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.
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