Tegenstelling Brings Miracles

Well, this week was pretty crazy! We had lots of exciting miracles, but as always we had a healthy dose of tegenstelling (opposition) to go with it to keep us humble and healthy. Tegenstelling is sort of like the vegetables in a meal. So you need to have lots to keep up your vitamins.

One of the most exciting things that happened was that when I was on exchanges in Apeldoorn Sister Hoff had a first lesson with a baptismal invitation with a couple. The woman is a member referral and we've had to reschedule our appointment with her twice now. She was actually an investigator about 15 years ago, but one of the problems seemed to be her boyfriend. But it sounds like most of the lesson was for him, and he accepted a baptismal invitation (if he comes to know it's true, of course)! That was very cool.

Thursday we set a baptismal date with that man that came to church for the first time last Sunday! That was super exciting, but he called us on Saturday and said he had to leave town for a month or more, starting on Sunday. That was, obviously, disappointing, but here's what I wrote after that in my planner (this is one of my big lessons learned this week): "This is it. I've done all that I possibly can. I can go no further. Now is the time to 'Be still and know that I am God.' (See Psalm 46:10) I've got to turn it all over to the Lord and He will take care of the rest. He promised. And I believe and trust Him. I know that He will keep His promises." One of the reasons this was difficult is because he was our second baptismal date that dropped us this week. But it's okay because we're doing everything we can and we're still seeing lots of success. This is just an extra good reminder that this is the Lord's work. On the bright side, he actually called us to tell us that he was leaving, and that he would make sure to make contact with us when he got back, and that he would take his Book of Mormon. So it'll just take him a little longer to get baptized, that's all.

We also lost our phone last night, which makes things a little trickier, but it'll get worked out soon. And we've got lots of appointments this week to keep us busy, which is always the best!

I love you all!

I love to see the temple!

The highlight of this week, obviously, was temple conference! We went to the temple in Zoetermeer on Tuesday and it was such a good reminder of why we do what we do. That's the goal, is to help people go to the temple. There is no better place on earth. It was also super cool go to the temple in Dutch. Then we had temple conference afterwards with President and Sister Robinson and the APs and that was fantastic. Always a good spiritual boost to get you going again!

This week was packed full of miracles. Aside from temple conference, which was wonderful, we had all kinds of incredible things happen. I went on my first two exchanges (one to Leeuwarden, and the other with the Groningen sisters, but I was in Assen). We saw a lot of success and had a lot of fun too. During the last three days we were able to get ahold of 4 people that we've been trying for forever (sometimes 2 months or more) to get ahold of! One of these investigators came to church yesterday and he talked for quite a long time with some of the members afterward. He's really positive and now excited to go further with the lessons! I'm really excited about that and about some of our other investigators.

Since someone asked about my duties as a sister training leader: I go on exchanges with the sisters in my zone -- there are 3 other sister cities in Zone Apeldoorn. These are Leeuwarden, Groningen, and Apeldoorn. So that's at least 6 exchanges per transfer, plus more if I feel like it's necessary. Sometimes we go on splits with the sisters in their city to help them out finding or whatever. Plus I go to meetings, but not too many. There are some pictures on the mission blog. (http://belgiumnetherlandsmission.blogspot.com/). Also, when there's zone trainings (just with our zone, run by the zone leaders, as opposed to zone conferences which are with more than one zone and run by President and Zuster Robinson and the APs), I'm supposed to participate in the training with the zone leaders. That's pretty much it.

I learned a lot this week. One thing that I learned (or re-learned) is that whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies, even if He has to make you into a totally different person to do it. I've always really looked up to the other leaders in our mission and always thought that they were just super good missionaries, and they are. But with me I know for a fact that I'm not a sister training leader because I'm all that good. I have literally watched the Lord take my meager capacity and make it better during those couple of days on exchanges with Sister Western and Sister Larson (Sister Larson was one of my MTC companions and it was so wonderful to be with her again). I was a better missionary during those two days than I think I've ever been before. I don't know why I am a sister training leader, but maybe one reason is because I needed to witness that--how much this is the Lord's work. I am just grateful that I am close enough to witness and sometimes participate in it.

The gospel is true! I love you all!

Hope Transfer

Well, transfers always bring all kinds of exciting things! We need to keep changing in order to keep growing, so that means we need lots of change. Sister Hoff is a fantastic companion: an excellent teacher and a great friend. We're going to have a great time in Assen.

