December 3rd

Hey guys,

Not too much has gone down between emails. Three of our current investigators showed up at church this weekend, which was pretty great. After sacrament meeting, we walked up to talk with Susie who had shown up even though her husband and son were out hunting. She started talking to us and said "Since I want to be baptized, I went to an 8 year-old's baptism yesterday..." and we were like "Wait, rewind just a bit". It's awesome to have an investigator profess their desire to be baptized unprompted. We have a third lesson with the family tonight so hopefully we can pinpoint a date and get them moving towards it! They're a way cool family and would fit in perfectly in the ward in which they live.
We're also teaching a sixteen year-old kid named Wyatt who just recently moved in to Logandale. We had the second lesson with him last week and Steenstra and I kind of breezed through the Plan of Salvation. Wyatt didn't have any questions and it all felt kind of weird. We were then prompted to talk and bear testimony of prayer, and then the questions started flooding in. At the end of the lesson, Wyatt accepted our invite to close the lesson with a prayer and his prayer was awesome; there's nothing like hearing someones first vocal prayer. The Spirit was there in abundance and it was too cool. Just another testimony that we don't teach a dang thing; the Spirit does everything.

We should be hearing about transfers at the end of this week, so you'll know next Monday. Thanks for all the emails and details, they help a lot!

Love,
Jesse

Service work in Logandale...

Hey there-

A lot of stuff has happened between emails, so I'll be doing my best to fit everything I need to in.
We had an awesome lesson with the woman and the son I talked about last week; they truly have been prepared to receive our message. Turns out her husband is inactive of 20+ years and still has a very powerful testimony. During our second lesson with them as a family, he started to talk about a time where his son was hurt playing football and one of the coaches (happens to be the Elders Quorum president) was there to give him a blessing. He started to get emotional and he said he knew it was the power of the priesthood that healed his son. The mother and son (Susie and Chase) committed to read the Book of Mormon together and pray to know if it's true, but honestly, they might just fall into the font before next lesson. She kept saying "I feel so good about all of this" and the son asked us what he needs to do in order to pass the sacrament. The Bishop of the ward was sitting in on the lesson and he was pretty funny; he goes, "First, let these guys baptize ya!". We all were laughing. It's sweet to actually teach every now and then.

Thanksgiving was awesome. We went down to Vegas to play in the Turkey Bowl. All of the zones played against each other (there are nine zones) and it was tournament style. We played our first game against Spring Mountain zone and I was playing corner. Guess who I had to cover? A redshirt BYU receiver. It was so hard. The kid's about 6'5" and could pass for 26. He might actually be 26. Anyways, we did something right, seeing as we tied them and then smoked the next two zones we played. We got cheated out of the championship game, due to our tie against the first team. They had a wider victory margin and therefore went to the finals. It's okay though, we had fun...just kidding, we're bitter.

Some things are unique to your area. The missionaries serving in Mesquite get to golf! The missionaries in Lone Mountain tract into celebrities all the time. The missionaries in Logandale? We castrate pigs. Seriously. For service, we helped an elderly couple castrate a couple of their young pigs. It was absolutely insane, but you guys'd be proud of me; I didn't barf or nuffin'. It reaffirmed the fact that I'm not cut out for the farm, guys. Not cut out for the farm.

I'm probably going to leave Logandale on December 10th, so start sending your mail to the mission office instead of my P.O. box. I'll be able to give you the address of my new area on December 10th, so hold off on sending stuff until then. Apparently the zone leaders requested that I train pretty soon here, which would be scary. I don't think I'm ready to get a greenie. It wouldn't be for a couple transfers, but still. I'm way excited to actually serve in Vegas, though! That's going to be pretty fun.

Glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Keep doing what you're doing and I'll keep doing what I'M doing and I'll see you on the other side.

Love,
Jesse

Elder Kraft and I strappin' down our pig

Brother Jarrel going at it.  

Not cut out for the farm guys, not cut out for the farm...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 I wish we could glide right over Thanksgiving and head right to Christmas. That or trade out Thanksgiving for a Pre-Christmas-Christmas. I could go for a double Christmas this year.

On Wednesday we had Elder Echo Hawk address us, and it was amazing. It was much more personal than I expected it to be; there were Q&A sessions and discussion-based trainings all day. President Black also spoke and spoke on finding new investigators. He said that finding was our main problem right now; once we start teaching investigators, 18% of them become baptized and active members of the Church. The North American average is 7%, so we're doing really well there. The only problem was finding people to teach! We started to see the fruits of the mission conference almost immediately, as the very next day we stumbled upon three very promising potential investigators. We've been trying to find through our own efforts for about three weeks, but it wasn't until Elder Echo Hawk and President Black addressed us that we saw some real growth in our teaching pool. Two of the potentials, a mother and her 12 year old son, came to church this past Sunday and expressed a desire to come again the next Sunday. I was so happy to hear this; the microphone stopped working at the beginning of the meeting and you couldn't hear anything being said at all. I was basically freaking out, knowing that we have potential investigators there and they can't hear a dang thing. I was praying nonstop until the mic finally came on before the High Councilors talk, which was about temples. We have a lesson set up for her and her son tomorrow at 10:00; hopefully we can get the ball rolling on that one.

