Hey everyone!!
Well, this is it! Had a great wee to end the mission! We had some great work which means a lot of success for these wonderful companions I am going to be leaving. We had an awesome FHE last Monday that our ward mission leader put on for us. He invited some people I had taught and they bore their testimony in the activity because they knew I was leaving soon. That was special to hear people that I have taught and help come unto Christ go and bear testimonies of their own. I will never forget that experience. We had some great lessons with people that will be getting baptized here soon. one of the people we are teaching is going to be baptized this 30th! He is such a funny kid and he is awesome to teach. We helped their family come back into the church and now we are blessed to help their son be baptized. Another person we are teaching bore his testimony to us as well and told us how excited he is to get baptized. He doesn't know exactly when, but he does know in the future, and he even told us that he is excited to be married to his girlfriend when they are able to...in the temple!! I was stoked when I heard that one. We had a great lesson with the less active man who had been less active for about 10 years now and we found out his concern and helped him to overcome it. After helping him overcome his concern, he told us he was now ready to read the scriptures again and come back unto Christ! Last week we had some sweet things happen as well! Elder Obray got his license which meant he stated driving and I stopped which was a good break. Elder and Sister Northrup, the housing couple of the mission, gave us a sweet message about conversion and having success here in the mission, they also shared about pioneers and how we can be pioneers to help the people here come unto Christ. Elder Theler took us out for bratwurst Saturday. And a recent convert of ours and his friends took us to dinner at a sweet restaurant. My last Sunday was great, I had to say goodbye to a lot of these wonderful members but it was awesome knowing that I was able to serve well in their ward. They had a ward activity today, and they invited us to join and it was so awesome. They focused it all on the family and strengthening the family. I love the Philippines so much. I love these people. Most of all I love the Lord and the opportunity I have had to serve Him and His children here in the Philippines Manila Mission. I know this church is true with all my heart. I know this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and through Joseph Smith, the gospel was restored. I know, without a doubt in my heart, that Jesus is the Christ. He is our Savior and our Redeemer. Through Him we can be cleansed from sin. God, our Heavenly Father, knows each and every one of us and loves us too. His plan is perfect and if we follow the gospel we can return to live in His presence. Thank you all for your wonderful support, and all of your love. I couldn't have done it without you!
Elder Stephens
Monday, August 25, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
August 18, 2014
Hello everyone!
We had a fun time in Narra and Puerto! It was crazy being in Narra again, especially being back with Elder Limocon. All of the members and people that we visited were asking what we were doing there because we were just together again. It was great though visiting and seeing them all. We also had a sweet service project over in the Puerto area. We went with the zone leaders of the Puerto zone and our second counselor in the mission presidency and his wife, the Hiatt's. It was a sweet service opportunity and I got a sweet blister from it. I took good care of it though so nothing to worry about:) I was grateful for the blessing to go on exchanges with the zone leaders over on Palawan. It was my last time going over there as a full-time missionary but I was grateful for it because I was still able to serve some people and help the zone leaders out in a small way. The best experience we had while on Palawan was on our p-day, Elder Limocon and I visited a couple that we taught together and baptized. During the visit, they told us that they were still coming to church each week, and haven't missed a week ever since the first time they came. They also said that they had a daughter who was baptized after we left, and she wants to become a missionary after she is done with college! I was so happy for them and to hear that from them as well. Missionary work is so great and I love being able to help these wonderful people accept this gospel! Last week we had a sweet lesson with Patrick! He told us that he now wants to be baptized for sure and he knows that it is true! I was stoked when he told us that and he is super awesome. So we talked to him and he said that he will for sure be baptized in the future, he just doesn't know how soon yet, but he did tell us that he knows that this church is true! I am so excited for him. Although, I won't be here for the baptism, I am stoked that he will be baptized. We are getting all ready for the transfers coming up this next week. We have about 28 new missionaries coming in for the next transfer which meant a ton of new areas and a ton of new trainers! It was special to be a part of that process of seeing who those trainers would be and where the areas would be opened. In the middle of the meeting, Sister Ostler came in and asked President a question. Then when she saw all the things going on, she mentioned that this could not all be done without inspiration from the Lord. She couldn't have been more right and we really felt the inspiration given to us from the Lord and it helps me know that the Lord is so involved in this work. We also found out who our new companion is and who will be here to take my place. His name is Elder Obray and he is an awesome missionary. So for now, we are in a three some companionship until I go. I love being a missionary, I love this gospel, I couldn't have served in a better place.
Elder Stephens
We had a fun time in Narra and Puerto! It was crazy being in Narra again, especially being back with Elder Limocon. All of the members and people that we visited were asking what we were doing there because we were just together again. It was great though visiting and seeing them all. We also had a sweet service project over in the Puerto area. We went with the zone leaders of the Puerto zone and our second counselor in the mission presidency and his wife, the Hiatt's. It was a sweet service opportunity and I got a sweet blister from it. I took good care of it though so nothing to worry about:) I was grateful for the blessing to go on exchanges with the zone leaders over on Palawan. It was my last time going over there as a full-time missionary but I was grateful for it because I was still able to serve some people and help the zone leaders out in a small way. The best experience we had while on Palawan was on our p-day, Elder Limocon and I visited a couple that we taught together and baptized. During the visit, they told us that they were still coming to church each week, and haven't missed a week ever since the first time they came. They also said that they had a daughter who was baptized after we left, and she wants to become a missionary after she is done with college! I was so happy for them and to hear that from them as well. Missionary work is so great and I love being able to help these wonderful people accept this gospel! Last week we had a sweet lesson with Patrick! He told us that he now wants to be baptized for sure and he knows that it is true! I was stoked when he told us that and he is super awesome. So we talked to him and he said that he will for sure be baptized in the future, he just doesn't know how soon yet, but he did tell us that he knows that this church is true! I am so excited for him. Although, I won't be here for the baptism, I am stoked that he will be baptized. We are getting all ready for the transfers coming up this next week. We have about 28 new missionaries coming in for the next transfer which meant a ton of new areas and a ton of new trainers! It was special to be a part of that process of seeing who those trainers would be and where the areas would be opened. In the middle of the meeting, Sister Ostler came in and asked President a question. Then when she saw all the things going on, she mentioned that this could not all be done without inspiration from the Lord. She couldn't have been more right and we really felt the inspiration given to us from the Lord and it helps me know that the Lord is so involved in this work. We also found out who our new companion is and who will be here to take my place. His name is Elder Obray and he is an awesome missionary. So for now, we are in a three some companionship until I go. I love being a missionary, I love this gospel, I couldn't have served in a better place.
Elder Stephens
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
August 11, 2014
Hey there everyone!!
I am in Narra right now (yes my old area of Narra, Palawan) and the internet is not too great so this will probably be a pretty short email. We had a super interesting week. It started off with a fun zone activity, where we just went bowling as a zone. Right after that we got 3 new Elders from another mission! They are all Filipino Elders and they are from another mission in Africa and came to us. We are stoked because they are all a great addition to the mission. It was a little crazy trying to figure out where they were going to go because we were in the middle of a transfer, but it was a great experience at the same time because we really felt the Lord inspiring us as we made the decisions on what area they were to serve in and who their companions were going to be. Elder Limocon and I had the blessing of teaching Romel again. He is progressing a lot and he is getting super excited to read the Book of Mormon. We went over the introduction with him really thoroughly and he had a ton of questions about it. The questions were great though and it helped us know that he really is sincere about learning more about the gospel and he doesn't just want to know because of his relationship with a member. This last week a really old member of the ward we are serving in passed away. She had been in the hospital for a really long time and then passed. She had a funeral service and I had the blessing of giving a talk at it. It was grateful to talk there and it reminded me of the importance of this gospel. Since she was a long time member and a lot of her children were still strong in the gospel, they weren't as sad about her death but saw it as an opportunity to recommit to follow the gospel and be able to live again with their mother. I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful for it. I know it's true with all my heart.
Elder Stephens
I am in Narra right now (yes my old area of Narra, Palawan) and the internet is not too great so this will probably be a pretty short email. We had a super interesting week. It started off with a fun zone activity, where we just went bowling as a zone. Right after that we got 3 new Elders from another mission! They are all Filipino Elders and they are from another mission in Africa and came to us. We are stoked because they are all a great addition to the mission. It was a little crazy trying to figure out where they were going to go because we were in the middle of a transfer, but it was a great experience at the same time because we really felt the Lord inspiring us as we made the decisions on what area they were to serve in and who their companions were going to be. Elder Limocon and I had the blessing of teaching Romel again. He is progressing a lot and he is getting super excited to read the Book of Mormon. We went over the introduction with him really thoroughly and he had a ton of questions about it. The questions were great though and it helped us know that he really is sincere about learning more about the gospel and he doesn't just want to know because of his relationship with a member. This last week a really old member of the ward we are serving in passed away. She had been in the hospital for a really long time and then passed. She had a funeral service and I had the blessing of giving a talk at it. It was grateful to talk there and it reminded me of the importance of this gospel. Since she was a long time member and a lot of her children were still strong in the gospel, they weren't as sad about her death but saw it as an opportunity to recommit to follow the gospel and be able to live again with their mother. I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful for it. I know it's true with all my heart.
Elder Stephens
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
August 4, 2014
Hello there everyone!
We had a wonderful week! To start out the week we got our fingerprinting done. That was sweet because I got to go with my batch and also we saw a few people from our batch that are serving in other missions here in the Philippines. It was a super weird experience going to immigration and getting fingerprinted but it was cool too because that was the first time I had ever really done that. We went to the Temple for the last time on my mission. That was awesome. I am so grateful I had the blessing of going to the Temple each transfer for my mission. I love the Temple so much and my testimony of temple work was strengthened so much because I was able to come here each transfer. The Spirit is so strong in the Temple and I am grateful for that because going to the Temple helped me receive so much revelation for myself and for the people I had taught and worked with. i am so grateful for temples here on earth. We had a sweet activity for the Elder's quorum in the Makati 3rd ward. We played basketball and had a boodle fight. I learned that the boodle fight came from the army or something like that and now we do it in the Philippines for fun and what you do is put all the food on a huge banana leaf and it all together. It's so much fun! The main part of the activity tough was the part where we talked about where we are as an alders quorum and some goals we wanted to set to grow. The main thing we talked about was home teaching and we really made some great goals to get better and doing home teaching and helping our fellow priesthood brethren to come back to church. We had another missionary leadership council this last week! It was my 14th MLC and the last one for my mission. It was a great MLC and I was able to learn so much from it. The theme was agency and using our agency to bless ourselves and bless the lives of others. We are a super obedient mission and I am so grateful for that. So our MLC focused on using agency and acting rather than just asking for permission to do a lot of things. I realized that doing that will also bless us so much for after the mission because we have tons of decisions to make and of course we should be making the right ones. Another thing we talked about in MLC was goals. President Ostler talked about the "will you" goals and the "stretch you" goals. That was sweet and pretty interesting to think about. The last part of our MLC was where we counseled about some of the rules in the mission. It was interesting talking about the rules and how we should handle them as leaders. There are a ton that missionaries were asking permission about to the mission president and could just be taken care of with district or zone leaders. So it was good to talk about those things and how we are to handle them as leaders in the missing. I got a temple recommend interview this last week because mine was about to expire, that was a wonderful experience. It's a great feeling to know you are worth y to enter in the House of the Lord. I'll never forget that interview I had with President Ostler. This last Sunday we my last time to bear my testimony in a fast and testimony meeting. I felt the Spirit testify through me and it was definitely a humbling experience to feel that. I love my mission and I love being able to serve in this capacity. I know this is the work of the Lord. I've had so many experiences that witness to me that this church is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that this work is His work. I love being a missionary!
Elder Stephens
We had a wonderful week! To start out the week we got our fingerprinting done. That was sweet because I got to go with my batch and also we saw a few people from our batch that are serving in other missions here in the Philippines. It was a super weird experience going to immigration and getting fingerprinted but it was cool too because that was the first time I had ever really done that. We went to the Temple for the last time on my mission. That was awesome. I am so grateful I had the blessing of going to the Temple each transfer for my mission. I love the Temple so much and my testimony of temple work was strengthened so much because I was able to come here each transfer. The Spirit is so strong in the Temple and I am grateful for that because going to the Temple helped me receive so much revelation for myself and for the people I had taught and worked with. i am so grateful for temples here on earth. We had a sweet activity for the Elder's quorum in the Makati 3rd ward. We played basketball and had a boodle fight. I learned that the boodle fight came from the army or something like that and now we do it in the Philippines for fun and what you do is put all the food on a huge banana leaf and it all together. It's so much fun! The main part of the activity tough was the part where we talked about where we are as an alders quorum and some goals we wanted to set to grow. The main thing we talked about was home teaching and we really made some great goals to get better and doing home teaching and helping our fellow priesthood brethren to come back to church. We had another missionary leadership council this last week! It was my 14th MLC and the last one for my mission. It was a great MLC and I was able to learn so much from it. The theme was agency and using our agency to bless ourselves and bless the lives of others. We are a super obedient mission and I am so grateful for that. So our MLC focused on using agency and acting rather than just asking for permission to do a lot of things. I realized that doing that will also bless us so much for after the mission because we have tons of decisions to make and of course we should be making the right ones. Another thing we talked about in MLC was goals. President Ostler talked about the "will you" goals and the "stretch you" goals. That was sweet and pretty interesting to think about. The last part of our MLC was where we counseled about some of the rules in the mission. It was interesting talking about the rules and how we should handle them as leaders. There are a ton that missionaries were asking permission about to the mission president and could just be taken care of with district or zone leaders. So it was good to talk about those things and how we are to handle them as leaders in the missing. I got a temple recommend interview this last week because mine was about to expire, that was a wonderful experience. It's a great feeling to know you are worth y to enter in the House of the Lord. I'll never forget that interview I had with President Ostler. This last Sunday we my last time to bear my testimony in a fast and testimony meeting. I felt the Spirit testify through me and it was definitely a humbling experience to feel that. I love my mission and I love being able to serve in this capacity. I know this is the work of the Lord. I've had so many experiences that witness to me that this church is the true church of Jesus Christ, and that this work is His work. I love being a missionary!
Elder Stephens
Thursday, July 31, 2014
July 29, 2014
Hey there everyone!
It's Tuesday here and this is our P-day so I am a day late on emailing all of you. But we get to go to the Temple today and it will be my last time to go to the Temple on my mission. I am stoked to go and I know it will be great. Last week was awesome, we had a meeting with President Ostler last week to talk about the upcoming MLC. It was a great experience because it was the first time we got to have a real nice meeting to talk about MLC and not be rushed like we were last time. We were really guided by the Spirit as we had our meeting and as we talked about the things that we need as a mission. There were things that Elder Limocon and I have been talking about that President Ostler ended up saying he wants to teach in MLC. We never mentioned anything to him but it was just so inspired that we were all thinking about teaching and counseling about the same things. We had some exchanges with some zone leaders in Manila and we changed the way we did it this time. Instead of going to one area and bring one to our area, we decided to help them out by both going to their area and building it up. It was super duper effective. They have been struggling lately with finding and getting many people to church and at the end of the exchange we had 5 new investigators and we got more referrals as well. It was a great day and we were blessed that we were able to help them out just a little big. The Chinese man we are teaching, Matthew, is coming along pretty well. We had a great lesson with him last week and focused all of it just on Jesus Christ. I asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and in the Atonement, and he said yes! I was so happy and I felt the Spirit so strong when he said that. We have been teaching him a long time about Jesus Christ and it was great to hear him say that he believes in Him. We are still teaching about the gospel and him being baptized and stuff, and he still wants to learn more before that, but I thought ti was a huge step for him to say he believes in Jesus Christ. We also had a great lesson with John, the guy from Alabama. He still struggles with faith and so we read Alma 32 with him and focused on faith but as we read I could see a change in him where he wants to start trying to strengthen his faith. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Spirit, and how they touch the lives of those who read it. I know the Book of Mormon is true and it blesses the lives of everyone who reads it and prays about it.
Elder Stephens
It's Tuesday here and this is our P-day so I am a day late on emailing all of you. But we get to go to the Temple today and it will be my last time to go to the Temple on my mission. I am stoked to go and I know it will be great. Last week was awesome, we had a meeting with President Ostler last week to talk about the upcoming MLC. It was a great experience because it was the first time we got to have a real nice meeting to talk about MLC and not be rushed like we were last time. We were really guided by the Spirit as we had our meeting and as we talked about the things that we need as a mission. There were things that Elder Limocon and I have been talking about that President Ostler ended up saying he wants to teach in MLC. We never mentioned anything to him but it was just so inspired that we were all thinking about teaching and counseling about the same things. We had some exchanges with some zone leaders in Manila and we changed the way we did it this time. Instead of going to one area and bring one to our area, we decided to help them out by both going to their area and building it up. It was super duper effective. They have been struggling lately with finding and getting many people to church and at the end of the exchange we had 5 new investigators and we got more referrals as well. It was a great day and we were blessed that we were able to help them out just a little big. The Chinese man we are teaching, Matthew, is coming along pretty well. We had a great lesson with him last week and focused all of it just on Jesus Christ. I asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and in the Atonement, and he said yes! I was so happy and I felt the Spirit so strong when he said that. We have been teaching him a long time about Jesus Christ and it was great to hear him say that he believes in Him. We are still teaching about the gospel and him being baptized and stuff, and he still wants to learn more before that, but I thought ti was a huge step for him to say he believes in Jesus Christ. We also had a great lesson with John, the guy from Alabama. He still struggles with faith and so we read Alma 32 with him and focused on faith but as we read I could see a change in him where he wants to start trying to strengthen his faith. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Spirit, and how they touch the lives of those who read it. I know the Book of Mormon is true and it blesses the lives of everyone who reads it and prays about it.
