Feb. 10, 2010

Hey! How is everything going? How is the family? How are our friends? Just how is everything going? Well I hope that everything is going good at home. It seems like everyone is getting pretty TRUNKY at home. Even mom is counting the days. But like you guys I too am getting a little excited to come home. Well I really don’t know what my feelings are. I am going to miss this place a lot. I have grown attached to the people and I love them soooooo much. If things were a little more developed here I would think about living here for the rest of my life. But I have things to do at home, so I am going to by coming home next month. But about my itinerary, I didn’t receive it yet. I am not even sure if they have bought my ticket yet or if the secretary knows that I am going home. I do know that a lot of the elders from group already received their itineraries. So I am going to call the secretary and talk to him about this and see what is going on, but don’t worry because he will send a copy of it by email to both mom and dad.But as for the things that have been going on here. Yesterday we had transfers and I received a new companion but stayed in the same area. HECK YEAH!!!!! It was just what I was wanting. And I am going to die without any worries, because I am just senior. OH YEAH!!!!!!!! But my new companions name is Elder Lopes, so he is now my second companion with this name. He is from São Paulo and he is pretty cool, he is a hard worker and a good missionary so I know that I am going to be able to enjoy this last transfer working with a good companion. And I am way excited to finish my mission here in this area too. I love this area and the members so I will be able to party with them at the end of my mission. Things have been going pretty good too. My old companion and I had a pretty good week last week. We were able to receive a referral from a recent convert that we baptized last year. The referral is his buddy and he really wants to change his life. He was telling us how one day he saw Nelito, the recent convert, walking in church clothes and was shocked. Because him and Nelito used to drink together and well this guy thought to himself, if Nelito can change his life so can I. So he talked to Nelito and then we got to him and we talked to him, but he is really interested in the gospel and we are going to teach him this weekend. So hopefully everything goes good with him. About Juarez, everything is going good. He is still planning on being baptized this weekend, we are going to go to his house today to talk with him and teach a few things and mark his baptismal interview. But yeah….things are going pretty good. I am trying not to get to trunky, but it is pretty hard not to think that I am going to return home after this transfer and that my group is now the oldest on the mission.Today we had a pretty rad P-day. We went to the IMPA which is a zoo where the animals don’t stay in cages but wonder in the jungle and they have paths where we can walk and see the animals. It was pretty cool! Then we went to a party that they had in one of the areas of a different elder that was with us and I had already met the people from his area so we went and had some fun messing and joking around with them. And that is about all that is happening right now. But I love you all and just wait for the email for the mission that well tell you all about when I get home on what day and all that stuff. But for now I don’t even know that right now. And mom I am still not 100 percent sure on where I am going to go to school, I think that I might just wait until I get home to accept unless you tell me of some specific date by which I have to decide. But we will see what happens in the future. As for now I am trying to stay focused on the work, but I am also going to start packing my luggage this week. I mean I cant procrastinate and thought that I should get started a little early. :)………But I love you all and I will talk you all next week. Give everyone loves and I will talk to you all next week.
Elder SPotts

