Coming Back to the MTV Ward

February 19, 2013

Hello friends and family,

Because of President's day yesterday, the libraries where closed and so I have to email today. The connection is really bad due to some update they did to the servers. Oh well. Anyway I got transferred back to Montana Vista ward, only this time I am in the "Las Tierras" area which is the best of the 3. We have a truck again and an amazing apartment. Heavenly Father has finally given me a nice apartment for all the not so great ones in the past. It has refrigerated air and my favorite, a super big gym, so it looks like for the last little bit of my mission I will be able to get back in shape. The address for this place is 14363 Edgemere Blvd, Apt # 2405, El Paso, Texas 79938. Called "the Cottages"

I was given a new assignment this transfer and this time it has to do with an Elder. My new companion is from a very different way of life than me or any other companion I have had and that is probably the reason he has never had a companion for more than one transfer straight. His name is Elder Bath, and he is from Hawaii. His parents taught him that "eating meat" is against the Word of Wisdom and for that he is a vegetarian, Its makes dinners pretty interesting. He is in the "BYU Ham Radio Club" and runs like Napoleon Dynamite, however we play for the same team. He has done a lot of good work in this area and he and his last companion spent the time "GPS"ing every member in this "700" member ward, including all the currents investigators, Referrals, and all the formers as well. Basically everyone in the wards boundaries that has ever received a lesson from missionaries in the past. Thousands and Thousands of points it would blow your mind. But like every other piece of modern day technology, once you start to understand it, it becomes an amazing tool. Anyway, it’s nice to be back in this ward and it looks like I have many good things to learn in the coming transfer.

One of the things that I am excited about is the growing potential of the work in the area. I feel like the Lord is using me now as a "Finisher" like "The Freak" in baseball ha-ha. By that I mean I feel like Elder Bath and the Companion he was with did a lot of planting and prep work. Then sent me in when all of these people became ready to teach. In fact this weekend there will be the first baptism in the Ward in over 6 months. I am so excited for the plans that God has for me and this ward in the next coming transfer, I hope that I will be able to keep up with all the work he has for me including helping my companion out.

Anyway, that is pretty much it.

Love you All,

Elder Stewart

My 17th Month Mark

February 11, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

I am in awe as I realized this morning that I on the 7th hit my 17th month mark as a missionary.... And even though my brain is trying to through me into panic mode, I will try to sit still to write this letter home ha-ha. Well I got a call that I am being transferred this week, which always brings excitement, but at the same time sadness. And this transfer in particular will be extra tragic due to the fact that it feels like I am leaving my second home. I have gained a love for the members of Fabens in 6 months that I feel like I had built in other home wards after years of being there, and I can really feel their love to. Who would have thought, that in a town of 1500 people in the middle of nowhere Texas, where there is only Dollar stores and gas stations to by stuff at, and tons and tons of dirt and dust, that I would find myself here. If you would have asked me 17 months ago, I would have laughed at the thought. But I truly do love it here.  

Ayline was baptized yesterday which was so wonderful to see. She is part of a part member family who has not come to church in 4 years due to being offended by some of the church leaders in the area. The hard thing is, is that it was members that where family of this family. So they were directly related and thus making it harder for them to come back without putting off the natural man. Anyway, After 6 months of teaching her, her family decided that she could be baptized (They are all members) and they came to church for the first time in a while. At the baptism there where 50+ people there which was really cool and after we saw the family that were offended with each other talking on the couch. I hope and am praying that their relationship can be healed so that Ayline can have her family at church with her every week.

Well that’s about it for this week. I look forward to the new people and adventures I will have this week in my new area.

Love you,

Elder Stewart

Power of the Priesthood

February 4, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

This week we had maybe one of the hardest weeks of my mission, not because we were unsuccessful, but because of circumstances going on with some of our investigators. However, I have seen a manifestation of God's grace, power, and mercy that has no rival in my eyes. Through the power of the Priesthood, a life was saved and the mother of 2 little kids is recovering from what looked like the end of her time here on earth and because of the sacredness of this experience to me, I will give only the main details.

In my letter last week I wrote about Stephanie, who is the mother of 2 kids and the niece of one of the recent converts. Well her boyfriend is an abusive man who on Saturday night beat her, and then again when she got home the next night mercilessly beat her again. Tuesday night of this week we get called over and find out that she is seizing because he hit her in the back of the head so many times. I have never seen anyone having a seizer before and if any of you know what one looks like you understand how heart wrenching it is. There is nothing you can do till it stops. Anyway she starts seizing and they have me give her a blessing. In the blessing I felt prompted to tell her that her brain would be healed and that she would be able to recover and return to her kids soon. After the blessing within 5 mins she had a seizure that was worse and lasted longer. As I was sitting there on the verge of tears wondering why she was still being afflicted by the seizures, a peace and warmth came over me that I will never ever forget. I knew she was going to be ok. I knew she was going to pass through a lot in the next few days but I told her that she was going to be alright and that if she had faith, she would be healed by the Power of the Priesthood. 3 days passed with worse and worse seizures. Throughout those three days where the most tears and hardships I’ve been through in I can’t remember how long. But I kept going back to the feeling I felt as I was comforted by the Spirit. On Friday we got a text saying that the test results came back and that her brain has absolutely no damage done to it. And they coin her "Seizures" to be from trauma from all that happened. I admit that it might be due to that now, however I know that the Blessing given to her is what made the difference. Yesterday we fasted for her along with the whole family. I got a call last night that she hasn’t had a seizure since about right when we started fasting. I know that by faith and the Priesthood, along with the will of God that miracles do happen, maybe one has to go through a great trial of faith first, but miracles are real. It brings me back to the song from that bible movie "The Prince of Egypt" where they sing "There can be miracles, when you believe" I know the church is true, I know that we can be comforted by the Holy Ghost, I have no doubt in the Priesthood, and that Heavenly Father loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
   
The Uncle of Stephanie, Richie, received the Aaronic Priesthood today! It truly is a miracle in my life, and makes me so happy, Life is good.

