Faith to Find!

It has been an awesome week!  We went to the city and spent the night there before the leadership meeting and then drove back the next day.  It takes four hours on a good day to get there and more with traffic.  It was a really good meeting!

I was just pondering the other day on why things are so good.  And it came to me Ether 12:6- you receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. My faith has been tried for 2 years and we have had so many blessings the last week! 

We had about 15 minutes that afternoon waiting for everyone so my companion and I decided to go down the busiest street in that city and do some finding.  We found this guy who didn’t speak English, with the help of our iPads we were able to translate and explain we could get him a copy of the Book of Mormon in his language if he was interested.  He said ya, and so we headed to the visitor’s center.  Once there, the missionaries were able to take over and visit with him.  So it was really cool. It doesn’t take time to find people it takes faith!

We had exchanges this week with an AP, one of the guys I came out with, it was super fun.  We took him by a family we have been working with and he said they were the best family he had ever meet on his mission.

This family is amazing.  The wife contacted us the first week I was here. We went by and gave one lesson that week.  She was a member and they were thinking their lives were missing something.  This last week we taught them three times.   He accepted a baptismal date of June 14^th.  So exciting.  This Sunday was Stake Conference and so President Jordan and his wife were here.  We talked to him and asked if he would go and teach this super cool family with us.  He agreed.  We were teaching them about the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was really strong in their home.   I began to bear my testimony and shared my personal experience with the Plan of Salvation in relation to Kenny’s death.  This family has lost a close friend recently.  President Jordan added a few words and everyone in the room was crying. It was a very emotional and spiritual experience.  It was go great.  President asked when the baptism day was and he said June 14^th- President asked if he wanted to move that up to the end of May and he agreed.  Then we started talking about eternal families and the husband was asked who he wanted to be with in the Celestial Kingdom, and he answered with his wife and children. The wife was asked and she said with her husband and children.  The children had been playing there and the oldest spoke up and said she wanted to be with mommy and daddy too.  We then committed them to set a goal to be married in the temple one year from now. It was so amazing! I would serve my mission another 2 years to have the opportunity to teach another awesome family like this.  They are so awesome!!!   

Another find this week- a referral on our phone from the Internet.   After the great meeting with the family we were just loving life and decided to stop by this one.  We get there and a teenager opens the door.  Asks if we are the Mormons and invites us in.  Come to find out he had been researching the church online and referred himself!   He loved what he had reading and 5 minutes into the conversation said I want to become a Mormon, how do I become a Mormon?   What a mature and sincere kid- such a great kid!

We have to prepare for a training for tomorrow in Zone Conference and we have to finish that up and so not a lot of time. And sorry no pictures- honestly we haven’t had any time to even take them.

At the Stake Conference Saturday evening meeting, the Presiding Authority had all  the missionaries stand and then had us sit down in order according to how long we have been out. So since I have been out the longest, he had me come and bear my testimony to the congregation. It was a very cool meeting. Loved it!  Love my mission and the time is just flying by!

Thanks for everything, things are going great!  Love, Elder Stevenson

Another Quick and Busy Week

After transfers on Wednesday and spending some time in rush hour travel,  the rest of the week was really quick.  I love the new area.  We have a car so that is a different thing.  Not necessarily good or bad, just different.  I hope I don’t get too fat this transfer with the car. Because we have a car, we can live on the edge of town and it’s cheaper out there.  So we have an actual 2 bedroom house- two stories, it is super nice.  We have a back lawn with trees and bushes and everything. It is the most “feels like home” flat that I have been in because we really do live in a home.

There have been a lot of baptisms in the ward in the last few months.  A lot of them are university students and have shared the gospel with their friends, so some more investigators from the university as well.  But it’s finals time here for the next couple of weeks and then summer break, so might not be a lot going on with some of them.   Some of the students are headed home for the summer and some are taking some vacations during the break.  This is the biggest ward I have been to as well, about 150-160 members. 

A couple of the missionaries in the zone I served with in previous areas. But for the most part a lot of new faces for me.  There are 18 missionaries in the Zone and because there are two Zone Leaders, I will be doing less exchanges in the Zone than I did in the last District.  I get along great with my companion.  We are very similar and have a lot of fun together. 

We have a leadership conference in a neighboring city tomorrow and are planning to drive part way there tonight and stay with some other Elders before driving into the city. Because we will not be back for a Stake meeting we were asked to typed up a report on how iPads are going in the Zone.    So we are really busy and have little time today.

