April 8, 2013 "Just keep Swimming. . . "

Hey family.

Dad, don't stress, you're not stressing me out with any of the things you said about the move or anything. I'm really not all that worried about it. And even so, the most amazing thing was that as I was listening to conference and all the things that the speakers said about the power of strong families and the importance of families being centered on Christ and on the teaching of the gospel and on service I was so happy to be able to think, "my family is really trying to be that way all the time." I was grateful to know that you are all praying to know what to do and that you all will be willing to do whatever the Lord asks because of the testimony that you each have of the Lord's love for us and for His other children as well. And since I know you have all been praying I can trust on the words of D&C 6

14 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, blessed art thou for what thou hast done; for thou hast ^ainquired of me, and behold, as often as thou hast inquired thou hast received instruction of my Spirit. If it had not been so, thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time.

15 Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy ^amind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been ^benlightened by the ^cSpirit of truth;

16 Yea, I tell thee, that thou mayest know that there is none else save God that ^aknowest thy thoughts and the ^bintents of thy^cheart.

So I'm not worried. I know that you want to follow the Lord and that He knows you well enough to give you the inspiration and direction that you will be able to recognize and follow even if you don't always know that you are.

I have a lovely new companion, Sister Vernon. She's from upstate New York and I am already learning so much from her, not the least of which is to have more patience with myself and love everybody more. We're not perfect and the Lord doesn't expect us to know how to do everything all at once. And in conference in somebody's talk (I don't know whose at the moment) I heard the promise that the Lord knows that we aren't capable of focusing on all the things that he has asked us to do at the same time, but that we have the promise that He will help us to know what it is that we need to be focusing on in our own lives at the right times.

This isn't my story but its something I needed to hear this week that someone else shared with me and so now I want to share it with you:

 

“Our District Leader called us one night and asked us to find 3 new investigators! It was pretty late, and putting all doubt aside, I simply replied, ‘we will.’ Kneeling in prayer, I asked for the spirit to literally lead me to those that would hear our message. I stood up, and just started walking. To make a long story short, the Spirit lead us to 5 different people, all of whom accepted our message and gave us their contact information. It was such a testimony builder to me, of how aware God is of each of us. And if we trust in him, we can do ALL things.”

 

For me this week we had a somewhat similar experience. We had zone conference and I wasn't feeling so great, but our zone leaders promised me that we would be able to find new investigators that day who would progress and new investigators that week that would be important to me for ever. And so tuesday I decided that I would trust that, that I would trust in the testimony that I have of the power of priesthood and that those elders hold the priesthood keys to lead and guide me and so that day we found 4 really great people who said we could come back. One lady said she had a Book of Mormon and she didn't really know what it was but she likes to read it when she is feeling down because she always feels better, a kid who is the cousin of another youth in our branch who promised to pray to know if God is really there and loves him, and two other teenagers-one who started out saying he didn't believe in Christ but believed in God and after we explained about 30 sec of why Christ is important he said, yeah that make sense. There are always lots and lots of other little experience to share, but I'll stick with that for now and give you another short update next week.

 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the last session of conference (I think we will watch it right now). But I'm looking forward to Elder Holland's talk since everybody talked about it so much.

Thanks mom for this:"Remember that God will direct you if you turn your day over to Him. I am working hard on it. That one decision moment by moment is the best and hardest. To just be obedient in all things is the big test. And I'm learning it little by little."

Hannah. You're so good. Just keep praying for what's right to happen and it will work out.

Paul. You are awesome. Did you know that? You are going to do some amazing things in this life. You already are doing amazing things in our family.You have been the most amazing example of cheerful obedience ("Sure, mom, sure!") and Pres. Monson told us yesterday that ultimately that's all we need to do. Be willing to do all the things that the Lord asks of us and to do them cheerfully. I know that if we do that we'll be happy. If you want to know what type of cheerfulness I think of when I think of you look at will on a day when he is happy and proud of himself for helping and accomplishing something.

Tom! You should write me a letter this week since you like writing so much :)

And will. Keep smiling :)

 

Jeremy! what did you like from conference? Do you have any inspirational advice for your big sis? How's Elmira? How are you feeling about the move?

I love you all so much

Steph

April 2, 2013

Ola familia!

Transfers happened yesterday, so sorry you didn't here from me. But all is well, I have a new companion (Sister Vernon) and the lovely Sister Campos went to my first area, Quinta do Conde. Funny how that happens. Also, an Elder I met yesterday during transfers played football with David. Life is funny and the world is small.

I was\am a little nervous about Sister Campos leaving and me being the one who knows how to get around and knows the investigators and members here and everything and the responsibility that implies (as small as it is), but my new companion is really great. She immediately started asking questions and talking about goals that will really really help this area and already helped me feel a bit more focused and not so flustered. So I am already excited for what we are going to be able to do this transfer. Also, she's from New York and knows Elmira. Small world.

