Photos!

This is a way the people here grind up corn.  Just crushing it on a good old rock.  So of course I had to try it out!

A cake we made for some investigators!  It turned out really well!

We went to the temple this week!  We reached our goal as a Zone to go, and it was so great.  So needed.  I can´t wait to go to the temple as often as I want!

The little baby of Margarita when we went to go make dinner for them.  So cute!  

Some of the cutest Guatemalan kids ever.  Seriously.  I want my kids to be just like them!

We made hamburgers for the 1st counselor in the Stake, and he loved it!  He was so happy, and it was really special for us to see him like that.

Just more of Guatemala!  Man I love this country so much!

The family of Becker and Alvin!

Oh my goodness, this was so funny.  So it was a less actives birthday on Sunday, so we made a cake for her.  Well, the tradition here is that after they blow out the candles, the take a bite, and someone shoves their face into the cake.  Not too much, just to cover up the mouth.  The thing is, this member was being dificult, and didn´t want us to push her into the cake!  So we all tried shoving her head in, me using my both hands, and this is what happened....  JAJAJAJAJA!  We were all laughing so hard!

Photos!

We found some shoes in a paca one day.  My shoe is the black on next to them.  Yeah, I´m pretty sure that not one chapín is going to buy these shoes...

We made cupcakes with a part-member family for Father´s Day, which is on the 17th of June.  Liz, you would be so proud!  Jaja

I did divisions in Santa Ana, an aldea in Momos this week.  And I just love the little kids here in Guatemala!  I take out my camera, and they all say, "Take a picture!  Take a picture!"  Jaja I love them.

A view of Santa Ana.  The whole area looks like this, and I love it!

We had a ward activity on Saturday, and this was everyone eating afterwards.  The Ward here is pretty small, but they are really united, which is really a miracle!  I love these people so much!

Just another beautiful Guatemalan Sunset.  I don´t know why, but I think the corn stalks make the scenery, or is it just me?  

We went to go visit an aldea named Chuichaj where some menos activos live.  It´s pretty far away.  To give you all an idea, we had been walking for about 45 minutes when we took this picture.  The city that is in my hand?  That´s San Francisco.  And we needed to walk there...  Yeah, that´s how this part of Guatemala is!

Man, I totally forgot to tell you guys what happened today!  There was a strike here in San Francisco!  Apparently the government is planning to tear down some of the forest here to build a mine.  And the people are upset, so they striked today.  They didn´t let any transportation go by, and incluso they robbed a pepsi truck by force!  So it was advised that we not leave the house... But we got hungry.  So we went to a tienda (a mini store) that a member owns, but we shut the door so no one would know we were inside!  Jaja it was kind of scary, because people were walking down the street with machetes and such.  But it sure was interesting!

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

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

Awesome Thanksgiving Week!

Hello Family!  Well, it´s December, and you all know what that means!  IT´S CHRISTMAS TIME!  YES!!!  I love this spirit.  Even though there´s no snow where I´m at, you still have the Christmas Spirit here.  And I have a really good feeling that December is going to be a really good month for us!  We had a really good week this week!  A lot of things fell into place this week, and it´s been really special to see the Lord´s hand in this area.

     First off, with Wosvelí.  He´s the guy we found whose wife is the sister of the Branch President in Momos, my first area.  Well, he´s incredible.  I guess he just wasn´t ready when other missionaries passed by, but everything we´ve given him, he´s accepted with no problem.  We talked about his baptism, and he´s set for the 14th!  He´s so ready.

     Another cool thing about Wosvelí.  He came to church yesterday with his whole family, and loved it.  The best part though was during Elder´s Quorum.  At the end of the lesson, we were planning for the Nativity Scene that the ward is going to do, and the Elder´s Quorum is in charge of the scenery, and some food.  Well, they were giving out assignments, and when they asked for light, Wosvelí just straight up says, "I´ll help out with that."  Man, he´s already participating in the Ward!  How pilas is he?  What a guy.

