Tender Mercies

Family and Friends,

Sorry for the solemn letters I have sent over the last few weeks.  I guess it was just one of those down moments in my mission.... When you feel like you are doing everything you can and nothing seems to go your way.

I have really had to find patience out here.  I thought I was somewhat patient after working at a physical therapy clinic for over a year but nope, didn’t really prepare me for this.  The hardest part is having people say they will do something, but 99% of the time they don’t go through with it.  It’s getting hard to even have the hope that they will actually do what they tell us they will.  So to make a long story short, we had a bunch of baptism dates drop because people won’t go to church.

Anyway President Miller at zone conference passed out a new Book of Mormon and 5 Highlighters to every missionary in the mission and started a new reading plan to finish the Book of Mormon by February.  I’ll give you the details below if you want to do something similar.

"Finding Christ in the Book of Mormon"

8 pages a day- 30-40 mins of "Studying"-(note "studying" not "Reading")

5 colors of highlighters for each of the 5 topics to search for

1.  Jesus Christ- The names, references to his name, and also his titles.

2.  His attributes

3.  His words- anything he is literally saying

4.  His Doctrine- (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Enduring to the End) and also any sub-categories to his doctrine IE. Prayer

5. Happy Scriptures- any scriptures that you like or receive revelation for.

I am now just finishing 2nd Nephi and I have a whole new outlook on the Book of Mormon.  Not only do I like the thought of having a Book of Mormon that is just entirely marked up with references of Christ but I am learning new things I have never seen before.  Like the journey of Nephi's family to the promise land is closely similar to our path here on earth, i.e. the Liahona is the Holy Ghost and guides us back to Heavenly Father (Promised Land) if we follow it, it works.  If we don’t, we are lost.  Notice how all of his family had access to it, but had their agency and chose not to follow it. (Laman and Lemuel) and they had to be repeatedly brought back into the right path.  Just like us.  We have been given the Holy Ghost, and we have our agency, and many CHOOSE not to follow its promptings.  But even though they repeatedly strayed, God always allowed them back.

Anyway once we started to read the Book of Mormon every day, there was a change.  People that seemed like we would need to drop them started to accept baptism dates; we started to find people "More Prepared" to hear the gospel.  And best of all God gave us a Christmas present, a baptism.  We had been teaching this young girl the lessons before she was going to be baptized and she was actually scheduled to be baptized the week before, but her uncle, who was going to perform the actual baptism broke his arm and they postponed it another week.  Well we found out Tuesday that she had just turned 9 years old on Monday and it became a "Convert Baptism" for our numbers and everything.  On top of all that, since the uncle couldn't do it, I had the opportunity to perform my first actual baptism. And it was honestly was one of the most memorable moments of my life.

In closing, I just wanted to challenge you all to increase your studies in the Book of Mormon, to receive blessings and guidance in your lives.  It’s like a Telephone.  There are 2 parts, the speaking part and the listening part.  Prayer is the speaking part of the phone and the listening part is where we wait to hear our answer.  We can pray our hearts out, but without scripture study, we get no answer.  And vice versa, one without the other is useless.  So please make it a habit. I love you all. Until next week

-Elder Stewart

Merry Christmas!

Oh Boy........

Hello Friends and Family,

It’s always nice to get your emails. Today is a super busy day and I probably won’t get the chance to get to all of them but I will make sure I do next week.

Well this week was maybe the worst one so far. I was told I would have weeks like this, but I didn’t think they would be this bad. Richardson was sick all week long, and threw up some nights, and because of that, we didn't get up on time any day, nor have comp study. Throughout the day we would repeatedly come back to the apartment because he "couldn't go knock" but he was fine to go out and teach lessons and all that. Anyway... our obedience was slacking and the companionship was going downhill because I wanted to go do work. No one came on Sunday to church and the Spirit just wasn’t there.

Well to make a long story short. Richardson got emergency transferred yesterday and I got a new companion, Elder Perez. He is from LA but his family comes from El Salvador, so naturally his Spanish is really, really good. He has been out for about a year and has a really good knowledge of the scriptures. It’s only been a day now so I don’t know a whole lot about him, but he does have a good relation with the Spirit. I’m excited to finally get back to work after this week and look forward to what comes out of the next one.

