the good shepherd

KÆERE FAMILE OG VENNER

((Dear family and friends)) ((Yes, I can speak Danish))

Pues, this week has actually been SUPER great.  Hermana Højholdt and I made lots of new goals for our obedience and we have been working really hard all week.  We are still getting along really well.  She's such a good, hardworking, obedient missionary and she makes me want to be better.  With every transfer, I can really see the way God has been working in my life and in my mission.

We are on a train right now, headed to Malaga!!!!!  We have consejo (a council with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders) this week with president!!!!  I'll let you know how it goes next week.

We had intercambios with the SUPER she's ((they work with the whole mission, while Hermana Højholdt and I work over a specific zone)) it was great!!!!  I learned a lot from them :))  We also had our intercambios with two native girls in our zone.  It was fun to speak Spanish for two days straight-I saw a lot of improvement.  I absolutely adore the girls in our zone.

This week, while Hermana Højholdt and I were walking, we came across a whole flock of sheep!!!!  They were just standing and eating in a big field right next to the road.  At first, we were laughing about it and then we came across the Shepherd.  We talked to him for a really long time and we found out he was actually a member!! Unfortunately a less active but he had a lot of really good memories from his missionaries and from the church.  We gave him the new church tarjeta and he said he would look at the website!!!  At one point, the sheep were walking too close to the road, so the Shepherd called out for them to move and they all moved away immediately and came closer to him.  This Shepherd told us that he had 300 sheep and he knew them all by name.  The comparison of the Savior and the Good Shepherd really came alive for me.  These sheep had learned to trust their Shepherd and follow his voice.  The Shepherd warned his sheep of the dangers that were coming (the cars in the road) and they were protected.  If the sheep had never learned to follow the voice of their Shepherd, they could have been hurt.  This applies to us more than I ever realized.  If we learn to trust the voice of the Good Shepherd (Jesus Christ) he can protect us from physical and spiritual danger.  Christ really knows and loves all of us in a very personal way.  He knows us by name and he knows what we need to be protected and to be happy.  We only need to do our part to learn how to trust him and learn what his voice sounds like to us.  I know that Christ is really our Savior.  He spends his whole life trying to rescue us as his lost sheep.  It doesn't matter in what circumstance you find yourself, he will rescue you.  I've seen him rescuing people every day out here in the mission but the most evident rescue I've noticed is the one he's done with me.  The mission is changing me in more ways than I thought were possible and for that I will forever be grateful.

I love the mission and being able to see miracles every single day.  God is just so merciful and so loving.  I'm also grateful for how patient he is with me as a missionary and for all the trials and blessings he gives me in order to help me learn.

I love love love you all!!!!!

Besitos,

Hermana Spangler