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