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