The Miracle of the Master

My Dear Family,

I have a funny story that I have been wanting to tell but I always forget right when I am emailing so here it is. Elder North and I were in the M.T.C store on one of our first few days together, because he needed something. So I was just browsing the shelf where the journals are. I came to one that was labeled missionary memories. I flipped open to a random page and the first thing I read is "My feelings when I got on the plane." This was a bit ironic since I never got on a plane. So I shut the book and we left the store because Elder North had gotten his item. I told Elder North and we both had a good laugh about it.

Anyway something that I have thought about this week was the story of the the laborers in the Vineyard. The Master asks three groups of people to tend to his vineyard. He promises each group a penny for their labor. At the end the people who worked in the morning got mad because they were paid the same as the people who worked just an hour in the vineyard. The master tells them that he promised them a penny and that is what they received.

This just testifies to me that The Master keeps His promises to us, whether we keep our promises to Him is up to us. I personally have grown a great love for God and for our savior Jesus Christ. It just makes me want to come closer to them even more. I know that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we are members of His true church. The Book of Mormon is true. I know it is true, and there is nothing that can make me deny it. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ.

Sunday 02/25/2018

Today has been pretty fun. We had a combined third hour with the 258th ward and it was just awesome. We had a presentation given to us from a brother that was the previous Bishop of our ward (The 257th ward). The presentation was called "It's just dinner." Anyway you can guess what the presentation was about. It was all about dating and how to make dating a fun experience rather than a stressful experience. It was super awesome.

He told us not to think of it as a date but as just a dinner. Here is the example that he gave us of how we could ask someone out.

Person 1: Hey, are you eating tonight?
Person 2: Yes.
Person 1. Well it just so happens that I am eating tonight as well. Do you want to do it together?

That was something that everyone laughed at. I thought it was pretty funny as well. Even though I am a missionary and am not supposed to date, I thought it was helpful to know for after the mission.

Something else cool that happened was The BYU Mens Chorus came and sung at the devotional, and it was super spiritual. I pondered a lot on God's love and mercy during it. They sang the song, "There can be Miracles" from the Prince of Egypt, and that helped me to really ponder about the miracles that have happened in my life and how I would not be where I am today without them.

Monday 02/26/2018

We talked with Josefine today. She is doing so good that we stopped teaching her. We are keeping in contact with her though.

Tuesday 02/27/2018

Elder Tad R. Callister came and spoke at our Tuesday night devotional. He talked about a lot of the ways that the Book of Mormon has been proven to be true by physical evidence. This was interesting because i have had multiple people come on chat and claim that The Book of Mormon to be false because their is no physical evidence, in which case we bear our testimonies of how we know the Book of Mormon is true, and that everything that is in it is true. I feel like it is when we bear our testimonies that The Spirit is able to be present.

Wednesday 02/28/2018

Today we went to T4 and asked missionaries for referrals. It actually ended up going really well. We got 15 referrals in 45 minutes. So we went back and contacted them all. Almost none of them responded, but we still have hope. As we were walking back we ran into a trio of sisters and we asked them if they knew anyone who would be interested in learning about the gospel. One of the sisters got really excited and told us that her mom would be interested in learning. So we called her Mom and she seemed really excited that we called. However we didn't teach any points.

Thursday 03/01/2018

We talked with a new investigator today. She is super awesome. Her name is Entela and she is from Albania. We Skyped her so we got to see her face and hear her voice. Her accent was just amazing. We did not have much time to talk with her so we read part of Moroni 7. She has already met with her local missionaries so she had a Book of Mormon, but it was in Albanian. So when she read she read in Albanian and we read in English. It was the coolest experience. The section we talked about was all about Charity. So Elder North and I got to testify of the importance of Charity and how it has really helped us in our lives.

We also talked with Patrick, which is good because he is hard to catch because of his job. He works in an airport. We talked about the Godhead and God's plan for us. I think that it helped him understand a little bit more about God and Jesus Christ as well as our purpose here on earth.

Something amazing that we did before exercise time was Elder North and I went down to the fourth floor and did a role play with Elder Schwendiman and Elder Woodruff. How they have been doing it is they have their scriptures on them. They teach a principal and then they ask if the person they are teaching has any questions. When the person they are teaching asks a question All three missionaries in the square have to find a scripture that answers that question. It really helps you to want to use the scriptures more often.

Friday 03/02/2018

I had a funny Referral Confirmation today. Something people ask a lot is if I am sick because on the phone my voice gets kind of scratchy. But this woman (we'll call her Debbie), throughout the entire call had thought that I was a woman. She then asked me if I was okay and I said yes, I was. She says, "Oh, I thought you were being strangled." So that is a new one. But she agreed to have the missionaries take her Book of Mormon to her, which is good because they ask for it to be mailed more often than hand delivered. We are always happy when they do agree to that because it means that the locals can share a message with them!

Saturday 03/03/2018

Today was amazing. Elder Munden bought "Love, Kennedy" (the movie that we watched at Thanksgiving). It was harder not to cry this time. It is something I am definitely going to buy after my mission. It has become one of my favorite movies.

I love you all, and I hope that you have a good week.

Love,

Elder Stevenson