A Week to Remember His Sacrifice

April 10, 2012

Hey Friends and Family,

Hope everyone had an amazing week and weekend. As we all know this weekend was one that over 1900 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ laid down his life for the sins of the world, which specifically includes each of us. Now I really had a lot of time to study this week about Jesus Christ and his Atonement, and i want to share my thoughts and feelings with you. The reason that I had so much time to study this topic is due to the fact that on Thursday night and all Friday my companion was seriously sick, and on Saturday night and all Sunday I was super sick. Satan was working really hard to keep us from going to the temple Monday. Luckily I didn't throw up or anything but I fainted twice which was kind of scary experience. We think it was due to the heat here and the lack of food and water that my body was taking in because I was sick, but that would in nowise stop me from going to the House of the Lord. To make a long story short, the work did not go super far this week, but my knowledge, love, and gratitude for my Savior made leaps and bounds.

I really just wanted to bear my testimony, that I know the Jesus Christ is the Literal Savior of the world. Now lets break that down.

Jesus Christ- The ONLY Begotten of the Father. Which means that he was the only one who was conceived literally by God without a earthy father. Thus meaning that his Father in both spirit and the flesh is Our Heavenly Father. Why is that important? That means he brought the Power he had before this life as a God to the Earth and is the reason that he is the only one possible to have been able to lay down his life for us. I also know that he was born to an earthly state. Meaning that he didn’t come down as a babe all knowing and all powerful, but he learned the ways of his father and ways of the gospel in his time and became the Person, Man, God on this earth. I could go on and on but this is sufficient for the point I am getting to.

Literal- In the scriptures it says that no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God, and I always thought of this as "Well God can really let anyone he wants be in his presence cause he is God, he just doesn’t want to have anyone that sins in his presence. But thats not true. We literally can not see, be around, or come in contact with God. He is God because of the Justice and Truth that he rules by, which means that if he could make an exception, he would cease to be God. So we could never ever have a chance to live with God again after this life because we all sin, and this is the LAST thing Our Heavenly Father wants.

Savior- Jesus Christ did in no wise have to come down an save us. Before this life he already had so much growth that all he really needed left was a body to be like his father. In fact it says in the scriptures that by him coming down and saving us was "Unprofitable" to him. He does not need us for exaltation and glory. He would have not needed to suffer at all. When he came to this earth it is a fact that Death had no power over him, meaning he could literally not be killed. ONLY when he put his life down and allowed himself to be crucified was he able to give up his spirit..... but take it up again 3 days later.

This is what Brings my testimony of the Love that Our Savior Has for us. Without us he would still be everything, without him we would be lower than low. Feeling all the pains of the imperfections in our lives. He loves us so much to come, pay, and die for us even though we do not deserve it. So please. Don't forget him. In the name of Jesus Christ, Our Savior Amen

Take a min to watch the talk "None Were With Him" by Jeffery R Holland.

-Elder Stewart

Pictures from El Paso

El Paso, Texas area

Elder Perez and me

Our apartment gets very dusty!

Jordy, Me, Yani, and Gloria Cordero. A family we were teaching in El Centro.

Raul Castillo, Me, and Alicia Castillo. Converts

Me, Yei Yei, Nei Nei, Hana Toro, and Jason Toro. A Family that fed us every week in El Centro.

Brian Allen, and me. He is a recent convert from another ward.

Jorquera Family (My Favorite) Bruno, Cisca, me, Hna Jorquera, Ignacio (Nacho)

The Kellog Family. Jack, Me, Jack-o-wick, and Hna Kellog (less active family brought back into activity)

 The Gutierrez Family. Aaron, me, Karen, Hna Gutierrez, and Isias Gutierez. (Less active brought back into Activity.) Also Miguel who wasnt there.

