¡lluvia todo dia cada dia!

Mostoles Beauty!

Hola Familia! 

This week was very powerful, cold, and wet!!!

the cold day!

It was about 50 degrees and raining like every day this week! I had to have a coat, scarf, and umbrella. This just doesnt happen in California!

So this week. Monday right after p day, we taught a lady named Lupe. She is Spanish, 45, and has lived here for a while. She believes all religions to be true but was baptized Catholic. She has had a Book of Mormon since 1980 though! She showed it to us and it's super old looking! We taught her the restoration and she liked it. We met with her again yesterday and  that's how I know Mostoles is good because we finally had lession number two!!!! I havent taught it until yesterday! She invited her friend Jorge too and so we were able to get a new investigator from that. We invited two members to our lession and it was the wrong members that we thought and it was actually a less active who likes to bible bash. We had already taught the entire lession when they showed up and so while Elder Gillam was talking to Jorge the two ladies started freaking out and so I had to do something to fix it. I stopped them and just bore my testimony and just promised Lupe the blessings of reading and praying. It was one of the most spiritual things I have ever felt in my life. And I know she felt it too. She doesn't want to change but I asked her if God tells her these things are true if she would be baptized? And she said yes. So we kind of have a date. We meet with her Wednesday. Elder Gillam hadn't heard anything I said but when we were walking he asked what happened. Because he said he was just hit with the spirit. It's things like this that just solidify my testimony and make me want to share it at all times. 

All of the Rain!

Wednesday, we taught a man named Juan Carlos. he is 34, Spanish, and is Christian. He was the very first person we had talked to in Mostoles. He was on his bike and started yelling ´´testigos!!´´ (jehovas witness) and so I had to clarify. We talked a bit and he invited us over. Turns out he lives with an inactive member whose active parents just so happened to randomly stop by when they haven't done that in 2 months. Super awesome lession. The spirit was super powerful there too and he wants to change super bad. He feels the truth with us. We meet with him again Wednesday.

 

Elder Malan and his trainee

 

Thursday, I went on companion exchanges with Elder Smith. It was a day just for finding and we found. 9 new references!

Don't fall asleep on the train.    = D

We taught one on Saturday. Juan. Professor of Physics at a university here. 30 and once again Spanish! He lived in Maryland for years doing research so he speaks fluent English and prefered that. we taught the restoration relating it to science in a way. He loved it and has tons of super powerful questions. We are meeting again Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday because that's when he's open and he just wants to hear from us.

Other than that we taught English classes, family home evenings, and we did some door knocking and have had quite some success! It's easier to talk to people indoors right now!

Well that was my week. Super powerful like I said and a great start up to our new area. I thought I would share some things I learned this week too. We also had stake conference because we switched stakes. One man spoke and he talked about a digital diet just like we would a regular diet and also not to pull others down. Just becoming better people. This morning I was reading in Jacob 5 talking about the olive tree and it really relates well to missionary work. I challange you to study it this week. Learn from digging deep into it. also there is a thing I found in my study journal that I wrote in the mtc that's  good guidance. 

"The Spirit is not an intruder. He is our guest. What do we do for guests? We prepare. Clean the house, prepare ourselves, make everything as perfect as possible. when we invite, he will come in."

Have a great week everyone. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Dad hope all goes well with your foot and I was actually going to play basketball today but felt like we shouldn´t but when I play I will be safe. Happy Halloween!

Love,

Elder Stevenson

 

PS  The other elders in our old ward go to Maja once a week. Love you Mom, glad to be your baby.

 



Good thing I can cook. We have been making beautiful food creations lately- Thanks for teaching me to cook!



 

Surprise!

Hola familia!

So the reason this is called surprise is: On Wednesday night we got a call from the APs that they were closing Majadahonda. We were sad but we now know why the Lord didn't want us to have a piso! We are now Móstoles elders. It's where we have been living the whole time and now we work there. It's so nice having 3 more hours in my day! But we did have to start at zero again which
kind of sucks but its all good.

 

The  last days in Maja this week. We ended our p-day early so that we could teach this guy named PePe, he is a very nice man but after he very nicely rejected another visit. Then we met with one of our less active members who has been struggling lately. I hope we were able to help her out a little bit. On Tuesday, we taught an English class and then stopped by a couple people but they didn't have time for a full visit. Wednesday, we went to some of the old investigators who didn't have a phone and we were able to find a lady. She invited us back the next day and then we got the phone call. = (  went and ended our English class and said bye to as many members as possible.

