We went by the church during the week to make sure things
were okay for the baptism. The hot water
and such. We had another lesson with our
investigator and watched the Restoration DVD.
It’s a really good one. If you haven’t watched it, I would recommend it.
It’s on Mormon Channel or YouTube- Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the
Restoration.
[Here’s the link] http://www.mormonchannel.org/joseph
A
few things struck out to me this time watching it. One was when Joseph told Emma that they
needed to build a temple. She asked why.
Joseph said we are not just building a temple. The Lord is building us. And he will shift us and mold us as He sees
fit. Sometimes in life we don’t know why
those things happen. But we are in the hand of the master potter. There is not a need to be worried or afraid
of anything. Things will work out. Believe in God. Trust in God. Another line that stuck out to me was when he
was suffering a lot of persecutions. Emma asked how much more of this are we
going to have to take. Joseph’s answer- Maybe I am meant to tread in deep water. And
it was just so powerful to me. It has
never hit me as hard as it hit me at this time, that the reason I am struggling
and going through a hard time, is because I am meant to be. If I am following
the commandments of God and striving to do what is right, then all the rest is
up to him. Plain and simple. The gospel is simply beautiful and beautifully
simple.
When the night of the baptism came, we gathered at the
church. Our investigator was really
nervous. We had about 10 members from
the ward there and it was a good service.
He enjoyed it and it was the first time since we meet him that I have
seen him smile. So things are looking up
for him. The hot water had worked
earlier when we checked, but not this night.
It was cold water… super cold.
But still it was very good. He
was confirmed the next day at church. At
the same meeting, there was a little kid who bore probably the best testimony I
have ever heard. He was talking about
how there is no end to learning, there is no end in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are always things that we can continue to do. It was a pretty heartfelt
testimony from a Primary age child. Good
things happening.
We knew we needed a new investigator. One day we prayed, simply prayed to find that
one person that God was preparing for us to meet. On the way home we meet a
young man that was wanting to learn more about our church. God truly does
answer our prayers- most definitely!
Got to do more service this week. A member was wanting their
trampoline buried in the ground. So a 10
foot hole that is 3 feet deep. It was so much fun. We only got about ½ done. There was a good topsoil followed by really
rooty, rocky underlayer, followed by clay before we got 3 feet down. So it a pretty tough task with just shovels.
I was thinking how easy it would be to just bring in a backhoe. But it was very
relaxing to do hard manual labor again. I love doing it!
This week I have been studying the following section from
the New Testament Institute Manual. Also
we had a Zone Conference where we had a discussion about the Book of Mormon and
were able to ask any questions we wanted. It was a very good meeting, got a lot
out of it. It was interesting to me.
[Here’s a link to the section he is studying- he commented specifically about the last part of this section 24 where is talks about When the World will be Converted.]
Joke for the week. It
was from a member of the ward. This guy
went into the eye doctor and they said you need reading glasses. He paused for moment and said I can’t read-
how will reading glass help me read it!
It was super funny the way he said it.
Another thought for the week. In Alma 48:23- “Now, they
were sorry to take up arms against the Lamanites, because they did
not delight in the shedding of blood; yea, and this was not all—they
were sorry to be the means of sending so many of their brethren out
of this world into an eternal world, unprepared to meet their God. “ This Sunday I had prayed and asked what more
can I do here. I opened to this scripture and realized that I just need to keep
doing what I am doing. Which is preparing people to meet God. I don’t want to
be the one who is sorry for not doing his part of sharing the gospel, because
like the scripture said, they were sorry for sending so many of their brethren
home without being prepared.
So that is basically life, thank you so much for all that
you do. I am grateful for it. Thanks for the prayers, emails, letters and love
and anything else. Love, Elder
Stevenson
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