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