October 15, 2011

My scriptures are my most prized possessions here. Sometimes I just open up my Book of Mormon and flip through the pages of it, just thinking about the thousands of hours that I´ve spent studying and teaching from it. It leaves me full of peace and happiness, and gives me even greater desires to master it. Someday I´ll know it like the back of my hand. I´m getting there. ;_).

No talking about home. President Arnold said I could think about it when I stepped on the plane. If it´s something spiritual from before or after the mission, that´s great. But the mission´s too short to think about much besides being here. October´s already halfway gone! October´s going by faster than the last few months. Bad news. Lots of work to still be doing here.

We´re a Preach my Gospel and Book of Mormon mission. I love it. President Callan is a fundamentalist. He sticks to the books. He pounds in the basic truths, and if we stick true to them, we have success. He´s my kind of a Mission President. ;_).

God is a God of Miracles. During the Sacrament Meeting last week, I started to cry. I was feeling the weight of the calling. The words came to my mind, “Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” His yoke IS easy, and His burden IS light.

It´s true. I can´t rush God. When He, in his eternal wisdom, sees fit, miracles will happen.

Sebastián got baptized last week. There was no reason to make him wait. He was confirmed on Sunday. In one and one half weeks, everything happened. From meeting him for the first time to watching a beautiful baptism, one and one half weeks. Try telling me that Heavenly Father doesn´t have his sleeves rolled up, making bare His holy arm, working and sweating right alongside us. He´s fully invested in the eternal life of His children.

We had actually set his date for the 22^nd of October. Heavenly Father had other plans, and for good reason. We visited him this week, and his mom told us that it was a miracle that we changed the date to when we did. She said there was a complication on the 22^nd, and that she knew that he wasn´t going to be able to be baptized then, but was embarrassed to say anything and didn´t want to create any problems. But, Elder Wray followed the spirit, and put a lot of faith forth, and set the date for last Saturday.

Haha, Elder Wray asked me the other day, “Wow, did you notice how well we were teaching together in that lesson? I laughed, because I hadn´t noticed anything different. We then smiled and laughed, realizing that it was just like that during lessons now. ;_). We´ve really grown together as a team. I have no hesitations in keeping quiet, and letting Elder Wray take the lesson in a certain direction, because I know that he´s listening to the spirit. I have full confidence in him when he´s teaching. And he gives me that same level of trust back. It´s VERY fun to team teach like that.

Want to hear another Miracle story?!

Natalia Servín. Her child was blessed on Sunday, receiving a name and a blessing. She received it from her father, Pedro, who, 3 weeks ago, came back to church after being inactive for 4 years. We passed by his house that Sunday evening and taught one of the most spiritual lessons that I´ve participated in during my mission. Natalia will be baptized next Saturday, the 22^nd of October.

It was beautiful. I believe that it was the most spiritual, spirit-guided lesson of my life. We entered, she hadn´t read (nor her husband) the assignment we had left. (Alma 32, Faith). We were Devestated! (Elder Holland ;_). Nothing that we could teach would be more powerful than the Book of Mormon, so we read from verse 21 to the end of the chapter, with very mininimal commentaries from the part of Elder Wray and I. The spirit slipped in during that focused reading time. ;_). We asked her to sum up the chapter, to explain to us the relation that she understood between faith, and a seed. She did so, with astonishing depth of understanding. Then, “Natalia, ¿What changes have you made in your life since you´ve come to know your husband Pedro, and the Church?” She responded that from the time she first met Pedro, she loved their lifestyle and their morals. Their Standards. She´s followed it, and her greatest desire is that her kids can grow up in an environment like that. No smoking, drinking, parties. A focus on family, prayer, scriptures, Church and Christ.

“Natalia. THAT´s repentance. Making little changes in our lives to be in agreement with what God has commanded. To do so with a willing heart, because we´ve felt that “seed” within us, that it is good. Natalia, you´ve showed your faith today as you went to church for the first time, and that act was also a form of repentance. We´ve shared the commandment of Keeping the Sabath Day Holy with you, and today you made antoher little change, you´ve started coming to church. These small changes prepare us for baptism.”

