Semana Santa

Hola family

Well sadly we didnt have the baptism this week, but i am 100% sure that we will have four baptism this week. We have the family Marta, Edit, and Javier, and also we have the grandkid of a member (Silvano) he is like 11 years old. The reason that the family wasnt baptized this past saturday, is because the daughter, Edit; went to her grandmas for the Semana Santa.

Here in Paraguay they dont just celebrate Easter, but they celebrate the whole week. It is called La Semana Santa. Or in english, the holy week. But everyone here just celebrates the death and ressurrection of Jesus >Christ by pretty much doing catholic activities, eating alot, fasting, working alot, and getting drunk. It was hard to teach people on some of the days because of the semana santa, but others it was easy to teach. On thursday we ate alot of meat, and chipa, a kind of bread here. But then on friday everyone was fasting, or atleast they said. Friday is a Holy Day here, because it was on the day of the death of Christ. But ya. And then yesterday for easter, we had a great day, besides not eating any chocolate bunnies or anything. I woke up yesterday and ran to the couch hoping to see all my candy and stuff from the easter bunny, but there was nothing. So sad. Hahahahha. But we actually ate some good food yesterday for easter. For lunch we had taijerine (a pasta they have here, and they eat it all the time). This taijerine had pollo (chicken) in it. And then we ate some popcorn at another members house. And finally for dinner we ate taijerine with carne (meat). It was delicious. Ummmmm

Just to let you all know. Changes are next wednesday. I dont know what will happen, i will probably stay here for one more change with my trainer, but i dont know. But just to let you all know, next week, our P day will be on thursday. Every week we have changes, our Pday is on thursday. So when I dont write you guys next week on Monday, dont freak out.

But ya, it would be sweet if you could send me candy in the package. I have been craving candy lately. Especially since my companion just sits on his bed at night and eats candy with me just watching him. Haha

But anyways, everything here is going super great. It is hard, really really hard at times, but it is rewarding. I need to forget myself and get lost in this great cause.

I havent received any of your guys letters yet. But maybe tomorrow. We get our letters every tuesday at district meeting.

Sorry this message is short, but i am sending pictures also, and it takes a while to load the pictures and stuff.

Love yall and talk to you soon.

And if it is ok, next thursday when i am emailing, it would be sweet if someone could be online so i could ask them questions about this skype thing. This same time on the next thursday

Elder Stewart

P.s.

Picture 1 giant cockroach

2 Flood after the rain

3 How green and pretty everything is

4 The roads here. They are just all rock and sand. They tear shoes apart. One pair of my shoes is dying alrady

5 Family night with the Castro Family. Two of these boys are members and two are investigators

6 A view of Paraguay and the greeness

Pictures!!

First Baptism!!!

Awwww great week this week. Our numbers werent that high this week, but our success was awesome. We started the week off with Pday and then a meeting all day on tuesday for my trainer, and then we were sick all of thurday. But then the work started picking up on friday.

This Email is going to be kind of short, but good. I am going to explain what happened on saturday and sunday, and i will be sending pictures!!!

So on saturday we had personal study and then we went to the chapel to fill up the font. We did our companion and language study there while the font was filling up. And then we went and preached for a while. Then at four thirty we went to Rubens house to get him and miguel and their families to go to the baptism. We wanted to leave their house at 5 o clock so we could make the 30 minute walk to the chapel, and be on time for the baptism at 6 oclock. But the paraguayans here take their time. And we finally left that


house at like 5:50. We got to the chapel at like 6:30 and started the baptismal services. We took alot of pictures and then started. I baptized Ruben, and my >companion baptized miguel. These two kids are studs, and we are planning for their missions in one year. Also kind of funny, I slipped getting into the font and fell on my hind end. Everyone laughed. Hahaha. But anyways it was sweet, and the Lord has helped us so much in this process.

Then on sunday we had 7 investigators at chuch. That is a record for both me and my companion. Marta edit and javier were there. Marta is the mom that cant move the left side of her body. But anyways, ruben and miguel received the holy ghost, and me and my companion gave talks on the plan of slavation. I talked about grandpa and cried. But anyways, marta edit and javier will be getting baptized this saturday. Well marta and edit will for sure, we dont know about javier yet. But the mom, marta, wants my companion to baptize her, and the daughter Edit, wants me to baptize her. So that is another baptism. My companion has had one baptism his whole mission, and now we are going to have 4 or 5 in two weeks. Wahhhhoooooo. the lord has helped us sooooo much in our work i love it.

