Receiving Strength

Hello fam!

This week has been tough but rewarding! The pain in my back has returned full force but I am determined to keep working hard and do what I can while I am here. I am learning to rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ because there are times where I feel like I can't do it anymore and I am ready to give up. But I have asked for help and somehow I am able to keep going. I am so grateful for what I am going through because I am learning how to rely on Christ and how to receive help. I know the trials we face are making us stronger, braver people that Heavenly Father needs on His side. 

Zone Training was this week and it was so inspiring as usual. We talked about being ourselves and being authentic. Each of us have been blessed with special talents and abilities from our Heavenly Father that someone needs. Sometimes it is hard for us to see these skills we have been given, but Heavenly Father wants us to use them, so if you are having difficulties as to what your gifts are ask Heavenly Father to show them to you and He will because He needs you to use them! Being authentic means being genuine and sincere. I have been really working on being genuine in every conversation I have. Sometimes I get stuck saying the same things to everyone I meet each day, but each person is different. When you are genuine and sincere people can feel love from you. 

One lesson we taught this week really stuck out to me. We taught this student who doesn't have a faith. It was one of the best lessons I have taught on my mission. The spirit was there, we read from the Book of Mormon, bore strong testimony, and taught to his needs but he would not open up, he would not let the spirit into his heart. It was frustrating to see this but it just showed me that people have their agency and we can do all we can but they still have the choice to accept it or not. So we need to keep trying and keep doing our best because there are people out there who are ready and will accept it we just need to keep looking. 

It is a blessing serving with Sister Mo! She keeps me laughing throughout the day and we have become so close. It is so much fun being a missionary with her. 

Each day is a new experience! Missionary work is crazy but I love it.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love to you all,

Sister Stevens

Conference Weekend!

Hi everybody :)

I'll just start off by saying I am so grateful for this conference

weekend we have had. I have been uplifted and inspired. And I hope you

all did too! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary

and watch general conference because I am truly understanding the

importance of listening to our Prophets voice! I just want to share a

couple highlights I loved from conference.

First of all I love the overall message that sharing the gospel is a

JOY! We are sharing the truth and light that comes from Heavenly

Father's perfect Plan of Happiness! This is the TRUTH and we have it!

Our loving Father will do nothing save it be for our benefit.

Everything we go through, all our heartaches and pain are for our

good. He knows you and loves you and wants you to succeed, all you

need to do is trust in Him, His timing, and do all you can to follow

Him.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be His hands. I have been praying

for help on how I can be a better instrument and I know that by

serving and loving others I am doing what I have been called to do. I

am here to bring JOY to my brothers and sisters. Everyone, no matter

their circumstances is qualified for our Father and Savior's love and

joy. We just need to help them find it and we do that by being

examples, sharing our testimonies, and serving those around us. Can

you pray for a desire to share the gospel? Can you pray for

inspiration for what you can do individually in your circumstances?

Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave some great counsel on how we can

individually share the gospel!

One thing that really stuck out to me was something that was said in

the closing prayer of one of the sessions, "please help us be

different after these 2 days." How will you be different after hearing

the words of our leaders?

Hehehe we had a very interesting evening. Actually it was quite

hilarious. So we were headed home for the night when we get a call

from the other sisters asking if we had left the door open and lights

on... Of course we didn't so we started to get nervous. We get to our

flat and sister Blair went up the stairs a bit and heard some

footsteps, she ran back out as fast as she could out of there. We

called our zone leaders right then and some members who lived near.

Our zone leaders somehow were in our area (they had followed the

spirit) and were there in minutes! It was such a miracle. They went

and checked everything out and the person had left. But the back door

was unlocked so that was how he escaped. We were all a bit nervous

that night but we knew we were and still are being protected!

But it was a great week! We were able to commit A to the path to

happiness, or in other words baptism. And we are trying to resolve her

deep concerns. We have come to realise that Heavenly Father is in

charge and each person is on their own conversion time. All we can do

is try our best and ask Heavenly Father for help to know what to say

and do to help!

Because of my love for my Father in Heaven and my love for my family I

WILL ENDURE. And I hope all of you will too!

Last day with Sister Manning :(

I love you all and I truly truly appreciate all the emails. It makes a

difference!

Love, Sister Stevens

our attempt to make Nan's cinnamon rolls...LOL
they took a lot longer than we thought, so we went
to bed at 10:30 to be obedient and then set an alarm
at 11:30 to take them out of the oven.  It was defs a bless
we will try again sometime in the future :)

a member who too us to tea :)

ward coordination

haha...a member was wearing this t-shirt

making some popcorn

I'm staying in HULL!

hey fam :)
This week was great of course, every week is great as a missionary... ;)
Well, there are always so many great things that happen, I'll put it
that way. Last night were transfers and Sister Mo and I are staying
together in HULL! Sister Blair is also staying but her trainee is
getting moved and another sister in coming named Sister Rigby!

