10/5 Conference is Awesome

   All that loved conference, say "I." I! Favorite talk was Elder Robert D. Hales. It was just wonderful. I loved how he encouraged us to avoid temptation rather than go through it as a plane avoids storms when possible. Just inspiring. And I love our prophet. He's in my prayers. 

     So last Monday, we left the apartment on time, but hungry. We decided to try the Caoba's house (some members in our area). By the grace of God, they were having a party, and fed us to our heart's delight! Yay :D The Lord is good. 

     On Tuesday, we packed in the car with the League City Zone Leaders and headed to Sugar Land for our monthly MLC (mission leadership council). Those are always great. It was a bit more basic than usual, though. President Hall hit hard on Following up to help Keep Commitments, and the blessing of Repentance. 

     We always have Zone Meeting the Friday after, so we went to Galveston for that. Seeing as we wanted the Sister Training Leaders in the zone to teach Repentance, and Elder Sharp was teaching the other principle, I had to come up with something different to teach. I decided the day before that I'd talk about conversion. It lasted about 20 minutes, and was awesome! The Spirit was so strong; I totally received the help I needed to do that! I mentioned how we needed to be consecrated on the mission and endure to the end to be fully converted to the Gospel. If we only have one convert on the mission, we need to make it ourselves. 

     We also threw in an exchange into the busy schedule. I was here in Kemah with Elder Phillippi, a new, English-speaking elder from Idaho, and Elder Sharp went to Texas City with Elder Walker. I got to teach solo a bunch, and it was kinda nice haha. I made sure we saw a few people who speak English :) We took Alfredo, our recent convert, out teaching with us, and he did amazingly! He testified well about the prophets and the mission of Jesus Christ in a street contact we made. So proud of him. He loved conference yesterday too. Yay!

     If I could ask for prayers, please pray for Milton and Alfredo. They are both struggling and battling their own demons. They just need some help. Thank you all :) I know the gospel is true. As we heard several times this weekend, the Atonement is perfect. It can save us all, and offers all the help we need. I love the gospel, and love all of you for your support. Have a wonderful week!

 

-Elder Spjute

9/28 Another Good Week

     So here's your funny Hispanic fact of the day. Columbians and some Salvadorians will point with their face rather than their fingers. They raise their eyebrows and stick out their lips at whatever they're pointing at. Like if you ask who they want to say the prayer, they'll do that. I always laugh a little.

     One breakthrough I had (again) this week is that prayer is such a huge blessing! On Sundays, I like to sacrifice things (habits, un-Christ-like attributes, etc) while partaking of the Sacrament. I decided last Sunday to sacrifice my lazy prayers. All throughout the week, I prayed with much more sincerity and care. I seemed to be happier, and closer to the Lord as I felt His Spirit more strongly. I'll continue working for that.

     On that note, who's excited for General Conference?! ME! I'm so excited to see what happens with all the new callings, seeing as we're down 3 good men. I invite you all to open your heart and minds as you go into watching the sessions.

     Last Monday, Elder Sharp told me I was giving a presentation on how to have faith to find people for the District Meeting the next day. I went about 20 out of 15 minutes, and really enjoyed it. I'm starting to like public speaking, which is a first. I came to the conclusion that we all have the faith; it just needs to be recognized and acted upon. That being said, we found about 5 new people this week; I'll let you know how it goes.

     Alfredo is progressing along nicely. We hope to go to the temple with him in a couple weekends. He had to work yesterday, unfortunately, so he didn't receive the priesthood. However, Jorge, the sisters' guy who I baptized, asked me to ordain him, so I got to do that for the first time. That was something special. I love Jorge; he's such a stud! 

     So there's this Hispanic dish called mole (pronounced Moh-leh) that I generally am not a big fan of. It's this black sauce made with burnt tortillas over chicken eaten with tortillas. We had some on Wednesday that was super good! The quality of food really depends on who cooks it. You can usually rely on people who have given you good food, but every now and then, you get surprised with something nearly un-stomachable. But fortunately, I'm good at eating...that's also unfortunate haha. We've gotta step up the exercises to make up.

     On Friday night, I went on exchanges with a Tongan elder  named Elder Heitonga. He is my height, but he's the most ripped person I've ever met in person. His stomach is tiny, and his arms and chest are gigantic! We had an intense hour and a half work out in the morning. Yeah, he's serious. It was a fun exchange. It was actually part of my old area from back when I was in Galveston, but it was in English, so we didn't see any of the same people. He's a goof ball, though. He learned all of his English on the mission, seeing as he came right from Tonga. 

