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