Elder Stephens
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
July 21, 2014
Hello there all!
We had a pretty great week yet again. For some reason, this past week just went by super fast. Elder Lomocon and I were talking last night and saying how we couldn't believe that it was already Sunday! A batch of missionaries went home this last week and they were a batch that I was super close with. We actually spent time in the MTC together so I have known all of them for basically my entire mission. We had some sweet going home activities and there was some awesome things that happened. First off, one of the Elders going home had his family come visit the mission and stuff. And on the day of going home activities, his family got sealed in the Manila Temple!! It was beautiful. His mother and father were sealed together and then he was sealed to his parents. He asked President Ostler and me to be the witnesses and it was a super special experience. I had never done that before and it was so amazing to feel the spirit while that family got sealed together. On that same day, at the temple as well, I saw a ton of people in my district from the MTC! We had a total of 12 Elders in my district from the MTC and i got to see 6 of them at the Manila Temple. It was so weird seeing them but so cool at the same time. I felt like Alma the younger when he sees the sons of Mosiah and rejoices because they are still his brethren in the faith. I was super blessed to have that tender mercy from the Lord and see my batch from the MTC. It was transfer week which is always a great experience and this time it was extra special because there was a huge storm on the day of transfers! It was the first real big storm I experienced so it was super exciting. The rain was actually not strong in our area but the ind was crazy. It was sweet watching all the trees sway and some even uprooted! Anyway, everyone was safe and the storm didn't hit toooo bad in the place we were in, so I was grateful for that. I also drove in flood water for the first time, and again, I was safe so it's all good. We had a sweet New Missionary Orientation. It was crazy because we started super late because of the storm and then after we didn't have electricity in the mission home so we just had to wing it for a little. Luckily, after a few ours of that we got some electricity and had a good rest of the orientation. We got in participate a little in the process of assigning the new missionaries to their trainers and that was super special. The Spirit really guided us in that process despite all the craziness that happened that day with the storm. I knew we were guided because after the orientation we had to take one of the elders with us while he waited for his companion to fly off of Palawan. To make this short, we found out he has a health thing that makes it so he has to eat super healthy and live a super healthy life style. Come to find out, his trainer has to do the same exact thing! None of us knew about the new missionary's health condition but the Lord did and it was a testimony builder for me that the Lord guided us while we assigned everyone to their companions. Each and every experience I have been having lately tells me that the Lord loves his missionaries. He is completely guiding this work and using us as His tools to make it all happen. I love being a missionary and seeing the Lord's hand in His work. I know this church is true with all my heart and I love being able to share this gospel with anyone and everyone.
Elder Stephens
We had a pretty great week yet again. For some reason, this past week just went by super fast. Elder Lomocon and I were talking last night and saying how we couldn't believe that it was already Sunday! A batch of missionaries went home this last week and they were a batch that I was super close with. We actually spent time in the MTC together so I have known all of them for basically my entire mission. We had some sweet going home activities and there was some awesome things that happened. First off, one of the Elders going home had his family come visit the mission and stuff. And on the day of going home activities, his family got sealed in the Manila Temple!! It was beautiful. His mother and father were sealed together and then he was sealed to his parents. He asked President Ostler and me to be the witnesses and it was a super special experience. I had never done that before and it was so amazing to feel the spirit while that family got sealed together. On that same day, at the temple as well, I saw a ton of people in my district from the MTC! We had a total of 12 Elders in my district from the MTC and i got to see 6 of them at the Manila Temple. It was so weird seeing them but so cool at the same time. I felt like Alma the younger when he sees the sons of Mosiah and rejoices because they are still his brethren in the faith. I was super blessed to have that tender mercy from the Lord and see my batch from the MTC. It was transfer week which is always a great experience and this time it was extra special because there was a huge storm on the day of transfers! It was the first real big storm I experienced so it was super exciting. The rain was actually not strong in our area but the ind was crazy. It was sweet watching all the trees sway and some even uprooted! Anyway, everyone was safe and the storm didn't hit toooo bad in the place we were in, so I was grateful for that. I also drove in flood water for the first time, and again, I was safe so it's all good. We had a sweet New Missionary Orientation. It was crazy because we started super late because of the storm and then after we didn't have electricity in the mission home so we just had to wing it for a little. Luckily, after a few ours of that we got some electricity and had a good rest of the orientation. We got in participate a little in the process of assigning the new missionaries to their trainers and that was super special. The Spirit really guided us in that process despite all the craziness that happened that day with the storm. I knew we were guided because after the orientation we had to take one of the elders with us while he waited for his companion to fly off of Palawan. To make this short, we found out he has a health thing that makes it so he has to eat super healthy and live a super healthy life style. Come to find out, his trainer has to do the same exact thing! None of us knew about the new missionary's health condition but the Lord did and it was a testimony builder for me that the Lord guided us while we assigned everyone to their companions. Each and every experience I have been having lately tells me that the Lord loves his missionaries. He is completely guiding this work and using us as His tools to make it all happen. I love being a missionary and seeing the Lord's hand in His work. I know this church is true with all my heart and I love being able to share this gospel with anyone and everyone.
Elder Stephens
July 14, 2014
Hey there everyone!
Where do I start?! We had a great week. First off, Limocon and I got to go back to Palawan! We went with the Ostlers for the interviews for the missionaries over there. It was a bummer though because Elder Limocon and I didn't get to go to our old area in Narra. It was still Palawan though so that was cool. However, it may have been my last time there! i sure hope not. This whole week was full of interviews with all of the missionaries in the mission so that was sweet. We got to be there for all of the interviews to just help out and get people going back to their areas as well instead of hanging out at the mission home. Everyone loved the interviews at the mission home and they loved the interviews with President Ostler! I actually got to get interviewed this last week and it was great. He taught me to do something way cool! He said get a piece of paper and write what ever thing you want to be at the top, for example, husband or father. Then make two columns, one for things you want to do, and one for things you do not want to do. then, continue to write things down whenever you get the change or when ever you think of something new. And you can do this with tons of different callings or positions or anything. And you keep them all in a cabinet or file some where, then in the future, when you actually are one of those things you can go back to your notes and see ALLL the things you said about it in the past. It was awesome advice and it helped me to really get a grasp on the importance of a vision and seeing goals and plans to hit it. We had transfers this past week and Elder Limocon and I had an awesome opportunity to be involved a ton in the transfers. The reason being President Ostler still does not really know everybody so he wanted us to have a lot of input and then he make the decisions. It was sweet because we never did that before and we got to really see the Spirit work through all of us to get the transfer planned out the way the Lord wanted it to. I was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of that and I am super grateful for it. We had a meeting this week where we met with the new trainers and teach them. It was sweet because it was the first time President and Sister Ostler did that training and the first time for Elder Limocon as well. It was crazy to see the difference in the way the training happened compared to President Stucki but it was great to see that the Spirit was still there and we were all able to learn so much. President Ostler gave an invitation at the end of the training. He had all of the trainers write down 3 things that they hope the new missionary they train will say about them in the future. He said you could even do this when you are older and the 3 things you would want your children to say about their father or the 3 things you would want your wife to say about their husband. Anyway, it was sweet. Even though I wasn't going to train, I made a list of three things and said one, I am exactly obedient, two, I am hard working, and three, I love the Lord and I love these wonderful people. I don't know if it is a good list or anything, but I did say that to President Ostler and he said he put down those same three things. I am learning a ton from President Ostler and I am learning a ton about helping other missionaries come closer unto Christ. I realized that part of this assignment and our purpose as missionaries can apply to each other. Even though we are here to baptize people, we can still invite all to come unto Christ and that includes those missionaries that we are teaching. I had a crazy experience this last week! So a member in one of our wards texted us and told us we were going to teach some people at his place. So of course, Elder Limocon and I got super excited and went to our appointment. Right when we go in, come to find out, it was one of my family members!! Apparently, they work together at the same place and it was super weird but really cool at the same time. I gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and I know it will bless her forever! I love this gospel and the wonderful opportunity to be a missionary.
Elder Stephens
Where do I start?! We had a great week. First off, Limocon and I got to go back to Palawan! We went with the Ostlers for the interviews for the missionaries over there. It was a bummer though because Elder Limocon and I didn't get to go to our old area in Narra. It was still Palawan though so that was cool. However, it may have been my last time there! i sure hope not. This whole week was full of interviews with all of the missionaries in the mission so that was sweet. We got to be there for all of the interviews to just help out and get people going back to their areas as well instead of hanging out at the mission home. Everyone loved the interviews at the mission home and they loved the interviews with President Ostler! I actually got to get interviewed this last week and it was great. He taught me to do something way cool! He said get a piece of paper and write what ever thing you want to be at the top, for example, husband or father. Then make two columns, one for things you want to do, and one for things you do not want to do. then, continue to write things down whenever you get the change or when ever you think of something new. And you can do this with tons of different callings or positions or anything. And you keep them all in a cabinet or file some where, then in the future, when you actually are one of those things you can go back to your notes and see ALLL the things you said about it in the past. It was awesome advice and it helped me to really get a grasp on the importance of a vision and seeing goals and plans to hit it. We had transfers this past week and Elder Limocon and I had an awesome opportunity to be involved a ton in the transfers. The reason being President Ostler still does not really know everybody so he wanted us to have a lot of input and then he make the decisions. It was sweet because we never did that before and we got to really see the Spirit work through all of us to get the transfer planned out the way the Lord wanted it to. I was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of that and I am super grateful for it. We had a meeting this week where we met with the new trainers and teach them. It was sweet because it was the first time President and Sister Ostler did that training and the first time for Elder Limocon as well. It was crazy to see the difference in the way the training happened compared to President Stucki but it was great to see that the Spirit was still there and we were all able to learn so much. President Ostler gave an invitation at the end of the training. He had all of the trainers write down 3 things that they hope the new missionary they train will say about them in the future. He said you could even do this when you are older and the 3 things you would want your children to say about their father or the 3 things you would want your wife to say about their husband. Anyway, it was sweet. Even though I wasn't going to train, I made a list of three things and said one, I am exactly obedient, two, I am hard working, and three, I love the Lord and I love these wonderful people. I don't know if it is a good list or anything, but I did say that to President Ostler and he said he put down those same three things. I am learning a ton from President Ostler and I am learning a ton about helping other missionaries come closer unto Christ. I realized that part of this assignment and our purpose as missionaries can apply to each other. Even though we are here to baptize people, we can still invite all to come unto Christ and that includes those missionaries that we are teaching. I had a crazy experience this last week! So a member in one of our wards texted us and told us we were going to teach some people at his place. So of course, Elder Limocon and I got super excited and went to our appointment. Right when we go in, come to find out, it was one of my family members!! Apparently, they work together at the same place and it was super weird but really cool at the same time. I gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it and I know it will bless her forever! I love this gospel and the wonderful opportunity to be a missionary.
Elder Stephens
July 7, 2014
Hello there everyone!
What a crazy week! We were so busy and it honestly doesn't even feel like it's been a week already. However, it was so much fun!! First off, we had a huge meeting with almost all of our missionaries where everyone got to meet President Ostler and his family. So over at the Buendia chapel we had about 180 missionaries gathered together to meet them and see them for the first time. It was a super awesome meeting. President Ostler shared with us a ton of things that he learned from the new mission president's seminar and we got to learn so much. I never knew how involved all of the general authorities were in this work. At one point in his message, he explained a time during the seminar when he asked one of the seventy why ALL of the general authorities have to come to the new mission president's seminar. He said that it is because the Lord loves this work and wants all of them to be fully engaged and love it too. I was taken back when he said that and I was so grateful how involved the Lord is in His work, as well as all of His servants. Then Sister Ostler and Caleb shared a ton about their family and they even had a sweet video of all of the family members where they got to share their feelings about the call for President Ostler. It was a great meeting. We also had another missionary leadership council! It was so different but it was so great. I think the main point of this missionary leadership council was to help President and Sister Ostler to know more about the mission and get a feel for what things we need to work on. So we had a huge question and counsel together part of the missionary leadership council, which was different than all of the other ones. However, it was so great because they got a ton of information and we were really able to help them get a feel for what the mission is like. I enjoyed the council and getting to learn from all of the other leaders as well. One of the things I really learned from the meeting was the importance of having the council. President Ostler shared some scriptures about the importance of councils and the idea I got from it was that councils are held to talk about specific concerns and challenges, and then to receive revelation through the Spirit in order to know what to do to solve them. I learned that councils are held in order to help the work of the Lord continue. I loved the council and the things I learned from it. At the end of the week, President Ostler started on the interviews for the whole mission. He did a few zones last week and they all went great! President Ostler changed it up this time and did all of them at the mission home! I have never experienced that before in my whole mission. Anyway, it was different but it was so awesome. All of the missionaries had a great experience being at the mission home. I have been there so many times because of meetings and stuff, but I learned that was the very first time for some elders and sisters! So it was awesome for them to be there and a ton of them said that the interviews felt a lot more comfortable because of it. One thing I love about President and Sister Ostler is their love for family. One of the reasons for the interviews being done at the mission home was so they felt like they were part of a huge family here on the mission and of course, the home was a good place to make it fee like family. Another reason was so that they could still do their family prayer and family scripture study at home and still spend time together as a family. So I just love that so much and how much they love family. I hope to apply that to my own life in the future. This week we have a ton of interviews again and so I get to spend a bunch of time with missionaries again this week! I love this mission and I love serving here. I am so grateful I get to be a missionary in the Philippines Manila Mission. I love President and sister Ostler and their son Caleb. They are awesome and they are so loving. I can really feel that they love us and I can feel a part of Heavenly Father's love for us, through them.
Elder Stephens
What a crazy week! We were so busy and it honestly doesn't even feel like it's been a week already. However, it was so much fun!! First off, we had a huge meeting with almost all of our missionaries where everyone got to meet President Ostler and his family. So over at the Buendia chapel we had about 180 missionaries gathered together to meet them and see them for the first time. It was a super awesome meeting. President Ostler shared with us a ton of things that he learned from the new mission president's seminar and we got to learn so much. I never knew how involved all of the general authorities were in this work. At one point in his message, he explained a time during the seminar when he asked one of the seventy why ALL of the general authorities have to come to the new mission president's seminar. He said that it is because the Lord loves this work and wants all of them to be fully engaged and love it too. I was taken back when he said that and I was so grateful how involved the Lord is in His work, as well as all of His servants. Then Sister Ostler and Caleb shared a ton about their family and they even had a sweet video of all of the family members where they got to share their feelings about the call for President Ostler. It was a great meeting. We also had another missionary leadership council! It was so different but it was so great. I think the main point of this missionary leadership council was to help President and Sister Ostler to know more about the mission and get a feel for what things we need to work on. So we had a huge question and counsel together part of the missionary leadership council, which was different than all of the other ones. However, it was so great because they got a ton of information and we were really able to help them get a feel for what the mission is like. I enjoyed the council and getting to learn from all of the other leaders as well. One of the things I really learned from the meeting was the importance of having the council. President Ostler shared some scriptures about the importance of councils and the idea I got from it was that councils are held to talk about specific concerns and challenges, and then to receive revelation through the Spirit in order to know what to do to solve them. I learned that councils are held in order to help the work of the Lord continue. I loved the council and the things I learned from it. At the end of the week, President Ostler started on the interviews for the whole mission. He did a few zones last week and they all went great! President Ostler changed it up this time and did all of them at the mission home! I have never experienced that before in my whole mission. Anyway, it was different but it was so awesome. All of the missionaries had a great experience being at the mission home. I have been there so many times because of meetings and stuff, but I learned that was the very first time for some elders and sisters! So it was awesome for them to be there and a ton of them said that the interviews felt a lot more comfortable because of it. One thing I love about President and Sister Ostler is their love for family. One of the reasons for the interviews being done at the mission home was so they felt like they were part of a huge family here on the mission and of course, the home was a good place to make it fee like family. Another reason was so that they could still do their family prayer and family scripture study at home and still spend time together as a family. So I just love that so much and how much they love family. I hope to apply that to my own life in the future. This week we have a ton of interviews again and so I get to spend a bunch of time with missionaries again this week! I love this mission and I love serving here. I am so grateful I get to be a missionary in the Philippines Manila Mission. I love President and sister Ostler and their son Caleb. They are awesome and they are so loving. I can really feel that they love us and I can feel a part of Heavenly Father's love for us, through them.
