Week 12 Las Vegas/Norway Bound

Hey Mom,
    I arrived here in Norway and I am doing great! I love it here and it is just beautiful! President Tew and Sister Tew are just amazing. Cant wait to get out and start working! Love you tons tell the fam I say Hi. 

P.S. My P Day's are on Tuesday.

Elder McSpadden received his Visa Thursday afternoon and flew out Monday morning to Norway with the rest of his district!  He was able to call on Sunday night and share one last story from Vegas. He said most days he and his companion would head over to the Park between 2-3 after the kids got out of school. He's been teaching one of the kids he's met there but this time they were all excited to see him. He put his stuff down and started playing football with about 10 high school boys. He scored a touchdown and the boys were teasing their friends that they'd been beat by a kid in church shoes. He asked them if they had been reading the book he gave them and they said they read every day before practice and that they all wanted one to have to read on their own.  He then started teaching them and talking about what they were reading and they said it helps them before practice. Darin had just encouraged Truxton to always be prepared to flood the earth with Book of Mormons and encouraged him to read the talk by President Ezra Taft Benson on doing just that. Truxton read the talk and had loaded his backpack full of Book of Mormons that day! He handed out 10 books to those boys and as he was getting ready to leave one of them knocked on his window and asked if he had 2 more because two girls wanted to read it and didn't get one.  He said he was all out but then began searching his car and found 2 more!  12 Book of Mormons, the exact amount he needed for this group of teenagers!  As he was driving off to his next appointment he watched as they all sat down at a picnic table and started reading the Book of Mormon together!  He let his bishop and ward mission leader know that the next set of missionaries need to be at the park by 2 ready to play football and answer a lot of questions!  His companion was getting transferred and he was heading to Norway but the seeds had been planted! He's so excited to be heading to Norway but loved his time in the Las Vegas West Mission!  

