March 28... A lot of Chicken and a lot more Rice!

Hola Familia y mis Amigos,

Hows life treatin ya these days?  Life is pretty grand out here in Peru!  So my email is probably going to be pretty short, cause i have a bunch of  pictures i want to send home today! So I’ll start out by telling you about last P day!  So after the  internet time, we went to hike the top of this Hill, well here it is a mountain but compared to the mountains in Utah... yeah not so much a mountain haha but it was actually a pretty good hike, and i was dang tired! I think i sent pictures of us up there before, but we only made it half way! So this time i was bound and determined to make it to the top!!!  There is a giant Cross at the top of the mountain that overlooks all of Huanuco, so that was our goal and we made, and so im going to send ya the pics of that, they are pretty legit!  Its like little old me with my Book of Mormon, and the giant cross representing the Catholic Church! haha but as i was saying it was a pretty tough hike to the top, not many of the latinos made it to say the least haha, but so here we are in the middle of Peru hiking this mountain, it was so awesome.  So the question is when you are a missionary in the middle of Peru, hiking a giant mountain what do you do while hiking or climbing the mountain?  Of course me and one of the other gringos in my district sang Miley Cyrus,  ITS THE CLIMB! Haha I cant lie it was so perfect, and yes sadly i knew all the words along with the other gringos, Elder Porter from Arizona was singing with me, im sure Elder Corbridge would have sung with us but he was a little too far ahead so he didnt get the chance to sing with us haah.   It was just so funny to think, what the heck, im in the middle of Peru hiking a mountain right now!? What should i do? I should definitely sing some  Miley Cyrus right now! haha so that was pretty awesome, and we did sing it pretty well with giant leaps and dance moves to go along with the song! Haha   
 (Hi, this is Carrie, jumping in with a comment here:   Can’t you just totally see Spencer and some of the other missionaries, Giant leaping and doing dance moves and singing Miley Cyrus while climbing  up a mountain/hill, it is just so Spencerish (I made that word up, Spencerish, let’s get it in the dictionary already J !!) 

Okay, so also we had 2 more Baptisms and a Wedding this week!!! Yep thats right Luis and Ines finally got married and baptized!!! it was so great! They really are so awesome! The wedding went really well... haha Luis the husband got married in his fire fighter suit and they drove to the chapel in the fire truck hahaha, classy right? I just imagined what Grandma Spencer would say or do if i came home from my mission and decided, yeah for my wedding i think im going to be dressed up like a fire fighter and drive around in a fire truck hahahahahaha!  I think its fair enough to say Grandma Spencer would either disown me or beat me hahaha, Man I love Peru!!! So that was awesome, I baptized Hermana Ines and my comp baptized  Luis, cause Hermana Ines is a little dare i say Bigger? haha but in Peru it is just blatantly clear she is fat, its crazy how open everyone is about that stuff! Still shocks me every time haha but yeah she was afraid she was going to drown or when i baptized her i wouldnt be able to get her up out of the water and then once again, she would drown... Haha i reassured her that really it was going to be alright, and i have been doing my pushups in the mornings to prepare for this! Haha well really, i didnt say that to her, my comp did and of course they all just laughed! But yeah the wedding was great, we had a really good turnout from the members so thats always awesome! Its amazing to see the change in their lives, Hermano luis went from being a heavy drinker, fireman, who didnt believe in God, and used to mess around with like dark dark evil stuff, to being baptized and being a Father and a Husband.  How great is the work of the Lord in the lives of people! Like Joseph Smith said No Hallowed hand can stop this work!!!  Its really quite amazing! So all is well here! We find out Tuesday night about the changes and Wednesday morning everyone goes or stays.  Rumor has it my comp is leaving and its almost for sure ill end up staying here for at least one more change! I HOPE SO! Oh and mom my Pensionista sends her love! She told me at breakfast this morning to tell ya, hey and she loves you!!! So i really want to stay sososososo bad! Well family and friends I love all yall so much thanks for the letters the prayers and the suppport! God Speed! (Carrie again, what does… God Speed mean??? I am so confused??)

Elder Spencer Marty McGhie!

Us and Luis and Ines after their wedding! 

After the wedding with my wardies




La Cruz! I think it must mean, The Cross?

 

This is me overlooking good old Huanuco!!!




