Changes!!!...Oh Wait

      Hello Family!  This week there are changes!  And guess who has changes?!?..  Not me.  Jaja it´s been really weird for me.  I´ve been in Chiquilajá for 5 changes now, which is about the maximum for the mission.  But I guess I´ll be here for 6!  Go figure!  It´s a great area, I love the members and everything.  And, because we thought that I was going to have changes, we got a lot of people prepared for the supposed new guy that was going to come in.  But now I´ll be able to work with them, and it´s going to be great.  Although I´m the second missionary in years that has been in an area for more that 5 changes, I´m stoked.

     Our most progressing investigators so far are Lorenzo and María.  They are the nicest older couple you will meet this side of Guatemala.  Just amazing.  They only have one problem though... They know that this church is true.  They´ve prayed about it, and they know.  They are just afraid of leaving the church they are attending now.  They feel like they owe it to the church they are going to, because they´ve been going there for so long.  We´ve been trying to explain it to them that they owe it to God if they know this is the truth, but they don´t seem to understand.  We´ve also shared Matthew 13:45-46.  It´s been kind of a real test for me, becuase we can´t seem to make them understand.  But they know, and I´m sure they´ll act.  We´re just going to keep working with them.

     We had a really good lesson this week with some new investigatores named Lester and Ingrid.  They are a couple who have had a lot of contact with missionaries, and when they said that they had heard the message before, we wondered how we were going to go at the lesson.  But we just decided to go at it really slow, and make sure that they understand every little detail.  It was really slow for me, but I felt the Spirit stronger than in other lessons.  We made sure to ask a LOT of questions to make sure that they understood.  And we were getting responses like, "Wow, I didn´t realize that before." or, "That makes a lot of sense."  Follow the spirit, and you can´t go wrong.

     Which brings me to my next point.  I´ve been studying a lot in Ch. 10 of PMG about asking inspired questions.  We had been having a lot of problems with teaching investigatores, and the next lesson they had forgotten almost everything.  The good thing about questions is that we can let the people teach themselves.  When we ask a question guided by the spirit, they tend to think about it more, and they get more out of it.  It´s not enough, I´ve realized, to just teach the doctrine, and ask if they understood.  We need to do better, and the Spirit can help us to just that.

     We got hit with a stroke of bad luck this week with some investigators.  With Jorge, who was planning on getting baptized at the end of this month, he´s going to have to go to the capital for a sickness that he has.  So he´s going to be gone for some weeks.  Also, Antonio´s going on vacation for two weeks.  So that´s two progressing investigators gone for a while.  But we´ll be sure to get back with them when they get back.

     A lot of things this week have made me realize how much I love the people here in Guatemala.  They are so loving.  They are so quick to accept total strangers, let them into their house, and make new friends.  It really makes the work here a lot eaiser.  And I´ve basically been living with Latinos for 20 months, and I´ve been loving it.  I´m thinking that maybe this culture will inpact what I will do later in life, but we´ll see!

     So yeah, I´m still here, but excited to work with all the people we´ve been finding.   The mission is amazing, and I couldn´t even think about being anywhere else.  This really is the Lord´s work, and I am a part of it.  Let´s hasten the work!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Ether 12:4

Changes are Coming!

  X´be´ij Wachala´al!  I recieved some emails this week with some Q´eqchi in them, so I had to start off with some K´iche´ for all you guys!  Although I bet none of you will have any idea of what I said, just look how I usually start off my emails, and you´ll figure it out!

     This week has been a really good week for us.  We started off the week with two big goals in mind:  Find at least 15 news this week, and extend a baptismal invite to all of our progressing investigators that we have.  And that worked miracles.  We accomplished every single one of our goals.  Found exactly 15 news, and invited everyone to be baptized.  Now, not everyone accepted to be baptized, but it helped us see who was going to progress and who wasn´t.  And some people did accept a fecha!  When you put hard reaching goals, and you do everything you can to reach them, miracles happen.

     Our most positive investigator now is Jorge.  He´s accepted to be baptized on the 29th of March.  He´s basically ready for everything.  He accepts a lot of the doctrine we give him, and when he doesn´t understand, he asks questions to understand.  And they are really good questions.  He couldn´t come to church this Sunday, but when he told us that he couldn´t, he was apologizing like mad!  He promised us to come every Sunday from now on.  He´s looking really good, we just need to keep going with him.

