Broken nose, stitches, and another 6 weeks in The Lakes

Happy Birthday, mom!!

As a birthday present, I'll tell you all about how I busted my nose this weekend:

In our mission, if we wake up earlier (5:30 or so), we can go play sports with other missionaries for morning exercise - "morning sports". We were getting kind of bored with volleyball and basketball, so for the past week we've been playing disc golf at a course in the zone. This Saturday, we had just thrown off the tee box on hole 8 (I was at -8, I might add) when one of our missionaries neglected to say "fore" and nailed me right in the nose. I'll spare you the really gory details, but it just about ruined my shirt and had me on my back seeing stars. Some security guards grabbed me a granola bar and a bottle of OJ so I could recover from some of the blood loss and it got me up and to the car. Using my shirt to manage the bleeding, we raced to a quick care center only to see that it didn't open for another hour. We had accidentally switched phones with the companionship that covers the Ridges ward (the ward I used to cover, really wealthy one), so I was looking through their phone for directory assistance, or a number for a Walgreens or something. I passed by Bro Rodriguez in the phone, and I remembered that he was a world-renowned plastic surgeon in the Ridges ward (https://www.rodmd.com/Home_Page.php), so I called him at about 7:15AM for some advice. He told me to call him around 1:00PM and he'd see what he could do. At around noon he called to say he was on his way home, so we met him at his house. He sat me down, looked at my nose, numbed me up, and had me lay down on his kitchen table. Seven stitches later, he slapped a Cinderella band-aid on me and said "Go save some souls". He was no-nonsense and an overall stud. I'll send some pictures of the whole ordeal, but he said scarring should be minimal due to the fact that it's a horizontal cut that goes with the tension lines of the face. I can breathe just fine, too, so the break isn't too bad at all; I'm starting to get some black eyes this morning, but I'll work through all that.

...the rest of the week was really good! On Tuesday we met with a family from Ethiopia we tracted into and we brought one of our High Council members, Stan Nielson, who just got back from being a mission president in Poland. It was a great lesson; we talked about the restoration and the need for a prophet in these latter days. They seem really on the ball and we have another lesson with them this upcoming Tuesday as well. Sunday was pretty awesome, too; it was the primary program, so there were a ton of nonmembers present. One of the nonmembers was a man who's wife is LDS, so he came to watch his kid. However, he stayed for the second and third hour and absolutely loved it, and has agreed to meet with us this upcoming week. Another lady walked in in jeans and a Robert Plant t-shirt; she said she was visiting her mom and she felt like she needed to attend church, so she stopped at the closest one. She stayed for Sunday School and loved the lesson about eternal families - she said that her experience at church has confirmed to her that she needs to move to Las Vegas and attend church here. 

In other good news, I'm staying another six weeks in Lakes with Elder Herlin! I'm way excited for the good that's going to come of this last transfer; I feel like six months is the perfect amount of time to spend in an area, and I'm ready to kill it these last couple of weeks. Not too much is changing in the zone, so we'll be staying the same for the most part. I'm pumped to see what the fall brings :)

Solid week, bummer Saturday. Thanks for the emails and letters! I love and appreciate hearing from my family and friends.

Love,
Jesse

 

On the kitchen table





Dr. Rodriguez' handiwork 

Cinderella Band Aid

Realplays on The Deuce

Hey guys!

Solid week with a lot that happened! I'll start with Tuesday at our Zone Training meeting:

So, we told the zone to meet at 10:30 in a parking lot off of Sahara/Fort Apache and bring 5 bucks instead of meeting at the church building. Everyone was confused, but we promised them it was worth it, so they did it. Elder Herlin and I drove our car down to Sahara/Rainbow around 9:30, parked in a Wells Fargo parking lot, and then took the deuce up to one block west of where we told the zone to meet up. We had our district leaders pretend like we were late and so they directed the zone to the bus stop. All of a sudden, the deuce pulls up, doors open, and we're standing there; everyone was confused and we told them all to hop on. It was so funny to see all the expressions of people as 16 mormon missionaries climbed on to a double-decker city bus. We took them up to the top level in the back and opened up our Zone Training Meeting! It was on "Helping People Make and Keep Commitments", and since we were on the deuce, we had "realplays" instead of "roleplays". Instead of having missionaries teach each other, we had them try their teaching on real people on the bottom level of the deuce; the first lady one companionship contacted on the first "realplay" was interested and set up an appointment with the elders. It was amazing. Pretty soon, the bus got to Sahara/Rainbow where we told everyone to get off. When they got off the bus stop, they saw our car and were like "how did...but wait...". We had a box of copies of the Book of Mormon, so we passed them out and had the zone contact people at a busy Vegas intersection (in our zone). Thirty minutes later, we hopped the deuce again until it got to the very last stop before crossing into the east mission (Sahara/Rancho), right at 12:00. It was an awesome training, and after the closing prayer we had lunch down there and then took the bus to hear Elder Anderson and Callister address us at 1:00, at the building only a couple blocks away.

