Crazy week!

May 27, 2013

Hello Hello,

So this last week has definitely been the craziest week of them all. I heard that one of my good friends, Emily Bleazard, got her call to the same mission as me! That’s so exciting! It’s a great mission.

   So a couple days ago I was at a less active members house who is pretty much my grandma out here. I love her haha. She reminds me of all my Tias back home. Very Mexican and proud of it! But she's the only one who makes us mexican food here and its really amazing! She has a little Chihuahua named Chucha haha. They also have a pitbull named Gordo. I was play fighting with little Chucha and my face was right next to the pitbull and I guess he wasn’t havin it cause he growled really loud and bit my face!!! I didn’t even know what had happened. I figured he lunged at my companions hand and my comp moved it outta the way and he smacked me on accident but no. Sure enough I started bleeding really bad right at the bottom of my eyebrow and I couldn’t get it to stop! I got really lucky though. I don’t think the dog actually bit down I think he just lunged at me with his mouth open and smacked me with his teeth pretty much. So I have two little holes in my head. One below my eyebrow and one right on my temple. They’re pretty small little scars but I definitely was being watched over cause that dog coulda ripped half of my face off!  

  So last Monday we went up to Las Cruces and one of my friends that I’ve thrown with in track since 7th grade goes to New Mexico state which is in Las Cruces. Every time we go there I always talk about how cool it would be if I saw him there. But school had just gotten out so I figured he had already went home. We went to the mall to look around and guess who I saw at the mall! My db Cam Dahl! It was sooo awesome! He said he had only been to that mall like 2 times in the two years he has lived there and the only reason he went was cause he was getting his car fixed and had nothing to do. He was gonna leave back home the next day. What a coincidence haha. It was really awesome though. We had lunch together with my comp and some other elders. It was nice to get to catch up with him!

  So for another crazy story haha. This happened a couple weeks ago actually. On Mothers day we were supposed to go give this lady a blessing. But of course we were worried about skyping our mothers and totally forgot. Sunday comes around and we got a call to remind us about it. So we called her and she told us to come after dinner. We forgot our backpacks at dinner which never happens ever. Our backpacks have our oil and everything we need basically. So after dinner we go to her house and realize she’s a single lady and we can’t go in unless if we have another male with us. So we drove to like 5 different members homes and none of them were home or couldn’t make it. So we figured we would just give her a blessing in her back yard or something. So we get back to her house and realize we didn’t have oil haha so we go back to a members house who happened to be the high priest quorum leader and got some oil from him and he pretty much made us go to a different members house and ask him to come with us. We didn’t know the guy at all and I guess he worked on Sundays and couldn’t come to church so it was a little akward showing up to his house and asking him to come with us to give her a blessing. Also he is in the German Air force so he barely spoke any English. but sure enough he came with us and it was crazy cause it turned out that he was her home teacher and she had just lost her job and had to move but had no money or food or anything and he was moving back to Germany so he had all this food he couldn’t bring with him and he was able to help her out in so many ways. We didn’t even do any talking there cause he just had all these things she needed. It made us feel a lot better about forgetting everything haha. We feel like all that was meant to happen. It’s crazy how the Lord works in his mysterious ways to help out all his children cause he loves each and every one of us.

  This week we also found 3 new investigators which was really exciting and we have 2 more who are basically ready for baptism. We have been really focusing on consecrating ourselves and being obedient with exactness and we are definitely seeing the blessings from it.

   I hope everyone had a great week and has an even better one this week! thanks for all the love and support! sorry this letter was so long! lol Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza

Photography by Galicia

Exciting news and had to do his own laundry!

May 20, 2013

Hello hello,

  Well exciting news this week! Apparently Jonathan beat up the mail man and went and got a ring for Italia?? Interesting... hahaha That's sooo exciting! I'm so sad I have to miss their wedding but its alright I'm doing the Lord's work down here in Alamogordo haha (but really) ;)

   So not too much has happened this week. Our investigator kinda dropped us and told us she wouldn't be coming to church for a while after we taught her the word of wisdom and she understood she couldn't be baptized until she could commit to living it. Kinda sad but we will still be visiting with her. We found some new families to teach yesterday and were very excited about that. We will have to see how the first lesson goes! 

