Elder Duncan

Hello again to all you who read this!
This week was pretty cool. the coolest news is that we had the
opportunity to have a member of the first quorum of the seventy come
and visit our mission! Elder Kevin Duncan is his name.
First on Sunday we had a special meeting with all the recent converts
and investigators in the three stakes that make up what is called "The
Istmo." That was really cool because the mission president and a
general authority were able to reaffirm the things we have been
teaching them with their even more powerful testimonies. It was
perfect. one of the guys we´re teaching named Abram has been unsure if
he wants to get baptized because he´s seen people do it in other
churches and later go right back to their sins they did before. He was
worried that he would be a similar case and did not want to mock God.
Now of course we answered this as best we could explaining that first
comes repentance and that it is a change of heart and the holy ghost
would help him afterwards to stay away from sin if he kept on "the
whole armor of god" by keeping up with his scripture study, praying,
going to church and seminary, etc. but he was still a bit unsure. So
later when we were inviting him to the meeting (1 hour away in a place
called Juchitán) we told him that if he would go then his doubt would
be resolved by something the general authority would say or by the
Holy Ghost communicating something to his heart. and probably both
haha.
well, thats exactly what happened. Elder Duncan talked about exactly
that. he basically said what we had told him but in a different way
and coming from him it was way powerful.
I was way happy that the youth from Morro were able to go to that
conference. We brought 17 youth from this little pueblo by
coordinating with Mario (the mission leader out there who´s a suuuuper
impressive person... i´ll tell you about him later) and we contracted
a little transport to take us all the way out there.
I had the unique opportunity to make this happen for these youth. what
happened was that the branch was going to use the money from the
budget they´re allotted but the branch president decided that going to
see a member of the seventy wasn´t a good enough reason to spend the
money and that it would be better to save it for the Christmas
party...
Sunday Mario came to us and informed us that they would not be going
because he didn´t have enough money personally (he usually pays these
things out of pocket) and didn´t get paid until Wednesday so after
prayerfully thinking about it I decided to lend him the money so that
the youth could have this awesome experience. He´s going to give me
back the money on Thursday when we go out there again so its all win
win. I felt way good to have been able to make this possible for the
youth. they had a great time and their testimonies were strengthened.
so after that a couple elders that came from quite far stayed with us
in our house because we had to travel back today and it was way
cheaper to travel from salina cruz than go all the way back to their
area. and the trip is not reimbursable... cool right?
so basically I got 2 hours of sleep last night and woke up sick to my
stomach from not eating much on Sunday but had to go travel an hour
with these and other four missionaries to make sure everyone from this
side got there on time and safely, then help run the zone conference
with my top notch condition haha. it was interesting. what was most
interesting is that the Lord strengthened me a ton. once the
conference started I totally forgot about all of that and had a great
experience! Elder Duncan was really straight up with us and taught me
a lot of stuff. I am excited to go out and apply this stuff and bring
about the renewed vision he was able to transmit to me.  so needless
to say, All is well :)
I hope you all are doing great!!!! I love you and thank you for all
your prayers, love, support, good wishes, and all that. I know it
helps a ton.
The church is true. God the father lives and so does his son Jesus
Christ. I know it because I feel their support and love every single
day that i´m out here and with every trial or challenge that I face.
Without being able to feel that I would have given up long ago. but
here I am after 19 months. I know that they love each and every one of
us and that everything they do they do for that exact reason. 2 Nefi
26:24; 1 John 4:16; John 3:16-17 :)

Love,
Elder Spencer Henze

Adventures

Hi again!
Just reporting in the new update from Salina Cruz, Oaxaca! today´s
been a good p-day! Me and my district leader Elder Piña took a short
trip over to the beach! its right here about 10 minutes away so we
went to see what was up out there. it was pretty saweet. we found a
pelican and chilled with it for a little bit. It even let us touch it!
so we taught him the plan of salvation.
we also walked about 3 miles along the beach to a huge pile of rocks
which we then climbed up like bosses. then walked back.
as for the work this week we reached almost all of the goals we had
made for the zone. everyone except for one area put baptismal dates
this week! we also baptized a little girl!
we´ve got tons of work in a little pueblo called morro. there's this
dude out there who´s just a super-person in the church. the dude
baptized 580 people on his mission and is working miracles with the
youth out there in the pueblo so we´ve just been helping him wherever
we can and teaching the youth who come to his seminary class so that
they can get baptized and from that we are able to get in to teach the
entire family! it´s so pilas out there!
also while working in our main wards area this past week we went out
contacting and had one of those "miracle" experiences. we were feeling
kinda bummed out about the area and how little work there was for us
out there and all that when I decided that we should just go
contacting and see what we could scare up. well, we chose a random
street / hill that looked to be vertical. seriously, so steep that
about halfway up the road ends and its just wide stairs! we started
with the first door and went from there getting rejected time after
time, when finally at the very top of the hill, the very last house,
we contact it and the lady was interested! so was her husband! they
let us in and we had a super awesome lesson with them and they
accepted to be baptized!!!!! the only obstacle is that we need to get
them married so... could be tough but we´ll see what happens.

