It's the Simple but Powerful

Hello to family, friends and whoever is reading. How is Miss Universe? :) I am technically pretty close to where it is happening, but of course I couldn't go. Oh well I'll find out who won later :). Can you all believe it's already January 30th? Time flies!

So this week there were a couple of struggles, but it is the simple and powerful things that made me love the experience this week. One of the harder parts of this week is one day it rained without end. I ended up getting cold actually and we were soaked for the whole day. We didn't let rain stop us though. It can be hard to go out like that but that can't be a reason to stop. 

The next day, we traveled to so many of the far areas we had. We had 11 lessons planned. Almost every person we tried to go to, they either were busy or weren't there at all. On one of the far areas we took a shortcut back, but it was really muddy, especially after the rain. My pants, shoes and socks turned brown that day, and by the end of that day we only ended up having 1 lesson out of the 11. What I am grateful for is that didn't get us down. 

I have already come to know that there are good days and bad days and that's a part of life in general. Elder Andon and I just laughed it off. I liked what he told me when he said, "It's alright, the Lord knows we worked, even if we have nothing to show." 

This Tuesday 3 zones got to travel to Appari to have a zone conference. Sometimes meetings can be dreadful, after all the conference goes from 9 AM to 4 PM. But I actually have come to love them. President Andrada gave most of the talks, but the AP's and Sister Andrada talked too. President Andrada talked about how important scripture study is and how important the scriptures are in general. The AP's talked about how important it is to keep the lessons simple and clear. Sister Andrada talked about how we need to be barges (as in firm, tight and ready for everything.) All great talks and I learned a lot. 

One random thing I enjoyed was a quote by sister Andrada. She was talking about how she fellowshipped one time, and was talking to a non member mom with a member family. She told the non member mother how important it is for her to be a part of the church. The quote she used I really liked is "Mothers are the light of the house. The fathers may be the foundation or the 4 corners of the house, but without the mother there is no light." I really appreciated that quote and remembered how important it was to me that both of my parents built a solid foundation and gave light to my world.

Now towards the end we watched a video about Brigham Young's conversion into the church. In the story, Brigham was listening with his family to the gospel. After one man gave his talk, he asked a simple and shy man to bear his testimony. The man was not a public speaker, but when he spoke, it was simple yet very powerful. His testimony filled Brigham Young with the Spirit. I want to relate this to an experience this week. 

On Saturday I got our 2 progressing investigators to attend the baptism of the other companionships investigator. It was a great baptism and I am glad they were able to attend. Afterwards, 1 stayed a little longer Kat Kat, and she had to walk home alone. We had somewhere to go so we weren't able to walk with her. I knew though she was capable of taking care of herself. I didn't think much of it.

That Sunday, Kat Kat and Raja were able to attend church. We brought them to the YSA for 2nd hour and stayed with them. The YSA are pretty loud so every time I go there I am nervous that our investigators don't learn that much. It's hard even for me to focus a lot of the time there. Then towards the end someone asked Kat Kat to bear her testimony.

She then told us about an experience she had the night before, right after she left the baptism. On the way home it was really dark and while she was walking she noticed a man close to her. She knew that the man was watching her and following her from a distance. As she walked, she decided to pray to God for protection. After she finished praying, she felt as if the roads lighted up for her, and someone was with her protecting her from danger. After she finished she started crying.

At the time she bore her testimony, it was really loud because the YSA were distracted and she was speaking Ilocano. I tried to focus in so hard, and even though I didn't understand, when I focused I could feel the power of her testimony. We talked to her afterwards and had her tell us the story in Tagalog so we figured out what she said. So even with loud people, a different language and all, I felt the Spirit so strong coming from her. I love seeing how much she has grown in the gospel. This experience was worth all the other hard experiences. Really what I have learned is that some of the most powerful things can be so simple. Other people may not have noticed the power of her testimony, but I did and I am so happy to know she will be baptized soon.

Sometimes so many things in life can distract from the important, or sometimes we all have hard times. But if we really focus on the important, even when there is a lot of bad things around, there are good things to find which even if they are small, they are the most powerful. 

