31 Dec 2019: "Lemons are Spicy"

Hello everyone!

This week was a really good one! We saw a lot of really cool miracles, including us finding a part member family that have a desire to learn about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, in an almost completely new neighborhood, for the Spanish speaking branch that I am in. That was fun! 

The highlight of the week were the sacrament meetings that we attended this week. Sacrament meeting is the first church service on Sundays in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The significance of it is we partake of the sacrament, bread and water, representing the body and blood of the Savior, and we renew our covenant, our promise with God that we made at baptism to always remember His Son. That is the primary reason for why Latter-day Saints go to church. A secondary reason, is to be edified by the Spirit of God by listening to talks/sermons given by members of the congregation. I always love this part of sacrament meeting as a missionary because I get to hear other people's testimonies, and get to informally meet them. I just wanted to tell a snippet of a talk someone gave on Sunday: "My daughter sometimes doesnt eat the fruit we give her in her school lunches, and we find it the next day. The one time, this happened, and we started to talk to her about it, when my youngest son marched into the room, and said 'Dad, dont worry, I eat all my fruit, except lemons, because lemons are spicy!"  

I thought that was funny. Thats what I titled this email. The other thing I would like to share happened in our Spanish Branch Sacrament meeting. It was a missionary work themed meeting, and a missionary spoke from each of the 3 companionships in our branch. I sung the song I sang at Hna Coreas' baptism "Cuando Alguien Se Interesa" which roughly translates to "When Someone Cares" This time I sung it memorized, and it was much more powerful that time. Our branch mission leader is a choir director and he is a huge promoter of singing music memorized, because then people feel the music. I think when I get home that is something I will apply to my musicianship, to always strive to memorize my music. 

The best part though, was when Hna AND Hno Coreas spoke!!! Oh. My. Goodness. That was my dream come true! Hna Coreas spoke about how long she had waited for this day, and how she thought it would never happen. Then, she thanked all the mothers of the missionaries that had taught her. She said that "it must not have been easy to let your son go, but I am so thankful that you did, especially to the mothers of the last two missionaries that I have interacted with" that was amazing to hear. Words cannot describe it adequately. 

Hno Coreas spoke about me and Elder Sierra, my last companion, about how we were like Ammon to him. Ammon is a missionary that teaches people in the Book of Mormon that were originally hostile to him. I invite you to read the story. It is found in the book of Alma chapters 17-19, pages 250-259 in the Book of Mormon. It was amazing to see those two at the pulpit, with Hno Coreas wearing a tie. This family, simply put, has changed my life. 

Anyone reading this email who is questioning on going on a mission, I have one word for you: GO. Nothing on earth compares to these types of experiences, at least nothing that I have experienced in my life thus far. 

Love you all!

Elder Lovell

Pics

When the goofy christmas suits are on sale at Walmart, and you are tempted to get one, but then you realize that pants dont come with it...

A #LightTheWorld activity we did a few weeks back where we wrapped Book of Mormons and gave them to people