Week 26 ~ 20 in 20

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for all your sweet birthday wishes!! This week was awesome and the sweet people back home and in Argentina made it one to remember! 

On Wednesday we had zone conference and it got everyone so excited about this next year. After the conference I had divisions and I was able to go back to Punta Alta and see Jorge, the Catholic man!! He is doing so awesome and getting ready for his baptism, he thanked me over and over for talking to him that first day and it made my heart so happy.

Saturday morning my cute companion made me a pancake tower and sang happy birthday in English haha! Later that night we had an activity with the young men and women in our ward and the bishop's wife made me the cutest cake!

On Sunday we had two less active members in church!! We struggle really hard in our area to get people to come and our mission president has asked my companion and I to work especially with the less active members because there are over 400 of them in our small town. To see two of them there on Sunday was such a tender mercy!

Today we had p-day as a zone and spent the entire afternoon playing soccer!! It has been a while since I played and I realized how out of shape I am ha! A member came and cooked ¨asado¨ (Argentinian barbecue) for our entire zone. Afterwards our zone sang me happy birthday and we ate cake!!

Spìritual experiences:

Last week we found a young couple to teach who has been taught before. As we were talking to her and getting to know her, I realized how far she had come from the first time she met the missionaries. Sometimes in the mission it's hard when we find people and they seem not to progress, but this young couple made me realize how much of a team we all really are. Maybe I won't see the fruits of my efforts here in Dorrego, but I know that the next missionaries to come will.

Funny experiences:

After divisions we got a frantic call from the STLs that we needed to be on the next train to our area in 10 minutes. We literally ran from our lesson back home and packed all of our stuff, just to find out we missed the train by 5 minutes. So, we took a midnight train back to our area and got there around 3 am hahah. 

Yesterday the APs called us sobbing to let us know that Kobe Bryant died. Even out here in Argentina we are still getting our information lol. Please pray for all the Elders in this mission, they have all been crying this pday.

Hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy this last part of January!!

Love,

Hermana Spackman

pictures:

they didn't work like I wanted this week - so I'll send more next week!

birthday package from my mommaaaa (love her)

birthday pancakes from my compi!!!

Week 25 ~ The Birds and the Bees

Hola Todos!!

This week went by super fast! On Tuesday we had a district meeting in Bahia Blanca and we went around with our district and each said why we came on a mission and what our motivation is for staying in the mission. It was so powerful to hear the testimony of each person and it reminded me of why I am here!! My mission has been one of the best experiences of my life and I am so grateful for each and every moment I have experienced during my time here in Argentina.

Last week I talked a little bit about a less active member, this week his wife came to church!! We were so happy!! Prayers really are listened to and answered. 

The work is going much better here in my area. This past week we had ward council for the first time ever and the bishop is motivating everyone to get involved with missionary work. We've had lessons with members and more references from them as they've come to trust us more. It has been a really good past few weeks!

Funny experiences:

We have been teaching this old guy and he is hilarious and full of jokes. Last week we asked him where he thought he came from (trying to get him to talk about God and the premortal life) and he started giving us the birds and the bees talk. HAHAH! My companion and I tried to stop him but he just kept going and going until we finally ended the lesson and left hahahah. Gotta love the creepy old guys.

Spiritual experiences:

This week we ran into so many people that asked us "Why are bad things happening in my life if I am a good person?" I have realized that I really don't have an answer for this question, but I love this quote that my mom sent me today: "Afflictions come and sometimes it makes people stop looking for God, and sometimes it makes people see Him EVERYWHERE: Nephi, Laman and Lemuel suffered afflictions. Nephi looked harder for God. Laman and Lemuel stopped." 

When we have hard things that happen in our life, we always, always, always have the choice to turn to God or to turn away from Him. But if we turn to Him, our burdens become lighter. Our problems seem easier and we have strength to bear them up a little bit better.

