THANKSGIVING & SAD TO BE LEAVING WILMINGTON

Yep, the subject is a true statement. I got a call on Saturday night from President Cotterell thanking me for my service as a Zone Leader and said that I would be leaving the area. A rare occasion, he told me where I was going and who I’m going to be with. So for the last 4 weeks of my mission, I will be laboring in Southport and will be serving with Elder Shawn Thompson. It’s only like 45 mins south of Wilmington and in the same Zone/Stake. President Cotterell was nice to me and said I didn’t have to make the huge trip to Raleigh and back, so I’ll just be going straight to Southport on Tuesday and getting to work.

Sunday was AMAZING, it was the perfect Sunday to leave Wilmington. We had 3 investigators at church, Will, Keema and Phil and all 3 of them brought a friend with them, on Phil's case he brought his daughter, so we pretty much had 7 non-members there! Brother Flowers was there and another less-active we have been working with Danni. It was like picture perfect leaving ha-ha. Felix received the Priesthood. When he stood and the congregation approved him receiving it, he was illuminating! He is so happy and he is going to be a great member missionary! And after the regular church service, during the YSA Sacrament meeting, Felix blessed the Sacrament it! He said the blessing perfect and he was stoked about it ha-ha. Will is doing awesome! We saw him yesterday and taught him the 10 commandments and Sabbath day. He is just so happy, when we first started teaching him to now, everyone can tell such a huge difference. He showed up in a white shirt and tie and was looking good. He is ready for Saturday, we asked him who he wanted to Baptize him and gave the best answer..."I don’t want to pick anyone because it’ll make that person seem better than the others, as long as I’m baptized that is what matters." amazing eh? So we're going to have Stillman baptize him.

Thanksgiving was great! All went well. Had some fruit and bagels with the Carter's. Traditional Thanksgiving with the Hale's/Bastians. Traditional with the Shurtleffs/Pearson's. Had THE best smoked salmon and shrimp with the Pace's. and Mexican food with the Contrares. Man I was miserable after the day was over ha-ha. The next morning Elder Oslund and I ran and started to work it all off. So don’t worry, your boy was taken care of :) Sunday was hard...I said bye to a lot of families and it was rough, I will miss them SO much. This ward is amazing, and I’m pretty sure it rates at my favorite area. The people are just amazing and we have a great bishop. Bishop Lewis is amazing. The work is going great here and I know it is in good hands with Elder Oslund, I learned a lot from him and he will tear it up here.THANKSGIVING WITH THE SHURTLEFF'S (FELIX, ME, ELDER OSLUND AND ME)
ME & ELDER OSLUND THANKSGIVING DINNER WITH THE HALES, BASTIANS & FELIX
ME, THE CONTRARES & ELDER OSLUND ON THANKSGIVING
THANKSGIVING W/THE PACES BTW-BEST SMOKED SALMON EVER!

Random story by the way. We stopped by a part member family on Saturday. and the husband is blind, and has a lot of health issues, but he asked us who the best athlete of all time is...so we said Michael Jordan being here in Wilmington, and he said that's right, and his wife brought in a pic of Michael Jordan as a little kid at like 10-11 and he (the member) coached MJ as a kid! Baseball and Basketball! Supposedly he had a nasty curve-ball, ha-ha but that was so random. And showed us the team pic and sure enough there he was and MJ ha-ha. That just blew us away.
SAYING GOODBYE TO WILMINGTON FAMILIES
THE FARRIS FAMILYTHE BISHOP LEWIS FAMILYTHE BASTIAN FAMILYTHE WHITE FAMILYTHE HALE FAMILYWILL DEMATA(BAPTIZED 12-4-10)THE KOOYMAN FAMILY

Well, even though it is hard, I know that the Lord has a purpose for me going to Southport, so I will do my very best to find that reason and do it well ha-ha. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that prayers are answered. I know that if we truly live the gospel, we will be blessed. If we follow the Prophets with full purpose of heart, we will not go astray. I love this work and I love my Savior.

