March 13, 2016

Hello everyone!! Had a wonderful week, last week we went to Sapporo to have Mission Tour with Elder Choi, he is the man, I love him he was so good! Learned so much and had a bunch of answers answered! Hmmm, maybe some of the highlights PMG stands for Preach My Gospel, Elder Choi taught us another Meaning Perfect Marriage Guidance, made me pretty Trunky hehe, Just kidding but he told us how this book helps us not only on the mission but it is a guidance for us throughout our lives and how we need to not just only know the things that are written in the book but to be Experts of the PMG. The next thing that I loved that he said was a combination of two quotes that he shared but they were ?No Fears, No doubts, Today I obey, and Tomorrow I understand.` I like that and it is going to be my quote for the rest of my mission probably, it doesnt matter what we do as long as we are obedient and faithful today it doesnt matter what happens because we wont understand why all this happens until far down the road of life and eternity.

Hmm, other Highlights for the week we had a couple of good lessons with a couple of investigators and did splits in Obihiro but that was basically it for the week half of it was on the bus traveling but still were able to get some good progress in the area!

Anyways I hope you all have a great week Love you all and thanks  for all you prayers!!

March 6, 2016

Dear Family and Friends!

Hey had a wonderful week here in Kushiro, last P day we had a Zone Activity we played scripture Jeopardy and it went pretty well and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time!! Then we had ZTM on Tuesday, ZTM went great and we did a 2 workshops the first one was on the why of the Missionary work? it went really well and we really tried to focus on the WHY of baptisms and how to try to help everyone see some more success. The next was on setting goals and the importance of not only setting goals but also to set goals that will stretch but not discourage, I feel like we did a really good job and that the zone got a lot from it! 

The rest of the week was really hard,.. we worked so hard and had a lot of goals this week to see a lot of progress, but literally no one was home and we ended up finding a lot of the week and in that finding there was really no one who wanted to listen, I have never had a week were I have worked so hard to see no success, but by Sunday we had a couple of New investigators and we were able to meet with 2 progressing investigators that week, and we felt pretty good going into Sunday, we felt like we had put the work in and that we would have people at church, and then no one came to church, at that point I was pretty frustrated, and during sacrament I thought back at my whole mission I felt like I have worked so hard everyday no sick days, always housing, always working but still no real huge success, I just asked the Lord "why we worked so hard and we tried so hard and we saw nothing why" as I was thinking this I was pretty discouraged and I thought it was because I had missed the opportunity and that the golden investigator I missed.. I was humbled after sacrament meeting we asked about one of the members about Masato san, I think I talked about him a couple of emails ago, but we have been working with him a lot and he has progressed so much, but he hadn't been to church in a while and we haven't been able to meet for the past 2 weeks because he was busy with work, but after talking with the member, we were able to make an appointment for Sunday evening, and in that lesson we talked about his worries and doubts but in the end we talked about goals and we wanted him to make a goal, he told us that he wanted to receive baptism this month or the next, and after that we tried just a little more to get a specific goal and after talking about goals for a little bit he made the date 3/27 I was humbled through out the week working hard and seeing nothing, but because of it I have a stronger testimony and know that sometimes we don't see the immediate goals but success will follow and sometimes you just need to hit that concrete block each time you hit it you may see a little chip here and there but what you don't see is the inside getting weaker and weaker until finally "pop" it finally bursts, and this week we were able to break the concrete block for the week and a nice big hit in the goal of Masato san receiving baptism, we don't see the immediate but God helps us push forward until we can all break our personal concrete blocks. I love being a missionary it is the greatest and time is short but I am so grateful for this opportunity to be out here serving the people of Japan!!

I Love you all and hope that you all have a great week and see lots of miracles!!

 February 28, 2016

Hey everyone, we have zone activity this week so not a lot of time to email, and I have not pics so.. Sorry but love ya all and hope y'all have a great week! Nitona came to church and we had a great week of missionary work! Here is a good talk this week!

"First, you are called of God. The Lord knows you. He knows whom He would have serve in every position in His Church. He chose you. He has prepared a way so that He could issue your call.

 The person who called you did not issue the call simply because he learned by interviewing you that you were worthy and willing to serve. He prayed to know the Lord?s will for you.

You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands.

Your call has eternal consequences for others and for you. In the world to come, thousands may call your name blessed, even more than the people you serve here.

If someone rejects the Savior?s invitation because you did not do all you could have done, their sorrow will be yours. You see, there are no small callings to represent the Lord. Your call carries grave responsibility. But you need not fear, because with your call come great promises.

The Lord will guide you by revelation just as He called you.

Just as God called you and will guide you, He will magnify you.

If I only think of my own performance, my sadness deepens. But when I remember that the Lord promised that His power would go with me, I begin to look for evidence of what He has done in the lives of the people I am to serve. I pray to see with spiritual eyes the effects of His power. All He asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart. Do it cheerfully and with the prayer of faith."

Elder Henry B. Eyring "Rise to your Call"

These are the parts I liked in this talk it is wonderful but this part is my favorite "If I only think of my own performance, my sadness deepens. But when I remember that the Lord promised that His power would go with me, I begin to look for evidence of what He has done in the lives of the people I am to serve. I pray to see with spiritual eyes the effects of His power. All He asks is that you give your best effort and your whole heart. Do it cheerfully and with the prayer of faith" God is everything and through him we perform miracles, I love you all!!