Feb. 3, 2010

Hey everyone! How are things going? I hope that everything is going good. How was your week? How is the family going? How is the world? How was the Super Bowl? I hope that the Colts didn’t win. Well everything here is going pretty good. Everything has been the same lately. And the work is getting harder and harder every day, because everyday I am getting closer and closer to arriving home. But my companion and have working hard and we are trying to find some more people that are interesting in following the Lord. But things have been going really good with Juarez, he went to church on Sunday and really liked it, and last week we had a pretty good experience with him.On Thursday last week we went to his house to teach the third lesson, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we taught him about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. Faith, Repentance……you know. Well while I was teaching I felt like I needed to invite to be baptized and try and mark his baptismal date in March, because I wanted him to be my last baptism on the mission because he is an elect. But I was super scared that he was going to say no so I started praying and starting asking the Lord to bless me with the Spirit and the right words so that he would feel the importance of baptism and he was accept. So we came to the end of the lesson and I grabbed the picture of Christs baptism and I should to him and invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone that has the authority of God. And I invited him to be baptized on the 21st or 14th of March and he responded……You only have baptisms in March??? It cant be sooner??? So we talked with him some more and we decided on the 13th of February. And then he started telling us how he always knew that missionaries like us would one day visit his house and he said that he was just waiting for us to visit him. And he said that he was ready to be baptized and that he knew that the church was true and the Book of Mormon too. It was a pretty cool experience and I was scared to death to invite him because he is such an intelligent man, but everything went well and he is going to be baptized this month., in fact he is going to be baptized next week. Heck yeah!!! Take that Satan!!!!Other than that we haven’t really had anything special happen. We are teaching this one family that went to church on Sunday and also really liked it. The only problem is that the father really likes to drink, like he is super addicted to drinking. He cannot go one day without getting drunk, he drink, like he is super addicted to drinking. He cannot go one day without getting drunk, he is kind of like uncle troy. But we are going to continue to teach them and see if we cant help him to stop drinking so that he can also get a job and be baptized.We had ourselves an interesting little experience the other day too. We have visiting this inactive member a couple of times and we went to his house. While we were there we met a couple of girls that were at his house and we decided to teach the first lesson to them, so we did. And right at the point that my companion got done teaching the first lesson the idiot inactive member started saying how he didn’t believe in Joseph and he totally killed the spirit. So I was little upset at him for being a retard. So I started asking him some questions and he started answering them. Why don’t you believe in him? And he started asking why God would wait so long to call a prophet after chirsts death? And he started saying that the Catholic church was the first church and that it existed before Christ and i started thinking to myself, this guy is a complete retard. And I was getting a little frustrated with him. So I grabbed my bible…..BIBLE BASH. And I started teaching the retard about a ton of stuff. He said the Law of Moses wasn’t changed too. So I started teaching him with the scriptures because testifying wasn’t doing anything. The spirit wasn’t there too. So I started teaching about the law of Moses, sacrifices, and all sorts of stuff and how the of Moses truly was changed and everything. I cant explain everything that I said because it was a lot, then I started teaching about why God waited so long to call Joseph to be a prophet, the reformation and the Catholic Church and that is when the spirit returned and I started testifying about the restoration of Gospel and after that he said these words…..I think that I am going to go back to church on Sunday. It was pretty funny. My companion started laughing after we left because of the stupid things that he making up, but it turned out to be good. And hopefully he really goes to church; we are going to pass by there tonight again. So we will have to see how things go.But yeah….that is about all the interest things that happened this week. Hopefully next week I will have some better stories to tell. We are also started to work a lot more with the members lately too. They finally decided to invite us to participate in the ward meetings and things are going a lot better now, and on Sunday I am going to sing in the sacrament meeting because they ask me to do so. So that will be pretty cool. And I am also going to find out this weekend if I am going to be transferred to my last area or if this is going to be my last area, hopefully I stay in this area because I don’t want to get to know new members and have to start all over again. But things are going pretty goodI hope that everything is going good and I hope that you are all missing me and starting to get trunky too. It looks like I passed in on to Dad but I hope that mom is too because I am WAAAYYYYYY anxious to see you all. The 1st of February was the 50 day mark. So if you guys want you can start counting the days, but I don’t recommend doing that because the time passes a lot slower. That is why I am going to work harder and the time will pass by a lot faster. But mom don’t worry about BYU anymore because the deadline to apply was the 1st of Feb. and I think that I am already set on going to USU, but I need to know by when I am supposed to tell them that I accept and that I will be going there. But maybe I don’t even have to worry about this until I get home. But I love you all and I miss you, I received some letters this week too, so I am happy. And I think that mom should be receiving my itinerary soon too, but I am not sure about that. But I love you all and I miss you.
With Love, Elder Spotts

