June 1, 2015

I can’t believe that Elle is getting baptized this week. My little cousin has grown up so fast!
Please tell her that I am proud of her and I love her.  That love needs to be sent to all of my Hawaiian family members yeah?
This week has been very good.
I just heard from my dad on the mission Elder Barker that he is getting married in November...Furthermore and he has asked me to be one of his groomsmen. That awesome! I don’t really know what job groomsmen have other than to be in all of the pictures and look good but that seems like a job that I can do haha
As far as the Mission work this week we are doing solid.
I had a mini cambio with a spanking new missionary from Utah this week.
His name is Elder Barson and he has about 5 weeks on the mission. It was so much fun being with a new missionary again. He can barely talk in Spanish but he has all the energy in the world to do it.
During the day he kept asking me questions like what the mission was like, what has been the best and hardest part of my mission, what was some advice that I could give to him...  and what not.
This has brought me to reflect a lot about what I have experienced on the mission and what I have internalized and applied into my life.
I have come to know the reality of God the father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.
God is our loving heavenly father. We pray to him and he listens. He cares for each of us personally and worries about us. He is happy when we obey, and pours out blessings and opportunities when we are willing to receive them. He also feels pain when we choose the wrong, and allows us to take responsibility for our actions. He is the Father of our spirits and has provided us a plan to return to his presence, not as children however but as princes and princesses of his kingdom because that is our divine heritance.
Jesus Christ is our savior. Our mediator with our father. He has made it possible that we can return to the presence of God again. NO unclean thing can enter in the presence of God. And we can only become clean through Jesus Christ because he took upon him the sins pains and sicknesses of the world, suffered, died and took up his life again as an immortal being. He is the way the truth and the life.
"We do not know what lies ahead of us, we live in a world of uncertainty. Sometimes there will be times of great accomplishment, rejoicing, gladness and good living...sometimes disappointment confusion, sickness and all measures of sorrow. We just don’t know, but one thing we do know; like the polar star in the heavens, regardless of what the future holds there stands our redeemer. He is the rock of our Salvation, our comfort, the very focus of our faith" Gordon B Hinckley
 HE provides us the chance to change, to become better, to grow and to progress.
The Holy Spirit is our teacher our guide and the force of good that we feel when we obey the commandments.
The Spirit can guide us in times of trouble and confusion and when we are in the work of the Lord. The main calling that the Holy Ghost has is to testify the truth and the reality of the father and the Son.
As missionaries of the Lord we are called and given power and authority to testify of the restored gospel here upon the earth. We try to speak to others so they not only hear our voice but feel the voice of truth.
 That is only possible through direct revelation asked in a prayer of faith, given by the father through the Holy Ghost to those who have applied the atonement of Christ in their lives.
 It’s all connected.
The mission is great.
The Mestre family are progressing very well! We are now focusing on 3 of them, the mother and 2 of her kids.
We are encouraging them to pray and read as a family.
The basics are the most important.
ILL talk to you next week! Love you
Chau

May 26th, 2015

Hey family! So right now I am writing to you In Chillan.
Due to the fact that I am dying in 3 weeks or so the president has given us permission to come here to buy recordatorios...reminder trinkets...recuerdos...
I don’t know what their called.
But I’m here shopping for all of the traditional Chilean.
I am having so much fun finishing the mission. And I assure you that I am working so very hard as well.
The Mestre family are doing very well. 5 out of the 7 members of the family went to church and they loved it. They stayed for all 3 hours and enjoyed the classes a lot.
This week in our lessons with them we focused a lot on the book of Mormon and the way that they can gain their own testimony of the restored Gospel.
The answer is so simple that sometimes people don’t do it.
1. Read the book of Mormon
2. Pray and ask God specifically if it is true
3. be willing to act upon the answer you receive
I Think sometimes we under appreciate the amazing privilege that we have to talk to God our Eternal Father, sometimes  we don’t even take advantage of this great gift to give thanks and to ask for the things we need to know.
After our lesson with them and before church started we asked Cecilia (the mother of the mestre family) if she prayed and if she asked.
With a smile on her face she said that she did, and that she knows it is true and sent from God.
It is difficult to describe how the Holy Spirit communicates to us, because it is a description indescribable.
One can try to use works, but it comes in a way that words cannot describe.
In Galatians Paul says that the fruits of the Spirit described as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance”
 But that’s very generalized
 Other prophets have also felt and tried to describe it... Elijah found himself one time on mountain before the Lord, he felt “a great and strong wind …; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kgs. 19:11–12).
How curious it is that the Lord was found in the still small voice.
I think the best way to explain it is...
When you fell it you know...
And when you look for it with "full purpose in heart" (Jacob 6:5) you will feel it.
#knockanditshallbeopen
This week I also had the chance to go on a mini cambio with Elder Alfaro in Longavi
Longavi is very similar to Yungay and it was great to go back to the campo!
We were led by the spirit as well that day to a little old lady sweeping the side walk in front of her house.
We offered to help, then we shared with her the gospel.
She explained to us that she felt very lonely and wants to feel God closer in her life
#wecanhelpwiththat
From that experience I learned that life doesn’t follow our plans.
We need to be willing to let go of our day to day plans and errands to fulfill the plans that God has for us.
That’s about all folks
I love you!
HEY Austin’s home... CRAZY!
My dad on the mission Elder Barker is married CRAZY
McKay is 18 and graduated high school #CRAZY
Any other news? Let me know

