Camera Trouble, Super Busy & The Greatest Thing about a Mission

Hello family!

Well, sounds like you guys are pretty much enjoying. But yeah, to answer your
questions, yeah I'm having camera trouble. I think it might be messed
up. I kind of talked about it to dad in his email though. I have no
idea where to buy a camera here and a lot of the times the electronics
here are cheap and are made to look like original ones that are
actually just cheap chinese knock offs. I'll look around all the same
though. I'm in a new area now and I'm with a new companion. His name
is Elder Wootton and he's from Utah. I tried to attach some pictures
but the internet wasn't working too well. We had a baptism this past
weekend and I'm back in the river! Yes! It's sweet. I didn't baptize
the people this time though. I don't know them super well. Haha. As
far as the whole family we're trying to teach goes, the guy is only
available on weekends and on this last weekend he had to travel
somewhere far for a funeral. It's not sweet though because people will
feel the Spirit and then after they haven't seen us for a long time
they forget about it or they hear things and then they never let us
come see them again. It's crappy. So he's a work in project. One
pretty crazy thing happened this week that you guys probably won't
believe. I think I said in the last email how I'm in my first branch
again and so I'll get to see a bunch of people that I knew from the
beginning of my mission including converts. One thing that they always
do in the branches here is that any time a new missionary gets
transferred into their branch they always have him bear his testimony.
So although I had been there before, they had me bear my testimony
again. The thing that was crazy was that as I had started to talk I
said something like "it seems like just yesterday I stood at this same
pulpit and bore my first testimony on mission..." I felt like I wanted
to cry! What??? It kind of just hit me how fast the time goes I guess.
I have kind of been in denial (and really I think I still am) that
mission will eventually end but it kind of all hit me right there. It
just really made me want to be sure that I put everything I can into
these last few transfers because I don't want to look back and think
about what I could have done better. We're super busy and I'm just
trying to work hard to handle all the responsibilities. I love these
people like crazy though! I realized that the most frustrating thing
and the greatest thing about serving a mission is the people. They're
the ones that make you feel happy and the ones that make you vexed!
Haha. Speaking of sweet people though, there's this one lady we're
teaching who is just super sweet and loves the gospel but she really
wants to be baptized with her husband. The husband is a pretty good
guy, he just really likes to focus on this little shop his owns. We
focused on him more this past few days and on Sunday he came to
church! It was sweet! He's a really great guy and so we're hoping
he'll continue to progress. Anyway, we had a really great week and I'm
looking forward to another great one this week. I love all of you and
I'll talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Stewart

P.S. Post my email address on the blog so that everyone knows they can
email me! THanks! (hunter.stewart@myldsmail.net)

Emails!, Poda Podas & Family

Hello,
 
Wow, it sure sounds like an interesting week. Poor Spearmint... I'll
definitely miss her. She was quite a classy lady. The big news for the
week this week is that now we're able to email ANYONE. So all you
friends that abandoned writing me but take glory reading my blog each
week, send me an email. (hunter.stewart@myldsmail.net) I don't care if 

it's short! Just tell me about your life and what you're doing with it. 

It's been a while. Anyway, I'm now sitting in the East End of Freetown

having traveled out of Waterloo to come here. There's no internet cafes 

in the town we live in so we have to catch a poda poda for about an hour 

ride and go to a place there. No problem. I got to see our area quite a bit

and it's super sweet! We have a lot of great investigators and I get along
really well with my companion. I'm pretty excited about it all. We're
just starting to get the zone set up and we'll be having zone meeting
on the 26th. Oh, side note I tried to email dad back but the internet
cut out and don't think it sent. Anyway, we had a this lesson with
this man this last Saturday. We taught him about the Restoration of
the gospel of Jesus Christ and he was so excited that he told us to
come back the next week Sunday and to teach his entire family. He said
that was the only time that they'll all be around. It was pretty
sweet. My whole mission I've been wanting to see an entire family
(Man, wife, children) get baptized together on the same day but it
hasn't happened yet. The best thing about it all is being a part of it
with your family! It definitely changes lives, that's for sure. To
know everything about it and then to leave it all behind, I don't
think I can ever understand it. I've met a lot of people who left the
church because of some argument they had with a church leader, or
something that happened that offended them. I just wish they could
remember that although the organization is perfect, the place is
filled with imperfect people. Everybody makes mistakes. Anyway, I'm
definitely excited for everything and can't wait to see another week.
I love you all and will talk to you next week!
 
