Elder Espinoza in the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission: There's nothing better then teaching other people and sharing your own personal testimony with people who aren't as lucky as you to have had the gospel in their lives

03/04/14

Hello hello,

So last week was just an amazing week for missionary work here in El Paso. That guy we met is just so on fire its crazy. We set a baptismal date with him for March 29^th and then two days later we moved it up to the 15th and he is just sooo excited about it! It is so amazing to see this happen. And I've already seen it in lots of people on my mission but he is just something else. His wife is also a member and I guess they have been having troubles and the other day he told us about some stuff and my first thought was, "Dang he is doing this for his wife and now hes gonna drop us!" but I was soo wrong. He said he is not letting anything get in the way of his baptism and it's all for himself! I about leaped outta my chair for joy! Haha! He was saying how he usually likes to set goals and his next goal was to make the E6 rank in the army which is an amazing goal to have but he said that he has never been so determined to reach a goal as he is for this baptismal goal. He is just so prepared for this gospel its unreal. The night we moved his date up we talked about the word of wisdom a little bit cause in this mission you have to be living it for at least two weeks to be baptized and he was like well I've never drank or smoked and I don't drink coffee and rarely drinks tea and that it wouldn't even be a struggle for him. That was a big relief for us haha were just so excited for him right now, its crazy.

We also have another investigator that's just about as solid as he is! He even came to our zone conference yesterday and talked to almost 60 missionaries about what teaching methods we used that worked for him the best and at what moment did he feel the spirit. He did an amazing job and had all of us missionaries were asking him questions and laughing it was so awesome! We also have another little girl getting baptized. She didn't grow up in the gospel or anything and she is one smart cookie! Haha! We taught her the plan of salvation and she taught it right back to us and she's only 10. I don't even think I knew how to spell the plan of salvation when I was 10 haha jk. But these 3 will be getting baptized this month and the elders that cover the south half of the ward will be having 2. That's 5 baptisms for this ward in one month! Talk about hastening the work! Its just a super exciting time to be a missionary right now and I'm loving every minute of it.

Its also crazy to think that on the 6th I will hit my year mark! This first year has flown by way too fast and this next one is supposed to go by even faster. Kinda sad but it makes me want to work even harder now! This work truly is amazing and when you have wonderful investigators who are progressing they make YOU excited about the gospel. Especially when the investigator is doing missionary work after the first lesson you have with him! I would really recommend going out with the missionaries. Especially if you are struggling with your own testimony right now. There's nothing better then teaching other people and sharing your own personal testimony with people who aren't as lucky as you to have had the gospel in their lives. It truly is an inspired work! Love you all and have a great week!

Love Elder Espinoza