May 18th, 2015

So I guess this is when the countdown truly begins…

 It hasn’t even hit me that I am coming home yet. I hope it doesn’t hit me.

Anyway... this week was awesome

Tuesday my companion and I went to Concepción for a special conference just for the missionaries that are dying in the mission this cambio. It was really great because I got to see a lot of the missionaries that I came with that I haven’t seen for a very long while.

This conference was called the “trunky conference”

For those of you who are not familiar with the word trunky it is a term that Spanish speaking missionaries use to describe those who are home sick or disoriented, or those who are thinking about their home or are materialistic minded… (It doesn’t really have a very good translation)

So all of us old guys who are dying were invited to this conference, but it was really good. President just explained the importance in finishing strong and not laying back.

The height of the bar at where we finish our mission is going to be the height at where we set our lives...

If that makes sense... (I took my notes in Spanish so this is hard)

This week has been a roller coaster. I feel that this week God has testing my knowledge... making sure that I am applying all that I have learned in these 2 years into my work.

We have been planning, calling people, working hard, talking to everyone, working with the members and being exactly obedient but we were not seeing any results from our labors. I remember at one point during the week I paused and prayed, telling God that I am doing all that I can, but that I didn’t know what he wanted to me to do or to learn in that moment… I remember, that right after my prayer a feeling of peace fell over me and Ideas started to enter into my head... For the rest of that day, we were guided by the spirit to many different houses. One of those being the house of the family mestre.

They are a family of 6 (a mom and her 5 kids)

2 of the kids were baptized 2 years ago but were promptly forgotten about and stopped coming. We came in at the perfect moment and now the whole family is willing to progress and learn more.

This past Sunday, the family came to church and loved it!

I know that the Lord hears and answers the prayers of all of his children.

This week we also had a district conference and we have a new district president!

We also had interviews with president Arrington and they took us out to at afterwards at a really fancy Chinese food restaurant! Haven’t eaten that in a long time!

I also might have possibly broken my thumb toe playing soccer this morning. I’m walking with a limp like an old school pimp.

That’s about all I have time to say...

Happy Birthday McKay!!  

I love you family!

May 11, 2015

 Happy mother’s day! It was so great to see all of you yesterday... even though time flew by and we didn’t get to say much...

But have no fear, just wait 5 weeks yeah?

This past week was full of changes and surprises. My companion elder Wiese went home last week. I was working with elder Del Rosario and elder Garrido for 2 days until my companion got here Tuesday. My new companion is cool. His name is elder Incil and he is from Lima Peru. We are having a lot of fun together, but we are a little lost in our sector still because I have only been here for 6 weeks and this town is very big and all of the streets look the same.

This week the seminary teacher was sick so I was assigned to teach seminary for a couple of days. It was pretty fun to be with the kids and teaching them. This year they are studying doctrine and covenants.

We actually had a pretty good turn out here as well... enrolled in the class are around 15 kids but around 10 or 11 show up every day.

The weather is changing rapidly...the cold and the rain is coming in fast.

We got rained on 1 day this week, and we weren’t prepared... we returned to the house soaking wet.

My shoes do not have any grip on the bottom so every step feels like I am walking on banana peels.

I have almost fallen in the water flooded streets and muddy sidewalks at least 37 times.

I love you all.

Us on our bikes...

Elder Santos from Brazil

Elder Garrido from Columbia

Elder Incil and I

May 4th, 2015

Yeah so sorry for last week. I didn’t have much time to write because we had a zone activity in the mountains and then in the afternoon we had to take the long and lonely bus ride to Concepcion for a leaders meeting.

But events were very awesome however!

For our zone activity we went to a cabin in the mountains of some members of the branch. We got there really early in the morning and because it was so cold we stayed in side for a while and played mafia! But it was the Spanish Mormon version of it called ¨oh pueblo de nefi¨

Then when the sun came out we played capture the flag in the forest! We explored, we went down to the river and then we grilled for lunch!

