Letter 86

March 4, 2013

Hey Everyone!

First off I just want to say how grateful I am for all of you and your prayers for me and the other missionaries in the world. I know without a doubt that this is the work of the Lord and I am so blessed to be a missionary at this time in my life. It truly is the best experience of my life and I will be forever changed by it. I know that the Lord is hastening His work and I'm so excited to see the miracles happen all over the world as we prepare for the Second Coming. I'm so happy to hear that the Youth Conference this year focused on missionary work! That sounds like such an awesome activity! I can't wait ‘til I get to be a Young Men's leader and do fun things like that with the youth. I wish I could have had an opportunity like that when I was younger.

This week was a little tough for Elder Hobbs and I. The family that we found last week dropped us and we found one other person this week who we thought was going to progress, but he dropped in the next appointment. We're just having a little struggle finding people that will be there for the next appointments and keep their commitments. On a brighter note though we taught little Miguelito this week about the Sabbath day and he and his family came to church! It was nice because his mom and dad already have friends at church so we didn’t have to do very much to help them. We have another lesson with him tonight and his interview for his baptism is this next Sunday! Hopefully we can teach him everything before then!

I went on exchanges with the Cameron Park elders this week to try to help them to get things going in their area. They have been struggling a little bit, as well as they rest of the district, on finding. So I thought that I would go into their area and help them find some new investigators and help them build their faith. Unfortunately, it was one of those days were no one really wanted to talk to you haha. I still had a good time working with Elder Sturgell and I have faith that he can do some good things for his area.

My bike chain broke this week after about a year of use. But don’t worry I got it fixed right away. The rest of my bike is in working order and you don’t have to worry about it haha. Claire (his bike)is still going strong! Also I did receive your Valentines Package. The peanutbutter cookies probably shipped worse than the sugar cookies! haha. That’s ok Elder Ayers ate them all :) I'm ready for another package when you are! I second Elder Doxey's request for "lovins in the form of oreos"!

Funny Story. I've been making guacamole for the last few weeks in my apartment (Elder Hardin taught me) and today Elder Ayers decided to help me out. We bought some peppers to add with it, 3 jalepenos and 1 habenero. We were pretty satisfied with the guac and everyone else in the apartment liked it as well. At the end we were joking around about eating the left over Habenero that we had and we all pressured Elder Hobbs into eating it! Hahaha 3 seconds after he bit into it he started coughing and crying! All the while we were laughing our heads off! haha pobrecito Elder Hobbs... it was pretty funny. I feel bad for him though, especially when it comes back for its revenge tomorrow....

Well I really don’t have very much left to say other than I love you all more than words can describe. That’s one thing that I think that I've learned very well is how to appreciate and love the people around me (even if you’re not actually "around me") I know that the Savior lives. I know that He loves us and wants us to love each other and see each other the way that He does. I invite all of you to make a special effort this week to see the people around you not as they are in that moment, but how our Father in Heaven sees them. He sees us all on a scale of eternity. I love you all and hope you have a great week.

-Elder Jordan Stewart
-Happy Birthday to Elder Ryan Skousen! You're an inspiration and are next in line to be AP of the Fort Lauderdale mission!

-Happy Birthday to Elder Rick J Doxey as well. A letter is comin your way mi amigo fiel! LOOOVEE YOOUUU!