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