April 14, 2014

Dear everyone, this has been the craziest week of my mission. All I have to say is that I am glad to be back in buffalo. It really is the promised land. The stake out here is booming and the people are prepared. We drive a lot but not as much as they used to since we no longer have unlimited miles. My companion and I work really well together ( elder bailey). He kinda reminds me of penili. Not too much work was done with numbers because of our half week but we have a good feel for our area now.

Aside from all that we had the best p day ever today. We went out to a field and I taught our whole zone how to play touch rugby...out in the rain. I will send some pictures of the aftermath. All in all I am learning lots I am working hard and I am having fun. What else is there to missionary work? Thanks for your love and support!

Love y'all

Elder bevan

 

 

 

April 7, 2014

 

 

Dear Everyone,

I hope you all had a chance to feast on some of the amazing words that were given this weekend, because they were definitely meant to help you through whatever you are going through. I have a personal testimony of this. 

I love sitting at the feet of our beloved Prophet and his Apostles and hearing God's word for me. Pretty incredible. On another note I have some pretty unexpected news. After serving in Irondequoit as Zone Leader for two transfers I will be leaving and serving as Zone Leader in the Buffalo Young Single Adult Branch. I have to say that was very unexpected and I can't lie I have absolutely no clue what to expect. We cover nearly half of our entire mission and travel at least 3,000 miles a month (for some missions that is not a lot) but it is for sure going to be quite the change in work methods. 

The good thing about this "change" is that I am leaving happy and satisfied with the work that I did while I was here. I truly feel that I did all that I came here to do, especially with some of the last minute things that came up, I now feel that I can say I have done all that was required of me. This is a good feeling. I am really grateful to be a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ.

A quote that inspired me this week says, "When the tide comes in, every ship in the harbor rises", as members of this church we are truly what keeps this world afloat, so let's bring in that tide and lift where we stand by following the promptings of the Spirit. 

Love you all,

Elder Bevan

 

 

3/31/14

 

Dear everyone,

I heard from kaleb  that they also got some snow this Sunday. We got hammered with some really thick slushy stuff it was quite the surprise considering it is supposed to be spring time. So it was good to hear that we are not the only ones going through this.

We had a good week this week, we worked hard and did our part.

However, it can get kind of depressing when you are trying your hardest and not much is happening. I feel that things are going to change soon. I say this because we had our fifth Sunday meeting on missionary work. It was obviously directed at the members. Something cool that was said was,"if you feel guilty in any way about doing missionary work don't do it!". It may sound sort of counter productive but it is the truth. We should never do missionary work out of purely "duty" or because someone said we had to. Those may seem like good reasons, however they will not last and usually are what lead to many members being afraid to do missionary work or someone getting offended. It is only until we can invite someone out of love that we should begin to invite. I believe that this directly relates to the hastening the work of salvation. I say this because in order to hasten the work around us we must first hasten the work of our own salvation!

 (Alma 60:23). This was inspiring for me as a missionary.

Thanks for all your support I love this work!

Love

Elder Bevan

 

 

3/24/14

 

Dear Everyone,

What a week. This was probably the fastest week of my whole mission. I have no clue why? Maybe because it has been the first week of real missionary work in a while, without all the meetings. We have some good things going on in our area. We are finding people and are actually teaching people now. I feel like a real missionary again. For a while we were pretty depressed in our investigator category. We still have a lot of work to do but we know that we are going to be blessed, whatever it may be. We have two investigators that we are getting really close to setting a date with them. (the basketball guy and his family). We are really trying to get the ward members involved. Member work has been the hardest work on my mission. It takes a while to win their hearts and that is the very first step in getting them to listen to you and keep your commitments. I have a good success story this week. The young girl that I just baptized now has a calling, is faithfully going to church, has a lot of member support, and just got accepted to UVU!! I was so excited for her because right now she is going through a lot and has to deal with a very rough family situation. She has a big life changing event ahead of her. 

There have been so many great things this week. However I just want you all to know that it is all true!  

Sorry its short this week.

Love,

Elder Bevan

 

3/17/14

 

Dear everyone,

What a week. The weather here really needs to stop! On Tuesday it was 55 degrees and sunny, and then Wednesday rolls around and we get a weather alert that says New York is in a state of emergency and that we are not allowed to go out and travel around. In one day we got over 2 feet of snow! It was madness! However the work must go on! 

So I guess I hit my year mark sometime this week? It does not even seem like it. It was pretty suiting that on my year mark I had to give a Zone Conference. Never would have guessed I would be where I am at now. Our Zone Conference went really well. We gave our training on Promised Blessings, and Bearing Testimony. Before my mission if someone would have asked me to train for an hour I would have died. Come to find out an hour is never enough time. 

I want to include in this email a very inspiring story that I heard yesterday from one of the people we are working with. We asked him if we could share his story and he said that it would be ok. I will use Fred as his name since we are not supposed to use people's real names. We came in contact with Fred yesterday. We heard about him from a member who passed us a note during church. I guess the member heard of fred from another member out in Newark who had asked him to send the missionaries over to see Fred. We had no other info on Fred, so we were kind of going in blind. Anyways, we went over to see Fred. He lives in this half way home for recovering addicts. We knocked on the door and this big black man answers and lets us in. We are introduced to Fred who is no small guy (one thing we had heard from the member that referred us was that he was a big teddy bear). We found a place to sit down and began to talk about his life. Come to find out he was a member. He was born and raised in the church and all of his family are members. However he chose not to be active and got involved in a lot of bad things which eventually led to a serious accident that happened back in July 2012. This accident resulted in a coma that lasted for 5 months. After 5 months of nothing he miraculously woke up! He began to tell us some of the things that he witnessed while he was under. A lot of it is very sacred but in short he saw Jesus Christ who began to ask him if he wanted to stay or if he wanted to go home and change his life around. Fred told Him that he wanted to go home and try again. It was a very powerful testimony to me that Christ lives. He said after this happened he woke up and new that his life had been prolonged. I believe this is true because of the witness of the Spirit and the teachings of the scriptures especially in 2 Nephi 2: 21. 

