Dear Family,

Yes Dad, you emailed the right address. I am very happy that they changed over to using Gmail. It is making our life that much easier. It is a more friendly email service with more storage space. That is really nice. It also works out well for the church because they don't have to deal with the email servers any more as well.

The Zone Conference was really fun. It did break things up a bit, and it made for some good learning.  It was amazing to be able to hear from the speakers we had as well. It is great to see that our leaders of the church are just as normal as we are. They have a sense of humor, and because of that, they are really easy to get along with.

My talk did go well in church this past Sunday. I only added a little to the original talk that I wrote. It was a little longer than I needed, but it worked out well. I really enjoyed giving it, and it was a great experience for me. I think that when we are supposed to give talks, it is more for us than those that we will be speaking to. We seem to always learn more from it. I spoke on how the love we are commanded to have in Matt. 22 is related to missionary work. It has helped me in my work as well.

We have been having some amazing success with our investigators this past week. This past Sunday Vicky and Greg came to church, and they said that they loved it. Yesterday, we spoke with Vicky and Greg again. Vicky told us that the spirit just seemed to be with her all day. She has been looking for something to do that and it seems like she has found it. We found out that they aren't married, see what I get for assuming, but they said that they want to get married. It is just going to take some extra time for them to be able to do that. One of the things that made us really excited is that in Greg's prayer he thanked the Father for his "new found faith" and that he is "grateful for the opportunity to go to church with the Elders again". They are really coming around, and they are even realizing on their own how some of their old beliefs are not true. How their old church taught false doctrine and focused too much on some things, but not enough on others. It makes us so happy because they are discovering these things for themselves. It is cool to see that light of understanding come on in their eyes.

We also have seen some amazing other things happen. We went with a member to his relatives house to help him give a blessing. This relative is his niece, Tanya, she has been coming to church, and she wanted a blessing for her daughter. After the blessing, the member, Bro. Jordan, asked if it would be OK if we came by and started to teach her. She said yes, and now we have an investigator who has already been planning on coming to our church from now on anyway. We also knocked on a door yesterday of a lady who is really interested in eternal families, and is more than happy to have us come by and teach her family about it. I have spent the first half of my mission trying to do what I needed to, but just searching for the reason that I was sent to Indiana. Now, finally, I have discovered that reason here in Connersville. I just wish that I could have found out sooner, but I am truly grateful for these amazing blessings the Lord has been giving me here. I can't help but be happy.

As to your question, I haven't had anyone really think our services are strange after coming to church. Most of them feel as if that is the way it is meant to be. Usually, they seem to come in and just feel the spirit and feel comfortable. I haven't had any negative responses yet. Also, I have had the opportunity to attend a couple of other churches, and I have to tell you they don't agree with Christ’s teachings. He teaches that the spirit should be calming and peaceful, but as to what I have experienced, that isn't the case for many of the churches here in Indiana. Most people realize that our church feels as it should.

We haven't gotten too much snow this past week. Actually, most of the snow we have had is gone, and we really like it. It makes our work easier. We are also looking forward to the higher temperatures. I can't wait for that.

It is nice to hear that baby Briggs is doing well. I was also surprised to hear from one of Grandma's letters that she is now going to be a Great Grandma. That is amazing, and I bet she is happy to hear that there is going to be another baby in the family.

I was surprised to hear about this whole Toyota thing. It is too bad for the company. They make really good cars for the most part. I hope that everything goes well for them. We took ours in this past week and got the parts replaced. Hopefully, now things should be working properly.

As to the Bishop’s granddaughters, we haven't been able to teach them yet, but I hope they will contact us soon, or we may have to do something. The girls’ mother is a member that is reactivating herself at the moment. She is doing well, but her husband isn't a member. I hope that these lessons will peak his interest, and the girls won't be the only ones getting baptized.

I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well, and I hope that it continues. As you can tell, things are going really well out here, and I just hope and pray that they continue to do so. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for everything that you guys do. The emails and letters are great, and it helps me make it through the week. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Savage

      Elder Colton Savage

     1216 N. Central Ave. #7

     Connersville, IN  47331

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