Crazy Week!

 Hello Family!  Well this week has definitely been on of the most eventful weeks that I´ve had for a while.  We had a lot go on, and I´m really happy about all the work that is going to go on here in Colonia!  We´ve got a lot set up here, and I know that June and July are going to be really special months here!

     Unfortunately, I have changes...  Yep, this week there are changes, and they are taking both Elder Pagán and I out of the area, something that we are really bummed about.  So apparently they are going to put Hermana missionaries in Colonia, so they are going to take us both out.  Needless to say that we were both really bummed when that happened.  We had worked so hard to get a lot of work here, and now they are going to take us out.  But I feel really good about my work in Colonia, and I know that I left my mark there.  I know that I will leave this area better off than it was before.

     Our biggest investigators are family members of a member in our ward.  Her sister, Roxana, and Roxana´s four children have been coming to church recently.  One of the kids is a member already, but three of them aren´t.  Yesterday, we had a very powerful and spiritual lesson with them.  We taught them the doctrine of Christ, and watched a Mormon Message called "A change of heart."  (Go look it up!)  Man, the Spirit afterwards was so strong, and Becker and Alvin, two of the kids, expressed their desires to be baptized!  We didn´t even have to invite them to do it!  They want to do it!  So this 21st of June they will be baptized.  Their older sister, Ceci, still isn´t sure about all of it, but I have a really good feeling that she will follow her brother´s examples.  Roxana has some problems with her husband, so she will have to wait for a little bit, but she´s really pilas too.

     We are also working with Merlin still.  Something that I have really realized while teaching her is the importance of teaching the doctrine clearly and simply so that others can understand.  There have been various times where she has said during a lesson something like this, "The missionaries taught me this before, but I didn´t realize how important it was until now."  She is progressing really well, and I have a good feeling that she too will be baptized in June.

     Argelio, a recent convert of about 4 months, is another person that we are working with.  He´s Luis and Esvin´s step-dad.  The thing is that the family has been coming to church little by little.  First Argelio was baptized and his wife.  Later his son.  And then we baptized Luis and Esvin.  Now we are focusing on the last two people in the house: Nancy and Saida, Argelio´s daughters.  Something I´ve learned from teaching them?  Focus on the head of the household.  Every time that Argelio has been strong in the Gospel, we have success there.  Every time that he slacks off a little bit, they don´t come to church.  So we are focusing a lot on making sure that the head of EVERY household is strong in the church, and they are being able to help out in the spiritual progression.

     Like Jeffrey said in his email, members are the most important part of this work.  Without their help, we are done for.  We have been seeing a lot of good things happen in this area because of the help of the members, and I know that the Lord is really hastening his work here in Guatemala.

     Our Zone this month have been calling this month a "Month of Miracles."  We are really focusing on the point of, "If God has performed miracles in the past, why not now?"  We are focusing a lot of being the tools in the Lord´s hands so that he will be able to work miracles through us.  And we have been seeing those Miracles.  I have recorded a good lot in my Journal, so I´ll share those when I get home.

     Basically, this week has been really great.  And to top it all off, I´m officially older!  21 years old...  When I first started the mission, I never thought this day would come, and now here I am.  I had a good birthday, with some members making me a cake and others giving me dinner.  All in all, I enjoyed myself!

      And now, I am officially going to start my last change in the mission.  I´ve been thinking a lot about how I want to end my mission, and I am going to give it my all to the Lord to make sure that He is proud of what I am doing here.  I know he is, but I just want to give that last push.  So here goes nothing!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. 1 Nephi 13:37

Photos!

A good ole Mexican Torta.  Aka lunch every monday.


This is the normal rainstorm in Guatemala.  I hope that you can see it, but it was absolutely pouring!!!


 We cut this tree down just for some random lady.  And no, we did not use a chain saw.  Not even an axe.  We used a machete.


Huehuetenango at night.


We just saw this on the side of the road one day.  Do you know the weird thing about it?  It´s still there after about a week...  Just like nothing had happened.


This was at the cultural night I was telling you guys about last week.  We had a really good turnout too!


 Chili Relleno, one of the best meals here.  Basically it´s Jalapeño peppers stuffed with meat and veggies.  So good!!!


Aura at her baptism!


 Elder Pagán and I playing the "Make a bunch of silly faces and see which one comes out!" game.


I love Guatemalan kids so freaking much!

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

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.

Photos!

I want you all to try and guess what this is.  When I first saw it, I was like, "Nice, there´s a good looking hotel in my area!"  Nope.  This is a great big Evangelical Church.  Gotta love it.

