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