Testimony

Buen Día!

Well, i cant believe that my service as a full time missionary is coming to a close here in Argentina. I will never be able to thank my God enough for this opportunity that i have had to serve Him and His children here in Neuquen. I am so greatful for the opportunity i have had to carry the name of His Son, Jesus Christ with me for these past two years. It has changed my life and marked it for ever. I know that this is His church and that He leads and guides it today. I know that He is the litteral Son of God and that He lives and loves each and everyone of us. He knows us personally. and i am so greatful for the opportunity to share that knowledge that i have gained for these past two years. Thank you to everyone for your support and all that you have done for me. I love you all so much! and hope to see you all soon!

Love,

Elder Stuart

Photos!

1 - With the Argentina Flag! (Elder Ortiz and Elder Stuart)

2 - In the snow! (Elder Stuart and Elder Ortiz)

3 - In the snow! (Elder Stuart, Elder Ortiz, President Casariego, Hermana Casariego, and Lucia Casariego)

4 - Us with Elder Maynes of the Presidency of the Seventy!

Photos!

Bautismal :)  Bruma and Eluney

Hamburgers for the 4th of july! 

Me and one of the kids in the ward!

9 de Julio is the independence day of Argentina so we had an asado y fiesta!

Photos!

The Church

the argentine version of waffle love! and my haircut from my comp ;)

rocking the scarfs!

Transfers...again!

Hola familia y amigos!!!

This week was a really good week! We are finding some really good investigators, and I really am growing to love the people here :) We still are having a problem with our investigators coming to church... so we are trying to find out how to help them come to church. We also had transfers this week. Elder Rose left, and now I am with Elder Barrios from Panama! It was hard to leave another comp but I am excited to be with my sixth comp... hahah! But me and Elder Barrios already get along great and i can tell that we are going to work really hard and have a lot of success. I am excited to also be with a Latino again because it will help my spanish a lot!

So it was kinda hard this week because Brian and Guadalupe had to go to Roca on short notice and they werent able to be baptized this week... so hopefully this next coming week! It was hard because I just want them to receive those blessings but it keeps getting pushed back, but we are going to baptize them this week! We also are working on a couple others, who just need to assist to be baptized.

Things are great here and I am loving the work here. South America is amazing and I love the people here in Argentina and in Godoy. They are so loving and humble and i am so lucky to be a missionary here in this time. There are always rough patches but at the end of the day we can all look back and see the many blessings that we have recieved. Thanks for all your love and support! I love and miss you all! Until next week :) 

Elder Stuart

We also had a really funny experience! I had to go to Neuquen thursday to do paper work to be legal... haha! And we had Subway there!!! It was so good :) Then we got back to Godoy at 5:40 and had a appointment in the chapel at 7 and the chaple is 20 minutes away. We had three families to visit in that time. So we straight up ran from house to house and taught everyone in time. It was crazy!! We were able to get to everyone though... and wasn´t the first time we ran house to house! haha it was fun!

Godoy

Hola famila y amigos!!!

Everything is great here in Argentina! I love it down here, I hope that you all are doing well. This week we had a really cool experience. Me and Elder Rose were out contacting, and we weren´t really finding anyone that was interested, so we said a little prayer, and then after we looked down the street and there was absolutely no one in sight. So we decided the next person we saw we were going to set a baptism date. hahaha the next second a couple turned the corner, and we were like... really a couple, this is going to be fun! haha so we went up and started talking to them. They are so amazing!!!! They are 19 and 18, and she had been taking the lessons a couple months ago (her name is Guadalupe) and he came to church a couple times a few years ago (Brian). And they both said that this is what they have been looking for and they have been praying for! We set a baptism date with them, and they are preparing to be baptized in the next couple of weeks! He just has to work on somethings with work so he doesn´t have to work on sundays, and then they are going to be baptized! It was so amazing! The Lord really blesses us when at the last moment when we are about to give up, if we push forward with faith, He will bless us. Never give up. Right as we think we are beat and cant push anymore, that is when we will start seeing blessings, if we push through it. It was such an amazing experience! 