well that's about all the exciting news for now! I love you all and
hope you have a terrific week!!

love,
Elder Spencer Henze

First Week as ZL

Hello again!
another week done in the mission and here I am again to report to all
my favorite people from back home!
this week was CRAZY!!! haha. we definitely had lots to do. It was WAY
fun though! so get this... oh Thursday we packed up our bags and took
a fancy bus to OAXACA!! turns out there was a conference for only zone
leaders for the entire mission there in Oaxaca and the mission paid
for us to go to Oaxaca and participate! On the way there we saw three
accidents. one where a bus had bonked an old man throwing him to the
ground, then a building materials truck that crashed on the twisty
highway, then the coolest but scariest was a double gas tanker semi
truck went over the railing on a suuuuuuper steep slope and got
destroyed. kinda loco.
at the conference I was kinda nervous because we had to give a report
in front of all the leaders of the mission about last month´s
achievements in the zone and we had no idea what their approach was or
what their goals were or any of that so we just kinda reported on what
we did know and what our plan of action was this month. we set a goal
of 30 baptisms for the month of October! I`m excited to see how it
goes.
Oaxaca was legit. After the conference the president took us up to
Monte Albán!!! way cool as always. this time it was all green and
pretty up there. We got rained out hard core though and lightning
struck really close by seeing as how when the rain came we were only
about 100 ft below the clouds. The rain soon cleared though after we
all got soaked and joined the stampede out of there. I absolutely
loved being in a cool, dry climate again. it was breezy and everything
and I was in heaven.
after that we didn`t leave until 11:45 at night so we had some time to
hang out and go out on the city! I went and ate at KFC with Elder Ford
:) he came with us to get Visa stuff done.
we got home at 5:00 am after a long bus ride during which I could
hardly sleep. It made for a long day on Saturday but we got to sleep
in a bit to recharge our batteries.
well, we`re going to hit it hard this week to make up for lost time.
Thanks for the inserts you sent me Dad! they ROCK! and I know they`ll
help me a ton.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!!! hasta la proxima!

Love,
-Elder Spencer Henze

New Assignment SON!!!

Hey!!!! how´s it going everyone???
haha man, I´m quite content right now. not gonna lie. reason number
one is that I'm officially done being companions with Elder
Fuenzalida!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did my time and survived!! haha. after
his bus left the other elders that were there with me at the bus
station crowded around me and just started congratulating me and
patting me on the back and stuff. it was hilarious!!!
I´ll have to give you more details on some of the things he did this
week later when i´m back with you all. the biggest thing was that he
scammed me out of just a little more money the other day after elder
Enriquez joined the companionship so I called him out on it as he
tried to make it look like it was my fault and he stopped talking to
me for 2 full days. this was on Thursday. it was actually great
because I was able to teach our investigators with elder Enriquez who
teaches well and wants to teach, AND i was able to participate in a
large part of the teaching and baptizing of a 21 year old guy who´s
one of Elder Enriquez´ investigator. so it was almost like having a
baptism this past change!!!

Alright now for the other big news. Turns out I was taken out of my
area (yes after just 6 weeks) again and they put me 30 minutes west in
an area called Salina Cruz as ZONE LEADER!!!!!!! not just zone leader
but SR. ZONE LEADER!!!!!!! =O Not exactly sure why they gave me such
an assignment but i´m going to do my best to magnify it. I´m pretty
nervous to be honest. Today I had to oversee the changes for the whole
zone with only about a couple of hours to learn how to do that, learn
the areas in the zone, who was there, where they were going, and who
was coming and seeing to it that they got here. Luckily Elder Johnson
(the old ZL) took care of the most part of the people who were to
leave in the morning so I was able to get packed last night and sleep
for a few hours before coming out here. its been pretty intense.

aside from that in Cosijopí we found and were teaching a kid who is
going to get baptized next week. next week only because I was sure I
was going to be there to finish the teaching (like one lesson more)
and baptize him. oh well. so it wasn´t a completely dry change :)

well my friends and loved ones, the Lord is great. He has been
orchestrating a learning experience like none other for me here in
Oaxaca and I have learned and grown a ton thanks to his help. I know I
am being prepared for the rest of my life here and even though its
really hard at times i´m grateful for every one of the quickly passing
moments I´m given to be here.

oh ya CONFERENCE!!!!!
definitely a booyah. for sure. and guess what else? it was my last
conference in the mission! that means I´ll be back in time to watch
the next one with you all!!! :)

The church is true. never forget that!

