Week 70: The Purpose of the Word of Wisdom

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!!!

This week was awesome :) It was full of so many great adventures :) I am not sure if I shared my experience talking with a drunk man at 9 at night...though for anyone who was wondering what it is like, don't do it. HAHA We are scared to go over to our recent converts house because her brother wants to fight me every time I go over. Moral of the story, the Word of Wisdom was created so that Elder Stonely doesn't get beat up by people under the influence. HAHA

I had a great experience this week :) We had a lesson with one of our investigators named Alex. From the information that I had gathered about this man, he seemed to not really care what the missionaries really said. Though we had picked him up again. We had a scheduled visit with him, we wanted to bring members out with us but we couldn't find anyone. We texted Brother Pizzaro who gladly accepted last minute and came with his wife. His wife doesn't speak Spanish and Alex doesn't speak English, but we took her along anyway. We taught the restoration, then felt that we should give the member and his wife some time to bear their testimonies. They both did and at the end of the wife's testimony we asked Alex what he thought and he told us, "I just have to do what she said and read and pray about it. Then I will know!" (Elder Moore and I felt like we were looking around the room for a secret camera or something like this lesson was planned or something... HAHA) But the spirit was strong. Even though there was a language barrier, or as we thought, the members were able to show great love and care for him and they invited the spirit. Thus, don't be afraid to talk to people! The spirit will do the teaching :)

Also cool story from this week, many of you know we were teaching a lady named "Ana" when I was in Cairo, GA. Welp, to my surprise, on Sunday (during sacrament meeting), she, her husband, and her grandaughter walked in the door!!!! They drove 50 minutes to come down here to the Spanish branch and participate. And probably to see me. HAHA It made my Sunday pretty great :) She still has her baptismal date set so we will see what happens :) 

Overall, this week has been great :) and I can pretty much tell you that I have still yet to step foot on the same street here in Tallahassee; that's how huge it is... HAHA JK. But really its huge. I think it would only be fair to say, 

From the smallest heart here in the city!

Elder Stonely 

MUCH LOVE AND GOOD TIDINGS FROM THE FTM!

 

Well for all of you that want to know just how fat the south is... Here is a 30 inch pizza... The plates, which we are holding are 12 inches long. The pizza hangs over the plates! I could lay on this thing!!!!

Look, I made a cool candle!

Another bad selfie...

 

Week 69: The Temple

Dear Friends and Family,

This week I have pondered a bunch on the Temple. For any missionary who has ever served in a mission without a temple, or for anyone who lives far away from the temple, you all know what I mean. I think EVERY day I think about going to the temple and feeling the peace and love that is found within the sacred walls. It is the best place for us to go to be closer to our savior. And well if you all haven't heard, TALLAHASSEE IS GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!

HAHA totally kidding. I mean there will be one some day :) But not today :) I encourage you all to go to the temple :) Its amazing :)

We had Elder Satati, from the Quorum of the Seventy come and do a mission tour. He talked to us on what it meant to come unto Christ and how we come unto Him. He tied it in with how if "we" as missionaries come unto Christ, then we will better help our investigators come unto Him. It is such a very simple concept, but we all took so much out of the visit with him. I realized that most days I forget about what it truly means to follow our Savior's example and walk in his footsteps. It is easy to forget who we want to become. Though, through prayer, diligent work and a whole lot of faith, we will get there. And we may see tender mercies along the way every day :) I am grateful for our inspired leaders! It was pretty hard NOT to feel the spirit in the same room with a 70.

Well funny experience this week. We were out walking about. We headed to a referral's house, though he was not home. So we decided to head back. On the way home we noticed a white car on the side of the road. Though we noticed it while we were taking the exit, SOOO... thinking to ourselves we felt like we should go help them. THAT required turning around on the freeway, backtracking a couple miles till we could take the same exit we got on to go home. Nonetheless, 15 min later, we arrived at the site. We got out of the car and talked with the people. Their first words were, "Did y'all know we were members?" HAHA and you could probably guess where the story goes from there. Their wheel had blown out and we helped them get it fixed. After it was all done, we hopped in our car to head out, and to what most people would call "great luck" our own car wouldn't start. The battery was dead. HAHAHAHA AWESOME! So we called some people, but nobody was answering. After about 5 minutes of waiting for people, we both decided to say a prayer and try the car again! we did, and the Lord must have been waiting for us to use a little faith, cause our car started again!!! HAHA I laugh because throughout the day the car did the same thing a couple times, but after the first, it was easier to believe that the Lord wanted us out and about so it kept going :)

Well this email was pretty long. But I hope for some of you its a great story :) I know that the Lord does watch over every single one of us. It is amazing to see so many tender mercies every day and be able to be a blessing to others lives. I love it! 

As our mission president always said, "GO OUT AND GIV'EM HEAVEN!" 

I love you all! 

Hope you have a great week :)

Elder Stonely

Here is a cucumber :)

Here is me and ELDER STURDEVANT!! we are loco...

