The Work Continues

Hi everyone!

We got to find and teach a lot of people this week. One of families that we found is doing well. Their name is the Gallardo family. They've been coming to church these last two weeks which is really nice. One of the sons is the same as me his name is Rodo. We took him and two of his friends (Reynoldo and Jerry) to our church on Saturday to play some basketball with the Elders Quorum in our ward. 

It was fun playing basketball and I'm pretty sure they had a good time. It was good our ward was nice to them and made them feel welcome. While they were waiting for their turn to play, Elder Hedman was showing them the Book of Mormon and he told me after they seemed very interested. 

I'm impressed with some of the elderly people here in the Philippines. On Tuesday the Sisters and us had a dinner appointment with this older nanay in our ward. She's probably about 70 years old. 

When we first got there she was telling us about her day. Elder Hedman said "astig yin" (meaning "that's cool") about something she said and after that she said "oo astig si nanay" It was so funny. She basically called herself cool and when she said that she did a lil dance. I laughed so hard. 

When we were eating she told us she goes to the temple here quite a bit. Which is pretty cool, cause the temple is far from our area. She says she doesn't complain and she always works. She walks around all day with her little cart with food trying to sell it. She's a little old lady trying to work so hard, but she never complains. She's awesome. 

She made me think of my Grandma that just passed away this year. I'm grateful for her example to me and the sacrifice she made for my family.

Sorry my emails are so short. Love you all have a good week!

-Elder Espiritu 

Elder Delray and I. He's in my district

Me in a trike

First Baptism

So a lot went down this week. At the beginning of the week I finally got to watch the afternoon session of General Conference. I was grateful to finally watch it. 

I loved Elder Bednar's talk. Especially when he talked about "the cheetah's and the topis" It was a really cool talk. One part that I liked a lot was when he said "Focusing our lives in and on the Savior and His gospel enables us to overcome the tendency of the natural man to be spiritually snoozy and lazy. As we are blessed with eyes to see and ears to hear, the Holy Ghost can increase our capacity to look and listen when we may not typically think we need to look or listen or when we may not think anything can be seen or heard.

“Watch, therefore, that ye may be ready.” That was really cool I liked that a lot.

We had zone conference this week too. That was awesome I got to see and meet a ton of new missionaries and I learned a lot. 

This week Elder Hedman and I found a lot of new people. We found a couple of new families. It was a really good week of work. I'm grateful for the work and to be able to serve a mission. 

One of the highlights this week was my first baptism. That was such an awesome experience. I baptized Rey Payot. He's about 40 years old. He's living with some members so that's how he found out about the gospel. 

We met him the first week we were here in Paranaque and two months later we finally got the opportunity to baptize him. I"m grateful for that experience. 

That's about it for this week. Hope everyone has a good week. Mahal ko Kayo!! 

-Elder Espiritu 

From Elder Espiritu’s Mom while speaking to him on Google Hangout:

On Tuesday while at his second Zone conference he felt a lot more like the “experienced” missionary since the new missionaries are now the “newbies.” 

They have a few in their teaching pool. They have a family referral who actually came to church but was too embarrassed and shy to go into the church meetinghouse. They are planning to visit them tonight (it’s Monday morning there in the Philippines). 

They are currently teaching an “old couple” (“Like Mom and Dad’s age” Per Elder Espiritu! Haha) and are also teaching their neighbors. 

Their companionship is moving to a new apartment closer to their area. It takes 4-5 trike rides (motorcycle drawn carriage) to get to their area (about an hour’s drive) from their current apartment.

Their new apartment is actually close to the chapel and is more conveniently located. He said they spend about 150 pesos/person/day in transportation. That’s a lot considering each ride is only about 9 pesos. In US $$ that’s only $2.88/day/person. Conversion rate is 52 pesos to $1. 

He talked about how everything is inexpensive but members are so nice that they feed them dinner almost every night. He spends 20 pesos per hour to use the Internet cafe to email and google hangout with us. 

He also mentioned that the members are so friendly that it’s so easy for them to bring new people they are teaching because they rally around them. 

He also said people call him and his companion “pogi” (handsome) all the time! 😂

His Tagalog is going really well! He understands more than he can speak. People still sometimes laugh that he speaks with an accent but he laughs with them and has a great attitude about it. 

He really appreciates all the people who email him. He does answer everyone of them! Please keep them coming.