Pedro came in at this point. He explained that he had taken his wife to the temple grounds to drink Tereré together. As they did so he explained what the temple sealing meant. He explained that one year after her baptism, Natalia would be able to enter into the temple, and they would be married together for time and all eternity. She loved it. She chimed in that she especially loved the part where any children they would have together after that intial sealing would be automatically sealed to them. (Just writing about it, it almost seems like an amazing fable, doesn´t it?!) Almost like it´s too good to be true. ;_). I love it.)

Shortly thereafter, Natalia asked me a question that caught me off guard, hitting me like a good kick in the stomach. “And Claudia? Does Claudia have to get baptized? I want her sealed with us too.” Before I could fully process the question, the spirit overwhelmed me, and I was crying, testifying to her that baptism and repentance are necessary only for those who are capable of sin. “Los sanos no necesitan al medico, sino los que están enfermos.” Claudia, her sweet, loving, down-syndrome Little sister would, of a surety, be awaiting the rest of her family, with her onw spot secured in the Kindgom of our father. I told her with all of the energy of heart, that I try EVERY SINGLE DAY to live a good enough life so that one day I´ll be able to enter in where I KNOW Alex will be.

And that was the invitation that we had for her that night. To look beyond herself. To see the baptism simply as a step towards fulfilling her deepest desires of having an eternal family. To show faith, though action, accepting that obtaining a perfect knowledge isn´t necessary, nor possible, before baptism. “Siendo así, Natalia, ¿Se preparará para ser bautizado el 22 de octubre?” And Natalia Servín, with the full suport of the spirit in the room, accepted.

Dad, you´re the best. I bring that little photo of you and your MTC comp around with me everywhere in my little photo book. Everyone sees you and asks if you´re part latin! Tiene la pinta! That´s what they say at least. You look pretty Yankee to me though. ;_). Haha. That´s what they call us. Yankees. And I don´t even like baseball.

I like you all though! Have a great week!

Elder Stewart

October 8, 2011

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

(I sure hope that includes you, family.)

Well. We´ve got another baptism tonight. Sebastían Duarte. The Lord prepared him, the Spirit touched him, and all things fell in to place. He´s a nine year old, son of Hna. Estela Duarte, who never wanted to get baptized, and now has had a mighty change of heart. He´s rejected every missionary who´s ever come in to teach him and encourage him to be baptized. Some of the best missionaries I know have been passed by his house. His mom told us that she asked him when we weren´t there, "Do you really want to get baptized? No one will be upset if you say no. You can tell the truth. No one will obligate you to be baptized." He responded with an enthusiastic, Yes! Elder Wray showed him a colorable picture of the savior getting baptized, that said, "Seguiré el Ejemple de Jesucristo al bautizarme." It really got him. It´s a blessing to see the Lord´s timing and will come about. He truly knows us, individually, and times the events of our lives to our needs. Next up: Natalia Servín. Her husband, Pedro, will be blessing their child in Sacrament Meeting tomorrow.

Elder Wray has put his heart and soul into magnifying his calling here in the office. He´s really made the administrator´s job something organized and efficient, and continues looking for ways to improve. Along with that, he gets his Idaho Farmboy side of him on right when 4:30 hits, and gets outside the office to start working his tail off. He´s a friend and an example. It´s a blessing to call him my Companion.

When I plan and prioritize with God, He makes time to accomplish things that could never get done in a normal work day. Miracles happen when He is on my side. Or better said, when I come over to His side. Humbling myself to His will has been, and is still, a wonderful (often painful ;_) journey. I´m grateful for the patience that He has with me, as He shows me my weaknesses, and then lovingly waits for me to call for help. ;_). He wants nothing but the best for me, and I´ll be forever grateful to my Father for that.

Moniter tans. We´ve all got them here, just on the front side of our faces that face these computer screens all day. I think Elder Curtis has a zebra-striped one from the blinking flourescent light that doesn´t work very well in his office.

