July 22, 2009

Olá, eu espero que todo mundo esteja bem. Tivemos mais uma semana de trabalho, mas não foi uma semana tão boa. Mas estamos trabalhando e tentando fazer nosso melhor, mas eu sinto muito saudade de todo mundo. E não ajuda quando ouço que todo mundo está viajando e se divertindo sem mim. Well there is a little bit of Portuguese for you guys, but I will now in English so that you can all understand what I am saying. So this last week hasn’t been a really exciting week, it has actually been a difficult week. But we are making the best out of what we are given and we are trying to keep our heads up. I really don’t even know where to start. But let me think of what I can tell you all that is going on. We have been working a ton and really staying busy, but I am not going to lie. It doesn’t seem like things are going our way. We have been teaching a bunch but we aren’t having any amazing experiences. And being a trainer isn’t the easiest thing to do on the mission. You have to have a lot patience to be a good trainer. And I know that everyone at home knows that I am not the most patient person and I get frustrated quiet easily. So I am thinking that I have been called to be a trainer so that I can develop patience or at least try and develop it. My companion doesn’t know really how to do anything; he is trying to learn everything right now. He is just starting to get the hang of things and I have to do almost everything alone. It is just something that I am not used to doing. I am used to having somebody by my side that knows how everything works and supports me and helps me. But I am now trying to teach almost all the lessons alone and it is difficult, but I am learning and slowing trying to teach my companion. So with patience and a little bit of time things will start to get better. But I am being a little tested right now and am learning. I got sick on Thursday last week as well, but mom nothing to worry about, it is just a cold. I have been coughing; I have a sore throat, a stuffy nose, and at times a runny nose. And I have and a headache for the past few days. So that puts a little bit more stress on me. And I have been really exhausted lately because of the work and the sickness. But yesterday I was able to rest a little bit, because Elder Teixeira, he lives with me, decided to put his hand in the fan and it cut his hand all up. So we had got to the hospital and my companion with Elder Milkanin because they had appointments. So we went to the hospital and decided to return home and wait the other elders and I took a nap that I needed. And then I started feeling a lot better and am starting to feel a little bit better.And you will never believe what happened on Saturday, we went to this guy’s house and he was drunk. But he wanted to talk with us so we entered and I had no idea what to teach the guy because he was drunk. So I just asked him if we could start with a pray and I said the prayer, at least I think I said the prayer. But anyways during the prayer I felt like I should teach the word of wisdom, so I did. But the drunk didn’t like to be told that he shouldn’t drink. So he told me that God governs his life and I was going to tell him that God does govern his life and that God is telling him to stop drinking but he didn’t give me the chance. He threw us out of his house. On my son´s third day he got thrown out of a house and it was the first time for the two of us. But I have already been here for almost 1 year and 4 months and he has only been here for a few days. So it was an interesting experience for us both. But on Sunday we had a few great investigators go to church, we were able to take 9 people to church which is good. And I also got invited to visit the Seventh Day Adventist church so we are going to go to another church on Saturday morning just to see how false this ladies church is. But we have a few investigators that are progressing and will be baptized on the third of next month, or next week. We also found out the Carla´s parents believe that we are anti-Christ because she prefers to believe all the crap that she hears from everyone. But there is nothing that I can do, we will continue to pass by there because of the girls but I don’t think that I am going to teach he parents anymore because I am tired of looking at her face. But I love her and I hope that some other elders can pass by there in the future and help her feel the truth, because I have tried everything. But that was about the summary of our week. It was a difficult but interesting week. Hopefully this week will be a little bit better. But I hope that everyone is doing well. I am shocked to hear that Whitney has a kid……when I left she was single…..and now she has a family. It is just really weird for me to have to see things changing without being a part of it all. But the next time that you see her, give her a hug for me and tell her that I love her and tell her congrats as well. If possible, visit Adam for me and tell him that he is in my prayers and that I love him. I feel bad that he has to go through this; I wish that I could take the suffering away from him. But it is good that he is repentant and is willing to change his life. But give Grandma Norton and Roberts a hug for me and send a hug to Camille and Becky as well. I am way jealous that you get to spend time with them. I sure do miss them and love them too. But I will let you go and I will stop talking, but I love you mom and I miss you………..8 more months and I am going to give you the biggest hug a kiss ever. I love you tons mom. Send Kaya a hug and tell her to stay out of trouble. Love you ALL!!!!! Until next week.
With All the Love in the World,Elder Jory Brent Spotts

July 15, 2009

Hey! How is everyone doing this week? I hope that everything is going well. It sure does sound like everyone is doing well. And so am i…things have been going pretty good here. We have been having some success and things have also been a little slow at the same time. But not a whole lot is going different. We had a pretty normal week this week. But let me fill you all in on everything. The assistants decided to come and visit us and work with us a little bit this week, so we worked with them for half of the week. Which was pretty cool. On Thursday we went to the jungle and we helped one of the members out. He just got down buying some land so we went to the land that he bought and we cleaned it up a little. We cleaned the house and we painted it and we cut the weeds in the front and we just cleaned up the yard a little bit. We actually ended up staying there almost the entire day. We even did some exploring in the jungle it was way rad. We cut down a bunch of bananas and we ate a ton of coconut and we had a blast. I was hoping to send some pictures but they are on my camera and I can’t take them off yet. But I will try and send some pictures some time soon. And I also forgot to tell you about some things that I ate these past few days. I ate Rocky Mountain Oysters, alligator, and cow tail. But I would have to say that alligator is the best out of the three. I actually think that alligator is one of the best meats that I have eaten in my life. I really liked it a lot; I even ate a ton of it…things that only happen in the Brazil Manaus Mission.And on Friday I had the best teaching day of the entire mission, I don’t know how…..but I managed to teach 13 lessons in one day. And usually I struggle to teach 5 or 6. I was also able to teach a few people that were really interested in our message. And one of my investigators said that he wants to be baptized and so does his wife. But they have to get married first, so we will have to help them out with that. But the work has been going good. I hope that it can keep going as good as it has.On Saturday we had three baptisms and the ward had two baptisms. Jessica, Jane Kelly, and Alzicleide we all baptized. They are Carla´s sisters and cousin. It was an awesome baptismal service; the only problem was that during the day some time the church ran out of water so the font didn’t fill up all the way. But we managed to get a hose and we pumped water from outside into the font so everything went great. The only problems with Carla’s family now are the parents. Apparently Carla´s testimony wasn’t enough. The parents have now started looking at the internet sites that talk bad about the church. So I am going to have some problems pretty soon, but hopefully sometime the mother will be touched by the spirit a little bit stronger. But I am not too worried because the girls have been showing a great example to their mother, they have been going to seminary and everything is going great with them. So I am excited about their progress and am a little bit worried about the parents.And well as of Saturday I also found out the Elder A. Oliveira wasn’t going to be my companion anymore. He got transferred on Monday and my new companion´s name is Elder Oxborrow, he is from Vegas and he just barely arrived from the MTC. I am his first companion and that means that I am training. I have now received the greatest responsibility that there is as a missionary, trainer. I am really nervous for that but I am also excited, it will be a new experience. But it is also going to be very difficult, because he doesn’t know anything; he only speaks a little bit of Portuguese. So I really need your prayers, so pray for me.But that is just about all that has been going on lately. My new companion arrived today and well that is just about it. But I am glad to hear that you were given the time off to be able to come and get me and I hope that Juston is able to come as well. I really wanted him to come too, because he really needs it. I just hope that he will be able to come, but we will see how everything turns out. And I am also glad to hear that Kaya is back with you, it sounds like she had a bunch of fun with Dad and his family in Alaska, but I hope that everything is going good for you guys and that you guys have a great trip to Blanding. Take some pictures and send them to me. Oh, and that reminds me that I need you to send me some things. My glasses broke and I think that I might need a new pair, I also wanted a copy of the May Ensign because I wasn’t able to get that from the Mission Office and they already ran out. But I think that is all that I need, but I hope that everything is going good and I wanted to tell you guys that I love you and I hope that everything goes great for you guys. Everything is awesome here; I am really enjoying the mission a lot more now. I love you and I miss you!
With Love, Elder Spotts
PS-Sorry this letter wasn´t as good as the last

