Two weeks worth. . .

{not a delay in getting information from Elder Stevenson- a crazy busy week for mom in not getting the blog updated.}

Pretty normal weeks.   P-days we did some service and went on a hike in the area for one.  We had interviews last week with President Jordan.  Some teaching in the neighboring towns and working with less actives. District meetings and splits in the neighboring town and so a lot of travel on those days.  We aren’t having a lot of success with our investigators or finding new people to teach, but we are continuing to work at it.  We participated in a market day to try to share the gospel with folks who were in the town center for that activity.  The market day is like sidewalk sales in the United States.  Except here the sellers travel all over the place all week.   They normally sell clothes, accessories, gardening stuff, produce, meat, cards, whatever they have.  So we set up a table in it with Book of Mormons, pamphlets, and pass along cards.  The mission has gotten some banners.  And a pop up rectangular prism billboards, about 6- 6 ½ feet tall, which is really fun to use.  We were in the middle of doing it and a lady from the local council (which is like a city officer) came up and asked to see our permit.  We had no idea we needed a permit to do what we do 6 days a week.  We talked to her and explained that it was all for free.  Nothing was being sold.  She said it was okay for us to be there, as long as we didn’t approach or hassle anyone about stuff.  This made it a little more difficult than if we could have approached the people.  But we handed out 2 Book of Mormons and some pass along cards.  We thought that was pretty successful for the 2 hours we were there.

We also started a new way of introducing the gospel to people in the area. We have started carrying sidewalk chalk with us.  We will write questions on the sidewalks.  How can God help me and my family?  Can I live with my loved ones after I die?  What is the purpose of life?  Questions that really get people thinking, and as “Preach My Gospel “ calls them- questions of the soul.  We write them on the pavement and write mormon.org.uk by them so people can go to the website and find the questions.   

One day we were 10 minutes early for an appointment, so we pulled out the chalk and just write anything on the sidewalk we are near.  As we were doing it people kept looking at it.  Over the whole week we have see a lot of people look at them.  One elderly gentleman came up to us and wanted to know what we were doing.  Worried about kids just causing havoc and spray painting everything.   I explained we were missionaries from our church and this was sidewalk chalk and it would wash away.   He realized we were trying to do go and went on his way.

On Saturday last week we decided to find a place to do the whole Plan of Salvation in chalk.  We selected a local skate park.   We headed out that morning and spent two hours drawing and writing. It looked pretty good when we finished.  We had writing all over the place with questions, statements, quotes, mormon.org.uk, and the whole plan of salvation.  To begin with a kid came up to us and wanted to know who had done it.  We said we had and he thought it was cool, we talked with him for awhile. 

President Jordan gave a training about how missionary work is like farming.  There are phases in a mission.  When you will have a bag and you are sowing seeds.  When you are carrying a watering pot to help nourish the seed. When the time is right, you are with a sickle ready to harvest.  No matter what you are doing it is all important to the final product. 

I thought the farming/ missionary work was really neat.  It was like farming totally.   You can’t just be out there with the harvester when you haven’t planted and waited for the crops to mature. You need to do all the steps in the right order.  Sometimes you continue to replant and move pipe and spray and fix pivots and pick rock and disk the ground and put on fertilizer.  But we do all that for the final product.  Which we cannot do in a swift single movement.  

There has to be patience involved with it all.  A great comfort to me. Even if I am never personally there when someone that I taught got baptized, I did the portion I was supposed to do.  I haven’t failed if I have done what I was asked to do.   Serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind and strength.

As I have been studying I came up with some things that I think would help wards with missionary work. 

1. Prepare: President Eyring stated, "God will put prepared people in the way of His prepared servants." We as members need to be feasting on the words of Christ each day so we are prepared to share the gospel. Also carrying pass-along cards with you or a Book of Mormon to hand out. Simply be prepared to share the gospel.