Anyway, we had a wonderful Sister's Meeting for the sisters in our
zone that Sister Blair conducted. We received wonderful counsel on
Faith, Finding, and Finances (some of the sisters are really stuggling
when it comes to dealing with money, but it is always helpful! Each
sister had a part they needed to prepare for and we all shared a faith
building experience. We talked about Jacob 5, the allegory of the
olive tree. Each of us our Heavenly Father's children and that alone
is amazing. We all have a purpose in life and sometimes we forget that
purpose and how much potential we truly have. There are so many people
in the world who have no idea who they are and where they came from.
That is why missionary work is so important and necessary. I love
Jacob 5:71. "Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might.. for
the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh and if ye
labor with your might with me ye shall have JOY in the fruit.." This
verse is not only for full time missionaries, it is for everyone. Each
person has a part to play in this life in helping people come unto
Christ. I know that when we work to help, serve, and be an example
WITH Christ we are going to feel that true JOY. Success doesn't come
in how many people are baptised. It comes when we are feeling,
learning, and doing.

This week I had a really amazing experience that I hope I will never
forget. So we were knocking for quite a while when this guy opened his
door. We introduced ourselves and he said things like how could anyone
believe in God there are so many bad things happening in the world and
if there was a God wouldn't he be doing something about this world? He
went on and on just bashing Heavenly Father and saying how cruel he
is. As I tried to bear my testimony (which is really the only thing I
could do) and he kept interrupting, I started getting defensive. I was
so sad that he was saying all the awful things about our Father in
Heaven it broke my heart. So embarrassing but I started crying right
there on his front porch. Heavenly Father allowed me to feel a tiny
glimpse of what He feels when we choose not to follow Him. His heart
softened a little when he saw me crying and he finally listened to me
share my testimony about how God is really there and how much He loves
us.

Our polish investigator A is progressing! She said she does want to
be baptised but she realises this is a big commitment and wants to
fully invest herself which is great. She desires to follow Christ and
do what He has asked us to do. I love going to her house because she
has the cutest dog that looks like scout but he is white! And Anna has
the funniest sense of humor and always makes us laugh.

Oh and my favorite weekend is next weekend! GENERAL CONFERENCE! We
have been committing members to invite a friend and they are excited!
Conference is a great time to receive answers to questions that you
have. So I challenge all of you to think of questions prayerfully
(they don't have to be gospel related) and I promise you will be able
to receive answers from inspiration you get!

I feel so much gratitude for this chance to serve a mission. I am
truly realising how much this will help me with my future. There are
so many things you learn on a mission that I could not learn anywhere
else. I am not doing Heavenly Father a favor, He is doing me a favor.

Hope you all have a wonderful week :)
Love you all,
Sister Stevens

(So many cute pics this week! YAY!!)

Me and Sister Mo

exchange with Sister Blair

sleepover

I got a package!!!

lunch with a recent convert

Knocking doors

I ATE HAGGUS...nasty

wedding :)

My fave bus driver Steve.  He finally accepted a Book of Mormon!!! :)

we went to a candy shop

bubble gum ice cream with Sister Mo

getting chips with Jayne, a recent convert

hospital, finger 

We made crepes!

shopping

May we Love as He Loved

hello :):)

This past week we had some heart breaking news about our investigator Lisa. She has been progressing and so excited to be baptised. But lately she has been talking to her friends at her church and she told us this week she will not be baptised. It is so sad because she already had her interview and our district leader said it was the most spiritual interview he has had and her testimony is so strong. But she listened to people instead of the spirit and has decided this isn't for her. We had an incredible last lesson with her. Our ward mission leader came with us and really helped resolve some of her concerns but she was too stubborn. She wouldn't even listen to us. But we all felt the spirit so strong and bore testimony. Sister Mo and I truly feel like we have done all we can to help her, we have prayed, fasted, and studied for her but overall she has her agency. And we have done our part, the rest is up to the Lord. One day, she will be baptised though because she has had some powerful experiences with the Spirit. 

This week we did some knocking in new areas which was fun. We found some people who are willing to meet up with us again. We received a referral from a member and visited her this week. She is pretty old and has cancer and was having a really hard day. We were able to follow the spirit and visit her when she really needed it. She said she was very grateful that we came by when we did because we were able to give her a lift. And it felt so good to make someone smile and laugh and feel the spirit. 