July 8, 2009

Well, one more week has gone by and things are going pretty good. We had a pretty good week this week. We received some pretty good blessings but we also had some difficult days. And right about now I am trying to remember just exactly what happened this week. But what I can remember was that it was a pretty good week. But I hope that everyone doing good. It seems like everyone had a great pretty good Fourth of July. I wish that I could have been there with you all but it isn’t exactly an option as a missionary. But I think that I did have a pretty good Fourth, Elder Milkanin and I sang the National Anthem which is just about all that we can do to celebrate. But yeah….on to the news of the weekThis week we started teaching a new investigator, Brisola. He is a young man that is really interested in the gospel and believes that the church is true. He went to church with us and is progressing really well and is wanting to join the church. So we are going to continue to work with him and see if we cant mark is baptismal date here pretty soon. The only problem is that he lives with his girl friend and she is pregnant so they will have to get married if he wants to be baptized. But things have been going great with him.We did have a great week with Carla´s family. They are starting to make more progress. Alzenira, the mother, really liked the message about the family and then on Sunday we decided to follow the guidance of our president. I received an email from president on Wednesday last week and he recommended that we read the Book of Mormon with them and pray about the Book of Mormon with them. The lesson actually started out horrible with them saying a bunch of ridiculous crap about the church and spirit wasn’t there. We answered their questions and stupid comments about the Book of Mormon. But it wasn’t helping because the spirit wasn’t there. But out of no where I don’t even remember what my companion said, but he said something and when we said it the spirit entered into the room. We testified about the Book of Mormon and with the spirit still in the room I asked Sildo, the father, to offer a prayer and asked God if the Book of Mormon is true. He did as I asked and the spirit was so strong. Even I received another answer that the Book of Mormon is true. I actually have never felt the spirit testify to me so strong about the BOM. After the prayer the girls were crying and I know that they felt and so do they. It was an amazing experience. But the parents didn’t feel anything. I even asked them if they were going to go to church and they said I don’t know. But the girls said yes. After the lesson we went home to grab some things for church. And we went to church. We passed a few houses first to grab some people but no one wanted to come with us. And when we arrived the Carla´s parents hadn’t arrived yet. So I figured they weren’t going to come but they did after the first hour. And well as it was fast and testimony meeting everyone bore their testimonies. I went up and I bore my testimony about the mission and how I have never felt so much joy in my life and sadness at the same time because of the people that accept and reject the gospel. And afterwards I sat down next to Alzenira and she turned to me and asked me if I feel sad after leaving their house sometimes and I told her yes. And I bore my testimony again to just her and after I got done talking with her, her daughter, Carla, got up to bear her testimony. And while Carla was talking, her mother started to cry. Her mother for the first time was touched by the spirit. It was awesome. We went back to their house last night to have her mother sign the paper for the girls to be baptized because the girls want to be baptized. Her mother said that she isn’t sure if the church is true. But she has a lot more of an interest in learning about the church she asked for the Church´s internet site and she even kept one of the Baptismal Papers and signed it. After signing it she looked at me and said I am going to keep this one. So that when I get baptized it is already signed. So she admitted that one day she will get baptized. So things have been going well. The girls will get baptized on Saturday and sometime in the future that parents will as well. Things have been going great. After she signed the papers my companion and I stayed there just talking with her for the longest time. And it was an awesome talk. I have to thank my Father in Heaven for touching her heart. After trying for so long He finally succeeded and I am receiving the blessings.I also had the opportunity to teach a little bit of the gospel in English. For the first time in forever, and boy was that hard. It has been forever since the last time that I spoke English to an American and I struggled A LOT. We ran into the American from Kansas on Monday night outside the house of a member waiting for our family night to start. And he told me that he was on a mission and he just wanted to argue with me but I didn’t let him. I just chatted with him and then started to teach after he said what he wanted. I struggled but was able to teach a little bit of the gospel in English. And it was a little bit interesting. He said a lot of truth as he talked with me, but he was missing a lot of the truth as well. Where just a lot of holes in what he taught, missing a lot of the truth. He believes that he are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, which is true. But he doesn’t understand that we are saved by His grace after ALL that we can do. But I didn’t want to argue with him, I know that it was just going to cause problems. So I didn’t say anything about that. Just bore my testimony about Jesus Christ. But things have been going really well.We are also having some great success with the guy on the bike´s, Rosemir´s, family. The last time I was at their house I felt like I needed to invite them to be baptized, so I did and everyone accepted. So they are going to be baptized on the 25th of this month. They have been progressing pretty well. Even a member that has been helping us with them went to their house and had a family night with them without even warning us. But it turned out to help a ton. Things have been started to go a little bit better here. But that could change at any second. Because not everything is going perfect, the branch hasn’t been helping us very much and we have been having problems with the leaders. They just like to tell us what to do and just wait for us to break a little rule to judge us and criticize us. They worry way to much about what we do and not enough about the branch. But we are trying to work things out with them. But yeah things have been going good. I don’t really have time to go into details of the problems. But it has been difficult.But I hope that everything is going good for you mom. I sure do miss you and I wish that I could have been with you on the Fourth. But next year I will be there. And it sounds like Kaya will be coming home pretty soon so you won´t be alone any more. But I enjoyed you letter and the pictures. The city looks gorgeous and so does timpanogas. My companion enjoyed the pics too. But I love you and I miss you and just try and send the memory card when you can. I love you and I will talk to you next week. And send Melissa Louder a hug for me.
Thanks love you mom and send everyone else hugs as well.

July 1, 2009

Well, it has been one more week and things seem to be about the same. and i am coming to realize that this is probably the hardest area that i have worked in on my mission. but i am holding in there and hoping that i will be blessed in the long run. but i hope that all is going good for everyone at home. i have been thinking about you guys a ton and now that the Fourth of July is coming up i a going to miss you guys and remember about the great times that we always have at the parade. but the bright side is that next year i will be back an the real party can begin. but we had another week and it went pretty well. Nothing to complain about. Latey we have been seeing a bunch of snakes around here and it has been heating up. we saw a snake yesterday at one of our investigator´s house and i didnt exactly like that. but whatever.....but i cant remember if i told you guys about the experience that we had last week. The experience about the man that was sitting on a bike and i felt like i should talk to him so i did. well we started teaching them and things are going pretty good with that family. they werent able to make it to church on Sunday because of the soccer game, Brazil vs. USA. this country lives for soccer and it is terrible trying to teach a lesson when the Brazil soccer team is playing, because no one wants to listen. but that game was pretty crazy, the USA almost won in the Final Game. all of the brazilians were shocked and almost crying when the States were beating Brazil 2-0 at half time. but then the states started playing worse and brazil started playing better and brazil won, 3-2. It was a really good game and it looks like the States will do good in the World Cup next taking second in the world in this tournament. And i will be at home to watch that as well. Oh and some new news with the mission. We just got word today that the mission is moving its boundaries and combining with another mission. so our mission is now bigger and has a lot more missionaries, which should be pretty cool. so i could not be transfered even further into the jungle now. The mission now covers 4 states here. Amazonas, Acre, Roraima, and Rondonia. As for the work and teaching in our....we are wrking and teaching, but we are having a lot of trouble finding people that really have the desire to serve and follow God. we have been teaching a few girls that want to be baptized but their parents wont let them, so we are now trying to teach their parents the messages so that they will let them. and the same family that we have been taching or a long time is having some troubles, Carla´s Family. Her sisters want to be baptized but their parents are fetching losers and dont want to be good examples for their daughters and the mother says a bunch of crap to them so they are scared of the mother. and i am started to get really impatient with the mother. but i just got a letter for President and he gave some good ideas to help. because the parents dont want to pray to know the truth. so we are going to read and pray with them. because i really like this family and i want them to accept the gospel. But it is hard for me to let them make their own decisions. because they have no idea what they are doing with their lives. they are going to regret it if the reject the gospel of the Saviour of the world. so i am trying to do my best to help them receive a testimony of gospel. But things have been going really good with Carla, she is the example in the house and we are working with her to help her family. She is now the Music Leader in the branch, which was weird because she doesnt even know how to lead music, so i have to teach her everyday how to sing the songs and lead at the same time. She lead the music for the first time in Sacrament meeting on Sunday and did a pretty good jobs. Her sister Jessica is also awesome, she wants to be baptized and went to seminary for the first time last night and loved it. She said that she is going to go again tomorrow. but we have been having trouble with the parents. so i am going to start being a little bit more serious with them and help feel the truth. But yeah.....i am thinking that that is just about all that has been going on. There was an activity in the branch on friday that didnt go to good because it started way late. but we had about thirty investigators there which is awesome. but the members didnt even talk with them or try to help them. so we got a little bit upset at that but we didnt sa anything because we cant. but things have been difficult in this area so pray for me and my companion so that everything can work out for us. but i think that is about all with things that have been happening around here. things are going good. just trying to do my part and hoping that success a long the way comes.It sounds like you have your hands full with work and things, sorry that i cant be there to help you out around the house. i looked at the blog and it is pretty cool, i didnt even worry about asking my president. because he will probably so no so i just looked at it with being told no. so if it was breaking the rules it was breaking the rules innocently. ;) but i hope that all is going well. i wish you a happy fourth of july, it will be my last. but give everyone hugs for me and tell them all that i love them. and my companion also wanted you to see if you could buy a memory card for the PSP, either a 2GB or a 1GB. Look at the prices and you decide....look for something that is around 40$ or so, but hopefully it turns out to be less. but i love you and have a great week. i will talk to you next week.
With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

