April 3/2017 - Fun Week

This week was nice. We had/have a missionary who is sick staying with us for this whole week. He is with us overnight and in the evening but he stays in the mission office during the day. I feel pretty bad for him. Hopefully he can get better before having to go home but we are not sure yet. 

Monday we tracted quite a bit. 

Tuesday was district meeting and then we tracted quite a bit. Our area has been hard to upkeep with being out of town and having so many Zone Conferences. Miracles are real though! I will talk about that in a second. 

Wednesday was an exchange with the Saskatoon ZL's. I exchanged with Elder Griffin. That felt a little funny because he just left here like a month ago. We had a pretty good day full of tracting. It is getting warm here so tracting and Street contacting are way more effective now and we don't need to worry about getting kicked out of apartment buildings. That night we had a dinner appointment with Bishop Smith. I think the members might get a little frustrated because we are always on exchanges so it is never the two of us at a meal appointment together. It was a good day though and we found a bunch of Potentials. 

Thursday was MLC. We brought all of the leadership in from the whole mission so we had an extended one. It went from 10:30-5:00. Elder Wright and I trained on how to maintain baptismal dates after we set them. It went well. We surprised Sister Craig by asking her to come to the front and we practiced setting expectations after settinga baptismal date. At the beginning she was like "Just call me Carol". That was weird haha. That Night we exchanged with the Regina ZL. I was with Elder Francis and we found a new investigator and set a baptismal date with him. 

Friday we finished the exchange and I got to go split with Elder Timms (Old Companion) to go teach a turnover lesson. His name is Rico and he is super solid. he moved from the Philippines and he has a girlfriend in the Philippines who is a member. He showed up at the YSA ward and they have taught him like 5 times. Then they found out that he is 36 so now he is ours and he is getting baptized April 15! That is transfer week so that will be dead but it will be great!

Saturday was Conference! So was Sunday! Rico came and so did Emmanuel. The work is Hastening! Rico loved the talk on Sunday about the guy who met with the missionaries because of his Girlfriend. So relatable!

Hope Everyone had a great week! 

Love Elder Stewart

Elder Stewart's Family Tree - He was trained by Elder Birchall. He Then trained Elder Low and Elder Kiriaka (not pictured).

March 27/17 - Mawage is what bwings us togevar today

Shout out to Parker for getting super engaged this week. It is so crazy, i think I am suffering from replacement syndrome now haha. Just kidding but for real Congrats Parker and Brooke. I am happy for you!

This week was full of fun. We again did not get to spend as much time as I would have liked out proselyting but that is just kind of the reality of working closely with President. Monday night we got lunched a few times so we got to do some finding. We found a lot of good potential investigators this week and I think that the work will pick up in the coming weeks. Tuesday was the North Zone Conference so we had to head up there early to make sure hat the technology would work and that the meeting would run smoothly. President was in interviews so we were kind of in charge of getting things ready. The Zone Conference went well. Elder Wright and I gave a portion on the attribute of Obedience. There is a misconception that obedience is situational. The scriptures teach otherwise. In 1 Nephi 2:3 we learn that it was because Lehi had the attribute of obedience that he was able to obey. He did not need to decide then and there to obey the commandments, that decision was made long before. No matter what anyone tells you that verso of scripture is not redundant. Anyways we trained before lunch. (this part not for the blog) During lunch President Craig approached Elder Wright and I and asked us to help with a situation developing with some missionaries. President Craig is a stud. I don't know how he can just stay at a Zone Conference and give training on revelation while knowing full well that there is a situation that is stressful going on. So we missed the afternoon of ZC to go work on that. 

Wednesday was South ZC. We stayed for the whole thing and it went well. We gave the same portion at that ZC. I have enjoyed studying obedience in preparation for that. After the zone conference we exchanged with the North ZL. I had Elder Bingham here in Waverley with me. We tracted a lot on Thursday. 

Friday morning we were out in Brandon for a Zone Conference and as it always does the technology decided to take the day off so that added some unprecedented annoyance. I have learned a ton about technology since serving here in Waverley but I still wish I was born in the stone ages so I would not have to worry about electronics haha. Our obedience portion went well. We concluded it each time with the video on LDS.org called The Arabian Horse. It was a good time. Saturday was full of finding.

Sunday was good. We had Emmanuel Aidogie come to church. hopefully we can reset his baptismal date soon. 

Love you all

Elder Stewart

March 20/17 - Transfer Week 3.0!!

Transfer week 3.0

I am scared by how fast time is going, I have already been in the Waverley ward for 3 months. Transfer week this week was not nearly as crazy as last time so that was nice. 