Hasta Luego,

Elder Joshua C. Stewart

October 1, 2011

WWWWOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!!

Or in the words of President Monson: HELLO!!!!

;_).

This has got to be my favorite conference I´ve ever seen in my whole life. This morning´s session was probably my favorite single session of my whole life. Blew me away.

We´ve prepared all week for this conference, and the preparation made all of the difference. We´ve fasted and prayed together as an office, we set up an environement to watch the conference, and feel the spirit. We prayed for an outpouring of that spirit, and we sure got it.

Favorite talks so far:

Sat. Morning.: L. Whitney Clayton. The time has come. We´re scraping the iceburg. Thinking of the implications gives me the chills.

President Thomas S. Monson: The spirit bore powerful witness to me that President Monson was a prophet of God. I could not deny it. (We re-watched his little 5 minute talk afterwards, just because we couldn´t beleive what he said. Provo City! First ever with two temples. Unbeleivable. FRANCE??!!!! I had heard that France had a Federal Law that said that government officials or police had permission to enter any building at any time, and because of that we weren´t going to have a temple for a LONG time in France. A marvelous work and a wonder.)

José L. Alonzo: Miracle story. At the end of this discourse, Pedro Servin and I were on the phone talking about his wife´s baptism, and his baby´s blessing. Yes, the Pedro Servin that came back to church last week for the first time in four years, and has expressed interest in a temple marriage with his wife.

I was thinking about other parts of Elder Alonzo´s message, when all of a sudden my mind locked on a little phrase that he said: "Happiness and Joy through church activity." My mind went immediately to Pedro Servín. Directly following that comment, Elder Alonzo repeated, "Doing the right thing at the right moment without delay". It hit me. I needed to act. I got up, walked out of our conference room, and called Pedro Servín to invite him to the Priesthood session tonight. I was very put out to hear that he´s traveling and won´t be home until midnight. However, he told me that his wife is sick right now. (We passed by to give her sprite and Ice cream, thanks to mom´s loving example of taking care of me with sprite when I was sick growing up. You made a bigger impact than you think, mom.) His wife is very concerned about her new born baby. She wants little sophi to be blessed ASAP. She also wants to be baptized herself. Pedro wants us to advance 2 lessons with her this week. He´s coming to conference tomorrow, and invited us over to teach on Monday night for family night. He says his wife´s ready, and doesn´t want the opportunity to slip by us.

The Spirit spoke, and I obeyed. Miracles followed.

I am a Child of God, the version the choir sang, is going on the All time Favorites list.

President Uchtdorf: I started taking notes, and finally just put down my pen and cried through the rest of the talk. That one hit me like a ton of bricks. Heavenly Father is such a loving, understanding Father. He touches us each individually though His chosen servants. I stand all amazed.

In this Afternoon´s session, Elder Curtis´ Uncle spoke. Unbeleivable. LeGrand R. Curtis Jr. He spoke of Redemption. A beautiful 1st conference talk for Elder Curtis. (Interesting inside fact: Elder Curtis´ grandfather, formerly of the 2nd quorum of the 70, was taught that to wear a red tie means business. Note Elder Curtis´ tie in the conference talk. He spoke of the Atonement, and there was no room for anything but pure, undefiled testimony in that discourse.)

Another Miracle:

Yesterday, we were looking for a new house for the Sister missionaries in Ñemby, and we ended up clapping the house of an inactive member who had just walked out of the bathroom, secretly praying for God´s help. (And at the same time finding a house to rent. :_)

