Photos!

The two boys that we baptized last Saturday in Chinique!

 Elder Glass, Elder Vasquez, and I at changes.

The view of Chiquilajá from our house!  Beautiful.

Elder Calero and I.  The thing in the background is called the Minerva Temple.

Hey look!  I have my own store here in Xela!

Last Week in Chinique!

   Hello Family!  What´s up guys?  I hope you all had a good week this week!  Well, I just spent my last week here in Chinique.  I´m currently in Chinique still, but later tonight I´ll head to Quiché, and in the morning I´ll go to Xela where they will tell me where I´m going!  So I don´t know yet where I´m going, but there´s a lot of options for me now!  We´ll see where I go!

     This week was a good week for us.  Of course, it wasn´t perfect, but I´ll take what God gives me... Which just happened to be two baptisms this Saturday!!!  A recent convert, Marta, and her oldest son were baptized like 3 weeks ago.  But she had two other sons, 11 and 9, who weren´t baptized because 1. They weren´t really ready yet, and 2. Because the dad wasn´t really gung ho about the whole thing.  But we spent a lot of time with them these last two weeks, and we succeeded in helping them gain a testimony (you should hear them sing the primary songs!) and helping the dad out with letting them get baptized.  So Saturday they were baptized!  It was very special and just a great experience for me.

     After the baptism, we had a branch activity!  It was a talent show type of thing, where we saw a bunch of skits, and some people singing.  It was way fun, way funny, and just a good way to spend time getting the branch more unified.  Us missionaries did a skit about David and Goliath, and I was Goliath.  (Apparently according to Jeffery I´m 6´3 and 200 lbs.  I not quite there yet!)  It was way funny, and I got pegged in the mouth with a paper ball. When I get home I´ll show you guys the video!

     But not everything was all fine and dandy with the activity.  While we were getting it planned and everything, the branch kind of separated and got mad at each other.  People everywhere, just love the people in your ward/branch and everything will be so much better.  We had to deal with that for this week, which was not fun.  But we just all need to learn how to be more unified and how to love each other.  Which went along great with the class I gave in Elder´s Quorum this week in the Lorenzo Snow book.  Chapter 16, read it when you have the chance!

     Not much else happened during the week, just going around doing what we do best!  It´s been a good time here working with Elder Glass and Vasquez, but I´m ready to go to a normal two person companionship.  Ya feel me?  Maybe not, but trust me on this one, trios are weird...

     I hope you are all doing well, in whatever part of the world you are in.  We can all make a difference wherever we are, we just have to put in our part.  So just do work!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Alma 42:15

This Week in Chinique‏

     Hello Family!  I´m just chillin here in Chinique still!  It´s been great, I´ve been loving my time here in the mission these past couple of days.  (I think it´s because of the Muñoz family lifting my spirits.  They are so awesome!)  I´ve developed a new love for the work, and I love it every time that it happens!  It just makes the work that much better when you are out here!  Like Dad always says "Learn to love work."

     It´s been a great week this week.  I´m still with Elder Glass and Elder Vasquez in a trio.  Although we have been getting along really good, and we are working hard, there is something about trios that I don´t really like...  I don´t know what exactly, but yeah.  Changes are this coming week, and I´m fairly sure that I´m going to another area, so not much more time in a trio!  

     Okay, something way cool happened this week.  A convert of just a few months ago was baptized with one of her sons.  They have two other sons that are at the age of baptism, but she has been hesitant having them be baptized, because the dad isn´t really a fan of it.  But we went to go visit her this week, and out of the blue she told us that she wants them to be baptized as soon as possible!  We were stunned, because we didn´t say anything about it, but she wants it done!  So maybe they will be baptized this Saturday, but if not, it´s going to be soon!  I love the mission just for that!  MIRACLES!

     We have been focusing a lot on our recent converts that we have, because a really sad thing that happens here is that the members here don´t really know exactly why they are going to church, so when something happens to challenge their testimony, they fall away.  So we are really making sure that it doesn´t happen to our converts, especially the Muñoz family!  That family is something else!

