Lugo Cathedral and Stadium

Hey Family!

We had a really good week this week! Things have picked up really well! 

Members are doing really well on helping us. I had more member present lessons this week in a branch of 20 than I did in a ward of 120. So that's pretty cool.

 

On Tuesday, we went to a city on the outside of Lugo to visit a less active and he's super cool only he can't come because of work. But he's strong on testimony. We are going to visit him this Saturday and he has a friend who owns a doner kabab restaurant so he is going to teach us how to make the sauce. I'm pretty excited. I could then open my own kebab in Utah:P Then we met with our super cool investigator, Margarita. She is most likely getting baptized in 2 weeks so we are working hard towards that goal. She is super cool! She loves to share the gospel with her friends! She got us 4 references this week and 4 new investigators. One of them being a super solid family from Colombia. Can't wait until she is a member. We also met with Oti and her member friend this week. We talked about baptism and the holy ghost and it was a really good lesson. She's just not sure if she wants to settle on just one church so we re-enforced the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. 

 

On Thursday, our branch president went out with us and it was a super good day. One of the lessons was with Margarita. Then after that we went and passed by some of the female investigators we have so that way if they answered we could go in the house. We had a lot of success with that.

 

Friday, we went and did the same thing. We went to the hospital to visit one of Margarita's friends who got his foot cut off because of diabetes. So we went to comfort him and pray with him. It was a really good experience. Then we met with Margarita's other friend, the family, and we had a super great lesson with them. They have gone around to all the other churches and didn't feel it. So they are giving us a chance and so we are excited! They were going to come to church but then Sunday morning the mom woke up with an allergic reaction so they couldn't come.

 

Saturday, we were finally able to meet with a reference that we got from mormon.org. She had one of our cards and decided she wanted to meet with us and she is super cool! From Brazil and has a super heavy accent so it's pretty cool and she goes to an evangelist church but just for tradition. She said she just goes for something spiritual but she doesn't feel like it's the one church. She's excited to meet with us, and we're excited too.

This week just played out super well. Tons of help from members and from Margarita. We're super thankful for it. It was a week full of miracle new investigators. 

Hope everyone had a good week. Congrats to Sean and Chad for the big win yesterday. After Spain got kicked out, I was going for Germany. 

Take care. LOVE YOU ALL!

-Elder Stevenson

The River and Santiago de Compostela

Hey Family!

We're having a super good time here in Lugo. Things are going pretty well. It's a super tiny branch but they are doing somthing about it!

We had a super cool day on Tuesday. Had a lesson planned with a less active and so we're waiting for him at the church. Then this man comes walking in and I think it's the less active but wasn't quite sure so I start talking to him and stuff. Then he ask me if Tino was there (the less active) and I was just like, "uhhh no not yet" We waited a little longer and then had the lesson. His name is Juan and he is a friend that Tino invited to meet with us! He's super cool! We have only had one lesson with him so far but he accepted the invitation to be baptized. We are going to meet with him tomorrow and will try and set a date.

 

Also Margarita is doing super well! We had a lesson with her on Thursday and while we were having the lesson a man from the evangelist church comes up and starts shooting off all this anti mormon stuff. But it was all stuff where they don't understand what we believe and so we are going to meet with him on Thursday. While he was talking, she said she didn't feel the spirit at all and so shes glad she found the true church where we have the spirit. She also planned a super cool ward activity. Even though we don't have many members it still turned out really well. And she said her son is coming up in like 2 weeks so she's going to get baptized soon!! We're super excited. 

We have another super cool investigator whose name is Oti. She is a friend of a member. We had a lesson with her Thursday night. The next day she was talking to the member and talked to her about the spirit that she feels when she meets with us. So thats super cool.We have another lesson with her tomorrow.

 

It was a really wierd 4th of July this year. No fireworks, no family bbqs but we did make some good hamburgers. That was so nice. Hope you all enjoyed it.

 

We had some cool p days. Last week we went down to this river in our area and checked that out. It was pretty cool. Then today we went to Santiago de Compestela and checked out the Cathedral there. It was nice seeing the famous building. Super Catholic city though. There are churches every 5 feet!

Hope everyone has a good week! Love you all!

-Elder Stevenson

 

 

 

First Week in Lugo

 

Hey Family!!

 

Everything is going great up here in Lugo. The temperature is definantly wwaaayyy better than Madrid. That's for sure, it's like 60 degrees right now. But there is a ton of rain!

 

We have some pretty solid investigators up here right now. There is one whose name is Margarita. She is Colombian and super cool. She came to the church a couple weeks ago looking for someone to teach her about the Bible and now wants to get baptized. We just don't know a date yet cuz she wants her sons to be here so shes planning that out. She's super cool though, already a member of the branch basically. She planned a branch activity for this Friday. Soo we're excited for that.

