Super Awesome Week!

This week has been super awesome. I can't believe that another week has gone by and I have been in the field for a whole month haha. We went on exchanges with our sister training leaders on Tuesday and I was with sister boatright who is a little older than me and we saw a lot of miracles that are leading to wonderful things. We met with a man named tony who had the first lesson and then nothing after that. It was cool to go meet him and hopefully his schedule will work out so we can go to teach him more and invite him to read the Book of Mormon more often. He seemed interested but was in a huge project. We also met a woman named Pam whose husband was a referral from church headquarters but wasn't interested. However she was!! We have a meeting with her on Tuesday of this week and we are so excited. We tried meeting with her last week but she had strep throat and ain't nobody got time for that. We have a baptism for Nicole this Saturday and we are so stoked. The family is doing awesome and they are working towards getting to the temple so that is so great.  

We have another person on date for May and she is doing great. Her name is sibyl and she has been taking the lessons for like a year now and has some issues but she is going strong. Her testimony is so encouraging and she knows that the gospel is true. It's amazing. The work is definitely progressing. Even when we go to contact people with no trespassing signs who end up having guns....awkward. Don't worry he was super nice and didn't chase us away. So that was a blessing. On a weird note we got antied for like an hour at this guys house. That was cool. Jokes it really wasn't. We had a referral from the sister training leaders and this lady is like my daughters Mormon and I need a church so can I come to yours. It was great. Hopefully she will come this week!  I am so excited for general conference and for the women's conference which we will be watching at the stake center and then rushing back for the baptism at our meeting house. 

This pday has been kind of crazy. We went as a zone to the ape caves. It sounded fun....until we had to scale rocks for like five hours!! Jokes it was more like two hours but it was cool. So that is why this letter is so short. We have like an hour to get everything done. I love you all so much and I know that the lord is looking out for everyone. Trust his plan. Always trust him. I'm sorry I couldn't email everyone back this week but I will try to not spend all next pday underground in a cave, I promise. Also it was raining all through the hike and my feet are soaked and so am I. I sure do love you all and I'll talk to you all next week! 

Love, 

Sister Stephens 

Classy La Center

What a great week here in good ol la center! Sister McMullin and I get along great and we have a lot of goals on how to turn this area around and make it a baptizing ward. Our zone is working really hard on getting our goal of 20 commitments. We almost have another one! Sibyl is so ready for baptism and she is praying about a baptism date and for help to overcome some hurdles for baptism. We were able to contact a referral from a lady in the ward. Her name is Ellie and she is in her eighties. She is so sweet and loves Christ so much. She actually almost got baptized fifty years ago with her husband but struggles with the Book of Mormon. We offered to help her around her yard and she invited us over. It was raining so we just went over and got to know he. We talked about faith in Christ and how the knowledge that he lives has the power to really change our lives. She even made us lunch and gave us both a necklace that she has made. She says she is looking for a more meaningful relationship with Christ...basically the gospel and the Book of Mormon. We made a lot of appointments to see less active members and investigators that have kind of been lost through all of the transitions of missionaries in this area. I am praying to stay here next transfer. La center really needs a set of consistent missionaries to get the fire going back in this area. We also taught the Penders this week and Nicole came to sacrament but didn't stay for the block. Her mom said she didn't feel good but she has to come next week. We are really getting the ward involved in their re-activity. Nicole's primary teacher wants to be involved in getting her to class. Sister Pender wants to get sealed to her mother and her kids so that is her motivation. It's a great goal that we pray will commit her to making church and the gospel a priority in her life. 

La center is ready to receive the gospel and we are concentrated on finding those who are prepared for this message. I was kind of home sick this morning when I was reading in the scriptures. I was reading in 2 Nephi 10 and Jacob is teaching the people and he tells them to not let their heads droop because they have been saved. He talks about how they were lead out of he land of their inheritance to the land of promise by the hand of the lord. I was thinking about my own land of inheritance of Kennewick and in Rexburg. I loved that life and I loved being at byui and seeing or talking to my family every day. It was wonderful. But then I was led out of that place to my own promised land. The Washington Vancouver mission!!! And it is so wonderful. The miracles here are real and I have learned so much more about my savior and really developed a personal relationship with him. It's important to recognize that we are all being lead to our own promised land by Heavenly Father. When we let him do the sailing then the blessings will be more than we can receive. When I think about all we all have been given it seems unfair because we are human and we sin but we are loved so deeply. It amazes me about how much we are loved. 

We have done a lot of tracting this week and people kept telling us to go away or that thy believe in the Jesus from the bible....it breaks my heart because we do too! The restoration is centered in Christ and strengthens that belief. But we still work and are happy to be here. It's crazy how much the ward back home has changed. It kind of makes me sad that everything will be so different when I get back. However it is proof that the gospel is going forth and that is so wonderful!! We are pretty excited for this next week and we are going bowling today for pday! Basically the high life here in northern Vancouver area!! We are loving preaching the gospel. La center is still super classy with confederate flags, windy roads, moldy falling apart houses, and cars that have been in the ground for at least a decade. It's definitely an adventure every day which makes everything more interesting. I love you all so much and remember who you are!! 

Sister Stephens 

The Gospel Has Been Restored!

