Life's a climb, but the view's GREAT

MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY AND FRIENDS                                                            

This week was a week of MIRACLES. I can see the hand of God working in my life every single day out here. If anyone out there is praying for me, I can feel it.  I'm apologizing in advance because this is going to be a very long letter.  You probably have realized that when I write, I have to write all the details, but I promise it'll be FULL of crazy amazing stories you guys just have to read!!!!!!

The work out here is going FANTASTIC. Last week, at correlation ((a meeting with the ward mission leader and the elders about investigators and less actives)) the ward mission leader told us that in all the 2 years he's had this calling, he's never seen two sets of missionaries teach so many lessons.  We have to fill out sheets with

the lessons we teach.  Both us, and the elders, filled out the whole sheet front and back.  I'm telling you all, that's a miracle in itself.  We plan to have like 5-6 lessons a day or more but they usually fall through so we end up teaching less than what we want.  Also, just wanted to mention that March 26th, ((Saturday)) was my two month mark on a mission!!!  It seriously feels like I got here yesterday but I seriously love everything about this work.  Yes, I have plenty of hard days. PLENTY. The days feel so long but the weeks fly by.  And the fact that I've really been out here in this beautiful country for 2 months is mind-blowing.  But really, I can feel Christ working in my life and that's just a feeling that I don't want to lose.

Anyways, for stories.  I have a million and one.  First, update on our good friend, Leo. He's just great.  Hermana Vigo and I were having a particularly rough day because no one wanted to talk to us and all of our appointments fell through. ((happens more often than we'd like)) We ran into Leo and decided to read the Book of Mormon with him.  He's still reading and praying every day.  We read a little, talked a little and testified a bunch.  It went great.  He's so full of light and happiness and his love for the Book of Mormon is growing.  I asked him if he could see any blessings from reading every day and he said yes.  He told us that he's just happier and his relationship with his family is better and that whenever he's sad or feels like doing something he shouldn't, Heavenly Father always provides something to lift him up or to help him.  It's amazing how much he's growing.  Elder Tye, an elder that has been here for 4 months said that this is the first time he's seen Leo at every activity and at church every week.  Leo hasn't read the scriptures on his own for 6 months and now he is reading every day and reaping the blessings from it. I promise that the little things like reading and praying every day can make a huge difference in your life and your attitude.

Okay, next miracle.  Hermana Vigo and I were on our way to the church for a cita ((an appointment)) and we had a little extra time so we decided to contact and just talk to people on the street.  We got rejected person after person and that used to make me so sad but I'm used to it now.  We tried and they're not interested so that's all we can do.  We ran into this woman that was carrying grocery bags and looked like she was in a hurry but we stopped her anyway.  She was interested in what we had to say but didn't really agree with anything.  We talked a little bit about prophets and things and she just kept shaking her head like we didn't know what we were talking about.  Then I started talking about Joseph smith and the whole mood changed.  I shared his experience with praying and when he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  The spirit came in so strong.  There is something so powerful about using the words of Joseph Smith.  I gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it.  It was a Book of Mormon that I had marked all my favorite scriptures in, so I told her about a few of them and shared my testimony of it.  With tears glistening in her eyes she thanked us and told us that we had a special spirit that she didn't feel with most people our age.  She told us that she would read it and that she wanted to know more.  She then proceeded to tell us that she had been having a terrible day and had been praying all day for some type of guidance in her life.  She said it was no coincidence that she ran into us.  And it's true.  God answered her prayer and sent us to find her.  We were sad because our cita fell through, but in reality, Heavenly Father needed us somewhere else.  It's kind of funny the way that God works, huh?  But his plan is so much grander than what we think it is. We got her contact information and went on our way but I couldn't help but feel extra blessed in that moment.

My companionship with Hermana Vigo truly is a strong one.  She's so patient with me and always trying to help me.  I feel bad about 99% of the time because I can't say or do everything that I want to. But she just continues to push me and encourages me to do my best in every moment. I feel truly blessed to have her. We have had so many experiences in the past few weeks where we can see that God truly is in this companionship.  Whether it's having a whole lesson plan ready and decided to change it last minute or just a feeling to show a different video.  Most of the time I just lean over to tell her an impression to share a certain scripture and she was already pulling it out.  It's incredible how much we are blessed when we are working hard and working together.  Not to mention that I just found out that her favorite movie is A Walk to Remember, so we are just destined to be best friends.

