Monday, July 31, 2017





So just so everyone knows I fly in to the St. George airport this Thursday at 6:01 pm. I'd love to see y'all there:)


It was a good last week! Wilfredo was baptized and he was SO HAPPY. He's going to be such a great member. I love how the gospel can just change people. We have been working with a single mother of five for just about the whole time I have been here. She has a lot on her plate and a lot of trials. This week we were able to put her on date for baptism. She is so happy. She has expressed to us that she has felt so lost, alone, and forgotten for the past year in her life but now through the gospel she has been able to find God again and she wants to be all in. I know this is going to change her life and her kids lives for the better. I am so grateful that God is there for us even in our worst moments. He wants us to succeed and I have seen and felt that so much with her. I am so excited to hear about what happens in this great little Spanish group with these amazing people.  Big things are happening and we have seen so much growth. It has been the best place to end my mission.

I really can't believe that this is my last p day as a missionary. For those of you who don't know I get home this Thursday. I can't even begin to describe what the mission has meant to me. It has put me on a path that I want to stay on. A path towards being a better person and a path towards Christ. I am thankful for every moment; happy, funny, sad, boring, exciting, nerve wracking, spiritual, frustrating, etc. It has all been for my good. I know that Heavenly Father loves me. I have felt how Heavenly Father has led me by the hand during these 18 months. I know we are His children and that He is aware of us. Living by His gospel has brought me more joy than anything else in my life. I love Him and I have truly come to know Him over the time that I have spent in my mission. I can honestly say that I have never been happier. This is the best thing I have ever done.

LOVE,

Hermana Stewart

So just so everyone knows I fly in to the St. George airport this Thursday at 6:01 pm. I'd love to see y'all there:)


It was a good last week! Wilfredo was baptized and he was SO HAPPY. He's going to be such a great member. I love how the gospel can just change people. We have been working with a single mother of five for just about the whole time I have been here. She has a lot on her plate and a lot of trials. This week we were able to put her on date for baptism. She is so happy. She has expressed to us that she has felt so lost, alone, and forgotten for the past year in her life but now through the gospel she has been able to find God again and she wants to be all in. I know this is going to change her life and her kids lives for the better. I am so grateful that God is there for us even in our worst moments. He wants us to succeed and I have seen and felt that so much with her. I am so excited to hear about what happens in this great little Spanish group with these amazing people.  Big things are happening and we have seen so much growth. It has been the best place to end my mission.

I really can't believe that this is my last p day as a missionary. For those of you who don't know I get home this Thursday. I can't even begin to describe what the mission has meant to me. It has put me on a path that I want to stay on. A path towards being a better person and a path towards Christ. I am thankful for every moment; happy, funny, sad, boring, exciting, nerve wracking, spiritual, frustrating, etc. It has all been for my good. I know that Heavenly Father loves me. I have felt how Heavenly Father has led me by the hand during these 18 months. I know we are His children and that He is aware of us. Living by His gospel has brought me more joy than anything else in my life. I love Him and I have truly come to know Him over the time that I have spent in my mission. I can honestly say that I have never been happier. This is the best thing I have ever done.

LOVE,

Hermana Stewart

Also I got to go to the temple. It was the BEST. First time in 18 months!!

Monday, July 17, 2017


The subject line was the first thing that my companion said to me this morning.

But anyway....

This week has been so chido. Haha sorry I never use that word I just felt the need to. But really this week has been awesome. Biggest miracle was the spanish sacrament this week. We had 35 people in our sacrament meeting. 35!!!! Thats crazy considerig the fact that we when I first got here we would normally have 6 people at max come for the Spanish group, a family of four and a couple. Hermana Whetten and I were smiling/freaking out/ happy dancing the whole day. It just has been such a blessing being able to watch Heavenly Father grow the work here. He loves these people so much.

Wilfredo We had a great lesson with Wilfredo this week about the priesthood and our main objective going into that lesson was to help him see how our church is completely different than his old church because he has been having a hard time seeing that. It went so well and it was great to be able to testify that the authority of God has been restored to the earth today. By the end of it he was so excited to know that he was going to be able to have the opportunity to receive it to be able to serve others.

We were able to meet our investigator's wife this week when they invited us over to dinner. We were able to teach them as a family and the spirit was so strong! She was in tears almost the whole time and she talked about how she knows she needs to be closer to God and she feels that through this message she can get there. Powerful.

Alma 5:19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?

This mission is the Best thing I have ever done. It has helped me more than anything else to have "the image of God engraven upon my countenance."

Love you!

Ge

What a great week! Last night before I went to sleep I just couldn't
stop thinking about how blessed I am. The mission is by far the best
thing I have ever done and it has just brought a new light into my
life and I can see how the Lord is shaping me to be the person that He
wants me to be. I heard a quote this week that says "be the person
that He knows you are." I just love that! God sees our full potential
more than we or anyone else can see. So this week try to be the person
that He know that you are! God has given us all such great potential.

Anyway this week was so wonderful because I was able to see one of my
best friends be baptized! And not only was I able to see the light
that it brought to him but the light that it brought to his whole
family. The baptismal service was a success and the spirit was so
strong. Wilson's cousin who just got here from Guatamala was able to
give a talk. She was so nervous but she did amazing! I love seeing
people stretch themselves because that is when they grow. After the
baptism Wilson bore his testimony and he did great! He was crying, so
sweet, he was just so happy. And then after Daniela(Wilson's cousin)
came up to me and was just beaming. She said she couldn't describe how
happy she felt. She expressed so much gratitude and love towards me
and it made me feel so good and feel so loved. I love that family and
I will always remember that night and the experiences that I have had
with them.

