Week 93 Antofagasta

Dec 19, 2016

So this week was pretty crazy. We had pretty high numbers and met just about all of our goals. We also baptized! So this week we worked with several members and found 17 new investigators! On Sunday, we woke up a little earlier to go pick up all of our investigators to go to church with some members. Just about all of them were either sleeping or decided last minute that they didn’t want to go... It was super lame. We were planning on having 9 investigators at church but 7 of them said they couldn’t go. While we were doing this I felt an impression to knock on a random door that I had never knocked on before. It was a pretty strong spiritual impression that I couldn’t ignore. So I yelled to my companion and told him to follow me. He questioned why I was going to that house because we didn’t know the people who lived there but I told him I felt the need to knock on that door. Turns out a family of 8 just moved there from Bolivia and they are super receptive!!! We invited them to church and they excepted right away! The mother and two of her daughters went and the others couldn’t go because they had arrived at 5am from Bolivia and were super tired. It was seriously a miracle! On Saturday we had two baptisms scheduled but we only baptized one of them because the 70 year old woman we are teaching was too scared to go under water all the way.... It was an interesting experience. Next Saturday we are going to try again. I baptized Wilder Aguilar, a young 17 year old from Bolivia! We found him a week ago! hahaha He is super awesome. My companion baptized one of the sister missionary´s converts. It was a great week:D

I forgot so tell you guys Merry Christmas in my email! I love you guys a ton and I am extremely grateful for your support. I look forward to talking to you on X-mas. Love you,

Elder Spanbauer

Here are some photos!

Wilder Aguilar

The top of my sector "The Gold Mine"

Week 92 Antofagasta

Dec 12, 2016

So this week was pretty freaking awesome!!! We met all of our goals!!! We have 6 baptismal dates.... We had 18 lessons with members present and 6 investigators went to church! So first off, my new companion is a stud. He is very good at following up with people... like SUPER organized. He is from Lima, Peru and is a convert of about 2 years almost 3. Like I said, he is from my group so that gives me the feeling that I might leave before finishing my mission. I doubt that President will have us both end at the same time in the same sector.... but it could happen! So this week we found two new investigators. Maria (Old woman) and Wilder (Teenager). Maria can’t remember the things we teach her but she wants to be baptized hahaha SHE WENT TO CHURCH! Wilder is a young boy we found in the house of one of our investigators. HE ALSO WENT TO CHURCH! Yesterday we borrowed the bishop`s truck and went with another member to pick up all of our investigators to go to church. We took about 10 people to church and 6 of them can be baptized! It was super awesome! We might baptize Maria and Wilder this weekend but if not... probably the 24th of Dec. We are seeing a bunch of miracles at the top of this freaking mountain! hahaha it´s the promised land! Lincon worked with us one day and he loved it! How cool would it be if he decided to serve a mission?!!! Anyway, I gotta wrap this up but here is a picture of me and Kermit! I saw him yesterday and he took us home after church! He is doing super good and has a calling! 

Elder Spanbauer

Photo of Elder Vitella - My New Comp From Peru

Kermit!

La Zona Antofagasta!

Week 91 Antofagasta

Dec 5, 2016

Hey everyone! So this week we baptized! I baptized a Colombian! Lincon was truly a tender mercy of the lord. This week was a pretty long one because of the anticipation of Lincon`s baptism haha. He said he didn’t know who he wanted to baptized him so I told him Elder Moraga would do it hahaha so that he would leave this sector baptizing! Everything went well with the baptism and he is very content. He says he feels really good now. Elder Moraga got transferred to Copiapo and Elder Vitella from Peru has come to replace him. Elder Vitella is really awesome from what I can tell and he will actually be ending the mission with me. President is only going to allow us to write for one hour from now on so it is going to be hard to write everyone. I just wanted to hurry and send some photos of the baptism we had and I will try to send more next week. Love you all and until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

