WHAT THE WEEK 5 ALREADY?

January 13, 2014

Well first of all I passed my 9 month mark so that was pretty weird... Don't know how I feel about it! I look back and I really have been out a long time so knowing that I still get to double that is good, but it also feels like I need SO MUCH more time! 

Well it was a rainy week and we were on bikes so we were trying real hard to find a ride just to get to our area we do a bunch of work in, we tried for like 30 minutes, called 100 people. I just felt so terrible like we were wasting so much time, and we were about to give up when we got a text from Sister Gatlin, the one who quit smoking last month, and she offered to drive us around! It was perfect. She ended up coming around with us to 4 appointments, and loved it! She has done a major turn around, it has been great to see. She has definitely gone through some struggles but at the same time, the Lord has been so good to her! She has been inactive since her teenage years. Also on Saturday we went to Chick-fil-a with her and her Mom. The cow sat down with us and she was dancing with it, and hugging it, and mooing with it and it was the definition of an embarrassing Mom moment, so that was great. 

Alice is doing so good. She came to church Sunday and loved sacrament so much she asked one guy who spoke for a copy of his talk. After church was her baptismal interview so she is good to go! We just need to find her a baptismal suit... She is the funniest person ever, whenever we say something she hasn't heard before or doesn't understand she turns her head and glares until we explain so she can understand. For example explaining the difference between the Holy Ghost, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, "I don't know about that, I was always taught they was the same thing." She is getting more sassy and I love it. Teaching a good friend is way better than teaching a stranger. 

We had exchanges this week and I got to go with Sister Zemp! (She's from Canada really close to Tiff actually!) I love her! It is so cool to go out with other missionaries and just soak up everything they do well. We got to teach Courtney and her kids and they just have so many questions, it is awesome to see that they are still excited to learn and progress, the kids are so young but have so many good questions. The 10 year old, the one who really doesn't look happy in the baptism picture, protects his scriptures with his life and is always trying to "break it down" and so excited to highlight the ones he likes. 

Well hopefully next week I'll have good news about Alice's baptism :) 

One of my new favorite quotes I heard this week is something like-- we are not here to make the ones we love perfect in order to be happy, we are here to be happy with the ones we love in this journey to perfection. 

LOVE THAT, because guess what, we covenanted to be perfect and more at baptism and in the temple. It's humbling that we all promised to do something we really can't do without help. What a blessing that through the atonement we can live up to those covenants! We can even find happiness in our imperfection as we love and serve each other. 

I just miss you all a lot. Thank goodness families are forever.

Love,
Sister Stevens