So that is one of the reasons I have been feeling so much gratitude.
God has blessed me so much.

Love,

Hermana Stewart



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Wow. I am still in shock over this week. First of all it started out getting my new companion, Hermana Whetten! She is adorable and about 5 feet tall:) She is super sweet and laughs a lot. She is from Dallas but was born in Mexico so she already speaks Spanish! We are getting along great!

But we saw the biggest miracle. So this area is kind of know as "the bad area" haha where there is not much going on but that has not been the case for these last couple months. We have seen crazy miracles and progress that comes with hard work, dedication, and faith. Every since I got here we have really been trying to work with our leaders to be able to have our own spanish sacrament meeting in the relief society room so we don't have to translate and we just really felt that we will see a lot more rapid growth, deeper conversion, and that it would be a huge step to being able to get a group. Well it hadn't really been working out too well for us, the leaders weren't really sure about it and they really just didn't feel like we should do it. But yesterday before sacrament started we were setting up the translation equitment and he came over and said he wanted to talk to us. We went to his office and he said that they really feel like there could be great progress here and that they feel it is the time to really make a push. So starting next week we get our very own sacrament meeting in spanish. I cried(no shame haha)

Yes it is going to be a lot of work but I just know that so many miracles will be seen here in little Culpeper and in now time we will have a group. I'm so happy!!! I'm also ready for the possibility that I might be speaking every week. haha!

Other miralces! We have been having trouble putting an investigator on date because he saiys "something is missing" this week he texted us and said "I think I'm going to get baptized the 30th of August" No big deal!

We had 6 investigators at church this week! and two less active families!

And so much more. Ugh the mission is just the best and this area is the best!

Love you all!

Hasta la proxima semana:)

Love,

Hermana Stewart

:)
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What can I say that will be helpful in your sharing the gospel, whatever your circumstances? We need the help of every member, and every member can help, since there are many tasks to perform as we share the restored gospel with every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

President Monson encourages members and missionaries to work together
We all know that member participation in missionary work is vital to achieving both conversion and retention. President Thomas S. Monson has said: “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together … [and] labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work.”1

Missionary work is not just one key
Sharing the restored gospel is our lifelong Christian duty and privilege. Elder Quentin L. Cook reminds us, “Missionary work is not just one of the 88 keys on a piano that is occasionally played; it is a major chord in a compelling melody that needs to be played continuously throughout our lives if we are to remain in harmony with our commitment to Christianity and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017


Lots of great things happened but pretty much I just want to talk
about church and a family home evening that we had. This week at
church, the fast and testimony meeting was the most spiritually
uplifting meeting I had ever been in. First of all we were in just a
little room and there were 18 of us total and that's including 4
missionaries, I counted. The testimonies were just so besutiful and
completely genuine and all about Christ everyone was crying. There was
even an investigator that got up and bore her testimony about how
great she feels and that she is going to continue coming. It really
helped me see that the scripture:.......... I felt my Saviors love so
strongly and strong love and a connection with all the people around
me. I know I am exactly where I need to be.

The other great thing is that Hermana Coleman and I put together a
family home evening and invited everyone from the group and the elders
and us invited all our investigators. It was a huge success! We were
kinda worried because a lot of the people who said they were coming
cancelled at the last minute but the people who we had no idea were
coming showed up and we got 4 investigators to come to it! The members
are awesome and were so great at fellowshipping and the brought SOOO
much food. I kid you not we could have fed at least 30 people.... it
was great. One of the recent converts even called us after and was
asking us when we were going to be doing it again because it was so
great and he just felt good while he was there. Ahhh such a great
night:)

I know that the Lord is so heavily involved with this work he has
helped me literally EVERY step of the way. I love Him, I love the
people here in Virginia and I love this work.

LOVE,

Hermana Stewart

1) we went to James Madison's house Montpelier last P day
2) fun FHE!
3) love them
4) our mom

Thursday, June 1, 2017



This week was insane and supppppperrrr packed!! It was so much fun!

We had an amazing fhe with a couple families from the spanish group
and it helped a ton with unity!

We finally had the soccer event that we have been planning since I got
here and it went so well. We had a ton of people show up, the weather
was beautiful, and we had a ton of food. It was just really cool how
to see it all come together after all the hard work that we put into
it. We had a great turn out and everyone who went asked us to let us
know if we do another activity like that. Again it helped with unity
and we have seen a lot of miracles with that helping us get the
members fired up about helping grow the spanish group here. There is
so much potential and I know if we all work together that we will see
some really great miracles and growth here in Culpeper.

We also had the coolest most spiritual most faith building miracle
that is currently in the process. Long story short we had just had a
revelatory experience with our mission president of what the Lord has
in store for this area and we saw that come to pass. Really it is just
a special experience but we found exactly what we were looking for in
a man named Hector. He is amazing! We were literally led by God to him
through different turns of events and he is so prepared. We are
obviously still teaching him so we will have to see what happens with
him but we have the faith that we are going to see amazing miracles
with him.

Also shoutout to my brother for getting his mission call this week. I
am so excited for him ad so proud of the decision that he has made to
serve a mission. I was thinking about how Sam is going on a mission
the other night and I just was overcome with love. I am so grateful
for this mission experience that I have lived so far, I am so grateful
for everything I have learned, all the people I have met, etc but I am
especially grateful though for the close relationship that I have been
able to make with my Savior Jesus Christ. It is priceless to me.

Until next week!

