Sunday, January 18, 2015

Photos!

Looking for a less active and going way out into the middle of nowhere to look for them coming to their house just to figure out that they now all live in the States...  Bummer




My companions birthday (the 8th) and it was on the same day as interviews with president... so we got to eat pretty good... Pizza and Cake....




Another week down!

We are back for another week of writing!  Well this week was an interesting week here in Cubulco!  Church this week was a pretty good week!  We were able to have quite a few people in church which was pretty good... but the only problem is that all the investigators and less actives that had been going for like 2 or 3 weeks decided to not go last week... and all the new people that we found went... so we were still missing a lot of people which is kind of a good thing.. which means there is a lot of room to progress... but a little sad because we could have had a lot more than the 27 people that we had in church!  But we are hoping for a good week next week too!

As for me and Elder Gomez... we are doing great!  We are getting along pretty well.. and he is starting to break out of his shyness.. still isnt quite there.. but he is doing a lot better than he was when he started the mission!  So we are doing good with that!  

And lastly I have really come to recognize the importance of goals in life!  I absolutly love putting goals now!  It is something that if you dont do it right now... you should because it really helps!  But anyways that is all...

Love Elder Stuart

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Photos!

Fireworks on New Years, the people by our house started a little fire... oops... but it didnt get bigger than what it is in the picture... like 2 inches big... so I guess you could say that they didnt even start a fire.. but whatever...  



Me and Elder Zaugg on divisions

Mutual for the group... we played basketball!

And some little kid that we are teaching (his mom) and he thinks he is rambo...

New Year!!!!!!!

This week was a pretty good week here in Guatemala.  We were able to have a good attendance in Sacrament meeting!  We had 23 people there!!!!!!  We are growing so quickly here in Cubulco!  We are looking to have at least 6 potential melchezidek preisthood holders before april so that we can become a branch!  We have just got 3 to go!  And we have dates set for baptism for 2 of them and another one who is almost reactivated! It will probably just take him like 3 or 4 more weeks to get reactivated and 3 or 4 weeks to baptize them!  So we are looking pretty good!  We will have the goals met by march so that we have a month of consistancy and then we are going to present the group to the area to see if they let us be a branch!!!  I am so happy to see the progress of the group!  When I was here in Rabinal last year there wasnt a single member active in Cubulco.. and when I got here this year there were 4!  So I am super happy to see the progress of my area!  It is super great!!!!!

then also as for the other parts of the work it is all going smoothly!  So me and Elder Gomez are doing good!  Not many problems as of right now!  

Love Elder Stuart

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Photos

These Photos come from Sister Elise Pack's mother.  She posted them on Facebook and they are from around Thanksgiving time.  Which is perfect, because it was during the time Jeffrey didn't have a camera!  Sister Pack is in Jeffrey's district.  

Elise's District threw a surprise Birthday Party for her!



A Group of Missionaries who got together for Thanksgiving. 


The Zone (with two sisters missing).



Photos!

Jeffrey's camera has been broken, and after a few attempts of getting a new one to him, he finally just went and bought his own, so we now have pictures again!

Our Christmas party as a District...  In one of those pictures you can find Elder Gomez.  But yeah that is it...  



2 of the houses that we visited and there are some of the pictures of the food we ate.. and those are the people that we ate with... that man is and Investigator... 


And the other group is basilio, Erika, and Luki (our baptism from 3 weeks ago)...  and also where the picture is with Basilio is where we have church!  so that is the capital!

Christmas night at a members house!  We opened presents and everything!



Us walking out to the baptism.. and we walked a long way... and all those people walking are the members from Cubulco!  We walked about 1 hour into the mountains... to find this river looking thing to baptize her!  There is me her, and my companion!  


Another week without snow...

Well family this week was pretty great!  We were able to have Christmas and a baptism!  We were a pretty happy pair of missionaries...  This letter is going to be pretty short.. first off because we talked on Christmas... but also because not much happened this week... Everytçbody was celebrating Christmas and they didnt really leave time for us... but we still had a good week.

As for the work part, all was great... because we were able to have the baptism of Lucia this saturday... she was actually going to get baptized the next week, but for two reasons she got baptized this week... first her husband is going to the states this week and so she did it on saturday so that he could be there... and the second reason was because she said, "I am sick of going to your church without being a member.  I just want to be a member already!"  So we were pretty happy to hear that.  

Now as for the other part...  the Christmas part.  Well here in Guatemala they all make tomales for Christmas and well we were able to take part in all that!  Usually a person eats about 3 or 4 if they are hungry... well on Christmas eve we ate 8... so that was pretty great!!!  They are super good!  So we were super excited for that...

