Christmas Miracles!

Mom!

 

I loved hearing from y'all as well! We had an Amazing week with many miracles! Starting on Wednesday. We went out to work like we do any day, hoping to be let in. We were tracting on Christmas, and so many people before were so shocked that we were going to be knocking doors on Christmas, but we did, and we were blessed so much. We taught three lessons with in two hours, and set up a couple of return appointments. I learned that as we sacrifice to show the Lord we are committed he is going to bless us. And he did. Then talking to y'all was so much fun. It was the fastest 40 minutes of my life, but I loved it. You really don't realize how much you miss your family until you are away from them for six months. It was great! That night we then ate dinner with the Hill family who had invited their non member friends, so even though we were having a great time, we were still able to do missionary work, and hopefully we planted some seeds with that family. I really think that Christmas day was probably the best day of my mission so far, mainly because I was sharing the message of why we celebrate Christmas.

The next day was my six month mark. I can't believe I have already been out for six months, and I have seen myself change so much. I can't wait to see the progression that I will make in the rest of my mission. The mission has been the hardest thing I have ever done by far, but it has also been the most rewarding thing I have ever done. It has gone by fast and slow at the same time, and I plan on making the most of it. That night we also taught Melvin. He is a Pentecostal pastor. We knocked into him awhile ago, and have taught several times. Normally pastors don't want anything to do with the Church, but he is showing a real desire to know if what we are saying is true. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and he said that if he knew it was true than he would be baptized and come to our church. It was a very spiritual lesson, and the surprising  part came at the end. I don't know why, but randomly at the end of the lesson, Melvin started speaking in tongues. We don't know why, or what he was trying to say, but we did know that the spirit was working on him. It was a great lesson, and if he reads, he will receive his answer.

Friday and Saturday were the two most stressful days of my mission. We had lots of appointments planned, and members to come out with us. There was so much to plan for, and so much going on, that it was so stressful. People were canceling or not home, and other people made us reschedule for other times. It was a hard two days, but in the end we had taught 8 lessons in those two days. Great blessings come when things get hard.

The next day started off stressful as well. We woke up, and I called Luis Gandara who said he would becoming to church. He said he was still coming, so we got ready for church and began our personal study. Half way through our study, we got a call from Luis saying he was at the Church. We hurried there to find him, but he wasn't there. So, we called him and he said he was doing some other things, and then he would come later. It is very hard to understand his Spanish though, so we weren't really sure if he was coming or not. When the meeting started, he wasn't there. To add on to the stress, I was asked to speak last second. That wasn't really a problem, but with the other things going on. After I had given my talk and sat down, Luis came in. He stayed for the rest of Church, and really seemed to enjoy it, or at least we hope so. We had the Spanish group in with the English members for sacrament meeting, so he had to listen to a translation, but I think he still enjoyed it. It was another great miracle for the week.

As well at Church this week, someone brought their friend who he had met two days earlier at the store. This man is really looking for a change in his life, and just so happened to talk to a member of our Ward. His name is David, and we have a lesson with him this week. He has had a rough life, but he is showing a lot of potential. I hope we can help him out. What an amazing miracle!

On top of all of that we taught 20 lessons this week! This has been a goal that we had set when I arrived in Sherman, and we finally taught 20 lessons! The Lord is really blessing us here, and I really don't want to leave. I love this area!

I love you and I hope you have a great New Years!!

Love

Kyle

Enjoying being a Bilingual Missionary!

Mom,

 

Y'all had a very crazy week it sounds like. I hope y'all are getting excited for Christmas! It should be great! I loved the pictures as well.

 

I am doing great! We have had some big changes this past week with teaching English people now that we are bilingual missionaries. It is definitely keeping us busy, and I love it! It is really nice to actually have things to do and people to see. We also had set two baptismal dates with some English speakers last transfer, which we get to keep now, since we are the English missionaries. I love it!

 

This year for Christmas we are going to keep on working. We are going to go to dinner with the Hill family, and we will Skype around then if that is OK. We are going to do some things with them, and they are going to try to have some non-members there, so that will be great. I am so sad, that I am going to be missing the fish on Christmas morning though. For the rest of the day we are going to be working like normal. We will be knocking for a while, and then we will try to visit some of our investigators. Every time we tell any one that we are knocking, they always respond, "Really? You can't be serious." But to tell you the truth, I am so excited to be sharing to gospel on Christmas. Christ is the reason why we celebrate it, and we shouldn't be ashamed to share our message with others. So we will knock.

