Week 40 - The Worst Transfer Ever (Also The Best!)

Hola Mis Amigos,

So first off, let's just insert the "Haven't written email, very sorry" paragraph right here.

And on to the more important things!

So this transfer was literally the worst transfer I have ever been through and that's not because we were biking! The first week of the transfer was us dying from riding around the entire stake each day and trying to learn how to not get hit by cars and also me being sick. The second week my bike broke and we then walked around the entire stake for a week and saw a few guns pulled out when we were nearby. The third week I got super sick and Elder Manrique's bike broke and he then ripped two pairs of pants in one day. The fourth week Elder Manrique was sick and dying and I almost got hit by a car daily. Except for the time that the car actually did hit me! The fifth week we got sick again and Elder Manrique absolutely wrecked his knee when he crashed for the fourth time that week. The sixth and final week we only encounted two creepy guys that made us want to run.

And that doesn't even begin to include all the other accidents and things that happened to us.

But I have never had so much fun in a transfer though.

This past transfer was absolutely insane, but we laughed way harder than ever at everything that happened. We have never been closer to the members or our investigators here. It was so lit.

We also had Elder Clark of the Seventy come and see us and the great part is that one suit (My favorite one) got mixed up in a dry cleaning accident and sent to the Strip. I think it is at the Bellagio? Maybe Ceasers Palace? And my other suit pants were still being cleaned. So we went to the meeting in sweaters! It was great because everyone else had their suits on except for Elder Manrique and I. Manrique wore a sweater in support of his companion (me), so talk about companion unity right there. Our President was very impressed by that. Hopefully the Seventy was too.

Our fourth week we also painted a members house for two days and got the most service hours in the mission.

But the members were so amazing to us this transfer! They helped out so much when we were sick and had broken our bikes, or in the case of Manrique, wrecked his knee. They gave us a ton of medicine and help and love and now we have our Cuatro Madres of the Paraíso ward.

It was an amazing transfer here in Paraíso, but sadly we recieved transfer calls last night...

So they are shutting down Paraíso 1 and Elder Manrique and I are being double transferred tomorrow. He will go to the Montebello ward where I was and I'll be going to Anthem to an English ward...

I'm very very sad about that because I absolutely love Latino wards. So no more Spanish food every night or even speaking Spanish at all.

But I am going to Anthem with one of my best friends from the mission Elder Rivero! He has been in Paraíso as long as I have and we are now going to be comps! We were so surprised when they told us that!

So yeah it's been a good run here in Paraíso and Spanish altogether, but now it is time to go baptize some white people!

Until Next Time!
Elder Lawson

   

Week 35 - Three-Packing It, El Face, and Crazy Stuff

Ayeee!

So a TON has happened since my last email!

First, Elder Manrique had his birthday the 19th of October and mine was the 21st, so we were so super trunky that week. It was pretty difficult, but our investigators and the members gave us like two different cakes and it was amazing!

We later had a baptism on the 28th of Leo. He is a part-member family that we tracted into a while back and we are working on his dad! His parents aren't married, so we are going to have a wedding soon (we are super excited for that) and hopefully a baptism right afterwards.

The other Elders (Rivero and Tolman) received a trainee straight from the MTC. His name is Elder Ramirez. He came in the middle of the transfer and was supposed to go to the Michigan Lansing Mission Spanish speaking, but he can't fly until his DACA gets put through, so they sent him to a better mission for now! We were surprised when they pulled up in their car with a third person in the back and they had a missionary nametag on. So then they three-packed it for half of a transfer. It was a lit three-pack.

We had transfers at the beginning of the month and everyone stayed in Paraíso, except for Elder Tolman. He went to an English ward as a Zone Leader. We also had our cars taken away (because good ideas, right?) and so we have been biking all this past week. The AP's decided that our areas are bike-able. Let me tell you that the United States is also bike-able if we are going to put it into that perspective. We spend more than half our day biking from place to place now instead of knocking doors and finding new people. Rest in peace the effectiveness of the Paraíso missionaries.

¡CRAZIEST THING HAPPENED WEDNESDAY!

So one of Elder Manrique's recent converts from his old area, El Rancho, took us to dinner that night at Olive Garden. We had to bike there, so we arrived early and went to sit down inside. While waiting at the booth for the members to show up, this random SINGLE misionary in a suit and a Spanish nametag and everything slides in across from us and starts asking us what ward we are from and just talking normally like we know each other!

I was super confused because we don't have an Elder Lambert in our mission and let alone a Spanish missionary with that name. We started our investigation of this mysterious new person and found out that he had literally just come from the airport two hours earlier. That morning he had finished his mission in Yucatán, México and had gone straight with his family to dinner before going back to Kingman, AZ to be released.

He told us that he felt super uncomfortable being back home and with his family and (literally almost crying telling us) that we had answered his prayer by being there. We started exchanging info about our missions. He told us how he had been walking everywhere for the past two years and the idea of having a bike was unimaginable in his mission. We were pretty freaking humbled to hear that because literally right before we were complaing about having to bike 30+ miles each day.

The members eventually showed up and Elder Lambert had to go with his family back to Kingman to get released. It was one of the craziest things that I have experienced so far. So yeah it was pretty intense.

Also Oliver Garden was fantastic.

Also last week an Elder in our Stake gave me a really bad haircut (Worse than the MTC).

