Rough Week but Good Attitude

This week was a pretty rough one for us, everyone dropped us or just flaked out. We have found a lot of tares so this week will be the week of the Harvest!

Monday for P-Day we played ball hockey in the church gym, it was inspired by Play On! It is pretty amazing how much all of the Canadians are than all of the Americans. None of us Canadians ever really played organized hockey but I guess the Pond hockey helps. If we played the Canada vs US game it was 7-1 like every time. Pretty interesting, must be in the Maple Syrup. We mixed up the teams a bit though and had some good games. We don't have any goalie equipment so we just played with the small round classroom tables in the church as nets. It is pretty small. We played with a Play On! ball though so our ankles are still recovering haha. Elder gee decided that the best way to play goalie was to sit cross legged in front of the net because that way he could cover like 90% of the net. that was a good idea until I shot the ball and it got tipped directly into his nose. He was bleeding and all. He is fine now so don't worry haha. that night our lesson with our the "Golden Investigator" Prince cancelled so we did some finding before YSA FHE. For FHE we cleaned the chapel and played some Frisbee. The stage was in grave need of that clean! We found some clothes in the corner that belong to a missionary serving from Winnipeg who left last year! SICK!!

Tuesday we had some good lessons scheduled but some of them fell through which is always frustrating, especially when they are far away. You drive 20 minutes there just to not have them answer. Usually when that happens we try to find over in that area to make the trip worth it but sometimes that is not the best idea because we are supposed to work with the YSA so if it is surrounded by a bunch of old people then we will drive somewhere there are more YSA. I think if as humans we could be just a bit more reliable our world would progress a lot faster. Maybe it is just with missionaries though... We also went to a Birthday lunch for a recent convert that day but that was short lived because we are only allotted 30 minutes for lunch to reserve pros time. That day we taught a Chinese student named Zak. He seems like he could be solid but he left for Hong Kong for the next 3 months so that was that. I have made a section in the area book for "In China, contact in September". Sadly it is currently more full that our investigator section haha. Most of the Chinese people here are very wealthy so they travel home for the summer every summer. it makes it hard to do missionary work because probably half or more of the U of M's students are in China. We also did a lot of tracting that night. 

Wednesday we had District Meeting in the morning. It is weird being the oldest missionary in the district, I don't feel any older than I ever did but those around me seem a lot younger. Funny how perception works. As part of district meeting Elder Gee had me explain how we came to the goal of 204 baptisms in the year 2017. I talked about the 9 hour MLC that concluded with that decision. It was a nice trip down memory lane! After DM we went to do some service moving things out of the mission home that are not going to the new mission home. I don't know if I mentioned but they are moving the mission home down to a neighborhood closer to whee the temple will be. I was really hoping I could go home from the old mission home but not so. As we were moving some stuff out it was sad to see the famous "Mission Home" that always smells like a home cooked meal and is always bight empty and dark. The mission president and wives have lived there since 1976. Pretty sad to see it gone but apparently the new one is nice too. That night we got lunched by our then "Bronze Investigator" Prince. We also had ward correlation. That is such an important meeting! Our new Ward Mission Leader is a convert from China who was baptized in Edmonton. He is Great! He was very excited about the meeting, maybe because on Saturday he got to baptize his girlfriend who is also solid! That night we taught a recent convert from Nigeria named Layi. 

Thursday we got lunched again by our probably then "Aluminum Investigator" Prince. He was so solid but then became so not solid. he heard some anti and we think he got offended when we asked why he skipped the lesson. I feel bad about how it all went down but live and learn I guess. We have not heard from him since :(. When we don't have lessons we spend a lot of time at the University of Manitoba street contacting. it is fun because there are so many people. It has potential to get awkward though because since we talk to so many Nigerians and so many Chinese people it is easy to not remember their face and then you realize you have already talked to them. They remember you but you don't remember them. It's a struggle but it makes you a little quicker on your feet. I like the university! that night was Institute. The Sr missionaries teach it and the current couple is very new. I think it takes people a bit to get used to a new teacher because no one ever answers questions. I feel bad for them as teachers.. 

Friday was a bit of a crazy day because we had to take our car into the dealership in the AM so we had to make up our studies and do weekly planning. Needless to say I could not wait to leave the apartment. We had a good lesson with a recent convert and he was anxious to update us on the NHL draft. I learned how uninformed I am. That night was very fun, the EQ organized an activity and we decided if we could get some people to go then we would go. We got the perfect hat trick, a less active, a recent convert and an investigator there! It was a murder mystery role play kind of game. Our people loved it! They also had pizza but as missionaries our curfew certainly limited our ability to stay for the pizza because we did not want to turn to pumpkins.. 

