January 26, 2014

This morning we went on a hike as a district and that's why this letter is so late but it was lots of fun!! We got kind of general directions from a member in our ward and set off :) so once we finally got to what looked like the trail head we set off hiking and hiked and hiked and it was pretty but we couldn't find the ruins and decided to turn around cause we had hiked like 2 hours in and that meant 2 hours out. and on our way back the trail didn't go to the top of the mountain and there was a big cliff on top a few of us wanted to look off so we climbed up and looked at the view and didn't get to close to the edge but still threw a few rocks off that was pretty cool, and we kept looking around and all of the sudden we saw the Spanish ruins! They were super cool. I'll send some pictures. So only 3 of us got to see it because the other 9 went back but we hike over 8 miles... still not quite like a dirt bike but hiking can be fun. So that was the adventure today.

Now as for the missionary work. On Saturday we got a call from some other missionaries saying they had a baptism and we haven’t been pushing Gwen into baptism, but we wanted her to attend one so she could see it was easy and feel the spirit. We had about an hour from the time we heard there was a baptism to when it started and had to find a ride for them and it was a half hour drive away so we called our awesome ward mission leader and he said they could give Gwen and her mom molly a ride even tho it meant being dressed and ready in 10 min. We all went and it was good for her to be there and she wouldn't tell us it was bad so that means it was good :) Haha and then the next day (here's the bigger miracle) we were talking about church to molly and Gwen and molly said maybe I’ll come (which is huge comparing a month ago) and then on Sunday they came!!!! The grandparents brought them and they also brought the dad, matt, and even though they are divorced they were all at church and all happy and it was great :) and they are definitely all a lot better spiritually from when we first started seeing them, you can just see it in their eyes. We had another lesson with Mary and Rodger this week and it went really well. We went over the plan of salvation again since last time was a little rushed and I think I already said this last week but the things just click in their heads and the wheels are spinning. When we asked if they'd pray and ask if it was true the response was "I don't need to, I already know it is true." I feel a little bad we didn't talk about baptism right then but it didn't feel right and I think that was the spirit withholding! Ha-ha I am running out of time quickly :( but I hope you all have a wonderful week and call up the local missionaries and tell them you will go on a lesson with them when they need somebody and bear your testimony, it will make your day :) 

Love you!

Elder Stevenson