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

Loving Guatemala!

   Hello Family!  Well, I just spent another week of my life in a foreign country.  I love thinking of that every now and then.  Why else would I come to Guatemala if it weren´t for this Gospel?  That´s why I love it so much, being able to learn more about myself and at the same time helping others come unto Christ.  There really is no better combination.

     First things first, we had changes this week... Well, kind of.  The mission had changes, and we didn´t.  It was really weird, because we were expecting Elder Calero to go, because he has four changes here.  But nope!  We are still together.  Apparently he still has something to do here that he hasn´t done yet.  So we´re on it!

     Well, this week didn´t really go according to plan.  That´s the thing about the mission, learning what to do when things don´t go your way.  You can either be like "Dang, our cita with that investigator fell, now what are we going to do?"  Or, like I learned this week, we can say "Well, our cita fell, let´s go see what we can find out here!"  Two really different points of view that really make a difference.  And we tried to make the best of what we could.  And we did!  We found the most new investigators our of the whole zone by a long shot, and it came from not letting a few things go wrong get in the way!  If anything, the mission has taught me to look for the best in everything.

     We are still working with German, but the hard thing with him is that he is losing his desire to learn more, so he really isn´t putting in his part.  And we can only do so much without his help.  So we are praying for him and making sure that he will continue to fulfill our invintations!

     We have a really cool family that just needs this Gospel!  Antonio and his family of five are such a great family.  We are really working hard to resolve some dudas they have, but the biggest one we have now is that Antonio is working on Sundays, so he can´t come to church.  And the family doesn´t come without him...  But, he is going to finish up his project this week, so we are really hoping they can come next week!

     For all you guys who aren´t on the mission right now, the best thing you can do is go out with the missionaries.  It really doesn´t matter who you are!  There is nothing like a member testifying about what we are saying.  Most of the mindsets here are like "What do you Gringos have to say to me?"  But when someone who lives down the street from them tells them the same thing, they really start to believe it!  So help the missionaries out!

     I did a lot of thinking about why I was sent to Guatemala on my mission.  Like most other people, I have a lot of defects.  One of the biggest ones is having patience with others.  But thinking about it, the Lord really knows why I´m here.  With all the love in the world, the people here have a lot of issues.  And one of the biggest things we have to deal with as missionaries are the people here.  But I really feel like I´ve grown so much, I feel like I am a better man.  So the Lord knows why we are where we are, even when we don´t know as much.  It was a good reflexion time for me.

     That´s about it for this week.  It was pretty good, but there is room for improvement.  So here´s to it!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

      P.S. DyC 64:33