Monday, October 15, 2012

13 Months and training a greenie......

Dear Friends and Family,

How are all of you? How did you all like conference? It was awesome here in Fabens, Texas. It’s amazing though how many members don’t put much of an emphasis on watching general conference. Maybe its because conference is not quite as good in Spanish as it is in English, but still. I remember when it wasn’t much of a big deal to me, or when I would only listen when President Monson was speaking, but something has changed to the point where I look forward to listening to them talk. I mean, to think, what would I give to hear a talk or hear the testimonies of a Living Peter or John, or Paul, and here we have 15 men who have the same calling and authority as they do. I just love it. Anyway I hit my 13th month mark yesterday, and now have 11 more months in the mission, scary huh?

This week I got a call from President Miller to be a Trainer. I am going to have a son! I’m pretty excited for the opportunity and am excited to see whom I get and how the Lord blesses the area because of him. We had a meeting for trainers and one of the things they shared was this video about Fleas and training them.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpjA-QgmQM I think it was pretty cool. Well this means that my companion now will be leaving. He is not too happy about it cause this is his first area. I told him he would get used to change, like me. I’ve gotten a new companion for the last 4 transfers in a row, which is pretty rare.

I really love conference this weekend, and actually went into the session looking for some specific answers, to some problems we are having with our investigators right now, and also what it is I need to do with my new greenie coming in. And I can report that it actually works. People always told me it would but I still didn’t really try to look for the answers that come by the Holy Ghost, because they really do. Some of the things I really liked are:

·       President Uchtdorf's talk about how living the principles of the gospel can help us live a life that we won’t regret later. Like spending more time with our families. How we need to stop focusing on what we think or want to become in this life and start to focus more on becoming the person God intended for us to be. Good intentions are not enough.
·       M. Russell Ballard's about the honeybee and how the church needs to be like a beehive.
·       D Todd Christofferson about our duties in the priesthood. Being men that women, children, and God can trust.
·        President Eyring spoke of how blessed he felt when he learned that he had the spiritual gift of being a peacemaker. He then taught that we each have a spiritual gift. (It says in D & C 46:11 "...That to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.”) Pres. Eyring also encouraged us to identify which spiritual gift(s) we possess. You may have a Spiritual gift highlighted in your Patriarchal Blessing or you can pray to know which gift you have been given.
·       My favorite though was David A. Bednar's talk on Testimony and Conversion. How a testimony alone will not be enough to save us in our times and we need to work towards being truly converted to the Gospel. "Testimony+Conversion" brings the strength we will need to stay firm and steadfast. And that we need to set aside our weapons of rebellion.
Anyway I’m really excited for the next few transfers. Thank you for all your love and prayers.
   
-Elder Stewart

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