Movie Star

what a great week! This week, we had a lot of success. one of the coolest things is that after about three months, J finally accepted a date to be baptized! so we are really hoping and praying that she will be able to make her date! We have been able to get members to her lessons and she is really working on living the word of wisdom! the other thing with her is she doesn't know if she has received an answer yet but we think that she just doesn't really recognize it so we are praying that she will recognize it! pray for J!!
     also this week, J had her baby so we haven't been able to see her because she has been a little occupied but we plan on seeing her this week!
     We picked up a new investigator today. The zone leaders passed her off to us. her name is J and she is really awesome. she doesn't really have a religious background so there isn't a whole lot that she has to change her belief in! We are really excited to work with her.
     S is still progressing very well! Sometimes I forget to update about her because honestly she seems like a member! G went to scout camp and so that was really good for him! they are fitting right in with the ward! S is honestly just like a member!
     Saturday was very nice because we had a baptism! R was baptized on aug 8 and the baptism was wonderful! we got so much support from the ward. It was really cute after she was baptized, her daughter ran up to her and said "mommy! youre clean!" She was confirmed as a member of the church on Sunday! we love R!
     On sunday, K came to church! K is great and she didn't even seem like she felt uncomfortable! She liked church and is progressing very well! She has been reading and praying! Also on sunday night, we had dinner with a member and his nonmember sister. Her mother just died and she told us that she had a dream that her mother came to her and told her that she needed to find a Book of Mormon in the Mormon Library. Which is really cool because her mother was catholic but we know about the teaching in the spirit world so I thought that was pretty cool! We have another appointment with her this week! overall it has been a great week!

     Also I got proposed to on Saturday! so I may not come home.. haha. juuuust kidding.. it was an old man.. I am pretty sure he was senile. He was telling me that he would make me a movie star and that he would buy me a house haha!! craaazy old man..

well folks that is all! have a nice week! muah!

Hermana Stevens

(I'm sorry there are no pictures, they wouldn't load for some reason. I'll load them as soon as I figure it out:) )

love, guima

hello!! 

another great week! okay lets start with R because she is getting baptized this week! we have been able to see her every day and her interview is done and everything now we are just waiting for Saturday! We got to take her to the temple this week for a temple tour. We also went to barnes and noble while we were over there so that she could buy a quad. we are so excited for her and her baptism. She has such a strong testimony and is so ready to be baptized. Her little girl is really cute and for some reason calls us "guima" at church yesterday, she was being naughty and so R put her on her lap and then she grabbed my arm and made a grumpy face at her mom and said "MY GUIMA!" haha we have no idea what it means or where it came from but its super funny. 

next story: J. okay so we have been teaching her for a long time like 4 months. Every time we have gone over, she just has kind of acted like she wants to learn but not really be baptized but then she quick coffee. then she started working on stopping smoking. and she came to church! after she came to church, her progress sky rocketed! she is so engaged in our lessons! we had one the other day and we were talking about her progress with the word of wisdom and we showed her Ether 12:27 and she was like "look! this is exactly what happened to me!" she was so excited and was engaged. she knew that she could look in the scriptures for advice and support! then she came to church again. the other really cool thing about her is her husband. he has never wanted anything to do with us. our mission leader ran into J at the dentist and talked to her. She told him about how her and her husband were talking about her meeting with us and he asked her if she was going to be baptized and she said if all goes well. and then he told her "well if you join I will probably follow you" I guess he listens in on our lessons when we teach her. Im not sure why he wont actually join though. but she is doing really well!

J. I don't remember if I talked about her last week. she is really prepared and has a lot of reason. one of the things I love about our church is that everything REALLY makes sense! and she understands it! she said that she feels super comforted that we have a living prophet to guide us. I have never understood why this is such a crazy concept for so many people. It only makes sense that we would have a prophet now if they did in the bible and book of Mormon times.

