Preparar Tus Alimentos Con Sencillez de Corazón

Mi Familia,

This week was a great one. Busy, but great!

This week we got a new Zone Leader, Elder Torres. For all of his mission he has been in the mountains speaking Tzotzil. We went on divisions with him and he taught me some of the language. It was sweet and he is a really great guy.

I love Chiapas!

We had another baptism this Saturday. His name is Omar. He is friends with a member, and that is how he got to know the church. He was so ready to get baptized and wanted to change so much. We only taught him 3 times and then he got baptized. He only had a problem with the word of wisdom, with coffee. When we told him about the word of wisdom, he told us he would stop drinking it. And he did! It reminded me of Doctrine and Covenants 4 when it says "the field is white already to harvest." With a lot of the people we teach you can tell they were prepared before by the Lord.

Elder Stevenson and Elder Tapia with Omar at baptism

This week we found a lot of new people that we are going to teach. I am really excited to get to work with them. Two of them are a brother and sister from Colorado and the girl doesn't speak Spanish. I am going to be teaching most of those lessons!

Also this week some of our investigators made us dinner. They don't have very much money but they made us carne asada and prepared everything so nice for us. They don’t have electricity and we usually read by candlelight at their house. But when we went to eat they hung up flashlights from the ceiling and cleaned the house and invited family over. It was so nice. Their boy Roque cried when his mom told him that we would leave some day, he is 11. I feel like he is one of the people I needed to find when I was here, and we have a special bond. I talked with their great aunt who was there. She told me that aliens came and taught the ancient people of America, "how else would they know so much about space?!" She went on and on. I showed her a picture of Jesus in the Americas and explained what we believe and gave her a Book of Mormon. All in all it was a great time.

View of Tuxtla Gutierrez from Elder Stevenson's area

I am so happy to be here! The time is going by faster and faster, and I am enjoying it here more day by day. The work is so amazing. Even though I miss everyone at home I would rather be here right now. I love it. I know this church is true and that we have a prophet today, Thomas S. Monson. I know that we have the authority through him.

I love you all and miss you!

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson

Flooded streets during rain in Tuxtla Gutierrez

Descendió la Lluvia, y Vinieron Ríos, y Soplaron Vientos

Mi Familia,

This week was a great one. Sounds like everyone is doing so good. Happy Birthday Alicia and Lauren!

To answer questions: Brooke, I love the Tacos here. There’s a restaurant that delivers tacos called "Rikis." They are so good. They are tacos al pastor and they are super spicy and amazing. We order them for special events like baptisms or when we have cambios. I will miss them. Also chili candy is gross, I hate it. My clothes are holding up very well, especially my shoes. It almost rained every day this week. I love it. Really hard on Saturday too! There’s stairs in the entranceway outside our door and the water flowed down it like a river and came in the house till we put shirts in the crack of the door. I will send pictures soon. It also cools down a little with the rain. Dad, I never thought I would be happier to hear that the Mavs won the championship. Go whoever is playing the Heat! Good job on your presentation and thanks for your hard work. Mom, my Spanish is coming along great. Having a native companion helps a lot. I can see a lot improvement in these short weeks. Talking is rather easy. I have dreamt in Spanish, but most of the time I don’t remember if it was English or Spanish.

Yesterday we had zone conference - that is why I didn't get to email! It was really good but we had to say bye to Presidente and Hermana Velasco. It was so hard. I respect them and love them so much. But they have Facebook, so I will add them when I get home. I got mail too. Thanks to everyone who wrote me! I will try to write back soon.

Angel and Jazmin got baptized on Saturday. It was amazing. Jazmin's mom is a member and came to see it. It was so special. I will send pictures when I can. We taught them about temple marriage yesterday. They committed to get sealed in a year. If I am lucky I will be able to go! I think I would have to be serving in Tuxtla. They are so special. Sunday after church Angel had us help him pay his tithing. They read their scriptures every night together. I love them!

This week I prayed that Pepe would be able to go to church somehow. I prayed for something amazing to happen, like for his work to be destroyed or flooded and other things. He came in on Sunday, and turned out he just quit. He told us he has faith in God and is praying. He will get baptized with his mother the 2nd of July.

Sorry my hour is almost up, I didn’t write much! But those are the highlights.

I love you and miss you all.

