Sister SPAINgler's Missionary Adventures: talk to everyone and keep moving forward

hola familia!!!!!

WOW there is so much to talk about this week, i dont even know where to begin!!!! first off, once again thank you thank you thank you for all your emails and support!!!! i apologize from the bottom of my heart that i really dont have time to write an email, read all the other ones and reply ): however, every single email makes my day so so much brighter, so THANK YOU!!!! i love love love you all!!!!

lets start off today with my park experience-which was absolutely insane!!!! i was companions with hermana spencer aka the cutest and sweetest and most positive missionary i have every met. she is always smiling and the light of the gospel and the happiness she has is just always shining out of her face. i love it. so we started off by saying a prayer at the temple together that we would havve the gift of tongues and have the spirit and be able to convey our message and also that the people we were going to teach would be prepared and WOW were they prepared. the very FIRST person we talked to took a book of mormon, two pamphlets and wanted to come watch us sing at the temple ((which we do every sunday)) it was amazing!!!! he spoke spanglish, kinda like us, so we were able to properly convey the message we wanted and testify over and over again of how beautiful this gospel is and how much happiness it can bring. then, THE SECOND PERSON DID THE SAME!!!! she was a sweet old lady and she was so so so excited when we gave her the book of mormon and told her how much it would help her life and how happy it would make her. we also gave her 3 pamphlets about the restoration and the gospel and families and she jumped around and hugged us both and kissed us on the cheek it was so cute. let me remind you that this whole entire thing was in spanish!!! crazy that i can already understand so much and speak so much. (ps, the thing to do here in spain is greet each other by two kisses on the cheek. so we can only do that with other girls, but we´ve been practicing with each other so that we´ll beore comfortable in the field. and not gonna lie, the first few times were pretty uncomfortable because i kinda had no idea what i was doing) so the next few people we talked to were super nice but they only took a pamphlet and didnt want a book of mormon. which is okay, because now they have contact with the missionaries. every pamphlet and book of mormon has numbers to call if they want to know more, its great. then we talked to another super spanish guy that i think only talk to us because we were girls but i mean he took a book of mormon and 2 pamphlets so thats a good sign. he seemed genuinely interested and then wanted to take us both out to lunch which of course, we had to decline. in spain, the people here dont take anything if they dont actually want it. so the fact that we passed out 12 pamphlets is a good accomplishment. (the normal amount around here is 7 or 8) and then the best storry for last...me came across this guy sitting on a bench and we started talking to him about the church and he was so interested. his name was pablo he was athiest but he still wanted to here everything we had to say. luckily, he spoke english so we could really testify and answer all his questions. he had A LOT of questions and some of them were pretty hard but i think we did a good job answering all of them. we gave him a book of mormon and 2 pamphlets AND THEN GUESS WHAT he said he loved it so much that he wanted missionaries to come to his house and teach him!!!!! i almost started crying i was so happy. so we got his contact information and we are going to send it to the madrid missionaries so that they can send some elders over to talk to him. its amazing how much god has prepared these people to listen to our word. they are so ready to hear it and they´re just waiting for us to go up and talk to them. that was our motto for saturday. "talk to everyone." anyone you made eye contact with or passed in the park, we had to talk to them and it seriously paid off.i can testify so strongly right now about the power of the spirit and how he can truly help us with anything we need. whether its finding the courage to talk to someone or knowing the right word in spanish. its truly amazing.

hermana allen and i are doing so great as a companionship and with our teaching. we have had many different teachers come up to us and tell us that we have a special companionship and a special light between us. that really helps during our teaching because the people we are teaching can feel the love we have for them and see our testimonies in our eyes. on saturday, we had a trc lesson and it was SO great. we taught "eduardo." he was a scientist that didnt believe in a creator and his mom was sick all the time and he didnt know what to do. so we did A LOT of testifying. we taught him about prayer and the power that it has to bring the spirit which brings guidance and comfort and anything else you need. at the end of the lesson he said, "i believe everything you have said to me and i want to pray more in my life." !!!!!!!!!!!do you realize what this means!!!! in spanish, i was able to change someone´s heart and help them with their problems and feel the spirit. our teachers that do the role playing are supposed to be really hard on us and only do things if they really feel the spirit or really have that desire. after the lesson, during our feedback, the teacher told us that he had a real desire to pray in his heart and that he even wanted to go home and reevaluate the prayers he had right now. it was amazing and the spirit was so strong. i promise to any of reading this that the power of prayer is REAL. its so real. if you have a question, or a problem, or a broken heart, or anything, get down on your knees and prayer for the strength to get through it. i promise with every inch of my soul that you will receive that comfort and peace that you so desperately need.

spain is SO BEAUTIFUL. last week we got to walk around madrid and see the palaces and take pictures and it was amazing!! i love it here and im so happy that this is my home for the next 18 months. also, for all you soccer players out there, today we get to go to the santiago bernabeau (sp?) stadium!!!!! and we get to tour it and see the inside of it and everything!!! im super excited so ill send pictures and tell you all about it next week.

well thats all the time i have for this week, i miss you all so much!!! thanks for the love and prayers and support, its what keeps me going when i just want to cry. any time i have the thought that im not good enough or that this is too hard, heavenly father gives me the strength and the faith to keep moving forward. my spanish is improving more and more each day and i just love everything about spain and this CCM.

i love love love you all!!! you`re all special to me and even more special to your heavenly father so dont ever forget that.

until next thursday!!!!

xoxo

hermana spangler

ps, i am going to send a lot of pictures this week ((FINALLY)) but they only send one at a time so i am apolozing in advance. also, i really dont have time to spell check and correct everything so i hope it all makes sense.

the view outside my room EVERY NIGHT. the sunsets and sunrises here are breathtaking