I have officially been in the mission for 16 months now! How is the area going here? Really good, and I love it. Elder Havens and I for these last several weeks have honestly been running around from place to place almost every day. This last Tuesday we attended 2 district meetings in Badoc and Paoay.
On Wednesday, we had an exchange with Elder Ruiz and Elder Abenis who are assigned in Badoc. I had a lot of fun because I went with Elder Abenis, who was one of the first missionaries I had exchanges with when I was still new and my trainer Elder Daclag was the district leader. It was fun reminiscing about the first time we had exchanges. We had some good work. While we were finding we did run into a girl who told us her brother was like us (as in missionary) and was coming home from his mission! We weren't able to see him that day though due to him not coming home until 9. It was a good day, and we got a lot done.
The following day we had another exchange, this time with Elder Magadia and Elder Kiima. I was with Elder Magadia, who is new in the mission, around 11 weeks in the field. I surprisingly spoke a lot more Ilocano than I thought I could so it was interesting to see that. Here's the awesome thing that happened with him: Right before we were going to teach the Ulit family we decided to try to talk to some other people where they live. We talked to this one 15 year old who was taking care of his pigeons. We gave him a pamphlet, but I felt like I should ask him if we could meet his family. He agreed and he took us into his house and met 2 members of his family, his mom and brother. While we were getting to know them the mom (Nora) brought up the fact that her son Jaypee knows a lot about our church. When we talked to him, we found out that he has already read ALL of the Book of Mormon AND the Doctrine and Covenants. The crazier thing is: we were the first missionaries he's met. Elder Magadia and I were stunned and amazed at that fact. Also a funny thing he told us: He started learning more about the "Mormon church" when he searched what church was true online! So we taught him and his family about the Restoration. The Spirit was strong. We also invited them to be baptized, and they said yes! Of course we were very happy at the result but also know it will still take a lot of time and effort, because aside from Jaypee, the family is still new to the gospel. Elder Havens and I were able to go back a couple of times on Sunday and Tuesday and they really seem to want to learn more about the gospel, especially Jaypee. Hopefully we'll keep helping them progress!
Right after Elder Magadia and I left the house of Jaypee Ulit (they're cousins with the other Ulit family) we went to the Ulit family (the one I have already talked about several times) and were about to teach them when we got a call from Elder Havens and Elder Kiima. Turns out the missionary that Elder Abenis and I heard about was home and wanted the Elders to come over for a family home evening so we rushed over there.
We then met brother Crismar Bulato, a return missionary from the Cagayan de Oro mission, which is an all Filipino mission. He is nice and actually met someone I knew from my first area (Elder Pajarillo) who I was pretty good friends with before he went to serve. Even though Crismar lives in Batac he goes to the San Lorenzo ward (about 30 minutes away from Batac) and so we met several members from San Lorenzo who were really fun. The FHE went great! Crismar is actually the only member in his family and has been praying these past 2 years that his family would listen to the missionaries. As of now we still haven't been able to teach them but we're hoping!
On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to Banna for a baptismal interview. Another fun fact: The town of Banna at a point was renamed "Espiritu". Around that time my Dad was serving and saw a jeepney with Espiritu written on it. So my hope was to find one while I was there in Banna but sadly there were none.
After we went to one appointment around 12:45 we hopped on a bus and started the journey there. Banna and Batac are neighboring towns, but because there are no major roads that go directly to each other, we have to up and around. Our hope was that we get there around 2 and get back at 4. 4:30 at the latest. We ended up getting there at 3:30 and waited for 45 minutes because of a parade, then had to wait for the baptismal candidate. By the time we finished everything it was 6. At 6 apparently there are no more buses or jeepneys going out of Banna. So we were stranded.
While walking in the dark trying to find a way back, Elder Havens took a leap of faith and turned towards a random van and flagged it down. To our surprise, it stopped and let us hop in. Even more surprising, one of the passengers was a member from Laoag coming back from a birthday party. They were nice enough to take us back to San Nicolas so we could wait for a bus. The amount of luck we had that day was just unbelievable. After finally getting back at 8:30, a nice member left us a dinner that we were able to pick up. God is really watching over us!
Sunday rolled around and the Ulit family was able to come again which made me really happy! This time Mom and sister came again, and one of the brothers came for the first time! We taught them all at once for the first time. At the end we invited the 2 brothers who didn't have a baptismal date to be baptized. They said yes, but wanted to do it as a family. So we had to move the Dad, Mom and Ethel's baptismal date from Dec. 30 to Jan 27, but the fact that the whole family is willing to be baptized is amazing. The mother told us how much of a sacrifice it is for her since she was Catholic, but is okay if all her kids and her are baptized. We just have to continue being patient! The power of the Gospel really can change lives.
So as a conclusion: life is great as a missionary here in Batac, as a zone leader in Batac zone, and in general. So far Elder Havens and I are doing great too. We have been together for 4 weeks but basically feel like we have 2 weeks of teaching experience together due to how many things we've had to do. We have not completely adjusted to how we both teach so we're working on that. We get along really well! I am happy, and I know this church is true!
It's weird to think how much time has passed! It's so fast! Thanks for your support! Love you all! Next time I write it will be Christmas! Can you believe it? Can't wait!
Elder Espiritu
**you can email Elder Espiritu at joseph.espiritu@myldsmail.net
Helping catch some fish (it ended up taking too long so we didn't even get to see what we caught)
Meeting an RM here while on exchanges with Elder Kiima and Magadia
Our favorite (most common) transportation
The Batac Zone earlier today after practice for Christmas conference
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