Hello everyone,
This week was a pretty busy one. There are five new elders coming in on Sunday, so everyone has been figuring out things such as who will get what investigators, who their companion is, what is their new ward, etc.
Also It is Conference weekend. I am so excited! My two favorite church experiences I love are fast Sunday and General Conference. Elder Meldrum and I invited our investigators to watch conference with a question in mind and to see if they have inspiration or if their question is answered in a talk, as well as writing down their thoughts and feelings as they watch it. I am so excited to hear from our Prophets and Apostles, even though President Monson and Elder Hales won't be speaking. I know that what God wants us to hear will still be said.
I just want to say that I love the topic of honesty. I read a talk by Marvin J. Ashton a few days ago that talked about honesty and it was so good! I just want to share a few things that I learned from it.
Lies are not just spoken statements used to deceive. Elder Ashton said that a lie is any form of communication used with the intent to deceive another. something Elder Ashton said was "sometimes a nod of the head or silence can deceive. Recommending a questionable business investment, making a false entry in a ledger, devious use of flattery, or failure to divulge all pertinent facts are a few other ways to communicate the lie."
He tied in integrity which I thought was fantastic. Integrity is doing the right thing even when nobody's looking. It is looking outward when you would look inward, and doing right no matter the consequences.
Elder Stevenson and Elder Meldrum
On my mission I have learned that consequences come for every action. Good for that which is good and bad for that which is bad. When I make mistakes I feel that it is better to be honest and take accountability for my actions rather than hide it. When we hide our wrongdoings they will be found but it will be much worse when it is found.
Marvin J. Ashton phrased this well when he said, "One little lie or dishonest act leads to another until the perpetrator is caught in the web of deceit."
I know that as we are honest we will feel free from guilt and that relationships of trust will be much stronger with others rather than if you did lie. When we are honest we are doing what is right in the eyes of God. I know that The Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is called of God and is a prophet, seer, and revelator in these last days. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I invite you all to watch Marvin J. Ashton's talk. You can watch it here.
Sunday 09/24/2017
Today was really good. Our district attended a new stake. The 11th stake invited us to come, which is good because with all the new missionaries coming in there won't be enough wards for us in the 18th stake. And it was fast and testimony meeting because General Conference is next week. The testimonies given were so good. Our district was also invited to a meeting talking completely about online member missionary work. The entire meeting was fantastic. At the end they had different types of bread for dessert. I took a piece of Banana bread and a piece of pumpkin bread and they were both delicious.
Monday 09/25/2017
My exchange today was with Elder Fleming. Something really good that happened was we were invited to try out the laptops from lunch until dinner which was like four hours. The difference in doing finding on mormon.org outside versus inside was astonishing. The sun really seemed to brighten up our day. We did finding on the terrace of the new buildings, as well as on the comfy chairs in one of the ponder rooms. It was just really peaceful. The best part of the day was probably companionship study. Because the morning was really busy there wasn't a whole lot of time to plan. So what we did was talk about spiritual experiences. I talked about a special experience I had during training. I then talked about how I knew that God was real because I had a talk with elder Schwendiman when I was in training because I was very discouraged. We had a talk about leadership and how there are many ways to be a leader. One of these ways is leading by example. I believe that the spirit was there that day, because I found something in my patriarchal blessing last week that talked about leading by example and I was reminded of that experience. God knows each of us. The Spirit was also there very strongly as we sat in the dark study area of T3 looking out of the windows. Out of one we could see the temple and the mountains, and out of the other was looking out over the city. As we admired the views we talked about how everything we have is from God.
Tuesday 09/26/2017
We had zone meeting today. In zone meeting we received more information on the changes that are being made. I am going to be companions with Elder Woodruff. He has seizures too. We will be in Elder Zaugg's district and we will be staying on the fifth floor.
For devotional, Mark A. Bragg came. He talked about missionary work and how it is compelling. He also gave us a list of how we can be more compelling.
This is the list of how we can be more compelling:
- Be full of love.
- Pray with purpose.
- Act in faith.
- Plan with faith.
- Extend inspired commitments.
- Learn for a lifetime.
Wednesday 09/027/2017
Today was an adventure. I woke up with a hurt neck. It hurt to the point where it was very hard to walk. I spent the first three hours of my morning in the MTC Health Clinic. I then went to The BYU Student Health Center to get a x-ray. Luckily my neck was not broken. I had to get pain killers and a muscle reliever. When I got to the health desk I saw Bishop Averett which was super cool because he got me my meds. I then went to lunch and at 3:00pm went to physical therapy back at the BYU Student Health Center. Which helped me to actually move my neck a little bit without sharp pain.
Our whole zone, except for Elder Savoie and Elder Salas, who were sick
But there was good that happened today as well. Kaitlyn gave Elder Savoie a message. It said, "I don't know if you guys remember much from when we first started talking in March, but I used to say that something was missing. I wasn't happy here at school. I am positive that this Institute building and the Church are what was missing! I come to Institute basically every single day! I am making friends that share the same values as me, and really this building is a home away from home!"
We also found out that Kaitlyn has a baptismal date for October 14th which is so awesome. I am super excited for her!
Thursday 09/28/2017
I had a lesson with Tammy today which was awesome. We went over the baptismal interview questions since she has her interview on October 4th and her baptism on October 7th. It went really well.
Friday 09/29/2017
Today was fantastic. We all went to the temple and did a session with President Martino, Sister Martino, President Thomas, and Sister Thomas. The spirit was really strong and I forgot how special it is to do the temple ordinances.
I love you all.
Love,
Elder Stevenson
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