This week has been the hardest week for me to date. I did not enjoy the plane
ride that much and settling here was pretty hard. But some miraculous things
happened to change my perspective back to the people.
Classes have been hard since they only speak spanish, and some of the guys just
answer all the question instead of letting us try. We do have two guys that are
really good at spanish and translate what are teachers say for us. It helps but
i need to try harder to just try and figure it out. But i do love my teachers,
Hermana Narcisco and Hermana Silva, both little Peruvians that served there
missions here. Not to mention they speak 0 enlgish and what not. But the
classes are still fun cause its just a bunch of us whiteys lol. In the classes
we arent learning a lot about the gospel but mostly reviewing our first 3 weeks
but in spanish. I do enjoy the language use but would like to learn more about
the gospel. I am looking for the good in all the classes and trying to learn
something new in each of them. The time we spend in personal study though is only an hour! In provo
we had at least 4 hours a day, and now its cut down to nothing, so i am pretty
bumed about that.
The food here is very...............unusual. The food doesnt really have much
of a taste to it, but we eat it anyways. Not to mention we never ask about what
we are eating. I do believe that its horse though........
The MTC is the great though, its brand new and everything is super clean. The
showers are thousand times better and the soccer field is the nicest thing here.
The only set back is no bookstore so i have to get everything i need through the
presidents wife. It has only been a binder though, so i havent spent any money.
I am trying to save it for the American food that i am going to devour when i
get out of here, cause i NEED IT!!!! And the man purse im going to
buy..........and the llama, expect it in the mail.
Back to the hard times to the good times though. Today we went to the temple
and had a great session, the guy that was introducing me at the you know was super loud so i kept
bumping to make him quieter. He didnt appreciate it but it was alright. But the
miracle was in the the cel room. I prayed for about 20 mins and recieved all
the help i needed. I was extremely home sick the first week and was really
frustrated with the language, but the temple reversed that. I was filled with
the Spirit and knew that i could do this and become the missionary that the lord
needs me to be. And the support from you guys has been awesome, so THANK YOU!
I know i can do this; learn spanish, preach the gospel, and convert hundreds to
this great gospel. I know that i am where i need to be and i will immensly
blessed because of it. Not to mention i pray for those blessings for you
everynight. I love you all and cant wait to get out into the field.

With Great Love,
Spenser

Hey Familia!
I made it alive to Peru even though the flight was EXTREMELY LONG. The first one
was really easy so i just slept the first part and then read my BOM the rest of
the time. It was a really boring flight. Then we were in Atlanta for 2 hours and
just waited until we got on our plane for Miami. I got to know some of the
Elders better that were heading to Peru. But there are only 3 others that are
headed to my mission, and we all are terrible at Spanish. Go figure.
My flight to Miami was actually pretty enjoyable. I sat next to a Mr. Diaz and
we just talked about stuff the whole ride. That was the quickest 2 hour flight i
have ever had. We talked about food, countries, intersests, and just everything
else really. He is a airline pilot that flies freight all around the world and
he had some great stories to tell. He flies all around the world and gets to
experience all the different types of cultures. I am kinda jealous of him.
After that flight we had the longest 5 hour wait ever! Our flight was delayed for about 20 mins, so we left miami at 2 a.m. To help pass the time we
all just talked and got to know one another better, and talking to you guys was
the highlight of the night!
The flight wasn`t too bad, but i wished that i was in First Class cause they got
the bed seats. And i got stuck with a seat in the middle of the plane, no me
gusta. But i did talk to this Peruvian man for most of the flight. He asked me
a couple questions about doctrine but then wouldn`t listen to my responses. It
was super frustrating, so eventually i just went to sleep. It was really
frustrating that he thought he knew everything but then would say that we need
to learn stuff from everyone. He was super hypocritical about most of the
stuff. But its bound to happen, and im sure that i will find more people just
like him out in the field. It was super tempting to watch movies or play games
when i was on the flight. The chair was so uncomfortable that sleeping was out
of the option. But eventually i got my pilferated sleep. We landed in Peru and went through all the immigrations stuff and got
our bags and what not. We then hopped on the bus and came here, to the MTC.
Its a brand new building and really neat and clean. And the whole place is
super small, so it will be hard to get lost.
Well im running off 5 hours of sleep and no food, so im pretty much going crazy.
Ill be sure to write a much better letter next week, when im not loosing my mind
haha.

