Monday, March 28, 2011
Ah Paradise, I mean Paraguay
Hola Familia Ok first off I have waited these five or so days to find out where Josh is going on his mission, and not one of you told me. What is up with that. Haha. But i guess I will just have to wait for another WEEK to find out where he goes......... :( But anyways here are my two adresses, it doesnt matter which one you use Elder Chase Stewart Casilla de Correo 818 Asunción Paraguay 1209 or Elder Chase Stewart 2881 Del Maestro c/ Caballero Barrio Herrera Paraguay, Asunción Well here are my addresses so you can write me now. haha. Well lets see, life here is awesome. I am slowly starting to pick up spanish. I can actually talk with people a little. Actually my first two street contacts I did turned out to be pastors. So that didnt have the best results. But besides this, i am teaching more and trying to get the hang of things. We have some AWESOME investigators here. We were supposed to have 14 investigators at church yesterday, but only five came. O well. But there is a family that we are teaching that is incredible. It is a mom and a son that is 17 and a daughter that is about 15 or so. The mom is paralyzed on the whole left side of her body. But she came to church this week, (we called a taxi for her and her family). She loved it more than anything. And her daughter loved it to. The son not so much. But the son and daughter are going to start going to seminary, so that is pretty sweet. I think they are going to get baptized in a few weeks. But the family is awesome. Also we should have two baptisms on saturday after conference. A eight year old boy and a 11 year old girl. Our conference here starts at like 1 and 5. But anyways ya. We also have another awesome family we are teaching. I think I told you about them on thursday, but they are half members half not. But anyways it is funny how God works and the devil works. One way I have seen God work is we were going to teach a family and they were not home so we contacted another family next door. They let us in, and we taught the first lesson, and they said that there has been something missing in their life and this might be it. But anyways it is sweet. A way that we have seen the devil at work, it that we had the biggest rain storm on saturday night. We had rivers in the street. I have some sweet pictures. But anyways, the water was in some places thigh deep. But it ended up flooding Miguels house, and so everyone was helping him so we couldnt teach him and that family, and then when sunday rolled around they didnt come to church because tensions were high, and it was early, and they were tired from the night before, so there baptismal date was pushed back. But i know that i need to keep my faith up and the lord will bless me. But some cool things about paraguay now. I saw my first monkey yesterday. Also here in paraguay, there is an even mix between houses, buildings, trees, motorcycles, and trash. Everything above your head is beautiful, but is kind of sad to see the trash and the living conditions. But i love these people, i love how they are ready to receive the gospel, and i love the Lord for all of his help. Stay Sweet Con Amor Elder Stewart
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Finally in Paraguay!
Que tal familia
There is nothing like a good first P-day In Paraguay. So we got here around noon on tuesday after some of the longest flights of my life. Actually they were the only flights of my life, haha. But anyway, we got here and the temperature was so hot. And the humidity here is a killer. The first day here we met our mission president and his wife and the office elders. We have a great group of missionaries here. Then for lunch we had enpanadas, they are pretty much just like hot pockets. After this we learned all about how things in the mission work, and thenwe had interviews with the president. After this we ate dinner (it was like chicken fried chicken con red sauce, y tambien papas de crema, or mashed potatoes. Yummmm. And we had some ice cream and fruit for dessert. Then we all had a testimony meeting with Our mission president and his wife.
O by the way there was 10 elderes and 3 hermanas that came in with me. We met 2 of the elderes and 1 hermana in buenos Aires. They all went to the Buenos Aires MTC, and they are from Peru and Honduras. Anyways, after this los elderes stayed at the mission office and slept there and las hermanas went to the mission home and slept there.
we ate some fruit in the morning and then went into the city to sign some papers, finally around 10 or so on wednesday we met our trainers. My trainers name is Elder Faas from San Diego California. He is an awesome Elder, and he has been here for around five or six months. We then all got pictures, said our goodbyes and left. We jumped in our taxi and headed four our area called Tres Bocas. In is part of the city of Asuncion, pero it probably is in the poorest part of town.
