Hey everyone!!
Well, this is it! Had a great wee to end the mission! We had some great work which means a lot of success for these wonderful companions I am going to be leaving. We had an awesome FHE last Monday that our ward mission leader put on for us. He invited some people I had taught and they bore their testimony in the activity because they knew I was leaving soon. That was special to hear people that I have taught and help come unto Christ go and bear testimonies of their own. I will never forget that experience. We had some great lessons with people that will be getting baptized here soon. one of the people we are teaching is going to be baptized this 30th! He is such a funny kid and he is awesome to teach. We helped their family come back into the church and now we are blessed to help their son be baptized. Another person we are teaching bore his testimony to us as well and told us how excited he is to get baptized. He doesn't know exactly when, but he does know in the future, and he even told us that he is excited to be married to his girlfriend when they are able to...in the temple!! I was stoked when I heard that one. We had a great lesson with the less active man who had been less active for about 10 years now and we found out his concern and helped him to overcome it. After helping him overcome his concern, he told us he was now ready to read the scriptures again and come back unto Christ! Last week we had some sweet things happen as well! Elder Obray got his license which meant he stated driving and I stopped which was a good break. Elder and Sister Northrup, the housing couple of the mission, gave us a sweet message about conversion and having success here in the mission, they also shared about pioneers and how we can be pioneers to help the people here come unto Christ. Elder Theler took us out for bratwurst Saturday. And a recent convert of ours and his friends took us to dinner at a sweet restaurant. My last Sunday was great, I had to say goodbye to a lot of these wonderful members but it was awesome knowing that I was able to serve well in their ward. They had a ward activity today, and they invited us to join and it was so awesome. They focused it all on the family and strengthening the family. I love the Philippines so much. I love these people. Most of all I love the Lord and the opportunity I have had to serve Him and His children here in the Philippines Manila Mission. I know this church is true with all my heart. I know this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and through Joseph Smith, the gospel was restored. I know, without a doubt in my heart, that Jesus is the Christ. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. Through Him we can be cleansed from sin. God, our Heavenly Father, knows each and every one of us and loves us too. His plan is perfect and if we follow the gospel we can return to live in His presence. Thank you all for your wonderful support, and all of your love. I couldn't have done it without you!
Elder Stephens
Monday, August 25, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
August 18, 2014
Hello everyone!
We had a fun time in Narra and Puerto! It was crazy being in Narra again, especially being back with Elder Limocon. All of the members and people that we visited were asking what we were doing there because we were just together again. It was great though visiting and seeing them all. We also had a sweet service project over in the Puerto area. We went with the zone leaders of the Puerto zone and our second counselor in the mission presidency and his wife, the Hiatt's. It was a sweet service opportunity and I got a sweet blister from it. I took good care of it though so nothing to worry about:) I was grateful for the blessing to go on exchanges with the zone leaders over on Palawan. It was my last time going over there as a full-time missionary but I was grateful for it because I was still able to serve some people and help the zone leaders out in a small way. The best experience we had while on Palawan was on our p-day, Elder Limocon and I visited a couple that we taught together and baptized. During the visit, they told us that they were still coming to church each week, and haven't missed a week ever since the first time they came. They also said that they had a daughter who was baptized after we left, and she wants to become a missionary after she is done with college! I was so happy for them and to hear that from them as well. Missionary work is so great and I love being able to help these wonderful people accept this gospel! Last week we had a sweet lesson with Patrick! He told us that he now wants to be baptized for sure and he knows that it is true! I was stoked when he told us that and he is super awesome. So we talked to him and he said that he will for sure be baptized in the future, he just doesn't know how soon yet, but he did tell us that he knows that this church is true! I am so excited for him. Although, I won't be here for the baptism, I am stoked that he will be baptized. We are getting all ready for the transfers coming up this next week. We have about 28 new missionaries coming in for the next transfer which meant a ton of new areas and a ton of new trainers! It was special to be a part of that process of seeing who those trainers would be and where the areas would be opened. In the middle of the meeting, Sister Ostler came in and asked President a question. Then when she saw all the things going on, she mentioned that this could not all be done without inspiration from the Lord. She couldn't have been more right and we really felt the inspiration given to us from the Lord and it helps me know that the Lord is so involved in this work. We also found out who our new companion is and who will be here to take my place. His name is Elder Obray and he is an awesome missionary. So for now, we are in a three some companionship until I go. I love being a missionary, I love this gospel, I couldn't have served in a better place.
