Elder Joseph Espiritu: 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