Sunday, June 26, 2011

The rain came down . . . .

Blog: Well it rained this week it rained and rained and rained! all the streets were flooded and we had to walk through knee to waist deep water just to leave our neighborhood! but it was fun but it did reduce how many people we saw this week! but we still had a great baptism and the youth sang a very special number! it was a great week filled with opportunities to help and to share! I know that if we all pray for opportunities to serve others and share the gospel with them that God will give us those opportunities! and that we can help change lives, lift each other up, and be filled with charity for each other, for charity is the pure love of Christ.
love you all,
--Sister Stephens
PS: the mission is officially splitting this friday and i will have yet another Mission President! President Sperry! isn't the mission so much fun!!!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day and RC/Las

Blog: 1st: Happy Fathers Day Dad!!! i have a card for you ... it will be late. :)
2nd: Happy Birthday to Tiare, Carl, and Cat!!! hope you guys had good parties, i'll try to make the next one! hahaha!!!
3rd: Instead of September i might be coming home in October! with the mission split i may receive a 3 week extension!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but ... it's not final yet, but i hope so!!!

RC/LAs= Recent Converts and Less Actives. It is required of us missionaries to visit RC/LAs every week to encourage and enlighten and teach, all of them have all ready been baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ and have the gift of the Holy Ghost but for one reason or another they do not always go to church or do not yet understand all Christs principles of living or may have some other problem and need help. anyways we always try to encourage them, to help their faith and testimonies grow. we have been teaching an RC/LA family for sometime, they had stopped coming to church. we are also teaching the sister of the husband, who is not yet baptized. I've been in this area almost 4 months and the sister comes to church every week but the members never did. finally the sister told them they need to go to church! This last sunday their whole family was there, they were so happy, we also had 2 other Less Active families come to church, our newly baptised and ordained Aaronic Deacon passed the sacrement for the first time and many of our other RCs were there and 7 investigators, and our Gospel Principles class had about 20 people! what a great Fathers Day! what a great Sabbath Day!!! Alam ko ito ay totoong simbahan ni Jesucristo at sapamagitan pagsimba pwede tayo makakaroon ng mga biyaya galing sa diyos, at maging malapit sa kanya. i love seeing others exercise their faith in Jesus Christ and come closer to him by coming to church to honor and remember him! i know that we will all be blessed as we diligently seek the Lord by going to church weekly and partaking the sacrament!!! Love it!

Mahal kita,
--Sister Stephens

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Busy, busy week

Busy, busy, busy... This week was GREAT even though it was busy and we didn't get all the lessons we wanted and I was sick as a dog on friday with a flu bug but we had THREE baptisms!!!! ONE completed family, and we went to the temple and we had an awesome zone conference and we had a good coordination meeting with the ward and the members are getting more involved and things are just great and we have high hopes for this week!!!

This week at church a woman spoke about testimonies, I really likes it. My thought: In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we use the word testimony a lot, it's something very important and personal to us, and every 1st sunday we have the opportunity to share it with other members. In Tagalog the word 'Testimony' is 'Pag-totoo', derived from the word 'Katotohanan' which means 'Truth'. In court they use the word testimony also, it's used when a person is to tell their part of the story as truth. But in Church our testimonies are not for one time purposes, but are to be gained, and maintained. We gain a testimony of the truths of God by following His commandments and principles. Through our commitment to be obedient to His commandments we gain a testimony of that commandment or principle and its followed blessings. We maintain the testimony by continually following the commandments, praying, reading the scriptures (particularly the Book of Mormon) and through sharing our testimony with others. When we do these things we feel an increased desire to continue. God will put our testimonies to the test through adversity and trials, if we stay true to our testimony or to the truth, God will bless us and we will feel an increase of light, truth and clarity in our lives.

I know that I have a testimony of this Church. I know that it is true and that God lives and loves us, I know that Christ lives and that he is our Savior and that only through him can we return to our Father in heaven. I know we have a living prophet, who is a servant of Jesus Christ, the founder of this Church. I know the prophet receives guidance for us, and as we follow his guidance we will receive blessings in this life and eternal life here after. This is the truth that I know. I believe we should all try to find God's truth and know it for ourselves and gain a testimony.

love you and thank you for your support,
--Sister Stephens
PS shout out: Thank you Elder Stephens for your letter and Emma Rose!!! for you wonderful picture and letter!!!! thank you!!!!