Well winter has finally arrived here in Paraguya, and it arrived a month earlier than it did last year. But it has been so cold lately, i am just so glad that i have some good winter stuff to protect me, so thanks for the head band grandma summers, and the sweater McCarthy family, they do alot in this cold weather. The problem is that it is so cold here because it is a humid cold, so although it might be like 50 degrees, it is freezing hahaha. So we have to sleep with alot of blankets and socks, and pajama pants and sweaters to stay warm in the night.
But the work here is going great. We have alot of great investigators including Walter who is still trying to find more work, and is struggling with his testimony because his catholic buddies are giving him crap. We have a young kid named Virgilio that is the most golden investigator in the world he is 19 and will get baptized the 19 of may, we just got to help him find his testimony, but he has real intent. WE have an investigator named luis nuñez that could get baptized here in a couple weeks but his wife doesnt want to get married, and he cant get baptized without getting married first. ASnd we have an investigator named fabian who is a baptist but is studying our church with real intent and he will get baptized here soon. So if you can pray for these guys, it would be truly apreciated.
So this week we were walking down the street late at night and we were close to a little dance place and when we got close we heard the music to happy birthday, and when we got closer i heard words i didnt recognize, and then after listening a little more closely, i realized they were singing in english hahaha it was pretty funny that i couldnt really recognize my own language, and it was funny that they were speaking english hahaha.
So also i dont know if you guys have heard, but here in paraguay in the Chaco, where it usually is really really dry, they are experiencing flooding, and here in Natalio 10 where it usually is konow for its wetness, it is pretty dry. So kind of funny huh. But it would be very appreciated if you could pray for the people in the chaco, they are experiencing some rough times right now.
So how is rigby? Anything new? How about rexburg, and idaho falls and Utah? Whats new? We got a mcdonalsds in rigby yet? haha jk
So everything is great here in natalio 10, just kind of cold but excited to keep working.
Love Elder Chase Coy Stewart
p.s. i would greatly apreciate if you guys could send me pictures through the mail or through the internet of everything that is happening with you guys thanks
Monday, April 30, 2012
Hold to the Rod
Wow, what a week, very very tiring but still good. It is nice to be able to come home everyday and plan for the next day, and then fall straight to sleep. Literally, i get sooooo tired in the nights it isnt even funny. The sun now sets at around 530 or 6, and being in a little paraguayan town is kind of scary because there are hardly any lights. The town is small so there ar¡ent that many lights and when 6 o clock rolls around EVERYTHING IS DARK, AND THen the people go to sleep around 7 or 8, so if we dont have appointments set in the night, it is kind of hard to find people to teach. When it starts getting dark, it is kind of depressing and I just get tired fast haha. But the work is still going great.
We are starting to go to a little village 5 km away twice every week. There are like 30 or so members out there so we are starting to work with them and references from them. We arent seeing the fruit of labors yet out there, but we are seeing alot of fruit. There are tons of orange and mandarine and lemon and lime and tons of trees. So when we are walking we usually just feel our pockets full of fruit and continue on our way. But ya the fruit of our labors will come here in a few weeks.
This little pueblo is called Paloma. And it is just a bunch of houses out in the jungle. So it takes about an hour to walk there on dirt/rock roads (if we are lucky, and trucks pass us, we can hitch hike there), then once we get to the 4 bocas, we have to walk anotehr kilometro to some members and even more to others. So it is pretty long, but good. We decide that we are going to start working there 2 times a week, for the whole day. But this last friday we were walking back home, and it was SOOOO SCARY. Imagine being in complete jungle with absolutely no light except for a little flashlight. There are drunk people all around and dogs, alot of them wild, and spooky feelings. So i dont think that we will be doing that again in the night atleast. hahaha. Specially because it is 1 hour and a half to walk it all.
So we saw a sweet miracle this week with an investigator named walter. He is around 22 years old and he lives alone and works all day everyday in a bakery. Well sunday he only works halfday. But still, he works a ton. Anyways, when he was littler in his teens, he studied to be a catholic priest, so he is VERY CATHOLIC. But we started visiting him and he like the book of mormon and everything, and thought that our church was just like his church. But he didnt see the neccesity to be baptized again. But then he started visiting with an awesome member, and started going there often at night after work. Then he came to general conference. But he still didnt have interest. But we stopped visiting him because he stopped progressing, but he still continued to go to this members house to talk. Well to make a long story short, we went to this members house the other day to get references, and walter was there. We started talking to walter and out of nowhere he told us that he is ready to be baptized in our church and becoem a member. And this all started because of the influence of a member. Wow, how awesome is that.
The only problem with this story is that Walter works every sunday, so he isnt able to attend church. But we are looking for a new job for him. So if you can keep him in ur prayers it would be awesome. As soon as he finds a new job, he will be baptized. Cool huh??