Thanksgiving is a non-proselyting day in this specific mission; it ought to be pretty fun. We have the Turkey Bowl in Vegas in the morning, and then we've been invited to about six different Thanksgiving dinners. I have no idea how we're going to narrow it down to two families, but we will. It's been a good week and it's only going to get better.

Thanks for the emails and prayers; we can feel 'em. Love you all very much,


Jesse

 

Mission lunch after listening to Elder Echo Hawk of the Seventy
speak to us.

 

 

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veterans Day!

The whole valley has shut down today; the boulevard (the main drag) is closed due to a huge parade that's going to be taking place in about fifteen minutes. It's nice to see the general population pay their respects to the men and women that serve and have served our country. I often wish that we could take a page out of Asian culture in that regard - we don't pay the elderly anywhere near the amount of respect we ought to. I am glad that Veterans Day is on a P-day, however; we wouldn't have anything to do or anyone to visit otherwise. I'm also glad high school football is almost over with. The local high school plays in the state championship this week and then we won't have to kick around rocks every Friday night because everyone and their dog is at the football game.

This was not a very fruitful week, unfortunately; we "lost" our top two investigators in the same day. They're more "on hold" than "lost", really. We found out Steve Kamin is moving back to Vegas (which is good because it's still in our mission) and Sadie is on bed-rest in Vegas for the next five or six weeks until she has her baby. So, we're kind of back to the drawing board with finding some new investigators, but that's okay! That's all part of the job description, right? Plus, a couple programs in Sacrament meeting this Sunday were about missionary work and how the members can better assist the missionaries, so hopefully some referrals crop up due to the new state of awareness.
We're going to Vegas on Wednesday to listen to Elder Larry Echohawk (SWEET name) of the 70 address us. They've asked our zone, the Mesquite Zone, to prepare a musical number and we haven't practiced at all and I'm stressin'. I can thank my band directors for that. They've also asked us to prepare a five minute talk each, as names will be pulled out of a hat and we'll have to speak if called up. Stressin' about that, too. It's all good in Zion, though.

In closing, I highly recommend perusing www.biblevideos.org. These videos depicting the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, are awesome, and great to share with your friends. Also, shout out to Zak (you're welcome, Zak).

Love you guys, keep being awesome and have family prayer/scripture study/family home evening etc, etc.

Jesse

 

Elder Stu Loerchter from the U of U Marching Band with
Elder Jesse Dowdle. Two of the "Three Amigos". 

Elder Loerchter, Jairo, and Elder Dowdle as the Three Amigos
at the U of U a year before their missions to Las Vegas West

 

Transfers

Hey there-

This week has crawled like no other before it, and hopefully like no other after, too. I think it's been crawling for a couple of reasons, reason number one being that it was transfer week. Having a new companion for the first 24 hours is really weird, especially after living with the same person for three months. It took some getting used to to see Elder Steenstra's stuff where Elder Millar's used to be. Elder Steenstra is from a military family (Navy) and has lived just about everywhere in the US, which is something I can kinda relate to. Born in Philly (but a Vikings fan...); pretty cool guy. Another reason this week was so slow was the absence of district meeting. The week of transfers, we don't have our normal district meeting on Tuesday, and not having that meeting made this week seem so long. The REAL reason, however, for the eternity that was this past week was the "Hannah Situation".

We called it the Hannah Situation because it felt like a military-esque problem and we basically had a war on our hands. This girl, Hannah, is a fifteen year old girl who is friends with plenty of members in the area. She's wanted to be baptized for about two years and has been attending (and living in the boundaries of) a certain ward; her parents said she would have to wait until she's 18 to be baptized. However, just this past month, her father finally gave her permission to take the lessons and be baptized. About a week prior to that, she moved across the street from her old house and into another ward boundary; one that isn't under our stewardship and belongs to another companionship. Naturally, the missionaries who cover her area began to teach her and tell her that upon being baptized, she would have to attend the ward that she lives in as opposed to the one that she had been going to. Once the Bishop of her previous ward heard about that, he flipped and, well, long story short: The missionaries teaching her (who were doing absolutely nothing wrong) were the subject of so much hate and conflict, it made me sick to my stomach. President Black was called and chewed out some ward leadership, but it was all just so stupid and wouldn't have happened had everybody seen past the logistics and realize that she's receiving a SAVING ORDINANCE. Who cares where she attends as long as she's receiving the same Gospel? Oh, and the irony of it all? We found out yesterday she's moving to Oregon, so all of this ridiculous ward-warfare means absolutely nothing. She had a wonderful baptism this past Saturday, but the conflict behind the scenes sullied it for me a bit. Trials come in all shapes and sizes, and in ways you never see coming. I take solace in the words of Joseph Smith in Doctrine and Covenants 123:17; I know that if I do what I need to to the best of my ability, I can stand by and let my Lord and Savior take control. Everything shakes out like it's supposed to, right? Right.

