Elder Joseph Espiritu: We Are All Missionaries

I know it's a little late because it happened back on the 14th, but happy late Valentines! It was fun getting to spend it in the Philippines.

It wasn't too bad of a week for me. Of course there are a lot of challenges here that I don't think I mentioned last week. So first let me explain what my area is like.

It is Laoag, which is the biggest city in my mission, (but compared to the US it's not much) but the people here have a lot more they need to do and some aren't afraid to say no. So now, I am learning to better face rejection. You got those people who will just say I don't have time for you, or they don't want to change what religion they are, and then you have the people who pretend they're not home. I'm sure they are all nice people, just not ready for the gospel. So I did face rejection, but it's just a couple of painful moments, but nothing I can't get over. I'm trying to learn to toughen up a little more, so this is helping.

So aside from the different people here, our area is starting from the bottom, as in we have nothing to work off of. So Elder Salazar and I both started here. As we checked the area book, the last time it was updated was in 2015. On top of that, all the active members are in the Sister’s area. So a couple of problems, but it's alright.

Aside from all the little problems, we actually have found a couple of potential investigators. Of course there are meaner people, but you can't have bad without good so we have met a lot of nice people, who are really friendly. They all have a lot of potential, so I guess we can see how that goes!

Now this last Saturday, we had an amazing opportunity: which was the first time an Apostle has ever visited the Laoag area. Elder David A. Bednar came and visited. All the missionaries from the mission gathered in the stake center of Laoag to listen to him. It was a great meeting. It wasn't him just talking either. What he did was asked what we learned from talks he assigned us to read, and build off of that. He wanted the Spirit to be the one guiding the meeting, so that's what we did. After we talked about the talks, we basically did more of a question and answer. It was very edifying for everyone.

What I really learned the most is how he told us we need to act on our faith and not be acted upon. If we want something, we need to do it ourselves. He called it being an agent, and not an object. You can have faith doing something, but you have to act and use that faith. It was a great 3 hours and I really enjoyed it with the whole mission. After that all the missionaries had to go straight back to their areas, which was lucky for me this time, because I am in Laoag.

That Sunday, all of the saints of Laoag stake gathered to listen to Elder Bednar. I didn't realize how many members there are, there are a good amount.

Elder Bednar first talked to the nonmembers, and explained what the title of our church meant, some false doctrines people teach and explained some other basic doctrine. After that, he spoke to the members. It wasn't a chastisement, but it was very stern, when he told everyone that the missionaries aren't the full time missionaries. The church has been trying to really stress that the members are the full time missionaries, and the missionaries are the full time teachers. If the members helped more to find and did missionary work, the church could build so much faster. He really pushed to say how important it is to know that we all need to be missionaries, wherever we are. So hopefully after that meeting, we will have a lot more referrals! :)

So I am going to end this email with a challenge for you all. My challenge now to all of you reading this is, be a full time missionary! The missionaries of course will teach but you can really help in the work of Zion. I know with the help of the members, this church can grow so much.

People may not accept our invitations, but something else Elder Bednar said that I really liked is if we are living the gospel right, there are going to be challenges. If you're doing the right things, there will always be opposition. So we are all missionaries, and we all need to share the gospel.

I hope you all accept my challenge, but it's up to you to act. Love and miss you all! Be the person God wants you to be!

Elder Espiritu

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