June 28, 2011 E-mail

Well another exciting week in the misison field! :D To start things off i just wanted to update you on my last prep day. I got to go to the Temple! :):) oooooohhhh MAN alive!! SO AWESOME!! How INCREDIBLE are the temples?! :):) It was a pretty awesome experience, i'm learing SO MUCH about the Temples, sometimes i dont feel like my mind can take it all in!  haha and i've learned more in one month than i thought i'd learn my whole mission! :D the Temple is incredible! no wonder the Prophet encourages us to go as much as we can! its so important!! :D It was so awesome to go do a session and then be able to talk in the Celestial room with the other sisters. :) They had been around Pres. Donaldson longer, so i was able to ask them a lot of questions and hear some of the things they've learned :) ah, the Temple is so cool.... I encourage eveyone to go as often as they can. MAKE time for it, and if you dont understand why its so important, Figure it out! :D Cause it is, and you will be so blessed for serving there  I cant wait till i get to go again, haha only 12 weeks to wait! :D

 

Well the next exciting news i thought i'd mention, is we have a baptism coming up on Sunday! :D Her name is N, and she is a sweet lady. She is quite the woman, and if you met her children you'd think so too! They are WILD children!! Like... W-I-L-D. 8-l  haha the lesson that we invited her to be baptized, i took the role to "bbsit" aka tame her kids while Hma L tried to teach her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Surprisingly it went pretty well, i got the kids to play with domino's on the table with me and actually play quietly! Guess i got those bbsittin skills from home! ;) I cant say i got them to play quietly the whole lesson... Isa spilled juice all over the table and then G wanted ice cream and threw a REALLY big fit when he didnt get it....So we had a few interruptions...   haha but over all the lesson went really well according to Hma L and she accepted the invitation to be baptized :) We are really praying that all goes through this week with teaching her. She wasnt able to come to church last week due to her husband, so hopefully this week everything goes the way its supposed to :)

 

Yesterday I was able to go on exchages for the first time!! :):) I was really scared to have them, i wont lie.... Oh wait lemme quickly explain exchanges: We go on exchages like once a month i believe, and we switch companionships for a day. So you either have a new comp. in your area, or youre going to someone else's area. In my case yesterday i went to a new area. I was pretty nervous cause i was going to be with sister M, who is a native speaker... and i just had lots of doubts and nerves going through my mind. BUT the Lord is amazing and knows what i need and how to help me be a better missionary, and going on splits did just that! :D oooohhh man. it was the best day ever!! :) Hma. M is a SOLID missionary, she knows what she is here to do and she gets right to work, there is no messing around :) We taught two lessons, and BOTH of them i was able to teach with her! :D in SPANISH! haha she was so easy to work with, and really great at following off of what i'd said, so i was appart of the lesson. She was so sweet and complimented my efforts after the lesson she is SO loving to everyone! I'm pretty sure she has All of the Christlike attributes  I would love to be companions with her someday... I def. Love sister L, but Sis. M really brings out the best in everyone, she has so much faith and is not afraid to follow the spirit. Our last 1/2 hr of the night we were able to say a prayer and ask for some inspiration on where to go and who to teach. After we prayed, she made a decision and we drove to the area, once we got there she didnt feel right about it so we drove up the street after we said another prayer we got out of the car and walking across the street we met a lady. We were able to contact her, tell her about what we believe and give us her number. At first she was really closed and not wanting to give any of her information, but by the end of hma M sharing her testimony and her sincire love for her, she actually gave us her number and where she lived! :) It was SO COOL!! This sister just knows how to be bold and do it in a Christlike loving way.  i'm determined to be the kind of missionary she is :) Ah it was the best exchages i could've asked for!! :) I learned so much from her :) That would be so awesome if we could serve together someday, but all in the Lords timing :)

 

This week is also a week of change! President Clayton will be coming in tomorrow! and we will have the opportunity to meet him on Thursday :) I'm really excited to see all the great things he has to bring to the mission :) I was talking to Sis. Livingston about it, and she is really excited to meet him as well and see what blessings he brings to the mission. I'm so grateful that Sis. L. is willing to adjust to this change. i was kinda nervous that she wouldnt be super open to it, and kinda sckeptical of Him. But she had a lot of good things to say about the idea of him coming and taking over, and knows that its all in the Lords plan. :) She is really open to learning new things from him, so that was really great to talk about that together and dicuss our excitement together :) Its gonna be an exciting week!

