spring is a fantasy

We thought spring was here but than it snowed a ton this on Saturday but it melted so that is good!  Had zone p-day this Monday and it was fun, we went on a nature walk and then played basketball at the church. Then since we cover the YSA branch we went to fhe and played games.   

We are teaching this older lady named Hannah and she came to church! She hasn't been to church in over 40 years. She was so nervous so we went over before church and helped her get ready, read the Book of Mormon and prayed to calm her nerves. Her health is super poor and she hasn't been able to come since the missionaries started teaching her because she isn't well enough. So we had bishop come over and give her a blessing which really helped! She is the cutest and most positive person ever! I am so happy that I get to meet her! 

We found thai food! That will be my downfall, it was so good!!!

Had interviews this week as well. President and sister Dymock are such good people. We talked about me preparing to come home and my plans. And while I was talking to sister Dymock she just started telling me about her plans when they get home and then after she was like oh sorry this isn't about me! We are all in the same boat as, the mission coming to a close (just theirs was double the time and 10000x harder). She told me when they're speaking in church and the mission reunion, which is the weekend of October general conference and I am so sad I will be across the ocean. President and my companion were talking and he apparently told her that I had been through battle on my mission. I would have to agree with that one President. It has been a battle and I think I might come home alive, I mean I still have a couple more weeks so we will see:)

We do a lot of service here. Volunteering at an animal shelter and at an old folks home. It is a much slower pace up here. 70% is over 65 years old here. 

A thought this week:

I was just thinking about how challenges never really end and we always are changing. I read the story about the rich man in the Bible which says 

17 ¶ And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions."

 Even to the bitter end we must give it all to the Savior. We all have our possessions that we hold dear whether that be our pride, our hobbies, the comfort of our weaknesses the list could go on and on. Those things, whether they be good or bad that keep us from giving our whole self to the Lord. It is a hard thing to do.  Becoming Christlike is not an easy thing that we have to do in this life. I have wondered why it has to be this hard and the thought that always comes is that what we get in return is so much more grand than any of the human weakness or activity that we have to give up. To receive all that our father has requires us to sacrifice all that we have. And to be honest it probably isn't a fair trade. We in the end will probably stand in amazement and think was that all that we had to do. I know that I don't want to regret not giving it all to my Savior. Even though each day is a struggle to give him my heart and desires and do what he would have me to.

Pictures: order mixed up

Thai food

Nature walk

Waiting for interviews

At least 2 people this week told us about their bowel movements (when you are in a place with lots of old people) so we took a picture to respond to their text. 

Views

Hannah!

A flag at a door we knocked 

The zone. 

St Patrick's day 

6 weeks.

I can't believe that I have six weeks left! It is kind of crazy. I am ending my mission in Sandpoint Idaho. Spent half my mission in Northern Idaho and the other half on the Southhill of Spokane! Sandpoint is just like Lake Tahoe/Trukee. So yes it is beautiful but being a missionary in Lake Tahoe is different than visiting it :) but it is good! My companion is Sister Bradshaw and she is from cedar city Utah. She has been out for about 7 months and is a good missionary. 

This week seems so long! On Monday we had our last zone p-day on the Southhill and it was super fun. I loved all of those missionaries so much!  They were all like family. I will miss being around missionaries. We are about 40mins to the closest missionaries, so closer than Grangeville but still far! Then on Monday Sister Lilley and I were companions. Had dinner with Manito's Bishop and then we dropped off the car to the elders and walked up the whole south hill. It was a good time. I miss the southhill so much! And then we packed Sister Lilley up since her mission ended. 

Then I was in a trio with the Moran Prairie sisters. It was super fun! I love those sisters. We spent the next few days saying goodbye to people in Manito and getting it all ready to pass off to the new sisters coming in. 

I seriously thank God every single day for the time that I got to be in Manito. That place is my home and those people will forever be my family. It was sad to say goodbye. 

The Blake's had a goodbye party and made a sign, cake and had balloons. It was so nice of them. 

Then transfers were Thursday and I got to Sandpoint. We are technically over 5 wards/branches since they just took out the elders that were in Sandpoint. It was funny, we called President because in our transfer call it said that we were over Sandpoint, YSA and Clarkfork but then we had a lesson that the elders set up in the Sunnyside ward. So we were confused if we were covering their wards as well. So when we called President he was like "oh Sister Stevenson it is good to hear your voice, isn't Sandpoint beautiful. We put you in a beautiful area" haha so I think President just put me in a beautiful area to finish my mission. The work though is a different story :). But President said that we weren't finding in all of those wards but if the members brought them to us we would teach them. The church is now cutting missionaries in the US and sending them to Africa and South America. We got cut 20 missionaries and we'll probably continue to get cut. They want the wards to step up and start finding. It will be good. We have had a couple lessons here, it has been good. 

