May 11, 2015

This week has been a good one! Here's the basics Last Monday (Young) evening we went to Snowflake for a baptism of someone Elder Pyper taught. It was good, Trevor came with us and we rode with a member so it gave us a good car ride to talk too. Tuesday-Young- We helped the Varkers (RC) with some service of getting a sewing machine set up and had a good visit with them. We had another lesson with Pat, we taught her the Word of Wisdom, she loves her tea and coffee but is going to start working toward overcoming. It was a good lesson though. We also saw Cliff again (he was the one who fed us dinner and is Jewish), such a neat man, has plans to read the whole Book of Mormon so that will be great. Had a lesson with Trevor and taught him the law of chastity. Wednesday- we left Young, had district meeting in Payson then Elder Cox came with us to Tonto Basin. He's awesome so it was good to be with him again, we had a real good lesson with Karmyn, she is the 16 year old we have been trying to meet with. We taught the restoration and about halfway thru she says, so what do I need to do to be baptized? It was great! She cried and could really feel the spirit, sadly her mom had the flu so she didn't join the lesson, next time. Thursday-Tonto- We had another lesson with Nole, we taught him the Plan of Salvation, he had a lot of light bulb moments! Hard to keep him focused on the doctrine and basics but we did our best. He committed to church but when we called him Saturday he was hacking up a lung and said he will be there next week. I think I mentioned his cousin who was a bishop in California, what a tremendous impact he has made in preparing Nole! Friday-tonto- We met a PM couple, the Richards, as time went on our conversation got better and we went over the articles of faith, prayed and they want us to come back! Saturday-Tonto- The stake President had us for breakfast, that was nice. Then there was a community yard sale in Deer Creek so we went around to all the people house to house and they were much nicer than just knocking on doors, a couple even said come back! We had a lesson with Sister Canady on Patriarchal blessings. Then a lesson with the Tweeds on Church.... They didn't come Sunday so they are officially dropped :( Always stinks dropping people. Sunday- Tonto- Church was pretty great! Bore my testimony. Karmyn came with her brother and they enjoyed it. After not having a YW's presidency the whole time I've been here we got one Sunday and that was the same day a YW investigator came! Not a coincidence. Trevor and Anthony and that whole group went in Young too so I was pretty happy people are finally coming to church. We went to see a LA couple and were having a pretty good talk and landed on tithing. This man had some beef with it and said "in Oklahoma if your 65 or older you don't even have to pay tithing" I replied telling him that wasn't true and in a slit second he was up out of his chair yelling get out! Don’t call me a liar! It reminded me that the wicked do take the truth to be hard. Well there is the brief rundown of my week, I'm glad you all seem to be having good weeks too! I will see you on Sunday!! Alma 26:20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! Always seek the joy that comes from Jesus! Love, Elder Stevenson

May 4, 2015

This week has been a good one! Here's the basics Last Monday (young) evening we went to Snowflake for a baptism of someone Elder Pyper taught. It was good, Trevor came with us and we rode with a member so it gave us a good car ride to talk too. Tuesday-young- We helped the Varkers (RC) with some service of getting a sewing machine set up and had a good visit with them. We had another lesson with pat, we taught her the word of wisdom, and she loves her tea and coffee but is going to start working toward overcoming. It was a good lesson though. We also saw Cliff again (he was the one who fed us dinner and is Jewish), such a neat man, has plans to read the whole Book of Mormon so that will be great. Had a lesson with Trevor and taught him the law of chastity. Wednesday- we left Young, had district meeting in Payson then Elder Cox came with us to Tonto Basin. He's awesome so it was good to be with him again, we had a real good lesson with Karmyn, she is the 16 year old we have been trying to meet with. We taught the restoration and about halfway thru she says, so what do I need to do to be baptized? It was great! She cried and could really feel the spirit, sadly her mom had the flu so she didn't join the lesson, next time. Thursday-Tonto- We had another lesson with Nole, we taught him the Plan of Salvation, and he had a lot of light bulb moments! Hard to keep him focused on the doctrine and basics but we did our best. He committed to church but when we called him Saturday he was hacking up a lung and said he will be there next week. I think I mentioned his cousin who was a bishop in Cali, what a tremendous impact he has made in preparing Nole! Friday-Tonto- We met a Part Member couple, the Richards, as time went on our conversation got better and we went over the Articles of Faith, prayed and they want us to come back! Saturday-tonto- The stake President had us for breakfast that was nice. Then there was a community yard sale in deer creek so we went around to all the people house to house and they were much nicer than just knocking on doors, a couple even said come back! We had a lesson with Sister Canady on Patriarchal blessings. Then a lesson with the Tweeds on Church.... They didn't come Sunday so they are officially dropped :( Always stinks dropping people. Sunday- Tonto- Church was pretty great! Bore my testimony. Karmyn came with her brother and they enjoyed it. After not having an YW's presidency the whole time I've been her we got one Sunday and that was the same day an YW investigator came! Not a coincidence. Trevor and Anthony and that whole group went in Young too so I was pretty happy people are finally coming to church. We went to see a LA couple and were having a pretty good talk and landed on tithing. This man had some beef with it and said "in Oklahoma if your 65 or older you don't even have to pay tithing" I replied telling him that wasn't true and in a slit second he was up out of his chair yelling get out! Don’t call me a liar! It reminded me that the wicked do take the truth to be hard. Well there is the brief rundown of my week, I'm glad you all seem to be having good weeks too! I will see you on Sunday!! Alma 26:20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! Always seek the joy that comes from Jesus! Love, Elder Stevenson

