Week 3: Christmas Caroling

Week 3 has passed of the last 24 weeks!

It was a great one. This weeks challenge for Week 3 was to Go Christmas Caroling with Members. We completed it, and it was the jam! We went to go contact with a fairly big group a lot of our investigators as well as some members. We got a good turnout and everyone had a blast. We started knocking on random doors after a little bit after seeing how huge their decorations were and how extensive they made it. One house was covered with lights on all 4 sides. We can't imagine how big his light bill must be.

This week we also went to a ward party in the Egan Crest ward. It was pretty fun, especially because we got to sit on Santa's lap. Pretty much the whole ward came and had lots of fun.

We also had a baptism this week! Our friend Eydie has followed in the footsteps of her son Dylan and received the ordinance of baptism on Thursday. She said she felt at peace, and it was a good service. We're looking forward to continuing to stay in contact with their family.

That's about it for this week. The challenge for Week 4 is Have a Good Christmas and Call Home!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Week 2: Go to Garage Sales. Hide some Books of Mormon

Dec 14, 2015

The count continues! Week 2 has ended of my last 24 weeks, and it was a great one! The challenge for Week 2 was Go to some garage sales. Hide some Books of Mormon. It was awesome. They never saw it coming... We ended up getting some cool stuff as well. The other missionaries that went with us got a rapping santa, some Christmas stockings and a small air hockey table. We had a air hockey tournament for our morning exercise one day. It was cool.

A lot of other cool events happened this week as well. For one, as we went walking the streets one day this week, we came up with the idea to hand out Christmas candy with a Christmas card to people that were out on the streets. We made little bags with everything in it then went out to go share the Christmas spirit. Unfortunately, we only found two people out, so we decided to go Caroling to some people instead. The first random door we caroled to went like this:

- *Knock knock knock*

- (Guy opens door)

- Us: "Hark the Herald Angels Sing! GLO..."

- Guy: (with a straight face) "I'm cooking right now."

- Us: (still singing but realizing what he just told us) "..Rry too!!.. The new bor... Awww."

- Us: "Well can we just give you some Christmas stuff anyways?"

- Guy: "Yeah, sure."

And that's how that went. But all in all, we ran into a couple other great people.

That's about it for this week. Stay cool and stay true!

This week's challenge: Week 3: Go Christmas Caroling with members!

Week 1: 100 Doors

Dec 7th, 2015

Hello everyone!

For a recap of last weeks blog, I started a list of tasks or challenges for the last 24 weeks of my mission. This week, the first week challenge waaaaas:Knock at least 100 doors in one day. We completed it! It actually went a lot faster than I thought it was going to be. We were knocking on doors early in the morning at 10am just in case, but with lunch and and an extra half hour added for driving to the places, we were done at 3:30pm. What was great is that we hopefully found 3 new people to teach!

Along with that, the week went pretty well. We had a baptism for our investigator Dylan. He has been excited for baptism since we first started teaching him, and now he finally hit the water. We first started teaching him after they heard about the church from some of the members that were in our ward. When the mother talked to the bishop about the church, he suggested for her to start taking the missionary discussions. So she did with her two boys. A couple months later, here we are. Their testimonies have grown so much since the first time we met them. I would say the biggest converter they had was the spirit testifying of the truth and the miracles they saw within their lives. It was amazing experiences.

They are now making their way to all of them getting baptized. We actually just left their ward to go to the Skye Canyon Ward in a new stake that was created so we won't be teaching them anymore, but it was fun while it lasted for us.

Lastly, we had a christmas party this week. Santa ended up showing and he was a big hit for all the kids. Christmas is coming soon! We're so ready for it!

Week 2's Challenge will be: Go to some Garage Sales. Hide Some Book of Mormon's. :D

Have a great week!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Thanksgiving in Vegas and the 24 Week Countdown

November 30th: Hello Family and Friends,

Another week in Vegas has now led me to my last 24 Weeks Countdown! For all who don't know, for my last 24 weeks, I have created a list of challenges and/or events to look forward to for each week before I have to leave for home. Each week is something different, and my goal is to complete them all in order I put them as. I will hopefully remember to put the new challenge or event down for the upcoming week at the bottom of the email each week. Let the games begin!