We went to martas house on wednesday i think, and she wasnt feeling good at all. We ended up giving her a priesthood blessing. The next day she called us and said how much better she felt. It was truly a miracle, she has tremendous faith, and the next visit she spent most of the time thanking us and thanking god for healing her.

There are some days in the mission where i want to quit, but then there are days like this day, and on saturday where i know why i am here. When i forget about myself and my wants things go great. But i need to realize this is the Lords mission. This is not about me this is not my mission. I am sacrifing these two years for the lord and the people of paraguay.

I love you all tons, and next week i will provide more details one verything like the mothers day phone call and all

Con amor de Paraguay

Elder Chase Coy Stewart (little)

P.s. I baptized the shorter of the two

P.s.s These pictures are only of the baptism. I ddnt have enough time to send the other ones. Next week i will send the pictures of paraguay and more baptism photos

Stuart Little?

Well hello family. It has been yet another great, but fast week in Paraguay.

The work here is really going great. I was so blessed to be put into such a great area. We will have 2 baptisms this Saturday. These two boys are so awesome. Ruben is 18, and Miguel is almost 18. They are friends, and they have such great testimonies of the gospel. >They are so excited for their baptisms, and also we are preparing them for the temple and missions. They are so excited. It is so cool to have converts where you almost know with a surety that they will stay active after their baptisms. But ya, they are both getting baptized this Saturday, WAHOOO. We also have another family of three that were going to be baptized this Saturday, but they were all really really sick this past Sunday, so they couldn't come to church, and therefore their baptisms were pushed back a week. But besides this, the work is going awesome, the Lord has helped me and my companion so much, and we are having great success.

Now to answer some of your questions, first off mom, for this mothers day, I actually think that we get to skype eachother. Or video chat instead of on a phone, so what I need you to do is to set up a skype account for me and you guys. Use Trasens help if you need I am sure he knows everything of what to do. But ya, set me up a skype acount, and then you guys need to get all the equipment for yourselfs. Like a camera and microphone. So you should try to figure this all out, and how skype works. Then email me with my account information, and what I need to do. I would try to figure this out, but i dont have time, and i cant go on other websites. Thanks a ton.

This past week I have been really really thinking about grandpa, and not being able to focus. I also had a dream about him last night, but I dont remember all that happened. I find myself getting really mad at him sometimes for leaving us, and I hate it. Why did this have to happen???? But, everythime I teach people about being with their families forever, I truly mean what I say, because I had that great great experience when I went through the temple the first time. I know that I will be with grandpa and all of you again, but I just wasnt ready for grandpa to go yet. I hate it.

But on a better note, I am so glad that Hailey is home safe. I bet she is pretty jealous of me. I still have 21 more months of this. Haha. I have actually found myself thinking about home quite a bit this week, I am not home sick, but I just think of how much easier life would be. But then I think of how much the Lord is helping me, and how much I (through the Lord) am blessing these people, and there is nothing I would rather be doing more that serving these people here. What a great oppurtunidad I have. And I ask the Lord Everynight to help me better realize this. I ask for help and strength to focus more on these people, and not so much on myself. But ya, I love my mission.

So i sent some letters last week to you guys, let me know when you get them so I can know how long it takes.

But anyways, like I said I was very blessed to be put in this area. We actually get fed quite a bit. We eat with members every thursday, friday, ssometimes saturday, and every sunday. The guy we eat with on sundays is actually not in our branch, but he has been feeding the missionaries for over 5 years. We eat with him every sunday and there is some sistermissionaries that eat with him every other sunday. He stuffs us full of meat and pasta and sauasge. The food is good, but he makes us eat soooo much. I actually love the food here, and I havent eaten anything I havent liked. One of my favorite things here is actually avocado juice (avacado with milk and sugar). I will have to make it for you guys when i get back.

Make sure you guys get me Corys address when he gets to Korea. Man, I ask quite a bit from you guys. I am sorry. I just feel so far away, and I want to know everything that is going on.

