Week 21, Dec 29 - The Purple Lady

Well, here´s the weekly letter - it definitely feels more natural communicating like this instead of through skype. It was defenitely weird to see all of you instead of just read. But it was so cool! All the missionaries were definitely a little homesick afterwords, including me. But that changed after a good solid night of contacting and getting rejected every single time :) It´s funny - Contacting is that activity that seems to get most missionaries down about life - but I always feel really good about it. In fact, after most boring meetings (don´t tell anyone I said that - but they do exist) I am really, really excited to go street contacting. We don´t have a lot of success during the holidays - the whole country seems to be infected with a dangerous deadly disease called "prisa". And here, that´ll last at least until the 6th, because Christmas starts on the noche buena (Christmas eve) continues through the 26th, then New Years Eve and New Years, and then Reyes Magos on the 6th. I know I might be a Spanish scrooge, but I do NOT like Reyes Magos - it has seriously gotten in the way of proselyting. 

There´s not much that´s happened since we talked last - Except for one experience. We were visiting menos activos with Christmas letters around one of the sketchier parts of town called Las Remudas. We knocked a door, expecting just to drop off the letter, and a woman probably Grandma Maxfield´s age opened the door. Instead of just asking for the letter and calling it good, she invited us in. First, she was wearing all purple. Like those lady jackets and pant suits - all purple. Purple earrings. Purple necklace. Purple shirt underneath the lady purple pant suit. Then we walked in. ALL OF THE WALLS WERE PURPLE. And the rug was purple. And the Christmas tree was purple. And the Christmas decorations were purple themed. The dog was wearing a purple bow and collar. She offered us water and a pastry, served on purple dishes and the pastry had purple frosting. The couch was purple. The lightbulbs in the lamps were purple. The kitchen table was purple. Even the knife she used to cut the pastry was purple. There was modern art on the wall, the kind that Dad likes with the simple squares and lines - and they were differing shades of purple. And the dog´s name was violet. (al final, she didn´t really want us there - just too nice to tell us to leave. She wouldn´t even let us share He is the Gift, and EVERYONE likes that. Sad, because she really liked the church when she was involved.) 

Well, I´ll take this little time I´ve got left to say that I am grateful for Christmas - it is the best time to reflect upon what we´re giving away as missionaries - the hope that comes from Jesus Christ.

Adios, hasta Enero 2015!

Elder Stewart Maxfield.

Home cooked lunch

Week 20, Dec 25 - Christmas in Telde

Christmas Dinner with Zone at the Old Mission Home

Christmas Dinner American Style

Opening Presents

The Christmas Nap

Week 19, Dec. 15 - Baptism and New Companion

So I got a new companion last Monday, after I wrote. Named Elder Norrell. He´s pretty darn cool. He´s not Elder Dyer, but we get work done. He´s been up north, in Madrid, and now down here in the islands (what the missionaries call a 3-mission mission. Because those three areas are all very, Very different.) He cooks, cleans, preaches, teaches, has the Spirit, and sleeps during MedioDia. It´s a goood time.

Saying Good-bye to Elder Dyer 

I´ve been  showing him the ropes, which is pretty fun. Things like, "Don´t talk to that guy, he´s nuts. And thisa Testigo. And the bus stops here. It goes there. Well. I guess is doesn´t go there. We´re lost now. I really should have paid attention last transfer." Not really like that, but we have been lost twice because, why not take the new guy to places you´ve never been? Yesterday we wandered around an unfamiliar beach pueblo, because people are ALWAYS on the beach on Sundays. (Seriously. Sunday is a holy day of rest - at the beach.) But we didn´t go out on the sand or close to it or anything bad like that. As soon as he gets to know the area, we´re going to do splits - the members are really excited because for them all the work necessary is showing up, and we´ll do all the planning. Working with the members is funny here, because there´s not very many. There´s ten people in Ward Council and 40 that come to church every week - the ward mission leader told me there were "Muchos jefes y pocos indios" when I asked him about ward Council.

We also had a baptism this last week  -  TWO. One of them was Ezikiel, and the other was an 8 year old. Baptisms are really, REALLY stressful because I want everything to go perfectly. But it´s very rewarding to see an inactive man watch his son get baptized, and then to watch a baptism of an 8 year old whose mother is only partly active. It makes the stress and the letdowns and the missed appointments and everything else that makes Missionaries get down worth it. I´ve been reading the "History of the Church" by Joseph Smith and there´s some pretty cool stuff in there. If I remember right, the editor and compiler of Joseph´s history makes the following comment regarding the scripture, "After much tribulation come the blessings." He says that means not that tribulations might come, but that they have to come. Also that blessings have to come as well. I thought that was super cool and can totally apply it to the mission. The stress and heartache from investigators can surely be listed as tribulations - but after a lot of those you see things like Mercedes and William and a growing church. I love it here.

(Pause for a second. I´m realizing how fun it is to read scriptures and Mission Stuff. Our church library has a few books in English that I´ve taken advantage of. Since the MTC I´ve read the BOM twice, the New Testament, Jesus the Christ, Our Heritage, Our Search for Happiness, A Marvelous work and a Wonder, Articles of Faith, The Miracle of Forgiveness (still on that one - Spanish) and three volumes of History of the Church.  We also just barely got the Liahona with all the Conference talks. Yessss. You realize how incredibly AWESOME Joseph Smith was when you read History of the Church.)

