Proverbs 3:5-6

July 11, 2022

Proverbs 3:5-6

Alright! First and foremost I think we should establish the elephant in the room… Yes, Elder Stevens had a birthday! So we threw a missionary party, which consisted of memorizing lots of Chinese, studying scripture, and getting matching shirts! You can check out the cool picture at the bottom. Now, let’s talk about some quick highlights before we get down to the crazy cool spiritual part of the week!

Kung Fu Panda is the coolest DreamWorks animation film in all of history! The villain’s name Tài lěng means, “Too Cold”! Are you kidding me?! That is the coolest name in the entire world!
Be very careful what you say. Elder Stevens and I were studying Chinese and maybe I was slightly tired. He told me I should just quick nap for like 10 minutes. Then I said with all the vigor I could muster, “Ohhhh I’ll sleep in two years!” That was the last thing I remember before waking up face down on the floor 45 minutes later (see pic)…
Our district is getting amazing at “K.I.L.L.”, which sounds violent but the game is just hitting a hacky sack into the air without your hands 4 times and then grabbing it and trying to hit someone to get them out. This week we were playing and I caught it after the 4th hit and as I turned to get out Sister Burt (a sister in my district), she slammed against the windows with her hands in the air and just screamed. I think we need to describe to her further that you don’t actually die if you get hit haha!
Our branch had a huge kickball game. I'm happy to report that I was on the winning team. I didn’t really have anything to do with it, but it was fun to be on the team!

Now onto the week! This week was amazing! We started off with the 4th of July, which was a blast inside the MTC! We got ice cream and a ton of snacks that night and just got to talk under the beautiful sunset with fireworks in the distance! How lucky are we to live in this amazing country?! If it weren’t for the religious freedom we have here, Joseph Smith would have never gone into the Sacred Grove to ask God which church was right above all other sects. There was no better time for this to take place and I have a testimony of God’s timing. It is not always easy! And that brings me to my next point!

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). This is no easy task. In our lives, there are lots of times where we want things to be a certain way. We love how our life is going, we love the people we’re surrounded by, and everything is simply peachy. But sometimes God has a different plan for us. And at moments that plan might seem a whole lot bumpier than we would have liked, but I love the story of the Brother of Jared! I’m going to paraphrase and pick a couple highlights from Ether 6:5-8 in the Book of Mormon. (This is while the Brother of Jared and all his people are in their little ship containers floating towards the promised land)... “And it came to pass that the Lord caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind… And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters.” Now I don’t know about you, but being tossed around inside of a tiny little closed container of a boat continually by fierce winds, I probably wouldn’t be the happiest guy in the world. This happened for 344 days. But I love verse 12 where it says, “And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord." But to make this verse even cooler, the Mandarin version of this verse has a slightly different meaning. It says that IMMEDIATELY when their feet hit the ground they bowed to him. I mean, I get off of a 2-hour plane ride and all I want to do is stretch my legs and never sit down again! And all I did was watch Mulan or something which kept me entertained the whole flight! I think there are so many cool things that stand out to me about these people. One, they didn’t complain; they knew that if it weren’t for those fierce winds that pushed them, they wouldn’t have made it to the promised land nearly as fast! They would have been stuck for significantly longer. They rejoiced in their trials because they knew it was simply leading them to a brighter future! Two, they trusted the Lord with all that they had. There was no way to steer these ships; it was simply God pushing them. And that would be so difficult for me! I love being in control of my life, but sometimes, you need to let God and Jesus take the wheel! They know the path much better than we do! Lastly, I love that before they even decided to stretch their legs, before they decided to take in the fresh air, to feel land beneath their feet, they instead immediately got down on their knees and thanked Heavenly Father for His guidance! What a great example that is for me!

Right now, I’m just hopping in a vessel, and I’m going to let the Lord take me where he needs me to be! And I know that I’ll have fierce winds blow upon me. But I know that Heavenly Father only works out of love; He’s leading all of us to our individual Promised Land. To all of you out there who are struggling with mental health, to the people who have had to say goodbye to someone you love temporarily or permanently, to those who are struggling with their personal trials and all other things, please know, God loves you. We are his children. He only does things that are for our benefit; His only goal is to see all of us again so he can wrap his arms around us and say, “You just killed it down there! I am so proud of you, thanks for trusting me!” I’m so grateful for my Heavenly Father and I’m grateful he loves me enough to send fierce winds upon me to direct me to my own promised land!

I love you all!

Zàijiàn,

Elder Steadman