November 1, 2010
Hey Family,
Well this week has been pretty fun. On Thursday we got to go to Eugene for zone conference and Elder Kakuchi of the seventy came and talked to us. He is an amazing person. He talked to us about how important it is to follow all of the rules and to follow our schedule, particularly the morning study schedule. He talked about the number of baptisms Eugene had in August (107) and in September (70) he promised us that if we follow the morning schedule perfectly meaning get up on time, exercise for a half an hour and do personal and companion ship study for an hour each, then in the next few months we can get double and triple that number of baptisms. So that got everyone pretty excited. While he was there he also talked about how we need to teach the first lesson. He called a couple sister missionaries to the front and had them teach. Then he decided that he needed to call a couple elders to the front to have them teach too.....of course he chose us. It was so amazing; we taught how he asked us to start teaching and it was awesome. It’s amazing at how changing little things, like slowing down when you read and stuff like that, can make such a big difference on how much you feel the spirit.
We are still havin a hard time finding people to teach but there are a few that we are working with. There's this couple who just won’t get married, they do everything else and they know it’s true but the just won’t get married. There's this other couple who is actually really good friends with President Macdonald, he's just afraid to take the last step to get baptized so hopefully we can go over there a couple times this week and teach him a little more.
Later today we are going with a member along the coast so I’ll take some pictures and send them to ya. I tried to send you some pictures last week and that might have been why it failed to send to you guys cause it was too big or something, anyways you'll get some pictures soon.
Something that I’ve been thinking about this week is the Plan of Salvation and the Three Kingdoms. As we were driving home the other night I looked out the window and I saw the moon. I started just thinking about the moon compared to some of the stars around it and how it was so much better. I know we always talk about comparing the kingdoms to the stars, moon, and sun but I think this was the first time I actually stopped and looked. Then I thought about the stars compared to the sun and how when the sun is out you don't even know the stars are there because the sun is so bright. It was just really cool to think about it.
I hope all is going well for ya, sorry again about last week’s email. I'm glad the Halloween party was fun and that the hot dog roast was a success. I hope everyone is doin good and stayin caught up in school. I hear that dad’s physics class is havin a rough time....just tell them to start having a food day if they don't already. Love you guys tons and I hope you have a great week.
Love, Elder Stephenson