We had some pretty fantastic miracles this week. The biggest I would say is that we are now teaching two families! We're still not sure where it's going yet with either of them, but that was something that we've been praying for for the last two transfers, so that's a big deal for us. The first family we met a few weeks ago langs de deur (literal translation, through the door), and she gave us 9 referrals on the spot. We had a lesson with them on transfer day and it went really well. They had already read 3 Nephi 11, Alma 32, and Moroni 10 because it was on the Questions of the Soul card and said that they really liked Moroni 10. We taught them the Restoration and extended a baptismal invitation, and they said they want to meet with us again and that they're going to keep reading! The Spirit was really strong and it was a super good lesson. We don't have a follow-up appointment yet, but we do have a promise of one, and I think that it'll go through. The other family was found by some of our Elders during the blitz. She hadn't taken a Book of Mormon after our first lesson because she thought we were a sect, but we had a super powerful lesson with her the other night and at the end she wanted a Book of Mormon. Her husband wasn't there the whole lesson, but he was in the background for part of it and I know that she tells him everything. I've got very high hopes for both of these families!

Every transfer I work on a Christlike attribute from PMG, plus whatever one I'm working on during the week. My Christ-like attribute for this transfer was hope. I can't explain how much I learned about hope this transfer. Hope conquers discouragement. Everyone has trials. But when we keep on keeping on and keep hoping and keep knowing that things will work out for our good as we put our faith and hope and trust in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, then eventually we will see the blessings. We will see miracles! This week was a week of miracles. The last day of the transfer was when we got our baptismal date, even though that was our goal the whole transfer. The Lord hears and answers prayers and He keeps His side of the bargain. I love Alma 25:17 ("Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and Himni, and their brethren did rejoice exceedingly, for the success which they had had among the Lamanites, seeing that the Lord had granted unto them according to their prayers, and that he had also verified his word unto them in every particular."), especially after reading Alma 17:7-11: (excerpts: "they fasted much and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct. ... And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.")

In other news, we had mission leader council on Friday at the mission home. It was super duper good and I learned a lot.

This is the Lord's work and it's true. If life was easy it wouldn't be hard, and if it wasn't hard it wouldn't be worth it. But it is ALWAYS worth it.

We've got temple conference tomorrow! I'm so excited!

Transfer Calls!

Well, as you can maybe guess, transfers are this week and the calls for them happened last night/this morning. And they were a bit exciting, mostly because a week ago we weren't expecting changes. But, here's the verdict, to be declared after a short inspirational interlude about miracles from the week.

Biggest miracle of this week is that our recent convert is all right! He's going through a hard time right now, but we hadn't been able to get ahold of him for over a week, so when our branch president called us and said that he'd been over and gotten to talk to him we were pretty relieved. Then we were able to talk to him today and Sister Watkins had a chance to say good-bye. He's going through a hard time, but he's still got a strong testimony of the gospel. Baptism is the best, but unfortunately it's not a miracle pill that cures all opposition. And actually, that is good, because we do need opposition to grow, whether we want it or not. 

Another quick miracle is that we were able to talk to the lady that said she'd pray about the Book of Mormon (and who thought we were a sect) and we've got another appointment with her! She actually still thinks that the Bible is enough, but she agreed to set up another appointment. Also, her husband was a lot more positive this time, which was cool.

So, verdict. I'm staying in Assen, and Sister Watkins is being transferred to Utrecht. My new companion is Sister Hoff, who was trained by Sister Nielson the transfer after I was companions with her. I was also called as Sister Training Leader for our zone, so that should be exciting.

The gospel is true and the Lord has His hand in our lives! We just need to look for it and to ask for it!

Missionary work is the best!

Christmas for Missionaries

The highlight of this week was General Conference! As you can maybe guess from the title of this email, we discovered that General Conference is a lot like Christmas for missionaries, at least here. We get to sing hymns about the prophet during companion study the whole week, we spend the whole day with other missionaries and members (and sometimes investigators!), and we also eat and are spiritually uplifted for most of the day. It's so wonderful! We watch the Saturday morning session on Saturday evening from 6-8, then on Sunday we watch Relief Society or Priesthood in the morning, Saturday evening in the afternoon, and then Sunday morning in the evening. We miss Sunday afternoon, but that's what the Ensign is for. :)

On P-day today we are going to the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit in the Drenths museum with our district.

The weather has been crazy. It was cold last week but warmed up this week. It gets quite chilly with all the humidity, even if it stays dry (which is a huge blessing; it has been dry lately).

Highlights for me from conference: all of the talks! I especially loved the talks from the First Presidency, and of course all the ones about missionary work. Exclamation Point! Also...one of our investigators came to conference! (She was referred by a member who is still very much involved in helping her, which is so exciting to see.) She really enjoyed it and she also told me how much our lesson helped her, and how she's now praying morning and night, which is something that she had never done before.