     Also, we went with some old investigators that we had.  They are an older couple that live pretty far away.  Crazy how it happened too.  This week we got a random phone call, and turned out to be the man, Lorenzo.  He just asked how I was doing, and when he figured our that I was still here in Chiquilajá, he invited us to go with him.  And when we went, they were so receptive!  They remembered a lot of our message, and they are eager to learn more.  I am conviced that if they come to church, they´ll for sure get baptized.  (They also accepted a fecha for the 5th of April, but they need to come to church for that to happen.)

     By the way, Antonio is just rediculous.  He´s not taking us seriously, and it´s been really frustruating to me.  And it´s also effecting Cindy.  She didn´t come to church because he didn´t want her to.  We really need to talk serious with them, but they are going on vacation for about two weeks.  Great...  So things are slowing down with him, but we are going to keep at it.

     They are the people that accepted to be baptized.  We really tried to have everyone accept a fecha, but we didn´t have too much luck.  But we´ve got some progressing investigators that are looking good, and I´m sure we´ll be able toput more fechas this week.

     Also, I´ve been enjoying a lot contacting recently.  Like, a lot.  There are some really amazing things that happen when I find myself contacting.  And, for me, I guess I´ve kind of made it a game when the people aren´t interested.  I try to make them change their mind as much as I can.  For example, there have been people that say they don´t want us to visit them, and 5 minutes later, we have an appointment with them.  Could you call that manipulation?  I guess.  But it´s for a good cause!  Jaja

     I´ve been really working on making my studies more efficient.  I gues Elder Welker, my comp from the CCM, was thinking the same thing recently!  Jaja but for a while, I´ve been studying to strengthen my testimony, be more sure about things, etc.  But recently, I´ve been trying to focus on what my investigator needs.  Really praying about their needs, and how I can help them.  It´s been incredible.  My studies just seem...  better.  I´ve been getting a lot more out of my studies, and that always helps.

     Talking with my comp this week, I´ve realized that there is a point in every convert´s lives that they change from a convert to a member.  And it´s a very needed change.  For example, a man named Pedro that has been baptized a little over a month is already a member, because he´s magnifying his callings, and really just plain pilas.  On the other hand, there is a convert her named Martha who has been baptized since August, but she is still a convert.  Why do I say that?  Because she doesn´t go to church every week, she´s not sure about what she´s doing, etc.  And we need to help the people make that transition.  it is so important, becuase it´s the difference between active and inactive when their testimony is tried.

     Hoo, I hope you all understood that last paragraph...

     Well, that´s about it for now.  I´m thinking I´m in my last week in this area, becuase changes are next week.  But you never know.  But in case I do, I´m going to go out with a bang.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Read 1 Samuel 10:8, and then 1 Samuel 13:5-14, and think about the importance of Profets/Priesthood.  And if you want, D&C 98:14-15

Scriptures!

 Hello Family!  How are you all doing?  I hope that you all have had an amazing week.  Being out here on the mission really makes me learn how to appreciate every little moment that I have, so I´m hoping that you all are making the best of everything.  Life (the mission) goes by way to fast, and if we don´t take advantage of everything that comes at us, we will miss some amazing moments.  Romans 8:18

     On that note, I´ve been trying to find out the best way for me to finish up the mission strong.  And what I´ve realized is that there really is nothing special to do.  I just have to keep doing the things that I´ve always been doing, and the things that are expected of me.  I´ve seen way to many missionaries that waste their last couple of months, and I´m set on making sure that that doesn´t happen.  Alma 37:6-7

     We have been working a lot with Antonio this week.  Right now he is at the point where he just needs an answer about the BoM, and he´ll be baptized.  He´s coming to church off and on these weeks, and we like that a lot.  We just need to make sure that he´s feeling the spirit everytime he is with us.  If that goes as planned, he should be baptized the 15th of March.  We are just really focusing on making sure he always feels the Spirit.  John 15:26

