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!

Photos!

This is in Chichi (which I realized I told you guys about last week, but who cares?  haha)  These are a bunch of backpacks made of corte, a type of fabric that is here in Guatemala.  They were way cool looking, so I had to take a picture!

This is an investigator family with the cutest little girl!  She loves to play with us, so we have a lot of fun acting like kids with her!  Also, her dad is originally from Cobán, so Jeffrey, look out for any Cabrera families living in Cobán!

Our sign that we made to welcome people to the open house!  It says "Welcome to the Open House."  Fun activity!

This is one of my ties!  On the front, it says "6 months."  Apparently it is a tradition to burn a tie once you have 6 months in the mission.  Well I didn´t know about it, so I´m making up for it now!

The end result of burning my tie!  It was awesome!  I have a video of it, but you are going to have to wait until I get home to show it to you, because it takes up a lot of space, and I can´t send it over email.  So yeah, wait for that when I get home!

A Preparation Week!

     Hello family!  Sorry I`m late this week, but it is because we have a multi-zone conference in Huehuetenango tomorrow, so we have to be here in Quichè to spend the night.  So that we wouldn`t lose so much time traveling and being out of our areas, the Zone Leaders decided to change P-Day until today, so that we could have more time to work in our areas.  And for that I was really grateful!

     First things first, about our most positive investigator, Jimmy.  He was all ready to get baptized this past Saturday, but as we were teaching him during the week, we noticed a change in his parents.  They started listening more and participating more in the lessons, so we decided to postpone the baptism until this Saturday, where it would be possible for Jimmy and his parents to be baptized on the same day.  The only problem is, is that his parents, Miguel and Stefany, aren`t "married", so it causes a problem.  (Believe it or not, this happens a lot in Guatemala...)  People can`t be baptized if they are living with a partner, so we have to work on getting them married this week (which we have talked about with them), and hopefully we can have a wedding this Friday at the chapel, and the next day have a baptism!  It`s a bit of a long shot, but it is possible!  

     Also, we have been preparing for an activity that will happen this Saturday in the morning.  We are going to have an "open house" at the chapel, so that people all over Chinique can come to the chapel and spend about 15 minutes figuring out what we do during our reunions, and if they want to learn more.  This week we have been handing out invintations like crazy, so that hopefully the whole town can come!  It should be a really good way to find new people to teach, so here`s to it all going according to plan!  

     This week in my studies, I have been focusing a lot on some of the questions that are most asked by our investigators, and trying to find the best way to find them in the scriptures.  It has really been a huge help for me to have a basic knowledge of the scriptures, but it makes me wish that I would have studied them more before my mission.  So for all those that are preparing to go on a mission, really strive to study the scriptures and PMG [Preach My Gospel] every day, so that you will be that much prepared when you enter the mission.  Granted, you still are going to learn a TON, but it can`t hurt to learn more, right?

     In our district meetings, they have been focusing a lot on bringing our investigators to church with us.  One time I was talking with President Bautista about it, and he said that apart from baptisms, our most important statistic that we should focus on is investigators that come to church.  The reason is that if people come to church every week to learn more about the gospel, they will have a firm foundation, friends, and all sorts of good things.  That is why we have been really trying to bring people to church with us, and inviting members to help us out.  It really is a joint effort;  working missionaries with members, and I love it!

     That is just about all that I have to say for now, but this next week should be huge, with a multi-zone conference, an open house activity, and a baptism!  So I hope that you all have a great week, like I am bound to have!  I am so stoked always to be a servant of the Lord, and I have a really good feeling that this week will just strengthen my testimony even more!  

     I love you all so much, and thank you so much for writing me every week!  The Chruch is True!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  We have been talking a lot about friendship this week with our investigators, so I figured I`d share John 15:13 with you guys, one of the best scriptures about friendship.  It just shows how much the Lord loves us and wants the best for us!