Elder Stephen Matthew Ray

The Last Melon

November 25, 2019

Hi.

Elder Ray here for the last time. This past week has been pretty much the same as every other week of my mission except for having New Missionary Training this past Wednesday for Elder Fewkes. We got transfer calls this past Saturday and President Hughes said I am being transferred to Gilbert Arizona on the 27th to find my next companion. But Elder Matheny, who I served around when I was in Brandenburg, is coming to Evansville to learn Marshallese and continue the work in my place! I love that man so much and I'm excited for him to be working here! Evansville really is a blessed land! I'll be sad to leave here but I will definitely keep updated on what is happening here! I'm so excited for there to be a group and then a Branch here for the Marshallese people next year! Also I hear that there are some Marshallese people in Arizona, so that would be cool to look them up and find them and use my .00001% of Marshallese that I know!

My Mission has been amazing. It's been chock full of challenges and it is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, full of heartbreak and trials. But similar to John 16:21 which says, "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world," I am filled with joy at the people's lives I have had the opportunity to enrich, the blessings I was able to both give and receive, the joy that I received as I watched my brothers and sisters enter into the waters of baptism to receive the same peace, happiness, and direction that I have known throughout my life, and the knowledge and power that Heavenly Father has blessed me with to assist Him in His glorious work, and to assist me with my continuing path of discipleship throughout the rest of my life. I know that Heavenly Father loves me, that He is with me, that He has given me His only Begotten Son, that He has prepared the way for me to return to live with Him and with my family for all eternity, that the church which Jesus Christ established is on the earth today and that I am a part of it. I know that the Book of Mormon came directly from Heavenly Father and that it is a glorious book, and as the prophet Joseph Smith declared, "A man [or woman] would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than any other book."

Thank you everyone for your support and your love! I will see y'all soon! Ij Iokwekom! I love you!

Elder Stephen Matthew Ray
713 N Poplar Street Gilbert AZ 85233

Me and brother Bilimon!

Me and Paul Maday.

Lemjen and Haijiangs baptism

Lemjen and Haijiang were baptized!

November 18, 2019

IoÌ§kwe aelop!

So. 9 days. This past Saturday we had the Baptism of lemjen jello and Haijiang yu! It was pretty cool! A good way to end the mission!Elder Norwood was the one to baptize and confirm lemjem and Haijiang in Marshallese. I mean I technically didn't even really teach them, I was just present for all of their lessons because I didn't know how to make sentences for the longest time. But it was still cool!

Miracle story: so elder Sutherland and elder Norwood were preparing the translation equipment last Sunday and since there were so many people at church that needed a headset, they didn't have enough because 3 of them were broken. They tried taking batteries out and putting new ones in and turning it off and back on but nothing worked... So Elder Sutherland prayed that at least one of them would work. And he turned it on and it worked! Miracles! They ended up not using it, but I mean, faith works haha!

This last week we are running pretty low on miles so we will probably have to bike a lot but it's also supposed to rain and be super cold, so Arizona can't come soon enough. I will send out a pretty decent sized email next week (hopefully) and say sentimental stuff about my mission I guess, but it's been good! I have had the opportunity to enrich the lives of others so many times and it is a great feeling to be an instrument in the hands of the lord. Anyways, I love yall! See ya next week! Bar lo kom!

Love Elder Ray
8164 Lincoln Avenue Apt B Evansville Indiana

My last District Leader Conference Call Ever! Thank goodness.

Elder Fewkes and Elder Sutherland eating at read street barbecue lol.

Me taking a picture walking in the snow while elder Fewkes kept walking...

Elder Fewkes continuing to walk whilst I took pictures...

41 at church!

November 11, 2019

Hello!

So, I have 2 weeks left. Hopefully I will be able to write at least 1 more email before I return home. The weeks fly by here and there is so much going on! It's crazy to think that I am coming to the end of my time here, but I think that this ward is super high up on my list of awesomeness! Man, almost every single ward that I have been to has just been amazing, and each of them were completely different. But the Spirit was always the same! Speaking of the spirit, yesterday was the primary program in sacrament meeting and it was just the greatest thing ever! I love children, and the spirit was so strong! Just their simple testimonies of Jesus Christ brought such a greater spirit than any amazing story, experience, or other thing that could have been said in a sacrament meeting. I feel like people get too caught up in telling good stories and forget that the spirit is the true teacher. Elder Norwood put it best, "If it's too difficult to translate into basic marshallese, it shouldn't be said in sacrament meeting."

