Photos!

President Curtiss, Elder Stuart, Sister Curtiss

First Week!

I love it here!!!!!  But Im going to start where i left off two weeks ago.  I didnt have a computer last week so i couldnt send any last week.  But here I am.  So It is a tradition in the CCM when the elders are leaving we sing called to serve in spanish as loud as we can the night before. IT WAS AWESOME.  I love the power of all the elders in one area and that is what i miss about the CCM. But other than that im glad to be out of there.  Then the next morning we woke up at five and all the elders that were going to Coban left at seven.  I t was hard to say goodbye to all the others.  I didnt think it would be but we had gotten so close in those couple weeks and it was sad to see them go.  But we were off on our four and a half hour bus ride to Coban.  It wasnt too bad, but it was pretty long.  When we got to Coban we went to the Presidents house and had lunch.  It was awesome to meet President Curtiss.  He was awesome and I cant wait to get to know him more.  But then we had to get on our way.  So we went to a chapel to learn about all the rules of the mission. This is where I learned that I was going to the Vera Paz zone and my area would be Rabinal.  That was awesome.  So we hopped on another bus to a place called salama.  We could only make it to there that day because by the time we left the church it was four and it was a three and a half hour bus ride.  So it was a lot of buses that day.  We got to Salama and that is where I met my trainer.  Elder Brito.  He is an awesome guy but he knows absolutely no english.  So it can be hard to talk to him, but I have learned so much spanish in 5 days with him.  I can say that im about 75 percent fluent.  Its awesome!!!!  So we stayed over night at the zone leaders house, and we slept on five mattresses.  But there were six missionaries, so it was a rough night.  But then the next morning we woke up at 6 and me and elder Brito were going to catch a taxi to rabinal.  That was my area.  So it took us until about 6 30 to find a taxi and we were off.  Almost...  The taxi drove for about three minutes then dropped us off.  He said that he couldnt take us to rabinal and that we would need a bus.  So we basically said thanks for nothing and walked to the bus station with all my luggage.  We made it to the bus station and we caught a bus to Rabinal at about 7 30.  So an hour and a half later we were on our way.  It was probably the coolest bus ride Ive ever been on.  It was about an hour and a half up over a mountain.  It was so cool to look over the city of coban as we left.  We arrived in Rabinal at about 9.  And then we were off to work.  We had comp study until about ten and then we went to the store so I could get some food.  Then we went to work.  We visited a lot of members houses and a few investigators houses.  It was a pretty long day so when we got back at about 9 00 I was going to take a shower.  But that was when I figured out that we dont have one...  I had to shower with a bucket.  So I said screw it and i went to study.  But then the next day I had to take my first bucket shower.  It wasnt to bad.  And now I actually quite like it after 6 days of a bucket shower.  But I love the Area here and the people are so giving.  I dont have a lot of time today so I will explain more next week when I also know a little bit more about what is going on.  But I absolutely love the work.  And a line from one of my favorite songs now, the song is by the band Jonny likes, and it says,  this is the hardest thing I have ever loved to do and it is so true.  Thanks for all of the support.  And I dont have time for a scripture this week so it will have to wait until next week.

Love Elder Jeffrey Stuart

Photos!

 That is my district.  Next to me going from right to left is Elder Pyper, Hansen, Wilson, Uribe, and Dixon.  Dixon and Hansen are companions, Wilson and Uribe are companions.  And Elder Dixon is the one we met at the airport.  He is a huge nerd... Then the hermanas going from left to right are Hna. Brewster, Brower, Conover, Godfrey, Darger, Funk and then our teacher Hna Chavez.

Earthquake!!!

This week has been a very exciting week!!  I experienced my first earthquake and it was pretty awesome...  We were in our class when it happened and it was a 5.9 where I am, although Jonny said it was a 6.2, Im not quite sure exactly what it was but it was pretty interesting.  But anyway we were sitting in class and all of a sudden all the desks started to move.  Nothing was destroyed which made the experience pretty fun.  It was a side to side earthquake which I have come to find out isnt as dangerous as an up and down earthquake.  Then after the earthquake they made us all go outside and get a little lecture on what to do in case of an earthquake.  And this was at night, so they gave each companionship a flashlight in case there was an aftershock.  But there was no aftershock.  So I can now check that off my bucket list of surviving an earthquake.

 

For my p-day last week we got to go to wal-mart which was extremely fun.  We dont get to leave the CCM very often so it was awesome to be able to go and experience some of the things of Guatemala.  Wal-mart here looks just like the U.S. ones but most of the prices are a lot lower here.  I fould 2 Gatorade bottles for 10 quetz which is about 1.5 dollars.  So I have this feeling that I will be living of Gatorade because it was cheaper than any other drink.  Also for p-day we got to go to a wendys, and this was the first American food that I had had for four weeks and it was amazing.  But it was funny because we had to order in spanish, because we´re in Guatemala, and the lady taking our order talked super fast.  So most of the elders would say what they wanted and then the lady would ask them a bunch of questions like what they wanted with their food and we would all just nod and say ¨si¨  so a lot of the elders didnt get what they wanted because they couldnt understand her.  So that was quite the experience.  Also we went to a church that had a field and everything, so we played soccer there.  I have come to love soccer, and Im not going to lie Im pretty dang good...  ok not really but it is fun to play.