     We found some guy this week named Jorge.  He´s the perfect example of someone who is just waiting for this Gospel.  We found him by stopping by a store because I wanted to talk to the lady there.  But she just blew us off as usual, but then Jorge came out to attend us.  Basically, he´s been looking for a church for a while, and when we taught him the Restoration, he ate it all up.  The thing is that he left town for a week, but this week, we´ll get back to teaching him.  Alma 16:16, D&C 123:12

     Also, this week we really focused on finding new people to teach.  We are really making sure that if people we are currently teaching don´t want to progress, we have something to fall on always.  And there are a lot of great moments that come from trying to find people to teach.  Everyone here is a child of our Heavenly Father, and they deserve to know the truth.  John 10:14

     As you can see, I´ve been trying to put references to every paragraph that I write.  I´m really happy of how much my scripture knowledge has grown in the mission, and I want it to keep growing.  It´s been a really humbling experience for me to realize how little I knew of the scriptures before the mission, so now I´ve made a goal to know them even more.  D&C 93:36

     That´s about it for this week you guys.  I hope that you all have another great week, and for those of you that are out in the field with me, love every minute that you have to be a misisonary.  There really is no other time like this.  Until next time!   

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. If you aren´t full of scriptures by now, read Helaman 10:4-5

¡Xbe´ij watchalal!

¡Hola Familia!  Man oh man what a good time it is to be a missionary now.  I´ve been doing a lot of reflexion this week, and it´s incredible for me to realize that I´m a missionary.  I´ve been remembering all the times when I was little where I thought "Man, those missionaries are so old and so great."  And now I´m one of those missionaries!  We are in the time that we need to hasten this work, and I am a part of it!  The Lord is asking us to do all that we can to spread this gospel to all nations, and I´m in the heart of the work.  What a blessing.

     Well, after that paragraph, it´s kind of rough talking about this week.  It wasn´t the best week in the world; more than anything everything just went by really slow.  We had been spending so much time on Cruz that we kind of neglected the other parts of the work, so we are suffering from that now.  Not gonna lie, it´s been kind of frustruating for me spending most of the week trying to pick this area up again, and not watching it happen.  But I feel like that is one of the biggest reasons that I came to this mission.  To work on my patience.  And I feel like I am doing a lot better.  Tht doesn´t mean that I´m perfect yet, but I´ll get there!

     We do have one really good prospect.  Antonio, Cindy´s husband, is now listening to us.  Cindy has been baptized for about a month now, but she´s on fire!  She wants to do everything possible for us to baptize Antonio.  And she´s super pilas too!  Jaja for example, this Friday we went to teach Antonio about the BoM, and basically she taught the whole lesson.  She´s got a super strong testimony, and she´s gonna be the key factor for us to baptize her husband.  If we keep going at it, I feel like I could baptize him before I leave this area.

     This week was Stake Conference, and of the four hours that I went to, about 3 of them were all focused on missionary work.  I don´t remember that happening when I was back home, but now missionary work seems to be sneaking up in every church meeting that I go to.  The Lord really is wanting us to pick up the pace.

     This week, I´ve been focusing a lot on my BoM study, and I´ve slowly been realizing more and more how important this book really is.  I know for a fact that it is true, and it is the word of God.  This week during a lesson, we had one investigator tell us that he wanted a dream telling him the BoM is true.  And before I knew it, I was testifying to him that in my 20 years of being a member, I´ve never had any manifestation, dream, voice, or anything of the sort telling me that it was true.  It´s just been year after year of studying it,  and I know that it is true.  There is no doubt of any sort in my mind.  

     Well, that´s about it for this week.  We are going to be working hard this week to get a lot more investigators to teach, so that we can pick up the work here.  I just want you all to know how much I love being out here.  The trials, the work, the culture, the language, the Spirit, and so much more.  There is nothing like it.  Until next time!

    - Elder Stuart

     P.S. 1 Nefi 6:5,  and try replacing the word "write" for "do".

Amazing Week

  Hello Family!  This week was absolutely amazing.  We had a really good start to the week, and to top it all off, Cindy and her two kids (Michelle and Antony) were baptized on Saturday!  This has been one of the weeks in the mission where I know for a fact I am where I am supossed to be.

     So I want to tell a little bit about how Cindy came around to be baptized.  This is the first baptism I´ve had that we found them knocking doors.  (The rest are references)  Her husband Antonio attended us, and we didn´t even see her until like the fourth visit.  But when we did, she didn´t really want to talk to us, and was so sure that her church was the right one.  That was back in November.

