We got a wonderful new companion

Dear Family and Friends,

We are still teaching tons and loving Conway. I have been here almost 5 months now...can you believe it?? I can't! :) I love it here.

Sister Allison and I are still together. We got another new companion. Her name is Sister Thompson. She is from Salt LAKE AREA. HERE IS A PICTURE OF US.

I DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME TODAY. SORRY! HAVE A GREAT WEEK. I HOPE YOU HAVE SNOW. WE HAVE 80 DEGREE WEATHER HERE AND I WISH I COULD HAVE SNOW. HA HA. LOVE YOU ALL.

KEEP THE FAITH,

SISTER STEVENS

Wedding and baptism week (sorry I cannot get the pictures to attach)

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week was my first 2 baptisms. It was amazing! We had a wedding that was supposed to start at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The couple was a half hour late and then the marriage license was lost for about an hour. They were barely able to get married before they were baptized at 7 p.m. The Lord answers prayers, even if it takes an hour and fifteen people searching. Ha ha. It was a wonderful meeting and I am so happy for Jose and Audrey.

Sister Payne is getting transferred tomorrow. I am very sad about that. I will still be with Sister Allison and we will be getting another companion. :) It is interesting to be in a trio, but lots of fun!

I am attaching a picture from Thanksgiving with a family that we ate with. Also, here is a picture from the wedding.

Happy December! I am so excited that it is Christmas time. What a great time to be a missionary and a good time for each of you to share the gospel with your friends. :) I hope you have a blessed week. Love you all.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

Few words say it all this week!

Dear Family and Friends,

This is a short letter because we had a district activity today. We went to Ripley's Believe it or not musium. Here are a few fun pictures!

The work is going so well. Thank you for the emails. Sorry, I didn't have time to respond to those of you who wrote this week. Know that I love you all. Keep smiling.

The Lord cares about us each indivitually. I saw that this week. I am grateful for the priesthood. It is one of the best parts of this Gospel. :) We are doing very well and will do even better this week.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

Sorry about last weeks letter not going through

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so sorry that my email from last week did not go through. I just resent it. I don't have much time left to email today, so this is going to be a little short. Sorry!

I am doing absolutely great! The weather is cooling off and the work is progressing so much. We are teaching like crazy and trying to make time to do things such as eat. Ha ha. We are doing our best to keep up! The Lorde is blessing us to focus on what is most important.

We went on exchanges this week. I went to Lake Nona with Sister Higley, Here is a picture. This is a new area of Orlando that is pretty rich. Most of the neighborhoods are gated and have guards. It was a great day!

We sang in the ward talent show on Friday. It was fun and the members absolutely LOVED it! We sang a song called blessings. Here is a blurry picture. Sorry.

I am ready and excited to see the hand of The Lord in the lives of our gators this week. Keep smiling and counting your blessings. I love you all.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

November 11

Dear Family and Friends,

I cannot even begin to tell you all what a great week we had last week. We taught 25 lessons and received 5 referrals from members. We also got 2 new investigators. We now have 14 investigators. We don't even have time to teach all of these gators. What a greawonderful problem to have...right?

Last night I had a really cool experience that I want to share with you. We were teaching this really nice 14 year old boy on his porch. It was dark. We were teaching the restoration. I was talking about President Monson and how much I love him. I had this brilliant idea (directly from the Spirit). I made the analogy of the prophet being like a light in a tunnel. I said, "he helps us see the rocks and bumps,so we don't stumble." It brought such a great spirit and helped him understand it very well. It was one of the only things he remembered at the end of the lesson. The Holy Ghost works! I promise. I tried it. You should try it too!

We had Zone Conference last week too. Elder William R. Walker came. I was so excited to see him and his wife. They are so loving and kind. He gave us some great advice and showed some awesome role plays. Here is a picture. They even told all the missionaries that they know me and some of them think I am a Celebrity now. Ha ha.

We came home early on Halloween and had some candy and planned for this week. Here is a picture of us having fun!

Also, we went on a temple tour around the grounds with a sweet couple from Colombia (I told them you served there, Dad.) She is less active and he is not a member of The Church. What a spiritual experience that was. I loved it. My eyes are mostly closed. Sorry!

Well, I am so excited and ready for an even better week this week. Love you all. Keep doing the Lord's work.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

October 28

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been awesome! We have lots of investigators, 2 of which are progressing and will probably be baptized at the end of the month. We used to spend lots of time knocking on doors. Now we are trying to fit in time when we can knock on doors. We are so incredibly busy and it is a huge blessing. This week we are going to go on splits so we can cover more appointments. This is a huge blessing, but we are having a hard time staying balanced with contacting, visiting members, teaching less active members, and teaching investigators. This week we will do better.

