September 11, 2011
This week was the week of reality...yep, the realities of what my life is like is finally setting in...oh boy. The first one I had when I was trying to get off my bike...yes, you can all laugh trying to picture it cause it made me laugh. Imagine this white girl, really sweaty from riding three hours trying to find this less activity's house, in a long skirt, on a mountain bike, with a helmet on...now picture that girl trying to get off that bike and almost falling off cause it's quite difficult to get off in a skirt, let me tell you. I looked around me and saw people staring at me and then it hit me...oh I'm really different aren't I. Before this I thought that I looked like everybody else too and I always thought they were staring becuase of the name tag...nope, they don't even get to the name tag. They stop at my face. So that one sunk in. The next reality that sunk in is that no one is going to every really stop speaking Japanese. I keep thinking that i'll wake up one day and everyone will be speaking English. Nope. Maybe one day I'll wake up and I'll be able to speak and understnad Japanese. Haha. Yes, That's the way it's gonna go. Another realization. This one hurt. I realized how old I am...I'm not who I thought I was. THis one occured on the door step of a PI talking to the 12 year old daughter and all of a sudden my mind flashed to her perspective and I saw these huge two old looking American girls standing in the door way and I thought, oh that's me. I'm old. It was an odd thing to realize. I still feel like I'm 18.Nope wrong-o. That was strange.
I'm also way amazed at how much I can learn everyday. Not in Japanese...I'm still can't understand anything yet, nor speak it very well adn told someone yesterday that my parents just called and I wanted to share that with them...opps. Companion had a laugh on that one. But spritiual stuff I am amazed at how much I can discover! It's so great! I love it! Just a few things I learned. This one came today and I love it. Sometimes we are going to get a boat sunk or be tossed in the ocean. Heavenly Father is going to throw up of life jacket and then He is going to say swim. We won't sink, but we will have to learn how to swin and make it back to the shore. I thought that was a cool thought. Making us work adn learn the lesson.
I don't have much time today..sorry it's short so unlike me :) But all I've got to say is that life and espcially life on a mission is so up and down. It's so good one moment and the next youre struggling to maintain that desire or maintain that light. It's hard but it's rewarding. Still havin fun! But it's strange sometimes cause my comp is going home in two weeks and sometimes I feel like I'm going with her...wrong. I've got a lot of time ahead of me. She is leaving HUGE shoes to fill! Everyone loves her! I hope I can do a good job when she leaves and that the ward doesn't turn on us and that we don't lose any investigators. It's gonna be a real adventure! Pray for me! I love you all! Till next week, which I agree with Stevenson Choro, comes way too fast!
Shimai
September 4, 2011
I'm pretty sure the whole island of Japan was feeling the effects of the typhoon becuase I too was out tractin in the rain! And boy was I thinking about Elder Stevenson and how he was probably in heaven right about now. And as I started to think about him and his attitude, the better mine became. Because yeah, let's be honest, when does someone get to spend three hours riding in the pouring down rain, trying to find a part member family, which you never actually find, in the pouring down rain...yeah, doesn't happen very often...except for Japanese missionaries. The sooner I learned that that's just how it was going to be, the happier I came. Granted I still have to pump myself up everytime I get on my bike and espcially in the rain :) I love the rain!