The Ramos Family. Italy, Hno Ramos, me, Diana, Hna Ramos

 The Acosta Family. Teresa, Hna Acosta, me, Hno Acosta

Fierro Family. Hno Fierro, Diego, Hna Fierro, Not Sure, Me, Manny, and Evelyn

Moi and me (Investigator who loves soccer)

Gutierrez Family (moi), Rebekah, Not sure, Hna Gutierrez, Me, Hno Gutierrez (Bishopbric), Carla, and (Eduardo- recent convert)  

Me, Raul, Alicia, and Elder Perez

Hno Carzoli (Bishopbric)

Easter Sunday

Let us not treat lightly the gift of the Atonement that has been given us. As I come to think about the pain he went through to give us the opportunity to become clean, it reminds me of the desire to never sin again. That every time I sin, it was another drop of blood or another moment longer. But how do we show God that it is important to us? We USE IT. Jesus already paid for all of our sins, the Atonement is already there. By not using it we are showing to him that we don't really care or appreciate it. How do we USE IT? Don't miss a single Sunday or a chance to take the sacrament, don't let someone or something someone said pull you away from the church, don't let "work" or a "social life" be a higher priority than going to church, and above all SHARE IT. I know that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. He loves us, would do anything for us, and above all he wants us to be PERFECT even as he and his father are. In Christ's name. Amen


Love, 
Elder Stewart

A bitter-sweet conference week....

Me, Raul, Alicia, and Elder Perez

Hey Friends and Family. Family and Friends. Whoever still reads this haha...?

I hope everyone is doing wonderful and that you all watched conference this weekend. I don’t have my notes, but I wanted to share some of my favorite talks, from memory.

I really loved Elder Bednar's talk about how the priesthood is active, not passive. Too many priesthood holders out there wait to be acted upon instead of acting and how it’s a greater sin to have a dormant priesthood instead of not having it at all.

I loved Elder Nelson's throw down on the big bang theory, a renowned scientist, making fun of all those scientist out there who claim there is no God and the world happened by chance. Also how the spiritual and physical gifts we have in our lives should not be taken for granted.  We need to give thanks to God.

Elder Cook said a few things that I really loved because of things I have to deal with currently and have had to deal with on my mission. Something like, you could have all the proof or facts in the world that the Gospel is true, but without a testimony built on faith, through prayer and reading, those things mean nothing.

I can’t remember who commented about "Authority and Power of the Priesthood, maybe Elder Scott? But he said there is a difference between receiving the Authority of the Priesthood, but without the Power of the priesthood, your priesthood can not be truly represented.

There are more but it will have to wait till next week.

The reason I call it a bitter sweet conference is because we had a grand total of 0 investigators come. Our investigator pool is very large, we found ourselves planning for 16 investigators last week. All which were invited, offered rides, called to remind, fellowshipped to come, and basically not one came to it. With excuses ranging from "being to Mexico" to "I have a relative in town that just showed up at my house" it was quite the site to see. On the other hand, I learned so much from conference that it made up for no one coming. Both my companion and I think that the reason that no one came is that God needed us to learn something from conference, and if our investigator would have came we would have had to watch conference in Spanish. So in that sense it was a blessing.

Other than that, we found two new families this week and they are just wonder full. One is 4- generation of women that were excited to hear the gospel and all set baptism dates. The other family was found for us by some faithful English missionaries, knocking in one of the hardest areas to knock due to the amount of Spanish there is. The girl that invited them back is almost 21 and is living with a younger brother and her mother. Both her and her bother set dates as well. We want to extend a date to her mother but sadly, she was asleep when we did. Their eagerness to hear the gospel is moral boosting; the only problem is that the father lives in Juarez and they go to Juarez many Saturdays and Sundays to see him. So it could be a huge struggle to get them to church. Never the less, the Lord has blessed us for the experience and they went to church this past week and we now have 10 investigators with a baptism date.

The zone leaders, when they called to congratulate us told us that we hold over half the baptism dates in the entire Zone. Then this week the sister missionaries in our same ward set 5 more dates as well. So our ward alone has 16 baptism dates. So they better step it up on fellowshipping.

My recent converts Alicia and Raul Castillo went to the temple to do baptisms last Tuesday! And Loved It! The thing I am most happy for is that I will still be on my mission when they are able to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. What a blessing that will be!

Other than that I learned so more things about my companion. He is currently dating a girl that lives in Saudi- Arabia, who he met in an online game that is a lot like world of warcraft. He says he is going to marry her (even though he has never met her in person), but the problem is that he is Mormon and she is a Muslim. In order for her to come to the USA and be married he said she had to fake her own death or something and never talk to her family again. Apparently by law, a Muslim father is allowed to kill his daughter if she wants to marry someone who is Christian. So idk if that gives you any idea what he is like but that basically sums him up. Haha

Until next week……

-Love Elder Stewart

It's so HOT in Texas......

