Week 58: Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you wanna know something funny? Nobody celebrates thanksgiving over here... No, really, NOBODY! How tragic, right? Well, all I can say is that its a good thing that there were some American missionaries to save the day! (After all, it was the English who first started Thanksgiving!) And so how do missionaries celebrate best??? WITH FOOD!!!

Lots of food!

So much food, in fact, that there was not enough room within the lens of a camera to take a picture of it!

That's how much food!

All of the missionaries within the stake were invited on Friday night to the Stake President's house, where President Anderson and his family (also Americans, working in England for Jon Huntsman) cooked us an amazing traditional turkey dinner, complete with pumpkin pie and brownies at the end!!! It was magnificent :) The food was absolutely delicious and the company was even better :)

I hope your Thanksgiving meal was equally enjoyable :)

After that we all knows what happens after thanksgiving is finally over.... CHRISTMAS!!!

So we cranked that Mo-Tab Christmas music and started gearing up for the best time of the year!!!

We were so excited that Elder Smith and I decided to buy a 6-foot Christmas tree!!! (okay, well, Elder Smith bought it, I bought the lights and baubles for it) and we went to town! Oh boy you really have no idea how excited we are for Christmas as missionaries! Its going to be a blast! See all photos!

So you may remember how last week I mentioned how Elder Smith and I had made a goal to achieve Standards of Excellence for every week of the transfer? We accomplished our goal our first week together (last week) we are still very much on track! As of our very last appointment last night, we once again accomplished Standards for the second week in a row! And trust me, we ain't slowin' down!!!

Well, I think that's about it for the events of last week... December starts this week, and I take my driving test in about two weeks... So I'll have to let you know when to start prayin' for that ha ha. For right now, I just need to make sure I'm getting all of the small and simple points down in my driving lessons!

Merry Christmas!! (I'm going to be saying that a lot for at least the next month)

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

Week 57: New Companion, New Adventure!

Heya, Peeps!

It was another foggy week over here in Northern England! Elder Brewerton has left to go near Leeds and Elder Smith has come all the way from Billingham (About 10 miles away from Peterlee) So far serving with Elder Smith has been a blast :) We've had so much fun, and in the short time that we've been here, we've seen quite a bit of success!

From our first day of working together, Elder Smith and I made some goals that we wanted to achieve for the transfer, one of which was to achieve Standards of Excellence each week of the transfer (a goal we missed by one week in Leeds). We also set a number of baptisms that we wanted to hit as a companionship. With our vision in sight, we hit the ground running and as a result, Peterlee has achieved Standards of Excellence once again! We had the most successful week yet, even with a transfer in the middle of it! So take that, opposition! :-P Satan doesn't stand a chance with Elders Spencer and Smith on the battlefield!

Hmm... Lets see, what else happened this week... Ah yes! You may have heard we started teaching a lady named Honour a few weeks ago? (You might not of, I don't particularly remember saying anything) well, on this past Monday before Elder Brewerton left we had a lesson with Honour and she brought along her 15 year old daughter Kitty to sit in and see what she thought. Kitty really enjoyed it, and was more than happy to accept the invitation to come to church! When Honour and Kitty came to church, they both LOVED IT! and Kitty in particular really enjoys reading the Book of Mormon! Which is great! We are planning on seeing them both tonight and teaching them further :) its so nice to have investigators who are excited to read the book and come to church! Talk about a breath of fresh air :) They are excited and working towards their goal of baptism on the 10th of December :)

I'll be starting to drive again! I'm signing up for driving lessons (not that I need them, just to tell me how to pass my driving test and what I'm doing wrong and stuff) so that's exciting! And I should be taking my driving test within the next 2 to 3 weeks. I'll let you know when to start praying for me! (Needless to say, I'll be very relieved when this whole driving license thing is over with)

Pictures!

#1 Elder Smith! We had district lunch last Monday, and here is the great and powerful missionary, eating Chinese! ha ha :)

#2 The last picture of me and my son, Elder Brewerton! Aw, they grow up so fast!

#3 Epic Fog picture, I call it ''The Rod of Iron in the Mist of Darkness''

Pictures!

#1 Elder Smith! We had district lunch last Monday, and here is the great and powerful missionary, eating Chinese! ha ha :)

#2 The last picture of me and my son, Elder Brewerton! Aw, they grow up so fast!

#3 Epic Fog picture, I call it ''The Rod of Iron in the Mist of Darkness''

Good luck in the cold everyone! (Its officially thermal-wearing weather over here in England)

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

PS If any of you would like anything from England for Christmas, let me know soon, please! (c)

Week 56: The Fruit of Many Prayers

Hello everyone!

