Tallllooooooffa!

Tallllooooooffa! Hello my friends and family! My 2 month mark was today! I'ts so cool that my days of being trained are more than half way over. I'll attach pictures of my "Mission Dad" Elder Victory.

Me and My Mission Dad, Elder Victory

I've learned so much these past few weeks and I can teach the first 3 lessons along with the Book of Mormon lesson a lot better than I could before. I don't know if I told you this before, but we're probably going to get missionary mini ipads soon! That means most of the area books, traveling books and records are just going to be digital now. Mostly everything except planners from what I have heard. I can't wait! We got new Elders and Sisters in our zone. We also got new roommates; Elder Heidinger (Alberta, Canada) and Elder Clark (Ogden, Utah). It's fun having them with us, and they are excited to do missionary work.

Elders Heidinger and Clark

Transfers Day

From L to R: Elder Patterson (transferred) Elder Cline, Elder Matheson (transferred), and Elder Murphy

We've been visiting a lot of less-actives still. Apparently, I've been getting more forward with my commitments. There's a potential investigator we have now and I really hope things can go well and that she will remember her appointment to have us over for us to teach her the first lesson. I'll give more details on that next week.

Apartment Unity

We also had another family that invited us over for dinner and they had two non-members over with them. After dinner, we taught the first lesson and I felt the spirit more strongly than I ever have on my mission teaching a lesson. I felt loved and at peace, and our teaching just fell into place. I hope Elder Victory + I have more experiences for this most likely last transfer we have together. Love All Y'all! - Elder Cline

Just Call Me Calvin

Good day my fellow brothers and sisters! It's been a wonderful week out here in Las Vegas as always. We got to street contact the other day and met Walter. He's a Catholic and was wondering about our church. We got to explain to him what we believe, why we believe it, and we answered a lot of his questions. We also got to visit a family and taught a lesson on keeping our bodies clean after the mother said her young daughter was picking items off the cat that shouldn't be touched with bare hands. It was an interesting lesson. We had tie trades this week and I got to have free new ties since it's my first tie trades. I got some really awesome ones and I had to sacrifice one of my special ones but it was worth it. I now have 30 ties.

Some ties during tie trades

Our missionary roommates are going to both be gone today so we're also getting two new ones today! Elder Pyron gets sent home because his two years are up today. He's also been Elder Vic and I's companion for the last three days. We also got to see Autumn, an investigator get baptized. She was being taught by Elder Pyron and they committed her to be baptized about two months ago. As for transfers, I have a lot of friends moving to a different area but as for me and Vic we're staying put.

Saying goodbye to Elder Pyron

Saying goodbye to Elder Patterson

Missionary Lesson Role-Plays with a wig (Left, Elder Patterson, Middle, Elder Pyron, Right, Elder Murphy)

My new mission planner, "Tommy in the Woods"

Lastly, I've acquired a nick-name this past two weeks. "Calvin" seems to be it, and you could probably guess why if you know your underwear brands. I hope everyone's had a great week. Love all y'all!!! - Elder Cline

Hello Again from Elder Cline!

This week was a great week. We got to attend a ward breakfast in hope that at least 100 people would show... we got around 50 people or less there but I would say it was a good success! The more time I spend with the Meadows 4th Ward the more I come to love them. Our ward council has a different variety of personalities but they all mesh together somehow to organize and plan effectively. July 4th! For my first holiday in the field, It was pretty awesome! It was actually the first day i've been in Vegas that it rained! Sweet sweet rain! For Independence Day we got to watch a variety of movies... Frozen, How to Train Your Dragon, The Best Two Years, The RM, and Suits on the Loose. My companion and I along with another companionship ended up watching Frozen and The Best Two Years (although I wasn't too excited to watch Frozen considering how many kids I have heard singing the songs of it here). It was good though. The Best Two Years is probably my favorite Mormon movie, and there's a lot in it that resembles real life in the mission field. One way that I know that I have been blessed in the field is all the donations we have received from members and non-members here. It's such a blessing. There's so many members here that see us and want to do things for us and it's just great. We've also gotten a lot of donations from non-members because they love that we're out here trying to bring others closer to Christ. They're wonderful people. I would give all of them a hug if I could. I thought I was finally able to get my camera to be recharged this week but it died and the cord I have for it apparently doesn't work. I'm getting a little frustrated with it but hopefully I can find out where I can get a recharger for it soon. Thanks for reading and have a great day! - Elder Cline

Goooood Morning, Afternoon or Evening!

Elder Cline here with another Nevada Las Vegas adventure post! This week had some rough moments but it all worked out in the end!

We finally had some investigators and less-actives come to church yesterday! Elder Victory and I were so happy they were able to make it. This week also was special because I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Morgan from Oregon and we were able to teach an investigator the restoration, invite them to pray to know if our message was true, invite them to read the scriptures for more confirmation, and we invited him to go to church! It wasn't my area but I think he's a golden investigator! I also got to meet a member that has made small scale structures for the movies Titanic, Rush Hour movies, Air Force One, the Star Trek series and a whole bunch of other movies! It was awesome finding out his story and how he met a bunch of really famous actors!

For p-days we have been having a lot of fun doing all types of sports, like basketball, ultimate Frisbee, chair soccer, soccer, ping-pong, and my favorite right now... baseball! It was so much fun and we got to meet a lot of people through all the activities!

On Saturday we went over to have dinner with the Simkins family. We had been over there once before for dinner when they had pulled out some good ole blue bell ice cream. Of course, me being my Texan self I told them it was the best ice cream ever. So when we went over there on Saturday, they had me blind-folded and had me taste two different ice creams and since I can't lie being a missionary, I had to tell them which one tasted better. After we tried both I told them which one I liked the best. I picked blue bell both times apparently. They said I'm a true Texan. It was awesome.

Can't wait for some more adventures next week! I would post pictures buuut I have lost my camera cord. I will try and post some next week! Until then, have a great day and thanks for reading!

- Elder Cline