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.

African Accent, Huge Miracle & Goat Burgers

Hellooooo

Well the week was sweet. I still don't think I have an accent like you guys say I do, but it's all good. I liked hearing that missionary work is still going on back there. As far as getting people to sit down and talk with the missionaries back home goes, it's definitely a lot bigger challenge than here. But the problem here is finding people who are serious about wanting to stay committed for the whole lives and not wanting to just talk to some white guys. I'm pretty jealous of the holiday season you guys got to spend, but it's okay with having to give up two of those to serve the Lord. Elder Burton and I are throwing our own party this evening to celebrate the new year. We'll drink some super cheap sparkling lemonade and talk about setting goals for the future. oooooooo be jealous. But we won't be staying up until midnight, that would just be crazy! I wouldn't be able to walk the next day. One day is pretty filled and exhausting.

The week was pretty good. There's this one guy we've been teaching who is a pretty crazy guy... I think I might have talked about him in the past. Some guy that was trying to cut in on one of our lessons and justify getting drunk. I think I talked about him before. Anyway, We went to see him on like Thursday and see how he was doing. We've been continuing to see him and had taught him just about everything, and he's even come to church a few times. When we'd go and see him he'd always write these page long summaries of what he read in the pamphlets we gave him and would usually find scriptures in the Bible to oppose what we were trying to teach. But even with that he never was really convinced about anything we were teaching and said that he was really strong and had a high position in his church, so he would pretty much wouldn't leave it. The last time we had seen him we told him that he needed to be reading from the Book of Mormon and not worry about the pamphlets so much since that's what we had just discussed with him. He said no problem and we gave him an assignment to continue reading where he left off (for him to start reading in 1 Nephi 3). The next time we came we asked him how the reading went and he was just super excited. He said he had learning so much about faith and he saw that Nephi really had a desire to do what's right and that he too needed to show more faith in God. We talked about it with him and testified that we knew the message we were sharing was true and we invited him to be baptized again. He accepted but said he didn't know how he would be able to because of his position in his church. We talked with him some more and said that his baptism was in about two weeks so he could pray and make his decision. Well, Sunday came and he told us that he had submitted his resignation to his church and knew that the Book of Mormon was true and that he wanted to be baptized. WHAT?? I wish I could tell the entire history of us meeting with this guy but WHAT?? I honestly thought he would never be baptized. But he left everything behind and said he wanted to do it, and I know it's because of the things he learned by reading the Book of Mormon. The book is true! Simple as that. I know it could sound weird to other people but if you just take a small amount of time to listen to missionaries and understand why this strange book is here now it makes a lot of sense. Anyway, it was a huge miracle for sure and I can't wait for the day of his baptism! Everything here is going good! I'll talk to you all next week!

Love,

Elder Stewart

P.S. Big Black- Happy Birthday! Nothing but a peanut.. or noona. Keep working out, you've got a long ways to go to catch up to me.

 

 

 SAB'S! It sells something like American food and its pretty great (and expensive-so we don't eat there often). It's always a good day when we can go there. It's not as good as it looks, the meat inside is goat meat.

 Some crazy kids of this lady we're teaching. I told them I wanted to take a picture and they all attacked that dog. Poor guy. Haha.

A Pretty Good Week

Hellooooooooooo

So first of all tomorrow I'll be calling around 5PM our time. I don't know what that is back home because you American people (minus Arizona) have your crazy daylight savings and I always get confused. So yeah. Around then.  So look out for that. Anyway, I can't wait to talk to all of you! The program we put on was interesting... tell you more about that tomorrow. Sounds like Savannah's team is doing well though. We had a pretty good week this past week. Elder Dyngee and I baptized all the investigators so Elder Burton and I have been contacting people like CRAZY. Its so funny how missionary work here is though. We've talked to lots of random people and every single one of them agreed to give us their number and allow us to come see them. Seriously. Every. Single. One. People here love God so much and are always wanting to hear his word. So sitting down with people is super easy. It's just getting them to get up and act! Anyway, we're finding lots of people so it should be pretty exciting. Anyway, We'll talk more tomorrow. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Stewart

Christmas Packages, Christmas Zone Conference & A Christmas Program

Hello family!

Sounds like it was a nice week full of wonderful Christmas
festivities. I'm definitely missing the whole aura of Christmas time
this year. I don't know what makes the difference than last year but I
just feel it this time! Getting to open all those presents now makes
it pretty sweet though. I'm wearing a Christmas tie right now and I
ate some Oreos earlier this morning. Gotta love that. Anyway, for the
Christmas call- yes, expect a flash. I will flash you (haha). So be
excited for that quick call and hang up. Hopefully we won't have any
problems, its gone pretty good for the first two. Also that Christmas
music has been working just fine. I have a little stereo thing that
you just plug a flashdrive into it and is plays any music on the
flashdrive. Also, this week I got a package from Grandma Stewart.
THANK YOU. I loved all the little bits of family history too.
Definitely feel free to send lots of those. Also tell Devin I said
binnaway (sorry, yeah? in Mende) Sounds pretty poopy to almost cut
your own finger off.

