Tsara Be Madagascar! Super Awesome Madagascar!

Salame,

The title might sound funny but you have to remember that there is no "to be" verb in malagasy. All my life I thought it was the most important verb for any language and then here is malagasy, proving me wrong and showing that maybe no one needs to use to be verbs.

So this week...where to start? First off. Yes I am the only American sister in all of Madagascar. Crazy right? Basically all of the girls are straight out of Africa - I'll explain. There are only 8 sister missionaries in all of Mada. Two (Sr Ramiaramana and Sr Sitraponahy) are from Madagascar, Antsirabe - the country town I travelled to that is 4 hours from Tana. Sr Guilamba is from Mozambique. Sr Kassah is from Ghana. Sr Teuira is from Tahiti. Sr Wenyi grew up in France but her parents are both from Congo. Sr Amoussouga (my companion) is from Guadaloupe. That's an island in the Caribbean. So I'm the only American and fotsy kely (a bit white) sister in Mada. The reason I say white is because to the sisters and people of Madagascar I am pretty white - at best they will call me metisse which means mixed. It's so funny because all my life people have been telling me the opposite - that I'm black - then I go to Africa and I'm white! It's all about perspective. But I am learning SO MUCH about other cultures. I mean like food, life style and hair. I'm learning a lot about hair. There is a lot of braiding that goes on. I have decided to stick to my own real hair.........for now, hahaha. 

Update on Sylvie and Solo: This was a rough week. Sylvie is really really struggling with alcohol. In fact half of the week she was gone from the house because she just got so drunk she left and didn't come back for days. Luckily by the end of the week things got a lot better and calmed down. We were able to talk to Sylvie sober and really discuss how we can help her with her addiction. Solo on the other hand is taking off - he is spiritually flying. He reads the Book of Mormon like crazy and this week HE asked US if he could be baptized!! There are a few obstacles though. The biggest one is that they need to be vita soratra - legally married - which is tough here because it takes money and paperwork. But Solo is super determined and said he wants to get baptized for Christmas as a way to really show Christ during HIS season that Solo wanted to follow Him. Wow. Beautiful. This man is so ready. And the WHOLE family came to church!! Which was a first for Sylvie. I am so happy I get to be a part of their journey into the gospel, even if it is hard and sticky and full of big obstacles - it is such a blessing. 

Alright well I absolutely love my mission. I seriously love Madagascar - even as smelly and crazy and dirty as it is. It's not because we have like thousands of prepared people or a thousand baptism dates - we were dodged 16 times last week - no joke I just counted. But no big deal because I LOVE my mission. So a couple of weeks ago dad sent me the transcript of this father's blessing he gave me before my mission and it was straight up personal revelation. This is what I wrote to President about it:

 

So I already talked to you a bit last week but basically I have had a complete shift in attitude. Long story short my father sent me the transcript of the father's blessing he gave me before I left on my mission and in reading it I had this spiritual confirmation that everything is working out as it is supposed to. I realized - really realized on a personal level not just a doctrinal level - that Heavenly Father really does know the beginning from the end and He has a plan for it all. Even before my mission I was blessed and given advice that applies to now and earlier on my mission. Heavenly Father knows exactly what's going on and where I am now (including trials and difficulties) is where I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to struggle with the language - Heavenly Father knew that - He planned for that but it is all for a wise purpose. I know everything is going to work out and this week proved that. 

It was basically a patriarchal blessing for my mission, it talked about all my difficulties and struggles and also what the Lord was going to ask of me. He even blessed me to feel help from the Lord in speaking Malagasy --- before anyone even knew I was going to be speaking Malagasy. In short it proved to me that the Lord has had a plan since the very beginning and He knows the big picture. And reading my blessing helped me see it too - the big picture. And ever since then, my vision has been cleared and I just feel so much light and clarity and GOODNESS in my life and my mission. I don't think I've ever been this happy. Which is crazy considering how tricky and hard some of these experiences are. But it's true. I don't really want to go home right now - or ever and I understand why everyone talks about being so happy in their missions. There is so much light and happiness that FLOODS your life when you live the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the more sacrifices you make, and the more you align yourself to be exactly obedient the more light and joy you recieve. I know that to be true - because I've seen that in my life!

Love you all! Can't wait to talk on Christmas!

Sis Stewart

Ny Ireo Fitahina Any Andriamanitra - Blessings from God

Salame,

So basically I have about 10 minutes to write to you about this week... Go! 

So health update. I am fine. I did get sick again on Friday which was a major bummer but once again it was a 24 hour thing. And I always tell the mission nurse and she takes good care of us. I'm not going to die out here - though sometimes after throwing up everything in one's body, one may wish that one could disapear. Also the flea bites have significantly decreased - YES! I'm not sure how long it takes packages to get here, but one just came for an Elder who left over 4 months ago - so it is possible that anything you send after December will not get here before I leave.

The transfers! Well passed! Sr Amoussouga is way cool and definitely has got her malagasy down. She is very "mahay" (ma-hi) as they say out here. This week went really well even without Sr Johnson. I remembered where everyone lived. We never took the wrong bus and no one ever cheated us out of too much bus fair money! So major success! In addition we were able to find a couple of new families who are interested in the gospel! 

Let me tell you real quick about this miracle family. The wife and husband are named Sylvie and Solo. We met them porting one day. They live in EXTREMELY humble settings. They live in this very small square house made out of wood. Two sides of the house are small enough that my arm span can cover them - the other two sides are only about a foot and a half longer. They have three cute little girls. We met them about 3 weeks ago. At first we just taught the wife Sylvie but she said her husband would be interested so he came the next time. The third time we came while they were fighting. They often have financial problems and can't always be sure to have enough money to put food on the table. When problems come up Sylvie drinks and that makes Solo so angry he beats her. We walked in right in the middle of one such problem. I felt so helpless, not knowing what exactly they were saying to each other and in general feeling overwhelmed with such a large problem. But we did the only thing we could - we taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked to them and told them that Sylvie needed to stop drinking and Solo needed to stop hitting Sylvie. This week they testified of the difference they have felt in their house. They say they have felt the Spirit more since we have started teaching them. Solo reads the Book of Mormon to Sylvie and the kids every night (she can't read) and he has come to church the past two Sundays. He reads every day and Sylvie is trying to stop drinking. They have literally felt and seen a difference in their lives ever since they started to listen to the restored gospel and read the Book of Mormon. They believed in God before. They went to church. They prayed every single day. And yet there is something different. Things have changed. That is such a testimony to me and this family is amazing!! Because they are so humble and ready to change. They are easily moldable and change themselves to follow the Lord and His teachings. Are we this easily moldable? Do we read the Book of Mormon everyday? Or are we too busy? Seriously an amazing testimony to me of what it means to be humble and quick to hearken and change for the Lord. I can't wait to tell you the rest of their progression as time goes on!

Long story but that is what fuels this work! I love Madagascar and my mission. Even if it is super hard. But that is how it has to be - the best path is always upward!

Love,

Sr STewar

tia - to love !

Manahoana!

So everyday I love Madagascar a little bit more. I am convinced that it is a gift from God (like all good things or Christlike virtues) like how Elder Russel M. Nelson said our love of the prophet is a gift from God. Same thing for Madagascar. Because it is dirty, messy, soooo smelly, and generally filthy but also I seem to be loving it more each day. That doesn't mean there aren't ups and downs - lots - but at least I am starting to have a true love of the people.