We had been looking for several fruitless hours, when we decided to head up into an area that we didn´t have planned to look in. After making a few thoughtless turns, we found a presentable, two story house, and thought about asking if they were renting out the top part of the house, which is a fairly common practice in Paraguay. It didn´t look too promising, because the house was super fancy, and it looked all connected and inhabited. However, Elder Curtis noticed that the door was pen, and we decided to try our luck and ask. They curtly denied us, and pointed to a house two blocks away, saying we should look over in that area. As I was jogging away, quickly backing up Elder Curtis, who was driving the van, the woman who had sent us away called out to us, shouting. We came back and she said, "How are you doing, Elder?" She was a member! She told us that she was actually thinking about renting out the smaller, nice home right next to theirs, despite the lack of a sign or poster that so indicated. In the end, we ended up meeting her husband, who´s been the Mayor of Ñemby for 10 years, and is currently running for the National Government for 2013. (Eldery L. Whitney Clayton´s talk! Read it). They´ve been inactive for 10 years. We finished negotiating prices and contracts, and excitedly turned to more weightier matters, such as Alma 37:6-7. She told us that she knew that we were there for a reason, and that God, in his perfect planning, had instrumented our meeting. We prayed with two of the unbaptized children, and before we left the mother made a quiet comment about the sister missionaries possibly bringing her back to church. It´s true. The Lord works great wonders in miraculously small manners. I´m humbled to be a part of His Holy Ministry, and watch first-hand His Love change lives.

I leave these things with you, along with my prayers and dedicated fastings, in the Sacred Name of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Elder Joshua C. Stewart

Sorry it's been So long!! We aren't going to try to get caught up on all the letters that didn't get posted, we'll just continue with letters he is sending home now.

9-24-11

Every day´s an adventure here in the mission. ;_). Just came home from the supermarket. As we walked in someone told us that he knew us. He told us that we were spies. ;_). We smiled, shook his hand, and got a little bit of a laugh as he called after us, “SPIES!!!” “SPIES”!!!! I´ve also heard that the white steeples on top of the churches are actually hiding antennas that we use to send our secret information. Nobody even told me! And I´ve been in the church my whole life! Man.

Well, if we´re on funny stories: I LOVE the bread here. They make it kind of like a roll. And they bring it out in HUGE baskets. If you catch it right when they come out, they´re still steamy and hot. You´ve got to swim your way through to the front to get the steamy ones though. ;_).

Also, sometimes, if someone REALLY doesn´t want you to contact them, and they see you coming at them, they´ll cross you. They´ll pretend like they didn´t see you, and then just make a very obvious sign of the cross, looking at a Virgin statue or looking at a catholic church steeple or something like that. It always gets me to smile. I really, really, really love Paraguay. The people, the culture, the little quirks, it all makes me feel so at home. I LOVE MY MISSION.

Elder Wray. I love him. He´s a champ. He and I are like brothers. His testimony is powerful. It´s FUN to go out and teach with him. He´s got a great sense of humor, and keeps the spirit around while he´s laughing.

On a side note, Gloria Baez is getting baptized at seven tonight.

;_). Just kidding. It´s not a side note. It´s a tender mercy from my Father in Heaven. It´s a miracle. Elder Curtis asked me on Sunday if he could ask her when she´s getting baptized. I smiled and said yes! Please! Elder Wray and I had had some VERY spiritual lessons with her the week before, but she just couldn´t accept the baptismal invitation. She was waiting for it to feel like the right moment for her.

I suppose that the right moment was right as everyone was walking into Sacrament Meeting. Elder Curtis walked in and calmly said, “ Your investigator is getting baptized on Saturday.” After a second´s delay of disbelief we put our heads on straight and immediately made arrangements. We confirmed with her, and went straight to the bishop´s counselors to make the announcement. Since then it´s been a whirlwind of preparations. Gloria made a HUGE decision last week to follow the Law of Chastity, and follow the Word of Wisdom. She´s changed her whole life around, and it´s been incredible to watch it from start to finish, or at least to her baptism. ;_).

President Callan himself interviewed her for her baptism. He enjoys doing them every once in a while, and felt like she would be a good candidate to interview. On Thursday night, after a 50 minute interview, they both came out with red eyes and tissues, and President ok´d the baptism. He talked to us the next day and told us that she knows the doctrine very well. He said that in his interviews he looks to see if the person will be able to stand on their own, and keep progressing, after the baptism, and said that Gloria was more than capable. Gloria told us that being in the interview, she almost felt like she was with Christ himself.

