Monday, September 24th 2018

Hello all! 

This week we had a senior missionary move into our ward! His name is Elder Moore and he's a Home Service Family History missionary! He is super awesome! We have been over a few times to help him unload and unpack. We created a keep pile and a throwaway pile. He said we could look through the throwaway pile and take anything that we wanted. Hello back massager and native American plate! One mans trash is another man's treasure. 

Probably the highlight of this week this week was teaching early morning seminary! We got to teach the Freshman and sophomores at 5:30 in the morning! I have a lot of respect towards the kids that make it to early morning seminary. I never had early morning seminary. Not only were the kids there, but they participated very well! The saints down here in Maryland are strong. 

There is a man that we found recently, and he went in today for surgery for removing a tumor from his brain. He is such a faithful guy, and he is a wonderful example to me of trusting in God. Pray for Mike! We are really excited to teach him more. He told us for the next 6 weeks he will just be stuck at home so we could come over as much as we wanted. I think we will take that invitation. ☺

This week I finally had Maryland Blue Crab! It takes such a long time to eat for so little, but it is so delicious and so fun. There is a family in our ward who took out all of the senior missionaries in our mission out sailing on their sailboat, and afterward, they had them all over for crab, and we were invited to join them. Just enjoying some crab with the Mission President. The blue crabs are legit blue, but when you steam them they turn red. 

There is a family in our ward that loves Lord of the Rings, and they had us over for dinner on Hobbit Day! Hobbit D

ay was on September 24. We had a big feast, listened to Lord of the Rings music, and the family was dressed up as characters from Lord of the Rings. It was so awesome. I love Lord of the Rings too, so it was nice to talk about it with them.

It was a great week! 

Keeping Covenants is Cool! 

Love you all!

Elder Dallin McKay Spurgeon 

Monday, September 17th 2018

Don't worry everyone, I'm alive! The hurricane missed us, so that is good! I was all prepared with flashlights and ponchos and such. I even bought a little 10 dollar camp stove. I'm still going to use it though and make some mac and cheese. 

We had district activity this week and I learned I have terrible night vision. we played this one game where we went in the church gym, turned all the lights off and scattered chairs everywhere. It was pretty much like capture the flag. We put a ball on each side of the gym and had teams and each team had to go grab the ball and bring it to their own side with their own ball still on that side.

We had Zone Conference this week. The fun part was getting there. It took us three hours to get there. We drove through D.C. I consider myself a professional driver now for driving through D.C, even though it's not as bad as other cities in the United States. I have never seen so many cars in my life. 

The actual Zone conference was pretty good. The topic was repentance, but the main thing I got out of zone conference was to be more accurate with the area book and being more specific with the information I put in it. I am so grateful to have a device that has area book on it where  I can record information with just a couple of taps. I would not enjoy having to carry around a huge binder full of paper. After zone conference we went to a Mexican restaurant. One of our investigators called ahead and paid for our meal. She is so awesome!

There was another "Why I Believe" event this month. It was a super good one. A recent convert named Jordan in our ward bore his testimony, and oh my, it was great! He talked about how when he recently went to boot camp, he thought he could get through without the gospel, but he said he was wrong. The only reason he could get through it was through his faith. There was another man who bore his testimony that was in an airport bombing last year. It was a powerful testimony of prayer. The main speaker was one of the coaches for the Navy football team.  it was great. But my favorite part of the whole meeting was the closing prayer given by a 10 year old boy. He said in the prayer, "and please bless all the people that are not baptized in the Mormon Church to be baptized in the Mormon Church". The mission president walked over and put his name tag on the 10 year old boy. So funny.

We found a lot of great new people to teach this last week. I am so grateful the Lord has given us the opportunity to work with these people especially because the first 3 weeks me and my trainee were together, there was not much interest shown by the people we were talking to. 

 let's gather Israel together!

Elder Dallin McKay Spurgeon

Monday, September 10th 2018

Hello all! This was the Email I was supposed to send last week!

Turns out that we could be hit by a Hurricane named Florence. They have made us do a lot of prep like buy water and make sure our 72 hour kits are up to date. They may move us to a different location if it gets near us. Chances are it might. Me and my companions new scripture motto is Helaman 5:12. Look at it, and you will know why. 😆 There may be something to learn out of all of this Hurricane fananza! Is that even a word?

