Letter 37

2/27/12

Hello Everyone!

Wow it sounds like you all had a really busy week! Haha they really do seem to be flying by though huh? I can't believe I've almost been out for 9 months! It seems like yesterday I just hit my 6 month mark! Shooooot....! I'm trying really hard to make the most of it here in Corpus while I can. I'm thinking that I might get transfered this next week though. I'm looking forward to it. I have been Junior Comp for a while and I feel like I need to be given some more responsibility so I can work harder! haha I don’t know what it is, but pressure is my biggest motivator. That’s why I always procrastinated on papers! I do my best work that way! Besides I think it will be fun to have a little bit more responsibility.... shoooot... I'm totally jynxing myself.......That’s so crazy Paige Bickmore is getting married. Man us Stewarts are LAME! Nah... jk

Adela is doing ok. She has been working on Sundays these past two weeks, but she requested the month of March off. Hopefully she'll come and we can get the members to rally around her and help her overcome her fears! (Afraid of the water.... gee wiz....)
We haven’t seen Albert in a long time. I don’t know if it will work out with him right now.
Rhonda is great. Did I forget to tell you? Our second lesson, we talked about the Restoration and the origins of the BOM and she LOVED it. We brought Brother Burke along (one of the coolest guys in the world) and we explained to him before we went in that we were going to talk about the Restoration. Then he said,"Then we'll take her out back to the pool and baptize her?" hahaha Anyway... we get into her house and Bro. Burke just takes off and does the whole Restoration in like 3 minutes! Hahaha the big goof! Then we talked about the BOM and how it fit in with the Bible and on and on and on... The lesson lasted like 2 hours! Dang it Bro. Burke! Haha but the good thing is that at the end Rhonda said, "I know I said I wasn’t converting... but now... I can’t say that." We had another lesson with her at the church and tried to set a baptismal date. She said, "I just want to say YES!.... BUT..." Ugh it was the worst "but" in the world. She said that she had a lot going on and she wanted to give the church and the lessons the attention it deserved. So... we're still working with her and I’m really confident that she will be baptized... We just don’t know when. Boooooo,
The part member family that we found is AWESOME! Yulie is the non member and she is down to be baptized on the 25th of March! Her husband, Adam, left the church over something really crazy and apostate that happened to him in the church a long time ago but he's SUPER supportive of Yulie. They came to church yesterday and loved it! Adam is remembering how he felt when he first met the missionaries and when he went to church and he's knows that its something that will be good for his family. Yulie is so excited to learn every time we come over! Its great! We have another lesson with them tonight!

I'm planning on sending some stuff home. I really shouldn’t have taken all those clothes with me hahaha never wear any of them! I have like 5 pairs of useless socks! So I'll send those home with some shorts, shirts, and my Blake Griffin Jersey. I don’t really have a lot of opportunities to wear it out here. I'll probably send some Mexican Candy and pictures or something with it. It wont be that nice but... I need the room in my suitcase. I think you also gave me extra sheets for my bedding... so I'll send those too.

I really want some boots... . All the Elders here say that Corpus is the best place to buy them. So...I'm afraid I'll miss my chance if I don’t get them this week. I'll be sure to buy a good pair. Obviously I wont wear them tracting, but basically every Elder has bought a pair. I'll probably chicken out in the end and wait another week... If I do get some and it becomes a problem I'll just send them home in a package.

I think that’s it. So.. I'll talk to you all next week! Love you bye!

-Elder Stewart

Letter 36

Heloooooo,
We're emailing at the church so you don’t have to wait! Yay! (Because of President’s Day)
This week we had Trainings! I loved it! Every time I have a chance to learn more about the Gospel and how I can be a better teacher is great! Missionary Work is SO much more inspired than it was just ten years ago. We have a new program called the 8 Lessons that was started to help our investigators to seek revelation and it truly creates the best spiritual environment for learning. Its’ really tough... but its worth it. We're getting closer and closer to how to Gospel was preached by the ancients.
This week it rained. "The Rains" as Elder Doxey called them. Lucky for me I had no fender on my bike! SO... I was getting shot gunned in the butt by mud and water! It was great! hahaha. I'm gonna buy some fenders one of these days.
Speaking of things I would like to buy. I was wondering if I could buy some boots. There is a store here called Cavender's (Tanner would love it) that is honestly the biggest cowboy store I have ever seen. It’s like a Cowboy Footlocker. Anyway... I want to get some boots. They're a little pricy.... but shoot... they look good. I was planning on going next Monday and getting some so let me know by then ok?
Also Dad I would like you to send me my Line of Authority. E. Skousen made me think of that in the letter he sent and I really would like mine too. I don’t know if I've even ever seen it.
This week was a little rough in some ways and really good in others. We met with our investigator Adela this Thursday and we were going to go over tithing, but she surprised us. She told us that she is DEATHLY afraid of water and that she cant be baptized! Who the heck is too afraid of water to get baptized?! And I know it sounds fishy but honestly that's the only thing that is stopping her. She loves the church and she believes everything... but she just doesn’t have the faith. So we had to drop her. She still wants to come to church and stuff so that will be good. We will rally the members around her to help her build her faith and overcome her fear. But we can’t do much for her now.
Albert is back, but he's too afraid that he'll cause a fight with his wife if he suggests going to church. So... We can’t help him too much either. Elder Payne and I are trying to find new people.
Rhonda is the name of the woman we found last week and she is still awesome! She came to Church this week and loved it! We have another meeting with her on Friday. She is really busy these next 6 weeks and the only days we can meet with her are Friday and Sunday, but we'll work it out. She really wants to be baptized, she just doesn’t know when.
We also found a part-member family right after trainings that we're teaching tonight. I’m super stoked!
I just wanted to say that I have the best friends in the world. I have been so blessed. I read my friends letters every week and it just inspires me to be a better missionary. I am so grateful that we are all on our missions and that we are still brothers in the Gospel. I love you Elders!
Transfers are in 2 weeks so... there you go. I got G'ma and G'pa's card. Thanks! I don’t know if I need anything; just my Line of Authority. And boot permission.
I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week.
-Elder Stewart

Letter 35

February 13, 2012

Hola!

