all very good. We really enjoyed them. Also, Thank you for the awesome Valentines. All of us in the house solved the puzzle together. I only got one wrong. I put "Sweethearts Sister" instead of "Whatchamacallit Sister".

Well, the work is great! I love being out here in WV. It is so much fun! There is so much joy, and I know that this work is real and true. Jesus Christ Lives, We are Children of our Loving Heavenly Father, and He is watching out for each of us. Isn't that just great! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Spencer

Karen's baptism.


Somebody made a typo.
("Stale Young Women")



Yum!



Solving the Valentine candy bar puzzle.


I'LL TAKE IT!

Dated:  February 3, 2014

What a week. P-day we just chilled out, went to Cabelas, and other stores. I went on an exchange with Elder Stout. While we were walking through East Side of Charleston, some lady just came up to us and pointed to the Book of Mormon in Elder Stout's hand and said "what’s that?" He said, "The Book of Mormon," and then she said "I’ll take it" and just grabbed it out of his hands and walked away. She didn't even let us talk to her. It was super funny! We have been teaching Karen a lot this week. We are excited for her. She came to see a lady named Lisa get baptized yesterday after church. It is neat to see how she is progressing. She is fun to teach. She has really good questions too.

As for the rest of the week, this is what we did. WORK. It was FUN. We saw some less-actives, and saw some investigators. On a sad note, Elder Simmons got emergency transferred down to Beckly (which is only about a hour away). He didn’t do anything bad. There was a big emergency transfer around the mission and he just had to go fill a place for another missionary that was moved around. We are sad to lose him but we are now down to 4 people in the house.

I love you all and hope you are all doing well. I know I say that every week, but I mean it.

Love,

Elder Spencer