     I know that this work is the work of the Lord. There are so many people that give up so much to come on missions. I've been given so much to help me get here, and I'm so grateful. I know that whoever is reading this has helped me on my journey, and I say thank you to each of you. I love you all. Have a fantastic week full of inspiration!

-Elder Spjute

     

9/21 Feliz Fiestas Patrias

     This week, we held the Fiestas Patrias, which is a party where the branch celebrates everyone's nationalities and their countries. It was so awesome! I hope you all enjoy the pictures I sent. (they should be on the blog. I'll put one or two on this email as well. The party was so fun :) There were a lot of really cool dances, and pretty decent Hispanic food. Our talent of the two skits was the best haha. The robbers one got a ton of laughs. As well, the Dear John singing one. What a blast. 

     This week was still a little rough on numbers, but fairly eventful. We tried a lot of former investigators at a different apartment complex. It wasn't too fruitful, but we did contact a few members out of nowhere haha. 

     On Wednesday morning, I went to Galveston on an exchange with Elder Huaraca, my old companion from Missouri City. He'd been on the island for a week with Elder Leszynski (who's been there just shy of one year!). The exchange was awesome! I mostly got to take over, and we visited a ton of old, familiar faces. I had so much fun! I was surprised and impressed with how much some people remembered me! One 20 year old kid named Orbit, who I always thought was cool, even remembered my name! It was so nice to see :) We gave Hna Perez a blessing. Her mom was my first convert, the one who passed away. Hna Perez has been having a hard time, poor lady. We left her in higher spirits. We got them a new investigator while there :) I wish Elder Leszynski all the luck and help he needs. I think he'll have an easier time with Elder Huaraca than I did. 

     We ended the exchange nasty early in the morning on Thursday because there was a District Leader Training in Sugar Land that they invited the Zone Leaders to. I've never seen so many awesome people in one meeting :D Elder Mehew was there; He and I chatted a bunch. He's such a stud :) I love that guy; totally going to be friends after the mission. 

     I discovered this 12-step Recovery program on the mormon channel. It hasincredible videos for each of the 12 steps. It was so cool to watch. I can think of a few people who this will come in handy for :) The videos are seriously so good!

     We taught Alfredo, our recent convert, about the priesthood and the temple ordinances this week. He seriously seems too good to be true. I find myself a little nervous to teach him; I really just don't want another inactive like Alejandro, my last convert. But Alfredo is doing so well. He talked with President Allred at church yesterday, and is on track to get the Aaronic Priesthood :) He says he's happy and feels like he's making a big change in his life. Please continue to pray for him :)

     That' about all I've got for this week. Have a great week; I love you all!

-Elder Spjute

Two pictures below : So when missionaries park in the same place, they always try to block each other so someone has to get out to back them up. It's cruel. The next one is me and Elder Mehew! He was at the District Leader Training. We both hadn't shaved because we had both forgotten razors on exchanges. 

Next two: These were at the Fiestas Patrias. The first is the Moreno family and the Malacara family.

next two: This is Hna Hernandez and Moreno dancing (incredibly) at the fiesta. And next is Hna Moreno's kids, Laura and Samuel. Laura is adorable, and I love her.

This is Favio, America Hernandez, Hna Hernandez, and Josue. They did a Guatemalan dance that was awesome! (even though the Hdz are from Mexico) 

9/15 Another Week, Another Blessing

     This week started out with a bit of an argument between Elder Sharp. It wasn't really an argument, but just us calling each other out on stuff that bugs us. It was actually fairly productive. I got across that he needs to pay more attention, and look outward more. And he said that I needed to be more open minded, and stop criticizing as much. It all just comes down to a pride thing. We both just feel right.  I think every sin just comes from pride. But we're working on that. 

     We've been teaching Favio and Milton the lessons to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. This week, we went to get frozen yogurt with Milton while we taught. It's so awesome! He's a stud. As missionaries, when we speak in Spanish, we generally speak in the 'usted' form, which is respectful, but not very close or friendly. Milton said he feels more comfortable if we talk to him in 'tu,' so I'll be learning that a little bit more. It's a little more casual and close. Should be interesting. 

     On Thursday, we weekly planned in the apartment, which took a few hours, but was pretty productive. Afterwards, our neighbor Joe invited us to eat dinner with him. We gave him our George Forman grill that was sitting outside that we never used. Joe is always smoking and blasting music from his apartment. ALWAYS. And it's often crazy music, but sometimes good stuff. His wife passed away a year ago from terrible health problems. He's been grieving the whole time. His is a pretty rough story; he's had a very painful life. He wasn't interested in the gospel at all, but I feel  like spending the time with him was fulfilling our missionary purpose! He cleaned our windows for us on Saturday :) He really is an awesome guy. We love him, and are developing a cool relationship with him. 

