Week #29 Taunton

Hey
This was a good week here in England! We had two conferences one was with four zones of the mission and the other was the worldwide broadcast! I learned a lot and felt the spirit a ton I love hearing from President Gubler and then the Apostles. I love how the world wide missionary efforts are always progressing and we're always searching to find ways to be better servants of the Lord! 

    Found some new investigators this week so hopefully we can start teaching them again this week! Elizabeth has been hard to get in touch with but she did say we can come by tomorrow so pray that our extending a baptismal date to her will go well!!(: I'm way excited for that! Also we had a guy named Dan come to church on Sunday, which was great! He owns a plasterwork shop in town and we have just become good friends with him through out the time we have been here. We then invited him to come to church and he said he would. He is bringing his wife next week to Ward Conference! Gunna be a party!! 

    Other than that we have just been trying our best to find people who are prepared! The broadcast was nice because I believe it blesses me and helps me to refuel and increase my knowledge of the gospel and reminds me of what I need to work on! Pumped to get out there and do some more work(: 

    Love England and I love this gospel so much! 

    Have a good week!

Love,

Elder McSpadden 

                     Worldwide Broadcast...  Elder Faurra, Elder Cox, Elder Harward and I. 

                              

Week #28 Taunton

January 18, 2017

Heyyyy, 

    This week started a bit slow because right when Elder Cox arrived the next day he got really sick and we had to stay in the flat and let him rest so that was hard... but other than that the week has been getting better and better! 

    We taught our investigator Elizabeth this week which went great! We taught her about the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon and why she felt so good when reading it the first time! She was so excited that she had found something that she feels can complete her life. It's good because she's a caretaker for a member who is poorly so they talk about the church all the time. They also read the Book of Mormon together(: keep them in your prayers! 

    We also taught a part member couple in a small town called Wiveliscombe. We reactivated the wife Christine and now we're teaching her husband Bill about the gospel! When we first went in I don't think he was very happy about us being there but out of the corner of my eye I saw this huge collection of antique toy tractors. So for about 25 min we just talked about tractors, haha. Doing that seemed to make him a lot more comfortable so after that we ended up having a pretty good discussion! He is now showing more of a desire to find out if there really is a God through prayer!! Soooo sweet! We try to meet up with them as much as they allow us too.  Bill just loves tractors and started collecting them haha it's way cool. He likes us but I just think he doesn't really care or have a desire to learn or change right now but hey that's why we're here!

    In that same town of Wiveliscombe we have a family named the Bensons that we are really close to now! We asked if we could do some service for them on their farm because it's a lot of work and it all rests on their shoulders to get it done. We fixed the door to the shed then restacked about a 10 x 10ft pile of wood and also cleaned out these jars that had candles in them from their nativity scene. They have a friend in Provo named Spencer James. I guess he's a bishop in Provo and he referred us to them. They're really religious so they just wanted to know more about what Mormons believe because of their friend. So we've taught them some but were now just doing service because they weren't interested in any more lessons. Benson's would let us come over every day if we could, haha. They are some of my favorites! Even if they don't ever become members I wish to stay friends with them always. They seem to love me too! They fed us after we did all that service in their shed, it was way good. Later that day the father thanked us over messenger for the work we did and how he could have never done it on his own. It was great to see the tender mercies of the Lord! Hopefully we can start teaching them more about the gospel now(: 

    I know that the gospel blesses families!! I can see it in my own life and how much it would benefit others! I love it!! 

Have a good week(: 

    

-ELDER MCSPADDEN 

Week #27 Taunton

January 11, 2017

Hiiiiiiiyyyyyyyaaaaaa!!

