Christmas Week

This week was good! I love Christmas time! Everyone is so happy and nice and who can say no to a Christmas message.   This week we had a really good lesson with our new investigators, Travis and his daughter Dakota. A member in our ward came up to us last week and told us that he had a co-worker that was interested and wondered if we could come over for dinner with them and then have a lesson. We were beyond excited because the member set up the whole thing. The dinner and lesson went really well. It was amazing to see how open he and his daughter were because Brother Lewis had already shared the gospel with them. We have another lesson with them this week at Brother Lewis' home.

We also had a good lesson with our other investigator, Julie. We had her lesson at a member's home and it was really good. It built my testimony even more about having solid fellowship. I have noticed that the word fellowship is thrown around a lot in missionary work but Sister Harman is true fellowship. I would have complete confidence that if Sister Ireland and I both left that Julie would be taken care of by Sister Harman. It is so important to have good fellowship.

We also had Christmas dinner with our investigators, Dee and Lee. It was so good to be in their home and share a message about Jesus Christ on Christmas day and bear testimony of what the Savior has done in our life and can do in their lives. There is so much potential and so many things starting to happen here in Post Falls. It is sad to think that transfers are in about two weeks. 

Then we had a lesson with the Estes family well kinda read some scriptures.  We never know what we are going to get going over there. 

Christmas Eve was super fun! We started out by shoveling people's driveway and then we went to take district pictures. the place that we went to was in the elders area and it was so pretty ill send pictures next week.  Then we went to help the Cox family a less active family set up for christmas dinner.  There family is so cute and gruff but i love them.  that was fun then we went caroling with the elders and then had a christmas eve party watching legacy and having popcorn and hot chocolate at the church it was fun. then christmas we talked! sorry dont have time to write a lot.  We have to go to zone pday. we are making snowmen and having a snowball fight

love you all!!

Christmas 2016

One of the best parts of Christmas was talking to Nicole!!

We all got together on "Google Hangout" and laughed and chatted together about Nicole's mission and her experiences. She is having a WHITE Christmas in Post Falls, Idaho this year.

 Nicole sounds and looks really good. 

We all LOVE & MISS her so much!!

Post Falls Snow

 it was so cold

​me crying because of the wind

Nicole's Letter: December 12, 2016

"Another Week, Another Letter"

Bula!
Well it has officially snowed here.  I have to admit the first snow fall is pretty pretty.  And also everyone is so friendly when it snows (well at least the first snowfall...probably not nice in January or February but we aren't there yet so might as well enjoy the magic of snow in December.)  I have found that snow is just like sand.  Really hard to walk in, gives you a nice workout. the only difference is one is cold and one is hot:) We were walking all day Saturday (okay well we walk everyday) but anyways it was Saturday and people were saying hello to us and smiling and talking to us! So weird! We met this really nice young mom and we are trying to go back later this week so hopefully it will turn out.  I am praying so hard to teach a family, well just teach someone.  It is a bit slow here.  I just want someone to teach....
Here is what I have learned this week...

Everyone go read Mosiah 23-25... The people of Alma are so amazing.  If only I could be like that.  They had so much trust in the Lord even though there lives were terrible.  I mean they were in bondage and they still turned to the Lord and cried mightly until them.  I mean how many times do we turn away from God because he "doesn't" answer a prayer or our life just isn't going the way we would like.  I am trying to become like the people of Alma and "submit cheerfully and with patience to ALL the will of the Lord".  We have so much to be grateful for and we always have the Lord and he always hears us.  That doesn't mean that he will take us out of "bondage" immediately but he will ease our burdens that we can keep going on.  Even though it might not seem like our burdens are lighter they most definitely are with him.  I love this gospel so much.  It does brings ever-lasting happiness.  It provides hope for us for a better world to come.  No matter how dark the day is he is the LIGHT and light always dispels darkness.  Just like the phases of the moon.  The moon relation to the sun determines what phase it is in whether it be full moon or new moon.  We are just like the moon.  It is our relationship to the Son that gives us the amount of light we receive. 

Also, WHAT I LOVE
We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others—indeed, it is easier to find ourselves because there is more of us to find.
George McDonald observed that “it is by loving and not by being loved that one can come nearest to the soul of another.” Of course, we all need to be loved, but we must be giving and not always receiving if we want to have wholeness in our lives and a reinforced sense of purpose.
Sometimes the solution is not to change our circumstance but to change our attitude about that circumstance; difficulties are often opportunities for service. It has been said that hell “is to be frozen in self-pity.”
One of the Brethren has observed:
“If we are not careful, we can be injured by the frostbite of frustration; we can be frozen in place by the chill of unmet expectations. To avoid this, we must—just as we would with arctic coldness—keep moving, keep serving, and keep reaching out so that our own immobility does not become our chief danger.”
Spencer W. Kimball, The New Era, September 1974

Also, The BOOK of Mormon has power in it.  It changes lives.  I can see it not only in my life but also in others.  We have a less active that is super rough and has had a hard life but she has read half of the book in a week and I see the light beginning to come back in her eyes. 

