I Can't WAIT for General Conference

Heya Family!

We got 2 new investigators this week! WOOT! WOOT! FINALLY things seem to be showing progress.  Well it's been progressing, but now we actually have investigators to teach. Heavenly Father has been very generous to us this week.  And we're hoping that this week we will be adding siblings and parents to the picture, too. 

One of our investigator's name is August.  He is 20 and really quiet and shy.  However, he's already started reading the BOM and he said he feels the spirit even in just the introduction.  He also knows all about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and feels the spirit each time they sing.  We're meeting with him again on Wed and we'll be extending a date then.  We've already asked him, but he wanted to learn more before he commits to anything.  He will get baptized though. And who knows? Maybe on Wednesday we'll be extending a baptismal date to his parents and siblings as well.
The other investigator is a woman named Martina.  She is in her 40's and has a 17 year old daughter.  She is so sweet and so nice, and definitely searching.  She said for lent she is getting more involved in service in the community, so we invited her to join us at a humanitarian aid thing our stake does every Thursday. She loves the things we have already taught her (our lessons have been unscheduled until now, so they're somewhat scattered)and I am looking forward to teaching her my favorite lesson, the plan of happiness. Her husband passed away a year ago, so it is going to be perfect for her.  I'm praying that her daughter will be there, too.

So, yeah.  Things are moving along. And after working so hard to get the wards' enthusiasm for missionary work going, we are finally seeing some of the fruits of our labor.  It feels SO GOOD to be teaching investigators again.  I love less actives with all of my heart, but there is definitely a different spirit and a different attitude, plus about a million other blessings that come with the gathering of Israel.  I LOVE this work!

So GUESS WHAT!  We/I decided that morning work outs aren't cutting it for me, so this morning we went and got the bikes from my last area.  Somehow between the time I was there last and now, not only have the sisters there gotten a car back, but it's also been turned into a visitor's center sister area.  So we went and got the bikes so we can use them.  I'm SO excited. Pray for good weather for us!

Mom- I am so glad that you're enjoying work again. And I am SO PROUD of you for getting the courage to give someone a Book of Mormon!  SO PROUD! I love you!

Dad- It sounds like the garden is a lot of work! Maybe since Eric will be home for a week, you can recruit him to help you.  I'm sure he'd appreciate that! Lol.

Eric- Thanks for the letter.  Things are going a lot better now.  It's amazing how one enthusiastic investigator can change your whole mind set.  Be sure to enjoy being home.  Ask mom and dad to make egg rolls for you and then eat some for me. MMmmm... I miss them. And are you going to be home for General conference?  Eat some chili for me, too. I CAN'T WAIT FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!

Lynz- I AM SO PROUD of you for doing your personal progress!  I KNOW that you can do it by the end of the year!  Let me know if there is ANYTHING that I can do to help you. Maybe I can get my honor bee by helping you ;-). I doubt that I would qualify right now, but wouldn't that be COOL?!  Oh, and be expecting journal entries. Plus something.  ;-D Oh, hey was the YW conference? I wanted to go SO BAD! We're listening to Uchtdorf's "Your Happily Ever After" talk now from the last GC. I love him!

Well, I love you all!  I CAN"T WAIT FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE!  I kinda want to bounce in my seat in anticipation for it.  WAHOO!  On an I-don't-want-to-think-of-it note, transfer news comes Saturday night.  Meh.

Ok. XOXOXOXO's for all!

Love, me

I love you Deon! Thanks again for doing my blog!

The Fire is Definitely Catching On

Hey everyone!

How are things?

Things around here are ok.  We are still struggling to find people to teach, although we have seen a huge change in the wards' enthusiasm about missionary work. They are very excited and the fire is definitely catching on. I know it will just take time to find people in this area, but it's hard to maintain the patience Heavenly Father sometimes requires of us. The enthusiasm is spreading though. And the members, for the most part, are beginning to trust us more with their friends.  Yesterday we actually taught a lesson to a young man who is definitely searching.  We're really excited about him...except that he's not in our boundaries so we have to refer him to the elders where he lives. 

(side note- we did have a lady in one of our wards come over to us after sacrament meeting and tell us that she has a grandson on a mission and that if she ever saw him reading the scriptures or not singing the hymns during sacrament meeting, she would be very disappointed in him. Of course that's what we were doing. Sister Bingham was reading the scriptures and I was writing in my journal (aka. not singing the hymns) to stay awake.  She was on the verge of crying though and she told us that she wouldn't bring non-members to church knowing that the missionaries don't listen to the meeting.  She told us that she was going to talk to the bishop about it, whom we happen to live with, so we're interested to know if he will say anything to us. He probably won't though since he knows I'm a narcoleptic.  Ironically, in the next meeting (the lesson on the gathering of israel) we began talking about not being offended and I had to ask myself if I was offended.  I don't think I am offended at all. I can understand where she's coming from.  I'm not necessarily going to stop writing in my journal during sacrament meeting since that's the only way I've found to stay awake. Unless this lady would prefer that I fall asleep in church. I'm just sorry that she was so offended.)

I suppose though that if we aren't having much luck finding people in our own area, at least people are being found. I think that times like this are tender mercies to remind us that even if we don't have many investigators, our members are still working.  They ARE trying.  And they ARE finding, even if their friends aren't in our area. I really appreciate the fact that we are all working towards the same goal as a mission: 1,500 baptisms.  It's a group effort. Not dependant on any one individual companionship :-) And we're all working towards the same goal of bringing souls unto Christ- which is happening.