Last week we taught 19 lessons. It was a miracle. One of our lessons was with a family who are members of the church and their step dad who is not yet baptized. We were talking about the plan of salvation and they had some great questions. It was a very spiritual experience. He asks us lots of questions like, "how do you know that's true?" I have many opportunities to share my testimony about the Holy Ghost. It is wonderful.

Sister Allison and I got a new companion, Sister Payne. She is great! She went to BYU-Idaho too. :) I love how happy and bold she is. We laugh a lot and have tons of fun doing the Lord's work. That's how missionary work should be, right? Here is a picture of us at the Bevans.

Well, zone conference is this week. Elder Walker of the 70 is here for it. I'm excited to get some revelation tomorrow. I am loving this area, Conway. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love and pray for you all. Keep smiling and looking for ways you can help the missionaries in your area.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

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Miracles come after we exercise faith!

October 14, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Missionary work is awesome! We have a progressing gator (my first one on my mission). Yay. She is the one who has a reading disability. Someone has been reading to her from the Book of Mormon. Last week we bought her an audio version on CD. She is simple and I don't know how much of what we teach she understands. I do know that she feels the spirit though.

We are also teaching a sister's husband in our ward. He has some good questions and I think he will progress quickly.I'm super excited about him.

The topic of Fast Sunday seemed to be follow the prophet, which is perfect since we just had conference. I love the prophets and apostles. I would be lost without their counsel. I don't know how people live without knowing there is still a prophet. That is one of my favorite things to testify about.

No pictures this week. Sorry. Next week I will send some.

The elders in the ward had another baptism yesterday. It was a wonderful experience. She has MS, so I was reminded of grandpa Casper. It was a sweet experience. They are baptizing a lot. Our area touches theirs, but for some reason it's been a lot slower here. We see miracles every day. It is wonderful.

Have a great week. Don't forget to smile every day. Love you all and I pray for you.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

General Conference is the Best!!

October 7, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

It was another great week. General Conference is amazing, EVERY time. We were able to watch all sessions, except priesthood. We have 6 investigators. One of our biggest challenges is people are hard to get a hold of. One of Satan's greatest tactics is to tempt us to think that we are too busy. I know people have lots to do, but we always should have time for God or we are being prideful. Also, some of them have reading disabilities or don't want to read. Since The Book of Mormon is one of our greatest resources for conversion (along with the Spirit), this is very disappointing.

We are going to try hard to have 3 of them with baptismal dates by the end of the week. :) If you would like to pray for all of us...GO for it! :)

The weather is cooling off to the 80's. It feels good. I didn't realize how cool 80 is until I got here. Ha ha.

I noticed how much missionary work was discussed at conference. I hope you are trying to be member missionaries. We are working on a training here to help members be more comfortable sharing the gospel. It doesn't have to be difficult. Missionary work is simple and brings great Joy and satisfaction.

Here is a picture of one of my zone leaders and I. He is about 6, 8. He is a good missionary and an inspired leader.

Well, I hope you have a week filled with happiness. As my district leader says, "wake up like you mean it and loving life!" I love you all.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

What a week! :)

September 30, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

My companions and I had a fantastic week. The gospel has literally saved the life of one of our gators. He was going to kill himself and he has hope now. I am so excited! I think he will be baptized at the end of October. What a man! :)

We are teaching a potential family tonight. I am very excited. We also have another gator who is the sister-in-law of a lady in our ward, but they do not get along. That will be hard because she doesn't want to come to church with her. Sad! We also got 2 more gators this week, a guy and a girl. Both have reading disabilities, but are not related. The girl has fetal alcohol syndrom and the man has brain damage from an accident. That will be interesting. I believe I have been sent here to help them. We are going to do all we can to get them reading the Book of Mormon this week. I love the Book of Mormon.

One of the elders in our ward had his one year mard this week, so we made him a cake and sang happy birthday. Here is a picture. It was fun!

I can't wait for general conference. Our prophets and apostles are called of God and I love them. The relief society broadcast was awesome! I appreciated President Monson's remarks about how much Heavenly Father Loves each one of us. He love you all and I do too. Have the best week ever.

