MINE EPISTLE

Dated:  4/24/13

I write to you family concerning the dealings of God with the people out here in the land of Virginia.

First off, Sorry that I forgot to tell you that my P-day this week would be on Wednesday instead of Monday. it is Transfers week and so they do P-day on Wednesdays on those weeks. I am not getting transferred and neither is Elder O. So the biggest thing this week was we did Exchanges. Now, the District Leader is in a Trio right now. He was a trainer, and he was training a Visa waiter (someone who is waiting for their visa). His name was Elder Hicken. He was really cool. He left for Peru not to long ago. So Elder O and I went up to Lynchburg and did a Blitz (Meaning we were in a trio with the DL). The thing I enjoyed the most about it was I was able to learn how to do Street Contact so much better. Here in Gretna, no one walks on the street, and there are no mall or city areas where there are people. So we went to the city and just went around trying to talk to people. It was a lot of fun. We also met this guy named Tyrone. He just got out of prison. Five years ago, Tyrone was Baptized, then a few weeks later, he ended up shooting a guy in the rear end. So he went to prison. While he was in there he read the Book of Mormon like 4 times. He got out a few months ago so we went to visit him. He has such a great testimony and he is in the process of becoming reactivated into the church. It was fun to meet him and get to know him.

So we learned that our whole district is being changed up. There are 8 missionaries in the district. 4 of them are all getting transferred out. 2 new missionaries are coming in and are going to be trained. So there are 3 out of the 4 companionship's that are going to be training. It's going to be nice not to be the only new guy anymore.

Elder O and I had a pretty fun day yesterday. We went out and worked so hard! Pretty much all of our appointments fell through, so we did a lot of tracting. but we got to talk to a few people. One of the Ladies we ran into was actually a missionary for her church. She was at this house teaching this family because they are investigating her church (I think she was baptist... No surprise there). So when we came, it was interesting. She really tried to tear us down. She wasn't "Bashing" on our religion, she was just bashing on Elder O and mine missionary abilities. She said that we aren't very good at ministering to people. I think she was just trying to get us angry and make us look bad in front of "her investigators." When we would start to bear testimony to her, she would just interrupt us and go off on some tangent. She wasn't acting aggressive, but she was tactfully trying to control the situation. Finally, I went over to the family and asked the mom if she would like a copy of the Book of Mormon. I invited her to read it and to pray about it and we would be by some time to talk to her about it. We left after that and were kind of upset with the whole situation. I learned a lot from it though and I am a much better missionary for it and my testimony is stronger to. I Love having experiences out here on the mission, good and bad because I learn from them so much! O, Also this week, we ran into a lady that is both Methodist and Baptist. I am so glad I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I love missionary work, as you all know. I hope You all have a great week.

And now, behold, I close mine epistle. I am Elder Spencer, the son of Jed Spencer. (Alma 58:41)

:D

Love,

Elder Joshua R. Spencer

So it was Elder O's birthday on Wednesday.  His family sent him brownie mix.  Last night we wanted ice cream so we ran to the store during dinner and got some.  Then we made brownies and had brownie sundaes.  They were so good!

Mom, this is for you.  :D  We also bought some chocolate syrup and well, ya, you see the picture.
Guess what?  I have gained like 5 pounds.  Can't imagine why . . .