I am learning so much here in Argentina and i love it down here. Things are going good and we are working with a lot of great investigators. Just dificult for them to come to church because it is so far away, but we are slowly progressing, and trying to do all we can to help them. We have this one investigator, Samantha, she is so amazing. We have been meeting with her for about a month, she is already half way through the book of mormon, and loves this gospel so much. She wants to be baptized so bad, we just have problems getting her to church. So once we start getting them to come, this area is going to boom!! I love it here. The mission is an amazing place. Thank you for all your love and support. I love you all!!! Have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Stuart

Mom Note:  When I asked Ryan about his Thanksgiving Dinner a week before Thanksgiving, this was his reply:

"Oh yeah, and we have no idea when holidays are anymore, so i am just counting that as my thanksgiving dinner!! hahah yup. then end. haha. love you!"

Photos!

1-2 Baptisms of Aron and Hugo

3-4 Elder Stuart cooking his favorite lunch - Milenesa.  Looks like he is eating a lot!! 

5 Tie Trading with Elder Rose

6 Elder Stuart & Elder Rose in area of Godoy, Argentina

7-8 Elder Stuart's home in Godoy, Argentina

 

Villa Regina!!!!

Well I finally made it to Argentina and I finally have my area! I am in a town east of Neuquen called Villa Regina! It is such a beautiful area and I love it here! I live on the edge of the city and we are in charge of the outskirts so everywhere is dirt floors and little shacks for homes! But the all have direct tv... hahah! Also they love sweeping their dirt floors and they water their dirt outside! it is awesome! The people here are amazing!!

I am in a trio right now with Elder Pacheco (He is from Ecuador and has 23 months in the mission and is the trainer.) and Elder Batres who got here when I did and he is from Costa Rica. And we also live with Elder SIlva (Brazil) y Elder Alonzo (Paraguay). And so basically I am in a house with all spanish speakers!! It is difficult but it is helping out a lot.

We have a lot of great investigators down here! We have a couple getting baptized this week!!! We are working with a lot of the youth and that is a lot of fun! I had to teach Primary yesterday so that was intersting!

Things are great here!! Thanks for all your love and support!! I love you all!

Love, Elder Stuart

Finally here

Hola familia!!

Well after three planes and a long car ride I finally made it to Neuquen! We got lucky and when we got to Argentina we were able to take another plane down to Neuquen so we didn't have to take a bus! That was nice. Argentina is so cool! It is a lot different than I thought it would be, haha probably because I didn't know what to expect. My Spanish is alright and I can actually get by alright, until they start speaking really fast. But it's good! And there are so many dogs every where! I get my trainer and area tomorrow so that is super exciting, can't wait for that! But all is great and I made it safely here! I don't have much time so I will write more on Monday! Love you all! Have a great week!!!

Oh and they told me that they can get letters here and it takes about two weeks, and packages take about three. But I should be able to get them!

Love,

Elder Stuart

Argentina Time!

Hey Family and Friends,

Well it is finally here! I am leaving for Argentina this afternoon! I am way stoked! I leave at about 3:30 and got a long flight ahead of me, but I am way excited! Things were great here in Katy Texas and I learned a lot here! This past week was really good, one of the really fun things was Andres wanted to take me and Jorquera bowling and have a lesson there and so we did that and it was a lot of fun! He is like professional and taught us a few tips! It was awesome! He is progressing well and we hope to baptize him in November! Things are great and I can't wait to get to Argentina! I don't have much time, but know how much I love you all! Have a great week everyone!

Love Elder Stuart

Holy Crap!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Holy crap! I leave for Argentina in a week from today!! It came so fast! I am so excited to go, but it will be sad to leave all the amazing people that I have met here. It has been amazing and I can't wait to see what Argentina brings me! 

Another holy crap, the rain we have gotten in the past two days is ridiculous. With the Hurricane we have had down pour rain here for about the last two days straight. Lots of the streets were flooded, and there has been a lot of damage here in Houston. Luckily pretty much everything in my area is ok, we didn't flood too bad, but it was a little flooded in some of our area. But the rain has been crazy! So crazy that church was almost cancelled... so that was weird! But this week in church was the Primary Program. The Hispanics go all out for these things! They all had matching outfits, it was kinda weird for me haha. Oh. and it went for almost two hours... church starts at 11 and we got out of sacrament meeting at 12:50.... it was soooo long. But it was good since it was the Primary Program and they are all so cute. But still way too long. The other ward almost busted in to take over!! haha! 

This week has been really good. Things are great here, Everything is well. I hope all is well back home and thank you for all your love and support. I love you all!!

Forgot a huge part of my week!!

