9/18/2012 LAST LETTER!!!

Hey Everyone! Well, this is weird... It's hard to believe that this will be the last time I will email everyone on my mission. Let me start off by saying that serving a mission is the best decision that I have ever made in my life! I have loved every second of it! I have never been so physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually drained in my whole life until I have been on a mission! But, I have loved it all, because I know that through it all, I have been blessed tremendously. I am so grateful for this! College can wait. My week was pretty good, the weather here has been really helpful, It's been raining a lot here. If not raining, then it's just been really cloudy, so that knocks the temperature down by like 20 or 30 degrees. This week, we had the zone leaders come to town to go on exchanges with us, well I went with Elder Urban again, I figured that it was a nice day that day, that we just walked around town. Well we had some pretty good success! We street contacted a man named Kyle who was getting some stuff out of his truck. We just said hello and started talking to him about random stuff, well turns out that we were out there talking to him for about a hour and he had a few questions about why there are so many churches all over the place ( By the way, there are 132 churches in this area, not just in Lebanon alone ) and he also asked what happened to the church that Christ made while he was on the earth. That was a excellent set of questions! We gladly answered them without any hesitation. We asked him if we could come back and talk to him more about our beliefs and he said that he never knows when he is home because of work, but he agreed!! It was really weird when we were out and when we saw him, because when we left the apartment, a member who lives right down the road from us was also leaving and he offered to drive us to where we needed to go, which was about a mile away. When he dropped us off, we stopped by a investigator and talked with him for about 20 minutes, then we started to walk up the road to see another investigator and as we were walking, that is when we saw Kyle, when we saw him, he just walked out of his house to grab a pack of cigarettes and a bag of melted gummy bears. So doing all of that stuff before literally bought us a 30 second window to talk to him. If we denied the ride to go a mile up the road, or if we talked to the investigator a little bit longer, we wouldn't of seen him!! Pretty cool huh?!?! It's amazing how the Lord sets people in our path at a specific time. He defiantly works in amazing ways. Well, 6 plus miles later, my feet were super sore!!! That was a great day. Elder Ashby and I are doing pretty good, we get along really well, I'm going to be sad when I leave, turns out that his new companion that is coming in is Elder Chriss. If you remember when I was in Owasso, I served with Elder Chriss so that's pretty cool that I know him. This will make Elder Ashby's second companion that I have already served with, and I am his second!! His first was Elder Denton, He's awesome!!! I miss serving with him. Our talks Yesterday went really well, I spoke on the Atonement and Elder Ashby told a story that he read one day. It was about not giving up, it was really good!! It was really weird that that was my last Sunday on my mission. But it was a good one. Well, I thought that this day would never come. Not because I thought I would go home early, but because I didn't want it to come. As my mission is coming to a close, I have learned a lot! I have changed a lot too, in many good ways tho. I know that this church is true and I will never change that. I know that Christ once walked that earth and set up His church with Apostles and Prophets to run it under his direction! I know that after a long period of apostasy, it was restored through Joseph Smith and it will never leave again. I know how important missionary work is and how it needs to continue for the work to spread and I am so grateful that I have been able to go on in this cause. I love you all and I will see you in a few days!! Love always, Elder Daniel Stuart

