African Names, Super P-day at the Beach & The Lord will ALWAYS come through

Hello my people,

So first of all- Dad, Happy Father's Day! I'm sure it was pretty great. Yeah, don't worry, I too wouldn't mind getting to call home again for Father's Day, but I guess everything has it's purpose. Bree Bree and Dev Dev dae go meri na de tempel. kusheio! That's weird that you said in those old videos I had an accent. Those motorbikes were so great. Man... I miss them. They have them on this side of the city but we're not allowed to ride on them because it's too dangerous. Definitely understandable, it would be nuts to get on one of those things here. Marvin. I'm jealous you guys are going to Door County. It's weird because I was actually just thinking about that place the other day. It would be kind of sweet to have a reunion with Clayton and Mikey there. Ahh so sweet. I miss those guys. I got a letter from Clayton the other day. I'll do my best to write you back tonight! And make it June 27. You know. I'm glad to hear about Cassie! Crazy she's in Spain. I would try to write her but... yeah I dunno how to get mail to Spain from here. Only America. So to answer your questions real quick: 1. Everything with my companion is going pretty good. This week for the training he gets to take the lead over everything, so I'm pretty excited to follow him around all week. 2. Anything weird lately? Hmm. There isn't too much that seems weird any more. But I guess it was kind of funny the other day- a dog got driven over, like it was laying down in the road and the car passed over the top of it. I guess it was like terrified to move after that because it just kept laying in the road. So then a guy came over and started poking it with a stick until it ran off the road. Oh and a couple times we've had to stop in a car so a guy could grab his goats out of the road. 3. See the pictures for sweet football on the beach! 4. Typical African names for women- Zainab, Fatamata, Musu, Kadiatu, Rugiatu, Tadiatu, Poopoopoopypatu (not really), and for men- Foday, Musa, Mohammed (you'd be surprised how many Mohammeds are members of the church), Alie, Saidu. Popular last names- Kamara, Kallon, Bangura. 4. Definitely no movie theatres like the ones we know back home. So I would just say no. 5. Yes, Justin Bieber's reputation has indeed spread to Africa. But I've only heard his music played like two or three times. Most is local stuff. Coolest African I've met? Hard to say. But I would have to say some of the people we've baptized. Or those random guys that smoke weed and shout at us. Or talk about how the rocks have craters that fell from the stars and revealed the juju secrets of the Book of Mormon.

So spiritual story of the week! There is one sister that lives in our area that comes to church every week and has a very strong testimony and loves the church. The reason she is not baptized yet is because she has been cohabitating. She was first taught by the Elders just before I came here so I have had a good three transfers now of getting to see her and seeing her own frustration with her situation and her inability to be baptized. Her boyfriend would sit down with us and listen to what we had to say, but he never had a desire to act on what we invited him to do. The woman wanted to leave but the reason she could not is because she and the man have a small child together. For four months now I have seen her come to church and as we would go see her she would always express a desire to be baptized and to improve her situation. We always invited her to pray and fast and promised that in the Lord's time, he would definitely make it possible for her. About a month ago she was blessed with a job and since then has been making money. Things seemed to be going well until she had some serious problems with the person she was working with. As her time working for that person came to a close, another job opportunity opened up for her and they even don't make her work on Sundays. Just this past week she told us that she had arranged for her son to live with the boyfriends mother and she is moving out to live with her mom. This Sunday she told us she had moved in with her mom. Being able to see the blessings of the Lord to those who are faithful to his commandments strengthened my testimony so much. She went from sitting around in a small shop every day to getting a job and the opportunity to move out from a place that was keeping her from receiving the fullest joy of God’s blessing. I know it’s very true that the Lord will ALWAYS come through with his side of the deal, as long as we do all we can to choose the right. I pretty much freaked out when it all came together. So I'm hoping that I'll be able to see her get baptized!

Everything is going well and I'm doing great! We had a super P-day at the beach today but I'm out of time so enjoy the pictures! Those creepy missionary wood men are unfortunately not mine. But they're pretty stinking cool. I'll talk to all next week!

Love,
Elder Stewart

Junk Food, Elder Curtis & It's so simple!

Hello family!

