Week 56 Antofagasta

Apr 2, 2016

So this last week was a very stressful one. The last week of the cambio "transfer" is always the hardest. I had to plan all of the bus travel and it killed me haha. It seriously is harder than it sounds. Good news is that it is my last time doing it alone. That’s right, my son has arrived to the office! Elder Huffstutler. He is from Alabama and is quite the character haha. I’m a proud father haha. I will be training him for the next 6 weeks and then he will be taking over. I’m super excited because I will get to be a normal missionary again! The office has been great and I feel I have learned more here than in any other place but every good thing comes to an end. I’m excited to start the next chapter of the mission. It will be a little lame though because I will know when and where I am going next before everyone else, so it wont really be a surprise. Anyway, I finished the cambios and everyone got to their new sectors without any issues. All of the new missionaries arrived and it was funny to see all of their innocent little faces haha. I took my office son (E´ Huffstutler) to go buy the empanadas for lunch and I got to know him a little better. He is seriously soo funny and has the coolest accent. Right after the transfer we had leadership counsel, which is when all of the Zone Leaders come to Antofagasta. I got to see a ton of old friends and now I feel like I know all of the missionaries in the mission. That is one of the coolest parts of being in the office. Friday (yesterday) was our first normal day of this week and it was a nice break. Everything was calm and I was able to relax a little and start training my baby boy haha. This cambio is going to be awesome. Elder Morales and I have set some pretty high goals and I intend on doing everything in my power to reach them. We have invited so many people to general conference and I pray they will come. One of the hardest things here is getting people to keep a commitment. I know that if we invite 100 people and only 1 person comes, it’s worth it. We have been working a lot with members to obtain references. We have found some pretty cool families and remember Alsides??? He finally came back from Bolivia and we met with him and set a new baptismal date! We set it for April 23rd. If he really shows us that he wants to be baptized by coming to church, he will be getting baptized that day. We have also been working with the young men in the ward and it has been awesome. We do splits with a young man named Christoper and now he wants nothing else but to serve a mission. When I first got to Antofagasta he wanted nothing from the church and now he wants to serve a mission! I love working with the young men. Its cool to see how the gospel changes them and how they think. They no longer desire things for themselves but rather desire the welfare of others. Many say they want to serve a mission to be changed, but the mission doesn't change you.... The Gospel of Jesus Christ changes us as we strive to live as Christ did. As we apply what we teach. The mission just provides us with an environment to grow spiritually but anyone can change. I invite you all to read chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel. There is an activity at the very back of this chapter that helps us see which Christ-like attributes we lack or need to improve. I know that my redeemer lives and that he atoned for each and everyone of us. I pray that we can better comprehend what that truly means. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Spanbauer

BTW, I received my package! I had no idea they made candy bars that big!

Thank you guys so much! I love the tiepins! Oh, and the superman shirt!

The pictures are awesome! Hahahaha

Enjoying A "Little" Chocolate!!!

This is Elder Huffstutler (my baby boy)

The Assistants

Birthday / Easter Package

Oh I forgot!!!

There was a man I taught in Vallenar named Lino Donoso that got baptized last Week!!!!!!! Here are the photos that my buddy Elder Cloward sent me! Its really cool because Hermano Carrizo (the guy to the left was an awesome member in Vallenar and Elder Malan and I got him to come with us to a lesson once with Lino and they became great friends like immediately. Apparently Hermano Carrizo was the one that actually baptized him!!! I seriously loved that family so much and now Lino shows up to church early every Sunday. He also asks to give talks in sacrament meeting!!! Who does that????!!! I feel blessed to have served in Vallenar. 

Elder Spanbauer

Hermano Carrizo (Left) with Lino Donoso (Right)

Lino Donoso's Baptism!