San Francisco!!!

Hello Family!  Here we are again.  I´ve been running out of ways to start my emails, because if my count is correct, this is P-Day number 101 for me.  That just blows my mind on how much time that really is, and realizing that all that time I have been a missionary of the Lord.  And I love it!  Being a missionary has been such a blessing to me and to so many other people, I just love it so much.  I can´t get enough of it!

     (By the way, after writing all of this, I realize that this is a long email.  So if you don´t have time to read it all, don´t worry, I completely understand!)

     So, seeing as I had changes in my very last change, I´m not in Huehue anymore.  I am currently writing you all from San Francisco!!!... El Alto.  Jaja just so you all know, my new area that I am in is called San Francisco El Alto.  I love it because I am close by my very first area, Momostenango!  It´s a pretty famous place, because of the market that happens every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  It´s kind of rediculous, but it´s fun to just be in that environment where there is commotion everywhere, and people bartering left and right.

      For the area itself, we are in a very small ward here.  For example, we had an attendence of about 40 people this week, which was pretty good for us.  So now I´m going to need to get used to a smaller ward, with less people.  But I love it.  We are part of the Momostenango Stake, which I absolutely love.  (I just have such a connection with Momos, I don´t know why...)  The ward has been pretty down recently, because there hasn´t been much success here for a long time, but that´s why I´m here!  To get things going!

     My companion´s name is Elder Jerez, who is from Guatemala City, which means that I will finish my mission having a Latino comp my whole time, which has been awesome!  Elder Jerez is great, he has about 18 months in the mission, and we are getting along really well.  He also loves to cook, which is great for me! (But not for my return missionary form...)  We are getting some new ideas to get San Francisco going, and we are both really excited to be working here.

     We had a really good week this week, just getting to know the members a little bit.  And for the little members that are here, they are all really nice and special.  This is a really tight ward, which makes the work better.  (That´s probably because more than half of the ward is made up of one family, the Álvarez family.  You´d be surprised how often that happens here...)  And although I´ve only known them for just less than a week, I already feel a connection with them.  And I know that they are going to be happy to help us out.

     We´ve got a 17 year-old investigator named Paloma who is really pilas!  They had been teaching her for some time, she had come to church a few times, and they had talked about baptism a little bit, but nothing was set in stone.  So this week we focused with her, and had a really spiritual lesson on Wednesday about the Plan of Salvation.  She really understood everything, and at the end we really focused on what she needs to do now to be able to reach all of her potential.  She said that she was willing to do anything, so we extended an invitation to be baptized on the 21st of June, and she accepted!  She´s really happy and excited about everything, and we are planning that Saturday will be a really specialy day for her.

     We had such an amazing spiritual experience yesterday.  We are teaching a family of 4 where the mom and the two daughters are all active, but the mom is living with another man.  When I got here, I thought that he was the dad of the family, because they all get along so well.  But, long story short, Mirza (the mom) is still married to another man that left her to go to the States (Scumbag).  About 9 months ago, she went to go live with this man, Baltazar, to have a man in the house.  But they can´t get married because Mirza is still married to this man in the States who doesn´t want to give her the divorce.  Mirza and the kids go to church all the time, and Baltazar sometimes...  So that´s the story.

     On Sunday, we went to go talk with them, and we sang "O My Father," which I believe is now my favorite hymn.  We talked to them about eternal families, and while talking, I felt the impression to tell them to just think in silence for about two minutes and just think about what living with our families for eternity means.  Man, that has probably been one of the most powerful manifestations of the Spirit I have ever felt.  Firstly, because I was thinking about my family, and how special they are to me.  But then I noted that Mirza was really feeling the spirit, so I invited her to share what she was feeling.  To make it short, she shared her desire to be an eternal family with Baltazar and the kids, and gave us some really good news.  Her current husband had just advised her that he was willing to give her the divorce.  Just out of the blue!  She has been working and talking with him for YEARS to be able to get to this point, and now she will be able to progress.  She was so happy, because that means that she and Baltazar will be able to be married!  She then turned to Baltazar and asked him, "Do you want to be an eternal family?"  He said yes, and he was willing to do anything to make that happen.  Miracles happen guys.  So we are going to see if the divorce can happen before I leave here.