One of the things that I have come to really love is the book of Mormon. I have never been the best at studying my scriptures because I don't like to read. but I have really become to understand it more and more and the importance of it in our church! I know I say this all the time but READ YOUR SCRIPTURES! :D I have been able to discover so much! I have learned leaps and bounds out here and I love it! I love our church and our gospel and I KNOW that it is true! The Book of Mormon is the word of God and we can not have the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ with out it and whats the point of just having part? have  you ever tried to make cookies without flour? -it doesn't work. :) thanks so much for the emails, letters, and support. (we actually lost our mail key a week ago so I don't even know who wrote but I am sure that I will love them some day this week. probably haden and dad. thanks haden and dad) :)

love,

     Guima

Don't let the bed bugs bite. Or do... Whatever

July 20, 2015
"What a great week! We had a great week! We have really been trying to see our investigators a ton each week because in preach my gospel it says we should have daily contact with our investigators! DAILY! So we were able to see R 5 times this week! It has been awesome! Every time we see her we can see her testimony grow a ton! We can see her growing in the gospel. She understands everything we teach, she is reading the Book of Mormon. She Loves the Book of Mormon! Awe she is so awesome! We are so excited for her to be baptized. Everytime we visit her she tells us "I'm very excited to be baptized on August 8" or anything mentioning her date which is super awesome that she has that in her mind all the time! And it has really paid off! She came to church! Whoo!

We picked up someone new this week her name is K! K is super cool! When we found her, she had just been in the bathroom crying because she got in a fight and she was texting someone from her church saying that she was done with God. Then we knocked. She told us that it was like God telling her not to give up. I know we were definitely led to her that day. We taught her a quick lesson and she accepted a date! We were able to visit with her 4 times this week! She is super cool and has a lot of faith! She understands everything that we teach her and has had a bunch of questions! We actually got to meet her boyfriend the other day and he said he would be interested in learning more! So we are really excited to teach him with her! The only problem is that she is very involved in her church so pray that she will be able to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon because hat is key!

Other highlights this week would be that J also came to church! It was crazy to have them both there but it was super awesome and I'm sure they now feel less uncomfortable being there! 

This week we had a lesson with S about the word of wisdom and she told us that she wants so stop everything so she gave us all of her addictions and she has faith that she will have to strength to avoid them! 

We have been so blessed to be working with the investigators that we have! They are progressing so well and it has just been another wonderful week!

In other news, our apartment is infested with ants and possibly bed bugs.. I have tiny bites everywhere so it is getting sprayed today. (Hence the title) 

Thanks for everything! I love being a missionary! Everyone should try it ;) *cough* member missionary work *cough*

 -Hermana Stevens"

"Also, I accidentally left these cookies in the oven for 4 hours so our house smells great..."

"I did all I could and then I did a little more"

June 29

Okay so this week was nice! one of my favorite parts was district meeting. We are really trying to find the people who are actually prepared so we have started a new contact. Way back in the day, Hermana Bowen was taught a way to contact with a baptismal invitation. at the end, you ask "if you knew without a doubt. if God told you that our message was true, would you be baptized according to the manner that Jesus Christ himself was baptized?" and if they say "no", you move on. if they say "maybe" or "yes" then you fix another appointment because a lot of time, especially with the spanish culture, they will say "yes you can come back" just to be nice. It has been very good! Elder Jaramillo talked to us a little about how in DyC 4, it says that the "field is white and ready to harvest" it doesnt say that the field is ready to be planted. Sometimes we find ourselves planting seeds but that shouldnt take long. We are not out here to be planting. We are here to harvest. The field is white and it is it time to harvest. It also made me think about something that i remember from seminary about Wheat and tares. it is in Matt 13 i believe. A tare looks just like wheat but when you get close, you realize that the tare is actually a weed. at first sight, they look the same and you cant tell the difference but when you look closely you can. in the scripture, in verse 30, it says to gather the tares first then to bring the wheat to the store house. sometimes we have to talk to the "tares" before we can harvest the "wheat". but we are pulling the tares so we will be seeing some new wheat here soon! 