Well love you guys, stay strong, and never let go of the iron rod
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
We are starting to go to a little village 5 km away twice every week. There are like 30 or so members out there so we are starting to work with them and references from them. We arent seeing the fruit of labors yet out there, but we are seeing alot of fruit. There are tons of orange and mandarine and lemon and lime and tons of trees. So when we are walking we usually just feel our pockets full of fruit and continue on our way. But ya the fruit of our labors will come here in a few weeks.
This little pueblo is called Paloma. And it is just a bunch of houses out in the jungle. So it takes about an hour to walk there on dirt/rock roads (if we are lucky, and trucks pass us, we can hitch hike there), then once we get to the 4 bocas, we have to walk anotehr kilometro to some members and even more to others. So it is pretty long, but good. We decide that we are going to start working there 2 times a week, for the whole day. But this last friday we were walking back home, and it was SOOOO SCARY. Imagine being in complete jungle with absolutely no light except for a little flashlight. There are drunk people all around and dogs, alot of them wild, and spooky feelings. So i dont think that we will be doing that again in the night atleast. hahaha. Specially because it is 1 hour and a half to walk it all.
So we saw a sweet miracle this week with an investigator named walter. He is around 22 years old and he lives alone and works all day everyday in a bakery. Well sunday he only works halfday. But still, he works a ton. Anyways, when he was littler in his teens, he studied to be a catholic priest, so he is VERY CATHOLIC. But we started visiting him and he like the book of mormon and everything, and thought that our church was just like his church. But he didnt see the neccesity to be baptized again. But then he started visiting with an awesome member, and started going there often at night after work. Then he came to general conference. But he still didnt have interest. But we stopped visiting him because he stopped progressing, but he still continued to go to this members house to talk. Well to make a long story short, we went to this members house the other day to get references, and walter was there. We started talking to walter and out of nowhere he told us that he is ready to be baptized in our church and becoem a member. And this all started because of the influence of a member. Wow, how awesome is that.
The only problem with this story is that Walter works every sunday, so he isnt able to attend church. But we are looking for a new job for him. So if you can keep him in ur prayers it would be awesome. As soon as he finds a new job, he will be baptized. Cool huh??
Well love you guys, stay strong, and never let go of the iron rod
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
10th Change already
So my tenth change has just started, and I am still here in Natalio 10 with the same companion Elder Coggins. Our District leader went home, so we got a new elder that replaced him there. The new elder is named Elder Olson, he is a stud. But I got made district leader again, so that will be fun.
This week has been an insane week. But we did have a wedding a baptism, and a confirmation.
So on thursday we were planning on having the interview from the zone leaders, and the wedding. They said they were going to be at our area at about 1230, but they didnt show up until about 330. Their area is in Encarnacion, a three hour bus ride away, so ya that stinks, but o well. We got the interview done, and they went to wait for their bus that was supposed to come at 6, the wedding started at 6 and got done at 630ish, and when we were done cleaning up, the zone leaders called us and told us that their bus never came, and the next bus wasnt going to come until one oclock the next days afternoon, so they just chilled in our area that night doing divisions with us, then slept in our house on the floor (i felt to bad for them), and then did divisiones for half a day on friday and then left at 1.
Then we were planning on having the baptism on friday at 5, but when we got there to fill up the baptismal font, some of the power(electricity) wasnt working, and it didnt have any power to pump water from the street up to a big tank in the church and then back down to the baptismal font. Well after alot of praying and asking God, nothing happened. But we ended up having to wait for saturday night to do the baptism. Although we dont know why the Lord didnt answer our prayers on Friday, we dont need to. It is the Lords will and we accepted it. Maybe there was reason that the baptism needed to be on Saturday, or maybe there was a reason that it shouldnt of been on Friday, I dont knoe. All i do know is that we had the baptism (she asked me to baptize her, because her husband wasnt able to), and the confirmation, and now they are planning on being sealed in the temple for time and all eternity the next April. Yesterday we talked to them alot about that, and i flat out asked them "Will you guys prepare yourselves to enter the temple of the lord the next April" and they told me yes. Then I told them that I wouldnt be here in Paraguay on my mission, but I would come back down for it. And then the dad said ya, so if he comes and you guys dont get sealed in the temple, then he would of come for no reason, so when he comes and if you guys dont go through the temple, you will have to pay for his plane ticket. Then i said ya, so you can either recieve tons of blessings and go through the temple, or lose alot of money, hahahha. We will see, but ya.
So this next week we are planning on just working normaly again, without tons of distractions, but ya I am excited.
Funny story of the week- we clapped a house where an investigator lives, and the dogs started barking at us, then he came out and we started talking to him, and I noticed that a dog came up toi sniff my shoe, then i talked to him a little more, and i looked down again and noticed that the dog was really close to me, but then i didnt think anything of it and kept talking again, then i looked down again, and not only was the dog really glose to my leg, he was marking his territory, or in other words, urinating on my leg, hahahah, stupid dog.
Love you guys
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
Change week already????
