Hello everyone!
Missionary work is the best, and I am just so grateful I have this 2 years to serve the Lord. This past week, Elder Limocon and I got to go to missionary leadership council again and receive a ton of new council for the mission. In MCL I really learned how important it is to take care of the missionaries in your stewardship. We have so many new missionaries coming in these days and they all are stepping into an exciting, but sometimes scary, new experience. As leaders we were told that we have to do all we can to help these new missionaries, and others as well if they are struggling, to know how important they are to this work. Every person has their responsibility and contribute so much to the mission and we really don't want to lose even one person out here. I realized just how much President and Sister Stucki love this work and all the missionaries involved in it. They really want all the missionaries to have a great experience for the next 2 to 11/2 years out here and they do a ton to see that it happens. I am so grateful for them and how much they love us! Elder Limocon and i are still helping Edwin and Wilma Pamulag to receive this gospel. They have come so far from the first time we saw them. they always had good hearts and always wanted to learn more, but from reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and coming to church, they have seen how important this gospel is and how important it is to receive it. I am so grateful that we got to teach Edwin and Wilma, and really help them to come unto Christ. They have really felt the Spirit and know that this is the true church and can't wait to become clean through repentance and baptism, then receive the Holy Ghost and become members of this church. I know this is the true church here on the earth, the only true church that has the authority to preach this gospel and baptize those worthy for baptism. I know Christ lives and He loves us. I know this is His work, and we as missionaries and members are only tools to help Him fulfill His work and glory!
Elder Stephens
Sunday, October 27, 2013
September 30, 2013
Hello all!
Elder Limocon and I had a wonderful week! We went out finding and the Lord really blessed us. We found a few families through referrals and finding along the way. Brother and Sister Vigonte gave us a referral this past week, the week after their baptism! It was awesome because they were able to come with us to Brother Vegonte's son and teach him and other members of his family. They bore testimony about their conversion and how much they have changed because of the gospel. It was so powerful! I am excited to see how Alex, Brother Vegonte's son, continues to grow in the gospel. we all had one great lesson with a sort of new couple we have been teaching. Their names are Edwin and Wilma. I don't remember if I already wrote about them. Anyway, in one of the lessons this past week, Sister Wilma expressed to us how her whole life she has been searching for more in terms of religion and how everywhere she has been she felt something missing. last week on the 22nd was her second time going to church, and in the lesson we had this last week she told us that after she came home from church, she knew this was the church she had been searching for her whole life! She made the decision that day that she was going to get baptized so we gave her a date for this upcoming October! Her husband has always expressed so much interest but he had a stroke about 3 years ago and can't really walk well. We were able to help Brother Edwin come to church yesterday with the help of the members! He loved it and also wants to get baptized along with his wife. They both were just so ready to listen to the gospel and accept it and I know it is because Heavenly Father knows them and has prepared them for this time. I love this gospel and especially love how the Lord has a hand in sharing it to these wonderful people. I know I cannot do it on my own and neither can Elder Limocon, or anyone of us missionaries. However if we put our trust in the Lord He will provide the means for these people to accept the gospel!
Elder Stephens
Elder Limocon and I had a wonderful week! We went out finding and the Lord really blessed us. We found a few families through referrals and finding along the way. Brother and Sister Vigonte gave us a referral this past week, the week after their baptism! It was awesome because they were able to come with us to Brother Vegonte's son and teach him and other members of his family. They bore testimony about their conversion and how much they have changed because of the gospel. It was so powerful! I am excited to see how Alex, Brother Vegonte's son, continues to grow in the gospel. we all had one great lesson with a sort of new couple we have been teaching. Their names are Edwin and Wilma. I don't remember if I already wrote about them. Anyway, in one of the lessons this past week, Sister Wilma expressed to us how her whole life she has been searching for more in terms of religion and how everywhere she has been she felt something missing. last week on the 22nd was her second time going to church, and in the lesson we had this last week she told us that after she came home from church, she knew this was the church she had been searching for her whole life! She made the decision that day that she was going to get baptized so we gave her a date for this upcoming October! Her husband has always expressed so much interest but he had a stroke about 3 years ago and can't really walk well. We were able to help Brother Edwin come to church yesterday with the help of the members! He loved it and also wants to get baptized along with his wife. They both were just so ready to listen to the gospel and accept it and I know it is because Heavenly Father knows them and has prepared them for this time. I love this gospel and especially love how the Lord has a hand in sharing it to these wonderful people. I know I cannot do it on my own and neither can Elder Limocon, or anyone of us missionaries. However if we put our trust in the Lord He will provide the means for these people to accept the gospel!
Elder Stephens
Septemeber 23, 2013
Hey there everybody!
this week was awesome! First off, we helped the Vegonte (Not Viguni, I have been spelling it wrong this whole time) family to receive the restored gospel, through faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, we are helping them to endure to the end! We had a wonderful baptismal service for them and the confirmation went amazing as well. They were able to really feel the Spirit and I know they were so excited to receive baptism and confirmation. They are an amazing family and it was a great experience teaching them and helping them to receive this gospel! I know however that it was the Spirit who really helped them to know that this gospel is true, not us. Elder Limocon and I were just saying how we were so grateful for this family and especially how they were just so receptive to everything. Then we realized that it was because they were reading the Book of Mormon everyday, praying, and coming to church every week. In other words, they were able to feel the Spirit, and receive a witness taht these things are true, and not just because the missionaries said so. I love the Vegonte family a ton and I am so excited and happy for them to receive the blessings from the gospel! This past week I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Proudfit. He's a brand new missionary from Arizona who's being trained by one of the District Leaders in our zone, and I got to work with him for a day. It was awesome working with Elder Proudfit. It reminded me of the days when I was training and knew absolutely nothing! He was an awesome comapnion for a day though and even though he didn't think so, I was able to learn a lot from him. The think I took away the most however was just about being simple and powerful in the lessons. He would teach super simple because his Tagalog only allowed that, but everyone we taught were able to understand and feel the Spirit, and that is what's most important. I was happy to work with Elder Proudfit and hope I get to work with him again. I love this work and this zone. It is go great being in the Narra zone and being able to help these wonderful missionaries to fulfill their purpose. I know all these missionaries are great and i just pray they continue to be exactly obedient and diligent so that we can witness miracles!
Elder Stephens
this week was awesome! First off, we helped the Vegonte (Not Viguni, I have been spelling it wrong this whole time) family to receive the restored gospel, through faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, we are helping them to endure to the end! We had a wonderful baptismal service for them and the confirmation went amazing as well. They were able to really feel the Spirit and I know they were so excited to receive baptism and confirmation. They are an amazing family and it was a great experience teaching them and helping them to receive this gospel! I know however that it was the Spirit who really helped them to know that this gospel is true, not us. Elder Limocon and I were just saying how we were so grateful for this family and especially how they were just so receptive to everything. Then we realized that it was because they were reading the Book of Mormon everyday, praying, and coming to church every week. In other words, they were able to feel the Spirit, and receive a witness taht these things are true, and not just because the missionaries said so. I love the Vegonte family a ton and I am so excited and happy for them to receive the blessings from the gospel! This past week I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Proudfit. He's a brand new missionary from Arizona who's being trained by one of the District Leaders in our zone, and I got to work with him for a day. It was awesome working with Elder Proudfit. It reminded me of the days when I was training and knew absolutely nothing! He was an awesome comapnion for a day though and even though he didn't think so, I was able to learn a lot from him. The think I took away the most however was just about being simple and powerful in the lessons. He would teach super simple because his Tagalog only allowed that, but everyone we taught were able to understand and feel the Spirit, and that is what's most important. I was happy to work with Elder Proudfit and hope I get to work with him again. I love this work and this zone. It is go great being in the Narra zone and being able to help these wonderful missionaries to fulfill their purpose. I know all these missionaries are great and i just pray they continue to be exactly obedient and diligent so that we can witness miracles!
Elder Stephens
Septemeber 16, 2013
Hey all!!
Elder Limocon and I had an awesome week! I got to go on exchanges with one of the district leaders in the zone and so I got to work in a place called Rizal. It is out in the middle of no where, the house they are renting doesn't even have running water! It was awesome though and the work is still going forth over in that part of the vineyard. I got to learn a ton from working with Elder Stroud over in Rizal. He was stoked to work and said he got to learn a lot form me as well so I was happy that I was able to help him out with that. We had a zone meeting this week which was a lot of fun. Elder Limocon and i were able to just teach about the Holy ghost in conversion and also some other things that we felt would help the missionaries in our zone. I talked about exact obedience with all of them and how i felt that we would have a lot more success as a zone if we committed to being exactly obedient to the mission rules, commandments, and basically just everything. Elder Limocon talked on accountability. As a zone we have been setting high goals but aren't quite reaching them, so he taught how we really need to hold each other accountable if we feel like we are going to set all of these high goals. I really enjoyed it and know all of the other elders did as well. The Narra Branch had a missionary fireside this past Friday! It was pretty good. Elder Gwilliam, Elder Vang, and I all got to share about past experiences of missionary work and we got to show a little part of the work of salvation where the whole family shares the gospel to friends as I shared my testimony of member missionary work, I could feel the Spirit witness to me that missionary work really is done through the members. I couldn't have received this gospel and eventually come on a mission without members of the ward there to help me in every step of the way. I am so grateful for that and now I am grateful I get to help the members here feel that same way to help those in Narra come unto Christ. They helped a lot with Brother and Sister Vigunti who are now ready for baptism! They will be baptized on Saturday, September 21, and confirmed September 22 (Sister Viguni's birthday). I am so excited for them and I know it wouldn't have happened without the members! I love this work so much and it is even better that the members are really starting to love it too!
Elder Stephens
Elder Limocon and I had an awesome week! I got to go on exchanges with one of the district leaders in the zone and so I got to work in a place called Rizal. It is out in the middle of no where, the house they are renting doesn't even have running water! It was awesome though and the work is still going forth over in that part of the vineyard. I got to learn a ton from working with Elder Stroud over in Rizal. He was stoked to work and said he got to learn a lot form me as well so I was happy that I was able to help him out with that. We had a zone meeting this week which was a lot of fun. Elder Limocon and i were able to just teach about the Holy ghost in conversion and also some other things that we felt would help the missionaries in our zone. I talked about exact obedience with all of them and how i felt that we would have a lot more success as a zone if we committed to being exactly obedient to the mission rules, commandments, and basically just everything. Elder Limocon talked on accountability. As a zone we have been setting high goals but aren't quite reaching them, so he taught how we really need to hold each other accountable if we feel like we are going to set all of these high goals. I really enjoyed it and know all of the other elders did as well. The Narra Branch had a missionary fireside this past Friday! It was pretty good. Elder Gwilliam, Elder Vang, and I all got to share about past experiences of missionary work and we got to show a little part of the work of salvation where the whole family shares the gospel to friends as I shared my testimony of member missionary work, I could feel the Spirit witness to me that missionary work really is done through the members. I couldn't have received this gospel and eventually come on a mission without members of the ward there to help me in every step of the way. I am so grateful for that and now I am grateful I get to help the members here feel that same way to help those in Narra come unto Christ. They helped a lot with Brother and Sister Vigunti who are now ready for baptism! They will be baptized on Saturday, September 21, and confirmed September 22 (Sister Viguni's birthday). I am so excited for them and I know it wouldn't have happened without the members! I love this work so much and it is even better that the members are really starting to love it too!
Elder Stephens
Saturday, October 26, 2013
September 9, 2013
Hey everyone!!
I absolutely love missionary work. I feel like I say that too much, but it is just so true! This past week we had another Missionary Leadership council. This one was great! It was the first one for my companion Elder Limocon and he enjoyed it. there were 2 other new zone leaders and both of them are my batch. One of them actually is Elder Ellis, an elder from my district in the MTC! It was awesome seeing them and now they are leaders in the mission helping out all the other missionaries to fulfill their purpose. In the MLC we really focused on how we can balance the work here in the mission. By that I mean teaching investigators as well as less-active members. As a mission we seem to have been focusing a ton on teaching investigators and the lessons with less-active members went down. So all of the leaders really talked about how we can help fix it. We also talked a lot about how we can be more obedient as a misson. As leaders, we first set the example but then we have to help all of the missionaries to be exactly obedient. talking about being exactly obedient made me think of one really important part. The reason we are exactly obedient is so Heavenly Father will bless the lives of those we are teaching. Being obedient isn't all about us, so we ourselves can receive the blessings. We need to show Heavenly Father how much we care about hose we are teaching, and we do that by working hard, relying on the Spirit, and being exactly obedient. Other people will receive blessings if we do our part, and that was what really hit me in MLC. I love missionary work so much and I especially love all the people that we get to teach at this time. elder Limocon and I are just tiny instruments in the Lord's hands so He can lead people to come unto Christ. I know this work is true and I can't thank Heavenly father enough that I get this opportunity to devote 2 years to His work and serve.
Elder Stephens
I absolutely love missionary work. I feel like I say that too much, but it is just so true! This past week we had another Missionary Leadership council. This one was great! It was the first one for my companion Elder Limocon and he enjoyed it. there were 2 other new zone leaders and both of them are my batch. One of them actually is Elder Ellis, an elder from my district in the MTC! It was awesome seeing them and now they are leaders in the mission helping out all the other missionaries to fulfill their purpose. In the MLC we really focused on how we can balance the work here in the mission. By that I mean teaching investigators as well as less-active members. As a mission we seem to have been focusing a ton on teaching investigators and the lessons with less-active members went down. So all of the leaders really talked about how we can help fix it. We also talked a lot about how we can be more obedient as a misson. As leaders, we first set the example but then we have to help all of the missionaries to be exactly obedient. talking about being exactly obedient made me think of one really important part. The reason we are exactly obedient is so Heavenly Father will bless the lives of those we are teaching. Being obedient isn't all about us, so we ourselves can receive the blessings. We need to show Heavenly Father how much we care about hose we are teaching, and we do that by working hard, relying on the Spirit, and being exactly obedient. Other people will receive blessings if we do our part, and that was what really hit me in MLC. I love missionary work so much and I especially love all the people that we get to teach at this time. elder Limocon and I are just tiny instruments in the Lord's hands so He can lead people to come unto Christ. I know this work is true and I can't thank Heavenly father enough that I get this opportunity to devote 2 years to His work and serve.
Elder Stephens
September 2, 2013
Hey all!
1 year is officially in the books. I know for a fact because just about every person who emailed me just HAD to remind me. It really is crazy though how fast it all went by. This past week we had a zone conference over in Puerto Princessa! It was so much fun and we learned a ton from all of our leaders, especially from President Stucki. We really just focused on being more diligent and expressing more faith as we go and do missionary work. I know President Stucki is inspired by God and that he is just a man of great faith. He puts all of his trust in Heavenly Father and lest the Spirit always do the teaching. Right in the beginning of every zone conference he always expresses he wants us to learn by the Spirit rather than just learn from the speakers. It really is a testimony to me that President Stucki is called of God to do this work. I learned so much about just putting trust in Heavenly Father while we do this work. I know I can't do it on my own and so I am just so thankful that Heavenly Father is there to help us and guide us to do this work His way. One thing that was really focused on as well from zone conference was harnessing the power of the members. We have to be one with the members in each of the areas that we serve and if we do that, the work will move forth so much faster! I have learned a ton this last year, and I really feel like I have changed a lot too. Looking back on who I was just a year ago right before going to the MTC and looking at myself now, I can't believe the changes I have made, and the best part is, they are all for the better. I love this work and I can't wait to finish this last half strong. I know if I just put my trust in the Lord, He will guide and help me.