     we finally found s again! she is doing super well! she is looking for a job so that she can come to church on sunday! but it is something that she really wants to do so we are praying and searching! J is great! we are having family night with her and a member family that lives across the street tonight. R is great! we had asked her to read the book of mormon and sadly a lot of the time, people really dont even when they say that they will. But she read! she read 8 chapters in one day! I have been thinking a lot about something Haden learned from Elder Kapishe of the seventy and he said that you should visit your progressing investigators 4-5 times a week! so i figure if it is from the seventy, its probably pretty good advice. so we have really been trying to visit more often. and it has been going well. Except with S. she has been sick this whole week so we havent been able to see her this week because she wouldnt let us come over. But we have been able to stay in contact with her. and besides them being sick, they are awesome! 

     I had a really cool expierence though. we went to a lesson with a family and the family was really busy but they invited us to sit down. They had some family friends sitting there too and so we asked if we could share our message with them and they said why not? We shared the message of the restoration. it was super great, toward the end, we decided to show the restoration video the spirit was super strong and they were really into the video. I started to say a prayer pleading with God that he would let them feel what i was feeling. I could see it in their faces. the spirit was super thick in the room. them i realized what i was doing. I truly cared for these people. I wanted nothing more than for them to accept our message because i know of the goodness that it can bring into our lives. two people that i had only known for 5 minutes maybe 10. This week I really was able to feel a little more of the way that our Savior Jesus Christ feels about every one of us. its amazing to see all of these people and he knows everyones name and loves them perfectly. Its incredible to think about.

     it has been a great week. I have been able to see our investigators progress and at the same time feel myself draw a lot closer to God. 

     -Hermana Stevens July 6, 2015
Honestly, not a lot has happened this week.. Right after emailing, Hermana Bowen sprained her ankle really bad and she went to the doctor on Tuesday and he said she had to stay off of it for 3 days. So we were basically confined to our apartment for 3 days. We just did a lot of updating the area book, and drove around to find Spanish houses in areas we don't work much. The good news is we found 50 potentially Spanish houses that we are going to try this week! We also had a fiesta with our Branch! Spanish ward parties are way funnier than dumb white ward parties.. Sigh.. Haha but really. Also this week, we get to start using the planner app and the area book app which is the moment I have been waiting for! *ahhhhhh! (Angel choir)* This week has been lots of ups and downs. We hardly got out so that was a down, but we found more places to progress the work! We received almost 15 referrals which for anywhere besides Utah I think is amazing so we were able to start contacting them yesterday. We had really great lessons with R and J. But M said we can't see her until next week! And then we had nobody at church when I knew we would this week. But it's okay! We had a really good work day yesterday and I have a lot of faith that the Lord is preparing people for us. We just have to find them! We had a really great zone training on Friday! The zone training along with hardly being able to work for 4 days really reminded me the type of missionary I want to be. I want to be the best! I want to be the most faithful! I want to the The most obedient! I want to be the most trustworthy so that the Lord will bring me to the people who are ready! I'm a work in progress but at least I know it! This week I am going to work extra hard to be the best that I can be! There is this song that I have been listening to forever because it is one of the only CDs I have and it is called "more". It's a terrible song I really hate it but the lyrics are true! Here is a part that says "I climbed this far, you raise the bar, you want my all" it reminds me of something of of the district leaders in my zone did. He told his district to get their hand as high as they could. They all raised their hands up, he said that's the best you can do? And they started to get on tippy toes. He said that's it?! Then they started climbing desks and chairs to get them as high as they possibly could. He said "look where you all are now. And look where you first stopped. You can always do a little bit more." And that brings me to something my dear friend Elder Langston told me. He told me that in the end he wants to say "I did all I could and then I did a little more." That's what I want to. I don't want a minute wasted. I want to be completely exhausted when I am done! Here's for a new full week! Thank you all for everything! Love you!