Thank you so much for all that y'all do. I love you and miss you so much!

Much love,
Elder Henricksen

MISSION VISIT FROM ELDER ALLEN PACKER & THE DESPISED LETTER.....FLIGHT PLANS HOME

What's going on?!!? The past couple days have been straight driving pretty much. On Sunday right after the Young Single Adult Sacrament we headed to Raleigh for a meeting with the Zone Leaders and Elder Allan F. Packer of the 70. It was GREAT. Then we spent the night in Raleigh and the next morning, on Monday, we drove to Kinston where the meeting was with the half the mission and Elder Packer. It was a good learning experience to be able to be instructed and taught by the spirit through the Lord's chosen servant. The thing that I learned to most was gaining my own Testimony or confirmation of what has been taught. For example, our missions goal for next year is every companionship baptizes once a month so total being 936, instead just being like, ok sounds good let's try to shoot for that and hope that we make it, but instead pray about it for myself and really know if we can meet that goal and get a confirmation from our Heavenly Father, and by doing so will gain a testimony of it. So when we talk about it with the missionaries I can honestly say that we can do it! I’m definitely going to apply that regularly. The Zone leaders each taught a principle for 5 mins during the meeting and we chose the Holy Ghost, and it was powerful! We felt very good about it. We just taught testified and testified of each others words and promised them blessings and invited them to pray about the 936 goal.
THE WILMINGTON DISTRICT
ME, ELDER NIELSON(MY SON) AND ELDER LATTA

Will is doing great. we moved his baptism back to the 4th of December, because this week is going to be busy and we still have to teach him some things, so we didn’t want to cram it all in and cause stress ha-ha, so we moved it back one week. But he is still good to go! We taught the Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom and he understands and will live it. It is so amazing to see the Lord prepare people to be baptized. Ever since he came to church like a month and half ago, he hasn’t missed a Sunday. And last Monday we had a Family Home Evening at the Well's home and Will came, we had a blast! Will really enjoyed himself. We shared the Restoration of Christ's Churchstory and felt the strong spirit and played some games afterward and just had some fun ya know. It is definitely helping him and strengthening him. Our lesson with Brandi and Rolland went very well! She accepted to be baptized when she comes to know it's true! And accepted the lessons while Rolland is in Afghanistan on deployment. and they ARE married, so that is a huge relief ha-ha. She is starting from the beginning, she didn’t really grow up with that much religion in her life, so this is all new to her, but it is the best way to start eh? :) She is amazing, and came to church on Sunday and had a great time. Don...well not so well...he smoked again, so we'll see what happens with him, every time we go over there, we're teaching the same things, don’t smoke and pray. So we're just praying for a miracle there right now ha-ha.
ME AND ELDER OSLUND - A GHANA DINNER BY CHEF FELIX SLATTER
Well family, you don’t have to worry about me this Thanksgiving ha-ha. We have meals at 10, 11, 1, 4, and 7! Its going to be a miserable day, but so great! Some members are bragging about stuff they make, Sister Shurtleff is all about her cheesecake and Brother Pace is all about his smoked salmon, so well be the judges of that. And this Saturday we will find out where I’m going if I do go anywhere, which I’m pretty sure I’m leaving, we don’t see them putting a threesome here, so we'll wait and see. Last week I received the letter every missionary despises...the flight plans...so sounds like I’ll be landing about 4:30ish...but that doesn’t matter, they'll have to drag me to the airport ha-ha. I love this mission and love doing the Lord's work. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. And Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of God on the earth today. I know this is the true church of Him (Jesus Christ) whose name we represent every day. I love all of y'all and hope that all is well in Zion. I pray for you every day and you’re always in my thoughts. Take care and thank you for everything that y'all do.

Much love,
Elder Henricksen

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN AMAZING!!!