We had some pretty sweet miracles happen this week! We see miracles everyday! Okay, first great miracle: So we were handing out English class flyers and I handed one to this guy and then five minutes later he came back and said to my comp "Do you speak Japanese?" "Yes" and then he said "I'm coming tomorrow." and my comp said "Oh but english class isn't until wed." And the guy goes "no to church. I went with my friend once and I loved it! And now that I don't have work on Sunday's I'm gonna come. What time does it start?" We were both like, "eh....10." and then had that, oh my gosh, did that just happen attitude. Well he did come to church and loved it! I laughed when I read Riley's email about his branch because my ward has 200 or something members with SO many kids! We had stake conference on Sunday and I have never seen sooo many families before! The church is really strong. So i thought it was funny how here is riley in this small branch and I'm in one of the biggest japanese wards! I love it! Here's another sweet miracle! So we love to go housing! We love it! and we have so much fun! I even like it because they have these genious things that america really should install but it really stinks for missionary work. But they are these call boxes or intercoms at the front of their house where the people can just talk to us without answering there door. Stinks cause you really never see people but are great because you can just talk and try adn it doesn't really matter cause you can't see them. Anyways, we were walking and i was like lets go down this street so we started ping ponging. We ping ponged this one house, after almost being eatten by their huge dog! This guy answered the intercome we did our little speal and then he said choto matte, which means one second, he then came out to the balcony, we said our stuff over again. Then he said hold on a again and then came outside. We were thinking what? and oh great, another referral for the elders (we've been getting a lot of referrals for the elders lately...) So he came out and we started to talk to him some more, yah, yah, asked him if he like english adn how we taught english class. He then said "Oh, my mom goes to that english class" We said oh whose your mom? He then said "Sugita Junko" We were both then shocked and frozen! (Note to the reader Sugita Junko is the woman we baptized last Sunday!) Here we were talking to her son, at her house, that we randomly found! Miracle! (another note: Junko isn't really close with her family, in fact we are pretty sure they don't know she got baptized. We told her that she had to tell her husband but she said that they don't have that kind of relationship adn that he knows that she is reading the Book of mOrmon and meeting with the missionaries and going to church, so it was obvious that her son didn't know what we knew adn were so shocked about) So we then told him we knew his mom and decided against telling him about her baptism. We then asked him if he had any interest which he said he did and said it would be cool if we met again. We were so blow away after that! They Lord really is aware of His missionaries! And really does know where we need to be! We seriously have a miracle like that everyday! Where we are just like wow, did that really just happen. It's great! I love it!
I was humbled again this week. It really hurts and stinks and I've got to stop it. Although they say that we constantly need to be humbled because that is the time when we are able to be brought up by the Savior and into Him. We really learn the most when we are brought low. It was a good learning moment. Mom, to add on to your remodeling analogy. This week I learned that there were some items in my house that I was trying to hold on to that the Lord thinks I need to get rid of. It's really hard trying to let go of those things that you have always known but I learned that the Lord has promised that he will replace it with something much better, we just have to let go. So i have been doing so of that. This was the other sweet thing I learned! It is proven that it takes 21 days to form a habit. 21 days! Therefore, I have no right to give up on anything or any one for at least 21 days! Therefore, i learnded once agian that it takes TIME! It's all about TIME! I am not going to learn this language in one tranfer adn I will not become perfect and the person I want to be by the end of my mission. I will be closer than I was when I started but I won't be done learning and growing. You never stop doing that. But I am grateful that a mission has taught me that. I love where I am at. It's sometimes hard though having a companion whose leaving in three weeks :( becuase I sometimes feel like I am going home then too but then reality sets in and I see that I have 15 more months! And that I have that long to learn Japanese and become better than I was today. But sometimes I forget that and get down on myself cause I think that I shoud be at her level. Wrong!
Anyways, I love Japan! Rain adn humity! It's all great and all part of the plan! Love you all! Thanks for your prayers and help! I really need them! Live life to the fullest!
Love from a little island across an ocean!
