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

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