     We tried these former investigators in an apartment complex this week, who weren't there. But their 13 year old (or so) daughter, Maria, was there. She was so sweet! She offered us water, and as we were walking down the street, she came running after us with cookies for us, then ran back home. She's awesome :D Hopefully we can get to know her family a little more!

     I love the people in this area so much! It's more than any other area I've served in. I've made actual friends that I hope to stay in contact with afterwards. So yesterday, Favio got upset with us. We asked him to go pick up Alfredo for church, and he said he would. We had to be at the church early, and Luis was there as well, because he's the branch mission leader's assistant. When we were done with the meetings, he left to go pick up Alfredo saying that Favio didn't answer. Favio thinks that we sent Luis and that we don't trust him. He was kind of dodging us for the rest of the day. It's so sad, and we're really bummed out. He's one of my best friends out here, and I'm praying it gets resolved. 

     Nevertheless, I continue to love everyone here! I love being a missionary. I love getting involved in the work, and seeing great results. This week didn't yield tons of results, but you win some and you lose some. You know in the end that we will win the battle that counts! I love you all, and wish you a wonderful week!

P.S.: the pic was outside of a church building. It says, "you are now entering in the mission field." Cool!

9/7 Holy Crazy Busy Week

     I don't think I've had such an action packed week in my whole mission. Then on top of that, we had to wait 'til Tuesday to have P-Day! It was nuts! I'll just start from the top.

     Last Tuesday, we had MLC (misison leadership conference) for the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders. It was such a spiritual deal. So cool. President Hall trained us all on teaching the Plan of Salvation, how to plan, and accountability. We learned a lot. Actually, it was all stuff that we should have known, but put into a wonderful perspective.

     On the way home from the meeting, we saw a high speed chase; it went right by us! The bad guy hit and probably totaled about 8 cars! It was nuts. From what we could tell, he might have gotten away too! 

     Later that night, Elder Sharp and I started an exchange. I went to Galveston with Elder Leszynski. Since his companion went home a little early for school, he'd been with the English elders for a while, so his comp didn't come to our area. Thus, Elder Sharp went to Texas City to be with some English Elders there. No one was in our area on Wednesday. As you'll remember, Elder Leszynski was my last companion with Elder Havens back when I was in Galveston. That's right, he's been there for almost a year now. 

     We had a great exchange. I saw so many familiar faces. What a trip! Elder Leszynski has really done a nice job with that area. Lots of fun. While I was down there, I got to give a baptismal interview to a guy named Jose who was baptized on Saturday. So, success!! 

     On Thursday, we had a Zone Meeting in Galveston. That was my first one as a Zone Leader. I gave a 35 minute training on Accountability. The main focuses of Zone Meetings are to relay what we learned from MLC to the zone. It was a great meeting. Very productive. I'd say Elder Sharp and I did a nice job :) And then, Hna Ries gave a good presentation as well. She's the Sister Training Leader down in Galveston. She has also been on the island since I left!

     Later that day, we started skit practice for a talent show the branch is having on the 18th. Hno Malacara (bad-face), the ward mission leader, is in charge of these skits. They're hi-larious! So dang funny. All the missionaries in the branch are involved and a few of the young members. The first skit is where some of the members dress up as missionaries, and we dress up as thugs, and we show different ways of how to rob the missionaries. It's so dang funny! The other skit is a Dear John thing. I'm singing this song about a missionary who leaves a girlfriend who gets married with his best friend. It is hilarious, and the song is super fun to sing While I'm singing, everyone else is acting out their parts of missionary (Juan), girlfriend, etc. :) I'll possibly send the lyrics and their meanings later. Good fun :)

     Oh man, Friday! So on Thursday, we had changed Alfredo's baptismal date to next Thursday because he works at 3:00 everyday but Thursday, and he couldn't do it after church. While doing weekly planning on Friday, we realize that he needs a baptismal interview. We tell Elder Evans ( who is now a District Leader in the Friendswood zone) to meet us at the church the next day, where we'd be seeing an English baptism with Alfredo. After hanging up, I crack a joke about getting him in the water right afterwards. All of a sudden, it becomes reality, and we're planning for it! Things all start falling into place. You can tell the Spirit is guiding us the entire time, and it was amazing. Alfredo agreed to it, and had quit his job, so now he could come to church for the full time and still get baptized that Saturday!