This is me after a great day of work,
Thursday night pondering about my COUGZ!
 Dont worry i m not trunky!
 But once a Coug always a Coug!

 

Me and My Companion Elder Rojo

 

And they call me GRINGO...

Hola! So i got a lot to write about and not much time to do it, so
enough with the chit chat, its business time...
Alright so another great week here in wonderful, wonderful Huanuco
Perú! So lets see, i have a pretty great Gringo Moment for yall... So
its monday evening(last week), just at the close of another P Day, and we have
interviews with President Leyva the next day, so obviously everyone is
going to get a haircut even if we dont need one haha, so my hair was
pretty short, but my comp needed one so i just figured why not, right?
Wrong!! haha so we went to find this members little barber shop, but it
was closed, so we just picked some random little barber shop.  So we
were in a pretty big hurry cause it was almost dinner time, and i was
dang hungry.  So i sit down and the lady asked me a question, she said some
word that i had never heard of, i just figured it meant short or
something... WRONG; turns out the word she used was Pelado... aka
BALD! So me being such a newb just nodded my head and was like yeah
sure! So she whips out the clippers and i watch as she procceeds to
just pretty much BUZZ my head bald! HAHAHA! I almost screamed, it
honestly was as short as possible without being considered bald! WOOF!
My comp was sitting behind me just laughing hysterically.  The lady
asked me if that was good i straight up said ummm NO! haha but it was
really too late, so she had to straight up buzz the whole side of my
head, and then leave some on the top, hahaha i was so bald and so
ugly! And it was just in time for our interviews with the President the next

day! And our double zone conference the next day too! To say the
least i took some pretty hard flack for my haircut haha, President
Leyva asked me what happened to my head in my interview, i told him
what happened, he just kinda laughed and shook his head.  Haha so im
going to send pics of our 2 baptisms home, they were saturday and
sunday so my hair had definitely grown back, so look at the pictures
and if you can imagine my hair shorter! haha, But yeah thats my life!
So anyways like i was saying we had 2 baptisms this week one was for
Hermano Junior.  He is about 27 years old and single, works in a little
internet cafe, his family owns.  The most rewarding thing was how we
found Hermano Junior.  It was clear back in January, when i was so brand
new it was ridiculous and could barely speak at all! My comp needed to
call one of the other missionaries or something to set up an interview
or something, i dunno, but so he was in the little telephone booth
inside the internet cafe, of Hermono junoir.  And here i was just standing
there and the Spirit prompted me to go up and talk to him.  But i was
terrified, cause he was sitting behind a big computer screen, i
couldn’t see his face and he had a buddy with him and they were
laughing, listening to music and playing some games on the computer.
I shook off the first prompting with my excuse of i can’t speak the
language.  But the Spirit prompted me again, i looked over and my comp
was on the phone, so i was on my own! I just said a prayer in my heart
that went like this... Dear Heavenly Father I’m trusting the Spirit and
I’m going to go talk to these guys, please help me to not look like a
fool and actually communicate! SO i walked up like a terrified little
3rd grader going to the principal’s office and i just opened my mouth
and just started talking! At first they just kinda looked at me like
what the heck are you doing? But they turned down the music and
listened.  I explained about the restoration and some points like
that in my broken “4th grader” spanish and then i asked them if we could
come by again and share more about our message, and they said yes! It
was definitely the first time that i had done a legit contact where i
like wrote their names and numbers and when we could teach them! The
buddy of junior stopped progressing and we havent seen much of him, but i
had the chance to Baptize Hermono Junior saturday afternoon, and oh how
sweet it was! To know that hey, i actually was working for the Lord
and He led me to Hermano junior! It really was such a neat experience! Just to
think, what would have happened had i not followed the Spirit! But i
did! So lesson learned for the 50th time, ALWAYS FOLLOW THE HOLY
GHOST! No matter how crazy it seems! We had another baptism of an 80
year old guy named Dimetrio, the father in law of the bishop, i got to
baptize him yesterday, he is 80 years old and has a bad back, but we
got him submerged and all was well!!! So for this up and coming week,
we have the Wedding of Luis & Ines, remember them? Well luis has
changed incredibly a total 180, or in the words of Karl Malone a
total 360 haha!! but yeah and then we have Hermano Jon, and Manuel, they
are just little kids that came to us and want to be baptized so we are
working with them! Oh and one more guy named Paul, but it’s like pAoool
haha! He has been coming to church for over a year and i think we
can get him baptized this week! So please pray for them, and of course
me! Cause i need all the help i can get! Thanks to all of you for your love and support!