2. Pray: Elder Ballard said, "We should exercise our faith and pray individually and as families, asking for help in finding ways to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ." President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “It will be a great day when our people not only pray for the missionaries throughout the world, but ask the Lord to help them to assist the missionaries who are laboring in their own ward.” Prayer is an act of faith, in which when we faithfully pray for an opportunity to share the gospel, the opportunities will come.

3. Perform: President Hinckley stated, "Get on your knees and pray, then get on your feet and work."  Once we are prepared and have prayed for those opportunities, look for them in your everyday life and take advantage of the opportunities that come to share the gospel.

Finally in closing Elder Ballard said, "Brothers and sisters, fear will be replaced with faith and confidence when members and the full-time missionaries kneel in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them with missionary opportunities. Then, we must demonstrate our faith and watch for opportunities to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father’s children, and surely those opportunities will come. These opportunities will never require a forced or a contrived response. They will flow as a natural result of our love for our brothers and sisters. Just be positive, and those whom you speak with will feel your love. They will never forget that feeling, though the timing may not be right for them to embrace the gospel. That too may change in the future when their circumstances change."

Elder Tad R Callister gave a great talk on Consecrated Missionaries in 2008.  We got a copy of that talk. 

(He sent the whole talk, but I found it on the web and so have included a link to that blog instead of posting the whole talk again.)

http://scottsdalemission.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/becoming-a-consecrated-missionary/

President Uchtdorf also has a great talk to read.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/come-join-with-us?lang=eng

Thanks for all of the emails, letters and prayers. I love hearing from everyone!  Love, Elder Stevenson 

Good Visit

A great visit with Elder Stevenson yesterday. Things are going well for him in England.  Not a lot of luck with the investigators this week- still trying.  And still working to find new people to teach.   A couple of people from a previous area are talking about getting baptized this summer. 

Things are going good in the area.  It was rainy most of the week.  For the football/soccer game the missionaries were playing with a few from the ward and some kids.  After about 10 minutes of playing, it started to pour for the next thirty minutes.  We continued to play and were soaked from head to toe.  The bishop said it appear we were walking on water.  He is a lot of fun. 

The crops are looking good there. The grain is starting to head out already and the beets are up to about the 8 leaf stage already.  Strange to hear of the difference in the growing seasons.

We were able to tear down a shed for service one day.  A wind storm had torn off part of the roof.  So we just finished tearing off the roof and pushing in the sides.  Had a blast doing that. 

Been thinking about the changes I’m made since coming out on my mission.  It seems like the longer I am out on my mission, the more comfortable I am at discussing the gospel with people.   I like to talk about the gospel with people.  Not something I did before my mission, or even really had an interest in doing.  Fun to have a doctrinal discussion with dad as we Skyped.   I can’t imagine the conversations we will be having a year from now. A lot of changes for me.

Thanks for all of the emails and letters, I love hearing from everyone!   Have a great week!

Love, Elder Stevenson

May, Sunshine and Comfort

It’s been a tough week.  I have done a lot of studying and pondering this week after hearing of Dakota’s tragedy accident.  I have become more comfortable with the events of last weekend.  The following are some of the things I have learned and received strength from this week:

I have been reading from the book “The Gateway We Call Death” by Russell M Nelson.  He explains that no matter when people die in this life, whether young or old, people still have the same emotions.  There is never a time in life when it is easy to let go of those we love. 

Since I have been on my mission my testimony has grown a lot and I have begun to understand more of the “why.”  The “why” is answered by Robert Millett in his talk “God and Human Tragedy.”  It’s because we live in the fallen world with death and tragedy and we must accept that. Death is more of a part of this world than life. We live to die basically, and we die (physically) to live for eternity.  Live to die and die to live! 

The better question for us to ask is “What are we going to do about it?”  “What are we to learn from this at this time right now?”  In the book “The Other Side of Heaven” is talks about how sometimes the Lord allows people to die.  Because He gives us agency and He can’t give us agency but then keep us safe, as well, if we break the laws of nature or the limits of life.  There is no promise we will live through it.  So sometimes God allows people to die.  And He takes special spirits back home to Him early as if to spare them from hard trials that they may have faced later on in life.  