Then Thursday, in Mostoles. we did tons of contacting because we had no one. We were able to teach a man named Ceasar, the lesson went really well but he didn't give us his number so we have to rely on if he is at the library at 8, most of the time he is not. Friday we just contacted more and worked with the ward missionaries. There are tons of ward missionaries in this ward. I love it! Saturday we had a memorial service for a lady's son, who had died a while ago but every year they do a remembrance. She invited tons of friends and then introduced us to them. It was a great time for the plan of salvation. We have lessons with these people next week. Then Sunday, we had dinner at a house that has more people in there house than Majadahonda has members!! Sooooo many people. Later, we were able to help out a lady who is 86 and can't move much. It was some great service.

 

Today, we went to Parque Europa- Super Cool Park!

 

That meat the man is carving is an entire pigs leg. I did get all of the postcards, thank you. Our zone conference is on the 1st so I will get my birthday package then. And to Kent and Diana... FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS A TI!!!! well I should go soon.

Love you all!

-Elder Stevenson

 

"Parque Europa is located in the suburb Torrejón de Ardoz, 25km from the center of Madrid. There are 17 miniature monuments of famous European sites and a piece of the Berlin wall throughout the park.  Each landmark has a sign with information about the monument and the country in which it's located. There are also food venders and water park attractions. The Parque opened in September of 2010."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That transfer flew by!

¡Hola familia!

That transfer flew by! I'm super afraid if the whole time is like this!

This has been a great week though!

On Monday and Tuesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Nunez, a zone leader from Texas, super great elder! We went and taught some lessons and then we went to this park and met a 17 year old Dominican named Emilio. He is a super great kid! Kind of was nice to get a little taste of Matt's mission. We taught him the restoration and they are going to meet with him again and his family. Later this week we met like 5 more Dominicans! 

Wednesday, we taught a man named Saul he reciently lost his job and then found us. We taught him and we were supposed to meet Thursday but we haven't been able to get a hold of him!! I'm super sad because he is a great man that the Lord has preparred for us. The spirit was sooo strong in the lesson. I just hope we can find him. 

Thursday, I went on intercambios again with Elder Cloward, also a ZL, so yeah! we wanted to work super hard in the street because all of our lessons canceled. We did we taught 4 lessons in a row in a span of 20 feet on benches! And also recieved 7 references including a lady who was a media referral, who other missionaries did not get a Book of Mormon to! So I did. We are going to start teaching her next week. Her name's Letizia she's from Romania.

Elder Davis, Ha! He knows the Sawyers!

 

 

Our investigator with a baptism date has been working a lot lately because her boss is in the hospital. Yesterday in the street we saw an investigator that we had dropped because he asked us to but we saw him and decided to see how he was doing and found out he is the nephew of Doris!! And she was right there with him!! I was so happy! We are going to start teaching her outside of her work during medio dia! It was a miracle we found her because her phone hadn't been working and she has been at work a ton!

When you work hard the Lord blesses you. That was verrrry big this week. Our usual references are 10 each week but we talk to everyone we can and get to be their friend and they listen. We got 26 this week.

This part is for Sean, Chad, and Dad. There is a lady in our ward who speaks German and  I was able to talk to her a bit.  I also talked to these Germans in the metro! New known fact. I suck at German. Mom, I have met Elder Nielson. Didn't know his dad grew up with Dad.

That has been my week. Oh and we are still in Majadahonda but we lost like half of our district. Crazy tranfer week. They opened up Segovia!

Have a great week!!

Love

Elder Stevenson

 

                                                     Photos of Segovia!

The Temple and General Conference

Hello! Feels wierd saying that!

This week went very well!

On Tuesday, we went over to a lady's house who was a reference from Las Rozas and we taught her the restoration. And she said she just felt right and so I commited her to baptism and she said yes! The spirit was super powerful and everyday my grows testimony more and more. I love it! We set it for the 26th of this month! But in order for it to happened that day she needed to come to conference but she had to work! We will work with her on that. It's just super tough with Spain's economy. Hopefully she can come to Stake Conference next week. 

With this week and next I will have been to the temple grounds 6 times! Tons of travel! But it's a great place to be!

 

 

We also taught a member's husband, who is not a member. He knows everything is true except prophets. So we invited him to conference! Come hear one and see what you think! But he did not show up so we are going to try and watch it with him at his house this week. 

We tried to meet with Adriana some more but everytime we have gone she has not been there. It's tough because she has no phone! So we just have to go by everyday and check up.

