Email: October 8, 2012

Dear Familia,

Conference was amazing!  I don't even know if I could pick a favorite talk if I had to.  They were all out of this world amazing.  I don't know how anyone who watches conference and feels that spirit not know that it is true and from god.  It makes no sense to me.  I know without a doubt in my heart that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and is called of god to be here on the earth and receives revelation and guidance for us today.   Christ Lives.  He is there and wants us all to be happy and loves us so much that he does whatever he can to help us return and live with him.  Families can be and are forever.  All we need to do is keep his commandments.  I am so thankful for the examples I have around me and all of you.  I loved all of the talks that were shared but there was one that applied directly to what Elder Sheen and I have been trying to do here in the Takena ward.  We felt that the direction to take to get the missionary work established and going here was family history.  

We had our weekly planning session on Friday and we were really trying to feel the spirit and be directed to what we should be doing.  We knelt down and asked and we received that answer.  So we got these pedigree charts from the family history consultants and we are taking them to all of our dinners and challenging them to fill them out and we are going to make a board at the church and have a "Takena Family Tree".   Then get them to the family history Center and share it with their friends and then get their friends to the center.  Elder Scott's talk was specifically about doing family history ourselves and not losing out on half the blessing of the temple.  I know that when we went to the Fresno temple with family names and did baptisms that I felt the spirit very strongly and I don't want to miss out on that.   There is a cool quote in preach my gospel that basically says that we need to dissolve the artificial boundary between missionary work and temple and family history.  It is the same thing.  Whether its for those living or dead.  I am very excited about this and we are going to be working on it very hard. 

We found 4 new investigators the week.  We have a lesson tonight with two of them, Lindy and Walker, they are a young couple and they are super nice and friendly.  The other is George and Kiersten fox.  They are kind of an older couple, they have a sincere desire to find the truth.  I didn't meet them because we were on exchanges but from what I hear they are great!  

I love all of you very much!  Thank you for being great examples to me and helping me become a better person!  

Love,

Elder Erickson