Mis seres queridos,
I'm sending all the love that I can through this quick email! Your
faces are still fresh on my mind, and I can't tell you how blessed I
feel to call you all family. I wish I could talk with each one of you
individually and convince you of how spectacular you are and how much
you mean to me!
I hope you all had an amazing New Year's Eve and Day!
Startling Realization: I come home next year:(
We spent our New Years Eve reading the Book of Mormon! We started a
challenge as a mission to read the Book of Mormon in 3 months with
three specific marking patterns:
1st color: All Pronouns or Names that refer to Christ
2nd color: All Characteristics of Christ
3rd color: All of the directly quoted words of Christ ("thus saith the Lord")
And we read 6 pages a day
I feel like my mouth would be more suited to explode than to describe
the passion and love I have for the Book of Mormon.
I rely on the Book of Mormon for everything. I study it constantly
through out the day, and I'm also half way through it in a copy for
personal study that I do before studies start and during lunch/dinner,
and now we just started a new copy as a mission! I am guessing that I
should to be able to finish it three times within the next 4 months.
The reason I say this is because if the Book of Mormon isn't a big
part of your life, it should be. If you have never read the Book of
Mormon, read it. What I'm attempting to say is that nothing has
impacted my life more than this Book of scripture, so if you want
peace and hope and love in your lives, READ.
My week was wonderful! My mother chastised me for not talking about my
investigators enough...so let's talk about people!
Oh here is a miracle story. We have been looking for this man Juan
Carlos ------- for a really long time. He was a recent convert but all
of the sudden never showed up to church, dropped all calls, and was
never at his home. Hno Catalino told us that he lived in our area, but
the house listed as his address was vacant.
This Saturday Hno Catalino told us to come with him to the house.
Finally the door opened and this 20 year old kid told us that he
hasn't lived in the house in 8months! Hahaha crazy right? This is were
it gets weirder. We have been praying for answer on how to find this
guy all week when all of the sudden, I'm sitting in sacrament meeting
and when it was over I turned around in my seat to talk to an
unfamiliar face. Turns out: He name is Juan Carlos -------!!!! What a
miracle! He told us that he moved to Wisconsin without really telling
anyone, but that he had been going to church over there. He even
volunteered to come with us to lessons! And he lives in
Carpentersville! Which means we have another member in our area! How
amazing is that! God is miraculous.
Other than that, I love my life too much! The mission is the best
thing that has ever happened to me. Please please consider a mission.
If you are preparing for one, email me! I love to hear from you
all...I am still trying to juggle my time on P-Days....forgive me! I
would write you all back if I could!
Much love,
Elder Stewart-Chester
1319 Butterfield Rd Suite 522
Downers Grove, IL 60515