Rededicated The Lakes Zone

Hey guys!

This has been a really good first week. We got a lot of newer missionaries in the zone this past transfer, so we thought it'd be a good idea to "rededicate" the zone for missionary work. President Ahlander floated the idea past us when we did interviews, and it had been coming up in conversation between Elder Herlin and I for the last two weeks of last transfer, so we decided we'd do it right after transfers. The Saturday before, Elder Herlin and I drove around the west ridge of Vegas looking for a neat, secluded spot we could hold a rededicatory meeting, and we found one! We found this cool ridge overlooking the zone (and the rest of Vegas) and it had some logs for our Elders/Sisters to sit on. EARLY Tuesday morning (we woke up at 4:10 to go grab Krispy Kreme and OJ for the zone) we had everyone meet on the side of W Charleston at 5:30. We all hiked up to the ridge and sat down, just in time to watch the sun come up over the eastern mountains, right above the temple. It was a really cool sight. After that, we had a testimony meeting and then one of our district leaders said the rededicatory prayer for the zone. I think it was just what this zone needed, and it was perfect with all of the new companionships and everything.

A couple of my favorite missionaries went home on Tuesday, it was a sad day. Elder Eddie Woodard, who I was with in Tule, and Elder Matthew Joseph Jones, the most christlike man I've met and Sydney's future husband, both went home to Kansas City and Lochbuie, respectively. Great friends, excited to hear about their lives/futures.

Zone Conference was on Friday, and before every ZC there's a vehicle inspection. On Thursday we reminded the zone about it, and so naturally everyone washed their car Thursday night. The sisters didn't have any supplies, so we dropped by to get them some cleaning stuff. They asked us if we run into any spanish-speaking people, and we do all the time, so they gave us a box of spanish materials they don't use. Driving around on Friday after Zone Conference, we were headed visit someone when we drove by a street I felt like we should knock. The person we were trying to visit wasn't home, so I told Elder Herlin what I was feeling and we stopped to quickly tract the street. We were having no luck until the second to last door; this Hispanic lady opened up the door and said "No hablo ingles". I used the only spanish I know and said "Tenemos misioneros que hablan espanol?". She got excited and brought out her son to translate between us, and she wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon. Because the sisters gave us the spanish box the night before, we had what this woman wanted and we were able to give it to her. It was a really neat experience and we passed her off to the spanish elders.

It's been great out here and it's only getting better! We're really feeling it this week; between the two of us, we've dubbed this week "go hard in the paint" week (we've been playing a lot of basketball). We're piloting it before we commit the zone to going "hard in the paint". We'll let you know how it all shakes out. Love you so much!

Jesse

A visit with The Guesmans

Transfer #10!

Transfers are today, which means at around 5:00pm, every missionary that's getting transferred meets at the "transfer building" in North Las Vegas on Alexander and Ferrel. I really enjoy going to transfers; you get to see all of the missionaries that serve pretty far away from you and you get to see all of the new missionaries coming in. I think we have around 20-something new missionaries coming in this transfer, seven of them sisters. We have a lot of changes in our zone going on today, so it's going to be neat to see how it affects the zone dynamic we've got going on. Speaking of zone dynamic, last night the district leaders reported in stats and it's been the best week as a zone for months! We're really proud of how our missionaries have been working this last week here, especially those who knew they were getting transferred.

 

This past Friday, I talked to Elder Steenstra (one of my past companions) and he said Susie and Chase Guesman, a family we taught and baptized in Logandale, was coming down for lunch in Vegas! It was awesome to sit down with them and catch up for a little bit! Such amazing people, and I'm so grateful I was in the right place at the right time last November/December when we started teaching them. It also made me aware of the fact that Logandale was a year ago, and THAT was really weird for me. Time really does stand still for no one ("time stands still...").

 

A family in the ward had us over for dinner last night and surprised us by being amazing member missionaries: they invited 13 of their coworkers over for dinner to listen to our message. She works for a tutoring place, and so almost all of her guests were around our age, so it was neat to talk to them and get to know them. One girl was related (somehow) to a friend I made in college, Ben Jaojoco. Anyways, it was really awesome to share the message of the Restoration with that many people; it gave me a thrill that reminded me of being on stage, playing music. We need more members like that family, unabashed in their desire to share the truth with their friends.

Great week, and I'm sure a great transfer to follow for the next six weeks! Hope everything is doing well back home!

Jesse

 

Elders Lane, Steenstra, and Dowdle with Susie and Chase at Smashburger!

 

Summer's almost over!.....

Hey, everyone.

 

This past week has been a busy one! A lot has been happening in our area/ward as well as in our zone and mission, so we've been bouncing between all sorts of meetings, trying to piece everything together. August is here, though, and it's really weird for me. I always associate August with the start of school and the end of summer, and in a way, that still holds true.  Tomorrow marks a year from when my plane landed in Las Vegas, and I now feel WAY more comfortable with who I am and where I fit in my calling as a missionary. I feel finished with my summer and ready for class.

