Week 45 Antofagasta

Jan 16, 2015

Hey Everyone! So this week was pretty awesome. We had several new lessons and Alcires is preparing to get baptized. We might push his baptism back by a week so he has more time to get to know the young men in the ward. He is truly awesome and decided to leave behind drinking and everything! Its amazing to see the lord work within people. Also, you guys will never believe who I ran into! The dad of Camille´s husband! hahaha I took a picture with him and I think he posted it on Facebook. Small word I guess haha. The office work has been long and stressful but now I understand how precious our time in the field is. I guess that saying where one doesn't gain an appreciation for something until he has lost it is true. Sometimes I wish I could just work all day in my sector to find, teach and baptize but I know the lord needs me here right now. Besides, the office isn't all that bad. In fact, I really enjoy it! My companion is awesome as well as the other office elders. We are going to be getting transfers here in about a week so I am going to be super busy planning all of the buses to get the elders and sisters to their new sectors. I have come to realize that I like working under stress. In fact, I work better under stress. I have learned several things in the office. One of which being organization. It is extremely important to be organized in the office and I know this will help me in the post mission life. Things here in Antofagasta are going well. It is extremely hot and dry but we at least have air conditioning in the office! Every Pday we usually go to the mall to eat and look around. They have KFC, Pizza hut, McDonalds, TGI Fridays, and Subway. I feel right at home haha. We also play a lot of ping pong. I have gotten extremely good. I hope everything is going good at home. Love you all and until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

Few Pics!

Small World!!! I Met Bro. Zapata (Camille Lazelle's father-in-law) in Antofagasta

Eating at Gasby All you can eat (Elders Maki, Morales, and Spanbauer)

Elder Morales's first Dr. Pepper

Dropping Elder Malan off in the Airport (Comp from Vallenar)

(Front to Back) Elder Morales, Spanbauer, Gonzalez, and Walker

Elder Morales

Elder Gonzalez

Random Guy That Wanted a Picture With Me!

Elder Morales

Elder Gonzalez

Week 44 Antofagasta

Jan 9, 2016

Hey Guys! How have you been? Its been a crazy week here in the office. My trainer Elder Maki left me. I am officially responsible for every mistake I make now hahaha. Working in the office is soooo fun. I have never been more tired in my life but somehow we always find a way to keep pressing forward. Even though our time to work is limited, we have been finding many people to teach. We have a baptismal date for the 23 this month. He is a 21 year old named Alcides and he is awesome! He does have a few problems with the word of wisdom but we are going to work with him so he can be baptized on the 23rd. Elder Morales is my normal companion now which is nice to just have one. Elder Morales manages all of the International travel for the missionaries and I manage all of the traveling in the mission. We make a good team. He is an awesome companion and he is Chilean so he can teach me all of the Chilean slang words. We work good together and we have been extremely obedient and we have seen the fruits of our labors. I love Antofagasta even though it is extremely hot. I arrive to the pension dead everyday but thats how you know you have worked hard. I love being a missionary. Anyway, that is the mini update for this week. Love you all. Chao!

Elder Spanbauer

Mission Conference with Elder Cook

Marseta and Carlos Calderon with their son Peter.  Elders Morales, Spanbauer and Maki from left to right