  We finally had to do our own laundry this morning so we woke up at 4 to get it done so we could drive up to Las Cruces and play some ball with all of our zone. so I'm here at the New Mexico State library with most of the missionaries in our zone, lol, we look funny I'm sure.

   So the other day I got to wake up to a cockroach crawling on me...... exciting I know. Don't be too jealous now haha that's New Mexico for you I guess. well I hope all is well with everyone and you're all in my prayers! love you all and have a great week!

Love, Elder Espinoza

If you are wondering what exactly he means by "beat up the mail man" here ya go-
 So Italia, his sister, was actually waiting for her mission call to come in the mail last Thursday. Which they always come on Thursdays around here but it didn't come.  Well, Jonathan (her boyfriend) had decided he really didn't want her to leave after all  so he  hopped in the car and drove here from Idaho all night so he could propose to her before her mission call came. And that he did. He beat the mailman, not actually beat up the mailman lol! Interestingly her call still has not come in the mail and we have been told that it was issued on May 10th. Must have been mean to be :)

Italia and Jonathan

short and sweet

May 13, 2013

Hello Hello,

  It was so nice to get to Skype my family yesterday!!! I miss them all a lot! I wish I could have Skyped a lot more people but that woulda been a little apostate haha It was nice though but I'm ready to get back to work!!! We have a Baptism scheduled for this Saturday but were not sure if our investigator will be ready by then. We need to make sure she understands everything before she gets baptized. She's been doing really well lately and has been progressing lots! Its so awesome to see her progress. We are having trouble finding new investigators though. So everyone help out your missionaries and pray for missionary opportunities so you can refer someone to the missionaries!!! We LOVE referrals as missionaries, haha, its like a present!

   So this week we are really gonna work on finding. Most of our work is with less active members and some have actually been really progressing since 'Ive been here. Its also very nice to see someone come back into church and see their lives change just from making these small and simple steps. Heavenly Father notices everything we do and blesses us for it! He knows our thoughts and desires but we have to act on it or else it really doesn't mean too much.

   Well sorry this letter is a little short I don't have too much time on these library computers and we weren't able to get a key to the church history center lol. I've been doing great though I have no complaints whatsoever. Just loving life! I hope all is well with everyone :) Its always nice to hear from everybody and I'm thankful for all the love and support I get!

Love,
Elder Espinoza

Skyping to his family in California

skyping to his family in Washington

We all so enjoyed seeing and talking to Elder Espinoza!

Pretty busy week

May 6, 2013

Hello,

  So this last week was a pretty busy week. Nothing really special happened we were just super busy trying to contact a bunch of less active families and part member families. We finally got our first referral since I’ve been here!!! It’s a Filipino family who are very kind and very open to religions. They are friends of another Filipino family in our ward and the people in our ward think they will really accept us and love the message we share. We only met the Dad of the family. We're gonna go back this week and teach the first lesson! We are so excited for it!!! And our other investigator got her baptism date moved back to the 18th of this month I think. Which is good cause we still have a lot that we need to make sure she understands before she gets baptized. Lots of people don’t realize that we don’t just baptize anyone. They have to have a testimony of the Church before and really understand what they are doing.

  Last week there was a pretty big fire outside of Alamogordo. A transformer short circuited or something and leaked whatever it is that’s inside of it all over the pole and ground and started a huge fire. The telephone pole looked really cool cause it was completely engulfed in flames. I got a cool picture of it! Also there’s this place here called the snake pit. Its.....interesting. A bunch of redneck old guys go out and catch rattlesnakes and put them in this deep pit. You pay 50 cents and get a balloon and tie it to the end of a fishing pole and move it around their heads and they strike at it!! It’s sooooooo crazy! haha it was actually really fun. I got some cool pictures a video of it. Hopefully I’m able to send it home haha its pretty crazy.

