어떻게 지냅니까? 저는 진짜 좋습니다!! 한국말로 어럽습니다. 하지만, 하나님과 함께 할수 있습니다!! Well we have completed our 6th week at the MTC. Honestly time is flying. For the Koreans there are 3 groups here at a time. Every 3 weeks we get new missionaries and missionaries leave. So you have a baby group, daddy group, then grandpa group. We came in as the babies, and now we are the grandpa group... Can’t believe it. The Korean is coming. Today when I was praying out loud for our companionship during lunch and another Sister who is Korean and grew up listening to it told me she was amazed at how good my Korean was. She also told me that she had a friend who went to Australia, Korean speaking, but came back speaking terrible Korean.... She reassured me that my Korean was much better than his now and realized that she didn’t offer much hope. We just laughed. I know things will work out, I’m not worried. My companion and I’s Korean is about to improve exponentially these next 3 weeks because we will be having an Elder from Korea moving into our room tomorrow and we will probably have tri-companionship. So pray for us. We’ll have 20 new missionaries coming into our Korean branch on Wednesday. 17 Elders. We lost 11... gonna be busy week.
Funny story: During class our teachers were talking about family history. Then I (because of my wits and sense of humor) lift up the Book of Mormon and said "THIS is MY family history." The teachers look at me puzzled and I proceed to explain that I am a Latter-day Lamanite. The ones who the Nephites pray that the Book of Mormon will come to (Mormon 7). I explained I’m Navajo and shared my clans in Navajo. Our 2 teachers both just looked at me (they are originally from Korea) and ask “진짜?!?”(Really?!?) “Yes”, “진짜!!!” “Yes”..... “진짜?!?!?”.... “ummm, still yes”. We go back and forth like this for a couple more minutes as they continue to just look at me in amazement. It was funny, but true. I’m grateful to have that connection to the Book of Mormon.
So an update on my companionship: So this week I learned that without God, I am nothing. Our companionship got really uncomfortable with a lot of tension and to the point where anything I said just worsened the situation or didn’t help. No correction or apology helped. My prayers changed from 'help ME to know what to do,' to just praying for God to 'help the companionship anyway as He saw fit.' Once I reached that point, help came. I reached out for help because I knew I couldn’t do anything. Then, things changed. Other Elders came in and counseled us, put things in a new perspective and inspired us to change. What helped during this was that I changed from wanting to change him to just changing myself. To focusing on charity. Searching the scriptures and Preach My Gospel to teach me the most important Christlike attribute: Charity and Love. I love Elder Holland’s talk: “The First Great Commandment” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/the-first-great-commandment?lang=eng). Will you please watch it?? If you do, email me and tell me about your experience. Through this talk, I learned that it really comes down to DO YOU LOVE JESUS CHRIST? HEAVENLY FATHER? If you do, then keep His commandments. We shouldn’t have to be motivated by blessings or promises. We should be motivated to serve Him and His children just because we love Him. Right!? If you love Him then just love your companion! (I know that message was meant for me). If you love me, then go to the temple. If you love me, stop drinking coffee. If you love me, listen to my servants the Prophet and Apostles of the Church. If you love me, then stay awake during General Conference. As you do so, since God is a loving Father, He will bless you because that’s just what He does. Are you excited for General Conference? Do you realize that we have Prophets and Apostles called of God will be sharing messages directly from God meant for each and every one of us? Do you treat their words as if they come directly from God? I can’t tell you how excited I am. This will truly be a historic General Conference. If you don’t know what it is. It is a bi-annual conference where the leaders of our church (aka God’s kingdom on earth), speak the words of God to the entire church throughout the world. Yes the words that God would speak to us. So watch it, you can find it here: LDS.org on Saturday and Sunday.
I want to testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Book of Mormon testified of Jesus Christ, all of it. Aaron, a Book of Mormon missionary from around 90-77 B.C., states: “the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory...” (Alma 22:14). Alma, a Book of Mormon prophet from 83 B.C., states: “ I say unto you that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you concerning that which is to come is true and I say you that I know that Jesus Christ shall come, yea, the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. And behold it is he that comets to take away the sins of the world, yea, the sins of every man who steadfastly believeth on his name” (Alma 5:48). Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you understand what all of this is about? While in the MTC, Jesus Christ is becoming more and more real to me. The scriptures become real. I also learned that we should stop looking and admiring the prophets in the scriptures because of their cool stories. Yes marvel and appreciate their accomplishments, but I guarantee that all of them would tell us that we’re missing the mark. It’s not about the story or them. They would probably slap us around a bit and proceed to tell us that it’s about JESUS CHRIST. HE is who we should be looking at and emulating. HE is our SAVIOR. Through Him we can overcome our weaknesses, receive forgiveness of our sins (Alma 7:11-13). HE is the answer. HE is the way. HE is how we achieve eternal happiness. I got slapped around a bit this week because of this. I got caught up marveling the stories and prophets in the Book of Mormon. I didn’t forget Jesus Christ, but I didn’t look for Christlike attributes through these stories or prophets. I didn’t look for Christ in each chapter. HIS name is on my chest for goodness sake. I was missing the mark. So I hope you can learn from my mistake and look for Christ in your scripture study. If you don’t STUDY the scriptures every day, SHAME ON YOU. You know what though? It’s ok, because you can repent and start reading today. There is no better time to start than NOW. So fix yourself and get to studying. God has a message He needs to tell you, but He can’t tell you unless you pray, read and listen. I love you. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints IS the SAME church that Christ established when He was on the earth. It is Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father who we worship and who lead our church. I know this. That’s why I gave up my family, West Point, career, dreams, pursuits, friends, and any personal life for 2 years. Its been the 2nd greatest decision in my life. 2nd to my decision to get baptized. I love you. Have a great week!
Elder Escamilla
Australia Sydney Mission
에스카미야 장로님
호주 선교부
West Point missionaries all over the world (L-R): Elder Frangia - Malaysia (Malay speaking); Elder Escamilla - Sydney Australia (Korean speaking); Elder Holt - Honduras (Spanish speaking); Elder Fuller - Sweden
Sunday temple walk
Birthday celebrations for Elder Streeter
We sent off around 12 missionaries heading to Korea. We knew these guys for 6 weeks and they were great examples and gonna change lives in Korea. These 2 were “제 아들들” or my sons.