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