Week 64 Calama

May 30, 2019

Hey guys...

Alright, so this week was a good week. We have an investigator named Michael that has several problems with the word of wisdom but we managed to teach it again to him and he accepted it. We also went over the baptismal questions with him and he committed to go to church this Sunday. Yesterday he did not come and this is the 3rd time he has told us that he would. It is so hard to get Chileans to do stuff hahaha. We also managed to have a lesson with Felipe (11 year old boy) and his mother to ask permission to baptize him and she said no. She says, "I’m catholic and I’ll die catholic". That was a little frustrating because Felipe reads everyday and wants to get baptized but his mother says he can’t because he is too young and doesn’t know enough yet. Anyway, enough with the bad news. We had a day this week where we found like 4 new investigators in just 3 hours of work! We have some potential investigators as well. Again... the only difficulty is getting people to commit to something. This week I did an exchange with the Zone Leaders and it was awesome. I got to be with a Brazilian! He is super funny haha. I also learned a lot from him. I had my 2nd district meeting as well and it went really well. Tomorrow I have another district meeting and I plan on doing an exchange with the Elders in my district. I have been enjoying my time with Elder Bravo because he is a very good teacher and I think I’m helping him to be a little less shy. This week we did an activity where we visited less actives and gave blessings of comfort. It was really cool because I got to give a blessing to a little 7-year-old girl with autism. After we blessed her mom she started crying because she wanted a blessing too but her mom said no. She said blessings are only for grown ups and we told her that we can give her a blessing and so we did. She was so content afterward haha. Also, yesterday in church the relief society and priesthood had a class together and basically bishop put a chair in the middle of the room and asked if there was anyone sick. Several people raised their hands and we basically just gave blessings to people for the last hour of church. I was called on to give a blessing to one of the women there and I was really nervous. I have given many blessings but never in front of a crowd like that... Also, we found a new investigator that is Jewish! He is very smart and knows the bible front to back but likes the "Mormon" church a lot. He struggles with believing that the book of Mormon is the word of god. We have been trying to help him with his doubts and he is a really good investigator. In fact, he went to church yesterday! Anyway, today we are going to go to Chuquicamata, which is one of the biggest mines in the world if not the biggest. If I have time today I will send pictures. Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Spanbauer

Picture of Elder Spanbauer with Elder Morales working in the office

Office Staff

Week 63 Calama

May 23, 2016

So this week was a rollercoaster. Monday we had an awesome noche de hogar (family home evening) with bishop´s family. There were like 30 people there! We brought an investigator named Michael and he really enjoyed it. There was also another investigator that went named Carlos. Carlos is from Colombia and is 23 years old. We had the opportunity to teach him during the week and we taught the restoration. He really loves talking about the gospel and actually asked us how he could be an "Elder" haha. The problem is that he has 3 kids in Colombia so chances are that he won’t be able to serve a mission as a young adult. We invited him to baptism and he said he wants to read the Book of Mormon more and really study it before making any big decisions. We had our ward conference this week so there was an activity in the church every night this week. Carlos went to almost all of them! We are trying to set another appointment with him because he has many questions that the plan of salvation can answer. Tuesday I had my first district meeting and it was pretty fun actually. I taught about the importance of the Book of Mormon in one´s conversion. We then did some practices to learn how to better use it when answering our investigators questions. We find that as missionaries, it’s better to teach our investigators how to use the Book of Mormon to answer their own questions instead of us answering them. It shows them that the Book of Mormon is a tool and one of the most powerful tools that we have. The Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion. I have been able to gain such a profound testimony of it in the mission. Tomorrow I will be teaching about the second most important thing in our conversion... The Holy Spirit. The zone leaders will be coming to the district meeting as week so it should be awesome. I also get to do splits with the zone leaders tomorrow! I will be working with Elder Pereira from Brazil! Anyway, the rest of this week was just searching for new investigators and we found a few potential investigators. Our sector is weird because we have a huge part of our sector out in the middle of the desert called "Peuco". We have to take a bus to get there so we only work there about 2-3 times a week. We have several future investigators out there. It is really lame though because we have to walk all the way back to our house which takes like 40 minutes walking because after about 7pm the bus stops passing through Peuco. Anyway, we are working hard and plan to have a baptism here pretty soon! Love you all and here are some photos!

