The Earth is Flat

Man, this week was all over the place, but it was so awesome!

Hmm okay, where to begin?  Writing these emails is so difficult because so much happens and I want to share all of it, but unfortunately it's not possible. 

A big thing for Elder Marcum and I this week was praying specifically for miracles, and we worked HARD. Wednesday was a pretty disappointing day because we were out finding all day and saw no fruits of our labors. The only good thing that happened was this older man came up to us and said "I'm not a member of your church, but I have nieces and nephews that have done what you're doing, and I have great respect for you. Here's $20 and you boys go buy yourself some dinner tonight." It honestly made our day so much better and was just a cool little tender mercy from the Lord. But other than that, our day was kind of a let down because we had prayed really hard for a miracle and put in the effort, and didn't get any apparent miracles. The next day, we had our weekly planning. By far, it was the best weekly planning session we have ever had. We had great ideas and were bouncing off each other and it was just really effective.  That night we went out and found 4 people who would be interested in listening to our message!  Now we haven't met with any of them or anything, but it was definitely a miracle. I know for a fact that the Lord always hears our prayers, the answer just might not always come when we want it. 

I got to go on another exchange this week!  I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that Elder Marcum is a District Leader so he has to go on an exchange with all the elders in our district during the transfer. This week I was with Elder Ewing. As we were biking to a park to do some studies, we rode past this man who was walking on the sidewalk. Elder Ewing went up to him and said "Hey, how's it going? Would it be alright if we shared a quick scripture with you?" The man asked where the scripture came from and we told him it was the Book of Mormon. Once we said that, his eyes got wide and he seemed pretty excited. He said "I've been wondering, what does that book say about the earth being flat?" Elder Ewing and I just looked at each other and I said "Actually, the Book of Mormon talks about how the earth is round and that it moves in motion with the other planets," or something like that, then told him the earth was created for us by a loving Heavenly Father. He just responded with "Oh so you guys believe in outer space too?" At this point we were just like, "this guy is whack, let's just share the scripture and go." So yeah, just a funny story. Hopefully the scripture we shared helped him out, haha.

On Friday, Elder Marcum and I went to an apartment complex and decided to knock some doors. We knocked on two doors with Spanish people, and guess who spoke Spanish that no one could understand? Me!!! It was so bad, I just totally stumbled over my words and phrased my sentences so poorly. The people we were talking to couldn't understand me and kept looking at Elder Marcum and he just said something else. Even Elder Marcum didn't know what I was trying to say. But hey, it's all good, that's what language study is for. I got a good laugh out of it so it wasn't a big deal. And after those failed attempts, we talked to a guy standing on the street corner and set up a lesson with him! So it honestly was a positive experience, so no worries.  

I wish I had awesome stories of people we're teaching and seeing their lives change, but it hasn't come yet. As a District, we decided to start praying for people to baptize instead of people to just teach. We all have people we're teaching,  they're just all flaky and not willing to progress. We want to teach people, but we want to baptize more. That's how people can begin the path to eternal joy and peace. Hopefully the miracles will start pouring in soon and I'll be able to help people come unto Christ. 

I had a pretty cool scriptural realization this week while reading the story of Ammon in the Book of Mormon. At a point in the story, Ammon has the king over all the land at his mercy. When the king realizes he's about to die, he says to Ammon "...If thou wilt spare me I will grant unto thee whatsoever thou wilt ask, even to half of the kingdom." He is willing to give up half of his kingdom to be spared. Ammon doesn't take it and let's him go, and the king becomes interested in the message Ammon has shared. Ammon then sends his brother, Aaron, to teach the king. As Aaron is teaching him, the king realizes the importance of the message. He says, "...I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy." The king offered half his kingdom for his life to be spared, but he offered his whole kingdom, essentially everything he had, just so he could receive the joy that the gospel brings. I LOVE this. It caused me to think "would I be willing to give up everything I have to receive the gospel if I didn't already have it?" Just an interesting question to ponder.

Well, that's all for this week! Love and miss all of you and hope everyone is doing well!  The Church is true!

