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.

Awesome Easter!

Hello Family!  I hope that you all had a great Easter Sunday!  Man I love this time of year as a missionary.  Things are kind of weird here in Guatemala during this week with all the celebrations and stuff, but taking time to just step back and remember why we celebrate Easter is amazing.  It`s all about being better, and hoping for things that can come to pass.  All in all it`s just an amazing celebration.  

     This week has probably been one of the best weeks in my mission in terms of success that we`ve had.  We`ve got a lot going for us here; it took a little bit of time to get used to the area, but now we`ve got the hang of it, and we are loving it.  Just to put it into perspective, we`ve got 10 baptismal fechas for the next coming weeks, and we are having a ton of people in church every week.  

     Thinking about it, I think that the Lord has saved this little part of the mission just for me to finish off.  All my past areas are known for being really hard areas, with Momos and Quiche being especially hard.  But I worked hard, and gave it all I got, and now I feel like I`m finally being able to see the success that I`ve been waiting for.  Which is something that I really needed to learn on the mission, and something that I was praying to changea when I came.  Anyways, the point is that we`ve just got to keep working hard, and give it all we`ve got, and the Lord will come through.  Enduring to the End anyone?  Yes sir.

      So, this coming Saturday we are going to be baptizing Luis and Edwin.  They are really stoked about it, we`ve become great friends with them, they love the church...  And so on.  They`re great, and I`m really trying to make sure that they are really converted, so that later on they will be able to serve missions.  How great would that be?  But now we are just focusing on the details of the baptism.  Everything should turn out great.  I`m stoked.

     We`ve also got a family that we are working withaa that have a fecha for the 17th of May.  Their names are Elena and Aroldo.  They`re great.  They`ve got some doubts and stuff, but they are asking a ton of great questions, and Elenaa is even asking on how she could be baptized.  They came to church this past week, and absolutely loved it.  We just need a little more time with them, but Elder Pagàn and I are sure that they will be baptized.

      And then we`ve got María and her family.  They are a more humble family, and they make and sell tortillas for a living.  Their first language is Cojobal, which only a couple of small villages speak.  But in spite of all of that, they love us and the church.  They`ve come to church a handful of times, and we are trying to get them baptized on the 10th of May, but we are going to see how that goes.

      Now, I`ve got two pieces of advice that I`ve learned here recently.  One:  Getting investigators to church in so important.  I knew that before, but now I`m realizing how important it is.  Once they go to church, they`ll love it.  The Spirit there is so strong, and they just eat it all up.  Once they get there, things are a lot easier.

      The second piece of advice is a little strange, and something that I didn`t really realize until recently.  To have success, we`ve got to love those who we teach.  And the best way to do that is to just be their friend.  I came into the mission with a really logical way of going at this.  I was thinking, "If I can just get the doctrine across, they`ll know that this is the truth, and they`ll get baptized."  Honestly, people could care less about that here.  I`ve taught people that know this is the true church, but won`t get baptized because athey feel good in their church.  But there is a way around that.

      We`ve just got to be friends with them.  It`s as simple as that.  Before, I just wanted to teach the doctrine and just that, and hope they understood.  I`ve completely changed now.  We watch church movies with them, we help them cook/clean, we make jokes, we play games with them.  Basically, we just make them love us.  And when that happens, they accept our message so much eaiser.  Love those who we teach.  That is the key.  (I hope that you all understood what I was trying to say here...  It kind of seems jumbled.  But you get the idea.)

     So yeah, things are great here in this little part of land they call Huehue.  I absolutely love it here.  Things are so great.  The mission is the life.  The Lord is hastening the work, and I`m a part of it.  What could be better?  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Alma 7:11-13, my favorite scripture this week.