Week 43 Antofagasta

Jan 2, 2016

This past week was one of the craziest weeks of my life. As the "Comisario" of the mission, I have to buy all of the transportation within the mission. So that means that when we have transfers, I have to buy all of the bus passes and coordinate who goes on what bus. It is really difficult because we want to avoid missionaries traveling alone. The good news is, we didn’t have any problems regarding busses. Normally something goes wrong but this time everything went alright. I had to go with Elder Morales to take all of the "dying missionaries" to the airport to go home. Elder Malan was in that group so I got to see him again haha. We had to get up at like 4am to be at the airport. Later that day, we had to get everything prepared for the new missionaries coming in. I am responsible for ordering the food and preparing everything. We had empanadas for when they got here and the following day when they received their trainers and first sectors, we ate pizza. As far as other responsibilities I have.... I make the mission news letter every month, I make all of the memory books for the missionaries leaving, and all of the welcome books for the missionaries arriving. I am in charge of all of the supplies of the mission so like Books of Mormon, pass along cards...etc. I manage all of the numbers in the mission like how many baptisms we have, new investigators...etc. I also have to manage all of the cell phones in the mission. Any references from missionaries that come in, I have to assign them to the designated sector. Basically, the list goes on and keeps getting bigger haha. It is very stressful but I kind of enjoy it. It is very different but I do truly enjoy it. We have time to work in our sectors everyday so its not like we don’t get our time to be normal missionaries or anything. Things are finally starting to settle down now and I’m finishing up the news letter for January. Yesterday we were invited to the mission home to have a BBQ with President Dalton and Sister Dalton. We ate cheese burgers and funeral potatoes! That is definitely a perk to working in the office haha. President shared with us the process of how one is called to serve as a mission president. I now know without a doubt that he has been called of god. He shared many things with us that I had never thought about before. My understanding has changed tremendously. Yesterday we had a lesson with some investigators that aren’t really progressing that much but I had the opportunity to share my testimony and it was amazing. I felt encircled about by the spirit and I had absolutely no trouble saying what I needed to say. I was completely lead by the spirit in that moment. As many missionaries know, the mission is a rollercoaster. One minute you are having an incredible spiritual experience and the next a gay guy in the street is hitting on you hahaha. We were walking and saw a guy sitting down waiting for a bus so we went and talked to him. His first words were "Ill tell you guys right away, I’m gay" and then he said if you guys want to keep talking, awesome, if not... don’t worry. I’m used to it. We continued talking to him and he kept saying how we were super good looking and how can we possibly be single hahaha. It was a super interesting experience. Elder Morales and I are trying to be 100% obedient so that we can find, teach, and baptize. Elder Maki leaves soon and I will be officially done with my training. Christmas was awesome, new years we didn’t do much because we had to be inside our apartment at 10pm. I cannot believe I have almost been out in the mission for almost a year! Time goes so fast in the mission. I know everyone says that but its true. Anyway, that’s the update for now. I love you all and ill talk to you next week!

Elder Spanbauer

(I really didn’t take any photos this week so next week!)

Week 42 Antofagasta

Dec 25, 2015

Today our family got to Skype Elder Parker Spanbauer for Christmas for about 1 hour. It was great seeing his smile and hearing his laugh again. He looked great and said he loves the mission and Chile. He is working in the office with 7 other missionaries and said it’s hard work and long days with a little stress, but it also has its perks. He gets to travel with the mission president around the whole mission and will soon be driving the mission vehicle. He said his apartment is great with a view of the ocean. He lives with 7 other office missionaries including the assistants to the president. He has added many foods to his diet including lamb, heart, and stomach. He is still not a fan of mayo, but he is eating potatoes now! (It’s about time for an Idaho boy!!!) We loved seeing him and are very proud of what he is doing. His testimony has grown and his love for the gospel has never been stronger. He loves the people that he is serving and county of Chile where the Lord has asked him to labor. He said that his Spanish is pretty good now and that he understands about everything. He also asked that we wish everyone a Merry Christmas for him. It was definitely one of the highlights of our family’s Christmas this year!

Dec 26, 2015 (Email from Elder Spanbauer)

So I just skyped you all yesterday so I really don’t have much more to report. Instead, here are a few pictures of when we went to conferences in the north. Here are some pictures of Javier and me. (The one that was just baptized).