     Last thing.  Being here in San Francisco means that I am currently a Zone Leader, which means some resposibility.   This has been a Zone that is struggling a lot, in success and morale.  So, seeing as President put me here as a Zone Leader with just 6 weeks left tells me that I have something to do here.  Something in the area, or helping the Zone out, I don´t know, but I know that I have to be my best to be able to fulfull the Lord´s will.  

     Whew, that was a long email.  But I just wanted you all to know how I´m doing, and what I´m thinking.  I love the mission so much, and I am learning so much from being here.  I´m honestly so scared that I´m so close to being done.  I don´t want this to end.  But, the end in inevitable, so I just have to do my best to finish off strong.  I love you all so much, and I wouldn´t be the person that I am today without all of you.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. DyC 121:34-46

     P.P.S.  Happy Father´s Day!

[16 Jun 2014]

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

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

¡Feliz Navidad!

    Hello Family!  I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!  Filled with fireworks and everything!... Oh wait, that`s just us in Guatemala...  So yeah, that`s just for Jeffrey and I.  (Unless my limited knowledge of other countries comes into play here...)  But anyways, I hope that all of you had an amazing Christmas, filled with a bunch of Christmas Spirit!  I hope that we all did what President Monson said, and make sure to take off that last syllable of Christmas to remember what it is really about.

      I really like what my brother Jeffrey said this week, that all of us missionaries that are serving are giving the best birthday present we could to the Person whose birthday we are celebrating.  (That sentence is probably really weirdly structured.  Just bear with it.)  

     But now we have moved on, and it`s time for us to think about the next year, 2014!  (Wow time is going by way too fast...)  People always talk about resolutions this time of year, and honestly, I`ve never really done them.  But I think that it is important that we think of ways that we can be better people, and really stick to what we committed to.  Especially with a spirit of Christ in mind.  We all can be better, now it`s just up to us to do what we can!

     The mission`s got a really good idea with resolutions and all that.  We are trying out a 40 day and 40 night fast of things that we know we have to change.  Every one of us has something to change, so now we are promising to fast about it, and make sure that we are better missionaries.  We need to make sure we have the spirit with us at all times, so this should help us out!

     Now I just feel like this letter is just a bunch of thoughts about this time of year.  Let`s get on to what`s going down in Guatemala.

     Just to start off, we had 6 people in Sacrament Meeting this week.  That`s tied with my all time high.  I guess people are just in the Christmas Spirit!

     Our most positive people are Cruz and his daughter Sharon right now.  They are coming to church, and are still set for their baptismal date on the 11th of January.  They`ve got no real problems right now, so we are just still preparing them for their date!  I`m really excited for them.

      And now I`ve got to tell you guys about a man named Miguel.  He is a really good friend of Cruz`s family.  He`s about 70, and he`s really got no family around.  And on top of all of that, he`s almost deaf.  Well, he`s been around whenever we teach Cruz and Sharon, but we haven`t really been paying attention to him.  But on Sunday, we had started church and everything, with everyone inside already.  But after the Sacrament, who else walks in but Miguel.  He came on his own!  He just walked in like he knew exactly what he knew he was doing!  So we are definitely going to see what`s up with him this week!  Man I love miracles.  Sometimes I feel like I should deserve them, but when we are on the Lord`s errand, everything is possible.

     We also had a mom and her three kids come to church this week.  Her name is Cindy, and she is the wife of an Antonio that we had been visiting a couple months back.  Antonio now doesn`t want anything to do with us, but Cindy does.  She really wants to know about the truth, and where to find it.  So we are really going to help her out.  And after about 2 and a half months of knowing her, she finally came to church!  I`m really hoping and praying that she will keep acting on the faith that she has!

     I don`t know, it`s been just a really good week this week.  I was just talking to Elder Keele about it, and Sunday`s are what makes or breaks your success in the week.  You can have the best week in the world lesson-wise, but if no one comes to church, it feels really hollow.  But when people take that step of faith and come to chruch, it`s like walking on air.  There is no other feeling quite like it.

