Happy 5 months!!

WOWZERS this week was jam-packed and super eventful, it was so great. 

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: We had 2 baptisms! Nixon and Fernando were baptized this week on July 13th (which happened to be my 5 month mark) and it was so great! I had the opportunity to baptize Nixon and I will definitely never forget that experience. I felt the spirit confirm to me that what he was doing was the right thing and I know he felt it as well.

My family all knows this, but when I was younger I hated calling people on the phone. I had thought I had gotten over that, but then I had to do it in Spanish. As a missionary, we have to call a lot to confirm appointments or set up things, so that´s fun. It normally goes okay, but this week we were calling some people we had contacted in the past and of the 5 people I called, three hung up because I couldn´t understand them and I wasn´t responding the way they wanted, 1 hung up because we were missionaries, and the other guy just breathed really heavily into the phone the entire time I was talking, and then hung up. That was an anomaly though, I promise my Spanish isn´t that bad. 

Ecuador has some of the most beautiful geography I have ever seen. After spending the last 10 years of my life in Texas, I was deprived of seeing the beauty of nature, but here I get to enjoy it every day. I love this place. 

We had a cool experience this week teaching the Restoration. I was on an exchange with Elder Cox, my District Leader, and we were visiting a family of Venezuelans that we had found a week earlier. They are all really interested in our message and always have great questions. Even though Elder Cox and I are both gringos who don´t speak the greatest Spanish, this lesson felt like one of the best I have taught since coming to Ecuador. I didn´t stumble over my words, I was able to understand everything clearly, and Elder Cox and I went back and forth really well. The Spirit was really strong and I could tell that something had changed in the minds of this family. I don't know what will happen with them, but this experience was a testament to me that the Gift of Tongues isn´t just for the people speaking, it´s also for the people listening. I love this work, it´s the greatest thing I have ever been a part of. 

WELL, unfortunately that is all I have to share today. Thank you to all my friends and family who email me, I always love it. Be a blessing in someone else´s life this week. 

Love and miss you all!!

Elder Spangler