October 24th, 2016

This week has been so much fun!

Tuesday night we went on exchanges with the missionaries in La Junta, I was down in La Junta and had a blast! I really like going on exchanges it is a ton of fun to just go and meet new people and get to know the other Elders in the Zone. I was able to perform a baptismal interview for one of their investigators and it was just a really great experience!

There was a fireside Saturday evening and the speaker was Sally DeFord, she is a composer and one of the songs she wrote is "If the Savior stood beside me" It was so awesome to hear from her!

She told a few stories and one was about when she was young and was first taking piano lessons she learned a song that the teacher had not gotten to yet and of course the teacher was not mad even though at the time Sally DeFord thought that she would be, and the teach gave her a Ducky sticker, She then talked about how important it is to encourage each other weather we are young or old we have to "give each other ducky stickers"

She also talked about being grateful!

She said something that I really like! "God does not ask us to pray or be thankful because he wants us to thank him, but because He knows how to be happy"

Our Father in Heaven knows what true joy is! He wants us to have that! If we are more grateful then we will be happier, I know that is true. If you don't know that I would invite you to test it :) and I know you will be happier!

I love the Gospel it is the best! This is where families can be seal together forever and where joy is found. I know that our Father in Heaven still speaks to us today :)

Love you guys!

Elder Stewart

October 16th, 2016

The Fort Collins Colorado Temple was dedicated Sunday and the cultural celebration on Saturday we were able to watch it at a member’s home, I loved it! The main theme was "A Fortress of Faith" that is a message that we all need to keep in mind. We have to have safe places spiritually where we can go when the attacks of the adversary come. We know they will come but we do not know how sometimes and so we must be prepared now to stand against whatever comes. President Uchtdorf said that one way to build and maintain our personal Fortress of Faith is First: get and keep a current Temple recommend no matter where we are in life young or not so young make the changes necessary to hold one and then keep it with you. Second: Follow the guidelines in the booklet "for the Strength of Youth" and something I loved that President Uchtdorf said was if you are not a Youth change it to "For the Strength of Me" The principals taught in it will keep us safe a happy for our whole life! I loved that! It was great advice!

The past several weeks have gone my so fast! We volunteer with JustServe.org with the Pueblo Zoo and Pueblo Parks and Rec and this week we were raking leaves at a grass area right next to the Lions and this one lion was watching us the whole time! It would have been scary if we didn't have the fence between us and him, and then for Parks and Rec we were cleaning up a skate park and there was one guy who was super good! And so we watch him for a bit and talked to him about Church and that was super awesome! Service is the best!

I love being on a mission! It is so much fun to go around and meet so many people and help them feel as happy as I am! I have come to find that lasting joy comes through following the Savior! He give us the tools to find joy and peace and in a crazy world we all need to feel more peace.

Love you guys!

Elder Stewart

October 10th 2016

This past week has gone by so fast! We had meetings every day from Tuesday to Friday! And then Sunday was my Favorite Sunday of the Year the Primary program! As always filled with little kids trying eat the chapel microphone to making faces at parents and siblings. But somehow still bring in a peaceful and joyful spirit, and showing me how much I need to work on. It is wonderful.

The first week of the month is always pretty crazy for us because we have Mission Leader ship council Wednesday, Stake correlation Thursday and Zone training Friday, it makes the week fly by but it is still really productive. We set goals, make plans and then go and do. That is the thing that I had a hard time with at the start of my mission is following a plan but I am getting better and I am more able to be confident with a plan and confident when a plan does not work as well. Everything I am coming to learn can be taken in stride.

We were walking one day and this guy stopped us and asked us where we were from and then broke down, he is going through a really hard time and has no idea what to do, so we talked with him about how God loves him and how our Heavenly Father helps us when we turn to him and are willing to take his help, he was pretty intoxicated so we were not sure how much he understood but we met with him later in the week and he remembered and he said he felt he should talk to us! It was really awesome to see just how much Heavenly Father guides our lives.

We had a baptism this week! Elder Hagman baptized him Friday night and I was able to confirm him Sunday at church. He is really excited to go to the temple and to be sealed to his wife! They are a really awesome family!