Shimai
August 31, 2011
I know you said it a thousand times dad and i know you'll be laughing and trying so hard how to better explain this to the twins now but oh my gosh, a mission is HARD! Holy CAL! Why didn't anyone tell me! Hahah! You all did but I just guessed I would be better at it. I was always some one that had to learn these lessons on my own. Well, here I am adding my testimony with everyone else...a mission is hard. It is not easy. This week was not easy and was probably one of the hardest weeks I've had in my entire life. Gosh, Satan can hit hard. And it hurts. So lets just start at the beginning. Tuesday...First lets just say that my companion and I are really similar so she can read me like a book so I can't hide anything from her. I was having a very "emotional" day and we were at the church making copies for a lesson we had that night she stopped and said what's wrong. And so for the next time I sat on the floor and just cried. Figures right. And I was feeling so worthless and dumb. She made me make a list of what I was feeling. And it was things like dumb, insuffiencent, not progressing, and not me (that was really bugging me. I'm such a word person that it bugged me that I could express to people how I really felt) Then she made me make a list with factual, truthful and get us places statements. and this is what we came up with: I'm learnign and growing everyday. Sometimes you don't see the progress and I can rely on the Lord more. I'm doing everything that I can and I know that my trainer will be here for me. And finally I'm learnign how to be an even better and stronger me. Those got to me. I realized how selfish I was being and how human I was being. I have felt like I'm a little kid trying to run and do everything all at once and expecting to be able to do it all at once and I feel like my trainer sometimes grabs me by the pants and pulls me back. And that day I felt like God did that. He really pulled me back. It's amazing how much a language can humble you. And man being humbled hurts. It was definately a "hey, sister stevenson, you really think you can do this without me. Hold on, let me teach you everything! Calm down. You will learn it all, I promise you but please take it one day at a time!" It was really humbling. The Lord pulls you down so that you learn to rely on Him so He can bring you higher. And mom, it's amazing how your remodeling analogy has played so true already. It dawned on me that I started this remodeling process and I didn't realize that when you start that process you tear down a lot and your house or you become really unfamiliar. Youre so bare and stripped of everything (your language, your comforts, your schedule) but days go by and you start to see progress. But not all at once first. I remember watching houses being built and I always feel like it takes so long to start looking like anythign. But one day somethign appears and it starts to take shape. Thats what is happening to me right now. I'm so unfamiliar to me but soon I will start to take shape and becmoe this new beautiful creation. But it takes time. I have to be able to take one day at a time.
I wish I could say that Satan left me alone after that but he knows exactly where to hit us. They rest of the week was really hard. I would go through moments where I was seriously going to call president and tell him that I was done and that i had no purpose in being here and that I was going home. I had a lot of those moments. Riding my bike and just thinking, I don't enjoy being here. Oh ps. had my first bike wreck. Slipped while it was raining. Got brusied pretty badly but it's all good. I wish I could tell you everything in this email but maybe I'll write you more. TO make a long story short, it was a hard week but I know that I am suppose to be here and I am going to be here. Sometimes I feel like I'm living off of other people's testimony of how a mission is the best thing ever and that they are anchored off their mission. I will gain that testimony.
To make a long sad story happy...we had a baptism on Sunday! I got to see someone enter the water of baptism and it was one of the most special moments ever! Seeing her come out of the water and asking her how she felt and her saying light! I feel so light and then watching her recieve the holy ghost and her telling me how she just felt warmth fill her whole being. It was magical! I was filled with so much joy! It made me just wanna cry! I can't wait to help more people come unto Christ and change their lives! It's such a cool experience!
I lvoe you all! Thanks for the support and the emails you send me! Kepp them coming! QUin I love yoU! You said exactly what I needed to hear! I love yoU! Keep the prayers coming!
Man so many funny moments I could have told you too! Lets just say that housing is really funny with me! I have my like three sayings that I say and they are pretty funny. "Hi how are you! Ive come all the way from California to share a special message with yoU!" My comp has a hard time not laughing! It's great! We love housing, rain or shine!
From a girl in a foreign land, not knowing the language, being beat upon but always rising above it,
Shimai
Riley's Letters
September 18, 2011 "Kinjins are real!!!!"
Sup all!!!