Baptism of Rey Payot Oct 19, 2019

Zone Conference

His Tagalog is Progressing Well 

With Only 3.5 Months of Learning the 

Language from Scratch :)

Conference Week in the Philippines

This week was really good. Two quick stories. 

Sometime this week Elder Hedman and I were finding new people to teach and we were talking to random people on the streets. We talked to this one lady and then a ton of people started gathering around. A lady started talking to us in the big crowd. Her name was Mary Joy. 

We asked her if she's seen people like us before (like other missionaries) and she said "Oh of course. They actually came and taught me several times." Of course we talked to her more and found out more things about her. Apparently she worked for my uncle that lives here in the Philippines. I thought that was crazy out of all the people we could've talked to this lady had talked to past missionaries and knew and worked for my uncle. The Lord definitely works in so many wonderful ways! It's awesome!

The other story is about lil kids. Because of how often we go to certain parts of our areas a lot of people already know us. Every time we go to kenko these little kids always run up to us and say sup. And because my companion's name is Elder Hedman they always call him "Kuya Head". It's so funny! 

Last time we went there we were in an alleyway and the kids popped out of no where and looked up and just started chanting "kuya head kuya head kuya head!" There was probably about 20 kids in a small alleyway just screaming. It was really funny! The people here are great and have such good hearts. I love them! 

We set another baptismal date with a part member. Her name is Jessica. She just got married to a returned missionary who is American. It's gonna be fun teaching her more. Another one of our people that we're teaching is Rey. His baptism is for next week and I'm super excited!

I finally got to watch General Conference this week and it was soooo good. The speakers were all so good and you could tell the Spirit was guiding them throughout all their talks. 

I really liked the talk given by Elder Terence M  Vinson. One thing he said I really liked was "Giving our all doesn’t mean that we will be continually enveloped in blessings or always have success. But it does mean that we will have joy. Joy is not a fleeting pleasure or even temporary happiness. Joy is enduring and is founded on our efforts being accepted by the Lord."

I love how he said sometimes we're not going to succeed but Heavenly Father is so grateful for our efforts. And as we constantly continue to work to become the person who Heavenly Father wants us to be we will feel so much joy and happiness in our life. 

I love our Prophet and I know what he says is true. I love you all. Thanks for writing! :) 

Elder Espiritu

trike ride to kenko

Last pday we went to bdubs and it was so good

cool pic 

Basketball Is How We Find :)

October 7, 2019

First off it's my dads bday and if anyone sees him make sure to wish him a happy birthday. He's a huge example in my life and I'm really grateful for him.

This week wasn't too crazy but it's okay. We got a lot of work was done. The mission is still awesome! 

Elder Hedman and I got to find a couple of new families to teach. I love the families here. They are all very nice and really friendly. 

On Friday a lot of our appointments fell through. So we went to go find some new people in North Daang Harri (a really busy neighborhood in our area) 

Elder Hedman had me practice my Tagalog and then we went up to someone's door and starting asking questions in straight English. It was really funny! They all looked at me and was like "what's this dude saying" and with my broken Tagalog I tried my best to respond. They knew how to speak English so when Elder Hedman asked them if we could speak to them, they responded in Tagalog saying "yes but only in Tagalog." So he started speaking Tagalog and they were all so surprised. 

The family was Muslim so they didn't really let us share. But there's one thing that's really cool about this culture. If they have food they will always offer to feed you. So we all ate together and got to know each other. They were super nice and told us the places to avoid. The people here in the Philippines are so kind and really welcoming. They're awesome!

I'm sad I couldn't watch General Conference this week. Here in the Philippines we don't watch it until a week after because they need to translate it. I'm excited to listen to all the talks though. 

I wanna share one scripture I really liked this week.  It's Matthew 9:28-30

28 And when he was come into the house the blind man came to him and Jesus saith unto them believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him yea, lord
29 Then touched he their eyes saying, according to your faith be it unto you. 
30 And their eyes were opened and Jesus straitly changed them, saying see that no man know it. 

I really liked these scriptures. As we continue to have faith in Christ he will touch our heart and open our eyes. At times in life we will be like the blind man but because of Christ and our faith in Him he can open our eyes and we can see the light the gospel can bring. 

I know the restored gospel contains all the principles, ordinances, and teachings needed for us to return to our Father in Heaven and our Savior again. When we have faith in them they will open our eyes so we can see the real reason we're here. 

There's no place I'd rather be than here in the Philippines doing the Lord's work. Heavenly Father loves all of you! I hope everyone has a good week!

-Elder Espiritu 

This is how we find people to teach

Our chapel