     We also had a little mini miracle this week.  When I first got here, we were working a lot with a menos activo family, and we finally got them to come back to church.  Well, until this week we didn´t realize that their nine year old daughter hasn´t been baptized yet.  They were inactive when she turned eight, and when they started to come to church again, they never got around to baptize them.  Well, we talked to them about it, and they agreed to having her be baptized!  This Saturday, the 7th of December, we are going to baptize her.  It feels really good too, because it´s part of a family that I helped reactivate!

     We´ve also been blessed to be teaching a lot of families recently.  It´s a lot better teaching families as opposed to just single investigators.  Everything is better off, support, stats, and all that fun stuff.  We are just really trying to have them come to church, and then the real fun starts!

     Thursday was Thanksgiving, and I can tell you now, this year´s dinner was a lot better than last year´s!  (I honestly forgot it was Thanksgiving last year, so I just ate a bag of popcorn...)  We bought a bunch of food, gave it to a member to cook it for us.  So we had an awesome dinner with a HUGE turkey leg, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.  (Missed the stuffing though..)  It´s was really good, and a bunch of food!

     It´s been a really good week, and I hope that this week is the same!  Pray for all the missionaries out in the field, they are working their butts off!  Love you all!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  Romans 12:2

This Week in Chinique‏

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  Alma 26:27 

An Interesting Week

     Hello Family!  Hope you all have been doing great, because I know that I have!  I just have to tell you in advance though, this week was pretty weird.  A lot of good things happened, but a lot of weird things happened too..  So I´ll just start and let you guys know!

     I have to begin by telling you about the weirdest lesson I probably have had yet.  So this family that we are visiting, the dad is an active member, the mom is a less active who hasn´t come to church for years, and the kids aren´t members.  We have been working with them to get them active and help them come back to church, so that we can get the kids baptized, which could be five baptisms.  It has been hard, but we definitely have made some progress!  This lesson, we decided to try and extend an invitation for baptism for the kids.  So we began talking about baptism and how it is the only way that we can make it to the Kingdom of Heaven. (John 3:5)  We bore super powerful testimonies about baptism, and then the big question came.  We started to ask the kids if they would commit to being baptized, and it went amazingly!  The first two kids that we asked agreed, but as we were asking the third kid, the dad interuppted and said that maybe they weren´t ready!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  He should be super excited that his kids are agreeing to it!  We explained to him that we would help them get ready, and we will be with them every step of the way, and that helped him out a lot.  Eventually, we got every single kid to agree to be baptized!  Woo Hoo!  But, the lesson wasn´t over yet.  We asked the mom if she would like to be in heaven with her family forever. She started to explain to us that there was just one God, so it didn´t matter what we did, as long as we believed in God.  She dropped a bomb on us and told us that she might start going to another church...  So yeah.  DUring the lesson, we got 5 baptismal dates, but just about lost a less active member...  We are going to help her out, but seriously, the whole last part of the lesson just felt so weird!

     We also have another family that is really positive, the "miracle family" as we call them.  It is the family of the man I was telling you about last week.  They live about 1 1/2 hours away, so we didn´t get much time to go and visit them, but they seem way positive, and we might be able to put some baptismal dates with them this week!  How exciting that everything is picking up here!  I love it!

     I did divisions with our Zone Leaders on Tuesday this week, and I went with Elder Schmidt.  We had a member come with us to go teach a lesson.  His name is Iffy, and he is from Africa, and totally looks the part!  He travels the world learning languages, and right now he is working on Spanish.  He knows two african dialects, English, French, and now Spanish.  But yeah, we went with him, and I couldn´t imagine how funny it must look for the people in Momos:  Two Gringos and an African walking down with a bunch of Latinos in the middle of Guatemala.  I just had to laugh about it!  