I seem to have contracted a cold or allergies or something. Runny nose, teary eyes, lost voice, etc. It´s a good thing oranges are in season because they are really, REALLY good for when I´ve felt like this - The Mercadona lady gave me a really wierd look when I bought 5 pounds of oranges for one person. But other than that, I feel great and I won´t let it impede me from working. That´d just be downright silly. 

While we´re on the subject, Skype calls next week - no letters. P-Day will be Christmas. I´ll be at the old mission home with all the other missionaries from the island from the morning until around 6:30 that night. Which corresponds to the early, EARLY morning at home until eleven thirty (7 hour difference to the Canaries).  I have no idea how to put on contacts, nor what sort of money it will cost. I´d like to do it earlier in the morning (Utah Time), at 8:00 or sometime around there. What we can do is assign Maren or Dad (seeing as they´re the IT of the house) to check out the account I created for the family under Mom´s email before I left (mom should have the password) and try and add me as a contact or something (if that´s necessary) and we can start the call then (at 8).  Maren can work her technology gismo wizardry from both ends. I´ll be on my email starting at 1:45 (7:45am Utah) and we can email for a second before it gets figured out. It won´t take very long. Our very technologically un-savvy Mission Leader asked us to set up a skype call for him with someone on another island, and it didn´t take longer than ten minutes. So I´m sure we´ll figure it out. If you guys want to change anything, email me and I´ll see it while Santa Clause is doing his thing over there (From about midnight Utah time onward I´ll be able to check my email.)

Well, that´s all folks. The Church is true. 

Elder Stew.

Week 18, Dec. 8 - Transfers in Telde, Stewart Gets a new Comp

Well transfers just occurred. I´m staying right here in my little spot of heaven. (It really is very nice in Telde.) My trainer got transferred to Cuenca - A city on the easternmost part of the mission in Castilla - La Mancha. He´s going to be very cold and need to work very hard. Being the missionary that he is, he was very excited for the work (but not so much for the cold - He´s from Arizona.)

Last picture of zone before transfers

I´ve been assigned a new companion, named Elder Norrell. I haven´t heard anything about him except for that he´s from Texas. So more updates when he arrives - I put my old companion on a plane for Madrid. at 6am this morning and he´ll be here later tonight. Right now I´m with the Zone Leader Elder Sarango, from Ecuador. He sure makes the Spanish learning go faster.

So I have a lot to say and not very much time. Some new pictures should have uploaded, so tell me how that works out. If we´re lucky, we´ll have some from the baptism that we did today. Yep. Today. My trainer let me take the lead on this one, and everything went. We had the idea to have William baptize Ezequiel, (The guy who we just baptized a month ago), and it went GREAT! The only thing was that William´s nerves got to him and he messed up the prayer like 7 times. But it was beautiful. William was being awesome (as usual) and Ezequiel loved the spirit that he felt. I had the idea to have his seminary teacher give a talk to have his seminary friends give talks and prayers. And then, in typical Mormon fashion, delicious food came out of nowhere to finish it off. (Sometimes I think the relief society just creates food out of nothing.)

William baptizing Ezequiel

Mercedes is William´s wife. And she is.... She brought Columbian food to the baptism today. She ALWAYS makes us food when we go to her house. She loves the missionaries (she started crying when my companion gave his last testimony yesterday.) She insists on staying after ward functions and cleaning up. She explained to the Sunday School class yesterday how we shouldn´t read the scriptures - we should "escudriñarlas"  (I think it´s a mix between ´scrutinize´ and ´study´). There was an investigator who felt/looked a little uncomfortable at the baptism today, not really talking to anyone. So she walked up to him, took him by the arm, and said, "I made these sandwiches. Eat one and tell me they´re good. I don´t want there to be any left." (She did the same thing to me at the ward BBQ a couple weeks ago - she makes so much food!!) As she did what the members were supposed to have done (fellowship this investigator) she winked at me and later said, "I could tell he needed a friend if he was going to come back." That´s to say how awesome Mercedes is, and not that the members had forgotten or that they´re bad - there were a lot of investigators there. She told us the other day that she knows she´s going to get baptized, she just doesn´t know when. 

Mercedes wasn´t that way when we first started teaching her. There was a time when she thought we were pressuring her too much, that wearing skirts at church was too hard, and reading the scriptures was just adding onto it. She almost went back to her old church. BUT. The members of the relief society literally saved her. From day 1 they were all friends and she never stops telling us how great it is to be in the relief society. I have no idea what they do in there, I just know that it works miracles. I am willing to bet that her desires to progress came cheifly from two places, neither of which was us nor her husband - the relief society sisters and the spirit. 

President Hinckely said once that every new convert needs three things in the church - A job, to be nurtured by the good word of God, and a friend. As missionaries, we focus WAAAY to much on the second. And as an investigator, there´s not much you can make them do on those first or second categories. But everyone can have a friend. The other things will come later. I am so grateful for our rama that has accepted every investigator with open arms - nothing would happen if the members were shot off or acted like the church was a club, hazing the new guys. 