I know that sometimes we do not see the results or affects of what we do until much later or maybe never in this life. This week was one of those moments where I saw it. The last dinner in Manito was at the Blake's and one of the Laurels from the ward was there. At the end we were all saying goodbye and she was like. "I have been deciding whether or not I should go on a mission and I just wanted to let you know that you have impacted me a lot and that my desire to go on a mission has increased so much by having you serve in our ward and seeing you as a missionary. And that I want to go on a mission now." It was one of those moments that just made me realize that even if you think no one notices, people do notice. You do affect those around you even if you feel like you aren't. I really have loved my time in Manito. It was the best! 

And here we go Sandpoint! Let's go! 

Chocolate 16 bucks worth

Nicole's Letter: Chocolate 16 Bucks Worth

March 12, 2018

There are no words to accurately describe a mission. I feel like Elder Bednar when he said something like, I am increasingly dissatisfied with the insufficient words of the English language to describe the feelings of my heart. But what I have found similar to my feelings are in 

2 Nephi 33 
"But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry.

4 And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my people. And the words which I have written in weakness will be made strong unto them; for it persuadeth them to do good; it maketh known unto them of their fathers; and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, and to endure to the end, which is life eternal."

I have prayed for these people, I have laughed, cried, some of my greatest sorrows and joys have been found on my mission. I have hope just like Nephi that the words that I speak in weakness will be made strong. What we share, the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. It does lead to eternal life, I don't think we fully comprehend that on the day to day basis. That is what we do here, living the gospel of Jesus Christ brings eternal life. Yesterday there was extra time in sacrament meeting and Bishop called me up to bear my testimony since it is my last week in the ward. I have loved these people so much! I love Manito but it is time to bow down gracefully. 

This week we had MLC and it was super good. It was so fun to see all the other missionaries and past companions. And Sister Lilley came with us, which was super fun! Went on exchanges with Sister Davis which was fun! We went to Young Women's and Hannah Blake and I exchanged paintings that we did. Street contacted into someone that I have talked to before. I stopped him and asked a question and he goes "yeah I have already talked to you and you have already asked me that question. I got to go." I'd say i have been here a long time. 

Some other funny moments this week:

Had a lesson with the Carothers (part member family) and Alex (recent convert) came as well. It was so funny! Alex loves the Spokane 1st ward and it has been a hard transition and I was like "Well it's the same gospel in any ward" and Alex goes "um I don't know about that" haha just perfect in front of our investigator who has lots of concerns. So she started to ask questions and we just couldn't help but laughing.

And Alex said that he misses the comfy chairs that Spokane 1st use to have 2nd hour because they met in the high council room. So after sacrament meeting sister lilley and I rolled the stake presidents chair down the hall into our classroom. Alex loved it haha. He is going through some seperation anxieties i think :) I mean we are leaving and the elder in Spokane 1st that he loves is leaving. So he had us over for dessert last night. He texted after church and he was like "I want a lesson at 8 and I have a female friend" that's what I like, finding his own fellowship! But seriously he is the best. Fed us so much ice cream, cheesecake and chocolate cake. And yes i am paying for that right now but i couldnt resist. I know that people are put into our lives for a reason and he definitely is one of those people. He said that I have an inner glow. And then Sister Lilley and I had to walk home from Alex's and it was so sketch so the elders just rapped to us over the phone to protect us.

Also during gospel principles, Yvonne (Brother Carothers nm wife) turns to me and was like "what's your first name?" And then Alex from the back sitting in his rocking comfy chair goes Nicole and then everyone for a solid 5 minutes was talking about my first name. The poor teacher didn't know what to do. Gospel Principles is so funny because the people are always from all walks of life. 

Sister John went home. It was sad to see her go, she was awesome. Now I am staying with the Moran Prairie sisters and Sister Lilley as well. It has been kind of crazy! 

Some quotes i liked:

If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness

It is like building muscle strength. You must break down your muscles to build them up. You push muscles to the point of exhaustion. Then they repair themselves, and they develop greater strength. Increased spiritual strength is a gift from God which He can give when we push in His service to our limits. Through the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our natures can be changed. Then our power to carry burdens can be increased more than enough to compensate for the increased service we will be asked to give.

Sister Cooper wanted to fed me one last time. Made meatloaf and gf pizza. 

Last day together, went for a run by our apartment. 

Alex, our body guard. 

We bought a lot of chocolate this week.

Sister john

Sister Lilley and me after mlc. 

Lili!

"do you see the wires coming out of my back"

Nicole's Letter: March 5, 2018

Some things this week:

I always get to Monday and never know what to write because honestly how do I even describe what happens on the daily basis.

A list this week to describe my week

-interviews with president. I always love having interviews.  And it was very good timing with different things going on.

-Then we had exchanges with the other sisters which is always super fun! Sister Kauvaka came to Manito with me.  We street contacted a lot of people, literally talked to everyone that we saw and literally no one was interested but hey you do your part and leave it up to the Lord!  Street contacting is super fun because it is so uncomfortable so many times but you just got to laugh.  There were these two guys doing some construction work up a driveway and I asked Sister Kauvaka if we should even go talk to them but then I just started walking up their super long driveway/alleyway and we tried to talk to them but it was an epic fail. Then we tried to talk to some other people and they just said no thank you and laughed maybe because they were high, smoking and carrying in a lot of alcohol and we were just trying to share the good word of god haha good times.  

