Sunday, June 25, 2017

The Busy Mission Life

Life is busy here in Claveria with many places to go, and things to do, lots of questions to answer and just helping others come to church. But it's all great. Oh random side note we did get to see a monkey here.

Not really anything too exciting about the monkey. It wasn't very nice to us. It was in a cage at an investigator’s house who we have been teaching but it just kinda sat around and stared at us. It tried to grab us a couple of times but he was just a little weird monkey. So that's my newest addition to things I've seen here.

As for the work out here, it's great. We have lots of places to go every day so it's keeping us really busy. We have 5 different areas that we go to which we switch off every day and have some investigators that are progressing in each area. We were happy to able to have 5 of our investigators go to church!

We were really working on getting these 3 girls from our farthest area to get to church. Sister Dae shin (13), Sister Mhaye (16) and Sister Jhesamin (14). They are all interested so we talked to one of our member friends who has a tricee and so he could pick them up. Turns out he is related to Dae Shin (but a pretty far relation). I was so happy to see Dae Shin finally come. She's been wanting to come since May but has always had something she had to do. We also visited her this last Wednesday on June 21st to wish here a happy birthday. She seems happy and I'm happy with the result.

Her cousin Mhaye is progressing more than I thought she would at first glance, but she is really smart. She actually reads all the lessons that we give her and she actually highlights them too! So hey now her pamphlets are colorful but she is doing very well with reading and praying. It was great to see her at church too. 

A couple of other good things happened to me. We visited one of our investigators one day and they gave me a little watermelon. I don't know why but it made me pretty happy. With another group of families (the Delos Santosfamily and Pedronan) they always feed us every time we are over. I'm usually not a fan of fish, but the fish they feed us is good. We've gotten close to them. 

On a more spiritual side of the work, it's really interesting to see sometimes how unaware I am of feeling the Spirit in my life as a missionary. Sometimes it just hits me and makes me feel really happy. I know I should be more aware but sometimes I forget the most important factor in what I do. 

This week reminded me when I was reading in Alma about Lamoni and Ammon. It was basically about missionary work and it just made me happy. I also read in True to the Faith about prayer, and it says after we finish praying we should wait for a little and just listen. That makes a difference and I am grateful for prayer. 

In the lessons too with one man who was asking a lot of questions, we all knew what we needed to say to answer his questions. I am thankful for the Spirit helping me remember what I studied. 

With another investigator (Jolina), we've taught the lesson of the Restoration to her a couple of times, and I have felt the Spirit so strong. I hope she did too, but I know it's her choice to bring the Spirit in. 

As missionaries we can only bring the message unto their heart, not into. It's up to them to accept it. I hope she does. She is a little shy but she's smart. We'll just have to see how it goes!

Every day I come home and I feel exhausted, but it's a good feeling to me because I feel physically and spiritually drained, which means I am doing my job. 

Elder Yranon and I are blessed with a really nice area, and we're working on doing our best every day! Things are going well! Hope it stays that way! Love you all! 

Elder Espiritu

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


Working in Mabnang


Partying with Dae Shin and Mhaye on Dae Shins birthday







Got them mini melons and machetes

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Birthdays and Such

Well I'm a little disappointed in myself because I freaked out when I held the spider and it crawled up my arm, but hey, my areas still great, and the members were really nice to me last Saturday and Sunday!So we're not sure what or how it happened, but lately we have seen a lot of bigger spiders in our apartment, but we mostly ignore them, because they help by eating all the cockroaches. 

On Tuesday we saw a pretty big one (about the size of your thumb and index finger extended) and my companion likes holding them. I'm usually not scared of spiders but the bigger ones kind of intimidate me. The other 3 started holding it and playing around so I decided I needed to too. Slightly nervous, I let it crawl onto my hand, and I lasted about 8 seconds. It was calm when it was on everyone else, but as soon as it was on me it reacted a lot faster and suddenly started crawling up my arm. So I swatted it off. But hey, I still held it, and for now we continue to find big spiders around our apartment and play around with them.

As for the work, it's still great and fun. The slight problem we have started to face is that several of our appointments have to be 5:30 PM or later, because most of them are school kids. We have to start going to switch off appointments so we're working that out! It's amazing to see how smart and willing to learn teenagers are ranging from 12 and up. 