Elder Stephens
We had a fun time in Narra and Puerto! It was crazy being in Narra again, especially being back with Elder Limocon. All of the members and people that we visited were asking what we were doing there because we were just together again. It was great though visiting and seeing them all. We also had a sweet service project over in the Puerto area. We went with the zone leaders of the Puerto zone and our second counselor in the mission presidency and his wife, the Hiatt's. It was a sweet service opportunity and I got a sweet blister from it. I took good care of it though so nothing to worry about:) I was grateful for the blessing to go on exchanges with the zone leaders over on Palawan. It was my last time going over there as a full-time missionary but I was grateful for it because I was still able to serve some people and help the zone leaders out in a small way. The best experience we had while on Palawan was on our p-day, Elder Limocon and I visited a couple that we taught together and baptized. During the visit, they told us that they were still coming to church each week, and haven't missed a week ever since the first time they came. They also said that they had a daughter who was baptized after we left, and she wants to become a missionary after she is done with college! I was so happy for them and to hear that from them as well. Missionary work is so great and I love being able to help these wonderful people accept this gospel! Last week we had a sweet lesson with Patrick! He told us that he now wants to be baptized for sure and he knows that it is true! I was stoked when he told us that and he is super awesome. So we talked to him and he said that he will for sure be baptized in the future, he just doesn't know how soon yet, but he did tell us that he knows that this church is true! I am so excited for him. Although, I won't be here for the baptism, I am stoked that he will be baptized. We are getting all ready for the transfers coming up this next week. We have about 28 new missionaries coming in for the next transfer which meant a ton of new areas and a ton of new trainers! It was special to be a part of that process of seeing who those trainers would be and where the areas would be opened. In the middle of the meeting, Sister Ostler came in and asked President a question. Then when she saw all the things going on, she mentioned that this could not all be done without inspiration from the Lord. She couldn't have been more right and we really felt the inspiration given to us from the Lord and it helps me know that the Lord is so involved in this work. We also found out who our new companion is and who will be here to take my place. His name is Elder Obray and he is an awesome missionary. So for now, we are in a three some companionship until I go. I love being a missionary, I love this gospel, I couldn't have served in a better place.
Elder Stephens
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
August 11, 2014
Hey there everyone!!
I am in Narra right now (yes my old area of Narra, Palawan) and the internet is not too great so this will probably be a pretty short email. We had a super interesting week. It started off with a fun zone activity, where we just went bowling as a zone. Right after that we got 3 new Elders from another mission! They are all Filipino Elders and they are from another mission in Africa and came to us. We are stoked because they are all a great addition to the mission. It was a little crazy trying to figure out where they were going to go because we were in the middle of a transfer, but it was a great experience at the same time because we really felt the Lord inspiring us as we made the decisions on what area they were to serve in and who their companions were going to be. Elder Limocon and I had the blessing of teaching Romel again. He is progressing a lot and he is getting super excited to read the Book of Mormon. We went over the introduction with him really thoroughly and he had a ton of questions about it. The questions were great though and it helped us know that he really is sincere about learning more about the gospel and he doesn't just want to know because of his relationship with a member. This last week a really old member of the ward we are serving in passed away. She had been in the hospital for a really long time and then passed. She had a funeral service and I had the blessing of giving a talk at it. It was grateful to talk there and it reminded me of the importance of this gospel. Since she was a long time member and a lot of her children were still strong in the gospel, they weren't as sad about her death but saw it as an opportunity to recommit to follow the gospel and be able to live again with their mother. I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful for it. I know it's true with all my heart.
