Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Week 11: Happy New Year!


Happy new year, everyone!
Some of you might be wondering what I did to celebrate the new year...
My new years eve night was spent sleeping from 10:30pm to 6:30am! Like a good little missionary :) Ha ha happy new year indeed!
I hope your new year celebrations were a bit more festive than my own :)
Elder Pass and I had an incredibly busy week! Thankfully, our heavenly Father allowed us to achieve standards of excellence once again for the first week of the month, which is the Mission President's fireside! (For those of you who may not remember, the missionaries who achieve a certain goal set by the mission president recieve the opportunity to take their investigators to a fireside every fast sunday to meet and listen to president lindley speak and bare his testimony. It was a really special experience for one of our scheduled investigators, Richard (23) to take part in :) He loved it! President lindley taught about the importance of authority and the priesthood and the blessings they can have in our lives.
This past week we were knocking in a villiage called Beeston and we came across a Russian family! The husband/father of the family, Yevgeni, speaks very little English, but his wife Svetlana speaks it fluently :) She happily acts as a translator while we teach. They have two kids and have been searching for a church to attend since they've arrived here in England! We were able to get them a B of M in Russian as well as pamphlets on the restoration and the plan of salvation :) We are excited to teach them, and very excited to schedule them for baptism soon!
This past week, I was also able to experience something quite scary for me...
... I took my two hour driving lessons.
Okay, so its not that scary for me, just my driving instructor and my companion ha ha ;)
It was great! It was just like riding a bike, except imagine riding that bike backwards :)
But as of now, I am finally authorized to drive in the UK for the next year! Yay!
Would you like to know one thing that I really love and truly makes me happy? Personal study :) I love it! I get a whole hour every day to study the scriptures in depth and increase my spiritual knowledge! How great is that?? Ah! I gain so many new insights and understand things so much clearer when I have a proper study hour and I am guided by the spirit :) But do you know one thing that helps more than anything else when it comes to me studying the scriptures? Prayer. Praying and asking my Heavenly Father to guide my thoughts and help me to understand certain concepts more clearly. I find that this more than anything else helps me to learn what I need to know for that day, and that goes for all of us! I would encourage and invite each of you who are reading this to always begin your personal study with a prayer, asking for the Holy Ghost to guide you. I promise that as you do so your testimony and knowledge will wax stronger than you could imagine!
So, I must apologize... I dont really have many new pictures from this past week to send... But dont fret! Remember those other pictures I was supposed to send a few weeks back?? Here they are! Enjoy!


1st picture: Me (Elder Spencer) teaching Antonio (9 year old investigator) how to ride a bike for the first time! One of my most favorite moments of my mission thus far :)


2nd picture: A large portion of the Leeds zone caroling on Brigate (Leeds city main street). Oh and yes, we were well aware of the Lamanite supporting us in the background ;)

3rd picture: Me tracting in East Ardsley! (This is what England's weather is like normally)

Well, Im off! I hope that you all have a fantastic week! Thank you for your love and support!
Best wishes and love,
Elder Gabriel Spencer

P.S. I didnt really get the opportunity to send out any letters this p-day :-/ I was busy sending a package... So sorry about that! I know they are piling up, but I promise I will make the effort to reply to you all!
P.P.S The mail from the states to England is very slow... For example: I recieved a letter from Karstin Lake today (January 4th) that was sent December 6, and I recieved a letter from Anne Torgersen last Thursday that was sent about 3 weeks earlier, etc. Im hoping that now that the Christmas season is over, mail will return to normal. Also, from what I hear, my letters from England to Utah arrive within 5-7 days. So just so you know, the slow reply isnt entirely my fault. :P I really really do appreciate your letters, though!
P.P.P.S. The church is true! (c)

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