This last week has been one of pequenas milagres. One to see how much the Lord has and is blessing me and those around me. The Lord gave me answers to all of my questions before I even realized the questions. One of our investigators finally had a bit of time off and in this short bit of time that she was able to give more of her time to the Lord, receive an answer about the Book of Mormon and begin to realize how important it is to give our time to Him. One of our eternal investigators finally had that lightbulb moment of "oh, I actually want to get baptized, this actually is a great blessing for me!"

Also, General Conference is this weekend!

I wish I could give everyone the excitement that I feel to be able to hear the words of a living prophet, in our own language! I don't know how to impress on people the knowledge that God is speaking to His children, that all the answers they need in this moment are right there, they just need to take a bus a half hour away and sit for a couple of hours and listen and they will have answers to what they need! How amazing is that! and how amazing it is that its to big a trouble for so many people to get out of bed on Sunday to go hear.

I love you all and I know that this gospel is true. That we have prophets on the earth today and that God is doing a marvelous work and a wonder in our day and age!

March 25, 2013

Arizona! Congrats to all who prefer the heat and to Dad who gets to do what he loves in the town he loves closer to family. :)

Mom and Dad both said so many times that moving to Arizona will have a big effect on me, but I don't see how that could be. I'm in Portugal. So no worries. We don't have to worry for quite a while (well over a year). :) But I will be praying for Jeremy and Katy. And for you all to know how to get through and succeed in whatever new circumstances you are faced with. I will be praying that you will know what to do with each and every decision.

 

Most of all in both of the emails from mom and dad, what stood out was that the Lord is answering your prayers already. The details aren't in place, but that desire to know that direction you should head in was finally answered and it seems like that has been something that you have both been looking for. So I'm happy.

Scripture of the day:

 

Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him.

Sorry this is short, but I love you all a lot.

 

Fight the good fight.

Steph

Yesterday we went to the baptism of two young men in our district in the elders' area with one of our investigators (Adriana) who I happen to love a lot. Adriana has been investigating the church for quite a while and always has one more doubt, one more question, always has one more fear of being wrong. One of the young men being baptized met the Elders last week, prayed and then decided (after hearing about fasting) to fast to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and then followed through with that decision. Both of these investigators are working and praying with all their might to do the will of the Lord, and because He knows their hearts and their desires He has the ability to answer them in the exact moment that is right for them, for them to know and not fall away.

March 18

Hannah. I laughed way hard at your #hannahprobs. Not the problems themselves but your reference to them in the subject of your email. :) You will do great things in this world:)

Mom said she liked my insert from my letter to president the other day and since it saves on time I thought I would do it again... and then I wrote it in Portuguese... so I'll stick it in at the end and if you get bored you can try to work it out. Maybe google translate can help? I don't use very complicated Portuguese.

 

Good luck with the interviews dad. I'll be praying for you. You are definitely a blessing to the ward, and I am glad as always to have a dad who always does what the Lord asks of him:)

 

As always, p-day letter reading and writing time is one of the most inspiring times of the week. It's a time for me to review all of the things that have happened this week and what I've learned and hear about the best and worst and just details that stand out to everyone that I love! I really appreciated the quote that mom sent me "The Lord said he would give us the words in the very hour what we should say... If the time isn't right their not going to remember anyway." I don't think there is anything that could be more comforting to a missionary. Some days, after rejection after rejection you start wondering if you're doing something wrong. Clearly we can always be improving and always should be, but that promise of the Lord's to give us the words we need wasn't dependent on our personal organizational skills or speaking skills or studying abilities or anything else. It was dependent on our efforts to treasure up his words by studying and living and doing all that we can to make it a part of who we are. And his other promises I have come to realize are the same. They are generally connected to commandment. If you pay tithing you will probably learn how to budget and will have a better ability to take care of the things you need, but the blessings of tithing are present long before we learn how to budget or be better. They are short term and long term. They come immediately because of power of the Atonement to make up the difference in our lives, and they come over time as the Atonement changes who we are.

 

I love you all. Fight the good fight.