For our leadership conference we talked about how we can better help our zone.

President shared with us part of President Uchtdorfs priesthood talk on, seeing things as they really are; instead of focusing on the looks, worry about how things really are.

I really like that concept. I think that people worry so much about how they appear to be when they should worry more about how they are.

The help others we cannot just get to know their superficial need but the desires of their hearts and the hope that truly drive them to do what they do.

I was a very good conference.

 On another note winter has come. And it come on fast. I’m worried that our bean plants won’t make it.

With winter comes Christmas! Hot chocolate, and carols!

 We have decorated our house with a little Christmas tree and I now listen to Christmas music in every moment that I can.

I have even started passing out "he is the gift" pass a longs again.

I am just full of the Christmas spirit. But my companion is not. haha I have been driving him insane!

Speaking of my companion... Elder Wiese has finished his mission and is on his way back home!

We have had such a blast together. Wiese is the man.

Now with these new cambios (my last cambio) I will be with Elder Incil from Peru.

In Tomè I did a mini cambio with him in his sector of Ditchato, he is really cool!

Here’s the best news, out investigator Kathy got baptized! She is super awesome and has a solid testimony.

Always before baptisms there are difficulties and she passed through pretty much everything, from her kid sick in the hospital, to her family not supporting her, to personal problems with her health but with prayer and strength from above she did it!

She even bore her testimony this past Sunday. It was a sweet experience to hear her say with confidence in front of the congregation that this church is true, and that she knows her savior lives!

I have 6 weeks left in the mission. I am going to go out with a bang.

Love you family!

And those that read this blog...you’re the best

April 21, 2015

WOW MCKAY!!!!! YOU’RE GOING TO COLORADO SPRINGS!

You better start studying the word of wisdom, because you will be teaching that a lot over there...

I wish I was there to see you to open the call. The Lord has picked that mission for you! There are people prepared and waiting for an Elder Stewart to teach them the restored gospel. Go get em, raccoon.

On a side note, are there raccoons in Colorado? Because that would make you like 10 times the raccoon you were before...

Ahh I am so excited for you McKay. The mission is the greatest. So many miracles.

For example

This past week we also had a family home evening with a less active family. We were teaching a doing an activity where everyone had to right a little note to God. And then we compared that to the scriptures that God also has written notes to us through his prophets and they explain exactly what He wants us to know.

During the activity we asked the mom to share what she wrote in her note. And as she was explaining, something really weird happened. In mid-sentence she stopped, as if listening for something, jumped up and gasped in shock, tears filled her eyes as she said,” talk to me talk to me!”

We were very confused at first, but then she explained to us that she had lost her hearing 5 years ago in one of her ears, and as she bore her testimony of God,( which she hasn't done vocally in about 5 years as well) she heard a pop and she could hear perfectly again!

It was a special moment for her and for the whole family!

AS a mission this week we all got together in Chillan for the special conference with Dallin H. Oaks. For those who don't know he is one from the quorum of the 12 apostles, and he visited Santiago this past week and spoke to all the missionaries in the country.

Friday afternoon we embarked on the 2 hour bus ride to Chillan with the other 18 people in our Zone and split up to different houses of the missionaries in Chillan to stay the night. We went to the house of my old zone of Chillan Viejo and we got to hang out with some old friends! Elder Lake my MTC companion and Elder Miller, who was in the same zone as me months ago. (He lives just outside of Seattle, I think that his family is in the same stake as Scott’s family) that night we had a house party with a disco ball, laser lights and the best of EFY and mo-tab.

At the start of the conference the next morning, there was so many difficulties with the broadcast and the sound system. The conference was starting and we could not hear or see what was going on. President Arrington and some other missionaries who were good with technology were fumbling with cords and pushing lot of buttons, for a good 15 minutes, but without any real progress...

The problem was getting pretty serious this was a battle. Technology vs. An apostle of the Lord. Finally president turned too looked at us, and said “it looks like we cannot fix the problem, but I know the Lord can. So of you could ask him that would be great”

Instantly all of the 200 missionaries in the room bowed their heads and began to pray to ask for help so we could listen to Elder Oaks.

Not even 2 minutes later the screen lit up, and the blurred and muffled sounds emitting from the speakers evolved into the crystal clear voice of the announcer.

Elder Oaks spoke on the importance of our calling as missionaries, that we are called to serve full time so we need to be focused on the mission at all times.

He explained

-to reach full conversion one needs to not only do and act, but feel and desire. The only way to know what is true is through the Holy Ghost, which testifies of Christ.

