Photos!

Us trying to take a district photo... and failing twice before we got a good one... we only had 10 seconds...  

Um it rained a lot here...  This was in the street... um the water in the STREET was up to our knees... I dont know how it happened but yeah that is how it was... and there was a foot or two of water in some houses... so yeah that was kind of sad.. but it was pretty cool to see so much rain!

Me and elder Call... dont know if you guys  remember him, but he was by me back in Rabinal about a year ago... and we ended up doing a division this week, so we were having some fun... this is his house... one of the nicest houses in the mission... and also this lake is in the area of him, so we were passing by and I wanted to take a picture.... so yeah that was a pretty good day!

Photos!

These are the eggs that Elder Aybar, the comp of Elder Call, made for us...

We had cockroaches in our bathrooms this week.  This was the before and after...

This is me being chapin(native)  Carrying a ton of wood on my head...

More Photos! - Taken from Elder Call's Blog!

Hello Everyone!  This is Elder Stuart's sister (the one who posts his emails and photos for him!)  We were trying to find an address to send Jeffrey's Christmas package to and came across the blog for Elder Call who was Jeffrey's companion for a couple of weeks while Jeffrey was in a trio.  You can check out Elder Call's blog about his experiences by clicking on the link to the left (where our brother's mission blog is as well!).  My mom and I decided to take a look through some of Elder Call's pictures to see if there were any of Jeffrey, and we found these wonderful pictures of Jeffrey!  We don't have too many pictures of Jeffrey himself, because he always seems to take pictures of other things.

I have taken all of the following pictures of Jeffrey off of Elder Call's blog as well as the captions that accompany the pictures.  Thanks for sharing pictures of my brother Elder Call!

taking one of the members home from after church haha with this elder in my district. haha this elder has 1 week in the mission. how can i have almost a year in the mission. i feel like i am in my first week also.  [22 Sep 2013]

lunch with the elders in my distric the hermanas live like 2 hours away  [25 Sep 2013]

eating lunch at a members house  [12 Oct 2013]

church activity for el dia del nino  [12 Oct 2013]

the missionaries in my branch and i took a pic of the funniest guy in the branch nicco he just sleeps during everything haha  [12 Oct 2013]

my comp and the elders in rabinal all in the hamaca  [20 Oct 2013]

dinner at robertos house  [5 Nov 2013]

stuart and i tortillaring in our house haha  [9 Nov 2013]

the baptism and i'm soaking wet with a broken belt haha  [9 Nov 2013]

stuart baptizing  [9 Nov 2013]

today at some like sugar factory museum thing  [11 Nov 2013]

All photos are credited to Elder Call

Photos!

This is the picture of the cake that we ate for Calls 1 year!

We have no idea what this was or what it was for, but whatever it was, here it is.  

This is one of the streets in Rabinal, it was a pretty sweet picture so yeah..

And on this sign they spelt my name wrong... so i put the T there...

Sup

Well Im writing today because yesterday we had to back to Coban to get Elder Brito, because he is my comp again!!  Not gonna lie it kind of sucked being in a trio, so Im glad to be back with Brito.  Also we had to stay over night Sunday at the APs house and it was pretty sweet.  We ate McDonalds and we had hot showers so it was like the best day of my life.

 

Not much happened this week, but it was Elder Calls 1 year mark, so we had a little fiesta on wednesday.  We ate an icecream cake that was huge and he burnt his shirt, so that was pretty fun.  But this cake was for 15 people and us three ate it, and I ended up eating half of it because they couldnt eat any more, and it was an Ice cream cake, so we couldnt take it home, because we dont have a freezer.  But it was worth it.

 

Also this week in church was fantastic.  Our branch president came to church, and we also found this less active guy in cubulco, so we had a pretty successful day in church.  It was amazing to see how much more we could feel the spirit with these two preisthood holders in church, instead of the usual one, and it was just fantastic!!

 

Other than that it was kind of a slow week so yeah thats all folks...

 

Love Elder Stuart

My Comps

Well things are going great here in the mission field.  But being in a trio is kind of tough, but it has been helping us a lot with working the two areas because we can do divisions with the members.  So usually 1 or 2 times a week Elder Call and Aybar go to Cubulco to work, and I stay in Rabinal and work with a member.  Its really tough because we only have two people that we can do divisions with, and one of them has to work in the Capital for 15 days then he gets three days off, then goes back...  And the other one is about 100 and sleeps through everything.  So Im basically working on my own, which is kind of weird not having another Elder sometimes, but somehow the work is still progressing in both areas, so that is pretty great.

But our companionship is pretty fantastic.  We all get along well, and we have a lot of fun experiences together.  So all Is going great with that.  Elder Aybar is from the Domincan Republic and he loves baseball, but who doesnt from the Republic...  and yeah he has quite the arm.  Funny story...  So Ive said before how there are always dogs in the streets right... well me and Elder Call are always tossing rocks at the dogs, like just to scare them and stuff because its really funny.  But Aybar didnt like doing this, but one time me and Call were chasing a dog, and all of a sudden a rock passed by us, going about 100 mph, and barely missed the dog.  We turned around, and there was Aybar.  He basically almost killed the dog, but it was hilarious.  So we had to explain that we dont really want to kill the dogs, just scare them.  So thats Elder Aybar for ya.  And Elder Call is hilarious.  There he is from the bay area, and yeah he is hilarious.  So here in guatemala they are constantly making tortillas.  either in their houses or in Tortillarias, i dont know if i spelled that right, but they are constantly working on their tortillas.  So he always asks them if they need help, but they always say know because well were gringos and we dont know how to do these things.  But one time a member said yes she would like some help.  Lets just say that me and Elder Call cant make tortillas.  We sucked at it, but she wanted to help us get better so she bought us all the supplies and crap so that we could tortillar in our house.  So we tried that later in our house and it was an epic failure.  So we are going to give up on our career of tortillando.  So yeah that is a little info about my comps.

Other than that Im not exactly sure what happend this week, because for some reason I have a brain fart every time I go to write on the computer.  So yeah..  Things are going pretty great we are working hard and just having a great time.  Thanks for all the support!!

Elder Jeffrey Stuart

Photos!

This is my dinner.. Hot dogs with eggs ketchup and chili sauce..  a little odd but fabulously delcious.

We built a teepee-bonfire thingy for service because she wanted to burn all this stuff so we had a little fun while we were at it...

We had to move elder Call out of his house because his house was hauted, so this is all their stuff that we moved.  It was fun to play tetris with furniture...

New Comps

Well as I left off last week, my comp, Elder Brito hurt his knee.  I didnt think much of it but we called Hermana Curtiss and she said that we should go to Coban tomorrow, tuesday, and get it checked out.  So we did, we left at like 7 in the morning tuesday to go to the doctor.  So we finally made it to the doctor and he told us that there definately was something wrong and that we need to go to a different doctor to get an MRI.  So we went there and we got the MRI but we couldnt get the results until the next day, wednesday...  So we stayed over night at the assisstants house so that we could get the results and not have to travel back to Rabinal that night.  By the time we had left the final doctor it was like 5 in the night so we spent about 7 hours at the doctors office that day.  That is one example of how bad the doctors are here, because it took 7 hours to tell us that we need an MRI and to go and get it done.  So that was a little long.  But anyways we went to get the results on wednesday and we figured out that Brito shouldnt walk for about a month.  This was really disappointing to hear.  So by the time that we got all his things that he needed from the doctor, like medicine crutches it was 3.  So that was really boring because we had to stay at the assistants house again that night, because they didnt know what to do with us.  So we stayed over night at the assistants house again, which really sucked because we hadnt planned on staying over night, so we had nothing.  We had no new clothes, toothbrushes, or things like that so it really wasnt that great.  So then on Thursday we figured out what we would be doing.  So at about 10 we talked with the president on thursday morning.  He told us that brito was going to stay in the mission office, and that I was going to go work in a different area in a trio with Elders Ashcroft and Tellas.  Elder Ashcroft is the other district leader in my zone, and also he was Jonnys comp in the MTC.  So I was a little sad to be leaving Brito, but it would be cool to work with Ashcroft.  So I got in a car with Elder Kirk, a senior missionary who helps the pres, and he was going to take me to Rabinal to get all my things and then take me to the other area.  He was the guy who worked in the FBI so that was pretty cool to talk to him about his work.  So he dropped me off at Rabinal to pack my things, because he had to go to do something else, and he would come back in an hour.  So there was a member with me, but I wasnt with another missionary at this time which was a little weird, but I packed my stuff and was ready to go.  But then he came back to the house about an hour later to tell me that I was going to stay in Rabinal and be in a trio with Elder Call, my district leader, and His comp, Elder Aybar.  So I didnt have to leave my area which made me pretty happy, but I was a little sad to not work with Ashcroft, because that wouldve been really cool.  So long story short, Brito had to leave and now Im in a trio with Elders Call and Aybar, and im still in Rabinal.  So yeah kind of a long week.  And also we have to work two different areas, their area, Cubulco and Rabinal.  They are about 30 minutes away by bus so that kind of sucks.  But I will explain more of that next week when I have more time. 

