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.
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