Saturday was the Baptism of Louise (our WML's GF). It was supposed to be at the stake center but since we have had so  much rain it wrecked the pipes so at the stake center the water came out of the taps looking like watered down chocolate milk. So at noon on Saturday the sisters called an audible and moved the baptism. That was a little crazy but it all worked out! That night we went out to check the railroad tracks. We had left a dime on it and we went out to find it! That was really neat! It got squished by the train real well! If that is illegal please keep this off of the blog and let me know but that was pretty neat!

Sunday was a good day! Sundays fly by like crazy but we found a guy named Joshua and set a date with him. We will see what happens!

Love you all Elder Stewart

June 12, 2017

This week was a super fun week for us. I love the YSA ward and I love having so much time on my hands to just be a missionary. I was talking to the Assistants and they have 3 zone conferences and an exchange this week. We on the other hand have almost nothing but personal finding and lessons. It is fun!

Monday we played Gadianton robbers for P-Day and that was nice. Elder Gee really wanted to play so i agreed to narrate for him and it was great. We had like 18 missionaries playing but it was sad because honestly they were really bad at it... That night we had family home evening with the YSA ward and we played ultimate frisbee. That was pretty fun! I am sad that i only get 1 transfer here though, I would love to spend 6 months in this ward. 

Tuesday we taught a couple recent converts and did some finding. We were able to street contact into a guy named Steve who is super nice. he is from Ghana and he is Christian but he is not so married to his church which is the perfect situation. There is no one better to find than a less active Catholic. They are so open! Anyways we taught Steve and he is very interested. Hopefully something comes of it! 

Wednesday was district meeting. I enjoyed it, Elder Gee gave some good training on the Tsar Canon. look it up! It is a great analogy that i don't want to type up. Wednesday we also taught a group of 5 Nigerian roommates. That was a little intimidating but they were super nice and I think 1-2 of them could be solid. It sounds like last transfer was a little slow in the YSA so Elder Gee and i have found a few places that are just like streets where the YSA people flow like milk and honey. We are finding like crazy and we figure someone is bound to be prepared.

Thursday was the day we taught some basketball player from Zimbabwe. He is a nice guy and his name is Kushinga. He would not set a date for baptism but is pretty reliable. That night we also had institute and I actually enjoyed that. I didn't always love seminary, especially during release time but I think I am becoming more genuine in my learning. After teaching the gospel for two years I am actually interested in learning more! The teachers are the Sr YSA missionaries named the Guellers and they are from Green Bay. 

Friday we had a busy day with some lessons. One of them was with a recent convert and his investigator sister. It was a little awkward because they started ranting to us about eachother. I just had to pull some Dr Phil wisdom out and ask them "So are you telling me..." It worked well and we actually had a pretty good lesson. That night we had dinner with the Guellers. We also had ward Correlation with the new ward mission leader. At ward correlation the bishop was there and we had some good things to talk about. I kind of felt bad because previous assignments that had been given to the Elders that i did not know about were uncompleted. We got some new assignments and some updated ones and tried our best to get those done. One assignment was a LA named Heri who is korean. Heri had not been to church in about a year. Bishop asked us to get in touch with him. the next day at we got in touch with him. We then taught him, invited him to church and he came. That really helps with ward council support when assignments are completed and accounted on. It was good stuff!

To make it better we also found a new investigator named Terry who also is Korean. We taught him, invited him to church and he came as well. Heri and Terry exchanged contact info and are now helping each other become associated or re associated with the church. I love it when a plan comes together! Our Saturday consisted of teaching those two and a lot of finding. 

Sunday we had church, ward council and some finding. Other than Heri and terry coming to church it was mostly just an average missionary day. 

Love you all!

Elder Stewart 

Realization of Reality - June 19, 2017

This week we dropped all 6 of the baptismal dates from last week. When i was with Elder Wright we did a portion on maintaining baptismal dates and I did some calculations. I should get the actual numbers but something like 70% of baptismal dates that we set drop within the first 14 days. It was insane... anyways, I guess we are contributing to that. Fortunately we were able to contribute 3 new dates this week and one of them is SO SOLID!!