Other than that we met this 91 year old lady named Elizabeth. And man is she hilarious. She agreed to a baptism date and will be coming to church with us next week. When we invited her to church she at first said that her "Maid" came on Sundays between 1 and 3. I asked her if she could go and leave the maid at her house. And she said "No! I don't trust her. She is a Jehovah’s Witness."  Haha that was the best. But we ended up getting the maid to come on Saturdays.

Anyway, that’s all for this week.

Love, Elder Stewart

It's Christmas time in El Paso

Dear Familia y Amigos

Como Estan? I hope everything is great in this wonderful Christmas season.  This week, I had a week that I will remember for the rest of my life.  Elder Richardson said that this past week was the best he has had on his mission as well.  It was a hardworking week of missionary work that ended up in snow at the end of the week.  Yes you read correctly, snow in Texas and Mexico this last weekend, and the temperature right now is 26 degrees.  Que Paso?  But like I said it was the best week ever.

Now when I said I hardworking week of missionary work, I was not kidding.  We taught 32 lessons this week which I think was the most in the mission, as well as finding some new solid investigators to teach.  With these new investigators I have had 2 of the most amazing experiences with the spirit that I have ever had.  In addition our teaching pool has grown to almost 15 progressing investigators and we have 10 with a date for baptism.  Oh man is it wonderful.

So our ward here in El Paso does not do any kind of missionary work.  They are one of the leading wards in family history work, but they don’t try to do anything for the living.  They seriously call names out in sacrament meeting to go over to the Family History office for the second and third hour of church and do the work over there.  Anyway, basically what I’m saying is we have to knock a lot of doors.  Richardson doesn’t like to knock doors and constantly reminds people that only 1 person in 1000 doors opened end up getting baptized.  And that’s only "Doors Opened" which is less that 50% of the doors we knock.  But I have a testimony of knocking with the Holy Ghost.  With the Holy Ghost to tell us where to knock, we will always find the people we need to teach.  So I’m always the one who picks the Street we will knock.

Anyway the first one was I had picked a street called "Gold" to knock on, but as we where driving up the street we had a feeling like it just wasn’t right.  We proceeded to turn the corner and something about this one block on a street named "Silver Street" caught my attention.  So we started to knock. On the 7th or so door we knocked and Gloria answered, after our initial introduction we asked if she was interested in hearing more.  She said she had actually been looking for a church to bring her grandson "Jordi" to, because he was wondering why they didn’t go to church?  So we set a return appointment and when we came back Gloria and her daughter Yani, and Yani's son Jordi was there to learn.  We taught a really choppy lesson but nonetheless, the spirit was there and they agreed to come to church the next day.  Well they actually came!  And I have really become to love them all and specifically Jordi, because it looks like he needs someone to look up to, like a brother.  And so I treat him like he was my younger brother.  Glori told me when we where at their house again that Sunday to watch the Christmas devo with them that Jordi had told his mom, "I like Stewart" and Yani asked "and why is that Jordi?” And he answered, "I wish I had a dad like Stewart... he actually talks to me and is nice to me."... Apparently Jordi's dad only makes an effort to see him 5 hours a month.  This really touched my heart.  It’s probably the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me.  We are working on a baptism date for them and hopefully we will set one tonight.

After finding that family, we were late for a dinner appointment and Richardson said we should get going to be there on time, but something told me to knock the rest of the doors there, so we did.  We ran into this woman who literally just found out she had cancer, and was praying and asking god for help through this time.  Then we knocked.  She was so overwhelmed by us being there and she started to cry so much, she asked us to come back the next day in the morning.  So we went back at 8 the next morning and found out she is from Columbia.  She came to America many years ago and has not gone to church in 19 years.  We gave her a blessing and then invited her to church. She came with her daughter-in-law the next day and now we are teaching her the lessons as well.  She is so excited to learn, and I can tell their family will all once again come back and be active members in the church.

