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