Time flies when you are busy

I got this sweet email from Sister Blair, from Provo, who is one of Lisel's flatmates:

subject:  I love Sister Stevens!

Dear beautiful mother and family of Sister Stevens,

I just wanted to quickly share with you how incredible Sister Stevens is. 

She is such a light here in England, she is so dedicated and patient and strong. 

She is a peacemaker, she cooks such good food, she can always make us laugh,

 and she has especially been such a comfort and strength to me here in Leeds. 

It's really special to have someone else from home :) 

I feel like I know and love you all because of her stories and prayers. 

Thank you for your sacrifice in letting her come out here--she is already changing lives, starting with mine. 

I can't wait to meet you all some day, and I'm sure it will be sooner than any of us can believe :)

Lisel and Sister Blair

Love,

Sister Blair (from Provo)

D&C 123:17

 hi mom :) thank you for the emails it is so good to hear that everyone is busy and doing well. time flies when your busy I’ve noticed which has been pretty nice. yesterday was a bank holiday so pday got switched. we did some grocery  shopping this morning and we are trying to eat lots healthier so we got loads of veggies and fruits at this cute market. we are also starting to make meals which has been so good! I made french onion soup and pesto pizzas and me and sister blair made taco soup on easter. when i saw the taco soup and tasted it I started bawling. I remember when you made it all the time and it just made me miss you so much! but i am proud of myself because I’M COOKING!! it makes me excited to be a mom. hah being on a mission makes me want like 6 kids! we had an amazing sister meeting on wednesday with the sisters in 2 zones with president and sister pilkington and it was so inspiring. it made me want to work so much harder and put in so much effort because it really is such a short time. I have to admit, this week was rough. at times I felt like I didnt have the spirit with me, I felt like my heart wasnt in the right place, and I was just having so many doubts. but i had an exhange with sister blair from provo yesterday and it seriously was such a blessing. she was so comforting she just sat and listened to me cry and talk and she was just amazing. I realized I knew that heavenly father was there but I didn’t have faith that He could really help me which was so dumb and frustrating! when I realized that I got straight on my knees and asked for forgiveness and I told Him that I really did trust Him and knew He was with me every step of the way. when I did that I instantly felt better and all during the day i had a smile on my face and knew that i heavenly father is with me. Everyone kept telling us that we looked to happy and that they could tell we were followers of Jesus which made me feel so good because i really do have the spirit with me. It was just such a fun day, we got stuck in the rain and just laughed and everyone thought we were nuts because we're trying to stop them on the street but we just laughed haha. and we were told to try an english kebab it was strange but good, so we walked in and were asking people what to get and everything and the whole restaurant was just talking to us (you learn as a missionary to just talk to everyone) and the worker told us what to get his name is Aussie I have a pic, and we ordered and he said this ones on me, you guys are spreading the great word! so he gave us sooo much food and drinks for free it was so nice! missions defs have their perks. people are just so nice here. 

easter was a great day at church, sister pro spoke about the testimony of jesus christ. SO GOOD. read it! we decorated these nasty cookies ha but it made me feel pretty homesick. but i am doing so much better, i am learning how to better focus on the work here. i love you all TOOOO much! why do I have such an amazing family?! its the best and the worst at the same time. but last week i was reading and studying about the atonement for easter and we can all be amazing people with great intentions but really the only way we can return to our father in heaven is through the atonement. it is the most important thing.

One night we didn’t take our whole time for tea and by the end of the night me and sis pro were both starving so we asked people where the nearest mcDs was (we have been craving it…so nast) and we ran there and back to make it to our flat by 9 and it was hilarious and oh my it tasted too amazing hah. 

We were sitting on these steps waiting for our investigator and this random guy comes up to me and gives me this flower and begs me for my number and I told him that I’m only here to talk to people about God and he was like I only want to talk about you haha I just laughed and told him I cant and then he was like please just break the rules once! and he was surprised I didn’t want to. and then we were talking to this other guy on the street and we were having a great convo and then he tells us he has to go so he gives me a huge kiss on the cheek and just walks away hahaha me and sister blair just looked at each other and laughed it was so funny. english peeps are crazy. 

this week has been hard and challenging but has been so rewarding, I have learned to much. I am amazed at how much I am already changing, it is so good!

keep up the great work! and pray always. 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH ITS CRAZY. and miss you more than you can imagine. 