 

Anyways the work was a little slow this week, because we werent in Rabinal for half the week and we have to work two areas so we cant only focus on the people here in Rabinal.  This definately showed, because we only had 30 people in church, When we usually have about 40 or 45.  So yeah it just goes to show that working hard and sufficiently really does pay off.  Because we hardly worked in our area this week because of all that was going on, and we had only two thirds of the people in church.  But I know that it was only for this week and that we will be able to get everything back to normal in no time.  But Im super excited to work my butt of this week to get everything back to normal. 

 

Also I cant believe that you guys have already gotten snow!!  Its hard to believe that it can be like 90 degrees here and only a 5 hour plane ride away it is snowing!!  Thats pretty cool.

 

My scripture this week in D and C 121.  I dont want to type it all out but it talks about Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail, and the struggles that he had, but through the help of our Heavenly Father we are able to get through everything.

 

Elder Jeffrey Stuart

Photos!

This is our ward mission leader... He is quite the weird dude, but he is awesome.  

This is me elder call, the other gringo, Elder brito and elder fitzgerald.  Elder Fitzgerald has the glasses.  This was when we were going to our district meeting and our bus got a flat tire.  So we had to wait on the side of the road for about a half an hour.

This was our ward party and that is elder call, He doesnt look to happy...

Conference!!

So this week has been just another week in the field.  Not much happened but the things that usually happen.  But I am loving it here in Guatemala.  It is awesome here!!!  

We didnt have the baptism on saturday because of general conference but it is going to be this saturday.  So im super excited for that because we get to do it in the waterfall that I sent pictures of last week, and Elder Brito said that he was going to let me do it.  So I am super excited for that!!!  

Also General Conference was awesome.  But things here are tough to do, because we dont have a lot of the things from back home, like computers...  So we were watching conference on the computers in the chapel that look like they are from the time of Christ, and they were super slow.  But luckily we had two so me and Elder Call, my district leader, got to watch it in english!!  So I actually understood what they were saying when it wasnt buffering.  So that was pretty awesome.  But yeah it was so slow that we didnt get hardly any breaks in between sessions because they were about 2 hours and 45 minutes a piece.  So on saturday we watched conference from 10 until 9 at night with a little break for lunch but not for dinner.  But it was awesome.  But then on sunday we didnt get to watch the whole thing for either session because it was so slow.  So we only saw about half of each.  So that was a little disappointing.  But anyway about conference...  I dont know if you guys noticed this but i noticed it because it was specifically directed to me.  It was said probably around 7 or 8 times that members and missionaries need to work together.  Elder Ballard in the saturday afternoon challenged each member to find one person to have the missionaries teach before christmas.  I also challenge each one of you to do the same.  I know it might be hard and you probably dont want to, because I know I didnt want to when I was home, but it really is easy and the missionaries will really appreciate it if you do this.  I love it when the members help us, all three of them.  It really does make our lives easier and I know that if you do this youre lives and the people you help lives will be blessed through this.  Also another thing I loved was the line by Elder Holland, of course, that says Gods love is ALWAYS there for us whether we deserve it or not.  I know that that is true and that god is our loving heavenly father.  

Thanks for all that you do for me and all the advice that you guys have given me.  My scripture this week is mosiah 2:17, and it says if you are in the service of your fellow beings you are only in the service of you god.  It is important that we serve others with all our heart might mind and strength, because by doing this we are showing our love for God.