Steph

p.s. Nos tivemos um pesquisador marcado por baptismo esta fim de semana que deixou de fumar por 18 dias já, mas ainda não um testemunho forte da restauração, Joseph Smith, ou o Livro de Mormón. Então nos esperamos a ensinar dizimo por mais tempo que nos devíamos. Quando nos ensinamos, não foi muito bom e não foi muito mal-- ele disse que cumpriria mas depois quando estava sozinho ele ficou um pouco confuso e chatiato com tudo. Então ele começou a beber e fumar de novo. Ele falou connosco no telemóvel e explicou que ele não estava muito bem e depois perdeu o telemóvel e nos não conseguimos falar com ele novamente. Depois todos nossos compromissos caíram e nos oramos que ele pode ser protegido até ele pode ter oportunidade a entender este mandamento e que nos podemos sentir do paciência e perdão que Cristo sempre tem para nos e para ele. E depois nós o encontramos na rua perto da capela e fomos lá e esta vez, ele entendeu dizimo--porque o ESPÍRITO estava la--nosso ensino foi mais ou menos ou mesmo, mas o espírito foi diferente. Tambem, por meio desta experiencia (não sei como exactamente) ele entendeu que ele não está a buscar uma resposta mesmo. Eu sou grata que o Senhor pode usar nos mesmo com nossas fraquezas para fazer este trabalho.

 

Prayer and Reincarnation?

Hi family.

Thanks mom for the letter this week. You amaze me with everything you do--working at CarMax, quitting CarMax, doesn't matter; you are doing your 100% best to follow the Lord and so He blesses you and the rest of us and I'm grateful for that. I want to be just like you when I grow up :)  

I didn't remember that prayer that we had as a family. Thank you for telling me about it. The power of prayer has probably been a theme of this week. (Prayer and reincarnation... this frustrates me to no end... I am not a good missionary--loving, understanding, able to teach with the Spirit--when people say that they believe in Christ and reincarnation... but that is not a story(ies) for this moment.) Anyways...

I didn't remember that prayer, but I do remember our Sundays changing. I used to just want to spend all my time alone on Sunday and at one point that changed. Sunday became relaxing and fun and just pleasant to be around each other (for the most part... nobody's perfect). So this is just one more testimony to me of the power of sincere prayer.

Yesterday after church we had a lesson with two of our investigators together. These two investigators have very very different doubts and questions, but the thing that stood out with both of them was that in every area that they have sincerely asked God in prayer to understand or to be guided, they have found a response. Now they both just need the desire to pray about the rest of their doubts and I am certain that God can and will answer them in just the right time. Its made me wonder if I really use this amazing gift of prayer to its full extent. When I've had a doubt or desire how many times have I just relied on my own powers and abilities to achieve it. How many times has Heavenly Father just been waiting for me to ask for His help in sincere prayer and I kept on struggling along all alone? 

Not that He doesn't continue to help me when I am stubborn and forget to ask, or that He likes to watch me struggle, but He knows how important it is for me to learn to rely on Him. And that skill can only be learned when I learn to pray sincerely, to talk with Him, and then see His answers, His blessings, His mercies daily. 

This quote that a friend sent to me is really long but really good. so yeah..

"[A student said to me], 'I know I need to do my best and then Jesus does the rest, but I can’t even do my best....I know that I have to do my part and then Jesus makes up the difference and fills the gap that stands between my part and perfection. But who fills the gap that stands between where I am now and my part?' Finally I said, 'Jesus doesn’t make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps. It is about filling us.'...Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. How many know what I am talking about? Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice....The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there. If Christ did not require faith and repentance, then there would be no desire to change. Think of your friends and family members who have chosen to live without faith and without repentance. They don’t want to change. They are not trying to abandon sin and become comfortable with God. Rather, they are trying to abandon God and become comfortable with sin. If Jesus did not require covenants and bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, then there would be no way to change. We would be left forever with only willpower, with no access to His power. If Jesus did not require endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us—part of who we are. Put simply, if Jesus didn’t require practice, then we would never become pianists."

Happy Monday.

Steph

p.s. I love you all. very much. Mom, Dad, Hannah, Paul, Tom, Jeremy, Will, Katy, and friends:)

Last Week's Letter

Hi Family!

As always it is so great to hear from you! And to hear from Jeremy finally!!

Your letters and lives are so inspiring and I am so happy to hear from you all.

This week has been a bit more of a struggle, but as always, comforting to see the ways that the Lord helps us overcome our weaknesses little by little, always pushing us to do and be a little bit more. This week I really needed what jeremy said to me in his letter, so I hope he won't mind me sharing: "all of that struggle I have endured has been me pushing forward as hard as I can with God removing just enough of the resistance that I can become stronger...I can thank God for not making it easy for me, but for helping me just enough that it can strengthen me."

This isn't necessarily a new concept, but seeing it applied in the lives of people I know and my life as well, it means a lot more. You have to start learning it with you heart and not just with your mind."I can thank God for not making it easy for me, but for helping me just enough that it can strengthen me," I want to have the strength to be able to say that everyday and everyday mean it--to everyday feel grateful for my challenges and for how the Lord is changing me. There is a song that we listen to almost every morning "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" that has a line "chasten my soul til I shall be in perfect harmony with thee." And I am learning how that process works. This is the plan that we came to the earth to live, the plan that is only possible through our savior and the plan that we can spend every day sharing with our friends and families and everyone around us. I was reading a talk by Pres. Eyring this morning, and at the end he said that this phrase of scripture can more or less sum up the plan of salvation in our lives. "And if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high." Endure it well. Part of the challenge is learning what that phrase means. Its not just sitting through hard times, its staying faithful, continually striving, and knowing that God will give us success, either now or in the life to come--knowing that no effort is wasted.