Monday we played beach volleyball and ultimate Frisbee for P-Day and then for FHE we delivered flyers for Winnipeg Harvest which is similar to target hunger. They do it every year and the way it works is that The bishops storehouse in Lethbridge provides x amount of food, we collect food from the community and people can make food donation at Winnipeg harvests location. The amount of food provided by that is then matched by Safeway and Peak of the Market. It sounds like i should raise a ton of food but I collected food from probably 60 blocks of houses. 1 donation... I shouldn't judge but people are the worst sometimes. We were even in a well off part of town. Here is a challenge, if something like this goes on in your town, I challenge you to donate even just 1 can of something to those who need it! If every house on those 60 blocks donated 1 can, assuming there are like 15 houses on each block on either side of the road that would be 1800 cans of food! It was fun to deliver flyers though, that goes a lot faster than tracting because you don't get caught up talking to people who are not interested. 

Tuesday was one of those days that just seems to slip through your fingers. (those happen a lot as you near the end of your mission because you want to do so much that no matter how much you do you wish you could have accomplished more). Its like being in the fourth quarter down 2 points. I had to work on My Plan that morning and then  we had some time to street contact at the U of M. It is nice because when we go to "african alley" you can talk to 1000000 people a minute and many of them want to learn more. I have kind of made it a point to not limit my sights to only immigrants and ignore white people but typically only the immigrants want anything to do with us. Tuesday was different though, we were walking down this street and there is literally 1 white guy. He calls us over and I was like "this is a miracle!". It may have been but he was already a member who served a mission and was just in town for a conference. It is nice seeing members when out finding though. 

Wednesday was Zone Conference. It was weird to go to Zone Conference and not have a couple portions assigned to me and not have to go early to wrestle with bad technology and stuff. It was way relaxed but honestly I missed it. I was able to enjoy the training though. The Assistants trained on something that we decided on before I left and that was applying past training. I worry that so often we train on things and it is great but then we leave and just do the exact same thing we were doing before. It's like a new years resolution that lasts until the 3rd of January. So they gave a good portion on how to apply it as a zone, as a district, as a companionship, and as an individual. Sister Craig gave a portion as well on Mission Unity. This was like the last word i got before i left the office. I feel that the mission like any organization would run smoother and more successfully if there was increased communication and unity. That was mostly just a comment but Sister Craig took it and ran with it and did SO WELL. She talked about how when we baptize that is the mission baptizing so feeling envy, spite or jealousy is not right. She did it in very sweet terms but I loved it. I wish that training could have been given at the beginning of my mission because with the right mindset I think motives become more pure. I told Elder Gee, "I think we keep people out of the church by not turning them over". Meaning if the Sisters investigator would benefit more from the elders or visa versa, turn them over and let them fly! It applies to life too, if your girlfriend is more suited for your best friend.. just kidding. Anyways, President Craig stole the show a little bit with his training portion. He talked about studies. I have been a good student on my mission but I have really stepped my game up recently. I have learned that instead of just trying to gain knowledge by reading, it is way better to go in with a question and use a few different materials. When I just read the Book of Mormon all personal study I don't get as much out of it. So recently I have been planning my studies and having more resources in my studies. If I could go back i would spend more time in Preach my Gospel and less time everywhere else. At he conclusion of Zone Conference President Craig was kind enough to point out that I was the only one in my last Zone Conference. SO he called on me to share my talk with the zone. The topic i was asked to speak on  was What think ye of Christ". Now that is a nice topic. I started by telling the story of my first day in the field where I almost missed the greyhound to Thompson and then upon arrival there was no-one there. I don't know i I ever did write home about that but it was a story that got everyone laughing. I related how I felt more alone than ever being deserted in Thompson Manitoba with no companion, no car, no phone and no phone number to call if I did have a phone. Except home which may have been who I called if my companion had not showed up 2 minutes later. I felt very alone. I then testified of Jesus Christ and His love. It was really hot in there and I started sweating... out of my eyeballs. That was the end of that. I was SO sad that it was my last Zone Conference. I just want to get shipped back up to Thompson and get this party started all over again. 

Thursday was some more My Plan, a lesson with a recent convert and a new investigator that was not that solid. We found a guy named Prince though and set a lesson with him. Apparently he is the best player on U of W's soccer team but right now is injured. He is from Sierra Leon, same place as Sheku was from. 

Friday Morning we taught Prince and it was great. i think he could be really really good. He is a less active Christian but has recently made steps towards becoming more diligent in his faith. the lesson went very well and we set a baptismal date for the 15th of July. the day after I go home...

Saturday we helped with the harvest and like I said the results were a little disappointing. We also found a new investigator whose uncle is William tanui, Gold medalsist in the 92 Olympics in Barcelona in the 800m!

Sunday was great!

Love you all. 

Elder Stewart

Elder Gee and Elder Stewart

After helping with Winnipeg Harvest

Missions are tiring!