Also we were sick these past few days.

Also got stopped while biking by this homie who was drunk.

Also everyone in the mission will get Facebook on our tablets on Tuesday.

Also we taught repentance and baptized converts

That's All Folks!
Elder Lawson

Pics:
1. Found a Less-Actives baptismal certificate that we needed to recreate their membership
2. Birthday french fries on my birthday
3. Leo's Baptism!
4. District Photo!

Week 32 - A Dunk, A Witch, And A Birthday

Hey,

This past week was pretty good.

We had some days of straight lessons and those went super well. Tuesday the other companionship had a baptism of a guy named Juan. His work schedule is odd and so we had the baptism at one that afternoon. Including all the members and missionaries, the total attendance was a strong seven of us.

Although the attendance was small it was still a really awesome time.

Then on Wednesday we got to have dinner with the Murrillo family! We met together at some hole-in-the-wall pizza place in our area. It was super awesome and they are doing so well!

We were tracting this week in an apartment complex that has never been touched by the previous missionaries and we knocked on this door of a lady who seemed slightly irritated (Like most people) that we were there. She told us that she was Wiccan and that she practices witchcraft. She was very proud in telling us that she does rituals and sorcery. I don't think that she would be very proud about what she does if she was living in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692.

The really disappointing part of the encounter was that her Halloween decorations were really lame. Kinda expect more from a witch...

Also fun fact! Since marijuana is practically legal in Nevada now the amount of people who hold a current medical marijuana card has drastically decreased. It's really comforting to know that after July 1st the amount of people with glaucoma and insomnia somehow got healed.

Friday we went over to our investigators house and she was super busy preparing for her sons birthday party the next day so we helped her prepare and I got to make a cake and cupcakes! We went back the next day witha present and some ice cream that we told her we would bring. 10/10 birthday party preparations.

So it was a pretty productive week.

Until Next Week,
Elder Lawson

   

Week 31 - Dunks, Comps, And The Las Vegas Massacre

Hey,

So it has been a solid three weeks since I have sent an email (feelsbadman), but that just means I can tell you all that has gone on!

So first of all we had transfers a few weeks back and I got Elder Manrique as my new companion. He was born in Peru and has lived in the US (Orem, Utah) for most of his life; so he is pretty Americanized. We immediately started that grind and since then have had three baptisms! So the area of Paraíso 1 has been straight fuego for the past little while. That is also my excuse for not writing anything.

We knocked on this white-guy's door about two weeks ago and he proceeded to tell us that God doesn't exist because there are six million starving kids in the world and how could a God put children through something like that, especially because it was the worst way to die. My first reaction was in thinking that some of the stuff that the Aztecs did to their enemies or things that happened during the Holy Wars were some of the worst ways to die, but that is sorely opinionated I guess. Also we tried to explainour purpose here, but he told us to come back when we had proof of anything. So a few days later we dropped a Book of Mormon on his doorstep as proof and left (He wasn't home) to continue the search for new people.

Also like last week the Las Vegas Massacre happened in our stake boundaries. We actually went over by the Luxor, about four days before, while on exchanges to take pictures in front of it. We drove past the set-up for the concert and everything.

A few days later we had Zone Conference and before we went to the hospital to give a lady a blessing. She had been at the concert and was shot in three different places. A man in another ward in our stake was also shot. The doctors took him off of life support a few days prior...

We talked to some of the doctors and they said that the hallways and walls had been covered in blood the Monday morning off the shooting. So that was sorta intense.

On a better note we had three baptisms on Saturday. The Melo family had been in-active for seventeen years and we re-activated them, but couldn't find their records so we had to baptize them again.

So the area of Paraíso 1 is starting to progress and everything is going well.

Until Next Week,
Elder Lawson

Photos:
1. Me by The Luxor. You can see the fence and lights in front of The Luxor
2. Us at our baptism
3. Baptisms again
4. The shirts we got for P-day

Week 29 - Transfers, Fiestas, and Not Knowing Spanish

Helloo,

It was a pretty solid week. We had some super lit lessons with people and some not so lit lessons with other people. So I guess you could say that it was another week in the mission.

So this past week I have been trying to help Elder Lewis improve his Spanish and Tuesday night we were tracting through a neighborhood and Elder Lewis started talking to a lady who opened the door for us. I had the wonderful idea of pretending to not know Spanish and being super timid about speaking (without warning my companion that I was going to do so) and had a great time trying to speak super terrible Spanish. Well my companion totally managed his way through teaching most of the lesson on his own and the people loved it! He set up a return appointment with them and did practically everything by himself!

We biked on Friday which was pretty good. We had some people yell some "adult" words at us, but hey if that is how they feel better about themselves then I guess so be it. We also had a ward party and the members did some really cool dance stuff. I have no idea what they are called, but one of them did involve pineapples so that was kinda strange.

Today we found out transfers and I'll be staying in Paraíso for a third transfer and I'll be getting Elder Manrique. He came in the next transfer after I came to Vegas, so I'm super excited to see what will happen this next transfer.

And that's pretty much all I have to say.

Until Next Week,
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. Members gave us money for dinner and they wrote on the envelope the most amazing thing
2. RIP Elder Lewis

 

Week 28 - Racists, Rain, and Facebook

Hey,

So this week was pretty decent.