Hola Everyone,

How are you all doing? It’s super sunny and hot here in El Paso. With all the time spent out in the sun I’m going to look more Mexican than white. Which I guess would be a good thing. The days here are getting very tiring, and we started to go to bed around 9:30pm. It’s like I walk in the house and fall asleep. I almost want to pull an Elder Calhoun and sleep in my suit. Other than that the work has been going pretty well. This transfer seems to be too much to handle sometimes. It very literally feels like we are sifting through the dirt looking for the gold, except with people. New people come and go every week. Last week we ended the week with 6 baptism dates and most of those being new, and we lost 5 investigators last week. It’s so hard to have someone tell you that they don't want to have anything to do with what you believe in or what you love so much after not really even giving you a chance.
     
But on the other hand I can’t complain because I also had some super spiritual experiences this week. So my favorite one is around Tuesday of this last week we were riding bikes down one of the biggest streets in the area. So we were on the sidewalk, and here when you’re riding on the sidewalk you cannot see when a car is coming from the streets you are crossing over. So it is actually pretty dangerous. Anyway, once Elder Humpfreys passed this one street that was coming up I started to get a really bad feeling and the spirit screamed at me "Stop!" So almost flipping over my bike to stop and slammed the breaks, thinking there was going to be some huge car that comes out from the street, but there was nothing. I just stood there super confused as 2-3 mins passed by, Then from an apartment to my left a little old lady and he husband come running out and asked me for something spiritual to read to bring them closer to God.  I asked what was wrong. And she said that they were going through a really hard time; the landlord was kicking them out, they had no food, her husband is a disabled vet going through dialysis treatments, and they were down on their knees asking for help, and when she looked up, she could see me right in the middle of their barely opened window. We were able to come back and teach them, and set baptism dates for them and everything.

When Sunday came we called them and they said that they were all ready for church and asked us if they could bring 2 of their friends with them too. Well that was a no- brainer. So all 4 of them came to church, but it turned out to be a total nightmare. In Sacrament meeting, I don't think I have ever seen such disrespectful behavior from any ward that I have been in. All the Priests and young women and even the young single adults who for some reason are in a family ward sat in the back and where being very inappropriate. I was hard for me to even feel the spirit myself. On top of that, our ward mission leader was taken to the bishopric and so we had some random guy teaching the Gospel Principles class. He turned the "Priesthood lesson" into a talk about the Word of Wisdom, Tithing, going to the Temple, and one day becoming Gods lesson. Needless to say, 3 of them where so mad that when we told them there was one more class, they said. "No thanks, I hated it" and asked for a ride home. Not going to lie, I don’t blame them, If I wasn’t a member and that was my first time at church I doubt I would have come back not to mention, no one really tried to talk to them. Well anyway, after I got them in a room with just Elder Humpfreys and me, I did what I could to save it. We calmed them down pretty well, and they said they would give us another chance. But you never know if they were actually being serious. To make a long story short, out of all 5 people that have come to church in the last two weeks we were officially dropped by one and probably will be dropped by the rest this week. Trying to keep spirits high. And open to any suggestions.

But at least General Conference and the Temple trip are coming up. YAY!

-Love Elder Stewart

Hello El Paso....

Dear Family and Friends,

Looks like I’m going to remain here in good old El Paso. What happened is when our District Leader called us with the news that I was leaving, he told me to be at the transfer sight at 10 o'clock. Which means you will be heading up North. If you are called to the transfer site at 1pm that means you’re staying in El Paso. So I showed up at the transfer site and was told by the Zone leaders that I did not need to be there. Haha After gearing up to have the work be slow and my Spanish lost. But what a surprise. So now I am here in the 12th Ward- Ascarate. The ward is big and there are 3 sets of missionaries here; the Zone Leaders, some sisters, and us. On top of that, our area is an all bike area :( I have seriously been hurting the last week or so, plus I have gotten a tan already (and it’s not even the hottest part of the year yet, which is 110 degrees in the summer), lost weight, and dropped $40 on my bike to put a new tube on with slime and liners so that it would take a 9' inch nail to get to my tires. My companion's name is Elder Humphreys or Elder Hump Daddy or Hump Dezzy as I like to call him. He is from Idaho and is a super innocent, but hard working missionary. He’s just kind of a nerdy kid, but he’s the first companion that follows all the rules and more. It’s quite nice because I have this habit of matching the work ethic of my companion which can be good because I can keep up with the "go get ems" but also slack off more with the "apostate" missionaries. He has already taught me that it is possible to set your own pace and your own standard, no matter the kind of missionary your companion is. His Spanish is alright, he has been out 3 months more than me, and even though I can speak more fluidly and sound more Mexican than him, he excels in grammar, (where I’m am weak).

