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.
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| Holding my baby boy! |
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| My District |
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