We had some people yell at us on the street and then on Saturday this one dude literally backed up his car to tell us we were racist. When explained to him that no we in fact are not and that the church is actually pretty big over in Africa. He replied with, "Well they just confused and ain't know what they doin'.", but with much more vulgarity. He then continued to get into an argument with a lady, who accused him of breaking into her car earlier that week, and in turn used a lot more "adult" words. That is when we made our exit.

Later as we were walking back to our car it started to rain. Luckily our car was a twenty minute walk from where we were...

We ended up being super soaked by the time we got to our car and our investigator David was very surprised to see our condition when we knocked on his door. Being drenched definitely made it a lot easier to get into our investigators house. That totally didn't make it less uncomfortable though.

Yesterday we also got to hangout in Primary again because we had some more investigators who brought their kids. I used to think that Primary was super boring as a kid (which it was), but now as a missionary who can't go anymore, except for special occasions, I have realized just how much fun it is. I'm still learning a ton of children's songs in Spanish, but hopefullyI'll have some down soon enough.

Also a few days ago we learned that President Youngblood has authorized Facebook for our mission so within the next few weeks we should start being able to use it. I still haven't decided whether or not to use it, but we will see🤔

Until Next Week,
Elder Lawson

Week 27 - A Miracle, A Stripper, and Chapel Issues

Hey,

So it's been a moment since I have given an update on the condition of Las Vegas, but as of the time of writing this Vegas is still very hot, dusty, and of course sinful as always!

The most eventful stuff that has been going on recently deals a lot with the church buildings. The buildings are wonderful spots for high schoolers to hang out by and smoke weed or for home-less people to set up a camp site for a few days. The only issues with those are that sometimes a door might be left unlocked or someone might find a lost key to the building and use it to get inside. That is why we had a problem with the chapel part of the building smelling like weed for a few months and also finding teenagers making out in one of the side rooms. The part with the homeless people is the fact that they leave all of their trash around the outsides of the buildings. We tend to find lots of pillows and blankets and the occasional pornographic magazine littered about the sidewalks and flower beds.

Now I'm not saying that Playboy magazines and marijuana do not invite a nice environment filled with the idea of families and other gospel related things, but at the same time I'm not saying that they do invite those things either.

So because of this we have been making regular checks to our building to make sure the doors are all locked and that no one has figured out a way to sneak in and trash the place. We have also gotten key-card scanners installed on the doors so that no one can get in without one.

This past Thursday we were tracting in a neighborhood and we met a girl who was sitting in her garage about to smoke a blunt. It turned out that her name was Angel and that she was a dancer at "Cheetahs". Well we ended up talking to her about the church and she said that she wanted to go. Hence we got a new investigator who is a stripper! And then referred her to the YSA ward.

Also miracle time.

So Saturday we only had four new investigators and our goal was to have nine. So Sunday never is too good of a day for finding because we have church until super late and then dinner and we end up with three hours to proselyte. So everything was kinda depending on Saturday. Well after tracting for a long time and having no success, we decided to go to an investigators house to see if they were home. Sadly they were at work, BUT! Her three kids that we didn't know about were at home and let us in to teach them! Then later we found two other people and we ended up reaching our goal for nine news!

So yeah that was pretty much the week I had.

Until Next Week,
Elder Lawson

Week 26 - Six Months, Primary, and Not Much Else

Hey!

So I totally didn't write an email last week because nothing cool happened that week!

Paraíso has been super slow lately. We have been finding a ton, but sadly after the first lesson most people tell us not to come back...


But in better news! I reached my sixth month mark this past Tuesday. It definitely has felt like no time since I left the small town of Willard, Mo. But at the same time it has felt like years.

We had Zone Conference this week and it was super lit. We used to have them with multiple zones, but President Youngblood has changed that so now it is just individual zone conferences! It is so much better than the huge gatherings that they used to be.

Also this past Sunday we had an investigator at church who is ten and so we got to go to primary with him! It was probably the best Sunday I have had in a while. We got to sing all the primary songs in Spanish with the kids and it was so much fun!

So yeah not much has been happening, but let's hope something changes soon!

Until Next Week,
Elder Lawson

Picture:
1. Us in primary

Week 24 - Eviction, Birthdays, and Being Threatened With Knives

Hello people,

Firstly we found out transfers this past week and I'll be staying with Elder Lewis for these next six weeks. This sadly signifies that my streak of having a new companion for every transfer has come to an end, but at least we both know the area! So we should get a lot more work done this next transfer.

So Tuesday we were finding all day. Later that night, while Elder Lewis and I were finding in an apartment complex, we were going through our area book and this group of about five people were a ways off in the distance and started yelling at us and asking in a variety of ways if we wanted to fight.

Now, I'm not one for unfairly matched street-fights and especially while in dress clothes and neither is my companion. So we promptly decided to start walking towards the opposite direction from them and they started running at us! Luckily a member lived within like twenty feet of where we were so we went to their house and banged on the door until they let us in. They were pretty confused as to why we were banging on their door late at night until we explained our reasoning for not wanting to go to the hospital that night.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how we avoid fights as missionaries.

 So Thursday! We started with helping this dude move his stuff out of his house because he had a twenty-four hour limit before the apartment complex threw it all out. The house had been boarded up for the previous month because the guy was evicted. When the boards were taken off we found out that a group of home-less people had been living there at one point and had completely trashed everything that was possible to trash.

