It's the Final Countdown

This week was super great, now let’s see if I can actually remember what happened. The days really blur together here because it’s sort of monotonous but I still love it. 

First off, I only have 4 more days left in the MTC. I have to be at the Travel Office at 10am on Wednesday and I fly out to Portland at around 3:00. I’ll be the last person in my district to leave so I’m glad I get to see everyone before I go. I’m super excited to leave and go out and do real missionary work. The MTC has been amazing but man I am so ready to be out of here and have some variety in my life.

On Sunday I said goodbye to all the Elders in District C. I had gotten close with a lot of them and I was pretty sad to see them go. They’re all awesome missionaries and they’re gonna do amazing things.

So on Thursday we had a fast from English, so we spoke only in Spanish the entire day. It was actually not that difficult, and I think I said like 10 words in English the entire day. We had a TRC which is like a mock lesson and Elder Tall said my Spanish during the lesson was the best it had ever been. I was surprised when he said that cause it felt pretty much the same to me, but I guess the Spirit and the Gift of Tongues were with me and helped me communicate.

On Tuesday, we had a devotional given by Elder Claudio R. M. Costa and it was awesome. While listening to it I received a very distinct thought that I want to share. "What I will be sharing in Oregon and Ecuador is not my message; it's Jesus Christ's. Don't worry how people will see me or what they'll think of me, that doesn't matter. Only worry about what people think of our Savior Jesus Christ." This thought hit me pretty hard. Sometimes I do worry how people perceive me and what they think of me, but that literally is the least of my worries while I am in Portland or Quito. I was reading in The Book of Mormon the other day and found a very applicable scripture. Jacob 1:19 says,  And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day." My most important duty is to teach and share the word of God, everything else comes after that. I just love the devotion that Jacob and Joseph have in the scripture and I hope to be able to apply the same sense of duty and devotion while I am in the field. 

Well ladies and gentlemen, it is with regret that I must inform you that this will be my last edition of The Volleyball Chronicles of Elder Spangler. However, it's a pretty awesome one this week so get ready. This was a defensive week for me on the volleyball court. I had some of the gnarliest blocks and showdowns over the net. There is this one elder who is massive; I'm talking like 6'4, super buff, overall just an intimidating elder. He hits the ball so hard, probably the hardest of anyone who I have played with so far. He went up to spike it and it was a perfect set and perfect placement and he was gonna destroy it. Instead, I destroyed him. I jumped up and blocked it so perfectly and it flew back and landed right in the middle of the court and it was just so beautiful. Everyone went crazy and started clapping cause I have never seen anyone block this elder before. The next day, I was playing front line again and someone passed the ball to Elder Tall who was playing on the other side of the net. It was really close to the net so Elder Tall and I jumped at the same time and both smacked the ball so hard. It just stopped dead and dropped over on Elder Tall's side. It was another beautiful moment of volleyball and I was so glad I asserted that dominance over my companion haha. I had three other instances just like that one, where I met someone over the net and we both hit the ball hit the ball super hard, and I won it every time. I am quite sad that I only have 2 more days to play volleyball here at the MTC but it is a very small sacrifice to pay to go and serve the Lord.

I actually have pictures this week!!

Group zone photo (Elder Tall was in the shower)

                                           Saying good-bye to some of my friends from District C and 
                                   a picture with my District and our teacher Hermano Stewart-Chester

                          Also a funny panorama of Elder Tall I took while I was supposed to be studying 
and a picture of us shoving cake in our mouths because it was 9:44 and we had to be in our rooms at 9:45.

REASSIGNED

Hello everyone, 

This week was quite exciting with lots of big events. 

Last Sunday was great. I accompanied all the Hermanas in my district to "Peace in Christ" during sacrament and it went really well. I was super nervous because I've played it twice in sacrament meeting back home, and both times I pretty much butchered it. I didn't want that to happen again, so I was praying a ton that I would be able to play the song well so I could help invite the Spirit into the meeting. The Lord definitely answered my prayer because it was the best I had ever played it for a performance. Elder Tall told me after he had been praying for me too cause he could tell I was nervous, so I was super grateful for that. I have an awesome companion. For our Sunday devotional we had the BYU men's Choir come and it was awesome. They sounded super good and brought the spirit super strong. 