Thanks for everything!   Love, Elder Stevenson

Transfers and iPads

This has been an interesting week.  We had the meeting with Elder Kearon (area president of the Europe Area) and Elder Nielsen (Seventy serving on executive board of directors for the missionary department.)  It was a good meeting.  They talked a lot about agency, repentance and faith.  They were there to train us on the use of iPads, but it was not any technical stuff- it was all spiritual stuff.   It makes me think of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 29:34- “Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created.”   

Basically we were smart enough to learn to use iPads, but they were training us on the spiritual understanding and doctrines around protection.  The iPads are made in partnership with Apple and the church, so they are extremely restrictive, any time that we get an app, President Jordan will get an email saying it.  There is an app catalog similar to the App Store, which has all the apps that are approved. We are able to access any church websites, but nothing else.  But as they said, the first filter is not the built in restriction, the first filter is your using your agency for personal righteousness.  It was a super good meeting.  

The meeting was from 9 to 4.  We were told we were given the iPads for two reasons.

1-      To preach the gospel to all nations, connecting with people previously missed by more traditional missionary work.

2-      To learn good habits on the Internet and on this technology that will benefit us throughout our lives.  In that way a mission really is to prepare you for life.

With one full day in a neighboring town for that meeting, we had a couple of full days of appointments back in our area.  We were able to catch up with one whom we have not been able to see for a long time.  Then we had a long day with the Zone Meeting- the longest in the mission. That’s when we actually got the iPads and it took a long time to get all 18 of them set up.  Met another guy with a lot of questions all based on anti Mormon things.  Following a discussion with him, we testified to him and told him to go read the Book of Mormon and then to come up a list of questions from there. It was a pretty good lesson.  We have a couple of other investigators who are progressing along nicely as well.  And a couple who cancelled their appointments this week.   

Sunday was good in the ward. Monday was a banking holiday and so the kids were out of school.  We were able to do some service for a family in the area.  And because of no school the ward had a little 5k run/walk. It was super fun.  Just a fun fact, I won- with a time of 23:35. No one expected it, not even me.  The ward is full of people that run marathons and compete.  It was super fun.   I love this ward- it is awesome!

We got phone calls from President earlier than normal on Monday.  And I am moving.  I have been called to be a Zone Leader in another area.  I am very sad to leave this ward, there are a lot of mixed emotions towards it.  It will be fun and a great opportunity for me, but I would have loved to stay here for my last 5 weeks.   I found out on Sunday that I have a far distant relative that is buried in the cathedral in the area where I have called.  How crazy is that!

Things have been going great, I am in love with my mission. I never thought it would come to this point, but I was just talking with some members yesterday and he asked what my thoughts were with my mission. I was like, it’s all I know really. I don’t remember very much of my home social life. The three things I remember are working on the farm, my family and missionary work.  It’s just been part of my life for the last two years so it’s going to be a big change when I leave it all behind. 

I am so proud of the District and who we are becoming, I have gotten very attached to this District and the ward.  Putting all my mind and heart into them, and I am very sad to leave them. I actually cried as I think of leaving them. I love them and will miss them.  But the new area is where I need to be, so here I go!

Thanks for all you do! And I will see you in five weeks.

Love, Elder Stevenson

Exchanges, Finding and Great Stake Conference

I had a lot of exchanges this week.  And a lot of finding.  And Stake Conference.  Also a little service in there.  One of the exchanges was right by the ocean. 

For service we helped a family clean up their backyard.  There was a pond there and they want to remove it, but the landlord doesn’t want to.  So for safety reasons, having two kids, they filled it with wood.  But since it rains so much, it got filled in with water anyway.   A lot of wood bogged with water and then mud and gunk and stuff.  We started to clean it out.  It was pretty gross.  We did find a lizard living in the pond. The family had never seen a lizard before- so we caught it for their kid to see when  getting home from school.

We did find one new guy this week.  Also were able to teach a few from previous weeks.  One is very sincere and has a lot of questions.  Another doesn’t really have a belief in God, but really wants to find out if there is one, because he knows it would benefit his life.  One we found last week is doing really good, studying everything in depth.  And our baptism is still on for May 9^th.  That is an awesome one!  So grateful to be able to lead by the spirit in missionary work to find that one.  

Found out that a member's father spent some time Burley, Idaho on his mission. It’s been some time ago, but he remembers little old Idaho!  What a small world.

Then we had Stake Conference and it was a wonderful weekend.