We got some good contacts this week. With one, I went up and started saying all of this stuff in Spanish and then she just looked at me and was like, "I speak English, sorry." And I was just like, "Oh, I speak that too!! Way better than Spanish in fact!" We talked a little about families and she agreed to meet this week. We also found a lady who had talked to missionaries in Peru but then moved to Majadahonda and there weren't missionaries. But we found her!

That was pretty much all the work because we were gone 3 days. But other great things happened.

 Conference was absolutely amazing! So many great talks. We watched Saturday morning live then went home and then Sunday at 11  we saw priesthood session, at 2 the Saturday afternoon session,  then the Sunday morning session live and didn't get to see Sunday afternoon. So give me those highlights! Some of my favorites were President Uchdorf's on doubt your doubts http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/come-join-with-us?lang=eng, Elder Holland's because it gave me peace about having dyslexia problems because I grew from that http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/like-a-broken-vessel?lang=eng, Elder Ballard's was great for missionaries http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/put-your-trust-in-the-lord?lang=eng . I thought a lot this morning on how I''m going to apply all I learned as a missionary. I know this was said 1000 times but member references! Please do for the California missionaries what I pray for myself everyday! We can contact for hours get one person who in all reality has a sincere interest in learning about the gospel but member references more than always are sucessful because of the love that member has for them and how much they want their friend to be happy through that. It was just a super great conference. Cool getting a mini shout out from Ballard. Also Elder Dyches http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/wilt-thou-be-made-whole?lang=eng and Elder Maynes http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/the-strength-to-endure?lang=eng were here with Elder Ballard so tons of people I have met spoke!

Also, I need Sister Parker to send me a short Email on how to do family history for a guy we met. Thanks!

Well have a great week. I love you all! 

Love

Elder Stevenson

P.S. Got the package when we went to the temple. Thank you so much!! Tons of good stuff.

Another good week, P-day at Segovia

Segovia, Spain

Hola Familia!

This has been a very good week! but crazy!

 

The beginning of the week was normal. We have just been meeting with our investigators and less active members, and contacting old investigators because other missionaries would take trips out here. While doing that we were able to find a lady just through asking what street it was. We are teaching her again today. She is a great person and has two kids, so that will be nice.



Segovia



We also started teaching Miguel's kids. They are nine year old twins and remind me of Spanish Jakob and Hyrums. They are super cool kids! Miguel is doing well. We teach him more and more and are praying for a baptismal date!! He is so prepared! 

Then I went on companion exchanges and because of the living/travel situation, it was for 3 days. I was with Elder Weeks, who was in my district at the MTC, it was so fun having two new guys together! It went really well though. We started out with a food appointment, a 10 year old kid was there and we were able to teach him. Then 2 of the Elders in our ward had a baptism. We were helping them out by printing the programs, and we were running a little late. We got a call that President Jackson is there so we take off in a full sprint through the streets of Madrid all the way from the PWC building to the chapel like 2 miles away! But we made good time and got the baptism started. Super crazy!

 

The next day, we played soccer with investigators and that was super fun but then it starts pouring rain and hasn't stopped for the past three days! Good thing I at least have a sweater and umbrella!

 

Then, I went back to Majadahonda and we did a lot of contacting. Apparently people don't think we will talk to them if they yell "¡Hola Mormones!" but then they end up getting taught a lesson. It's pretty fun. Also on the bus, there was a man who asked what we were doing in Spain and so we told him that we teach people about our religion. He said, "Well teach me then." We went through an entire lesson. He just looked at us and said, "You don't really believe that." I bore my testimony as hard as I could in my bad Spanish and everything changed. We got his info but he was only visiting Majadahonda. But still a really cool experience.

Segovia, Spain

 

Today, we went out to Segovia which is this super sick town on the other side of the mountains. They have castles and this super huge cathedral! We even got to do a tour of the castle. That was super sick! Google it, I would send pictures but once again no card reader on this computer.
 

Alcazar Castle

 

This week should be nice. We go to the temple on Wednesday and then this week end is General Conference! Should be a great week! But after conference we have to change our schedule.   :(    So with the culture of Spain, we wake up at 7:30 and go to bed at 11:30 during the summer but now we have to get up 30 minutes earlier. But its all good. Have a great week. I love you all and enjoy conference!

Love,

Elder Stevenson

 

Segovia Cathedral



Capilla Jeronimo de Carrion

Roman Aguaduct-Segovia

Castillo de Coca, Segovia, Spain

 

 

 

 

 

Maja Fiesta

Hola Familia!

This week has gone very well! Lots of great stories!

