Hey there Fam and Friends!!!!

Hey there Fam and Friends!!! Hows life in the real world? I hear its overated haha! So thanks for the Christmas update and all that and the update on Liney´s big 14th birthday! So yesterday me and my companion sang happy birthday to liney while we were walking to class, and everyone in my district sang Sweet Caroline about 10 times! So dont worry Liney you got a lot of Birthday wishes from the CCM in Peru! I hope your day was wonderful!!! So i guess in this email i got to start back on Christmas Eve. So Christmas Eve well started out alright, i dunno it was hard not to think of home and all that but that was early in the day on Christmas Eve. We had a fireside that night which was pretty good, but the fun all started after that! After the fireside we all participated in a Christmas Tradition, Hot Chocolate and Fruit Cake? Haha well at least in the United States fruit cake is a joke, not in Peru! They love that stuff! And to tell you the truth... its not good haha but yeah, o before i get started you guys need to tell Kyle Spencer that  he Served with both of my teachers in Trujjio Mission! My guy teacher would have been Elder Martinez who worked in the office with him, and my girl teach (who is the best teacher ever) her name is Rosario Caballero, she knew Kyle to, so that was really cool! And then i had to explain to them why my first name is Spencer and not my last haha that was fun... O and dad to answer your question, i thought my Spanish was coming along pretty well... until yesterday we started SUBJUNCTIVE!!! AHHH!!! What the heck that stuff is nuts.  So i guess we will see how that goes.  But anyways sorry mom this is going to freak you out, but i leave the CCM on Tuesday Morning!!! HOORAY!!! So yeah im pretty much stoked out of my mind! But that means you shoulda sent the package to the mission home! O well its all good, hopefully it gets to me haha!  So back to Christmas Eve, so we ate that funky fruit cake and then each district was assignent to pick some Christmas Song and sing it that night, but it didnt have to be a hymn, it could be whatever song we wanted! So i figured a lot of people would do fun songs, i was kinda wrong on that one... haha so we all go out there and everyone starts singing and we are the last disctrict to go, of course cause we are all north americans.  So everyone is singing silent night, and a bunch of hymns, Im like o boy haha because i had proposed the idea and my district all loved it to sing the Grinch Song! Haha i was inspired by Seth Tippets, that is his favorite Chirstmas Song and I just remembered how awsome it was so our teacher printed off the lyrics and it was like 6 verses, we had practiced all these actions and stuff haha so classic! So we get up there and everone sang hymns or serious songs, Elder Mortons district sang Mary did you Know, they did way good but i couldnt help laugh cause that always reminds me of when our cousing Ethan Lamb sang that to his mom haha what a classic moment! So we get up there and start singing the Grinch Song and I wont lie it was pretty funny, and I was getting into it, with sound effects and all that jazz, so tell Seth i did my best to make him proud haha! After that everyone just stayed out there and we sang every Christmas song we could think of! We sang chesnuts roasting on an open fire, jingle bells, 12 days of Christmas, we sang em all! It was pretty fun! We just belted em out, then we went in and this Elder had the same poem mom sent me, a missionary christmas, i hadnt opened my package for Christmas Eve yet, so pretty much he read that and we were all balling because we all missed our Mothers haha, then i went up to my room and opened up my Christmas Eve package and read it again and i cried a little more! Dont worry, it was a good crying session though, and dad your letter was awsome! What you said about how if i was home it wouldnt have been as happy, cause i need to be out here, and that was so true! So thanks for that.  Please thank everyone that sent a christmas note, they were so awsome!!! I loved reading all of them, and the pictures were amazing!!! So great job on that! So i woke up and Christmas and of course opened up my presents!!! I was so pumped when i got the Gryffindor T-Shirt!!! So awsome!! Thanks so much for that!  First off i need mom or dad to email or call the mortons and thank them for raising such an amazing kid!!! And thank the Lord for allowing us to be together on Christmas, it was nice to one of my brothers with me on Christmas! We did a little gift exchange, me and Keat, we signed some ties and gave em to each other with some candy and chips, so pretty much I love Keat! Such a blessing to have him with me! it really did help Christmas to be a whole lot brighter having him here!  SO Christmas was pretty awsome, we had a bunch of pinatas and all that, you will see in my pictures im holding the pieces of the piñata in the air, in my Gryffindor shrit! And then we played some kick ball and Sand volleyball, we had a giant Christmas lunch that was actually way good! I gave my ties out and we took some matching pictures so that was awsome! Then later in the night me and elder morton played some pick up soccer with some latinos before we watched a movie.  They let us watch the Other Side of Heaven! It was so awsome! It was kinda weird cause you know how its like a half love story haha... yeah so me Elder Morton and my comp were laughing about that haha Girls... totally lame and overated... at least till November 2012! Haha good times! So yeah life is great, Christmas was really fun, Ive got a lot of pictures to send you! So remember i get out of here on tuesday!!! Tuesday morning or afternoon we go to the mission home and have our interviews and then we go to our areas!!! HECK YEAH!!!! Here is how i see it, yeah the MTC was fun, but i am so ready to get out of here ahah, the mission i have been dreaming about for my whole life is actually about to start in less than a week! Sure, im nervous my spanish isnt that awsome but i know once i get out there i just want to get lost in the work, get fluent in spanish, and START SAVING SOME SOULS BABY!!! Im so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Dont worry about the package, itll get to me! thanks for sending one so quick! You guys are the best and always in my prayers! And trust me, i say a lot of prayers these days haha!