So a bit of news this week. Antsirabe was great. The ride was crazy. There were 18 people PLUS a driver in our 15 passenger van. It was crowded. And a long drive - 4 hours +. But suprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be. The country was beautiful and life out there is so different. The people really get their livelihood straight from the land. And it seemed much poorer than in the city...which is sort of crazy because already the city life is so much lower than our US standards. In Antsirabe, people travel by "pouss-pouss", which is essentially a handcart pulled by a barefoot man. And that is a real mode of transport to get around town. There are also "sikoh-pouss" which is the same thing but pulled by a bike - like the ones in San Fran.

Other news. My health took a major downturn these past two weeks...The fleas have officially settled in and seem to have taken quite a taste for my blood. I counted 18 bites on ONE thigh....and they itch sooo bad. But if you scratch them, they can bleed and scar. At first I thought the bites were from mosquitos but I kept getting them on places that were thoroughly covered by my clothes and I couldn't figure out how the mosquitos were biting through so many layers. Then I showed them to Sr Johnson and she relayed the dreaded news. So I washed everything and that seems to have helped for the moment. The only problem is this country is flea infested so you can pick up one from anywhere. There are times when we go in for a lesson and I just know that whatever chair/bed I'm sitting in is crawling with all sorts of undersirable things.

Also this week...I got exceedingly exceedingly sick. On Friday I woke up and threw up and then had extreme stomach sickness ALL day. I emptied everything out of my body and still my stomach was churning. I didn't leave the bed all day - except to go to the restroom. And I didn't eat. The nurse just told me to keep drinking and there wasn't really much medicine she could give me. She said that some missionaries would get my symptoms but that in 24 hours it cleared up. And it did - the next day I was fine - very weak and shaky feeling but no longer sick. I did weigh myself and lose 4 kilos in that one day. 1 kilo = 2.2 pounds for you in the states. But I'm already gaining the weight back now that I can eat again - don't worry, I don't think I'll have any major weight loss before I come home.

Anyway, Sr Johnson leaves on Wednesday. My new companion will be Sr Amoussouga - she was on La Reunion with me before she got transferred here - right before I became companions with Sr Hurst! So she should be able to help me out and relate to this big transition. This week will definitely hold a lot of changes. I will keep you updated!

Love you all - Tena tiako ianao ireo!

Sr Stewart

kely kely ( a little, a little )

Ok,

Sorry everyone but I actually don't have very much time to write. Sr Johnson and I am supposed to go to a city about four hours away by bus to do exchanges with the other sisters. There are only 9 sisters in the whole Madagascar mission. 6 here in Tananarive, the capital and then 3 in a town named Antsirabe, which is way out in the country so it is supposed to by way beautiful. 

This week was alright. Our area is going through a rough spot. None of our investigators are progressing - mostly because they all refuse to come to church. So we had a lot of cancelled apts this week and are doing a lot of contacting (hey, I'm used to that!) only it's in Gasy....I have different spurts of success with the malagasy. I am convinced that I have been blessed with the inconstant gift of tongues. It feels like when I am in a situation where I HAVE to be able to do something with the language, I make it but other than that on a daily basis I can't understand what is being said. Like this week Sr Johnson got sick with bronchitis and another sister in the apt was also sick. Fortunately we had planned to do exchanges that day anyway so I went out with the non-sick sister, Sr Ramiaramanana - who is gasy. During the day we went to teach one of the recent converts from our area and I was able to teach a whole lesson on the Atonement! That's crazy! But then the next day I couldn't even explain what the Book of Mormon was.... So it's still tough. 

I don't really have time to write much else - I will make sure to write extra long next week. Sorry everyone!

Love,

Sr Stewart

one month down ..

Hey,

So crazy as it seems, I have been in Madagascar a full month by the end of this week. I can't say the time always feels like it's going fast but that still shock even me! Which means I only have about four months of my mission left - how did that happen? Where did the time go? In fact I officially know my release date - it will be the 18th of March. 

This week we finally got to watch conference!! It was fantastic!! I seriously am just so grateful for modern living prophets and apostles and the fact that the Lord still speaks to His children in Their day. You would think that after so many talks on the gospel there wouldn't be anything new to say - yet everytime I come to conference I am so enlightened and edified. It's not that they make up new gospel topics but the way they apply them to our lives and their advice is so spot on and touches me. I can't wait to read and study from the talks given during the next six months. I particularly enjoyed Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf's talk about absolute truth and Elder Jorg Klipgat (??) I can't remember his exact name, but he gave an amazing talk about how to live the gospel. I loved when he said "Become really really good at forgiving. Forgive everyone of everything. Don't hold a bad feeling against a single soul" !! 

This week was the week of meeting because in addition to General Conference we also had a Zone Meeting and a Mission Leadership Meeting! Our Zone leader gave an amazing lesson about integrity. One of the quotes he used said "Integrity is about doing the right thing not because of who's watching but because your character demands it!" He said too that Elder Anderson had once said someone with true integrity would do the right thing even if God blinked or looked away for a moment. It was great. All about being completely truly honest about what you think is right and wrong - because your own character demands it. It made me really think about how I can have more integrity. Also I was very suprised to learn that I am still a Sister Training Leader in Madagascar...I thought that that calling had ended when I left Reunion since I don't know the language, area, mission, or even missionaries over here very well but nope. Sister Johnson has been the only sister training leader over here for quite a while and it can sometimes be tough so I'm a little nervous about this addition to all the new changes that are already going on. Speaking of which...Sister Johnson will be leaving in two weeks when the transfer ends so it is almost guaranteed that I will stay in the area I am in and be in charge of leading it with my new companion. The language is still coming along slowly and yeah, all these things are making me really nervous for the future. It's going to be a big stretch that is for sure. I will be the person with the most knowledge about our area and investigators but I will only have been here for 6 weeks and not speak the language. 

Funny language story for the week. In malagasy, the subject almost always goes at the end of a sentence. Such as "Through the prophet Joseph Smith, restored the gospel and his church, Jesus Christ" or "Can pray to God no matter where, no matter when, we" So occasionally when I am speaking I focus so much on the words I need to put into the sentence that I think I have already mentioned who is doing it. And then I'll get done with this sentence and look over at Sr Johnson and she's sort of waiting for me to finish and I don't get what she's waiting for and she mouthes to me the word "subject" and I'm like "oh....right" So some of my sentences sound like this "Loves us with all His heart and wants us to be happy.............God"

Soeur Stewart

BP 5094

Dingana III

Andrainarivo, Antananarivo 101

Madagascar

Love,

Sr Stewart

btw ... kiana would LOVE christmas cards (:

here comes the rain .

Salame,

So this week brought more adventures in Madagascar. Nothing too new, lots of walking under a really hot sun. Yesterday it did pour again though! 

The language is coming along slowly. Unfortunately after my breakthrough last week there haven't been too many other miracle moments. I still struggle A LOT. I also can't understand almost anything. But I am trying to take it one step at a time and just focus on learning a new skill or conversation topic each day. 

I wish I had more to share but there just weren't many funny stories this week. I did accidentally ask someone how old their car was....I meant to say how many years of school they had done. 

To answer Dad's questions, yes we are inside of Tana - not the suburbs...although I am pretty sure suburbs don't really exist here. Yes we take the bus everyday. Yes they CRAM people into buses here. I have to get a picture. Also people take HUGE sacks of rice or live chickens on the bus so you have that to contend with, in addition to the people. 

