Putting Our Trust In God

Hello Everyone,

This week was a super good week. God has an amazing way of making bad things turn good. This has been one of my goals to achieve on my mission. I firmly believe that we can change anything bad into something good just by changing our attitude toward it. For example, this week we had a lesson with someone who just tried to bible bash us. The only difference was that it was kind of a one way conversation. So Elder Woodruff and I just listened to her. We did get chances to speak, however it was more to ask clarifying questions so that we could understand where she was coming from. At the end of that conversation both elder Woodruff and I were left confused on what she had said. At the end of the call Elder Savoie asked how the lesson went and I respond by saying, "She 's a fun person." I told everyone that although I didn't get to talk much, I was sure that she was good on the inside and that she was a child of God like every one of us. So attitude means everything.

Elder Woodruff and Elder Stevenson doing missionary work

I also firmly believe that trusting in God can mean everything as well. I was asked to give the lesson for district meeting. Elder Savoie told me that I wasn't assigned a topic but to prepare carefully because President Martino was going to be there. So I was originally going to talk about the Holy Spirit but then was inspired to talk about trusting in the Lord. It went good and I was able to help everyone participating so there was no awkward silence. I know that we should always trust in God because God trusts in us. I know that God will never give up on us and that as long as we are obedient, God will bless us. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Stevenson at the top of the "Y"

I invite you all to look for the blessings that God gives you and to thank Him for it.

Elder Woodruff at the top

I have a super huge announcement. Laura is getting her baptism interview tomorrow! The reason this is so monumental is because Laura has been taught since I first got into the referral Center. She was taught by Elder Southwick for the majority of it. Once Elder Southwick finished his mission, he gave Laura to Elder Meldrum and I. She is super awesome. We had a talk with her yesterday mainly about the Godhead because we had a misunderstanding. We thought that she believed in the Trinity because of the way that she was referring to Jesus Christ. But it all turned out well. I apologized for our misunderstanding and she said, "It's fine, misunderstandings are just another way to learn." She had some troubles with the Word of Wisdom in the past, and she has been going to the 12 step program and she told us that the spirit is just so strong there and she committed us to read one of the articles that they read together and she told us that it was just amazing.

View from Y Mountain and the smoke from the Bald Mountain and Pole Creek fires

Davie has been doing super awesome. He is our friend from Malawi. He is super receptive to the spirit, but it is hard to have a long lesson because internet is kind of bad in Africa. He is on track to get baptized next week so we are hoping that everything goes well with that. We talked about fasting which he didn't know much about so we were able to explain that. We also talked about baptism and confirmation and he agreed to live all of those commandments.

Provo and Utah Lake from the top of the "Y"

Elder Woodruff and I hiked the Y Mountain today. It was very tiring and a lot harder than I recall it being. By turn one I was pretty sure that we were there only to find out that we had only hiked .19 miles. Once we had made it to the top I talked with Elder Woodruff and said, "Hey, do you remember when we were at turn 2 and we were dying?" It is fun to have these moments because they are just something that you can laugh at later.

I hope that you all have a great rest of your week.

Love,

Elder Stevenson