My poor comp.  Got "dear johned" last week...  So here we are on the roof burning some photos. 

Doing service, and of course I just have to be a little weird.

This little dude was helping us out in the service project.  So freaking cute trying to help us sweep.

Helping make some bread for Semana Santa.

This is a funny story.  We were contacting some lady, and her two little boys come outside to play.  About 3 years old and 5 years old.  They started throwing rocks at the post in the picture, with the light meter on it.  The lady started to tell them not to do that, and as soon as she finished saying that, the three year old threw a rock and broke the light meter.  Nice one little kid.

Picking up the Work!

      Hello family!  Here we are in another P-Day in Huehue!  Man I love this place.  Huehue is so cool you guys, not even kidding.  I really have been blessed having been able to be in every major city in the mission.  So when I have the opportunidad to come back to Guatemala, I´ll be able to get my way around.  I´ve still got to know Huehue a little bit more, but from what I´ve seen so far, I love it.  Definitely the best mission in the world.

     As for the work in this area, we´ve got a lot going for us.  Last week was a bit slow, just because we were getting used to the area, getting to know all the members, and just getting a feel for things.  But this week we worked really hard, and we got a lot done.  For example, we were able to teach the most lessons with member present that I´ve ever had.  We´re also working on getting a lot of new people to teach this week, with this week a number of 18.  This area is a great one, and now we are seeing the benefits of working hard.

     We had a really spiritual lesson this week with a less active family.  They just got baptized this February, but have since stopped going to church.  So we went with them to see what´s going on.  And it was amazing.  (Just part of the family is a member, not all of them.)  We went over the Docrtine of Christ, lesson three in PMG and probably my favorite lesson to teach.  Everything was great; they were listening very well, and making great questions.  But the best part was at the end.

     I felt the spirit really trying to tell me to put a fecha with the members of the family that weren´t members.  So I went to work.  When we finished the lesson, I basically said, "Luis(nephew), Edwin(nephew), and Katy(daughter), you guys need to listen to what we have to say."  We had just seen Luis and Edwin once before, and just met Katy that same day.  But the Spirit really guided me on what to say.  Basically I explained the importance of baptism, and invited them to be baptized.  The Spirit was so strong there, so it didn´t really surprise me much when they all agreed to be baptized on the 19th of April.  Really, that was one of the most spiritual moments in my mission.  After the lesson, Elder Pagán said to me, "Wow, I´ve never heard you talk like that before.  That was powerful."  Miracles happen guys.

     Sorry if my explination doesn´t make much sense.  I was trying to put in what I had to say and wanted you guys to understand, but reading it again it just looks messy.  But I hope you all understand.  Lo siento.

      Throughout my mission, I´ve heard so many people say that we as missionaries are like angels for them.  And I´ve been realizing this week how true that really is.  There are so many members and just people in general that have the mindset of, "Man, those missionaries are just so perfect."  Sometimes we as missionaries don´t really feel that all the time.  But we have to take into account how true that really is.  All the things that we represent.  For a lot of people, we are the guardian angels that give them this happiness, and that is what we are supposed to do.  It is always really humbling to hear someone say that we are angels.  It always makes me want to do better.

     We watched the Testaments this week with a less active family.  Let me just tell you guys that that movie is the best FHE movie ever.  It´s really just a silly movie, with action, love, war, great one-liners.  And then at the end, BAM, the spirit just takes over in the last 3 minutes.  We Jesus Christ comes to the Americas, man, it is so powerful.  Afterwards, we had some 4 year-old little kid say, "Mommy, I want to see Jesus like those people did!"  So innocent, but yet so powerful.  And we will all be able to see him again.

     As a side note, they´ve asked me to play the piano in church again.  So that makes every single area I´ve been in, I´ve played the piano in Sacrament Meeting.  Something that I had really taken for granted.  One of the quickest ways that I start to feel the spirit is through music, and being able to make that happen is one of the greatest gifts I think that I have.  God knows every single one of us, and what we all need.

     Alright, time for me to finish up. This has been a really long email.  But a good one in my opinion.  This is the Lord´s work, there is no doubt in my mind.  We are his servants, called to do his work, and there is no other place I´d rather be.  Until next time.

      - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Matthew 10:29

Photos!

Just chilling outside of the dispensa with some good old chocolate milk.

Everyone at changes.

This is the beautiful land called Huehuetenango.

Me in Huehue.

A member in our ward makes bread, and this is his oven.  It´s really good.

