Happy Independence Day!!!

     Hello Family!  And Happy Birthday America!  What a beautiful place we have to live!  After being in Guatemala for just about 2 years (I love the place, don´t get me wrong...), I´ve really come to appreciate how much I love the good old United States of America.  There really is no other place like it.  We have so much to be grateful for, all the rights that we have, and we really need to realize how much that really affects us.  ´Murica.

     Alright, things are going smoothly in San Francisco el Alto.  First things first, with Paloma.  Man she is just so great.  We were thinking of the best way to put a fecha with her.  Now, it´s some scary business to just let an investigator choose their baptismal date, but when we thought about doing it, we felt the confirmation that it was the right thing to do.  So we went with her, and she had told us a little bit about being baptized on the 12th.  When we asked her to choose a date, she said, "I know that the 12th is the date for me!"  Wow, we were so relieved that she didn´t put a fecha for like months in the future!  She is so ready, so we are going to make the 12th a really special day for her.

     I want to tell you guys a little bit about an investigator named Luis.  He is the husband of a less active member in the ward.  He has visited with the missionaries for so long now, no one even knows when they started to go with him.  But, we´ve lograred some really good progress with him!  We´ve got a different kind of confidence with him.  With all the other missionaries, they told us they were really good friends, but just that.  But I feel like we´ve established a relationship with them that shows that although we are really good friends with the family, we are there because we want to help them progress spiritually.  And it´s working!  They came to church this week in who knows how long!  It really was a miracle.  All the members were excited to see Marleni (The less active wife), and even more stunned to see Luis come to church!

     And that´s not all!  Wow, I still really can´t believe it!  In Gospel Principles class, we were learning about the scriptures.  (We were teaching the class)  So we divided the class into groups, and had them explain about the scriptures.  Luis, Marleni, and another member we assigned to teach about the BoM.  When it was their turn to talk, Marleni gave a powerful testimony about the BoM, regardless of not having gone to church in years.  And then Luis stood up, and invited the whole class to read the BoM, because it is really important for all of us.  Elder Jerez and I were just sitting there with our jaws on the floor listening to him.  We are progressing with them really well. :)

     This week we had a Multi-Zone conference in Momos; basically the get-to-know-you for President Smith and the missionaries.  But it was a great conference.  In the mission, Momos and San Francisco are generally accepted as the hardest zones in the mission.  But when President Smith talked to us, he said something really awesome.  Something along the lines of: "When we are in the most dificult moments of our lives, that is the time where we really learn to grow and depend on the Lord.  Don´t ever lose hope, even when everything looks to be going wrong.  That will happen, especially here in these Zones.  But if you always look to the Lord, and search for ways to grow, you will leave these areas as better, more mature, and more confident missionaries.  I guarentee it."  And I know that it is true, because I´ve seen it in my mission.

     I´ve decided to really deep study PMG before I get back, and I´m learning so much, even with almost 2 years in the mission.  Which just reminds me always that there is never a point where we are going to know everything, where we are going to be perfect in something.  There will ALWAYS be something to better.  There will always be room for some improvement.  But if we just think, "I doing it good enough, I´m good,"  we´re done.  But if we always think that there is something better we can do, we will do it.  There is always room for improvement.

     Something that I´ve realized as of late.  Dad has been talking about this recently, but I like it a lot.  We never have to feel like we don´t belong, or that people around us are better than us. Each one of us has something special, and we can always do something the Lord has called us to do.  Dad shared with me this quote from Tiger Woods: "There may be a lot of players out there that are more talented than I, but none will out work me."  And it´s true.  In a missionary´s eyes, maybe there are other missionaries that are better than teaching, or better at making people love them, or better at organizing things, etc.  But if we work our hardest, and give it our all, we are the best in the Lord´s eyes.  We have to give it our all.  Omni 1:26 (our whole souls).

     If you have made it this far, I commend you.  I just have a lot to write recently... ;)

     Guys, I´m learning so much.  This last change has taught me so much, I can´t even believe it.  The decision to bring me here to San Francisco was really an inspired one.  I could have ended my mission in Huehue fine, probably with more baptisms, but the Lord wanted me to come here to San Fran to learn so much about how to be a man, and advance in life.

     On Friday, I walked around with an american flag tie.  Without shame or anything.  I love my country.  All the people were looking at my tie, and some even commented on it!  Wearing those stripes and bars with pride!

     We came down to Xela today, so I aprovechared my tiempo buying some souveniers for home!  The best part of buying stuff here for me is definitely bartering to lower the price.  I just find it as a game, to see who can best sweet talk the other.  It´s so much fun, and I´m super bummed that I won´t be able to do that in the States... Could you imagine?  Going to Costco or something, and when I go to the cashier, I start saying, "Can I get this for 3 dollars instead of 5?"  I just thought about it, and it made me laugh!  