Love,

Hermana Stewart




Great week in BEAUTIFUL Culpeper. I am pretty sure this is one of the
most beautiful places I've ever been to. It really is just a little
paradise:)

-We are finding the greatest people and I already just love them so so
much. We have an investigator Reina who is honestly our mom. And she
already loves the gospel so much. I feel grateful to be able to meet
people like her during my mission.

-We were able to see Ada get baptized this week. It was great and the
ward just really really fellowshipped her in so well. It was a great
baptismal service!

-We are working with tons of members and really trying to build up
trust so we can see a lot of growth and progress in this little
spanish group.

-We put our awesome investigator Silvia on date:) She is great and
coming to an FHE tonight with us at a less active family's home!

Really just an amazing week but sadly I don't have more time to write
it out better! Just now I love it out here and I couldn't be happier.
Something cool to think about is that if we are on the Lord's side we
are on the winning team. What we get to decide now is what kind of
player we are going to be. This week I thought of something I could
change to be a better "player" on the Lord's "team" and I would
challenge you all to do the same.

Love you!!

Hermana Stewart

Hey it's Hermana Stewart! Currently sitting in a library in my new
area, Culpeper! Let me just tell you that this is one of the most
beautiful places ever. I love it! Its a small little town with tons of
fields and cows and sunsets and rolling hills. It is really beautiful
I think I might come back here to live!! Well probably not but I
really do love it here! Its super different than all of my other areas
because we are just over a spanish group and there are very few but we
have been thinking of a lot of ideas and a lot of different things
that we can do to help change that. We have been SOOOOO busy and I am
exhausted. I love it!

We have seen a lot of miracles this week one of them being our
investigator and her three kids coming to church with us this week. It
was her first time and she LOVED it!!! She told us that she wants to
come back every week with us. It was so amazing! People have also just
been so receptive to us and everyone has been answering their doors
and wanting to learn more! The other day we were out walking and we
saw this hispanic family jumping rope together(I know, so cute!) so we
decided to walk over and talk to them. The mom smiled and waved at us
and acted like she already knew us. She is super open and we are
teaching her now. She is awesome!

I know that Heavenly Father is in the smallest details of our lives. I
know that I need to be in this area surrounded by these people. Today
we went to the Shenendoah mountains and I was just in awe at all the
things that Lord has done for us. This week we also had the oportunity
to go to a funeral of a fallen Ranger who was killed in combat in
Afghanistan. There were about 300 people there and it was amazing. My
appreciation of the men and women fighting for our freedom grew so
much. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to live in this
country. And I am grateful God gave me the opportunity to have that
renewed appreciation. We are so lucky to live in the USA!!

Love,

Hermana Stewart



So the subject helps express a lot of our week. This morning my companion told me that I was having a full on conversation in spanish asking people if they have gone to the temple and if so when they are coming back. And that just kind of describes a big chunk of our week of trying to get all of our members to go to the temple because a lot haven't ever gone. So I have the same invitation for you! Go to the temple:)

But wow what a great great week! We have seen some good progression with our investigators but have also seen some sad things happen this week. But obviously the good outweighs the bad:) we had some great lessons with the best investigator ever Iris! I just love her! She is progressing so well and always talks about the change that she has seen in herself since she has started meeting with us. She is still in the process of trying to get work off on Sundays but this week she found out that her boss is Mormon! And he got super excited that she is meeting with missionaries. So now she is just training someone so that that person can work for her on Sunday. Milagros! She is on date for baptism for June:)

We had a cool experience to see how the spirit really does work through us. One day Hermana Stacey and I both had the prompting that we should go over to this certain members house. So we went over sat down, sang a song, said a prayer and then I was just like "the truth is we are here because the spirit told us to be and because we think you are sad, are you sad?" When I said that I was like hmmm... that might have been kind of a weird thing to say.... but after she just started crying and told us what was going on. It was cool because something I had read that morning went along with her situation completely so we were able to open up the scriptures to find the comfort she needed. She was so appreciative:)

Carlos got the priesthood on Sunday! Yay! He is doing so well, he comes to lessons with us all the time and really is just a wonderful member present, he helps us out a ton. He is so sweet! The other day he called us and was like asking us how he could get involved or sign up to pay for our groceries and help us out with food(he already takes us to dinner every Friday) he is such a sweet guy and loves the gospel with all his heart!

Thanks for the prayers and support! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Stewart

Sunday, April 23, 2017


We have been using our investigator (Carlos who is getting baptized)
to help fellowship our investigators, so we have been bringing him to
a couple lessons even though he isn't technically a member! And it has
been great! We brought him to a lesson with our investigator Joel who
has been having a hard time committing to baptism. Carlos came and
when we brought up baptism Carlos bore his testimony about his
decision to be baptized and how he knows its the right thing to do,
the spirit was so strong! He also told Joel that going to a baptismal
service really helped him make his decision and right there and then
he invited Joel to come to his baptism! It was great and he is coming.
He also came to church for the second time in a row!

We also had amazing lessons with the family I have talked about
before! The mom is doing amazing! There was a lesson that we had and
after the prayer she just started crying her eyes out because she felt
so good and she said ¨I never want to lose this feeling¨ The next time
we went over we watched the Joseph Smith movie and she was talking
about how he had to make that sacrifice or else all the other mormons
would have suffered. And then she was like oh, that reminds me of a
scripture I read. She pulls out her phone and had taken a screen shot
of one of the pages of the book of mormon. She starts reading 1 Nephi
4: 13  it is better that one man should perish that that a nation
should dwindle in unbelief. Now she said it was kind of opposite
because Joseph Smith was a really good person and a prophet but we get
where she sees the connection. She then went on to tell us how
grateful she is for the book of momron and that she cant stop reading
it because it is answering all these questions that she has always
had!

