Best Decision of My Life

I can't believe that this time has come! Today will be my last weekly email as a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! These past two years have been the most spiritually uplifting time of my life. There have been a lot of trials and heartaches but the Lord has been able to show forth His love and power within my mission and has helped me so much. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity I've had to serve our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

We got to do a lot of things this last week I felt were like pre pandemic...

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Brown in his area in Compton. Compton is such an amazing place and has a lot of prepared souls to receive the gospel in their lives. We were able to go street contacting at the projects and talk to many different people. It was motivating to talk to more random people on the street about Jesus Christ.

We spoke with this one guy who was a hard-core atheist. He wasn't shy about sharing his beliefs. It saddened my heart as he told us that he knew he wouldn't see his son who has passed away. He knew he wasn't going to see any of his loved ones who have also passed away. Elder Brown and I talked to each other after that. We were so grateful to know of the Plan of Salvation. Because Heavenly Father loves us we will see all our family again and as we trust in His plan we will become happy! Overall it was a great exchange!

Throughout the week we were able to do some lessons with our friends either at the church or at their homes. My last week here is when most of the restrictions were getting lifted including the mask mandate!  I wish this would've been lifted early but I'm glad we were able to meet with people in their houses and in the church building for at least a week.

I've really enjoyed serving in the Centinela 1st ward. The people I've met are amazing and I'm so happy I was able to share my testimony with them. I will miss everyone I've met on my mission. The people and this area will always have a place in my heart.

During a Visitors Center tour this week we saw two guys walk in as Elder Christensen and I were leaving. One of them was pointing at me and I didn't think much of it. Then I saw the other guy who was behind him and I recognized them both immediately! They were some missionaries that served in the Philippines! One of them was my last companion before I returned to the U.S.. That was a blessing to see them! It helped me recognize that I've been able to serve around such amazing people. I've created a lot of friendships that I know I wouldn't have made if I wasn't on a mission!

I've loved my mission with my whole heart. Being able to testify of Jesus Christ every day has changed my life forever. Jesus Christ and His atonement has changed me into a better person and I know He's always going to help me even more after my mission.

I love you all and I'm so grateful for all your prayers and support. Going on a mission has been the best decision I've ever made in my entire life! I love Jesus Christ and I know He loves every single one of you. See you all soon!

Elder Espiritu

My Zone

Exchange with Elder Brown

The departing missionaries in the zone 

My District

Last ward coordination 

Went to a car museum on my last P-day

Last companion in the Philippines

Visitors Center Tour with Bryan

The Auton Family

             

I Love the Temple

Hello Everyone! 

I loved this past week! It went by fairly quickly! I'm loving going out and talking to everyone. Elder Christensen and I try our very best to talk to everyone we see. I've become so comfortable talking to random people on the streets about our Savior Jesus Christ. As I've I've built a stronger testimony of Him on my mission I've been more confident and courageous to preach about Him and His gospel! It's amazing to see what the Lord can do for us if we are willing to put in the work and be obedient to His commandments! 

This past week we had our prayer drive thru. We did this event at the beginning of last month and it turned out great. We decided to do it again and try to make it better. This time around we advertised it much more. During the days leading up to the event, Elder Christensen and I were sending a digital flyer to everyone in our area book. We received a lot of responses and started talking to people that we haven't been in contact with in months! This was a huge blessing! 

The event itself was amazing! People love prayers and free food:) We had a good turn out and it was awesome to see so many people come. A lot of the people didn't attend just because of the free food. Many just wanted the prayer. We saw how humble people are to come and seek help through a prayer. Hopefully we will see fruits from our labors as we go thru all the names and numbers! 

Yesterday we got to go on another Visitor Center tour with one of our friends, Alexis! One of our members was able to bring him there. We had a very spiritual time talking about the Savior and the Book of Mormon. You could tell Alexis loved it and was able to feel the Spirit so strongly! I'm grateful I've been able to go to the temple and the Visitors Center so frequently while I've been here in LA. The peace that comes from this place is indescribable! 

I'm so happy to be serving Heavenly Father and preaching about Christ! I hope everyone has a great week! :) 

-Elder Espiritu 

Prayer drive thru event 

First station (the form) 

Second station (prayer) 

Third station (free food) 

Visitors Center with Alexis, Brother Gardner, 

and his son Josiah! 

