Elder Gabriel Spencer: Week 30: Joseph Smith at Zone Conference

Hello family and friends!

This past week has certainly been a week to remember... So many exciting things happened :)

First off... We had Zone Conference! Zone Conference occurs about every 3 months, where the north zones and the south zones in the mission meet together on their respective days, and receive instruction/inspiration from our beloved mission president! Now that I am in Doncaster, I got to go to the South Zones Conference. It is always such a blessing to be able to receive greater knowledge from a greater source, and the spirit is always so present and SO strong! I love it! However, this past ZC was slightly different from probably any other that will ever attend... You see, for some odd reason, our mission president's wife, Sister Lindley, called me up a week before the conference and asked me if I would be willing to sing a solo and act a part as part of the program. Flabbergasted, I accepted. A week later I was acting out the part of Joseph Smith and singing ''Joseph Smith's First Prayer'' to all of the missionaries in the South half of the England Leeds Mission. Was I nervous? Nah. Was I honored to be able to have such an opportunity? Definitely. Has it been a while since I've felt the adrenaline rush of a performance, and as a result my legs started to shake a bit? Maybe

Most of all, was the spirit present? I sure hope/think so, which is all that matters! Sister Lindley used to work on the costuming for some of the Church films, and was actually able to dress me up in authentic Joseph Smith Costuming, which the actor himself likely wore :) (I know you are probably really wondering how it looked on me, so I figured I'd better send a photo)

Next epic thing to happen...

This past Sunday evening, Elder Jestice and I had the opportunity to attend a Roman Catholic Mass by two of our investigators. It was not my first time at a Catholic Mass, but it was definitely a good experience nonetheless. To be honest, I was able to feel faint feelings of the spirit while they were talking about Jesus Christ and his apostles, until they started the communion. It kinda just stopped. When they finished the communion, they once again started talking about Jesus Christ, to which the Spirit was able to faintly testify of truth again. I thought that was quite an interesting experience :) After the service, we were about to leave, when I asked our investigators if it were possible to meet the parish priest and thank him for the service. Of course, they agreed, and we were able to meet with Father Gus O'Reiley. We thanked him for the service, asked him a few more questions about their traditions, and finally, as a token of our gratitude, gave him the sacred Book of Mormon to ''Add to his library, and answer any questions he may have''. To which he graciously accepted. I'm quite certain that had I not been a missionary at this time in my life, I would have never been able to give a Book of Mormon to a Catholic priest, in his own church, about 15 minutes after the service :)

I love my mission! I am enjoying life, striving to not only work hard, but work smart! Every day is a new, wonderful opportunity to change lives, and to even see miracles!

Enjoy your week, everyone, and if you could, please pray for miracles this week for the England Leeds Mission :)

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

Pic number one: Elder Spencer cant seem to escape the life of a performer, even in England ha ha :)