Meeting President and Sister Teh.

July 18, 2016

Dear Everyone,

This last week was a great week! We are finding lots of people to meet with and who are willing to learn. This is such a great area. I wish I would've come here earlier and been able to stay here longer! And on pday, there is so much to do so we are never bored!

We've been working hard with one of our friends named B... He has a strong desire to be baptized and to do the right thing, but he still struggles with the Word of Wisdom. He is trying hard to stop smoking and drinking. He is a construction worker too so the environment that he works in, and lives in, make it very difficult for him to stop. He's doing well though. He only smoked two cigarettes last week so he's getting better and better.

Our other friend Brother Z... is doing well too. In the last few days he's already read 16 chapters in the Book of Mormon . He really enjoys it and his wife is very supportive in helping him to read and answering his questions. We just need to help him learn to apply what he learns in the Book of Mormon to his life. He couldn't go to our church yesterday because he didn't get off work the night before until after midnight, so he went to a later session in a different chapel. His work is going to make things hard for them, but he is doing well though.

This week I had the opportunity to do another baptismal interview for a young girl named K... She is 16 and told me that she had a rough time at school. She didn't have many friends and felt that she had a lot of stress. Then one day, one of her friends gave her a flyer that she had found for our English class at the church. She decided to go, but when she arrived, the class had already started so she felt bad, and just decided to sit outside. Then, Elder Tatton (he came on the island with me) for some reason felt that he should look outside in the hallway and found her sitting there. He talked with her for a bit and invited her in for the rest of the lesson. At the end of the lesson, the missionaries shared a short message about Jesus Christ and K... really liked it. She said that the message made her feel happy so she wanted to hear more. Over the past few months she kept coming to English class, and then to church, and felt so happy every time. She originally was a very sad girl, but the huge change in her personality was so dramatic that everyone around her noticed it and now her mom wants to come to church to see what it's like. K... was so excited to have found the church and has plans to serve a mission in the future.

I am thankful that I, like K..., have found such happiness from the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is so important to me. I don't know where I would be without it. We know why we are here, why we have challenges, and how to deal with it all. It gives me such peace despite all the confusion around me.

This week we also got to have a meeting with our new Mission President. He's from the Philippines and you can tell that English is not his or his wife's first language haha. Their English is really good though. They are both super funny and really awesome. It's too bad I won't be able to know them for longer. He has made some changes in the mission to make the rules a lot less strict. So that's fun for all the newer missionaries haha. We have interviews with President Teh this Wednesday so I'm excited for that.

This Saturday we had a ward activity and we all went to Monkey Mountain again! I love that place! We didn't see too many monkeys this time, but it's just such a fun place to go hiking. I've got some pictures to send from there.

I'm having fun and enjoying my time in Zuoying. I'm praying hard that I can keep working hard and staying focused for these last, but very important weeks. Please pray for me as well! I love my mission and I want to work hard until the very end!

I love you all too! Have a great week!

Elder Stevens