WEEK 23

Hi Y'all,

 

This week has been awesome! On Monday we played soccer, so you know I started the week out great haha! On Tuesday we continued teaching the new member lessons to a new move in, in the ward. Her name is Danielle, & she is super excited about the Gospel and reminds me a lot of my Mom. Wednesday Elder Gallano and I went out to lunch to some hole in the wall Chinese place, with Elder Meraz and his new comp, Elder Folau. The food tasted super good but very bad for me & I got minor food poisoning. My appetite hasn't been the same yet. Later that night we went on splits with the 3rd ward, a member of the Elders quorum, Bro. Harper, and I went to our appointment with the Jesse Vycital. At first I had no idea what to say. Earlier I had prepared something along the lines of Understanding promptings from the Holy Ghost, but the words just weren't really flowing out of my mouth. After a while I just stop talking for a minute and immediately a thought came to me. The thought was a memory of Elder Gallano and I studying in the morning a while back, we prayed to know for a good time for Jesse to be baptized, we decided on March 5. I began to talk again to Jesse and I invited him to be baptized on March 5... He said yes! We still have a lot of work to do to get him to that point but it will be fun! I am excited to see the effort that Jesse puts in as he works towards his goal of March 5.

I love you all. Hope all is well.

 

~Elder Stevens


Jun Jun and his cousins and of course Elder Gallano

WEEK 22

I'm healthy and well, legs are just always tired from biking so much but I hope that after a while it will eventually go away haha. It has been pretty cold but it has actually been getting warmer which is good!  

 

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, P-day was super hectic and we had a bunch of errands to run for Elder Gallano.

I love y'all too.

~Elder Stevens

WEEK 21

 

You forwarded this message on 12/22/2015 4:06 PM

This week has been really good. We picked up a new investigator! That's 3 weeks in a row with a new investigator! We also made contact with Jesse Vycital again, and Jun Jun has committed to baptism, just need a date on it!

This week we have met with Jun Jun a total of 4 times! We have taught all of the lessons except for the Law of Tithes and Offerings and that other Law that every missionary dreads to teach... the Law of Chastity. Remember Jun Jun is 10 so it should be interesting. We are bringing Bro. Riley (3rd ward Ward Mission Leader) with us and he has a way of teaching things that should be awkward or hard to teach and makes it so simple, I have learned a ton from him since teaching with him. Jun Jun is accepting everything very well and he really likes the fact that he will be able to have a "bodyguard" or the Holy Ghost with him at all times.

 

On Saturday night we found out that the pipes in the church building broke, due to the flooding we weren't able to go to our own church building, so we just had Sacrament meeting at the Stake Center for both wards. We called Jesse to notify him of the change and he FINALLY answered and told us that he and Natalie would be at church on Sunday. He was true to his word and they were both there! It was a testimony meeting as well and it was just perfect for him. There was just recently a Stake Baptism where 3 of the 8 year olds in our ward and others through out the stake got baptized. 2 of the 3 in our ward got up and bore their testimony on how excited they are and how good they felt, which was perfect for both Jun Jun and Jesse who were sitting with the rest of us in the congregation. Bro. Riley got up and bore his testimony as well, he was actually the first one, and he directed his testimony for Jesse on purpose but in a nonchalant way. Also, a young lady in the ward who was baptized about 6 months ago got up and bore her testimony on how proud she is to be a Mormon, and due to the example of her husband and his family, she made the best decision in her life to be baptized. It was just perfect for Jesse. We were able to talk with him and Natalie after and we are going over to their house on Tuesday! Wish us luck, we are asking him about his decision on when to be baptized.

Earlier Sunday morning we had an appointment with that new investigator we got, Jennifer, she is 40 years-old and she said she is interested in the church. She was a referral given to us by a family in the Greenhill ward, the Lewis's. We sat down with Jennifer and the Lewis family in the Lewis home and taught the Restoration. At the beginning of the lesson I was doing most of the talking, Elder Gallano isn't to comfortable with his English yet even though it's really good. But once we got to Joseph Smith, Elder Gallano took over, he killed it. The Spirit was so strong in the room, Jennifer was holding back tears. We asked her if she would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and she said yes. We then extended the date of January 13 to prepare her self for baptism. She told us maybe, that she needs time to soak all of what we told her, in. She said that what we told her makes sense. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and that it has all the answers to our questions, as does the bible. After we left, Elder Gallano and I were on our bikes and he said, "That's how we do it in the Philippines." It's really cool to see the growth that Elder Gallano has had with his English and how the Lord really does look out for us when we are on his errand.

Time is moving way to quick and it should really slow down, I love it here in Idaho, especially here in The Greenhill and 3rd wards. The time is approaching that I will probably get transferred, either after this transfer or the next. I love the people here and not ready to go, I know that where I get transferred to will be just as good if not better, and I will learn to love the people there as well. Missions are Awesome! I hope that y'all all had great holidays and may 2016 treat us all well.