Haha man I think I'm losing my Spanish up here.... I try to practice and study... but gee wiz its tough! No one really speaks it here! But its ok I think that I might be getting transferred in a few more weeks and become a Senior Comp. Oh boy... haha Im gonna have to step up my game! I'll be "in charge"...

Funny Story: After I emailed last week we went grocery shopping. While we were walking up to the local H.E.B. an old lady stopped and pointed at us with her hands like guns and went,"uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh..." like a machine gun and started laughing! hahaha I was dying! I was laughing SO hard! What the heck lady?! It was so random. Man, that was the best machine gun noise I've ever heard from an elderly lady. hahaha golly...

There are a lot of things that are unique about South Texas, one of which is the fact that they probably have THE most muscle cars the in the World. Out of all the muscle cars in the United States I would venture to say that 60% of them are here haha. Camaros aren’t even cool any more. haha we play a game that whenever one of us sees a Ford Mustang we yell out, "Mustang!" And then the first one to find a Camaro wins. It only takes like... 2 mins. haha we might make a BINGO sheet and play "Muscle Car BINGO" in the car.

I got the package you sent right before we came here and I opened it in the car! Thank you so much! I love you! That leatherman is great! haha I knew Dad would have one. I haven’t tried a cookie yet... but I’m sure they're great!

My bike (Clare) is fine thanks.

Adela is doing well. Todavia esta progresando! She does have a Baptismal Date on the 26th.  She missed church this week though because she had to work. We're teaching her the Law of Tithing today and I really hope it goes well. She doesn’t have much and I'm worried if her faith is strong enough to accept it. But I know that the Lord will bless us. E. Payne and I had a really good study and we planned out exactly how we are going to teach her. I know that the Lord blesses us when we do all that we can to prepare. Like President Monson said this last conference "When the time for decision comes, the time for preparation has passed." We need to have our feet shod with preparedness like Paul tells us in Ephesians 6.

Jen is really hard to get a hold of! Golly gee! We still have only had the one meeting with her. I hope things work out for her.

We met a really awesome lady a few weeks back who we just barely got to sit down and talk with. The first thing she said before she let us in was "By the way I’m NOT converting if that’s why your here." haha Elder Ballard gives an example of a "fireball missionary" in a talk called "Mental Toughness". He tells us that "a fireball missionary is someone that starts when someone says, No!" We sat down and she told us that she has known a few of Mormons in the past and there was always something about them that she admired and that she just wanted to bottle it up. Well we told her that it was simply the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. We told her that we are different because we have the truth and we told her that she can know it for herself if she reads the Book of Mormon and prays about it. We didn’t have enough time (because she and the member we brought we're telling "stories") to set a Baptismal Date, but we set up a return appointment and left her with a BOM. She was really excited to read it. With the help of the Spirit, we turned a situation from "NOT converting" to reading the BOM. The difference between a good missionary and a better missionary is attitude. Anything is possible with the Lord. Keep your head up and your eye on the prize.

The answer to your question mom, if I like being a missionary and if it is a positive experience. YES! haha there is nothing else in the world that I would rather be doing than serving the Lord! I am learning SO much out here... things that I would have never learned if I hadn’t gone on a mission. I am closer to God than I ever have been and have learned so much about His love and our purpose here. I LOVE being a missionary!

Happy Valentines Day! Don't break the Law of Chastity!

-Elder Stewart

Letter 34

February 6, 2012

Hola!

Well... my freaking computer messed up on me and I lost the awesome email that I wrote... So... sorry haha.

My birthday was fun. Sister Todd made me a chocolate cake and I ate it with milk just like you taught me mom. I loved it. I'm planning on making that Fun Fetty cake mix into cookies. My zone leader E. MacNeil told me about it and I definitely have to try it. It sounds delicious!

I don’t care what room I get but I think I'll take the Yankee one. No use letting all that hard work go to waste! My room is just plain ol’ blue... so is that ok? That’s exciting to hear about all those projects that you all are starting! And the best part is... I don’t have to work on those darn projects! YIPPEEE!

Albert is still in Brownsville. We will call him this week. We might talk to his wife this week too. The spanish family fell off.. we could never find them. But its ok we planted a seed. We are teaching a new person named Jen. She is a referral from a member and she is really cool. She has a baby boy and she wants a better life for him and she is really interested in the church especially Joseph Smith and the history of the church. We had a good first lesson and set a BD. We have another lesson with her tomorrow so pray that it goes well. Adela is doing great! She has been consistently coming to church for like 6 Sundays now and the members really like her. She even participated in Gospel Principles yesterday! It’s awesome to see how much she is progressing! The Muniz kids were confirmed yesterday and it was amazing! I LOVE Bro. Muniz! He was so nervous to do the ordinance but he did a great job! I'll try to send some pictures of their baptism next time I send pictures.. but who knows when that will be haha.

Yep it should be raining a lot this next week... but I got my rain coat! thanks mommy! :D Yeah I actually got Aunt Rhonda's card right when I got home from emailing last week haha so I felt bad... I knew you both would worry... but I got it THANKS Aunt Rhonda!!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Write me letters! I never get any! hahaha... And pictures! Please! Thanks! LOOOOOVEEE
YOUUUU!