 Well love ya all!!! Elder Spencer Marty McGhie

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM PERU !!

Hey there family and friends!!! First of all i will just start out by saying it is like the 50th day mark in my mission (someone informed me of that, dont worry im not counting) but is that just nuts or what!? 50 days.... And to say the least i want to go to the FIELD SO BAD! Haha dont get me wrong the CCM is pretty sweet but the Field is going to be the bomb! Under 2 weeks BABY! So life is pretty awesome! My companion is Elder Thompson! We totally graduated together from Alta just this last year, haha what are the chances right!? He is going to the Lima Peru South Mission, he is a giant cougar fan, a giant psych fan, and he loves classic rock! So pretty much we get along together awesome! His First name is Colton if Mom wants to go stalk him in my year book and stuff! Ok so i will answer moms demanding questions haha no, i cant print out emails in the ccm but its all good i read em all! And your question about elder madsen, i really do love him! He’s a champion and a great kid! So this last week has been pretty grand, my spanish has hit a little trouble without my own personal dictionary latino companion! But its all good in less than 2 weeks i will have a trainer showing me all the ropes!  So my district has no latinos! Bummer deal right!? So i am making Elder Morton (keaton) share his haha so my district is pretty tight we have elders from all over the country and 6 north americans in our room so everynight we have story time or we discuss deep doctrine, well i guess there is no ¨deep doctrine¨but its fun to talk about the millennium and Armageddon and stuff haha !!!!Ok im sorry this is the most random email ever!!! anyways so last wednesday they took us on this awesome tour!!!!  We gotta go and look at the ocean haha and then they took us to a downtown square in Lima and we got to go shopping and eat pizza and ice cream! I bought you guys way way cool lama stuff and this awesome peru gear!!! So once i get to the field i will send a package home and you guys will have your own legit peru stuff! So i ve been opening up My Christmas cards and they are so amazing!!! I love them! Its so so so cool to get to hear from all of you and I Love it!!! And all the pictures mom sent me of everyone have really taken me down memory road to such good times we had!!! So the mission is the bomb! And im only in the MTC i cant imagine how tight it will be in the field! Sorry theres not much cool stuff  to write about, i kinda sit in class all day long... So mom get Rosetta Stone if your trying to learn Spanish I hear it is awesome! And last sunday i sent a bunch of letters home and in replying to dear elders from everyone so be on the look out for those haha. Ok so Mom if you wanna send me a package to the mission home I want my line of authority from dad, some stamps, pictures of Christ, some beef jerky, sun flower seed(original, david brand) and some mike n ikes! O and i opended some of my christmas presents... haha i pretty much shouted for joy when i opened my lord of the rings shirt!!! So awesome, i am wearing it right now! Everyone loves it haha! Tell liney to listen on her birthday cause i will be singing her happy birhtday and Sweet Caroline so listen and she should be able to hear it all the way from Peru! So Life is AMAZING! You know me, if your not laughing, smiling, or crying for joy every second of everyday, then something is wrong.  And since I have such awesome family and  friends and i get to serve a mission in Peru, i have no reason in the world to not be Smiling. So Thank you everyone for all you have done for me! I loved all the extra pictures! now i will send you some pics from the tour! Love you all and I hope everyone has the best darn Christmas EVER!!!!(and Lineys Birthday too!!)

