Transfer Complete!

Nicole's Letter:

"Season 2 Finale... wait, what?"

February 27, 2017

 So I am getting transferred to Grangeville, Idaho and I am second-training (that means that she has only been out one transfer and is still in training).  My stomach is kind of in knots just thinking about it.  I feel so bad for her, she is getting a trainer that has only been out 4 1/2 months and I have no clue what I am doing.  I was really freaking out (wanted to barf) after President called to ask if I would be willing to train but then this morning I realized that freaking out does nothing in life.  Also, I know that God will strengthen me beyond my own capabilities.  That is probably what I have learned the most this transfer is that the enabling power of the Atonement is real (Elder Bednar has a really good talk about it that everyone should look up- I can't remember the name but he gave it before he was an apostle at a BYU devotional).  I know that I could not have done this transfer on my own and with mine own strength.  God really does lift you up and helps you through the hard times.  I mean there were still some really low lows but I just can't even imagine those lows without God.  In the talk Elder Bednar states that "The Atonement is not just for the sinners but it is for good men to become better".  God gave me strength this transfer and I just have to have faith that He will do that again this next transfer.  I am so scared ahh!

Also, a little bit about Grangeville.  It is in the outerspace of the mission.  We looked it up on the GPS last night and it is 300 miles away from Post Falls.  Three hours away from the mission home in Spokane and it is the largest geographical area in the mission.  I am literally going from the smallest (we can walk the distance of our area in like an hour) to the largest (where it takes hours to drive the distance of the area).  It should be pretty interesting.  

I have to admit I am a bit sad to leave Post Falls and the people.  We said goodbye to some people last night.  But the Elders that are taking over our people are good (well one was just the AP and the other one is a newbie) so that helps.  We went over to Larisa and Dennis's house last night and I love them so much! They are the best!  We taught the gospel and it was actually a really good lesson.  They are living together and afterward Larisa turns to Dennis and just says "We have to get married.  We are living in sin, like just playing house together".  Dennis was like "No we are just roommates" Haha but they both know they need to start acting.  Yesterday after sacrament meeting one of the members (his wife has been taught by the missionaries) told us that his wife has picked a date and she is being baptized on March 18.  She is out of town right now but she finally knows when her mom is able to come up for the baptism.  So that is super exciting!!! They are awesome people, we love them! Sad that I am leaving though.

​Jen and Tom- they are pretty great, I love them! They fed us every Sunday this transfer which was the first for them.  Tom wanted us over every Sunday and Jen was super surprised.  They are so fun.  We meet them the first Sunday of the transfer and before meeting them I was freaking out because the Elders that were teaching Tom told us that Jen hates Sisters and was not happy that she was getting sisters but she likes us :)

Jordan (Dennis's son made us some sweet spray paint art) 

The effects of freezing fog.

​pretty skies after a lesson at the church a couple weeks ago

​Us cooking fish that some old lady gave us.  Sometimes I just laugh at the things that happen on a mission.  We were teaching an old lady-she has let us in once so we just teach at the door.  And one day she was like "do you like fish"  We were like yah and so she was like wait her I have fish for you!  And then she was up fumbling around for ever and I was like "Shirley, we don't need that much"  And she shushed me! So we walked home with a couple of pounds of fish that day!

​My district (minus one elder that just got made AP so he wasn't there for our last district meeting)

​The finish product of our fish, thanks to Shirley for the fish 

​This might be a pointless picture to you but you do not even know how happy this makes me.  I have never loved the sun so much! Had to take a picture since it is a rare sighting to see the sun.

​Then naturally we had to take a picture of us on that sunny day :)

​Us at CDA lake last pday.

​Some sisters in my zone...and yes ponytails are not my thing, I look like I am balding, promise I'm not

​Tom came and dropped off a pie at church for Sister Lake's birthday last week.  He walked into the front of the class with this huge pie box.  He brought his friend as well it was funny.  But the pie was so GOOD!

One more photo of my going away present that Sister Lake drew for me :) 

Here comes the sun. . . Not!

Nicole's Letter:
Feb. 20, 2017
"Here comes the Sun. . . NOT!"

It has been snowy and wet this entire week!!!

One day it was SUNNY and it was the GREATEST!! I have never loved the sun so much in my entire life! This week was good! Well, what else can I say :)

So we are still in Post Falls and nothing is going to happen until the end of the transfer which is next week! Funny thing is that the area that President was talking about that we were going to go to is Post Falls 1st ward which is one of the wards that the Elders in our district have.  So President was right about us already having a place to stay and everything.  It was funny how we found out.  We were in district meeting and were talking about transfers and they were asking us what we think will happen.  I said that I am out of here and then Sister Lake kind of hinted at that something was happening and then they basically called it all.  The Elders were like oh so you are the sisters that President was talking about!