In other news, there's a bit to update on. Thanksgiving happened and we had 3 thanksgiving dinners to endure. We made it by the end of the night, but we were as full as a sack of potatoes... Glad that's over... But we had lots of fun.

After Thanksgiving, we went to go visit one of the members of our ward and we got to meet their family that was in town. One of them had asked me "Where are you from?", I said "Texas." They then said "Oh cool, what part?", I said "Houston", they said "WOAH, WHAT PART?!", I then said "Katy!". I was surprised to find out they had lived in Houston, Texas for a long period of time recently and knew quite a bit of people from Katy, Texas. They said they lived in Klein, Texas (however they spell it there). I mentioned how that was a coincidence of my last name, pointing to my name badge, when all of the sudden, someone in the corner of the room said "Do you know the Clines from Katy, Texas?!". I turned and looked to see a familiar face. The room became silent as everyone stared to see what was going on as my eyes got big, since I saw a familiar face from a long time ago. He looked at me and said "are you Stephen?", I replied "yeah!" And we gave each other a hug. The guy, Rees, had been to my house multiple times to hang out with us when him and his Best Friend Christian (who is now my sister's husband) knew my sister really well. So in essence, I saw my Brother-in-Laws best friend again. It was also pretty cool since this was the first time I met someone on my mission who knew me and my family from back home in Texas. We had caught them right before they were about to head back to Utah too. Coincidence? Maybe, but pretty legit!

We also have transfers today. Elder Snyder and I are staying together, but leaving the Valley Vista ward and entering the Skye Canyon ward as a part of a Stake Change. The SC ward is a split off from a previous ward I was in, so I get to see some more familiar faces this week. Excited!

Lastly, the sisters that came out with me in the MTC are leaving the mission field today, and going home tomorrow. We will be sure to take pictures with them. It is so weird to think I have served with them my whole mission, and now they are all leaving! It was a blast serving around them and knowing them.

Keep working hard and growing strong!

Week One's Challenge will be: Knock at Least 100 Doors in one day of the week!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Top Notch New Elder

Once again, I bring great welcome to all who have survived another week on earth! Things in Vegas are looking up. I am training a new missionary once again! My new companion is Elder Snyder. He is from Vermont and he is a stud missionary! He's top notch, and I am sure he will continue to improve even more as he continues the next two years of his mission.

As a part of his first week, we had a lot of fun things that occurred. One, we worked our tails off! It was awesome and the weather was perfect for it. Two, we went to Mount Charleston and worked our tails off there as well! We took pictures and even found a mailbox with the last name "Snyder" posted on the mailbox. We knocked on their door, but they weren't home. We saw deer, the Library and the visiting center while talking to people on the way. Elder Snyder's first tracting experience was in Mount Charleston, and of course, it was a blast. He's a natural at talking to random people. It was chilly there, but it was great. Third, we had a "sacrifice saturday", in which our whole mission fasted and went out specifically to find new investigators the whole day. It was a success for us, and we got a lesson and return appointment with a family. Love it. We also took some great pictures along the way.

Everything went smooth and the weather is getting cooler. Can't wait for Halloween this week and the following holidays!

Happy holidays to all!

Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Present and Accounted For

Hello family and friends! Another great week in Las Vegas! This is my third week with my ninth companion Elder Stoker. We're having a blast in the lone Mountain stake. The cool thing about this week was that we found multiple potential and new investigators for our ward. Some of which seem real promising and progressing! Our new roommates Elder Roskelly and Elder crab are fun to hang out with. They are covering my last ward in Elkhorn Springs Stake. It was surprising to us to find out this week that another apostle had passed away. This is the third one in between just a single conference. We're looking forward to finding out who the new apostles will be though, and I am sure conference will be a good one. We'll see this week! The scripture picture for the week: Doctrine and Covenants 20:50 - " But when there is an elder present, he is only to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize"

Love yall! Keep the faith and have a great General Conference week! Elder Cline Nevada Las Vegas West May 2014 - 2016

Blog Number 1 Million... Or something like that

This week was a crazy ride, but we definitely enjoyed it.