-That the sacrament meeting and the ordinance of the sacrament should not be taken lightly. That it is a chance every week to be spiritually renewed and energized. He also said that in the upcoming conferences we would be hearing a lot about that topic (so be prepared)

-he gave us a special promise. He said that if we are exactly obedient with the mission schedule and in our personal and companionship studies, we would be led by the spirit to people that will receive a true conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was a really good conference.

After the meeting, because we live so far away the mission gave us extra money for lunch, so our zone went out to eat at Donatello’s a very fancy pizza and Italian restaurant. We ate a lot of pizza that day.

April 14, 2015

Happy Monday family.

I hope this really fast email finds you all healthy, content and full of life. Because I am.

Today as the sun rose I sat meditating over the peaks of the Andes, above a vast crystal blue mountain lake, inhaling into my lounges the clean and untouched air only hearing the crisp, winter wind hum through the canyons and brush against my face.

So you could say it was a pretty neat experience. We went to explore the Andes Mountains today.

I do feel very in touch with Mother Nature lately here in the farmlands of Linares.  In the house one of the missionaries always listens to meditational music and sounds and we have bought incense to burn! We have started a garden in front of our house and we are seeing a lot of progress. We have planted sun flowers, beans, lintels, mint, tomatoes, bell peppers, and normal chili peppers. And even though we planted very very late in the year and it’s starting to get cold we have faith that the strongest will survive, and bring forth fruit!

In our Zone we are working with a Missionary couple from Tucson AZ! They live on the east side of town and I am sure that you guys would know them (or at least dad would know them)

They are the Minch family…

They are awesome. This week we ate in there house and they made us cheeseburgers and French fries with blueberry muffins! Haven’t had a meal like that in a long time.

I actually am restricted from eating a lot of things because I am with my companion Elder Wiese. He has allergies to just about everything that Chileans eat.

Here’s the official list.

-peanuts almonds cashews. All types of nuts

-beans, peas, lintels, and all other types of beans.

-pineapple, watermelon, banana, melons, kiwi

-chocolate

He has a huge epipen in his backpack at all times just in case something happens. I have been official trained to stab him in the thigh for any emergency.

This week my testimony was strengthened on the principle of fasting. We fasted this week so find a guy to teach that would be willing to progress in the gospel and revive the priesthood in the future to edify and uplift the branch...because that is what we lack here. We worked all week to find this person, and even though we found a lot of great people and we were working diligently, no one seemed to fit the category of who we were specifically praying for. We knew that the Lord would prepare a way.

So there we were Saturday night, we had 20 more minutes until we had to be in the house. We said a Little prayer and then a name suddenly popped into our heads. Andres!

He was some guy that we contacted a couple days ago that didn’t seem too interested but gave us his direction to pass by another day. Luckily he didn’t live too far away from our house, so we went over to the direction that he gave us and he let us in and we taught him an amazing lesson, and he is now more willing and open to listen and learn more about the gospel

Step one has been initiated!

Miracles.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks is coming to Chile Friday and we are going to listen to him! WHOOHOO!

Love you

April 7, 2015

General conference was great!!

Knowing that it was my last general conference on the mission I went hard. I prepared with personal questions and came to be inspired from our modern day prophets and apostles. AND I WAS FLABBERGASTED by the spirit in all the best ways.

I also was impressed that the church is in with the times with their new camera angles and hash tags.

#LDSconf #graciasaqueÉlvive

Our zone has been inspired and we are literally hash tagging every possible phrase.

#zonalinares #laFedemiPuebloSeraLeventado#cambiarelmundo#trabajareHuasoaccent

I hope you all loved conference as much as I did. I know that some people think because it’s general conference it is a break from church for the weekend. I have come to realize that these days are one of the most important for our spiritual progression.

These guys are inspired men people! Listen to them!

“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7…#classicscripture

This week we also had an awesome zone conference in Parral with President and Hermana Arrington. There they organized an activity to put to test our faith to find prepared people to teach.

President chose 2 missionaries to leave the church building where we were, and find someone out in the Street to bring back to the church. Then another set of chosen missionaries were to teach this person and invite them to a baptism in front of us 40 other missionaries.

We sent them off with a prayer, knowing that they Lord could do all things...

“And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.” Moroni 7:33

We all quietly studied with our companions just in case President picked us to teach this person that we had the faith was going to come..

Then within about 10 minutes the missionaries walked through the church doors with a women named Cecilia.

She was on her way home from serving breakfast to the poor and homeless when the missionaries stopped her and asked her to come and be taught. She gladly accepted.

A companionship of sister missionaries taught her and she expressed to all of us her desire to be closer to God and her Hope of seeing her son again, who passed away 2 years ago. We got to watch and listen as the missionaries bared their testimony on eternal families and the Lords restored power here on the earth again. The spirit was very strong.

