Jared Esplin	Mon, Dec 10, 6:53 PM (2 days ago)
to me

Aloha my Ohana!

Guess I am back to doing my letters the old fashioned way. Doing the videos was past my tech knowledge anyway!
Glad to hear things are going their usual. It's been the same here nothing too exciting, all our appointments ended up canceling on us at some point. So we have been doing a lot of finding activities. It's the first time I've actually had to do finding in this area!
We had stake conference this past Saturday and Sunday, we had president Pearson of the 70 come and speak to us, the talk he gave l on Saturday was amazing. He talked about walking on the path of discipleship, by clinging on the iron rod. He said the book of Mormon is our spiritual survival guide a d without it there is no chance we can survive spiritually In this world, he also talked about the mists of darkness being Satan's attempt to confuse us and lead us away. He also shared his thoughts about when the second coming would be, and bu what he said he thinks it will happen within the next ten years. He tied that in with all the adjustments with the church saying: there will come a time where the church will be the only source of light on the earth. I thought this message was a great way to put perspective on these changes. Whether or not it happens in 10 years or more, we know that the work is hastening... that means things are going to happen... . Besides this I don't have much else to talk about, one of the people we are teaching (Kabor) came! He was driving all around town the night before trying to find the stakecenter. (Some missionaries took a pic of him so I will send it).
One last thing we had another person we are teaching (Tanya) come, she is going through a hectic time right now but we invited her and she said she would come (but unfortunately she said she had to drink coffee to do it).
So we were up till 11 that night trying to find transportation that night for her. We finally found someone who is a really great example of true ministering. They risked their spot in the choir to bring Tanya. Nobody else in the ward was willing to, not even our bishop! I feel they had the right sense of what's important. They sacrificed their own wants to help someone come closer to Christ. (And they still got to sing!) Maybe it's because I am a missionary I am so excited about the work, but they had every right to refuse, we even gave them a way out, but they chose to help. Which I really appreciated!
But this was my week! Nothing too fancy, but it still had something exciting happen.
I will look out for the package! Thank you that should really help food wise. They surprisingly have not increased our budget yet, guess we will she if that changes.

Take care
with much Aloha

Elder Esplin

 

 

October Newsletter 2018

Greetings

Greetings family! 

     This week has gone by so fast! I can barely remember what has happened. First off We got our car back! Not having it has really made me appreciate how necessary it is for our area. 

     Things have still be slow, mostly because it's fall break down here. I had a chance to give my first baptism interview. It went really well. The kid's name is David wood he is 17

His family were all baptized last year. He is ready to live the gospel and he understood the sacrifices he would have to make to do it. It was awesome seeing someone still in high school have a desire to make that kind of change in their life! 

     Speaking about baptisms, me and my comp are having a baptism next weekend. There are 2 kids we are baptizing, me and my comp were each asked to baptize 1. I am super excited to see this happen we have been working with the family since I got here. It's been a long journey their family has been through a lot. But I have seen changes in them as they learn more/ live the gospel! (I will send photos of the baptism when I get them).

     Being a district leader is a really fun job, I will be giving a training tomorrow which I am nervous/excited about. I will let you know how it goes. 

Love you guys I appreciate your letters, I read them all! 

Elder Esplin 

*Oha ! .............10/2018

     Kirk now has a dog, that's awesome, and his name is Koa?      Koa here is a very rare wood worth thousands of dollars, it was only reserved for royalty, so I think that is  a perfect name for a dog.     So dad you got kicked by a cow again. I had a saying back home, which I think I have shared with y'all:   "we don't go home till dad bleeds,      (or gets hurt)."    I think that is a true lesson on work ethics. 

    

I will share what happened here this week:

    

Things have been fun, if fun means work...My companion and I have more work to do than we can handle, we have met 13 potential people to teach this week. 7 of them came from a clothing drive the Kaleiloa ward put on for a homeless center. We also had a lady call, who wanted to know when our church started. Turns out she is not a member but her boyfriend is. They are having us over for dinner this Friday, so we will get to go back and teach them. We also got several referrals that are very promising. The Lord has really blessed us this week. My companion and I have been praying hard that we would have work to do, Especially in our Samoan ward, and he has answered.  We  now have  plenty of appointments.  At least 1 a day and at most 3 a day. I feel the Lord has been providing me opportunities to improve my teaching skills.