Keep the Faith, 

Sister Stevens

Great week! :)

September 23, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, this week we are picking up. We had 2 investigators at church yesterday. Woo hoo! We are also teaching a family that should be coming next week.

Sister Hoffmeier and I taught a training at district meeting and the zone leaders and assistants were there...scary! It went well. We talked about the Spirit and receiving revelation.

We went on exchanges this week with the Sister Trainer Leaders too. Here is a picture of us.

Also, BIG news. We got a new companion on Thursday. Sister Allison joined us because her companion went home. We are having lots of fun together. Here is a picture of the 3 of us.

I don't have much time today. Everyone have a great week and share your testimony with at least one person who is not a member of the Church this week. I want to hear about your experiences with this. You will be blessed for it! :) I promise. Love you all.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

P.S.  Whoever took these pictures accidentally made them videos, so sorry about the play buttons on my face. Ha ha.

I love the Book of Mormon!

September 16, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I don't have too much to write this week. It has been challenging to keep our gators. They are not committed and don't read or pray, usually. We will keep having faith and hope! The work will progress.

Sister K accepted a baptismal date for October 29...WOO HOO!! We got 2 new gators this week. Sister O is a mom to a little girl and related to a lady in our ward. She liked what we taught about the restoration and she is coming to church this Sunday. We have a follow-up appointment next week.  Hopefully we will be teaching her husband soon too.

Brother F has been coming to church for about a year now, but has no intentions of being baptized. He is a catholic and promised his mom he would die a catholic. We will use the spirit and work to help him become converted.

I am very happy and so grateful for the scriptures, especially The Book of Mormon. Elder Holland said, "No evil man could write such a book; and no good man would unless he were commanded to by God." I know that as each of you read it daily you will have an added measure of the spirit in your lives. I love you all. Have a great week.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

My first transfer is already here!

September 9, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Today transfers for tomorrow were announced. My companion and I are both staying here in Conway. I think she wishes she got transferred because she's been here for 3 transfers already, but we will have another great 6 weeks together.

Last week was an interesting one. I don't really even remember what happened (I'm sure some of you can relate to that feeling.) Ha ha. We are having a tough time scheduling appointments. People are busy. There were miracles in the midst of these challenges.

The man we taught the Restoration on his doorstep, Brother G, and his wife became gators this week. They are nice people, who are from Puerto Rico. He struggles with the idea of coming to church because he believes he can worship on his own. She has a changing work schedule, so we haven't been able to teach them again. We had a lesson scheduled on Friday, but she canceled because she was busy. Our goal is to get them to church this week.

Sister A dropped us last week. We called a few times and she said she would call us back. She didn't, so a few days later we called her and she hung up on us. We might try to visit again and see what's up.

We met another girl knocking this week Sister K. She became a gator last night and told us she will be baptized...AWESOME! She is living with her boyfriend, so she will get married first and probably be baptized in October. She has a 1 year old son who is super cute.

Sister J is moving this week. Last week she was going to some probation and counseling for a DUI. She also fell down the stairs and went to the ER. I hope she is feeling better. We haven't taught her a lesson for about 3 weeks now. I hope she will get in touch with missionaries again when she moves to the homeless shelter. She has a sad situation. I know the gospel can help her and I believe she will continue hearing about this message of good news.

We are going to teach a guy from Africa hopefully this week. He speaks pretty good English, but mainly he speaks Amharic. Here is a picture of the Book of Mormon in his language, pretty cool!

Here is a picture of Sister Hoffmeier and I with it. This is my "rained on all day" hair d:)

It is difficult for us to get members present at our lessons. If you can, go teach with the missionaries. It is great! We are going to work on that this week.

I hope you all have a nice week. I am very excited for conference. President Monson is a prophet and I know the words he speaks are from our Heavenly Father. I love you all.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

Prayers are Answered!

Monday, September 2, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Heavenly Father answers prayers. I have started praying for specific blessings and it is easy to see my answers. This week we had a really powerful experience with this. I prayed before we started knocking a street. I asked Heavenly Father to allow us to find someone to teach either at the doorstep or to get a return appointment. At the last door a guy answered and we taught him the first lesson (the restoration). We gave him a copy of The Book of Mormon and he said he would read and pray about it. We have a follow up appointment with him, but he is not a gator yet.

I prayed for a similar thing the next day and we taught a girl who is a Jehovah's Witness. She told us a bit about what she believes and asked us several questions. She was open-minded about what we taught. Surprisingly she accepted a copy of The Book of Mormon, but hesitated to let us come back. It was also a cool experience.

