February 29, 2016- Davie YSA branch, Leap Year Day- 2nd Sony Digital Audio Recording transcribed by Genia Spencer

YSA and Fort Lauderdale Missionaries Hey Family!!! Today is Sunday February 28th. Well it's been a while since I've recorded but nothing significantly crazy happened this week but it was a good week! So yeah Sunday, today, was an awesome day.  We were going to church and our branch. We have like a really good day when 20 people come to church that's like a good day! It's really weird, a lot different but everyone is super close so it's nice but there was a branch conference so All the people from the stake came and gave a bunch of crazy good talks! It was really awesome! Our new convert Chris was with us and he loved it! He wears a suit every day to church every time! It is awesome Elder Marsden gave him the suit and it fits perfect.  Yeah, Sundays man are super fun in the YSA branch! Lotta drama too it's kind of funny and ridiculous in that we have to help people out with their dramatic problems. You know those young single adults and college! Yeah it's a stressful life! Yeah Today was a good day, after church we uhh did a good late night knocking session. I do not get it when people here think 8:30pm is late! They act like 8:30 is like midnight! Sorry but their whole family is awake and not doing anything. But it was a good night when I said this prayer for this really sweet old lady that just barely got an iPad. We helped her figure it out and get a passcode and stuff. Which I really needed to say that prayer cause people are throwing stuff at us and I got into a scuffle with our district leader. Oh man the leadership in the mission can be ridiculous, but I can put up with it! I'm kind of known as a rebel in the mission. The way they pick district leaders and zone leaders can be a joke. I don't have a lot of respect for them sometimes. So yeah I got into a scuffle but luckily I took debate at Sky View so I took him down pretty good. So I was kinda in a bad mood but saying the prayer with the sweet old lady helped and it was awesome and it blessed her life! Another thing that happened was we knocked into this guy and he was a member and going to medical school in Miami and that's pretty weird and he was pretty feminine but he went to BYU so that kind of explained that It was funny because we didn't know he was already a member when we first contacted him and introduced ourselves. You don't get that a lot because there is not that many members around here but it was kinda cool He seemed like a smart guy going to medical school living the good life. Living in a super cheap apartment prob like Mom and dad when he was going to Med school. Wife was working full time kinda like my mom and dad. I sent a pretty funny birthday card to mom. Met a guy from Brazil who is a new investigator and loves racing cars and he was going to come to church but he rescued a dog but it got in a fight with his other dog and he had to help it and find a new home for the one he rescued. He's super chill. Mission life is going good tho! Give some tips and pointers on how to write better emails and dad send me some more misson stories. Ok family see u later! Bye, Love, Mark

February 22, 2016 Hey Fam! Jam session and Mike the news anchor

Hey Family whats up! Thanks for all your emails they are always super awesome to read! You all should get separate emails though I think that would be easier to keep track of haha. Well this week has been super fun as always! We found this guy named Jayson who produces music for a living and hes only 20 years old!! Elder Marsden is super good at guitar so him and Jayson had a pretty sick jam session. I felt left out I gotta learn guitar haha. But he came to church and he also has a good voice so he went hard singing and he loved it haha. He also showed me some awesome music and I will share it with you in another email. Well that was definitely the highlight of the week but something else that happened that was super awesome is that my recent convert Chris got sustained sunday to be a Ward Missionary!!! It is going to be the best to go teach with him I am so excited! Well I am trying to think of anything else that happened that was cool haha but it was a short week oh wait I got one more funny story haha. So while knocking we found this gay guy named Mike! He was super cool and nice and let us inside. He was in the middle of coloring haha kinduv weird but hes gay so its alright. Turns out Hes a news anchor for channel 4 news and he has an Emmy which was awesome! It was fun lesson my first lesson to a gay guy but he was super cool and not like flaming gay but classy gay haha. 

Well thats pretty much it for this week but I will try and send my recordings I hope they work. I recorded late at night so I was super tired haha so it might sound a bit weird. Well have an awesome week Family! Let me know how lifes a going!

Te Quiero!
Elder Spencer

oh check out this music I bet you will like it, The Raveonettes - Recharge and Revolt.     American Football - Never Meant

On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 12:10 PM, Mark Daniel Spencer <mark.spencer@myldsmail.net> wrote:

yeah we are visiting them this wednesday actually it should be awesome! dang another surgery on your knee? Yeah its pretty dangerous out here I have seen some pretty crazy things

On Mon, Feb 22, 2016 at 1:10 AM, genia spencer <spencerfamily_ski@msn.com> wrote:

Hola elder spencer!

Cannot wait to hear about the Holocaust survivor thing you guys visited, that sounds really interesting.  That sounds fun playing so much volleyball. I used to play a ton Also.  On Grass was my favorite.  Went skiing with Sarah a few days ago but have an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon this week to see if i need another surgery, that would be lame!  Sarah wants to go out for the golf team so I talked to Matt Sickler and he's going to give her some lessons. The problem is their mathces start in a couple weeks and usually it is still really bad weather for them. I was looking through some binders as I needed one in the spare bedroom and I came across your mission acceptance letter, All I could say was wow! Very touching and sincere. You have always been a lot more mature and spiritual than I probably thought you were, although everybody always told me how good of a kid you are.  Which was always nice to hear. I Heard about that 8 year old boy on the news in Miami that was killed while he was playing outside, be careful and watch for stray bullets!

Pues, ojalá que la obra del Señor siga adelante contigo y Elder marsden y que tenga mucho éxito y que Nuestro padre celestial se les cuide mucho.

