The weekly (1/29/18)
This week was pretty legit. We saw many miracles. Just to name a few
Manico-
On Thursday, we were at our apartment for weekly planning and about halfway through our weekly planning we got a knock on the door. We were like what the heck. So went to the door and there was a younger guy standing outside. We opened up the door and said what’s up? He was like you guys are Mormons aren’t you. We were like Yep, and so we asked him what we could help him with and he said he just needed someone to pray for. We had a picture of Jesus Christ on a window in our apartment and he saw that so that is why he knocked on our door. We gave him a Book of Mormon and testified of the power of it. He was very grateful. It was super sweet to have someone knock into us instead of us knocking into them!
Lomax-
We street contacted Lomax and then a couple days later she got onto Mormon.org and referred herself and asked for a Book of Mormon and a Bible. We dropped by her place once we got the referral and we got no answer so we left a card.... well, Lomax’s son-in-law found the card and he was pissed that his mother-in-law was talking to the Mormons. He got on the internet and showed her a bunch of stuff. She then got mad at him and said I don’t care what that all says, I am going to meet with them and judge for myself. We couldn’t go to their home, so we met on a street corner and taught her the restoration! It was sick! She came to church on Sunday, too!
Melody-
Well, Melody is quite the lady. We were tracting and we met Melody. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she told us it vibrated in her hands. We joked with her and said it was hooked up with our phone but it was just that she was a little drunk. She quickly fell in love with Elder Goold‘s good looks. She started telling us a bunch of interesting stories about her living situation and about the two people that she wanted to drowned and kill. Later that night she called us and we were stuck on the phone with her for like a half hour. She insisted on giving us an iPad but we would not take it. She was a little crazy... haha
Well, I hope you all stay warm for me out there, I have been cruising around in the short sleeve shirts, so it has been really nice!
Love you all!
Monday, January 29, 2018
Monday, January 22, 2018
One For the Team
Journal
Monday 1/15
Today was quite the day. We started off with normal preparation activities, did some cleaning and shopping. The event of the day was we had to go and clean an old missionaries’ apartment. They were shutting it down and missionaries hadn’t lived there for a little while and so we had to go clean it. When we got there, the apartment smelled less than desirable. Elder Rabago went into the kitchen and opened up the freezer. All of a sudden, we hear some screaming and some heaving. Very quickly a rancid smell swept through the apartment. The fridge and freezer had food left in it, but it hadn’t been working for the last few weeks so the food had completely rotted. Elder Rabago and I took one for the team and emptied the fridge and freezer. Before we knew it, Elder Goold was over the rail losing his lunch. Ha ha, it was quite the day. Tonight, we taught a part member family, the Maynard’s, they are super awesome and they probably have the craziest pit bull I have ever met. The dog I swear has ADHD and drinks energy drinks as water. It runs, jumps and is just all over the place haha!
Tuesday 1/16
Today we met a kid named Cody. Cody is super awesome we started talking to him and the topic was God’s plan for us. He was like you know I don’t really believe in the heaven and hell thing! Haha we were like yes! Listen to this! He was like man I really like that! He then was like yeah I kind of feel God would give people another chance! Once again we were like listen to this! It was great!
Wednesday 1/17
Today we got to see Vernon! I love Vernon and am hoping he will continue to progress. He asked if it would be ok to be baptized again and we were like yes absolutely! Let us tell you about it! We also got to visit a man named JC. JC is an inactive member who has a non-member wife. He reached out to the Elder’s Quorum President and wanted some spiritual strength. We met them on Sunday and scheduled to come by tonight. He is a convert and then because of some unfortunate events fell into inactivity. His wife currently isn’t very fond of the church but I guess immediately liked Elder Goold and I because of how happy we were. We hope to be able to start teaching them!
Thursday 1/18
This morning we did some service. I know it will probably shock all of you but yes there are a few trees in Las Vegas and we got to wrack some leaves and clean up a yard. It was a lot of fun to do some yard work. This afternoon we got a call from one of our investigators who has quite a few health problems and she asked if we could take her garbage out, as well as, walk her to the mail pickup. She isn’t that old but struggles with many health problems. A few minutes after we left her she started having signs of another stroke. She had had one a couple days prior to today. It was scary but she said she called her doctor and that she would be fine.
