Quick Update

Miracle of the week!
President Miller has asked that all missionaries in car areas park it for one day and get out and walk! or ride bikes if they have them, in an attempt to talk to more people and to be out teaching and testifying and inviting on contact.. our day to do that is Monday - after we do our weeekly planning-maybe it is cheating becaseu we only have half a day to proselyte... but we do it! anyway - that day was yesterday, and about 30 minutes into our nice little stroll, my dear comapnions knees start to bother her and she can't really go on much further.. We still had a long day ahead of us.. and an appointment to get to. SO we kept going. What a trooper! Well, our appointment canceled. so now we are just wandering aimlessly and it is the middle of the day and it is hot and NO ONE is outside so we weren't even talking to anyone.. it was a bit of a bummer.. and she was in a lot of pain. it was just cruddy. and then, what happens but a member pulls up and asks if we need a ride anywhere! wahoo! only - we didn't have anywhere to go... but there is a family on a mobilizing ward mission plan that we have been trying to get in contact with so we figured we would have them take us there! so we tell them.. take us to Geraldine Road. and they did! only guess what.. He lives on Geraldine Loop. not the same place. whoops! but we get out of the truck anyway - we could just walk over to Brother Yazzie's home anyhow.. But then there were two guys outside across the street working onthe fuel tank of their truck- so we went and talked to them! One of them was a member even! most definitely not active though! But that won't be for long.. becasue now we know who he is and where he lives! yay! but the real miracle is - they weren't interested in talking to us really... but they sent us to the upstairs apartment where there lived two ladies who could be.. so we went up to see them! they weren't. But when we came back down there was a third guy out there and we started talking to him and he started telling us how he is changing his life by going to church and finding God and trying to raise his two daughters with his wife and how prayer helped him find a job just when his unemployment ran out and it was so awesome! we were able to testify of the enabling power of the Atonement and new beginnings that come from baptism and we set a return appointment for Friday. MIRACLE. it was neat.

Things are going pretty well for sister Brown and I. We are loving this work look forward to every single day that we have to be servants in this portion of the Lor'ds vineyard. It is neat to be trusted so much by the Lord.

Mormon 9:31

Sorry short today! not much time.. actually, I have been at the library for two hours now.. but I have been dinking around on fmaily search and lds.org for far too long that I didn't realize what time had passed. But I was looking for all kinds of inspirational things ye know and i loved this qoutoe by President Uchtdorf so I thought I would share it with you. But e=xciting things of the week- the cruz family is getting baptized! I will be sure to send you pictures next week. Look forward to it! and I will also be sure to write this email before I dink around elsewhere. but give thanks to God that my imperfections of communication have been made manifest unto you that you can learn from my mistakes and be more wise than I have been. oh yikes.

Love you all the same!

And she threw up purple

Hello my dear family! So y'all can breathe a sigh of relief! I have no set topic I would like to speak to you on this day so you get my ramblings again! yay! okay- you may now suck back in your sigh of relief...

But what a week we have had since the last time we spoke! actually- it is more like what a year it has been since the last time we spoke! but - it has been a wee since you have last heard my lovely voice speaking to you as if from the dust as you have read my words. Have you ever tried to imagine Moroni's voice as he says that? What do you think he sounds like?  Speaking of Mormoni - I have been reading his words a lot in the last week- mostly becasue I started reading the Book of Mormon again! Am I confused? reading Moroni? shouldn't I be reading NEphi? Not if you are reading it BACKWARDS! yep.  That is right. Backwards. And I tell you what – it is totally awesome! (lego movie reference.. don’t know if anyone caught that. No I have not seen it.. everyone quotes that here though so I feel like I have seen it.) It is also confusing at some points because you read about these people dying and then the next chapter you read they are alive. What?? It is not like the chapter in wayside school that makes oodles more sense when you read it backwards – but I am learning a lot. It is interesting because a lot of differnet things are sticking out to me that were before – like how Coriantumr was the last Jaredite alive. Did you know that Ether prophesied to him that he would be the lsat one alive of his people? And it would be a punishment? I was ultra confused because I forgot one key detail – Coriantumr was wicked. And Ether told him that if he would not repent he would not die. He would live to see all of his people killed and the land be taken by another group of people for their inheritance – Enter Limhi! Cool right? You probably already knew all of that.. but it was cool for me to read again. So other than being confused most of the time in the story- I am learning a lot. Also, did you know that there is a full length film depicting the envents of the book of Mormon? I din’t either- until we were over at our investigators house last night for family home evening and they were watching it. It is on the Mormon channel on youtube. I don’t know if it has been put out by the church – I feel like I would have heard of it if it was.. but they liked it. I hope it brings the stories to life for Bryan.

