New Area and New Responsibilities!

The VanOrden's

Although the rest of the week was good too, the weekend was so crazy that I'll be focusing mostly on that! 

Brother Mejicanos

As some of you may know, this weekend was Pioneer Day! Although in most parts of the world this means very little to most people, if you live in a place with a high LDS population density such as Utah or Las Vegas, all the sudden it becomes a very big deal! Especially if you live in a place like Henderson where the people are rich enough to do big exciting things on Pioneer Day! There was a massive event on Saturday morning, with a parade, carnival, and other stakes even had fireworks! The event we were at was a tri-stake event with the Green Valley, Anthem, and Black Mountain stakes. Like I said, there was a big parade, and all of the missionaries were in charge of carrying a massive 30'x50' American flag! Afterwards there were all kinds of free food and games. 

The other crazy thing that happened Saturday was, about 10 minutes before the parade started, I got a call from President Snow. He called and asked if I would be willing to serve as a Zone Leader this next transfer! Then a few hours later, we got our actual transfer doctrine, and I found out that I'm going to be serving as a Zone Leader in the North Stake of Las Vegas! My new companion is Elder Branning, one of my absolute favorite missionaries in the mission! I'm super lucky to get to serve with him!  I've always wanted to serve in North Las Vegas! And it's kind of a unique situation because we're being double transferred in. This is really unusual for Zone Leaders. The reason for it is because until now, the zone leaders in the North Stake have been Spanish speaking, but because of the decrease in Spanish missionaries we've been having, they're switching it back to an English area. The funny thing is, so far all of the members that I've told that I'm moving to the North Stake all sound kind of nervous for me. It was kind of like, "oh, that's... Exciting..." North Las Vegas is definitely a sketchier part of town. I'm excited though! I'm also definitely a little nervous about all the new responsibility, but I know that through the Lord, I'll be able to do all things!
My new ward! Sunrise Terrace!

And on top of all that, we had a baptism Saturday night! Nadiya B. was baptized by her husband, Andrew, who was previously less active. It was really great to see! The ward has really wrapped their arms around them, and they're already thinking about working towards the temple!
Nadiya's Baptism!

I have lots to get done today, but know that I love all of you! Thanks for all of the support!

Elder Excell

The Clauson's