Monday, April 16, 2012

Picture Update!









Letter 44


April 16, 2012

Hey Ya'll!

So... Elder Rightmier decided to go home. It was really sad that I couldn’t help him, but he'll be ok.  So in District meeting the day before he left, Elder Mecham our District Leader said,"Well I don’t have any announcements..." then he asked the Zone Leaders if they had any. One of them, Elder Chick, said,"Elder Stewart needs to be in McAllen tomorrow at 9 for New Trainer Training." hahaha I was like... "Excuuuuse me?" haha so I guess I'm training. I'll be pickin’ the ‘lil guy up tomorrow! (Transfers are tomorrow mom and the next is 6 weeks from tomorrow, and so on) I'm going to be a daddy!! I think I'll name him Elder. I’m really nervous to train. Haha but I know that the Lord has called me and I have to try my best. I will be as exactly obedient as I can be for my new companion. I have a really good feeling that good things are going to happen in my area with him. Hopefully he has a real desire to serve the Lord. I need someone that can work and is upbeat. Donna needs a companionship that is going to do whatever it takes to find those prepared people. I will try my best to do my part and make up for whatever else our companionship lacks. I’m really nervous, but I’m also super excited. I can just feel that this is going to be a great experience for me!
This week has been pretty weird. I have been working in the Llano Grande Area since Wednesday, so did very little work in my area of Donna. So... that was really weird. Anyway.... I really enjoyed my time in Weslaco and I had great experiences with Elder Jensen and Elder Reid. Both of them are great missionaries. They are both from Utah and Elder Reid is actually from Orem. His brother ran for Student Body Artist but didn’t get it! hahaha I was like, "It was probably my sister Madi's fault." Anyway he's super cool. He was Elder Peterson's comp in the MTC. But yeah... Our threesome was the BOMB.com! There never is a dull moment when there’s three of you, especially when you get along. haha it was really fun. It was weird for them because I brought the car into their area and they weren’t used to drivin’ around. We found an awesome family and another man that are preparing for baptism. The work is good in Llano Grande, now lets focus on Donna!

Our investigators are none existent! haha but that means that my greenie and I are going to have our work cut out for us! We'll be finding all over the place! Oh haha funny story: On Saturday we were working in Donna for only an hour and we came to this house and contacted 21 year old girl inside. She acted super weird and I kinda got the impression that she was talking to us for the wrong reasons. But we set up a return appointment for the next day. So we go back and she wasn’t there. We called her and left a message. Then later that night she texts us and tells us sorry she wasn’t there. I told her, "Its ok we'll just come back another time." but then she said, "Oh I’m like never home." So... I asked her when we could come by and she said,"I don’t know... You guys were really CUTE!" hahaha So I said,"WELL... we were just there to teach you the gospel...." Then she was like, "Yeah I know. Thanks so much." I then asked her if she was even interested. She said no. Then I said,"Cool thanks see ya" And that was that......... then I found 20 bucks..... Maybe you had to be there..

Jesse and Krystal are doing good. BUT Jesse lost his phone and we can’t get a hold of him unless we just go over there. But all is well. The ward has been really helpful trying to get their New Member Lessons done. They're great!

Other than that I don’t have anything else to write... Oh I got a letter from Shayla Gibb! That was nice. haha So I'll be writing her soon. Have a Great Week and I'll be calling you in a few weeks!! CRAZY!

-Elder Jordan Stewart

PS-My bike is in my apartment mom

Friday, April 13, 2012

Letter 43

April 9, 2012


Hola Familia
Its good to hear that your still hanging out with Auntie Tye! Man, I love that woman! Thanks for the Easter package too! The chocolates were pretty darn melty, but everything else was good! I LOVE THE BIKE LIGHTS.... although... I wanted it in blue... not yellow! GEEZ MOM! haha jk jk. Like you always say,"Beggers can’t be choosers". LOVE YOU! I shared the cookies with Jesse and Krystal and their family. They loved them!
It’s funny that you asked about Jesse and Krystal, because this weekend they were baptized! They have been waiting for SO long waiting for that First Presidency letter. I was beginning to wonder if it would happen. But it came right before General Conference and we have just been talking it over since then. Jesse has been trying to figure out things with a job he was going to take in Georgia, so we wanted to get them baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Easter Sunday before he left. So that’s what we shot for! It was probably one of the most rushed baptismal programs I have ever put together, but everything went great! We had the talks assigned the day before and we printed the programs like 15 minutes before the service and everyone was ready to go and it was awesome! Sunday they were confirmed and the spirit was so strong. They both were crying and I knew that they had felt the change the Spirit brought. It was an amazing experience. Now were just working on getting their new member lessons taught and setting goals for Jesse to get the Priesthood and their family to go to the Temple to be sealed. Oh, and in the bathroom when we were changing Jesse told me that he might not even be taking that job in Georgia after all because they're taking so long to get back to him! That would make it SO much easier! It truly was a miracle. I had been praying that he wouldn’t take that job. Heavenly Father answers prayers! I'll send some pictures of their family.
Mom, you'd be happy to know that Krystal said that you looked like a movie star. I showed her your picture and she's like, "Wow your mom looks like an actress!" haha so there you go!
I hit a bird with the car yesterday... it was just sitting there in the road and they USUALLY move when you approach them. BUT NOOOOO... not this bird. He was "brave". I was like,"WOAHH, NOOOOOO!!" I have never hit an animal before in a car. I was so ashamed. But my companion said it "flew away" . I don’t know if it was because of the impact, or because he was really ok and he used his wings. All I know is that he went under the car and came out the back... ooops!
Yep those are my boots! How do you like them? Boot sizes are a little bit different than shoe sizes... and I think my feet are shrinking... If that’s possible. I'm not gaining or losing any weight out here either. Weird. 160 FOREVER!
I guess you could say this week has had its pros and cons. We had interviews and a zone training which was awesome! I love trainings! We talked about how we can work better with the members. Which is much needed in my area, because we are struggling to find new investigators. Now we have a ton of ideas on how to help the members with their missionary work. In my interview President Trayner told me that this week E. Rightmier was making the decision whether or not he is going to stay on the mission or go home. He has been struggling with a lot of emotional things and his injuries aren’t helping. He's has been pretty depressed. E. Rightmier told me that he was leaving. I didn’t know how to help him. He has already spoken with doctors, President, and 2 members of the 70. I didn’t have anything to say. His heart is completely set. I feel terrible... I feel like I could have helped him more. I tried to be a good example, but I couldn’t change his heart. His "treasures" are all at home I guess. "Where your treasures are, there will your heart be also." His treasures weren't here and there wasn’t anything I could do to change that.
Well I'm going to continue to work hard out here in Donna and pray for miracles to happen. I love all of you and pray for you all the time.