Friday 1/19
We met several great people today. We were able to meet with the Gotchy Family, which was quite difficult. They are kind of flaky and don’t like scheduling things so it is rough to get into that home. Their kids are probably the hardest people I have taught because they are straight off the wall crazy. We taught them the restoration using a Rubik’s cube!
Saturday 1/20
Today we got a referral at about 2pm. We called the guy and he told us to meet him at 4 at his apartment. We knocked and he let us in and I immediately recognized this guy was a little different than normal. He was rocking a leather jacket covered in pins, a Donald trump hat, bleached hair, and long fake girl finger nails.... he is from Israel and is Jewish but likes Christianity more. He said he wants to change his life around and get a different job. He asked what my dad did for work and I said he works at a lumber yard and he said that he wanted to work for my dad. I am not sure this guy would last five minutes in Wyoming haha! Good stuff.
At Ken's baptism last week:
Monday 1/15
Today was quite the day. We started off with normal preparation activities, did some cleaning and shopping. The event of the day was we had to go and clean an old missionaries’ apartment. They were shutting it down and missionaries hadn’t lived there for a little while and so we had to go clean it. When we got there, the apartment smelled less than desirable. Elder Rabago went into the kitchen and opened up the freezer. All of a sudden, we hear some screaming and some heaving. Very quickly a rancid smell swept through the apartment. The fridge and freezer had food left in it, but it hadn’t been working for the last few weeks so the food had completely rotted. Elder Rabago and I took one for the team and emptied the fridge and freezer. Before we knew it, Elder Goold was over the rail losing his lunch. Ha ha, it was quite the day. Tonight, we taught a part member family, the Maynard’s, they are super awesome and they probably have the craziest pit bull I have ever met. The dog I swear has ADHD and drinks energy drinks as water. It runs, jumps and is just all over the place haha!
Tuesday 1/16
Today we met a kid named Cody. Cody is super awesome we started talking to him and the topic was God’s plan for us. He was like you know I don’t really believe in the heaven and hell thing! Haha we were like yes! Listen to this! He was like man I really like that! He then was like yeah I kind of feel God would give people another chance! Once again we were like listen to this! It was great!
Wednesday 1/17
Today we got to see Vernon! I love Vernon and am hoping he will continue to progress. He asked if it would be ok to be baptized again and we were like yes absolutely! Let us tell you about it! We also got to visit a man named JC. JC is an inactive member who has a non-member wife. He reached out to the Elder’s Quorum President and wanted some spiritual strength. We met them on Sunday and scheduled to come by tonight. He is a convert and then because of some unfortunate events fell into inactivity. His wife currently isn’t very fond of the church but I guess immediately liked Elder Goold and I because of how happy we were. We hope to be able to start teaching them!
Thursday 1/18
This morning we did some service. I know it will probably shock all of you but yes there are a few trees in Las Vegas and we got to wrack some leaves and clean up a yard. It was a lot of fun to do some yard work. This afternoon we got a call from one of our investigators who has quite a few health problems and she asked if we could take her garbage out, as well as, walk her to the mail pickup. She isn’t that old but struggles with many health problems. A few minutes after we left her she started having signs of another stroke. She had had one a couple days prior to today. It was scary but she said she called her doctor and that she would be fine.
Friday 1/19
We met several great people today. We were able to meet with the Gotchy Family, which was quite difficult. They are kind of flaky and don’t like scheduling things so it is rough to get into that home. Their kids are probably the hardest people I have taught because they are straight off the wall crazy. We taught them the restoration using a Rubik’s cube!
Saturday 1/20
Today we got a referral at about 2pm. We called the guy and he told us to meet him at 4 at his apartment. We knocked and he let us in and I immediately recognized this guy was a little different than normal. He was rocking a leather jacket covered in pins, a Donald trump hat, bleached hair, and long fake girl finger nails.... he is from Israel and is Jewish but likes Christianity more. He said he wants to change his life around and get a different job. He asked what my dad did for work and I said he works at a lumber yard and he said that he wanted to work for my dad. I am not sure this guy would last five minutes in Wyoming haha! Good stuff.