 

The weather this past week was incredible. We didn't wear jackets or sweaters all week except for some nights. It even got up to 70 degrees one day. I wish it would be that temperature all the time. The past two day were really cold again. I still don't get how it can be 36 degrees, and yet it feels like 10 degrees. The humidity I guess. I am not exactly sure how the next week will be, but there definitely won't be a white Christmas here in Texas.

 

We are still waiting on a time when we can Skype home, so when it comes today, I will either have the member send you a text, or I will email you. It should be after 5 though is my guess.

 

I love y'all so much, and I am so excited to talk to you on Wednesday.

 

Love

Elder Stewart

Things are Slow in Sherman!!

Mom!

I love my ugly sweater picture! It is really nice. I am not going to lie, this week was really slow. We taught so few lessons, and we lost contact with almost all of our investigators. I don't know why, but we just can't seem to reschedule appointments. Almost all of our investigators will say, "Y'all can come back whenever. Then when we try to pass by again, they aren't home. It is really frustrating. I feel at times that I am not doing anything, because we don't have any progressing investigators. It is hard to want to help people really badly, and then to have them not want what we are offering.

 

We did have some fun things happen this week however. We had our ward Christmas party this Saturday. We invited all of our investigators and everyone that we talked to all last week to the party, and none of them came. We had a great time though as we sat and talked with the Luefevers in our ward. (They are the family that sent the picture of me with the cake. And I don't know how to spell their last name.) I would have to say, that they are definitely one of my favorite families in the ward. She also invited our family to a baseball game when we come back and tour my mission.

 

The highlight for me this week was last night when we taught our recent convert Roberto. He is such a good kid. I was telling my companion the other day, how I hadn't really seen a change in him, because he was ready for baptism before we taught him. Last night however, he was telling us some great stories, and I have now seen a big difference in him. He told us a story of how one day his Dad wanted him to drive him and a friend to a bar. He did so being nice, but then his Dad asked him to come in with them. Roberto came in to the bar, and had what he said was just a terrible feeling. He felt so comfortable, and decided to leave immediately. He said that the moment he stepped outside, he felt so much peace and happiness return to him. He left the bar without his dad and friend, because he knew he shouldn't be there.

 

Thank you for all the presents, and yes I am opening them all when I should. I have been craving Subway for a long time, so good call on that one! The tree unfortunately hasn't come, so I don't know what you are thinking about that.

I still don't know the exact time on when we are planning on calling, but we are allowed to skype, so if y'all can set that up, that would be great. If not, we can do a phone call. I am getting really excited to talk to you too!

I love y'all so much!
Elder Stewart

 

 

 

Another Weather Delay!!

Mom,

 

This week has been crazy. We started off this week with the goal of teaching 20 lessons. The first three days, monday through wednesday, were so good as we taught 3 lessons each day. But, then came Thursday, which is when the ice storm hit. The ice storm was crazy! It started out as just a little bit of rain, which slowly started to freeze on cars and roof tops. Then by about 5 or so, the rain became freezing rain, which pretty puch looked like hail. By the end of the night, the streets were a little frozen, and we weren't thinking it would be a big deal, because the last freeze warning we had was nothing. When we woke up the next morning, it looked just like Utah does after a good snow storm. I thought it was great, the only difference being that everything was ice. It was difficult to just walk around let alone drive. So, yeah we stayed in doors for four days.

 

We kept hearing about how bad ice storms were, and we just kept thinking oh we are from Utah and Idaho, it won't be that bad... but it was bad. Most of the town shuts down for the day, and everyone stays inside. We noticed a pattern as well in all the stores, that when ever there is a bad storm coming, stores will be out of bread, milk, and beer. And while shopping yesterday, that is very much the way it was. Luckily we were able to return to work yesterday.

 

To keep ourselves entertained, we did a lot of studying. I also found my new favorite pass-time: reading Jesus the Christ with a bag of Doritos. Then we got creative and began playing battleship by hanging a sheet across the room, and using a volleyball and paper boats. It definitely helped the time go by.

