Scripture Power

I'm still confused how I managed let a bunch of ants crawl up and down my arm without noticing, and confused how we had a signal 2 tropical storm here, also I find it funny how spaghetti can be considered as a snack and a delicacy here, along with eating pancit canton with rice. 

As for the good news: we had a lot of good work done this week, and finally had some investigators come to church! All of those things happened throughout this week, I still can't figure out where the ants came from. We did have a tropical storm pass over our mission this last week, which was said to be a 1, then a 2. To our surprise the rain was more of a sprinkle, and overcast weather. I'm pretty grateful it wasn't bad. 

As for the food, I enjoyed. I find it funny that sometimes we end up eating pancit canton (basically ramen) and rice for a meal with coke. It's the king’s dish.

As for the work this week, it went a lot better than the previous weeks. We were excited to have 2 investigators come to church! 1 of them was a part member 12 year old, who we picked up named Kyle. He's a cool kid, basically a little brother to me. He's fun to mess around with. A little slow at learning, but he's 12 so I can't blame him. Plus his first language is Ilocano, and his scriptures and pamphlets are Tagalog, along with the language we speak to him. I was a little nervous he wouldn't like it (even though he's been to church before) but luckily there is another kid from his class, so he has someone to keep him company. 

The other investigator who came to church actually came a little more of a surprise. I asked Elder Trinidad if he was investigator (since I'd never seen him before) and he said he was a member. A little bit later we found out he was actually an investigator from an area we haven't had much time to go to. Though a surprise, we were happy he came, and plan to go teach him!

The work this week went well too, we taught a lot of people. Didn't find as many as last week, but we had appointments to go to which was nice, instead of walking around for hours looking for people to teach. 

I really enjoy teaching, especially when the lessons are powerful. We had lessons this week where I really felt the Spirit in the room, I just hope they did too. Just gotta keep working on all these people and hopefully more will come to church! Although it's only 27 coming to church (including us) we still enjoy it. You don't need a ton in order for it to be great. I'm thankful for the little branch that does come, even though sometimes it may be hard.

To end this letter I want to testify about the importance of personal study. Since Elder Trinidad and I are only in a 2 man apartment, I have been able to read a lot more. When I say a lot more, I mean a lot. I probably read more here in these several weeks than my entire senior year. But I have really come to enjoy it. I read the Liahona's all the time, and I've been reading the New testament again, the Book of Mormon (which I'm happy to say I'm on my 3rd round of reading it through the whole mission), D&C, and a book on the teachings of Joseph Smith. 

They are all great, and I have really gotten prone to the feeling I get every time I read. It really makes me feel happy, and I love adding my knowledge about the gospel. The scriptures may be the exact same as I read them before, but every time I feel as if I can get something new about it. I have really come to love reading them, especially the 4 gospels about the life of Christ and the Book of Mormon. They aren't just "boring" books to me anymore, they're actual stories. They all really happened and I love reading them. 

Although sometimes I admit I still get confused at some scriptures, all in all there's so many things to learn from them which isn't just for fun, but really strengthens me spiritually and in turn, I can help others become spiritually stronger. 

I'm still far from knowing it all, but I'm glad to be adding to my knowledge little by little. I testify that reading the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, can really help in life I really notice the difference when I read them. I hope you all can feel that amazing feeling when you read them too! Sometimes we may get busy in life, but God is the one who gave us all this time, so shouldn't we give some back to him? Love you all! The mission is still awesome! Not easy, but worth it! Till next week! 

Elder Espiritu

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

One Year Down, One to Go!

It's official. I have been here in the mission for a year now! It's strange to look back and see how much time has passed, yet I have so much more to do! Lots of things I've learned here on the mission and lots of things I have yet to learn. 

Through it all, I've loved it all, the good and the bad! I've said this many times, but this mission has been helping me gain patience, and also helping me know that despite everything we do, people have agency, and what they want to do they'll do. 

I was a little sad on Sunday when only 27 people came to church, 7 of them were from a different ward and 2 being Elder Trinidad and I. Despite the number being really low, it doesn't matter. I'm still thankful for who did come, and I know that people have their agency. 

Sometimes it just takes a little longer for the seed of faith to grow. As for the work this week, to be honest it was pretty similar to last week: finding, more finding and such. Hopefully we'll find some people who really are interested, so we are just being patient. 

We extended 2 baptismal dates to 2 different people who are part members, one being 59 with a cigarette and drinking problem, and one just being only 12 but a good kid, just a short attention span. We are trying to make a plan for tatay Melchor (59) to get him to stop. We know it may take awhile, (he has been an investigator for awhile) but we hope he can do it. It might be little at a time, but he can do it. 

On Wednesday, I got to do an exchange with our District Leader Elder Lobaton, and to be honest the work that day was pretty similar to our work, we were almost completely punted (almost all of the appointments fell through) but we still got to teach. He's a cool guy, and I learned a couple of things from him.

As for a fun fact this week, I finished the Book of Mormon for the 2 1/2  time (I finished it at the MTC once) on the mission, and finished the new testament for the first time in my life! I knew the Book of Mormon is something we need to read every day, and I learned so much from the New Testament, especially about the life of Jesus. 

I testify that both of these books are true, and they bring such peaceful and happy feelings when you read them. I'm now working on the Doctrine and Covenants and reading the New testament and Book of Mormon again (we'll see about the Old Testament hahaha) 

I had a couple of off days this week, where I was a little discouraged or my language skills were just really struggling for some reason, but I know the importance of staying positive can really have an impact on my life, and it has. Even though we all have bad days, just focus on the good days! 

Now that I'm at a year, I just want to end this and testify about the importance of missionary work. I know that missionary work is such an important work, and 2 years is a short time, yet can have an eternal effect. 