It has hit me this week in a new way just how much God trusts us, He has given us the freedom to choose and asks us to do things to keep us safe and happy. But if we don't listen he doesn't come down and force us to do anything He lets us keep going and the natural consequences humble us. It is totally and completely up to us though, we can follow our Savior and the commandments of our Father in Heaven and be happy or we cannot do that and hope for the best. It is up to no but ourselves. I am glad that My Father in Heaven has given me the power to decide for myself. He Trusts me and so I am able to learn to trust in Him.

Congratulations Taylor and Anthony! I am so happy for both of you! I wish I could have been at the wedding but I look forward to seeing you both when i get home in a year!

Elder Stewart

Oct 3rd, 2016 (Weddings and Puppies)

It has been a great week! One of our investigators got married this week and is getting baptized this week! We are super excited for their family!

This week has gone by so fast! We were at City park Monday and there was this super cute puppy and they were giving them away for free just out of town and it was really hard to not go get one! But alas I am still puppy-less it was super cute though! We were able to talk to the owner a bit as well and it was awesome! It was a really fun family they were there for tennis practice and we had a good discussion with them about the Church.

General Conference was fantastic! I hope that if you were not able to watch it this past weekend you get a chance to go and watch it soon! It was wonderful hearing from modern day living Prophets and Apostles, I am grateful for the messages they shared. It seemed to me that a common topic was about loving each other and being more kind to our fellow man. In my mind I think if we were able to do that it would greatly improve the world around us. The greatest force for lasting change is not fear but love. A loving parent will have a greater effect for good. I hope that this week you will all try and show a little more love to people it can be as simple as just smiling and saying Hi to a stranger :)

We went on exchanges this week with the AP's and it was a lot of fun! We were going to deliver a bible to someone and this guy came up to us and just asked if we could come over and teach him about Christ! It was so awesome! There are a lot of people that want to learn about the Savior and just don't know where to go. I am so grateful that we have two witnesses of him, and that I know that The Bible and Book of Mormon will teach me about my Savior and answer my questions whenever they arise.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! I love you all and pray for you often :)

 

September 26th, 2016 (Been one of those weeks...)

This has been a hard week. I have been super sick! But I am a lot better now :) so that is fantastic!

We went out to a town named Westcliffe and went on a hike, it was really pretty and made me miss my old areas down in the San Luis Valley. It was a lot of fun to be out in the woods again as well, we didn't see any one while we were out there and it was just a beautiful day!

We were on Exchanges Tuesday and we helped an older man in our ward build a shed for a little while and went out tracking for a few hours! Knocking on doors is fun! You never know who is on the other side and it is always an adventure!

Then things changed I stated to get what I though was a cold and just was not feeling well at all. So we exchanged back and I got a blessing from my Elder Hagman and our Bishop, and I am sure kept me from really bad things happening.

Went to the Temple on Thursday! I got a really bad fever while I was there but even through all of that I could feel the spirit and I know that God loves me! :) It was a conflicting day and between peace of the Spirit and thinking I could cook and egg on my head right now...

I feel much better now :) Anyone who says modern day medical technology is not a miracle is wrong.

I hope that you all stay healthy and safe out there! Wash your hands and I pray you don't get sick!

Sorry for the short email this week.

Elder Stewart

September 19th, 2016

So this has been a fantastic week! It was really hard at the same time but I have learned a lot from it! We had our interview with President Rehm as well and it is always really awesome to meet and talk with him for a bit about life and mission stuff!

So there are a ton of really awesome family's here in the Pueblo ward, one of them, the Steels, have 4 little kids two girls and twin boys. Before dinner with them this week they wanted us to read a book to them and so it was super fun to read them a book! Little kids are so stink'in cute!

We have a JustServe project with the parks and Rec department and so we helped them go and clean up a camp site and it was interesting... people leave very strange things sometimes at camp sites there was just about everything you could think of, it was pretty neat though working with the other volunteers and getting to know them a bit better!

On Sunday in Elders quorum, there was a really good discussion about being dedicated to the Gospel and not just comfortable being there, the difference that we came to was that to be dedicated means we are actively taking part in things we are going out and people can see we love the savior because of what we are doing. On the other hand being comfortable in the Gospel we are there we show up but we are not acting upon what the Spirit tells us unless it is something easy. But we were challenged by the teacher to become more dedicated to the Savior and find the ways to full fill our promises to him.

Happy Birthday Mychal! Love you and I know that you will be a great Mom! You are already a great Sister!

I know that God answers our Prayers He really does listen to us and care about us!