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson

No Es Para El Cuerpo Ni Para El Vientre

Mi Familia,

This week was great. And sounds like it was great for you guys too! I love hearing how everyone is doing. I am glad Lauren is feeling well, and it seems like everything is going good.

This week was a great one. We are teaching a lot of people and having a lot of success. We have many investigators with baptismal dates, and we are praying and working that they continue preparing for their baptisms.

This week was really rewarding. The three boys that we baptized about a month ago got the priesthood last week and this Sunday they passed/blessed the sacrament. This week we are going to have a lesson with them at the church while they get interviewed for temple recommends. They will do baptisms for the dead on Thursday. I am so excited for them.

This week’s bad news is that I will never serve in the mountains with the indigenous people here. No white people are allowed in their pueblos. But the good news is I learned a little bit of "Tzotzil", their language. But right now all I can remember is "ok" which means turtle and "mai yu tak in" which means I don't have any money.

We are teaching a woman named Rosi and her son Pepe. Pepe believes in the "Santa Muerte" and his mom really doesn't like it. We have been teaching them, and to be honest, I didn’t have much faith that he would change. We invited them to another wards baptism on Saturday. They came and loved it. Rosi talks about how she wants to be a good example for him and she hopes she follows. After the baptism he told her he wants to change and has talked to his mom about going to an LDS school in Mexico City someday. Rosi is going through a lot of hard things but we were able to talk to her. And she is doing better. I told her how she reminded me of my own mom in the way she always led by example. Rosi came to church Sunday but Pepe had to work. He is looking for a new job so he can come to church and be baptized, he is 15.

Things are really good here, I am so happy. The happiest I have ever been in the mission, and my life. I love serving the Lord. I can’t believe how fast time is going. I hope it slows down but it just keeps speeding up, and I think it is going to continue like that.

Well someone has been smoking in this "internet cafe" for almost the whole time and I am off to teach a lesson about the word of wisdom hahaha. Really. But I love you all so much and miss you!

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson

Levántate, y Toma Tu Lecho y Anda

Mi Familia,

Sounds like this upcoming week will be a great one! I am so excited for Alicia and Tanner's graduations. What a party. It is so crazy to think a year ago I was still in high school. The glory days. Alicia's announcement looks amazing too. It is so awesome how the ward is growing. The ward here is growing too. When I got here there were probably 40-50 people coming and this week we almost had 80. I forget how big the wards are there sometimes!

This week was a fast one. I cannot believe how fast the time goes. Already 5 months! I feel like it has been more like 2.

My new companion is great. He has almost a year in the mission and he is from Neza, Mexico. I think that would have been in Tyler's mission. It was so awesome to get out to work this week. I feel like I am progressing so much faster in all aspects when I am actually out working. We have a lot of great investigators. Ángel and Jazmin are progressing so much. We have had incredible lessons with them. In the last one we taught The Restoration. At the end Elder Tapia asked them if they knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Tears came to my eyes as they bore testimony that they knew it was true. I imagined them in the temple in one year being endowed and sealed. I also imagined their 10 month old boy on a mission. They will be baptized the 18th of this month. It is so amazing to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ change others.

We have another family we are teaching too. The parents aren't married so we are focusing mainly on the kids. Their names are Susi, Rolando, and Roque. At first they really only listened because their mom told them to, but in the second lesson they were all laughing, asking me to speak English, and when they let us teach they accepted a baptismal date for the 25th and really felt the spirit.

We had a great experience on Friday. We were contacting and met a woman who had already met with the missionaries 10 years ago. She told us her husband was very sick. None of the doctors know what he has. He has been in bed for 3 months and has almost no energy. I felt prompted to offer a blessing. I did and explained that we have the same authority that Jesus Christ and His apostles had. She let us in. Her husband looked terrible. His arms and legs looked like a little kid's. We gave him a blessing. I did the unción (I can't remember what it's called) and Elder Tapia gave him a beautiful blessing. We talked for a while then gave them a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment. The woman asked me to write our names in the Book of Mormon. She still remembered the names of the missionaries from 10 years ago, and where they were from. We are going to see them tomorrow.

Things are amazing, I am so happy. Sometimes I miss home but I just realize that this is the only time I will ever have to focus 100% on the Lord. I love this work. I know that Christ lives. I know he speaks with the prophet, President Monson. I know he walks the hallways of his Holy Temples. I know he directs this church. It makes me so happy and gives me so much hope. It is the greatest news ever, and I love sharing it with others.

I love you all and miss you.

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson