04/29/14

So last weekend we had a baptism! I feel like I say this every time after a baptism but it truly never ceases to amaze me how strong the spirit is at a baptism! There were many non-members there who no doubt felt the presence of the Holy Ghost there as Matt was baptized. We sang "I Believe in Christ" for the closing prayer and this man who has had a rough life and looked like a rough guy was crying during the whole song. It was so obvious that the spirit was there and there is no doubt in my mind that there was not a single person there whose life was not affected by the powerful presence of the spirit in that room. It was one of the most spiritual baptisms I have attended. I think before my mission it was a little hard for me to believe that people can really make a big change in their lives and become these wonderful people. You hear it in stories and see it in movies all the time but I guess I had never really thought about it to much before my mission. But now that I have seen peoples lives change in so short a time, it only strengthens my testimony in the Savior and His gospel. There is really no other way someone can change without the help of the Holy Spirit and there is no real way someone can change without the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is something that will never get "old". I would encourage everyone to attend the next baptismal service for a convert in your ward. It will only strengthen your testimony.

So the weather has been pretty crazy here this last week. It has been really windy and we have had gusts up to 60-80 mph. Its been fun trying to walk around and talk to people, haha, but today seems to be a beautiful day with no wind! I feel like I've come to appreciate the scenery in the southwest. Its almost pretty in its own weird way, haha. This week we have a mission leadership council and I guess there will be people from the missionary dept in Salt Lake coming so I'm very excited to see what they have in store for us! Learning from them is going to be amazing! Well, I love you all and thank you for your support!

Love Elder Espinoza

 We visited some Elders out on the Indian reservation and decided to climb this huge rock haha

 These are my favorite little kiddos! The Gogan family :) Well half of them lol

  

Easter- Elder Espinoza and Elder Reams

Its all about Becoming

04/22/14

So last week we exchanged with one of our district leaders and I went to their area which is a biking area. Lets just say I'm so glad that I've only served in a car area, hahah, it was really fun though. Its definitely a different experience being on a bike. At least you get to stay in shape! LOL! It does make it easier to talk to more people though. Last week was a good week though. Our zone had interviews with our mission president so we had to schedule all those and we got to go first :) haha. Its always so nice to see President Miller, he is truly inspired. I don't know how he is able to keep up with all of us young missionaries, haha. He is an amazing man!

So we have an investigator getting baptized this weekend and we are so excited! He truly is an example of what the restored gospel in its fullness can do for someone. He always says he honestly felt like he could have had a good discussion about any gospel topic and felt like he understood everything before he met us, but now with the knowledge that he has of the restored gospel he ACTUALLY fully understands what everything is and why its all important. Its so wonderful to see enlightenment in peoples eyes. And even better when you are the one being enlightened! lol It still never amazes me to see what this gospel does for people. Even people who already think they know it all and can't learn anything else. The wonderful thing about it all is we never stop learning. And learning isn't even the point of the Gospel. Its all about becoming. I had a friend mail me a talk by Dallin H. Oaks a while back called, "The Challenge to Become", I feel like that topic has been brought up a lot lately. Especially in this mission because we are always training on things and helping missionaries and ourselves understand the importance of everything but all this stuff is stuff that most of us already know we just have to apply it. That's the Gospel right there. Its a beautiful and continual life changing thing I feel like.

So Easter Sunday was a good day of course! The talks in sacrament were great and the music was amazing. Its such a great time of the year! We had beautiful weather here in ABQ as well. I hope everyone had a great weekend and has an amazing week this week! Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza

Hello hello, 04/15/14

Last week was a pretty awesome week. We were able to teach some amazing lessons. Sadly though the guy who wanted to get baptized because he thought President Monson was the true prophet of God isn't willing to live to word of wisdom. He's 89 and doesn't wanna give up his coffee or tea. But he just needs a little time and prayer and he will be good to go soon enough - I'm sure of it!

I'm really starting to like it here in ABQ. We stay super busy that's for sure! I love all the missionaries in this zone and we're all excited to make some big changes in this zone and see the blessings that come from it. This morning at 1:45 in the AM there was a full lunar eclipse. I guess there won't be another one like that for 1300 years so of course we had to get up and look at it for a minute then go back to bed, haha, we were pretty tired! It made me think about how much our Father in heaven loves us though. This earth is so beautiful and all the amazing sights sounds and smells are all for us to witness and its there to bring us joy. Its amazing to think about how He created all of this and how big the universe is and really how small we are, yet we are the most important creation he has ever made and all he wants is us to call him is Father. I think seeing that lunar eclipse at this time was a blessing from God because this Sunday is Easter. It all makes me think of John 3:16. God loved us so much he sent his son Jesus Christ to suffer and die for us. Just sitting down and really thinking about how amazing that is just blows my mind. And then thinking about the Love that Christ has for us. He went and did the will of his Father for us. He sacrificed the greatest of all sacrifices for us so that we too can return to live with our Heavenly Father and be perfected in Him. It makes me think about all the small sacrifices we have to do everyday that really shouldn't be sacrifices. They really are opportunities to receive blessings from God. Scripture study and prayer are just a few of the small and simple ones but they really help us strengthen our relationship with God. It is the best way to feel his love I believe. I hope we can all remember the true meaning of Easter as we celebrate the greatest of all sacrifices this weekend. I love you all and hope everyone has an amazing week!

