Changes

This week has been kind of a crazy week!!!  And a super long one!  But it was super fun!  So we started out on wednesday we did divisions again... and that was fun I was able to go with Elder Salazar and I learned a lot from him and well it was great to be with him for a little bit...

Then on Thursday we had the wedding for Angel and well that was good but it was boring as usual... The weddings here in Guatemala really arent that exciting... but it was really cool to see how happy they are now that they are married... Marriage it is a good thing, do it! So that was super exciting... then on friday we had to prepare everything for the baptism of Angel.. and well we figured out on like tuesday that Rodrigo wouldnt be getting baptized this week so we are planning on him to get baptised the 30th of August... So that will be exciting.. so that made our Friday a little bit easier because we only had to plan for one baptizm...  (p.s. I forgot how to spell baptism, if it is wilth an s or with a z so be patient...)  So then on saturday we baptized Angel and it was so cool!  We baptized him in a river... and that was super cool.. He is probably my best convert yet in the mission!  He is super great!  Im excited for him.

Then on Saturday we figured out our changes!  And I am going to be staying here in La Libertad.. and Elder Loveland is leavin so that is kind of sad... because he was one of my favorite companions...  So I am going to be getting a new companion... Elder Mejia... so I am excited for that!  I have had so many companions... I get a new one basically every change.. but Im ok with that because I am learning a lot of the social skills that I never really practiced before the mission... oops....  But all is well here!

Love Elder Stuart

Photos!

My burning of the shirt for 1 year in the mission!

the Baptism of the Hermanas and Elder Loveland baptized him!

Foto de Conferencia de Zona

Long week...

This week was a pretty long and stressful week... but it was one of the best weeks we have had!  First off we were having a little bit of progress with our 2 investigators that are planning on getting baptized this week and they are both doing good!  We are planning on baptizing Angel and Rodrigo this week... not last week...and so we have got another long week ahead of us for all that.. but we are excited.  We are going to marry Angel on thursday... and then him and Rodrigo are going to get baptized on Saturday...  So those are our plans for this upcoming week!

But this last week was full of stuff that we did... mainly at the latter part of the week... But on Thursday we had a Zone Conference... and President Curtiss ended up showing up so that was pretty cool!  I learned a lot from that!  Then on Friday we went on divisions.. and I stayed here in La Libertad with an Elder named Elder Fitzgerald from Nicaragua... And Elder Loveland went to sayaxché with Elder Gubler... And Sayaxché was actually the last area of Elder Loveland so that was pretty cool for him!  So that was bunch of stuff to do that day... and also on Friday we had a wedding here in La Libertad for the Hermanas... And I witnessed my first wedding and it was a ton of work to prepare... and SUPER BORING... I now know that I am not a wedding person... So that was not very exciting to know that that is how this wedding is going to be this week!  Then after that on Saturday... We took Elder Fitzgerald back to his area in the morning.. and that is like an hour drive, so two both ways... and that wasnt too fun...  Then after that we had to go shopping for some clothes for some baptisms that were going to happen this week... then at about 5 we had to head back to Sayaxché for a baptismal interview... so another two hours...  and so that was just pretty crappy....  Then we went to our house and went to bed... On Sunday, we went to a baptism at 7 in the morning... and when we got there the whole church was flodded with water...so we had to clean all that up and that was kind of frustrating... so yeah basically this week was a pretty stressful week.. but we finally got through it!  

So we are super excited for this next week and we are going to have these two baptisms, so we are hoping and praying a lot for that!

Love, Elder Stuart

Photos!

Just my companion... Elder Loveland!!!  And his super ghetto hat that he uses so that he doesnt get skin cancer.. because it is so hot here!!!!

And us contacting the smallest house I have ever seen on earth... but sadly the people werent there...  so that was sad..  

this is me and my comp on a bicitaxi... and this poor guy was the driver and he was so tired.... but a bici taxi is like a taxi but a guy just drives you around on a bike and you sit down so those are kind of fun...

Also this is All the coins and 1 quet bills that I have saved up in my mission... It is about 500 quetzales... so that is kind of a random fact for you guys... 