That was not chance. That was the Lords hands working through the faith of all of us.

Today we went to the Andes Mountains and adventured. We weaved our way through herds of cows, goats and sheep that blocked the small rocky dirt road... our goal was to cross over to Argentina but we didn't make it that far, so we just stopped on the side of the road and hiked down to a beautiful crystal blue river and ate sandwiches.

I love you all!

March 30, 2015

So as I said I am now in Linares!

The farthest zone from anything in the whole mission and my 3rd branch that I will be serving in. (Quillon, then Yungay and now Linares)

It was a hard Monday, saying goodbye to my sector and every one there, that’s the lame part about the mission but...

  Now that I am here in Linares I feel that it was the Lord who made these changes.  I definitely have received a spiritual confirmation that this is where I need to be to end my mission.

I am right now serving with elder Wiese. He is absolutely hilarious. He was one of my Zone leaders when I was in Yungay and now I am going to kill him here in Linares (that means that this is his last 6 weeks before he goes home)

We are working really hard and loving it here in the farmlands of Linares.

Linares is part of a district that makes up three branches, and they are about 4 hours north from Concepcion in bus. I am not even close to the ocean anymore but I do have a closer view of the Andes from our house.

Although it is a branch it is very strong, this week we had branch conference and 225 people attended! That’s a lot of people!

This week we had so many meetings and changes that we had to travel from Concepcion to Linares 2 times in 2 days... I am so sick of riding buses.

Also our sector is a bike sector because its city, farms and forest all in one.

 My bike seat so highly uncomfortable.

I love you all and if you guys have any questions about what I’m doing or what Chile is like just ask... I’m so used to Chile now that I don’t know what’s normal and what not hahaha

IM PRAYING FOR YOU GUYS!

And that McKay gets sent to China haha :)

March 23, 2015

This week the Lord has sprinkled so many miracles on our sector it was awesome.

I know that when we are prepared God sends his prepared children to us.

Remember that Carolina girl that stopped us on the street? Well she is progressing amazingly and is super excited to get baptized 11 of April. We are even preparing a choir for our ward conference next week and she came to our practice and is going to sing with us.

Also another person in the street came up to us and told us that he is a member but is less active and needs our help to come back to church.

This week I also had another mini cambio with elder Vasquez, from Mexico!

I think the highlight of this week was our stake conference.

We got there with our investigator and she sat with some other members in the form and we moved to the back to allow seats for others, and looking through the crowd We got to see so many of the families that we have taught, our converts and less actives all there!

Seeing all off them gave me a very strong spiritual confirmation that I am doing well here, that I am serving and helping others.

The best feeling is to be in the service of others.

Mosiah 2:17

ALSO

Cambios have come upon us and I am leaving to Linares...

Yeah I am very sad because I didn’t see it coming at all...

I know that the Lord wants me there and I am excited to go, but today I have to say goodbye to everyone, that’s the hardest part.

 But my new companion is Elder Weesie!

He is great so we are going to have a blast together.

Days of cambios are always so insane! There never is enough time. So I need to go new.

But I will talk a little more about it next week.

Love you family!

March 17, 2015

This week has been jam packed with miracles and exciting things.

First of all I had a mini cambio this week with Elder Barnes and Elder Evelo.  Yeah we were in a tri-companionship.   Elder Barnes was my district leader when I was in Yungay! So we had a blast to work together again, and Elder evelo has like 2 months in the mission and is still working on his Spanish, so I felt like a trainer again and it was fun!

In their sectors they have been having problems finding new people to teach, so as a tri-companionship we decided to make that the focus of our mini cambio…

We get to working, laughing, talking to everyone and teaching... Always focused on our goal...and by the end of the day we found 2 new families to teach.

I really believe that the attitude and work ethic is everything. If we do our best, God covers the rest.

This week we also contacted a girl named Carolina, well she actually contacted us. We were just walking through the street when she shouts at us, waves us over. She said she was interested in learning English and asked if we offered classes. We said yes. And as we got to talking, she started to tell us that more than learning English she wanted to get closer to God and get to know the church.

This past Sunday she went to church and loved it!

Also…Raul and Jose got baptized! We had the service at the Bella vista river and everything went so well. The spirit was very strong I am 100 sure that everyone felt it. I think that is what I like most about being a missionary, getting to see people change. Not just a change of actions but a change in their hearts, you can literally see it in a person when their heart is changed,

Alma, an ancient prophet in the Book of Mormon talks about this very change. He said...

And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.

 …and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

And now behold, I ask of you…have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

(Alma 5: 12-15)

It is so cool so see this process of a heart changing. God takes raw material and refines it and polishes us to his liking, and he does it through many means, through other people, through life experiences and challenges, and through the Holy Ghost.

