Another Week

Salut Zot!

So not too much to mention this week. We didn't really have a lot going on than usual. Lots of contacting. Since there are not very many large public space areas here in our mission (that aren't stores) Sr Isham and I spend a LOT of time in the one "state garden" that they have here. Haha, some of the people must think we sleep there!

We didn't have a lesson with Sylvest because he had to counsel. Maybe this next week. We are really working hard to focus in on this ami named Laureano who I have been working with for nearly 5 months now. He is a young kid, 23, who is just working but has a sincere desire to come closer to God. The only think getting in his way is some of the distractions of being young and going out to parties or hanging out with friends and skipping appointments or not reading the book of Mormon. Please pray for Laureano this week because he really needs it and because I love him SO much!! He says he wants to be baptized but is so hesitant to set a date because he doesn't want the responsibility of having to follow through and hold to his commitments. But he is a real gem, with a heart of gold and real sincere desires to do what is right and please God and make Him a part of his life. He is just getting distracted in the meantime. Pray for him, we are going to keep working with him and hopefully he will start making progress again and keeping his commitments.

My favorite part of the week was easily the Relief Society Activity that we sang at. The song went well but the meeting was so touching to me. It was to commemorate the founding of the society, that was for the entire island and it was so great. It was just SO uplifting! The talks were all about how we are daughters of God and need to remember our Divine Potential. And just being with the sisters was such a nice feeling of consolidarity. Even though we share those messages with people every single day - it still feels nice to hear them about yourself. Everyone can always use a pick me up about themselves and their divine potential and how amazingly special they are as a child of God. And everyone deserves it - which is why we are here, you know? I'm here to testify to people about how important they are and how much God loves them no matter what the circumstance or situation. And even if they accept our message or not, we can testify to them of God's love. Cause everyone needs to hear that.

Other than that...I got to admit, not too much news. The work is going very slowly. This week had some of our worst numbers yet. So if you want to pray that we will be led to prepared people and that their hearts will be open, that would also be great. The mission president is flying in next week I think to have interviews with us, he comes every 6 weeks which is really nice. Between the three islands, I think he is traveling nearly every weekend. Things are going well. I'm doing a lot better than the other last few weeks. My companions have been a really big part in helping me be positive and uplifted. I guess I have some perfectionist tendencies that tend to get a hold of me sometimes. But through everything I am learning how to be more like my Savior Jesus Christ and I am getting a lot of opportunities to improve myself - which is ultimately the point of life!

I Love you all! Don't forget to be member missionaries and pray to the Lord to help you!

Sister Stewart

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight

What a week...

Salut à zot!

So this week was somewhat crazy. FIRST, my email was hacked :( so if anyone got crazy/mean/explicit messages from me, that is why. Other than that all my messages were deleted :( That was a pretty sad discovery, and it also came right after we had some car troubles so that day basically was way tough. But then wouldn't you know, the Elders gave me my package that night!! It was so happy because I really really needed a pick me up, and not only did it remind me that my family loved me but that the Lord did too. Because normally we get our packages on Monday but because of timing, I got it on my awful terrible Tuesday! And that was directly a tender mercy of the Lord! I am so grateful He is aware of each one of us and works every day to let us know it. So yes, I got the package! And I LOVED it! And I just hugged it for the first 5 minutes because it was everything I needed at the end of that day. And I haven't taken my Red shirt off yet! Hahah just kidding, I can't wear it to proselytize... but I do wear it to bed each night! And luckily I get new messages every week so I still have ones for this week. :)

In the same vein about tought days, I just want to share that I am growing and improving so much - and it's just amazing when I think about how all these challenges are making me so much a better person. During zone meeting with President this week he passed out a missionary training booklet that has been added that is all about stress and dealing with it - basically the book was made for me, especially after the real tough time I just had a couple of weeks ago. And even though it will still be helpful to me now, Sr Gardiner turned to look at me when I said "I needed this my whole mission!" and said "Yeah, but think how much stronger you are now since you did everything without it" And she's right. The challenges I'm going through are definitely making me a stronger, more faithful, better person. And for that I am grateful.

We were able to have a lesson with Sylveste! After really focusing in on the Book of Mormon for our lesson, he said he believes it is the word of God, Joseph was a prophet and the Church is the restored church. YAYAY! The only thing is that he still needs time to think over changing religions because it is such a strong tradition in his family for everyone to be Catholic. So hopefully, he will feel the need and desire to make that change. It's also hard because the family is going through a hard financial time so that is really weighing on him (I'm sure you saw that all the time). He didn't come to church :( because now he is working extra to earn enough money for his wife to ask for a visa. Real tough stuff. But we testified about how church and the Book of Mormon will help him - even with financial problems. I know that he has been specifically prepared  by the Lord, but I think he just needs some time.

So the car troubles...I took my companion driving to try and get her comfortable with a stick shift, and we practiced in a parking lot for an hour. She has the basics down, so in the idea of being a good teacher I told her to continue and drive us down our little mountian hill and to our close destination. She navigated downhill really well and at the bottom we stopped at a stoplight. That's where the difficulty began. She couldn't get the car to go without stalling and for two lights we only inched forward until we were in the middle of the intersection. At this moment there were a whole line of cars behind us and even some who wanted to turn that we were blocking. I decided to switch out with her, only to discover that someone she had killed the car completely! It wouldn't re-start...and we were stuck in the middle of an intersection! "Luckily" (and by that I mean, tender mercy from the Lord) one of our amis happened to be driving by and hopped out of his car to help us push it to the side of the road - otherwise poor Sr Isham would have had to try and push all by herself! After we moved it to the side, the ami got in and by magic the car started up again! So not too long of a breakdown but for a second there I was real worried because it seemed like we were totally stuck!

I love you all LOTS and pray about you EVERY night!!

Love,

Sr Stewart

WebRep

currentVote

noRating

noWeight