Another week gone...

Wow... well we had some interesting things happen this week, but nothing that is too unordinary...  But first one of the funny things.  We have to go to Rabinal every week to do meetings and stuff like that in the church... but in the morning after church got over Elder Brito left the keys in the office and locked them inside... and well that was the only pair of keys... so when I got there we spent like 20 minutes trying to open the window and door by picking the locks (we really didnt think that it was going to work but we didnt want to have to break the door)  but it didnt work... so I finally decided that I was just going to kick the door open...  Remembering that we are in guatemala and everything here is built weakly... so I just kicked the doorknob and... It opened!  So I have officially kicked open a door now.. the only problem is that we kind of ruined the door knob, so we bought a new one today and replaced it... so that was pretty fun...

Also this week was kind of a sad week but also a good week.  Marcos, who is the husband of Lucia, who got baptized in december, had been trying and trying to receive an answer for  quite a bit of time... and finally this week he got his answer!!!!!!!!  So that was super good... he had a dream that he was on a bus with me and Elder Gomez and his family and that we were all going to a place... and a guy came on the bus and asked for our tickets, and Marcos was seated behind all of us, and was watching us give our tickets to the collecter.... but he said that he couldnt find his ticket.  And finally when the collector came to him told him that he had to have a ticket to continue on and that without a ticket he couldnt continue... so he got off the bus and was looking for a way to get a ticket, and a man dressed in white, with a white beard came to him and gave him his ticket to continue on... and so then he got back onto the bus and could go with us to our destination... So that was a pretty cool story to hear...  But now here comes the sad part... Marcos left for the States today!  So he couldnt get baptized before he left, and so we will see if he will follow through with the church there and if he will get baptized there... Luckily I have a way to contact him through email so we will keep in touch... but I hope that he can get baptized!  

And well many other things have happened this week but those were the two experiences that I wanted to share this week!

Love Elder Stuart

Funeral!

Well this week was a week full of firsts...  First thing is that this week I had to direct a funeral...  That was something that I was never expecting to do in my mission.  One of the members died this week in a motorcycle accident... It was a pretty sad experience.  He was 27 and he got baptized in 2011... but he was inactive for about 3 years... or in other words since his baptism..  But he died on sunday at like 1:00 am and so we had to prepare everything so at 5 we could do his viewing.  It was a pretty cool experience... he was the only member of his family... but his wifes family was all member, but all of them were/are inactives but her brother...  so it was a really good missionary experience to have the opportunity to talk with all these people that dont know about the plan of salvation.  We sang some hymns (like 10) and me and the first counsellor talked in the funeral.  I also had to direct the funeral.  So that was just kind of a very interesting thing to do.  I believe that this was the thing that had to happen so that cubulco could receive the last little bit of preparation to blossom.  It is sad that not very many people repent until it is to late, or until something big has to happen to them or to a loved one... but the good thing is that at least they change.  So that was a pretty sad sunday.

But on a good note... we also were able to work a little bit with Marcos (the husband of lucia) and help him a little bit more to progress.  The problem is is that he drinks so we are helping him little by little so that he can get rid of this addiction.  The future for him is looking a little bit better than it was 3 months ago.  Also we are getting bigger and bigger as a group here in cubulco!  I am just so excited to see the progress here. 

Other than that not much happened this week... but all is well here in guate...

Love Elder Stuart

Hello

Well this week was kind of a long week.   ON wednesday we got a call saying that my comp had to go to the capital to sign his visa... so we were out of work wednesday thursday and friday...  So that was kind of a bummer... but we are doing good.

On saturday we had a visit with Lucia, who got baptized like 2 months ago, and we were talking with her husband, who doesnt really want much... and we taught him about the preisthood, and it was just a great lesson so that he could recognize his potential, and he liked a lot thinking about how he could hold the preisthood to bless his family... but then he got a little disccuraged about how he doesnt feel worthy to hold a power so big...  so we talked to him a little about repentance, and how he can become a better person... and we are hoping that he can take the steps necesary to be baptized soon.  

Also we were able to talk to a guy named bacilio... who is living with a woman.  They havent wanted to get married for a lot of time, but we have been teaching them a lot and focusing on them a lot so that they can get married and get baptized... and we are so close.  She is now ok with ggetting marrried and him too... but the only thing stopping them is that she is pregnant and she doesnt want to be pregnant in her wedding picture... so that is kind of a bummer... but it is something little so we will see if we can convince them to get married within these couple of weeks..  

But other than that all is well here in Cubulco!  Love you All!

Elder Stuart

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.