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