3 in 3 to 3

Hola!

This is Emilia she was baptized last week by Elders Cook y Smith

Sooooo transfers came in on Saturday and I have a new area! 3 areas 3 transfers I'm in Barrio 3 in Madrid.

Saying bye to Elder Gillam

Elder Malan and Me

Us- goofing off

 

Just got off the train and it is super nice here! We're in the south west part of Madrid. I'm with Elder Tanner. He is from Las Vegas and has been out a little more than 6 months. I'm excited for this transfer. It is an area that has been here for a while so it will be different then starting up.

So this week: Last Monday we were in Madrid and got back with only a little time for emails so it was short, I will expound more today.

With the Christ like attributes, we had watched the "Finding Faith in Christ" video so I just picked out things in there that I liked. http://jesuschrist.lds.org/SonOfGod/eng/finding-faith-in-christ/video/finding-faith-in-christ

On Monday, we taught Juan. He is doing well. He read way more then we asked him which is amazing because he is so busy! He would be progressing but hasn't come to church yet. We taught about baptism and the spirit just going through 3 nephi 11 with him. The spirit was super strong during the lesson and he knew he was feeling it. He is also still praying very sincerely.

We met with Juan Carlos on Tuesday and started to teach and he told us that he didn't want to hear anything more. He said he was happy and didn't need a better life. It was just super sad to have him say that because he doesn't have a happy life. He's trapped with cigaretes and video games. but we had to stop meeting with him.

We also worked more with one of our members that night. She has a friend that she is sharing the gospel with. She gave the friend a Book of Mormon and is working with him to meet with us.

Here's my Fuenlabrada picture

Then Wednesday, I got to go on another companion exchange. We went to Fuenlabrada, pretty cool city but not as clean as Mostoles. I have a funny picture to show. Also found a snuggie. have a picture of that too. but we worked with some of the less actives that day and did some contacting. very good day.

The Snuggy!

We also went to the temple and were surprised with the new video! We were told to watch in English too. Very powerful and different. Then we spent 30 minutes just talking about gospel doctrine in the Celestial room which was very nice.

Friday, we got a new investigator named Luis. We had met him a couple weeks ago and were able to meet. It was a very good first lesson. Probably one of the best we have taught. We worked well together, explained our purpose right of the bat, and about baptism. He is an evangelist and so he wants a lot of Bible answers but he was very open to the Book of Mormon. It will be tough with him though to meet with him because he is only open on Fridays.

My sad tortilla de patatas

Then on Sunday we were super blessed. The less actives that we have been working with these past 6 weeks, all but one came to church! It was the first time they had been in so long but it was great to see them. I was so happy!

Well that has been my week. It was sad to say bye to Elder Gillam. He is staying in Mostoles, but he did very well training me. Have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving! 

Love 

Elder Stevenson


Last P-day



Indoor Snow Boarding at the Mall- didn't do it, just took pictures.

COLD!

 

 

This week was warm at first but Saturday 0 degrees!!! Celcius but still really cold.

This week has been good. We're working with members a ton. We have some pretty solid ones that are working with friends and doing missionary work. No member references yet but its getting there. If  things work out we should have 5! They are working super hard for us. It's awesome.

 

 I have been trying to be more Christ like and wanted to focus on those attributes this week and it was an amazing change. One story there was a super rowdy kid on a bus and so I went over and gave her a picture of the temple

and talked to her and it was super spiritual and the mom just kept thanking me and we almost got to meet with her but she had to get off the bus but still one of my favorite moments so far.

We met with Juan last week. He is working on a research project with some of the other professors and hasn't had much time to meet with us. But we met on Monday. He is doing well and wants to be baptized. We are going to explain more today and set his date and work hard towards that. We are super excited. He is one that is very solid.

We also met with Jorge and Lupe and they are ok. It feels like they are losing interest but we are still working hard with them. We will be meeting with them in 30 minutes. We are trying to get them to come to church but they just won't do it. It gets frustrating but it's their agency. 

We knocked some doors since it has been super cold and found some good people. 2 Americans from Texas we were able to share a little but they kindly rejected anything more. At the end, we met Juliet. on her door it said,  "With God all things are possible."  and she was very interested. We are meeting again Saturday. 

Very short week but still productive. We don't have much time. So I will send pictures next week. I love you all and thanks for the support. I really do love it out here and wouldn't change it for anything.

love

-Elder Stevenson
 

Moved- New Piso!

Hola Familia!

This week went pretty well, we met with some good people and moved pisos! 

 

Monday, we met with Juan. It was pretty cool cuz we taught him in his class room at the university. We taught the Plan of Salvation and he is doing very well and moving towards baptism- except for coming to church. We are meeting with him today. It will be a big focus. We are also going to set a baptismal date with him. I feel like he is willing to make the commitment. I will let you know how it goes next week. 

We also met with Jorge and we invited him to be baptised and he said yes kind of, he wants to learn more and know for himself before he chooses, but ever since that day he hasn't been able to meet with us and is just not as interested. We will see how he is doing with commitments though. 