Wow, isnt it crazy how fast time goes by. I cant believe that i have already been in this area for 1 change, wow time goes by too fast. So we will figure out changes tomorrow, and my guess is that me and my comp will be staying together to work more miracles together here in Natalio 10. Wow it is so nice to get along great with your companions, I have been lucky enough to have gotten along great with all my companions, but with me and Elder Coggins, it is just great!!!
Conference was great this weekend wasnt it?? Man, it is nice to be able to understand spanish. I could actually understand all of conference in spanish, wow!!! And I loved every second of it. The talks seemed like they were prepared for me, the ward of Natalio and the investigators here. But to fill you guys in on some details, usually here in Paraguay, they watch conference in the stake building, but since natalio is 3 hours away from the stake building, we have a satelite dish here in natalio and we were able to watch all 5 sessions in our church building. But since the time is different here the sessions were at 1 in the afternoon, 5 in the afternoon, and the priesthood session started at 9 o clock at night. But it was great and we learned so much, I am just excited to put thes things into practice in my own life, and in the life of my investigators.
THis weekend we had the baptism of an 8 year old girl. She doesnt count as a convert for us because her parents are members, but for me, it doesnt matter, i dont like numbers anyway, I am just glad that another one of Heavenly Fathers daughters entered into the waters of baptism to recieve her salvation after all that she can do (endure to the end). It was an awesome expereince, like I said her parents are members, sealed in the temple actually, but they have been in active lately, but now they are active and excited to come to church. The baptism was wonderful, it got postponed for a couple of hours because the dad was still working, but we waited for the dad so that he could be there for the very special experience of his daughter. Diana actually asked me to baptize her, so that was cool, it would of been better that the dad did it, but with his fear of water, and other things, he wasnt able to do it. It was a great experience, and the ward really supported her.
This thursday we will be having a wedding and a baptism of a girl named Jennifer, her boyfriend is a member of the church, and she has been coming to church for 5 ort so weeks straight now. It is awesome. She is so prepared, and it will be a great experience for her. Then after that we need to find more people to teach, because the investigator pool is getting pretty low, and it seems like we have clapped every house here in Natalio, but starting this week we are going to start working in the towns around natalio.
yesterday when I was watching conference, i started thinking of a little. We always talk to people that say, o dont worry about me, I found Christ so and so years ago/ or I came to know christ so and so years ago. I also thought of a lesson we had on saturday wiht a guy who said wow, this mission you guys are doing is really great, then he asked us How many years ago did you guys come unto christ/find christ? And it wasnt til yesterday in conference that i noticed that really I have known christ always, for alot longer that this life. I am so glad that I have a Savior that loves me, and I am glad that I have known him forever, and will continue to know him forever.
I love you guys so much, and I continue praying for you all there in Idaho/Utah/Oregon/California/Korea/Mexico/Sierra Leone Africa, and whereever else you might be.
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
Conference was great this weekend wasnt it?? Man, it is nice to be able to understand spanish. I could actually understand all of conference in spanish, wow!!! And I loved every second of it. The talks seemed like they were prepared for me, the ward of Natalio and the investigators here. But to fill you guys in on some details, usually here in Paraguay, they watch conference in the stake building, but since natalio is 3 hours away from the stake building, we have a satelite dish here in natalio and we were able to watch all 5 sessions in our church building. But since the time is different here the sessions were at 1 in the afternoon, 5 in the afternoon, and the priesthood session started at 9 o clock at night. But it was great and we learned so much, I am just excited to put thes things into practice in my own life, and in the life of my investigators.
THis weekend we had the baptism of an 8 year old girl. She doesnt count as a convert for us because her parents are members, but for me, it doesnt matter, i dont like numbers anyway, I am just glad that another one of Heavenly Fathers daughters entered into the waters of baptism to recieve her salvation after all that she can do (endure to the end). It was an awesome expereince, like I said her parents are members, sealed in the temple actually, but they have been in active lately, but now they are active and excited to come to church. The baptism was wonderful, it got postponed for a couple of hours because the dad was still working, but we waited for the dad so that he could be there for the very special experience of his daughter. Diana actually asked me to baptize her, so that was cool, it would of been better that the dad did it, but with his fear of water, and other things, he wasnt able to do it. It was a great experience, and the ward really supported her.
This thursday we will be having a wedding and a baptism of a girl named Jennifer, her boyfriend is a member of the church, and she has been coming to church for 5 ort so weeks straight now. It is awesome. She is so prepared, and it will be a great experience for her. Then after that we need to find more people to teach, because the investigator pool is getting pretty low, and it seems like we have clapped every house here in Natalio, but starting this week we are going to start working in the towns around natalio.
yesterday when I was watching conference, i started thinking of a little. We always talk to people that say, o dont worry about me, I found Christ so and so years ago/ or I came to know christ so and so years ago. I also thought of a lesson we had on saturday wiht a guy who said wow, this mission you guys are doing is really great, then he asked us How many years ago did you guys come unto christ/find christ? And it wasnt til yesterday in conference that i noticed that really I have known christ always, for alot longer that this life. I am so glad that I have a Savior that loves me, and I am glad that I have known him forever, and will continue to know him forever.
