Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!

  I'm so happy that I had the chance to skype with my family last week. That was a lot of fun. Everyone seems to be looking good and to be having a good time in all that they are doing! What was better, I got to skype you all twice! (it was because we had a problem with getting a hold of my companion's parents haha) So that was pretty special! But now the problem is that I don't really know what to write in this week's email haha. I guess I'll kind of just sum up the week.

  We're still doing our thing out here in Xihu and working hard and trying out best to find people that we can meet with. So far we have seen some more glimpses of success. After church, we met with a lady that had met with missionaries about 4 or 5 years ago, and since then has still read the Book of Mormon periodically and loves to pray. I asked her what her favorite thing that the last missionaries taught her was and she said "The Plan of Salvation!" (she even remembered the name!) becuase it helps her to have guidance in her life. She's a nurse and really busy working in a different city a lot of the time, but she said she wants to continue to meet and learn more!! 

  Come to think of it, we actually had a really good week. We've been to visit a lot of members, both active and less active, and have gotten several lessons through tracting recently. Most of our time is spent just on the streets, tracting, or looking for former investigators and less active members. Not to brag or anything, but we are leading the whole zone (by a long shot!) with the amount of time spent finding on the streets. We are hoping that this work will start paying off soon! Elder Cole is a great companion and I really enjoy working with him. He is a hard worker and doesn't let things discourage him! I think that we are going to find something together, I just have this feeling. 

  Other than that, we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, with good old Elder Lauti from the MTC. It was the first time that I've been on exchanges with someone from my MTC district so that was a lot of fun seeing how much each of us has grown so far. We also saw a lot of miracles while we were together. I went over to their area, and while we were still having our DTM (district meeting) a guy just randomly came up to the church and said he wanted to learn more about Christianity. He had gone to a Christian church before when he visited Canada, but wanted to learn more. We gave him a tour of the church and he agreed to meet again later that week. At night we also met with a really awesome guy who is Christian, but hasn't been to church for a while because he didn't like how the leaders in the other church were just the ones that paid the most money. He still really wants to follow Jesus Christ though and without any bit of hesitation said he wanted to be baptized if he found that our church was true. When we asked if he wanted to be baptized if he discovered it was true, he actually said "dangran" which means, "obviously!" So that was really cool!

  And then on Christmas morning, Elder Cole and I opened up our packages/Christmas presents. It was a lot of fun to open them all up! Last year I just opened up my packages in the beginning of December when I got them, but then when Christmas came it was really depressing not having anything to open haha. This Christmas was many times better than last years! Thanks so much for all the presents and for the letters! It was a great Christmas and I'm having a great time! I love you all lots!

Love,

Elder Stevens

Random Rice Fields

Workers Out In The Rice Fields

Christmas Gifts.  Thank You!!