Elder Stephens
PS. I saw Elder Schroeder at the zone conference in Puerto! he is doing great and loves being a missionary. Escondido stake missionaries, nuff said.
1 year is officially in the books. I know for a fact because just about every person who emailed me just HAD to remind me. It really is crazy though how fast it all went by. This past week we had a zone conference over in Puerto Princessa! It was so much fun and we learned a ton from all of our leaders, especially from President Stucki. We really just focused on being more diligent and expressing more faith as we go and do missionary work. I know President Stucki is inspired by God and that he is just a man of great faith. He puts all of his trust in Heavenly Father and lest the Spirit always do the teaching. Right in the beginning of every zone conference he always expresses he wants us to learn by the Spirit rather than just learn from the speakers. It really is a testimony to me that President Stucki is called of God to do this work. I learned so much about just putting trust in Heavenly Father while we do this work. I know I can't do it on my own and so I am just so thankful that Heavenly Father is there to help us and guide us to do this work His way. One thing that was really focused on as well from zone conference was harnessing the power of the members. We have to be one with the members in each of the areas that we serve and if we do that, the work will move forth so much faster! I have learned a ton this last year, and I really feel like I have changed a lot too. Looking back on who I was just a year ago right before going to the MTC and looking at myself now, I can't believe the changes I have made, and the best part is, they are all for the better. I love this work and I can't wait to finish this last half strong. I know if I just put my trust in the Lord, He will guide and help me.
Elder Stephens
PS. I saw Elder Schroeder at the zone conference in Puerto! he is doing great and loves being a missionary. Escondido stake missionaries, nuff said.
August 26, 2013
Hey there!!
I love missionary work! There really is nothing like it. Elder Limocon and I really just had a wonderful week this past week. We went out finding and teaching like crazy and we have seen a lot of success because of it! One thing Elder Limocon and I really focused on was extending baptismal invitations and dates to everyone, especially on the first lesson. It was awesome to see the Spirit work inside of them and they really could feel the message was true, they would then accept that baptismal invitation and it made me so happy becasue I know it will bless their lives so much. Baptism is an essential part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, without it we cannot enter into the kingdom of God. As missionaries it is our duty to invite everybody to baptism so that they can receive these blessings of the gospel and ultimately the best blessing of all, eternal life in the presence of our Heavenly Father. The Vigunti family are doing great, they have had a little bit of struggles lately, but because of their strong faith in the Savior they are not letting it get to them, but instead are just doing everything to receive this gospel. I love them so much and I am so grateful for their examples to me. They really have helped me so much and help me to grow my testimony as well. We also taught a new family this week. They are the Perol family and they are absolutely amazing. In the beginning they weren't too receptive but we just kept listening to the Spirit and we were able to help them resolve some concerns they had. They then accepted baptismal dates and exercised great faith by coming to church yesterday for the first time! I was so grateful they had the faith to come and experience the blessings that come form coming to church. They really enjoyed it and plan on coming from now on! I love this gospel so much and I know it will continue to bless so many more people. I have been blessed so much since receiving this gospel and hope everyone will receive it one day.
Elder Stephens
I love missionary work! There really is nothing like it. Elder Limocon and I really just had a wonderful week this past week. We went out finding and teaching like crazy and we have seen a lot of success because of it! One thing Elder Limocon and I really focused on was extending baptismal invitations and dates to everyone, especially on the first lesson. It was awesome to see the Spirit work inside of them and they really could feel the message was true, they would then accept that baptismal invitation and it made me so happy becasue I know it will bless their lives so much. Baptism is an essential part of the gospel of Jesus Christ, without it we cannot enter into the kingdom of God. As missionaries it is our duty to invite everybody to baptism so that they can receive these blessings of the gospel and ultimately the best blessing of all, eternal life in the presence of our Heavenly Father. The Vigunti family are doing great, they have had a little bit of struggles lately, but because of their strong faith in the Savior they are not letting it get to them, but instead are just doing everything to receive this gospel. I love them so much and I am so grateful for their examples to me. They really have helped me so much and help me to grow my testimony as well. We also taught a new family this week. They are the Perol family and they are absolutely amazing. In the beginning they weren't too receptive but we just kept listening to the Spirit and we were able to help them resolve some concerns they had. They then accepted baptismal dates and exercised great faith by coming to church yesterday for the first time! I was so grateful they had the faith to come and experience the blessings that come form coming to church. They really enjoyed it and plan on coming from now on! I love this gospel so much and I know it will continue to bless so many more people. I have been blessed so much since receiving this gospel and hope everyone will receive it one day.
Elder Stephens
Monday, August 26, 2013
August 19, 2013
Hello there everybody!
This was a crazy week. I got a new companion this past week! I am now with Elder Limocon, a newly called zone leader! I will be helping him on how to help the wonderful missionaries in our zone. We are actually in the same batch coming into the field! So actually we have been out in the field the exact same time. He served in the city for his first two areas so serving in the province is a little different for him. We are really excited to serve together though and we're excited we get to especially serve as zone leaders together. This past week we had the opportunity to teach a ton of wonderful people. The Vigunti family is still loving the gospel and we can really see them coming unto Christ. Each time we share with brother and sister Vigunti they always accept it so well and I can tell it is because the Spirit is just working thought them and testifying of the things that we are teaching. We also had a great opportunity teaching some brand new families this last week. It was awesome because we were just testifying of the Restoration of the gospel in these the latter days. The Spirit is just so strong when we as missionaries testify of the truthfulness of the gospel and I am so grateful I have the wonderful opportunity to spread the gospel here in the Philippines Manila Mission. We are also really trying to work with the members here to get the work rolling even more. We have had some great meetings with the leaders of the Narra Branch so we are really excited to see how it all works out. I am so grateful I get to work with the wonderful leaders here. I know that as Elder Limocon and I just stay diligent, obedient, and busy, we will experience wonderful blessings out here in the field. I love the mission so much. I can't believe it is coming up on one year, it see like yesterday i got on the plane to go the the Provo MTC. I have learned so much and I am grateful for every minute I have had to serve the Lord.Well, til next week I guess!
Elder Stephens
This was a crazy week. I got a new companion this past week! I am now with Elder Limocon, a newly called zone leader! I will be helping him on how to help the wonderful missionaries in our zone. We are actually in the same batch coming into the field! So actually we have been out in the field the exact same time. He served in the city for his first two areas so serving in the province is a little different for him. We are really excited to serve together though and we're excited we get to especially serve as zone leaders together. This past week we had the opportunity to teach a ton of wonderful people. The Vigunti family is still loving the gospel and we can really see them coming unto Christ. Each time we share with brother and sister Vigunti they always accept it so well and I can tell it is because the Spirit is just working thought them and testifying of the things that we are teaching. We also had a great opportunity teaching some brand new families this last week. It was awesome because we were just testifying of the Restoration of the gospel in these the latter days. The Spirit is just so strong when we as missionaries testify of the truthfulness of the gospel and I am so grateful I have the wonderful opportunity to spread the gospel here in the Philippines Manila Mission. We are also really trying to work with the members here to get the work rolling even more. We have had some great meetings with the leaders of the Narra Branch so we are really excited to see how it all works out. I am so grateful I get to work with the wonderful leaders here. I know that as Elder Limocon and I just stay diligent, obedient, and busy, we will experience wonderful blessings out here in the field. I love the mission so much. I can't believe it is coming up on one year, it see like yesterday i got on the plane to go the the Provo MTC. I have learned so much and I am grateful for every minute I have had to serve the Lord.Well, til next week I guess!
Elder Stephens
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
August 12, 2013
Hey there everybody!
What a week! We had a ton of work again and I just felt super duper busy the whole time. There was no time to rest which was great because I really felt we are being diligent and fulfilling our purpose as missionaries in helping others to come unto Christ. I was really grateful for the work that the Lord blessed us with this past week. We had a really awesome opportunity to teach a referral given to us by members this past week. Her name is Rosemarie and she is just great. We shared about the Restoration the very first lesson and invited her to baptism. She said she is so willing to follow Christ and be baptized! I was so happy, and it reminded me of the time I was first taught by those wonderful Sister missionaries and the feelings I had the first lesson to follow Jesus Christ. We shared about the Book of Mormon and she is so excited to read it and pray about it to come to know that it is true. I can't wait to see how she progresses and comes to follow her Savior, Jesus Christ. I had the opportunity to work in Carbar this past week as well with one of the district leaders in the zone, Elder Clarito. It was a great experience getting to help him out in his own area and seeing how the work is progressing over there. There are not a whole ton of people over in Cabar because it is super duper jungle and houses are really spread apart, but the missionaries over there are doing great and really working hard. It was a great time because I got to learn a ton from Elder Clarito as well. We found out this week that Elder Balonsong, my companion right now is getting transferred. We only got to spend one transfer together here in Narra. I am going to miss him so much. I really learned a ton from Elder Balonsong, probably the most I have learned from and other companion on my mission so far. I am very grateful that I got to serve with Elder Balonsong as a zone leader. He is going to open up an area in our zone and he is going to be training a new missionary at the same time! He is going to do great and I know his trainee is going to be able to learn a lot from him as well. So next transfer I am going to have a new companion, my 6th new companion in my last 5 transfers. I think he is going to be a new zone leader so that will be exciting helping him to learn how to be a zone leader and stuff. I can't wait! I am going to miss Elder Balonsong a ton though. I love this work and I love being able to help others to come unto Christ. I love all of my companions I have had so far and all the things I have learned from them. I can't wait to continue to learn more bu more importantly I can't wait to invite and help more people to follow Jesus Christ. Well, that's it from me. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you all again. Till next week.
Elder Stephens
Monday, August 5, 2013
August 5, 2013
Hey everyone!
How is everyone doing?! This week went really well for this kid. this last week we had our monthly Missionary Leadership Council. It was great of course. We got to talk about the entire mission and how we can really help them mission to grow. We had a rough month in July so we are really relying more on our Savior instead of ourselves to help others to come unto Christ. President Stucki really gave us some great council on how we can grow as a mission and how we can really internalize our purpose as missionaries. He has decided that we are going back to the basics of missionary work which we all learn in our first 12 weeks when being trained. they are called the "fundamentals" and they all come out of Preach My Gospel. We are going back to the basics just like Coach Vince Lombardi did with his football players, and we all know how good they were! I am excited to see how the missionaries are going to respond and the blessings that we will witness as we continue to do this. We are also going to pray and fast a lot more to find people who are ready to receive the gospel so they can really experience the blessings that come from living and following the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so excited!! This week our work went pretty good as well. We had a ton of lessons and we even taught a ton of new investigators. We taught a lot of friends of a member family here on Saturday, and that Sunday all of them came to church! It was awesome. They also expressed that they enjoyed church a lot and really want to continue being taught. It was great to witness the power of prayer and fasting as we found those people ready to receive the gospel. We are really trying to work more with the members to help; the work in each branch or ward grow because without the members, missionaries can't do the work of the Lord. President Stucki is also giving us council on how we can more effectively work with the members in all of the areas we are assigned. With the work of salvation video coming out, we have really put an emphasis on member missionary work. I am so excited to see the work grow in the entire mission. I know this is the work of the Lord, but without Him, we can't do it. We have to do this work His way, and not "some other way." I know the gospel is true and that it can bless the lives of all those who follow principles and ordinances of the gospel.That's all from the kid, so I'll see you all next week! Over and out.
Elder Stephens
How is everyone doing?! This week went really well for this kid. this last week we had our monthly Missionary Leadership Council. It was great of course. We got to talk about the entire mission and how we can really help them mission to grow. We had a rough month in July so we are really relying more on our Savior instead of ourselves to help others to come unto Christ. President Stucki really gave us some great council on how we can grow as a mission and how we can really internalize our purpose as missionaries. He has decided that we are going back to the basics of missionary work which we all learn in our first 12 weeks when being trained. they are called the "fundamentals" and they all come out of Preach My Gospel. We are going back to the basics just like Coach Vince Lombardi did with his football players, and we all know how good they were! I am excited to see how the missionaries are going to respond and the blessings that we will witness as we continue to do this. We are also going to pray and fast a lot more to find people who are ready to receive the gospel so they can really experience the blessings that come from living and following the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so excited!! This week our work went pretty good as well. We had a ton of lessons and we even taught a ton of new investigators. We taught a lot of friends of a member family here on Saturday, and that Sunday all of them came to church! It was awesome. They also expressed that they enjoyed church a lot and really want to continue being taught. It was great to witness the power of prayer and fasting as we found those people ready to receive the gospel. We are really trying to work more with the members to help; the work in each branch or ward grow because without the members, missionaries can't do the work of the Lord. President Stucki is also giving us council on how we can more effectively work with the members in all of the areas we are assigned. With the work of salvation video coming out, we have really put an emphasis on member missionary work. I am so excited to see the work grow in the entire mission. I know this is the work of the Lord, but without Him, we can't do it. We have to do this work His way, and not "some other way." I know the gospel is true and that it can bless the lives of all those who follow principles and ordinances of the gospel.That's all from the kid, so I'll see you all next week! Over and out.
Elder Stephens
July 29, 2013
Hello there everybody!
The Internet in Narra wasn't working yesterday so we had to do our emails today. Sorry for the late notice! This week was a pretty great week! We found a ton of new investigators again and this week we actually had a lot of investigators come to church! It was great because for some of them it was their first time to come to church and feel the spirit and they explained that they really enjoyed it. I was so happy to see them exercise their faith and come to church to come to know if this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Elder Balonsong and i are really just trying to work hard to find those people that are ready to receive the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We are teaching the Manija family which is one of those families that came to church for the first time. They are so awesome and they just really want to change their lives and come closer unto Christ. We are also continuing to help out the Vigunti family. I just love them so much and after church Brother Vigunti sent us a text that said it was so great to go to church and how excited he is to continue to come. I really admire the faith that they all have in their Savior and the changes that they are making to become more like Him. I really love being here on the mission and getting to spend so much time with these wonderful people. I especially love helping them to come closer unto Jesus Christ and helping them to receive His restored gospel. I know that his is the work of the Lord and that He has a hand in it. When we ask Him in faith, and as we show our obedience and diligence, He blesses us so much. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and that they love each and every one of us and they know each and everyone of us as well. They do all that They can to help us to be happy here and in the eternities. I love this work and I love my Heavenly Father. I know this gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon is the work of God. They Book of Mormon helps us to grow closer to our Heavenly Father and we can feel His spirit every time we read and ponder about it.Thank you for all your letters and love. I will be writing next week!
Elder Stephens
PS. Elder Schroeder is on Palawan as well but he is in the other zone.We have zone conference at the end of this month so I will probably get to see him then! I will let all of you know then.