At Ken's baptism last week:
Monday, January 15, 2018
Nevada Facts
Nevada Facts
Capital: Carson City
Population: 3 million
State bird: Middle Finger
State Flower: marijuana leaf
Well... this week was something special... It was a roller coaster. Here are a few of the things that went down.
• Companion threw up because we had to go clean an old missionary apartment and it was bad...
• Almost got ran over by a car and then the dude yelled at US haha
• Rode around in a down pour of rain for two days.
• I got a call and was asked to baptize Ken Hestor. Saturday we went to his baptism and got to see Joseph and Janice!
• Got diagnosed with A.D.D. by a less active guy.
• Went to a family and they let us in and set their son with a baptismal date!
• A guy told us that we work for the government and are tracking him...
We got to speak in Sacrament Meeting on missionary work. It went well. Elder Goold was so nervous, but he did a super good job. We had a lot of success this week. We did some service for a super nice lady that we want to start to teach, but we will see haha. We were able to give a blessing to a man that was really struggling that is a friend of a less active family we are working with!
Well that is about it folks!
Love ya lots.
Capital: Carson City
Population: 3 million
State bird: Middle Finger
State Flower: marijuana leaf
Well... this week was something special... It was a roller coaster. Here are a few of the things that went down.
• Companion threw up because we had to go clean an old missionary apartment and it was bad...
• Almost got ran over by a car and then the dude yelled at US haha
• Rode around in a down pour of rain for two days.
• I got a call and was asked to baptize Ken Hestor. Saturday we went to his baptism and got to see Joseph and Janice!
• Got diagnosed with A.D.D. by a less active guy.
• Went to a family and they let us in and set their son with a baptismal date!
• A guy told us that we work for the government and are tracking him...
We got to speak in Sacrament Meeting on missionary work. It went well. Elder Goold was so nervous, but he did a super good job. We had a lot of success this week. We did some service for a super nice lady that we want to start to teach, but we will see haha. We were able to give a blessing to a man that was really struggling that is a friend of a less active family we are working with!
Well that is about it folks!
Love ya lots.
The Las Vegas Stake Presidency has all missionaries serving in their stake come over for breakfast once a month or once a transfer. This is a picture of the missionaries at the last breakfast.
Monday, January 8, 2018
New Area, New Comp
No journal this week. Just a weekly update.
There were 11 missionaries coming into the mission this past week and 9 went home. I am training a new missionary and will be the District Leader in my area.
I am serving in the WestCliff and Palmhurst Wards, Las Vegas Stake. They are great wards and they have lots of potential. My new companion is Elder Goold. He is from Portland, Oregon. He has seven siblings and he is the first to serve from his family. We have been biking like crazy. It is definitely different than being in a car. This week we have contacted several of our investigators. Elder Goold’s introduction to Las Vegas was a few ‘f’ bombs and lots of yelling, then followed by a lesson that was a non-contentious Bible bash. Haha
We have an investigator named Vernon. We got him to come to church and three-fourths of the way through Fast and Testimony Meeting, he got up and bore his testimony. Afterwards, he said he loved our church and he wanted to come every week. He is super awesome and we hope to set a baptismal date for him this upcoming week. The members were really great reaching out and fellowshipping him.
This week was a great week. Sorry for the short email.
There were 11 missionaries coming into the mission this past week and 9 went home. I am training a new missionary and will be the District Leader in my area.
I am serving in the WestCliff and Palmhurst Wards, Las Vegas Stake. They are great wards and they have lots of potential. My new companion is Elder Goold. He is from Portland, Oregon. He has seven siblings and he is the first to serve from his family. We have been biking like crazy. It is definitely different than being in a car. This week we have contacted several of our investigators. Elder Goold’s introduction to Las Vegas was a few ‘f’ bombs and lots of yelling, then followed by a lesson that was a non-contentious Bible bash. Haha
We have an investigator named Vernon. We got him to come to church and three-fourths of the way through Fast and Testimony Meeting, he got up and bore his testimony. Afterwards, he said he loved our church and he wanted to come every week. He is super awesome and we hope to set a baptismal date for him this upcoming week. The members were really great reaching out and fellowshipping him.
