Week 47 Antofagasta

Jan 30, 2016

Alright, so this week was pretty awesome. I may have turned 20 years old and I`m still not sure how....? I am old! To be honest, it did not feel like my birthday at all.... It felt like just another day in the mission. The Assistants bought a cake for me and Chileans have a tradition where you have to take a giant bite out of the cake but while the person is doing it, someone smashes their entire face into it. I unfortunately didn't see it coming.

We taught a few people on my birthday so that was fun and we had another awesome lesson. This time it was a very short 10 min. lesson we had with a member family before leaving their house. We taught them about repentance and our purpose here on earth and how the two relate. It was a very short but powerful lesson. After the lesson the mom told us it was exactly what she needed to hear in that moment and the father, which has been inactive for months because of his work said he was going to try and make it to church this Sunday. Its little moments like this that I love about the mission. To simply have some sort of impact in the lives of others. I love seeing the joy that comes through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Also, we received the transfers this week to start working on and I have been extremely busy with that. There is soooo much planning that goes into bus schedules and everything. I`m am still really enjoying the office. My companion, Elder Morales is awesome and we have been having a ton of success in finding new people to teach. We just need to start inviting them all to baptism. Alsides is doing good but we have had to change his baptismal date several times because it is so hard to find him and finish teaching him all of the lessons. We think we are going to change the date to the 13th of Feb. so that we have time to teach everything and have his interview. We have become more involved with our ward and we have been leaving with several members to visit people. We also have several young men preparing to serve missions, which is super cool! Today we didn't do much because Elder Walker and Elder Gonzalez went to do audits in other cities of the mission so it’s just me and my companion in the office right now. That`s pretty much the update for this week. I will be sending photos next week. Love you all and until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

Week 46 Antofagasta

Jan 23, 3016

Hello friends and family! I´m proud to announce that this past week has been quite the experience. First I will start off with a lesson we had with a new investigator we found named Maria. We had the hardest time finding her but one day I was working with Elder Walker because my companion had to stay in the apartment. I felt the impression that she was home so we gave it a shot. She opens the door and immediately lets us in. We got to know her better and then asked if we could share a message with her. She gladly accepted. We began to teach The Restoration and I immediately fell the spirit. There haven't been many times in my mission where I have been able to think as clearly as I could in that lesson. As I was saying the words of the first vision, I felt the spirit so strong and I know she did as well. She asked us so many questions that a missionary loves to here. For example: "How can we know which church is true?" or "How do I know which church has the power to baptize?" It was such a spiritual experience for me. I could feel the spirit testifying through my words. Also, Alsides is getting ready for his baptism on the 30th of January. We changed the date so we can teach him everything in time. He is extremely excited. Also, the family he lives with is less active members so this is going to help reactivate them.

Yesterday, Elder Morales and I had an incredibly spiritual lesson with a family from the ward. We decided to pass by and they just so happen to be passing through some difficulties right now. The dad is jobless, they are living in a 2-roomed house and I could see how happy they were to see us. We began to talk to the father and he expressed all of the problems he is having with finding work. Then Christopher (the oldest son in the family) came into the room and we asked if we could share a message with them. We read a scripture in 1st Nefi about how god will be our light in the desert and how he will provide a way. Then the lesson took a huge shift and Christopher began expressing his desires to serve a mission. He has been thinking about serving a mission for a longtime now but never really had the faith to leave his family in the hands of the lord while serving. He broke down into tears telling us how now he was sure of it. That he knew it was what he needed to do. He as well as everyone else in the room was stuck so hard with the spirit. His father began to break down crying about how he knew this was a test of his faith and that these hard times will pass. I had the opportunity to share my testimony with Christopher about the mission and how there are people waiting to here the gospel from his mouth. I believe this had a tremendous effect on him. After he said that he is going to do everything possible to leave on the mission. Its times like this that strengthens my testimony. These experiences I am having in the mission are not only changing the lives of people here, but mine as well. I have grown so much spiritually in the past year. I know the lord is molding me into a faithful servant and how grateful I am for this opportunity. I just want to say, for any young man or woman who is questioning themselves whether or not they should serve a mission... here is your answer. YES. You will never feel perfectly prepared to serve a mission, but the mission will prepare you perfectly for the rest of your life. There are things that are learned in the mission that one cannot learn anywhere else. One´s testimony will be strengthened to a whole new level. So the answer is simple. YES! I love this church, I love my savior, and I you all!

Elder Spanbauer

"La Mano Del Desierto" (Famous Monument)

Paranal, Worlds Largest Observatory

Elder Morales and Me

Underground Resort

Sunset in Antofagasta

Week 45 Antofagasta

Jan 16, 2015

Hey Everyone! So this week was pretty awesome. We had several new lessons and Alcires is preparing to get baptized. We might push his baptism back by a week so he has more time to get to know the young men in the ward. He is truly awesome and decided to leave behind drinking and everything! Its amazing to see the lord work within people. Also, you guys will never believe who I ran into! The dad of Camille´s husband! hahaha I took a picture with him and I think he posted it on Facebook. Small word I guess haha. The office work has been long and stressful but now I understand how precious our time in the field is. I guess that saying where one doesn't gain an appreciation for something until he has lost it is true. Sometimes I wish I could just work all day in my sector to find, teach and baptize but I know the lord needs me here right now. Besides, the office isn't all that bad. In fact, I really enjoy it! My companion is awesome as well as the other office elders. We are going to be getting transfers here in about a week so I am going to be super busy planning all of the buses to get the elders and sisters to their new sectors. I have come to realize that I like working under stress. In fact, I work better under stress. I have learned several things in the office. One of which being organization. It is extremely important to be organized in the office and I know this will help me in the post mission life. Things here in Antofagasta are going well. It is extremely hot and dry but we at least have air conditioning in the office! Every Pday we usually go to the mall to eat and look around. They have KFC, Pizza hut, McDonalds, TGI Fridays, and Subway. I feel right at home haha. We also play a lot of ping pong. I have gotten extremely good. I hope everything is going good at home. Love you all and until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

Few Pics!

