Week 83: Speech at Newcastle University!

Hello again!

Great news! We saw a bit a sun yesterday! The most we've had in the past 2 or 3 weeks! And it was SO NICE!!! I hope it continues... Looks like today isnt going to work in our favour :-/ Oh well!!

So this past week was quite the experience! For starters, we had zone conference and we went over to the York zone once again to recieve instruction from President and Sister Lindley. It was fantastic, and it was lots of fun being able to catch up with past missionaries/companions.  We also recieved quite a bit of instruction that I feel will be of great use to the missionaries in the zone.

Im sure you all are wondering, especially since its a kind of a ''out of the ordinary'' type thing, about how my speech went at the University of Newcastle. So, I'll just give a bit of background.

Currently in our teaching pool, we have several chinese university students who are studying translation as their major (English-Chinese).  When I first arrived here in Newcastle, Elder Burt and Elder Thomas (who I had replaced) had already agreed to speak on any aspect of our religion at a small chinese conference at the university for one of the classes.  Since there would be many speakers at the conference, we were both given 15 minutes each, which would be basically cut in half because to each of us would be a chinese translator, who would interpret for us to the class. So really we were given about 7 minutes to speak. Now, Elder Burt and I both found this as a wonderful opportunity for a missionary tool, and so we both decided one of us would speak on what a missionary is, and the life that they live, and the other would basically give a breif summary of lesson 1 (The Restoration). I'll be honest with you, being in a room filled with chinese students with them all intently listening to you was quite intimidating. But we did it! And it was a great experience. Elder Burt spoke on ''The Life of a Missionary'' and I spoke on ''A History of God's Dealings with Man''. Both topics were quit intriguing to the chinese, as some of them had little or no knowledge on the subject of christianity, and we both at the end felt quite great about what had been said. It was also quite interesting to speak for about 3 or 4 sentences, and then have the translator say exactly what you said, only in a completely different language. It was also a very special experience at then end of my speech, when I was able to bare my testimony to the class (minus the ''in the name of Jesus Christ, amen'' part) and then hear it translated into chinese :) I definitley felt the spirit at that point :)

Also this week! We both broke a new personal record for number of tea- appointments in a day! On Saturday, Elder Burt and I were fed by members/investigators 4 times! Usually, being fed twice is a challenge physically! But we pushed through it, and came out victorious in the end. See the pictures, we held up our fingers for which meal it was...

Pic #1 Liberian (African) breakfast at
our scheduled investigator, Zinnah's home.

Pic #2 English Lunch about 3 hours later at the Hoben's home.
(Sweet and sour chicken, English style)

Pic #3 Chinese Dinner about 2 hours later,
pork and sausage at Li Run's home.

Pic #4 Again, African food at an investigator's home,

 this time, one hour later, tomato rice and chichen.

By the end of it, we were done with food. I felt SOOOOOO fat. But its okay. We survived ha ha and what a challenge! (The last one was by far the most difficult)

This week! Mission conference! The WHOLE MISSION is getting together for the visit of Elder Jay E. Jensen, of the Presidency of the Seventy, in York!  We are alls pretty excited, even if we do have to get up at 4:30am tuesday morning in order to get to the meeting in time... Ugh. Wish us luck!

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

PS You can expect photos from the conference next monday! The photographer will email them to us this week.

Week 82: A very happy Mother's Day to you!

Hello everyone!

 

Once again, (though it is rare) the weather is simply beautiful over here in Northern England!

 

It was a more than wonderful experience yesterday when I was able to skype my loved ones :) The time was a bit more limited, but it was amazing nonetheless!

This past week was absolutely FILLED with adventures everyday! Monday was ''get to know the new zone'' P-day, where everyone met up and we played sports/watched a couple films. Immediately following P-day, we began our first exchange with the Elders directly south of our area, in Gateshead. Gateshead is kinda known in the mission  as the ''Jew capitol of England''   There were Jews everywhere! It was amazing! We walked up one street in particular (the high street) and it literally felt as though we had walked into a different country. They don't really talk to us missionaries though. They're really nice people, like they say hi back and stuff, but its way difficult to strike up a conversation with them :-/ But anyway!