The Book of Mormon changes lives and answers questions of the soul! I love it!!

Love,

Hermana Stewart
ell what a wonderful and quick week! We had MLC, zone meeting, and
exchanges so it was a packed and a bit of a stressful week but it was
awesome! And we saw many miracles come from it.

The biggest things that happened were well Carlos. Nothing super new
he is just amazing and we had a lesson this week and we taught him
about the restoration and talked about how the true church was lost
after the death of Christ and the apostles. He just started talking
about how hard it would have been to live during that time when they
truth wasn't on the earth and then just went on how grateful he is
that he was able to find the truth through us.  It was definitely a
proud missionary moment!!

Another cool thing that happened was with a really cool family we have
and also helped with me! I've been wanting to gain a deeper testimony
of fasting and this fast Sunday I fasted for our investigator that we
had talked about the importance of church because she works on Sunday
and is not able to go. She was hesitant about asking her boss because
she just started working there but after we promised blessings she
really wanted to do it! Anyways so I fasted that she would be able to
get Sundays off and her boss talked to her the day later and literally
asked her if she went to church just out of nowhere!! And so she was
able to talk about how she wanted church off and all of that! It was a
tender mercy for me and I could feel Gods love when she was telling
us.

We also had a cool investigator come for the first time and bring his
9 year old daughter! She loved primary!

I love my mission!

Love,

Hermana Stewart

Hello!

This week was amazing! We had transfers and guess who I am with....??? The one and only Hermana Stacey!!! Ahh I'm soooo excited she was my MTC comp and I just love her and am so excited to be with her. It's going to be a wonderful transfer.

I just want to tell one quick story with a family that we taught this week. So we first found this family about a month ago and we just talked to the son who had just barely moved from Guatemala a few weeks before over the next month we hadn't really been able to get into contact with them because they were moving and other crazy stuff was going on. But we didn't give up on them because we felt a good spirit about them and something different. We were finally able to set up an appointment and we taught them last night. They talked about our persistence(haha) and that they were surprised that we hadn't given up. They also talked about how the couple(they come from two different religious backgrounds) but now that they are starting their life together they are looking for something and they were saying how they think God is answering them through us. They talked about how they felt something different with us that prompted them to invite us back. They are very excited and are feeling the spirit very strongly (even if they don't know what it is). I love seeing the spirit work through us and that we really can radiate the light of Christ and that people really do see it.

Something I have been thinking about are the importance of goals. I really love goals and I think that they are something that can really make or break our lives.
“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make
a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”
–Elder M. Russell Ballard
So he talked about how are goals should be short, a few powerful words that mean a lot to us. This week my one and only goals is "speak like Christ" It is a goal that means a lot to me. I am grateful for an apostle of the Lord who through revelation is helping us set and achieve more worthy goals.

Love,

Hermana Stewart
So this week was lots of fun and busy! We went on two exchanges and
also had Zone Conference. We focused on inviting and Hna Howard and I
led a discussion on what makes up a good invite, we role played in
front of everyone, and led a big role play with everyone that was
really fun! It turned out well and everyone really enjoyed i:)

So Lorena! I think I talked about her a little bit last week. She is
awesome! WE had three lessons with her this week. When we explained
the Book of Mormon she just loved it. She went off on how she didnt
know that there was another testament of Jesus Christ that took place
in the Americas, she just knew about the Old Testemant and the New
Testamant. She also loved Moroni´s Promise that says if we read the
book of Momron and ask God with a sincere heart He will tell us if its
true. She just loved how we leave it up to the people to ask God and
we don't just expect them to listen to our testimonies. She is
AWESOME! I was seriously about to just start crying of happiness but I
kept in in because I didnt want to freak her out hahha....... She
currently has a different church that she goes to but she says if God
tells her that this is the true church that she will be baptized. Now
we just need to get the husband to his wife's level...

Flavio is doing well and he is still on track to get baptized the 25th
of March. He's so precious and just the most humble guy. Every time he
prays he always says "protégelas a mis hermanas" which means please
protect my sisters. He's awesome!

We are teaching the most amazing people and I wish I could just do a
little bio of every single one of them but that would bore you to
death but just know that I am loving the mission and meeting and
teaching the most amazing people I have ever met that teach me so
much!!

This week something I studied about was peace because sometimes the
mission can get stressful ya know? But I was studying about it and
found a different way to look at peace. Peace isn't something we
should only have when things are going well, when we don't have a lot
of things to do, etc etc but peace is a feeling we should and can have
all the time.  And the only way we can get that peace to be with us
always is through the help of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of the
gospel that everything is going to be all right. And maybe that
doesn't mean everything is going to be all right tomorrow, next year,
or even during this life but we can have the assurance that Heavenly
Father will make sure everything is alright in the end if we follow
His commandments.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

This week has been amazing! I LOVE THIS AREA! There are so many people who are truly progressing, coming to church and doing everything they need. There are many on their path to baptism and it is amazing to see and even better to be a part of. I wish I could talk about all the people that we are teaching and the miracles that we have been seeing with them but I don't have enough time for that/I know you wouldn't want to read a novel so I'm just going to talk about our investigator CARLOS!!!