There´s the missionary message for the week - be a friend to everyone. Even if they´re new or shy and even if they don´t want to be friends with you. 

Saludos from a place that has never, ever seen a white Christmas, 

Elder Stew.

Eating a fish, picture most likely taken by a native

Stewart baking - but what?  I see powdered chocolate mix

Week 17, Flash Back to MTC in the Park

Hello Family!

Here’s a couple of pictures the MTC president’s wife printed out.  Somebody would always take a camera to the park, and she would print out the pictures.  The really, really good pictures got framed.  These two both are Elder Semenyuk and I.  he’s the Russin park comp. that I had once.  I’m pretty sure I mentioned him in an email. 

This is us contacting an Egyptian woman who spoke English!  My companion spoke Russian and Ukrainian, so this was as good as it was gonna get.   We caught her because she was taking a selfie, and we offered to take it for her to make life easier. Afterwards, I told her about why we were missionaries and what we do.  And, she took the Book of Mormon and promised to read!  She also gave us her number so we could put her in contact with the missionaries in Egypt – bummer, HUGE bummer that I’m pretty sure there aren’t any.

In one of the pictures there’s a lady in blue looking at us.  I don’t know what happened with the Egyptian, nor the lady, but I do know this – 1) People saw us doing missionary work 2) We were giving a good impression of the church – we didn’t bother anything or anyone.  Sometimes that’s all we hope for, that we give good impressions to both those we contact and those randomly looking.

Same thing at home.  People can just see you living the gospel and know that it is good.  One of my goals is to NEVER do anything that might hurt other missionaries’ work here.  Always be a good example, and nothing but good will happen.

Love,

Elder Stew

Proselyting in the park

Week 17, Thanksgiving Pictures

Phase 10

Dinner at the home of Brother and Sister Larsen

Week 17, Dec 1

I am proud to announce my new culinary creation. It doesn´t have a name yet. But you lightly fry potatoes with salt, pepper, onion powder and cinnamon (yeah, I was just messing around). And then you fry two eggs so the yolks are nice and gooey. And then you cook a really, REALLY good sausage (not allowed to be pre-cooked) and you eat it all together, and also raspberry jam toast and orange juice. I´ve gotten it down to a science, so that I can cook all that in 15 minutes and eat it in another 15. Breakfast is a good time in Telde. 

I had another intercambio with Elder Sarango this week (The Zone Leader - He´s companions with the District Leader) He´s from Ecuador. We´ll just say that you learn more Spanish in 24 hours living with a native than 6 months with a book. It was so awesome! Unlike last time, we were totally able to communicate. We gave a blessing to an older nonmember man headed for surgery this week. That makes the fourth health blessing I´ve given while being here - it feels good to be able to use the priesthood to bless the lives of others. One thing we always say when we teach about the priesthood is that it´s only here for other people - you can´t put your hands on your own head and give you a blessing. I am so grateful to have had Dad around all the time to give me blessings - for AP tests, for school, for the Page life. I think I´m going to ask my trainer for a comfort blessing when he leaves. 

We have an investigator named Fran. He is very, very invested in getting an answer for himself, and he told me that he would be willing to change his life when that answer came. What made him particularly interesting this week was that we had a lesson with the Stake president. We taught about the plan of salvation - what Christ did for us, how families can be together forever, that we are children of God - all the important stuff (lightly treading over the Fall - it is definitely easy to teach TOO much about the Fall, haha.) And then Presidente Déniz bore a sweet testimony about this church and this plan, and Fran closed with a prayer. We´ve been working on getting the investigators on their knees for the prayers - and the Spirit was so strong - I KNOW that he was affected somehow. He´ll get his answer. That lesson single-handedly pumped me up for the next week! Missionary life is so rewarding and fulfilling - it makes me happier than pretty much everything. 

We just finished up with week five of this transfer. We set a goal at the beginning of the week that to work harder than we ever had to make our goal of 50 people at church. We worked very, very hard. And didn´t make the goal. To our credit, before we got here the asistencia never broke 40 - And it´s broken forty every week now, save one. But it reminded me of something that President Lovell liked to say - that you set goals so that you have to reach and stretch and work and work more, so that the goal is almost just out of reach. It´s definitely the hardest way to set goals - because you set it with faith, with the intention to get it, but knowing it will be very difficult, and then when it doesn´t happen you can get down on yourself and do worse. But when you set the goal right, with faith and an attitude that whatever happens, you worked your hardest, and you did your best and the Lord was on your side -  then setting goals becomes rewarding, and you relish the opportunity to set goals again. There´s the spiritual thought! Maren told me the Plan says she´ll get a 33 on the ACT. And she´ll aim higher! Stretch as high as you possibly can and God will help finish it off. Or your goal won´t happen but you know you worked super duper hard. 

To the kids - How goes school?

To Mom - Nope, didn´t get any thanksgiving pictures.

Much love from the eternal spring (seriously, it either shines or just barely rains - what kind of paradise is this?).

Elder Stew.