September 23, 2013

  Congratulations to Italia and Jonathan! I'm really sad I had to miss out on all the fun. I saw lots of pictures and it looked like everyone had a great time! I do know that I am where I am supposed to be doing the Lord's work so that makes everything okay :) lol

  This last week was a little slow. Lots of people canceling on us but the lessons that we did have were so wonderful! The spirit works so strong for the people that the Lord is preparing for His gospel. It is soooo important for us to always be in tune with the spirit so we can ask inspired questions. Sometimes we are not the teachers. We are always trying to ask them questions that will get them to really think about things and what matters most to them or why this gospel would even be important to them. It really is the best thing to see the spirit work. This gospel changes peoples lives every day. Some people don't even know they are looking for it but when they find it they realize all the loopholes they have are being filled. We have a few people who are realizing that. Even members of the Church who have fallen away and we meet with them and they realize things over again. Missionary work really is wonderful.

We have a zone conference this week that I am really looking forward to! Our mission president is truly an inspired man and I cant wait to learn from him. Hopefully I'll have something to share next Monday!

  Sorry this letter is so short. We have a pretty busy day today! I hope everyone had a great week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Jaden Espinoza

Italia really wished Jaden, I mean Elder Espinoza, could  have been there at her wedding and reception so during the reception we surprised her with a letter and picture from him. Here is what he wrote.

Dear Tali and Jon,

  Well its about time!! I'm really sad I have to miss out on all of this. Well, not all the drama that comes with planning a wedding and what not lol. It's all good though cause I know I'm doing the Lords work here in El Paso Texas!

   Jon, I'm glad I can finally call you my brother now. Especially after all those near death experiences we've had river rafting and on that 50 mile hike lol. Always remember that one time you wrestled Jordan...you had the young calf don't mess with the old bull ;) 

  Tali, we've also been through lots together. You have always been there for me and have been a wonderful example and older sister my whole life. I love you very much! I'm so happy for the both of you!

   Always remember the covenants you made in the temple. Help one another stay on the strait and narrow path and you will live happily ever after for eternity. I wish both of you the best of luck!

Love,

Elder Jaden Espinoza

  ps. to all my siblings. We already know I'm gonna be the favorite uncle so dont even try :)

Elder  Espinoza in his wedding bow tie

Jonathan and Italia Castro

Sealed for time and all eternity

September 21,2013

So this last week was AWESOME!

September 16,2013

 So this last week was AWESOME! It rained every week day! I'm pretty sure El Paso got more rain that week than it ever has in a year. The bad thing about rain in El Paso is that it floods. really bad. Things are still flooded. Some roads got washed out. It was actually pretty cool haha. If the Texas wildlife guy wasn't there I might have tried to walk across one of the washouts. Glad he was there hahaha. The rain was very very nice though! Things are actually kinda green here now. Nothing like Washington green but really green for El Paso haha. The city will have a fun time trying to clean up after the rain!

This week also was pretty interesting. Pretty sure I met myself in about 65 yrs. This guy was absolutely hilarious and you could never tell if he was being serious or just kidding. Ask my mom or my sister about that haha :) we also met this old lady who kept telling me she bet ALL the girls flirt with me and how I'm so handsome and this and that. Kinda awkward haha. I think she hadn't had anyone to talk to except her dog for a while. She was very nice though! El Paso is full of really nice people. I don't think i've ever had a door slammed in my face or someone be flat out rude to me. I like it here. Don't know if Id ever wanna live here but being a missionary here is awesome! Training is going great as well. Its a challenge but its good for me! Hopefully for my companion too...lol. He's liking the area as well.

 We have some new investigators that we will start working with. With one of them it will be soooo important to have the spirit with us so we can teach by the spirit. Without the spirit no one could ever learn of truth. We also aren't perfect teachers so we rely heavily on the spirit. I think we all should no matter what we do. There's a quote I like and I don't remember who its from or how it goes but basically it says something like ,"Regardless of your talent you will never be successful with out the spirit." Then you have to stop and think about what it REALLY means to be successful in life. How much money you make or nice things you have? Or how happy you live with your family in this life and the next? I've realized since I've been on my mission that people that have this Gospel in their lives and are not living it are NOT happy. Then they remember the last time they were happy and realize oh yeah I guess I was attending church and reading my scriptures and saying my prayers daily. then they realize that doing those things invites the spirit into our lives and guess what? We're happy again! Its crazy though cause its so simple to understand yet so difficult to do sometimes. Lucky for us we have the atonement to help us overcome our downfalls!!!

 Well good luck to Tali and Jon! I'm so sad I will not be there for their wedding but I know I am where I'm supposed to be- doing the Lords work :) Also, I heard Great Grandma Hyde passed away :( I'm also sad I will not be there for the funeral but I'm glad we know where she is right now and that she is being taught the everlasting gospel :)

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Jaden Espinoza

Some neat experiences

September 9, 2013

  Well this past week has been a pretty crazy one with transfer and all that fun stuff! Our president made a lot of changes in this mission. It was sad to see a bunch of people leave but its all what the Lord wants. He is hastening His work!

