"I'm the real champion"

"Saturday. Saturday, we had a service opportunity to help with this event called "dia del nino" it was really fun! after that, we came home and got on our bikes! it was my first time on a bike and it was super fun! I thoroughly enjoyed it!  we had to bike pretty far though so I was pretty sore the next day but that's okay! p.s. I found a bike! one sister left it in the apartment that we moved into and nobody wants it! so its for free!! :D so also, side note, we have to buy our ipads so I can use the money that was for my bike for my ipad and a new helmet because the one I was using is cracked all over. im thinking ill get something with flames... tell me what you think. so anyway, since I have biked, I think you can definitely call be an official missionary now. I feel like you should get a bike badge or something.. coop send me one of your belts-im the real champion."

-May 18

"this week was WONDERFUL! We were so blessed with so many new great people to teach! I would like to tell you a little about them! so first we have Josephina.
     I don't remember if I mentioned her before but she is in her 50s and lives across the street from one of our members. We had our lesson about the restoration and then we went back on Saturday planning on briefly talking about the plan of salvation and inviting her to come to church and we asked her if she had the opportunity to read and pray. We were on exchanges so I was with Hermana Cuesta and we were trying to focus on short and powerful lessons. we thought that one of the ways to invite the spirit quickly was to sing so we started out with a Hymn. We asked her if she would pray to start us off and she said "next time" so Hermana cuesta asked if she would say the closing and she said she would. when we asked her about her reading, she said she did but she didn't quite understand what the scripture was talking about. We went over the scripture with her and explained it piece by piece. we talked to her about the importance of the scriptures and it went really well! when it was time to say the closing prayer, we explained to her how we pray and asked her again if she would offer the prayer. she said she would and she did! which was amazing because I haven't seen anyone comply that easy! she told us that she wouldn't be able to make it to church the following sunday but that she would come the next!
     next is Rosanna. Rosanna was a referral from the English missionaries and she is searching! when the elders found her, they set up an appointment with her for the next day and then Hermana clark and I went and found her. She told us about how she grew up catholic but doesn't like living that way because she doesn't think they tell you to actually do anything and she knows God has more for her to do. She really wants to understand her purpose! She told us that God sent us to her because she needs to act. We gave the lesson of the Restoration and toward the end, we invited her to pray about our message because we know God will answer our prayers. She said she would. then we said after you pray and know that this message is true, will you be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God? and she said yes! so we gave her the date of June 20 to work toward. When we went back for our return appointment with her, she wouldn't let us come in because she was very sick and so was her daughter but we had a short lesson on her porch. We asked her if she had read and prayed. she paused for a moment and I was actually very nervous. she said "I did..." another big pause. "and I was completely speechless. I know that this is from God" I got all teary and we set up another appointment with her. sadly she couldn't come to church because her and her daughter were still sick. but she will be coming next week as well!
     next we have Stephanie. Stephanie is the daughter and sister of a member. she has 5 kids. she was learning a little bit from the English elders but then she came to our ward 2 weeks in a row so we picked her up! She is so willing to learn and even ran to church last week so that she could make it. now you have to understand, she RAN to church with a baby on her hip, diaper bag, 4 other kids is high heels! this woman is dedicated! the only problem here is that she has a lot of family issues right now with her mom and her sister. so we are praying that everything will be cleared up soon so that she can feel comfortable at church!
     last week, We met 3 kids, abby, mia and Christopher. they set up a lesson with us for the following sunday. We pulled up to their house yesterday and there was a lot of people there. they were having a party so we were super bummed because we thought we were going to have to reschedule with them. When we knocked on the door, their mom answered. we were getting ready to ask if we could come another day and she said "one second let me get the kids". Abby was at a friends house but Mia and Christopher came out with their friend kayla. we said "would it be better if we came back another time to do this?" and they said "no its okay!" then we said "were you expecting us to come over today?" and they said "yes! we were waiting!" so the three of them and Hermana clark and I sat down in the grass and taught the first lesson to them. Mia is 10, Christopher is 9, and Kayla is 8 and they were focused the entire time! completely engaged and listening! they even had wonderful answers! we taught them how to pray and Mia said our closing prayer! it was amazing! We gave them each a book of Mormon and asked when we could come back. Mia said "same time next week?" and Kayla said "why not tomorrow?!" and mia said "you wont be here tomorrow! " so we scheduled for the following sunday. when we were getting ready to leave, Kaylas dad came up to us and said "hey Kayla wont be here next week. could you guys come down to Elk Grove next week to visit her?" and Kayla started jumping up and down! she was so excited! So we set up an appointment with them! It is amazing to me to see how young these kids are an how they have the desire to learn about what Gods plan is for them! we are really excited to work with them!
     we are still teaching Sarah and Alex too! The past couple of weeks, we couldn't meet with Sarah because she had been sick! like really sick in the hospital! so that is why we couldn't find her at home. but we finally found her and she is better! we had a lesson with her about gospel doctrine and fasting so we taught all about fasting and the power it has. Because she still hasn't received and answer. So we committed her to fast on sunday to find a way to get to church and to receive an answer and Hermana clark and I joined in on the fast too. so we pray that she will receive an answer and come to church soon! Alex is still progressing slowly but surely! 

