What is Cold?, Football & Nothing Absolutely Insane

Hello again,
 
Man I'm super jealous of the Nauvoo trip. I definitely want to go see
all of those things when I get back. It was weird to hear about it
being cold outside. I'm literally going to die. I don't know what cold
is again! This week was pretty good. We had a baptism last Saturday.
We also played football today! So that was fun. We don't keep score
because we don't want the game to be competitive... but we totally won
6-4. Haha.
 
Well, this week was pretty normal. Nothing absolutely insane happened.
This one guy we're teaching has been really excited about everything
we've been teaching him and knows its true, but he has missed church
for the last two Sundays. He has a really crazy work schedule that has
him working from 7pm-7am on Saturday evenings to Sunday mornings. The
last time we saw him we taught him about the Law of Chastity which is
something he has been struggling with. We helped him to see its
importance and what he can do in his life to begin keeping the
commandment. He said he would do it and this Sunday he came to church!
He was super tired because church starts at 9, but he stayed for the
whole thing and contributed a lot in class. It was pretty cool. I also
found out that one of my converts has been going to institute every
week and giving the teacher boku problems with his questions. So
sweet! Haha. It's not easy trying to get the church working the way
its supposed to. The church isn't even close to the way its supposed
to be or like how it is back home. It just made me laugh when you said
you had a stake council meeting because I'm pretty sure that one has
never happened here. Anyway, everything is going good! We have a zone
conference next week Tuesday so I'll be looking out for some of those
packages people have said they sent me! I love all you and will talk
to you next week!
 
Love,
Elder Stewart

Moroni 10:3-5

Hello family,
 
Well this last week was pretty much the worst week of my entire life.
. . okay, not really. It was super sweet as always. One reason was
because... we had a baptism! Woo. These people were super sweet too.
Remember the convert that got married last December? His daughter got
baptized and her cousin (who stays in the same house). Also a guy that
started investigating the church over a year ago, and the best friend
of one of the ladies we baptized on the 26th. It's pretty crazy how
fast people's lives can change! Most of the last week was spent with
us trying to find people to teach. Well, it's easy to find people to
teach, it's hard to find to the people who are ready to change their
lives. So that's what we spent the week looking for. We also spent a
lot of time working on a zone meeting we have going on tomorrow. We're
focusing a lot on trusting in the promises given to us by the Lord.
Like the promise in Moroni 10:3-5. We need to have more faith that the
Lord will answer people who are seeking for answers from him. We need
to have more faith that when we invite someone to pray and ask Him
about the things we teach them, that he will answer them and tell them
they are true. We need to have faith that the Spirit can testify and
teach them that what we are saying is right. We've been pretty busy
but we're looking forward to the next week. Anyway, I hope you guys
have a good time in Nauvoo! Tell me how it goes!
 
Love,
Elder Stewart
 
PS- Aunt Jen- Happy Birthday!

Transfer News, Living in the 1800's & A Crazy Australian Lady

Hellooooooo family,
 
Africa is here. No worries. We did finally get transfer news and I'm
still in Lewabu with Elder Burton. That's super sweet though because
it's exactly what I wanted! I'm a pretty happy camper here. I'm
guessing that I'll be out of here at the end of this next transfer but
we'll see what happens, still plenty of work to do before then. It'll
definitely be exciting to see all the changes in the house. I'll bet
it looks pretty sweet. A family trip to Nauvoo would be pretty
stinking nice... I want to see all those church history places! Also,
I just want to tell the Nielsen's that I miss them! And Big Black.....
WRITE ME BACK MAN! There's a bucketful of noonas I'll be wanting to
hear from you. So send me all the juicy ones.
 
