Week 12

Hello, my Family!

Anyways, let´s start off with the MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS!!!!!

HHHHHHAAAAAAAPPPPPPYYYYYYYYY BBBBBBIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHDDDDDDDAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha! Rachael. Happy Birthday. The 28th of October. Sorry, can´t email that day, so this´ll have to do. 17! Haha. That´s about as far back as I can remember in my life. Congratulations. Tell me how it goes this week ok?? I sure do hope it´s all awesome for you. You´re going to be WAYYY grown up by the time I get home!

Ashley. I beleive you have a birthday coming up too. The 3rd of November, if I haven´t forgotten everything yet. That big happy birthday is for you too. Let me guess..... Harry Potter party????!!!! Haha, whatever it is, it´s your first of jr. high, which means it´s important. Ashley, jr. high was when Garrett and Caleb and Mckay started hanging out. 7th grade, we´d ride the bus home to caleb´s to make waffles. Live it up!!!!! Almost all of my friends I have now I didn´t find till Jr. High. Don´t be afraid to meet some new people! Find some bus buddies. Call mom first though.

Dad, I got all of your letters that you had sent while I was in the MTC. Thanks for sending them. I think I took too much time reading them, this letter´s going to be a little short! Haha, it really is sooooo good to just hear how regular life is going back home. Dad, you realize, but I never did, regular life at home is a blessing. An incredible blessing. To have a family that eats sunday dinner together, who talks to eachother, who plays, and laughs, and sings together. To have a family who has a mom and a dad both, who love eachother, and their kids. It´s SSSSSOOOOOOO hard to find. It´s sooo important. Haha, I´m so grateful for you all. To hear that you´re singing around the piano, and having fun with the special plate. That´s what life´s about. One of the quorom of the 12 told the Temple president of the Asuncion Temple, when he was a stake president, to stop devoting all of his time to being a stake president, and to first devote his time to his family. Because his stake wasn´t going to be a stake after this life. But his family would be a family. Way sweet.

Haha.... well, that´s what I think he said. I was translating..... 90 percent sure though.

Speaking of which. I got to go to the temple today!!! President Udall from Mesa, Arizona was there. He´s the president of the temple. He says to tell Grandpa Hi. They know eachother from the Maricopa Stake. Temple was INCREDIBLE. Really neat. We get to go once every six months.

My p day was switched to today. That´s why i`m emailing today. Also, I figured out how to send mail. Sorry. I didn´t mail anything to you, my family. But you´ll get pictures!!! Just count your blessings, would you??

Life Lessons I´ve learned during my three weeks on my mission....

1. Don´t buy the Cheap Brand of Paraguay cereal. Cheap brand of U.S. food is one thing, but.....

I´d rather eat well, and spend like 60 cents more, than have a bunch of food left over because it tastes like wads of colored paper. Literally.

Time´s out. ç

Love you!

More life lessons to come!!1ç

AHHH!!!! We baptised Werner last week, and we´re baptising Mario this week. I´ll tell you about the work next week. Love you!

Elder Stewart

Week 11

Family!

Hello! I got ALL of your emails this week, even dad´s! Thanks a lot for writing. It really is fun just to hear everything going on back home. I get to work all week, and, don´t feel bad, but I really don´t think of you all too often. It´s kind of how missionary work is supposed to get. We´re soooo focused on our investigators, and where we´re walking to, and who we can contact, and what we can improve on in the language, that there are days where I get home and I haven´t thought about my other home practically all day. BUT!!! I pray for you. So no worries.

Haha, this is a good thing. Trust me. Let´s be honest, I was pretty homesick that first week. Never thought it would happen, but it did! I´m finally feeling like I´m settling in though. I´m getting the hang of things, and really jumping into the work.

Dad is the exception here. Dad, I´ve actually been thinking about you quite a bit this week. I could try to re word it, but I wrote it all in my journal the other night, so I´ll just type what´s in my journal. It´ll be better worded that way I think.

" I´m so grateful for my Father. My Dad. I´ve always had a great respect for him, he´s been a role'model dad my whole life. But it wasn´t until I got here, half a world away, that I really realized how grateful I am to him. I´ve been given an incredible example of a missionary. When I´m tired because we´ve been walking, and contacting, and teaching all day long, and it´s 8 30 p.m. and it would be so easy just to call it a good day and head home, I don´t. Because that´s not how dad would do it. I think of the story he told me of when he stayed out looking for people, until the last minute that he could have, and the Lord put a golden investigator in his path. Dad always taught me that exact obedience leads to specific blessings. Every time. I want to go home after two years, changed into the Man that God wants me to become, because I was exactly obedient. That´s how Dad would have done it. That´s how he did do it. And that´s whay he was able to be a real father to me, and teach me correct principles, so that I can be here, on a mission. I owe a lot of this to him."

