I have been loving Las Vegas! Turns out Las Vegas in February is super nice. It is in the low 70s almost every day and is just beautiful outside.
I loved an experience we had teaching the same young guy that came to church last week. We were sitting on some camping chairs in his tiny garage and said, "Today we wanted to read a little bit in the Book of Mormon about life after death and God's plan for us." His eyes got really big and he held up the Book of Mormon and pointed at it, saying, "THIS talks about life after death?" It is so amazing to see the beauty of the gospel click for people. I don't think there's anything more exciting.
We spent a little time calling and getting to know a member of our ward who is 89. He had some cool stories to tell, and you could tell he just really appreciated someone from the church reaching out. He went to Weber State back in the day, so we made that cool connection.
We also went and helped a man who has not come to church for several years. He lives alone and it was easy to see that he had some challenges that made life difficult. His big passion is putting together puzzles and then gluing them together and he had dozens of them hanging on his walls. We went over and helped him fill up lots of trash bags of bottles and boxes and things to clean things up. At the end, this humble man handed us a carefully glued together puzzle of the Mandalorian. It was so cool how he gave us something so special to him and how much a little service and attention benefitted his life.
This morning we had a really cool opportunity to go and do some service at the Las Vegas temple grounds. I have seen it from outside the gates twice, but with the wind storm that came through this week, there was some debris that had come off the trees that needed cleaning up. We went to the mission office, switched our truck for the mission van, and then went to the mission president's house, where we picked them up. He and his family came and helped clean up along with some other missionaries. It is just a very reverent and beautiful place. At the end, the temple worker thanked us all for the help, and with some emotion in his eyes, said, "When the Lord comes to Las Vegas, this is where He comes, so we have to do our best for Him."
Yesterday was also the best Valentine's Day of my life! Elder D. Todd Christofferson did a Zoom call with just our mission, along with Elder Godoy, Elder McKay, and their wives. At the start he said, "Elders and Sisters, we in the twelve look at you as our companions. First we go to the seventy, and then to you." He talked for a minute or two, and then he just took questions from the missionaries that we had submitted the week earlier. Sometimes when teaching people about prophets, we say, "If you could ask a prophet anything, what would it be?" Here we actually got the unbelievable chance to do so. So we got on the meeting, and you could see Elder Christofferson with a wall of 6 TVs in front of him so he could see everyone. What I was really amazed by was just how we were talking to this powerful witness of God, but he was also a completely relatable, normal person. He would joke around a little and was really nice, and just seemed like such a real person. Anyway, part-way through, I got called on to ask him a question. I actually spoke to a prophet! I thought I might die. Nevertheless, I said, "What advice would you give for times in life or on your mission when despite righteous effort, success just seems far away?" Elder Christofferson said, "You know, Elder, I think you're the only one who's ever experienced that." He had a big smile and was just joking, but it was so funny to hear that from an apostle. Made my day. Then Elder Godoy (gave the recent talk "I Believe in Angels") laughed too and said, "Welcome to our team!" But then they actually gave some really good insights. I think it is something sacred for me that I will always remember because it seemed so personal. But he said, "Don't worry too much, Elder Harris," (at this point my head jumped up from my frantic note-taking, and Elder Christofferson seemed to be looking me right in the eye) "if you don't see success immediately. You don't often see all the fruits of your labors during your mission, or even during your life. They reverberate, they roll on, like ripples in a pond."
I leave you with that in the name of Jesus Christ, who I know lives and is aware of us.
'Til we meet,
Elder Harris
Included in the pictures are the oddly sticky walls of Las Vegas.
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