My new trainee/greenie/son whatever you wanna call him is fresh outta High School. I got one of the 18 yr olds lol. It's awesome to see how the Lord is preparing the youth to serve missions at a younger age. His name is Elder Peterson from Riverton Utah. We have had an awesome first week! This area really is perfect for a new missionary to see the Lords hand at work. I'm just lucky I was called to train! Training is a lot of responsibility and you really have to be on your A game. Its kinda funny though cause shouldn't we always want to be on our A game? We always have people looking up to us and watching our every move. Most importantly the Lord is watching our every move. We always need to be our best so we are ready for whatever it is he throws at us. We are all on this Earth in these latter days for a reason. The Lord must trust us to hasten his work...Scary huh? Haha'

  So last week we had some really neat experiences. This lady has called us a few times to give her and her dad a blessing. he had not been doing good and actually passed away a couple nights ago. But the night he passed away she gave us another call and asked if we could give him a blessing cause he was not supposed to make it though the night. I got asked to give the blessing. I was pretty nervous/scared cause I didn't really know what I was supposed to say to someone who was incoherent and gonna die soon. Luckily we are not really the ones who is giving the blessing. we are just simply tools in which our father in heaven uses to bless his children. So after I gave him a blessing she asked for a blessing so we gave her one. Her sister was there and is not a member and up until that point had been anti religion. The other two times we came she apparently left before we even got there but that night lots of miracles took place. She actually accepted the offer for a blessing and so did this other guy who is the same as her about religion. The one who actually was a member kept thanking us and telling us miracles happened that night. Sometimes its just crazy to think of yourself as someone who brings the spirit into peoples homes and blesses the lives of people in their time of need. Obviously its not really us its Heavenly Father but that's why its sooo important to always be in tune and worthy of the spirit. It not only blesses your life but others around you.

  Well I hope everyone had a wonderful last week. Thank you all for the love and support! Have a great week:)

Love;

Elder Jaden Espinoza

One of the greatest things you can do!

September 2, 2013

  So this week was wonderful!!! We had two baptisms on Friday and our mission president was able to attend. The spirit is always sooo strong at baptisms. It always pleases our Father in heaven when His children take upon themselves the name of Christ and make those sacred covenants with him. Sometimes I cant help but be jealous of them because when they come out of the water they are perfect! But then I remember the same thing happens to us every time we take the sacrament and renew those covenants with Heavenly Father.

So the baptisms were wonderful and the confirmations were also great. I had the opportunity to confirm one of them. It was my first time doing that so I was a little nervous but then you just give a blessing as the Spirit directs so its really not that scary haha.

  We've been very busy teaching lots of lessons! Its wonderful to see people progress and how the Lord blesses their lives when they live in accordance with his will.

Last week we also had lots of pretty crazy news! First off...well, I'm pregnant! I'm getting a son tomorrow! Haha! Basically all it means is I got called to train a new missionary! I love my new mission president he really has a sense of humor. He told us at the training meeting that,"Being a trainer is the most important calling you can get as a missionary. No pressure." haha. I'm very honored that the Lord trusts me with a new missionary!!! I'm so sad that I wont get to be with my companion till he goes home next transfer but also very excited to train! Also I will be staying here in good ol El Paso for another two transfers while I train. I was just glad I'm not leaving this area haha. I love this area! Its gonna be hard to go when the time comes. I feel as if the Lord has been preparing this area for a new missionary. Missionary work has picked up so much these last few weeks. We are expecting many baptisms these next few months. Cant really think of a better place to train a new missionary!!! Missionary work in general is picking up across the world. Its so wonderful to be a small part preaching the Gospel during this time.

  Well I hope everyone had a wonderful week! I sure did lol. Being a missionary is probably one of the greatest things you can do. Good thing every member a missionary huh? ;) Get to work! Love you all have a great week :)

Love,

Elder Jaden Espinoza

   

The Jones family took us to a really nice steak house.

Definitely one of our favorite families!

   Our district at the zoo

Wonderful week!

August 26, 2013

Hello hello,

  This last week was wonderful! It was also pretty dang busy. We were teaching lessons almost all day everyday it was wonderful. Our investigators are really starting to progress and we have two baptisms coming up this Friday. We are soooo excited!!! One is a guy named Jesus Espinoza haha kinda funny. That's about half of my family's name ;) lol jk The other one is a 9 year old girl. It should be an amazing experience for them so we are trying to plan it out as best we can! It will be difficult with how busy we are starting to get but we will make it work :)

  We were doing very well not too long ago with finding new investigators but lately we haven't been doing so hot. But it's cause we are starting to teach all those investigators now! haha I'm not sure how correct this is but there was talk of our area getting split again! That would be two splits since I've been here! Too crazy haha But our old area the university ward is also doing wonderful so it really was inspired that our area should split. So if it happens again I'll be okay with it. I would just hope we don't have to give up all of our investigators again! Haha. Next transfer will be my companions last transfer which is crazy to think about so we both hope I stay with him till hes done! that would be awesome! we both do really well together and have accomplished lots in this area!

