Heya peeps!
Its Elder Spencer here! Just sayin' a friendly hello and giving you an update! This past week was great, we found a steady number of new investigators to teach, scheduled some people for baptism, stayed in a day while Elder Brewerton threw up his guts, and worked our butts off on Saturday and Sunday to make up for it :) There's no better feeling than your head hitting the pillow after a long, hard days work for the Lord :) So where to begin....
Ah yes, I went on my first exchange with my new district! This time I went with Elder Farstad, from Norway! Sound familiar? That's cuz he is! He was one of the first missionaries I went on exchange with back in Leeds, around November time, and now he is once again in my district! He has improved so much since the last time I was with him, and he has become a very effective missionary and teacher :) (See first pic)
Next, we had our first Zone meeting in Billingham on Wednesday, and is was so fun to receive instruction from my old friend and first companion, Elder Gravallese, who is now one of my two zone leaders :) Its the smallest zone in the mission, but I can already tell we will be closely unified ;) (See second pic)
Elder Brewerton became pretty ill this past week, and was suffering from the flu for about a week. He is doing much better now, and he is working harder than ever. I thought I'd get a better picture of him this time, so here ya go (See third pic)
Fun story of the week, Elder Brewerton and I were taking a rather long bus ride to Stake Conference this past weekend and we noticed that there was a TV monitor at the front of the bus, switching between the different cameras placed throughout the bus. Elder Brewerton and I were sitting at the very back of the bus (the only seats that were left when we got on) and notice that one of the cameras it would switch to were directly behind us... So I got a bright idea... Free advertising! I held up a pass along card in front of the camera, and so every time it switched, it would go from the door of the bus, to the driver, to the middle of the bus, and then to a picture of Jesus Christ saying ''Faith Brings Hope'' we thought it was rather funny, and so did some of the other passengers. Remarkably however, when we got off the bus at our destination, we were stopped by this lady who got off with us, and asked us if we were from the ''Church of the Latter Day Saints'' we said yes, and she mentioned how she had friends who lived in Orem, Utah and how she loves the churches take on families! When we asked if we could could teach her, she respectfully declined, but she asked several question and felt uplifted as a result! Ha ha 'bus contacting' works!! We decided to take a photo, so see if you can spot our impromptu ad somewhere in the picture (See fourth pic)
Yesterday, we had a wonderful opportunity to receive instruction from a general authority, as part of our annual mission tour meeting! Elder Donaldson, from the Area 70 instructed us on faith, and how to allow the Lord to do His work :) Elder Brewerton and I both received some mighty-fine ideas as to how we could improve our teaching abilities and our area of Peterlee. We also were instructed by his wife, Sister Donaldson, the York Stake President, and President and Sister Lindley, who had just returned from a mission president's seminar in Denmark. The whole day was just a spiritual feast, and we all were so uplifted and excited to get out there and to be proper instruments for our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ!
One of the most useful things I learned was how sometimes we just need to get out of the way and let the Lord take over. Elder Donaldson mentioned that ''if you are ever feeling inadequate in your calling, don't worry. You are! But the Lord knows this, and that's where His grace comes into the picture, it is after all we can do that the miracles happen, it was after the children of Israel put their feet into the waters of the Red Sea that if finally began to split.. it was after the brother of Jared built the boats, discussed, and had no idea what else to do in order to receive light and air into their boats, that the Lord gave him the answer and helped him receive the stones for light... We must realize that this is the Lord's work, it is HIS glory, and we are here with the privilege perform our callings and to aid Him in the salvation of the souls of those around us, and in turn, our souls... Are we inadequate? Yes. Will the Lord have compassion on us as we keep the commandments? Yes. Is it up to us to make everything happen? No. But that is why we are to pray as though everything depends on the Lord (because it does), and work like everything depends on us. And then, we let His Spirit do its job.''
It was a wonderful day, and I am even more excited to be about our Father in Heaven's business at this time!
I hope you all are just loving life as well! I'm off to play football on the beach for P-day! Yay for sun and sand!
Love,
Elder Gabriel G. Spencer
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