One day this week I got to have an exchange with my Zone Leader Elder Anderson. Elder Anderson is an American from St. George Utah, and has a lot of knowledge of the gospel. He's really smart. He decided to take me to this one investigator over in Lapaz named Arnel.
Arnel is a Filipino who lived in Virginia for a long time so he speaks English very well. His backstory is he moved to America when he was a teenager. He had a girl he loved before he left and managed to have a long distance relationship with her for 15 years. Finally he moved back and married her. 8 months after their marriage, she died. He was mad at God after that and we are worried that after these 9 years he still hasn't been able to move on.
It was quite a great experience with him. It was really nice to be able to teach a full lesson in English to him. We ended up teaching him for a long time about multiple subjects. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation with him and many different things. Most of what we talked about was how we need to seek learning by faith, and talked to him a lot about what Elder Bednar talked about.
We likened it unto the seed and working out. For working out, you can't just believe you can get bigger, you have to act. Not only do you have to act, you have to make sure you're lifting the weight right. When you do, you will have a feeling that what you did was right. This is how it can happen with knowing the church is true. You just have to act.
After a long time of teaching him that, we hope he will be able to act in the faith that he already has. I am excited to see what happens to him. He has been investigating for quite a while. It was a great experience going with another American and learning about what he did on the mission, and I admire all the knowledge he has.
Elder Anderson and I talked about gospel topics for quite a while that day, and there are now lots of books I want to study. For now, I am going to start with Jesus the Christ. It is a little bit of a struggle for me because it is over 700 pages and written in older context, but so far I enjoy it and plan to finish it eventually. Gaining a knowledge for myself is really going to help me out on the mission and in the long run. I have a lot to read, so I plan to keep reading these things after my mission.
So now to my area. We actually had lots of good experiences this week, even the hardships. We decided to try to find one morning door to door. At first, it was one of the most brutal and slightly discouraging moments. For an hour we went door to door, and every single house we went to was straight up rejection. I wasn't very happy at the time and almost wanted to just stop. But you can't have good without the bad.
After quite some time we finally found a potential investigator. We happily taught and they accepted a return appointment. Soon after that, we found a lot of potential investigators and past investigators. The Lord does help us in our work, and the more failure you have, the more success you are capable of having. We extended a couple of baptismal dates to these people, and I am excited to see them progress!
It also is hard for our area, because a lot of the investigators that we want to teach say they can't make it. A lot of them don't have time on Sunday morning because they have to work and support their family. We talked to the Bishop and he told us it was a very logical reason for a lot of people. So now we are trying to figure out a solution, but really it's just a leap of faith that people need to take in order to have a better life. Sometimes we can't see what's ahead, but if we trust in the Lord He can help us through everything.
We had quite a few dinners this week which were really fun. At one of them there were 2 little girls hanging out at the house. They started talking to me and getting me to play with them. Sometimes I didn't notice but I was able to understand everything they said and say everything I need to say with them. Throughout the whole week I was paying attention to my language skills and I realized that my language skills are a lot better than I give myself credit for.
Sometimes I am a little harder on myself so sometimes it's a little more of a struggle. Of course I do struggle with lots and I still have so much to learn, but I realized I still have a pretty good knowledge. One thing that really amazed me was during a lesson with one investigator and the Bishop.
Just as a reminder, the 1st language here is Ilocano, and not Tagalog. So of course the Bishop will talk to our investigator in Ilocano. As I was listening, I realized that I actually understand a lot of Ilocano, and was able to keep up for the most part when they were both talking. I couldn't understand everything and I definitely can't really speak the language of Ilocano, but there is more that I know than I thought.
For Tagalog and Ilocano, I have gained a lot of understanding and just continuing to push myself to talk to people in order to speak better. Gotta keep getting back up even if I stumble a lot on some days. With these experiences I realized how much the Gift of Tongues has blessed me in my life, and how God really is watching over me.
This area is starting to grow on me a lot, and I have enjoyed my time here so far. Every week I can find something new that I learned, and even though it can be difficult, that is just part of life. Life was never meant to be easy, and this time is to learn between right and wrong, and good and evil.
If we make the right choices, we will be blessed. The mission life is definitely not easy, but I know it's helping me a lot. Once again, to those of you who are reading this, thank you for your support! I am not sure exactly who does read, but if you do, thank you.
Until next week again, just keep pushing through!
Elder Espiritu
**You can email Elder Espiritu at joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net
Following in my Mom's footsteps
Snackin at a waiting shed with a less active member
Lots of fellowshippers from our ward: Kevin Bituen, Diane, Dela Rosa, Francis, Sister Persia, Sister Bagadiong, and RJ
Diane and her baby sister Riley (daughters of the Bishop)
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