February 20, 2017 - Rough Week

My wallet was stolen last night so can you please cancel my Scotia card? Let me know when you get this so I know you are on it. Thanks.

It sucks real bad.

Elder Stewart

Later that day...

This week was honestly probably one of the worst weeks as far mas everything goes but it doesn't really bother me that much anymore (or at least that is what I tell myself). I think I am getting better at dealing with disappointment. I have come to learn that there is a big difference between disappointment and discouragement. Being disappointed is a good thing because it shows that you care. Being discouraged is not. That still shows that you care but it shows that you are letting some setback hold you back. The word itself is "dis" (being a negative) and courage. It literally means lacking courage. I feel like it is safe to say that lacking courage is fear. In a recent worldwide missionary broadcast Elder Bednar taught that faith and fear are opposites and cannot co-exist. Faith is action and fear is inaction. So hat was a long-winded way of saying that throughout all the garbage that happened this week I am trying to not get discouraged because that would lead to inaction and greater discouragement. It's been a rough one though.

Monday we were emailing and we got a call from President Craig. Getting a call from President is always a little nerve wracking because if there is any bad news that is who it comes from. I get less nervous now because we work closely with him now. This particular call was bad news though, Elder Griffin's Grandpa was put in the hospital and they said he would probably pass away. Elder Griffin talked to his dad that night. Talk about a rough start to a week. That night we were tracting and just got wrecked. People were not happy to see us. Too bad for them, it's their loss :). 

Tuesday we had District meeting at the mission office because they found bed bugs at the stake center. I was not about to go there, let me tell you haha. DM was good. After DM we went to Brother Steinbusch's house for lunch. That whole afternoon we spent in the mission office meeting with President, having the MLC call, doing office work and having our interviews with President. We were supposed to teach Ronke that night who had a date for the 21 of February. She got busy so we rescheduled for Wednesday. 

Wednesday we had a service opportunity in the am moving a less active. it seems like in the city that is the only service we ever do. Anyways while we were parking the care President Craig called and informed Elder Griffin that his Grandpa had passed away. Super sad and super sudden. that was bad. definitely the highlight of Wednesday was a lesson we taught to Ronke with the Mcinnes'. They are both super good and we talked about Priesthood and auxiliaries. Ronke was just loving it. That night we exchanged with the north ZL. I stayed in Waverley with Elder Bingham and Elder Griffin went to Gateway with Elder Wright. 

Thursday Elder Bingham and I did a lot of Tracting and it was pretty warm so that was nice. We also went to go find a suit for Ronke so that she could try some on at her interview on Friday. We had brought a sandwich because we were skipping dinner so that we could teach Ronke. 2 hours before the appointment we got a text from her. she dropped us... She said she didn't want to meet that night and was "suspending" her baptism. BREAKS MY HEART!!! She was so solid. She gave no reason for dropping us but she did. That was a rough evening. Poor Elder Bingham had to be on exchanges with us when that happened. I tried to be happy and honestly I think I did OK considering the circumstances but I was just sad. I think that the best way to compare how I was feeling is like how it feels to get dumped over text. Like "come one, at least say it to my face..". That was probably the saddest moment of my mission. She was SO close and SO solid. 

Friday we learned that a member of our ward who was in Thompson when i was is watching her grand kids in Winnipeg because her daughter is in an addictions recovery program. Her 8 year old grand daughter was having headaches and so they took her to the hospital. After the MRI they found a tumour and gave her 2 months to live. SO SAD. She really wants to be baptized and was taking the missionary lessons last fall. We went and gave her a blessing. The sad part is that they did not tell her that she has two months. I guess if they do then the tumour will spread quicker so she is oblivious. That is a sad way to live. We had dinner with the Bishop and his family that night. There are so many southern Alberta connections in that home it is nuts. They know Bishop Lowe super well from when he lived here. 

Saturday Elder Griffin spent part of the day attending the funeral via skype. I just did office work and called former investigators. the rest of the day was tracting.

