A Man Learneth Through the Spirit, Not by Other Men...

March 25, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

How are you all? I hope everyone is well, and happy. I have had a fairly good week, with successes and interesting experiences. I had a trial of testimony of the church this week that really wasn’t a trial, more of my testimony withstanding some of the most horrible discussions I have had with the people here.

We have an investigator whose wife is a member of the church named Oscar. He has been investigating the church for 2 years now and sometimes makes good progress and sometimes doesn’t. Well he had been avoiding us for about 5 weeks now and then finally answered our call. He set up an appointment and as I sat down and he started off the conversation with “I have so many questions for you two" I had a knot well up in my stomach. In the course of the next hour and a half, he began bringing up all the topics that we don’t really address. Polygamy, Blacks and the Priesthood, Stories about Joseph Smith, and why there is no historical proof on the Book of Mormon, Mountain Meadows, just to state a few. And as I sat there and listened to him, I thought about all the "Explanations I could give him and all the scriptures I could have thrown at him" and a voice or impression came to me about the way people learn. I began to ask him if he has been reading, no, if he has prayed, "We seemed to get away from prayer a bit", and he wasn’t going to church. I told him that Men can only learn through the spirit, and it is through the spirit that we can understand God, not through internet websites or buddies at work. He sat there quietly and my companion and I bore testimony to him that we didn’t need proof from man to know that the Book of Mormon is true, only the proof sent from God. After the lesson he promised to come to church, read, and he prayed for the closing prayer.

I realized for maybe the 100th time on my mission that no matter what we face here in this life, or what anyone says, our testimonies is what will be needed to endure to the end. If they are strong, we will be able to hold when things get tough or when others fall, we don’t have to fall with them, but can try to help them. Read, pray, go to church and don’t ever stop.

Love,

Elder Stewart

In the Middle of Nowhere Texas....

March 11, 2013


Dear Friends and Family,

We had quite a good week this week with some good adventures and success. This is the last week of the transfer and so I will know on Saturday if I will be leaving or not. I really hope to stay in the area but there are also 29 missionaries coming in, 0 of the 11 Elders are Spanish and I’m not sure how many of the 18 sisters will be Spanish. So that means that since we are in a nice area and are having lots of success, we will probably get "Pink Washed." So let’s pray that doesn’t happen.

We are still doing well, getting along, and trying to learn from each other. Despite our personality differences, our strengths have been playing off each other very well. We have been working with those part members and the "Low hanging fruit" and have been seeing a growth in the way that we are teaching. Elder Bath is really good at remembering all the appointments and making sure we get to places on time, and seeing as how I am so used to having members at lessons now it honestly feels like something is lacking when it is just the missionaries teaching. So I think that has helped the area as well, having on average 1 member out with us per day.

We taught some very good lessons this week, to the family Monroy and Guzman in particular. In both of these part member families the non-members have been so kind to us and we have built a bond with them to the point where we are able to see them 3+ times a week. And from what I have learned, if you can get to the point of seeing an investigator 3 times a week, the chances of them getting baptized is a lot higher.

This week my companion and I drove all the way out to the end of our area, it is 70 miles to get there and come back, and so we spent so much time driving out there. It is a Small little town called "Dell City" and we talked to some people there and visited all the stores to see if we could leave some pamphlets in the area, we came across this one Cafe called "Spanish Angels Cafe" and we knew that it was going to be golden. When we walked in the lady was so nice to us and made a little spot for our cards and things to be where people could see. What I found really interesting is that the other 3 stores we went to were owned by white people who spoke only English, and when they saw us walk in they gave us these really weird looks and told us that we can’t leave any pamphlets or anything. It’s interesting to me to see that even we are of the same Christian belief, and it might sound bad but the "same Skin color" that we are usually treated very poorly. I don't want to be like that when I get home.

Anyway, I love you all.

Elder Stewart

Wow, 6 Months Left....