Hermana Stevens

This is long because I (Mia) am a slacker

I am so sorry that, I haven't posted in forever. Olivia is the exact opposite of a slacker and is doing the most AMAZING things!! So here you have it:

Week of June 8:

"on Wednesday, we had a lesson with S. honestly when we were planning on what to teach her, we were wondering if she was even progressing or if we needed to do a drop lesson. We invited a sister from our ward, Hermana Sanchez to come with us to the lesson. We have had other Hermanas come with us before but Hermana Sanchez finally clicked with her! S completely opened up! We decided that in this lesson we were going to come right out and say that she needs to ask for a change in her schedule or find a new job. Its hard to ask that of someone because that is her source of income right now and she makes more on sundays than any other day but ultimately she will not progress if she cannot make it to church! so a couple weeks ago, we invited her to fast so that she could get an answer for her question "is this church true". we fasted along side of her. We asked her if she had done it and SHE HAD! she remembered and she fasted! that alone showed to us her desire to do this. she wants an answer and she wants this or else she wouldn't have done that! so we had a lesson with her and faith. we talked about how sometimes we have to act in faith knowing that God will take care of things and that he will never have us sacrifice something without blessing us for it! We then popped the big question "will you ask your boss for a change in your schedule or find a new job?" she said she would do what she could. Then Hermana Sanchez stepped in "I will personally help you find a job! I will look for you. I will watch your kids. whatever you need. we are going to get you a new job." (shes amazing!) our branch president has a lot of "in's" and so we invited her to come to our activities (again) for Thursday so we can talk to president about helping her find a job. unfortunately when we talked to him about it, he wasn't able to make it so we told S that he wasn't going to be there but she was still very welcome to come to our activities. When Thursday came around, we decided to stop by activities for a second and right when we walked in, S's daughter was standing in the hallway. at first I didn't recognize her and had to a double take. But S came to the activity with all of her kids! it was awesome! it was a big deal for her and we are so excited that we are seeing the desire in her and watching her progress. What we need now is lots of prayers so that she can find a new job!
     We picked up a new investigator, M. we found her through a long story. We went by her house to find a man named R. We set up an appointment with roman and went and he wasn't home but found his daughter N. We set up an appointment with N and went back and she wasn't there but found her sister V! so we set up an appointment with V and she wasn't there... but we went back anyway and found her and taught her for a little bit and while we were there, her mother M walked in and said she wanted to learn more so she is great and progressing and everything!
     Remember  aunt C? well we had two lessons with her this week! last Monday, we went for family night and we taught the restoration. We asked C if she would say the closing prayer for us and she said no because she doesn't know how. We taught her and SHE DID! I didn't know that people would truly be so afraid to pray! but almost everyone is! nobody knows that there isn't a bad prayer! so that was great. when we left  we said "is there anything else that we can do for you?" and she said "come back and teach me more!" so we are really excited for her and we will be seeing her this week as well!
     on Saturday we had our interviews which were awesome! I got some really great council on what I should do to help certain people and how I can become better as a missionary. Honestly the biggest thing, I think is to remember President Hinkleys fathers words and I know they are said every day but THEYRE TRUE! "forget yourself and go to work!" it reminds me of something one of my mtc teachers said to me. he said "right now you represent 3 things what are they?" I said "Jesus Christ, Myself....." big pause. he says read your name tag. it reads " Hermana STEVENS. THE CHURCH of JESUS CHRIST of latter daysaints." right now I represent my family, my church and my Lord. this work is not in the slightest about me. I know that is true! I am just lucky enough to get something out of it! this work is about the people of sacramento and the Lord. I just have to make sure I am doing everything I can to make it happen. so that I am not prohibiting anything from happening!
     after my interview, I went and talked to sister Jardine. she shared with me a scripture. it is Alma 56:48. "48. and they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We don not doubt our mothers knew it." then she asked me "what does your mother know?" I took a moment to think and said "a lot of things!" so this is a little shout out to my momma! :D thanks for always being so supportive of me and so believing. your "you can do anything you put your mind to" and "don't limit yourself" speeches may have driven me crazy but they were burned in my brain I guess because often, I find myself believing those things! truly I am so thankful for my mother and all that she has done for me! love you! :D
     ultimately it was another wonderful week with lots of learning! lots of miracles! and lots of teaching! im excited for another one! thanks so much for everything! love you all!

