4 Sept 2018: Rain Exists in Nevada?

Hola todos!

Week 1.5 has come and gone and yes, apparently rain does exist in Nevada, and it still manages to be bone dry during a rain storm here! And it went from clouds in the sky far off, and everyone knew that we weren't going to get any rain, to a wind and dust storm, to a downpour of rain and dust. Go figure. 

Highlights from this week:

-Last Thursday right after i sent my email, Elder Dillender and I got a call from President Youngblood saying that an emergency transfer(a quick, necessary switch of companionships needed to be made immediately) and that we would be getting another companion. So now I am in a trio of elders, and Elder Dougal joined the best companionship in the mission! He is super funny, and has a really strong testimony. 

A selfie of the new trio. The one taking the picture is Elder Dougal.

We are teaching two people that I want to tell you all about. The first is Matt. Matt is awesome. He has a bunch of friends that are members, and he wanted to learn more, so he started meeting with the missionaries. He is already more than halfway through the Book of Mormon, has a ton of great questions, and last weekend attended church while visiting BYU with his friends! We are super excited to teach him today! 

The other is Ivery. He is 21 and has been in and out of jail for a while now. He is awaiting his sentencing on December 3rd, but he has already turned his life around. He started praying again while he was in jail, and we started teaching him about two weeks ago. When we asked him if he had prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and if the Book of Mormon is true, he said he didn't, but he already knows it's true. We committed him to be baptized last week, but since his court dates are still up in the air we can't set a date with him yet.

On Friday night we were knocking doors and Elder Dougal suggested we do "inspired knocking" where we say a prayer and then everyone picks a door in which they feel we should knock. I went first, and we met Charlie Brown (no joke). He looked about mid 50s, had a doo rag on, and quite frankly scared me at first. But we started teaching him. At the end we promised him that if he read the Restoration pamphlet we gave him, had a sincere desire to know if it was true, the Lord will answer his prayer. He then said "you better be right, because I'm feeling something right now" and we knew exactly what he was feeling. We are going back to teach him on Friday. I'm so excited!

We call this photo: Exact Obedience

Yesterday I met my first drunk person. He was totally out of it. I actually didn't realize he was totally drunk at first, but he was switching from Spanish to English mid sentence, and the smell was quite bad. Stick to Apple juice people, you'll live longer.

Saturday night we went to the very western part of our Temple View Young Single Adult Ward Area, which was right up next to The Strip. Boy was that a sketchy part of town. Yikes. It also didn't help that we were there when it was totally dark outside. 

-Also yesterday we were at Wendy's for dinner, and as we were leaving a young man in his mid 20's walks in, and introduced himself as Robert. He said that he had been walking around trying to find help to get home. He had been living with his aunt, but they had a falling out, and so he had to leave. He asked us for help, and to use our phone to call home, which was in Texas. He didn't know where he was. At first I was kind of apprehensive and skeptical of his story, but as he talked, I felt a love for him that I knew wasn't mine. I felt the love of God for this man. At this this point, two members walk in and I ask them if it would be all right for Robert to use their phone to call home. Then Robert puts his face in his hands and starts to cry. He calls his mom, and then has me talk to her so I can describe his location a bit better. 

We legitimately saw a Lamborghini the other night.
It was glorious.
Forgive my bad phone camera.

Robert eventually said that while he was walking down the street, praying his heart out for help, a voice told him to go into Wendy's and three men would help him get home. Then he walks towards the Wendy's and sees us through the window. He saw we were wearing white and said that he knew that it was us that could help him. He told us that we were angels, helping him get home. I told him that we didn't have much to give him, but i told him that we wanted to give him something that is precious to us, and we knew that it could help him. We walked out to our car, and gave him a Book of Mormon and told him how it could bless his life. When I gave it to him, he had a look on his face that made it seem like we had just given him gold. Elder Dougall gave him a couple bucks and a bus pass that was still good for 3 weeks. Hopefully that can get him home or close to home. This experience was truly humbling for me. I could feel my heart change, and see these people differently 

now. He kept calling us angels sent by God, and that all of us were glowing. He said that he knew that as soon as he left we would fly back up to heaven. He asked us to write down our names in a pad of paper he had, so that he could remember us for the rest of his life. We watched him walk to the bus stop, and I could feel anything but happy. I may never see him again, and honestly probably won't, but I hope him the best, and he is in my prayers. We didn't really do much for him, at least in our eyes, but I knew what we had done for him may have meant the world. 

Friends and family, this work is true. The work I have been called to do for two years is true. This gospel can and does change lives. It is so humbling to see how I am just a tool in the Lord's hands doing His work here in Las Vegas. If this is what the past two weeks have been, then the next year and 22ish months is going to change my life forever.

Love you all, keep the emails coming!

Elder Lovell 

P.S. Another miracle I forgot to mention: 

I was shopping today, and found lactose free chocolate milk. The Lord loves His missionaries!