Working Hard & Trusting Him Lead to Success

Hola Familia!

Things are going great here in the mission! We finished the zone conferences this week so that is good! It was great to see how all the missionaries are growing and be able to learn from each and everyone of them by working with them and being with them. We had a really cool experience the other day where it reaffirmed my testimony that the promises of the scriptures are true. I was in exchanges in Zapala with Elder Batres and Elder Rose! (Two ex companions of mine!!) and we had a day that was alright, we didnt find too many people that wanted to talk and didnt open the door a lot. so we decided to take a second to pray and ask the Lord to help us find those that are in need of this message. As we finished we saw a family walking up the hill and we decided to go talk to them. We stopped them and started to talk and they told us that they had already talked with missionaries before and that we could pass by another time. It was amaizng to see that the promises found in the scriptures and preach my gospel are true. if we work with all we have and are diligent and we trust in Him, He will lead us to the success. 

Love you all! This is the work of the Lord and i am so greatful to be a part of it :)

Elder Stuart

Photos!

Gigantic hamburger we bought :)

When we were in neuquen i got to go on exchanges with Elder Bliss!!!!

(Elder Bliss was the Elder that went to Houston with Elder Stuart while waiting for their Visas! What a great reunion!)

Didn't have light one night so we planned with a candle... :)

My comp made me birthday dinner :)

Me and my group in Neuquén Elder Ortiz, me , Bliss, Silva, Nielson, Batres

Me and elder Rose

Us and Jessica and her fam!

6 MONTHS!

Wow i cant believe that i have already passed the six month mark! Time is going by way fast! This week was so good!!!! We were walking down the street and an old investigator that i was teaching with Elder Rose, but we dropped, passed us and told us to come by his house sometime. His name is Matias and is 18, when we were teaching him he told us he really didnt believe in God but just liked talking with us to be friends, so we just bore testimony and told him to pray and ask and if he needed anything to just ask. Well he did this week! We went to his house and he said he prayed and got an answer, he said when he was praying he felt an overwhelming feeling of love and peace and he knows that God is there now!! The power of prayer is so strong!!!!! It was such a miracle! He now wants to change his life around and be baptized! He even came to church this sunday so that was a miracle! It was amazing to see how such a little things, as one little short prayer with our father in heaven changed his life forever. Such a miracle. It makes me think of Alma 37:37, we should pray in everything we do!

 

Things are so great here, the people are amazing, and i have seen that when we push through our trials the Lord will bless us in ways we never thought. I never thought this would be the investigator that started to progress so fast, but God knows us all personally and has a plan for each and everyone of us. And if we never give up and trust in him, we can find that plan. Goes to show that getting your feet wet really works!! ;) haha I hope you all had a great week, and have an even better one this week full of the love and spirit of our Heavenly Father. 

 

Love,

Elder Stuart

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

 

Baptisms and Godoy!

Hey family and friends!

This week was such a good week! We had the baptisms of two of the kids that I was teaching over in Villa Regina this week!! It was such a cool experience, i felt the spirit so strongly and I was so proud of the decision that Aron and Hugo made to be baptized and come closer to their savior Jesus Christ. It was so amazing and I am so glad that I was able to be there to watch their change and them making that special covenant with our Heavenly Father.

My new area is Godoy, it is a small town just outside of Villa Regina. We live on the edge of Villa Regina, and take a bus out to Godoy, and also have a little town that we work at as well, that is about a 20 minute walk away. I love my area! It is such a good area and the people are all so loving and friendly! The members are the best, and we have some really good investigators that we are working with. They just need to come to church and they will be able to be baptized! We have a lot of dates set up for December, but they have to come to church if they want to fulfill those dates!

My new comp Elder Rose is the best! We get along really well and he is teaching me a lot and helping me become the missionary that the Lord needs me to be. He is really helping me with my spanish. It is coming slowly, but it is coming. And it is nice being able to ask him questions about the language. He is doing a great job in helping me be the best that i can be. 

This week, our ¨thanksgiving¨ Dinner, was mashed potatoes and cut up hotdogs.... hahaha very American! I loved it! It was with an amazing member family, the Blanco Family. We didn´t even remember it was thanksgiving until that night... but it was fun!

Something I have been studying a lot is Charity and how important it really is in our lives. I love 1 Corinthians 13. That chapter is amazing. Without charity we are nothing. We should all strive to have the same love that our Lord has, we never will but he will bless us for trying.

All is great and thank you for all your love and support! I love you all so much and I am so greatful for your examples. Have a great week!!

Elder Stuart

Photos!

These are from his first transfer in Villa Regina with the Trio and 2 other Elders in his apartment.

Elder Batres, Elder Pacheco, and me

Making cookies with our investigators Elder Batres, me, Matias, Elder Pacheco, Hugo, (then in front with me) Aron, and Danilo

This is our home, on the other side of the room we have a bunk bed, and Elder Pacheco's is under the bed and he pulls it out at night, we have three in our room, then another room for the other two. and then our kitchen and we have a tiny bathroom too! But I get my new apartment today, so pics of that next week.

 

 

These are photos of his new area with his new companion, Elder Rose.

Elder Stuart and his new companion from Missouri, Elder Rose

Elder Stuart working on the farm planting tomatoes

A look at Villa Regina!!

Transfered

Dear family and friend,

So today I got transfered! hahah I am now with Elder Rose from Missiouri, He has been out one trasfer longer than me. His companion finished his mission today and went home and since I was in a trio I got transfered to be with Him! I am still in Villa Regina, just on the opposite side of the city and in a different ward. It is sad to leave the ward and especially the people that we were teaching but I am excited for this opportunity and I know that God knows where I need to be. 

This week was kinda sad because the baptism dates that we had for Aron, Hugo, Danilo, and Marcos had to get switched to this next week (21) Because of some family problems, so that was kind of upsetting, but I am excited and hope they stay on track for this next week. I still get to go because we are so close so that makes me happy!!! Our investigators really are amazing, and I am excited to meet my new investigators in my new area.

The food here is so good!! Lots of meat, pasta, and fruit! Unfortunatley the pasta is usually spaghetti.... hahah but it still tastes great! And my favorite thing is called milanese and it is kind of like huge chicken nuggets, but not really. haha but they are so good! Everything is like italian influenced and I love the food here.

This week we got to do service in a farm and we planted tomatoes! It was so much fun and it reminded me of Grandpa´s farm, and so that was a lot of fun to be able to do that. We then were able to teach the man that owns the farm and he is now meeting with us! Also another miracle we had this week was that we wanted to find two more investigators before the end of the week, and we got to saturday night and we still were short two of our goal. We said a prayer and then we went to one of our investigators house and they had two friends over! We taught them and they came to church the next day!! It was so cool! We really are blessed to be working here in Regina. The Lord is hastening His work here. When I got here there were 50 people who attended sacrament regularly and now we are up to 65!!! Things are great. I love you all so much, thanks for all the support!

Love, Elder Stuart