Road trip

It's a small world after all, especially at BYU! There was a girl in my dorm hall who knew someone (the wonderful Sister Gopinath) from back home who had also received her call to the Nevada Las Vegas Mission and was reporting on May 13th. Sister Gopinath and I met one night in February at the BYU creamery where we spent hours talking about how excited and grateful we were to being able to serve in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission.

The following months were filled with random texts to each other about new missionary blogs we came across, or the struggle of finding cute missionary shoes, or burst of excitement because we were called to serve in an amazing mission. However, one day Sister Gopinath texted me, inviting me to join her and a couple of her friends on their road trip to Las Vegas. Without any hesitation I accepted the offer! (Even though I had only met her once before and finals were the next week... Oops)

We woke up long before the crack of dawn so we could arrive in Las Vegas as soon as possible and make the most out of the time we had. We grabbed breakfast at O-faced donuts, road the NewYork NewYork roller coaster, ate lunch at Secret Pizza in the Cosmopolitan, walked up and down the Strip and took pictures like real tourist. Missionaries aren't allowed to go near the Strip while on their mission and now I understand why.

We ended our day by doing baptisms in the LDS Las Vegas Temple. While walking around the temple grounds we met two sister missionaries who we talked to and found out that there's a chance one of them could potentially be our mission trainer. Going to the temple was the perfect way to end such a incredible day and was by far my favorite part of the trip.

Once we were finished at the temple, we grabbed food In-and-Out and hit the road. We finally got home around 1:30 and I was exhausted! Gabby and I both had to give talks in our ward the next morning; but thankful, I didn't procrastinate (this time) and already had my talk written. While Gabby was reading her talk to me, asking me what I thought about it, I might have accidentally dozed off for a second. But the next day we both gave amazing talks and everything worked out in the end.

I am so thankful I had the opportunity to visit my mission area with a possible future mission companion a month before reporting. I'm also grateful to have a temple in my mission boundaries and can't wait to go back to Las Vegas to serve my Heavenly Father.