Hello!

Hey family!

So. Today is pday. Yesterday we had zone conference, so they switched out pday around.  Don't worry, I didn't forget about you!

This week has been C-R-A-Z-Y! 

Monday- Dropped Sis Bingham off at the mission office

Tuesday- Went on exchanges with Sister Tanner and Sister Withers since I didn't have a companion

Wednesday- Picked up my new companion, Sister Volk. (She's awesome. She is a musical theater major at BYU, so she's a really good singer.  She is from West Chicago and she's been out for one transfer longer than me.) After that, we took our car to the shop because the key clicker thing on our key cabin to unlock the car doesn't work.  We were expecting them to just give us a new battery, but when that didn't work, they checked all of the codes and everything to make sure they can communicate with each other, which they still can't. So we had to take it in on Friday when we had more time so they could take our car apart and fix the wiring... To be continued...

Thursday- We actually did some missionary work. Well more than we've been able to thus far at least.

Friday- We took our car in again.  The took it apart and put it back together and told us that they had to order a new part- ALL SO THAT A STUPID KEY CLICKER THING WOULD WORK!!!  but we have to do it while the car is under warranty... We will be returning later this week to have it fixed once and for all.  Hopefully.  Then we spent the rest of the day packing. Ugh.

Saturday- We moved.  And then spent lots of time unpacking. And weekly planning.  Which 3 days later we still haven't finished... Sadly, we may just be wingin' it this week.

Sunday- we had church all day, which was our first day in the Brimhall ward. It was good. I'm looking forward to getting to know the ward better.

Yesterday- Zone conference. we have a new key indicator (the numbers we report at the end of each week) we are not only counting how many investigator lessons we have with members present, but we are also counting how many of those lessons are in members' homes.  This should be a new and exciting challenge.  We are also playing a "Where's Emily?" version of Where's Waldo with in our zone.  To motivate us to talk to everyone, we are looking for a woman named Emily and when we meet her, we are to report to our zone leaders that we found her. They in turn let us choose one of 3 mystery prizes, which are just dumb things like sausage links or something... I don't really know...

And all the while, we've been juggling various lessons.  Fun, right?

So yeah. That was my week.

Dad- I want the card because sometimes I forget my camera, so there are pictures on our phone that I want but can't get without a card to put them on.  :-D

Mom- I got your card and your email today.  I am glad that you think of me all week. ;-)  I love hearing about the garden. It makes me laugh. 

Oh and I must say- I CAN'T BELIEVE ALL THESE PPL ARE GETTING MARRIED!  AHHH!  Tell them congrats for me.  And that I love them.

Cory- Did you send me a letter this week?  If you did, it may take a little longer since we moved and stuff, but I was just wondering if you had written...

Eric- Thinking of you always. I hope things work out.  Between everything going on.  I love you.

Lynz- I got your letter the day after I emailed you. It made me happy! 8-D Don't forget the pics! Feel free to throw some in there of Dunc, too. hehehe...

And last but not least-- Sister Tait requested a bit of my testimony, so here's the first thing that came to mind...

In teaching and studying the Plan of Salvation, my love for it has grown tremendously.  Not only is it my favorite way of showing people that God is completely just and completely merciful, but I have also come to realize just how wrong Satan's plan is. 

Usually in teaching the Plan of Salvation for the first time, we don't talk about Satan's plan.  It just leads to deeper doctrine that takes us way off subject.  People will eventually learn it, but the first time investigators hear the lessons, they need to hear more about God's love, than Satan's rebellious nature.  However, one of the things that I have learned since coming on my mission was that Lucifer's plan was not only wrong in that it took away agency, it was wrong because Satan was cheating.  I never identified his plan of action as "cheating" before, but that is what it was.  He wanted to cut corners to get what he wanted.  He wasn't willing to work for what he wanted.  And he was willing to deprive everyone else of things that were good to get what he wanted.  

I don't have time to go into more detail, but in learning this, I realized that for me Satan's plan was not only wrong, but it is repulsive. And I am so thankful that I chose to follow Christ. I know that God's plan is the right one.  I know that Christ is my Savior and Redeemer and that the Plan would never have worked without His sacrifice.  I LOVE THE PLAN OF SALVATION!!!

Ok. I love you all! xoxoxoxo

Love, me!

Love From AZ!