Elder Stephens
June 30, 2014
Hey everyone!!
Another great week in the mission field! We said goodbye to President and Sister Stucki this last week. It was their last week here and we were sad to see them go. They were such a blessing in my life and it was a wonderful blessing to be able to serve with them up until they left. President and Sister Stucki have had a big impact in my life and I will never ever forget them. I am grateful for both of them and everything I have learned from them as well. I will forever be grateful to my Father in heaven for the opportunity to serve with such faithful servants of God. We now have a new mission president, President and Sister Ostler. They also brought their 14 year old son, Caleb! They are so awesome and I know they are going to bless this mission so much. We had the blessing of meeting them last Sunday night and having a good talk with them. President and Sister Ostler are so loving and they talked a lot about being a Christ centered and family centered family. That was awesome to hear that. He said it because they actually have a family here with Caleb and so it is different from when it was just President and Sister Stucki. President Ostler also mentioned that he rally wants everyone in the mission to know that he will love them, but also expect a lot. I also loved hearing that one. There will be some changes, and that was to be expected, but I believe changes are for the better. I did ask him, as his assistants what would be the thing we could help him out with the most. He said that he wants everyone to know what is going on, basically that we become super unified as a mission. He mentioned to talk with the zone leaders and others about things we talk about in meetings. As we become more unified, our love for each other will grow, and our love for the Lord will grow as well. I am grateful to now serve with President and Sister Ostler and I am so excited to see how much our mission will grow. Elder Limocon and I are doing great in our area and we are super excited because we have some people that are progressing really well. Patrick is doing super well and I am super grateful we are helping him know more about the gospel. He has come to church for the past three weeks and he loves it. He even went to an activity in the elders quorum where they played basketball. I am amazed on how much he is already progressing and wanting to accept this gospel. We also found a new family that we are super excited about. It is the Mateos family and they are awesome. We had a name on our potential investigators list and so we went to go look for it, actually we were with President Stucki at the time, and turns out it was a big family and we ended up teaching. They have no come to church yet, but we are excited to see how they will do! I love this gospel so much and I love that I have the opportunity to share it. I know this work is guided by the Lord. Even with our new mission president, I have already seen how involved the lord is in this work, with Him working through President Ostler. I love being a missionary!
Elder Stephens
Another great week in the mission field! We said goodbye to President and Sister Stucki this last week. It was their last week here and we were sad to see them go. They were such a blessing in my life and it was a wonderful blessing to be able to serve with them up until they left. President and Sister Stucki have had a big impact in my life and I will never ever forget them. I am grateful for both of them and everything I have learned from them as well. I will forever be grateful to my Father in heaven for the opportunity to serve with such faithful servants of God. We now have a new mission president, President and Sister Ostler. They also brought their 14 year old son, Caleb! They are so awesome and I know they are going to bless this mission so much. We had the blessing of meeting them last Sunday night and having a good talk with them. President and Sister Ostler are so loving and they talked a lot about being a Christ centered and family centered family. That was awesome to hear that. He said it because they actually have a family here with Caleb and so it is different from when it was just President and Sister Stucki. President Ostler also mentioned that he rally wants everyone in the mission to know that he will love them, but also expect a lot. I also loved hearing that one. There will be some changes, and that was to be expected, but I believe changes are for the better. I did ask him, as his assistants what would be the thing we could help him out with the most. He said that he wants everyone to know what is going on, basically that we become super unified as a mission. He mentioned to talk with the zone leaders and others about things we talk about in meetings. As we become more unified, our love for each other will grow, and our love for the Lord will grow as well. I am grateful to now serve with President and Sister Ostler and I am so excited to see how much our mission will grow. Elder Limocon and I are doing great in our area and we are super excited because we have some people that are progressing really well. Patrick is doing super well and I am super grateful we are helping him know more about the gospel. He has come to church for the past three weeks and he loves it. He even went to an activity in the elders quorum where they played basketball. I am amazed on how much he is already progressing and wanting to accept this gospel. We also found a new family that we are super excited about. It is the Mateos family and they are awesome. We had a name on our potential investigators list and so we went to go look for it, actually we were with President Stucki at the time, and turns out it was a big family and we ended up teaching. They have no come to church yet, but we are excited to see how they will do! I love this gospel so much and I love that I have the opportunity to share it. I know this work is guided by the Lord. Even with our new mission president, I have already seen how involved the lord is in this work, with Him working through President Ostler. I love being a missionary!
Elder Stephens
Monday, July 28, 2014
June 23, 2014
Hey everyone!
I love being a missionary! We had a wonderful baptism this last week. It was just James and he reminds me a lot of me! He is 18 years old and accepted the gospel real quick. At the baptismal service, he bore his testimony and in it he said that he wants to go on a mission! I was stoked when I heard that. I told him how I was baptized at 18 years old also and went on a mission after one year, and I told him how it has blessed my life tremendously. I am so excited for James and I am so grateful I had the blessing to be a small part of his conversion process and able to baptize him as well. I love this gospel and how many things it brings to these wonderful people who accept it. I was thinking about this week and how this Fifa soccer stuff has all started. I was thinking how I could be home watching all these teams and countries play. Instead, I am helping these wonderful people in the Philippines accept this gospel and I had the wonderful blessing to even baptize someone in the true church of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world right now. Last week, we also had a great lesson with Patrick He is progressing so well and he just takes in everything that we teach. He has a few questions and they are awesome questions, and when we answer them using the scriptures he just says, "Oh that makes total sense!" I love that guy. He came to the baptismal service and after I was talking with him, he said that he enjoyed it and said that he will be the next one in the font! I couldn't believe my ears! It was amazing how the gospel just makes people want to follow Jesus Christ and follow His gospel. This gospel is the best. In our mission we had a specialized leadership training for all of the district leaders, zone leaders, and sister training leaders. We had the blessing of teaching and being taught by all of the leaders in the mission. The whole meeting lasted from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, it was a real long day but it was so good. We have a new mission president coming at the end of this week on the 29th, they are President and Sister Ostler. So we had a real big leaders hip training to help all of the leaders really great up for the big change that is coming up. We actually had every set of zone leaders and every set of sister training leaders participate in the training. The entire meeting, I felt like people were talking about being quick to observe and being proactive. We really need to help leaders and missionaries in general to be proactive in order to fulfill their purpose. We used D&C 107:99 as our theme scripture and I love that part where it says to act "In all diligence." Another thing that really stood out to me was that they really focused on being enthusiastic! One of the things that we talked about was how we need to be more enthusiastic when being with other missionaries as well as when we go out and work! I know we can find a lot more success if we just be more joyful and be more enthusiastic as we do missionary work. I just love being a missionary and I love this gospel. I know this church is true and that the fullness of the gospel was restored though the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know Jesus is the Christ. He lives and He loves us more than we can comprehend.
Elder Stephens
I love being a missionary! We had a wonderful baptism this last week. It was just James and he reminds me a lot of me! He is 18 years old and accepted the gospel real quick. At the baptismal service, he bore his testimony and in it he said that he wants to go on a mission! I was stoked when I heard that. I told him how I was baptized at 18 years old also and went on a mission after one year, and I told him how it has blessed my life tremendously. I am so excited for James and I am so grateful I had the blessing to be a small part of his conversion process and able to baptize him as well. I love this gospel and how many things it brings to these wonderful people who accept it. I was thinking about this week and how this Fifa soccer stuff has all started. I was thinking how I could be home watching all these teams and countries play. Instead, I am helping these wonderful people in the Philippines accept this gospel and I had the wonderful blessing to even baptize someone in the true church of Jesus Christ. I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world right now. Last week, we also had a great lesson with Patrick He is progressing so well and he just takes in everything that we teach. He has a few questions and they are awesome questions, and when we answer them using the scriptures he just says, "Oh that makes total sense!" I love that guy. He came to the baptismal service and after I was talking with him, he said that he enjoyed it and said that he will be the next one in the font! I couldn't believe my ears! It was amazing how the gospel just makes people want to follow Jesus Christ and follow His gospel. This gospel is the best. In our mission we had a specialized leadership training for all of the district leaders, zone leaders, and sister training leaders. We had the blessing of teaching and being taught by all of the leaders in the mission. The whole meeting lasted from 8 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, it was a real long day but it was so good. We have a new mission president coming at the end of this week on the 29th, they are President and Sister Ostler. So we had a real big leaders hip training to help all of the leaders really great up for the big change that is coming up. We actually had every set of zone leaders and every set of sister training leaders participate in the training. The entire meeting, I felt like people were talking about being quick to observe and being proactive. We really need to help leaders and missionaries in general to be proactive in order to fulfill their purpose. We used D&C 107:99 as our theme scripture and I love that part where it says to act "In all diligence." Another thing that really stood out to me was that they really focused on being enthusiastic! One of the things that we talked about was how we need to be more enthusiastic when being with other missionaries as well as when we go out and work! I know we can find a lot more success if we just be more joyful and be more enthusiastic as we do missionary work. I just love being a missionary and I love this gospel. I know this church is true and that the fullness of the gospel was restored though the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know Jesus is the Christ. He lives and He loves us more than we can comprehend.
Elder Stephens
June 16, 2014
Hello!!
Happy Father's Day all the fathers out there! And a special happy father's day to my pops:) I love you!! We had a great week. It is cool being with Elder Limocon again and being able to work with him in another area and in another assignment. We had the blessing to visit a lot of members this week because we really want to get a good relationship with them in order to really hasten the work here. From visiting the members and their views on missionaries and missionary work. It was a testimony to me that just a simple visit and message, along with a lot of love, can help the members int he ward to build their trust in you as a missionary and want to help you fulfill your purpose. We had the opportunity of teaching a new investigator this week, his name is Patrick. He is super cool and he already came to church a few times in the past. He actually already knows a strong family in the church and we get to teach him in their home. In the lesson he was really open and one of the first things we asked were about his expectations from our teaching. he said that he wants to learn how to be converted! Oh man, I about jumped up and hugged him! I was super stoked though and so we had a great lesson with him. He came to church this last week and had a great time. I am super excited to see how he continues to progress. We found another good man, he wasn't as ready to receive the message we shared, but we were still very grateful we got to teach. He is married to a strong member in the ward, but has never had the desire to investigate the church. Actually, his wife, sister Melquiades said that the first Elders that he ever came up to. Apparently he just hides whenever missionaries come around, so I was just grateful we got to meet him and share a quick message with him. i am also super grateful for the example that sister Melquiades is for him and how faithful she is to the gospel. We had a sweet experience with our ward mission leader in the 4th ward. he invited us over along with the recent converts in our ward, Johnny and Shamir. We went and had snacks and a good time there and it was great because we really got to see how effective it is to have recent converts have a good relationship with the members of the ward. We had Stake Conference in the Makati Stake this last weekend! It was awesome. The Saturday night session was focused on hastening the work of salvation and it was so great. There was a sister that bore her testimony that was so strong. She has only one leg and walks with a crutch, yet she decided that she wanted to still serve a mission. She got all ready and put in her papers, then after waiting for a real long time, got news that her application was denied. She said she was sad, but felt that she just had another purpose in being a missionary and now she is a seminary teacher and helps prepare able young men and women to be able to serve. She is also helping her siblings get ready. She said that you don't want to have a badge to prove that you are a missionary, no matter who you are, you can be one. I know it's true. We can all be missionaries if we just have the faith and courage to open our mouths and hare the gospel with others. The Lord will bless us and help us if we do so.
Elder Stephens
Happy Father's Day all the fathers out there! And a special happy father's day to my pops:) I love you!! We had a great week. It is cool being with Elder Limocon again and being able to work with him in another area and in another assignment. We had the blessing to visit a lot of members this week because we really want to get a good relationship with them in order to really hasten the work here. From visiting the members and their views on missionaries and missionary work. It was a testimony to me that just a simple visit and message, along with a lot of love, can help the members int he ward to build their trust in you as a missionary and want to help you fulfill your purpose. We had the opportunity of teaching a new investigator this week, his name is Patrick. He is super cool and he already came to church a few times in the past. He actually already knows a strong family in the church and we get to teach him in their home. In the lesson he was really open and one of the first things we asked were about his expectations from our teaching. he said that he wants to learn how to be converted! Oh man, I about jumped up and hugged him! I was super stoked though and so we had a great lesson with him. He came to church this last week and had a great time. I am super excited to see how he continues to progress. We found another good man, he wasn't as ready to receive the message we shared, but we were still very grateful we got to teach. He is married to a strong member in the ward, but has never had the desire to investigate the church. Actually, his wife, sister Melquiades said that the first Elders that he ever came up to. Apparently he just hides whenever missionaries come around, so I was just grateful we got to meet him and share a quick message with him. i am also super grateful for the example that sister Melquiades is for him and how faithful she is to the gospel. We had a sweet experience with our ward mission leader in the 4th ward. he invited us over along with the recent converts in our ward, Johnny and Shamir. We went and had snacks and a good time there and it was great because we really got to see how effective it is to have recent converts have a good relationship with the members of the ward. We had Stake Conference in the Makati Stake this last weekend! It was awesome. The Saturday night session was focused on hastening the work of salvation and it was so great. There was a sister that bore her testimony that was so strong. She has only one leg and walks with a crutch, yet she decided that she wanted to still serve a mission. She got all ready and put in her papers, then after waiting for a real long time, got news that her application was denied. She said she was sad, but felt that she just had another purpose in being a missionary and now she is a seminary teacher and helps prepare able young men and women to be able to serve. She is also helping her siblings get ready. She said that you don't want to have a badge to prove that you are a missionary, no matter who you are, you can be one. I know it's true. We can all be missionaries if we just have the faith and courage to open our mouths and hare the gospel with others. The Lord will bless us and help us if we do so.
Elder Stephens
June 9, 2014
Hey all!
What a week! first off, I have a new companion, actually sort of. It's Elder Limocon!! We were companions before in Narra for two transfers as zone leaders and now we are companions again here in Makati! I am so stoked. We already love it. It is so fun to be with Elder Limocon again, he is awesome. I followed up with the zone leader who was Elder Limocon's companion right before the transfer and he was bummed that I "stole" his companion. I told him though that I had to because 2 transfers was just not enough with ol' Elder Limocon. So transfer week went really well. There actually weren't too many hiccups this time for the transfer! Hooray! Last time there was a ton of stuff that happened but this one went really well. I got to go to the temple last week with the going home missionaries and I just love it so much. The temple is the best and I am so happy I get to serve in a mission where we get to go there once a transfer. I love how we can really feel the spirit every time we go there. This last week I really saw the power of fasting. During transfer week it is hard for us tot get good work going because we are doing quite a big of stuff, but I am glad we are able to work with the time that we are given. Anyway, on Sunday, Elder Limocon and I fasted and we really just focused on having success in our area. So on Sunday we went to church and everything was going pretty good except that one of our investigators to be baptized this month did not show up in the beginning! I was so nervous because now he might not be able to get baptize don the day we had scheduled for him and then I remembered our fast and remembered the real reason I wanted him to be baptized. A few minutes into the sacrament meeting James shows up and says he had to go tot he airport for his boss but was super excited to come to church. I just felt it was an answer to prayer and fasting that he still had the desire. After church, we taught him and he is ready for his interview this upcoming Sunday and hill be ready for baptism in the 21st! Another answer to prayer and fasting was that we were also looking for success in the next few months. The Malate family, who returned from inactivity recently and also had Christ our recent convert baptized, had another referral for us! Patrick has actually been to church a few times and he now said he wants to get taught and we are going to do it with the Malate family. They are super stoked to help him come unto Christ and I am super stoked to be able to invite and help him to do so. One more experience that day was at night. We had been trying to go back to Tomas for a while. He was that inactive member we met a few months ago and helped come to church one time. Well he got real busy at work and we hadn't seen him in weeks! We felt we should go to him that night and lo and behold he was there with his mother and was so happy that we had come. He apologized for being so busy and not being able to come to church but said that he still has that desire and that he won't give up trying to come back. Once his work really calms down, he promised to come to church every week. I am grateful to be a missionary and grateful that I get to see miracles happen each and every day. This mission has really given me a testimony to prayer and fasting and I am so grateful for it!
