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! 

Monday, June 17th, 2019

 Hello All

Transfers happened this week! I stayed in Germantown in northern Maryland! This will be my 4th transfer here so I will be here for 6 months! Elder Newbold moved on to the city, which was sad because I loved being his companion a

nd it's difficult to move his super large bed. For you that don't know, he is 6 10" so he has a special bed that is long for him. My new companion is Elder Myer. I'm glad I'm staying for one more transfer. I like this ward! They play soccer with us on P-day! I'm getting a lot better, so if anyone wants to play after my mission, let me know. 

This is also a very pretty area as you will be able to see by the pictures. There is an old wheat mill next to the river, and the mill was powered by the river via water wheel and running water. Pretty cool! My new companion and I are planning on going fishing soon! Does anyone know if you need a fishing license in Maryland? 

Elder Myer is a missionary assigned to speak Spanish, so it is really nice to have him so he can talk to everyone that says they can't speak English.  It's usually just a method of trying to get rid of us. It's interesting, sometimes they will use that excuse after we have already talked to them for a while. 

I introduced my new companion to the Amish market this week. He is as intrigued as I am in their lifestyle and Amish ways. I'm just flabbergasted by what they do. I can write this comfortably knowing that no Amish person will read this. 

On Sunday we went to the Ordination of a new member to the Melchizedek priesthood. The story of this man and his family joining the church is a beautiful miracle! It all started with a simple member of the church talking to his Uber driver about how the church has blessed his family, and it ended up leading to his family to joining the church, and all of his kid's families joining as well. I hope we can all learn from this, that we need to open our mouths and share the gospel in normal and natural ways, and it will change people's lives. 

Our elevator is totally broken in our apartment. This means stairs. I don't mind the stairs though. The bad part is that our building lets us leave our trash out in the hall, and they come to pick it up in a huge rolling bin that needs the elevator to get up the different floors.  Everyone is too lazy to take out their garbage, it literally smells as if a family of opossums is living in the hall. 🤢

Last night was "Why I Believe," and President and Sister Johnson spoke because it will be there last time going. They leave on the 28th. The whole mission decided to surprised President Johnson and sang to him at the "Why l Believe" event. It was very nice. I will miss President Johnson more than I have missed most anything back at home. President Johnson and Sister Johnson have taught me more than I thought I could learn. They are 2 of my Heroes. 

That is my update! 

Love you all! 

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, June 3rd, 2019

Hello all! 

I'm not sure If I've said this in a previous email, but I love the Amish! They Intrigue me. I would love to sit down and interview them and find out as much as I can about them! Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I will get that opportunity, so going to their local market and buying their food will have to do. It is so scrumptious! We go there every week, and I always get a pretzel log that is full of pork and cheese and yumminess! You get to wait in line and watch them work, and they look legit with their aprons, bonnets, and beards. I know the Amish live in Pennsylvania, and they travel around to sell their goods. So interesting.

There is a lady we are teaching that we wanted to do something special for, so we decided to write a whole bunch of Bible scriptures and on sticky notes and make it into a heart shape on her door. It was very fun to do, but very stressful because we had to be very quiet so she wouldn't hear us, and it took a long while to get all the sticky notes placed right. I was just praying the whole time she wasn't going to open her door to go on a walk or go get the mail because that would have been awkward. She didn't know we were there, so mission accomplished! 

It hailed this week, which was really fun. We were inside for dinner while it hailed and we didn't know it until we walked outside and was like, "What is all this Sonic ice doing in people's front yards?" it took us a while to come to the conclusion that it was hail. It was decently sized as well. 

There is a set of 9-year-old triplets that we are preparing for Baptism, and they are awesome! We gave them a Book of Mormon with pictures and explanations of the stories, and they love it. They were so excited to tell us about the story of the Iron Rod, and the floating building. 

It has been a great week! 

Love you all!!!

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, May 27th, 2019

Hello All! 

Its been a very busy week! 

We had Zone Conference this week which is always an event! We had scripture memorization contest, cooking demonstrations, training on apartment cleaning, and car inspections! There is a senior missionary that posts new meal ideas each week on the mission page, and Elder Newbold and I have been trying them out. They have been really good! I included some of the meals that we made in the pictures!  