Week 11 South Diamond Las Vegas

Oi what's up everybody! 
       I'm doing awesome here in Vegas, I love missionary work so much it's so cool to be apart of something so amazing! This week was truly full of miracles and probably one of the most spiritually uplifting weeks of my life! We had a zone conference this week and Elder Pieper a member of the 70 came to speak to us. It was such an amazing meeting and I learned so much from him! He was so cool and was really interactive with all of us doing role plays and he even went out knocking with the missionaries?! I was sad he didn't come with me because he woulda put me to work! But it was so cool to see a consecrated servant of the Lord who has a lot of other important things to do take time to go out and teach the gospel. That's how important this work is.  He told us some stories that were INSANE! Back in the olden days he served in Mexico and he said his mission was the highest baptizing mission in the world. He said they had a goal at one point to hit 1000 baptisms in a month. I straight up thought he was lying but then I'm like oh he's a member of the 70 he can't be lying. It was crazy he said there was 34 baptisms per companionship a month. Which was one a day! I was like what how can you do that? He was like " we would ask them to be baptized on the spot" and they would take them to the Font and recite the discussions on the way and then baptize them that day! I was like flip man I wanna try that but there's rules now where they have to come to church for three weeks first so that can't happen anymore :/ but it got me so hyped to go find some people to get baptized! I had some super cool things happen this week as well. So in my last week's email I said my week was pretty rough. So, I decided to change that! I was like ok I gotta change what were doing because it is NOT working. My area has a lot of gated communities so it's a lot of member work. But none of them want to do missionary work accept our ward mission leader so we made a ward mission plan and presented it and they loved it so that should start helping it a bit. And then And then I was like alright none of the adults want to talk to us so I'm going to do what I know best. Go talk to the high school kids! Hahaha it was the best choice I've made yet! We went street contacting outside the high school parking lot and the places they all hang out at after school. I would walk up and start complementing the guys on their shoes. And they are like what THE,  this white boy knows shoes? And I'm like oh boys ya'll don't even know!! And then I made friends with them. Long story short we have 12 new people we're teaching which was SICK!! Ahh it made me so happy because I taught the Restoration in a park where it was super loud but we were just zoned into the spirit and he said he would read the BOM and pray about it so we will meet with him tomorrow to see how it went. Then that night we met up with a new guy that moved into the ward but wasn't coming to our church so we knocked on his door and he said we could meet up Thursday. We met up with him and he said he was really struggling right now! He said he doesn't have citenzship here in the U.S. and his work visa was taken away so he couldn't work at all! So his apartment, car, and phone bill couldn't be payed so he lost it all. He was living at his cousins house and he said that it was a miracle we knocked on his door. He needed someone to talk to because his other bishop wasn't listening and he didn't know anyone in that ward. But what was cool to me is he said this, " Elders my family brought me here when I was about 2. I don't remember a life other than living here in the states. I'm a returned missionary and I love this Gospel. This has been one of the biggest test of my faith in life yet. But I don't plan on losing the only thing I have which is this Gospel. So Instead of staying here and trying to hide from the feds and not work and let my faith dwindle I think I'm just going to move back to Mexico. I have some cousins down there that I could live with but I'm just not sure what to do. I think it would be best for me to go to Mexico and continue my career down there but it's hard dropping everything you own except 10 grand that I've saved up and moving into the unknown. Well actually 9 grand because I have 1000 bucks of tithing. So can you give me the bishops number so I can talk to him? " and we said of course and gave it to him. He then asked for a priesthood blessing. And I still had not given a priesthood blessing yet so I was so excited. But kind of nervous because he has some pretty big questions in life right now. So we got up and me and my comp laid our hands on this struggling mans head. Instantly I felt the overwhelming power of Gods love for this man. And then the spirit started to talk, I don't remember what was exactly said in the blessing because even though it was me speaking they were NOT my thoughts. The only thing I remember was that I said when you go to Mexico you will be a light and help to your family and the people down there. And I was like oh crap I just told this guy he needs to go to Mexico pretty much and I was like shoot was that me or God telling him but it was definitely God because when I finished he stood up and just hugged me. It was just amazing to me that God could use such an imperfect kid like me to be called upon in a moment's notice to give someone such important information in their life. I'm so grateful for Christ's atonement so that I could be worthy to be called upon to perform such a sacred ordinance. Then on Sunday was just the best way to top off the week. We had an amazing sacrament meeting and we set up a lesson with Dennis one of the guys we are teaching. He's such a stud but pretty busy so it's been hard to keep meeting with him but I had a prompting right before church to walk over to his house and invite him to church. He said he was goin somewhere but we could do our " Bible study tonight at 6" haha so we went over there at 6 and then asked him if he would like a tour of our church house. So we did and it was simply amazing. The spirit was so strong and we showed him the"Because of Christ" video. And I just watched this big huge black guy with tattoos everywhere and a box of cigs in his pocket start to tear up. He whiped it off pretty quick when it ended and then I asked him to be baptized and he said yes he wants this in his life! It was just the best to see a man with so many trials and sin weighing him down, to know there is a way to find peace! Oh, I was on cloud nine having the best time! I had set a personal goal before I got here to Vegas that I was going baptize someone. It wasn't because I wanted to have bragging rights. It wasn't because I wanted to rack up numbers. It was a goal that I knew would stretch myself but that I could still accomplish! And even though I might be in Norway by the time he gets baptized I know that I accomplished my goal of helping someone have that fresh start in their life. Sorry this email was so long but it was just an amazing week. And to have the cherry on top of the week as we walked out of the church house I heard the sound of car with a dead battery trying to start. And in Vegas that happens a lot so I have learned to listen for that! So we walked over to this lady and her daughter's car wouldn't start. She had her jumper cables out and a volt meter trying to figure out what was up. She was tired and frustrated on why her daughters car wouldn't start. So I ran to our car drove it over to her and had the prompting just try and jump it. So I got out my cables and she said " I've already tried that 5 times. " and I said let's give it one more try. I hooked it up and bam their car fired right up. Haha I don't know if it was because her jumper cables were bad or if it was a miracle but she just said thank you so much. Then here's the best part, she then looked at my name tag with a puzzled look on her face because it was in Norwegian and said " Eldste, du snakke norsk?" Whigh means " Elder, do you speak Norwegian? " and I lost it I was like no way I've been praying for this for 5 weeks I've finally met someone who speaks Norsk! She then said we lived in Sweden for 12 years so my family speaks Swedish. ( but Swedish and Norwegian are very simalir so you can talk to each other) and I was so stinking happy I couldn't stop smiling. She then asked me to bear my testimony in Norwegian. So I started to speak and she just started crying. It was just absolutely the best thing to top off the week. Man I love this gospel and I KNOW God works miracles in our lives today. God is the same yesterday today and forever. He's the same God that helped Moses split the Red Sea so always know God is a man of mighty miracles. You just have to have faith and expect them and they will come. Love you all keep it real!
Eldste McSpadden 🤘