Elder Stephens
What a week! first off, I have a new companion, actually sort of. It's Elder Limocon!! We were companions before in Narra for two transfers as zone leaders and now we are companions again here in Makati! I am so stoked. We already love it. It is so fun to be with Elder Limocon again, he is awesome. I followed up with the zone leader who was Elder Limocon's companion right before the transfer and he was bummed that I "stole" his companion. I told him though that I had to because 2 transfers was just not enough with ol' Elder Limocon. So transfer week went really well. There actually weren't too many hiccups this time for the transfer! Hooray! Last time there was a ton of stuff that happened but this one went really well. I got to go to the temple last week with the going home missionaries and I just love it so much. The temple is the best and I am so happy I get to serve in a mission where we get to go there once a transfer. I love how we can really feel the spirit every time we go there. This last week I really saw the power of fasting. During transfer week it is hard for us tot get good work going because we are doing quite a big of stuff, but I am glad we are able to work with the time that we are given. Anyway, on Sunday, Elder Limocon and I fasted and we really just focused on having success in our area. So on Sunday we went to church and everything was going pretty good except that one of our investigators to be baptized this month did not show up in the beginning! I was so nervous because now he might not be able to get baptize don the day we had scheduled for him and then I remembered our fast and remembered the real reason I wanted him to be baptized. A few minutes into the sacrament meeting James shows up and says he had to go tot he airport for his boss but was super excited to come to church. I just felt it was an answer to prayer and fasting that he still had the desire. After church, we taught him and he is ready for his interview this upcoming Sunday and hill be ready for baptism in the 21st! Another answer to prayer and fasting was that we were also looking for success in the next few months. The Malate family, who returned from inactivity recently and also had Christ our recent convert baptized, had another referral for us! Patrick has actually been to church a few times and he now said he wants to get taught and we are going to do it with the Malate family. They are super stoked to help him come unto Christ and I am super stoked to be able to invite and help him to do so. One more experience that day was at night. We had been trying to go back to Tomas for a while. He was that inactive member we met a few months ago and helped come to church one time. Well he got real busy at work and we hadn't seen him in weeks! We felt we should go to him that night and lo and behold he was there with his mother and was so happy that we had come. He apologized for being so busy and not being able to come to church but said that he still has that desire and that he won't give up trying to come back. Once his work really calms down, he promised to come to church every week. I am grateful to be a missionary and grateful that I get to see miracles happen each and every day. This mission has really given me a testimony to prayer and fasting and I am so grateful for it!
Elder Stephens
June 2, 2014
Hey errbody!
I have been fed so much spiritually because of this last week. I feel like we were in meetings or conferences all week long! It was great though and I absolutely loved it. On Friday we had our missionary conference with Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy. We were so blessed to have him come and teach us. He is a big guy that played line on the BYU football team years and years ago, but with that big body he brings a very strong spirit. They talked a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I noticed he just kept testifying of Jesus Christ. It was great to see a Seventy continue to testify of the Savior and he did it with power each time. I noticed that we as missionaries don't testify of the Savior enough. We should be testifying of the Atonement and of Jesus Christ all the time! So I have made it a goal to always talk about the Savior. He said at one point in the conference that we could relate any concern or problem back to the Atonement, and how the Atonement can help us solve those concerns. It was amazing. I am so grateful Elder Christensen came to our mission and taught us. It was a wonderful experience. We also had a missionary leadership council. I think that makes 12 for me now Anyway, the theme of the council was Matthew 5:14-16 and being a light to the world. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and as representatives of Him, we can bring that light into the lives of others. We watched those three Mormon messages where Elder Bednar talks about the light of Christ. It was sweet and we had a lot of discussion on how we can bring the light of Christ into the lives of these wonderful Filipino people. We have to be obedient and worth of the Spirit and the light of Christ can touch those people's hearts. We also had a real big discussion on how we can help the missionaries in our mission to become more exactly obedient. There were a ton of awesome answers but there were a few that really stood out to me. One was how we have to start with ourselves. We can't expect to teach with moral authority about obedience, if we ourselves are disobedient. So we have to be exactly obedient. Second was to teach about obedience and the blessings. We also need to teach about the consequences of disobedience. One of our sister training leaders said that they are missing out on miracles if they are disobedient. I never though about that before. As we are exactly obedient, we can see miracles happen before us. Last was to help district leaders. They are the most disobedient in our leadership at this point. So as we help our district leaders to become more exactly obedient, they can help those other missionaries do the same. It was an awesome meeting about obedience and being the light for others. There were other meetings and stuff butt hose two were the best ones. We found out this week that Elder Belnap is getting transferred. I have loved the time we had together. He is an awesome companion and example. I am so grateful I got to serve with him. I will never forget the times we had, it was fun and we saw a ton of success. So this week I will be getting another companion, i will let you know who it is next week!
Elder Stephens
I have been fed so much spiritually because of this last week. I feel like we were in meetings or conferences all week long! It was great though and I absolutely loved it. On Friday we had our missionary conference with Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy. We were so blessed to have him come and teach us. He is a big guy that played line on the BYU football team years and years ago, but with that big body he brings a very strong spirit. They talked a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I noticed he just kept testifying of Jesus Christ. It was great to see a Seventy continue to testify of the Savior and he did it with power each time. I noticed that we as missionaries don't testify of the Savior enough. We should be testifying of the Atonement and of Jesus Christ all the time! So I have made it a goal to always talk about the Savior. He said at one point in the conference that we could relate any concern or problem back to the Atonement, and how the Atonement can help us solve those concerns. It was amazing. I am so grateful Elder Christensen came to our mission and taught us. It was a wonderful experience. We also had a missionary leadership council. I think that makes 12 for me now Anyway, the theme of the council was Matthew 5:14-16 and being a light to the world. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and as representatives of Him, we can bring that light into the lives of others. We watched those three Mormon messages where Elder Bednar talks about the light of Christ. It was sweet and we had a lot of discussion on how we can bring the light of Christ into the lives of these wonderful Filipino people. We have to be obedient and worth of the Spirit and the light of Christ can touch those people's hearts. We also had a real big discussion on how we can help the missionaries in our mission to become more exactly obedient. There were a ton of awesome answers but there were a few that really stood out to me. One was how we have to start with ourselves. We can't expect to teach with moral authority about obedience, if we ourselves are disobedient. So we have to be exactly obedient. Second was to teach about obedience and the blessings. We also need to teach about the consequences of disobedience. One of our sister training leaders said that they are missing out on miracles if they are disobedient. I never though about that before. As we are exactly obedient, we can see miracles happen before us. Last was to help district leaders. They are the most disobedient in our leadership at this point. So as we help our district leaders to become more exactly obedient, they can help those other missionaries do the same. It was an awesome meeting about obedience and being the light for others. There were other meetings and stuff butt hose two were the best ones. We found out this week that Elder Belnap is getting transferred. I have loved the time we had together. He is an awesome companion and example. I am so grateful I got to serve with him. I will never forget the times we had, it was fun and we saw a ton of success. So this week I will be getting another companion, i will let you know who it is next week!
Elder Stephens
Monday, May 26, 2014
May 26, 2014
Hello:)
We had an amazing week!! We saw a ton of success this past week and I couldn't be more grateful that we were blessed so much. First off, we had a baptism!! Raymond aka Nino is now on the strait and narrow path. We had a dinner with him and a couple of his friends who were questioning his decision for baptism. They are member of another church. Long story short, they were so happy they were able to talk with us and after they were super excited for Nino and not worried at all about his decision for baptism. One of his friends is even planning on coming to church this next week! Super stoked. Anyway, the baptism for Nino went super well and there was a ton of support for him. We were really happy about that because the members really showed a lot of love for him and he said himself that he felt it. He even invited another one of his friends to the baptismal service and she said that she loved it as well. Nino is already doing missionary work! I am so happy we got to start teaching Nino and see his progression all the way up to his baptism. He is so awesome and I love him a ton. We had another great lesson with the Austria family this past week about the Restoration. They still are not completely sure about baptism yet and they are struggling with having the time to come to church, however we really believe that they will be able to make the decision for baptism as they continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know the truth. I am super excited for them and I know they will come to feel the Spirit. We also had a really good time with some members in our ward. They took us bowling along with the sisters from our ward as well! It was fun and we were able to build more of a relationship with them. I really love the members here in the 3rd ward. Matthew is doing really well. He is loving the messages we share about Jesus Christ. We learned that he was actually atheist over in China before he came here, but when he came here he heard about Jesus Christ and wanted to know more. It is super interest teaching him and it helps me learn a ton about faith. I feel like it would be so hard to go about life without faith in Jesus Christ so I am so happy we get to teach Matthew and help him really gain that faith in the Savior. We also had the interesting opportunity tot each some people at the Baldwin home. The Baldwins are actually members int he international ward that we are assigned to and they invited us to teach some of the people over there. It was awesome, one because we had Mexican food, and two because we actually taught a really powerful lesson where I could really feel the Spirit strong. We went on Saturday, and the next day on Sunday one of the people that we taught actually come to church! Another one we taught is planning to come next week and bring a cousin along with her. After the lesson Elder Belnap and I were talking and came to the conclusion that the Spirit had everything to do with that lesson and we basically just showed up. I love feeling the Spirit in the lessons and I know that only the Spirit is the true teacher in this work.
Elder Stephens
We had an amazing week!! We saw a ton of success this past week and I couldn't be more grateful that we were blessed so much. First off, we had a baptism!! Raymond aka Nino is now on the strait and narrow path. We had a dinner with him and a couple of his friends who were questioning his decision for baptism. They are member of another church. Long story short, they were so happy they were able to talk with us and after they were super excited for Nino and not worried at all about his decision for baptism. One of his friends is even planning on coming to church this next week! Super stoked. Anyway, the baptism for Nino went super well and there was a ton of support for him. We were really happy about that because the members really showed a lot of love for him and he said himself that he felt it. He even invited another one of his friends to the baptismal service and she said that she loved it as well. Nino is already doing missionary work! I am so happy we got to start teaching Nino and see his progression all the way up to his baptism. He is so awesome and I love him a ton. We had another great lesson with the Austria family this past week about the Restoration. They still are not completely sure about baptism yet and they are struggling with having the time to come to church, however we really believe that they will be able to make the decision for baptism as they continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know the truth. I am super excited for them and I know they will come to feel the Spirit. We also had a really good time with some members in our ward. They took us bowling along with the sisters from our ward as well! It was fun and we were able to build more of a relationship with them. I really love the members here in the 3rd ward. Matthew is doing really well. He is loving the messages we share about Jesus Christ. We learned that he was actually atheist over in China before he came here, but when he came here he heard about Jesus Christ and wanted to know more. It is super interest teaching him and it helps me learn a ton about faith. I feel like it would be so hard to go about life without faith in Jesus Christ so I am so happy we get to teach Matthew and help him really gain that faith in the Savior. We also had the interesting opportunity tot each some people at the Baldwin home. The Baldwins are actually members int he international ward that we are assigned to and they invited us to teach some of the people over there. It was awesome, one because we had Mexican food, and two because we actually taught a really powerful lesson where I could really feel the Spirit strong. We went on Saturday, and the next day on Sunday one of the people that we taught actually come to church! Another one we taught is planning to come next week and bring a cousin along with her. After the lesson Elder Belnap and I were talking and came to the conclusion that the Spirit had everything to do with that lesson and we basically just showed up. I love feeling the Spirit in the lessons and I know that only the Spirit is the true teacher in this work.
Elder Stephens
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
May 19, 2014
Hey hey hey!!
Fires are crazy. I'm happy everyone was safe though! As for the Philippines, it is blistering hot. During the day it is around 100 and during the night it is around 90. It is so hot, that even the Filipino people are saying that this is way different than usual. It's alright though, we still get work done. This week was full of ton of zone conferences! They were sweet. First we went to Palawan, then we had our other zone conferences here in Makati. Overall the idea of the zone conference was to harness the power of the members. We had some great practices about working with the Bishop and also sharing lessons with members. The Bishop one was fun. Elder Belnap and I first showed how we are NOT supposed to do it. We were pathetic missionaries in that skit. Then we showed how to really do it and it was awesome. President Stucki shared a great message about obedience. He has always talked about the importance of being obedient and so for his last zone conference he hit it hard again. It was great. I liked it most because he talked about being obedient in order to help other missionaries and other members be successful in missionary work. One thing I learned form zone conference is the importance of being spiritually prepared. One of the conferences we had, some missionaries came in late and the missionaries just didn't seem ready to receive council. In turn, we had trouble getting them going and really getting excited to learn. I realized that it is super important that we get ready days in advance to receive counsel from our leaders. I got to share about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I wanted to share about how it should drive everything we do as missionaries but I also wanted to make it interesting. So I shared with all the missionaries in the mission, "Don't just preach the gospel, live it!" It was a change from just talking about the gospel all the time but really focusing on applying it in our lives as well. At the end of each zone conference, President Stucki shared about families. The area presidency here has asked the mission presidents to teach about family and getting married in the Temple. It was interesting! He kept saying, "I don't want you to think too much about this right now, but you have to think about it sometimes." It was super funny. The part I liked most about it was that they really want missionaries teaching about families and helping other getting married in the temple, and they also really want missionaries to do the same. This was my last zone conference so I gave a testimony and stuff and it was weird thinking that I won't have another zone conference as a full-time missionary. I learned so much from this zone conference and I am grateful for everything I learned. I love being a missionary and I love being able to become more Christ like through serving the Lord and though serving others. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel."
Elder Stephens
Fires are crazy. I'm happy everyone was safe though! As for the Philippines, it is blistering hot. During the day it is around 100 and during the night it is around 90. It is so hot, that even the Filipino people are saying that this is way different than usual. It's alright though, we still get work done. This week was full of ton of zone conferences! They were sweet. First we went to Palawan, then we had our other zone conferences here in Makati. Overall the idea of the zone conference was to harness the power of the members. We had some great practices about working with the Bishop and also sharing lessons with members. The Bishop one was fun. Elder Belnap and I first showed how we are NOT supposed to do it. We were pathetic missionaries in that skit. Then we showed how to really do it and it was awesome. President Stucki shared a great message about obedience. He has always talked about the importance of being obedient and so for his last zone conference he hit it hard again. It was great. I liked it most because he talked about being obedient in order to help other missionaries and other members be successful in missionary work. One thing I learned form zone conference is the importance of being spiritually prepared. One of the conferences we had, some missionaries came in late and the missionaries just didn't seem ready to receive council. In turn, we had trouble getting them going and really getting excited to learn. I realized that it is super important that we get ready days in advance to receive counsel from our leaders. I got to share about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I wanted to share about how it should drive everything we do as missionaries but I also wanted to make it interesting. So I shared with all the missionaries in the mission, "Don't just preach the gospel, live it!" It was a change from just talking about the gospel all the time but really focusing on applying it in our lives as well. At the end of each zone conference, President Stucki shared about families. The area presidency here has asked the mission presidents to teach about family and getting married in the Temple. It was interesting! He kept saying, "I don't want you to think too much about this right now, but you have to think about it sometimes." It was super funny. The part I liked most about it was that they really want missionaries teaching about families and helping other getting married in the temple, and they also really want missionaries to do the same. This was my last zone conference so I gave a testimony and stuff and it was weird thinking that I won't have another zone conference as a full-time missionary. I learned so much from this zone conference and I am grateful for everything I learned. I love being a missionary and I love being able to become more Christ like through serving the Lord and though serving others. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel."
Elder Stephens
May 12, 2014
Hello everyone!!
First off, Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there! Especially to Raquel Stephens, the bestest mother in the whole wide world! I love you!! We had an awesome week! We got to go to Palawan for some exchanges with the zone leaders over there. We spent Monday thought Thursday over there in Palawan. it was cool because I got to go to my old area in Narra and work there again. I saw a few of the people I taught and ever one of the couples that I baptized over there! They are doing awesome and apparently they have even shared the gospel with others and more people have been baptized because of it! I was stoked to hear that. They are so converted. While we were in Narra, I saw my teacher from the MTC!!! Her name is Sister Ward and she was in Palawan on a trip with her husband because they both served here in the Philippines. It was awesome seeing them and getting to catch up. She said I speak better Tagalog than she does now haha. I don't think it's true though, she is great. It was also a really cool experience to be able to work in Puerto. I have never really worked a full day there and I was able to work with one of the zone leaders over there and it was a ton of fun. Elder Belnap always talk about Puerto and how it is just an awesome place because he got to serve there as well. I got to see first hand that it really is a great place to do missionary work. It is not as secluded as Narra is because it is still a big tourist spot, but once you get into the places for proselyting, it is actually pretty much province. I loved going on exchanges on Palawan and being able to work in both Narra and Puerto. I absolutely just love missionary work and working over there was a testimony to me that missionary work is the same everywhere you go. No matter where we are, we are there to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. I love it. The man we are teaching, Raymond, is doing super good! He is looking to get baptized on May 24! We had a great lesson with him last week. He apparently did something bad which had been almost haunting him for a few days and he said he even had sleepless nights. He really wanted us to come and teach him so last Saturday we went to his place and taught. We basically just focused on repentance and baptism and how he will receive forgiveness of that sin, as well as all his sins as he does those things. It was such a good lesson and after the lesson he said that he was so happy that we came, he will now be able to sleep and he is excited for baptism. He still isn't sure about May 24 because he is worried about what his family will think, but he knows for sure he will get baptized at some point. As we left, Elder Belnap and I were talking and realized that we really don't do a whole lot. All of what had just happened was Heavenly Father guiding us through the Spirit and the Spirit testifying those things to Raymond to help him feel comforted and know it is true. It was awesome and it just helped me know that his is the work of the Lord. I can never forget that experience and how Heavenly Father just has such a big part in helping His children com until Him.
