Viva Las Vegas!: Happy February!

We had a pretty great week! Things are definitely picking up here in the Paseo Verde ward. I love this ward so much and am so thankful for the time I've been able to spend here.

Last Monday I got an awesome package from my Mom (and Dad... but probably mostly from Mom). It had these really cool little beads in it that grow when you put them in water – they’re called Braindrops. An obsession has begun, and we pretty much just throw them around all the time. It's getting really intense. We plan to bring them in our pockets today during p-day sports and throw them at people without anyone knowing. It's going to be awesome. We also got to decorate our little apartment with Valentine's Day stuff! So now we have pink and red stuff along with our Christmas tree :)

Monday night we went to Denia's house for dinner with the Grzywaczs! It was a really fun dinner and it was really good. We had a great time talking about the Gospel with her and about her life and everything.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Denia in the morning. We talked about baptism and confirmation, and why we need to be baptized and what covenants we make at baptism. She is so excited for her baptism! She tells everyone about it, and it's written in permanent marker on her calendar :)

After that we had district meeting and we all went out to Panera for lunch - yum. That night we went on ward visits, and took more maps and visited some less active families in our ward. We love going on splits with our awesome members! It helps us out a lot.

Wednesday we were on exchanges, so I was in Green Valley with Sister Pulliam. We had a great day! We had district meeting (so I got to go twice this week!) and we had appointments set up for every hour of the day. Unfortunately all our appointments cancelled up to 6pm...so that made for a prettttty long morning. But we had a really great lesson at the end of the day, so that made up for it. They have an investigator that is struggling a lot, and when we pulled up in the car she ran out to hug us and just sobbed into our shoulders. It was so sad. But we were able to help her and lift her up spiritually. It really great.

Thursday we had another lesson with Denia and we talked about following the Prophet and the Word of Wisdom. She LOVED the Word of Wisdom. Since she is a nutritionist, she totally gets that our bodies are temples and are gifts from our Heavenly Father. She found scriptures to use with her clients that she works with! She is already sharing the gospel with people - she even invited her less active neighbor to the Relief Society activity this week! She's awesome! I took a picture of her with her giant poodle to send this week.

That night we went to see a less active, and she wouldn't open the door, so she talked to us through the door... awkward. She said she wouldn't open the door for unidentified persons... But we definitely identified ourselves - and she could see us out the window... I mean, we even have name tags... but okay. It was really funny. We texted her when we got back into the car and set up an appointment with her.

At our dinner that night, our members told us that they made it a 2014 goal to do more missionary work - obviously we approved of that New Year's Resolution!

Friday morning we went to Denia's again - long story, but she thought she might get broken into that morning, so we and Brother Reber went over to stay with her until everything was settled. We had to leave, but when the "robber" called, Brother Reber went to take care of it.

We had to leave Denia's house because we went with Missy and Ben to do a Plan of Salvation Temple Tour! It was great! The spirit was so strong. Afterwards, we sat in the lobby and the atrium with Missy. It was a really powerful experience, so peaceful. She loved it.

That afternoon we went to the Zitzmann's house to make cupcakes to take to Apolonia! She is a recent convert, and we have had a hard time getting to meet with her, and we just wanted to make sure she knew that we love and support her. It was really fun (plus, the cupcakes were really good). We had dinner at the Dalrymple's that night, and Brother Dalrymple told me all about his job, which, of course, is advertising! It was really fun to get to hear what he does.

Saturday morning we had stake visits with Elder Golden of the 70! He is amazing, and has such a strong spirit. He is from South Africa! We went to visit some of the widows in our ward and some less actives. That afternoon we went to do service at Denia's house (we saw her all week!). We polished silver with her for a while... hahaha! She is so fun to be around, it was a blast. That night was the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference. IT WAS AMAZING. Elder Golden is really awesome, and the music and the speakers were really inspired. There was a panel of people from the different wards, and the Neider's spoke, as well as the temple president and his wife. Great night.

So, I've been doing really well with my goal of finishing The Book of Mormon! I'm almost finished with Alma. I have 17 days left to finish, but I'm right on track! It's been great and I'm learning a lot. Speaking of goals, even though it's past New Year's, we've been showing this Mormon Message to all our members lately, it's definitely my favorite - http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=910930409001 please go and watch it!

I love being here in Las Vegas. I love sharing the Gospel with others, and seeing how it blesses and changes lives for good. It has definitely changed mine.

Thanks for all the support and love and letters! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Coltrin