I know that Christ lives and that he loves us!!

Love, 

Elder Bevan

 

3/10/14

 

Dear Everyone,

What a week. The biggest news is that it is starting to warm back up. We finally are above freezing. It feels like a year since we have had it this warm. I hear however that it won't be long before another snow storm rolls in. This, however, has had little to no effect on me. I am having a good time, warm or not. For example. The other day we were walking down the hood on Laser st. in the freezing weather (wind was howling) and we saw these guys shooting a basketball in their backyard. So naturally we walked up to them and challenged them to "throw down". They accepted and it was game time. It would not be hood ball if there was no dunking and since the guys we found were white the rim was a solid 7 foot high :). The throw down began. Just imagine 4 guys on a court 12 feet by 8 feet. There were lots of elbows and alley oops. It was really fun and no one got hurt which is a good thing. The best part was once we finished, we started talking about our missionary work in a casual friendly way. This lead to one of the guys opening up and telling us that he wants to start coming to our church. This is nothing too strange in the rough parts of our area, but this guy has some Real Intent. It was a tender mercy given to us for having our line in the water at all times. I heard a cool quote about this the other day. It said, "There are no miracles, only to those who are ignorant. A miracle is supposed to be a result without a cause, but there is no such thing. There is a cause for every result we see; and if we see a result without understanding the cause we call it a miracle".  We all know God works through us, but he does this best when we promise to be who we are (faithful members) and reach out wherever needed. I have learned for myself that this is what it takes to see miracles and trust me it really works! 

 

In our week this week we also were able to go to the temple. That is my favorite place in the world. I do not know why anyone that could go would not! It is a refuge from the evils of this world and boy is it refreshing. We also had our monthly MLC (mission leadership council). I am starting to become more comfortable at these and actually enjoy them. It is always nice to have a meeting that you do not have to give a training at! 

Well that was pretty much my week. I hope you are all doing well. Before I go I want to share my tip for you this week. It is something I learned from President Francis. He said this when someone asked, "how long do you read your scriptures each day?". His response was, "I read until I feel the Spirit, then I read a little more" what an awesome piece of advice! I have learned this applies to everything spiritual in our lives! Try it out!

Love,

Elder Bevan

 

3/3/14

 

 

Dear Everyone,

Another Transfer week has snuck up on me! It is almost surreal how quick everything is happening. Anyways the big news is that I am getting a new companion! I am a little curious how things will go since I have only been Zone Leader for a transfer and my companion has never been any leadership position before...I better figure it out quick! My companions name is Elder Knudson. I served around him in cattaraugus. I am sure you will hear more about him later on. 

A lot of great things happened this week. One of them was that Prince our Recent Convert was given the Aaronic Priesthood! Also, his wife came to church and is now, almost officially, investigating the church! I am way excited for this, it has been something we have been praying about a lot! They are by far my favorite family :) The reason they are my favorite is because they live in the Hood and yet they are so wholesome and spend time together as a family just reading. That is something you never see anymore. 

We have been helping them move out of their house to one just down the street. Their new house is a lot better however it is still in the hood. Some of the things you see down there are sketch...from loose Pittbulls running around terrorizing the neighborhoods to broken syringes...life is very interesting. All of this stuff has just added to the experience :) 

Well I wish we had more time but Transfer days are always crazy for time!

Love,

Elder Bevan

 

 

2/24/14

 

Dear Everyone,

It has been a great week around the board. I have come to love change (at least at this point in time :). My new companion and I get along really well.  We are both "Brand New" zone leaders. I have been a zone leader for 6 weeks and he has been one for 1 week. They pretty much flushed this area and the leadership. I believe it is for the best. We get to start out fresh and not adopt the wicked traditions of our fathers ahahaha. We have a lot of learning to do however especially when it comes to giving trainings. I am still not super comfortable giving them especially at Zone Conferences…I guess that will be my mountain to climb this transfer.

We had to walk a lot this week because the other elders in our apartment wrecked their car and it was getting fixed. This was good because it helped us get to know the area better but boy was it cold!!!! Elder Knudson and I have also had some time to get to know one another, and come to find out he is deathly afraid of dogs. Uh oh because in this area there are pitts everywhere and they just roam the streets. He is getting a good taste of the hood. This is not bad but we have made a goal to find Kingdom builders (aka Families). This area has a good mixture of both nice and ghetto areas and for some reason every missionary that has served here has focused on the ghetto areas. I think they do that just because it is easy to find work. However not much has come from it. This goal that we have is going to be a struggle but we know we can do it with some assistance.

 I found out something this week that I thought was an amazing miracle. So about two weeks ago Elder Haines and I went to give a member's non member husband a blessing (if that makes sense). Anyways we drove over to Rochester General with another member to give him a blessing. At this point is when things started to happen, and I realize now that something great was brewing. We had no clue where to go, but ended up parking in the perfect place where we just happened to catch Sister K leaving. She was so happy to see us even though you could tell she was under a lot of stress, because come to find out her husband was laying on his death bed. He had just overcome cancer but because of the chemo he could not get rid of a fever and had some other complications. Anyways he was not doing too well. However she was full of faith that all he needed was a blessing to overcome this. So we gave him a blessing and that was it, until a few days ago when we got a phone call that he was completely free of the fever that they could not get rid of and was almost completely recovered. It was a miracle and a testimony builder that came at just the right time. We had two of these experiences in the same week! I really cannot say much more than God has a reason behind everything and is doing some good work! I was just grateful to be worthy of being a part of these miraculous healings. 