    

      My favorite thing that has happened was when we participated in the ward clothing drive at the homeless shelter. 

Bronco and his family
(recently Baptized member)

      We met a variety of people who had various reasons of being at the shelter. I talked with an old man named Bob.   Bob wasn't homeless, he was just staying at the center for a few weeks.  He was having chemo at the local hospital. He was very nice, and talked fondly of Mormons, he said he never felt judged by  Mormons. I talked to him for quite some time about his religious beliefs and his life. 

      It was good getting to know Bob. It helped show me there is more to people than we see. He was an avid skier back in his day. On Sundays when he wouldn't go to church he would go sit in the temple grounds. He said he had been to the visitors center so many times that he knew it like the back of his hand.

He was quite a character and he was a fighter . He told me what it is like getting treated for cancer. I never knew how bad it was. He said he had survived more doses than many people do, he said he wasn't going to give up without a fight. I wish I had a picture of him because he's like 80!

Bronco with companion

     

One last thing I know dad asked,  what it was like being a DL (district leader). So....tomorrow I will be giving my first training. But what makes our zone interesting is we have two district leaders. Because each district is too small to function by itself so we are unofficially combined. So me and the other DL will each take half of the training to cover what we feel needs to be said.   In a way we are like oxen yoked by the same calling and now we have to pull together equally as hard if we are going to succeed in going the direction we want to go. I'm glad the other district lead is easy to get along with, so I am excited for the future! 

                                Love you all so much! Stay safe, I will keep you in my prayers!

                                                                  Elder Esplin 

photos

*Greetings Family

I took this just after I got my District Leader call.

Greetings family. This has been an exciting week. I Remember looking at my calendar and thinking this is the day KC and Savannah are getting married. KC I am so proud of you!!! I will try and send a letter when I can find some time to congratulate you both on your new marriage.

We found this cave on our way to the nature reserve.

     I also can't believe Kirk and Kayla are having Ammon soon. I feel this one had snuck in on us really quick. (Please send me some pictures when he is born I would love to see my new nephew) 

Sea Urchins...we ate some
of their eggs. 

     Mom, that's an exciting calling to have! We had the primary program last week and it made me thing of how special those children are. We are currently friends with a part member family who are raising their grandchildren who are primary age. These kids are very special to me and my companion and are by far our favorite place to teach. 

     On my end I got some news to share. Both me and my companion are staying! President also felt that I needed some extra responsibility (LoL) so I am now a district leader. My district only included me, my comp and the zone leaders. So it is a very small zone. But I am grateful for this opportunity because it will make me stretch myself  (plus it will help make sure I stay out of trouble. LoL)

     The topic I thought about sharing this week is on family. I've been thinking a lot about family, especially about how I would want to raise my family. As I look about how prosperous our family has been, with the future birth of Ammon and the marriage of KC and Savannah and close behind the marriage of Matt. I can see how blessed our family is. Many families in Hawaii are part member or have less active kids. Because the parents went less active during their kids childhood. I can see how much a difference it makes to have the gospel in a family. I can see how much of a difference it makes. Especially when it's not just going through the motions. I am grateful for the childhood I had and being taught the gospel and I can see how it has blessed our family. Even if it is just the Esplin name In general I met 3 families that knew the Esplin name one old man said that the Esplin he knew radiated the love of Christ. That comment had a profound impact on me, it made me think: we are asked to teach that "The gospel blesses families" but I feel our family is an example of how it does bless our lives. This is the way I want to raise my kids.

Hiking the nature reserve trail

     This thought has been on my mind for quite frequently this week, and this feels like a perfect timing to share this. 

     I have one more thing to share real quick. We taught the youth camp again this Sunday and we decided to do it a little differently. We decided to split the class into boys and girls. I taught the girls and my comp taught the Boys. We taught them the ten commandments and hand signs to remember them. Then I had a discussion with the girls on how the commandments applied to our lives. I invited them to each share what was  a commandment that they wanted to do better at. They were excited to share but at that time the class recombined to continue the lesson. They were disappointed they did not have the chance to share so I promised we would split back up so we could finish. When we finally got together again they all shared a commandment they were going to do better on (there was a lot of #7s mentioned). It was awesome seeing them take such an interest in wanting to obey the commandments. So many people see them as a restriction. They were eager to try to improve their lives and come closer to God one step at a time.

