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