Louisiana

Sister Stevens and Sister White

November 25, 2013

Oi Familia!

It has been another awesome week in West Monroe.

We were able to help a lot of people, too small of a number of them became legit investigators but the Lord never fails to send us to people who really do need a comforting message of Jesus Christ and his spirit in their homes.

We had a lesson yesterday with Chelsea and Mike a couple investigators. Apparently they told their church that they were meeting with the Mormon missionaries so they had A LOT of questions. Dealing with the deepest doctrine and all that good stuff. Luckily I was pretty well equipped from teaching so many preachers, but it was definitely all thanks to the spirit we were able to explain. It led us right to the scriptures we needed to share, they accepted it all pretty readily. The hard thing is, with doctrine like that you have to understand that it takes explanation from a prophet and people get a little frustrated cause they don't necessarily believe it yet. But can't say anything against it just because they aren't equipped to. Like they wish they had a come back or something to say otherwise, but they don't. BUT it was very spiritual still, like I said a couple weeks ago, the spirit testifies of eternal truths. They are both very smart, so it's a good thing the gospel makes so much sense! I love that when you look at the big picture everything falls together, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We have been working really closely with a returning member, Sister Gatlin. She is ready to come back but has a few things holding her back, we will be doing the stop smoking program with her next week but already her cigarettes have been burning her throat and lungs and tasting horrible. Her Father is a Branch President and she knows it's all his years of prayers for her being answered. She was doing a pack day and is already down to less than half. We could to the program tomorrow and she'd be all set! (but she wants it to be dec. 3)

We had one miracle this week when we were in Book of Mormon class and the 2nd Counselor walked in and handed us a piece of paper with a name and phone number and said, "this man hasn't been to church in 6 years, but he's coming back and wants his fiance taught the gospel." It felt like the holiest piece of paper I've ever held! We went and met them on Saturday and they are so nice! His name is Chris and he has a pretty sweet conversion story and such a strong testimony! His fiance is 9 months pregnant and ready to burst. She is open minded we just have to be careful not to overwhelm her. They are having us for dinner tomorrow so we're excited. He is way funny, played guitar with some country singer(too bad I don't know any so I can't say how famous or remember the name) and then he was did stand-up comedy for 6 years. He didn't want to come to church until he was worthy but he came anyways! It is so awesome how he wants it for his family when we left he sent us like 5 texts that said, "that went pretty well", "we like y'all", "I hope I can to this, hope she crosses over", "I need to learn not to be so talkative, I'm bad but man I love my church".  So funny. Already some new favs.

Funny moment of the week- An investigator was reading 3 Nephi 11:11 and accidentally read "I have drunk out of that butter-cup which the Father hath given me"... Instead of "bitter cup". Imagine it with a nice thick accent too. I was losing it, but by the time she got done reading I pulled it together and bore testimony so the spirit could come back. It was one of the hardest moments of my life though, I've never been so close to bursting without showing signs of it.

This week will be interesting with Thanksgiving and all but I think we'll still be able to get some good work done. Guess what, I got a call this morning from someone who invited us over Friday for a another Thanksgiving meal and they are deep frying a whole turkey! Like taking a 15 pound turkey and dropping it in a giant boiling pot of fatty oil. Apparently that's pretty normal here and several houses burn down as a result every year. But yeah, I'm getting pumped cause from what I hear they know how to do Thanksgiving down here.

This email has been all over the place so I'm sorry but I wanted to end if with a few things I am especially thankful for. First of all the gospel. My testimony has become my most prized possession, along with the most precious gift the Lord is capable of giving us, the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am so grateful to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and to have the knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father who loves us so much that He restored his gospel and still reaches out to us today. And more than that I feel His love each day. I can't imagine my life without it. There would be no complete or lasting happiness or peace. I am thankful to be able to share that gospel with others each day. Not only do I have a loving Father in heaven I have parents here who taught me that gospel and are supporting me as I share it! So eternally grateful for my family. I was running with Dad before I left and told him how I was nervous I wasn't going to be able to connect with people who's families were broken, or who didn't have loving parents. The good news of the gospel is that they do! While we're here on this earth we have the Atonement to allow us to find relief, forgiveness, happiness, strength, and ultimately allow us to get back to Him and have that forever! Wow too much to be thankful for, too little time. Thanks for supporting me so I can be out here to spread the love and knowledge of the gospel and do a whole lot of learning and growing myself along the way.

Only a month till we can speak words through a computer! Yay!

Love you!

Sister Stevens