One of them spoke about asking questions.   How questions come about from misunderstanding, or finding out history of the church that they were unaware of which leads them to asking questions.  He talked about how sincere is the question you are asking. Is it s a very important question to ask, or is it one that is on your mind but doesn’t really affect anything.  He then explained about how we should not let what we know be trumped by the questions upon which we do not yet understand.  One of his examples.   In the 1880’s a man claimed the Book of Mormon could not be true because it talked about having metal for swords, and he didn’t think that would be possible then.  In the 1950’s another said it could not be true for the same reason.  The whole time the church doesn’t say anything about it.  Then in the 1960’s an archaeologist finds an iron sword that was hardened into metal that dates back to 700 BC. Before Lehi was told to leave Jerusalem.  A question that could have caused a lot of people to question was answered years later.  But it was years later.  Someone could have had that question stop their progression in the gospel.   Now it was corrected.  He also talked about how in today’s time there are a lot of questions that individuals have. Which sometimes there are no logical answers to please them, but that the time will come in which they will be answered, either in this life, or in the life to come.

Another spoke about is our current sacrifice sufficient enough.  Basically are we giving our best or are we withholding from the altar of sacrifice.  Three examples that he used- Tithes and Offerings, Worshiping through singing (not just sitting there during the hymns,) and having a broken heart and contrite spirit.   It was a really good stake conference. There is another special broadcast Stake Conference scheduled hopefully before I come home with a visiting authority.  That would be an awesome thing!

Other than that not a lot going on. 

Thanks for everything.  Love, Elder Stevenson

Yard Work- Love Service!

We were able to do some service this week.  Helped a member clean their yard.  In England what happens is in the winter you have moss that begins to spring up and then it gets a little warm and it just grows like crazy.  The moss grows throughout the grass and under the trees, trampoline and everywhere.  So we spent a while on that, and filled 5 black bags and a big garden waste bin full of grass clippings, moss and weeds.  I love just getting service in.  It was like 22 degrees Celsius which is like 70 degrees F.  It was a pretty warm and I got a little tan on this week, already have the farmer’s tan going on.  Another time we were able to work with another member and work in his yard as well.  This time I was pruning a huge bush with blackberry vines growing through it.  So it was an adventure!

In addition to some of our appointments this week, we have come across some potentials in the area book.  So we are working to stopping by them all.  One that we stopped by was like ya I would love to meet with you.  We went back for our first lesson with them.  This person left the church as a teenager and just didn’t really know about things anymore.   So we are planning to go through all of the lessons again with them. We are pretty excited about this one.

Another lesson with a person who had heard some things about the apostasy and had some questions.  We tried to explain in some depth how the apostasy took place and why it took place. But it didn’t really make it all click.  So I just testified my heart out.  I said that I knew the events happened, that I didn’t know it by any evidence that people have shown me, nor by any study that I have done.  But that I knew by the power of the Holy Ghost it was true.  When I said that, there were no more questions about it.  The conversation continued from there.  What about Joseph Smith?  We talked about how it either happened or it didn’t.  The question, so if Joseph Smith did see the vision what?  If the vision really happened then Joseph Smith was a prophet, which would mean the church was true.  So what if Joseph Smith didn’t see the vision?  Then Joseph Smith was a liar and a coward, and would be leading people astray.  Exactly!  It is either true or it’s not, there is not a gray area.  So the person committed to pray about it.  Making good progress.  It was wonderful!

Another investigator is doing great- with a strong sincere desire now to know it’s true.   The district is doing really good.  Four of the five areas have someone on date for baptism. We have 10 on date for baptism in total.  Things for the district have really taken off again!

This week in church the missionaries were asked to do a musical number for sacrament meeting.  My companion and one of the other sisters can really sing, and other sister is good at the piano.  Somehow my voice got dragged into it. But it was a really good musical number, it was “If the Savior Stood Beside Me.”   The bishopric asked us to start to prepare one for next month already.  It was awesome!

We had been told about getting ipads some months ago. But nothing happened.  We received word we will be getting them the end of this month after some special training.   Have to see how that goes.

Funny moment- I stopped a guy on the street this week.  He was like I am an atheist. I was like oh really?  He was like ya I am 98% atheist and 2% agnostic, just in case.  Then he walked off.

Thanks for emails, prayers and such. 

Love, Elder Stevenson

Work, Work, Work and Loving it!

Pretty quick this week with emailing on Tuesday.  The rest of the week went really fast.

