Work hard, pray hard

MY WONDERFUL FAMILY AND FRIENDS-

This week was a long one in terms of weeks.  We are still working super hard to find people--contacting, knocking on doors, asking for references, and talking to as many people as we can.  We still haven't found ANYONE.  Any potential people that we find are either always "busy" or don't actually want anything.  Hermana Villamar and I have been talking lately about sometimes it's hard to understand why we work and work and WORK and still can't find anyone that wants to listen to our message.

I was reading a story of a missionary and his experiences and I found something that COMPLETELY changed my point of view.  One experience that a missionary had was that at one point on his mission, he was in a really hard area.  He ended up being there for 7 months and still hadn't found anyone interested.  At one point, he watched a super disobedient couple of missionaries have baptism after baptism and he was getting frustrated.  He said a prayer and he said to Heavenly Father, "Father, you are almighty,  I pray over the map every day, I stop our bike rides at the slightest prompting to rethink what we are doing, where we are going, all to  prove that I am listening,  and you still send me to neighborhoods where there  is  nothing but vile, mean, personal rejection”.  He prayed for a good 45 minutes just trying to figure out why he wasn't seeing any success.  And this was his answer: “Elder  Humphrey, I am here.  I know who you are.  I sent you to those neighborhoods, the very ones where you experienced nothing but  rejection.   I prompted your changes in direction to even more difficult neighborhoods.   I know where each of the elect in your area resides.  I know their names.  I could send you to those addresses only, and save you the time and sacrifice looking for them.    BUT ELDER HUMPHREY, WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT SERVE YOU?   The mission experience is to do what you are told, when you are told, to go where you are asked, and know that the blessing comes  from enduring what I ask of you.   This is not about you; it is about opening your mouth at all times in all places.  Doing my will without thought to the end result or consequence… this is what serving a mission is."

The more I thought about it, the more I realized WOW Heavenly Father really is in everything we do.  For those reading this that are missionaries, we aren't here to baptize people, we are here to do exactly what God wants us to, when he wants it, and how he wants it.  The success is in the perfect obedience and responding to the promptings we receive.  For those at home, in school, studying, with families, with jobs; Heavenly Father is in everything you do!!!  He gives us trials so we can grow. We have hard times so we can learn.  And more then anything, the hard times we have help us appreciate the good times SO much more.  So in a moment of frustration, don't ask why things are going hard in your life, just appreciate that Heavenly Father's plan is better.  All we need to do is align ourselves up with his will.  That's the only way we'll be happy and the only way we'll find success.

This letter has been pretty short and become more of a journal entry for me to express my thoughts but I hope it touched someone.  I hope you all have a FANTASTIC week and a fantastic 4th of July!!!  Be safe, be happy, and trust in Heavenly Fathers plan. It's the best plan there is :))

PS very important notice-this week I ate octopus!!!!  I'd have to say it's probably the most crazy thing I've eaten on the mission but it wasn't all that bad.  We ate it in two ways.  One, with potatoes and spices.  And two, with tomatoes and onions and peppers in a pasta salad type dish.  It really was actually pretty good.

Also, this is Hermana Villamar's last week with me and last week IN THE MISSION. Luckily, she still wants to work hard and do everything she can to help this area.  We are going to put everything we have into this week and see some crazy big miracles!!!!  I'm so sad that she's leaving me, she's become like a sister to me and I've really enjoyed our time together and learned SO much.  Next week, I'll know who my new companion is and everything so stay tuned!!!!

Love you all super much,

Hermana Spangler

D&C 6:33-36