The guy was soooo furious when he found out what happened. So that was pretty interesting.

Then later we went on exchanges and Elder Rivero and I were in their area. We went to talk to this investigator they had. We met her outside of her apartment with her Mexican neighbor and her "Boyfriend". Her Baby-Daddy/Boyfriend ended up yelling at her and us for talking. About thirty seconds later the Mexican man, who had previously been showing the boyfriend a certain pancake mix and syrup, came up to us and told us to look at the knives he had as he pulled each individual one from it's sheath and flashed them around in front of us.

He then proceeded to ask which one we wanted. We said that we didn't want any of them and we especially didn't want any of them in our stomachs. We went back to talking to the lady and the man pretended to "trip" and bring the knives very close to Elder Rivero and I. We told him we didn't want any issues and left.

And that ladies and gentlemen is how we were threatened with being stabbed this week.

Friday was Elder Rivero's cumpleaños and so we had dinner at a members house and they even bought him a cake! It was super cool of them and we all had an awesome time. Later that night we went to Sonic as well because half-price shakes and such.

All in all this week was pretty dangerous, but we also had tons of awesome lessons! We also found a ton of people to teach and it was super lit. So yeah.

Until Next Week
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. Elder Lewis falls asleep each Sunday in church so I took a picture!
2. Also a video from the party we had for Elder Rivero

Week 23 - Hoarders, Possession, and Primary

Hellooo,

So this week turned out great!

Firstly, we met a lady named Marie on the street a week ago and she needed help in her backyard because she is 89 year-old and can't do it by herself. So we head over on Tuesday and we found out then two things:

1. She is a hardcore hoarder (like television show bad)
2. She is absolutely crazy

So yeah we ended up being shown her house, which had mounds of stuff everywhere and walkways to get through it all. We then tried to help her with her yard, but she wanted to keep half of the branches and stuff on the ground so that it could be used to sue her neighbors....

After helping as much as we could we left and have been getting phone calls from her every few days with crazy long voicemails. So yeah that was weird...

Friday, we got to go to the Northside of Las Vegas for a doctor's appointment and the entire day we haf one of the priest from our ward with us. We then had exchanges and Elder Tolman and I were in his area. We were tracting and met a possessed lady which was super crazy. She was throwing herself everywhere and had super creepy eyes and all of it was freaky. She kept walking weirdly and wouldn't calm down until we gave her a Jesus card #JesusPower

We promptly went home and said a pray to help get rid of any dark stuff that may or may not have followed us home.

And Sunday! We had our investigators come to church finally! They brought their grandkids too! Their grandchildren don't speak Spanish, so we ended up hanging out with them in Primary all day translating for them. So yeah Primary was super lit and I would definitely do that again. Later that day we found a lady who is in-active, but loves the missionaries! So we are definitely going to work with her and her husband a ton!

Until Next Week!
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. Me in front of the MGM and if you zoom in you can see that Tiësto and Calvin Harris are at Hakkansan right now
2. The four missionaries of the Paraíso ward looking tough
3. Also we found a trampoline

Week 22 - News, Tracting, and My Opinion of Flan

Cómo están?

So this week started out pretty bad, but it got a ton better as the week went on!

Tuesday we literally tracted all day. All of our lessons dropped us and I wanted to just die...

And that was how Tuesday became the worst day of the week, but Wednesday was better! We had dinner with the Bishop's family and they gave us some really good food (totally forgot what it was though). We also found this super awesome family this week. The mom is a Less-Active because her husband hates the church, but she wants us to teach her kids, so that's what we started doing! They are super solid and its such a blessing because we haven't found any really solid people in a super long time.

And Friday we had a really amazing lesson with a Less-Active family and some members about the importance of the temple and being sealed together. The mom gave us flan afterwards, so that was nice. For those of you who don't know what flan is, imagine this:

You are eating cheesecake, right? But wait this cheesecake is like super soggy? How can that be? That's because it's flan. Super soggy cheesecake....

So yeah besides chimoy, flan is also disgusting, but I haven't seen much chimoy lately for some reason, maybe that's a good sign?

But that was pretty much my week so yeah. I hope everyone else had a good week!

Until next time!
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. A nice picture of the Stratosphere
2. When you don't try to be original in your logo

 

Week 21 - Surgery, The Luxor, and Mexican Food?

This week was amazing! (Sorta)

So primero, lo siento por la semana pasada. No me sentí como escribiendo nada, pero estoy aquí y listo!

So Tuesday was pretty dank. We had tons of lessons with people and only one of them actually bailed on us! I have not had a day of straight lessons like that in a while. The area of paraíso here is super difficult compared to Montebello. Not too many people are ready to listen to our message; so the ones that are we very so much love.

Wednesday we had our first zone conference with President Youngblood. It was super lit and we had a ton of fun there. Afterwards the stake Relief Society Presidency gave us Mexican food which they made. I am in no way complaining about this, it is only a comparison, but there is a very big difference in Mexican food by white people and Mexican food made Mexicans.

Did it taste good? Yes.

Did it make the Spanish Elders feel uncomfortable  not having tortillas they could roll to eat their beans with and actually having proper utensils to use? Yes it made us feel very uncomfortable.

Later, we went to a Less-Actives house, Noé, to cast out spirits and tell him that we did not think he was possessed. He had called us the night before at 11:30 PM seeing if we could come over the next day. He continued to tell us creepy stories about things that happened in his house as a kid though.

