Alma and Amulek.....

August 13, 2013

Hey friends and family,

I hope you have had a good week this week. I have had an awesome week, but like always really stressful. We are still working on getting the families we are teaching baptized but the law is still making it pretty hard.

We had a cool experience this week, we went to a funeral for a recent convert named Manuel. He was baptized 3 weeks ago and this week his daughter passed away because she was very sick. At the funeral, it was so apparent from how Manuel was acting and how he was taking the death of his daughter compared to the mother (they are divorced) who was wailing and screaming and crying. Manuel handled it with calmness and it helped me realize how much of a blessing it is to have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and the effect it has on our lives and our decisions. The Holy Ghost really and truly is the comforter and has made such a difference on his life. Heavenly Fathers plan is so perfect and he does know every one of us, I believe that if Manuel would have not found the gospel when he did and accepted the invitation to be baptized that it would probably be another story. The cool experience came in when after the family went up and said something for their sister they opened it up to the rest of the 60-70 people there, all of them being part of the catholic or Jehovah witness church, and no one got up to say anything. Elder Hunter turned to me and asked "What would Paul do here?" I responded "He would go up and bear testimony about the resurrection." so up went Elder Hunter and he bore a powerful testimony about the Resurrection and then came to sit down. Then I felt like I needed to go up and bare testimony about what Elder Hunter had shared and added my own testimony of the Resurrection. We passed out a ton of Plan of Salvation pamphlets to everyone and it was a really good experience for us.

We had a "Ward missionary activity" this week and it was a big success. We had about 80 people who came to the activity and lots of investigators. There was food and videos and some people who played some music. Javier Cruz played a song on the guitar that he made himself and we had another family who are investigators and they have a band who played so it was really cool to have our investigators make up the musical talent.

The family closest to baptism is the Gallegos family. The father and 2 sons are so ready to be baptized. They participate in all the activities and come to church every week. The only thing they are waiting for is the wife to just make the decision to be baptized. She knows the church is true and the only thing that is holding her back is that she is worried about what others will think or say about her. I have learned a lesson that it is so important to not think too much about what anyone thinks about you or your decisions, we should only be worried about what God thinks and go forward with faith in all the things he wants us to do. I think that’s one of the secrets of this life.

Well 3 weeks left. I will see all of you so soon.

Love,

Elder Stewart

One Month and Counting.....

August 6, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

Ahhh, do I really have 1 month left? It feels like just yesterday that I left the MTC and was with my first companion. This was an amazing week for me and at the same time a sad one. Needless to say the whole week before Thursday was just like a normal week. Missionaries would randomly tell me "you’re dying! How do you feel?" or "your already starting to stink" or "are you ready to go home?" and it still never felt like I was actually at the end of my mission. On Thursday we had MLC with all the leaders and it turns out that this one was my last one. At the end of the meeting the APs surprised us by asking all the missionaries that where going home would give their last testimony. It was the first time that I had felt like I was going home and it was so hard to keep from crying. President Miller at the end said he didn’t realize that so many of the ZL’s and STLs where going home this transfer and said that he would give salt lake a call and see if he could get those who wanted to stay some more time. He asked who wanted to stay and I practically jumped out of my seat. Turns out he was just kidding and that it’s too late to extend anyone’s time. Thanks a lot! Ha-ha so I will be coming home unfortunately, but I definitely will not be slowing down before that day comes.

We had some good miracles this week. On Wednesday we had a return appointment with a lady and her 6 kids. She’s a single mother and works a lot in order to provide for her family. It was the first time we met her because the first contact we made with the family the grandma was there. The grandma invited us in and we left a blessing on the home and prayed that they would be able to find a family member of theirs that was lost while trying to come here to the US. They hadn’t heard from her in 8 days. So we went back the next day and at first the mother said she had no time for us and that she didn’t want to listen to our message. We asked if we could talk to her 17 year old son then and the son let us in. We decided to teach about prayer and how to pray. Partway through the month came and sat down and started listening to us. At the end we invited them to pray and no one wanted to. Finally the 10 year old daughter volunteered and started her prayer. Halfway through the prayer, she broke out crying uncontrollably. And because of that her mother's heart softened instantly. There was such a rapid change that we could hardly believe what happened. She said she wanted to have her kids and her get involved with the church and it’s something that she thinks her family really needs. They are a family of 5 or 6. This reminds me of the scripture in Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. If only all would just become as a little child.

Everything else is going so well. We are teaching so many families and every week we have 12+ investigators at church which is really an awesome thing the Lord is blessing us with. Elder Hunter and I are getting along really well and life is just perfect. We just have to find out how to get all these investigators baptized now!

Anyway, I hope all is well and that you are all in good health.

