The Beginning of a New Mission

     Hello Family!  Well, here we are...  I really can´t believe that I´m already done.  Time has gone by way too fast.  I don´t even know where to start.  I have so many emotions going through my mind right now, I couldn´t even try to explain everything over email.  I will tell you all one thing though, ending the mission is really hard.  After being so close to the Spirit, having so many spiritual experiences, having the chance to share the Gospel every moment of every day, getting to know the great people here in Guatemala...  It´s hard.  But it happens to every one of us, así que I´ve got to do it.

    Don´t get me wrong, I´m really excited to see everyone of you guys again!  But after being two years straight as a missionary, if I take a while to get a little readjusted to real life, you´ll probably realize why.   

     The mission overall has been amazing.  It wasn´t exactly like I expected, but it was so much better.  I have learned so much about how to be a better man in life, and that is experience that is invaluable for me.  Humility, knowledge, love, and so much more.  All these things I have learned in the mission, and I am ready to put it all into practice when I get home.

     One thing that I will really miss about this place are the people here.  I would have never guessed how much these people would have affected me before the mission.  But they have.  I love them so much, and have learned so much from them.  These people that sacrifice so much will always hold a place in my heart, and if I ever have the chance, I will do everything I can to make their lives better!  I feel great that I have been doing it for the last two years, and I hope that the people that have touched my life will always remember that. 

    There are so many habits that I have gained in the mission that I want to take home with me, especially my time in the morning.  Preparation, study, exercise, and all that I hope to keep up after the mission.  Things just go so much better when you start off your day on the right foot, and from what I´ve seen here, that is the way to do it.

     Also, just doing the little things while going about my business is something that I want to keep up.  Stuff like helping a man collect wood on the side of the road, washing dishes after eating, giving a helping hand, just stuff like that.  Little acts of service, little acts of love is what I´m getting at.  If we can all just follow the example of Christ, where He didn´t mind getting held back a little bit just to help someone, we will be better people.  Love the world, and the world will love you back.

     But more than everything, the thing I´ve most gained from the mission is my personal relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.  It is something that I really can´t explain with words, but I know with all my soul.  He is my Redeemer, and has made everything that I ever have done, everything that I am doing, and everything that I ever will do possible.  I will be forever grateful for His sacrifice.  It only makes sense in my mind to give everything that I have in order to thank Him for everything.

     I had my final interview with President Smith on Thursday, and man was that great.  We talked a lot about my goals after my mission, and what I should do to get going as soon as possible.  But at the end, we started talking about knowing for sure in the Lord has accepted our sacrifice.  And in a way only the Spirit can work, and with the help of President Smith, I knew that the Lord accepted my work.  And I am so grateful for that confirmation.  Of course, I wasn´t perfect, but I know that I gave it my all, and better yet, I know that the Lord is pleased.  That final interview has been one of the highlights of my mission.

     Whew...  I really don´t know what to think right now.  My thoughts have just been going crazy, so if this email seems really jumbled, that´s why.

     Being here in Guatemala, sharing my testimonio daily, has strengthened my testimony is ways that I can´t even explain.  I´ve always had a testimony about this church, but now I know without a doubt that what I have been doing the last two years is in the Lord´s hands.  This is His church.  There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever.  It just makes sense to me.  Jesus is the Christ, and He is at the head of this church.  Now, that´s not everything I need.  I need to act on the knowledge I´ve gained.  It means nothing to me to know all this, and do nothing about it.  Now is the time in my life to act, and I´m ready to do it.  

     I can´t thank all of you enough for all the support you have all given me throughout my mission.  It really has meant so much to me.  Thank you all so much.  For those of you out on the mission, don´t worry, I´ll write.  I promise, because I know how it is.  Thank you all for getting me here to where I am now.  I love you all so much.  

    "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:  and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."  2 Timothy 4:7-8.  Until next time!  (On Thursday!)

     - Elder Stuart

2 Years Out!

     Hello Family!  Man, what an amazing week this week.  I´m so blessed to be finishing my mission like this, feeling like one of the happiest missionaries in the world!  I was kind of scared about getting so close to the end, but then one of my friends gave me the advice to just continue on like any other week in the mission, and it would be great.  And it has!  I love the mission so much, and I`m going to take advantage of the little time that I have left.

     Well, the best part of the week:  Paloma was baptized on Saturday!  And man, what a special baptismal service we had.  We put a lot of effort in making it really memorable, and although we were really tired Saturday night, it was all worth it.  She is going to be one of the best members here in San Francisco, and I won`t be surprised if she goes on a mission as soon as she turns 19.  (Which is in about a year and a half)  She was so happy in the baptism, and that means that we all were too. :)

     To make the baptism something really special, we spent all week getting everything ready, and setting everything up on Saturday.  I can dare say that this was one of the best prepared baptisms I`ve had.  We filled and heated up the water, baked cookies in the morning, cleaned the chapel, bought everything necesary, and just basically got everything ready.  And all the members loved it.  We had about 50 people in the baptism, which was a lot more than we expected!  And at the moment of the actual ordinance, the spirit was so strong.  Amazing.  After everything, we just felt so good and spiritual.  This probably will be my last baptism in the mission, and I couldn`t have asked for anything better.