As missionaries our job is to help people Find and accept Christ and His gospel. That means we are inviting people to walk an unpopular path. The path of Christ is not an easy or popular one, only those with a changed heart are able to see and follow.

33 And it came to pass that when Ammon arose he also administered unto them, and also did all the servants of Lamoni; and they did all declare unto the people the selfsame thing—that their hearts had been changed; that they had no more desire to do evil.

 34 And behold, many did declare unto the people that they had seen angels and had conversed with them; and thus they had told them things of God, and of his righteousness.

 35 And it came to pass that there were many that did believe in their words; and as many as did believe were baptized; and they became a righteous people, and they did establish a church among them

 36 And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his Spirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name.

(Alma 19:36)

These 2 weeks have not been easy for Raul and Jose, they passed through a lot of problems but now they have felt and now they know where they need to be.

I love you family and friends!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Brown! I love you!

March 12, 2015

I love you mom! Hope that all goes well this week and that you can enjoy your birthday... next year I will be there to celebrate with you (or at least I’ll be in the states so it will be a little bit easier)

This is my first p day in 2 weeks! Because of the leadership ‘conference that we had last Monday we just had time to write the family and go back to our sectors to work.

I definitely needed this day to chill. So we planned a huge zone activity on the beach in Penco with 4 other zones and spent the morning playing beach football and eating Chilean fried sweet bread with cream in the middle (their called berlines)

Heyyy quick shout out to the Hoopes family for finding my blog! You guys are awesome!

Now I know not to say anything bad about him...

Haaha just kidding... He’s the man. We are getting along great and are loving our time here in Tomé.

This week our stake president asked us to help out in a community/church activity called 1000 lights! It was a non-profit organization that is trying to save the fishes and the beaches from pollution. The scouts and the church helped organize a concert to raise awareness! We played out 1000 lights on the beach in white bags and it looked really cool!

 Camera and film students from Utah Valley University were there too, to film and document the whole thing... I told them that when they go back to school... if they see a red headed girl with dreads walking around campus to tell her hi for me..... So Taylor keep a look out.

 Just for the record. We are still doing that insanity program and it is kicking our butts... but we are definitely going to be looking good when we get home.

Last week we actually didn’t have a baptism in a river... but no need to fret because we will be having both this Saturday instead.

Raul, one of our investigators has a bad case of gastriteous and was having some complications this past week and couldn’t follow through, and our other investigator Jose needed a little bit of a review on some of the commandments, but they are so excited and a lot more prepared. we are focusing on them a lot and helping them get through their hard times.... everyone who has ever been baptized or has served a mission knows that the week before a baptism is usually really tough, the adversary try’s his hardest to stop people from taking this very important step.

It reminds me of a quote from Thomas S. Monson when he said "Our greatest opportunities will always be found in times of great difficulty"

(That is so not quoted exactly by the way... he probably says it better than me...)

This week in my studies I have been reflecting deeply about my time on the mission and what I have learned. And from what I feel and what I think, some things that have changed the most in me is my personal conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ, it definitely is a cliché but my best convert on the mission is myself. I have grown in knowledge and in understanding of my personal purpose here and the reality of God’s hands on the earth. I feel that I have gained a lot in strength and in faith thanks to all of the trials and hard times that I have passed through during the mission.

I heard a quote this week that said "you don’t know how strong you are, until being strong is all you have left"

Through our trials we get to know ourselves and just how strong our faith in Christ is.

Which leads me into what has changed most in me, and that is my deep love and gratitude towards my Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. This week I am studying the events that took place in the week before his death and resurrection. Studying the atonement, or even talking about it in lessons brings a special spirit into the room, a feeling that testifies what he did for us and why. I love it.

I don’t believe that it matters much what words are said or shared,

What truly counts is the conviction in the hearts of those that are sharing them.

I always try to plan what I want to say in my blog, so that I can inspire, help out and lift up those who read it...  but honestly I don’t  have time to prepare, I’m not too inspiring, and pretty much all the time I make spelling errors....

but if I can, through these words express my testimony and my convictions about what I know to be true well enough to touch the life and heart of at least one person, It will be worth it.

Every soul is great in the eyes of God.

 I love you family and friends!

Here are some pictures

March 3, 2015

Elder Hoopes and I have officially made up our house, and its awesome. We made a ping pong table out of a broken door, we have new shelves, a new curtain, a new shower curtain and a member gave me a papaya:)

We’re living large here in Tome.

The bad news in that we have not had time to even try out our new ping pong table, nor have I even had time to or eat my papaya!!

 We have been so busy.

