I Have No Idea What Week this is... :)

The week this week was tough because of all of the people that dropped us suddenly last week but with every fall there is always a rise! We were teaching Devon who will be baptized this Saturday and Anthony who was baptized last month and their Grandma who is recently reactivated. After the lesson we asked what we can do to help. That is something I started doing at the very beginning of my mission any time I said bye to anyone. I didn't think much of it but the Burkmans told me when they left that I was the only missionary to do that every single time we saw them and that it meant a lot. Since then I have made a conscious effort to ask every single time. I have not asked like twice and Elder Kiriaka called me on it both times. So anyways I asked what we could do to help and she said "teach my son Harris, He wants to learn and be baptized". Of course we were happy to do that! We set a time to teach him! 

We volunteered at the food bank one morning this week and it was super fun! It is nice to wear service clothes and still be doing good "missionary work" sometimes! We also had Zone Training Meeting this week and it was really good! We focused on working with the members of the church and having us as missionaries excited about member works, and the members excited about missionary work! This weekend I conducted and exchange with Elder Bennett. So every transfer I am supposed to go on an exchange with the zone leaders and every Elder in my district so on Saturday I spent the full day proselyting with Elder Bennett. We worked in his area and had a bunch of success. We had one special experience where we stopped by a mans house and his neighbor told us he was in the hospital. We got to go see him and give him a blessing. We didn't plan on meeting with him, we just wanted to set a lesson but we felt the need to talk and bless him. We were there way longer than planned and so we ended up being late to the adult session of stake conference. We walked into the chapel and I look at the stand and see president Craig. President Craig is huge on being on time so if ever someones heart dropped to the floor it was mine. I think you could hear it drop. it was a great meeting and as the end he came and talked to us and as he approached Elder Bennett and I he said "well there is a dynamic duo!". Obviously he wasn't mad and we explained that we were giving a blessing and he said "Oh I wasn't concerted, my only concern was that the two of you might get translated and I'd be down two good missionaries!" It was the best, I love President Craig so much! I really want to serve close by him someday. While I was with Elder Bennett Elder kiriaka and Elder Elwood were together and they taught our referral Harris and set a baptismal date with him! The work is progressing here in the Sunrise ward!

Love you all! 

Elder Stewar

8 Months Tomorrow?!?!

This has been the fastest 8 months of my life by far! It seriously blows my mind! I feel like I am still a greenie but now my greenie is almost at 6 months! Word to the wise in regards to missions, Work hard because it goes by too fast not to. This week was really great! We were once again able to stay busy and teach a ton of lessons. The car makes it so much easier but the real concern is that we have only been allotted 50 km's a day and we live 10-15 km's out of our area so we have no clue how we are expected to survive. Plus we don't have bus passes now! There is always an adventure to be had when walking though so we will live. 

One of the highlights for me was district meeting! This weeks went so much better. I trained on one of the missionary fundamentals "Revelation through church attendance" but I took a different spin on it. We always talk about how to get people to come to church but I feel that helping them have an uplifting experience at church is often overlooked. To start I had us read Alma 48:1-17 and asked everyone to think about how it applied to helping people attend church. It went really well and it Sparked lot of discussion about how we can prepare people for church and make sure church is a revelatory experience. It was great and as I was preparing I thought about how everyone "rewrites" vs 17 and substitutes someones name in but I thought we need to focus on why Moroni was like that so as a district we rewrote the second half of vs 16 which describes how and why Moroni was so righteous. 

On Tuesday night we found a family to teach and had one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission. At first they didn't want to let us in but we testified on their doorstep and after 5 minutes they said "step inside". After 10 minutes standing in their front entry way they finally said "come take a seat" They are from a different church but they allowed us to share what we had with them. they asked fantastic questions and eventually we had a super spiritual lesson that they received very well. They expressed their great desire to have us back. We texted 2 days later to see when we could return and their response shocked us. They told us they had researched and found out that we were satanic devil worshipers and that we should destroy our Book of Mormon. It was really sad to have to drop them as investigators but even more saddening that they are missing out on the blessings of the Book of Mormon just because of what someone put on the internet. It really was sad and tough to see. 

On a happier note Devon is still on date to be baptized on March 19! He came to church and so did Greg who is on date for the 26 of March! We have made a huge push for member missionary work and we are having so much success with that. If you read this go on a visit with the missionaries! It makes ALL the difference! 

