Sister Nicole Stevenson: June 19 Update

Hello everyone!!

Quote of the week:

"Hey, listen up, the sisters are inviting you to not resist happiness"

and honestly if I knew that mom wouldn't be mad I would leave my email as that but since the internet went out last week I guess I will write more :)

But I thought that quote was funny but super true. We are here to invite people to live better lives and ultimately become happier, just people don't always see that! The gospel is a gospel of change. As humans we don't necessary like that. We are asked to become better and sometimes that is hard but thank goodness for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the enabling power of the atonement. I love the fact that I know that I can be forgiven of my mistakes and sins, that God loves me despite my imperfections and that he is not a referee trying to kick us out of the game.

Well let's try to sum up the last two weeks...

We met Bentley who is funny. The first time we met her she "read our souls". She said that Sister Norman was observant, quite and thoughtful. And then she turned to me and said that I say more than I would like to and have to put my foot in my mouth, she was like You are just like me. Haha didn't know how to take that :) But she definitely feels the spirit when we are around. She has been going to counseling and she said that after she met us she hasn't had that much to say to her counselor since she is more at peace and happy. She also was like "I use to think that the Mormon church was a cult but since meeting you two I can't see you two being cult type of people" Well I am glad that she can't see us being in a cult. Then we saw her on Saturday and she was like 'I really need to go to church! I am going to go to church tomorrow" Music to our hears expect we slowly realized that she wasn't talking about our church ha. funny thing is that is not the first time that has happened to me on my mission. People just don't really connect feeling the spirit to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But glad she is feeling the spirit and getting back into church. We helped her with her patio furniture and that was fun.

We meet this lady from the Philippians named Verna. She is so nice! So the Elders actually knocked on her door on the blitz and she told them that her and her husband were busy but they could come back. So we went and she let us in and was like "What can I do for you". We taught her the restoration and she was appreciative, we will see where that goes. We don't know if she was trying to reject us but she definitely didn't do it hard enough if she was trying too :) They are such a sweet and nice couple!!! We left her house and we were like is that what it is like in foreign country missions, lucky! ha

We walk a lot. We were walking down the street and this guy said hi to us and so we stopped and talked. He was like "You have something for me to read?" The Elders a while back ago did service for him. And then he was like "You got your 3 miles in for today" Everyone in Grangeville knows who we are and knows that we walk everywhere! A lot of people stop us and ask how did we ended up in Grangeville since they know missionaries in South America and Africa. Yep, missionaries are still needed in Grangeville:)

We volunteer at the thrift store which is super fun. When ever we walk in the volunteers which are a bunch of middle aged women, say "The angels are here!" We like them :)

Grangeville is such a nice place!!! I feel like I am not even part of a mission but it is super nice! And it is crazy how much people tell the missionaries! I know so much about everyone's personal lives, it is crazy!

well, if you have made it through this email without getting lost, congratulations :)

love you all!!!!