Cowboys Take Over Sin City

Every December, Las Vegas returns to its wild west roots by hosting the 10 day “National Finals Rodeo” (NFR), basically the “Super Bowl” of rodeos where many hundreds of thousands of dollars are paid to the winners.

Shirley and I try to go most years. I’m a native Texan (Fort Worth) and we lived in Dallas before coming to Las Vegas. So it gives us a chance to put on our boots and cowboy hats and blend right into the crowd. Shirley’s a big horse person as well, and sometimes I think that smell of manure is like perfume for her. (or at least relatively pleasant)

For those unfamiliar with rodeos, it consists of 7 to 8 events derived from skills that were mostly required out on the range when cowboys worked the cattle ranches. I know that doesn't explain the bull riding, but I can only attribute that to boredom (“let’s get on a 2000 pound bull and see how long we can stay on”, or to the effects of alcohol.) At any rate, all the events are highly entertaining and the animals are well taken care of. Specialized rodeo horses and bulls are worth thousands of dollars and are key to a great rodeo.

In Las Vegas, the NFR is held at the Thomas & Mack area, which holds about 17000 people, and it’s sold-out well in advance. 

For 10 days in December, cowboys rule in Sin City.

CJ & Jesse contemplate the latest in Service vehicles

Bucking Broncos live up to their name at the NFR

You can watch the action close-up on the big screen

For ten days, dirt covers the floor of the Thomas & Mack

Any wild west show needs a stagecoach

Feeding the Workers at the Kingdom Hall Build

Like everywhere else, the number of Witnesses continues to increase in Las Vegas, and along with the increase comes the need for new Kingdom Halls as well as renovating the existing Halls.

Everybody does their part and recently the Silverado congregation received the assignment to provide lunch for the construction crew. This Kingdom Hall is in Henderson, NV, just adjacent to Las Vegas and was built about 25 years ago. With three congregations meeting there (2 English & 1 Spanish), it receives a lot of use and was starting to show some wear and tear.

So the Regional Building Committee decided the best thing to do was just gut the entire building and do a complete renovation. Of course, like all of our building projects, everything is done with volunteer labor.

We fed the crew hot dogs and hamburgers, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. The photos tell the story.

Henderson, NV Kingdom Hall before renovation

 

Same Kingdom Hall being renovated

Barbecue is always an option with this cooker

Basic necessities, labeled for "Brothers" & "Sisters"

Rear of Hall under construction

Food tent is an essential operation

Stretch the muscles before cooking 100 burgers

Can you spot the 2 elders in their new outfits?

Mario models the latest in headgear

Preparing to serve the hungry workers

Oh yeah- this is the life!

Eating tent as a great place to relax

Just help yourself to the drinks

Dining al fresco, wintertime in Vegas

RBC equipment is always first class

Date Night in Sin City (for less than $20)

Last Saturday (8/17) was brutal- 110 degrees with humidity and not a leaf was stirring because the air was totally still.

So we started off with door to door field ministry, doubtless losing weight from all the sweating, and then to Grouchy John’s Coffee Shop for cold green tea and other cool concoctions.

We tried a few returns, but nobody was home, so we called it a morning. What a relief to get the noose (necktie) off!

In this weather, you have to find somewhere cool to recreate so Shirley and I used our “Fill-A-Seat” membership to hit the “Legends In Concert” show at the Flamingo down on the Strip.

The Flamingo has been around since the 1950's

(Explanation: “Fill-A-Seat” sells an annual membership for $80 which gives you two free tickets to an assortment of top-notch shows during the year. Just using it one time pays for the membership. It’s the way the casinos fill up the audience when the shows are not sold out.)

Real flamingos at The Flamingo

The cool thing about “Legends” is that you always see different entertainers. This time it was Madonna, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Adam Levine, and of course, Elvis.



Vegas is such a Mecca for talent that even the smaller shows have very high production values and extremely skilled entertainers. And despite the moniker of “Sin City” quite a few of the shows are suited for a family audience. Not to mention the fact that entertainers you thought had died are alive and well here. (At least as portrayed by tribute artists.)

So we took in the 4 o’clock show to escape the heat of the day. We even had time to check out the “Habitat” at the Flamingo as you can see from the photos.

When the show was over, it was time to eat so we headed north on the Strip to “Tacos El Gordo”, the Vegas outpost of the Tijuana taco emporium. They’re open until 3 AM if you’re out late and have the craving for some tacos de sesos (brains). Personally, I normally just go with the roast pork.