   Well I hope everything is going great for everyone! I’m so thankful for the letters and emails I get every week and all the love and support!! And those pictures of the old run down house is really not where I’m staying. I just wanted to see what my mom had to say about that! Haha, I've tricked her too many times she’s catching on now! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Espinoza

(So here is the picture he sent me last week of where he said he was moving too. Ya, I didn't believe him that he was moving there but I thought he really was moving lol! He's not moving, his address is the same.)

Here are the other pictures he talked about in his letter.

Another good week!

April 29, 2013

Hey hey,
     This week has been another good one!  Staying busy all day everyday.  We did a lot of contacting less actives and part member families.  No new investigators sadly but two men who work with our bishop came to church and really enjoyed it!  We're hoping to meet with them this week! 

     We were finally able to get a hold of Natasha and had a very interesting lesson with her...haha...she told us she was planning on getting baptized by a Baptist church too.  She's always throwin' us loops!  We asked her lots of questions though that got her thinking about how there can only be one true church and one baptism.  So hopefully we are making progress with her.  She came to church and is starting to make friends so that is really helping out!!!  The Riofrio family dodged us last week.  It was really sad!  The dad knows about our church 'cause his dad is a member.  He knows our standards and we feel like he doesn't want to change 'cause he enjoys partying with all his buddies in his squadron.  We saw his wife at Walmart and she was so excited to see us and is still very excited about the church!  We gave her a Spanish Book of Mormon and some Spanish pamphlets and she was so happy and thankful for that.  So we know she's still progressing!  Their son still goes to boy scouts which is good.  We're really gonna try and meet with them this week though.  Hopefully it happens! 

     Transfers is also this week but our small district of 4 Elders is staying the same!  Me and the other Elder are getting trained and it's a 12 week process so our trainers stayed here with us.  We all have fun on Mondays  whenever we get together.  I can't believe my first 6 weeks have already passed!  It seems like  yesterday when my mom was telling me I didn't have to go if I didn't want to and that I could just stay home with her... She was just too nice to say she couldn't handle me being gone for so long ;) hahaha jk. well not much has changed here.  We are all excited to skype our mothers on Mothers day!  We know they're even more excited haha!  Thanks again for all the love and support and the letters and emails!  I really appreciate it :)  Love you all!  

  Love,  Elder Jaden Espinoza

Photography by Galicia

Amazing Experience

April 22, 2013

Hello Hello!
     So this last week has been a pretty good one!  We had an amazing experience with a family that’s wanting to know how to get closer to Christ and learn more about His gospel.  They have lots of LDS friends and they notice how close they are and they always notice a different feeling going into their home.  Which most of us know is the Spirit!  So their main concern is wanting to get their family to grow closer to one another.  We had the most amazing lesson I've ever had and the same with my companion.  They were soooo excited about learning more and more.  We were there for 2 1/2 hours teaching them.  They soaked it all up even though they were Catholic and went every Sunday.  They say they don't feel anything when they go and they feel as if its the same thing over and over again.  The Husband is a little shakey about the whole thing.  But we know its 'cause he likes to drink and all that "fun" stuff and he knows we don't do that.  His dad is actually a member who served a mission and is a high priest.  He lives in New York.  The husband’s name is Xavier Riofrio (cool last name I know haha).  He's from Guatemala and grew up with his mom only.  But nontheless he knows about our standards now that he and his dad have a good relationship.  His wife and stepson are so excited!  His stepson actually goes to scouts at the church and all the other activities.  We feel as if this family is one of those elect families that Heavenly Father is preparing for the gospel.  They couldn't make it to church this last week so we're hoping for next Sunday!  We haven't been able to talk to our other investigator Natasha for a while 'cause I guess she is out of town 'til Wednesday or so.  She's still doing good!  

     I went on my first exchanges this week also.  I went with Elder Kemp who is from Newport Washington!  It's just north of Spokane.  He's one of the Zone Leaders.  He's a really cool guy and we had lots of fun.  I hope we are companions sometime.  We have already planned to go bow hunting when we both get back.  He's pretty good so he's gonna take me! 

