The First Vision

Elder Henze, Elder Ford, Elder Manwearing and Elder Outsen

recite part of The First Vision in Spanish!

"I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Bathroom Orange Attack

Elder Henze's MTC adventures...

District Leader!

Spencer is doing great in the MTC & has almost completed the first full month of his mission!

And even better... well, I'll let Spence tell you in his own words:

the Branch President, President Roundy called me to be the next District Leader effective Sunday! I'm pretty stoked, but nervous. our District still needs some massive first aid, but hopefully the spirit will guide me on how best to look after them and have unity and keep the rules and everything. we'll see how it goes.

Isn't that awesome?! We're all so proud of him & very excited that he's been given this new role & experience!

I hope everyone has had a chance to see all the sweet pictures & video clips he sent me - I posted the pictures on his Facebook account & on his Photobucket account (accessible from this blog by clicking on the pic of Spence in the sombrero on the right side of the page) along with the video clips - which should all be at the top of the album. Here's a direct link just to make it even easier to get to! Photo album

It's been great writing back & forth & hearing about Spencer's MTC experience - it's obviously an adjustment, but he's doing great so far and getting along with everyone pretty well.

As far as I know the language is coming along great. He has some great teachers at the MTC who have really made learning Spanish an achievable goal for the Elders & I can tell he's really grateful for them.

I've been glad to hear that he's forming such great friendships with the other missionaries too; though I haven't been on a mission myself, one thing I've observed from spending time around returned missionaries is that the friendships they make in the field are usually the best friends they ever have! I know Spencer has been blessed with some amazing friends thus far anyway - but its fun to hear about all the new friendships he's forming with these guys. I'm just so happy for him. Anyway, I'll wrap this one up with a few fun words from the man himself!

So now the best part of the post, some copy & paste quotes from Elder Henze!

Elder Mock and Su'a-filo left this morning for florida along with the rest of their district. it was sad cuz we were all so close but i guess thats how it goes around here. the days drag on but the weeks fly by. before I know it im gonna be a lost scared little gringo greenie cruizing around Oaxaca mexico. booyah.

Spencer's thoughts on being the new District Leader:

being district leader is fun but we have a couple challenging elders who like to give me grief. but thats to be expected I guess. no district is perfect.

Spencer's thoughts on the gym set up at the MTC (hilarious!):

I'm getting to be the four square king in gym. four square is gay, but its what i end up playing most of the time cuz i'm not aclimated to this elevation quite yet so I get WAY tired when I play basketball (assuming I can make a free throw to get on a team) and volleyball is kinda like... well, picture a bunch of girls who played volleyball in high school but weren't confident or good enough to play in college, mixed with a bunch of guys who's only concern is impressing these girls, and you have MTC volleyball. so that leaves running or lifting. so my usual schedule is play four square for most of the time, maybe hit up one basketball game, then lift for 15 to 20 minutes. its hard to get much of a workout on the stuff they have here cuz all the best machines are always occupied by the guys who refer to themselves as "bodybuilders" and there are NO freeweights! but its cool. its better than nothing.

New MTC pictures!

Hey all! Spence sent me his camera memory card with all his sweet pictures on it! I'll definitely post some here on this blog later when I have a sec, but if you want to see all of them find the photo album on the right (the picture of Spence in a sombrero titled "FOTOS") & click on the it to see all the new pics & even a few little video clips he sent home!

2 Weeks In!

Elder Henze is alive & well! He's written me a couple letters & emails now, and I was planning on deferring the opportunity of blogging the first in-MTC update to my parents, but they've been busy sending letters & care packages and haven't gotten around to it & I just can't wait any longer! (That was a huge sentence...sorry).

Spencer is having a good time in the MTC. As expected, his first couple days were rough, but his companion Elder Ford supplied him with some life-saving ibuprofen the first day, and their friendship has been coming along great since.

Hopefully I don't get in trouble for sharing too much, but I wanted to include this excerpt from the first email he sent us:

" I'm doing really good here. It's been a tough adjustment but it gets easier every day. I feel like I belong here and this is what I'm supposed to be doing so that helps a lot. The spirit is extremely strong here and its been nice to be in its presence for such a long period of time. my teachers are really nice and helpful. mi miestro's name is Hermano Tatioka, and mi Miestra's name is Hermana Harrell. our district has decided she's pretty cute so thats always a plus :) The district gets along really well all except for the kid everyone hates named Elder Borque (sounds like bork). We've all tried multiple times to include him and have gone out of our way to be nice to him but he's just selfrighteous. It's been pretty hard to deal with but It's getting better. Doing role playing and teaching fake investigators at the Teaching Recource Center has humbled him quite a bit.

"Teaching is hard. I have a hard time getting through a whole lesson in one "appointment" cuz there's sooo much in each one. and trying to teach and chat with these mock investigators in spanish is redic. our first appointment had a lot of silence :) AWKWARD! oh well. the language is coming along pretty well. the teachers are really good here and no doubt the spirit is helping me out a lot."

Since that letter, Spence sent me a couple hand-written letters about the day-to-day of his experiences. He loves his companion's sense of humor (so do I after hearing the stories) & they seem to be getting along great. As far as Elder Borque goes, Spence said he's been trying to be nicer to the guy, & for the most part its going pretty well.

I can already tell that Spencer is learning and growing a lot, and I'm very proud of him and excited about what he's doing!

I've been trying to contain that excitement, but can hardly help myself sometimes. When I go shopping (grocery or otherwise) I find myself pausing frequently & thinking to myself (or aloud if Cory is present) would Spence like this? Could he use this? Would he be embarrassed to get this? Consequently I've been buying a lot of snack foods & extra gospel-related trinkets lately.

After Spencer got the first package I sent (I've sent 4 now ha ha) along with the myriad of letters I've written, he wrote & thanked me, letting me know how much it meant to feel supported & said, "Getting a package here is like winning the lottery."

So naturally I had to send him fresh Krispy Kremes a couple days later! (Oh the joys of same day MTC delivery). Its been fun. I've only gone out of my way to drive past the MTC like 3 times since we dropped him off, so I think I'm doing well.

If you want to send Spencer letters, emails or packages, please don't hesitate! He might not have a ton of time to respond, but I know he would love it and it'll mean more to him than he'll have time to write back :)

In case anyone is wondering, he doesn't have a CD player & headphones aren't aloud at the MTC, so until further notice, I don't know if he has any way to listen to CD's. Just throwin that out there b/c I didn't know that until recently.

Stay tuned for more pics & updates! I'll post 'em as I get 'em :)

P.S. Happy Easter!

Left to Right: Elder Manwearing, Elder Outsen, Elder Henze, Elder Ford

"Los Misioneros de Oaxaca!"

Good 'ol Spence - what a flippen' fetcher! :)

Spence & his MTC compaion, Elder Ford at the Provo temple.