Last week was our last District Meeting before transfers, which are next Tuesday. I seriously can't believe I have already been in the mission field for a transfer. Here is a picture of my district. They are great!

Sister J and Brother K are moving soon, so we are losing 2 gators. However, we found 2 more last week and they are awesome. We also have a few return appointments with a few others we met that are very promising.

Brother R is a Messianic Jew and about 60 years old. He is a black man and is impressed that we are going around sharing our faith in Jesus Christ. We had a good first lesson with him and have a return appointment tomorrow. He is reading the Book of Mormon and said when he comes to know this is true, he will be baptized. Exciting! :) We will invite his family to join tomorrow when we teach the plan of salvation.

Sister A is separated from her husband and has 2 kids. She lives with her dad and has many trials in life and a positive attitude. She has great manners and wants to instill faith in God in her family. She doesn't feel comfortable inviting us in since it's not her home. That is a challenge. We are going to see if we can teach her in a member's home. She is busy with a new job this week, so I really hope we can set up another lesson soon.

If you have not yet read   Brother Wilcox's message (His Grace is Sufficient) in this month's Ensign, READ IT! It is powerful. One of my favorite talks ever.

Well, we are gearing up for another great week here in the Promised Land. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Love you all.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

Another Week in Paradise

Monday, August 26, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week was a fun one. We got one new gator and the elders in the ward had a baptism yesterday. The man who was baptized is so ready. He is accepting of everything and his boys will be right behind him (they will hopefully be baptized next month). I'm very happy for him and the elders. Sister Hoffmeier and I will find a golden one like that soon.

Zone Conference was on Wednesday. It was a long day and spiritual. Here is a picture of Sister Bowman and I, just like I promised.

Sister Hoffmeier and I are pleated poke-a-dot twins. :)

We went on exchanges this week for 24 hours. This is Sister Strein. She was my companion. She is a fearless missionary and amazing at contacting. I love her. She goes home in 2 months. Crazy!

Sister J and Brother K are both moving, so we're sad about that! They are both going through a lot! We are having a difficult time to get in touch with both of them to teach them. I hope they see missionaries in the places they are moving. Sister J is being kicked out of her apartment with her children and I feel so sad for her. She cried several times the other day when we saw her.

Our new gator is 14. She has many concerns about life that I know the gospel can answer. Her dad is Born again Cristian and her mom has a hard time believing that Joseph Smith saw what he did. They want to come to church, so hopefully next Sunday. Our bishop doesn't like children under 18m to be baptized without a parent, so we will try to convert her mom too. She is not a gator yet.

Be obedient and The Lord will bless you and you will be happy! My new favorite scripture is Mosiah 2:41. That is the promise. Have a great week! Love you all.

Keep the Faith,

Sister Stevens

August 19, 2013

Amazing Week

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week was nothing short of amazing! :) We have 2 new gators, Sister J and Brother K. Sister C's fiancé wasn't comfortable with us coming over, so she dropped us, but we planted a great seed. I think she had faith in what we taught. She will be baptized someday.

I can't even count the miracles we saw this week. Thank you for the prayers. I can feel the power of them. We are working hard, knocking lots of doors and teaching more lessons this week. Yay!

Sister J is probably in her 40's. She's Puerto Rican and has 5 children and 2 great grandchildren. Hopefully we will get to teach all of them this week. She is excited about what we taught so far about Joseph Smith and the restoration. She wanted to come to church yesterday, but she got sick. So next Sunday we will get her there. :) She has a desire to change her life for the better, which includes quitting smoking and drinking. I just love her and her desire to repent.

Brother K is 27 and in a wheelchair because of an accident that happened when he was 3 or 4. He opened right up and told us all about it and the other challenges he has had throughout his life, and there have been many. He didn't know who God is and he thought Jesus was a good person who died for people. He felt the spirit so strongly because I did and it was wonderful. I hope he gets baptized soon because he's moving in less than a month. He is great!

Sister D, the recent convert is so much fun! She talks SO much. We are having a difficult time getting her to come to church with her 5 children. She has the desire, but sleeps in or doesn't feel good, so as a result, none of her family gets to come to church. It makes me sad. I love them. I will try to send a picture of them next week.

I saw Elder Clark at the trainer's follow-up meeting last week. He is super nice. Here is a picture of us. (He is my cousin's brother-in-law and a visa waiter here in Orlando.)

Look at this sad, empty mail box! I think it needs some love...what do you think? ;) We found out that packages can only be forwarded through US Postal Service, just so you know.

