Week 1 In Canada

Hey Everyone,

This was my first week in Canada!  I arrived here on the 7th at noon! It's crazy how flat it is here! No mountains or anything! Their snowboarding resort is a hill.... haha! But it is nice up here and I love it! My mission president was a cheer leader in high school as well which I thought was way cool! He said I can dance on p-day (which is today!) so I am excited about that!

I'm serving in the Mission Hill ward in St. Albert! It's such a nice ward and the bishop is a dancer as well! On sunday I met him and he told me he is a body popper from London, England! He said he was once the best there and he is an "OG" (original ganster)! haha! It made me laugh, but he was serious! So I can't wait to see him dance, and I called him out for a battle sometime! He's way cool but he's serious when it comes to the missionary work, which is great! :)

I love missionary work so far! I've had multiple experiences so far and i can't share them all. But on Saturday, we went tracting and we said a prayer to help us find someone who was prepared. We have a big map in our apartment and I picked a street close by (to save on Klicks) and we went there. When we pulled up to the first house on that street, the dad was leaving.. so we thought we were out of luck. We decided to still knock on the door to see if anyone else was home. A girl answered the door and she was probably in her mid 20's. It was crazy how prepared she was! She was telling us that recently she and her sister have been researching a lot of religions and asking everyone they knew, what they believe. So when we showed her the Book of Mormon, she said "hold on!".  She ran downstairs and grabbed her own Book of Mormon!  But it was a triple combination set with the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price in it. So we taught her the whole first lesson on her doorstep and answered all of her questions! And she had a TON of questions (which was way good)! We were standing there for longer than an hour! We couldn't go in though because she was the only girl home.. but it was so worth it! it's crazy how the Lord works! Maybe if her dad was still there we would have never been able to teach her! Everything just seemed to fit how it was supposed to! Her name is Talia by the way! Anyway, that's the short version of the story and I have so many other experiences!

We have 2 people on date to be baptized on February 25th and 3 people set for March 17th! I wish i could tell you all their stories and all their names and how we found and taught them, but that would take way too long! Our goal that our mission president gave us is to teach 20 lessons a week, which is a pretty hard goal.. My companion and I worked way hard this week and we got 30 lessons! :) Cool,  huh?

My companion's name is Elder Kember! He is from Ontario, Canada! He is a convert of a year and a half and the only one from his family, which is almost the same as my last companion, Elder Pineault except that Elder Kember does not speak French! But he is way cool! He is my same height, build, and same almost everything! People say we look like brothers! He is pretty much exactly like me and we get along way good! He's my trainer, so we are companions for the next 2 transfers.  Each transfer is 6 weeks, so I'll be with him for at least the next 3 months! He is my "dad" and I am his "Son" in missionary language. And when people go home, they are "dead." ha,ha!   So i have a picture of my "grandpa" which was Elder Kembers trainer or "dad." Does that make sense?

But anyway, the weather here is cold!! It's usually -18* C and the first couple days, I shivered no matter where I went!  People keep telling me this winter has been the mildest they have ever had! So I'm scared for next winter! One thing that is hard to get used to is the roads,  They are ALL covered with about an inch of ice.. so no matter where you go, you're driving on ice! New missionaries can start driving after their first transfer (after 6 weeks). Oh yeah, we got a Subaru car, which is the nicest car in the mission!  We also got a cell phone for contacting investigators! Our apartment smells like smoke when you walk in the building, but our room is smoke free which is nice! We are hardly ever home though unless we are sleeping or eating!  And sometimes we wake up at 5:30 instead of 6:30 so we can play basketball at the Stake Center in the early morning!

Canadian's are soooo nice! It's kinda funny how they say, "eh" all the time but I'll get used to it... eventually! They all have accents too which is different! But every person I meet here (in the ward) is so nice!  We went tracting a couple days ago and every door we went to slammed the door on us! ha, ha!  That was a fun experience too! They have outdoor hockey rinks on every block and at the high schools they have those instead of football or baseball fields! Every one plays or has played hockey!

Oh I mentioned "klicks" earlier,. those are how many miles we are allowed to travel in a month. As a missionary we are limited to 2000 klicks and we can't go over that! They measure in Kilometers not miles... which throws you off when you see a speed limit sign that says 100!! That's about 60 mph.

Anyway, I told you everything that I can remember.....oh...   My p day is now on Monday so that's why I had to skip last week's p day! :(

I love you all!  Take care!