 

So the exchange was fun, it ended at district meeting on Wednesday, which was also quite enjoyable. Thursday came, and we were excited to attend another monthly Zone Leader council. This one was very inspiring, and we had the opportunity to receive instruction from President's son, David. It was great to catch up with the other zone leaders and to see how the mission is doing as a whole, and wonderfully enough, its doing quite well!  The England Leeds mission still stands as one of the most productive missions in all of Europe! And in my opinion, it is the best :)  (see first picture)

 

Friday came, and we spent a bit of our extra time outlining a speech that both Elder Burt and I have been invited to give at Newcastle University.  Elder Burt is speaking on the life and schedule of a missionary, and I will be speaking on ''A History of God's Dealings with Man.'' Thankfully, the speeches only need to be about 7 minutes long, but still its quite intimidating. We're excited though! Expect more details and a full report next week.

 

Saturday came, and Elder Burt and I held another ''District Leader Specialized Training'' meeting for all of the district leaders in the zone. This was another great opportunity to meet up and get to know the district leaders here in the zone.  Also, on Saturday night, we went over to an investigators' house and celebrated their birthday! Emma, one of the Chinese students, turned 24 this past weekend, and had to celebrate the way chinese celebrate best, with food!!! Yeah!  Most of the food was... Interesting. But we were all more than full by then end of it. (see second picture) And cooked cashews are amazing!

Then Sunday came, and we were blessed to be able to skype our families back home. I can't believe its come so fast... but that was the final time I would talk with my family from England! Ahhh! I have SO MUCH LEFT TO DO!  Please pray for me to be guided to do the things I need to do here in the sunderland zone... Because Ive got a feeling that says that through these last few months... I'm going to need as much help as I can get to get the most out of my mission!

 

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

P.S. Here are some more pictures, as promised!

 

Pic #3: Elder Burt!

Pic #4: Elder Pass and I at the transfer meeting, the day before he flew home to California.

Week 81: Life just got a little BIGGER!

All'reet everyone?

These deeys I'm-a brooshin up ohn me geordie! (To be spoken exactly as it sounds)

Yup! Its tyme for ya to larn yersel sum geordie! Don't worry, you'll get used to it ;)

So, that's pretty much how the people speak over here, and its borderline classed as a different language.  Thankfully, even though I might not understand all of what they're sayin, they pretty much understand american english. So the geordies (not to be confused with the machams, big mistake if you do) are the people of the north who are born on the sides of the tyne (a river that empties into the north sea). Their accent is more Scottish than English, and they are known for their friendly, easy-going nature. Guess what? Newcastle is full of 'em! And that's not all! Its also full of immigrants from east Europe, whom I love to teach! The for the first time in almost 9 months, Ive talked to someone from Slovakia! (And many Slovakians are exceptionally prepared to receive the restored gospel)  And Ive been needing to brush up on my Russian for a while now ha ha, so I'm quite excited!

My new companion is Elder Spencer Burt, (Funny first name, huh?) from Logan, Utah.  He's an aggie, but that's okay, we manage to live through our differences :) 

This weekend I was able to meet most of the Chinese investigators that we are teaching currently, and they are all very nice and fun people to be around. They are currently working on giving me a Chinese name (all Chinese missionaries and their companions have Chinese names) so I'll have to let you know what it is when I get it ;)  

Ive also had African food TWICE in the past 5 days, and the first one was at Zinnah's house (from Liberia) which was super spicy, and the second one was at Toko's house (from Angola) which had ribs which were way nice! Us missionaries sure get spoiled when it comes to food ha ha :) 

Church was great, the Newcastle ward is at a nice, quaint size, which is great because in the big wards (like York or Doncaster) you don't get the chance to connect with everyone, and you become just another missionary to some people. However in smaller wards and branches, the people seem like they need you a bit more, and they are more willing to get to know you and help you with whatever :) We had quite a few investigators at church as well, which was great. I sat in on the Chinese gospel principles class with some of our investigators, and Elder Burt taught (teaching some of the time in English and some of the time in Chinese, interesting experience)  It was so much fun to get to know everyone :) I'm really excited for this new area! (Gasp! It might be my last!)