Elder Moraga and I sad that we are being separated

Lincon was truly a tender mercy of the lord

Lincon's Baptism

Lincon, Elder Moraga, and I overlooking Antofagasta

Week 90 Antofagasta

Nov 28, 2016

First off, Happy late Thanksgiving!!! I feel bad haha because I couldn’t even remember which day we celebrated Thanksgiving hahaha. It`s because nobody here celebrates it so I really just don’t even remember what days we celebrate things anymore hahaha. So this week was pretty awesome! Our investigator Lincon is going to get baptized on the 3rd of December... That`s if he passes his interview but I think he will. We actually played soccer again as a zone today but on a full sized field outside of the Antofagasta stadium and Lincon went! He really wants to get baptized this Saturday so please keep him in your prayers! Also, Rodrigo went to church yesterday so he can get baptized on the 3rd as well! We need to talk to him first to see if he wants to but he is pretty awesome. We have transfers this coming weekend and it’s possible that Elder Moraga leaves me:( Actually... It`s possible we both leave because President has been making a ton of changes. I would like to end my mission here but something tells me that might not happen.... Or maybe I will, guess I gotta wait and see:D Yesterday we had 5 investigators in church! It was cool because it was the very first time going for 3 of them. We found a new investigator named Nitzi and she is about 14 years old. She went with her friend yesterday so that was pretty awesome! Bishop let us borrow his truck again to go pick up all of our investigators. We did a small division with members to get the job done. It was super stressful because it came down to the wire... I got to the church as they were singing the opening hymn. Anyway, sorry this update is a little short but I don’t have that much time to write today. I will attach my weekly recordings though. Love you all!!! 

Elder Spanbauer

Ruth got baptized! (Investigator of the sister missionaries)

My district

Thanks for the Christmas package! I'm gonna get fat hahaha

Dog sleeping with his tongue hanging out!

Week 89 Antofagasta

Nov 21, 2016

Hey everybody! So this week I had the opportunity to interview 2 investigators from the sister missionary’s sector. I interviewed a woman named Maria and another woman named Ruth. Maria just has to get married and then she can be baptized which she is going to do soon and Ruth has to stop drinking Alcohol. We decided to do a fast with her so that she can be baptized this coming Saturday and stop drinking alcohol. The interview was a super spiritual experience for me because I felt the spirit working through me telling me what to say and when to say it. She went to church and fasted! This week we set 4 baptismal dates but one of them fell. We also found a new investigator named Lincon and he is from Colombia! We taught him lesson one and he excepted a baptismal date for the 3rd of December like right away! He lives at the very top of our sector in "Las Tomas". We have to climb the mountain to get to his house but it was worth it. He has definitely been prepared by the lord. This Sunday we borrowed the bishop`s truck and went with another member to pick him up to go to church. He was sleeping but his mom woke him up and he got ready right away! He loved the church and something funny is that the member who went with us to pick him up is named Abraham! Lincon`s first friend in the church is named Abraham hahahahaha coicedence? Also, Erika went to church with her son Bruno. She absolutely loves the church as well. She is going to get married soon and then baptized... I just know it! We are seeing tons of miracles here in this sector. We have several families progressing that just need to get married. Today we played soccer as a zone and after we went to subway to get a bite to eat because my companion had never eaten there. Tonight we have a family home evening activity with some members and less active members and they are going to show us how to make empanadas! I am totally going to open up an empanada shack when I get back:D Anyway guys, gotta wrap this up... Here are some pictures! Love you all! .... Oh and I gave myself a buzzcut;D

Elder Spanbauer

The kid to my left is Rodrigo. He is one of our investigators that will most likely get baptized soon.

Elder Moraga trying Subway for the very first time.