Well I hope you all are doing well and are nice and warm J

Love,

Elder Bevan

 

2/10/14

 

Dear Everyone,

This has been an eventful week. I think the first and biggest event would be our new IPADS. These things are crazy. Of course they are very secure. For good reasons. The only things that we can use on them are Facebook, email, gospel library, and some other church websites. They have already been way useful in our missionary work (we have used a few mormon messages in our lessons). The worst part right now is transferring all of our Area book into the data base. Aside from that they have been pretty exciting. Hopefully we will be able to buy them at the end of our missions.

Another cool thing that happened this week was that I was able to go on another exchange with the Henrietta District Leader (who just happens to be my trainer). I thought it would be a little bit strange. However it turned out to be a very spiritual experience. We were able to find a new investigator and teach him very powerfully. There is no better feeling than teaching people and they just get it!. So I guess all is well that ends well.



We also had our mission Leadership Council this week (that is where all the Zone leaders and Sister Trainers get together and council on certain topics that the mission President assigns). That experience right there was a very interesting one. I have never really been on a council before and had to discuss "certain" topics. It was a great experience but I can not say that I am super comfortable with the idea of it yet!

This week we have really been working our hardest to "Find a Family". This has been the emphasis of our mission President. We have of course been working with our normal investigators still. Who, by the way, are doing really well...however we have not yet had a chance to meet with dad's referral again. They have been playing hard to get but that is ok because I am pretty persistent and they are pretty sincere just way busy. 

 

Anyways. My companion and I have been given success this week. I believe that it is mainly because Heavenly Father is very merciful to us. The reason why I say this is because we have been trying our hardest to find "effectively" (in other words...working with the members) and it just is not working. So we made the decision to go back to the old way of Banging our heads against the wall aka tracting but with a twist. I call it member tracting. We basically go to every members neighborhood and knock on their door and tell them we will be tracting their street and that they should point out a few houses. Turns out we were able to find a family! We basically had to beg the members to give them to us but a referral is a referral. I have learned that referrals out here are earned not given :) It was a great experience for us and also for the member. 

Important lesson for this week. "Sometimes action proceeds the desire"

Thanks for all your support! love ya

Elder Bevan

2/3/14

Dear Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well. I, on the other hand, am Happy! There are a lot of reasons to be happy, but being a missionary you have them all! It has been something I have observed with everyone I meet and especially within the church. Those that are keeping the commandments and doing what they are supposed to are happy, but the families that are the most happy to the point that they are glowing, are the families that are anxiously engaged in doing missionary work.

There are some pretty cool highlights for this week. One of them has to do with that miracle that I shared last week. I was able to finally meet with Dad's referral! She and her husband were very nice. Yes...she is married which is amazing for Western New York. They are both way nice and have a definite interest in learning about our beliefs. They are both immigrants from Ukraine, He has an accent she does not. The meeting that we had with them was awesome. We approached the meeting in a very friendly manner not wanting to be forceful or anything. Which turned out to be the best way. After a while they began to ask all the questions which led us to teaching them about the Restoration. It was a very pleasant experience. We will be meeting with them again next Sunday. 

Another highlight took place while at Pep boys. We had to go get new tires for our Subaru Legacy (pretty sweet :) it has the flappy paddle shifting) and of course it takes pep boys 3 hours to change tires out. So we had three hours to walk around in the -20 degree howling wind. It was brutal. We found some bitter sweet success as we were walking around doing OYM's (open your mouth) but the real success came as we stumbled upon one of the sister missionaries investigators. He is a thug (remember this). He recognized us and started to talk to us and tell us that he had some bad news. He told us that he was going to "drop" the sisters. Come to find out. The reason why he wanted to "drop" the sisters was because they took him to a choir concert and he HATED it. Hahaha My companion and I started laughing at the thought of this guy at a choir concert. Anyways we told him "Don't worry about it...they won't mind" (don't feel bad for the sisters because this guy is technically in our area:). So we invited him to come play ball at the church with us, of course he accepted. I have a feeling he is going to become a pretty solid investigator eventually. 



There were only a few low lights this week and a good majority come from having 4 elders in the same apartment. Nothing bad has happened. It can just be hard to get everything done. I think my roommates are almost as bad as girls :) 

Thanks for all your support.

Love,

Elder Bevan

1/27/13

  

Dear Everyone, 

I had better start writing really fast because there is just so much to say. This has been a week to remember. I can say this because one day took up 4 pages in my journal...literally. Well I will just have to write some of the significant events that took place. The first and most significant event was a miracle that happened Saturday afternoon. It has to do with another referral. I am starting to realize how significant referrals are in missionary work (so I encourage all of you to start thinking of someone you know after you finish reading this letter.). 

Anyways the story begins 8 months ago when I was in I was in Lewiston. It was then that I received a letter from dad about some lady that he met on a business trip to Texas but her home is in Rochester. He told me about her in a letter (8 months ago) and had given me a piece of paper with her name and number, and said to "visit her whenever you go to Rochester", well after receiving this referral I used the excuses of "I am too far away to contact her and hardly ever make it down to Rochester", or "what would I be able to do way out here to help her?" I did all this to justify my lack of action, even though we are told when we first arrive in the mission field to contact referrals as SOON as possible. Anyways these excuse persisted but not without an occasional mental reminder to not to forget her. It was not until I was moved to Rochester that I could no longer put off or ignore the persistent thought of "CALL HER". This is what finally brought me call her. I have to be honest that before I ever called her I had a lot of fear inside me, telling me that this was going to be a failure and that discouragement would be the only result of this attempt. However I put it aside because of the Spirit of the Lord, which told me "the time is now" and that I needed to repent. The initial result of the phone call was way different than I had expected. It was a pleasant conversation between two friends, all because of the example that dad had set. The real tender mercy happened when she told me where she lived. Come to find out the place where she lives just happens to be 5 mins from my current apartment. Ridiculous! Right? All I can really say is that it was a faith building experience for me just knowing that the hand of the Lord is in our lives and that he is leading and guiding countless people and their circumstances to fulfill His Glorious Purpose. This was an amazing experience that was merely a result of some very small acts of Faith!

