It’s been a pretty good week. A lot of finding! We had a potential investigator that we found
the first week here. She just got back
from holiday and we went to see her again this week. We had a really good lesson about the
restoration. She accepted baptism
conditionally- meaning when she comes to know these things are true, she will
follow the example set by Jesus Christ and be baptized. That was good. There was a young man who had been taught as a teenager some years ago, his parents are members. We went to what we thought was his
address. It was not. So we asked the lady there if she knew of
anyone who could use some service. She
pointed across the street to another apartment. We went there, and a young man opened the door and said, hey
missionaries. Come to find out, he was
the one we were looking for in the first place. He had moved across the street
a couple years ago. We visited with him some.
He said he’d promised his dad he would come to church and so said he
would see us on Sunday. When we said it
was conference, he wasn’t so sure, maybe he’d come the next week. But we don’t have church the next week because
our building is closed. So he agreed to
come to at least part of conference.
There are a couple other investigators who were taught about 5 years ago
we are going to work with. And we
tracted into a couple who recently lost their son-in-law and have a lot of
questions about the hereafter. So a good
group of people to be working with! Work
is really picking up. Yeah! Glad I am staying!
Last P-day we were able to go to London for a little
sightseeing. We went to Buckingham
Palace and Camden. It was fun. I also
got a chance to take a picture of the huge ferris wheel we saw in the panoramic
view of London.
I finished my driver’s training and will be able to drive
for another 9 months on my US drivers license.
But they said there is no reason to wait and get it then. So I will continue and work on getting it by my
six month mark. I was really nervous to
drive, it’s a little strange. The speed
limit is mostly 30 miles per hour, but it seemed really fast sometimes. I missed driving, it felt good to drive
again!
Up until about a week
ago, the main reason I was staying on the mission was because I knew dad would
kill me if I came home. (haha) But as
more and more time goes on, I am starting to like it more and more. Getting less and less homesick, still miss
home, but getting settled into the field. I have already gotten to the 3 month
mark. It has been said the 3 month mark is a remarkable change for a lot of
missionaries. And it was a good turning
point for me. I know that I will continue to have some hard
times to come on my mission. I don’t
think that will ever end. But I have
really learned a lot more about the gospel, relying on the Spirit and just
everything. I never imagined I would grow
up this much, this fast.
For the first twelve weeks of your mission, you have an
extra hour of study every day. There is
a set curriculum to study based on Preach My Gospel and other key study
topics. Here the training is sometimes
split between two trainers. The first
trainer for the first six weeks and the follow up trainer for the last. The
trainer does the teaching of the twelve week course for the most part. Once the twelve weeks are up, that’s the end
of the extra time studying, until one becomes the trainer and then they do the
teaching portion for the training and so an extra hour of study again for that six
or twelve weeks.
Zone meetings are just for our one zone. The Zone leaders do the training there. Zone conferences are held every other
transfer. Three zones come together and
meet at the Hyde Park, Central Office.
President Jordan and the AP’s do the training at Zone Conferences.
A lot of walking.
Really good for me. I like being more
active again. I haven’t weighed myself since I got here, but my pants seem to
be a little looser around the waist. The
other day we walked out to what we thought was a university to find some
college students. It ended up being a
research center. But the walk was
amazing. It was a paved pathway through
fields and forest. It was great, I got
some pictures. I miss the farm land.
Conference will be a little different because of the time
change. It is broadcast here in the
church. The Saturday morning session
is at 5 Saturday night, priesthood session at 10 Sunday Morning, 1 pm is the
Saturday afternoon session; at 5 pm is
the Sunday morning session. World
Report is at 3pm and we will watch Sunday afternoon session later, hopefully
they record it.
Funny experiences-
One day I was talking with an Irish gentleman. I don’t know what happened, but it took me
for a turn. I noticed my voice accent
change, to something, I don’t know what it was. Another time a couple of kids came up and
said their mom wanted to talk with us. We followed them to the house and they were
just kidding with us. When we got there, their mother was not interested at all
and slammed the door in our faces.
Fish and chips are said to be a favorite in England. Chips are actually what we would call French fries
at home, didn’t know that until I got here.
The fish is breaded fish. I haven’t
had the amazing stuff yet. But they say
towards the coast, in Dover, the fish and chips are amazing. Dover is on the ocean, the lowest south you
can go in our mission. It’s kind of like
a dream spot for missionaries in this mission.
Recommended Reading- His Grace is Sufficient- Brad Wilcox,
September Ensign, page 35. It’s way
good!
There are about 25 new missionaries coming this
transfer. My advice to those headed out
on missions soon, or those getting ready for a mission would be ---to get off the
electronics. They are useless. I had started cutting back my own texting
before I came out, and it helped a lot when I got out.
I am still missing about everything about the farm, except
now that it’s getting cold, I won’t be missing pumping out the mainlines. I think that’s when Kenny truly started to
realized he wanted to stay on the farm, when he got out into the mission field
and missed it that much- like I am.
Love, Elder Stevenson
P.S. from Tammy-- He
loves getting regular mail- a nice surprise to get a card or letter during the
week, and not just on p-day! He said it
gives him more strength throughout the middle of the week. He is
trying to respond to everyone’s letters and e-mail, but sometimes doesn’t have
a lot of time to email, so is trying to write more letters. He says he’s written more on his mission than
ever in his life! Even if he doesn’t
respond to every letter, know that he loves receiving them! Thanks to everyone for their continued support!
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