I hope you all had a good week again, make sure to always focus on the important! 

Elder Espiritu

**You can email Elder Espiritu at joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net

The sisters and I

The taller Elders in my zone

The Gonzaga zone

Sister Arcayan and I (Both of our Dads served in the Philippines Baguio mission!)

Raja, KatKat, Mary Joy and I at the church

Elder Mortenson, the Pajarillo family and I 

The Flores family and I 

Loving Where I Serve

Hello to my family, friends and whoever may be reading this! It was another great week. Nothing super special, but a great week nonetheless. 

Elder Andon and I are continuing to find new areas and sometimes they're far, but they are fun to go to. The only problem is now I feel like we have no time to go to the investigators in the farther area! On Saturday we had so many investigators who wanted us to go to them but we had no time. It's a problem I would prefer to have, so I am happy, and I know we will be able to get to them another day.

It still amazes me how nice the people are here. We went to one of the far areas and we wanted to get back fast to our other area so we could teach our other appointments. We found these 2 nice women who were sisters. We asked them the fastest way back and they showed us the way, and came with us until we were at our other area! It was a fun little trip with them and had a couple of hanging bridges, so it felt like an adventure. I love how nice the people are here. 

Another nice fellow came with us this last Wednesday. He saw us at the market one day and asked if he could fellowship with us. He is from a different area in the Philippines and is doing research here. He fellowshipped with the other companionship here first and then us the next day. 

I admire his work ethic. He was the one who wanted us to go to a farther area so we did. His teaching skills are great. After his school he wants to serve. I know he will be great. He told us while we were walking that he really wanted to speak in our sacrament meeting, and he hasn't been able to speak for 3 months! I really admire that. I am not the one to beg for a talk in sacrament. 

You can be a strong teacher without having to be a missionary. There are a lot of those people here. The fellowshippers who come with us help us so much.

I am grateful that I have come to a point with some of my investigators where I am so comfortable around them I can be myself. We have been teaching a 13 year old girl for awhile and even though I can't say everything I want to them, I am comfortable enough where it's not as big of a deal to me. But she is fun to be around even though she is a slow learner. Hopefully she is going to be baptized soon. 

Same with another 17 year old girl we have been teaching. If she goes to church every week she will be able to be baptized at the end of this transfer! I really hope so, because Elder Daclag and I found her before he left, and we have actually become great friends. We are able to mess around when talking to her, and still be able to teach her when it's serious. She teaches me Ilocano sometimes, and other phrases that I would need to know. 

I am grateful I am getting a good relationship with a lot of my investigators. The first thing you need to do when teaching an investigator is build a relationship of trust. I am happy to say that is true with a lot of them, even though the language is still hard. 

I'm sure I say this every week, but, I love the people here, the members, investigators, and all. They are all so friendly, and it makes me sad to think that there is a possibility I could be transferring. A big part of the mission is to love the people, and  I love all of them. I love how much I can be myself around them. One of my favorite parts of the culture here is how nice everyone is. Fellowshipping with them on Sundays is a blast, while we still get a lot of work done. 

There are days and weeks when it feels like this mission is hard, and there are days where I love being here so much. Many days this week I loved it here. I love this mission so much and I am proud to say I am serving here. 

In the few months I have been here I feel like a lot of things have helped me grow as a missionary and person. The hard times and the fun times both help me become a better person. I know that serving a mission is what I should be doing, and I am loving what I do. I still miss all of you, and hope if you ever have the time, write me back! Love you all! Hope everyone had a good week! I hope the snow’s not too bad in Utah! :)

Elder Espiritu

**You can email Elder Espiritu at joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net

A hanging bridge some nice ladies showed us to

Coagulated pigs blood 

Normita and Benson, 2 members who always fellowship with us in Ariodowen

Life's More Fun When You Work

You know you've had fun this week when one day you were riding a carabao while your companion was gathering coconuts from a tree. Random fact for the week: I got electrocuted by an electric fan. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

Anyways, Elder Andon continues to try to find new areas for us to teach in. One day we tried to go to a far area, but it turns out there was no transportation there and the only way was very expensive. So we decided to walk to a new little area with a fellowshipper. It was one of the farther areas, but not the farthest. 

