Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Transfer 15 Week 6

Well well well, Transfers are this Wednesday and Elder Hill and I will be staying together for another 6 weeks in Escanaba. This week flew by. 

Monday was Halloween. We weren't allowed to knock on doors or proselyte on Halloween so we had dinner with Capt Jim Jacobson and his family and spent the rest of the night with them. Capt Jim is soo funny.. We got there, ate, and then he put in a Christmas Mormon Tabernacle Choir VHS in for us to watch.. His son was at the door handing out candy to little kids and we were inside watching a Christmas VHS. Pretty funny. 

Tuesday morning we raked leaves for Sister Kirchner in the morning and then we had District Meeting. After district meeting we went and Blitzed Iron Mountains area. I went with Elder Pawluk and we had a great time. We went and saw one of their investigators, when we got there for the lesson, they were just starting making dinner for us. This was one of the most boonie places I've been.. There were dogs and cats everywhere, unfinished construction all throughout the house and dirt everywhere. She made us Macaroni and Cheese, with chicken (supposedly) and baked beans. It honestly was quite an experience. They kept egging us on to eat more and more but we both had quite enough after one helping.. It was pretty great. After having a nice lesson with them, we went over to another one of their investigators houses for dinner since it was her birthday. Let me tell you.. that was hilarious. Elder Pawluk had a minor allergic reaction to something he ate earlier.. so there were like 3 drunk people egging him on to chug the rest of the Benadryl they had (which was expired a year and a half ago) he did it.. Didn't feel too well afterwards and then one of the drunk people was all anti Mormon and so the other elders and a member started teaching him the Restoration and answering all his questions, but because he was drunk out of his mind he had noooo idea what was going on and all of his comments were soo funny.. Idk.. It was just a great night. 

Wednesday, Elder Pawluk and I helped Brother Erickson repair some less active ladies shed. Which went well, and then helped Brother Erickson out with random miscellaneous items he needed help with around his house. After helping him, we were able to talk with one of their investigators named Jack. Jack has a lot of different views then the rest of the world.. they were quite interesting. We were able to talk with him for a while, answer some questions.. and then Elder Hill and I headed back to Escanaba where we had a really good lesson with Jill and Joseph. We finished the Families and Temples pamphlet with them. Joseph has a really strong desire to get sealed in the temple, and wants to work towards that goal, however Jill is still skeptical of that goal. I wouldn't blame her though as all of this is super new to her. She's still reading the Book of Mormon and feasting off the words that are in that book.. They're doing great. 

Thursday we were able to see Sherry with Sister DePaul. We went over the first half of the Families and Temples pamphlet with her. It went well. We weekly planned the rest of the day and then had a really good dinner with Sister Bizeau and Tori Wilber. 

Friday we helped out at St Vincents in the morning, collecting hangers for their monthly bag sale day. Our Appointment with Shannon fell through since she was sick. We Raked Bunny's leaves. Which went super well! She had her 30 year old daughter come out and help us rake, after raking they ordered a pizza and we had a really nice talk about what we do as missionaries and what not. We shared a really good Restoration with them and Bunny and Kaity are both interested in learning more. It was honestly really cool. 

Saturday we had correlation with Brother Ollero in the Morning. He took us out to Hong Kong Buffett afterwards. We then helped move in a couple that are moving into our branch. The Pughs. Afterwards the Wilbers asked if we could help Rake some of their leaves as well, so we helped them out and then they fed us afterwards. 

Sunday we had a member from Stevens Point WI come up and Visit Elder Hill so we had a little lesson with them in the morning, going over the Families and Temples Pamphlet. We then had a Regional Stake Conference that was broadcasted to over 141 stakes in the Mid West, instead of normal church. We heard from the Stake President in Green Bay and then the Broadcast switched over to Salt Lake, where they had many area authorities address us, including Elder Renlund of the 12. It was nice. Later in the day we were actually able to make it into the Gentz home and have a lesson! We taught them the Plan of Salvation. They had a lot of questions and i think we were able to answer most of them. Hopefully we'll be able to get in and see them for frequently now.

