The Referral Center: A Place Of Sharing And Love

Hello again,

This week has been amazing. I have talked to some amazing new people that Elder Meldrum and I found. Their names are Blake and Gabby. You can read about my lessons with them down below in my weekly ramble.

To explain the title of my email I want to say that there has been a lot of packages received. It seems like whenever someone receives something like food they are always willing to share. To me this is a way of showing you care, and it isn't just the food. If an Elder or a Sister has something that someone needs to borrow they are willing to lend it to you. The Referral Center is truly an amazing place.

A lot of the people that come onto mormon.org want to argue, and really aren't willing to learn. It is in those times that we can't doubt ourselves or the person who has given us the blessing of having this life. I read a really good scripture that explains this. It is Mormon 9:21.

This is what it says, "21 Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth."

What an amazing promise. It is amazing to know that Heavenly father and Jesus Christ will always be there for us. I know that it is through The Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can be cleansed from our sins and we can have the chance to return and live with our Heavenly Father again after this life. I know that God, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Ghost are real and they help us and give us miracles even if we don't notice it. I know because I have seen miracles as I have put my faith in God. We all have the potential to become like our Savior Jesus Christ. Nobody is stuck the same way forever, this life is all about changing and becoming better. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Sunday 09/03/2017

We talked with a new investigator named Eric. He is in the army and he always says "sir" in each comment, so that is super cool. We did introductions. We introduced church and The Book of Mormon. He was interested in hearing about it and he said that he would start reading it.

Monday 09/04/2017

Today has been pretty awesome. I am on a exchange with Elder Nelson. We have spent most of the day proselyting, but it was good. We found a woman named Mary. She told us that she just visited church for the first time with her sister yesterday. So we asked her if she had thought about talking with missionaries and she told us that the thought had not even crossed her mind. But she wanted to meet with us so we set up a time on Wednesday. Because I am in Elder Nelson’s area, he will be teaching Mary with his companion Elder Woodruff.

Companionship study was really good. We read the first lesson and then did role plays. It was fun to do that because that way we got to see how each other taught and we could see things that we liked and that we didn't like.

Tuesday 09/05/2017

Elder and Sister Oaks came and spoke for the Devotional. Sister Oaks shared a story about a time when she shared the spiritual thought to a group of 3-5 year olds. She was talking to them about testimonies and at the end she asked each of them to bear their testimony and one of them asked "What's a testimony?" So she said this: "Put 100% responsibility on yourself for what your investigators understand."

Elder Oaks quoted President Gordon B. Hinckley and said "The temple is a living witness that there is a life after this one." this was amazing because I had never thought of the temple that way and it actually really makes sense, because of the things that are done in the temple. He also said one more amazing thing. Elder Oaks said, "Work hard all day. The time you have now is The Lords time and it should not be wasted."

Wednesday 09/06/2017

We had service again today, but it was super awesome because we got to do our service outside. I did things like clean the railings and sweep up the leaves that had fallen onto the ground. It was a fun change.

Thursday 09/07/2017

Because Elder Meldrum had a meeting with President Thomas I got to have a hour exchange with Elder Jensen. He is one of the new Elders that came in a few weeks ago. Even though he has only been here a few weeks Elder Jensen is a chatting professional.

I participated in a member exchange today. I did an exchange with Brother Penalba, who is one of the members in the 256th ward. That is the ward I was in with Elder Withers and Elder Jacobson. We talked about spiritual experiences that we have had on our missions. It was actually a great learning experience.

Friday 09/08/2017

We talked with Josefine today, and Josefine is preparing to get her patriarchal blessing. She talked with her Bishop and is going to talk with the Stake patriarch. We are super excited for her.

Elder Meldrum and I talked with Blake from the Philippines. He is really interested in our beliefs and told us that he wants to change. He came to us because He saw the missionaries out on the street and wanted to know what they believed so Blake looked on the internet and found mormon.org. When we talked he had a lot of questions so our hour was mainly a question and answer session.

We also talked with Gabby. We did introductions and answered the questions she had. We talked about Church and about the Book of Mormon. Gabby agreed to both go to church this Sunday and read The Book of Mormon.

I love you all,

Love,

Elder Stevenson