This Saturday we are planning the baptism of Jose and Raul in a river! After a couple minor complications and problems they are both ready and prepared to take this important step in their lives to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We had a huge family home evening with them and the bishop and both of their families this week and explained the 5 steps in the gospel of Jesus Christ which are faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy spirit AND enduring to the end. We then explained that these simple doctrines help us truly find joy in our lives.

Also I ripped my pants trying to lift up a huge cement tube... it was embarrassing.

We ran to a member’s house and I sat on her couch pant-less and uncomfortable, wrapped in a blanket as she sewed my pants back together. It was funny

This week we also had interviews with the president of the mission. He came down to Tome and we got to talk a little about the zone and our personal progress as missionaries.

He talked a lot to us about obedience and the blessings that come to faithful servants of the Lord

He said that there are 3 steps that we need to all pass through to reach consecration.

·         Recognize it.

·         Do it.

·         Enjoy it.

 We need to recognize the need and gain the desire to follow, then we need to act on that desire, and then find a way to enjoy it.

Simple right. Happiness is through obedience.

This week we taught our zone class about making and setting goals.

We raised a bar 12 inches off the ground and asked a missionary in our zone if he thought he could jump over it.

He said that we could jump a lot higher than that.

So we told him to jump over the bar.

He then, without difficulty skipped over the bar and looked at us and said "see? You happy"

We then asked him, Why did he just jump 12 inches off the ground when he knew that he could jump a lot higher?

He replied "because that's all you asked me to do"

We then taught about raising the bar and not working just to complete rules but working to complete our divine potential that the Lord has for us.

I love you family and I have no more time to write!

Have a good week-

Elder Stewart

February 23, 2015

This week we had a conference with elder Di Giovanni and his wife. He is a member of the quorum of the 70 and was assigned to tour our mission and get to know the work that we are doing here,

It is always so awesome to have a conference with church leaders because they are just always so inspired! I learn so much then they speak...

Some things that they spoke on is our faith in Christ and just how willing we are to act with the knowledge that have gained.

Every one said that they have faith, but not many are willing to act on it. Even as missionaries, we say that we have the faith the find, to work to teach and to baptize but that will only be achieved if we put our trust in the lord and act according to his will.

President Hinckley once said that "you can’t guarantee success, but you can deserve it"

We can only work hard and do what we should... and wait for the tender mercies of the lord to pour down upon us.

The Lord is bound to keep his promise when we do what he says... so our biggest challenge throughout our whole time here on the earth is to be obedient... and that’s it.

Elder di Giovanni also said that when our expectations go up, our efficiency goes up.

So we need to raise the bar. And set it high.

We have prepared for many thousands of years to be here on the earth, so we shouldn’t give up now, or just work to get by... that doesn’t fly by me.

Also this week...

-we had the Concepcion cup round 2!  Dodgeball! And we dress up like thugs... we tied for first. No big

-Jose is progressing great and will be baptized in that river on March 7!

-we did an awesome service with the community painting the walls of the city... the wall with the crabs on it and the colored bubbles is the one that I designed and painted! It was great and we got to meet a lot of new people.

Serving the community! yeahhhhhh

I think that’s about it for the week... I can’t think of anything else right now. I love you family and friends!

February 16, 2015

Well cambios are a lot more stressful when you are a zone leader.

What happens is that the Tuesday morning of cambios everyone that is changing sectors, or picking up new missionaries meets in my old sector of Colloa in the Concepcion bus terminal... there we have to make sure that everyone leaves and comes when they need too.

It was crazy. I feel like every 6th Tuesday the people in the bus terminal hate us, because hundreds of missionary’s with hundreds of bags full up the place and make a missionary barricade causing serious traffic and delays.

A Hermana missed her bus, we couldn't find a group of elders, buses were delayed, disorder everywhere. BUT after a good 5 hours in the bus terminal all arrived safely to their sectors.

My new companion is awesome. He is from Oregon but moved to Utah for college. We are having a blast together.

We started insanity this week. It is a workout video that is the hardest thing in my life....

I AM SO SORE

But I am going to come back from the mission looking good! If I survive insanity... i am only 34 days into it but it is tough.

Elder Hancock my friend that I lived with in Cerro Verde ended his mission and came to visit tome with his parents. It was awesome to see him again! He lives in phx so we will definitely hang out after...

This week we revived permission from president to go to a ward activity in the middle of the forest to a river called Quillay. There the members stayed all day and swam and played... we didn’t do that. We stayed only for a couple hours to help out and plan some ward games and activities and get to know you games that were a lot of fun!

ALSO some of our investigators and a lot of our less actives that we are working with came too!