We arrived at our apartment that isnt in our area. But it is close. We dropped my stuff off and left. My apartment is above a sstore. It is actually pretty descent. We dont have any air conditioning but we have a fan in our bedroom, and that is delightful. I only slept with a sheet and it was perfect. The bathroom is fine except for ahaving a light that works. But my companion said that we actually have a very nice house
Anyways, we went and tried to meet with some contacts but we didnt have much success. We swung by a members house to have some lunch. We ate some noodles with some vegetables on it, i dont know what vegetables, and some meat, i dont know what meat, but it was delicious.
Then we started our real work. I dont have much time but i will tell you the highlights of my day. We got 6 people that commited to a baptismal date, that is the most my companion has ever gotten.
Also, it was funny because I can understand most everything, for the most part, and i was actually teaching about 10% of the lessons, but it was funny to hear people talk about me like i dint know what was going on. Haha. When people asked where I was from, i would say Los Estados Unidos, and they would ask what part. When I said Idaho, they never knew where that was. But they knew where utah was, so I would say above Utah. But anyways, it was hard to say my name in spanish. They pronounce it here estaywart. Pero esta bien
The real highlight of my day was when we had a few extra minutes so we went door contacting, we clap instead of knock here, but anyways my companion did the first couple and then it was my turn. So i clapped at the gate and a lady came. I shared a little and
then she invited us on. her name is maria by the way. This particular family lived in an old small wood working shop. We taught her the first lesson. Maria has tons of faith which was awesome. but then, we commited her to be baptized and she said yes!!!! My first contact and she accepted baptism. How great is the Lord!! This woman is incredibl and I have tons of faith that she will be baptized.
We ate dinner at a members pizza place and it was awesome. It had ham and anchovies and tomatoes and peppers and cheese and some kind of this chewy stuff, and this weird white stuff, but I dont know what it was. It was good but I was stuffed. O ya, it also had some half cooked eggs on it. YUMMMY
Then last night, we taught two familys. There is alot of kids. Half of them are members. But there were two boys Ramon is 18 and Miguel is 17. They are studs and they both receibed an aswer about the BOM, and they both commited on a baptismal date. Ramons dad was there and he was sooooo drunk. He kept yelling random things during the lesson. When i said my prayer he kept yelling. It was actually pretty funny.
But the area here is great, but like I said, these people are really poor. There is trash everywhere and the houses here are not houses. It is sad, but because these people are poor, they are humble. And they are all ready for the gospel. I already have a love for the people here. I just want to go and teach them now. The Lord has prepared them for us, and now we jsut need to give them the gospel.
I dont have my address with me, but I will send you it on Monday when I email again. Soo sorry. And when you write me letters, make sure you put Elder >Chase Stewart, because we have three >Elder Stewarts here. Also you guys can write me DearElders still. I wont get them everyday, but i will get them
Love you Guys
Con Much Amor
Elder Stewart
There is nothing like a good first P-day In Paraguay. So we got here around noon on tuesday after some of the longest flights of my life. Actually they were the only flights of my life, haha. But anyway, we got here and the temperature was so hot. And the humidity here is a killer. The first day here we met our mission president and his wife and the office elders. We have a great group of missionaries here. Then for lunch we had enpanadas, they are pretty much just like hot pockets. After this we learned all about how things in the mission work, and thenwe had interviews with the president. After this we ate dinner (it was like chicken fried chicken con red sauce, y tambien papas de crema, or mashed potatoes. Yummmm. And we had some ice cream and fruit for dessert. Then we all had a testimony meeting with Our mission president and his wife.
O by the way there was 10 elderes and 3 hermanas that came in with me. We met 2 of the elderes and 1 hermana in buenos Aires. They all went to the Buenos Aires MTC, and they are from Peru and Honduras. Anyways, after this los elderes stayed at the mission office and slept there and las hermanas went to the mission home and slept there.
we ate some fruit in the morning and then went into the city to sign some papers, finally around 10 or so on wednesday we met our trainers. My trainers name is Elder Faas from San Diego California. He is an awesome Elder, and he has been here for around five or six months. We then all got pictures, said our goodbyes and left. We jumped in our taxi and headed four our area called Tres Bocas. In is part of the city of Asuncion, pero it probably is in the poorest part of town.
