Week 38 Arica

Nov 30, 2015

So this week has been a good week. We found several future investigators that truly can progress! We started teaching Giovani (the son in law to Alfredo Julca) and he is awesome! He is extremely receptive and he came to church! It was awesome! At church this week we had 7 investigators and a total of 92 people come! Normally we have like 70. It was a very successful week. We have a few baptismal dates set with some of our investigators the day after Christmas. The only bad news is that I wont be there to see them get baptized. That’s right, I received a special transfer from president. I’m going to work in the office in Antofagasta. He actually called this morning and I’m still kind of in shock. I’m really sad because I made a promise to one of our investigators that I would baptize him before I left Arica. This is going to be hard to tell him. His name is Javier and he is 13 years old. When I first got here he didn’t want much to do with us and we have slowly began to teach him and now he wants to get baptized so bad. He has been asking his parents and has been coming to church by himself. He is even already talking about serving a mission! I want to baptize him so bad:( This is all kind of a shock to me but I guess the lord needs me in the office. I’m not entirely sure what I will be doing in the office yet. I leave Wednesday night though. This is the big update this week. I’m really going to miss Arica. 

Elder Spanbauer

Elder Phillips, Elder Francis, and Me on our 30 hour bus ride to Antofagasta to hear Elder Cook speak

Week 37 Arica

Nov 23, 2015

So first off, this week has been very good. We had several lessons with many new people. I have learned that in order to get into a Chileans house, you have to be very direct. You cant just small talk your way into their house... you must ask straight up if you can enter and share a quick message with them hahaha. We did that with some people and it worked! We have been teaching with several young men in the ward to help them get missionary experience. It’s really fun to be on the other side teaching the young men. It feels just like yesterday I was in mission prep and now I’m the missionary! We have met several awesome people and I’m planning on baptizing this cambio. I would like you guys to pray for the Familia Julca so that they can get married in time to be baptized this cambio. Also, yes I’m still with Elder Francis. Lets see.... oh! We saw Elder Cook in Antofagasta! So long story... first off, we left Friday night to arrive Saturday morning. It was a 12-hour bus ride. Our bus was literally filled with just missionaries haha. About 2 hours into the trip the bus stopped and the power shut off. Then one of the workers told us the engine overheated. We had to wait for an hour for a mechanic to come and fix it and he wasn’t able to do so. Then we ended up changing to another bus. We arrived to Iquique and they kicked us off the bus because there were people they’re waiting to board that bus. Then we had to wait in Iquique for another bus to come and it was about 3am in the morning. Finally a bus arrived but the guy would not let us on this bus. The zone leaders were fighting with him telling him how important it was that we made it to Antofagasta on time and the guy basically said that if any of us set foot on the bus, he would call the cops. After several minutes of arguing with the guy, he allowed us to get on. There were only enough seats for about half of us though. The people that were going to be participating in the choir were able to go and a few other people that the zone leaders picked. By luck, they picked Elder Francis and I so we got to go. The bus arrived to Antofagasta at 9:45am and the conference started at 10:00am. We all took a taxi to the stake center and arrived at about 10:05am. We only missed the opening prayer. What a miracle! The conference was amazing! Elder Cook mostly talked about how we need to open our mouths and talk with everyone. He said that if we invite, we will have success. His testimony was very short and powerful. He said "I’m going to share my simple testimony without using too much detail, I know the saviors voice and face" I was like..... WHAT?!!! Imagine seeing the savior face to face! That line struck me soooo hard. It was amazing conference and after I had the chance to see Elder Malan and also Elder Muir from the MTC. I didn’t see Elder Leon though:( We then took the 12-hour bus ride back to Arica and arrived at about 4:30 in the morning. We then had to go to church at 9:00 and work like normal after. I’m sooo tired. Welcome to mission life. Well, that about concludes this update. I love you all and until next week! Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Elder Spanbauer

Talons are locked and loaded. Ka Ka

Things we do for entertainment as missionaries

I believe I can Fly!

Elder Frances

Elder Muir & Me at the Mission Conference in Antofagasta

Elder Muir

Bad Week for Cats! We saw several dead cats this week.

Week 36 Arica

Nov 16, 2015

So this week was a good one. We had several lessons with investigators and also had another noche de hogar con la familia Julca (Family home evening). It was so fun and I made banana bread for them to try! The dad, Alfredo ate like all of it haha. This family is from Peru and they are the most humble people I’ve ever met. He is extremely honest and wants to be baptized right now haha. The only problem is that he has to get married and in order to do so, he needs a Chilean carnet (Identification card) and he doesn’t have one and neither can he get one with the registro civil closed like it is. This family is really just waiting to get baptized and it is driving me nuts! We also have another investigator that is just waiting to get married. We have another family that will get baptized after the dad has his surgery to get his hernia taken out. Right now he is in a lot of pain and cant even come to church yet but we will baptize them when he is better. We also have been teaching some younger kids named Javier and Mikaela. Their older brother and sister got baptized and now they want to be baptized but the older sister stopped going to church so now they have no one of the age of 18 or older to be there support. Now we have to work through the ward to see what we can do to insure that they will stay active in the church. Javier has grown very attached to me and made me promise that I would baptize him before I leave Arica. I told him I would. He also wants to be a missionary someday and he’s only 12! I really hope the ward council decides to let us baptize them because I can see him being a leader in the church someday. We are constantly finding new people to teach but some of them haven’t been progressing so we have been trying to focus more on finding the people that are prepared by the lord. I know that this work truly is the single most important work in this world. Elder Francis and I have been learning so much as a companionship and we will have success as long as we are obedient. We organized a few plans of how we can have success. On another note, we were walking one day and we passed an older man sitting in the middle of the road. I said hello, good afternoon to him and he just gave us a scowling look and ignored us. Then, as we were walking away, he chucked a metal pole at us! hahaha I couldn’t believe it! My first near death experience! Just kidding haha it just hit the ground behind us and we kept walking without looking back. Also, we talked to two drunken men in the street and one of them was kind of a gansta and halfway through the conversation, his friend asked him what he had in his pants and reached down and pulled out a giant kitchen knife! His friend started laughing at him and kept asking why he was walking around with a knife. He then chucked it over the fence. So that was our second near death experience. Also, we talked to another guy that said we were spies from the US and then he started calling us aliens.... I love Chile... haha. Arica is truly an amazing place and there are so many prepared people here to hear the gospel. Just gotta find em! Also, we went and saw the world’s oldest mummies today! It was really cool and here are some pics! 