Love you,

Elder Stewart

My 21st Birthday Week

July 30, 2013

Hey Friends and Family,

I hope this letter finds you all in good conditions and that you had an awesome week this week. Coming down on 5 weeks left no matter how much I try to deny it, and I’m really tired. I think I know now how my grandpas feel like when you sit down with your eyes closed for 2-3 seconds and then you’re out cold. The only defense I know to that is to never sit down in the apartment because if I do its lights out. Ha-ha. We have had a great week and I have had an awesome birthday.

My birthday was so much better than last years. For P-day we got up and after doing all we had to do in the morning we left to go spend the day with the rest of the zone. I really felt the love from the zone when I saw that a few of the sisters made a giant chocolate cake with cherries for me. I also got many other gifts from missionaries that I didn’t think would have cared a whole lot. We had an awesome time playing sports and hanging out. After we had one of families we love sign up for dinner and there we had a party as well. They got me this huge coconut cake that was super good but not the best for losing weight. Now I have the fridge back home filled up with a ton of cake and sweets but luckily enough I live with 3 other missionaries who can help me out. Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes and gifts. I had an awesome birthday this year.

Now to more important matters. We were asked by the stake this week to send 8 companionships of missionaries to youth conference to teach a class on how to teach the 1st lesson about the Restoration. Elder Hunter and I went and we split up to watch other companionships teach but it turned out that I ended up teaching the youth anyway. I feel like God has blessed me with abilities to connect and teach youth about the gospel. The spirit in the room was powerful and later the stake president called to thank us because the youth thought that out of all the youth conference, that the part were the missionaries taught was their favorite by far. I have such a love for teaching youth and look forward to maybe one day fulfilling callings with them.

We found a new family this week that really has some potential for baptism. They are the Najera family. He was baptized over 20 years ago and then was converted into a Christian church and stopped going. Our first visit with them when we knocked the screen to the door seeing that the door on the inside was opened and I could see the outlines of the family through the screen. At first they tried to stay quiet and pretend that they were not there! And then the baby started crying and so they had to answer the door. So they let us in and we had a lesson that really had to be taught by the spirit. Well now, just a week later, they came to the church for a church tour Thursday night (first time in a Mormon building in 20 years), they are reading the Book of Mormon every day, and the last time we visited with them they fed us awesome food. The change in their family has been a change that makes this all worth it. And it’s not anything that we really did, but the power of the spirit unto the softening of hearts is a very really thing. I have seen the spirit have such an impact on our investigators lives and the funny thing is that they rarely even notice the change that happens. But I know the spirit is real, and that it can make all things possible, even in the shaping and softening, and converting of people to the True Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Until next week,

Elder Daniel Stewart

Finishing my mission here in New Mexico.....

July 23, 2013

Hey Friends and Family,

How are you all doing? I hope everything is going well and that you are still enjoying the summer vacations and the heat. I had a really good week this week and we had a baptism. It feels like forever since our last one! It was a wonderful experience and a super spiritual baptism. We got transfer news this week and Elder Hunter and I are staying in the area. So I know I will be finishing here and it’s such a relief that we will be staying together for this last epic transfer. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Also Elder Keddington, my son, got a zone leader call today and will be over the missionaries in the El Paso Zone. I’m so excited to see him again and tell him I told you so.

This week Jorge was baptized. Just two months prior to meeting us here in ALB, he was doing serious drugs, running around with gangs, and not exactly being the humble follow of Christ that we all hope to be. On Saturday July 20th, he fully left everything in the past behind and became clean from all his sins. Just 3 weeks ago he walked up to the church building with only the clothes on his back and his car, he had just left Arizona and had been trying to find work. He was a homeless person and sure looked like one too, to be honest I learned a big lesson because at first sight of him, I kind of wrote him off as someone who was not going to make any progress. Well I was wrong. He came to church the day after we met him and loved it. The following day he got work and found a place to stay with some members. The first lesson with him was one of those lessons where everything went right and the spirit was so powerful. He accepted a date for baptism and was working for the 27th. This week he practically begged us to move the date up and he was more than happy. At his baptism he bore a powerful testimony about how he knows this church was true and how this baptism was the true and only baptism that he can receive.

Maybe even more impressing than the story of his change and conversion is the story of the members in this ward really stepping up to fellowship him. I don’t think we actually did anything besides teaching him the doctrine. But it seemed to me that the Elders Quorum and a few other members made sure all his rides where taken care of, that he had a place to stay, and that he had all the food and clothes he needs to live here. Even better was that we had no part in the baptismal service besides filling the font and making the program. The members gave the talks, the prayers, baptized and confirmed him. That’s how missionary work should really be done.

Love you all,

Elder Stewart

Acts of Faith…..