Things are going well though! I've got less than 3 months on my mission which is crazy to think about!

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Stevens.

Transfer 15 Week 5

Another week flew by..

On Monday we had a normal Pday, after emailing and what not we went to the Dam in Escanaba to take some pics. Ill link some below. In the evening we stopped by potentials and knocked doors. We were able to find this cool lady named Emily that we'll follow up with this week.

Tuesday morning we Blitzed with Marinette in Escanaba. I went with Elder Miller. We were able to park contact and talk to some people. After that we had District meeting. After DTM I went on Exchanges with Elder Schoenfeld to Marinette. We knocked a lot of doors and talked to some people and were able to visit some people they're working with. Decent day.

Wednesday was the same. It was super rainy, so we tried to visit a lot of less actives and people they hadn't seen in a while to make the most of the day. In the evening, we exchanged back. Elder Hill and I went straight to our weekly appointment with Joseph and Jill. They are doing great still! Jill has read all the way through 2nd Nephi 19 and she says she cant put it down! We read out of the Families and Temples pamphlet with them, were trying to point them to the temple but of course to be married first. Joseph says he would love to make it back to the temple. 

Thursday was weekly planning. But we were able to see Sherry. Shes doing really good, she was able to read out of the Book of Mormon this week and we showed her how to use her Roku TV to be able to listen to the scriptures as well. We taught her the Law of Chastity which was pretty straight forward for her, she agreed on everything. After Sherry we knocked on some doors and met a really awesome lady named Barbara. We also stopped by the Gentz and some other people we haven't been able to get in with and set up appointments to go visit them. 

Friday we raked some leaves for a lady in our branch. She gave us shrimp and bacon for helping her out. Worth it. Later in the day we drove out and saw John Casari, the member referral from Brother Cunningham. We had a really good lesson with him, the spirit was super strong as we watched the Restoration DVD with him. He's very thankful for our visits as he gets pretty lonely. 

Saturday we had Correlation with Brother Ollero in the morning, he took us out to Subway to eat. After that, we went out to Gladstone and knocked some doors. Later we had a lesson with Sister Desotell, a recent convert. She's doing really well, we focused on her reading the Book of Mormon daily and getting her Patriarchal Blessing. We finished off the night attending the branch Trunk or Treat. We couldn't think of anything to dress up as so we just went in normal pros clothes. That was really fun. 

Sunday we had church in the morning. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on the Atonement. I think it went pretty well. Joseph and Jill were able to make it to church which was exciting! Brother Butterfield also brought one of his friends to church who he says is super ready for the truth! That's a miracle.. Were going to hopefully start working with his friend named Maxeen. Also, a sister missionary came home early from her mission due to health reasons and she brought her friend Jamie! We had 3 nonmembers at church which is great! They all seemed to really enjoy it. After church we finished our studies and then had to stay inside the rest of the night as I started to feel under the weather. There's a lot of sickness going around Escanaba right now.. The extra rest I had yesterday really helped as I'm feeling much better today. 

But yea, it was a pretty solid week! We still have baptismal dates with the Gentz family, which we should see tomorrow. and Also with Shannon, who has been sick recently as well.. Jill and Joseph are doing amazing! We're doing all we can to keep finding and teaching the people we have! 

Elder Stevens.


Transfer 15 Week 4

Good week this week.

Had an average Pday, our appointment with Jenny Monday night fell through. We brought Brother Ollero to that lesson and since it didnt go through he took us out to eat at Wendy's which was pretty sweet!

Tuesday we had District meeting and then I went on exchanges to Iron Mountain with Elder Miservy. Iron Mountain is so pretty, it reminds me of Baraboo. We met this really cool guy who was really interested in Iron Mountain named Ralph. We taught him the Restoration and set up a time for the Elders to come back and teach more. We also tracted into this less active lady that needs a lot of service done. We were able to talk to her, help her out a little bit and set up a time the elders could come back, mow the lawn and have a lesson with her and her non member son. We also had a really good lesson with this lady named Wanda. Brother Lewis came with us and he shared an experience about him fasting for 6 days.. (I didn't even know that was possible) finally after 6 days he received his answer and was able to eat again, being happy with the answer he received.. crazyy

