I LOVE THE MISSION

     Hello Family!  I´m going to try to reiterate what I´ve been feeling recently:  I LOVE THE MISSION.  Every single part of it.  This is an experience like none other, and I´m so happy being a missionary.  I´ve never been in a situation like this where I have been able to learn so much in such a short amount of time.  It´s absolutley incredible.

     Things here are going great.  This week in all of Central America there was a whole week focusing on the family.  Every night, there were actividades in the church, talks about how to strengthen the family, and just opportunities to spend time together as a family.  And we had a lot of success!  A bunch of the members brought their family members that aren´t members, and they all loved it.  We got a bunch of new investigators from it, and it was all just from members talking to their family members about the gospel.  

      That just makes me realize how easy missionary work can be, with all the success that we had.  It can be so easy as to just talk with your family and close friends on how the church really focuses on the family.  A lot of families loved this week, and we are hoping to bring together more families because of the Gospel.

     By the way, on Saturday, there was a Cultural Night, where a bunch of members put together talents.  And what did Elder Pagán and I do?  Comedy skits....  booya.  Everyone loved us, and I just loved acting again.  I´ll show you all the videos when I get home!

     Our most positive investigator right now is Aura.  On Tuesday we had a really important lesson with her about baptism.  She had a fecha for the 17th of May, this last Saturday, but in that lesson, she said that she wanted to pray to figure out when she should be baptized.  We were kind of worried at first, because we should be the ones to put the fechas, but then we just felt like we should let her have two days to pray about it.  When we went back on Thursday, we were really anxious to know what she was going to say, and if she was going to say a fecha super far away.  But when we asked her, she said very confidently, "I need to be baptized on the 24th of May.  Is that alright?"  Nice!  That´s a for sure fecha that´s not too far away, just this next Saturday!  I know that the Lord knew He was going to give her that confirmation, and that´s why He told us to let it go.  The Lord really is in charge of this work.

     Just to end off, I want to stress with you guys the importance of the BoM again.  It really is the key to this work.  In PMG, it talks about how we need to be creative with the way that we handle the BoM, and especially here, where about half of our investigators can´t read.  But it really is the key to success here, and we need to always make sure that we are focusing on the BoM.  Read the last paragraph of the introduction of the BoM, and you´ll see why this book is so important in missionary work.

     I love you all so much, and I wish  the best for you all!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Moroni 9:31

Photos!

Last monday, we went to go see some Fossils here in Huehue.  There are apparentely of a Mammoth that lived here a looooong time ago.  I´ll get a better picture so you can all see what I´m talking about.

Here are the fossils again.  So the story about this is that some random guy was digging a well for his house 40 years ago, and came across one of the tusks.  He just thought it was a piece of wood, so he broke it, and at that point realized that it was a bone.  And the rest is history.

There was a baptism in the ward on Saturday, but the power was out...  It was kind of cool.

Me talking to the fam.

Mother´s Day!

     Hello Family!  And happy Mother´s Day to all you mothers out there.  You all are such a blessing in my life, thanks for everything that you guys do!  Things here in Colonia are so great.  We´ve been experiencing so many blessings here, and I feel so blessed to be able to finish off my mission here.  

     This week, I´ve realized that when we work hard, blessings always come.  Sometimes they aren´t immediate, and sometimes they aren´t in the way were were thinking of.  But they always come.  I´ll tell you guys why I´ve realized that.  We are working a lot with Elena and her family, and things have been interesting with them.  They´re coming to church, but are having a hard time accepting the Gospel.  BUT!  Because of them, we have been led to their families, friends, and who knows what.

     One of those people is Aura, who I told you all about last week.  She´s so pilas.  She´s coming to church, reading the BoM, and even giving us references.  There´s a possibility that she could be baptized this week, on the 17th, but if not, it will be next week.  She literaly just fell out of nowhere to come find us, and now look at what is going to happen.  

     Another one of those people is Rut.  She´s a friend on Elena, who has a lot of problems in her house.  She always tells us, "When you both come to teach Elena, call me so I can come over."  And one of the best things about her is that she understands everything so well.  With a little more time, I´m sure that she is going to love the church, and be baptized one day.

     I think one of the most important aspects of missionary work is talking to everyone that you can.  You never know when someone is looking for the truth, or just ready to hear the Gospel.  But if we never talk to anyone, we´ll never know.  Maybe the majority of the people won´t accept it right away, but some seeds can be planted for future missionary work.  This Gospel has to get to all four corners of the earth one way or another, and it´s our job to do it.

     Lastly, something else that I feel like talking about this week is how key the BoM is in this church.  The mission is really stressing that we make sure that every member of the church (recent converts too) is reading the BoM.  They have challenged us to ask every time that we see someone, "What part of the BoM are you at?"  When someone really has a testimony of the BoM, they almost never fall away.  And that´s something that we need to focus on here in Guatemala.

     I absolutely loved talking to you guys yesterday.  I loved seeing you guys, and talking just like good old times.  (That makes me sound like I´ve been away fo sooooo long...)  But I can´t wait to be able to do that every day in about two months.  You guys are really special to me, and I´m so grateful that we are able to spend all of eternity together.  You guys are the best.  I love you all so much.

     As for now, it´s just time to keep pushing forward, diligently and inteligently, in the Lord´s Vineyard.  Everyone that has time, go to LDS.org, find the spanish hymnbook, and put hymn #88 in Google Translate.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     

     P.S. The scripture for this week is kind of long.  Read Alma 60 and 61, and think about how we should act when someone complains against us when it´s not justified.  Especially Alma 61:9

Change

     Hello Family!  Guys, I´m enjoying the mission so much, just to let you guys know.  Being a missionary has been my life for so long, I don´t even want to think about anything else.  The only thing on my mind all day every day is preaching the Gospel.  What else do I really want/need?  Being a missionary is perfect.