Another great talk by Richard G Scott in the April 2012 Conference.  https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/how-to-obtain-revelation-and-inspiration-for-your-personal-life?lang=eng

Excerpt from that talk--Another example of revelation is this guidance given to President Joseph F. Smith: “I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. … We are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors … who have preceded us into the spirit world. We cannot forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we cannot break. … If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded by our mortal weaknesses, … how much more certain it is … to believe that those who have been faithful, who have gone beyond … can see us better than we can see them; that they know us better than we know them. … We live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous for our welfare, they love us now more than ever. For now they see the dangers that beset us; … their love for us and their desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for ourselves.” Relationships can be strengthened through the veil with people we know and love. That is done by our determined effort to continually do what is right. We can strengthen our relationship with the departed individual we love by recognizing that the separation is temporary and that covenants made in the temple are eternal. When consistently obeyed, such covenants assure the eternal realization of the promises inherent in them.

And a couple of scriptures I found this week.

Alma 7:12

“And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”

From a book I read this last week it talked about how succor means: to give comfort and support in times of hardship and distress.  And it is conditional upon us turning to Him. We must turn to Him to receive the comforting.

  

Mosiah 24:14-15

“And I will also ease the  burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.”

The Lord didn’t deliver them out of their bondage, but He strengthened them in their bondage.  He isn’t going to deliver us from our pains, but He will lighted them and strengthen us as we turn to Him and accept the things as they are and pray for help in the trials we are going through. The Lord asks us to come unto Him, because He knows the way. He is the way, the truth and the light.  And this life has two paths- we either believe in Him or we don’t!  And it’s a whole lot easier to believe in Him and to receive help in our trials.

As for missionary work this week.  We have worked and worked.  But not had a lot of success in following through with some of our investigators.  Had a couple cancel out on appointments and such.  We are continuing to try and work with them as best we can.   Didn’t have a lot of success with the Bible classes this week either- again only the missionaries showed up for the class.  We were able to do some service one afternoon at the local charity shop and for a family in the area.  Love doing service.

The farms in the area are doing really good. The potatoes are up now and you can see them from the road.  They have a unique irrigation system.  It’s a 200 gpm end gun on a platform with wheels. They run the 3 inch mainline and hook it to a 2 inch hose on a reel to get to the platform.  Some of the grain is starting to head out, I think the winter variety.  The beets are getting huge, you can see a solid green line from the road.  It’s super crazy the time difference in crops from here to home.  You are talking about just having beets planted and they are already starting to cultivate some here.

The weather’s been really nice. We were able to go golfing today with one of the guys in the ward. It was fun! 

We did have Stake Conference this weekend and it was very good.  There were a couple of talks on keeping eternal perspective.  Like glasses when we have the glasses, or eternal perspective, things are more clear and you understand more. But when you don’t have the glasses, or the eternal perspective, you don’t understand anything.  You can’t make sense of things and you become confused and mad.  I really loved that analogy. 

I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ.  That we will be able to see our loved ones again. That we will be able to receive much peace and joy as we accept things and lean on our Savior to receive comfort and strength in our afflictions.  He will not deliver us out of our afflictions, but strengthen us in them.  I know that there is a life after death, where all that had been made wrong, will be made right in the next life.  That relationships are continued on the other side of the veil and we are able to strengthen them even while we are separated for a short amount of time. 

 

Love, Elder Stevenson  

Short Email

This week has been alright.   Sorry- this will be a short one for the week.  We were able to find a new family this week.  They are wonderful and have been prepared by the Lord for this time in their life.  There was a baptism of a little girl in the ward, a lot of non-member friends came to it, which was really good. 

We attempted to do the Bible study this week, but only the four missionaries showed up.  We will be continuing to try and get more people involved in coming weeks.