So, this week was great! Felix ..... is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! He is so happy. His baptism went very well and he is just stoked, as he said on Saturday night "I LOVE BEING A MORMON!" ha-ha. He is going to be an amazing member and a great missionary if he chooses to do so, he has been thinking about it :) After church he already met with Bishop Lewis and will most likely be receiving the Priesthood next Sunday! I love confirmations. I absolutely love the feeling of the Holy Ghost entering into his life, and knowing that he has that constant companionship always to be with him. I am grateful that I have been able to be a part of his teaching process and his baptism.BLAKE, FELIX AND ELDER OSLUND...READY FOR BAPTISM
ELDER OSLUND, FELIX AND BLAKE

So miracle of the week is Will. I think I talked about him last week a little bit, I taught him in the summer with Elder Spencer, and one Sunday he randomly told us that he didn’t want to be taught anymore, and didn’t feel he could live the commandments. Then about 4 weeks ago, he came to church 3 weeks in a row. So we set up a time on Tuesday to teach him and see what's up with him coming back. Well, result being that he is going to be baptized on November 27th ha-ha. We were trying to see if there were any obstacles or anything that might slow that down, but nope, he is ready to do this. It's like he is a completely different person than who I taught in the summer. He said he had been praying about the Book of Mormon and when we went back to school he made 2 friends (Chase and Chloe) and they happened to be Mormon, so he took that as his answer and he is preparing himself to be baptized. We're going over to Chase's for Family Home Evening tonight with Will and Chloe will also be there, so it is going to be great! When we taught him the Restoration of the Gospel on Saturday, he loved it, and he pretty much taught us about Joseph Smith and his experience. He loves going to church and feeling the love and peace.

Next is a lady named Erica. She just moved here and she has a friend in California who is a member and she encouraged Erica to get a blessing and Erica accepted. So the friend called Bishop Lewis who then called us and we went over and gave her a blessing and had a great discussion with her. She had so much faith that the blessing would work, it was powerful. I was blessed with the opportunity to seal the blessing. We talked briefly about the Priesthood and what a blessing is, and some about our church and left her with a Book of Mormon and she was so grateful for it, we'll be following up today with that.

Next miracle...So on Sunday after Sacrament meeting, a couple came up to us that we didn’t know, and the guy (Rolland) asked us for a blessing. Turns out he has been inactive for like 5 years and feels like he needs to come back and asked for a blessing of safety as he is getting deployed, he is a Marine, and also his, hopefully wife (Brandi), is pregnant and mentioned that she is interested in learning more, so we will be seeing them on Wednesday!
WILMINGTON'S EQUIVALENT TO UTAH'S CAFE RIO
I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has been blessing us with these wonderful opportunities to teach his children. I love this work. Then we had another great lesson with Tam and her family on Sunday night. We asked them what they would benefit most from our lesson and they picked love, so we taught that and based it out of Moroni 7. it was AWESOME! The spirit was pretty much guiding the lesson and legit comments were being made and testimonies. So powerful. We love that family and hold them dear to us. It's amazing what 3 simple things such as reading as a family, praying as a family, and going to church will strengthen any family who is thirsting for happiness.

ZONE CONFERENCE this week was GREAT! The parts where Elder Oslund and I taught were powerful, the spirit was strong, and especially our last part we taught. It was about the Doctrine of Christ and why we're out here serving. We had 3 missionaries bear testimony and that made is so powerful and I was pretty much in tears as I bore mine at the end. But man, I learned a lot from the Zone Conference and President Cotterell and the Assistants did a great job. Felix came right after Zone Conference so he could meet President Cotterell, he loved him! Felix said he could feel his power!

well my wonderful family, this week has been amazing. Thank you for your prayers and support and all that y'all do for me. I love each and every one of y'all. I love this Gospel and I love the spirit and the Book of Mormon. Christ lives and loves ALL of us.

