Proverbs and the Spoken Word

Hey Everyone,

This week has been electrifying. However there is not one moment I can point out specifically that made it electrifying. The entire week was just super awesome.

I started back up my study of friendship. So one thing that I learned was that if you are a friend, then you will have friends. Because people love being loved, and when you are loving, people want to be loving back. I also learned that the friends you have have a huge impact on who you become. President Monson said in his talk "In Harms Way", "Friends help to determine your future. You will tend to be like them and to be found where they choose to go. Remember, the path we follow in this life leads to the path we follow in the next.

Elder Stevenson at the temple on Saturday

"In a survey made in selected wards and stakes of the church, we learned a most significant fact: Those persons whose friends married in the temple usually married in the temple, while those persons whose friends did not marry in the temple usually did not marry in the temple. This same fact pertained also to full-time missionary service. The influence of one’s friends appeared to be a highly dominant factor — even equal to parental urging, classroom instruction, or proximity to a temple.

"The friends you choose will either help or hinder your success."

Elder Stevenson and Elder Stewart

I know that as we reach out and are a friend to others, as well as choose good friends, we will have success in becoming who we want to be. I know that President Nelson is a true and living Prophet on the earth today. I know that God is understanding of each of us and that He loves us more than we can know. Jesus Christ lives and has provided a way for us to come back to Heavenly Father. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and that through it we can come to better know our Brother Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Sunday 01/28/2018

Josefine kept our commitment in mind that we gave to her. She sent us a message and this is what she said, “I did go to church today, and it was a good idea, because it did fill me with peace and calmness, and they talked about the temple trip, and I am able to go, which I am so excited about, I love the temple. So it was good. I haven't started writing yet, but I will in a bit, I just wanted to sit for a bit and ponder about the things that were said in church, and enjoy the calm feeling. The first talk was about faith, and it made me smile a bit, because that was what we talked about last time, and why I was even at church.”

Elder Zaugg, Elder Stevenson, and Elder Stewart online with Alison after her baptism

We watched "The Character of Christ" today. It is a talk by Elder Bednar given years ago that the M.T.C plays for the missionaries every week. It was really good and it caused me to think about how I was doing personally. It was a good reminder about the importance of always relying on God.

Monday 01/29/2018

We went on exchanges today, Elder Stewart was in our cubicle with Elder Withers, and I was with Elder Hancock in his cubicle. Elder Stewart talked with Alison about her baptism. She just loved it. She said, “I felt like I could run forever (Well maybe my soul could, Not my body).” There was actually an investigator that attended her baptism. Right after the baptism was over she talked with the investigator and invited them to come to her house for lunch so that she could get to know her. Alison also invited the investigator to friend her on Facebook, so they can also be connected that way.

Tuesday 01/30/2018

We had a talk with Matthew today, who is our potential from Italy. This was super awesome, because we have been trying to get in contact with him for quite awhile. Elder Stewart and I had a really cool lesson with him about God and the family. He loves his children and his wife, so that is what we were inspired to talk about. We pointed out how God has blessed both him and his family, like how even though he and his family have had struggles, he has been able to provide for them. So that was definitely a highlight for me.

Alison at her baptism

Sister Nielson, who is the wife of Elder Brent H. Neilson came to the referral center. She spent most of the time on the fifth floor, so when she came down to the fourth floor Elder Stewart and I were on our way to dinner. We still got to talk with her for a minute, which was really cool.

Elder Brent H. Neilson and Sister Neilson came and spoke at our Tuesday Devotional. Something that Sister Neilson talked about was the importance of having help. Some things she said were, "Missionary work was never meant to be done alone." And "Always look to your companion for help." Those two things really stuck out to me.

Alison's baptism

Elder Neilson talked about online missionary work. That was super cool because he talked about the numbers that happened from #LightTheWorld. 89,000 referrals came from that. He also told us that within the last 90 days there have been over 1,500 baptisms that ware done with people who got their start on mormon.org. Elder Neilson also talked about the importance of finding. He said, "Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach."

Wednesday 01/31/2018

We had a super awesome talk with Angeli today. We talked about prayer and scripture study. She really loves to pray. Angeli told us that she prays to increase her relationship with God and to find peace. We talked a little bit about faith. She told a story from when she was 19 where she had to have surgery because she was poisoned by some fish. So prayer and scripture study really helped because it was something that she had to take day by day. We ended by inviting her to go to church, which she told us that she was not prepared to do, so we asked her if she would be prepared by February eleventh. She agreed to that date. So we then invited her to pray and read daily, as well as meet with her local missionaries.

Alison with her local missionaries

There was also another adventure that happened today. So we talked with someone that came onto chat as Mikayla. We signed her up, but it turns out so did three other companionships. Mikayla told Elder Woodruff and Elder Munden that it was her sister that came on whose name is Sierra. So we kept on setting lessons up with Sierra but they kept on falling through. One of the problems was that they use the same Facebook account. Things that we were being told were inconsistent with what Elder Woodruff and Elder Munden was being told. So what we did was have a temporary exchange. Elder Woodruff and Elder Munden have done video lessons with Mikayla so they knew her voice. So Elder Woodruff and Elder Stewart had a voice lesson with Sierra and it was Mikayla's voice. So we have been talking with someone that has been pretending to be two different people. So that was neat.

Thursday 01/01/2018

Elder Stewart and I had a super awesome lesson with Deanna today. She was able to read the testimony of Joseph Smith as well as the testimonies of the three and eight witnesses. We talked about the ten commandments with her and she understands them really well. We just went through the verses in Exodus and reviewed what each one meant to each of us. From what we heard it sounds like Deanna really cares about others and really just wants to get to know people more. When we talked about keeping the sabbath day holy we talked about visiting others and doing things that improve your relationship with family members. So overall it went well. We ended by giving her the ten commandments mormon message.

Friday 01/02/2018

Today was super fun. We got the announcements for who we will be with on the next transfer on Sunday. I am going to be in another trio with Elder Curtis and Elder Fleming. I am also moving back to the fifth floor, so I am really excited for that because it gets really quiet here on the fourth floor sometimes. We did weekly planning and I think that it will be a really good companionship, just from how easy it is to get along and work together with them, so I am really excited about that as well.

Saturday 02/03/2018

Today we read the entire book of Proverbs out loud to each other, which is why I named the email Proverbs and The Spoken Word. It was super awesome. I learned quite a bit. It talks a lot about choosing the right. The main reason I liked it was because it just really brought the Spirit.

I love you all, and I hope you have a great fast Sunday!

Love,

Elder Stevenson