     Long story short, that's what happened. The last minute baptism went so well! We're so happy for him, and couldn't be more pleased with the outcome! He was baptized by Luis, and then confirmed the next day in church by me :) I love it! I know it all worked out like that for a reason! This gospel is true, and I know it! I've felt the ministering of angels along with me in the work, and I love it. I love you all, and have a great week!

Aug 31st- moving right along

 This week has been a good, growing week. It seems like every other week is a difficult, but amazing week. I've been doing a lot of personal pondering this week. I've come to the conclusion that I need to work harder. I'd been getting a little lazy. Rather, a little comfortable. No one ever said the gospel was comfortable, but in the end, it's all worth it!

     On Monday night, we started an exchange with Elder Tittle, one of the AP's. He came and worked the area with me and Elder Sharp. It was a good day. We had a lot of lessons. Our investigator Alfredo is on track to be baptized this next Sunday! He didn't come to church yesterday on account of his ride, Favio accidentally sleeping through church. But he loves what we teach, and it all makes sense to him. He loves the word of wisdom, and promised to live it. He understands the law of chastity, but has a difficult time thinking he'll be strong enough to live it. We'll work with him!

     We got frozen yogurt again with Milton. He is such a stud; he just needs to read his scriptures more. I know that will help him be happier. As well, it will help him know to go on a mission! He came to a lesson with us to a part-member family's house and bore a super strong testimony. I'm still a crier, and it brought a tear or two haha.

     On Friday, we ate at Dickey's BBQ with Favio and Milton right before playing soccer. Bad move. We played so slow and fat. But it was really good food! The mosquitos have come out in full force. They ate up our legs and arms that night. The lesson afterwards was tough to bear just because we were being swarmed. 

     On Saturday, we ate with the Campo family. Probably my favorite family in the branch. They're so awesome! It was wonderful food and wonderful times :) They had non-members over to teach as well :) Awesome family!

     Jorge was confirmed in church yesterday :) That was done by Elder Sharp. It went well. I love you all! have a great week!

-Elder Spjute

Awesome Week (letter from 8/24)

     This was probably one of the fastest weeks of the mission. So crazy! It felt more productive, and just better! It didn't start off that awesome. P-Day last week was a bust. We drove to a stake center about 15 miles away, and no one showed up. Super lame. We realized that we are often really lonely just the two of us. We have no friend elders near by. That is a first in my mission. We were both just kind of sad. 

     On Tuesday, we talked to our branch president, Pres Allred. He's such a stud. He said that from his mission experience, that loneliness is preparing us for marriage haha. He helped us handle it well. I love that guy. 

     On Wednesday, and a few other days this week, we saw Alfredo, the former investigator we picked up the week before. He came to church, and has a baptsimal date for the 5th of September. He's kind of a different guy, but I feel like he could be really prepared! 

     We ate at Panda Express twice this week. Not our best health decision. But it was good :) The second time, Milton, one of my friends here from Guatemala, paid for the meal. He suffers hard-core with depression. It makes me so sad. He told us the only reason he hasn't killed himself is because he knows his mom in Guate needs his help. It's awful! We made him come play soccer with us that night. The branch was having the Friday soccer night like always, and he wasn't going to play because his knee was a little bad. I'm so glad he decided to play though. He had an awesome time. I really love him; it's such a cruddy situation.

     On Saturday, we had a lesson with Favio, my other Guatemalan friend (Milton's best friend). He and Milton are both members. In fact, Milton baptized Favio. So we're convincing Favio that he needs to go on a mission. he felt the Spirit so strongly when we talked about it. I got pretty excited.

     Yesterday was awesome as well. Alfredo came to church. He enjoyed it as well. Elder Sharp and I got to give the surprise Elders Quorum lesson on the Atonement with Elder Holland's talk from the April conference. It went really well.

     Then in the night time, the sisters had a baptism. It was a 18 year old guy named Jorge from Honduras. He's a stud as well. He asked me to baptize him :) Yes, it was awesome. That is my second time getting in the water! It was definitely a spiritual high. And Elder Evans came back to see that baptism. We sang Abide with Me 'Tis Eventide (in Spanish of course). Those singing were me, Elders Sharp, Evans, and Garcia (Evans' companion), and Hermanas McMullin, Hall, and Wood. It sounded SO good! Sounded like we'd actually practiced before ;D We all sang the melody the first verse, then without being told, a bunch of us broke off into harmony the second, third, and fourth verses. It was so cool :D 

     I know this church is true. I'm so happy to be a missionary and a servant of the Lord. I love this gospel and I live it. I invite you all to do the same. I love you all!

-Elder Spjute