     Sometimes I feel like I am being blessed way to much than I deserve.  I`ve realized this week that I have a lot of faults.  I am a very imperfect person.  But God takes those imperfect people, and has them do what they do best.  There is a spot for all of us in this world!  We all have our part to play, no matter how small.  I think it was President Uchtdorf who said one time, that the world is like a Symphony, and we are the players.  If we don`t do our part, the show will go on.  But with our help, everything is just better.  We need to remember that always.

      Wow, this letter`s a honker, that`s for sure.  I just feel like putting all of my thoughts down, so you guys know what I`m thinking.  Above all though, I don`t know what I would`ve done without the mission.  I would`ve been a completely different person, and not for the better.  I am infinitely grateful to my Heavenly Father for this chance that I have.  He really is our Father, and Jesus Christ is our Brother.  We are SO blessed to be a part of this Gospel.  I know it.  And I love it.

     Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  Malachi 3:3  This one takes a bit of explination.  A refiner and purifier of silver purifies his silver in a very special way.  He has to take the silver with tongs, sit right next to the fire, and hold it in there while it is being purified.  He knows it`s done when the silver shines and he can see his reflection in it.  Now we just need to compare ourselves to the silver and God to the refiner.  And look up Alma 5:14 while we are at it.

     P.P.S.  I really hope that last paragraph makes sense.

      P.P.P.S.  If any of you make it to this point in the email, you deserve a hug.  Just wait seven months and it`ll come!

Good Start for December

Hello Family!  How y´all doin? (That one´s for you Matt)  Hope you all are feeling the Christmas Spirit!  And some of you are gonna have a really white Chirstmas from what I hear!  Well, not here in the Land of the Eternal Spring!  Although the weather here´s not that great nowadays.  It´s just cold, without the snow.  Joy.  But what can you do, right?  Right.

     After a bunch of time together, I´m finally saying goodbye to Elder Calero.  He´s been a really good comp, one of my favorites.  He´s really chill, and has a good heart.  He just needs a push here and there to get going, but when he does, he´s awesome.  It´s been really fun with him, but I´m excited to see who I´m going to be with for the next little while tomorrow!

     (Just a side note, if you don´t know yet.  This change was changed to only have four weeks, because if it was normal, changes would have been on Chirstmas Eve, which would´ve sucked for everyone.  So they made some switches, and this next change is going to have eight weeks to make up for the lost two weeks.  Just so you know.)

     We had an awesome week this week.  It all came together on Saturday, where we had a BAPTISM of a daughter of a family we recently reactivated.  Her name was Hanny.  It was really simple, they didn´t want very many people at the service, which we respected.  But their 16 year old daughter who still hasn´t come back to church yet came, so that was way special.  It was simple and sweet.  There really is nothing like a baptismal service to get your spirits up again.

     Something really cool real quick.  We had a priest that we know baptize Hanny just as an afterthought, because we figured that would be better for him to do it and not us.  We didn´t really think much of it until Sunday, where he bore his testimony in Sacrament Meeting.  At the end he said, "I also am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for the chance I had to baptize Hanny yesterday.  I will be forever grateful to the Missionaries for this opportunity they gave me."  When he said that last part, he looked right at me.  I just felt so good inside, and the scripture of "small things make great things" came to mind.  I thought it was just an afterthought, but it was really a prompting from the Spirit to strengthen his testimony.  That was a really cool experience.

     We are still working with Wosvelí.  We are planning for his baptism this Saturday, the 14th of December.  He´s starting to get nervous, and in the last lesson we had he said he wants more preparation, but honestly he doesn´t need it.  He knows it´s something that he has to do, and we are going to make sure that he follows through with it.  His family is helping a lot, coming to the ward every week.  He just needs a little push, and he´s good.

     The Christmas Devotional was this Sunday.  The only thing was we got pushed back in a cita, and ended up seeing only the last half.  But it still gets me, especially the music.  (Christmas music is one of the only things that makes me baggy...)  It´s good to take a step back every once in a while and realize what the true meaning of Christmas is.  And we have the chance to devote all our time to help others realize that.