I hope you all have an awesome week!! Thank you for all your support, I love hearing from many of you each week!

Love,

Hermana Spackman

Week 24 ~ First Impressions, remember to think twice

Hello Everyone!!

This week I wanted to share a lesson that I learned:

There is a less active member in our area that used to be bishop and was in the leadership of the ward here for a long time. There are a lot of members and people in our area who really don't like him, and we've heard many stories of things that he did or ways that he offended people. My companion and I decided to find him a few weeks ago and see what he was like, and he was really rude to us and basically brushed us off. Through all of that and more, I had a really bad impression of him.

Yesterday, his daughter and her family came to visit our ward. After the sacrament meeting was over, she came to us and asked if we knew her parents. We told her that we had tried to contact him, but that he wanted nothing to do with us.

With tears in her eyes, she begged us to visit him again. She shared with us some of the struggles of her family and she told us that she prays every single night that her parents will come back to church and live the gospel again.

As we left the conversation, I felt so bad for how I had judged this man. I thought about his family, I put myself in his shoes and I was filled with a lot of compassion for him. I thought about the love that his family has for him, and the desire they have that he will come back to the gospel. I felt like Heavenly Father allowed me for a brief moment to see him as Christ would see him.

We never know what people are going through, or why they are the way they are or do certain things. It's very easy to find the things we don't like about people, but it's a lot harder to find the good. After listening to this daughter talk about her dad it made me realize how many times I have placed a first judgement on someone, by only listening to the things said about them or a bad first encounter.

I would encourage you all to put yourself in someone else's shoes this week - maybe someone you don't particularly like. Every single person has a divine potential and a purpose in this life. Each one is a daughter or son of our Father in Heaven. Each one is here for a reason.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thank you again for your prayers and emails of love and encouragement!

Love,

Hermana Spackman

Week 23 ~ Happy New Year!

Hello Friends and Fam!!

Happy New Year`s! I hope you all had a wonderful week and made some good resolutions for the year to come. We spent New Year's Eve with the landlord of our house haha! It was pretty awesome and we got to teach him and his family a little bit about the gospel. We brought in the New Year with my first apple cider here in Argentina! It was awesome. We also had tacos with our bishop and his family to celebrate New Year's day!

This week I had divisions with my Sister Training Leader and we saw so many miracles during the day! In just 3 hours we met every goal for the day, which usually never happens in our area. We found new people to teach and she shared some great advice with me. I will be staying in this same area for the next transfer and although it is hard, I learned a lot from that division and it gave me a lot of encouragement for the next transfer.

Spiritual experience:

On Sunday our mission president decided to come to our area and so we were able to spend the morning with him. We haven't had an investigator in church the whole time I have been in this area, but this week we had 1 investigator come!! Our president was able to talk with her and teach her a little bit and it was one of the most spiritual moments I have had in my mission. The love he has for the people here is so wonderful, and it really strengthened my testimony of the power that he holds as our leader in this mission.

Funny experiences:

During our bus ride after divisions Hermana Olivera got soo sick and had to throw up in this tiny bathroom and stick her head out a window haha. Poor thing.

On New Year`s Eve we had a district meeting so we had to travel to Bahia Blanca - which is an hour and a half from our area. When the meeting ended we called our bus to go back and they said they closed early. We called every train, bus, or form of transportation possible and they were all closed haha so we ended up taking a taxi for an hour and a half back to our area!!

We had a lesson with our investigator`s dad and we could hear her talking mad crap on us in the background. She says to him "if you don't kick them out, I will." We decided to just awkwardly end the lesson and leave haha. I have never felt so awkward in my entire life. The poor Dad wants us to come back and teach him but I don't know how we're going to get past our old investigator lol.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!! Love and miss you!

Love,

Hermana Spackman

pictures this week

christmas cards on my wall!! thank you friends and fam who sent me some, it made my day!

rain boots because it poured the most rain I have ever seen in my life this week hahaha