The bio the other missionaries say about me:
               Eldeste McSpadden: He eats healthy and loves to exercise! He's a clean freak and wears Pit Vipers! But he works Hard!!"   HaHa!  I'll take that!

 Love my Pit Vipers!!!  Haha!

 My Souvenir from Vegas,  Bass Pro Shop hat!

 Eating healthy!!

Week 10 South Diamond Las Vegas

Oi wassup everybody! 
       I'm doing great and loving the work! This past week was a little rough because we had tons of the people we were teaching bail on us for baptism church and return appointments! We didn't achieve any of our weekly goals and I was so frustrated! I kept thinking man what am I doing wrong? I've been working so hard and trying everything I can but people just don't want Jesus!! And I kept saying, "when these people get to heaven they are going to see they should've listened!" and I was starting to get frustrated at the people that kept flaking. I was driving home to our apartment Saturday night pretty bumbed out and I was listening to some hymns and then the next song on my playlist was by one of my favorite singers on planet earth the great George Straight himself. The song A Love Without End Amen started to play. ( Don't worry it's approved I'm not disobedient) I was like lets gooooo I love this song and turned it up and started listening. The words in that song are truly amazing. The spirit just started rushing through me and the part where it says " last night I had a dream I stood outside those pearly gates, suddenly I realized they're must be some mistake, they don't know the things I've done they'll never let me in, then somewhere from the other side I heard these words again. Let me tell you a secret about a father's love, a secret that my daddy said was just between us, daddy's don't just love there children every now and then, it's a love WITHOUT END amen." And it hit me! God loves his children no matter what they do. He loves them without end and it will never be otherwise. I then thought that's how I need to be? I need to LOVE everyone no matter if they accept his message or not. I need to have patience and know that sometimes your planting seeds, sometimes your nourishing seeds, and other times your harvesting those seeds! So work hard and let God work his magic. Another cool experiences I had this week was while I was street contacting. We were walking in this little town center thing with a bunch of little shops and we walked passed the Smiths opening door and we saw this homeless guys sitting there. And we had talked with him before so I said wassup Justin how ya been my man?! And he shot right up and started chatting with us. We started talking about our day and stuff then he just says wait wait wait hold up have you guys been fed tonight? Someone gave me 5 bucks a couple days ago and I know it's not much but I can buy you guys something to eat if your hungry?! And my heart just sank, I was like this homeless guy has flipping nothing and he's offering to buy me dinner?! Background on this guy his uncle was a member and always told him to be baptized and he was like I feel the Holy Ghost all the time man I don't need that! But then he said he can't tell if it's the drugs he was on or the Holy Ghost. But he's not interested in the church at all but it was cool to see such a big example of charity, the pure love of Christ. A man who's brain is so fried from drugs and bad decisions in his life, yet he was one of the biggest examples of the pure love of Christ?! It was so cool to see even tho people have made bad decisions in there life they still have good desires! The next cool thing that happened was our sacrament meeting, this guy gave an amazing talk on loving yourself. Not in a selfish way at all, but in a way where we need to make sure we know no decision we make in life will be beyond the light of Christ. And I thought that was super cool because we are hard on ourselves a lot and we need to realize that Christ already suffered for those sins and sorrows, so repent and be sorry but don't dwell on them! Just forget about it and keep trying to be better every day. But I love this work and the chance I get to represent Christ and his church. I know that every thing I have and am is because of this Gospel. And that through Christ we can do all things! I've been reading in Alma a lot recently and love to hear the stories of the sons of Mosiah going out and preaching the word of Christ to the blood thirsty ravenous lamenites and they don't care at all! They just go and do what God asked them to do and it hyped me up so much to go work my head off! Anyways love you all im so grateful for all my friends and family and for the examples you have been to me. God loves you and I do too! Keep it real!
Eldste McSpadden

Not much in our area to do on P-Day so we visited Outdoor World! It was cool!

