Beautiful Fall Colors!

Hello from Nephi once again. This past week has been one of beautiful fall color, sunshine, and crisp fall mornings. I love the days we ride our bikes and get to wear our fall sweaters it is my favorite time of the year! I drank lots of apple cider this past week. I got it from the local grocery store to make me feel more at home and it worked! I cannot however and will never get close to the amount of cider my brother Austin could drink in his Michigan days.

Our investigator Brandon had a very up and down week. We had one of the most spiritual lessons with him on Monday. We shared the story of Enos. We talked about receiving answers from our Heavenly Father through prayer. He openly admitted that he knew the church was true and had known for a long time. It had just taken him a while to put all the pieces together and for him to be humbled enough to accept this answer. We felt so spiritually charged after that lesson. We had known from the very beginning with Brandon that he knew this church was true and that he knew this was the right thing to do. During our next meeting later in the week we met a very tired Brandon. He had been awake for over 24 hours. He looked depressed and distraught. We started our lesson and everything was going well until the end when Brandon said that he had received two conflicting answers. One he claimed from the Book of Mormon that said he should not join and another answer from a picture he drew that told him the church would give him the peace and serenity he was seeking. We were shocked; Brandon had been doing so well up to this point. We promised that his confusion came from the devil and not from God but he could not understand. We hope that it is only the sleep deprivation that confused him. 

One of the best parts of our week was going to the Heritage Hills Rehabilitation Center (retirement home) to play bingo and give ice cream to the patients. For some reason old people really do love bingo. They are also very hard of hearing so sometimes we would have to repeat ourselves a lot. Bertha got very excited when she won and Bob had about five helpings of ice cream. He really did love that chocolate.... We love serving there because we know that these people love company. They are truly sick and afflicted to a point where independently living is impossible. This service hits very close to my heart since my grandparents were just put in such a home. I think of them every single time I go there. I try and serve them, as I would want my grandparents to be served. One of the patients Margaret said that she would adopt me in a minute but my Mom would probably not go for that. I have grown to love these people by spending time helping them. I have gained peace and perspective from giving outward instead of inward.

This week we have helped at the local Nephi Ghost Tours (an activity for funds for the library). It has been a great and fun service opportunity. We get to tell ghost stories around town and people see a different side of missionaries than they are used to. As we have done this we have become a lot more visible in the community and have talked to several non-members and less actives. We haven't had any teaching opportunities surface yet. But, we can see how much good it is doing for the work.

One of the best things about fall is football. In order to get one of our investigators named Lewis to come to church I promised that I would wear my football jersey to one of the lessons. I did and he loved it! Lewis is making progress and we are still trying to convince him that church is more important than the Jets. He is fun to teach and a handful.

I love you all and want you to know that I know the gospel has been restored. It is the driving force behind all that I do. "Oh that I had the voice of an angel and could speak with the voice of a trump..." I would proclaim it boldly all day long. My voice isn't that loud or authoritative (I learned that from bingo with the elderly) but I do my best sharing what I know in a way that is my own and that is what He wants, that is what He commands. 

Have a good week!!!

Love

Elder Christensen

Pumpkin Time in Nephi!

Hello everyone,

I titled this letter because everyone in Nephi seems to grow their own pumpkins. We now have received (for free) four good size pumpkins that decorate the porch of our apartment. Everyone else has large home grown pumpkins on their porch as well. It must be a Nephi tradition to grow your own pumpkins. The weather here keeps getting colder and colder. The snow has not reappeared except on the mountains since the last time I wrote. The fall colors on the mountains are so beautiful and I really love the cold crisp weather. It makes for very nice bike rides all around Nephi. One of the service opportunities that we had this week was to dig potatoes and harvest pumpkins for our landlord. It was a new experience digging potatoes I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately the potato crop was very poor and not what our landlords had expected. They were disappointed and had to order some for their winter store. We also harvested pumpkins and we got to choose two to put out on our front porch. It was fun and a great way to get service.

One of our new investigators is named Brandon. We met Brandon last week as he was walking home from high school. We were on our bikes and I said we should stop and talk to him. We stopped and chatted for a while. We immediately hit it off. He said that he was a non-member and that we could come back and teach him again. He was excited and so were we. We taught him the first lesson and the spirit was amazingly strong. He also related that us meeting him was not an accident that he had had a very rough day and week and that we were sent from God. He said that this past year had been preparing him to accept us. Brandon has so much faith we are just trying to direct it in the right way. He cannot read very well (he has severe dyslexia) but he tries so hard and I can see the Lord blessing him for just trying. The Lord has prepared him in unseen ways to receive the gospel.

