Week 77 Calama

Aug 29, 2016
 

Hey everyone, so this week was great! We have been reaching our goals and have been seeing a lot of progress. This week we found 9 new investigators and had 9 lessons with members present. We have been tearing it up! We also had 5 new investigators go to church this Sunday! It is really hard to work with the ward sometimes but we just have to keep trying. It’s possible that they transfer me in about two weeks so we have been working extremely hard to get a baptism before the end of this transfer. Ivan Buston went to a baptism that Elder Childs had and he really liked it but he still isn’t sure if he wants to get baptized. He thinks it will be hard to leave some of his old habits behind. Of the new investigators we found this week... there is a family that is super ready to get baptized. We found them Saturday night and they went to church the next day! We were just walking and I said: "Let`s knock on this door" and so we did and that`s how we found them. Tonight we have an appointment planned with them and we are gonna set a baptismal date. The lame part is I might not be here to see them get baptized if I get transferred but oh well.... I am used to it hahaha. There is another family we found that is gonna get baptized as well. They just need to get married first. They both went to church as well with their two little kids. I have a feeling that there are gonna be a lot of baptisms in the month of Sept. I absolutely love Calama.... and I thought I was going to hate it. The weather is crazy because we freeze to death at night and it is super-hot during the day. I know this is a short letter but I’m just running out of things to say.... You can only say the mission is amazing so many times haha. I will attach some voice recordings! Love you all!

Elder Spanbauer

This was Elder Childs`s baptism and I got to interview these people!

Week 76 Calama

Aug 22, 2016

Hey guys! So this week was a pretty good one. Our numbers were high and we found 9 new investigators! This week we put a goal to find 7 new investigators and we found 9! We walked a lot... talked a lot and it all payed off. We also had a chance to meet with Ivan Buston to see how he is feeling about his baptism and he said he felt really nervous. He told us that he lacks faith. We read some scriptures with him that talk about faith and how he can obtain it. Faith is a gift from god... we must ask for it. We don’t just automatically have it when we are born. Faith is given to one that seeks for it and asks for it. I really want to see Ivan get baptized the 3rd of Sept. but he is feeling really pressured. He has made a lot of progress since the first time me met with him. He started off saying he didn’t even believe in god.... I have faith that he will get baptized here shortly. Today we are going to do a family home evening activity at Bishop`s house and Ivan is going! I hope this will help him get to know more members and feel more supported. I also did another companion exchange with Elder Childs from Kansas and it was awesome! That day we found 3 new investigators and had 4 lessons. He is like one of my best friends here in the mission. I’m not gonna lie... sometimes its stressful training a new missionary because they think they know EVERYTHING and they are always watching to see when you make a mistake haha. I love elder Santos though because I have to haha... he is my son. It’s amazing that we can learn from each other. It is possible that I might get transferred the 10th of Sept. so we have been working extra hard to find new people and set baptismal dates. I hope to see some of the fruits of my labors but if not... doesn’t matter. Anyway, things are going great here. It is super-hot here in Calama and super cold at night.... it is so weird. Anyway... gotta wrap things up... love you all and send me pictures!

Elder Spanbauer

FBI

PDay with my buddy Elder Childs

Week 75 Calama

Aug 15^th, 2016

Hey guys... I’m just gonna send some voice recordings this week because I’m in a big hurry. We had a BBQ today in the ward so that’s why I won’t be able to give you guys a huge update.

Love you all... Until next week!

Elder Spanbauer

Week 74 Calama

Aug 8, 2016

So I’m proud to say that this week was a lot better than the last. We were able to work more with the members and we set TWO baptismal dates! One with Ivàn Bustòn and the other with a guy named Juan Carlos Calpa. We had a pretty intense lesson with Ivàn and basically asked... Do you like going to church? Do you want to know these things are true? And he said yes.... so we said... GET BAPTIZED! hahaha obviously we didn’t say it like that but we said that we know he can get baptized the 3rd of Sept. if he truly works towards that goal. He accepted the date and went to church this Sunday! The ward is really starting to include him more and they invited him to a BBQ this coming week. Tonight we are also going to have a family home evening activity with him and a few members. It’s been a real challenge teaching him because of his condition but he is willing to try and change and he thinks it will be for the best. Juan Carlos Callpa is kind of a special case as well. He suffers from depression and his wife has been trying to get him baptized forever now... He is very hard headed and doesn’t like when people tell him what to do. The good news is that he has opened up more to us than he has with any other missionaries. We set his date for the 27th this month and I know he can be ready by then but he has to do his part. The sister missionaries finally got back from Antofagasta and so now we will be able to work more in our sector. I love Calama and the ward here is soooo awesome. The bishop is like my best friend and his son in law is probably the funniest guy I have ever met! Things are going well with me and Elder Santos... sometimes we argue but that’s normal when one is training. If something is bothering us we just tell each other straight up and we fix it right away to avoid losing the spirit. Elder Santos is a very good teacher and he’s gonna be a great missionary. Today we are going to go bowling as a zone again! Anyway... Love you all! Hasta la próxima semana!

Elder Spanbauer

Week 73 Calama

Aug 1, 2016

Hey guys! This was both a terrible and awesome week! It was bad because we had bad numbers but we baptized!!! Rafael Paucay got baptized Saturday and it was awesome! He was baptized by his dad that we helped reactivate! Now that his son is a member it will encourage the dad to keep going to church! To be honest... there isn’t too much to report. It wasn’t the most successful week. Here are the photos from the baptism! Sorry for the short email. Next week I’ll try to write more. 

To celebrate we went out and bought giant completos!

Add caption

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

Video of me Sandboarding! Haha

 

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