     But over time, the whole family didn´t progress, so we stopped visiting them for a while.  But one time, about 3 weeks after we stopped visiting them, we were up by their house, and Elder Josec and I both felt the impression to visit them again.  So we did, and turns out the Cindy needed a lot of help from someone exactly then.  So we helped her out a little bit, and left, not thinking much about it.

      But ever since then, she started to warm up to us.  We never saw Antionio because he got a new job, and he always got home late.  But we started to teach Cindy again, and now she started to accept it.  She made the necessary changes in her life, and she just looked happier.  

     But there was one night about 2 weeks ago, where Antonio came home late, and was really drunk.  Long story short, he threw Cindy and her kids out on the street, and we just happened to pass by when that happened.  So we arranged for them to sleep in a member´s house for the night, and while we were looking, we had an amazing talk with her about the church, and how she loves it.  We talked a little bit about baptism, and she told us she would think about it.

     So now this Tuesday passed, and we had an amazing cita with her.  We felt the spirit so strong, and Cindy and her two kids agreed to be baptized!  Michelle, the little girl asked us, "How soon can we do it?"  So amazing.  So on Saturday, they were baptized!  So amazing.  They were so happy, and it showed.  Everyone could see how happy they were.  

      As for baptisms, this has probably been one of the most rewarding ones for me.  I saw their conversion from start to finish, and I was there every step of the way.  It has been on of the highlights of my entire mission.  And I´m so glad that I was a part of it!

      Wow, that took up a lot of space...  I just needed to tell you guys about her so that you can understand what I´m feeling!  

     As for the rest of the week, we worked really hard at the beginning of the week, because we knew that the rest of our time was going to be taken up by the baptism.  But we still had some really good lessons, and found some really good people to teach.  

     As for me, I´ve been feeling the Spirit more than ever recently.  That has been one of my goals for the home stretch of my mission.  It´s one of the things about the mission that is unexplainable.  It also is one of my biggest fears about going home, because I won´t have the same opportunities to feel the Spirit.  But we always have to be working so that we can feel it.

     I feel like this letter is really jumbled, but I hope you all get what i´m trying to say...  But if not, just act like you do!  Jaja but I hope that you all have a great week.  I love you all!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. This week isn´t really a scripture, but a talk.  http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/transcripts/religionsymposium/2003_01_25_bednar.htm  Read it!  It´s so good!

An Apostle in Xela!

    Hello Family!  This week has been a really good week for us all around.   We´ve had really good lessons, found some really good people to teach, and to top it all off, we had Elder Cook of the Quorum of the 12 come and talk to our mission!  I´ve definitely learned a lot this week, and I hope to be able to communicate what I am thinking today...  So here goes!

     So, as I said before, this Saturday Elder Cook came to talk to us.  And I learned a bunch from the conference overall.  I´d like to start with something that Elder Duncan, a seventy, taught us.  He told a story of an Elder that was serving a mission in England.  Things were going hard, and he and his comp decided to start talking more about the Savior, and try and avoid the Restoration.  But he started feeling depressed, and thinking about going home.  So one day, he decided to pray, and he heard a voice that said, "Testify about the Restoration."  So he did, and he felt so much better about his mission.

     What we are to learn from this is that we have a very special/unique message for the world, and that is the Restoration.  We shouldn´t be afraid to talk about it, because that is the basis of our message.  There have been times in my mission when I´ve found someone really pilas, and I want them to progress, but I think to myself, "What if they get offended by Joseph Smith and the Restoration?"  But it is so necessary for the people to realize that a restoration has happened.  Everyone should know about it, and if they want to accept it is up to them.  But it´s our job to teach them about it.  A really good reminder of how important the restoration really is!

     And then Elder Cook got up.  Man, I could tell that he really is an Apostle of the Lord.  He brought a spirit like none other when he walked in.  And he is so smart about the scriptures!  Blew my mind.  But he talked a lot about how we as missionaries are sent to a ward/branch to strengthen it.  And we need to be part of it to do that.  And then he shared D&C 112:33, and talked about how important yet solemn our job as missionaries is.  There have been times when I have forgot how important it is not only to be a missionary, but to be a good one.  There is no substitute.