Elder Stewart

September 12th, 2016 (Ice skating and such mischief)

It has been a fun week! Our Preparation day was moved to Tuesday last week so we went ice skating as a zone and that was so much fun! This is my zone they are so much fun!

So I have found that I am an okay ice skater, I mean no I cannot stop at all without the help of a wall... and I don't have the best balance but I only fell twice. So I call that a win! I did crash into the wall pretty much any time I would stop so that was a new experience. It was a lot of fun though!

On Wednesday Elder Hagman and I drove to the Springs for a meeting with the other mission leadership and we had JustServe training after that. If you haven't heard of Just Serve then go to justserve.org and look for stuff to do around you every day. It is something that as missionaries we do every week and it is a blast! I would recommend it to anyone and everyone!

One of our just serve projects is at the Pueblo zoo and we went to that on Thursday and it was wonderful! We helped clean out an old shed and a picnic area in the zoo! It was a ton of fun!

So in my studies this week I started the Book of Mormon over again and it stood out to me more than normal the very first verse in the Book of Mormon "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days."

The very first thing talked about is the family, it is something so important to God that he reminds us and teaches us of it over and over again. If it is important to God our Father in Heaven, then it really should be important to us as well.

I am very grateful for my family and all that they have taught me, I know that I can always rely on them to tell me how it is, and they have helped me learn of these things for myself. I am so grateful for them!

I love you all and I keep you in my prayers.

Elder Stewart

September 6th, 2016 (First week in Pueblo)

Such a crazy week! State fairs, transfers and other such things!

I am now living in Pueblo, we made the Drive up from Sanford last Tuesday and I was pretty sad to leave the San Luis Valley again. But I know that the Lord watches over his Flock no matter where it is so I don't need to worry about it. On the drive up it was such a pretty day! So that was awesome! It is always fun to have those days where is just pretty.

The Colorado State Fair was this past week and our mission had a booth there so we helped organize is and set shifts for the other Sisters and Elders in the Zone to work it. It was so much fun! we talked to so many people we gave out 2-3 boxes of Book of Mormons and like 1,500 pass along cards as well as other material. It was really awesome! Elder Hagman and I worked the fair all day yesterday from 9:30 to 10 and we talked to over 1000 people! It was so much fun and we found like 3 new families that want to take the discussions! It was a ton of fun!

So I think I say this every time that I am transferred but I really don't like packing or unpacking, because it is just well packing and unpacking. But packing is the worst. Anyways I am all unpacked now and moved into the new apartment, so that is nice!

I have been going through the New Testament in my Personal Studies and it has been super fun! I love the scriptures and on my mission over the past year they have truly come to life for me! I have not been thrown in prison or stoned or any of that that the early followers of Christ have had to go through, they paved a road for all of us to walk on and we are living in days where that road needs to be walked on it is there but so many of us chose to walk on much more dangerous paths. We can go looking for problems that we never needed however that doesn't sound very fun to me. But it is up to us individually so we can all chose.

 Love you all and I hope that even on hard days you will look for the small things that make life even better.

Elder Stewart

August 29th 2016 (Transfers!)

We have had a super busy week! We found 2 new investigators which is super awesome and we set a baptism date for this upcoming Saturday! The family is planning on going and getting sealed the week after because their last child is getting baptized now and they wanted to go together!

We had a lot of service as well! We have been finding a lot and it has been super awesome!

I got a call Saturday night from out Zone Leaders and I found out I am going to be leaving Sanford, I have been here in Sanford for 3 months and I have served in the San Luis Valley for 9 of the past 12 months of the mission. It is really hard to leave but I know that Heavenly Father has great plans to get the work moving here! So I am not going to be finishing Training Elder Williams our Mission president is going to try a new thing here in the Valley with all the new missionaries. We are really excited to get it going!

I am going to be going up to Pueblo Tuesday morning and meeting my new companion! I am really looking forward to the new adventure!

I also learned how to make apple Cider this past week! I think I said in an earlier letter that we made apple sauce. So we looked up some recipes and we made apple cider! Everyone here has apple trees and so we picked a bag full and after our lessons ended one day we boiled the apples for a while and then we strained it and had really good fresh apple cider! I have come to find I really like cooking new things on the mission!

I hope that you all have a great day and week!

Pray and read scriptures whenever you have questions, Heavenly Father wants to tell us these great and wonderful things but we have to be ready to listen.

Elder Stewart