April 27, 2015

Hi family, This week has been ok, not as good as the last one but hopefully things will pick up again, Ramone seems to be avoiding us for some reason and cancelling. Lucille did start chemo so we aren't going to be able to meet with her either. Tuesday- I spent in Pine with Elder Watts, got to see a lot of people, it was really neat! When I left there was a RC couple who were awesome but going back and seeing how living the gospel for the last year has helped her change so much was very neat! Also saw some people who haven’t lived the gospel and how their lives are still struggling so it was just a reminder the gospel works! Wednesday- Had district meeting and met back up with Elder Pyper, we went to Tonto and Elder Obrien was with us because his companion was on other exchanges. It was an ok afternoon, lots of rejection. Our lesson fell thru with Karmen. Thursday- We went to Gisela with Brother Wall and saw a man named Nole we did service for a couple weeks back, we actually had a real good chat about the priesthood and its importance, his cousin was a bishop in Cali which was a good way to find a place to start teaching him. We helped build a ramp for a PMF who is getting to old to walk Friday- We worked more on the ramp. It was with Brother Wall and Brother Smith. Bro Smith who's 80 got mad at one point because the lady's walker was in the way and he picked it up and threw it while mumbling, I was laughing pretty hard. Met some LA's and found a family who said we can go back after the Disneyland trip. Saturday- We made Ramone cookies but when we went to take them to him he was in Phoenix, we hope we can meet with him more. Had a good little visit with a man named Nate who is 88. We talked about the Book of Mormon and he said I believe it’s true so now we just need to help him understand more about if it’s true, the rest of what we teach is true too. Sunday- Trevor came to church with the clan, we came to young yesterday afternoon. We met with Trevor and had to cancel his date because he smoked... but we gave him a blessing and some things he can do to say no. Ether 4:17 When ye shall receive this record, ye may know that the work of the Father has commenced upon the face of the land. I want to testify the work of that has commenced and the Book of Mormon is a portion of the great work! Love Elder Stevenson

April 20, 2015

April 20, 2015 Hello hello, Another good week as always, I guess I will just run through like I have been doing- Tuesday- We went to the temple with the Tonto branch temple trip! It was great, then we did service, cleaned up an old man's yard. Went to Gisela and didn't have a ton of time but did have a good LA visit of someone we are helping get back to go to the temple. Then we cruised back to Tonto and had a lesson with Ramon. It was great, we taught the Restoration and it was very good, when we extended a baptism invite asking if when he came to gain a testimony he paused for a minute..... then said "Absolutely!" I would totally do that. It was cool. His wife loved the stuff he told her about the plan of salvation too! Wednesday- We left to Heber pretty early for Zone Training Meeting, it was good. We then went to Young all the way to this morning. Had a visit with Aldo, helped him better understand why the Book of Mormon and Prayer are key. Had a lesson with Trevor and Jay R. we taught about how the Book of Mormon and Bible complement each other and used the Sermon on the mount and The sermon in the America's. Thursday- Knocked some doors, met one family we are excited for! Met a man who turned out to be a member we hadn't met yet and helped him with his garden. Had another lesson with Pat Meredith, it was good, last week she went to her grandson’s mission farewell! We taught her the Restoration and invited her to baptism, she said when I'm ready, then we taught some more and invited her again and she said she will be baptized when she gets a witness of all this! Had another lesson with Trevor, taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is on date for the 9th of May! Friday- Tracted for a quite a bit, had a good door step visit with a la who hasn't been for years. Taught Trevor the Word of Wisdom, he hasn't smoked for 2 months, Yippie! Saturday- Had a lesson with a la, Harold, pretty hard hearted but oh well. Met some more members, one took us out and we had a good lesson with a guy we helped who was stranded on the side of the road a while ago. Taught Trevor the 10 commandment and used Elder Ballard’s Mormon message about it. Sunday- Church was good! Trevor came and the people he lives with who are reactivating. Branch council was pretty good but we didn't get to talk about the quorum of the 12 plan like we wanted too. Had another lesson with Pat Meredith, we taught her about temples and it was really neat! Her husband dies a few years ago so we focused in on that. She committed to church next week! She was sick so we gave her a blessing and she was crying. We had dinner with a nonmember couple, one is Jewish and the other is catholic. And their friends, another couple who one claims to not be a member anymore and the other non-denominational. It made for quite the conversation, they asked us to tell them what we belief which was a perfect opportunity to bear testimony, it was mostly centered on the restoration and the spirit was very strong, they asked some questions and we talked about the great apostasy and the last dispensation, it was actually very neat. They wanted a book of Mormon too so that was good. We saw JP, and his family again and blessed the house, there is some evil spirits in there and stuff. Monday- This morning we did a little service and left young, now we are in Payson, tonight we Elder Pyper will go back to Tonto and I will be on exchanges, I get to go to pine for a couple days!! I'm way excited, the missionaries there now are white washing it and since I have served there and am in the same district I get to show him around! Matt 19:26 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Have a wonderful week, no one told me about anyone they shared the gospel with while out of Rexburg so I'm waiting to hear something! Love, Elder Stevenson