Love,

Elder Stewart

Thank Goodness for Journals

January 28, 2013

Hey Friends and Family,

Wow looking over my journal this week I realize that I have way too many stories to share that I had already forgot about. Usually I just write in the journal every day and then forget it on p-day which leaves me to trying my best to remember what went on during the week.

I had an interesting time this week in District meeting this week, but as always when you have 10-12 missionaries in your district instead of the normal 6, it can be hard to keep things on time and make sure everyone is learning and participating. It went really well, but the only problem is that we went 10 mins over and we only had time to do 3 out of the four stations... oh well. Hopefully next transfer they spit up the district.

On Wednesday we went knocking and we ran into this lady who invited us back later for an appointment. Little did we know that it was an apostolic "Bible Study" and we were there seated in the middle of them. Luckily the class was on repentance, which to my surprise everything they taught was true doctrine, they used very good examples from the Bible and the class was pretty interesting. Towards the end I boldly shared a scripture in Alma 34. At first they were kind of hesitant to have me share out of the Book of Mormon, but in that moment I felt the spirit so strongly. It just reinforced my testimony about how other churches can teach almost all the correct doctrine, and that they do teach the people to be better, but without the Book of Mormon or the Authority, it’s false.

This Sunday after church we had a young man walk straight up to the church doors and asked us if he could see inside the church. I drew a blank for a minute trying to analyze what he said but after I recovered we gave him the grand tour. As we sat in the sacrament room, He said that he felt this different feeling, a warm vibration. We testified to him that it was the spirit. We have a return appointment, and he wants to come to church. It was a really cool experience.

My favorite experience however this week was with a new investigator who even though she was extremely depressed and Satan tried everything possible to get her to not go to church, she got up and went to church. She told us in the lesson we had with her that as soon as she stepped in the chapel that she felt this calmness that she had never felt before. She said she had been to many churches and never had felt that feeling. We invited her to ask God for the 17th of Feb. for her baptism, right there in the lesson and as she prayed she practically pleaded with God that he would allow her to be baptized. It was a really awesome experience.

There is a lot more to right. But I don’t have time…

Love you,

Elder Stewart

Smashing cans for God

January 21, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

Well another Monday here in Texas and things are going well. The weather has been heating up a little bit and is staying in the 50's/ 60's so it’s really nice to be outside. Elder Flint and I have been having lots of fun and are looking for some solid people to teach. We felt like we needed to do some service this week and so on Wednesday we thought of some ways we could do service for someone. We thought of this one recent convert who is paralyzed on the right side of her body and does not receive any help from the government and so her only income comes from going around the neighborhood collecting cans out of people's trash cans. Her story is an amazing one. She was contacted by some missionaries and she was willing to let them come back and to make a long story short she felt like she was ready to be baptized. She has a problem reading and remembering things, so in her interview she was having a hard time remembering what to say and so the missionary interviewing her, was going to tell her that she needed a little more time to get ready but had the impression to ask her why she wanted to be baptized and she said that she did because God had done so much for her and in that moment, she opened her right hand fully. She started crying because she had not been able to do that since she was paralyzed. He took that as an answer and she was baptized. The only problem is that the best day to collect cans is Sunday for some reason and so she feels worried going to church. So this week we went around and collected cans for her. We were blessed so much and where able to gather tons of cans that we spent hours crushing. It filled 6 XL trash bags and weighed all together probably 60/70lbs. We left it at her porch and knocked and ran, leaving a little note that said "Never forget God and he will always take care of you." It sounds cooler in Spanish but that was our service for this week. Our motto for this service is "Smashing Cans for God" because of Mosiah 2:17.

Well other than that, I don’t have a whole lot to say. I’m kind of stressed out but it’s good because I am learning every day how to be better. I read some good talks this week on Pride and it made me feel kind of crappy. It’s called "Beware of Pride" I don’t want to be like the Nephites. The Christlike quality I am working on this transfer is meekness. Talks or advice are welcomed. We as a mission are doing the marking of the book of Mormon again of all the things that have to do with Jesus Christ, at the same time I am wrapping up Jesus the Christ. I feel like it is really helping me understand more who my Savior is and each time I am humbled at what the spirit reveals to me. Sometimes I am tempted to think that I know everything there is to know, but just the simple promptings I get while reading or praying let me know how little I know. I pray that as I continue to read that I will understand more about how to have Christlike love and Charity, as well as the meekness I so desperately desire. One thing however is set in stone, which is I know that my Redeemer lives and Loves me. That he paid for my sins and gives me life every day and will even after death. I know he will come again, and I want to make sure he will surely see, that my banner will be clear and he won’t have to ask "Did you truly love me? In the Name of Jesus Christ Amen

Love you Lots,

Elder Stewart