New area:Thompson and new comp:Elder Requejo

¿Como esta Mom??????? I hope everything is well, I`m good and getting to know my new area better, my companion`s name is Elder Requejo, he is from Peru and he has about 5-6 months in the mission. He is really animated to work and it helps me to focus more too. The area is more country than my last area, if you want to look up my last area, it was in a city called J. Augusto Saldivar. The houses are pretty much all made of wood panels or tin, and the people are very humble and kind. The church attendance each week is about 50-60 people, and it's mostly all ladies that attend church. Our branch mission leader is really helpful and is preparing to leave for his mission, so he is always going with us to lessons and giving us references.

Right now we are working with a lady named Leonida and her son and daughter Elias and Leila, but Leonida has to get married before she gets baptized, and her boyfriend doesn`t want to hear anything about the church at all, they are attending church and they told us they feel like it's true.

There are a lot of less active members in this area so we are searching for them to help reactivate them and strengthen the branch. Today, we get to go to the temple to clean it again, which will be awesome, and on Wednesday, we will have a zone conference with most of the mission.

Not much else new, just trying to learn more Guarani now and getting to know the members and others in the branch. Hope you guys have a good week, and enjoy your summer, it has been cold here, it's weird to get used to the cold when it's June and July. Thanks for the pictures and emails as always, I will try to take some more pictures of my area and my companion and I, can`t wait to hear from you soon!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

Saying goodbye to some families in Posta Leiva

A baptism and news of a transfer

Hola Mama!

Thanks for the emails and pictures as always, we had a busy week and a quick one too, it is still cold here but during the day the sun is warm, so its only a little cold at nights, but no worries. Today we will find out if we have transfers, so while writing this email I will most likely get the call. I`m glad to hear Dad had a good fathers day, I wanted to send a card but I don`t know in how much time it will get there, because the mission doesn`t send our mail now, we have to search a place in the city to be able to send it.  I got the package of treats you guys sent for Hump Day, and none of them were opened or eaten, so thanks!!!! I will be sure to eat all of them most likely this week.

We also had Celia`s baptism on Saturday, and it went good, we had to wait a little while for a few members to come, but in the end it all turned out well.  I had the privilege of baptizing her, she had been waiting a long time for her baptism.  She has a brother on the mission, and she had been living with her boyfriend before, so they had to get married but he didn`t want to, but recently she got separated from him. She is really excited to learn more though, she always shows us what she has been reading in The Book of Mormon and the gospel principles book we gave her.

Everything else has been good, we are working hard and Oliver came to church yesterday. He is a really humble guy and always goes with his friends who are members to visit other less active members after church which is super awesome.

Well I just got the call and I will be leaving the area, I will be going to an area called Thompson, I think its close to here, I will be senior companion to an Elder that has about 6 months in the mission, so we`ll see how that goes. Next week I`ll tell you more but I`m excited for the new area! Hope to hear from you soon and thanks for everything!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

Alex's district

Quidditch?

I have no idea what's happening in these pictures but it looks like they are having a blast :)

Celia's baptism

Week of 6/13/16

Hey Mom!

Gracias for the emails and pictures. Looks like you guys had a fun time at SeaWorld, that sounds pretty crazy sleeping next to the tanks. I am doing good, we have been working hard and we will have a baptism this Saturday the 18th. It is for a lady named Celia, the two teenage girls weren`t able to attend church this weekend so we will be planning for a different Saturday, but they are still progressing! We also had another investigator named Oliver that come to church, he is friends with a few members so they had been inviting him. All is good though, Celia is really excited and she has been inviting a lot of people this past week.

Silvio unfortunately moved last week to a different city, but we encountered another investigator with the same situation, he is working on his addiction to alcohol. He expressed his desire on Saturday to attend church and to change his habits, but he didn`t come to church and we passed by on Sunday and he was drunk with a friend that was at his house. But it's alright, we just need to be patient and diligent in working with him.

I forgot to add in my past email that we ate pig head. The Aguayo family invited us and the other missionaries. It wasn`t bad at all, just a little slimy, but the taste was really good, and I would eat it again. We also performed some service this past week, which was nice. I can`t remember the last time we had a service project, we always offer but usually nobody takes us up on it.

This will be the last week of this transfer, so next Monday I will let you know if I am changed or not, or if I have a new companion. Thanks again for your email and I hope you guys get home safe and have a great week! Can`t wait to hear from you soon!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

A service project, apparently moving a large cabinet from one house to another

Adventurous eating 6/6/16

Hey Mom, 

It's strange to hear of the heat because its still pretty cold here, and no worries about the sweaters, I can always buy one here if I need another one.

We had a bit of a tough week to be honest, most of our investigators are females, and we always need a man that is 18 or older to be able to teach them. None of the members were able to help this week, so that resulted in lots of walking and contacting.  I can see how obedience brings blessings, because we had an old investigator named Celia who came to church on Sunday.  She wasn`t able to be baptized before because she was living with her boyfriend and they had to get married for her to be baptized, but he didn`t want anything to do with the church. They got separated about a month ago, and she now just lives with her kids. We passed by after church and she accepted a baptism date for the 18th of June.

The other two girls we were teaching had to live with their grandma in a different city for a week because their Mom is having her baby and she is in the hospital. We haven`t been able to find Silvio to teach him, he is always away from his house (hopefully not with bad influences).

My talk was about commitment, mainly focusing on the covenants we have made and being faithful. I used a lot of quotes from the book you guys sent me. Not much else new, we are about 2 weeks away from transfers again and I would like to stay in the area.  It's a bit difficult at times, but I`m learning a lot and I`m grateful for the trials I have had.

Hope you have a good week, and enjoy the heat haha, sounds like you will have fun in San Diego. Thanks for the pictures and emails as always! Hope to hear from you soon! Love you!

Rohayhu!

Elder Spiro

Getting ready to enjoy pig's head for dinner!

He said it was delicious

"a funny 'tree for sale' sign"

Beautiful picture of his area

Making soup from a recipe book we sent him