Hermana Stevens"

Week of June 16

"I expect this email to be massive so brace yourselves! This week is been super awesome and so many miracles and have been very blessed in our area! And let me tell you about what is going on with all of our investigators! Well to start off, we had 4 investigators at church on sunday! And the next one starts with S and her family so last week I didn't mention in my email because we were still trying to get things sorted out but now that things are coming, I will tell you everything that has gone on with them.  So like I said last week we had interviews with the president. When we were being interviewed Hermana Clark asked him what more she can do to become a baptizing missionary. Every week we make goals and every week for baptisms that week, we have made our goal 0 because we have never had anyone prepared enough to be baptized. He told her that this is our problem. By putting 0 baptisms that week, it shows Heavenly Father that we are not expecting miracles and that we are expecting to not have any baptisms. So the next day that we planned, we looked at our investigators. We greatly considered what president said and wrote down a 1 in the space for how many baptisms we were going to have that week. We were trying to show Heavenly Father that we are expecting miracles if we have the faith for them. We then tried to match a name to our one baptism. At that moment, it was so obvious. G could be baptized that weekend! The date that he was working toward was jun 27 but we both knew how ready he was. Now if you don't remember, G is the son of S. He is 13 years old but he has the maturity of an adult. He is incredibly spiritually inclined and very intelligent. He from the very beginning when we started teaching S was very involved. We made lesson plans according to what he had to learn in order to be baptized that weekend. Their family couldn't make it to church that Sunday so we went over to their house on Sunday and talked to S About what we were planning and how she felt about it all. She gave Her approval so then we had to ask G how he felt about it! He sat down and we said "G, we know that we asked you to be baptized on jun 27 but we feel very strongly that we don't need to wait that long and we feel that you are ready. You are a very special boy..." We were cut off by his gigantic smile. Hemana Clark said  why are you smiling? And he said "you guys called me special. Special is just such a big word! I feel so excited to be baptized this weekend!" We talked to him a little bit more about baptism and we said "do you have any questions?" And he said nope! I think you answered them all! Then his sister L said "i have a question!" And we said "okay what is your question?" And she said "can I get baptized on Saturday?" We were shocked! And we said "OF COURSE!" It was amazing now because of a lot of different things getting in the way of the baptism, we weren't able to have it last week but G and L are getting baptized this Saturday at 7:00! :D they are truly amazing and so prepared for this! They understand everything, they have so many questions so we KNOW they understand and they have only missed 1 day of church in the past 6 weeks! This last Sunday, I sat by them in sacrament meeting and their mom was in the foyer with the baby so G was teaching L how to read the hymns. We sang I need thee every hour for our closing hymn and I definitely cried when I heard them trying to read all the words and keep up. They have been such a blessing and they are doing so great! Their mom said she will get baptized and she is going to get baptized after she gets some life things sorted out. But we are giving our last lesson lesson today and have been able to get a member to every single lesson! So we have had grrrreat branch support! 

     The next one is J! So every time we have a lesson with her, I mean it goes really well and she understands and asks questions and everything but there has always felt like there was a gap. We had a lesson with her yesterday and finally brought a member with us and that was what closed the gap! She opened up! They were chatting and laughing!the lesson was wonderful, hermana Cervantes shared an experience with her and we got her to pray at the end! It was solo good! When we were closing the lesson, she said "so I have a quesion. What are the requirements of baptism?" We told her about the lessons and the commandments again. J has not come to church yet and so hermana Cervantes invited her to come and she said "I don't know... I just don't know what to wear!" A hermana Cervantes explained about how we just try to look our very best! And then she left J with her phone number and invited to our activity that they have on Thursday! I see a LOT of progression with her these next couple of weeks!

