Gunfire and Holidays

Happy Martin Luther King (jr) Day!

It's kind of sad...the only time I really acknowledge this holiday is when I realize something is closed because it's MLK day. I'd probably be more aware of this holiday if I served near MLK Boulevard, but I'm glad I don't, since some parts are pretty sketchy.

Speaking of sketchy, in the past week there have been two shootings in our area, one of them a street away from where we were eating (drive-by). The other one was at a nearby park. As far as I know, no one was killed and only a couple people are injured. We've talked as a companionship before about how many cops we have in the area, and now we know why. Most people tell us that they used to live in Inner Vegas before it was ghetto, and that they moved up north to get away from it. Now it seems like it's catching up with them...they can't build houses fast enough to get away from inner city crime.

We got our transfer call on Saturday and we're losing one of our wards and keeping the one the shootings were in. We're excited to be able to focus and give all of our attention to one area now. It's a bummer to have to hand off a ward we really like to other missionaries (the Zone Leaders, of course), but it's meant to be and they'll do a great job there.

Elder Millar, my trainer, is being transferred into my zone! So is my really good friend, Elder Jones. We all served together up in Logandale and it's like a little reunion, which ought to be pretty cool. Elder Kraft (k-kraft, so not my companion, c-craft), who was Jones companion up there, is also in our zone, so we're pretty excited. Should make for a pretty interesting transfer.

Things are going pretty slow right now, but we're hoping that after transfers things will be picking up. This transfer is only five weeks long as opposed to six in order to line up with the new MTC schedule. We should be seeing some 18 year old Elders and 19 year old sisters coming in today, actually. Pretty exciting stuff.

Hope everything is going alright down there! Take care of my dog, k?

Love,

Jesse

6 month out tie burning ceremony

Burn your ugliest tie...good choice.

 

6 months already!

Hey guys,

This has been a pretty busy week for us, what with exchanges, baptisms, and interviews with President Black. I'll share a couple of experiences from this week that ended up being pretty cool.

I didn't end up going out to Logandale for the Guessman's baptism :( I was really bummed about this. The baptism moved to 10am and my interview with President was at 9:00 that same morning and it takes a little over an hour to head up to Logandale from Vegas. I called President Black about it on Friday and he said he wouldn't be able to interview me any other time with transfers coming up and everything. This was one of those "have faith" moments, but I understood. Apparently (Elder Steenstra kept me updated every thirty minutes or so, great guy) 150 people showed up; they had to move the service to the chapel! After the baptism I called the mom of the family and we talked for a good thirty minutes. They're such amazing people; I can't WAIT to see where they are in a year or so. Their testimonies will touch all kinds of people, especially if the 13-year old son decides to serve a mission one day. This work is amazing.

Interviews were alright; we're about 99% sure that we're staying together next transfer and Elder Craft is finishing his mission in this area, which means I'll be here for about six months in all. We had exchanges on Friday and my District Leader taught me how to tract. I thought I knew how to tract, but nope. I learned how to tract effectively. After that day out knocking doors, I've been able to leave a copy of the Book of Mormon with 1 out of 4 households (Dad and sports ruined me; I keep my own stats!) The work is picking up now that we're finding better through our own efforts.

Praying for you guys!

Jesse

Great start to a New Year

Hey there,

I hope 2013 is treating everybody as well as it's treating me; this is going to be a good year. I've dedicated the entire year to serving my Lord in every way possible, and I can't really imagine a better way to spend it. A kid leaving on his mission soon, spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday and mentioned how he can't think of a better way to spend the prime of his life. I tend to agree.

This Saturday, the Guessmans in Logandale are getting baptized and I'm so excited, especially since President Black is letting me go up there to be there for it! That family was prepared beyond belief; they've been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. The father is already a member, he was just inactive. Next Sunday, he'll be giving his son the Aaronic Priesthood, which is just about too cool. I know how it feels to be given the priesthood by a worthy father, and I'm so happy that the son, Chase (13), gets to experience that (on his birthday, too!). I'm so excited to see the baptism take place, and I'm sure the Spirit will be there in abundance. It'll be kind of neat to be back in Logandale, even if it only for a couple hours. 

As the third hour of church was starting, the teacher pointed to a man sitting on the front row and said "I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you. Are you visiting?". The man began to explain that this was his first time going to church in over 20 years and his wife, a Catholic by tradition, was in Relief Society and wanted to learn more about the church. We were able to contact him and set up an appointment this following week, which is awesome, but it was something he said that I couldn't stop thinking about all day. When asked why he decided to go back to church, he simply said "I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old". He understood that the best gift he could give his young children is to be reared in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That really touched me and it reminded me of my parents and how their adherence to the gospel has impacted me. The most wonderful gift that can be given to a child is the opportunity to be raised in a loving family, blessed by the presence of the priesthood and the knowledge of gospel truths. 

I'm out here, freely giving two years of my life, to share the good news that's brought me an immeasurable amount of happiness. The best feeling in the world is when somebody decides to make the leap of faith and is rewarded. I love this work and I love my Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I know that through Him, all can be forgiven and made clean. I love you guys and hope all is well!