We found a couple of nice people and taught them. We also asked this one lady if she wanted help with trimming a bush but I guess she thought we were making fun of her, so she said something in Ilocano and shooed us off. We were really confused cause we didn't know what we did. Our fellowshipper had to tell us. 

We did so much walking that day, my calves were so sore by the time the day was only halfway over! I was happy that day even though my legs were extremely tired. I know that sore legs are a small sacrifice to be able to share the gospel with other people. 

I had another exchange with our district leader Elder Pongyan this week. He is a good district leader, and always checks up on each companionship. I appreciate what he does. Although we didn't get many lessons done, we still had a lot of fun. 

One of the lessons we didn't realize that we were used to different styles of teaching, so it was a little more rough. We ended up just laughing it off. At the end of the day, he complimented me, and told me my Tagalog was way better than the last time he had an exchange with me a month ago. That really helped me, because I felt like I have been struggling with the language a bit. There are a lot of up and down days to be completely honest. 

District meeting was enjoyable. Elder Pongyan gave a lesson and his teaching skills are really good. What was fun though was when we did practice teaching. We were paired up with Elder Solis and Elder Motley. Elder Motley is another American in our zone so it's nice to see a perspective of another American. 

They pretended to be a less active with a problem with coffee. They definitely didn't make it easy for us to teach them. It was a struggle for me. I felt like my Tagalog was off that day, but it was fun and he showed us how he would teach it. 

After we all went to a place to eat and I talked with Elder Motley for awhile. He told me one day that the language isn't even going to be a barrier, which I am excited for. We also ended up talking about how much we loved Elder Daclag, because he was companions with him too. He told me Elder Daclag was one of his favorites. I do miss that guy. 

One of the days we did a ton of work, more than I have ever done. I realized how much fun it is when you work. It's very tiring, but it's super fun. We taught a lot of less actives, a recent convert, an investigator and a couple of members. One less active gave us a referral. It was a 19 year old girl. Elder Andon taught a good part of it and when I started to speak to her she started laughing. I was really confused and I thought I said a lot of things wrong. Turns out, she thought I actually was Filipino, and it threw her off when my accent was weird. That's a first. 

It's a little harder to teach when the person you're teaching doesn't even know the key word. We taught a recent convert who is 13, and it was about not murmuring. The only problem, is the only word she didn't understand in the scriptures was murmur. We couldn't figure out how to explain, so that was a lesson of growth for everyone. We just laughed it off. It was funny to try to figure it out. 

We have been helping a girl in our area prepare for a mission, so we do practice teaching with her. It's fun to do it, because I don't feel like the "greenie" anymore. She get's scared to do it, which is alright. I can understand where she's coming from. She's actually a pretty good teacher. 

I enjoy having fellowshippers with us. They are important in this work. They can add a lot of things to the lesson that we as missionaries can't do. We are only part time here, but they can be full time. I say this a lot but I have come to enjoy the members here.
  
I'm grateful for all the experiences here, good and bad. There are always hard and bad times in life, but when you look back at your life, you remember the good a lot more. I still will remember the bad, but I know through the bad I grew the most.

Hope that everyone is having a great time in their life, and even when we have bad times, those are when we can grow the most. Love you all! Keep writing me if you ever have time!

Elder Espiritu

**You can email Elder Espiritu at joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net

Sometimes a ride on a carabao is all you need in life

A hanging bridge in Aridowen

Love the People Always!

I enjoyed this week, and am glad for everything that happened! 

Elder Andon has wanted to go to different areas that I haven't been before. So Elder Andon and I explored some new areas that were really pretty. The problem though was it was a little far and the houses are spaced out. I am really excited to be able to explore more of the areas though! 

I realized my area is a lot bigger than I thought! We went to Aridoen last Tuesday which is about an hour walk. That area is actually where most of the members are, but there are a lot of less actives. We brought Benson with us to fellowship so he could show us the area. We went to a couple of members, less actives, and a couple more members joined us to fellowship. I kept talking to the people I was fellowshipping so I could learn more Tagalog and Ilocano. 

