MY
BEAUTIFUL FAMILY AND FRIENDS-
Well,
another week has COME and GONE. It goes by so quick. But I've seen miracles and
taught lessons and completely butchered some Spanish but hey that's what the
mission is all about. Learning and trying and making mistakes but growing in
the process.
We've
seen A LOT of miracles recently with our less actives. Our friend Leo, who is literally one of
my favorite people, is doing amazing. He's praying and reading every day, and
coming to all the church activities we have. He's just a happier person and he
knows it. Thanks to the Book of Mormon and the power of prayer, he has a new light
in his face. Javi, a man we've
been working with has quit smoking and just was able to go to the temple this
week!!! When he showed us his temple recommend he was so happy. Real happy. The
kind that shines out of your eyes. He bore a powerful testimony on Sunday about
the power of the atonement and about how wonderful the gospel is. Cristina, a less active that we've been
teaching just got a calling as the relief society secretary!! She ALSO went to
the temple this week. We had a
lesson with her last night and she's seriously doing fabulous.
Diego,
another less active we had has been coming to church every week and can now
take the sacrament!!!! He's seriously the funniest and craziest person I've
ever met. He's super talkative and passionate and loud and it's so fun to teach
him. He has a really powerful testimony and all we needed to do was remind him
of it. Anaís, a young single adult
in our ward and (yes) another one of my absolute favorites that we've been
working with is progressing SO much. I'm so proud of all the steps she is
taking. When I first got here she was depressed and broken and unwilling to do
anything. But as of this week, she has read the scriptures and prayed every day
for the past 2 months!!!! AMAZING. She has a different light about her
now. She has confidence because
she knows that she's a daughter of God and she can feel the love that he has
for her. The first week I got here, we made her a calendar to mark off every
day that she was reading and praying. She made Hermana Vigo and me a copy of
her calendar that's been marking off every day and has written a scripture that
touched her from every day that she read. On the back side of the calendar, she
wrote me a little note and I want to share a part with you. She said,
"sister, you might not know it but you rescued me. I was unhappy, I was a
broken soul like an open book with many torn out pages. And then I met you and
gods power. When we have lessons you strengthen me and lift my testimony. I've
found hope again thanks to you. Thank you for making me feel like a daughter of
God again." I share this not to show what I can do, but what the savior
can do. He knows what we're going through and he knows our weaknesses and
heartaches. We just need to turn to him for the help that we need and he'll
provide it. Sweet Anaís is just one example of the many people that have been
touched by the enabling power of the Savior’s atonement.
As
for an update on our friend Moises- We had another lesson with him this week
and it went wonderfully. It's hard because we want to have 2 or 3 lessons per
week but he's looking for work and has to take time to do anything he can to
support his daughter. However, he loves the lessons and always tries to make
them happen. We taught lesson 2, about the plan of salvation. The plan of
salvation is the remarkable plan of happiness that heavenly fathers children.
Before we started, we asked about how his daily praying and scripture reading
was going. He said it was doing great and that he truly was feeling a
difference in his life. We asked if he had prayed specifically about the Book
of Mormon and his response was that he felt like he received a response that it
was true without praying. He said that when he reads it he feels peace and joy
and he knows that it's true. It was amazing to see how the spirit works with
people. After our lesson, he thanked us for teaching him and then said,
"okay so when's the next time we can meet" (!!!!!!!) that kind of
response makes my missionary heart very happy. He came to church yesterday as
well and it's just amazing to see the progress he's making.
You
may notice that I often say that everyone is "my favorite" and I can
honestly say that these people have touched my life in a way I could never
imagine. I have only been in the mission for 3 months but I have met people and
made friendships that I will truly cherish forever. What a blessing for me to
have this experience. To be in Spain and to meet these people while also
gaining a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father. I have learned so much
out here and this is an experience I will never forget.
Miracle
for the week is a quick one but a GREAT one. We were on our way to visit, Yimi
((pronounced jimmy)) and he's a future investigator. We found him a few weeks
ago but he's never at home so we hadn't been able to meet with him. We got to
his house and knocked on the door and a man we've never seen came out to talk
to us. We asked if Yimi was there and he had no idea who we were talking about hahahahaha
so turns out he gave us the wrong address :/ But we introduced ourselves to him
and he told us to wait for a second and went to grab something. He came back
with a Book of Mormon and said, "my brother went to BYU Provo to study
English and he brought this back with him. Is it your religious book??" He
then proceeded to tell us that he hadn't read it but was curious to learn a
little more. GOLDEN. He works a lot so we haven't found time to meet with him
but I'm hoping that he opens up his heart a little bit to hear our message and
how much it can bless his life. It's amazing that Yimi happened to give us THAT
address and that Sergio ((that's his name)) was the person we really needed to
talk to.
In
sad news, we had transfers this week and lost a few people in our district that
I love ): Elder Tye-our district leader, Hermana Villamar-the cutest Hermana
from Columbia and elder craven-probably one of the happiest people I've ever
met. It was sad to say bye to them because we've gotten really close as a
district. In good news, Hermana Vigo and I stayed together!!!!! She is great.
The amount of things I am learning from her is truly too much to count. One
thing in concrete is the power of fasting. We have a goal as a companionship to
fast every week and it's really strengthened my testimony. She really treats
the fast as a sacred opportunity, and it is. Fasting is an opportunity to show
Heavenly Father that we are willing to sacrifice things in order the receive
blessings. However, Hermana Vigo recently taught me that fasting really is
cleansing and that sometimes we can fast solely to show gratitude to Heavenly
Father for all the blessings that we have already received. We can also fast to
renew our testimonies or to strengthen our faith. I would encourage you all to
make fasting a little more sacred. It's blessed my life so much just focusing
more on what I can do to show Heavenly Father that I want to follow him.
Well,
that's all the time I have for this week. I am so blessed to have all of you in
my life. I love each and every one of you with all my heart-don't ever forget
it!!!!! You're all wonderful. Thank you for the love and support :-)
Besitos
from your favorite Spaniard,
Hermana
Spangler
Here
is me and Hermana Vigo celebrating Mother's Day. ((Mother's Day was yesterday
in Spain so we celebrated it today)) Since she is literally like my mom, I took
her out to FroYo :') We had a grand time.
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