How are you guys. I am doing absolutely fantastic. Life is great right now, and I am enjoying my mission more than ever. I am just always tired. I think it is because my brain is used to english, but now i have to use spanish 24/7, so i wear out pretty fast. Or I am just a whimp, ya, prbably the second one. Haha
But the area of Barcequillo is awesome. I was scared at first because I thought it was going to be like Tres Bocas, which consisted of houses, dogs, chickens, 2 tiendas(little places to shop), and more houses. But barcequillo is so much cooler. There is everything. The members here are amazing, but very few. Yesterday for church (which starts at 9) it was a beautiful day. There was no exscuse for people not to come. But when we finally started sacrament meeting at 9:25, there was 10 peple there. Including us 2 missionaries, the Branch presidente, his 2 counselors, 2 investigators, and a brother and sister, and a faithful old lady. By the time the actual sacrament came around, which me and my comp both bless and pass, because we have a total of 1 active young man in our branch, there was 22 people there. And when church finished we had like 30 or 35 or so. But I guess our branch is really struggling right now, alot of people are inactivating themselves right now, so that is pretty hard.
But we have some good investigators right now. Also, we have had to drop alot of good ones because they have stopped progressing, but we are hunting for news and we have found quite a few good ones.
Right now we are teaching a family of 5 girls. Their parents are off in Argentina working, so it is only the girls. They are from 11 years old to 23, or something like that. But they all have their different doubts about the church and stuff, and so we teach them all at different times. The oldest girl, doesnt want anything to do with us, so she is always off doing "worldly things". Then the 2 next oldest are good, but they just dont do anything. We give them stuff to readm but they never do it. But the youngest 2 girls, ages 20 and 11, are purete. They have like 6 or 7 attendances in the church. They are progressing, but wont get baptized. Well if the 20 year old (Rebecca) gets baptized, then the 11 year old (Micah) will get baptized. But Rebecca says she wants to be 100 percent certain, and their are still some doubts about herself and other things that she has. We had 2 or 3 really powerful lessons with her about baptism, but she never will committ. Finally me and my comp wanted to drop her, I didnt want to but my comp said we need to. So we went to her house sat down, and she said " we are making cake to eat today". And we were like ok sweet. But then we went on with the lesson, we really used the spirit to show her the importance of baptism, and then we expressed with her that we would like to give her some "time" to reflect and think about her doubts and problems, and that hopefully the missionaries in the future would pass by, and she would be prepared then. I then told her the same thing, i said " we would like to give u a little time to resolve these doubts and problems, because we have tried but maybe it is better if we just give it a little time so that you can reflect and read and pray." We then left her with a very powerful prayer, and left. We were walking to our next appointment, when my comp told me that I shouldnt of said "a little time" because we were going to drop her for good. I apolagized, and then we received a text from her saying that right when we left, the cake finishedm so we returned to eat cake. Once again we left, and I told my comp it was a shame that we had to drop her, and he said, well, she is coming to church every week, so we arent going to drop her. WHAT........... I had just finished lovingly dropping the cane on this sister, and telling her that we werent going to come back, but then my comp said that was all for nothing. Hahahahha it was funny but a little frustrating. But ya, she and her sisters are still our investigators, and we are trying to help them.
Me and my comp get along great. I am really picking up my spanish fast too. My comp is from columbia like i already said, but all his family are members too. His mom and dad are active in the church, so he has alot of support, but his 2 sisters are inactive. He has a brother that is serving in Peru right now.
It is funny though, because my comp always has to know what I am doing. He is a little OCD about it. He is always asking, what are u studying, what are you eating, what are u writing in ur journal, what does this say, what is this, how does this work, blah blah blah. HAHAHAHHA. It is actually kind of funny. Each companionship here has a phone that we share, and when it is my days to carry it, he always has to know what I am doing with it. I pull out the phone to look at the time, and he is looking over my back, yesterday, i dont remember what we were doing, but i tried an experiment. I think we were talking with a member or investigator. I had the phone this day, so i pulled the phone out of my pocket, and he immediately looked, i put it away and he continued talking, i repeated this process atleast 10 times, and everytime he looked. Hahah. I dont think he ever caught on. But o well, haha.
Well family everything here is going great. I am loving everything. It is sad to see so many missionaries complaining about this mission, and everyone wants to go home. This just doesnt seem to be like a normal mission, usually missionaries love their missions so much, that they dont want to leave, but it is sad to see that this mission has a whole different atmosphere. This mission is truly an exhaltation mission, not a normal mission. My president is preparing us for the Celestial life, not just helping us become better. He sees the potential in everyone of us, so i am thankful for that. Everyone complains that there are too many rules, and yes it is true, the rules here are pretty rediculous, but it all depends on what u do with them. It is really ur choice of how ur mission goes. The missionaries here are letting the mission and the rules run their lives, but as for me, I know what is wrong, I know what is right, and I am using my own agency to enjoy my time as a human, but still being the best missionary i can.
I love u guys and talk to u in a week.
Con amor de Paraguay
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
P.s. I thought today was ur anniversary parents, but i seemed to have missed it. SORRY: HAPPY LATE ANNIVERSAY love ya guys
p.s.s and tell Austin congratulations, i am so excited for him, i have waited all week to hear this aweome news, the people in Denver are waiting for him
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