We had a cita on Thursday with a woman named Vicky that we found in the street last week. We were planning on teaching her lesson 1 ((about the restoration of the gospel)) We were nervous because we had set so many appointments with her and they always fell through. We called her to make sure she was still coming to the church for our cita and she said she was on her way. We were ECSTATIC. I'm telling

you, the littlest things out here make me so happy. I've gained a deeper appreciation for life. Anyways, right before the lesson I had been thinking that maybe we should show her a video instead and testify of it. Hermana Vigo turned to me right then and said, "i think we should show her this video and talk about it." WOW it was exactly

what I was thinking in that exact moment!!!! During the lesson, we found out that Vicky was actually a member but she hadn't been to church for 6 years. But she had a desire to come back. It was perfect because the lesson we had planned previously was for an investigator and the lesson we changed it to was perfect for her. We shared the video and I testified of the atonement of Jesus Christ and the importance of having the gospel in her life. With tears glistening in her eyes, she said that she felt like that video was meant just for her and that she wanted to start coming to church again. The spirit in the room was so sweet, but so strong.

Saturday was a particularly hard morning for us because Hermana Vigo was feeling sick and all of our citas were cancelled and no one wanted to talk to us. I'm telling you guys, it's crazy. You would think that I would be depressed and down because of all the people rejecting us, but somehow God always provides extra strength and extra ANIMO that keeps me smiling and laughing and happy all day. Anyways, we decided to stop what we were doing and say a prayer. Hermana Vigo prayed

specifically that we would see a miracle. On Saturdays, we have an hour where we can play futbol with the other missionaries. Hermana Vigo and I decided that we would only play if we had an investigator/less active there too. After the prayer, I had an impression that we should just go say hi to the elders playing there.

At first, I was thinking "No, we have to work. We don't have time for this." But I decided to follow it. We went to the park and sat for a little bit to watch them play while hermana Vigo ate a snack and drank some water ((because she felt sick)) Nothing special happened at the park so I was confused as to why I felt like we needed to go. BUT HERE COMES THE BEST PART. On our way back to our piso ((apartment)) we saw a man sitting on a bench and decided to talk to him. His name was Juste and he was from Africa. I'm telling you, he was a golden investigator. He LOVED everything we taught him. We talked to him for an hour straight about the restoration and he had many questions but he told us that he felt something different. We testified over and over again about the spirit and the truthfulness of our message. It was beautiful. The spirit was so strong and I know he could feel it. I

know that Heavenly Father sometimes sends us to places or has us do things that don't always make sense. But I promise you, he knows what he's doing. He will put things in our path to help us grow and to help us learn and to make us happy. He loves us and he wants the best for us.

OKAY LAST STORY. I saved the best for last. We have the most quality investigator family that we are working with right now. Reynaldo, Roxana and their 4 kids. Bryan and Americo are 17 year old twins and then they have Leo and Joseph who are 2 and 3. They are the cutest little family and they love the church. We taught them lesson 1-the message of the restoration of the gospel the first week and since then, we usually read the Book of Mormon with them and answer any questions we have. We've only had about 4 lessons. But in our last lesson, we taught the Plan of Salvation-God's plan of happiness for his children. It went so well. They had so many questions, but questions are GREAT because it means that they are trying to understand everything. We invited them to be baptized on a specific date and they accepted!!!!! We invited them in the first lesson we taught and they accepted but didn't want to choose a date. This week was different. The new baptism goal is April 23 but Reynaldo and Roxana are not married so it might end up being longer than that. We are really hoping that they take the necessary steps like praying and reading every day to really know the truths for themselves. They don't want to get baptized unless they know it's true for sure. Which is great. So we are trying really hard to get them to do everything they can to feel that's what we're teaching them in the real truth. Pray extra hard for them this week to have their own conversions.

Thank you ALL for being so great and supportive. The weekly emails I receive always give me a little boost.  I love you all with every piece of my heart!!!!!! Miss you all a million times. Don't forget how special you are to me but also to your

Heavenly Father.

Until next week,

Love you all muchisimo,

Hermana Spangler

PS these photos are from today when we hiked up a mountain ((took AN

HOUR)) but the views here are so pretty and Spain is so pretty and I'm

proud to call it my home.

