Week 68 Calama

June 27, 2016

So as you all know, I am now training a new Elder named Elder Santos! He is from.... (drum roll)..... Mexico! haha my beloved son is Mexican! hahaha. This week was pretty crazy. The first couple days I worked with the zone leaders because I was companionless. On Wednesday at about 5:30am I left to Antofagasta by myself to meet my son. I arrived to Antofagasta and had to walk to the mission office by myself!!! I have never felt so alone and scared in my life haha. We were in the mission all day with the newbies and I have been assigned to train Elder Santos. I am super excited because training is a very tough thing to do and one of the most important callings one can receive. President basically told us that the salvation of these new missionaries is in our hands. No pressure haha! We worked with a lot of members this week because I want Elder Santos to meet everyone. Ivan is doing good and Katia and Carlos are both doing fine as well. I have had a very sore throat this week and I lost my voice so I have been teaching everyone by whispering haha. Yesterday we were trying to sleep but the whole city was roaring because of the game. We kind of knew that Chile won because of all the noise we heard outside. Now I can rub it in everyones face! Take that Argentina! Anyway, there really isn’t much more to report because we only worked in our sector for a couple of days this week. Next week on the 4th of July, the whole zone of Calama is going to travel to Antofagasta to meet the new mission president. I will try to write more next week. Here are some photos!

(I am still trying to get the photos of Kermit´s baptism)

Elder Spanbauer

My Son Elder Santos from Mexico

Ping Pong Fury

Elder Santos

Elder Morales just sent these to me. Here are some photos from Kermit´s Baptism! I forgot to tell you guys but two days ago Kermit came to Calama and was in our bishop’s house. Bishop called me and told me to go to his house right away so I did. I got there and Kermit was there! I got to talk to him for a while and he was super happy. He told me how he was going to talk to President Dalton to see if I could travel to Antofagasta to see his baptism hahaha. It was really cool that I got to see him again. Anyway, gotta go... see ya later dad. Love ya!

Elder Spanbauer

 

Kermit's Baptism!

Week 67 Calama

June 20, 2016

Alright... so this was an extremely good week. This week started off really bad. We weren’t able to find a member that could leave and work with us. We didn’t have a single lesson Monday or Tuesday but by Wednesday things started to change a little. We were able to work with members and have more lessons. We taught Ivan this week and we had a member come with us. It was a very interesting lesson because he came out and told us he is gay.... I honestly didn’t know what to say.... Its not something he is really proud of but he still doesn’t see it as a sin. We explained to him that if he acts on those feelings it becomes a sin, but if he doesn’t act on those feelings it is not a sin. Now whether someone is born with it or not... I have no idea but he is still very interested in learning about the church. At first I kind of lost hope of him getting baptized but I honestly can still see him getting baptized. This Sunday he came to church for the second time! He already knows several members now and they are starting to include him more. We also were able to teach Katia. (The woman that stopped us in the car) We taught here and her husband and they are both really awesome. He says that he doesn’t really know if god exists but I’m sure that if he comes to church he will receive his testimony. I am going to try and organize a family home evening in the house of our bishop with their family. Alright, for the big news... This last Saturday KERMIT GOT BAPTIZED!!! You asked for the update on him and here it is! My bishop here in Calama (his brother in law) was able to go to Antofagasta and baptize him! It was Elder Morales`s last Saturday in the office and he was able to see the baptism. I feel so good to know that I was able to help Kermit while I was serving in the office. Many times... more often than not we don’t get to see the fruits of our labors until later. I will be sending photos of his baptism next week. Bishop still has to give them to me. Alright, for the other big news.... Elder Bravo left today and I will be getting a new companion. I am still district leader and I will be training next transfer!!!! I find out who my beloved son is this Wednesday!!!! I’m so excited to train and finally have my own posterity here in the mission hahahaha. Oh, I also had another baptismal interview with an investigator of the elders in my district. Her name is Jasna. She is about 40 years old and she has gone through a lot to get to baptized. She got married last week and this week her husband`s dad passed away. She passed the interview and is completely ready to be baptized. Things are going great here in Caspana and I can’t wait to meet my kid. Love you all and here are some photos!