  So, every single time this one ward missionary goes out to lessons with us something crazy and unplanned happens to where he is able to really relate with people we meet with and help them out. Its starting to get a little weird haha. It just goes to show that God really does work in mysterious ways for our benefit. Some people think that God is not a loving God and that some things are just a coincidence but after many different experiences I've had on my mission where things just somehow manage to happen at the right time and right place and we are somehow with a certain member in our ward and peoples lives are blessed because of these "random" things. Yeah, they're not just coincidences lol. Some people just have a hard time really thinking about certain things as being a blessing in their life. but the moment they realize that, they start realizing and noticing other small tender mercies the Lord gives us and their lives start making a turn for the better :) Its wonderful! Lots of people think we are just out there to see how many people we can baptize. But really we actually really desire to help out a person in any way we can. We want to help them build their faith and find peace in their life and share this wonderful message we have. Which of course eventually leads to baptism but its not for our benefit. Its for theirs. Being a missionary has taught me many wonderful things that I will never forget. So I would encourage everyone to go and do missionary work! There are not many things that are more satisfying I promise :)

  I hope everyone had a wonderful week and has an even better one this week! Love you all!

Love Elder Jaden Espinoza

"Me and a prarie dog"

Pretty great week!

August 19. 2013

Hello :)

  This past week wasn't too bad. We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders so that's always a good experience. I stayed here in my area and my companion went to their area. We still somehow managed to talk to people who only spoke Spanish so it was a little nice to having to be the one to talk to them haha. I only have a few things I know how to say to people on like door approaches or something like that. But I can surprisingly understand most of what they say. I still need to learn it though!

  We were at this apartment complex a few weeks ago and this girl came running to us asked if we were Mormon so of course we said yes and she said, "ME TOO!!!!!" She was a little excited lol. But she wanted to know where the church was so she could start going. She had just moved here and got married about a month ago. Anyway she invited us to come to her house and answer some questions she still had cause she has only been a member for a few years. Her husband stayed in their room most of the time until the end when she wanted us to help her stop smoking so she called him out and asked him to join her and he accepted! We have this 15 step program we teach to people who wanna stop smoking. They committed to everything we asked them to do. And now we're going to start teaching him the lessons. They move in October cause he's getting out of the Army. But he's accepting to the Gospel so we will get him before he moves! ;) haha.

  We also started teaching a few other pretty legit investigators this last week. It was a pretty great week. No crazy stories or anything sadly haha. We have two baptisms scheduled for next friday so we are pretty stoked about that! One is a 9 year girl and the other is this girl in the wards fiancee. Its been nice this transfer to only have to worry about the 1st ward so things in this ward are finally starting to get a move on haha.

There still continues to be the random crazy thunderstorms but its pretty awesome! Its sad though cause they always happen at night!!!! When we can't go drive around in all the crazy rain! The thunder and lightning is pretty intense though.

  We went to the El Paso Zoo this morning as a district. That was actually pretty fun. they have some pretty cool animals here.

Well I hope everyone had a great last week and has an even better one this week!! Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza

Which side are you on?

August 13, 2013

  So this week was a pretty good one as usual! Just trying to stay busy finding and teaching people. We found a wonderful family of three last week and we're so excited about it! They have a 9 yr old daughter who is autistic. They were supposed to be at church on Sunday but the husband had to work :( But the wife promised to come next week even if he was working lol. She seemed really excited about Relief Society. She was telling us how she was looking to join a womens group of some sort for support and things like that. I don't think it was a coincidence that we were planning on talking about the Relief Society that day!! We are looking forward to helping this family progress in this wonderful restored Gospel!

  I fall in love with this area more and more after every week. Its crazy that we are already in our 4th week of this transfer! We both hope we stay another transfer. If not i'll be very sad :( My companion goes home after next transfer so that's another reason why we wanna stay companions. We get along great and work well with each other.

  Last week our mission president and his wife came to our apartments and interviewed. We probably have the most amazing mission president out there! It was an awesome experience. Something he challenged us to do was to act as if Jesus Christ was our third companion out tracting door door in a white shirt and tie. Lemme tell ya that really makes you think about how you go about your day and whether you wanna get out and work or find something less productive and lazy to do. The thing I love about being a missionary is you learn integrity. No one is out there watching us making sure we're doing what were supposed to be doing. Its all on us. The thing is though, is that Heavenly Father is watching us. SCARY! Haha. Not really though. I think it helps us to be a better person when no one is watching. And also I feel like he's not watching us so he can count every time we slip up but to help us and comfort us in times of need. Being a missionary is probably the greatest thing ever and I wouldn't trade it for a thing.

Something I learned in scripture study this week is that God will not suffer his plans to be destroyed. Satan will not win no matter how hard he tries. Its almost like Oregon State trying to beat Oregon. It just ain't gonna happen ;) lol! But really, we need to decide which side we wanna be one. The winning team or the losing team. We already know whose gonna win. We just need to show by our actions which side we are on.

  I hope everyone had a great week! Love you all and thanks for the love and support. You're all in my prayers!

Love

Elder Espinoza