This is Nathanael with Mitchell Aldridge and Brian Goodhue, his friends from Richmond who are also missionaries in Las Vegas.
Dear family,
Thanks for the tree picture- it doesn’t look good yet but it looks
like potential!
So the week’s been good of course. Tuesday we met our
new ward mission leader and he took us to see a falling away recent convert of
1 year and a half. He’s living in one room
of this tiny house. He’s a smart guy and used to have a good family and a good job, and but now he’s in an
awful state and embarrassed. But he’s really nice and has a testimony,
and lives in the 4th ward, so we got a ride set up for him on Sunday and he
made it, met people, loved it, etc, so we’re excited there.
Wednesday we were trying to figure out what to do in this
ward so we tracted...just one road, and met a less active family that’s really
nice and has potential, met a few ward members, had a great talk with two kids
18 and 19, (senior and recently graduated) in their garage about the gospel and
life and all. I think it was just a seed planting, but a really good
one.
We also tracted into a family who offered to feed us that night
because we didn’t have a dinner so that was good of course. That night we
got to see K’s mom and her new boyfriend, and K’s grandma who is
really old, but recently had a blessing and is surprisingly out of the hospital
and all so that’s exciting. For some reason the mom thought I was the one that gave the blessing and was telling the grandma "this is the one that saved your life"…so that was funny. But the mom is coming to church
frequently now and has a great relationship with the bishop.
Then
Thursday we were able to catch C and K. It was great. First we
talked to K, things are real well, she’s going to be getting 40 hours at
Walmart and 40 at Smith’s here soon which is fantastic. So we
had a good talk about the priesthood with her and C, and gave her a
blessing in a chair in their driveway (chaotic inside). Then she went in
to sleep, and we got to talk with C for an hour. He recently got a grasp of what he wants to be for P (the 6 month old) and
K for his whole life. Now C just
delights and enjoys living full days, and accomplishing. He was telling
us with such excitement how he loves getting up early, getting things done,
going to church, coming home, doing yard work, taking pride in those things,
preparing a life and example for his son, he has goals to get their own home,
he’s real excited for that. He recently started weight lifting, and is
really excited over the gains he’s made, a new found talent (he’s like 5'11
160, but apparently lifts a lot for his size) and is real excited to develop
that, and overall just stay busy doing good things, no longer hanging out with
lots of old friends, and being a new man. He doesn’t fully understand a
lot, but still exhibits a peculiar desire to one day baptize his son. He
loves Bishop S (who unfortunately was out of town Sunday), and has a good
relationship there. So I really love
C, K and P, and am excited. Friday we tracted some more, met
some cool nice people like always, some good seeds and all.
Friday night we stopped by J’s, their really old dog had
just made a mess, and they were outside cleaning, and its hard with J’s foot
but they were out there cleaning with the hose at about 8. So our timing was
perfect, we got a lot done, I replaced a filter because I’m tall, and we had a
good time talking with them all. G said he'll get baptized if we get
bishop to fill the font with bourbon. The change is hard for them and
J; J doesn’t feel nearly as comfortable from the one visit with the
sisters. C doesn’t want to get attached to them like she has us but
we got J’s mind a little more clear, I told him if he tries and makes them
feel appreciated, they’ll feel more comfortable and things will get going
smooth in no time and all. So things seemed well and we departed. Sunday at about 7:30 we biked over, (we didn’t tell them we were) and they were
super glad, we clarified everything about a recent misunderstanding, told them why things were said and what
needs to happen, that the sisters were just passing down what they heard from
the ward mission leader, and he just needs to let them know how bad he
wants/needs the visits and things will get sorted. He hadn’t done his
"homework" to read Enos, and a couple verses in Alma, so we then read
that with him, me and him connect well so I explained the story and he wrote
down what the things meant, it was really good, and we got that done right
before the sisters came. Then we talked for a minute and left, C kept telling us she had never been more excited to see us than ever when we
came by, and things were a big mess, but we left J and C with way more
peace of mind and all, to go into the visit with the sisters. J kept
saying we came to the rescue like Batman. He left a voicemail later last
night, thanking us, he told me that the sisters were shocked by what he got out
of the scriptures and what he wrote, and he didn’t tell them he had done it
right before they came, (we cleared the evidence right before they got there),
and he told us after they left it brought tears to his eyes, to see how timely
and effective and loving our visit was. It was short, quick, turned he
and C’s mind set 180, and he had a good peaceful spiritual experience, and
I’m seeing that this change may be for the better. Our role is still
there, but it can work well in helping him transition to the sisters being the
teachers. So I’m super glad, because things had potential to go really
bad with J and his progression in the church could have ended there, and
that’s such a big difference in years of progression and service.
Saturday we did service to help with a race to raise money
for a kid that needs a kidney. That 50 some year old with the toe shoes
finished in second by a long shot, and his son won. But besides his son,
he smoked the whole cross country team and a lot of other young fit
people. But after that we marched in the Homecoming Parade with a
"Is there more to life banner?", so that was a lot of fun, we were
right behind the Taco Bell float, so I’ll see if I can get some pictures.
Saturday and Sunday evening we met a family,
they’re reactivating, and so we’re doing lesson practices. She’s got a
decent gospel knowledge, and has a real sweet testimony especially of God’s
love and grace. She was sick one time so we just talked to her husband. He considers himself
a member, believes the gospel, celestial kingdom. He’s nice, and thinks he has testimony,
(sometimes). So I figure my best shot is to fill his mind with facts that
he can find neat and take hold of and incorporate to make his overall stance a
little better, like polygamy and its practice in ancient times is something I
simply described, said it’s in the Old Testament, and he found that all neat
and latched on, even though he would never look to try to understand it or even
see if it’s really there. And he believes a lot of prophecies of latter
days so I just tell him simple things he finds neat and so I’m just kind of
getting rid of the dirty water which is his brain, by pouring more clean water
in cause he’s too stubborn to get rid of the dirt. He and his wife always
bicker but finish laughing, I have no idea how it doesn’t escalate, she’s a
women of good sound understanding. So that’s good.
Anyways…pics will hopefully come soon. I’ve got to
wrap up, biking is well. My companion has wrecked twice recently but he’s
all right.
Love,
Elder Pyron
