Fotos and the week summary...

Well This week was good and a little bit stressful... We were able to have a pretty good week... mainly because all the baptizms went through successfully.  We baptized a guy named tereso and his family.. it was a pretty great experience.  He is such a great guy and will be a great member here in Cubulco.. Maybe he will be the person to get this place going strong...  So we are super happy about that.

Also as shown is these photos we also helped a less active member to chop down a tree.. so that he would go to church.. so that was pretty great also!  We are just going along pretty smoothly here.  

Also we are now in a trio.. because Elder Barahona ended up going home.. because he had appendicitus and his appendix exploded and that was why he was throwing up blood.. so they did surgery on him last monday and yesterday he went home.  So I am now back with Elder Gomez.. .and his companion Elder Nombrado.  Elder Nombrado is samoan.. he is a super good guy elder nombrado... We get along super well..  So that is pretty fun!  But I think that that is about it for this week...

Love Elder Stuart

Wedding and the baptism!!!!!

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

Hello... and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well my family and friends, this week was a good week here in cubulco!  We had some interesting things happen during the transcourse of this week!  Starting off with the weirdest experience of this week was that we were just in the street walking, when we saw one of the young men (member) in the street with his friends... so we started talking to them and well long story short this member is very less active, and a little bit strange... and well we were talking to him and he snuck something to Elder tello... and he told him to put it in his pocket and not open it until we got home... so when we turned the corner out of curiosity (pardon my spelling).. opened the bag... and it was full of weed...  Yup the weed that you smoke..so we just threw it in the garbage can and walked away... oops...

Next story is that we have this one investigator named luki which is very smart... and yesterday in church Elder Tello was teaching Gospel Principles, and he mentioned something about his study journal for the scriptures.. and after the class she asked us if we could give her some scriptures to study so that she could start a study journal.. and so after church when one of the members left to work with us he commented to us that he passed by her house (theyre friends) and he saw her study journal full!!!! and she told him that she is for sure going to get baptized that there is no doubt in her mind!  So that was pretty cool!

Also lastly I am just thankful for thanksgiving... we were able to eat thanksgiving dinner in a members house and we had turkey with rice!  So it wasnt quite the usual turkey with mashed potatoes, but it was still pretty good!

Well that is about all folks!

Love Elder Stuart

Members are missionaries!

This week was a pretty good week...  Well to start off, as missionaries, especially here in Guatemala or places that arent Utah, we have to focus a lot on the members,and less actives, and recent converts....  It is something super important here...  For example there hardly is a member family that doesnt have the missionaries visiting them every couple of weeks...  In Utah I remember the missionaries visiting our house 2 times, and I cant even remember their names... here people have pictures of missionaries that served in that area like 1000 years ago.. It is crazy...  But anyways, what Im trying to say by this is that I learned a big lesson about visiting the members this week...  It is something that I had done before, but I wanted to focus a ton on it this week, becasue we kind of had a  lull in the missionary work in my area... And we passed by everysingle members house, and taught them a little bit, and then asked them for references... and well we were able to get references of 12 different families...  and we were able to activate 3 less active families, and have 4 investigators in church...  and of those 4 investigators us as the missionaries didnt have to pass by to remind them about church, the members did...   So yeah that doesnt really mean a lot to those who arent missionaries, but it means that we were able to have a lot of success... and also one of the plans of the Stake President here is to divide the ward that we are in... so we need to get the attendance of the church up to 200 people at church each week and well before this last week we were at 130 and this past week we had 145... so things are going pretty good here...  

But the reason I am sharing this with you is because, the Elders arent the most Important part of missionary work.. the members are!  Without the help of the members this week we would hardly have any investigators right now, no investigators in church, and well not that many people in church...  this experience just added to my testimony that every member is a missionary...  It is a goal that I have put for myself  for after my mission is that I never stop being a missionary.. That I can visit people that arent going to church, that I can talk to all who arent members and Invite them to church with me... and things like that...  

And one last thing that I learned this week that was interesting was about the atonement of Jesus Christ... we had Interviews with president Curtiss.... and Sister Curtiss invited us to study a topic of the gospel that can help us and our investigators for three months, so that after these three months of studying, that we know more about this subject that any other person... Well I want to invite you guys to do the same...  That during this summer season, when we have a lot of free time, that you can study a suject of the gospel really well...  Also Hermana Curtiss said that yes reading the Book of Mormon, or the Bible cover to cover is good but you wont learn as much as if you study it topic by topic...  So that was something that I learned also this week that I wanted to share with you guys...  

Oh and one last thing, like Jonny said the rain here is so strong!  Especially in Coban, that is the rainy part of my mission... and well Im here during the rainy season...  And here the rain isnt something that lasts for like 1 or 2 hours, or is a drizzle... It is pure downpours for days straight, and well since im Elder Stuart and I hate wearing sweaters, I dont use sweaters or jackets... and I finish the day completely soaked from head to toe...  But it is the BEST!!  Because it has taught me a lot about diligence...  I could have gone to my house, or a members house for the day to stay out of the rain, or work... and well I chose to work...  And we received many blessing for this as a companionship...  So yeah the rain here is great, because it is a warm rain, so I dont even get cold at all, but after the rain when I get back to the house I put my shoes on the fan to dry all night... and well Every night they have been so wet, that even when I put them on the fan at 9 at night, and take them off at 10 the next morning they are still wet... so yeah it is a great experience...

Sorry for the long letter....

Elder Stuart

oh and read moroni 9:6...

[9 June 2014]

Easter

This week was a little slow, but good.  We were able to recognize many things as a companionship that we were doing good, and not.. and we are working hard to keep up the good work that we had from the last change..  I admire my companion Elder Falcon for the missionary that he is today...  He didnt start off his mission the way that he should have and it was until he had 21 months that he realized how big of a mistake that he had made, for the things that he did... and he is working the hardest he can to make up for this that he had done.. and well he is one of the best missionaries that I know.  He works super hard, and knows a lot about the gospel..  Also he is one on the only Latinos that can speak fluently in English.  So yeah I just wanted to put that in there to let you know how my companion is doing...

But with this week we had some good things happen...  We were able to find some people that are pretty interested, that we hope will progress...  Also we have been able to work hard.  We had a lot of lessons taught this week, one of the highest I had had in my mission, and we were able to help a lot of Less actives to church also...  So yeah it wasnt the best in the world with helping our investigators to church and stuff like that because of Easter here, which is super big for the Catholics, they have like processions the whole week and stuff like that.. So that was a little rough on us, but It was still a good Easter week!

Im am just really greatful for the time that I have had to be a missionary, and every day I recongnize a little more the importance of my calling... It really is one of the greatest things in the world and the oppurtunity that we have to serve the lord in the best in the world...  This is one of the things that me and Elder Falcon were studying this week, is our courage to share the gospel.  And we found some good Scriptures.  One of them is Romans 1:16, and the other is DyC 24:12.  So yeah those are my scriptures for you guys this week, and rembember that each one of us can share the gospel!  Thanks for everything!

Love Elder Stuart