Another awesome experience I had this week was that same day. I had the opportunity to baptize an investigator in my last area. She asked me to baptize her however I had no way of making the 2 1/2 hour drive! Luckily I have the best Mission President in the world. He volunteered to drive my companion and I down to the baptism. It was an awesome experience and some good bonding time (he even let me drive his fancy car :) That was another tender mercy. 

The last experience I have to share took place yesterday. I am not sure if I can call this one a tender mercy? haha but it was a learning experience! About 8 o'clock yesterday morning I was asked to speak in church. Of course I was asked during ward council so I could not prepare and would immediately speak after that meeting. Anyways I was given free range on what to talk about but I was asked to speak for ten mins. I was not super scared but I was a little uneasy. This is only something that I had nightmares about before I left on my mission. Luckily I was not left alone up there. I spoke on Faith, of course (mainly because my companion was asked the week before to speak on repentance). It was a humbling experience and one that I will never forget. However, I have already forgot what I actually said while I was up there :) The Spirit was strong and I felt it as I spoke. 

I am so grateful for this "Mission Trip" as they call it in the NYRM. It has been the highlight of my 20 years of existence. I have found some very important things, mainly, how it is that we are supposed to live. I know that the most important thing that we need to do each day is to have the Spirit. If we do, we can never fail. 

Love you all,

Elder Bevan

1/20/14

Dear Everyone,

This has been one of my favorite weeks as a missionary. It has not been without personal challenges, but the greater the opposition the greater the victory. It was quite the experience leaving Cattaraugus and coming all the way out to Rochester.

 

Talk about a change in lifestyle. I actually have to drive in traffic now! That however has been one of the less significant adjustments I have had to make. I already know what the biggest adjustment is that I have to make and it is not going to be a cake walk. Being a normal missionary is easier because you are only responsible for loving your companion (by the way missionaries are harder to love than the people, at least for me). However once you are called to a leadership position your circle of love has to grow. Well at this point I am working on my circle of love hahahah :) It has been good so far and I have had really no problem with it.

 

The zone that I am over is the smallest in the mission, with missionaries and geographical area. However it is the best zone in the mission :) In our district we have the AP's, the Zone Leaders (us), the Sister Trainers, and our District Leader. There is only one missionary without a leadership position and he is a visa waiter. So it is a very interesting meeting when we all get together. I have not yet had the chance to meet the whole zone yet, but I will be giving my first zone training tomorrow so wish me luck or better pray for me :)I hope that covers most of the questions that you might have about what is going on in my new area.

 

I am trying right now to get a ride back to my old area so that I can baptize an investigator we have been teaching. She asked me last week to baptize her so now I am working on finding a volunteer to drive me 2 and 1/2 hours down there and back...this one I could use some luck :)

So I want to share a miracle that happened this past week. It was my first day as Zone Leader. My companion and I were stopped on the side of the road so that we could make a phone call to the sisters to give them a headquarter referral. My companion was on the phone talking and was giving them the information on this referral when all the sudden I had the really bad feeling come over me. I immediately gave my companion the cut it sign and told him to stop because of this really bad feeling I was having. Well he did and quickly told them we had to go and that we would talk to them later. After he hung up I told him what I felt. We talked about it for a little and did some investigating to see what the matter really was. Well come to find out this referral was a fake and was a trap to get missionaries. Anyways. I felt a huge mantel of responsibility come over me after this. I was so grateful for this experience. It taught me a lot and helped me see how important it is for Leaders to have the Spirit. I know that I am unequal to this task but I am qualified through my righteous living. 



 

 

Another awesome thing that happened this week was we had a baptism! It seems like I always walk right into baptisms. Haha I was able to help teach this young man the last few times before he was ready for baptism. It was such an awesome experience. I love this man. He is such a stud and is so ready to experience the blessings of the Restored Gospel Of Jesus Christ! Back to back baptisms this week. You just can not get much better than that :) 

Well time is almost out! 

Love you all. I will work on sending pictures sometime :)

Elder Bevan

1/13/14

Dear Everyone,

Well guess what? Transfer week (AGAIN). I totally forgot that Transfers were this week! It is pretty crazy to think that I have been out 10 months today. Time flies when you are where you are supposed to be and are working hard. Anyways...transfers...I got a call last night about 10:47, which I was prepared for, except when I looked down and saw that it was President Francis and not the Zone Leaders. Long story short I have been called to be Zoned Leader of the Rochester East zone. I am a little nervous, not because of being called as Zone Leader, but because my zone has the Assistants to the President and President Francis in it. It is going to be an awesome experience. I will be serving in the Irondequoit area, which is supposedly the ghetto, so that will be a change :) I am really excited about this, it will be a blessing for sure.

 

Steven & his new companion

This news makes this week a little bitter sweet. Mainly because it was a pretty successful week. We were able to help two of the people we have been working with a lot prepare themselves to be baptized the 25th of this month. I promised them that I will make it to their baptism so I am really hoping that I can keep my end of the bargain! I will be taking pictures today of the people that we are working with so you can actually see them :).

One thing that I am not going to miss when it comes to this area is the weather. This week we had to stay inside for two days because of FREEZING COLD weather. It got all the way down to -41 degrees on Tuesday, but guess what? On Saturday it was 48 degrees and raining! I am still in shock. My body is pretty messed up. I get really hot and start to sweat now when our apartment gets over 65 degrees. I guess that is

just how Western New York rolls.