Carlos is the one that we found putting his child in his car around that one day and then he called us a couple weeks later and we have been teaching him ever since. So he is doing AMAZINGLY!! I have never seen someone grasp the gospel so quickly and whole-heartedly in my whole life. He loves the gospel and everything just makes so much sense to him. We had invited him to be baptized in the second lesson on March 26th but he said he wasn't ready for that but this week he told us that since we invited him he hasn't been able to get it out of his mind! So long story short he is on date, he came this week to see a baptism and he loved it and is excited for his baptism! There really are prepared people out there. We have been teaching him the commandments lately and it is so interesting because some of these things are things that he has never followed or done in his life and when we teach him he admits that its going to be hard but he says that he is commited to changing his life and not being the same that he was before.

We have seriously seen so many miracles with Carlos, he is coming to church, reading the Book of Mormon, and meeting with us everyday. Everytime I teach him I always want to cry(haha seriously though) because I just love seeing the spirit in action. I love seeing someone changing their life around for the better and the fact that Heavenly Father has given me the oppurtunity to be a part of that just blows my mind. I'm just so grateful. Carlos has helped me develop and grow my testimony even more. I know that God answers prayers and that He will answer anyone that wants to know the truth.

Thank you so much to everyone who has been a part of my life up to this point! You have shaped me into the person that I am today. I'm thankful to Heavenly Father for putting that things in our life that we NEED not the thing that we necesarily WANT. He knows better than us! Love you all!


-------------Hermana Stewart----------------


Another great week in Chesterfield! We had transfer calls and I will be staying here for another six weeks! Yay! And will be receiving my new companion this upcoming transfer. I am excited to see what lies ahead ahead for this area and I know that there will be tons of miracles this next transfer!

So unfortunately Carlos was not baptized this week:( But its okay he is definitely still planning on being baptized we just had to push it back a couple of weeks! He is still doing so amazing and just soaks everything up. He is already so excited for general conference and says that he is going to come to the church to watch every single session. Wow he is just amazing. He asked us the other day what the role of the 70 are.... he just wants to know everything! He loves this gospel and knows it is true. I love it.

We saw many cool little miralces this week:) one that comes to mind right now is with this 9 year old boy we are teaching whos parents are less active. When we first started teaching him he didn't know how to pray and was honestly a little scared of the concept of God. Know he begs to say the prayer every lesson, prays everyday personally, and last lesson he said "prayer makes me feel good because I feel like Jesus is always with me." Tender.

Something I have been trying to do is seem the extraordinary in the ordinary. Sometimes we see things so much and are around them so much that we forget how amazing that thing is. It can happen with anything; our families, friends, the gospel, certain foods, weather, anything. And I've decided, I don't want to do that with anything. Every day is filled with miracles, blessings, and amazing experiences sometimes we just fail to see them. I love the little and big miracles that I see everyday and I know we all experience them, we just need to look for them.

:)

Hermana Stewart

1- after coordination with our ward mission leader and his family. I love them!
2- what happens in English class...... hahahha
3- chesterfield ward missionaries!
4- hahha
5- I have to say goodbye to this beautiful lady!:(  She is being shipped back off to California! She will be missed! Look out for her in the Olympics 2020(;
10 Attachments


Hola amiguitos!


Such cool things are happening with Carlos. Quick recap on him. So he was
outside putting his son into his car and we were walking by so we went up
and talked to him. He seemed awesome and super interested but said he would
¨call us¨.... so thats never a good sign. But a week or so later he called!
We set up an appointment and we have been teaching him ever since but only
for like two weeks now or so. This week we had an amazing lesson with him!
We had a lesson plan but before we could go into it he started
talking...... and BEARING HIS TESTIMONY!!! About how he knows all these
things are true. This was our second lesson with him....... He talked about
how he knew a family in El Salvador that was mormon. He had lost contact
with them but about a month before we met him he somehow got into contact
with one of the daughters. He talked about how she had served a mission and
that he was just so impressed about how focused she was and how she just
seemed to understand life and go for her goals, he just felt something
different about her. He said that is the reason that he first had interes
in hearing us. But through the message and the little of the book of mormon
he has read, he says he knows that it is true!


So that is a super cool miracle that we saw this week. We are so excited
for Carlos.He came to church and loved it. He is so fun to teach, we are
trying to see him daily. Everytime we read a scripture with him he reads it
like 5 times over so he knows that he understands it. He is just so cool.
It is amazing to see how God really places the prepared people right in
your path all you have to do is open your mouth. We would have never known
Carlos if we wouldnt have said anything to him that day.

Other than that everyone else is doing really well and we have a lot of
amazing people that are progressing really well. Missionary work is so fun
here!


I'm so grateful for this time that I have to be a missionary, it really is
the best decision I have ever made. Life is full of choices and full of
good, better, and best, not just good and bad. I read a quote the other day
during my studies "If you have not chosen the kingdom of God first, it will
in the end make no difference what you have chosen instead." That hit me
hard, there are so many wordly things that we can choose and that we can
put over God, but in the end none of that will matter. In the end all that
will matter is that we did our best to always choose the kingdom of God
first. I know that that is true with all my heart and have seen it in my
life countless times. I know that God blesses us for the righteous choices
that we make daily.


"If we choose Christ, we will have made the correct choice."

-Thomas S. Monson


Love,


Hermana Stewart

Heyooo what a week that just flew by really so quickly. I feel like I
was emailing only yesterday.....

This week was fun, went on two exchanges and did trainings at two
different zone meetings. I loved the opportunity to go to two zone
meetings because you just learn double the stuff plus a training is
always better the second time right? So that was all super fun but
there was a lot of going on and so that might have been why the week
seemed to go by sooooo quickly!