I learned so many things this week. One of the lessons came originally from district meeting, a quote from Elder Holland from when he was in Apeldoorn as saying "Don't think for an instant that Heavenly Father isn't working with one of His children." I love that becasue it's such a good reminder that we're not in this alone. We're the Lord's servants, not the other way around. It's not that we're here worrying about all these people and the work and everything while the world and all the forces of Satan are combined against us and boy, what a lucky thing it is that we have prayer. Oh no. What it really is is that Heavenly Father and other sources are working very personally and individually with every person on this earth. Some of them are currently refusing help. Some are pushing aside the work done with and for them and are using their agency the way they originally hoped they wouldn't--at least for right now. But some of them are prepared and when we exercise our agency and "wait upon the Lord" and work hard and exercise faith, the Lord grants us the blessed privilege of being a part of HIS work. This principle was confirmed to me in Conference from Pres. Eyring.

I love being here, I love being a missionary, and I love love love the gospel and the Savior and his Atonement. The gospel is true, and I love you all!

Zone Conference + a healthy dose of miracles

This week was awesome! We've been doing plenty of finding, and now we're finding and teaching a bunch of positive, prepared people. The work of the last transfer and a half has started to pay off, and we're building up a good base of investigators here. One day we were out finding and we tracted into a lady who appears to be active in her own church, but who said she was interested in reading a Book of Mormon and who asked us if we could set up the appointment so that her husband could also be there. She's got three kids and is open to hear more. She also asked us for our phone number, just in case, and gave us hers before we suggested it. And when we asked for a referral, she ran back inside and pulled out a list of people that lived nearby that went to the same church as she does. 9 referrals on the spot! None of them so far have turned out to be positive, but we're sure excited for our appointment with her and her husband. Unfortunately it has to be in a week and a half from now, but we're pretty sure that she'll read some of the Book of Mormon (she asked us if there was anything specific she needed to read). We had some other great lessons with single, middle-aged Dutch men, a segment of the population that most people don't expect to teach. We've got a ton of support from our branch and we're really excited about these potentials/investigators.

The other miracle of the week was zone conference. (BTW, thanks for all the letters! I got 9 in this batch and was grateful for them all! I love zone conference and I learned so so much from this one. One of the things they really focused on was that we need to pray and fast and ask for miracles, and expect them to happen. Sometimes success comes in lessons to be learned rather than in new investigators or baptismal dates, but the success always comes as we ask for it.

The gospel is true and it is such a blessing to be able to share it with others! Enjoy General Conference this week, I sure will!

Brussels, Blitz, and Bomb First Lessons

Dearest family and friends.

This week was a really good week! We had lots of miracles happen, including some unexpected lessons. The day of the blitz in Assen was probably one of the best days we had this week. On Thursday, the zone leaders, our district, and our sister training leader and her companion came to blitz the city and they found several potential investigators. We visited one of them last night and they let us in and we taught a Restoration lesson and extended a baptismal invitation! We'll see where it goes--she was seriously concerned that we were a sect and her husband was less than positive (he was actually gone for most of the lesson putting their son to bed, which turned out to be a blessing). But she said that she would pray about it and she seems to have a lot of real intent, so that was really good. Then after the blitz on Thursday Sister H., our sister training leader, and I went on splits. Sister W. and Sister H. kept tracting, while we went to teach a lesson to a lady who was a member referral. The lesson went super well. The lady is super sweet and we had a good lesson about prayer and ended up resolving one of her concerns that we didn't even realize that she had. But at the end of the lesson she said she was really grateful that we had come because what we said perfectly answered her question that she'd been struggling with for awhile. Also, yesterday while we were tracting we ran into a man who we were able to essentially teach a first lesson to. He also accepted a Book of Mormon and said he'd read it and made a return appointment with us! We're really excited about that.

I also went to Belgium to finish up my legality. I talked to a man from Brussels in English the whole way down (he speaks French and English and not a lot of Dutch) and a girl from Nederland in Dutch most of the way back. They both took Books of Mormon, so that was good.

One of the things I re-learned this week is that everyone needs to feel loved. That includes entire wards/branches as a whole. Good thing we love Assen! They are wonderful. Read D&C 18:10-16 and remember who you are because you are something special.  (Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!)

I love you all dearly! The gospel is true!

Love,
Sister Stevens

Statue of Bartje. Bartje Bartels is the main character in a series of Dutch books written by Anne de Vries

Belgian Waffle

Menorah in Assen