So we did get a car but we only have 10 miles a day so we just drive it at night but man is it cold!!  One day the wind was so cold I was positive that I was not coming home with all my limbs...

We met with the Estes family and we have been trying to meet with them since I have gotten here so that was pretty exciting! The dad and one of his sons is a member but less active but his wife and other two kids aren't members.  They are super funny.  I really like them.  hopefully we will meet with them again.  A lot of people are standing us up which is so annoying but one day everything will pay off!!  Lane, our investigator who is suppose to be baptized on the 24th didn't show to any of our lessons and church and won't stop smoking so that is really saddening.  Lee and Dee who is the elderly couple who had us over for thanksgiving dinner is so nice! This week Lee, the grandpa, said he wished that we were his daughters and then Dee said that we are her angels.  They are not interested in our message but they are warming up slowly.  We vacuum there house every week and they just love us and would do anything for us.  I really am grateful for them.  Loving it out here in Post Falls.  There are some tough days but that is life, right?

love

Sister Stevenson

First Transfer Completed

pretty skies

us in the rain like downpour one night we were walking around everyone cancelled so we just stopped and took a terrible photo...and then it started hailing haha

you can't see but I was completely soaked, so soaked!

 Temple

​part of my zone

us in a car-rare occurrence, always has to be documented 

Nicole's Letter: "One Whole Transfer Down"
November 5, 2016

Hi Everyone!!

Can't believe that i have been out a full transfer! That's crazy! Kind of crazy because I still have no clue what I am doing but oh well:)

Some highlights of the week

---On Thursday we got to go to the temple which was amazing!! I loved it! It was so peaceful and I felt so much love from Heavenly Father.  I know that life can be hard and we all make mistakes but if we are trying our best even when we fall short Heavenly Father is so proud of us.  He knows our weaknesses so well and he knows the accomplishes that we make.  It is so comforting to know that he is fully aware of us.  

---Also, I love prayer!  I thought I would never say that because I mean for the longest time I thought I was just talking to a wall. But it is my favorite part of the day, the time that I get to kneel down and talk to my father in heaven about everything! He will always listen to me.  I am still working on making my prayers more two sided but I love that Heavenly Father, the most supreme being and person ever lets us talk to him through prayer! We didn't do anything to deserve that he just loves us that much.

---Transfers: Sister Ireland and I are staying together!! I am so happy about that!

---POWELLS: They are the nicest people ever! It was so fun to see them! They took us out to lunch.  Brother Powell, Dianna and Grandma and then they offered to shop for us and everything! It was so nice to see them.  Tell them thank you so much! Then Sunday morning was a even greater surprise! They came back to give us a Christmas tree, lights and some treats, some of my favorite treats as well! It was so nice! We thought we were going to go without a tree this year so it was the best surprise! Tell them thank you!!

---So the members in our ward hate it that we don't have a car and one of the members actually did something about it.  Sister Nicholes and her husband use to be mission presidents in Korea and she called and talked to Sister Dymock about us not having a car and then on Saturday night we got a call from our mission president and he told us that we might be getting a car and then last night our district leader said we are getting a car tomorrow so that is quite exciting!  I was getting use to not having a car expect last night it hailed snowed and the cement was so slippery that we thought we were going to fall and freeze but then someone drove by and they offered us a ride home which was so nice.  They are from the Elders ward and then they called the Elders and gave them a hard time for not giving us the car- even though it isn't there call.  But it was funny

.  

--Sister Ireland got called to be Sister Training Leader which means that I will have to go on a lot of exchanges

---Ward council is always super funny to because we have no credibility in how old we say people are because we said that one person was 60 and apparently they thought she was in her 40s so they always make fun of us for that.

---Lane still wants to be baptized on Decemeber 24th so hopefully he will stop smoking and he wont have problems with question #4.  But he is really excited because he was attacked on Christmas Eve the other year so he wants to replace that with a good memory.  Also, he is a gold digger and he has a ton of gold that he shows us which is cool. 

Love Sister Stevenson

---ALSO THE BEST PART was that the Estes family came to church! I love their family so much and we haven't even legit taught them.  The dad is a member, his wife isn't a member and his four kids aren't either.  But all of them came! Even the 20 year son came to church! Sister Ireland turned around and church and her eyes got super big and I was like are they here! They are super nice, polite and fun! I really hope that we get to meet with them this week! We had a lesson set up last week but then they weren't home so I am hoping that this week they will remember.  Also, funny story...So Saturday evening we tried them to see if they were home and we waited forever and knocked several times and then this guy answered the door in like no clothes except his boxers and we just asked if anyone was home and he said no so we told him that we would just try later.  That night we texted Brother Estes and was like "We met your son, Killian"  And he was like you did? Killian was with me the whole day... And then we were like oh awkward.  apparently it was her daughter's boyfriend, it was funnier in the moment and a lot more awkward...yah sorry that was a really pointless story.