There is a senior missionary that always passes out bananas, and he was at zone conference so he gave everyone a banana! We left our Bananas is the car for a few hours in 90-degree weather, and you would not believe the transformation that took place in those bananas. They turned jet black! It was super strange. 

We also had interviews this week with our Mission President, and it was actually the last interview I will get with him because he is leaving next month for home. It will be really sad to see President and Sister Johnson leave. Since it was President's last interviews, he gave everyone a blessing and it was very special. Elder Newbold and I had our Interview last so we got to go and have dinner with President Johnson. He was just reminiscing on the past 3 years of his mission, and he had some good stories to tell. 

It has been a busy week, and this next week should be very hot, and very humid, so hopefully, I live! 

Love you all! 

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, May 20th, 2019

 Hello all!

Picture explanations!

#1 The lady we are teaching that invited us in to have some tea with her invited us over and fed us dinner! Something we could actually consume! 

#2 After a long hard day of work, my companion and I often got a frosty, and because we both have little coupons, we both got a free smaller frosty

It was a good week! And a good day! So good that I have very limited time to write a long scrumptious email, but I will give you the highlights!

Went to the DC Temple Visitor Center for an event Sunday night!

We are teaching a 9-year old that has the sweetest testimony! She will be baptized on June 8th!

We are going to teach 3 other 9-year-olds here soon, so we are going to get really good at teaching interactively.

Elder Dallin Spurgeon

Monday, May 13th, 2019

Hello All,

One of the highlights this week was going to a Middle Eastern Buffet with a Filipino man who was in one of Elder Newbold past wards. It was really, really good! As always, I enjoyed the Naan and the Butter Chicken, and the goat was not half bad. I thought it was fitting, knowing that it is Ramadan! Of course, we were breaking the fast early, but I thought it was still fitting. 

Last week I told you about the mini-mission we did with the Spanish ward.  I was able to get the picture of all the missionaries and the youth that participated. If you are wondering which one is me, look at the tallest person, then I am the first one to the left! 

We went on an Exchange this week with the Spanish Elders. I went with an Elder from California. He was telling we stories about how he went spearfishing at home, and how he got charged by a harbor seal. So jealous! It's now on my bucket list. Spearfishing, not getting chased by a seal. 

Happy Mothers Day all! I got to talk to my Family! It was so fun. They are all living life, and it is crazy to think life was not put on pause when I left. 

Whenever Elder Newbold and I are in an area tracting, we always try to check on the members in that area. It's mostly just the names on the map we don't recognize, to see if they are less active, This often means they might have nonmembers living with them! I'll be honest, you get weirder experiences and stranger encounters by less active people who don't want to be contacted by the church than random people. It's all a part of Gathering Israel, and we have had a lot of success doing it!

Love you all!

Elder Dallin M Spurgeon  

Monday, May 6th, 2019

Hello All,

This last week was transfers, but both my companion and I stayed. This makes him the companion I've been with the longest! Congratulations, Elder Newbold! 

We were checking on a member that lived in the middle of nowhere. I'm talking Dickerson, Maryland nowhere.  Turns out the member moved, but we still talked to the man that lived there for a while. As we were leaving, he comes back out and says, "Would you like to see my 10 German Shepards?" Without much hesitation, I agreed. He was not lying! He had 10 German Shepards! He trained each one! He is the alpha male, which was pretty sweet! 

We were tracting one evening and a lady opened the door and the most magical aroma filled my nose. Something was baking. She was not interested, but before she closed the door we complimented her on the smell of whatever was in the oven. She offered us whatever they were. They were some kind of pastries filled with what I can only describe like soft jolly ranchers. So good! 

We got a referral last week, and we tried calling him million times but he never answered. The next thing to do was to just go stop by. We got to the address and it was just a mailbox in the middle of a field of horses. We were pretty confused and it was pretty dark so we decided to try back in a few days. We went back a few days later, and we decided to continue down the road from the mailbox. We found a gravel road and we decided to take it. The road just took us to a barn, and it looked like no one was there. We decided to drive around the barn to go back, and then we saw a dirt road, and we decided to take it. We found a man working on his car. He was pretty surprised to see us, but we were also surprised when we found out the trailer home at the end of the dirt road was the address we were looking for. The man was not the man we were looking for, but it was his friend, so he called him and we talked over the phone. I am still surprised by how we were able to finally get in contact with this guy. I hope he progresses!!!