This week was a great week. Sorry for the short email.
Tuesday, January 2, 2018
2 Weeks With Lots of Changes
Dear Family & Friends:
12/19 Tuesday
Today we had a lesson and dinner with Jerry. I am not sure if I have ever told you about him. Jerry is in his sixties and is quite wealthy. He owns his own little cul-de-sac with four homes. All of his family lives in the homes. We found Jerry while we went to try to contact his son who is an inactive member... and I mean inactive haha. Jerry started talking to us and the rest is history. We go over like once a week and we helped him with his Christmas lights last Saturday and so he wanted to take us to dinner. Jerry attended the Mormon Church for 5 years and never was baptized and then he got offended. We had a great discussion and invited him to church and he should be able to make it on Sunday!
12/20 Wednesday
Dave and Katie!! Today was the first day of the Mission Zone Conference. It was a long, busy day, and kind of stressful, but everything worked out well. Tonight we had a super, amazing lesson with David and Katie. They’ve made so much progress since the first time we met them. We had a nail in prayer with them tonight and Katie started crying. They said they’re going to be at church on Sunday and so hopefully they keep that commitment.
12/21 Thursday
Today we went and taught the Saladino family. We asked Clayton (nonmember) what his thoughts were about the Restoration of the Gospel and of things we taught. He said, “you know, I have been to a lot of church’s and none of them feel quite right, but the more I learn and have gone to the Mormon Church the more it is clearer and makes more sense!” We invited him to church and he said that he works but if he gets off early he will be there. We told him that we would be praying every day until Sunday, that he would get off early and be able to come to church, so hopefully we’ll see!
12/22 Friday
We saw Jerry today and he is doing well. We are trying super hard to get him to commit to come to church but we can’t get anything super solid. We asked him to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon and he texted tonight and said he read it!
12/23 Saturday
Today we went tracking for a couple hours. Received some success, found some super awesome people. It was a lot of fun. Today President Walker called us and asked if we would meet him at the mission home. There President called me in and released me from being an assistant. He said that most likely I will be training a new missionary. I will miss being around President and Sister Walker so much!
12/24 Sunday
We started the morning at the Heimark’s before church. We had breakfast with them and we then went to church. Brother Heimark’s parents are in town from Montana and so we were able to meet them! They are super nice and they all came to church! The Alexander Ward had their Christmas program and it was a packed house. There were lots of less actives and nonmembers in attendance.
12/25 Monday, Christmas Day
Well, I got to talk to the family today! It was sure good to see them and talk to them! I am blessed to have such a great family! We made cookies and went and dropped them off to our investigators! They loved it, but who knows if they dare eat them! 😂 We had a prime rib dinner tonight and my slice of meat was probably a good inch and a half thick!
12/26 Tuesday
Today was a pretty normal day. It was p-day today. We went shopping and played spike ball and basketball. This morning we met at the office with President and Elder van Vleet was called as the new assistant. Starting Thursday, I will be with Elder Erickson from Alaska. We taught Clayton and the Saladinos tonight and invited Clayton to be baptized. They were so excited because they thought there was a waiting period of a year to six months to be baptized! Hey
12/27 Wednesday
Well things changed again. haha We got a call from President and we had to meet him at a missionaries apartment first thing this morning because a missionary was getting sent home. Elder Jensen went to the airport with President and I began my one-week companionship with Elder Erickson. I look forward to serving with him. He is a good Elder that has a lot of potential. We taught Dave and Katie tonight and they are doing really well. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and we got David to pray at the end of the lesson. He told us he has had some “coincidences” happen in his life that he can’t explain, but they have led him to us and us to him. He said that he has told Katie about them but he hasn’t decided if he will ever tell us haha! They are an amazing family!