I was thinking about some stuff the other day and I realized that the
culture here is like people living in the 1800s but then there's cell
phones and modern cars. But in many ways it's similar. Women spend
their entire lives in the house washing clothes on washboards, cutting
wood, cooking over an open fire, taking care of children, etc. The men
usually have hard labor jobs and are busy with that all the time. The
houses are made out of mudblocks and sticks, or this combination of
sand, rocks. and small cement. The roofs are all with thin pieces of
zinc. It's kind of a weird mix of modern and old. No problem though.
The work here is sweet and I'm definitely blessed to have been called
to this mission. One missionary just got an update about his friend
who is serving in Korea- the guy has been out for 6 months and
yesterday was the first time they've had an investigator come to
church. I think my first Sunday there were 10 investigators in church.
Definitely spoiled to be here. We're even supposed to be having a
baptism this weekend. Speaking of being spoiled, this last week
something really crazy happened. Last Tuesday we went to Kenema to do
interviews and trainings. The next day, Wednesday, we were standing in
this big car park where you get in vans to travel between Kenema and
Bo. Basically it's a big dirt field and people are walking around
selling things and there are cars everywhere and people trying to get
you to get in the car whether you want to go to where they're going or
not. Anyway, we went to the place that the vans are going to Bo and
the one they were filling up had only one space so we were standing to
the side waiting for the next van to come. While we were standing
there this guy looked at us and asked us what country we were coming
from. We told him we were from the US and he just looked at us for a
second. Then he said "You guys should just get out of this country
because you're not doing anything to help it." Then he went and sat in
the van. We were super confused and a little offended so we walked
over to him and asked him what his name was. He got out and told us
that he wasn't going to tell us his name and he wanted us to get out
of his way and go away. While he was saying all this, a white lady
stuck her head out of the passenger seat of the van and said "You
people just want money! Money, money, money! You divide families and
ruin lives!" Then she stuck her head in the van and the guy sat inside
the van again. At this point we were just incredibly confused and
didn't really know what was going on so we just stood there and left
it because we didn't want to make a scene. One more person finally
came and the van started closing all the doors and getting ready to
depart. Just before leaving the white lady gets out and walked up to
us. Before we could say anything she told us we were terrible people
and needed to get out of Africa because we're just taking money and
dividing families (again). She also said that we needed to leave her
own people alone and stop ruining everyone's lives. We asked her where
she was from and she said Australia and started walking away. We asked
her if she knew what church we were from and she was just like, "Oh, I
KNOW your church." Then she slammed the door and they drove away....
what?? We were so taken aback and confused. I guess she didn't know
that we have to pay for ourselves to come out and that one of the
biggest doctrines in our church is that families can be together
forever. It was just so rude and as we were on our way back I just
couldn't see how people can serve missions in places like England
where everyone is just rude to you and won't even let you get a word
in. That was the first time anyone has been super rude like that for
no reason and it was just really weird. I don't know what happened
that filled those people with so much hate, but I hope one day they
can understand who we are and what we're REALLY doing. It kind of
messed up our morning but later we had a massive group of children run
up to us cheering and greeting us so that was always a plus. The work
here is sweet though, don't worry. I'm still happy and no crazy
Australian ladies are going to change that! I love all of you and will
talk to you next week! Mission is weird sometimes!
 
Love,
Elder Stewart
 
PS we had to go to a new internet cafe because the other one was
closed... this one won't let me send pictures. Sorry!

 I (Jill) found this new pic of Hunter meeting Elder Curtis and his wife on 

the Mission President's blog so I thought I'd include it since Hunter 

couldn't send any pictures this week!

Churched Out, Baptisms & "Latter Days"

Dearest family,

How art thou? Yup, I'm all churched out now. Elder Burton always talk about how we weren't like those crazy churchy people back home and that we don't think we are now but then we realize that we totally are and we're just fooling ourselves. But it's all good I guess. No problem. Speaking of being churchy, we had a baptism last Saturday! Yay. We had a mother and her daughter, one lady that was a referral from a return missionary (coughhisgirlfriendcough), and another little girl who was a referral from the branch presidency. It was nice and they're all wonderful people! As far as transfer news goes, it got delayed again so we probably won't know anything until next week. We'll see what happens though.

