Laaaas Vegggasss!

Hello my brothers and sisters!

It's another great week in Laaaas Vegggasss! It's so much fun up here! This week we've got to do a lot of fun stuff and have gotten a lot of cool stuff! 

I got to meet with my Mission Prez this week for District interviews. Let me just tell ya... President Alhander is awesome! He knows what's best for everyone and he is inspired. Elder Victory had leadership training this week and that left me to be temporary senior companion of a trio for a day. It was a blast! We went to go visit a member of the ward then went to help with a move which took a LOOONNG time to get through but we eventually got out of there for lunch 2 hours late. We washed a members dog this week. And shaved him. It was awesome. The dog's name is Panda and he hadn't been cut in a long time. We did our best to shave him but we did a really bad job. I was wondering how my sister Sarah does it. Oh well. At least he got washed well. Not much really went on this week as far as investigators go. Nobody is wanting to even open their doors right now. We've gotten yelled at by people after we knock with stuff like "Hit the road guys!" and "Go Away!". Fun stuff. It's ok though. We're not getting discouraged. Just bored from waiting at doors all the time. If there was one thing I could take away from my mission though, it's that all we're trying to do is to make people happy and not to just convert them. Our message of Jesus Christ is a message of peace and joy. If people only just listened to the message the missionaries have I know anyone can feel uplifted. They just need to hear it.

Can't wait for next week! I've finally got a binder to put all my letters in I receive! If you want my address I think it'd be okay to send a message to my mom's facebook and my mother will most likely give it to you. If you're acceptable... Always remember to shine bright and be inspired to others! If there's one thing I regret before my mission it's that I didn't share this message of happiness as much as I could have. Knowing of Christ's love is a blessing! Love you all and I will talk to you next week! Until then...

- Elder Cline

Hello World!

Hello World! It's another bright and happy day in Las Vegas! This week was super fun! Mainly because Elder Victory and I focused this week a lot on community service. We were able to help one sister out in the ward to clean her over, her floor, her toilet, and her bathroom. She was so thankful for it. She gave us strawberry soda. We also did service for another lady in our ward: Sister Tomlinson. Sister Tomlinson is so awesome, I have to say. She's a lady from Jamaica and has a heavy Jamaican accent. She's always got a smile on her face and says things like "Yea Man!" all the time. She's so funny! We got to take stuff out of her shed. Most of the stuff she said will go to D.I. The rest will either be thrown away or go back in her shed. She allowed us to pick a couple items out of her shed that we could have. I got an old school phone and Elder Victory found a bag of some African/Jamaican clothes he later tried on when he got home. He now wears them to play basketball and at the apartment sometimes saying "Yea Man!" and other vocabulary with a Jamaican accent.

Elder Cline's companion, Elder Victory

Elder Victory serenading Elder Bananas, the monkey they use to practice lessons on 

 This week for contacting people didn't go so well... Not because we were not out trying... it's because nobody was answering their door. There was one lady that I was excited to visit because in the ward directory it said her name was "Sister Cline". I've never met someone outside of my family with my last name spelled like "Cline" and not "Klein"! We went over to go see her and even saw that she had a "Cline Home" board above her door but she didn't answer. I was really bummed about it. Maybe this week i'll meet her. Can't wait for the adventures of this week! I'll have been out for one month of my mission on Saturday!

Until next Monday! - Elder Cline

Teaching Fun with Elder Bananas

Hola Amigos! This week has been the bomb diggaty! Elder Victory and I have had some up's and downs this week but all in all it was for a good cause!

The week started normal and all... we got three new investigators and we visited a lot of less-active members which was awesome! One particular lady which I will call Sabrina has been in our thoughts for most of the week. She is a lady who has seen the community services of the church and has seen that we try and preach our word and try to spread our message of Christ inside as well as outside of the church. She likes that our church is multi-cultured and she loves the smiles we bring. We teach her again today and I hope it goes well!

We've been role-playing teaching with a huge stuffed monkey in our apartment who we call "Elder Bananas" because he's a monkey on top and then has a banana peel for his bottom half. Anyways, I can't get over the fact that we're teaching a stuffed monkey sometimes and end up laughing which totally ruins the whole concept but I can't help myself sometimes... 

I got sick this week and ended up puking. It was not a very happy week. I blame some Elders in our district... Elder Patterson and Elder Murphy for giving us some old enchiladas to eat... Elder Patterson was out the same day I was and we weren't having a very happy day. We're all better now though. I have to say enchiladas isn't my favorite food anymore though. In fact, as of right now, I don't think I ever want to have another one ever again... especially the green ones.

All in all like I said it's been a great week. We are in the process of bringing people closer to Christ! I love the Meadows 4th Ward, I love my companion, I love my family, I love my friends, I love the gospel, I love Christ and I love God!

Thanks for all your emails and i'll try to get to them as soon as I can! Thanks for all the love y'all are sending! I would hug y'all if I could!

- Elder Cline

Note:  No photo this week as he did not send any.  I do have a hard copy of Elder Cline with the mission president and his wife, sent from the mission home, and if our scanner cooperates I will post that.