Well I have experienced many miracles this week. I think the most memorable one was last night (maybe because it just happened?) It was a usual night of visiting people and trying to find new investigators. Well, we decided to go see one of our investigators that is working to overcome some addictions. When we got to the driveway of his house we felt like it was not the right time. So we began to brainstorm where to go next, since we knew God brought us to this place for a reason. We eventually thought of this woman who had been referred to us by a member. We drove to her house (which was 3 doors down from where we were) and knocked on her door. She welcomed us in (luckily her son was there so we could go in!) and we began to talk. Well she told us some things that had happened to her this past week and told us that we were an answer to her prayers. We were able to resolve some of her concerns (her main one was, Who Is GOD?) and help her come to know that the Book of Mormon will answer those questions. I am so thankful for my knowledge of the Book of Mormon and have made a commitment to receive a witness everyday of it's truthfulness so that way I can truly testify of it with power. I know that the Book of Mormon gives us answers to our prayers, and through the Spirit, it will tell us ALL things that we should do. I am so grateful for the changes that are taking place in my "outside" missionary life but I am even more grateful for the changes that are happening to my "inside" Spiritual life. God has been good to meI am so grateful for all that I have been given because I have been given so Much. 

I will let you all know my address when I get to my new area up in ROC City.

I love you all,

Elder Bevan

January 6, 2014

Dear Everyone,

Sorry about not getting my last weeks email out. I was slacking. It seems like my missionary life is kicking into another gear as time moves on. I used to have days or even weeks that I felt just dragged by. This is not the case as of now. I feel like more and more responsibilities are being placed on me as time goes on and I am able to find more an more ways to spend my time being productive. 

For example this week my companion and I found two new investigators who are "prepared". In just one week they were both committed to a date this month and have been taught all of the lessons. We are working with one of them on the word of wisdom but aside from that they are both ready to be baptized (our other investigator that was supposed to be baptized last month is working on setting another date, so we have a chance of 3 baptisms this month (fingers crossed)). It was such a blessing to stumble upon them. We also had 10 member present lessons which is unheard of in our area. We are finally learning the principles of teaching for conversion. 

Along with all the teaching and finding opportunities my companion and I were asked to give a training in Zone Meeting on Motivation and Confidence. Which I personally think is weird that they would ask us. Along with that we had to prepare for our monthly Missionary Fireside that we give. It was a little bit stressful trying to prepare enough so that we could feel comfortable teaching. I thought teaching in the beginning of my mission was scary. Well it only gets worse when you are teaching a large group of people.

The biggest lesson that I learned this week would have to be don't pray for humbling experiences if you don't want them :) Our missionary fireside this week was humbling for me. It was humbling because it did not meet my expectations (which I have come to realize those "expectations" were prideful). I wanted it to be something "magical". Something that would shock and awe. Instead it was a simple and humble declaration of truth. This is what humbled me the most because despite how well (or how poorly) we performed the Spirit was still felt. I have a testimony that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass and that feeling the Spirit in this world that we live in is a GREAT THING! I know this church is true because it is moving forward and filling the hearts of the children of men, despite the weaknesses of mankind. 

I love you all thanks for being my support!

Love,

Elder Bevan

 

P.S. We have not had a lot of snow until TODAY!! It has been blizzarding all day long so far. 

December 23, 2013

 

A little p-day fun

 

 

Dear Everyone,

Merry Christmas to all of you!

 

This has been a good week of GOOD hahah. SO much has taken place that I can not even begin to think where to start. Well I will start with something that has really helped me out this week. It is a pattern of thinking and preparing that can be found in almost every aspect of life and when it is applied there is no way that you can be unprepared! It goes like this: 1. Review, 2.Discuss (step 1 and 2 help you obtain a vision of what needs to be done and what your standing is) next 3. Set goals, 4. Make plans. When you apply these 4 simple steps to something that you want to accomplish (whether it is preparing to teach, teaching, cooking, cleaning....whatever) you will be successful. You may think that you do these things already (so did I) but once you take the time to do it step by step you change the way you perform! 

Some of the blessings that I have received this past week range from finding people that have been prepared and led right into my lap (this may be my favorite missionary experience/feeling that we missionaries get to experience) all the way to an amazing turn out at our first annual Christmas caroling event. This week we found two very solid investigators that we met with and taught. We taught them a "new way" that was shown to us by the Head of Proselyting at Zone Leader Council. It works like a charm when applied and prepared correctly! It uploads the Spirit as opposed to downloading the doctrine! That is the key to success as a missionary.

The two people we found this week that are prepared are both Native American and have some strong ties already to the church! They have had their hearts softened to the message of the Restoration. I have no doubt in my mind that they were just waiting for my companion and I to learn how to "really teach" the Restoration by the Spirit. We found one of them while shoveling snow. Ok a little background to this story. The day before our HUGE blizzard I prayed and asked for it to snow like crazy so that I would be able to know if there was someone that needed to be found by us shoveling or doing service. Well that prayer was answered!!! The other investigator we found by shoveling snow as well. God is really aware of us and sometimes allows us the opportunity to look forward with a perfect eye of Faith! :)

I am sorry that I do not have more time to explain and answer all your questions but I hope to be able to talk with most of you and answer questions as we are skyping! I love you all and pray for you everyday! I just pray that the Spirit may be always with you to keep you in the right path!

Love,

Elder Bevan

 

 

 

Yes I am in my slacks and everything :) 

 December 16, 2013

Dear Everyone,

This has been the fastest week of my entire life. There has been a little bit of everything! To start this week off we had a blizzard that pretty much blew us away. My companion and I were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders when it happened (of course) so all four of us were cooped up in our little apartment for the day. Of course, we did not stay cooped up for too long. We had a little bit of fun in the snow but after things started to clear up and the roads were plowed we went back to work. As we were driving to do some (last minute) finding in Angola I received a call from the Assistants to the President (APs). They invited me to Zone Leader council all the way down in Rochester that next morning! This is really weird for a few reasons #1 because I am a district leader #2 because there were only three other district leaders asked to go. Anyways it worked out perfectly because I was already with the Zone Leaders and all I had to do was pack my stuff and head out! Sounds simple, right? Well, not really because the storm came back as we were driving to Rochester (which normally is a 2 1/2 hour drive). The drive ended up taking close to 4 hours! We could only go about 20 mph for most of it because we could not see anything! We did however see our fair share of accidents. They seemed to follow us all the way to Rochester.