Elder Stephens
I am in Narra right now (yes my old area of Narra, Palawan) and the internet is not too great so this will probably be a pretty short email. We had a super interesting week. It started off with a fun zone activity, where we just went bowling as a zone. Right after that we got 3 new Elders from another mission! They are all Filipino Elders and they are from another mission in Africa and came to us. We are stoked because they are all a great addition to the mission. It was a little crazy trying to figure out where they were going to go because we were in the middle of a transfer, but it was a great experience at the same time because we really felt the Lord inspiring us as we made the decisions on what area they were to serve in and who their companions were going to be. Elder Limocon and I had the blessing of teaching Romel again. He is progressing a lot and he is getting super excited to read the Book of Mormon. We went over the introduction with him really thoroughly and he had a ton of questions about it. The questions were great though and it helped us know that he really is sincere about learning more about the gospel and he doesn't just want to know because of his relationship with a member. This last week a really old member of the ward we are serving in passed away. She had been in the hospital for a really long time and then passed. She had a funeral service and I had the blessing of giving a talk at it. It was grateful to talk there and it reminded me of the importance of this gospel. Since she was a long time member and a lot of her children were still strong in the gospel, they weren't as sad about her death but saw it as an opportunity to recommit to follow the gospel and be able to live again with their mother. I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful for it. I know it's true with all my heart.
Elder Stephens
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
August 4, 2014
Hello there everyone!
We had a wonderful week! To start out the week we got our fingerprinting done. That was sweet because I got to go with my batch and also we saw a few people from our batch that are serving in other missions here in the Philippines. It was a super weird experience going to immigration and getting fingerprinted but it was cool too because that was the first time I had ever really done that. We went to the Temple for the last time on my mission. That was awesome. I am so grateful I had the blessing of going to the Temple each transfer for my mission. I love the Temple so much and my testimony of temple work was strengthened so much because I was able to come here each transfer. The Spirit is so strong in the Temple and I am grateful for that because going to the Temple helped me receive so much revelation for myself and for the people I had taught and worked with. i am so grateful for temples here on earth. We had a sweet activity for the Elder's quorum in the Makati 3rd ward. We played basketball and had a boodle fight. I learned that the boodle fight came from the army or something like that and now we do it in the Philippines for fun and what you do is put all the food on a huge banana leaf and it all together. It's so much fun! The main part of the activity tough was the part where we talked about where we are as an alders quorum and some goals we wanted to set to grow. The main thing we talked about was home teaching and we really made some great goals to get better and doing home teaching and helping our fellow priesthood brethren to come back to church. We had another missionary leadership council this last week! It was my 14th MLC and the last one for my mission. It was a great MLC and I was able to learn so much from it. The theme was agency and using our agency to bless ourselves and bless the lives of others. We are a super obedient mission and I am so grateful for that. So our MLC focused on using agency and acting rather than just asking for permission to do a lot of things. I realized that doing that will also bless us so much for after the mission because we have tons of decisions to make and of course we should be making the right ones. Another thing we talked about in MLC was goals. President Ostler talked about the "will you" goals and the "stretch you" goals. That was sweet and pretty interesting to think about. The last part of our MLC was where we counseled about some of the rules in the mission. It was interesting talking about the rules and how we should handle them as leaders. There are a ton that missionaries were asking permission about to the mission president and could just be taken care of with district or zone leaders. So it was good to talk about those things and how we are to handle them as leaders in the missing. I got a temple recommend interview this last week because mine was about to expire, that was a wonderful experience. It's a great feeling to know you are worth y to enter in the House of the Lord. I'll never forget that interview I had with President Ostler. This last Sunday we my last time to bear my testimony in a fast and testimony meeting. I felt the Spirit testify through me and it was definitely a humbling experience to feel that. I love my mission and I love being able to serve in this capacity. I know this is the work of the Lord. I've had so many experiences that witness to me that this church is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that this work is His work. I love being a missionary!