The church in Paraguay has gained a great asset. Gloria Baez will be a leader. She asked us last night when she would be able to teach classes. ;_). And so it is that Gloria Baez converted to the Church. 20 years old, in her 3^rd year of Law School, with one of the brightest minds and futures that I´ve seen here in Paraguay. It´s truly been a miracle to watch her conversion. “I did NOT want to listen to the missionaries three months ago. Not one bit.” – Gloria last night to the member that we were with. It´s true! Our first few meetings were just ROUGH with her. A lot of really deeply engrained traditionalism had to be sanded out before we ever started moving anywhere in our conversations with her. But the spirit if real. So real. It testifies. It softens. I promise you that it does. Haha, I also promise you that it can take its sweet time doing so. ;_). It´s an amazingly humbling experience learning to bow the knee to the timing and perfect planning my Father in Heaven. I´m grateful for it though. It´s opening my eyes to His world, His ways, and i´m gratefully forgetting my own.

Read the first five pages of Chapter 20 of Jesus the Christ if you´re looking to get to know Him a little bit better. I read it this morning and got sucked in. Goner. Waaay gone. ;_). I was off in another world during studies this morning. Those are my favorites. When the spirit elevates you to a higher plane of thought and meditation and consideration. Sublime.

Mom. I´m in 2 nephi 32, my second time making my way through the book of mormon while marking it specifically. Yes. It´s a love that grows very slowly, but it´s a love that grows deep and stays deep. We teach 2 nephi 31 a TON in the mission. I just figured out why yesterday. Mark Christ´s name in one color, His words in another, His attributes (Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel), and His Gospel (Lesson 3: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Endure to the End) in yet another. Do that and you´ll figure out why too. I´ve found that most of the chapters are pretty strong in one or two of the four areas. Chapter 31 is LOADED with all four of them. And the Investigators feel it.

I know that Jesus Christ is REAL. He´s not too far off. He wasn´t invincible, untouchable, or completely unhuman. He was a Man. He was a Man of God. He was the Son of God. He was perfect in the most human, natural way. He´s my Savior. He accepts me with all of my embarassing faults and shortcomings. I know that Jesus Christ lived and walked and talked among men. I know that He died, and was Resurrected as a Perfect Personage. That Perfect, Resurrected Christ did, in reality, appear to the boy Joseph in the year 1820, called Joseph as a Prophet, and restored for the last time His Gospl, His pure teachings.

With Love,

Elder Joshua C. Stewart

Week 46

My Dearest Family,

WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!! I'm in the office!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am. I've had a BLAST this week, and I'm about to drop dead I'm so tired.

I'm in my element. I'm doing what I've ALWAYS loved to do, what's always come as just fun and natural to me. I'm behind the scenes, making things run smoothly. My analytical mind is having a hay day. MAKE THIS YOUR FINEST WORK. It's something that was said in the MTC by the mission presidency, and I can't wait to start painting my own work of art here in the office. I really feel like a tool in the Lord's hands, with a little bit of experience, but still very urefined. I know that my Father will mold me. He will teach me His ways, and I will learn at His hand. I want to work here, not in my own manner, but after His. That brings to mind a scripture, 1 Nefi 17:53 or 54. It's the Faith of Nefi, and it explains a lot better how I'm feeling. You have to follow it up with 18:1 through 3 though. That's your assignment for this week. Will you read it? If you said yes, When? I'll be waiting for a good response on the next Saturday.

I'm sooooo happy to be here. And you know the best part about it? I'M STILL A MISSIONARY!!!!! When President called me on Sunday to extend the invitation to serve as Financiero, the first thing that he told me was that I was to first be a field missionary, and THEN be an office missionary. As I work in the office, I'm to be thinking of my investigators. We leave the office at 4:30, and that leaves the BEST teaching hours for us. Once I get in the groove of things here, I'm confident that we'll be able to accomplish the same amount of proselyting work here as we've done in all of my former areas. We've got literally no one progressing here right now, but that will be changed very quickly.

