Week 12

Thursday we taught a lesson to some renters of one the members in our ward. The member is an incredible guy who's been a mission president in Argentina, the branch president here before it was a ward, and just barely got back from being in the temple presidency in Columbia. He probably has one of those general authority profiles on lds.org. Having him there gave a great 3rd witness to what we were teaching and aided the Spirit big time. We went over the Restoration and they seemed like they might be interested in learning more. As we were leaving the mother offered us these things called Pupusa's which are basically a corn tortilla stuffed with different things. These one's just seemed to have beans which I though would be harmless enough until we bit into them. Honestly some of the spiciest stuff I've ever eaten.... I was only able to eat a few bites and luckily she gave it to us as we were headed out and since we didn't try them until we got to the car, I didn't feel obligated to finish them. Later that day we had a lesson with Robert which went great and he still seems really excited for his baptism next week! He actually even has been sharing the gospel a bit with his girlfriend who lives in Spokane!! Funny story, that night as we were walking to try by someone we hear from a dark alley "Elderes, Elderes, como estan!?'' It was a Hispanic lady we had talked with a few weeks ago who isn't a member but has family that is. She asked us if we had eaten dinner yet (it was around8:15) so we said we had but she still insisted on giving us some food. She gave us some salsa stuff and then we talked with her a little bit. She was very friendly but said she's pretty confident in the Catholic church though just loves to talk with the missionaries. Definitely some great people in Othello, member and nonmember alike!

On friday, after weekly planning, we went to a lesson we had scheduled with Jaime but he didn't answer the door. We thought about just breaking down the door and preaching repentance but I don't think that's a section in Preach My Gospel. We were still able to have some lessons with some other investigator which made the night a little better.

Conference was incredible!! So much of it applied to questions that I had been pondering on and wanting to receive answers to. It was also really great that some of the talks were done in the speaker's native tongue and the Spanish ones were awesome to hear!!! Jorg Klebignat's (I have no idea if that spelling is correct...) talk really stood out to me as he helped us better understand the manner set by the Lord in gaining spiritual confidence which is something I've really been trying to gain. His quote about making repentance a lifestyle really hit home as, especially as missionaries, we should be repenting every single day so that we are worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost always. Quentin L. Cook and President Uchtdorf's talks from Priesthood both were great. In his talk Elder Cook gave the thought that "We must rise above rationalization" and it really inspired me to strive to always be diligent in serving the Lord. President Monson's talk on Sunday morning was probably my overall favorite and I felt that so much of it applied to some questions that I had going into Conference.

Sunday morning transfer calls came and it looks like I'll be spending at least another 6 weeks in Othello 4th Spanish Ward + Mixteco!!!! I'm really excited to continue to work with the people of the ward here and the investigators that we have. Life in the pueblito of Othello is really great and it's a blessing to be here, especially with how much Spanish we use!! Being on a mission has blessed my life in ways that I could never imagine and even though I still have a long ways to go, I've already seen some amazing changes in the way I think, study, pray, and act.

Love,

Elder Spackman