September 29th, 2010

Les amo y les extrano mucho!!!!

Mom, Dad, Mary, and Emily, thank you all so much for your letters! And I cant remember if it was before or after last P-DAY but I also received a wonderful letter from Grandma Eccles:) I love you alls so much, thank you for your love and support.

Thank you Dad for the Wikipedia article and the essay -- I haven’t had a chance to try and translate the article yet but my good friend elder church (who goes to brown) and I are looking forward to taking a whack at it soon! I really like the idea of learning a little bit about each place I'm going to be preaching the gospel. IF ONLY I KNEW WHERE I WAS GOING TO BE GOING IN TWO WEEKS

But really, I have no idea where I'm going to be.

It looks like I should probably get my reassignment by next Friday... Visas really haven’t been coming in for a while, but I'm excited to serve two missions!

YES I have seen Julie! only once, but it is really nice to know there is a (literally) familiar face around:)

I also saw my good friend Kye (elder Browning )from camp (going to Mont. Mex.) at the temple on Sunday!

Jacob Linford should be coming in today!!! along with a whole new district Elder Porter and I have to train and orient tonight and tomorrow.

I see Brent Chase all the time since he works in the cafeteria here at the MTC, but even HE won't tell me where Brad's going!!! He told me he promised not to tell me where he's going only that it's Spanish speaking! I'm dying to know! Maybe I'll get a letter from him today.

I GET TO GO TO SALT LAKE THIS SATURDAY! Mom, if people give you a hard time, the president of the MTC and my choir director give you permission to sneak into the back of Priesthood session to watch. To quote.."Priesthood session is sacred, but nothing's secret." - President Smith

It's actually pretty intense. I'm getting another realllly short haircut today so I can pass inspection! My suit is also at the drycleaners so I can look my best. I'll be wearing my very conservative dark red tie.

If our hair isn't short enough, our faces aren’t smooth enough, our suits aren’t clean enough or our ties not boring enough (and especially our sideburns not short enough) we aren't allowed to go! The Mission Presidency themselves are inspecting us Saturday morning. This morning at choir practice President Smith walked straight up to me, told me he liked my tie, and that I needed a haircut.

We're going to be gone all day Saturday pretty much, we get to watch conference from some room at the conference center, and basically starve all day because we aren’t allowed to eat outside of our :"mission area" (the MTC) haha but really, I am SO EXCITED.

Just being able to sing my heart out every day this week has made me the happiest missionary alive. I really had forgotten how much joy singing brings to my life. There has just really been a special spirit lately, with conference coming, and everything kind of winding down while we wait for our reassignments/maybe visas/permisas etc.

I've learned a lot this week about exact obedience. It's kind of funny how it works, now that Elder Porter and I are zone leaders everyone's looking at us to know what to do and how to act! We've promised ourselves that we'd be good examples but also never forget to have fun. Elder Porter likes to say "If you’re not having fun, smiling, and laughing, being a good, obedient missionary, you shouldn’t be on a mission."

Obeying the rules, even the "little:" ones and really focusing on living and thinking on a higher plane, is what gives us power. As missionaries we really do hold ourselves to a higher standard than the rest of the world, and because of this there is a special spirit, especially here at the MTC. As I am obedient I can really feel CLOSE to Christ. That I am trying to feel, and act, and think, and look like Him. This is what gives me power and authority as a missionary, set apart to teach His gospel, and bring His message to Mexico (or to Arizona or Las Vegas or Colorado springs or Miami or salt lake or wherever they send me first ha ha)

I'm out of time but I love you all so much! I can't wait to hear more about your lives at home:)

I'm doing great :)

-Elder Spencer