Hello Family!

The snow has begun! This week it snowed about 3 inches one night. And now, that snow will be here until March! The snow plows here are crème' de la crème'. I was amazed at how fast they plow EVERYTHING. Sidewalks, parking lots, streets of course, and everyone’s driveways. It's just so normal over here and everyone knows what to do. Over in Washington school would have been closed for a week at least! But that’s how it is and it is really pretty now with the snow. I must say I do enjoy the first "real" snow.

This week has been really busy. We are teaching quite a bit and have a lot of people who are close to progressing. Also, we have started trying to give more church tours (like the Elders do there in WA) and that has been good. There is such a great feeling in the church when you walk in and it's like you can leave all the world behind when you walk in. It is so great to be a missionary. I get to meet so many different kinds of people and serve them and help them feel God's love for them through the Holy Ghost more than they ever have felt it before. The power of the spirit is real and it truly changes people’s lives!

Last night I had two meetings for an hour each so we didn't get to teach much that day, but I learned some cool stuff. It was just meetings with the ward mission leader and then the bishop here but I learned something great. We talked a lot about home teaching and visiting teaching. Growing up in the church, I had never really understood the importance of these programs. But last night it just hit me about how important they were and waht they did for wards. I felt kind of bad about how I hadn't given it much priority before. But after talking about it, it really is amazing...these programs we have in the church are just to help each other stay connected, fellowshipped and in touch with each other so we can help out. I decided that even if I didn't know the church was true (which I do!) I would still be a part of this church because of the love and genuine care the people have for each other. Who wouldn't want to be a part of a group like that?? So that’s just what I learned last night in some meetings.

Pictures: (thanks to my companion!) #1. Karl's baptism! Bro. Johnson from the ward was a great fellowshipper in the ward and he baptized him. That is Karl's son (little Karl). He is 4 and he loves primary.
#2. This is the Pilipino lady who is wonderful! Her name is Gloria. She had tons of lights and we helped her set them up in her yard. And I mean alllll over her yard! It was awesome.
#3. The fist snowwww! We were in at night getting ready for bed and we just looked out and there was an inch or so out! So we went and played for a few minutes and I struck a pose. I hope Carl is proud of me for that pose, because I know he is the pro at it!

**Minnesota Word of the week**
Unfortunately I'm out of time to do a word of the week...but next week there will be one! Sorry, I do apologize for the inconvenience...

Hope you all have a splendid week! I love you all!
Love,
Elder Spencer