Choose to Believe!

Hoooooooooolaaaaa Todos!

This week has been CRAZY! A whole bunch of left swings from 'below' (that makes more sense in Spanish... sorry :) ). But it's all cool because it's through our trials, we can learn!

Alondra really has the strongest testimony and the desires to be baptized and we've been trying for weeks to get her mom to understand her desires. But this week we stopped by to visit her and her mom answered and told us to leave and never visit her daughter again! Needless to say we were all pretty sad. Alondra texted us later and said she still wants to learrn, but is not sure how if we can't visit! But we were able to talk to her about how our trials help us to grow spiritually, and in the end will be for our benefit! Even if we can't see the blessings right now. We're going to keep working with her and we've got faith that somehow we'll find a way to teach her AND help her mom! Please keep her in your prayers!

I absolutly LOVED LOVED LOVED the Womens Conference this last Saturday. EN SERIO. I felt as though everyone was just talking to ME! More than anything, two things stuck out to me. First was about how our trials are the VERY THINGS that qualify us for eternal life. Even though they can be so difficult or full of heartache, it is those experiences that will give us the knowledge and training that we NEED to be able to live with Christ and our Heavenly Father forever. One of my favorite scriptures is in Hebrews 11: 39-40 that says: "and these all, having obtained a (testimony) through faith, RECIEVED NOT the promise. God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings. For without sufferings, they could not be MADE PERFECT."

The other point that I loved in Pres. Uchtdorf's talk/story was the ability that we have to CHOOSE how we feel. It's sooo easy, as he said, to work our selves into a messy puddle of sadness and turmoil. But God didn't create us to be sad, but to have JOY! So we can choose to look for the blessings and good things in our lives, and I KNOW that it if we can, it will bring the light of Christ into our lives and chase away the darkness.

Love you all and have the BEST of weeks!
Hermana Stephenson

P.S. something SWEET that we got to see was a full lunar eclipse last night!! IT WAS SO AWESOME! We were staring at it for like 30 from our window.