July 22, 2014

So last week was a week full of miracles! We have this thing in our mission where we park our cars for a day to get us out talking to more people. So we parked our car last week praying and hoping for a miracle to happen in our area cause this area really needs it! So we were planning on meeting with the bishop that evening but he asked if we could earlier on that afternoon so we decided to walk to his house. Then he texted us telling us he would be a little late so we were just gonna go to his house anyways and drink some water cause it was super hot that day but then I said we should stop by this less actives house for a few minutes so we started walking towards that house and on the way there were these two ladies and three kids picking plums. As we got there the ladder started getting really wobbly so we ran up there and help it for her so she could come down then we started talking to them and they gave us plums and we asked if we could help so my companion climbed up on the ladder and started picking plums for them! Then they asked us what we do and we explained that were missionaries and we teach people about Christ. Then one lady asked if we do grievance counseling and we said sort of through scriptual study and strenghtening you faith in Christ. she then opened up about how her daughter just passed away and she is struggling so we gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet and asked if we could come back and talk with her about it and she said yes! So a few days pass by and we stopped by. At first no one answered and there was a ton of cars there so we knew they were home and were bummed out but right when we were walking away she asnwered the door! Her mom was there too and they were both excited to see us and had been expecting us! She had told her mom all about us and so she was happy to meet us! So we had about 15 minutes cause our ward mission leader had to leave but we shared a short scripture and invited them to church and they will both be there this Sunday and were going back to have a real lesson with them and they're both really excited about it! And we are even more excited I'm sure haha cause we have been waiting for a miracle to happen!!! Both of these women are so prepared for this gospel right now and its totally what they need to comfort them about their loss.

So miracles just keep happening here in this zone and it really is amazing. Last week we had our stake missionary correlation meeting and the stake president said in the 5 years he has been a stake president he hasn't seen this many baptismal dates. It truly is amazing to see the Lord hasten his work. But it happens when we are the ones willing to hasten the work. He will provide ways and opportunities for us when we do!

Love Elder Espinoza

07/15/14

So last week was a crazy busy week that went by way too fast! The second Sunday of every month we have our SMCM meeting (stake missionary correlation meeting) with the stake presidency, the high councilor over missionary work, our mission president and his 1st counselor. So we have a huge report we have to do and Elder Taylor is a new ZL so I had to teach him how to do the report on excel and all that fun stuff so we were in the library a lot. We also planned a ward mission conference for the stake with Brother Payne, the high councilor over missionary work, for last Sunday and that was such an amazing meeting. Hopefully it inspired the ward mission leaders and everyone in the ward that has to do with the ward mission! I know all the missionaries are super pumped for this transfer so hopefully they catch the same vision that we have for this stake! The Lord is seriously hastening his work here in this stake. The most baptisms we have had in this stake in the last two years for a month was 6 and that was two years ago and this month we should have over 8! Everyone is super pumped! So, I know the Lord is hastening his work here and is doing the same thing back home so hopefully you all jump on the Lords bandwagon, lol.

So last night we met this neighbor kid that lives by one of our favorite members house! He seriously reminds me of Joseph Smith. Lol! This kid is 15 years old and really is searching for truth. He has been studying a bunch of different religions online and already knows more than the average member that is his age, lol, and he can quote the bible better than just about anyone I have met on my mission. He has a ton of questions and wants to know why we believe things that we do. The crazy thing is he comes off as wanting to bible bash but he doesn't belong to any religion at all and just wants to learn, so its pretty neat that a kid this young really wants to learn. So we are excited to teach him. Its gonna be a little difficult to try and not bible bash with him because that gets you no where I've learned on my mission, lol. Although I just about did last night when he was talking to us but then I remembered he is just a young kid that wants to learn. He knows the bible better than me I'm sure and can quote it a lot better than me but he definitely does not understand what it means which is most important. Makes me grateful for the knowledge and understanding I have grown to have on my mission! Hopefully this turns out to be something good and he get baptized but we shall see!

Well I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Elder Espinoza

 Elder Espinoza and Elder Taylor

07/08/14

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! And a safe one at that. We had a pretty good day. Our ward had a breakfast bright and early in the morning then we left to set up for zone training! That meeting was definitely one the best zone trainings. The spirit was very strong there and I feel like the missionaries are really applying the things they learned. My comp and I are and are definitely seeing the miracles come from it! There are tons of miracles happening every day in this zone. It really helps bring the spirit and unity of this zone up. It's really an exciting time to be here :)

So we didn't do anything too exciting on the 4^th, just tried to talk to people and teach lessons. We had dinner with members later on in the evening then had a lesson and got to watch fireworks from their balcony for a few minutes. They have an awesome view of ABQ so we got to see a lot of different shows - it was cool!

Our area has been a little slow since lots of people are out of town, so we're trying hard to stay busy! Its been pretty hot outside recently and then at night it rains so with a swamp cooler it gets all sticky in our apartment. But hey, thats what makes being a missionary being a missionary, haha! Fast Sunday was good as usual, we have really strong members here in this ward. Its nice too because we get the opportunity to bear our testimonies every fast Sunday :) There definitely are blessings that come from sharing your own testimony and many scriptures that say that the angels of heaven record what you say. Kinda cool :) I would encourage you all to share your testimony with someone this week especially if you find its hard to think of your testimony or if you even have one. Just testify of the things you know to be true and the Lord will bless you and your testimony will strengthen :) Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Espinoza

07/01/14

Well last week was a super busy week! We had transfers which is always exciting! Elder Reams went down to Las Cruces and my new companion is Elder Taylor! He came out just a transfer before me. He is from San Diego and lemme tell ya we are already brothers! Haha! We tell people that we must have been comps in the premortal or something 'cause we are always on the same page and think the same things! We get along really. We already know these next few transfers are going to be way awesome! Definitely gonna hang out after the mission.

