Una Zona de Milagros

HEYO,

How is everyone?  I am doing super good.  I am here in Quito in the rain and the cold and with lots of hills and I LOVE IT.  Our ward here is called Mariscal and we are seeing some amazing miracles right now, it's the best. The members love to help us and are all super willing, so it's been really helpful.

My new companion, Elder Chaparro, is super awesome.  He's a really good teacher, super funny and we get along great.  He also plays the ukulele, a lot better than I do, so we have ukulele jam sessions every night.  It's a blast. 

Second, when I got here, we had 10 people who have a baptismal date. For those of you who haven't served a mission, that's a lot of people.  We had interviews with 6 of them this past Sunday and they all passed with flying colors.  This next Saturday they'll all get baptized and I'm so stoked.  There is a family of 5; 2 parents and their 3 daughters, then a man from Venezuela.  We also have 4 other kids with date and every time we visit them I feel like I'm back at the daycare that I worked at before the mission, it's so much fun.  I'm really happy to be here. 

I ate pears that tasted like sunblock this week.

We're in the middle of a huge holiday right now called Carnaval. It's basically an excuse to go crazy in the streets and throw water balloons and eggs and cream and rotten fruit at all everyone. It's a grand ol' time.  We've been attacked in a few hit and runs with this foam stuff that looks like shaving cream but comes out like silly string, but no harm done, it dries like water. 

I forgot my journal again, so that's all for this week. 

We went to a huge, super old, Catholic church for P-Day today, it was sweet.  I took some awesome pictures. 

Love and miss you all!!

Elder Spangler

BYE-BYE BANOS

HELLO EVERYONE!!

This week was so awesome, lots of exciting news. 

First, we had transfers and I will no longer be here in Baños.  I will be going to a zone called Chillogallo in the south of Quito, and I will serve with Elder Chaparro, a missionary from Venezuela. I will also be serving as Zone Leader.  I'm really going to miss Baños, but I'm super excited for these new opportunities to learn and grow.  Elder Gutierrez will also be leaving Baños to go to Quito, and we are going to close our area.  Now there will only be 2 missionaries here in Baños instead of 4.  I've loved my time here and I've learned so much, I was definitely sent here for a reason. 

We had a baptism this week!  Anthony got baptized and confirmed as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, it was so awesome.  He bore his testimony after and said that before the baptism started, he just wanted to skip all the program and get in the water so he could be a member faster.  I loved that.  I also did another special musical number and Elder Gutierrez told me that almost everyone in the room was recording.  Talk about nerves.  It all turned out great though, we were super happy. 

Some funny stories: 

There is a member here who has a little farm in the mountains, so on Wednesday we went up with him and picked a bunch of blackberries. He also raises fighting roosters, which is a popular sport here. He let one of them loose on us and I literally had a life or death battle with a giant, angry rooster.  It was absolutely terrifying.  I had to shove my boot in it's face like 6 times as it just charged itself at me and as the other missionaries and the member stood to the side and just laughed at me.  I imagine it was a pretty funny scene though so I'm not upset about it. 

We went contacting and a lady told us that if we wanted to be saved, we had to learn to speak Hebrew.  She then proceeded to pull out her little practice book and taught us some Hebrew.  I don't remember any of it haha. 

On the same day, we knocked on a door and a man took his time to look through his window, walk down the driveway, and then cuss at us in English.  It was a first for me.  We found some people that accepted us later in the day, so it all turned out good. 

That's all I've got for this week, love and miss you all!

Elder Spangler

I'M A YEAR OLD

HOLA A TODOS MIS AMIGOS FAMILIARES

This week was incredible because I am an incredible missionary. Just kidding, it's all Heavenly Father, I'm just a little tool in his hands. But this week was actually really, really good. 