Photos!

So last monday after we wrote we went to some haunted house thingy... but not really it was just a house on the side of the road... that nobody owns... so we decided to enter and after going up some creaking half broken stairs we found a noose on the second floor... so we had some fun... 

Just crossing a ferri to go to the area Sayaxche to go to work with Elder Santizo.. who is in the picture...

A baptizm that wasnt ours but he is one of our good friends so we took a picture on his baptism day...

Also Elder Loveland cut his hand up pretty good today.. A fence spike thingy went into his had about a half an inch so yeah that kind of sucks...

Good week!

Well this week has been a great week!  It is just so great to be in the area that Im in with the companion that I have got!  I am enjoying the mission really much right now... We are have success... working hard... and having fun doing it!  So things are just basically going good here! We were able to have a good week and we have even better plans for the next week!  This week that comes is going to be good but the next even better.

So starting with Rodrigo we kind of did a little test with him... He is like 13 years old and we thought that he was just kind of going through the motions of what we teach.. Like just goes to church because we want him to and all that kind of stuff... So we wanted to see how much he really wanted to go to church.. and he already knows all the lessons and baptism and alll that so... we didnt visit him the last week or even remind him that church was this week to see if he would remember to come... and he did!!  So we were super excited to see that he really does have the desire to go to church on his own.  So we are excited for his baptism the next week!  

Also with Angel we are excited for him.. because he is super excited to get married and be baptized... He is literally just so excited!   It is so exciting to see..  So we are going to marry him on the 14th of August and then baptize him on the 16th... But we arent acutally going to marry him.. .we are just planning it all and all that stuff... so that is going to be kind of fun!  

Then we also have visited 3 families this week that are going along pretty good in the church.. they still havent been to church yet.. but they are progressing pretty well and I hope that they will be able to make it to church within these next couple of weeks!  So we have got big plans for this next week...  and so we are excited for that!  

So things are going well now.. and I hope they continue like that!

Elder Stuart

Good Week!

We are having a fantastic time here in la libertad!  We are just working hard and having a lot of fun doing it.. and the success is coming...  So that is all good!  Elder Loveland is one of my favorite companions in the mission... He just a super great guy... We get along so well it is awesome!  It is so much more fun.  

But anyways this week we were able to put to good fechas for baptism for the 16th of August... one with a Person named Angel who is 20 years old... and the other with a kid named Rodrigo who is 13... They are both super great!  Angel is the person that came to church last week and he is super excited to get baptized... he is going to get married the 9th so we are planning his wedding and all that... and then he is going to get baptized the 16th... so that is super great!  And Rodrigo came to church yesterday and we put that goal with him... So that was a great day...

And today we cooked Snikerdoodles... sothat was fun and they were super good!  

Love Elder Stuart

La Libertad 2

Well this week I entered into the area la libertad 2, and it is in peten... and well Peten is super hot!  It is like summer time in utah, but humid... for example when I shower in cold water I start to sweat while Im still drying off... so yeah we are always sweaty here... and like in the night, we sleep with fans on us so that we dont completely soak our bed with sweat... It is still hot at night but not sweaty... so yeah that is about the weather of peten...

But  my companion is Elder Loveland... and he is from Orem and he is such a great guy...    He is probably my favorite companion so far...   so i am super excited for this change up here... but the only problem is that the old comp of elder Loveland went to his house this last week to finish his 2 years... so he didnt work to hard and so when I got here we hardly had anything .. but now we some fechas for baptism so we are looking forward to       the work this  change... 

But we do have one investigator named  Angel that is ready to get baptised the only problem is htat he isnt married so we are planning on getting him married in these next two weeks and then his baptism... but he is super ready to get baptized... we hadnt talked with him the whole last week so we didnt think that he was going to be going to church but we passed by  for his house to take him to church and his family said that he just left, but the have no idea where he went.. .so we thought that he like went out with friends or something, but when we got to church  he was already there waiting for us!  So we were super happy!  So that is about all that has happened recenty.. but we have good plans fo rthis next week!

Love

Elder Stuart

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!