Love,
Jesse

Happy New Year!!!

What the heck, 2012.

 

This year I finished my first year of higher education, finished off my teenage years, said goodbye to friends and family and shipped off to Las Vegas to teach people about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, and castrated several farm animals. This has been a full year if I've ever had one. I can't believe that it's already New Years Eve, and that tomorrow will be the first day of 2013. I'm dedicating the entire year to serving my Lord; every hour will be spent in His service. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity I have to consecrate and set apart an entire YEAR to doing nothing but forwarding the work and building His kingdom. It's been an amazing ride thus far and I'm only about a quarter of the way through.

 

Elder Craft and I had a wonderful Christmas, all due to the Leavitt family. They were incredibly nice and hospitable, making us feel like we were part of the family on such a family-oriented holiday. Calling/Skyping home was great; it was wonderful to be able to talk face-to-face (persay) to those I care about the most. Plus, it was nice to actually see my dog move on Skype and get some confirmation that he's still alive and not stuffed by the fireplace. Christmas Eve and Christmas were non-proselyting days, meaning we didn't go out and make visits or contact people all day. New Years Eve and New Years Day are the same way, actually, so we'll be staring at the wall again today trying to find a use for all the free time we're not used to having.

We've been striking out a lot at doors and contacting referrals; while some are nicer than usual due to the holiday season, some are more stand-offish, feeling like we are intruding upon sacred family time during this part of the year. That's understandable, and we kind of have to bide our time until the New Year with a lot of missionary work. There's two people who agreed to take the missionary lessons after New Years, which we are looking forward too. Hopefully as soon as 2013 kicks in, the teaching opportunities start to roll in. We're keeping our hopes up and doing everything we can.

 

I hope this next year is even half as good as this one was!

 

Love,

Jesse

Don't get to see many Ford GT's in the church parking lot

Tule Springs

Hey family,

Well, I'm officially a Vegas missionary! I'm in love with my new area; it's the newest part of Vegas, just about as far north as you can go. The north border of our area is literally the desert, so I'm slowly working my way into inner Vegas; first Logandale, now the Tule Springs area...I'll probably end up at the strip by the end of my mission. Just kidding, no one serves on the strip. Not yet, anyways. We cover two wards, the Silverstone and Shadow Ridge wards, and they're fantastic. We have the pleasure of working with two ward mission leaders that really care about the missionary work in their area, and they're putting us to work for sure. Not a lot went on this past transfer here as far as missionary work goes, so I've inherited kind of a dead area, but things are already picking up. We have a truckload of potentials that we're in the process of checking up on and many are looking pretty promising.

It's been odd to be back in a metropolitan area. I'm not really used to all of these fancy things like, you know, streetlights. Nah, but seriously; it's nice to have a WalMart a couple blocks away. These wards remind me of the ward back home, and there are tons of members who remind me of members back home. We live in a four man apartment with Elders Smith and Nelson and it's been alright so far. I'm not used to central A/C either; that's pretty nice. We're in the process of building this area back up, so we're insanely busy, but I'm loving every minute of it. I'm really looking forward to the remainder of this transfer as well as talking with you guys on Christmas! I don't have many details about that yet, but I think we have a members home that's planning on having us over Christmas morning. I'll have all of the specifics next week (which is Christmas Eve woohoo!).

Love you guys very much,
Jesse

 

View from my balcony back in civilization

 

Transfers!

So we waited for one of the assistants to President Black to call all Saturday morning, just wondering what was going to happen. Our district leader, Elder Jones, who was a zone leader before he dropped to train Elder Kraft, didn't get a call on Thursday like everyone thought he would. Because Jones didn't get a call (to go back to being a Zone Leader), we all thought President was going to keep everything out here pretty much the same, not moving around a lot of people two weeks before Christmas. Well, we got the call and we were wrong; I'm being sent into the Las Vegas valley! I'll be serving in the Tule Springs zone, covering two wards, companions with Elder Craft. It's one of the newest parts of Vegas, pretty far north and west. I'll get you the new mailing address pretty soon (soon meaning if not today, tomorrow) and then you can start sending things there; I should be there a while. I'm excited to finally serve in Las Vegas, sad to be leaving Logandale, and nervous about all that Vegas entails. It'll be an adventure, for sure.

Now to more important stuff: Susie and Chase are going to be baptized on January the 12th! They prayed about a date and both feel strongly about it. It's so awesome to be able to talk with and teach people like them; they've been prepared to receive this message long before I was ever "Elder Dowdle". In our mission, we're allowed to go to the baptisms of our former investigators, so I'll probably be able to come up for their baptism in January, which would be just about too cool! That's what being a missionary is all about, honestly. I love being used as a vessel for the Spirit; if it's done right, WE don't do any teaching. We just facilitate as the Spirit does the rest.

I love you guys and can't wait to skype/talk on the phone on Christmas!
Jesse

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