For those of you who don't know, it has been really difficult for missionaries who were called to Ecuador to get their visas because the Ecuadorian Consulate was burned down a while ago. So yeah the probability of me getting reassigned to another mission for a few months is very likely. On Tuesday, after lunch, Elder Tall and I walked back to our class and I checked my email and saw that I had an email from the travel office. It was so we could do some paperwork for our Visas and when I showed Elder Tall, he got so excited. If you are familiar with the show The Office, imagine the scene when Dwight gets made Regional Manager. It was literally the exact same. He started jumping up and down while yelling stuff like "YES ELDER WE'RE GONNA GET OUR VISAS WE'RE GOING TO ECUADOR LET'S GO RIGHT NOW." He was jumping and like punching the air and was just totally going crazy and I was just watching him and crying cause I was laughing so hard. We went to the Travel Office the next morning and filled out some paperwork and police forms and when we left we were pretty hopeful that we were going to go to Ecuador straight out of the MTC. Turns out, we were wrong. 

In class the other day we were doing an activity called Book of Mormon share where we read the Book of Mormon as a class and just discuss it, It's a super awesome activity and it always invites the spirit really strong. We were reading in Mosiah 2 and I found a scripture that really hit me. It was Mosiah 2:21. It says:

 "I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." 

Now this is kinda a random scripture but you have to dig deeper. What it's saying is if we spend all of our time serving the Lord, the one who preserves us and blesses us, the one who gives us the ability to choose for ourselves, it won't matter. We will always be unprofitable servants to him. There is nothing we can do to repay the Lord for all he has given us. At first this was kind of disheartening, but then I thought about it more. Although we will never be able to fully make it up to the Lord, we should still serve him with our whole souls. We should be the best unprofitable servants that we can possibly be. If we don't try to give him everything we have, he is not going to want bless or sustain us. I know I can never make it up to the Lord, but I am going to work as hard as I possibly can, because I want to give back as much as I can. 

Now I'm sorry for leaving you on a cliff hanger about the visa situation and stuff. You probably have guessed that from the subject of my email, I have been reassigned. This morning as Elder Tall and I were doing our laundry, Elder Tall logged into his Missionary Portal so he could write his email. He then saw that his mission president was not the same person and he realized that he had been reassigned. He started getting excited and checked where he was going and saw that it was the Idaho, Boise Mission. To say the least, he would much rather be in Ecuador. After he saw his I was like, "shoot I gotta check mine." I checked my portal and saw my reassignment. I will be serving in the Oregon Portland Mission for probably 3-6 months. I am super super excited. Portland should be an awesome city and I can't wait to be out in the field. If you skipped my last paragraph to found out where I was reassigned, go back and read it cause it was a good message hahaha.  

Alright now for the Volleyball Chronicles of Elder Spangler. Only one more addition after this one. This week was interesting for volleyball, I really didn't have any amazing plays. I did have one play where I kind of just blanked out and pretty much caught the ball and just dunked it over the net, which unfortunately is illegal in volleyball. I mostly play setter now so I don't spike or block as much, but I love setting. As a person who has never really played volleyball, it is really difficult to not touch the net. In a real volleyball game, if you touch the net it's a point for the other team or something like that. Everyone is all over the net here and the people that actually played volleyball get so mad about it. Yesterday I was playing and went up to block a sister and I hit the net and she was like "whoa brother watch the net." then I went up and got a really solid spike that made one missionary yell "whoa Elder Spangler is back" but I hit the net on that spike as well. If you come to the Provo MTC and play volleyball, don't hit the net. That was kinda a boring Chronicle addition, but I will make sure my last one next week is amazing. 

Well, that's all for this week. I am super excited to go preach the gospel and be the best missionary I can be. 

Please send me emails, even if they're really short. I love hearing from people back home. 

Love and miss all of you. 

Elder Spangler

                                                      More fake pictures of me studying. 
                                            I don't have a ton of time to take pictures so this is all I got.

I translated my family motto into Spanish and I say it sometimes to myself if I'm missing home. 

I'm an old man

I stress too much about what the subject of my emails should be so a lot of the time they're gonna be really dumb, so sorry about that.

This week was insane. To quote an hermana from my zone, "everything crazy always happens at the exact same time." That is completely true.

