Update from Vegas

I've been in Las Vegas for four days now!

The day before - I discovered that my ride in Vegas thought I was coming in Sunday instead of Saturday. We ironed out those details thankfully! My ride to the airport came over to spend the night and a friend I hadn't seen in a while joined us to drink tea and tell stories. At 2 am, I decided that I should probably pack my car before I left for the airport at 3am. We got my car packed, parked at the office, made it thru the icy roads to the DFW airport, found that you cannot subsitute a carry on for a personal item and so I had to check one item, and then I sat for two and a half hours (the icy roads were not as treacherous as anticipated) on my flight.

Day 1 - The flights were uneventful and I used them to catch up on the sleep that my guests were so kind to deprive me of. I was picked up from the airport by, not my new housemate, but another Verve staff member. Kandyss (pronounced Candice) is pretty awesome. Generally, when two strangers meet theres a degree of awkwardness thats rather uncomfortable. But Kandyss has a bubbly personality that held the conversation when I was still adjusting to my surroundings but, when I got adjusted, let me contribute to the conversation too! The lack of awkward is always a great thing to be welcomed with!
After we got some lunch, we meet up with my housemate, Holly, who just got off work at her other job. She had a similar welcoming personality. (How lucky am I to meet TWO of such people!)
After grocery shopping, Holly had a double date, Samantha, my other housemate, had a date, and Samantha's friend had an exclusive dinner (remember, they didn't think I was coming in for another day) so I sat in an apartment with no internet or cable. Luckily, thanks to FB, I found some friends from bible college who just happened to be passing thru Vegas on their way to their final destination, so making plans for when they arrived concluded my evening. (They decided that I should not pull out my wallet whilst with them!) Evening passed and morning came,

The second day: I was up at 6:30am and at church by 8am. I went to first service which was awesome! During second service, I worked in the nursrey. After church, we stayed to help set up for the super-bowl party. Taking only a short break to get a small snack at Tropical Smoothie, the super-bowl game began and the next four hours of my life involved trying to understand why people were so excited about this. Samantha's birthday dinner followed the game and then I went to see the Strip with my college friends. A very active day!

Monday: After a staff meeting, I tried to help serve but when Kandyss heard my friends were in town she insisted that anything that can be done today could be done tomorrow and that to really understand and get Verve, I needed to understand life there. Which meant experiencing the strip. Just being on the strip, seeing the chaos and absurdity there would give me some insight into the days of those working there. So Monday I spent on a cultural experience, taking a break only to attend Monday night service. That night, I was kicked off the casino floor for being too young. We then headed off to enjoy the hot tub. It was a good night.

Tuesday: Began with a visit from Alex McManus (Erwin's brother) who was a very good speaker. Afterwards, I looked for pictures for an activity in a Verve University class that Vince is teaching. Then Kandyss and I went to find objects for another activity, before I headed off to the strip for my friends last evening. On this evening, I was treated to a massage (they had gotten all day passes to a spa on the strip)and dinner. I had tried to convince those footing the bill to go off the strip to a less expensive restruant but they were insistent that they blow their winnings on an outrageously priced meal at Shibuya. I decided with one friend to share a sushi platter I wanted and get an entree to supplement. I had thought we'd share the entree too. I was mistaken. An australian wagyu skirt steak was brought to both of us. It was the most amazing steak I've ever had. When the sushi platter came out I was pleased that I was still hungry but only a few pieces of sushi remedied that. However, despite the fact that your tummy might burst, you cannot ignore a spread of sushi. I might've said "ok, I'm done" more than a dozen times, but it was as if my chopsticks were moving of their own accord. When the waiter asked if we'd like dessert my stomach moaned in rebellion. One of our party did order dessert and after trying a bit of the raspberry dessert called Calpico Pannacotta, which has a layer of raspberry gelee, a vanilla cream, and... I'm thinking of what words to use to explain the awesomeness of this but, trying to keep this brief, my tastebuds vetoed my stomachs proposal to deny dessert. This was a great decision. My stomach later tortured me but I do not regret this dining experience. My friends hit the casino and I, too ill to move (such a glutton I am), fell asleep in the hotel room, not to rejoin the world of the living till morning.

My friends have moved on now. and while I'm really glad that I got to hang out with them and see them again after so long, I'm glad that they've left. While Vince assured me that if his friends were in town he would do as I did and Kandyss said it was a cultural experience, I'm glad I can now focus on serving Verve as was my goal in coming here.