Elder Stephens
We had a wonderful week! To start out the week we got our fingerprinting done. That was sweet because I got to go with my batch and also we saw a few people from our batch that are serving in other missions here in the Philippines. It was a super weird experience going to immigration and getting fingerprinted but it was cool too because that was the first time I had ever really done that. We went to the Temple for the last time on my mission. That was awesome. I am so grateful I had the blessing of going to the Temple each transfer for my mission. I love the Temple so much and my testimony of temple work was strengthened so much because I was able to come here each transfer. The Spirit is so strong in the Temple and I am grateful for that because going to the Temple helped me receive so much revelation for myself and for the people I had taught and worked with. i am so grateful for temples here on earth. We had a sweet activity for the Elder's quorum in the Makati 3rd ward. We played basketball and had a boodle fight. I learned that the boodle fight came from the army or something like that and now we do it in the Philippines for fun and what you do is put all the food on a huge banana leaf and it all together. It's so much fun! The main part of the activity tough was the part where we talked about where we are as an alders quorum and some goals we wanted to set to grow. The main thing we talked about was home teaching and we really made some great goals to get better and doing home teaching and helping our fellow priesthood brethren to come back to church. We had another missionary leadership council this last week! It was my 14th MLC and the last one for my mission. It was a great MLC and I was able to learn so much from it. The theme was agency and using our agency to bless ourselves and bless the lives of others. We are a super obedient mission and I am so grateful for that. So our MLC focused on using agency and acting rather than just asking for permission to do a lot of things. I realized that doing that will also bless us so much for after the mission because we have tons of decisions to make and of course we should be making the right ones. Another thing we talked about in MLC was goals. President Ostler talked about the "will you" goals and the "stretch you" goals. That was sweet and pretty interesting to think about. The last part of our MLC was where we counseled about some of the rules in the mission. It was interesting talking about the rules and how we should handle them as leaders. There are a ton that missionaries were asking permission about to the mission president and could just be taken care of with district or zone leaders. So it was good to talk about those things and how we are to handle them as leaders in the missing. I got a temple recommend interview this last week because mine was about to expire, that was a wonderful experience. It's a great feeling to know you are worth y to enter in the House of the Lord. I'll never forget that interview I had with President Ostler. This last Sunday we my last time to bear my testimony in a fast and testimony meeting. I felt the Spirit testify through me and it was definitely a humbling experience to feel that. I love my mission and I love being able to serve in this capacity. I know this is the work of the Lord. I've had so many experiences that witness to me that this church is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that this work is His work. I love being a missionary!
Elder Stephens
Thursday, July 31, 2014
July 29, 2014
Hey there everyone!
It's Tuesday here and this is our P-day so I am a day late on emailing all of you. But we get to go to the Temple today and it will be my last time to go to the Temple on my mission. I am stoked to go and I know it will be great. Last week was awesome, we had a meeting with President Ostler last week to talk about the upcoming MLC. It was a great experience because it was the first time we got to have a real nice meeting to talk about MLC and not be rushed like we were last time. We were really guided by the Spirit as we had our meeting and as we talked about the things that we need as a mission. There were things that Elder Limocon and I have been talking about that President Ostler ended up saying he wants to teach in MLC. We never mentioned anything to him but it was just so inspired that we were all thinking about teaching and counseling about the same things. We had some exchanges with some zone leaders in Manila and we changed the way we did it this time. Instead of going to one area and bring one to our area, we decided to help them out by both going to their area and building it up. It was super duper effective. They have been struggling lately with finding and getting many people to church and at the end of the exchange we had 5 new investigators and we got more referrals as well. It was a great day and we were blessed that we were able to help them out just a little big. The Chinese man we are teaching, Matthew, is coming along pretty well. We had a great lesson with him last week and focused all of it just on Jesus Christ. I asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and in the Atonement, and he said yes! I was so happy and I felt the Spirit so strong when he said that. We have been teaching him a long time about Jesus Christ and it was great to hear him say that he believes in Him. We are still teaching about the gospel and him being baptized and stuff, and he still wants to learn more before that, but I thought ti was a huge step for him to say he believes in Jesus Christ. We also had a great lesson with John, the guy from Alabama. He still struggles with faith and so we read Alma 32 with him and focused on faith but as we read I could see a change in him where he wants to start trying to strengthen his faith. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Spirit, and how they touch the lives of those who read it. I know the Book of Mormon is true and it blesses the lives of everyone who reads it and prays about it.
