Temple neighbors and progressing investigators

I am loving my new area and my new companion! My companion is Elder Moore. He is the simplest man you will ever meet on this planet! My area is the smallest area in the mission, but there are a lot of people! I see the Lubbock Temple many times a week! In fact, when we have Elders Quorum in the stake center, we are only 30 feet away from the temple! So that's always a great reminder about everything on my mission! I am doing great! I love being a missionary! It's loads of fun and hard work!
---Matthew on 29 September 2014


I have been doing pretty good. The weather is starting to cool off here. This week we had some slower days and some great days. One of the investigators we are teaching has a desire to get baptized, which is great. There are some things we still need to work on, including the Word of Wisdom. He has a little trouble with alcohol. He is working on it. He doesn't want to be pushed into something or feel like he has to do something unless he chooses to himself, so he is progressing a little slower, but he has that desire, which is great. He is engaged to a member in our ward and is from Africa.

We also helped a recent convert and her family move out, the Stevenses. The husband is a member, and the wife and oldest daughter got baptized before I came out. We are going to be doing a lot of moving and yard work this week for one member, and the rest are people we have run into. The ward is great here. They are all nice and have been helpful. We are also working with another investigator, Melinda, who is 37 and has 2 kids. Her husband is from Brazil. I think she is pretty close to making that decision to be baptized, but we still need to help her grow a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon and help her with the Word of Wisdom. She drinks tea, coffee, and wine a few times a week. She has a hard time giving them up, but if we can help her find out for herself that the Book of Mormon is the true Word of God, then I believe she will have a stronger desire to keep the Word of Wisdom.

---David on 29 September 2014