Love you all!

Elder Spanbauer

Week 35 Arica

Nov 9, 2015

Hey guys, this one is going to be fast because we are going to go to Arica Centro with some members of the ward. So this week was pretty good. We have had a ton of "with member" lessons. We had 10! We have been working with the young men of the ward to help prepare them for the mission. We have been teaching the Familia Julca and they are still just waiting for the government to go out of strike. Right now no one can get married because the government is in strike. We have also been teaching some other families that just need to get to church in order to be baptized. That’s the main problem for right now so if you guys could pray for our investigators so that they can have the desire to go to church? Things have been really good here and we have had some pretty powerful lessons. We finally have a ward mission leader to help us so things are going to start changing. Last night we had an awesome family home evening with the familia julca and their nephew. The nephews name is Giovani and he is 21. We have been teaching him and we actually have a lesson with him tonight. I really think he will get baptized and if he does, we can baptize the little girls with him and then the parents when they get married. If the little girls get baptized it could help the parents stay motivated to get baptized. So that’s where we are at right now. Really there isn’t much else that happened this week. It has been hot here and is supposed to get even hotter. Arica is a beautiful city and I love the ward. Sorry this one is so short but I’m running short on time this week. I probably wont be sending pictures till next week but I love you all and take care!!! 

Elder Spanbauer

Heading for Arica and saying goodbye to Elder Malan and friends

Week 34 Arica

Nov 2, 2015

So this week was a good one. When I first got here we had hardly anyone to teach and only had one progressing family but now we have a few and several people that have been taught the restoration. It’s truly amazing how much the lord blesses someone who is obedient. Elder Francis and I had some things we wanted to change in the companionship to be more obedient to the missionary schedule and we fixed those things. We saw the results directly after when we had a day of 4 lessons with new people and one with a less active member. So now we know how key obedience is. Even things like not exercising every morning can keep one from having the success one wants in the mission. So just a quick story... one morning we were doing "Rescate" which is a big list of less active members and we found a name to visit. We went to the house and a man answered and basically rejected us right away. Then I asked him if he knew anyone else that would be interested in listening to us and he said he thought a member lived down the street but couldn’t remember which house it was. So we knocked on a random one down the street. An old woman answered the door and we asked her if she knew of anyone near her house that was a member of our church and she replied I "was" a member and then I asked what that meant. She replied saying the same thing... "I was a member but now I’m not". Then I felt the impression to ask her if there was anything we could do for her in that moment and she thought for a minute and then asked "Even though I don’t participate in your church anymore, can you give me a blessing of health?" and I smiled and said of course! She let us in her house and she immediately started telling us all of her problems in life. She expressed how her husband is super ill and her daughter died when she was just a baby and I then asked if we could share a scripture with her. I then read some scriptures in Moroni 8 to her that talks about how young kids don’t need to be baptized and how they are saved in Christ. This impacted her a lot and then we proceeded to give her the blessing. She broke down crying and wants us to come back and teach her nephews. I love how the lord puts people in our paths and as missionaries it’s our job to find them.

As far as a funny story, Halloween night we were talking to a drunk dude in the street and he kept asking us if he was cursed or if someone was performing some type of witchcraft on him because every time he gets into a relationship it always ends at 8 months. He then kept repeating the same exact thing over and over and over. Halfway through the conversation, he asked us "can I go to the bathroom?" and we said yeah that’s fine. He then walked behind us and started peeing in broad daylight with people present and cars and everything! Don’t drink people! Its insane hahaha. Also, Elder Leon (mi papito) or my trainer started his mission here in my sector and baptized a girl named Katalin. We had the opportunity to talk to her a few weeks ago and somehow the topic of missionary work came up. She kept saying that it would be soo hard to be a missionary and stuff and we just told her that it’s hard but not impossible. That if one has the lord, it’s easy. We told her that being a missionary was the best thing in the world. Anyway, yesterday, we saw her in the church and she went in to have an interview with the bishop and she came out crying and bishop hugged her and we were thinking the worst. Then bishop yelled super loud "We have another missionary!!!" She is going on a mission!!! She got baptized literally like a year ago.... its amazing!

I will see all of the missionaries in mission the 21 of this month because Elder Cook is coming! Every missionary will be going to Antofagasta that day! I will see Elder Leon and Elder Malan! I’m so excited! That’s the update, love you all and take care!

Elder Spanbauer

Playa Corazones

My Companion Cut My Hair... Don't Judge

Elder Frances and I at the Beach

The Beach in Arica