Photos!

Some ghetto part of a city just outside of rabinal... and everybody there thought we were like investigators or something...

A tiny bonfire thingy that some investigators made for me, because I was leaving...

And a pancake that I made that was perfect.... so I took a picture!

Changes!

This week has been a little exciting!  We started out with accidentally going on a little adventure!  we were going to go to a new investigators house and we had never been there before, and we ended up having to cross a river... but there was a bridge a little away, but we couldnt get to it! So we crossed the river using the help of little kids that were bathing in the river, and they spent like 15 minutes building us a bridge out of rocks so that we cross without getting in!  So that was pretty exciting!  

We also finally changed houses here in Rabinal after about 3 months of looking... and the new house is pretty great! but the shower doesnt work again... so we still have to take bucket showers... which still sucks... But I like the new house... But I have a change... So I wont even be in Rabinal anymore...  But whatever!  I will be going to an area named Los Campos 2, just outside of Coban!  So I am going to be close to Coban, which is the biggest city in our mission!  and with that comes a Ward!  So I will actually be in one of the 5 wards in the mission!  Instead of a branch of 35 ish people!  so Im pretty excited for that! So I will be getting a new comp again... but I dont know who yet!  So I will figure all that out tomorrow when I go to my new area!  So I am a little bit sad to be leaving Rabinal, but I am excited to have a change!  

Thanks for all of the support and until next time!!!!!!!

Love Elder Stuart

Photos!

The tic in my comps leg...

Do you like boards... this is my board....

Teaching little kids, then drawing a little

A waterfall we went to today!

We waited on the curb for about an hour waiting for a bus that never came at night so we had to wake up at 5 30 today to go to the waterfall instead of staying over at our leaders house...

And our baptism!

este semana fue loco y no puedo pensar de un nombre para mi subjecto, entonces aqui esta...

Well first off I hope you guys understand that subject... I couldnt think of one but this week was crazy!  First off starting out on last p-day, after we wrote you guys we went to go on a hike up to this mountain that has the name of Rabinal on it. It would be kind of like hiking to the B or something, but this hike did not have any paths...  So we were walking through backyards... if you can even call them that...  and fields of grass that were as tall as us and then basically scaled a part of the mountain, and then we were about half way there...  so we kind of took a break because my comp was feeling a little lightheaded, and he thought that was weird, because he is a hiker, and this was super easy...  So during our break, he saw something on his leg and he went to hit it away, but it didnt leave.  Well it turns out that it was a tic.  So we ended our hike because I think that it was just sucking out his energy so we went back to our house to call the nurse to figure out how to get rid of it... Oh and by the way we named it Dick the tick...  I dont know if that is exactly appropriate but whatever...  So we went back to the house and called the nurse and the nurse said that we should just pull it out with tweezers and that it should come out and to call him if we had any questions...  and this is what we had always heard not to do... but we tried it and it wouldnt come out, so i burnt it with a match because that is what we thought would be best, and then we pulled it one more time and it came right out!  So that was quite the experience, and I am now officially a tic pulling out expert...  So if you have any questions, call me, maybe...  oh and my comp was ticked because he had a tic...  Just so you know we have about a million more puns about this tic...

Also on Wednesday we had the baptism for lili and my comp baptized her so that is his first baptism and that is super cool!!!!!!  It was great and her family which wasnt really interested came to her baptism and they also came to church for her confirmation!  So that was super exciting!  And also she is inviting  basically her whole neighborhood to come and learn with us!  So it is super exciting here right now!  So yeah this week was super crazy!  But super exciting!

Love you all!!!!  

Elder Stuart

Photos!

>Me<

Me and my comp bought the same shirt while we were in the CCM, but we didnt even know it... But I had it first.........

NEW YEARS EVE!!!!!

This week was pretty greaat!!!  With new years and all there were a lot of fireworks to watch and here and it was pretty exciting.  But this week in the market where they all sell their fireworks, there are millions of fireworks stores just filled with fireworks, a drunk guy was smoking and he threw his cigar onto a firework stand, and the whole thing blew up... along with two other stores...  But it wasnt that big of a deal, because the stores in the market here and just a table and they put everything on the table, but yeah three tables of fireworks blew up...  And we were about a block away when it happened, and we saw the police pull up and beat up the drunk guy, because there are no laws here, and throw him in the back of there truck and drive away...  So that was a pretty great experience, it was super exciting to watch, because we got a free, huge, firework show!  But a really cool thing that happened too is that one of the members has one of these stores of fireworks and it was right next to the ones that blew up, and she was super lucky that hers didnt blow up, and so she was going around telling everyone it was a blessing from God, so that was a really cool experience!