Zone Conference is on Wednesday, so I will get to see Sister Bowman then. Don't worry, we will take pictures and I will send them next week. I am so excited. I love my mission president and his wife. They have great things to tell and they are very inspired.

Yesterday in Relief Society our lesson was about faithful, energetic service in the kingdom of God. There was a quote from President Snow that I love, "Knowing our religion to be true we ought to be the most devoted people on the face of the earth to the cause we have embraced." I pray that we may each be this way. I love you all.

Keep the Faith,
Sister Stevens

August 12, 2013

Tough week, but miracles still happen

Dear Family and Friends,

Remember last week I talked about how challenging missionary work is? Well, this past week was even harder. I have gained a great understanding about how I can and should use the atonement in my life. Through these challenges I am still happy! :) Sister Hoffmeyer and I are seeing miracles and I am so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ. I see many people who don't have it and don't even seem to want it and it makes me sad for them.

At the beginning of the week we had appointments with Sister G, the M family and a recent convert, Sister D and 5 of her 6 children (her husband and son are not interested in the Church at this point). All of them fell through. Our other 3 lessons this week also fell through. However, we were able to give one impromptu lesson to a lady who let us in on Thursday. We have a follow up appointment with her and her fiancé tomorrow. Her name is Sister C. She has a baby and lives with her fiancé, so we will get them married and baptized soon. :) I will tell you more about that next week.

We knocked on a lot of doors and found a few more potential people to teach. Hopefully they all become investigators--or gators as missionaries call them around here. Ha ha.

This first picture doesn't need much commentary. I will just say, don't worry...we cleaned the stove.

Here is my study cubical. I spend many hours here.

This is my companion and me :) We get along very well.

Finally, this is the senior couple, the Bevans. They are like our parents away from home. Don't worry Mom and Dad, they haven't taken your place.

Well, another sad thing is that the M family's dad said he doesn't like what we teach and he won't approve of his two kids getting baptized. Their mom says he can't stop them when they turn 18. We can't go over there and teach anymore.   But she said she will still bring the kids to church. They are great! I love them and can't wait for them to be baptized.

We also had two appointments with Sister G last week. Both fell through. She is busy with her little girl and said when she knows her schedule she will call us. We think we lost her. So as of now we have one gator and we have only had one lesson with her. We hope her fiancé becomes a gator soon too.

I was reading in Moroni 9 today. Verse 6 is very good. I substituted the word "son" for "missionaries". Very powerful! I am receiving much strength here. I know we will see miracles this week. We saw them last week and it was a difficult one, so we can see miracles anytime we are looking for them.

It was very hot this past week. Every day it was about 95 and humid...ugh! We have a car with AC though, so that's nice.

Please continue to pray for us to be able to find people to teach. The hearts of people here are being softened; we just need to find the people who are ready. Thank you for the prayers. I love reading everyone's letters. If you would like to mail me letters, please do! :) Love you all.

Keep the faith,
Sister Stevens

July 27, 2013

July 27, 2013   

Orlando Bound

Dear Family and Friends,

I am amazed that I have been here for 12 days already. I have learned a lot and I feel more ready for the mission field now. I am grateful for the MTC experience. It is truly inspired.

Our flight leaves on Monday at 10:07am. We are supposed to be checked out at 4:30am, then we will ride the Front Runner and the Trax for a few hour. We have a few hours at the airport to call family. I don't know how many phones there are, so I might not have lots of time. I am excited to talk to family.

I realized after I sent my letter last week, I forgot to put my companion's name in it. Her name is Sister Holly Pike. We have grown together and have an enjoyable time learning at the MTC.  She says she has learned patience. I think I am part of that learning. Ha ha. We had some wonderful teaching opportunities and we are both ready for Orlando.

Here is a picture of us pointing to our mission on a huge world map. As you can see I can't reach it, but I am pointing up to it. :)

I see Sister Clegg often. She is so sweet. Here is a picture of us. I love seeing friendly faces of people I know.

I sang in the MTC choir. There were about 900 of us. It was incredible. The Spirit was so strong. Here is a picture. We sang Praise to the Man. What a wonderful experience it was.

The last picture is my district with our teacher, Brother Sebesta. He brings a great spirit to class and I am grateful for what I learned from him. He lovingly chastised us a few times, and we grew in the gospel because of it. :)

I hope all is well at home! The Lord will bless you as you keep trying your best. Thank you for your prayers!

Keep the faith,

Sister Stevens