Elder Stephens
First off, Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there! Especially to Raquel Stephens, the bestest mother in the whole wide world! I love you!! We had an awesome week! We got to go to Palawan for some exchanges with the zone leaders over there. We spent Monday thought Thursday over there in Palawan. it was cool because I got to go to my old area in Narra and work there again. I saw a few of the people I taught and ever one of the couples that I baptized over there! They are doing awesome and apparently they have even shared the gospel with others and more people have been baptized because of it! I was stoked to hear that. They are so converted. While we were in Narra, I saw my teacher from the MTC!!! Her name is Sister Ward and she was in Palawan on a trip with her husband because they both served here in the Philippines. It was awesome seeing them and getting to catch up. She said I speak better Tagalog than she does now haha. I don't think it's true though, she is great. It was also a really cool experience to be able to work in Puerto. I have never really worked a full day there and I was able to work with one of the zone leaders over there and it was a ton of fun. Elder Belnap always talk about Puerto and how it is just an awesome place because he got to serve there as well. I got to see first hand that it really is a great place to do missionary work. It is not as secluded as Narra is because it is still a big tourist spot, but once you get into the places for proselyting, it is actually pretty much province. I loved going on exchanges on Palawan and being able to work in both Narra and Puerto. I absolutely just love missionary work and working over there was a testimony to me that missionary work is the same everywhere you go. No matter where we are, we are there to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. I love it. The man we are teaching, Raymond, is doing super good! He is looking to get baptized on May 24! We had a great lesson with him last week. He apparently did something bad which had been almost haunting him for a few days and he said he even had sleepless nights. He really wanted us to come and teach him so last Saturday we went to his place and taught. We basically just focused on repentance and baptism and how he will receive forgiveness of that sin, as well as all his sins as he does those things. It was such a good lesson and after the lesson he said that he was so happy that we came, he will now be able to sleep and he is excited for baptism. He still isn't sure about May 24 because he is worried about what his family will think, but he knows for sure he will get baptized at some point. As we left, Elder Belnap and I were talking and realized that we really don't do a whole lot. All of what had just happened was Heavenly Father guiding us through the Spirit and the Spirit testifying those things to Raymond to help him feel comforted and know it is true. It was awesome and it just helped me know that his is the work of the Lord. I can never forget that experience and how Heavenly Father just has such a big part in helping His children com until Him.
Elder Stephens
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
May 5, 2014
Happy Cinco de Mayo!!
We don't even celebrate it here but I thought I should mention it. Elder Belnap and I had a wonderful week! We had another missionary leadership council. Elder Belnap and I counted and we figured out that this was the 11th one! And I will probably have more of them. I love missionary leadership councils and they really help out a ton. This one was a little bit different because President Stucki invited all of the district leaders to come to it as well. I thought it was alright but it just didn't feel the same as a regular MLC. However, we still were able to learn a lot so everyone was able to benefit from it. The main focus of our MLC was to increase out expectations as missionaries. We feel like the missionaries could be ding a lot better as long as we have faith in Jesus Christ and do everything we can to reach the vision our mission president has set. I feel like everyone was able to get a lot from the MLC and now all we have to do is apply the things that were learned. I can't wait to see the mission continue to grow and reach the potential that I know that it can. Our area is starting to get better, we still could use a lot more people to teach, but the people that we are teaching at the moment are really progressing. We had a lesson with Rommel again and he explained that him and his girlfriend now want to get married! That was one thing that was concerning us because you can't get baptized unless you are married first if you are living with someone. So that was great but I don't know how soon they can get married. I guess we'll see. It does comfort me however that they will one day get married and they have the desire to be together forever because they even said that they want to get married in the Temple! We taught Raymond again and he is just doing great. He is getting closer and closer to the decision to be baptized. I feel like he just needs to make the final decision and then he will get a blessed so much! He shared with us a really cool experience. He said that one night he had a dream that he was dressed in white and was baptized! One of this friends in church was the one who baptized him and Elder Belnap and I were both there as well. It was cool because he has been praying so much to find an answer on what he should do and then when he told us that I said, well there's the answer to your prayers! I hope he acts on the answer he got. We also go to work with the youth of the Makati 4th ward this last Saturday. It was cool because we don't get to work with youth a whole lot. They were awesome though and they are preparing for missions of their own. The youth are just getting better and better these days and they continue to surprise me by their faith and commitment to the gospel. They will be great missionaries in the future. I absolutely love this work. I couldn't do it without my Savior.
We don't even celebrate it here but I thought I should mention it. Elder Belnap and I had a wonderful week! We had another missionary leadership council. Elder Belnap and I counted and we figured out that this was the 11th one! And I will probably have more of them. I love missionary leadership councils and they really help out a ton. This one was a little bit different because President Stucki invited all of the district leaders to come to it as well. I thought it was alright but it just didn't feel the same as a regular MLC. However, we still were able to learn a lot so everyone was able to benefit from it. The main focus of our MLC was to increase out expectations as missionaries. We feel like the missionaries could be ding a lot better as long as we have faith in Jesus Christ and do everything we can to reach the vision our mission president has set. I feel like everyone was able to get a lot from the MLC and now all we have to do is apply the things that were learned. I can't wait to see the mission continue to grow and reach the potential that I know that it can. Our area is starting to get better, we still could use a lot more people to teach, but the people that we are teaching at the moment are really progressing. We had a lesson with Rommel again and he explained that him and his girlfriend now want to get married! That was one thing that was concerning us because you can't get baptized unless you are married first if you are living with someone. So that was great but I don't know how soon they can get married. I guess we'll see. It does comfort me however that they will one day get married and they have the desire to be together forever because they even said that they want to get married in the Temple! We taught Raymond again and he is just doing great. He is getting closer and closer to the decision to be baptized. I feel like he just needs to make the final decision and then he will get a blessed so much! He shared with us a really cool experience. He said that one night he had a dream that he was dressed in white and was baptized! One of this friends in church was the one who baptized him and Elder Belnap and I were both there as well. It was cool because he has been praying so much to find an answer on what he should do and then when he told us that I said, well there's the answer to your prayers! I hope he acts on the answer he got. We also go to work with the youth of the Makati 4th ward this last Saturday. It was cool because we don't get to work with youth a whole lot. They were awesome though and they are preparing for missions of their own. The youth are just getting better and better these days and they continue to surprise me by their faith and commitment to the gospel. They will be great missionaries in the future. I absolutely love this work. I couldn't do it without my Savior.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
April 28, 2014
Hello there everyone!!
We had an awesome experience this last week!! Elder Belnap and I got to go to the Area Presidency's office to meet with them and the assistants and sister training leaders of two other missions! So we went with our sister training leaders and with the Quezon and Quezon North missions. We went to talk to the Philippines Area Presidency about missionary work here in the Philippines. They wanted to meet with us because they had a mission president seminar and they used the things we told them in the seminar to all the mission presidents here in the Philippines. Anyway, it was a great experience because they are just awesome people. President Nielson, Elder Ardern, and Elder Echo Hawk were all there and it was great to just feel the Spirit in the room there. They had a ton of questions for us and they told us to be completely open with them and basically just teach them. One of the main focuses was helping missionaries to raise their expectations here in the mission. For me it came down to just understanding the doctrine of Christ and internalizing your purpose as a missionary. If we as missionaries just loved the people so much that we couldn't help but want to share the gospel with them, their testimonies would grow and their desire to work harder would grow as well. Elder Arden wanted to know how missionaries could strengthen their testimony and we shared a ton about that. One of the things that stood our to me was President Nielson said that we as missionaries have to go through the tough times in order to see success. He called it a "refiners fire." It was a great concept because a lot of missionaries get so discouraged when they don't see success right away and a lot of it, however that is where your testimony really grows because when you do see that success down the road, it feels that much better. I loved meeting with the area presidency. They took a picture and said they will send it out to us sometime. I will definitely have to send that one to all of you. Last week was transfer week and it looks like Elder Belnap and I will be together for another transfer! That makes it the third for us together. We are basically the same person at this point. I am stoked for another transfer with him though. We have had a lot of success and I feel like we ill continue to have more. I just love this work and I love being able to serve my Heavenly Father. I have learned a lot about service while I have been here and I hope I can continue to serve hard throughout my entire life. I love this gospel and can't believe I get to continue to share it with everyone I meet.
Elder Stephens
We had an awesome experience this last week!! Elder Belnap and I got to go to the Area Presidency's office to meet with them and the assistants and sister training leaders of two other missions! So we went with our sister training leaders and with the Quezon and Quezon North missions. We went to talk to the Philippines Area Presidency about missionary work here in the Philippines. They wanted to meet with us because they had a mission president seminar and they used the things we told them in the seminar to all the mission presidents here in the Philippines. Anyway, it was a great experience because they are just awesome people. President Nielson, Elder Ardern, and Elder Echo Hawk were all there and it was great to just feel the Spirit in the room there. They had a ton of questions for us and they told us to be completely open with them and basically just teach them. One of the main focuses was helping missionaries to raise their expectations here in the mission. For me it came down to just understanding the doctrine of Christ and internalizing your purpose as a missionary. If we as missionaries just loved the people so much that we couldn't help but want to share the gospel with them, their testimonies would grow and their desire to work harder would grow as well. Elder Arden wanted to know how missionaries could strengthen their testimony and we shared a ton about that. One of the things that stood our to me was President Nielson said that we as missionaries have to go through the tough times in order to see success. He called it a "refiners fire." It was a great concept because a lot of missionaries get so discouraged when they don't see success right away and a lot of it, however that is where your testimony really grows because when you do see that success down the road, it feels that much better. I loved meeting with the area presidency. They took a picture and said they will send it out to us sometime. I will definitely have to send that one to all of you. Last week was transfer week and it looks like Elder Belnap and I will be together for another transfer! That makes it the third for us together. We are basically the same person at this point. I am stoked for another transfer with him though. We have had a lot of success and I feel like we ill continue to have more. I just love this work and I love being able to serve my Heavenly Father. I have learned a lot about service while I have been here and I hope I can continue to serve hard throughout my entire life. I love this gospel and can't believe I get to continue to share it with everyone I meet.
Elder Stephens
April 21, 2014
Hey there all!
Happy Easter!! I know that my Redeemer lives! Jesus is the Christ, I have no doubt in my mind. I absolutely love Him! I love this time of the year because everyone really shows their love for Christ and just makes everything seem better. I love it! Last week was great. Elias was baptized on Saturday!! It was so nice and the baptismal service went great! We had a ton of people there and everyone was just supporting Elias along with another person baptized who the sisters in our ward are teaching. President and Sister Stucki came to the baptism as well and they said that it was a really good one! Elias also got confirmed the next day of course, AND THEN, he got the priesthood!! I was stoked. He is going to be an awesome member, I can already tell. We have seen some real progression with our investigator, Raymond. He had a bunch of questions and they were questions that only our bishop could answer, since they regarded some cultural things here in the Philippines. So anyway, he came to church and talked to Bishop Espi and when he was done talking to him, he came to us and was wayyyy happy! He said it was great talking to bishop and he learned so much and felt his love. Bishop Espi is the man. So Raymond is really starting to progress so much and we will continue to pray and fast that he will get baptized! Tomas, a less active member of 10 years, came to church for the first time this last Sunday! He was so happy to finally be back and he also talked to our bishop and they are going to work on getting his records back into the church because they were some how lost. I am super excited for him because I can feel that he really wants to repent and come back into the fold of God. I love it. We met this guy named Roy, he is from Alabama. Right after he said he was from Alabama, he said, "Roll Tide" in a low Alabama man accent. I t was sweet. I just thought I would let you all know about that. Last Thursday, April 17 was Elder Belnap's birthday!! He is finally 21. We got so much cool stuff for his birthday. We got a cake from the Stucki's, a cake and dinner at a Chinese place with some of our members, and we got a while bunch of food from the people we taught after we said it was his birthday. Super good day in my opinion. It is sweet having a companion because on their birthday, you get all the good food just like they do. I love this work! I again testify that our Savior lives. Through His atonement, we can be cleansed of our sins, and we can all live again in the presence of our Heavenly Father. I know this work is His work. I can't testify of Him enough! I know He loves us. I love my Savior!!
Elder Stephens
Happy Easter!! I know that my Redeemer lives! Jesus is the Christ, I have no doubt in my mind. I absolutely love Him! I love this time of the year because everyone really shows their love for Christ and just makes everything seem better. I love it! Last week was great. Elias was baptized on Saturday!! It was so nice and the baptismal service went great! We had a ton of people there and everyone was just supporting Elias along with another person baptized who the sisters in our ward are teaching. President and Sister Stucki came to the baptism as well and they said that it was a really good one! Elias also got confirmed the next day of course, AND THEN, he got the priesthood!! I was stoked. He is going to be an awesome member, I can already tell. We have seen some real progression with our investigator, Raymond. He had a bunch of questions and they were questions that only our bishop could answer, since they regarded some cultural things here in the Philippines. So anyway, he came to church and talked to Bishop Espi and when he was done talking to him, he came to us and was wayyyy happy! He said it was great talking to bishop and he learned so much and felt his love. Bishop Espi is the man. So Raymond is really starting to progress so much and we will continue to pray and fast that he will get baptized! Tomas, a less active member of 10 years, came to church for the first time this last Sunday! He was so happy to finally be back and he also talked to our bishop and they are going to work on getting his records back into the church because they were some how lost. I am super excited for him because I can feel that he really wants to repent and come back into the fold of God. I love it. We met this guy named Roy, he is from Alabama. Right after he said he was from Alabama, he said, "Roll Tide" in a low Alabama man accent. I t was sweet. I just thought I would let you all know about that. Last Thursday, April 17 was Elder Belnap's birthday!! He is finally 21. We got so much cool stuff for his birthday. We got a cake from the Stucki's, a cake and dinner at a Chinese place with some of our members, and we got a while bunch of food from the people we taught after we said it was his birthday. Super good day in my opinion. It is sweet having a companion because on their birthday, you get all the good food just like they do. I love this work! I again testify that our Savior lives. Through His atonement, we can be cleansed of our sins, and we can all live again in the presence of our Heavenly Father. I know this work is His work. I can't testify of Him enough! I know He loves us. I love my Savior!!
Elder Stephens
Monday, April 14, 2014
April 14, 2014
Hey everyone!
General Conference was awesome!! Heavenly Father really does guide us through His living prophets. I loved the messages about being courageous in obeying the commandments of God. We shouldn't be ashamed as we follow His commandments and we receive so much more joy as we do so. There were so many talks about just being obedient and following the Spirit and the prophets words. It was an awesome conference and I was able to learn so much. My favorite quote of the conference was by President Monson, who said, "if you ever find yourself where you shouldn't ought to be, get out!" super awesome. I also loved how Elder Ballard invited all of us to study Preach My Gospel and know it. So here is a quote from PMG! "Finding by the Spirit is as important as teaching by the Spirit. Have faith that you will know what to teach and what to do to find those who will receive you." (PMG. 156) So now I'll just talk about our proselyting. Elder Belnap and I spent a ton of time in our area and we were able to see so many miracles just happen. First, we taught a Chinese man who was taught before by some missionaries. He has come to church for a while and just never progressed with the missionaries before. We taught him this last week and right away he just had a desire to find out the truth of the gospel! He had some concerns about prayer and said that God just does not answer his prayers, however during the lesson both Elder Belnap and I testified that God answers prayers. In the middle of the lesson I told him how I came to know the truth and I got on my knees just like I did when I prayed about he Book of Mormon and testified about how heavenly Father answered my prayer. I felt the Spirit so strong and he is now excited to pray about the truth. We also had a lesson with a man who we found at a hospital the other day. We were walking and he called out to us then we set up a time to teach him. His name is Ronnie, he looks like a Filipino Mike Meyers, and he is just awesome. We took him to the church and we were able to share about the Restoration with him. We pray he is able to progress in the gospel. We also found a member this last week named Tomas. He told us that he had been trying to come back to church and has been praying for it but never found a way to be able to come back. Elder Belnap and I were looking around for him but just couldn't find him. Eventually we were led to an apartment complex where we thought he might be, as we were talking to a man outside the complex, he walked by. We went over and found out it was Tomas and he invited us in! Once in we found out that he had been praying for us to come, and when he saw us talking to the man, he wanted to come and talk to us but was too shy. He said he wanted us to come and talk to him. We did just that. I know we were led by the Spirit to find him. I know without a doubt in my mind! This work is guided by our loving Heavenly Father. He guides our prophets and apostles to receive revelation for us all. He guides us to find those who He has prepared. I know this is His work.