Elder Spangler

Easter in Portland

Hello everyone!

I can't remember if I have said this previously or not, but my P-day will now permanently be on Tuesday.  My mission President wants us to have the opportunity to go to the temple more, so we now have the option to go every Tuesday if we want to.  But just for future notice, my P-days are on Tuesday now. 

Unfortunately this week was not quite as miraculous as it was last week. But this was was still super great and I learned a ton. I'm sure many of you are wondering how Ilonka is progressing. I'm wondering that too. We had our meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Elder Marcum and I were there waiting, and she never showed up. It was a major bummer. I was worried because the night before she had texted us and said, "Hey I was doing some research online about your church, is it true you added scriptures to the Bible?" I was worried that she had gotten some incorrect information online and was apprehensive to meet with us again. We told her that our meeting on Wednesday was going to be about the Book of Mormon and why we need it and that we'd be able to explain better in person, but the lesson never happened. We still haven't had a chance to meet with her again, but we're hoping to set something up this week. 

I got to go on an exchange this week!  I was with Elder Wiest in his area, it was super fun. He's a goon so we had a blast.  His area is a bike area, so I got to bike for a day which was pretty fun, except for the fact that it was raining all day.  Hahaha it actually was really fun, but being in a car area is really nice.  I'll miss that when I'm in Ecuador for sure.  Just for everyone's information, I have no idea when I'm going to get my visa and I haven't heard anything about it, but it's all good, I'm just working as hard as I can out here and I'm loving it.  But yeah, back to the exchange.  I got to teach a lesson to this older woman who is in a rest home for people with special needs. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to come to church with us.  She said "I know your church is good and the Book of Mormon is true, but your church is boring so I'm not going to go." Hahaha it was pretty funny, Elder Wiest and I laughed pretty hard about it afterwards.  We also got to teach a lesson to a returning member family.  The mom is from Guatemala, so I had like a 5 minute conversation with her in Spanish!  I'm in an English area, so I don't get to speak spanish much, so it was great to get to be able to do that.  But yeah, the family is coming back to church, so we met with them and talked about faith.  It was a great lesson and the spirit came into the room pretty strong. We invited them to go to the Visitor's Center at the Portland Temple, and they said yes!  It was pretty cool, I love when people say yes to our commitments. 

How was everyone's Easter?  I love Easter, it's one of the best times of the year.  Elder Marcum and I had the opportunity to both speak in sacrament meeting on the Atonement.  I thought I gave a pretty good talk, 3 people quoted me in Sunday School so I'd say it was successful. I'll attach it to my email so feel free to read it.  We went to the 1st counselor in the bishopric's house for dinner, it was so good.  It's been a while since I've had like real, good food. 

Funny story: There's a lot of homeless people here, like I've said. We were driving yesterday and there was a man holding a sign that said "Something to eat, or somewhere to sleep." I felt pity for him so I threw a granola bar over the car and it landed next to him. The look he gave me after seeing the granola bar was one of complete disgust and hate.  I was kind of offended, because I had just sacrificed this granola bar for him and he just completely rejected it.  Hahaha maybe one day he'll see granola bars as a blessing. 

One of my favorite scriptures has been a good reminder to me of why I'm out here serving. It's Mosiah 27:29. It says, "My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more." I love the comparison in this scripture. The light the Gospel brings into people's lives is amazing, and that's really why I'm out here serving a mission, to help people behold the marvelous light of God.

Well, that's about all the time I have for today. Thanks to those who sent me emails over the week. I can read emails any day and I love hearing from people, so feel free to send me a quick update on how you're doing. 

Love and miss all of you!

Elder Spangler

Atonement Talk on Easter Sunday

Good morning everyone, it's great to be here with you on this Easter Sunday. Just a brief introduction, my name is Elder Spangler and I'm from Allen, Texas. I have only been on the mission for a little over 2 months, but I'm really excited to be here in this ward. If you want more information about me,  feel free to look in the program and you can read some fun facts about who I am. But like I said, I can't wait to be here and serve with all of you and get to know each of you better. 