     M is next she is so great! everytime that we have a lesson with her, she just truly understands EVERYTHING! oh my goodness she is prepared! She usually goes to the English ward because hat is where her sister in law goes but on Sunday, we got a text from her and she said "hey I'm here at your church where do I go?" So we went and found her and she sat on the other side of me through sacrament meeting! We had a lesson with her on Sunday night and she understood and accepted everything that we taught her. She says everything you guys teach me just makes perfect sense! The other thing we talked about was her sister her sister is living out of state and M always shares what she learns from us who her. She said that her sister always says things like "pray for me!" Or " I wish I went back to church!" Or "I want to meet the sisters!they sound so sweet!" So we invited her to have her sister referee to the missionaries. I think it will go well I think hat her sister wants to be a part of it she just doesn't know how to or how to ask but M said she has thought about doing it for a lot time! This is where I challenge you all! INVITE someone! If you are thinking about sharing it with someone but feel nervous, do it anyway! If they say no, that's the worst that could happen but if you know of this great and all powerful blessing, why not share it?! I know it can seem hard and scary sometimes but I promise it's not! ...I know that coming from a missionary doesn't mean much because that's what I do everyday but I promise it won't be as scary as you think! And if you don't know about the church, ask someone! Ask me! I'll send the missionaries right over! :D 

     The other two are S and R and they are both progressing wonderfully! We are still praying that S can find a new job so that she can come to church! So pray with me! 

     It has been an amazing week and an incredible 2 transfers here with my pal hermana Clark but here's the sad news: she's leaving me! She is getting transferred to northern Sacramento to be a sister training Leader! I however am staying here! I'm super duper glad I'm staying! The area is in such great shape right now and I intend to keep bettering it! My new companion is sister Bowen and she is great! She was my first STL when I got here and hermana Clarks Mac companion she is super great and has already served this area so she knows a bunch! She is a super hard worker so that will be a blessing for sure! This next transfer will rock! Most of our zone is changing! Practically my entire district! My district leader is going home tomorrow so my new district leader is.....drumroll please!!!!..... ELDER JARAMILLO! Whoooo! I'm super excited about it!!

    Thanks for all the letters this week! They really boost my spirits of tougher days and they make good days great!! Missionary life is the greatest!

Hermana Stevens" 

Week of June 22

"i don't have a lot to say about this week i mean it was an incredible week! but there just wasn't much to say about it!This week was transfers! Hermana Clark went to northern sacramento and I got Hermana Bowen! Hermana Bowen served in sacramento 7th branch before Hermana clark was here so she kind of knows the area and the branch! I am very excited that she is here and I am excited to see the progression in our investigators and our area! we also moved AGAIN! we moved into the elders old apartment and boy was it nasty!! seriously like toenails and hair everywhere, there was a pot in the back of the cupboard with beef stew in it, about a million elder outfits, it literally has never been cleaned...we had to do a lot of cleaning but a week later, it shines and sparkles! but all of my dear friends who are elders, if I find out that you are living this way, I will personally come punch you in the face. get it together.
     this week was also the baptism of G and L!!! I was so great! it went so well! the spirit was strong and there was such amazing support from the branch! we had a lot of people there to support them! G was first and when he went under the water, the look on his mothers face was priceless! Then next was L and she gave her mom a giant hug after. After the service was over, I gave S a giant hug and told her how happy we were for her family and how much we love them and she said "thank you sister! I am next. I am working on getting everything in my life in order but I am next!" so we will continue to see and work with her and help her get ready to be baptized! G can get the priesthood pretty soon too! so that's exciting!      

     other exciting things this week were that we got rear ended! luckily we had our bike rack on so it didn't really do anything to our car also we are just fine.
     Besides that, everyone else is progressing just great. we added 6 investigators this week so hopefully we see some great prepared people soon! I am so glad that I stayed here! I love it here! I love the branch and the people that we are working with! the mission life is the best life! thanks for everything!! 

also elder Jaramillo says hello!"

Liv with her old friend and new district leader Elder Jaramello!

"me hugging coop"

"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!)