The more that I am out here the more I yearn to learn of the Savior.  The more He becomes real to me.  It's like I knew Him before (I did) but I am starting to remember that.  I am starting to remember that He really is my older brother.  He really did suffer and die for me.  He really did live His life perfectly, that I might follow His example.  This is making me search the scriptures more.  I am starting to read the New Testament and I love it.  I can't stop reading it.  The more I want to read about Him and his life.  And the more I read, the more He becomes apart of me.  He is truly our older brother.  He is our Savior and He is the Son of God.

Ward Conference was this week and it was so good! Sundays are the best!! One of our investigators came to church, to the last two hours! It was Sister Lake's birthday so his wife, who is a member, texted him and he brought a cake and his friend to church. It was funny.  They feed us every Sunday which is super nice. Last night we had ribs and stuffed mushrooms.  It was so GOOD!

For Sister Lake's birthday I made heart shaped pancakes, well tried at least and made a post it note sign in the shape of 21 and wrote 21 reasons why I love Sister Lake.  Hopefully it was a good one for her :)  

A lot of people were busy this week but this week is another week.  

LOVING LIFE

SISTER STEVE

It just keeps getting better. . .

Nicole's Letter:

"It Just Keeps Getting Better"

February 13, 2017

This week we had interviews with President and Sister Dymock, we now are going to have them every transfer.  They are seriously the best.  I love them! We found out our area could be changed up and we might be moved out. We will see when that happens.

We had another lesson with Brooklyn, the 13 year old, who's parents are less active.  She really wants to get baptized but she and her brother promised when they were little that they would do it together but now her brother wants nothing to do with it.  So hopefully we will have a lesson with her tonight but her mom is out of town for a week or so.  We are going to go to her dad's house but he has bailed on us so many times since Sister Ireland has left, he loved her.

Then we had two more lessons with Julie.  It was good.  She reads for the Strength of Youth every night to her family.  She loves that book!  

I was reading in the New Testament the other day.  Everyone go look up Matthew 14.  Oh man it hit me.  So just imagine, Jesus Christ just got word that John the Baptist got beheaded, his cousin/friend.  Jesus probably just wants to be alone for a little bit.  He goes away yet the multitude follows him.  And then Jesus has compassion on them.  After all that, I mean I can only imagine the emotions Jesus was feeling.  If it were me, I would have made it a point to me alone, maybe yell at them to go away, something.  Yet, Christ looked outward, even in the midst of hardship.  That is truly being Christlike, when we look outward when we want and probably have all the right to look inward.  It made me want to be better.  No matter how lonely, frustrated, tired, impatient I feel, I want to look outwards.  I know I can with the Savior.  Just a thought from this week.

Love you all!!!

Sis Steve

Winter Isn't Over Yet.

Sister Lake!!

Random photos from last transfer at zone pday. someone really wanted to do a pyramid haha

Here are some pictures from an exchange last transfer with Sister Mathias!! And me inside a huge igloo someone made.  We were on a blitz and we knocked on this guys door.  I was praying so hard because Sister Mathias was freaking out and it was her first house tracting.  So I was just praying he was nice and he was and he let us take a picture inside his igloo.

 

Nicole's Letter: "Yep." 

February 6, 2017

HAPPY MONDAY!! I think this will be the only time in my life where I will look forward to Mondays.  On missions, Sunday night is the greatest, I definitely don't get the Sunday blues anymore :).

So highlights of this week:

1) EXCHANGES!!!! We went on a 24 hour exchange.  I went with Sister Curtis, the STL, and it was 24 hours of heaven! She is the best! I went to her area which is YSA and we got snowed in because it dumped this weekend.  So we updated the area book, etc but mainly just talked which was super good.  She has been in my Zone my entire mission so it was fun.

2) Larissa and Dennis are my favorite people ever!! We went over last night and it was the best.  They probably are the nicest people ever and they are so funny.  They made us a fruit and cheese platter and it was fun. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was good. We are going over next week! 

3) It snowed A TON!!! AND I"M DRIVING!! Luckily I don't have to drive far expect for P-day, zone activities and mission conferences.  So pray that it is good weather tomorrow, we have interviews in Coeur d'Alene.  We were just seeing a little ground and I got super excited but winter is definitely not over!!

