Oct 13, 2014

As winter turns to spring the weather is changing from ice cold wind and rain to warm sun and light breeze. There are flowers everywhere and greenery exploding from the ground. Now that primary song makes sense... There is so much popcorn popping on the trees I can’t even handle it. But with the change of climate comes change of body temperature and sickness spreads like the zombie virus. But if it actually was the zombie virus I would so be infected because this week I was taken ill. Everyone said that it was spring time allergies but seeing as I don’t believe in that, I was just sick with a nasty cold and extreme head ache. But that aint gonna stop me!

I have learned that whenever you are tired or physically sick, its best to turn your thoughts away from yourself and direct them with love towards God and others… then light will enter in and give you the strength to move on. Plus no one likes a cry baby.

 My good ole companion is a great example of that. He was such a great mom this week making me breakfast helping me get better. And to thank this great act of kindness I got him sick! And then played the role of his mom helping him recover... it was a cruel trade off, but that’s life.

This week we had a service project in the house of a member where we gathered all of the trash, fallen trees and shrubs in her back yard to burn. It reminded me of when we used to have bonfires in our back yard. Good times in the Stewart household!

This week as I was pondering life and all that jazz, I was thinking about the secret to success. I am now very convinced that the secret is through making and setting goals. Daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals and yearly goals are very important if we want to take advantage of the time that we have in this life. A day without a goal is a day wasted.

Some thoughts, ideas and goals I have set are as follows,

-I want to be better at making and setting goals

-I want to go to bed every night knowing that there was nothing more I could have done to serve God or others.

-I want to pray to God as if he was right in front of me. That requires preparation and mental determination; I mean God is the most important person ever so we should prepare to talk to him as if it were so

-write in my journal every other day (I tried every day but I am just not at that point yet.)

-practice music every other day (practice reading music and playing my ukulele)

-be exactly obedient... yeah it’s possible

-make a quote book! Because there are just too many one liners that I am going to forget

- buy and use post it notes (I want to be that type of person that puts post it notes on every possible open surface or free space.. what will I put on these notes, I don’t know yet but it’s a work in progress)

My goals are great right? I have a lot of others but you get the idea.

Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and if we actually follow through with our goals that is when our hopes turn into reality.

Anyway General conference was amazing right.

I loved what Elder Holland, one of the 12 apostles said in his talk about service and helping those who are in need. Everyone sees and recognizes those who are in need, but those that do all they can to help are those that the Lord smiles upon. We might not be able to do much, it might just be a drop in the ocean. But as Holland quoted mother Teresa, “If we don’t do it, there would be one less drop in the ocean now wouldn’t there.”

We all beg to the same God, we are all loved by the same Heavenly Father. We should all help each other get back to him together.

Love you!

I found a London pub! Shout out to my elder in England Elder BOS!

I made a hamburger! 

And nature! It’s all around!

October 6, 2014

Well it is that time again…Transfers.

But no need to fret because I am going to stay in Yungay for another 6 weeks.

It is a little strange to be in a sector for so long, usually it is not like that but If God still wants me to be here working I will do it. Besides its awesome here. Even though I do feel detached from the whole outside world it’s great.

Actually all of the missionaries here stayed the same. I am still with Elder Judkins and Elder Watson and morel are still working with us. Whoohoo!

Wasn’t conference just great!?

I don’t know if it has always has been this amazing or not but if so I don’t know what I was thinking before the mission.

Just think about it. We have the chance to hear the words of Prophets and apostles today. I’m sure if Moses was here and said that he wanted to address the whole world everyone would listen with anticipation. Well it’s pretty much the same thing. I am so glad that I have the knowledge that there is a prophet of God today and that he guides this Church under the direct council of our savior Jesus Christ.

I have learned so much this week and I will share with you all of the juicy details next week. Because I’m busy.

I love you

September 29, 2014

Dear family and friends,

This week we had interviews with the president! He drove out all the way to Yungay to see how we are doing and to give us cookies. He’s great I love that man.

We had plans this week to have a picnic, soccer game and fireside at this park by the river, but it rained. A lot.

… So there’s always next week!

 But to save the activity from being utterly destroyed we decided to have the activity in the church and have a movie and game night. It turned out pretty well and a lot of our less active members that came and had a blast.

We still wanted s’mores however, so we fired up the grill outside of the church on the back patio and taught these Chileans some delicious American treats. SUCESS.