We still haven't moved into our piso but we found a better bus to take out there that gets there faster. The work picked up this week. We have been walking around to all of our old investigators, pisos of people other missionaries have gotten references of, and we got new investigators! One by people who were willing to listen and others we found on the street on the way there! We found 2 people who were members in Peru but when they moved to Spain didnt know where the church was! Now they know! 

Two of the investigators we have were old and they had set a lesson with the missionaries but when the missionaries showed up they weren't there and so the missionaries dropped them because it wasn't their area. We were able to meet with them and they are doing really well! Progressing well and gaining a testimony.

Manuel he is gaining a huge testimony and asks some of the most amazing questions. One of them leading to an hour talking about baptism but it didn't feel right to ask him to be baptized yet but soon. I have to rely on the spirit. 

We also contacted this man, Fernando and he rejected us but then a few days later we got a call from him. He said, "I just got an impression that Jesus Christ is real and I dont know why but my head was telling me to call you. Meet with me tonight. As you can imagine our jaws were on the floor. We met with him and he was so excited about what we told him and loves the Book of Mormon. And yes, it was the English copy he speaks English!! I talk a lot with him. But we also met with him yesterday and he isn't to sure about joining the church because in Spain it's more popular to be Catholic. But he says he knows the Book of Mormon is true so we are working hard with him.

I went on companion exchanges with a Spanish native with 2 days left of his mission. So you can imagine how hard he works. We got three new investigators in 1 hour it was amazing.

Also in Majadahonda they had a fiesta this week. There were bull fights and runs. This weekend it was pretty insane.

 

 

Bullfights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qytG-ezPXTY
 

Fiesta:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddfZyYDg6Bw

Well, that has been my week. Sounds like you had a fun vacation. Mom, do you know the status of the package because the mission office doesn't have it yet. Just was wondering, I think the MTC may have it. Have a great week. Wish Jed luck for me and I think Jacob Cullem leaves this week as well so him too.

 

 Love you all!!

-Elder Stevenson

 

 

 

 

 

Miracles

Hello World!

I forgot to talk about some things last week so that comes first. Elder Gillam is from Tehachapi, CA. Its in Bakersfield area. He's 20, plays tennis, and has served up north a lot. He's been out for 1 & 1/2 years. Great man super funny.

    Sean I had Doner Kebabs! They are really good. Don't freak out too hard :P They have them every block.

Kent there is a huge PWC building that I see every day! Coming to Spain soon?
 

OK This week, first. I have an exclamation mark!!!!!!! ha! ha! This has been a crazy week! Here we go!

I got some stomach bug thing so I was sick like all week. Don't worry I got better. Crazy Spanish drugs. But even though I was not well, we still worked just as hard.

We are teaching those three people right now and they are progressing. I hope all goes well. A lot of this week was lessons in the street. We taught Emilio but he doesnt live in Maja so that sucked.  Then Elder Gillam left his planner on a bench after another lesson and when we came back a girl had found it. And we were able to teach her and get her reference. I know things will go well with her. We also have met a lot of new people because of searching for old investigators. We also found a lady that was baptized 10 years ago then moved and lost contact with the church. We found her because we were looking for a street of an old investigator. It has really been amazing! We just wish we had more investigators but when it's a new area it doesn't start out with people. So soon we will.

We finally found a piso like 20 minutes ago! It is absolutly perfect! I'm super excited! Instead of hours of travel it's 30 seconds!! It has AC and heating! Speaking of which Dad I need to buy a coat soon so heads up! But yeah, it rained this week and was like 50 and I didnt have a coat! This California boy was freezing!

Dad I love your missionary stories, keep up the great work! Honestly not being afraid and just doing it. Is what we all need to do!

We had a special fireside Saturday morning with Elder Ballard, yes the Elder Ballard!!!, We got to shake his hand and he spoke with the 3 Madrid zones and MTC missionaries. He talked about the importance of the work and "what am I supossed to do" from Hyrum Smith in D&C 11. He also talked about why he works so hard at 85 and its because he understands Gethsemane. He carries a picture of the Savior in his wallet to push him along in the work. I suggest we all should do it too. It's great advise from an apostle of the Lord.

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/63983/Taking-light-of-the-gospel-to-the-world.htm

Today we went to Toledo and checked out castles and swords. I have a sick picture in chainmeil and a helmet and sword but this computer doesnt have a sd card thing so next week. It was a super cool p-day.
 

 

Well, I should go soon. Tell all of my friends I love them and miss them. Same with the nieces and nephews. I love hearing their stories and how they miss me. Tell Ariela, I got her letter and that her wax seal was super sweet and I'm working on the response. Well have a great week todos personas! I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love,

Elder Stevenson