 

I am staying for another transfer here in Sherman with my companion Elder Duce. We are excited to be able to continue working here in Sherman! I don't really need anything for Christmas, and I will just go ahead and decorate the tree that we already have. I will send you pictures next week. I would actually love some sweats for Christmas, that would be great!

 

I am glad to hear that Eric had a great time on his mission. I would like to go to a mission homecoming, now that I have experienced a mission myself, but I guess that will have to wait until I get back.

 

Because of the storm, we really haven't been able to do much with the Robles family or Efraim. So I will keep you posted on them.

 

Thank you for everything, and I hope you enjoy these pictures! I love you!!!!!!!

 

Kyle

 

 

 

Hi Dad

 

I am just going straight to answers this week:

 

1. How is the weather.

The weather now is cold (this kind of cold is a lot different than the one back home) and slushy. The weather the past weekend was crazy! It was hard to just stay on your feet when we went walking outside. Ice storms are crazy, and a lot different than snow. I think the ice made me miss the snow even more. But I will live.

 

2. Have been able to work or are you stuck inside.

We were stuck inside for four days. Four long days of studying and finding crazy ways to entertain oursevles--we hung a bed sheet up in our room and played battleship using paper boats and a volleyball. I had some great spiritual moments, that actually really got me motivated to continue going, although returning to work after a few days off has been hard.

 

3. Are you still in the same area.

Yes! I am still here and my companion is still Elder Duce! I am excited to continue serving the people of Sherman, and I am so excited to see what we can accomplish this transfer.

 

4. How are the investigators doing (any progressing)

Well right now Efraim and the Robles father are progressing. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to teach them for a while because of the storm.

 

5.Are any of them coming to church

Efraim did come to church last week, and this week we actually had to cancel church because people were iced in. Our area is very spread out, and their are a lot of members that live in the middle of nowhere.

 

6. Tell us about Sherman - what is it like.

Sherman is a very small town, actually a lot like Waxahachie, my old area. A lot of the members like I said live way outside of the town barely in city limits. It is nothing like most of the areas here in Dallas, because finding the hispanics is a little more of a challenge. I still love this area though! It is also very green, or was very green before the ice. Everything except for the grass. It is never green.

 

7. How do you spend your time. Is it mostly tracking?, referrals, Members, Service. Tell us how your typical day goes.

We tract all the time. Every day. Our spanish group really only consists of about 10 active members that come regularly, so we can't really find a lot of referrals. We do have a few refferrals though.

 

8. What kind of car do you get to drive? Do you have so many miles that you can drive each month.

We drive a 2014 toyota corolla which we got brand new only 2 weeks ago. It is so much fun, and the sound system for our Mormon Tabernacle Choir is great!

 

9. What experiences did you have this week.

We studied, studied, and studied. I honestly can't remember much more about this week, but I can say that I am well rested, kind of, and ready for the new transfer!

 

10. Can you share how you have changed in the five months ( not just the twenty pounds.)

Wow... I have changed a lot in the past five months. For one, I am a lot more bold and outgoing. I really love trying to contact everyone, and I LOVE teaching the gospel as a missionary. My companion says that the one thing he has learned from me is how to be more bold. I would say that is one of the biggest changes so far. A lot of this probably came from the time after the first transfer. I kind of let my trainer do what ever, and after that I told myself that I wasn't going to let that happen again. The other and more important transformation that I have seen is my testimony and relationship with my savior. I was thinking back to that moment this last transfer when I had the 11 dropped appointments. I thought about how the day after that was probably one of the best days of my life, because I felt closer to Jesus Christ than I ever have before. At the point where I felt the lowest on my mission, I had to rely and remember that I can't do anything without the help of Jesus Christ. Not only that, but every time that I testify of him, my relationship and testimony of him grow. Another change that I have seen sometimes, is a harder work ethic, probably because of what I am working to do. There is nothing like knocking on doors all day every day, which I have done my whole mission, which will help you work harder. I have had to try and find ways to make it fun. Whenever I remember why I am working, it motivates me to keep going.