Riley's district???

 

ANd me and ELde4r Shaw on a tradeoff :)

Week 68: Exploring Tallahassee

Dear Friends and Family :)

This week someone sent me these funny pics so I thought I would share them with you all :)

As far as missionary work goes, Tallahassee is still kicking it! Its pretty huge and there are so many things around every corner. Sometimes I want to call it the "great and spacious city" because there is just so much. This week we spent some time teaching some awesome people and I look forward to seeing them all next week as well :) I just like to meet a lot of people. 

General conference was amazing! I hope that we all learned something unique to ourselves :)

Today we went to the capital building of tallahassee and it was a pretty big building... Not sure what to compare it too cause its been so long since ive been in utah, but it was pretty big. The elevator felt like we were flying in an airplane. my ears popped while going up. HAHA

This week I was also able to see the tender mercies of prayer :) As I watched General Conference, I kept getting the impression that my prayers needed to be more sincere. Sunday night I went back home and made it a point to make my prayer special, and not just a "Prayer." It was nice to know that as we do that, our father in Heaven is able to bless us more and help us more. I think just as Elder Uchdorf, that sometimes we take advantage of some of the little parts of the gospel like prayer. When in reality those are some of the primary answers that allow us to participate in the blessings of the spirit. I am pretty happy that I have the tender mercy of prayer :)

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Edler Stonely

 

View from building/museum behind State Capitol.

Riley, as a charming southern woman.

Fooling around

Florida State Capitol.

 

Week 67: Tallahassee Florida is HUGE!!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Not ganna lie, after being in Foley Alabama and Cairo Georgia, Tallahassee Florida is HUGEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! And there looks to be a lot to do. My first day here we were driving to an appointment and I was just in shock at how many things there were... Cairo had like 3 streets and now im in a city with 300000000000000 streets... quite a change it feels like.

The life in the city! Elder Moore has been showing me around the city and showing me his fun personality! He is AWESOME! he trained Elder Lambson, and they are really similar, so being his companion is just a little different than being Elder Lambsons companion. We were talking one day and he told me the name of his first girl is going to be "Mia" and for anyone who could figure it out, when you say the full name, his daughters name will be :

"Mia Moore"

When said in spanish, it sounds exactly the same as "Mi amor" which translates to "my love." HAHA so thats just a little of his funny jokes :) He is awesome! He has so much energy though... Its great cause now ill have a lot more energy! Every morning we wake up early to go to the Gym. after going once, He worked out so hard and i followed his footsteps. The next day one of my arms was shredded... Not the good shredded./ Like my muscles were about to fall apart. HAHA I guess ill be getting huge this transfer though!

Ive met so many of the members in the Branch. I am serving in a Spanish branch down here. It is the only spanish branch in the mission and i am quite excited! Only problem is there is a member from Argentina here and they have CRAZY accents!!! I had to translate for him and it was almost impossible. I guess here i get to experience all the cultures in one! HAHA I love the members already and i have hardly met them :)

Also, this past thursday we had the opportunity to go to a FSU soccer game. There are three colleges here in Tallahassee and so we got to go to a soccer game. Supposedly they are like 2nd in the nation or something. It was quite fun to be there:) It was a bit of my soccer life that i miss now :) Though there was many people sitting behind us using their "vaper" things... so it was nice to leave and get back to the sheltered missionary life :) HAHA

Well, Tallahasse is rocking! And i am super excited to continue to work with the people here! I have great feelings about the next couple weeks :0

Elder Stonely

 

Transfer day.

A good old soccer game.

Our apartment.

 

Week 66: Goodbye Cairo!

Dear Friends and Family,

I guess you can guess the subject of this email! If you're all familiar with the phrase "fake it till you make it" you'll love this one:

"Faith it till you make it."

-Elder Lambson

I am unsure if someone else in the world has said this, I don't doubt it, but Elder Lambson and I were talking and upon quoting this, I about died from how amazing I thought it is. :) As trials come, as they always will, or while you find yourself in a ditch, just have a little more faith and hope.  :) Then you'll be ok! :)

This week is transfer week! I will be going down to the big city of Tallahassee, FL. My new companion will be Elder Moore, Elder Lambsons trainer. From what I have heard about him he sounds like he will be a blast! Elder Lambson will be training here in Cairo. :)

We received a call from mission president on Saturday asking Elder Lambson if he would accept the assignment to train. He also told me I was leaving and my heart just about dropped. The past few weeks I have grown such a love for the people in Cairo even though its pretty small. All weekend I found myself thinking back on all the memories that I had had with those whom I'm serving with and I read this scripture:

And now I, Moroni, bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood.  -Ether 12:38

Though the application of this scripture could be taken otherwise, I couldn't help but think of Moroni's charitable words as he bid farewell. Though I am grateful that one day I will be able to see all of these people again. :) 

Well, That was is for this wee.k :) I'm excited to continue to hear what great stuff Elder Lambson does with his new Elder. He has been one of my favorite companions thus far, so I'm gonna miss him! :) 

I love you all so much and cant wait to see you next week!

