Mission Week 8 - LAS VEGAS

Hoi

If last weeks post sounded pretty pessimistic and depressing and bored to you, you sort of got the message! It is a little rough not being in the Netherlands and I really miss speaking the language and my friends from the MTC. For some reason, God needs me here. Whether it be to humble me with the 100+ degree daily temperatures, challenge me, or maybe bring me here to help someone come unto Christ. I hope it's the last one. We will see.

We have three investigators right now that I really am excited for and they are awesome. Liliana is one that we found and met this week and she is awesome! She says that she has talked to missionaries before, but never felt comfortable with them until us. She grew up going to a certain Christian church that claims that if she investigates other religions she will go to Hell and then her mother and other members told her that since her daughter has not been baptized she will be punished for all of the naughty stuff that she has done and will go to Hell as well. That is outrageous because her daughter is not even 3 yet and little children are not capable of sin and she feels the same way! So she has been very happy to speak with us so far and she has so many questions! She's awesome and she seems like she has been prepared by God to meet us. Her daughter is crazy and is always running all over the place when we go and visit.

Another great investigator is Jack! He's so cool and he's so fun to talk to. He's probably in his 60s and he has been meeting with missionaries for a while now. He is so ready to be baptized and he has so much faith and this week he set a date! He'll be baptized on July 8th. He was just waiting for a time when his daughter could come up from Texas to see it because he wants her to see how important it is to him. All he has to do now is stop smoking but he is super determined to stop and he should be done very soon.

Demara is also super cool. Her whole family is super cool actually. She is a single mom with five kids, all 12 and under. They're all pretty fun and crazy but she seems like she handles it all super well. Her and three of her kids (ages 8, 10, and 12) all want to be baptized on August 1st. All that she has to do is quit smoking so hopefully it will happen. She has a son who is Zach's age and it is kind of fun to talk to him and he actually reminds me of Zach a lot.

The members here are awesome! They always feed us so we rarely ever have a night when we don't have dinner at a member's home. When they can't feed us or something comes up, they'll always give us money or take us out to dinner. I ate at Cafe Rio three times this week... It's so nice eating with members though. It always reminds me of home and it helps to get me through the day a lot. Saturday morning we had a meeting with our new ward mission leader, Brother Ginther. He's about 25 and has been a member for two years and wow he has such a strong testimony though! He is really into missionary work and it's just cool to see how devoted he is to sharing the gospel with people. After our meeting he took us to this donut place called Pink Box and I had my first ever cronut. The best invention ever.. It is so good, basically a croissant donut. Mine had maple glaze and bacon and it was amazing! Church was awesome yesterday. I found out that I'm in the Bondoc's ward! (Ben/Elder Bondoc was at BYU with me) It was really cool to talk to Brother and Sister Bondoc and it sounds like Elder Bondoc is doing awesome! Also I met a member who is from the Netherlands! She is awesome and I finally got to speak Dutch again. She told me a lot about Holland and the culture and food and it got me so excited.. I'm just praying that my visa comes soon.

Street contacting was good this week. I mean Wednesday-Friday was all a little weak but on Saturday we talked to thirty-seven people so that was sick. A lot of cool people and nice people with interesting views. Not a lot of people that were interested but we did find some! One reason that we weren't able to get too many street contacts on Friday was because we got to go to the temple! The Las Vegas temple is awesome and very different from any that I have been in. It was super cool though and it got me spiritually recharged for the week. We got to go to the temple every week in the MTC so it has been really weird not being able to do it as often now.

Not too much else to talk about. We got our heat/gas back on Thursday! So that's good. Warm showers and dryers that work are not a luxury that too many missionaries have access to in most of the non-European/USA missions. Blessed. Also it rained for the first time since I have been here! That was awesome and it almost reminded me of Wisconsin. Not quite though. Another cool thing was last night we had a "Why I Believe" fireside, which is where a few recent converts speak about their conversion and bear their testimonies and all of the missionaries in the area bring investigators. It was super cool though and I felt the spirit like crazy. Their stories were amazing and I hope that all of the people there felt the spirit as well testifying of the truth of the speakers' words. Oh yeah and there was a Mormon "celebrity" there! It was the guy from the Testaments who kills the prophet! He was super cool though and we snapped a pic with him.

Spiritual Thought

To any pre/non missionaries, member missionary work is so important! Go out with the missionaries and feed them. When members go out with us we see so many miracles and their testimonies support ours more than anything. It's awesome when we are able to get youth to come out with us to. It's good for them and for the people we meet. Feeding missionaries is important too. It helps me at least to get through the week and to feel the comfort of a home a little bit more. Our apartment isn't that homey.. Also talk to the missionaries. At church or in public or wherever. It's so nice when members show interest and kindness to me instead of just giving me a quick nod or hello. 

Share what you believe. You do not need to be a missionary to share your testimony and maybe a Book of Mormon with a friend, family member, or whoever else who you may think needs a little more guidance and happiness in their life. This gospel is true. I know it without a doubt. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it is true. God loves all of us and He wants more than anything for us to live with Him and our families again. I write/type/e-mail/blog these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Everybody have a great week and thank you for everything! Tot Ziens!

Elder Wright