16 Oct 2018: Elder Tom Holland and Elder Bruno Mars At It Again in Las Vegas!

Hola Todos mis queridas personas!

Elder Troya and me with The Vega Family

As the title suggests, one thing Elder Troya and I have figured out this week, is that we make it look like Bruno Mars and Tom Holland decided to serve missions. Ha ha. Just think about it for a sec...

This week has been filled with miracles. We have had a lot of success this week.

Highlights:

Ricardo's baptism day!

- On Saturday, Ricardo was baptized!!! I kept getting choked up at the baptism, because I have been teaching him for a while, and seeing him make this amazing change in his life for his family, and himself, after having so many struggles before. It was a blessing to be a part of it. On Sunday, I was blessed with the opportunity to confirm him a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and confer upon him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was an incredible experience.

-Yesterday we had new missionary training at the mission office. I had it last transfer for me, and this transfer for Elder Troya! I learned a ton more this time around. It was cool to have it again.

- Update on the lady that we offended: we tried giving her homemade cookies (yes I made cookies out of snickerdoodle mix and cake mix, that were quite good if I do say so myself). She said she couldn't eat cookies, so we just gave her a heartfelt apology note, and she accepted that. I hope we can see her in the future.

- We are teaching a man named Manuel, who is great. He is getting baptized on the 3rd of November, and it will be awesome. He says he wants to bring his kids to church once everything gets cleared up in California with his family situation.

Snickerdoodle smile

- We were contacting people in this one neighborhood, about to leave, when I felt we should knock on one more door. We did, and the lady was on the phone, but she pointed to the door on the first floor, and said "She likes talking to missionaries" you don't get non member referrals every day, and so we knocked on this lady's door. She comes out with her Book of Mormon, and every pamphlet available from our church. We were like "Where did this lady come from?" She said that she has been meeting with missionaries for a long time. Long story short, she has been having health problems lately, which have prevented her from getting baptized, but we set her with a date at the end of the visit. The Spirit was so strong there. I'm glad I followed that prompting.

-That night, we were walking down the street, looking for people to talk to, and decided to say a prayer to help us find someone. We did, and decided to turn on this one street, before we left. We met a guy named Luis, who was awesome. We ended up teaching the entire Plan of Salvation to him and set up a return appointment with him.

Bishop Anderson and his wife with Ricardo.
Ricardo asked Bishop Anderson to baptize him
because he had also performed Ricardo's
marriage to Jessica

- On Saturday we had a great lesson with Jesus (pronounced Hey zoos) (

). He told us this story, of two missionaries knocking on his door 10 years ago, when his son was a toddler. They asked if they could give his son a blessing, because they felt prompted to do so. He politely declined. Right after they left, his son burned his hand really bad. Jesus believed that if they had given his son a blessing, his son wouldn't have gotten hurt. That's why he let us teach him. At the end of the lesson, we could tell he knew this gospel was true, and so we asked him to be baptized. As clear as day, you could tell he wanted to, but didn't want to admit it. After I said the closing prayer, he looked close to tears. I can't wait to teach him and his son again.

-We had a lady on Sunday stop us and ask if she could talk to our bishop. Turns out she needed financial assistance, but she told us to come by to talk to her the next day. When we came by on Monday, she hard core curbed us. You could hear people in the house, and they completely ignored us.

- On Thursday, we were trying to find a house, and so we went back to a guy on his drive way that we had already passed, and asked him, and he told us, but then we started talking to him about our amazing message. He said he was catholic but said his wife might be interested. He said that we could come by on Sunday night. We had an awesome, awesome lesson with them. We taught by the Spirit. We answered every concern or question they had, and in ways that I had never thought of before. I am certain 100% that every answer we gave was inspired by God. We didn't set a baptismal date for them, because they said that they want to pray about it and find for themselves. I know, and testify, that if they pray with a sincere desire to know, they will know that the things we taught them are true.

Last week, I invited you all to read the Book of Mormon, and study it if you are already reading it. I now invite all who read this, to ask God, with a sincere heart, if the Book of Mormon is true. I testify in the name of Jesus Christ and as His called representative, that if you do these things, you will receive an answer, that these things, this book is true. I have grown to love the scriptures, all of them, especially the Book of Mormon. I love this gospel, I love my elder brother and Savior Jesus Christ, I love my Father in heaven. I have grown to know them personally since I have been out here on my mission the last 3 months. I know I have been called by Him to serve the amazing people of Las Vegas. It is my greatest desire, that those that I love, every single one of you, feel the love that the Savior has for each of you personally. He loves you, and whether you know Him or not, He knows you.

This is the message that I have the immense blessing and priviledge of sharing with the world for two years. If any of you have any questions at all, please email me. I would love to answer them.

clark.lovell@myldsmail.net

I love you all,

Elder Lovell