Arrival in Las Vegas: VICTORY!!!

Hello Texanians and other friends!

It's good to be in the mission field! I have finally arrived to my most favorite place in the world (aside from my great home state of Texas): Nevada Las Vegas West! Monday Elder Croysdale and I got up at 3:25 AM to finish our packing and so we could make it on time to the bus heading to the Salt Lake City airport. The bus ride up there was interesting. Although everyone was super tired, we all were awake enough to express our feelings of excitement and to be heading to the mission field and to sing our favorite church hymns.

At the airport we said our last goodbyes to the missionaries that were in our district not heading to Las Vegas. I'll Elder King, Elder Handley, Sister De Kock, and her companion for their outstanding excellence :D

Farewell to missionaries leaving on transfer day

Anyways we got to meet our new Mission President, President Alhander and his wife after we touched down in Las Vegas! They were super happy to see us and boy was I happy to be there and meet them! We ate breakfast at his the mission president home then got to get in the car and drive to the church where we would have a couple hours of safety videos on driving a bike... haha but it was fun.

The best part about that day though... was meeting our new companions! about 200 - 300 missionaries gathered in a room to wait for us to come in. Our new companion would call our name and it was our job to burst through the doors to see who we were going to be spending every second of the day with for the next 12 weeks. When it came for my turn I burst through the doors and ran up to give my new companion a huge hug while everyone cheered with excitement for us! I was privileged to get ELDER VICTORY! Man, what a happy Elder! So he's my official trainer for the next 12 weeks and he's got to be the most fun guy I have ever met! And, dare I say it... serving with him has been a victory so far! Also to mention, Elder Gray who is serving in the Bear Creek 1st Ward told his Dad to come to the event and I got to give his Dad a hug and tell him how much of a great job his son was doing back in Houston South! The world seems so small sometimes!

Elder Cline and his new companion Elder Victory

We ended up going to drop off our stuff in our new apartment and we got to go meet our first investigator of the area! We went and saw Carl & Larry, two Vietnam War veterans! They are super fun and super outgoing guys! They let us look at their front and back yard to see how it looks and we are willing to help them move around some stuff and help them with anything they need. We then went to a ward party where we found out what ward we will be serving in, which is the Meadows 4th Ward! Meeting the members at the party was awesome and they all seem really fun, loving people! We even got to share a spiritual thought with some non-members at the end! It went great!

Elder Cline and Elder Victory's apartment 

Since then Elder Victory has been working hard to teach me as best as he can! He's gotten me even more excited than I was to be here in the Nevada, Las Vegas West mission! He's the best! Everything has been moving so fast I have no time to relax anymore! Can't wait until we get to teach investigators more and share the gospel! In a couple weeks we might get Ipads and the chance to post Mormon messages on Facebook if everything works out. We'll see!

Elder Victory (father), Elder Holland (grandfather), Elder Cline (son)

Have a good day and be sure to remember to pray to thank God for what he's done for you in your life! I love y'all!

- Elder Cline

Great Tidings of Great Joy from the Missionary Training Center

Elder Cline and Elder Croysdale here again! 

We bring you great tidings of great joy that the gospel of Jesus Christ is soooo true! 

This week was a blast for us! First of all, we got to teach our progressing investigator here at the MTC named Peter and he is such an awesome guy! He has three kids and is from New Zealand! The first time we met Peter he was so kind to us and welcomed us in. He didn't believe in God or Jesus Christ but was glad to hear our message! We didn't get to teach him much the first and second lesson, mainly because he was such an interesting guy and we liked to hear his stories, but now that we have gotten to teach him about The Book of Mormon, God, Jesus Christ, the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement and so forth he has begun to have faith, and now has told us he believes in Jesus Christ and God and is reading the Book of Mormon! I think we're going to schedule a baptism date for today! We are so happy for him!

Every time I see the Houston Texas South missionaries I get over excited and shake their hands every time! Again, don't forget to look out for Elder Allen and Elder Webster! They arrive June 3!

Classes are going wonderfully and our whole district is so excited to get to go to the field on Monday, June 2, including my companion and I! We'll be in Las Vegas and out of the MTC in 3 days! We're so excited! 

Elder Cline, Elder Croysdale, with Las Vegas West missionaries at the MTC

Elder Cline, his companion, and his district

This week was also the most uplifting I have had in my entire life. The spirit has put words in our mouths, and we are able to teach others with the spirit's words!

And just a reminder from everyone... It's our purpose to invite others to Christ! Tell someone about the gospel this week. It can help them!

Can't wait to hear how y'alls lives are going! 

***

Note from Elder Cline's mom, Kathy:

If you would like to write to Elder Cline, you can reach him currently at  stephen.cline@myldsmail  dot  net  

Since he gets sent to the field in Las Vegas on Monday, I don't have his new address yet.   It is his birthday this week on June 3rd, so it would be great for him to get some mail wishing him a great day!  He would love to hear from you.  :)