A good week. We have been so busy with lessons and things this week we didn’t have a lot of time for finding. Which I am not complaining, it’s been nice. Probably one of the first times in my mission. We are pretty busy with things. The area is really doing good right now. I am so grateful for the success we are having.
Our investigators are doing really good. One is now to the point of thinking there is
a God, wasn't sure at all when we first met them. This one has been praying and following a prayer really felt the spirit
this week. Another one had a
friend there who challenged the existence of God at the beginning of the lesson, but
then started asking questions as we taught.
Finished teaching another one the last of the lessons in preparation for
their upcoming baptism. Also did a few
visits with some less actives in the area.
Another one is waiting for a divorce to come through before being able
to move forward. One was telling us about standing up and defending the church
when confronted with it at school. Some
of them came to church this week. We also
went home teaching with a member in the ward. It was pretty cool! We showed up
and he was just like the Elders have a great message about 2 Nephi 9 for us
today. It went good. One of the members we went to visit this week
has his mother visiting. She baked a cottage pie, it was super good!
Living close to a lake gives us a chance to see so much
wildlife! One day we took some cheese to
feed the birds. They just came all around us. It was kinda crazy, geese eating
out of your hand. But it was cool, you
would throw it up and the seagulls would fly and pick it out of the air.
One day while on splits with the District Leader we stopped
by the Sisters flat as they weren’t feeling that good. They were complaining
about only have lights in half of their flat for a week. We thought it was probably just a breaker and
so checked it. We were right, now they
have light.
Also went to the London area for p-day after shopping and
studies. It like an outdoor street
market place. There was a place where
they have catfish, that are a part of the piranha family. So you put your feet
in the pool and they eat all the dead hard skin away. It was the weirdest feeling
ever. But your feet are sooo smooth when you get done.
Then we went and saw the Eye, Big Ben and
some other places in London. It was a
good day, pretty long, but good.
This week I found a new favorite scripture, well one of
them. 1 Nephi 7:12 “Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten
that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children
of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to Him”
Also this week studying about the “Whole Armor of God” as
found in Ephesians 6. Here’s what was in
the study guide says about it.
“Now notice the nature of the armour that [Paul] puts on the man
whom he is now preparing to withstand the powers of darkness. He said,
‘Therefore stand, having your loins girt about with truth.’ Now the loins is that
part of the body between the lower rib and the hip in which you will recognize
are the vital organs which have to do with reproduction … he was saying that
that part of the body was one of the most vulnerable. We should have our loins
girt about with armour. And then the next we would have a breastplate over the
heart. Now in the scriptures you will remember that the heart has always been
used to typify our conduct. … And so we would have a breastplate over the
heart.
“And then he said we would have the feet shod with the kind of
armour that would protect our feet, suggesting the feet as the objectives, the
goals of life which we should have [guarded] by some kind of armour and
protected from getting off on the wrong foot. And finally we should have a
helmet on our heads. Now there we have the four parts of the body that the
apostle Paul saw to be the most vulnerable to the powers of darkness. The
loins, typifying virtue, chastity. The heart typifying our conduct. Our feet,
our goals or objectives in life, and finally our head, our thoughts.
“Now the kind of armour that was to protect us is even more
interesting. … We should have our loins girt about with truth. What is truth?
Truth, the Lord said, was knowledge of things as they are, things as they were
and things as they are to come. … What is going to guide us along the path of
proper morals or proper choices? It will be the knowledge of truth. There must
be a standard by which we measure our conduct, else how shall we know which is
right? And how shall we know which is wrong? … ‘Our loins shall be girt about
with truth,’ the prophet said.
“And the heart, what kind of a breastplate shall protect our
conduct in life? We shall have over our hearts a breastplate of righteousness.
Well, having learned truth we have a measure by which we can judge between
right and wrong and so our conduct will always be gauged by that thing which we
know to be true. Our breastplate to cover our conduct shall be the breastplate
of righteousness.
“With what shall
we protect our feet, or by what shall we gauge our objectives or our goals in
life? All through the scriptures there runs a phrase suggested by the kind of
armour the Apostle Paul would put upon the feet. Listen to what he says: ‘Your
feet should be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.’ (Ephesians 6:15.) Interesting? What is the gospel of
peace? The whole core and center of the gospel of peace was built around the
person of Him who was cradled in the manger. … How fortunate are you if in your
childhood in the home of your father and mother you were taught the doctrine of
repentance, faith in Christ, the Son of the living God; the meaning of baptism and
what you gain by the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Fortunate is the child who has been taught to pray and who has been given those
steps to take on through life. Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace! …
“And then finally the helmet of salvation. Did you ever hear of
that kind of helmet? The helmet of salvation. What is salvation? Salvation is
to be saved. Saved from what? Saved from death and saved from sin. …
“… When those two things are missing from this earth and when
it has been sanctified and cleansed of its impurity, this shall be the place of
salvation. On this earth will be the celestial kingdom, for there will be no
more sin, no more death, no more crying, for all the former things are done
away. By whom? By the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul
said, in effect, ‘A helmet of salvation shall guide our thinking all through
our days.’ …
“Well, now, the
apostle Paul went one step further. He didn’t leave the man just with the
armour on and expect him to cope against an army, seen or unseen. He had his
armoured man holding in his hand a shield and in his other hand a sword, which
were the weapons of those days. That shield was the shield of faith, and the
sword was the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. I can’t think of
any more powerful weapons than faith and a knowledge of the scriptures in the
which are contained the Word of God. One so armoured and one so prepared with
those weapons is prepared to go out against the enemy [and] is more to be
feared than the enemies of the light.” (Harold B. Lee, “Feet Shod with the
Preparation of the Gospel of Peace,” Speeches of the Year, 1954,
pp. 2–4, 6–7.)
Thanks everyone for everything!
I suspect this week will go fast. We already have some service projects set up,
a birthday party to attend, Halloween parties to go to, and we are carving
pumpkins with a recent convert. Also
have interviews with the President this week.
I suspect that I will be moving next transfer, so don’t send letters
after Nov. 5th so I get them in case I move.
Love, Elder Stevenson
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