Hello, Everyone!

This week was great. We have about 6 new potential investigators, 4 of which are a family.  I am so excited about it! However, this will be the first time I've taught a family this large so it will be an interesting experience for sure.  It is actually our miracle of the week.  We taught the dad a few weeks ago (he's really busy, so we haven't been able to meet with him since then) and he seemed to like what we taught.  He committed himself to read the Book of Mormon in 4 days, which he didn't do, but he said he has read most of it.  Anyway, we kept trying to call him with no luck setting up appointments.  So on Wednesday we were outside getting into our car at the church and he drove up and said he was sorry for not being able to set up appointments with us.  He then said that he had read most of the book of mormon and he has decided that he thinks it's about time his family joins him in the discussions! Woot! Woot! (He's protective over his family, as he should be, so he wanted to hear what we had to say first)  Anyway, we're still trying to work with his schedule, but we are quite a bit more hopeful than we were before. 

So transfers. Sister Bingham is taking her transfer into the sky tomorrow. We have to drop her off today at the mission home and for a few days I will be with Sister Tanner and Sister Withers.  I'm excited about it.  My new companion's name is Sister Volk, and I am SUPER nervous about it.  I don't like transfers. Especially when I don't know my new companion.  Flashbacks of hard times keep repeating themselves through my brain and I don't like it one bit. And it happens every transfer that I get a new companion. Ugh...  I have heard good things about her, but it's still a leap of faith...

Also, I am whitewashing for the 3rd time.  I am still in the same area, but the zone leaders are taking over our single's ward, which i am SO bummed about. However, I am excited/nervous about the new ward I get to be a part of.  It's called the Brimhall ward. I've heard alot of good things, I'm just nervous. But. That's what the Lord wants, (I have to keep reminding myself about that. Lol) so obviously that's what is going to happen.  It's for the best anyway. The zone leaders live with one of the bishopric members, so they always knew more about our singles ward than us anyway especially since our ward mission leader was always working so we could NEVER get a hold of him.  It was kinda frustrating.  BUt now he's engaged and we/now the zone leaders have a new WML who is going to be AMAZING.  And who will also be engaged soon if the pattern continues.  Who would ever imagine that would be the pattern in the single's ward. ;-P

We supposedly will be moving this week. Brother Rowley (the high councilmen over missionary work) has been looking for a new place for us to live for MONTHS. And we are supposed to move out this week. SO. We are waiting to hear what exactly will be happening. Yesterday Bro. Rowley said they had a couple of offers (we always live with members here) so hopefully one of them works.

Hmm...

Mom- I didn't get an email from you this week. :-(  Did it not go through again?  Dad said you are excited about the radishes growing in the garden. I am excited for you.  It seems like the three of you are having a blast learning about green thumbs.

Dad- I tried looking for the planets you said, but a) I could only look going in and out of houses, and b) I didn't know when or where to look.  Oh well. I tried. And I saw the big dipper. And still thought of you... The heat is still a killer. It helps remind me why I like the cold more. Lol.

Lynz- I'm hoping to hear from you this week (hopefully) accompanied by pictures of you in your prom attire. Yes? Please? PS- I ate a cucumber. A whole one. They're growing on me.  But not pickles. Never pickles.

Eric- How are you?  I haven't heard from you recently.. OK. Maybe I did. At least a 1 or 2 liner 2 weeks ago . But still.  :oP How is the new(ish) job? And the social life? And school? And church? and everything? Please tell!

Cory- I didn't get a letter form you this week.  So. It's either late because of the mission office, or you forgot about me because of the busy life of a father, husband, and teacher.  Understandable. but I miss your letter.  :-( They make me laugh.

Danny- My wall is very bare.  And is in need of pictures colored by my nieces and nephews. yes?

Tammy Johnson- I talked to Elder Bennion. It took him a minute to remember who you were since apparently he's only met a you 1 or 2 times.  But when he realized who I was talking about, he got very excited.  :-D (PS You should tell Tyler to write to me)

Sis D'Addabbo-  Are you still reading my blog? Yes? (If you make a comment on my blog, my mom will forward it to me. ;-) )

I love you, Sister Tait!

Ok. So. I think that's about it. I love you all. Everyone.

Love, me

I Love My Fam-Bily

Hello everyone!