 

After we finally arrived, all of the Zone leaders (and the 3 other district leaders) slept at the mission home. It was a pretty fun night. The next morning was the interesting part however...we were on our way to the meeting when all of the sudden we went through the intersection and got T-Boned!! It was a pretty unreal experience.... Mostly because none of us felt anything when the Van hit us and it was probably going at least 30 mph. To add on to that, the truck we were in had minimal damage. Talk about a miracle. We were definitely watched out for and preserved for a good reason.

 

 It is safe to say that we experienced a lot of opposition on our way to this meeting. Maybe because it was one of the most insightful and uplifting meetings I have had. It has changed the way I look at missionary work. We learned a lot of information about physical things and spiritual things pertaining to missionary work. I wish I had a way of showing it to you through email but that would be impossible. However if we will just BE STILL and trust in God all that He has in store for us will happen. I have had many experiences this week that I believe are preparing me for what is to come.

As you can tell I spent a lot of time away (3 days total because of inclement weather) from my companion. This made our week a lot less productive in our actual area but we have the tools now to make it better than it ever could have been before. Good things are happening in this area. Many hearts (both member and nonmember) are being prepared and we are being led to those who are ready to receive. I am so grateful that I do not have to shoulder alone all of my responsibilities.

 

Life is good and I am happy. What more could you ask for? I have a strong testimony that this is the last time that our Father in Heaven will send us out to prepare the vineyard for His coming. We need to watch and pray always for ways that we can fulfill our responsibilities as His servants. 

O be wise; what can I say more? Jacob 6:12

Love you all! Have a merry merry  CHRISTmas season

Elder Bevan

December 9, 2013

 

Dear Everyone,

It has been a rewarding week! We had such great success finding people and teaching them! We have been blessed exceedingly. If I had to choose a part of missionary work that I liked the best and felt was the most rewarding...I would probably say finding new people after following an impression from the Holy Ghost. There is nothing better than that.

 

Some other cool things that happened this week.... This week for district meeting I gave a training on Success and setting Goals. At first I was a little timid about this one because we had something similar the other month for a Zone Meeting. However I felt impressed to give it this week. So I did and it went really well. We were able to even set some District Goals. Which I feel, will allow God to work more powerfully through us. The goal involves us opening our mouths and teaching which will help us find more people and increase the Baptisms in this area. Back to the District meeting...we had an awesome experience setting goals and discussing what success really was. Following this, in our next Branch Council meeting, we received a letter from the Stake Presidency that said we needed to set goals to increase the number of converts and bring more people back to activity. Ironically enough we also talked all about what success was. It was a pretty sweet experience to feel the Spirit testify and give me a witness after the trial of my Faith that I was led by the Spirit. God is good. 

On to the bad news...I have been pretty itchy this past week all over my ankles...yeah you know what that means...FLEAS. I realized this while I was reading the ensign a little bug hopped onto the page I was reading. I tried squishing it, well, they are pretty tough boogers to squish! When I did it squirted blood all over. I guess it had a good snack. I would say that I was pretty grossed out and scared to sleep in my bed but I really was not bothered too bad, I must be pretty by the time I get home or something. We have not yet found a solution to the problem so until then I will have to deal with the itch. We are thinking one of those bug bombs!? Aside from that all is well. I am rolling with the punches as they come and learning a lot about my Savior and His plan for me. I sometimes get a little nervous about the future and what challenges are ahead but the phrase Be Still and Know that I Am God comes into my head. Sometimes we need to just be still and know that He has a plan and it is one of EXTREME Happiness.

I love you all!

Elder Bevan

P.S. Shout out to My Fellow Sister! I was pretty excited for her when I heard that she received her VISA (Christmas Present:) GOD is Good! Am I right?

December 2, 2013

Dear Everyone,

Happy late Thanksgiving!! It has been an awesome week. I loved getting all of your emails about what you did and seeing how much fun you had! That was something I was really thankful for this week. MY FAMILY! I am not going to lie I missed being at home and having a thanksgiving with family but only for about 2 seconds haha. We were so busy this week that there was no time to feel homesick or anything like it. So I will tell you a little bit of what happened around Turkey Day. So in the morning before we had our feast we had District Meeting which was really great! (I still stress over them every week and even get a little nervous but it is good practice for me!) After District Meeting we went over to a members house for a thanksgiving feast! She is a recent convert of about 2 weeks! She is pretty awesome and reminds me a lot of mom (because they have the same RED HAIR). It was a great time but we did not spend a lot of time there. We promptly left the meal and went about doing the Lord's work. 

My companion and some other elders had an idea to go around and shovel snow for people as a way of finding new people to teach (Shovel tracting). This was a way awesome experience! I do not know if it was because of thanksgiving or what, but people seemed to love us!!! (maybe because we were shoveling a foot of snow out of their yards?) It seemed like everywhere we went we found a warm welcome and an invitation to come in and have hot chocolate and pie! It may have been one of the happiest tracting experiences I have had :). We found 2 new investigators because of it and 2 or 3 others with some REAL potential. It is amazing what can happen when you go around and just DO GOOD. I think people were more open because they felt more like they were working with us as opposed to us working ON them. It is so important to see people as your family and to treat them as such. I know as a member of a family that I do not like being told what to do but would rather work with someone and learn from their example.