9/10/2012

**CHECK OUT 2 LETTERS I POSTED** Hey Everyone!! Thanks for writing me again, it's weird to think that I only have one more full week to serve and only one more preparation day left until I head home. It's starting to finally sink in that I am going home, and I am okay with that. I think what really made it happen is when I saw that letter in the mail from the mission office that had my flight plans on it. I read it all carefully and it finally hit me, "This is it, I'm going home. No sense on complaining and wishing I could of done better, because I can't change the past, I minus well keep going forward and not look back". I also got a letter from President Shumway, he told me about how proud he is of me and my dedication to serve the Lord, it was a great letter. Tell President Nicoles that I said hello and I can't wait to talk to him again. It's weird that I will be released, I'm not looking forward to that! Do you know when I will give my welcome home talk? I'm looking forward to Kaelyn's birthday party coming up!! Especially the fire juggling!! I think that it would be awesome if Joey and Lauren or you could score some tickets to General Conference!!!! I've been wanting to go for a long time now! especially since I have served a mission. I hope they can get some!!! I think it would also be a great idea to see my Dad then, I really want to be there when Garrett comes home and when he and Adam give their talks on the 14th. That member has not sent off my bike yet, he is actually going to give me my bike and the box today so I can break it down and put it in and anything else that I may want to put in, then he will pick it up and ship it off. I sent off a box on Tuesday, so you may get it today, don't bother opening it, I'll deal with it when I get home. I was wondering if you could do me a favor?! Could you please send me some money for when I go to the airport? The Mission Office is already going to give each returning missionary $70.00 for their luggage, but we are responsible for anything that costs more. So, I was wondering if you send me maybe $50.00? Just in case, I'll be sure to give you whatever money I have left over. I don't think I will need it, but since my card no longer works, it would be great if I could have that money. That's why I'm sending so many heavy boxes home, I want to travel as light as possible. So my week went pretty well, on Wednesday, we had Elder Yoon Hwan Choi of the Seventy come and speak to us. He spoke on a lot of things, mainly the Atonement and obedience. He is a really great guy and is funny. Also very spiritual and positive. In case you were wondering, (because I know you are) He is Korean. It was great being there, I was able to see a LOT of missionaries that I haven't seen in a long time. There were two that I haven't seen since they were in my district in Owasso!! One of them was a Sister Missionary and we became good friends when I was on Oklahoma, so when I saw her, she looked up at me and flipped out!! It was hysterical!! I even saw a few missionaries there that I don't even know and they came up to me as if they knew me. They were like, "Hey Elder Stuart!! How's it going?! I've heard so much about you! It's good to meet you!" Hopefully it's all good stuff! That was the main highlight of my week tho. Oh, one other thing that happened is that we were walking home from a appointment on Friday and it started to rain, well when we got home, it rained harder and harder, then it poured really hard and the wind blew insanely!!! Then all of the sudden, the tornado alarm went off... We didn't really go anywhere for safety, but maybe 20 minutes later, it stopped and a few hours later, the rain stopped. Very weird, but the rain was needed. Well, I better get going, I love you all and I hope you have a great week!! Love, Elder Daniel Stuart

9/4/2012

Hey Everyone!! That's great to hear that fall is coming... for you!!! It's still pretty warm here. All tho, we did have a awesome rainfall for a few days last week. Elder Ashby is doing better, I think he can bike for a little bit. The member that lent me his bike needed it for this weekend, but I found a spare back tire for my bike and I gave it to him. I told him that he can give me my bike back now, so I can send it home, he said "Don't worry about it, I'll send it home for you, think if it as a going away present" Score!!! Ah man, that took a lot of stress off of my shoulders... So I just sent a package out right before I got here, it's just a lot of stuff that I bought while serving. Don't worry about opening it when I go home, I'll deal with it when I get back. Thanks!! It should be there by next week sometime. That's a awesome testimony that Kaelyn said! So, to answer your question again about my flight plans, no, I haven't gotten the, yet, but I did call the mission office and asked when I would get them and she said that she was actually looking at them right now! So you should get a copy and I should get the real deal soon. She told me that I will be flying from Tulsa, to Dallas, to Seattle, to Spokane. So I'll be in the air a lot that day! My guess is that I won't get home until late, but I guess we will officially know it all soon. Tell Dwight that I am really excited to go hunting with him! And fishing too. I plan on finding a job as soon as possible when I get home. I got a busy life ahead!! My week was okay, we were able to see a few people this week, but it wasn't a very effective week. Tomorrow, we get to go to Springfield for most of the day, we are going to be having a mission tour and Elder Yoon Hwan Choi of the Seventy will be there, I'm so pumped!!! I'm really curious on what he will be instructing on. I love it when we have these. It's a real honor to be in the presence of a General Authority, even if it is a Seventy, but I don't care!! So, how is everyone? How are Tyler and Tysen doing? Be sure to tell everyone I said hello. I got to get going, but I hope that you all have a great week! Love, Elder Daniel Stuart