Monday we spent most of the day in the office for our P-Day. We had a lot of calls to make to missionaries, travel plans to finalize and just some other office work to do. Last transfer week was way nuts so this time I suggested that we take time to do things before we actually had to because otherwise it was going to be 2am bedtime every night again. No regrets about getting most things done on Monday. That night we went and picked up Elder Wright from Gateway area. We also had a missionary who was going home stay with us that night so their companions were together for a few days. That night we showed Elder Wright the ropes a little bit. I remember being in Elder Wrights shoes that week because as the new assistant you feel like the biggest third wheel ever. Its all good though because that week is full of new stuff. 

Tuesday was interesting, we had a bunch of meetings. The first one was the Seniors meeting at the office. We co-ordinated both the schedule of the week and the  Logistics. The senior missionaries are so funny, they just live their roles so much and are so caring. After the meeting we set up for the trainers and the new leaders meeting. We had to Skype a bunch of people into these meetings but conveniently we left the lap top at the apartment so with 15 minutes to the meeting Elder wright and Elder Griffin went to grab it and I stayed to set up for the meeting. Thank goodness for splits with President haha. Having 3 assistants make things so much more effective during transfer week. We got the meetings started just on time. At the trainers meeting we train on Principles of effective leadership and also how to do an effective companionship study. That went well, it is hard to teach with three people though. Then we gave the new leaders meeting. We have three main portions for that one. Each one of the assistants took one portion. Elder Griffin went first and trained on the importance and purposes of meetings such as District Meeting and Zone Conferences. Elder Wright went next and trained on exchanges and Then I went and trained on the principles of accountability and the application of that. That night we found a new investigator named Andrew. 

Wednesday we had Zone Training Meeting. Elder Wright was technically still a ZL in  north zone so he went to go give training there. I went to the the south zone training meeting. That afternoon we went tot the airport to pick up the new missionaries. I love that part of this role too. That night we had dinner at the mission home and the testimony meeting. that night we had the new Elders stay with us. We dropped them off at our apartment and then went to go set up for the orientation the next day. 

Thursday was the new missionary orientation, the technology worked that day. Transfer meeting went well and the train got off reasonably on time. That was goodbye to Elder Griffin. That night Elder Wright and I got to go to the departing missionaries dinner. I got to bear my testimony that time. Elder Olcott was one of the departing missionaries. Crazy to think I only have 3 transfers left. Scary really. 

Friday we took the missionaries to the airport at 5:45. There was no MLC this time so it was a lot easier of a week. It was in the transfer week debrief Friday morning that President asked us to come to Thompson. No rest for the wicked I guess! We had a meeting with President that afternoon and got him all set to go to Saskatchewan for Zone Comferences that afternoon. He is so busy. 

Saturday and Sunday were good days! Hope everyone had a good week.

Love Elder Stewart

March 13/2017 - Thompson Trip!

Editor's Note:

We only had a brief email on March 13 saying that they had to go to Thompson and that he would write the following week. So, this came on March 20, about the previous week. We then got a second email that same day about that week.

This week we had a bunch going on! As you know we headed up to Thompson for an exchange. It reminds me of old times because right now Elder Gee is Training Elder Darley and they have been on their mission for a combined 7 months. It makes me think  of Elder Birchall and i and Elder Low and I. These Elders are doing well and enjoying things up there. One of their biggest struggles that they have been having is that they baptized 2 people that then disappeared before their confirmation. Elder Wright and I set it as a goal to find them because they had no been heard from in 3 weeks. Long story short Elder Wright found them in the morning and then I found them in the afternoon. He beat me to it haha. I don't know for sure what will happen with their confirmation but they are found. It was super fun to be back up there. I had to work hard to not just make the day for me because we had 3 meal appointments that they had set because I had been gone for so long. Going back to old areas is a good time. 

Wednesday we drove back to Winnipeg but since we are kind of dumb sometimes we got 50 km out of town and got the "Low Fuel" notification. We elected to just go back to Thompson rather than risk it because we were in the North and there is nothing anywhere up there. That added time to an already long trip. 

Thursday we had an exchange with the Brandon ZL's here in Winnipeg. We have not been able to do much missionary work in our area recently with transfer week and then a trip to Thompson so on this exchange we tracted all day. We did not even get to teach a lesson which is sad because exchanges are better if you an do a little bit of everything. 

Friday we got to go to the airport with President Craig to get a missionary who had gone home but came back. It is always fun to see missionaries fresh off of the airplane. He will be in a tri-pan for the remainder of the transfer. We are glad to have him back. 

Saturday we also tracted all day. We are doing a ton of that. I am learning that contrary to popular belief sometimes that is the most effective thing because some people just need a break from missionaries or church or whatever if they are not willing to progress. 

Sunday Elder Wright gave a talk in church. This nigerian lady showed up for church with her friend and she is a non-member. We were pretty excited to try to teach her but the sisters got her first haha. Hopefully she can go somewhere with it!

this week we have 3 Zone Conferences to go to and train at. We are training on everyone's favorite subject... Obedience!