 

 

Then we have another, her name is Angie. She's 19 and from Colombia also. She's super solid, accepts everything but her mom is super Catholic and so her mom won't let her go to church. Even though she is 19 the mom says as long as she lives in that house she can't go to our church. super lame. We are trying to set up an appointment with the mom so we can just talk to her. We hope all goes well.

 

We met a really cool person named Jaqulyn this week. On Wednesday, we decided to pass by one more house before going in and she was there and invited us in. Her son was there but didn't want anything really. Anyways we taught the first lesson and explained a little more about the Book of Mormon because she already had one but she hadn't even opened it. She told us after that she then understood the importance of the book and that she would read. We are going by there tonight so hopefully she read. We are going to try and set a baptismal date. I'm excited.

 

We are working with a ton of less actives right now. The attendance this week was 22 so we really need to retain the people we have so were working with them and it's good cuz some came to church. It doesn't help that our branch mission leader got offended and doesn't want to come to church.

 

We had some pretty funny lessons with the less actives this week though. Last night we went and visited a lady named Esther she lives on the way outside of town in a super run down house and has about 15 cats!! They were every where!! Then we visited another member the day before and he is a huge Venezuelan dude that speaks Spanish super quick so my comp has a really hard time understanding him. So I basically have to answer for my comp. The man asked if my comp liked the dessert he made and I told him no, jokingly, so he goes along with it and starts asking my comp all these questions and he just doesn't know what's going on. We got a good laugh out of it.

 

 

We spend a lot of time in the street contacting and not many people want to listen to us. Even though people are baptized Catholic, they are all athiest and don't want anything to do with God. So it's a bit tough but we still keep going strong and we will find the people that are ready.

 

Love you all and hope you have a great week!!

-Elder Stevenson

Hasta LUGO Madrid

Soooo transfers came and Dad I finaly have your answer. When am I going to leave Madrid? Last night at 10:30 to be exact. Hopped on a nine hour long night train  and got to Santiago in Galicia the north of Spain. Then we to a 2 hour bus ride to Lugo. It's a tiny little town in the north but it's Super Cool1 It's an entirly different world up here, nothing like Madrid. On the train it seriously looked like Italy. Super cool!!!!! 

My new companion is Elder Gorge and.... I'M TRAINING HIM! I'm super excited!! He already had 6 weeks up here with another elder but I get to finish up. He's from Indianapolis and plays football for Butler. Pretty cool.

 

We had a pretty tough week this week. With school ending and summer starting all of our people left town and we have the added world cup. Even though Spain is out, everyone still watches. 
 

Saying good bye

But with the people we were able to meet with, we had some great lessons. Joy and Tristian are still doing really well. Good News! Joy is actually starting her papers so she can get divorced. that means in like 3 years they can get baptized. But they are super good. It was a little tough saying bye to them because I have been visiting them for 6 months now. Hope one day to see the picture of their baptism.
 

Maverick is still doing really well. He has a date still for the 12th. He's working hard to reach that goal. Just a little problem with alcohol still. 

This week we talked to Veronica's friends and family. Nobody knew they, she and Natalia, were baptized and so on Thursday they invited us to go meet with them all and announce the baptism. The friends were all fine and excited that she did it. But her mom and sister freaked out. The sister has wierd thoughts about our church and so that's why but the mom is majorly catholic and so she was in shock. She calmed down a couple days later though. It was suuupppeeer hard saying bye to that family. They are all my best friends and I have gotten to know them super well. 

It was a great six months in that area. I saw a ton of miracles, got to know great people, and brought more souls unto Christ. I'm excited for this new area and hope I'm able to do the same.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Love you!

-Elder Stevenson









         My new Area: Lugo, Galacia, Spain

Cathedral de Lugo, Galicia

Roman Aquaduct

 

Natalia's Baptism!

 

Hey family!

This was a great week!

Natalia was baptized on Saturday and it was so great!! The spirit was so strong in the baptismal service. They invited some friends to come which was really cool! I went outside of my comfort zone a little bit and sang the song from The Children's Songbook, 'When I Am Baptized' but in Spanish. It turned out really well! Over all super great day! So happy that I was able to baptize her. Now we are just waiting on Karla but transfers come this week and I have been here for 6 months so we will see if I'm here for that baptism.

We had some really good moments this week. We were finally able to meet with a Pilipino man that we met a couple weeks ago and he is super cool! His name is Axid and he has a family of 5 which is really cool. He is super excited to meet with us and read the Book of Mormon.

