Monday, October 9th, 2019

National Harbor, Maryland

Monday, September 30th, 2019

Hello All,

We had zone conference this week! Zone conference is awesome, but this zone conference was especially awesome, even though it was my last one. Our Mission President is the head Church Historian, so he pretty much knows everything there is to know about church history. The topic of this conference was the coming forth of The Book of Mormon. It was amazing learning from him, but it was more amazing to hear what he has done. He has touched the seer stone that Joseph Smith used to translate The Book of Mormon! That is probably the coolest thing I've ever heard! Remember when the church purchased the printer's manuscripts of The Book of Mormon from the RLDS church for 35 million dollars? He is the one that went inside their Temple and carried it out! He calls it his "James Bond Moment." Now that is also probably one of the coolest things I've ever heard!

At the End of Zone conference I got to give my departing testimony. The missionaries who are in their last transfer give their testimonies at the zone conference. It has always been my favorite part of zone conference until it was my own turn. It was super weird to be the one up there, but it was a great reflection of my time serving the Lord out here in the Washington D.C Maryland Area. 

We had a zone conference part 2 this week where we were able to learn from a doctor of psychology, where we talked about mental health. They asked us to come in our non-missionary clothes. It was very cool to learn about Depression and Anxiety, and how to recognize it in ourself and others. 

We meet a girl named Sharda this week, who we starting teaching. How we met her is actually pretty funny. We were just walking and we heard someone yell, "Are you mormons?" We saw a lady on her porch far away, so we went up to talk with her. We didn't see her as we walked past, so we are glad she yelled to us! 

We went to the Farmers Market again this week, because there is always a lot of people there. Most of them a drunk, but they are friendly. We went to the Amish stand and I got some Granola! It is very good in yogurt. 

I'm so excited for General Conference this week! I'm not sure if we are going to watch it at the church or with a member, but either way, it will be great! I have been changed by the Prophets words. I have become a more pure disciple of Christ. I encourage y'all to watch as many sessions as you can! 

Love y'all!

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, September 23rd, 2019

Hello All,

We went to the local Farmers Market this week and bought some fancy cheese. We walked around and talked to people, and my favorite people to talk to where, of course, the Amish! We told them we came just to look around, but next week we would be back and I would get some of their granola, for sure! 

On our way to District Council, we saw Air Force One again. It's not too good of a photo because you see it and it's gone, and you have like 5 seconds to grab your phone and take a picture. 

We were in a neighborhood this week and we saw two guys putting on boxing gloves, so we asked them if they were planning on fighting. They said they had a 150 dollar wager for whoever won: (whoever got knocked out or took a knee). We watched the first round, and then we had to leave, but it was pretty cool. They were swinging so hard, and when they landed a punch on the other person's face, it made me realize that boxing is not my sport. We were not there to see who won, so next time we are in the neighborhood, we will have to ask. 

We found a free T.V on the side of the road so we decided to entertain ourselves and smash it! We took it to the church parking lot and found a huge rock nearby that must of weighed 100 pounds, and dropped it on the TV. Let me tell you, there was not a lot more we could have done to the T.V after that. 

We met a lady on the Boardwalk that lived a block away from the boardwalk and she invited us over for a Steak Dinner. It was one of the best dinners I've had my whole mission. 

Love you all,

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, September 16th, 2019

Hello all! 

This week we were walking in a parking lot and we found these 3 wooden tokens that said, "Small free Pizza at ..." It worked out perfectly because we are in a trio and we found 3 tokens! We get to the pizza place and it turns out it is actually a pretty nice pizza place. We asked them if the coins worked and they said yes, so we sat down and each ordered our own small pizza! Of course, I had to order the most expensive pizza to get the most bang for my buck. I ended up getting a pizza with lobster on it. Our meal would have cost 50 dollars, but thanks to the tokens we found, it was free!! It was our Mana from heaven! 

