January 26, 2015

Hi family, It seems like we just spoke! All has been well, in answer to your questions mom, Elder Swaner has been out 6 months now, and he’s awesome. Last night we went to the temple visitor’s center with Erick, Kenna, Ben and Frazilynn, it was rushed, but it was great! We also brought brother Groshong with us, we watched the JSPR video, and we talked a little more about the gift of the Holy Ghost (it was from the lesson at church) and prophets today. Sadly we didn't have time do all the things we wanted to but all is well. Erick is doing especially great and preparing for his baptism, today is his birthday! Since Wednesday we had a few other good lessons, hopefully we will continue to see miracles and be blessed and guided by the Lord :) Church was good yesterday, we had 6 investigators so that was good, NICOLE FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH!!! Last week we didn't have any lessons with Nicole and left her in the Lords hands and said if she is prepared help us to know so and that she will find a way to come to church, and she did so that was a neat miracle. Now if she can start coming consistently we will be good and she will be baptized. Kyle was also their and he is doing well, thanks for all the feedback and ideas of culture and traditions. The Pearl of Great Price is pretty good, here is one scripture I liked this morning! Moses 7:53 And the Lord said: Blessed is he through whose seed Messiah shall come; for he saith—I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity; whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me shall never fall; wherefore, blessed are they of whom I have spoken, for they shall come forth with songs of everlasting joy. Thank you for all the prayers! Love, Elder Stevenson

January 21, 2015

Hello hello, I got a new companion yesterday, his name is Elder Swaner. He is from Utah and I am excited for this transfer! We have a lot of work and people to teach so it should be good. This last week has been good as well, we had 8 investigators at church and they are coming along nicely. Our Micronesian family was there, Erick, Kenna, Ben and another family member who just flew in from Hawaii Frazilynn. Sadly Frazilynn got pretty sick during sacrament meeting so the family left after sacrament, except Erick, he stayed for all 3 and is very excited about Feb 7th! I am too. On Friday it was Kenna's birthday, I made a cake and it turned out almost as good as yours mom. It was a devil’s food cake it cooked it in to 9 inch pans and then frosted it into a double decker with frosting in the middle and threw some chocolate chips in the batter it was good! Taylor if you were here I would make one for you. We taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ, watched Lamb of God, and read the Book of Mormon with them. (They were different lessons) We went to the visitor center with Nicole. She didn't come to church Sunday so I think we are about as far as we can get with her before she comes to church.. Sad. Kyle is doing well, we have taught him all about baptism and also a little of the plan of salvation. He is inching along as usual but making progress. Do you know any good talks or anything that show how as members we can still have our culture and celebrations, just within gospel teachings? We started back up with a few formers- Sara and Craig were a younger couple right when I got here and also the Estrada family, we will see where it takes us. We've had a few other good things too. It was sad news to hear about Grandpa but I am grateful for the plan of salvation and that this life is just a stopping place along the way for us and as long as we follow gods plan we can return to and live with him forever! https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng Watch this video... It’s better than my letter and only a couple minutes. Have a great week, I love you all! Elder Stevenson

January 12, 2015

Hi family! This week was great! We finally got our numbers up, and you can say numbers don't matter, but they do matter in the fact that we were out teaching :) Well on Wednesday I was able to meet up with Jake Hansen and have a lesson with him at our church! It was great to see him, he's going to mechanic school here in the valley. We read Alma 32 (talked about faith) and watched the John Tanner story (a church video) it was pretty good! Sunday was good, we had Erick and Kenna there again (Ben was out of town on business) but they seemed to like it again, Erick is doing great but Kenna’s baby was pretty noisy. We taught them the restoration lesson this week with a young married couple, the Barnes and then later in then we taught the plan of salvation with another young couple the Costas. Erick is very excited for Feb. 7th, but Kenna and Ben want to really gain a testimony before they get baptized (which is perfect) but they did accept a soft date for Feb. 7 if they know it’s true by then. Kyle came again to church on Sunday, he is doing well, and we taught him the rest of the restoration this last week. After not meeting with him for a bit with the holidays it is good to get back on track, patriarch hakes and his wife came and helped us. He is progressing slowly to us but a bunch to him since he is still learning the very basics. We found a part member family, parker and Victoria. They are from the reservation, our lesson didn't feel very productive (they have 3 kids) but they did come to church Sunday so we will see what happens! Nicole is doing alright, she got really sick over the weekend and didn't make it to church.. Again. We gave her a blessing Saturday night and she was in rough shape. I hope she can get feeling better and come to church. Our lesson was good though, we taught tithing and the member who came had a great example with cookies. Well that's pretty much the just of our things this week. Love, Elder Stevenson

January 5, 2015

Hi family! Last week on preparation day we agreed to help a returning less active family (Deleons) move apartments, they only moved across the complex but needed a few extra hands. So us and a few other missionaries were helping (everyone got into services clothes except me and another Elder (Cox) well we were moving a couch together across the parking lot and in our quest to talk to every one we saw a man in his 30-ish pushing a walker, we couldn't really stop and have a gospel discussion because our hands were full so we dropped off the couch and went back and started talking to who we thought was Harry. We taught him a little bit and he seemed really interested in the gospel but was having a hard time talking, he had a stroke and his head is bulged out, well we set up an appointment and when we went by he was actually waiting for us! Turns out his name is actually Eric. He is from Micronesia and lives with his sister and her husband and their 11 month old baby. Their names are Kenna and Ben. Well we had a good visit and the 3 of them plus the baby came to church yesterday! They loved it and stayed for all 3 hours. We have been praying for families so has been neat. Erick wants to be baptized on Feb 7th and we hope to help Ben and Kenna gain a testimony so they can be baptized as well! They are very prepared. We aren't really supposed to do service on Preparation day but I am glad we did last week and that things happen on the lord’s time and on his plans. My companion got sick and stayed in bed literally ALL day Tuesday. I was going to pull my hair out being inside all day but I kept pretty busy, there's always things to do... New Year’s was good, I finished the Book of Mormon New year’s eve! I had to stay up 5-ish extra minutes and speed read but I reached my goal! Reading Jesus the Christ these last few day has been great! I started it about a year ago and this time I have already got so much more out of it, probably from my gospel knowledge increase and spirituality growth over the last year. On New Year’s Day we had our multi-zone activity. It went well, played sports and had movies and games going. Everyone seemed to have a fun time, it was a little stressful planning but all was good. We had MLC on Friday, it was good, and the things we talked about were great to help us address the needs we have right now. One cool thing was that if we want more faith be more obedient and vice-versa. We found another part member family this week and they are nice, they are native. If we can get them to church I think things will really start rolling. We had quite a few good lessons and hopefully this we will be better since the Holiday have passed. D&C 45:3-5 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him— Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life. Too Father, Christ is pleading for our cause, that's always something we should remember along with Mosiah 4:10 if you believe all these things see that ye do them. Love, Elder Stevenson

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