This week we saw some cool miracles one of them being with a man named
Carlos. About two weeks ago we were trying some potentials and we saw
Carlos getting in his car and went up and talked to him. Turns out
he's super cool and super interested, we talked about our message but
then he has to leave..... and he says that he will call us.... which
almost always means you aren't going to hear from them again. But we
had faith in him because he just seemed so awesome! So a little over a
week went by and no call and then one day we get a call from a random
number and what do you know?? It's our old friend Carlos! We set up an
appointment with him at the church and invited a member family to come
with us. It went amazingly and he's super interested and he just
soaked the message of the restoration up. Unfortunatley he wasn't able
to go to church because he got sick but next week for sure!

Other cool miracle with this guy named Joel that lives with one of the
less actives. We went over because we had set up an appointment with
the less active but when we got there his friend Joel told us he
wasn't there. Well before we could say anything he said "but I am
really interested in your message and want to listen to you" we were
like sweet and the less active also ended up showing up a few minutes
lateriley and we just taught both of them. Gods timing is perfect:)

This week had some ups and down(but mostly ups) we are just trying to
get these amazing people to progress towards baptism! I mean to be
honest sometimes people's agency can be frustrating hahah! We do our
best to try to set up these awesome experiences for people and they
will either not show up, etc, etc but I know it's all part of the
journey. Trials we have and that others have is exactly what we need.

So this week was lots of fun and busy! We went on two exchanges and
also had Zone Conference. We focused on inviting and Hna Howard and I
led a discussion on what makes up a good invite, we role played in
front of everyone, and led a big role play with everyone that was
really fun! It turned out well and everyone really enjoyed i:)

So Lorena! I think I talked about her a little bit last week. She is
awesome! WE had three lessons with her this week. When we explained
the Book of Mormon she just loved it. She went off on how she didnt
know that there was another testament of Jesus Christ that took place
in the Americas, she just knew about the Old Testemant and the New
Testamant. She also loved Moroni´s Promise that says if we read the
book of Momron and ask God with a sincere heart He will tell us if its
true. She just loved how we leave it up to the people to ask God and
we don't just expect them to listen to our testimonies. She is
AWESOME! I was seriously about to just start crying of happiness but I
kept in in because I didnt want to freak her out hahha....... She
currently has a different church that she goes to but she says if God
tells her that this is the true church that she will be baptized. Now
we just need to get the husband to his wife's level...

Flavio is doing well and he is still on track to get baptized the 25th
of March. He's so precious and just the most humble guy. Every time he
prays he always says "protégelas a mis hermanas" which means please
protect my sisters. He's awesome!

We are teaching the most amazing people and I wish I could just do a
little bio of every single one of them but that would bore you to
death but just know that I am loving the mission and meeting and
teaching the most amazing people I have ever met that teach me so
much!!

This week something I studied about was peace because sometimes the
mission can get stressful ya know? But I was studying about it and
found a different way to look at peace. Peace isn't something we
should only have when things are going well, when we don't have a lot
of things to do, etc etc but peace is a feeling we should and can have
all the time.  And the only way we can get that peace to be with us
always is through the help of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of the
gospel that everything is going to be all right. And maybe that
doesn't mean everything is going to be all right tomorrow, next year,
or even during this life but we can have the assurance that Heavenly
Father will make sure everything is alright in the end if we follow
His commandments. I know that is true and I am so thankful for that
knowledge.


Love you all! Bendiciones!

This week was suuuuuper awesome! I don't think i have really talked about our investigator Flavio much but he is amazing and just the most amazing guy! He is soooo humble and so open to learn all that he can. This week we taught him about the Ten Commandments and it was the sweetest thing. He didn't really know what the Ten Commandments were and after he just talked about how much he loved them and how grateful he was for us for coming over and teaching him about the things that God wants him to do! It was just so cool hearing him say that! He's so humble and he doesn't care what it takes he wants to learn how to follow God. When I am around him I can fell the love that he has for Heavenly Father.

We had a really cool miracles family that we found this week! Lorena and Marco! They are AWESOME!!! We were going to have an FHE with a less active family when the Hermana called us and told us that she was running about twenty minutes late. Well we were already there so we decided to knock the area while we were waiting for her to get there. We tried a couple apartments with no answer but the third one was Lorena, her husband and three daughters! They were super nice and immediately invites us in! We taught the the story of Joseph Smith, and the Restoration and they just loved it! I recited the first vision and Lorena was just in awee! It was so cool and after she just kept saying how beautiful it was and how much she loved it! They talked about how they know that they need to get closer to God as a family and that a way to do that would be coming to church with us. They are super solid and awesome! Unfortunately after that they got sick so we haven't been able to see them but this week for sure! Yay!!

Great week, we had a young woman do a mini mission with us, Rosalina and Daniel have been coming to church every week, and we just had a lot of fun and saw a lot of miracles! This area is awesome!

Last night we had a lesson with a Recent Convert and we asked him to say the prayer. He said he couldn't. We asked why. He said it was because he had said a bad word that day, he didn't feel like was worthy to prayer or that God would want to hear from him. That made me so sad and I KNOW that that is not true. I know that God always wants to hear from us and I am so thankful that praying and speaking with our Heavenly Father is not only for perfect people, if it was no one would be talking with Him. I love the ability that we have to pray and I can honestly say I don't know how I could have done my mission without it.

Pray always, no matter what. Because He always wants to hear from you.

