our trip to the west, part one: Viva Las Vegas!

Okay, so normally a city like Las Vegas would not normally appeal to Nathan and me.  Like, never. There are so many people, and just so much blatant immorality!  And I'm a small town girl :) Big cities aren't my fave.  So...why did we go to Las Vegas?

We went to visit this couple!  My cousin Amy and her hubby Brent moved to Vegas one year ago.  God called them to work at a church that had been planted in Las Vegas, called Verve Church.  And let me tell you, it was so encouraging to visit them and to see how God is using them in this city!  (More on Verve at the end of this post).  Here are Brent and Amy:

 (Amy, I stole this picture from your fb page) :)

Brent and Amy were excellent tour guides.  They showed us around the city--they did a great job of showing us all the touristy areas, while being sure to avoid the super shady/scandalous areas :)  It was so much fun to hang out with them for the evening, and to see their house, their church and their town!

It was so great to be reunited with Amy!  I don't get to see her nearly enough :)

Amy showed us around some seriously beautiful areas while Brent was still at work.  Thanks for giving us a tour in the 110 degree heat, Amy!

That night the four of us went out, after Brent got off work.  We went out to eat, and we saw this sign.  Since Nathan and I have adopted the theme of "Making Jesus Famous in Papua New Guinea", we had to take a picture by this FAME sign :)

We love these guys!  What a great time :)

Okay, so Verve Church is truly an amazing ministry.  Basically, they are doing in Vegas what we will be doing in Papua New Guinea--reaching a different culture for Christ.  Because that is what Las Vegas is:  an entirely different culture that "normal" church might never reach.  So Verve Church is a Bible preaching church that just has a different target audience:  the people of Las Vegas!  And they are doing a great job of reaching the people.  It was so awesome to see the church (even though no one was there!), and to hear from Amy about how she is being used as the director of the kid/student ministry.  So cool.  And encouraging!  It was awesome to see how God is using both Brent and Amy for His glory in such a dark city!

photo credit:  https://cdfonline.org/cdf-guy/viva-la-verve

Brent and Amy, thank you so much for hosting us for a night!  And for everything else you did for us.  We are so glad we could come and visit you guys :)  

Part two will be next:  California!