Dearest family and friends,
Thank you so much for all the support. Because of transfers, I got mail! 7 letters, thank you so much everyone for your support. I loved every one of them and I'm glad to hear that you're all doing well.
I've got a new companion! She is from Provo, UT (sound familiar?), and she is awesome. She is super prepared and has already hit the ground running. I'm so impressed by her! She's going to do great, and we're set up for some really great things in this area.
We've been staying plenty busy! Lots of teaching, which is great, lots of Dutch, which is even better, and lots of successful teaching, more or less in Dutch, which is a miracle. We've had some way good contact with people on the streets and other places, and we are busy, busy, busy, which is the best.
The members are super supportive and feeding us all the time now, which is awesome. We love our ward!
Lots of lessons learned this week, but here are just a few short thoughts from yours truly. First of all, none of us are perfect. As unfortunate as that sounds, that is why we have the Atonement! I am certainly not a perfect trainer, missionary, or person. But I am so so so grateful for the Atonement for that reason. As missionaries/as people, we tend to think that we can fix the world, that any problem we come against is fixable by us. But that's not true. What is true, though, is that the Atonement covers everything. It covers the pain of people whose faith is faltering because of impossible hardships in their lives. It covers the disappointment, hardship, and difficulty in any life-including one of a missionary. It covers the vilest of sinners and their intentional misdeeds. It covers the unintentional hurst that we sometimes as very imperfect humans cause to other people. It covers the hurts other people cause us and the hurts that we bring upon ourselves--whether through sin or mistake. Jesus Christ, in some incomprehensible way, took that all upon Himeslf. He covered it all--even when we don't accept His offering. He is always there to pick us up, lift us when we fall, and love us not matter the cost or what we ever do. He is also there to make any impossible task possible, and believe me, He has done that this week with a few very inexperienced missionaries who are just out to help save the world. He is always there for us, and He loves us all. As 2 Nephi 9:5-7 says, "Yea, I know that ye know that in the body he shall show himself unto those at Jerusalem, from whence we came; for it is expedient that it should be among them; for it behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him. For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more." The Atonement can fix everything, and I'm so grateful for it!
The Book of Mormon is true. Read it! And try the promise at the end. (Moroni 10:3-5: Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.) I promise it can change any life for the better.
This is the Lord's work, and it is most definitely Him that's doing it! I'm grateful that I get to be a small part of it.
Hope all is well with all of you! I love you all.
Love love love,
Zuster Stevens
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