The Internet in Narra wasn't working yesterday so we had to do our emails today. Sorry for the late notice! This week was a pretty great week! We found a ton of new investigators again and this week we actually had a lot of investigators come to church! It was great because for some of them it was their first time to come to church and feel the spirit and they explained that they really enjoyed it. I was so happy to see them exercise their faith and come to church to come to know if this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Elder Balonsong and i are really just trying to work hard to find those people that are ready to receive the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We are teaching the Manija family which is one of those families that came to church for the first time. They are so awesome and they just really want to change their lives and come closer unto Christ. We are also continuing to help out the Vigunti family. I just love them so much and after church Brother Vigunti sent us a text that said it was so great to go to church and how excited he is to continue to come. I really admire the faith that they all have in their Savior and the changes that they are making to become more like Him. I really love being here on the mission and getting to spend so much time with these wonderful people. I especially love helping them to come closer unto Jesus Christ and helping them to receive His restored gospel. I know that his is the work of the Lord and that He has a hand in it. When we ask Him in faith, and as we show our obedience and diligence, He blesses us so much. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and that they love each and every one of us and they know each and everyone of us as well. They do all that They can to help us to be happy here and in the eternities. I love this work and I love my Heavenly Father. I know this gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon is the work of God. They Book of Mormon helps us to grow closer to our Heavenly Father and we can feel His spirit every time we read and ponder about it.Thank you for all your letters and love. I will be writing next week!
Elder Stephens
PS. Elder Schroeder is on Palawan as well but he is in the other zone.We have zone conference at the end of this month so I will probably get to see him then! I will let all of you know then.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
July 22, 2013
Hey there everyone!
This was another great week! We had the wonderful opportunity to hangout with President and Sister Stucki this past week because we had interviews for the whole zone! It was our pleasure to go with them to all of the interviews because we actually went to the apartments! President Stucki did the interviews, Sister Stucki checked on the cleanliness of the apartments (and the missionaries), and Elder Balonsong and I checked the area books and planners. It was great because all of the areas in the Narra zone are really far, so on Friday we spent literally the whole day with President and Sister Stucki. 6:30 am to 9:30 pm. Interviews were a success as always and I was able to really help out the missionaries in the zone on their area books and planners in order to help more people to hear the gospel and come closer unto Christ. My interview with President Stucki went so well and he helped me out so much. He had us share what we struggled with the most here on the mission and he just helped us solve it so we have the best experiences we can possible have in these 2 years as servants of the Lord. He also gave me some council to help out all of the missionaries in the zone which blessed me so much. He is such a great mission president and I know he just loves the work so much. I can't wait for the next time I get to hangout with President Stucki again. We were also able to find a lot more people again this week! The Lord is just blessing us so much with people to find and more and more people who are ready to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the people we found were just placed in our path, sort of like they found us@ It was great and I know it is because the Lord recognized out desire and diligence and is blessing us for it. We as missionaries cannot forget the Lord in this work. We do all we can and He makes up the rest. I love this work so much and I ma so grateful for the opportunity to serve. I am the busiest I have ever been on the mission so far and I know it will just get more busy from here. I am glad though because it means I am really helping God's children to come unto Him. I know this is the work and the Lord and I really would not want to be anywhere else right now. I only get 2 years so I have to make the most of it! I love you guys so much! Over and out from Narra Palawan!
Elder Stephens
This was another great week! We had the wonderful opportunity to hangout with President and Sister Stucki this past week because we had interviews for the whole zone! It was our pleasure to go with them to all of the interviews because we actually went to the apartments! President Stucki did the interviews, Sister Stucki checked on the cleanliness of the apartments (and the missionaries), and Elder Balonsong and I checked the area books and planners. It was great because all of the areas in the Narra zone are really far, so on Friday we spent literally the whole day with President and Sister Stucki. 6:30 am to 9:30 pm. Interviews were a success as always and I was able to really help out the missionaries in the zone on their area books and planners in order to help more people to hear the gospel and come closer unto Christ. My interview with President Stucki went so well and he helped me out so much. He had us share what we struggled with the most here on the mission and he just helped us solve it so we have the best experiences we can possible have in these 2 years as servants of the Lord. He also gave me some council to help out all of the missionaries in the zone which blessed me so much. He is such a great mission president and I know he just loves the work so much. I can't wait for the next time I get to hangout with President Stucki again. We were also able to find a lot more people again this week! The Lord is just blessing us so much with people to find and more and more people who are ready to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the people we found were just placed in our path, sort of like they found us@ It was great and I know it is because the Lord recognized out desire and diligence and is blessing us for it. We as missionaries cannot forget the Lord in this work. We do all we can and He makes up the rest. I love this work so much and I ma so grateful for the opportunity to serve. I am the busiest I have ever been on the mission so far and I know it will just get more busy from here. I am glad though because it means I am really helping God's children to come unto Him. I know this is the work and the Lord and I really would not want to be anywhere else right now. I only get 2 years so I have to make the most of it! I love you guys so much! Over and out from Narra Palawan!
Elder Stephens
Monday, July 15, 2013
July 15, 2013
Hey there everybody!
This was an awesome week yet again for the Narra Elders, Elder Balonsong and Elder Stephens. We had tons of work, actually i think the most I have had yet on my mission, which means the work really is hastening here in the Philippines. We are able to teach a lot of people and continue to find on the way. Last week we had our zone meeting, first one I've had yet as the zone leader, and it went really well. We just focused on repentance and helping the people that we are teaching to repent and come unto Christ. We also challenged all of the Elders in our zone to focus more on finding new investigators and helping them to progress towards baptism. Finding has just been low in Narra for the past few weeks so we really invited them to go out and focus on it. They really respond well and found so many new investigators and I know that through their efforts a lot more people are now receiving the message of the Restoration and a lot of them will come to know that it is true. We are teaching a few wonderful families that are really progressing and it has been great to see them exercise their faith to come closer unto Christ. One of them is the Bambico family who have been to church a few times and are reading the Book of Mormon every day. They are a pretty big family and I have really been touched by their faith in our Savior. They don't have a whole ton of riches, but they have family and they are now beginning ot learn about the gospel and they are so happy because of it. We are also teaching the Vigunti family who are sort of the same way. it is only a husband and a wife because the kids are all grown and on their own, but they are also exercising great faith in the Savior. Every lesson we have they just learn so much and immediately begin to apply it to their lives.I love the wonderful people herein the Narra area and I am so happy I have the blessing to invite and help them to come unto Christ. Missionary work is so great and I love this work with all my heart. I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father that he provided me this opportunity. I love you will all my heart. Till next week!
Elder Stephens
This was an awesome week yet again for the Narra Elders, Elder Balonsong and Elder Stephens. We had tons of work, actually i think the most I have had yet on my mission, which means the work really is hastening here in the Philippines. We are able to teach a lot of people and continue to find on the way. Last week we had our zone meeting, first one I've had yet as the zone leader, and it went really well. We just focused on repentance and helping the people that we are teaching to repent and come unto Christ. We also challenged all of the Elders in our zone to focus more on finding new investigators and helping them to progress towards baptism. Finding has just been low in Narra for the past few weeks so we really invited them to go out and focus on it. They really respond well and found so many new investigators and I know that through their efforts a lot more people are now receiving the message of the Restoration and a lot of them will come to know that it is true. We are teaching a few wonderful families that are really progressing and it has been great to see them exercise their faith to come closer unto Christ. One of them is the Bambico family who have been to church a few times and are reading the Book of Mormon every day. They are a pretty big family and I have really been touched by their faith in our Savior. They don't have a whole ton of riches, but they have family and they are now beginning ot learn about the gospel and they are so happy because of it. We are also teaching the Vigunti family who are sort of the same way. it is only a husband and a wife because the kids are all grown and on their own, but they are also exercising great faith in the Savior. Every lesson we have they just learn so much and immediately begin to apply it to their lives.I love the wonderful people herein the Narra area and I am so happy I have the blessing to invite and help them to come unto Christ. Missionary work is so great and I love this work with all my heart. I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father that he provided me this opportunity. I love you will all my heart. Till next week!
Elder Stephens
Sunday, July 7, 2013
July 8, 2013
Hey everyone!!
This has been one crazy week to say the least. We had transfers this past week, so I officially have already left my wonderful area of Aborlan and moved to Narra! There are two sets of missionaries here in Narra, Elder Balonsong and I are the zone leaders in Narra A and Elder Vang, my old companion, and his trainee Elder Dolorino are in Narra B. I am really excited to wok here in Narra and to serve as zone leader in the Narra zone! Last week we had missionary leadership council. It is just a meeting with all the zone leaders, training sister missionaries, the assistants, and President and Sister Stucki. It was a really cool experience for my first time because we all just talked a ton about how we can help the mission become better! It is great because you get insights from all the zones over the entire missions which really helps you know what things the whole mission can work on and how you as a zone leader can help the missionaries in your zone. It was great and the main focus of the meeting was on miracles and how if we have faith, miracles can happen. It was a wonderful message because i know that miracles happen in our time today. Miracles can't happen however, if we do not have faith in Jesus Christ. So our focus is helping all the missionaries here to have stronger faith so we can witness miracles in the Philiippines Manila Mission. I got to work in Narra for a few days as week which was a ton of fun. We have a ton of lessons which really keeps us busy but more importantly it means more people are being taught the gospel of Jesus Christ which helps them come closer unto Him. I love this new area and new assignment and I can't wait to continue to work hard here! I love you all and miss you all as well. Keep us missionaries in your prayers! See you next week!
Elder Stephens
This has been one crazy week to say the least. We had transfers this past week, so I officially have already left my wonderful area of Aborlan and moved to Narra! There are two sets of missionaries here in Narra, Elder Balonsong and I are the zone leaders in Narra A and Elder Vang, my old companion, and his trainee Elder Dolorino are in Narra B. I am really excited to wok here in Narra and to serve as zone leader in the Narra zone! Last week we had missionary leadership council. It is just a meeting with all the zone leaders, training sister missionaries, the assistants, and President and Sister Stucki. It was a really cool experience for my first time because we all just talked a ton about how we can help the mission become better! It is great because you get insights from all the zones over the entire missions which really helps you know what things the whole mission can work on and how you as a zone leader can help the missionaries in your zone. It was great and the main focus of the meeting was on miracles and how if we have faith, miracles can happen. It was a wonderful message because i know that miracles happen in our time today. Miracles can't happen however, if we do not have faith in Jesus Christ. So our focus is helping all the missionaries here to have stronger faith so we can witness miracles in the Philiippines Manila Mission. I got to work in Narra for a few days as week which was a ton of fun. We have a ton of lessons which really keeps us busy but more importantly it means more people are being taught the gospel of Jesus Christ which helps them come closer unto Him. I love this new area and new assignment and I can't wait to continue to work hard here! I love you all and miss you all as well. Keep us missionaries in your prayers! See you next week!
Elder Stephens
July 1, 2013
Hello everyone!
I can't believe it is already July! These past few weeks have just flown by. This last week was definitely one to remember. We had a lot of work this week with is always great I think that is one reason that time is flying by so fast. We just work all day and time just slips away. Like I always say, "Time flies when you're having fun!" We put a big focus on reteaching recent converts all the lessons. This past week we were able to finish all the lessons from Preach My Gospel, lessons 1-5 with the Paller Family! It was great and they are just so strong. I know they love the gospel and I know it has changed their lives. Reteaching the lessons to them just really helps them to gain a strong foundation that cannot fall. We also just started lesson 5 with Tatay Ernesto since he is a brand new convert and this past week we taught about Temples and family history work. I just love the Temple so much and it was amazing being able to testify about family history work and temple work. It was great because we invited Tatay Ernesto to do family history work and he said he really doesn't know the information about his family. I testified that it is the work of the Lord and that the Lord helps us when we do His work and Tatay Ernesto had no more doubts and committed to start his family history work. It was amazing to see his family and to feel the Spirit work in him to testify of the work of the Lord. Yesterday we got to watch the broadcast of Hastening the Work of Salvation. It was amazing! It pumped me up to just work so much harder as missionary and especially working with the members to help the work of the Lord grow. Heavenly Father has provided us with so many tools to helppeople to come unto Christ and we have to use all of them if we want to succeed. I know that the members and leaders of the church, all of the world, were inspired by the talks given by prophets and apostles of the Lord. I know they are called of God to help His work move forward. With this renewed focus on member missionaries I know that the work will go forth unlike ever before! I recently got a call from President Stucki yesterday and got a new assignment in the mission! I get to continue to serve here on Palawan, but as a zone leader in the Narra zone! I am so excited to serve as a zone leader and help all of the missionaries in the zone to really help the work grow. As district leader I learned so much and the Lord really helped me as I served. I know He will continue to help me as I stay obedient and seek His guidance. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week, and especially a great 4th of July!
Elder Stephens
I can't believe it is already July! These past few weeks have just flown by. This last week was definitely one to remember. We had a lot of work this week with is always great I think that is one reason that time is flying by so fast. We just work all day and time just slips away. Like I always say, "Time flies when you're having fun!" We put a big focus on reteaching recent converts all the lessons. This past week we were able to finish all the lessons from Preach My Gospel, lessons 1-5 with the Paller Family! It was great and they are just so strong. I know they love the gospel and I know it has changed their lives. Reteaching the lessons to them just really helps them to gain a strong foundation that cannot fall. We also just started lesson 5 with Tatay Ernesto since he is a brand new convert and this past week we taught about Temples and family history work. I just love the Temple so much and it was amazing being able to testify about family history work and temple work. It was great because we invited Tatay Ernesto to do family history work and he said he really doesn't know the information about his family. I testified that it is the work of the Lord and that the Lord helps us when we do His work and Tatay Ernesto had no more doubts and committed to start his family history work. It was amazing to see his family and to feel the Spirit work in him to testify of the work of the Lord. Yesterday we got to watch the broadcast of Hastening the Work of Salvation. It was amazing! It pumped me up to just work so much harder as missionary and especially working with the members to help the work of the Lord grow. Heavenly Father has provided us with so many tools to helppeople to come unto Christ and we have to use all of them if we want to succeed. I know that the members and leaders of the church, all of the world, were inspired by the talks given by prophets and apostles of the Lord. I know they are called of God to help His work move forward. With this renewed focus on member missionaries I know that the work will go forth unlike ever before! I recently got a call from President Stucki yesterday and got a new assignment in the mission! I get to continue to serve here on Palawan, but as a zone leader in the Narra zone! I am so excited to serve as a zone leader and help all of the missionaries in the zone to really help the work grow. As district leader I learned so much and the Lord really helped me as I served. I know He will continue to help me as I stay obedient and seek His guidance. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week, and especially a great 4th of July!
Elder Stephens
Sunday, June 23, 2013
June 24, 2013
Hey there everybody!