Jan. 27, 2010

Hey! How is everyone doing? How was the week this week? How is the weather? How is the Famn Damily ? Well I hope that everything is going good. Every one is in my prayers always. I sure do miss you all and am looking forward to seeing you all in a few weeks. But let us get down the good…..the things that have been happening in Terra Nova, Manaus, Amazonas.So this week was another difficult week. We are having a little bit of trouble finding some really good people and getting people to church. But we are doing what we can. We have been teaching a few new people like every week but no one is very promising. We were planning on having a baptism this week, but the girl didn’t think that she was going to be ready yet so we moved you baptismal date to next month. We have also been teaching one guy and things are going really good with him. He went to church for the first time on Sunday and was only able to stay for the first hour because he is sick and has some problems with his legs. But he said that this week he will be there and stay the entire time. He has already said that the Book of Mormon is true and he really likes the teaching of the church. He says that he wants to be a part of the church but he wants to learn a little bit more first and read the Book of Mormon too. So we are just being patient with him and we continue to teach him and feel the spirit with him. His name is Juarez and is 62 years old.And yesterday we had our regular interview with President and it was really good, like always it is a great spiritual experience. President is a very spiritual and inspired man and I have grown to love him and follow all his teachings because they work. But after I said the opening prayer he started with his questions like always….As you look back at your mission and work you have done, how do you feel? Now that you mission is coming to an end, what do you think that the Lord expects you to do? And what is getting in the way of accomplishing that? How is your relationship with the Savior? How is your family? How is your health?.....etc. The questions that he asks are as well different. But we talked a bunch about my companion and how we are having some problems and after chatting for a while he asked to try to talk with him once more. So I promised that I would and when we got home I did and we worked things out finally. So I am feeling a lot better and I am feeling the spirit a little better too. But president and I talked a bunch and at the end of the interview he asked me something that he had never asked before…..I would like to give you a blessing, may I? And I let him give me a blessing, and it was the most spiritual blessing that I have ever been given. I can only compare it to my Patriarchal Blessing, it was that spiritual. And I was absolutely needing it, it was awesome. So yeah….Other than that not a whole lot has been going on. I received my first letter in I don’t know how long. And it was from Josh, my good ole faithful friend. But things are going good, but I hope that you all enjoy this letter. You better enjoy them, because after this one I am only going to send seven more. But I love you all and I miss you all too.Well I think that is all that I am going to send. Dad I hope your knee continues to get better and I know how you feel seeing your buddy go to church and repenting. Because it is a little bit of what I have done for two years, and I am really going to miss it. I hope that the Lord has some work for me to do when I get home. Mom, thank you for getting my school applications done. I just wanted to ask if you even sent my high school transcript and the bishop interview thing to BYU as well. Because you have to have those too. But yeah I love you all and I miss you. Keep Counting, we are now at 7 more Pdays. Elder Spotts PS. i dont know that stuff that you want me to do on the internet on my BYU application. that is why you have to get my high school trnascript and see what college classes i have already taken. because i dont remember. you might have to go to timpview to find that stuff out. but i cant do anything about it. and what is my username and password on the Utah Stat website?