After we were done there we got a ride back by the Domingo family, straight into a birthday party for Nanay Genoveva. She turned 72 this week! (Interesting thing is she is actually one of the younger Lolas in our branch) It was a little fun party at her house, and she bought some cake! It's nice to have cake, just because the Filipino desserts are different from American. 

I love the people in this area so much. During the first couple cycles Elder Daclag always told me to stay longer after church and talk to the members to build trust and relationship. I wasn't very good at it at the beginning. Now being here for more than 3 months, I have really started to gain their trust. The kids here have started to like me a lot too. 

Last Sunday after church they hooked there arms on to mine and I swung them around. They kept asking me to do it over and over again, so I ended up doing it for 30 minutes. I love the kids here. I love the YSA too. They fellowship with us every Sunday. I went on splits with them and I was able to hold my ground too when talking to the less actives, members and investigators! If I didn't know a word I could ask them and they would tell me.

I enjoy the older members too. They are all super nice. Although sometimes they are harder to understand just because they know more of the language. I just smile anyways. 

One day we saw a pretty old member, Tatay Miguel. He is really strong in the church and he loves it. He always comes even though he is pretty far, and tries to always look his best. While I was talking to him, he told me he liked the hat I bought earlier this week. So I gave it to him. After that he told me he's really been wanting a long sleeve to wear to church. He's really been hoping to get one. So I decided to give him one of mine. It was pretty big on him, and I told him that, but he loved it. He really appreciated the shirt. 

Elder Mortenson also had pants made here, but they didn't fit him very well, so he also gave it to Tatay. Now Tatay is going to be one of the most stylish members!  

I learned that best way I can talk to people here is to ask them about the language. Elder Andon is really good at talking to people, (he has been here for a lot longer than me). Sometimes I am just quiet and listen because I don't know what to say. But we were at an investigator’s house waiting for her daughter, so I decided to just ask for more Ilocano words and phrases, and Tagalog too. I ended up learning a couple of fun wacky phrases, and a couple of insults. 

I talked to them about how they feel about the different languages here too. Once our investigator Kat Kat came back, she joined in and started giving me more phrases and words. It was a lot of fun and we laughed a lot. Especially right now it's hard to find a way to talk to them, but for me, asking them for words is the best way. They always get excited to teach me and I end up learning more of the language!  

We had another Zone meeting which happens once a month, and my new zone is pretty cool! Our zone leaders are pretty nice too, one of them was the old AP, and one is a new zone leader who is from New Zealand. He's a little quiet, but that's alright. He's good. We also had 2 Sister Training leaders give us a training too. I always find it funny how the Sisters always make the presentation a lot more "colorful" than the Elders.

Elder Mortenson and Elder Monterroyo had a baptism this week! Her name is Angel and she just turned 13 this last December 23rd. She is a really nice hardworking girl. Her father is an alcoholic so she has to care of her family. She has 5 younger siblings, the youngest being 3. She has a really strong testimony of the gospel. She's really caring for everyone too. 

I was a little sick this week, and she noticed that I was really hot, so the next day I saw her, she had bought medicine for me and gave it to me! I am happy she was finally baptized. Elder Mortenson started teaching her during our first cycle here with Elder Taibeti. I admire a lot about her and am happy she is now a member!  

Part of being a missionary here is to love the people, and every week I come to love them more. Working with the members and teaching the non members makes me really happy. We laugh a lot and I love how happy everyone is here. I am grateful for all of them, and all of you who are reading this!

Hope everyone has a great week! 

Elder Espiritu

**You can email Elder Espiritu at joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net

Birthday party for Nanay Genoveva

Nanay Domingo and I

Elder Andon, Elder Solis, and 

Elder Pulvera in Gonzaga

The three sombereros

Vincent and I

Pictures from an area we explored this week

Mary Joy and I, a less active in our area

Benson and I

Pictures from Angel's baptism

Tatay Miguel, and the shirt and pants Elder Mortenson and I gave to him.

Justin and Vincent