 

I love Grandpa's comment about your buttons popping off, and I am happy that I could make you feel happy. You and Mom have done so much for me, so I don't know why I would ever want to disappoint you. Thanks for all your love and support!!!!

 

Love you!

Kyle

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Mom,

We have had a great week this week, and we are starting to get so busy. We had a great time Thanksgiving. We ate with the Jackman family in our ward, which was just like Thanksgiving back home. We then went back to work, tracting most of the day. It was hard at first, but holidays really are a great time to work. So, we did. I also did receive the package you sent, but not the tree yet, so hopefully it will come today when we are in the apartment. We also already had a tree in the apartment, so now we will have two. Or maybe give the old one away to one of the other missionaries. We also have transfers coming this next week, so I decided to wait and see if I am transferred. I really hope not!

 

I am glad that you had a lot of contact this week. Sister Larsen approached me after the baptism and out of the blue said, "What is your mom's address?" I thought it was a weird question, but then she told me why, and I thought it was a great idea. I knew you would love it! Then at dinner on Friday, they thought of sending you pictures of us eating, and I knew you would love that too. I am grateful for all you have done for me, and I hope I pay you back a little.

 

 I also must say that when I saw that Sister Larsen said that I taught with the spirit and power and authority, I was so happy. If you look at my mission scripture, it is about teaching as with the trump of angels, and that has been one of my goals as a missionary. To be Bold! I have always been a quiet person, but as a missionary sharing the gospel which I love so much, I know that I don't have to be quiet. I am actually really Bold with people, and I love talking to everyone. Our president has challenged us from now until September to contact 12 people a day. I have taken him up on that, and my companion and I have contacted more than that every day. We are being bold.

The investigators, are all starting to show a little interest. Like I said before, we had a great week this week, and because we are contacting so much, we are so busy. We found some investigators this week, who are so interested in our message. Now we just have to wait for them to start reading, and attending church. I am excited to see what the next couple of weeks will bring. I LOVE this area, and don't want to leave! Things are really starting to pick up.

 

We have had some great lessons this week! On Wednesday, we found a family from Mexico the Robles family, that had only been here about a year. They have really thick accents, and at times, it is really hard to understand them. The parents are in their upper 40s, and they have four children. They are struggling a bit with adjusting to a new way of life hear in America, but they are very interested in religion. We taught a great lesson that day, and came back to teach another lesson this Saturday. The second lesson was great! We taught with the spirit, and resolved almost all of their doubts. When we said the first vision, I felt the spirit as strong as I ever have in my mission. It was great, and I know they could feel it too. We also taught a lesson to Efraim. Efraim is a 40 year old man who has been taking lessons from the missionaries for about a year now. He has not progressed very much, but we had another opportunity to talk with him this week. We began asking inspired questions, and at one point I asked him, "Why do you keep inviting us over?" He then responded, "I love how I feel when you come." Because of this answer, we were able to commit him to come to church, and to read from the Book of Mormon everyday. And, he came to church yesterday. I am so excited to see him progressing now! I hope he will continue.

 

I also had another great experience last night. It was 7:00, and we were deciding whether or not to continue, or go home, because we hadn't studied all day. We decided to pray and ask for guidance. At the time neither of else felt like we had received and answer, but we decided that to knock would be the most effective use of our time. I then had a feeling that we should knock next to a street where we had lots of success. We went over to that area, and began knocking. The second door we knocked, was the home of James Walker who unfortunately, we can't keep teaching because he speaks English. This was one of the best lessons we taught. He had talked with missionaries about nine years ago, around the same time of year. Nine years ago, he was doing and selling drugs, and was really at the lowest point of his life. The missionaries had only taught him one lesson, but because he listened to them, he changed his whole life. He began going to church (not our church), and over time stopped doing all the bad stuff he had been doing. He was now happy and at peace, all because the missionaries had taught him one lesson, and left him a bible. So at the beginning of the lesson, I asked him to share his story with us. He did so, and the spirit was so strong, that I invited him to be baptized, before we had even explained the priesthood or anything. He said he already had been, so I said we will explain why we are asking again at the end of the lesson. At the end of the lesson we invited him again, and he said that if God gave him an answer to do so, then he would for sure. This experience was a great testimony builder to me for multiple reasons, one of which is that the spirit speaks so quietly, that at times you don't even know you are listening. We found this man, at one of the only times during the week that he is home because he is so busy. We didn't think we were following the spirit, but in the end, we were lead to where we needed to be. Great Experience!