My favorite thing about Madagascar in the meaning of names. Everything here has a meaning. Like the place where we live means "lots of onions" and a neighborhood nearby is called "where the cows sleep" Most of the people have names that mean something too. My favorite so far is the name Aina (pronounced Y-eye-na). It means soul. And it's so pretty. So yeah we meet people called "choice" or "precious" and I think it's so cool. This one lady is just called "the twin's mother" hahah 'cause she has a pair of twin girls. Somethings about the Malagasy languag are cool. I love the sound of it and will love it even more when I can speak it.

All my love,

Sr Stewart

one week at a time .

Salame ve?

So here's the thing about a mission, it's like a rollercoaster ride. There are ups and downs. This week had some great ups. This week also had a couple of downs. On the upside...I seriously believe I have been blessed with the gift of tongues. Like I know all missionaries in some ways are blessed but I'm sort of talking about close-to-miraculous! This week after only one week of being in country I was able to teach a whole 30-40 minute lesson - practically all by myself! All the other missionaries say it's super great progress and President Adams called it "miraculous' so I feel so so blessed!! Unfortunately I still cannot understand....anything. Which can make church and church activities a little stressful because people will come up to me and expect me to understand. The latter of which we had this past week. It was sort of like a picnic/recreational activity about an hour outside of Tana, which made it the countryside. It was fun.

I've still been getting used to being here and the country. It's a lot of a transition. I've been getting to know the sisters in the house a little more. Last night, Sr Johnson had me practice making conversation with the two Malagasy sister as a language activity. It was super helpful but sort of funny because I didn't know every other word so I would have to ask her to feed me words - like an actor who had forgotten his lines. Speaking of funny language mistakes...there are two words in Malagasy that sound very similar: vary and very. Unfortunately their meanings are very different, vary means rice and very means lost. So this week I said by accident " There had to be a restoration of the gospel because RICE the church of Jesus Christ" We all got a huge laugh out of that. There are little things like that that happen every week but I laugh along with everyone else because you've got to admit...it's pretty funny. 

On other news, I have been feeling a little sick since I got here, mostly I just have awful stomach cramps that leave me a little immovible but yesterday we called the mission nurse and she gave me some medicine. After it kicked it I felt fine so hopefully I won't have any more problems. 

The people here are so receptive to the gospel, it is incredible. Sometimes a little mindblowing to me. When we start to teach someone, often the whole family will trickle in. And even the little kids will come sit down and try to read the brochures. It's just they have such a thirst for spiritual knowledge and it's not because they are ignorant. The people here know way more about Christ and his gospel and the Bible than the people on La Reunion did. Which just proves that spiritual knowledge is not equal to an education or scientific knowledge. The people here know the Bible so well, they all go to church on Sunday and they dress up in their Sunday best. Seriously, on Sunday you just see everyone in their nice pants and dresses getting into buses carrying their Bibles to go to church. It's so heartwarming. I know I am only going to keep growing my love for these people.

Ok so that was just a mish mash of my thoughts. I will try to record some better stories to tell you all next week! Thank you all for the prayers, I am guaranteed that the amazing language experiences I have had are thanks to the many prayers from you guys all across the world.

Love,

Sr Stewart 

Pictures (:

mada . . .

Ok,

So I don't really know where to start. It's crazy here. So so so so third world. Ok so to respond to some basic questions...  I am serving in Antananarivo, the capital, specifically the Betongolo sector. For the first time I am serving in a ward and even bigger than that a stake! I am in the Ivandry stake, and there are two total in Tana.

My companion is Sr Johnson. She is originally from Haiti but was adopted when she was 11 and has grown up in Boise, Idaho ever since. This is her last transfer so she only has 6 weeks left and she speaks Malagasy VERY well. Thank goodness! Because the language is very difficult. Mostly it is just the vocabulary because the words are 14 letters long! Mainly filled with f, p and a. For instance the word for gospel is filazantsara (try saying that 10 times fast) and the word for family is fianakaviana. So it is coming along slowly and I need to have more patience. It's awkward though when people come up to me to ask me if I am "gasy" (from Mada) and I just stare at them not sure if I should nod yes or no and look to sister johnson. Once I nodded yes to something I didn't know and accidently told someone I was already married...whoops!

The food...I avoid eating because basically everything here will make you sick. Well will make me sick because I'm new and not used to it. Elder Hamilton (of the 70) when he was touring here called Madagascar the Mexico of the 80s... So picture that. Hopefully I will be able to send pictures soon but I'm having problems with my camera and am terrified of corrupting the rest of my pictures with a virus from one of these sketchy cybers. Oh and yes I have already gotten sick, even though I have avoided the food and anything not prepared by me and only drink filtered water. Go figure. But hopefully I will be many pounds lighter when I come home! (lots of missionaries will lose around 30 pounds)

So I got here on Wednesday. Which means I havent' yet been here a week. I'll admit, this week has been pretty rough. Mostly it's hard not being able to understand anyone and being separated from the missionaries on Reunion (Sr Gardiner) oh and the food. So how is the work different? Well there are no cars for the missionaries here. We take these 15 passenger vans called "taxi be" and walk everywhere. We typically leave at 11 in the morning and don't get home till 8 or 9 at night, which means we bring everything we need for the day with us in our bags. Luckily after this monday I have food to pack so I won't need to subsist off of crackers and snacks haha. We mostly walk up and down this one street built on a hill and then work in the alleyways that branch off of it. It is fairly hot but a little less than La Reunion so I'm happy about that. It is about to be the rainy season though and I got my first taste of that the other day. During our Sunday meetings all of a sudden we heard the rain start falling - hard. Then it seemed to start raining even harder when we went outside. And I mean so hard! I kept reading about people in South America and how they could get soaked in a matter of seconds and I didn't understand but now I do. My sperry's got soaked all the way through and the parts of my skirt that stuck out of my coat were dripping when we got home. I can't emphasize enough how hard the rain was falling and how much of it there was. And then the streets started to turn into rivers and we had to step into them with our drenched shoes. Luckily we were going home and didn't have any apointments to go to because here they work in that rain!

As for the package address, I will get that to you next week, but the mailing address for letters and things is the very first one I got that goes to Mada. The one that we put on my little missionary cards.

Well I love you all! And I am extra praying for you because family is one of the few words I know in this crazy language! Pray for me extra too please, because this is definitely going to be one of the most difficult parts of my mission.

Love,

Sr Stewart

P.S. I almost got bit by a dog and nearly get hit about 5 times a day by some sort of automobile, be it bus or car. But I am still safe! Thank goodness I have the Lord's protection around me.

One More Day

Kome i le!

So everyone here it is: my final few days on La Reunion. I actually leave this Wednesday so tomorrow (Tuesday) is my last full day on the island. It's so surreal. This sunday the branch president asked me to go up and announce my transfer and then bear my testimony. I thought that maybe at the end after my little testimony I might get a little emotional because of my time here and my love for the members. Nope, turns out I started crying after the second sentence. And I mean big-fat-crocodile-tears-rolling-down-my-cheeks-and-the-need-to-hold-my-breath-so-as-not-to-sob-sort-of-crying. It was pretty bad. All of a sudden getting up in front of those members and looking out it just really hit me that I was never going to see them again. Or at least not for many many years. Because I will be leaving my mission from Madagascar so I will not come back to La Reunion and because it is really far from the United States I don't see myself making the trip in the next couple of years. These members and this island have been such a huge part of my life - during a really crucial part in my life. It has not always been easy, that is for sure, but looking back it has always been worth it. I feel like a mission is best summed up in a quote by President Gordon B Hinckley "You will realize that what right now seems like a large sacrifice will turn out being the greatest investment you ever made" And it is true. A mission is a huge investment in the gospel and an even bigger investment in yourself and your personal character.