First, we talked to Antony's dad. Actually, we didn't even say anything. He got to the house and we were waiting for him and he just said, "Antony told me that he wants to get baptized, he knows right from wrong and if this is the choice he wants to make, it's fine by me and I'll support him." We were so stoked, literally the coolest miracle ever. His baptism is set for this Saturday, he's super ready and we're really excited for him. 

We also met with Rafael after a while and we showed him the Book of Mormon video about the tree of life. He thought it was really interesting and when we explained that the Iron Rod is the Word of God, it all clicked. He said in all his 2 years of talking with the missionaries, he has never prayed to ask if the Book of Mormon was true. He told us he now feels ready to do it, so we're going to meet with him tomorrow to see how it goes. Please pray for him!

We were contacting one day and we saw some jovenes (young kids) skating. Elder Gutierrez skated back home, so he was like, "Let's go contact them, I want to try their board." We went over and talked with them and then Elder Gutierrez asked to try a trick. He jumped off three steps, landed badly, and completely ripped his pants all along the crotch. I was laughing so hard. The jovenes were pals, but they didn't want a visit. It was a good contact though. 

We invited 10 people to baptism this week, it was sweet. Almost all of them were in the first lesson, and almost all of them said yes. We didn't put a date, but we at least know that they're open to it. I love this work haha.

I found a really cool chapter in the Book of Mormon this week. It's a chapter I've read a bunch of times, but this time I actually studied it. It's 2nd Nephi, chapter 5. Verse 27 says, "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness."  After reading this verse, I wanted to know WHY they were happy, so I went through and read again, and I found 9 reasons, 9 things they did, that showed why they were happy. I invite you all to study that chapter this week and finds some things that you can do to be happier.

Welp, that's all for this week. Photo time. 

Love and miss you all!!

Elder Spangler

I Love Being A Missionary

BUUUUUUENAS A TODOS

This week was great, lots of great lessons, lots of great miracles, and lots of other really good stuff. 

Some updates on the people we're teaching;

Jorge: We haven't been able to find him at home, but his kids are always there. We're going to keep working with them. 

Antony: He's a stud. His answers to our questions are always killer and he has come to church the past two weeks. We still have to talk to his Dad though. 

Dominica: She also always has really good answers and our lessons with her are a lot of fun. She's also been to church the last two weeks and she's helping her Mom come back too, it's awesome. 

We have a few more people that are doing well but they haven't come to church yet, so this week we're going to focus on that. Please keep everyone in your prayers!

This week I played my ukulele in almost every spare second that I had, it's so much fun. I can already play a ton of songs, and on Saturday I even performed a special musical number in a baptism that the other elders here in Baños had. Me and an 11 year old singing legend, a kid named Bruce, sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" while I played the ukulele. I sang the first verse solo, we sang the second two together, and he sang the last verse solo. The first time in my entire life that I have ever sung solo in front of anyone, and it turned out really well. At least that's what the people told me haha. It was a cool experience though, 10/10 would do again. 

I read a really cool scripture this week that really spoke to me. It's found in the Book of Mormon, in 1st Nephi 20, verse 18. It says, " O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments—then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea."  It's kind of a random scripture, but the analogies really hit me. It says if we keep the commandments we will have peace like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea. If we think a little bit deeper, the meaning becomes clearer. A river is something that is always running, always flowing. It doesn't matter if there are rocks or logs, or obstacles in the path, it just keeps flowing. Waves of the sea are similar. They are a powerful force that shape landscapes and are always present, and they don't stop for obstacles either. If we keep the commandments, we have non-stop flowing peace, no matter the obstacles that come. If we keep the commandments, we will feel a spirit of righteousness in our lives, one that changes the lives of others and keeps us firm in our faith. Keeping the commandments is key. If we can do the little things every day, the Lord promises us eternal peace and unwavering righteousness, plus so many other things. Remember to do the little things this week.

Welp, that's all I got for y'all, hope you all have a wonderful next 7 days and that you all enjoy the spirit that you can feel as you do the little things. 

Love and miss you all!!!

Elder Spangler