Me and my companion signed up to serve at the nearby Hospital to be Clergy men, or as the reverned put it, "Spiritual Support". It should be super fun! Im sure you will be hearing more about it in the days to come. They gave us a vile of water and they said, "Here is some holy water, just in case someone wants you to baptize their infant". We were like, "No can do Reverend. That's not our style." Thank you Moroni 8!  

There is a man who is a lawyer we have been teaching, who has struggled to pray in front of people since we have been teaching him. In our last lesson this week, he gave the closing prayer!!! That was super exciting. Teaching about prayer and being with people when they first pray is so awesome! When you left your room this morning, did YOU think to pray?!?

There is this new incredible book that is called "Saints" that is availiable in the Gospel Library App. I have read the first 8 chapters and I have learned an incredible amount about the early church history. I would encourage all to read it. It is only the 1st volume out of 4 or 5 I think. 

A few weeks ago, my companion was asked to sing at a funeral of some friends in our ward. While we were there we met an Italian lady who just moved here and she told us that she found a copy of The Book of Mormon in her new home. She accepted to take the discussions, and we are really excited to work with her!

The work in southern Maryland continues!

Elder Dallin McKay Spurgeon 

Wednesday, September 12th 2018

Washington DC North Mission information release concerning Hurricane Florence:

Hurricane Florence could hit anywhere from the Carolinas to the Mid-Atlantic by Thursday or Friday.  This hurricane will take an unusual path toward the U.S., with its escape route out to sea blocked by a building area of high pressure to its north.  By the end of the week, that high pressure area, known as a “blocking high” is forecast to halt the storm’s northward progress almost completely.  The big question facing forecaster and those in the storm’s path is where Hurricane Florence will be at that point.

Our missionaries are being prepared incase Florence hits our mission.  The missionaries have a 72 hour kit, we have told them to keep their cars filled with gas, and to get their grocery shopping done today.  We will keep them informed of this storm and have an Emergency Plan if needed.  The missionaries know what the Emergency Plan is and how to use it.

We know that the Lord will bless our good missionaries if they are obedient and follow the Emergency Plan.  We just want you to know that our missionaries are prepared.

Love You!

Washington DC North Office Staff

Washington DC North Mission,

We have been watching carefully the National Bureau's forecast of the path of Hurricane Florence.  Currently, there are NO missionaries in evacuation zones, with the exception of Kent Island, who are in an area which could possibly be evacuated.

In the event of the National Emergency Agency's informing us to evacuate, the Kent Island elders will be received by their Branch President who is not living in a current evacuation area.  

This is all the information we have as of yet.  If anything changes, we will let you know.

Thanks, we love you!  Pull out your rain jackets! 

Monday, September 3rd 2018

Hello and happy Labor day family and friends. This week we had specialized training, which is for the companionships that have an Elder that had been out for a week. It was up in northern Maryland, so it was a bit of a drive. The trainings there were amazing. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon, and it caused me to go back and watch some conference talks about the Book of Mormon, including President Monson's talk in April 2017 titled, "The Power of the Book of Mormon", and President Nelsons talk in October 2017 titled "The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life  Be Like Without it?" Both are wonderful talks that have strengthened my understanding of why a testimony of the Book of Mormon is so key in a Gospel Conversion. 

We also had our interviews with our Mission President and his wife this week. My Mission President asked me in my Interview who my favorite Book of Mormon character is. I told him Amuleck because he was a bold and powerful missionary. The Mission President told me that he was asked to ask all of the Missionaries that question, and he was told to tell all the missionaries that Jesus Christ should be our favorite Book of Mormon character. That blew my mind. 

How did I not say Jesus? 

I think sometimes we take The Book of Mormon for granted and not look at it for what it really is, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It has it right on the front cover. Thank you President, Jesus is definitely my favorite Book of Mormon character. 

This Labor day, we had a Labor Day picnic at a ward members house. There were a ton of people that showed up to the party, and plenty of food. There were two pigs that had been roasted over the fire for many hours, and 40 chickens. There was live music, a pie making contest, and a pie eating contest. I sadly was not able to participate in the pie eating contest. Many of our investigators showed up too. The youth in our ward made me kiss the decapitated roasted pig head. I guess I had my agency, but I decide to give them a show. I even tried the tongue meat. The texture was undesirable, but the taste was good. I will include some pics of the pig! 

Love you all.

Elder Dallin McKay Spurgeon