The Power of a New Convert

Glen and I attend the Gospel Principles class at Sunday School each week with Elder West and Elder Manning.  On this Sunday, Deb Moppert, the new convert, had brought a man and his daughter who she had met two weeks before to church with her.  He attended Gospel Principles and has committed to be baptized on June 29--all because Deb had met him and introduced him to the gospel!  His 13-year-old daughter, Katelyn, also came to church and went to the youth Sunday School class and then to Young Women and loved it.  When Deb invited them to church, Katelyn asked, "What do I wear?"  Deb explained that she would need a skirt, and Katelyn told her that she didn't have one.  Deb gave her a skirt of her own that she cut down to fit her and then bought her a top to match, but it was too low.  Deb told her that she should dress modestly, so she also bought her a white shirt to go underneath so it wouldn't be too low cut. Isn't that the neatest thing ever that Deb would teach her these principles right from the start?  What's even neater is that when Deb first joined the church SHE wore low cut tops and too short of skirts, and we watched in awe as the way she dressed became more modest with time. (She has been a member for only about eight weeks.)  Deb also told us that she has a goal to talk to someone about the gospel every week, and she is excited that she has met the goal.  She is so powerful!  To be around her is so refreshing and strengthening, because she is so happy to be a new member and wants to share it with everyone she meets!  She is amazing and everyone just loves her.

Because we were having Elder West and Elder Manning over for dinner anyway, we also invited Deb, (on right) and Katelyn (next to me) and Allen Baty over for dinner also.  We had a great time getting to know them 

Since Monday was Memorial Day, the office was closed and we had planned for months to drive to Dolan Springs Arizona to visit Jeanette and Kevin.  Vickie and Dell hadn't driven to Las Vegas since they moved to Mesquite (Vickie said she was too scared) but we encouraged them to meet us here and then we would drive to Dolan Springs together--and they did!  It was fun to drive there with them.  Here are Jeanette and Kevin in a hallway of their cave, which is huge.  They showed us a video of how they had blasted through the rock, which took months and months, and it was quite interesting.

Here we are at the entrance to the cave.  It actually has four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Kevin took Glen for a crazy ride in his mud bog car which was quite "thrilling"!  Jeanette also fixed us a yummy lunch and we had a great time talking to them.

We had to rush back to go to Senior FHE at the Blacks because it was a welcome dinner for the Sudweeks who had arrived on the Saturday before.  They will be trained for the Dana's positions first, and then will take over our positions once we leave.  We will be training them at the same time.

At FHE we played a form of charades and it was a blast.  Here is Glen getting ready to see his "word" to act out.  We laughed so hard!

Here are the Sudweeks (front left) and the rest of us senior missionaries plus Elder Carlson and Elder Hammond, the assistants.  We had so much fun together.

On Tuesday, we had our usual jam-packed day with the zone leaders coming in and the stack of mail from the Memorial Day weekend, plus it was the Sudweeks first day and Glen carefully gave them an overview of the mission, which was so helpful.  Since they have already served three missions, they will catch on very quickly to the way things are done here.

On Wednesday, Sister Hanson and Sister Christensen, two of our Sister Training Leaders and incredible missionaries, came in and gave me several packs of different varieties of m&m's.  It was so so sweet!  I love these missionaries!

That evening, Sister Dana and I went to Sister Splain's apartment and she showed Sister Dana and I how to do some things on the computer.  Sister Splain is a true saint and we just love her.  We had so much fun together! I learned a lot and hope that I can remember it!

On Friday night the Danas, the Sudweeks, and us went to dinner at Cafe Rio and then headed over to the theater to see the newly released movie, "Ephraim's Rescue", the story of the rescue of the Martin-Willie handcart company.  It was so good and it was so fun to be together and be in a movie theater full of Mormons!  We talked with many of them and bonded instantly.

After the movie Glen saw this photo op he couldn't pass up.  The Danas had left but here we are with the Sudweeks.  We also saw our wonderful friends, the Christensens there and stayed for a long time talking to them after the Sudweeks had left. 

On Saturday morning we attended the baptism of Noah Barrus, the son of Jason and Kami Barrus. Jason's parents, Ryan and Marge Barrus, and Kami's mom, Joan Kelly, were also there and it was so fun to see them and talk to them.  It was a wonderful service and Glen bore his testimony there and I gave the closing prayer.  

That afternoon we did something that we have wanted to do since we got to Las Vegas--we went to the Venetian and rode the gondolas there!  It was so awesome!  We bought the cheaper tickets, (half the price) meaning that we would share the gondola with other people, but when they boarded us onto our gondola, they put us in there by ourselves!

We had an awesome gondolier who was very sociable and sang three songs during our ride, including, "That's Amore."  He had a fabulous voice!  Oh, it was so much fun!

We even had gelato to celebrate our fun adventure!

That evening we went to dinner and then the temple with our good friends, Nathan and Bethany Jones and Travis and Teresa Wilhemson.  It was a wonderful session.  Check out the moon to the right of the temple!

We had a wonderful and a very busy week and are grateful for the experiences we had this week!