Speaking of sacrament meeting, there were a record breaking 41 Marshallese people there! Most of them were nonmembers! I went with one of the priests in Newburgh 1st ward to go and pick some up and got to speak to some marshallese people I had never met before on the way there, so that was cool! I mean, I'm still terrible at marshallese, but at least I can have a tiny conversation with people! Yaay! Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend the Marshallese Sacrament meeting or Sunday School because we had ward council and our own sacrament meeting to go to, but I saw it through the window and it was awesome! 2 of the people that are most progressing that are on Baptismal date will have their last lesson this week and then be baptized on Saturday! They are Lemjen and Hichang Jello! They are super prepared for this gospel and even though I didn't fully understand what was being said during their lessons and I didn't really get to teach them because I don't know the language well enough, I was still there for most of the lessons and I am so excited for their baptism! They have come so far! Anyways, that is all I have for you this week! I love you all and will see you soon! Talk to yall next week! Bar lo kom!

Elder Stephen Ray
8164 Lincoln Avenue Apt B Evansville Indiana

Loves you

Praying in Marshallese in front of 28 Marshallese and the Stake Presidency!!

October 28, 2019

IoÌ§kwe aelop!

Yesterday we had a meeting with the stake Presidency and 28 Marshallese people. President Monroe talked about the qualifications and the responsibilities of starting a marshallese group and one of my companions, Elder Norwood (who started all the Marshallese work in Evansville) translated for all the Marshallese people. Some of the stronger members, such as Brother and Sister Bilimon and the Latdriks, bore their testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and it was just awesome! I don't really know all that they said because they talked pretty fast, but the spirit there was super strong! President Monroe said they will request to have permission to start a group and gave us a bunch of things to do to prepare everybody! I'm excited! Elder Norwood also asked me to say the closing prayer in Marshallese and it was pretty intimidating, but I'm pretty sure I did okay! People said they understood most of it so it's all good. I'm sad I won't be able to see it fully become a branch or help even more with the wonderful marshallese work here considering I go home in 4 weeks, but I'm glad I am able to be a part of this marvelous work and wonder. It seems to me that God is bringing Israel here. There are miracles happening every day, and we find about 2 new marshallese people a day!

Honestly I don't know what else to share except for that God knows where His children are at and He is hastening His work and he allows us to be a part of it if we want to. It is the most important thing happening on the earth today! IjeÄ¼Ä ke kabunÌ„ eo an jisos kraist im armej ro rekwojarjar ilo raan ko Äliktata emÌ§ool im ke Anij ej ioÌ§kwe aelop An ajri ro.

Love yall. see ya soon. Bar lo eok! Jeramman!

Elder Stephen Ray
8164 Lincoln Avenue Apt B Evansville IN 47715

The Marshallese meeting yesterday

Good day for a bike day I guess

Simba

Double MÌ§ajÅl Baptism

October 21, 2019

It was a real good and busy week! Bobson Samson and Goddy Latdrik who are 14 and 17 years old were baptized this last Saturday! It was really cool to hear the Baptism and confirmation prayers in Marshallese! Elder Fewkes (our new trainee) is pretty much pretrained so I guess he's just here to keep me going for the next 5 weeks lol. I think I'm finally starting to understand Marshallese a lot better and have been more comfortable being able to speak it a little bit more, but I'm totally going to forget all of it when I get home, but I'll try to keep it up! This transfer is going to be crazy! But it's gonna be fun and exciting and full of miracles. There have been countless miracles already but I know there are plenty more to come! The Lord definitely wants a Marshallese branch here! There have been about 20 Marshallese people at Sacrament meeting and we've been able to do a Marshallese Sunday School class for 2 weeks in a row now! Miracles. Well, I'm still doing well, enduring to the end. Love you!

Love, Elder Stephen Ray
8164 Lincoln Avenue Apartment Apt B Evansville IN 47715

Elder Fewkes, Elder Norwood, and I with President and Sister Hughes.

My Posterity: (From right to left) me, my son, my grandson, and my great grandson

Elder Rupp, Elder Sutherland, and me in the backseat lol

My pumpkin. Glenjamin

I ate a brain. Would not recommend.

October 14, 2019

Hello Everybody! I know you've all been dying to read my weekly email, so good news, the wait is over! What a crazy week this has been! Sooo much has happened. On Tuesday we drove over 2 hours to go to MLC in Louisville, which lasted for 6 hours, then we drove 2 hours back! I only have one more MLC left on my mission! We have them at the beginning of each month for Zone Leaders and STLs. The reason I know that I will have one more is because we also got transfer calls this past Saturday! I will be staying and dying in Evansville, Indiana for the last 6 weeks of my mission with Elder Norwood, AND training a new missionary. Crazy, I know, considering we barely have enough room in our tiny apartment for the 2 of us. I've moved all of my stuff into a storage closet and we broke out the air mattress that I will be sleeping on for the rest of my mission haha! I'm super excited for it! The transfer meeting tomorrow is going to be legendary! I will get to see Elder Godfrey and Elder Tapp give their departing testimonies, and Elder Jessee ( who I trained) and Elder Cuff (who Elder Jessee trained) are both training this transfer also! Therefore, I will have my son, my new son, my grandson, my new grandson, and my great grandson all in one room! If we don't get a multi-generational picture I'm going to be very disappointed.