Small World!!! I Met Bro. Zapata (Camille Lazelle's father-in-law) in Antofagasta

Eating at Gasby All you can eat (Elders Maki, Morales, and Spanbauer)

Elder Morales's first Dr. Pepper

Dropping Elder Malan off in the Airport (Comp from Vallenar)

(Front to Back) Elder Morales, Spanbauer, Gonzalez, and Walker

Elder Morales

Elder Gonzalez

Random Guy That Wanted a Picture With Me!

Elder Morales

Elder Gonzalez

Week 44 Antofagasta

Jan 9, 2016

Hey Guys! How have you been? Its been a crazy week here in the office. My trainer Elder Maki left me. I am officially responsible for every mistake I make now hahaha. Working in the office is soooo fun. I have never been more tired in my life but somehow we always find a way to keep pressing forward. Even though our time to work is limited, we have been finding many people to teach. We have a baptismal date for the 23 this month. He is a 21 year old named Alcides and he is awesome! He does have a few problems with the word of wisdom but we are going to work with him so he can be baptized on the 23rd. Elder Morales is my normal companion now which is nice to just have one. Elder Morales manages all of the International travel for the missionaries and I manage all of the traveling in the mission. We make a good team. He is an awesome companion and he is Chilean so he can teach me all of the Chilean slang words. We work good together and we have been extremely obedient and we have seen the fruits of our labors. I love Antofagasta even though it is extremely hot. I arrive to the pension dead everyday but thats how you know you have worked hard. I love being a missionary. Anyway, that is the mini update for this week. Love you all. Chao!

Elder Spanbauer

Mission Conference with Elder Cook

Marseta and Carlos Calderon with their son Peter.  Elders Morales, Spanbauer and Maki from left to right

Week 43 Antofagasta

Jan 2, 2016

This past week was one of the craziest weeks of my life. As the "Comisario" of the mission, I have to buy all of the transportation within the mission. So that means that when we have transfers, I have to buy all of the bus passes and coordinate who goes on what bus. It is really difficult because we want to avoid missionaries traveling alone. The good news is, we didn’t have any problems regarding busses. Normally something goes wrong but this time everything went alright. I had to go with Elder Morales to take all of the "dying missionaries" to the airport to go home. Elder Malan was in that group so I got to see him again haha. We had to get up at like 4am to be at the airport. Later that day, we had to get everything prepared for the new missionaries coming in. I am responsible for ordering the food and preparing everything. We had empanadas for when they got here and the following day when they received their trainers and first sectors, we ate pizza. As far as other responsibilities I have.... I make the mission news letter every month, I make all of the memory books for the missionaries leaving, and all of the welcome books for the missionaries arriving. I am in charge of all of the supplies of the mission so like Books of Mormon, pass along cards...etc. I manage all of the numbers in the mission like how many baptisms we have, new investigators...etc. I also have to manage all of the cell phones in the mission. Any references from missionaries that come in, I have to assign them to the designated sector. Basically, the list goes on and keeps getting bigger haha. It is very stressful but I kind of enjoy it. It is very different but I do truly enjoy it. We have time to work in our sectors everyday so its not like we don’t get our time to be normal missionaries or anything. Things are finally starting to settle down now and I’m finishing up the news letter for January. Yesterday we were invited to the mission home to have a BBQ with President Dalton and Sister Dalton. We ate cheese burgers and funeral potatoes! That is definitely a perk to working in the office haha. President shared with us the process of how one is called to serve as a mission president. I now know without a doubt that he has been called of god. He shared many things with us that I had never thought about before. My understanding has changed tremendously. Yesterday we had a lesson with some investigators that aren’t really progressing that much but I had the opportunity to share my testimony and it was amazing. I felt encircled about by the spirit and I had absolutely no trouble saying what I needed to say. I was completely lead by the spirit in that moment. As many missionaries know, the mission is a rollercoaster. One minute you are having an incredible spiritual experience and the next a gay guy in the street is hitting on you hahaha. We were walking and saw a guy sitting down waiting for a bus so we went and talked to him. His first words were "Ill tell you guys right away, I’m gay" and then he said if you guys want to keep talking, awesome, if not... don’t worry. I’m used to it. We continued talking to him and he kept saying how we were super good looking and how can we possibly be single hahaha. It was a super interesting experience. Elder Morales and I are trying to be 100% obedient so that we can find, teach, and baptize. Elder Maki leaves soon and I will be officially done with my training. Christmas was awesome, new years we didn’t do much because we had to be inside our apartment at 10pm. I cannot believe I have almost been out in the mission for almost a year! Time goes so fast in the mission. I know everyone says that but its true. Anyway, that’s the update for now. I love you all and ill talk to you next week!

Elder Spanbauer

(I really didn’t take any photos this week so next week!)