April 20, 2015- Week 6 and First Transfer

  Hola Familia y amigos! Como tuta (As the Dominicans would say)?  I had a great week this week in the service of the Lord. We extended a baptismal date to one of our investigators for June 13 she said that she will prepare for that date so that is super exciting to see here starting to move and adjust her life to Christ. Please be praying for her throughout the coming weeks. 

        Well my trainer Elder Flores is getting transferred (or sent to a different area in the mission). this has probably been the fastest six weeks of my life and from here on I know that they will only continue to fly by. I had a great time serving with him and he has taught me a lot about missionary work. I will be receiving a follow up trainer and will have to area train him which will be interesting because I hardly know the area myself but I know that the Lord will help me. 

          Nothing much else to report on other than that hopefully everyone is doing well and continues to try and serve others everyday because that is one of the only ways that we can come to understand the Atonement of our loving Savior more abundantly in our lives. Have a great week and I will talk to all of you next week.

Love-

Elder Espinoza 

April 13, 2015- Week 5

  This week was pretty good we had four lessons on Friday. Which is a lot more than we have had since I got here. The missionary work here is having its ups and downs but I am still loving it, and things are starting to look up for us. We have a couple progressing investigators and some pretty good others we just need to get them to start keeping commitments. 

       One of our investigators named W was going to come to Stake Conference but he forgot which is okay because he is showing that he truly wants to come to church. Nothing crazy happens here in the mini Dominican Republic, but my comp who has been here since the start of his mission and is now going on his 14th month says that summers here can get pretty wild so I am looking forward to that. Don't worry I will keep you all updated if anything crazy does happen. Other than that another week in Lawrence Massachusetts has come and gone.

         Hope you all are having a great spring and I will talk to all of you next week.

Love-

Elder Espinoza 

April 6, 2015- Week 4 is gone

    Hey how is everyone? I am doing great this week flew by we had some pretty good lessons this week and a great miracle happen. One of our investigators came to General Conference. For the readers who are not members of the Church I will explain a little bit of what General Conference is. General Conference is where we have the great opportunity to listen to a living Prophet of God that is here on this earth to guide and direct us. Him as well as the twelve Apostles teach us about different topics of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

     I loved General Conference this year it was very enlightening for me and I received a lot of personal revelation for myself and I hope that all of you that watch it did as well. I would encourage all of you whether you are member or not to go back and listen to them again because I know that those messages are inspired for everyone here on the earth today and it is direction that God has for us in these modern days. 

     I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and that through him anything is possible. I know that we have a living prophet here on the earth to day and that he is given divine revelation from God for us today. I know that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ and that it does not replace the Bible but completes its teachings and that if anyone reads the book with real intent and a sincere heart that they can know for themselves but only if you pray about it can you receive that witness. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is God's restored church here on the earth today and that it is the only church which contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

      I hope you all have a great week and that you enjoyed this Easter season. Talk to you all next week.

Love,

-Elder Espinoza 

March 30, 2015- Week 3

 It was a weird week. It felt so long and yet so short at the same time. We didn't have too many lessons this week again but we did have a couple with some people in another part of our town that was not our area so we had to give those to the Missionaries who work in that part of town but that's okay. I realize that with appointments falling through that the Lord is trying to teach me something and that something is long-suffering because without that the mission is going to be hard.   

       On the bright side we planted seeds of faith that some other missionaries can help to start and bring it to bloom until eventually their roots of faith are planted fully in the Gospel of Repentance. I know that the Lord works in ways that we can't understand so all I have to do is strive like all of you to hand over my will to the Lord and try to live in a way where I can be an instrument in his hands. I know that with constant exact obedience that the Lord will bless the efforts of all his missionaries around the world and everyone who follows the commandments of him. A great video is out by the Church right know it is called Because He Lives. The video is about 2.5 minutes long and depicts important events in the Saviors last week and describes how he can help you. I would encourage all of you to share it with family, friends, and your neighbors because it is amazing! the website ishttp://www.mormon.org/easter

     Hope you all have a great week. Nos Veamos!