Add caption

September Newsletter

ALOHA

 

     But it stuns me that another week has gone by fast! It feels like it was yesterday that I last wrote. This has been a slower week for me and my companion, mainly because I was sick. So for about 3 days I was stuck inside recovering. I have not been that sick in a long time, I even lost my voice! But now I am recovering and should be back to normal soon.

     I probably should mention that I am still having neck pain. It hasn't stopped me but it has become a nuisance that needs to be taken care of. I have one more chiropractor appointment scheduled but I have a suspicion it is not my back that's the direct cause. On Sunday it was causing so much trouble I started doing some research and I found that TMJ can cause neck pain along with jaw pain and ringing in ears (which 2 things I had trouble with pre-mission). If I am right my back is not the cause. I plan on talking to the mission nurse to get her opinion so you might get a call later this week with more information. 

     My stomach has been doing great and hasn't been causing me much trouble.

   

Besides health, I am doing great, when I was sick I took some time to improve my handwriting in print and cursive and also developing a workout/yoga plan which I am excited to incorporate in the future. I feel I used the sick time productively.

     The moment that stuck out to me the most this week was teaching at the National Guard reform school. The facility finally gave us a room to teach in and we got a great turnout. The class was filled to capacity. 

     What makes a challenge as well is we have an hour to teach and with that large of a teaching pool, we have to get creative in order to teach such a simple lesson in such a long time. 

     One thing we did to fill time was when talking about the atonement we used an analogy, we took 3 of the strongest youth and asked then to do five pushups foe everybody in the room, and we had the students each say either something they have done or an example of a sin or pain. We only got to about half the class but it was an awesome object lesson. We related this to the atonement of Christ, how he took our sins (them telling us a sin) and he paid the price for them (doing the push ups). The moral of that activity seemed to really sink in with them. They keep coming back so that is a good sign! This week has gone by so fast! 

Love you all 

-Elder Esplin

     

*Hurricane Lane

                                                                    Aloha mi Ohana!

     I'm guessing all of you have seen the news, (It sounds like that from the letters I have received) there has been some concern about the hurricane hiring the Hawaiian islands. I can safely say that we have beaten Irma and are ready for the next two that are predicted to hit (Norman and Miriam). 

     Despite this hurricane, the work has gone well, very well in fact, me and my companion last week have started teaching a Sunday class at a reform school (a national guard youth camp). The kids in the class are very respectful. When they speak to us they address us using "yes sir" and "thank you sir" and they even raise their hands! For their age They are incredibly easy to teach! They have also been receptive to our lessons as well. They ask plenty of sincere questions, and the best part about this is half the class are not members who want to learn more!

     On top of this last week we invited the youth who attended the class to bring 1 other person in the camp to our next lesson. They totaled about 11 our first time,  and this week we had about 23!!!

We asked them to do the same for this week. So if they do this we will have 46 people to teach! That's an insane number for only 2 missionaries to handle (so we might require help). One of the biggest blessings that has come about because of this class is these kids have little to no religious knowledge. Even the members seem to be from inactive families. I would say only about 2 youth out of the 23 are active. One is a recent convert who was baptized right before coming to the camp and the other seems to be somewhat familiar with the doctrines of our church.

     These youth are an amazing example of maturity. All of them have come to this camp by choice. They stay there for a 5 month term. (In short this place is a youth boot camp). I enjoy our lessons we have going over to teach them. 

     There is a such a great potential here, to plant "seeds" at this school so when these youth get out and begin to figure life out, they will at least  know God cares about them and he has a plan even though it might seem otherwise.

     I am Sorry this is so short, we had our temple trip today so this is also our p-day. We did not get back until the mid afternoon I Love you guys! Stay strong.

With much Aloha

Elder Esplin

*Unique experience

Aloha Ohana! 