My District!

Family home evening in Bishop's house

The "Micro" (transportation in Chile)

Week 62 Calama

May 16, 2016

Hello everyone... I have survived my first week in Calama. Calama is known for being the most exotic city in the mission when it comes to the weather. In the morning and at night... It is freezing cold, and during the day... It is super hot. The members here say I’m crazy because I walk around all day in just a white shirt and tie. They obviously have never experienced a winter in Idaho haha. My second day here we had a lesson with an investigator named Michael. He is the brother of our mamita that feeds us everyday. He basically threw his life away do to drugs. He lost his family and now he has nothing. We taught him about repentance and baptism and he accepted a baptismal date in June! Yesterday we had another lesson with him where we taught the word of wisdom. He seemed to understand the importance of it until the very end of the lesson when he said he will stop using all of the "Bad Drugs" but how Mary J is not a bad drug and isn’t bad for the body. Looks like we need to start from scratch... He refuses to stop smoking it and denys the fact that it is a bad drug. We will obviously have to change his baptismal date. We have also been teaching a guy named Cristian. He too has had several problems in his life and wants to change but he wants to be sure that this is the true church before he makes the decision to be baptized which I understand completely. Just means we will have to do everything in our power to help him receive that answer. We are trying to teach his wife but she is never home. Also, we are teaching an 11-year-old boy named Felipe. He doesn’t have a father and is living with his mother and grandmother. His uncle is a member of the church and is basically his dad. He takes Felipe to church every Sunday and Felipe has already read up until the end of 2nd Nephi! Let me tell you... this kid is smart. He basically taught us the restoration. I feel completely comfortable baptizing him because he loves going to church and his uncle is an active member. We will need permission from his mother to baptize him.

Now for some awesome news! So remember Kermit? So the bishop of my ward here in Calama is Kermit´s brother in-law. When I got here to Calama I immediately began talking about Kermit´s progress with the bishop because he had no idea Kermit was receiving us in Antofagasta. I told him that he is ready but just needs a little support from him (The bishop here) and so he said he would send Kermit a text. Well, Saturday was bishop´s birthday so Kermit texted bishop saying: "Happy Birthday old man" and bishop responded saying: "Thank you, and your baptism?" Kermit then responded: "Depends on you" Bishop then asked why and Kermit said he wants bishop to go to Antofagasta and baptize him!!! I’m so excited and I don’t believe it is by "coincidence" that President Dalton sent me here to Calama. I feel that bishop was the key all along. I am excited to receive the photos soon! 

This Sunday was good. I got to present myself in sacrament meeting and share my testimony with the members. I really like this ward. Today for Pday we invited the Zone Leaders over and the 2 other elders from my district to play pool and ping-pong. Our pension is awesome! That´s basically all we did today. Later tonight we have a family home evening activity in Bishop´s house! There is gonna be like 30 people there! We have a few investigators that say they want to go so we will see if we can make that happen. 

My companion´s name is Elder Bravo. He is from San Juan, Argentina. He has 3 brothers and 2 sisters. He is the 4th out of his siblings that has served a mission. He speaks like the Chileans because San Juan is really close to Chile. He speaks really well. His trainer was kinda shy so he isn’t used to being with someone like me. I’m gonna break him hahaha in a good way;) Tomorrow is my first district meeting... I will be talking about the book of Mormon and how to utilize it better in our lessons. Anyway, this is getting pretty long... I will let you guys go. Love you all and until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

My Comp Elder Bravo

The Pension in Calama

Week 61 Antofagasta

May 7, 2016

Short update this week because I’ll be calling home tomorrow for Mothers Day! I did receive news that I’ll be transferring to the city of Calama next week and my new companion is going to be Elder Bravo from Argentina, he only has about 3 months in the mission. I was also made a District Leader in this area and have 2 other companionships in my District. I look forward to seeing and hearing from you all tomorrow on our Skype call. Here are a few pictures from this week.

Elder Spanbauer

We all slept in our baptism clothes to help us stay focused in our missionary purpose hahahahaha.

The Office (Plus the assistants)

Our District

Kenny, our future missionary!!!

Familia Timaná

Familia Bravo

Kermit, our investigator that is eventually going to get baptized!