Week 35 ~ Hola from America!

Hi Everyone,

This has been probably the weirdest 72 hours of my life, but I'm home now! I wish that I could describe to you how I am feeling, but it has been such a roller coaster of emotions.

After an emergency evacuation, a 12-hour bus ride and spending the entire night with hundreds of missionaries on the floor of the airport, Hermana Jarman and I sat down and started to talk about all the miracles we had witnessed that made it possible to be there at that moment. I was completely filled with so much gratitude and realized what a blessing it was that we were even able to make it there in the first place. 

I wanted to share with you all some of the things that I have witnessed these past 3 days:

1.  Saturday morning we woke up and I said: "Hermana Anderson, I am packing everything." I had no idea why I felt like I needed to - we were told we wouldn't even be able to leave the country until March 31. But, I felt like I just needed to do it. Both of us packed literally all that we had and went and weighed our bags. Exactly 30 minutes later we got a call from the assistants letting us know that we had to be out of Dorrego that night and would fly out by Monday. My jaw dropped. I had no idea that it had been the Spirit guiding us to be packed up and ready to go.

2. This is where it gets crazy. Our mission president found out Saturday morning that every single US missionary in our mission was going home, and each had to be in the main cities by that night. 

Argentina was completely shut down. There was absolutely no transport in and out of the small pueblos, and there was no way to get us all to Buenos Aires the next day. My president was going crazy trying to figure out how to move us all.

Our senior missionary couple was expressing some of this to one of the members in Bahia and he said: "I know someone with some connections to the bus companies here in Bahia." As a passing thought, our senior couple gave the number of this member to our mission president. Our president called this member and it turned out that the 'friend' he had was the head coordinator for all of the busses in ALL of Argentina. WHAT?! 

So not only did she hook our whole mission up with busses to Buenos Aires, but she also hooked up THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. It was insane. I have no idea how the Lord does what he does, but I do not doubt his hand was there.

3. Members from all of the big cities left to pick up every single one of us who lived in smaller towns. Each and every missionary made it into the main cities by Saturday night. As we traveled on the bus, the police stopped us, but they always let us continue. 600 missionaries made it into the airports on Sunday. Every single one of us was able to get to the airport and safely through with all of our luggage. Some missionaries spent the night at the temple or in the MTC, but by the end, we all made it onto our flights. 

4. Hermana Jarman shared with me that police were marching up and down the streets in her city, looking for foreigners. The entire city had a 4:00 curfew, and the member entered the city to retrieve them at 3:30. As they were driving out of the city, they were terrified the police would stop them and so they all said a prayer. As they passed through the border, a huge line of police were waiting on the other side of the road. But, not ONE of them even turned to look at their car. They passed without any problem. She told me that she literally felt that the police could not see their car, that they had been protected and shielded by angels.

5. As we landed in Salt Lake City, the flight crew asked us to sing "Called to Serve". I looked around and as with tears in all of our eyes, we sang that special hymn together in unison. The Spirit was there and we all felt and witnessed of it.

I have so many more miracles I could share with you all that made it possible for me and the other 600 missionaries in Argentina to come home yesterday. I know that God lives. His hand is absolutely in each one of our lives, although at times we may not see it. I have felt so much peace and divine help these past few days, even with all that has happened. I know that this is His plan for me and that it always was part of His plan. 

In all honesty, I am heartbroken to leave Argentina. It was such a surreal feeling to take off in the airplane and look out and say goodbye to my home for the past seven months. I feel so many strings are left untied and it hurts to have to leave investigators that are progressing and members and friends that I love. I loved my time in Argentina, so incredibly much. But, I also know it is no shock to my Father in Heaven that I am sitting in my house in Murray, Utah, waiting for reassignment. He knows me, and He knows each and every one of the other missionaries that this is happening to right now.