 

On Tuesday we had a return appointment with the woman we had tracted into last week. We ended up bringing a recently returned missionary (Josh Bryan, just back from Monterry, Mexico) and had a nice lesson about the Book of Mormon and her thoughts about what she had read. She told us that she loved the part in the Restoration pamphlet about the restoration of the priesthood to the prophet Joseph Smith - I've never had an investigator mention that specifically. It's amazing that she recognized the importance of the priesthood and of the fact that it's back on the earth again, the fact that someone can, like in times past, authoritatively say "thus saith the Lord". That experience helped me once again realize how grateful I am for the restored church of Jesus Christ and how grateful I am to hold and use that priesthood.

 

My absolute favorite part about being a Zone Leader (and there aren't very many favorite parts) is interviewing people the district leader has taught for baptism. One of our district leaders, Elder Peacock, has been teaching a man named Eddie and set him for baptism on the 10th. Upon meeting and sitting down with Eddie, you could feel how bad he wanted it; he truly had a testimony. We started to talk about his experiences and it turns out that the death of his mother caused him to look for truth and that's how he found the church. As soon as he heard that he could be with his family forever after this life, he was on board; I couldn't help but notice Tad R. Callister's "The Inevitable Apostasy" and LeGrand Richard's "A Marvelous Work and a Wonder" on his bedside table. It's so humbling to meet with people ready to make such a life-changing covenant. This work is awesome.

 

I love you all very much and love reading your letters! Thanks a ton!

Jesse

 

Elders Herlin & Dowdle

 

A Solid Week

 

Hey y'all,

Pretty solid week this week with a lot of good experiences! I can't believe July is almost over; it's weird for me to hear about the upcoming school year. It's pretty normal for missionaries to use major sports seasons to measure how long they've been out, and so I've had a college football season, a world series, a SuperBowl, and an NBA championship (can't forget about the summer olympics, either!). Just coming up on the second and final college football season is crazy for me! I can remember getting Utah/PAC12 updates weekly in emails from Dad and packages from the family up in Logandale...I even had their schedule taped up on the wall of the trailer. Pretty soon we'll be having the annual TurkeyBowl again; not quite sure how we'll be doing that with so many more missionaries than before. Anyways, back to the important stuff:

We've found some new people to teach this week, and we're really stoked about it. When Elder Herlin and I spoke in church, we mentioned that one of the best ways to introduce us to their friends was to have us over for dinner and invite their neighbors. A woman approached us while we were still on the stand and invited us over for this past Tuesday, to eat with them and meet her neighbor. We ended up teaching a lesson to her that night and she committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! It was great to be able to find someone new to teach, and even better that a member had taken up our challenge and saw the blessings from doing so. It's awesome to have great members that get personally involved with the teaching process and bring their close friends to us.

 

Later on during the week, Elder Herlin and I went on exchanges with one of our district leaders in the zone. I was with his companion, a brand new missionary, for the day. Since he was new and hadn't had a ton of experience, I wanted to help him with some things I had personally needed a lot of help with as a new missionary: contacting people on the street (something I didn't do until about my 6 month mark). On one of the first doors we knocked on, a nice 30 year old woman invited us in, gave us water, sat down on the couch and asked "so how does this work?". A little confused at the question, we asked "how does...what...work?". She responded, "Well, I've let you in and given you water. Aren't you supposed to teach me something?". This new elder and I taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we had a great impromptu lesson. We'll be meeting with her again early this next week. Leaving the house on a spiritual high, I had to explain to my temporary companion, "that doesn't necessarily happen EVERY time you go tracting...", but now that I think about it, why shouldn't it? Anyways, great week, good things are happening, we have some great weather and nothing to complain about!

Love you tons!

 

Jesse



The Lakes Zone Leaders. Elders Dowdle & Herlin

 

 

 

Goodbye Ozzy, burned a shirt, and some flash flooding

Hey guys.

I guess I'll start out with Ozzy. For those of you who have been over to our home, you've met Ozzy; he was our happy, hairy, lovable dog. Apparently he wasn't in the best of health, and after a long and good life, he was put down this past week. It's really odd for me to think about how long he's been around. It's been the majority of my life. There are tons of memories I've had with that dog, and he'll always be a member of the Dowdle family.
 

This has been a different week for us. For one, we're starting to get into monsoon season here in Vegas, and there have been a couple of flash flood storms that have caught us out of nowhere. On Saturday, we held a burning at the Bryans house (it's customary for missionaries to burn a tie at 6 months, a shirt at 12 months, a pair of pants at 18 months, and a full suit after two years). Since we had three guys in our zone hitting a year and two hitting six months, we had a lot of clothing to burn. About thirty minutes before we started the fire, the wind picked up and a storm hit out of nowhere; it reminded me of being back in Texas! The three of us lit up our shirts, and as soon as we did, a gust of wind blew a flaming shirt out of one of the missionaries hands and onto a nearby bush. Luckily, we caught it before we left the Bryans homeless...but it was close!
 