We have some other adults we teach too but they also have work in the afternoon so we're working that out! It's still going great and it's always fun to teach. 

One really cool "ah ha" moment we had was when we were teaching a nice lady Sister Nelia and her daughter! As we were teaching about the Restoration of the Gospel we came to the subject of the Apostasy. We used the example of the Gospel as a big picture of Christ. When Christ returned to Heavenly Father and the Apostles were killed, the picture of Christ was shattered. So many good people took pieces of the picture and tried to duplicate it but no one could. 

When we taught that, Sister Nelia had an "ah ha" moment, and told us she finally understands why there are many churches! We then invited them to read and pray about it, and this week we will track their progress!

So fun little fact this last Saturday was my birthday, (just for the record 19 doesn't feel any different from 18 yet haha) and all I had planned for my birthday was just to have another normal day of work! So for my "birthday cake" I got a little cake bar (similar to a twinkie) and lit an candle, and that's all I had planned for my birthday. We headed to work, and it was pretty good work. We taught a lot of smart students and then in the afternoon visited a couple of other families! 

Turns out 3 of my favorite families (the Diza, the Pedronan - Sister Florida is a recent convert - and the Delos Santos family) planned to have a little party with food and such! I was a little surprised because we also were attending a baptism later around 5. 

So after the baptism (which was amazing and the Spirit felt when a little 9 year old was baptized was great and very powerful) we returned and they had some food and made a little card and a key chain ship with a bigger ship for me! I really love those families and it was great to feel like I had a family here on my birthday. 

I had another surprise on Sunday too. After church I was really hungry and we had a couple of meetings and were told to wait for another meeting. Suddenly they told us the other meeting was canceled and I didn't think anything of it. When we got home I noticed that our front gate was unlocked and was really confused why. Then I saw a little platter of food and a cake-ish thing with a poster was inside, and suddenly lots of our good member friends here came out and surprised me. I was really thankful and it was great to feel support from the people I've come to love!

So that was my adventure for this week, and next week hopefully will be just as fun! I mean it won't be my birthday again for awhile but we're just going to continue in the work of the Lord, and hopefully we'll keep finding more people to teach and helping people find the gospel of Jesus Christ! 

I love the mission with all the ups and the downs and I love the people here! Thanks for everyone else who supports me too back at home and I really appreciate it all! Till next week! 

Elder Espiritu

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


My only plan for my birthday


The district (plus a member)



A little party with the Delos santos and Pedronan family (plus one from the Diza and Alex)





The Pedronan, Diza and Delos Santos' 
little gift for me


The members' little surprise for me


Sunday, June 11, 2017

Can You Not Wait?

It's cool to see the effect of the gospel in people’s lives, no matter what age. It can also be cool to wake up at 4:20 and leave at 5 to go to a meeting, but all is well. Even though it started later than expected, all is well.

So fun little fact, I got to do my first baptismal interview as a District Leader for a little 9 year old named Claret. She is a part member who has 2 sisters that are already a member and one very active. As I was going through the interview I was quite impressed with what she knew and what she remembered. She wasn't too shy either and I know that if I was her age I would probably be pretty scared of an interview. But I found no reason to delay her baptism, and even though she still has a lot to learn, it's amazing to see what a 9 year old knows about the gospel! It's amazing. I know she will be happy!

So with our area, it was a pretty normal week, going to different houses and teaching the message of happiness to others, the work’s still going well. Still got some shy investigators (who I feel are getting shyer) got some really great ones who are still very young and got ones who ask lots of questions which I enjoy answering. It's great to see them all progressing and we're continuing to do our best to help them come unto Christ!

We also had an Family Home Evening on Saturday in our area which was quite enjoyable. Once we got to the FHE, I was randomly picked on to give the lesson. It was practically no time to prepare. So I decided to talk about decisions and how much they can affect. I got to tell the story of how my Mom and Dad met (sorry Mom and Dad I hope that was okay) as missionaries. Even though they had good lives and had things to do they were willing to put their life on hold for a little and if they didn't they never would have met and I wouldn't be where I am today. They all enjoyed the story, and it's cool to see what a difference you can make. 