     We found some really special investigators this week.  Cata and her daughter, Santa.  They`ve had some problems lately, with a divorce, financial problems, health, anything you can think of.  But I can`t imagine a happier little family.  They have so little of what the world regards as important, but they don`t let it bother them.  It breaks my heart to see them struggling so much, yet they always find a way to make some food for us, or give us something to remember them by.  But that`s just how they are.  I hope that I can be so loving like they are.  They are also progressing really nicely!  They came to the baptism on Saturday, and are looking forward to our cita with them on Tuesday!  

     We went to the temple again. :)  The temple closed down this week for maintenence, and will be closed until after I leave, so my group went to the temple for the last time!  And while inside, I just felt such a confirmation that what I have given the Lord these last two years have been worth it.  I know He has accepted my sacrifice.  And I will be forever grateful to Him for the opportunity He gave me to serve a mission, especially here in Guatemala.  The temple is such an amazing place, and I can`t wait to be able to go whenever I want!

      Last Friday I hit two years in the mission.  Can you all just think of how long that is?  That is two amazing years of straight up missionary work.  Non-stop.  It`s been amazing, but surprising that it`s all coming to a close so quickly.   I find myself thinking about past experiences in the mission, and realize that it`s true:  These really are "The Best Two Years" as everyone says.  I couldn`t trade this time for anything, and I keep thinking what a privilage it has been to be a missionary.

     Well, as of now my last full week in the mission is about to begin, and I´m set to be one of those missionaries that works until the very end.  It´s the least I can do with all the blessings that I have received while being here, right?  Right.  So here´s to an amazing last week in the mission!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Alma 29:9

Loving the Mission!

Hello Family!  How you all doing?  We´ve had a really good week this week.  I´ve really been loving being a missionary recently, like more that usual.  I don´t know where it is coming from, but I love it!  There really is something special about the work that we can´t really describe, something that drives us from within.  Maybe it is the thought that we are all participating in the work of salvation, and we can see people´s lives change right before our eyes.  It really is amazing to think that we are helping people that we haven´t even thought existed before, and they are changing their lives competely by our help.  There really is nothing better.  Now that I´ve started this email, we can get down to business.

     First off, on Monday we had another amazing lesson with Antonia.  We went to see how she liked conference, because she was going to watch it in her house.  She said that she had watched it and everything.  But when we asked her what she most liked, she told us that something had happened.  The channel that we sent them too was conference, but it was all in English.  So they ended up watching the whole thing in English...  At first I was bummed but then she said something really important.  She said that it didn´t matter if she didn´t understand anything, because she had felt something really special (The Spirit) wathcing it.  And she said that when one man came up, she felt his authority.  So I whipped out a picture of Pres. Monson and she said "That´s the man."  Guys, this church is true.  Antonia didn´t understand a thing, but the Spirit told her that they were Prophets of God.  Amazing.

     On Wednesday WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!  Oh baby, it had been way too long.  Almost 10 months since the last time I went.  And man was it great.  Things had changed since the last time I went (cough movie cough...), and I loved the changes.  A lot more clear on what was needed to be done.  (Is this vague, or is it just me?)  As I sat in the Celestial Room, I was pondering on what was needed to be done for some investigators, and found some really great stuff/scriptures for them.  

     But what was most special about the tempe is that I went there planning to ask Heavenly Father if what I had been giving him for the last 21 months has been worth it.  If I´ve been really serving my God.  As I finished my prayer I didn´t really feel anything so I just sat there looking at the beauty of the Temple.  But as I looked up into the chandelier, shining in the light, it just hit me.  Like a lightning bolt down my whole body.  I was just consumed in my Heavenly Father´s love, and I never wanted it to stop.  Man, what a feeling.  Something really special that I´m going to remember for a long time.

     On Thursday I went to another area on divisions to see how the work was going in Zaculeu.  I stayed with Elder Perkins, another Elder in the Zone.  I´m not really the biggest fan of divisions, because I don´t like leaving my area, but we had a great time.  I learned a lot from him,, and we had some really great lessons.  It kind of just showed me how many of us there are in this work, all of us a little different, but all with the same purpose.  That was great for me to realize.

     We talked with Luis and Edwin, our two baptismal fechas, this week.  They were set for the 19th, but weren´t able to come to church this week... But they´ve already made plans to go this coming week, and when we pushed back the fechas for the 26th, they already started asking what time, what they should bring, and everything.  So they are pretty set, and we are stoked for them.

     We´ve also got this other guy named Ivan, a (boy)friend of a member here.  And he´s really interested.  He´s asked some of the best questions about the Gospel that I´ve heard in a while.  What I see from him is just a desire to become closer to God.  And we have the perfect thing for him:  The Restored Gospel.  We think that he´s going to progress really nicely, so that should be good.