Video call with Elder Snooks and Mike earlier today 

The Gospel Blesses Lives

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ so much! Coming out on my mission was the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. This past week was one of the most spiritually filled weeks I have ever experienced. So let's get right into it...

We had a 3 meals with families that are members of the church this week! It was so nice to get to go into members' homes, get to know them, and share the message of the gospel with them. All 3 of the lessons were with less active members. This ward is really amazing and our members are very nice. Now that the COVID restrictions are lifting more people are being receptive to the gospel! We have quite a few less active families in our ward. We're excited to get going on that and start visiting them more. I love this ward and we are trying to do our best to help as many members come back into the fold of God! 

We we able to start teaching 3 new friends this week! The first one was Lilian! Here is a little background story about her. We have a member named Sister Timothy and she is amazing. We had a Come Follow Me lesson with her at the beginning of the week and the Spirit was strong. We felt like we needed to ask if she knew anyone who would need help or hear this message. She gave us about 3 names of her friends that live in the area. One of them was Lilian! 

Both Lilian and Sister Timothy are from Nigeria. Lilian is so prepared! The day after our lesson with Sister Timothy we had a lesson with us, Sister Timothy, and Lilian. It was a very spiritual lesson. We taught her about the Restoration. She was so receptive to everything we taught and after the lesson we brought a Book of Mormon to her and she said she would read and pray about it. My testimony of caring and working with members was able to grow with this amazing experience. We're excited for Lilian and her progress!

The next friend we found was Ana! Ana was the lady I talked about in my last email. She is the lady that lives in our apartment complex. She is super nice. We were able to have a lesson with her and one of our members (Sister Rodriguez!) We had a lesson plan but we didn't follow it one bit. Elder Christensen and I both felt prompted to teach something completely different to address Ana's needs. It turned out really well. She was able to open up a lot and we got to help her quite a bit. We're meeting with her again on Tuesday at the church building while her daughter is going to the youth event! We have high hopes for her :) 

Our last new friend was Alexis! Alexis has been taught in the past several times. He actually was supposed to be baptized but something was always holding him back. One night we got a call from one of our members named Brother McOmber. (Side note Brother McOmber is an absolute beast when it comes to missionary work. He goes street contacting for us missionaries all the time. He is a huge inspiration to us missionaries) He told us Alexis called him and said he has been reading the Bible a lot and he feels like he needs to belong to a church. 

The next day he was at church with Brother McOmber and his family! The McOmbers were able to pick him up and sit with him for both hours of church! (BTW we had 2 hours at the church building for the first time since the pandemic started) After church we had a lesson with all 4 of us. Alexis is a very quiet guy so it was hard to get him to open up, but the Spirit was able to guide us. 

Alexis said he felt really good during church. We asked him if he would want to feel this feeling more often. He smiled and said yes. We asked Alexis if he would be willing to follow Jesus Christ and prepare to be baptized. He said yes! We are so excited for Alexis and we know he is ready now. He may not have been ready in the past but the Lord works in mysterious ways. Everyone please pray for Alexis! 

THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

ROBERT'S BAPTISM! 

On June 5th our friend Robert was able to enter into the waters of baptism and was confirmed a member of the church! He truly was a prepared soul that was placed into our lives. He has taught us so much. He is by far the most humble and caring man I have ever met. After he was baptized and confirmed he gave one of the most powerful testimonies I have ever witnessed. Robert is an amazing example that the Gospel really can bless and change our lives forever. Elder Christensen told me while they were changing Robert asked, "What do I have to do now to go into the temple?" It's those words that bring me so much happiness. Robert knows the blessings from the gospel and he's always wanting to improve. I'm so grateful to be apart of this part if his journey to Christ. 

I truly love this work and I'm grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ and his Church. Love you all 

-Elder Espiritu 

Brother McOmber and Robert!

Robert's Baptism June 5, 2021

Robert drew this

Baptismal font prep

The Lord's Timing Creates Miracles

Hello Everyone! 

This week flew by! There were some amazing highlights. We were able to see the Lord help us find some very prepared people! 

Our friend Robert is doing super great. He is so prepared by the Lord to receive all the blessings from the Gospel! 

We've been able to get out a lot and get into more people's homes to help them understand the Gospel! We're very excited for some potential friends that we met this past week. I'll tell you about them :) 

Robert is still preparing to be baptized on June 5th! His testimony is growing so fast and it's such a blessing to witness it. We were able to go to the visitors center and walk around the temple grounds with him and a couple of members. I love the temple and the peace it brings to us. 