Elder Stonely

The biggest heart in cairo :)

 

Chillin.

P-day fishing.

Waiting for the train.

Tradoff day treats. Yes, I'm fat.

 

Week 65: Gratitude in All Things

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been full of tender mercies! I have been learning a lot as well. First off, long time best friend since I was in elementary school, Elder Isobe, has a companion who is friends with my companion. Small world... Even smaller, My trainer met with my family, and my x-mission president went through the temple with my cousin and family. Man the world gets smaller every day!!!!

Anyway, like I was saying, lots of tender mercies. Though I wanted to say that nothing brings more sadness than having an investigator send us a text saying that she did some research and found from previous Mormons that the spirit revealed to them that the Book of Mormon was from the devil. Yeah, that happened to us and it was pretty sad. I don't like those experiences at all! HAHA Though nonetheless, we can learn from them. :)

This past Sunday, well I guess yesterday, there was a family who had been on assignment to the branch for three years who got released from that assignment and gave their farewell talks. Sister Jowers, shared with us a talk based off the topic of "Gratefulness in all things." Previously this week I was pondering on what I could do to come closer to Christ and be a better disciple. Sunday morning came around and I prayed for something that I could work on this week. I asked myself, "What lack I yet?" Well let me tell you, I've never received a more powerful, faster answer to any other question. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

As I listened to the talk, thought about what was said, and studied a little more and thought a little harder, I came to the conclusion that I really needed to be more grateful and less prideful. I tend to reflect back on previous weeks when studying a specific topic and this week I found a lot of unnecessary negativity and a lack of thankfulness. It hurt to know that I was choosing to be less happier than I could be just because I wasn't expressing my thanks for EVERYTHING I have been given. 

A great example of this comes from one of my favorite people ever. Ana, our investigator who will be getting baptized in November. I am forgetful of what exactly I have shared about her situation, but just to help you all remember, she comes from a hard background. She has been completely shut out and robbed from family, hated by friends and put down in any way possible. She has gone through depression and a part of her life has been full of hurt. Some of you may be able to relate to her situation, though what I find interesting about her is her attitude about her life. The first thing she says when she is blessed with a blessing or confronted with greif is, "Thank you Lord." 

I also turned to the Prophet Joseph Smith, probably one of the most thankful people I can think of:

"And ye must give thanks unto god in the spirit for whatsoever blessing ye are blessed with" (Doctrine and Covenants 46:32).

"Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things" (Doctrine and Covenants 59:7).

"Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;" (Doctrine and Covenants 98:1).

"Thanks be to thy name, O Lord God of Israel, who keepest covenant and showest mercy unto thy servants who walk uprightly before thee, with all their hearts-" (Doctrine and Covenants 109:1)

I couldn't help but ask myself if I was expressing my thanks to the Savior for all my blessings, trials, hardships and joys. After all, He did provide me a way to return to live with the Father and with my family. But it all starts with the little growths here. Our trials, tribulations, hardships, joys, excitements make us who we are. And I would rather look at myself going through life happy about them and grateful for them all instead of miserable. I am so grateful for the blessings that I have. Especially for the Atonement that I can give thanks for the most every day as I strive to become like my Savior. I love Him very much.

I love you all more than you probably know. :) I am grateful for those around me whom support and uplift each other. And I hope that this week, this year, and forevermore we express our thanks to those around us and even deeper, for the blessing and trials we receive from our Father in Heaven. Thank you so much for all your love!

Elder Stonely, 

and the lovely heart of Sister Bouton :)

P.S. Sometimes you just have to take a funny face picture. Which I just do ALL the time!

Week 64: Hurricane and Sacrament

Well, Dear Friends and Family,

This week we are happy to say that we survived a Hurricane!!!! Everyone Everywhere was making it out to be a big deal. I'm sure it was down south and up the east coast, but we survived with very little damage of leaves in the yard. HAHA it stuck at night, so when we woke up it looked like nobody had raked the yard in years... HAHA It was pretty interesting :) We were stuck inside for quite sometime, so I recently took up the art of Crocheting, which is surprisingly super easy, fun and stress relieving :) I know i am like a grandmother :) HAHA but its fun :)

Missionary work was a bit slow this week due to the weather. HAHA I think everyone was either out of town or hunkered down inside their houses. We had all day full of appointments the day of the storm, but all of them fell through. I keep telling myself that blessings will come later:) HAHA

Well I love you all so dearly and hope that you are all doing well :) I found comfort and help through the Sacrament prayer this week as we had the opportunity to take the sacrament to some members who cant make it out to church. It reminded me of back at home, except it takes 3 hours here because of how far people live from each other. I have a testimony of the sacrament and the special ordinance that it is :) And I hope you all have the same :) I love you all so much!

Elder Stonely :)