let's go to the beach eech 🌴🥥

 Week 72

WELCOME TO PUERTO ESCONDIDO BABY 🏄‍♀️🏄‍♀️

The transfer news everyone was waiting for but no one expected… I'm in the coast! I will officially be dying off here as a STL (still 💀) with my new comp Hermana Moreno from Northern Mexicooo yayyyy! I'ts honestly a DREAM TRANSFER. It has been the best week ever with so many miracles. I can't wait to tell you about them all.

Quick rundown on the area: Puerto Escondido is actually a decently well known travel destination. We run into so many vacationers. It's kinda crazy. Really the main people who come are surfers. The sea is kinda dangerous here but with some legit waves for surfers who know what they're doing. Our area also includes some little pueblos costaños that are like an hour or so away and are SO GREEN. We travel a lot around the area but its #worthit. The vibes here is super fun, it’s wayyyy different than anywhere else I've ever been on the mission but im loving it. Here's the pros and cons

Pros:

- we live 5 minutes from the beach🌴

- we have AC in our room 👑

- our area is ginormous 

- its my first time serving in a branch and we are carrying the primary program 💪🏼

- everyone wants to be baptized 🌊

Cons:

- its outlawed to go to the beach 💀 If you even look at the sand wrong the APs will grill you on what you did for pday. Super lame.🚫🏖 (don't worry I'll explain the first pic in a second)

-it is SO HOT. I never stop sweating. The humidity is insane. I have returned to Satan's armpit but it's fine cause the ocean is here.

but YOU GUYS. THIS IS THE PROMISED LAND. We have met so many new people this week and within my first 4 days in the area 5 PEOPLE accepted a baptismal date. HUH. and that is not even all. They also ALL came to church on Sunday, plus another friend who decided to pull up. I have never felt more like a real missionary than I do here. We're talking back to back to back confirmed lessons in the church. We just wait for them to come to us AND THEY DO. It’s insane.  I’m  having a hard time believing it all. Every person we have taught this week has come to us. We have not had to knock a single door or beg anyone to come to church. I am LOVIN IT. I have felt the Lord's hand so close to us in the work and know without a doubt He has been preparing this area!! 

Other thingsssss:

- we went to the beachhhh! ok I know i just that that was super illegal but let me explain. Our branch had a family home evening activity on the beach and we had 3 different friends in teaching confirmed that they were going to go. We ask the APs for permission to attend but they unsurprisingly said no. However, our branch president is the g.o.a.t and decided to call up Prezi Paz and ask him for permission and he said yes!! #welovepapipaz It was a super fun activity that our friends loved. It was a major bonus that we got to be on the beach for the sunset jajaj. Not sure if it will ever happen again, but it was fun while it lasted.

- accidentally locked ourselves in the bathroom at the church during the middle of the day and a recent convert had to come bail us out jajaja. But he was literally The Flash and showed up in like 5 minutes.

- speaking of recent converts, we literally have 30 that have been baptized in the last year. It is lowkey tough to keep track of them all jajaja but they are so awesome and funny and I love hanging out with them.

- got chased by some dogs this week, some big one and some little ones 🐕

- we are over only 2 companionships of hermanas here in the coast (bless up) but they are literally over 3 hours away from us. So catch us traveling all the time 🚌

Now that I'm not there anymore, I can officially say that my last area kinda sucked. The members were incredible, but we saw so little progress with our friends. After 3 transfers there, I was starting to get a little disheartened. I was sad because I felt like I was losing the faith that the Lord was preparing people in my area for me to find. I felt like I was running pointless circles everyday, begging someone, anyone to come to church to feel of the joy I felt there. I learned a lot in the area, but let me tell you, Puerto is a whole other ballgame. I have been here only a few short days but I have felt the Lord testify to me that my efforts in my other areas weren't in vain. The results were just being directed in a place that I could not yet see them. Every fervent prayer for a heart to be touched and opened was answered, just very far away from my direct vision. It made me think of one of the classic missionary scriptures, D&C 4:4

"For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul"

Now that I am here, I have nothing but gratitude overflowing in my heart that the Lord has led me to these people to see the fruits of our labor and do all that I can to bless them in the handful of weeks I have left. It's gonna be a good one, so buckle in!!!

Sorry for the absolute novel, but my mom tells me I'm famous for these emails (I think she's pulling my leg) so if you made it this far congrats!

LOVE U

-Hermana Stephenson 🌴🐚🏄‍♀️🌞