2 Nephi 32: 9- But behold I say unto you that ye must PRAY ALWAYS

Love,

Hermana Stewart
One quick, cool story because I don't have a lot of time with Heavenly Father just leading you where you need to be at the right time and the right place. There is this family and they are active but don't go every single week. Last Sunday they didn't go and we were in the area doing some contacting. They came to our mind and the fact that they hadn't come to church that week. We didn't have a ton of time before our dinner appointment but we decided that we would stop by. We went in and they were all just laying there and watching tv. They said they were too tired to go to church that week. We shared a message with them it went well but we didn't think too much of it. Later that week we had dinner with them and they said that was an answer to their prayers and that that was something that helped get them into gear. They moved her recently and they have been struggling adjusting to the new ward and everything but they said that gave them the final push and they are set on dedicating a lot more time into the church. Like they did in their country. Super cool!

I don't have a ton of time today but here's a cool quote that is so true! Love you all:)

The Lord, in His kindness, seeing the attitude of His children, and knowing that they would need guidance, gave to us the Ten Commandments, and other commandments that have been given from time to time, to help us to find happiness. You observe people running to and fro in the world, seeking happiness but not finding it. If they would only pause long enough to accept the Lord’s advice happiness would follow, but they will find it in no other way.​​

Love,

Hermana Stewart

Here's some pictures at a battlefield we went to with our zone and our district picture:)

One quick, cool story because I don't have a lot of time with Heavenly Father just leading you where you need to be at the right time and the right place. There is this family and they are active but don't go every single week. Last Sunday they didn't go and we were in the area doing some contacting. They came to our mind and the fact that they hadn't come to church that week. We didn't have a ton of time before our dinner appointment but we decided that we would stop by. We went in and they were all just laying there and watching tv. They said they were too tired to go to church that week. We shared a message with them it went well but we didn't think too much of it. Later that week we had dinner with them and they said that was an answer to their prayers and that that was something that helped get them into gear. They moved her recently and they have been struggling adjusting to the new ward and everything but they said that gave them the final push and they are set on dedicating a lot more time into the church. Like they did in their country. Super cool!

I don't have a ton of time today but here's a cool quote that is so true! Love you all:)

The Lord, in His kindness, seeing the attitude of His children, and knowing that they would need guidance, gave to us the Ten Commandments, and other commandments that have been given from time to time, to help us to find happiness. You observe people running to and fro in the world, seeking happiness but not finding it. If they would only pause long enough to accept the Lord’s advice happiness would follow, but they will find it in no other way.​​

Love,

Hermana Stewart

Here's some pictures at a battlefield we went to with our zone and our district picture:)


We have been seeing some cool experiences and miracles with a lot of
the people that we are working with!

We went and taught Rosalina and Daniel and like I said last week we
have just been having the hardest time trying to get Daniel to
progress and read the scriptures. We have been really focusing on the
Book of Mormon and really help him understanding the blessings and the
reason why we read it. So the other night we went over and asked him
if he had been reading and he said he had! He listens to it on the way
to work and back and throughout the day and he told us that that day
he had just read "the chapter about baptism" (2 Nephi 31) and really
liked it! So that was awesome and we could already see such a change
in him! He was glowing and now they are progressing together as a
couple:) :) :)

It has also seemed to me that SO many people have been opening up
about their life stories and it's hard to hear. So many of them have
gone through things that I can even imagine but the cool thing is that
the gospel is the answer. The gospel is always the answer!

We went over and saw a recent convert the other day and I seriously
just love this guy. He's like a grandpa to me and he's just so so
sweet and humble! So we decided to teach him about the sabbath day and
just review some things with that. So we showed him a really cool
mormon message about the sabbath day and talked about it. After he was
so grateful and told us that that is one of the things he struggles
with and that he knows he could do better on. He went on to talk about
how he know that we are guided by the spirit and messengers of the
Lord because the lesson was exactly what he needed to hear and
something he needs to work on. First of all I love when people are
humble enough to recognize that there is room for improvement second
of all I just love when little things like that happen they might not
seem that monumental but they are just awesome. Heavenly Father really
does guide His missionaries and all His other children so that they
can help and strengthen others. He is so involved in our lives even in
the small details that don't seem to matter. In my mission I have been
able to recognize His hand in everything I do and I have also realized
that He has always been there. He has never left my side, not once,
and I know He never will. I am so grateful for that knowledge and I
know if we really remember that and truly know it can get us through
any trial that we face.

Love,

Hermana Stewart

Riley!

Hello family and friends! This week absolutely flew by! I think it was
because I wasn't even really in my area most of the time because I was
always on exchanges... but hey it was fun! The first exchange I went on was
with sister warren and she is loads of fun! But we had an amazing miracle
that night! The elders called us and told us that they has a "free baptism"
for us. They went on to explain that this guy who was a member had called
them wanting to set up an appointment for his girlfriend that wanted to be
baptized! So we went over that night and they were sooo sweet! I would
describe them as cool Mormon hippies. The lady just sat in her cool
circular chair with her legs crossed and the Book of Mormon in her lap.
Basically she told us that she bows it all true she just wants to get the
missionary lessons so she can be baptized and get sealed with her husband
and kids. So that was a miracle!

Also a cool thing that happened this week was with one of our investigators
yessica. She's a new that we found this week and we went in and started
teaching her about the Joseph smith and what not and when we got to the
part about the Book of Mormon we looked down and her little one year old
son was holding a Book of Mormon! Haha what?! We were like "that's what we
are talking about!" It was so cool and crazy! She said that she had never
seen the book before in her life. Talk about signs from God! She's awesome
and we've taught her a couple times since!

This area is still awesome and we are still teaching A TON! So it has been
super fun! I was also finally able to go to church on Sunday and meet more
of the members of the ward. We also taught relief society so that was even
a better way to get to know the members. Also there are so many stray cats
everywhere here. It's creepy and I still don't like cats...

