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

Amor desde Guatemala!

   Hello Family!  I hope that you all had a good week this week.  We had a pretty crazy week, because of two big things that are passing by in Xela this month.  Yesterday was Independece Day here in Guatemala, so all the Chapines here are celebrating like crazy.  Also, an annual fair in Xela has been here all month, so that´s been crazy also.  All in all, almost everyone is gone to the fair when we try to pass by, and we didn´t have as many lessons as we wanted, but it still went fairly good!

     Our most positive investigators is an older couple named Lorenzo y María.  They are always willing to listen to us, and they have been progressing nicely.  The only problem is that they have recieved some help from the church they are in right now, so they aren´t really ready to change religions... yet.  We´ve put baptismal dates with them for the 12 of October, so if they recieve an answer by then, they said they will be baptized.  So that´s awesome!

     We´ve also found this guy named Ricardo this week.  When we first passed by his house, he was SO prepared by the Lord ot recieve us.  He was listening, and I mean actually listening to us, and when we went by two days later, he had remembered everything that we had taught (Even to the year of the First Vison!), and had thought a lot about the message.  Unfortunately, he couldn´t come to church because of the stupid fair (curse you Satan...) but he is looking really positive.

     With Wendy, a granddaughter of a recent convert who has a fecha bautismal set up, we have been working a little bit with her.  But, seeing as she is a teenager (That sounds so weird to say, now that I´m not one... HA) she´s been at the fair everyday this week, so we haven´t had any lessons recently.  But now that the fair is dying down, we´ll get back on teaching her.

     We also found the sweetest lady on Saturday.  She has never spoken with missionaries before, but she has always seen us in the streets, helping people out, and just being good people.  She told us that she has always admired that, and she said we are welcome to pass by her house any time.  EXAMPLES ARE SO IMPORTANT!  Be an example to everyone, and they will be so much more willing to listen to the fulness of the Gospel.  

     But, this week wasn´t all fine and dandy.  We did have some crazy rejections this week that make for some very good stories.  For example, we were going to visit this one investigator from a while back, and when we got there, her husband answered the door and basically told us to get lost.  When we explained what we do, he took out his phone, took a picture of us, and told us he was going to report us for being in his house... (Even though we were standing outside...)  Well, long story short, we left.  But it´s sad that people are so misguided that they have to do stuff like that.  But that´s life.  We move on, and don´t get discouraged!

     I have had a really fun time working with legos teaching about the apostasy of the chruch and how through Joseph Smith, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ restored the Gospel.  You build up the church, from the time of Jesus Christ, and then you take it all apart through the Great Apostasy. And then you bring it back together through Joseph Smith.  A great object lesson, and it keeps the kids entertained.  Just thought I´d share that with you!

     But yeah, this was kind of a longer letter, but it was a good week to write about.  We just always have to press on in the work of the Lord, and we will be blessed.  Maybe not now, but eventually, the blessings come.  They do come.  I am a witness of it.  I love this work, and I love this Gospel.  And I love each of you!  Keep up the good work wherever you are, and Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Alma 5:14