lisellovingleeds : 2016-03-20

hello fam and friends!

i have loved hearing about your weeks and the weekend in st.george sounds like a blast. of course with the mom and aunts everything is always a party. i dont even have to be there to imagine what it was like. man, i look forward to those st. george days again. always the best memories!

This week has been a bit tough but heavenly father is truly blessing me. we have quite a few investigators but this week we had to drop a couple because they weren't progressing and one of them was the one who reminds me of Curt so that was sad :( hopefully one day he can know what we are sharing is true and will understand the blessings that baptism can bring. hahah oh my so we were teaching this guy from Egypt named A and he has a hard time understanding English but he speaks it so well! anyway so we were talking to him about baptism and he ran upstairs really quick and we were like what the heck, and then he comes back down with a baptism card and certificate saying he was baptized. so we were looking at it (ill try and send a pic) and it had an EXPIRY date!!! haha we were laughing so hard i couldn’t help it. he said this guy set up this font thing in town and there was a huge line and he just baptized everyone who wanted to be baptized and then gave them a card haha. so we explained how we need authority and power from God for the ordinance to work and he understood. he came to church so that was a great thing! we are teaching this guy, not sure if ive mentioned him but his name is W and he spent 15 years in prison and he has been taking the missionary discussions from the sisters for a couple months and we have been talking about baptism and he wants to get baptized so bad! it is amazing how willling he is to change his life. we havent set a date yet because he has to work somethings out with president but he is such an example and an amazing guy! hah on a mission you become friends with people you never would imagine youself to be friends with. its amazing, you really see people how god sees them its such a blessing. we have a recent convert from the carribean! he has dreads and like 5 earrings and looks like jack sparrow but black! he is so sweet! we are helping him learn how to read which is hard, im learning patience. but he is so eager to learn everything about our savior and really considers him like a best friend. he is a great example. one of our old investigators plays football (soccer) and he said they shoot a naked calendar every year! haha and he was wondering if we wanted one!!! we were laughing so hard! (dont worry we said no) one of the sisters in my flat said that she and her companion got mooned twice a couple weeks ago! hah so funny. england is a crazy place. this week we talked to a lot of people and did a bit of knocking on doors and its so interesting because you never know whos gonna open the door. some people are so nice and will talk to you and others not so much.. we asked this one guy, what do you think makes someone a good person? and he said, staying away from you! and stormed away. we just smiled and walked away. you do that a lot as a missionary and when you are having a rough moment you just smile and honestly it helps so much.

we watched a restoration video with one of our investigators A (she added me on insta so accept her request please!) and when i watched it i felt the spirit so strongly! what joseph smith did for God was seriously amazing. and how obedient he was and how hard he worked. i have been reading JSH and its so inspiring and amazing how god prepared him to recieve the knowledge he needed and how willing he was to do what He asked. I was having a really hard morning and i just felt so overwhelmed and homesick (having a family like mine is a blessing and a curse haha) and i was reading d&c 121:7,8 and those 2 verses are so special to me. we can do it! we can get through the hard times. i thank God every night for the challenges he gives me because he is shaping me to be the person my future husband needs, future kids, and friends and family needs. and the challenges each of you are going through each day are making you the people God wants you to be. whenever you are struggling read d&c 121-123 and you will be thankful for what you are going through. look at it through an eternal perspective! life on earth is so short compared to eternity! so endure and make good choices because your ETERNAL LIFE is at stake. stay strong and do all you can to be an example of Christ. we can do all things through Christ!

i love you all, and miss you all!

life is good :)

love, sister stevens