P days are now on Saturdays, just because i[m in the office.

Elder Wray is my companion!!!!!! MOM!!!!! I'm super excited. Do you remember him? We passed a LOT of time together in the MTC. Him, Elder Dexter, and I. We were buds. And now look! I couldn't beleive it. It's almost not fair. I shouldn't be able to get a new companion and just jump right into being old time friends. It's so nice. We get along great, and it invites the spirit right in. He's a SUPER focused, dedicated, sincere Elder. He's really excited to get the work moving again here. They just Baptized a family last change! We want to keep that up. Elder Wray teaches from the heart. I know that we're going to see a lot of Miracles from the Lord here in Barrio Herrera.

Speaking of a Barrio.. that means Ward. And you know what Ward means. MEMBERS!!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!!!! I'm super excited. We have a capilla, we have members, what else could a missionary want?!

Ok. Tons to do. I haven't even unpacked yet. Haha. We took some Elders home this week, to the airport. It was great. We woke up at 3 in the morning to do it. Elder Rockwood, the Financiero who's training me right now, says that we learn a lot about sacrifice here. I'm ready for it. I Love it. And I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Stewart

Week 45

Hello Family!!!! This week, more has happened than I thought possible to be able to fit into a week. President called me last night. I´m headed to the office. I´m going to be the Financiero. I can´t tell you how excited I am. It´s hard to leave Santa Rita. I´ve poured my soul into making this place grow. But I have faith that the Lord knows how I can serve Him the most.

Mom, thanks for worrying about my vitamins! I´m so glad that you love me. And Burger King! Wow! It´s a great week! Wooohooo!!! But listen. Haha. I took out twenty five bucks this morning. Elder Gleason and I bought curtains for the church on Friday. Mom. I feel like I´m in Joseph Smith´s time. The new building we´re renting is on a main street, and has glass doors. We needed something to cover it up. Elder Gleason and I went looking, and there were only two church appropriate options, and the less expensive option was, quite frankly, ugly. We´re building something for the Lord. Elder Gleason and I wanted to give it our best. So we bought the most BEAUTIFUL, super high quality fabric. A sister in the ward offered to sew everything for free. And now we´ve got curtains that look like they belong in the Temple. I´m SSSOOOO proud of it. And I´m even more proud of our members. They´re really embracing this new local. They helped with moving everything over, and Hermano Ugarte´s going to help us install the big, black, nametag... sign... thing, i don´t remember what it´s called, that has the name of the Church, tonight, above the new building. We´ve still got to paint it, it´s a terrible red and white right now, but with a little more work, our members are going to LOVE coming to church, and our investigators are going to want to come back. The old place was, well, not too great. It had TONS of mosquitos, and was in a place really hard to get to and to find. In short, Mom, let´s trade. Burger King and Vitamins for SWEET curtains, and we break even! I won´t be taking out more money though. If I´m to be the Financiero for the mission, I´ve got to show a perfect example of budgeting, and making do with what we´ve got. It´s always been something that I´ve enjoyed, working with and managing and saving money, but now I get to be serious about it, and really develop it as a talent of mine. I´m excited to see how I can help the mission serving in this capacity.

Guess what!!!! I got my package! For two days Elder Gleason, our investigators, and I, we just ate like kings. We´re talking like the King of Egypt. The King of New York. We had a hay day with it. Christmas in June. Thanks a ton mom. We saved the skittles. We´ll have a wonderful, sugar filled, 6 hour bus ride to Asunción tomorrow with Elder Snow and Elder Bazán.

George! Good to hear from you. Thanks for keeping me up to date on what´s going on in your life. Sounds like you´re really heading into some big time decisions. What an exciting time in your life! Just treat it like the mission. Keep the Lord in the first place, and everything else falls where it´s supposed to. I know you know that. I love you a lot, and hope for the best for you. Thanks for sending the Finals update. Dad´s been slacking off. Seems like he´s more interested in your college and work, and rachael´s dating, and ashley´s play. Kind of weird. He´s getting his priorities all mixed up. FINALS, FATHER, FINALS!!!!