I love you guys so much, and I continue praying for you all there in Idaho/Utah/Oregon/California/Korea/Mexico/Sierra Leone Africa, and whereever else you might be.
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
¡¿¡¿Wow, one year in Paraguay already?!?!
Wow, time is flying by so fast, i honestly cant believe that i already have 14 months in the mish, and 1 year in paraguay, that is soooo crazy.
But everything is going good here. Me and my comp are getting along soooo well, the work is going better than it ever has, my obedience and diligence has skyrocketed, my knowledge for the scriptures are improving, my testimony is even more unbreakable then before, and yet at the same time, as Alma says, I am nothing, as for my strengths, I dont have any, but with the Lord I can do everything and I know this to be true, I am so thankful for the miracles, the tender mercies, and the blessing that the lord shows me every second of the day, he always has, but it has take me this long to finally recognize them.
I think it is finally fall here in Paraguay, not because the leafs are falling on the ground (here the leaves stay on the tree all year round), but because it is cold in the morning and the night, and the paraguayans are in their houses instead of playing volleyball or soccer, and if they are outside they have a sweater on hahaha, their fall here, is like our summer there haha. For me, it still seems really hot, but whatever
So the teaching is all going good, and this week, Nicholas recieved the Priesthood, he actually chose me to give it to him, kind of cool, it was a first for me.
This weekend we have a baptism of a little 8 year old girl named Diana Maciel, her parents are already members, sealed in the temple, so it isnt a convert baptism, but it is still cool. This family was inactive when i got here, but now they are coming to church every week, and actully the little girl wants me to baptize her, so that will be cool.
So the highlights of the week were noticing that here in paraguay, especially here in Natalio 10, that if people dont want to talk to you, they just hide, even when we see them and they still hide. We were walking to go talk to an old investigator, and my comp pointed to a pink house out in the distance, and told me, as soon as we get close to that house, everyone will run inside and close the doors and windows: well when we walked past, gusee what happened, Yep they all hid. HaHAHA, and when we passed again going home, the same thing happened, they even left their little baby in a chair, just to hide from us hahaha
Also, here they have a little circus thingy here, and when we walked past, a kid that was working there through up his had to wave at us and yelled ALOHA...... so i dont know where that came from, either he was saying hi to us in Hawaiian, or he yelled lemonade in guarani. haha who knows
Here in paraguay i am starting to get sick of how a religion is like a sport. Everyone has a religion and never is going to change, even if God tell them that they need to change. A drunk guy told us the other day, si, Dios es catolico, or in english, Ya God is Catholic,. Ya i am pretty sure not mr. drunk hahaha, it is sad to see the ignorance and apostasy here at work in paraguay. After telling us that god is catholic, he told us that he never will change his religion, and he will never change his football team, to them, religion is just a sport, and they dont see the importance really (like their salvation). But with the help of the Lord, we can change that. I LOVE THIS WORK
well love you guys and i am always praying for you, especially hailey after her accident, Curt for being sick (i aint sure if he is still sick, but i am praying for u uncle Curt), and stephanie that she can be able to handle herself when Elder Liddiard gets home in 8 days
Love Elder Chase Coy Stewart
p.s It is nice to write a little in english since i speak 100 percent spanish besides email, and hahaha, its nice to here spanish when most people speal guarani here. Here in church, in the talks, the people always say. please exscuse me elders, but i would like to talk in guarani ahahaha, i ove paraguay
But everything is going good here. Me and my comp are getting along soooo well, the work is going better than it ever has, my obedience and diligence has skyrocketed, my knowledge for the scriptures are improving, my testimony is even more unbreakable then before, and yet at the same time, as Alma says, I am nothing, as for my strengths, I dont have any, but with the Lord I can do everything and I know this to be true, I am so thankful for the miracles, the tender mercies, and the blessing that the lord shows me every second of the day, he always has, but it has take me this long to finally recognize them.
I think it is finally fall here in Paraguay, not because the leafs are falling on the ground (here the leaves stay on the tree all year round), but because it is cold in the morning and the night, and the paraguayans are in their houses instead of playing volleyball or soccer, and if they are outside they have a sweater on hahaha, their fall here, is like our summer there haha. For me, it still seems really hot, but whatever
So the teaching is all going good, and this week, Nicholas recieved the Priesthood, he actually chose me to give it to him, kind of cool, it was a first for me.
This weekend we have a baptism of a little 8 year old girl named Diana Maciel, her parents are already members, sealed in the temple, so it isnt a convert baptism, but it is still cool. This family was inactive when i got here, but now they are coming to church every week, and actully the little girl wants me to baptize her, so that will be cool.