Real pelicans in the desert

Shirley checks out the Koi

Here in the southwest there is such a strong Hispanic influence that getting authentic south-of-the-border food (my favorite) is never a problem. And you can even drink the water!

Tacos were only $2 each, so dinner was economical and the show was free.

After 29 years of marriage I think we’re finally getting this date night thing down.

Fake flamingos at The Flamingo

Nothing like a pool when it's 110

The Legends show & Donny & Marie share the theatre

Caesar's Palace is right across the street

Menu at Tacos El Gordo on the Strip

"God's Word is Truth" 2013 District Convention

“But what about us? Do we have the same faith (as that of Abraham)? You know sometimes we are presented with opportunities to expand our service to Jehovah. And sometimes it challenges our comfort zone doesn’t it? We’re settled in our easy chair and we can come up with reasons why we can’t move. Or we can tell others reasons why they can’t move. Well let’s not let that happen to us brothers and sisters. Let’s accept the challenge of whatever Theocratic assignment is offered to us. Let’s not get distracted as to the blessings. Let’s walk straight ahead according to the Truth.”

(Bro. Alan Shuster, United States Branch Committee, “God’s Word is Truth” District Convention, St. George, UT, 7/13/13)

Jesse & Shirley at the convention

We just got back from our 2013 “God’s Word is Truth” district convention in St. George, UT, and even though I’ve been to 50 or so  district conventions over the years, the latest always seems to be the best.

Oddly enough, there are no suitable facilities available for us in Las Vegas (a metropolis of 2,000,000) so these past few years we’ve been assigned to St George, which is a drive of about two hours. The facility is actually the gymnasium of Dixie State College, where we also have our circuit assemblies.

In the past we’ve been assigned to much larger facilities in Long Beach, CA or Phoenix, AZ, and it still feels a little strange attending a district convention that is the same size as a circuit assembly (around 3500 in attendance).

But the material is the same, and we were thrilled to have as special guest Alan Shuster from the US Branch Committee out of Patterson. The brothers from the Branch always give outstanding talks.

If you haven’t been to the convention yet, you can get an idea of what’s presented from the downloadable program on the jw.org site. As usual, there was something for everyone, but I focused in on the parts that addressed the goal Shirley and I have of expanding our ministry to serve where the need is greater.

 In the talk on Saturday entitled “Walk ‘Straight According to the Truth’”, Bro. Shuster discussed Abraham as a role model for us. How he essentially got up out of his easy chair in Ur and left his comfort zone to accept his theocratic assignment in a far-off land. Then he made a direct application for us in the quote at the beginning of this post.

Scene from Sunday's "Esther" drama

And what do you do when it’s 117°? (Hint: Service & Celine)

Gerrie & Shirley in the invitation work

Finally June is over, and it went down in the record books as the hottest June ever in Las Vegas.

We set a record of 117, which is really a misnomer, because the official temperature is taken at the airport and it’s much hotter in other parts of the city. At my house, I've measured in the 120’s in the heat of the day. But that still doesn't compare with nearby Death Valley, where it was 130!

After I gave the Service Meeting part Tuesday from the 2013 Yearbook which dealt with the experiences of our brothers in Myanmar walking 170 mile to the convention, fighting off leeches and all sorts of wild animals, there was no way to miss Saturday service when all we had to contend with was heat.

CJ, the friendly congregation secretary

Plus at 10 in the morning, the temperature has barely hit 100. The real heat doesn't roll in until around 3 or so, and by then we’re inside in the AC or outside in the pool.

So we went out, handing out invitations to the upcoming District Convention in St. George, UT, about 2 hours drive north. I don’t know where people go on Saturday morning, but we only found about 3 people home. Of course, we leave the invites at the not-at-homes, or we’d never get them out, and on a positive note, the people who were at home accepted the invitation graciously.

Since I like to deal with positives, the 5% humidity means you don’t feel yourself sweat. Meaning it evaporates so quickly off your body, you stay fairly dry, but constantly thirsty because all the moisture is being sucked out of your body. So we never leave home without a bottle of water in the bookbag.

Just another sunny day in paradise

Unfortunately, July is the hottest month of the year in Las Vegas so we’ll still suffer plenty of heat abuse, but on the bright side, summer is half over, and then we’ll have 9 months of generally pleasant weather to look forward to.

If our plans work out, this may be our last summer in Las Vegas before heading to our need-greater assignment. Right now, we’re looking very seriously at La Antigua, Guatemala, and hope to check out the lay of the land no later than next spring.