     Wow, I think I´m done.  I hit two years this week on Friday.  July 11th, 2014.  That date seemed so far away when I started, and now we are here.  It´s crazy how fast the time crept up on us.  But that life I guess.  We´ve got a limited amount of time to do what we need to do, and when the time is up, we´ve got to be happy with what we did.  If we gave it our all, there will be no regrets...

     I love you all so much.  Thank you for always writing me, supporting me, loving me, and all that jazz.  I know I couldn´t have gotten here without all of you.  I love each and every one of you so much.  But, even more than that, I love this Gospel.  It has brought a wonderful change in my life, and I hope that it will never go away.  Jesus Christ is my Savior, and He loves me so much.  He is always there for me, and for everyone who looks for him.  Until next time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. DyC 20:31

Earthquake

   Hello Family!  How y´all doin?  I hope that you all had a good week this week!  Things went pretty good here in Chiquilajá, so I´ll tell you a bit about it now!  ;)

     Basically, the month of September is absolutely horrible here in Xela.  There are really two huge events going on this month:  Independece (Which they celebrate all month) and the yearly fair for Xela.  Almost everyone is going to visit family out of the area, and those who are here go to the fair all day.  It´s historically been a slow month for missionary work, so we are trying to make it better.

     So we have two baptismal dates for the 21st, but they aren´t really that sure now.  Wendy, one of them, we haven´t talked to in about a week, because she´s been in Retauleu all week for the fair, visiting her family.  She wasn´t able to come to church this week, which is a bummer, but we have a cita with her on Tuesday, so we will see how that goes.  

     And with Brando, we had passed by their house all week, not finding anyone home.  Thank goodness, yesterday we went to pass by again, and some kid came up to us and told us that no one lives there anymore.  Turns out they straight-up moved.  And the problem is we have no contact with them.  People have told us they don´t live far, but we NEED to find their place quick so we can get going again with Brando.

     Also, something crazy for you guys to hear.  We had ANOTHER earthquake happen here on Friday.  Earthquakes are really rare here, and I´ve been in two during my mission.   Sweet.  But is was crazy, a 6.2 on the Richter Scale, with the Epicenter not to far away from us.  But it freaked everyone out.  The good thing was that we didn´t have any major damage in our area.  Although a member´s house got pretty rocked, so we spent about two hours on Saturday helping secure his walls, so they don´t fall down.  It was a good scare for a lot of people, but nothing really happened, so that´s good.

     Do you know what is sad?  When people don´t even give the opportunity to listen to the message of the plenitud of the Gospel.  We ran into this one guy one day, and he totally bashed on us, not because of the doctrine, but because of some members actions.  He said that he would probably give this Gospel a chance, if it wasn´t for the members.  And he just slammed the door in our face.  It really made me sad, because he isn´t even giving us the chance, just because of something that happened in the past.  It´s rough, but people have their agency.  We just have to help them the most we can, and the God do the rest.

     We went up to this one lookout place in Xela today, and it was absolutely beautiful up there.  I looked over the city, and the thought just came to my mind, that there are about 80 missionaries working in this city alone, working for one cause:  To bring ALL of these souls unto Christ.  It was really cool to think about, and it just made me so glad to be out here helping out with the work!

     I love you guys so much.  Thank you all for writing me!  It always means a lot to me!  Love you!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S. Scripture!  DyC 62:3

Great Mother's Day Weekend!

    Hello Family!  Well, here we are talking again since yesterday!  Although it isn`t the same, we will just have to wait until Christmas for that again!  But for now, here is just a regular email for you all!  But seriously, I can`t tell you how awesome it was to see you guys and to be able to talk to you guys!  I love you guys so much, and it really meant a lot to me that you talked to me the whole time!  You really made me excited about this work all over again, and now I just want to work really hard!  Thank you for that!

     (Now, I`ve basically told you all that has happened to me, but I`ll just put it in writing for you guys!)

     So first things first, something really cool that happened this week.  It was an amazing experience!  We have been teaching a man that owns a little store for a while now, but he hasn`t been progressing, and he doesn`t seem too interested, so we were thinking about dropping him.  But we decided to go one last time to see him, and good thing we did!  We were introducing the BoM, but he didn`t want anything to do with it.  We were going to leave, but a man who was in the store, listening to us, stopped us from leaving and wanted to know more about the BoM.  We were shocked, but we recovered to be able to say that of course we could tell him more!  We have been teaching him ever since, and he even came to chruch this Sunday!  Miracles do exist, but we need to put in the work to be able to be in the right place!

     We celebrated Mother`s Day on Saturday with the whole Brach, which was way fun!  The Elder`s Quorum made a huge lunch for all the mom`s so that they could enjoy a day off, and still have a good meal!  And it was a REALLY good meal that we made!  (I should have taken a picture of the final result...  Dang it!  Haha)  Afterwards, we had all the mom`s play games with us, like musical chairs, races, and stuff like that!  And no mom was excluded!  We had the newest mom racing along the 80 year old mom, and it was awesome!  We even had some investigators that came!  But, who wouldn`t want a free lunch and to play some games?!?  A successful day for us! 