Sunday was my first official day as zone leader and I was excited to start serving the missionaries in my zone. Elder Tall and I taught the Priesthood lesson about Recognizing the Spirit and it went super well. One of the other elders actually asked me if I had had teaching experience before the mission cause he thought it was very well done. Shout out to my bishopric for calling me to be a Sunday School Teacher before I left, it gave me some great experience. Brad Wilcox was our devotional speaker on Sunday and he talked about the 12 Tribes of Israel; it was super interesting. I'm going to include a little volleyball story right now, but it is not a part of the Volleyball Chronicles of Elder Spangler. On Monday, I was playing volleyball and was playing middle on the front line. I went up to hit the ball and my district leader, Elder Smith, went up to block me and came down really hard on his ankle. We rushed him over to the medical room and the next day we found out he had torn ligaments on both sides of his ankle and had a hairline fracture. It shouldn't prolong his stay at the MTC, but it does make it more difficult for him to move around. On the same day, a bunch of missionaries who were supposed to go to Bolivia came back to the MTC cause their plane broke before they took off, so we got a couple missionaries back and we had to figure out how to set up companionships and what to do with their schedule and stuff. And another thing on Monday, one of the missionaries in our zone was struggling with mental and physical health issues so he was about to be sent back home but he figured it out so we didn't have to worry about that anymore. But yeah, all those things happened on my first full day as zone leader and it was pretty crazy, but the Lord definitely helped Elder Tall and I work everything out. 

We got 15 new missionaries in our zone this week. They're all really good missionaries and I'm excited to get to know all of them better. Elder Tall and I and the Sister training Leaders met with them on Wednesday just to get to know them and stuff, and also to talk to them about some rules and different things in our zone. Elder Tall and I wore our Ecuadorian ties cause everyone always compliments them, and sure enough, someone asked about our ties and I got to tell them all about my super cool brother in law who gave them to me. 

Why I called myself an old man; First, I woke up the other day and my back hurt cause I slept weird and I thought, "Oh no, I'm turning into my dad." But I'm fine now, so don't worry about me getting back problems. Secondly, I was talking to some of the new missionaries the other day and they asked how old I was, so I told them I was 18. Three of these new elders are 19 and one is 20, but they all thought I was older than them. I was really surprised cause first off, I look like I'm still 16, and all these guys look like full grown men. They said I had "an old soul" which was funny to me cause I remember thinking all the missionaries who were in my zone before felt so much older and more mature than me, but they actually weren't. It was kind of a testament to me that although I may feel like I haven't changed a ton, other people notice it, which is a good thing because I don't want to be the same person I was went I left, I want to be better. 

Okay, NOW it's time for the Volleyball Chronicles of Elder Spangler. This addition is actually going to be applicable so make sure and read it. Last Saturday, after I had already sent out my email, I had exercise time and of course I played volleyball. I had the best spike I have ever had, it was amazing. I timed my jump perfectly and hit it so hard into the back corner, everyone was so amazed by it, including myself. Saturday was definitely my most successful day as an MTC volleyball player. Monday was also a really good day (besides when Elder Smith broke himself) and I was just feeling really good about myself. Then the Lord decided to humble me. Tuesday and Wednesday were they worst I have ever played, like I was disgraceful. I couldn't set, I whiffed so many spikes and my passes were horrible. I don't know if it was really the Lord humbling me or if I was just really bad, but the experience taught me a lot. If I ever am in the field thinking that "I know what I'm doing, I'm really good at this," then the Lord won't bless me and I won't be a successful missionary, no matter how hard I try or how bad I want it. It was a good lesson for me to learn in volleyball and not in real missionary work. Thursday was a great day for my volleyball. I stopped thinking I was super good and because of that, I set the ball so so well. While playing I totally thought "YES, I'm turning into my dad" (He was a Varsity setter in high school). I got so many assists, it was amazing. There was this one elder who spiked it super well and I probably got 30 assists with him alone. But yeah, great life lesson to learn and I'm thankful for everything else I've learned from volleyball hahaha. 

Well, I think that's everything for this week. I could include so so much more but it's already a really long email so I'll spare all of you. I'll try to send some pictures, I need to get them from everyone who has taken them on their phones and cameras first. It's hard to find time to take pictures, but I'll do better for all of you, especially my mom. 

Love and miss all of you!!

Elder Spangler

DTCTRCZL

I promise this subject will make more sense as I write my email.  