-Elder Stewart

Monday, April 2, 2012

Letter 42

April 2, 2012


Hey Everyone!


You gotta love that Utah weather! Boy I wish I could have some dry heat right about now! "The Rains" ,as E.Doxey says, came. Actually there was a pretty crazy storm on Thursday and it like DESTROYED McAllen. Over here in Donna we just got some thunder and lightning with some rain, but they had hail the size of golf balls! The Zone Leaders called us on Friday morning and said that President wants everyone that has miles on their cars to come down and help clean up the neighborhood. So, all four zones in the Valley came and helped clean up! It was crazy! While we were driving into McAllen we just whipped out our cameras to take pics of all the destruction! Signs from businesses were just stripped off of the buildings from all the hail. President Trayners house was a mess. All of his windows were broken and his roof was oh so broken. It was nuts! Apparently a tornado touched down too! I was really awesome to help people clean up their lawns and drive ways. They all were really grateful and said,"Wow! You guys sure got here fast!" haha. But now... its super humid and in the upper 80"s. So that stinks.


I'm sorry to hear about Mike King’s mom. That really is sad. I pray that everything will be all right and that Michael can still get back out into the mission field.


This week was less than productive for Elder Rightmier and I. A lot of things just didn’t go our way. We had all the things we needed going for us at the beginning of the week to reach our goals, but as the week went along everything just fell apart. I think the Lord was humbling us and preparing us for the lessons we would learn at conference.


Speaking of Conference it was amazing. It was just what I needed after such a crappy week. It really couldn’t have come at a better time. They were sure hitting home with the Family this year right? At least that’s what I got. I really loved Elder Bednar's talk on the difference between the Authority and the Power of the Priesthood. I am so grateful to have a father that not only has the authority of the priesthood, but he honors that authority and fulfills his callings in the Church. Dad you are my hero and I love you. I hope that one day I can be as good of an example to my sons and you are to me. Mom, thank you for creating a spiritual environment in our home so that we could grow and learn the gospel at a young age. I hope I can marry someone as kind and loving and as beautiful as you. I love you. I feel embarrassed because I am crying in the computer lab.... so... I'll stop. Haha the other message that I got from Conference is that there is a difference between being in the Church and Living the Gospel. Its not enough to know the doctrine of the church, we need to live it. It needs to become a part of us. I just LOVE Conference. Never before have I gotten so much out of it. I have NO doubt in my mind that Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God. All Apostles and General Authorities are called of God, and we need to listen to them and live our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ, not just as members of his church.
Bad news this week…. Our family of four, The Zarzoza's, fell through. Her husband told her that she and their girls can't talk to us any more or go to church or get baptized. I was so mad! She has a testimony of the church; of Joseph Smith, of the Book of Mormon, even modern day prophets! And because of the ego of her "Catholic" husband, she and her daughters are going to miss out on the saving ordinance of baptism. It really isn't fair that some ignorant people have to ruin it for their families. I pray that his heart will be softened and one day they can be baptized. They are a beautiful family... except the husband - He's mean.


Elder Rightmier and I need to work harder. Our studies have been lacking and our finding efforts need to be improved. We have set personal and companionship goals and I will hold us to them. This week we have lowered our goals a little. We are basically starting from scratch, but I know that if we work hard and have faith that prepared people will be put in our path, they will be.


In my package could you send: Walter Rayne Paintings! I love his church art work and if you can get me like a bunch of his stuff I would love you. ummmm... I can’t think of anything else. I have enough ties don’t worry about that. I’m actually probably going to be sending some home. I need to write things down so I can remember.


Well I can’t think of anything else... I'm going to send some pictures now ok? haha Your Welcome!


-Elder Stewart


PS-Happy Birthday to my Grandpas! I love you both!


Elder Doxey: I sent a letter to you a little over 3 weeks ago... BUT... I think I goofed on the stamps. Someone told me I could just slap 2 good ol’ USA stamps on there and call it good. So that’s what I did. But I think I need some international stamps. That could be the reason why you haven’t gotten it yet. Ooooops. Also Happy Birfday!