 

I cant believe that we are in the Last week of June!! BAH! i looked at the calendar yesterday and couldn't believe that the month is over!! Time is so crazy! It feels like my last prep day was  AGES ago, yet the 2nd of June was just yesterday :P haha so weird!! The 4th of July is just around the corner too! i'm pretty excited about that! i hear is a pretty exciting day and super busy at the Mobat! So i'm ready for that to come up! Plus i think there is fireworks that we get to watch?? i'm not positive, but i'll be finding out :) If we dont go anywhere, i can always just watch them out the front of the Battalion. You can see the fireworks at Sea World form there :P So lots of fun exciting things to come in the next couple weeks!  Then before i know it i'll be in my second transfer!! :-O Crazy..

 

But i love the mission and am enjoying every single day here!! there so many blessings from serving, i get to see them everyday! There is no other place that i would rather be, than here in San Diego serving the Lord. :) I'm having the time of my life and am so grateful for this decision i've made. Thank you to all who read this, for your love and support :) The Church is true so what else matters?? I know that our Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ LIVES. He payed the ulimate sacrifice so we would can get through anything in our lives. He has an infinite love for us and wants us to be happy! :) and i know that the way to have that happiness is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His church is on the earth today! :) We are striving to live it!  and WHAT A BLESSING! :):) I love this work, and the opportunity to wear this tag everyday to bring people salvation <3 Hope you all have a wonderful week and take the time to realize how blessed we are :) Love you all! Hugs and Kisses comin your way!!! :)

 

xoxox, Hma. Stevens :)

 

P.S. District 35B :) I love the fwds i get from you! keep sending me your addresses if you haven't already. I will get a letter written soon and send it off to you!! have a great week!! keep workin towards those PUEBLOS!! :) Te AMo!!

June 21, 2011 E-mail

I loved hearing all about Ragnar!! :) I thought about you all this morning when i was running :) I'm sorry to hear about all of the injuries though!! SHEESH! How much training did you all get in before the race?? I hope for the Vegas run you dont have as many problems. :-/ But that's so awesome to hear you got the free pass! :) Way to go Adam for being so awesome!  :) What an example to everyone there, the Stevens family is going to make history in Ragnar! :) I'm so excited for the day I'll get to run with all of you again!! :) you better believe this is a new family tradition, so keep signing up!! :D I'll have plenty of money saved and time to train when I get home, so i Dibs a spot when i get home! :)

 

So I finally got some sun this week!! haha Yes this is the first thing I want to mention about the week :P I served at the Temple on Saturday and it was during the day so i finally got a little bit of color! Well... red is a color right? ;) hahaha ya i got a little burnt, but its faded pretty nicely into a good tan. I'll be sure to wear sunscreen next time, but i was just so anxious to not look like a Ghost that i refused to wear any. haha So just thought i'd share the good news with everyone :) I dont look pasty anymore! :)

 

Second thing, i hope Dad had a wonderful Fathers Day! If he didnt get my card yet, its on the way. I'm not sure how long mail takes to get there?? So sorry if it came late, but i hope you had a wonderful day and know that i was thinking about you! :) Oh thank you for the Package too!! :D i LOVE getting mail or pkgs! <3 All of the memorial day weekend picts were FANTASTIC! eveyone looks so good! Its so weird that everyone is growing up too! haha i saw LilyMae and kinda freaked out cause she looks so BIG! I just keep thinking that everyone is staying the same while i'm serving and time has just stopped at home ;) hahaha obviously that isn't the case... But eveyone looks so good and it was awesome to see all the picts :) well done mom <3

 

This week was a good week in the mission :) We had an investigator with a date! haha we dunno exactly how serious he is about getting baptised, but he is willing to prepare and so prepare him we will! :) His lessons are always very interesting... but the last one was good cause i actually said something :P I got to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon and how I found out for myself that it was True :) haha the spanish was very broken, but i got the point across and thats what matters :) Sister L was so sweet too, she gave me some sweet compliments about it that night too :) Us two are really getting along more and more each week and i'm so grateful for that :) Not that we have ever not got along, but i just feel we are growing closer as a companionship and thats what i've been working towards. She starting to have a lot more of her happy funny side come out and i love it! :) She has a great sense of humor, and that keeps the work happy and cheerful :) So we are headed in a good direction!

 

On Friday we had a ward activity for Fathers Day :) So awesome and so funny!! :) the theme was Hawaiian, so we had people dressed up and took picts behind some cute Hawaiian patterns. We had dinner together then for the entertainment we had dancing! The primary Children all dressed up and danced and it was so adorable!! :) They all did some numbers that were Hawaiian music then some mexican music :) The mexican music was sooo cute! hahaha all of them with there sombreros and mustaches drawn on their faces ;) I'm excited to send some picts! I wish i would've brought my camera cord so i could send some now, but i forgot it... So in my letter or next week i'll send em.