Well it's been another great week. My new companion has come and
things are going great already. Before he came, we put on some
activities for a zone conference and it went really well. We played
some water sachet volleyball, gospel jeopardy, ate some sweet food,
played some little games and heard a powerful instruction from
President Roggia. Pretty great. The same day Elder Burton came and
that Saturday we had the baptism for the guy that got married last
week! Pretty great. He was really excited and really happy to finally
become a member of the church. Sunday he was even confirmed by the guy
that first invited him to come to church. Something that's been going
on lately though is we're in charge of organizing a Christmas program
for recent converts, investigators and members. All the branches in Bo
are part of one district but for the missionaries its split into two
zones. So we're working with the other Zone Leaders to make a nice
program. Have you ever watched those Bible videos of Jesus Christ's
life? If you haven't, you should- they're amazing! But we made a
program that we'll read a couple verses of scripture, watch the clip,
and then sing a song based on that scene. It's like you yourself are
the little choirs of angels that are always chilling in the background
when important things happen in scripture!!! How fun is that?? Also
there's some testimonies from recent converts in there and some of the
songs will be sung by the district choir, some by the whole
congregation, and some by the missionary choir. We're going to print
out some invitation cards today too. Woooooooo. Should be sweet. But
seriously, anyone who hasn't seen those videos but likes Jesus should
watch them. I really brings the scriptures to life! Is that cheesy?
Anyway, we're super late for a practice now so I have to go!
Everything is going great!

Love,
Elder Stewart

  Picture from the football game we played today. The guy using my
camera didn't want to walk over there I guess.

 They play tetherball here! It's just a little different... and they
call it "teh teh"

  This is some crazy fruit we tried. It was kind of weird but good at
the same time.

 Baptism!

A New Stake, A Wedding & A Baptism

Hello family!

Wow. This week was one of the most fulfilling weeks I've had so far.
But I'll get to that in a little bit. It was pretty crazy to hear
Breeann and DevOn are in Lafayette! Kind of funny really.  I can't
wait to read that article..(click on this link to read .http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/63030/Historic-milestone-Sierra-Leone-stake-marks-Churchs-3000th.html ) the 3000th stake of the church was made
here! Man so nuts. I'm hoping that before I go home I'll have the
chance to serve in a ward. That would be pretty sweet. If I had to
guess I would say I have only one more area after this one, but it's
pretty much impossible to guess accurately. Speaking of areas and
transfers and those things, we got transfer news yesterday! Elder
Dyngee is going off to Freetown, and I'll be receiving Elder Burton!
I'm super excited because Elder Burton is sweet! He's from Idaho and
he's a pretty funny guy. He was the super tall white guy that was in
the same apartment as me in Kenema. We're going to enjoy like crazy!
We just need to find some new investigators because the area is a bit
dry right now. Haha, but I'm not too worried about that one.

So one huge thing that happened was that we had a baptism! It was a
nice service and we switched it up and had it in the evening because
we were busy in the morning because that morning we had a WEDDING. So
this is the story. I think last week or so I talked about a man who
couldn't get baptized because of his living situation and how his
girlfriend wanted to change to Christianity? It's about that man. So
we were talking with our branch president about that man and suggested
that they could do a very simple and brief civil wedding in the
church, and then they could go have their big traditional wedding
whenever all the man's family could come in. He said it was a good
idea but the only problem was that the woman's father is super muslim
so we didn't know if he would approve his daughter getting married in
a church. Luckily for us, the father had traveled in from the village
that week and so on Tuesday, my companion and I, our branch president
and his wife, our investigator and his girlfriend, and their fathers
all met at the man's house. It was kind of sweet. We were sitting in
council with all these old African men. Kind of a sweet experience.
Anyway, to make a long story short the woman's father was very
agreeable and understood that marriage was important and said it was
fine. Score! He had to be there for the event but he was leaving the
next week so we planned it out quick and set the day for Saturday.
Everything somehow worked out perfectly and Saturday we all met at the
church building and witnessed their shotgun wedding. It was incredibly
simple but it was so humbling to me to see this man work so hard to do
what's right. There was about 25 people present, and they were married
by our branch president. They two of them were so happy and Elder
Dyngee and I just kept looking at each other and saying "WHAT????"
Because man, this kind of thing NEVER EVER happens. I've taught so
many people who say they'll get married but they never actually do it.
It was absolutely amazing and yesterday the man got interviewed for
his baptism. The baptism we had this last Saturday was his niece and
we've talked to his wife and his father and will begin teaching them
sometime soon. Needless to say it was a week I'll definitely never
forget. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true! Anyway, I love all of you
and will talk to you all next week!

Love,
Elder Stewart


P.S. Clayton Bridge- Happy Birthday TODAY. Go catch yourself a nice
big noona and celebrate. Miss you man!

The electric pump to fill the baptismal font in the district center
broke and someone drained all the water out of the font... so we
filled the entire thing the old fashioned way. 

  Super sweet wedding! Notice the tie.. figured I had to wear it to
at least one wedding.

Baptism!