This week was absolutely amazing! We had a baptism this past Saturday for Brother Ernesto Ayade! It was a great baptismal service and he had a ton of support fro the baptism. he asked me to be the one to baptize him and I was so blessed. I could feel the Spirit so strong as we were in the baptismal service and especially as we stood in the baptismal font. I love "Tatay Ernesto" so much and I really can't wait for him and his whole family to be such a strong family in the gospel and in the church. They are all so great and I love them all so much. We were also able to have two more baptisms in the district this past Saturday! All the companionship's in the district had 1 baptism and confirmation each. It was a great week! We had a specialized training last week for the leaders in the mission and I was able to learn so much from it. We focused our specialized training on how the Lord is hastening His work and how we are a part of the hastening! I learned a ton about planning and how planning is such a big part of hastening the work because we have to use the Lord's time wisely while we are out here. We can apply it to real life as well. We all make goals, for example, New Year's "Resolutions" but usually we don't have a plan to carry out those "resolutions", we do it for about a month or so then we are don. That is what I really took away from the meeting. We have goals but we have to really be able to make plans so we can reach those goals that we have set for ourselves. I also learned a whole lot about obedience this past week. Our mission has a ton of new rules that have been given to all of the missionaries and some of them are really hard to follow and we don't completely understand why we even have to do them. I then looked to Adam's example when he was commanded to give sacrifices to the Lord. He was asked why he was doing the sacrifices, and he responded saying, "I know not, save the Lord commanded me." I know that the commandments and also the mission rules while here on the mission are important. I know that they are given from God which means we must follow them. Obedience brings blessings, just as President Monson talked about in the last General Conference. It is up to us to want those blessings and to be obedient. Well I think that's it. I will let you know about me week, next week. I love you all!
Elder Stephens
This week was absolutely amazing! We had a baptism this past Saturday for Brother Ernesto Ayade! It was a great baptismal service and he had a ton of support fro the baptism. he asked me to be the one to baptize him and I was so blessed. I could feel the Spirit so strong as we were in the baptismal service and especially as we stood in the baptismal font. I love "Tatay Ernesto" so much and I really can't wait for him and his whole family to be such a strong family in the gospel and in the church. They are all so great and I love them all so much. We were also able to have two more baptisms in the district this past Saturday! All the companionship's in the district had 1 baptism and confirmation each. It was a great week! We had a specialized training last week for the leaders in the mission and I was able to learn so much from it. We focused our specialized training on how the Lord is hastening His work and how we are a part of the hastening! I learned a ton about planning and how planning is such a big part of hastening the work because we have to use the Lord's time wisely while we are out here. We can apply it to real life as well. We all make goals, for example, New Year's "Resolutions" but usually we don't have a plan to carry out those "resolutions", we do it for about a month or so then we are don. That is what I really took away from the meeting. We have goals but we have to really be able to make plans so we can reach those goals that we have set for ourselves. I also learned a whole lot about obedience this past week. Our mission has a ton of new rules that have been given to all of the missionaries and some of them are really hard to follow and we don't completely understand why we even have to do them. I then looked to Adam's example when he was commanded to give sacrifices to the Lord. He was asked why he was doing the sacrifices, and he responded saying, "I know not, save the Lord commanded me." I know that the commandments and also the mission rules while here on the mission are important. I know that they are given from God which means we must follow them. Obedience brings blessings, just as President Monson talked about in the last General Conference. It is up to us to want those blessings and to be obedient. Well I think that's it. I will let you know about me week, next week. I love you all!
Elder Stephens
June 17, 2013
Hello all!
How is everyone doing?! Hopefully there isn't a blackout while we are emailing again. This past week was a pretty great week! We had a wonderful branch activity here in the Aborlan branch on Wednesday because it was independence day here. We invited all of our investigators and less active members to the activity and some of them showed up! It was great because the members were able to have a fun activity and fellowship the investigators and less active members to really help them feel welcome. Some college students that we were teaching a little while ago came back this past week and we are teaching them again. They are Jason and Paugie and they are awesome. We had a great lesson with them this past week and we really saw their desire to come to know the truth. It is great when investigators have a true desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true, or if Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. It's awesome because I know they will do those things Heavenly Father wants them to do in order to know such as read and pray to find the truth. Elder Baniqued and I have also been learning a lot about working with members and leaders in order to really help the work grow. We have mad a goal to really work with the members a lot more and gain their trust in order to receive referrals and also to get them involved in the teaching. The members here in the Aborlan branch are so great and I know they love missionary work and as we continue to work with them, the Aborlan branch is going to grow so so much. I love this work and it is such a blessing to be here in the Aborlan Branch and able to work with these wonderful people and also with all the investigators and less active members. I know this is the work of the Lord and we as missionaries are only instruments in His hands in helping Heavenly Father's children to come unto Christ. That's about it from me!
Elder Stephens
How is everyone doing?! Hopefully there isn't a blackout while we are emailing again. This past week was a pretty great week! We had a wonderful branch activity here in the Aborlan branch on Wednesday because it was independence day here. We invited all of our investigators and less active members to the activity and some of them showed up! It was great because the members were able to have a fun activity and fellowship the investigators and less active members to really help them feel welcome. Some college students that we were teaching a little while ago came back this past week and we are teaching them again. They are Jason and Paugie and they are awesome. We had a great lesson with them this past week and we really saw their desire to come to know the truth. It is great when investigators have a true desire to know if the Book of Mormon is true, or if Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. It's awesome because I know they will do those things Heavenly Father wants them to do in order to know such as read and pray to find the truth. Elder Baniqued and I have also been learning a lot about working with members and leaders in order to really help the work grow. We have mad a goal to really work with the members a lot more and gain their trust in order to receive referrals and also to get them involved in the teaching. The members here in the Aborlan branch are so great and I know they love missionary work and as we continue to work with them, the Aborlan branch is going to grow so so much. I love this work and it is such a blessing to be here in the Aborlan Branch and able to work with these wonderful people and also with all the investigators and less active members. I know this is the work of the Lord and we as missionaries are only instruments in His hands in helping Heavenly Father's children to come unto Christ. That's about it from me!
Elder Stephens
Sunday, June 16, 2013
June 10, 2013
Hey everyone!
Wow time is flying. I know we all say it but I mean, it is crazy how fast the time is going by. I feel like I was emailing yesterday, and the time before that was just 2 days ago. Well anyways, this week was great! We were blessed with tons of work again. We were especially blessed with the opportunity to continue to teach Jorald and he is super stoked to be baptized this week on the 15th! He loves the gospel and especially the Book of Mormon. it has made him a better person and has brought him closer unto Christ. I know that is so true because it has done the exact same thing for me! I have grown so much closer to my Savior because of the Book of Mormon and I know it is true with all my heart. We were also blessed with teaching another man named Brother Ayede! His family is awesome and almost all of them are members. There is one that isn't because they are in Manila right now and we don't really know the address to get the missionaries there. However, I know that when they come back they will be taught and come unto Christ as well. So as for Brother Ayade, he is just awesome and I love him so much. He is just tough as nails. He is a fisherman, and goes from way early in the morning to about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, then we come over and teach him. It really is great seeing him progress. He just wants his family to get closer together and he knows that the gospel will be able to help him with that. I have seen the gospel completely change families and make them so much happier and especially helps them to come closer unto Christ. I love this gospel so much and I cannot wait to see how the gospel continues to help the people here in Aborlan Palawan. It has already blessed the lives of so many people here and all over the world and it can only bless more and more lives. It is such a great opportunity for me to serve and I can't wait to get back to work!Well that's about it! Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Stephens
PS. Last Monday we got a blackout right when I was about to send the email. Lucky me! So sorry this is late but I thought I should still send the email! Love you all!!
Wow time is flying. I know we all say it but I mean, it is crazy how fast the time is going by. I feel like I was emailing yesterday, and the time before that was just 2 days ago. Well anyways, this week was great! We were blessed with tons of work again. We were especially blessed with the opportunity to continue to teach Jorald and he is super stoked to be baptized this week on the 15th! He loves the gospel and especially the Book of Mormon. it has made him a better person and has brought him closer unto Christ. I know that is so true because it has done the exact same thing for me! I have grown so much closer to my Savior because of the Book of Mormon and I know it is true with all my heart. We were also blessed with teaching another man named Brother Ayede! His family is awesome and almost all of them are members. There is one that isn't because they are in Manila right now and we don't really know the address to get the missionaries there. However, I know that when they come back they will be taught and come unto Christ as well. So as for Brother Ayade, he is just awesome and I love him so much. He is just tough as nails. He is a fisherman, and goes from way early in the morning to about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, then we come over and teach him. It really is great seeing him progress. He just wants his family to get closer together and he knows that the gospel will be able to help him with that. I have seen the gospel completely change families and make them so much happier and especially helps them to come closer unto Christ. I love this gospel so much and I cannot wait to see how the gospel continues to help the people here in Aborlan Palawan. It has already blessed the lives of so many people here and all over the world and it can only bless more and more lives. It is such a great opportunity for me to serve and I can't wait to get back to work!Well that's about it! Thanks for all the love and support!
Elder Stephens
PS. Last Monday we got a blackout right when I was about to send the email. Lucky me! So sorry this is late but I thought I should still send the email! Love you all!!
Monday, June 3, 2013
June 2, 2013
Hey there everybody!
This week was a really great one! We had so many lessons and we were able to really help out a ton of people this past week to just come closer unto Christ and follow Him. I have really seen so many wonderful people change the lives because of the gospel and it really is a miracle to me. Children of our Father in Heaven changing their lives so they can live in accordance to His gospel. It totally blows my mind! (In a good way). This past week we had the wonderful opportunity of going to an investigator we have been teaching for a few weeks now. Anyway, he told us how super excited he is to get baptized and to follow the example of Jesus Christ! It made me so happy to hear that and I can't wait for him to enter the waters of baptism. His name is Jorald and he's 15 years old. His father isn't a member but said it would be okay for him to be baptized! And there are a bunch of members that all live really close to Jorald, the Paller family being one of them, and they all are there to support him as well. It was just great for me to see him progress so much, he was really hesitant at first and just seemed really shy, but last week when he opened up to us like that, it just made me so happy. Training and being a district leader here is pretty fun stuff. I'm having a lot of fun with Elder Baniqued. He is always trying to work on English and I never speak English to him. I think it's crazy that I spend every minute speaking in Tagalog. 9 months ago I could only say the real simple things like "thank you." I love this time I have to serve the Lord and I especially love these assignments as district leader and trainer. It has helped me to grow so much! I love this gospel and know it is true with all my heart! I can't believe I have the opportunity now to share it! I love you all! Keep me updated! I sure will do the same for you!
Elder Stephens
This week was a really great one! We had so many lessons and we were able to really help out a ton of people this past week to just come closer unto Christ and follow Him. I have really seen so many wonderful people change the lives because of the gospel and it really is a miracle to me. Children of our Father in Heaven changing their lives so they can live in accordance to His gospel. It totally blows my mind! (In a good way). This past week we had the wonderful opportunity of going to an investigator we have been teaching for a few weeks now. Anyway, he told us how super excited he is to get baptized and to follow the example of Jesus Christ! It made me so happy to hear that and I can't wait for him to enter the waters of baptism. His name is Jorald and he's 15 years old. His father isn't a member but said it would be okay for him to be baptized! And there are a bunch of members that all live really close to Jorald, the Paller family being one of them, and they all are there to support him as well. It was just great for me to see him progress so much, he was really hesitant at first and just seemed really shy, but last week when he opened up to us like that, it just made me so happy. Training and being a district leader here is pretty fun stuff. I'm having a lot of fun with Elder Baniqued. He is always trying to work on English and I never speak English to him. I think it's crazy that I spend every minute speaking in Tagalog. 9 months ago I could only say the real simple things like "thank you." I love this time I have to serve the Lord and I especially love these assignments as district leader and trainer. It has helped me to grow so much! I love this gospel and know it is true with all my heart! I can't believe I have the opportunity now to share it! I love you all! Keep me updated! I sure will do the same for you!
Elder Stephens
May 27, 2013
Hey there everyone!
I love missionary work! This has been a really awesome week. I met my new companion, Elder Baniqued. I have the wonderful opportunity of training him but honestly I feel like I am the one being trained because I have already learned so much from him! He is actually 26 years old and, like me, was baptized only a year before his mission! He had the desire to come out just as soon as possible to serve the Lord and help others to feel the same blessings that have come to his life. Sounds like someone else, no? The first day we were in the house he told me to help him out with his English because he really wants to learn. We have already had some great work in just a few days that we have been together. We have been really focusing on getting new investigators and giving out more baptismal dates so more people can come unto Christ and the Lord has really blessed us this week! We didn't have a huge number of new investigators but we really saw our baptismal dates grow. With the number of baptismal dates growing we also saw our number of progressing investigators grow with it. It is just a testimony to me that what is says in Preach my Gospel about inviting to baptism early and often is really powerful. Not only do more people come unto Christ, but you are really able to find those that are ready to receive the gospel. We are really excited for these next few months that are coming up. We are really going out and finding the elect and we know that many baptisms and return members will follow. I really love serving and especially the chance I have now to serve as district leader and as a trainer. I have already learned so much and I know there is just so much more that I have to learn. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again! Until next week!
Elder Stephens
I love missionary work! This has been a really awesome week. I met my new companion, Elder Baniqued. I have the wonderful opportunity of training him but honestly I feel like I am the one being trained because I have already learned so much from him! He is actually 26 years old and, like me, was baptized only a year before his mission! He had the desire to come out just as soon as possible to serve the Lord and help others to feel the same blessings that have come to his life. Sounds like someone else, no? The first day we were in the house he told me to help him out with his English because he really wants to learn. We have already had some great work in just a few days that we have been together. We have been really focusing on getting new investigators and giving out more baptismal dates so more people can come unto Christ and the Lord has really blessed us this week! We didn't have a huge number of new investigators but we really saw our baptismal dates grow. With the number of baptismal dates growing we also saw our number of progressing investigators grow with it. It is just a testimony to me that what is says in Preach my Gospel about inviting to baptism early and often is really powerful. Not only do more people come unto Christ, but you are really able to find those that are ready to receive the gospel. We are really excited for these next few months that are coming up. We are really going out and finding the elect and we know that many baptisms and return members will follow. I really love serving and especially the chance I have now to serve as district leader and as a trainer. I have already learned so much and I know there is just so much more that I have to learn. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again! Until next week!
Elder Stephens
Sunday, May 19, 2013
May 13, 2013
Hey there everyone!
First off I got to speak to the bestest family, girlfriend, and especially mom in the whole wide world yesterday! So I am way happy right now! This week was absolutely amazing. We got to teach a whole ton of people and many people are really getting ready for baptism. I am so happy for all those people that we are teaching right now and it is such a blessing to see them coming closer to Christ. It is truly a wonderful blessing to be here in the Philippines and being able to teach all the great people here. We also had zone conference with President Stucki this past week which was amazing of course. We have a really big focus this month of finding always and especially finding those that are prepared by the Lord. I learned a whole ton about finding and about asking powerful questions to help those that we come in contact with to really feel the spirit and come closer unto Christ. I love this gospel so much and I just want everyone to have the opportunity to hear about it and come closer unto Christ. I know this gospel is true and I just want everyone to have the opportunity to hear about it and come closer unto Christ. I know this gospel is true and can truly help families to be stronger and much happier. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and can help us to really understand why we are here and what we need to do to return to our Father in Heaven. I love being a missionary and being able to share this testimony to all. I love you all!
Elder Stephens
First off I got to speak to the bestest family, girlfriend, and especially mom in the whole wide world yesterday! So I am way happy right now! This week was absolutely amazing. We got to teach a whole ton of people and many people are really getting ready for baptism. I am so happy for all those people that we are teaching right now and it is such a blessing to see them coming closer to Christ. It is truly a wonderful blessing to be here in the Philippines and being able to teach all the great people here. We also had zone conference with President Stucki this past week which was amazing of course. We have a really big focus this month of finding always and especially finding those that are prepared by the Lord. I learned a whole ton about finding and about asking powerful questions to help those that we come in contact with to really feel the spirit and come closer unto Christ. I love this gospel so much and I just want everyone to have the opportunity to hear about it and come closer unto Christ. I know this gospel is true and I just want everyone to have the opportunity to hear about it and come closer unto Christ. I know this gospel is true and can truly help families to be stronger and much happier. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and can help us to really understand why we are here and what we need to do to return to our Father in Heaven. I love being a missionary and being able to share this testimony to all. I love you all!