the only pianist in cartagena

MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY AND FRIENDS-


wow where do I begin?!!! this week was AMAZING ((of course-every day is amazing out here))

first, an experience. so on Tuesday, during my personal study I started out with a prayer and prayed specifically that I would learned something that day that would bless the life of someone I talked to. I opened up my scriptures and there was a sticky note there with like 7 scriptures on it that I had written down from the mtc. I chose one of them to study and it was d&c 31:2. "Behold, you have had many afflictions because of your family; nevertheless, I will bless you and your family, yea, your little ones; and the day cometh that they will believe and know the truth and be one with you in my church." which basically says that sometimes it's hard to believe in God when your family doesn't. but it promises blessings if you remain faithful and do the things you're supposed to every day. so I wrote it down because I liked it a lot.
NOW LISTEN TO THIS hermana Vigo and I were teaching a less active in our ward, Leo. he's great. He's become one of my favorite people out here, seriously like funny and outgoing and fun and I really enjoy teaching him. he got baptized about 3 years ago but then fell away ((stopped coming to church)) because his family members are not Mormon and he does not have a lot of support. ((I learned all of this on Tuesday while teaching him.)) anyways, we planned to show a video about Jesus Christ and talk a little bit about that but the lesson ended up going a different way. we talked about the importance of reading and praying every day and he does a really good job with praying but struggles with reading. and he said its hard because his family doesn't love the church and he has a hard time praying because he doesn't think it's benefiting anyone. OBVIOUSLY i pulled that scripture out right away. I read it with him and promised that if he continued praying and reading every day, not only him but also his family would receive blessings. after I read it he just looked at me and said "wow." and then he promised to start reading every day. yes, WOW. I am still in awe at how perfectly Heavenly Father knows us. he knew exactly what we were going to end up talking about with Leo and he knew exactly what he needed so he led little old me to find the scripture and touch his heart. how blessed am I to have gotten the opportunity to speak to someone's heart through the power of God.
THEN, we saw him again on Saturday and he told us he'd been praying AND READING every day. I was so happy I almost started crying. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him ((one of my favorites in the Book of Mormon)) and talked about it. It went so great. He ended the little lesson with a prayer and started crying half way through because the spirit was just SO strong. It was the sweetest and one of the most beautiful experiences I had ever been a part of. He told us later that was only he 2nd time he had ever cried from feeling the spirit. He said that when he's feeling the spirit it feels like is feet aren't touching the ground and he's flying. An elder in my district, told me that when he feels the spirit it feels like there's something filling up his heart that's 70x too big. And a friend of mine said that for him, "it's like Hugging your mom after not seeing her for a long time.  Holding the hand of the person that you really like for the first time.  Combining all of the wonderful feelings and experiences into one moment." How beautiful is that? Isn't that something that everyone should want?  When I feel the spirit, it feels like any holes that were inside me are filled to the brim. It's the most amazing feeling. And I can tell you exactly how to feel it EVER DAY. Read the Book of Mormon, pray, go to church. If you're a member, strive to do that as much as you can.  If you're not, talk to the missionaries. They can help you feel it. I promise you. Our purpose on this earthly is to be happy and to learn and grow. That's what Heavenly Father wants for us.

as for a few things I forgot to mention last week, the ward here is great. the people are small in numbers but strong in spirit. they were so welcoming and so talkative(good thing, but difficult when they ask me a million questions and I don't speak their language). no one in the ward can play the piano so I've officially been called as the ward pianist in relief society and sacrament meeting. Also for any ward activity or meeting. which is fine except for the fact that there about 30 hymns in the Spanish hymn book that don't exist in English.  needless to say I forgot that detail and started playing half the songs with the completely wrong tune/tempo because I have never heard them. but ya know what, it's okay because we're all learning here.  from now on I'm going to have to listen to the songs before we start so I can actually play them right. also, since I'm the newbie missionary, the bishop asked me to bear my testimony and introduce myself. I basically said I was from Texas, had 4 siblings and bore a simple testimony with the few phrases I know in Spanish. then ended with "Estoy muy agradecido por este OPPORTUNITY." ((I am very grateful for this opportunity)) help. thankfully opportunity in Spanish is 'oportunidad' so it was pretty close. I didn't even notice I had done that until I sat down and elder tye((district leader)) informed me that I said an English word. oops. still haven't quite got the hang of thinking and speaking in Spanish 24/7.

Just wanna end with a quote that i found this week from Gordon B.
Hinckley and absolutely love. "Don't be gloomy. Do not dwell on unkind things. Stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight.  Even if you are not happy, put a smile on your face. Accentuate the positive. Look a little deeper for the good. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life."

Love you all mucho!!!!! You're the best!!! You're support and love is what keeps me going throughout the week. Couldn't do it without you guys.

