"This week, we had a good week! We had Zone conference this week and it went super well! We talked a lot about prayer and the importance of prayer. I personally love prayer. I have always had a testimony of prayer and the impact that it can have on one person.
One of the coolest things this week was there were a lot of non member at church! Only one was ours but that's okay we are working on it! One of them who was there, his name is Mario. Mario was given a card from some missionaries on the street and he decided to look up Mormon.org and he found the nearest church and went but they didn't offer Spanish so he looked further and found our church service. He was beaming and I know he felt the difference. He knew a lot about the Bible and wanted to keep learning. unfortunately, we had to send him the the missionaries in Ranch Cordova so we don't get to teach him. But that's okay! because it is all the Lords church!
This week we had a great lesson with one of our investigators. We asked him to have his fiancé with him the next time we taught so they were both there and we taught the restoration. He was asking a lot of questions that made it feel like he was fighting but we were able to address his concern with The Book of Mormon. We told him how he only has to read and pray about The Book of Mormon to know if it is true. We invited both him and his fiancé to do so and they both said they would. When we closed, we invited them to kneel as a family and asked the father to pray. The spirit was so strong as we all knelt down. He prayed that he "can know if The Book of Mormon is true." and "That his fiancé can get involved too." It was a really good lesson and I am excited to see how things progress with them!
That is about it. I love my companions and I love the work and the area and the ward. everything is super good! sorry my emails are so lame all the time
Hermana Stevens
p.s. Elder Loeung says hi"
March 21
" My week was great! I am loving the weather with the rain. I am enjoying it until the summer comes to scald the soles off my shoes. This week has been so busy! It feels like we are going going going which is great but some weeks, P-day is very needed.
This week we have been focusing on one of our investigators, E. E has investigated a lot of churches and is really looking. It is funny because sometimes he is super receptive but other times, he seems to fight what we teach but he always says the prayer and says something along the lines of "help me to know that what they have taught is true" or "help my family so they can get involved with this too". His spirit is so there but his natural man seems to be fighting and putting up a wall. He was going to come to church but couldn't because his aunt slept in and couldn't take him and he dropped his car on his thumb last week and so he is on some pain medication so he cant drive but I think he should be well enough next week to come!
We had a woman in our area book named O and we hadn't had the chance to see her. She was under "new investigators" but since we are all new to the area, none of us had met her yet. We went by and a woman answered. we asked her if she was O and she said yes. We said "great! we have been trying to meet you!" and she said "I am sorry I wasn't here for my appointment. I had to go to the hospital because I was pregnant and I lost my baby on Saturday." She started crying and we asked if we could come in. We shared the new Easter initiative video and talked about how children under the age of accountability will be saved in the kingdom of God and that she will have the opportunity to see her little girl again. It was a really powerful lesson and the spirit bore witness to me again that I know the plan of salvation is Gods plan.
On the thought of the Easter initaive, if you haven't seen it yet, go look it up.
followhim.mormon.org. It is really pretty and will really get you to feel the spirit of Easter!
We are teaching a part member family of 5. Only the mom is a member and she is completely inactive. We taught a lesson and had a member from young mens with us because the young boy, Vincent, will be going to young mens. We taught the restoration and the mom had lots of questions. She is very supportive and encourages her children. We talked about coming to church on Sunday and she said they would be there and that she would try to get her boyfriend to come so we are really trying to work with this family as a whole. We have sat down with them and had a lesson with them as a family before and the spirit was there. The father even said the closing prayer once! He is gone most of the time but we are really trying because they have a lot of potential! In one of our lessons this week, Vincent accepted a date to be baptized! so we are working toward that. They weren't able to make it to church because the mother was sick but hopefully next week! Fingers crossed!
We had dinner with our branch president this Sunday and he gave us a spiritual thought. He showed us a short devotional recently given at BYU. It was all about being grateful. It was such a great talk and showed me that being thankful is something that I could work on. It was given by Elder Lawerence of the seventy so if you get the chance, read it. or look it up or something because it is really good.