The best part of the night i'd say though were the missionaries and the relief Society :) We had a good group of Elders that learned the Haucka... (have no idea how to spell that) but that was way sweet! i have a little video of that i'll try and send too :D All of the ward LOVED that! in fact, they made them do it again later in the program :)

But for me i think the absolute best part was when the women did the Hula!! :D haha not just your slow motion relaxed hula.. i'm talking about hip shakin hula! hahaha with the hippy skirts and everything!! hahaha it was so funny!!! and some of them were actallly pretty decent at it too :) There was a really sweet old grandma that was dancing too and that was just adorable :) I love that all Hispanics just love to dance and arent afraid to show ya their moves! ;) haha What a ward party, DEFINITELY nothing like our ward parties back home! ;)

 

The Battalion is going really well. I'm learning new things there everyday, and see miracles all the time :D I love giving tours with Kids! <3 It makes me think of all my nieces and nephews and how much they would love this place! :) All the kids are so interactive and just love the tour! :) I highly recommend planning a vacation here someday and taking the kids to see this, cause they will love it :) This week I took a tour with about 8-10 kids, and i asked if anyone wanted to dress up like a soldier or laundress, and i had three raise their hands, so they came up and the next thing i know.. all their siblings came up too! haha so i dressed like four laundresses and three soldiers! :) it was so cute! the little girls were my favorite cause they were SO excited to dress up :) bah kids are just so fun! The MoBat is a wonderful place to serve <3

 

Last bit of exciting news before I have to go.... I GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE TODAY!! :D:D and actually go inside and do a session!! :):) WOO WHOO!!!!!!! :D I'm sooo excited!!!  We get to go every other transfer, and luckily this is the transfer i get to go! :) There is SOOOO MUCH that i have learned about the temple since being here, so i'm STOKED to go and learn a whole lot more!! President Donaldson is a genious when it comes to temple stuff, so my mind has just exploded with stuff he's talked about :) He's studied Hebrew and Greek and knows a lot about Old Testament stuff. :) Its incredible. So i'm way happy to go to the Temple today, and talk to the sisters that have been around President longer, and have learned more than i have :) I already know its going to BLOW my mind :D Cant wait! 

 

Well family and friends i love you all!! :) I hope you are all taking the time out of you busy lives to realize how GREAT the gospel is. Take time to do the important things like pray and read!! Do it everyday! Its SO important! and so EASILY there for you, so take advantage of it! :)

 

Hope you all have a wonderful week! :) The Church is True so What else Matters? :):) Love you all, hugs and kisses comin your way!

 

xoxoxo, Hma Stevens <3

June 14th E-mail

So another week has come and gone! where does the time go!?  Weeks feel like days for sure and some days DEFINITELY feel like weeks! The whole mission time warp is pretty crazy i wont lie, but this is something i'll never get to experience again so i might as well enjoy it right? :)

 

This week i thought id tell you about what my average day is like as a missionary :) Just cause... i wanna talk about that :) haha So first of all being a Mormon Battalion Sister is very unique i'd say. All the teaching we have to do, has got to be done in 1/2 the time cause we are at the MoBat pratically everyday. So how it works is we have either a 9-3 shift or a 3-9 shift at the MoBat, and then the other 1/2 of the time is spent out teaching people. When we are at the MoBat we are talking to HUNDREDS of people every day!! i LOVE it!! Taking people on tours is so awesome and every tour is different, and if you really take the time to KNOW these people, you are able to teach them just like you would any other investigator :) Its so neat to see the way that missionary work can come about!  This is definitely the Lords work and he is going to spread it through every means possible, and one of those ways is at the Mormon Battalion :) So far i've had some of my most spritual moments there teaching people in the tour :)

 

So the other half of our day is spent teaching :) i absolutely LOVE the people in my ward and the people that i'm teaching <3 hahaha and EVERYONE here FEEDS US!! I mean.. i'm not complaining at all, but i really didnt think i'd be fed so much by the members and even the non members! In our ward we even have a list that goes around so people can sign up to feed us. haha they must think that we dont eat unless a member is feeding us? :P But the food so far has been great! i Love mexican food and i think slowly i'm becoming addicted to totillas ;) They eat them at every meal! But they are always so good! As far as food goes too, i havent been fed anything  haven't been able to eat. One of the meals i ate though had some sketchy meat in the soup :/ hahaha it was like a pigs foot! hahaha so i just ate around it and left it in the bowl :) Thats really the only sketchy thing i've had so far. Oh and i had this dessert called FLAN?? i may have had it before but i dont remember. Its just like a vanilla-ee custard, but the texture that isn't quite my favorite... But the taste is good so i was able to get it down :) haha oh eating with members is such an adventure!