    Pretty crazy week we had down here in Taunton. I went on exchange
with Elder Dyer and we got invited to go to an Islamic Mosque with one
of our friends Omar! We got permission to go and I was pretty nervous
to be honest, haha. I had no idea what was going on the whole time but
it was chill because we just sat in the back and watched. Our friend Omar
is from Syria and has been teaching us some background info about Muslims
and what they believe. It's nice to have that knowledge so we can
teach them more effectively. We then invited him to come with us, so on Sunday
Omar came to church and brought two of his friends with him which was
sweet.
    Elder Dyer and I went to visit a member who has been pretty poorly
the last couple weeks to see how she has been doing. When we got there her
caretaker ( Elizabeth) said she couldn't have visitors so we started
to talk to her about her belief in God and out of nowhere she says she
has already read the Book of Mormon because her patient gave her one...
She said it gives her peace in life. We were way shocked but pumped!
Meeting up with her again this week. When Elder Dyer and I were on exchange

this crazy guy was yelling at us and some huge 7 foot tall guy protected us and told

the crazy guy to stop messing with the Mormons or he was gunna hurt him. 

It was pretty funny and his name was Tiny Tim. He just told us

everyone deserves respect but wasn't really interested in what we had to say. 
    We received our transfer calls this week as well and I am staying in Taunton
which I'm grateful for! Elder Tsai is leaving back to a Chinese
speaking area in Southampton and I got a new companion! His name is Elder Cox from
Boise Idaho and he's coming from the Peckham London area!! He's a beast for sure!

He's been out for 21 months and he's been a Zone Leader for 85 percent of his mission.

He knows what he's doing. I'm excited to get some work done here in Taunton!
    I also got called to be the District Leader so I'm excited to find
ways to serve my district as much as I can the way Christ serves! Good
opportunities to grow these next couple transfers(:  Elder Dyer was transferred to Guildford...
    I know that as we follow the spirit in our lives good things will
happen. We need to be worthy of it and learn how we can be more in
tune with it. I have been learning more about the spirit of prophecy
and revelation lately and wow it's amazing!! I love this work and I
love England so much!!

Have a good week(:

-Love Elder McSpadden

Elder Cox and I

                         Martin a member from our ward that we like to help out and serve!

6 months!!!!!!  Yay!!

Week #26 Taunton

January 4, 2017
Hello Family and Friends,
    Solid week with the New Year starting! Wednesday we had a district finding in the Taunton city center with 10 Elders all around and about the banner we made talking to people for like 2 hours, which was way fun. Found three new investigators named Ross, Kerry, and Jade. Ross is a dude in his early 20's looking for purpose in life so we told him we got the message. He's doing really well right now. Kerry is a young mum wanting to find ways to help her family so we taught her about eternal families. Jade is a girl in her late teens who wants to find peace and love in life. We taught her again and she brought her boyfriend which was great so we taught them both! Things are moving along here in Taunton and I pray it will keep getting better. Today we played a game called Snooker. It's like pool but flippin hard, haha. It was way fun! 

    I love England and the people here with all my heart.. the culture the food the words everything I love. I know that this message will bless the of people of England and I'm going to try my hardest to spread this great word of Jesus Christ!!(:  I started the Book of Mormon again and I'm still finding new things in it to strengthen my testimony. It is for sure the Word of God! If you don't know it, read it with purpose and real intent and I promise you the spirit of the Lord will manifest the truth of it unto you!!! Have a wonderful week everyone(: 

P.S.  Moves are this week so we will see if I stay or not. 

Much love, 

-ELDER MCSPADDEN

Elder McSpadden and Elder Dyer playing Snooker!  P-Day fun!

Week #25 Taunton

December 28, 2016

This Christmas was one to remember for sure!! 

    On Christmas Eve we went crazy on finding people and spreading the spirit of Christ! We sang carols as loud as we could on the high street and handed out like 100 Light the World cards it was sweet. We then went and did service at the Salvation Army to help prepare them to feed the homeless that night. Such a could experience to help and see others have a good time and enjoy Christmas. 

    Then Christmas day was great as well. I felt the spirit so strong at our service we had. I felt the true meaning of Christmas and the love the Savior has for me. His birth was the best thing that happened to us and I hope we can always remember that through out our lives. 

    England has a holiday called Boxing Day on the 26th. Everything is shut down likes it's Christmas I love it haha. Eat the left overs and chill all day. But that's not what we did!! We did some finding and people were not happy we were bothering them on their Boxing Day but its okay we did our best in spreading the word! Being able to Skype the family was awesome too. I thought it was going to be harder than that but it gave me a boost to keep on going forward. Love them and all of there support! 

