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
Monday, March 25, 2013
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
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