Sorry for the short letter... but now I will send the pictures... FINALLY!!!!!

Love Elder Stuart

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!! VERY IMPORTANT!!! READ ALL OF IT!!!!!!!

HELLO MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!  Well we have entered into the Christmas week!!!  I hope that everyone is enjoying their Christmas season!  Things here in Guatemala are going great!  We have some good things going on here in Guate!  Especially in Cubulco!  This week we sadly had to go to church in Rabinal which is like 30 minutes in bus, but we were able to get 17 people to church including one of the investigator families that came and that we are hoping are going to be baptized on the 3rd!!!!  They are super awesome!!  They have been to church every single week since we got to know them which was like 5 weeks ago... but sadly it has now been confirmed that the dad (Marcos) is leaving for the United States on the 1st of January... which is really sad for us and his family... and honestly we dont really know why he is going because he is going to miss his family a ton, because unlike many guatemalan men, he actually cares and loves his family a lot!!!!  So we are super sad to see him go... but we are hoping that he will be able to continue listening to the gospel there and that he will be baptized!!!!  But as for his family... they are super great!  His wife is named Lucia and his son misael who is 6 and his daughter maibely who is 3.  So they are super great and also Lucia has a sister named maria elena who is also going to get baptized with Lucia!  So we are super excited for all of them!!!!!

For the other parts of Cubulco all is well and we are having a lot of success these past weeks, although it has been the Christmas season and all the people are leaving on vacation.. we have been able really strenghten the members that are here... so that after the Christmas season they will be able to strengthen the members who didnt really come to chruch during this season... so we are a little bit excited for the month of January!  And the whole next year!!!!  

As for me in this year and a half (not quite but on my way there) in the mission I have really come to love my Savior a lot more and this really have been the best 16 months of my life... I just want to share with you guys my feelings, (I know it isnt common from me but we are at a special time of the year) about the gospel.  Recently I have been studying a little bit about the difference between the flesh and the spirit.... and how we need to put of the flesh of our body (not literally but theoretically) and let the spirit take control of the things that we do... this includes when we do something good that we dont really want to do we have officially put to one side our wants and let the spirit take over...  Or in other words if you want up sunday morning at 8 and you dont have the desire to go to church YOU GO...  Because that is officially when you have put off the flesh and are following the spirit, which always will tell you to go to church it doesnt matter what the circumstances are.  So when I came into the mission I came for many reasons of the flesh... ex. to learn a new language, to get to know a different place, to figure out how to talk to people and many reasons more... and my reasons of the spirit were few... Obviously I wanted to serve Christ or I wouldnt have come... but I have come to realize that to be successful in the mission it takes a lot more than just a desire of your heart... it takes a desire from your spirit.  For those that are going to serve a mission learn that, now!  And I promise that your mission will be 29387 million times better!  

I have learned so much over these months.. but the thing that I believe that I learned that is the most important thing... is how to be happy... DOESN`T MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCE OR WHATEVER IS GOING ON IN OUR LIVES WE NEED TO BE HAPPY AND FOLLOW CHRIST!  The scriptures teach us that we cannot have happiness if we are men of the flesh.. or as they put it ¨the natural man¨ cannot be a happy man...  We must be completely enveloped in the spirit to have joy... but it also tells us that to have a perfect joy we must have a body... and so in other words our spirit must be so strong that the flesh doesnt interfere with our spirit but it is still present.  Or like the common phrase we must be in the world, and not of the world... the same goes for our body/flesh... we must be in our body but not of our body...  To obtain joy!!  

So in this Christmas season dont look for other things that are of the flesh to make you happy or to bring you joy... let your spirit take over and bring you this joy...  To finish this long email... I want you guys to look at the difference in matthew 5:48 and 3 nephi 12:48... basically these 2 chapters are word for word the same... basically.  BUT there is an important difference in these two scriptures that explains a little bit of what I was saying... it has to do with the resurrection of Christ and the difference between him before the death and after the death... I hope you can figure out this difference and what it really takes to have a true joy this christmas season... and how important it is that Christ died, AND RESURRECTED for us...  so that one day we might be able to have a perfect joy like him....  I am a joyful person these days... but not for the success in the mission, not for the christmas season... but because I have understood the true meaning of having joy and learned how I can have this joy!  

I love you all and this is my testimony of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter Day Saints.. I know that it is the true church and that through this church we can have joy... and I share this with you guys in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love Elder Stuart

P.S. Sorry for the long letter.