Snow!

It’s been a pretty good week. I was feeling better by Monday last week, so we went for p-day and did some work.  Unfortunately my companion got sick later in the week.  So I spend the day in the flat while he slept it off.  He was down for most of one day and part of the next day.  It wasn’t too bad. I took advantage of the time and listened to some good talks. And took all of the cups in the flat and built a tower!

We had some lessons with some less actives this week.  We are working hard to build relationships with them and help answer what questions they might have.   We try not to just resolve their concerns, our main objective is not to answer all of their questions, but to help them build a relationship with God and Jesus Christ.  As their faith grows, a lot of their questions and concerns are no longer relevant.  One even had an meeting with the Bishop and had a good chat with him.  We talked about how baptism is important, it’s the ordinance and needs to be done by proper authority.  Then it’s up to us to keep our covenants and receive blessings associated with that covenant. 

We were able to have some follow up lessons with some people we have been teaching.  One of them went really well.  Her mother had investigated the church years ago, but never joined.  A sister ended up joining later in life.  One of her children has been reading the Book of Mormon for a couple of years. 

This area does have a lot of rain and is cloudy most all days. But one day it snowed here!

I was on exchanges one day and the other Elder said let’s catch up and talk to that family.  So we headed out at a very brisk walk to catch up with them.  I was like this is nuts, they are going to think we are crazy, basically running up to them and talking to them.  But we stopped them and visited.  Ended up we had a message that was very helpful to the family.  We talked about how when we put on the Armor of God. It’s like we are protected both spiritually and physically from things.  We shared how the gospel could strengthen their family.

Coincidence? The Lord works in mysterious ways.  We were walking down the street one day and stopped a man. He said that he didn’t speak English.  We asked what he spoke and he said Portuguese. Well my companion happens to be fluent in Portuguese, so they talked away.  They really hit it off and talked for quite some time.  We had another lesson with him later in the week.  The whole thing was taught in Portuguese, so I was pretty lost you could say. Now I know what it feels like after the fall of the Tower of Babel.

The area is doing great a lot of people on date for baptisms in the District. We are seeing a lot of less actives and quite a few of them are doing really good. We have been doing a lot of finding and have a lot of success with that as well.  So it’s been a pretty good week.

Throughout reading the Book of Mormon again this time, it’s crazy to see how the Church of God went through so much hardship and trials, but that they were persecuted for the truth.  Such as Alma kept contending with anyone and everyone that would come to him because they had already apostatized and began to change the doctrine or to just have it be lost. Which has just been so real for me to read about this time.

Thoughts for the week

Spencer W Kimball-  “How little we realize the doors of opportunity that we oft close with one wrong decision.”

Ezra Taft Benson- “When obedience ceases to be our irritant and becomes our quest in that moment God will endow us with power.”

There are from a quote book I found in the flat!  I am loving it!

Thanks for everything that you do.  Love, Elder Stevenson

Feeling better

On exchanges this week, we stopped by a less active and happened to wake him up. We tried a back a couple other times during the past weeks and then later again this week we were finally invited in.  He has a fun story about his conversion to the gospel.  He wasn’t interested in the church at all, but started going to church with his girlfriend.  Then started taking the lessons from the missionaries and ended up getting baptized.  He’s open the idea of coming back to church again now.  We ended up seeing him three times this week.  Found another less active who is also thinking it’s time to come back to church again.  He had a lot of questions in the past and when he moved, he just lost contact with the church.  Not let in by another, so stopped by a lady from last week.  She was home, which was good we had been trying without success to contact her earlier in the week.  We are seeing her again this coming week and hopefully have a good lesson with her.  Still working with a couple of other families as well.  One has started reading the Book of Mormon.

The tradition here is following District Meeting to go to an all you can buffet.  It’s a super cheap place to eat, so we did that this week.  Had another exchange this week, this time an overnight one as I needed to go a baptismal interview up there as well.   Ended up doing a lot of finding with them. 

This is a great ward.  It’s fun getting to know them more.   They are taking good care of us and feeding us.  We got to help with a mission prep class this week.  Didn’t get to go to church this week- I woke up sicker than a dog!  I woke up at 5 am and just felt awful, I thought I was hungry.  So I started an orange and felt worse.  I went back to bed but still didn’t feel better.  The stomach flu has been going around the mission, and it was my turn.  Just spent most of the day in bed.  Still did the call ins that night with the district, feeling the most awful in my whole life.  I just wanted to go to bed.  After the phone calls, that’s what I did.  I woke up the next morning though feeling much better.  So it’s a good thing!

