July 23, 2013

(Just to remind everyone, you can mail Elder Stewart letters and care packages AND you can also email him! Send Sayre an email just to tell him hey. Its  sayre.stewart@myldsmail.net)

This Guy.

 

Creeping on  the taco shop

Safety circle.. not sure why but they are all over the ccm campus.. I think they are just in case a sea bear attacks

Latino Elders leaving for their missions! they only have to be there for 2 weeks

Missionary duck face..classic

Temple trip number 2 (got in trouble in this picture because apparently you are not supposed to take a picture with only another girl in it..good thing there was 2 photo bombers...)

HALF WAY DONE! At the CCM

Well there goes another week. Man half way done already? Really; three more weeks until Chile? I CANT WAIT

Yesterday we watched our Latino roommates leave to go out to missions (Elder Gonzalez and Elder Poloma)   the night before they left we stayed up taking with them (later then I should have) and one of them told us his life story and it is amazing.

Elder Gonzalez was born in Mexico but when He was three his parents snuck across the border and ended up in Utah. His parents used to hide from the missionaries (which are pretty understandable for illegal immigrants to hide from men in a suit and tie coming up to your house) but soon accepted the discussions and got baptized. Elder Gonzalez never did though because he was a teenager at the time and wanted to live his life.

One day he got a heavy speeding ticket and the cop asked for his papers... and he didn't have them so he went to jail for three months then they shipped him to Mexico!

This guy’s barely spoke Spanish and he has lived in America his whole life!

Anyway his cell mate for those three months was Mormon (who obviously made some bad choices) and made him go to church classes while in jail. He was converted then. Once shipped to Mexico he lived with a lot of distant family but then moved in with a friend’s family who was LDS. There he decided to go on a mission. And now he is preaching the truth to the world!

It is amazing to see how the lord works through people. Sometimes what seems like a horrible thing turns into a blessing. In America he probably would have never been converted. And he couldn't have gone on a mission because he wasn't a legal citizen. But he feels so privileged and blessed for all of the trials he went through.

Mom thanks so much for that tide pen I have used it countless times (I can’t even count how many times. And I also can’t count very well in Spanish) but the whole ccm thanks you as well because I think the whole place has used it at least one time haha.

During our gym time last week it was raining. Hard. I’m pretty sure it was a hurricane. Everybody was going inside and being boring and I just wasn't going to have that, so a couple of us started a volley ball game outside in the rain. The sand pit was more like a lake and the ball hurt so bad when you hit it because of the mud but it was all worth it. Towards the end of the game it turned into a mud fight and by the end of gym we were all drenched in mud and water.

I’m pretty sure all the mosquitoes in the universe decided to have a house party in my room last night. I put on bug stray but my companion was not as lucky. One of his arms looks like he has chicken pox. I guess one of our roommates kept the door open all night and the smell of our blood attracted mosquitoes from miles. In the morning during their after party in my closet, we had our revenge and massacred them all.

This past week has really been a good one. My faith and testimony in this work has grown so much.

 AND the book of Mormon is true. I know it with all my heart. I want so much for everyone else to know it as well and they can if they just read and ask the lord through prayer, with a sincere heart and real intent, having faith in Christ you can know of the truth. That is a promise. Everyone who is reading this, whether you already have a testimony of the book of Mormon or not. Read it (or read it again)

You have nothing to lose, and an eternity of happiness to gain.

This gospel is true. And it is so wonderful. I have such a stronger relationship with Christ than ever before. He knows me, and I am striving to be like him. And he is not far away from any of us.

I love you and miss you all. But I am also glad to be here...so I don’t know where that put us.

"The purpose of the gospel is to make bad men good, good men better, and change human nature" David o McKay