I feel like recently I have been so worried about numbers, which has not been helping anything or anyone. And I read a talk called On Being Genuine. It really helped me realize that we aren't here for numbers. We are here to help bring people closer to Christ. I am here to love as He loved, serve as He served, to lift and to strengthen. And I know when I focus on that I will be fulfilling my purpose and I won't have to worry about numbers. 

So this week I am going to work on lifting and strengthening members, investigators, and people I talk to on the street and the bus! I want to feel like I am helping people and bringing joy into their lives.

Anyway, I am praying to be able to love like Christ loved. It is hard but I know with His help I can do it!

Missions are hard as most of you know, but I wouldn't give up a second of it, even the toughest moments. There is just so much to learn. This life is the time to learn!!
Remember that praying, reading the book of mormon, and going to church will help you get through those tough moments!

I love and miss all of you!

Love, Sister Stevens 

(She didn't send any pics this week, so here's one from the good ole' days)

Sure miss this little girl!

Another week in Hull👌🏼

Hello!!

Well this week has been full of spiritual inspiration, learning

opportunities, miracles, and interesting moments.

To start off I have some exciting news about Lisa! She had her

interview and will be baptised on Saturday! She is nervous but she has

such a strong testimony and she truly wants to follow Christ's

example. She received a blessing to help her feel comfort and she said

she felt so much peace after. We are excited for her and the decision

she is making. And she's inviting her non member family to her

baptism!

A couple was married on Saturday so we got to attend their wedding. It

was fun, got to talk to their nonmember friends and family. They are

getting sealed on Thursday in the Preston temple which is exciting!

We has an interesting end to the week... So this week my finger has

been sore and swollen and I was told to soak it in salt and warm

water. I did that for a couple days but it got worse and worse. Sunday

at church a member noticed it (it was that big...) and showed it to a

nurse who was there. They told me I need to go to the emergency room

asap because it was extremely infected. We spent the whole evening in

the emergency room and they took an x-ray and did a little operation

and told me to come back in the morning. This morning we came back and

they numbed it and did another procedure. Hopefully it will heal up

nicely :) but everything is okay now, good news is it won't need to be

amputated!

We were blessed to have Zone Conference this week which is always full

of inspiration and answers to questions. I was asked to give

instruction on tailoring our message to each person. I was quite

nervous but I was able to learn so much and it went better than I

thought it would be! We have been trying to focus on members, how to

get them more involved in missionary work, and how to help them fulfil

their missionary responsibilities. Because when missionaries and ward

members work together great things happen. Got some great ideas on

that.

Our zone leaders told us to ask ourselves 3 questions everyday. And I

challenge each of you to ask yourself these questions each day:

1. Am I happy? If not how can I be?

2. Have I seen God's hand? If not how can I?

3. Have a served my companion (friend, husband, wife, kids)? If not how can I?

These questions are so simple but they have really helped us keep a

better positive attitude and we have been happier! Attitude changes

everything.

Sister Blair gave great instruction in choosing JOY. And a way to

choose joy is to "forget yourself and go to work" and to "look up and

turn out". When we are focused on others we forget about our own

problems and are able to make a difference in someone else's life.

Overall, the main advice I was given is that work overcomes

everything. I have noticed on my mission when I am focused on the work

and focused on serving others I am so much happier. I know there are

really hard things that we are asked to do in life and we have to

face. There are times when we don't feel like we can feel joy because

of our circumstances. But I know when we turn outwards to those around

us we can truly feel joy because we are following the example of our

Savior.

We were also able to have ward conference which was another amazing

opportunity to receive inspiration and guidance. Our bishop gave an

amazing talk on bearing our trials and challenges with patience. The

hard things we deal with now are making us great, strong, and powerful

men and women.

He talked about how we need to ask our father for help and have faith

that he will help us, BUT IF NOT we will still turn to Him for

guidance and help. He doesn't always take the pain away right away,

but if we turn to Him he will come to our aid. We are promised we will

not be tempted or challenged more than we can bare. Are you still

turning to Heavenly Father even when you don't receive help right

away? In D&C 121 Joseph Smith is going through his hardest moments in

Liberty Jail. He is feeling so alone, wondering where God is. But he

keeps asking for help, he keeps turning to our Father. In verse 7 & 8

it says, "peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine

afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it

well, God shall exalt thee on high." If we are patient through our

afflictions He will help us and give us the strength and courage we

need.

I have been reflecting on my mission so far and I still have moments

where I can't believe I am serving a mission because I never thought I

would. And even though it's been the hardest 6 months of my life,

everything I am learning and experiencing is making me stronger and

preparing me for what is to come. I will be forever grateful for the

time Heavenly Father has given me to learn and grow so much.

Hope you all have a great week! Remember to keep smiling :)

Love, Sister Stevens

Ps sorry this is so long, I had plenty of time to write while we were

waiting in the hospital..