Wednesday, still in Iron Mountain, we helped out at the St Vincent De Paul Thrift store in the morning and then knocked some doors before we had to exchange back. Once i got back to Escanaba with Elder Hill we had a lesson with Shannon. Brother Berry came and we taught the Restoration. It was a really really good lesson.. Shannon really wants to come closer to Christ, we were able to set a baptismal date with her for the 10th of December. After that lesson we saw Joseph and Jill. Joseph had some errands to run so we weren't able to stay for long but Jill is still reading the Book of Mormon everyday and she's all the way in 2nd Nephi already! She's just eating it up! We left her with a Families and Temples Pamphlet that we will go over with them this Wednesday. 

Thursday was weekly planning! We had a lesson with Sherry that Brother DePaul came to, we had planned to teach her the Law of Chastity but interruptions made it so we had to cut the lesson short again.. so we just ended up sharing an uplifting scripture. We finished off the night having dinner at the Cunninghams. They're awesome. 

Friday we tracted and visited people most of the day. Our follow up lesson with Shannon fell through and then we had dinner at the Berrys home. 

Saturday we had correlation in the morning. Brother Ollero took us out to Hardees for lunch and then we did some service for the Gould family. We helped them move furniture around and we were able to use our truck and help haul some furniture. After that we carved pumpkins at Sister Bizeau's house, then had dinner at a Branch Pot Luck/Game night. There were some less actives there that we were able to talk with and set up appointments with. It was a great day!

Sunday was the Primary program in church. That's always fun.. After that we went to go visit a referral that Brother Cunningham gave us. We went with Brother and Sister Cunningham to go see John. We talked with John for a while, he's a lonely older man that has had a really hard life. We shared the Restoration with him and talked about Restored Authority and Priesthood. We offered him a blessing to help with some trials and struggles he's been going through recently. It was a neat experience. The Gentz appointment fell through again since Sophie is sick.. We finished off the night seeing Josh again with Sister Wilber. 

Great things are still happening in Escanaba! 

Hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Stevens.


Transfer 15 Week 3

This week was swell. 

On Monday we did some proselyting in the morning so we could go down and spend the rest of the night in Marinette. We stayed the night in Marinette to be closer to Green Bay so we didn't have to drive as far for Zone Training meeting Tuesday Morning. 

Tuesday we had a really good Zone Training meeting. It was mostly on unifying the mission on becoming a Zion mission. It went well. After ZTM we had Interviews with President Williams. That went really good as well. Everyone loves President Williams. After interviews we went on exchanges with Marinette so Elder Miller and I spent the rest of the day driving all the way back to Escanaba. 

Wednesday we had the soup kitchen in the morning and then lots and lots of tracting in the Rain. We met some really nice people but no body was too interested. However our lesson with Jill and Joseph went great. Jill had been reading the Book of Mormon and she got to 1st Nephi chapter 10. She had a few questions and comments about some things that she really enjoyed. When she was reading some of Joseph Smiths experience she read that the plates had been Sealed up, she thought that was interesting as in Revelations she had read something about a book being sealed up.. She went on to say that she felt like it was all true. We asked her to be baptized and she said Absolutely. She wants to keep reading the Book of Mormon so it'll grow on her and to pray for a date to be baptized. Sooo awesome!!!! Things are going sooo amazing with them! 

Thursday we exchanged back in the morning and then Elder Hill and I helped Sister Kirschner put up her Christmas lights. She said its better to put them up early when its still decently warm than to put them on later when its freezing! Very true.. Later, we had a really good lesson with Sherry on the Word of Wisdom. She was very accepting of the principal and didn't hesitate to try it out. 

Friday we spent a lot of the day Weekly Planning and then in the Evening the Zone leaders came to Escanaba to Blitz the area. Elder Ipson and I were able to find and teach a few people and it was really awesome. We met this guy named Justin who opened the door almost falling out of it.. He was visibly drunk and said the F word 3 times in every sentence. However Justin let us in to share our message. He sat down, lit a cigarette and then told us we had 5 minutes. We started teaching a Restoration and before we got through the first point (The Gospel Blesses Families) he already broke down and told us all about his problems. He was very hesitant, rude and arguable but who isn't when they're drunk.. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and would give us a call if he liked it.. hah Hopefully he sobered up and actually did read some of it.. we'll follow up with him this week though. Cool Experience. 

