Tuesday, December 30, 2014

December 29, 2014

Well it was good to see you all on Christmas, those 40 minutes went quick and we ran right out of time no one asked me to bear my testimony so I decided I would do that today: I know Jesus Christ is the savior and redeemer of the world. He is the way, the only way to return again to heavenly father. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored on the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith and we are very very lucky to have those blessings in our lives today, the stone is rolling forward and this is the time to prepare for the second coming. God loves each and every one of us, he has a plan for us. The book of Mormon contains the fullness of the gospel and we need to study it daily. As a side note around Thanksgiving one of the things Elder Lawrence of the 70 talked to us about was reading the book of Mormon before the New Year and marking all the times it mentions Christ or the God Head, I am almost done and the book of Mormon does testify Jesus is the Son of God. Families are crucial in God's plan and necessary, I am grateful for my family, your love and support toward me at this time. This is a missionary church and we should all be seeking opportunities to share the gospel as well as increase in our conversion and staying true to our covenants. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Make some goals and plans for the upcoming year, here are 2 of mine.. 1. Get ripped so my 6 pack looks like Taylors. 2. Read 3-4 pages of Jesus the Christ per day (or 100 pg per month) so I can read it before August. I love you, have a good week! Elder Stevenson




December 22, 2014

This last week was good. On Tuesday we volunteered at a local church and helped out with their homeless outreach project. As companion ships we would get assigned to a bum and then go around with them to all the booths they wanted to and be there friend. At first they had a bunch of Spanish people who needed help so I went with a Spanish elder (Johnson) and we helped a lady.. I didn't understand too much, but my Spanish is actually coming along, mas a menos. Then we helped an English speaking lady who has no family and never has met her parents she was in her 20's. Sad story but we helped her out too, got a haircut, tested for aids, free Obama phone, ID, flu shot, and a bunch of other stuff, it was pretty fun! We hung Sister Fussell’s Christmas lights for her. Finally were able to meet with Nicole again she's feeling a little better. Still didn't come to church... But hopefully soon or we will drop her. She knows she needs to be there but something always gets in the way. We didn't meet with Kyle he had an emergency dentist thing come up, but he was at church and that much is good. We had our Christmas temple trip this week. It was great, I was able to take a name all the way thru, we went early and did baptisms, confirmations and everything else. It was really cool and fun to baptize each other. Sadly it took a lot of precious time to do it all. But it was temple work. We had a really good lesson with Inez about Alma 32, sadly she is going to move. We saw blain and he is doing well on his track to the temple. Same with the Deleons. We had Zone Training Meeting one day, took some elders to the doctor and tried to weekly plan, busy but not teaching wise busy. We found a family! We had a lesson Thursday night and watched he is the gift, it was really good! They are part Mexican so they might have Spanish elders teach but whatever is best for them is good. Saturday I went to another area, the Eldorado ward, it was fun with Elder Cox. Got to ride bikes. I am about out of time but our week was good! Luke 2 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Don't forget about baby Jesus this Christmas! See you soon Love, Elder Stevenson

December 15, 2014

Hello! Life is good, nothing new for transfers, I am staying with Elder Freckleton and our apartment is the same. Transfer meeting was good though, got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while! The Mesa Temple Lights are up and running and we got to go on Friday with the Deckers and last night with the Deleons. They are awesome, so many lights. They also have nativity scenes and He is the Gift playing and the Nativity movie playing, its good! A lot has been happening, I'm glad the Elders talked to you about the He is the Gift video, don't forget to share it. Kyle is doing good, we had a lesson with him yesterday again and he's making big progress but its hard since he only knows a little, even reading and understanding the scriptures is pretty tough. The frosting was good mom,It wouldn't thicken cause it was fake butter... So we just kept pouring in cream cheese and powder sugar till it tasted good. On Sunday Elder Freckleton got sick, don't know if I mentioned or not but he's allergic to wheat soy and peanuts and ate something with that in it. We had our ward Christmas party, it was good. Sadly no investigators came but we had a few Less Actives. We had a lesson with someone who turned out to be anti, without bashing he got put in his place and shown the bible verses he was wrong. Actually had quite a few experiences of people who were anti this week, we went to dinner at a salad buffet with a member and man named Mercer (evil name huh?) came up to us and asked where the lds storehouse cannery is cause he wanted to buy some canning things so we told him and started talking about the gospel and he proclaimed to be some english professor scientist who is proving all religion to be right and that karma and math is everything, it was really weird, well the member we were with told him it was the holy ghost not "luck" and invited him to read the book of mormon (awesome member by the way) well this mercer guy went off about demanding a sign and I told him he was wrong and thats tempting god and bore my testimony to him. It was really weird, at least different then other people who have been anti before. But it felt just like a modern day book of mormon story.. Felt bad for the man and hope he finds his way. We had another lesson with Court and Ashley, it was really good taught the restoration. Sadly we found out they are going to be moving around the new year and they aren't getting married until after that so we will at least help them prepare for baptism then they will get baptized in there new home. We have a lot of less active work we are doing it is going well, I think over the next month we will transition them off more to the ward and find more less actives but also we are working on finding those who are ready now and can get them toward baptism. Nicole has been really sick so we haven't been able to meet with them for a week and a half. Hopefully things will start looking up hill. In answer to you questions mom- "What was the most exciting thing that happened this week? Most spiritual thing? Funniest? Do you like your companion? Do you work well together??" Exciting- The temple lights were awesome! Spiritual- Our lesson with Kyle was really good, and at transfer meeting the office missionaries bore their testimony's and it was super good Funniest- We contact people at stoplights from our car and have had some great experiences, it's really funny! We pass out cards and such.. but the only way you can experience it for yourself is if you #sharethegift cards you got from the ensign! Companion?- We do ok together, we have strengths in different areas so that is something that helps us do good together. I still want to send a picture of us but haven't found a SD card reader Remember Jesus is the reason for the Season! Love Elder Stevenson