Thursday we had exchanges and I was with Elder Tolman for the day. He is from the same town of 300 people that Elder Wardell is from and they both got their mission calls to the same place at the same time speaking the same language. We talked a ton about comic books and superheroes and the difference between being able to easily use Premiere Pro without knowing anything about it and using AfterEffects without knowing anything and completely messing up anything that was possible.

Recently, I have been having some issue with my foot, specifically with my toe and what I thought could be an in-grown toenail.  Well Friday morning I called the mission nurse to ask if it was what I thought it was. As it turns out I did have an in-grown toenail and everything that I thought I was doing to help stop it and any infection was very wrong.

So later that day we went to the doctor and had that surgically removed. The doctor was super cool and everyone in the office including him were Mormon, so they knew the struggle that we faced trying to figure out how to adult in a doctors office. After some numbing shots in my foot and some weird orange wet stuff were applied, the doctor successfully removed the nail.

Was it disgusting? Yes.
Did the doctor use big weird pliers? Yes.
Did the doctor ask if I wanted to keep the nail? Yes.
Did I keep the nail? Of course!

So now I have that bad boy in a nice text tube thing that I will be able to keep for a very long time!

Saturday I reached my five month mark and Elder Tolman and I had another exchange while the other Elders went to a baptism in Henderson. We got to go super close to the strip and even got pictures in front of The Luxor. I found out that Kaskade was at Hakkansan the night before. Hakkansan is a club inside the MGM Grand where pretty much every single electronic musician plays. I was very trunky to find out about this because seeing Kaskade has been a huge thing on my bucket list. Also Calvin Harris and Tiësto are there right now on residency, so like double trunky-ness to the max😭

Yesterday we had Por Qué Creo. This is where the recent converts tell about their meeting with the missionaries and how they came to find out this stuff is true. It's an awesome opportunity to take our investigators to so that they can feel the Spirit. And I got to see the Murrillo's there! They are progressing amazingly and I was super excited to see them!

All in all this week was pretty lit compared to the last few weeks here. The work in Paraíso is super slow and super rough. We have been working really hard to find people who are ready, but that's the missionary life so oh well.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Hasta la proxima semana!
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. Me with a members bird
2. A terrible photo of me in front of The Luxor
3. Our zone picture with President Youngblood and his wife
4. How I feel whenever I see Missouri Ave.

 

Week 20 - *Insert Word Here*, *Insert Word Here*, *Insert Phrase Here*

Hello,

I don't really feel like writing anything right now, but I know the pictures are what you all came here for (Yes, I am on to you and your sneaky ways).

Also just to let you know how I am, "All is good in the hood".

Until Next Week!
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. I fell asleep on my nametag while my comp said a twenty minute prayer
2. Posing next to the filthy water that runs through the flood channels that we walk in
3. The best license plate in the world

   

Week 19 - Norma, July 4th, y nuestro nuevo presidente sangre joven

Qué pasó people?

So Martes (July 4th) we met President Youngblood! He is a super humble, but also really witty. I think I am going to like him a lot as our mission president here in Vegas. We had a meeting at a chapel where he and his wife introduced themselves and then we just asked them tons of questions. Elder Lewis and I also walked in late to the meeting, so that made a wonderful first impression...

Just kidding he didn't care at all, but the Zone Leaders did. It's all good though because we were picking up other missionaries, so we were late in the name of service!

Later that night we actually went with the other missionaries to a park to try and find people while they were out and about. We just talked to a lot of drunk and high people and tried to avoid the fireworks that were being shot off in random directions. One man actually walked up to us out of curiosity. The story goes like this...

Man: "Hey, how you guys doing?"

Us: "Great sir! How about you?"

Man: "Good. You guys smoke cigarettes?"

Us: "Ugh....No we don't"

Man: "Alright you guys have a good night."

Needless to say no mucho happened at the park...

But we did find a lady named Norma this week! At first we thought that she might have been a member because she let us in so easily, but nope! She was super excited about the fact that we believe in working hard for what you want like blessings and, you know, eternal salvation and such. So we set her with a date and she is super interested and excited about the church!

We have also started working with a less active, Noé, he went inactive like two weeks after he got baptized. We got him to church this week and are going to go see him later tonight! He just has a lot of questions, but sadly not the faith to get them answered. He will get there though.

Not too many insanely crazy events happened this week, but we did find a ton of new solid investigators, which is super awesome! So yeah that was my week.

Until next week!
Elder Lawson

Week 18 - Cubans, Legal Weed, and a New Mission President

Qué tal?

Gracias al Señor, esta semana estaba muy bueno! And we didn't bike! We figured out that if we plan amazingly then we don't have to bike! I'm so very happy about this.

Also fun fact! Most of the people we are teaching right now are Cuban, which means they are extremely difficult to Understand! They talk super loud and fast with a Caribbean accent, so a veces it is pretty much impossible to know what they are saying. So because of this my understanding of everyone else has improved immensely!

So yeah we taught a really sick lesson to our investigator Elizabeth and her grandkids, which she seemed to really enjoy! Our first day here she didn't seem to like us too much (Especially me), but after this lesson she was super open and asking tons of questions and really loved what we had to say about temples and how I taught her grandkids! At times the stuff I picked up in while being a camp counselor really becomes useful out here. Afterwards she hugged us both and was super grateful for us coming over!