Thank you to all my sweet neighbors and friends who put signs in our yard, left cards and flowers, and for your messages and prayers. I have felt so much love! I can receive your messages still, and I am working on responding to them! I would love to hear from you in these days while I will be home. Thank you for reaching out, I love talking to each one of you. I am not sure where I will be reassigned to, but when I hear I will let all of you know. I am excited for this next adventure to come. 

Take care and make sure to watch General Conference this weekend! It's sure to be one that I think none of us will ever forget.

Love,

Hermana Spackman

Week 33 ~ Covid19

Hello!

This week has been a little crazy. We've had a lot of rule changes and it was a little different to not have church in the typical way, but it has actually been a very spiritual week.

My companion and I are doing well! As soon as we heard about the cancelation of church we ran to the store and bought a million things of toilet paper, flour, oatmeal, cereal, pasta etc. etc. We are stocked up. Also, hand sanitizer is sold out in Argentina haha! We`re super used to shaking hands and kissing on the cheek and now we aren't allowed to beso anyone haha. We just touch elbows with everyone haha!

Taking of the sacrament on Sunday was super cool. We took it at our bishops house and it was really awesome to see how the Spirit can still be there, even if we're not in church. Lots of people don't really want us visiting their houses right now so it's been a little different doing missionary work this week, but somehow 40 people accepted citas with us - which is actually the most of all my mission.

Many people here are turning to God, because they are scared. In the past 3 days we have gotten more questions about the book of Revelations in the New Testament than any other part of the Bible. On Sunday, my companion and I did Come, Follow Me from the last year and studied nearly two hours on just the first 11 chapters of Revelations. We learned so much and then when we went out and testified with the Spirit so much stronger.

This week has been different. The people are scared and they are humble. They`re opening their eyes and ears to listen. We are having more and more spiritual lessons each week.

My companion and I really aren't scared! We feel very grateful to be missionaries during this time and to help others find peace and come to Christ. If anything, these past few weeks have helped me put a lot into perspective.

Love you all and I hope you are staying safe! Have a great week.

Love,

Hermana Spackman

Week 32 ~ Hermana Spiderman, MIA

Hola!!

Sorry for being MIA for the past couple weeks haha but I'm back!

These few weeks have been super awesome. Hermana Anderson and I are really out here living our best lives in Dorrego. We've had a lot of super cool miracles this week and funny experiences. We also went to McDonalds TWICE.

The conference with Elder Bragg went super well. I was so scared to mess up in front of 70 missionaries, my mission president and members of the Seventy, haha but the musical number went really well and I didn't hit too many wrong notes lol.

Last week my companion and I fasted to be able to find new investigators and we promised that we would contact literally everyone we crossed. We ended the day with close to 50 contacts and we found 21 new people to teach! It was super cool.

Spiritual experiences:

A few weeks ago we found a lady named Virginia and taught her the Restoration (lesson 1). After the lesson we taught her how to pray and she prayed that her family would have food to eat, because she has 4 little kids and the only thing they have in their house is water and bread because they hadn't been paid in a few weeks.

The next day we had a church tour planned with her, but when we visited her she wasn't home. We brought a huge bag full of food from our house and so we just gave it to her son and her husband and they said thank you and we left.

When we went back yesterday she said "chicas!! you'll never believe what happened! God answered my prayers." She told us that she had received food from 3 different people, and to top it all off they had finally received the 2 checks that they had been missing. She was so happy and it was really cool for us too. We always promise people their prayers will be answered, but it's awesome when we see how the Lord really does follow through.

Also, Jorge the catholic man GOT BAPTIZED!!! WAHOO!! I got to see him this last week and he was so happy. When I went and saw him the first thing he said to me was "I got baptized, and you're responsible" hahaha

Funny experiences:

We had a talent show for our mission president's wife's birthday and this dude called me Hermana Spiderman in front of half of our mission hahahah. I don't think I will ever live it down.

Hope this super long email makes up for the past few weeks! Love and appreciate each and every one of you.

Love,

Hermana Spackman

pics in mcdonalds wahooo

mission friends

hermana bushman came back!! love her