     Things are starting to look better for the White Sands ward as far as missionary work is going. Our bishop has been stressing missionary work this whole month so I think the ward is finally starting to get it!  So everyone go out and share the gospel!!!!  I hope everyone is doing well and I'm always so thankful for all the love and support.  I pray for everyone every day!  Love you all.

Love,
Elder Jaden Espinoza

Me and Elder Becar this mornin.

Little sand storm

If you look close you can see a white line across the picture. Those are the white sands!! they are huge dunes its pretty cool.

First Baptismal Commitment!

April 16,2013

Hello hello!

So this past week has really been a great week!!  I'll start off with telling you about our investigator Natasha.  So we went and taught the first lesson and it went really well!!  She committed to baptism and everything.  Its crazy how receptive she is to everything we teach her.  She really wants to be baptized.  She came to church with us on Sunday and absolutely loved it.  Everyone was really nice to us and at first she was a little hesitant to leave us for Relief Society but some random sister came up and took her right away from us.  It was pretty funny and we were really thankful!  She loved it though!!  We are so excited for her and its really awesome to see her want to change her life and come closer to Christ.  She really is a sincere woman.  We still need to teach her some more lessons and make sure she fully understands the atonement and why we are baptized.  Her baptism date is May 11th but we both think it will be sooner than that 'cause she is so receptive and so willing to learn more and change her life.  She is definitely one of those people God is preparing for His gospel.  Its pretty awesome to be told you are the answer to someones prayers:)  So on Sunday we had to teach CTR 5.... oh boy, haha it sure was fun!!!  At first all the kids were super rowdy and not really listening.  We were teaching about the Holy Ghost so I told them that the Holy Ghost is really quiet and we can't hear it when we are super loud.  So after that they were all quiet and whispering and folding their arms.  It was the funniest/cutest thing I've ever seen!!!  It was such an awesome experience!  So we knocked on this door and this lady answered and said we could come back.  We met her at the park and we thought we would be teaching her the first lesson but boy did we have a surprise waiting for us!  Her husband was there with his Bible ready for us, haha!  He tried to prove us wrong saying we don't need to be baptized by water only by the Holy Spirit.  He really has these weird thoughts on things but he is a really nice guy and very sincere.  We brought a member with us and he got a little upset and told the guy he was wrong and this and that which is something were never supposed to do!!!   So we asked the guy if we could come back and talk to him another time haha which we did and we had a TON of scriptures talking about baptism by immersion and what not.  We straight burned him haha but that's not what we're supposed to do so we did it in a different way lol.  We just showed him all the scriptures and he told us what he thought.  He never lets us tell him what we think or what the scripture really means...lol but its a huge testimony builder for me 'cause so many people are confused about what the scriptures mean and what you need to do to be "saved."  And I KNOW exactly what it is we have to do.  As missionaries we are truly called and qualified of God.  I learned in the MTC that God doesn't call the qualified.  He qualifies those he calls.  Its very uplifting and comforting.  I hope everyone is doing well!  I keep everyone in my prayers every day!!  Love you all!

Love,
Elder Jaden Espinoza

My district at the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple!

in order 1. Elder Wilhelmson 2. Elder Snyder 3. Elder Becar 4. Me!

Me and Elder Becar-my Companion

My trainer and my trainer's trainer! So in the mission your trainer is called your dad.So thats my Grandpa, my Dad and I! and guess what my Grandpa's name is? Elder Espinosa haha just spelled wrong ;) kinda cool though!

Elder Koranda and I.  I've actually stayed the night at his place before this zone conference so I know 

him pretty well now. I gave him the low down on Pasco. He seems excited to go there!

(Elder Koranda is Melanie Bassett's son. Melanie moved into our ward last year from Utah. What a coincidence that our sons are in the same Mission and now have the same home ward!)

Sister Carpenter and I. She was in my district in the MTC. we called her the Holy Ghost cause she was super quiet but whenever she talked everyone shut up and listened haha

Us three did this burger challenge at this restaurante after our district meeting and got this shirt haha

This is a cool picture of the sun!!! It was really windy that day so the white sand gets blown everywhere. we couldn't even see the mountain but you could look right at the sun with no problem.