guess where we are at right now? we are in a sheraton in hiroshima emailing before all the elders in our zone take off for the hiroshima carps game! i am way excited. president said that it was okay cuz today is p day so yeah we are hitting up some japanese baseball today. it should be way fun. but this week has been way crazy. i feel bad becasue recently all emails have been way long and i know that long emails from missionaries are not always the funnest to read so i was going to try and start shortening them up and then start writing small individual emails to people but that may have to start next week cuz this one was pretty eventful. it was way good. you know what i was saying about success last week? well, we were abundantly blessed with it this week. on monday we just saet aside time to go housing so we did that and the first house we knocked on we had a really good lesson with this guy who is 29 years old. his mom is a jw and he was really interested in our message. he said he would read the book of mormon and that he really wants to learn more so we were really happy and excited to have found that guy right off the bat. and then about ten minutes later we found another guy and we taught him another lesson and he was interested too. the first guy is a pretty promising potential investigator and then the second guy would be a p.i. he said he didnt remember his phone number so we have no way to contact him. but then on tuesday night we ran into another potential investigator housing. it was my door so i knocked and said just a few intorductry sentences which he responded by saying `dozo` which means come on in. so we were both kinda suprised becasue that like never happens. so we went in and we taught him the first lesson just in his gengkon. he was really interested and wanted to learn more so he is another promising potential investigator. but there is a catch with this guy, he was drunk when we met with him so the question i pose to all of you is this, can someone still feel the spirit even though they are drunk? i dont really know, i guess we will just have to wait and see. we tried to visit him last night and his wife answered the door and said he was gone and wouyldnt be home until tuesday so stay tuned about our drunk potential investigator. but on wednesday was the best day ever! we taught this really good lesson to this investigator who really wants to believe the gospel but after we got out we got a call from the misison home in fukuoka saying that someone from our area called them and saifd he wanted a book of mormon to read. so we called and and he was like, hey, can i meet you at the church and hear your message? those are like the best words that we missioanries could hear so we met the guy art the church fifteen minutes later. and he was toally a kinjin, which means golden person in english. he said that five years ago some missionaries came to his door and gave him a pamphlet but he dint listen to them and didnt accept the message. but then then like last week his uncle committed suicide and he said like was just way tough for him. he said that some how he remembered the missionaries that talked to him five years earlier and he said he just had this feeling that for some reason he thought that the book of moromon and the church could help his life so thats when he could the mission home, after finding the number on line. so we taught him the first lesson and he accpeted everything all in stride. we invited him to be baptized and he said.....YES!!!!! when he said yes elder peterson and i just stopped and smiled at each other, i felt like it was like the scene in the best two years when they both couldnt believe their ears. i was so stoked and so suprised and so happy,i couldnt stop grinning. his baptismal date is october 22. i get goose bumps just writing about the moment because it was so classic, one that i will never forget. the joy that came from that is really not like anything i have ever felt before. i was by far the happiest and best feeling in my life. it was amazing and it wasnt like i was happy for peterson and i cuz we got a baptismal date, my joy was for fuwashima because i know how much his life will be blessed for time and all eternity. i just wanted to give the guy a big hugg and be like u just made the best diecison in your life. i was so happy, it was like nothing l have ever felt before. i thne realized the quote iw rote down in the mtc, the joy of bringing someone into the gospel will far outweigh anything you left behind at home. it is so true. twins, gregor and whoever else is trhinking about a misison, it is so worth it. get out here and find out for urself. bringing that one soul into the gosple is the best thing ever. it is so worth it. get out and expereince it, you will never regret it. it is the best feeling in the world, all the hard days are so insignifcant and they are so worth it. its just like that one scripture about just bringing one soul into the gospel, its worth all the harsd times and then some. but the rtoad to the font will not be paved with rose pedals and dandelions, satan does not want people to get baptised so hopefully we can get him to the font. pray for fuwashima to stay strong. so yeah we were hit with a load of success in the first three days of the week. it was really good. by thursday we had taught 6 lessons and given out four copies of the book of mormon which is really good. by the way, for those following the housing baseball series peterson had a mad come back in the eigthth and ninth to win it 8-3. he scored seven in those two innings, so he deserved it cuz he rallied haha but now in game two its tied up 2-2 in the fourth, i have hit two solo dingers. so its all good. although we both want to win we just want the game to be as high scoring as possible haha, its all good. so yeah success is a gift and its funny how it can leave faster then it comes cuz the next two three days of the week were a bit of a struggle in terms of productivity and it was things that we couldnt really control. like one morning while pimping up my tire it just totally blew out so we had to fuix it before we could leave so that tanked about an hour of our schedule and then we went on some crazy rides in te pouring rain. our branch president wanted us to visit this member who is in a mental hospital and it was pretty far away and he said it was on a mountain but we just do what we are told. so we saddled up jane and daisy and we were on our way. it was a crazy ride. i am convinced that if there was a tour de japan we definitely rode the hills portion of the race cuz there were some crazy hills just on this mountain. it was way fun, it was pouring rain so we were soaked to the bone so the poeple working at the hospital were pretty suprised to see us, two white kids dressed in white shirt and ties just soaked. but our branch president gave us the wrong name and we couldnt get a hold of him so we just had to turn back so th enext day we did the same thing in the pouring rain, it was way fun though. so thats pretty much my week. it was really good, i love being a missionary it is the best. i have to give a talk in church next week so that should be pretty intense. our little branch is doing well. its so classic. like when the meeting started the other day the only people in the congregation was this family of six, but then it filled up and we got the usual twelve. life is good. i love being a misisonary and being out here. its the best. i love it. i cant wait for gregas call. sorry this is a long email but this week was very eventful. i love you all, thnaks for the support and the mail. take care, peace out til next week.