Te quiero mucho,

Dad

We got a new friend this week(:

February 16, 2016 What's up Fam? NOVA YSA

Hey guys hows a going? Thanks for all your gifts and valentines day chocolates!! This week has been pretty awesome as always. But last night we got the call that Elder Marsden and I are both staying here for another 7 weeks! I am pretty happy this YSA branch is super fun! On Monday we played volleyball for hours with the YSA branch and it was so fun haha I am not gonna lie I was pretty good because of all the volleyball I played in the CCM haha. Well walking the college campuses is starting to get alot funner because more and more people are recognizing us and wanting to talk to us! Elder Marsden gets all the cute girls to come talk to us and I get all the basketball and football players haha. We found a super cool girl named Maria who is from Venezuela and she is going to college at Nova. She was super interested in the Book of Mormon and we talked for like 2 hours on the campus about the Book of Mormon haha it was crazy sick. Shes a super smart girl so she asked alot of good questions but she is super committed to coming to church and she came and played volleyball with us and the branch and Monday and had a super good time! We also went to her house and taught her which was pretty fun as well haha. She has a couple of younger teenage brothers who are straight punks haha. I challenged 1 of them to a game of one on one and smoked him with my threes. Gained his respect pretty fast haha it was nice.  

Well something else that is really cool is that for service this week we get to go to a Holocaust survivor refuge and talk with all the Holocaust survivors which I cant wait to do! I will let you know next week how it goes! Well thanks for all the lovin family have an awesome week!

Sunset in YSA

YSA BRANCH

Crew of NOVA

February 8, 2016 Awesooooome week!

Whats up Family!!! Thanks for all your emails! Those pictures of heli skiing look insane! You can now cross heli skiing off your bucket list haha but I still gotta cross it off of mine! Buut I can now cross off doing baptisms for the dead with someone I baptized off of mine! That was definitely the highlight of this week. It was also my first trip to the Fort Lauderdale Temple which is really beautiful! But more importantly Chris LOVED the temple! The spirit was stronger than ever while we were doing baptisms. And also since now I am endowed I got to actually perform the baptisms! Super awesome. Anyways Chris is beginning to be a really strong member! He blessed the sacrament for the first time yesterday and hes giving a talk in sacrament next week! And even better he has already started home teaching haha its crazy hes like super boss. Hes gonna get a calling next week and I cant wait to see what it will be. Next week we get to go to one of his concerts as well! He plays bass guitar for a christian rock band its pretty sick.

So Saturday we got to go to the Book of Mormon Musical after the show which was WAY funner! We handed out a few hundred book of mormons and TONS of people wanted to take pictures with us the REAL missionaries haha. I felt like a celeb it was pretty fun. We also got to meet all the actors in the musical! We got a picture with the actor who plays Elder Cunningham who is one of the main actors and hes a super funny guy haha. It was crazy meeting all those Broadway actors they are super talented singers and dancers.

Well that is about it for the week! Pretty fun! This Transfer has probably been the best transfer yet! Next week I will get a call to let me know if I am transferring or not so we will see what happens!

Have a great week fam!

Con Amor, Elder Spencer

Christopher and us at the Temple!!!

ACTOR Elder Cunningham from B of M Musical!!!

Temple Trip :-)

Book of Mormon Musical the REAL Missionaries

February 1, 2016 Woooooo Christopher my homie got dunked!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we are knocking and this girl answers the door who looks like shes from the Middle East. We ask her what her name was and she says F-Off! I was pretty shocked and say "Excuse me?" Turns out her name is spelled Effaf pronounced F-Off. haha thought that was pretty funny  

So guess what? The Book of Mormon Musical is in town for a couple weeks and me and my companion have been chosen to go there and hand out Book of Mormons! It was SUPER fun and we go to meet many cool people and even some fellow mormons haha

On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 11:02 AM, Mark Daniel Spencer <mark.spencer@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Si llueve aqui mucho! Tengo que llever una chaqueta cada dia

On Mon, Feb 1, 2016 at 11:01 AM, Mark Daniel Spencer <mark.spencer@myldsmail.net> wrote:

YSA is like the funnest thing ever we go to activities every day and play soccer and games and such it is the best. Claro que si! Puedo practicar mi espanol mucho aqui porque mucha gente habla en espanol solomente. A veces tengo que traducir haha y Sofia quien es un miembro de este branch y ella es de Espana corto mi pelo y ella habla nada ingles haha pero ella es una muy buena peluquera y somos muy buenos amigos entonces haha

Elder Derek Marsden, Christopher and me

Book of Mormon musical handing out the REAL books!

January 25, 2016

Thanks for that video of Sarah that was pretty funny! I cant wait to go home and do that myself haha. Well I am doing better than ever down here Nova YSA right now because of our miraculous past week that we had! We had the biggest miracle happen to us on Sunday! Christopher passed his Baptism Interview and is getting baptized this Saturday! He bore his testimony at church and he himself is inviting everyone to come! What makes this even more amazing is that a few days before Sunday his Dad looked up some Anti stuff on the internet about our church and now we arent allowed to visit Christopher at his house and he no longer has any support for Christophers baptism but that aint stopping him!  Christopher's testimony has just gotten bigger because of it! And to make things even better after church we saw 2 YSA age people from India just walking around the church and since we didnt recognize them we went up and talked with them.  Aaron and Amulya are their names and they are awesome! They just moved here from India a week ago and they found our church using google and they said they have heard alot about our church and want to come to our church from now on! We got a return appointment with them and I cant wait to teach them! 

Well I also dont have much time because I am going golfing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will see you guys next week baby!

Love, Elder Spencer

January 14, 2016- Dinner at Sister Garrett's home the mission secretary! Lucky Elders!