      I am really glad that things are picking up here, even though I might be leaving soon.  (Oh by the way, I should tell you that this change has been extended by a week to accomadate all the new missionaries that are coming in.  So I still have two weeks left in this change.)  After 6 months in Pancá (Holy Cow!) I´m pretty sure that I will be leaving.  But it has been really good to see things picking up here!  I love this work, and I always will!  THank you all for your support always, and I will talk to you all next week!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Alma 5:26.  We should always be ready to "feel so now" about the gospel.  If we have had a change of heart, and know for a surety that this church is true, we should always remember it and always feel it in our hearts.  If you can, also look up Elder Cook´s talk from this last General Conference!

A Week to Remember

   Hello Family!  It´s monday, and you know what that means: email time!  I have been looking forward to this time, because this week was a really memorable one!  I saw some miracles pass by, I finally broke on a craving that I didn´t know that I had, and really, it was just a good week!

     So I´ll start with the coolest thing that passed by this week.  I´ll tell you about a little miracle that I experienced this week.  So we got back to our area after P-Day this week, and we saw our branch president talking to a man, so we went over to introduce ourselves.  Turns out the man was a less active member that hadn´t gone to church for a good 9 years, but now wants to return.  WHAT?  Just out of the blue, we didn´t even know him before!  And to add to it, his wife and six kids want to come too, and they haven´t been baptized, so we are going to work on that!  That goes to show that God is really a God of Miracles, and he never ceases to do his will!  It was so amazing to see it happen right before my eyes, so now we just need to act on it and make it happen!  I am so grateful that I was able to be part of it, and even more grateful that God trusts me enough to work on it!  

     I finally broke, I did it.  I did the unthinkable.  I bought a nice big jar of PEANUT BUTTER!  I saw it in Xela this week, and I just had the sudden urge to buy it... So I did!  Really, I didn´t even like peanut butter all that much before my mission, but what they all say came true, all missionaries will crave peanut butter at least once on the mission.  I bought some crackers to eat with it, and sat down on Saturday night, eating peanut butter and reading, and next thing I know all the crackers that I had bought were gone!  It was SO GOOD!  Who would´ve thought, right?

     Just a funny little thing that I noticed this week.  We are visiting 3 different men whose names are:  Manuel Lux Pu, Manuel Pu Lux, and Manuel Lux Uz.  Go figure..

     I have really been studying the Book of Mormon recently, like really studying it, and I have found so many things about the BoM that I probably wouldn´t have found if I was just reading it. For instance, one thing that really stuck out to me this week is something that I probably would have missed if I wasn´t thinking too much.   In Mormon 9:31, it says: Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father . . . but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been.  I thought a lot about this, and I realized that we shouldn´t let someone who says something bad about us ruin our testimony.  We should learn from it.

     Also, I taught preisthood this week, and there was a phrase that I really liked.  I talked about a phrase that talked about testimony, and how powerful it is.  And the most important thing about it is that "Lo sé por mi mismo."  Which roughly translates to "I know for myself."  It really is true though, because your testimony should be ingrained in your very being, and we can know for our own selves that it is ours. 

    So yeah, quite the week it was this week!  I hope all the good fortune continues!  And same to you guys!  Love you all!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. The scripture this week is going to be a little different.  I am going to write it in Quiche for you guys!  Have fun with it!  It is 3 Nephi 11: 39, and says:  Kastzij, Kastzij, quinbij chiwe chi are wa´ ri lok´alaj nu tijonem, y apachin ri cutac´aba´ rib puwi´ wa´, kas cutac´aba´ rib puwi´ ri nimalaj abäj wech, Y man cäch´ec taj rumal ri u k´ak´re xibalba.

What A Week!

Hello Family! Well, all that I can say is that it has been one crazy week! Things went good, things went bad, got new investigators, lost some investigators... A lot happened this week! But the biggest thing for me was that I came to realize something really big this week. But we will save that for later!

