Life in Allacapan

Magandang Umaga sa inyong lahat (o sa mga nandun sa America Magandang gabi) Ito po Si Elder Espiritu! Here I am, living the life of a missionary in a new area, the area of Allacapan. A lot has happened this week that'll definitely be fun to remember. I'll break it down for y'all.

Tuesday morning, I left Batac and headed to Laoag to catch a bus. It was heartbreaking leaving Batac, but I managed to do it. Once I got there there were about a dozen other missionaries transferring too, going to Cagayan. So we all got on and headed over. 

It was fun catching up with some of my friends like Elder Johnson, Elder Bottema and Elder Jenkins, although short. I got to experience the winding roads of Claveria again (which I'll end up doing every month now when I go back to Laoag for MLC) and after 5-6 hours I arrived in Allacapan. 

Once I got there, we headed straight to the apartment. The apartment consists of 4 different rooms, then on the outside is the bathroom and kitchen. Legit on the outside. We are on the 3rd floor, so half of the apartment is outside. When we got there, they told us they actually cleaned for awhile, but it's still pretty dismal. The best (worst) part about the apartment is the water. It's pretty golden... literally. The water's yellow, so we have to feed it through a filter of sand and coal. It's pretty interesting. I'm actually fine with it, and the apartment in general, but they say if I'm not careful my shirts will turn yellow. Let's hope not.

So now to the work in Allacapan: It's really busy. Every day we have so many places to go, it's non stop work. Which is awesome because it gets the time going, but really you have no time for a break. 

Elder Nichols and Elder Anuat (the last 2 missionaries here) had 6 last Saturday, so they've been working hard. But since they baptized all their progressing, we are back to the planting stage. Which is fine, because we have several potential investigators. We go to so many places and don't even have time for it all. It's great!

Some facts about being a zone leader in Ballesteros zone: Everything is far apart and pretty expensive to get to. This last week we headed to the neighboring town of Lasam for district meeting which ended up being 140 pesos round trip. If you convert it to US Dollars ($2.80) it's not a lot. But trust me, once you've been here long enough that's a lot for a trip.

Another day we went down to Abulog which was 120 pesos ($2.60) for an interview and stayed overnight. It's far, but the interview was fun, and the apartment in Abulog is huge (even though we didn't sleep well since we had no pillows). It's weird thinking about how long I've been here and the money conversion. 

Random fact: I spend around 1,500 pesos ($30) a week as a budget. So daily that means I can spend around 214 pesos if I keep it even. That evens out to $4.28 a day. I didn't really think about that until now. 

Anyways when Sunday rolled around we had 10 investigators at church, which was awesome. I was super happy. I also met a lot of the members who were pretty cool. Later that day we had a mission prep class then we went on splits.There are a good amount of church members. The attendance was 142, so I'm happy about that. 

As some of you know, my companion is now Elder Nichols who I met when I was in the MTC. Now when you're a foreigner it's rare to have another foreigner as a companion, especially from your batch. He is now my 4th American companion and 2nd from my batch. He's from Utah, and went to Riverton high school, and enjoys playing ultimate frisbee. He's a nice guy and hard working. We'll be fine together.

So as a conclusion for this week: I'm definitely still in the adjusting stage. The work here is awesome. I do miss my last area a lot, members work and all. But I know this is where God wants me, and I have work to do here!

I know this work is true and this is the way to bring people unto Christ, and the way to everlasting life and exaltation. Although change can be rough and hard to adjust to, I can do it. This'll be my 6th time doing it! I'll continue to do my best and work! Love you all!

Elder Espiritu

The Batac Catholic chapel

Allacapan

Taking a picture with all the kids in Abulog

Elder Nichols and I

The Allacapan Apartment 

The bathroom and shower room

The kitchen

The water filter (otherwise the water is yellow)

My closet (we don't have cabinets)

The water here

More Changes

As I live longer throughout the mission, I realize I always need to expect the unexpected. I keep moving forward and make the most of the mission! But hey, Happy Valentines Day, and fun fact: I have now technically finished a Sister's mission (18 months worth)! Life goes fast, as did this week. What would you say happened this week? Well I'll tell ya!

