Rededicated The Lakes Zone

Hey guys!

This has been a really good first week. We got a lot of newer missionaries in the zone this past transfer, so we thought it'd be a good idea to "rededicate" the zone for missionary work. President Ahlander floated the idea past us when we did interviews, and it had been coming up in conversation between Elder Herlin and I for the last two weeks of last transfer, so we decided we'd do it right after transfers. The Saturday before, Elder Herlin and I drove around the west ridge of Vegas looking for a neat, secluded spot we could hold a rededicatory meeting, and we found one! We found this cool ridge overlooking the zone (and the rest of Vegas) and it had some logs for our Elders/Sisters to sit on. EARLY Tuesday morning (we woke up at 4:10 to go grab Krispy Kreme and OJ for the zone) we had everyone meet on the side of W Charleston at 5:30. We all hiked up to the ridge and sat down, just in time to watch the sun come up over the eastern mountains, right above the temple. It was a really cool sight. After that, we had a testimony meeting and then one of our district leaders said the rededicatory prayer for the zone. I think it was just what this zone needed, and it was perfect with all of the new companionships and everything.

A couple of my favorite missionaries went home on Tuesday, it was a sad day. Elder Eddie Woodard, who I was with in Tule, and Elder Matthew Joseph Jones, the most christlike man I've met and Sydney's future husband, both went home to Kansas City and Lochbuie, respectively. Great friends, excited to hear about their lives/futures.

Zone Conference was on Friday, and before every ZC there's a vehicle inspection. On Thursday we reminded the zone about it, and so naturally everyone washed their car Thursday night. The sisters didn't have any supplies, so we dropped by to get them some cleaning stuff. They asked us if we run into any spanish-speaking people, and we do all the time, so they gave us a box of spanish materials they don't use. Driving around on Friday after Zone Conference, we were headed visit someone when we drove by a street I felt like we should knock. The person we were trying to visit wasn't home, so I told Elder Herlin what I was feeling and we stopped to quickly tract the street. We were having no luck until the second to last door; this Hispanic lady opened up the door and said "No hablo ingles". I used the only spanish I know and said "Tenemos misioneros que hablan espanol?". She got excited and brought out her son to translate between us, and she wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon. Because the sisters gave us the spanish box the night before, we had what this woman wanted and we were able to give it to her. It was a really neat experience and we passed her off to the spanish elders.

It's been great out here and it's only getting better! We're really feeling it this week; between the two of us, we've dubbed this week "go hard in the paint" week (we've been playing a lot of basketball). We're piloting it before we commit the zone to going "hard in the paint". We'll let you know how it all shakes out. Love you so much!

Jesse