CALAMA

Elder Bravo and Elder Spanbauer

Elder Bravo

Elder Pereira, Elder Reveco, Elder Bravo

Week 66 Calama

June 13, 2016

So this was week was pretty good. It didn’t start off so well but it ended really well. This week we had our last zone conference with President Dalton. It was a very a very spiritual conference and I really liked how he ended it with a testimony meeting. President Dalton has taught me so much and I consider him a very big role model in my life. This week I also had the opportunity to do a baptismal interview for on of the investigators of the sister missionaries in my ward. She is a 10-year-old girl named Lyn. I was kind of nervous but everything went well. She knew everything and I didn’t have to explain the law of chastity to her so that was good hahaha. It was a pretty spiritual experience for me to see such a young child preparing to enter into the waters of baptism. I have another interview tomorrow with an investigator of the other elders in my district! We found some new investigators this week and had some awesome lessons with them. Yesterday we had stake conference and the investigator that Elder Childs and I taught in English showed up! We called him and invited him the night before and he came! He really enjoyed it and he got to know a bunch of members. Tonight we have a lesson with the lady that stopped us in her car the other day wanting us to teach her family. We have everything organized and even have a member that is going to work with us. Its gonna be awesome! Anyway, sorry this one is short... we played volleyball for like 3 hours today so next week I will try to add some more details. I love you all and until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

We got to see the game of Chile vs. Bolivia

Week 65 Calama

June 6, 2016

Hey everyone! So we had a great week. Last Pday we went to Chuquicamata! It is the worlds largest open pit mine and I think the worlds largest copper mine. It was really awesome because we went with the Zone Leaders and a few other elders. Tuesday we didn’t have a district meeting because one of the elders in my district got sick so we had to cancel it. President is really strict about being with people of the opposite sex. This week I had the opportunity to do a companion exchange with an elder from my district and it was super fun. I spent the day with Elder Childs. He is from Kansas and he is hilarious! While we were working we found a new investigator named Ivan. We actually found him by accident looking for the house of another investigator. He invited us in right away! The coolest part of it all was that we taught him the restoration in English!!! He asked if we could teach it in English so we said of course! He understood it very well. It was the first time in my mission that I have taught a lesson in my native language! Elder Bravo and I had a decent week, we found several potential investigators but we are still having a hard time getting people to commit to something. Also, we experienced a little apostasy this week. Luis, a Jewish investigator of ours met with us at the church to have a lesson and literally out of nowhere Carlos, another investigator of ours walks into the church and joins the lesson.... No one invited him! But we decided to have a lesson with the two of them. Everything started off well but then Luis just started attacking the church and the book of Mormon. It was a very uncomfortable moment for us because we had another investigator present.... We testified of the book of Mormon but Luis just couldn’t accept it. The bad news is that Carlos kind of joined his side in the lesson and now I feel that Carlos is going to fall into apostasy because of Luis. At the end of the lesson Luis wanted to say the prayer and he said it in a yelling matter and used many words in Hebrew. I did not feel the spirit at all and the worst part of all is that at the end of the lesson... Carlos said he felt something and Luis started to explain that it was the spirit. Then Luis put his hands on Carlos`s head and gave him a blessing!!!!!!!!! ..... I have never witnessed so much apostasy in one day.... Luis actually went to church and it was awesome because bishop`s first counselor basically changed the lesson plan in priesthood and just had several members stand up to give their testimonies about the book of Mormon. This class was definitely directed towards Luis haha and after he asked if anyone had any doubts about the book of Mormon and Luis said nothing. It was a good Sunday. Anyway, not much is new here... just working hard to find new investigators. Here are some photos from Chuquicamata and from volleyball today. 

Elder Spanbauer

Visiting Chuquicamata

Volleyball on Pday

Elder Childs and I during our companion exchange haha