June 24, 2009

Dear Mom and Family, How is everything going? I hope that all is well and that everything seems to be going well. But it sounds like things are going pretty well for you and everyone at home. But things here going great and i have been feeling a lot better lately about the work and things are going. On Sunday we had 10 people go to church. Which was good, and things have been going a lot better with most of investigators. On Saturday we had a good lesson at Carla´s house. For a while we were struggling a lot there and it didnt seem like things were progressing, because they were reading and fulfilling every commitment that we left with them. But for some reason i wasnt able to feel the spirit at their house and we Just couldnt figure out what they were needing. But we finally remember that we didnt explain about the Book of Mormon to the mother, Alzenira, because she wasnt there the day that we taught about that. So on Saturday we decided to teach it again and it went perfect. The spirit was there and it was exactly what they were needing. And things seem to be going really well there. The daughters seem to want to be baptized, because they have already said so but we are having alittle bit of trouble with the parents. But we are going to continue and pray that the parents finally realize the truthfulness of the gospel. The next time we go we are going to try and mark their baptismal date but yeah, that is everything goes as planned. But i am feeling a lot better about the work and things have been going good. We had a few Young girls tell us that they want to be baptized, but the only problem there is that their parents dont want them to be baptized so we have to convince the parents first and then we can baptize them. But things are going pretty good.On Monday we had a pretty cool little experience. We were walking in the street and i passed by a man that was sitting on a bike and i didnt think anything of it. Then out of no where i felt like we needed to go talk to him. So we turned around and went back to talk with him. We explained about the church a little bit ando w God loves him and then i said that we would like to leave a message with him and his family. And He didnt even say Yes or no. He Just gave me his address and said that we could pass by whenever we wanted. So we went there yesterday and we felt the spirit really strong inside his house during the lesson. It was a great lesson and we are going to go back there on Thursday to teach them again. But yeah... i am trying to think of some other things that have happened that are pretty interest to fill you in on. Sorry that my letters really havent been that good that i heve written to you guys. I really dont like to write very much and i always forget about the cool things that happen during the week. But things have been going really good, and i hope that my letters will start getting better. We had a little bit of an interesting experience on Thursday last week. We were sitting in front of a members house chatting with her about the church because she is having some trouble because the members here arent very good examples for the people in this city and she doesnt want to go back to church because of that, and she doesnt want to take her fiancé to church either because of that. But we were chatting with her and leaving a message with her and out of no where we see like three men running in the street with HUGE knives and right behind them are the cops. We saw a chase!!! But the men entered in some weeds and got off of the Road so the cops slammed on their brakes and one decided to get out armed and chase after the guys with knives. So they ran into the woods and my companion looked and me and said listen for the gun shot. And no less than a few seconds after He said that we heard the BANG. Then the cops drove passed the members house again with three guys in the back seat. It was pretty crazy to hear that and witness that. And right now we have a member that is wanting to feed us rocky mountain oysters because they eat weird things here like that. Today the US soccer team is playing Spain in the world cup selections , you probably dont even know about that. And they Will be playing in the semifinal, which is pretty cool and that game will be today. Oh and i found out on Wednesday last week that one of my investigators likes me and wants to date me. But i had to explain to her that missionaries cant do that. But yeah.....Summer is also coming here. We have been experiencing some REALLY HOT weather lately which isnt to exciting. That is one thing that i am definelty not going to miss.......the hot weather. I hate the Sun, all it wants to do is burn me and make we sweat a ton. But that is Just the way that things go here. But ever since the Zone Conference i have been feeling a lot better about the work. I have been able to feel the spirit a lot better and things are going good. And i have also recently stopped reading the scriptures and i starting actually studying them. Looking at the footnotes every chance that i get and i have been learning a lot. It is incredible the things that you can learn and realize looking at the footnotes. I have learning more and more about the way taht God works and teached His children, i have been getting to know Him so much better. It is pretty RAD!!!But yeah......it seems like things have been pretty interest at work. You had a guy put a pen in is his butt and now some guy hung himself. It sure does seem like you have got your hands full there. And i thought that Kaya already had her drivers license, but i guess not. And let her know that she cant put any stupid stickers on the car because i dont want to have to take them off when i get home. Dont let her put any bumber stickers on it. And it seems like everything is ready with the PSP, and my companion will be excited to hear that. And when you send it, dont send it in the original Box. Take the PSP out and everything that comes with it and put it in a different box and you can put it in any name it doesnt matter. Either way he will get it and he will pay me too. But my companion does want to know a little bit about the PSP. The color and the accessories that come with it, so in your next letter describe it to me a little bit. And i think that is Just about all that i have to write. I really cant think of anything else. But everything has been going really good. I miss you and i Love you and i will talk to you next week. Stay out of trouble and keep up the good work. Give everyone hugs for me and i will talk to you next week. I Love you and i miss you.
With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

June 17, 2009

Hey Mom! How is everything going? i hope that all is well. things here are going pretty good and it isnt my fault that you didnt get a letter from me, because i had written you a huge letter and when i went to hit that send button the internet stop working and i didnt get to send it. so did get upset because it wasnt my fault. but it was probably a good thing that you didnt get it because it just talked about a ton of negative things. Because i have been struggle a little bit lately and it has been hard. My patience has trully been being tested lately because a lot things are started to go wrong here. the members have stopped helping us and it is difficult without them. Our teaching pool is small because no one wants to go to church, they just like our visits and i cant keep teahing people that just like to hear. they have to progress our i have to let them go. we are having some trouble with Carla´s parents. we dont exactly know what is going on there but we are still teaching them and the daughters all want to get baptized and the are progressing and fulfilling all of the commitments that we leave with them. but the mother is scared of being baptized and the father doesnt want to accept the Book of Mormon as the word of God. but i am not playing around anymore i am getting a little frustated with them and i am going to be straight forward with them from now on. but we did travel by boat again, we actually just got off the boat because we had Zone Conference again. and it was really good. It helped me out a ton, i felt like everything was said directly to me. President talked about the importance of every soul and also the importance of trials. and i was struggling for a little while to believe that i am that important to God and that He had lost confidence in me. but after Zone conference and my interview with President i am feeling a thousand times better. and hope that we will be able to get back to week this week and find some people to teach. The trip to Itacoatiara was pretty good too. On the way there we had clear skies and we were able to see all the stars. so the four of us missionaries laid on top of the boat and just looked at the stars and talked the whole night. it was a gorgeous night and it felt good to just relax and forget about all the stress that the mission brings. and while we were in Itacoatiara we went around visiting a bunch of members after the conference with Elder Milkanin(one of my old companions) and i met some pretty sweet people. i met a family that had recently traveled to the other side of the country to get sealed in the temple. and they are a very humble family with a small house and not a lot of money. and they were happy and talked about the experience they had in the temple and how it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to them. it was pretty cool. the trip went pretty well. the only thing that sucked was that we had to wait on the ship port for 3 hours to catch the boat go come back to Maués. and the boat was PACKED full of people. i ended up sleeping on the ground at the port for a long time at 1 o´clock in the morning and i was way tired. i am still pretty tired because of two trips. And as for the baptism.....it went well. but she almost didnt get baptized because of her mother. her other signed her Church record and was cool with the baptism. but she kept talking to carla about it and she tons of stuff and well Carla went to the interview crying telling us that she wasnt going to be baptized because of her mother. but we talked to her and she decided to do it and it went really well. now we are just going to try and help her family out. but we are going to need the help from the Lord to be able to help them understand the importance of baptism and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. but yeah......just pray for me every day because i need the prayers. and as for the PSP......my companion wants a white one if you can find one, but if not then you than just buy a black one or whatever color. and you can go ahead and send it in his name......Elder A. Oliveira. and he wants the psp that has a microphone and that costs around $200 or cheaper. he doesnt want anything more expensive than that. and go ahead and send it with the Halladays(the family in grandma´s ward) and it should get here some time next month then. and well i dont know what else to tell you about that. but yeah.....Well everything is going pretty good and i hope that this letter makes up for the one that didnt make it last week because the internet fell. so dont be mad at me because it wasnt my fault. and say hi to the new neighbor for me. and what do you mean that he is doing to help me with my grants and schooling stuff, because we are going to have to start looking into that here pretty soon. because i want to be able to start studying as soon as possible when i get home which means that i am going to have to get prepared and you will have to take care of all that stuff while i am on the mission. but yeah....sorry that you are a lone. if i could i would totally come home and give you company, but that is kind of hard because i am on the mission. but i love you and i miss you and i will write you next week. Love you and give everyone hugs and kisses for me. talk to you later.
With Love, Elder Spotts

June 3, 2009

Well i am going to have to apologize in advance, because i am not going to be able to write a big letter because we have to go to the airport to pick up the new elder that was transfered to here. i am staying with my companion for atleast one more transfer which will be cool. he is an awesome missionary and we have tons of fun. but we did lose an elder in our district because he was tranfered to the city. but one of my old companions will be coming here and him and i are going to be able to live in the same house together which will be tons of fun. and things here have been about the same. the family that we have been teaching is still progressing and we are looking to mark their baptismal dates, we just havent quite felt like it was time yet. but Carla will be baptized on the 13th of this month. so not saturday, but next saturday. but yeah.......other than that not a whole lot has been going on. our other family fell through and things just arent working out there very well, we really dont know what is going on there. but we are still visiting them to see what we can do to help them. but Carla´s family has been awesome. they always ask so many questions and always comment on what they learn from the Book of Mormon and things have been going really well. i am falling in love with this family and really hope that we will be able to baptize them. the only problem is that we will have wait to get them married because they arent married and he has to divorce from his ex-wife too. but he is going to do that this month and we will see what we cant do to help them. but yeah we also played soccer again today and that was fun. but yeah.....i really cant think of anything else to write, but i love you and thank you for the pictures and i will send an email to grndma telling her to let you take money out of my account to help my companion buy the PSP. but i love you and i hope that verything is going great. love you and i miss you all]
With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