Elder Stephens
It's Tuesday here and this is our P-day so I am a day late on emailing all of you. But we get to go to the Temple today and it will be my last time to go to the Temple on my mission. I am stoked to go and I know it will be great. Last week was awesome, we had a meeting with President Ostler last week to talk about the upcoming MLC. It was a great experience because it was the first time we got to have a real nice meeting to talk about MLC and not be rushed like we were last time. We were really guided by the Spirit as we had our meeting and as we talked about the things that we need as a mission. There were things that Elder Limocon and I have been talking about that President Ostler ended up saying he wants to teach in MLC. We never mentioned anything to him but it was just so inspired that we were all thinking about teaching and counseling about the same things. We had some exchanges with some zone leaders in Manila and we changed the way we did it this time. Instead of going to one area and bring one to our area, we decided to help them out by both going to their area and building it up. It was super duper effective. They have been struggling lately with finding and getting many people to church and at the end of the exchange we had 5 new investigators and we got more referrals as well. It was a great day and we were blessed that we were able to help them out just a little big. The Chinese man we are teaching, Matthew, is coming along pretty well. We had a great lesson with him last week and focused all of it just on Jesus Christ. I asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and in the Atonement, and he said yes! I was so happy and I felt the Spirit so strong when he said that. We have been teaching him a long time about Jesus Christ and it was great to hear him say that he believes in Him. We are still teaching about the gospel and him being baptized and stuff, and he still wants to learn more before that, but I thought ti was a huge step for him to say he believes in Jesus Christ. We also had a great lesson with John, the guy from Alabama. He still struggles with faith and so we read Alma 32 with him and focused on faith but as we read I could see a change in him where he wants to start trying to strengthen his faith. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Spirit, and how they touch the lives of those who read it. I know the Book of Mormon is true and it blesses the lives of everyone who reads it and prays about it.
Elder Stephens
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
July 21, 2014
Hello there all!
We had a pretty great week yet again. For some reason, this past week just went by super fast. Elder Lomocon and I were talking last night and saying how we couldn't believe that it was already Sunday! A batch of missionaries went home this last week and they were a batch that I was super close with. We actually spent time in the MTC together so I have known all of them for basically my entire mission. We had some sweet going home activities and there was some awesome things that happened. First off, one of the Elders going home had his family come visit the mission and stuff. And on the day of going home activities, his family got sealed in the Manila Temple!! It was beautiful. His mother and father were sealed together and then he was sealed to his parents. He asked President Ostler and me to be the witnesses and it was a super special experience. I had never done that before and it was so amazing to feel the spirit while that family got sealed together. On that same day, at the temple as well, I saw a ton of people in my district from the MTC! We had a total of 12 Elders in my district from the MTC and i got to see 6 of them at the Manila Temple. It was so weird seeing them but so cool at the same time. I felt like Alma the younger when he sees the sons of Mosiah and rejoices because they are still his brethren in the faith. I was super blessed to have that tender mercy from the Lord and see my batch from the MTC. It was transfer week which is always a great experience and this time it was extra special because there was a huge storm on the day of transfers! It was the first real big storm I experienced so it was super exciting. The rain was actually not strong in our area but the ind was crazy. It was sweet watching all the trees sway and some even uprooted! Anyway, everyone was safe and the storm didn't hit toooo bad in the place we were in, so I was grateful for that. I also drove in flood water for the first time, and again, I was safe so it's all good. We had a sweet New Missionary Orientation. It was crazy because we started super late because of the storm and then after we didn't have electricity in the mission home so we just had to wing it for a little. Luckily, after a few ours of that we got some electricity and had a good rest of the orientation. We got in participate a little in the process of assigning the new missionaries to their trainers and that was super special. The Spirit really guided us in that process despite all the craziness that happened that day with the storm. I knew we were guided because after the orientation we had to take one of the elders with us while he waited for his companion to fly off of Palawan. To make this short, we found out he has a health thing that makes it so he has to eat super healthy and live a super healthy life style. Come to find out, his trainer has to do the same exact thing! None of us knew about the new missionary's health condition but the Lord did and it was a testimony builder for me that the Lord guided us while we assigned everyone to their companions. Each and every experience I have been having lately tells me that the Lord loves his missionaries. He is completely guiding this work and using us as His tools to make it all happen. I love being a missionary and seeing the Lord's hand in His work. I know this church is true with all my heart and I love being able to share this gospel with anyone and everyone.