So, my title: On Wednesday we went to give service at the Church's booth at the fall festival. That was a lot of fun! It was four hours of wrapping "Monster Ears" and giving them to people! Plus we got paid with a Monster ear of our own when we were finished. (A Sweetened dough, fried, and dipped in a cinnamon sugar syrup.) So after we were finished, it was 5 o'clock and we didn't have a dinner appointment that night, so one of the members that we were working with bought us dinner: anything we wanted at the Fall Festival. SO, there was a booth there that sold brain sandwiches. Like actual brains. It was fried pig brains, pickles, and Onions. It didn't taste super good, but it was fun to try haha!

This week at church we had 21 Marshallese people attend! Elder Sutherland gave a talk in sacrament meeting and bore his testimony in Marshallese and they loved it! After that we had our first Sunday school class in Marshallese, which was awesome! Many of the people had already gone home, but we had 7 people attend the class! Elder Norwood was the only person that was able to speak Marshallese well enough to teach it, so us other Elders just watched him and tried to understand what he was saying. I understood probably 90% of what he said, but then when the native Marshallese speakers started talking, I could understand about .1% of what they said haha! Hopefully I'll be able to get a little better at it this next transfer! It's been crazy to see the Lord hastening the gathering of His people, and also to see the gift of tongues work in the lives of these missionaries, including mine! I'm so grateful the Lord trusts me to be here for everything that is happening! I'm stoked for this upcoming transfer! Eat your vitamin pills. Get plenty of rest. It's going to be exciting! I love you all! Keep staying alive!

Elder Ray
8164 Lincoln avenue Apt B Evansville IN 47715

6 month Cliffhanger

October 7, 2019

Hello everybody!

Your friendly neighborhood Elder Ray stopping in to enlighten y'all on the life of a missionary in Indiana (Me). Man, General Conference is always just the greatest! Yes, even when President Nelson leaves us all on a Cliffhanger in anticipation for the bicentennial of the First Vision! I'm super excited about that, but I feel like the speculation about that is going to be out the wazoo! It'll be fine though, the Lord knows how to run His church. But it seems like most of the General Conference talks were all focusing on us getting all the distractions and garbage out of our lives and focusing on Jesus Christ and becoming more Holy. We can always attend the temple more often, we can set aside time deliberately to study the scriptures. If you don't have 5 minutes a day to study the scriptures, you're lying to yourself, but it is truly Satan who is lying to you! We say we follow and sustain the prophet, but do we actually follow and sustain him by heeding his counsel? I know that's definitely something that I need to work on, but I know that for me as I've done "come, follow me" like we have been asked to do I have received more strength than I could have asked for! It's amazing! The prophet truly is inspired of God and His promises are binding.

I don't even remember what happened this week but I'm sure it had something to do with marshallese people. We downloaded multiple talks and songs in Marshallese so we have just been listening to strictly those for the past week, which sometimes gets kind of annoying because I want to understand what I'm listening to, but we feel like it helps. We had a lesson scheduled for an English family on Wednesday but when we went over there, the mom had just left to go shopping and wouldn't be back for a while, but as we were talking to the dad, a guy walked by and sat down on a swingset at the park right next to their apartment. We went over there and just asked if he was from the Marshall Islands and he said he was! The lord is just giving us people to teach at this point! It's pretty awesome! Apparently he is the son of the chief on the capital island of Majuro on the Marshall Islands, and he said we could come back and teach him and his two brothers! On Friday we planned for a bunch of Marshallese people to come play basketball at the church. It was supposed to start at 5. At 7 pm, one family showed up, so we played with them for about an hour. On Saturday night we were at the church for quite a while trying to figure out how to switch the satellite to Marshallese but still have English playing also, but we eventually found a way to do it and it actually worked! We had 2 marshallese families show up for General conference yesterday morning and they told us that they could feel the spirit and that it was so much better listening to it in their own language! It was so cool! Well, that's about it for this week I think. I'm still alive, so that's cool. Speaking of cool, it's finally starting to feel like fall. I can now reasonably wear my long sleeved shirts! Yay! Hopefully this kind of weather stays for a while and doesn't just jump straight to freezing. Hopefully I will be home before that comes. But I doubt it. I love you all and I'll see you soon!

IoÌ§kwe, Elder Ray
8164 Lincoln Avenue Apt B Evansville IN