Elder Stephens
May 6, 2013
Hey there all!
So this week was absolutely crazy! First off, we had an emergency transfer, which means Elder Wardle is now in Makati. He got stepped up from District Leader to Zone Leader over there in the big city! We have no idea why there was an emergency transfer. Anyway, since he left I actually became the District Leader here in Aborlan! I'm pretty excited and know that I am going to get to learn a ton as a District leader. We had a strange week because of the emergency transfer though. I worked in another area for 3 days while I was waiting for my new companion to come. One of those days I already to go do my first few interviews as a District Leader. I actually love it so much@ It is awesome getting to talk to people for the first time while they are getting ready to enter the waters of baptism. I'm really looking forward to more interviews in the future. Before Elder Wardle left, we were able to have a one day mission here in the Aborlan Branch! It was great because we got to teach a little lesson on how to be missionaries, so we just taught a little bit on how to teach so the members weren't too afraid to share. There are actually a ton of returned missionaries here in the Aborlan Branch so they have a lot of experience which helped us out a lot too. One Sunday we talked with the Branch President, President Pamugas, and he said there was a lot of success from the one day mission and wants to have more in the future. So I am way excited for that, of course. On Friday, my new companion came. His name is Elder Vang and we are actually the same batch! We were even in the MTC together in Provo. Crazy, right? Anyways, he is pretty great. Really obedient which is always good. I'm real excited for these next few weeks we have together. I have really been focusing on strengthening my faith in Jesus Christ for these past few days. I know that with faith, we can do miracles. Christ even said, "If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoeverthing is expedient in me." (Moroni 7:33) As a mission we really are starting to focus more on finding and we have to have faith in order to find those who are prepared to hear the gospel. I know that God loves us and wants to help us, and all we have to do is trust Him and have faith in Christ to accomplish His will. This week has been pretty nuts but I am very excited for the next weeks to come!
Elder Stephens
So this week was absolutely crazy! First off, we had an emergency transfer, which means Elder Wardle is now in Makati. He got stepped up from District Leader to Zone Leader over there in the big city! We have no idea why there was an emergency transfer. Anyway, since he left I actually became the District Leader here in Aborlan! I'm pretty excited and know that I am going to get to learn a ton as a District leader. We had a strange week because of the emergency transfer though. I worked in another area for 3 days while I was waiting for my new companion to come. One of those days I already to go do my first few interviews as a District Leader. I actually love it so much@ It is awesome getting to talk to people for the first time while they are getting ready to enter the waters of baptism. I'm really looking forward to more interviews in the future. Before Elder Wardle left, we were able to have a one day mission here in the Aborlan Branch! It was great because we got to teach a little lesson on how to be missionaries, so we just taught a little bit on how to teach so the members weren't too afraid to share. There are actually a ton of returned missionaries here in the Aborlan Branch so they have a lot of experience which helped us out a lot too. One Sunday we talked with the Branch President, President Pamugas, and he said there was a lot of success from the one day mission and wants to have more in the future. So I am way excited for that, of course. On Friday, my new companion came. His name is Elder Vang and we are actually the same batch! We were even in the MTC together in Provo. Crazy, right? Anyways, he is pretty great. Really obedient which is always good. I'm real excited for these next few weeks we have together. I have really been focusing on strengthening my faith in Jesus Christ for these past few days. I know that with faith, we can do miracles. Christ even said, "If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoeverthing is expedient in me." (Moroni 7:33) As a mission we really are starting to focus more on finding and we have to have faith in order to find those who are prepared to hear the gospel. I know that God loves us and wants to help us, and all we have to do is trust Him and have faith in Christ to accomplish His will. This week has been pretty nuts but I am very excited for the next weeks to come!
Elder Stephens
Monday, April 29, 2013
April 29, 2013
Hey you all!
Well, thanks for all the people who told me I am 8 months in the mission now, it made me real sad knowing I only have 16 more months to go. Just kidding, I was just a little sad. It is nuts how fast time is going by. I honestly feel like I just got off the plane and arrived in the Philippines... but that was 6 months ago! Anyway, enough about how fast time is flying by. This week was awesome! We got to have a lot of successful work this week. A family we are teaching right now is really getting ready for baptism. They are really excited to get baptized especially as a family! They have really gained a testimony of the gospel of Christ and I can really see it in them. The have changed so much since the first time I taught them which was only a few weeks ago, and I can just imagine the change from when they were first taught. I know that the gospel has the power to change our lives for the better. We really do become more Christ-like as we follow His example and follow His plan for us. I am so grateful for the Paller family and all they do. It has been a testimony builder for me to see them come unto Christ and it just reminds me of the changes I have made in my life which have brought me closer unto my Savior. Last Sunday, I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting which was a great experience. I just talked on the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we need to follow it in order to be happy in this life and even more happy in the life to come. All Heavenly Father asked of us is to follow His plan. Which is to have faith in Jesus Christ , repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. It is "beautifully simply, and simply beautiful." I know the gospel is true, I know it can change our lives for the better and draw us closer unto Christ. I am especially grateful for the opportunity I have as a full-time missionary to share the gospel to the wonderful people int he Philippines. Even though I'm still new and only have 8 months out with a long time to go, I have seen so many miracles happen and I have seen the gospel strengthen families. I love this gospel and I love the people here in the Philippines. Next week sana!
Elder Stephens
Well, thanks for all the people who told me I am 8 months in the mission now, it made me real sad knowing I only have 16 more months to go. Just kidding, I was just a little sad. It is nuts how fast time is going by. I honestly feel like I just got off the plane and arrived in the Philippines... but that was 6 months ago! Anyway, enough about how fast time is flying by. This week was awesome! We got to have a lot of successful work this week. A family we are teaching right now is really getting ready for baptism. They are really excited to get baptized especially as a family! They have really gained a testimony of the gospel of Christ and I can really see it in them. The have changed so much since the first time I taught them which was only a few weeks ago, and I can just imagine the change from when they were first taught. I know that the gospel has the power to change our lives for the better. We really do become more Christ-like as we follow His example and follow His plan for us. I am so grateful for the Paller family and all they do. It has been a testimony builder for me to see them come unto Christ and it just reminds me of the changes I have made in my life which have brought me closer unto my Savior. Last Sunday, I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting which was a great experience. I just talked on the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we need to follow it in order to be happy in this life and even more happy in the life to come. All Heavenly Father asked of us is to follow His plan. Which is to have faith in Jesus Christ , repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. It is "beautifully simply, and simply beautiful." I know the gospel is true, I know it can change our lives for the better and draw us closer unto Christ. I am especially grateful for the opportunity I have as a full-time missionary to share the gospel to the wonderful people int he Philippines. Even though I'm still new and only have 8 months out with a long time to go, I have seen so many miracles happen and I have seen the gospel strengthen families. I love this gospel and I love the people here in the Philippines. Next week sana!
Elder Stephens
April 22, 2013
Hello everybody!
This has been one awesome week. Definitely one to remember. We were really blessed with a lot of work this past week. We have a lot of investigators we are teaching right now and it is really a great feeling being able to work here in the Aborlan area out in Palawan. We have been teaching a man named Jason who has really come a long way and it has been a real blessing being able to teach him. This past week he invited his friends to come and now we are teaching all of them as well! It was like he gave us a bunch of referrals without even being a member yet! So that was a really big highlight of the week. We also had the wonderful opportunity to have interviews with President Stucki again last Friday. It is just always a really great time being able to talk with Presidnet Stucki, he is a great mission president and he really takes his calling seriously which makes the mission for all of us full-time missionaries a great experience. He gave me some great council on just really focusing on the work and also on feeling the Holy Ghost. I know that when we feel the Holy Ghost in our lives, we are doing what we need to be doing. When we are following the promptings of the Spirit, we know the Lord is guiding us and helping us along the way. I know I couldn't do this work without my Savior, and I am so grateful for Him and His guidance. We also had an area District Conference here in the Narra District. There were a ton of wonderful speakers and again President Stucki was one of them. He talked on allowing others the chance to grow their faith in Christ by giving them responsibilities in the church. He explained how sometimes we just rely on those people we know will get the job done but then don't give the chance to others to grow from themselves. I know that is so true that we can grow in our faith when given a responsibility we aren't totally prepared for. Before the mission I wasn't the perfect missionary nor will I ever become one. However I know that I am called of God to be here and that He will help me in everything I do. This is such a wonderful place to be here on the mission. I really couldn't imagine being anywhere or doing anything else. I love the people, I love the area, and I especially love my Savior. It is such a huge blessing to be here and I can't wait to continue to work. I love you all!!
Elder Stephens
This has been one awesome week. Definitely one to remember. We were really blessed with a lot of work this past week. We have a lot of investigators we are teaching right now and it is really a great feeling being able to work here in the Aborlan area out in Palawan. We have been teaching a man named Jason who has really come a long way and it has been a real blessing being able to teach him. This past week he invited his friends to come and now we are teaching all of them as well! It was like he gave us a bunch of referrals without even being a member yet! So that was a really big highlight of the week. We also had the wonderful opportunity to have interviews with President Stucki again last Friday. It is just always a really great time being able to talk with Presidnet Stucki, he is a great mission president and he really takes his calling seriously which makes the mission for all of us full-time missionaries a great experience. He gave me some great council on just really focusing on the work and also on feeling the Holy Ghost. I know that when we feel the Holy Ghost in our lives, we are doing what we need to be doing. When we are following the promptings of the Spirit, we know the Lord is guiding us and helping us along the way. I know I couldn't do this work without my Savior, and I am so grateful for Him and His guidance. We also had an area District Conference here in the Narra District. There were a ton of wonderful speakers and again President Stucki was one of them. He talked on allowing others the chance to grow their faith in Christ by giving them responsibilities in the church. He explained how sometimes we just rely on those people we know will get the job done but then don't give the chance to others to grow from themselves. I know that is so true that we can grow in our faith when given a responsibility we aren't totally prepared for. Before the mission I wasn't the perfect missionary nor will I ever become one. However I know that I am called of God to be here and that He will help me in everything I do. This is such a wonderful place to be here on the mission. I really couldn't imagine being anywhere or doing anything else. I love the people, I love the area, and I especially love my Savior. It is such a huge blessing to be here and I can't wait to continue to work. I love you all!!
Elder Stephens
Monday, April 15, 2013
April 15, 2013
Hey there everyone!!
I have officially left Carissa and now I am in a new area! Let me just give a little background of the area. It is called Aborlan, on the beautiful island of Palawan. If you don't know what Palawan is, google it and explore the glorious land that we missionaries like to call, paradise. I am so excited to serve here in Aborlan. I have already spent a few days here so I have already met a ton of our investigators as well as a ton of members that we will be working with. I also have a new companion, named Elder Wardle. he is awesome and really obedient which is always a good thing. I am excited to serve here with him and I know the work will really go forth. Right off the bat we were able to have a lot of awesome lessons and the Spirit was so strong in all of our lessons. I can't wait to continue to work. So enough about that, let's talk about General Conference! It was a wonderful Conference of course. I love hearing all of the leaders of the church and I can't wait to hear them again. I'm just bummed it has to be 6 months away! Anyways, I loved a ton of the talks given of course. A lot of them we actually weren't able to watch because the copies we were watching them on were a little corrupted or something. However we will get a Liahona in the next few months so I will be able to really study them so it is all good. So one of the talks that I really enjoyed was the one by Elder Richard G Scott. He just talked about having a Christ like centered home and it was just a wonderful message. Especially because we focus on teaching families out here on the mission as well as helping families to stay active. I know that when a home is centered on Christ and His teachings, they can be so much more happy, the Spirit will be in their home, and problems will be solved. Elder Scott said, "The prophetic counsel to have daily personal and family prayer, daily personal and family scripture study, and weekly family home evening are the essential, weight-bearing beams in the construction of a Christ-centered home. Without these regular practices it will be difficult to find the desired and much-needed peace and refuge from the world." It is just so true. When we do these things, we will find peace in our home. Another talk I loved was President Thomas S. Monson's wonderful talk on obedience to the commandments. When we are obedient, we are blessed. President Monson stated, "A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide given obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God." All Heaving Father asks of us is to be obedient to the commandments. I know that President Monson is a prophet of God.j I know that God loves us and has given us prophets so we can come to know His gospel. It is up to us to follow Jesus Christ. I know this church is true, and we can all come to know of the truth for ourselves through diligent study and prayer. See you next week!
Elder Stephens
I have officially left Carissa and now I am in a new area! Let me just give a little background of the area. It is called Aborlan, on the beautiful island of Palawan. If you don't know what Palawan is, google it and explore the glorious land that we missionaries like to call, paradise. I am so excited to serve here in Aborlan. I have already spent a few days here so I have already met a ton of our investigators as well as a ton of members that we will be working with. I also have a new companion, named Elder Wardle. he is awesome and really obedient which is always a good thing. I am excited to serve here with him and I know the work will really go forth. Right off the bat we were able to have a lot of awesome lessons and the Spirit was so strong in all of our lessons. I can't wait to continue to work. So enough about that, let's talk about General Conference! It was a wonderful Conference of course. I love hearing all of the leaders of the church and I can't wait to hear them again. I'm just bummed it has to be 6 months away! Anyways, I loved a ton of the talks given of course. A lot of them we actually weren't able to watch because the copies we were watching them on were a little corrupted or something. However we will get a Liahona in the next few months so I will be able to really study them so it is all good. So one of the talks that I really enjoyed was the one by Elder Richard G Scott. He just talked about having a Christ like centered home and it was just a wonderful message. Especially because we focus on teaching families out here on the mission as well as helping families to stay active. I know that when a home is centered on Christ and His teachings, they can be so much more happy, the Spirit will be in their home, and problems will be solved. Elder Scott said, "The prophetic counsel to have daily personal and family prayer, daily personal and family scripture study, and weekly family home evening are the essential, weight-bearing beams in the construction of a Christ-centered home. Without these regular practices it will be difficult to find the desired and much-needed peace and refuge from the world." It is just so true. When we do these things, we will find peace in our home. Another talk I loved was President Thomas S. Monson's wonderful talk on obedience to the commandments. When we are obedient, we are blessed. President Monson stated, "A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide given obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God." All Heaving Father asks of us is to be obedient to the commandments. I know that President Monson is a prophet of God.j I know that God loves us and has given us prophets so we can come to know His gospel. It is up to us to follow Jesus Christ. I know this church is true, and we can all come to know of the truth for ourselves through diligent study and prayer. See you next week!
Elder Stephens
April 8, 2013
Hello there everyone who's anyone!