Sunday was the highlight of the week because we went to church. Things went well there. Our recent converts were not there because they are struggling big time. That was another big part of this week. I keep telling myself not to get discouraged! It is working!! D&C 121:10 "you are not yet as Job". I told Elder Griffin that I was excited to start a new week because it is bound to be better than this last one! My wallet was stolen that night. Talk about a cherry on top! 

I hate reading this email because it sounds super negative because honestly it was a bad week but my spirits are good and I am loving every minute of this. I don't want it to end at all!

Hope everyone had a good week!

Love Elder Stewart

I sent you something in the mail. I expect you to wear it in the next stake conference. Happy BIrthday!

Love Elder STewart

February 13, 2017 - Flying By!

So this week absolutely flew by. Just like everything on the mission though. overall our week was pretty focused on teaching Ronke and preparing her for baptism. We actually moved her date back a few days to the 21st instead of the 18th so that her husband can attend. She is still doing so well and is reading and praying everyday. Probably the biggest struggle right now is that we are not being able to find new investigators. We are doing the finding in its verb context but not much fruit has come yet. 

Tuesday was the day I emailed this week as mentioned last week because all of P-day was spent at Best Buy. (I am currently emailing on our new laptop though so it was so worth it. We also taught the Hamiltons and Ronke. Kyle Abbott came to that lesson. He is the best to have around because he leaves on a mission soon but is not working anymore so he has all the time in the world. Oh something i forgot to mention from this day is that it was the north zone Zone Conference. Since we went to the Zone Conferences in Saskatchewan we were asked by President to not come to the ones in Winnipeg so that we would actually Proselyte. He did however ask us to come for lunch so that we could see everyone. The food was so good! It was provided by one of the wards. Chicken with mushroom sauce, Pansit, Salad, And homemade Strawberry ice cream with Crem Brulet. 

Wednesday we went to the south Zone lunch during their Zone conference. Also amazing! That night we split with two members and I saw the Hamiltons and Elder Griffin went to see Peter Aidoghie. Also happy 19 months to Elder Griffin and I.

Thursday we had a lesson with Ronke, did a bunch of tracting and also had ward correlation. At ward correlation we got a bit reprimanded because I guess the members feel a disconnect with the missionaries. It is a super hard balance because a lot of members want the type of missionaries that will bake them cookies and play board games with them but that is just completely ineffective as far as our purpose as missionaries. This makes it difficult because we want to have god relations with the members but when the idea of good relations is different from the two parties that relationship becomes nearly impossible. We are working on it because members are key. For all who don't know (or for myself in the future) the perfect member is someone who will come to visits with you, give an occasional referral and feed you every other week. It is not necessary to try to entertain the missionaries. President Craig is really good at keeping our member relations appropriate. I have found that the members I have become the best friends with are those who are willing to help with missionary work, not those who just want to be friends and hang out.  

Friday was Brandon's Zone Conference but sadly we did not get to go there for lunch that day. We did some finding and taught the Hamiltons as well as had dinner at the Mcinnes'. They are the perfect members! They are coming to a lesson with Ronke on Wednesday! Having members at lessons is SO vital. That night we exchanged with the south zone leaders. 

Saturday I was with Elder Lee. It was so fun, he is serving with Elder Quinton and they are just a hilarious companionship. We did service helping a less active lady move. We also did a lot of finding, Taught Ronke and did some home teaching. It is genius how they have missionaries assigned to home teach now. We are assigned with a member as our companion. Ideally we would split with two members. Is that happening in Lethbridge? That night we just tracted forever. We met this guy who was like "I just got home from work, come back in 15 minutes and I would love to have you in". We went back but he was not there. It was pretty sad because we were Popsicles but it was a funny situation.\

Sunday we had church and Ronke came again! That is 3 out of 4 Sundays! She didn't come last week because here kids were sick. We had to catch up on some stuff and do some office work so our sunday was uneventful. 