Dad. Haha, I hope this doesn´t embarrass you. I just really want you to know how grateful I am to you. You have built EXACTLY what we´re looking for in our investigators. You´ve built a family of faith, a solid, tight knit family, who has their foundation built upon the Rock of our Redeemer, like in Helaman 5 12. We try to teach Families here on the mission. And if we can find a good hearted man, who loves and sacrifices for his family, and does everything so that they can have the best in their life, we´ve found gold.

Ok. Haha, hard to transition from that into anything else, but we´ll try.

Mom, In answer to your questions.....
are the people friendly? Incredibly. We clap houses, and people open up their doors and invite us in. Arms wide open here. Soooo different. I really like it. People have a great love and respect for us strangers, people they´ve never met, and are just willing to open up and talk about their beleifs and whatnot with us. 95 percet of the time.
do you feel safe in that big city? Uhhh.... yes? Haha. There´s parts of the area that we´re not even allowed to walk though, ever, and there´s parts that we can´t be in after like 6 or 7. Peligroso. Haha, we´re well instructed on how to stay safe, and for the most part it really is a safe place to be.
don't they sell cheap, yummy food on the corners of the street in little stands? This is a bad idea. It all smells good, but we´re instructed not to eat anything on the street, just because you don´t know how old it was, or how they prepared it, or where it came from.

how is the water to drink? What do you do with that? Clean water in the U.S. is a blessing. Incredible blessing. We don´t drink from the tap here at all. Except when a member offers us some, or juice, or something. I just say an extra prayer in my head, and smile and drink up. It´s not that bad really. You can usually tell by night time if the water you drank was dirty. When you´re at home. and you have to run to the bathroom. HAHA!!!!! Sorry. We don´t joke around too much here. and that sounded really funny in my head.

what time do you get up in the morning? 6 30

what time do you go to bed? 10 30

do they have afternoon siesta time? Please. We´re here doing the most important work in the world. Time for siesta´s? Not here.

sorry I can´t respond to everything you write about, but keep writing about home, and what´s going on. I loved dad´s narrative of the weekend. It´s fun to hear stuff like that.

The food situation is good. I actually did figure out how to cook an incredible cheese crisp, and I cooked some eggs this morning for breakfast. I´m going to come home and start my own cooking show actually. It´s been revealed to me. Tell dad I´m switching my major.

Well, for whoever had an hour and a half to read this politically incorrectly LONG LONG LONG letter, get busy with your life. There´s a lot to be doing.

Gotta run! Love you a lot.

OH!! Huge. Most important. I feel terrible. This is my whole week,and I didn´t write about it! Our baptisms didn´t go through this week. Crazy stuff. One is set for sure for this week, and the other.... her mother pretty much banned her from EVERYTHING church related for the rest of her life. But no worries. We´re working on her. Bigger miracles have happened. Faith. Also, I challenged my first person to baptism this week! Mario. He´s an older man. Being baptized on the 28th. No time, but the Lord placed Incredible investigators in our path this week, and I´ll tell you all about them next week! Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Stewart

Week 10

¡¡¡¡¡¡hOOOlla!!!!! (they have a sweet way of almost singing certain words, where they exaggerate a vowel. They do it with hola. I like it a lot)

My family! Good to hear from you. And sooo much to tell, even though it´s only been a few days.


Well listen, this whole mission deal is quite the business. I´ve had probably some of the biggest ups and downs of my life already, and I haven´t even been here a week!

Let´s start with the downs. ( It´s like eating the vegetables first, so that you can enjoy the dessert last, right?)

I´m in a different world. Most of the time I feel like someone who got thrown off of a ship, and I´m just getting tossed right and left by these monstrous waves...... Ok. It´s not that bad. But it´s a little discouraging at times, when I´ve worked so hard to prepare myself in the areas of Preach my Gospel, with the lessons and scriptures and whatnot, and then I can´t hardly communicate with the people. You know? It´s just a little frustrating sometimes, when I have so much I´d like to contribute, and I can´t.

But. There´s no sense in complaining about it. I already tried it, and it doesn´t help one bit. Haha, for the most part, if I listen really carefully, I can follow the conversation and throw in a sentence here or there. Elder Swenson and I talk all day in Spanish, and he says that there´s no better way to learn than just to speak, and speak a lot. He corrects me as we go, and I have a firm hope that one day I will learn to speak here.