So the highlights of the week were noticing that here in paraguay, especially here in Natalio 10, that if people dont want to talk to you, they just hide, even when we see them and they still hide. We were walking to go talk to an old investigator, and my comp pointed to a pink house out in the distance, and told me, as soon as we get close to that house, everyone will run inside and close the doors and windows: well when we walked past, gusee what happened, Yep they all hid. HaHAHA, and when we passed again going home, the same thing happened, they even left their little baby in a chair, just to hide from us hahaha
Also, here they have a little circus thingy here, and when we walked past, a kid that was working there through up his had to wave at us and yelled ALOHA...... so i dont know where that came from, either he was saying hi to us in Hawaiian, or he yelled lemonade in guarani. haha who knows
Here in paraguay i am starting to get sick of how a religion is like a sport. Everyone has a religion and never is going to change, even if God tell them that they need to change. A drunk guy told us the other day, si, Dios es catolico, or in english, Ya God is Catholic,. Ya i am pretty sure not mr. drunk hahaha, it is sad to see the ignorance and apostasy here at work in paraguay. After telling us that god is catholic, he told us that he never will change his religion, and he will never change his football team, to them, religion is just a sport, and they dont see the importance really (like their salvation). But with the help of the Lord, we can change that. I LOVE THIS WORK
well love you guys and i am always praying for you, especially hailey after her accident, Curt for being sick (i aint sure if he is still sick, but i am praying for u uncle Curt), and stephanie that she can be able to handle herself when Elder Liddiard gets home in 8 days
Love Elder Chase Coy Stewart
p.s It is nice to write a little in english since i speak 100 percent spanish besides email, and hahaha, its nice to here spanish when most people speal guarani here. Here in church, in the talks, the people always say. please exscuse me elders, but i would like to talk in guarani ahahaha, i ove paraguay
3 Miracles, and 14 months completed
Dear Family
Wow, these week has been a long good week. The assitants to the president arrived here last Sunday night to work with us a Little here, they are awesome an helped our area out a ton.
So we started this week hoping to have one baptism, but that baptism didnt go through, he is faaaaarrrrr from ready to being baptized. But after a week full of miracles, we did have 3 baptisms, the Lord blessed us alot.
So we went to an investigators house on Monday, his name is Nicholas, and he has tons of assistances already from years ago, but we found his name in the area book, and decided to check it out. We went there on a Wednesday, and he accepted a baptismal date right off the bat, then on Sunday, him his wife and a daughter came to district conference with us. Then on Monday we started getting serious with him, telling him that his family are ready for baptism, and after a couple days, all five of them wanted to get baptized, and married. So on Thursday when we did the interviews, everything was going great until we had the interview of the mom, she passed the interview, but when she was asked if she wanted to be baptized and married this coming Saturday, she went a Little crazy, ok I lied she went totally crazy, she just ran away and wouldnt even talk to us.
It was actually kind of sad to see, but through the power of faith, prayer, fasting, priesthood, hope, and with the members, finally Saturday morning she agreed to being married, but she doesnt want to get baptized yet. So we had the wedding and the marriage. And it was a sweet experience because Nicholas was so ready to get baptized, it was just his wife that was impeeding him. He was even willing to be seperated from her in order to complete the lords commandments, and get baptized, but it all worked out good, and the lord blessed us with a tender mercie, a miracle, and 3 baptisms.
But besides the heat and sun that make you sweat and burn you, the bugs that are constantly in your ears and hair at about 6 o clock at night, and the dust that turns your clothes red, the work is going amazing here in Natalio 10, we will be baptizing every week.The work is going amazingly good, just dont have money because it all went to the travels to the temple and district meeting, and the wedding we had to pay for. So this week me and my comp will be learning the real meaning of sacrifice, as we eat rice, bread and water.
Hope all is well there, and I love you, and am always praying for u guys
Love Elder Chase Coy Stewart
p.s. sorry it is short, i did send like 40 pics, but next weeks will be better
Wow, these week has been a long good week. The assitants to the president arrived here last Sunday night to work with us a Little here, they are awesome an helped our area out a ton.
So we started this week hoping to have one baptism, but that baptism didnt go through, he is faaaaarrrrr from ready to being baptized. But after a week full of miracles, we did have 3 baptisms, the Lord blessed us alot.
So we went to an investigators house on Monday, his name is Nicholas, and he has tons of assistances already from years ago, but we found his name in the area book, and decided to check it out. We went there on a Wednesday, and he accepted a baptismal date right off the bat, then on Sunday, him his wife and a daughter came to district conference with us. Then on Monday we started getting serious with him, telling him that his family are ready for baptism, and after a couple days, all five of them wanted to get baptized, and married. So on Thursday when we did the interviews, everything was going great until we had the interview of the mom, she passed the interview, but when she was asked if she wanted to be baptized and married this coming Saturday, she went a Little crazy, ok I lied she went totally crazy, she just ran away and wouldnt even talk to us.
It was actually kind of sad to see, but through the power of faith, prayer, fasting, priesthood, hope, and with the members, finally Saturday morning she agreed to being married, but she doesnt want to get baptized yet. So we had the wedding and the marriage. And it was a sweet experience because Nicholas was so ready to get baptized, it was just his wife that was impeeding him. He was even willing to be seperated from her in order to complete the lords commandments, and get baptized, but it all worked out good, and the lord blessed us with a tender mercie, a miracle, and 3 baptisms.
