Week 43

We had a Zone Conference this week, and watched a 1 hour clip of a talk given by Elder Holland in the MTC in January. It touched me. I wanted to share what I learned.

John 21. He´s gone. He´s died. After 36 months of His ministry, Jesus Christ was gone. The apostles never really understood that He was actually going to leave. For the past three years they had walked with Him, witnessing miracles, being fed by His Love and His Teachings day in and day out. And all of a sudden they were left alone, bereft, devestaded. A tidal wave of events had occured so quickly, just a few short days, and the apostles, whom were still fairly recent converts, were left terrible helpess, watching their Prophet, their King, die on a cross. Their concept of the Kingdom, incomplete as it was, was shattered.

21:3. Peter, the Cheif Ajpostle, knows not what to do, so he goes back to what he was doing when Jesus first found him. ¨Voy a pescar.¨ The last three years had become beautiful memories, but it was time to get back to real life. It was time to work, to do the work that he had known how to do his whole life.

21:5. Jesus, unrecognized, asks, ¨How´s the fishing coming%¨ They reply, Lousy, just lousy. We haven´t caught anything all night¨

21:6. The Master Teacher instructs, another time, how to fish. The apostles must be thinking here, ¨Who´s this guy to think that he can come and tell us how to do our job% We´ve been going at it all night, there´s just not any fish.¨ But, they were fishers again, and they had to work to survive, so they gave it a desperation shot. Their nets fill. They can´t get the fish in the boat.

21:7. John understands. It´s Jesus. Peter hears John´s words, takes one look at the Man on the shore, and leaps to him, diving into the sea.

21:9. A small example of the Charity of Christ. He knows that they´ve been fishing all night, and that they´d arrive hungry, so he makes them breakfast.

And now, starting with verse 15, this is the part that I never really got. I never understood. This is the part which has now become my favoirite story in the Bible.

21:15. Jesús: Simón, hijo de Jonás, % Me amas más que éstos % Simon: Si, Senor, tu sabes que te amo. Jesús: Apacienta mis corderos.

21:16 Jesús: Simón, hijo de Jonás, % Me amas % Peter´s hurt that the Lord is asking him again. With some anxiety he responds again, ¨Si, Senor, tu sabes que te amo¨ Jesus: Pastorea mis ovejas

21:17. Christ, stopping what he´s doing, turns to look Peter right in the eyes. Jesús: Simón, hijo de Jonás, % Me amas%. Peter´s very sensitive about thirds right now. He responds, ¨Senor, tú lo sabes todo, tú sabes que te amo¨. And with a heart-peircing voice, Christ commands His Chief Apostle, Apacienta mis ovejas.

He had asked peter to leave his nets once before, He didn´t want to have to ask it a third time.

Christ didn´t Call Peter to be a fisher of men for three years. His call was to Feed His Sheep FOREVER.

It´s NEVER, EVER over for me. I´m beginning to understand that. I watched President Carra, the Stake President, President Callan the Mission President, and President Foster of the Area Presidency and 70, with their spouses, sitting in the stands yesterday in Stake Conference, and my heart ached. They understand what´s important in life. There´s nothing else they´d rather be doing right now. They asked the missionaries to all stand up, and my hesart burned with joy and pride. Gratitude filled my tired soul, gratitude to work with persons dedicated to God. Gratitude for the opportunity to work a little, sweat a little, cry a little with them as we push forth La Obra Misional.

I will be a Disciple of Jesus Christ for the rest of my life. The material world becomes less and less attractive with every passing day, and it´s because my heart is being filled with Pure Love. There´s no time to waste on things that bring nothing lasting. Do I Love Him% Really% Truly% Do I% If I do, I will not, I can not, I would not go back to my old life after the mission. After being a true fisher of men, I can never go back to oars and boats and nets, to what I knew before, because if I did, it would break the heart of my Savior, and of God Himself. When Peter found this Love, when he could really look the Savior straight in the eyes and say YES, in that moment he became the Great Apostle. A Master Teacher. I want it. I´ll have to work at it. But I´ve decided, with a conviction that I can´t adequately express, to serve my Lord, my God, until the very end of my life. My work will be His work, my glory His glory. There´s nothing more important to me. I love Him. And I´ll show Him that love by feeding His sheep. Forever.

