Winnipeg

EVERYONE!

I'm here! I made it to the lovely kind of ghetto town of Winnipeg on Monday night! We spent the night in the mission home and then the next day... met our new companions! My adorable trainer is Sister Brimhall. She's from Mesa Arizona and guess what.. she's a red head.. and pretty much my twin (sorry Nattles) haha. We are SO similar it's getting to be kind of bizarre. I have been serving in the Winnipeg South Zone in the Young Single Adult ward!!!! So if I refer to the YSA, that's what I'm meaning. Goodness. I couldn't have asked for a better area or companion! This past week has been absolutely incredible! Everyone in our ward is 18-30 years old.. so I'm totally in my element. It's a blast! Sometimes I'm having so much fun that I need to remind myself that I'm a missionary.. haha.

Almost everyone in our ward is Philipino. It's the best. Until you get them mixed up and chew out the wrong people for telling me their name was something it wasn't! Turns out Philipino's make the BEST food. Definitely my new favorite. Spring rolls, home made meat balls with who knows what kind of meat.. and the best ever... Balute. Or Baloot? I don't know.. pretty much it's a dead baby/fetus duck. Yep. You eat it.. feathers and all. I haven't yet tried it, but I believe that's my "welcome to Winnipeg" slash Christmas Present from a girl in YSA. YUM. I'll let you know how that goes.. you know me and tiny animals that freak me out.. it should be fun.

Everyone here is SO nice. Like insanely nice. What's wrong with Americans and their rudeness? Ya'll need to move to Canada. This is where the happy people are! Sis. Brimhall and I have gone tracting a few times and I really am starting to love it! It's so fun seeing how much information you can cram into someone's mind before they close the door haha. We haven't been invited in yet.. but we're working on it! Last night we got a media referral. So, we went to check it out like normal missionaries would do. We get to the door (her name is Osi and she's from Nigeria) and she lets us right on in! Once we got inside she was all "so.. wait. who did you say you were!?" haha I think it's just her culture to let strangers in?? And boy were we grateful! We asked her a little bit about what she knew about Mormons and if she knew why we were there. She said her aunt who lives in the states, (that's what they call it here.. the states) is Mormon and has wanted her to meet with missionaries forever. SO. (here's where the miracle begins) she told us that she knows all about Joseph Smith and the Restoration and that she TOTALLY believes in it!!! Pretty sure our jaws hit the floor. But, she said she is so dedicated to her church because she's a teacher there and she can't just "abandon ship" hahaha. But no worries.. we can for sure work with that. I mean, she already believes in the Restoration! That's usually the hardest part! AH. We were floating on cloud nine for a good while after our visit with her. She agreed to let us come back on Tuesday so we're sooo excited to teach her. Seriously this girl is golden. So solid. She will be baptized. I can just feel it! AH. I LOVE CANADA.

Anyways, if you can't tell already, I'm SO happy here! The work is progressing.. slowly, but surely. And now that Sister Brimhall and I are together (I mean ginger power.. come on!) No one can say no to us! We're on fire! and I'm not meaning just our hair! It's SO great. It hasn't been cold at all! Which has been nice.. but I can sense a storm coming! We'll see!

Since Christmas is this week, I want to challenge you all to say a prayer as a family before you dive into all of those presents and just pray for thanks. Tell Heavenly Father how incredibly grateful you are for all that you have. We truly are SO blessed. This gospel is the greatest blessing! Even though I haven't even been a missionary for month yet, I am feeling and witnessing the blessings of having the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It's real. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father allowed His Beloved Son to come to earth and Atone for the sins of mankind. My favorite scripture right now is Alma 31: 34-35 "O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ. Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee." That is indeed the purpose of missionary work. Bringing souls unto Christ. But we as missionaries can't do it alone! We absolutely need members help! You have no idea how powerful your testimonies are and how much others need them. Never be afraid to open your mouth and to share what you know to be true. I just want to extend another challenge that you will work on being fully converted to the Gospel. It's not enough to just have a testimony. True conversion is to be consistent to what we know to be true. Work on that and I promise you will see miracles happening. This work is real... and nothing can stop it from progressing!

I love being a missionary! Thank you SO much for all of the love and support and prayers. It means so much! Keep them coming! Have a great week remembering the birth of our Savior.

All my love,

Sister Stevenett

Making "Kirk's Christmas Cookies" with President Thomas!