     Once again, we´ve seen some miracles by seeing some things go wrong only to lead us to a very good thing.  For example, we´ve been teaching this lady for a while now, and we had planned to not go anymore.  But one night in our planning sessions, we had the impression to go with her.  Well, we went, but she made up some lame excuse and said she didn´t have time.  So, when she shut the door, we decided to knock the next door because we had some extra time.  The man opened the door and was hesitant at first, but accepted to hear our message.  And he is basically the perfect example of someone who is prepared to accept this message.  (Not going to any church, but looking for one.  Knows a lot about the scriptures.  Etc.)  When we told him about the Restoration, he basically said "That makes sense."  A really neat experience.

     At this point I think I´m just rambling on.  So I´ll just stop now.  But I´m super stoked to be working here, because things are really starting to pick up.  I love being a missionary, and I´m scared about how fast time is going.  But I´ve just got to make the best of what I have left!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. 1 Peter 3:15

A Great Week!

   Hello Family!  (And yes, all you guys on the mish are my family!)  I hope that you all had a great week this week!  

     This week, well, it started out a bit rough!  Haha we had our investigator Isabel, who`s baptismal date fell last week, talk to us again saying that she does in fact want to get baptized!  We were super stoked!  The only thing that she had to do is tell her husband, because he is sort of against us Mormons...  Well, bad news is the next day, she had changed her mind, because she was too afraid to talk to her husband.  It was a bit rough at first to know that someone isn`t going to get baptized soon because of that little reason, but that`s how life goes!  We are still going to keep in contact with her, but I don`t think that much will happen with her for a while.

     My companion and I set a goal for finding 10 new investigators this week, which is stretching a little bit for here in Chinique, where there aren`t that many people.  But we busted our butts, (can I say that as a missionary?  Meh, who cares!) and we reached it!  We found a lot of new people to teach this week, and we are going to be super busy these next weeks with all of them.  (Hopefully!)

     I felt like this week Elder Aguilar and I worked the hardest that we have as a companionship. And our hard work payed off!  This Sunday, we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting, a little sad because all of our investigators bailed on us (because it was "raining..."  What an excuse!)  As the meeting was about halfway done, we saw a family of four walk in that we didn`t really recognize.  They looked a little familiar to me, but not much.  Well, of course, after the meeting ended, I went over to talk to them.  And they totally recognized me!  They introduced themselves, and I realized that they were a family that I had contacted when I first came to Chinique!  I had given them a Restoration pamphlet, but they said that they didn`t really want much with us.  So we left it with them and left.  But whaddayaknow?  They ended up coming to church ON THEIR OWN about 4 months later!  So we are definitely going to hit that up.  

     Seriously, that was such a miracle that happened, but I really think that it was a result of our hard work this week.  Hark work pays off kids!

     So this week ended on a real Spiritual high, and I loved it!  It really made me appreciate the mission a ton, because I really am changing for the better!  I love this work, and it`s crazy to think that I`m almost halfway done!  What happened with my time?  But I`m loving every minute of it!

     I love you all so so much, thank you all for the support!  Keep up the work!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Read D+C 79.  Amazing section for missionaries!

     P.P.S. America`s Birthday is this week!  Make it proud! 

Photos!

We went contacting this day, and found this guys passed out on the street.  (Which you pretty much see every day... Sad.)  I gave him a Word of Wisdom pamphlet, so that when he wakes up, hopefully he can read it!  And if you think that this is a bit cruel, one of the members of the Elders Quorum Presidency in Chinique was converted like this, so miracles do happen!  

This day it was raining really hard, and we had to run and go to the store to buy something.  It was really fun, so we decided to take a picture!  This is Elder Berrios, who is in the other companionship in the city.

All the bread that we helped make with a family for Semana Santa!  It was really fun, because we started from scratch with everything, and got to see it all happen!  Way fun!

We did service early one morning, helping an investigator get his field ready to plant corn, beans, and all sorts of things!  Hard work, but fun nonetheless!

We celebrated the birthday of one of our investigators this night, which was way fun!  We did some activities with the whole family related to the Gospel also, so it was all in all a good night!  

This is Jimmy, and his birthday was yesterday, so we went to celebrate!  He is the kid with whom we have a baptismal date!