Tracting literally is just like Russian Roulette, you never know what you are going to get.  Well last night we were lower on the hill, closer to the heart of downtown (usually not a place that we go after dark) but we were trying to contact a referral but there was no apartment number with the referral so we just started knocking.  This one lady told us/showed us all about how there are many wires in us and that she is pulling them out of her body with magnets and baking soda.  It was interesting to say the least. 

A homeless man walked into the church building on Sunday and was just saying all this crazy stuff.  Everyone didn't know what to do so apparently everyone's first instinct is to go get the sister missionaries to handle the situation haha.  But nothing really phases me anymore so we just talked with the man for awhile and then he asked to talk to the elders so we called the elders and then they talked to him for quite a while.  

We also went to the Sacred Heart hospital with the elders to visit people and the elders gave them blessings.  It is super interesting how God works.  We were visiting this one lady and they gave her a blessing and then the lady that was sharing the room came around the curtain and was like "Elders and Sisters?"  She was a member and needed a blessing too.  God is aware of us.

Did service at the food bank and I met someone that knows someone from Campo! Crazy connections!

The other sisters had a stalker so they slept on our floor on Saturday.  Bathrooms in spokane are covered in Human Trafficking posters and boxes for needles and injections.  I love my mission but Spokane has a lot of sad aspects of it. Someone told us that it is number 1 in the nation for car burglaries and number 6 in the nation for human trafficking. 

Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting a lot of people bore their testimony about Lamb of God (since they are doing that here in Spokane).  It made me miss it so much! And it is sad that I am going to miss going in this stake since transfers are next week and most likely I will be leaving.  It has been good here but it is time for me to go.  I got up and bore my testimony about broken hearts.  I was listening to the Lamb of God music, the song Make me Whole and it really made me realize that we can be become whole again through Christ.  We are meant to be broken and have broken hearts so we can be healed through the atonement of Christ.  There is a talk that I read and it said that the soil is broken to plant wheat.  Wheat is broken to make bread.  And bread is broken for the sacrament and the sacrament heals our broken hearts.  It is so true.  

Loving life over here in Manito! LOVE YOU ALL

​​sis john and i 

waiting for the bus

a good one

Nicole's Letter: "a good one"

Feb. 27th, 2018 

ALEX got baptized!!! It was a good day!! He is such an amazing guy and I am so glad that I get to know him.  We missionaries are just fortunate to be a tiny little part of people's lives and I am so grateful for it.  Alex got to this point on his own (well and with God's help) and that makes his testimony even stronger.  After his baptism he got up and bore his testimony and said that it has been a long journey for him (which it definitely has) and that he is just so happy that he is here at this point and that he got here.  He is going to do great things that is for sure.  I definitely have a testimony of how the gift of the Holy Ghost definitely changes people's countenance.  I have seen that after people are confirmed and are sanctified by the Holy Ghost they are so pure and you can see the light that is in their eyes. It is amazing to see.

I also got to go to the temple this week!! We found out that Sister Norman's (my old companion) zone was going and so we texted President and asked if I could go with them since I was dying when my zone went and he said yes!! It was such an amazing experience.  I seriously love that place! To be honest at first I did not have a personal testimony of the temple.  I knew in my head that it was a good place but since being on my mission I have felt for myself that it is not just a good place but the house of the Lord and I love being there!!! And we had a little trio for the day with Sister Lilley.  Dinner appointments with trios are probably my favorite.  It is always super fun! This time it was with an older lady in the ward.  Needless to say we had some pretty good laughs.  And she said that before I leave this area she is going to make her meatloaf again! I love this ward!!! 

We got to go play racket ball today since Sister John loved playing it before her mission and she has been sort of down lately so our district leader and Sister Lilley set it all up as a surprise for her. It was so fun! Even though every time that I do something athletic I am always so shocked by the lack of coordination I have, it really blows me away. 

Church was awesome yesterday! 5 people came!!!! It was so cool! People that haven't come in years finally showed up!  One cool thing was that Alex asked someone from the Sullivan ward, in the valley, to speak at his baptism, Brother Carothers. He also came to his confirmation on Sunday. Brother Carothers' son and his wife, (who we have been teaching) haven't been to church for years came this Sunday. They didn't even know that Brother Carothers dad would be there or that it was Alex's confirmation.  It was so cool to see how the first Sunday back was the Sunday his dad came to our ward and Alex has been long time friends with the whole Carothers family. They will be good support for each other.  God is in the details of our lives.

We helped someone move on Saturday and everyone is always so shocked by how much we can do in a dress.  But I love doing service.  It makes me happy :)

I love my mission.  Yes, there have definitely been hard days, hard weeks and moments but all I have to say is what Elder Wirthlin's mother said "Come What May and Love it".

And I am lovin it!

love you all!

Sis steve