This week we taught a guy named Oscar, He is an actor on a comedy show called morandé con compañia and he is so hilarious and progressing so well in the gospel.

This week he shared his testimony with us about the power of prayer. That in these short 2 weeks of knowing him he has grown in his relationship with God to a more personal and sacred level...

We were walking in the street one day and bumped into him and he told us in a shocked voice... “Guys, I read what you told me to read and I did what you told me to do, and you know what? Prayer works!” Yeah it does Oscar! You rock

It’s so great to see a change in people. You can see a change of heart in their eyes, practically their whole countenance changes. That’s the light of Christ. And it’s bright. And awesome.

It is the same change that King Benjamin saw in the eyes of his people after he gave his great speech in Mosiah chapter 4.

 1 And now, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had made an end of speaking the words which had been delivered unto him by the angel of the Lord, that he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them.

 2 And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.

 3 And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them.

It’s even the same light that king Lamoni felt when he heard the words of Ammon in Alma chapter 19...

6 Now, this was what Ammon desired, for he knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness—yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God—

I want to be carried away in God that would be so cool.

But I know that within all of us is this light and we have the privilege to help others develop it and feel of it.

Matt 5: 14 ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Love you all

Here are some pictures! We went to a neighboring city and visited a lake! It was cool!

I drew that picture to help people understand the book of Mormon!

September 23, 2014

It’s like the fourth of July here but just with Chileans…And a lot more drunk people roaming the streets. For this grand day the people usually gather in their families to eat, grill, and drink the weekend away.

Also every town sets up something called Ramada’s, which is a square block of land filled with these man made huts constructed using tree trunks and palm fronds (they kind of look like forts that kids would make in the woods). In these Ramada’s there are bon fires food, dancing and traditional Chilean games for the kids. But even amidst of all the festivities we were able to have a very successful week.

Thursday morning there was a giant parade and carnival like thing in the town square. So what did we do? We set up a booth to hand out pamphlets of Christ and FREE CANDY! I mean let’s be honest, who wouldn’t come to a booth that had free candy. It was very successful. The candy lured the kids over and we got a chance to talk to many families and other people as they passed by. Between the 4 of us missionaries we must have contacted more than 150 people and got down a lot of directions. We even found a new family of investigators, while talking in the plaza they didn’t give us their direction, but the first door we contacted that day in the afternoon happened to be them! They can run but they can’t hide! Wahahaha!  Just kidding...kinda

This past week I have eating so many empanadas that I thought I was going to explode. An empanada is a traditional food from Chile, composed of fried bread filled with chunks of meat, onions, delicious seasonings, and a part of a hardboiled egg, raisins, and an olive. Every single house that we entered offered us these empanadas so I’m pretty sure I have eaten more than 30 in the span of 4 days. I felt like I was sweating grease. What hey it’s all part of the experience right.

During this season of parities there are so many people home with their families, we had the opportunity to meet and teach a lot of new people! Gosh I just love being a missionary. Teaching and helping others understand and feel God more in their lives is so rewarding.

This week as well I have learned more of the Love that God has personally for me, And for everyone else.  It’s amazing to me that He doesn’t love all of us all in general, but he loves us personally. And he is personally worried and preoccupied with our problems and our desires and our wishes and dreams. If we pray with a sincere heart and with real intent with the faith that he is listening, he will answer you and reply back through the spirit. This week I have felt him reply personally to me through experiences and through other people.

God is working with us here and those who have eyes to see, and ears to hear will notice and catch on.

I love being an instrument in the Lords hands. And of we all get together we can make a band. And become famous.

I love you

September 15, 2014

Mychal happy birthday! My companion and I made a cake in the microwave for you and it was delicious! (As far as microwave cakes are concerned... I mean they can’t really be delicious but it was eatable which is what counts on the mission)

And mom I dislike that comment you made thinking that I am getting too fat to wear the pants I came with on the mission. Yes I can still wear them thank you very much.

I am actually losing weight (or lots of muscle) so I I’m going to come back from the mission looking like a twig.

This week we had an awesome family home evening reenacting Lehi’s dream. We bought an iron rod (grey rope), created a great and spacious building (of chairs), a tree of life (on the white board) and we even recreated the mist of darkness (which was a spray bottle filled with water  ...so as the people passed by clinging on the ¨iron rod¨  we sprayed them in the FACE with water (hehe).