How are you all? I'll have you know this week was really great! First of all we were extremely blessed with a marriage and baptism this week! Eric and his wife Emelita, aka Barbie, were married on April 6 and we were able to come with them, and then April 7 they were baptized! It was such a wonderful experience since we have been teaching them for a long time now and wondering how to get them married first, but thanks to Heavenly Father, everything worked out great and they are now members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It has been really amazing being able to teach them. Eric is just so funny and he reminds me a lot of my brothers. h is stuck in his wheelchair and can't walk but it doesn't phase him. He is still just so happy and he jokes all the time. And Barbie is just so sweet. She is the nicest person every. She always offers us treats and stuff and is always sorry when they don't have any in a lesson. They are a great family and I can't wait to see them grow and grow in the Church! I've been so blessed to be able to teach them and help them. I can't thank them or my Heavenly Father enough. i know General Conference was this past week and you all had great words to say about it of course. Here we get Conference a week later so I'll be updating all my thoughts about Conference next week! I love you all! Talk to you next week!
Elder Stephens
How are you all? I'll have you know this week was really great! First of all we were extremely blessed with a marriage and baptism this week! Eric and his wife Emelita, aka Barbie, were married on April 6 and we were able to come with them, and then April 7 they were baptized! It was such a wonderful experience since we have been teaching them for a long time now and wondering how to get them married first, but thanks to Heavenly Father, everything worked out great and they are now members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It has been really amazing being able to teach them. Eric is just so funny and he reminds me a lot of my brothers. h is stuck in his wheelchair and can't walk but it doesn't phase him. He is still just so happy and he jokes all the time. And Barbie is just so sweet. She is the nicest person every. She always offers us treats and stuff and is always sorry when they don't have any in a lesson. They are a great family and I can't wait to see them grow and grow in the Church! I've been so blessed to be able to teach them and help them. I can't thank them or my Heavenly Father enough. i know General Conference was this past week and you all had great words to say about it of course. Here we get Conference a week later so I'll be updating all my thoughts about Conference next week! I love you all! Talk to you next week!
Elder Stephens
April 1, 2013
I don't think I'm going to email today. APRIL FOOLS!
Hey there everyone!
It's April! Which means it is the 4th month of the year. I hope you all have a great 4th month of the year. This past week was completely awesome. Elder Acosta and i had a ton of teaching, and i could really feel the Spirit helping us as we taught all of our investigators and less-active members. It is such a great feeling when you teach and you can feel the Spirit bearing testimony of the things that you are saying, there's no feeling quire like it. We had a great lesson which Brother Gamazan this past week on Monday about the Atonement. He loved the message and said he was going to come to church on Sunday. And the best part is he actually did come to church yesterday! He loved it and it was great to see him talk with all the members. He hadn't been to church in years and when everyone saw him they all were shocked but really excited that he was able to come. I was so happy especially because he enjoyed it so much! I also was able to go on exchanges with Elder Burgos, our district leader. I worked over in his area since I didn't want him to see our work. No just kidding. I just went over there because he is the leader and I'm supposed to learn from him. I ended up learning a ton from the exchange. I especially learned just how important it is to ask a lot of questions. He is really good and doing that and showed me the example, especially in a lesson with a less-active member in their area. He asked a lot of questions because we could see something was bothering her, and because he did so, we were able to find out what and then helped her out. She ended up going to church yesterday as well which was a huge step for her. It was a great exchange. I also had a wonderful opportunity to go to the Gwilliam's place for Easter Dinner. We invited our investigators, Eric, Barbie, and their family. They came and it was so much fun. We were able to all hang out and have a really good time. The Gwilliam's showed the Easter video to all the people there as well because it was Easter and it went very well. Being on a mission has taught me so much, but more than anything I have learned the importance of loving others. I have really come to love all the people we have the opportunity to teach and I feel more and more like our Savior, the more I have love for others. I am so grateful for the Gospel and the blessing I have now to spread it to these Filipino people. I am grateful for my Savior and especially for all that He has done for me. I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough. I love you all!
Elder Stephens
Hey there everyone!
It's April! Which means it is the 4th month of the year. I hope you all have a great 4th month of the year. This past week was completely awesome. Elder Acosta and i had a ton of teaching, and i could really feel the Spirit helping us as we taught all of our investigators and less-active members. It is such a great feeling when you teach and you can feel the Spirit bearing testimony of the things that you are saying, there's no feeling quire like it. We had a great lesson which Brother Gamazan this past week on Monday about the Atonement. He loved the message and said he was going to come to church on Sunday. And the best part is he actually did come to church yesterday! He loved it and it was great to see him talk with all the members. He hadn't been to church in years and when everyone saw him they all were shocked but really excited that he was able to come. I was so happy especially because he enjoyed it so much! I also was able to go on exchanges with Elder Burgos, our district leader. I worked over in his area since I didn't want him to see our work. No just kidding. I just went over there because he is the leader and I'm supposed to learn from him. I ended up learning a ton from the exchange. I especially learned just how important it is to ask a lot of questions. He is really good and doing that and showed me the example, especially in a lesson with a less-active member in their area. He asked a lot of questions because we could see something was bothering her, and because he did so, we were able to find out what and then helped her out. She ended up going to church yesterday as well which was a huge step for her. It was a great exchange. I also had a wonderful opportunity to go to the Gwilliam's place for Easter Dinner. We invited our investigators, Eric, Barbie, and their family. They came and it was so much fun. We were able to all hang out and have a really good time. The Gwilliam's showed the Easter video to all the people there as well because it was Easter and it went very well. Being on a mission has taught me so much, but more than anything I have learned the importance of loving others. I have really come to love all the people we have the opportunity to teach and I feel more and more like our Savior, the more I have love for others. I am so grateful for the Gospel and the blessing I have now to spread it to these Filipino people. I am grateful for my Savior and especially for all that He has done for me. I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough. I love you all!
Elder Stephens
Monday, March 25, 2013
March 25, 2013
Hey there everyone!
This week was great! We were able to have a lot of work which is always grand. I was also able to learn a lot from our many meeting. I took a lot from all of them to really be able to become a better missionary. One meeting was a specialized training meeting and I really learned that the most important thing for us to do in missionary work is to do it in the Lord's way. This is His work after all, and not ours, so when we do it His way, He can guide us and help us to be more successful. This past week we had a lot of investigators come to church as well. Actually the most that has ever come since I have been here in Carissa! Oh and while on the topic of church in Carissa, we got a new branch president yesterday! The old branch president, President Baldarama, was called to be the district president, and the new one is an awesome brother, President Geraga. We actually have worked with him a ton in the past, we always go to him when we really need somebody to work. He is great and will be a wonderful branch president. We also were able to continue to teach Meraluna. She is so great. She told us how much she just wants to repent and be baptized and really come unto Christ. She said she has made mistakes in life, just like everyone else, but she really wants to be clean now. I couldn't be happier for her. We have also continued teaching Eric, Barbie, and their family. They are absolutely amazing. they are so ready to get baptized, they just need to be married first and we have plans for that so they are so close! They have also expressed how much they want to get baptized and come unto Christ and it just makes me so happy because I have seen so many blessings in my life since I was baptized until now and I can't wait for them to receive so many blessings as well. This week is Easter Sunday and here in the Philippines, it is a very big deal. Elder Acosta and I are very excited for this week since a lot of people are going to be more focused on Jesus Christ and what He did for all of us, and we get to teach it and add a little more truth to it as well. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that through His infinite Atonement, we can all be cleansed from our sins. We just need to have faith in Him, repent, keep the commandments, and endure to the end. I know Jesus Christ lives and that He is our Savior and Redeemer. I know He loves us and it is my prayer that all of us may do all we can to come closer unto Him. I love you all so much! Have fun!
Elder Stephens
This week was great! We were able to have a lot of work which is always grand. I was also able to learn a lot from our many meeting. I took a lot from all of them to really be able to become a better missionary. One meeting was a specialized training meeting and I really learned that the most important thing for us to do in missionary work is to do it in the Lord's way. This is His work after all, and not ours, so when we do it His way, He can guide us and help us to be more successful. This past week we had a lot of investigators come to church as well. Actually the most that has ever come since I have been here in Carissa! Oh and while on the topic of church in Carissa, we got a new branch president yesterday! The old branch president, President Baldarama, was called to be the district president, and the new one is an awesome brother, President Geraga. We actually have worked with him a ton in the past, we always go to him when we really need somebody to work. He is great and will be a wonderful branch president. We also were able to continue to teach Meraluna. She is so great. She told us how much she just wants to repent and be baptized and really come unto Christ. She said she has made mistakes in life, just like everyone else, but she really wants to be clean now. I couldn't be happier for her. We have also continued teaching Eric, Barbie, and their family. They are absolutely amazing. they are so ready to get baptized, they just need to be married first and we have plans for that so they are so close! They have also expressed how much they want to get baptized and come unto Christ and it just makes me so happy because I have seen so many blessings in my life since I was baptized until now and I can't wait for them to receive so many blessings as well. This week is Easter Sunday and here in the Philippines, it is a very big deal. Elder Acosta and I are very excited for this week since a lot of people are going to be more focused on Jesus Christ and what He did for all of us, and we get to teach it and add a little more truth to it as well. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that through His infinite Atonement, we can all be cleansed from our sins. We just need to have faith in Him, repent, keep the commandments, and endure to the end. I know Jesus Christ lives and that He is our Savior and Redeemer. I know He loves us and it is my prayer that all of us may do all we can to come closer unto Him. I love you all so much! Have fun!
Elder Stephens
March 18, 2013
Hey there everyone!
Just a little quote President Stucki sent to us that I loved: "Obedience is the price, faith is the power, love is the motive, the Spirit is the key, for Christ is the reason." -Cyril Figuerres. Awesome, right? This past week was absolutely amazing. Elder Acosta and I have really been focusing on finding for these past few weeks and we will still really focus on it from now on. We have been using the Book of Mormon more in our finding and really seeing the blessings come because of it. It seems like we are really able to find those that are ready. Or as it is put in the scriptures, "the elect." We have also been teaching a few investigators for quite some time now, and they have really come unto Christ in a remarkable way. The best part of it is their desire to take upon themselves His name through baptism and follow his example. we are still helping the to really have a strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and in the Book of Mormon as well. It is so amazing to see how the Book of Mormon is able to change people's lives and get them closer to Christ by reading it, pondering it, and praying about it. I love the Book of Mormon so much. We had a district meeting this past week and it really focused on getting the Book of Mormon into every one's hands so they can come unto Christ. We studied the talk "Flooding the Earth with the Book or Mormon" By President Ezra Taft Benson. It was an amazing talk and it really gave me the desire to give everyone the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon and receive the blessings by reading it and coming to know the truth of it. I really love the Book of Mormon. The talk really made me realize that the Book of Mormon can change lives, but they have to read it first for that to happen. The talk was given in 1988 and we ares till focusing on the same thing now in 2013. It just shows how important it is. I know the Book of Mormon is true with all my heart and I know if someone wants to come to know if it is true for themselves, they just have to read, ponder, and pray about it with real intent and with faith in Jesus Christ. Missionary work is the best! Have a great week everyone, keep in touch! I love you all.
Elder Stephens
Just a little quote President Stucki sent to us that I loved: "Obedience is the price, faith is the power, love is the motive, the Spirit is the key, for Christ is the reason." -Cyril Figuerres. Awesome, right? This past week was absolutely amazing. Elder Acosta and I have really been focusing on finding for these past few weeks and we will still really focus on it from now on. We have been using the Book of Mormon more in our finding and really seeing the blessings come because of it. It seems like we are really able to find those that are ready. Or as it is put in the scriptures, "the elect." We have also been teaching a few investigators for quite some time now, and they have really come unto Christ in a remarkable way. The best part of it is their desire to take upon themselves His name through baptism and follow his example. we are still helping the to really have a strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and in the Book of Mormon as well. It is so amazing to see how the Book of Mormon is able to change people's lives and get them closer to Christ by reading it, pondering it, and praying about it. I love the Book of Mormon so much. We had a district meeting this past week and it really focused on getting the Book of Mormon into every one's hands so they can come unto Christ. We studied the talk "Flooding the Earth with the Book or Mormon" By President Ezra Taft Benson. It was an amazing talk and it really gave me the desire to give everyone the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon and receive the blessings by reading it and coming to know the truth of it. I really love the Book of Mormon. The talk really made me realize that the Book of Mormon can change lives, but they have to read it first for that to happen. The talk was given in 1988 and we ares till focusing on the same thing now in 2013. It just shows how important it is. I know the Book of Mormon is true with all my heart and I know if someone wants to come to know if it is true for themselves, they just have to read, ponder, and pray about it with real intent and with faith in Jesus Christ. Missionary work is the best! Have a great week everyone, keep in touch! I love you all.
Elder Stephens
Sunday, March 10, 2013
March 11, 2013
Hey there everybody!
Can I just start off by saying how great missionary work is? Thanks. Missionary work is great! This past week has been an awesome week, one for the record books. We were really blessed with a ton of lessons and even lessons with new people to teach! That is something that I have struggled with so far here on the mission, getting new investigators. However this week we got a few new ones which is very exciting to really help the work here in Carissa move forward. One family that we have been teaching, Eric and Barbie, have a daughter who lived in Quezon City for school, and they had her come back to Carissa to live with them and study there so we have started teaching her as well. It is great because the family is just so awesome. It is a great blessing to be able to teach this family and it is even better that they are so wiling to come unto Christ. Every single lesson with them just goes so well and they really have a special family and I always feel the Spirit so strong when we teach them. We have also been teaching an older lady named Meraluna! We've been teaching her for a while now and she is really coming along! Every time we ask about baptism she always gets so excited and she always says she really needs to prepare herself first and she is very willing to do so. That just makes me really happy because she really gets the importance of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Hold Ghost, and enduring to the end. 4 plus 1, if you know what I mean. The gospel is just such a wonderful thing and I have seen so many blessings in my life because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.The best part of it is that all of them are reading the Book of Mormon which is why I think they are progressing so well. The Book of Mormon is just so true and when we read it, we can come to know about Christ and His love for us and especially our purpose here in this life. I love the Book of Mormon so much and it has been such a great blessing to be able to read it, especially here on the mission where I really get to study and even help others to read it as well. I love this work so much. Like I said in the beginning of the email, "Missionary work is great!" I hope you all have an amazing week and I love you all!
Elder Stephens
Can I just start off by saying how great missionary work is? Thanks. Missionary work is great! This past week has been an awesome week, one for the record books. We were really blessed with a ton of lessons and even lessons with new people to teach! That is something that I have struggled with so far here on the mission, getting new investigators. However this week we got a few new ones which is very exciting to really help the work here in Carissa move forward. One family that we have been teaching, Eric and Barbie, have a daughter who lived in Quezon City for school, and they had her come back to Carissa to live with them and study there so we have started teaching her as well. It is great because the family is just so awesome. It is a great blessing to be able to teach this family and it is even better that they are so wiling to come unto Christ. Every single lesson with them just goes so well and they really have a special family and I always feel the Spirit so strong when we teach them. We have also been teaching an older lady named Meraluna! We've been teaching her for a while now and she is really coming along! Every time we ask about baptism she always gets so excited and she always says she really needs to prepare herself first and she is very willing to do so. That just makes me really happy because she really gets the importance of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Hold Ghost, and enduring to the end. 4 plus 1, if you know what I mean. The gospel is just such a wonderful thing and I have seen so many blessings in my life because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.The best part of it is that all of them are reading the Book of Mormon which is why I think they are progressing so well. The Book of Mormon is just so true and when we read it, we can come to know about Christ and His love for us and especially our purpose here in this life. I love the Book of Mormon so much and it has been such a great blessing to be able to read it, especially here on the mission where I really get to study and even help others to read it as well. I love this work so much. Like I said in the beginning of the email, "Missionary work is great!" I hope you all have an amazing week and I love you all!
