Contact Information


Email: parker.spanbauer@myldsmail.net


Letter Mailing Address:
Elder Parker Spanbauer
Chile Antofagasta Mission
Casilla de Correo 70
Antofagasta
Chile

Monday, July 25, 2016

Week 72 Calama


July 25, 2016

Hey!!! I have to make this really fast because today we spent all day in San Pedro de Atacama. It is a very well-known city out in the middle of the desert. We left at 4am to get there by 6am and we just got back. This week was really good. We have had very good numbers and have been working a ton with members. There is a member named Fabian Lazo that leaves on his mission in like a week so he always leaves and works with us to get some practice. Rafael, (the 11-year-old boy that is getting baptized) passed his baptismal interview! Now we just have to organize the baptism and all that. The two sister missionaries in my district/ward left to Antofagasta because one of them has a really bad knee so we have not only been working in our sector... but their sector as well. We are trying to find new investigators because some of the investigators that we have don’t progress much. The Chinese man, Ken Feng... is progressing well! He is reading every day in the book of Mormon! He speaks a very broken Spanish but we can understand him. He is super funny hahaha. Anyway, I wish I could tell you more but we have to get back to the house and leave to go work. Here are some pictures! Love you all! 

Elder Spanbauer
Elder Oakey and Elder Childs and Me

Valle de la luna


Elder Oakey and Elder Childs reenacting the lion king hahaha










 

Monday, July 18, 2016

Week 71 Calama


July 18, 2016

Hey everyone!!! Hay bautismo!!! haha we will be having a baptism the 30th of this month! He is an 11-year-old boy that wants to be baptized by his father. His dad is less active so we are reactivating him and baptizing his son at the same time! So we have been working a ton with the members here and we have been seeing many good results. The lame part is that most people are out of town around this time of year so it’s really hard to find people. We have a new investigator named Blanca from Peru. She is super awesome and we have taught here the restoration and the plan of salvation. She is really receptive and we plan on setting a baptismal date with her soon. The problem is that she is pregnant and might be moving to Peru soon. We have been teaching this Chinese guy named Ken Feng. He owns a Chinese food restaurant and gives us free food all the time hahaha. He is reading the book of Mormon in Chinese and is already in Jacob! If we can get him to get married, his (future wife) can get baptized and he would get baptized as well obviously. His (future wife.. Rosa) is an investigator of the sister missionaries in my ward so we are working together to help them get married and eventually baptized. I had the opportunity to do an intercambio with Elder Oakey, one of my zone leaders. It was awesome because I started the mission with him in Vallenar but we never had the opportunity to do one there. We taught several people and it’s always fun being with another gringo haha. So something crazy that happened this week!... I lost my camera..... and then I found it! I had my camera with me one day and it fell out of my bag while we were working. I realized towards the end of the day and I freaked out because I had a lot of photos on it that I hadn’t yet saved to my hardrive. We retraced our steps and had no luck. Before bed that night when I said my personal prayer... I prayed that It would show up somehow and literally as soon as we woke up, we received a call from an unknown number saying that they found my camera! Some guy found it and went through the photos and then posted one of them on Facebook asking if anyone knew me and a member from another ward saw it and long story short... we got the direction of the guy and we went to his house and I got it back! Prayer is a very powerful thing hahaha. Below are some photos I took this week. Enjoy! Love you all!

My buddy Ken Feng

Looking for a referral haha!!!

My Son turned 24!!! Celebrating with Bishop

Monday, July 11, 2016

Week 70 Calama


July 11, 2016

Hey everyone! This week was a lot better than the last. We have had several lessons and not just lessons... but lessons with members present. Last Friday, we did divisions and I went to two appointments with a member named Javier. Elder Santos worked with a member named Fabian. We managed to have a lesson with Ivan again and I had to teach him the law of chastity basically by myself because I was with Javier. It was a little uncomfortable but we had to teach it at one point or another. We asked him how he felt about it and he said he wanted to think about it a little more. The good news is that he went to church this week. This week we had 4 investigators at church! Later today we have an appointment with a 10-year-old boy named Rafael that wants to get baptized! At this point we don’t have anyone with a specific baptismal date but we plan on setting some this week. We have been working a lot with them members to get references. Today was the first time in my entire mission that I got to play soccer! We got together as a zone this morning and played soccer. The lame part is that only the sister missionaries can make the goals but it was still fun and I was still able to show off my skills;) This week really wasn’t that eventful.... I will try to write more next week, we have to go buy our food for the week. Love you all!! 

Elder Spanbauer

We Went Bowling Today!





Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Week 69 Calama


July 5th, 2016

Alright, I will be honest... this last week started off extremely slow. The first 3 days we were really struggling. We didn’t teach a single lesson to an investigator those 3 days. We walked and walked and walked. We began to start visiting more members because it’s better to teach someone right? We are starting to teach the members and remind them more than anything of what their responsibilities are as members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. It is to find people to teach! Missionaries are fulltime teachers... not fulltime finders! The members are those that should be finding new people to teach. I feel that members just don’t really understand this principle fully. We had one day where we taught an old investigator that was in our area book and her name is Jakelyn. We showed up to her house with a member and she told right away that her father had just passed away. We shared the plan of salvation with her and she broke down into tears. We invited her to be baptized and she said that when she comes to know that these things are true, she will get baptized. After that we visited a family from Peru. (The Paucay family) We shared a basic principle of the gospel with them and then invited them to look for people for us to teach. They then told us that they have a grandson that had recently expressed to them that he wants to be baptized. He is 10 years old and we have an appointment with them on Thursday. We are beginning to see success as we ask for references from the members. I encourage you all to think of someone that could use the gospel in their lives (even though EVERYONE needs it). Just start by thinking of one person and then talk with the missionaries in the ward to organize some sort of plan to teach them. You can invite them to a family home evening or whatever but just do it! It’s time we start working with the missionaries instead of just watching and cheering from a distance. This Sunday, 3 of the 8 investigators that we invited to church showed up! We are teaching a man named Juan Carlos and he is passing through some problems right now. He is jobless and he needs our help with some doubts he has and everything but he came to church and he showing a lot of interest. Yesterday we were in Antofagasta as a zone to meet the new mission president and his wife. He is a lot different than President Dalton. He is going to let us play soccer but he says we can only play if the sister missionaries are playing with us. President Dalton didn’t even let us talk to the sister missionaries.... So it’s going to take a little bit of getting used to. President Ferreira is a very loving and funny guy. His wife is awesome as well! We also had our first interviews with President yesterday and it was a cool experience. He told me how much he loved me and how much he trusts in me to help Elder Santos in his training. He said "make this Elder fly" and that is exactly what I am going to do. Elder Santos is a very sensitive guy and very sincere. When I hear him pray I know without a doubt that he is conversing with his heavenly father. He has taught me a lot and I have only been with him for 2 weeks! Sometimes I ask myself... Who is the real trainer here? haha. I absolutely love this work and I love my heavenly father. There truly is no place I would rather be. I encourage you all to do more with the missionaries. Thank you for all you do and for your support. You are all in my prayers and until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

Sorry guys, I don’t have any photos this week but I will try to take some this week!

Here are a few more pictures from Kermitt's baptism.






Holding my baby boy!

My District