love elder stevenson
September 11, 2011 "Jane and Me"
sup all!!!
its crazy that we are here emailing again. time really does fly by. unlike sister stevenson in tokyo we do not have a computer in our apartment. it sonds like our missions are way different, its good. we go to this interent cafe which we pay for an hour, the lady knows us way well cuz we are here the samwe time every monday. but we get free soft serve ice cream while we email so thats pretty legit. this week was really good. we had zone conference on tuesday. my old mtc comp is in my zone so its fun to see him once in a while. we see presidnet margetts probbly once every two transfers. we had interviews with him on tusday. i love presidnet margetts. he is the best. he is so nice and loving and caring and just the man. liek we were all walking back from lunch after zone condference when president , without saying anything to anyone just walks into this convienient store and buys like 35 ice cream novelities for all the missionaries there. he is the best, i love him. this week we did a lot of housing which was pretty eventful. thursday was probably by far the most successsful day that i have had in the mission field. me and peterson started housing this complex of probably like 30 homes, ehich isnt very big but we got two lessons out of it! we were so suprised and stoked. a lesson is defined as doctrine taught, commitment extended and a prayer. sso we taught two lessons housing. just to put that in to prespective, i think before that day i might of had a total of two lessons form housing so for us to get two in less then an hour was way good for us. those two people are just potential investiagotrrs tight now but we are going to follow up with them this week to see what happens. and then later that night we went out with a member from our branch and visited and taught more good lessons. it was a way god day. it was signifiacnt for me becasue i finally realized what they were talking about when they said that success was a gift. at the mtc there were a lot of talks about success being a gift and i didnt get it becasue i thought well if u are working hard u are going to have successs and that u can control it. well having a very successful day on thrusday made me realize what they were talking about. becasue that day, me and elder peterson did not do anything different from any other day. we did not change up or approach from the days earlier when nobpdy listened to us and its not like we did anytinhg special that day. we were just blessed with success on that day. success really si a gift from god. yes u can control whether or not u are in position to recieve that success but its not really up to u whether or not u have success in the field. i would be putting quotes around the word success each time i use but japanese keyboards are funky and it would take too long but the point is is that sucess is a weird word out int he field. because although people listende to us on thursady i believe that we are sucessful on days where we work hard and dont get any lessons. so thats what i learned about sucess in the field. work to put urself in position to recieve successs but dont get discouraged when u dont teach anyone becasue if ur doing ur best u cant control whether or not peole listen to u. and whether we know it or not we are bringing others closing to christ in more small simple ways than we know it. so its all good. i mentioned we did a lot of housing this week so the other day while we were housing i came up with a game that would make it more entertaining. i call it housing baseball. the game is simple yet fun, has its similairiteis to baseball where it is long and low scoring just as a day of housing can be. but the game is this: peterson and i switch off taking turns knocking doors. each door is an at bat. if they do not come to the door at all that is an out. if u u talk to them at all that is a single. a long conversation is a double and a lesson at the door is a home run. its way fun. right now peterson and i are in the eighth inning with the score 3 to 1. i have two runners on but with two outs and peterson has bases juiced with only one out. we are goingt o finsih the game later tiongiht when we go and house. it should be way intense. a close game. so thats housing baseball for ya. its pretty fun. we both want to win but we hope for a high scoring game becsaue that means that a lto f people talked to us. so yeah, illkeep u psoted on the stadnings and on who wins. life is so fun. we get to go out and talk to peole, play housing baseball and have crazy thnigs happen to us. im not going to be doing this for very long so i really am trying to take advantage of every monment. life is full fo good memonets when u try to amke them. on sunday me and peterson talked to our primary whcih consists of four boys. it was way fun we talked to them about the msision and they jjsut asked us a bunch of questions. it was a moment for em that was surreal in the sense that i otlally rmember beingf where they were in primary looking up to the missionaries. now i am on a mission. its crazy i am actually on a mission. it is the best. just seeing those little boys look and smile at us was a moment that keeps my motor runnnign and i realize how coola nd rare it is to be a missionary. so that was a way cool monent.