The last one is one day when our appointment fell through, I was asked where I wanted to go.  As I was going over the streets, I remembered seeing in my head one came to my mind "Cumberland". Neither Richardson, nor the member we were with had ever heard of that street, but sure enough, it was in the GPS in our area.  So we went and knocked, it wasn’t until the last door that we were invited in and taught an amazing lesson with a Grandpa and Grandson named Rene and Fernando. They both set baptism appointments.  It was an amazing experience because Richardson is convinced that we have not once, driven past that street.  And so the spirit was there once again.

I love you all and I hope everything is well.

Love, Elder Stewart

dstewart@myldsmail.net

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in El Paso!

Dear Familia y Amigos

Como Estan? I hope everything is great in this wonderful Christmas season.  This week, I had a week that I will remember for the rest of my life.  Elder Richardson said that this past week was the best he has had on his mission as well.  It was a hardworking week of missionary work that ended up in snow at the end of the week.  Yes you read correctly, snow in Texas and Mexico this last weekend, and the temperature right now is 26 degrees.  Que Paso?  But like I said it was the best week ever.

Now when I said I hardworking week of missionary work, I was not kidding.  We taught 32 lessons this week which I think was the most in the mission, as well as finding some new solid investigators to teach.  With these new investigators I have had 2 of the most amazing experiences with the spirit that I have ever had.  In addition our teaching pool has grown to almost 15 progressing investigators and we have 10 with a date for baptism.  Oh man is it wonderful.

So our ward here in El Paso does not do any kind of missionary work.  They are one of the leading wards in family history work, but they don’t try to do anything for the living.  They seriously call names out in sacrament meeting to go over to the Family History office for the second and third hour of church and do the work over there.  Anyway, basically what I’m saying is we have to knock a lot of doors.  Richardson doesn’t like to knock doors and constantly reminds people that only 1 person in 1000 doors opened end up getting baptized.  And that’s only "Doors Opened" which is less that 50% of the doors we knock.  But I have a testimony of knocking with the Holy Ghost.  With the Holy Ghost to tell us where to knock, we will always find the people we need to teach.  So I’m always the one who picks the Street we will knock.

Anyway the first one was I had picked a street called "Gold" to knock on, but as we where driving up the street we had a feeling like it just wasn’t right.  We proceeded to turn the corner and something about this one block on a street named "Silver Street" caught my attention.  So we started to knock. On the 7th or so door we knocked and Gloria answered, after our initial introduction we asked if she was interested in hearing more.  She said she had actually been looking for a church to bring her grandson "Jordi" to, because he was wondering why they didn’t go to church?  So we set a return appointment and when we came back Gloria and her daughter Yani, and Yani's son Jordi was there to learn.  We taught a really choppy lesson but nonetheless, the spirit was there and they agreed to come to church the next day.  Well they actually came!  And I have really become to love them all and specifically Jordi, because it looks like he needs someone to look up to, like a brother.  And so I treat him like he was my younger brother.  Glori told me when we where at their house again that Sunday to watch the Christmas devo with them that Jordi had told his mom, "I like Stewart" and Yani asked "and why is that Jordi?” And he answered, "I wish I had a dad like Stewart... he actually talks to me and is nice to me."... Apparently Jordi's dad only makes an effort to see him 5 hours a month.  This really touched my heart.  It’s probably the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me.  We are working on a baptism date for them and hopefully we will set one tonight.

After finding that family, we were late for a dinner appointment and Richardson said we should get going to be there on time, but something told me to knock the rest of the doors there, so we did.  We ran into this woman who literally just found out she had cancer, and was praying and asking god for help through this time.  Then we knocked.  She was so overwhelmed by us being there and she started to cry so much, she asked us to come back the next day in the morning.  So we went back at 8 the next morning and found out she is from Columbia.  She came to America many years ago and has not gone to church in 19 years.  We gave her a blessing and then invited her to church. She came with her daughter-in-law the next day and now we are teaching her the lessons as well.  She is so excited to learn, and I can tell their family will all once again come back and be active members in the church.

