Christmas 2011

Christmas Wrap up

Hiya family!

So. Not much has happened since Christmas.  My chats with mom, dad, and Lynz were too short, but it was good to hear their voices.  I'm excited to hear every one's voices though when i get home. But that's off the topic of missionary work... Sister Anderson has begun singing "Hark All Ye Nations" every time I talk about after mission plans.  She's 7 months into her mission so no doubt it's hard for her to think about home.

Christmas was great. After I talked to the family, I took a 2 hr nap, then ate dinner.  The night ended with working at the Christmas Lights.  So miracle of the week/month/year (well, at least in the visitor's center):  So on the 23rd we had 6,800 people come into the visitor's center during the Christmas lights. This was a record. Last year the high was only in the 5,000s.  Even better, we had 40 top boxes (which is when non-members come to the VC and accept missionaries to come to their homes). This was a record for this year and last.  So, happy Birthday, Joseph Smith!  THEN Christmas day came. 5,100 people and none other than..............80 TOP BOXES!!!!!!!!  80!!!! Happy Birthday, Jesus! Isn't that just incredible?!?!?!

Another miracle i saw was seeing the Taits on Christmas Eve. I cried. Like 4 times.  But it was SO GOOD to see them! then Pres. Ellsworth gave me a blessing. It was needed.

Everything is going well here in Mesa.  We're trying to prep all of the bishops and WMLs for us to go full field on Jan 2nd.  We've been asking them to begin gathering and deciding who they want us to visit. We know they are trying pretty hard already, but our wards just seem content, which makes the work harder when we don't have the help of our members. We are praying though and we're trying to get them to do special fasts and stuff.

We're hiking Camelback "mountain" on Jan 2nd, too.  It should be interesting. We'll see if it kills me. I've hesitated to do it thus far in my mission just because it doesn't help the whole narcolepsy situation and I'll probably be dead afterward.  But.  My companion really wants to and I don't want to make other arrangements. So if nothing else, I will either suck it up, or Sister White (the VC director's wife) and her disabled daughter Debbie are doing a smaller, less intense trail that I may just do with them. It'll be good either way.

To the individuals:

Mom- It was good to hear your voice on Christmas!  I still haven't had a chance to look t dresses yet, but I'll let you know when I have.

Dad- Got both of your emails. All is well. I still don't have my itinerary, but I'm expecting it this week. If you need to call the mission home, you're welcome to. Love you!

Danny- How are you and the family doing? i haven't heard from you in awhile...

Cory- I got your ecard. i can't believe how BIG your son is! Whew! How are you and Charisse?

Eric- First it was Mocking Jay, now it's HP7. What the junk?!  I loved the surprise!  But you are way too good at playing the Devil's Advocate. I had to hide it and the book you sent me (I already sent Mocking Jay home).  Crazy. Tell Crystal I LOVE the snowmen earrings she made. I'm wearing them now. :-D

Lynz- We had way too little time to chat.  Blasphemy! Don't forget to send me the letter you wrote!

Ok. That's all folks!  I love you!

Love,

Me

Sunday Sunday Sunday!!

Dear Family,

Yesterday was zone conference (amazing) so I am emailing today.  But FYI, now that I work at the Visitor's center (well, I actually start on thursday. Ahh!!) I will never know when my p-day is for sure.  Usually it's on Mon or Tues, but Christmas light mess everything up even more. So I don't know exactly what's going to happen. So, on that note, everyone please write to me on SUNDAY.  That is the only day we for sure will not have pday.  So SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!

Also, for some reason some post offices are gradually stopping forwarding mail from the mission home. So to make sure i get anything through snail mail, please put the mission home as the return address. Let me put that in caps... ON ALL FUTURE SNAIL MAIL TO ME, PLEASE PUT THE MISSION HOME AS THE RETURN ADDRESS TO MAKE SURE IT DOESN'T GET SENT BACK TO YOU. We're not sure which post offices have quit forwarding mail, but just in case it's my post office, this is a good back up to make sure the mail you send me isn't returned to you. The mission home address is:

6265 N. 82nd St.

Scottsdale, AZ 85250

The companionship is going well. Slowly. It's funny though, I don't know if the Lord is trying to teach me humility, or if he's trying to teach me gratitude... Probably both. But I hope I'm learning it. Lol. But it is kinda driving me crazy.