Love Elder Stewart

March 6/2017 - A Baptism!

This week was one full of odds and ends that filled our time quite nicely. 

Monday we went to a dinner appointment that we had on Sunday, she is named Sister Demarchi and she and her husband feed any missionaries in the city that don't have another appointment every Sunday. Last Sunday not that many missionaries showed up so there was a bunch of left overs so she had us back on Monday to polish off the rest of the food. We also went to go teach the Wastesicoot family. It was good to work with them  this week. That night we were supposed to have a turnover lesson with the Dalhousie Elders but the guy was not there so we did not teach him.

Tuesday we actually went to our District Meeting. That was only the second one this transfer because we were out of town for one, had a zone conference, had to go to Kenora and something else. I felt like we were guests in our own District haha. After that something crazy happened, I had called a guy whose number was in our phone as an investigator. I set a lesson with him at 2:00. On the way to 49 Scott street we got a call from the Regina ZL. They had received a call from a guy in their ward who was friends with a guy named Lewis wh had a lesson with the missionaries an wanted this member to come with them. Long story short Lewis lives in Regina and somehow his number was in our phone and somehow both Cities have a Scott Street and the Regina Elders found out about the lesson. The stars aligned that day.  We got lunched a lot that day.

Don't put this day on the blog. This is for my "Journal" Wednesday was a day in the office. Last week we did not step foot in the office once and this week we did... Big time. Wednesday we Transfer planned with President and Sister Craig. We started at 10:00 am and went until about 5:00 pm. We had some big things to discuss. To start we President asked Elder Griffin where he wanted to go because you get to choose after you leave the office. Elder Griffin had weighed his options and decided that he felt best about either going to help a struggling missionary or going with a particular zone Leader who is great but certainly needs the right to companion to keep the zone from having issues. In the end Elder Griffin has chosen and been assigned to go to Saskatoon as a Zone Leader. He has been in the MLC since his 4th transfer so about 16 or 17 months now. That is unheard of. Not to mention the 4.5 he has left after leaving the office. Next we moved to my next companion and after much debate, thinking, praying, and weighing the options we felt right abut Elder Wright. He was my cops ion when I was called to be the assistant. We will be serving together for a second time. After that we identified the 4 new STL's and the 3 new Zone Leaders. The MLC is very old so it will be interesting to see the very fast turnover when everyone goes home. Sadly, I will be part of that everyone. The rest of transfer planning is like a puzzle. You leave those on the board who will stay together and then take everyone else off who will need to be transferred and then you start mixing and matching. You have to account for mission experience, character/personality, diligence, and about 100 other things. It is interesting how we council together. President could do it himself but that is not the Lords way, He works in councils. Overall it was a good meeting. President bought us some sushi and we munched and council led the day away. Very neat experience. A few people requested certain things. It is difficult to decide which ones to honour and which not to because you need to know the motive. If it is so that they can work harder then it is good but if it is to get with a friend then that is not ideal. President and Sister Craig are amazing people.  That night we had a lesson with the Wastesicoots and one other one. 

Thursday we had to prepare for MLC the next day. We were given an assignements to train on obedience. I didn't know that this was coming but at District Meeting on Tuesday I had given some training on the same subject so that was nice. Anyways Elder Griffin and I made a short portion. We only had 20 minutes to cover a lot of things. I will attach a copy of the portion because I want to keep some things but I suck at a journal haha. We also had to update all of the documents relating to the responsibilities of An Assistant, A zone Leader, a Sister Training Leader, a District Leader, and a trainer. The grammar on those things was pretty bad so we fixed it all. That took a while. That night our Elders quorum president took us out to a place like "HU HOT" to discuss home teaching assignments I wish every ember meeting was like that haha. 

Friday we had MLC and we gave our portion on obedience. It went great! We took like 30 minutes but that is ok because I think we cracked the whip enough without going too hard and making people hate "the big bad assistants". That night we had a bunch of things to do to prep for transfer week. Last transfer week we were like always an hour behind where we wished we were so we took caution and are now ahead so that we can actually proselytizing a little this week. 

Saturday we had the baptism. It is really sad because Jade is just dying quite fast. I baptized her and Elder Griffin baptized Natalie. After the baptism we had to continue prepping for transfers. We had to travel plan with ELder Smith Sr to work out all of the missionaries as well as the cars for transfers. We just draw up a map on the whiteboard and account for every missionary in the mission. It takes a long time. Fun Stuff. 

Sunday I got to confirm Jade a member of the church! Eider Griffin did indicators with me for the last time. Time to show Elder Wright the ropes now. Crazy that it has already been 3 months here in Waverley ward. 