Well, the week started out a little rough. We have a new stat in the mission that we are working on, which is lessons taught to investigators in the house of a member. So at the beginning of this week, we went and visited some members that would be willing to have some lessons in their house, and it went really well! We had a member for every investigator that we had that was willing to share their house with us. So we were off to a good start! We went to go make sure with our investigators that they would be able to do it, and that went fairly well also! We had a family that agreed to have a family home evening in the house of a member, another investigator that agreed to have just a regular lesson, and we had one more that we were going to visit, but he wasn`t home. So we had that all planned out and everything. But, when the day came to do all of them, that is where it went downhill. We passed by the members that were going to have the family at their house first, and they told us bad news. They said that the family didn`t want us to go and visit them again.. We were shocked! We asked what happened, but they didn`t tell us much, just that we shouldn`t go visit them again.. So yeah, lost that family to something that we don`t even know.. So then we went to see the other investigator that we had planned to see, and he wasn`t home, even though he said he would be home. So not only did it hurt us, but the family that was planning on having him over was hurt also. We ended up talking to him later in the week, and he made up some excuses. So we told him that we would still be in contact, but we had very precious time that we could spend with others, so we kind of dropped him also.

Now that sounds bad and stuff, but it actually turned out to be really good for us. Our Zone Leaders had taught us last week that it is shown that we are wasting too much time with investigators who aren`t progressing and keeping their commitments. They told us that we can spend that time to find others who are willing to listen and willing to keep commitments. We took that to heart, and basically started anew. We worked hard to find references and new investigators, and everything turned out amazing! We ended up with about 25 references that we can go see, and 16 new investigators! That is amazing! We have figured that we are going to start from the basics again, because out of those 16 new investigators that we have, maybe 10 or so will be willing to have more lessons with members, and then 5 or so willing to have a date for a baptism, and then 2 or so that really complete it and carry it out. So just from our work in about 3 days, we can really likley have 2 baptisms later on! So we are really working from the beginning, and we can see the fruits of our labors later on!

Also, I came to realize this week that I have been focusing too much on the end result, and not much on helping everyone out on where they are right now. Maybe we didn`t have any baptisms this week, but we helped about 5 less active members come back to church. We also had some lessons with members, where I could see right before my eyes their testimony growing. So maybe I`m not bringing as many new people in the church as I want, but I am helping those that are in the church already stay in the chruch and be firm and strong in the Gospel. "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Alma 37:6 These lessons with less actives that appear to be "small" can really turn out to be "great" in the long run. So I have realized that, and my attitude had really changed this week!

I just want to thank you all for the support you have given me these past couple of weeks. I really am doing great now, thanks to the scriptures, you guys, and the Lord`s hand in my life. I am so grateful for him, because He is always there for all of us, whenever we are not feeling the best. He has experienced all of our difficulties, and for that he knows what is the best way for us to get back on our feet. I have such a strong testimony about this work and this Gospel, all of it is true, and I know that with all of my heart. My testimony has really grown this week, because really, "There is no testimony without the test." I love you all, and hope that you have a great week! Until Next Time!

- Elder Stuart

Happy New Years!

    Hello Family, and Happy 2013!  Time just seems to be flying, and look now, we are already in another year!  That sure was quick!  This past year was really crazy with everything that went on, but I have a feeling that this next year will be just as crazy!  Especially because I am going to be in the mission the whole year!  That is just crazy to think about!  But I hope that this year will be great for you guys, because I know that it is going to be great for me!  I hope that we can continue to feel the blessings of the Lord in our lives, and that we can remember him throughout the year!

    After we FINALLY got back to Pancà, we knew that we were going to have to work our butts off to make this week count.  So that is exactly what we did!  Even though everything didn`t turn out as we hoped, I felt good about it, because I knew that I did all that I could to make up for the time that we lost.  We ended up staying out until about 9:00 each night, which is really late for an Aldea (An area like Pancà)  We usually are supposed to come in at like 7:00, but we wanted to work more, so we stayed out later.  I hope that our extra work has payed off!  