Well, currently I'm on exchange right now in an area called Gateshead (which is where my trainer, Elder Pass, was trained) and there are so many different types of people here! Its great! And Jews! There like a fairly large community of jews here in gateshead as well ha ha :) Its amazing how different life can be when you move only a few miles...

Anyway, I've got some things to take care of for mothers day, so I'll write to ya next week!

Why-aye, mate!

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

PS I forgot my camera at the Newcastle flat, so I'm not able to email any pictures this week. But next week will be great!

Week 80: Goodbye York!!

I know, right? I cant believe it either!

 

And hello Newcastle!! Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either before I came to England, but apparently its the biggest city in the mission. (It also happens to be the home of one of the best English Football Teams in the League!

 

Its hard to put down my feelings about this sudden change... I mean, it definitely came as a shock to all of us here in the Zone, I was expected to stay here for at least another 3 months, staying at least one more transfer after ''killing off'' Elder Horner (he goes home in two weeks!) and I was quite happy with that outcome! To be honest, I would have been more than happy to finish off my mission here in this beautiful city... But God had a different plan, and that plan includes moving to the Sunderland Zone to be with a Chinese speaking missionary, Elder Burt! I don't know much about Elder Burt, other than that means I'll be learning a lot more Chinese than I previously knew... And we'll also be working a lot on the University Campus! Which is very exciting! So , there's a lot going on here in the mission field, so much, in fact that I'm going to have to end this email a bit short! So lemme put down my new adress, and please start sending me letters ASAP! :D (c)

 

Elder Gabriel Spencer

 

1a Henry Street

Gosforth

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE3 1DQ

England

 

I'll email you next Tuesday (bank holiday Monday, no libraries open)

 

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

Week 79: Living Life With Three Companions!

Hello Everyone!

Introducing a temporary week-long extra companion: Elder Woodside, from Maine!

For this past week, Elder Horner and I had a blast as we added one of the assistants to the president to our York 1 team. Elder Woodside was on exchange with us from Monday afternoon until Friday afternoon. It was so much fun! And we cranked him when it came to our morning jog ha ha ;) (See first photo)

We started out the week like normal, except we were able to get a member out with us on Tuesday night and go on splits easy! Which was great!  I saw a couple of our investigators with a member named Sean, and they went out to find more investigators!  Also, at the very beginning of the exchange, after our first morning run with the three of us, we set a goal to run the whole wall of York, a long two mile stretch of stairs, up and down inclines, and irregular pathways.  In other words, not an easy track to run.  So, every morning exercise was set in preparation for this excursion to be attempted on Friday morning, the last day of the exchange. Tuesday and Wednesday was spent endurance running, while Thursday we went to a nearby park/hill with LOTS of stairs to run up and down. And then the day finally came. Friday morning. 6:30am. We quickly said our prayers, got dressed and drove over to the large ancient structure. To our disappointment, the gates to the actual wall were locked! And a sign outside of the wall stated that they wouldn't be opened until 8 o'clock.  But would we let this stop us? NO!  We went to the inner side of the wall, and climbed up the steep grassy knoll to a place where we could climb onto the pathway!  We triumphantly began our run, with excitement and vigor trailing behind us in the brisk English wind.  Unfortunately, however, we didn't realize that there were more gates periodically that separated the different sections of the wall. Within a matter of minutes we arrived at the iron bars of the first gate, defeated, and out of ideas. We looked at each other as though hoping one of us would have an idea.... But nothing. Just then, an older fellow on a bicycle approached the gate from the other side with a ring of keys... '' Are you locked in?'' He asks. 'Yes, and you my friend, are an answer to prayer.' we said, as we caught our breath. To our blessing the gatekeeper of the York Wall had come to our rescue at just the right time.  He took out his rusted old set of keys and proceeded to unlock the first gate. We thanked him, and asked him if he would be opening up the other sections of the wall surrounding York. His reply was yes, and then he further added ''You boys are lucky. I woke up feeling like opening the gates a bit earlier today.''  What happened over the next 40 minutes was something I'll never forget. As we ran from section to section, as soon as we arrived at the locked gate, our bike riding friend would be there, keys ready, unlocking the next bit for us to enjoy. In addition to that at every other section he would tell us a little bit of the walls History, giving us personal tour as he unlocked each gate. There must have been a dozen gates that he unlocked, the last one being the best, where as we caught our breath he gave us a detailed history of the barbican and the soldiers going out to war from that area. The run was beautiful. The wall in some areas is taller than all of the surrounding buildings, and we could see all over the city. The best was the wall's half-way point, where as we ran we saw a beautiful sunrise-lit York Minster only a few hundred feet away. Throughout that entire week, rain soaked us through. However this morning, the sky broke through the clouds to give us one of the most memorable days of my mission yet. It might not have seemed like a big deal, but we worked hard all week preparing with this final run in mind as the goal, and to have so many possible obstacles (locked gates, rain, clouds, etc) literally moved out of our path, all three of us missionaries felt the love of God in the form of one of His many tender mercies. We felt so blessed :) At the end of the excursion, we all jumped in the car, feeling tired, accomplished, sweaty, but most of all, gratitude, for the simple mercies of the Lord :)