We arrived at our apartment that isnt in our area. But it is close. We dropped my stuff off and left. My apartment is above a sstore. It is actually pretty descent. We dont have any air conditioning but we have a fan in our bedroom, and that is delightful. I only slept with a sheet and it was perfect. The bathroom is fine except for ahaving a light that works. But my companion said that we actually have a very nice house
Anyways, we went and tried to meet with some contacts but we didnt have much success. We swung by a members house to have some lunch. We ate some noodles with some vegetables on it, i dont know what vegetables, and some meat, i dont know what meat, but it was delicious.
Then we started our real work. I dont have much time but i will tell you the highlights of my day. We got 6 people that commited to a baptismal date, that is the most my companion has ever gotten.
Also, it was funny because I can understand most everything, for the most part, and i was actually teaching about 10% of the lessons, but it was funny to hear people talk about me like i dint know what was going on. Haha. When people asked where I was from, i would say Los Estados Unidos, and they would ask what part. When I said Idaho, they never knew where that was. But they knew where utah was, so I would say above Utah. But anyways, it was hard to say my name in spanish. They pronounce it here estaywart. Pero esta bien
The real highlight of my day was when we had a few extra minutes so we went door contacting, we clap instead of knock here, but anyways my companion did the first couple and then it was my turn. So i clapped at the gate and a lady came. I shared a little and
then she invited us on. her name is maria by the way. This particular family lived in an old small wood working shop. We taught her the first lesson. Maria has tons of faith which was awesome. but then, we commited her to be baptized and she said yes!!!! My first contact and she accepted baptism. How great is the Lord!! This woman is incredibl and I have tons of faith that she will be baptized.
We ate dinner at a members pizza place and it was awesome. It had ham and anchovies and tomatoes and peppers and cheese and some kind of this chewy stuff, and this weird white stuff, but I dont know what it was. It was good but I was stuffed. O ya, it also had some half cooked eggs on it. YUMMMY
Then last night, we taught two familys. There is alot of kids. Half of them are members. But there were two boys Ramon is 18 and Miguel is 17. They are studs and they both receibed an aswer about the BOM, and they both commited on a baptismal date. Ramons dad was there and he was sooooo drunk. He kept yelling random things during the lesson. When i said my prayer he kept yelling. It was actually pretty funny.
But the area here is great, but like I said, these people are really poor. There is trash everywhere and the houses here are not houses. It is sad, but because these people are poor, they are humble. And they are all ready for the gospel. I already have a love for the people here. I just want to go and teach them now. The Lord has prepared them for us, and now we jsut need to give them the gospel.
I dont have my address with me, but I will send you it on Monday when I email again. Soo sorry. And when you write me letters, make sure you put Elder >Chase Stewart, because we have three >Elder Stewarts here. Also you guys can write me DearElders still. I wont get them everyday, but i will get them
Love you Guys
Con Much Amor
Elder Stewart
First plane ride!
I am just writing you guys to tell you that I have arrived safetly in Paraguay. It is around 90 or so degrees here and the humidity is high. I am so glad we dont have to wear suits all the time. The flights were all good. Long but good, and it was a good experience to ride an airplane for the first time. My P days are going to be on Mondays, but this week, i will be writing on thursday. I am excited to be here and to start the Lords work.
Con Amor
Elder Stewart
Friday, March 18, 2011
Last Week in the MTC!!!