It was pretty weird to go over to the Orr's house for dinner because they know everyone I know but they are a great family and they just have that southern Alberta feel so that is nice. They are a really fun family and they said they will have us for dinner once a week! That is half of our meal appointments almost! I am loving Regina and we are becoming so close with so many members! It helps a ton!

Love you all!

Elder Stewart

Alberta plates are everywhere!

Selfie with Anthony and Devon

Brother Uwazny was in Regina for business and took a package to Elder Stewart.

Leap Year, 2016

This week was the busiest week of my mission so far. We taught an insane amount of lessons! I love having a car, we get so much more work done and it is way easier to stay in contact with our investigators. This week started kind of interesting with my first ever district meeting. It was kind of a bomb but it was still a good experience. Everyone got there late and so we started late. Then some things took longer than I expected so I didn't get through everything but the part we did get through was great! I have talked to a lot of district leaders and they all say their first one is the worst one so it's all on the up and up from here! haha. It was still a good experience though so don't worry. We kept teaching Anthony's cousin Devon and he is now on dater to be baptized on March 19. I am quite sure it will happen. We are teaching them a lot and he has come to church for the past couple weeks. I really want to stay in contact with them for a long time because the family has changed for the better so much in the last 8 weeks. Church yesterday was a great success, we had an investigator surprise us and come to church. we were so chocked but in a good way. A member of the temple presidency spoke and Tony really liked the talk. Thank goodness for the speakers! Sorry for the short letter but It was actually a super good week! I love you all!

Elder Stewart

February 22, 2016 - We got a Car!

Well you guessed it we got a car this week! It is a brand new 2016 Nissan Rogue sport edition. I think I fell in love! For real though, it is so handy because instead of having to bus for an hour and a half just to get into our area to start proselyting we can drive 15 minutes! We got it on Thursday and since then have seen our efficiency increase like crazy! Almost every day this week we had the opportunity to teach Anthony and Devon Nahbexie! Anthony is the 11 year old that I baptised and Devon is his 9 year old cousin. They both live with their Grandma who is recently returned to church. She loves church so much and really only didn't come because she didn't have friends or a ride to church. We were able to fix those problems and now she is an active member with a son who is coming back to church and two grandsons that have either been baptized(Anthony) or are preparing for baptism(Devon). They are such a great family who desire to do what is right so strongly. We are working hard to get the ward to help support them because Devon and Anthony live in a different part of the city than most of the ward so they don't knoiw many people at church. they both have fantastic primary teachers though so it is all good! We also had the opportunity this week to have people billet with us in the midst of transfers. On Wednesday night we had Elder Nielson stay with us. He is Jaxson Toly's cousin so that was kind of fun! On Thursday night we had the opportunity to have Elder Romeril stay with us. He is from Mountain View so that was a fun connection too! Every time I meet another Southern Alberta missionary it just blows my mind again how many of us there are here! Elder Bennett is officially here and it is fun to have him around!

I had a crazy experience this week! On Thursday night the sisters from the other ward told me that they had a surprise baptism with a long time investigator who had been going to church for a long time. Me being in my FIRST DAY as District Leader was asked to conduct the interview. We are supposed to really prepare for the interview for like a week leading up but I had 24 hours so on Friday I spent a lot of timer praying and studying the interview questions and things I could share! It ended up being a fantastic experience for me and I learned so much! I was thinking back to all of the interviews I had ever had and I tried to model it after that so I wouldn't seem like a robot! It went really well and then Elizabeth was baptized on Saturday! I seriously look forward to conducting more in the future because seeing the excitement on their faces to know that they can be baptized is the best feeling! While I interviewed her Elder Elwood and Kiriaka went and taught a turnover lesson. (meaning that the other wards Elders began teaching but he lives in our area so they are turning them over to us to finish teaching). They taught them and on Sunday the whole family came to church. Mom, Dad and 5 kids! It was so good and they stayed for all 3 hours of church! They will be baptized soon I am sure! 

Love you all! 

Elder Stewart

The Rogue!!!

Short letter... but better than nothing!