Elder Stephens
General Conference was awesome!! Heavenly Father really does guide us through His living prophets. I loved the messages about being courageous in obeying the commandments of God. We shouldn't be ashamed as we follow His commandments and we receive so much more joy as we do so. There were so many talks about just being obedient and following the Spirit and the prophets words. It was an awesome conference and I was able to learn so much. My favorite quote of the conference was by President Monson, who said, "if you ever find yourself where you shouldn't ought to be, get out!" super awesome. I also loved how Elder Ballard invited all of us to study Preach My Gospel and know it. So here is a quote from PMG! "Finding by the Spirit is as important as teaching by the Spirit. Have faith that you will know what to teach and what to do to find those who will receive you." (PMG. 156) So now I'll just talk about our proselyting. Elder Belnap and I spent a ton of time in our area and we were able to see so many miracles just happen. First, we taught a Chinese man who was taught before by some missionaries. He has come to church for a while and just never progressed with the missionaries before. We taught him this last week and right away he just had a desire to find out the truth of the gospel! He had some concerns about prayer and said that God just does not answer his prayers, however during the lesson both Elder Belnap and I testified that God answers prayers. In the middle of the lesson I told him how I came to know the truth and I got on my knees just like I did when I prayed about he Book of Mormon and testified about how heavenly Father answered my prayer. I felt the Spirit so strong and he is now excited to pray about the truth. We also had a lesson with a man who we found at a hospital the other day. We were walking and he called out to us then we set up a time to teach him. His name is Ronnie, he looks like a Filipino Mike Meyers, and he is just awesome. We took him to the church and we were able to share about the Restoration with him. We pray he is able to progress in the gospel. We also found a member this last week named Tomas. He told us that he had been trying to come back to church and has been praying for it but never found a way to be able to come back. Elder Belnap and I were looking around for him but just couldn't find him. Eventually we were led to an apartment complex where we thought he might be, as we were talking to a man outside the complex, he walked by. We went over and found out it was Tomas and he invited us in! Once in we found out that he had been praying for us to come, and when he saw us talking to the man, he wanted to come and talk to us but was too shy. He said he wanted us to come and talk to him. We did just that. I know we were led by the Spirit to find him. I know without a doubt in my mind! This work is guided by our loving Heavenly Father. He guides our prophets and apostles to receive revelation for us all. He guides us to find those who He has prepared. I know this is His work.
Elder Stephens
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
April 7, 2014
Hey all!
I have learned so much as a missionary, and I just continue to learn so much. I love this work and being a missionary. Last week we had the blessing of teaching with President and Sister Hiatt a whole time. They are couple missionaries who came here and Elder Hiatt quickly became President Hiatt when he because the second counselor in the mission presidency. They are both awesome and we had some great lessons with them last week. It was their last week here so that was why it was so great. They transferred to Palawan this last week because they are trying to help our two districts over there to become stakes. For their going away party, we went to a buffet with all the couple missionaries and with the Stucki's. It was awesome and the best part was they paid for us! Elder Belnap and I ate so much, President Stucki asked us where it all goes. To this day I have no idea! We also had a training last week for the new missionaries who have been out for three weeks. I shared about teaching people, not lessons. While teaching about it, I learned a ton. I learned that teaching people, not lessons really just means loving the people you teach and teaching them as guided by the Spirit. If we love them and follow the Spirit as we teach, we will know what things we need to teach in order to really help them come unto Christ. I really was able to learn a lot while teaching about that. We also had a missionary leadership council this last week. It went very well! We had a lot of baptisms this last month. Actually the most the mission has had ever since I came out in the mission. In the missionary leadership council, we talked a lot about finding more people to teach. We real focused on finding those that are ready to receive the restored gospel. There are just so many people that have been prepared to receive the gospel at this time and we as missionaries have to do all we can to find those people and teach them in order to help them come unto Christ. I loved the message that President Stucki gave at the council. He just asked all of the leaders to start earnestly praying for the opportunities to find the elect, and do everything we can so that Heavenly Father will answer those prayers. I really believe we can do it. Later that night we had a great lesson with some members of the Makati 4th ward. We went to a members house, his name is Josh, and we shared a lesson with a YSA who thought about serving in the mission in the past and still has hoped to do it. I just shared testimony of the blessings that I have received from serving on a mission. I hope he continues to think about it. I really believe he would be a great missionary. As far as our investigators go, we had a great lesson with Elias. He is looking good for baptism this month. He just wants to repent and be baptized and keeps saying that he can't wait. I love that he really wants to repent in order to be ready for baptism. He just can't wait to see the blessings that come from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We also have been working with Nino for quite a bit and he still has a little bit of doubts. We found our a big concern of his. H just has a hard time forgiving others. That is something that just really holds him back! So we shared a lot about Christ's example of suffering everything for us, and still forgiving us for our weaknesses. He liked that. This has been a great week! I just learned so much for last week. I really was blessed because most of the things I learned came because I was the one teaching and the Spirit just taught me while I taught. I love this work and I love being able to learn so much about the Savior. I know this is His work. If we trust in Him and in the Spirit, we will see success.
Elder Stephens
I have learned so much as a missionary, and I just continue to learn so much. I love this work and being a missionary. Last week we had the blessing of teaching with President and Sister Hiatt a whole time. They are couple missionaries who came here and Elder Hiatt quickly became President Hiatt when he because the second counselor in the mission presidency. They are both awesome and we had some great lessons with them last week. It was their last week here so that was why it was so great. They transferred to Palawan this last week because they are trying to help our two districts over there to become stakes. For their going away party, we went to a buffet with all the couple missionaries and with the Stucki's. It was awesome and the best part was they paid for us! Elder Belnap and I ate so much, President Stucki asked us where it all goes. To this day I have no idea! We also had a training last week for the new missionaries who have been out for three weeks. I shared about teaching people, not lessons. While teaching about it, I learned a ton. I learned that teaching people, not lessons really just means loving the people you teach and teaching them as guided by the Spirit. If we love them and follow the Spirit as we teach, we will know what things we need to teach in order to really help them come unto Christ. I really was able to learn a lot while teaching about that. We also had a missionary leadership council this last week. It went very well! We had a lot of baptisms this last month. Actually the most the mission has had ever since I came out in the mission. In the missionary leadership council, we talked a lot about finding more people to teach. We real focused on finding those that are ready to receive the restored gospel. There are just so many people that have been prepared to receive the gospel at this time and we as missionaries have to do all we can to find those people and teach them in order to help them come unto Christ. I loved the message that President Stucki gave at the council. He just asked all of the leaders to start earnestly praying for the opportunities to find the elect, and do everything we can so that Heavenly Father will answer those prayers. I really believe we can do it. Later that night we had a great lesson with some members of the Makati 4th ward. We went to a members house, his name is Josh, and we shared a lesson with a YSA who thought about serving in the mission in the past and still has hoped to do it. I just shared testimony of the blessings that I have received from serving on a mission. I hope he continues to think about it. I really believe he would be a great missionary. As far as our investigators go, we had a great lesson with Elias. He is looking good for baptism this month. He just wants to repent and be baptized and keeps saying that he can't wait. I love that he really wants to repent in order to be ready for baptism. He just can't wait to see the blessings that come from the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We also have been working with Nino for quite a bit and he still has a little bit of doubts. We found our a big concern of his. H just has a hard time forgiving others. That is something that just really holds him back! So we shared a lot about Christ's example of suffering everything for us, and still forgiving us for our weaknesses. He liked that. This has been a great week! I just learned so much for last week. I really was blessed because most of the things I learned came because I was the one teaching and the Spirit just taught me while I taught. I love this work and I love being able to learn so much about the Savior. I know this is His work. If we trust in Him and in the Spirit, we will see success.
Elder Stephens
March 31, 2014
Hey!!
Elder David A. Bednar said, "A Preach My Gospel missionary is a servant of the lord, called by prophecy and authorized by the laying on of hands, who proclaims the Savior's everlasting and restored gospel in His way." This last week was great and it was because we spend a lot of time with missionaries doing the rest of the teaching trainings. We started over on Palawan and then came back to two more zones here in the mainland! It was great. I really learned the importance of finding all the time and teaching by the Spirit in order to invite and help more people to come unto Christ. We really don't expect to be successful in this work unless we find like crazy and teach effectively. on the way to Palawan there was a man in the airport and I just started to talk to him and it turned into a discussion about the gospel. It was great because eventually I was able to give him a Book of Mormon and he started reading it right away. There are just so many opportunities for us to share the gospel with others. Even in an airport waiting for your flight to Palawan! We had a great experience going to a family in the Makati 4th ward. They are the Lawrie family. The father is actually a non member who has been going to church for the past 20 years but just won't get baptized, but he wasn't there at the lesson when we came over. The rest of the family are all members but the children don't have a really strong testimonies of the gospel so we shared with them about strengthening their faith in order to gain a lasting testimony and be converted to the gospel. I think it went really well. We had an awesome dinner there by the way. Shepherd's pie and salad, then we had dessert, brownies, and ice cream. It was amazing. We taught brother Elias this last week, He as the brother that just came to church last Sunday after we just texted him. We had a great lesson with him and he wants to get baptized in April! He came to church yesterday and he had a great time. Lastly, we had another lesson with Raymond this last week and he is still a little hesitant to get baptized. He is just so worried about what others think. However, he did have a lot of questions for us and we were able to answer all of them! The best part was that he answered every question he had by using the scriptures. He came to church yesterday so that makes me think he is still thinking about being baptized. I am stoked for him. I love this work so much. Being a missionary is just like it says in the scriptures, being an instrument in the hands of the lord. I love it so much!
Elder Stephens
Elder David A. Bednar said, "A Preach My Gospel missionary is a servant of the lord, called by prophecy and authorized by the laying on of hands, who proclaims the Savior's everlasting and restored gospel in His way." This last week was great and it was because we spend a lot of time with missionaries doing the rest of the teaching trainings. We started over on Palawan and then came back to two more zones here in the mainland! It was great. I really learned the importance of finding all the time and teaching by the Spirit in order to invite and help more people to come unto Christ. We really don't expect to be successful in this work unless we find like crazy and teach effectively. on the way to Palawan there was a man in the airport and I just started to talk to him and it turned into a discussion about the gospel. It was great because eventually I was able to give him a Book of Mormon and he started reading it right away. There are just so many opportunities for us to share the gospel with others. Even in an airport waiting for your flight to Palawan! We had a great experience going to a family in the Makati 4th ward. They are the Lawrie family. The father is actually a non member who has been going to church for the past 20 years but just won't get baptized, but he wasn't there at the lesson when we came over. The rest of the family are all members but the children don't have a really strong testimonies of the gospel so we shared with them about strengthening their faith in order to gain a lasting testimony and be converted to the gospel. I think it went really well. We had an awesome dinner there by the way. Shepherd's pie and salad, then we had dessert, brownies, and ice cream. It was amazing. We taught brother Elias this last week, He as the brother that just came to church last Sunday after we just texted him. We had a great lesson with him and he wants to get baptized in April! He came to church yesterday and he had a great time. Lastly, we had another lesson with Raymond this last week and he is still a little hesitant to get baptized. He is just so worried about what others think. However, he did have a lot of questions for us and we were able to answer all of them! The best part was that he answered every question he had by using the scriptures. He came to church yesterday so that makes me think he is still thinking about being baptized. I am stoked for him. I love this work so much. Being a missionary is just like it says in the scriptures, being an instrument in the hands of the lord. I love it so much!
Elder Stephens
March 24, 2014
My life be like oooooo awwwww ooooooo ooo My life be like
Hey there!!
That song just came into my head right when I was about to start writing so I thought I would include it. Anyway! This last week was great. We had some specialized teaching trainings that are happening throughout the mission. We had 3 last week and we have 3 more of them this week. They are awesome and we just really focus on helping all of the missionaries teaching with power and authority. We have noticed that a lot of missionaries add a lot of fluff to the lessons so we had this teaching training for all the missionaries to just focus on the doctrine and teaching out of the scriptures. It has been great so far and everyone feels like it is helping out! We went to some of the members in the Makati 4th ward which is our international ward. It was great. We visited 3 families which included our ward mission leader Bro. Keys and his family. They are awesome and it was sweet because they fed us chicken and mashed potatoes as well as we got to coordinate the work in the ward. It is a weird situation in our ward because it s only for those international people but it is great because we get to go all over the place in our mission. They Keys family is awesome though and they have these 3 little kids who are so awesome. One of them is like 2 and he did a Hulk smash on his mashed potatoes. Literally he said "Hulk smash" and smashed his mashed potatoes everywhere. Elder Belnap and I were laughing so hard! We also got to visit our new Bishop in the Makati 3rd ward. He is awesome and just wanted us to come by, have dinner, and talk about what we can do to strengthen the ward. he is really focused on home and visiting teaching and so we want to really help with that. His birthday was this last Saturday and so Elder Belnap and I stopped by his house. He was not there so we left a note saying happy birthday on his door. I think he liked that. This last Sunday we had a miracle just happen in our area. We received a referral from some sister missionaries in our mission so we texted the guy to try and visit him. He said he was busy but said he would come to church. Well this last Sunday, he actually did come to church! He recognized my name because I was the one who texted him and we got to talking and he wants to be taught and wants to get baptized as well! I was stoked because Elder Belnap and I have been praying for miracles! I love this work and I can't believe all of the miracles that happen in the mission. This is the work of the lord. No doubt about it!
Elder Stephens
Hey there!!
That song just came into my head right when I was about to start writing so I thought I would include it. Anyway! This last week was great. We had some specialized teaching trainings that are happening throughout the mission. We had 3 last week and we have 3 more of them this week. They are awesome and we just really focus on helping all of the missionaries teaching with power and authority. We have noticed that a lot of missionaries add a lot of fluff to the lessons so we had this teaching training for all the missionaries to just focus on the doctrine and teaching out of the scriptures. It has been great so far and everyone feels like it is helping out! We went to some of the members in the Makati 4th ward which is our international ward. It was great. We visited 3 families which included our ward mission leader Bro. Keys and his family. They are awesome and it was sweet because they fed us chicken and mashed potatoes as well as we got to coordinate the work in the ward. It is a weird situation in our ward because it s only for those international people but it is great because we get to go all over the place in our mission. They Keys family is awesome though and they have these 3 little kids who are so awesome. One of them is like 2 and he did a Hulk smash on his mashed potatoes. Literally he said "Hulk smash" and smashed his mashed potatoes everywhere. Elder Belnap and I were laughing so hard! We also got to visit our new Bishop in the Makati 3rd ward. He is awesome and just wanted us to come by, have dinner, and talk about what we can do to strengthen the ward. he is really focused on home and visiting teaching and so we want to really help with that. His birthday was this last Saturday and so Elder Belnap and I stopped by his house. He was not there so we left a note saying happy birthday on his door. I think he liked that. This last Sunday we had a miracle just happen in our area. We received a referral from some sister missionaries in our mission so we texted the guy to try and visit him. He said he was busy but said he would come to church. Well this last Sunday, he actually did come to church! He recognized my name because I was the one who texted him and we got to talking and he wants to be taught and wants to get baptized as well! I was stoked because Elder Belnap and I have been praying for miracles! I love this work and I can't believe all of the miracles that happen in the mission. This is the work of the lord. No doubt about it!
Elder Stephens
March 17, 2014
Hello there everybody!!
Well we get through the most stressful week ever, transfer week! There is just so much you have to do when it comes to transfer week but everything actually went super well! There actually weren't a whole lot of big problems which means everything went successful! We had going home activities for the going home missionaries and it was my first experience with that. All of those missionaries were great and I am sad to see that they are gone now. this going home activities went a little different though. The temple was closed and that is usually part of the going home activities so we went to the Ayala Museum instead. It was super fun and the best part was I learned a lot about the Filipino people! There was a part of the museum where there were a ton of dioramas which just showed the history of the Philippines ever since the first people were here in the country up until today. it was cool because all of the little figures were sweet and it helped me know a lot more about the heritage of the Filipino people! Transfer day itself went really well. There was a bit of a mix up with some of the incoming missionaries, and so last minute Elder Belnap and I had to find some part-time missionaries. It was great because right away the Lord answered our prayers and we found everyone a companion and everything went well! It just helped me know that the Lord really helpes us when we really need it! We also had a baptism this past week for brother Christopher! It was an amazing baptismal service and I could really see how happy him and his family were now that he is a member of the church. His father in law was the one who baptized him and he did it like 5 times because Christopher is a pretty big guy and tatay Nilo is not too big. That fifth time was done right through so it's all good! I got to speak on the Holy Ghost and I just felt the Spirit so strong and I was grateful I had the blessing to be a part of his baptismal service. Brother Christopher is awesome and I love him so much. Yesterday in church he told us his wife could not stop crying because she was so happy that he was baptized and she had partook of the sacrament the first time in 18 years. I love the Mongonon family so much and they are so awesome. They already have plans to get married in the Temple in a year! Stoked for them. This work is awesome. I love it so much. The Lord is so involved and does so much for all of us if we just put our trust in Him!
