Elder Joseph Espiritu: A New Life In Laoag

This week was quite a change, and quite different from the other weeks! After another 7 hour drive from Cagayan, I am arrived in Laoag on Monday night. The only difference between the other times, is this time, I am not going back to Cagayan. It's still a little rough to me. This is my first transfer.

Well we got to the apartment, which hadn't been cleaned basically for a year. So Tuesday, we ended up spending the whole day cleaning 2 apartments, just because the mission stopped paying for one of them, so 4 of the Laoag missionaries are now in the same apartment! I like all the people in my apartment.

First is my new companion Elder Salazar. He is a really nice Filipino from Aklan. He is 3 months from going home but still very hard working. We get along well so far! Next is Elder Pongyan, a Filipino who has been in the same zone as me since I got in the field! He is really funny and never runs out of puns. Last is another American missionary from San Francisco! He has been out for 14 months and is a really fun guy. My apartment is great.

Now, I can tell you that my change from province to city is quite fun. The province is very different from the city. So we have to open an area, because the last missionaries in our area weren't the best. Also the AP's misplaced our phone so we didn't have a phone. It's alright. We just did a lot of finding this week.

Back in Cagayan, the people are really nice, even if they didn't want to hear the gospel, they would just let you share it anyway. Here in the city, they are not afraid to say no. We asked one person if we could just get to know him and he said no. Another just shoed us off and told us they were not interested at all. They weren't very nice. A lot of people here are more busy and don't have time either.

I faced more rejection in this first week, than I ever did in Cagayan. It is hard I am not going to lie. I still struggle with it. But, I know that this is where God and my mission president wants me to be. Here, I know I am learning how to deal with different types of people. People have agency, so I am learning how to deal with rejection. Although it hurts, I know it will help me grow, and I continue to pray for this area.

Even though some of the people here are a little more rough around the edges, there are still always people to love. I was struggling the first couple days. We did have good lessons during them but I just never faced rejection before. However, we met one family that we are really close to, just from 2 days. The Nicolas family are really nice people, and they are really funny. To me it was refilling my soul and spirit, helping me out in this area!

Fun fact, our chapel is called the bantay chapel (bantay means mountain) and it's on the top of a hill with 87 steps to the top. The view there is great, and it's fun to go there. The members here are really nice, and I am still pretty shy with all of them. It was fun to meet them all and I know eventually I will better my relationship with them. The only problem is most of the members in our ward live in the area of the Sister missionaries in our ward. Slight problem, but that's okay. We definitely have work to do. I can still build a relationship with them. I remember my first cycle it was like this, so I know I can build trust again!

So to end, I am still adjusting to the city life. But the mission (and life in general) does have struggles, but they are there to make you grow, to make you stronger. I am also probably going to struggle that we have a bunch of fast food restaurants, malls, and so many shopping places, something I never had in Cagayan (Don't worry mom and dad, I am working on budgeting :) ).

The people here are still nice, even if they can be rude sometimes. I still love the people, and I still love them. I will still pray for them. I'm just going to keep working here and focus on the good! It really helps to always just focus on the good! It can help a lot even if there are trials in life.

Positivity and keeping a good mindset is always helpful. I still love it here! I will continue to preach the gospel! I know there are people waiting for it! Love you all! Miss you all too! Always stay true to the gospel and you will receive blessings!

Elder Espiritu

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