September 17, 2015/Week 2/Elder Tristan Stevens

 

Hello Everybody!

 The MTC is a place that is full of amazing experiences to have. I have learned so much in the 2 weeks I have been here. Being asked to be District Leader on day 2 was a shocker and very stressful. I had just met all these new people and now I am supposed to be their leader and make sure all of them are doing okay throughout the day and the fact that they look to me as an example in hard times has made me feel inadequate at times. I quickly learned that the most effective way to serve people is to find a love for them and to pray for patience with them. I have a Choro (elder) in my district that is a linguistics major and man...there are a lot of stories just from that intro there alone. He corrects my English all the time which is fine by me and he always is strongly opinionated about things. He is very good at Japanese and that has helped the district a lot. I am not very good at Japanese and I struggle my way through the lessons with investigators but I can promise that the language of the Spirit will always be stronger than the Language of Japanese. The spirit will teach things that you dont even say but yet the investigator feels it and as long as I am prepared and worthy to bring the spirit then I feel like the lesson was a success.

 

 As I have been District Leader I realized the importance of Prayer. Everynight in my personal prayer I find myself relying on the Lord to help me find guidance for the District. I pray for every person in my District individually and pray for what I think they might need at that time. Its hard to know exactly what to pray for but just acting on that prompting to pray for them has allowed me to have a stronger love for them and serving them has been a great blessing. Carr Choro (Elder Carr) the linguistics major really wants to be Zone Leader. The current ZL's are leaving on Monday and he is campaigning hard for that position and constantly asking to be interviewed and always sharing scriptures and speaking a lot of Japanese when the Branch Presidency is around. I havent understood that fully. I wondered why would you want that responsibility on top of learning Japanese and teaching lessons and eating MTC food and all of that going on. A quote was shared in the Devotional..."when the desire becomes greater than the title, that is when you become a powerful missionary endowed with power" I learned that whether you are an AP or a junior companion you are a servant of the Lord and if you have a strong desire and dont worry about what position you are in the "food chain" or line of authority you will be powerful. 

 One final thing there is this Brazilian guy in my zone and he wants to play me in soccer like everyday and today I get to play him because its P Day. If I meg him first he has to do 70 pull ups and call me the Dom Ching King and he said if he beats me he gets to call me Stevens Shimai (Sister Stevens) and I do 70 pull ups....but I mean....I have some good soccer tricks up my sleeve so we will see how that goes....but if I was a betting man I would bet that soon he will be calling me the king haha just kidding....but really though... Love you all and thanks for the encouragement. A mission isnt just 2 years of your life serving as the Lord. It is a lifelong calling we can all strive to be. We dont need to name tag to represent the Lord. Just serve always and do your best and he is Proud. 

-Stevens Choro