As you all know, today is Easter Sunday. Easter was always a fun holiday in my house. We would do the classic traditions; dying eggs, an Easter egg hunt, the big Easter dinner. However, my parents often liked to put a spin on those traditions. For our Easter egg hunts, the eggs were always hid so well that we would often find eggs 2 or 3 months later. And a lot of the time it would have a note in it that said something like “this is a trick egg and you don't get any candy. Haha.” For our Easter dinner, maybe we'd be eating and someone would take a bite of a roll and pull an M&M out of their mouth because my dad had put M&M's in the dough before the rolls were cooked. Just fun stuff like that. However, even with all the fun traditions and the joking around, my parents always made sure that my siblings and I knew what Easter was actually representing. The reason we celebrate is to remember the suffering, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We often describe this as the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

In the most recent General Conference, Tad R. Callister gave a perfect explanation of what the Atonement is. He said, “What then is the Atonement of Jesus Christ? In one sense, it is a series of divine events that commenced in the Garden of Gethsemane, continued on the cross, and culminated with the Savior’s Resurrection from the tomb. It was motivated by an incomprehensible love for each of us. It required a being who was sinless; who had infinite power over the elements—even death; who possessed a boundless capacity to suffer the consequences of all our sins and ailments; and who, in fact, descended beneath it all. This was the mission of Jesus Christ—this was His Atonement.”

I want to focus my message on the last point Brother Callister makes; That “[Jesus Christ] possessed a boundless capacity to suffer the consequences of all our sins and ailments; and [he], in fact, descended beneath it all.”

In Luke 22:41-44, it describes Christ's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. It says, “And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” It's impossible for us to comprehend exactly what the Savior experienced that night in the Garden, but this passage of scripture helps us better understand how Jesus Christ felt. He asked his Father to take the pain away, but only if it was his will. In this situation, Jesus Christ is a perfect example for us. When he was dealing with the most agony, the most pain that he had ever felt, he prayed more earnestly. When we are going through anything difficult, we have a Heavenly Father to pray to and to ask for help. I'm sure it was so difficult for our Father in Heaven to watch his Son bear that pain and agony alone, so he sent him an angel to strengthen him. Our Heavenly Father will never give us a trial we can't handle, but he will give us trials that we can't handle alone. Heavenly Father loves us unconditionally, so like the angel sent to Christ, he sent us his Son. Our Savior is who we must turn to in those times of need, and he will strengthen us. 

The other day as I was reading the Book of Mormon, I came to a passage that I thought knew fairly well. It is in Alma 7, where Alma is preaching to the people in the city of Gideon, and he starts talking about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Verses 11 and 12 read, “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” When I read these verses, I caught something that I had never really put together before. In verse 12, it says “that he may know according to the flesh”  two times. What this means is that Jesus Christ didn't suffer only mentally or spiritually, it was physical suffering. He felt everything according to the flesh, everything was physical. He had to suffer physically so He could know exactly how we have felt or will feel every single time we go through anything. That time when I crashed on my skateboard and got road rash all over my body; He felt that. The times when I wanted to skip seminary cause I was so tired; He felt that. The time when my aunt passed away when I was 8 and I was the saddest I had ever been; He felt that. The time when I messed up big time and felt like I could never fix it; He felt that. Every single pain, sadness, sickness, temptation, worry, and affliction, He has felt it. He has sunk below everything you and I have experienced, and everything we will experience. And he knows EXACTLY what we feel. Jesus Christ suffered through the Atonement so when we feel alone and lost, we can look to him and know that we have the only perfect person to ever walk this earth at our side, comforting us and telling us that it will be okay. 

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught, “To find the most important day in history, we must go back to that evening almost 2,000 years ago in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus Christ knelt in intense prayer and offered Himself as a ransom for our sins. It was during this great and infinite sacrifice of unparalleled suffering in both body and spirit that Jesus Christ, even God, bled at every pore. Out of perfect love, He gave all that we might receive all. His supernal sacrifice, difficult to comprehend, to be felt only with all our heart and mind, reminds us of the universal debt of gratitude we owe Christ for His divine gift.

