True To The Faith

Mi Familia,

I had a really good week this week that was full of blessings. So to start, this is week 11 which means that I was senior companion. I took the lead on everything which was a new experience, but it was good to learn and to take that head position.

I also found out something cool on Thursday. Elder Savoie and I found Keidi on my second day in training at The Referral Center and she is getting baptized on my last day of training next week!

Okay, a quick spiritual thought. We have been reading True to the Faith as a companion ship and it has been awesome. Something I learned was about the Light of Christ. The Light of Christ is often mistaken for the Holy Ghost, everyone has it, but everyone does not have The Holy Ghost. That is received after Baptism. The light of Christ is "The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed." (D&C 88:12-13) Wow. That's super amazing.

I know that Jesus Christ gives us strength and that We can overcome all our trials through faith. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that he loves me. I also know that as we follow Him and have faith he will make our burdens light. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sunday 06/04/2017

We talked with Keidi today. It was super Awesome. She talked about her baptism and how excited she was for it. She said "the thing I am looking forward to most is taking the sacrament." How cool is that. We aren't allowed to watch her baptism through Skype, but that's okay. I am glad that I had the opportunity to teach her and watch her learn and grow. Elder Savoie and I will continue to teach her after she gets baptized though.

Monday 06/05/2017

Josefine told us that we can Skype into her baptism on Saturday! She said "I am glad there will be someone I know there that will support me." We were super happy to hear that Josefine thought that way about us, and that she considers us her friends. Something interesting happened. We found Ashlynn about a month ago and have been trying to arrange a meeting with her. We finally got one set up today, but as we were talking Elder Savoie and I found out that she is fifteen, so we need to get parent permission now. Also something really good happened today. We talked with Donna for the first time in like two weeks. She is using clean language and has started talking to her kids about how she is investigating the church.

Josephine at her baptism

Tuesday 06/06/2017

The Referral Center got to have a tour of the new buildings at the M.T.C. They are very beautiful and very modern looking. All the walls are color coded so you can tell what wing you are in. There is also a giant mural for each wing of the new buildings. What was really amazing was the ponder rooms. In the ponder rooms there are a few chairs with maybe a table or two, and you can hear soft church music playing. There are also lots of windows on each floor which have very beautiful views of Provo. There is also a terrace that you can reserve and talk about the gospel and other spiritual things. Elder Savoie and I have been reading True to the Faith. It has been super interesting and has expanded my knowledge on some of our church's beliefs. We also watched a really good talk given by Elder Robert C. Gay of The seventy. The talk was called "What Shall a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul."

Today's Devotional was fantastic. The speaker was Jorge F. Zeballos. He talked about how a lie mixed with a truth is still a lie. Something can not be true unless all of it is true. Something he said stuck out to me. He said "it should not be easy to become a member of the church because it is a lifelong journey." He also said "we need to not only learn the gospel, but we need to feel it in our hearts as well."

Wednesday 06/07/2017

Elder Savoie and I talked with Michael. Elder Savoie started the phone call and asked how he was doing, Michael said that he wasn't doing very good that he could possibly get fined for working overtime. The thing is he is a truck driver so he is only allowed to drive for fifteen hours (a law in Europe) but he kept on receiving the wrong address, so when he did receive the right address and delivered all that he needed to, he was an hour over. Now he could be fined for about 14,000 dollars. Then after he says "is Elder Stevenson there?" I said "yeah, I am." And he says "Elder Stevenson, I love your voice it has so much character." Elder Savoie had to turn his microphone off because he was laughing too hard. He thought it was funny because we always talk about how my voice is super low so it sounds super intimidating over the phone.

We later did additional study. We were supposed to watch the district videos for that hour but all the computers that could play it were taken. so we went into a classroom and talked about leaving things behind. I didn't know how close we had become until that moment. I told him about how I had saw Dad in the cafeteria yesterday. He said that he knew and he saw me coming toward Dad. Elder Savoie then went on to say that he loves having me around and he has loved being companions with me. He knows that there is still a chance that I could go to Oklahoma, and he wants me to stay but he also thinks it's a good idea for me to go because I will have that distance.

Thursday 06/08/2017

We had a full day today. We had planned five lessons this morning. All of them showed up as well as an extra one. Elder Savoie and I had an awesome talk with Josefine. We talked about the questions and concerns that she had about baptism as well as what it means to endure to the end. Something she said that stuck out to me was "something I like about the L.D.S church is that you are always learning." She talked about how she had gone to the church of Denmark because that is where her family goes. She said "all they really do is sing songs and you listen to the pastor, but in this church you learn new things each week."

Elder Savoie and I talked to Kaitlyn today as well. We talked about the ten commandments and the lesson went really well. It was mostly a review because she knew most of them and their meanings, but there were some that she didn't know the meaning of so we explained them to her. Kaitlyn called her local missionaries an has set up a time to meet with them next week!

Ana's family is being super mean to her because of her decision to join the church of Jesus Christ. They are Catholic. They want her to confess and to pray to the rosary. So Elder Savoie and I are keeping her in our prayers. But her strength to endure everything that her family is throwing at her is truly amazing. She is moving to Sweden in a few months where her aunt lives who supports her decision.

Friday 06/09/2017

I talked with Sister Stevenson today. She was super happy to see me but she also had some questions. I did my best to help her, but our conversation was cut short, which was fine. When I got to our zone's table, Elder Savoie asked if I got lost. Haha.

Our lesson with Keidi went super well. She has started reading her scriptures by topic, and she says that that has been something that has been special for her. She is looking for verses that talk about altruism, which is the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others. We also talked about faith quite a bit, which was awesome. Keidi compared faith to a bed frame. Like a bed frame supports the mattress and sheets, faith supports all the other aspects of the gospel.

Our Zone at the Engebretsen's

President Engebretsen, who is the stake president of our Stake, invited all The Referral Center missionaries to come over to his house for dinner. It was really good, we had homemade taco salad.

Saturday 06/09/2017

Another picture of Josephine at her baptism

Today has been full of tender mercies.

1. The alarm didn't go off this morning, but we were still able to wake up at five.
2. Elder Savoie and I were able to shower, get dressed and be ready by 5:45.
3. We were afraid that the doors to 18M would be locked so we weren't going to be able to get in the building, but the doors were unlocked.
4. The meeting was delayed so we were able to talk to Josefine before the baptism started.

The entire thing was amazing. Everything was in Danish! We had an Elder there translate for us what they were saying to English. The most amazing thing was when Josefine got baptized and when she bore her testimony, that was especially beautiful.

Con amor,

Elder Stevenson