We also have a guy named Mark who was at Joy and Tristian's house this week. We are going to start meeting with him so that will be good. Tristian is able to meet again but not for good reasons. He works in a kitchen of a restaurant and was pouring alcohol into a pan and the alcohol caught fire which went up the stream which then made the bottle explode getting fire all over his arms, clothes and hair. He was luckily able to extinguish it fast but his hands have 3rd degree burns. It was pretty bad. 

Maverick, we are not sure what is going on. I called him on Saturday to try and meet that night and he told me that while working he fell in a hole and ''broke his leg.'' Well yesterday we were outside waiting for a member and we see him running into Carrefour, a supermarket, to buy beer right before it closes :(  He loves going to church but still struggles with his the desires. Hopefully all will go well.

Sounds like you all had a good week. Hope all goes well this week.

LOVE YOU ALL A TON!!!

-Elder Stevenson

 

BAPTISM ON SATURDAY!!!!

Hey Family!!

We had a super good week this week!

First off.... NATALIA IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!

We went over Tuesday night to talk about it and she wasn't too sure but then we went again Thursday and she said ok! She had the interview on Friday and passed! We are super excited! That family is still doing super well. On Saturday, Veronica went and helped the sister missionaries with one of their lessons and they said she did great so that was super cool. Then yesterday, we had a super great lesson. Natalia is a little nervous for her baptism and she has to retake some test for school so we went over to give her a blessing. The spirit was really strong there. Then we were talking with them and Veronica has been really stressed because of the tests Natalia has and so I felt like sharing 2 things one was D&C 121:7 and then the other was the Mormon Message ''good things to come." It was exactly what she needed to hear. Such a great lesson.

Melting Pot! (from left to right)
Elder Barahona from Honduras but has lived in Spain his whole life, Elder Vasquez from Peru, Elder Molina from Ecuador, Me from the United States, Elder Larrea from Bolivia

Maverick is still doing really well. We had some really good lessons with him this weekend. He is done drinking coffee but still has problems with alcohol but it's going down. This week the sisters saw him on a bench reading the Book of Mormon! That's super awesome! He is still doing really well and has desires to change and be baptized.

We finished the lessons with Gabi but now we just need to figure out how she can get to church. That is all that is holding her back. 

Mainly, we have just been working with the same people. We are working hard on finding new investigators but they are having difficulty meeting with us. But as we start to meet with them things will go well. 

PIZZA!

 

Hope everyone has a great week! I'll let you know how things go next week with the baptism! We're just super excited.

love you all!

-Elder Stevenson

Paella!

 

Hey Family!

We had a super good week here this week.We started getting more help from members. All the members that helped this week are people that had never gone out with us before so that was awesome!

Our people are still doing really well. 

Gabi is still doing really well but something lame happened right as she ends her work which she gets fired from. She goes and gets another job and has to work sundays :( But shes just babysitting a little girl so with more time the family is fine with Gabi taking her to church with her. We are teaching lesson five to her right now so wrapping up everything. She is super ready to be baptized just have to get work out of the way.
 

Maverick is still super cool! We had a lesson with him on Saturday. Got him started on a plan to live the Word of Wisdom. He really wants to do it because he loves the church and wants to be baptized. He went to a baptismal service with us right after the lesson and he feels great about the decision to be baptized. He came to church on Sunday and our stake high counseler was there who knows Maverick and so they were both super excited to see each other.

We had a cool experience with Lucky Mike this week. he invited us over to eat. (a ton of food I might add. An African meat dish which was really good and a well done paella!) but we were over there eating and one of his friends came later to join us and so we were able to have a lesson with his friend about the Book of Mormon and were able to give her the book. Sadly she lives in a different area but it was a great teaching opportunity.

We had kinda the same experience with a man named Alder. OK get this. Alder is 17 living in Spain. He is Mongolian but lived his entire life in Russia. He speaks Russian, Spanish, English, Greek and Latin. He has super long hair and likes listening to heavy metal music. and he's meeting with the Mormons. When he gets baptized he's going to make a great I'm a mormon message :P  On Friday we had a small activity at the church and he stayed because he was already at English class practicing his English. We were able to have a great lesson with him. but sadly he's not our area. 

Veronica and her family are doing SUPER well. They just love going to the church and learning more. Veronica likes reading and so she always wants more books. They didnt have a Bible so Thursday we were at the temple for a zone conference so we got them a Bible and the conference ensign and they were super excited! We are going to try and have the baptismal interview of Natalie this Friday so I hope all goes well!!!!

This week was super good! Hope everyone had a good one too. Love you all and thanks for the support! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Stevenson