May 27, 2009

Well first i want to thank you for the letter, because it was a good one. which means that i will forgive for last week. but how is everything going? is sure seems like everything is going really well for you guys there. Having fun, going to the Zoo, and playing around. which is always good. we do the same thing here when we want to have a little bit of fun. like today for example we played some soccer and had some fun, and it is pretty good having a district that is awesome. we always joke around and have tons of fun, but it doesnt interupt our work. our district has been having a baptism every week and we have to thank Our Father in Heaven for that. Because very week we are able to find some one that is interested in moving their life. and that is one thing that i have really been able to see on my mission. The gospel moves livs and blesses people beyond anything that you can imagine. i am really gratful for the gospel and for the opportunity that i have been givn to serve in this area. last week we had a really good week. the assistants arrived last week and they stayed with us until monday morning. they came to see how the work is going and how we are doing. we had a lot of fun with them but also we got a ton of stuff done. and as you know that two of old companions are assistant and well one of them came here and i was able to work with him. it was pretty cool being able to work with him again. but yeah.....as for our week....... We started the week out with marking four baptisms. A family that we had been teaching for a long time but we had stopped teaching them because they werent progressing. but on Sunday last week they came to church without an invitation. so we marked their baptism for next week and if everything goes well they will all be baptized. and then on the same day we starting teaching an incredible family, Carla´s family. Carla is friends with a recent convert and we started teaching here two weeks ago. but we were only teaching her and then she told us that her family wanted to hear our message. so we went there and we taked with all of them. they are a family of 5 and their cousin is living with them right now. and they are just an awesome family. they went to to church and are progressing everyday more and more. all the kids have said that they know that everything that we have been teaching is true. and the mom also received an answer to her prayer. but the father hasnt prayed yet. and you know how they are.....they are always the hardest to teach. but tonight we are going to mark their baptismal date, knowing that the kids will accept and praying that the spirit has already touched the father´s heart.I also want to tell you a little bit about Carla. she is way cool.....she is 17 and already has a strong testimony of the church and is a great help and example for her family. She already loves to do missionary work and is always living with the other members to visit investigators and recent converts and less active members. On Sunday she brought a family of recent converts to church. she went to their house to take them to church. it was a first for me, i have never seen an investigator take recent converts to church. she also has given us a couple of referrals and went with us one day to her cousins house....one of her referrals. we left the message with her and then Carla said the closing prayer. and it was a pretty dang good prayer....she asked that her cousin could make it to OUR(meaning her church as well) church and also that her cousin could feel the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.....i couldnt believe that she is already calling The Church Her church. and her cousin is way funny too. she is a fourteen year old girl and you know how they are. hey way they talk and the way the act. well yeah.....we were at their house on Monday and we were answering their questions. and she always asks tons of questions. and so she started.......she asked us if God really forgives us when we repent. so we explained to her that He does. then she asked if we can trick God into believing that we have repented but in our hearts we really havent. so we explained that God knows our hearts and knows our deepest desires and even our thoughts and He knows when we have really repented. and then came the last question......But how does know our hearts when our heart is only a red ball full of blood?.......and i couldnt help myself, i started laughing my head off along with everyone else. it was really funny, and she always asks us things that that too. but on monday night we had a great lesson there. we had a little bit of a testimony meeting there, because a few members showed up to help out with the lesson. so all nine of us bore our testimonies. and it was a really good thing too, because it helped them feel the impact that the church has had on all of our lives. Our Ward Mission Leader used to be a drunk that always past out in the street and slept in the street and now is a leader in the church and helps us out a ton. we was really good to be able to also bear my testimony to them. because it has been awhile since the last time that i was able to bear my testimony like that. i was able to tell them how i gained my testimony and i cryed and it felt good to do so. alot of the family was crying there because the spirit was so strong, it was awesome. i love the mission, there is no other place that i would want to be. i mean i miss my family and my friends and a lot of things that i used to do at home. but i have never felt so happy in all my life. the gospel is true and it is because of the gospel that i am able to enjoy happiness. i have had a lot of struggles in my life and i know that there are other people in the world that have had worse or more struggles than i have. but i know that anybody can receive happiness beyond there wilderness dreams through the gospel. i know that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet, like Moses and Noah and Adam and Enoch and all the holy prophets from the Scripture. Jesus is the Christ and it because of Him and His love that i am able to say all of this. it is because of all the He as done. On the earth and in the Heavens, because He is no longer on the face of the earth. but He continues to guide this church through a living Prophet of God who is Thomas S. Monson. i love you all and i hope that everything is going for everyone in the states. i miss you all but i love being a missionary. but yeah.... think that that is all that i have to say for the time being. but pray me and pray for my investigators and pray for everyone so that they may all be able to come unto the marvelous light that is the gospel. love you and until next week. Hugs and Kisses to all!!!!!
With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

May 20, 2009

Well i am not going to lie. i am little upset that you didnt write this week. i mean it cant be that hard, i am the only son that you have on a mission. and i thought that you worried about me, but now i really know how it is. but no matter how mad i am i decided to write you a letter, and i almost didnt. but yeah.......How are things going? i hope that everything is going good. i sure do miss you guys and love you all too. how is kaya doing? how is work? are you still having tons of crazt things going on there at the prison? you better be careful in there, because you are the only mom that i have and i couldnt substitute you. i love you too much and am too grateful for everything that you do. But things here are going pretty good. today we played some soccer and we had some fun with that. but i decided to try and play like true brazilian, without shoes....barefoot, and well that was a bad idea. i was having a ton of fun in the beginning but then i decided to scrap my foot on the ground and i took a chunk out of my big toe. and my feet ar hurting a little it right now. but we had a ton of fun. We also had two baptisms on friday and things are going really good here. staying busy and getting exhausted everyday. but that is the life of a missionary. On Sunday i also managed to fall on my butt walking down a small hill in the rain and it happened right before church so i went to church with a muddy butt. and my companion and i also managed to laugh at a guy that doesnt know how to talk like at all. my companion started laughing at him and i couldnt help but laugh and then the guy starting laughing too. it was a little funny and my companion felt terrible afterwards. but i couldnt believe that he was laughing at him. but things are going really good. today i am hoping that i will be able to receive some letters and my package that you sent me because the assistants are arriving here today and they are going to stay here for a while. and my old companion Elder Parker called me and told me that he baptized thre people that i was teaching and i also marked their baptismal date before i was transfered and he is going to baptized to ladies that are just awesome here pretty soon. and one of them is going to come to the city where i am next month because her brother lives here so i am pretty excited to see her. but yeah i really dont have a lot to say, but i love you and i miss you. and if you dont send me an email next week i am not going to write you either. i am just warning right now. but i love you mom and i hope that everything is going good with you and kaya. i will talk to you next week......i hope.
With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

May 13, 2009

Hey! how is everyone doing? i hope that everyone is going good. it was good to talk to you guys on Sunday. i was able to talk to juston for like twenty or thirty minutes and it was good. i really enjoyed talking with him. we were able to laugh together and just chat a little. it was good to talk to him, but i dont know. it looks like he is going to a different church now. he says that the church is really weird, but he likes it there because the people accept him for who he is. it just really upsets me that the TRUE CHURCH of God cant accept him as a sinner. i talked to dad a little bit about that and it just made me upset to here how the people treat him in the TRUE CHURCH. i just hope the i dont ever witness someone judge him, because i will get very upset and i wont let that happen. i just cant believe that people cant understand that the church is a place for sinners. it is a place that the Lord created while He was on the earth to PERFECT the saints. i just cant wait until i get home......but things here are going really good. i love the mission and i love everything that i am learning. we fasted on monday and that was good. and we are trying to be able to find some people that are waiting to hear the gospel. people that are going to follow the Lord and not the world. we played some basketball today and that was pretty fun. but we did have a really good day of work on Monday, but tuesday was terrible. somedays we are able to teach a ton and have great lessons. others we teach little and the lessons just arent as good. but we just have to continue working with patience. But things have been going pretty good. it seems like things are going pretty good for you guys there. i really enjoyed talking with you guys. but i really cant think of anything to tekk you guys, because we chatted on Sunday. but yea.....i hope that everything is going good for you guys, i love you and well. i received an email from Justin Oberg and Matt . it is alwas good to hear from them and i wont you to continue to send my emails to them so that they can know what is going on here. i think that i am going to write Matt a letter today and i hope that it will arrive to him fast as well. but yeah. today i am running out of things to say but i love you all. i know that the CHurch is true and i really grateful for the opportunity that i have to serve the Lord here in the Amazon. it is hot and i sweat a lot and a lot of times the people dont want to acceot our message. but we keep walking each day and the people that do want to hear are put in our path. we just have to open our mouths and teach them and let the spirit touch there hearts. i am so grateful for the Spirit and the help that he gives us. it is through him that we learn and we grow. as we apply the things we learn from him and as we cultivate our seed we grow more amore each day and some day, our tree will give fruit and it will white, whiter than any other thing. The Fruit being the fruit that Lehi tasted......Eternal Life. i pray that all of you and i can work hard toward tasting this fruit. i want to taste with you all. i dont want to taste it a lone.....i love you all and i hope taht everything is going good for you all. the gospel is true. LIVE IT!!!!! Never let the gospel be an influence in your life, but turn it into the essence of you life.....do everything that you can to become closer to God each day. give your plant water each day. i love you all and hope that you have a great day and week.
With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