Those who find a way to truly behold the Man find the doorway to life’s greatest joys and the balm to life’s most demanding despairs.

So, when you are encompassed by sorrows and grief, behold the Man. When you feel lost or forgotten, behold the Man. When you are despairing, deserted, doubting, damaged, or defeated, behold the Man. He will comfort you.

He will heal you and give meaning to your journey.  He will pour out His Spirit and fill your heart with exceeding joy. He gives “power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.”

Brothers and Sisters, all we need to do is to behold the Man. When we focus our lives on the Savior, everything else falls into place. Yes, we will still have trials and difficulties and will still want to give up sometimes, but when we are centered on the Savior, the only one who really knows us, that's when we those trials and burdens are made light.

Several years ago in a Sunday School class back home, my teacher shared a poem that has stuck with me for a long time. I want to share it with you all today. I don't remember who wrote it, but I don't take credit. It says, “I had been in that hole for a very long time

In the dark and the damp, in the cold and the slime.

The shaft was above me; I saw it quite clear,

But there’s no way I ever could reach it from here.

I could not remember the world way up there,

So I lost every hope and gave in to despair.

I knew nothing but darkness, the floor, and the wall.

Then from off in the distance I heard someone call:

“Get up! Get ready! There’s nothing the matter!

Take rocks and take sticks and build up a fine ladder!”

This was a thought that had not crossed my mind,

But I started to stack all the stones I could find.

When I ran out of stones, then old sticks were my goal,

For some way or another I’d climb from that hole.

I soon had a ladder that stood very tall,

And I thought, “I’ll soon leave this place once and for all!”

I climbed up my ladder, a difficult chore,

For from lifting those boulders, my shoulders were sore.

I climbed up the ladder, but soon had to stop,

For my ladder stopped short, some ten feet from the top.

I went back down my ladder and felt all around,

But there were no more boulders nor sticks to be found.

I sat down in the darkness and started to cry.

I’d done all I could do and I gave my best try.

But in spite of my work, in this hole I must die.

And all I could do was to sit and think, “Why?”

Was my ladder to short? Was my hole much too deep?

Then from way up on high came a voice: “Do not weep.”

And then faith, hope, and love entered into my chest

As the voice calmly told me that I'd done my best.

He said, “You have worked hard, and your labor’s been rough,

But the ladder you’ve built is at last tall enough.

So do not despair; there is reason to hope,

Just climb up your ladder; I’ll throw down my rope.”

I climbed up my ladder, then climbed up the cord.

When I got to the top of it, there stood the Lord.

I’ve never been happier; my struggle was done.

I blinked in the brightness that came from the Son.

I fell to the ground as His feet I did kiss.

I cried, “Lord, can I ever repay Thee for this?”

He looked all about. There were holes in the ground.

They had people inside, and were seen all around.

There were thousands of holes that were damp, dark and deep.

Then the Lord looked at me, and He said, “feed my sheep,”

And he went on his way to save other lost souls,

So I got right to work, calling down to the holes,

“Get up! Get ready! There is nothing the matter!

Take rocks, and take sticks, and build up a fine ladder!”

It now was my calling to spread the good word,

The most glorious message that man ever heard:

That there’s one who is coming to save one and all,

And we need to be ready when he gives the call.

He’ll pull us all out of the holes that we’re in

And save all our souls from cold death and from sin.

So do not lose faith; there is reason to hope

Just climb up your ladder; he’ll throw down his rope.”

A lot of times in my life, I have felt like the person in this poem, in a dark hole that feels impossible to escape, and I'm sure many of you have felt something similar at some point. But however dark it may seem, however disheartened you may be, the Lord is always right there, waiting to throw down his rope and pull us up. We just have to build up our ladder first.