And just so you know jeremy. You can't be king of the nerds... you can't have a gym analogy and be king of the nerds... sorry, you are and will forever be cool. You have as mom would say, the John cool factor. Man, that phrase is just so mom. Ha ha.

Hannah! you are gorgeous as usual and your faith is even brighter :) New York! That will be amazing. better start saving ;)

I'm glad you taught yourself as you were wrtiting this week because you taught me too. Your crystal clear particle of truth for the week to me was this "God knows where it's going and that of I'm faithful I can fulfill the measure of my creation."

Woohoo!! mom is selling cars! you can do anything. And Dad coaching lacrosse? my family can do anything. I bet Paul loves having you in practice. I will be praying for your interviews to go well this week.

 

 

I love you all very much. Keep the faith.

Steph

The gospels true!

Fight the Good Fight!

Ola Família!

Como estão?

It is raining a lot today. Which is good because I like rain when I get to stay inside and today is P-day so I don't have to be walking around in the rain very much. Hopefully (and probably) it will dry up a bit before we hit the streets again.

Oh man, the Portuguese are really influencing me--I am genuinely talking about the weather. when I only have about 15 more minutes to email my family. People here are good at talking, which definitely has its ups and downs. Ups in that you can get to know someone really quickly and downs in that ... mostly ups I guess. :)

I like the phrase that Dad used at the end of his email this week: fight the good fight.

If we are really living the gospel to its fullest, if we have a sincere testimony that this life has a purpose and one of the most grand purposes is to become better, to be happier, by learning through our challenges and by constantly striving to be more like the Savior, a lot of this life will be a fight, a struggle, and one full of the peace and rest that only comes from giving our hearts and souls over to the Savior.

That phrase at the end of dad's email made me think of this quote from a talk called "a consecrated missionary":

"Parley P. Pratt was such a consecrated missionary. He had served as a missionary for more than 25 years of almost constant labors. He had just returned from his latest mission in Chile. He was hopeful that he could now remain home and enjoy his family, but such expectations were short-lived. President Brigham Young called him to serve yet another mission—this time in the eastern states. One can imagine the feelings that must have swelled up in Parley´s heart. Perhaps he thought, “Haven´t I given all that a mortal could be expected to give? Don´t I deserve to spend some time with my family and friends? Can´t I just relax for a while?” But Parley P. Pratt was a consecrated missionary. On September 7, 1856, shortly after learning of his call by Brigham Young, he offered the following tender reflections and prophetic insights: “I have desired, after travelling twenty-five or twenty-six years, mostly abroad, to stay at home and minister among the people of God, and take care of my family; but God´s will be done, and not mine. If it is the will of God that I should spend my days in proclaiming this Gospel and bearing testimony of these things, I shall think myself highly privileged and honoured. And when the Spirit of God is upon me, I think it matters but very little what I suffer, what I sacrificed—whether I secure the honor or dishonor of men, or where I die, if it so be that I can keep the faith, fight the good fight, and finish my course with joy. I have all eternity before me, in which to enjoy myself.” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p. xxv.)"

He doesn't really talk about, or try to explain the reward in the moment, the blesing of feeling the approval of your Father in Heaven, the rest and peace that comes to your soul as a witness that you are doing your best and that you are forgiven for the things that you can't do or don't do quite right and that its ok. I can´t really imagine what it would be like to serve for so long so far away from every normal comfort of life. The daily challenge for me is to remember on a daily in-the-midst-of-your-daily-routine level what the source of our joy should and can be--the Savior and His Atonement.

On a lighter note, happy almost birthday to mom (next week) and to dad later this month. I sent you guys some cards last week so they should show up in the mail in a few days.

I realized once again that I never include details of what is actually going on with the work here... I'm kind of terrible sometimes...

so I will just include the little\big miracle of the week that I sent to Pres. Fluckiger.

Miracle of the week: One of our investigators who was progressing the most disappeared for about a week. Then on Thursday he finally answered the phone and told us that he had stayed home all week with out leaving the house or really talking to anyone to quit smoking and he decided to do this after we had a lesson where we invited him to batism and prayed with him about the date. He didn't accept baptism with a date, but he started taking the steps necessary to be baptized on that date. So even if we didn't know what the results of our efforts were, the Spirit worked on him and helped him see what he needed to be doing.

I love you all so very much!!!

Have a great week. Fight the good fight. I let the Lord fill your heart and life with His love. Its worth it :)

Steph