 

I am so happy right now, and like I said before, I really don't want to leave this area! I love the members, and I love the investigators. The work is really picking up here, and it would be hard to leave all that we have accomplished here. I am excited to be teaching people this holiday season. I love sharing the gospel, and I don't know of any better way to spend this time of year, then by helping others come unto Christ. It will be a great time to find people, and get people interested in our message.

 

I love you, and missed having y'all around for Thanksgiving, but It wasn't too hard for me. I am glad to be doing what I am doing.

 

Love,

Kyle

A Weather Delay!!

Hi Mom,

Well my first baptism did go through, and it was quite the experience. We didn't really know how to use the font, and so the water was well over 100 degrees for the baptism. We'll just say that he was baptized by water that felt like fire, and then by fire. Besides that, it was actually great. I was excited to see the change in his life, and his reaction. Honestly though, I didn't do much. He was ready for baptism before I even got to Sherman, and probably before my companion even started teaching him. The Lord blessed us with being able to meet with him.

Unfortunately, none of our other investigators were able to make it. We invited almost everyone, but no one came. There were however about 30 members there, most of which were his friends. He has a great group to keep him active in the gospel.

As for the rest of our investigators, we aren't having much luck with scheduling return appointments still, because of their crazy lives. They are all willing to let us come in when ever we are in the area though. I hope we will have more success with that this week.

We had some other things happen this week as well. On Wednesday we were asked if we could teach seminary right before mutual. It was a great experience. I do know now though a little about how Dad feels after every talk he gives. I wanted to say something to help all of the youth, and I don't know if I did so. The spirit was very strong, and this really strengthened my testimony on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

The other big event, was that our President sent out a weather warning, because of the possibility of ice on the roads. He said that we shouldn't drive unless we absolutely had too. So, we didn't really do much the past two days, and this is why I am emailing y'all on Tuesday instead of Monday. It wasn't much fun, and by the end of Monday, we had just about gone Crazy. I am glad that we can go back to work now though.

If Eric has any good stories from his mission, can you write them to me?

I love you Mom! Have a great Thanksgiving!

Kyle

 

Hi Dad,

 

This week was great! We taught a lot of lessons, and found a good amount of new investigators. We even had the chance to teach seminary.

 

Answers

1. How did the Baptism go?

The Baptism was very interesting actually. We filled up the font, and the water was way too hot. So, he was baptized by water that felt like fire, and then by fire. He was definitely clean in multiple ways after that baptism.

 

2. Who did the baptizing?

His name is Eric Martinez, and he is a good friend of Roberto.

 

3. Were there a lot of members from the ward?

There were a lot of the youth from both wards at the baptism. Probably about 30 people came in total.

 

4.  Tell us all about it.

The rest of the baptism was a great experience for Roberto. I was excited for him. My companion and I didn't really do much to prepare him for baptism, he was ready before my companion even started teaching him. We were very blessed to have found him.

 

5. How is the work coming?

The ward group is still really small. We have about 10 members that come regularly, and all the other members work on Sundays, or aren't interested much in coming to church. We did however receive a lot of help from the English ward members, and I love all the members here!

 

6. Where are you going for Thanks Giving?

We are going to the Jackmans for dinner. They are an English family in the ward. It should be great!

 

7. Are you enjoying your experience?

I am starting to really enjoy the mission life. At times it is hard to want to go out and work and find people, but I really like teaching people, and being with the members. I have learned and grown so much already, that there is no way I want to stop. I want to keep giving it my all, and I will come to love the work more and more as I do.

 

8. How has your testimony grown?

I can't even describe how much my testimony has grown. I have learned so much and grown so much, mostly from the trying experiences. My testimony on the Atonement of Jesus Christ is really what is grown the most. When ever I feel discouraged, or like I don't want to continue, I rely on the Atonement to carry me on. I am So grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life.

 

9. What kind of service are you doing in this area?

We are working at two more food pantries. In one called Share ministries, we are so loved and appreciated by the people there, and I have come to love everyone there as well. There are some great people here in Texas!