This week was a big week! We taught a lot of lessons and had a few really good ones where the Spirit was there so strong! I have no time to email today so sorry because it is family day and the library is closed so all of the missionaries in the city are sharing the 4 computers at the church. On Saturday we had the opportunity to teach one of our newer investigators and we brought a man from the ward named brother Moore! He and Noe(the investigator) are around the same age so we thought it would be appropriate. It made my belief in the importance of members grow like crazy! He and brother Moore just connected and Brother Moore was able to answer some questions better than Elder Kiriaka and I could because of his age! Noe is now reading the Book of Mormon and Praying about it. At the end of the lesson Brother Moore asked "Noe did your son play soccer and was his name Chester?" or something like that and it turned out their sons had played competitive soccer together and Noe was the coach! Noe was so happy and invited the three of us back! This Sunday we had an investigator come to church and we were somewhat surprised because he had never come before since I have been here! He has agreed to be baptized on March 26. He is so excited for it and is praying that his family will follow his example. His name is greg and he connected with the Elders Quorum president and he is now going to their dodgeball activity! Once again it proves that for people to feel comfortable in the church they need !. a testimony and 2. A friend. 

We got transfer calls this morning and I am staying with Elder Kiriaka. Elder Randall( our district leader) is going to winnipeg to be a zone leader. Elder Nathan Bennett from Barnwell is coming to replace him. I will be the new district leader. Elder Birhall is now a zone leader as well so that is sweet!

Love you all

Elder Stewart

A cool outdoor court

A cool garage in the Hood!

Outdoor skating rink.

Anthony's Baptism!

This week we spent a lot of time preparing for the baptism which was on Saturday! We also were able to teach quite a few lessons and find some new investigators! On Monday after emailing we went to a sushi buffet and I ate more than I ever had in my whole life! It was so good! We also met with Anthony to prepare him for his baptism. We met with him like 5 times this week because we wanted to make sure he was totally ready. On Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Elwood for the day because Elder Randall was on an exchange with Elder Kiriaka because Elder Kiriaka is in training. On our exchange we taught 3 really good lessons and got some good new people to hopefully teach as well. It was a pretty good experience too because he is almost done his mission so he had a few little tips for me as well. We have been meeting with a ton of active members too this week in hopes to strengthen them and help the ward come closer together. 

On Friday we had a bit of a scare. We got a call from Anthony's uncle telling us that he would have to cancel the lesson that night because Anthony was not there. That wouldn't have been the end of the world but we had Elder Randall coming to do the interview that has to happen before baptism. So we were afraid we were going to have to cancel the baptism. We split off again and I was with Elder Elwood and Elder Kiriaka was with Elder Randall. We went and taught a less active member and When Anthony finally got home the other elders had the lesson and interview. By the time they got out of the interview they had missed the bus and had to walk home which takes an hour. Needless to say it was an eventful and fun night! 

On Saturday we taught a really good lesson in the morning and then had no time to go home for lunch so we went to Subway where something amazing happened. We ordered our subs and one of the members of the stake presidency happened to be there and bought us our subs! I thought that only happened in Utah and Cardston! We then caught a bus over to the church to fill up the baptismal font but there was a funeral happening. So we had to wait to fill the font but it ended up filling in time. The baptism was fantastic! It went s well and so many people came to support! Anthony's primary teacher came and gave the best Holy Ghost talk I had heard in a while. he was so energetic! Anthony loved it. 

I love you all!

Elder Stewart

Elder and Sis Fawns arrived in the Winnipeg Mission at the end of January, and are assigned in Dauphin, MB. They made a day trip to the Regina Temple and got special permission from President Craig to go find Elder Stewart and his companion and take them some homemade cinnamon buns just like the ones she made for her early morning seminary class not too many years ago!

February 2, 2016

This week was really good but it was a bit slower than usual! We tried to contact one of our new investigators to teach him again. (he was in the hospital) We were unable to tech him because apparently he got the hospital on lock down for some reason. Needless to say, he isn't there anymore. We did however follow up and teach Tony and his kids again and we shared the teabag lesson with them. It is where you take all of the tea out of the bag and then stand the empty bag up. You then light the bag on fire and as it burns until it looks like it will burn the plate but it goes up in the air right before it burn to the bottom. There are a bunch of analogies you can use but we used the "You receive no witness until after the trial of you faith". Tony and his kids love it! I would bet that there are no more teabags left in that household by now. He felt like there was more to it and that God was trying to tell him something so he videoed it and watches it all of the time in an attempt to learn what other message it contains. After our lesson he said "we are going to lunch and we want you to come" his kids got all excited and even though we had eaten lunch right before we went to his house we went with them! They are such a great family! They came to basketball night again so they are building relationships with other missionaries and members as well.

