Elder Joseph Espiritu: The Spirit, Mud and Travel Logs

One thing I really like about being a zone leader is how busy we are. I'm not sure if I've stated that before, but we never really have a dull moment.

Another week has flown right by and the time doesn't seem to be slowing down. The funny thing is most of our time this week was spent mostly in areas that aren't even ours. That seems to happen frequently though. With exchanges, meetings and traveling, time just seems to go by so fast.

Highlights: Bus rides, Mud and the Spirit.

After emailing last week, the rest of the day flew by, and next thing we knew it was Tuesday. This last Tuesday we went to Ballesteros to attend their district meeting. Elder Anderson taught about prayer. At first I was a little surprised about how he can teach for so long on a simple principle but I was really impressed with how he taught.

I have really come to love the Bible dictionary in the scriptures. Prayer is actually work and there's more to it than meets the eye. It was a really good district meeting.

After the district meeting, we ate lunch then waited for the Sister training leaders. Once they got there we headed back to the chapel for our meeting with the District President. We reviewed notes from our meeting last time, then what to improve and such.

Ballesteros is close to becoming a stake. Just a couple things to take care of! 42 baptisms away from having enough members and a couple of other things! We have a plan, cause of course "when there is no vision, the people perish." -Proverbs 29:18. So make sure to always have a plan/vision!

I really enjoy meeting with President Credo. He is a really good district President and wants the district to become a stake!

The following day, after another district meeting with the Allacapan Elders, we had to take the rest of the day to travel to Laoag for our exchanges with the Elders that are the assistants to the mission President. We got there, ate and waited for them.

The following day the exchange started. I went with Elder Francia, a Filipino from Manila. When I was in my 3rd area, he was actually my zone leader, and now he's an AP and I'm a zone leader. It's interesting to see what can happen.

Anyways Elder Francia is actually one of my favorite Elders when it comes to teaching, because he is really good at it. He works hard in his area and for President Andrada to make sure everything is in order. I have a lot of respect for him and enjoyed the exchange. I always learn a lot. Even though we had to travel back the following morning at 4:30am, it was all worth it. I love going to Laoag for exchanges!

As for our own work here this week: it involved more sweat, Spirit, and mud.

Fun story: last Saturday we decided to go to 2 of our far areas since we haven't been able to visit them lately. It's all dirt roads so we were planning to bike and have a member (who also has a bike) join us. Right before we planned to leave the sky turned dark gray and poured rain for an hour then the sun came back. It was a really fast storm.

So we still biked, even though the dirt turned to mud. Every article of clothing I was wearing had mud on it. We then contacted members and recent converts I've never been met with. It's interesting to see where some live. For one we had to cross a muddy path, a rice field and more grass roads to get to her. Far, but there's nothing too far for the work of the Lord!

Spiritual experience of the week: while teaching one of our progressing investigators and her aunt, we decided to share from the Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 12:14-16 where Jesus teaches the Nephites about being the light of the world. We related it to us teaching having a light/countenance, and our light grows brighter as we live the gospel. I've seen it happen to so many people. I love seeing the impact of the Gospel!

Speaking of spiritual impacts, Kathlyn came to church again, along with a couple of others. This means Kathlyn's baptism will be this coming Saturday April 28th! We're very excited for her and so grateful to become a part of this special day.

So that was my week. All is well and we learn more every day. This week will be another busy one with visiting more district meetings, 2 exchanges, and the baptism. We're really excited!

The work of the Lord isn't easy, cause salvation isn't cheap. It's all worth it! We will all have the greatest reward in the end if we do our part.

I love the Lord! I love the people! I love the mission! Excited for another great week! That's all for now! Love you all!

Elder Espiritu

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