WEEK 27

Well, I've made it to 6 months! I got to burn a tie, it's a missionary ritual. At 6 months you burn a tie, at a year you burn a shirts, at a year and a half you burn a pair of slacks, and at 2 you burn a suit. Time really flies. For these past 6 months I have been in the same, awesome area! There is much that has happened in these last 6 months here and there is much to come this transfer. 

This last Saturday, Jun Jun Wang, our 10 year old investigator, was baptized. Setting up for a baptism is pretty stressful haha, especially if you are doing it by yourself. I've had to do it twice now, first, with the Driskell's because it was the first week of my first transfer with Elder Castillo and he didn't know what to do, and now with the Jun Jun's because Elder Gallano isn't quite there yet to do things like this in English. It is so stressful because there are a bunch of tedious things you have to make sure that get done and you are the one setting up this special day for them, I mean it's the day they enter into the path of eternal life with their Father in Heaven! Also because President Winder, our mission president, was going to be there haha. Once the baptismal service began, I was completely at peace and everything went smoothly. We were able to get Jesse Vycital to attend the baptism, the investigator we have been working with ever since I've been here. After the baptism he talked to one of the members of our ward, Brother Blakeslee. They just chatted about the baptism, what Jesse thought about it, and the spirit that was there, and then Bro. Blakeslee said, "I hope I will have the opportunity to attend your baptism." and Jesse replied, "Well, I don't think you will have to wait that much longer." After I heard that I could not stop smiling! During the service, I glanced at Jesse a few times and I could tell the Spirit was working on him. Again, conversion is all due to the presence of the Spirit. We have an appointment with Jesse this Wednesday and we will see what more of his thoughts are. The following day, Sunday, Jun Jun was given the Holy Ghost and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and Elder Gallano and I were able to be apart of the brethren who laid their hands on Jun Jun's head. Such cool experience to see. It gets me every time. 

The spirit that is felt at a baptism is one that you can refuse to feel. If you want to feel happy, go to a baptism. I'm thankful for our Savior's example that he set for us to be baptized, Christ said he did it because it was "to fulfill all righteousness". We all need to follow the example Jesus Christ set for us and be baptized. And if we are baptized to do what is left, which is to press forward with faith, always repent because no one is perfect, rely on our constant companion the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the end. 

I love you all. I hope y'all had a great Valentines day, and have a great President's day.
 

~Elder Stevens

Jun Jun's Baptism


Walking at night.

My burning tie. 6 month tradition.



We took these because we thought it would make our mission look unique. haha

WEEK 26

Transfers today! We received the transfer call out this last Saturday and.... I'm staying! I am so happy. If you've been keeping track I haven't left my first area yet, I will be here for 7 1/2 months guaranteed, that's quite a long time for those who know, I could go longer who knows! A lot of my close friends got transferred, Elder Leuga, my old District leader just went to a Zone leader in Boise and Elder Simkins went to a zone over, in Meridian west. P-days will be very different for the next little while, definitely won't be as much sports as there was prior.

The area. This area is so ready to see baptisms, right now we have three on date, Jun Jun, Jesse Vycital, and Sergio. This Saturday, Jun Jun will be getting baptized, so all week we will be busy preparing and organizing for that. It is surprisingly a lot of work, but we are very excited for him. Elder Gallano and I have set a goal to have 2 more people on date and find 3 more investigators! I am looking forward to this transfer! Expect a lot from us!

 

Being in an area for this long you really build a good relationship with the members of the ward and they are able to see you grow as a missionary. Since this is my first area, I'm sure they have seen some changes. Our ward mission leader, Bro. Riley and his wife were talking with another member about us, the missionaries. They were saying how much better I've gotten and talking and the fact that I'm not shy anymore haha. I didn't realize I was being that shy that it was noticeable. I love my mission! Being a missionary is the greatest decision of my life. Serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for two years? Nothing can top that! 

 

I love you all!

 

~Elder Stevens

Chinese hot pot with new ward mission leader.

WEEK 25

Man time flies! Already February!? Time truly flies when you're having fun. We have had an awesome week! We received so many promising referrals this week. We also finished up the mini MTC for the 3rd ward, it was a cool experience for them! And another baptismal date! 

In a short summary, the mini MTC, consisted of 2 weeks and 3 days of meeting with the youth, 2 Wednesday's and 1 Sunday. The first Wednesday all the missionaries in the district taught the first lesson to the youth who were separated in their own "districts". The following Wednesday they went out to different "investigators" but really just members acting. After they all returned, Bro. Riley (our Ward Mission Leader) asked them how it went. They all really enjoyed it, a lot of them said because of this experience they are now going to serve a mission. So I'd say it went well. Then the following Sunday they had a testimony meeting in third hour with them and the Spirit was super strong!

Sergio Espinoza, was a referral given to us, in December before Christmas, by one of his friends who had been taking him to church in Boise. His friend texted us telling us that he lived in our area and that it's time he meet missionaries and attends the ward he lives in. Right after we got the text we called Sergio, he told us he had family in town for the holidays and that he'd give us a call back after they left. I thought to myself, oh we will never hear from him again, I lacked faith! To my surprise, he called us on the 21st. He said, "I'm not sure how y'all go about doing this but if we could meet Tuesday's and Thursdays, what time works for y'all?" Since then we have met with Sergio twice, Once on Tuesday and then another on Thursday. Thursday, we set a baptismal date with him. He said July 30th, he wants to finish the Book of Mormon first, usually when people say that they want to just stall but not with Sergio. He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon already! He knows the church is true, he knows it's all true. I could probably go my entire mission without baptizing anyone else if I could baptize Sergio. He is awesome! 

We had a missionary worldwide broadcast where some general authorities spoke to us and gave us some training. One thing that stuck out to me the most was what Elder Bednar said. He told us that as missionaries we have the power to bring the message of the restored gospel unto the hearts of our investigators but the Holy Ghost has the power of bringing it into their hearts. This taught me two things. First, I must always be doing what is right so that I can always have the Spirit with me, as we should all be. Second, that I need to do all that I can do to bring the message as close as possible to their heart. In order for me to do this I need to gain knowledge. Knowledge is very important in our lives, we use it everyday! Jesus Christ had a perfect knowledge of the gospel, which is why he was the greatest missionary ever. As a representative of Jesus Christ I need to become. 

I hope y'all all have a great week. 

 

~Elder Stevens




 

WEEK 24

As far as work goes, we are completing a baptismal record for Jun Jun right now and working towards February 13 for his baptism. We just got another investigator, his name is Sergio. He set his own appointments and everything, twice a week, he even called us to set it up! 

Missionary work is so fun especially when things are going your way!

 

I sure miss yall! I love you. 

Love, 

 

~Elder Stevens

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