Anyway, like I said the people baptized this week were pretty sweet. The lady that got baptized with her daughter first heard about the church about 4 years ago. She was taught by missionaries but for whatever reason she didn't get baptized and I guess they just stopped teaching her. A little over a month ago, two missionaries were walking by her house and she suddenly called out to them "Latter Days!" Oh, and just a sidenote- no one in this country calls us Mormons. I've been called a Mormon maybe once my whole mission so far. Everyone here calls the church "Latter Days Church." Anyway, she called that out and the two missionaries stopped and asked her if she knew that church. She said she had talked to them many years ago but it has been a while. They invited her to come to church and asked for her phone number so they could contact her. She said she didn't have a phone. They tried to give her a small pamphlet but she couldn't read. That Sunday she didn't go. Within that week those two missionaries showed up at her house and they had a nice discussion called the Restoration of the gospel. She finally understood why there were so many different churches all teaching different things. She came to church for the next 3 weeks and is now baptized and confirmed! I wish I knew more about what actually was going on in her head, but I guess it went something like that. She was super sweet though and you could tell that she really understood the message we were sharing. Now we're teaching almost all her neighbors and they should all be baptized in the next month or so. It's kind of crazy how those things can work. It was a great week though. Sierra Leone is an amazing place, that's for sure! Anyway, I'm out of time so I'll talk to you all next week. Love you!

Love,
Elder Stewart


P.S. Clayton I got your latest noona.... YEAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Just a sweet poster I saw hanging up that I wouldn't mind putting in my room.

  Baptism!

  The only standard church building in the country! Running water not included.

Dusty Trails, Fishing with Palm Fronds & Everyone Loves Us!

Hellooooooooo family!
 
First off, you'll be surprised to hear this but you can actually buy
nutella here and I've bought it before. But it's INSANELY expensive so
I'll be more than happy to receive it! Haha. I was also pretty pumped
to see the letter from Carson! I'll be excited to see that guy again!
I guess you should try to get his mom's email so that he and I can
communicate a little faster about all this BYU housing business. Can't
wait for that! Also can't wait to sleep in my bed on your old
mattress... I have a feeling it feels a little softer than the ones
here. Just maybe. Savannah's wanting to go to EFY again? So sweet. One
thing I think I'm going to try and do when I get back is be a
counselor for EFY. I think that would just be crazy fun. We'll see
what happens with that. For now my life is full of dusty trails and
boku rice.
 
This past week was a super good one (of course), but mainly because we
had a sweet baptism for that man I talked about before! His picture is
below. There was another 19 year old guy we baptized but he got there
right as the thing was starting so he couldn't get in the picture.
I'll see if I can remember to get a picture with him. The other
picture there is me fishing! Yeah, we got some palm fronds and some
string and hooks, dug up some worms from the ground and went fishing
as a district. The fishing wasn't very good because the fish were
super tiny and couldn't put their mouths over the hook, but it was
still good and some people were able to catch something. The week
otherwise has just been crazy busy. We have been finding tons of new
people to teach and it seems like everyone is just begging for us to
come teach them! The Lord is definitely helping us to find people. I
wish more people could really understand what exactly it is we're
doing every day. Most people back home are so rude to the missionaries
and don't even give them a chance to talk. If there's anyone who
always reads the blog and likes to slam the door in the missionaries
faces or give them trouble should just write me a letter telling me
they hate me because I'm doing the EXACT same thing. I just happen to
be on the other side of the world. But anyway, being rude to the
missionaries is just lame and everyone should just at least hear what
they have to say. Like we will teach people sometimes and afterwards
maybe try to see them a couple other times. If they avoid us or give
us excuses, we don't spend all of our time trying to come and see
them- we go and find people who are ready to receive us. Those we saw
know that they need to pray and ask God about the message we shared
with them, and if in the future they want to talk, we're always there.
The most important thing is that everyone has the opportunity to hear
the message we have to share and then choose for themselves. So I
don't see why people in America have to be so rude to the
missionaries. It's pretty lame. I'm pretty happy that everyone here
loves us though, it makes things pretty sweet. The other day we were
walking down the road and there was a man wearing a full on muslim
attire including the little hat that they wear. We talked to him and
he gave us his number and said we could come see him. So crazy! Haha.
Anyway, the work is going great and I'm loving my area right now!
Transfer news is on Sunday! We'll see what happens. I'll talk to you
guys next week though! Love you!
 
Love,
Elder Stewart

Making blocks, Trapping Cats & Choosing the Right

Hello people,

Well, another week has gone by and you'll never guess how I feel about it... the week was stinking sweet! Surprise. First of all you should know that I bought new flip flops. They're bright green. I bought some like them when I was in Kossoh Town. They have Arabic writing on them so that's kind of exciting. Or maybe it's Chinese. Anyway, I can't read either so I don't really care too much. I'm glad to hear you guys had a pretty successful week though! Sounds like Slavster was just a little hot shot out there on the field. Everyone I've talked to has all said such good things! Yeah, EVERYONE. Today I played tennis which was kind of sweet. Turns out I'm not naturally talented at it but with a little practice I could play all right I think. Maybe not to the level of Clayton, but you know, not everyone can smack those noonas around like he can.