     The work is progressing here nicely, and we think that the rest of April and May should be really good for us.  This was an area just waiting for good things to happen, and now we are here to see it happen.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. DyC 100:1

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

Starting off February

Hello Family!  We are in February already...  Time is going by way too fast!  Jaja but seriously, I feel like I just blink, and we are already done with another week.  Kind of scares me...  Tomorrow I´ll be completing 19 months in the mission.  It´s weird to think that I´m one of the old guys now.  But that just means that I have to set the example, and hope that others can be edified by my example.

      Which reminds me of something.  When Elder Cook came here to the mission, he noticed that most of the missionaries here have less than a year.  And he said something really important.  He said that we shouldn´t depend so much on experience/time in the mission, as much as we should depend on inspiration.  And it´s true.  Someone can know the scriptures like the back of their hand, and in which situation they should use them, but without the Spirit, it won´t have that good of an effect.  He really stressed that we should follow the promptings of the Spirit ALWAYS, and that sometimes it´s better to just talk inspiredly than use scriptures.  And when an Apostle of the Lord says something like that, you´ve got to obey!  And this is something that you can incorporate in everyday life.  Follow the Spirit.  

     And what´s so great about that is that we put that into practice this week.  We´ve been working with Cruz, the husband of a recent convert for a long time now.  He´s come to church a couple of times, and he knew that he needed to be baptized, but he just didn´t want to take the step.  So this Friday, we passed by (saying a prayer right before because we knew that we needed the spirit) ready to commit him to be baptized.  

     When we ended the lesson, we were ready to extend the invitation.  I felt the spirit telling me that we just needed to be direct and really commit him to do it.  And when I was inviting him, I didn´t even realize what I was saying.  It was one of the rare moments in my mission when the words weren´t mine.  By the time I realized I was done talking, he said, "You´re right, I need to be baptized.  And I´ll be fine to do it this Saturday."  Wow.  That was one of the most powerful moments in my mission.  So he´s set for this Saturday.  We just need to make sure that he´s set for it.  But seriously, wow.

     Well, if you havent realized yet, I´m really late on this email, so I´m going to have to cut it short.  But I´ll be sure to try and make some more time next week.  Love you all!  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Alma 27:27

And because time is so short, pictures will come next week.  Love you all!

An Apostle in Xela!

    Hello Family!  This week has been a really good week for us all around.   We´ve had really good lessons, found some really good people to teach, and to top it all off, we had Elder Cook of the Quorum of the 12 come and talk to our mission!  I´ve definitely learned a lot this week, and I hope to be able to communicate what I am thinking today...  So here goes!

     So, as I said before, this Saturday Elder Cook came to talk to us.  And I learned a bunch from the conference overall.  I´d like to start with something that Elder Duncan, a seventy, taught us.  He told a story of an Elder that was serving a mission in England.  Things were going hard, and he and his comp decided to start talking more about the Savior, and try and avoid the Restoration.  But he started feeling depressed, and thinking about going home.  So one day, he decided to pray, and he heard a voice that said, "Testify about the Restoration."  So he did, and he felt so much better about his mission.

     What we are to learn from this is that we have a very special/unique message for the world, and that is the Restoration.  We shouldn´t be afraid to talk about it, because that is the basis of our message.  There have been times in my mission when I´ve found someone really pilas, and I want them to progress, but I think to myself, "What if they get offended by Joseph Smith and the Restoration?"  But it is so necessary for the people to realize that a restoration has happened.  Everyone should know about it, and if they want to accept it is up to them.  But it´s our job to teach them about it.  A really good reminder of how important the restoration really is!

     And then Elder Cook got up.  Man, I could tell that he really is an Apostle of the Lord.  He brought a spirit like none other when he walked in.  And he is so smart about the scriptures!  Blew my mind.  But he talked a lot about how we as missionaries are sent to a ward/branch to strengthen it.  And we need to be part of it to do that.  And then he shared D&C 112:33, and talked about how important yet solemn our job as missionaries is.  There have been times when I have forgot how important it is not only to be a missionary, but to be a good one.  There is no substitute.

     But the best part of it all was the apostolic witness that he shared with us.  As he was bearing his testimony, he said this:  "I testify to you all that Jesus Christ lives.  I know the Lord.  I know his voice.  And there is nothing that can make me deny this."  Wow...  The Spirit was so thick (for lack of a better word) that I knew it was there.  And I also knew that what I am doing is the Lord´s work.  So yeah, this week was one filled with the Spirit.  

     Things are going good investigator wise also.  With Cindy and her children, they are still set for this Saturday, so we are just going to visit them a lot this week to make sure that they are still on board.  And a good thing with them is that they are putting the example for Antonio, the husband.  He came to church this week because of them!  If they can just keep being the example, I have a feeling that the whole family will one day be members.

     Wosvelí is still as prepared as ever, and this week we started his divorce process, but I´ll be long gone before it´s done.  But the important thing is that he gets baptized eventually.

     We´ve also got some really cool people that we are working with right now, they just need to take the next step towards baptism.  But things are really looking good here in Chiquilajá!

     I love you all, and love how close we all are.  I was thinking about it the other day, one of a missionaries biggest drives is how close his family/friend relations are at home.  And I´m so grateful to have a VERY strong one.  I love you all so much.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. James 3:4  (Also 3-5)