Love Elder Espinoza

From Last week-

 

 Click here for the talk about the truck. 

Click here for Elder Espinoza's favorite talk from General Conference By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland 

 

I don't think any other person can tell their testimony and shake their finger and make the spirit just slap you in the face and you still wanna hear more from him!

04/08/14

This General Conference was by far my most favorite one yet! I felt as if I was able to learn something that will help me become a better missionary and a better person IF I apply it to myself. My favorite analogy was of course Elder Bednar's of the truck getting stuck. It is so simple yet has such a powerful meaning behind it. My favorite talk though was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, just simply from his testimony he shared at the end. I don't think any other person can tell their testimony and shake their finger and make the spirit just slap you in the face and you still wanna hear more from him! Lol His testimony was so powerful. If you did not have the chance to listen to his talk I highly recommend it. I love how he counseled us that while we defend our faith we need to do so with courage and courtesy but we need to defend our faith! Especially in this time of the world. His message was so powerful. I hope we all plan on actually applying what we learned in General Conference and see the difference that it will make in our life. Also missionary work was a big one that they taked about it. It's an important work that we all need to do!

So I'm pretty excited to be in this new area. Its way different than my last area. There was a lot of ghetto in my last area and there definitely is no getto in this area, lol, the members I've met so far are super amazing. I was kinda sad General Conference was my first Sunday here cause I have to wait another week to meet everyone but its alright. I've already grown close to a few families! We also had an amazing experience during conference. Well I guess one of our investigators did. He apparently saw no difference in the pope and anyone else who said they were a prophet. He believes them all to be prophets of God. But after President Monson's talk Sunday morning he looked at us and asked if that was the prophet and we said yes and he said “that man is a true prophet of God, I want to be baptized this Saturday”. We were shocked and speechless! Lol He still has a lot of work but we're excited to see him get baptized soon! We also have another amazing investigator who is so ready for the gospel its ridiculous! I'm pretty excited to be in this new area and zone. There's lots of room for improvement in this zone so my comp and I are excited about helping and see in the improvement! Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza

Talk by Elder David A. Bednar 

Talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland 

A sad day for El Paso- Elder Espinoza getting transferred!

March 31, 2014

Well, I guess I learned everything I needed to learn in good ol' El Paso Texas. The Lord needs me somewhere else now. Im soooo sad to leave all these wonderful people here and all the amazing missionary opportunities that are waiting to happen here. I told my mission president that i'm leaving the promised land and he said, "No, you're gonna take the promised land with you!" That's my plan! I remember when I first got to El Paso I was pretty disappointed to leave my greenie area and now i'm not so disappointed but just really sad cause i've grown so close to all these people here. If it wasn't for them I think my first Christmas away from home woulda been a rough one. But the Lord knows what he's doin otherwise I probably never would have come to El Paso! I've grown so much in this ward. I went from junior comp and district monkey( the district leaders companion) to training a new missionary to district leader to zone leader. So lots and lots of memories here in El Paso. It's just sad cause everone but a few are military and won't be here when I come back to visit. Some may end up in Washington though! which would be amazing! I feel like this is the most ready I will ever be to leave this area though so its perfect timing. I am exciting about meeting new people and going to a new area. It will be strange to not be in a military ward though. I spent half of my mission in a military ward and going on to military bases! Im excited to go work with a new zone and try my best to help them improve as missionaries! This last week was a good one though! We didn't teach as much mainly cause all of our investigators got baptized so we spent a lot of time finding! We actually got a knife pulled on us. It was pretty funny. We had a priest with us and I though he was gonna wet his pants haha We met some new people that are super interested in the gospel and will do so wonderful progressing towards baptism! Sad to leave them but its not the missionary who converts people its the spirit! Well I don't have to much time today cause I still have a million people to say bye to :( More tears to be shed! but I am excited to go :) Love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza

 The Davis family. Gonna miss them dearly!

 The Rosenbergs. :) Love that family!!!