#MountCharlestonvisit!!! For y'all who didn't know, all of Mount Charleston is in Elder Adams and I's area. It was a great trip and we had lots of fun. Not only did we get to go over to see the different people who we had planned for at Mount Charleston but we got to see a couple of sites as well. We visited the Mount Charleston visiting center as well as getting to look around a couple of abandoned homes. We went to go visit a couple of streets that had funny names as well on the way back home.

We're going to have a baptism going on this week for four people from the Piute reservation. They were tracked into from previous missionaries and we have the privilege of getting to be here for the baptism. We are super excited for their progress. As far as the work is going our ward is doing super well. We have others who are set with baptismal dates and lots of others we're looking to see the progress for soon. We moved out of our member's home and moved into an apartment complex… And it's the same apartment complex that I've lived in on my mission for 3 1/2 months already. It's OK though because is a good apartment complex. It's one of the nicer ones in the valley.

I'm just loving everything that's going on in our ward right now. Lots of success! Keep me updated with any new information about what's going on in y'all's lives. Thanks so much!

- Elder Cline

Stephen.cline@myldsmail.net

Tracting and a Surprise Visit

This week was pretty crazy with all the fun that went down. Tracting was our biggest success this week. It's not where you get your most success from everyday here but this week was the right week. We found a couple people from knocking on doors and we have our usual investigators of the church still continuing to learn. The wards here in Northern Las Vegas are just amazing. Everyone is awesome and pretty hilarious.

This week was a surprise for a missionary in the zone. One of this missionaries previous companions Elder Hartsock had gone home in June and just came back to visit without anyone knowing but my companion and I. So we set it up where the missionary in our zone got invited to a "move" in our area, and then would knock on the door of where Brother Hartsock is staying at. We ended up doing it, and it surprised him a lot. It was super good to see him. You may hear about him playing on the BYU basketball down the road, or you may have heard of his older brother Noah Hartsock who played for BYU basketball. I know them both now, and they are two pretty awesome dudes. The work is continuing and the field is ready to harvest. Every day we're preachin' it! Work hard and don't give up! - Elder Cline

Country Las Vegas!

Lots of new things to say, I'm excited to tell! I just left my ward and my companion last week, and I have 2 new companions in a new area! Elder Murphy and Elder Adams are my new companions because we're in a trio until Elder Murphy goes home in 2 weeks, the middle of the transfer. Elder Adams has been out for a little over 3 months so I will be his "polisher" or in other words, his second companion.

We're having lots of fun right now. We cover the Eagan Crest and Valley Vista wards in the Lone Mountain Stake. It's northern Las Vegas. There's a couple of cool things about this new area I am really enjoying.

One, lots of the people who live in our ward boundaries are in the "Piute Tribe", a type of American Indian tribe. We are teaching a couple people from the tribe.

Two, another thing is that it covers lots of dirt roads and the desert/country part of Las Vegas. I'm loving the new feel. I hope I stay in this area for a while.

Third, we're the only missionaries that cover Mount Charleston in our area because it's in our ward boundaries. We already went up there once to go check it out and see potential investigators. It was amazing and the sights are just a blast.

Keep the Faith!

Elder Cline

Fireworks and Faith

Hello again family and friends! Hope you all had a happy July 4th! We got to hang out with a family in our ward this week for our July 4th. We first watched the movie Planes which was alright. It felt weird hanging out with them due to the fact that for the past 13 months or so I haven't watched a non church movie with a family. It was actually pretty long for me, I haven't watched that long of a film in a while as well. It was nice getting to set off and see fireworks go off as well. New Year's we weren't outside as much, and last July 4th we were watching movies and hanging out with other missionaries, so it was exhilarating. We saw a tiny bit of how the strip looked like as we passed it on the way back home at night and it was blazing with fireworks!