and yesterady, we made the ride of death again. but tell grandma not to worry becasue i put a light on my bike this time. before we left i kept getting the forrst gump quote to pop into my head, stupid is as stupid does. adnd for some reason just the fact that i was going to make that ride agin without a light, i felt liek heavenly father was saying that he protected us last ime but if im stupid to make that sane mistake again, well stupid is as stupid does. so i got batteries to put in my lgiht. the ride wasnt as intense as last time but sitll pretty crazy. there are so many moments where is am like i wish mom could see me now cuz there are so many crazy monmebnts fun moments out here that i will only get as a misionary. its so awesome. and u are probably thinking who the heck is jane. no i am not seeing anyone out here, jane is my bike. i thought u would want to know that i have named my bike jane. and that when this is all sdaid and done they will make a mivie about me and it will be called jane and me. my girl jane. i love my bike. last night when we were bsuting up hills i jsut appreciated my bike so much and how many miles i have puti into her and how amny miles i will put inher. so yeah, its me and jane crusing the streets of japan. and peterson named his bike daisy so together we are jane and daisy. we have so mauch fun. last ngiht when i was tryign tio fall asleep it popped into my head how much i love all u guys. u guys aer the best. mom and dad are the best parents ever and i look up to him so mucha and cherish his advice and then natalie and i have so much fun together and then i love the twins. i realized that they are like my best friends. i love those guys, they are the best we have so much fun together and cobb si liek my little confidant. anywasy i love u all. the churh is true being on a mission is the best. i am haveing the time of my life. love you all thanks for the emails they help so much.
love elder stevesnon
September 4, 2011 "Tracking in a Typhoon"
sup all!!!!!
this week was way good. we are having a great time in kure. elder peterson and i get a long way good, so just like living life with him is super fun. i learn a lot from him and we just laugh a ton. we decided to ditch most of our investigators becasue they are just not progressing and we are kinda wasting our time with them so that meant we did a ton of tracting and housing this week, which was good. but last monday my testimony that god protects his missionaries was defintiely strengthened. p day ends at 6 so we decided to go visit this woman who was pretty inactive. she lived way far away but we decided to go after it anyways. well it was a lot farther then we expected and petersonhad never really been to that part of our area so he didnt really know what to expect from riding over there. it was crazy. we were riding on this major highway which had no sidewalk, it was dark and the ligght on my bike did not work so it was pretty intense to say the least. we also rode over this bridge that was like the size of the bay bridge, so that was intense cuz it was way high in the air and there was no sidewalk but we made it to the persons house and taught her a way good lesson. the spirit was so strong there and while we were talkign to her i couldnt help but think of the song come bring them from the fields. as we were teaching her there was this undeniable feeling that heavenly father was pleased with us and that this was what we were supposed to be doing that night. it was so cool, i felt that if the savior was on earth he would have made the trip to visit this inactive woman and then i realized that that is what its all about, we represent christ and we strive to be as christ liike as possible, we as missionaries just run little errands for him. it was the coolest feeling, only on a mission could u feel that, so that was way special. and the cool thing was that after the lesson peterson told me the same thing i was thinking, he just felt like we needed to be there that night, and yes cobb, he did get dear johned that day but he has taken like a champ and it hasnt affected us at all so that is way good, we needed a visit and an experience like that after the day of getting dear johned, so that was way cool that we both felt the same thing after the lesson. . and then we braced for the ride of death home. but really i could see heavenly father protect us on the way home. like when we were riding over the bridge