This week in tome is the week of TOMECINOS

It is a celebration of the city of Tome. We live in the center of the city and had to listen to fireworks, music and people shouting outside of our apartment all week long. The city is trashed with confetti and glitter.

We are going to have 2 baptisms on March 7 in a river! Hooray!

February 10, 2015

Well my first cambio has rolled by here in tome and the Zone is changing dramatically.

-half the zone is going to be training newbies

-Elder Ainge is going to Lianares, the farthest sector north of the mission to die in peace training (he has 8 weeks left...)

And my new companion is named elder Hoops!

 I am very excited to work with all the new people in my zone

One of my favorite parts of being a zone leader is the chance that I have to do mini cambios or exchanges with a lot of people. This way I can get to know different sectors, different people, different missionaries and different ways to teach and work. This week I had the chance to go to a very touristic city called Ditchato... it is very famous because that place was one of the most effected from the earthquake of 2010. When it hit the city it was completely wiped out and covered by the ocean, and many houses, cars and even people were sweaped back into the sea. Tragic...

But now it is back in action and a hot spot for vacationing Chileans because it is very beautiful.

I had the mini cambio with Elder Incil, from Peru! He is a great missionary and works very hard.

 But the bad part was during the cambio we were walking through the town square and I got attacked/molested by a clown mime...

I was just walking minding my own business and this mime who was doing an act in the middle of the street stop what he was doing when he saw me, ran up and hugged me and wouldn’t let go. Everyone who was around started to laugh so he went even farther and tried to kiss me. He was really going in for it so I put my mission plaque up to my lips just in time and he kissed that instead. I pushed him away and he fell to his knees and hugged my legs... and I pushed him away again and ran out of there... he then ran after me and squeezed my butt.

Mime clowns suck.

I also had a mini cambio this week with a new missionary named elder Rojas from Santiago.

He is a missionary with a powerful 7, we had a lesson with a new less active that we found and she was explaining that she couldn’t go to church because she lives far and has bad joints. Elder Rojas then explained to her that he was diagnosed with arthritis when he was six and lives with pain almost every day BUT has received health and strength through living the gospel principles... She then committed to go to church.

The knowledge of what we know of Christ and his gospel gives us power to do good and to help others that have fallen.

I love a scripture that is in Jacob 1: 7 Wherefore we labored diligently among our people, that we might persuade them to come unto Christ, and partake of the goodness of God, that they might enter into his rest...

That is the reason why we are here.

Here are some pictures of Collao that I found during Christmas that I don’t think I posted... and of my mini cambio with Elder Rojas and Elder Incil...

And a Hermana in my zone is leaving... so after our zone class we had some cake... and even made her a grave stone... Hermana Mendoza is going back to her house in Honduras.

Feb. 2, 2015

The struggle is real with the less actives in Tome. Seems like everyone and their neighbors have their complaints and sob stories and criticisms... but none of that matters to me. I'm not a therapist I'm a missionary... if you want to talk about how unjust the world and its people are go talk to Judge Judy... 'Caso cerrado'. (Case closed)

I am here to talk about God, and his infinite love for all of us.

We can't love God without loving his commandments.

And that's all I have to say about that.

This week I got to have 2 mini cambios.

One with Elder Santos a big Brazilian black guy in my Zone, and the other with Elder Calder, the president’s assistant.

 "IF you do today what others won't, you can accomplish tomorrow what others can't.” -Dan Clark

Sorry that's all I can say this week. Love you!

Jan 27, 2015

Hello friends and family,

Hope you are all doing well. I’m doing great so don’t you worry.

This week we have been working with the members to find new people to teach and everything seems to be going rather slow to be honest.

The problem is not finding people to teach, because we could go out and talk to everyone and knock on some doors and find a lot of people. But that’s not we want.

We are focused on helping the members find, teach and participate in mission work.

Even working with the less active members is though the members, now, we don’t go out looking for members less actives but we need to go through the organizations and work through their focus group. This type of work requires a lot more planning and a lot more order, but I know it is more effective.

The right way is more often than naught one of the harder ways.

This week we had a ward activity! Karaoke night! It was a lot of fun (even though not many people here have singing skills)

Some things that I learned in my studies this week....

- Prayer is more important than sleep.

-if the consequences suck, it was a stupid decision

-if doing what’s right is hard work, does it anyway because you deserve the struggle. But don’t fear a hard task or a struggle, because after pain comes gain.

-have confidence in yourself. You are a lot greater than you think, and if you’re not, your potential is. So have confidence in the potential you.

Just some words of wisdom from a humble missionary.

Love you family.

I haven’t taken that many pic... sorry...

But let’s play a game...

I spy... the Mormon Church!

(It’s pretty easy to spot)