March 19, 2012
It’s been a pretty great week here in Donna! Unfortunately, I will be getting a new companion again! haha Elder Leiva is trading spots with Elder Rightmier in Edinburg. E. Rightmier just had surgery on his knee and he's in a bike area... so he can’t do any work. So they're sending him here to take it easy with me in the car (the Ford Fusion GT). We just barely found out yesterday right before church and E. Leiva leaves today at 1:30. haha it was pretty crazy... BUT ANYWAY.... E. Leiva and I have been blessed with a lot of success this week! As a zone we have all been praying to find families to teach and baptize, and Elder Leiva and I have been specifically praying to find a family of 4. Last Monday we set 4 BD's with a family, who are friends of a member family. They came to church this Sunday and loved it! Its a mom and her 3 daughters (12,10,8) and then there's little Juanito, but he's only 7... boooo.. too bad. They had
been taught once before by Elder Strong (one of the Elder's that died) at their member friends house, and they love the missionaries. Our first lesson we ended up doing 4 tea bag lessons (an object lesson that contains fire and tea bags)! At the end we asked them, "Who wants to come to church this Sunday?" They all said, "YEAH!!! WE DO!!" haha It was awesome. Oh. And it’s in Spanish. Roxanne (PM) just got interviewed yesterday and is all set to be
baptized next Sunday. She was kinda bummed when she found out Elder Leiva couldn’t baptize her now because he's leaving, but she'll be ok. She's great. She used to struggle reading her scriptures and understanding it all, so E. Leiva and I gave her a highlighter and had a lesson just to read the BOM. We read Lehi's dream and really broke it down simply for her and we highlighted things along the way. It was awesome to see the change in her after that lesson. Everything just clicked! From now on I'm going to give my investigators highlighters and read 2 Nephi 32:3. No more snacking! FEAST! We're still waiting on the letter from the First Presidency for Jesse and Krystal, but they're still holding on strong. Yesterday they came to a missionary fireside at the church and Jesse even said the closing prayer! Then after we went to their house and had a "FEAST upon the words of Christ" lesson and studied how testimonies are grown in Alma 32. It was a really powerful lesson. Also, yesterday Elder Leiva and I received a referral from a member. One of his friends from work came to church and really enjoyed it. She said she was coming next week for sure. We'll probably be seeing her on Saturday. We had our Zone Conference this week and it was focused on a talk given by Elder Bednar called Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary. He gave it while I was in the MTC so it was really awesome to hear it again. Man I really didn’t know anything about missionary work when I was in the MTC. SO that was really good for me to hear again. I have been reading it all this week.
I have this new hair gel that smells like Skittles and it is THE best thing in the world. My hair looks great AND smells great. What more could you ask for?! There is also a cabbage patch in our area that smells terrible... which is a testimony to me that there really must needs be an opposition in all things haha.
I think it would be best for you to send the package to the mission office and I can pick it up there. Did Dad get my line of authority? I’m super curious to see it. But that’s awesome that your sending England Candy!! I miss that stuff! Yay! I'm glad you both got home safe and you still could stay awake long enough to write me. LOVE YOUUUUUU! I'm loving being a senior companion. It’s tough though because I have to make a lot of decisions and you all know how great I am at doing that! But there has been a lot of growth. I am trying a lot harder to be obedient and trying to help our investigators progress. It truly is a humbling experience. Well that’s pretty much it this week. I’m pretty sure I didn’t answer all your questions but I feel like I did a good job haha. Have a great week! LOVE YOUUUU!
-Elder Stewart
Monday, March 19, 2012
Letter 39
March 11, 2012
Hola mis queridos amigos y mi amoroso familia!
Holy smokes! Mom you ask a lot of questions.... how am I going to answer all of them?! My companion E. Lieva is not poly. haha He's from Chicago. But his family hails from Guatamala and some other Latin countries. He's super cool and we get a long great! haha I'm always making him laugh... I guess I'm just a funny guy. He like can’t breath sometimes. I told him the story about that Black Guy at the Walmart that asked us if we were "On break" and he was dying haha. So yeah we get along great!
Our apartment is pretty sketchy.... but its ok. We're gonna shape it up in these next few weeks. Its just E. Leiva and me there... so no roommates. I unfortunately am not in a Corrola... I am in a Ford Focus.... Boooooo...
I love the area. The people here are so nice and the members are really willing to help with missionary work. E. Leiva and I are going to be working with the members a lot to find new investigators. We have 3 pretty solid investigators that we are working with right now. A little family: Jessie and Krystal, and an 18 year old girl: Roxanne. Jessie and Krystal are all set to be baptized, they area just waiting for a letter from the First Presidency for approval. They are amazing and are seeing SO many blessings from living the Gospel. It was so humbling to see Krystal help their 7 year old daughter to pray. The Gospel is beautiful. This week we’re going to help them set goals for the temple.
