January 8th, 2019

Teddy Bear

Hello Friends and Family!

This past week was good. We have done a lot of things. We had interviews with the mission president yesterday. They were good, but mine was short. I usually have short interviews....
But President told my companion that I am the "Teddy Bear" of the mission because I apparently get along with everyone, including companions and leadership. So that was good to hear. Maybe I need to be more gruff and then I can be the "grizzly bear" of the mission too....

There are a few people in this area that have been taking missionary lessons for a long time. There is a man here who has been looking into the church for 2 years now and that is... a while. Usually people get baptized or drop us before 2 years go by. But we are teaching him. There is another nonmember who is the only non-member in her family. She is the most "dry" member ever because she has a calling in the primary as the secretary but hasn't been baptized. It's almost a bit silly that she hasn't, but we continue to work in that area as well...

Since I am back in Henderson, and I am also in the richest zone of the mission, there are a ton if places to eat food. So much stuff around here to do on p-day as well. It's almost ridiculous how safe it is here compared to Las Vegas. We had a member ask us if it was safe to walk around at night. We both answered affirmatively since Elder McKee just came from the most dangerous area and I came from the area with the most dangerous apartments in the mission.

I don't remember if I mentioned this, but our area is pretty small. I can walk from one end to the other in about an hour. I also don't remember if I mentioned this, but this area is right next to my first area I served in. But it is probably even more... rich. Plenty of sports cars and teslas in this neighborhood.

Also the ward members are super nice and everybody knows all of their neighbors. There is a gated community in the area that half of one of the ward lives in. All the members here love the missionaries like crazy. It's basically culture shock going from homeless people and druggies to bright happy safe henderson. (I have learned to love both though)

This morning I was thinking about repentance, and the Lords desire to bless us. Sometimes people beat themselves up and think that they are somehow unworthy of Gods love, but that is something that I have learned that never really goes away. Perhaps we are stubborn and refuse to change or move, but the Lord is always available to help us and lift us up. Satan is clever and tries to make it seem like we can't go back or that God doesn't love us. That is simply a lie. The Lord is always there to change and fix us of our faults and lift us to the next level. Because "men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). This is something that I have learned on my mission. God's love trumps all fear and sorrow. I know that The Savior Lives and that He died for us, and that because of Him, we can return to live with our Loving Father someday.

I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Moore