Our area is about the size of all of Lethbridge so we have a hard time getting from where we live (a 40 minute walk from our area) to the far side of our area. The one day we decide we would go to part of the area neither of us had ever been so we started busing over but for some reason the bus we were supposed to transfer onto was an hour and twenty seven minutes late sop instead of waiting we just walked! We walked over 12 miles that day haha. I actually really like walking and that day was so warm I had my coat on but I regretted it! 

Last night we met with Anthony who is getting baptized this Saturday! We are so excited for his decision and so is his Grandma. We planned out the baptism with his and he asked me to baptize him! We are going to be very busy this week with preparation for that so we are really excited. Sorry this is so short, we have no time today because our ward mission leader agreed for us to meet with a family 45 minutes out of towm today at 3:30 which is supposed to be P-day. It makes for a fun (short) P-day.

Love you 

Elder Stewart

January 25, 2016

This week was crazy! We had the opportunity to go through the area book more thoroughly. The area book is like the map of all the areas and it has records of those who have met with people in the past and their contact info so that when new missionaries come in they can continue to teach people. The area book here was in the form of 500 papers all over the floor instead of a neatly organized binder. It made for a lot of organizing and finding addresses on the street. I have spent so much time looking at the Regina map I could probably draw the whole thing haha. It was worth all of the time though because we were able to stop by a bunch of the people on these papers who had had contact with missionaries in the past and because of it we were able to find 10 new people to teach! That is way more than I had ever found in the past in one week!

On Monday we had a Family Home Evening with Anthony and his family (Anthony is getting baptized on February 6th). We got fed by some members this week as well which adds a major bonus! We were also able to teach some members of the ward who recently have been unable to make it to Sacrament meeting so it is very good to teach and get to know them. 

On Wednesday there was a worldwide missionary training session broadcasted from Utah. Elders Niel L Anderson, David A Bednar and Dallin H Oaks all spoke and gave training. The meeting was so good and uplifting and it really worked because this week we were able to teach so many people! On Saturday we taught a guy named Tony and his kids. We taught an object lesson with a soup can where the scriptures are the protectors. Tony took my bible after and very literally made the scriptures the "armour against evil". He slapped his daughter on the arm and asked if it hurt and she said "Yeah" Then the took the scriptures and put them against her arm and slapped the scriptures and asked again"now did it hurt?". She said "no" and then he started preaching about how with the scriptures as our Armour nothing can hurt us! It was so funny but so good to have him teach his kids! He really likes us and our church and he even came to Saturday night basketball at the church where we host a game and have investigators of the church and less active members come play with us! He brought his whole fam and they loved it! He was a highlight of the week.

 Elder Kiriaka and I are getting along great and we are working so hard. One of the things we learned on Wednesday is that many return missionaries regret not working their very hardest and as a companionship we set a goal that at the end of the transfer we would not have to regret not wrking hard so we are working as hard as possible. 

Regina is starting to feel more like home so that is nice!

Love you all

Elder Stewart

First full Week in Regina - Jan 18, 2016

Week 1 was super good! It has been a huge adjustment from Thompson but I feel like I am adjusting well. I am really excited for the work that is happening here with us and the other missionaries. It is interesting how close we are with two other elders that live close by because in Thompson we don't really have that with other missionaries. 

On Tuesday we were knocking some doors and no one was home! We just kept knocking and right as we were about to leave we saw a family walk into a house that we had previously knocked. Elder Kiriaka said that we should go there aother day because they "looked Promising". I told him that since we are in the area we may as well just go right then. We did and we taught a lesson and committed them to strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ by being baptized. It is a very interesting situation that i am in because i am to be training Elder Kiriaka but he is the one who knows the area so when he doesn't know what we should do I can help him but I can't really tell him where we should go. It is a challenge but we are working through it well as i become more aquainted with the area and he becomes more comfortable with the mission itself. 