Skype Call with Elder Parker Spanbauer and Family on Christmas Day 2015

 Surprise visit to see Javier during northern conference

Weird statues in the middle of the desert. The office crew baby hahaha

Ancient Shoe from 1890. Found it on a battleground

Week 41 Antofagasta

Dec 19, 2015

So where do I start? Baptism!!! So as many of you know there was a young man in my previous sector named Javier. When I arrived to Arica this kid didn't want anything from us. He would go into the other room when we would come over to teach his cousins that were recently baptized. We began to show interest in teaching him and before we knew it, he was our best friend. Javier is a very special kid. He is very intelligent and understands the gospel really well. We taught him for several weeks and expressed several times to us that he wanted to get baptized. He even talked about wanting to serve a mission. Elder Francis and I had set a baptismal date for the 26 of December and he said "Is there any way that I can get baptized before that?" This just showed us how dedicated he really was. I had made a promise to Javier saying that I would baptize him but a few weeks ago I received a special transfer to work in the mission office. I was shocked.... and a little sad but I told President Dalton that if that is where the lord needs me, I will go. Javier was devastated but he understood that I had to go. Last week I called Elder Francis and he told me that Javier had a new baptismal date set for the 18th of December. This was music to my ears. I have learned a very valuable lesson in the mission. It does not matter who performs the baptisms. What’s important is that they get to that point. That they develop their own testimony and get baptized because they want to and know its right. We as missionaries tend to think we are failures if we don’t have many baptisms. That is not at all the case. As long as we are obedient, we will have success. If we invite, we will have success. I am proud to announce that Javier was baptized yesterday and I am proud to have helped him in this life changing experience whether I was there to see it or not. I seriously love the mission and I love everyone one that has helped me get to this point in my life. I know this is where the lord wants me and I can honestly say there is no other place in the world I would rather be. Thank you all. Here are the photos from Javiers baptism!

On another note, this week I had the opportunity to go to the zone conferences in Vallenar where I started the mission! Nothing has really changed there but it was cool to see it again. I didn't have the chance to see anyone that I knew but maybe next time. We also went to the zone conference in Copiapó. It was really fun. We prepare the lunches for all the missionaries. We had Christmas Tacos! Here are some pics.

Christmas Card fro the Office hahahaha

Javiers Baptism!

Elder Frances and Javier

Week 40 Antofagasta

Dec 12, 2015

So this week was pretty good. We had our Christmas Zone Conference with President Dalton and Hermana Dalton. It was my first one of the mission! It was really cool because our zone here in Antofagasta is HUGE! There was like 50 people at least. President talked about several things but I thought I would share something that I liked that he shared. So as you guys know, when Elder Cook came to visit our mission, the elders from Arica had several problems with the bus. President basically told us that story from his point of view. He said that he had been stressing about that conference for months because he was thinking of how hard it would be to get all of the missionaries in the mission to Antofagasta without any problems. He said that he talked to all of the Zone leaders in the mission and told them to call him when their zones had boarded the buses so that he could know where everyone is at. He said he received calls from everyone except Arica. He got a call late that night before saying that Arica had just boarded their bus. President felt like he could finally sleep knowing that everyone was on their way. Then, about 1 and a half hours later he received another call from Arica saying the bus broke down. His worst nightmare he said. He said he could have thought about the situation in two different ways. One being that about 90% of the mission is going to be able to see Elder Cook and that things were okay or how are we going to get them here as fast as possible so no one loses this opportunity. President says he prayed so much that night in order to find a solution. He then related this all to the lord. He said that in that moment, he felt a portion of what the lord feels for us. His everlasting love for us. He didn't feel satisfied that 90% of the mission was going to see Elder Cook.... He wanted all of us. Just like the lord doesn't want to save just some of us, HE WANTS US ALL. After a series of events, the group from Arica was able to make it to the conference but only some of them. 12 were left behind. He said that he felt so terrible for them. There would be twelve missionaries that would not see the conference. It then got me thinking that these 12 missionaries represent the percentage of people that will not be saved. It’s tragic... The reason we do this work is to bring our brothers and sisters unto the knowledge of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. We fight to bring that percentage down of ones who will be lost. To me this thought president shared was powerful because not only does it apply directly to the work.. But I was part of the Arica group. I almost did not make it. That’s why it impacted me a lot. After the conference we all exchanged gifts which was fun. Also, we were talking to a lady yesterday and right behind us... like right behind us.... a car smashed into a dog going like 45 mile and hour and sent the dog flying down the road like 40 yards... and we also say a guy laying in the street with blood all over his face. There was a ton of people surrounding him so we think he could have been dead... I was a crazy day. Welcome to Antofagasta!