Love,
Elder Stewart
 
P.S. My camera has been having a problem- when I turn it on the screen
is just this white flashing color... I'm afraid it might be kicking
the dust too. But I'll see what I can do with it this week.

(I, Jill, got this picture from Hunter's Mission President's blog) 

Transfer News & Learning More Than Possibly Imagined

Hello family!
 
Well the week was a good one. I just looked at all those pictures of
your room- what! So different. It looks super good though, I like it.
You can tell Sister Wuertenberg I've gotten a letter from them in the
last little while. Just one. I'm glad to hear the Latrini's haven't
died yet, hopefully no one will break their hip this time (boom
roasted). Maui sounds, well, extremely nice. Wouldn't mind to find
myself there at some point in the future. Haha.
 
Anyway, the big news for the week is that we got transfer news this
past week and I'm getting transferred! My new area is called Rokel and
I'm super super super excited to go there because that area meets in
the Kossoh Town branch! In case you forgot, my first area on mission
was Kossoh Town, so it means that my converts from the beginning of my
mission, I'll be able to see them again! I was so stinking excited
when I found out that I would be going there. That was actually my
hope, that I would one day be able to go there. Another big surprise
was that I'll be a zone leader still and that I'll be opening a new
zone. It sounds a lot cooler than it actually is. Really all that
happened is that the Freetown East Zone split in two and me and my
companion will be the zone leaders for the new Waterloo zone. Rokel is
between Kossoh Town and a small town known as Waterloo just outside of
Freetown. Anyway, I'm really excited to be going there and see what
will happen next. There's still a lot more work to do. This last week
was pretty good, we had our zone meeting on Tuesday and focused a lot
on the development of the individual and on becoming better people. I
honestly don't know what I'd be like if I wouldn't have gotten this
chance to come here. I'm definitely learning more things than I could
have possibly imagined. One sweet thing that happened this week was
that this nice little family we met (gotta get the parents married
first), all came to church! They all are really happy and even the
last time we saw the wife she said that she wanted to be baptized and
beginning coming to church. I'm hoping to hear all about it. I'm sad
to be leaving Lewabu but I know there's more people who I need to see
in Rokel! My last Sunday there I was just looking around the chapel
and saw all the people I had taught sitting in church and I just felt
blessed to have been able to serve here as long as I did. Anyway, the
work is sweet and next week I'll be back to the bustle of Freetown! I
love all of you so much!
 
