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

 

 

Week 64 Calama

May 30, 2019

Hey guys...

Alright, so this week was a good week. We have an investigator named Michael that has several problems with the word of wisdom but we managed to teach it again to him and he accepted it. We also went over the baptismal questions with him and he committed to go to church this Sunday. Yesterday he did not come and this is the 3rd time he has told us that he would. It is so hard to get Chileans to do stuff hahaha. We also managed to have a lesson with Felipe (11 year old boy) and his mother to ask permission to baptize him and she said no. She says, "I’m catholic and I’ll die catholic". That was a little frustrating because Felipe reads everyday and wants to get baptized but his mother says he can’t because he is too young and doesn’t know enough yet. Anyway, enough with the bad news. We had a day this week where we found like 4 new investigators in just 3 hours of work! We have some potential investigators as well. Again... the only difficulty is getting people to commit to something. This week I did an exchange with the Zone Leaders and it was awesome. I got to be with a Brazilian! He is super funny haha. I also learned a lot from him. I had my 2nd district meeting as well and it went really well. Tomorrow I have another district meeting and I plan on doing an exchange with the Elders in my district. I have been enjoying my time with Elder Bravo because he is a very good teacher and I think I’m helping him to be a little less shy. This week we did an activity where we visited less actives and gave blessings of comfort. It was really cool because I got to give a blessing to a little 7-year-old girl with autism. After we blessed her mom she started crying because she wanted a blessing too but her mom said no. She said blessings are only for grown ups and we told her that we can give her a blessing and so we did. She was so content afterward haha. Also, yesterday in church the relief society and priesthood had a class together and basically bishop put a chair in the middle of the room and asked if there was anyone sick. Several people raised their hands and we basically just gave blessings to people for the last hour of church. I was called on to give a blessing to one of the women there and I was really nervous. I have given many blessings but never in front of a crowd like that... Also, we found a new investigator that is Jewish! He is very smart and knows the bible front to back but likes the "Mormon" church a lot. He struggles with believing that the book of Mormon is the word of god. We have been trying to help him with his doubts and he is a really good investigator. In fact, he went to church yesterday! Anyway, today we are going to go to Chuquicamata, which is one of the biggest mines in the world if not the biggest. If I have time today I will send pictures. Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Spanbauer

Picture of Elder Spanbauer with Elder Morales working in the office

Office Staff

Week 63 Calama

May 23, 2016

So this week was a rollercoaster. Monday we had an awesome noche de hogar (family home evening) with bishop´s family. There were like 30 people there! We brought an investigator named Michael and he really enjoyed it. There was also another investigator that went named Carlos. Carlos is from Colombia and is 23 years old. We had the opportunity to teach him during the week and we taught the restoration. He really loves talking about the gospel and actually asked us how he could be an "Elder" haha. The problem is that he has 3 kids in Colombia so chances are that he won’t be able to serve a mission as a young adult. We invited him to baptism and he said he wants to read the Book of Mormon more and really study it before making any big decisions. We had our ward conference this week so there was an activity in the church every night this week. Carlos went to almost all of them! We are trying to set another appointment with him because he has many questions that the plan of salvation can answer. Tuesday I had my first district meeting and it was pretty fun actually. I taught about the importance of the Book of Mormon in one´s conversion. We then did some practices to learn how to better use it when answering our investigators questions. We find that as missionaries, it’s better to teach our investigators how to use the Book of Mormon to answer their own questions instead of us answering them. It shows them that the Book of Mormon is a tool and one of the most powerful tools that we have. The Book of Mormon is the keystone to our religion. I have been able to gain such a profound testimony of it in the mission. Tomorrow I will be teaching about the second most important thing in our conversion... The Holy Spirit. The zone leaders will be coming to the district meeting as week so it should be awesome. I also get to do splits with the zone leaders tomorrow! I will be working with Elder Pereira from Brazil! Anyway, the rest of this week was just searching for new investigators and we found a few potential investigators. Our sector is weird because we have a huge part of our sector out in the middle of the desert called "Peuco". We have to take a bus to get there so we only work there about 2-3 times a week. We have several future investigators out there. It is really lame though because we have to walk all the way back to our house which takes like 40 minutes walking because after about 7pm the bus stops passing through Peuco. Anyway, we are working hard and plan to have a baptism here pretty soon! Love you all and here are some photos!