Anyway, the week was super sweet. In one of the pictures I'm sending home you can see we're standing next to some sort of contraption to make blocks. One day we were walking down this little path in the middle of nowhere trying to find this old man we started teaching the other day, but couldn't remember if we were supposed to go left or right when the path split (before someone says"Choose the Right!" the correct way was actually to the left. So... sorry.). As we were standing there, we saw this group of kids consisting of a 10, a 12, a 15, an 18 and a 22 year old making some mud bricks to build a house. The young one of the group then called out to us, "come help us!" So, obviously, we turned immediately and walked over to them. They were using this little contraption where you shovel wet mud into the block mould, pack it down, pack it down again with the machine, and then pull it back to raise the block up and out of the machine. So naturally Elder Burton and I took positions on either side and helped them to make mud blocks for the next hour. We contacted all of them and found out that they are all brothers and sisters and they lived just up the hill (the path to the right... okay you "choose the right" people would have still been right, but missionaries can never really go down the wrong path can they?) with their mom. Their dad had died so it was just them and their mom. A few days later we passed by to try and see them and met the mom and a couple of their other siblings. We haven't gotten a chance to really sit down and teach them but they were all super excited when we helped them and kept telling us to come to their house so that their mom could give some food to us for helping them. It was just kind of a cool little story to see how far a little bit of service can go. This last Sunday was also super sweet because we had FOURTEEN investigators come to church. So crazy. They filled up like two full rows. It was so sweet. This coming Saturday is also the baptism for that one super crazy guy that was converted from reading the Book of Mormon so that'll be a nice one. Anyway, things are going super great right now! But I'll talk to you all again next week! Love you!

Love,
Elder Stewart

P.S. Cody Guilbeau- Happy Birthday!

  The new Christmas tree

 Making blocks

 We had a cat breaking into our kitchen at night so we set a trap for him... then we ate him. JUST KIDDING. We let him go. Then we caught another one yesterday. So we just reinforced the kitchen and now it's golden.

  Just thought this picture looks kind of funny. Is that wicked?

Just Do It, Bigger Miracles & Bigger Faith

Family!

Well, before I forget to answer again, President and Sister Roggia came on 1 July 2010. Soooo they'll be due to go fairly soon. So it means that I won't get to finish with them. Which is kind of a bummer because I would rather him do my exit interview other than someone I've only known for about a month or so. Oh, and that guy who I talked about last week, his baptism is set for the 19th. But everything is looking pretty good so I'm sure it will be all good. Last week in our investigators class we passed around a paper to write your name, address, phone number, and if you were a baptized member or not. And under the baptism column he wrote "Not yet." So I thought that was kind of funny/sweet. But this last weekend we did have a baptism for a boy that stays with some members while he goes to school. So that was nice. He's a super smart kid and was really excited to be baptized.

So this week was sweet, mainly because we had a really great zone meeting! We baked the elders a cake and did a bunch of little activites to try and help them get inspired about the work for this new year. It was nice. Elder Burton and I were really excited about it and went crazy and decorated our apartment with Nike checks and the phrase "Just Do It." Remember the big Christmas tree you sent to me? Yeah well, it's now a massive check mark. I'll send a picture next week. We also put on our wall "Bigger Miracles, Bigger Faith." We've been really trying to have more faith. We've also been trying to focus on contacting fathers of families. It's kind of sweet because these old guys are all educated and we also have super sweet lessons with them. The church is soooooo new here it's ridiculous. Anyway, the work is still going well and going forward. I love all of you and can't wait to talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Stewart

 Missionaries in Njagboima!

 Baptism!

 My flip flop broke so I fixed all up nice using a series of rubber bands. Also I haven't developed a weird style of wearing socks with flip flops, it was just SO COLD this morning. So I put on socks. In case you're wondering what I consider to be super cold now, it would be a whopping 73 degrees... yeah, I don't know if I'll be able to survive at BYU again.