Elder Joshua Stewart

Week 42

Mom, as far as avocados go, I guess I could just go pluck one off of a tree. They´re all over the place here. It´s like mangos. For two or three months of the year they are just littering the streets. Haha, people get so sick of them, they just take a huge black garbage sack and fill a few of them full, and throw them out. I´m not kidding. It´s funny. I really loved eating those. So I guess I´ll have to try the avacados too.

George. Don´t talk about basketball. It makes my heart hurt. Sometimes if we have a long walk, I´ll find myself daydreaming, playing in slow motion different cut and drive situations that could occur. An ankle-breaking crossover, and a quick slash to the rim. Softly lays it in. Buzzers gone. ... And then I wake up smile and laugh a little, and repent for my lack of focus. But you just keep practicing, and when the time is right, I´ll whoop you again. Also, I still expect a good 2 or 3 new investigators weekly from you, minimum. You know what I mean.

I´m not great at soccer, but I love playing it! We really don´t have time to play much here. I´ve played 2 or 3 times on my mission.

did you ever try the choc. chip cookies? Yep. They were tasty. I think we´ll make some more today actually!

what do you eat for breakfast? Cereal, Eggs, Gandi´s breakfast sandwiches with eggs and ham and cheese and butter and salt and pepper, or oatmeal.

is it getting colder there? can you buy some thermals there? It was cold one day. I froze. I´m not kidding. My comp laughs at me. If it´s even a little bit cold in the house, I have to put on a sweater and socks. I get goose bumps. I´m a warm-blooded animal now. Haha, the one day it was cold, I studied the whole morning in a wool sweater and my big winter coat, huddled over the space heater. It´s going to be a fun winter!

how are your shoes holding up? My shoes are perfect. Kind of a bummer. George has cool shoe stories. I still look like a pampered little child. Guess I´ll have to work harder.

what are your neighbors like? We don´t talk to our neighbors. We´re never in our house.

why is all the mud there red? I´ve searched in Genesis, but it just mentions the creation of the world, leaving out the chemical reasoning for the colors of the earth.

do you ever go out to eat? YES!!!!!!!! After suffering for a few months, a new Member from Brazil took us out to eat. And to add to that, he took us to the choochiest restaurant in all of Santa Rita! We ate hamburgurs. And Sprite. I died. And then he left with us to teach two families. On Sunday we picked up the family in his car, and they went to church with us. I think eating out should become a weekly habit.

what is your favorite thing to do on P-Days? Learn how to cook maybe. And read letters!!!!

do you ever have any adventures on p-days? Not really. They´re super short.

is your neighborhood safe?! Where I live, yep.

anything funny happen lately? I was teaching, and my chair broke. Super powerful, spiritual moment too. We asked him if Moses was on the earth today, if he would follow him. He said absolutely. We were explaining how it is that we have prophets hoy en dia, and BOOM! Chair was gone, completely flat on the ground. A poor little pile of wood.

are you serving your comp every day? I try to. I think my comp does a lot better than I do. I hardly ever have a chance to make my bed any more.

you have passed the 9 month mark- does it feel like it's gone fast? These past few months have just WHIPPED by. I feel like I just got here a little bit ago.

are you THINKING in spanish yet? :) Yes. It depends on what I´m doing, but for the most part, my little world is in Spanish, so I just think along with it!

how hard is it to avoid drinking the water? what does that include? Hmmm.... Well. If it´s offered to me, I drink it. But I drink almost 2 liters of water every morning during the studies and a during lunch too.

Dad, your letters are my favorite. They make me laugh every time. Mom, thanks for the questions. It makes me feel like I´m sitting in the study having a conversation with you! Sincerely. Thanks. That was fun.

Elder Stewart

Week 41

Week 40

Hi Family!!!

Missionary work has been a bit of a challenge lately. But we're just digging deeper. It's the Lord's work and I have to remember that.