   Funny thing happened last night. There is always crazy people either on some type of drug or drunk at night here in Taunton and last night there was a lot. This guy looked at my badge and just started yelling so loud at me for like 10 min about how I'm a sinner and I should give him money for that. I just walked away but this dude followed us forever haha. I finally walked into a store to get away cuz he started to get pretty sketchy. I felt bad for this guy cuz the gospel would change his life!!! Hopefully he can have a change of heart and we can teach him(: these type of people always go after me, never my companion haha. 

     I know that this gospel is true and that through Christ 's Atonement we can feel peace and comfort in this life even when it gets crazy. I love my Savior and I know he lives and loves us!! Love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

-ELDER MCSPADDEN 

Christmas 2016 spent with the Tutton family!  Food, games, missionaries and an amazing family!

Week #24 Taunton

December 21, 2016
This week was great but kinda crazy at the same time...

     It started off with us giving service to a man who was on some sort of drugs carrying a case of 30 cans of beer down the street. He was sweating like crazy and couldn't even walk. I felt bad for the man because he sat on the bench and I could hear him keep saying I cant do this I cant do this so we walked over and offered to help him bring his beer home safely, haha. He said he was beyond grateful for people like us to help him in a time of need. So as we walked down the main street in the city center trying to get directions from this guy who didn't really know where he was going in the first place was nuts.. finally we got him back to his flat and helped him up the stairs and into his room. Once I got up there I said Adam you need to change your life man. He said he really wants to but can't find the strength to do so. I told him I have exactly what he needs to fix that. He gave me his phone to find his number cuz he couldn't remember it and now we are about to teach this wonderful son of God!! Anyone can change! 

    Sunday, we were at church and the program said that an Elder was speaking. There are four of us in the ward and none of us knew we were suppose to speak so the second councillor gets up and says our four missionaries will be our first speakers today. So in like 2 min I whipped up a talk which wasn't to hard cuz I didn't have to speak long but it was kinda funny because this happens all the time in our ward. 

    Also that Sunday night we had the opportunity to go sing carols as a ward to this nursing home in Taunton. We came a little early so we just started knocking doors asking people if we could sing to them. Sooo many people wanted to listen and loved it. Idk if they liked it cuz my singing was bad or if my comp. was that good but I didn't care I was singing my heart out to these people. We then went to the nursing home and had a great time singing. There is a small video on Facebook if you wanna check it out. 

    On Monday and Tuesday I had an exchange with Elder Chui Falck from Washford. Hes one of the weirdest people I have ever met but I love the Elder to death!! We had a crazy exchange... we had to get a check up on their car during the exchange so while we were waiting we did some finding which was great but I guess some guy named Jake saw us outside when he was working and new we were mormons and got onto mormon.org to find out how to meet us again since we left. Now he's way interested and we are going to be teaching him this week.

     We also met this guy named Archy... he is easily the coolest dude in Taunton. I knocked on his door and I saw him watching American football. I started flippin out cuz this guy was an NFL fan. We were talking for awhile about the Ravens and Vikings and how they were doing since we like those teams and then he says he plays football! He plays for a college down in Southampton and is trying to get to the states to play as well. Then I was getting even more excited cuz he said he would come toss a football around when hes in Taunton. We talked about the message we have to share with him and he wants to learn more as well so I pray we can start teaching this guy this week and then the other Elders in Southampton can teach him as well.

    I saw a lady with a Minnesota Vikings jersey on in her car and I started chasing the car down and saying I was a Vikings fan too. She started cheering and drove off so I have been praying I can find her again soon. Hahaha lol. The lord is preparing the American football fans in Taunton so I can meet them. I love it!! 

    I love this gospel and this wonderful Christmas season. Peoples hearts are being opened so we can teach them about our Savior Jesus Christ which is amazing. Can't wait for Christmas on this mission!!! Love you all and I hope you have an amazing week(:

   

-ELDER MCSPADDEN