The last one is one day when our appointment fell through, I was asked where I wanted to go.  As I was going over the streets, I remembered seeing in my head one came to my mind "Cumberland". Neither Richardson, nor the member we were with had ever heard of that street, but sure enough, it was in the GPS in our area.  So we went and knocked, it wasn’t until the last door that we were invited in and taught an amazing lesson with a Grandpa and Grandson named Rene and Fernando. They both set baptism appointments.  It was an amazing experience because Richardson is convinced that we have not once, driven past that street.  And so the spirit was there once again.

I love you all and I hope everything is well.

Love, Elder Stewart

dstewart@myldsmail.net

Thanksgiving week! I love Thanksgiving, except.....

Hey Everyone,

How is it going?  It seems like just yesterday that I emailed home, but then I think of everything that has happened this week and realize there has been so much.

Thanksgiving week!  Happy Thanksgiving!  I love thanksgiving, except it’s not so good for missionary work.  Our numbers were not nearly as good this week, but we did spent a lot of time with the members and gained a better relationship with the ward which is very important as well.  We held a "Sports Day" on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for the youth in the whole stake because they all had school off all week long.  And there was probably more non-member kids there than member youth, which gave us some good referrals and new investigators.  But we played volleyball, soccer, basketball, football, pretty much something for everyone there, which I think gave all the non-members a really good experience with the ward and its activities.  Hopefully we will start getting better turnouts in mutual.

The Narviez Family... They are so perfect, but they are never home.  We keep going over there to teach the plan of salvation lesson but either the husband is out looking for a job, or she is gone doing something with one of their kids.  So we always get invited in and they are so nice.  But we haven’t been able to teach them.  It’s somewhat frustrating.  I think once we teach them the plan though, things will go much more smoothly.

Chris, he is doing so much better.  I heard before my mission of people turning their life around for the gospel but I guess I never seriously believed it.  Chris has quit smoking, drinking, moved out of his girl friend’s house, and like everything else.  But we can’t get him to church! Gaahhhh!  Why is it so hard for investigators to go to church!  So our plan is just to have someone his age come pick him up in the morning.

Bro. Marquez.  So we finally come back to the Plan and he hasn’t read the book of Mormon, which is understandable because of the hectic week we had, but honestly, its only 5 mins a day.  Oh well, we still taught the Plan anyway and man IDK what it is about that house, but every lesson is an amazing one there.  The spirit is so strong it’s impossible to deny it.  He seemed a lot more interested though in this lesson, probably because it had to do with living with your family forever, and they are so important to him.  So we will see.

We had Rolando's baptism this Saturday!  Yay, baptism number 2!  It was such a great experience, except we only had 9 people there.... 4 missionaries, him and his wife, bishop and one of his counselors, and the ward mission leader.  If there is one thing I can stress to you guys its GET ACTIVE WITH THE MISSIONARIES!  We need to be getting lessons with a member present and also we need people to fellowship our investigators when we get them to church. That’s why none of them go to church! Because no one will support them or be their friend.  It’s frustrating to have a ward who thinks that missionary work is solely the responsibility of the missionaries.  Anyway there still was an amazing spirit there.  And his wife, who is a hard core catholic, came and also came to church.  We went to their house after and the home literally felt different!  Like brighter and the spirit was there and his wife actually came and listened to the first lesson!  Her heart was opened because she has seen a great change in her husband for the better.  The gospel makes so-so men great and great men, greater.  And their marriage has been going so much better.  Before we left, we gave them a little "Sneak Peak" about the Plan of Salvation lesson and I felt prompted to tell her that they would be able to have kids in the next life and she broke up into tears.  Apparently she doesn’t have the ability to have kids, but really wanted them. How great is the spirit.

My Thanksgiving was really nice; we had 2 dinners with different families and basically stuffed ourselves to the brim.  Then when we got back we passed out.  We were so full haha.  I don’t really have a whole lot to say about thanksgiving.  It was nice, but we didn’t do a whole lot of missionary work. The church cleaned up after the parade though, the streets where covered in beer cans and was so gross, but we still did it. And got Free T-Shirts

Love,

Elder Stewart