 

Also another really cool spiritual experience that happened this week is that the elders from cubulco, the area right next to mine, had a baptism and we took one of our investigators to the baptism, but she was having doubts on whether or not she wanted to get baptized, so we didnt even have like a date for her to get baptized or anything, but she told us after that she wants to get baptized this saturday!  But not only that one of the members said that all the teenagers were going to the temple this saturday, and our investigator, Lili and she is 16, said that she wanted to go!  So she is going to get baptized this wednesday, in two days, and then go to the temple to do baptizms for the dead on saturday!  That was such a cool spiritual experience!  So Im super excited for that! 

 

Not much other than that happened this week but those experiences were super exciting!  Things are getting better here each day, and suprisingly im loving the mission more each day, which I didnt know was possible!  My scripture for this week is John 3 16-17.  That one is super common, but I love it!

 

Love Elder Stuart

Photos!

My giant pile of candy!  P.S. it is almost gone already...

Everybody getting their candy!

Their birthday cake!  It looks fantastic, but it reminded me of the turkey from Christmas Vacation, so Im sure you can guess how it tasted...

They have gringos for their piñatas... I dont know if I should be scared to be mistaken for a piñata...

Me opening my presents!  In my bazinga shirt that cost, 40 ish cents...

Me and my comp............

My comp getting made fun of, without even knowing it...

Us eating at a members house... It is spaghetti, but it wasnt that great...

Christmas!

This week was fantastic!  We had a ton of fun and we worked super hard!  It was super fun to talk to you guys on christmas, that definately was the best part of all of it!  It was so great!  And that package was just the best thing I have ever gotten, and there was more stuff in there than I usually get for christmas so that was a bonus...  It was a fantastic Christmas!  It was so great to be able to the work of the lord on his birthday, for me it was kind of like a birthday present from me to him...  So I was happy about that!

The work here in Rabinal was a little bit slow though, because it is such a small town that everybody always goes to the bigger towns for Christmas with their family, and the people that were there had family from somewhere else, so not many people wanted to hear our message, but it was great for me to be doing the work of the lord on his birthday!  It was great to be able to do that!

Things are going good though right now, we are teaching a family of all women, which is pretty common, because the dads are a lot of the times in the US working.  But we are teaching the mom and her three daughters so that is going pretty great!  Also we are teaching this kid named Jose, which is great because he wants to learn more english, he already knows a little, and so that is good because my comp can teach him a little bit more because he knows english.  So that is great for my comp, and this kid because they can both practice the language!

New Years is going to be crazy here, and it sounds like it wont be quite as crazy there, but that is kind of a good thing...  There are going to be so many people out partying for new years here, it will be crazy!  But im excited to see it!

Thanks for all the support!  My scripture this week is Helaman 5 12.  I know that if Christ is our foundation we cannot fall!  I love that scripture!

Love Elder Stuart

Photos!

My professional omelete(who knows if I spelt that right...)  making skills!

My packing waiting...

A huge fire that we made in our house... It ended up destroying that pipe... oops....

Our District christmas party for the three branches in our zone!

Our zone party for Christmas today.  We did kind of a white elephant thing and it was GREAT!

CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!!!!!

IT IS CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!  I honestly cant believe it!  Time has literally flown by!  And it doesnt really feel like christmas with out snow, but It is great here to see all the traditions of the Guatemalans!  So it is great here, we are going to have little activities tomorrow and wednesday with members and some of our investigators, so that will be fantastic!

This past week has been a little crazy.  My comp got a little sick on wednesday and he had such a high fever so we stayed in the house for that day... but it was great because we practiced our spanish, and studied a ton so that was great, and kind of bad for him at the same time...  But we had some good lessons this week with a girl that we are going to baptize this saturday! So we are super excited for that, because we thought that her mom wasnt going to give her permission, because her mom had said for like the past month, that her daughter cant get baptized, but after a lot of fasting and praying she finally has permission so that is fantastic!  It really does show the power of Fasting and prayer!  It is so AWESOME!

Also In church yesterday we had the primary program, but the only problem is that we only have two kids in primary in our branch... so we had to bring kids from the Branch in Salama.  But it was still fantastic to see all the kids there.  I felt the spirit so strong to here the testimonies of little kids.  Because they may not know everything about the church but the had faith to get baptized.  I just wish that our Investigators could see this, because there are a ton of people who say that they need to know everything about the gospel before they get baptized, even though they know it is the right thing to do. Children are such good examples!!!

Not much else happened last week, but Im so excited for this week, It will be fantastic!  There is so much love going on around here, so I think that it will be a good time to teach new people!  Also Im super excited to talk to you guys!  CANT WAIT!

My scripture this week is 3rd nephi, 9 22.  This talks about becoming as a little child and being baptized!  How great right!!!!!

Love Elder Stuart!