November 18, 2013

Hello everyone!
Elder Bayatan and I had a crazy week! So many unexpected things, but we still were able to get a lot of amazing work done! So first, our Bishop here in Makati 2nd ward had us serve in the barangay here for some relief goods packing so we can send it to the people who got hit by the super typhoon. It was put on by the city but our Bishop wanted the members to get involved so we could serve. Turns out President Stucki found out about it and worked with me to get the whole entire mission involved with the service project! It was awesome! So we had almost 200 missionaries come to serve the people who were affected by the typhoon and it just really helped me realize how important it is to serve our fellow beings, and ultimately Heavenly Father. There was one area here in our mission that got affected really bad, over on Coron, Palawan where we had 4 missionaries. Since it was hit so bad, President Stucki pulled them out of there and sent them back to the mainland. long story short, two of them got sent to our area! So in this last week, the Makati 2nd ward went from 4 missionaries to 8! 4 Elders and 4 Sisters. So crazy! We got to work with the two elders, Elder Stoehr and Elder Tacuban since they were going to split our area so we showed them around. It was awesome. They are great missionaries. Elder Stoehr has been out for a while, now in his 4th transfer, and Elder Tacuban is in his very first transfer. I can't wait to continue to work with these Elders as they open up the new area in Makati 2C. This was all just a testimony to me how Heavenly Father really takes care of His children, by keeping them safe from a storm, and then hastens His work by getting them out to open new areas! So exciting. I love this work so much. I know it is the Lord's work. We are still teaching the Enciso family and this last week we were able to teach the whole family for the first time and Sister Enciso is really excited to join the rest of the family in coming to church this week and really wants to find the truth. They were so prepared to receive this gospel and I can't believe Heavenly Father blessed me so much to be able to teach them! I love this work!

Elder Stephens