We also talked to some dude who was crying on the side of the street. He was upset with people not giving him water and life being really difficult. We helped him get some water and tried to help him, but he was super skeptical about everything so that was kinda useless.

Saturday a huge thing happened! Firstly weed became legal so everyone has been blazing it so hard. Not like they weren't doing that at their houses, but now it is just everywhere. So yeah everyone is just walking around smoking blunts all day. So this 4th of July will indeed be "Lit".

Also guess who got a new mission president! President Youngblood came here Saturday and we get to meet him tomorrow! He served his mission in Japan; so it's kinda cool that he learned Japanese, but it is not the celestial language of Spanish so that must be a bummer.

But that was my week! Have fun blowing stuff up tomorrow! We have to be in our apartments by 6pm....

Until next week!
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. We were shopping today and I found these great avocados
2. A cool mini van we saw the other day

 

Week 17 - Biking, Biking, and More Biking

*Clears throat*....Bueno,

So first off I will keep this e-mail pretty short because literally nothing happened this week.

First! Elder Lewis (My new companion) and I were double transferred into la área de paraíso 1. So basically Tuesday we met up at transfers and everyone had a good time and we moved stuff around from car to car and got our necessary materials and went on our way. We arrived at our new apartment and looked around at everything and unpacked. Once all that was done we sat down at the table and had a moment where we realized that yeah...we knew nothing...

GREAT THING THOUGH OUR AREA BOOKS DIDN'T UPDATE UNTIL THURSDAY! TWO DAYS LATER! ESTABAMOS TAN FELIZ!

That's sarcasm by the way

Luckily the previous Elders left us a nice letter about our investigators and a few other important things. So we used some of this to get a tiny idea of how to work. The good thing is that our area here is about twice the size of my area in Montebello. The bad thing is that we have a lot less miles for the month here than in Montebello.

Guess who started biking...

In 120+ degree weather...

I hate biking.

We pretty much tracted the entire week and tried to get to know whatever investigators we could. We have some really good solid investigators though. We have Hector who is this big, loveable, Cuban guy. It is fun teaching him because we can't understand a thing he says. So we always pray for the gift of interpretation before we start. He has a baptismal date and loves to learn about the gospel. Hector is a cool guy.

We have a really lit apartment though which is awesome. It has a really cool bike rack in it that goes from the floor to the ceiling. Also it doesn't have bed bugs crawling around everywhere which is a nice change from my apartment in Montebello.

That ladies and gentlemen was week one of this transfer (which is actually a seven transfer). It was an alright week. Let's see what happens this week!

Elder Lawson

P.s. here are some pictures that I got with one of my favorite families and the bishops family from Montebello last week before Elder Martinez and I got transfered

 

Week 16 - Hiking, Transfers, and EDC

SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS WEEK!

First of all last Lunes, our entire district went hiking with a couple in our ward up a giant mountain behind the temple. The name is Frenchman's Mountain and it is pretty dang huge. There were eight of us total who started the climb/hike and eventually groups broke off because they were tired, so in the end only four of us made it up to the top.  It was so super cool up there. You could see all of the Las Vegas Valley and out to Henderson and even Boulder City. We took tons of pictures too. Definitely worth all the cuts and sunburns that I got on myself.

Tuesday we had the most lit district council ever. The Elders from Charleston Blvd. gave a training about missionary work that was based off of a motivational video about Steph Curry. It was so good.

Thursday our favorite family that Elder Diaz and I are teaching, the Murrillo's, took us out to dinner. We talked to them more about missionary work and what it is like and about the Book of Mormon. They are such a cool family and are so interested in learning all they can about the church!

Friday we had a Father's Day fiesta at the church. Before that we went to the Murrillo's house to invite them, but sadly the father had work that night. Like usual they had some more questions from the night before and they asked about what it was like for our parents while we are gone. We both said we didn't know, but I said they should message my parents on Facebook and find out if they wanted too. We left to the fiesta and had a super good time. We were taking the other missionaries back to their car and we received a text from the Murrillos. It read something like this, "So my mom just recieved news that Abby is in the hospital about to have her baby!". I CAN'T BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW PUMPED I WAS TO HEAR THIS. NOT ONLY WERE INVESTIGATORS TALKING TO MY FAMILY, BUT THEY TOLD ME I AM AN UNCLE AGAIN!!!! For anyone who doesn't know up until this past weekend I have been an expectant uncle for nine months! No más! So that was freaking amazing to hear! Like what a way to end a night.

Then Saturday we had Transfer Doctrine. *Drum Rollllllll* I am leaving Montebello! I'm going to a ward over by The Luxor (Giant pyramid thing in Vegas) called Paraíso! I'll be with Elder Lewis for this next transfer or possibly two. We are being double transferred, which means that the two Elders there right now are both leaving and two new Elders (Us) are being put in. We won't know anything or anyone!! I'm so pumped!

Sunday we had church and I said goodbye to all my favorite people in the ward here and got pictures with them. It's been a sick 11 weeks here in Montebello, I don't want to leave our investigators, but it's the life of a missionaries.

Also fun fact, EDC (Electric Daisy Carnival) was this weekend and EDC is the biggest Electric Music Festival at the beginning of the summer each year and it happens in Vegas. It's been on my bucket list of things to go do for a while now. The great part is that it happened three miles from our house. The sad part is that I'm a missionary so sadly I can't go to it...

