Changes

This week we received our changes and I am finally leaving my area to go to an area named La Libertad in Peten... So I am excited to go there and I am going to have a gringo companion named Elder Loveland... so that will be interesting... It will be my third companion that doesnt have spanish as a native language...  So that is pretty  interesting!  So I am super excited for that!  I have heard many good things about him.

But this week was kind of a bummer, but also super good... We didnt end up baptizing douglas, because on thursday he had a lot of doubts and he did have the desire to get baptized still but we told him that he couldnt... we felt that it would be better if he waited until he had a little bit stronger of a testimony... which was hard for me because that meant that I wasnt going to be there for his baptism...  But I did learn that it is best to do what is best for them and not for me, so Ill be excited to hear about his progress throughout the weeks that I wont be there, but he is going to get baptized in like 3 weeks... 

But we had a pretty good week because one of our investigators, named Daniela, We had been teaching her for about 3 months back in like march, but then in late may early june, her dad called, who lives in a different part of Guatemala, and said that she couldnt listen to us anymore... so we stopped teaching her, because we didnt want her dad to get mad... But then a week ago she came to church out of the blue... so we were a little bit surprised by that, so we started to teach her again this past week and she is super excited to get baptized... she said that it doesnt matter what her dad says, that she knows this church is true and that she wants to follow god, not her dad... So that was super good and this week (yesterday) she came to church alone again, even though it was raining and she had to walk 10 minutes!  So that was super good, so my companion will be baptizing her this next 6 weeks!

So things are going pretty good over here!  I am a little bit sad to leave my area because I had some close relations with the people there, and so im going to miss them, but I am super excited for the next area!  I am happy to have a new start again, looking in new places for people to teach about the gospel!  So I am super excited for that!

Hasta pronto...

Love Elder Stuart

Oh and p.s. I am sending a package home with elder Welker... He was Jonnys companion in the CCM and well they are going to meet up after the mission... I think so he will be taking that home for me... Ill give more details on what is for who and things like that when you guys get it!  

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.........

Photos!

Elder Brito and I were playing with an Investigators cat.

Me wanting to drive a Tuctuc

And my thanksgiving Dinner!

This is my family in the mission!  there is me, but not in order, my dad Elder Brito, his dad Elder Bashaw, his dad Elder Trujillo, his dad Elder Deschazer, and his dad Elder Escobar.  Also Elder Tellez is another son of Bashaw...

Me and Jonnys comp from the CCM. Elder Welker

Some moth thing that we found that had huge scizzor like thingys for its mouth or whatever you call that thing.  

Me and Jonnys comp from the MTC, Elder Ashcroft, eating our thanksgiving pizza

The turkey before it was cut...

Photos!

This is where we went today for pday.  It was an awesome waterfall, so I figured that I would stall on it.

This is me giving a word of wisdom pamphlet to a drunk guy.  It was pretty fun.  Then we walked around the corner after and we saw another one, so elder Brito was going to do it too, but then some random people walked up and put like a cherry bomb by his head.  When it went off the guy didnt even budge.  So we decided to leave.

This is me and elder brito on a bridge that we walk across almost every day.  It is beautiful

This is my house.  In the door on the right is our room, and my bathroom is right by my suitcases.  Notice my suitcases still have the red things on them...  Elder Britos desk is the desk on the right, and mine is on the left.  Also our kitchen is to the right of where im standing.  This water jug thing is where we get all the water that we take in.  Drinking, brushing teeth, and for cooking.  It sucks to not be able to use a sink...

This is my room in the CCM.  I was in the top bunk on the right.

This is me Elder Pyper Elder Hansen and Elder Dixon.  These were some of my closest friends in the CCM

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

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

First Week!!!

