Temporary release

Elder Spangler continued to live as a missionary for a few days until the church sent out an announcement On March 31st that the missionaries who were sent home to quarantine would be temporarily released.  It was a bittersweet day.  Our Stake President, Pres. Niumatalolo, released him over a video call.  Now, Davis would just enjoy time with family and await his reassignment. 

Home to Maryland for an 'intermission'.

 Elder Spangler returned home on March 28, 2020 due to COVID-19 for a 6 week period.  Our family had moved to Annapolis, Maryland while he was serving in Ecuador.  We were thrilled to have him home despite the sadness in seeing him have to leave a mission and country that he loved.  

So long, Farewell

Hey everyone!

This past week has been super uneventful. We built a ping pong table out of our desks, so that helped with the quarantine. Other than that, we played a lot of UNO, a lot of ukulele, studied a lot, and ate a lot of food. 

Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus, I will be finishing my time here in Ecuador and will be returning back to the United States to finish my mission. I don't know where I'll be reassigned, but I know that everything is going to turn out okay. In these past few days I have found a lot of peace in some sentences from my Patriarchal blessing that seem to be talking exactly about these events and this moment. I am so grateful for the inspired leaders and members of this church that are able to receive direction from the Lord in trying times such as these. Still don't have a ton of details, but I will be sure to keep you all updated when I can. 

I forgot my camera, so that's another let down. So sorry.

Love and miss you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!

Elder Spangler

Miracles amidst the Madness

HEYO!!

This week was absolutely insane, but we saw SO many miracles. 

So first, Elder Chaparro and I had to plan everything for our Zone Conference and it was the first time either of us had done it, but everything turned out great, so that was a big miracle for us. 

I've mentioned the 4 kids that had baptismal date for the 14th, or last Saturday. On Thursday night, we learned that we wouldn't be having Sacrament meetings until further notice, so we got really worried that we wouldn't be able to have the confirmation after the baptism. We called our Mission President, and he told us that we would have to move the baptism to a different date. We went and visited the kids and told them that they weren't going to get baptized on Saturday, and they were all heartbroken. They all cried (and so did Elder Chaparro and I). We talked to them about prayer and then all knelt in a circle and one of the girls offered a super sweet, heartfelt prayer that they would be able to get baptized on Saturday and that the virus wouldn't affect them. We left the house super sad, and then 30 minutes later, we got a call from the Assistants telling us that we could go ahead with the baptisms and then do the confirmations right after they got baptized. We were so excited and so happy because Heavenly Father answered our prayers. The next morning we went up and told them and they all got super happy and were jumping up and down and screaming and it was a beautiful moment. More on the baptism later.

Another cool miracle. We were on divisions and I was in my sector with Elder Perez. All of our lessons fell through, so we decided to visit some members. I paused on a street corner to think who it could be, and right then, a family popped into my head. It was a family I had never visited and had only talked with briefly at church. I almost ignored it and went to a different family, but thought better of it. We walked over to the house and knocked on the door, and the Hermana opened it and said, "Oh Elders! What a miracle, my husband is really sick and I need someone to give him a priesthood blessing, but I didn't know who to call. You came right when I needed you." We were able to give him the blessing he needed and share a brief message. I was so grateful I had followed that prompting and that the Lord guided us where we needed to go. 

On Saturday, Dylan, Anghela, Sabrina, and Britani all got baptized!  Because of the virus, only us, a member of the bishopric, the kids, and their families could come. They are four cousins, so they come from four different families, so we had like 30 people there, but it was awesome. I baptized Britani, Elder Chaparro baptized Dylan, and a member that's prepping to go on the mission baptized Anghela and Sabrina. It was so special and all four of them shared their testimonies and the spirit was so strong. It was an amazing miracle to have in the middle of all this chaos. The miracles are so worth the difficulties and problems, no doubt about that.

So the Coronavirus is getting kinda big in Ecuador, so the President decided to put the whole country in quarantine for the next three weeks, minimum. Elder Chaparro and I got some good stuff planned, I'll make sure to send a big ol' update when we are set free. We most likely won't be able to communicate until this calms down, so it might be a minute till you hear from me. 

Well, love and miss you all, stay safe and practice good hygiene!

Elder Spangler

Where is my kidney?

Hey everyone!! 

This week was super great with some awesome miracles and funny experiences. That's pretty much like every week out here in Quito, I'm thriving. 

Elder Chaparro has been experiencing kidney pain this week, and when they first started, we didn't know what the root was. We called the medical advisor and she told us that it was most likely his kidney, so we then guessed he probably will have kidney stones soon.  Not fun.  It's pretty funny though because we'll be walking out in the street, just talking, and out of nowhere my companion will just bend oven in pain and start laughing really hard, then he'll try to walk and he looks like a 90 year old man.  I love it. 

The four kids that we are teaching that I mentioned last week, are so awesome.  Yesterday we taught a lesson about the Law of Chastity to 9 children all under the age of 11, and let me tell you, that was not easy.  My respect for Primary teachers has increased so much.  They're awesome though, they know so much and are so excited to be baptized. 

This past week was rough for me in journaling so I don't remember much, so sorry.  I also took no pictures, so I can't even make up for it with that.  Next week will be better. 

Love and miss you all!!  Have a great week and smile more!

Elder Spangler

Baptisms and Barbies

HELLLLLLLLOOOOOOOO MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY

This week was one of the best weeks I've had on my mission, so many miracles and blessings and awesome experiences that I will never ever forget. 

First things first, La Familia Oña Chiquito and Reynardo all got baptized!  We spent all day Saturday prepping everything because we wanted to make sure it was a super special day for all 6 of them.  I was able to baptize the mom and dad, Teresa y Julio, and Elder Chaparro baptized Nicol, Alison, Melany, and Reynardo.  It was such a special day.  Baptisms can be kind of stressful because we always want everything to turn out great (I also had to play the piano and that always stresses me out), but when I saw them all there in the water, making promises with our Heavenly Father, all the stress went away and I just felt super peaceful and happy.  I love this work, it's the greatest ever. 

We also have 4 kids with baptismal date, they're all cousins.  They're getting baptized on the 14th, and yesterday in the fast and testimony meeting, two of them got up and stood in front of 160 people and talked about how excited they were for their baptism.  They both said my name perfectly too, so that made me really happy because most people here struggle with it.  They're awesome kids, I love visiting them. 

We met an old crazy guy in the street and he asked me if I spoke English, and when I said yes, he said, "YEAHHH, ME TOO," then proceeded to count to ten.  I then was about to congratulate him, but right when I opened my mouth, he just yelled, "SHUT UP," then started laughing his head off.  It was hilarious. 

We were visiting La Familia Oña Chiquito, and somehow the topic of Barbie came up.  My companion then said as a child, he saw a lot of Barbie movies because his older sister watched them all.  Little did he know that I had been in the same situation as a child, so I excitedly told him that it had been the same for me.  We then proceeded to list all the Barbie movies we had seen and how great they were, right there in front of the family.  We both had seen, Barbie: Island Princess, Barbie: Fairytopia, Barbie: Swan Lake, Barbie: Rapunzel, Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper, and maybe some other ones.  Kind of an embarrassing story and I honestly don't know why I'm sharing it with all of you, but I hope it makes you laugh. 

That's all for this week, make sure you're all saying your prayers and reading your scriptures!!

Love and miss you all!!

Elder Spangler