This morning we played ball because now P-Day is 2 hours longer. It is super nice in the city but in Thompson that would just be 2 more hours to do nothing haha.

Love you all!

Elder Stewart

Elder Stewart and Kyle Abbott. Kyle is a member who went on lots of splits with the missionaries. He got his mission call to Portugual while Elder Stewart was in his ward. Kyle came to visit Lethbridge soon thereafter and we got to meet him before he left.

February 7, 2017 - On the Road

February 6, 2017

We have 0 time today, we were at Best Buy working out a bunch of technology with President. My two favourite things, shopping and technology :/. We will just email tomorrow instead! Talk to you tomorrow.

Elder Stewart

February 7, 2017

So this week we were in Saskatchewan all week. Tons of fun! Not much casual time but got to see a bunch of missionaries and even some old companions so that as nice. 

Monday we drove to Regina and that night I went to see Devon and Anthony. (The two boys I baptized last year. They are both struggling to go to church because I guess something happened to their grandma and no she is not as excited about taking them anymore. I pulled some strings and hopefully they are more consistent at church going forward. 

Tuesday was ZC in Regina. As I am sure you all know the missionary daily schedule has changed and is quite a bit easier now. I understand that it is inspired but it is absolutely taking some getting used to. They have a bunch of reasons but one is that missionaries mental health is a big problem so with extra down time more missionaries will be able to do what is asked of them. ZC was good! We gave some training on a document that Elder Griffin and I made with President Craig. I will attach it. That night we drove to Saskatoon. The northern lights were out and were BEAUTIFUL!! It made me trunky for Thompson. We had Saskatoon ZC on Wednesday. It was the exact same as regina but after I got a picture with Elder Birchall (My trainer), ELder Low (My trainee), Elders Berry and Howes (ELder Low's Trainees) and ELder Nielson (Elder Birchall's newest Trainee). Family pictures are fun. I need to get it from Elder Low though.

Thursday I exchanged with Elder Francis who may be my next companion by most peoples estimation. He is a great guy! We were finding (and Freezing) all day. THat evening we had to go back to Regina but we had to bring two cars so Elder Griffin and I Drove separate. I was in the transfer van which has no USB capabilities so I had no music. That was the first time in 19 months I have just been alone and gotten to think. It was nice. 

Friday I exchanged with Elder Grant who was my MTC companion. It was a good exchange.

Saturday we drove back but stopped in CTK for Breakfast with Elder Olcott and Owens. 

Sunday was a good day. 

On the trip I saw Elder Birchall, Elder Low, Elder Romeril, Elder Timms, Elder Olcott, Elder Grant and Elder Moore. All of whom I have served with! 

Sorry for the short letter, I still need yo write President and then jet to ZC. 

Much Love

Elder Stewart

January 30, 2017 - Transfers

Crazy week this week with transfers and everything. We only taught 4 lessons because literally every waking minute was spent with transfers. 

Monday we made preparations for the meetings on Tuesday and typed up the schedule for transfer week which includes the flight times, the meeting times, and everything else that happens. We also updated and finalized travel plans. We got to meet up with 3 missionaries who came in from Saskatchewan as well that night because 2 of them were visa waiters and they needed to fly to their new missions. The other was being transferred into Winnipeg so it worked out nicely. Elders Schmaultz and Royal stayed the night with us. Elder Schamaultz flew out the next morning at 7:00. We tried to get to bed at a reasonable time so that those two could sleep. 