 

Anyway, so our other half of the day is spent teaching people. BUT this is where it starts to get all sorts of confusing... So here in the San Diego Mission, we are on the Pilot training program. So that means that our studying in the morning goes something along these lines: 8-9 is personal study. 9-11 is comp study (so another hour is added to comp study) 11-12 is Lang study. So you arent supposed to even get out of your house till like 12 or 1 cause you have to eat lunch too! So thats some pretty intense studying! But... remember how i said being a MoBat sister is unique? ya... if we are scheduled to be at the mobat in the morning we dont get any of that, instead we just do an hour of comp study. :-/ and THEN if we are supposed to be out teaching in the morning, which is not very often, we get to do all of our study time. haha but i'd say that for the three weeks i've been here, we've prob done 2 hrs total of lang study :P so that tells you how much time we DONT have to really sit down and study. :P Luckily though, this is the Lords work, and we just need to do all that we are able, and he will help make up for the rest :)

 

So along with our teaching, we also have other things we have to fit in with the little time that we have. Every week we have to make time to weekly plan. I didnt even know we did weekly planning cause i never did it in the MTC :-/ haha oops! but doing it on the mission is actually so helpful. It takes a LONG time to get it done, but its so worth it afterwords :) we just sit down and plan in very good detail what we need to do for the upcoming week to achieve our goals, and help our investigators and less actives. On average it takes like 3 hours to do so, but since we dont have very much time to sit down and study let alone plan, some weeks we have to break up our weekly planning and try and do a little bit every day. We also have District meeting every week as well, so thats usually planned in a week. We get together and discuss the progress going on in our ward. And the last meeting thats planned is our group meeting for the MoBat :) I actually really like those, its like a mini devotional. I always learn a lot from the Sisters that teach us, and it helps remind me that these tours are to teach people and bring them closer to Christ. Not just entertain them on their vacations :) So those are really awesome.

 

But yeah being a missionary is INTENSE! :) haha i dont doubt that its like that for every single missionary in the world! :) Its incredible all the things we are able to do with how little time we have! :) Just another testimony that this IS the Lords work, and its going to get done no matter what. I love being a Missionary  i say that every week and i think i mean it THAT much more every week too! :):) I love the mission that i'm in. I love the people that i'm teaching, and i love the hundreds of people that i get to see every day at the Battalion :) I'm learning so much here and am so grateful for this experience!! :):)

 

 i love you all so much hope you have a wonderful week!! good luck at ragnar! i'll be cheering you on in my heart!! :):) RUn BABY RUN!! :):) hahaha hugs and kisses comin your way!! :) xoxoxoxox Hma Stevens :)

June 7, 2011 E-mail

Ok now I can tell you all about my lovely week!! :) Can i just say that i LOVE the mission?! :):) bah!! its so great!! i mean i have days that arent as successful, but the Lord knows exactly who or what to put in my daily path that brightens my day and makes me feel so great!

 

Today i wanted to share that kind of experience that happened to me on.... Sunday :) I'll just quote what i have written in my Journal: "So i took a family of 3 on my last tour tonight. The F family, and they were so fun to take on the tour, pretty interactive and interested in the history. Come to find out, they're members and he is involved/ works for the ancestor.com or something like that. :) He knew a lot about the history of the Battalion and the people in it, and they loved the artifacts in the displays! They really just loved it all and noticed so many details of the Site, and so i took them out to Gold panning, and i started talking to the mom who is from Brazil.

 

Her name is T and, and proceeded to tell me her life story for about 20-30 min i'd say. But it was SO incredible!! I <3 loved listening to her, she was so into the story and emotional and inthusiastic about it all, it was great! :) Plus she was SUCH an inspiration! She told me how she was converted to the church, and she has  2 degrees in Brazil. You could tell that she is just SUCH a hard worker and knows that you have to work to be successful. But she loves life and just lives it to the fullest!! Going to college, she wasnt worried that she was getting older and not married yet, she knew what she was doing in getting an education and traveling, and she was going to enjoy every moment of it! :) She knew that Heavenly Father would take care of her and let her know when the time was right. Well then she goes on to tell me her outstanding and SPIRITUAL story of how she moved to America, got citizenship and eventually met her husband! :) And this wasn't something that just happened right when she got to america, this was over a couple years! She was working as a cleaning lady, and after she had lived here for a yr. she started to go to school and learn english. Then before she met her husband, she was purposed to 2X before! haha all by different people!