     But the best part of it all was the apostolic witness that he shared with us.  As he was bearing his testimony, he said this:  "I testify to you all that Jesus Christ lives.  I know the Lord.  I know his voice.  And there is nothing that can make me deny this."  Wow...  The Spirit was so thick (for lack of a better word) that I knew it was there.  And I also knew that what I am doing is the Lord´s work.  So yeah, this week was one filled with the Spirit.  

     Things are going good investigator wise also.  With Cindy and her children, they are still set for this Saturday, so we are just going to visit them a lot this week to make sure that they are still on board.  And a good thing with them is that they are putting the example for Antonio, the husband.  He came to church this week because of them!  If they can just keep being the example, I have a feeling that the whole family will one day be members.

     Wosvelí is still as prepared as ever, and this week we started his divorce process, but I´ll be long gone before it´s done.  But the important thing is that he gets baptized eventually.

     We´ve also got some really cool people that we are working with right now, they just need to take the next step towards baptism.  But things are really looking good here in Chiquilajá!

     I love you all, and love how close we all are.  I was thinking about it the other day, one of a missionaries biggest drives is how close his family/friend relations are at home.  And I´m so grateful to have a VERY strong one.  I love you all so much.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. James 3:4  (Also 3-5)

"Just Keep Going"

    Hello Family!  Here I am, yet again, but now I´m finally writing to you guys a real Elder in the mission!  I just completed 18 months in the mission this week, so now I´m done with my Sister Mission!  Just 6 months are left.  That is so weird to think about sometimes.  There are times that I feel really excited about coming home, but then there I times I feel really sad about leaving here.  But it´s bound to come soon, so I´ve just got to make the most of it!

     This week we had a really special moment with a really special family.  This is a family that we have known for a while now.  (Almost 3 months!)  The mom´s name is Cindy, and her husband is Antonio.  I´ve talked about them in a couple of emails now, but now they deserve special mention.  Well, Antonio has become a drunk again and has made life really hard for Cindy and her kids.  But amist all that, she has recieved her answer.  She and two of her kids have accepted to be baptized on the 25th of January!  I´m so happy.  

     The most interesting thing about them is that there have been a lot of times where I have thought, "Well, they aren´t going to progress anymore, it´s probably just better if we drop them."  But I never did, and I am so grateful for it.  It´s like Heavenly Father was saying to me, "Just keep going."  He really does know best.

     Other than that though, the week wasn´t that good.  Both Cruz and Wosvelí were out of town all week, so we haven´t seen them at all.  The divorce for Wosvelí is going to take longer than we thought, so that´s not good.  And Cruz isn´t really feeling it anymore.  We have a FHE with him tonight, so we are going to really try and bring the spirit so that he can feel it.  

     Another really cool thing.  Elder Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve is coming here on Saturday!  He is going to talk to all the missionaries in the mission, and 
I´m so stoked for it!  I never thought that anything like this would happen while I was in the mission, but I have the chance to be instructed by a living apostle!  Amazing.

     I want to share with you guys something that I studied this week.  Let´s go to Alma 20.  In verse 2, the Lord tells Ammon not to the land of Nephi, because the King will try to kill him.  And later on, we read in verse 8 that, as Ammon obeyed the Lord and went a different way, who else comes along but the very King that Ammon was meant to avoid.  When I first read this, I was like, "What?"  Really confused.  So I started to think about it.  

      I think that no matter what, the Lord was going to put the King in Ammon´s path.  But what happened with that depended on Ammon´s obedience.  Ammon listened to the Lord and went the other way.  I imagine that if Ammon didn´t listen to the Lord and saw the King, he would have been killed without quesitons.  But when Ammon obeyed the Lord, his meeting with the King was really positive, and ended up saving his brothers and converting the King.  

     This really just screams "Be obedient!"  Sometimes things are going to happen regardless of what we do.  But the consequences depends on how willing we are willing to submit ourselves to the Lord´s will.  

      I really am enjoying myself a lot in the mission field.  I am learning a lot about myself, and I think that is one of the main reasons I am here.  I know what I am doing is the Lord´s work.  I love you all, and love all of your support.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  Well, if you guys want another scripture other than the one in the letter, take 1 Nefi 17:35, just the first line.  (Up to where it says God for the first time.)  Think about it along with obedience.