Love out all,

Elder Stewart

Elder Griffin, Natalie, Jade, Elder Stewart

February 27, 2017 - A Better Week

This week was a lot different than last week. Monday we got a all from President Craig informing us of some of the challenges in the mission. He told us that we were needed in Kenora. So we packed up, cancelled our appointments for that night and drove to Kenora. That is one of the joys of being Presidents assistant, not too often you just get approved for a road trip with free gas in your life. Anyways we got there at 9:00 Monday night. 

Tuesday we were exchanging with the Kenora Elders. They are a trainer and Trainee in their second transfer together and are struggling to get along. President informed us on the situation and so on the way out there Elder Griffin and I discussed the pros and cons of each of us exchanging with each of them. In the end we decided that I would exchange with the trainer and Elder Griffin with the trainee. We did that. We had District meeting and had to be back in Wnnipeg that night so essentially we only had from lunch until dinner to work the whole situation out. After district meeting I met with the trainer for companion study and we talked about what was going on. He had a long list if things tha were wrong and concerns he had with obedience, relationships, and anything else. I realized that this was not going to be a quick fix so what I ended up doing was I sat down with this Elder and we made a list of concerns. He had 8. I then had him number them from 1-8, most concerning to least. I then had him make a second section titled "Goals". Again I had 8 spot there and starting with number 1 we set a goal for each concern. After completing the goals section I made a third section titled "actions" and we wilted 1 thing that this great trainer could do to affect this concern and reach this goal. We discussed the principle of agency, he could not make different decisions for his companion but he could show forth a good example and have a profound influence. After completing this sheet I asked him "If your companion made a similar list, what would be on there?". We discussed a few things and set goals and actions for how he could improve, and compensate and adapt so that the companionship could work in unity. It was very helpful for him. After dinner and right before we left back for Winnipeg the 4 of us sat down and had a talk. We had them open up and discuss things and set goals. It was an interesting experience to be able to minister rather than just administer and send their zone Leaders or something. Things like that are hard tough because in the MTC they teach you how to teach and ask inspired questions but they never teach you how to minster to other missionaries. I felt like I was 100% winging it haha. It was fun though. I should mention that that morning we all went on a run and we were enjoying the beauty of Kenora. When we were running home we were crossing a street an had the walking sign. I was in the front so I crossed. There was a truck at the intersection who I guess was trying to turn right on red and so he was stopped. He didn't see me and he hit the gas and hit me hahaha. It didn't hurt but just freaked me out. I like jumped and my hand hit his headlight and I kind of just bounced off and kept running. To make the story sound better through we will just say that I got he by a truck haha. (Maybe don't put this paragraph on the blog because it is not really anyone's business that we had to go do an emergency exchange).

So Tuesday night when we got back to Winnipeg we met up with our District Leader Elder Woolley and his companion Elder Moore. I was exchanging with Elder Moore in Waverley. We tracted all day until the night. Now here is story time, (it is super sad so get some tissues) WHen I was in Thompson I got to know a member family there by the name of Wastesicoot. She was great, she made me the moccasins I sent to Parker and She gave talks in church all the time. Right before I left Thompson she left Thompson to go with her grandkids in Winnipeg because her daughter was in a rehab program. 11 on this later I get transferred to the Waverley ward where she is now living with her less active husband and their grandkids. One of their grandkids is 8 years old and her name is Jade. Jade was having bad headaches an they ended up finding a brain tumour and admitting her to the hospital. On Wednesday they found fluid buildup inside the brain and they called us to come give her another blessing because she was maybe going to need surgery the next day. We gave a blessing to her, her less active mom, Sister Wastesicoot and the less active Grandpa. The family is understandably an absolute wreck. It makes me want to work in the medical field even more than ever before. I am currently thinking radiology but we will see. Anyways we talked to them and tried to console them. It was amazing that Gordon (grandpa) asked for a blessing because he had not been to church in a long time. 

Thursday I had another exchange (3 in 1 week!). This one was with Elder Wintle who I served a transfer with. We had both he and Elder Ence in our area and between the two companion ships we had 0 lessons set. We both tracted ALL DAY. It is nice for the area but not necessarily for the exchange because it is hard to get a feel for how the are doing because you don't get to teach together. It wa fun nonetheless. 

Friday we had a bunch of lessons set but through a series of unfortunate events we didn't end up with the most successful day. It's all good though, we found a bunch of potential investigators that may become something!

Saturday we had a few lessons and did a lot of tracting. 

Sunday is the day where things started coming together. We were at church and we learned that Jade Wastesicoot was released from the hospital They have been taught by missionaries and have been to church a bunch. Bishop met with the family and set a baptismal date with them for this Saturday. They have asked me to baptize Jade so I will do that! It is amazing the faith the family is showing to work through this even when the medical professionals say that there is no hope. Her 10 year old cousin Natalie is getting baptized on the same day. 

Hope everyone had a good week. 

Love Elder Stewart