Rachael Cherish Stewart, I sure love you. I felt downright embarrassed when I left the computer last week. I´ve been meaning to write you a few good, important things since I called home, and it´s just been escaping me. Last week I even had it written down in my agenda, and I still didn´t do it. But, we´re the best of friends. I could just give you a great big hug right now. Reading that story you sent to me really lifted my spirits. This week, the Lord blessed us a TON with a new building, with helping little 19 year olds elder Gleason and I play grown up and figure out a contract for the building, with bringing a few inactive members back to church, with a lot of things. But we had an investigator get really really sick on the day of his baptism, and then he didn´t show up on Sunday to church. We´ve had 6 awesome families that we´ve been working with, and only one of them, after this week, look like they´re going to really progress towards a baptism. We didn´t find very many new investigators, and in short, it wasn´t the best week as far as normal missionary week goes. But just pondering your message gives me a lot of hope. To know that God is using me as His instrument, even when I can´t see the immediately desired results, brings comfort to my soul. Heavenly Father loves you. Your story told me that. I Love you. I´m so glad that our Father is taking care of you when I can´t. I think the world of you. If you get married to an RM before I get home, I´ll cry. Just wait a while, ok. Fox. Hound. Over and out.

Elder STEWART

Week 44

Dear Family!!!!

Hey!!! How are you all!! There´s no question mark on my keyboard... you´ll have to excuse me.

Mother, I´m healthy and happy. We cook EVERY SINGLE MEAL for ourselves, and it is SOOOO FUN!!!!!!, and let´s be honest, there´s just not tons of time to plan out extravagant meals that cover every food group with perfection.

The weather here is getting cold. I think it was like 60 or so, and I was dying. People shake my hand and then shake the hand of elder Gleason and then ask me what´s wrong with me, because my hand´s frozen. I´m convinced that my core blood temperature has changed.

Father. It does my heart good to read your emails. When I read them I really do feel like I´m sitting in your car, going with you to buy groceries, and just having a good chat.

Matt Okelberry´s going to be one of the best missionaries I know. I had a list of 4 or 5 people that had certain qualities that I wanted to obtain before the mission. Along with Steven Stucki, Dan Mangelson, and McKay Smith, was Matt Okelberry. Matt is Firm, Steady, and Set in the decisions that he makes. Nothing and noone can shake his faith. If he feels that something´s right, he sticks to his guns. I´m just happy that I got to know him so well.

Yesterday Elder Gleason and I were fasting as a companionship to have better work con the members this month. Directly after church, the male, head of household members agreed to stay after church to hold the first OFFICIAL, in church, consejo de Barrio. Elder Snow, Elder Bazan, Elder Gleason and I, with Hnos. Wexel, Ugarte, y Pena. We discussed the future of Santa Rita, the Requirements to become a Branch, which is an assistance of 35 or more for 6 months, and the key role that those fathers have in making this dream come alive. We reaffirmed that every Friday night, the members are going to keep doing divisions with the missionaies to invite the best investigators to church. We talked about the families that weren´t in church this week, and commited Hnos. Wexel, Pena, and Ugarte to each go and talk with one of those families this week, and bring them to Church next week. Everyone left enlightened, and energized with the beautiful possibilites of the Church here in Santa Rita.

Elder Gleasons a champ. He´s not a trainee any more. I stopped training him a long time ago. We were teaching yesterday, having a rough day with the lessons. He was a little down as we were walking, and was quiet for a while. We got to a lesson, and started up, and he just took off. We taught a firey, emotional lesson, full of scriptures and testimony. The husband of Mariela, for the first time, REALLY understood what we were sharing. Elder Gleason brings the spirit with him where he goes. I love teaching with him.

Love you all!

Elder Stewart