THE NEWS

TRANSFERS>>>>>>>I'M STAYING ANOTHER IN MANITO!!!!!!

I know no one would have guessed it but here I am, staying half of my mission in one area.  Kind of crazy but I am happy! Sister John is the best and the area is so great! 

We have four people that are on date for this transfer so hopefully all will go well and they can all make their dates! 

One of them is Lili! She is getting baptized this Saturday and she is just my favorite! She was super nervous for her baptismal interview but she did great!  We made invitations before and she leaned over and was like "I just wish that my baptism could be tomorrow!"  It will be this Saturday and I can't be more happy for her! She needs this in her life!

Some other things this week:

I had my first "official" sick day on Tuesday since I was up literally all night in the bathroom.  I was so mad because I have never had to call and have to stay in but right when I told the nurse she was like you can't go out.  So I slept a lot.  But we had a lesson with Lili and we had stake reports with the Stake reports (with the stake president, high counselor and our mission president)  I was determined to not take the whole day and luckily I felt much better after some sleep and was able to go to everything in the evening! 

We had another lesson with Frankie and it was amazing!! (I mean what do I expect, he just gets it).  Anyway he prayed about a day and he felt like Feb 24 so that is what he is preparing for! Hopefully his parents will agree!! Pray for that! He said that his mom just wants him to be happy and said that he could but we are still waiting for his dad.

A story from Sister John's email:

​​"Yesterday Sister Stevenson felt prompted to go visit a family that has rejected us multiple times. Once again, they rejected us. BUT THEN. We turned around and there was a park across the street. A man and his 4 year old son were walking around the park, skipping rocks off the frozen pond. Sister Stevenson and I looked at each other and agreed we needed to go talk to him. After talking with him and leaving our number and a pass along card, we walked away down the street. But I was uneasy. It's hard to explain what I felt - I just wasn't satisfied with the conversation we had with him, even though we bore testimony and it was so strong. So I told Sister Stevenson that we needed to go back, and we gave him a Book of Mormon. He was so touched that we had given him that book and mentioned he had recently watched a powerful video about Joseph Smith!!!!! Unfortunately, he told us his wife is basically anti Mormon. We promised him blessings and he was so sincere about reading the Book of Mormon. He even started reading a little bit as we were standing there talking! He just kept flipping and scanning the pages. I have a feeling we will hear back from him soon. That was the first time I felt prompted to go talk to someone on my mission. Although it wasn't huge or gut wrenching, something just kept turning me back. I have faith that Reese will help his wife soften her heart and come into the Gospel where they will experience countless blessings as families!!"

This Week: Jan 22nd

It was a good week!  It finally hit that I am on my downward climb and I don't know how I feel about it!  This week we had awesome lessons. We had a lesson with Frankie and we taught the restoration. It was probably the best Restoration lesson we had because at the end he talked about Alma preaching to the people at Ammonihah. He talked about how the people rejected him and he tried to leave but the angel told him to return. He said that it reminded him of the apostasy cycle a​​nd how we just need to hang in there when there is rejection and stay strong!  He told his parents that he would describe seminary as "Invigorating".  He loves coming to church and loves the Book of Mormon. 

We had new missionary training on Friday. It was so good! I got to see Sister Mitchell who was my MTC companion because she is training Sister John's MTC companion.

We also had a really spiritual lesson with Alex this week. We taught about baptism and confirmation and put him on date for Feb 24th. He is so sweet. He is kind of big and scary looking but has a heart of gold! The only problem is that he still loves the 1st Ward where he was before. But the Elders brought him to our sacrament meeting on Sunday. He was nodding though because he has already been at church for a couple hours.

Lili is getting baptized on the 3rd of February and she is super excited!  She is such a good missionary and she invited all her friends to the baptism and we started teaching one of them.  We are super excited! Hopefully all goes well until then.

Pray that I don't get transferred! We find out transfers next Monday! YIKES! 

Travis is still on date for February we are praying that he makes it. He is such a solid person that is trying his best. 

Had dinner at Carols and we had nachos, bacon nachos her famous.  

This ward is amazing and someone left us lunch after church and it was like high quality food! It was so good!

We are seeing so many miracles! I love my mission.  It means everything to me and I love this gospel.  Trust in the Lord and everything will work out! Love to all!

January 2018

Hello!! We had lots of exchanges this past week which is always fun.  Sister Lilley came to Manito and we talked a lot about missions since we are a transfer off. Talked about the craziness of Spokane. It sometimes is a weird place but good at the same time! I love the people that I have met. 