May 6, 2009

Hey! How is everyone doing? how was your week this week? i hope that everything is going good. things here have been alright. the trip on the amazon was pretty cool. i didnt see any monkeys though because we were going so fast on the river, but we were able to see some tucans(but didnt get picture of them) some fresh water dolphins, sting ray, and a ton of trees and birds and houses full of water, and some boats and a HUGE ship too. i wasnt able to get any pictures of any animals because we were moving so fast but i did take about 50 or pictures and i will try and sendsome to your guys. i will be going to Manaus sometime soon to renew my visa and i will need to buy a cable to be able to send pictures to you guys through the internet and it will be much easier. but you will just have to wait until i go to the city, which should be some time soon. But things are going really well here, we are having a little bit if trouble finding people that are ready to hear the gospel and are willing to follow it. so we are looking and trying to find people to teach. but with patience and hard work we will find them. but things are going good. we will have a baptism next week, atleast we are planning on having it if nothing goes wrong until then. We had zone conference and that went really well. i really enjoyed the trainings that we received and hope that it will be able to help me out. And i am excited to drive my new car when i get home now. atleast that will happen if Kaya decides to take good care of it. Do you think that she is capable of that? teach her how to be smart with my car please. and hey what the heck is this that i hear about the Pig Flu of something like that. it would be nice to have a little bit of information on that. because all i hear is that everyone is dying in the United States, because that is what passes on the news. but yeah just fill me in on that.And also forgot to tell you that i was able to play with a monkey here, because he lives on our street here. but he doesnt let you take pictures. every time you reach for your camera he makes an ugly face and runs and hides. but monkeys are really weird, they are exactly like people. but they have hands for feet and really strong tails. but yeah.....So i hear that Brandon is finally going to get married. That is awesome, but i just have one question.......Why the heck does everyone have to get married while i am gone and cannot be there? that is absolutely ridiculous. but i guess that is life, i am sure that when i arrive home no one is going to get married. but whatever......congradulate him for me and tell him that he sucks because he planned on getting married while i am on the mission. and tell him that i atleast want a wedding invitation. But things are going good and i now know that i definetly will not be getting your package for a little while longer, because it hasnt arrived yet and i wont be going to the city anytime before mothers day. but that is alright and about calling to you. i will call you on sunday and then you can call me back. and being that i dont know what time you hav church on sunday i think that you will miss church to talk to me because we have church at night and i cant call during church, so i will have to call you in the morning at like 7:00 your time so that you can try at make it to church. so be ready to answer the phone at 7:00 in the morning. And i will tell you one thing that is really annoying......trying to take mony out of your personal account when it doesnt work. so i dont have any mony right now. becuase i had to buy some new shoes and i bought a hammock for the boat ride as well. because th boat ride was 11 hours and it was over night. so i ran out of cash and well the ATM here sucks. i have tried a bunch of times but it doesnt work. but yeah.....i will get money from the church tomorrow. so i will starve for one more day. jk my companion is buying things for me because he has a little bit of cash.But i am now running out of things to say, but i hope that you are still sending my emails to those people that i told you. Josh, Matt, Justin, and Sherra. but i hope that everyone is doing good and tell Kaya to write me. she doesnt hav any excuse to not write. but i love you and i will talk to you next week. Love you and i miss you.
With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts (O Cara....Mano)

April 29, 2009

Hey! well i hope that all is well with everyone there. i dont know exactly what is going on there with juston and everyone. but i know with certainty because i feel it, that the Lord will take care of him and that everything will be alright in the end. i hope that i can have the opportunity to talk to juston on mothers day as well. but we will have to see how that all works out and if president will let me call dad as well. but i will be with president on Monday because we are going to have Zone Conference. which means that our district here in Maués is going to have the opportunity to travel tens hours by boat to the city where they are going to have Zone Conference. and i am pretty excited about that. the Zone leaders called me last night to tell me that and i got support excited. because there are very few elders that get the opportunity to travel by boat on the amazon river. it is going to be awesome. But this week wasnt a super amazing week. right now i am getting used to my new area and trying to get the hang of being DL and Senior. but things have been going really well so far. we have been able to find a few people that are ready to hear the gospel. we are teaching one lady that is trying to find a church and is looking to get baptized and is really interested in the church. and we all know that when someone is searching with an open heart they are going to feel the truthfulness of the gospel. so we are teaching her and just whating for her to have this answer so that we can mark her baptism. but things here are going really well. i really like this area and the people.....i wont lie we arrived home a little late last night because we last track of time and we talking with a member family that lives on our street. and their daughter is going to go on a mission in June. but the area is awesome and i really like it. the city is on the river bank and it is just beautiful. i am going to try and send you guys some pictures but it is going to be harder now because of were i am. but i am going to see what i can do to try and send some to you all.My companion and i are doing good as well. he is way awesome and things are going really well. today we are going to enjoy P-day but we arent sure what we are going to do. we might do see the other side of town where i havent been yet or we are just going to stay at home. but either way i am happy. we are also going to start teaching english today at the church to see if we cant find some investigators doing that. and by the way the people here LOVE americans. the girls in this city are crazy for them. when you shake their hands you have to yank your hand away from them because they wont let go and they just giggle and tell you that they love you all the time. it is ridiculous. but things are going good. but i really dont have any news or anything that is going on. i am just getting the hang of everything right now. but things are going good and i love you all. oh and is Zech still living with you or is he living in Alaaska? but yeah love you and i will talk to you all next week.
Com Amor, Elder Jory B. Spotts

April 22, 2009

Hey mommry and everyone else that reads this email. i hope that everything is going good for you all. things in brazil are going pretty good. and sorry about nt putting details in the dead body story. but after we saw it we keep on walking and met up with the other elders and told them about it and they went to see it and they called the police. but you guys have to understand that the police dont give a crap. they had the guts to tell the other elders that it was a dog. but that is BS because i say it with my own eyes. the police here get payed by the drug dealers and all those guys. and a half an hour after the elders passed by the body we passed the same area and it wasnt there anymore so i have no idea what happened. but i am pretty sure that no one cares where the head is. all they think about is that he is dead and there isnt anything they can do about it. But anyways......how is everything going? how did the jazz game go? how is kaya? when did you buy a dog for her? and what did you do wih Bruiser? i hope you didnt sell him because i will be very upset at you. how is the family? how is grandma roberts? i need to write her. but yeah......how is the ward? how is justin oberg? you should stop by his house some time if you ever have any time to tell him hi and see how he is doing. but things here are going pretty good. yesterday i got transfered again.....and i am a long ways away from the city now. i am now in the city called Maués. it is a small interior town that is in the middle of the jungle. the only way to get here is either by boat or by plane. so i arrived yesterday by plane, but i was a little sad to leave my last area. i really loved mmy last area. i learned so much in that area and the members are just awesome and the people that i baptized and taught. i really will miss it......a lot. but my new area seems to be really good. it is way beautiful here and it is a small town, it reminds me of alaska because of the size and it is so quite here as well. i really like here so far, it has only been one day. but i am sure that it will be awesome here, there are a ton of mosquitos here and that is way annoying. but it is way cool. i also like my companion as well( Elder A. Oliveira a brazilian).but i did receive a few shocks from the transfer, i received a couple of new callings as a missionary. i am now the senior companion but that isnt all, i am also distruct leader. because this city only has four missionaries so it has to have two district leaders to do the baptismal interviews and i am now one of them. which came as a shock to me because i wasnt expecting it and dont think that i am read for that. but things are going good here and i am loving the mission. but i also wanted to share another experience with you guys. i hadnt said anything about this one yet because it was a growing experience. but i will now share it with you guys.....on saturday we had a baptism and it was a baptism of a young man that turn 20 yesterday. he has a desire to serve a mission and is an inspiration to me. i will now start from the beginning, the first time that i met him. i was with one of the greatest elders i have served with Elder Del Guerso and we went to visit this young man. and Del Guerso hadnt said anything about it. but we walked into his house and a member was there. she has asked us to visit him because he hadnt been doing very well. i dont even know how to say this, but he was possessed by a demon. he passed a few days without having any control over his body, and he wasnt doing very good at all. i dont even know how to describe it, it wasnt very pretty. but we decided to leave a message with the family and give him a priesthood blessing. afterwords we left and the next time saw him he walked into the doors at the church perfectly fine. but he wasnt a hundred percent, he was a little slow. he wasnt able to think fast and was quite and didnt understand everything that people said to him. but we started teaching him and he struggled with praying. he just wasnt able to pray very well at all. but he had the great desire to learn about the church and to be baptized. the first question he asked us was that.....How do i get baptized?....and so we taught him for a few weeks, about a month or so. and he kept progressing more and more until he got baptized on saturday and now he has the desire to serve a mission. and on monday i was able to visit him for the last time and say good bye. and he said the closing prayer.....and he said the most beautiful prayer that i have ever heard. it was absolutely incredible. tears filled my eyes during the prayer, because i was able to see his great effort. he struggled, but continued doing what we asked him and he progressed so much. he started laughing with us and talking more and its was just awesome to be able to be a small part of his life. i will never forget about him and i hope that he is able to serve a mission here in about a year. his name is Abelardo Torres de Farias Neto.i will never forget him. but things are going really well and i am so grateful for the opportunity that i have been given to serve the Lord during these two years. the time has gone by so fast and will be home in only 11 months, but it has been an experiencing of a lifetime. i am so grateful for it all, the difficulties and the great experiences. it is awesome. and i hope that everything is going really well for everyone at home. i sure do miss you guys but i also love this place. it is way hot and i am a long ways away fro my family but i still love this plce. but i think that i will let you all go and i wil talk to you all next week, and i ate armadillo again but this time it tasting good and next week we are going to eat turtle, and we saw a monkey today. but i didnt take a picture. but love you all and give everyone a hug for me i love you and i miss you.
Com Amor, Elder Jory B. Spotts

