Last P-day in Las Vegas West Mission

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Dear family and friends,

I am approaching my last week here in Las Vegas, Nevada. It's been pretty crazy in many ways. I think Ohio will be pretty manageable after everything I've done here. (I'd hope it's less crazy than this place in Ohio, anyway!)

Ensign articles for you: "Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders", March 2017 Ensign, "Revealed Realities of Mortality", January 2016 Ensign, "Worship the True and Living God", June 2013 Ensign, and "Mormon's Miraculous Book", February 2016 Ensign.

There's also this awesome quote: "[Heavenly Father] can tell the difference between someone who truly is striving to become like Him and an individual who is pushing the edges but trying to stay just inside the acceptable limits." - Elder Allan F. Packer, "Heavenly Father's Fixed Standards", August 2015 Ensign

The church has been putting out a new account of church history recently, called "Saints". Chapter three was published in the April 2018 Ensign. Have you all been reading it? So far it somehow both includes more details than prior written accounts and is written in a less "informational/historical" and more story-like style. I'm enjoying it. They are planning to publish it in volumes when it's complete.

Yesterday Elder Smith and I had the opportunity to eat dinner with the family of the first counselor in the bishopric of the Carl Ward, Brother Lowell. We weren't expecting it, but they had their extended family there as well, and we had a nice conversation with them while we waited for dinner to be ready. It was something I've been missing out on for a long time now--big families. I realized yesterday something I had forgotten: that big families are the best. Big family gatherings are the best. Being a part of a big family is the best.

I'd always thought that having a family of multiple billions-plus in the premortal life and after this life seemed absurd. It IS absurd, to our mortal understanding, but now I can see that it won't be absurd after this life.

To an extent, being part of a big family in mortality already brings us this joy. So when we are free from the mortal limitations of time and infirmity and exhaustion--having overcome sins like resentment and impatience and disobedience--being part of an infinite family will bring so much more joy. Infinite joy that cannot otherwise be replicated. There is nothing else like it.

Love,
Elder Gallagher

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