Hola Familia,
Wow….it feels like I have lived in El Paso forever. I don't know what it is but I feel like I know everyone as if I had known them for years. So much has happened over the last 2 weeks and we are doing so much work that I barely have the energy to write in my journal every day, but I did haha. Well let’s see, we arrived in New Mexico at like 10am and went and saw the temple and took a picture. Then hurried back to the mission home to have the best lunch I have had in 2 months. It was super good. At that point we went through interviews and got all the general info out of the way, then came the time where they took us out to do our first contacting. I only had the chance to knock a few doors before having to leave and it was nerve wracking, but so much fun. There is a thrill that comes from not knowing who will answer or what the spirit will tell you to say. Sure it is disheartening when you are constantly unsuccessful but I find joy in finding new people to teach.
We spent the night there in Albuquerque and it was so cold it snowed that night and into the morning. Then we met all the missionaries who were going to be reassigned or going to be our trainers at the mission offices. From there they announced all but six of the trainers and areas and I was one of the 6 who didn’t get assigned a trainer then because I was going down south. So we packed into the van and drove 4 hours south to Las Cruces, NM. There we met with another group of trainers and 2 of us again, didn’t have trainers there and found out we would be in El Paso. We were so excited because the 2 areas where we are training in the El Paso zone are the highest Spanish speaking areas and also by far the highest baptizing regions in the mission. After another hour of driving I met my mission Dad, Elder Richardson. He has only been out for 5 months and is now training and the district leader of our district. He’s a pretty awesome missionary. So this was at like 2pm and we went right to a Spanish lesson at 3 o’clock. Holy cow was it scary, but I managed. And that was pretty much our day.
Now as I’m looking at my journal I realize that I have just stopped writing down the details of my life that don’t have to do with my investigators. And to be honest I don’t really care to think about those things. All I seem to care about is talking about my investigators and other stories while tracting. So if anyone wants any specifics, then make sure to ask me specific questions for me to answer. Or else I will just talk about how amazing the people are here, which has enveloped my real focus.
So we have my first baptism this Saturday for a girl named Maritza. She is 25 and she was found while knocking doors one day. Man is she a character. She would have been baptized a lot sooner but all of her friends hate Mormons. They show her a lot of anti-Mormon literature and have been a constant obstacle for us. But over the last 2 weeks we have really been working on our friendship with her and help build friendships in the ward for her. And finally on Tuesday we got her to an interview, and she basically gave up her friends outside the church for baptism. What an example of faith she shows. I don’t know if I would be able to do it.
Next weekend we have a scheduled baptism for another investigator named Rolando. Rolando is maybe late 40's and only speaks Spanish. He doesn’t understand English and his Spanish is super slurred, so it’s taken 2 weeks for me to understand what he is saying as I have been building my processer to process the language quicker. But now I understand him. Rolando has been investigating the church for a few years but apparently he went to the Salt Lake Temple Square a few weeks ago with a relative and felt something different. And so he came back and read the Book of Mormon in 1 week and contacted the missionaries and said he is ready to be baptized. He is golden and I feel so blessed to know him. All of our lessons go so easy.
Ok, so last one I want to talk about is an investigator named Bro Marquez. He is such an amazing guy it’s so hard to describe. Ok, his situation is his wife and daughter are both baptized and his son will be baptized in a few months, but he is not a member of the church. The weird thing is when I met this family for the first time I thought he was a member. He is doing EVERYTHING a member would do, just living an amazing life. He has gone through 3 sets of missionaries, 2 sets of elders and a set of sisters. He would be baptized except his family is catholic and got him going back to the Catholic Church and since then he has been blessed in his work and thinks that it’s because he is going to the Catholic Church. So anyway, we taught the lesson that I have been dreaming of for the last forever of my life. Switching and transitions where perfect and the spirit was pretty strong as we taught the first part of the restoration, and I led my companion up to the first vision, and when he started with "I saw a pillar or light" the spirit hit with the force powerful enough to force tears into my eyes, which for me is shocking. And when it was time to bear my testimony, I just let myself go, holding nothing back, and then invited him to be baptized. He accepted and Dec 17th is the date.
I love it so much here and I’ve only been here 2 weeks. I knew I would see amazing things happen but I had no idea I would feel like this. I truly know what the definition of a "Miracle" is and they really do exist. I don’t think of anything else really anymore. Anyway I better go before I get too teary eyed in the library. I love you all. I’m working so hard please everyone be patient with me if it takes me a little while to respond. I’ll get to it I promise. But right now I having the time of my life and working my time away.
-Love, Elder Stewart
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