April 15, 2009

Hey Mom! how is everything going at home? how has Kaya been doing? i hope that she is doing good. it sounds like you guys had a blast over the weekend and during the holidays. i sure wish that i could have gone with you guys to see all the things that you guys saw. things here have been going pretty good here. i have had a couple more experiences. one interesting and the other amazing. but yeah....that would great if you could get those things sent to me pretty soon, i am really needing them. but i hope that you had a happy birthday and you were able to have a little bit of fun. well this morning my companion went to the mission office to renew my visa but it looks like i dont have to renew it until next month. so it was a little bit annoying going to the mission office and not having to do anything. but things here have been going pretty good. i guess that i could get on to the experiences now.......well last thursday we had the interesting experience and well you have to promise that you are not going to get worried i am not going to tell you......do you promise?.....alright i will tell you then. well we were walking in the street and we had to cross this river thing(igarapé) and under the bridge in the water we saw a headless dead body........and i am not kidding either. i didnt believe it at first, but after the second look i knew for sure. because it had arms and pects and had the shape of a human body, except for the head. and it had been then for a while....it was really white and ugly. so that was the interesting experiences that we had......now for the amazing story. so on saturday....two days after the dead body experience. we were visting with one of our investigators and we were seeing if she had accomplished the commitment that we left with her the day before(i dont know if i worded that right, but i tried. i just dont have the ability to think in english anymore).and the committmet was to read and pray about Joseph Smith, and well she told about the experiences that she had. she told us that the night before she read and prayed before going to sleep. and she didnt just pray but she really prayed to know. and she had an amazing experience. during the pray she described the feelings that she had and they are the feelings that the spirit brings when he is with us, a warm feeling in the chest, goosebumps, and she also started crying. she said that after the pray she still kept crying and she couldnt get to sleep. but after finally getting to sleep she had a dream that is incredible. she dreamed that she was in a forest and she was seated on a laid down tree in the middle of the woods. and right in front of her she saw Joseph Smith enter into the wooded area and kneel down and pray. she then described two angels that came to him and talked with him, she descrbed the first vision. and then after her dream she heard a voice that said.....You have now seen what you wanted to see. Now do you believe?........after i heard that i was astonished. i didnt know what to say. but i just kept thinking about it after the lesson and i started to feel a little jealous. because i realized that i had prayed tons of times to know about the truth of the prophet Joseph Smith but i never had any experience like this. and i thought to myself and then said it to my companion......what the heck? i have been praying about that experience for my entire life and never saw anything like that and she goes and prays one time and SEES it.........i just couldnt believe it at first but it is amazing that she had such a strong answer. she even said that she is confused because she always learned one thing as a child and now that she has received an answer she cannot deny that all she learned was false. she went to church on sunday and really enjoyed it. the next time that we go there we are going to mark her baptismal date. i just am so grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has given me to serve a mission here in Brazil, and to have such amazing experiences like this one. it was awesome to hear her explain the feelings that she felt and the things that she saw. but that was my week. other than that nothing has really happened. we are still teaching and still trying to baptized and also help the recent converts. João who we baptized on the 28th is going to receive the Melquisedeque( i dont know how to spell it in english) Preisthood in two weeks. and if i dont get transfered on the 21st i am going to ask the bishop to let me be the one to give it to him and i know that he will let me. he is just an amazing person and his family as well. they are already planning on going to the temple next year. he was telling us that he hates to go on long bus rides but he is going to have to travel to venezuela in a year to go to the temple. i love this area. i love the members and the investigates and everyone that is here. i am going to cry when i have to leave, and i think that i will cry a lot. it is the worst part about the mission, having to say goodbye. but i love the mission and i am grateful for the time that i have to serve the Lord. and time is now starting to run out. Monday i had a rough day but made it though one more day like that. you know how it is......those days suck but all the others are amazing. but i love you and i have got to get going. i want you also to send this letter to steven taylor, josh pickering, matt mclean, and justin oberg. because i cant write to them by email, but tell them that they can write me and tell me how things are going with them but i cant send emails to them. but things are going really good here. in less than 50 weeks i will be at home looking for a wife!!! yeah!!!! haha jk. but i love you mom and dont cry to much. i love you and tell kaya that i love her too and that i miss her. give her a hug for me too.
love you With All My Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

April 8, 2009

Hey! how is everyone doing? how is the sports world? how is the family doing? i got your package on monday night. i love the pajama pants. they made a little trunky, because i thought about juston a ton. i sure to miss him soo much. it is really weird, because i love you all and i miss you all a ton. but i miss him the most, me and my companion we talking about our brothers a couple of nights ago. because he has a twin brother and he said the same thing. he misses his brother more than anyone else. we talk a ton about how juston and i used to have boxing matches and we used to fight a ton. but i just miss that rebelious child so much. it is weird, but he has a lot of qualities in him that i wish i had. i really think that he is a better person than i am, he has more love for other people that i do. atleast i think that. and i sure do miss him a ton. i wish that he would write me more. i sent him a letter last week too. but i do miss you all. kaya......i cant believe that she is going to go on her first official date today. that is so weird to me. and you mom.....you are getting old. you are going turn 47 next week. what a HUGE number!? next year i am going to need to buy you a wheel chair and take you to the old folks home. that is going to be weird letting someone take care of you all the time. but it will be good for you because you have the necessity. haha jk. i love you mom. but you are getting a little old. in a couple of years you are going to be a grandmother. Já pensou???(have you already thought about that?) but yeah.....things here have been going pretty good. i loving the mission. this weekend i really enjoyed conference. we were able to watch every session of conference. i really enjoyed practically all the talks. but a couple stick out in mind......Elder Neil L. Anderson and Elder Jeffery R. Holland. i really enjoyed the spirit that i felt as the gave their talks. i could feel that Elder Anderson was called of God to be the new apostle. he is such a humble and spiritual man, i really enjoyed his talk. i also enjoyed the amazing spirit that i felt while Elder Holland talked about last week of Christ´s life. i could seriously feel the love of the Saviour surround me as he talked. i really enjoyed it, and i also enjoyed Elder Bednar´s talk on the Temples and so many others as well. but i am sure that you really enjoyed it as well. and mom.....is it just me or do your letters seem to be getting smaller and smaller? what is it, now that i have a year on the mission you just wanna wait till i get home to tell me everything is that it? well fine......i guess i will have to start doing the same thing. jk but thank you for the package i really enjoyed it, the pop rocks were the best. i shared the pop rocks with our Ward Missionary Work Leader and he really enjoyed them. he is brazilian and just thought they were the coolest thing. i also gave him a ton of candy, because i shouldnt be eating all that candy. i have already gotten fat enough. i think that it has been awhile since you saw a recent picture but i have gained all the weight that i lost at the beginning. so i am trying to lose it all right now. that is why i asked you to send me a few things, that you havent sent yet. like.....jump rope, gilete razer blades(five blade ones for the fusion), some basketball shorts, and some refill colored pencil things for a scripture marker that i bought in the MTC in provo. it is a multi changing colored pen and i need refills for all the colors, because i am running out. you should be able to find those at desert book of some place like that. i know they have them at the MTC, but i dont know if you able to enter in there. i also wanted some stickers that you are able to put in the bible that i are like seethrough. i think that you know what i am talking about. but yeah i needed those things if you could get them for me, thanks i love you for the help. but everything has been going really good here. we have a few more investigators that are getting ready to be baptized this month. one of them is an awesome family that really enjoyed conference and we have a couple of men that we are teaching that are looking to get baptized. the work is going awesome. the members are helping a ton and it is just awesome, they are always willing to help. atleast a good part of them are willing to help, not all of them. but it is going really good. dad told me that uncle mike might have cancer in his colon and he also told me that eliza chadwick had her appendicts taken out on sunday. which is weird because i just barely got a letter from her and she said that she was doing really good. Mt. Redoubt exploded like 20 times too. but yeah......things are going good and i love you and i miss you. but i really dont know what else to write or ask you about. but i love you and i miss you and tell kaya that she better be careful with the boys that she is dating. because eu vou arregaçar eles na purrada( i am going to rip them to pieces) if i need to. and tell her to go back to church, because it is absolutly ridiculous. she cant have an excuse for not going or doing the things that she needs to. because that is what our purpose is as children of God. but i love you guys tons and i miss you all. but i got to get going.
Com Amor, Elder Jory B. Spotts
p.s. send me a bigger letter next week

April 1, 2009

Hey! how are things going this week? i hope that things are going good. you will have to tell Kaya happy b-day for me. because it is coming up pretty soon, next wednesday. i cant believe that my little sister is turning 16. is she looking into getting her drivers license? or did they make a height limit too? haha. but it is really weird thinking about how things have been changing so much and how i am missing out on so many things there. it is hard. i feel so left out. but here in a year i will be back. tell kaya that i love her and that she better be careful with who she dates. because if i have to i will knock someones teeth out. and it wont be her teeth, but the idiot that she is dating. if he happens to be one. but yeah.....Things are going good here. the baptisms were awesome! the baptismal service was just amazing, i was given the opportunity to baptize João and he is a bit bigger than i. while in the water he didnt think that i was going to be able to bring him out of water so one of his legs slipped but his leg got stuck under mine so he didnt have to get baptized twice. but it was awesome. after the baptism we had them bear their testimonies to everyone. and almost the entire ward was there to watch because these four people are trully amazing. i have learned so much with them. i think that they have taught me more than i have taught them. but while they bore their testimonies the spirit was so strong that i nearly cried. my eyes got way watery and it was just amzing. i am so grateful that the Lord gave me of all the missionaries that He has serving in the mission to teach them and baptize them. it was an amazing experience. they have got such strong testimonies of the church already as well, it has been so amazing. we went to their house last night to watch The Testaments with them and we were able to play with their daughter a little bit and just have an awesome time with them. things have been going really well. i am loving the mission more and more everyday. and last night my companion decided that he wanted to run home because the time was cutting short for us and i almost died. so i think that i might be out of shape a little bit. but yeah........i dont know what to think anymore with the whole juston situation. i am glad that you told me, because dad didnt mention anything like that. he said a few other things but i dont understand. but i will pray for him and i think that i might talk to president to see if he would give the right to talk to him for just a few minutes on the telephone. but we will see. i just hope that everything turns out good in the end. for now all i can go is pray for him. but i love you and i will talk to guys next week. i hope that everything is going go for everyone. i love you and i miss you. give everyone a hug for me and have a party for me tomorrow. because it is the day!!!!
Elder Jory B. Spotts

