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