And guess what- they are all set to be baptized next Thursday! Wahoo! We are so incredibly excited for them! And Sara gave us cards last night and it she bore her testimony and it is so sweet! I want to share it all with you – to share the joy of missionary work with you. I really know what the Lord means when He tells us how great our joy will be when we bring even one soul unto Him. "Thank you so much for never giving up on us and showing us just what was missing. I now know this is true, and I will be able to teach my kids that Heavenly Father will always be there and we will be together for all eternity as a family.” I am so excited for them! And then next year – I will be making a trip back to ABQ to see them be seald to gether for time and all eternity. How blessed we are to have this in our lives. To KNOW this life is not it. Death is not the end. I was reading in 1 corinthians 15:29 today about baptisms for the dead- it is one of the few (if not only) places in the bible where baptisms for the dead are mentioned in the bible – but it really is testifying not of the vicarious ordinance but of the reality of the resurrection! What is the point of performing those vicarious ordinances, heck even ordinances for ourselves, if there is no resurrection? But we will live again so it is totally worth it!! And the neatest part about the Gospel of Jesus Christ – none of it has to be a mystery. We can know of all the truth for ourselves! We just have to pray and ask God. Time and time again it tells us this in the scripture. You have a question? Okay- pray about it! (thank you brother Porras!) The Lord promises us that whoever believes in Him- doubting nothing – To him will the Lord confirm all his words. Even until you die. So keep asking! Just don’t doubt. Despise not – and wonder not. Listen to the words of the Lord and ask the Father in the name of Christ for whatever it is you stand in need of. Doubt no! but be believing! Come unto the Lord and work out your own salvation. Be wise and ask with a firmness that cannot be shaken and if you do this – and endure to the end – you will not be cast out of His presence! Yay! Isn’t that all what we want?  But we all make mistakes right? I know I sure do .. but don’t condemn me – or anyone else for their errors.. just learn from them! I am messing up so you can learn to be more wise than I am. Isn’t that kind of me? Okay pride. You may leave now. That is part of being wise. Stripping yourselves of all pride and uncleanliness. I’m working on it.. especially as we help people clean their homes. Sometimes the only thing that can get you clean after that is a loooong shower with a lot of soap. Yay for modern conveniences!

Sorry this is random times 10! But I do love this work and I love being a missionary. The church is true dear family. This I know. I know you will see me again. Even if I die tomorrow. But let us not talk about that okay... but the church is true! and so is the Book of Mormon – even backwards.

I love you all!

Sister Stuart

And now you may breathe a real sigh of relief becasue I am done. Whoa - long windded! you are just getting a piece of what sister Brown ges every day! 

Sunday School

Great news- one of the families we are teaching finally made it to church yesterday- and guess what, THEY LOVED IT! how awesome is that? It was pretty fantastic. The 13 year old daughter felt very welcomed in Young Womens and the 8 year old son loved primary. He even knew the answers to the questions in sharing time (that'll make you feel good as a teacher eh?) The question was asked- what do we need to do to go to Heaven? and he raises his hand -knowing the answer - and exlaims -GET BAPTIZED. yahoo! He was right! We do- that is the first saving ordinace we partake of. But I would ask - aftrer you have entered in by the way of baptism and received the HOly Ghost - is all done? No. YOu have only made it this far becasue of the word of Christ - and your unshaken faith in Him. So you need to continue doing that. and the church makes it weasy for us to do so - Go to church! Read your scriptures - and pray! Yay. i have received many promises that if I continually feat upon the scriptures - specifically the Book of Mormon - I will never lose my testimony. isn't that neat? all becasue of a book. but it is not just any book - it is the word of God. 

ALso- all the Laws and ordinances of the gospel help us to endure as well. Those can be found in lesson 5 of chapter 3 in PMG. by the way, in following up from Elder Ballard's talk in this Last General Conference, how is your study Of Preach My Gospel coming along? I have not received any  letters or emails of what you have been learning in your personal study of that inspired manual - I hope it is going well! 

anyway- on to waht I wanted to write about in enduring to the end - and how the church has it set up so perfectly that we can!

 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a 4 fold mission:

Proclaim the Gospel

Perfect the Saints

Redeem the Dead and

Care for the Needy.

Neat right? I didn't know about this until this year - maybe it is supposed to be kept quiet? nah- it is way too wonderful to be kept hushed. and everything in the church falls into one of those four categories - that is what I have been studying in PMG lesson 5

I am sorry this week is BOOOORING. and now I am done with my 5 week mini series. and I will return to my usual ramblings.. I don't know if you should be excited or not....