So, Ive got some big news! But I'll say it in chronological order just to build the anticipation... Muah ha ha ha!

First! On tuesday we had our quarterly Zone conference! This one was all about the temple, which was amazing! I learned to much about the symbolism of the temple, and especially the salt lake temple! Ha ha if you like I could probably give a few tours when I get back ;) See first picture, me and my good friend, Elder Gravallese at Zone Conference:)

Also last tuesday, Elder Brewerton and I went out searching for some new people to teach... We were walking down an old darkly street, when I looked in a window and saw pictures of a family! So immediately I thought, hey! Lets go teach this family! We knocked... and they let us in! We taught for about an hour, and invited them to be baptised, and a mother and daughter named June and Courtney accepted the invitation! But wait it gets better, at the very end of the lesson, we invited one of them to pray before we left, and the dughter, 9 year old courtney volunteered! We gave her some ideas of what she could pray for, and this is what she came up with on her own:

''Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for my day.

Thank you for my house, and my bed, and my Halloween treats and money.

Thank you for my dog, and please keep him safe.

(Then she paused and thought for a little while)

... I love you very much God. You are my favourite person in the whole world. You are my number one.

... And my mom is number two.

But dont tell her I said that.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.''

One of my favourite prayers EVER! Ha ha the mom just laughed a bit and kissed her on the head :) Tender moment :)

Okay, next! I know you all are probably wondering... You've been hearing about it for a while and, well... as a result of much prayer and studying...

I PASSED MY DRIVING EXAM!!!

Ha ha yay! Miracles DO happen. And honestly, I could not have passed that test on my own. Divine intervention was COMPLETELY necessary as the test study material was pretty outdated and there were several questions I had no chance of studying for... So, the result? There were 50 individual multiple choice questions I had to answer in about 60 minutes... In order to pass, I had to correctly answer 43 out of the 50 questions... So I bet you can guess how many I got right? 50!

No, just kidding. And for those of you who guessed I got 50 out of 50, thank you for your incredible faith ha ha.

I scored 43 out of 50!!! Ha ha if I would have missed one more question, I would have failed and had to take the entire test again, with completely different questions! So thank you thank you for your prayers! As you can see, they worked!!! Now all I have left is to register for and pass my practical driving exam, which is the one where I drive with an instructor in the car... So that will probably happen in December, but I will let you know!

Next big thing,

The cold is really starting to roll into the coast of England these days, and when the cold comes off the North sea, we get tons of fog! And thats exactly what happened for the entire weekend! See second picture :)

One last big thing!

It was transfers last night, and there are some BIG CHANGES that have happened! First off, my baby boy, my second-born in the wilderness, my Canadian Companiero, Elder Brewerton is leaving the nest and going to Leeds to be follow-up trained! And coming to replace him and spend Christmas with me in Peterlee is Elder Smith, from American Fork, Utah! Its actually quite ironic, Elder Smith was also in my district and the most recent person I went on exchange with, which happened to be in Peterlee about 3 weeks ago! And now we'll be serving together! I am very excited to spend Christmas here in the coastal town of Peterlee : ) It will definitely be a change from celebrating Christmas in Leeds, but Im ready for it!

Well, here I am starting a new adventure! Wish me luck!

Happy Transfers,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

PS Funny thing, just happened to street contact into a Storm Trooper from Star Wars on Saturday... Interesting Experience. The white one of the left actually said to me he had read the book of mormon before, no lie! (See Third picture)

Week 55: A miracle in Peterlee, the first one in years!!

Hello every one!

Wow! So many amazing things have happened this past week! But where to start, where to start... Oh yes!

BAPTISM!!!

Yes, that's right! For the first time in literally several years, Peterlee Branch's own missionaries have been blessed to baptise and confirm a new member of the church! On the 5th of November, 2011, Chris was baptised by Elder Spencer, followed by her confirmation the following day by Elder Brewerton! It was a fantastic service, and many people attended, even several investigators! We found Chris through street contacting about 2 weeks after we had opened Peterlee for missionary work. Chris, however, was not quite ready yet, as it was an unfortunate time. Her only daughter was right in the final moments of her first pregnancy. So we got Chris's contact details, and she asked us to call around in about a month. Several weeks passed, and we were in the area of where she lived again for a different appointment, the person wasn't home, and I remember getting the distinct impression to look though the contacts portion of my missionary planner for the name Chris. We found the address, which we found out then was right across the street! So we knocked at her door, and said who we were, and she happily let us in! We taught for about an hour, and at the very end of the appointment, we invited her to be baptised in about 3 weeks, (November 5th). She thought for a moment, then said. Alright. Sounds good! And it basically went off from there! From that day forward, she read the Book of Mormon every day, and prayed every night! She willingly gave up her tea and coffee, and sacrificed part of her weekly Sunday lunch at her mothers home to come to church!