     other things this week are I ate a habanero and it was awful!! it didn't even taste that good! don't do it. not worth it! also we had exchanges which was awesome. I don't remember if I told you but I gave a talk in church! and Hermana clark and I are going to sing in church next week!
     We have seen this week how much we have to rely on the Lord. keep ourselves doing everything that we can but ultimately, the Lord is going to lead us to the people that need to hear his message right now. We have been really blessed with a new teaching pool! its been an amazing week! thanks for everything! ma im still a waitin for those pictures.. ;) nooney noo

-Hermana Stevens

p.s. I took lots of pictures this week but I left my cord at home I guess! :( sorry!"

-May 25

This one is super long, there was just so many good things that I couldn't cut any of it out:)

Opposition In All Things

"not going to lie, this week was a harder one too. but that's okay! opposition in all things right?! So the reason that it was harder was because we have 3 investigators and we were only able to see one of them this week. which was lovely. Her name is Rosario. she is the mother of a former investigator, Daniel. We met her last week but had our appointment with her this week and it went really well! we got another return so that is always a good sign! The other part of this week was that, since we only have 3  investigators, we tried to do a lot of finding because we know that there is a family that is just waiting! We tried to do a good mix of potential investigators, dropped investigators and t-tracting but didn't get a single return... as a matter of fact, we hardly talked to any latinos! it was strange! but we know that the Lord tests our faith and that just because this week was rough, doesn't mean every week is going to be! but we will only know what the Lord has in store for us when we continue working in faith! So we have a lot of hard work planned for this week!
     We had an interesting experience yesterday. so on sunday since we don't have exercise in  the morning, we have a little extra time to get ready for church. so I was ready and I was listening to conference talks while Hermana Clark finished up her hair. and then BEEEEEEEEP! the noise was so loud! in my head im thinking "not another fire!" so I jump up really quickly and start grabbing my important things. Hermana Clark yells over the noise "what is that?!" I say "fire alarm!!" and I open the door to leave. then I realize that I am the only one in the building outside. if it was a fire alarm, everyone would be outside! Hermana Clark says "no its not its that!" pointing to the carbon monoxide detector. sure enough it was! the noise was making everything worse we went and stood out side trying to think of what is best to do. so we decided that we first needed to turn it off but It took us a good 5 minutes before we discovered the battery. we took out the battery and it finally stopped. We called our private security for the complex and told them that our  alarm was going off and they said to call the fire department immediately! so we told Elder Anderson what they had said and then we called the fire department. The firemen arrived (3 of them) to check out all of our heating and cooling systems and things. they said that there is no way that we could have carbon monoxide coming from it because it is all electric and nothing is running off of gas. they wanted to make sure though so they called in another team of men in to bring their detector. they scanned our house and didn't find anything. so we had two fire trucks at our complex and 7 firemen in our apartment! it was turned into such a big deal! Well when we were talking with them, a couple of them asked us how long we have been living there alone and such questions. they said that we need to go to home depot and get locks for our windows. turns out its not a very nice area for two sister missionaries to be living. most of them with us that day said that they respond to 2-3 aggressive violence calls a week at our complex! the cheif pulled our housing coordinator asside and said "you have to move them out of here." so the good news is that we are leaving. this week, we are moving into a nice area with two other sisters in the zone!
     later yesterday, I got to talk to my familia! it was really nice to see them and to tell them about my life. I always love making jokes and such! over all, its been a different week but we can find the good in all if we search it out! I notice the Lords blessings everyday in my life and I am very thankful for that! 

-Hermana Stevens"

We got to Skype Livi yesterday for Mother's Day! We waited literally day waiting for the call, finally at 7 pm it came and we just had a good time like we always do as a family:) It was so great to hear her talk about the people and experiences. She is truly an amazing missionary.

("Mia! Look! I made up a new face that looks like a potato!)