The wards are picking up in work a little. Progress from investigators of the church and love from ward members still ensue. We love these wards. I've been in the Elkhorn Springs Stake for over 3 months now, and we've at least got another month to stay. Keep the faith and watch for miracles! - Elder Cline

Here is another photo of Elder Cline and his companion (both so tall!)at a member's home for dinner. I love it when members surprise us by sending missionary photos.

iPads and Ice Cream

Note from Steve's Mom: I'm a little behind posting but haven't received any more blogs since this one, just short emails since the Elders C are keeping busy with the work. The church is true!! Enjoy!

May 26th:

Good day everyone! Another great week in Vegas has gone by. This week has been a pretty great one with lots of new information in store. For one, I am pleased to announce that the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission has received Ipads and had them distributed to all of us earlier today. We are officially one of the few "test groups" for these new Ipads in the United States, and we look forward to using the for hastening the work of salvation from them. Right now, we are allowed to teach and share messages with the Ipads. After a couple weeks of testing out that part of the learning process, we will be able to use Facebook, Skype, and other resources to communicate with friends and family about the gospel. It's going to be a whole different world of missionary work here in Las Vegas, but definitely for the better!

Two, Elder Croysdale and I hit our year mark on May 21st! We celebrated by going out for ice cream and by lighting a couple candles on fire over small chocolate treats. It's been a great experience being on a mission so far and I can't believe we are over half-way done now. Lots of stories to be told.

Three, this week we were actually in a trio from Tuesday to Saturday with an Elder Stoker whose companion went home due to back injuries. For about 4 days we covered 3 wards in 2 different stakes (his ward was in Meadows). It was interesting but we worked hard to get things done. Elder Stoker is now with a new Elder so we are out of a trio again, and back to ourselves. That's really about it for this week. Like I said, lots of new things we are all excited about down here in Las Vegas. More updates and pictures in the coming weeks from our cameras and hopefully Ipads as well! Love Y'all! - Elder Cline

Temple Trip and Familiar Faces

These past few weeks with Elder Croysdale has just been fantastic! Progress and excitement abound in our area! First of all, transfers went great and it was awesome getting to see old companions at transfers again. I only have one companion that has finished his mission so far, but Elder Chesler and Elder Victory will be heading out soon in July and September. Elder Croysdale and I went to the temple with the rest of our mission recently, and there was definitely a lot of memories that were brought back from the MTC. We're enjoying it all.

Elders Cline and Croysdale at the Las Vegas temple

We got to attend a baptism in our ward for a boy named Nubi. His parents dressed him up after his baptism in a Hawaiian/candy outfit. We love Nubi! He's just an amazing kid. We got to give the talks for his baptism, and it was good to be there.

Things are really starting to improve in our area. We're getting to know our ward a little bit and activities are on its way as well. We're also both excited and surprised for this week for a number of reasons. One, we have one year left as of yesterday. May 17th next year will be the day we end our time as Elders. That's actually kind of scary, considering how we still feel new to the mission. Two, on the 21st we hit our year marks! It's the biggest mile marker on your mission, so we want to plan something great for it. Three, we should receive Ipads this week! We've already gotten the instruction manual for it and a safety guideline manual for it. There's going to be a LOT of changes to our mission because of it, which I will talk about next week. Big week!

Thanks for all y'all's love and support and hope you have a great week! - Elder Cline

MTC Repeat!

Hey Everyone, Not much to report other than my new companion today will be Elder Croysdale, my MTC Companion! I'm so excited to have him as a companion again! We're going to hit our year marks of our mission this transfer we're so excited! - Elder Cline

Nearly a Year! A Trip to Mount Charleston

Hello everyone! These past couple weeks has been an adventure! For one, our zone got to go to Mount Charleston recently. It was pretty cool and the sights were beautiful. Although we didn't get to stay for very long, we did get to have the experience.

The work has been going well and transfers are coming up this week. We're expecting for Elder Chesler to leave and a new Elder to come in since Elder Chesler has been in this area for a whopping 4 transfers now. We'll see what happens I guess. If so, this will be my sixth companion in my third area still. Also, the time has come where my year mark is almost here. About 3 more weeks and I will be half way done with my mission in Vegas. Time really does fly. Nothing much to report other than that. Shoutout to my family, the Herrera's, and Elder Shearer for sending me great emails this week! I love all y'all! - Elder Cline