July 17, 2013

Hey Friends and Family,

We have had another very good week. We are so busy and working so hard. After a night of planning I lay right down on my bed and almost instantly I’m out like a rock. But life if good. We are still getting desperately needed rain and of course miracles. Transfers are the next weekend and so I’ll be going into my last and final transfer. I pray that I stay in this area for one more, but as always, I go where he wants me to go.

We had a series of miracles this week with the Gallegos family. I’m not sure if I have already shared this story in earlier letters but now I can add on to it. The Gallegos family is a family dear to my heart, a little family of 4 that have portrayed great faith. The father of the family works two jobs as a chef for 2 restaurants. He works the first job from 8-4 and the second one starts at 5:30 and goes till late in the night. Well his story is that his mom joined the church 20 years ago and 3 months after her baptism, she dies of cancer. After all that time the missionaries are led to the family and from then on his faith has grown tremendously. Last week we challenged him to ask for Sundays off from his job. When he did, the boss told him no, and so he quit right then and there. The next 4 days he got calls from the manager and other employees begging him to come back, until Thursday the owner called and gave him Sundays off and paid him for the last 4 days he missed. So he went back and little to our surprise, his coworker call him this week on Saturday saying that he couldn’t go to work the next day due to his wife getting in an accident and going to the hospital. So he was going to have to go in. He decided to wake up 3 hours earlier to go to work and prepare all the food for the other chefs to cook so that at 9 he could be at church with his family. What faith.

At church another miracle happened where one of the members walked up to them and turns out she knew his mother and stayed with her in the hospital the entire time until his mother passed on. She told him things about his mother like it had just been yesterday. She was her mother’s fellowshipper in those days and upon talking with the son left all of us in tears. I bare testimony on the importance of members going out with the missionaries and fellowshipping and being friends with the investigators of the church. The biggest problem is that "Most" members feel like going out with the missionary for an hour or 3 is doing their part as members of the church in the Lord's work. I bare testimony that, that is wrong. Here is the example of a woman who "Truly fellowshipped" an investigator to the church who was baptized. And now 20 years later, because of the time and energy she spent becoming friends with her, she was able to remember all the experiences that she had, and she now is an instrumental part of the conversion of the family. The 2 boys of which will most likely serve missions and the Father of them will most likely be a bishop or even stake president. There are so many blessings that come from fellowshipping and I encourage you to seek out recent converts, less actives, or people learning about the church and try to be their friends. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Love you all,

Elder Stewart

Mission Release Date

Elder Stewart's release date from the mission field is set for September 4, 2013.

For those wishing to see DJ and hear his homecoming talk, he is scheduled to speak on September 8th at 9am in the Monterey 2nd Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which meets at: 1 Forest Knoll Road, Monterey, CA  93940.

For assistance with accommodations, please send an e-mail to Greg Stewart at 2gregstew@gmail.com.

A Fast for Rain....

July 9, 2013

Hey Friends and Family,

I hope all is going well for you, that it’s not too hot and that you are enjoying your summer vacation. We are doing awesome. The area is really progressing and we are finding joy in our efforts. This week the Mission President and the Stakes in the area asked the members to fast for rain, due to the drought that Albuquerque is going through. The Rio Grande has nearly dried up due to the lack of rain and the heat this summer. So on Sunday we added rain into our fast. Well yesterday and last night it rained and thundered so hard that they sent out a text to all the phones in the area with a flash flood warning. It rained harder than I have ever seen it rain. What a blessing it was for us and the people here in ALB. I know its small, but the response to the fast helped increase my faith. God said himself that it is by small and simple things right?

We are still working with the Cruz family on their way to being married and baptized. Sunday was a sweet experience because Javier got up and bore his testimony. He spoke about his conversion and how he is 100% convinced that the church is true, even though he is not baptized yet. He talked about how it has not been easy since they started coming to church, in fact it has been harder financially and mentally, but said that as he has passed through the problems he is facing now, he has learned to rely on the Lord. Which I thought was very cool. He is the type of person that we could see being a stake president or in the Seventy one day. We are also teaching another family named the Gallegos family. They are probably just as equally prepared for baptism as the Cruz family. The only problem is that we have been having such a hard time getting members in the ward to come out with us. So we decided to ask Javier Cruz if he wanted to come. Well he and his whole family came and we had such a good, spiritual meeting. They got along so well and Javier was able to answer some of the questions that we have been trying to answer for a while now. So I guess when you don’t have a good fellowshipper in the ward, you need to find and baptize one. Ha-ha

We had our first ever MLC with the new President Miller this week. Again I was left so impressed with him and the Leader he is. His personality is one that everyone likes to be around, but his spirit overshadows his personality by far. It is awesome to see how he has adjusted to this new calling without even missing a beat. You truly understand "being led by the spirit" as you watch a change in the church's leadership.

Well I love you, until next week.

Elder Stewart