We did a service project for an oysters restoration site this week. It was pretty hard work. Turns out Oysters grow on oysters. We shoveled the oysters that had been donated by restaurants into screens to filter the dirt out, and then we put the oysters in containers, then the containers would be soaked in water where the baby oysters would hook onto the old oysters, and eventually, they would be thrown back into the bay! Cool stuff.

Well, I am totally out of time!

Love y'all!

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, September 9th, 2019

Hello All, 

It's been a super exciting week! Hope you enjoy all the pictures!

We took a trip to D.C this week, which is always an adventure. Going to the monuments, memorials, museums, government buildings, having members yell at us "Hey, Elders!", having crazy people yell at us... other things. It's always a blast! The highlights of this mall trip include the following: Standing where Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, learning about some church history in the Smithsonian of American History, and finding a relative on the Vietnam War Memorial! 

It is true! I found a Spurgeon on the Memorial! The memorial is a huge wall with everyone's name on it that died during the Vietnam war. There are some books nearby that put all the names in alphabetical order, so I looked through them hoping to find a Spurgeon, and I found one! His name is Roy Stephen Spurgeon. When we went home that night I found him on Family Tree, and we are related. I learned that he was 18 years old when he got shipped off to Vietnam, and it was only 25 days later that he was killed in war by an enemy explosive. Really crazy!! The coolest part of that whole experience is that he needs his Temple Work done! It is amazing how the Lord led me to Roy because there were actually many things that made us question if we should go to the Monument that day or not, but we decided to do it, and I'm glad I did! 

Transfers happened this week, and for my last transfer I will stay by the Chesapeake Bay with my same companion, Elder Carver who goes home the same time I do. We got another companion and we are in a trio!! Trio life is the best, no matter what anyone says. 

We had the privilege of serving at the 14th annual Washington D.C Interfaith Unity Walk this week! Amazing, Amazing, Amazing! Our job at the beginning was to control these huge puppets with these long poles attached to each limb and lead the parade through D.C. We started at the Hebrew Congregation, and made our way to Sikh Temple where we had lunch and then entered the Temple. In order to enter, we needed to cover our heads with something, and take off our shoes. With help from the Sikh's, they tied us up real nice and gave us our own turbans. It's like we were celebrities or something, because in the Temple, everyone wanted a picture with the 3 "Mormon" Elders with turbans on. We kept our turbans on for the rest of the day, even as we walked through the other Temples, Mosques, synagogues, and churches. 

We made our way to the Community of Christ church! The Community of Christ is the rLDS Church, which means they once were originally once part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but branched off at the death of Joseph Smith. They believe in the Restoration, The Book of Mormon and everything until the death of Joseph Smith. It was super fascinating. We didn't know it at the time, but we talked to one of their 12 apostles at the church. I thought it was also fascinating that they were listening to the Spirit of God as we walked in. 

Our last stop for the day was at the Islamic Mosque. It just so happened that the time that we got there was when they were saying one of their 5 daily prayers. We got to sit in the back and watch them. The inside was absolutely beautiful and ornate. I included the pictures of the Mosque both inside and outside. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the unity walk!

Love you all! 

Elder Dallin Spurgeon

Monday, August 26th, 2019

Hello everyone! 

It's super fun serving in the D.C mission! We get to be by all the monuments and the White House and Capitol building and all that good stuff. It is so diverse and lively. I might have never seen the President, but I see his helicopter, limo, and airplane all the time. It's super cool! There are 3 identical helicopters that fly in a row right next to each other, so you don't know which one he is in. There are two identical limos as well that are escorted by plenty of police cars and motorcycles. I think its two limos, it might be 3. It's called at the motorcade when they are all driving together. There is just one Air Force One, and I'm pretty sure they have a jet escort, but I've never seen the jets. It's pretty exciting whenever you see those things. 

There was a pretty crazy wind storm this week! We saw that the waves from the Chesapeake were crashing upon the boardwalk as we drove past, so we decided to take a walk on the boardwalk and get splashed, since it was the next closest thing to swimming, and we can't swim, so it was satisfying! 