     There aren`t really good stories for this week, because we missed a lot of the appointments that we had planed, so we really just went and visited a lot of the members and less actives here.  It was really cool, because one of the less actives that we have been visiting for pretty much the whole time finally came to church for the first time!  Even though it was to bless her baby girl, it still counts!  I was hoping that she would get up and bear her testimony about it all, but she didn`t unfortunately...  But we talked to her afterwards, and she seems really glad that she came to have her girl blessed.  So hopefully that means that she will come next week!  

     The President has issued a challenge for us as missionaries.  We are going to try and read the entire BoM before the next General Conference.  But not just read it, but to really study it.  We all have a notebook to but notes and feelings that we have.  I really like reading it and studying it this way.  I mean, I have read it before, but to really study it means that I am able to grasp more and more about the BoM, and I really like it!

     So this week wasn`t all that I hoped it was going to be, but hopefully this next week will!  Until Next Week!

      - Elder Stuart

     P.S. The scripture is 1 Nephi 8:30.  But it really is just better to read the whole chapter.  And if you can, look up Elder Bednar`s talk on the Tree of Life!  

Just Another Week

     Hello Family!  Well, yet another week has come and gone, and we are already at the next week!  It seems like these weeks are going by so fast, I can hardly believe it!  I have already been out on the mission for 5 months!  It does not seem that long, so I have to make the best of it before all my time is up!  Elder Mar and I have been working hard this week, which is nice, because we are both willing to work hard, which makes it really nice!

     This week, we have gone with a lot of people and contacted a lot of people, so we have a lot of new people that we can go with!  However, our main focus has been on our investigators that we have had for a while now.  There is one family that we are really trying to focus on, but the dad, Cruz, always is working, and whenever we try to call him, he says that he is busy, but we can come another time. We went one of those times that he told us we could come, but turns out that he wasn`t there, so that really sucked..  But he seems like he really wants to know more about our church, so I don`t really know what to think about him..  We will keep working hard though!  

 

     Although this week was a little rough with our investigators, we have had a lot of success with our less active members, and the members that are active.  With the less actives, we are really trying to get them to come to church again, so we try to visit everyone at least twice a week with a scripture to help build their faith.  This week felt like we really helped a lot of people know more about the church.  The thing about Pancà is, the members here are really willing to be strong and faithful, but that doesn`t mean that they know a lot.  So we always try to go with them and help them out and answer their questions that they have for us.  So even though that we havent had as much success with our investigators as I had hoped, we still have had a lot of success with members, keeping them stong in the gospel and making sure that they will stay strong their whole lives.

     I have had an amazing discovery this week.  So I was reading in  "Our Seach for Happiness" which is a book by M. Russell Ballard, and he was talking about all the spiritual gifts that we as Latter Day Saints can recieve.  I stopped when I came to the Gift of Tongues, because he talked a lot about the missionaries, and how they have to work hard to recieve this gift.  I stopped and thought to myself that I was experiencing this gift firsthand!  When I was companions with Elder Maldonado, he took most of the conversation, and I only spoke when it was my "turn."  But now, with Elder Mar, I find myself taking the lead in most of our conversations, and when I am done, I look back and realize that I just had a complete conversation in Spanish, without having to think too much about it!  So when I read that, I realized that I was receiving this gift, so I got down on my knees and thanked my Lord for this gift.  It really has helped me be the missionary that I want to be.  I know that I have to keep working, but I am starting to see the blessings of working hard.  That really was such an amazing experience!

     Well, not much else to say.  Christmas is coming soon, and I can`t wait to talk to you all!  That will be the greatest gift that I will get this Christmas, I know it!  Keep having fun and having the holiday spirit!  I love you all, and thank you all for your support!  Two scriptures this week:  3 Nephi 13:33, and D+C 88:40.  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Apparently the end of the world is this wednesday, so...  Haha just kidding, I`ll talk to you all next week!