Well family this is the last email in the states for a while. I have less than three days before we leave the MTC. Wahoo This email will be pretty short because I lost 15 minutes of my 30 minutes trying to get the email to work. Grrrr But anyways, we are all so excited to get out of this place. We loved it, but we are so excited for Paraguay. There is 10 of us all together that are going to Paraguay. 4 in my district, and i think there are 4 more elders and 2 sisters. we met two of the elders and one sister that are going there. We are all excited like I said and I dont really even know what to expect. We had a teacher here, her name is Hermana Edwards, and she just got back from our mission a few months ago. She told us alot about paraguay. She actually came in our room and started talking in Guarani (the other national language of paraguay). we were all pretty confused, and i wanted to tell her that this wasnt the Korean class. Guarani sounds like korean..... Hahahahha. But anyways she then told us a few things about paraguay. She said that she has never been hotter or colder than she was in paraguay. She said it gets up to 115 degrees, and plus almost 100% humidity. Holy Cow. But everything else was preety cool like the bugs there, and the giant black butterflies that if you make them mad, they will lay worms in your skin, and you have to dig them out. Ahhhhhhhhhh paraguay, I am so excited. The packages and letters are great. I think I am going to send my box home of stuff either today or saturday. I havent decided what i want to send home yet, and i really dont think i can fit everything in my suitcases. I will probably have to pass alot of stuff down to the younger districts like candy, and everything else I inherited. I also dont think i will bring my 1000s of flashcards, so iwill pass those down to. I have a pair of shoes and other stuff that i will send home. Also i am going to send home a bunch of letters i have. So make sure you keep them in a safe spot. So today i am going to start packing and get my hair cut. The work here has been going great. This week is our teaching week so we have taught quite a bit, out of my whole district, we are overall going to teach more than 100 lessons. Me and my companion will have almost 40. We have 4 investigators here, Antonio Jeff Patricio and Andrew. Antonio and Jeff are getting baptized soon, Patricio knows he needs to get baptized but he wont commit on a date. And also we dropped andrew yesterday, because we taught him tons and he just wasnt progessing and he didnt see the importance of anything. We tried our hardest but it wasnt enough. It is going to be nice to get to paraguay and start teaching REAL investigators, and get REAL baptisms. This is truly the Lords church, and the Lord has blessed me so much with everything, especially you guys!! I just need to show my love back and help others come unto Christ. Love ya guys I will try to answer your questions in letters, but like i said i didnt have that much time Com amor Elder Stewar
Friday, March 11, 2011
March 21st!!
Hello family I am going to answer questions first. I havent got a picture with Cory yet, but i am planning on it really soon. The treat from grandma was awesome. I am sharing it with my whole zone. Josh just barely left like a day ago. So far, i have gained around 5 pounds. I am around 203. The rest of my district are all like 150-160. Skinny punks. And by thwe way mom, dont worry about puttin 200 in my account. I already have 100 dollars in cash and so you dont need to put in more. Mom, how did the vote go on the getting rid of teachers thing??? How is life everyone?? Life here is awesome as usual. I have felt like I have hit a wall when it comes to spanish. In these last couple weeks I have felt like I havent been learning anything new, and i have been trying so hard. But i am still happy. I know that the first tactic that satan uses is doubt, and he cant get me to doubt. I am not prideful, but i am not doubting because I know the Lord is on my side :). But anyways, everyweek there is a couple more Elders from rigby that come in. You will never believe who came in this last week........ Travis Moore I think his name is. You know from our last ward. It was so cool to see him, and I am so happy he came on a mission. He is going to California somewhere. Anyways, another funny little story. My companion and I got called up to the front desk. He lost his scriptures and they were being returned to him. They thought that i had lost one of my name tags, but i had them both. But they had an Elder Stewart name tag in spanish, and I was the only elder Stewart in the MTC. So I guess there was another Elder Stewart going to a spanish speaking mission that lost his name tag. But he already left for the field. so to make a long story short, I got an extra name tag. and also, there is a statue of an elder here at the MTC, with the name Elder Stewart, and it is in spanish. I will send u guys a picture with him. hahahahah Well, i have waited this long to share the best info with you guys. This last wednesday, we got our TRAVEL ITINERARY :)yAY for Paraguay We leave on the 21st of march and this is what our flight schedule looks like. Leave Saltlake Airport at 2:50 p.m. on march 21arrive in Dallas/Ft Worth at 6:25 p.m. on march 21 (Yay for visiting melissas mission in fort worth)Leave Dallas/Ft worth at 7:35 p.m. on march 21Arrive in Buenos Aires Argentina at 7:55 a.m. on march 22 ( Yay for a 12 hour all night flight!!!!!!!)Leave Buenos Aires Argentina at 10:10 a.m. on march 22Arrive in Paraguay Asuncion at 11:50 a.m. on marchh 22 So here it is. I am so excited to go on an airplane for the first time, and spend over 24 hours travelingwe leave the MTC at 11:30 on Monday the 21st, and should get to the airport at 1 or so. SO I NEED YOU TO SEND ME A CALLING CARD SO I CAN CALL YOU GUYS FROM THE SALT LAKE CITY AIRPORT AT AROUND ONE. PLEASE DONT FORGET TO SEND ME A CALLING CARD. I dont know if i will be able to call you from argentina and i dont have enough time in texas so i will try to call around 1 in salt lake city. So please send me a calling card and cell phone numbers, so i can talk to all of you guys. I love you all, and i am going to try to send a package home of a bunch of crap i dont need. But dont be a fraid to send me a package of a bunch of sweets, starbursts airheads etc. I have aenough cheese balls for now, so dont worry about them. Hahahaha Love you guys Elder Stewart
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Go Aggies!