First off, I jumped out of my chair and hugged the Grecian man sitting next to me when I saw Breeann was getting married. Okay not really, but it was pretty exciting. Second of all, I needed to get a hair cut so we went to try out this new internet cafe some other missionaries go to and the place disabled all their USB ports so no pictures this week. Sorryyyy. I hope the flash drive will suffice. Don't worry, my foot has been healed in every way since that picture has been taken. So don't stress. But seriously. I'm not just saying that because I don't want to tell my mom and have her worry. So yeah. That cut was actually from baptizing people in the river. They had some sharp rocks in there. I can't tell you how excited I am to receive those packages. There's something about rice every day that just kind of gets to you. Like only rice. No junk food nothing. I mean I guess that's actually probably a good thing. But you know. I'm still American, gotta have food that might kill me.

Well this week was a pretty good one. We checked out some cool places in our area and met lots of new people. Today will be kind of cool because Elder Curtis from the first Quorum of the Seventy will be coming to see us today. So that's exciting. They said we'll be able to get pictures too. So next week we'll be sure not to come to this cafe and I"ll send them. Oh, if you guys want to read Carson's letter it's cool. It's kind of neat to hear what's been going on in Brazil while I've been in Africa. He said he tried to mail me a letter direct but I haven't gotten anything yet so we'll see if that letter ever shows up. Haha.

This past week we met the mom of the branch mission leader of my old branch in Kossoh Town. It was pretty crazy. The entire family are members except for her, and she's just kind of living over on this side of Freetown alone with some small small children. We were asking about her family and she almost seemed proud of the fact that everyone in her family were members except for her. I don't know why that was such a great thing. One thing I don't know if I'll ever understand is why people don't understand the gospel. It's so simple! The gospel is so easy to understand- Have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, baptize, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and continue to keep the commandments of God until you die. That's the gospel we believe in and talk about. I think people can get these crazy ideas about what we believe in, but that's the basis of everything. It's okay though. Because it's cool to be able to sit down and talk to people and just get to share what you know and believe in. I wish I would have known that more before. It's just brings joy to be able to talk about things you know and love. Anyway, everything is going well. Glad to hear everything is going well back home as well! I'll talk to you all next week!

Love,
Elder Stewart

These are a few old pictures that Hunter sent us on his flashdrive that haven't been posted before.

Elder Stewart and Elder Symons

 Hunter on the futball field- nice grass

Some things never change!  Hunter was caught walking on our cinderblock wall when he was 3 years old!

Not sure what that fruit is called

Humans aren't the only ones who like bacon!  The rats got to this one :)

Dirt Roads, City Living & An Area Seventy

Helloooooo

Well another week has passed by. Everything is going well of course.  Sounds like Girl's Camp was pretty stinking successful. A trip to the ER and everything! Wow! Haha. Oh! Man I'm so excited to hear that Carson sent a letter! I'm thinking that maybe you guys can scan it and send it and then just throw it in the package anyway. I'm pretty excited to hear about how he's doing. I miss that guy! Anyway, I also hope the Zumba instructing goes well tomorrow. Sounds pretty exciting.  So when you finally do look at those pictures I want to hear which one is y'all's favorite. I hope that there are actually pictures on it.  Haha.

So this week was pretty busy. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Well, nothing that is out of the ordinary to me anyway. Haha. My companion often points things out that I don't even think about anymore. There's a paved road right outside the mission office compound and it was always full of potholes. Yesterday they tore the whole road up so now it's just dirt and mud. When we walked out today I turned to him and said, "Man it's so satisfying to be walking down a dirt road when you leave the apartment isn't it?" He was just like, "Oh, I was actually wondering when they were going to finally pave it over again... I guess I'm still in America mode." Haha, it was kind of funny. Living in a house in the middle of nowhere was pretty exciting. But it has still been pretty cool to see what it's like to serve in the "city."  Something that was kind of exciting that happened this week was that we were planning to go see one of our investigators but were unable to get in touch with him the night before because his phone was off. So we decided to just swing by his place the next day. When we arrived at his shop where he sells he had someone else sitting there with him. At first I was like, "ah man he looks busy so we won't be able to sit down with him." As we walked up I looked at the man who was sitting with him and it turned out that it was one of the Area Seventies named Elder Mensah. Haha. So that was kind of exciting. He's the contractor for the new chapel they're building near there so he sat down and was talking with our investigator. Unfortunately, we didn't get to teach a proper lesson with him there helping us, but he did start talking to him all about the church and the gospel and it was pretty cool to see him bearing testimony about how it's blessed his life. It was a surprise and I hope that it helped the man to feel the Spirit and have a desire to know more about the gospel. We'll see. Anyway, it was a busy week and we're excited for next week! I hope everyone will continue to do well and feel free to send me any pictures you want! I love you all and will talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Stewart

This is an old picture but it's a cute little kid. So. Enjoy the cuteness.