While I still have 5 months of my mission left I feel like in many ways I am leaving my mission right now. Because La Reunion HAS been MY mission for the past 13 months and I am saying goodbye to this period of time with the missionaries here and the members and this island and the food and the culture and the language for perhaps the rest of my life - because even if I come back, it will never be the same as when I was a missionary. And while that makes me sad (and many more tears will be shed when I have to say goodbye to my companions and this island) I also move forward knowing that it is with a purpose and that the Lord has a plan for me. I also have so many more adventures ahead! Hey, the future is as bright as your faith right? Yes, I'm nervous to learn the language, yes I'm nervous about the culture and the complete lack of 1st world bathrooms and getting sick every day - but I know the Lord will provide. I have such a testimony of this gospel and this work. Next time you hear from me I will be in Madagascar with the lemurs trying desperately to communicate in a language that is 100% different from French. And I will be loving the opportunity the Lord gave me!

Love you all! Never pass up making sacrifices for the Lord because they will turn out to be the best investements!

Soeur Stewart 

Good Week

Manoana!

We had a really great week this week! I don't know exactly why but we suddenly had lots of great great lessons! I think part of the reason might be due to our new goal for this week. During the big meeting we had in Madagascar, the mission leaders all decided that as a mission we should set a baseline of 28 hours of proselyting per week - which might not sound like tons but it really stretches us. Most weeks Sr Gardiner and I get 20 to 22 because proselyting doesn't include our studies, our church meetings, activities, eating with members or other missionary meetings or even when we are driving in the car. The time of proselyting is solely the amount of time we spend preaching the good word. So this week we set the goal that we were going to do all we could to push ourselves and meet the 28 hours....and we came really close! This week we had to do some visa work and other activities so next week we'll hit it for sure.

So this week, we had an amazing discovery when we found our new ami Gino. As I've told you, Sr Gardiner and I have really been working on talking to everyone we see. So as we were leaving a rendez vous to get into our car this man was descending some stairs as we were just about to pass him I decided to stick out my hand and contact him. Turns out he had already met the missionaries in Madagascar and attended church twice. He didn't know the church existed over here too and he was really interested to learn more about it. We had a lesson with him Monday, gave him a tour  of the church Thursday with a member who spoke Malagasy, he came to an activity Friday and then he came to church and stayed for all three hours Sunday! He is super interested in the church and says he just felt so good like something was really important when he met us and came to the church! We are so excited and pleased at how sensitive to the spirit Gino is - it really is amazing. 

Speaking of Madagascar...I have been studying the language like CRAZY ever since President told me about the transfer because the language is super different and tricky. I have a couple of books from missionaries who are over in Mada now and studied it in the MTC. Well this week we taught two lessons with Gino, one with another amie from Madagascar and had a church activity for only Malagache people and for all of them I was able to use a couple of phrases! Both of these amis don't speak French as well and still prefer Malagasy so I was pretty pumped that I got the opportunity to practice in real life lesson. It still makes me realize how MUCH I need to learn because I know next to nothing besides "God is our loving Heavenly Father" but I can't help but feeling that the Lord is blessing us in a very specific way :)

Oh yeah, Youssouf is getting baptized this Saturday!!!! SOOOOO exciting!!!! I think I already wrote you about Youssouf. He is the guy from Mauritius (the island right next to us) who grew up Muslim and converted to Christianity when he was a teenager. He is so awesome and has the gift of faith. I could tell amazing/funny stories about him for hours. He is super super prepared and is really excited to be baptized. He has been asking us from day one when he could do it and we keep having to slow him down because we need to teach everything and make sure he understands. But I'm sure that this Saturday is going to be a beautiful event filled with the spirit. I will tell you all about it next week. 

Well that is more or less all the time that I have! I love you all and can't believe this is my last full week in Reunion! I won't come back to this island again! It'll be a sad goodby but I'm ready for the Madagascar adventure!

Love

Sr STewart

MADAGASCAR

Well,

I could write hours and hours worth of e-mail but instead we have less than half of our normal time so I'll just have to explain everything and send pictures later. Basically Madagascar is great! It is super super different from La Reunion because it is so 100% third world country. Basically just picture Mexico and all the ideas of dirt roads, busy buses, and street side vendors and you've got a really acurate picture! I am loving the experience and starting to wonder if I can request spending the last part of my mission here. 

Sr Gardiner and I have discovered that almost no one speaks french though it is their official business language. But that means I am trying to pick up Malagasy phrases as fast as I can. I already got the basics of please, thank you, excuse me, how much, and I don't speak malagasy. Now I'm trying to learn all the rest. We are in the capital - Antananarivo and staying with four other sisters, including my old MTC companion Sister Teuira! 

We are doing splits with the two companionships. Sr Johnson is from America, actually Boise Idaho and she has been out for about 14 or so months. She also speaks french from taking it in highschool and BYU so that is super cool! Her companion is Sr Vanarisoa who is from Madagascar and understands french but only speaks Malagasy. They are both super nice. Then the other companionship is Sr Teuira from Tahiti who speaks French and Malagasy and Sr Guilamba who is from Mozambique and speaks English and Malagasy (and Portugues) and mostly understands French. You can imagine conversing around the dinner table is a little tricky. All the sisters can speak Malagasy to each other but then we Reunion missionaries don't understand. If we speak French mostly everyone can understand but then they have to reply in English or Malagasy. Tricky, tricky. But it's all part of the fun! We have already taught a couple of lessons over the course of Sunday and Monday. The living conditions are soo different but the people are so warm. Speaking of warm....it's actually FREEZING here!! They are just finishing their winter and heading into spring but it is super super cold. Sr Gardiner and I have been freezing our hinies off! I have worn my tights and a sweater everyday and can still be cold! I even broke out the mittens! At night we are sleeping with almost four blankets! It's definitely not Provo cold but after being on a tropical island for a year, my body has NO sort of immunity to the cold. I think it is in the high 40s or 50 here so it feels glacial.

I don't really know what else to write with the few minutes that are left so I will just have to send pictures because they say a thousand words. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Stewart

One Year Older and Hopefully Wiser Too

Well,

Like you mentioned, I am hitting my year mark this week. I know it is so crazy. I want to deny that the time has sped by fast because each day still can feel soo slow but unfortunately what they say is true. Your time on the mission does wiz by. While it does feel like I have been out here for a very long time, it is still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I only have a third of my mission left. It's still a good amount of time though so you will hear lots of more stories and testimonies before my last day comes!