 

~Elder Stevens

My District

WEEK 20

Hi Kelly,

I'm doing good, I actually got super sick on Christmas night. The dinner we went to after Skyping, I didn't even eat I was so sick. When we got home I just fell asleep for an hour. I woke up feeling super sick, I felt like I was going to throw up so I started towards the bathroom and I got super light headed and the next thing I know Elder Gallano and the Hartleys are pulling me on to my back, I had blacked out haha. I hit my head on the way down so I have a little mark from that and a little mark on my side but other than that I'm fine now. I didn't sleep very well that night and I threw up a lot. Being sick also made me forget to give my pants to the Hartley's sorry.

It was so much fun being able to talk to y'all, it was great! Everyone sounds good. That is really sad that Murphy had be put down, I will miss him, he was a great dog. It's good that y'all were able to be there when they put him down.

I love you too, enjoy the rest of the time with family.

~Elder Stevens

WEEK 19

Well it's cold and rainy and sometimes snowy outside and... we're on bikes. It's a lot of fun at the beginning of the day then when you have to bike somewhere 45 min away and it's cold and rainy you start to get tired of it. You also get A LOT more interaction with people. The middle finger seems to be the favorite, haha, but these things shall give me experience!

This week was a little bit different I picked up my Elder Gallano 2 weeks before transfers and before the new missionaries come in. Sis. Winder, our mission presidents wife, is so awesome! She met us at a missionary clothing store so that we could get Elder Gallano a few things, since he wasn't very privileged enough to afford everything. She bought him everything he didn't have, like an extra suit, some ties, a couple sweaters, and a big rain coat. She is so sweet. We also drove (while we still had the car) Elder Castillo all over our mission so that he could say goodbye to some families and friends. We then dropped him off at the mission office in Boise on Wednesday. So now it's just Elder Gallano and I.

Funny Stories about Elder Gallano and not being "Americanized" yet. We were at the Greenhill Ward Christmas party, and they had rolls with butter, but this butter was the individually wrapped cubes and he ate it thinking it was chocolate, I couldn't stop laughing. He said after that, he will never eat butter again haha. He also asked me if the water in the bathroom faucet was clean. But with the English he does know he is a great missionary, it is a lot of fun to teach with him. We get to do language study in the mornings and it's even helping me out haha.

We got a new investigator this week. Her name is Jennifer, she was a referral from our Zone Leaders. We went at taught the restoration and had a good conversation, she told us that she just wants to talk to us to learn, but I asked her one thing, I said "If we ask you to pray or read the Book of Mormon with real intent will you do it?" She said yes. So she prayed to know if what we taught her is true. We have yet to go back and see how it went, Can't wait to find out!

Merry Christmas everyone! Don't forget our Savior, and his sacrifice for us, during this wonderful season.

~Elder Stevens

WEEK 18

Hey Y'all! 

Big news! I'm training now! ...well sort of. Elder Galleano, from the Philippines, has been waiting for his visa he was serving in the Philippines for a while so I don't have to teach him a lot of stuff. He is a cool kid, he's actually 20 so older than me, I have a feeling all my companions are going to be older than me for a little while. Elder Castillo will be with us for a little while longer, he goes home Thursday, so we are in a Trio right now until then. We also got our car taken, for whatever reason someone else needs a car more than us, so we will be on bikes now... in 30 degree weather, Wish me luck! I think I'd rather be on bike in the winter than in summer, with the cold you can actually do something about it. Should be very interesting.

We have been doing a lot of Christmas stuff this past week. We helped usher at the Stake Activity and been attending ward parties. This time of season is awesome! People are so willing to let you in for once haha. We were able to get into a less-active families home and share A savior is born with them (for all who haven't checked out the video here is the link, it's awesome! https://www.mormon.org/christmas) it was a great meeting, they fed us dinner and said we could come back sometime this week. The Christmas season is awesome, a time to reflect back on our Savior's birth and his life. I have grown to love my brother, Jesus Christ, so much since I've been out her, maybe because I talk about him everyday. I am so thankful for his sacrifice for us and example, the example that we should all be following. During this Christmas season I challenge all to go and do a selfless act, just as our Redeemer did every waking minute of his life. 

Merry Christmas!

~Elder Stevens

WEEK 17

Anyways, I don't think I will be able to get a big letter off today, I might but if I don't I'll have one for sure sent off by this next Monday. Also with Christmas approaching, we need to figure out a good time to Skype. The work is going well, we have had quite a few lessons recently and quite a few LA's that usually don't open their door, open up, probably due to the Christmas season, but hey, we'll take it haha.  

 

I can't wait to hear how everything is going back home! I love you and everyone.

Love,

~Elder Stevens



Elder Brunette's 1 year, it's just apple cider by the way, don't worry.

Cool name in the capitol.