Bien bien bien bien, hola familia como andamos?
Another fantastic week comes to end here in Arlington Heights! Wow the
work is amazing, I promise you all that I couldn't be more excited and
happy to be where I am. This really is the work of God, and I am
privileged to participate.
This week has brought a lot of miracles into our area! I starting
doing this thing in district meeting of setting up "friendly"
competitions for the upcoming week, so that as a district we can
motivate each other to do better and see results. The last week, I
told the district that I would make salsa for whoever got out of the
most meal appointment lessons on time (maximum of 1hr). You have to
realize that this can be extremely hard in the Hispanic program. Every
Hermana wants to feed you...and feed you....and feed you. If you don't
take seconds, they get sad and sometimes pretty offended. So we
started this competition to help us be more effective in our use of
time. It is crazy how badly people are motivated to win...especially
missionaries hahaha! This weeks competition is who can get the most
new investigators! and although the competition is fun, we have seen
some amazing miracles.
The first cool experience happened when we were working during a ward
activity in the Hermanas' area. We set up a table outside of a tienda
(store) and starting contacting everyone we saw asking them about
family history work (genealogy work). We contacted soo many people and
it was really successful, but one woman and her family in particular
really stood out to me. Sandra, the woman, walked by holding the hand
of her teenage daughter and little boy. I began talking with her and
asked her one simple question, "¿que tan importante es su familia para
usted?" Or "How important is your family to you?" She stared at me
for a second and I realized that she was crying. She told me that she
had just arrived in the United States 4 days earlier and that she had
been waiting for six year to come and see her children again. She said
that nothing was more important to her than her family. It was such a
tender experience and we were able to her information down and the
Hermanas will be following up and teaching her soon! Amazing.
This next part comes from an excerpt of my companions email, he is
awesome....and he already describe these experiences so I am going to
cheat hehe,
In the words of Elder Tedders,
"What a week this has been. We've seen miracle upon miracle. And while
further reflecting on these experiences, both have to do with
listening to the whisperings of the Spirit both in a split-second
decision and far in advance. The first has to do with an event that
happened about a week ago. Elder Stewart-Chester's tire popped on his
bike and so we had to walk back to the apartment to drop off our bikes
and go back out. On the way back we met a man named Marco, and set up
an appointment to return and teach him. We confirmed this last
Saturday morning and went to teach him that same day, but he wasn't
there. We were really confused that he would confirm only a few hours
later and then not show up. His friend, Leonardo, was there working on
his own truck. We asked if we could share with him the message we had
prepared for Marco, and he said "Maybe the next time you talk with
him".
At about 8:20 that night we felt like we needed to go and find Marco
again. When we pulled up, Leonardo pulled up again in his truck. We
asked if Marco was there, and he went inside his apartments to check
and Marco was no where to be found. But this time after talking to
Leonardo a little bit more he invited us in. We started by just asking
about himself, his family, his home country, and what he likes. He
opened up a lot, and eventually the conversation was led to religion,
and that is where our message came in. We taught him powerfully about
the Book of Mormon, and he committed to reading it and praying about
it's validity. We have a return appointment this upcoming Saturday.
The second miracle was first ignited by a prompting we received a
couple weeks earlier while reviewing our monthly goals and how we were
thus far going to achieve them. We felt really strongly that we needed
to work with the non-member husband of the Young Women's president in
our Ward. The biggest struggle is that he doesn't like to feel like
he's being taught or specifically taught to, and he's deep into some
addictions that have deeply affected his family dynamics. We figured
the best way to approach this situation would be to serve him and
alongside him as well so we could gain his trust.
So that brings us to last night. We felt prompted to completely throw
out the lesson plans we had and to start with something completely
different, that we weren't aware about until it happened. We started
off by singing the hymn "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". We talked a
little bit about the background of the hymn and the doctrine behind
it, and we felt impressed to share Alma 56, the verses where it talks
about how the stripling warriors had no doubts that they're mothers
knew the very doctrine that delivered them. We related it to the work
they do as parents for the teaching of their kids, and the husband was
seeming to muster up some sort of courage. He finally said "Elders, I
want you to help me." He said that he's always been impressed by the
missionaries, and since he's had two kids in the mission field and has
seen the change that has been wrought in them, he wants that change to
happen to him; he wants to rid of his addictions. We have an
appointment this Wednesday to meet with him. "
Lastly, "los mormoncitos" means the little Mormons. This woman that we
made called us that and I thought it was hilarious! She talked about
how hard we work to bring the word of God to the people who don't know
Him.
I love being a mormoncito. I love being a missionary.