We had dinner with a member one night this week that works with a major company who supplies big companies for the sugar industry.  I was like what- we got talking and I asked if he knew Amalgamated Sugar.  He was yea- he had called them a while back and sees them at different conferences and meetings and such.  I was like that is so weird.  He works in a neighboring city and travels all other the world visiting different places. He was telling me about farming in Brazil.  It was pretty cool to talk to someone once again that knows about farming.  He was super cool. 

Another exchange this week.  It was good, with the only Elder that I didn’t know that well in the district. So now I know them all!  Love being able to serve others.  Since being out so long I have realized how much experience I really have in the mission field. I take a lot of knowledge and understanding for granted. Just think that everyone has it when in fact, not everyone is at the same level of understanding.

One of other investigators has moved back their baptism date. Wanting to make sure they are really ready for the commitment.  Still making progress and learning more all the time. Another is still committed to a baptism in the middle of May- loving church and life at this point!  For service we are able to do a little gardening at least once a week.

I had my first ice cream from an ice cream truck the other day- the first in my whole life! 

One day we were out stopping a lot of people and my companion said it didn’t feel right to him.  He didn’t think we were in the right area at that time.  We went a little more and he said he wanted to call the Bishop and have him say a prayer with us.  That sounded like a good plan, so we did. The Bishop gave us the names of a few people to stop by.  The first one was asleep. The second one was gone. The third one was a partly active family.  They let us in and for the first time in a long time the father sat in for the lesson.  And then we stopped by a lady who said she knew a lot about all other churches, but not much about ours and she was wanting to know more about it.  This excited my companion and me a lot.  We were able to see some miracles along the way.  So great to be working with him! 

Other than that not a lot going on, just work, work, work and loving it! I love being a servant of our Heavenly Father!

Thanks for everything!

Love, Elder Stevenson

Love feeling the spirit so strong!

Went on exchanges again this week- like all weeks.   We had planned to go this one place and find by the way there.  With it being Easter break we knew that there would not too many people there.   So planned to stop by a few people and talk with everyone else we saw.  That morning we woke up to rain! But we started out anyway after studies.  The Elder I was with had worked this area before and said he had never walked this far without talking to someone.  We thought about going back and started going back, but didn’t feel right about it. I prayed to know what we should do.   And we headed back with the original plan of going to see the one member and talk with everyone.  We saw two people on the way.  I still feel strongly that we should continue.  I saw a person just down the street and ran to meet them.  He wasn’t interested at all.  With a prayed in my heart of “help us find this person, ” we continued down the street.  And a lady was there.  We explained that we were sharing an Easter message. She didn’t even know what the Easter holiday was all about.  We explained why.  And asked if we could meet with her one time and give her a website to check out.  She was like ya, can we exchange numbers?  We were shocked of course and said yes we can.  Then we went on our way.  We both knew that we were meant to go see her that day. The lady ended up watching conference, met with the missionaries and is now preparing to be baptized in May!    It was such a wonderful experience to have.  I love feeling the spirit so strongly in missionary work that you are literally being guided to where you need to be. And those being guided to where you are! It is wonderful!

A couple of Elders in the area both ended up sick at the same time. We thought it might be a gas leak in their flat as it smelled like gas.  So they came to our flat for the night while theirs was checked out. (checked the next day and no problem there, just sick at the same time.)  The mission doctor suggested we take them out for a walk in the fresh air.  As we were walking with them, we came upon a lady with her dog.  We stopped to talk with her.  Three of us were in casual clothes and one in a suit- just weird.  But we were talking to her, playing with her dog and just visiting.  She had a lot of questions about God.  She was like that is so cool you guys talk to people about this stuff.  She is really awesome and open to the gospel. The spirit was there, which just goes to show you don’t have to be dressed like a missionary to be a missionary.  We are seeing her later this week.

One of our investigators agreed to watch conference on their phone while on vacation.  Another came watched conference and came to the Easter party and loved it!  Conference was so amazing, I loved it! So good and so inspired and everything was just awesome!!! Talked a lot about, I personally felt, the importance of being a strong member, relying on your own testimony and not the testimony of others or on relying on evidence.  But on the testimony that you have. 

The work is going so well at the moment and we are seeing so many miracles in our work.   Today was my last regular interview with President Jordan.  I have the feeling I will be staying here for my last transfer and continuing to work with the District.  It’s a great District and Zone to be in.  

Thanks for the emails, I love them. Talk to you next week.  Love, Elder Stevenson