Mar. 25, 2009

Hey! well how is everything going there now? i hope that things can turn out better for kaya. i am just a little disappointed to hear some of the things that are going on there. i dont understand why juston and kaya dont seem to want anything to do with the gospel. i really dont even know what is going on at home. that is probably the worst part about being on a mission. you really dont know what is going on at home. you kinda know but not everything, and you cant do anything about it. but yeah.....i hope that something will kick those two in the face, and i hope that is hits them hard. because they need to realize where to put their priorities. but that day will come some day. Things here are going pretty well. Hump day is coming right around the courner.........in one week. which means that everything is just down hill from there. but things are going good, i think that you might have misunderstood me too. because we didnt have any baptisms on saturday, but they are going to happen this saturday. but we were able to participate in a dedication of the new stake center that they just finished here. they are getting ready to form a new stake rightnow as well. the gospel and the church is really growing here. our ward here is going to be dividing in a month or so as well. things have just been going really well as well. the members have really been helping us out to try and strengthen the ard for the division. which is going good, because in this month a lot we have been able to baptize 6 different families. and they are really helping us to get them ready to receive the priesthood, the higher one......Melquisedeque in potuguese. i dont know what it is in english anymore. i have really been losing my ebglish lately. but it is good, because i am starting to like portuguese more than english. because it is becoming easier than english. but things here are going good. i sang two solos on friday at a presentation and we gave at the open house of the new stake center and apparently that went pretty good. and this morning i finally was able to kill the mouse in our house. i have been trying fot three months now and i minally got it with a mouse trap. one of the families that is getting baptized saturday gave me one and i put some bread with peanut butter on it and it died. i took some pictures and will try and send some to you a little later, some time in the future. i still have an entire cd to send you you guys still and i will have another one here in a little bit. but things are going awesome and i am really loving the mission now. we have been having some really good success in this area and with this awesome ward. i also got a letter from Marcelo(the young man that i baptized that is going to go on his mission) he is doing awesome and loving the gospel more and more each day. he said that he is excited to go on his mission to serve the Lord and he just got such a great testimony. i am so glad that the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to teach him and baptize him. and it is people like him that make the mission worth all the hard times and all the struggles. but things are going awesome here. i just hope that you can help kaya get herself on the right track, i love her but i sure wish that she would go to seminary and to church. same thing with juston. dad told me that juston should be getting his GED nest week or something like that, which is good and i am glad that he has made that decision. i just hope that he can now make the decision to change his life around. i love him and kaya soooo much and hope that the Lord can bless them with the smack in the face that they need. but i didnt receive your package yet, but it will probably get here pretty soon then. i hope that you sent me a tie in it, because i really want to give a tie to an elder that i served with here in this area. he was already transfered to another area, but i want to give him one. so if you could in your next package send me a tie and some deodorant( i think that is right). and tell jeremiah that i still cant believe that he is a father, pretty soon......steve is going to have a kid. just imagine that!! haha but i love you mom and i miss you and i love everyone there. give kaya and everyone else a hug for me. i love you tons and i will talk to you next week.
Com Amor, Elder Jory B. Spotts

Mar. 18, 2009

Hey! how is everything going there? how is the family doing? i need to writ=e grandma roberts and i will try and do that next week when i have some t=ime to write letters, because i wont have anytime to do it today. we had =a little bit of bus trouble today because we went to the center of the ci=ty to try and buy some new shoes for my new companion that i received yes=terday(Elder Davis from farmington) and we took the wrong bus coming back=to the house and we ended up pretty far away from our house and we ended=up having to walk some and then grab a different bus. but things here ha=ve been going really well. we have been having a ton of success in this a=rea and i would have to give most of the credit to the members because th=ey have been helping us out so much. i love this ward and this area becau=se of them. it has been an awesome experiences. we are looking at baptizi=ng two amazing families next week. one of them is going to get married an=d going to get baptized and then the other is just going to get baptized.=but things have just been going awesome. i got good nes from both you an=d dad that says that juston is taking a turn for the good. i was really h=appy to hear that from you both. it really makes me happy when i hear the=se things, i just really hope that it happens. and well i dont have a lot=of time to write you because i have got to go. my companion already fini=shed writing and he wants to leave. but everything is going awesome and i=love you tons. tell everyone that i love them and i will talk to you nex=t week.
Com Amor, Elder Jory B. Spotts

Mar. 11, 2009

Mother, dont sell bruiser! send him to juston if you have to. but dont sell him, please dont sell him. but how have you all been? how is life going? how is the ward? i dont really know anything that i want you to tell about. but maybe a few of the cool stories that i have told you. or something like that, because i sure have sent you a few of those you know. you could tell them that we are going baptize a future stake president because they accepted to be baptized on the 28th of this month. and i am super excited for that. they are just such an amazing family, the one that i told you about last week. they been progressing really well. he stopped drinking after the first visit and we didnt even teach the Word of Wisdom. he just said that he didnt have the desire to drink any more after the first visit that we did in his house. it is awesome. but you can tell them about anything that you want. but i do want you to read this when you talk: Hello, Slate Canyon 4th. i am sorry that i couldnt make it today. but i am little preocupied spreading the gospel. which has been the greatest opportunity that i have been given in all my life. i have been experiencing things that i never thought could happen. i have learning things that only a mission can teach you. and i have been fried by the sun in the mean time, i mean it is like really hot here. but i just wanted to leave you all with my testimony that i am a witness that this is a marvelous work that the Lord has started among His children. this is the work of God and He IS the hand that makes it go forward. The gospel is true! That is such a simple but powerful phrase. many people dont realize the amazing blessing that the Lord has given us in a living Prophet. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and he is guided by the hand of God. This is His church and it is perfect. i love the gospel with all my heart. i know that if we try our best to do our best we will be blessed. because no one is perfect but we can be perfected in Christ. i once heard from a missionary here in this mission somthing that i will always remember. but he said it in portuguese i need to translate it real fast......Everyday when we wake up we look at ourselves in the mirror. and if you see the same person that you say yesterday you have wasted an entire 24 hours of your life......may we have the strength to do our best to be our best. i love you all and i hope that you all have a wonderful sunday. sorry i didnt have anything way inspire to say. but i hope that everyone there is doing well. i love you all. and dont forget that if you guys want you totally write me. but Bom Dia But how have you been doing mom. i hope that everthing is going good for you and that you are having a good day. i sure do love you mom and am thankful for al that you do and have done for me in my life. but how is kaya doing? and how is the family? how is grandma roberts doing? how is work? how are the jazz doing? well things here are going good like said. we marked the baptism of the family that rocks. but i did have a pretty cool little experience in which i learned a good lesson. on thursday last week i felt the desire to visit this family in the area that are already members. but we didnt have time to until monday, and by that time a young women from the family lost her boy friend to cancer. she is only sixteen and it was really hard on her. but we went there and my companion and i decided to leave a message about gratitude. so we used a talk from last conference that President Thomas S. Monson gave and the lesson went really well. it was a very spiritual message where we had everyone share about one thing that they are grateful for. the spirit was there very strong and it touched my heart. while I was teaching I was being taught by the spirit. i started realizing a lot of things that my Father in Heaven as done for me. about how He has blessed me so much on the mission. how i have had the opportunity to help so many people and how i have been moved so much. i am eternally indebted to Him for His uncomprehensible love. i cant understand why He loves or how, but i know that He does. He loves me more that i deserve. i am just so grateful for everything that i have learned on the mission. the Lord has grabbed a handful of mud and is molding that mud into something and that something is turning into who i someday will be. but i love you mom and i hope that you have a great day and that the Saviour takes care of you all for me. i love you and give kaya a hug for me. and i thought a lot about grandpa this week mom and i sure do miss him.
With Love, Elder Jory Brent Spotts