As a mission we are really focusing on Hastening the work of the Lord and Elder Kiriaka and i are really taking that to heart and working as hard as we possible can. This week we were also able to commit an 11 year old young man named Anthony to be baptised as well. He is being baptized on February 6th. He also came to church and he loves primary. his grandma is a member and she said he can get baptized if he prays every day and reads the Book Of Mormon picture book. She is so great! We have been doping a ton of walking which definitely slows down the work a bit compared to Thompson where we had a car all the time. I was able to get a bus pass but even then we have to wait for the bus. I have spent a couple hours total waiting outside at a bus stop for a bus this week. (thanks for the coat Mom). It isn't even bad though because if you are waiting at the bus stop with someone and not talking it is just awkward so we have been able to find people who are genuinely interested and taught them lessons at the bus stop. It is the best. Cars are for the weak. On Saturday we were instructedthat we were not to proselyte or go outside because it was -42. We were only allowed to go anywhere if we had a set lesson. We had one at 11:00am. We took the bus, walked 8 blocks to their house, knocked, they didn't answer and I just wanted to cry haha. We didn't want to walk all the way to the bus stop right there so we went to the hospital that was really close by and stopped by a member who is ill. She was sleeping but at least we got "warm". then we walked 8 blocks to the bus stop again and waited 20 minutes for the bus. We decided that the rule about not going out in -40 is inspired because that was possibly the coldest I have ever been. It was so worth it though because later that day is when we met with nthony and he commited to baptism. When we couldn't go out for the rest of that day we played a card game with some other Elders for a bit and also did some studying, cleaning, and stuff like that. i thought that a day like that would be a nice break but it's not. It is painfully boring and we just wanted to do missionary work. Pray for -39 so it is warm enough that we are allowed outside but cold enough that people feel bad and let us in!

Love you all!

Elder stewart 

Looks a little chilly!

Elder Kiriaka and Elder Stewart

Regina - Jan 11, 2016

So, here I am in Regina, Saskatchewan. I am finishing training Elder Kiriaka. He actually left from Stirling although his family lives in spokane now. Dad set him apart. Crazy.

This week felt like it took forever and a day because we did so much stuff.

Last Monday I found out that I was being transferred and that I had to leave Tuesday morning at 8:00. We did that and drove all day. (literally). !0 hours to Brandon for a Zone Training Meeting. We had a great meeting on Wednesday and then I did a mini exchange with one of the Zone Leaders. We did some knocking on doors and were able to teach 3 lessons! That was pretty sweet. On thursday we drove to Winnipeg so Elder Low could connect with Elder Quinton and I could get in the mission van en route to Regina. The mission van goes through Brandon on the way to Regina so that was a bit pointless. We got to Regina on Thursday night. To my pleasant surprise I learned that we don't have a car in this area, and we are a 40 minute walk from our area because we live in a different set of missionaries area. It makes it fun! I need to find out how to get a bus pass but it is hard to get downtown to get one without a cart or a bus! We plan on figuring that out today. Here in regina we have a couple people investigating the church. I am super excited to meet some more people and get to know the area. We had a great time at church today, it felt a little different than Thompson because there was like 100 people there. Elder Kiriaka is great! We are quite similar and we will get along so well. We both don't really mind the fact that we have to walk everywhere so that makes it way easier. I don't really know what else to say because I don't know the area that well. The area is about the size of lethbridge because it is 1/3 of Regina and I think Regina is about 250 000 people! hopefully we don't freeze! Have a great week! I love all of you.

Elder Stewart

This is the scroll from our Moroni's Quest 2012. Both of their names are in the right column.

January 4, 2016 - Transfers!

Well this week was full of excitement! We were supposed to go to do an exchange with Flin Flon but our truck was still in the shop so we didn't do an exchange then. On Tuesday we went to Nelson House because our truck was "fixed". I think it is only working because it isn't cold any more but who knows. Then we spontaneously decided to do our exchange that night. We hustled out to Ponton and then Elder Bloemart and I went to Flin FLon and Elder Timms came here with Elder Low. The exchange was really good! The work in Flin FLon is on fire! They actually just brought in a second set of missionaries because there is so much going on! The rest of the week was really good! We were preparing for transfer calls so I said "goodbye" to a lot of people with the probable chance that I am leaving. That was really sad! New years eve was great! We went to Boston Pizza with a sister in the ward and then had a fondue! It was super fun and almost like home! New years day was also pretty good as it was Elder Low's birthday. His Mom had ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut here and called Sister Hinds who called us and had us go pick it up for free. That was super nice! Just one of the benefits of serving in Canada. We were supposed to get our transfer call on Saturday but I guess they wanted to delay it a bit and build the suspense so instead we got an email today! More to come on that later. Church was really good but we still don't have a branch President! I believe the Stake President is coming up next week to call one but the question is will I be here?? I bore my testimony yesterday because I thought that there was a good chance it would be my last Sunday. We had a really good day and saw a lot of people. We also went to the Basallos for a feast again! I love it there. Today we got the news on transfers! I am going to be ___________. I'll tell you later ;)

Love you all

Elder Stewart