LOVE YOU ALL!!
Elder Spencer Marty McGhie!

Oh, I got a bunch of dear elders from people today and a letter from
Missy!!! Thanks so much! Tell everyone that i love em and thanks for all the

Love and support and for their prayers! Oh and I demand to hear from

Liney and Collin though!!! I haven’t read my dear elders yet, so im

going to do that now! SEE YA!
Elder McGhie
Ps Im serious about my next package like 5 or 6 just crazy awesome
ties! Haha! Cause i have kids in my ward getting ready to leave on
their missions and i want to give them some ties to! LOVE YA!!!

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The Times and Seasons Peru Style!

Hola again from Huanuco!!!
How is good old life in Utah treating all ya!? I hope all is
well and life in good old America is as good as life is here in
Huanuco Peru in Amarillis! (my district or whatever they call em here
in Peru) But yeah so life is good and now onto the business!  So the
package has arrived!!! I havent opened it yet but im very very
excited! Today i also got a bunch of Dear Elders and a letter from
McCall Peterson! Thank you sosososososososo much for the letters

And the package and the prayers!!! I really can feel the prayers
strengthening me! Its so true! SO please keep it up!  So the last time
we talked i was having some really tough times with my pronouncing my
spanish, and i can really say that from your prayers for me and my
spanish i cannot describe how much my Spanish has improved. It really
is just incredible, i cant thank you enough for the prayers in my
behalf! And to say the least my Spanish still needs work, so please
keep praying for me!!! It really is amazing how much it helps! So this
week, lets see, we had a baptism, but it wasnt really a mission
baptism, a girl in our ward who is 18, doesnt have her records,
or the church doesn’t have her records, so she was a member, but then
she wasnt technically cause they don’t have any records for her.  I dunno it
was weird so we had that baptism, my comp always preaches to me how
numbers dont matter to him, but he was more than thrilled when he
found out this girls papers had been lost, because apparently that
baptism counts for us and our numbers too... i dunno i just was like
umm ok? Not really excited, i mean sure its good to help the girl out,
but i didnt have really any joy from the baptism cause, well we did
absolutely nothing for it? I dunno how to describe it, but yeah i
dunno. I love my comp, i really do, hes a great guy, he just honestly
doenst get the real purpose of the mission.  Im trying to help him i
just get really tired and worn out sometimes, but i keep fighting! I
dunno its like all of our lessons are the same, just boring, there is
no passion, like if these people really, really knew what we were
offering, what our church has, why we are here, if they really
understood, that if the Book of Mormon is true then Joseph Smith
really saw God, the Father and Jesus Christ. If the book of Mormon is
true, then the Heavens are opened again.  The Heavens are open
pouring out Modern day Revelation, if they really understood, then
they would honestly read and search the Book of Mormon and pray
and ask God if its true or not.  And that is really our obligation, to
help these people really GET IT! But i feel we are defiantly failing
in this task.  Its like for example im teaching the 3rd principle in
lesson 1 about prophets and the 4th about Christ and how He
established his church, and i can just see these people, their eyes
glaze over and they just absent mindedly nod their heads like they even
care.  Its our duty to help them really get it. I dunno if they really
got it they would be hanging on every word trying to grasp what we are
saying.  But its not their fault it really is mine and my comps! SO
thats my quest right now, to really improve our teaching styles, when
we teach and read 10 different scriptures from the bible, that really
doesnt give them anything.  I dunno sorry im just ranting here, but it
really is therapy.  But once again the Lord provides a way for me
always! This week i got to be on splits with Elder Corbridge again! So,
remember Luis and Ines? Yeah we hadnt talked to them for like 2 weeks
they just stopped progressing and so we had like this last lesson with
them. I told Elder Corbridge the down low and if they didnt really
show improvement and have that desire to get married and baptized we
had to drop em for good.  So i was half expecting them not to be
there for the appointment but they were! So here we are, 2 Gringos, 2
really new gringos, elder corbridge has 1 more transfer than me.  And
we had like 45 minutes to just teach em. And i honestly had no idea
what to talk about.  All my comp had planned the night before was
marriage? Haha, i dont know how to talk about marriage even in English
for 10 minutes, let alone Spanish for 45! So i honestly just said a
prayer in my heart, asking Heavenly Father to guide me, i have
prepared the best i can, Father just please guide me and Elder Corbridge