April 13, 2015

April 13 This week was great! Wednesday- We helped clean the church and then the walls unexpectedly took us to get some pizza with them! We tried to see a few people but they didn't answer so we will probably wait for them to come to us (Jerry and Shelby) but we were riding our bike because we are low on miles and we were able to contact a few people. Well we saw a PMF that said not to come back so we went to meet the neighbor and met Ramone (Ray), he was shining his new rims on his new truck. he talked to us quite a bit and said his wife is in the Valley for some help right now, she has depression from a daughter committing suicide about 30 years ago and told us about how he hasn't been able to find the truth, he was raised Catholic, then skipped around a little but agreed to letting us come back Thursday. Thursday- We went to see our neighbors who actually are a less active older couple. They are pretty cool, he is a pro fisherman and used to race MX so we hit off to a great start and he hasn't been to church since he was 18, not to interested in coming back but said we can visit and send the branch presidency over so he's not against it either, they gave us some yummy smoked blue fin too. Then made a quick trip to Scottsdale. Then we had a lesson with the Redd's a LA couple who really need the temple, we read an ensign article Repentance is real. It was good and I think touched them, the member with us was a little overbearing so I hope they don't take offense. We had a good visit though and they committed to trying to come to church, (when they say that they never come..), the presidency will see them this week though. We then had our lesson with Ramone and taught all about the plan of salvation. He had even read the pamphlet we left with him from the day before and said it made him feel happy, we talked about how the Spirit works and he said when I go down to the valley this week to see my wife I am taking this with me because it will make her happy too that she can see her daughter again one day and tell her she loves her... We didn't even get started with the temple yet! Then we saw the Drummonds, a PMF and really want to start teaching him, we gave her a blessing so that was good. Friday- We did service for sister Canady, we weed wacked and raked up things from the trees that look like green caterpillars. Then we went to Gisela with the walls, sadly no one wanted to talk to us or was busy that day but we did manage to have a lesson with a less active family who should have been at church yesterday. We had a dinner that night and it was with the Lyman’s, we got to have a little fun with the boys 10, 8, 4 on the farm, they caught the chicks and we taught them how to skip rocks. Also did weekly planning. Saturday- Because we didn't have time for a lesson with Sister Canady we had a lesson with her about forgiveness, she is so close to the temple if she will forgive and stop smoking. We saw a bunch of people in Deer Creek but not any lessons. Got our weekly planning finished up. Sunday- Church was good, testimony meeting was pretty good, I didn't know what I was going to testify of so it ended up just being a simple testimony on the basics. We always bless the sacrament in the Tonto Branch and it's always neat. We went to stake missionary correlation in Payson, well the Pine ward is also is Payson stake so I got to see my old WML, it was cool to catch up, we got talking and turns out about a year ago one day bro Taft and me and my comp went to the gas station for dinner and got some pizza, 2 other men were sitting down on the other end of the table who were brothers, I got talking to them and we set a return appointment but it fell thru then whenever we went back it didn't work out... Well turns out one of them just barely got baptized and is getting the Priesthood and the other will probably follow suit soon! You never know what kind of influence you have in peoples lives... Later that day we were seeing a potential and since we were in the area we stopped by a la who has been too busy lately so we were thinking about stopping trying her for a while, well we caught her at a good time and got talking about gardening then the church then how the gospel helps families, then how she's been having problems with her teenage daughter (who was blessed but never baptized) then she went and got her daughter and we started talking and she said I want to go on a mission so we told her all about how and that she needed to be a member and the first thing she said was well then I want to get baptized! So we are going back for a lesson! It was neat! Monday- This morning we did some service then we stopped by a part member family, they gave us a referral so we went and contacted Lucile. We had a great lesson! Lucille is probably 85 and was just re-diagnosed with lymphomas cancer so she has to start chemo soon, but we taught her the restoration, cleared up her concerns and had a great visit! She agreed to baptism if her health with permit and she gains a witness. It was great, then we gave her a priesthood blessing and she was crying afterward. It was pretty special. Well I hope you have a wonderful week and look for someone to share the Gospel with! 3 Nephi 12:8 and blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Love, Elder Stevenson

