Viva Las Vegas!

Hi, friends!

It's been so long since I've written last. I apologize, but things have been so incredibly busy! I just got back from a four-day weekend full of adventures! I can't believe Fall Break is over and I have to go back to normal life...and a week full of midterms and projects. BUT I am so thankful that I got to go on an amazing trip to Las Vegas, Nevada! My boyfriend, Hayden will be there all semester with his aunt and uncle, who have a ministry called Safely Home, to Bhutanese, Burmese, and Nepali refugees who live in the area. You can read more about Safely Home here. I got to stay with their family and see the sights as well as meet some of the refugees.

Day 1: I flew all by myself! I was so proud of myself. Nothing went wrong and the Lord took care of me. Hayden and his Aunt Cynthia met me at the airport where I gave both of them big hugs! They then took me to eat at a Mexican restaurant where we met up with Hayden's cousin Alicia and Uncle Tom. From there, we went to the mall and Hayden got his very first pair of TOMS shoes. Then we drove down the strip to see all of the lights.

At the airport!

Day 2: We had planned to go to the Grand Canyon, but the night before, it had rained and there were flash flood warnings, so that was a no-go. Out of the six days that it rains a year in Las Vegas, I got to be there for one of them. I feel honored? Instead of the Grand Canyon, we grabbed some lunch from In-N-Out Burger and headed to a beautiful place called Red Rock Canyon, where we looked for wild burros, saw some amazing desert landscape, and ate our lunch in the car as a storm blew through. After this, Hayden, Aunt Cynthia, Alicia, and I all went to see inside some of the elaborate hotels and casinos. I was amazed at how much money goes into these buildings. From the ornate decorations to the insane amount of gambling that goes on...Las Vegas is a very money-oriented place.

Red Rock Canyon

Me and Alicia

Me and Hayden

New York, New York Hotel and Casino

Inside the Venetian. Amazing.

Blown glass chandelier in the Bellagio

Water fountain show at the Bellagio

Day 3: This was my last day. We started out at Tropicana Christian Church, where Hayden teaches his Sunday school class of 3-5 year-olds. It was neat to be able to see the church and help Hayden with his Sunday School lesson! After that, we took a van with several other people who were interested in helping serve with Safely Home, to a refugee apartment, where we were shown a short film and served a meal. I was a little bit nervous, because it is required that you eat when you are at the refugee homes, and you must eat pretty much everything, or else it is considered very rude to their families. However, the food was actually pretty good! The people were also incredibly hospitable. After this, we headed to another refugee apartment, where there was a birthday party for a 10-year old boy. Birthdays for their children are especially exciting, because this is the generation that will not have to grow up in a refugee camp. And...we were served yet another meal! Across the hall, there was another refugee birthday party for a little 3-year-old girl. She was all decked out in a sparkly princess dress and it was adorable. After we left the apartment complex, we were able to go to the top of the Stratosphere, which is at the end of the strip. It was amazing to see the vast amount of lights in Las Vegas, and how they completely stop when you get to the mountains. We ended the night with some pie from Marie Callender's restaurant, before I had to be at the airport at 5 am the next day.

Hayden showing off his craft closet

One of the refugee women who served us

The first meal that we were served.

Hayden and I at the Stratosphere 

It was a wonderful weekend! I got to see Hayden and meet the family he is always talking about as well as the refugees he goes on and on about. And it was interesting, because I found that the lights on the Vegas strip were nothing compared to the way that the refugees' eyes shined as they served us and fellowshipped with one another. Nothing man-made can ever compare to what God has made, no matter how glitzy and glamorous it is. In the words of Jon Foreman, "The first star that I saw last night was a headlight of a man-made sky, but man-made never made our dreams collide." I saw many different faces this weekend. I saw the pained and empty faces of gamblers in casinos. I saw the passionate face of my missionary boyfriend. I saw the caring face of Hayden's aunt as she sacrifices so much to be with these refugees. And I saw the face of joy in a refugee believer.

Until next time,

Jess