Elder Joseph Espiritu: God Will Provide a Way

I have come to appreciate a couple of more things this week, such as indoor plumbing. I am also happy with my calling as District leader and the opportunity to go on exchanges with our district. The people here are awesome too. We had some pretty good success this week, and have some bad news that became great!

So first, like I said I am grateful for plumbing. One morning the pipe in our bathroom broke, so we had no water that day. The best thing was I needed to wash the dishes and my clothes, so I had to take lots of trips to the water pump (bumba) outside our apartment, wash my clothes, wash all the dishes and shower in water that smells like metal. It's all good though. Our landlady had it fixed right away.

As for another fun event, we had another exchange this week. This time I went with Elder Johnson, who is from Australia. The exchanges went awesome and it was a fun day.

After doing studies we headed out and talked a lot. The lessons we taught were great and I felt the Spirit when we both taught. We taught some really good lessons and it felt great teaching. He is still a little new with his Tagalog but it went well. We're pretty good friends. That night he wanted pizza, so he paid for the majority and we split the difference with us other 5. He's a good Elder!

As for the work this week, it was actually one of the best weeks we had in a long time. Almost every day (except Saturday, which was the most punted (missed appts) day). We taught really good lessons and found some friendly people. We were finally able to extend some more baptismal dates! I'm grateful for the chance to find friendly people here. So far they have really good potential to progress.

So here's the bad news that became good: While I was on exchanges with Elder Johnson we went to one of our progressing investigators, Karen. Once we got there we were told she wasn't home yet, which made my heart sink a little. The reason she wasn't progressing before was cause she had a job and turns out she got a job again.

When she got home we decided to teach 1 Nephi 17 to her about Nephi building a ship. We used the point that if we trust the Lord, he is capable of anything, such as helping Nephi build a ship and helping Karen go to church. It was a great lesson and we felt the Spirit.

The next lesson with Elder Trinidad and I, the possibility of Karen going to church and being baptized did not seem good. We then taught D&C 82:10 about promises. So I promised her I would give her Twix that my parents sent me for my Christmas packages (sorry Mom I opened it early but it was for a good cause!) and told her the blessings that would come.

You can imagine how happy we were that Sunday when Karen showed up to church. We asked her if she still had a job and she said yes, but she told them she is going to church on Sundays so there she was! We then asked her if she could do that every Sunday even with her job. She decided to trust in the Lord and decided to solidify her baptism this Saturday! God will always provide a way!

I will once again state that I love the mission and all that happens. I always feel blessed when we have good weeks. They always outweigh the bad.

I know this church is true, and I know the doctrine of baptism and following the example of Jesus Christ is the gateway to exaltation. I'm excited for this week! Stay tuned!

Elder Espiritu

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