This week was so crazy; an emotional rollercoaster. A lot of high highs and low lows but i've learned so much. 

On Sunday, Elder Tall and I were assigned to teach a lesson about language and the importance of it, but we thought it only had to be like 10 minutes, but it was supposed to be 45. We totally had to go by the spirit but the conversation and discussion ended up being so good and interactive that we didn't even get to all that we had prepared for our ten minute lesson so that was a huge blessing. We also had devotional given by Matthew Richardson about being a real missionary and it was awesome. Sometimes i think "I need to baptize everyone in Ecuador and if i dont im not gonna be as good of a missionary." But during this devotional i realized, Christ was perfect, and he got rejected a ton. I'm not better than Christ, so why should I hold myself to such a high standard? I just thought it was a good insight that we can all apply to many areas of our life. I also listened to a talk given by Elder Holland in 2005 and man it was so powerful. The apostles are so raw and powerful when they speak to missionaries, it's the best. That brings me to the first three letters of my subject; DTC. On tuesday, we had a devotional given by D. Todd Christofferson, who is a apostle called of God. He spoke to us about the levels of conversion to the gospel and about obedience. He gave examples from the Book of Mormon about levels of conversion and asked us to ask ourselves what level we fell under. It was a really powerful devotional and I loved it so much. 

The next three letters, TRC, stand for Teaching Resource Center. It's a building we go to to practice teaching people 15 minute lessons. In Spanish. It's a crazy experience and teaches us so much. On monday, we went and met all four people that we could be teaching and just got to know them. On tuesday, we met with Ana and Martin, and it was rough. We went in with a little plan but didn't really follow it and it was hard to speak spanish and it just was not that great of a lesson with either of them. Wednesday we met with Ana again and it went a little bit better, but still not that great. We were supposed to meet with Martin after, but he couldn't make it, so we met with another girl named Atenes. And IT WENT SO GOOD. Our spanish was flowing, the conversation was natural, we shared good scriptures, it was just awesome. Definitely a blessing from the lord. 

To address the last two letters; ZL. Yesterday night, elder tall and i were in our classroom doing language study when another elder in our zone came and told us that our branch president was looking for us. The Branch President came in and assigned us to be Zone Leaders, which basically means that were in charge of misistarial and administrative duties within our zone. We have to meet with new missionaries, plan the schedule for sunday services, meet with companionships, all sorts of stuff. Elder Tall and I were shocked at the assignment, but were both excited to have the opportunity to serve more. 

This email is already so long but gotta touch on a couple more topics. My Spanish skills have continued to improve a ton. On Monday and Tuesday Elder tall and I spoke in Spanish for about 90% of the day. My mind was so dead at the end of the day, but it was really cool to look back and see how much spanish I had spoken. I can't wait to continue to improve. 

Now to continue The VolleyBall Chronicles of Elder Spangler. As I was playing this week I kept thinking, "I got to have a SportCenter Top Ten play so I can email about it." I then realized " This section of my emails is honestly me just bragging about my skills that aren't even skills, but I am going to continue to do it." I was worried this week cause although I had had several good plays, nothing was worthy of The VolleyBall Chronicles of Elder Spangler. Until yesterday. I went in on the front line, set the ball perfectly to my teammate, and they spiked it down for the point. Then the next serve came, my teammate hit it over in perfect position for the other team to spike it, but I jumped up and stuffed it down the elder's throat cause I blocked him so hard. Everyone was starting to cheer for me a little, then on the next serve, my teammate set it and I spiked it right into the middle of the court and it was awesome. At that point, everyone on the court was going crazy, saying things like "Calm down Elder Spangler, it's just a game" or "Woah Elder Strangler (the name my branch president called my the first day we met) is killin it." and stuff like that. I apologize if you find this section of my emails to be dumb but I enjoy writing them so I am not going to stop. Unfortunately, I won't have the ability to play volleyball on the mission after the MTC, so you will only get three more additions to The VolleyBall Chronicles of Elder Spangler. 

That's all for this week. I love this work and this place and everything that I am doing. If you would like to email me, please send me pictures cause I love pictures. 

I love and miss all of you!

-Elder Spangler-

                                    My schedule from my second week of the MTC. 

Elder Tall fake fell asleep because some hermanas were coming to our class and we wanted them to think it was real and they totally fell for it.