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