June 5, 2017 - First Week in YSA

This week was a weird one, I am now done being in the office and am back to being junior companion out of the MLC for the first time since I was with Elder Birchall. It feels weird but I think it is just what i need. I think President Craig is inspired for many reasons but one of them is that I think this is a good opportunity for me to kind of have a reality check. I have spent so much time administering and ministering to missionaries that I have kind of missed the opportunity to just have nothing but missionary work on my mind. I wouldn't want it any other way. It is strange the progress of your mission. For the first year all you think about is how this is your first whatever. First Christmas on the mission, first call home, first time being transferred. After your year mark it gets weird because you get to the point where it is like "man, this is my second Halloween" or whatever it is. Inevitably you are just conscious of it. Now I am starting to feel the last of certain things... I am not trunky, I am too sad to be haha. 

Monday I sent a big bag of my winter stuff home to the greyhound station in Lethbridge and put my dad's number on it. Problem was, I did not tell them I was sending it so hopefully they got it! Monday night we drove out to Portage to meet Elder Francis (Elder Wrights new companion) who came in from Regina. That night we drove into Winnipeg and had a lesson with a family from Nigeria. She was loving the Book of Mormon. He on the other hand was probably who Nephi saw in his vision when he says the "A bible, A Bible" quote. This guy tried to rebuke the Book of Mormon in the name of Jesus Christ. Nothing happened so that was comforting...

Tuesday we had meetings all day. We had the seniors meeting first to schedule the transfer week out. I love that meeting. We come to it with a sheet of paper prepared with everything that will happen that transfer week on it. Everything from cars, to supplies to mail, to greenies. We were talking it over and I asked if the cars looked ok and he just went off on how good the cars looked that he just picked up from the lot. President just kindly informed him that I meant the plans regarding the cars and we went on. It was a hoot. I think they should make a tv show out of the CANWIN mission office. We also had the trainers meeting, I have been in that meeting quite a few times and honestly it was sad to be in it for the last time. I have our training like memorized and I know exactly what President and Sister Craig will say and when they will say it. The same is true with the next meeting we have which is the new leaders meeting. I reminisced on going to that as a new district leader and then missing it as a new zone leader because I forgot about the time difference in the two provinces. Anyways, it was really weird to walk out of that room knowing I would never have a meeting there again. That night we had a meal appointment and some tracting.

Wednesday we taught a native guy named Troy who has a baptismal date for July 1. I am hoping he can make it. We then went and helped the Hamiltons move. That was a gong show. I vow that any time I move I will be organized. i have moved way too many hoarders on my mission and it just is not effective. That was short lived though because we had to get all of the mail and supplies ready. It was a 7 week transfer this time so that was the most mail and supplies I have ever seen. It filled up our whole truck bed. We had to take all of it to the St James chapel and then get going so we could get to the airport on time. We picked up the new missionaries. one was Sister Patac from the Phillipines, she has been a visa waiter but finally got it and is now serving here. One was serving in Scotland-Ireland mission but had to go home and is now waiting to re-gain his visa and get back there. He knows Mason pretty well. The others are normal trainees. I love picking them up but this time I was hit in the face with reality, I am like 2 years older than these people. They seemed SO YOUNG! It was insane. That was another last, last time to the airport for a while. Then we went and had dinner at the mission home and I got to bear my testimony. that night we set up for the new missionary orientation. 

Thursday was transfers so we had breakfast at the mission home and then had a big companion study with the new missionaries. We then went to the St James chapel and gave new missionary orientation. I would be surprised if they retain 10% of what is said. their eyes look glossy and their eyelids look heavy. The training went well and then we had to get everyone on the road. With that I left with Elder Gee without looking back. Elder Timms and Elder Gee had a baptism that day so we went to that.His name was Buyu and Elder Wright and I actually found and taught him before turning him over so that was neat! Elder Timms went out in style I would say. That night we just did some finding. Because Boyu got baptized our investigator pool went to 0. I think they focused so much on him that finding was on the back burner and the back burner was not turned on haha. Anyways I am excited to be here!

Friday we taught a guy maned Jay and set a baptismal date with him! For October... because he is moving to Vancouver for the summer. We are going to try to contact the missionaries there and maybe he will get baptized there. That day President also asked me to come and talk to him in his office. I probably would have been nervous a few months back but I was not for this one. he just sat me down and we just talked. Our relationship had been so much business and so much responsibility that he wanted to just talk. he thanked me for my help with everything and it was super nice. That afternoon was MLC and I was not there. That was kind of weird! That night we taught a recent convert about the brazen serpent because he had a bunch of questions about it and he is writing a book. I took personal study to look at it and I learned a lot. It is interesting that that short experience is referenced multiple times in the old testament and Book of Mormon as well as by Christ himself in the new Testament. Must be important. I sure learned a lot!