It was amazing to be able to shake the hand of one of the Lord's Apostles. He shook the hand of every single missionary there, and then spoke to us directly, walking around in the aisles and using our names. His knowledge and public speaking skills were incredible; he was working the room and had our direct attention. The first thing he let us know was that we were not to compare ourselves to anybody else, ever. It kind of reminded me of golf; you're only playing against yourself - it's about day-to-day improvement. Elder Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy talked about changing our nature rather than changing our behavior, and that really hit home. The last thing they put a lot of emphasis on was the message of the Atonement and the reality of a Savior. One thing I really liked that Elder Anderson said was that when we don't know what to say, testify of Him. When we're at a loss of words, or when there seems to be nothing more to say, testify of Jesus Christ and the fact that He lives. I love that. I've been doing my best to do that as the week has gone on, and it's been easier to be a missionary as I find myself completely centered around that message. We're ambassadors of the Lord, and our sole purpose is to testify of Him. If I'm not doing that, I'm doing something wrong.

With transfers, I'm not sure what's going on. Elder Anderson said our mission presidents need to keep us in our areas longer, 6-8 months being the AVERAGE. I was glad to hear that, because I want to spend one more transfer in Lakes, but looking at the mission logistically, everything is pointing to me getting transferred :( I might go to South zone, not sure. It's not that I don't want to serve in these other areas with these other missionaries, it's just that I really feel like we're getting into a groove and a lot of good has yet to be accomplished. We'll see, though; we get our calls on Saturday, so you'll know Monday!

I love you all and hope your week was as good as mine!

Jesse

The Lakes Zone missionaries on "The Deuce"

Red Rock Canyon for P-Day

Hey guys!

Sorry for emailing so late today - we just got back from Red Rock Canyon, where we went hiking/exploring for P-day. Vegas is like Salt Lake, in that way (Christopher Walken voice), where you can drive for ten minutes outside of the city and be in absolute nowhere, USA. I'm a huge fan of the P-days that get us outside of Vegas, or at least take our minds off of it. I'll send some pictures; it was perfect, high 70's, nice and cloudy. No one from the zone fell and broke anything, so that's good, too. I'm going to be way sore tomorrow morning, I can feel it - my poor body is far from in-shape.

This week has resulted in the most lessons taught in all the history of the zone...we're talkin' since it's very existence, so we're really happy and proud of our missionaries. I'm grateful we have such studs serving in our zone right now, everyone's working hard and missionary work matters to them. Refreshing, for sure. Elder Herlin and I have a baptism coming up on the 28th - this nine year old girl we've been teaching is ready and set for that date. It's been fun teaching her, but different as well; having to find ways to teach her effectively has been fun (and challenging). 

You asked about some of the pictures on the double decker bus...I'll give you a hint: it has to do with our Zone Training meeting tomorrow. Every week our district leaders give trainings to their districts from 10:30 to 12:00; Elder Herlin and I split up and switch which district meeting we attend every week. Once a month, after our Mission Leadership Council, the two of us present a training during that time to the entire zone. Lately, our two district leaders, Elder Tunney and Elder Birch, have been presenting the most creative and amazing district meetings we've ever attended, so we had to think outside of the box for our Zone Training...it's either step it up or get shown up, so Elder Herlin and I planned the most incredible (and risky) ZTM in history. Don't wanna spoil it, so be sure to remind me to talk about it next week.

Also on Tuesday! Both missions are getting together to listen to Elder Anderson of the Quorom of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Callister of the 70 talk to us! I'm so excited I can hardly see straight. Rumors are floating around that they're going to talk to us about some of the new advents talked about during the "Hastening the Work of Salvation" fireside, but I don't know about that; I'm just excited to hear what they have to say. The east mission is meeting there too, but it's on the west side on Charleston, so I hope a fight doesn't break out. I know, sounds like 1950's high school rivalry/west side story sharks vs jets, but who knows. Looking forward to that (the Apostle, not the bi-mission brawl).