It's been a pretty normal week, but we had a really fun district activity today! We had a shaving cream battle! We each bought a bottle of shaving cream and the goal was to get as much shaving cream on other people as possible. It was pretty fun, but it was a pain cleaning off. It was especially difficult getting it out of our ears. I suggest it! 

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Love you all!

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, August 19th, 2019

Monday, August 12th, 2019

Hello all! 

We did service for a member of the ward this week. We weedeated his hill on his property that is too steep for the lawnmower. We were completely covered in grass when we were finished, but that didn't stop us from going and getting some good seafood by the bay. It always smells so good in our area because there are so many harbors along the Chesapeake that have great seafood. 

I spoke in Sacrament meeting this week. I was told I could choose my topic. That was exciting for me because there are people that we teach that come and I wanted to focus my talk on things they needed to hear, specifically for this one guy. The sad thing was that he never showed up to church, but other people said they enjoyed my talk. 

We went on a walk this morning down by the bay around the boardwalk and the pier. We even spotted a common Maryland Blue crab! How exciting! I love serving in this area so much! 

My companion and I have grown a slight obsession with watermelons. It's our favorite snack! It healthy, sweet, keeps us hydrated, and pretty cheap! We go through 3 watermelons a week! My companion has a 6th sense with picking them out. He always picks the reddest and the juiciest! 

I've started rolling up my coins I've collected over the course of my mission. I'm at 32 dollars right now!  I still have all the pennies to roll up and that will be a task. 

Love you all,

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, July 29th, 2019

Hello everyone, I don't have much time, so bear with me.

I got transferred! Goodbye Seneca, Hello Bayside! I'll definitely miss The people in Seneca, but I'm stoked to be in southern Maryland again by the water. 

It was my birthday this week so we celebrated by having Cheesecake by the Chesapeake! 

A member in our ward owns a 1929 Plymouth, and he gave us a little ride. It was so fun, there were no seatbelts. 

I got the stitches out of my ankle today. The mission Doctor came down and did it himself. 

We met a family from England this week, so that combined with my British heritage gave me the drive to go home and make some Fish-n-Chips! Sorry, no pictures, we woofed it down. 

We went to a concert this week! Two ladies in the stake that play the violin and the piano had a concert, and it was a great activity! Many members invited non-members which was great to see! 

Sorry for the short e-mail, but I love y'all.

Elder Spurgeon

Monday, July 22nd, 2019

Hello all!

Now for the highlight of ya'lls week, my foot! It's doing a lot better! The pain has pretty much diminished. I've graduated from a walker to a limp, then to a hobble, and now I'm pretty much walking like a human again. The first few days were hard. I couldn't really put pressure on it. Luckily, the french elders in our zone had a walker in their apartment for whatever reason, and they let us borrow it for a few days. Pictures included. Also, at Walmart, I was allowed to use one of those ride-on carts. It was an incredible opportunity, I got even more strange looks than I usually get. But all is well now, and I should get my stitches removed next week! 

We had "Why I Believe" this week! Our new mission president and his wife spoke. President and Sister Neilson! It was great. Two recent converts from our ward said the opening and closing prayer. All was well until halfway through the meeting, we heard a big crack of thunder,  the power went out, the lights, microphone, AC. It was a warm, dark, and quiet meeting, but the spirit was strong, and I love the Neilsons! 

Fun little story: We got on an Elevator with 3 ladies. A grandmother, mother, and daughter. They were from the middle east, and the grandmother didn't know English. The grandmother has 5 grapes in her had, so she offered one to her daughter, and she shrugged it off, then she offered one to her granddaughter, and she shrugged it off as well, then she offered one to us, and we politely declined. We thought it was pretty funny. 

Tonight is Callouts. I will see if I stay In the Germantown area or leave, or if I get a new companion. Always a stressful time.

Love you all!

Elder Dallin Spurgeon