Saturday we taught Boyu. He went back to China on Sunday to see his family so it was good, we role played how to say no to beverages not in line with the word of Wisdom. He is really solid! That day we did a bunch of  finding and I started the infamous "My Plan". 

Sunday we had jay at church. He is the one moving to Vancouver. We also had an elders quorum meeting and I went to bed at 10:30 for the first time on a Sunday night since last December because I was not in the office doing indicators. It was a bittersweet feeling! Hope everyone had a great week!

Love Elder Stewart

May 29, 2017 - Last Week in the Office and Play On!

Dear friends and family,

I am writing this on a bumpy highway between Winnipeg and Brandon to pick up my replacement in the office. This week was a good one. We had 0 exchanges this week! I think this was the first week I have had 0 exchanges since December. Pretty crazy!

Monday we played tennis for P-Day!That was super fun. That night we did some finding in little Hong Kong which is the south part of the city. So man chinese people!

Tuesday we had DM and did some office work so that this coming week doesn't put us through the ringer too badly. I love preparing for transfers, it is just like prepping for a big game or something. You get to put so much preparation into it and then regardless of how prepared you are you always have to make some kind of audible. I have probably just been away from sports for too long but it really seems to get your heart beating haha. 

Wednesday We did a bunch of finding and taught one lesson. That night we stopped by a potential whom we had met just a few days earlier. He is a basketball guy so we got talking about basketball. he said he knew all about LCI basketball. He also said that a few years back some kid named Jimmy Ralph lit them up for like 45 points. Funny how stuff like that sticks with you. He also was a coach for PGC so that was another connection. Hoopefully he will progress and convert. 

Thursday We found a new investigator named Roger. He is new in Canada (so is everyone that gives us the time of day). He is from China and is actually baptist. He refused to accept the Book of Mormon because he had to ask his friend first before he would accept it because "he is the only man I trust here in this land of Canada". Lucky for us his friend is in our ward!! 

Friday I got an unexpected phone call! It was a member of the bishopric and Elder Wright answered. Long story short I ended up with a 15 minute talk to give on Sunday... Thanks Elder Wright haha. I would have done the exact same thing to him without hesitation! We also had a good meal appointment whee we met a few non-members!

Saturday was GREAT! We were at Play On! all day long. We had 14-16 missionaries there and we worked in companionship's. In the am Elder wright and I worked in the tent giving away registration packages and stuff. In the afternoon we were given a fancy radio and given the task of monitoring the rinks. Pretty much we got to walk around and if a game was getting heated we should stay there for a bit to keep an eye on it, as well as filling the refs bottles and running balls to rinks. There were some great hockey players there! I was super impressed. Some of the best players were native guys from reserves! SO TALENTED!! It was good to "bump into" Uncle Scott. That night the sisters had a baptism so we went to that as well! It was a good day and the impacts of it will last for months. Everyone knew "The guys in the white shirts". Many people asked who we were. Now when these families get tracted into in the future they will be way more open to talk to us. I think doing it yearly would be a good idea. Winnipegers love hockey and if the missionaries are associated with hockey even in a little way that is huge!

Sunday we got to meet with President Craig and rebuff transfers. To connect a few dots I was asked to speak Friday night, Saturday we had service all day so i had no studies. Sunday morning before church we met with President for 2.5 hours. Point is, I had no time to write my talk. I was writing it on the way to church and on the stand during the announcements. To make it better President and |Sister Craig were there with their oldest daughter. Also Dave Reeve (Very good family friend) were all there. I was like "oh crap". I think it went OK though. I spoke on personal revelation. I found a good talk called personal revelation by Robert D Hales and used some of his thoughts. (thank goodness for I-pads). I also based it on the primary song Search, ponder pray. I didn't enjoy it really but I am glad for the opportunity. I just love my mission! It is the best! I am super sad to leave the office though working with the Craigs has been life changing! I got a note from one of the old assistants from like a year ago and he said he misses it like crazy so I probably won't know how good I have it until it is gone. 

Love Elder Stewart

ps I am going to the YSA ward for my last transfer! I will cove the whole city so I am still kind of in the Waveley area!

Uncle Scott and Elder Stewart

Some of the missionaries volunteering at Play On!

Elder Stewart and Dave Reeve