I have had a very unique experience this week. Last Thursday me and my companion went out tracting. On our way back to our car we saw a lady working in her garden. We talked with her for several minutes. She was the president of a Buddhist temple. We asked her if she needed service and she said she needed help setting up for an event the next day. The temple is above a restaurant called the water drop tea house (if you want to look it up. When we got there she took us upstairs to the temple. In the "dojo" we met their equivalent of a priest. Her title was "shi fu" she was a short Japanese lady with a shaved head.

Standing in a catholic Cathedral

 At first I was really nervous around her. I couldn't tell if she liked us helping. I was really worried about doing something offensive or touching something that was forbidden. But as we helped them (the temple president and the Shi Fu) move tables we became more comfortable around each other. At the end of our service they brewed us lychee tea. Then we left to do our interviews with president Bekker. (Me and my companion later found out it was black tea so we accidently broke the word of wisdom, oops.

Later we returned to the water drop tea house because the president invited us over for lunch. When we got there we got VIP treatment. We did not have to pay for our food and they gave us a little bit of everything. One thing Buddhists believe is that killing is evil so they are vegetarians and do not eat meat. So they had tofu imitation meat. It actually was really good. After that they introduced us to some of there members who had flew in for the event we had set up for. 

It was quite a peculiar experience being that close to another religion. It was comforting to me knowing that despite our different beliefs about religion we were not so different. They had a lot of similar morals and they were striving to be the best human beings as they could be. It helped remind me that we are all children of God and since we are all siblings from a loving God we should all be loving and helpful towards each other. 

I hope this experience will help. It has opened my eyes to the how people who are different can still get along. 

Love you all Elder Esplin

Zone Conference

Me, Buddhist Temple President, Lum,

next to her the Shi Fu, then Elder Lidang

pics

August Newsletter 2018

Greetings

 Greetings my Ohana, From the island where the sun always shines (and right now it shines a bit too much, it's darn hot hot here). First of all I guess you are wondering if I got transferred. Well I did. I got sent to the makakilo zone, the wards I was assigned to serve in are the kalailoa ward (which is a white ward) and the Mali Kai Samoan ward. So I got to attempt to learn Samoan real quick!!!
Coming here has been a long needed change of scenery. I loved my old area and the people in it, but I was getting pretty sick of tracting the only 4 neighborhoods in the area everyday. But here it will be a bit different. I have two wards and my area covers a huge chunk of the Southwest..? Part of the island, from the outskirts of Ewa (Eh-vah) beach to waianie (why-ah-nie). It is absolutely huge. We have more members than we could ever possibly visit! On the downside this area is hot. Which combined with the high humidity it is a formula for sweating like there is no tommorow!!!
Now time for an experience I had this week: one of the investigators I have met got baptized last Sunday. Her name is Kenzie. For the last 3 years Kenzie has been living with her boyfriend and his family. His parents are active in the ward. But her boyfriend (named Buba) and his siblings are not. Just a month and a half ago Kenzie or Buba had no interest attending church. They would go when asked, but they had no desire to be a part of the gospel or even get married. Then one day Buba's father felt prompted to invite them to a temple prep class. They went and when they came back home she asked to speak with the father in private. She told him she wanted to be with Buba and their daughter forever. Since then they have both been working to get their lives on track with the gospel. So this Saturday they were married, and Sunday she was baptized. It was a very cool experience watching Buba baptize his newly married wife. Now their goal is to be sealed in the temple as a family.
This was probably the biggest highlight of my week, I thought it was cool that all of took was an one hour lesson to totally change her families life. When Kenzie heard the message, she desired that for herself, and she accepted it! People like Kenzie and her family are the kinds of people that we as missionaries are here to find. They are out there. All our job is, is to make this message known to those that are around us. Then the spirit does the rest. It will speak to their hearts. Then if they will listen, they will unite themselves with this cause of truth. I can testify that this work is for more then set apart missionaries. It is for all of us that are members of the church of Jesus Christ. Is it not? I have seem so many mericles brought about through member missionary work. Just like Buba's dad we can be the conduit which God can use to bring another one of our spiritual brothers or sisters unto salvation.
This is my rant for the week. I unfortunately used up all of my email time writing this, my goal is to try to include a little more meat from the week in my letters home as well as a spiritual interpretation where applicable. Sorry this is the only thing I have to write home this week. I have read everyone's letters I just don't have time to reply. Love you mi Ohana!