Elder Stephens
Well we get through the most stressful week ever, transfer week! There is just so much you have to do when it comes to transfer week but everything actually went super well! There actually weren't a whole lot of big problems which means everything went successful! We had going home activities for the going home missionaries and it was my first experience with that. All of those missionaries were great and I am sad to see that they are gone now. this going home activities went a little different though. The temple was closed and that is usually part of the going home activities so we went to the Ayala Museum instead. It was super fun and the best part was I learned a lot about the Filipino people! There was a part of the museum where there were a ton of dioramas which just showed the history of the Philippines ever since the first people were here in the country up until today. it was cool because all of the little figures were sweet and it helped me know a lot more about the heritage of the Filipino people! Transfer day itself went really well. There was a bit of a mix up with some of the incoming missionaries, and so last minute Elder Belnap and I had to find some part-time missionaries. It was great because right away the Lord answered our prayers and we found everyone a companion and everything went well! It just helped me know that the Lord really helpes us when we really need it! We also had a baptism this past week for brother Christopher! It was an amazing baptismal service and I could really see how happy him and his family were now that he is a member of the church. His father in law was the one who baptized him and he did it like 5 times because Christopher is a pretty big guy and tatay Nilo is not too big. That fifth time was done right through so it's all good! I got to speak on the Holy Ghost and I just felt the Spirit so strong and I was grateful I had the blessing to be a part of his baptismal service. Brother Christopher is awesome and I love him so much. Yesterday in church he told us his wife could not stop crying because she was so happy that he was baptized and she had partook of the sacrament the first time in 18 years. I love the Mongonon family so much and they are so awesome. They already have plans to get married in the Temple in a year! Stoked for them. This work is awesome. I love it so much. The Lord is so involved and does so much for all of us if we just put our trust in Him!
Elder Stephens
Monday, March 31, 2014
March 10, 2014
Hi everyone!
Time is going by way too fast! Transfers are coming up this week and it feels like February just completely flew by. Last week went super well. We started off the week last Monday with going to lunch with the Gwilliams and the Stuckis! It was so much fun! The Gwilliams left this last week and they wanted to have lunch with Elder Belnap and me since we knew them from our very first days, so the Stuckis took all of us out to Chili's for a great lunch. It was great being able to serve with them, especially since I got to serve with them for super long! I love them so much! We had a new trainers meeting this last week for all the missionaries that are going to be training new missionaries next transfer. There are only 6 trainers so it was a tiny meeting but it went well. It was cool because it was my first time ever attending that meeting. I never got to attend one when I trained because I was on Palawan ad so that was a cool experience. These new trainers are going to be great! I love how President Stucki just puts so much trust in trainers. He says they are one of the most important companions that missionaries have. They just have such a big lasting influence on new missionaries. And lastly, with all this transfer stuff coming up we have been working closely with President Stucki to make sure everything is going to go well. Tracsfers are super crazy I guess. Last week we had a transfer meeting with all the office couple and President and Sister Stucki. It was alright. Kind of boring at some points when everyone talked about assignments in the office. It was alright though. As for the proselyting efforts. We had a baptism last Saturday!! Shamir, who is from Iran, was baptized. He is the funniest person I think I have ever met. I don't think he stops laughing, ever. Either he laughs out loud or he is laughing on the inside. Basically he is just the happiest and nicest person. Anyway, he is doing super well and he is loving the gospel. His baptismal service went well and there was so much support for him. he enjoyed it a lot and I can't wait to continue to see him just grow in the gospel. One of our investigators, Christopher, passed his baptismal interview so this next week he will be getting baptized. He is just doing super great. He talked in our gospel principles class about following the commandments and receiving a lot of blessings for it. He is great. I will let you know how to baptismal service goes. With all the new changes in our ward, we are really seeing a lot more emphasis on missionary work! Bishop Espi, our new Bishop, invited us to ward council, a first in years for this ward and he just fixed all the visiting and home teaching in the ward so it actually gets done! I am super excited to see this ward just grow so much.
Elder Stephens
Time is going by way too fast! Transfers are coming up this week and it feels like February just completely flew by. Last week went super well. We started off the week last Monday with going to lunch with the Gwilliams and the Stuckis! It was so much fun! The Gwilliams left this last week and they wanted to have lunch with Elder Belnap and me since we knew them from our very first days, so the Stuckis took all of us out to Chili's for a great lunch. It was great being able to serve with them, especially since I got to serve with them for super long! I love them so much! We had a new trainers meeting this last week for all the missionaries that are going to be training new missionaries next transfer. There are only 6 trainers so it was a tiny meeting but it went well. It was cool because it was my first time ever attending that meeting. I never got to attend one when I trained because I was on Palawan ad so that was a cool experience. These new trainers are going to be great! I love how President Stucki just puts so much trust in trainers. He says they are one of the most important companions that missionaries have. They just have such a big lasting influence on new missionaries. And lastly, with all this transfer stuff coming up we have been working closely with President Stucki to make sure everything is going to go well. Tracsfers are super crazy I guess. Last week we had a transfer meeting with all the office couple and President and Sister Stucki. It was alright. Kind of boring at some points when everyone talked about assignments in the office. It was alright though. As for the proselyting efforts. We had a baptism last Saturday!! Shamir, who is from Iran, was baptized. He is the funniest person I think I have ever met. I don't think he stops laughing, ever. Either he laughs out loud or he is laughing on the inside. Basically he is just the happiest and nicest person. Anyway, he is doing super well and he is loving the gospel. His baptismal service went well and there was so much support for him. he enjoyed it a lot and I can't wait to continue to see him just grow in the gospel. One of our investigators, Christopher, passed his baptismal interview so this next week he will be getting baptized. He is just doing super great. He talked in our gospel principles class about following the commandments and receiving a lot of blessings for it. He is great. I will let you know how to baptismal service goes. With all the new changes in our ward, we are really seeing a lot more emphasis on missionary work! Bishop Espi, our new Bishop, invited us to ward council, a first in years for this ward and he just fixed all the visiting and home teaching in the ward so it actually gets done! I am super excited to see this ward just grow so much.
Elder Stephens
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
March 3, 2014
Hey there everyone!!
I just love being a missionary. Last week we had an awesome zone activity for our Makati zone. We went to the Mall of Asia! We rode some rides and took pictures of the sunset over Manila Bay. It was an awesome experience, one I will never forget, and it was great being able to spend time with the missionaries in the zone to build some unity and stuff. We had a follow up training with the new trainers this last week. Everyone was doing great and no one had big problems. It just reminded me a little bit of when I wen to that meeting as a new missionary. Good times, good times. We had another missionary leadership council this last week. It was a great council and everyone was able to learn a ton from it! We witnessed so many miracles in the month of February, we had the most baptisms we have seen in the mission since I got here! I think the missionaries are really starting to exercise more faith and work real hard. As for the council itself, it was a little different than normal though because President Stucki had a ton of time set apart for all of us to just talk to one another and council together to help the mission. There were a few questions he came up with for all of us to talk about and it was really effective. I look forward to seeing if the mission rises up and acts on the things we said. Elder Belnap and I went on exchanges with the zone leaders over Pasay North. They are Elder Obray and Elder Hawkins. We had great exchanges and I was able to work with Elder Hawkins. He is a new zone leader, just this transfer, but he is already exercising great faith! He is a super positive person and it really helps the rest of his zone and it helped me a lot too! It was great working with Elder Hawkins. As for our proselyting, we had some great success! We taught a guy named Raymond and he brought over his best friend whose name is Bucay. They are awesome and it really was great teaching them. One of the nights, some members took us out to a pizza place and brought Raymond and Bocay along. The members names were Justin and Margarette Pearson, and it turns out they are going to San Diego for school! I was stoked when I heard that and they are excited to go out there. Shemir is doing awesome! His baptismal interview was this last week and he passed and is all ready for baptism this Saturday! He is awesome and we taught him all about enduring to the end so he doesn't fall away. He is exercising a ton of faith since he is finally making the steps to follow Jesus Christ. We had a great lesson with Johnny this past week. After the lesson he was talking about how he loves having us over because he just feels at peace every time we visit. Every time he feels stressed he just looks forward to the lessons we have for him because he always feels the Spirit and all the problems go away. I was so humbled to hear that and I just love Johnny so much. This was a great week and I am looking forward to the week coming up!
Elder Stephens
I just love being a missionary. Last week we had an awesome zone activity for our Makati zone. We went to the Mall of Asia! We rode some rides and took pictures of the sunset over Manila Bay. It was an awesome experience, one I will never forget, and it was great being able to spend time with the missionaries in the zone to build some unity and stuff. We had a follow up training with the new trainers this last week. Everyone was doing great and no one had big problems. It just reminded me a little bit of when I wen to that meeting as a new missionary. Good times, good times. We had another missionary leadership council this last week. It was a great council and everyone was able to learn a ton from it! We witnessed so many miracles in the month of February, we had the most baptisms we have seen in the mission since I got here! I think the missionaries are really starting to exercise more faith and work real hard. As for the council itself, it was a little different than normal though because President Stucki had a ton of time set apart for all of us to just talk to one another and council together to help the mission. There were a few questions he came up with for all of us to talk about and it was really effective. I look forward to seeing if the mission rises up and acts on the things we said. Elder Belnap and I went on exchanges with the zone leaders over Pasay North. They are Elder Obray and Elder Hawkins. We had great exchanges and I was able to work with Elder Hawkins. He is a new zone leader, just this transfer, but he is already exercising great faith! He is a super positive person and it really helps the rest of his zone and it helped me a lot too! It was great working with Elder Hawkins. As for our proselyting, we had some great success! We taught a guy named Raymond and he brought over his best friend whose name is Bucay. They are awesome and it really was great teaching them. One of the nights, some members took us out to a pizza place and brought Raymond and Bocay along. The members names were Justin and Margarette Pearson, and it turns out they are going to San Diego for school! I was stoked when I heard that and they are excited to go out there. Shemir is doing awesome! His baptismal interview was this last week and he passed and is all ready for baptism this Saturday! He is awesome and we taught him all about enduring to the end so he doesn't fall away. He is exercising a ton of faith since he is finally making the steps to follow Jesus Christ. We had a great lesson with Johnny this past week. After the lesson he was talking about how he loves having us over because he just feels at peace every time we visit. Every time he feels stressed he just looks forward to the lessons we have for him because he always feels the Spirit and all the problems go away. I was so humbled to hear that and I just love Johnny so much. This was a great week and I am looking forward to the week coming up!
Elder Stephens
February 24, 2014
Hello there everyone!
Elder Belnap and I had a crazy week this last week .I have never done so much in my entire mission than we did last week. The reason being, we had zone conferences all week throughout the entire mission .For the whole week we ended up having four zone conferences. First we went to Palawan! It was good going back to that beautiful island, even for only a day. It actually went great even though it was the first one. After that we came back to the mainland and had three more all in the Buendia chapel. Zone conference was great and I was really able to learn to, especially since I attended four times. President Stucki mainly shared about the doctrine of Christ, or the gospel, and how it should drive everything that we do. The doctrine of Christ needs to be deep in our hearts and it should push us to do everything we can to help others come unto Christ. It was a cool lesson where the doctrine was the engine of a train, with cars behind it to help missionary work. Those cars are prayer, reading the Book of Mormon, church attendance, and finding. It we have the doctrine deep in our hearts, we would be in the engine of that train and if we are doing all those things in the cars and helping investigators do them, we will have success in the work. Sister Stucki shared bout faith in Christ. She basically just focused on how faith is power. If we have faith in Jesus Christ, we can do anything which is expedient in Him. Elder Belnap shared about the importance of receiving and contacting referrals and I shared about helping people to attend sacrament meeting. Everyone did great at sharing and I felt everyone learned a lot! We also had our area medical adviser, Elder Jackson, come and share with us. He had a great message on health for the entire mission. The thing I like most was when he was talking about getting along with your companion. He said, "try to do more for your companion, than your companion does for you." It was a great principle and something I would love to apply for the rest of my life. Overall, zone conference was great. it was really tiring getting up early every morning to set up everything, but it was a blast to be able to see all the wonderful missionaries and be able to help them fulfill their purpose as missionaries. For the actual missionary work side of things, Johnny was baptized this last week! It was a wonderful baptismal service and a ton of members just came around to really help him feel welcome and I am sure he loved it so much. After he came up out of the water, and actually after his confirmation, he raised his arms and said "WOO HOO!" It was awesome and I could just feel the excitement he had that he was baptized and had received the Holy Ghost. Johnny is awesome and he continues to teach me things and help me grow even though he probably does not even know it. I love him a ton and can't wait to see him continue to grow! This work is so great. I love it with all my heart. I absolutely love these people and I feel like that is what drives me to work hard each day. I know Jesus is the Christ and He really guides this work.
Elder Stephens
Elder Belnap and I had a crazy week this last week .I have never done so much in my entire mission than we did last week. The reason being, we had zone conferences all week throughout the entire mission .For the whole week we ended up having four zone conferences. First we went to Palawan! It was good going back to that beautiful island, even for only a day. It actually went great even though it was the first one. After that we came back to the mainland and had three more all in the Buendia chapel. Zone conference was great and I was really able to learn to, especially since I attended four times. President Stucki mainly shared about the doctrine of Christ, or the gospel, and how it should drive everything that we do. The doctrine of Christ needs to be deep in our hearts and it should push us to do everything we can to help others come unto Christ. It was a cool lesson where the doctrine was the engine of a train, with cars behind it to help missionary work. Those cars are prayer, reading the Book of Mormon, church attendance, and finding. It we have the doctrine deep in our hearts, we would be in the engine of that train and if we are doing all those things in the cars and helping investigators do them, we will have success in the work. Sister Stucki shared bout faith in Christ. She basically just focused on how faith is power. If we have faith in Jesus Christ, we can do anything which is expedient in Him. Elder Belnap shared about the importance of receiving and contacting referrals and I shared about helping people to attend sacrament meeting. Everyone did great at sharing and I felt everyone learned a lot! We also had our area medical adviser, Elder Jackson, come and share with us. He had a great message on health for the entire mission. The thing I like most was when he was talking about getting along with your companion. He said, "try to do more for your companion, than your companion does for you." It was a great principle and something I would love to apply for the rest of my life. Overall, zone conference was great. it was really tiring getting up early every morning to set up everything, but it was a blast to be able to see all the wonderful missionaries and be able to help them fulfill their purpose as missionaries. For the actual missionary work side of things, Johnny was baptized this last week! It was a wonderful baptismal service and a ton of members just came around to really help him feel welcome and I am sure he loved it so much. After he came up out of the water, and actually after his confirmation, he raised his arms and said "WOO HOO!" It was awesome and I could just feel the excitement he had that he was baptized and had received the Holy Ghost. Johnny is awesome and he continues to teach me things and help me grow even though he probably does not even know it. I love him a ton and can't wait to see him continue to grow! This work is so great. I love it with all my heart. I absolutely love these people and I feel like that is what drives me to work hard each day. I know Jesus is the Christ and He really guides this work.
Elder Stephens
February 17, 2014
Hey everyone!
I absolutely love the Philippines!! This week was great. The man from Las Vegas that we have been teaching, Johnny, is super excited for his baptism that is coming up this week on Feb 22! He was a little worried with his schedule last week and this week and was about ready to postpone the baptism but we had a lesson along with his 6'8" friend named "Tiny" where we just shared that is was the challenges that hit us when we are close to baptism. he recognized that and is going strong to be baptized this week. We had an awesome lesson where President Stucki taught with us. We just shared about baptismal covenants and how important it is when we promise to Heavenly Father that we will follow Christ. It was a great lesson and it helped him know that is is a great and important step for him, but only the beginning to a new life where we follow the commandments of God. I am super excited for Johnny to continue to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a couple of exchanges this week as well. I got to work with two zone leaders from the Pasay and Paranaque West zones. They are Elder Diamse and Elder Nielsen. They are both awesome missionaries. Elder Diamse is just so happy all the time and you can tell that he just really loves the work. Elder Nielsen just works super hard and is getting blessed a ton because of it. I was able to learn a lot form these two missionaries and it was a blessing to go on exchanges with them. We had a specialized training this past week for all the district and zone leaders throughout the mission. It was a great experience. President Stucki had us share some things that could help the whole mission rise up and he had me share about having faith and following the Spirit. It was great to study about it and share with the mission. It made me realize how important the Spirit is in this work. Without it, we cannot do this work. I am just super grateful for the Spirit and the blessing we have as missionaries to be guided by it every day. In the specialized training we also all read a talk about leadership. It was President Spencer W. Kimball's talk "Jesus: The Perfect Leader". I enjoyed it a lot and learned a ton from it. The most important thing as a leader is to work on those Christ-like attributes and help others know you love them and care. They best part was when we buried our weapons of rebellion. President Stucki had everyone write on little swords and he buried them in the ground over at the mission home to represent the Anti-Nephi-Lehi people in the Book of Mormon. It was great and we all had a good experience with that. I have been able to learn so much so far in the mission and I just feel tat with each week I just learn so much more. Last thing I would like to share is that we had a great experience with someone who will be getting baptized in March. His name is Christopher and he is super excited for baptism. His whole family are members of the church and he is just now getting really excited to see his family be blessed for the rest of their lives. We went to their place and shared about how families can be together forever. I think it really touched him and his family and they really have a desire to be together forever. They fed us dinner and it was crazy. We had turkey and mashed potatoes!! It felt like Thanksgiving all over again. I don't think I have ever felt so full in my mission. It was great and we were able to build a good relationship with the whole family and help brother Christopher know the importance of family. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to continue to do this work. I know it is the work of the Lord. I couldn't imagine not being a part of this work right now!
