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 

Monday, July 15th, 2019

Hello all!

Not sure if y'all remember how I used to make bread, but I've started that up again! It's been fun to make and deliver to people. We brought it to a new member lesson with 3 nine-year-olds, and we each gave them a slice, and told them to bite it and make it into a sun, moon, or star to represent the 3 Kingdoms of Glory because we were teaching the plan of salvation! Shout out to Elder Tenney for teaching me how to make bread! I've got some in the oven now.

This week we got to weed a member's garden which was amazing because it is something I have not done for a long time. It was thrilling to experience the feeling of pulling the weeds out of the ground, roots and all. We did such a good job, the member gave us some of their homemade BBQ sauce, which is delicious on everything.

I went on an exchange with the Elders serving in my first area, so I got to spend the day in my first area. It was great to be back. It was also cool to ponder the changes I had seen in myself over a space of a year and a half. It has gone by really fast. There is still a bag of rice in the apartment that was there when I was there 21 months ago. We also had dinner with the bishop. It was great to see him again, and I'm really happy that he remembered me! 

Now for the story you have all been waiting for. What happened to my foot? We play soccer each Monday morning with our ward, and today I was running for the ball trying to kick it, and I ran into and kicked a metal folding chair. My shoe came off, but my foot was still inside a little, you know how it is, and so everyone thought I dislocated my foot, but I'm like, "No, I'm all good." I fixed my shoe and walked away. It still hurt so I looked down, and my shoe was full of blood. I don't want anyone to freak out so I said," I'm going to sit down, my foot is a little sore". I went into the kitchen and sat down, and my companion walked in, and was like, "How is your foot"? I was like, "Don't freak out, okay?" I showed him, and I totally forgot that he is a certified EMT, so he cleaned me up. We agreed I probably needed stitches, so we drove to the hospital, and I got 4 stitches. In and out in under 2 hours, so not bad. It hurts to walk on, but it will not slow me down. Some other Elders have a walker for some reason in their apartment, so they are going to let me use it. Its all fun and games until someone kicks a metal chair.

I will try to make this week less exciting.

Love you all!!

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 😁

Monday, July 1st, 2019

 Hello Everyone!

Let's start off with the most important news of the week, we have a new Mission President. His name is President Neilson and he was the head of the Church History Department, so his name is in the front of the Book that the church recently came out with titled "Saints". I will have to have him sign a copy. He has 5 kids all under the age of 15, so it will be interesting having his kids be a part of the mission. We are super excited to work with him and learn some church history from him. It is sad to see President and Sister Johnson leave. I love them so much and they are just the salt of the earth kind of people.

Something happened twice this week that does not happen very often, but it has happened a few times to me on my mission. I saw someone from home! The first person I saw was one of my college professors. She is the daughter of a couple in my ward. We were in the neighborhood and we stopped by to say hello to the family, and when we came in I recognized the lady at the table, I was like, "Hey, I was in your class". It was awesome because she remembered me! She taught Foundations of the Restoration, which was an amazing class, and turns out she was one of the main writers of the Book Saints, so her name is in the front of Saints as well. Look at that. At this pace, I will meet everyone that made Saints possible. 

I also saw the Chamberlain Family at church yesterday! It was such a surprise. I was sitting near the front, and when Sacrament meeting was over, I looked in the back and there they were. I was speechless for a few seconds. I felt bad for my companion because, without much explanation, I ran off to go say hello. It was great to see them! 

We had a departing Zone Conference for President and Sister Johnson before they went home, and it was probably my favorite Zone Conference of my whole mission. Not because they were leaving, but because of the Spirit I felt and the reflection I had on how the Johnsons have helped me grow my testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course they asked me to say the closing prayer and of course I could not hold it together, and of course I took a picture with them, and of course, we are going to hang out after the mission! 

I made a very smart financial decision this week and bought a Copper Chef frying pan. I highly encourage all looking for a new frying pan to consider Copper Chef. It has changed my time in the kitchen! 

Anyways, that's my update!

Love you all!

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, July 8th, 2019

 Hello All!

Its been an exciting week with the new Mission President and his family! They are amazing people. 

We had Zone Conference this week where President Neilson introduced his family to us. When Sister Neilson was talking to us about how good examples we are as missionaries she mentioned how she saw two Elders at Walmart and how they didn't see her, and how great they were acting, and she pointed right to us and said it was those Elders. It was kind of surprising, and it made me want to never do anything dumb again because people are always watching. I'm grateful she didn't see our shopping cart race or us juggling the produce. Just kidding, that didn't happen.

We had MLC this week with the new Mission President and it was really fun because we had a quick Q and A session where we could ask him any question. For those that don't know, he was the head of the Church History Department. We asked him about what he contributed to the Book "Saints", and he told us how he had to approve every word in the Book before it was published. He calls the Book his Baby.

Happy late 4th of July! Our 4th of July was alright. The best part was the ward Breakfast with the Brass band performance. Very well done. It rained all day so all the fireworks were delayed, which was a bummer, but not really because they would have all happened after our curfew anyways. 

We had our 1st Interview with President Neilson this week. I'm super excited to work with him for my next 3 months. I'm really excited to see what kind of church history insight I can get.

I got to go on an exchange with Elder McKinley this week. (An Elder that went to the same high school as me) It was a super hot day, and super humid. The highlight of the day was getting let in by a guy that was a professional chiropractor. He gave us water but he was not interested. He saw Elder McKinley pop his neck, and he was like, "Can I give you an adjustment?" And I was like, "He would love on." It was pretty fun to watch him get twisted and turned in funny ways. There were a lot of pops!

Love you all! 

Oh yea, I forgot to explain the last picture. After playing soccer at the church, it just so happened that it was a complete waterfall outside. It was raining so hard, so I decided to cool off by standing under the church gutters. It was nice!