This week, the Spanish ward that shares a building with us did a Mini Mission event where the youth would go out with the missionaries all day. Since there are so many youth, they asked some of the missionaries in the English ward to help. It was really fun! The youth that came out with me was a little quiet, but he spoke in Spanish to some people. We talked to a guy who was holding a python, like a snake! And we talked to another guy dressed as a pirate. Just another day in Maryland! My favorite part of the mini-mission was the dinner. A family from Peru fed us. I have served around a lot of missionaries in the Spanish wards to know you eat everything that's on your plate. The dinner was super great, and for dessert, purple corn jelly! I loved it, it was the most full I have ever been. My mini mission companion was not as strong as I was. He barely touched anything on his plate, and the members were like, what's wrong, do you know how to eat? How do you think your ancestors would feel. It only motivated me to keep eating! It was a great event! 

A little while back I told you about a lady that invited us in for tea, and even though we declined the tea, we did go in and teach her, and we have been working with her ever since! She came to church last week, and she asked us if she could pay her tithing! We have not even taught her about tithing! I know tithing is a thing in other churches, but I still thought that was cool! 

That's the update on my end!

Love you all!

Elder Dallin Spurgeon 

Monday, April 29th, 2019

Hello All,

Not much time.

We met a Jewish man during Passover and he gave us some Chocolate Motza

"This week was one of the most successful weeks." We met a young man named Kevin we passed to the Young Single Adult Ward. We met another young man named Devonte who apparently went on Trek when he was a teenager. He came to church. A lady named Nelma and her family came to church this week.

I was asked to speak in church, I rewrote my talk thrice times, and didn't use a lick of it. "We had lots of investigators that came to church, so the talk I gave was about the basic principles of the gospel. I was asked to speak for 8-10 min and I took 12 min. Not too bad."

We went to dinner with a man who is a recent convert. The funniest man I've ever met. He gave me a keychain from his trip to Rome he took the week before.

Sorry for the very short email,  that's what happens when you are short on time.

Callouts for transfers are tonight. Next week I could be anywhere... in Maryland.

Apparently, there is a new Avengers movie. Funny what you miss as a missionary.

Love you all,

Elder D.S

Monday, April 22nd, 2019

Happy Easter to you all!

It was an exciting week leading up to Easter Sunday! We loved talking to people on the streets and in their home about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's a powerful week to remind us to refocus our thoughts towards the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

We were visiting a less active member in our ward and we met him in the parking lot of his apartment complex. While we were talking to him a lady came out to get her mail and saw us and yelled to us, "Are you men of God." We said "Yes." She replied, "Come on in and have a cup of tea!" While we kindly declined the tea, we did go in and we were able to teach her! We will be visiting her again this upcoming week!

On Sunday we showed up for dinner at the members home where we were eating, and right when we walked in, we were informed we would be participating in the Easter Egg Hunt. We happily accepted. The member told us there was one GOLDEN EGG. We started to the egg hunt, and the kids were scrambling around.  As my companion and I casually strolled around trying not to take too many eggs, the unthinkable happened. I somehow strolled into the GOLDEN EGG. I decided to let it be, and see if one of the kids would find it, but time passed and the GOLDEN EGG still remained in its humble location. I decided I would claim victory and reign triumphant as the master EGG hunter. The member said the prize was a golden investigator!

During dinner we were talking about things we have never done before, and I mentioned I've never tried a Pogo Stick.  To my surprise, they had one and let me try it. I'm not going to lie, I was not too shabby for my first go around with a pogo stick. 

On Easter, a less active, some members went with us to the Washington D.C Temple Visitor Center to watch a performance titled, "The Gospel Of Mark, With Music." It was an hour performance, and it was very well done. The less active man really enjoyed it. I love the Visitor Center! There are always exciting events going on there. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! 

Love you All! 

Elder Dallin Spurgeon.