I LOVE THE MISSION

     Hello Family!  I´m going to try to reiterate what I´ve been feeling recently:  I LOVE THE MISSION.  Every single part of it.  This is an experience like none other, and I´m so happy being a missionary.  I´ve never been in a situation like this where I have been able to learn so much in such a short amount of time.  It´s absolutley incredible.

     Things here are going great.  This week in all of Central America there was a whole week focusing on the family.  Every night, there were actividades in the church, talks about how to strengthen the family, and just opportunities to spend time together as a family.  And we had a lot of success!  A bunch of the members brought their family members that aren´t members, and they all loved it.  We got a bunch of new investigators from it, and it was all just from members talking to their family members about the gospel.  

      That just makes me realize how easy missionary work can be, with all the success that we had.  It can be so easy as to just talk with your family and close friends on how the church really focuses on the family.  A lot of families loved this week, and we are hoping to bring together more families because of the Gospel.

     By the way, on Saturday, there was a Cultural Night, where a bunch of members put together talents.  And what did Elder Pagán and I do?  Comedy skits....  booya.  Everyone loved us, and I just loved acting again.  I´ll show you all the videos when I get home!

     Our most positive investigator right now is Aura.  On Tuesday we had a really important lesson with her about baptism.  She had a fecha for the 17th of May, this last Saturday, but in that lesson, she said that she wanted to pray to figure out when she should be baptized.  We were kind of worried at first, because we should be the ones to put the fechas, but then we just felt like we should let her have two days to pray about it.  When we went back on Thursday, we were really anxious to know what she was going to say, and if she was going to say a fecha super far away.  But when we asked her, she said very confidently, "I need to be baptized on the 24th of May.  Is that alright?"  Nice!  That´s a for sure fecha that´s not too far away, just this next Saturday!  I know that the Lord knew He was going to give her that confirmation, and that´s why He told us to let it go.  The Lord really is in charge of this work.

     Just to end off, I want to stress with you guys the importance of the BoM again.  It really is the key to this work.  In PMG, it talks about how we need to be creative with the way that we handle the BoM, and especially here, where about half of our investigators can´t read.  But it really is the key to success here, and we need to always make sure that we are focusing on the BoM.  Read the last paragraph of the introduction of the BoM, and you´ll see why this book is so important in missionary work.

     I love you all so much, and I wish  the best for you all!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Moroni 9:31

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

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

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!