Hola Family
It was nice getting all of your letters and emails this week.
That is a good question, Who is Emily??????? Maybe if my best friend Ty, would write me some more, we would know. Me and elder Warner talk to eachother all the time, and we have no clue what is happening back home with our friends. Hahahaha. So if you didnt catch it, this is a hint that we would like to hear from our friends some. Hahaha. Jk, but really
But anyways, it has been another fabulous week at the MTC. Besides the food, that is killing me. Hahaha. But the MTC is going great. we only have 17 days left, crazy. The oldest district in our zone is supposed to leave on Monday, but they are going to Mexico, so of course they dont have their VISAS yet, so who knows what is up with that. But after they leave, we will be the oldest district. Wahoo for supremacy. I dont even know if that is a word, but it sounded good.
I wish there was more I could talk about in my emails but life here at the MTC is pretty much always the same. Same routine.................. It doesnt really get boring, but you know there is just nothing to really talk about.
Me and my companion have grown alot closer together. when we teach, we are doing awesome. This last TRC, (a TRC is just a weekly teaching session where we teach volunteers that come to the MTC, and each week we have a different thing we need to teach them). Like this last TRC, we were supposed to pretend like we were shopping at a store, and buying clothes ( this just helps with our vocabulary). And then we set up an apointment and later we were supposed to teach the 1st lesson. The investigators this week were suppossed to not believe in God. well, the other three companionships in our district got Investigators that believed in God. Haha, and of course with our luck, me and my companion got an atheist. And i am not going to lie, I loved it. It was for sure hard, and not like teaching a christian. But, it was awesome to be able to bring in the spirit and testify. I felt the spirit so strong, even though it was a fake lesson. But I was able to share with amanda, our fake investigator, some very spiritual and close things to me. I know that the spirit was testifying to her so strong that God exists and that God loves her. :) Man, I love the Gospel so much. There isn't one thing about it that makes me sad or unhappy. Last night in my prayer, I couldnt stop smiling and thanking God for this Gospel because I know it is true, and it makes me incredibly happy.
Lastly, i just want to say in the nicest way, How much i hate BYU. Hahahahhaha. But really. There is probably 80% of the missionaries here that went to BYU, and they get pretty annoying. It was music to my ears to hear that they lost, because it finally humbled these missionaries a little. Hahaha. But i get pretty sick of all the missionaries ganging up on me. It is always Jimmer this, and Jimmer that, and blah blah blah blah blah blah. haha. And i have got comments from kids saying, are you even allowed to serve a mission if you didnt go to BYU. Silly BYU fans that let their schools success in sports run their lives. And as much as I want to forget about some of these earthly things, haha, I cant. sports are sports, and i will always love them. But o well i guess. Once duke and USU do good in the tourny, compared to BYU, who lost their top rebounder, then we will see who will be laughing. hahaha jk. I just wanted to share that. Anyways, GO AGGIES.
well i gotta run, but i will write ya'll also
love you guys
-Elder Stewart
P.s. I dont hate BYU, I just wanted to share that.
P.S.S. I really really dont like BYU either
HAHAHAHHA
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