 We explained the vision and acted out all the parts of the dream! When everyone eventually got to the tree we gave them a cup of fruit with whipped cream on top (delicious)! And explained the significance of this dream and related it to the gospel of Christ and enduring to the end.

One of the other elders even had the old animated book of Mormon story movies that we used to watch as a little kid! (The ones that ¨nest¨ created from the 90s I think) and we shared that with the branch!

This week I found a quote that I would like to share. It explains of the ability we have in this life to repent and become better people in Christ…

¨The purpose and central blessing in this life is Change. It is to be changed to become more like Jesus Christ. It is to incorporate into your character, the qualities of his character. It is to move from one degree of intelligence and capacity to the next and from there to the next, until you see God face to face and know him as he knows you¨

-Lawrence E Corbridge

I know that the greatest gift that God gave us is his son Jesus Christ and that through him we can be changed. On the mission I have met people without hope for the future and for their lives. They feel stuck in a hole and do not know how to get out. Lucky for us we know that it doesn’t matter how deep we have fallen. If we have the desires to change, we can. But it starts with us. We need to make the attempt and then Christ will come in to finish the rest.

Love you!

P.S. as we were walking the streets of Chillan I SAW A LLAMAS WITH HATS!!!

It was precious

September 8, 2014

Dear family, friends, and acquaintances, and those other people who have stumbled across this blog,

Hope your week was full of laughter, fun, hard work, spiritual and awkward life experiences. Because mine sure was. There we were, in the middle of nowhere looking for some less active member that lived nearby when we come across this group of people in front of a house. Obviously I’m going to go talk to them. But what I realized too late was that they were all drunk out of their minds. They saw us, recognized who we were and threw this one drunk guy called to us with his bike telling us to help him out, and then promptly went inside and shut the door.

To leave the house we helped this this poor man cross a small little bridge (that if he were to fall into would certainly die, or at least drown), cross a busy road to the other side where there was a side walk. Once we got there he promptly dropped his pants to urinate. And we left him there. Minutes later he came staggering after us saying, friends why did you dump me, preach! I want you to have my bike, it’s a present! United States! Wait! ¨

We asked him ¨where do you live? ¨

He replied ¨I have no bread for you to eat, but I love you guys¨

After offering us his bike coat and hat we told him that although we are his best friends he needed to get home and God needs us somewhere else. He then got on his bike and bid us a grand farewell explaining that he would see us at church the next week! (I honestly don’t know how he could ride a bike because he could barely walk) and then he parted...swerving his was home on his bike.

We didn’t see him in church. That was a disappointment.

BUT apart from our grand adventures with those of an intoxicated mind, our week was very successful. We are planning a temple trip! So that the branch can go together... it’s sort of a way to help them be more unified and recharge a Little bit. It’s been about 2 years since the active members have gone to the temple, so it’s about time.

I thought of this saying that Uchtdorf quoted in one of his conference talks

“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, and the second best time is now” (or for the people here in Yungay the 24 of October)

The temple is so important for everyone. Sometimes it requires a sacrifice to go but it is always worth it. We had a family home evening with the branch this week and everyone got the chance to bare their testimony of some experiences that they have had in the temple. The spirit was super strong and I know that everyone felt the need to go. I miss the temple so much!

This week I have been focusing on Charity, and how crucial it is to be Disciples of Christ. I know it’s hard sometimes... because some people are just dump, or mean, or annoying, but the trick is not to focus on those things. But to focus on Christ. When I was studying one day I thought of this…

¨Love others, they chose to follow Christ’s plan just like you did, they are trying to return back to God like you are, they just need more help to get there than you do. Those that are the most difficult to love, often need it the most, because they don’t know the Love of Christ.

Love others because you know the reality of Christ and his atonement

Love others, because you have felt the reality of His love for you¨

-can I get a amen! Yeah quote me on that one.

 Anyway I have grown to know that Charity is the most important attribute of Christ to develop. I mean the 2 greatest commandments are love the Lord thy God and your neighbor as yourself for a reason, so it’s gotta be of importance (matt22: 36-39)

¨cleave unto charity, for all things must fail, but charity¨ (moroni7: 47-48)

God acted 100% out of love when he sent his son (matt3: 16-17)

Everything Christ did was out of love for us and the Father,

Now if we want to become perfected in him that is the hurdle we need to cross, act out of love in all that we do. If not we just won’t make the cut.

