Filipino+Korean Wedding=Partytime

Las Vegas is one of the few places in the lower 48 where you can schedule an outdoor wedding for February 9 and be reasonable certain that the weather will be mild and the sun will shine. (And people still say, “Why do you want to live in Las Vegas?”- as they shovel 6 feet of snow LOL)

And so it came to be, as I was privileged to officiate at the wedding of Nannette (age27, who I’ve known since she was three years old, and James, who I’ve known about a month).

Jesse and Nanette's parents, Manny & Sun Hee

Their union epitomized the melting pot that Las Vegas has become. Both were born in the United States and raised in Christian households, but James’ parents are Korean and Nannette’s father is Filipino and her mother Korean.

The Silverado Congregation has a long history with the Koreans, as they were a group associated with us for about ten years until they formed their own congregation. So there are a lot of friendships there.

Giving a wedding talk is always special, particularly when you’re close to the family. Nannette’s father is one of my best friends and we’ve serve together on the Elder body for many years. The couple themselves are both in full-time pioneer service and James is an MTS grad, so they may be moving around as he receives additional assignments.

The wedding took place in Las Vegas at Sunset Gardens, a self-contained wedding facility where the ceremony and reception can all be held at one site.

As always, the Koreans know how to host a party. There was music, dancing, joke-telling, videos, good food and great association. I don’t speak Korean (and neither does Manny, Nannette’s father, even though he’s been married to a Korean sister for more than 30 years), so most of the festivities were in English (just about all of the Koreans are bilingual) while reflecting aspects of Korean culture.

Here are some photos so you can see how things went:

Proud father Manny walks Nannette down the aisle

Giving a wedding talk is always a pleasure

You just can't beat February weather in Las Vegas

They can't wait until this talk is over

Ahhh... relief - we're married now!

Dancing with the Stars...

Live entertainment...

...not all of which I fully understood....

Jesse & Shirley get crazy
in the photo booth.

But it was quite a party!

A Wedding, an Assembly, and almost a Funeral

Even though 2014 is just getting started, we've already had enough action to make for a very memorable year. I can’t wait to see how the rest of 2014 turns out!

Stage at St. George Circuit Assembly

OK, Nevada Circuit #2 we had our two-day circuit assembly in St..George, UT scheduled for January 25-26. The drive is less than 2 hours from Las Vegas, so Shirley and I headed up there early Saturday morning.

Well, of course the Saturday session was great and afterwards we went out for our usual steak at the Texas Roadhouse and then back to the hotel.

So… Sunday morning Shirley says she hadn’t slept all night, and she felt nauseous like an elephant was sitting on her chest.

OK- so we packed up and headed back to Vegas and by 9am she was in the emergency room. After various tests and numerous drawings of blood, we were told that Shirley had had a heart attack and had two arteries blocked.

Unfortunately, there were no rooms available for about 12 hours, so we stayed in the emergency room until finally a bed opened up in ICU. Monday morning, she had her procedure, with two stents being put in her arteries.

Shirley all wired up in the ER

Nowadays, even though this is fairly routine, the technology is still amazing. A small incision is made in the groin area and a tiny camera is moved up to the heart and the stents are inserted. It takes less than an hour and there is no issue with blood.

So even though Shirley doesn't smoke or drink, is not overweight and eats healthy, her family genes let her down. I mean, 60 is pretty young to have heart trouble when you’re always been healthy. But her brother, sister, and parents had heart issues as well, so that’s where the blame lies.

Fortunately, after a few weeks of taking it easy, she should be able to resume her normal routine, and should actually end up with more energy after having her arteries Roto-Rootered to increase blood flow.

So that was the “almost a funeral” part of the post- emphasis on “almost”.

Actually, things turned out pretty festive as a number of the friends came by the hospital and brought food to the house.

A few weeks later, serving breakfast at the KH build

The downside?

We missed day 2 of the circuit assembly, but the brothers always make a CD so we’ll listen to it later.

And the wedding?

That's the next post.

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.