Elder Stephens
I absolutely love the Philippines!! This week was great. The man from Las Vegas that we have been teaching, Johnny, is super excited for his baptism that is coming up this week on Feb 22! He was a little worried with his schedule last week and this week and was about ready to postpone the baptism but we had a lesson along with his 6'8" friend named "Tiny" where we just shared that is was the challenges that hit us when we are close to baptism. he recognized that and is going strong to be baptized this week. We had an awesome lesson where President Stucki taught with us. We just shared about baptismal covenants and how important it is when we promise to Heavenly Father that we will follow Christ. It was a great lesson and it helped him know that is is a great and important step for him, but only the beginning to a new life where we follow the commandments of God. I am super excited for Johnny to continue to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a couple of exchanges this week as well. I got to work with two zone leaders from the Pasay and Paranaque West zones. They are Elder Diamse and Elder Nielsen. They are both awesome missionaries. Elder Diamse is just so happy all the time and you can tell that he just really loves the work. Elder Nielsen just works super hard and is getting blessed a ton because of it. I was able to learn a lot form these two missionaries and it was a blessing to go on exchanges with them. We had a specialized training this past week for all the district and zone leaders throughout the mission. It was a great experience. President Stucki had us share some things that could help the whole mission rise up and he had me share about having faith and following the Spirit. It was great to study about it and share with the mission. It made me realize how important the Spirit is in this work. Without it, we cannot do this work. I am just super grateful for the Spirit and the blessing we have as missionaries to be guided by it every day. In the specialized training we also all read a talk about leadership. It was President Spencer W. Kimball's talk "Jesus: The Perfect Leader". I enjoyed it a lot and learned a ton from it. The most important thing as a leader is to work on those Christ-like attributes and help others know you love them and care. They best part was when we buried our weapons of rebellion. President Stucki had everyone write on little swords and he buried them in the ground over at the mission home to represent the Anti-Nephi-Lehi people in the Book of Mormon. It was great and we all had a good experience with that. I have been able to learn so much so far in the mission and I just feel tat with each week I just learn so much more. Last thing I would like to share is that we had a great experience with someone who will be getting baptized in March. His name is Christopher and he is super excited for baptism. His whole family are members of the church and he is just now getting really excited to see his family be blessed for the rest of their lives. We went to their place and shared about how families can be together forever. I think it really touched him and his family and they really have a desire to be together forever. They fed us dinner and it was crazy. We had turkey and mashed potatoes!! It felt like Thanksgiving all over again. I don't think I have ever felt so full in my mission. It was great and we were able to build a good relationship with the whole family and help brother Christopher know the importance of family. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to continue to do this work. I know it is the work of the Lord. I couldn't imagine not being a part of this work right now!
Elder Stephens
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
February 10, 2014
Hello everyone!
Last week was awesome. Elder Belnap and I were super busy the whole week and we were able to get a ton of work done. It was a lot of fun. We had our missionary leadership council this last week. It was great coming together as leaders to talk about strengthening the mission! It was the first time Elder Belnap and I got to lead it and it went great. The best part was President Stucki had every leader come up with one way to help the mission "rise up" and reach our potential. Everyone came with great ideas and we were really led by the Spirit to know what we should do. I am really excited to see how the mission responds to the ideas and what results we will have. We had two exchanges this week with zone leaders. I got to work with Elder Schroeder and with Elder Messegee. It was really strange working with Elder Schroeder just because we have known each other since before the mission. It was great though and we were really able to help each other out. He is a great missionary and I see some great potential for him. Elder Messegee is awesome as well and we had some great work with each other last week. In our weekly planning this week. President Stucki came to help us out and see our weekly planning. It was interesting but we were able to learn a ton. Before it, he brought us Subway with A&W rootbeer. It was awesome. We taught Johnny and it was an awesome lesson. He is really excited for his baptism on February 22, and he just wants to know what he needs to do in order to be ready for his baptism. In the middle of the lessons, he just asked about a few commandments that he needs to follow just so he is ready. It made me realize that Heavenly Father is preparing His children to receive this gospel. There are people out there that are ready to accept this gospel. I love it so much and I love this work. This week we have a specialized training for all the district and zone leaders in the mission, it should be great!
Elder Stephens
Last week was awesome. Elder Belnap and I were super busy the whole week and we were able to get a ton of work done. It was a lot of fun. We had our missionary leadership council this last week. It was great coming together as leaders to talk about strengthening the mission! It was the first time Elder Belnap and I got to lead it and it went great. The best part was President Stucki had every leader come up with one way to help the mission "rise up" and reach our potential. Everyone came with great ideas and we were really led by the Spirit to know what we should do. I am really excited to see how the mission responds to the ideas and what results we will have. We had two exchanges this week with zone leaders. I got to work with Elder Schroeder and with Elder Messegee. It was really strange working with Elder Schroeder just because we have known each other since before the mission. It was great though and we were really able to help each other out. He is a great missionary and I see some great potential for him. Elder Messegee is awesome as well and we had some great work with each other last week. In our weekly planning this week. President Stucki came to help us out and see our weekly planning. It was interesting but we were able to learn a ton. Before it, he brought us Subway with A&W rootbeer. It was awesome. We taught Johnny and it was an awesome lesson. He is really excited for his baptism on February 22, and he just wants to know what he needs to do in order to be ready for his baptism. In the middle of the lessons, he just asked about a few commandments that he needs to follow just so he is ready. It made me realize that Heavenly Father is preparing His children to receive this gospel. There are people out there that are ready to accept this gospel. I love it so much and I love this work. This week we have a specialized training for all the district and zone leaders in the mission, it should be great!
Elder Stephens
February 3, 2014
Hello Everyone!
This last week was crazy! First I had an awesome last few days in the Makati 2A area. On my last day there we had a family home evening with the Enciso family and Sister Demacali came to help them out and show they can start having family home evening on their own every week! It was an awesome time and we were really able to help them feel the spirit and know how to strengthen their family by having a weekly family home evening. Then I move into my new area! Makati 4 with Elder Belnap. It is crazy being an assistant to the president. We get to work a lot with President Stucki and the office couples here as well. We have two office couples, Elder and Sister Paine, and Elder and Sister Theler. They are the cutest old couples ever. My first experience as the new assistant was a new missionary orientation for all the incoming missionaries. It reminded me of my first day and made me realize just how old I am in the mission. This new batch of missionaries is great though and they were all really looking forward to serving in their new areas. We also had a few awesome lessons! We are teaching a man named Johnny who is scheduled for baptism on February 22nd. We went in the lesson helping to somehow teach the word of wisdom, and right in the beginning he asked a ton of questions on how we can help him stop smoking and drinking! It made me realize how much Heavenly Father just prepares these people to receive these lessons in order to help them to come unto Christ. We set a firm date for that baptism and he made a strong commitment to follow the word of wisdom. he wrote it down on a piece of paper and signed it and everything, then told us to bring it to him on the day of his baptism as a congratulations to himself that he was able to come unto Christ. It was awesome. We were also teaching a Persian man named Shemir. He is super funny and loves us a ton. We taught him about the Sabbath Day this past week and gave him a strong commitment to come to church on Sunday. he did just that, and even dressed up in a silver suit to top it all off. I love Shemir so much. He also took us out to dinner one tonight to a Persian restaurant. I never knew Persian food was so good! It is a little different teaching all these people in English because we are actually assigned in the foreigners ward here in Makati. It is awesome though and a really good experience for me. We are actually assigned in two wards, the Makati 3rd and 4th wards. I love this new area and I love my new companion Elder Belnap. We have been wanting to serve together for the longest time. It is a different assignment being an assistant, but I am excited to learn a ton from it!
Elder Stephens
This last week was crazy! First I had an awesome last few days in the Makati 2A area. On my last day there we had a family home evening with the Enciso family and Sister Demacali came to help them out and show they can start having family home evening on their own every week! It was an awesome time and we were really able to help them feel the spirit and know how to strengthen their family by having a weekly family home evening. Then I move into my new area! Makati 4 with Elder Belnap. It is crazy being an assistant to the president. We get to work a lot with President Stucki and the office couples here as well. We have two office couples, Elder and Sister Paine, and Elder and Sister Theler. They are the cutest old couples ever. My first experience as the new assistant was a new missionary orientation for all the incoming missionaries. It reminded me of my first day and made me realize just how old I am in the mission. This new batch of missionaries is great though and they were all really looking forward to serving in their new areas. We also had a few awesome lessons! We are teaching a man named Johnny who is scheduled for baptism on February 22nd. We went in the lesson helping to somehow teach the word of wisdom, and right in the beginning he asked a ton of questions on how we can help him stop smoking and drinking! It made me realize how much Heavenly Father just prepares these people to receive these lessons in order to help them to come unto Christ. We set a firm date for that baptism and he made a strong commitment to follow the word of wisdom. he wrote it down on a piece of paper and signed it and everything, then told us to bring it to him on the day of his baptism as a congratulations to himself that he was able to come unto Christ. It was awesome. We were also teaching a Persian man named Shemir. He is super funny and loves us a ton. We taught him about the Sabbath Day this past week and gave him a strong commitment to come to church on Sunday. he did just that, and even dressed up in a silver suit to top it all off. I love Shemir so much. He also took us out to dinner one tonight to a Persian restaurant. I never knew Persian food was so good! It is a little different teaching all these people in English because we are actually assigned in the foreigners ward here in Makati. It is awesome though and a really good experience for me. We are actually assigned in two wards, the Makati 3rd and 4th wards. I love this new area and I love my new companion Elder Belnap. We have been wanting to serve together for the longest time. It is a different assignment being an assistant, but I am excited to learn a ton from it!
Elder Stephens
January 27, 2014
Hello there everyone!!
I absolutely love this work! last Saturday was the baptism for the wonderful Enciso family! There are 7 of them. The father, mother, and 5 children who were all dressed in white and blessed with a wonderful baptismal service as well as confirmation! The baptismal service was great! We had great speakers and we had their friends be the people to baptize them. The best part was seeing them after the baptism and knowing that they had made the right decision in their lives. the next day after the confirmation and after sacrament meeting, everyone was welcoming them in to the ward and I could tell that they really felt the love of all the members here. I love the Enciso family so much and I am so grateful that they made the decision to follow their Savior, Jesus Christ, and that they now can receive all the blessings that Heavenly Father wants to give to them. I will never forget this wonderful family and all the memories we had with them. They went through a lot to get to that point, but now they will be blessed forever! We also found a great new investigator this week! We were walking down a street and noticed a less-active member just coming home from work and had groceries, so we helped him get his groceries in the house. After, he just invited us into his house to share a message with them. We ended up teaching his daughter as well! Come to find out, she was really prepared by the Lord and wants to get ready for baptism as soon as possible! They are the Ortanez family and brother's name is Bernie and sister's name is Katleen. They are awesome and I know their family will be blessed so much! Last week we had interviews with President Stucki, and Elder Bautista and I got to check area books since we are the zone leaders. Interviews were great and we were able to learn a ton. We also shared with President Stucki about our goals for 2014. I had 3 goals. First, continue to get better each day and be more consistent in the work. Second, focus on the people to help them progress in the gospel. Third, be a Preach My Gospel missionary until the end of my mission, and after as well. I just need to work as hard as I can to achieve them! In the interview, President Stucki have me some crazy news. I am going to transfer this week, and become an assistant to the president. I am going to be companions with Elder Belnap! I am excited, but a little nervous. I know, however, that the Lord will help me. He has throughout the whole mission. I love this work so much and I especially love the people. I can't wait to continue to serve!
Elder Stephens
I absolutely love this work! last Saturday was the baptism for the wonderful Enciso family! There are 7 of them. The father, mother, and 5 children who were all dressed in white and blessed with a wonderful baptismal service as well as confirmation! The baptismal service was great! We had great speakers and we had their friends be the people to baptize them. The best part was seeing them after the baptism and knowing that they had made the right decision in their lives. the next day after the confirmation and after sacrament meeting, everyone was welcoming them in to the ward and I could tell that they really felt the love of all the members here. I love the Enciso family so much and I am so grateful that they made the decision to follow their Savior, Jesus Christ, and that they now can receive all the blessings that Heavenly Father wants to give to them. I will never forget this wonderful family and all the memories we had with them. They went through a lot to get to that point, but now they will be blessed forever! We also found a great new investigator this week! We were walking down a street and noticed a less-active member just coming home from work and had groceries, so we helped him get his groceries in the house. After, he just invited us into his house to share a message with them. We ended up teaching his daughter as well! Come to find out, she was really prepared by the Lord and wants to get ready for baptism as soon as possible! They are the Ortanez family and brother's name is Bernie and sister's name is Katleen. They are awesome and I know their family will be blessed so much! Last week we had interviews with President Stucki, and Elder Bautista and I got to check area books since we are the zone leaders. Interviews were great and we were able to learn a ton. We also shared with President Stucki about our goals for 2014. I had 3 goals. First, continue to get better each day and be more consistent in the work. Second, focus on the people to help them progress in the gospel. Third, be a Preach My Gospel missionary until the end of my mission, and after as well. I just need to work as hard as I can to achieve them! In the interview, President Stucki have me some crazy news. I am going to transfer this week, and become an assistant to the president. I am going to be companions with Elder Belnap! I am excited, but a little nervous. I know, however, that the Lord will help me. He has throughout the whole mission. I love this work so much and I especially love the people. I can't wait to continue to serve!
Elder Stephens
Thursday, March 20, 2014
January 20, 2014
Hello there everyone!
This last week went great! We witnessed many miracles and blessings throughout the entire week. One, the Enciso family is all set for being baptized on January 25! They are so excited and it is such a blessing to be able to help them come unto Christ. Last week they had a ton of trials, but through their faith, they pushed through all of them and are now ready and worthy to enter the waters of baptism. I will let you know how all that goes next week!! We found some awesome new investigators that are already really interested in finding the truth. They have a lot of knowledge about the Bible, but it's good because they understand the scriptures and we are praying they will know the importance of the Book of Mormon as well. last Saturday was the area broadcast for the Philippines for 2014. It was great! They went over the goals for this year and those things we all need to focus on to hasten the work of salvation. They talked about how we need to focus on active, full-tithe paying, melchizedek priesthood holders in order to strengthen the families. I was really happy when they said that and it made me realize just how important it is to focus on finding families, with a father who could one day be a worthy priesthood holder to guide and support the family. They also made a change from last years goals. Last year one of the goals was "Rescue the One" which had to do with helping the less-active members. This year they changed it to, "Share the Gospel and rescue the One", which put more of a focus on balancing the work. It was great and it really helped the members to see the importance of not only helping less-active members, but investigators as well. The work is hastening here in the Philippines. Our ward is already seeing it. We have had 3 weeks of baptisms in a row already for the month of January as a ward, and more to coming in the coming months. I know this work is the work of the Lord. he is hastening it, right now in our time. I am so grateful I have the blessing to be a part of this hastening. I know the gospel is true and can bless the live of everyone who accepts it. I am so excited for the Enciso family to receive this gospel and continue to receive the blessings from it!
Elder Stephens
This last week went great! We witnessed many miracles and blessings throughout the entire week. One, the Enciso family is all set for being baptized on January 25! They are so excited and it is such a blessing to be able to help them come unto Christ. Last week they had a ton of trials, but through their faith, they pushed through all of them and are now ready and worthy to enter the waters of baptism. I will let you know how all that goes next week!! We found some awesome new investigators that are already really interested in finding the truth. They have a lot of knowledge about the Bible, but it's good because they understand the scriptures and we are praying they will know the importance of the Book of Mormon as well. last Saturday was the area broadcast for the Philippines for 2014. It was great! They went over the goals for this year and those things we all need to focus on to hasten the work of salvation. They talked about how we need to focus on active, full-tithe paying, melchizedek priesthood holders in order to strengthen the families. I was really happy when they said that and it made me realize just how important it is to focus on finding families, with a father who could one day be a worthy priesthood holder to guide and support the family. They also made a change from last years goals. Last year one of the goals was "Rescue the One" which had to do with helping the less-active members. This year they changed it to, "Share the Gospel and rescue the One", which put more of a focus on balancing the work. It was great and it really helped the members to see the importance of not only helping less-active members, but investigators as well. The work is hastening here in the Philippines. Our ward is already seeing it. We have had 3 weeks of baptisms in a row already for the month of January as a ward, and more to coming in the coming months. I know this work is the work of the Lord. he is hastening it, right now in our time. I am so grateful I have the blessing to be a part of this hastening. I know the gospel is true and can bless the live of everyone who accepts it. I am so excited for the Enciso family to receive this gospel and continue to receive the blessings from it!
Elder Stephens
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)