Apples, Cherries, and Dumbledore

My Dearest Family,

To start I would like to explain the title of my email. This week has been a pretty hard week, but it has had good things come from it too. Elder Woodruff and I have been trying to stay positive even in negative situations, so how I have started to do that is I do three things. To start I sing a song in my head (lately it has been I am a child of God) and then I picture apples and cherries which the thought makes me really happy. We also teach a sister named Bradley, and Bradley loves to give all the Elders that teach her nickname. Mine is Dumbledore.

Our district at Squaw Peak.

I would like to talk about being positive today. Being positive can be really hard sometimes, but when you are positive and when you surround yourself with positive people you feel a lot more happy as do the people around you. Another thing that happens when you are positive is you stick out. There is a lot of things that are really depressing in this world. I know that as we strive for positivity our entire day can be changed.

I know that Jesus Christ truly lives and that He did suffer, bleed, and die for us, and that He was resurrected so that we can be resurrected. I also know that we can all be an influence for good everyday. I know that Joseph smith was a prophet and that as we keep the commandments we can grow our testimonies and increase our conversion to be servants and disciples of Christ. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Stevenson and Elder Woodruff at Squaw Peak.

Saturday 10/14/2017

Today we went to Squaw Peak. The view was absolutely beautiful, but it was very cold. I don’t think there was an elder there that wasn’t shivering. Once we got back to the MTC we went to the residence to warm up. There we played two really fun games, one was called "Gang of Four" and the other was called "Pirate's Cove."

Elder Savoie (top right) and all the missionaries he has trained.

Sunday 10/15/2017

I talked with Kaitlyn today and she is doing awesome. She went to the Temple yesterday! This is what she said about her experience: “The temple was absolutely amazing! It was so beautiful and the spirit was so strong! I went there with a question and within the first 10 minutes of being there I had an answer.”

I had heard previously from Elder Savoie that she was going, but I didn’t know why so I asked her, and she said, “I have always wanted to go to the Temple! Even when I was little I wondered about what was inside! My YSA group decided to go and they invited me and I had to go!! My goal is to be able to go inside the temple next time. :)”

Kaitlyn at the Seattle Temple.

I then asked her if it was okay if I asked what question she brought that was answered and she told me, ”It is okay! I actually wrote down a bunch of questions and the one that I really ended up asking was that if I talk to my mom again and she still says no to me being baptized, should I be baptized anyways because I know this church is true and I want it with all my heart. The answer I got was yes. I need to take a leap of faith and trust that things are going to work out even if in the moment there is some contention with my mom.”

I led Doctrinal Discussion tonight which was really special. I talked about following the spirit. Because of the size of the referral center we now split our doctrinal discussion by floor. So we talked about how the spirit helps each of us individually. We then shared special experiences we have seen where the spirit led us in a lesson. Hearing how the spirit blesses and changes lives was just astonishing. I finished by committing everyone to write in their journals daily one way they saw the Holy Ghost in their day. I talked with Elder Southwick later who was leading the other discussion and it turns out he gave his floor the same commitment.

A picture we took for our investigators who are struggling.

The referral center saw Elaine S. Dalton speak at the Sunday devotional which was awesome.

Monday 10/16/2017

We talked to Star today. Elder Woodruff and I had a really strong impression to give her a baptismal date for November twenty-fifth. So we invited her to be baptized and she said "I already have been baptized." that was totally not what we were expecting, but we finished the lesson and set up another time to talk.

Arc of the Covenant at the temple replica.

Tuesday 10/17/2017

Elder Woodruff and I found a new investigator named Stormi. She is super awesome. We mainly did introductions and talked about the Book of Mormon. She had already had been reading when we had our lesson. So it was amazing.

Elder and Sister Nielson came for the Tuesday devotional. Something that Sister Nielson said was "Everything you have been doing in the church has prepared you for your mission." That was pretty cool to hear.

Elder Stevenson and Elder Woodruff outside the priest's entrance to the temple.

Elder Nielson just gave an amazing talk. He said, "When people know that you love them, they will want to hear what you have to say." He talked about his mission and this is what he told us, "All I could do was pray for the strength to make me equal to my circumstances, but I could not change the will of God.

The name of our mission was changed today. We are now The Provo MTC Online Teaching Center Mission.

Wednesday 10/18/2017

We had an amazing lesson with a new investigator named Natanya. We taught her the entire restoration and she understood the majority of it. We also were able to give her a baptismal date for November 25th.

Thursday 10/19/2017

We had another lesson with Ernestina. We talked about the restoration and she didn't have many questions this time. We invited her to go to church which she said that she would do.

Entrance to the Holy of Holies.

Friday 10/20/2017

We taught Bradley today. She was super nice. She is in Mauritius right now for humanitarian work. But she was feeling sick so we were able to talk to her while she was at home. We did introductions and we talked about The Book of Mormon and prayer and it was really neat to hear how The Book of Mormon changed her life.

Elder Woodruff and I went to BYU to see the biblical tabernacle replica tour. It was absolutely amazing. I learned the different kinds of sacrifices that the Israelites did and what they meant. I also learned the things that the priest and the High Priest did inside their tent and inside the Holy of Holies. The high priest would only go in the Holy of Holies on the day of Atonement, so once a year. The tent that the priest went into was made out of Gold to symbolize that it was one step closer into God's presence. The Holy of Holies has two cherubim on the curtains that covered it to symbolize yet another step closer into God's presence, and in the Holy of Holies was the arc of the covenant. it was a really special tour. After we were done with the tour we had to wait for the shuttle, and while we were waiting we ran into Brother and Sister Withers (Elder Withers Mom and Dad) That was super cool.

The sacrificial altar.

Saturday 10/21/2017

We went to Black Bear Diner for breakfast before the temple. Their menu is like a newspaper with actual news on the outside and the menu on the inside. Anyways so I was reading the newspaper and I saw something that said "The Orem library needs reference," but I thought it said "The Orem Library needs Repentance."

Today was awesome. our district went to BYU to go bowling and it was fantastic. We all got Jamba juice before because it was a thirty minute wait till we could get a lane. We all shared our smoothies so we could taste the different flavors. I got a strawberry banana smoothie which was fantastic.

I love you all,

Elder Stevenson