Roxanne is the daughter of a less active member that just started coming back to church. She's super cool and understands everything and is progressing to be baptized on the 25th. The area here is just ready to blow up. I can feel it. E. Leiva and I are going to see lots of success.
So you didn’t like the candy huh?..... you ungrateful SONS OF GUNS!!! haha jk that candy is so nasty haha that’s why I sent it! April fool on you! You can still give it to the Judy kids too... that would be funny. That’s good to hear that my jersey was in there too! I was kinda freakin’ out... hahaha. The reason I didn’t put more in there is because I was super rushed... but next time I'll prepare better!
Sorry I don’t have time to put pictures on here or answer ALL of your questions.... but you can always write me a handwritten letter and I'll answer you back... I basically don’t get any mail so.... haha I love you and I hope you all have a great week!
-Elder Stewart
Hola mis queridos amigos y mi amoroso familia!
Holy smokes! Mom you ask a lot of questions.... how am I going to answer all of them?! My companion E. Lieva is not poly. haha He's from Chicago. But his family hails from Guatamala and some other Latin countries. He's super cool and we get a long great! haha I'm always making him laugh... I guess I'm just a funny guy. He like can’t breath sometimes. I told him the story about that Black Guy at the Walmart that asked us if we were "On break" and he was dying haha. So yeah we get along great!
Our apartment is pretty sketchy.... but its ok. We're gonna shape it up in these next few weeks. Its just E. Leiva and me there... so no roommates. I unfortunately am not in a Corrola... I am in a Ford Focus.... Boooooo...
I love the area. The people here are so nice and the members are really willing to help with missionary work. E. Leiva and I are going to be working with the members a lot to find new investigators. We have 3 pretty solid investigators that we are working with right now. A little family: Jessie and Krystal, and an 18 year old girl: Roxanne. Jessie and Krystal are all set to be baptized, they area just waiting for a letter from the First Presidency for approval. They are amazing and are seeing SO many blessings from living the Gospel. It was so humbling to see Krystal help their 7 year old daughter to pray. The Gospel is beautiful. This week we’re going to help them set goals for the temple.
Roxanne is the daughter of a less active member that just started coming back to church. She's super cool and understands everything and is progressing to be baptized on the 25th. The area here is just ready to blow up. I can feel it. E. Leiva and I are going to see lots of success.
So you didn’t like the candy huh?..... you ungrateful SONS OF GUNS!!! haha jk that candy is so nasty haha that’s why I sent it! April fool on you! You can still give it to the Judy kids too... that would be funny. That’s good to hear that my jersey was in there too! I was kinda freakin’ out... hahaha. The reason I didn’t put more in there is because I was super rushed... but next time I'll prepare better!
Sorry I don’t have time to put pictures on here or answer ALL of your questions.... but you can always write me a handwritten letter and I'll answer you back... I basically don’t get any mail so.... haha I love you and I hope you all have a great week!
-Elder Stewart
Monday, March 5, 2012
Letter 38
3/5/12
Holy Smokes!
I've been out long enough to have a BABY! hahaha Golly gee... the time is just flying by! It kills me!
But I guess we'll start out with the news of TRANFERS.... Elder Stewart will be going to..............Donna, TX to be Senior Comp. with......(drum roll)...... Elder Lieva! Looks like I'm going to have a "step son"! And he's a brown one at that! I’m so proud! "Step Son" or "Breaker" is a missionary term that means a missionary's 2nd companion. So Elder Lieva was just trained and is now taking over the area. The bad news is... I’m going to be in a car! I kinda wanted to spend my whole mission on a bike :( sadly... I will not. I don’t know if I even remember how to drive! haha jk. I'm going to lose all of my leg muscle..... I was checking it out today while I was getting dressed and I must say... My thighs are pretty giant. AND my buns! Woooo... but now they'll be sitting in a car so... oh well. I'll get ‘em back later.
Yulie our investigator is progressing SO WELL! She is just soaking everything in. She is really really sad that I'm leaving though. In her own words she is, "Devastated"... I felt so bad. She wanted me to perform the ordinance of her Baptism. But I know that this is for the best. Investigators tend to get attached to their missionaries, which isn’t bad, but we want them to be apart of the ward and to get strength from their Savior, not from the missionaries. So this will be good. I'm going to write her letters of encouragement once I leave... "Its not like I'm dead..." I told her haha. She'll be great!
Rhonda might be moving to the island and the Sisters will have to teach her, but she will get baptized. I have no doubt in my mind that she will. Just not now.