Saturday morning we did some more work with the Zone Leaders and then they took off back to Green Bay. Elder Hill and I had a lesson with the Gould family. The Goulds are semi active and their daughter is turning 8, so we've been asked to go teach her the lessons. It went well! Later that night we had dinner with the Branch Presidents family, the Schmidts which went really well and then saw Capt Jacobson to finish off the night.

Sunday we had church, then had a couple lessons fall through and so we spent some time tracting, we found this really cool girl named Shyanne. Shes our age and seemed pretty interested. Later that night we had a lesson with the........... Gentz. We finally got back in with them! After 5 weeks of them canceling and being sick and blah blah. We finally got in and had a really good lesson with the DePauls. We watched the Restoration DVD to refresh their memory and then re-set their baptismal date to the first week in January. (we'll move it sooner when their ready) Their kids love us and really really want to go to church but Stephanie, the mom, has anxiety and isn't ready for that step yet.. We'll work on that. It was just great to get back in with them again! We finished off the night seeing Josh, it was his birthday so it was cool to spend some time with him. 

Anyways Lots of good things are going on with Jill and with the Gentz! We were able to find some really cool people and get back in contact with some other potentials this week and so we have a nice full week next week! 

Elder Stevens.


Transfer 15 Week 2

Another good week..

On Monday we had Pday, we went out and did some hiking for a few hours and then finished off the day seeing a lady named Mary that we had taught the restoration to at the door a few days earlier. We sat down with her and had a really nice discussion with her. The Gentz fell through again.. 

Tuesday before district meeting we knocked some doors and met a really nice lady named Stephanie and a cool guy named Ben. We then had lunch at Burger King with the District and then had district meeting afterwards. Iron Mountain stayed in our area after DTM to blitz the area. I went with Elder Pawluk. Our plans were to tract a little bit and then have a lesson with Cindy, then do some more finding. However on our way to Cindy we got a text from her saying "I am no longer in need of your services anymore thank you" Confused, we called her and she rejected the call and then texted "Please don't call or stop by anymore thank you"... So that opened up our night.. We have no idea what happened! She dropped us out of no where! We were going to invite her to baptism at that lesson.. bleh.. So we spent the rest of the night tracting where we actually found this really awesome guy named Jared, that has some potential! 

Wednesday, Elder Hill and Elder Miservy went to help out at the soup kitchen while Elder Pawluk and I went over to Brother Jacobsons house to help him buff his garage to get ready for some paint. That was quite fun actually. Some nice labor. After the Soup Kitchen, the other elders came and helped us finish the job. That night after the Iron Mountain Elders took off, we had dinner and a lesson with Joseph and Jill! They had a really nice steak dinner waiting for us when we arrived! After the great meal we had a really spiritual lesson on the Plan of Salvation. Jill had lots of questions and said it all made sense! We set up another appointment for next Wednesday. Things are going sooo great with them! 

Thursday was our planning day, but we had a lesson with Sherry. She really liked conference but said she still isn't ready for baptism.. We established our expectations with her and she said she would like to continue on learning and supposedly after we teach her about the commandments and laws and ordinances she'll be ready for baptism.. So that's our plan with her. Continuing to teach her as if she is preparing for baptism.. 