Elder Stephens
Sunday, March 3, 2013
March 4, 2013
Hello!
How is everyone doing? I would just like to let you know the weather in the Philippines is HOT. That's it. HOT. No actually it feels really good since we're kind of by the ocean and there is a nice breeze. It is getting in the summer months though so it is getting hotter and hotter. It's alright though! So actually transfers were last week. Last transfer was only 5 weeks due to the changes in th MTC for dates and stuff because of the number of missionaries coming out. Very exciting by the way. So the news about the transfers is, Elder Pugmire transferred to Ternate which is actually still in the Naic zone. Very exciting as well. And I am still here in Carissa with a new companion! His name is Elder Acosta, a Filipino who is really good at Tagalog which helps me a lot to learn more. We are actually the same batch so we have been in the field the exact same amount of time. I get to be the senior companion which is very exciting. the best part is I get to really serve and learn a lot form Elder Acosta for these next few weeks. i am very excited. We were also really blessed to have some awesome work this past week. We had an awesome lesson with a few investigators, one of them is Leo, who we thought was going to move but ended up staying here with his mother. We taught about baptism and confirmation and just the importance of being baptized. It went very well and we extended the baptismal invitation and they accepted the invitation right away. It was awesome and I can feel that they are really excited to learn more and especially about being baptized! It was so great to feel the Spirit work through us as we taught and seeing them feel the Spirit as well. I loved it! We also had a Family Home Evening with the Gamazan family again and Sister Gamazan had the lesson. It was a sweet lesson because she had a board of all types of pictures and the lesson was to pick one and explain how important that picture and the principle behind it is to you. It was great because Brother Gamazan chose the Atonement picture of Christ and it was nice seeing him explain how the Atonement has been a blessing in his life. I felt the Spirit so string as he bore testimony of the Atonement and as everyone bore their testimonies as well. It was a great idea and a great lesson as well. We were also really blessed to have a lot of investigators come to church this week! That has been a real struggle for us in this area, so we were really grateful when a lot of investigators came and felt the Spirit and were able to learn from other members of the church as well. I was so happy. Later that day we were able to work with some of the members. They have started a new activity where every first Sunday all the Priesthood meet in one place to go out and do their home teaching. It was awesome because we were able to be a part of it. It was great because we were also able to go to some of the investigators and we were also able to meet some new less active members though the activity. I am excited to continue that next month! It even has a great name, "The Priesthood Caravan." Classic. This week was great! Oh and there is some pretty great news about the Philippines Manila Mission! For those of you who do not know, it is getting split into the Manila and the Cavite missions! There are just so many missionaries coming into the mission that it had to get split! there are also 3 other new missions just int he Philippines. It is crazy because they have to get all new apartments and furniture and stuff for all the new areas being formed as well! It is excited how much this work is going forth! It's eve more exciting to be a part of it. Well that's about it from me! I will write again next week!
Elder Stephens
How is everyone doing? I would just like to let you know the weather in the Philippines is HOT. That's it. HOT. No actually it feels really good since we're kind of by the ocean and there is a nice breeze. It is getting in the summer months though so it is getting hotter and hotter. It's alright though! So actually transfers were last week. Last transfer was only 5 weeks due to the changes in th MTC for dates and stuff because of the number of missionaries coming out. Very exciting by the way. So the news about the transfers is, Elder Pugmire transferred to Ternate which is actually still in the Naic zone. Very exciting as well. And I am still here in Carissa with a new companion! His name is Elder Acosta, a Filipino who is really good at Tagalog which helps me a lot to learn more. We are actually the same batch so we have been in the field the exact same amount of time. I get to be the senior companion which is very exciting. the best part is I get to really serve and learn a lot form Elder Acosta for these next few weeks. i am very excited. We were also really blessed to have some awesome work this past week. We had an awesome lesson with a few investigators, one of them is Leo, who we thought was going to move but ended up staying here with his mother. We taught about baptism and confirmation and just the importance of being baptized. It went very well and we extended the baptismal invitation and they accepted the invitation right away. It was awesome and I can feel that they are really excited to learn more and especially about being baptized! It was so great to feel the Spirit work through us as we taught and seeing them feel the Spirit as well. I loved it! We also had a Family Home Evening with the Gamazan family again and Sister Gamazan had the lesson. It was a sweet lesson because she had a board of all types of pictures and the lesson was to pick one and explain how important that picture and the principle behind it is to you. It was great because Brother Gamazan chose the Atonement picture of Christ and it was nice seeing him explain how the Atonement has been a blessing in his life. I felt the Spirit so string as he bore testimony of the Atonement and as everyone bore their testimonies as well. It was a great idea and a great lesson as well. We were also really blessed to have a lot of investigators come to church this week! That has been a real struggle for us in this area, so we were really grateful when a lot of investigators came and felt the Spirit and were able to learn from other members of the church as well. I was so happy. Later that day we were able to work with some of the members. They have started a new activity where every first Sunday all the Priesthood meet in one place to go out and do their home teaching. It was awesome because we were able to be a part of it. It was great because we were also able to go to some of the investigators and we were also able to meet some new less active members though the activity. I am excited to continue that next month! It even has a great name, "The Priesthood Caravan." Classic. This week was great! Oh and there is some pretty great news about the Philippines Manila Mission! For those of you who do not know, it is getting split into the Manila and the Cavite missions! There are just so many missionaries coming into the mission that it had to get split! there are also 3 other new missions just int he Philippines. It is crazy because they have to get all new apartments and furniture and stuff for all the new areas being formed as well! It is excited how much this work is going forth! It's eve more exciting to be a part of it. Well that's about it from me! I will write again next week!
Elder Stephens
February 25, 2013
Hey there everyone! Another pretty great week here in the Philippines! This past week Elder Pugmire didn't feel too good, I guess there's a bug going around the mission and if one missionary gets something it just spreads like wildfire during the wildfire season. That's really fast by the way. So a few days we weren't able to work a whole ton because he would just get real exhausted real quick. But I was able to sort of take care of him and that was a sweet little experience. i was also able to do a lot around the house and sort of help out the other elders as well. It was sweet because I just sort of related it to missionary work! I thought that being around the house is kind of like appointments that fall through. Either you can just keep waiting around or you can do something productive. And when we do those productive things, it not only helps us but it also blesses the lives of others. So that really helped me out learning that. We were also able to go to the Temple this past week. Every time I go to the Temple it is just so grand. I write this just about every time but I love the Temple so much! I especially love the Spirit felt there and the blessing we have to able to go to the Temple in this mission. Oh and with the time we did get to work, we actually had some pretty awesome experiences. One of them was an awesome lesson with Mark, the new investigator that is part of the less active family. It was a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation and really focusing on agency. Then when we got home we got a text from Mark and he told us to add him on Facebook! I guess he really likes the lessons! He will just have to wait a while for that friend request, but it's alright. We also were able to teach a less active member about faith, and how we can strengthen our faith. It was a sweet lesson. The best part was when was giving a lot of his own additions to the lessons which really doesn't happen a whole lot with him. It was awesome and we were really able to teach how important faith in Jesus Christ is. I know that if we strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ, we can do anything. We can do miracles when we have faith in Christ. Well that's about it from this missionary. Till next week!
Elder Stephens
Elder Stephens
Friday, March 1, 2013
February 18, 2013
Helloo from the Philippines!
Wow this week was a great week. We had so many great learning experiences this past week. So first of all, we had a zone conference this week. It was a great zone conference. President Stucki really just talked about how we need to start "building the ship" as Nephi did in 1 Nephi 17. Basically there are four parts to building his ship that all of us need to do. That is (1) work diligently (2) have faith in Christ (3) pray mightily and (4) be exactly obedient. If we do these four things, the work here in the Philippines and all over the world will hasten in the Lord's way. It was an awesome message and it just made me want to be that much better to really help all the Filipino people come unto Christ. He also explained the importance of working with the members and using the Book of Mormon more effectively. President Stucki is great. We also had District Conference this week. The Naic District has some great stuff coming in the future. Our District President was released so a new one was called. The new District President for the Naic District was actually our Branch President in Carissa! He is President Baldarama and he is the best Branch President and will be the best District President ever. I'm so excited for Naic. We also had a lot of great talks, and a lot of them talked about tithing and the blessings that come from paying tithing. They were all wonderful talks and I know so many people loved it. We had some pretty great lessons ttis week. One of the lessons we had was with an investigator we have, named Leo, and we have been teaching him for a while now. He is actually moving to Makati or might have already moved, I don't know for sure. But we had our last lesson with him and he just thanked us for all we have helped him with and he says even when he goes o Makati he is going to continue with the lessons and eventually be baptized. I loved hearing that form him and I am so thankful for the wonderful blessing we had to teach him. We also had a great lesson with less-active/part member family. They are the Briones family and we just started teaching the son who is actually not a member. Anyway, we had a wonderful lesson on the Book of Mormon and how we can know the truth about everything that we as missionaries teach through knowing that the Book of Mormon is true. It was a great lesson and the Spirit was so strong. At the end of the lesson I invited the son, Mark, to be baptized on a specific date. He said yes and he is really excited to prepare himself for baptism, and that made me so happy. Then after the father, who is less-active and didn't really like us teaching him, bore his own testimony of the church and explained how he was just so happy that his son will get baptized and his whole family will be members of the church. It was extra great because he said this gave him the desire to return and become a strong member in the church. I loved hearing that and it just made me so happy. I know this gospel can bless families and I know that it is true. Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us and even when we start to get lost, He does everything He can to help us back and get us on the strait and narrow path that leads to eternal happiness. I love missionary work so much. Well that's about it from me. I love all you guys!
Elder Stephens
Wow this week was a great week. We had so many great learning experiences this past week. So first of all, we had a zone conference this week. It was a great zone conference. President Stucki really just talked about how we need to start "building the ship" as Nephi did in 1 Nephi 17. Basically there are four parts to building his ship that all of us need to do. That is (1) work diligently (2) have faith in Christ (3) pray mightily and (4) be exactly obedient. If we do these four things, the work here in the Philippines and all over the world will hasten in the Lord's way. It was an awesome message and it just made me want to be that much better to really help all the Filipino people come unto Christ. He also explained the importance of working with the members and using the Book of Mormon more effectively. President Stucki is great. We also had District Conference this week. The Naic District has some great stuff coming in the future. Our District President was released so a new one was called. The new District President for the Naic District was actually our Branch President in Carissa! He is President Baldarama and he is the best Branch President and will be the best District President ever. I'm so excited for Naic. We also had a lot of great talks, and a lot of them talked about tithing and the blessings that come from paying tithing. They were all wonderful talks and I know so many people loved it. We had some pretty great lessons ttis week. One of the lessons we had was with an investigator we have, named Leo, and we have been teaching him for a while now. He is actually moving to Makati or might have already moved, I don't know for sure. But we had our last lesson with him and he just thanked us for all we have helped him with and he says even when he goes o Makati he is going to continue with the lessons and eventually be baptized. I loved hearing that form him and I am so thankful for the wonderful blessing we had to teach him. We also had a great lesson with less-active/part member family. They are the Briones family and we just started teaching the son who is actually not a member. Anyway, we had a wonderful lesson on the Book of Mormon and how we can know the truth about everything that we as missionaries teach through knowing that the Book of Mormon is true. It was a great lesson and the Spirit was so strong. At the end of the lesson I invited the son, Mark, to be baptized on a specific date. He said yes and he is really excited to prepare himself for baptism, and that made me so happy. Then after the father, who is less-active and didn't really like us teaching him, bore his own testimony of the church and explained how he was just so happy that his son will get baptized and his whole family will be members of the church. It was extra great because he said this gave him the desire to return and become a strong member in the church. I loved hearing that and it just made me so happy. I know this gospel can bless families and I know that it is true. Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us and even when we start to get lost, He does everything He can to help us back and get us on the strait and narrow path that leads to eternal happiness. I love missionary work so much. Well that's about it from me. I love all you guys!
Elder Stephens
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
February 11, 2013
Hey there everyone!
I cannot believe it is already February. Well it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun. I think that's how it goes at least. I, by the way, am having tons of fun here on the mission. We had a great week this past week and I just felt like I learned a whole ton. This month, President Stucki is trying to help us focus on strengthening our faith in out Savior, Jesus Christ. So this week we had a zone meeting that was all focused on exactly that. Strengthening our faith in Christ. I was also able to read a lot from Preach my Gospel, and a lot of conference talks as well, all on faith and how to strengthen it. It was wonderful because I just learned so much more about my Savior, and what He has done for not only me but all of Heavenly Father's children. The best one that helped me out was reading a talk given last General Conference about trials of our faith. It was really assuring to know that Christ is always there and sometimes He tests us to see if we really, truly have faith in Him. And when we show Him that we do and that we trust Him, He blesses us for it. It just helped me out a lot because the mission is tough sometimes and knowing that I am doing what Christ wants me to do at this time just helps me to press forward, with full trust that He will help me out. Another talk was awesome giving by Elder Bednar. I forget the title and the date, but it was about asking for Heavenly Father's help, and then acting after. 'Faith always leads to action' was the overall theme. We cannot just have faith in Christ without acting after and showing that faith to Him and to others. So it just taught me that when we ask for help, we have to ask in faith, and that means not only asking for help, but asking for what we need to do for that help. The example Elder Bednar gave was when Joseph Smith asked Heavenly Father about which church was true. Elder Bednar said Joseph Smith didn't ask which church was the right one, but he asked which church was the one that he should join. He asked Heavenly Father what he needed "to do." This ensured that his faith was going to lead to action. I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, that He is there whenever we have needs. If we just humble ourselves and ask Him, He will tell us what we need to do. I love this gospel and all the things I learned from it. This week we have a zone conference and I'm way excited to learn even more. I know this church is true with all my heart. I love you all. Until next week.
Elder Stephens
I cannot believe it is already February. Well it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun. I think that's how it goes at least. I, by the way, am having tons of fun here on the mission. We had a great week this past week and I just felt like I learned a whole ton. This month, President Stucki is trying to help us focus on strengthening our faith in out Savior, Jesus Christ. So this week we had a zone meeting that was all focused on exactly that. Strengthening our faith in Christ. I was also able to read a lot from Preach my Gospel, and a lot of conference talks as well, all on faith and how to strengthen it. It was wonderful because I just learned so much more about my Savior, and what He has done for not only me but all of Heavenly Father's children. The best one that helped me out was reading a talk given last General Conference about trials of our faith. It was really assuring to know that Christ is always there and sometimes He tests us to see if we really, truly have faith in Him. And when we show Him that we do and that we trust Him, He blesses us for it. It just helped me out a lot because the mission is tough sometimes and knowing that I am doing what Christ wants me to do at this time just helps me to press forward, with full trust that He will help me out. Another talk was awesome giving by Elder Bednar. I forget the title and the date, but it was about asking for Heavenly Father's help, and then acting after. 'Faith always leads to action' was the overall theme. We cannot just have faith in Christ without acting after and showing that faith to Him and to others. So it just taught me that when we ask for help, we have to ask in faith, and that means not only asking for help, but asking for what we need to do for that help. The example Elder Bednar gave was when Joseph Smith asked Heavenly Father about which church was true. Elder Bednar said Joseph Smith didn't ask which church was the right one, but he asked which church was the one that he should join. He asked Heavenly Father what he needed "to do." This ensured that his faith was going to lead to action. I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers, that He is there whenever we have needs. If we just humble ourselves and ask Him, He will tell us what we need to do. I love this gospel and all the things I learned from it. This week we have a zone conference and I'm way excited to learn even more. I know this church is true with all my heart. I love you all. Until next week.