December 8, 2014

Hello! Life is good, nothing new for transfers, I am staying with Elder Freckleton and our apartment is the same. Transfer meeting was good though, got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a while! The Mesa Temple Lights are up and running and we got to go on Friday with the Deckers and last night with the Deleons. They are awesome, so many lights. They also have nativity scenes and He is the Gift playing and the Nativity movie playing, its good! A lot has been happening, I'm glad the Elders talked to you about the He is the Gift video, don't forget to share it. Kyle is doing good, we had a lesson with him yesterday again and he's making big progress but its hard since he only knows a little, even reading and understanding the scriptures is pretty tough. The frosting was good mom,It wouldn't thicken cause it was fake butter... So we just kept pouring in cream cheese and powder sugar till it tasted good. On Sunday Elder Freckleton got sick, don't know if I mentioned or not but he's allergic to wheat soy and peanuts and ate something with that in it. We had our ward Christmas party, it was good. Sadly no investigators came but we had a few Less Actives. We had a lesson with someone who turned out to be anti, without bashing he got put in his place and shown the bible verses he was wrong. Actually had quite a few experiences of people who were anti this week, we went to dinner at a salad buffet with a member and man named Mercer (evil name huh?) came up to us and asked where the lds storehouse cannery is cause he wanted to buy some canning things so we told him and started talking about the gospel and he proclaimed to be some english professor scientist who is proving all religion to be right and that karma and math is everything, it was really weird, well the member we were with told him it was the holy ghost not "luck" and invited him to read the book of mormon (awesome member by the way) well this mercer guy went off about demanding a sign and I told him he was wrong and thats tempting god and bore my testimony to him. It was really weird, at least different then other people who have been anti before. But it felt just like a modern day book of mormon story.. Felt bad for the man and hope he finds his way. We had another lesson with Court and Ashley, it was really good taught the restoration. Sadly we found out they are going to be moving around the new year and they aren't getting married until after that so we will at least help them prepare for baptism then they will get baptized in there new home. We have a lot of less active work we are doing it is going well, I think over the next month we will transition them off more to the ward and find more less actives but also we are working on finding those who are ready now and can get them toward baptism. Nicole has been really sick so we haven't been able to meet with them for a week and a half. Hopefully things will start looking up hill. In answer to you questions mom- "What was the most exciting thing that happened this week? Most spiritual thing? Funniest? Do you like your companion? Do you work well together??" Exciting- The temple lights were awesome! Spiritual- Our lesson with Kyle was really good, and at transfer meeting the office missionaries bore their testimony's and it was super good Funniest- We contact people at stoplights from our car and have had some great experiences, it's really funny! We pass out cards and such.. but the only way you can experience it for yourself is if you #sharethegift cards you got from the ensign! Companion?- We do ok together, we have strengths in different areas so that is something that helps us do good together. I still want to send a picture of us but haven't found a SD card reader Remember Jesus is the reason for the Season! Love Elder Stevenson

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

December 1, 2014

Just kidding about the one line email! A lot of people were out of town for Thanksgiving, but we tried to make the most of our week. Thanksgiving was good, we had a breakfast in the morning, it was with Inez and her daughter, she is preparing to go to the temple, the 4 missionaries from our ward and the 6 missionaries from the Spanish branch were there so it was pretty fun. For dinner we ate with the Decker’s, also preparing to go back to the temple and it was fun. Then a little later we had an appointment with the Armstrong family and ate pie and talked about gratitude. We shared messages about gratitude with Sister Fussell and also James (a newer investigator) about gratitude. I have really been counting my blessings this week and often wonder why Heavenly Father has given me so much... We had another lesson with Sister Fussell earlier in the week, we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ (4th article of faith) it was quite the lesson, we talked about the temple and the member we had with us made the lesson so much better. We didn't meet with Kyle but he still came to church. I forgot to bring my planner from last month with me today for emails so I am forgetting everything. We had Zone Training Meeting that was good. We have a really busy week planned for this week! Transfers are next week but I don't think anything will change. The Elders we share the ward with have been pretty difficult to work with, transfers will be good. Christmas is coming! It’s really weird because this year I am in the valley instead of the mountains so it doesn't feel like December, still feels like October or so. Sorry this letter is so all over the place, have a good week! Alma 34: 38 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.