Alright so I don't have lots of time right now but I'll just give you a little update about the week! So this past week we were super lucky to have a zone conference with Elder Hamilton of the Seventy. It was super amazing. During his portion of the meeting he asked us to talk about some of our difficulties here on La Reunion doing missionary work. My hand shot right up. Finding people! It is so hard to find people! Know that vacation is over, everyone is working during the day and there is no one to find when we go porting or walk around downtown. You know what Elder Hamilton's secret was? Talk to Everyone. Yep, that was what he told us. We as missionaries need to talk to everyone. At first I thought that there must be more because that is the first rule as a missionary - talk to everyone but then I realized that we really could be doing a better job - that we SHOULD be doing a better job at talking to literally everyone. One of the missionaries who served for a short time in France said that at one point they used to keep track of how many people they talked/introduced themselves to in a week. One companionship was able to talk to 2,000 people a week! When they rode the bus they used to walk up and down the aisles talking to every single person on the bus. That is what it means to talk to everyone and that is what we need to be doing as missionaries! 

Sr Gardiner and I have really been trying to test it out and committ ourselves to talking with literallly every person who crosses our paths. It is really hard. And we have talked to some unpleasant people. But it feels good to know we are doing our best and already we have had some people interested - perhaps people that normally we would not have talked to! Really what I have been learning (especially from Sr Gardiner because she is a super example) is that talking to everyone is sort of a test of faith. God needs to know that He can trust us. That if He puts someone prepared in our path He can trust us to talk to them. If we won't talk to everyone then He can't trust us and so it would be wasted on us to put someone prepared in our path. It is a test of faith. We need to have faith that there ARE people out there who are prepared for us. And I'll be honest sometimes it's hard! Some of these people can be so stubborn and closed and ignorant of even their own beliefs! But they are children of God who have divine potential and we have to talk to each one of them so they can have the chance to change and understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The biggest adventure of this week is that on Thursday we woke up to this big pile of water on the floor in our kitchen. It turned out there was a big leak underneath the sink. So we had to turn off our water at all times to minimize the leak. Unfortunately that makes taking a shower really difficult because if the water is on, then the puddle grows at a rapid rate in the kitchen and all our towels were already soaked. So luckily Friday they sent in a ward member to try and fix it. He worked on it for nearly 2 1/2 hours and then put in a temporary piece to limit the water flow. Meanwhile we hung out downstairs in the senior couple's apt because he is a man and we can't be in the house with him at the same time. Complicated. Luckily that mostly fixed the problem and then the Zone Leaders came by a couple of times to try and make the fix more permanent. It still hasn't exactly stopped leaking 100% but we can keep our water on so we are very happy!

In other random news. There is a man here who must be the Reunion Martin Short. He looks just like him. And he has the personallity of the Martin Short character from Arrested Development - very cooky and into young pretty girls. We have run into him way more times than we wanted to while walking the streets. 

I finally made those French beignets! They were delicious and Sr Gardiner said they were even better than the ones that her REAL french companion used to make.

We recieved the exciting news that we are GOING TO MADAGASCAR!!!! for four days next week! So that we can personally be at a leadership meeting instead of making a skype call! So we will get to see what it is like for real over there! We are incredibly stoked! So next week's email might be late or something because I'll be doing it over there! 

Well that's all folks! Love ya! 

Love,

Sister Stewart

some french words i don't understand -ky

Well,

Not a lot of new news for this week - sorry everyone! Life has just continued on for us missionaries on La Reunion. We had a couple of good lessons and it looks like one of our investigators has some great potential. His name is Phillipe and we had a second lesson with him this week where we even fixed a baptism date! We fixed it for all the way in October because - obviously he has a lot to learn and commitments to make - but we set it as a good goal to work towards. He came to church again this Sunday for the second time and it is super great because normally that is the hardest step!

We heard from Therese this week...but unfortunately it was bad news. She texted us and said thanks for worrying about her but that she has decided to stay in the Catholic church. We asked her if we could come by one last time but she never responded. We are pretty heartbroken because she was so ready and saw such a change in her life with the church and Book of Mormon but we still hold out hope. We hope that with time we will be able to see her again or maybe some of the members because she made some pretty close friends when she came to the branch. We will have to see.

Oh yeah, we did a LOT of contacting this week. Which normally means at least a few potentials for amis, but this week we didn't find so many people. We tried this new contacting message. Basically Sr Gardiner plays her violin and I sing hymns at big public places. We put up this sign that talks about the church and has some pictures from the new Bible videos (you know the super great ones) and the title says "Venez et Vous Verrez!"  which means "Come and See!" A good amount of people will compliment us on the singing or give us thumbs up but not too many have stopped and talked to us. Lots of people look at the sign though. We have mostly been singing in Centreville - which is literal in French meaning the center of town. It's this huge street where no cars can come down just lined with shops - basically the equivalent of a mall. And it was packed this week because all the kids went back to school this monday - today. So last minute shopping was being done to buy notebooks and backpacks and all that jazz. I am sure you are doing the same thing chez vous. So like I said - not tons of success.... But we are hoping at least to give people more exposure to our church and just get them to have contact and notice us the missionaries in a good way. Every one can point out the Temoin Jehovah's (Jehovah Witness) they are always on the street with a little stand and they port peoples houses too. Everyone recognizes them (for good or for worse...) but then when we meet people most of them have never even talked to a missionary OR a member before. We are the very first time they have even known of this church's existence on the island! So I hope our singing routine will at least change that - in a positive way.

Which, by the way, is crazy that some people (most people) have never heard of the church because there have been missionaries here for almost 40 years. And already in a year, between Sr Gardiner and I, we have practically knocked on every single door that is accessible in our part of the city. You think I am joking but I have been here for a year and most weeks we port or contact at least 12 hours...so you do the math. We drive around the city looking for new places and say "did that four months ago" , "did that when I first got here" So we have started re-doing things. It surprises me when people say that every time!

Alright well my time is up, have to go! Wish I had more interesting news!

Love you all! 

Sr. Stewart

A Very Happy Birthday

Family,

Well I will start with the number one question I recieved in my e-mails this week - yes! I did have a very very happy birthday! That morning I woke up and Sr Gardiner and our third (temporary) companion Sr Berchal wished me happy birthday and Sr Gardiner served me up an omelette! Which is a big deal because it was the first omelette she had ever made! That's some loving service for you. I hadn't got anyone's packages unfortunately but I figured that if I had to wait a couple more days or a week it wouldn't kill me - even though it was a little bit of a bummer. Then something surprising happened at district meeting. One of our zone leaders who was teaching the lesson wanted to do an object lesson where he blindfolded a missionary and had their companions direct them toward a suitcase. He chose 3 missionaries to do the object lesson and I was missionary number 3. After my companions had successfully directed me to the suitcase he told me I could open it for the lesson. I was incredibly delighted to see not one but BOTH of my packages!! So I got them the morning of my birthday! Just like back home :) 

So first I need to say a huge MERCI for the packages and everything inside them! I honestly couldn't have been happier! I LOVE the dress and the shoes! I wore them this Sunday for my talk! And I am currently wearing the clothes that grandpa and grandma sent. Also we have already dug into the soups I recieved :) My temporary french companion was shocked that Americans could make their soups taste so good. Most french soups taste just like the vegetable medley they offer...aka carrots. The candy is almost gone because it is so delicious so thank you for that. And I absolutely LOVED the movie Dad, thank you so much. Moving pictures are worth a billion words. Also I nearly cried from laughing so hard some of the clips were so funny. Namely Kiari rapping to grandpa, the little girls karaoke and others - it makes me so excited to see you guys in 6 months!! 

