Nearer My God To Thee

My Dear Family,

This week I have been thinking a lot about Charity. Charity which is the pure love of Christ can bless us and others. It is a gift given to us from God, but we have to use it or it will be taken away. A talk by President Monson called "Anonymous" taught me a lot about what charity is. Charity is giving to someone freely without desiring anything in return. I will try to apply charity into everyday of my life, and I invite you to as well.

Sunday 05/14/2017

It was super fun to Skype all of you and to hear how all of you were doing. After Skyping, Elder Savoie and I talked with Donna. We talked about the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy.

Monday 05/15/2017

Today we began by following up on if Donna was able to go to church or watch the talk that we left her with but she wasn't able to do do any of those. However she has been meeting with her local missionaries and has been studying the Book of Mormon. We then reviewed the restoration with her since she's been taught the restoration by her local missionaries. We then discussed some questions that she had and really just followed the spirit on what we should talk with her about. We invited her to pray about it and really study the purpose of why marriage has been ordained to be between a man and a woman. We then committed her to continue reading in the Book of Mormon and to watch the talk that we left with her last time. She told us that she would be watching it the next day.

Our lesson with Kaitlyn went really well. We followed up on if she had read The Book of Mormon Introduction or not and she said she did as well as the entire book of 1 Nephi. Elder Savoie and Kaitlyn did Introductions (which is just saying who you are and a little bit about yourself) because when she was taught last time I was with Elder Johnson on exchanges. She said that she attended church on Sunday and loved it. She loved how it was based mostly on mothers (since it was Mothers Day). She did have a concern though. Kaitlyn felt that women in the church are pushed to be stay at home moms. Because Kaitlyn wants to go into the medical field, she can't be home all the time. She said she does want to have children and be a mother, but she also wants to pursue her dream and she didn't want to be judged for choosing something else. So we told her that nobody should judge her for not being a stay at home mom. It is important to follow her dream of being a Doctor, but it is also important to watch over her kids. Kaitlyn said that she understood that she needed to find a balance between the two and she thinks she could do it. We talked about The plan of salvation, which went really well. She had a lot of questions and wanted to learn about it because she has asked herself the same three questions that the plan of salvation answers (Where did I come from, why am I here, and where am I going?) We ended by inviting her to read Alma 30-42, which she agreed to do.

Tuesday 05/16/2017

The Tuesday night devotional was fantastic. Sister Joy D. Jones (the Primary General President) and her husband came to talk to us. There were some wonderful things said. Something that Robert Jones her husband said stuck out to me. He said, "the best smell you will ever smell in a church building is the smell of cigarette smoke or strong drink, because it means someone is trying to change." Sister Jones talked about how to recognize miracles in our own lives. She said, "every day holds holds the possibility of a miracle, big or small," and "miracles come in all shapes and sizes if we are looking for them."

Wednesday 05/17/2017

We talked with Michael. He talked about how he saw the judgment. He said "I believe that when we approach God he will say welcome home to us with his arms open wide to us, and if we don't go to the celestial kingdom he will guide with his hand to the other kingdoms where we will go." Michael also mentioned again that he is coming to Utah. He says that when he comes the first thing he is going to give Elder Savoie and I a big hug. These are the kind of things that turn a bad day into a good day.

Thursday 05/18/2017

We talked with Ana today. She did not get her patriarchal blessing yet, but she said she is going to talk about it on Sunday. So that is something I am super excited about. I went to Spanish class today. I taught the entire first lesson in Spanish in a very basic way, but I can do it!

Friday 05/19/2017

Today was a great day. Kaitlyn read the entire book of Second Nephi, and she found a YSA ward in her area that she said she is going to go to on Sunday. She is doing amazing. Kaitlyn is keeping a journal for all the things she reads in The Book of Mormon and what we talk about in our lessons. Also ever since Keidi moved to Talin has had a strong desire to come closer to Christ and has a strong desire to be baptized as well. We went to dinner at Brother Nelson's. He barbecued for us, it was so awesome.

Saturday 05/20/2017

Elder Savoie, Elder Withers, Elder Arendt, and I had an adventure at Walmart. We went to the big Walmart today. A man came up to us and he talked about he was having a bad day, so he wanted us to tell him a joke. We were at a loss for words for about thirty seconds and elder withers said "What did the one fish say to the other fish in the tank?" And the man said "What?" Elder withers said "who's driving?" the man laughed and then left us. We got our supplies and then left. That has been what has happened today so far.

I know that As we follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and as we strive to follow the commandments, we will be blessed. I know that the Savior did perform The Atonement so that we could be saved, and I also know that Joseph smith was a prophet and he did see God in the sacred grove. I can testify that God and Jesus Christ knows each of us individually and that They know what our needs are. With God anything is possible. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Con amor,

Elder Stevenson