The Beginning of a New Mission

     Hello Family!  Well, here we are...  I really can´t believe that I´m already done.  Time has gone by way too fast.  I don´t even know where to start.  I have so many emotions going through my mind right now, I couldn´t even try to explain everything over email.  I will tell you all one thing though, ending the mission is really hard.  After being so close to the Spirit, having so many spiritual experiences, having the chance to share the Gospel every moment of every day, getting to know the great people here in Guatemala...  It´s hard.  But it happens to every one of us, así que I´ve got to do it.

    Don´t get me wrong, I´m really excited to see everyone of you guys again!  But after being two years straight as a missionary, if I take a while to get a little readjusted to real life, you´ll probably realize why.   

     The mission overall has been amazing.  It wasn´t exactly like I expected, but it was so much better.  I have learned so much about how to be a better man in life, and that is experience that is invaluable for me.  Humility, knowledge, love, and so much more.  All these things I have learned in the mission, and I am ready to put it all into practice when I get home.

     One thing that I will really miss about this place are the people here.  I would have never guessed how much these people would have affected me before the mission.  But they have.  I love them so much, and have learned so much from them.  These people that sacrifice so much will always hold a place in my heart, and if I ever have the chance, I will do everything I can to make their lives better!  I feel great that I have been doing it for the last two years, and I hope that the people that have touched my life will always remember that. 

    There are so many habits that I have gained in the mission that I want to take home with me, especially my time in the morning.  Preparation, study, exercise, and all that I hope to keep up after the mission.  Things just go so much better when you start off your day on the right foot, and from what I´ve seen here, that is the way to do it.

     Also, just doing the little things while going about my business is something that I want to keep up.  Stuff like helping a man collect wood on the side of the road, washing dishes after eating, giving a helping hand, just stuff like that.  Little acts of service, little acts of love is what I´m getting at.  If we can all just follow the example of Christ, where He didn´t mind getting held back a little bit just to help someone, we will be better people.  Love the world, and the world will love you back.

     But more than everything, the thing I´ve most gained from the mission is my personal relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.  It is something that I really can´t explain with words, but I know with all my soul.  He is my Redeemer, and has made everything that I ever have done, everything that I am doing, and everything that I ever will do possible.  I will be forever grateful for His sacrifice.  It only makes sense in my mind to give everything that I have in order to thank Him for everything.

     I had my final interview with President Smith on Thursday, and man was that great.  We talked a lot about my goals after my mission, and what I should do to get going as soon as possible.  But at the end, we started talking about knowing for sure in the Lord has accepted our sacrifice.  And in a way only the Spirit can work, and with the help of President Smith, I knew that the Lord accepted my work.  And I am so grateful for that confirmation.  Of course, I wasn´t perfect, but I know that I gave it my all, and better yet, I know that the Lord is pleased.  That final interview has been one of the highlights of my mission.

     Whew...  I really don´t know what to think right now.  My thoughts have just been going crazy, so if this email seems really jumbled, that´s why.

     Being here in Guatemala, sharing my testimonio daily, has strengthened my testimony is ways that I can´t even explain.  I´ve always had a testimony about this church, but now I know without a doubt that what I have been doing the last two years is in the Lord´s hands.  This is His church.  There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever.  It just makes sense to me.  Jesus is the Christ, and He is at the head of this church.  Now, that´s not everything I need.  I need to act on the knowledge I´ve gained.  It means nothing to me to know all this, and do nothing about it.  Now is the time in my life to act, and I´m ready to do it.  

     I can´t thank all of you enough for all the support you have all given me throughout my mission.  It really has meant so much to me.  Thank you all so much.  For those of you out on the mission, don´t worry, I´ll write.  I promise, because I know how it is.  Thank you all for getting me here to where I am now.  I love you all so much.  

    "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:  and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."  2 Timothy 4:7-8.  Until next time!  (On Thursday!)

     - Elder Stuart

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

A Busy Week!

     Hello Family!  Well, this week was a busy one, that´s for sure!  We had a lot of things to do, but that made the week just that much better!  Really, there is nothing like working hard during the mission.  You don´t really have to worry about real life, just the short time that you have to serve the Lord!  And, I always work better when I´m not stressing about home or family, so when I work hard, I work more effectivley.  Like President Hinckley´s dad said, "Forget yourself, and go to work!"  So yeah, it´s been a really good week of work!

     First things first, which I bet all of you are looking forward to, is what happened with the baptism!  Althought everything didn´t really go according to plan, I still feel really good about what is going on!  What happened is the baptism didn´t go through...  But I´m not feeling to down!  So, I´m gonna be honest, we had the baptism planned for Jimmy and his parents, but honestly we didn´t think that the parents were going to be baptized, and just Jimmy was going to be.  But, while we were teaching them throughout the week, we found that the parents are really changing, and really want to learn more.  But, they say that they still have a ways to go before they take the step to be baptized.  And honestly, I don´t blame them!  I´d rather wait a little bit to baptize someone, and let them develop a testimony, rather than baptizing them right now, and having them fall away a few months down the road.  So yeah, we are still going to put baptismal dates with them, so they have something to work to, but I really think that, given some time, they will be baptized!  So even though they didn´t get baptized this week, they are really growing in their testimony, and that is what really is important!

     We had an open house this week for the church on Saturday!  But I´m going to explain a little bit about it, because some people were confused on what I meant.  Here in Guatemala, you´d be surprised to find what some people think that we do during our reunions. so what we did is let people come in the chapel (even though they are always invited!) and have the different organizations explain what they do during chruch!  We had a bunch of investigators and new people come, so that gives us a lot to do this coming week!  Amazingly, the thing people liked most is, believe it or not, NURSERY!  So yeah, go figure!  But it really makes sense!  I hope this makes us realize how important every function of the church really is, and how much they really are inspired!  

     Last Thursday, we had a Multi-Zone Conference in Huehuetenango, which was awesome!  It was my first time being to Huehue, and I´ve heard a lot of good things about Huehue!  So hopefully I´ll be able to go there soon as one of my areas!  But we had the chance to listen to President Bautista, and also President Gutierrez, the Stake President in Huehue.  I really learned a lot, and would like to share some things with you guys!  What I really liked a lot is what President Gutierrez said.  He told us what our main goal as a missionary should be.  What my ultimate goal should be, is to make sure that I have established a personal relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.  It is like something that Dad always told me, the most important convert in your mission should be yourself!  I really took that to heart, and I really hope that I will be able to say that I have become closer to my Savior by the end of my misison!  Also, President Bautista told us about what really counts with our actions.  He told us that maybe we could get away with being disobient with him, but the Lord sees all, so we should be aware of that.  When we put on the nametag, we show that we are representatives of the Lord, and we act in his name.  We should ask ourselves, am I doing what the Lord would do if He was here?  I just have to say that I really enjoyed the conference, and can´t wait for the next one!

     One last thing, we went to Chichicastenango for P-Day this week!  A fun fact for you all, the market in Chichi that comes twice a week is the biggest market in all of Central America!  How cool is that?  Even though we didn´t go on a market day, it was fun to roam the streets and look at the sights!

     So yeah, it has been a fun filled week!  I guess that is why I feel so exhausted today!  But here´s to another week in the books!  Next week, here I come!  Love you all so so so much, and thank you always for writing me!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  Scripture!  Joshua 1:9, a great scripture!

Scripture

And also, I have been forgetting to put a scripture in every week!  Oops!  But here is one for this week!  Matthew 28:19-20.  Jesus Christ is with us always when we are preaching the Gospel, and I know it, because I can feel him here with me!

Matthew 28:19-20
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world.  Amen.