April 6, 2015

Hi family! Happy Easter! No transfers around here, just a transfer week. General Conference was great! It's nice to always here what everyone liked. I really liked Elder Pearson's on Sunday afternoon about Lehi's dream and the 6 steps. I also liked President Eyerings from Priesthood about prayer and our callings. The other one I liked was about learning to hear the music not just learning the dance, what a crucial thing. We spend most of last week in Tonto then Saturday to yesterday in Young. Tuesday- We had a lesson with Pat, she is a really old widow and although she is not a member her grandson is leaving on a mission in a few weeks so that should help us! We talked to her about the Plan of Salvation and families. Saw Cindy again... she dropped us and said God is not narrow-minded enough to only make you follow him in order to get to him, that doesn't add up but oh well. We also had a lesson with a LA, read Moroni 7 with him. Wednesday- We had district meeting in Payson, we gave a training on companionship unity. Then we came back to Tonto, had a dinner appointment with a PMF, they are super old, we showed up and she told us the lasagna still had 45 min to cook and then they ate sooo slow, so it was a long appointment but we had a good chat. Thursday- We spend Thursday in Gisela with Brother Wall. We had stuff all planned but it fell thru, we had a few good visits though, Thursday we also went to the Easter Pageant which was great! Our branch went as a small group, we rode with our BML and his wife. In order to go we have to take an investigator or LA so we went down a little before the group and had it all lined up that we would have an investigator there but then got a call saying he wasn't coming. Luckily we still had a newly reactivating member come so it was ok! Friday- We saw our neighbor Jean again, he hasn't read the stuff we left him with but he said he would. He also said "I will have to check with my wife" and she wasn't the nicest to us so we will see. We also saw a lady named Sharon at the feed store. She is a member but la. Then we went out to Gisela again and had a lesson with the Tweeds, it was really good! Except it's hard to keep them on tract sometimes. We had missionary correlation that night too. Saturday- General Conference. Between the morning session we tried to see jerry, then mark with bro wall, neither home so we saw a la next door who said he isn't ready to come back right now. Sad day for him. Then between the other sessions we did service at an RV park (it was actually one we got kicked out of a few weeks ago) so that was nice. After priesthood we drove to Young. Sunday- Easter! We watched the morning session with Trevor then had a lesson with him on following the prophet. We watched the afternoon session with another family. We had dinner with the people we stay with, they asked that we didn't share a message though. It was because one of the ladies is engaged to a total LA member. I thought that was crazy and sad she would lower herself to his level, especially on Easter Sunday. Monday- We did service for a while, built fence, spread some manure. Went out with our other BML leader for a bit, he is pretty hesitant to share the gospel. Had a lesson later with the Megayhe's. They are an older couple who started up a "community Christian church" in young. They were really nice though and didn't want to argue with us so that was great! We then saw Aldo, our Italian friend, this time he invited us in and we were able to talk about the book of Mormon, he said he has been reading a couple verses each night. Also had another lesson with Trevor and started teaching the Restoration with him, just to go over it again but got onto trials and he's going thru some right now. We showed him a video the refiner’s fire and he might have watched mountains to climb after we left. The computer was slow. Tuesday- We spend in Payson with another Elder who was companion less because it was transfer day. We did a lot of good! Well there's a lot of names and lot of things you might not have understood but I am trying to make it longer. 3 Nephi 6:14 And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up; yea, insomuch that in the thirtieth year the church was broken up in all the land save it were among a few of the Lamanites who were converted unto the true faith; and they would not depart from it, for they were firm, and steadfast, and immovable, willing with all diligence to keep the commandments of the Lord. This verse stood out to me this week, if the church was to be "broken up" where is your faith at? Love, Elder Stevenson

March 30, 2015

Happy birthday dad! This week was good! I am running short on time, we are in young and the library is closed today so we only have one computer and my companion went first and we have to go in a bit.. So we had our Easter Pancake breakfast in Tonto on Saturday! It was good, we had 13 non members who came! If only people would do that for church. People who came that we are working with was Walter and his daughter and Shelby and her kids. There is a new Easter video called because he lives! It is super good. We had some good lessons! Well I love you, remember He has Risen! Love Elder Stevenson