Enough about the best birthday of my life :) Good and bad news up next. Therese had a baptism interview and passed!! She also set a date for this Saturday! However she then sent a text Sunday morning saying she couldn't come to church or be baptized at this time even though she is ready. And she wants us to give her time. So we were fairly devastated by that. We think it has to do with her husband with whom she is separated right now. We are going to try and talk to her and work everything out because she is SOO incredibly ready and she knows SO much. This is the woman that is reading the Book of Mormon for the 4th time and had already stopped drinking coffee BEFORE we taught her the Word of Wisdom because she had heard about it from members. Anyway I am sure next week I will be writing about when her next date of baptism is :) 

Youssouf is still continuing to progress. Unfortunately he is taking a 3 or so week vacation to Maurice so we can't fix a baptism date just yet because we don't know when he will be back. But he is really ready so whenever he gets back he is just itching to get in the water. No really. He asks us constantly when the next baptism is and we always have to try and slow him down because he needs to understand all the teachings and recieve all the lessons and truly be converted. But it's great. I have never seen enthusiasm like that in all my time out here. I would take that anyday. 

So about our temporary companion. You might have heard me talk about Maurice or Mauritius once or twice. They are the same place. The first one is just the english pronounciation and the second is the french way. It is our neighboring island that is just booming with the gospel right now. Right now we only have 4 full time missionaries and a senior couple over there because the country won't allow any more than that number to have visas. Well speaking of visas, it is super difficult to get them for the country. Before the sisters went out, they waited for 5 months! Because Sister Packer went home this week (my trainer), they need to send another sister out to Mauritius and they all ready started the visa work but it's behind. So they had to bring her companion over, Sister Berchal who served on Reunion - St Paul - before she went to Mauritius. And now she is staying with us until someone can get a visa to go over. It's a little bit complicated. But it sufficeth me to say that she is staying with us and is super super awesome. Her family is from the island Guadeloupe in the middle of the carribean but she grew up mostly in France. 

This sunday I was asked to give a talk for our special "missionary sacrament meeting". I pulled most of my material from Elder Clay Christensen's new book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" - which by the way I recommend that every one go out and read - seriously it is incredibly inspiring and gives us such a vision of what member missionaries SHOULD be! I felt fairly nervous, in part because I had had to mentally translate parts of the book into French to share in my talk. It went really well. I thought I didn't have too much to say and then I recieved a slip of paper from the president saying "Thank you for finishing up" and looked at the clock and realized I had talked us over the hour. And I was only the second speaker. Whoops. I was fairly embarrassed. But my companions assured me that nothing I said was superfluous and a few branch members made nice comments so I didn't die of embarrassement. 

Other than that, not tons of big news mostly we are just concerned about Therese. And all of our amis but a lot about Therese. I hope to have really good news about her next week. Thank you all for your love and support! I absolutely adored my birthday and a large part came from the love I felt even miles and miles away!

Love,

Sr Stewart

August has Arrived

Tout le monde,

 

Thank you for the birthday wishes!! This week was a good week. We actually taught a surprising amount of lessons. It seems like that continues to happen that we get to the end of the week and go "Wow, how did we teach so many people?" It isn't like we have endless and endless lists of people and yet things continue to progress bit by bit. The middle of the week was a little hard because two different people dropped us and one was another miracle family. Mostly it is just really really sad to see people not accept the gospel here - especially when they don't accept simply because they are too "stubborn" (in their own words) to ever leave their traditions. If only people could understand that it is so much more than tradition! The covenants we make with our Savior and Heavenly Father are the gateway to returning to live with them again! And it all hinges upon our obedience in this life. Every day and moment more on the mission I am realizing how much it is ALL about obedience. That is the great test of this life. Every commandement, every standard, every word from the prophet's mouth is to help us become better people...THROUGH obedience. 

We are still teaching some of our superstars. Youssouf came to church again! YAY! And might be having his baptismal interview THIS SATURDAY!! AHHH! So then he will be baptized next Saturday! So exciting! He is forming friendships with the members and coming to church consistently and we have taught him all of the lessons. We feel really good that he is ready but will continue to monitor his progress and his commitments really closely the next two weeks to make sure his is 100% ready and understanding of the HUGE life commitment he will be making from here on out! Like I said - the covenants we make mean everything! It looks like Therese might be baptised in the next couple of weeks as well and we are just over the moon about that. Never have I taught someone who was so humble, teachable and prepared. It is so inspiring!! Everytime we go over there she is making her way through a new church material trying to read all she can. Right now she is trying to read the whole conference Liahona in conjunction with the Book of Mormon. We also gave her a Liahona that was a special temple addition and she was so excited to have it, she was going to start reading it as soon as she finished her conference one! I have never taught an ami like her and it truly is the world's most meaningful experience to be a part of someone's journey to finding the gospel like that. In other happy news, an inactive with whom we have been working with for several months finally came back to church this week!! And she has not been to church in 10 or so years!! It is crazy that she has taken this huge step! We were so happy because it can be the largest hurdle to try and get someone to come even one sunday after years and years. 

Some of our amis are starting to really lag and not make progress which is sad. We want to work with them and help them find out for themselves but at the end of the day, you can only help them as much as they can help themselves. No matter how many times we visit people and teach them and testify with the spirit, they can't go anywhere if they themselves don't decide to read and pray and come to church. And right now we are hitting a stage where people "want to know" or "want to make committments" but they don't keep the commitments or promises they make. On the other hand, we have found a couple of people who are really ready and open to the idea of one true church or of one single path which is very rare to find out here on Reunion! We are extremely excited to keep working with them. We had a super fun Missionary Fireside this Friday where we created four different games Jeopardy, Bingo, Scavenger Hunt and Bean Bag Toss - with a Preach My Gospel twist! All of the games used Preach My Gospel for answers. Unfortunately, only 8 branch members showed up. We were a little disapointed. But we still had a fun night and are gearing up to do it another time. We really are trying to motivate the members to step up and be member missionaries and magnify their callings. Last week we had Branch Council and only the Primary President came besides the missionaries and the Branch President...we are really trying to think of ways that we missionaries can motivate, encourage, support the branch to turn it into a strong dynamic GROWING branch!

We went on a hike today - "Le Grand Etang" it was the one we did as a zone the first week I was here. The one that looked like Lost. Anyway it seriously felt like deja vu since we were there just a year ago and it doesn't feel like that much time! The Adams also went with us because they are in town to do interviews tomorrow. It makes me realize how quickly the time really is passing! Soon I will only have 6 months left and then I will practically be home! Yikes - it makes me pretty nervous to think about coming home! Thanks again for the love and support. I love you all and think about you back home!

Love,

Sr Stewart

Half Christmas

Zot,

So today we celebrated half Christmas with our District! It was so much fun! We met in the Senior Couple's apt and listened to Christmas music, exchanged white elephant gifts, made snowflakes, played games and ate a delicious meal together! It really was wonderful. And that is why the North District is the best district. 

In other news, our investigators are still going great. We had 3 come to church this past sunday which was huge! I haven't had that many investigators come in one week since the beginning of my mission (aka the glory days). We hope that two of them will be baptized in this upcoming August! They are both really ready but we are trying to really really make sure they are well prepared, they understand and especially are ready to make this life long commitment.