This week was also the week of our long awaited FIRESIDE!!! It was so much work to put together! I prayed a ton and stressed even more, for about 2 weeks, creating a presentation that would be easy to understand and invite the Spirit. We planned on this fireside being directed toward nonmembers and encouraging members to invite their friends. Well it worked! Our prayers and efforts were answered with an outpouring of the Spirit. It was nothing but the Grace of God that allowed this to come together so perfectly. We, along with the Sisters, (from Orchard Park) were able to teach the Restoration in a way that involved the people and taught them the most important message that, we as missionaries, have to share. The greatest thing that resulted from our efforts was that the people who needed to hear this message came to the fireside! We had planned, of course, on having all of our investigators come (we have about 21 investigators) and only 1 came. Of course we were disappointed but, come to find out, the Lord had different plans. What I came to realize was that the members needed to hear this message more than anyone else in this area. They were the ones that needed the light of this wonderful message in their lives. For the sole purpose that, they could have something to share with their friends. We also needed to gain their trust and support in moving this work along. The only way this was ever going to happen was for them to see us in action. 

I have really been strengthened this week to do more than I could ever hope or aspire to do on my own. I know that this was only possible because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. His ability to overcome all things has added strength to my physical capacities as well as my emotional, and Spiritual and has led all my trials to be swallowed up in the Joy of Christ just like Alma says in Alma 31:38 And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ.Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith. I know that things are true and that we are able to overcome all things if we can just recognize our dependence on our Brother Jesus Christ and ask Him in Faith to strengthen us. 

I hope you all have a great week and really prepare yourself for this wonderful CHRISTMAS season! I am so excited for CHRISTmas! By the way...we just found out that our whole mission is getting together for Christmas eve and having a day long "event" (aka party) I am very excited but not as excited as I am to teach and testify! :)

Thanks again!

Love you all,

Elder Bevan

11/25/13

Dear Everyone,

  

Driving in the snow - 10 & 2

Life is good, REALLY GOOD. I don't think I have ever planned so much in my entire life or thought so much about things that are coming up. The things that I have been thinking about are "good things" so don't be thinking I am distracted. My district has been planning a way to get the members more involved, as you all know by now. We have been really trying to get these members fired up! We have been thinking of ways to do this and we have come up with a few ideas, with the help of the Branch President. The first and foremost plan that we have established is a monthly missionary fireside put on by the missionaries. We are planning on teaching the members and their friends the basic doctrines and principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In a sense we will be giving them a motivational talking to haha. We (the missionaries) have created a powerpoint that is going to rock their world and really help them and their friends understand the WHY'S of us "MORMONS". So, if you were wondering, that is what has taken over a good majority of my thinking and planning time. I am not going to lie it has been pretty stressful trying to prepare and teach something so vast in such a short period of time but also giving enough time on the important principles. Thank goodness it is not up to me to convert these people!

 

Some of you (mom and dad) may know that I never really took a lot of time or thought to planning. I sort of just did things as they came, for example a math or english test, a date (not always! sorry girls...who needs to plan or study? Well, I did not need to, until I became a missionary. When it comes to teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ you had better be prepared! However all we have to do is put enough time and effort into obtaining truths so that the Holy Ghost can testify and do the hard work! I can already tell that this fireside is going to be a real success. The biggest reason why that is, is because we are having some Site Sisters come down and teach the Restoration part of the first discussion. For some reason people just like the Sisters better! hahah That's ok...they need the attention :) 

Aside from the madness of this fireside we have been doing our best work when it comes helping people come unto Christ (and by "our best work" I mean following the promptings of the Holy Ghost and doing the will of Heavenly Father because this is not "our work" at all!!). The Spirit is so important to have in this work. For example it is really "the power" in missionary work, because "we of ourselves could do nothing" to move this work along. However when the Spirit is present we can do anything. There is nothing better than being a hand tool for the God of Israel. The Spirit for example has changed the heart of our investigator. They are ready for baptism and will be baptized Dec. 14th instead of Dec. 1st. The experience I have had while teaching has been amazing. I have been there since the very first lessons and have been able to teach everything and see the change! I always thought that missionaries played a big role in the conversion process of investigators but that is not the case. Sure the investigators may learn to love you but the real change takes place as they develop a relationship with their Heavenly Father on their own time and in their own way! That is what makes all the difference in a person. All we have to do is give them enough of the light that is in us, which can only be given if we have it, so that way they can start their own personal journey to Christ. It has been a tender mercy to be a part of something so life changing. 

It has definitely been a week to remember and that is the truth! It is funny the way that God works because just last week I was studying a lot about remembering and how important it is. It is even said by the Prophet President Kimball "that the most important word in the dictionary is REMEMBER". So, I was grateful for this tender mercy. That God would prepare me, before hand, to get the most I possibly could out of this week. It seems like the more we remember and think back on our lives the more we learn and the more we see the "significant but subtle blessings" as Elder Bednar would say. I encourage all of you to look back on some of the blessings or tender mercies you have received recently and to think about what God did to prepare you to receive them. What better time of year to do this than at thanksgiving. I know the more we remember the more we are grateful for what we have been given, no matter what our circumstances may be!

Love, 

Elder Bevan 

 

This isn't what your mom mean't , when she said,

"You need to eat what you kill".

November 18, 2013

Hello from NEW YORK!

Hope everyone is doing well and that no one is discouraged. There is no reason to be. This work is moving along and things are happening! It seems like every week, this past month we have been having amazing Spiritual Meetings. This week it was Stake Conference, and man is this area ready to flourish. There is an effectual door being opened and we are right in the midst of it! I say this because of some of the signs that I have seen this week. A lot of good signs and some bad. It was said that "the more our forces for good grow, the more the forces for bad will work on the good". Some of the things that happened this week are proof! 

Last night after having such an amazing conference a massive storm rolled in. We were sitting down planning when everything just went dark. We lost everything. We had no power, no water, nothing. It was kind of like camping yesterday :) Luckily it was not too cold outside so we did not freeze! 