Love,
Elder Stewart

Zone Conference, Super P-day & Egg Hunt

Hey family,
 
Well this last week was absolutely crazy. On Tuesday we had a Zone
Conference with President Roggia and Elder Burton and I gave a small
instruction about enduring to the end. We pretty much just invited
everyone to keep showing love to their recent converts and to continue
teaching them even after baptism. We also invited them to write some
of them letters. That's something I'm going to try and do before I go
home- write all of my converts a letter. It's hard because we get so
busy and its hard to even find time to write my friends letters
sometimes! But I'll do my best. After the zone conference we had zone
leader council with President Roggia which is basically just a meeting
with him and he gives us some information about what's going on in the
mission and what we need to be focusing on in our zone and things
like that. He also gives us a topic of something to talk about at our
next zone meeting which is always the following Tuesday (tomorrow). So
we've been trying to work that one out. On Wednesday we went to Kenema
and I got to go with the Simbeck Elders so I saw some of the people I
taught and a couple of converts while I was there so that was pretty
sweet. I would give anything to go back to Kenema, man that place is
sweet! Thursday we traveled back to Bo and started to work on the Zone
Meeting instruction and getting things in place to have a super p-day
on Monday (today). Friday was a regular day and we got things prepared
for a baptism the next day. Saturday we had a baptism for one of the
SWEETEST people ever; I think I talked about him last week. The
service was really nice and the next day, Sunday, everything went
smoothly for his confirmation. Something sweet that happened was that
on Sunday this family that we just started teaching came to church.
Well, half of them anyway. The man is a muslim so he didn't come, but
his wife and three of their kids came. So that was pretty sweet. It's
kind of funny because the man told us he would come and the woman just
kept avoiding the question and never really answered us. Maybe she
just wasn't sure. Haha. We'll be trying to see them this week. Today
was a pretty sweet day too because we had that Super P-day. All the
Elders from Kenema came to Bo and will be here until tomorrow after
Zone Meeting. For the super P-day we boiled some eggs and had everyone
decorate them with markers and write their favorite scripture on it.
Then while everyone left, Elder Burton and I hid them around the
compound. Then we all went and played a nice game of football. It was
pretty sweet and I scored a nice goal off a volley. So that was pretty
exciting. Then we all went back to the compound and everyone found the
eggs and everyone shared their scripture and shared their testimony.
Then we all ended up by eating a nice big bowl of jollof rice. No
problem. Its been a pretty successful day so far and we're looking to
have a nice FHE this evening and a nice zone meeting tomorrow. So
hopefully everything will go well! Anyway, I'm glad everything is
going well at home and I'll be looking for those pictures! And a big
thank you to aunt jen! I got the package this past week and I think
all the candy is gone already. Haha. And don't worry, the tortillas
didn't mold over. So THANK YOU. Oh, and if its not too late, if it
would be possible to add some slap ya momma or tony's to the package
that would be sweet. Anyway, thank you for everything! I love you and
I'll talk to you next week!
 
Love,
Elder Stewart

  Baptism from the 16th!

Baptism from the 23rd!

 

Kids wearing sweet clothes.

 My MTC Elder Wuthrich on our 18th month mark!

 Guinea pigs from Guinea.

 Can you identify this snake for me?

 Baptism from this past weekend, the 2nd.

 I've been wanting to take a picture like this for a long time. I

always imagined it saying something inspirational at the bottom like
"Dream Big"... haha don't worry I'm still thinking about all this
cheesy artsy optimistic business.

                                  Super P-day!
 

Answers to Random Questions Part 2

These are the random questions I asked Hunter:

1-Pirates or Ninjas? Why?
2-Have you eaten any rice in the last week? If so, what flavor?
3-Where did you catch that snake in the pot? and what kind was it? It looked pretty wimpy compared to the snakes in the Shed of Horrors!
4-Have you seen any other creepy creatures lurking about?
5-Do you have any requests for the package I am sending you next week? Let me know!!!!!

Hello family!
 
Sounds like it was a great week. We had a nice baptism this past week
and have just been focusing on finding sweet people. We're hoping for
some super sweet miracles. This one guy we've been teaching got
interviewed and will be baptizing this week. I think I talked about
him last week. Basically he has a super strong testimony and just
loves coming to church. It was too bad to hear about LHS. It's about
time they bring a championship in. I don't have a lot of time so I'll
answer your questions quick. Oh, but before I do we have zone
conference tomorrow and it's all about enduring to the end. My
companion and I have to give an instruction in it so we're hoping it
will go well. I've gotten a lot more used to doing that kind of stuff
now. It should hopefully help a lot when I go back! So the first
question- Ninjas. Because I see them here all the time. 

Second- I've eaten rice every single day. Not even kidding.
I had fried rice last night, ground nut soup some other nights, and
pumpkin! I've learned how to cook pumpkin and make a tasty little
sauce to put on the rice. So I'll try and make it for you all one day.
That snake was lurking inside the senior couples apartment. I cut its
head off. We found a 2 foot one in our compound the other day. I'll
send a picture next week. I've been having a small problem with the
memory card but don't worry it's not serious. I can fix it. Fourth,
any creepy creatures? Not that I can think of. They have some crazy
looking lizards that are always around. They look like little dragons.
Kind of cool. And finally, as far as a package goes, something that
would be sweet would be another 8 gb memory card. The one I have is
about to fill up and I think one more would be perfect. And of course,
sweet stuff like Oreos and those kinds of things. Haha. Anyway, I love
all you so much and will talk to you next week! Sorry this letter is
so lame!
 
Love,
Elder Stewart

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!