-Elder Stevens (the dancer)

Starting of Week 3 at the MTC

This week was so much fun! We are teaching a ton of ''investigators'' everyday! I taught this less-active girl named LaChelle and it was the best lesson we (Elder Pineault and I) have ever taught! It was such an amazing experience and it really made me excited to finally be helping others. By the end of the lesson she was crying tears of joy along with everyone else in the room, including the members that were with us. All this took place in the TRC where the people are real invesigators and they get paid to come to a building and let us teach them.

 

I got to see the real world this week which also made me more excited to go to Canada! I had to go on splits with Elder Freeze who had to go to a doctor. He says his knee hurts and the docters have to do a MRI to make sure nothing is wrong. Personally I  think he's just trying to get attention.. haha but I still love him. I love my whole district so much.  They all have the funniest personalities and we all help each other progress when we are studying! My companion is continuing to teach me French and I'm getting better! I am so blessed to have him as my companion. We seriously teach so good with each other and we can finish eachother's thoughts when talking! He's way cool! I told him he could come live with us for a week after the mission during the week of General Conference and we would go together! He is a convert by a year and a half so his dream is to see the prophet! I mean that when I say it really is his dream!! So I think that would be a way good experience for him! plus I'd hang out with him after the mission if he came to the US.

 

My flight plans are: I leave on February 7th and my flight leaves at 5:30 am.... so i have to be at the travel office at 3 am... which means I have to wake up at 2 am... :( but it'll be so much fun! We have a layover in Denver, CO but then we will arrive in Edmonton, Canada at 11:50 am!)

 

Last night (Tuesday) we had a Devotional! It was also the 50th anniversary of the MTC! Elder Nelson and Elder Holland from the Quorum of the Twelve were the speakers and it was amazing!! I wish I could tell you more but I hardly have time to type!

 

Alexandre, our first TRC investigator wants to be baptized and I am way excited about that!

 

Mom, get better! Stop getting sick!

 

Dad, sorry you're the only male in the house,.. but Josh will be back soon.. :/ well, sooner than me! haha hang in there!

 

Mom, tell Amy Simkins that I miss teaching dance for her and I miss all the kids I used to teach! I am teaching Elders here how to dance so I won't lose it! ;)

 

Family, good job on reading your scriptures! It really does make your day go by so much better when you start and end off a day by reading and praying!

I love you all and miss you

-Elder Stevens, the younger :)

Mommy!

Hey, sorry it's taken so long to write you! My p-day is on Wednesday here in the MTC! I don't have much time to write you so I will get as much in as I can! So much happens here in one day, let alone a whole week! The first day I had an embarrassing experience but it was funny too! It was about 3 hours after I was here and we had to teach an ''investigator'' in front of the whole class! I had to be the missionary with my companion and it was a door approach. He said he was a Christian and asked if we were too. I said, ''we are also Catholic" but I meant to say 'Christians.' ha, ha!   I caught myself though, but it was too late. The whole room was already laughing! But anyways, I love it here! 


I have learned so much about the gospel and I have grown so much spiritually. My companion's name is Elder Pineault (pee-no). He speaks French and is from Quebec, Canada! He is going to my same mission! My district is so cool. Everyone in here has their own personality and we all get along! I have only known them for a week but we all feel like family already. It's probably because we spend 16 hours a day with each other though!! Yesterday my companion and I had to teach a real investigator in this thing called TRC, where we go to a different building. The investigator's name was Alexandre, and he was a tall black guy. It was so amazing to see how much joy we brought to him when we taught him the gospel. I know I have Elder Pineault as my companion for a reason because we work SOOO well together! I wish I could tell you more but I hardly have any time at all to email! Anyway, I love it here!

Thank you so much for everything you sent me and that you and dad are doing for me!  I am so blessed to have you as my parents and am so thankful for all the support you give me! I couldn't do any of this without you! I love the dress shirts you sent me and the ties! They are just what I wanted/needed! Also thank you for the contacts, Dad! Tell Rachelle congrats on her cheer competition and to keep it up! When you get time, could you send me Josh's email, a photocopy of my call (for when I go to Canada), a normal short sleeve t-shirt (for gym time... all I have are thermals!), and a picture of my sisters to hang up in my room?? :)

Thank you again for all you do and the sacrifices you are making for me! :) I love you all!

-Elder Stevens

Opening the Mission Call!

Elder Jonathan David Stevens is hereby called to the Canada Edmonton Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.