12/28 Thursday
It has been pretty crazy the last couple of days. We shuttle Elder Jensen back and forth from the office so he and Elder van Vleet can do transfer planning and then Elder Erickson and I work both our area and the Spanish area! We meet with an inactive member that lives in our area but only speaks Spanish and so Elder Erickson talked the whole time in Spanish! He will be attending church this Sunday!
12/29 Friday
Elder Jensen came down sick today but he is pushing through it so they can be ready for transfers.
12/30 Saturday
The apartment Elder Erickson used to live in was quite a mess, so for the last few days during our lunch and dinner times we eat as fast as we can so that we can clean and man, my mom would be so proud of how clean we are getting this apartment! It is a complete 180! We taught Clayton again tonight and he is stoked to get baptized. He told us he was super excited and so he called his mom and told her (she is a Jehovah Witness). I guess it did not go over well but Clayton told us that he knows it is just an obstacle Satan is trying to throw at him! We got a text tonight that said, “hey Elder Call Ken Hestor is getting baptized next Saturday and would like you to be there” I was so stoked to hear Ken was getting baptized! I worked with him for 6 months and he is finally ready for baptism! President called me in today and called me to be a trainer as well as a district leader. I will be going back to the Las Vegas Zone, right next door to where I started my mission!
12/31 Sunday
Elder Jensen got real sick today. We didn’t attend Alexander Ward today because he was so sick. Elder Erickson came down with it as well, so it was an interesting day. There were a couple highlights though! David, Katie, and Reese came to church today! Every talk was on the same thing and it went 30 minutes over but hey it was alright haha.... they enjoyed it! We also taught a lesson in the Rainbow Vista Ward about the Book of Mormon and that went well! I can understand quite a bit of the Spanish and know what they are talking about but I can’t say a thing back to the conversation haha!
1/1 Monday
Today we had to run a couple things around in prep of transfers. We taught a guy named Carlos and a guy named Nick as well as the Heimarks. Nick is a super smart genius science dude and so that was pretty interesting haha. He was talking and I was nodding a little as he was talking and he was like “you are not supposed to agree with me, you are supposed to tell me that I am wrong and then prove and sway me a different way.” Well teaching the gospel works different than a science class! Haha the Heimarks lesson went really well, it was tough to say goodbye to them. I have grown to love them a lot.
Love ya!
12/19 Tuesday
Today we had a lesson and dinner with Jerry. I am not sure if I have ever told you about him. Jerry is in his sixties and is quite wealthy. He owns his own little cul-de-sac with four homes. All of his family lives in the homes. We found Jerry while we went to try to contact his son who is an inactive member... and I mean inactive haha. Jerry started talking to us and the rest is history. We go over like once a week and we helped him with his Christmas lights last Saturday and so he wanted to take us to dinner. Jerry attended the Mormon Church for 5 years and never was baptized and then he got offended. We had a great discussion and invited him to church and he should be able to make it on Sunday!
12/20 Wednesday
Dave and Katie!! Today was the first day of the Mission Zone Conference. It was a long, busy day, and kind of stressful, but everything worked out well. Tonight we had a super, amazing lesson with David and Katie. They’ve made so much progress since the first time we met them. We had a nail in prayer with them tonight and Katie started crying. They said they’re going to be at church on Sunday and so hopefully they keep that commitment.
12/21 Thursday
Today we went and taught the Saladino family. We asked Clayton (nonmember) what his thoughts were about the Restoration of the Gospel and of things we taught. He said, “you know, I have been to a lot of church’s and none of them feel quite right, but the more I learn and have gone to the Mormon Church the more it is clearer and makes more sense!” We invited him to church and he said that he works but if he gets off early he will be there. We told him that we would be praying every day until Sunday, that he would get off early and be able to come to church, so hopefully we’ll see!
12/22 Friday
We saw Jerry today and he is doing well. We are trying super hard to get him to commit to come to church but we can’t get anything super solid. We asked him to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon and he texted tonight and said he read it!
12/23 Saturday
Today we went tracking for a couple hours. Received some success, found some super awesome people. It was a lot of fun. Today President Walker called us and asked if we would meet him at the mission home. There President called me in and released me from being an assistant. He said that most likely I will be training a new missionary. I will miss being around President and Sister Walker so much!