So all this weekend whenever we returned to our house that night we saw hundreds of tour busses with "Official EDC shuttle bus" written on the front. We have also seen lots of people in their rave outfits, which means a tank top and shorts for guys with random neon bandanas and paint and such, and for the girls a mix of neon paint and almost nothing on.

We have seen some very "interesting" people this weekend...

But next week I will be in a new area with a new companion and most probably a new mission president!

Until then,
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. Our entire district about halfway up the mountain
2. The three missionaries who reached the top (Brother Montez took the picture)
3. Something we found while tracting

Week 15 - Upset Converts, Another Temple Tour, and Tracting

Ayee what's good gente,

So this week was sorta decent. We had to drop a ton of baptismal dates because the people weren't ready and we had to figure out how to make our door approach work a ton better, but hey we got that done!

Tuesday we had a nice lesson with Judith. She is our recent convert, who was baptized two weeks ago. She explained to us how she had been really unhappy recently with church because no one had given her a calling and she wanted to help with something. I'm very happy that she was not unhappy about something else.

Wednesday we had this lesson with a kid named Jose. He is fifteen and just likes to play soccer. We brought Alondra with us. She just got her mission call to Mexico, so we figured it would be a good experience for her. Jose really liked our message...or maybe he just liked Alondra? Either way we got another appointment with him!

Thursday we played soccer with Jose and his cousin Jorge. They walked to the church and a ton of people showed up. Jose liked that a ton!

Friday we had a temple tour with the Murrillo family! We have been teaching them for a super long time now and it was amazing! We sat in the garden in the middle of the temple for almost an hour while they asked tons of questions. They really really like how different we are from generic churches and how everything works. Sadly they won't accept a baptismal date because they want to know more before they accept one. We just have to be diligent with them.

Saturday we had service at 6:00AM with an English companionship in our district. That was pretty terrible having to get up so early, but hey we were blessed later that day with six new investigator! Two of them are sooo solid and it's awesome. We had a really good time tracting that day.

Sunday we literally went to church and then tracted all day. That got boring towards the end of the day.

It's been pretty sweet here. We've been dealing with some marital problems between two of our investigators, so that kinda set them back a bit, but we are persevering! Also transfers are this week so I'll find out if I leave or not. Sadly I'm most likely up to leave Montebello. It's all good though. Estas cosas pasan.

I'll let you know next week!
Elder Lawson

P.s. Oh yeah the photos are kinda trash this week, but here is one of all the guys in our Zone from last week!

From dad: This is the mountain Elder Lawson is hiking today (Frenchman Mountain).

Week 14 - Bugs, Carrot Juice, and a hint of Lord of the Rings

Hola Hermanos y Hermanas,

So I don't know if I wrote about this or not, but about my 3rd day in the mission field Elder Hodge and I helped a member wrap up a couch because it was infested with bed bugs. To make a long story short, Elder Diaz and I finally figured out what the red marks on our bodies were!

So yeah Tuesday and Wednesday we spent all day cleaning our house to get rid of the bed bugs that we dragged back almost 2 months ago. Now I won't go into how disgusting it was or how bad, but we might have had 8 Elders at our apartment cleaning with us. We got literally no missionary work done those 2 days, but hey cleanliness is next to godliness!

And Mom don't worry I'm fine and all is well. The bed bugs are all gone......most of them.

We just have to vacuum and spray our apartment down with some poison everyday before we leave! The adventures of a missionary are awesome!

Thursday was our last Zone Conference with President Snow. That was pretty sad.

Friday! We went to the Las Vegas West Mission! So like Frodo we went into the west! Elder Diaz had a doctors appointment there. We met some missionaries from the West Mission. They seemed super cool. Not as cool as regular Vegas missionaries though ;)

We also got free donuts at Krispy Kreme!

Saturday and we had a baptism! One of the English Elders was there and he gave his testimony in English and Elder Diaz translated for him. It was so legit!

Also some guy gave us carrot juice and it was the nastiest thing I have ever had to do on my mission. He sat there and made sure we drank all of it before  I then accidentally spilt some on my favorite tie. That was just a bit of something more to add to the disappointment of having to drink carrot juice.

And that was pretty much our week. Bed bugs, carrot juice, and going into the west!

See you guys next week!
Elder Lawson

Also the picture is of the giant baseball we found last Monday while looking for people in a park.

Week 13 - Baptisms, Interventions, and Scorpions

¿Qué pasó?

Tenemos dos bautismos esta semana pasada!

So yeah our investigators, Judith and Alexandra were baptized this past week! Elder Hodge and I found Judith while knocking doors my third week here and I baptized her on Saturday! Alexandra is 8 years old and she lives with her aunt who is a member. It was super awesome and everyone had a great time!

Tuesday and Wednesday we had exchanges, so I was with Elder Martinez for a bit and we had a lesson with a member about how she needs to baptize her kid because all her other kids are  and she is putting it off for no reason. The bishop even told us to sit her down and pretty much have an intervention with her. So that's what we did and now she really isn't to happy with us, but hey it's her choice to postpone the salvation of her kid.

