E Tu Brute?

HEYO FOLKS IT'S YOUR FAVORITE MISSIONARY, ELDER SPANGLER.

This week was a grind, we had to really push through it. We hit some lows and we hit some highs, but overall it was a good, successful week. 

Since we can't go out and eat meals with the members, they have taken it upon themselves to make food for us and have us pick it up or they drop it off. We called the member that had told us she was going to bring us food to ask when we could expect it, and she had forgotten so she just told us to go pick up the Little Caesars she had ordered for us. We got to the store and she had ordered us 4 boxes and 2 containers of chicken wings, for 4 missionaries. Literally a pizza per missionary. Needless to say, I've eaten pizza for lunch for the past 3 days, it's been wonderful. We also had a member call us and ask, "hey what are your in-n-out orders,"  then showed up and dropped it off for our lunch one day.  For some reason it tastes so much better when it's free.  Don't worry though, I am eating real and healthy food every day. 

I had to take a driver's test this week. I  passed with flying colors, so I am now legal to operate a mission owned vehicle. Too bad we don't have one registered to our companionship ):

We finally found some people to teach!  One of the people that I baptized in Ecuador,  Reynaldo, messaged me and said that he has some friends that are going through a rough time and that he had been sharing the gospel with them.  He was asking for some advice and so I gave him a few tips, then suggested that we do a video call.  He thought it was a great idea, so we set up a call and were able to teach a family of 5 that I had actually met once while I was in Ecuador!  Since there are no missionaries serving in that area right now, we have permission to work with them until there are full time missionaries again.  It was an awesome miracle and I was stoked to hear that the people I taught in Ecuador are sharing the gospel. 

I found an awesome quote this week from a BYU devotional.  It says, "Our perfect Father does not expect us to be perfect children yet.  He had only one such Child.  Meanwhile, therefore, sometimes with smudges on our cheeks, dirt on our hands, and shoes untied, stammeringly but smilingly we present God with a dandelion—as if it were an orchid or a rose!  If for now the dandelion is the best we have to offer, He receives it, knowing what we may later place on the altar.  It is good to remember how young we are spiritually."  I love this quote because sometimes as a missionary I feel like I need to be perfect or that my offer or work isn't good enough, but this reminds me that God still loves and accepts all that I do, He just wants me to do my best.  So that's a little reminder for all of you, just do your best.

I totally forgot to add pictures last week, so I got some goodies for you all this week. 

Love and miss all of you, have a splendid Memorial Day! 

Elder Spangler

A Love/Hate with Facebook

Hola a todas las damas y caballeros, 

This week has been pretty great, still stuck in the house and only leaving every once in a while, but we're doing good! 

We're still grinding on Facebook. Every day I add random people and wait for them to add me back. Most of the time maybe 1/2 of the people will add me back, but then when I message, most people won't respond or will just open the message and ignore me. I've set up a few lessons through it, but they never answered our calls. It's okay though, we have faith! 

Because we haven't had much success with finding new people, we're really just trying to call members. We've had some really good lessons. We had one the other day with a young family that started off a little rough. Their kids were going wild and we weren't getting a lot of involvement, so we were floundering. I then thought, "speak in English, and single the kids out." We had been teaching in spanish but it wasn't working, so I switched and then asked all the kids a specific question. They all responded and I got them on track and then Elder Phillips came in swinging with a beautiful analogy about churros that just really tied it off. It ended up great and we got a solid relationship established. I'm grateful that the spirit brought to my remembrance all the skills I had learned in the day care I worked in for almost 2 years, they sure came in handy. 

Some members have been dropping food off for us for dinner every few days, but on Friday there was a mixup and we got two huge dinners delivered to us. We knew there was no way we were gonna be able to finish it all. So we decided to drop one of them off for someone we were teaching who is a struggling financially. We went to the apartment and dropped it off, ding dong ditch style, then texted him later to make sure he got it. Apparently we dropped it off at the wrong door. We were quite disappointed, to say the least. Next time though. 

I got permission from my mission president to call people from Ecuador so I did that this week! It was great to talk to them, I had missed them all.  

My companion, Elder Phillips, is a real hoot. Most of the time he isn't really trying to be funny but he'll say something and we'll all crack up. Here are some quotes. 

