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