 LOVE YOU All !  AND MERRY CHRISTMAS

(and thanks for the Christmas messages from all of you all).           

Elder Spencer Marty McGhie

WHATS UP???

Hola Familia and Friends!!! How are we doing today! K, ill start off with some bad news email time is getting cracked down on so i dont have as much time as i used to but its all good! So ill just send one big email and family you just edit it please!!! So my companion left... which totally sucked, and there arent enough latinos so i think im getting a North American companion!!! WOOF oh well i will just try my best to speak spanish! But i might get a latino we will see! So i had to go to immigration this morning and i get back from the long van ride and there was a huge bus outside the CCM and i was like NEW ELDERS!!! I ran over to the bus and guess who was there!!! My main man KEEEEAATTTOOON MORTOOON!!! We embraced for like 5min! I just love that kid it was so good to see him again!  I took a picture so ill send that to you! O and we have the tour later today where ill take like a million pictures but ill have to send them next week! O and other great news your package came! THANKS SO MUCH! I set up the trees and opened the chocolate calender, i gave the other one to elder madsen! But i havent dove into the other gifts cause i had to read the instructions on this email to start! I got a bunch of your dear elders to! They made me so happy and laugh! And thank Kirk Green for his dear elder that was great to read and his joseph smith comparison was perfect!!! And tell him to tell tyson i love him and hang in there! I need his email too! So now im going to give you a recap from my epic trackting experience from saturday... So we drive for like an hour and a half, im like where the heck are we going? So we finally get to the chapel and its not to bad, not very ghetto, but we go to get off and they told me and 3 other companionships to stay on the bus. We drove about another 20 minutes to the GHETTO! Wow i was like umm... haha so we get in the chapel and there are other missionaries from the mtc there as well, and they tell us we all have to take out watches off because itll get robbed so we had to put them in our backpack... I wont lie i was trippin out, cause even the natives were a little worried! They put me and my comp with a ward member kid who is prepping for his mission and we walked about 15 min to our little area, our first contact was golden! It was a 17 year old named jimmy, he was really interested and i was actually in the conversations, i shared some scriptures told him about the Holy Ghost, i was killin it in Spanish! Its amazing how much i have improved because of my native.  So we got his information and he is definitely interested for the missionaries to come back later in his area, it kinda stinks cause we go out there and do the contact work but dont get to see the fruits of our labors but 3 more weeks and ill be there!!! So 2nd contact is this sweet little old lady and we were teaching her in her house. It was the first house i had been in like sat down to teach a lesson, so here house was just this smalll square, and it was so humbling to know this is all she had, you could tell how hard she had worked on her little house, it was painted pink and there were little china characters all over the room and a bunch of pictures hanging on the wall, it was so cute. So in the lesson i taught about the restoration of the gospel and the first vision! It was awesome!!! We were doing awesome and she was so interested! I hope it works out. By then it was almost lunch time and my comp didnt really have a desire to talk to people and neither did the native they just wanted to head back, so i just let him take charge in the morning so we went back, i was bugged but it was only 5 min early, the spirit just ate at me and i was like i cant waist 1 minute of the lords time!!! So after lunch i was like no way im not wasting a moment, so we did some contacts and my comp and the native decided it was just time to walk and chit chat, so i was trying to street contact, and we passed 2 people who both seemed interested to talk but my comp just kept walking, and after we passed the 2nd person i just well kinda snapped, you know my temper, it takes a lot for me to get actually mad, but waisting the lords time is 1 of them! In my best spanish i chewed both of them out, and my comp has definitely never seen me mad I pretty much yelled, WHY ARENT WE TALKING TO EVERYONE! And they kinda looked at me and then i said THIS IS THE LORDS TIME WE ARE TALKING TO EVERYONE!!!! and then i ranted for a couple more seconds haha and to say the least it was effective! We started tearing it up!  So we are in the ghetto and we are walking to a members house to get a referral and all these bums were sitting on the curb heckling me haha its was funny i just waved and said hi, and at that moment i have never felt safer, i knew i was in the hands of the lord and he is protecting me.  It was awesome, so mom dont worry im protected! So the day was coming to an end and we were at the members house, she wanted to give us some random juice and i looked at my comp and said nononono! I was like i cant drink i will get sick, cause the cup she gave me was like dirty and she just splashed some tap water in there and filled it up with some juice i was like ah crap, she gave me the glass and i couldnt say no, you could tell they dont have much and to just share a drink with me is a big deal for them, so i just manned up and drank it! Haha it wasnt bad, i figured i would have the runs or throw up all night, but i was just fine! See the lord is lookin out! But dont worry mom i figured out how to say thank you very very much but im not allowed to, in spanish as nice as possible! Haha good times, we taught a few more lessons and it was a great experience! Im lovin my mission and i love all you to pieces!!! ElderMcGhie!  Alright fam this part is just for you guys, so life is great, it really is mom, dont worry you are always with me and its really all good! So i have a little assignment for all you! once christmas break starts, for family night i want all of you, mom, dad, ainsley, and liney to go to Temple square, see the lights and go watch the Joseph Smith movie! I demand it!!! And when i get on my email next week i expect to see pictures!!! Thanks so much for your constant prayers and love, i cant believe im getting out into the real field in under 3 weeks! Im so excited! Cause the CCM is great and all but i didnt go on a mission to sit in class for 5 hours haha, but im still learning patience, i read a talk by President Uctdorf on patience and it was amazing! I would recommend reading it together! Mom dont worry i have my other big pillow so i dont need another pillow haha and we arent going proselyting anymore cause the saturday is on christmas and the next saturday is new years day and its way to dangerous to put us out there!!! Well i love yall so sos sossos much! Ill hook up some pics!  LOVE YOU! from the best son ever Elder Spencer Marty McGhie (yeah im now Spencer Marty McGhie) ps if someone calls or called from the peru ccm lookin for my social security number give it to them, if not dont worry its all good! LOVE YOU and go to temple square! 
     