When I was 15, I didn't have many good friends. I knew kids at school, but that was the only time I'd associate with them. I wasn't depressed or anything, but I felt alone. I just wanted some friends. My oldest sister was serving a mission in Spain at the time and in a lot of her emails she would testify of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I realized I hadn't personally experienced this power in my life, and wondered if that had any impact on my lack of friends. I can't remember a specific instance where I prayed and felt forgiven or where I read one certain scripture and was just purified, but I know that as I began to pray more earnestly and ask for forgiveness, as I began to read the scriptures with real intent, that's when I started to find friends. Once I had turned my focus on becoming better through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that's when the Lord blessed 15 year old me with some good, strong friends. Our Savior knew that I felt alone because he had already felt that. He knew exactly what I was going through.

Brothers and Sisters, as we celebrate this Easter Sunday, I testify that Jesus Christ suffered, died, and was resurrected. I know this to be true with all of my heart. I have felt the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life, and I cannot deny it.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Ek praat nie meer Spaans nie

Hello everyone!  This week was so so good, I saw so many miracles. 

Before I start, I just wanted to apologize really quickly about the content of my last email. I realized this past week that some of the stories I was telling were not the most uplifting or appropriate for younger audiences, so I've decided to make sure I only include good, wholesome stories. I promise my emails will still be entertaining, they'll just be more uplifting. If you want to talk about the crazy people or hear wacky stories, shoot me a personal email and I'll tell you all kinds of wild stories. 

With that being said, let's get to the juicy part of my email.  This week was amazing! I finally got to teach some lessons! The first was a guy named Cody that we found by tracting, however his lesson wasn't great. He wasn't really willing to learn or change and was just being really combative the whole time, so unfortunately we won't be teaching him anymore. But it's okay, hopefully he'll remember the things we taught and someday down the road have a desire to change. The real miracle was with a girl named Ilanka. Let me give the full story. So on Friday, Elder Marcum and I decided to meet with some of the sister missionaries and look through their area books to see if they had any YSA age people that had talked to missionaries before. (YSA means Young Single Adult and its ages 18-30). So we met with some sisters at a library in their area and just talked to them and got some people we could try and teach. As we were walking out, this girl holding a 4 year old walked up to us and said, "Your name tags say Jesus Christ, what church do you go to?" We talked about our church briefly and then she asked how old we were. We said "18 and 20" and she told us she was 19, so perfect for a YSA ward. She then told us that she was from South Africa, that she had moved here only 2 months ago and was working as a nanny, and that she was looking for more friends her age. She also speaks Afrikaans and that's why the subject of my email looks like it isn't English. It's Afrikaans. But yeah, we were talking with Ilanka and she just said, "here let me give you my number so we can meet sometime this weekend and talk about Jesus and about your church, your young adult congregation sounds awesome." ISN'T THAT SO COOL?!!  Stuff like that never happens out here, so it was so so awesome. We set up an appointment for the next day and we were super excited.  A few hours later, she texted us and said "something came up, can we meet tonight instead?" Marcum and I cleared our hour of tracting on our schedule and went and met with her. We just got to know her and talked about South Africa and what she liked to do; she is honestly one of the coolest people I've met. We talked about her beliefs and she has a super strong testimony of God and Jesus Christ and their love for us, it was such a good conversation. When we finished, we asked her if we could meet again and share a prepared message about our religion and she said yes! We asked what day and she said "Fridays work best, but I don't want to wait that long." That made me so happy!  We have a lesson with her on Wednesday and I am so so excited. I saw several other miracles this week, and I wish had time to write them all, but unfortunately I do not. 

I want to share a brief experience I had during my personal scripture study yesterday morning. I was reading in Mosiah 23 and found a passage of scripture I found to be really applicable. This chapter is talking about the people of Alma, a righteous people who trusted God and kept all the commandments. Verses 21-23 say,  21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. 22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people. 23 For behold, I will show unto you that they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea, even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob. I love these verses because they're proof that even if we're doing everything right, the Lord is still going to give us trials and experiences that will test our faith. And the only way that we can overcome those things is by putting our trust in God and letting him take over. He is the only one that can help us overcome those trials and difficulties, no matter how good we think we may be. We have to trust in the Lord in all we do, and he will help us get through our trials. 