That`s right... I eat veggies now

Got to play soccer with my best buddy Elder Morales

Week 88 Antofagasta

Nov 14, 2016

Hey everybody! So I’m going to start off with the good news.... We baptized Alejandro!!! It was quite the experience because he is a very shy person hahaha. On Saturday morning we called him and told him he had to choose someone to baptized him and he didn’t know who. We explained that it could be the bishop or one of his counselors... or even my companion or I. He said he wanted me to baptized him! we met with him a couple hours before his baptism to make sure his baptismal clothes fit. He asked me like a million questions haha and you could tell he was super nervous but he kept telling me he was fine. When it was time to start the baptismal service, we changed into our white clothes and I let him use one of my shirts. IT WAS HUGE ON HIM!!! HAHAHA Alejandro is an interesting man... He wanted to do a very small baptismal service with like nobody there. He didn’t even invite his mom! He doesn’t like to be the center of attention. He only invited some of the sister missionaries from the other ward because they have been teaching him English classes. Somehow the word got out and more people showed up and he began to get nervous. The baptismal service started and he began to ask me who invited all the people that showed up. I told him I had no idea haha but we finally got to the moment of truth. I baptized him and everything went great. Luckily he didn’t lift his feet so I only had to baptized him once. It was kind of lame because he didn’t even want to take pictures but the sister missionaries talked him into it. He kind of reminds me of squidward from SpongeBob haha. HE HAS NO EMOTIONS! But he`s awesome! The following day in churched the bishop confirmed him and we accompanied him. It was the quite the adventure but he finally did it! He is an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That was the highlight of the week. I will attach some photos of the baptism below. 

This week we also found several new investigators but almost all of them aren`t married... on top of that, the place where people go to get married his closed because everyone is on strike... Satan is the worst. It is really frustrating that no one respects the law of chastity these days. I don’t have too much more to report. Here are the photos and I will send the voice recordings of the week. Love you all and don’t be basic!

Before President Ferreira, our mission averaged only about 50 baptisms a month. This month we had 118!!!

Our zone tied for first place in most baptisms this week!

Week 87 Antofagasta

Nov 7, 2016

I got good news everyone! Alejandro has decided to get baptized!!!! Let’s start from the beginning... So Tuesday we visited Alejandro and he said he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to be baptized and that he had still not received his answer. We told him that he was ready and how we as missionaries a lot of times know when a person is ready or not. I told him that I knew he was ready and that sometimes the answers we search for can only be received after testing our faith. We left him with the invitation to read and then pray specifically for when his baptismal date should be. We scheduled another appointment for that Thursday to follow up with him. On Wednesday, we were working in our sector and I felt a very strong impression to go visit him even though we didn’t have a scheduled appointment. My companion at first said no... because we were going to visit him on Thursday but when I get impressions like that, I can’t ignore them or I go crazy and I begin to ask myself: What if? or What would have happened? I decided to follow the impression and we went to see him. He came outside a little confused asking if the appointment was for Wednesday or for Thursday. We told him we just wanted to pass by and see if his answer had arrived. He responded saying... "Next Saturday". My companion and I looked at each other a little puzzled and asked... "Next Saturday what?" He said... "Next Saturday I’m getting baptized!" I was seriously soooo happy hahaha. We had actually fasted with him so that he could recognize his answer and he not only got his answer, but got a job as well! The day he fasted, a member from our ward offered him a job! hahahaha The lord works fast:D That was probably the highlight of our week and just goes to show that the spirit truly does guide us in this work. Alejandro will be getting baptized this coming Saturday. Hay Bautismo! 

This week we have been working a lot in the poor sector of our area. (At the very top of the mountain) All the houses are made of ply-wood and everyone lives in poor living conditions. The people are more humble in this part of our sector so we like to work a lot there. We found two new families but the parents of both have to get married.... South America.... GET MARRIED PLEASE! We had 14 lessons with members present so that was good. Doesn’t beat the 21 we had a few weeks ago but before the average was about 5 so we are improving a lot. I have been teaching English classes every week at the church and I have about 10 students hahaha. It`s pretty fun. Anyway, that’s the update for now. OH!!! Remember one of my investigators named Alsides from when I was in the office??? He got baptized! Here are the photos! The guy that baptized him is one of the people I reactivated in that sector with Elder Morales that`s now going to serve a mission in Concepciòn, Chile! Seeing a lot of fruits Baby!!!