12/24 Sunday
We started the morning at the Heimark’s before church. We had breakfast with them and we then went to church. Brother Heimark’s parents are in town from Montana and so we were able to meet them! They are super nice and they all came to church! The Alexander Ward had their Christmas program and it was a packed house. There were lots of less actives and nonmembers in attendance.
12/25 Monday, Christmas Day
Well, I got to talk to the family today! It was sure good to see them and talk to them! I am blessed to have such a great family! We made cookies and went and dropped them off to our investigators! They loved it, but who knows if they dare eat them! 😂 We had a prime rib dinner tonight and my slice of meat was probably a good inch and a half thick!
12/26 Tuesday
Today was a pretty normal day. It was p-day today. We went shopping and played spike ball and basketball. This morning we met at the office with President and Elder van Vleet was called as the new assistant. Starting Thursday, I will be with Elder Erickson from Alaska. We taught Clayton and the Saladinos tonight and invited Clayton to be baptized. They were so excited because they thought there was a waiting period of a year to six months to be baptized! Hey
12/27 Wednesday
Well things changed again. haha We got a call from President and we had to meet him at a missionaries apartment first thing this morning because a missionary was getting sent home. Elder Jensen went to the airport with President and I began my one-week companionship with Elder Erickson. I look forward to serving with him. He is a good Elder that has a lot of potential. We taught Dave and Katie tonight and they are doing really well. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and we got David to pray at the end of the lesson. He told us he has had some “coincidences” happen in his life that he can’t explain, but they have led him to us and us to him. He said that he has told Katie about them but he hasn’t decided if he will ever tell us haha! They are an amazing family!
12/28 Thursday
It has been pretty crazy the last couple of days. We shuttle Elder Jensen back and forth from the office so he and Elder van Vleet can do transfer planning and then Elder Erickson and I work both our area and the Spanish area! We meet with an inactive member that lives in our area but only speaks Spanish and so Elder Erickson talked the whole time in Spanish! He will be attending church this Sunday!
 |
| Elder Erickson, Elder Jensen, Elder Call |
12/29 Friday
Elder Jensen came down sick today but he is pushing through it so they can be ready for transfers.
12/30 Saturday
The apartment Elder Erickson used to live in was quite a mess, so for the last few days during our lunch and dinner times we eat as fast as we can so that we can clean and man, my mom would be so proud of how clean we are getting this apartment! It is a complete 180! We taught Clayton again tonight and he is stoked to get baptized. He told us he was super excited and so he called his mom and told her (she is a Jehovah Witness). I guess it did not go over well but Clayton told us that he knows it is just an obstacle Satan is trying to throw at him! We got a text tonight that said, “hey Elder Call Ken Hestor is getting baptized next Saturday and would like you to be there” I was so stoked to hear Ken was getting baptized! I worked with him for 6 months and he is finally ready for baptism! President called me in today and called me to be a trainer as well as a district leader. I will be going back to the Las Vegas Zone, right next door to where I started my mission!
12/31 Sunday
Elder Jensen got real sick today. We didn’t attend Alexander Ward today because he was so sick. Elder Erickson came down with it as well, so it was an interesting day. There were a couple highlights though! David, Katie, and Reese came to church today! Every talk was on the same thing and it went 30 minutes over but hey it was alright haha.... they enjoyed it! We also taught a lesson in the Rainbow Vista Ward about the Book of Mormon and that went well! I can understand quite a bit of the Spanish and know what they are talking about but I can’t say a thing back to the conversation haha!
1/1 Monday
Today we had to run a couple things around in prep of transfers. We taught a guy named Carlos and a guy named Nick as well as the Heimarks. Nick is a super smart genius science dude and so that was pretty interesting haha. He was talking and I was nodding a little as he was talking and he was like “you are not supposed to agree with me, you are supposed to tell me that I am wrong and then prove and sway me a different way.” Well teaching the gospel works different than a science class! Haha the Heimarks lesson went really well, it was tough to say goodbye to them. I have grown to love them a lot.
Love ya!
Elder Call
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