 February 21, 2016

What's up everyone?!! Its been a while since I have done a good email back home but, as a new transfer goal I am going to try and do a good email every week this transfer! Hooray!! Anyways this week said goodbye to some of my favorite missionaries so that was pretty sad but they are all in America and having a blast so its all good!! We also entered a new transfer and I am going to be with Elder Day, he was the AP last transfer so he is basically the greatest missionary ever! I am really excited to work with him, we have gone on splits before, but I like him he is pretty funny and sarcastic so it will be a fun transfer. Some of his hobbies, well actually the only one he says he has is playing the Violin but he is really good at it so maybe someday I will send a video of it?.. anyways this week was fun week we were able to meet a lot of people and we had a 15 year old come to church his name is Nitona but he seemed to enjoy the youth and the young mens teacher so I have some high hopes for him!

We also made a Baptismal date with Yamane it was a pretty good lesson but right now his biggest worries is that if he gets baptized he changes from being a Buddhist to a Christian so hopefully we can get over this worry and get him eternal salvation! I love being a missionary and it is so awesome to be here in Kushiro, we see miracles everyday, and I am so excited to work with Elder Day and we are hoping to see a lot of success over  the next 6 weeks!!

I was reading the White Handbook this week for those of you who don't know what the White Hand Book is it is a book with standards for missionaries to follow, but anyways in the beginning of the book it talks a little bit about the calling and the importance of the calling of a missionary, but anyways I have been reading this book my whole mission but this week I was reading from the beginning again and there is a paragraph that I really liked `When you accepted you call , you promised to live by these standards. You are accountable to the Lord and to the leaders of Church for how well you honor this promise. Always keep in mind the importance of your calling. Strive constantly to magnify it.` I really liked this sentence because it works for any calling that we receive in the church whether it is primary teacher or Bishop, we are `accountable to the Lord and leaders of the Church for how well we honor this promise`, and after reading this I really thought of the remaining time for myself on the mission, but we all have our different callings in the church right now, and our time is limited, sometimes we don't know when it will end, so we need to do everything we can at all times. I love this gospel, we have one lifetime, but in that time we have the amazing opportunity to discover and rediscover the simple truths the gospel, and more importantly we all have the calling to share it with others! I love you all so much thanks you for all your emails and prayers and support! I hope you all have a great week!!!

 

 

February 14, 2016

Hey people I have like no time to email but it has been a crazy couple of weeks here are some photos for your enjoyment I will send more in the near future I hope?:) 

Love you all have a wonderful week!!!!!

 February 7, 2016

He sent a video instead. How about that?

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January 31, 2016

 Hey everyone! Woah look at the time I am about out of time for email but just a quick update for the last two weeks!

Elder Tokuzawa and I have had a lot of fun we have taught and visited so many people

we had a training from the church that was worldwide for all missionaries!

It was super cool and I learned a lot

went bowling today, played 8 games average was 146 high was 166 it was fun

had a baptismal interview in our zone, Elder Tokuzawa did it, he passed, he was baptized sunday

I am having a blast in Kushiro 

I love the Lord 

and I hope you all have a great week!!

With Love,

Elder Stevens

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January 17, 2016

Hey everyone sorry for not getting an email out last week, we were super busy and we didnt have a lot of time to email, but anyways a couple of updates, I got transferred to a city called Kushiro, there are six missionaries, there names are Elder Nakashima, Elder Sakihara, Elder Tokuzawa(he is my companion) Sister Cooper, and Sister Peters, and then there are two elders in the a city called Nemuro but they are also in our district, Elder Tomioka, and Elder Wajima. Its pretty great all the Elders in my District are Japanese, and in our zone the only Japanese missionaries are in my district, so I feel pretty blessed. I was also called to be a Zone Leader, which is cool I guess, but this week we had Zone Training meeting and we did 2 workshops on how to better recognize the spirit and help investigators understand it as well, and then the other one was on mission culture and what kind of culture do we think that this mission has and what kind of culture that we want to have. It was pretty fun and I was super nervous too, and for the end of the second one President Nakatsuka came but it was good the 2nd workshop was really good and I think that it really helped everyone notice the potential that we all had and it also got everyone super excited to get out and do missionary work!

Other than that there has been so many people that we have met and taught lessons with this week, but one of them was Masato, he is probably the closest to baptism right when I came he had a baptism date and interview all set up but a small slip up and it got postponed for a little bit but he still wants to get baptized so I am excited!! And then there is another person called Nakajima, we found her this week and she was pretty excited to see us and she also was like I love to talk about church stuff, so we are excited for her! And then one more Highlight was Paul he is a Russian we found, he invited us in and then we taught about God and Pray and Church simply in English, then he said that he wants to come to the church and here more about this message, it was a super good and spiritual lesson, I am excited for him and a lot of people here in Kushiro!

This weeks Ponderize is a nice and simple one but a great one Jacob 2:18 `But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.`

Anyways that is all I got for this week and I am so excited for the next week got splits with the Assistants and also with some of our members in the Zone. I love you all have a great week!!!