But besides the heat and sun that make you sweat and burn you, the bugs that are constantly in your ears and hair at about 6 o clock at night, and the dust that turns your clothes red, the work is going amazing here in Natalio 10, we will be baptizing every week.The work is going amazingly good, just dont have money because it all went to the travels to the temple and district meeting, and the wedding we had to pay for. So this week me and my comp will be learning the real meaning of sacrifice, as we eat rice, bread and water.
Hope all is well there, and I love you, and am always praying for u guys
Love Elder Chase Coy Stewart
p.s. sorry it is short, i did send like 40 pics, but next weeks will be better
Monday, March 12, 2012
Che añe´é imi guarani (I speak a little guarani)
Wow, I love this area! Hahaha, but we have been finding that lately, there are quite a few people here that dont speak a word of spanish, yep, just guarani. So i have been learning the language pretty fast, hahaha so a normal contact on the street with someone that dosent speak spanish, usually goes like this
Me- Hola como esta hermano, nosotros somos los misioneros aqui en Natalio 10 (hi how are you brother, we are the missionaries here in Natalio 10)
Them- blank stare
Me- Como se llama usted hermano (what is your name brother)
Them- more blank stare
Me- Mbae che nderera (what is your name(in guarani))
Them- cherera Pablo (I am paul)
Me - Mucho gusto cherera Elder Stewart (nice to meet you I am elder Stewart)
Them- giggle a little
Me- Hey hermano ndereñe´é castellano (hey my brother do you speak spanish)
Them- no
Me- Dí...... bueno ñande tupao esta alla, domingo..... a las 8 (darnet.... ok our church is over there, sunday at 8(as i hold up 8 fingers to show them the time)
Them- oima (ok)
Me- ja yo hay sha pe ve ( see you later)
Them- oime, ja jay to pata (ok goodbye)
hahahha, not to effective but what can you do. I am learning a little more every day. But it is still fun hahaha
Well busy week lately with not that much sleep. We are still pretty tired from the temple trip, and then on sunday we had district conference in encarnacion (here the have a district not a stake). But we woke up at 430 to go start getting investigators. We were blessed with 7 that came to district conference. But we left our church at 7 to start heading to encarnacion, then we arrived at 930 (we took a big bus with all the members here in Natalio, and the other pueblo in our area paloma there was 68 of us in total.) The conference was great, and it was great to here President Callan and his wife speak. Then we traveled the 2 and a half hours back.
The traveling AP´s (we have 2 normal ones and 2 traveling ones) got here last night at 8, they will be here working with us for a week, with their help we went from having maybe one baptism this weekend, to now having 5!!! We got alot of work to do, but we will do it.
Then today at 9 o clock president and his wife showed up at our pension to inspect it and see if it was clean. Suprisingly we passed with flying colors. But i am excited to work my tail off this week with these guys, we are going to have tons of success, and see tons of miracles.
The 3 best things about Natalio 10, are
1. getting mud, inches thick on the bottom of ur shoe, and flinging the mud at the chickens (there are tons here)
2.finding dead bay cockroaches in your ground beef u just barely bought
3. Walking through the jungle at 530 in the morning looking for investigators and hearing roosters all around you bugling as if you are in island park with the bull elk bugling
Ah, it feels like home
Love you guys
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
Me- Hola como esta hermano, nosotros somos los misioneros aqui en Natalio 10 (hi how are you brother, we are the missionaries here in Natalio 10)
Them- blank stare
Me- Como se llama usted hermano (what is your name brother)
Them- more blank stare
Me- Mbae che nderera (what is your name(in guarani))
Them- cherera Pablo (I am paul)
Me - Mucho gusto cherera Elder Stewart (nice to meet you I am elder Stewart)
Them- giggle a little
Me- Hey hermano ndereñe´é castellano (hey my brother do you speak spanish)
Them- no
Me- Dí...... bueno ñande tupao esta alla, domingo..... a las 8 (darnet.... ok our church is over there, sunday at 8(as i hold up 8 fingers to show them the time)
Them- oima (ok)
Me- ja yo hay sha pe ve ( see you later)
Them- oime, ja jay to pata (ok goodbye)
hahahha, not to effective but what can you do. I am learning a little more every day. But it is still fun hahaha
Well busy week lately with not that much sleep. We are still pretty tired from the temple trip, and then on sunday we had district conference in encarnacion (here the have a district not a stake). But we woke up at 430 to go start getting investigators. We were blessed with 7 that came to district conference. But we left our church at 7 to start heading to encarnacion, then we arrived at 930 (we took a big bus with all the members here in Natalio, and the other pueblo in our area paloma there was 68 of us in total.) The conference was great, and it was great to here President Callan and his wife speak. Then we traveled the 2 and a half hours back.
The traveling AP´s (we have 2 normal ones and 2 traveling ones) got here last night at 8, they will be here working with us for a week, with their help we went from having maybe one baptism this weekend, to now having 5!!! We got alot of work to do, but we will do it.