When I first got to the area I was sad that there was not much work left by the missionary before me. But I was super eager to start teaching lessons. Elder Humphreys lets me talk more than my other companions did and so I’m enjoying being able to use my Spanish and teach these lessons. So we started out and started doing what we do. Riding bikes everywhere, talking to everyone, and teaching some great lessons. By the time Thursday weekly planning came around, we had to set goals for the next week. As I started to name off the goals that I think we could do, he said "You know that this area is considered to be a "Dead Area" right?" And I said "really?”  He replied "Yeah there hasn’t been any baptisms in months, there is a lot of less actives, and we have only set 1 baptism date." I said "well let’s change that, I want everyone to BEG to be in this area." He laughed and said "I’m down. Let’s go at it" Since Tuesday of this week, we have set 5 more Baptism dates and taught more lessons than the area has had in a long time. When our district leader called us up and heard that we had 6 dates he said "I think I just wet myself lol." apparently we have more dates than the whole district combined (and there are 6 sets of missionaries in our district." Now yes, it does sound like I’m bragging, but its more pride (the good pride) because I know that there is no way that we could be doing this without God's help. I have gotten back into praying every morning right when I wake up and before I lie down, and with how hard we are working on our bikes and how obedient we are, the Lord is blessing us in so many different ways. He has helped me turn one of the most miserable, tiring weeks of my mission (so far) into the happiest I have ever been.

Love you all,

Elder Stewart

Goodbye El Paso......

Hey Friends and Family,

Goodbye El Paso, Hello somewhere up North. We got transfer calls last Saturday and the Lord is bringing me up North. This has its ups and downs. I’m really going to miss my birth area, I am the only white person in the ward and to be honest I often forget that I’m not a Mexican (until I look in the mirror.), plus we spent all last transfer trying to revive this area with investigators and getting the members more active. When I got here we had 2 investigators both with B-Dates and no ward missionaries or Mission Leader. Now I’m leaving this ward with 10 progressing investigators and 7 with a baptism date with a consistent 5+ coming to church every week, as well as a mission leader and active missionaries. When the Bishop heard that I was leaving he asked for my President's number so that he could call and ask if he would give me 6 more weeks. Yes it’s hard to go, seeing as we have worked so hard for it, but I know the lord will bless me for the work I have done here and at least I know deep down that I had a big part in the conversion of people here, even if I won’t be here for their baptism.

I was here for the Baptism of Raul and Alicia Castillo though, and what a wonderful experience. I got to baptize the Mexican version of Grandma Stewart and my companion, my Grandpa. It just seemed so perfect, it was exactly a month since we first met them that they were baptized and they accepted everything with an open heart. The best part is this connection that I feel with them. I knew that on my mission that "People where specifically prepared for me" but I don’t think I really believed that in my heart.  I can honestly say that I know that’s the truth, and now after their baptism, I’m leaving. I feel like they were the main reason I was here. Not to mention the help we got from the members with these two. We must have had 30 people at the baptism. All willing to make them feel like they have always been members of the ward and that they will always be loved and accepted. I hope that one day when I get home that I can bring my whole family here and they can meet them. True they only speak Spanish, but I’ll translate or something.

So I’m really pretty nervous about leaving, and even more about going up north. If any of you guys have or can easily get the Book of Mormon and/or the D&C audio disks in Spanish or even English that would be such a life saver. I think I can call the distribution center and buy some. But I thought I would ask you guys to see if anyone had some hook ups cause I’m not sure if I can afford them as of right now. But basically, up North all Spanish missionaries lose their ability to speak Spanish because they rarely get to hear it, so I figured that if I listened to the Book of Mormon tape in Spanish for a little every day that it could help me keep up what I have worked so hard for down here.

Anyways I love you all,

Elder Stewart