November 24, 2014

Hi Family, This last week was not quite what was expected. Elder DeBruin has been struggling with a few things and this last Tuesday evening we were visiting a Less active, Inez and she President called us I had the phone so talked to him first then Elder Debruin talked to him, he said there would be a transfer that night and that my companion would be staying at the mission home for a little while. My companion got all packed up and was pretty sad but we said bye to a few people quickly and went to the mission office. I met my new companion there, his name is Elder Freckleton, and he’s from Idaho Falls. I will try and send a picture of us together. Elder Debruin went home on Friday. Here is an update of the other things that happened last week: We are teaching the Deleon family (family working towards the temple) and talked about Patriarchal blessings and they are doing really good, sadly one of the extended family members on the reservation froze to death this last weekend and they it is pretty sad. Thank goodness for the atonement and knowledge of the Resurrection. I hope they can find peace. We are still working with the Highley's (John, Nicole, Gannon) plus James. James is more of a family friend but is staying with them for a while and we have started teaching him when we teach Nicole. John is good, he helps us as we teach and testify. He joined about 8 months ago. Nicole is doing ok, but it has been hard to get her to church, if she doesn't start showing some more fruits we might have to stop teaching her. On the bright side we picked up James, he has been reading the book of Mormon and we taught Nicole the word of wisdom and he was there too. He has barely been taught the basics but accepted the Word of Wisdom so that was pretty cool! We also taught him the restoration this last week. We are still working with Blain and helping him get to the temple, he is doing great and keeps all commitments and appointments, and it’s just a matter of time before he can go to the temple. We talked a little more about the plan of salvation with him last week. Sister Fussell is doing well, her husband took offense to us (I might have said that already?) but we are still meeting with her and helping get her to the temple and tobacco free. We talked to her during church and she said her husband was confused and that's why he got mad but she explained things out to him and he has thoughts about joining the church. We are still teaching the Armstrong family- we talked this last time about things that led to Mary's baptism and then talked about things they need to do to be sealed as a family. We made a list of things to go over with them and have an appointment tonight to talk about the Family Proclamation. We had exchanges Thursday and I spend the day with Elder Turner, it was a great day! We went to see an "unknown" person on the list of our 800 members and found out that person had moved and then as we were in the van updating records a man came from the other side of the street and wanted to talk, so we rolled down our windows and he just wanted to say hi and see if we needed water or anything, found out he used to be taught by missionaries a while back but then moved and now has a wife and 2 kids 13 and 8. His name is Juan and he wants us to start teaching him and his family, and gets his kids involved in the gospel. It was cool. We also were going to see an investigator and talked to a guy taking out the trash, he was less active and took us to meet his brother who he is staying with who is less active and his family. The cool thing was we were looking for that family but they moved apartments in a huge complex and it was a miracle we ran into them. We had a couple similar experiences this week also. We are helping the French speaking sister teach some people, we don't really do much except escort them because where they go is pretty dangerous for sisters. We had Zone Conference last week and it was really good. Talked about the mission tour, and a few other things. December there will be 3 articles in the Ensign that will help you do your missionary work and you even get pass along cards to use! Here is a link to check out tomorrow http://www.mormon.org/christmas/countdown Also dad you should just put a stack of Mormon pass along cards at your store for people to take. I'm trying to make this letter long for mom, but running out of things to say.. One day we out and felt like we should see the Bonito's (that’s Kyle - investigators family) and so we talked went over and talked to the family even though we knew Kyle wasn't home so we just chatted on the door step for a minute with Celeste (his more than girlfriend, not quite wife) about how he is liking being taught and thoughts of the gospel and what not (she is never home for our lessons with him) and talked about how the gospel blesses families and things he has said to us about how his family is the world to him but he doesn't really express that to her so she was crying and it was good. Church was good, Kyle and the family was there. Brother and Sister Cody were there, it’s been hard to meet with them. They have been busy, but hopefully this week. We are reading the Book of Mormon before the end of the year and marking all of the times it mentions Christ, it’s going great. Here is a few scriptures of the week since its thanksgiving! Rev. 7:12 Blessing, and glory, and thanksgiving, and honor be unto our God. Mosiah 2:19–21:O how you ought to thank your heavenly King. Alma 34:38 Live in thanksgiving daily. D&C 46:7 Ye should do all things with prayer and thanksgiving. And here is my favorite- Alma 37:37 37 Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day. Have a happy Turkey day, tackle someone in the snow for me, and be grateful. Love, Elder Stevenson PS: I was thinking if I made the font bigger it would take up more of the page ;)