Also can you guys wish Garrett and Ty a happy Birthday from me. I missed Garretts birthday in March, but Ty´s birthday is coming up in april. So ya, if you could pass that along.

Humm......... I dont know what else to talk about. Things here are going great, and I will try to send some pictures next week over the internet. I dont have that many but i will still sent them.

I hope everything is going great there, and I wish you all the best of luck with everything.

I love ya´ll and until next week, suerte.

Con Amor de Paraguay

Elder Stewart

P.s. everyone here recognizes my name from the movie Stuart little. They all call me Elder Stewart Little hahaha

Well Hello Family hows it going. Sorry that I havent sent any of you personal letters. I have written them, and now I just have to send them to you guys. Now it will just take like 5 weeks to get them to the U.S. Haha, but i guess it really does take 5 weeks for a letter to get there.

That is soooo sweet about Josh´s Mission call. Someone tell him congratulations. There was about 4 other elders that came in the MTC after the time I did that are going to that mission. You guys know Aaron Johnson. He is the son of the Johnson guy that owns the Riot Zone. He is in that mission that Josh is going to. Cool cool

But anyways in this weeks email i just want to talk about Paraguay, or atleast my area Tres Bocas.

First off, the sports here probably arent what you thought they were. I would say probably 66% of the people here play volleyball. There is volleyball nets everywhere. And alot of these people play where you cant use your hands. They are amazing here. And then there is probably 33% that play soccer. I was thinking everyone would play soccer not volleyball. And hahaha there is probably 1% of the people that play cricket. But anyways people are always playing these sports haha, here people eat sleep work and play volleyball.

The money system here is called Guaranis. 5 mil, or 5000 guaranis is equal to $1. So ya, if you were wondering. It cost like 15 mil for a box of cereal, and 2.3 mil for a bus ride. Just togive you some examples of things and what they cost. It also costs 9 mil to send a letter. Etc. Etc.

I love the people here, they are so awesome. I love the kids especially. Here everyone gives the thumbs up sign instead of waving. And it is also kind of funny because almost everyone here speaks Guarani and Español. So I am trying to learn spanish and there is always random Guarani words thrown in, and this makes it that much harder to learn. I know a few guarani, but probably only like five or so. Man the spanish here is so difficult to understand. I am really really really struggling to understand the people when they talk, and I hate it. But i know i just need to have patience. This last weekend I was able to watch the priesthood and sunday afternoon sessions in english, but the other three we watched in spanish and i didnt understand any of it. I actually just read my BOM and wrote letters during those ones.

This last week I went on divisions and the second day I was soooo sick. Puking all day, i dont know what I ate, but I am alot better now. I am slowly but surely adapting to the food and to the culture and the smell here.

It is funny how the school system works here. They all wear uniforms, and the times of school are like from noon to five, and for others it is like from five to 11 at night. It is weird, but we have trouble finding people at home because they are always working, and they are always at school. O well. Haha, and when the people are at their home, they have some sweet exscuses here. Usually it is just sorry I am Catholic, but also they say o sorry this guy cant talk with you because he is resting, or he is taking a break. Anything they can say so they dont have to talk to the missionaries. The people here will usually talk to us but there are some that avoid us.

Anyways, some of the roads here are paved, but most roads here are just rocks about the size of the Book of mormon, with sand inbetween the cracks. It is like hiking all day long. It is fine, but i doubt my shoes will last very long on these roads. These roads just tear up the tires on cars so imagine what they do to shoes haha. Here in paraguay there are animals everywhere there are tons of stray dogs, cats, chickens, horses, cows, and even some goats. They just dont have animal control here so there are alot of animals.

Some people here know a little english so it is nice to talk a little with them. But for the most part they dont know english and i dont know spanish so it is kind of hard to communicate, but it will get better.

I guess the government here is a little corrupt, so there are police officers and all types of security gaurds everywhere with shotguns and rifles. It is a little intimidating but all is good. This year is actually the 200th year of freedom for paraguay so it is a big year, and I have an oppurtunity to be here for it. Just the fact of paraguay of the week haha.

But anyways that is my email for the week. I am sending out letters this week so i hope to hear from youall soon. Or like ten weeks. haha.

I get to go shopping today, i finally have money, and i dont have ANY food at home.

well love ya guys and hope to here from you again next week

Con Amor

Elder Stewart

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

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