Transfer 13 Week 6

This week was great.

On Monday, we were able to go out to lunch with Elder Atkinson and Elder Tunstall. 2 of my previous companions. Elder Tunstall is heading back to Canada this Wednesday as he is done with his mission. It was super good to see both of them.

Tuesday morning we got a call telling us that there was a Hmong elder that was coming to the mission field a week early and that he would be spending that week with Elder Goldsberry and I. We would be picking him up later that night. 

We had Zone Training Meeting, learned a lot of good stuff, afterwards we went out to a restaurant with our district, 4 Elders, and 4 Sisters. We would all be paying for ourselves. It would be about 10 bucks each. Our waiter brought us the receipt and he said that some couple across the restaurant paid for us and would like to remain anonymous. What a blessing. We were all soo grateful. Thanks who ever did that..

We eventually picked up Elder Bastian and then had dinner with the Deifenbachs later that night.

Wednesday we had to go to the mission office so that Elder Bastian could receive some training from the Senior Couples. After that we were able to see a couple investigators and Less Actives. We had a really good lesson with Nikia and Nikel, we shared the Book of Mormon with Nikia and then taught them the Plan of Salvation. Nikia just ate up the plan of salvation as she had already believed most of the points in it. It was great. We finished off the day having a dinner with the Young family. They're super solid. 

Thursday we had our 2 of 2 appointments fall through on us so we spent the day weekly planning and tracting. We were able to catch up with a lot of our records and find some cool people to hopefully start teaching.

Friday, we started off the day with an apartment inspection. We passed.. hah  We then went to the Widmans for our weekly service. That was enjoyable as always. We then had a lesson with Janice Williams. We shared with her the Families and Temples Pamphlet, pointing her to the temple. It went really well. We finished off the day doing service for Pat Jensen, helping her out with the portfolios again. We shared a good message with her and her daughter after the service.

Saturday we had a lesson with Gary (a recent convert) and Alyse (his nonmember daughter) We watched the Restoration Video and the lesson went super smooth. We testified super strong and were just super down to earth with her. It was good. Afterwards we saw Brother Vang, shared the Families and Temples pamphlet, pointing his wife and him towards the temple to be sealed. Afterwards we stopped by taco bell to use the restroom, as we walked in they asked us if we wanted some free tacos, so of course we said yes.. We got 3 Doritos tacos and 3 soft shell tacos, perfect for all three of us.. Miracle.  

We went on to see Firmin Delago and his 8 year old son Jordan who isn't baptized yet. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he really wants to be baptized! He just has to get permission from his mom before it can happen. Hopefully it happens before he turns 9 in a few months. We finished off the night Tracting with Mark. I went with Elder Bastian and Elder Goldsberry went with Mark. We were able to talk to some really nice people and be there for one women who opened the door crying. Its so cool how God puts people in our path. 

Sunday we had church. After church we went to the Tracers to give Sister Tracer the Sacrament. She told us about the Milwaukee Riots that had occurred the night before. People going crazy, protesting a police shooting. They went around burning cars and a few buildings. I'm sure you all have heard of it.. 

We then went to Cynthia, where we had an appointment with her. She was truly sorry but wasn't able to sit down with us because apparently some of her family members were involved in the riots and they were planning for a funeral on Friday. We shared an uplifting message and told her she'd be in our prayers. We then had planned to go visit some less actives that lived next to where the riot occurred. We stopped by them and drove passed the gas station that had been burned down. There were news trucks everywhere, I got some pictures and videos of it. Pretty sketchy! After that, we finished off the day visiting the Xiongs. Elder Bastian was able to practice his Hmong with them. 

Anyways, it was a fun filled week with a lot of stuff going on! We were told to tell our families that we are safe and sound! Hope all of you have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Stevens.

Transfer 13 Week 5

This week was pretty interesting. 

On Monday we went to the Brewers Stadium like I mentioned last week, it was a super fun day. I'll have some pics at the bottom for you guys.

Tuesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I stayed in Milwaukee and was with Elder Steenblik. We had some success tracting in the hood and had a really nice dinner with Bishop Chaplin at Sobelmans. Soblemans is only in Milwaukee and it is sooo good.. 

Wednesday we had to finish the exchange early because we had to put our car in the shop. We got the car from the MKE sisters who got double out of their area, and when they gave it to us (at the beginning of the transfer) it was all wrecked because they had a little fender bender a few days before. So we finally took it into the shop and we were car-less for most of this week. We bought buss passes and it was super fun experiencing the buss life of missionary work. 

