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
Monday, April 29, 2013
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
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