You are all in my prayers! Have a fantastic week,
Con amor
Elder Stewart-Chester
1319 Butterfield Rd Suite 522
Downers Grove, IL 60515
Another fantastic week comes to end here in Arlington Heights! Wow the
work is amazing, I promise you all that I couldn't be more excited and
happy to be where I am. This really is the work of God, and I am
privileged to participate.
This week has brought a lot of miracles into our area! I starting
doing this thing in district meeting of setting up "friendly"
competitions for the upcoming week, so that as a district we can
motivate each other to do better and see results. The last week, I
told the district that I would make salsa for whoever got out of the
most meal appointment lessons on time (maximum of 1hr). You have to
realize that this can be extremely hard in the Hispanic program. Every
Hermana wants to feed you...and feed you....and feed you. If you don't
take seconds, they get sad and sometimes pretty offended. So we
started this competition to help us be more effective in our use of
time. It is crazy how badly people are motivated to win...especially
missionaries hahaha! This weeks competition is who can get the most
new investigators! and although the competition is fun, we have seen
some amazing miracles.
The first cool experience happened when we were working during a ward
activity in the Hermanas' area. We set up a table outside of a tienda
(store) and starting contacting everyone we saw asking them about
family history work (genealogy work). We contacted soo many people and
it was really successful, but one woman and her family in particular
really stood out to me. Sandra, the woman, walked by holding the hand
of her teenage daughter and little boy. I began talking with her and
asked her one simple question, "¿que tan importante es su familia para
usted?" Or "How important is your family to you?" She stared at me
for a second and I realized that she was crying. She told me that she
had just arrived in the United States 4 days earlier and that she had
been waiting for six year to come and see her children again. She said
that nothing was more important to her than her family. It was such a
tender experience and we were able to her information down and the
Hermanas will be following up and teaching her soon! Amazing.
This next part comes from an excerpt of my companions email, he is
awesome....and he already describe these experiences so I am going to
cheat hehe,
In the words of Elder Tedders,
"What a week this has been. We've seen miracle upon miracle. And while
further reflecting on these experiences, both have to do with
listening to the whisperings of the Spirit both in a split-second
decision and far in advance. The first has to do with an event that
happened about a week ago. Elder Stewart-Chester's tire popped on his
bike and so we had to walk back to the apartment to drop off our bikes
and go back out. On the way back we met a man named Marco, and set up
an appointment to return and teach him. We confirmed this last
Saturday morning and went to teach him that same day, but he wasn't
there. We were really confused that he would confirm only a few hours
later and then not show up. His friend, Leonardo, was there working on
his own truck. We asked if we could share with him the message we had
prepared for Marco, and he said "Maybe the next time you talk with
him".
At about 8:20 that night we felt like we needed to go and find Marco
again. When we pulled up, Leonardo pulled up again in his truck. We
asked if Marco was there, and he went inside his apartments to check
and Marco was no where to be found. But this time after talking to
Leonardo a little bit more he invited us in. We started by just asking
about himself, his family, his home country, and what he likes. He
opened up a lot, and eventually the conversation was led to religion,
and that is where our message came in. We taught him powerfully about
the Book of Mormon, and he committed to reading it and praying about
it's validity. We have a return appointment this upcoming Saturday.
The second miracle was first ignited by a prompting we received a
couple weeks earlier while reviewing our monthly goals and how we were
thus far going to achieve them. We felt really strongly that we needed
to work with the non-member husband of the Young Women's president in
our Ward. The biggest struggle is that he doesn't like to feel like
he's being taught or specifically taught to, and he's deep into some
addictions that have deeply affected his family dynamics. We figured
the best way to approach this situation would be to serve him and
alongside him as well so we could gain his trust.
So that brings us to last night. We felt prompted to completely throw
out the lesson plans we had and to start with something completely
different, that we weren't aware about until it happened. We started
off by singing the hymn "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". We talked a
little bit about the background of the hymn and the doctrine behind
it, and we felt impressed to share Alma 56, the verses where it talks
about how the stripling warriors had no doubts that they're mothers
knew the very doctrine that delivered them. We related it to the work
they do as parents for the teaching of their kids, and the husband was
seeming to muster up some sort of courage. He finally said "Elders, I
want you to help me." He said that he's always been impressed by the
missionaries, and since he's had two kids in the mission field and has
seen the change that has been wrought in them, he wants that change to
happen to him; he wants to rid of his addictions. We have an
appointment this Wednesday to meet with him. "
Lastly, "los mormoncitos" means the little Mormons. This woman that we
made called us that and I thought it was hilarious! She talked about
how hard we work to bring the word of God to the people who don't know
Him.
I love being a mormoncito. I love being a missionary.
You are all in my prayers! Have a fantastic week,
Con amor
Elder Stewart-Chester
1319 Butterfield Rd Suite 522
Downers Grove, IL 60515