Sooo.... pictures. My camera´s not with me. Next week. But I do have to tell you about the baptism of Reinaldo.

Reinaldo´s 13 years old, and probably the most intelligent paraguayan youth I´ve ever taught. Incredible. His mom´s a member, his dad isn´t. We started teaching him, and he just took off. He explained it all in his testimony yesterday, which just touched me down to the core.

He told about the missionaries that had started to teach him in another city, but he moved shortly thereafter, suspending his studies. He told about Elder Gleason and I, how we came and started teaching him. He said that we taught him once about Repentance, and so that night he prayed and repented of all of his sins. He felt better, lighter. He told of the peace that he feels when he reads el Libro de Mormón, and how, due to that peaceful feeling, he knows that it´s a book from God. And in a manner so pure, so sincere, and so simple he ended his testimony, saying, “And in this last week since I´ve been baptized.... I don´t know.... I´m just a different person.’’

That´s the recompense that you can´t find anywhere but missionary work. That´s the deep, real satisfaction. After I leave this area, I´ll keep writing him. After the mission I´ll keep in touch with him. And I´ll forever praise the Lord for the opportunity that He blessed me with, to get to know this young man.

Spanish speaking only. It´s GREAT!!! I actually really love it. It makes the spanish of both elder Gleason and I get a LOT better, and we teach better, and our conversations are more focused, and all in all it´s just better.

Sense of humor. To be honest it has been a LOT better this week, until yesterday, and the beginning paragraph of this letter!

Elder Gleason and I go on streaks. For a few days the house is really clean... and then it´s a mess. We still don´t have a table. We just use two card board boxes stacked on top of eachother. And we don´t have a sink. So... it´s a little bit not fun to wash things in the bathroom sink, so we blame dirty dishes on that.

Elder Stewart

Week 39

FAMILY!!!!!!

Wow. It´s soooo good to hear from you all. Mom. Thanks a ton for your advice AGAIN, to lighten up and look for the happiness. You seem to send it just when I need it. I think when I´m happy and faithful, I work better. If I get down on myself about the work, I lose a little bit of focus, or at least a desire to focus. But it´s so true. When I´m faithful and positive, the lessons we teach are more powerful, more uplifting. If I´m stressed, I think it carries over into my lessons, especially when we´re leaving commitments. Nobody wants to commit to reading a book that a grouchy person´s testifying about. Everyone wants to commit to reading a book that a confident, faithful, CHARITY FILLED, misionero is testifying about. The Gospel´s simple.

Speaking of the Book of Mormon. Wow. I read Chapter 5 of Preach my Gospel this morning, and it just blew me away. I took to heart one of the closing paragraphs invitations, and prayed, again, to reaffirm my testimony that the book of mormon is true. I finished that prayer with wet eyes, and a renewed desire to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon. I read Alma 7 after that, and it just touched my heart. Heavenly Father planned this morning´s studies for me. It has a few verses that are PERFECT for some of our investigators. It talks about the Atonement, Repentance and Baptism. I´ve NEVER used it my whole mission. Didn´t even remember that it existed.

I´ve got a little black notebook that I received as a gift once, and I use it to mark down scriptures for the different Missionary lessons. Alma 7 worked in perfectly with points one three and four of Lesson 3. I want to teach every lesson straight from the book of mormon. It´s all there. All of the doctrine. Pure. Simple. I love it. And it´s more powerful. Much more powerful. I want people converted to the Book of Mormon, not the Missionary Pamphlets!

Also, Garrett Kirschbaum wrote a few weeks ago about listening when the investigator is talking, instead of thinking what you´re going to say next. Sooo hard!!! Haha. And sooo fun. It makes the lesson much more real. It invites the spirit. And it keeps you on your toes!

We had a baptism! GREAT stories. Next email. With photos. Promise.

Mom. Happy Birthday!!!!!!! Love you.

Mothers Day. SURPRISE!!!! Haha. We´re calling the 15^th. Elder Gleason´s calendar fooled us. It had mothers day on the 8^th, and we fell for it!

I love you all a lot.

Elder STewart