The first thing I want to share is a cool spiritual experience we had last Tuesday. We went to district meeting, and since it was Sister Taumoeupeau's last week, she gave the last training for the cycle. 

As part of the training, she had each missionary bear their testimony of the Book of Mormon. I can tell you the Spirit really filled the room as each missionary bore his/her testimony. It was awesome seeing each and everyone's individual experience with the Book of Mormon. And we all know it's true. It was an awesome district meeting!

As for some other fun things that happened...I went on a date for Valentines day! Just kidding, it was an exchange this time with Elder Young. 

Elder Young is an American from Mapleton Utah! He actually knows a couple of people I know there. He's around 10 months in the mission, but we're the same age (I'm older by a month). He decided to go to college first and play soccer. We had a really good exchange and taught a bunch of lessons. He's a good teacher and has a lot of potential. He's a fun district leader too and we relate to each other's life stories. He's a cool missionary!

So as some of you know, this week was transfer week. It's always filled with excitement and some anxiety as to who is going to transfer. Usually they send the transfer Saturday night or early Sunday morning. As we were waiting we all guessed who's transferring. For my part, my guess is almost right except for one that I wasn't expecting: Me. 

Around 9:10 Elder Morehu texted while we were at Sacrament meeting telling me I was being transferred. I was pretty shocked, especially since I've only been here for 2 cycles (3 months) I told the Bishop and bore my last testimony to say goodbye. It was a lot of hard goodbyes and unexpected. 

The rest of the day I went around to some of the families who have been very good to me to say goodbye, such as the Domingo family, the Carpio family, the Ulits, the Yapos, and the De Leons. Although hard, I gotta move on. I know the Lord wants me in a different place. 

4 Cycles left and I gotta make the most of it! 

For my next and possibly final area I will now be returning to Cagayan, to Ballesteros zone! I'll be assigned in Allacapan with Elder Nichols, another Elder from my batch! I have heard nothing but good about Allacapan. 

It's a great area, awesome members, maybe a nice apartment and yellow water (literally). I'm ready for a new adventure and there are souls out there for me to help! I know this church and this work is true, and can't wait again to see what's in store for me! 

Elder Espiritu

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

Ethel's birthday party

The Batac District

Exchanges at the Domingo family with Elder Young

The De Leon family and Elder Young

Dinner with the Carpio family

Teaching Marvin how to tie a tie 

The Ulit family

The De Leon family again

Diseases and Small Blessings

Good Morning to all, (or for most of you on the other side good evening) and happy almost Valentines day! Maybe next year I won't spend it being single, but hey, that's a long ways away. I got my eye single to the glory of God. Even so, I'm working on it while having a disease in my lungs. 

Right after we had a P-day last Tuesday, Sister Andrada texted us saying I should get a check up at the hospital. She noticed I'd been coughing a lot so decided to have me get a check up. I didn't think much about it, but still did it. 

If you've been following along I did say that I was sick last week too. Anyways we went about our week, and worked as usual. On Friday I had to get a check up again, and turns out, I have community associated pneumonia. Wasn't really expecting that, but guess that's what I got! So they put me on antibiotics and now next week I'll see how it goes. 

I had to take it a little slower this week. The doctors really wanted me to just stay in these past couple of days and not work at all, but I can't do it. 1) I feel like my time would be wasted and 2) I would get bored. 

So I rested as much as I could and went out to work. We did go to 2 other district meetings again, in San Nicolas and Paoay. The zone's doing good. We had a couple of baptisms this last week and lots of people at church.

Speaking of people at church, we had an awesome number of people actually come! We spent a lot of Saturday going around inviting people to church and a lot of them did! We had a total of 7 come, and 4 of them were member referrals. 3 of them were investigators before which consists of a single mom and her 2 daughters. 3 other were also brought by a family from our area who we taught on Saturday and invited to come. 1 of them was our investigator close to being baptized, CJ. Even though we were never able to make it to CJ this week, he still came! If all goes well, he will be baptized by the end of this month!