Tuesday started early around 5:20 when we had to take Elder Schmaultz out to meet President Craig who then took him to the airport. After dropping elder Schmaultz off we just got changed and went to go play ball. We go ball almost every morning with the Zl's. We had elder royal with us that day so we were in a tripan. Lucky for him we had meetings all day. We had the seniors meeting at noon where we went over the transfer week schedule and then at 1:00 we had the meeting for new trainers which lasted for 2 hours. Elder Birchall is training again do he was there. Kind of weird to give training to him because he trained me haha. President Craig made an interesting point, he was saying how the trainers are the best missionaries in the mission (because honestly when we transfer planned we chose trainers right after ZL's.) and he made his point by showing that there were 3 generations in that meeting. Elder Birchall, myself and Elder Low. His point was that if we have the right trainer then the rest falls into place because that is the missionary you will be the most like. After the trainers meeting we had like 4 minutes to get ready for the new leaders meeting. This is where we train the new District Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and Zone Leaders. There were no new Zone Leaders this transfer though. That training went well. I should mention that all the while we were training, Elder Royal was with Elder Smith (a senior missionary) doing a bunch of heavy labour moving a storage unit by hand. We felt kind of bad but it was better than sitting in the office all day I guess. That night we taught the Hamiltons, Randy is still working on getting baptized. 

Wednesday we got started early by dropping Elder Royal off with President Craig at 5:20 am. Then the had a bunch of stuff to do in preparation for the new missionaries arriving that afternoon. We were in charge of all of the mail for the mission as well. We got to the airport just in time to welcome the new missionaries. Elders Sheen and Black were the first ones through the gate. I got to take a picture of each missionary alone and then with President and Sister Craig on the iPad and then I sent them to Sister Meldrum (missions secretary) and she sends them to all of the missionaries parents. I think that that is super nice! After picking up the new missionaries we went to go back to the mission home for dinner. Sister Craig calls me her "Valet Parker" because it is cold so I always get to go get her van and pull it up. I have probably driven it more than I have our truck this week. The dinner was SO good. We were in charge of all of the legal documents for all 12 new missionaries so I became good friends with the photocopier that evening. We then had a testimony meeting and all of the poor new missionaries were just wiped out and nodding off. I remember that day. They have it easy though, I had to catch the night bus to Thompson haha. We were at the mission home way later than planned just dealing with luggage and stuff so that was just the beginning of a very late night. That night we had to go set up for the new missionary orientation in Thursday. It takes way longer than you would think but finally at a time that will remain a mystery we got home and hit the sac. 

Thursday is the transfer day where the train of cars comes from Regina and goes back in the same day. We had breakfast with the new missionaries at the mission home that morning. Poor sister Craig was cooking the bacon but the circuit blew so the fan wouldn't work and the whole house smoked up and smelled like bacon. It was pretty funny. We got to share the spiritual thought with the new missionaries over breakfast. It is so funny to see the new missionaries. They are only a year younger than us but they seem so much younger because they are in shock and they seem really innocent and scared. I was just the same way when I was green. It's pretty funny. We had the new missionary orientation and the technology stunk it up. I hate technology when it doesn't work. All is well though the meeting went on anyways. While we were doing this and introducing the trainers to their trainers the Zone Leaders were organizing everyone so that we could get the transfer train on the road back to Regina asap. It went pretty fast and the transfer train left only 20 minutes behind schedule. Problem was they started driving East. Now it does not take a geography major to know that Regina is West of Winnipeg. They got it worked out and it went ok. We then went to the church and tried to work on our MLC portion because as you will soon learn for the first time in recorded history we had MLC on Friday of transfer week because President had to leave Friday afternoon to Regina and Zone Conference is this week. We got like an hour of our portion in before we had to go to dinner at the mission home with the departing missionaries. It was delicious, Sister Craig made Russian chicken. It was heavenly! We had the departing missionary testimony meeting. Elder Omer who I replaced here in Waverley Ward was departing. He said it felt strange because he had been to so many of these meetings as an assistant that it didn't feel real like it was his turn to go home. It made me nervous. The Sisters that went home came out with me. That made it super real how old I am. The testimony meeting was so good! President called on Elder Griffin and I to bear our testimonies and said "let's make sure my assistants still have a testimony at the end of the busiest week of their lives". I bore my testimony of prayer and told the story of Elder Low and I getting stuck in the ditch in Lynn lake and getting saved. Sister Craig was really emotional because the sisters that went home are the first ones that Presidemt and Sister Craig picked up at the beginning of their mission. That night we had planned to make our portion for MLC but we were pooped so we went to bed on time instead. Friday morning we met at the airport at 5:30 to see the departing missionaries off. We then went with President to Cora's. Tat is usually when President has us go to take a nap but we had to plan our MLC portion so we did. Them we had MLC. Following MLC we went to take our "recovery nap". We went to sleep at 3:15 and set two alarms for 5:30. We BOTH slept through BOTH alarms. Needless to say 4 hours of sleep a night takes its toll on you. 