Elder Stephens
We had a pretty great week yet again. For some reason, this past week just went by super fast. Elder Lomocon and I were talking last night and saying how we couldn't believe that it was already Sunday! A batch of missionaries went home this last week and they were a batch that I was super close with. We actually spent time in the MTC together so I have known all of them for basically my entire mission. We had some sweet going home activities and there was some awesome things that happened. First off, one of the Elders going home had his family come visit the mission and stuff. And on the day of going home activities, his family got sealed in the Manila Temple!! It was beautiful. His mother and father were sealed together and then he was sealed to his parents. He asked President Ostler and me to be the witnesses and it was a super special experience. I had never done that before and it was so amazing to feel the spirit while that family got sealed together. On that same day, at the temple as well, I saw a ton of people in my district from the MTC! We had a total of 12 Elders in my district from the MTC and i got to see 6 of them at the Manila Temple. It was so weird seeing them but so cool at the same time. I felt like Alma the younger when he sees the sons of Mosiah and rejoices because they are still his brethren in the faith. I was super blessed to have that tender mercy from the Lord and see my batch from the MTC. It was transfer week which is always a great experience and this time it was extra special because there was a huge storm on the day of transfers! It was the first real big storm I experienced so it was super exciting. The rain was actually not strong in our area but the ind was crazy. It was sweet watching all the trees sway and some even uprooted! Anyway, everyone was safe and the storm didn't hit toooo bad in the place we were in, so I was grateful for that. I also drove in flood water for the first time, and again, I was safe so it's all good. We had a sweet New Missionary Orientation. It was crazy because we started super late because of the storm and then after we didn't have electricity in the mission home so we just had to wing it for a little. Luckily, after a few ours of that we got some electricity and had a good rest of the orientation. We got in participate a little in the process of assigning the new missionaries to their trainers and that was super special. The Spirit really guided us in that process despite all the craziness that happened that day with the storm. I knew we were guided because after the orientation we had to take one of the elders with us while he waited for his companion to fly off of Palawan. To make this short, we found out he has a health thing that makes it so he has to eat super healthy and live a super healthy life style. Come to find out, his trainer has to do the same exact thing! None of us knew about the new missionary's health condition but the Lord did and it was a testimony builder for me that the Lord guided us while we assigned everyone to their companions. Each and every experience I have been having lately tells me that the Lord loves his missionaries. He is completely guiding this work and using us as His tools to make it all happen. I love being a missionary and seeing the Lord's hand in His work. I know this church is true with all my heart and I love being able to share this gospel with anyone and everyone.
Elder Stephens
July 14, 2014
Hey there everyone!
Where do I start?! We had a great week. First off, Limocon and I got to go back to Palawan! We went with the Ostlers for the interviews for the missionaries over there. It was a bummer though because Elder Limocon and I didn't get to go to our old area in Narra. It was still Palawan though so that was cool. However, it may have been my last time there! i sure hope not. This whole week was full of interviews with all of the missionaries in the mission so that was sweet. We got to be there for all of the interviews to just help out and get people going back to their areas as well instead of hanging out at the mission home. Everyone loved the interviews at the mission home and they loved the interviews with President Ostler! I actually got to get interviewed this last week and it was great. He taught me to do something way cool! He said get a piece of paper and write what ever thing you want to be at the top, for example, husband or father. Then make two columns, one for things you want to do, and one for things you do not want to do. then, continue to write things down whenever you get the change or when ever you think of something new. And you can do this with tons of different callings or positions or anything. And you keep them all in a cabinet or file some where, then in the future, when you actually are one of those things you can go back to your notes and see ALLL the things you said about it in the past. It was awesome advice and it helped me to really get a grasp on the importance of a vision and seeing goals and plans to hit it. We had transfers this past week and Elder Limocon and I had an awesome opportunity to be involved a ton in the transfers. The reason being President Ostler still does not really know everybody so he wanted us to have a lot of input and then he make the decisions. It was sweet because we never did that before and we got to really see the Spirit work through all of us to get the transfer planned out the way the Lord wanted it to. I was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of that and I am super grateful for it. We had a meeting this week where we met with the new trainers and teach them. It was sweet because it was the first time President and Sister Ostler did that training and the first time for Elder Limocon as well. It was crazy to see the difference in the way the training happened compared to President Stucki but it was great to see that the Spirit was still there and we were all able to learn so much. President Ostler gave an invitation at the end of the training. He had all of the trainers write down 3 things that they hope the new missionary they train will say about them in the future. He said you could even do this when you are older and the 3 things you would want your children to say about their father or the 3 things you would want your wife to say about their husband. Anyway, it was sweet. Even though I wasn't going to train, I made a list of three things and said one, I am exactly obedient, two, I am hard working, and three, I love the Lord and I love these wonderful people. I don't know if it is a good list or anything, but I did say that to President Ostler and he said he put down those same three things. I am learning a ton from President Ostler and I am learning a ton about helping other missionaries come closer unto Christ. I realized that part of this assignment and our purpose as missionaries can apply to each other. Even though we are here to baptize people, we can still invite all to come unto Christ and that includes those missionaries that we are teaching. I had a crazy experience this last week! So a member in one of our wards texted us and told us we were going to teach some people at his place. So of course, Elder Limocon and I got super excited and went to our appointment. Right when we go in, come to find out, it was one of my family members!! Apparently, they work together at the same place and it was super weird but really cool at the same time. I gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and I know it will bless her forever! I love this gospel and the wonderful opportunity to be a missionary.