We had a couple of trials this week but several small blessings. Another small blessing/miracle I had was last week while riding in a Tricycle, my planner fell out of my bag. I lost all hope in finding it and it had a lot of information in it. 

This last Sunday a member came up to me and handed me the same planner I lost a week ago! She told me the tricycle it fell in actually was the driver that would always take them to and from school, so he gave it to her! 

The members here are so awesome and friendly, even the non members. We have so many people feeding us (including Sister Rose yesterday for lunch, who fed us REAL BROWNIES) and several other people. Once again, the people here in the Philippines area awesome and I love them. 

We have a busy week this week with some places to go, district meetings, exchanges with a district leader and the Assistants to the President in Laoag, attending more planning things and a baptism of the Sisters in our area. Last week of the cycle, and it looks to be busy.  

Once again, I know this church is true, and I know God is watching over us here in Batac. I am also grateful for all the prayers coming from all of you! I didn't realize that people were praying for me, until one of the members told me she was. 

Prayers can be felt and God does answer prayers. I know the gospel has the power to change lives and God wants the best for everyone! That's all for this week! Love you all! 

Elder Espiritu

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

Some of our new investigators that went to church, Farrah and Icah (they're not twins)

Another investigator at church, Roma

My "pinsan" (cousin) Edgar Espiritu

Ayah and I were kinda matching 

Missionaries and Members and Councils

I know some of you may be thinking why is Elder Espiritu writing this not on a P-day? Except I guess for you all you're getting it all Tuesday, nevertheless it's a different day. Anyways Elder and I had another Missionary Leadership Council to attend. It was fun, but as for other highlights, we got some fun people working with us, and doing everything this week while I've been sick.

So yesterday as I stated last week we went back to Laoag for Missionary Leadership Coordination (MLC). We were excited because it's a chance for President Andrada to train us and help us improve our zones. I was also excited because it meant a hot shower :) You don't get much of that here, so it's nice to have one again. 

Alright although that is a nice bonus the MLC was really good. One thing I liked about President Andrada's training was keeping your spirituality up. He knows that a good study and good work ethic are correlated. We must not be spiritually lazy and be diligent throughout our whole mission! 

After that we talked about how our zone did and what our goals are for this month. Our zone actually tied with the highest number of baptisms hitting 13. The challenge was other key indicators went down. It seems like our zone doesn't have many souls prepared for this month, but we'll do our best! We also talked about what we can do to improve our zones and the culture of the zones. Caring for 11 other companionships other than yourself while maintaining a "model area" is nothing we can't handle with the Lord's help!

On Tuesday we went to a district meeting in Dingras and I started coughing. That is now still currently with me. Throughout the week it progressively got worse and I ended up getting a cold and fever for awhile. I tried to sleep it off and work in the afternoon, but it was a struggle. We still managed to teach people but just not as many. I'm almost back to my normal self except I still have a cough.

We did have 2 investigators at church. They were 2 little girls that a family brought. We've taught them before. Our other progressing investigators were all busy or gone. I'm happy and we're working hard.

I do wanna give another shoutout to how awesome the members are here in Batac. I love them all and they're all super nice. 

This last Saturday we took a safari trip to Africa and back (just kidding it was just super far) to the Bishop's house. We were informed last week they wanted to feed us so I jokingly told them I wanted pizza and brownies for lunch. Surprisingly they did their best and actually cooked that very thing! They're awesome! We do have a lot of great people working with us too, such as our friends Royal Burgos, Princess, Dave Sunga, and Edgar. They're all great fellow shippers and good friends. This ward is strong!

I know that this work is the work of the Lord and I'm doing my best to magnify my calling. Elder Ivie and I are loving life and getting along. 

We're excited for the month of February and feel we can get a lot done! Thanks for all your love and support and love you all! Goodbye till next week! 

Elder Espiritu

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

Me being sick

Adventures with Elder Ivie and I

Teaching little children

Missionary Leadership Council Feb. 5th, 2018

My house mate Elder Tabeti from my first area is going home

Got my office friend from Melbourne and my AP brotha from New Zealand