P.S. If you wanted to add pop tarts or anything else in that kind of junk food category to the package I wouldn't mind... and I think I said cajun seasonings the last time... You can also send pictures in it... or any kind of food you can make easily with water and other basic ingredients... some quality toothbrushes and toothpaste wouldn't be too bad either... you can get them here but it's just expensive. Man I sound so needy now. Okay well, I can't think of anything else. So thankssssssssssss.

Good Food, Being Grateful & Ether 12:27

Bowa!

Cohuyena? This week went by fast indeed. Sounds like you guys had a pretty successful week. I'm glad to hear that Devin ate some Alligator. It's good for the health. Speaking of eating exotic foods, I ate a hamburger today. It was so stinking nice. There's so much good food on this side of Freetown. Man, there is nothingggggggggg at all on the other side. It's pretty crazy how much of a difference there is. I almost hardly believe it's the same city. Which stories did you use? I'm curious. It's true though, being here makes you so grateful for everything I've ever had ever. Like it's hard just to comprehend how much you really have until you go out and sit down with people who have pretty much nothing. But I guess that's why the important thing isn't how much you have but about where you put your heart. If you set your heart upon the things of the world, you'll have a hard time ever being satisfied with your life. But if you focus on things that can be eternal (like family!), you'll wonder why you ever worried about what kind of car you had or how nice your shoes are.

Unfortunately we haven't had any more experiences with the pizza guy. When we went he was crazy busy and we just haven't seen him since. We ourselves have been pretty busy too. After some urging and taking time to go see a few of the auxiliary presidents, we got our branch to start having branch council and PEC! So that was a pretty big step. We also started getting Home Teaching set up. I never really realized how important that stuff is until I came here. Well really there were a lot of things I didn't realize how important they were until I came here. I've learned quite a bit about how the church runs. It's pretty interesting. It's also pretty true.

So just last night we went and saw this one guy we haven't been able to see in about 2 months or so. When we saw him he said he had been reading some of the pamphlets we left with him and he said there were a lot of things he wanted to change in his life. He told us about some of the concerns he had and he had a sincere desire to change and to come closer to Christ. One of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon is Ether 12:27, how if we come unto the Lord he can make weak things become strong. We shared that scripture with him and told him he needed to make the necessary sacrifices to overcome the world and come closer to God. That's how the Lord will be able to make those problems become the strongest attributes of his character. Even if it means he has to turn down a job opportunity in order for him to keep the commandments, he should do it. The cool thing about missionary work is that a lot of it is just testifying and telling people what you know to be true. It was a pretty sweet lesson and I hope that he will come to church this Sunday! Anyway, everything is going great as always. I will talk to you all next week!

Love,
Elder Stewart

 Elder (now brother) Jenkins before he went home

 Boku pizza!

Happy Birthday Elder Donaldson! Cake is insanely expensive. And I don't know how to make it. Haha.

Rain, Forever Families & Lots of Pics!

Helloooooo

 

Well, luckily for us the sun is just beginning to cool down! The hottest months here are like March - May. The rain has begun to come small and so the temperature comes down with it. So I'm always pretty happy when it rains. It'll be fun hiking up and down the mountains in the pouring rain. Luckily that doesn't really happen until like August. So hopefully by that time I'll be finding myself on flatter ground. I finally got access to my pictures, it still might be good to get a new card though. I was thinking I would copy all my pictures onto the flash drive and you guys would just save it to a computer when I get home and I'll just keep reusing the same card deleting pictures as I go, but that just makes me nervous. So if you wanted to send me a couple of 8GB cards or so, I wouldn't complain. Speaking of things I want (so needy), I wouldn't mind getting some more slap ya mama and any other kind of cajun seasoning. Everyone here loves that stuff. I finally finished that can today when we were cooking a massive breakfast. So some more would be pretty sweet. Anything else I would want... I mean Oreos are always acceptable. And any other food would be nice. My companion and I make the same like tomato stew every single day, some how we haven't gotten sick of eating every night yet. I should probably take a picture of it. It's had a pretty significant role in my missionary service. Anyway, I'm attempting to send about 16 pictures home, so I'll tell a quick story and then explain all the pictures! Oh, and I'm assuming you never got that flashdrive. The Elder, or I guess Brother's, name is Nick Wood. And he just got engaged. So find him on Facebook and ask him about it. Haha.