Elder Stephens
Where do I start?! We had a great week. First off, Limocon and I got to go back to Palawan! We went with the Ostlers for the interviews for the missionaries over there. It was a bummer though because Elder Limocon and I didn't get to go to our old area in Narra. It was still Palawan though so that was cool. However, it may have been my last time there! i sure hope not. This whole week was full of interviews with all of the missionaries in the mission so that was sweet. We got to be there for all of the interviews to just help out and get people going back to their areas as well instead of hanging out at the mission home. Everyone loved the interviews at the mission home and they loved the interviews with President Ostler! I actually got to get interviewed this last week and it was great. He taught me to do something way cool! He said get a piece of paper and write what ever thing you want to be at the top, for example, husband or father. Then make two columns, one for things you want to do, and one for things you do not want to do. then, continue to write things down whenever you get the change or when ever you think of something new. And you can do this with tons of different callings or positions or anything. And you keep them all in a cabinet or file some where, then in the future, when you actually are one of those things you can go back to your notes and see ALLL the things you said about it in the past. It was awesome advice and it helped me to really get a grasp on the importance of a vision and seeing goals and plans to hit it. We had transfers this past week and Elder Limocon and I had an awesome opportunity to be involved a ton in the transfers. The reason being President Ostler still does not really know everybody so he wanted us to have a lot of input and then he make the decisions. It was sweet because we never did that before and we got to really see the Spirit work through all of us to get the transfer planned out the way the Lord wanted it to. I was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of that and I am super grateful for it. We had a meeting this week where we met with the new trainers and teach them. It was sweet because it was the first time President and Sister Ostler did that training and the first time for Elder Limocon as well. It was crazy to see the difference in the way the training happened compared to President Stucki but it was great to see that the Spirit was still there and we were all able to learn so much. President Ostler gave an invitation at the end of the training. He had all of the trainers write down 3 things that they hope the new missionary they train will say about them in the future. He said you could even do this when you are older and the 3 things you would want your children to say about their father or the 3 things you would want your wife to say about their husband. Anyway, it was sweet. Even though I wasn't going to train, I made a list of three things and said one, I am exactly obedient, two, I am hard working, and three, I love the Lord and I love these wonderful people. I don't know if it is a good list or anything, but I did say that to President Ostler and he said he put down those same three things. I am learning a ton from President Ostler and I am learning a ton about helping other missionaries come closer unto Christ. I realized that part of this assignment and our purpose as missionaries can apply to each other. Even though we are here to baptize people, we can still invite all to come unto Christ and that includes those missionaries that we are teaching. I had a crazy experience this last week! So a member in one of our wards texted us and told us we were going to teach some people at his place. So of course, Elder Limocon and I got super excited and went to our appointment. Right when we go in, come to find out, it was one of my family members!! Apparently, they work together at the same place and it was super weird but really cool at the same time. I gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and I know it will bless her forever! I love this gospel and the wonderful opportunity to be a missionary.
Elder Stephens
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