March 4, 2013

My Dearest Family and Friends,

As this week was going by at what seemed like an abnormal rate, yesterday hit me that it was my 6 month left mark. How crazy does that sound? As I think about it however it just sounds weird, instead of hitting me very hard. I think they call it denial.

We had a wonderful week and everything is going according to plan. Heavenly Father is paving the way for us to have all of these miracles happen. I think there is a good possibility of us being blessed with quite a few more baptisms next month. Something (Less Spiritual) that happened yesterday is that I called the soon to be married investigators we have were I have never met the fiancé of the guy investigator and started talking on the phone to her. Her first question was "Wait, are you a Mexican?" Confused I said "what?" she replied " are you a native Spanish speaker?" when I told her no she was saying that she was super surprised because she thought all missionaries where "Americanos" and that she was surprised that I sounded like a Mexican. That made me feel pretty good.

We are over here with what I seem to do best. Working with part-member families. Idk what it is, but I seem to always work the best with part member families. And when Elder Bath and I teamed up, we have had countless miracle with these families. Finding, being able to teach, and being able to baptized/ reactivate.

Elder Bath and I are doing so much better together. We have been able to work some of the rough edges out and are getting along a lot better. He says that it was really good that I came in and helped him fix his morning schedule. He say that the preparation that we put in for the day if levels above what it was before I got there and is probably the reason for all the Miracles that have happened.

I was knocking doors this week and I had an interesting experience. We knock the door, and a lady came out with this look on her face like she thought we were clowns, as I went to open my mouth  she blurted out, "I don’t want to listen to anything you say." as she was about to close the door I asked if there was something we did wrong. She said "sorry, I’m a Christian." I responded, "We are to, we are sent from God to help people grow closer to Christ" she said "not interested" I responded with "You not interested in coming closer to Christ?" "Nope" She said. I said "Well, God loves you, and have a wonderful, day" I don’t think there was much else I could do. I hope that lady's heart changes.

Well that’s all for this week. Love you all so much.

Elder Stewart 

Teaching the Gospel in My New Suit....

February 25, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends,

It has been a great week in El Paso this week, despite the high speed winds that blow dust into the sky that blots out the sun. Last week I found a grey Calvin Klein suit coat at good will for $8, and it looks like it had been worn like 10 times. I was so excited to wear it, that I wore it every day this week. Many people have said that it looks really good so I was pretty excited about that.

Elder Bath and I have been trekking along. We still have our many difference however I feel like we are starting to get used to each other and there is a lot of giving and taking now. This has allowed us to teach more in unity and has allowed us to receive so many more blessings and new people to teach.

On Saturday we had an amazing baptism which has sincerely built my testimony on the fact that if it is God's will, he will provide a way that we can accomplish his commandments. Ana Maria has had so much opposition this last week, mainly with people who are closest to her. She was living with a friend that she has known for quite a while when the missionaries started to go over to teach her. At first the friend was indifferent about them being there, but later received a call from her brother (a pastor of a "Christian" church who told her that we were a sect of the church of the devil, and that joseph smith was the brother of Satan, and that being baptized was like selling your soul to the devil. She said that if she kept talking to the missionaries, that she would kick her out. So Ana, with her great faith, left the house and started living in her little store. (Sleeping on a sleeping bag on the tile) During the week before her baptism she spent all her time in her store reading and praying and little by little God showed forth his power in the softening of the hearts. To make a long story short. This lady who had told her not to see us anymore, let her back into her home, after asking for forgiveness of what she thought, is listening to Ana tell her about the plan of salvation and the BOM, and on Saturday, she even lent her white underclothing to wear under the baptism jumpsuit. At the baptism, Ana, without being prompted, asked if she could bear her testimony, she talked about her conversion for 10 whole minutes. I feel so blessed to be a part of her life and mentioned in her testimony.

Most of the week was focused on her, and so that’s really it for this week. The Church is true, God and his Son lives, they Love us, In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Elder Daniel Stewart