I am safe, warm, and happy and loving this work! oh and by the way - the family we are teaching is going to get baptized in two weeks! yahoo for entering by the way and taking the steps to the celestial kingdom to be forever as a family!

Sister STuart

Freedom. but for what?

Here we are again- can you believe it has already been a whole week? One in which we were able to celebrate our freedoms as a nation; how grateful I am to live here in the United States of America with the freedom to practice religion how I choose.

Freedom is an interesting topic - what really makes us free? Is freedom determined by where we live? By the laws that have been set in place by the governments whose jurisdiction we fall under? By the people who fight for us to remain free? or does it go deeper and further than that? 

Freedom, in my opinion, extends far beyond the scope of government and our life here on earth. Freedom is an eternal principle which we accepted long before we ever set foot on the soil of the earth. We were given a choice, long ago, to decide if we wanted freedom or if we would be satisfied in captivity. Thankfully, we all chose freedom at that time. and here, we can continue choosing that same freedom each and every day. We are free according to the flesh; and all things are given to us which are expedient for man. and we are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death. and now, my family, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto His great commandment; and be faithful unto His words, and CHOOSE ETERNAL LIFE, according to the will of His Holy Spirit; and not choose eternal death. That is the choice laid before each and everyone of us - and I tell you what, that is the ultimate freedom we have. There are two paths laid out before us - the one being straight with a gate that is narrow, few being there to find it, the other being wide, with a broad gate that many follow. The funny thing is - those gates are not far from each other at the beginning but the destinations are in complete opposition- one being sweet and the other bitter. More bitter than you can ever imagine. So the choice is yours - you are FREE to act for yourself. That is the freedom I am most thankful for - don't get me wrong, i am especially thankful for the temporal freedoms we enjoy too, becasue without them I could not be here in New Mexico sharing eternal truths about freedom with people and that would just  be sad. I think the greatest part ( I don't know if you have caught on - but there are heaps of "greatest parts" I think I add a new one evry single day!!) is that we are not alone in making that decision - we have help!

When you entered in by the way (which was baptism by water) you received the gift of the holy ghost - and what an incredible gift that is! another one of the greatest parts. even jacob tells us that our freedom to chooose eternal life is according to the will of the Holy Spirit. isn't that neat? I never caught that before - he is with us at all times and helps us to make the decisions that will keep us moving down the narrow path in a straight course to life eternal! yahoo! It is the Holy Ghost that withness of the Father and the Son - who we need to press forward in, having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all men . If you will press forward, feasting upon the words of Christ, and endure to the end, Father says, you WILL have eternal life - which gift truly is, the greatest gift of God. That is the freedom we can enjoy. 

and that begs the question.. how do we endure? Think about it. let me know what you come up with - I will probably share my thoughts with you next week. This is already far too long. sorry.. rambles. I am good at that. The past few companionship inventories we have had my area of improvement has been to not talk so much - and when I do, make sure I stay focused on topic. eep... 

But life is good. God is greater and He loves you!

and so do I!

Love SIster STuart

32 Word Summary - give or take a few

In continuation of my mini series - I will be discussing, can you guess it? That is right - BAPTISM! 

and I don't really have much time- so I will just give you the exciting news.. The cruz family is getting baptized!! on 2 August 2014! we are so excited for them! 

It really was a miracle how it happened - there is a less active in the ward who was baptized only 3 years ago- but went LA shortly thereafter in order to preserve her marriage. He is not very warm toward the church currently. sad. Anyway, we recently made contact with her and she is just so awesome! she still has a very solid testimony. She came with us to see the cruz family and they realy connected. They invited eachother to come to church and then we invited the family to baptism and they said yes! what a miracle. It was pretty incredible. 

and how neat that they will be baptized and have all their sins washed away and be made totally clean and be able to renew those covenants each and every sunday as they take the sacrament to be continuously free of sin - just the same as you and I. How neat.

I love this work and I love you all!

love Sister Stuart

oh- I also held a snake this week. eek!

and also- in honor of dad's birthday this week- I pulled a piece of glass out of my heel. Don't ask how it got there - i was wearing shoes. Anyway - I was thinking it would have been so much easier if I just could have grabbed the exacto knife and sat on the kitchen table and let him get it. I love you dad!

I never thought I wanted to live in a mansion.... Repentance

Transfer news came.. and went and this girl is staying put! and so is my companion! Yahoo for being in star heights for another round! We are excited to be here and still working! I have a ttached a picture of all the sisters in the zone prior to transfers- 3 of them will be leaving. sad - but exciting for them. new friendships are formed each and every day - that is one thing I am so very thankful for in being a missionary. We have the unique opportunity to meet new people and create long and lasting relationships with a number of people. Companions. investigators. members. and most importantly, with my Fathe in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ.