for the right things to say. And you know what? It was the best gosh darn
Lesson i have ever given. The Lord just put words and scriptures in my
head, me and Elder Corbridge were just teaching boldly and powerfully,
we were just so open to the Spirit it was amazing.  In the middle of
the lesson a miracle happened, Hermano Luis stopped us and just looked
me in the eye and said, you know what, I want to get married.  When
can I get married so we can get baptized! I almost fell off my chair!
It was sososososo amazing! So we have their wedding planned for this
saturday and their baptism next week, but maybe this week it depends
if they are ready for baptism, we will see.  But honestly can you
believe that! 2 gringos just new guys and honestly my spanish was so
amazing, I was rolling my tongue and honestly speaking near fluent.  I
cant describe the joy i had after we left that lesson, Elder Corbridge
and i were like little kids, just jumping and fist pumping and
celebrating! I really in that moment realized why the mission is the
best two years.  For lessons like that! Now the trick is discovering
how to bring that power and passion to all of my lessons!  The mission
is the best thing or decision i have ever made, Its  such a giant
adventure and emotional roller coaster.  I remember Saturday night i
was just so tired and frustrated and really just down, we went through
another day of lame lessons, lame contacts, no fire or passion and i
was just down.  I remembered a scripture in Matthew 11:28-30, the
lord gives us a promise, Come unto me all ye that are burdened, tired
and heavy laden and i will give ye rest, for my yolk is easy and my
burden is light... its times like that when i remember that scripture
and sometimes i just get on my knees and i just pray, and pray and
pray... Cause the Lord will never forsake me, i might feel so alone
cause im in some other continent with another language, with some comp who
sometimes i wanna just throw out the window, but im never alone, the
Lord is with me! So, Family dont worry about me, im really probably safer
than i have ever been in my life.  Cause literally my life is in the Lords hands.

I only have like 19 and a half months left to just giveit all to the lord, and ya know what, thats what im going to do!

Thanks so much, for everything, just everything!! To think i have never

been further away from you guys in my life, but i have never felt
closer to you guys ever.  Mom, i love your emails and dear elders,

they make me laugh and i really feel so close to you guys! Mom, tell

my friends i love receiving emails but i cant reply by internet, i dont

have hardly any time on the internet, i will hand write em a letter back!

I sent a letter to Ashley, Jake, Bubba and Seth last week, I think, so tell

them to be on the lookout for those and to let you (my mom) know if they dont

get them, its Peru so you never know??! Tell everyone that I love hearing from

them and their letters are so great and their prayers too!!!But really thanks

so sososos much for all the prayers and letters and dear elders and the emails

from everyone! I love everyone so sososososo much!! Mom, tell

all my friends thanks for being so great and hang in there and stay strong!!

Love Yall!!!!!

Elder Spencer Marty McGhie

Oh and tell Collin to write me dangit!!! And tell Ryan that we

will have plenty of Big Gulp time in November of 2012 babay!!!

haha love yall! PEACE!!!

Since I have no pictures of Spencer to post I thought I would post some pics of his family :)!





Isnt he just so cute :)!!



AT LEAST MARTY IS HAPPY BEING SO WEIRD :)!!



MARTY THINKS HE IS A NEPHITE WARRIOR??
YES WE ARE GETTING HIM SOME HELP :)!

Dont have a clue what Ainsley is doing ?

Carolines lovely Black eye a week after
 she was knee'd in the eye at a church bball game!!

Amazing Natalee made Marty this book of his
 head on all the old basketball greats in a book :)





The names McGhie, Elder McGhie...

The names McGhie, Elder McGhie...