SURPRISE ADDITION TO THE VOLLEYBALL CHRONICLES OF ELDER SPANGLER!!!! Last P-day, we played volleyball as a district and it was so much fun. There's a sister in our distric named Lexi Davies and she played for 4 years at UVU so she is super good at volleyball. The games we played weren't too great because not everyone knew how to play and I was super rusty, but it was still super fun. Hopefully I'll get to play more while I'm out here but we'll see. 

Well, that's all I have time for this week. Thanks to everyone who has been writing me emails, I really appreciate it and love hearing from people. I hope all of you have a great week and can see miracles, because they're always there, we just have to look for them. 

Love and miss you all!! 

Elder Spangler 

Every Member a Missionary

Hello all!  I hope everyone has had a fantastic week and seen God's hand in your life everyday.  I definitely have. 

I hope most of you had a chance to listen to General Conference. If not, go check it out on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. I loved all the messages about member missionary work! This week we had a zone conference, which is a training we do every 6 weeks, and the whole focus of it was on helping members do missionary work. It was super awesome and I learned a ton. There's a talk given by President Gordon B. Hinckley called "Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep" and it's all about member missionary work. It's kind of long but I would encourage all of you to read it. He says something that I really liked in the talk. It's "My heart reaches out to you missionaries. You simply cannot do it alone and do it well. You must have the help of others. That power to help lies within each of us."  Missionaries cannot do missionary work alone. We need your help!  All of you members, reach out to your local missionaries, get to know them, help them find people to teach, practice lessons with them, do something to help them. I know everyone has full schedules and life is crazy, but try to find some time to talk to the missionaries in your ward. 

Some cool stories. Last week elder Marcum and I were out in Downtown Portland and saw these two dudes smoking on a park bench. They looked about 20ish and we were like, sweet some YSA. We went and talked with them and talked about God and their beliefs and stuff like that. Then we asked if they wanted to meet with us another time and talk about the gospel. They said yes, coke back right here tomorrow at 1. So we did and they didn't show up. It was kind of a bummer but it was fun to talk with them. We haven't had any opportunities to teach any lessons yet because no one wants to meet with us. We set 4 return appointments, but they all fell through. It's rough, but I'm grateful to have this experience because it'll be very different in Ecuador when I actually get there. 

I want to start a new segment. I'm going to call it "The Crazy People Chronicles of Elder Spangler." I miss writing my volleyball chronicles so I figured I could make something new kind of like it. Hopefully I can live up to the quality I set with the volleyball chronicles. Okay first addition: So the other day Elder Marcum and I were trying to find this guy who hasn't been to church in a long time. We knew his apartment complex, just not the number of his apartment. Thankfully, it was a pretty small complex so we decided to just knock all the doors and see if we could find him. We knocked the first door and it wasn't him. Then the second and the third were no answer. We walked to the fourth door and Marcum said " this one is all you" and stood off to the side. So I knock on the door and it takes a bit then it opens. The first thing that hits me is a super strong stench of smoke comes out of the door. The next thing I noticed was this dude was wearing a robe... and only a robe. And it was not tied closed. So I was kind of in shock, but I said "Hi, we're new in the area...." and that's all I got out before he said "Aw shut up and leave me alone" and slammed the door. Gotta say, it was a pretty crazy experience and all the elders I've told have said that that is a very normal occurrence here so that was great news. 

Well, I gotta go now because I don't have much time to write so I'm going to end here. Please send me emails if you want to, I love hearing from everyone! 

Elder Spangler 

What's up Portland?

Hey everybody!!  

Man, this week has been absolutely crazy.  Let's get to it.  

So first off, my p-day is now on Monday, but we went to the temple today so we had p-day today. But for future reference, my p-day is Monday. 

Man I don't even know where to start, so much has happened. 

So on Tuesday at the MTC we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Rasband. He talked about the Rome Temple and the importance of temple work. It was super awesome and I was able to still be there to listen to it.  I would encourage all of you to go watch the videos on ChurchofJesusChrist.org about the Rome Temple. They're super informative and would be awesome resources to share with people. 