So by the time the baptism came, she was nervous, but ready to enter into that covenant with our Heavenly Father! She seems so happy now, always smiling :) Ah, it is so nice to find and teach golden investigators, would you say? I certainly would. :)

Not only that, but we were talking with some of our investigators after the service had been performed, and one of which, named honour, we had been teaching for a few weeks. Every time we invited her for baptism, she denied it, saying she wasn't ready yet. We felt very prompted after the baptism to explain to her the process that Chris had gone through to get baptised, which we did, and she seemed very positive about it. We then invited her to be baptised on the 26th of November, to which she gladly accepted! AH! Another miracle! We were very excited :)

Also last week, of course, was Halloween! We had our zone P-day and had a water-pong tournament. Elder Brewerton and I lost in the championship match with Elder Gravallese and Elder Mecham by ONE POINT!!! Arg. So close :-/ Ah well, it was fun! (see third pic)

Well that does it for this week! I was quite excited to send this email, actually :) So there! Hope you enjoyed it!

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

PS Congrats to Zac and Sarah on their wedding! And congrats to Michelle on entering the mission field!

Week 54: Happy Halloween!

(North Sea looking from the doorway of the Peterlee Branch)

Happy Halloween!!!

I hope everyone has had a ghoulish and a ghastly Halloween!

We are here at the stake centre for Zone P-day, and we're going to carve pumpkins and play dodgeball and watch a film :)

And that pretty much does it for our Halloween Celebrations!

For tonight, our mission president has requested that we stay indoors after we finish P-Day, and do not go knocking/street contacting. Instead, we're supposed to go to members or investigators homes. So Elder Brewerton and I will be spending some of the night at the Miller's home, and the other half at member's homes. We're excited!

Last week was great, we found a whole slew of new investigators to teach as well, so we're going to be following up on them later this week!

We are progressing very closely our investigator Chris to baptism... So all of us, Elder Brewerton, Christine and I definitley need your prayers this week!!! So please pray!

Also this week, we had interviews with President Lindley during our Zone meeting! I was able to discuss quite a few things with President during the 10 minutes that we had, and I found some helpful insights that will help me and my area progress while Im here!

Not much else has really happened this week... However there are some exciting things happening within the next few days... So be excited for this next weeks email!!

Happy Halloween again!

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

Week 53: Embarking on a new year, hitting the ground running :)

Heya peeps!

Ah! Its finally come! And gone... I am officially a senior missionary in the England Leeds Mission! I sure don't feel like it though... Sometimes I feel like I'm still a greenie! We didn't have much time to celebrate my anniversary on Saturday, however, so we celebrated with some epic, urgent knocking! Elder Brewerton and I raised the stakes in our knocking by literally by trying to knock as many houses as we could within the space of 2 hours! We literally ran from house to house, collecting our composure each time a door opened! It was so much fun! And we knocked three whole streets within the space of the 2 hours we had!

I've received a few questions about some of the investigators we are teaching, including Chris, the woman we met a few weeks ago. Chris is doing great! She's still a bit nervous about baptism, which is great! It means that she is definitely taking it seriously! She came to church this past Sunday, and once again really enjoyed it! She is progressing very nicely towards her baptismal date, and is patiently awaiting her baptismal interview, which will likely happen within the next few weeks! She is still reading the Book of Mormon and praying each day, and she loves having Elder Brewerton and I come over to teach :)

Also this past week, I was able to go on exchange with Elder Patterson, from Michigan, who arrived in the field from the Provo MTC the same transfer as Elder Brewerton. Elder Patterson, however, was called to preach the gospel in the Chinese language, which he learned to speak fluently. There are many Chinese students studying at the University in the Middlesbrough area (where I was on exchange) and I had the opportunity to teach several Chinese students! (In English, of course) not only that, but Elder Patterson and I popped by a Ukrainian family, and I was able to once again teach in the Russian language! (They speak Russian in Ukraine) I was a bit rusty, and had to brush up a bit on my Russian notes, but it was certainly a fun experience, and the Inva Family was lovely :)