I know this church is true, and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I am so proud to have been named after him. I know I'm not perfect, and I'm striving to do my best every day. 

I know the Book of Mormon has the power to bring peace into our lives. I say this all the time but it never changes, that I love my mission and all that has happened. I still got another year of great things to experience! Ulit, mahal ko po kayong lahat! 

Elder Espiritu

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

Birthday party for Karen Calivo (the one in blue)

 Exchanges with Elder Lobaton

Chillin with Nephie, Chloe and their tita Mahjoy

Patience and Past

I would say patience is one of the most vital things especially as a missionary, and if you don't have it you definitely learn how to become more patient. Opening an area does take a big deal of patience, but I'm grateful for what it's teaching me! I still had some really fun experiences this week including zone conference, some more blast from the past experiences, and weird things people have said to us this week.

So as for Vintar, it's still a work in progress. Something we learned from our Zone Conference was how important finding is in missionary work and who we need to look for. Good thing we are opening an area, because finding is basically all our work has been for the past couple weeks. We still have yet to find some people who are really interested, which is sad, but we are still just being patient. 

At the moment we are looking for new ways to find so the work doesn't get too repetitive. So here's what we did a couple of times: we went up to a group of teenager girls and I just straight up spoke English to them. They struggled to answer. For those of you who don't know, for the most part Filipinos can understand English, but a lot of them can't speak it. One of the girls said she was "nose-bleeding" but she said her nose was menstruating. Afterwards I just speak Tagalog, which really relieves them. Our focus right now is really just finding people to teach, especially younger ones. Lots of walking around looking for people to teach. 

One thing we were able to do this week was get closer to the members. The branch president worked with us a couple of times along with some other members, which is always fun when you have other people with you. It's weird to think that our branch president is only 25, but it's alright. He's cool. At least we have some more dinners scheduled!

Here's another cool blast from the past experience I had: although we didn't have any investigators come to church, afterwards we were just talking to the members. Some members from Laoag 3 ward came to Vintar again and one of them talked to me. I may have said this before but she has met my Mom and Aunt. 

While we were talking she told me she had something to show me. I was a little surprised to see my Grandpa, Grandma, uncle and his wife in the picture! Turns out, she was the missionary that taught my Tita Merce when she served in the Manila mission! It made me happy to see that picture of them, and it made me grateful again to be serving here in the Philippines. 

This gospel is centered on families, and I love that I keep seeing the blessings it has had in my family personally! This place is still amazing and I know there are people out there ready for us to teach! Just gotta keep looking!

Elder Espiritu

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

My homie Sister Persia 

My batch mate and now AP, Elder Jenkins

Another shot of Elder Ossola and me

My studly cousin in law Elder Maroket

My nephew (jk he's my MTC companions trainee) Elder Santillan

Some of my Tongan friends Sister Faoa and Sister Latu

My district leader Elder Lobaton

My district mates last cycle Elder Arangali and Sister Agudo

Another Fellow batch mate now Zone leader Elder Nichols

Blast from the past, that picture is one a lady from Laoag city showed to me (from Laoag city) as a missionary in Manila. She's on the very right. The 2 in the center are my grandparents and the 2 Filipinos on the left are my Uncle and Aunt, when my Aunt was baptized 

The Adjusting Life

Walking, talking and lot of new people met. That's basically what the lifestyle is due to opening an area. So, it's a little more slow of a week, but good nonetheless.

For those of you who don't know, all 3 of us are new to this area, which is called opening an area. It takes awhile to adjust to the area and memorize everything. I did this when I was in Laoag which wasn't any easier. 

So this week was going to all of our areas and getting a feel of our way around. Every day we went to a different area, and searched for the names that the last Sister missionaries here left behind. A lot of the times we tried to find them they weren't home, so we walked around talking to people we might be able to teach. We ended up meeting a lot of nice people and hopefully next week we'll be able to teach a lot more. When you have no set appointments and just pure finding people to teach, the time passes by a lot slower. It's just a process at the moment, and hopefully things will speed up! 

But here's a fun fact. This week was the first time I have ever used a doorbell. A lot of the houses in our area are actually pretty nice and bigger, and a lot of them have gates. To be honest I'm a little intimidated by the bigger houses and gates. Luckily my companion is from Manila, and is used to houses like those. Most of the houses didn't answer, but at least we tried. We still have plenty of houses we can knock on. We have found a couple of interesting people to teach, which I enjoy. A couple of them have a lot of questions about the church and the gospel in general, which we are happy to answer. 

We didn't have any investigators come to church this last Sunday, but a lot more people came to church vs last week. The weather was nice so it was great to see a lot more people show up. Even though it's still a small branch, the people are really friendly here. When we got there we were assigned to teach Priesthood, and then right after teach the gospel principles classes. This will probably be an every week thing, which I will just take as an opportunity to improve my teaching skills. 

During gospel principles I noticed that a couple of girls weren't really listening and just on their phones. The class was still good, but I was just kind of laughing on the inside, because I knew it was karma for how I was always using my phone during church. Teaching has made me appreciate the teachers a bit more.

We are still in the adjusting period of our area which is okay. I know the mission has slower and faster times. It has its ups and downs. But that's just a part of life, and it's all going well. 

Our companionship is going from 3 now to 2, since Elder Lewis is going back to Lehi, so our apartment will be going down to just 2. It can be lonely, but it's good for studying and just better getting to know my companion! 

The mission is still amazing and I know there's still plenty in store for the future! Love you all. Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Elder Espiritu

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

Bantay District featuring: Elder Lewis, ELder Esco, Elder Santillian, Elder Lobaton, Elder Trinidad at Elder Lemusu

Bantay and Sarrat District

The trio Elder Trinidad and Elder Lewis