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
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