Friday we helped out at St. Vincent DePauls collecting hangers for 2 hours, for our monthly service with them and then spent the rest of the day knocking on doors and park contacting. We were able to meet and teach the Restoration to a few people that day. More doors than usual didn't answer that day.. We had set up another appointment with the Gentz for that night but you guessed it.. it didn't go through AGAIN. We finished off the day ordering Pizza Hut with a gift card some members gave us.. so that was nice :)

Saturday morning we had Correlation meeting with Brother Ollero, afterwards he took us out to Wendy's. We had an appointment fall through in the morning and then we went to a Branch activity that was held at a local Corn Maze! We spent a good chunk of the day at the corn maze with the branch, getting lost in the maze, petting goats and other miscellaneous animals.. going on a hay ride, and doing other fun things. It was really fun! It was a great opportunity to get to know the branch a lot more and gain some more trust with them! We had to leave early to make it to dinner with Brother Jacobson, he had a nice steak dinner waiting for us as well. After the wonderful dinner we finished off the day by going and giving a blessing to Sister Fredrickson who has been having a really hard time with some illness.. 

Sunday we had a full house in our branch building. A tour bus with some 40-50 people from Utah had been traveling the Mid-West, going to all of the temples and they stopped in Escanaba for church. It was cool to see a full house and have such power during the hymns. After church we visited people and knocked more doors. We talked to this super sweet guy named Rob, with a sick beard that held the conversation.. and also met some other really nice people we gave BoMs to and said we could come back. We finished the day seeing Josh and giving the sacrament to him. 

It was a really good week! Too bad that Cindy dropped us and the Gentz cant keep appointments but Jill and Joseph are doing amazing and we were able to teach a find a lot more people to make up for Cindy and others! The weather is a lot cooler.. we were able to see our breath in the air last night which is cool/frightening for the future.. Things are going good though!

Elder Stevens

Some Pics from last Monday


This week was good!

Monday was a normal Pday, I got a fresh cut from a Barber in town. I might add that this was a classic hick barber joint.. like the ones you see in the Andy Griffith show. It was awesome.. Later that night we were tracting and knocked into this lady named Jenny. We stepped in and taught Jenny and her 3 kids the Restoration in the entry way. They were super awesome! We set up an appointment for later that week, but it fell through because her Mother in Law went into surgery.. She called us though to let us know she wouldn't be there though! Which never happens.. so were excited to stop by and try to get back in with that awesome young family. 

Tuesday was a long day of tracting, park contacting and visiting less actives in the country. It went well though, we were able to stop by and talk to some potentials we hadn't seen in a while and establish contact with them. It was good. In the Evening we went to Dustys Uke class again. That was fun, we were able to talk with more people from the community in a non threatening environment. It was fun. At the end of the day we decided to stop by Joseph Ivie and his girlfriend Jill. We stopped in at just the right time and we were able to talk with them for a while and then set up a time to teach them on Wednesday! Super exciting. 

Wednesday we helped out at the soup kitchen, then knocked some doors. While knocking we met a really awesome lady named Bunny. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she seemed really interested in reading it over the course of the next few weeks. We'll stop by her soon to see if shes really reading! We also met this nice old lady named Lola. We were able to testify about eternal families and that she would be able to see her husband again which brought her to tears. It was very sweet. Later, we saw Josh, then had dinner with Sister Bizeau and then finished off the day having that lesson with Jill and Joseph Ivie. The lesson went Great. We went over the Restoration, the spirit was super strong and Joseph, who has been less active for about 12 years (hes 30) was testifying of the Book of Mormon to his Girlfriend! He talked about how this is something that he really wants to get back into and that he could feel the spirit super strong, and he knows that meeting with us and teaching his gf and his two younger daughters will bless them soo much. He set up an appointment for next week and said to come hungry because hes going to feed us! It was awesome.. Cant wait to keep meeting with them. 

Thursday we were able to see Sherry with Brother DePaul. The lesson went well, we went over receiving revelation for General Conference and focused it on her finding her answer about if the Priesthood had been restored. She came to conference on Sunday so hopefully she got her answer!! All of our lessons the rest of the day feel through so we spent more time tracting and weekly planning!

Friday we had a lesson fall through in the morning and then we were able to go mow Sister Bizeau's lawn. It was nice getting out of Pros Clothes and doing some work with our hands.. Even though mowing isn't that tough. It was just a good change of pace. After having a lesson with Sister Kirchner, we spent the rest of the day visiting potentials and finding people. 

