Well well well. King and Queen huh? I'm going to have to email Colton and chew him out for not emailing me about everything. I'm just kidding. I wasn't the most faithful writer while he was on his mission so I guess I should expect the same. I'm so proud that Leslie kept it together. It seems like yesterday that she was telling Colton and I all the Book of Mormon Stories and how excited she was going to be for us to grow up and make a difference in some one's life. Now one of her boys is married and out the door and the next one will be right behind him on a mission. She'll be an empty nester soon.
Let me work on finding someone who will be home all day to take delivery of the ugly steaks. It might take me a little bit, but I will find someone. You'll probably have to overnight me a few of them. Some for the family receiving them and for my companion. I'm going to see if I can convince them to cook them for us for dinner. Maybe I can get Bishop Castle to do it and just have them sent to his work place. Or Brother Gossert. He owns a floral shop here in town. I'll see what I can do.
I'd email pictures today but I left my camera back at the apartment so I won't be able to till next week. Send me a flash drive every six months or so with new pictures on it. People ask me for pictures and I always give them whatever pictures I have of me with the family. My supply is running low. I talk about the family so much that that's what I like to give them.
I don't think we have an ice cream factory near by. I'm pretty sure that we live next to the sewage treatment plant in town. It always smells horrible around our apartment at night.
Felicia didn't come to church. We are still teaching her though. We have an appointment for this week with her.
So this week President Belliston was interviewed on talk radio. It was really exciting so we spent our companionship study listening to him and praying for him. The interviewers were really awesome and did their homework. They asked President Belliston all about the Articles of Faith which he did a very good job explaining. Things were going awesome. Then this lady calls in and while maybe not directly saying it made the claim that Latter-day Saints are not Christian because of our scriptural based view of the Godhead and our open cannon of scripture. President Belliston handled it very well, but in his weekly email told us that he never wants to do it again. After presenting the official statements of the church concerning her concerns she goes on to attack the temples and telling us that all we did was rip off the Free Mason's. Then the interviewers backed up President Belliston and the church by saying that such topics were too sacred to discuss on the radio or even in person. It was awesome
This week in our Area we had a miracle. Friday morning we get a media referral for this girl wanting a Book of Mormon while we were listening to President Belliston being interviewed on the radio. We had a recently return missionary coming over and one of our appointments for the morning cancelled so we were going to send him home, but then I remembered about the referral so we went over to give her the Book of Mormon. We met Tiffany. Tiffany is 15 years old and is in an advanced education program at school. We found out that her mother was baptized in 2002 and that Tiffany had spent several years going to church with her mom. Tiffany's mom (Alisha) went inactive when Tiffany was 8 years old. Tiffany would have been baptized when she was 8, but she was afraid of being held underneath the water. Alisha had been talking to Tiffany recently saying that she was going to call the missionaries and go back to church, but she didn't feel worthy of it. So Tiffany got on mormon.org and requested a Book of Mormon without telling her mom. A couple of days before we showed up Tiffany told her mother about it. When we knocked on the door we were in shock because they let us in with no arguments (Something that doesn't happen in Hagerstown). We sat down and listened to Tiffany's story and were able to share the message of the Restoration with her. At the end of the lesson we committed her to be baptized on September 17. Tiffany's sister Delany (13) was also listening and muttered something. She wanted a Book of Mormon also. We committed Delany for baptism also. We also invited them to church on Sunday. The next day (Saturday) Tiffany and Delany came to see the Baptism of a man who was taught by the missionaries in the neighboring area. What we didn't know (until we got there) is that Tiffany and Delany brought their friend Richie (16) with them. After the Baptism we took them to the ward picnic at Pen Mar Park (Beautiful place) where the ward members greeted them and took them in and made them honorary members of the ward for the day. They all three hit it off with the youth and youth leaders in the ward. Then Tiffany shocks us all even further when she asks us if she can go to Seminary. We pull over Sister Castle (The Bishops Wife) who is the Seminary teacher and she tells her all about Seminary. Sunday rolls around and they come to church. Delany had to go back to her dads house in Falling Waters West Virginia. So we see Tiffany, her mom Alisha, Tiffany's 6 year old brother Bryce, Alisha fiance Jason, and Richie all walk in to church. After Sacrament we make sure Tiffany, Richie, and Bryce get to their necessary classes then head off to our own class (Which we teach once a month) with Alisha and Jason. At the end of Class we head off for Priesthood and Relief Society where Alisha and Jason were both welcomed very warmly. After church is over we're pulled aside by Jason who tells us that he loved church and how warm and welcoming the people were with him. We teach him a quickie restoration and commit him to be baptized the same day as Tiffany and Delany. He accepts. That night after our dinner appointment we go over to see them and they are just glowing. They're SO happy. We talk about things of the church and put some of their very few and very minor concerns to rest and Tiffany and Richie (He's still hanging out) talk about how excited they are to go to Seminary. We plan to go to the temple visitors center on Saturday and they want to know if they can get quads while they're there. We told them about This is the Place Bookstore just around the corner where they can pick them up. So they're excited to go. Richie wants his mom and dad to meet with us now.
The Gospel works in mysterious ways. It moves the hearts of those who are prepared. The subtle promptings of the spirit have re-activated a mother, lead two girls, their mothers fiance, and one of their friends to investigate the church. I know this work is true and that people seek it out. Of these things I testify in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Christofferson
"Feed my sheep..."
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