Other than that, things are going well! Starting week 5 of the transfer! Also, Go Utes.

Love,
Jesse

 

P-Day at Red Rock Canyon

 

Great Teaching Experience!

Hey y'all!

So, not a lot of missionaries are emailing today due to the holiday and all of the libraries are closed. However, we normally email in the family history center in the stake center, so that doesn't effect us at all!

The re-dedication, the fasting and prayer, "hard in the paint" week - whatever it was, it worked. The zone set a record for people set with a date with 14 set, two for August and twelve for September. We're so excited and so proud of the zone for working hard and doing what they should...and we haven't even started zone "hard in the paint" week! Next week we're committing everyone to being 100% obedient in EVERYTHING; doing all of the little things that they normally overlook. After doing that ourselves in Desert Breeze and seeing the difference, I can't even begin to think about how awesome it'll be when 16 missionaries do that all at once. Great, great week.

I had an awesome experience on exchanges with one of our district leaders (and one of my good friends) Elder Birch. We were in his area, the Spanish Hills ward, and visiting a list the bishopric gave him of people they've never met. We knock on this one door, looking for a certain family, and a confused woman opens the door and says she doesn't speak very good english. Her son comes downstairs, maybe around 25, and invites us in. As we walk in, I notice pictures of Christ on the wall and an Arabic bible on their coffee table. The father comes downstairs and sits down with us as well and we learn they're actually from Iraq! They escaped Iraq in 2002 and moved to Syria where they lived for ten years, and then have been in the states for about 9 months, trying to acclimate to the culture and style of living. They were one of the rare devout Christian families back in the middle east, and were heavily persecuted. They had never heard of Mormons before - we started at ground zero and taught the first lesson and they loved it. The mom couldn't understand very well, so the son and dad would translate into Arabic for her and teach her the principles we had just taught them. It was probably the most spiritual lesson of my mission...they testified how they had felt like Joseph Smith before and they want copies of the Book of Mormon in their native language, which we can get for them. Awesome, awesome time, and I got emotional thinking about what it's going to be like when those countries open up for missionary work. I sincerely cannot wait.

The mission is awesome, I'm having the time of my life out here. Pday is going to be fun today; we'll be having a BBQ at this park. Next week, we're going to Mt Charleston again, so that'll be awesome! Then we'll be playing Quidditch with another zone (long story), then transfers. Here's hoping I stay in Lakes!

Love,

Jesse

 

 

Missionary life in Las Vegas libraries!!

Hey everyone!

So, picture this scene: 12 missionaries sitting in a library on computers emailing their families. Four more missionaries are standing up against the wall, waiting for their turn. A crazy woman starts yelling at them, telling them that they're brainwashed little servants. Such is the life of a missionary in Las Vegas.

Luckily, I'm one of the ones sitting down (now) and Elder Herlin is holding down the fort in the little waiting line. That's one of the many reasons why it's so awesome to have a companion; I don't worry about what he's going to say/do and I know that he has my back and I have his.

Today marks the end of our "go hard in the paint" week, and we seriously went hard in the paint. I'm talkin' shattered glass; we were dunkin' on everyone. Last week we had nobody set for baptism - after "hard in the paint" week, we have three. Last week we only taught 8 lessons (six to less-active/recent converts), this week we taught 14 lessons (nine to non-members). It was really difficult to buckle down and work as hard as we did, working through lunch and dinner a couple of days, but the blessing are evident. We tracted in to a man who had taken the lessons last year and was planning on being baptized, but fell off the map (I'm trying to type over the sound of this woman claiming that we believe Joseph Smith was Jesus reincarnated...). We had no record of him, but he told us it isn't a matter of IF he gets baptized, it's WHEN. We have an appointment with him this next week, and we're really excited. When you work hard, are obedient and diligent, things like that just fall into your lap. It's amazing how you find teaching opportunities in the most inopportune places.

It's so hard for me to listen to people slander us, and I wish it wasn't. I wish I could just brush it off and not worry about it, but I want so badly for these people to understand, to know truth. There's so much out there that takes the truth and twists it, and it's a very real evidence of the adversary. It makes our job all the more important. I love what I'm doing, and I know that it's true.

Love you and hope everything is going well!

Jesse