We got to meet with a ton of members this week. We need to get them more involved in mission work. Some are great but others just need to be shown what to do. We are working with the Iglesias family and they are super awesome. They have 2 daughters in college and they have friends they share the gospel with. Hopefully we can find people there. We have also been doing just quick little stop bys with other members and inviting them to pray for people to find and share the gospel with.

We went and worked with a less active named Iris. She lives in a little town outside of Mostoles (there is  a castle there that we may check out today depending on if it is open) but she is doing well. She has a part member family that we should be able to meet with soon. 

On Thursday, the office elders came down and we signed a piso contract and got our new piso It overlooks a super sweet park

and is very nice. We had to build all this stuff for it though which was pretty annoying but it is all set up and looks good. It's kind of nice not dealing with 4 other elders in one place.

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, we were walking to an appoinment and right as we turn the street we see a car flip! It stopped on its side and never rolled but it was still bad! We and some other people had to help get them out of the car. Luckily, no one was hurt but it was still really scary for the kid inside. Once the police got there, everyone had to leave. I hope all is well with them but yeah it was crazy!

Well that was our week. This week we have a zone conference all day Friday and the other elders have a baptism Saturday. So hopefully we can get investigators there! 

I got the birthday bag on Wednesday so we had a mini party.

We made a super yummy cake.

I love you all and have a great week! Feel better dad! I will send pics in a different e mail.

 

 

-Elder Stevenson

 

Halloween and my 19th Birthday!

Hola Familia!

This week went pretty well! with all the coldness contacting is slowing down because they either aren't on the street or they don't want to stop and listen to anything. But we're still finding some people.

We met with our investigator Juan Wednesday night. He is doing very well! He loves to read! He read Joseph smith testimony, the Restoration Pamphlet, and a couple chapters of the Book of Mormon! It made me super happy to know his sincire desire. That night we focused on prayer and the blessings and answers that come from it and he will do it. We invited him to church and he really wants to go but he is sick and lives super far walking distance from the church. He also doesn't have a metro pass so we tried super hard to find a member that could pick him up in a car but it didnt happen. He has real desires. 

Later that night, we went and visited a less active member, Daniel, who is really into drinking so it's a huge problem for us but he accepts the missionaries and loves to listen and talk. He is the one that lives with Juan Carlos but Juan wasn't there. We are meeting with him today. We just need to get Daniel to enjoy church again and get him involved and a solid friend in the church. 

That day was Halloween and Spaniards go crazy! Their costumes are super creepy. Elder Gillam and I were in the metro and this lady dressed as like a ram demon thing comes walking in and everyone just turned with a disturbed look. Super funny. Elders Smith and Cook were coming off the metro and saw a huge group of people and they had bags over their heads and the lady in the center had like a baby coming out of her stomach. Not real of course. They said it was the freakiest thing in their lives.

 

 

We went to a pastry shop called Audry during Medio Dia for my birthday and it was super tasty!

I got some sweet soccer shoes and a Real Madrid jersey. I love it!

We are going to have a party on Wednesday because we get mail and Elder Gillam and I are moving to a new piso like right across the street. It's a brand new piso that is super nice. We have a view of a sweet park!

Yesterday, we taught a lesson to a man named Marcelo, he is from Brazil and has lived here for like 7 years. He is Evangelist so that was a fun lesson very bible based. He was asking a ton of questions that we couldn't answer because they are different then he thinks. He was asking about gifts of the spirit and expecially the gifts of tounges and yes we have that but his gift of tounges is in a different way. He absolutly did not want the Book of Mormon at first because of his church but at the end he really wanted it. You just have to help people understand and feel the spirit because if that doesn't happen they won't want anything. He said the prayer at the end and it was a very sincire prayer wanting an answer. Very good lession!

Yesterday we got fed for like the 2nd time while being in Móstoles. It was a Spanish family and they fed a HUGE pot of paella! I had like 3 plates! It was soooo good! The members serve us well they love the work happening here. The bishop called everyone out during testimony meeting. He had us stand and said we have 6 elders this is the time to help them out and was super fuerte about it! It was good though.

Oh yeah! so I went with Elder Dyer the other day and it was nice cuz he is super new and so it was a good look at training. We went to a member's house watched the Restoration and then asked if she knew people that needed this message and she gave us a reference. She didn't know how to invite her friend to meet us but we worked it out. I set up a food appointment where we just enjoy company and share some testimonies. She loved it and so we will see how it goes! 

Well that was my week. Today, we are going to a pueblo that is 10 minutes away that has castles and Taco Bell!! Great day! Then tomorrow I get my residency done and we are meeting with the Bishop to see what he needs from us. Should be a great week!

Love you all and thanks for the Happy Birthdays. The Jacksons called and sang me a sweet song that night.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Stevenson

 

P.S.Our paths crossed but its ok, Love you mom! Have a great week! I'm trying to add pics to my letter but the camera is being weird. We love cooking and the elders know Wingstop, give me the spices to use!

¡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!