Last night we had a really cool experience with Rosalina and Daniel. We did
a thing where we all thought of a question that we had and then opened the
Book of Mormon to a random page and read a couple verses to try to get an
answer. We all did it and all of our questions were answered and they loved
it! We talked about it after and how we all learned that honestly whatever
question you have can be found in the scriptures. And that's something I
never understood before my mission but it really is so true! It really
helped them (and me) really see the importance of the scriptures in
everything that we do.

Well that's all from me sorry it's kinda scattered! Have a wonderful week!

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Hello family and friends! This week absolutely flew by! I think it was
because I wasn't even really in my area most of the time because I was
always on exchanges... but hey it was fun! The first exchange I went on was
with sister warren and she is loads of fun! But we had an amazing miracle
that night! The elders called us and told us that they has a "free baptism"
for us. They went on to explain that this guy who was a member had called
them wanting to set up an appointment for his girlfriend that wanted to be
baptized! So we went over that night and they were sooo sweet! I would
describe them as cool Mormon hippies. The lady just sat in her cool
circular chair with her legs crossed and the Book of Mormon in her lap.
Basically she told us that she bows it all true she just wants to get the
missionary lessons so she can be baptized and get sealed with her husband
and kids. So that was a miracle!

Also a cool thing that happened this week was with one of our investigators
yessica. She's a new that we found this week and we went in and started
teaching her about the Joseph smith and what not and when we got to the
part about the Book of Mormon we looked down and her little one year old
son was holding a Book of Mormon! Haha what?! We were like "that's what we
are talking about!" It was so cool and crazy! She said that she had never
seen the book before in her life. Talk about signs from God! She's awesome
and we've taught her a couple times since!

This area is still awesome and we are still teaching A TON! So it has been
super fun! I was also finally able to go to church on Sunday and meet more
of the members of the ward. We also taught relief society so that was even
a better way to get to know the members. Also there are so many stray cats
everywhere here. It's creepy and I still don't like cats...

Last night we had a really cool experience with Rosalina and Daniel. We did
a thing where we all thought of a question that we had and then opened the
Book of Mormon to a random page and read a couple verses to try to get an
answer. We all did it and all of our questions were answered and they loved
it! We talked about it after and how we all learned that honestly whatever
question you have can be found in the scriptures. And that's something I
never understood before my mission but it really is so true! It really
helped them (and me) really see the importance of the scriptures in
everything that we do.

Well that's all from me sorry it's kinda scattered! Have a wonderful week!


So I got transferred to a place called Chesterfield! My new companion is named Hermana Howard, she is from California and is a spiritual giant! I feel very safe around her because guess what? Before her mission she did shot put and javelin at UNLV and she might be going to the olympics! So she's basically the coolest person ever.

This area is happening! It's probably the busiest one in the mission. There are tons of Hispanic and tons of work to do! I love it but it has been hard to get to know the area because there is just so much to do! We are literally always teaching people! It's awesome.

This week we saw a ton of miracles and there were a lot of people planning on going to church but unfortunately it got cancelled because of the storm. But it's okay because next week they will come!

 For this transfer our mission is focusing on unity. And one thing that has been really sticking out to me is just being happy for the triumphs of others. Jeffrey R. Holland talked about in one of his talks how we don't have to "drink a jar of pickle juice" every time someone else has a good day. So in other words if someone has a great day or does something wonderfully that shouldn't have a negative effect on us. We are all children of God and we are all part of the same plan. We need to rejoice in each other's triumphs because I know God rejoices in our triumphs.

Love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!


Well first off so I am getting transferred:( Sad to leave Henrico but also excited for a change! This week has also been kind of an interesting week because we had some crazy things happen that made us have to stay inside for a day and also my comp got sick and we had to stay inside and also we had to stay inside for a big chunk of the day New Year's Eve.... so not a ton happened! But it was still a good week!

I decided I wanted to share a little miracle story that happened a couple weeks ago that I never shared. So me and Hermana Fischbeck went to chick Fil a during dinner hour one time to use the wifi, we were just sitting there and this guy kept staring at us.... a little while later he came up and he said, "I didn't even need to see your name tags I knew when you walked in here that you were Mormon missionaries. I still remember the names of the elders that taught me 30 years ago and I want to pay for your dinner" and then he just put a 20 on the table. I was like, "are you a member??" He's not but he then talked about how those elders he had met with had really helped him in a difficult time and that he was never going to forget how he felt when he went to church and met with them. Wow! He went on to say he didn't really know why he had stopped meeting with them but he said maybe is the time to start again with his family(he's now married with a little boy). So we referred him over to the elders and he is meeting with them!

It was just a really cool little miracle that we randomly went into chick Fil a one day for like 5 minutes and ran into this man who still remembered the missionaries from a long long time ago. We might not have recognized the fact that we went to chick Fil a as a spiritual prompting but I know that there was a reason that we were led there. That is something I have really been thinking about this week is following spiritual promptings, its a cool gift that we have been given the Holy Ghost, but just like any other skill we have to practice it and work hard to know how to be able to follow it. I'm still working on it but I know I've gotten a ton better. I've seen how the lord guides this work and guides His missionaries, so I know it's true.  The Lord loves His missionaries and takes care of them.
15 And it shall be given thee from the time thou shalt go, until the time thou shalt return, what thou shalt do. (D&C 28:15)


Love,

Hermana Stewart!

1- the district minus the other hermanas
2-Love my Venezolanas, I'm going to miss them
3- my favorite kids!
4- Leticias birthday!