¨though I speak with the tongues of men and of angles, and have not charity, I become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all the mysteries, and all the knowledge; and though I have all the faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feel the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing¨ (1cor 15: 1-3)

The mission is great. This life that we have is awesome. But it’s hard. When we focus on ourselves the hard parts it just gets harder. When we focus on others, we find our purpose.

¨Those who lose their lives for my sake, shall find it¨

It’s true. I felt it.

Amen

P.S.

My companion likes to bake... in these last 2 weeks we have made 4 cakes. I don’t regret anything

September 1, 2014

Thanks everyone for your emails and updates on life. It’s great for me to see and find out how you guys are doing. And a lot of you all send me awesome quotes, inspirational thoughts or insights which were awesome I’d like to re-share them…because it’s my blog and I do what I want (just kidding)

“You only make a mistake once, the second time is a decision”

“What you get by achieving your goals is not nearly as important as what you become by achieving your goals”

“Holding on to a grudge or hatred for another is like taking poison and expecting the other person to get sick.”

“If you do not forgive someone it is like you are saying the savior’s atonement was not good enough for that person”

And one quote that I found this week that I enjoyed,

“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You can laugh or you can cry. I prefer to laugh, crying gives me a head ache” -Marjorie Pay Hinckley

My new companion is elder Judkins. He is a rugby playing, professional ball room dancing elder from Oregon. And we are having a blast here together. He is a great missionary with about 9 months in the mission. It’s great to be with someone with the same desires and work ethic as me so we are just going to baptize this whole town. The other 2 new elders here in Yungay are elder Watson (he was in my district in the ccm!) and Elder Morel (he is from Paraguay and has ab out 5 months on the mission)

This week we just started to work and haven’t stopped. And this week we found 17 new investigators. I have never found so many people in one week in my mission thus far! Personal record!

I know that it is a blessing from obedience.

Obedience is the biggest test we have here on this earth. Our ability to be obedient and humble ourselves to accept and rely on the will of God is key to our happiness. It determines our attitude, our choices, and our decisions and creates our consequences.

It is true what mom always used to say…”I love you too much to argue with you”….OH WAIT wrong quote from mom... haha

This one… “You can choose your actions but you can’t choose your consequences”

Through our actions we create our future whether they be good or bad.

But thanks to our loving heavenly father we have so much help, we have a guide to a better life. The way has been paved by Jesus Christ and all we need to do is follow him and his commandments.

I have learned that commandments are not hard, but the world and its temptations and distractions that tend complicate things.

When Lehi was caught up in his vision of the tree of life he explained that we was in a large and spacious field. And the First thing that he saw, the biggest, the brightest, the whitest and the most warm and comforting object that caught his attention was the tree of life and its fruit.(1 nephi 8 9-10)

Our goal is that clear as well, we know what we want and that is to life with God again, we want to partake of his glory and love. And like I said before the road has already been paved for us…Lehi saw “a straight and narrow way,” (1nefi 8:21-23) the way that Christ has prepared for us, “a more excellent way” (ether 12: 11, 32 and 1cor 12: 31)

The way is straight, we see our goal, but what makes it so hard to get there?

“…and it came to past that their came a mist of darkness, even an exceeding great mist. Inasmuch that they who commenced their path did lose their way. And I cast my eyes about and beheld... a great and spacious building...and it was filled with people...and were in an attitude of mocking those in the way to partake of the fruit” (1nephi 8:23-33)

The mist, the darkness and the great and spacious building, or in other words, the wisdom of the world, the pride in our hearts, the natural man, or the temptations of the devil blind us and we lose our way…Gods way is easy, his burden is light, with him we can find rest (matt 11:29) but when we mix with the way of the world we are lost to forbidden paths and are alone.

That is why we have the iron rod to cling on to. This being a symbol of the word of God.

My definition of cling: to desperately grab on to, to hold fast, and to have a POWER GRIP

So my message to you today is have a POWER GRIP on the word of God, it will help us find our path, see it clearly and get us to where we want to go.

(And if you want to study a little more I have found out that Alma 32 and 1nehi 8, 11 and like he same message but using a different symbol. The iron rod is the word of God and the seed that is planted in our hearts the same…”BRAIN BLAST”-jimmy neutron)

I love you all and hope that you have a great week.