Funny story, so in the very beginning, after they allowed us into their home (which was for the first time) the father, Vladimir, started talking to me in Russian. I could understand most of what he said, but unfortunately I confused a couple words. The word crusc (croo-sk) means cup, in Russian, and its very similar to the word coffee. So I thought he offered us a cup of water, to which I happily agreed. So his wife got up, and began to make us something. Elder Patterson and I became very excited, thinking they were making us a Ukrainian meal. All of the sudden, I smelled the pungent scent of coffee. My heart sank. This was definitely an ''oh no,'' moment ha ha. About ten seconds later, Vladimir's wife comes out with a tray of four cups of coffee. It gets worse. Vladimir stands up (he is a very large man, mind) and very proudly describes what they have made for us. ''Ah yes, very expensive Italian coffee. If its too hot, here is some milk for you.'' Elder Patterson and I looked at each other, and then I said. ''Oh, no, I am fine, thank you.'' Vlad replied '' Niet, niet, it is tradition! Drink! Drink!'' ''Oh, no thank you, yesvini, yesvini.'' (Which means, I'm sorry, I'm sorry) The father, confused, looks at his wife, who thankfully shrugs it off and offers us water as an alternative. We gladly accepted. Ha ha TRAGEDY AVERTED! Elder Patterson and I definitely had something to laugh about afterward :)

Ah! not only that, but I had some of the best Chinese of my life! We had a tea appointment with one of the Chinese investigators preparing for baptism, named Yun Shen, who took us to a really nice restaurant in town called ''Mandarin''. Let me tell you... The food was amazing!!! There was fish, duck, chicken, pork beef, all complete with their own unique flavours and spices! Ah! It was amazing! I must say though, that the fish we had, could have very well been the best tasting fish Ive ever had in my life! It was amazing! And the best part... it was all paid for by our investigator! It wasn't cheap, either ;) Ah, it was exquisite :) See all the pictures for this week (I included a picture of the fish, after eaten)

Well, that's about it for this past week, now I'm about to head over to meet up with Elder Gravallese and have a proper celebration of the year mark!

Thanks for your prayers, love and support! I really appreciate every one's encouragement!

I just thought I'd give a couple shout-outs!

Special thanks to my beautiful mom, who emails me love each week without fail!

Special thanks to my inspired dad, who sends me letters that strengthen my testimony! Happy Birthday!

Special thanks to my fantastic siblings, who send me pictures of life, and to David, who keeps me updated on whats going on (not to mention, is taking good care of my car while I'm gone!)

Special thanks to the loyal Karstin Lake, who constantly updates my missionary blog!

Special thanks to my bbfff Logan Jones, who keeps me updated on the latest ''gossip'' ha ha

And a very special thanks to everyone who constantly prayers for me! I can testify that I can feel your prayers aid me in this work!

Take care everyone! Til next week!

Love,

Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

Week 52: Happy Anniversary, ELM! Elder Spencer hits his year mark!

Wow.... I cant believe its already been a year since I've left my homeland, set apart as a representative of Jesus Christ...

Does it feel like a year? Does it really? I dont think so... To be honest I still feel like a greenie ha ha. I'll have to celebrate somehow! Im not quite sure how yet, but I'll have to let you know in next week's email :)

So! Onto my week! Lets see... What happened last week... Hmm...

Ah yes! Chris! Chris is an investigator we found about a month ago, who we met on the street. When we talked with her, she expressed interest, but told us that her daughter was having a baby, and it was a bit of a stressful time for her. So we asked if we could come by sometime later in the middle of October, and she said yes! So we did! And within the first lesson we had with her, the spirit was felt, we invited her to be baptised, and she accepted! Not only that, but she also accepted to read the book of mormon everyday, pray about it, and come to church, all of which she has done thus far,and has thoughoughly enjoyed! She actually stated over the phone last night that, quote, ''Since that first day that you've been coming to my house Ive just been feeling happier and happier!'' Ah. Talk about a blessing from the Lord. We, as missionaries LOVE people like Chris. Ya know, people who keep their commitments, are excited about reading the book of mormon, and really enjoy coming to church. Those kinda people are amazing :) So Elder Brewerton and I have been saying many prayers of thankfulness for the opportunity to be teaching Chris, as we continue to pray for her progression :)

Also! I dont have much time, so Im going to make this last part a bit brief... We finally did it!!! We finally knocked the very same street that Billy Elliott danced on! Even his very house! Ha ha I even got some pictures of my dancin on his street as well... See the last two pictures :) From what the locals have said, nobody knows what happened to Billy, just that he up and left several decades ago ha ha. If you dont really know what Im talking about, see some of my earlier emails about the film and broadway musical ''Billy Elliot''. The filming spots and story location are in the area of Peterlee in an old coal town named Easington.

Oh yeah, and that other picture, of the moon? Oh yeah, this was something that literally took my breath away, and I just had to take a picture :) This was a pic of Friday night, with the reflection of the moon against the North Sea. I love the moon :) (c)

Anyway, wish me luck this week! It should be a great one!

Love,
Elder Gabriel G. Spencer

NOTE from the Blog keeper: The attachments didn't work for me. I'll try to get them up later this week. :)