 

This woman is SO spiritually in tune <3 I mean, first deciding to move to America where you know NO ONE and you dont even know English...:/ But after praying, she knew that she was supposed to move and start her life there. Then she's proposed to 2X and each time she goes to the Temple to consult with her Heavenly Father, and both times she is told no, and then the 3rd time she finally is told that he is the man she is supposed to marry. So then those two date for a yr, because she really wants to know him and him to know her. He had a previous marriage that was a whole other story. Sounded like it really destroyed him for a while.. So you can imagine her having to go through some of this while they were dating.... and like a week before their wedding T thought that it wasnt the time to get married anymore. And she's 40 at this time.. so this woman has some patience! i dunno if i could wait that long till i got married... Well anyway, they prayed together about it and they worked it out. And so now they have a 7 year old whom they ADORE :) They tried to have a baby before He was born, but they lost her... :( Their son though has told them that he knew his sister in Heaven and they were together waiting for them to finally get married :) It was so cute!! Oh and he served his mission in Brazil! haha but he was in the North end and she lived in the South or something! :) And so the whole family speaks Portugise!

 

They are SUCH a neat family and who knew that i could become so close to someone in 25 min!? :) This woman truly lifted my spirits so much! and strengthened my testimoy in so many ways <3 i could've talked to her for hours and hours and hear all of her life story and experiences :) She is definitely someone that i want to be like though, i want to always be that spiritually in tune :) And get this! this shows even more how awesome she is! :) As they were getting to leave, they asked me for my email so they could keep in touch with me :) and they gave me all of their info so i could contact them throughout the mission and after as well :) Talking to them just made my whole day!!"

 

Isn't that so awesome!!? Heavenly Father just knows who to put in my day so that i can be spiritually uplifted! :) This Lady seriously made me tear up multiple times while i was talking to her because her testimony was so powerful. She is just someone that knows who she is and where she is going in life :) i love her! it was such a neat experience and so i really was so excited to tell you about it. So the moral of this story is, that no matter who you meet and who they are, you can always touch someones life. Never be afraid to share your testimony and what you believe, cause even if you are talking to someone that is of your same faith, you can still uplift them :):) haha i hope that story all made sense :)

 

This week we also had MTE meetings, which is Mission Training Exchanges. We met at our stake center for a couple of hours and have discussions with our Mission Pres. haha so remember how i told you my first day was just a burst of spirutual knowledge?! CHaa MTE is just like that!! :) my mission pres. is incredible and he made this meeting life changing! After going to that meeting, he made me want to be the best missionary that San Diego has ever seen! ;) He just knows how to boost your hopes and increase your faith! We talked about seeing a vision for your area and then making goals to achieve that vision. :) I feel like its an easy thing to visualize, but then its a whole other story setting goals and making it happen, especially with a companion. Just cause you two see things differently and can be on totally different levels of faith and desire. ya know? But of course thats what's trial and error is for, so you can work together and see what works best for you :):) I love being a missionary and just seeing how it is changing my life forever :):) I feel like i have learned SO MUCH just in these 2-3 months. I'm going to be a different person forever, but I'm being shaped into who the Lord wants me to be :)

 

I hope all of you who read this realize how BLESSED we are to live in a time where the truth HAS BEEN RESTORED to the earth! We have the FULL and EVERLASTING GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST!! :) We have the map to find our way to ETERNAL HAPPINESS <3 I'm so grateful to be spreading this glorious work!! :) There is a quote in preach my gospel, and i dunno it word for word but its right at the begining of the book and it says something along the lines of, the more we understand the gospel and its precepts, the more that we will have the desire to share it. That is so true! :) The more I'm internalizing my purpose and the more that i TRULY understand the doctrines of Christ, the more i want to go out everyday and proclaim it to the world!! :) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is TRUE!! :) I know it with all of my heart! I know that our savior Lives and that the atonement of Christ is Central to the plan of happiness. Its central to OUR plan, our lives. BAh i love this work!! and i LOOOVEE being a missionary!! :):) Thank you all for you love, support and prayers!! :):)

 

Hoorah for Israel! The Church is True so what Else matters? :) Love you all, Hugs and Kisses comin your way! :)

xoxox, Hermana Stevens <3

 

P.S. This is my shout out to all of the people in Zone 35 and specifically 35B!!! you all are the BESTEST!!!!! i miss you all like crazy but i love knowing that we are all out doing the Lords work!! I cant wait till the day we reunite and share our experiences!! :) we are the Band of Brothers/ (Sisters) and are continually growing stronger in the Lord :) I love you all!! Hasta Cabo! ;)