Then today at 9 o clock president and his wife showed up at our pension to inspect it and see if it was clean. Suprisingly we passed with flying colors. But i am excited to work my tail off this week with these guys, we are going to have tons of success, and see tons of miracles.
The 3 best things about Natalio 10, are
1. getting mud, inches thick on the bottom of ur shoe, and flinging the mud at the chickens (there are tons here)
2.finding dead bay cockroaches in your ground beef u just barely bought
3. Walking through the jungle at 530 in the morning looking for investigators and hearing roosters all around you bugling as if you are in island park with the bull elk bugling
Ah, it feels like home
Love you guys
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
Traveling, and temple
Well it has been a great week family, alot of rain, alot of dust, alot of mud, alot of red, alot of mess, alot of heat, but alot of fun and blessings.The worki is going incredibl great, we are tearing this area up, we have baptisms planned for the next three weeks, so we are going to work alot with them, and get them baptized.
I recently found out that yes, Sabrina Calderon from Ybate was baptized it was sweet to know for sure. I love the gospel and the changes it brings into peopls hearts, and lives.This monday we had a normal day, and then at 6 o clock we got a a bus to go to encarnacion, we got there at 830 and waited until 1230 to leave for asuncion with our entire district. We got to asuncion at like 6 or so in the morning, and there we found all the missionaries from the zones outside of asuncion. It was great to see people that came with me, old district leaders, old zone leaders, old people from my district, and old companions. I got to see my daddy again, Elder Faas, and he is the still same old same old, and then I saw my step son Elder Edwards, he is the same too. hahahahha. But it was great fun. Then we went to the office where we waited for a while, there I got to see all my buddy office workers, literaly, i am super close to all of them, then we went to sign `papers and we went with alot of missionaries, including my son Elder Allphin, and his new comp, so i got to hear some updates on Ybate, and how the work is going there. Then we went to the temple. I love the temple, so nice and traquillo.
Then we bought some stuff from the distribution center, ate a little, then went back to the terminal where we bought some sweet ties for 2 dollars each one, i bought 3 but i now have six from this place. Then our bus left at 5 oclock in the afternoon, we got to encarnacion at 1130 at night, then we got on our other bust at 1230, and got home at 230, we went to bed at 300 and woke up at 630 to start a new bright awesome day. So im running on about 6 or so hours of sleep the last 2 nights, but i dont have strength, but thanks to the loving brother and father we have, I have all the strength in the world.Well, love you guys, everything is great here in the middle of nowhere with no human contact hahaha jkl
ove you guys
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
I recently found out that yes, Sabrina Calderon from Ybate was baptized it was sweet to know for sure. I love the gospel and the changes it brings into peopls hearts, and lives.This monday we had a normal day, and then at 6 o clock we got a a bus to go to encarnacion, we got there at 830 and waited until 1230 to leave for asuncion with our entire district. We got to asuncion at like 6 or so in the morning, and there we found all the missionaries from the zones outside of asuncion. It was great to see people that came with me, old district leaders, old zone leaders, old people from my district, and old companions. I got to see my daddy again, Elder Faas, and he is the still same old same old, and then I saw my step son Elder Edwards, he is the same too. hahahahha. But it was great fun. Then we went to the office where we waited for a while, there I got to see all my buddy office workers, literaly, i am super close to all of them, then we went to sign `papers and we went with alot of missionaries, including my son Elder Allphin, and his new comp, so i got to hear some updates on Ybate, and how the work is going there. Then we went to the temple. I love the temple, so nice and traquillo.
Then we bought some stuff from the distribution center, ate a little, then went back to the terminal where we bought some sweet ties for 2 dollars each one, i bought 3 but i now have six from this place. Then our bus left at 5 oclock in the afternoon, we got to encarnacion at 1130 at night, then we got on our other bust at 1230, and got home at 230, we went to bed at 300 and woke up at 630 to start a new bright awesome day. So im running on about 6 or so hours of sleep the last 2 nights, but i dont have strength, but thanks to the loving brother and father we have, I have all the strength in the world.Well, love you guys, everything is great here in the middle of nowhere with no human contact hahaha jkl
ove you guys
Elder Chase Coy Stewart
Monday, February 27, 2012
Dreams come true?
Wow what a week. Well i guess I wont keep you guys waiting for the news of the changes. I did get changed, and now I am in an area called Natalio 10, it is kind of close to Encarnacion. My comp stayed, and Elder Dexter my zone leader went to Ciudad Del Este, and Elder Clark went to be the finance guy in the Offices. So that was a big change haha o well I love it.
So tuesday I spent the day saying the goodbyes. It was a sad day, but at the same time, I think I was ready to leave, sadly I didnt have that much left in me in that area. But I left alot of long time friends, and it is always special when you hear what the people say, It makes me feel good that I touched their lives a little, and helped them come unto christ. Man, it was so hard to say goodbye, and especially with the fact that I might never see them again, but the Lord will bless them, I just know it. Saying goodbye to Luis Jara was hard, but he gave me one of his ties, and he also gave me his soccer Jersey of when he played as a younger man, it was something very special to him, and I felt very touched when he gave it to me. Can I just say again that I absolutely hate goodbyes, they are so tearful, and especially when the other people start crying also.