Saturday we got back into the swing of things and Sunday was great because Ronke and her boys came to church again! 

This week we are in the road. Currently I am somewhere between Brandon and Regina and we will be in Rehina and Saskatoon until Saturday. 

Love you all! 

Elder Stewart

January 23, 2017 - As We Enter the Week of Death

This week was nuts in a lot of ways because as we near the end of the transfer the office work piles up and we get swamped. It is ok though, I actually really like it. 

Monday we got to play basketball which was a highlight for sure. That night we taught the Hamiltons and then we got lunched twice so we go to do some finding instead.  

Tuesday we had district meeting and then got lunched a few more times. We did teach a lesson to this young couple from India. They moved to Toronto for a few weeks but we will see them when they get back. That night Randy and William had their interviews and both passed! 

Wednesday was nuts, we spent the majority of he day in the office with President and Sister Craig planning transfers. That was a neat experience. Pairing up those who need to serve together, choosing trainers, assigning trainees to the trainers, working out leadership etc. Lots to think about but it was all good! It was neat to look at Elders Black and Sheen and read their bios. They both have good trainers so that will be exciting. It is interesting to be a part of. It really taught me that receiving answers requires effort. We just prayed and hen had to exert ourselves mentally and check with the spirit to see if we were even close haha. Sometimes we weren't. That night we went out to diner with a newlywed couple. Pretty weird because I still feel like a wee 14 year old but really they are not much older than I am. 

Thursday I exchanged with Elder Woolley who is our DL. It was good, we got roped into moving a couch though. After 2 hours and a chunk of drywall out of the ceiling we realized that it was not going to fit so we took it back down the stairs. Maybe not the most productive exchange but a good time was had by all. 

Friday morning we met with President for 3 hours to discuss training at Zone Conferences and MLC. We also discussed more about transfers. It is amazing how much I am learning, even if it is just on the fly. President Craig gives us a lot of opportunity to lead and make decisions which is good practice. That afternoon we drove out of town to contact a media referral that we had received. Media referrals are always super exciting. Sad part was though that the guy ended up being a 15 year old kid so we couldn't teach him and his family only speaks german. that was too bad. We didn't have to stress about km's but it took like 1.5 hours out of our day. That night we taught a family from Nigeria. I love Nigerians!!

Saturday we spent the morning boiling crazy amounts of water at the church because the baptisms were that night but there was a relief society meeting all day so we could not fill the font then. We boiled SO MUCH water with the hopes some of that heat may carry over to the evening. Anyways after that we taught a lessons and then went to do office work. We have the responsibility to organize how all 110 missionaries in this mission get from their old area to their new area, how those not leaving an area will have a companion while they wait for their new one and how all of the phone and cars will get sorted out. Elder Griffin said something funny as we wee doing it "Assume no-one has any common sense while making travel plans... sometimes that is how it seems" haha o we spell out everything from Saskatoon to Regina to Brandon to Winnipeg back to Brandon then Regina then Saskatoon and then out lying areas. We draw it up on a whiteboard and it gets crazy but I LOVE it. I don't know why but I love organizing things like this. I still do not enjoy organizing most things though. That day we were also organizing a baptism and trying to get set up for that. The baptism went ell and Ronke came to it. her date is for the 18th of February. William got baptized but Randy is going to have to wait because he did not actually quit smoking. It was nuts though because that night we got home at 8:57pm. That never happens because we always have something e need to do at the office but that night it did. 