So that's my story for this past week. Now I can look back at my time here at York and say ''I remember when I ran the wall of York for morning exercise on mission'' with fond memories in my heart :)

The exchange was celebrated at the end with Hot Pot at the York 2 flat :) This time, with Calamari! Gotta love it! (See photo)

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

Week 78: Exchange with Selby, and York Stake Conference!

Heya everybody!

 

Is it just me, or does time seem to be going faster now? Oh my goodness! Its crazy!

 

So, this week was a great attempt at being as memorable, but I didn't meet/see anyone famous :-/ Oh well... maybe this week!

 

So as you probably read from my last email, I was on exchange for half of the week in the Selby area with Elder Paczensky!  It went well, and I very much enjoyed the temporary membership of a gym. Now I just gotta keep the ball rolling!!!  The diet is going well, Elder Horner and I are both sticking to it like mint jelly. All we've been eating this week (apart from tea appointments) is chicken and ham sandwiches, fruit and porridge. And its working! I'm already feeling better :)

 

After a great district meeting on Wednesday, Elder Horner and I got back to work in our own area, and we hit the ground running! We found the most new investigators Ive ever found in York, and we were blessed to schedule a new person for baptism as well!

 

One of the best parts of this past week happened on Sunday. It was stake conference here in York and hundreds of people crammed into the already large chapel. President and Sister Lindley spoke, as well as the normal people you'd expect to hear from in a stake conference. It was nice to see all of the other teams in the zone, and to meet their investigators whom we only hear about. The best part, however, came at the end :)

 

As I was walking over to the Scarborough missionaries to conduct a baptismal interview when one of the members of the York 1 ward approached me and said ''there's this guy here who just walked in and said he's interested in learning about our church''  I spotted him amongst the crown and quickly made my way to meet this man. To my delight, he was more than happy with what he had seen so far from the smiling, positive people that had introduced themselves, and we briefly sat down and talked about what he would like to have in his life. After a few minutes (and meeting President Lindley) we set up a return appointment at the church a few days later and I helped Hasan (from Turkey) to experience a warm fellowship from the members that were left after the meeting :) What a miracle! Almost immediately after I had finished talking with Hasan, another member approached me saying there was another person who walked in during stake conference, who's name was Johnny. Apparently, Johnny just moved to a street right next to the church, and was interested in finding a church youth program to join. So, I got his details from the member (who was smart enough to get them on his own) and gave him a call later that night, inviting him to young mens on Thursday night. We'll be seeing him then!

 

Talk about miracles! Blessings! Tender mercies from the Lord! I love this work!

Love,

Elder Gabriel G Spencer

 

PS If you could pray for my mom, who has recently suffered an injury requiring a small surgery, that would be greatly appreciated :) I love you mom! 

Week 77: Goodbye York!

Heya!

Who would'a thunk York would have such amazing celebrities within its ancient city walls within the same week?? Definitely an experience I will not likely forget!