I have a concern... I did put the Blake Griffin Jersey in there. I'm pretty darn positive.... so... If you could please check again that would be great. I forgot about the bed sheets... but the Jersey I know I put in there. If someone stole it... well... I don’t know... there's not much I can do. It’s just a jersey. But you can investigate it if you want. I need to focus.
Our Zone Leaders Elder Duke and Elder MacNeil have committed us to consecrate ourselves. Elder Duke told this story: There was a great famine in the land, and a man sold all that he had for 20 grains of rice. He was walking down the way when he was stopped by a prince. The prince asked him for some rice. The man looked at his small portion and gave him 3 grains. The young prince then reached into a bag and pulled out 3 rubies, gave them to the man and said, "What I received was what I would give." Then he went on his way. The man was saddened and wished he would have given all. Our Heavenly Father asks us to serve Him with all of our hearts. Not just 3 grains of rice worth. The blessings of doing so will be poured out upon our heads. Sometimes we're afraid of what we might lose, but we need to trust the Lord and have faith that we will gain more from our sacrifice.
I love you all so much. I truly have been blessed with the best family and the best friends anyone could ask for. I hope you all have a good week. -Elder Stewart3/5/12
Holy Smokes!
I've been out long enough to have a BABY! hahaha Golly gee... the time is just flying by! It kills me!
But I guess we'll start out with the news of TRANFERS.... Elder Stewart will be going to..............Donna, TX to be Senior Comp. with......(drum roll)...... Elder Lieva! Looks like I'm going to have a "step son"! And he's a brown one at that! I’m so proud! "Step Son" or "Breaker" is a missionary term that means a missionary's 2nd companion. So Elder Lieva was just trained and is now taking over the area. The bad news is... I’m going to be in a car! I kinda wanted to spend my whole mission on a bike :( sadly... I will not. I don’t know if I even remember how to drive! haha jk. I'm going to lose all of my leg muscle..... I was checking it out today while I was getting dressed and I must say... My thighs are pretty giant. AND my buns! Woooo... but now they'll be sitting in a car so... oh well. I'll get ‘em back later.
Yulie our investigator is progressing SO WELL! She is just soaking everything in. She is really really sad that I'm leaving though. In her own words she is, "Devastated"... I felt so bad. She wanted me to perform the ordinance of her Baptism. But I know that this is for the best. Investigators tend to get attached to their missionaries, which isn’t bad, but we want them to be apart of the ward and to get strength from their Savior, not from the missionaries. So this will be good. I'm going to write her letters of encouragement once I leave... "Its not like I'm dead..." I told her haha. She'll be great!
Rhonda might be moving to the island and the Sisters will have to teach her, but she will get baptized. I have no doubt in my mind that she will. Just not now.
I have a concern... I did put the Blake Griffin Jersey in there. I'm pretty darn positive.... so... If you could please check again that would be great. I forgot about the bed sheets... but the Jersey I know I put in there. If someone stole it... well... I don’t know... there's not much I can do. It’s just a jersey. But you can investigate it if you want. I need to focus.
Our Zone Leaders Elder Duke and Elder MacNeil have committed us to consecrate ourselves. Elder Duke told this story: There was a great famine in the land, and a man sold all that he had for 20 grains of rice. He was walking down the way when he was stopped by a prince. The prince asked him for some rice. The man looked at his small portion and gave him 3 grains. The young prince then reached into a bag and pulled out 3 rubies, gave them to the man and said, "What I received was what I would give." Then he went on his way. The man was saddened and wished he would have given all. Our Heavenly Father asks us to serve Him with all of our hearts. Not just 3 grains of rice worth. The blessings of doing so will be poured out upon our heads. Sometimes we're afraid of what we might lose, but we need to trust the Lord and have faith that we will gain more from our sacrifice.
I love you all so much. I truly have been blessed with the best family and the best friends anyone could ask for. I hope you all have a good week. -Elder Stewart
Holy Smokes!
I've been out long enough to have a BABY! hahaha Golly gee... the time is just flying by! It kills me!
But I guess we'll start out with the news of TRANFERS.... Elder Stewart will be going to..............Donna, TX to be Senior Comp. with......(drum roll)...... Elder Lieva! Looks like I'm going to have a "step son"! And he's a brown one at that! I’m so proud! "Step Son" or "Breaker" is a missionary term that means a missionary's 2nd companion. So Elder Lieva was just trained and is now taking over the area. The bad news is... I’m going to be in a car! I kinda wanted to spend my whole mission on a bike :( sadly... I will not. I don’t know if I even remember how to drive! haha jk. I'm going to lose all of my leg muscle..... I was checking it out today while I was getting dressed and I must say... My thighs are pretty giant. AND my buns! Woooo... but now they'll be sitting in a car so... oh well. I'll get ‘em back later.