We were also able to go to the temple! Wow, I just love the temple! What a beautiful place full of our heavenly fathers love. I really prayed that morning that I would be able to feel my fathers love. When we went into the celestial room, while I was saying a little prayer, a woman came over and said "When I saw you three come in I said 'look how beautiful those three young women are with their bright smiles'". The peace I feel in the temple is just overwhelming sometimes and I know that my father is aware of me. Another time when I felt his love pour down was when we were in church. I was the translator this week which is not easy. I was a little frazzled because I was trying to translate a talk and as the speaker was telling a story about carrots, I said "watermelon" instead. I didn't realize he was talking about carrots until he said "you have to pull them out of the ground to tell if they're too skinny or too fat" and I thought "watermelon doesn't grow underground?" anyway it wasn't a relaxing couple of minutes but then the primary kids got up to sing a song. They sang "he sent his son" and I just thought "have faith, have hope, live like his son, help others on their way." What a beautiful song sung by primary children. The spirit was so strong and I just know that my Heavenly Father loves me. I know that he can help anyone pull through if they just "have faith, have hope, live like his son, and help others on their way."
-Hermana Stevens"
March 28
" Well another week has flown by. I am amazed at how quickly each week goes by and also how it picks up speed! I love my mission and I want to be able to cherish every moment and for it to slow down a little. We have been very busy this week like always but like always, busy is good! We started off this week with exchanges. I was with Hermana Vergaray and we stayed in my area. We were out on bike for quite some time and we spent a lot of time contacting. While we were out on bikes, we met a lot of people with potential. We are really trying to build up our teaching pool with people who have been prepared so we can get some more progression in the area.
Someone we have been working with a lot is E. Unfortunately, he didn't come to church yesterday and we haven't had the opportunity to see him. We have an appointment with him today. We have been teaching him pretty frequently throughout the week because he doesn't work and cant look for a job because of his injured thumb but it has proved to be quite the blessing because 9/10 times, we can find him home. We talked about setting a baptismal date for him and he said he doesn't feel quite ready. We asked him "do you think that God can help you feel prepared by this date?" and he said "well yeah." So we had him kneel down and pray to receive an answer to if he should be baptized. We are going to really push for a date this week to try and see his intentions.
Honestly a lot of this week has been finding finding finding. Which is great but I would love to actually find someone who wants to learn more and will act. That's how it goes though. Its not that we aren't teaching because we are! There just isn't a whole lot of progression with the people we are currently working with. That's how the work is though. We just have to reevaluate and move forward!
This week, I got to go back to Rancho Cordova to attend the baptism of two teenagers that I was able to teach while i was there! They were 15 and 12 and they couldn't get baptized because their father said they were not old enough to make that decision. When I was there, we decided to go by. We sat on the couch with the 12 year old girl and her mom and we taught a quick little lesson. At the end of the lesson, I asked her; "Do you want to get baptized?" and she said "yes" so then I said "Why havent you been?" She explained the situation to me. I then said "well why don't we teach all of the lessons to you and your brother so that when the opportunity arises, you two will be ready to be baptized." They accepted and then 4 weeks later, their father gave them the "go ahead". Their baptism was one of the most spiritual ones that I have been to. Everyone there from the ward was just so happy that they were finally able to enter into the waters of baptism. They both gave their testimonies at the end and said how it has been a long time coming but they are very thankful for the opportunity that they had. Toward the end, their uncle came and thanked us. He said "I have talked to their father for many many years and it finally happened when you sisters arrived." It was really a miracle that the heart of their father was softened and I know that can only happen through the spirit. It was a blessing to be a part of that.