 

10. What experience did you have this week? 

We didn't have any really big experience this week, but we did have a chance to teach Seminary last Wednesday which was so much fun. Our topic was Mosiah 3, the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love teaching about the Atonement! I also know a little about how you feel after giving talks in knowing if you did a good job or not. I wanted to help the youth know more about why the Atonement is so important in our lives. Afterwards you just never know if you did a good job or not. I had fun though, and the spirit was very strong!

 

11. Now that you have been out what should I tell the priests that will help them be ready?

To help the Priests get ready, they should study the scriptures daily! The scriptures are a great tool in missionary work, because it invites the spirit a lot more than us missionaries ever could. If the Priests will read daily from now until they go on their missions, not only will their knowledge be greater, but their testimonies will be as well. The other thing that I would suggest, and this is probably the most important thing they can do, is use and learn about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. They should try to remember Christ all the time, and use the Atonement. I can't think of a better gift that we have than the Atonement, and if we find out why it is so important, our desire to share it with others will grow so much. When we see the blessings that come from the Atonement, and the help we can receive from it, we will do all we can to share it with others. When we start to appreciate the Atonement more in our lives, we will start to Love others more, make better choices, and try all we can to come closer to Christ. As missionaries our purpose is to invite and help others come unto Christ, but we can't help them come to Christ if we aren't there first. If they will do this, they will be great missionaries! I know that the priests will be great missionaries if they continue striving to do the best they can. I have loved being in the same quorum as all of them, and have learned a lot from their testimonies. Let them know how grateful I am to have been with them growing up.

 

Thanks for the letters you write. I love reading them weekly. Good luck with everything getting so busy, and I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving break. I love you!

 

Kyle

Another Week in Sherman

Hi Mom!

 

Things were definitely a little disappointing last week, but I have never felt so close to my Savior before. I grew so much from that one experience, and learned so much about how to use the Atonement in my life. I know that it is a trial that I must face in order to become the missionary God wants me to be, and I am going to continue working harder and harder.

 

Nothing really big happened this week, but I love serving the Lord, and I am so happy! We did teach a lot of people, and right now we are just trying to find the people who God has prepared. The weather here is Amazing! I love it so much. It is a little chilly in the morning until about 10, then the rest of the day just feels great. It is definitely a lot better than the summers here in Dallas.

 

The Sherman area is great! I love the members here. We are receiving so much help from the ward, and we love it so much! I feel that we are going to start finding some great investigators here as well, and I am excited for the holiday season.

 

The highlight of my week was a comment that one of the members made in the English gospel doctrine class. We ate with them Friday, which was so much fun! Then on Sunday the member made the comment to the class, "All you have to do is sit down and talk with Elder Stewart for 5 minutes, and you will know that he is a servant of God." He made the comment in explaining how the youth are being prepared early. I wasn't actually in the class, but the sisters in the ward told me about it. It made my week.

 

I am so jealous of Chase and Dad. I miss going to the games, but I know that I will go to many more, so I am not too worried. I am glad y'all are staying busy. I love you too, and thanks for all you do!

 

 Kyle

 

Hi Dad,

 

I am really jealous about the whole two BYU games in one day thing. That sounds like so much fun, but I know there will be many more games for me to watch in my life time. I am really excited about the basketball team. They should be fun to watch. Thanks for keeping me posted!

 

Answers

1. Sherman is actually a lot like my last area Waxahachie. It is a smaller town with lots of farm land everywhere. We are having an easier time finding people to teach here though which is great.

2. It is OK. Don't worry.

3. This week was really good. Nothing really big happened this week, but it was our best week of the transfer so far. We taught lots of lessons, and found new investigators. We just need them to keep commitments now.

4. We found 9 new investigators, but we didn't set up very many return appointments, because Hispanics work all day every day. There answer every time when we ask when we come back is, "If you are in the area you can come over, and see if we are here." It is a little frustrating at times.

5. I wouldn't say I am getting chubby, but I have gained 20 pounds so far on my mission. So...

6. The other missionaries here are great. There are two other sets of sister missionaries here, and we all get along great!

7. I don't think I really need anything. I am doing pretty good. Thanks for all your support!

I love you Dad! Good luck during this busy time of year for you!