The Priesthood is Real

I'm doing good in my new area. It gets a little hard. I get to learn how to be self motivated now. We do a lot of knocking doors and it's good for the first couple of hours but then it gets old--like super old! Elder Warner is awesome. I love him. I can learn a lot from him. He is a good, honest guy that has the Idaho work ethic, so that's even better! The other night we were sitting there and talking about home (a very dangerous pastime) and I showed him the picture I have of me and the Cadillac. We kept on talking and then he was like. "I know you! We've met before at a basketball game." Really odd. I guess he was with a Shelley kid and I walked past. They said something about me and he called my name out. I turned and gave him the "who-are-you-look" and kept walking. Weird, right? I totally know how small this world is. Hyrum Stonehocker, from Shelley, is coming to this mission at the end of the month. I think the world is going to get even smaller!

Elder Warner fixing my bike.

So Melvin didn't get baptized....He doesn't think that financially he can pay a full tithe but he was more than willing to pay as much as he could. I guess that the interview with the district leader didn't go so good. Melvin got really ticked off that the district leader kept asking questions about tithing. He was so mad. When I saw him the next day, he asked why I didn't come and shut the guy up. He said if he saw him again, he was going to hit him. I don't doubt that! He meant it!  I got him calmed down. So that's good and he is still going to come to church...just as long as the other elder isn't there.

Extracted from my tire.

I got to give my first blessing and the spirit was so strong! I was so scared. I thought "I hope that the sisters ask Elder Warner to give the first blessing so I can copy him and see how he does it." But the sister asked that I give her the blessing. I said yes and gave the first blessing of my life! I felt total peace. Once I started, it just came to me and I said what was in my mind. I know I spoke to that sister what God himself would have told her if He was there. After I said amen, she stood up and looked at me and just said "holy crap! the priesthood power is real." I never realized the power God entrusted me with until that moment. It was amazing. Elder Warner gave the next blessing and I was asked to give the third sister a blessing. By the time we were done, I was in tears. Thank heaven you sent me out with handkerchiefs!  It was an absolutely powerful highlight of the week for sure!

Another great thing that happened is we were out knocking doors and we were tired of it so I decided I'd have to pee by the time we got to the church. So I said I had to pee. Well, I didn't realize how close we were to the church. We pulled in and there was a lone car there. A guy was just getting back into it. We pulled in and he asked if we were the missionaries. I said we were. He said that he was a less active member and he wanted to come back. He had come to the church hoping to find some one and was about to leave when we pulled up. Super awesome! God sure works in mysterious ways!

I hope that you have an awesome week!

Love,
   Elder Kniffen

Loving the fall colors!