Yulie our investigator is progressing SO WELL! She is just soaking everything in. She is really really sad that I'm leaving though. In her own words she is, "Devastated"... I felt so bad. She wanted me to perform the ordinance of her Baptism. But I know that this is for the best. Investigators tend to get attached to their missionaries, which isn’t bad, but we want them to be apart of the ward and to get strength from their Savior, not from the missionaries. So this will be good. I'm going to write her letters of encouragement once I leave... "Its not like I'm dead..." I told her haha. She'll be great!
Rhonda might be moving to the island and the Sisters will have to teach her, but she will get baptized. I have no doubt in my mind that she will. Just not now.
I have a concern... I did put the Blake Griffin Jersey in there. I'm pretty darn positive.... so... If you could please check again that would be great. I forgot about the bed sheets... but the Jersey I know I put in there. If someone stole it... well... I don’t know... there's not much I can do. It’s just a jersey. But you can investigate it if you want. I need to focus.
Our Zone Leaders Elder Duke and Elder MacNeil have committed us to consecrate ourselves. Elder Duke told this story: There was a great famine in the land, and a man sold all that he had for 20 grains of rice. He was walking down the way when he was stopped by a prince. The prince asked him for some rice. The man looked at his small portion and gave him 3 grains. The young prince then reached into a bag and pulled out 3 rubies, gave them to the man and said, "What I received was what I would give." Then he went on his way. The man was saddened and wished he would have given all. Our Heavenly Father asks us to serve Him with all of our hearts. Not just 3 grains of rice worth. The blessings of doing so will be poured out upon our heads. Sometimes we're afraid of what we might lose, but we need to trust the Lord and have faith that we will gain more from our sacrifice.
I love you all so much. I truly have been blessed with the best family and the best friends anyone could ask for. I hope you all have a good week. -Elder Stewart3/5/12
Holy Smokes!
I've been out long enough to have a BABY! hahaha Golly gee... the time is just flying by! It kills me!
But I guess we'll start out with the news of TRANFERS.... Elder Stewart will be going to..............Donna, TX to be Senior Comp. with......(drum roll)...... Elder Lieva! Looks like I'm going to have a "step son"! And he's a brown one at that! I’m so proud! "Step Son" or "Breaker" is a missionary term that means a missionary's 2nd companion. So Elder Lieva was just trained and is now taking over the area. The bad news is... I’m going to be in a car! I kinda wanted to spend my whole mission on a bike :( sadly... I will not. I don’t know if I even remember how to drive! haha jk. I'm going to lose all of my leg muscle..... I was checking it out today while I was getting dressed and I must say... My thighs are pretty giant. AND my buns! Woooo... but now they'll be sitting in a car so... oh well. I'll get ‘em back later.
Yulie our investigator is progressing SO WELL! She is just soaking everything in. She is really really sad that I'm leaving though. In her own words she is, "Devastated"... I felt so bad. She wanted me to perform the ordinance of her Baptism. But I know that this is for the best. Investigators tend to get attached to their missionaries, which isn’t bad, but we want them to be apart of the ward and to get strength from their Savior, not from the missionaries. So this will be good. I'm going to write her letters of encouragement once I leave... "Its not like I'm dead..." I told her haha. She'll be great!
Rhonda might be moving to the island and the Sisters will have to teach her, but she will get baptized. I have no doubt in my mind that she will. Just not now.
I have a concern... I did put the Blake Griffin Jersey in there. I'm pretty darn positive.... so... If you could please check again that would be great. I forgot about the bed sheets... but the Jersey I know I put in there. If someone stole it... well... I don’t know... there's not much I can do. It’s just a jersey. But you can investigate it if you want. I need to focus.
Our Zone Leaders Elder Duke and Elder MacNeil have committed us to consecrate ourselves. Elder Duke told this story: There was a great famine in the land, and a man sold all that he had for 20 grains of rice. He was walking down the way when he was stopped by a prince. The prince asked him for some rice. The man looked at his small portion and gave him 3 grains. The young prince then reached into a bag and pulled out 3 rubies, gave them to the man and said, "What I received was what I would give." Then he went on his way. The man was saddened and wished he would have given all. Our Heavenly Father asks us to serve Him with all of our hearts. Not just 3 grains of rice worth. The blessings of doing so will be poured out upon our heads. Sometimes we're afraid of what we might lose, but we need to trust the Lord and have faith that we will gain more from our sacrifice.
I love you all so much. I truly have been blessed with the best family and the best friends anyone could ask for. I hope you all have a good week. -Elder Stewart
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
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
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
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
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
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
Monday, February 13, 2012
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
Monday, February 6, 2012
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)