 

The Latinos here are some of the funniest people I have met.  They are always so upbeat and ready to talk to us Nortes, they like to make fun of us because we cant understand them a lot of the time.  And also they always want us to teach them english.  Although they dont want to learn good english all they want to learn is slang... so it is kind of fun.  The Latino in my room now always says, ¨what is going down up in here¨ because Elder Hansen taught him that.  So it is pretty fun to hang around with the Latinos.  But they are also some of the most spiritual people I know.  This week there was a Latino that went home, because he didnt feel worthy to be on a mission, but it was an awesome experience to watch the love that all the Latinos showed for him.  The night before he went home, all the Latinos were in his room just talking to him.  They werent mad at him, or telling him that he was doing something terrible, they had a testimony meeting, and talked to him to help him feel better.  This went on for about two or three hours.  So the Nortes that were in his room had to come stay in our room for a little bit, because they wanted only latinos in there.  They stayed up until about midnight talking to him.  Then in the morning the elder left at four in the morning.  And about thirty of the elders woke up at four with him and said good bye to him.  It was awesome to see the love that the Latinos have for others.

 

My scripture for the week is D and C 4:3.  If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.  I have always loved that scripture and it has helped me to know that if I have a desire to serve, God will help me in all that I do.

 

Love, Elder Jeffrey Stuart

Kek´chi

Not much has happened this week.  Life gets kind of repetitive in the CCM but it is awesome because of how much we are learning.  I have learned so much spanish that I can now basically carry on a conversation with my latino roomates.  So that is awesome, and also I can understand spanish almost fluently.  So I cant wait for when I get been one of my dreams.  Also it has been confirmed that I will be learning the dialect in Coban and basically only speak it.  It is called Kek´chi.  So when I return hopefully I will be tri-langual.  Me and Elder Pyper have met some of the Latinos that are in the CCM that are from Coban and we have tried to talk to them so that we can learn a little bit of Kek´chi but it is hard to learn from them, because we dont speak enough spanish to ask them how to say things in Kek´chi because we are trying to translate from english to spanish to ask them, then the tell us the Kek´chi word, which we have to translate into spanish then into english to understand... So if that even made any sense, it is hard to learn it from them, but we are trying.

Tomorrow for P-day we get to go to Wal-Mart which is the thing that basically all the missionaries look forward to here.  So that is going to be a party, because they dont really have a lot of American stores here.  But we get to also go to Wendys that day too, so that is what I am really looking forward too because I have been craving some sort of American food.  So tomorrow is going to be a good day.

Also I was talking to one of the Elders that got to the CCM at the same time that I did, and his name is Elder Mckay Kearsley.  We were talking and then he said something about golf and I said that I played golf.  Then he said ¨Thats where I know you from!¨  So I asked him how he knew me and he said that he played in a golf tournament with me one time.  But I was a little confused because I didnt remember him.  He said it was the Brigham City invitational, and that he plays for Morgan High, which is 3A, and they were invited to the same tournament as Woods Cross. I told him that it probably wasnt me he knew because I didnt play in that tournament, but then I remembered that Ryan did! He says he played in the first spot for Morgan and that he played with a Woods Cross guy but he cant remember if it was Ryan or if Ryan was in the second spot, but he remembers Ryan.  Ryan do you remember a Mckay Kearsley?  But yeah I thought that was cool and I finally found my first connection in guatemala.

Anyway thanks for all of the support and letters that you guys have written.  I really appreciate it.  My scripture is 1st Nephi 3:7.  I know that this scripture is well known, but it has popped up in my teachings like four of the last five times, so I figured it is important to share with you guys.  ¨And it came to pass that I Nephi said unto my father, I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded for I know that the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the things which he commandeth them.¨ I really like that scripture, and how it shows that the Lord is on our side and that he wants us to keep his commandments so that we can return to live with him.

Love Elder Jeffrey Stuart

Market!

This week for our p-day we got to go to the market that was in the city of guatemala.  It was awesome to be able to leave the MTC and go into the city for a change.  But it sure is nothing like America, but I love it here.  But the market was awesome, it was in kind of an underground area that had hundreds of stores.  It was awesome though because the aisles in the market were only about 3 feet wide and there were stores packed up and down the aisles of people trying to sell things to us.  It was crazy how many stores were packed into such a little area.  But while I was there I bought a shirt that says ¨guats up¨ and a machete...  I love the shirt, but it is a little short.  But it doesnt matter, because it still fits.  But in the market you get to barter with the owners and that was quite the fun experience. So I bought the shirt for 30 quetzals, which is about 4 dollars or so, And the machete for 100 quetzals, which is about 15 dollars.  So it is quite the bargain to find things down here because everything is so cheap.  Also I have had an awful cough this week but I dont feel sick so that doesnt bother me, but it is annoying to have.  Not much else has happened this week, but I am glad to hear about all of the missionaries from home that are leaving, because I know that it is the right thing to be doing.  I also love the amount of time that we get here to study the gospel.  I have already almost finished the book of mormon again since I got here, and Im about half way through Jesus the Christ.  I love to study the gospel, although back at home it was something that I didnt really do, I wish that I would have spent more time reading the scriptures and learning about Christ.  Because I absolutely love to learn about Christs life and all that he has done for us.  My scripture this week is John 10:17-18.  I absolutely love this scritpure and it says, ¨Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.  I have power to lay it donw, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father.¨ Obviously that is Christ speaking, and this scripture shows to me that Christ was willing to do anything for us even if it meant suffering through something that he could have avoided.  I love the Gospel and I cant wait to be serving the people of Coban!      Love, Jeffrey Stuart