Hey Everyone,

In response to all the letters I got this week, my p-day is on Friday. This is nice because we have devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday and then with a temple day on Friday, I can stay spiritually charged all week. This week had many ups and downs for me. The Sunday devotional was awesome and we heard from the President of the MTC. It was a commemoration for the people who risked their lives and lost them in the tragedy of 9/11. Oh, and I joined the choir!  Not because I really wanted to sing, but so I could get the best seats for the Tuesday devotionals.

For some reason this week my companion has lost a lot of the drive and desire I saw last week. I have had to prepare and teach 95% of the lessons because he isn’t learning the language fast enough and won’t write stuff down in his notebook. His philosophy is "Teach totally by the Spirit" which yes, its true, but the Spirit won’t do everything for you. So instead it’s sounding more like "Let Elder Stewart save my butt” every lesson.  I can promise you this; he will know organization and preparation by the time I’m done with him.

My knowledge this week has exploded. It’s like after you learn the basic fundamentals, it’s like opening a floodgate of Spanish and I am picking it up. It’s hard for me to write or type anything in English now because I have started to just think in Spanish. Tuesday was probably the best day I have had in the MTC. My companion was crazy sick and had to go get shots for migraines. We then had to go back to dorm so he could rest in his bed for 2 hours. I was scared he would miss the devotional. But I got his butt out of bed and made him go. It was like he was nuts cause of all the morphine. To my great surprise we had an amazing devotional.... guess who.... Elder Ballard came. The first Tuesday and I already got to see and hear an Apostle. What an amazing talk he gave.  My favorite quote was "They know not what we do, because they know not what we know."  It rings deep to me. After the meeting the class got together with the Presidency and we had a testimony meeting. I also had the opportunity to give my companion a blessing because he was starting to feel sick again.  Between the testimony I bore and the blessing I gave, I seemed to knock people out with the Spirit.   Hopefully, I will someday be able to do it in Spanish as well.

In the morning, my companion was 100% better and back in action. It’s amazing what the Priesthood can do. I never honestly knew about the power of healing but this is just another testimony building experience for me. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. I found this week how amazing 3 Nephi is. Chapter 27 knocks me out every time I read it. I have never been so diligent in reading before and so I have never been so excited to read the Book of Mormon.

I’m happy to announce that Team Elder Stewart was victorious this week. I beat my companion by two letters. :) See, the days seriously feel like weeks here, so it feels like I haven’t heard from anyone in forever. I started to get kind of disappointed seeing everyone get mail every day but later that day 8 letters came in. Having being focused solely on the gospel and the language all the time is hard and hearing from you all really makes my day more than you know. So please, keep using dearelder!

My companions have been bugging me about having my family and friends send me pictures of what they are doing. They think because they have so many pictures up that I have to have some too. It’s no big deal but it would be nice to have. I never thought about bringing pictures but now I’m regretting not getting them. So if you have time, please send me some.

Anyway I just wanted to say that this is the best thing I ever have done. It may sound cheesy, and said a lot, but I promise you all that if you read the Book of Mormon regularly and not just verses every day, you will see the treasures behind the words.  They are the real deal. Also, remember your importance of being member missionaries at home. I heard this week that investigators will feel something is true way before they believe something is true. Take advantage of those feelings and share your testimony, you will be surprised by the response.

Love you all,

Elder Stewart