Found this chilling in our house, just trying to get out.  Just be glad that I didn`t show you a picture of the bugs in our bathroom... ;)   THIS was the bug I was telling you about.

Look at the name of this school.  And when we asked, they said they have no relation with the church....

Getting to know the area from the back of a pickup.  (Also ignore the fact that my comp looks great, and I`m just... meh.)

For service, we made a bunch of chicken houses for the members here, something really necessary here!

Today we asked our bishop how we were to get rid of our trash.  He said, "Just go to the cliff and throw it off."  We were like, "Are you serious?"  And this is the cliff he was talking about.  I love this place, but man, I`m for sure in a third-world country.

HUEHUE!

 Hello Family!  Well, I`m guessing that the subject is confusing a couple of you...  But I`ll explain.  As soon as I walked out of internet last week, the assistants called me to let me know that I was going to have changes!  Great...  But they told me that I was going to go open up an area where there has been a streak of bad missionaries, and it was my job to pick the area back up...  So yeah, now I`m in Huehuetenango, in an area that`s called Colonia.  So I`ve oficially said goodbye to Xela, and am probably in my last area in the mission!  So crazy!

     And the weirdest thing about the changes is my new comp.  I`m with Elder Pagán, the elder that was in Chiquilajá with me!  So we´ve known each other for his whole mission (4 months).  We get along great, so that`s going to be really good when we start to work here in Colonia.

     Not going to lie, I`m going to miss Chiquilajá a bunch, and Xela too.  The members there were incredible, some didn`t want me to leave, and one even offered me to end my mission there, and marry his daughter!  ;)  So if I want, I`ve got options here in Xela!  Jaja but seriously, it was amazing being in Chiqui, and all the miracles that I saw there.  But now it`s time to move on, and I`m ready for it!

     As for the Colonia, it`s a great area!  The members here are stoked to help us out with missionary work.  We received a ton of references this week from all the members, and we`ve still got a bunch that we need to contact!  It`s basically been a week of getting used to being in a new area, getting to know the members, and seeing what we can do from the very beginning to help out this ward.  I`ve got a really good feeling about this ward, and I know that the Lord is just waiting to help us out in the work.

     I want you all to know how great of a mission leader I´ve got here.  His name is Mauro Gómez.  The thing with him is that with his job, he works one day, and rests the next.  That means that sometimes he has to miss some Sundays, but he`s alright.  But what surprised me most about him is that he dedicates most of his time on his off days to go with us.  For example, on Friday we went with him starting at 4:00 in the afternoon, and we were with him until we had to go home!  It was incredible.  He`s always willing to show EVERYONE that he knows to us, and see if they will accept the gospel.  What a guy.

     This week I`ve been focusing my thoughts on how to best approach people about the gospel, seeing as I`ve been needing to do that for the whole week!  But I`ve definitely noticed something interesting.  Recently, I`ve found myself saying from the very beginning something like this: "We`ve come here today to share with you this VERY IMPORTANT message that we have."  yadda yadda yadda.  The key is saying that it is very important what we have to say.  Most people here I`ve seen just think that we are there to share a message about Christ, and leave it at that.  But if we can really make sure that they realize that what we have to say could very well change they way that they act, it`s a lot more promising.  

     As of now, we don`t really have anyone going really strong yet, seeing as we`ve got less than a week here, but we`ve got a lot of really good prospects, and I feel like my next letter will be talking about a lot of the people that we`ve come to know here.

     This work is absolutely amazing guys.  It couldn´t be bettter.  We are the ones who have this gospel in our hands, and it`s our job to share it with everyone!  Neighbors, friends, family, co-workers, strangers on the street, etc.  They´ve got the questions, and we`ve got the answers.  Until next time!  

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Moroni 8:16, especially the last part.

     P.P.S.  Huehue is really hot.  Reminds me a lot of St. George.  To put it in perspective, I put sunscreen on for the first time on Wednesday.  Yeah...

Photos!

So this is the size of the average Guatemalteca.  And I thought I was the short one.  (She´s really pilas by the way.  Always helps us out, and going to go on the mission in March.)

Rainbow picture.  Cool

Elder Josec and I with some member kids.

Some members playing my guitar for Family Home Evening.  They wrote their own song, and it´s really good!

Please enjoy your view of a classic tortilla shop in Guatemala, with the classic corte lady.  This is as Guatemalan as it gets folks.

Elder Josec, Elder Pagán, and I as the three Wise Men in our ward´s Christmas Activity!

If this didn´t remind me of home, I don´t know what does!