Con amor,
Your favorite spaniard,
Hermana Spangler

Alma 26:12

milagros everywhere

HELLO TO ALL MY FAVORITE PEOPLE

hi!!!!!! I am officially here!!!!! I am out of the mtc and into the
REAL world. I am currently in cartagena, which is a beautiful part of southern Spain. the weather is perfect and the people are surprisingly a lot nicer here. I love it.

so leaving the mtc was way hard and way sad because I just love all
the people I met so much. I took a 3 hour train to Malaga to go to the mission home where we met the president, his wife, and a few other missionaries. right from the start, we got assigned to a random missionary in the area and went proselyting. crazy. I was assigned to be with hermana Johnson and she is AMAZING. we walked around and contacted on the street and talked to everyone we saw. but we weren't really having any success so we went to talk to a less active and she was really nice. I realized in this 2 hours of proselyting I really don't know. my brain was about to explode because they talk so much faster here and hermana johnson has way good Spanish. we shared a scripture with her and hermana Johnson talked about it and turned to me to make a comment. literally I had no idea what was happening or what was going on so I just said a little prayer in my heart and went for it. the scripture they were reading talked about prayer so I shared a testimony of prayer and gave an experience that hopefully made sense and then we ended with a prayer and left. hermana Johnson told me that what I said was absolutely perfect for that moment. so all I can say is that God listens to our prayers and he is always going to help us out. ALWAYS.

anyways, that night we went to the mission home and got assigned to our new companions. my trainer is hermana Vigo. she's a peruvian from spain. she is SO GREAT. she speaks fluent Spanish and almost perfect English. so it's great because she can always use her English to explain to me what's going on if I'm confused and then when she speaks in Spanish IT IS SOOOO FAST. which is good because the people in Malaga speak way fast. she tries to speak Spanish to me all the time and I am seriously learning so much. she's teaching me a lot and is super patient with me and is always teaching me knew things. love her to death. she is always telling everyone about me and calls me "her babygirl" which just sounds so funny in her Peruvian Spanish accent.

I thought I knew what the gift of tongues was in the mtc but WOW it is so crazy amazing how much Spanish I can speak and understand. not going to lie, the first day was so hard. I was just doubting everything and feeling really stressed and just wanting to cry. all the lessons were hard and I didn't understand anything and I felt scared and nervous to talk to people ((which never happens for me)) I genuinely was confused and just thought to myself "what am I even doing out here?? is this really worth it??" I know, I know, terrible to think. but I said I prayer that night that I would feel peace and confidence and I'm telling you WOW the next day was a million times better and every day after that has been even better. I haven't had a single second of fear out here and my Spanish comprehension just grows every day. it's fantastic. all I know is that Satan is real and he does a good job of making us feel bad and like we aren't good enough.  BUT I can testify that Heavenly Father is even more real and he has the power to make any tiny bad feeling go away completely. he has the power to make us feel strong and confident and happy. I can testify of that because he did it with me. there is a word here in Spanish that we use, "animo" or "animado" which means like pumped or excited or encouraged or super happy. everyone here calls me "hermana animo" because after the first day I decided I'm not gonna let satan get to me and I'm not gonna be nervous or scared. I'm here for a reason and that reason is to share the gospel with EVERYONE. to invite others to Christ in every moment. why not be super happy and excited?? it's more fun and everyone can see it.  "those who move forward with a happy spirit will find that things ALWAYS work out" I can testify of that for sure.

this week has been crazy and fun and exciting and we have had so many amazing experiences. I love this work and I can feel the lord working in my life every second. we taught people in the streets and in houses and at the church and every single time we teach I feel the spirit. we have more less actives than investigators but that's okay because all of them are progressing. in the street, we talked to 7 different people that wanted us to come teach them. so that's 7 futures!!!!!!!  ALSO, we have an investigator with a baptism date as of Friday!!!!!!  renaldo was a new investigator and it was his first lesson. his "couple/girlfriend" ((that's what we call people that live with someone but aren't married)) roxanna, has been taking the discussions for years and hasn't progressed at all. but during our lesson with her we invited him to join us for the lesson and he LOVED it. he was interested and wanted to learn everything. he spirit was so so strong and I know that they felt it too. I'm really hoping that he will inspire roxanna to take the steps she needs.

my thoughts after this first week are that the mission is GREAT. and I'm sorry that this email is jumbled and probably a little confusing, I'm in a room full of people talking and I can't quite focus. but I do have an iPad now so I can read my emails any time I want. I can't reply til Mondays but I can read them during medio-dia when I have a few minutes of free time. thank you thank you ALL for your emails and love and support. it's the best. every little message makes my day so thank you all.

I love love LOVE you all and I feel so blessed to have in you my life.
miss you all like crazy!!!!!
stay happy,
xoxoxo
hermana Spangler

Fotos CCM Madrid

Buenos días,

Soy Natalia Santidrián, maestra del CCM. Les adjunto algunas fotos de la semana pasada con sus hijos/hermanos en CCM Madrid. No pude enviarlas antes pero les prometí a sus hijos que se las enviara, así que, mejor tarde que nunca!

Qué tengan un precioso día de reposo.