Typical Las Vegas territory. Note the lack of shade.

ENTERTAINMENT IN SIN CITY

Sometimes when we visit other areas, brothers will ask if there are really Witnesses in “Sin City” (Las Vegas). And if there are, what do we do there?

CJ & Gerrie

Well most of us work normal jobs (I’m an IT guy) and actually there are more than 70 congregations in a number of different language groups, so things are progressing well. Just another reason why some of us are planning on moving to different fishing grounds where the need is greater.

And because literally hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world fly here to vacation every week, there is any number of entertainment options.

Shirley & Jesse

Many of the friends work in the hotel industry so they often receive perks that they pass along, which means cheap (sometimes free) entertainment opportunities that tourists may have to pay 100’s of dollars for.

So it happened that last week we scored some Celine Dion tickets, who is in residency at Caesar’s Palace for the summer. Those who know me know that it’s not really my type of music, but Shirley and Gerrie loved the spectacle and at least it was nice and cool in the
auditorium.

Update: Finally we got a nice rain shower on Sunday, July 7. It was the first rain in 80 days. Yes, it’s a desert out there.

What do you do when it’s 115° (in the shade)?

Escape from the heat on Mt Charleston

In many areas of the world, daily temperatures of 115° or higher with an ultra-dry 5% humidity might cause widespread panic, but here in the Mojave Desert it’s business as usual.

So on Saturday morning, we grab our bookbags and head out for the meeting for field service. It’s at 9:30 am so we can get out to the field by 10 and hopefully not wake too many people up.

At that time of day, it’s barely even a hundred, and if you find any shade (always a dicey proposition) you quickly come to appreciate the Bible’s expression of finding comfort in the shadow of a rocky crag.

So generally we spend a couple of hours in the ministry and then search for ways to cool off. Some have pools or just stay inside with the air conditioning. But what many people don’t realize about the geography of Las Vegas is that less than 1 hour away lies a wooded, cool paradise.

Yes, 12,000 foot Mt Charleston and the Spring Mountain range lie just to the west. You can drive up to about the 8,000 foot level, where there is a pleasant lodge, and in the wintertime, an active snowboard and ski resort.

So Shirley and I just took our chocolate lab Phoebe and cruised up there Saturday, where the temperature was about 20 degrees cooler. We grabbed our packs and hiked up the Trail Canyon path for a few miles, enjoying the pleasant rustling of the Aspen, and feeling the air get steadily cooler the higher we went.

This time of year, the snow melt is over, so there’s not much for water, but as you can see from the photos, there’s plenty of greenery. In fact, one reason Vegas is so dry (and we haven’t seen rain for months) is that the Spring Mountains capture all the moisture that tries to come from California before it can get to our desert valley.

Aspen, Fir and cool air just an hour from Las Vegas

All we have to do is tough it out until the middle of September, then we have about nine months of cloudless, deep blue skies and pleasant temperatures. And we’ll enjoy those rare rainy days that give us our average of 3 inches a year- whether we need it or not.

We also give thanks that we don’t live in the nearby Death Valley National Park, where temperatures will hit around 130 in summer.

But it’s great to visit in the fall, as a future post will describe.

So what was there to do in Ibarra, Ecuador - 40 years ago?

It makes me feel like Methuselah to even write that headline. But time passes quickly, and who would ever have known that I would be looking forward to returning 40 years after I left? (Like Moses out of Midian?)

the positive side, I still have basically the same amount of hair (although it’s gray now) and thanks to diet & exercise I’m still within 10 pounds and an inch on the waistline of what I was back then. But it remains to be seen if I can keep up with the young brothers in a basketball game- especially at 7,000 feet altitude!

I saw a blog recently that spoke of an excursion to the waters of Chachimbiro, so I thought it might be fun to post my photos from 1973 to see how it’s changed- or maybe not so much. Some things in Ecuador change so slowly that I suspect the resurrected conquistadores will still find a touch of the familiar.

Chanchimbiro: The gringo on the right is me in my Alabama
Crimson Tide football jersey.

Chacimbiro

Chachimbiro

Chachimbiro

Chachimbiro

Chachimbiro

Ibarra: My brother Joe reads comics.
Yes, you rent them and read them in the  store.

Ibarra: Joe & I spent many happy hours in the pool hall.
I think a game cost 5 sucres (about 25 cents). And they sold
sandwiches and cokes too!

My mother washing clothes at our house.
OK- so maybe that wasn't really recreation.