In really trying to develop the final relationship I mentioned, I have come closer to them more in the last year thatn I have in the previous 20! ANd I am not kidding - probably becasue I have gained a greater knowledge and understanding of their love for me which is deep and abiding and unfailing. The best way, i have found thus far, to strengthen and nurture this realtionship is through repentance- yep. the second key point in the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. 

True faith, as I mentioned last week, always leads us to an action. That action, often times is repentance. 

Repentance simply means to change. To change your mind and your will to the mind and will of God. NOw that is really the ultimate goal- but we all sin and we all fall short of god's glory. We know that we must be totally clean in order to return and live with our Father in the Celestial Kingdom - and how is that possible? Through repentance. I learned something today as I was studying this basic principle of the gospel (maybe it isn't so simple as I am still learning more! But I think that is where the true beauty in the gospel lies..)but I will get to that in a second.. My thoughts are very unorganized today so bear with me.. it is another stream of conciousness day today... and it is scattered! but back to repentance. In PMG it teaches that as we repent we will see our lives changing and improving! how wonderful is that?? I think we all want our lives to improve? or am I crazy for wanting mine to? nah.. We all do. and becasue of that, we should find JOY in repenting daily! When I first read that I was thinking no way. that is crazy. repentance is not a joyful thing. I had a seriously skewed perception of repentance before my mission.. We should have been required to pass the baptismal interview that we give to investigators ( question 3: What does it mean to you to repent?) But oh have my ideas changed! Repentance is one of the greatest gifts we have been given- and it is made possible through the atonement of Christ which enables us to have Eternal life which IS the greatest gifts of all the gifts of God! 

One of my very favorite things to study concerning repentance is the law of Justice and mercy. I don't know why this thrills me so much -but it does. I seem to learn something new everytime I study it! Which brings me to the thing I learned this morning! I was studying in Alma 42and in verses 13, 21-24 it explains this law quite nicely. and I have read those verses planty of times - and that is the beauty of the scriptures! you learn something new everytime you read them! so anyway- back to what I learned today (my goodness, I am sorry about this one...) Our dear, sweet and loving Father in Heaven presented a plan - a plan for our happiness, redemption and salvation - that we all accepted before we came to this life. According to the law of Justice - this plan could not be brought about. Why is that? becasue no unclean thing can be exhalted and saved in the kingdom of the father - and we all sin! If we say we do not then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. and that is why the Atonement was performed - to provide for us a way to become clean through the suffering and death of our savior. But even with the Atonement performed, the plan could still not be brought to fruition, UNLESS we repent. unless we come unto Christ, submit our will to His, and try, each and every day, to be a little better and to stand a little taller. Without repentance, mercy cannot take affect unless it were to rob justice. and it cannot. The law of justice must be fulfilled - if not, God would cease to be God. He is a God of justice. and he has not ceased to be God - nor will He ever. There is a law given, and a punishment affixed which we are all subject to- according to the demands of justice - UNLESS we repent!. We then let the Atonement take affect in our lives and allow mercy to be extended towards us so we can be redeemed from our sins (but not in them) and then we receive the fullness of joy and we are saved and exhalted in the many mansions which Father has prepared for us. What an incredible gift repentance is. 

This email turned out maybe a little more solemn than I had hoped becasue if there is one thing I have learned on myu mission (I have learned many so that was a silly thing to say) it is that I LOVE REPENTING! I mess up every day. sometimes I get angry. sometimes I get annoyed (is anyone surprised?) and those things pull me away from the people I want to be the closetst to - and that is my Father and my Brother. so how do I overcome both my minor and major imperfections? you guessed it- repentance!

Oh how I love this work and being able to learn something new everyday- even if I have studyed it for so many years. I love this gospel and I am so thankful to have it in my life. I love my Savior and I will be eternally indebted to Him for what He did for ME! becasue of that, I will find the joy of repenting DAILY and lettting Him help me to be better and to let Him improve my life as I draw closer to Him. you know what I just realized goes right in hand with repentance? humility. hmmmmm.. I will rattle off on that one another time. (speaking of - whatever happened to your musings dad?) but in the mean time- Know that I love all of you!

Do you know someone who is feeling weighed down with the burden of guilt and maybe shame? Help them relieve it- share with them the eternal principle of repentance. \

Love to all,

Sister TSuart

oh and if you want an AWESOME visual about the law of justice and mercy - check out this video!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2007-01-0005-the-mediator?lang=eng