Hermana Santidrián

From the Mission President

Brother and Sister Spangler,
    I just wanted to let you know that your lovely daughter has arrived safely to our mission in Spain.  She has been assigned to work with Hermana Vigo, a native speaker, in the city of Cartegena.  We are so impressed with your daughter and we know she was sent here to us by divine design.  We are expecting great things from her.  Thank you for sending her to us!  We love her already!

HERE I GO

well, this is it. tomorrow morning i leave for malaga!!!!! i have to leave at 530 and i its going to be such a long day. im nervous and excited and i dont really know what to think at this moment. the spanish is going to be so hard to understand (especially in malaga) but hopefully i get a good trainer and dont sweat to death when i get there. i only have 10 minutes to email you just to say that im leaving and that i wont be able to email again til the next p day which i do not know when that is.

but anyways I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! SO MUCH!!!!!!!! please keep me in your prayers today and tomorrow as a start this whole new crazy adventure. 

wish me luck!!! love and miss you guys!!!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

hermana spangler

d&c 45:62

god knows us

hola to all my favorite people!!!!!!

the craziest thing of my life is that this CCM time is already over!! WOW. i leave for malaga on tuesday.....TUESDAY. and then the real world actually starts. i really dont know how i feel, just in the middle of wanting to cry but also being so excited to leave. my mtc experience has genuinely been one on the best experiences of my life. i have met so many amazing people and learned so many things and my life has already changed SO much and its only been 5ish weeks. crazy. im sorry to all of you that i never have enough time to reply to everyone but hopefully next week i can be able to have a little more time so send all of you a little message. but THANK YOU. thank you for your support and love. this email is going to be short but i hope that it inspires someone.

so this week went crazy fast but it was fantastic!!! my experience at the park this week was beyond hard but i learned SO MUCH. and i can testify with all my heart that god knows us all. individually. so my companion this week was sister allowitz. notice how i said ´sister´ and not ´hermana.´ thats because she is a russian missionary!!!!! think aout that for a second. 2 girls, both english, one that speaks barely any russian and one that speaks half spanish, thrown out into the world of spain for two hours to TALK to everyone about the church. it was crazy.  but the coolest part about this was that the night before, i decided that i should proabably get to know someone new of the girls so i just started talking to sister allowitz and we became instant best friends. shes from texas and is the greatest girl ever. then, on friday when we got to see who our companions were, my name was paired up with hers. god knows us.

so the way to get to the park every week is to take the metro(train) and thats where we are supposed to start talking to people. the metro is the hardest part for me becuase i just hate forcing them to talk to me and then having to sit next to them the whole time on the way there after they rejected me. so the night before, i prayed and asked for an experience on the metro, even just to have someone talk to me in general. and let me tell ya, god provided. i talked to 4 different people on the train that all took pamphlets!!!! it was amazing!!! it was great because i would have a full spanish conversation with them, translating it to sister allowitz and then somehow convinced them to take a pamphlet. no one wanted a book of mormon but i felt so blessed that god provided those people to talk to me. god knows us. so, we spent almost an hour on the metro, riding back and forth becuase these amazing people just wanted to have longer conversations with us about everything. when we finally got to the park, NO ONE wanted to talk to us. every single person said no or ignored us or just laughed at us as we walked by and it was SO hard. its so hard knowing that we have the most beautiful message of happiness to share with people and no one cares. so after 30 rejections i said a prayer in my heart that we could give at least one book of mormon away before we went home. in the last 5 minutes, before we went to go sing. we started talking to this man that was genuinely interested. and guess what....he took a book of mormon!!!!!! i asked and god provided. he knows our hearts and knows what we need and my testimony grew so much that day.

so really not much happened this week, lots of studying and teaching and sitting and studying and the basic stuff we do every day. p day was GREAT so i'll send pictures but other than that im just kinda prepping myself for next week. on tuesday, when i get to malaga, ill be able to email my parents that i arrived but then my next email will be more than a week later, so this is my last email for the next two weeks :( i love love LOVE you all!!! thank you for all your support and all your love and prayers. the next time i email i will be a FULL pureblood missionary woohoo!!!!

prayer works. heavenly father knows and loves you all individually, and if you dont believe me, ask him yourself. i promise he'll answer you.

love and miss you all bunches!!!!
xoxo

hermana spangler

 for all my fútbol fans, the real madrid stadium!!!!  i got to walk on it and go into the locker room and everything it was great.

my sweet companion, hermana allen. she's british, from germany, SOOOO sassy, allergic to chocolate, bold, and just the sweetest girl you'll ever meet. i love her to death.

churros and chocolate aka HEAVEN with some people from my zone