love, sister stevens

Aussie the kabob man who gave them all their food for free

Lisel's homemade French Onion Soup

Lisel and Sister Pro

Lisel and Sister Blair

1st McDonalds

Rainy England

HE is leading the way in Leeds

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

MADE IT A MONTH!!!!

recent convert J...he is the best!

got to cut Sister Pro's hair :):) Best day ever!

weekly planning board

Best drawer in the house

the bus

Me and Sonya (member) on our way home from church

typical streets in Leeds

when u dye ur eyebs too dark

hi!!! thank you for all the emails. i'm sitting in the library crying as im reading them. its the first time ive cried tho so thats a miracle! i probs look like a joke because last night i colored my eyebrows because i finally had a couple minutes and i left the color on too long so now they are black. hopefully they will fade fast haha. i have loving hearing about your week. life seems busy like usual.

this week went by CRAZY fast. seriously the days felt like minutes which is such a blessing and on the 17th i will be out a month!! only 17 more haha. its already going to fast so i am doing everything i can to enjoy even the hard moments. i am learning how to love every one haha it is hard sometimes there are lots of very interesting people from all over the world in leeds. my fav thing about being a missionary is hearing investigators pray. most of the time its their first time praying and hearing them talk to god for the first time is seriously the coolest experience. we use ipads a lot and it helps because we can show videos and it really brings the spirit so strong. we met this guy named Y on the street the other day and he was so interested about our faith. we taught him and he asked amazing questions and said he would read the book of mormon and pray about it! we will schedule him for baptism for sure. i feel like he is ready. another guy we are teaching his name is Nero. he is from china but believes in god so thats good. most people do not believe in god at all and it is crazy! i cant imagine not believing in god or having a god. but we scheduled N for baptism! he is going out of town so its not til the beginning of may but still he seems ready too! its crazy when you listen with love the holy ghost tells you exaclty what to say. its defs a skill i am still working on but miracles happen when you have the holy ghost. another investigator is named J. She is like our mom haha she had us over for tea this week and fed us chicken kababs and ice cream and was so nice and she drove us to our next appointment which was so nice! she goes to church every week because she loves how she feels when she is at church. we taught her a bit and she was telling me about another sister that taught her. its kwin stahli's sister!!! that was so cool to find out. she loves all the sisters so much. hopefully she can commit to baptism! hahahaha so me and sister pro were walking to a tea appointment (the members feed us like crazy seriously i am already gaining weight it is quite a prob) and sister pro was videoing me and i was just acting like a dork and i fell in this huge pot hole and i swear a broke my ankle hahaa i was dying laughing so hard and so was she. thankfully i am totally fine!! god is amazing haha. me and another sister in my flat sister blair and i have been going running a couple times a week and it has felt so good! there was this lady on the bus the other day who looked soooo much like the queen it was crazy! haha so i started talking to her and she said she gets that a lot. she was so nice and telling me about her life haha. english people like to talk and talk and talk. its hard to bring up religion tho. Michelle is one of the members in our ward we visited this week. she is the sweetest lady ever. and she loves pink. her carpet is pink her walls are pink, she wears pink. seriously everything. she has a cat named princess angelica. quite an interesting lady but so nice. 

there are so many hair salons everywhere and we walk by a lot of them and i see people doing hair and it makes me miss it so much!!! i can't wait to cut my companions hair and the other sisters. 

anyway, time is already flying. heavenly father is blessing me so much. i am able to focus on the work here and i dont feel as homesick. i love teaching people. it is like the highlight of my day, i love sharing my experiences about the savior and how he can bless their lives. i just started the Book of Mormon again. it is such a blessing and truly testifies of the truthfulness.

remember CPR: church, prayer, read. THOSE will keep you on the right path!

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! thank you for the prayers.

love, sister stevens

Lisel and Sister Pro, her companion from Russia

Russian Food that is 'quite good'

Outside our flat

Sandwich shop that is seriously the best thing I've eaten besides dumplings and Cosmo pizza.  (If you know Lis, thats saying a lot!)

the 4 flat mates

Pretty Leeds

Fish n Chips

Lisel with Member Michelle

Lisel with Julie, Investigator who's like their 'mom'

Bus rides

haha, this random guy got in our pic

we order milkshakes sometimes at night and they deliver them!  heaven :):)

First P-day in England

its pday!! time is already flying. seriously, the days are long but looking back it has gone by so fast! i have so much to say in such a little time! thank you for the package! it came at the right moment. normal day:

630-exercise

7 get ready shower eat

8 personal study

9companion study

10 12 weeks of training

11 lunch

12-9 either lessons, contacting, tea

9 planning, get ready for bed, journal

10:30 BED

well i am glad to finally be here, though i have thought to myself what the heck am i doing here. the first day i met my trainer, she is russian but speaks amazing english. better than me and she learned from movies! we have fun and talk and she tells me everything i need to know. she has been patient and says im going to train as soon as i am done being trained haha that makes me quite nervous. i hope shes wrong. we got my bus pass, we take the bus a lot. when i got here it was snowing so hard. snow flakes the size of golf balls i swear it was insane! we went to the chapel and it smells a bit like the singapore one and it makes me miss singapore. there a few similarities. our flat kinda reminds me of singapore houses because its just gross and not clean, even though we cleaned very well this morning it never really feels clean. i met president and his wife and they were really kind and gave some words of advice. its like a whole different program here because if you mention religion they say they aren't interested and walk away. so it takes a bit to know what to say so they are at least a little interested. but the english people are so nice, they willl talk you ear off if you let them haha. i LOVE everyone's accents. it makes me so happy and now when i hear an american one it sounds weird. sister pro (my trainer) says i sound very posh when i talk in a british accent so that is quite the compliment :) i love saying english words and all the different things they say. its the best! also it is FREEZING all the time. i literally wear over half my wardrobe everytime i go out because i just freeze. the first couple days i don't think i was warm at all! my toes have felt like they are going to fall off every night when we get home haha its like just when i think i can't do it anymore its either tea (dinner) or time to go home. the first couple days i was pretty jet lagged. i fell asleep during studies, on the bus and almost during a lesson which was super embarrassing because our investigator saw me!!! it was the worst. england is interesting. they have small houses, small roads which all look so old, but then everyone drives a very nice car and there are beautiful fields that are so green and it is gorgeous. we walk the streets a lot finding people to talk to and literally we talk to everyone we pass unless we are already talking to some one and it gets so frusterating because no one wants to hear about God! but i need to remember i am not here to baptize all of leeds, just those one or two people who are ready and waiting for the truth. the hard part is finding them. we have a couple investigators but not a lot of them are progressing which is frusterating as well. one of the members in our ward is a convert. her name is T and she is the best! shes probably in her upper 20s and her calling is to feed missionaries and find people to feed us, so we have become good friends with her. she is hilarious and has the best accent. a couple days ago i was having a rough moment during the day, right before we went to T’s. no one wanted to talk to us and it was literally freezing and raining. but we were having tea at T’s and we got there and she had pizza, fries, and diet coke!!!!! it was a miracle hahaha (they have more diet coke than coke lite here btw.) we got some groceries the first day but not much. i have literally eaten spaghetti everyday but its okay i still love it and am getting more at the shop today. and i get to try fish and chips i can't wait! hahah we were walking the streets the other night and me and sister pro ask these 2 guys a question and they answered and we just keep talking for a while, they ask what we are doing, why we are here and things like that. and then one was like so when you go back to america i am thinking i might go there that time as well. do you think i could stay at your house? hahah i just started laughing but i think part of him was serious... they also invited us to get fish and chips with them. which we kindly denied dont worry haha. and then the next night we were talking to another guy and he was like if you ever get divorced or don't get married let me know. i just laughed, like what do you say to that?! i'm a missionary for crying out loud haha. 

i have had some rough moments where i think there is no way i can do this for 17 and a half more months but i say a little prayer and think that cayden is only like an hour away and he is doing the exact same thing i am doing. and all my friends around the world! it is so comforting to think about them and the amazing things they are doing. 

being a missionary is hard. we are doing something from 6:30-10:30 every day all day and it is exhausting. it is a miracle we make it though the day but let me tell ya, i am sleeping like a dream. we are constantly thinking about our investigators and trying to get people to listen to us its frustrating! but i can do it, i just take it one day sometimes one hour at a time. there are simple joys in everything. we just need to look for them. i am realizing being on a mission all the little things we miss everyday. i look around at the people on their phones and feel sorry for them! they are missing the beauty of the out doors and all the little things that go unnoticed these days. we have lots of time to walk outside and though it is cold there are so many things to be grateful for. being a missionary is definitely stressful, there are always things to do and people we need to talk to. we see so many people every day and literally non of them have the gospel its so sad! its hard to see them all but i just need to remember i cannot convert all of leeds haha. one person at a time. i am slowly learning the ways. i bore my testimony on sunday about how much effect prayer has and the comfort it can give. it is so true! i need prayer constantly and so does everyone else. teaching is good! i know a lot more than i think i do which is so comforting and it is only because of the holy ghost. he literally tells me what i should say when i need to say it. he is always there if we are worthy. 