Much love,

Jesse

p.s. Please talk to people you don't recognize before sacrament meeting. Makes all the difference in the world.



Elders Dowdle, Kaelberer, Steenstra, and Quintana
 

 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, I guess?

So, transfer news: the call came in on Saturday and I'll be staying in Logandale for at least another six weeks with an Elder Steenstra. Yes, Steenstra. The poor members in Logandale, having to pronounce Dowdle and Steenstra. Apparently this guy has only been out three more months than I have, so we're both relatively young. He trained someone in my district these past two transfers (I think it might have been my MTC companion, actually) because the mission was so young and they really needed trainers. I've heard from a couple other Elders in the Vegas area that he's pretty serious, from a military family, and wants to work; I can deal pretty well with all of that. I'm actually pretty excited to meet him and get moving; we'll be picking him up in Vegas today at around 5:00PM. Elder Millar is getting sent to the Red Rock zone, which is the nicest (most affluent) zone in the entire mission. However, he's getting this kid who came out with me who is a handful, so his patience will probably be tested a bit. Millar deserves to go in valley finally; he's been out about 17 months and he's only spent three of those months in Vegas. That's a little weird when your mission call says "Las Vegas" and you spend your mission in the boonies, so he's pretty pumped. We'll have a new district leader, Elder Jones, which I'm excited about. He's a quiet and humble guy who really has a passion for the work. I think we're probably going to see a surge in missionary activity these next six weeks in Moapa Valley.
It was a quiet week as far as missionary activity goes. We had a couple "promising" referrals that ended up being a couple of door slams, my favorite. Deja Vu, I feel like I've typed that before...oh well. We are moving very slowly on Steve Kamin; he's following the Word of Wisdom as of last week but he wants to start over with the lessons so he can really learn what we're all about (plus, a goofy ward mission leader quoted Isaiah in our last lesson for about an hour). C'est la vie. I don't really know any French.

Hope everything is going well in The Woodlands! Thanks for all the birthday wishes and stuff,

Jesse

Carved pumpkins for district meeting

Happy Halloween from Logandale

Last day as a teenager

'Sup.

I'm using as much slang as I can, seeing as today is my last day as a teenager. I've been a "man" in the eyes of the state for two years (and anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I'm a man ONLY in the eyes of the state) but as of tomorrow I cease to be a teenager. I don't think being 20 years old has really hit me yet, but I also don't know if I really want it to hit me. Thank you all SO much for the letters and packages; the lady at the post office is super snarky about our mail, so the more stuff she has to carry, the better.

Julia was baptized this Saturday and it was wonderful and well attended by members of her ward; Elder Millar and I played small insignificant parts in the service in order to allow the ward to participate and get to know Julia pretty well. She was confirmed the next day in Sacrament meeting and her nonmember father was there, staying for the whole meeting (which happened to be the primary program). Hopefully we'll be able to meet with him soon, as it seems as though he's felt the Spirit on several different occasions. He's a great man and has had little exposure to the Gospel and to Church culture, but the little he's experienced he's liked. Not to mention the Logandale 4th ward is doing an incredible job with fellowship and making him and Julia feel comfortable and well-liked. It's amazing to see the night and day difference between someone unsure about a decision and someone that has prayed and received an answer to a question. Julia was a different person after she had knelt down and asked her Heavenly Father if baptism was a step she was supposed to take. She was sure of herself and happier, common traits among those who seek to find out for themselves through fervent and sincere prayer.

As this transfer winds to a close (last week is coming up), I can barely believe I've been here for three months. I'm most likely going to be here for three more, which is a little strange, but how things work. We sat through three primary programs yesterday, and it was odd to watch the kids speak and sing and go "I know almost every single one of them...by name". Whether it's through dinner appointments or other visits, we've come to know a plethora of families here in the valley, and it's amazing how much I find myself remembering. In Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People", he admonishes the readers to learn names and one important fact. This has helped so much in member relations as of late, and we're seeing referrals because of it. I know that the Spirit is with us as we talk with the members in church and during the week; I can feel it. Long story short, I love love love being a missionary. Best thing ever, honestly.

I love you guys very much.

Jesse

 

 

 

Julia Johnson before her baptism on Oct. 20th





Giant Logandale spiders. Back at the weird castle