And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart Alma. – 5:12

And this I do that, perhaps, the roots thereof may take strength because of their goodness; and because of the change of the branches, that the good may overcome the evil. – Jacob 5:59

And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? – Alma 5:14

And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?           – Alma 5:26

Change. Change is constant. Change allows progression. Change can sometimes be difficult, however, as we put our faith in Christ, change can be a beautiful and wonderful thing. I love this time of year. The world around me is exploding in color! Shades of red, yellow, orange and green surround me. If you know me, you know I love leaves. I love the sound of crunching leaves beneath my boots. I love when leaves dance down from their branches and it looks like it’s snowing. I love studying the colors and designs on each leaf, each so unique and perfect in its own way. I love looking at leaves from afar, as they fill the valley with color and life. Change is wonderful! What’s even more wonderful is the atonement of Jesus Christ, which allows us all to change. He allows us to progress and grow and become like our Heavenly Father. It was His eternal sacrifice that allowed eternal progression. Likewise, we must make sacrifices to allow progression. For example, I want to gain more charity, humility and faith. I pray for these three Christ-like attributes everyday. In order to be blessed with these, I have to change. I have to sacrifice my selfishness, pride and doubt. There is no progression without change and there is no change without sacrifice! Gods plan of happiness for us is centered on the atonement of Christ. It enables us to progress and become like Him! That is why we are here people! Nature can teach us a lot about Gods plan for us 🙂

I have seen so much change in myself and in the people we teach! It is a witness to me that this is truly the work of the Lord! It has been an incredible week! We have seen miracles upon miracles upon MIRACLES! The Lord never ceases to amaze me! I especially loved seeing the Nicolas family at church! They looked so happy!!!! I also loved sitting on Neil’s back porch, eating pumpkin things and looking at the stars and reading the holy scriptures by candle light, and bundling up in his over sized coat. He gave the most beautiful prayer and thanked God for the candle light that let us read His word, but thanked Him even more for Christ who is the ultimate light who reveals all truth and joy to us! It was very tender. I peeked at him during the prayer, as I often do, and He was praying with is eyes lifted up towards the heavens! But in that moment, I knew He was among us His spirit was within each of us.

One really incredible thing, we finally were able to contact Cameron’s father. He is a drug addict and we have heard he is abusive. He told us we could continue teaching her and bring her to church and young women! She’s a sweet 12 year old girl with dark freckles, a loving spirit and very sad looking eyes. I can tell she has been through a lot but she is hungry for the gospel. She wants to know Christ! She loves praying and reading the Book of Mormon with us! I love her dearly and am excited to get her connected with the girls at church!

I can’t begin to express how much I love this mission! It is so hard! But it is so worth it! Once again, if anyone reading this is thinking about serving a mission, but isn’t sure if they should or want to or can… JUST DO IT! Just go! I promise you it will be the best decision of your life! Yes, you may have to sacrifice some things to change, but the progression you will see in yourself and others makes it SO worth it! You will just adore your mission and all those you teach and serve! You will grow so much closer to your Savior! Do it for the Lord!!!! Do it for your brothers and sisters!

In closing, I would like to challenge each of you to make friends with a leaf. By that, I mean pick up a leaf and get to know it! Study its patterns and colors! Learn from it! Think of change as you look at it. Think of the Savior. Think of the atoning sacrifice of our Lord and think of things you can sacrifice to grow and progress. Think of changes you are going through right now and how you can find the beauty in them. I promise that as you do this, you will gain the eternal perspective that our Heavenly Father has and you will truly find beauty in the change!