Wednesday was my final day of the MTC. I dropped Elder Tall off at the travel office which was kinda sad but it's all good because I'll probably see him in Ecuador. I left at 10 after saying bye to all my pals in the zone, I'm gonna miss those guys. But yeah, I took a bus to a train station, took a train to another bus station, then took another bus to the airport. It was about 2 hours of travel time, not the most fun. But yeah plane ride, got to the Portland airport and we were met by President Bullen and his wife, and the AP's. We drove to a church building and did a little bit of orientation stuff and then met our trainers. I am with Elder Marcum from Layton, Utah, and we're serving in the Canyon Road YSA Ward!  Elder Marcum is a solid missionary and we get along well. The YSA is super fun, I'll share more about that later.

Portland is WHACK. I have never seen so many homeless people before which is crazy because there's a ton in CA.  Anytime Elder Marcum and I see something super weird we just laugh and say, "What's up Portland?"  But I love it here, it's awesome. 

Alright I have so much I could share but I don't know how much time I have so I'll just pick a couple of my favorite experiences. 

So here in the Oregon Portland Mission, it is a tradition to hand out a Book of Mormon in your first 48 hours as a missionary.  Elder Marcum and I were pumped for this so we went out on Thursday ready to go spread the word and pass out the Book of Mormon.  However, our problem was that our area book was completely blank.  Like we had no referrals, no recent converts, no previously contacted people. So what we had to do was just look up apartment complexes on Google Maps and then decide which doors to knock. We did that for about 4 hours and we got no one. Literally everyone shot us down so quick and we hardly had any chance to talk with anyone. The rejection is a little rough but I actually just laugh it off.  It's funny how blunt some people are with us and I'm just like "alright man your loss."  But yeah, we had been looking all day long and it was 8:30 and we had about 45 minutes to get back to our apartment.  We decided to try one more complex and we parked the car and saw this girl smoking on her balcony.  Elder Marcum, being the STUD missionary that he is said, "Hey, we're missionaries in the area just wanting to get to know people and share a message about Jesus Christ.  Could we come share a message with you?"  And she just said "sure, I'm in room E202.  That's why you TALK TO EVERYONE.  So we went up and walked it and the first things I noticed were all the bongs and pipes and hookahs sitting on the kitchen counter and I was like "oh sweet this is prime!!"  But yeah we started just talking with her (her name is taylor) and getting to know her and then started asking about her religious background.  She said she had faith in God and stuff like that then out of nowhere she asked, "do you guys have any extra books or anything?" In my head I was like "UM HECK YEAH I DO!"  So I passed her a Book of Mormon and we invited her to read it and she said she would!  When we went back a few days later to talk with her, she was at work but her friend answered the door and we talked with him and then set up a return appointment with him and Taylor this week!  It was a super awesome experience and just that little chance to share the gospel made me so happy.  

Okay one more experience. Elder Marcum is a Spanish speaking missionary but he has served most of his mission in English. I'm fresh out of the MTC so my Spanish is pretty limited too. Yesterday as we were finding people to reach, we went to this complex and knocked on a door. A lady answered and we greeted her in English and she said "no hablo ingles." And in my head I was like "oh SICK a Spanish contact, my first one." Then elder Marcum and her started having a conversation and I was like "huh I thought she spoke Spanish." As I was trying to translate in my head, Elder Marcum looked at me kinda telling me to respond so I just whipped out a quick testimony of Jesus and our message, then he took back over.  But we have a return appointment with her too so I'm excited about that!  All I know is that I really gotta work with my Spanish before I go to Ecuador or I'll get wrecked out there. 

Anyways, I could write more but I have a lot of stuff to do in not a ton of time so I'll end here. Thank you to everyone who sends me emails!  It's going to be harder for me to respond to everyone now but I'll try my best.  Please continue to email me, hearing from people really does give me a good boost and I love it. 

I love and miss you all! 

                                   Elder Marcum and I out in downtown Portland

                                                              A park we studied at

                                             A pretty tree next to the institute building

My new favorite song.  

Just kidding it's so bad but please listen to it and laugh as hard as I do.