Sunday we went to go work on the travel plans before church but barely had any time so we did not get much done. That scared us because thy need to go out today like right now. At church I got to confirm William and give him the Holy Ghost. That was my first time ever doing that. As I finished the blessing I looked up and saw Ronke, Yemi and their 2 boys. They are the Nigerian family. They LOVED church! They said they are coming again next week. they stayed for all 3 hours. After church we had ward council which was great but there was not a less convenient Sunday for it because of the monster of travel plans lingering in my mind. We got to work on them for 20 minutes before our meal appointment which helped. Immediately following the meal appointment was the Canada Winnipeg Mission fireside which is put on by the mission for investigators and members. I was conducting he meeting so had to be there. That ended around 8:30. From then until 1:00 am we were doing travel plans and organizing and sending the mission indicators for each companionship, district, and zone to the stake and district presidents and also to President Craig. It was a late night. 

The reason I call this coming week the week of death is because we get no sleep because of the 100 000000 things to do for transfers. The only person busier than us this week is President Craig. I am so excited though, I love it so much! I ould not want to be anywhere else in the world.

Love you all

Elder Stewart

Just finishing up indicators - Notice the clock on the wall...

January 16, 2017

So it is crazy how much the Lord is blessing us right now. Being in the office is sometimes a bit time consuming but the Lord makes up for it big time. I would be interested to see a ration of time spent finding to lessons taught before coming to the office versus in the office. We just teach here and find new investigators. 

Monday was pretty slow but sometimes that is what we need to get caught up in stopping by potential investigators and things. One of my fatal flaws is that I get so caught up in "finding the elect" sometimes I forget to stop by those who are already found but are maybe not yet progressing. We also did service for a member by coming and picking up an old TV (like one of the ones that weighs like 100lbs. We don't really know what to do with it but we will find some dumpster sometime. 

Tuesday we had District Meeting and that was great! I love district meetings and it interesting to see the differences in how they are run from District leader to district leader. We also taught a few people. One of the lessons was to a couple from Nigeria and we brought a recent convert from Nigeria with us. (it is not racist just smart). IT was super good. She has a baptismal date for the 18th of February but he is still uncertain. 

Wednesday We did a bunch of finding and found a new investigator named Elwin from Split Lake MB. Serving in Thompson has been such a blessing, because now I know EVERYONE from the north and it is an instant mutual friend to talk about a break the ice. It honestly has not failed me yet. We taught the Hamiltons almost every day this week. Their baptism is this Saturday and they are super excited. We have taught them everything except some of the Laws and Ordinances so we will have to bang those out this week. Thursday we had exchanges. I was with Elder Lewis who is currently one of the ZOne Leaders in Regina. They drove in and Elder Lewis and I tracted from 10:00am to 5:00pmwith no luck at all. The only neat thing that happened was that I tracted into Marko Dano of the Winnipeg Jets! We are going back to see him when he is back from his road trip. Pretty neat!! We then went and served a bunch of homeless people at a soup kitchen for 2 hours. To end the night we did one last stop by and... got in and found 2 new investigators! Ether 12:6 was real on that day. Thank goodness for exchanges though because My dad is helping Randy Hamilton get his drivers abstract from Alberta so he called Randy while Elder Griffin and Grant were there. It would have made for a weird situation if I was there haha. 

Friday was uneventful but it has been-40 like all week so we have been trying to get into apartments to tract! Couldn't do that last year in Thomspon and never did in Regina but now I am converted to apartment tracting.

Saturday we taught all day! It was the best! We ended with 11 member present lessons which is my all-time high! 

Church was good on Sunday. ONe goal I have set is to increase my spirituality because for a lot of assistants their spiritual life gets almost put on hold because we are so busy with everything else. I am trying not to let that happen to me. 

Love

Elder Stewart