Converting Vegas One Casino at a Time: Meet the Mormons and oh so much more!!

Hey everyone,

Wow this week has just been a crazy one!! Lots of crazy stories to share!

My companion and I enjoyed making some authentic Mexican food this week. We made empanadas one day for lunch and another elder’s bday was on Friday so we threw a little lunch party for him and made Gorditas. He is from Mexicali and so he really enjoyed that. It was fun. It really helped me speak better Spanish also. I received an authentic sombrero from a member that was moving so that was, way cool!

We had a blitz day on Thursday where we went to the sister’s area and went around and tried to find people for them to teach. They are in a very rich area and the only real Spanish speakers were the workers. They were all super nice, but most lived far away. It has been a struggle for the sisters in their area, but hopefully as we help them out and they work hard they will see miracles there.
Friday was the little party and there is an Elder Siilata from Hawaii here. He is a big boy!! He is so awesome and we are getting super close. He may even know Elder Kanahele if we are both talking about the same George Kaka - so that’s pretty awesome!

Then Friday night we went to the movie, Meet the Mormons with one of our investigators. That went really well! The movie was amazing and I highly recommend it to everyone. Our investigator gave us a ride and on the way there, since the theater was sort of by the strip, I was trying to take a cool night picture of the strip. Our investigator said that he could just take us there for better pictures, and we were like, “Oh no! We can't go on the strip!” So he said he would just take us on a highway after the movie so we could get a better pic of it. So we went to the movie and had a great time there. Lots of missionaries and members were there! After the movie he reminds us of the picture and so we head out onto this highway. The whole time my comp and I were thinking that it would be a quick pic from the highway and then back home. Well, there was a little misunderstanding. He took an exit, that to him wasn’t going to take us on the strip, but oh man we started freaking out. We were driving past the stratosphere and explaining to him more that we couldn't be on the strip. I even told him we were like Nuns in the sense we didn’t do anything! Haha He reassures us that we are not on the strip and that all is good. But we continue to keep driving around and I am just so ready to get out of there. He was talking in Spanish and so I was just hoping I could explain nicely to take us home, and that my comp would help out in the language department. After about 20 minutes of driving we started heading home, but at one point he wanted to park and show us something. We avoided the main part of the strip, but I am pretty sure we were on the boundary the entire time - definitely not the place we wanted to be! So, we have repented of our sins and are never going to ask an investigator help us get a better picture, because to them the strip is, well, not what it is to a missionary!

The final story is about another investigator we met this week. He is actually English speaking so that is super nice for me. He was sitting on a step outside his apartment smoking a cigarette and we approached him and asked if we could share a picture of Jesus Christ with him. We talked to him for a while and he invited us into his home. He had met with the sister missionaries in the area that are in the English ward, but he told us he didn’t really like them even though they were amazing people, just too pushy. He said that my comp and I were the two people that were going to make a difference in his life. I bore testimony about the power of the Book of Mormon and talked to him about some questions. He needed things taken slower and I think the sisters overwhelmed him with commitments; but they were just doing what we normally do. At the end of the lesson, we asked him if he would offer the prayer and as he was praying he broke into tears, and he told us that he was so grateful we had come that night, because he said he couldn’t have made it much longer if we hadn’t had come by. After the lesson, we called the sisters and they said that we could teach him and bring a member from their ward so that he had someone to go to church with. So that was one miracle we experienced this week!

Hope all is well and everyone is safe!
Hasta luego! Nos vemos!
Elder Clark

Cooking Empanadas