-Elder Espinoza

March 23, 2015- Week 2 in the Field

This week was kind of hard a lot of our appointments fell through but we found some good potentials so we will see how that goes this week. This week was exchanges as well as Zone Conference which was really good and I found a lot of ways that I can improve as a missionary. But during exchanges I was with one of the Zone leaders and his name is Elder Kingston a really good missionary and someone who likes to work. We found a family that seemed pretty interested hopefully he gets to go back and teach them. Nothing to exciting but still loving the work and love walking to, through, and from my area in the south of Lawrence everyday. Hopefully all of you are striving to share this wonderful Gospel with everyone and your love of the Savior. Have a great week and talk to all of you next week.

Love-

Elder Espinoza

March 16, 2015- Finally In Lawrence, Massachusetts

Hola Familia y Amigos!

  I made it here safely on this past Monday we finally got here in New Hampshire at 11:20 pm and did not get to the Mission Home until 12:30. The next morning we had transfer meeting and I got called to the Dominican Republic here in America. My trainers name is Elder Flores a native speaker from Cali and I will have pictures next time I email. The city of Lawrence is full of Dominicans and they are an  amazing people. I love the city and the people already and I have only been here for 7 days now. When you walk down the streets here in Lawrence you here more spanish than English. The food is pretty good as well and everyone whether or not they are member will offer food but luckily my area is the only area that is walking. Every other area in the mission are car areas. The members are supper awesome and I already feel supper integrated into the ward. We have 6 missionaries in Lawrence and so the city is split into three different areas and we work in the south of Lawrence.  We had 3 new investigators this week but one of them named S dropped us because she talked to her mom and grandma and according to her we "restored her faith into her religion." I know that her mom and grandma gave her some anti stuff but we were able to text her a really powerful testimony because she wasn't there when we tried to stop by. Hopefully she is trying to make her own decisions and figure things out for her self. Hope all of you are doing well keep me posted on everything that is going on!

-Elder Espinoza

March 5, 2015- Update Final Week in the CCM

Hey everyone things are going great here still learning so much. I am surprised how much Spanish I can understand and say now. This coming Monday I enter the Mission Field and I am looking forward to finally serve the people of New Hampshire. I will update you all when I figure out my first area and when my actual P-Day will be. Love you all and thanks for the support.

-Elder Espinoza 

Feb 26, 2016- Another Week

This upcoming week will be my last week in the CCM then its off to the races looking forward to go out in the field and serve and help others come to the knowledge of the restored gospel. Your week sounds like it was supper eventful especially Sunday. Nothing much really exciting happened this week in the CCM same stuff everyday but still learning a lot. Next week I will have more to talk about.

Love-

Elder Espinoza

Feb 19, 2015- Life in the CCM

Life in the CCM has been going great loving it everyday. Spanish is coming along slowly but surely and the Spirit is teaching me a lot as I prepare to serve in the field. Life here seems to go by fast and then slowly at other points but I am almost done with my time here after this week I will have 2 weeks left in the CCM and then out in the real world I just hope that I have enough Spanish to be the most effective missionary I can be from the start so that the Lord can use me as his tool in bringing souls unto him. Today we got go to the Mexico City Temple and tour the grounds unfortunately we were not able to do a session because it is currently being remodeled the Temple has been closed since last year and will reopen in May so close to being able to do a session oh well. it was still really cool and see the visitor center and walk the grounds. 

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Feb 12, 2015 Week 3 in the CCM

Que pasa! How is everyone? I am loving the CCM and learning a lot everyday still trying to get the Spanish language down but it is becoming second nature to me every time I teach, learn, and talk I know that the Lord is helping me everyday. This past week has been great on Tuesday we had a Seventy come and give an amazing talk on how if the Spirit is not with us we cannot hope to teach let alone teach in another language. I have seen that already and I am not out in the field yet, I also know that when we are humble and come unto Christ we can be comforted and the Lord will give us words to speak when it is the right time for them. My companion who I didn't mention in my first email is named Elder Casanova. We always joke around about his name and whenever we see and talk to native Spanish speakers they always joke around and call him a womanizer which is pretty funny. Hope everything is going well and great to hear form you all may the Lord bless you, find opportunities to share the Gospel whenever you can and love the scriptures.

Love-

Elder Espinoza