Jan. 6, 2010

Hey everyone! What is all up? How has everyone been doing? I hope that all is well and that everyone had a great New Year I sure do miss everyone and I love you and I cannot wait to spend the next New Year with you all. I hope that everyone is also enjoying life and that you all had a great week this week. After reading some emails I could see that some of us had a pretty interesting and difficult week while others had an awesome week. But either way at least everyone is still alive and the Lord continues to give us breath. So that we can continue to learn and grow.But my week was pretty good. I think that it could have been better. It had some ups and a few downs. But at least time is passing and I am getting closer to be able to see everyone. It seems like I am becoming very tired. But I keep on going trying to to the best that I can and I hope that it is enough for the Lord. At times I feel like I have no idea what I am doing as a missionary and I have been here for so long. I feel as though I haven’t really learned anything here but then I know that I have My testimony has been strengthened so much, my knowledge of the gospel has grown and expanded, I learned how to speak new language, and I got a little skinny. But I am glad to be here for now.The baptism on Saturday was amazing. It was the highlight of the week. At the beginning of the week my companion and I planned out the baptism so that it was very spiritual and it was exactly what we wanted. We asked all the members to give the talks and we prepared it so that the spirit was there to testify and touch the people. And it was so spiritual that the lady got baptized, Val, cried. She was the only remaining member of her family that wasn’t a member of the church because she had to get married. On the 19th of last month she did that and got baptized this weekend. And she got baptized with a very strong testimony of the church and a great desire to get sealed to her husband and children in the Temple. Her husband is an ex-branch president and helped divide many branches in small city near by. But fell to temptation and was living with her for thirteen years without being married but is now super excited to be back at church keeping the commandments. It was awesome!On the other hand this week we were rejected by quite a few people. Being New Years and everyone drinking and partying it is very hard to work. We are now trying to find some new people to teach so we have been looking a lot this week. But we have been successful in already finding a few. Yesterday we went to teach a family and after teaching the first lesson. The wife cried telling us that we were an answer to her prays. She said that she had been praying to find something in here life and with tears in her eyes told us that we are that something. So hopefully the Spirit continues to touch her heart and help her understand the importance that the restored gospel has in our lives. It was a great experience and we felt very good after leaving their house. But we need help from the Divine to continue performing miracles among this people. And we need the prayers of all of you at home, so please continue to pray for us, especially for me, in order for me to be able to continue strong to the end of my mission without getting discouraged or tired. But I love you all and I miss you. And no I still haven’t been able to talk to my president but I will. Mom, I am glad to hear that everything is going good. I hope that it continues and I will pray that Tony Romo plays good so that you can win your bet. Tell Kaya that she needs to try and be smarter with the choices that she is making. It doesn’t matter where she finishes High School it just matters that she get s good education and Utah is one the better states in the country. And I think that it would be better for to continue where she is instead of switching school one more time. She has already done enough of school switching. But whatever……I love you guys and I got the package and I enjoyed it. I just haven’t been able to play with the car yet because it doesn’t have batteries and batteries a expensive here but I will buy some soon and play around with it. And one of the elders wanted to know how much it cost because he wants to buy one. But yeah I love you and continue applying for my schools, you need to get that done as soon as possible. But I love you and I miss you and I will talk to you next week. WIth Love, Elder Spotts

Jan. 20, 2010

Hey Family! How is everything going this week? How is the hot winter? How is the States? How is everything going on? I don’t have a whole lot to say this week, because not a whole lot has been going on. But let me see if I cant squeeze some things out of my mind. On Saturday we had a baptism and that went pretty good. A few young men that were watching and participating were a little irreverent but what can you do. But Wallace got baptized and is really excited. On Sunday he received the Holy Ghost and it was a very spiritual sacrament meeting. It started out with a huge rain storm right after the opening prayer and water started poring from the ceiling in the rented home. And all of the members were getting wet so they started making a ton of noise moving the benches a way from the poring water. And then the bishopric started grabbing buckets and filing them up with water and the other two elders decided to help and they ended up breaking a huge plastic garbage can that was full of water trying to carry it out and water went everywhere. But in the midst of all the chaos I could still fill the spirit after a while bishop told them not to worry about it anymore and we just kept on with the meeting. And it was quite spiritual even with the sound of the poring rain and water falling from the ceiling. It was pretty cool.On Thursday we had a service project and on of the elders ended up getting bacteria on his leg because he was working in the sand with just sandals. But we all know that you shouldn’t do that. So he has been itching and scratching his leg for the past few days waiting to be able to put some medicine on it to get rid of it. But other than that my companion and I have jut been fighting and things aren’t going very good between us. I had the worst work week this last week because a bunch of things happened and my companion and I aren’t getting along so it has been impossible to work. And my companion doesn’t want to work anymore. He doesn’t talk to anyone, doesn’t plan with me, doesn’t do contacts, or want to knock doors. So I have been doing all of this alone for the last few days and I cannot handle it anymore. I have tried talking to him and tried to work things out but he doesn’t seem to want to. We are two complete different people and it is hard. But he could at least try but doesn’t want to. A couple of days ago I got super upset with him because he didn’t want to walk by side, it was either way ahead of me or way behind me. So when we arrived at home I gave it to him and started yelling at him and burning him telling him that he needed to do something and start working. And he got upset with me and afterwards I apologized but he didn’t want to accept it and it is killing me. I want to finish the mission strong but he is making it so hard. It is just like trying to work with a high school girl. They are sensitive and all that stupid crap. I just cannot handle him anymore. So please pray for me. I am going to try and talk with him again but I don’t know if that will do anything, because I have already tried so many times.But yeah that is about everything that is going on, not much. But on Monday we ran into a pretty cool guy and had a great lesson. I saw this man sitting outside his house and I decided to talk with him and while I was talking with him it began to rain so he invited us to enter his house and we took advantage of the moment and we taught him the first lesson and he loved it. The Spirit was really strong and it was pretty cool and we are going to go back to his house on Friday. His name is Carlos.But I hope that everything is going good for you all I miss you and I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week this week. I pray for you and I still need for prayers and your support, the mission isn’t over yet. I haven’t received a letter from anyone in at least a month or so, so I am starting to think that people think that it is already over but it isn’t. You all cannot stop yet. Mom, well i hope that you arent upset with me or something for some add reason and that is why i didnt receive an email from you. but nonetheless i still love you and would still love to hear from you. i love you very much i and really need your letters. i look forward to them every week and when i dont get them it leaves me pretty low. i havent received any letters in a long time from anyone and now i dont get an email from my own mother. but i hope that every thing is alright and that you arent upset with me. but here is my letter and i hope to hear from you next week. if you want you can even write me back after receiving this letter because i might still be here or i will pass by later to get your email. but i love you and i miss you too. but please dont stop writing. i really need you letters especially in moments of difficulties.
With Love,Elder Spotts ps....dont forget about my schooling. you dont have a lot of time to apply left. just a reminder because i am worried about my future.