Love Elder Jeffrey Stuart

Rabinal

Dear People

Ok I think that ill be able to write a little more today because I have a little more time.  So yeah things have been great here.  My companion is Elder Brito and he is from Bolivia.  He is pretty sweet, but as I said last time he knows no english so we dont really know a whole lot about each other, but I do know that he has two girlfriends...  I asked him why and he said, so I have a lot of options when I get home.  But yeah whatever that means.  But we get along great and we work well together.  Also we have two other elders, Elder Call, who is from California, and Elder Fitzgerald, who is from Nicaragua, that we spend a lot of time with, because there area is about 30 minutes away and they dont have a lot of things.  Namely food, a church, a way to do laundry, kind of the necessary things for a mission, so they come here often.  Elder Call has been here for 10 months and Elder Fitzgerald got here when I did.  But Elder Call is pretty sweet.  He likes to golf too and his last golf course he played was at Pebble Beach the week before he left.  So that is pretty cool.  Elder Fitzgerald is also a pretty cool guy but we dont talk very much.  So that is all the elders in my district, and elder Call is the district leader.

So some of the physical things of my mission.  My house is pretty sweet, but it is always dirty, with dust and bugs everywhere.  I have figured out that I do have a shower but it only works about once a month according to Elder Brito.  I have a fridge that is about two feet big, and a hot burner for my food, and a microwave.  That is about it, oh and a bed.  But I love my home it feels like home.  And I got to take my first shower on last Thursday.  It was pretty sweet, but I actually think that I like the little bucket shower better.  After having done it for two weeks I kind of like it. Also we dont even have a way to do laundry so we have to pay a member to do it each week which can be good and can be bad.  Its good because we dont have to do it, but its bad because it takes two days for her to do, so sometimes I dont have clean clothes and that sucks but ill get over it.  Also every day for lunch we go out to this same place where we get a thigh of chicken rice and tortillas.  It is pretty good but I think after three months of it I am going to get sick of it.  But it is cheap it is 10 quetz for the meal which is about 1.5 dollars.  So yeah it is a pretty good deal.  But that is about the only food that is here.  All I eat is eggs, peanut butter, bread, chicken, rice, and tortillas, but those are some of my favorite foods so its pretty great.  The town I live in is Rabinal and it is a tiny town, but it is awesome.  The town itself isnt very pretty but the places around the town are awesome, there are a lot of trees and things like that.  But it is super sad, in the town there are tons of dogs everywhere, without owners.  You can see all their bones and stuff like that and a some are just dead on the side of the road.  That is one of the hardest things that I have seen.  So I hope that brindle is doing a little bit better than that...  

But the people here are amazing!!  They are so humble.  They literally have nothing.  It is awesome to see how happy they are with what they have, and how much faith the members have in Christ to help them with what they have.  We have about 20 people who are members in the town and they are some of the strongest people I know.  My first sunday was last week and it was pretty awesome.  But the branch president wasnt there, and he only has one assisstant, because there arent enough other men with the preisthood.  And his assistant wasnt there either, so Elder call presided over the meeting.  So us missionaries ran church the first week I was in the field, and it was a pretty awesome experience.  I have a lot more appreciation for the leaders in the church now.  But anyways I gave a talk too, and passed the sacrament which was way awesome.  

Now as far as the work goes, it is fantastic.  We have a baptism on this saturday, and two more on the 19th of October.  So it is awesome.  I love to teach the people the truth and to see that light in their eyes when they say that they know what we are saying is true.  But I wish I could speak more spanish, because I dont say a ton in the lessons, it is mainly Elder Brito.  I feel like if I could speak in English I would be much better, but I know that the spanish will come.  But I had an awesome experience the other day.  On our bus ride back from our district meeting there was another gringa, or north american who is a woman, on the bus with us.  Actually there were three.  So me and Elder Call taught them, and I could actually do something.  It was pretty sweet. Until we asked them why they were here, and they said they were missionaries too.  That was kind of a bummer, because they probably wouldnt want to know more.  But we continued on teaching them about the book of mormon, and this led into a discussion that was kind of like a bible bash.  They would say something that they thought that we believed in, like we worship Joseph Smith and we would answer using the bible, because they believed in the Bible.  It actually went pretty well and they accepted the book of mormon to read, but I dont think they will follow through, but it would be cool if they did.  So the work has been great and I love to teach the people here because they are so accepting.  

So yeah Im loving it here and I love serving the Lord all the time.  It is hard at sometimes but I know that through Jesus Christ all things are possible.  My Scripture for this week is 1st Nephi 2:20, and it says,  And inasmuch as you shall keep my commandments you shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise, yea even a land which i have prepared for thee, a land which is choice above all other lands.     I love this scripture because it applies to all of us.  If we keep his commandments we will prosper and we will have the help of Christ in our lives.

Love Elder Jeffrey Stuart