Much love,
Elder henricksen

AMAZING WEEK & ANSWERS FROM PRAYERS AND FASTING

So this week has been AMAZING! It has really been a huge answer to my prayers and fasting. And has really lifted a huge burden off of our shoulders for the work here. We have been really working with members a lot and not tracting at all. The first couple weeks we weren’t seeing immediate results from all this member work. We would get a referral now and then and just receive a miracle from church headquarters from someone who ordered a Book of Mormon. This week and Sunday have been a HUGE answer. Just Sunday alone we received 6-7 potential member referrals! 3 people in a row came up and said; “hey I have a friend that wants to hear the gospel!” so now we're just waiting for those members to set appointments and we'll teach and testify! But seriously though, every family that we visited gave us a name to stop by and things are now going strong. I can’t even tell you how grateful I am for my Savior and how He always listens and answers our prayers. :)

BLAKE, FELIX AND ELDER OSLUND Felix is doing LEGIT. At church yesterday in the YSA sacrament, he bore his testimony. I almost cried, it was exactly how it is described in 3 Nephi 11:3. He is going to be an amazing member and a huge help for the ward and the YSA group. He will be baptized on Thursday and confirmed a member on Sunday of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Don is improving so much now! He is now out of cigarette's, and hopefully the his family will be faithful by not buying him anymore, and he is starting to recognize answers to his prayers and gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Joseph Smith, its sweet. We taught Wesley and had a great lesson and talked a lot about having the right desires and not just learning more to please the mom or family, and he accepted to be baptized when he comes to know that this great message is true, but we got some work to do. We got up with a Former investigator named Olivia, she was SO close to baptism couple years back, but didn’t give up tea, but we asked her if she has a desire to be baptized and to work for it, and she also accepted, so we'll now start teaching her and working her towards baptism! Oh and remember the name Will? He has randomly come back to church 3 weeks in a row! So we set up a time this week to stop by and see what's been pushing him to come consistent. Hopefully get him back on track to be baptized! It has been an AWESOME week.
HA-HA GOTTA LOVE IT(ANOTHER DENOMINATIONS SIGN)
Ok i just need to tell this story of a family we visited yesterday that we felt inspired to see. Her name is Tam, and she has 4 kids and she is divorced. She stopped coming to church because of work, and stress and just life. But we felt inspired to set up an appointment yesterday at church and it was like she was waiting for us to do it, it was crazy. So we go over there with Bro Hunt and she said, its time, I need to come back and I want in this house what we used to have. It was a powerful night. We promised her and her family that if they read the Book of Mormon everyday as a family, and prayed together as a family everyday that feeling of the spirit and the happiness they want WILL come. She bore her testimony and her kids were comforting her, and I almost cried again, and we just had a powerful experience with them. And on that note...mom and dad I want y'all to know that I am SO grateful for our daily scripture reading, I now have seen the blessings from it. It definitely hasn’t gone unnoticed. I now cannot go a day without reading one chapter from the Book of Mormon and its all due to y'all being consistent and diligent on having family scripture reading, I testified this to them last night and almost cried again ha-ha (almost 3 times in one day) but thank you so much for those experiences we had and I’m so stoked to continue when I get home! "A chapter a day keeps contention away." -Elder Oslund.DAILY EARLY MORNING RUN ELDER H AND ELDER OSLUND

I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and I know that it contains more power to change families or individuals for better. Jesus Christ is our savior and redeemer and that He lives. I love this gospel and this work, and will work all the way till He stops me too. I hope and pray that all is well and know that I love you and pray for you every day and throughout the day. I love my mission and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Much love and appreciation,
Elder Henricksen

BUSY CRAZY WEEK & MEMBER REFERRALS

We had a busy crazy week! From having a Zone leader/District leader Council on Friday in Raleigh, Halloween, exchanges, and man I’m just happy its over ha-ha. It was tricky this year for Halloween being on Sunday, President Cotterell advises not to tract on those nights for obvious reasons ha-ha. So we couldn’t tract those nights, but we did other things that were good though. On Saturday night was the Wards Trunk-or-Treat, so we went there and hung out, Felix came to that and Don. We had fun though. I, Elder Oslund, Elder Bradshaw, Elder Reimann, Felix and Brother Cruz dressed us as soccer players ha-ha, we just put jerseys over our shirts, it was fun though, and don’t worry, I got pics! Felix was just so comfortable there, he was just going up to people he knew and just talked to people, it was great and again he said that he is so excited to join this great family! I love it ha-ha.
ZONE/DISTRICT LEADER COUNCIL IN RALEIGH; HOLT,STANFEILD, MCMICHAEL,ELDER H AND SPENCER *ALL IN THE MTC TOGETHER*
WARD HALLOWEEN TRUNK-OR-TREAK;THE VANSYLSES, COSME, FELIX, ELDER BRADSHAW, ELDER REIMANN, BLAKE AND E.OSLUND