The information about the candlelight vigil at the high school for Dakota was pretty touching.  So great to see the community in support of her family.  She was a great friend!  Times like this make us appreciate our testimonies even more.  

When we ask people -why do bad things happen to good people?  We answer with because it makes us appreciate the good even more. And because sometimes we need to rely on faith to get through things in life!  

Love, Elder Stevenson

I'm Staying!

It’s been a crazy normal week.  All week long I was having thoughts that I have been here for awhile and I might be moving.  We were supposed to get calls last night, but President had something come up so he was not able to call until this morning.  This morning we found that we are both staying together for another transfer.  So 6 months in this area!  Yeah!  It’s been wonderful to be in this area.  I have really changed as  a person a lot in this area.  A lot more reliant on the Lord and my surroundings.  This week during Zone Conference we watched an Easter video, “Because of Him”  About Jesus Christ and it said that because of  Him, death has no sting, there is not end.  It’s been a wonderful week to reflect on the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.  { Check out the video for yourself.  https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng  }

At Zone Conference we talked about the fall and the atonement.   No one can fully understand the atonement unless they begin to understand the fall.  We went through the key things that happened in the fall.  Then with a wonderful training about the atonement to end it off with.  

Wednesday we met with one of our investigators.  He is doing wonderful.  He was able to feel the spirit very strong in the lesson.  We all knew he felt it and then pointed it out. He was just gleaming with hope.  He has a wonderful testimony and belief.

Thursday we headed to another area for some appointments we had set up there.  We were able to catch one appointment that day.  That evening we had a meeting with the Ward Council.  The Bishop is really good, a convert himself.  He has a wonderful story.  He has a very strong testimony about the Savior and really has a great push for mission work.

On Good Friday we were able to do some service for a family in the ward.  It was fun! 

Saturday there was an Easter event in the area.   We had dinner with a family in the ward.  We actually dyed eggs with the kids. 

Easter Sunday was a great meeting at church.  A meeting all about the Atonement.  A lady and gentleman in the ward spoke and then the Stake Patriarch.   We followed that with a blitz of the area with the other Elders.    Then to supper with another family in the ward. They shared some fun stories and we had a good time with them.  

Yesterday we went around to visit some less actives.  We are trying to make sure the contact information the church has is correct.  We are looking to see if they still live there, and see if they are interested in coming back to church.  We were able to make contacts with a couple of them that day. 

Then to the family in the ward for dinner.  We had a contest with the kids at doing handstands and cartwheels.  I could do the handstand, but just learned how to do a cartwheel.  My companion put a hole in his trousers. I didn’t do that, but ended up with grass stains on the back of my white shirt.

This week we are starting a Bible study class.  Just an event for members to come to and bring their friends and such.  Trying to get the ball rolling with referrals coming in. 

While we were driving this week, we passed by a grain field that was being freshly sprayed.   Since I missed it a lot, I rolled down my window and just took it in.  I missed that smell a lot.  While you talk about just planting grain at home, it’s 8 inches to a foot tall already.  It’s been crazy in the difference.

Also as we were driving we also came across this crop in the fields. Not sure what it is, but the flowers are beautiful.

I was studying the Doctrine and Covenants this week and found this scripture.   D&C 101:7-8  “They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble.  In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me.”

The importance of relying on the Lord.  Something I am learning here.

Love, Elder Stevenson

Sunny in England!

Pretty normal week with a lot of finding again.  We used the new way of contacting and I’m really starting to love using it.  It really helps people to open up a whole lot more.  Found out it makes a difference with those we contacting as well.  Just last week as I was working the street, a young lady came up to me and wanted to know what I was doing. I started talking with her.  She shared some of her concerns with me, at the end of the day I passed her name along to the other elders we were working with in the area because she lived in their area. They were able to make a follow up this week.  She said she was really interested in learning more because of the way I had approached our conversation the week before.  She could see that I was passionate about what I was talking about and so she wanted to learn more.  It was powerful to me, to realize that the little things…. Like the way I talk are important to all of this. 