Jan. 13, 2010

Hey! i am just writing this quick letter to you because i wanted to ask you about my schooling. How are the application going? was i accepted at utah state? i can see that you havent finished my BYU application and i havent heard anything about my SUU application or my UVU application. I really need you to get this done as soon as possible. Today would be better than tomorrow. The faster you get it done the better chance i have at getting in. This is my future that we are talking about and because i am on the mission i am forced to rely on you to get it done. If i was at home i would already had finished it last year. PLEASE!!!!!! Get this done AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Thanks! Your Son, Elder Jory B. Spotts

Hey everyone! How have things been going? How was the week? How is life in the states? I has the weather been? How has the family? And friends? The ward? Well I hope that everything is going good. I sure do miss you all and cannot wait to arrive home and see you all. And that day is coming up a lot faster than we think, just a couple more months and a few more weeks. But yeah…..Things here have been going pretty good. Nothing has really changed in these past few days. We have been working and we have been finding some pretty cool people and also losing people that are not able to recognize the whispers of the still small voice. Lately we have been teaching a man called Juarez. He is a elderly man, 62 years old, and is very intelligent. He has a lot of knowledge about the gospel and has had a lot of spiritual experiences in his own life. So on the first visit like always we taught the first lesson and we left the Book of Mormon with him. We left a strong promise that if he read and prayed he would know that it is true. So a few days passed and we returned to his house and he sat down to teach the second lesson. But first we had to follow up on the reading and the prayer. Se we did and he began to tell us how he KNEW that the Book of Mormon was true and how he loved reading it. He had finished the entire first book of Nephi and practically told us everything about it and what he had learned. He absolutely loved the Book of Mormon so much that he said that it is better than the bible, because it explains the principles of the gospel in such an easier way to understand and because it is a very interesting book. He told us that he wants to continue reading and he wants to finish it and then he said that he might even join the church. He said that he has seen and followed so many different teachings but said that what he teach is much better than anything that anyone else teaches and that what he has read is much better than anything else that he has ever read. We are rally enjoying teaching him because of his knowledge and the Great Spirit that we feel in his house. If he gets baptized he will be a very good leader in the church and will really help the members in this ward. So hopefully he is able to see and more importantly feel the truthfulness of the everlasting gospel which we now expound as missionaries. It has been a great blessing teaching him, he has strengthened my testimony in the gospel.On Monday we also had zone conference and we enjoyed the lessons that the assistants taught and the words of our Mission President and his wife. Like always it was very spiritual and was good to hear their words. It is a little weird though because both of the assistants were my companions, Elder Mills from Wyoming and Elder Del Guerso from Rio de Janeiro. But it was always good see them. I sat with them and we chatted about the mission and how we are all getting ready to go home soon. Elder Del Guerso is going home in February and Elder Mills and I are going to be going home together. But at conference they talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and the Second lesson, The Plan of Salvation. So we learned a ton and enjoyed it. And I haven’t talked to president yet, but I did do a lot of praying and thinking about extending my time here. And I think that it was just a phase that I went through. So I don’t think that I am going to be extending my time. I will be coming home on the 23rd of March. So I will most likely arrive on the 24th or so.Well things have been going good and I sure do miss you all. But continue to pray for me and help me, because my time is not over yet. But I love you all and I hope that everything can go the way that you all need it to. I pray for you all and I hope that your leg can get better soon dad and I hope that you can get better soon as well mom. I miss you and keep my updated on the playoffs, on the things that are going on there, and mom especially on my schooling, because that is very important. But I love you all and I miss you all as well. I hope that you all have a great week and I will talk you all next week. With Love, Elder Jory B. Spotts