Love you all take care!

Elder Spanbauer

Mission Office

My Companion Elder Hortua from Colombia

My other Companion Elder Maki from Wisconsin

Elder Morales Funny Chilean

Assistant to the President (Elder Ortega)

Other Assistant to President (Elder Hart)

 

 

Week 39 Antofagasta

Dec 5, 2015

So this week has been kind of crazy..... I had about one day to say goodbye to as many people as I could before I left to the mission office. I said goodbye to all of our investigators and only was able to say goodbye to a few members. It was sad because we had a few people that were going to get baptized this month but I wont be there to see it. I was really nervous to go the office because I thought it would be really serious and maybe even a little boring but so far I love it! The Elders here are incredible! They are so freaking funny haha. I love Elder Morales. He kinda reminds me of like David Archuletta or something haha. I have two companions because I’m getting trained by Elder Maki and Elder Morales is being trained by Elder Hortua. There are seven of us in the pension (house)!!! It’s a party! I love living with the Assistants and the other office elders. Especially because we live in a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom Hotel room! It’s the best missionary house in the mission! Our view is amazing. I have about 2 weeks to learn how to be the Historiador and Comisario and normally a missionary has 6 weeks of training. I basically have to buy all of the bus tickets for every missionary every time we have transfers and I also have to help construct the mission newsletter that comes out every month. I have a ton of responsibilities but I really don't want to list them all down and I'm sure there is even more things I have to do that I still don't know about. So it looks like I will be driving the mission vehicle here pretty soon because no one here knows how to drive manual haha. I will have the opportunity to travel with president when he visits all of the cities of the mission. I am excited and a little nervous but I think I’m going to learn soooo much. That is the update for now, just so everyone knows, my Pday is Saturday now because it’s different for the Elders in the office. Here are some photos! Love you all and wish me luck!

I honestly don’t know all of my responsibilities yet. I know that I will be doing two jobs now though because before there was a Historiador and a Comisario but now they are just combining the two and it will basically be me. I kind of feel unqualified but I think I can do it. It is a lot of computer work and I have to print off a ton of stuff for the incoming missionaries as well as the missionaries leaving the mission. I have to organize lunch for all the missionaries when we have zone conferences with president and I will be traveling a lot with president. I will be driving the mission truck soon! I think so anyway. I have to do so much crap haha but I’m ready to get started. It kind of feels like a job and then we leave to work in our sectors at 5 everyday instead of 4 like before. It’s really cool though. I think I will love it but I also think it will be stressful. Anyway, that’s about it. I will have to include more details next week. Love you! 

Oh and yes, I received the two packages. I haven’t opened them yet because I want to do it at Christmas. They are Huge! haha You guys seriously spoil me haha. Now that I’m in the office, I will get packages sooner. I don’t know if I mentioned it in my letter but there is 7 of us living together including the president’s assistants. It is so cool and I don’t think it’s a temporary thing because the elder that left isn’t coming back. He has to get surgery and only had 3 months left in the mission anyway. 

Elder Spanbauer

Familia Julca (Investigator Family)

Familia Tabilo (Awesome Member Family)

Mamita! and Papito!

On the left is Fernando and to the right is Javier (investigator)

Fernando

Javier

My district and Zone Leaders de Arica

Future Missionaries

Our new Pension!

Our Balcony View!

Our Balcony View!

Our Balcony View!

Not sure what they are doing.... hahahaha