 Wanting Grandpa L. to tell me all about this car, pretty sweet!

Week 9 South Diamond Las Vegas

Hey hey waddup friends and fam! 

     It's been a good week here in Vegas! It's been crazy hot but it's good because I need to work on a tan before I go to Norway. I had exchanges with the zone leaders and the district leader this week! They were both amazing!! Ahh when I went with ELDER Down ( Zone leader ) I had one of the coolest spiritual experiences of my life! So in their area they had this Asian lady who is from Hawaii just randomly walk into church and they were like what the?! So they talked with her and got her info. She had a surgery that next week on her eyes so she couldn't leave her house for a couple weeks so they had to email her! They gave her a BOM and she would just periodically ask them questions. But that day they had their first lesson with her. We had invited these awesome members to come to the lesson and they have a super cool conversion story so we thought that would be good. We got there and just started chatting and getting to know her more. She then pulled out this folder with pages of notes on the BOM and comeuntochrist.org and it was all highlighted with questions it was just amazing!! I was so shocked on how much research she had done and her dedication. She said she had been looking for a church for a long time and went to 7 different ones but none of them were right. She knew church wasn't suppose to be about flashing lights and guitars and paying money for sins. So she said she quit church but she didn't quit on God! It was so cool the spirit was just RAGING in the room. She then said her son who was a trouble maker had gotten engaged to an LDS woman and he was baptized. He told her to look into it and she said if a church can fix my son then I darn well better look into to it because that's a miracle. So she looked up the nearest LDS church and pulled up! She was soaking everything in and accepting all of it. Then she goes, "so I was baptized in another church, do I have to be re baptized?" We then testified of the priesthood and explained and she's like ok so when can I be baptized?! And we were like ummm you need to come to church 3 times and learn the lessons we have to teach you and she's like ok so the 28th? And were like yeh that would be awesome. Then she goes what time? And we just couldn't believe what was going on she was literally just converting herself it was sooooo awesome oh man it was amazing. She asked a bunch more questions then we wrapped it up and she left and we were just in shock of what just happened! Elder Down said I've been on my mission for 23 and a half months and she was hands down the most prepared person I've ever met. Now that was a GOLDEN interested person. It was amazing, too bad I will probably be leaving to Norway on the 25th but I told the Elders to tell me how it goes and take pics so that will be cool. Then my other exchange was way cool too this missionary is going home after this transfer as well so they were both old and wise and I learned tons from them! But the work is going good we are finding new people everyday but it's hard to keep making return appointments so it's just a hit and miss but I'm LOVING it here and love being a missionary! Ahh man it's so amazing to see God's work going forth and how He has prepared people to hear His message. We had this guy named James and we always see him walking or when we're street contacting and stuff but i guess he hasn't been interested before. Then we saw him like 3 times in one day and I was like alright this is a sign so I started walking right up to him and my comp was like " he's not interested ELDER " and I just kept walking and I said, "James my man we keep seeing each other left and right that means God's telling you we need to talk" and he goes, "yeh i guess your right ". It was so sick I was like lets gooooooo. We testified gave him a BOM and then got his number so we'll see how that goes this week. But other than that it's been good the members here are such nice people and they always look out for us missionaries it's the best. Love the people here in Vegas. And I can't wait to get to Norway! I met a friend of my mission President's in Norway and he was showing me pictures of when he went a couple months ago and it got me hyped. But anyways love you all send me pictures of what you guys are doing I want to here from everyone! It makes my day when I get a random message from someone it motivates me to keep working because the people back home are rooting for me!
Eldste McSpadden 

Keeping the car nice and clean!

 Mom would be happy!!  I'm cooking for myself and the other 3 Elders in my flat, even a side salad!