As for investigators, there's good news and bad news....

Good news- We got a new investigator this week that seems super prepared and super sincere.  She is working to quit smoking and she has been clean off drugs for about 3 months.  We're really excited about her.  We've already taught her like 5 times. :-)
Bad news- She got arrested yesterday for some past crimes she's committed. Apparently she had a warrant out for her arrest... *sigh* SO we have no idea where this is going, BUT we know it's in the Lord's hands. I am praying that she won't smoke while in jail as that would cause significant set backs to her progress. The other problem is that she may be on probation. So. She may not be getting baptized anywhere near to when we thought she would be. BUT I really think she will eventually. After she pays for the consequences of her former life and is clean according to the law, then I know she will. She's ready. And she has felt the spirit SO STRONG. It's amazing.
The W's are doing ok, but not great. We need to get more members involved.  But it's difficult because of the dad's life as a cop. He is very protective. But it will happen. The wife and son are super prepared and personally, I think they're ready.  However, I'm not sure the wife will get baptized without her husband, which is understandable. But the son can't get baptized unless he gets permission from his biological mom since she has part custody of him, which is fine. Except. His bio mom is anti. Go figure. So. We don't know what's gonna happen there either.... 

Can I just say, I never realized until my mission how much I HATE PRIDE. I hate my own pride, and I hate others' pride. It's just annoying and arrogant and self-centered and belittling to others. It allows no progression. It is contrary to the Plan of Salvation for that reason. There is NO BENEFIT from being prideful. Just Snobbery that everyone loathes.

I started writing about how much I hate it, but I decided I better not.  Because it was turning into a venting session.  About a lot of things. So. Period. Suffice it to say I hate pride. It is of the devil. Lol.

Ummm.. Mom, I have like 3 hours to write letters today. I will handwrite you a response to your red paragraph. I havr to go though. I haven't gotten the little something you sent me... I'll have to call the mission office.  When did you send it? And was it a letter or a package?   

ok. Got to go.Love you all!

Sis Stephens

Stupid Sudden Weather Changes!

Hey everyone!

Short and sweet again.  Things are going well.  I've been sick this week. Bleh. Stupid sudden weather changes.  Even though it's only in the....70's?  SoStupmetimes colder, but not much. Although I am wearing sweaters.

This week Sis A and I obtained bikes.  By choice.  Our area is tiny and the exersize is needed. These silly arizonians are making me even more chubby.  So. Bikes it is.  I need to find a more comfortable seat, a helmet, and.... that's it.  :-)

Sis A is awesome.  She's adjusting to full-field nicely. She only has a bout 1.5 weeks left, then we're both in the VC for Christmas lights.  I'm super nervous. I'll be in zebra companionship (spanish/english) so that one of us can speak english (that's ME!) and the other spanish.  There are 9 "posts" and we rotate every hour.  And there's gonna be WAY too many people.  I'm really nervous. Ppl keep asking if I'm excited.  I keep telling them that I know I'm gonna be fine, but I'm not there yet. I won't be really ok with it until I've done it for a week or so.  But I know it will be fine and I'll love it. I'm just working to get to the point where I can say that honestly... I am being reminded of how much I  didn't like being the "greenie"... Lol.  Sis A is great though. She obviously wants me to love it just as much as I want her to love being full field. 

We only have 3 investigators. It's a family. They're solid and we tried setting a baptism date with them, but they didn't feel ready yet. We're hoping they won't wait longer than december.  They are so ready, but they also have a lot to learn. 

Ok. Love you all.  Write to me. Lynz, I got you letter. :-) I'm gonna try and squeeze in time to write a short letter to you today.

Loves

Me