 

 My companion and others in my district, bowling. The Elder to my left looks like Mel Gibson.

The Elder on the end to my right looks like Joaquin Phoenix,

and we call my companion smalls...sometimes :)

 

We went to the lake and got caught in a huge wind storm.



 

You can seem how hard that wind was blowing!!!

 



We have some good news about one of our investigators! Jessica has officially decided to be baptized and will be baptized Dec. 7th!!! I was so happy to hear that she had committed and was willing to do whatever it takes and let me tell you it is going to take a lot with all that her ex-husband puts her through. We had an interesting experience with this "relationship" while moving. Jessica's husband kicked her and her two boys out and would not let them get any of their stuff (left them out in the cold). They were unable to do anything until the divorce was final. Well it was official this Saturday so we volunteered to help her move. Little did we know what the outcome would be. We get there and find out that there needs to be a policeman there supervising while they break into the house (because he changed the locks). Anyways that was exciting. After about 30 mins her ex shows up and of course since it is the first week of deer season he has to have a gun! He starts walking promptly to us gun in hand! Luckily the cop was there to pull him aside while we finished moving. It got a little intense but for some strange reason I was never worried at all. I just felt really bad for Jessica and all she had to go through and all that she will still have to endure. However Good always triumphs evil because no matter how bad the odds seem there are more people on our side than we could ever imagine.

I personally know that all that has happened this week, good or bad, was for the moving forward of God's work. I have learned a lot and when I felt like I was not progressing I turned to the words of the prophets and immediately found the comfort and strength I needed to rise up again and again. There is such strength in knowing who we are and having our eyes set on Eternal Goals. When we do this there is nothing that we can not overcome.

We have been doing a lot of brainstorming and planning (thinking outside the box) and have come up with a lot of great, inspired ideas on how to get people more involved and move the work along. We are going to be starting with a Missionary Fireside December 1st that will get this work moving. I just want to urge all of you to really pray. Not just say prayers but pray to our Father in Heaven. We have a responsibility as His Children to know the mind and will of Him concerning ourselves. Always be worthy of the Spirit, Pray and ask for it, Listen to it, and Heed its promptings promptly. If we do this we will surely have Eternal Life!

Love,

Elder Bevan

Instead of Spiders in our new place we catch mice :)

Dear Everyone,

If I have anything to say I would have to say that I am learning! And learning sure is necessary in order to be an effective missionary. I have so much that I want to say! I will start off with Zone Conference. It was such a great Zone Conference this past week. I really feel they get better every time. We learned a lot especially from the stake president who came and addressed all of the missionaries in the buffalo stake. He is a man full of Prophecy and Revelation. This area is really on the verge of exploding with missionary work. We (the wards/branches) are constantly getting letters from the first presidency saying to do more and work harder because there are people ready! It is so exciting. We have been really trying to get the members involved and motivated. I have learned a lot for myself about the way we really get people to do things and...It is out of love. Unless someone can act out of love there is no point in acting. We really have to apply Moroni 7:48 into our lives and Pray with all energy of heart for charity! Then we can obtain success! Some of the things that I wrote down from Zone Conference were goals or acronyms the stake president gave for us to apply and teach. They are: CTR Conversion Temple Rescue, ETTE Endure to the Endowment. Also President Francis made us a really cool promise this Conference he told us that if we will be Faithful and diligent some time in our mission we will take some from baptism all the way to the temple! I can not wait for that day. I do not know if there could be a happier thing in this world to be a part of! 

A little update on the area...We are officially working with Jessica to have a baptism date. She is finally divorced and moved out and is now able to set a date!! We also have found 4 new investigators that are really prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. All they need to do now is to "Try the virtue of the word of God" Alma 31:5. We also had some snow last night. We got 5 inches which was pretty fun to drive in:) I am not really the most experienced winter driver but thankfully I got some good practice drifting at the go kart racing place (thanks Dad!!) hahah I am just teasing. I am a really safe driver especially after my ticket ;) 

Elder Hadley and I are getting along just fine. we have our differences but so is life. We have the same goals and are working in unity. As long as we have that we are unstoppable and God can really utilize us. I have been so blessed and can't thank Heavenly Father enough. Luckily all we have to do is to keep the commandments :)

Remember we must be Brave and to be brave we must have perfect love, which "perfect Love" casteth out all Fear! :) 

Kneel down and pray for missionary opportunities and pray for charity and they will come in a way that feels natural! I promise!

Thanks for all your love! 

Elder BEVAN 

November 4, 2013

Dear Everyone,

All is well in Cattaraugus. My companion and I have been doing really well together. Not without some divine guidance. We have been really focusing on always having the Holy Ghost to be our guide, in all phases of the work. It has been some of the most peaceful times yet probably because when the Holy Ghost is near that is just what happens. 

Don't go thinking that nothing bad has happened because that would be down right outlandish. The work is moving a long and people's hearts are softening. They are not quite softening at the pace that I have in mind but I know they are being softened according to God's will. I have really come to know that God's thoughts are not my thoughts and that His ways are not My ways! Talk about an important lesson to learn. 

We have our new senior couple this week! The McNeils they are from New Mexico. This is their 6th mission! They have served a lot of them on Indian Reservations so this is going to be a perfect fit for them. The other elders in my district are doing really well! They are really stirring the pot down in Gowanda New York ahaha. That is something missionaries in Western New York are really good at. I am not sure if that is because nobody likes us or because we are starting to have a lot of success or both? Who knows. All I know is no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing!

The leaves are almost gone and the cold air is finally here! We have had snow fluries but still have not quite had anything stick! 

I am sorry for the short email today but there is just so much going on today! 

Thanks for all of your emails and support I am glad to see the family is doing well!

Love,

Elder Bevan