#3 NEVADA

JULY 21, 2014

So one week ago i arrived here in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission! i got off the plane and the first thing i saw..... Slot machines! i just had to laugh when i saw them. welcome to Vegas! there were 18 people that came to Vegas with me, and 3 others are Visa waiters. One is going to Australia, one to New Zealand, and one to Samoa. so anyway us group of 16 elders and 2 sisters head through the airport to the exit and the mission pres. as we walk, we are virtually bombarded with advertisements and posters and theres music playing and it was crazy. SOOO much different then the MTC! it was kind of weird, not gonna lie.

  Well we found our mission pres, drove to his house, which is a really nice place in Vegas with palm trees and looks like a resort home. how deceiving, because thats not the accommodations us missionaries get! haha but we ate lunch there, then headed to a church for an orientation and then we got our companions! my companion is named Elder Preciado. He's originally from Columbia, but moved to the states when he was young. so he speaks both spanish and english fluently. after i met my new companion i loaded my things into a car and we began our hour drive out of the city to the small town of Logandale!

  Logandale is a small town only a few hours away from the utah border. i also cover two other small towns, Overton and Moapa. its fun here. its way hot tho! well because of the long drive, we didnt get to our apparment till late, so we didnt do any teaching that night. but come tuesday after our studies we hit it hard! now you may not think theres much to do in a small town (or 3 small towns). but youd be surprised. this week we've stayed really busy, with hardly any down time between lessons and visits. which is good, because honestly, down time isnt very fun. being busy feels much better. we teach in both spanish and english. its nice because i think im getting a better grasp of the lessons by teaching them in both languages.

  We teach a lot of less actives here. and a lot of part member families. i love visiting the spanish families. there is this one family, the Navarros. they're also from columbia. they are super sweet! and super strong in the church. We teach this boy, Scott Hill, whos 8 years old, in English. but he's a super sweet kid. his parents are members, but less active. so we try and include his parents in our lessons even tho we are technically teaching Scott. Us missionaries are sneaky. We have a recent convert, Myrtle Keller, who just got babtized after investigating the church for like 30 years or something like that. so thats way cool! but me and preciado are giving here the new member lessons. but the thing is, he's only been out for 4 months. so neither of us have ever given the new member lessons before! and they are basically the same as regular lessons, but with a few more things. so we just kind of wing it and rely on the spirit and on the members we bring with us.

  Pues, yo se que esto iglesia es verdadero. yo se que esto evangelio puede bendecir nuestras vidas. yo se que Joseph Smith fue un profeta llamado de dios, y estoy muy agredicido que yo tengo el evangelio en my vida y que yo tengo la oportunidad a compartirlo. yo se que dios nos ama mucho, y El quiere todo para nosotros, sus hijos.

  Well, im still working on my spanish, but its coming along. i actually find it easier to pray and bear my testimony in spanish though.

I love you all so much! remember that God is always there and willing to help us, all we have to do is ask in faith, and then remember to act. i hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Elder Taylor