Called To Serve: Transfers Once Again!

This week sure has been interesting. On Monday we had a pretty rough physical day. I was sick and then Sister Girot was playing soccer with the other missionaries and she sprained her ankle! But we didn't know it at the time though so we just kept on going. That night we had an appointment with Dhana and Michael but I was so sick, so we got permission to go on splits with the Hermanas. I stayed home with Hermana Gee and slept and Sister Girot and Hermana Smith went to the appointment. And apparently it went really well because they want to get baptized! Also jumping forward to Sunday....they came to church! They really enjoyed it and in gospel essentials we talked about prophets and it was just a great lesson. Sacrament was all about the atonement and we had amazing speakers. Sister Hunt talked about her life a little and how she has had trials but has called upon the powers of the atonement to help her. All we have to do is ask. Christ's grace fills us. The atonement has the power to fill our hearts and minds and that heals us and gives us the strength needed to progress and endure the trials of this life.

We also met with Alanna and Kaitlin this week. We had dinner with their family and went over the baptismal interview questions. Alanna grabbed a notebook and wrote down her answers....all were yes. Even though most aren't yes or no questions haha. But it was really good. I feel so blessed to have been able to teach them and continue to teach them. They also had their baptismal interview this week and it all went well. We sure are all excited for the baptism on Saturday. They have family coming in from Utah so the confirmation will be on the same day as well. They asked me the other day what I was doing on the 23rd....and I'm like umm going to your baptism!! It was cute :)

So I bet you are wondering why I didn't do transfer news at the beginning....well because I just remembered haha. So transfers: I am staying in the Woodland 2nd Ward and Sister Slattery will be my companion. I'm pretty sure she is coming from the Columbia River Ward so I'm excited to talk to her about that. We were in the MTC at the same time but didn't serve in the same district so I know her but not too well. It should be fun though! And Sister Girot is going to the Vancouver east zone to serve in Mount Norway with Sister Chance, also entered the mission at the same time as me. We were really sad to get letters....and really sad to be separated, but Heavenly Father leads this mission so I trust him. Thankfully Sister Girot will be able to come back for the girls' baptism. But it's been rough for her to say goodbye to people. Sometimes transfers are just hard. But they did find us housing in Kalama! We are going back to Sister Baxters house. We had to leave there because she had cats, and Sister Girot was allergic but I'm not and neither is Sister Slattery, so we are heading back there on Wednesday.

We also had some really good lessons with less active members of our Ward. We went to visit some recent converts who are less active and planned on teaching the restoration. But as we were talking with them we started asking about their prayers. They said that they couldn't decide when to do it...either at dinner or before bed....and we started teaching about prayer. And how we say them to express the desires of our heart. And how we can never say too many prayers. She has been going through a lot and is doing so much better and is just full of life. It's amazing to see. So we just bore our testimony of prayer and it was a great testimony builder for me, as well. As I have had a goal to say more sincere prayers it has really changed my outlook on things. There is always room for improvement and we can ask Heavenly Father to help us and he will. It's really awesome. And that's how we change and become disciples of Christ. As we come closer to the spirit and to our savior, we start to have that change in our lives that we are here to make. I love it. The gospel is so simple.

Unfortunately Sister Girot was unable to go out for a few days, so we did a lot of phone contacting and organizing our area book and cell phone. But on Tuesday night we went on splits with the sister training leaders. So Sister Black and I went to teach a less active youth named Jared and we taught again about prayer. That was the theme of the week...prayer. So we talked about how to recognize the answers to our prayers and feel the spirit more in our life. It all goes back to express the desires of our hearts and taking the time for our Heavenly Father. It really makes a difference. And it was fun being with Sister Black :) she is going to Gresham and Sister Hansen, my MTC companion, is coming to be an stl over the Longview area. Crazy stuff.

On Saturday we went to the family history fair to do service. A family in our stake, the Shaws, told us about it. We went to their house Friday night because he is a doctor, and Sister Girot was a little nervous about her ankle, thankfully it's just sprained. But they were talking to us about how she needs to stay off of it and told us we could probably help at the family history day. So we did! There wasn't much to do so we helped prepare the lunch and took some cool pictures with the face cut outs :) we only stayed for an hour but it was still a lot of fun. It has been so fun getting to know the Shaw family. We are actually here right now doing laundry and emailing. Seriously the best family ever.

Church this week was so fun. I know I already talked about it a little but we were able to visit the young women's this week. Sister Renslow invited us to come and talk about the restoration and basically give the girls a shortened version of the restoration. It was so cool and then they asked us questions about how to answer questions their peers asked. A lot of them had good questions and we shared with them what knowledge we have. It all boiled down to bearing testimony and letting the spirit testify. It's important.

Even though we haven't been able to do a lot this week the Lord has taught me a lot of valuable lessons. I have been studying about consecration and giving everything to the Lord. It sounds really hard and it is but as I have been trying to apply it more I feel the spirit more. I know our savior lives. I know we are known by him and our father in heaven. And I know Joseph Smith was a prophet. And all we have to do is ask. This gospel has changed my life and I see it changing others all around me. The spirit witnesses to me all the time of the goodness and reality of the restoration. I know if you take the time to sincerely find out for yourself you can. It may not take away our hardships and trials but it will support us. I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week.

Love,

Sister Stephens