So basically our whole zone changed. Everyone except 1 companionship got a new companion and a new are opened up. We are pretty excited for this transfer, this zone has a ton of miracles waiting to happen! Most of last week was spent getting missionaries the things they need and getting settled in to their new areas and apartments so we didn't get to do too much missionary work but this week we are gonna get out there and put some serious work in!

It is getting pretty dang hot outside but oh well, we have 2 years to serve the Lord and an eternity to reflect on it. We also have MLC this week which is always really exciting to get together with the other ZLs and STLs and get trained on the goals and plans that President Miller has for the mission. We have zone training on the 4th too but our ward is having a breakfast like right before so were gonna go to that, lol!

Well sorry this is so short but we have a super busy day today so next week will be a better letter I promise lol Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza

An amazing week!

June 23, 2014

   Well last week was an amazing week! We had stake conference and Elder Daniel W. Jones of the 70 presided over the conference. I think my favorite part was in the adult and children 12 and up session on Saturday. Elder Jones had our mission president and the stake president at the podium with him and he just asked them questions and had them respond to us. It was amazing to see all the inspiration they were receiving at that moment. It really helped the members and missionaries all get on the same page! It was definitely my favorite part! Overall the whole thing was good though! It's always good to have an area authority come! So many miracles happened in our zone last week I couldn't describe all of them in an email! We are teaching a new family of 5 and we are so excited about that! Areas in this zone are starting to be really productive! We have a new area in our zone opening up tomorrow. Sadly though every companionship except one will be changing :/ We really had a strong zone unity here in the ABQ West zone. But it will continue to build with all the new missionaries! :) I will be getting a new companion as well tomorrow :/ Elder Reams is going down to Las Cruces! I'm not sure who I will be getting but I know it will be a good companion that's for sure! Well the weather is changing and its definitely starting to get HOT outside. Luckily we have a car but we do park it once a week and walk all day. Miracles always happen that day. 

  Well I hope everyone had a great week! Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza 

 

 Our Zone . Everyone but 1 companionship is getting a new comp. Its gonna be a totally new zone! Gonna miss them all :/

 

Get out of the boat

06/17/14

Well I can't believe I totally forgot to email my weekly letter last week! It was a really busy Pday though. We had zone conference so the Pday before we have to wash and wax our car so we had to go get wax for our zone and make sure everyone did it right and all that . So our cars looked really good until it rained for a little a few days later, lol. But zone conference was amazing! Our mission president's talk was amazing. He talked about how Peter got out of the boat to walk on the water with Christ and how he showed so much faith by simply getting out of the boat. So his main message was to "Get out of the boat". It was really good. We have so many things that we are accounting for as missionaries and so many little programs we are doing and really we just need to get out of the boat and get a little out of our comfort zone and just do the things we know that will make us successful missionaries. He also related it to when his family would go water skiing. The live on a lake in Utah and always try to be the first ones out on the water so they go like in March or something like that and have to wear wet or dry suits. But every year I guess he asks “who wants to go out first?” And everyone is hesitant 'cause they know its going to be cold but finally someone says they'll do it and they jump in and before you know it they're on top of the water on skiis and its not so bad. Missionary work really is the same way for missionaries and members. WE all just have to get out of the boat to realize its really not that bad and its enjoyable but we should not lose faith like Peter did when the adversary sends the wind our way. He definitely does not want us to open our mouths at all and it pleases him whenever we get a prompting from the Spirit and don't act on it. So think about who is being please whenever you don't act on a prompting from the holy ghost to share your testimony!

We have transfers coming next week. We think Elder Reams is leaving :/ He has been here for a while now but hey, I thought that in my last area for 4 transfers in a row, lol. But we will see. We have stake conference this week and Elder Jones from the 70 will be here so I'm very excited to see what he has to say. I can already tell ya missionary work will be talked about!

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love Elder Espinoza

June  Zone Conference

 

           06/03/04

So Elder Reams and I finally realized the other day that our swamp cooler doesnt even work. The heater is what was blowing out air not the swamp cooler, lol! This whole time we thought our swamp cooler just wasn't that great or something but we went into a members home and they live in the same complex as us and it was cool in there so we were like what the heck! Then he came and looked at ours and told us what was wrong. So this whole time we have been dying of heat not knowing we coulda just told the apt people it needed to be fixed, lol! And to top that off, our car will be in the shop this entire week. But it was definitely a blessing our ac got fixed the day we had to take our car in! We are actually excited about not having a car because it will give us an opportunity to talk to a lot more people. Maybe even lose a little weight out in the heat ;) lol! It does make things harder because we need our car for somethings but luckily we have an amazing ward!

Last week was a good one though. We did a lot of walking around anyway and talking to people whenever we didn't have anything planned. Its kinda sad but you would be surprised at how many people would actually decline a picture of Christ. But at least most people were nice about it, lol! Its actually fun to try to strike up conversation with people then somehow try to relate it to the gospel and invite them to come closer to Christ. I honestly can't think of anything that you can NOT relate somehow back to Christ or His gospel. This week we have our MLC meeting. I'm looking forward to that. Then the next day we have zone training and next week we have zone conference! Those come way to fast! But I love them! Well, I hope everyone has an amazing week! Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza

All the ZL's and STL's in our mission!