Week 13 ~ My Secret Admirer ;-)

Hola friends and family!

This week has been a bit of a crazy one, haha! All week I was receiving love notes on my door and I thought it was so cute!! Until I found out it wasn't the little kids next door and it was actually our 45 year old neighbor haha. Our Mission President had us move in with the Hermanas from Barrio 2 for the rest of the transfer (5 weeks) so that we won't receive any more knocks on the door from him in the middle of the night. Our new house is small, but it's been a little bit like a slumber party every night so we're pretty happy!

This week I have learned a lot about the Atonement and the love that our Father in Heaven has for us. I've been here in Santa Rosa for almost two months now and we've been working really hard with our investigators to get them to progress in their faith. Yesterday was hard. A lot of our investigators failed to keep their commitments and we were really sad. One of our investigators fell back into drugs, and my companion and I cried. It is so hard to see these people make mistakes when we know the joy that the gospel can bring them - but it has taught me the beauty of the Atonement. Our investigators have their own agency, and it's hard to see them make wrong choices, But, it makes me even more excited when they make good choices and decide to change their lives for the better and repent. 

Spiritual experiences:

On Thursday we were teaching our investigator Alicia and her niece was there and decided to listen to our lesson. About halfway through she began to cry and tell us that her and her husband are expecting a new baby had been looking for a new religion, and then we just happened to show up. We shared our message with her and gave her a Book of Mormon with scriptures of comfort and gave her contact information to the missionaries serving in her area.

Funny experiences:

Saturday we helped one of our members clean out her fish tank and two of her fish tried to commit suicide. I grabbed them with my bare hands and put them back in the water and we were all jumping around and screaming because they lived. hahah

Our neighbors upstairs came down and asked us if we wanted to drink Matte and party with them last night at around 9 pm. We said no and shared with them that we are missionaries and don't drink Matte. They looked at us funny and said "okay, can you drink alcohol?" we started laughing and said no. They asked "What can you drink then??" We said "uhh.. water?" We all just started laughing and they went upstairs. I don't think they'll invite us to their parties again.

That's pretty much all for this week! Thank you for all your continued support and prayers. I love hearing from each of you. Happy Halloween!! 

Love,

Hermana Spackman

pictures this week:

us and our zone leaders!! big s/o to them for helping us move for 4 hours on tuesday

me & my companion at district meeting in my dresses from the Mexico MTC :)

my companion hit 9 months in the mission so we took a cute pregnancy picture as a tradition

Week 12 ~ Pigeon Poop and Pot

Hello!

This week was one for the books! We are officially back in our house and have water again, haha. We've been working a lot with our friends and they've been doing a lot better to keep commitments so we've been so happy! On Monday because we were having transfers we had the opportunity to be in a trio for a day and Hermana Guitierrez joined us! She was a powerhouse and helped us put another little boy on date for baptism!

With Hermana Guitierrez we had a lesson with our investigators and taught them about the Word of Wisdom. It was such a powerful lesson and at the end our investigator threw his weed in the toilet and promised us he was going to change, haha. We visited him yesterday and he informed us that when he feels like smoking he reads the Book of Mormon and prays instead. We're pretty proud of him, haha.

Every morning we have about an hour to study, and every single day I see how the Lord guides what I study. On Friday we had a lesson with one of our recent converts and she shared with us that she thinks her cancer is relapsing. As soon as she told us D&C 122:7 came to my mind from my personal study that morning and I shared it with her. She began to cry and thanked us for passing by and helping her. I felt really lucky that the Lord had blessed me to know how to help her that day.

Spiritual experiences:

Earlier this week we were knocking on door after door after door and everyone was rejecting us. I turned to my companion and said "We are going to knock every door until someone lets us in." We laughed and kept going. After about 20 more minutes of knocking doors, we got to our last one for the night. We knocked, expecting the same result. But, a man opened the door and said "The truth is Hermanas, we don't have time right now, but we need you. We really need your message." My companion and I went home for the night feeling really good. It almost didn't seem to matter that we had been rejected all day. I know if the Lord is preparing even one person for us, then it is all worth it!

Funny experiences:

A pigeon pooped in my hair and so we had to go back home so I could wash it out. 

One day I walked out of the house feeling really ugly because I didn't have time to do my hair, but a man drove by in a car and yelled to us "My love, how beautiful, I would get run over by a car for you!!" And I felt a lot better.

One of our investigators said in her prayer "Thank you for the Hermanas passing by every single day. Literally every day." We all laughed in the middle of the prayer, hahaha.

It was Mother's Day in Argentina this week so if you see my mom give her a big hug for me!! :)

So much happened this week and I wish I had time to write about it all! Thank you for reaching out each week, I love to hear from each one of you. Have a good week and make it count!