By Thursday we had obtained bikes from some members, so we were able to buss/bike around everywhere. We had 5 appointments on Thursday, so the whole day was literally bike to a bus stop, catch the bus, bus to the appointment, bike the rest of the way, have the appointment, bike to the bus, catch another bus, bike to the other appointment. It was a workout! But miraculously we made it work and had some really great lessons. 

Friday was basically the same, we did service at the Widmans and had a really good lesson with Janice Williams who is making really good progress towards baptism. The only thing holding her back is not being married and living with her boyfriend. There is talk of marriage, so we'll see how that goes. We finished off the day by helping out Sister Jensen with some day care art. The sisters had been helping out before, but since they've been gone, we were finally able to make it over and help her. It was fun. 

Saturday, we actually worked out a way to borrow a car, until ours gets out of the shop, so around 6 in the evening, the A.Ps picked us up and gave us a truck to use. We saw Rozz that day and made some great progress with her. 

Sunday we had Correlation meeting with the bishopric, (something the stake is really trying to enforce. That went well. We saw the Tracers, who we take the sacrament to every week. This week she actually taught us how to crochet, which is actually super hard! But we got the hang of it.. We ended off the day with having a dinner with the Germann family, in their super nice home. It was an amazing dinner to end our fast to. 

Anyways, this week went super fast and we were super super busy every day! This upcoming week should look the same! Have a great week!

Elder Stevens 

Transfer 13 Week 4

This week we've been able to stay mostly busy, having multiple lessons with various people daily. This week we got a referral from the West Allis Elders, telling us they ran into this guy named Erik, and that they taught him a brief restoration and that we should call him to meet up with him. We were able to visit with him on Saturday. Eric is a super chill Hispanic guy that has sincere desires to bring his family closer to Christ. We taught him a full restoration lesson and set a baptismal date with him for Sept 3rd. Come to find out later, that Eric actually lives about 2 streets out of our area.. He lives in the Parkway ward, were going to have to call up the Parkway B Elders and give them Eric.. It sucks for us, because Eric is sooo cool and were just going to have to hand him over, but I'm sure the other Elders will be super glad to take him.. 

When we went back for an appointment with Nikel, a 22 year old kid that we met last week, we were able to sit down with him and his mom, Nikea. Nikea and Nikel both have a super strong faith in Christ. Nikea has seen lots of corruption and what not in religion so she is actually in the process of starting her own ministry with some friends. We taught them the Restoration and they sure arent afraid to let it be known what they believe. We weren't so sure how the lesson went, but afterwards they couldn't stop thanking us for stopping in and for the wonderful spirit we brought into their home. They would love us to come back, and share more but I'm not sure how far it'll go. They're super nice though! 

This month were going to have to start riding the bus to save miles. I'm sure I'll have lots more stories with that.. haha

Earlier today we went with about 8 other missionaries and toured the Brewer Stadium. It was really neat! I was able to get tonss of cool pictures. Neat Experiences. 

(Comp won't let me upload my pics, I'll have them for yall next week)

Anyways, Things are going great here. Hope you all have a good one!

Elder Stevens.

Transfer 13 Week 3

Another really good week.

This week we moved apartments to the sister's old apartment. The new apartment is much closer to the church but we are still at least 6 miles from our area. This makes it really hard on our miles.. The rest of the month will be superrr tight. We'll get through it though.

We were able to see a lot of people we haven't been able to see for a while now and set up a lot of appointments. Were super busy this next week. It should be great. Sorry for the shorter letter but things are going really good!

We had interviews with President Williams on Wednesday. Those went super super good. President Williams is awesome. He's a super down to earth guy and cares a lot. Super excited for him and what he'll do for this mission.

We get lots of Media referrals, being in the heart of Milwaukee. Most of them request a free bible so there isn't much there, but occasionally someone will request a Book or Mormon and be willing to learn. On Friday we got a referral from church headquarters for a Cynthia, who wanted a Book of Mormon and said she would be willing to learn. We called her up and set up an appointment to drop off the Book of Mormon on Saturday. We were able to sit down with her and teach her the Restoration and talk a lot about the Book of Mormon. She is super interested. She said she always wondered what Jesus was talking about when he said there were other sheep which were not of this fold like John 3 says.. She was super excited about the restoration of the gospel and she accepted an invitation to be baptized. We don't have a date with her yet, but hopefully we'll set one up on Wednesday. She came out of no where and is soo prepared. Miracle.

Anyways. Have a good week. I love and Miss you all!

Elder Stevens.