SURPRISE!!!

Well so on Saturday night i found out this week p-day was going to be on tuesday, and i was sorta mad cause i didnt get to tell you guys when it was so you wouldnt be able to email me! But dont feel bad its totally fine! Mom, i got one of your Dear Elders earlier this week but it was put in some other elders mailbox addressed to an Elder Spencer McGhiw hahahahah that made me laugh! But yeah its all good, so i have had an interesting week to say the least, ill start on saturday, o and sorry no pictures today cause we are only allowed to take pictures on p day and our email time rotates, and our email time is at 7 in the flipppin morning! So i havent taken any new photos since my last email cause that lame rule... but anyways so Saturday is what i would call a Baptism by Fire.  Haha they load us all up on buses and off we go! We leave at about 745 in the morning, to get to our area it was about a 40 minute drive and the home base is the chapel in the area.  The area i was in, is in the Lima Central Mission boundaries... needless to say im grateful im going to lima east haha so then everyone gets a different area in the city and divide into about groups of 4 and you get a teacher, then you branch off, in the morning the teacher was with me and my comp and then the afternoon he was with the others, needless to say i enjoyed the afternoon more.  So the first street im walking down just reeks o urine and poop, and there was garbage all along the side of the road, it was very interesting to say the least... haha so me and my comp go to this park and its game time.  There is this lady with her dog and she is sitting there with her her mom, this little old lady and so we go up to contact her, im nervous to say the least! I dont even speak SPANISH!!! So we go up to her and start talking, she was pretty nice but not very interested at the end of our little conversation we invited her to go to church on sunday, haha she said she could come to church on sunday because she had to walk her dog and eat breakfast... Haha nice  So we are walking around the streets of peru and its almost lunch, we decide to contact one more lady, it was this little old lady and like a 35 year old man just sitting on a bench in the park, this time the teacher was with us, so we walk up and start talking to her and it immediately goes south  her first words were, i am catholic, wich i now know when someone says that they arent just filling you in on what they believe it also means GO AWAY! haha but hey we are missionaries we arent going anywhere, so we try to talk politely with her and ask her what her name is of course she wont tell us and just starts yelling MALO MALO witch means bad, haha so im sitting there i dont speak any spanish this old lady is just screaming at us and i was like o my gosh what the heck is going on, cause she is rapidly yelling in spanish and i have no idea what she is saying!  So i just tried to bear my testimony and i would get 3 words in and she would start yelling again, frustrating to say the least. So the teacher with us sorta took over and he was like just give me one minute to share my testimony and then we will leave, so he tried, she started yelling again, tried yet again, she started yelling again, it was nuts! So we then just thanked her for her time and bailed!  Needless to say i needed that lunch break.  so after lunch i decided to be more involved and use every spanish word i possibly could think of just to be in the conversations! So the afternoon was going well, we landed a few Book of Mormons some pamphlets, some passalong cards, so it was going much better.  