Hola Familia! Que Passa! How we doing all the way over there in the good old United States! I hope all is well and life is just grand! So I have one photo to send cause all my others are on my camera card waiting in the office to be picked up! With videos and my ipod! Dad, when is Charlotte going to come? Like what day exactly will she go to the office? i kinda need to know to tell the secretary! But hey onto the business! This week has been pretty awesome! We had 2 more baptisms this week and it was pretty awesome! Well we had the Baptism of an 11 year old boy named Diego, haha he is so funny and he is so FAT! Haha he is hilarious, and one thing that just shocks me everytime is how open everyone is that people are fat, skinny, or ugly haha.  So
this kid Diego is 11 looks like he could be 15 and he is a tank! He cant button the top button of his white shirt haha and my little peruano comp baptized him and when he was trying to pull him up out of the water he like fell and he was barely able to get him out of the water haha it was dang funny! But so we were spreading the news about the baptism inviting members and everyone, we would say hey there is a baptism tomorrow at 5, in the church, they would ask of who, we would tell them a youth named Diego.  They were like who? Then my comp would say yeah the really fat kid that lives on the street Ataylualpa and has been attending the past 3 weeks, haha they all just laugh and say o yeah i know him the really fat kid! Haha And when Diego told my
comp he was going to baptize him, my comp told him, no cause he was going to get a hernia when trying to lift him out of the water! And then everyone just laughed, Diego to! I was a little Horrified, haha but welcome to South America Elder McGhie! Haha so we were supposed to have 2 more baptisms and a wedding.  Of two older folks, named Moises who is like 65 and his wife, Catalina who is like 36? Yeah a little weird... and they have a 2 year kid together??? Haha i have no idea
how that was possible or how that worked out? HAHA sorry i had to ask, it is a real mystery but anyways... haha so we had their wedding and then they were having their interviews for baptism.  Turns out Moises was in jail like 2 years ago and is on probation for 1 more
year! So he couldnt get baptized! It was dang sad. So we had the wedding and the baptism of Catalina.  Moises was pretty sad, so i ask for ya to pray for him to stick close to the gospel! And not lose hope! Because he really is great, they are really really poor and need the gospel in their lives! But hey maybe the lord has the test for
moises to see his patience i dunno.  But yeah.  So for this next week we have 2 people preparing for baptism.  Hermano Junior, yes the same junior for the last month and hermana Erica, a 14 year old girl, yes the same erica haha! We kinda dropped Erika cause she wasnt
progressing at all and then all the sudden on her own she came back to church and started progressing again! The problem now is that Erika needs the permission of her parents, her mom is in but she needs it from her dad, who is a bum! So pray for her and her father’s heart to
be softened! We lost contact with Junior for a while but now he is back, assisting and progressing! He is 28 and owns an internet shop, he really gets it to! We are going to use our other convert Hermano Rocemberge to help get hermano Junior more excited and just to have
someone to support him! So for me personally this week has been really good.  I think before this last two weeks i was serving really hard, and really trying to help the Lord, but i was only serving with my Might, and Strength, i was withholding my heart and mind from the lord.  I did some real soul searching this week and decided to stop fighting in my mind and my heart, the lord, to stop fighting and just to give it all to him! It’s been a process but im starting to get it! Cause really all we give the Lord is already his, our time (2 years) well
its already his, he created us, our tithing cause he created all we have, and everything else is really the Lords, except our will. We have been given the great gift of Agency through the Atonement of Christ, and really the only thing the lord doesnt already have of ours
is our will, our hearts and our minds.  And if i serve without giving it all to the lord, just with my might and strength i will return home knowing i failed. And have to live with that regret and question  if forever! But if i give it my all, everything i humanly possibly can, he will bless me 100 times more than what im giving.  If i give
him my all, he will give me himself, he will make me into a man, like a real Priesthood Holder, not some lazy punk who is going to serve the lord halfhearted for the rest of his life, no a real man, who will serve him for the rest of my life.  These next 20 months of my life are 100 percent for the lord.  The question is how can we really do
this? Well the answer is simple, really its to ask in every situation, every decision we can make, What would Jesus do in this situation. The classic question what would Jesus do, is the answer to happiness in this life and life to come.  I dont know how i kinda missed that before the mission, but i just didnt really get the big picture, i
know i dont get it totally now, but at least im starting! Well enough preaching i guess, haha im starting to sound like Dad more and more every day! HAHA! SO family and my friends, i love you sosososososo much, i can never thank you enough for your love and support and your prayers! LOVE ALL OF YOU!
Elder Spencer Marty McGhie

The picture is of a little lady in our branch, notice her hat haha!!