it is so good to hear from all of you! sorry i don’t have loads of time so i cant email everyone back but know i love you all!

thank you for the prayers! they have been comforting. 

love, sister stevens

Safe arrival of Sister Stevens

Dear Brother and Sister Stevens,

It is with pleasure we welcome your daughter, Sister Lisel Stevens, to the England Leeds Mission.  We find her prepared and committed to serve the Lord and to share the message of the Restored Gospel.

Your daughter's first companion is Sister Prokofjeva who was prayerfully selected to ensure the best introduction to missionary work for Sister Stevens.  They will be serving in the Leeds 1.2 Area in the Leeds Zone. We are confident their relationship will be a mutual blessing.

Weekly encouragement from home will certainly help inspire Sister Stevens's missionary effort.  We encourage you to write her once a week with letters that are uplifting in spirit.  Please let other family and friends know how important it is to write positive, encouraging letters that support missionary work.  Your daughter's permanent address is now:

Sister Lisel Stevens
England Leeds Mission
Lister House, Lister Hill
Horsforth
Leeds LS18 5AZ
England

You can send letters to your daughter's flat address, but make sure you remember transfers happen every six weeks.  Family and friends are asked to not visit or call their missionary in the field.  Such calls and visits will undermine the effectiveness of your missionary and their companion.  Please feel free to call the mission president in the event of an emergency at home.  Missionaries are not to call home without the president's permission.

Any anxiety of the missionary about finances will hinder the work.  Please do not send excess funds, as too much money can be as detrimental as not enough. Personal, practical and inexpensive gifts from home for birthdays or Christmas are permitted but adding money to their personal funds is more cost effective.  However, because missionaries move frequently and space is very limited; large, heavy or unnecessary items are discouraged.  Your missionary is limited to two bags and a briefcase.  The best gifts are consumables, such as ties, socks, small personal items, and goodies.

I want you to know that Sister Pilkington and I consider it a privilege to serve with your daughter and promise to help all we can as we strive to direct her efforts in the Lord's way.  We are available at all times, and Sister Stevens's physical, emotional and spiritual welfare is of utmost importance to us.

Sincerely yours,

Graham Pilkington
President

England Leeds Mission

Is this real life???

hah funny story.. so i flew to portland and i was supposed to go to amsterdam next but i had trouble with my luggage and missed my flight.. not really funny when it all happened because i was a stressed wreck but i'm all good now. after hours and hours trying to figure out how i can get to england today, they discovered the next flight to amsterdam is tomorrow morning sooooo they put me in a hotel in portland for the night. and i'm all by myself and it is so weird because i'm used to being with someone 24/7! haha everyone stares at me because my name tag and my 2 gigantic suitcases. i look like a joke. anyway so i walked over to get something to eat and got myself a diet coke which tasted delicious. i have missed it so much haha. but now i'm just chillin at the hotel waiting for it to be 10:30 so i can go to bed and get on with my traveling. but i got to call my mom and take a hot bath so its all been okay. the lord works in mysterious ways hahah for some reason i wasn't supposed to get there at the time i had planned. this day has been quite interesting lol. 

on the plane to portland i was felt prompted to read d&c 121, 122, and 123 when joseph smith was in liberty jail and it gave me so much comfort knowing i can do anything because god is with me. i felt like i was inspired to read that before i went through everything at the airport because i was so stressed but i just had to remember that god was with me and i am doing what i am supposed to be doing so he will guide me. read those sections! they are amazing. we as missionaries have so much power its crazy.

as i was watching people today my heart was breaking. i didn't have a phone or electronic device to distract me so i people watched a lot. and so many of them don't know the truth! this one lady asked why i had so much luggage and i said i was moving to england for 18 months and she thought i was going to a university. she had no idea who i was so i explained that i am going there to share my beliefs with people. she was like when you get time off do some traveling england is beautiful haha she left before i could say i won't be getting anytime off..

Love always,

Sister Stevens