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