or on way skinny roads (the road reminded me kam highway in hawaii, so yeah it was a narrow road) there were never any cars on our side of the road during the sketchy parts so we were able to ride with ease and then when it was pitch dark and i couldnt see a thing there would just all of a suddne be a line of cars coming form the opposite direction lighting up the road for me to see, so it was really amazing to see his hand in our lives, he watches out for us. it was really cool. then on friday we had a typhoon come through so that was way cool. the wind was blowing like crazy and the rain was pouring down on us but since it wasnt dangerous we were still out housing. it was pretty cool, how many people can say that they hgave housed through a typhoon? it was oneof those moments when i just stopped for a sec and smiled and just soaked it all in and literally got soaked but it was way fun. sunday was my comps 20 birthdayso we had cake and i sang him happy birthday. it was just a classic moment that anyone who is not a missionary would was way depressing but we as misionaries just find the fun and the joy in everything so that was way fun. and i love our branch. i have only been to churhc twice but becasue there is only like 12 people in the entire branch i have gotten to know them really well. they are all such strong members its really inspriign to see all of these single ladies get up and make it to churhc every week and just see their testimonies and their purity shine in their faces. so yeah i love my branch of 12, we have a special bond. its funny though, with a branch that size, we as misionaries are way involved every sunday in the program so it is good. housing is crazy, if you dont have fun or if u are nto constanly laughing in between doors, then you are totally done for mentally, becasue it takes work sometimes to have fun and to see the positive when people are jsut slamming doors in ur face. everyone always talks about that but i never really believed but let me tell u people actually just close doors on ur faces, not to mention not understanding one thing they say back, so it coukld majke for a rough situauton but thats why elder peterson and i are jsut always smiling and laughing becasue u gotta keep it light. and its funny us being to big white people walking around. teenage girls just stare and check us out constanly, old men cross the street when they see us and old ladies are just terrified.its pretty funny. and its cool becasue i feel way big hear, like i have hit my ghead on so amny door ways its ridiculous i am still trying to get sued to duckignt hrough door ways, so tis cool becasue for once i feel big. but yeah, ti sfunny becasue when we knock on our doors we have so many old laduies freak out on us, slam the door and then lock all four locks that they have on their door. there ahve been so amny tinmes when after so one would slamm the door me and peterson would jsut stand there for a sec and jsut laugh cuz its way funny. its all good, peole dont know what they are missin out on, they are jsut not prepared, but we will keep looking and finding people who are ready and we ghave the faith that they are out there and that everything will work out. i also realized that baptisms are good on missions but evertythingt hat apped on a missin christ has been through and it all makes u more christ like. like when we get rejected it benfits us cuz christ got rejected and then when peole laugh at my japanese its all good cuz christ was ocked, it all just makes me more chtrist like. we did find a 15 year old boy who was way itnerested and we are going to meet him later this week hopefulyl it goes well, he was way interested, ti was fubny tho, he invited us to sit down and have a beer with hiom and talk haha but he was reakky interested and want s know mroe, so well; see what happebns. a missipn is the best i love it.
for sure forward all my emails to gregor, i loved his email, it was way sprirtaul for mwe to read. i love gregor, he is the man. i wrote him last week, i sent it to our house cuz i dont knwo the peirces address, but i think ill write him again, but fiorward these ti hima dn tell him i love him. he si the best.
anyways, thnaks for the emails, they really really help me out, it s so good to hear from all of you, i love you all.
have a good week adn have fun at the beach
love you guys
elder stevenson
I love these! :)
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