ten leopards

Gday mates. Weather is cooling down here and I LOVE it. I'm wearing a sweater right now and I love wearing sweaters. There are all these funny little things that make me feel like its fall. Drinks, smells, food, temps, sights, etc. And I love every single one. Fall is amazing.

So, I feel I haven't got a great deal to report this week. Well, General Conference of course. This one had a unique feeling to it. There were certainly, as always, some exceptional talks given by everyone. I sensed this theme of "Cease from Sin!" perhaps. There seemed to be a lot of loving calls to repentance. But maybe its just that the wicked take the truth to be hard and I need to shape up! ha. You'll only get that if you know the Book of Mormon. I guess that means Mom. Anyway, off the top of my head, I think my favorite was Pres. Uchtdorf on simplifying. I love that idea but of course struggle to apply it. Simplicity is a beautiful thing. Come back to the fundamentals. The basics. The necessities. The most important things. Strangely enough I'm reading a wonderful talk about studying the gospel and this morning I read of a pattern to apply in making righteous judgements, often between 2 good things; and how to go about doing that. Gospel's great!

It is amazing how the Spirit of the Lord can work in us. How it can really put our souls at ease during troubling moments or times. How the Lord seems to have everything worked out, and things fall into place if our hearts are in the right place. What an incredible blessing to be able to place that kind of confidence in something. A hope in Christ. A faith we gain by trials and experience. People don't have that in the world today most often (I gather), and its extremely comforting to me that I do. That we can all come to a knowledge of something greater. Of the love and plan of our God. Great.

Often at the end of a conference talk, the speaker will give their testimony. Its something I've never really given much thought to, taking it for granted, kinda thinking, oh of course they're gonna say those things. I don't doubt their sincerity, but it always seemed kind of typical I guess. I feel silly even saying that. Anyway, this past weekend, those simple testimonies really hit home for me. I couldn't wait to hear them. I couldn't wait to hear a man testify of Christ, of Pres. Monson as God's Prophet, and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I needed that. They say our testimony is strengthened by hearing the testimony of those who have faith. Something like that. I suppose I was struggling with some simple things that those simple testimonies really helped me with. God's tender mercies. He really seems to have things figured out. I'm learning a lot of the power of a testimony. A declaration of what a person knows to be true. Its funny how things start to come full circle in your mind from time to time. Or at least come around more than they were. How different things will suddenly make sense and you say to yourself, Wow, it really took me that long to get that? To really get it?!

We ran into this pastor guy from Puerto Rico. Ha, talk about 2 Nephi 29. We had a nice little conversation with this guy. I was very blessed in this instance, and the Spirit was helping me to ask question after question that would kinda cause him to reconsider what he had said. Ultimately it didn't go anywhere, the guy wasn't about to sit down with us or accept a Book of Mormon, but it was a wonderful little experience for me to once again "not be confounded before men."

Ah, so we had another AWESOME lesson out on the steps with this woman Adrienne again. She's a trooper. For some reason we cannot get a member to come out with us to this woman at that time of day. Weak. But this lady really has a humble, open heart, and it is amazing what a difference that makes in teaching. How much more the Spirit can be there when both the teacher and the student are prepared. Consider that same concept for attending our church meetings, where we hopefully go to be taught, when our role is the student. Anyway, we have high hopes for this lady. She's great.

The Lord is continuing to bless us with people to teach. Just a few, but He is answering our prayers, and our teaching pool is slowly increasing. I can't believe how nice it is to actually have people to think about and plan for again. Not many, but at least more than like, two.

Well, I've probably got two more weeks in this wonderful area. I think I can go ahead and give this the title of my favorite area now. Hamden. The Woodbridge Ward. This ward is incredible, you don't even know. Our little SV ward is pretty sweet, but people are on top of things here. I love it. But I'm sure being a missionary in a ward is much different than being a member. There is a lot that goes on that I was never privy to before coming out. Anyway, I'm going to miss it here. Maybe I won't leave, but I kinda think I will. Who knows!

Alright I'll leave you with that, I can't think of anything else. Man I just love you all, each one of you so much and am filled with gratitude that we are a family. Even if the half of ya don't believe in Jesus! Thanks for the support and putting up with me and the prideful loser I was growing up. Hopefully I've put off a little bit of that out here. We'll see eh?! :) Lovely lovely love my dears!

Your Elder Kunz on the East side.