On Friday we had our Leadership Meeting, which happens quarterly and every trainer, district leader and zone leader shows up. Roughly 100 missionaries. On Wednesday the assistants called and asked Elder Herlin and I to present a training on asking inspired questions. We agreed, and man, I was really nervous, haha. It went alright, though, and we filled up our time and now it's over! As soon as we were finished, I felt a huge weight off of my shoulders; I had been stressing about that for some time.
 

At one point during the week, we had three investigators set for baptism! Buuut just like the flash flood storms, some unexpected things happened and now all three are up in the air. Pray that we know what to do and that we'll be led in the right direction!

It's been a pretty long week, but week four looks pretty promising. Things are going well here and we're having a good time!
 

Love you,

Jesse

p.s. (happy late birthday, dad!)



Elders Herlin and Dowdle
(nice background son!)

Time flies...

50%

A year from today and I'll be in The Woodlands, Texas. We're not supposed to be thinking about our return date, but it's really put a lot in perspective. I think about where I was and, more importantly, WHO I was a year ago today and it's remarkable. I'm pretty sure we were in Salt Lake this time last year, buying (last minute, of course) the last little bit of my mission clothes. I think of the expectations I had, the fears and the excitement. I remember wondering about what it'd be like to be a year out. I'm now wondering what I'll be thinking about a year from now; how I'll feel, what I'll look back on. This has been an amazing year, and I wouldn't trade the experiences I had for anything.

I think I'll do a quick run down of the past year. You know, in case you missed something-

July 18th - Dropped off at the MTC. Met my companion, Elder Zane Kaelberer. Loved my district and had a great time; learned a ton.

Early August had me in Vegas. Met my trainer, Elder Jesse Millar from San Antonio. Taught some of my first investigators, started to learn how to survive in Logandale, Nevada.

Millar left and Elder Connor Steenstra moved into our little trailer. We taught a lot and had a good time together.

Got my transfer call and moved down to Tule Springs with Elder Jared Craft. Elder Craft and I served together for 8 weeks before he went home for wrist surgery.

Spent the remainder of the transfer with my two Zone Leaders, Elder Sean Larson and Eddie Woodard. Made two great friends and learned a lot from their example.

Got the training call and met Elder Corey Biggs, from Huntsville, Alabama. Spent three months together to cap off my 6 months in Tule Springs.

President called and put me with Elder Tristan Torgersen as a Zone Leader. Torg left me for the office and now I'm with Elder Zach Herlin of Frisco, Texas.

It's been a ride, for sure! I'm really looking forward to the year ahead of me. This week has been great; I've taught the most this week than ever before in my mission. Herlin and I are getting along great and we crack each other up (reminds me of Matt Powers a bit, too funny). We have a baptism on the 28th for a nine year old girl named Natalia, she's been a lot of fun to teach and is incredibly intelligent. Things are going really well in the Lakes, and I hope they're just as good back home!

Love you so much!

Jesse

Bunk beds, two texans, and ghost peppers...

Week one of Transfer 9.

Monday and Tuesday might have been the busiest days of my mission thus far. 3 companionships in the zone changed housing, so we've been bouncing all over the zone trying to get things in order and make sure everyone is situated. We moved out of the Bryans (they're the greatest) on Tuesday into President Teshima's place and had to disassemble the bunk beds and move them out. I've used more powertools on my mission than I have in my life. The funny thing is that the companionship that initially wanted the bunk bed changed their mind. We've been driving a bunk bed around Vegas in our minivan for a week. It's sitting in the parking lot as we speak. Anyways, a lot of administrative stuff went down and we didn't really get time to unpack (or breathe) until Wednesday. Busy weeks are good weeks, though!

I've loved this last week with Elder Herlin. He's from Dallas, Texas, (Frisco, to be exact), so everybody has been making the "two texans" jokes. He went to BYU for a year to study Mechanical Engineering, and is a really great guy. This is the first time he's been in Vegas for 7.5 months, so he's enjoying his time back in civilization. We're laughing a lot and teaching a lot, and we can already see that a lot of good things are on the horizon. We had a family just move into the area and the daughter was just baptized into the singles ward, so they're interested and have potential. We're still teaching the ten year old boy Leo, and now his nine year old sister Emily is going to church with him as well. We also found another family with an unbaptized nine year old, so we'll start teaching her this week, too. We have a lesson tonight with a part-member family, and hopefully we'll pick up a new investigator. Things are really looking good.

The 4th of July was non-proselyting after 6pm, so we went over to Elder Kaelberer and Elder White's place to play some pool and have some pizza. Well, Elder White had a bag of ghost peppers (from who knows where) and convinced us to try one. Terrible idea. Seriously, never ever eat a ghost pepper. If there's anything to take away from this week, it's to abstain from ghost peppers. I'll send the video. Anywho, been a good week and we're excited for the next one!

Love,

Jesse