After the Visitors Center tour and walking around the temple Robert wanted to buy us some lunch. Now that we're fully vaccinated we were able to do that. It was a very spiritual time and it was cool to see how Christ had been able to help him through his trials and challenges. Later that day we stopped by Robert's house  and talked to him. He said he felt really inspired seeing all the artwork at the VC tour and then he gave us a drawing of Jesus Christ. I'm so excited for Robert! If you all could pray for him this next week that would be much appreciated:) 

The Lord is really preparing people to receive the Gospel. Our members are playing a huge role with our finding right now. We get a lot of member referrals that we're excited to go visit this next week.( a lot of part member families) The determination of the members is truly inspiring and drives me to be a better missionary every day. 

I was able to a very cool experience with trusting the Lord's timing. After Robert's time at the Visitors Center and temple we were on a spiritual high. It was amazing, but because we live about 30 minutes away from the Temple and we live in LA the traffic here is not to fun to drive in. On the way back home we got stuck in traffic for a good hour and it made us about 2 hours behind schedule. I was really trying not to get frustrated and to  practice my patience but it was hard for me during some points of the drive. 

There were so many little things that happened on the way home that definitely wasn't a coincidence but it was Heavenly Father placing certain people and things in our lives at that time. When we pulled into our parking garage we saw this lady cleaning the windows of her car. When Elder Christensen and I both got out of the car we both looked at each other and felt prompted to talk to this lady. So we asked her for help and she politely declined, but we got chatting about herself and about us as well. Her name is Ana. She has two daughters and she lives in the same apartment complex as us. We were able to explain our purpose as missionaries. She explained how she was looking for a church before the pandemic but stopped when everything happened with Covid. We got all her info down and set up a time to teach her and her daughters! Later we made some brownies for them and dropped them off at their apartment. When we dropped them off Ana told us she knew it was sign from God that we talked to her and she seems excited to talk to us more and to learn more about the gospel.

This experience helped me to remember God's timing is everything. Sure Clder Christensen and I were running behind schedule but if we hadn't been running behind we may have never met her and been able to introduce ourselves to her. 

I know that God's timing and Will for us is everything and as we trust Him we will be tremendously blessed. I love my mission and I love Jesus Christ :) 

-Elder Espiritu 

Last Transfer New Companion

What's up Everyone!

Quite an eventful week! The Lord has been blessing this area! I would love to tell you more about this amazing week!

This past week I started my last transfer on my mission! Wow its crazy how fast time has gone by. I'm so excited to continue to work hard until the very end! My mission president had a zoom  meeting with all the missionaries who are going to end soon. The meeting was called
"finishing strong". It was like a 5 minute meeting but it was so powerful! I loved how he kept inviting us to be examples to the other missionaries and keep working hard until the end of the mission! It really gave me motivation to continue working hard every day.  

With this new transfer I got a new companion, moved apartments, and I stayed in the area.  Sadly Elder Garlick transferred to another area. He was really awesome and I learned a whole bunch from him. I'm grateful for him and I will miss him. My new companions name is Elder Christensen.

We moved into a closer apartment to live in our area. This was nice because we don't have to drive so far.  Elder Christensen is really funny. He's been out on his mission awhile. He also speaks Spanish so that's gonna help a lot serving here in Inglewood. This place is so diverse and we can easily find people who speak Spanish here.

This past week our ward held a little missionary event. It was a drive-thru prayer. We held the event at our church parking lot. In each part of the parking lot there was a little station for different things. First people would drive up and fill out a form with their name, address, number, and what they want us to pray for with them. Then they would drive to the next station which was the prayers with the missionaries. (we had Spanish and English missionaries there to pray with them!) And the last station was where we handed out some few food! The event was pretty successful. We had quite a few cars drive through and we had a lot of numbers to call. We might make that event a monthly thing. I loved it and the Lord really helped us as we did it!

We were blessed quite a bit this past week! Here's one miracle that was amazing...

In the English ward I am serving in there are two sets of missionaries so four Elders in total. There are also four Spanish missionaries that serve in the same area as us. So if we ever find someone who speaks Spanish in our area we pass them off to them! And then vise versa from them to us!