In addition to the two investigators we have, we've been weeding out our less active list.  There are all on so many different levels.  Some are so receptive to us and they are doing everything they can to become active again.  Others enjoy our visits and lessons but only want to come back half-heartedly.  Then there are some who LOVE us to visit and could talk our ears off, but they don't see the importance of coming back, so they don't.  Then there's people who don't even open their doors to us. Etc. Etc.  So, we're weeding out those less actives who aren't willing to commit to anything- since commitments are the path to repentance and activation.  And in the meantime, we're trying to be better about asking for referrals and doing our own finding activities. And teaching members. And meeting with bishops and Ward mission leaders. And about a million other things.  Life is good.  And I've finally come to terms with the fact that the reason I never play sports is largely due to a fear of balls coming at my head.

So. Yeah. It's all a work in progress. and as Sister Bingham keeps saying, "The sleeping giant is about to awaken." After all, we've sure been jabbing at him a lot!

Well, that's all folks! Love you all!

Love, Sister Stephens

PS. Mom, I loved the pictures! Cameras are the best invention in the world. Dad, I didn't see the moon. :-(  I was in a lesson and when we came out it had come and gone... Sadness, right? I was SO disappointed! Lynz, did you get my journal entries?  Eric, keep your chin up! I love you!

I Did Stay Awake!

Dear Family,

This week has been pretty short and crazy.  From Tues-Fri I was in trainings.  It was really good and went by rather quickly.  Surprisingly, i didn't fall asleep except during breaks.  Now, I can't say I was completely comprehensive, because that would be a lie.  However, I did stay awake. 

Other than that, we got a new investigator this week.  He is an 81 year old man who seems to have been searching for answers all of his life and has never been able to find them.  He does have a frail wall up that doesn't allow him to ask us questions right off, but we're hoping to be able to get past that barrier fairly easily. Hoping.

We are also hoping to get 2 or 3 more new investigators this week.  We have probably 4 or 5 potentials that we're trying to make appointments with, so hopefully by the end of this week we will have a few more investigators from that, in addition to any other miracles Heavenly Father sees fit to send our way. 

To the individuals:

Mom- I sure love you and I hope that your job is going well even if you are picking up more hours.  And I hope you're succeeding WWs!  I know you can do it!

Oh, will you please pass the word to Sister Rigby and the YW that I appreciated their care package? I am going to try to find time today to write a thank you, but I have a millon ppl to write to...

Dad- I hope you're feeling better! 

Eric- An RV? Sounds fun! Can I come?

Lynz- Good luck with Softball! I wish I could come to some of your games!  Oh, and I copied some journal entries yesterday so that I would be able to send them to you today.  So be watching for them.  (Last week was so crazy and our schedules were so off the wall with trainings that I wasn't even near a copy machine....)

Ok. Love you all! XOXOXO's for all!

Love, me

It Is Slow....

Hello, family!

So.Things in the field as far as the area goes, it is slow.  We are working with members, less actives, and recent converts with high hopes that we will be blessed with investigators.  So far, our list of potentials has grown and we have about 5 that seem really strong, great potentials.  We're excited about all of them.  I'm not sure that we're gonna make a March baptism, but we're sure workin' hard to try to do our part! While the work is slow in all of our wards, the bishop of our YSA ward seems to be one of the more enthusiastic bishops when it comes to trying to spark the fire for missionary work.  In fact, this week a new sunday school class was put together called "Preach My Gospel".  This class is a member missionary class- not to be confused with missionary prep or gospel principles, that is focused on helping members become more comfortable with doing missionary work and applying Preach My Gospel to their everyday lives.  The first class was GREAT we're excited to find out if a simple class like this will make a difference.

Today is gonna be fun. We're making pretzels. And writing letters. And lots of other stuff that I can't think of...

And guess what! This week I get to go to trainings for 4 days. Tues-Fri. 8am-4pm.  I'm actually really excited about it.  They're teaching us some stuff that they're going to be teaching in the MTC beginning in May.  That way all of the newbies that get sent out before May won't be trained in the new ways before those of us in the field.  Because that would just defeat the whole purpose if they came here and were trained in the "old" ways when they were just taught in the MTC the "new" ways.  Make sense? Hope so!

To the individuals:

Mom- Guess what!  I have long nails!  Like, real ones!  I've managed to break the habit of biting my nails.  So I'm pretty excited.`

Dad-  Love you! I'm sad I didn't get to hear more from you today, but I understand. XOXOXO

Danomi-  DANNY! I totally met one of your mission companions!  His first name is Tyson, but I forgot to bring the napkin with me to emails with the rest of his information, so I'll have to write to you today.  He was at a YSA activity and he mentioned he served in Carlsbad. So I asked him when (2002, I think) and I asked if he knew an Elder Stephens. And he did!  We confirmed that we were talking about the same person by the fact that apparently one time you got permission to go fight/ do Karate.  It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about when he asked if you fought, but then I remembered the whole Karate thing.  So yup! same person!  Not to mention the fact that you had to learn Tagolog... Anyway.... It was exciting.

Corisse- love you!

Eric- Every time I think I am thinking out of the box, you write to me and tell me some crazy fun ideas that I want to try but my companions are always hesitant about.  Sad day, right?  Well, I'm working on convincing them it would be fun.  Well, actually Sister Bingham will probably do it.  We just have to find time..  Currently to find we are contacting a million Less Active members that the bishops have asked us to see, and we are going through Formers.  So maybe not so creative. Ok. Not creative at all.  However, that's what president has asked us to do, so we're being obedient.  I'm sure we can find time to do some crazy fun things too.  So. Thanks for the ideas. You're amazing.  And I love you.

Lynz- I was looking at my journals yesterday and I realized just how long it really has been since I sent you my journal entries. So. I will try to send you entries this week.  I will TRY to.  I am running out of stamps... Grr... So much money... I'm waiting to hear from you too!  Softball, classes, boys, tell me EVERYTHING!!!

Ok. well, I love you all.  Hugs and kisses all around!

Love, Me