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
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.
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
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.
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
