Alamogordo, New Mexico- White Sands area

photo credit

March 20, 2013

Hello!

I was very sad to leave the MTC :( I love that place!!! But I was way more excited to finally get to the mission field!!! It was CRAZY on the plane with 29 Elders and Sisters all flying to the ALbuquerque mission!! We are the biggest group they've ever gotten and I guess everyone is so excited here to meet the 29 new missionaries this mission is getting! The first day was pretty crazy we all got off the plane and threw our stuff in this trailer and there were tons of cars trucks and vans waiting to haul us all away! we went straight to the temple and took a picture. The temple is beautiful. It’s the only temple I’ve seen that’s not white! So after the the picture we went to the stake center and ate lunch then had a ton of meetings and lessons while the mission president interviewed all 29 of us in a row! Poor guy lol. Also a bunch of zone leaders took us to go tracting for an hour to "break us in." there were some pretty hilarious stories! So I”ll tell mine. The missionary that took me said he wanted to find the most ghetto area he could find...and he sure did! Very ghetto apartment complex lol! The very FIRST door I knocked on was pretty intense...no one answered, haha, but the next door..oh boy. The old lady with a smokers voice didn’t open the door but asked who was at the door and the missionary who brought us there said "the missionaries!" in a very cheerful voice and we got told to go to hell and a lot of other swear words then she said she would show us how to knock on her door and pounded on it so hard!! so what did we do? Other than one kid who looked like he needed to change his pants we all said well have a good day and walked off laughing! So funny!!! So we went back and had a testimony meeting and it was sooo good. 11 elders crammed into one apartment while the 18 sisters all got to stay in some really rich members house and they all had beds. Lucky, haha. The next morning was when we found out who our companions would be and where we would be serving. There were three elders and some sisters who didn’t find out at that meeting and had to drive 3 1/2 hours south to another one to find out who was training you. I was one of the lucky few, lol, but on our way down we passed a sign that said so many miles to White Sands and the Elder driving said that’s the place we all want to serve. It’s the best apparently. And I can tell you just from my experiences yesterday that the White Sands area is the best:) lucky me! My companion is awesome!! Elder Becar. Its more like Be-car I guess. It’s French/Tongan. He’s white with about a quarter Tongan in him but he’s as big as a Tongan!! He knows a lot so I can’t wait to learn from him. We already have some investigators who were gonna try and commit to Baptism so I’m excited!!!! The city I live in is called Alamogordo. I’m so excited to serve the people here and cannot wait to meet the ward!!!

love,

Elder Jaden Espinoza

Here is where he is living to send him a letter or package he says;)
Elder Jaden Espinoza

2200 E. 1st Street

Las Ventanas Apt. 613

Alamogordo, NM 88310

He also said-
 tell everyone if they sent letters to the MTC address anytime after last Wednesday I probably didn't get them and I'm not sure if the MTC will forward it to the mission home so if I don"t write back I'm so sorry!!!!!

Downtown Alamogordo, New Mexico