Elder Stephens
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Hey Everyone
Magandag hapon sa ating lahat! How is everyone? The Philippines is the same ol' same ol' Philippines. Still the absolute greatest place to ever serve a mission. this past week was such a wonderful week. We were able to have 3=20 lessons with just less active and recent convert members. Elder Pugmire and I didn't really realize that we had so many lessons with them until last night when we did our reporting. Looking back on the week though, it was a really great one with teaching less active members, because we got to teach so many of them. Our focus with the less active members have been to invite and help them to read the Book of Mormon. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and can bless the lives of all those who read and ponder the principles taught in the Book of Mormon. Anyway, one of the families that we were able to teach and read the Book of Mormon with were able to even come to church this last week! That was exciting and it felt great to see them there. and the return missionary, Tommy, has come to church for the third week in a row! We were talking with him about working with us this week and he was really excited. I think working with him has helped a lot because he says he feels the Spirit when he works with us and it reminds him of his mission that he loved. We also got to work with the YSA's and the youth this week in another great activity. We did the "One Day Missionary" activity again and this time it involved the youth as well. It was actually very successful! elder Pugmire and I taught a little lesson on commitments and how they play a very big role in missionary work. Out purpose as missionaries is first, to invite them to help people come unto Christ. We do that through the commitments that we give them. It was awesome seeing the YSA's and the youth to really get a deep desire to serve and to see them start preparing already by doing this activities. We also met two new less active members this week and taught them for the first time. One, Brother Camacho, is really awesome. He actually loves the scriptures and tries to read a much as he can, he just can't come to Church because of his job. It is tough but I know if he has faith it will all work out in the end. another one, Brother Cruzet, was really great as well. He says he wants to continue to meet and we are really excited to continue and help him to come back to Christ. I know he can. One think I have really come to realize is that faith plays such a huge role in this work. We really have to have a lot of faith in Christ if we are to be successful in this work. Without faith, none of this work is worth it. With that faith comes action. Or in other words, we really need to just ask our Heavenly Father to help us. We can't o it on our own, we need our Heavenly Father's help in everything that we do. Especially in this, His work. I love this work so much and the opportunity and blessing I have to serve. It's been a crazy 5 months and I have learned so much. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love you all so much. Keep writing!
Elder Stephens
January 28, 2013
To whom this may concern,
That being anyone who wants to read this email. This week was absolutely amazing! For some reason Heavenly Father has blessed me with the best area in all of the world. Transfers were this passed week and so I'm....still in Carissa and my companion is...still Elder Pugmire! Pretty coo,, right? I guess it doesn't happen a lot that the trainer is with the trainee after the 12 weeks but we get to stay together and continue to help Carissa out! So we are very excited. This last week we were really blessed to be able to work with a lot of members . Usually we work with the young single adults because one of the area goals here in the Philippines is to save the rising generation. So we were able to work with them, but we were also able to work with some of the leaders in the branch as well! We worked with Brother Geraga, our young men's president as well as the Elder's quorum president, Brother Contado. It was awesome. One of our big goals for this week was to get more people to sacrament meeting as well. So we involved some of the members to help out and it worked out! Brother Geraga was able to go to a member who hasn't been to church in years and help him to come to church. We have been teaching him for a while but he hasn't come, however when Brother Geraga stopped by in the morning to take him, he was very willing to go. So that was awesome. The returned missionary that we have been working with, Tommy, was also able to come to church for the second week in a row! That was very sweet because he really is trying hard to come back now, I can definitely see it in him. Another investigator we have been teaching for a long time now was able to come to church as well! He and his mom came to church yesterday. He came one week a long time ago and his mom came for the first time. They enjoyed church a lot and I know they really felt the Spirit while they were there. Last night we taught another investigator named Jovi. His wife Cherry is less active but she wants to come back and he wants to learn more. Last night when we taught, he explained to us how he knows that this is the true church. Also, how he is going to do everything he can to prepare himself for baptism! That was so wonderful to hear, especially because it will definitely help out Cherry as well. So we are going to help him out to really get him ready for baptism and he said once he changes his ways, he is never going back and he is going to stay strong in the church forever. I love him and his wife so much and I can't wait to teach them again this week. It sounds like this week was great for all of you! I know this gospel is true, I know it can change lives, and I know that Christ lives. I love you all!
Elder Stephens
That being anyone who wants to read this email. This week was absolutely amazing! For some reason Heavenly Father has blessed me with the best area in all of the world. Transfers were this passed week and so I'm....still in Carissa and my companion is...still Elder Pugmire! Pretty coo,, right? I guess it doesn't happen a lot that the trainer is with the trainee after the 12 weeks but we get to stay together and continue to help Carissa out! So we are very excited. This last week we were really blessed to be able to work with a lot of members . Usually we work with the young single adults because one of the area goals here in the Philippines is to save the rising generation. So we were able to work with them, but we were also able to work with some of the leaders in the branch as well! We worked with Brother Geraga, our young men's president as well as the Elder's quorum president, Brother Contado. It was awesome. One of our big goals for this week was to get more people to sacrament meeting as well. So we involved some of the members to help out and it worked out! Brother Geraga was able to go to a member who hasn't been to church in years and help him to come to church. We have been teaching him for a while but he hasn't come, however when Brother Geraga stopped by in the morning to take him, he was very willing to go. So that was awesome. The returned missionary that we have been working with, Tommy, was also able to come to church for the second week in a row! That was very sweet because he really is trying hard to come back now, I can definitely see it in him. Another investigator we have been teaching for a long time now was able to come to church as well! He and his mom came to church yesterday. He came one week a long time ago and his mom came for the first time. They enjoyed church a lot and I know they really felt the Spirit while they were there. Last night we taught another investigator named Jovi. His wife Cherry is less active but she wants to come back and he wants to learn more. Last night when we taught, he explained to us how he knows that this is the true church. Also, how he is going to do everything he can to prepare himself for baptism! That was so wonderful to hear, especially because it will definitely help out Cherry as well. So we are going to help him out to really get him ready for baptism and he said once he changes his ways, he is never going back and he is going to stay strong in the church forever. I love him and his wife so much and I can't wait to teach them again this week. It sounds like this week was great for all of you! I know this gospel is true, I know it can change lives, and I know that Christ lives. I love you all!
Elder Stephens
Sunday, January 20, 2013
January 21,2013
Hey there everybody!
Wow, this was definitely a week to remember. So many great things happened this week. So this week we had interviews with President Stucki. It was the first interview I had with him since the day I got here in the Philippines. It seems so far away and so close all at the same time. Weird. Anyways, the interview went great. He wanted us to give him three goals for the upcoming year as well as share our testimony of the Atonement with him. I thought and prayed a lot about my goals and this is what I came up with. 1)I want to be humble and loving in everything that I do. I want to be able to just allow the Spirit to teach and ultimately allow Heavenly Father's will and not mine be done. 2) I want to gain a deeper understanding of the gospel through scripture reading, Preach My Gospel, and any other kind of studying that could help. 3) I want to be fluent in Tagalog. So I know all of these goals are really goals to work on for the rest of my life but for right now in 2013 I really want to focus on them. This past week we were also able to help out a ton more less active members! One of them is Tatay Borja. His family is really active but he just works and works because he wants to provide for his family. He used to be super active and he actually was instrumental in really establishing the church here in Carissa years ago. So we went to them last week and were actually able to have a family home evening! It was awesome because we asked him to conduct but he said no because he was shy. We just kept trying though and he ended up conducting and even giving some great input the whole time. So we're definitely going to keep trying to help them out as much as we can. We also were able to help a return missionary who has been struggling to come to church. He loved his mission but talked about when he came home there was so many problems that he went less active. However e have been helping him a lot and this week he went to the church for the first time in a while. I loved it! So many people came up to him and said hi and stuff and I could tell he liked it and felt good being there again. Oh and one day we were just standing outside a members house seeing if they were home, because here you don't really knock on the doors, you just say "Tao po" which doesn't directly translate but basically means "anyone there." They weren't home though but another less active member walked up to us and started talking. She is the mother of the Badayos family and she actually was talking about how her son was sick. Lots of members here don't really know about the Priesthood too well and about blessings so we let her know about it and she asked if we could give her son a blessing. Well we were happy to do so and after she asked if we could read the Book of Mormon with her! It was so crazy because all we thought was going to happen was the blessing. It was great that she came up with the idea to read though.So we had a great lesson afterwards and it was awesome. I have really come to know that it is so important that we help as many people here as we can to come unto Christ. It really can be a number of ways but we have to just follow the Spirit and recognize what exactly they need at that time for help. I am so grateful for the Spirit and I know He is the true teacher. Without the Spirit, we could not do this work how Heavenly Father wants us to do it. We can't expect to be servants of the Lord without His help. I love his gospel so much and I have learned so much from it. And like my 2013 goal, I want to just keep learning as much as I can. I love you all so much and thank you all for everything!
Elder Stephens
PS. Connor Schroeder to the Manila Philippines? I don't know if you realize but that's the same mission as me! Crazy!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
January 14, 2013
Hey all!!
Welllll, I have no idea where to start for this week. It has been really really great. I have learned soo so much this week. So first off we had a bunch of lessons with less active members this week. It's so great to be able to work with less active members and helping them to come back to church and to start reading the scriptures again. Elder Pugmire and I have really focused on helping them to just help them read the Book oh Mormon and gain that testimony that they once had back. It's hard to see so many less active members here in the Philippines but it is such a blessing to be able to be one of the missionaries that is helping them to come back. So Elder Pugmire and I are going to continue to help them read the Book of Mormon and hopefully they will begin to start reading it each and every day. I know that once they do that, they will come back . The Book of Mormon is true, and I know it can help every single person to come unto Christ and come to know that He is our Savior and Redeemer. This past week we also had our Area Broadcast where the area presidency talked and told us the new goals for 2013. The goals for 2013 are amazing and I know they can really help the Philippines to grow so much. One of the main goals is to help all members, active and less active, to "feast upon the words of Christ." That is having their own set of scriptures as well as reading them every day. Another big goal is to get more people going to the Temple and more people going to the Temple and more young single adults sealed in the Temple. the Temple is so amazing and I know if more people are able to go and get sealed in the Temple, they will be so much happier and the Lord will really bless them for it. Last year a lot of the goals were achieved but the area presidency has decided to keep the same goals with just a few additions to really help people come unto Christ. I'm so grateful that I'm going to be here all of 2013 to see just how that goes. This week I have also learned a ton about just trying to be better. A few things I have really tried to work on this week is being humble and loving, two attributes of Christ. I know that if I can humble myself and allow the Spirit to be the ultimate teacher, it will be so much better for the people w teach. Also, if I show y love to all those I teach, then they can fell the sincerity of the message that we share. I'm so grateful for this opportunity, I just can't thank my Father in Heaven enough! I love you all and am so grateful for all of your prayers and love. Write ya next week!
Elder Stephens
Sunday, January 6, 2013
January 7, 2012
Hey there everybody!
Wow this week was such a great week! First off we had New Year's Eve! It was so much fun. Here we have a curfew on New Year's Eve at 6 because it's dangerous with all the fireworks outside that people use. They're everywhere and homemade a lot of the times. yea... So we spent New Year's Eve at the Gwilliams place! It was so much fun. We ate dinner and played a fun little game called Canadian Salad. It was a successful New Year's Eve. We didn't stay up til 12 though, it's just not worth it haha. I'm tired enough as it is. We were also able to go to the Temple again this week. I don't know if I have ever said this, but the Temple is just so amazing! I love going there, and it is so awesome that we are able to go to the Temple as much as we do. It's great! We had exchanges this week as well for one of the days. I got to work with Elder Velasco. He is actually in the same batch as me. So it was two young missionaries working together in Carissa. He is Filipino though so his Tagalog is pretty good. We actually were able to go to a lot of people and we taught some great lessons. Elder Velasco is great. It's cool to know that we are going to be here for just about the same amount of time. He only spent 3 weeks in the MTC so I'll be leaving earlier than him. But it's still great! One of our main focuses as a companionship this week is getting to work with members a lot more and getting more referrals. So this week we really tried to focus on the members. They are the key to really help the Philippines grow. The companionships in our home were actually watching a video and in it President Monson talks about asking for referrals and some things you can ask to help people know who can really benefit form the message that we want to share. So we visited some members and shared with them and followed the council from President Monson. It went so great and we got a ton of referrals! It was so exciting! I can't wait to see the work grow from the help of the members! This work really is going forth and so many exciting things are still to come. Miracles happen each and every day all over of the world. I know this work and this gospel can help anyone and everyone. I love this gospel so much and I love the Book of Mormon so much. I have really been able to study it. Not just read, but study. I love missionary work! Well that's about it! I love you all!
Elder Stephens
Wow this week was such a great week! First off we had New Year's Eve! It was so much fun. Here we have a curfew on New Year's Eve at 6 because it's dangerous with all the fireworks outside that people use. They're everywhere and homemade a lot of the times. yea... So we spent New Year's Eve at the Gwilliams place! It was so much fun. We ate dinner and played a fun little game called Canadian Salad. It was a successful New Year's Eve. We didn't stay up til 12 though, it's just not worth it haha. I'm tired enough as it is. We were also able to go to the Temple again this week. I don't know if I have ever said this, but the Temple is just so amazing! I love going there, and it is so awesome that we are able to go to the Temple as much as we do. It's great! We had exchanges this week as well for one of the days. I got to work with Elder Velasco. He is actually in the same batch as me. So it was two young missionaries working together in Carissa. He is Filipino though so his Tagalog is pretty good. We actually were able to go to a lot of people and we taught some great lessons. Elder Velasco is great. It's cool to know that we are going to be here for just about the same amount of time. He only spent 3 weeks in the MTC so I'll be leaving earlier than him. But it's still great! One of our main focuses as a companionship this week is getting to work with members a lot more and getting more referrals. So this week we really tried to focus on the members. They are the key to really help the Philippines grow. The companionships in our home were actually watching a video and in it President Monson talks about asking for referrals and some things you can ask to help people know who can really benefit form the message that we want to share. So we visited some members and shared with them and followed the council from President Monson. It went so great and we got a ton of referrals! It was so exciting! I can't wait to see the work grow from the help of the members! This work really is going forth and so many exciting things are still to come. Miracles happen each and every day all over of the world. I know this work and this gospel can help anyone and everyone. I love this gospel so much and I love the Book of Mormon so much. I have really been able to study it. Not just read, but study. I love missionary work! Well that's about it! I love you all!
Elder Stephens
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