Ok so now I have a lot more time to write, then I did on the first day... so be prepared!  So after you dropped me off at the airport, I went to the gate with Elder Dixon, and to our surprise there were like 5 other missionaries sitting there!!  So we decided to sit with them.  By the time that we were to board the flight, there were 30 Elders and Sisters on our flight!  But that was only to LA.  When we got to LA after about 2 hours, we found even more missionaries.  So on our flight from LA to Guatemala, I think that there were 50 missionaries that were all going to the Guatemala MTC. When we boarded, I was in the middle seat.  That sucked flying through the night in a middle seat, between two Guatemalans.  But I still ended up sleeping for all five hours, because I was tired, so I slept.  When we landed we were all put into a school bus that said I love Jesus, and Jesus loves us all over it, so that was awesome.  Then we rode on the bus for about an hour to the MTC, or as they call it here the CCM. We got there and were shown to our rooms.  There are three bunks in each room and the person you share the bunk with is your companion.  So my companion for the whole week is Elder Pyper.  He is kind of an interesting guy.  He is the type of person that skips leg day in the gym.  He is a die hard workoutaholic...  He can basically do anything with his arms, but his legs are little.  So yeah he kind of look like an upside down pyramid...  But he is a good guy, even though he doesn’t like to be on time to things. So we got there at about 7:30 and we were given the option to unpack or to take a nap until 10:30.  So I decided to unpack, because I was excited to get out and work.  Then at 10:30 the MTC president and his wife talked to us and told us the logistics of what we are going to do here, and that it will be the best time of our lives.  Then we had class for a little and then lunch.  I liked the food here the first two days, but then it went downhill, and I’ll explain that later.  Then after lunch we got to email you guys and tell you we got here.  Then we had more lectures, dinner, more class, then we went to prepare for bed. So if we had unpacked earlier we got to go to bed at about 9:00 but if we hadn’t unpacked we had to unpack then go to bed.  So I got to go to bed early that night.  When I went to bed that night it was just me and Elder Pyper, but when we woke up in the morning, there were four new Latino missionaries in the room with us.  So we woke up to having four new roommates... that was weird. So we basically have the same schedule every day, and it is already after a week getting super boring, but whatever.  We wake up, shower, eat breakfast, go to class for four hours, eat lunch, go to class for three hours, have sports for an hour, eat dinner, then prepare, and teach an investigator until 9:00, then plan for tomorrow and do other stuff until 10:30, then we go to bed.  So yeah it is kind of repetitive, but it is worth it, because I have already learned so much Spanish, that I already can’t evenn speel in english...  ok... that was just a joke. But it is coming along great!!! When we teach our investigator we have to teach him in Spanish.  So that is a challenge, but it helps a ton.  We teach one investigator as a district, and we have 6 companionships in our district.  Three are Elders, and three are hermanas.  Also elder Dixon that we met at the airport is in my district so that is cool.  And from our district, we have our district leader, the zone leader, and the zone leader type of thing that is for the sisters.  So our district is basically the best, but I’m not supposed to say that because it isn’t a competition, but we are the best... Also in the Guatemala MTC, they let us teach real investigators.  So the investigator that we are teaching is one of the kitchen workers.  His name is Daniel and he works here but isn’t mormon, and we know that for sure, because we kind of stalked him to see if he was a real investigator, so yeah he is real.  And he wanted to know more about what we do as missionaries.  And on the third lesson as a district, we got him to commit to baptism, and I was the one who did it!  It was amazing to feel the spirit that missionaries get when they are teaching the gospel, and to hear the investigator say that he wants to be baptized.  So we are passing him off to the "real" missionaries.  So that was a great experience to be able to teach him. But the food here tastes good but sucks!  Almost everyone in the MTC that came in our group got dirrhea (maybe I spelled that right) by the third day, except for me!!!  So right now I’m going strong on a week without having dirrhea.  The food tastes good, but it never does sit well, but it has never made me sick, so I guess I’ll just have to get used to that. Thank you for all the emails they were great. Love you, Jeffrey Stuart. P.S.  I couldn’t figure out how to use the enter key...