Mar. 4, 2009

Hey! how are things going there rightnow? it sounds like the jazz are doing good which is always good to hear. what place are they in the west right now? with all the winning that they are doing they would have to be moving up in the bracket. but things here are still going good. we had a pretty good week this week. we marked to baptismal dates and looking to baptize two men on the 28th of this month and then we have this awesome family that we are still teaching that is progressing really well. they have gone to church two times now and are really liking. their names are Franciane and João. he already has a testimony of the book of mormon because of a passage that he read in 1 nephi 10:16-18 or 19.he has been reading alot of the book of mormon and said that he cant stop reading because he likes it so much. he works a ton and doesnt get a lot of time to read but he has one day off every week and in only one day he read 10 chapters of the book of mormon and he is very intelligent. i could seriously see him as a stake president in the future if he continues. and tomorrow we are going to try and mark their baptismal dates. so we will need your prays on that one. the spirit is just so strong in their house and i love going there. they also already have friends in the church and just love the ward. i swear that the Lord prepared them for the lessons. he was telling us that he was watching soccer on sunday(something that he just loves) and he couldnt even pay attention because he kept thinking about the Book of Mormon. i love this family so much. it just amazing to see the power that the spirit is having on them. there is no way to even describe it. but things have been going really well here. i loving this area and i hope that i dont get transfered. but with way that the mission has been so far i dont stay in the area very long. usually only one or two transfer and this is my second transfer in this area. i wouyld love to stay but we will have to see what the Lord has prepared for me. oh and something a little interesting happened a couple of nights ago. i was sleeping and for some odd reason i woke up in the middle of the night. almost like something i woken me up and will i sat up and looked at my pillow and sleeping on my pillow was a BAT. i thinking that he fly into our room and hit my in the head and i woke up. it was really weird, but i kicked him off my bed and went back to sleep. and mother just to let you know that you are never going to use a bikini. i dont give you permission. but yeah.....how have things been going? you gotta let me know more about how kaya is doing? dad told me that she has a new boy friend or something. but i am really scared for when that little girl turns sixteen. i hope that she is careful with the boys that she chooses to date otherwise she is going to regret it. because with the things that they do now that are ....normal......as they say are not normal and i dont like the idea of kaya dating a guy that is going to be like that. but i love oyu guys and i hope that everything continues to go well with you. and i didnt know that kaya had a computer. who bought her the computer? and how is my computer doing? good? i hope so. but i love you guys and i miss you as well. i will talk to you next week.
Com Amor, Élder Jory B. Spotts

Feb. 25, 2009

Well hey mommy! how are things going? it sounds like things are going good for you and i really am glad to hear that the Lord is taking care of you guys for me. i pray for you everysingle day atleast twice a day and sometimes more. and today i was taking a nap and i had a dream about you and i in brazil. but i didnt like it very much because you were crying. but i love you and i miss you. and i just wanted to tell you to be really careful at work alright. because i love you and i miss you alot. but yeah......well another week has passed by and it passed by really fast. recently i havnt been working with my companion a lot because of his callind here. but we have still been keeping busy and have been having some success. we are teaching a really cool family that went to church on sunday and they really liked it and want to go back. they are progressing really good and we are hoping to baptize them next month. we are also teaching a young man that accepting the invitation to preapare to be baptized so we are going to mark his baptismal date and continue helping him. yesterday we had zone conference and it was really good i really liked it. our new mission president is really awesome and is really trying to focus the missionaries on baptizing families. which there are going to be four families baptized on saturday....9 baptisms. they are practically my investigator because i teach them all the time but they are really investigators of the other elders but they are some awesome families. our district here is having some really good success, just in our district there are going to be 17 baptisms on saturday. which is way awesome. but anyways the zone conference went really well, president is doing a really good job here. and here pretty soon we are going to have an open house for a new chapel that they just finished constructing here and our ward is going to be doing a singing presentation and the ward here asked me to sing two solos in portuguese. so i will doing that here in a couple of weeks. but things are going good. i got over the little trunky hump thingy and i am doing good and it sounds like matt and josh are also doing good. matt almost got in fight with a drunk guy in Chile and josh is going to sing a solo in his ward too, Hotel California by the Eagles. but i am glad to hear that kaya is going to be living with you still, i just hope that she decides to return to seminary. she really doesnt understand the importance of it and the importance of the scriptures. i just hope that she stays out of trouble. oh and about the questions in portuguese....i dont have any problem telling you the translation because no one here in Manuas is rich and single, there are very few rich people for the matter. but are you single? is.....você é solteiro? and are you rich? is......você é rico? and will you move to america? is......você quer se mudar para Os Estados Unidos(América)? but yeah.....things are going good here. right now i am soaking wet because it was pouring rain out here when we were walking to the internet place. i had to pour my shoes out before i entered and i am way soaked. and we were also able to play some soccer here today and we had a bunch of fun with that. but yeah....i hope that all is going good for you guys and that it will continue to stay that. you are in my prays and you need to say hi to everyone and that i love them as well. and i feel bad for tylor, good luck for him in life. but i love you and i miss you all give everyone hugs for me.
Com Amor, Élder Jory B. Spotts

Feb. 18, 2009

Hey! how did things go for you guys this week? espero que tudo esteja bem( i hope that all is going well) i figured that you need to start learning some portuguese because it seems like you might be coming to pick me up. but how is the family doing? how is robin and his family? how is grandma roberts been doing? you need go over and visit her. i hope that everything is going well for everyone. things here are going pretty well. i did have a couple of days of MAJOR trunkyness last week but i got over it and am doing good now. the baptisms went really well, i performed two of the four baptisms that we had and they went really well. like every baptism the spirit was there, it always is. it just shows the true importance of the first ordinance that we perform. that at times seems to be such a simple thing. you go in the water say a prayer and you get dunked. it really is prety simple but sooo important. the baptisms went well. then we also had a couple of good lessons this week. we havent been able to work a lot in our area lately and with our investigators because of splits that we ALWAYS have to do because of the assistants. so our teaching pool is a little low. but it doesnt matter because just everyone that is in our small teaching pool is progressing and that is all that matters. we have teaching this awesome family Franciane and João. they are progressing really well and are really liking the Book of Mormon. the only problems is that they havent prayed to know the truthfulness of it. becuase she believes that it is true with out the prayer but we still encouraged her to pray because the spirit gives such a stonger testimony than we do of its truthfulness. but they will going to church with is this weekend. they havent been able to go because he works every other sunday. but they are an awesome family. and then yesterday we founf an inactive family that is awesome and how have been wanting to return to church but just havent been able to yet and we are going to try and help them out. we taught them about the importance of the scriptures and we used 1 Nephi 15:25-26(it might be 24-25). but things are going awesome and thanks for the pictures of the baby and jeremiah. i just cant believe that he is a daddy already but it is soo awesome. i am so excited for him. looking at the pictures gets me stooked for when i am going to have kids. but i am still scared of the whole marriage thing. :(..... and i hope that they are doing good as well. but yeah......i cant really think of anything else to say. but it does look like the Jazz are coming back and making a run at the playoffs this year which is awesome. but things are going good here and that is really all that you guys need to know. but i love you all and i hope that everyone is doing really good. and i received two packages but i dont know who they are from yet and you also should be getting an email from the mission becuase of the whole address thing. that you CANNOT send packages to the Caixa Postal address. but i love you and i miss you too. mais 59 semanas!!!!!!
Com Amor, Élder Jory B. Spotts

Feb. 11, 2009

Hey! how are things going there? i sure look likes things are going well, but i am sure that there little difficulties everywhere. things are going pretty good here, we are going to be having four baptisms this weekend end. which is good, because it has been about a month since we baptized anyone, so that is come good news. and we also have a ton of people in our teaching pool. we have been finding a ton of new people and the members have been giving a ton of referals and we have been having a lot of success. we had a really good starting week in the transfer and i hope that the transfer will either continue like this or get better. but things are going really well and i also forgot to tell you something pretty cool about my companion. he is the oldest elder missionary in the world....he is 29 years old. it is crazy, because he left for his mission when he was 27 because of some complications with his papers and he still had the desire to go so the church gave him permition. it is pretty cool and he is way cool. but things are going way good here. but i just received a huge suprise today. i cant believe that Jeremiah has a kid! but that is awesome, i am super excited for him and michele as well. but you should tell them to write me and send some pictures of the kid and them together. and i cant believe that camille and sam are going to hawaii, it sure would be nice if someone would tell me about all the things. i havent been receiving any letters from any one. so either my letters arent getting to the people that i write to or people just arent writing to me. but either way it would be nice to receive some letters. it is kinda annoying not receiving any letters from anyone. but i guess that the life of the missionary. it just sucks, because i wrote about 20 letters last week and i havent received any. except for one from you and a couple from grandma norton. and you need to continue to send my emails to them as well. but yeah i things are going here. i almost pooped myself two times this week, because we got stuck in a lesson for a little one time and the other time was because we were way far from home. and i am tell you that that feeling is one of the worst feelings in all the world. i pray that i dont have to feel it again. but we did find an awesome young man this week. and it was a pretty cool experience because we found him in an area that has a bunch of houses and i had no idea that this place even existed. we were just looking for an address one day but couldnt find it, so we decided to go down this alley and we found him. it was a cool little spiritual experience, because i know that the Lord lead us there to help him. because he has an addiction to drugs really bad, but he really wants to stop and leave the life that he is caught in. so we are trying to do our best to help him out and get him baptized as well. because he went to church with us and he really liked it a lot and said that he wants to be baptized, but first we have to take care of the hard part first and then we will dunk him. but things are going really well and i hope that you will be able to get some time off. because i bet that you do need it. i have already decided that i want a good vacation after my mission. because it is alot of work and you really dont have a lot of time for yourself. so i am already trying to think of some things that i will be able to. but i love this work it has been going really well. and if you write to casey anytime soon tell him that i did write him, but it looks like there might be some mail problems there. of the letters that i have been receiving they have been coming in really late as well. like i received a little from him the he sent almost a month ago. but things are going good and i am really loving the work. but i do miss the family and i love you as well. i hope that all is going well for everyone and well i love you and i miss you. tell kaya that i love her and miss her as well and give her a hug for me. and tell her to stay out of trouble and be good. tell the ward hi for me as well but i love you and i miss you mom.
Com Amor, Élder Jory B. Spotts