-Love
Elder Spencer Henze

Semana Loca

Hola mi familia amada! que tal?
wow I`ve got some weird stuff to tell you this week.
first of all we have finally started getting some people to teach this
week!!! I did divisions with the ZLs and while doing so we found two
families to teach!!! haha. the ONLY day i haven`t been with my comp is
the day we find people to teach... that's just another testimony of how
attitude is everything. positivity attracts success!
well something pretty sad and shocking happened this week.
Friday night as my actual companion and I were returning in a taxi from
teaching one of the families I found with the ZL we came up to a bit
of a scene along the highway. when some of the gocker`s block cleared
out I saw a blue scooter laying there scratched up in the middle of
the lane but the rider was nowhere to be found. well, as we kept
moving forward about 30 yards ahead i`d say, there was a body of what
looked to be a young man about high school age that was lying face
down in a pool of blood. no helmet. This was the first time i`d ever
seen a dead person like that and it kind of disturbed me. when i saw it
it was like reality swooped down and slapped me in the face reminding
me of how short this life is and how real the gospel is. I said a
quick prayer for the boy`s family but thought that that would be the
end of it. I thought about how a couple of weeks earlier I had met a
youth from our ward who rode a moped just like that one but thought
"naw, it couldn`t be him..." I couldn`t even remember his name.
that night we received a text message from one of our friends in the
ward saying that a youth from our ward had died but didn`t say how or
anything.
as soon as i read that message the scene of the accident we passed
just a few hours earlier flashed through my head like a nightmare and
I instantly connected the story. His name is Jorge. He was 16 years
old and a recent convert of about a year in our ward. He recently went
to EFY and was helping to reactivate his family and be a good example.
People say that ever since EFY he had been talking about how he really
wanted to go on a mission.
The next day we got permission to go to the funeral. That was a
surreal experience as well. in total about 700 - 1,000 people came i
think. The whole stake center was absolutely packed with standing room
only and a crowd outside as well. The bishop taught the plan of
salvation in his eulogy which was a mega booyah missionary experience
while all those people were a little more receptive to the spirit.
The way people do funerals here is very different but it was pretty
cool to be able to participate in it. It was also pretty cool to be
respected as a true minister of religion by so many people too as we
were not just participating, but administrating.
the main differences are that the funeral procession is not in cars.
the people march behind the hurs for miles if necessary all the way to
the cemetery following a marching band. they don`t bury the body with
dirt either. they dig a 4 - 5 foot deep hole and build four walls
inside up to the surface of the ground and it has a concrete floor.
then they put the coffin inside, cover the top with wood and wire and
right there mix up cement and put it on top. so essentially its a
concrete box.
so ya, quite the experience.
Things are still going rough with my companion. I feel like I`m
babysitting 24 7 while trying to somehow have some success in the
work. The stress has been damaging my health a little bit but thanks
to the vitamins and awesome stuff Dad sent me I`m keeping healthy
enough to continue on :)
Thank you for all your love and support! As always it is very
appreciated. I love you all!!!

love,

Elder Spencer Henze

Comin up on 18

Hello mi familia amada!!!

this week was pretty good. I´m definitely looking forward to getting a
new comp but some good things happened this week. the biggest event I
want to mention first is that the assistants and the zone leaders came
to check our house and take some pictures and while they were there
they asked me how it was going with my comp knowing perfectly well how
he is, so I told them about some of the things that i have really been
struggling with lately with my comp. His attitude and lack of faith in
the work and area and well... the whole mission more than anything,
and the way in which that lack faith shows forth in everything we do.
So, the assistants had a chat with him. He acted rebellious with the
assistants so they had him talk to the president on the phone for about
20 minutes. I´m not sure exactly what the prez told him but afterwards
he went straight to bed and Sunday morning when I woke up at 6:25 I
looked over at his bed to see it made and him gone...
I then noticed that all the lights were off and that he wasn´t around.
I got a little freaked out and jumped out of bed to look for him
thinking he had taken off and done who knows what.
I left the room almost running and was about to shout "Fuenzi!!" but
then I saw him there at the bottom of the stairs in the dark just
standing there. I´m not sure if that brought me peace or freaked me
out even more haha but I was wide awake by the end of the experience
so i guess I should thank him for helping me to wake up so fast!
The ward is doing well. I got the Ward Mission Plan all formatted and
nice for the Bishop which has scored us some booyah points with him
and the leaders (the ones that actually show up to Ward Council) seem
pretty pumped about achieving the goals we set. If they work out this
ward will be able to divide shortly after Christmas!!! booyah.

Also, just want to share with you all that today was the most awesome
training meeting I´ve ever done!!! not bragging because it wasn´t
really anything I did. I think the district is starting to respect me
more and everyone (except my comp) participated a ton!!! I am very
content :D

Mom and Jam, Just wanted you to know that I GOT YOUR PACKAGE!!!!!! I
love everything!!!! the smell of those soaps is LEGIT!!!! the food was
DELICIOUS!!! and the essentials were NEEDED! thanks a lot :)

sounds like Dad´s got me covered with the heel spur problem! He gave
me some good exercise/stretch ideas and the orthotics i´m sure will
seal the deal. THANKS DAD!!!!!
alrighty guys, Keep being awesome! thanks for constantly writing me all
the way up until this point in my mission! I´m very lucky to have a
family (and friends) like you :)

with all my love
-Elder Spencer Henze