Monday, March 28, 2016

What a wonderful week!


Hola Hola todos!

Wow such a great week we had this week! The Azavache family, Cynthia her husband Luis and 4 kids, are SO AMAZING. Their two older daughters have been coming to church pretty consistently but Cynthia and Luis no. So we taught about the Sabbath Day and told them about all the blessings they'll receive when they sacrifice to come to church and not work. And they ALL CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY! All but Cynthia because she had already bought all the fish she needed to cook and sell Sunday. But she promised that this next week she'll be there! WOT! That's one barrier down, now to just tackle their marriage.... cuuuuse they aren't married just yet.

But also Luis and Alejandro BOTH came to church WITH all their family! Both their boats were in for Semana Santa and they came all in their shirts and ties and everything! And they were able to go to the temple preparation class with their wives and it was AWESOME. 

Speaking of Semana Santa, it was full of processions of Catholics all week :) It actually was quite the culture lessson for us! The owner of our house who is also our pensionista, their whole family is HARDCORE Catholic. Needless to say, we got a few visits from some catholic processions this week :) It was so crazy. I'll send a picture.

Hmmmmmm,Oh! and My companion is getting transferred! We had a GREAT time here. But my new comanion is a sister from Lima (Puenta Piedra) really close to my first area! I actually went on exhanges with her a few months back. SUPER exciting!

Well, that's about it! I've been studying about Ammon this week and it just really caught my eye how all the promises the Lord gave to him as a missionary and to his father that he would be protected were fulfiled! And how the Lord promises us so much, baptismal and temple covenants being the first in that list. We just gotta be strong against so many temptations and be faithful.

Love you all and have a great week!
Hermana Stephenson


Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Fall around the corner!

Hola!!!

Well we had a pretty nice week here in ol' Salaverry! Turns out that the weather (I think, and pray) is changing to be a tad bit cooler!! WOT! We can actually sleep all night without waking up because it is SO HOT in our room! Little blessings :) 
Some adventures from this week included a companion who was terrible sick with the stomack flu Thursday and I got to be the mom to take care of her. Poor thing. But after sleeping all day, we were good to go by Friday! Everyone was super impressed. And we even had some FANTASTIC lessons with our investigators Friday. 

Speaking of investigators, Cynthia and her family are really progressing! Her husband Luis has started praying with this family and his teenage daughters always come to the activities and have started coming to seminary too. We're working on them coming to church because they have a restaurant and its open Domingos.(not from mom: Domingo means Sunday in Spanish). BUT they are so ready and we feel like they'll accept. Other than that it's been a bit hard to find our other investigators. Lucho and Alejandro are still out fishing but should be in this week! Fingers crossed.

In my studies this week I was reading the Liahona from February and there was this article about how the Book of Mormon can teach us how we can be happy. There are so many times when life just feels like it is crashing down, or like we're trying our best, but nothing is changing. I loved how in the article it highlighted 2 Nephi 5 and a few pointers on how to be truly happy. The two that stuck out to me is HARD WORK and FOCUSING ON THE TEMPLE. And the scripture in D&C 58:2-4. Pushing through the trials with faith, doing what you can and knowing that the Savior is always there to lift us when we need it the most.

Love you all!
Hermana Stephenson

PS  We haven't had light for a few days and it just came back last night.  I love it when the fan works..... we were DYING! 

Monday, March 14, 2016

Fun in the Sun!




Hello everyone! 
Espero que todo esta bien! Another week has come and gone here in Salaverry and the work of the Lord is movin' along! Cynthia and her family are doing well. Her husband is here for about a month before he goes back to work in Chile! So we're excited to work with him.

We also found a young single mother, Maria, who is super interested in listening to us! She lives with her brothers and runs a shop on the outside of her house and we're super excited for her and her family too.

This week I found a scripture that I LOVED! It's in Moroni 7:21 and says:

 22 For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to everlasting, behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of Christ; and in Christ there should come every good thing.

I love how it talks about how our Heavenly Father knows all! Something that I'm learning is that things don't always go as we want or hope them to go. Week after week of praying and teaching people about how important it is to come to church, but week after week, not many people make the choice and the sacrifice to come can be a bit difficult sometimes. But in the end, God loves us so much that he puts us through situations and trials so that we learn more fully and gain a powerful testimony of His Son. Because through Christ comes 'every good thing' !! I know that every good thing in my life comes through Christ and the love he has for me!  I can have full faith that he'll look after me and take care of me and prepare me! 

Love you all and have a great week!
Hermana Stephenson

Pics: We went and climbed the big mountain that surrounds our area and it was awesome! and maybe a bit sandy! 





Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Just a photo

Jheremy and his family
 I got a surprise visit from JHEREMY and his familly the other day! It was so cool to see them so happy and active in the church!