We are going to a neighboring town to email now.  There were two wards meeting in our chapel and so there were two computers.  But the other building got finished and the ward moved out taking their computer with them. The library in our town doesn’t open on Monday, so we go to the neighboring city, park at the church (cause it’s free parking) and walk 30 minutes to use the computers at the city library there. 

Following a district meeting we were out contacting one evening and came across an interesting man.  We discussed his beliefs and the gospel for some time.  Although we had some common beliefs, we had some real differences.  He wasn’t sure about the whole Book of Mormon thing as we didn’t have the plates.  But he admitted that he believed in the Bible although he hadn’t seen any evidence of it.  We agreed that there are a lot of things we need to take on faith as we don’t see a lot of things we believe in.  We haven’t seen Christ and yet we believe in Him.  He wasn’t sure of the need for prophets and apostles today.  I asked him to show me in the Bible where is said we did not need them. He couldn’t think of any place it said that.  I said that because the need for prophets and apostles did not stop at Jesus Christ’s time.  We kindly agreed to disagree and headed off on our own ways.

We were able to volunteer at the local charity shop again this week. And able to do a little work for a couple of the families in the ward. We love to do service!   We have some great families in the ward who are really good to us. One of them has a little girl getting baptized in a couple of weeks.  She really wants me to be able to come to her baptism… but transfers are next week.  She said she would be mad if I didn’t come to her baptism. 

We are continuing to work with our investigators.  One of them is doing really well. We shared the Restoration and the Godhead with him yesterday.  He really had a deep down desire looking for the truth in his life.

Today was a sunny day!  We had a good time.  We even washed the car so it looks like brand new.  Which is a good thing as we have Zone Conference this week and sometimes they do car inspections and it would be disgraceful to have a dirty car for that.

Transfers are next week- so p-day will be on Tuesday. 

Love, Elder Stevenson

Conference was great!

Pretty normal week this week.  A lot of finding and some teaching.  Also attempting to catch up with our previous investigators.  This week we did try a new way for finding.  Usually we just go to the center square and stop people and visit with them for a few minutes.  This week we started using a little different approach. One of asking more thought provoking questions.  Based on their answers, it allows us to be able to share pieces of the gospel then testify about the things. It’s a super nice way.   In the 3 hours there I visited with 20 people, and ended up teaching 6 lessons.  It’s crazy what a little change in the approach can make.  The following day my companion and I tried it in a different town with good results as well. 

I had the opportunity of doing service on exchanges this week.  We helped out some of the members in the area.    It was super fun!  We were also able to help a family who is moving in the ward. Love doing service and working physically.

We were able to have our football (soccer) game on Saturday, as we hold it in the mornings and conference doesn’t start until the afternoon here.   It was a good day for soccer. The second time we have played that week.  We had also had a game on p-day with the Elders in the area.   My companion and I thought we were pretty good and were confident we could beat them.  We ended up being  humbled in the end. 

Conference this weekend was wonderful!  It was really good.  I thought there was a lot directed towards pornography, the law of chastity and repentance.   Also they mentioned more than 3 times the first and great commandment- Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, will all thy heart, might, mind and strength.  Loving someone leads to sacrifice. If you love your wife, you will sacrifice things you want to do for doing things that she wants to do.  Love for God is the same way. Another thing from conference was that God is always God. He is not changing.  If it’s been wrong, it will still be wrong.  If it’s been right, it will still be right.  Also the need to for us to stand up for what we believe in and share it with others!  Same as it has always been.   Lehi’s dream about the tree- he liked the fruit, which is the word of God and he tried to share it with his family.  Another that came up a lot was strengthening your own testimony through daily scripture study and prayer.   We were able to see all of the conference, but the last session.  We went with a man in the ward to the neighboring town to be able to see the Priesthood Session.  We watched the other sessions at members’ homes.  Conference was great!

Love, Elder Stevenson