HOLA to all my favorite people in the world!!!!
first off, thank you thank you THANK YOU for all the emails and letter and love and support!!!! i am so appreciative to all of you :)) second off, i am loving it here!!!! so much to do and learn and see and think and my brain is on the verge of exploding!!!
lets start with a language update: my spanish is improving so much every day. i cannot believe how much i can already understand and say. for fast sunday last weekend, i had the idea that as a zone we should do a fast from food as well as a fast from english. i think it helped A LOT. it was hard because on sunday we really didnt know a lot of spanish or know what to say but hopefully the lord will look upon our sacrifice and diligence by pouring blessings upon us. here in the CCM, we fast for 24 hours straight. that means no food or water from the night before to the next night, which is a LONG time but that also meant that we had 24 hours straight of speaking spanish and practicing the language. i am going to do the same thing this sunday and with the amount of spanish i have learned and can understand, i am fully confident that i will be able to communicate exactly how i want to. spanish is a great language and actually makes a lot of sense in my head (thanks to the spirit). its amazing to see what the lord is doing with me and with my testimony. i can physically feel the spirit so much stronger in my life and i love it. i love love love it here.
i figured that you all might be a little curious as to how my day goes out here so here is an example of my daily schedule:
6:30-wake up, get ready, eat breakfast
8:00-personal study for an hour
9:00-companionship study for an hour
10:00-grammar
11:00-a lesson with one of the teachers (restoration, plan of salvation...)
12:00-teach an investigator
1:00-lunch
2:00-comp study/personal study
3:00-personal language study
4:00-language study w a teacher
5:00 physical activity and showers and such
7:00-dinner
7:30-comp study
8:30-language study
9:30-rooms
10:30-bedtime
so as you can see, its just work and work and study and teach and study and work and on and on and on. theres so much to do all the time!!! the hardest thing is just getting up so early and working all day and just falling asleep right away and then having to wake up and do the same thing again. but i love it and im learning so much. as for the investigator, hermana allen and i are teaching ismael (hermano lopez, he is related to the pickups) and hes great and ready to learn and to pray but hes just having a hard time understanding pray and the joseph smith story so for our next lesson we´re going to focus more on that. next week we will have 2 investigators every day which will be crazy!!!! we barely have enough time to prepare for one so our schedules are going to be even more jam pakced than usual but its gonna be great!!!
you may have noticed that there is time for physical activity every day, which includes a range of the gym, volleyball, fútbol, and dodgeball. its different every day and its actually so fun!!! if you know me at all, you know i am not athletic nor do i want to be athletic but you will be suprised to know that yesterday in fútbol I SCORED THREE GOALS!!!! thats an all time record for me!!!! especially because half the teachers and kids here are basically pros but woohooo!!!! the CCM is changing me in more ways than one.
on saturday we went the park again but this time was a llittle bit different because the oldies that new a lot of spanish left last week so its just all of us newbies that barely know any spanish. but it went SO WELL. i was with hermana stanley (great girl, sister training leader, and just super fun) and we had 53 contacts!!!! just us too!!! that just means we at least attempted to talk to the many people and either we were completely ignored and they decided to talk to us :)) we talked with one group of kids that were studying abroad and could speak english which was SUCH a relief. only one of them actually seemed interested but i was able to testify of everything to him and share the joseph smith experience (my favorite part) and the spirit was SO strong. he didnt want a book of mormon but he took two pamphlets which is still success!!! hopefully, his heart was touched that day and he remembers what he felt. we also talked to these sweet old ladies who gladly took the pamphlets and seemed so happy that we wanted to talk to them. let me remind you that this was all in spanish. but we testified and talked to them and i think we really made their day. some people are not interested but will talk to us anyways because we are so happy and friendly which i think is great because that is usually their first impression of the church and when the seed is planted. practicing in the park is so wonderfulbecause i can get a feel of the people and the culture and the language. the CCM is great but being able to experience it first hand is even better.
spain is BEAUTIFUL. seriously, i love it!!! the sunsets and sunrises are the most beautiful things in the world and its right around the temple. speaking of which, we get to go the the temple every thursday morning out here and its beautiful. the outside and the inside are all stunning and i just love the sweet spirit i feel every time i am inside.
also im trying to send pictures, but its not working as well as i want, so maybe you'll have to wait til next week....
okay well im running out of time ): but thanks again for all the love and prayers!!! i can feel them helping me in times of confusion or frustration. you guys are the best!!! love and miss you with all my heart.
until next thursday!!!!!
xoxo,
hermana spangler
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