     Our main focus as of right now is Elena, Aroldo, and their family.  They love the church, and are going every week to church (besides Aroldo).  Aroldo has got some problems, and they aren´t married yet (kill me), but we´re not too worried about it.  They´ve got the desire to learn, and that´s the most important thing.  With that will come the desire to change, and we know that it´s possible for them.

     Also, I´ve got two really cool stories about Elena.  On Wednesday, we had just gotten to Elena´s house, when some random lady came up to us, and said "Mis hermanos Elderes!"  Elena said that she was her neighbor, and she presented herself as Aura.  Then she said that before, she was reading the BoM and talking with the misisonaries, but then she moved and lost contact with them.  And Wednesday was the first time that she had seen missionaries for 9 years.  Wow.  She´s reading the BoM again AND came to church.  We are fairly sure that she will be baptized this month.  Miracles happen guys.

     Then, yesterday as we got to Elena´s house, she said "You guys can give blessings, right?  My friend is really sick, and I want you to give her a blessing."  Man, that kind of faith from an investigator is incredible.  So we went to the friends house, and I gave the blessing.  That is probably one of my favorite things to do.  I feel so much power when I give blessings, because I know that I have the authority to do it.  The Spirit was so strong there, and I know that we left a lasting impression there

     We have been working with a lot of Menos Activos recently.  After the conference with Elder Clarke, I really understood the importance of getting less actives to church.  Baptizing one man and reactivating one man are basically the same, because in any case, the church is benefitted, and the man is in the true church.  It can mean the world to a less active member having someone care for them.  Most of the time it is one small thing that happened, and we can be the means to help them come back to church.  We´ve got to retain everyone.  It´s a huge problem here in Central America, and it means a lot.

     More than anything, the mission has been a huge blessing for me to see who I really am, and who I can become.  I´ve learned so much in the misison, and I know that I am a different person that what I was before.  I see the world so much differently, and I feel like it is a good thing.  The mission will always change someone.  We just have to let it change us for the better, and not the other way around.

     This is the life.  I´m so happy to be here, serving these people that I love so much.  Life is so good.  Until next time.

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Alma 5:13

Photos!

This is just a huge pot of corn that they cook and then crush to make tortillas here.

Me in the house of Luis and Edwin

This was on the way to the baptism.  There were a total of 24 people in this truck, 17 of which are not members of the church.  And this was completely legal.  Gotta love Guatemala.

Luis and Edwin!

 Luis, Edwin, and I.  MNOMN crew, I had the tie on for the service, but you can`t see it here.  

The baptismal service

The truck leaving the baptism

These are Elena and Aroldo`s kids, and I love them to death!

Elder Berríos and I in the conference.  This guy helped me out a bunch in Quiché, and it was good to see him again.

A Special Week

Hello Family!  Just to let you all know now, this week was one of the best weeks I`ve ever had in the mission.  No, I didn`t have the best numbers or anything extraordinary, but with everything that happened in the week, it was just special.  I`ve learned so much as a missionary, and this week I`ve definitely learned more.  One of the best moments of my mission.

     Yes, I`m writing on Tuesday instead of yesterday, but you`ll all see why soon.  And if the letter is too long, just skip to the end, because it is the best part.

     So this Saturday Luis and Edwin were baptized!  Nice.  My first baptisms in this area, and they were good ones.  The service was really special, something that seems to be lacking here in Guatemala.  But it was incredible.  These two have made some really big differences in their lives, and we were able to see the result of it.  They were so happy the whole time, and they kept saying afterwards, "I`m baptized! I´m baptized!"  So happy.  And we also had a total of 17 investigators in the service!  I was amazed in how many investigators came.  And they all said that they loved it.  (There were more investigators than members, but that`s beyond the point...)

     Their confirmation was also really special.  The Bishop really made them feel welcome in the ward, and some temple missionaries that were there gave them ties for next week!  They were really happy about the support of the ward, as was I.  They are now saying that they can`t wait to go on missions one day, and that`s my hope for them. 

     We are still working with Elena and Aroldo.  Aroldo is kind of rough, because he`s kind of hard-hearted.  He accepts us and everything, but we just need to get into his heart.  The rest of the family is doing great.  They went to the baptism and church, and they are loving it.  We just are going to keep going with them and make sure that they always have that excitement.

     We`ve also made some progress with Antonia, who I had mentioned a couple weeks back.  She is the sister of a member in the ward, Hermana Paz.  For years she`s listened to the missionaries and all that jazz, but this week was something special.  After about 18 years of contact with missionaries, she came to church for the first time.  Ever.  The whole Paz family was shocked.  But I´m not really.  I´ve had a lot of impressions that now is her time, and we are here to help her with it.  I´m sure that she will be a member of the chruch this year.  I know it.

     The reason that I am writing today instead of yesterday is because yesterday, Elder Don R. Clarke of the Seventy came to our mission to have a conference here.  He is the assistant Excecutive Director of the Missionary Department of the Church.  And man does he know how to do missionary work.  If I learned anything about him, and General Authorities in general, it`s that they have a much higher vision of missionaries than we all do.  They know what missionary work can be, and they want us to catch that vision.  Elder Clarke taught us a lot of things, and it really made me want to finish my mission off the strongest way possible.  That man is incredible.

     It`s been a great change here in Colonia.  Changes are this week, but Elder Pagán and I are staying together, just like we thought.  So we are all charged up and ready to convert even more people here in Colonia.  I love being a missionary so much, and I honestly wish I could be one for much much longer.  The Lord lives, and is hastening his work.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. DyC 49:24.