On Friday we had a ward Halloween party! and when we showed up they had a DJ and were playing all the songs from back home, "Whip", "Wobble", etc!! Hahaha it was so cool and threw me back! Then lets just say I was pushed in and showed them how we white people (and Brookie ;)) Did it back at Woods Cross!! It was so sick, and it was so good to dance again just for a few seconds. But i loved it. I needed my "musical theater crew" though!! I miss you guys! 

Love,

Elder Stuart

First Week in The Field!!

Hola familia y amigos!

Hi mom:)

Well it is my p-day today, time goes so fast out here!! I got to Houston safe and it has been an amazing experience so far! I can't wait for all the adventures that are to come! My mission president here is President Mortensen and he is amazing!! He grew up in Bountiful so that is pretty crazy! He really is an amazing president, and this mission is going so well because of Him and his leadership. I met my trainer on Thursday, Elder Jorquera!! He is an amazing trainer and I know that he is definitely one of the reasons that I was sent here to Houston. I have already learned so much from Him. He is so smart and knows a lot about the gospel, and teaching and I really am going to learn a lot. He is originally from Chile but now is from Colorado Springs. So it is awesome because I have a native companion and I feel like my Spanish is going to grow a lot because of it!!

After i got my trainer we got our area's, mine is Katy, Texas!! However, our apartment wasn't ready yet so we had to go room with two other elders. We spent two days there waiting for our apartment, staying in their little apartment and sleeping on the floor. hahah! I was a little upset because I wanted to get to my area. But it turned out to be a miracle! So many great experience happened while we were staying with those Elders. One was, the first day me and Elder Jorquera didn't have much to do because it wasn't our area, so we just went knocking. And the first door I knocked on in Spanish, they let us in and we taught them and set up an appointment for two days from then to teach them more! Elder Jorquera said that never happens to Greenies!!! I was so pumped and we continued to have success that day and so many miracles happened. We had to turn over our little Cuban family to the Elders in the area when we left, so that kinda sucked. But it was still awesome!

On Saturday afternoon we finally got to move into our apartment. It is so nice! However, we have no furniture so we are still studying, eating, and sleeping on the floor! Preparing me for Argentina!! haha so lets just say i haven't slept in a bed for about a week. But the floor is way comfy! I feel like patcha... :) We got all settled in and planned the rest of the day. Then we had church the next day, and it was my first day all in spanish! It was so cool, even though i didn't understand it all i still felt the spirit like crazy. I love the ward here. They are all so nice and ready to help the missionaries. As members that is our job, to help the missionaries, whether it is going out teaching with them or feeding them, that is how we do our missionary work, and they are really good at it!

It has been an amazing week, and I can't wait to learn more about this work and this area. Keep up the good work back home, and find ways to help the missionaries and be a missionary! There is nothing like the joy you get from it! Love you all!!

-Elder Ryan Stuart

Oh!! Dad is going to love this so add it to the email!

We went and ate with members, the Rocha family, on Sunday and they made us fish! and I actually really liked it... So we will see if I like fish now! haha! 

I love and miss you all so much. Got to go now. Talk to you next week :)

Transfer

Hey Mom so me and Elder Bliss got our transfer plans, we are going to the Houston Texas Mission!! We are both going together so that is nice, and we leave Wednesday (23rd) morning at 8:45, so i can probably call you guys sometime in that time period. If you can get my Visa in and try and get it so i can get to Argentina still try and to do that. If not w will see what happens. Still not exactly sure on the details of the mission, or even the language but looks like I will be headed to Texas! Yup so there is that! Love you!

-Elder Ryan Stuart

ps. you have asked when i have had a leadership role, and i have been district leader while here in the mtc 

Photos

Our district and the map of where we are going!

Me at the map of where i am (hopefully ;)) going!

MTC Life

Hey family!! This week was also really good!! I love it here in the MTC, but the only bad thing is it makes you so anxious to actually get into the field and teach real people. I can't wait to actually get out there and be able to teach the people of Argentina! I get my Flight Plans on Friday!!! I am so excited! I will leave monday september 21 so i am super excited for that! Hopefully my Visa comes... haha!! We can't check to see if our visa comes until after we have our flight plans so that kinda sucks... so hopefully i have mine! Oh and we found out that I can get letters in argentina, just not packages.

last Thursday I finished the Book of Mormon while being here at the MTC. It was such an amazing experience to be able to read it while I have been here. I had a testimony of it before I left, but I have an even greater testimony of it now. I love it so much!!!! It truly answers any question that we have, we just have to go into reading with a question in our mind and read and pray about it SINCERELY. I promise that if you do this you will receive an answer to your question WHEN Christ is ready to give it to you. He works on His time, Not yours. Always remember that. He will always answer, just when the timing is right. 