4) There are some really good ward members that are super nice.

5) We had dinner and a lesson with Brooklyn at her mom's house (first time at her mom's home and it was good!) Brooklyn is the daughter of the fighter.  Brooklyn really wants to be baptized we just have to work on the parents following through with it, so we will see what happens because she has been wanting to for a really long time.  She is super cute, 13 year old.  We were leaving and we asked when we could come back and she was like Tomorrow!! Her mom told us next week, so hopefully we can meet with her this week. 

Any advice and letters would be greatly appreciated :) 

Love everyone! 

2nd Fall of Season!

Zone Conference 

photo bombers!

Nicole's Letter: 

Second Fall of Season 

Hello Everyone!

This week there were some eventful things that happened!

1) On Wednesday there was a worldwide missionary broadcast which was really good!  One of the big things that happened is that the schedule is now different.  Apparently the news in online now so you can look at it there, but it is super good! We now plan in the morning which saved a lot of patience for me :) Planning at 9:00 at night when we are tired and if it hasn't been the best day, is not fun at all.  So that is super good now!  And we get a little extra time in the morning on p-day which is awesome as well!

2) We had Zone Conference and I saw SISTER IRELAND! It was super fun seeing her, she is the best! She is in Sandpoint! They live in like a guest house of a member and have their own gym.  Everyone who asks me where she went is like Oh man, Sandpoint is so pretty! Maybe one day I will go there, who knows! But Zone Conference was good.  We learned about repentance.  It was really neat.  The origin of repentance means turn or return in hebrew.  Then it got translated into Greek making the word mean change.  But then when the word got translated into Latin, the meaning changed to penance or punish.  Which is so interesting and explains a lot.  So many people think that repentance is negative and a terrible thing but it isn't. It is merely turning away from sin and turning to God.  It is such a joyful thing and we are so lucky that we can repent, every single day.

I also had a hard fall this week! Second one of the season.  So the roads are all ice! We were walking and I went down, went down hard! My legs went directions that they were not suppose to go. It was one of those falls that you just pray that nothing got shattered.  I just layed there for a second. I didn't even care who saw me.  My knee got smashed pretty hard.  It was funny because I was just so pumped for the day! I was like this is such a good day! It is going to be amazing! And then bam, I'm down.  The other fall was with Sister Ireland but that one was just one of those cartoon falls, my feet just went up and my butt went down.  I got up so fast with that one because we were outside the person we just taught home.  But hopefully that will be the last one of the season.

 We had two lessons with Julie this week and they were good! We did a church tour one of the days.  We invited a member, Sister Muir and she was like okay I have never done one of these, what is it like" "Yah, me either" I said.  She laughed.  The ward members are definitely seeing me grow, which means a lot of fails, but that's okay.  I honestly fall on my face everyday, I make so many mistakes but that's okay I'm learning that's for sure :)

Anyways, the church tour was good, she started to understand priesthood authority.  She has been baptized twice but she was like yah I don't know what authority the person baptizing me had.  We gave her a For Strength of Youth because her kids are starting to become teenagers and She LOVED IT! I mean she would convert because of that haha just kidding.  It was cool though, she was like yah when I read the BofM more and more I am starting to realize that just no man wrote this.  It was sweet.  We found her back in NOV. Sis Ireland apparently the transfer before walked by her house and always felt like she should knock but never did and then when I got here she was like we have to knock on this door.  And when we did, she was like Oh come back tomorrow and we did and then she just let us in!

We were teaching one of our investigators, Brianna, and repentance was brought up. At the end she was like "Oh, so repentance is joy". It was neat.  She has had a really rough past.  Her boyfriend is in jail and it has been a little rocky. She is the best though! Brianna also came to church! And she stayed all three hours which was pretty amazing. Before she came she told us that she didn't want to stay for the whole meeting but then she did.  One of our members that just moved into our ward from the other ward came to Gospel Principles, she just got full fellowship back into church and her husband isn't a member but it was neat to see her testify of things to Brianna since they have similar backgrounds.  We are kind of teaching her (Jen) husband- well he would be baptized but he is on parole so he is just waiting.  They feed us every sunday and they are so funny! He was the biggest meth dealer in this area.  And so he knew of Brianna.  OH I NEED A BANANA CREAM PIE recipe.  I somehow pinky promised him that I would make one for his birthday next thursday :/ so recipes would be nice and easy ones!