One night the Spanish Elders called us and said they have someone who moved here that speaks Spanish and English but prefers English and that he would like to be baptized! His name is Robert. Robert is such a beast. He is truly prepared by Heavenly Father. Robert was taught in the past and was really close to baptism. He then had some hard times in life and didn't talk to the missionaries anymore. He said for the last couple months he's been really wanted to put God first in his life. He overcame some problems in his life and knows Christ is helping him. We all met with Robert this past Saturday and had a very spiritual lesson. We went over all the baptismal interview questions with him and he remembered all the principles from the lessons. We invited Robert to prepare to be baptized on June 5th! He said he would! He is so amazing. The next day he came to church and we had a lesson with him with one of our members at the church building!

Heavenly Father is sending us such prepared people! I'm super excited for him!

I love this work and it breaks my heart to think I'm heading home soon. I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for me and my companion in these next couple weeks! I love you all!

-Elder Espiritu

 

 

Last companion - Elder Christensen from Kaysville, UT

 

 

Elder Nitta is from the ward my parent's moved into last year - Cedar Hills 15th Ward in Utah

 

 

Service at the Los Angeles temple

Special Advice from My Grandparents

Hello Everyone! 

I just wanted to say thank you for the birthday wishes. I really appreciate it and I'm grateful for all of you! 

Nothing too crazy has been going on lately. We've been teaching quite a bit and all of our friends are starting to progress well. 

We have about 5 people coming to church each week but we're always trying to get more people there to see the joy of coming to church. Our friend Katrice is still excited for her upcoming baptismal date for May 22nd! If you all could pray for her that would be great! 

I love my mission and helping others out! I love my area and the people I've been serving with. I've truly been able to see a significant change in my life as I have served our loving Heavenly Father!

At the beginning of the year I made it a goal to finish The Book of Mormon by May 2nd and mark every time it referenced the Savior. Yesterday I was able to finish The Book of Mormon:) The reason I chose May 2nd to finish it is because that was the day I was baptized 12 years ago! :) 

For my 8th birthday my grandparents gifted me a quad scripture set. I have been using these scriptures even now on my mission. In the front of my scriptures my grandparents left me a note saying:

"To our dearest Dallin, Use the scriptures as your Liahona. We love you!" 

This little note is very short but has always been close to my heart. Both my grandparents have passed away and I miss them so much. These scriptures are priceless and I'm forever grateful for them. I'm so grateful for my grandparents showing me a example of people who loved the scriptures and really understood the importance of daily scripture study:) 

I know the scriptures can help everyone single one of us and they all can bring us comfort and light as we use them as our "liahonas" in our lives. 

I love my mission and I'm happy to be serving!

Thank you all for everything and your support🤙🏽😄

-Elder Espiritu 

Special counsel from Grandpa Eddie & 

Grandma Ceres Espiritu in my Scriptures

Vaccine & New Baptismal Date

What's up everyone! 

Wow! The Lord continues to bless His work here in the Centinela 1st ward! There were some amazing things/ miracles that happened this week. I'm going to share a couple with you! 

First off, our whole mission was able to receive the first dose of the vaccine last Thursday. We get our next dose in 3 weeks. It's really exciting that the last part of my mission most restrictions will be lifted because of the vaccine. 

This week Elder Garlick and I were able to experience a miracle:) Here's a little background. We've been teaching quite a few people in our area. One of them is named Bryan. Bryan was found by another missionary in another part of our mission. Bryan lives in our area and the other Elders passed him off to us and we're teaching him now. 

The other Elders are amazing and they keep finding people in our  area Haha 😂 They found another person named Katrice. Katrice was visiting a family member in the other Elders' area and she saw them on a walk. According to the Elders she was super friendly and prepared to listen and learn about the Gospel. 

They figured out Katrice lives in our area! We brought her a Bible, A Book of Mormon, and cookies to her and set up an appointment for the next day. As we were preparing for our lesson. Elder Garlick and I felt prompted to teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we taught we tried to listen to her and what the Spirit wanted us to teach. We asked Katrice what she was willing to do to know Christ and Heavenly Father. She said "anything!" 

We taught her the lesson, and invited her to prepare to he baptized! She said yes! She's preparing to be baptized on May 22, 2021:) I'm excited for her and I'm so grateful I was able to experience that miracle. 

I really do love my mission. I know if I was back at home, I wouldn't be able to see these amazing miracles happen doing the work of the Lord. I know this work is the Lord's work! 

Love you all thank you for everything:) 

-Elder Espiritu 

Kobe!

Matching with Elder Manana

Our apartment