Hello My Family and Friends,
As you can tell from the title of my email I am back with Elder Curtis and Elder Fleming. I am so excited. It was hard to have Elder North go home, but he has got a lot going for him. I know that things will turn out great.
Today I wanted to talk about the temple. That is something that I have really thought about this week. The temple is one of my favorite places because it truly does feel like heaven on earth. I can always feel the Spirit there and it is a place where I feel safe. Not only is it a place where you can feel safe, but is also a place of saving. When we participate in the ordinances of the temple we are literally saving those on the other side. I can think of nothing better than to be helping others come closer to Jesus Christ. It is especially special when it is your own family.
Elder North, Elder Stevenson, Sister Cockerill, and Sister Larsen
I know that as we do temple work we are doing acts of love. We can perform acts of love everyday, just like the Savior did when He was on earth, and as He does now. I know that we can all become more and more Christlike each day as we follow His example. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
There is a new Mormon Message about temple work. I really enjoy it and I think that you will too. Watch it here.
Sunday 03/11/2018
Today was a slow day. I was not well enough to go to church. In fact I really was not well enough to do anything. So Elder North and I just took naps. I have been feeling dizzy, and have had stomach aches, as well as back aches. When we weren't napping we were listening to Conference talks.
Monday 03/12/2018
It has been a little worse today. I have started throwing up which is probably bad since I didn't really have anything to eat yesterday. My body has become less active, and it is harder to get up and get around. However the extra rest has made daylight savings really easy to move into, so that is probably one of the few perks of being sick. Because we had a day full of lessons, Elder North was able to get exchanges so that He watched over me in the morning, Elder Curtis watched over me in the afternoon, and Elder Fleming watched over me in the evening. So something that you will find interesting: there is a new app that is a learning app called Quizlet that we are able to get on our phones now. It has a number of topics that you can learn about. So since I was sick and didn't have much else to do I got it and started studying viruses. Applying things into your life - I didn't have to do much to make it happen.
Elder Stevenson, Elder North, Sister Oakley, and Sister Malouf
Tuesday 03/13/2018
Today was an interesting day. I was unable to use any of my limbs at this point. Elder North got me a wheelchair, and told me to take a shower. So he got my stuff and wheeled me to the handicap shower, setting my things next to me. I turned on the shower, but because that took all my strength I didn't have the strength to take off my clothes. So I showered in my clothes. I was able to get a little shampoo in my hair, washed it out, turned it off, and then I was wheeled back into bed where I was able to get on some pajamas.
I slept for another two hours and then once I was awake I got in the wheelchair and Elder North was able to push me to The Health Clinic, where I was taken to the sick bay. The sick bay is a place where they have little rooms a little bit bigger than a twin size bed that are closed off by only a curtain. So from about 11:00 am to 6:00 pm I was in one of their rooms. They had me drink water and checked on me about every fifteen minutes. They told me that if I didn't drink enough they would have to get me hooked up to an IV. They said that repeatedly and all the drinking was doing was making me more nauseous. So I asked them to hook me up to the IV. Once they did it was really good, because this way I was able to sleep, which just felt really nice. At six they took me off of the IV and Elder Curtis was called. Once he got to the sick bay, I got back into the wheelchair and was wheeled back to the referral center.
Elder Savoie and Elder Stevenson in their wheelchairs
Because of the state that I was in they were not going to take me to the Tuesday Night Devotional. So what Elder Curtis did was he got three benches from the third floor and made me a bed where I could lay down and watch the devotional on the TV where it was being live streamed. So Elder Curtis, Elder Savoie and I got together and we watched the Tuesday Night Devotional. It was Bishop Waddell that spoke. He spoke a lot about the priesthood. Something he said that really stuck out to me was that, "The sacrifice isn't enough. You can't just go on a mission and expect to receive all the blessings. You need to do the things that God has asked you to do. When the children of Israel were told what to do to avoid the tenth plague killing the lamb wasn't enough. They had to kill a Lamb that was without blemish, and then use its blood to go on their doors so that the destroying angel would pass by."
Wednesday 03/14/2018
I was on Exchanges with Elder Meldrum today. It was super cool to be with him again. None of our lessons showed up, so we did a lot of finding. But it was really different this time. Even though we didn't find anyone I felt a lot of peace as I was finding and it was easier to be understanding and be kind to everyone when I was with Elder Meldrum.
Thursday 03/15/2018
Elder North and I had a really good conversation with Victoria today. We taught her about the restoration and she had quite a few questions about Joseph Smith. I felt that we were able to explain well each point so that she could understand what was being taught. We talked a lot about prophets and apostasy. This gave us the idea to give her the video "Discovering Truth." We also believe that in the upcoming weeks General conference will be something that is good for her. She did watch "Repentance: a Joyful Choice", but it had been a few days so she did not remember much. We invited her to go to church, but it is hard for her because Sunday is family day for her, and her parents are not very for the Church, but they are not against the church either, so it is a tough situation. Meeting with local missionaries will also be hard because she lives on a college campus and so they will probably get kicked out.
Elder Stevenson, Elder North, Sister Lesue, and Sister Van Dam
We also talked with Mariah today. Mariah is an investigator from the Philippines. This was a good lesson! We talked with Mariah about how she can deepen her understanding of Jesus Christ. We shared with her Alma 7:11-12 and talked about specific habits she can develop to come closer to Him, such as attending church, reading the scriptures, and other things of that nature. We asked her to listen to the Elder Hales talk because it helps us learn how we can become more Christlike by "weaving our spiritual tapestries". Mariah is awesome!
Friday 03/16/2018
Today was a busy day. Elder North has finished most of his packing. His grandma came to drop off his stuff at her house for when he comes back to Provo. We had a really funny chat today. This girl came on talking about how people didn't like her name. So we talked with her and said that there was nothing wrong with her name that it was beautiful. Elder North told her that she was a daughter of God and that it didn't matter what other people say. Which then lead to her asking him out on a date. We politely told her that we were missionaries and that we have set apart this time to serve others. We then left the chat because at that point she was ignoring me and just talking with Elder North.
Saturday 03/17/2018
Today has been an awesome Birthday. Thank you all for the gifts that you have given me. Going to the temple was really good, and really uplifting. After the temple my district let me decide where we would go for lunch and I chose Asado. It was delicious, just as much as the first time that we had it. Something I am looking forward to is we are playing True Colors again, which is going to be really fun.
Thank you for everything. I hope that you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Stevenson
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