Then it was drawing near to the end of a long weird confusing day, i was standing in the streets with my companion talking to a man, it wasnt really going anywhere to say the least, I was standing there holding a book of mormon in my hands and this little old lady came running down the street, pointing in my direction and hollering hey! HEY! I was like what the heck, but i figured she was yellin at someone else so i just kinda looked back down and tried to re focus on the conversation at hand, but she she just kept coming down the street yellin at me! So i look up as she was getting closer, i looked behind me and there wasnt anyone behind me, and i kinda mouthed me? She was like si si si! She was just this tiny old lady and remember this is all in spanish... she said hey i want that book of mormon, i was like really? haha but i asked her why and she said she loved reading and was really interested in the church and wanted to read that book, so i got really excited i was tellin her all about it in my best broken spanish, and i started showing her where to read i but a pamphlet in 3 Nephi Chapter 11 and Moroni 10 and asked her to read it! And she said she would! I asked her to attend sacrament meeting tomorrow and she said she would as well! I gave her a passalong card with the church info on it and it was awesome! It was totally crazy, she probably only understood half of what i said, my spanish struggles haha but in the end Saturday was a very exhausting and satisfying day! It was nice to actually be doing some work for once! Love ya!!! Sorry no pics but ill take a bunch and have them to send to you next week on wednesday!!!

Hola My Amazing Family and Friends!!

Hola my amazing family!!!!  Wow first i have learned for myself why it is the Best 2 years (so far) first off its the hardest 2 years, but the most rewarding, amazing, experience of my life!  I really have grown up a lot, but im still the spencer all yall know and love! so how do i describe perú? haha lets see well i have soup and rice with a random slab of meat for luncha nd dinner every day haha but hey i love it!  Ill start off with the begining, it was an interesting first days, culture shock, my body trying (still trying) to adjust to the food and juices haha.  So there is a quote on my journal from d and c 122 7 And that all these things will give thee experienc... Ill say experience alright! so my companion speaks zero english so its been a giant game of charades! and he hasnt been throught the temple so coolest experience ever i got to take him through the temple this morning!!! Amazing experience! So waiting to get on the bus to go to the temple we were in the back of the line and 2 buses pulled up, chuck full! And so i thought, no way we are fitting on this thing! haha well in The United States no way, but in Peru everyone fits!!! My head touches the top of the bus so i have to squat down while there are about 25 extra people crammed in there! it was good cause i couldnt see how close the other cars actually were, ( i experienced that on the way back when i could sit down) but anyways so we finally got to leave the mtc and see the real world!!! And after the temple we got to go shopping, we went to the distribution center cause my comp needed some stuff, then we went to a store called tottus, and it was like we stepped into the USA! It was a giant walmart thing!  I was so happy to in the real world and we were having so much fun walkin around with my comp, and it hit me thats what a real mission is like!!! I said hi to every single person i saw and wanted to share the gospel with all of em!  So i need to start from Sunday, we had a testimony meeting, and there were about 25 latinos that got on to share theirs and then only 4 north americans, including me i was intimidated and i prayed with all my heart that i could do it all in epañol and i did it! then after that i go a suprise and had to teach the lesson to my distric in spanish, i prayed with all my heart and i can honestly say i had the gift of tongues!!! I was pullin phrases outa no where! it was just awsome!!! I bore my testimony at the end about an experience i had when i was about 12, i read moronis promise and prayed to know if it was true and the spirit testified to me it was!! it was amazing and when i shared it i sorta choked up and after all the latinos were crying to, it was awsome!!! The spirit speaks no languages to say the least! I had so much to say but i have to give up my computer at the moment, i will email more a little later, i have to give up my computer, now this sucks i have so much to say, ill try and log back on in about 20 min... sorry!!! ill be back, love you with all my heart, thanks for the prayers