Saturday, before General Conference we made our rounds to a bunch of people inviting them to watch general conference. The conference was really good! We missed the First two talks of the first session because we were tinkering around with the satellite trying to get better reception.. We had a nice ice cream social before the Priesthood session and then made it back home almost fell right asleep being spiritually exhausted. 

Sunday we had Sherry at church with us watching the conference and then between the morning and afternoon session, the branch had a potluck. We had some less actives and an investigator there so the potluck was great for fellowshipping all of them! We finished off the day seeing Josh and then stopping in to see Captain Jim Jacobson. Hes sooo funny.. we love going over to Brother Jacobsons.. 

The week was really good! We weren't able to see the Gentz or Cindy this week but we have plans to see the Gentz tonight, we stopped by this week and they've all gotten over their illnesses! And we have an appointment with Cindy tomorrow! Good things are going on!

I miss and Love you all!

Elder Stevens

Some pic I took a few weeks ago.

Transfer 14 Week 6

Transfers are this Wednesday, I'll be staying in Escanaba with Elder Hill. 

This past week was good. 

Monday we had Pday, didn't do anything particularly exciting and what not. We were supposed to have a lesson with the Gentz family but the mom was still sick and actually had to go to the hospital! They feel super bad for having to cancel all of the appointments but we've been able to see them since then and they've gotten better..  we set up an appointment for this Tuesday which will hopefully go through. 

Tuesday we had District meeting and then went on exchanges with Elder Schauerhamer. We had a really good lesson with Cindy. Jeremy was at work so we were able to sit down with Cindy and have Brother Cunningham come with us. We left her last time with some things to read in the Book of Mormon and when we came back this time she actually had read what we left her! (That never happens..) She is truly interested and wants to improve her and her family's lives. Were so excited for her. We haven't set a baptismal date yet, but we should this week when we meet with her again. 

Wednesday we did service at the soup kitchen, had correlation meeting, exchanged back and then had to go straight to a dinner appointment which was in a different time zone, so it made it super confusing on when and where and blah blah. It all worked out though.. We ate at the Sagataws home. They are a Native American family in our branch. They're awesome. They have 3 daughters that look exactly like Dora the explorer.. Good stuff. 

Thursday we were able to go to the hospital and give a lady in our ward a blessing since she was having unexpected surgery that day. After that we  weekly planned and then had the rest of the day to tract and visit people. We were able to meet a lot of nice people and teach some good lessons. 

Friday we went out to some of the smaller towns in the morning to contact some people that normally don't get visits. That went well. We had a good lesson with a recently reactivated member, and then finished off the day with a recent convert family, The Berrys. 


Saturday we had a good lesson with Sherry with Sister Bizeau. We're really trying to get her to come to church so that she can come to know that the priesthood has been restored. She said she'll be able to come this week to watch General Conference. We've been really trying to teach at least 2 First Vision lessons a day as a mission, Elder Hill and I have been doing pretty well with keeping up with that goal. Saturday went by and we still hadn't taught our 2 FVL, We had planned to go tract the last hour of the day to try to get the 2 lessons in. However I felt like we should Park Contact for some reason. This seemed unreasonable because most people weren't at the park anymore and we would be able to catch most people at home, but we went with the prompting. There really wasn't many people at the Park but we were able to teach the 2 FVL's to two really prepared people. That night we met Chris, a middle aged man who is very religious who prays for many hours a day for direction, and Richard, a 23 year old guy working in town for the summer. We taught the FVL to both of these men and were able to get return appointments with both of them. They are both fervently searching for truth. It was awesome to be able to contact them that night. 

Sunday we had Church in the morning. Then we went out and home taught some of Brother Berry's families with him. We brought Josh the sacrament and then went to a Sunday Evening session of Catholic Mass. We had been invited by a lady at the soup kitchen earlier this week and we decided to go! It was a great experience. Different culture, but definitely a testimony builder. We were able to meet the Pastor, Father DeGroot afterwards and have a nice talk with him. It was a neat experience. 

Anyways, another week full of finding and contacting. Were doing our best to try and find those the Lord has prepared in the Escanaba area. Were grateful for the people we have to work with and the new ones we are able to meet and start working with every week. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Stevens.