Week 67 ~ Juan's Baptism and Friday the 13th

Hey y'all!

This week was both really good and really bad hahaha.

Starting with the good - Juan got baptized!! He was so happy and even bought a white shirt and tie for church :,) his sister was able to go and said she cried tears of joy. It was a really happy day.

The bad news - Sister Taylor and I have been quarantined all week. Monday night we had a cute family home evening with some members in our ward. Then that next morning we got a call from one of the members that her husband had been sick and gone to the hospital during the night and tested positive for COVID ):

The beginning of the week was fine, but as the week has gone on both Sister Taylor and I have had symptoms and felt pretty sick to say the least, haha. We got tested yesterday and should get results soon. I'll let you all know!

Luckily, we have some awesome missionaries in our zone and incredible members. Our zone leaders went out of their way to arrange our baptism for us and make sure it went well. We were able to video call in so we could watch. Our district leader brought us some of our favorite food and the sisters went grocery shopping for us. The members have been bringing us medicine and food each night. We are very lucky and grateful to say the least!!

Now we are just praying my companion will get better before next week so she can go home next Tuesday. 

Other than that, I don't have much of an update! This week we have been able to teach quite a few people through Facebook and video calls etc. It's weird doing missionary work inside again but there are still plenty of things to do.

Love you all! Thank you for your emails and prayers!

Sister Spackman

Week 66 ~ Tacostado

Hi everyone!

This week we had two exchanges! Exchanges are when you switch companions for 24 hours. I went to Edinburg on Friday and then over to another part of Brownsville earlier in the week! It was fun to meet some new people and learn from the sisters I served with for the day!

Juan is getting baptized Saturday!! We are so excited and he is so ready. I am so lucky to be here for it! 

We called one of our amigos to do a little church devo and it turns out his wife and kids are interested as well! So now we are teaching another family!! We have been so blessed with families these past two weeks.

Funny experiences:

Edinburg is past McAllen, it's about an hour from our area. When we went for the exchanges I accidentally had the keys to the car and apartment in my pocket, and the sisters got all the way to Brownsville and we got almost to edinburg when the sisters called and we all realized I had the keys to the apartment haha. The APs luckily hadn't left for their exchange yet so they met us off the freeway and got them, but the sisters ended up sleeping in the car until they got there! I was so embarrassed hahahah.

Spiritual:

While in Edinsburg we taught one of their investigators with two members. We talked about the sacrament and the spirit was so strong!! Here in Texas we are lucky and the churches have been open since early June. I just have such a strong testimony of in-person church now. The spirit is so strong each meeting and because of those few months we couldn't go in person I am now able to see the difference and appreciate it so much more.

Have a great week!

Hermana Spackman

In honor of elections the whole district went down to the border wall, here's a little jumping pic

Week 65 ~ Crazy but Good Week

Hola!!

This week was CRAZY but good haha. I hit 15 months in the mission this weekend! It has gone by QUICK!

We had zone conference on Tuesday and it went so well! Sister Taylor and I trained the zone on Facebook finding and it was so cute throughout the week to see everyone updating their profile pictures and stuff according to the things we had taught them haha

We have been looking for a family to teach and this week we found a family of 9 and a family of 5! It was such a miracle and we are so excited to keep teaching them. I have never taught an entire family in my mission all at the same time and so I am so grateful for this blessing!

Last week a member of our ward passed away and she asked that 5 missionaries sing at her funeral. So we went and I played the piano and the Elders & my companion sang. I was really nervous to go, but it actually turned out to be a very spiritual experience and the people who gave the eulogy and things talked a lot about the Plan of Salvation. She was a very sweet lady and it was clear she was loved by many!

Juan is still progressing and this week he brought his sister, Paty, to church and she loved it!! Then we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said "I was waiting for you girls to give me this book!!" She is so cute!

Funny experience:

We were doing Spanish study and I started laughing so hard at Sister Taylor that I spit my water all over our carpet 

We went to go visit a former investigator and he opened the door and informed us there were people in the house who had COVID and that he might have it too. We were so confused why he opened the door hahahah. We left real quick.

While teaching the family of 5 the little 6 year old boy kept talking and then out of nowhere he just looked us straight in the eyes and said "my dad is bald" we all just died laughing 

Spiritual experience:

For the past 2 weeks we have been organizing the pulga and some other activities for Dia de Los Muertos which is a huge holiday down here.

On Sunday night we were assigned to go to the cemetery and talk to people about family history there. When we first got there, there was only like 1 car and it was completely dark.

My comp and I decided to say a prayer and ask God to help us to have faith that it would work and that people would come to the cemetery.  We got out of the car and walked up to the first family we saw and they were so excited about family history!!! Then as we walked away all the sudden car after car just kept coming in.

We were able to talk to SO many people and one of the people told us he has been looking for our church since he met a "Mormon" in the marines. He wants to come with us on Sunday.

It was a big testimony builder for me that God hears and answers our prayers! However small or unimportant they may seem - He is listening.

Have a good week everyone!

Love,

Sister Spackman

Pictures:

Family history activity! Some members and our friend, Juan came to help us. We went to the pulga (flea market) and felt like sales people 

We painted Juan's fence and saw this huge spider hahaha

We went down to Port Isabel and the pier by South Padre Island last pday and all got matching rings <33

We took Juan out to lunch for his bday!! Its funny how I can be best friends with people who are older than my parents hahaha.