Feeling the Spirit in a Casino

Piggybacking on my last post, I was a little less than enthusiastic initially to be going to the Conference, particularly because of the locale. The Las Vegas strip is generally not somewhere a covenant-keeping member of the church should be. There's gambling, pornography, smoke, loud music, and noise pretty much everywhere you go, and it's not somewhere the Holy Ghost usually hangs out. The welcome sign should really say "Great and Spacious Buildings R Us", and Caesars Palace is a perfect example of this. If you know your Roman history, Rome at the time of the Caesars was particularly given over to hedonism, and we all know how that eventually turned out.

So, knowing I was going to have to spend a week in this atmosphere, I prayed pretty hard beforehand. The gist of my prayers was that I would be able to feel the Spirit, and be a light and an example to the people around me. Also - since I would be leaving on a Sunday, I made sure to give myself time to attend my sacrament meeting, which gave me a great spiritual lift.

Needless to say, I arrived at Caesars Palace with trepidation. But something told me that angels were needed, even in Casinos, and that I needed to try and be that for the people I would come in contact with. And I really did try to have that attitude with me throughout the week.

As a result, the week ended up going great. I met some fantastic people, and my room became a spiritual sanctuary. My prayers were answered, and I'm grateful to have been there. I may even go back one day.

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