Strap it On!

I recently was able to get a new knee brace while I was home for the holidays.  It isn’t a pair of P.F. Flyers, but I feel I am running faster and jumping higher.  Interestingly, I found while wearing it, the value it has seems unnoticeable.  While I have it on my leg feels fine and feels it doesn’t need any support.  But that changes when I take the brace off.  My knee feels unstable, and walking down stairs again becomes a scary prospective.  It occurred to me this morning how the brace acts as a living analogy in my life.  It is easy to overlook the value of something used often in our lives.

Just before the break I was able to take a walk up around the Temple here in Provo.  While crossing the street near the temple I noticed a car coming to the intersection.  I was talking with my sister Beth on the phone, and jokingly asked her if she thought the car was going to stop.  At that moment, the thought came to me that no, the car was not going to stop. 

Sometimes Life Gives you Lemons, and Concrete

I am writing this post to commemorate two weeks since I ate it on my bicycle.  Why am I commemorating two weeks you might ask?  The answer is simple; I have been too lazy to write up anything before now.  Also today I have been able to get some more pictures to go along with this post.  I have really enjoyed being able to ride my bike around and back and forth to classes.  I am not sure how much longer I will be able to this year, but I intend to enjoy it as much as I can. 

When I crashed my bike, it was a very rainy day and I had just come through the intersection, up on the sidewalk and attempted to go over a little bump to cut through the parking lot.  Being recently painted yellow, the bump had a nice glossy finish, and coupled with the rain it became very slick.  As I proceeded over the bump as I had done many times before I found the forward motion of my bike was coupled with a sideways falling motion, and I found myself being thrown into the concrete.  Thinking quickly and not wanting to continue sliding I used my face as a brake (it was close to the ground and this point) and was able to come to a stop.

Ok . . . maybe that wasn’t my original plan, but if you have been thinking about using your face as a brake for something I recommend devising a new plan.  After stopping I decided the best thing would be to just lay there.  I didn’t really feel like moving.  That plan yielded nothing (I am not sure what I was looking for), so I decided I should probably just get up and get home so I could get some things done I needed.  I sighed, I rolled over, and I found a girl standing and staring at me a distance away.

Adapting My Vision

It is more work than I thought to change the title and design of the blog!  I knew there were a few basic things I needed to change.  The title “Elder Seth Spencer” would not work now I am finished with my mission, and I didn’t think it was that creative either.  I love the title now!  My Mom actually helped me come up with it.  She first got the idea from a Wikipedia page.  I wanted to find something unique, something personal, and I like an aura of mysteriousness as well.  To help me meet these things we were searching for something which related to my name and the meaning of it.  According to the page, the two pillars referred to pillars of brick and stone supposedly made by Seth (ancient son of Adam and Eve) and his descendants.  The pillars were engraved with the scientific discoveries and knowledge, the idea of putting them in stone to be to preserve them over an extended period of time.  I am not sure if that was something actually done by Seth, or something which was done at all.  The idea I liked was of preserving those things which are important to us in our lives.  I have found blogging to be a wonderful tool in preserving and sharing some of the important things in my life with others.

In changing the blog I started with one thing in my mind and then went searching for images and templates to coordinate and put everything together.  I found it almost impossible to find what was exactly in my mind, but then as I found other things, the vision of what I did want would change.  Or, I would find a part and realize that the other part I had needed to change.  In the end, I was able to work everything out!  It is interesting that as I reflect on it a little now, I see these small circles of searching as echoes of a little larger search I am currently on.

From the Pearl of Africa, Testimony of Jemba

Not all our investigators have to travel hundreds of miles to attend church, but there are a few.  Jemba is one of those few, and I feel immensely grateful for the testimony and the spirit which we have felt from talking with him.  When we first met Jemba, he lived several hundred miles from any church building, I did not know how he could get to church, and I did not know how he would ever be able to be baptized in this church.  Jemba is one investigator who has shown unbeatable optimism and spiritual insight.  I can’t think of many investigators who would take time in a lesson to teach us and share additional insights without us asking.  Jemba is one of those people.  Jemba knows who God is, and we know God is aware of him.  I feel the conversion of Jemba, and the opportunities which I have seen open to him have been real miracles.  I have seen many miracles while being here, and I am very grateful for that.  I am grateful to share with you this miracle, from the view of Jemba.

Hello everyone, I am by names of Jemba Denis, 19 years Old male Ugandan by nationality residing in a country named Uganda located in East-Africa.

Testimony of Cassia!!

I am excited to share with you the testimony of another person we have been working with!  I am hoping through these you will get a chance of how much I feel I have been blessed.  I know the real joy we find in serving as missionaries comes from seeing the conversion of others.  We read in the Doctrine and Covenants about the worth of a soul:

“Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;  15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!”  (D&C 18: 10, 15)

I have shared my own experience in talking with Cassia before.  Teaching her was one of the most unique and memorable experiences for me as a missionary.  I was able to teach her with my brother, and she is also the only person I taught face to face.  That is another story, today I am happy to share with you her experience, in Portuguese and English! J

Cassia –

Testemunho

Eu conheci a Igreja atraves do meu irmao, mas quando ele começou a frequentar eu senti que ele estava se afastando da familia e achava um absurdo então eu nunca havia me interessado em ir assistir uma reunião aos Domingos.  Anos se passaram e a minha irmã decidiu visitar a Igreja e aceitou ser ensinada pelos missionarios que iam a minha casa e sempre me convidava para participar de uma lição mas nunca me interessei, mas achava muito bonito a força daqueles missionarios, pois nao era facil estar longe da familia e da cultura por tanto tempo.

Causes Me To Fear . . . ?

We don't fear.

The last few evenings we had an influx of bugs in the apartment.  We have had large beetles, big ugly looking fly-like things, and a few spiders.  My first thought one evening was how I could give both spiders to my little sister.  But, then I remembered she is a few hundred miles away, and I would enjoy continuing to get letters from her.  So, as fun as that would be, we just squished them.  As ecstatic as my own sister would be about getting some spiders (not at all), it made me think a little about how fear can affect us in our lives.

I think most of the fears I had growing up were pretty typical.  And I am sure I could take a lot of time to talk about those things.  Working as a missionary my mind is often thinking about the subjects of fear and faith and the power they have to motivate.  I can see those people who are motivated by faith, and I can see the joy it brings.  I can see those who are driven by their fears, and I can see the sorrow it brings to them in their lives.  While rarely asked exactly like this, people do often have some version of—“Do you fear your church is wrong?”  “Do you fear these things point to the Book of Mormon being false?” “Do you fear you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life?”  The answer is those are things I do not fear. 

Testimony of Megan!!

Megan's Baptism!!

I love sharing the testimonies of those we teach!  Today I am excited to share with you the testimony which Megan has graciously shared with us.  Each of those we have met have the most wonderful stories, and everyone is unique.  I know this gospel and this church is something which changes all of our lives. The conversion we have is something personal to all of us, and something which comes from our own seeking and asking of God.  I know this is something Megan has done, and I know her coming to a knowledge of these things has come from God, through His Spirit, and not just what we have said.  But, enough of me, let me share with you her own story:

Megan

As little as nine months ago, I would have described myself as a devout atheist.  Having been raised by my two young parents and an Irish Catholic grandmother, I had many confusing, conflicting, and harsh feelings surrounding religion, faith, and God.  Going to church was always seen as a chore that was saved for rare holidays where we were forced into it by our grandmother.  Most of what I knew of God, Christ, and religion had to do with guilt, constant sin, and feeling afraid.  Needless to say, I did not relate well to this and clung to both my logic, scientific inclination and my compassionate, humanistic feelings.