This week, we have been helping at the production of "The Garden". If you haven't heard of it, it is about a tree, a stone, a seed and a ram with all of their trials who were in the garden of Gethsemane when Christ performed the atonement. We have been passing out cards and books every night So we have been pretty deeply immersed in the Easter season which has been great. I have really been able to think of the sacrifice that our savior Jesus Christ made for us. I was thinking about it yesterday and I was thinking about the atonement and how Jesus Christ died for me and that is amazing and I am so thankful for that part of the atonement but I was thinking on Sunday that this is the day that we celebrate that the tomb was empty! He is Risen! We literally have a living savior. I love the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 76:22 "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this the the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!" How powerful is that?! and because he lives, we will all live again. We will all rise one day and just like our savior, We will live! What a great plan. I love this time of year even though my allergies don't. I love you all! I love my mission. I love Jesus.
Hermana Stevens"
April 4
"Wow this week has actually been a longer one but that is okay because you need one of those every now and then. I think it was because I was so excited to go to Coloma. Coloma is where they first found gold in California and it started the gold rush and once in your mission, they take us to coloma to do a tour and pan for gold. I was shocked when it was my turn to go because Coloma is for the missionaries who have been in the mission for a long time. "The old missionaries". When I showed up, President said "there is no way youre leaving." and I said nope. I've still got quite a while" :) It was super fun! I have a super awesome group of departing missionaries so I was pretty lucky and we had lots of fun. I would send pictures because I took like 100 but I left my cord at home...-_- . next week... Aside from the longness of the week, it was very very good! We had a lot of things that happened! first, Mission Leadership Council. MLC was fantastic. This time, they invited the district leaders. It was the very nice to have a lot of people there because with every added person is an added spirit and ideas. We are doing pretty good here in the mission but there is always room for improvement. I also loved being part of the setting of a mission goal. When we knelt down and prayed, the number 28 came to me. Someone else suggested 27 and I looked to my neighbor and said "hey! I thought 28 thats pretty close!" and then almost immediately someone else rose and said Im thinking 28" then another. It is amazing how the spirit can work with us and so many at a time to confirm things like that.
We also had to train the rest of our zone on what we learned at MLC. We decided to take what we learned and put an emphasis on diligence. One of our zone leaders said "everyone is working really hard and doing really great but the mission is moving forward and advancing and now if we don't step up our game, we will get left behind." and it is true. The work will always go forward and We have to strive to work continually harder because it is easy to fall into routine and level out but we must progress! The Zone training went really, really well and I think it really touched the other missionaries. Shows what hard work and the spirit can do! I know I have worked hard on my mission but I also know I can work even harder. I love that I can continually better myself.
We had a lesson with President, Sister Jardine and E this week and it went so well! We could really see the change in him and he really seemed to have been touched. President was so in tune and the spirit worked so perfectly in there as we were able to find out the real problem and address it. E has quite a ways to go still but he is moving forward. My favorite part of the lesson was after, we contacted one of his neighbors, he came and joined us and when we said "can we come over and teach you more about this?" E said "You should! you would learn a lot!" what a good man. We love working with him. Unfortunately because of various problems, he wasn't able to make it to conference but we are really trying to get him to come to church.
We had the wonderful opportunity to listen to conference this weekend! I just love conference! I love how there is always an overlying principle that the Lord tries to relay to us. For me this time, it was "I am a child of God". I think sometimes, we sing it and say it so much that it doesn't quite sink in. I am a literal child of the most powerful being. He knows me. Personally. He watches over me and knows what I need. It is amazing to me how that is even possible but it is true. This gospel is so full of love. In fact, it is centered on love. because that is why we are here on this earth. God loved us so he sent us here to progress and grow. He loved us so he sent us his son so that we can change and have a relief of pain. God loves us so he gives us families, friends, challenges, resources and every blessing that we have. It is all because I am a child of God. If we think about the song, the chorus says "Lead me Guide me, Walk beside me, help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do to live with him someday" I was thinking about that and it is quite conditional on if we follow him, learn from him and trust in him. He will and has lead us and guided us. He is always beside us if we call upon him. He is willing to teach us all that we must do if we are willing to learn. I love the gospel and that we have living prophets to guide us in these latter-days. I know that it is just another manifestation of his love for us. He loves us.
Hermana Stevens"