¡Feliz Navidad!

    Hello Family!  I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!  Filled with fireworks and everything!... Oh wait, that`s just us in Guatemala...  So yeah, that`s just for Jeffrey and I.  (Unless my limited knowledge of other countries comes into play here...)  But anyways, I hope that all of you had an amazing Christmas, filled with a bunch of Christmas Spirit!  I hope that we all did what President Monson said, and make sure to take off that last syllable of Christmas to remember what it is really about.

      I really like what my brother Jeffrey said this week, that all of us missionaries that are serving are giving the best birthday present we could to the Person whose birthday we are celebrating.  (That sentence is probably really weirdly structured.  Just bear with it.)  

     But now we have moved on, and it`s time for us to think about the next year, 2014!  (Wow time is going by way too fast...)  People always talk about resolutions this time of year, and honestly, I`ve never really done them.  But I think that it is important that we think of ways that we can be better people, and really stick to what we committed to.  Especially with a spirit of Christ in mind.  We all can be better, now it`s just up to us to do what we can!

     The mission`s got a really good idea with resolutions and all that.  We are trying out a 40 day and 40 night fast of things that we know we have to change.  Every one of us has something to change, so now we are promising to fast about it, and make sure that we are better missionaries.  We need to make sure we have the spirit with us at all times, so this should help us out!

     Now I just feel like this letter is just a bunch of thoughts about this time of year.  Let`s get on to what`s going down in Guatemala.

     Just to start off, we had 6 people in Sacrament Meeting this week.  That`s tied with my all time high.  I guess people are just in the Christmas Spirit!

     Our most positive people are Cruz and his daughter Sharon right now.  They are coming to church, and are still set for their baptismal date on the 11th of January.  They`ve got no real problems right now, so we are just still preparing them for their date!  I`m really excited for them.

      And now I`ve got to tell you guys about a man named Miguel.  He is a really good friend of Cruz`s family.  He`s about 70, and he`s really got no family around.  And on top of all of that, he`s almost deaf.  Well, he`s been around whenever we teach Cruz and Sharon, but we haven`t really been paying attention to him.  But on Sunday, we had started church and everything, with everyone inside already.  But after the Sacrament, who else walks in but Miguel.  He came on his own!  He just walked in like he knew exactly what he knew he was doing!  So we are definitely going to see what`s up with him this week!  Man I love miracles.  Sometimes I feel like I should deserve them, but when we are on the Lord`s errand, everything is possible.

     We also had a mom and her three kids come to church this week.  Her name is Cindy, and she is the wife of an Antonio that we had been visiting a couple months back.  Antonio now doesn`t want anything to do with us, but Cindy does.  She really wants to know about the truth, and where to find it.  So we are really going to help her out.  And after about 2 and a half months of knowing her, she finally came to church!  I`m really hoping and praying that she will keep acting on the faith that she has!

     I don`t know, it`s been just a really good week this week.  I was just talking to Elder Keele about it, and Sunday`s are what makes or breaks your success in the week.  You can have the best week in the world lesson-wise, but if no one comes to church, it feels really hollow.  But when people take that step of faith and come to chruch, it`s like walking on air.  There is no other feeling quite like it.

     Sometimes I feel like I am being blessed way to much than I deserve.  I`ve realized this week that I have a lot of faults.  I am a very imperfect person.  But God takes those imperfect people, and has them do what they do best.  There is a spot for all of us in this world!  We all have our part to play, no matter how small.  I think it was President Uchtdorf who said one time, that the world is like a Symphony, and we are the players.  If we don`t do our part, the show will go on.  But with our help, everything is just better.  We need to remember that always.

      Wow, this letter`s a honker, that`s for sure.  I just feel like putting all of my thoughts down, so you guys know what I`m thinking.  Above all though, I don`t know what I would`ve done without the mission.  I would`ve been a completely different person, and not for the better.  I am infinitely grateful to my Heavenly Father for this chance that I have.  He really is our Father, and Jesus Christ is our Brother.  We are SO blessed to be a part of this Gospel.  I know it.  And I love it.

     Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  Malachi 3:3  This one takes a bit of explination.  A refiner and purifier of silver purifies his silver in a very special way.  He has to take the silver with tongs, sit right next to the fire, and hold it in there while it is being purified.  He knows it`s done when the silver shines and he can see his reflection in it.  Now we just need to compare ourselves to the silver and God to the refiner.  And look up Alma 5:14 while we are at it.

     P.P.S.  I really hope that last paragraph makes sense.

      P.P.P.S.  If any of you make it to this point in the email, you deserve a hug.  Just wait seven months and it`ll come!

A Really Good Week!

  Hello Family!  ¿Cómo están?  Voy a escribir en Español esta semana, para que ustedes puedan practicar su Español...  Ha.  (Although Chase would´ve understood it.)  But yeah, I just needed a new way to start off my emails.  So there ya go.

     This week turned out really good for us.  It wasn´t exactly what we planned out, and our pool of investigators has really revamped, but when things are good, you can´t really complain that much!  God knows when we deserve blessings, and when they come, man it feels good.

     I´ve got to tell you guys a really cool experience I had this week.  So way back in Pancá, about a year ago, we celebrated the birthday of the Branch President there, and all of his brothers and sisters came.  There were two of them that didn´t live in Momos, but in Xela.  So fast forward to this Wednesday.  One of our citas fell, so we decided to contact a little close by where we were.  We weren´t too well recieved, until one of the last doors we knocked.

     And what do you know, out walks a lady, who I had seen before.  She told us she was a member, but that I looked really familiar.  She asked me what areas we had been in, and when I started thinking about it, I realized she looked a lot like my Branch President in Pancá.  So I put two and two together, and realized she was the sister that came to the Birthday Party in Pancá like a year ago!  And we just found her by pure miracle.  Wow, it was so cool talking to her about Pancá.  But that´s not even the best part.  She basically said, "I´ve been looking for the missionaries of this area for a long time now.  (She lives in our ward but assists another ward.)  My husband isn´t a member, and I want you guys to teach him!"  And when we went to talk to him, he is pretty much all ready to be baptized!  We just need to talk to him a little bit more!  How awesome is that?  Miracles exist guys, even when we don´t think so!  So that was the miracle for this week.

     This Sunday was Stake Conference, but it was Stake Conference for the whole country of Guatemala.  Why?  Because we had a special broadcast for all of Guatemala!  (So that means even Jeffrey saw it!)  Elder Fallabela, from the Seventy who is from Guatemala, conducted the meeting, and we also had Sister Wixom (Primary President), Elder Richard G. Scott (Who can speak Spanish, which is way cool) and President Eyring give talks.  It was really good, because all the talks were directed to the amazing people of Guatemala!  I learned a bunch, and I hope that the Guatemaltecos learned something too! 

     Elder Scott gave a really good talk about the family.  With the love that he has for his own family, and the act that he gave his own talk without a translator, you could really feel the emotion that he had.  Families are really important for everyone here, so hopefully they can put what Elder Scott said into practice!

     We had a Mom and her two sons (Leslie, Dylan, and David) come to the Stake Conference this week!  We were super stoked.  A member family has been helping us out with them, and they were the ones who basically invited them.  But Leslie really likes it, so we are working with her now!  

     We´ve also got a lot of other investigators that we are teaching right now.  Not as positive as the ones I´ve mentioned, but still really awesome.  We are really trying with Antonio and his family.  They´ve already stopped going to their old church to come to ours, but something always comes up on Sundays, and they can´t come.  But, with them I feel like just a bit of patience and they will be members!  Just got to be diligent.

     So yeah, it was a really busy week for us.  But I prefer business over not having anything to do!  So it was a really good week for us.  I hope that we can be diligent enough to take care of the people God has put in our path!  I love you all and I love this work!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. 1 Timothy 4:16

Loving Guatemala!

   Hello Family!  Well, I just spent another week of my life in a foreign country.  I love thinking of that every now and then.  Why else would I come to Guatemala if it weren´t for this Gospel?  That´s why I love it so much, being able to learn more about myself and at the same time helping others come unto Christ.  There really is no better combination.

     First things first, we had changes this week... Well, kind of.  The mission had changes, and we didn´t.  It was really weird, because we were expecting Elder Calero to go, because he has four changes here.  But nope!  We are still together.  Apparently he still has something to do here that he hasn´t done yet.  So we´re on it!