Study of the week. We are continuing to study the Book of Mormon as a mission and I came across this last week. Mosiah 14:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”  Which I really love this scripture because it is so easy to understand. It is clear that Christ did all of it for us. And that through his stripes we are healed.

This is a quote by Dallin H Oaks, “The intensity of our desire to share the gospel is a great indicator of the extent of our personal conversion.”  Which is something that quite a few people have talked about, but it’s just that when we have our own personal conversion, it is natural to then share it with others.

Thanks everyone for the letters, emails, love and prayers.

Love, Elder Casey Stevenson

Blessings of Fasting

This week was pretty fast. It seems that the weeks keep going faster and faster.  Before we know it… it will be harvest time again.

Sunday we fasted to find a family to teach.  That evening,  we stopped by a home.  The parent was not there, but their child was and said their parent would be here tomorrow and that we were more than welcome to come back.  So we stopped by and they are wanting to meet with us again.  An awesome family from an area where Kenny served his mission, they have family in that area still.  What a small world.  As a District we had fasted again this week to find families to teach.  Following that fast, we stopped by a former investigating family from several years ago. They were like ya- we would love to have the missionaries again… goodness how awesome is fasting!  Worked both times!

We are continuing to check on some less actives, making a lot of stop bys and also doing some other finding.  Went on exchanges with some of the Elders in the area and was able to meet a teenage girl that is getting baptized soon.  It was cool to see them and talk with them. 

Our District meetings are in our town.  We walk and all the other missionaries have cars in the District, so they drive to our area.  When I was on exchanges I asked if I could drive. They were more than happy for me to drive.  I was driving and he said to just pull up here. So I pull up. The sun was in the windscreen and like glare.  Ahead I saw no curb on the road and I couldn’t see if there was one or not to the side.  I just nailed the curb!  We heard this pop-whish!  We were all just like… what just happened. Well I popped the tire.  We got out and were just all laughing about it.  Good news is that we pulled up right in front of the door we needed.  They were doing some service for an investigator.  So they did the service and I changed the tire.  That makes 3 in the last 6 weeks.  One on the Zone Leaders car and one for a member in the last area, and this one here.  The missionaries I was with that day made a point at every appointment to tell them about the tire.  We had some good laughs about it!

We played football  with the ward one morning and it was super fun!  This ward is wonderful.  We had dinner with a couple of families in the ward.  Awesome families!

There is only one spot in the flat that our phone has service.  So I made a small table and sit at the window every other night for a couple of hours to do call ins.

This week we were talking about covenants and keeping our covenants. And helping others to keep their covenants.  And the difference between ordinances and covenants.  Ordinances are the earthly or outward expression. But covenants are the inward commitment to follow Christ. With the Priesthood being restored and correct doctrine we have a better understanding of it.  We were able to share the concept of making progress with a less active in the area and answer a question that had been bothering him and keeping him for keeping his covenants. 

Conclude with a quote:  from Neal A Maxwell – “God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability.”

Thanks for everything! Love, Elder Stevenson

Short Week- Traveling and Holidays

It’s 2015.  This week I was talking with an elder from my group.  He asked "did you ever think 2015 was going to come?"  We were both like nope- and laughed about it. But it’s been a good 18 months and 2014 is over with.  I was so tired, I didn’t even want to stay up till 12 to ring in the New Year.

This was an interesting week.   Transfers meant spending some time traveling by train to get to the new area.  We met our new companions at the train station and traveled back to our new areas.  So I was able to visit with him on the ride back to the new area.  He was able to give me the run down on things here, as far as investigators and such.   Then to the flat to get settled in and some grocery shopping done.  We did a little tracting that evening and were able to find a couple of new investigators.  That was good.

 With the holidays we attempted to do a little omying (opening my mouth- talking with people on the street) but the streets were really full of people and not many wanted to stop and visit with us.    We did a lot of stop bys to check with less actives and former investigators so I could get to know the area a little better.  We also worked on the area book and had a Zone Meeting on New Year’s Day. 

This new ward is great. We have already had dinner on two evenings in member’s homes, including on New Year’s Eve.  It was fun.  The church here has 2 wards meeting in the same building. Our ward meets in the morning and the other one in the afternoon like at home.  It’s great to be back in a familiar Stake.  I have worked with a couple of members here before.   One was in the Stake Presidency before and now is the ward mission leader. He’s an awesome guy and a lovely family.  The other in is the Stake Presidency now. Excited to be working with good people and in this great ward!

That’s about all for the week.   Thanks for all you do. Love, Elder Stevenson