But on the good note, I just looked today and found out that Sabrina Calderon, our golden investigator from Ybate, was baptized and confirmed. It was sad that I wasnt there to see it, but now I will be able to see her again in the Celestial Kingdom. Wow she was a miracle baptism, we started with her a couple weeks ago and she didnt even believe in Jesucristo, but now, she followed him into the waters of baptism!!!!!!!!! I cant be happier than I am now. Also, last week we found out that we are getting a new President of Mission in June or July. He is from Argentina, and he is 43 (pretty young) but he will bring his 5 kids in with him, so that will be awesome.Well to get to the point, before I found out the changes I remember telling the Lord that I loved the area that I was in, and I loved the companion I was with, but I was dead in that area, (sadly enough) and I kept saying, ok I know i want to do the Lords will, but I came to Paraguay, and I want to experience every part, I am sick of the city, I aint a city boy, and i want to go to the jungle.
And also I want to go far... Well I recieved the call from the zone leaders telling me the changes, and they told me I was going to Natalio 10, which is campo yte (alot of jungle and fields) and they also told me that it is the farthest area from the mission home. Hahaha, wow, talk about dreams come true. Hahaha. I went from the closest area to the asuncion terminal (bus station) to the farthest. hahaha
So anyways wednesday in the morning we went to the asuncion terminal (which is in the area Ybate, and a five minute taxi ride from the house), and there were all the missionaries that were being changed. Well to make a long story short, we had to wait for 5 hours, until 12:30 when are bus left. So finally at 1230 our bus left and 5 of us missionaries were off to encarnacion. We went for about 30 minutes and then the bus stopped to pick more people up from a place, a man that worked on the bus came and asked 3 of us missionaries to get off the bus, because he had to talk to us. When we got off, he told us that the tickets that we had were expired. THE OFFICE ELDERS BOUGHT US EXPIRED TICKETS. So we had to scrample every penny we had to buy us 3 more tickets, so now i dont have any money for the whole month. But we were able to get back on, but we lost our front row awesome seats.
Anyways, we continued on the 6 hour bus ride to encarnacion. We finally got there at 630 where we met with other elders, and I met my companion. The other elders left to their areas, but me and my companion had to wait until our bus came (at 12:30 at night). We waited for 6 hours just sitting on benches, beacuse we couldnt leave my suitcases. We taught a 14 year old argentinan kid who is a huge christian, we gave him a book of mormon, and he is excited to read it. Then we had the unfortunate oppurtunity to teach a 35 year old homeless drunk man. It was funny, but very sad to see how his life was. Well at 1230 we finally took off for Natalio 10. At 3 o clock in the morning we finally got there, and as tired as we were we had to drag my heavy suitcase for 2 and a half blocks across empadrada( the rock roads that they have here).
Well we finally went to sleep at 330 and then woke up at 630 to start the day.Well Natalio 10 in incredible, it is a small small town with alot of jungle and house surrounding it. Natalio 10 is probably 1/8 the size of rigby, and then it just has trees and fields and hill surrounding it. I FEEL LIKE I AM AT HOME. Honestly, if i had to describe it as anything, I would say it is a mix between ashton and Island park, just without the mountains, but when I am walking down the streets, i feel like I am hunting, with my hiking backpack instead of my proseliting one, i feel like I have a bow in my hand instead of a Book of Mormon. I am at home.
My companions name is Elder Coggins, he has like 4 or 5 months here in Paraguay, and he can speek spanish very well. He is a huge help for me, because he is very obedient, and fun, so I can start being more obedient and still have fun. He is from southern California. But we are working our tails off, and I have never loved the work more than I do now.The problems that we have here though, is that there is not that much civilization. There is one place to use internet, with 3 computers, and alot of times it isnt open.
There isnt an atm here, so we have to travel by bus for an hour and a half to go to a city to take out money, the same place we go for district meeting. So that will be fun to travel for a hour and a half to district meeting, be there for an hour and a half, and then come back. Right now, the chapel here is being remodeled, so that is a nonsense, we just barely got a baptismal font, before they did it in the river (how awesome is that). We have a branch here of like 30 or 40 people, and then about one hour walk away there is a city called Paloma (it is in our area, and there is 30 members there), and then 10 in another area a little far away. But although they are in our area, and they belong to our ward, they just meet in their own cities in houses. But when the chapel is done(hopefully soon). They will start coming here.Well I guess its welcome to the jungel, where there are tons of bugs, and here there is red dirt everywhere. So your shirts get red from the red dust, or when there is rain, there is red mud, and your shoes and pants get red. Hahahaha i am loving my mission now, more than I ever have
Love you guys, and dont worry about me, I am in heaven
Love Elder Chase Coy Stewart
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