Where to begin, where to begin...

Zone Meeting! Its name has officially been changed to 'Zone Specialized Training'. For those of you who don't know, Zone meeting is where all of the missionary teams in the stake (zone) meet up and are instructed by the zone leaders, have training models, etc.

If you remember last transfer's zone meeting, it included some pretty random, yet fun tools and things to use... And this one just about showed it up! Here's how it began... The night after the last zone meeting, in my personal prayers, I was thanking Heavenly Father for the success of the meeting, and how smooth and effective it was, despite it being my first one, and immediately I received a vision of what the next zone meeting's instruction needed to be on. In my mind I saw the York chapel, and all of its pews moved and switched around forming a maze...  And that's exactly what we did :) So with this vision in mind, Elder Horner and I discussed how we could adapt that idea to focus on helping the needs of the teams in the zone. We came up with this: Revelation through the Holy Ghost. We were blessed to have the assistants to the president attending, and we asked if they would help us out by playing the role of investigators out on the street. One member of the companionship was blind folded, and told that they would be the missionary sent to find as many potential investigators as possible will moving through the maze, and the other was given a piece of paper with instructions and told that they would be playing the part of God.  God was there to help the missionary, but only if the missionary asked a specific question about anything and everything! The maze and investigators proved to be both challenging and instructive, and the missionaries that asked got for directions and for what the needs of the investigators were were the most successful :) I SO wish I took a picture of the maze in the chapel, but unfortunately, pictures aren't allowed in the chapel :-/  But good memories anyway!

Thursday came, and there were two major events that happened... The first being the Queen of England came to the city, giving away maundy money to the public in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee (something like 40 or 50 years of being queen), and it was Zone Leader council at the mission office and home in Leeds. Sad to say, I didn't get to see the Queen, but I LOVED zone leader council! Its always so interesting, so revelatory... It was great :) See first picture!

After on Saturday, the city was also graced to have hosted the world famous Osmond Family*!  *Donny and Marie not included 

And wait, the Osmonds are members of the church, aren't they? And if they have a performance that ends late Saturday night that means they'd have church the next morning! And they did! I got to have a nice chat with a nice guy called Jimmy Osmond :) He asked me where I was from and I said 'Sandy, Utah!' and he said 'Really? Ha ha I know that place really well...' (I'm pretty sure I have a friend who lives in Sandy who has the part of the Osmond family in their ward)  So, before he left sacrament (5 minutes early to be exact) I managed to get his autograph in my missionary planner ha ha! See second photo :) The funny part was, it wasn't even my ward! It was York 2 sacrament service that he attended, and I just happened to be out in the corridor when he went to check if his driver had arrived :) Fun story to tell, huh?

One of the other events of this past week includes turning over a new leaf! Elder Horner and I, recognizing that we are edging closer and closer to the end of our lifetime (as missionaries, of course) decided we are improving our lifestyle, by taking our daily exercise more seriously, and eating healthier. Last week was the start of jogging in the morning, and it was jump started by the enthusiasm of our recently RM'ed ward mission leader, Brother Munzer! Yesterday morning's sleep was interrupted with a knock on the door, with Bro. Munzer ready to show us how to get the most out of our morning jog! And boy, did we ever! We ran about 3 miles that morning, including lots of hills and valleys to add to the fun :) We are also eating healthier, yesterday we bought nothing but fruits, healthy cereals, veg, breads and lean meats. So we are ready to get in shape!

Today happens to be a Tuesday, and I'm currently on exchange with Elder Paczensky, from London, England! He and his companion happen to have a gym membership and a car, which means I definitely got a great work out today! Ah, I miss working out a lot :) It was a nice feeling, I just wish I could go every morning... But nevertheless! I still was grateful to have the experience. :)

Well, my time's about up now, I hope this week is just as exciting as the last!

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

PS To those of you who have been expecting a letter from me for the past few weeks, I apologise... Its not that I haven't written letters, its just that its so darn difficult to find a post office and some stamps to stock up on in York! But I promise I will send out all of your letters this week, so you can expect them within the next 6-8 days :) Hopefully you'll have better luck than me at replying!