Apologies to the brothers first- I have been hearing from numerous people different answers about whether we were allowed to make more than 1 phone call yesterday.  So. I buckled down and called the Assistants. No. We weren't allowed to. SO. My bad about phone calls at Christmas. I should have only called home.  However, that's not to say I didn't want to talk to all of you and your families.  I was really disappointed when I found out I can't call all of you. :-(  But I love you!  And Happy Mother's day to Naomi and Charisse. I tried to find cute sister-in-law Mother's day cards, but walmart utterly fails in that category... Bleh! It wasn't without it's efforts though.

Mom, Dad, and Lynz, I am very happy that I got to talk to you all though!  I love you much and it was so good to hear your voices! However, as a result of talking to you yesterday, I don't have much to say. Lol.

To the brothers, even though I didn't talk to you yesterday, I still don't have anything to say. Lol.

I guess I can tell you a couple of things...

First of all, yesterday I fell asleep during church.

Second of all, Ha! you thought that was all I was going to say, huh? hehehe... No I was going to say that yesterday I fell asleep during the sacrament and then I started giggling in my sleep. Sis Bingham woke me up. I looked at her and fell back asleep. She told me later that the laugh was kinda loud. Whoops!

Ok. Second of all, miracle of the week.  We found out that this kid (not in our area) asked to get baptized.  The reason this is so cool is because we taught him the first lesson. Explanation in depth: Pres. Ellsworth asked us awhile back to be teaching fully active members of teh church if we aren't teaching 20 lesson per week otherwise. So that's what we were doing.  So we were teaching this family, the Fishers, who happen to have 2 boys that have a group of 5 or 6 nonmember friends. And it just so happened that they were all hanging out at the fishers when we came to teach the first lesson, so they were all there.  Afterwards, like a few days later, Sister Fisher told us that one of the nonmember boys (his parents are Less active) wanted to keep meeting with us. So we were excited and pumped, but for one reason or another, it never happened. We tried following up, but just nothing was happening.  So he kinda fell off the map.  Then yesterday, our ward mission leader told us that this kid was getting baptized, which really confused me because I knew we hadn't been teaching him.  COme to find out, he doesn't live in our area, so he's been taking lessons elsewhere without us knowing.  Coolio, right!?!?!?  I'm pretty excited about it. Woot WOot!

Well,that's all I really have to say for now. I love you all!

Love, me

Life in Mesa and Pictures!

Hey family!

So. There is a lot that has happened this week, but I forgot my journal, so sadly, I'm not going to write about everything I wanted to.  I have something better anyway. Keep reading.

But first things first. Phone call.  We will be calling on Mother's day in the evening. Our sundays are CRAZY, so the only time we really have is around 6pm our time.  And if I'm right, we're on CA time right now, so sadly, you'll have to wait until 9ish to hear from me.  But better late than never though, right?

Mom, I talked to Sister Ellsworth, the mission president's wife, about the narcolepsy situation.  She gave the mission doctor my phone number and after talking to him , he said I could take excedrin migrane to substitute the provigil if I need to.

You also asked about Sister Bigham.  We will have been together for 3 months at the end of the transfer (middle of May).  It is her last transfer and she will be flying home on May 17th.  

Here is a picture of us:

Interestingly enough, it's the only one that I have of just the two of us.  I'll try to work on that. She is wearing my name tag. Lol.

The next picture is us with Michelle and Cayden at the Easter Pageant.  It was tons of fun.

This is us with the other sisters in our zone at a chinese place. Front to back on the left are Sisters Smith (who finally got her visa to go to Brazil), Chaca (who is now home in Peru), and Dewitt (a visitor's center sister).  On the right, front to back are Sisters Bingham (my companion), Tanner (my trainer), Beu (a visitor's center sister), and me.

 

This is the easter pageant. It was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! [Blog editor note - the one portraying the Savior being ascended is my nephew :-) )

A cactus flower.  They are all in blossom right now.

Here I'm at the easter pageant.  The girl I am with is Angela Linford. She is the daughter of our ward mission leader.  And a GREAT member missionary!

 And THIS is for Lynz.  I love you!

 

And THIS is for Dad. I love you, too!

 

Mom, I'm sending a whole memory card for you. SO be patient. :-D I love you!

ok. Got to go.  I love you ALLLL!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Love, Sister Stephens