There are even times you don't notice how much of a difference you are making. So know that every choice you make always has a consequence and can affect others!

Well your decisions can also affect yourself, which did to me when I woke up at 4:20 to get to another town for an area broadcast. We left at 5, waited until 5:45 and got there at 8. Even though it was supposed to start at 8:30, the broadcast didn't end up going until 10:30, but I don't regret being there early. That's how I was raised and I would rather always be early than be late! I enjoyed the broadcast though and I learned a lot from Elder Bednar, Elder Bowen, Elder Arderl, and Sister Oscarson and all of their talks. I know they have authority and that they are teaching the doctrine of the kingdom. Though I can't apply all the principles they taught yet (such as Elder Arderl's talk about marriage) I know they are here to help us out and we just need to listen, no matter how tired we are.

It reminds me of a talk I read in the Liahona the other day about when Jesus was performing the Atonement. He brought some of his Apostles and while performing the Atonement, came back 3 times and found his Apostles sleeping. He told his Apostles, ”Could you not wait one hour?". That really made me think. I'm not going to lie, sometimes I'm really tired during Church meetings and other things. But God asks just 3 hours of our time, and especially that 1 hour for Sacrament. So could we "not wait for 1 hour?". 

I hope that we can all strive to do our best to always listen to the council of our authorities and our parents and I hope that during church none of you fall asleep! I really need to get better at that one myself but I know if we always improve ourselves we can keep growing. Once again love you all and stay strong in the gospel! 

Elder Espiritu

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


Got them rice gainz (We decided to help a member move some sacks of rice)



Just hanging with some Diza siblings at a FHE



Went to Pasuquin found a sister missionary there (just kidding Sister Persia and I became good friends back when we were in Laoag)

Monday, June 5, 2017

Everyone Helps

Happy Start of June to you all! Happy summer! Funny thing is here, today is the start of Schooling! But as always, it's been a week of lots of walking teaching and continuing to build patience! Side note, our first P-day so far consisted of partying at a waterfall and stopping on the side of the road to grab some coconuts to drink.

So this week I was really reminded about how important working with the members are. Sometimes we are so busy I don't even remember to think about inviting someone to join, and we always have this same one member help us in a certain area. But now that college is finishing up here we have more people wanting to work. Sadly high school is now starting so it's gonna be a little more difficult to get to the people we used to teach. There can be a lot to learn when you start working with the different members, and it's nice to have someone who can really relate. It can also make the work more fun to have an extra person who also knows the areas we're going to. 

One time this week we had Angelo join us in the work for a day and he mostly listened and did his best to testify. At the end of the day he told us our work that day just made him want to start his papers already, even though he's 17. He has a lot to learn but it helped him spark his desire to serve!

On the other hand on another day, I enjoyed laughing a lot with our Branch Mission Leader Rheinz. He is a Return missionary from the Philippines Davao mission and just pretty fun to be around. I really like fellowshipping with him because he can really express himself very well. I learn a lot from him just by listening to him teach. We also get along well so we joke around a lot and laugh a ton. The members in this work are really important and I love being with those who also have a desire to help their fellow neighbors.

Speaking of the fellow neighbors that we are teaching, I'll give an update on the ones who are really listening. We still got 2 really shy ones who it takes a ton of work just to get them to say yes, and we also have a 12 year old who understands the doctrine extremely well and is very sociable. We also got 2 Mothers who really want to go to church, but only as a family, and some who are seeking the truth and ask lots of questions. There's also one who very much believes in God but has a couple of trials in her life. 

Lots of different types of people here but we can do our best to help them in one purpose, which is coming unto Christ! That is our purpose as missionaries and we're doing our best every day to help them really understand the importance of this gospel! We're also always there to help them in their hardships and help them understand how much this gospel can help in their lives. Helping people is what we're here for, and whether if it's helping members or non members, we just always have to do our best and follow Christ's example! Once again Love you all and hope you're all continuing to enjoy your summer!

Elder Espiritu

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


Some kids wanted to take a picture




Working with a fellow member Angelo (that whole things made from recycled plastic, go green!)



Some girl wanted to take a picture with us so we did




Some of our fellow learners of the gospel: Arlin and Liza


Party at the Falls