One of the biggest difficulties with the church right now on Reunion is that we have more less active members than active members for the whole island. People keep leaving but the number of people coming in is much smaller. And lots of strong members move to France or other countries (for work, stronger church) so the church is suffering a little bit right now. We are hoping that bringing in strong new converts can strengthen the current branch and maybe re-vive some of the longtime members. It gives me a lot a lot of appreciation for the strong support and organization that we have in America. Luckily we are able to benefit from all the years of pioneers and the beginning struggles. Here the church is still very much young and pioneers are happening everyday. The first members to ever live on Reunion are still in this branch. They are in their 70s but they are here and their young grandchildren are the only 3rd generation members for the whole island. 

This week we actually saw lots of surprise success. I say surprise because while we haven't changed a lot of our methods we are seeing a lot more interest than usual. This past week while porting we met 2 different families who were open to letting us come back and teach them. That NEVER happens. I have almost never taught a family here in my whole mission life! In addition we met with several people who turned out to truly be searching in their life and are now new amis. It truly is miraculous because this simply doesn't fall out of the sky like this in Reunion. Really I know they are blessings from the Lord. Now Sr Gardiner and I are just trying to figure out what we could possibly be doing to merit such blessings! We haven't found our answer but we are focusing on giving 100% of out hearts to this work and getting rid of all of our pride and being 100% perfectly obedient. Which is pushing us to be better missionaries because we might have been good before but I personally am trying to take extra efforts to make sure everything is as aligned with the Lord's will and my handbook as possible. Lately both of us have really felt that our time on a mission is quickly arriving near its end and that now is the time that we need to "sprint" the last leg of the race and give it all we got. We are living the dream right now being companions and sister training leaders and working in the sector that we "grew up" in when we first arrived. The Lord is blessing us abundantly and we are trying to live righteously for each blessing He wishes to bestow on us. And that's what it is like in real life too - that is, life after the mission. It all comes down to obedience. The Lord can only bless us and bestow us with knowledge and faith IF we live obediently to merit it for ourselves. Think about ways that you can be more obedient in your life. What are the little things that you still slack on or ignore. Most of us are trying to live in Zion but also own a summer home in Babylon. What is that one thing/movie/tv show/music/what not that you need to give up? Reflect on it, find it and give it up. The Lord can only turn us into celestial people if we are developing a celestial will that resembles His own. 

Love,

Sr Stewart

Happy Bastille Day

Zot,

So Bastille Day was this past Monday. Unfortunately, Sr Gardiner and I thought it was the 13th of July and not the 14th so we were surprised that everyone started celebrating the evening before the actual date. We originally had a lesson planned but when he didn't show up (to his own apt) we decided to walk around and contact people. We saw huge crowds moving their way in a direction and decided to follow them and then contact at whatever event was attracting all the crowds. Much to our surprise it was a huge festival and there were more people there than I have ever seen in one place in La Reunion. All celebrating the national day in France! There were tons and tons of people!! We tried contacting people unsuccessfully for a couple of hours and then as we were about to leave we saw a less active who told us there would be fireworks in half an hour. So we stuck around and saw one of the least traditional firwork shows I've ever seen. It was magnificently times but all the music was either current american pop music, old american jazz, or extremely over-dramatic classics like "Ride of the Valkeries" At one point they played a sound clip from Star Wars when Darth Vader urges the soldiers to search the ship for the rebels. Hahah. But not one single traditional french song. I didn't even hear any french song. No french anthem or anything. Apparently all the traditional things had been done in the morning with the army parade but we missed it. All we got was the super modern pyrotechnic but not patriotic show. 

Another fun event this week was Youth Conference! There was an island wide youth conference and we were invited to come and do a few activities with the youth about the Book of Mormon. After that we stuck around and helped the youth with little sketches about For The Strength Of Youth and ate typical creole food and sang some songs. It was the best! The youth here are so strong! They have to be because Reunion culture is definitely not conducive to the standards in FSY. I was really re-inspired again by the FSY and the standards the prophets have given us. I can see so much better now as a missionary WHY they are so important and HOW inspired they really are. We as missionaries have lots of very specific, very straightforward or strict rules. Why? Because we are set apart and trying to do everything we can to have the spirit with us 100% of the time. So if you want to have a life that is different and set apart from the world and feel the spirit even as an everyday person they one would have to have very specific "strict" standards to achieve that sort of life. 

Basically I am realizing more and more that missions are just direct metaphors for life. Everything that we do or happens in a mission directly relates to "real" life and teaches us what we should do and how we should follow the Lord's commandments after the mission is over. 

In other news: our ami Therese continues to progress amazingly. She has started picking up brochures on the table during church and then when we come over during the week she has already read them and highlighted the sections she loves. Wow. What a miracle! This week we taught her Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom. Turns out a member mentioned to her a week ago that we don't drink coffee in the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS so she prayed that she wouldn't get headaches and just stopped like that. She had already stopped a week before we taught her and shared how her prayer had been answered and made it easy for her to stop drinking coffee. That is some incredible faith folks. She is so prepared and so humble. I feel like I learn a lot from her example about what it means to be teachable and humble.

We did exchanges this week for the first time since I've been "Sister Training Leader". It was fun. I was pretty nervous before-hand because I felt like I still am figuring out how to be a good missionary and how to get better so I didn't think I would have any tips or knowledge or suggestions to help or give on to the other sister. I was pleasantly surprised to find that while I have tons and tons and tons to still learn and perfect, my time on the mission has also given me a lot of experiences to draw from and I could share some of the things I've learned - even if I didn't feel like I had a lot of "training" to do or pass on, I still felt like the past year has really shaped me and taught me a lot.

Love,

Sr Stewart

anarako dia, soeur stewart

Zot!

So this week was another great one! One of the coolest moments was probably when I bore my testimony....(drumroll please).... in MALAGACHE! Yeah, that's right! I memorized a short testimony in malagache so I could recite it for this family of amis that we have who moved from Madagascar 3 months ago. I spent all day memorizing it and repeating it over and over and over and then during the actual lesson I was so nervous that I almost lost my nerve. But at the very end of our meeting I just slowly recited my testimony and then encouraged them to read the Book of Mormon to know for themselves. I think it went all right! They seemed to understand and they engaged to read the Book of Mormon as a family so huge success! 

So people here are always dropping out of or ditching out of their rendez-vous (meetings) with us that you just have to develop a sense of humor about it. This week we were porting and got let in by these older ladies in their 70s who were catholic. One of them didn't actually live there but was paying a visit to her friend. She was catholic but she said she was interested in coming to see our church. We offered to come back the next day to her apt just upstairs and continue sharing our message and explaining the difference. She said ok and gave us her apt number and her phone number with a fixed apt for the next day. When we showed up at her apt and knocked, a voice yelled back asking who it was. It sounded just like her and I was sure she would let us in once we explained that we were the missionaries from the previous day. Instead she told us that the lady we were looking for - Jossette - had left and she was just watching the house. She claimed Jossette had "Left for Maurice (the next island over) .... for a year!" Which seemed like a pretty impromptu trip to me since she hadn't even seemed to be packed less than 24 hours ago...

Another funny moment came when in the saturday night district meeting (stake conference) the general authority asked the assembly why porting wouldn't work to find people anymore. One person shouted out "Gates!" "Good, good, that's one reason" said Elder Hamilton. "What's another reason?" Then a missionary from the back yelled out " Mean Dogs!" "Spoken like a true missionary!" said Elder Hamilton. 

