Hows it going? Did everyone enjoy the 24th of July? I heard some more kinds of fireworks were legalized, so I bet that made it so much better :)
This past week was SOOO TOUGH! But is ended up being amazing :) One of my most favourite weeks :) It seems as one is right in the face of adversity, that is when the miracles happen :) And its true!!! First of all, the members of the Doncaster Ward, who are normally very reliable and very willing to help, kinda made a lot of cancellations to come out with us and help us teach. So within the beginning of the week, we were struggling to have members present at our lessons. We were calling just about everyone we could, but it just so happens that England's Summer Holiday had just started on Monday, and so all of the kids were out of school and most of the families were on holiday. There was a struggle. However, we continued to pray fervently, work hard, and expect miracles... But they didn't come. The Lord truly needed us to develop more patience, as well as test our endurance I think. And he did. Come Sunday at church, we only had half of the number of lessons with a member present than our goal. It was actually during sacrament, that I was asking our Heavenly Father ''What could I have done differently to have made it work this week and achieve our goal?'' I received my answer right after the church meetings had ended. Dan Gooding, a 17 year old boy from South England who was baptised in December and is a SOLID KID said something that simply renewed my hope and gave me some fresh new ideas! And from that moment, we had to change our plans almost completely in order to achieve the goals we had originally set with these new ideas in place. With the help of Dan and within the space of 6 hours we were blessed to DOUBLE the number of lessons with a member present, and achieve our goals for that week! And by the grace of God and with the help of our good friend Dan, Doncaster was once again blessed to achieve Standards of Excellence for another week! WOOOO! What a blessing. Dan is such a great kid. He has continuously referred his friends to be taught by us and has come out to help us teach on many occasions (too many to count).
Also, this past week, we were blessed to find a whole new Russian family! Well, actually, more like they found us! Elder Dundee and I were having lunch on a bench in the middle of town centre, when I looked over and saw that these two guys were peeking over and trying to read the title of the books of mormon that we had out. So, I very nonchalantly turned the books around so they could read them correctly (instead of upside down). About 2 minutes later, one of them spoke up, saying ''Excuse me... are you two men of God?'' we replied in the affirmative. ''Here.'' He said with an easter European accent, and he handed us a banana each to have with our lunch :) We thanked them, and began to eat them. (They were pretty good!) After we finished them, I turned to them and asked ''Where are you from?'' They repliedm that they were from Latvia (where they speak Russian) I got so excited at this point :) ''Ah! Vwi gavaritza o ruskie?'' (Do you speak russian?) ''Da! Da.'' (Yes, yes) Which was followed by ''Ca caiah uvas rreleegiah hdgabjbcf;nd thioa fjdifjnt outynd ndiocne.........'' (Which religion are you. I think you... something something something really fast in russian.) ''Uh... Ya nee ponee myoo. Ya gavaru nem noshka ruskie ha ha'' (I didnt understand all that. I speak a little russian.) They laughed, and then we carried on with a much simpler conversation, and eventually we switched to english and got their contact info and later that week went by their home! Its so much fun to teach the gospel in russ-english ha ha.
Also this past week, I went on my first exchange as a district leader!! It was so much fun. I exchanged with Edler Hubbard, from Arkansas, who just barely passed his year mark. It was so much fun getting to know him, and we did some really good work in his area.
Well! Now for future news! Its interviews with the Mission President tomorrow, and I am so excited! I have some really great doctrinal questions to ask him and also some ideas I'd like to pick his brain with :) Should be fun!
Not only that, but JAMES IS GETTING BAPTISED NEXT SUNDAY!!! Ah! We are so excited for him, and I think almost the whole ward will be attending! Its gonna be great! Be excited for some pictures!
Well, I think thats it for this week :) I hope all is going well with each of you, and thank you so much for your prayers! God bless!
Love,
Elder G. Gaylen Spencer
(Sounds a bit more sharp, dont ya think?)
PS Pictures!!
#1. Me and Dan Gooding the Great. This kid is practically my son, and such a stud!!
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