The Kidd family. Only 3 outta 13! Totally plan on visiting them in Kentucky after the mish! Bro. Kidd got to el paso  the same time I did and we had a race to see who would leave first. I beat him by 6 weeks :) haha

03/25/14

So last week was just an amazing week to have as a missionary. We had 3 baptisms on Saturday and the south elders had 1. One of ours was taught by the Spanish missionary and at the last minute and he wanted to get baptized into our ward. He's a good kid, his family is all members but he never got baptized! The baptism was awesome! We had to do it in the chapel because so many people came. Our ward mission leader said when he bore his testimony that he served while on his mission in Alabama there was more people at this baptism than there was at a sacrament meeting any Sunday during his mission. The spirit was very strong there of course. Lots of non-members where there and now we are teaching someone who just came to watch the baptism of his niece and used to make fun of us "Mormons", lol.

So Elder Weber and I had about an hour of free time one morning last week and we just walked around the neighborhood. We were trying to decide if we should go straight or turn left at one point and decided to just turn left. So we started walking through the parking lot of an apartment complex and there was this guy leaning up against his car smoking a cigarette and when we were about 20 yards away he said, "I think God brought you here." At first honestly I thought he was just some crazy drunk guy but of course we walked up to him and started talking to him and turns out his wife was sitting in the car and she worked with this kid in our ward that just left on his mission to Colombia! So instantly we had a connection with them. Then he started telling us about what has been going on with him and how he believes in God but doesn't know why God would do these things to him and now he doesn't believe. His wife does but he really struggles. So we had a short lesson with him at his car and scheduled one for the next evening. We got there and had an absolutely amazing spiritual lesson with them. He really wants to change his life and get right with God. The most amazing thing happened at the end of the lesson. He asked if he could say the prayer because there was something he wanted to say. You could tell he was getting way outside of his comfort zone but he really had something he wanted to say. His prayer was honestly one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard in my life and I have to say I have never felt the spirit during a prayer as much as I did then. It immediately filled the room and hit me like a ton of bricks. This is how his prayer went. "Dear God, Thank you." That's all he said. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard or seen in my life and that's all he said. Stuff like this is what makes missionary work worth it. It was kinda funny 'cause he wasn't sure at the end if he needed to say amen or anything so my comp said "in the name Jesus Christ, amen." and he said it after that - it was amazing. That is definitely something I will never forget about my mission for the rest of my life.

Missionary work really is the greatest work we can all do! These experiences not only change the lives of others but all of us as well. If you're struggling with trying to feel the spirit or with your testimony go out and share the testimony you do have and just see the effect it has on people. I love you all and have a wonderful week.

Elder Espinoza

 Ari! Very sweet and smart little girl!

 Elder Weber and I

 Robert Obong. Such a stud!

03/18/14

Last week just flew by way too fast! The first half of my mission flew by and I hear the second half is even faster...kinda scary! lol Last week I did my first zone training as a zone leader. It was definitely a lot different than just sitting and listening and learning. I loved learning from my zone leaders in the past so I was kind of a little sad to not be able to learn as much but I guess just like everything else you teach, you are really the one that learns! Lol I think our zone liked the whole burn our ships thing. I really enjoyed it myself. Its really helping me consecrate myself as a servant of the Lord.

So we are gonna have 3 baptisms in our ward this week! Two will by ours and 1 is the south elders! Were pretty excited about it. There's gonna be lots of different people coming in from out of town for our investigators so were gonna have to do it in the chapel. It should be a really neat experience for them. We were really hoping our investigators would choose members to baptize them but they all chose me. I was really honored to get to be the one who does it! It should be a wonderful experience for everyone that attends it - always is :)

So our investigator who is getting baptized next week is so on fire! He had a few concerns about some doctrine recently and we were really worried about him! Of course me always thinking of the worst scenario that could happen didn't help out at all, lo,l but we were finally able to teach him again last night and it was basically a Q&A. I was surprised at how well we were able to answer his questions. Some stuff we didn't even know but I guess when you teach by the Spirit the Lord makes up it for it! It was a really an awesome lesson and experience for us and him. We have kinda been feelin' like we aren't really teaching him much and maybe he's been getting a little bored recently because he is already very knowledgeable in the bible and a very spiritual man but last night was definitely what he needed to get that spark going again! He's really excited to be baptized and go to the temple. He also asked me to baptize him and I was very honored to get to do so as well.

These last two weeks of the transfer are definitely the best ones to end on. I feel like I will be getting transferred this time FOR SURE. But who knows! I'll go wherever the Lord wants me to go! I may be a little sad but I know its where I am supposed to go. I learned that when I got transferred down here from Alamogordo, lol. Well I hope everyone has a great week I love you all!

Love Elder Espinoza