Love,

Hermana Spackman

Kate with her mission "Mom and Dad"

Week 11 ~ Book of Mormon and Fuegooo

Hello!!

This week was a wild one haha. But, it was a week of so many blessings too! We started out by teaching one of our new friends, Francisco. We visited his house and the first thing he said to us was "If there is only one God, why are there so many churches on the earth today?" I think I almost screamed!!!! We taught him about the first vision and how Joseph Smith asked this same question, and it was like a light went on for him. It was so awesome! We're excited to go back and teach him more.

We had a farewell party for three of the missionaries that are leaving this week and it went so well. My companion and I worked with the other missionaries to plan, decorate, order food and do everything and it went so much better than expected. We said bye to the missionaries at the terminal last night and although we're sad to see them go, I can't help but be excited for them! They've done all they can do here and now it's time for them to start back on their life adventures.

On Saturday my companion and I had the opportunity to fast. We decided to fast for our investigators and wow! Did we see miracles. 6 of our investigators were able to come to Stake Conference with us, in a zone that is very far from ours. One of our investigators recieved a huge package full of clothes and toys for her two little grandsons, who have hardly anything. Two of our investigators really listened to Stake Conference and told us they realized how importance baptism and faith are. And a ton of other things!! It was so awesome and really strengthened my testimony of fasting and how the Lord can work miracles through our little prayers.

Spiritual experiences:

My companion and I had recieved a reference from the members mulitiple times for a lady, and she was also the daughter of one of our investigators and had listened intently to our lessons. But, even though we knew where she lived we felt prompted by the Spirit not to pass by her house. We didn't know why, but we just knew that we shouldn't.

This week we were talking to some of our investigators and we found out that this lady is living in a house of "Narcos", or in other words, a house with a group of people who are in charge of the drug cartel here. Wow. We felt really protected by the Lord because he had prompted us not to pass by her house. I know the Lord protects us each day of our mission.

Funny experiences:

One of our investigators grandsons tried to burn the Book of Mormon in our lesson this week. My companion and I were horrified.

We were in the middle of a superrr spiritual lesson. I'm testifying to one of our less active friends about the importance of family and temple, when all of the sudden I see out of the corner of my eye a naked little boy SPRINTING down the street. Turns out it was her son. The lesson ended quickly after that.

We have not had any water in our house for the past three days, so we've been sleeping with the hermanas of barrio 2. It's made for some fun stories and lots of good times. Please pray for us that our water will get turned back on so that we can return to our apartment haha.

Sorry for the super long email this week!! I just wanted to quickly share my testimony with you all. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. Although the days can be hard and long, I know there is no where else I would rather be in the world right now. I see the miracles the Lord works through his servants every single day, and I feel so lucky to be a part of this work. I know He lives and I know He loves us.

Love you all!! Have the best week!

Love,

Hermana Spackman

Week 10 ~ Conference Weekend

Hello friends and family!

Wasn't conference awesome!!! If you weren't able to watch it this weekend, I would encourage you to watch it when you have time later this week and read over the talks again when they come out in the Ensign. 

Conference for us was in Spanish, haha! I thought I would be able to watch it in English, but that was not the case. At first I was really frustrated because all week I had been looking forward to hearing it in English - but when I went home at night and looked at all the notes I had taken and the answers I had received I felt really grateful. Even though I might not speak the language here very well, the Lord can still speak to me and give me the answers that I am in need of. The gift of tongues is a very real gift.

Spiritual experience:

On Sunday we saw some awesome blessings! We visited a member in the morning and she brought us to her friends house to share a message with them! Afterwards we were walking home and another lady stopped us in the street and asked us to come visit her. As we got closer to our house, I stopped my companion and we said a quick prayer of gratitude and asked Heavenly Father to help us find more people to teach. We continued walking home and I felt prompted to knock on a particular door, that I knew we had probably already knocked before. We were in a hurry, but I couldn't ignore the prompting that I had felt. We knocked and a man opened the door and before we could hardly say anything he said "When can you come back?" He shared with us that his wife and son had recently passed away and he was looking for answers in his life. We shared a quick message with him and then as we were walking home I thought to myself, "What a blessing that we know about the plan of salvation and that we can be with our families forever!!" My companion and I are so excited to meet with him next week and share these truths with him.

Funny experience:

We had a family home evening night with the primary girls and we ate chocolate ice cream. One of the little girls was on her second ice cream bar when her mom came to pick her up and we discovered that she is allergic to chocolate!! We tried to take it away from her but she wouldn't let it go haha. Her mom just said "oh well, her eyes will just swell up a little and we'll give her a shot when we get home" hahah!

Well that's about all I have this week! Thank you for your continued prayers and support. I love reading your emails each week and it means so much! Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Spackman