April 7, 2014

Well it seems like I just wrote a letter so this one may be a bit shorter. This week has been pretty crazy, let’s see- On Thursday and Friday we taught seminary because the teacher needed a sub and that was pretty fun, I know how I probably looked from a teacher perspective now and wish I had of paid better attention. We had a lesson with Chris and talked about the word of wisdom, something she has been struggling with but it was a really good lesson and she has such a desire to live the gospel and put of the natural man. We helped get a foundation ready for pavers and digging in the hard AZ rocky dirt is sure fun. Actually it was too bad except a huge 300 lb. rock in the path we had to move. Then we went home to change but ended up doing more service, power washing a deck to get all the pine sap off and raking the roof for pine needles and the rain gutters. We had dinner on Friday with a member family and they invited some friends they have been working with (Brenda and Ernie) that have been reading the Book of Mormon and we got told before we went over "Don't teach a lesson or push them" but then while we were there we shared a little scripture after dinner like usual and that really opened up the conversation and after we left they were talking some more. We got a call from the members the next day saying after you left Brenda said she thinks she is thinking about being baptized! And we haven't even taught them yet! They are weekenders and before have kinda said we don't want the missionaries to teach us but now that we had dinner with them and met them and they see were normal we think they will be receptive to us also. Miracles are everywhere :) On Friday our floor in the bathroom was wet so we told our landlord/member we live by and he got looking at it and ended up tearing up the shower and toilet and bathroom floor and found the leak is coming from under the bathtub and the wood on the floor is all wet. Well at that point our place was a mess and he said it wouldn't be done till Monday so we talked to a few ward members and in no time one offered us to stay in their guest home/side home thing so that's where we have been for a couple days. We just barely found out it will be Thursday before we can go back in but that's ok because the place we are in now is awesome and it has an oven! Thursday because that's how long it will be till the wood that was under the floor will take to dry. Conference was great. On Saturday we watched some of it at the grandparents’ house and it was funny, before when we asked they said sure you can watch but don't expect us to watch with you so we went and his grandpa ended up watching with us and enjoying it and after the first session his grandma made us lunch and we got talking and she was really stubborn before but she's like when is the afternoon session done and she said well maybe I’ll be back from the store by then, she wasn't back but it's a big step. I loved conference! It is packed with so much good that the whole world needs to smarten up and listen to and we would be so much better off. A few things that stood out to me, being a disciple of Jesus Christ and following him. Lots of talk about trials and I liked the one about being grateful no matter our circumstance and the story of "the load". Now is the time to prepare to meet God, the example of the 4 minutes and how this is our performance time. Lots of good things about loving our fellow man and serving him. In the talk about following up, I want to ask each of you who you have invited to listen to the missionaries in the last 3 months? If no one you better find 2 people to invite during the next 3 months. :) Well, have a good week, share the gospel! Love Elder Stevenson