     Well, this week didn´t really go according to plan.  That´s the thing about the mission, learning what to do when things don´t go your way.  You can either be like "Dang, our cita with that investigator fell, now what are we going to do?"  Or, like I learned this week, we can say "Well, our cita fell, let´s go see what we can find out here!"  Two really different points of view that really make a difference.  And we tried to make the best of what we could.  And we did!  We found the most new investigators our of the whole zone by a long shot, and it came from not letting a few things go wrong get in the way!  If anything, the mission has taught me to look for the best in everything.

     We are still working with German, but the hard thing with him is that he is losing his desire to learn more, so he really isn´t putting in his part.  And we can only do so much without his help.  So we are praying for him and making sure that he will continue to fulfill our invintations!

     We have a really cool family that just needs this Gospel!  Antonio and his family of five are such a great family.  We are really working hard to resolve some dudas they have, but the biggest one we have now is that Antonio is working on Sundays, so he can´t come to church.  And the family doesn´t come without him...  But, he is going to finish up his project this week, so we are really hoping they can come next week!

     For all you guys who aren´t on the mission right now, the best thing you can do is go out with the missionaries.  It really doesn´t matter who you are!  There is nothing like a member testifying about what we are saying.  Most of the mindsets here are like "What do you Gringos have to say to me?"  But when someone who lives down the street from them tells them the same thing, they really start to believe it!  So help the missionaries out!

     I did a lot of thinking about why I was sent to Guatemala on my mission.  Like most other people, I have a lot of defects.  One of the biggest ones is having patience with others.  But thinking about it, the Lord really knows why I´m here.  With all the love in the world, the people here have a lot of issues.  And one of the biggest things we have to deal with as missionaries are the people here.  But I really feel like I´ve grown so much, I feel like I am a better man.  So the Lord knows why we are where we are, even when we don´t know as much.  It was a good reflexion time for me.

     That´s about it for this week.  It was pretty good, but there is room for improvement.  So here´s to it!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

      P.S. DyC 64:33

What A Week!

     Hello Family!  Wow, we had a really good week this week, and most of the good just came from one family!  Funny how that works...  

     First things first, changes are tomorrow.  We usually find out what the changes are on Sunday night, but something had happened in the mission home, so now the changes that we do know of aren´t sure, and there might be some more changes that we haven´t heard of.  The thing is, Elder Calero, who has 4 changes here and 2 with me, hasn´t been told he is leaving yet.  With almost every missionary, two changes is max with one companion, and having more than four changes is really rare.  But as of now, we haven´t been told he is leaving yet.  So we´ll see how that goes!  Either way, I´m fine with what happens.  (Although I´d like a change.  Three months with someone 24/7 is a TON for any person...)  But we´ll see what God has to say!

     But yeah, I´ve got to tell you about this family.  We had found them a while back, like a month ago.  But they weren´t progressing much, so we went to one last cita with them to see if we should continue with them or not.  So we went this Tuesday, and just out of nowhere, they told us that they had plans to go to church with us last Sunday.  But they didn´t end up coming, because it was late.  But we were super stoked that they wanted to come, so we talked about how going to church can help anyone feel the Spirit.  So we made sure they were coming to church.  The thing is, Antonio (The dad) got called on Saturday and was told that he had to come in to work on Sunday.  So long story short, they weren´t able to come.  But we talked to them, and they are already making plans to come next week!  So we are looking really good with them.

     German is coming along nicely.  We´ve found out a couple of his doubts, and we are working on getting them cleared up.  The thing is, it´s really hard for him to come to church with us, because he is only working here, and lives on the coast.  But we are working so that he can go through with his fecha on the 23rd of November!

     This week, I´ve really been able to tell when I have the Spirit with me and when I don´t.  The thing is, being a missionary absolutely sucks when you don´t have the Spirit.  But when you do, WOW, it is absolutely amazing!  There really is no way to explain it.  But I´ve really been trying to have the Spirit with me always, because there is no other option.  And when we have the spirit, everything just goes better.

     Not much else for this week.  I guess we´ll see how things go with changes tonight!  But whatever happens, I´m stoked to work more here in Chiquilajá!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. 2 Corithians 4:8,9 and 16.