     Remember the man I told you about whose wife died last week?  We have been working really hard with him, becuase he is really struggling.  He hasn`t come to church for the past two weeks, which really worries me.  I keep thinking about a phrase that I heard in General Conference.  (But I can`t remember which one... I think it was Elder Andersen that said it)  He said: "During a hard time, the last thing you should do is leave the protection of the church.  It`s like leaving the storm cellar as a tornado is approaching!"  (Or something like that..)  That is really good advice, and I hope that you all remember that saying!

     Not much else...  We are working really hard to have our investigators come to church, which is one of the most important things for them.  Because if they come to church, that shows that they are willing to make commitments, and that they will progress.  I never really realized before my mission how important our meetings are, but now I really do!  This is one of the biggest reasons why I love being a missionary, because I am really appreciating a lot more of my life back home!  

     I need to thank you guys again for talking to me yesterday!  I really love this work, and although I am away from you guys, I know that I am doing the right thing!  This is the most important thing that I could be doing with my life right now, and I love it!  I it so amazing to see people change for the better, and even more amazing to know that I was a part of helping them!  There is a lot of hard work in being a missionary, but the satisfaction that comes from it is DEFINITELY worth it!  I`m so grateful for the chance I have to be here!

     So yeah, just another week passing by!  I hope that you will all have a good week this week!  I know that I will, so I hope that you guys have one too!  Love you all so much, and thank you always for your support!  Love you all!   Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  The scripture for this week is Alma 10:11  (I like substituting where he talks about Alma for the gospel.)  It talks a lot about family, and  I really am grateful for my family!!!  :)

What A Week!

  Hello Family!  Well, seems like we all had crazy weeks this week!  I seriously can`t believe what happened back home...  As I was reading your letter Mom, I was so scared, becuase I could see it all happening in my mind, because I know exactly where in the stage that is happening.  But as I kept reading, I knew that Ryan was going to be okay, and I am so grateful for the way that it happened.  (Not that he fell or anything...)  It really makes me so grateful for a family that is really close, and cares for one another, and knows what matters most in this life.  Also, I am so grateful for the friends that I have, and that we all have.  Without them, and them being ready at any moment to act in the Lord`s name, who knows what would have happened...  I don`t even want to think about it, but thankfully I don`t have to!  Thank you all so much for letting me know what happened at home, and I am so happy that Ryan is okay!

    Well, I had a somewhat crazy week here also, but not nearly as crazy as you guys!  So this week, all the people here in Guatemala (and I`m pretty sure all of Central America also) celebrate a Catholic holiday that is called "Semana Santa," or "Holy Week." It lasts from Thursday to Saturday, and basically what happens is that all the people commemorate the death of Christ.  Everyone gets together as families, and cook a lot of bread, and I mean a LOT!  I have eaten so much bread this week it isn`t even funny...  But it is just a tradition that everyone has grown to love.  The thing about it is, is that everyone is with their families, so they really don`t make time for us, which I totally understand.  Everyone was "busy" these past couple of days, so the work really slowed down this week.  But when we did get into a house to share something, it was really amazing and really spiritual.  We talked a lot about the ressurection about Christ, and how it blesses us.

    One thing that I came to realize this week, like REALLY realize, is how important the ressurection is for us.  One thing I love is that while all the Christian world wear crosses to commemorate the death of Christ (which is really important), we, as Latter Day Saints, really focus on the ressurection of Christ, and that He still lives!  How great it is to know that we have our Savior still living, so why shouldn`t we celebrate that?  It brings so much more meaning to me in my life, especially as a missionary, to know that my Savior still lives, and that he is continually watching over us!  

     We have a baptismal date!!!  Whoo Hoo!  And I am really excited about this one, because I know that it is going to follow through.  His name is Jimmy, and he is the 9 year old son of our investigator family we are teaching.  He has come to church twice now, and he seems really excited about being baptized!  The coolest thing though, is that he wants to be a missionary when he gets older, just like us!  When he said that, it really made me realize that this work is totally worth it!  All the hard times, the rejections, and all that bad things that happen don`t even come close to the blessings that we recieve, and the knowledge that we are helping the lives of the people here!  I love this work!!!

     That`s all for this week!  I hope that we can all enjoy General Conference this week, because I know that it is going to be great!  I love you all!!!!!  Until Next Time!

     - Elder Stuart

     P.S.  The scripture for this week is John 20:31.  The reason that we celebrate Easter is to celebrate the ressurection of Christ, and all that He did and gave to us.  He made it possible to have "life through his name," and for that we should be eternally grateful!