Some highlights:

Had a lesson with Travis that we have been teaching since I have been here and this week we committed him to pray  when he should be baptized and he said he would. Then a couple days later he said that February 8th cant get out of his mind. So he is preparing for that day! It is exciting! Hopefully he can beat some old habits before that! 

It snowed a ton on Thursday and God is real! We had zone conference that day so we weren't out in the snow storm. And also we had it at our church building instead of in the valley so we didn't even have to drive that far! I think God knows that I can't drive in snow! It was such a tender mercy! Zone conference was good, it was all about technology. We have to update for 2 to 3 hours a day for a month. It is kind of insane. 

Something that I learned this week.

Life is a give and take. When you are willing to give a little people are much more willing to change.

We sang in stake conference and I was singing alto with 2 other people and literally none of us were singing the same note so it was interesting. People just said that the spirit was really strong, nothing about the talent haha. 

Today was probably the best pday ever. Sister Blake took us to Costco and then we had lunch at her house and she made us super good soup. Then we went snow shoeing on a trail by her house. It was so fun. I felt like a real person today! I love this ward and the people that we are teaching. Lilly is getting baptized February 3rd! She is the cutest! I love the Wight family! I have seen them go through some ups and downs.  But the gospel does bless families. Sometimes we just have to go into the dark to realize the light that we do have. 

We are having dinner with the Blakes and their friend this Friday. And he has been going to seminary every day this week. Sister Blake says that he comes to their house at 545 every morning with a big smile on his face. He is so fun and nice and loves the gospel! 

Sister John is awesome and chill.

Stake conference was super good. The theme was more holiness give me. I loved one speaker that talked about prayer.  They said that most times answers to prayers don't usually come when we are on our knees they come after and that is why it is important to find time to be still. And I know that is true in most cases, most times I don't feel that much when I pray but it comes after, comes in little pieces here and there. In the video Hope of gods light it says "Rarely does lightness come to those that sit in darkness". 

Hope all is well!! Love to all!

GORILLA MAN

I met the gorilla man that has haunted my dreams for years.  Remember the cub scout leader for the twins that popped out as a gorilla.  His family moved from Walnut Creek a couple months ago into the Manito ward.  He looked up our family on facebook and he was like "That is your dad, I know him! We are buds.  And we went to wood badge together until he dropped out" haha  it was a weird connection. 

There are so many amazing things happening in this area! We had some good lessons this week and found some people! 

Yesterday the Blakes walked into church and she asked us when she was feeding us next and I was like "Oh no, we forgot to tell her that it is tonight"  We were like it actually is tonight.  She was like oh okay well you can come over, don't know what we are having but just come over.  And then like an hour before dinner she texted and said that her son's friend Frankie texted Nathan and asked if the missionaries were somehow coming over tonight because he missed coming to church and wants to meet with us! 

It was awesome!  There are moments that like that that make me realize that God really is in the details of our lives.  It was amazing!  And the lesson went great. After we said amen, he jumped up and was like "I got to go ask my mom if I can go to seminary tomorrow!"  He was so excited!  It really is amazing how our examples go so far.  We asked how each one of them have experienced hope through Jesus Christ and Frankie was like "I know that God is watching over me by sending me friends like Ben (another kid in the ward) and everyone else to show me this.  And going to church just makes me feel good"  

Pray that his family will be in support! 

that was that this week

2017

This year.....

Was my black out year on my mission and now it is over.  That is kind of crazy to think about.  

Some things this year.

1. I was a missionary

I was reading through my old journals to try to cheer up my companion and it was fun to look through what I have gone through this year.  Never did I imagine some of the things that I have been through.  Going through Post Falls and learning some of my biggest life lessons on charity and total reliance of God.  Now looking back, it definitely was God humbling me to my knees.  He knew that I needed to be broken in order for Him to help me do this mission.  

Went to the middle of nowhere and loved so many people in Grangeville, Idaho.  To me that was a little paradise vacation.  So many nice people and warm summer days were there. 

Then to Manito where I have stayed half the year.  And it has been a good half, with lots of laughs and tears.  Some really hot days and now really cold icy days.  I seriously don't know how I manage to fall so much.  If I don't leave the South hill without a broken bone I will be impressed.  My neck, elbow, hip, and knees hurt so much, stupid ice!

I am so happy that I had all of 2017 to serve as a full time missionary!  Last year I wrote in my journal "I hope that I can look back on 2017 with fondness" (Don't know why I used that word) But i definitely can say that I do.  It has been a great year!  And this year is going to be a year to remember!

 caroling

sister john and i

pizza with some missionaries

temple