Love,
Spenser

HEY FAMILY!!!
This last week has been a blast. Last wednesday was Hermana Luke's BDAY so we
decorated the room with streamers and balloons and her favorite candy. She
really liked it and was happy that we did something for her. And her companions
Hermana Earl, and Hermana Aagard wrote us thank you notes for what we did. I
did some crazy stuff with the balloons afterwards that night. I grabbed 3 of
them and stuck them inbetween my legs and had my companion pop them. It felt
really weird but everyone was laughing because i was talking spanish gibberish
the entire time. And spanish by the way is coming along amazingly, and only due
to the fact the Lord has blessed me with it. We all know what happened when i
tried to learn it without the Lord's help. FAIL! But im really happy to be
picking up the language so fast. I will def need it for when i head out to
Peru, cause it will be all spanish all the time. I will most likely forget
english, so dont feel sad dad when i can only talk to mom for a while when you guys come pick me up haha. It's not because i dont love you, just the fact
that im retarded and cant remember more than one language at a time.
Thursday equals the longest day of classes for us. We literally are in class
when we don't eat and that's it. SOOOOO LOOOONNNNNNGGGGG!!!!!! But definitely
necessary to learn all this stuff in such a short period of time. Our district
also really bonds during that time. We crack jokes and play assorted spiritual
games with one another. But what i love the most are the super deep gospel
conversations that we get into. We have talked about the second coming, how the
earth was created, how we will create worlds and different things like that. It
is absolutely amazing to go so deep into doctrine and try to sort out the
mysteries of God. Afterwards my head hurts though lol, most likely from the
Lord trying to keep us from learning too much haha.
Fridays are pretty fun, but still very similar to thursdays. Long hours of
class and what not. But something did happen that was pretty funny. Elder Manders is this really tall, and really
smart elder from CA. Anyways, he was sitting on the toilet when i threw a wet
paper towel over the stall and almost hit him. Afterwards he threatened my life
in a really funny way. Its funny cause he doesn't mean it and we all make
threats to eachother all the time anyways. Well, during class he wrote "There
will be Consequences" on a piece of paper and showed it to me. I couldn't stop
laughing for the next 10 mins. The look on his face was priceless. But that
pretty much sums up friday.
Saturday.............nothing happned, sorry
Sunday!!! A fast sunday was just what i needed. Elder Green and I had been
having trouble teaching with the spirit, so we fasted to learn how to teach by
the spirit, and to help us with the language and the gospel. We were
immediately blessed the next day, but i will get to that shortly. We also got
to watch the Joseph Smith movie that night after a little devotional. That
movie is always such a strong testimony builder, and after we watched the movie was when i got the
answer to my question of how to teach by the spirit. We had not been BEARING
our testimonies, rather we had been reciting them. We were using the strength
of our testimonies to their fullest and letting people know how much we love the
gospel.
Monday was when we put the answer to our question into action. We taught the
Elders that had shown up the wednesday before the First Discussion. The first
principle in spanish, and then the rest in english. Our spanish was a little
shaky, but we had only learned to teach it in spanish a few minutes earlier. But
after the spanish part, and during our testimonies throughout, the spirit was SO
strong. The new elders told us afterwards that it was one of the most powerful
lessons they had experienced. That was a great thing to hear for us. We really
needed to know that all our hard work had really payed off. AND IT HAD!!!
Tuesday was the best day of the MTC so far. Classes and everything were normal but it wasn't until the devotional, did it become amazing. Pres.
Dieter F. Uchtdorf and his wife came to speak to us. It was the best talk that
i have ever heard. I will give you some of the highlights of his talk that
stood out to me. The First being asking the question are we on the Lord's side
and NOT is the Lord on my side. It is us that ask him for guidance everyday,
and not us telling thim. We are asking him where and what to teach, and not the
other way around. The next big thing was, don't go through your mission with
one pair of shoes. I plan on wearing at least 3 or 4 pairs of shoes to death
out on my mission. No person should go untaught while i am out there. So be
prepared to send me some shoes in the near future. And lastly, 4th Floor Last
Door. The conversion story of his wife should be the motto of all missionaries.
Go to the very last door and leave no one untaught. I left that talk with new
vigor to not waste anytime on my mission. Heck, it's not my time anyways.
Well that is it for me. I love you all immensely and pray for you everynight. I
also feel your love and encouragment throughout the day. It is what keeps me
going.

Love,
Elder Washburn