The people. It´s incredible. They´ve really got nothing. Nothing. I can´t complain about the food. At all. They´re dead broke, and there´s a family every day that feeds us lunch. When they feed us, they feed us a HEAPING plate of whatever they can make, usually the nicest food they have. We know that they dón´t have enough money for it, but we don´t want to offend, so we eat. To turn down the food would be to tell them that they´re poor, and to not eat all of it is to tell them that we´re ungrateful north americans. So we eat.

Mom, I´ve never seen a child dig through garbage bags for food before. Garbage bags that have been picked over a hundred times before. It´s just a way of life here. We pass it all the time. There´s families we teach that, for their job, they find paper and plastic in the trash, put it in a big wagon, and pull it to a recycling place. It´s just sad. Terribly, terribly sad. And they´re stuck. It´s a poverty cycle that´s almost impossible for them to break out of. Haha, Elder Swenson says that we lived in a never land back home. A place where you´ve got good friends, good strong leaders, good parents, good schooling, good food, clean water, and everyone´s got a place to stay. It´s just different here. It´s hard to adjust to. American Fork is a dream.

Whew. Haha, on that happy note! Sorry. I don´t mean to sound down. Life is good. We share a ton of scriptures about hope and faith here. Ether 12 vs 4, and Alma 34, the last verse in the Chapter (41 I think). Lesson two is all about where we can go after this life, why it´s important to keep working, to keep pushing forward. It´s good. I forgot to mention, yes, I am in the city of Asuncion. Elder swenson and I cover our area, which is just a section of it.

The happiest time so far in the mission was sunday morning. Incredible. We start at 8 in the morning with priesthood meeting, and I´ve never been happier to get up after a meeting has already started, and move to a different seat. One of our investigators who Elder Swenson and I started teaching this week came to Church, and we went to go sit by him as he walked in. Soooo awesome. Guess what?! We´ve got two baptisms this week! Both are people who already commited before I got here, and so I just get to help with the tail end of things, but still, it´s so awesome to be a part of. This is what the mission is about. Right here. To bring people unto Christ. This is where not having MTC food to eat, is worth it. Because we have real investigators with real needs. I love it.

Anyways, the work goes on.

Just kidding. Haha, we´re safe here. I´ll get my bugspray out of my suitcase. No worries. What you can worry about though, if you have a few SUPER simple recipeis, that would be awesome. We dont´have ranch dressing here, so be real careful. I just need something I can slap together so that I come back weighing more than 100 pounds. But, if worse comes to worse, frosted flakes and milk haven´t failed me yet.

Alright. Gotta go. I forgot pictures. Next week. Love you all!

Elder Stewart

p.s. If you want anything specific, let me know, like info or whatnot. Food, culture, whatever. Everything´s different, and I can´t write about everything. But it´d be fun to answer some cool questions, because, I don´t know. Everything´s different!

Week 9

Hello Family!!!!

I´m alive!!!! (barely). Just kidding. Hey!!! I´m glad I get to email. It seems like a long time since I´ve been able to talk with you.

I don´t have a ton of time, and there´s a ton I should let you know, so buckle down.

First off. I can´t email anyone outside of my direct, direct family. Siblings, Parents, and Grandparents. I can´t even email aunts or uncles or cousins. It´s just the mission rule, and I just go with the rules, no questions asked.

Second. Yes, this is the right address, and I got your emails! And I got one from George and Grandma connie too. Awesome. Keep forewarding me george´s emails if you can. I love them. Dad, could I get that email that you sent earlier that never got through to me? If it is what I think it is, I could really use it right now!

Third. My addresses in Paraguay will never change, even with transfers. The President says it´s pretty safe, the mail system we have. He did say though, please not too many packages. It´s really expensive for the Mission to get the mail from the mission mail headquarters in Paraguay out to the missionaries. However, a few hand written letters would be nice. It takes about a month to get here, and a month to get back to the States.

I forgot the addresses, but I´ll write them down and tell you them on monday. Monday is the day that our P days are. Today´s just a weird p day because it´s transfer week. So, this monday, in four days, i´ll email again.

Alright, now, the trip. Crazy!!!!!!!!!! Haha. Holy cow. Salt lake to dallas, dallas to Buenos Aires. I forgot my glasses, and didn´t have contact solution on my carry on. Haha. We had to sleep on the plane, and I probably got one hour of sleep. When we got to Buenos Aires something went wrong and they wouldn´t let all of us missionaries on the plane, so we decided to all just wait. Well, the next plane wasn´t until 10 tuesday night. So we waited in the airport for twelve hours. We were bummed, BUT, when you´re a missionary, everything happens for a reason. We ended up teaching quite a bit. We gave out every spanish book of mormon we had, and almost all of our pamphlets. There was a man who came and sat right by us and just started bawling. He had just got a call and his dad died. Elder Dexter taught him about the plan of salvation. Incredible how the Lord will place us, His servants, in the way of His children who are in need of His help.

