Viva Las Vegas!: You Don't Even Know How Much I Love This Place!

You don't even know how much I love this place! I literally love being a missionary in Las Vegas. I LOVE it. This week was the last week of the transfer and we worked so hard! It was Sister Smith's last week as a missionary and it ended pretty well! We had a blast this week and ended with two amazing baptisms.

Monday was p-day! Sister Smith had a doctor's appointment, we emailed, and then we went grocery shopping. We were on the hunt for the best Vegas souvenirs to take home - and we definitely found them. We got the coolest Vegas shirts! I will try to send a pic next week! We had dinner at the Nelson's and then brought cupcakes over to the Smith's for Trinity's birthday (Orion's little sister). It was sweet to see her and serve her on her birthday! She is a sweet girl! We stopped by the Franken's house, and Brother Franken dared me and Sister Smith to challenge each other at Foosball. We did, and I won - Foosball champ! ;)

Tuesday was District Meeting. After that we had a lesson with a less active that wants to start coming back, and wants her non-member husband to meet with us! She was so sweet! Her nephew plays for the Lakers - so she showed us tons of pictures and jerseys, it was funny. We also met with CJ and Amanda and talked about CPR - church, pray, read. It was a really great lesson! We saw Orion and taught the same thing - we sat outside the church because we were locked out, haha. It was awesome though - teaching Orion is really great because he is so thoughtful about the Gospel, and he has a really sincere heart. We love Orion! We had dinner with our investigator's, Kaycee and her family. It was so good! Then we had a lesson with them about CPR (again, haha!). We stopped by Sister Rock's house and heart attacked her door for her birthday, and then stopped at the Snyder's for coordination meeting.

Wednesday morning I had a doctor's appointment for my back again and got new prescriptions. We got to go to the doctor's in the west mission, so I can finally say that I've been to Summerlin! Later that day we taught Orion and went over the baptismal interview questions with him and talked about the importance of baptism and of the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was awesome. We also met with CJ and Amanda to do the same thing. We had dinner at the Huston's with their tons and tons of hilarious children, and the ran over to Sherry's house to read from the Book of Mormon with her.

Thursday we contacted a few referrals in the morning, and then we had baptismal interviews for a while. We had to pick up the Elders and bring them to Amanda's house to have the DL interview her. She passed with flying colors, and was so excited to get baptized. While the rest of us waited, Sister Smith had us all try her Canadian candy that she got in a package - CJ was very skeptical of it. After the interview, we took them over to the church and met Orion and Brother Smith there for Orion's interview. It was great! As Orion was coming out of the room from being interview, Sister Smith was standing by the door, and she scared him - and he fell on the ground, hahaha. We were all laughing. Orion was so excited to be baptized! After that, I started having this weird allergic reaction! We went to see Kawika, and had dinner, and afterwards, my face was covered in itchy welts and my throat was tight. We went home for a little bit, and I took some Benadryl and then we went to sit at the church and listen to the stake choir practice. It was so weird.

Friday was weekly planning, as usual. We also got to see Amanda, and a new investigator named Antoine. We met with Orion as well. We had dinner, and then after dinner, we walked out and saw this guy, so we went to talk to him. Turns out his wife is in the Spanish Branch here, and hasn't been able to go to church because of her work schedule. He is not a member, but he prefers English to learn in. His name is Fidel, and he told us to come back and see him the next day! We helped vacuum Sister Plett's house, and then saw a few more people.

Saturday was CRAZY. We had to meet the Samoan Sisters at the church building at 7am for them to let us into a different church building and to start the font. We got there and they were already inside. We walked in and there was a really loud alarm going off through the entire building. We asked them what is was and how long it had been on for. They said about 20 minutes, that they didn't know what it was or how to turn it off, and then they left us. Sister Smith and I called people like mad for 20 minutes trying to figure out how to turn this dumb alarm off! It was crazy. We finally got the alarm off, and then went to get ready for the day, since we hadn't had the chance to yet. We searched for a bathroom, and started to get ready. About halfway through, I remembered that the font was still filling up, and I bolted back to the microscopic font room just in time to turn the font off before it over flowed over the stairs. It was an interesting day. Later, after we set up for the baptism, people started to show up - except for the people conducting Orion's baptism! We started without him and the baptismal programs. It was stressful, but ended up being really great. Orion had a great time, and it was so good to see him surrounded with friends that love and care for him.

We had a lesson with Thea and then a quick dinner and went to set up for Amanda's baptism at the stake center! There was a baptism before ours and right after ours, and there was a ward Halloween party going on throughout the building - it was absolute chaos. To add to the stress of the day, the font filler forgot to come and fill the font, so all the baptisms had to be pushed back a half hour. But again, through the crazy, the small and simple baptismal service for Amanda was sweet and powerful. It was a great day!

Sunday was pretty normal. At church both Aanda and Orion were confirmed. It was great! Later, after church, we went to meet with Fidel! He was so excited to get back into a church, and we taught him the Restoration. H was so excited to be baptized, and he is set to be baptized on the 29th of November! That night we went around for Sister Smith to say goodbye to people in the ward!

Monday was stressful again! We got stuck at the mission office from 12-5pm for Sister Smith's departing interview. But it was fine, we had fun, and got some of our favorite chicken from Raising Cane's :)

So sad to see Sister Smith leave, I LOVE her and can't wait to live with her in Utah!

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Coltrin