     We have really been trying to invite everyone of our investigators to baptism, and having them accept a set date.  It´s crazy, because PMG says that we should try and put one in the first lesson that we have with them.  I have always thought that it is way crazy and way too fast, and they will feel pressured.  But I realized that PMG is inspired, written by the Apostles themselves, so I´m thinking they probably know what they are doing!  Haha so we are trying that out, and I´ts been good so far.  We put 4 baptismal dates that people accepted this week!  It was awesome!  We are thinking that maybe half fall through, so that means that 2 people can be baptized soon!  We´re gonna work to see it though!

     So this Saturday, a Gringo came to Chinique!  He visited a lot of people in Chinique, but we never saw him.  But it was way cool to hear a bunch of the members talk about him, and the impact that he had on them.  It just shows how much missionaries can impact the lives of others!  We just have to make it happen!

     Man, I wish that I could send videos home to you guys.  We made a "music video" of one of the Nashville Tribute Band songs, and recorded it.  It was so dang funny!  Elder Vasquez was just rediculous!  (Spelling?  I can´t spell anymore...)  When I get back home, I´ll share with you guys all the videos that I have!

     We had an awesome lesson with some less actives, Luis and Margarita, this week.  So powerful.  They had been having a lot of problems with their marriage, and they were thinking about separating.  So we shared a lesson with them about love and how they can love each other.  All in all, and the end, they hugged and Luis started crying...  Wow, what a moment.  I´m definitely going to remember that feeling for a long time.  Nothing is as powerful as love guys!  Remember that!

     Really, I´ve been enjoying a lot my time as a missionary recently.  I don´t know what it is, but I love it!  I hope that it never ends!  

     I love you all so much, and thanks for everything!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  Alma 26:27 

Awesome Week!

     Hello Family!  This week was so awesome!  We had a lot of things go on this week, so I´m gonna try and tell you all what happened!

     So the biggest thing:  THE MUÑOZ FAMILY WAS BAPTIZED!  YES!!!  I´m so freakin happy right now I can´t even explain it.  They were baptized on Saturday morning.  It was very cloudy and a little rainy, just like any other Guatemalan day!  Haha but that didn´t stop the amazing feeling that we all felt that day.  Angelica, Henry, and Amary were all baptized, and I was so happy!  Haha I just can´t stop saying how happy I am!  All the frustrations of the past couple months, and the discouragement, and all that junk doesn´t even come close to the amazing feeling of hard work paying off!  You just have to keep up the work, and it pays off!

     They really are a very special family.  Like last week, they were already talking as if they were members!  We are trying now to get them excited to go to the temple as soon as possible!  That really is the best way to keep them really strong in the Gospel.  The spirit that is at the temple is unlike any other.  So we are going to try and get them to go next week!  (So that we´ll be able to go also!)  They have already talked about going, so now we just need to give them the push to do it!

     Just to show that this week was so crazy, we still have some crazy news coming up:  I had EMERGENCY CHANGES again!  Less than two weeks, and Elder Tufiño already is gone!  How quick was that?  So what they did is they took the two companionships in Chinique, took out Elder Tufiño, and now we are in a trio, with me and the other companionship!  So now Elder Glass (from North Carolina) and Elder Vasquez (from Perú) are my comps!  

     Poor Elder Tufiño...  He had changes on Friday, and the baptism was on Saturday... He missed it by one day!   And freaking Elder Glass and Vasquez, they got three baptisms just handed to them!  Lucky ducks!  Haha

     But it´s been awesome so far being in a trio with them.  We basically have all of our investigators, plus all of theirs, so we are really busy!  We have a BUNCH of progressing investigators now, so we have a lot of work to do!  But I love it!

     I moved all my stuff to their house, so now I´m living there.  (Which means I have hot water to bathe in again!  About time...)

     So yeah, a lot happened this week, and it was so awesome!  But now we just have to get back to work and find the next family to be baptized!  I love this feeling, I´m on just such a big spiritual high, and I never want to come down!  

     I love you all so much, and I hope that you all had great weeks!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Alma 42:31