Im back baby!!! i fixed another computer! Okay so i gotta start from the beginnig here... The Latinos are the best!!! They are the happiest people i have ever met! The best is on sunday we sang the first hymn and they could care less about how they sound, they just yell that hymn to the world!!! IT was so great!  So on monday they have this trainer come and for our gym time we work out with him, everyone was tellin me how hard it was, i was like yeah ok i doubt its bad at all. Haha lets just say he is the Chuck Norris of Perú, he had cones set up all over the soccer field and we did sprints, pushups with these bands, i am sore to say the least, but i loved it! It was awsome, we had this crazy peruvian screaming and blowing his whistle at us in rapid spanish! i had no clue what he was saying but it was great! the best was seeing the Latinos hahahahahahaha they were so funny, they all just would lay on the ground and they all wanted piggy backs! haha it was great, so gym is the best here we play on a way nice truf field, latinos vs north americans, haha we beat em! They were not very happy to say the least, it was so fun, i put in my fare share of goals haha can anyone say hat trick???  So the latinos all wanted to see my picture book, they all swarmed, so Ainsley there are 20 latinos here that want to marry you, but only 2 of em break 5'3 hahaha, one of them made  me promis after my mission they could come and marry you, i said o FOR SURE! haha so if things dont work out during the next 2 years ive got plenty of elders for ya! haha so my spanish has improved vastly, but we will see how much i actually know on saturday when we go legit trackting!!! I am jsut loving my mission, i cant wait to get out there for real though! The MTC here is pretty chill, but we can only take pictures on p day so thats weird, my companion is really funny, he is elder chaves, i think i told you the wrong name last week ahah but yeah he is from nicaruagua and they dont have a temple so i gotta take him through! An experience ill never forget!  O and dad there is an Agrentine here from Rosario and i was tellin him that my dad served there and you that your mission pres was President Abrea, i told him i knew him and that you were his assistand and he came to my farewell, his eyes lit up and gave me this huge bear hug!!! I was like well alrighty then ahah it was awsome! So the first thing i was going to say was no packages but looks like im too late for that haha o well, I pray about a million times a day and everytime i thank heavenly father for my wonderful family... and to please bless them! I can feel of your prayers thank you so much! Dad, thank you so much for serving your mission, it has been such a strength to me, i think about those journal entries i read of yours every day! I love ya so much pops! I wish i woulda realized you were my best friend before i left! I 2 years we are hanging out all the time!!! That goes for the whole family! Mom, i love you so much, thanks for always praying and hoping for me, your my hero!! Ainsley i love you so much, your an amazing example to me everyday! I used to joke i hoped you got married while i was gone, but it would be really hard to miss your wedding, so if you can hold off for 2 years, cause i want nothing more than to be there when you go through the temple, an eternal family means the world to me!!! And little liney, my other best friend, i love you so much, you are strong my friend! I got to write a letter on sunday and i wrote it to you!!! So be on the lookout, i{m so sad i will still be in the mtc so i cant send you a birthday present but the first thing i do is sending you a present, they have awsome perú things in the city! I love you guys so much, but i know that this time we are apart is neccesarry for me and you guys, i have grown so much, i love you alll to pieces!!! Thank you for the prays and love, the 2 years will fly and we will be in person again!!! now i must hook up some picture, ps its alright byu lost cause i jsut need em to win when i get back! haha!!!