Thursday we had service with a member and prosd (proselyted) for a bit. Nothing super exciting happened Thursday

Friday we went to the mission office and the mission home! They told us on our first day that we wouldn't be back  to the mission home until our last day in the mission field for our "Last Supper", which is the final meal we will have in the mission, but being the person I am, I totally went back before the end of these two years. So you know #SavageElderLawson

We then had service at the bishops house and tore down drywall and patched some holes. Also! I ate a lollipop this week that had a scorpion inside it. It was so nasty, but hey I ate a scorpion!

Saturday we had our baptisms! Tons of people came and I was super nervous to baptize Judith, but everything worked out perfectly! And I didn't fall in with her or anything super embarrassing like that. Looking at you dad.

Sunday the ward had another baptism and a girl opened her mission call afterwards and dang the memories were intense. She is going to a visitor center mission in Mexico City at the temple, so it was super cool! All of us missionaries were super pumped and reminiscing super hardcore.

Then today a guy in Wal-Mart walked up to us and tried to speak in tongues to us. That was awkward for everyone involved. Especially because no one had any idea what he was doing.

This week was pretty fuego all-around.

Hasta proxima semana!
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. We had four total baptisms on Saturday!
2. Also Elder Hodge showed up from Kingman, AZ.
3. Alexandra and ya boy. Also if you look closely at my arm you can see the effect of trying to skate after not skateboarding for a year.

 

Week 12 - Seventies, Judith, And A New Companion

Fun Fact Everybody!

So today is May 22nd, which means I have officially been out for 3 months as of today!

So yeah that's pretty cool.

This week has been legit. First off guess who has two baptisms this Saturday! But first we start with Tuesday...

So Tuesday morning we go to the chapel on Viking St. and all the missionaries are there. So I say bye to Hodge and all of them leave in a van to go out-of-valley and I meet Elder Diaz my new companion. He is from Idaho, but also knows Spanish because he was born in Mexico. We went home and he unpacked and we went on our way to teach and preach and work as missionaries do.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty slow with just tracting all day, except for lessons every now and then, but Friday!

Friday we helped the Bishop's wife clean up some stuff around their house in preparation for one of the Seventy, who came this week and stayed in their house for Stake Conference and a special meeting with the Montebello Ward! It was Elder Cordon who came and he spoke in General Conference this past April.

Afterwards we went to Judith's house to have a lesson with her. We have been teaching her for about a month and we set up a time for her baptismal interview and she was super excited for that.

Saturday we had a baptismal interview for another investigator! Her name is Alexandra and she is 8 years old. Her Great-aunt is a member and she lives with her. So we taught her everything in like a week and a half and now she is getting baptized Saturday as well!

And yeah that was week 12...

Until next week!
Elder Lawson

Pictures:
1. We found the actual street of Montebello!
2. What did you say my father smelled of?
3. The thermostat of our car the other day!

 

Week 11 #2 - Transfers, Scammers, and Mother's Day

Ayee what's good!

So fun fact! Last week was actually week 10 and not week 11. Clearly public school did not teach me how to count properly, but oh well. So welcome to week 11 #2!

So Tuesday right? We are tracting and this house down the street is absolutely bumping it (playing music really loud). Of course we decide to go see what's up. I knew it was going to be insane when we walked up and a guy runs out to us and immediately gives both of us a hug and asks us if we were blazing it...

I had the wonderful opportunity to explain that as missionaries we in fact were not into smoking "that good stuff" and were there to talk about Jesus. He was very excited by this and started a 20 minute rant about being saved, smoking a blunt on the daily, the illuminati and a few other conspiracy theories. We ended up leaving after telling him we would be back on Thursday to hear more and to further be enlightened. We didn't go back.

Wednesday was even more interesting when halfway through our lesson with Guadalupe, these two 23 year-old looking guys in reflector vests came and stole her away saying that they were from the county. After realizing midway through our conversation with them that they were scammers, we then did everything to interrupt the ensuing meeting they tried to have with Guadalupe. They left after 5 minutes, but only after trying to undermine us first and talk to us like we were 6. It was nice.

Thursday we had a meeting with the mission president and all the trainers and trainees who came out of the MTC with me. It was just for some trainings and to see how we liked everything. Afterwards we got In-n-Out, so I was pretty excited about that.

Friday was normal missionary work.

But Saturday! We found out about transfers for tomorrow! Elder Hodge is going out-of-valley to Kingman, AZ. to his first English ward and I am staying in Montebello East and getting Elder Diaz as my companion. He is from Mexico, so I'm hoping to hardcore improve the Spanish this transfer.

Later we had a drunk guy angrily yell at Elder Hodge, "I AM JESUS CHRIST!". That was pretty lit. Also his friend had just gotten out of 10 years of prison for killing someone, so that was nice.

Later we had a ward fiesta and one of our investigators came with us!

And yesterday was Mother's Day! Which means I got to talk to my family! That was probably one of the best hours of my life because my family is pretty freaking cool, so it's pretty great to meet with them for a bit. Especially after not seeing them. Also I saw my dog! She is pretty cool as well.

Also I learned that my high school graduation was on Saturday night! I am officially a high school graduate! I'll get a picture of me holding my diploma for everyone in about 21 months, so definitely be listo for that

Until la proxima semana!
Elder Lawson

P.s. The pictures are of Elder Hodge and I eating our corn and Mexican snow cone from the Elote guys on the streets and then a picture from the meeting on Thursday