Dec. 30, 2009

Hey! How are things going? How was Christmas? I was the New Year? I hope that every thing is going good and that you all enjoy the New Year together. I sure do love you all I miss you and you are all in my prayers. I think of you all often. But yeah….How is the family? Friends? And everything else that is going on?Things here have been going pretty good. Christmas was really good, we went to some member’s house and we made food and then we ate and we had a good time. On Christmas Eve we had a white elephant party with a family in the ward and that was really fun. I really like my area and the members that live in it as well. They are always willing to feed us and that always makes a missionary pretty happy. But on the 23rd like mom and dad already know. My companion and my son, the elder that I trained, got robbed by a guy with a revolver. The guy put the gun on both of their heads and asked them to fork over their goods, a couple of members with also with them. So the assaulter managed to take three cell phones and a digital camera. But lucky for me I was inside the house busy talking to my mom. But my companion was a little shaken up because of the situation and was having a pretty hard time. But I sat down with him and we had a good long chat and he starting feeling a lot better. The Christmas conference was pretty cool. They talked a lot of Christ and we watched The Chronicles of Narnia and then we went on a boat ride and that was all cool. And it was pretty spiritual as well. We also had transfers yesterday, but both my companion and I are staying in the area together. There is a lot of work to be done in our area. We have been teaching a few people that are getting ready to get baptized. We are going to have a baptism on Saturday and in a couple of weeks we will be having another one. Things have been going really good. I am just trying to stay busy with my companion and try not to think to much about home and what I will doing when I get home. But I am totally excited to see you all in a few weeks/months too.I just wanted to share a quick experience with you all. Yesterday my companion and I went to a member’s house to let her know that her friend is going to be baptized this weekend and when we told her she got so excited that she began to cry. And it was the first time that I have ever seen a member cry because of a baptism. I could truly see and feel the love that she has not only for her friend but also for the gospel. It touched me to see her react the way that she did. And it was pretty cool. But not a whole lot has been going on, just normal stuff. Work and Work. The ward is going to get divided in a couple of months, so we are trying to help the members get ready for the division. We are visiting members and helping them prepare a few men to receive the Higher Priesthood. But that is about it, I also wanted everyone to know that if you have written me and not gotten a response that isn’t my fault. I responded to every single that I have received. The problem is in the mail system it really is a dump. But I love you all and wanted to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas and a Rockin New Year you are all in my thoughts and prayers. Love you ALL!!!Mom, I hope that you didn’t put on the application to USU that I graduated from Box Elder like you did on the application for BYU, because I graduated from Timpview. Don’t you remember…..you were there. But I thank you doing this for me and I already did the application and the other things that I could. You are going to have to get my Transcript from Timpview and finish the rest because I don’t know the rest, but I love you and keep on keeping on. And if you have any question send me an email. I still haven’t gotten your package. But I am patiently waiting, but I love you and I miss you. Sorry the letter is so short, but we talked last week.