From the Hawaii Honolulu Mission

Elder

Jared Packer Esplin 

Ka'au

These last two weeks have been very humbling time. Me and my companion have been to the hospital almost every day to visit people. Unfortunately we got a call on Friday that a returned missionary in our ward got into a car accident and they had pulled the plug. We rushed to the hospital as quickly as we could. When we walked into the room we could not recognize the person on the bed his face was so swollen. The only thing I could recognize was his hair.

He was long gone when we got there. We comforted the family the best we could then, when they left we made some other visits at the hospital.

This thing didn't sink in when I saw the body. I had just seen him the Sunday before. But this Saturday and Sunday I thought a lot about him and the life he lived 

His name was ka'au Moana zoller. He didn't think he would go on a mission when he was a teenager. His life was not on track to do so, he had a lot of friends who he said were not really the best influence for him. He eventually took mission prep and decided he wanted to serve a mission. He got called to California to serve in a Tongan ward. He served for six months when he realized there were some things he needed to repent of. So he was sent home. That's when me and my first companion had the pleasure to meet him. He came with us to go do teaching appointments. He was an amazing teacher and he believed entirely what he taught. He also was so willing to give to others. He literally gave us one of his shirts and ties so an investigator would feel more comfortable going to church. He always invited us over for dinner as well anytime we did not have a dinner he would provide us with a meal. 

It was so hard for me and my companion to realize he was gone it felt like there was a hole in our lives we had gotten to know him so well as he came to teach with us. But I take infinate comfort in the fact that there is a life after death. I firmly believe ka'au is now a missionary for those on the other side. Looking back I think I had a feeling when I first met him that our time with him would be short. But it was an experience I will never forget. He may have, as Moroni states gone the way of all the earth (Alma 62:37) but "he had been a man who had fought valiantly for his [God]" and "he had been a true friend". He will be missed. But I dont think we should mourn because we cannot see him. He has taken the next step in his journey. He has lived his life righteously and he has entered into the rest of his God who has created him.  

I am so thankful for ka'au and the example he was while he was on this earth. This may be a sad time for us because of the loss of his presence among us. But I know death is not the end and he will live once again.

I hope this letter does not seem sad. Ka'au has passed his test on the earth. I am happy for the time I had to know him and I am happy that he now has the chance to be a missionary on the other side of the veil. I know the plan of salvation is real. I am so grateful to call all of you my Ohana (family). I know death is not the end. It is only the beginning to the rest of our eternity.

I love you all so much! 

Elder Esplin 

Aloha

 we had  a really good experience this week. We got a call on Thursday? That there was a boy who was in intensive care. They were not sure if he was going to make it. So we rushed to the hospital to give him a blessing. Long story short we have been checking up on the family daily. We have recently found out Saturday that he has too much brain damage to function on his own. 

His family has had a long journey coping with this situation. But it amazes me the about the faith they have had during this time. They are taking a lot of comfort in knowing he is in God's hands. 

One thing that happened in particular was the mom and the dad received another blessing yesterday. we got to stand in the circle. The dad gave the mother a heartfelt blessing of comfort. Then the bishop gave one to the father. The bishop spoke with great power and gentleness yet he seemed to speak exactly to the fathers needs. 

What stuck out to me was the amount of faith the whole family has had during this time. They have relied so much on their faith for comfort. So while others would feel like this would be the end of the world they simply hope for the best but trust in God's will. Whatever that may be. 

That was the highlight of our week we have spent a lot of time with them and we have become very close to the family 

If you want to include them in your prayers they are the Carleani family their sons name is conner.

mom, I just want to take some time and say that I love you, this day is just as much yours as it is mine. I appreciate everything you have done for me it must have been a hard time and very scary 

Giving birth 20 years ago not knowing what would happen. I am so grateful to be born in such a loving family, I love you so much!

Ps I loved the video of Trixie I forgot how cute she was!

Elder Llidang and myself with Aron  Carleani ( whose son

passed away.