This week has been pretty interesting. I've been super sick, sudafed and NyQuil have been my best friends. We had a lot of success with members coming to lessons with us. Sister wade is so awesome and came tracting with us. We only talked to two people but the miracle is that they actually talked to us about Christ and didn't slam the door. We may have a new investigator from it as well. Her name is deeann and she was so sweet and talked and asked questions so hopefully we will catch her this week and teach me more about the restoration. Our other investigators are doing well. We are working with Nicole trying to help her mom understand the importance of coming to church consistently. She is still on date so that is a blessing. Luis and Juan we had to refer to the Spanish missionaries so we don't really know how they are doing. We keep praying for them. We visited with Carmen who has been taught for  a while and her boyfriend who she lives with is inactive. He has been telling her a lot of anti Mormon information and she doesn't believe in the plan of salvation. It's heart breaking because that is one of my favorite parts of the gospel. It really is the plan of happiness and gives so much depth and meaning to our lives. Also check out 2 nephi 1 I love the counsel that lehi gives to his sons in those first chapters. This world has so many temptations and the only way that we can hold to the iron rod is putting the full armor of God on every day. It is so important to pray and read e scriptures every day. They will bring us closer to Christ and allow for the spirit to more fully work within us. 

Sad news for this week though. My companion is getting emergency transferred to long view. They need a Spanish sister to replace  a sister that is going home for surgery. So I will be getting a new trainer. All I know is that her name is sister McMullen and has been out four months. I'm nervous and excited. La center is a huge area full of back roads so I have no clue how we are going to get around without the gps. Our zone has a goal to get 20 people on date for baptism by the 31st. We know that Heavenly Father is behind the goal and we have nine already so pray for us! We went and did service for this botanical garden and it was so fun! We basically just pulled weeds but answered questions about the church so that was awesome! 

I just love the ward that I am serving in. Fun story I had to use the restroom so so bad and we ran to the Lents house and asked to use the restroom. Bro Lents was the only one there so he ran out of his house so we could be in there. So nice but so embarrassing. We love them and everyone here. I gave the prayer in sacrament and everyone asked if I was sick....and I am. Awkward. I am excited for this next week. Sorry is is short but we have so much to do this week. I love you all and remember that the gospel has been restored! 

Sister Stephens 

My Zone

Crazy Week!

This week has been crazy! We were on Vancouver for most of the week.
On Monday evening we went to the mission home and all of us new
missionaries were able to meet president and sister Taylor and stayed
the night at their home. It was so fun. I got to spend time with my
MTC district which was definitely a blessing. Then on Tuesday we had a
trainer trainee meeting where they established expectations for us and
really got is excited for all of the work that is here in the
Washington Vancouver mission. Pres. Taylor always says that God
doesn't do random and I really believe that. Heavenly Father is so
aware of is here in la center and is hastening the work according to
our diligence and faith. Then on Wednesday we had an all day training
for the iPads. The church is using our mission, and 28 missions, as a
pilots to learn how mobile devices will help increase the work. This
week we are focusing on safely using our devices and then on how to
best use our area books and then we will be retrained on Facebook and
reintroduced to it. It's awesome because everything we are learning is
helping us as missionaries and helping us prepare for our future
families and children to protect them against the evil on the
Internet. Then on Thursday we got to go to the temple with our
district and sister wade took us. She is such a sweet heart and takes
good care of us. The rest of the week went by great. We did a lot of
service and have a new investigator, Juan. We went to meet with his
grandson Luis and he sat in on the lesson and has a lot of questions.
He invited us to come back next week and we are very excited. Except
he only speaks Spanish and very little English....so my companion does
the talking and I just sit there and nod. I'm practicing the plan of
salvation on Spanish so hopefully that's not a train wreck.

Nicole is doing great. We taught her about Christ and his miracles and
invited her to pray and think of something she could do that would
follow christs example. We haven't seen her at church for two weeks so
that's discouraging but we will continue to work with her. She is
excited to be baptized but we need to help her see the importance of
church as well as help her mother see that as well. The Glenn's are
doing so awesome. Sean and heather, two of their kids, went to do
baptisms for the dead on Saturday and they just loved it. Sean is
progressing so much and wants to serve a mission and be sealed to his
family. Bro. Glenn just got a job so that is a huge blessing. Sister
Glenn still is hesitant to us teaching her but we talk with her about
Christ and show bible videos and that seems to really invite the
spirit. They invited us over on Thursday to spend some time with them
so that is really exciting. We also met with jace and Michael. Jace
was baptized and his dad Michael is inactive. We talked about
baptismal covenants and why church is important. They said they would
come so we are praying for them to come.

Everything else is going great. We don't live on a working farm but
there are cows and Tom the cat! I love it here. La center has some
challenges but the lord is providing for us. I read this quote in the
ensign and I love it. "Heavenly Father is constantly raining down
blessings upon us, it is our fear, doubt, and sin that, like an
umbrella, block these blessings fro, reaching us. His commandments are
the loving instructions and the divine help for us to close the
umbrella so we can revive the shower of heavenly blessings" - pres.
Uchtodrf. I just love that. I'm so glad to hear that everyone is doing
well and that the lord is aware of all of you. Always remember where
the blessings come from. Its amazing how much we are loved. I pray for
you all and love you so so so much!!