On monday we got to do a Skype lesson with a member from Neuquen Argentina!!! It was so cool to be able to talk with and teach a native! I loved it!! it made me so excited to be able to get there and serve the wonderful people of Argentina! 

Lastly, I have come to realize even more in the mtc that without God we truly are nothing. He is our strength. He is our power behind all that we do. And if we pray and invite Him to be with us at all times, then He will be there to help us with anything. If you are going through hard times, don't think He is not there, He always is. We just have to search for Him. 

Another great week down here at the mtc, and less than two weeks left!! I am so excited. I love and miss you all so much. Hasta Pronto.

Con Amor,

Elder Stuart

MTC

Hola Familia!! It is the second day here in the MTC and they have given us ten minutes to hurry and write home to let you know how we are doing. Things here are GREAT!!! I love the spirit that I feel when I am here, and the biggest thing that I have learned in these two days is that prayer is key to having the spirit with you. I have never prayed so much in my entire life, and I have already noticed the difference that it has made in my life. I challenge all of you to increase your amount of daily prayers, and family prayers. If you pray once a day, up it to two times. If you pray five times a day, up it to six. I promise you that as you do this you will have the spirit stronger in your life, and that it will bless you in more ways that you know, so that is my challenge for this week. 

My companion is Elder Lloyd and I really like him! We get along great and I can tell that he has a great spirit about him. We also are rooming with Elder Fielding and Elder Buzan, and we get along great with them as well! The first day was crazy with so many emotions, but as soon as the tears and homesickness went away I was able to feel the spirit so strongly that it really helped comfort me. We got all my stuff, dropped it by my room, and then headed straight to class... where they did not speak one word of english!!! It was intense but i feel like i actually understood quite a bit! We then went to a devotional and we opened by singing called to serve. And the spirit that you can feel when we sing that song is incredible and unlike anything else. We then were able to role play with three different investigators as the "Orange Dots", or new kids, and that was a really cool learning experience! Then we went back and unpacked and got ready for bed. It was an incredible day and I love the spirit I am feeling here. 

I have seen so many familiar faces here that it has really helped to know that my friends are out serving the Lord just like I am! I was able to see Sister Alapa and catch up and get a few tips on the MTC before I had to rush to class so that was really cool! All the familiar faces have really helped.

I miss you guys so much but i know that this is were my Savior needs me at this time and i Can't wait to be able to get to Argentina and be able to serve the people there and bring this light unto them. I love you all so much and thank you for all of your examples that you set for me! Remember that Christ lives and that He loves us, and that through Him and His Atonement anything is possible. Keep praying, and know that all of you are in my prayers. I love you all.

Love,  (Finally)Elder Stuart :)

Entering the Provo MTC (A Letter from Mom)

Hey Everyone!

Elder Ryan Stuart reported to the Provo MTC today!  He will be there for 6 weeks and will hopefully leave for Argentina on September 22, 2015 (if he receives his VISA in time).  I will be sending you his emails and you are also welcome to visit his blog  at http://www.elderryanstuart.blogspot.com.

Elder Stuart is very excited to finally be on his mission.  It was a wonderful day with family dropping him off, but very difficult driving home without him!  I hope you all enjoy reading his experiences.

Here are ways to write to Elder Ryan Stuart:

email: ryan.stuart@myldsmail.net

August 12, 2015 - September 20, 2015

Elder Ryan Stuart

SEP 22 ARG-NEU

2005 N 900 E Unit 35

Provo, Utah 84602

(standard letter is a regular postage stamp)

After September 22, 2015:

Elder Ryan Stuart

Argentina Neuquén Mission

Casilla de Correo 321

8300 Neuquén

Neuquén

Argentina

(standard letter $1.20 postage stamp)

Thank you all for your support to Ryan!  You are wonderful friends!

Stephanie

[This blog will be updated by Elder Ryan Stuart's sister, Elizabeth]

The family before Elder Stuart entered the Provo MTC

We saw Ryan's good Friend, Elder Zach Parrish, during "sports time" and took a picture of the two of them!