My District!

Family home evening in Bishop's house

The "Micro" (transportation in Chile)

Week 62 Calama

May 16, 2016

Hello everyone... I have survived my first week in Calama. Calama is known for being the most exotic city in the mission when it comes to the weather. In the morning and at night... It is freezing cold, and during the day... It is super hot. The members here say I’m crazy because I walk around all day in just a white shirt and tie. They obviously have never experienced a winter in Idaho haha. My second day here we had a lesson with an investigator named Michael. He is the brother of our mamita that feeds us everyday. He basically threw his life away do to drugs. He lost his family and now he has nothing. We taught him about repentance and baptism and he accepted a baptismal date in June! Yesterday we had another lesson with him where we taught the word of wisdom. He seemed to understand the importance of it until the very end of the lesson when he said he will stop using all of the "Bad Drugs" but how Mary J is not a bad drug and isn’t bad for the body. Looks like we need to start from scratch... He refuses to stop smoking it and denys the fact that it is a bad drug. We will obviously have to change his baptismal date. We have also been teaching a guy named Cristian. He too has had several problems in his life and wants to change but he wants to be sure that this is the true church before he makes the decision to be baptized which I understand completely. Just means we will have to do everything in our power to help him receive that answer. We are trying to teach his wife but she is never home. Also, we are teaching an 11-year-old boy named Felipe. He doesn’t have a father and is living with his mother and grandmother. His uncle is a member of the church and is basically his dad. He takes Felipe to church every Sunday and Felipe has already read up until the end of 2nd Nephi! Let me tell you... this kid is smart. He basically taught us the restoration. I feel completely comfortable baptizing him because he loves going to church and his uncle is an active member. We will need permission from his mother to baptize him.

Now for some awesome news! So remember Kermit? So the bishop of my ward here in Calama is Kermit´s brother in-law. When I got here to Calama I immediately began talking about Kermit´s progress with the bishop because he had no idea Kermit was receiving us in Antofagasta. I told him that he is ready but just needs a little support from him (The bishop here) and so he said he would send Kermit a text. Well, Saturday was bishop´s birthday so Kermit texted bishop saying: "Happy Birthday old man" and bishop responded saying: "Thank you, and your baptism?" Kermit then responded: "Depends on you" Bishop then asked why and Kermit said he wants bishop to go to Antofagasta and baptize him!!! I’m so excited and I don’t believe it is by "coincidence" that President Dalton sent me here to Calama. I feel that bishop was the key all along. I am excited to receive the photos soon! 

This Sunday was good. I got to present myself in sacrament meeting and share my testimony with the members. I really like this ward. Today for Pday we invited the Zone Leaders over and the 2 other elders from my district to play pool and ping-pong. Our pension is awesome! That´s basically all we did today. Later tonight we have a family home evening activity in Bishop´s house! There is gonna be like 30 people there! We have a few investigators that say they want to go so we will see if we can make that happen. 

My companion´s name is Elder Bravo. He is from San Juan, Argentina. He has 3 brothers and 2 sisters. He is the 4th out of his siblings that has served a mission. He speaks like the Chileans because San Juan is really close to Chile. He speaks really well. His trainer was kinda shy so he isn’t used to being with someone like me. I’m gonna break him hahaha in a good way;) Tomorrow is my first district meeting... I will be talking about the book of Mormon and how to utilize it better in our lessons. Anyway, this is getting pretty long... I will let you guys go. Love you all and until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

My Comp Elder Bravo

The Pension in Calama