Hello Fam,
Como andamos? It is me again! What a fast week. It is always wonderful to look back on the week and recognize the Lord's hand in everything. Illinois has had some fun weather the past week, in fact, I think we have seen it all. Sun, snow, wind, hail, rain, clouds, tornadoes, lightning, 30F, 65F. It is a fun adventure. The tornado part was slightly more serious, we were scrambling all night to get a report from the zone leaders about everyone's safetly. Ottawa actually had a death and some major damage in their city, so those Elders spent their night in the basement of a member's home without electricity. Crazy. Fortunately no one in the mission was harmed.
The rest of us just watched the incredible lightning and clouds which I have never seen on the West coast. Nature is impressive. God is powerful.
This week we had new missionary training and then back to back exchanges! Then we skyped a some of the zone leaders and had an interesting service opportunity.
I'll jump to the service opportunity:
The Hermanas in our ward called us about helping a member of our church's friend move. (we have Hermanas in our ward that cover both English and Spanish...which is a bummer that we don't cover Spanish...I am teaching Elder Riggins poco por poquito) We agreed to help and went over in the morning on Saturday. When we got their, nothing was packed and the poor family had no other help besides us to get everything moved. (I had tons of simpathy for this family left over from all of our moves back home) So we got to work as quickly as we could. It was the Hermano, Elder Riggins, and myself doing all of the lifting into their van. I couldn't but crack up becuase Elder Riggins kept recieving orders from the man in Spanish and didn't have a clue what was going on. He is a good sport. So pretty soon we realized that we weren't going to finish in time for the other appointments that we had scheduled for the rest of the day. So we changed into our formal proselyting clothes in the car and scurried over to the rest of the appointments. (Did I mention that these people are not members of our church?). The service was such a cool opportunity for us to explain more about what we do as full-time missionaries. They both had so many questions for us and invited us to go have dinner with them after our appointments. SO, we ate some of the best ranchero (basically carne asada) that I have ever had that night. It was overall crazy. But we are excited for the hermanas to start teaching them. Plus I have been missing speaking Spanish for soo long. It was a good day.
I have been thinking quite alot about the subject of Christ's established church as found in the New Testament. We have a lady that is investigating into our church that has around 1.5million questions about just about anything you could think of when it comes to the origin of our church. The more that I think about it, the more I have come to realize something: Complexity is a misconception of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There is nothing more pure and simple than the doctrine of Christ. I know through study and faith, as well as a confirming witness from the Holy Ghost, that the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in our day. Complete in its soundness, richness, and purity, but most importantly, its simplicity.
Life is full of things that complicate the mind, and convolute the brain. God and His teachings do not fall into that category. SO, if there is something you don't quite understand, or have difficulty grasping,
cheer up and trust in Christ.
Keep believing, keep hoping. I have seen the good that comes from doing just that.
This is His truth, and it is found in the message that I carry each day into the lives of those who choose to accept it. Please accept it.
I love you all, have a fantastic week!
con mucho amor,
Elder Stewart-Chester
1319 Butterfield Rd Ste 522
Downers Grove, IL 60515
1&2 Exchange with Elder Bingham Syracuse, Utah
3 Basketball in the morning
4,&5 Exchange with Elder Fong from Houston, Texas
Como andamos? It is me again! What a fast week. It is always wonderful to look back on the week and recognize the Lord's hand in everything. Illinois has had some fun weather the past week, in fact, I think we have seen it all. Sun, snow, wind, hail, rain, clouds, tornadoes, lightning, 30F, 65F. It is a fun adventure. The tornado part was slightly more serious, we were scrambling all night to get a report from the zone leaders about everyone's safetly. Ottawa actually had a death and some major damage in their city, so those Elders spent their night in the basement of a member's home without electricity. Crazy. Fortunately no one in the mission was harmed.
The rest of us just watched the incredible lightning and clouds which I have never seen on the West coast. Nature is impressive. God is powerful.
This week we had new missionary training and then back to back exchanges! Then we skyped a some of the zone leaders and had an interesting service opportunity.
I'll jump to the service opportunity:
The Hermanas in our ward called us about helping a member of our church's friend move. (we have Hermanas in our ward that cover both English and Spanish...which is a bummer that we don't cover Spanish...I am teaching Elder Riggins poco por poquito) We agreed to help and went over in the morning on Saturday. When we got their, nothing was packed and the poor family had no other help besides us to get everything moved. (I had tons of simpathy for this family left over from all of our moves back home) So we got to work as quickly as we could. It was the Hermano, Elder Riggins, and myself doing all of the lifting into their van. I couldn't but crack up becuase Elder Riggins kept recieving orders from the man in Spanish and didn't have a clue what was going on. He is a good sport. So pretty soon we realized that we weren't going to finish in time for the other appointments that we had scheduled for the rest of the day. So we changed into our formal proselyting clothes in the car and scurried over to the rest of the appointments. (Did I mention that these people are not members of our church?). The service was such a cool opportunity for us to explain more about what we do as full-time missionaries. They both had so many questions for us and invited us to go have dinner with them after our appointments. SO, we ate some of the best ranchero (basically carne asada) that I have ever had that night. It was overall crazy. But we are excited for the hermanas to start teaching them. Plus I have been missing speaking Spanish for soo long. It was a good day.
I have been thinking quite alot about the subject of Christ's established church as found in the New Testament. We have a lady that is investigating into our church that has around 1.5million questions about just about anything you could think of when it comes to the origin of our church. The more that I think about it, the more I have come to realize something: Complexity is a misconception of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There is nothing more pure and simple than the doctrine of Christ. I know through study and faith, as well as a confirming witness from the Holy Ghost, that the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth in our day. Complete in its soundness, richness, and purity, but most importantly, its simplicity.
Life is full of things that complicate the mind, and convolute the brain. God and His teachings do not fall into that category. SO, if there is something you don't quite understand, or have difficulty grasping,
cheer up and trust in Christ.
Keep believing, keep hoping. I have seen the good that comes from doing just that.
This is His truth, and it is found in the message that I carry each day into the lives of those who choose to accept it. Please accept it.
I love you all, have a fantastic week!
con mucho amor,
Elder Stewart-Chester
1319 Butterfield Rd Ste 522
Downers Grove, IL 60515
1&2 Exchange with Elder Bingham Syracuse, Utah
3 Basketball in the morning
4,&5 Exchange with Elder Fong from Houston, Texas