Well speaking of Felix, he is doing AMAZING! This week we taught him the big commandments, Law of Chastity, Word of Wisdom, Tithing and Fasting. He excepted them with no problem! He is so elect and so prepared it’s not even funny. He did have to get rid of some tea, but he replaced it with some Ghana drink called Horlix, which is Word of Wisdom approved, but since he knows that Joseph Smith is a Prophet, he knew that he needs to live the Word of Wisdom! And he moved his date to the 11th of November, just one day. Our ward’s activities are on Thursdays so we're doing it that day so more people can be there! It has been amazing to teach Felix, the spirit is amazing how it works in people's lives and seeing the Gospel change their hearts and just seeing their testimony FLOURISH while reading and living commandments. He is going to make us some Foy Foy this week, a Ghana dish. So that will be interesting ha-ha. Over the last week too he has asked to look at our Missionary Handbook and see how we live as missionaries, I think he is thinking about a mission already ha-ha. I love it :) Don is doing great, he came to church yesterday and looks better, we stopped by yesterday and I think Brother Van Slyke said he is on his last pack of cigarettes, so I’m hoping that he is, but he knows he feels better when he doesn’t, cause last time we taught him, his breathing was terrible. We have been working with a family in the ward the Shurtleff's, really cool family, they have some friends across the street that they have talked to them about the Gospel a lot. Couple months back, I don’t think I told you this, but Heather (the non-member friend) did a comparison paper for school on comparing Moses and Joseph Smith. She got an A on the paper ha-ha. They came to the trunk-or-treat and Brian (non-member friend, they are married) made some chili, and it was THE best chili I have EVER had. He is the head chef at Johnny Mercer's pier at Wrightsville Beach. I guess at the trunk-or-treat, they gave Heather and Brian a tour of the church, and Brian I guess really liked it, so we're hoping they will invite them to take the lessons and we can hit that up! They are very cool people though, we were over there yesterday and had some more chili with them ha-ha. And a miracle that happened this week. So last week, we both felt impressed to call a recent convert up, Brother Platt, and plan a time to go over there and just teach him and maybe get a referral. So we got there to his house and I heard someone else in the house and I asked him if someone else was here and Elder Oslund asked if she (Nancy) would like to sit in, so he did and she said no, and literally 2 mins later she came in and said I changed my mind ha-ha. So we read 3 Nephi 11 and taught the Doctrine of Christ and Nancy asked some questions and they were great. She is in town from South Carolina and we set up a time to go over there next week at Bro Platt's house again and she accepted ha-ha, and she came to church with him on Sunday! So that was a great miracle!! We'll see her on Tuesday. She already gave us her info to send to the missionaries down in South Carolina. MISC AROUND WILMINGTON; HOT SAUCE, HUGE BANANA SPIDER AND JELLYFISH

Elder Oslund and I are doing amazing! Members are giving us more referrals and we think getting more excited about the work! The member trust is definitely going up. It helps a lot when your companion is very outgoing like I am ha-ha. President Cotterell at Zone leader/District leader council gave me a Temple recommend interview, so now I am living CTR ha-ha :)

Well my family, I hope that all is well and I’m praying for all of y'all every day. I know that Christ lives and blesses us every day. Miracles happen every day; we just need to recognize them. I love this work and ill keep going until somebody stops me :), or until they say go home ha-ha. I love you and miss you like crazy!

Much love,
Elder Blake Henricksen