Love 

Sister Stevenson

Nicole's Letter Part 2: 

Lesson of Love

Since I have some extra time this week, here is another thing that I learned.

This mission is not about me. Yes, I know it finally clicked, after all the years of hearing "It's not about you".  But this week it took a different meaning.  This really isn't about me.  This is the Lord's work and we are to become like Him.  It also struck me that I say "God loves all of us so much" and I do believe that when I say it, there is no doubt in my mind that God loves us, I know He does.  Yet, it hit me, do I really believe that?  If I truly believed that then I would see people differently because I know that God loves them.  God created them and loves them so there is at least one thing that I can love about everyone that I meet.  It is a process developing this kind of love but when we do miracles will happen.  We will start seeing others differently and we will lose ourselves in Christ.  The greatest paradox of the Gospel "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it".  It is so true, when we lose ourselves in Christ, we will find ourselves because there is more of us to find.  Just a little lesson I learned this week.

Transfer Call & Changes!

Ice Cream! 

​Last day of "12 week," I am going to miss an extra hour of studies...watching the district 

Post Falls January

Christmas Eve at the Cox Family. Sad they are moving next week. 

Christmas Eve, we went to the church and had popcorn and hot chocolate after we went caroling.  We also watch Legacy.

Dee and Lee on Christmas Day

Sister Ireland and I just walking down the street.

 me in the snow by our apartment

my zone, which is the best! Coeur d'Alene zone is the best! sad for transfers!

Nicole's Letter:
" Another Email. Another Week. Repeat."
1/10/2017

Whenever I sit down everything goes out of my brain.  This week was so long, not in a bad way but just can't even remember last monday.  Transfers are next week so that is a bit sad since most likely, like 99%, Sister Ireland will be transferred.  We have had some good times together and have seen the work in Post Falls increase.  There is so much potential here, I am just terrified that when she leaves and I am left in charge everything will stop.  Everyone loves her so that should be interesting, wish me luck.  But who knows I could get transferred, it is not likely but you never know!

Some highlights this week:

We were over at the Walshons, a part member family.  The kids, Zak and Allisen are 13 and 9.  And Allisen is pretty hyper and funny.  This time the mom was talking about her husband being addicted to smoking and then Allisen interjects and says "Addiction is like when you are at a party and they have chips and you can't stop eating the chips.  But then you get a TUMMY CRAMP and you STILL keep eating" okay so it was a lot funnier in person than what I just wrote but it made me laugh, but it doesn't take a lot to make me laugh out here :)

Bri came to church! Her boyfriend just got put back into jail in Sandpoint and she knows that if they had God and church in their lives that wouldn't have happened.  She is so cute and open to everything.  She also wants missionaries to go visit Chris in jail so we let the Sandpoint elders know and they are planning on going this week so that should be good.

Then we had dinner with this new lady in our ward who is kind of out there so we did not know what to expect.  BUT then her roommate joined us for dinner and was super interested.  She also has had a rough life and trying to get it back together.  It was a good lesson.  During it she asked why there are so many different churches. Perfect Question!! Every missionary's dream to seaway into Joseph Smith. So we are going back tonight and teaching her again so that should be good!

Then we got a referral to go see a less active.  He referred himself and it was pretty amazing lesson about repentance and faith.  He knows that the gospel provides him something in life that nothing else can.  He knows that he needs it in his life.  It was just a testament to me that there is nothing greater in this life than the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It reminds me of Peter saying "Lord where would we go" If you ever do start questioning, ask yourself "Where would I go" and it makes you realize that we do have the FULLNESS of the gospel.  It is so amazing the knowledge that we do have.  That the gospel was restored by Joseph Smith and that we don't have to live in darkness, we can have hope! Go watch The Hope of God's Light! It is so good!

Then on Sunday it was snowing big time, well it has been pouring snow (is that what you call it?!) But it was getting late, I really wanted to try Aly (we meet her on her porch before christmas and she said that we could come back so we have been trying her ever since). And walking up to her door, I knew that she would be home and open to us.  And she WAS home and let us in and we taught her the restoration.  She is open to learning more. She is such a cute young mom.  She is married to her highschool sweetheart and they have a little girl and a puppy named Kevin.  She has known a lot of mormons and says they have all been really great people and she just wants what is best for her.  So hopefully we can meet with her after she gets back into town.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is so amazing and can really change lives.  It can bring lightness into darkness, hope into despair and it can fill emptiness.  Jesus Christ really did atone for us and descend below all things alone so that we would never have to walk alone in life. 

love to all!!