Billy who is the mentally handicapped man is also doing well. He went up to bear his testimony on Sunday. He bore his testimony on how "God was true" and that "he is always with me" I was surprised by how powerful his simple testimony was. I felt Christ's love so strongly. I felt so proud that Billy had the courage to get up there and share what he felt even though he might not have been as capable as the others going up to bear their testimonies.

We volunteered at the retirement home this week. We went around and gave out ice cream to lift the spirit of the patients. As we went around we met some of the sweetest spirits. They appreciated our visits and asked when we were coming back. Some of them had dementia and got confused as to why we were there. But when we said we were giving out ice cream they all smiled. I felt the pain of their hearts as some of them related to us their stories. Most of them had been away from home for a long time and missed their families and living normally. It must be terrible to have lived so long on your own and get to the point where you need help doing a variety of daily tasks. Some of them said things that made me laugh, some of them said things that made me cry. I learned so much from serving them. When Jesus Christ was on the earth he sought out those that were sick and downtrodden. He knew that they would be humble and willing to listen. These people were so humble. They truly had broken hearts and a contrite spirit. I love them all.

As Fall is inevitably and finally here with its pumpkins, football, playoff baseball, and apple cider. None of that really seems to matter as much. Of course I miss it, I would be lying if I said I didn't. But the changes I have seen in others and myself is much more rewarding. I miss you all and pray for you day and night.

Love Elder Christensen

Its Getting Colder in Nephi!

Hello family and friends!

What a wonderful week it has been to serve the Lord in Nephi, Utah. This week started with quite a surprise. The temperature dropped and snow appeared from the sky. It was a wake up call for me as to how cold it will probably get this winter. I am glad that I have a sweater, hat, coat, and ear muffs. All of which came in handy this week on the days that we had to ride bikes in the cold. It has warmed up since but residents here in Nephi have promised me that it only gets colder from here. I will tell you the tale of my week by investigator. However I will preface with a quick background. The last couple transfers in this area have been quite fruitless when it comes to teaching. As the week started we decided to follow the counsel of our mission president by giving more service. Wherever we could and as much as we could. We found opportunities weeding, moving, and my favorite telling ghost stories for a library fund-raising event (apparently Nephi is haunted). We have seen blessing in the lives of our new investigators and increased trust from the members as we heeded our mission president's counsel to serve. 

I will start with Lewis. Lewis is a 12 year old who really loves football. He likes having us over (when we aren't boring) but has not been to church for months. When we asked what was holding him back he said "I can't miss the Jets game, I cannot miss watching Geno Smith throw deep bombs". It took all I could muster to hold back my laughter. I feel that same way sometimes if the Seahawks are playing. We told him that we could figure out how to record it for him. What really helped him was in one of our lessons we took him to the church for a tour. So that he could see where he would go and the places he would learn. It was amazing as we sat in the chapel, the spirit was so strong. He bore pure testimony of Christ and an experience where his mother and sister died. I was so touched by the most simple and sincere words that came out of his mouth. Although his prayers are filled with requests for the Jets to beat the Ravens, the cowboys to lose, and the ability to beat level 3 of lego star wars. He is sincere in his desires. 

Andrew is kind of an eternal investigator that has been making a lot of progress this week. He watched most sessions of General conference and I can see his sincere desire to learn grow every time we meet. He goes to school at UVU  and serves tours of active duty in Afghanistan and is a quite nerdy and smart guy. I love talking to him because he is so open and honest about everything especially his concerns or worries. He has great support from his wife and mother in law who are both members of the church. 

We found some new investigators that I don't know a lot about but I will tell you what I know for future reference. Justin and Billy (Billy is mentally handicapped his desire to be baptized is so great Justin his his handler and is learning more about church because he has to go with Billy every Sunday).

While attempting to volunteer at the retirement home this week. We saw a man and his wife walking out just as we were about to get in our car. The man who was holding a painting in his hand recognized us as missionaries and we got talking. We came to find out that he was Del Parson. I recognized the name immediately. He does so many church paintings! I asked for a photo with him and got him to sign my journal. I guess you meet famous Mormons in Utah once in a while. We also met this sister of the lead singer for the killers I did not know that he was Mormon. Anyways it was a great week. I love all of you. I leave you with my testimony that the Lord helps us through hard times. That no matter what we go through is there and blesses us when we ask him and humble ourselves before him. Ether 12:27 says it better than I can "27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I love and pray for you all

Elder Christensen