18 Sept 2018: "Nobody's Home!"

September 19, 2018

Goldfish cupcakes (a.k.a. weekly planning meeting snacks)

Hola!

As the title says, the theme for this week is"Nobody is home!" Because we have had a lot of people yell that at us from behind their door. Well, either the word got out that LDS missionaries aren't very bright, (which is a false truth) or there are ghosts that are yelling at us that nobody is home, because surely, when we hear somebody saying that, there is clearly nobody home. (Can you convey sarcasm through email?) No, it is just funny when that happens, because it is a sign of desperation from the person that they really don't want to talk to us, and that they really aren't that bright either. All part of the work, ha ha.

Last Tuesday after our P-day festivities, we visited a lady named Keisha who we committed to be baptized! We unfortunately had to refer her to other missionaries because she technically wasn't YSA age. Then we got a call from a recent convert named Jessica who recently had divorced her husband because of his alcoholism. She called us saying that her husband was back, and wanted to talk to us. We were kind of apprehensive because of his history. It wasn't a good one.

We got over there, and he said that he had seen the changes that Jessica had made in her life, and wanted to make those changes. He told us that he had stopped drinking, and wanted to be baptized. On Saturday, they were remarried, and we took them to the temple to do a tour of it. It was a beautiful privilege to witness it. I felt blessed to be a part of it. Ricardo, her husband, is going to be baptized on October 13th! This gospel truly changes lives!

We also took Matt on a temple tour! That was awesome! Jovonie, another person we are teaching, took him to a YSA activity. So we had our nonmembers fellowshipping each other! It was a proud papa moment for us. Basically a temple tour is us walking around the temple, and talking about the Plan of Salvation. He loved it! He is struggling with having no support from his family in his decision to be baptized. We showed him the Mormon Message called "Dare to Stand Alone" from President Monson. He appreciated that, because he could really relate to him, in the fact that he feels alone when his family doesn't want to support him in his decision to join the Church. Yesterday we taught him about the Aaronic Priesthood, and he enjoyed that. He also told me that he wants me to baptize him! I was not expecting that. I was kinda shocked for a few seconds, and I am honored and humbled to do it.

We had new missionary training on Wednesday with the Assistants to the President, and President Youngblood. It was awesome! I learned a ton about obedience. It was great.

That day I found a crayon on the ground that was literally MELTING because of the heat!

Ricardo is doing great, their whole family came to church on Sunday, and he was participating in church too! He was commenting some really awesome things! He is totally a great example to me of change for the better, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the people we are teaching, Cameron, left today for his surgery out of state, but last night he texted us that he decided to be baptized after his recovery! That was awesome!

Jovonie is a cello teacher that already pays tithing, and so we told him that we thought he was ready for baptism, and he got really excited. We are hoping to help him set a baptismal date tonight.

Quote of the week: Elder Dougal on the way to new missionary training: " The weather people lie, they say the temperature is colder than it actually is, so I just base the temperature off of how much I hate myself!" That made my day, because it is basically true.

Love you all! Keep the emails coming!

Elder Lovell

P.S. A couple of bonus stories:

Yesterday we got a call from a recent convert in the ward to help move their stuff out of their apartment, because they had to be out by 3. We did, and the condition of the house was bad. Unfortunately, I don't think the mental condition of the wife was the best, because they were hoarders. There was trash everywhere. When we cleaned up the bedroom, there was many a cockroach that crawled. The member that they were staying with needed them to be out today, and their new VA provided apartment won't be ready until Thursday, so now they are on the street for a few days. When I came I didn't realize that the way that you find out how much you love the people of your mission, is when you can feel your heart breaking for them. I was glad, and honored to help them a little bit.

The member that they were staying with is named Kirifi, and he is Samoan. We are having a ward Luau next week, and we are the entertainment. Kirifi got Elder Dillender, Dougal and I matching lavalavas, which are those Polynesian skirts that men wear. Today he will be teaching us the Haka, which is a Samoan Slap dance. This will be interesting.

A funny convo we had with a person we were trying to contact, ha ha.

translation: "Hi, Lucas! How are you? We are the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We spoke with you a few days ago. Is it okay if we stop by on Wednesday or Thursday this week to chat about faith in Christ?" "wrong number" "{our reply in English}"