Hey Everyone!

Hey everyone!

So I don't know about you all but i feel like this week went by super duper fast. It feels like I was emailing you all just a few days ago. It is insane that I have been here practically 2 weeks already. There are so many cool experiences that I am having out here in the field. I forgot to mention it last week but we actually had a baptism for a little girl on Sunday. For some reason the branch president felt that she should just get baptized after church last week because there was already a child of record being baptized so they just combined them. Anyway, she got confirmed yesterday so that's kind of why I left it out last week and put it in this week. She is so awesome and she is already really strong in her testimony. We also are focusing a ton on less active families here in the Philippines. A lot of families here tend to be baptized but only stay active for a little while. So one of the big focuses we have here is re-activating those families because we want them to come to church! One of the families is actually doing very very well. They have been coming to church for the past few weeks and yesterday, they son came to church for the first time. It was perfect because we had a primary program and he said he enjoyed it a lot. He said he remembered when he was in Primary and when he was in that program and it brought him so much joy. He absolutely loved it so much. We also began teaching a new family here this week and w have been told in Preach my Gospel to extend the baptismal invitation on the very first lesson .We did that with this new family and they said yes! They said that when they know that the church and the things that we teach them are true, that they would definitely be baptized because they want to belong to the true church. I did not realize how much it helps to actually follow the things that are in the Preach My Gospel. I'm kidding, we follow all of it, but really though it helps out a lot and we are commanded to use it and to abide by it's teachings. So we said we are going to do just that. I realized that I have been taking a bunch of pictures of the landscape and stuff here in the Philippines because it is just so beautiful. Well that's about it from me. Keep on keeping on everyone, I know I will be here in the Philippines. I'll  be back in 2 years, don't wait up. I love you all!!

Elder Stephens