We arrived in paraguay, looking bad, and smelling even worse, at almost one in the morning yesterday. Our mission president was there to greet us, and his wife. President and Sister Mark J. Callan. I couldn´t ask for a better president. Incredible. I got to meet with him already. He´s from Farmington. Humble, wise man. I like him a lot.

New comp! Got him yesterday. Elder Swenson. He´s INCREDIBLE. I was going to be happy with whoever I got. I had a strong faith that, good or bad, the Lord would put me with the person I needed. I lucked out, and probably scored the best elder in the whole mission. He graduated 2009, from East High in Salt lake. He´s been out here 10 months. He lettered 10 times in 5 sports. He loves to work, and to work hard. It was really hard for him to pick up the language, and so he is super patient with me now. He´s worked sooo hard at it, and can speak incredibly. He speaks perfectly with all of the natives. He had a full conversation, like twenty minutes, in a taxi with the windows all rolled down and cars honking and everyting, with the taxi driver. I was awestruck. Haha, anyways, he´s great, the people love him, he helps me to not have such a gringo accent, he corrects me with eveything I say wrong, which is what I asked him to do, and he makes me speak to him in Spanish. He says almost nothing in english. If I don´t understand, he explains in spanish until I do understand. I´m super grateful for him. I can´t even tell you. I´ve been hugely blessed. He lets me say what I can in the lessons, and gives me opportunities to teach whole parts of lessons.

It´s sooo different here. The culture, the people, the way people interact, the hair cutting place, the food, the toilet, the shower, the way cars drive with no regard for human life, the bugs, the mosquitos, the dirt floors, everything. I´m sitting in a mall, on a way nice computer, typing. Two blocks a way, we taught a family last night that had NOTHING. They gave us their extra clothing to swat away the mosquitos that were eating us alive. It´s amazing.

Dad. Really important. They have milk and frosted flakes. I just bought some this morning. I fiesta will follow this evening.

Haha, I´m actually really worried about cooking for myself. It never hit me until I was walking out of a strange market with mostly non american food this morning, and I realized that even if it was amerian, I wouldn´t know how to cook it anways.

Gotta run. People to teach. Spanish to learn. God´s work to spread. See you around!

Elder Stewart

Week 8

My family!

For the last time. How strange. This is it. By this time next week I'll be down in Paraguay, teaching the people of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, I'm soooo excited to get started. It's a funny feeling. I lie awake some nights and just think, with the lighs off, and my comps falling asleep, that right at that moment, God is preparing the people down south to receive his message. I just hope that I'm working hard enough to be ready for them. :_). Heavenly Father, in the parable of the olive tree, is already working. People say that how you finish out your MTC experience is how you'll finish out your Mission, and how you'll finish out your mission is how you'll live your life. There's sooooo much to do still, so much that I don't know, so much more to practice. Helaman 10:4-5, it's a scripture that I read this morning that was really comfort. I have to work with unwearyingness, and if I do, the rest will be taken care of. My weaknesses will be made strong, and the Lord will make me an instrument in His hands. The more I study, and the more i practice teaching, that's what I'm learning. I'm weak. But the Word MUST go forth, and if I do my part, Miracles will be worked. And not one little bit of it will be because of me. I'm excited. ;_).

I could talk about the Gospel all day, but we have not time for it. My flight! I leave here monday morning at 8:00. My flight leaves SLC at 12:45 in the afternoon, and I get to Dallas at 4:20. I think I'm supposed to call you then. Get me a number that you'd like me to call at. I'm not sure how the whole calling card deal works. I leave Dallas at 7:35 p.m. and arrive at Buenos Aires, Argentina 7:55 a.m. We're hoping for five commited baptisms by the time we get there. I'm flying American Airlines the whole way. After I get to Argentina we take a 13 hour bus ride to get to Paraguay. Haha, we had a talk the other day about making a good first impression on our mission president. I'll try my best, but.... 28 hours of traveling.... I don't know. ;_).


Grand total: 10 lbs gained here at the MTC. ;_). You bet. I've joined all of the other statistics. But I work out every day, so don't worry too much ok? Speaking of which.... GUESS WHAT?? There are mornings here that I voluntarily don't eat cereal for breakfast. I'll eat other things. Yes. Miracles happen. People really do change their lives in the MTC. It must be something in the water.

Anyways, I love you all. I'd love to keep getting updates.

Elder Stewart