"Hey I remember Elder ___, he made me egg."

"Well that was a bad idea." *walks to kitchen sink with an index card on fire in his hand*

I don't remember more which is sad, but I'm having a great time with him. We're pretty different, interest wise, but we're both out here just trying to serve the Lord and help people come unto Christ, so we really aren't that different. 

That's about it this week, thanks to all who have written me! Miss all of you, please update me about your lives! 

Con amor,

Elder Spangler 

Long Beach Party

HELLO TO ALL!!

Wow, it feels great to be back, I have really missed this. 

Okay so UPDATE TIME. California is awesome, I love it here. On Tuesday my flight landed and I met up with some other missionaries and the Mission President's wife, and we went to a church building to get everything set up. We had a few little interviews and orientation, and then received our companions. My companion is Elder Phillips, he's awesome! He's from Virginia and has been out about 8 months. We are serving in the Ximeno Spanish Branch in Long Beach, so I still get to speak Spanish! We share the ward with Elder Anderson and Elder Barlow, whom we also live with. They're great guys. I'm really happy and really excited to be here, this is going to be so much fun. 

I will be honest, the first day here was pretty hard for me. I was missing Ecuador and my mission President and the missionaries and the people I was teaching and I couldn't help but compare everything I was experiencing here to the experiences I had had in Ecuador. I was laying in my bed thinking and a clear thought came to me. It was "You had those experiences and they were great and special. You're here now, so use those experiences to learn, grow, and be better. Create those same memories here."  That brought me a lot of peace, I felt as though Heavenly Father was thanking me for what I had done in Ecuador and that He is now asking me to do the same here in California. I'm excited to give my all. 

So as far as the work goes, it's very different from what I was doing in Ecuador. We spend a lot of time on Facebook trying to find Latinos that live in Long Beach, and when we find one, we 'friend' them and message them and try to start a gospel conversation. It's hard haha. We also have been calling all the members and leaders of the branch to get to know them and figure out how we can best help. Elder Phillips and I are both new to this area, so we don't know anyone. It's also a new area, so there aren't any people that were previously being taught. We're getting some traction going though so were hoping to see some progress this week. 

We went to the church the other day to use wifi for a zone Zoom meeting and I found a live mouse in the trashcan. It was gross. We dumped it outside, I hope it didn't get back in. 

The power went out the other day when I was trying to make cornbread so I couldn't use the oven and had to put the batter in the fridge and wait till the next day. We got our cornbread though. 

I have decided to do a much more in depth study of the missionary training manual, Preach My Gospel. I was reading the other day and read a line that simply said, "Honor Christ's name by your actions."  I love this. It's easy to be casual sometimes in our worship or in keeping the commandments, but if we remember Christ in all that we do, we are not going to be casual, we will do our very best. 

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

Elder Spangler

California Anaheim Mission

Saying good-bye again was hard!  But it helped knowing we would be together again in just 9 short months.  Davis was so ready to get back out and finish his service as a full-time missionary.  His new Mission President, Pres. Golden, set him apart once he arrived in Anaheim.  

 

I'M BACK

Hello everyone! 

Elder Spangler is back after a 6 week break!  I’ve enjoyed my time here in Maryland with my family and got to do some really fun stuff, but I am STOKED to go back to the mission field.  Tomorrow I report to the California Anaheim Mission and will be a missionary again!!  Finally! 

I don’t know if I’ll go back to Ecuador because the situation with COVID-19 is pretty bad out there, but I’m praying that I’ll get a chance to go back to end my mission. 

I was reading a talk from President Monson today called, “Missionary Memories” and there was a quote that really stuck out to me.  He said, “I add my personal witness: Our missionaries are not salesmen with wares to peddle; rather, they are servants of the Most High God, with testimonies to bear, truths to teach, and souls to save.”

I love this quote because it reminds me that I’m not going to be in California trying to sell something, I’m going to be there to save souls. That’s our purpose as missionaries. 

I’ll be back next week with a big ol’ update about California and everything that happens! 

Love you all! 

Davis Spangler

(I’ll be Elder Spangler again tomorrow) 

Quick visit to DC!

Living in Maryland meant we only lived 30 miles from DC.  We decided that Davis needed to explore that great city before he went back out.  We had so much fun.