 

Okay, well one of the pictures is of two big things of pizza, which I'm pretty sure I already told you about. Anyway, there's a French guy that owns this nice little hut and he cooks the pizzas inside it. We've been there a couple of times to eat and every time we would go he would kind of come out and talk with us a little bit before going back in. He also seems pretty excited at the idea of a bunch of Americans buying lots of his pizza, so I think that might be part of the reason he's so friendly to us. Anyway, a couple of days ago we went to his shack to place a big order of pizzas to celebrate the end of Elder Jenkins mission and Elder Donaldson's birthday. When we came up this time he invited us inside and we sat down and told him the order (you'll see a picture of all the pizzas next week I'm sure). After we told him he started just talking with us a little bit. We were talking to him about why he's living here making pizzas in a little shack in the middle of West Africa (I feel it's a fair question), and he ended up just opening up to us a little bit and was talking about how he never sees his family, he was married before and it didn't work out so now he's living here with his new Sierra Leonian girlfriend, and how he's just kind of planning on not doing much but building up his little pizza shack. After he said all of that stuff he kind of seemed surprised with himself, closed back up, and told us the pizzas would be ready when we came to pick them up. As we were walking away I was just thinking about how unhappy and miserable this guy seemed. He had told us before he was previously in the mining business here and so I'm sure that he has made tons of money doing that, so that's why he's able to just do his little pizza business. But once again it goes to show you that money can't buy happiness. I was thinking about this guy and how in his mind the rest of his life is pretty much going to be him living alone with a woman he doesn't have any plans on marrying and just building a shack to sell pizzas. Man, if there is anyone who needs the gospel it's this guy! We weren't able to talk to him because he seemed to kind of want us to leave, but we'll see if something happens today when we go pick everything up. It really drove home the point that the things that make you happy in life is knowing you have a wonderful family. It makes sense why the gospel is so focused on how families can be together forever. It brings you the greatest joy! I love knowing that even after I die I can still be with all of you and with my own little family. Pretty sweet knowing the gospel is true! Anyway, Hopefully we will be able to talk with the guy sometime. He needs joy like nothing.

 

Okay well, lots of pictures this week, I know you've all been depressed like nothing because it's been a couple of weeks. I'll talk to you all next week!

 

Love,

Elder Stewart

 

 

 

 One of our investigators frying something called cheese straws. Basically it's like fried dough with some cream cheese like stuff mixed into it.

 PIZZA!!!!!

 Some guys packing filtered water into little sachets. This is how most people get filtered drinking water. They buy these small little sachet waters.

 Some adorable little children.

 One of our investigators made us some nice ground nut soup. So this is us enjoying like crazy. As you can see I've been eating very well in this apartment. Haha.

 My companion and I helping our investigator make cheese straws!

 Elder Ngerem posing near our tiny baptismal font. No cool river baptisms here. It's okay though.

 Baptism from a couple weeks ago! Elder Symons first one.

 The ice cream and cookies. And the super classy decorations in the background.

 Elder Ngerem's birthday. We had ICE CREAM AND CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. It was pretty stinking delicious.

 Elder Jenkins who gets on a plane to go home tomorrow! His branch gave him the shirt and the pants. He's a pretty sweet guy.

 This place is called Regent. It's pretty stinking sweet. We were waiting for our investigator to show up.

 A crazy huge beetle that found it's way into our apartment

 This is 28 eggs, a million potatoes and sausage and onions to make the giant breakfast. It was amazing.

 Elder Symons and Elder Donaldson cooking the breakfast. Don't worry I helped cooked. Yes Mom, I'm really learning how to cook things. It's magical. 

The giant breakfast we prepared this morning. Lots of nutritious fruits

 

 

A Mother's Day Call & A Weird Accent

Haha, i still can't believe you guys think I have a weird accent. I've been trying to get my camera SD fixed this whole time but it's giving me problems. I have lots of cool pictures to send, for example- my companion and I making something called meat pies. And pictures from the baptism yesterday! Sounds pretty crazy that the Nelson's got to go see Blue Man Group, my own Chicago trip sounds so lame now. There's no Primary program here. Or Mother's Day actually. It's kind of sad. Anyway, not much has happened here either. We played football this morning and then after we taught a lesson to this one woman who is ready to be baptized but is struggling to come to church. We talked about the Plan Of Salvation. Pretty sweet stuff right there. She said she'll come this Sunday.. we'll see how that really goes. Anyway, we need to go buy somethings in the marketplace and bargain down all the prices to what they're supposed to be. I love you all very much. Talk to you again next week!

Love,
Elder Stewart

Hi

Hi family,

Bad news, the computers are about to be shut off. So i'm alive. Love you all. I'll call around 12 or so on Sunday. Enjoy the week!

Love,

Elder Stewart