We continue to see miracles happen with our investigators. This week we taught Therese - our malagache ami who has read the Bom 3 times - two times and both lessons went amazing. We brought a member to one of our lessons and it just built my testimony so much of how much good the members can do and how much they can really help us. Partly because of our member, Therese agreed to come to Family Home Evening the next night on Friday with her two little kids, Karim ( a 5 year old boy) and Kelly (a 2 1/2 tornado of a little girl). At first she felt lost among the different families since she didn't know them but soon enough we were all having fun and the members really made her feel at home. That night she arranged transport for herself and her kids with the members so they could come to the activity saturday night when we watched "Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration". She came saturday night and had a great time and then even helped mop and clean up after ward. I'm telling you people, she was just born to be a member of the church! Then she came to all three hours of church Sunday and was invited to go on a picnic with some ward members today! In one weekend she has practically become a member - before her baptism! Her kids are so cute too - I will have to get pictures to send. They also officially recognize us and know who we are because they will always tell their mother that "the sisters" are here!

Also an inactive who hasn't stepped foot in the church building in 7 years came to family home evening this week. 

Also one of our inactive's daughter who is grown up with her own family came to District Conference and was present in our lesson with her mom and at the end of our message we felt impressed to commit her to be baptized, and before we even asked her mom told us that her daughter (julie) had asked her how she (julie) could be baptized! Now her daughter and her boyfriend are working to get married so that she can be baptized and then hopefully her boyfriend after that! And they have 4 cute little kids together! Miracles! Miracles, folks! The sisters have been working to try and meet with this daughter (julie) for years! And now she is wanting to make changes in her life so she can be baptized and go to the temple with her family!

Also we finally met with this inactive youth that we have been trying to see for months now and she agreed to come to Youth Conference! So we hope that her testimony will be re-lit and will lead her family out of inactivity!

Other than those stories we had a great week! We are working really hard and keeping really busy - and that's just the way I like it! 

Miracles and a volcano

Zot!

So I can firmly say that we say miracles this week. There have been so many instances of things that seemed like stories one would read out of a Liahona. The Lord has just been pouring out blessings on this area and on our companionship - it is incredible! So I have to cheat because I don't have enough time to write a good email...so I am letting Sr Gardiner ghost write one for me! So if the following doesn't sound like me - it's because it is her writing but I 100% endorse everything she says :)

Happy 4th of July! I don't think I was ever very patriotic until right about now. We WERE going to eat burgers and fries but since it's chilly here my companion and I caved and ate some soup BUT to celebrate our newfound love of our country on the 4th, she did bring out her violin, I got out my english hymnbook and we performed a mini concert in our apt. went out onto the balcony and sang our hearts out. I sang all the patriotic song and we ended with the Star Spangled Banner while looking out over the city from our balcony.We ended with a moving rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" and I think the entire apartment complex could hear us. The Madsen's applauded for us since they live right below us. We wanted to sing it facing the direction of our homeland but then we realized that we could pretty much face any way and we would be looking towards America since we are on the other side of the world. It was so cheesy it was hilarious! But also surprisingly nostalgic and touching. 

This was a very happy week. Exhausting and stressful, but God is pouring out blessings on us! 

So right now we are teaching Yousouf and his mother Safina (the muslim lady that we met contacting) we invited Yousouf to be baptized and he was like "when is the next baptsimal service??" He was already baptized Christian when he lived in Mauritius and his whole family persecuted him because they are all SUPER muslim, but he really understands the restoration and even Safina (who speaks the craziest mauritien créole that I've ever heard-I swear she is just throwing Arab words in there) understands the importance of prophets and authority. She wants to be baptized but her ex husband is super super muslim and will uninherit her children if she does. 

So when we taught them this week they explained that they wanted us to skype and teach Nazroomah (safina's daughter that lives in Mauritius) about Joseph Smith. She lives with her muslim husband and his family and she was sneaky skyping us. . It was crazy because she kept covering up the speaker and looking around to make sure that no one in her family was listening. She's been trying to get her hands on any christian literature that she can and she already knew a ton about Jesus Christ We're going to give her the number of Soeur Packer and Soeur Berchel so she can keep learning and get a book of mormon

We're still teaching Therese and she's already read the Book of Mormon 3 times! She's gotten over the fact that no, this isnt "l'eglise normale" (the catholic church) and she understands that Jospeh Smith wasn't just another Catholic Saint. She is so ready for the gospel and she accepted a baptismal date this past lesson!

We had a miracle lesson with Sarah and Dominique. I had almost given up on them because they had told us a million times that they could never not go to catholic church. But we brought the Aurieng family with us for what we thought would be one last lesson. It must of been inspired because turns out Sarah knows Soeur Aureing from Mada! and Soeur Aureing was able to bear testimony in Malgache. (her family was also found by missionnaries just a few weeks after moving here) Her daughter jessica even invited their kids, Melissa and David to youth conference. At the end we invited them to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if our message was true. They were hesitant at first but after we explained that we werent their to change their faith, but to add to it, and after Soeur Aurieng shared her testimony in Malgache, Dominique said boldly "I dont know about the others but I'm going to pray to know if its true; And I hope that God responds quickly, I don't want to wait 10 years". Mostly it was a beautiful moment because Dominique had been so unwilling to even ask the question before. 

other highlights of a beautiful week:

Our ami Sebastien the pastry maker made us delicious pastries! (called Paris-Brest)

We finally had another lesson with Laureano! still have so much faith in that kid

We hung out with our friend Laura last P day (the one who grew up all over the world in missionary communities)

Our lesson went super well at Zone Conference

President Adams says next MLC (the meeting we skype in on as "Sister Training Leader") we might go to Mada!

Safina made us this delicious Indian food for breakfast!

The other part of the Chion Hook dynasty invited us for dinner!

See why this week was so amazing but also SO crazy? I didn't even mention how we had a zone conference that lasted ALL day Thursday. It started at 9 and ended at 4! But we did take an hour break for lunch of course, but it was really great. President told us our little 30 minute lesson was "superb" and everything worked as planned so I considered it really successful. The musical number also went really well. We performed "I love to see the temple - Oh j'aime voir le temple" in French while Sr Gardiner played violin and Sr Isham was at piano. I sang. People told us it was "celestial" and "angelic" so I also counted that as another success!

Basically all week long we were running around teaching lots of lessons and trying to get members to go to all of our lessons with us. I have had the impression lately that if we use more members our amis will be touched and we will see more success. So far it is really working and I know that (like ALL the prophets and apostles keep saying) MEMBERS are the secret to missionary work. The Area seventy gave a talk during our Saturday night district conference centered on how members are the key to missionary work. I think his greatest quote was when he said that more tracting is not the answer to more missionary success. More contacting is not the secret to more missionary success. The answer is members doing more missionary work guided by the holy ghost and helped by the Lord. I know that is so TRUE! So get out there and invite people! Invite them to come to a Home Evening! Invite them to a fireside! Invite them to find out why your family is so happy! Invite Invite Invite!

All my love,

Sr Stewart

P.S. I forgot to tell you that the volcano exploded about 3 weeks ago on the island - crazy right? You should google it. There was real lava just running down its sides and no one was concerned! It didn't cause any damage but still errupting volcano! Actually it was quite exciting for everyone because it erupts fairly rarely maybe once every 5 years.

Also because it is "winter" which means it feels like autumn, everyone is falling sick. Like our attendance at church has gone way down because people keep getting a cold or the flu and then are practically on their death beds or something crazy. That's what happens when the weather in a tropical island drops down to the 70s. Everyone catches cold and then gets consumption or something.