8/22/12 and 8/13/2012 Letters

I HAVE POSTED TWO LETTERS FROM DANIEL, THE FIRST LETTER IS THE MOST RECENT. PLEASE CHECK THEM BOTH OUT. 29 DAYS LEFT!!!! Hey Everyone!! Sorry that I haven't emailed you back yet, I couldn't on Monday and yesterday the Internet was down! Thanks for all the Birthday wishes, it is much appreciated!! I had a great birthday! It started off this morning that we had a zone conf

erence to go to. The entire zone made it out to Lebanon for it, it started at about 8:00 and it went to 11:00. After that, some of the Relief Society sisters made us lunch! So that was really nice of them. When lunch was over we sang "Called to Serve" to them as we always do to those who make us lunch at meetings, then Elder Urban, put his arm over me and we walked to the front of the crowd and he said today is someones birthday, and we are going to sing to him, them he sprinted to the crowd before I could grab him, so everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to me, it was pretty cool!! When the conference was over, we all got dressed and we went to the park and played capture the flag and had flower balls, just like last year in Tulsa! It was such a blast!! We lost by a point, but that wasn't the point, we all had fun and I was able to capture the flag for out team too!! I feel bad for Elder Ashby, he twisted his knee and dislocated it. He put it back into place by himself, but now he is limping around, I think we are going to go to the doctors so he can get it checked out. After the game, we went home and about a hour later, the Ellis' picked us up and we went to the DeWitts for my birthday party! We had a few families there and we all had a great time!! we had some really good cake that Sister Ellis made and Sister DeWitt made some really good enchiladas! They gave me a few gifts, Brother DeWitt bought me a pink tie because "Real men wear pink!" I liked his tie that he wore on Sunday, it had a little bit of pink in it and he said that to me. I think what I liked most is just being around with all of my friends that I have made here. I have become really close with the people that were at the party and I hope that I will be friends with them forever!! I know that I have said this before, but I'm going to say it again, I am going to try to come back here as soon as possible and visit everyone in my mission before I have to start school. I'm thinking about coming in November. Dad was telling me that one of the kids are getting baptised in late October I think and he asked me if it is possible that I could be there, so that would work out great!! I better start saving my pennies now!! What are your thoughts on this? This week went pretty good, not a whole lot has happened. On Thursday, it was really cloudy, like super dark clouds and we decided to go over to one of our investigators house and mow her lawn for her, well she wasn't home but her shed was unlocked so we pulled out her lawn mower and I started to mow her lawn, well when I started, it began to lightly sprinkle, then when I got to me third strip of cutting, the rain just dumped on me, hard!! I couldn't help but to just laugh, it felt great!! I didn't care! but I did put her mower back, I didn't want to ruin it. On Friday, we had interviews with President Shumway. This was a last minute thing, so it wasn't really expected, we found out about it about three weeks ago. It was also a combined District Meeting with the other district, So the other District Leader and I had to instruct! I instructed on companionship inventory and he instructed on companionship unity, I personally felt like it went really well, I took up about 45 minutes by myself and the other missionary did the same. When President Shumway finally pulled me into a room to interview me, we talked about the area and Elder Ashby. He told me that he is so proud of me and he thanked me for all of my hard work and effort that I have put into Lebanon. He also really thinks that Elder Ashby and I make a great team, I think so too! He told me that while he was praying about transfers, he prayed really hard about the two of us, he was planning on transferring one of us out, but The Spirit strongly told him that we both need to stay here. He is upset that I am leaving so soon, he really loves me, he's a great guy! There is no doubt in my mind that he has been called by God to serve here. I'm going to miss him and his family when I leave. On Saturday, the ward had a huge Barbecue event at a members place, this event is a yearly thing, it's like a holiday for them here, I'm happy that I am able to be here for it, it went really good! a lot of people showed up and we all had a good time!! Brother DeWitt picked us up a few hours before it started so we could help set up. That was some good food too!! We have a Mission tour coming up in a few weeks, it is actually the week before I go home, (Yikes) and someone from the General Authority from the seventy is coming in, it's Elder Yoon Hwan Choi, I'm so thankful that I will be here for it!! Well, I got to get going, but I love you all and I thank you for you do, also thank you for the package that you sent me I loved it. See you soon! Love, Elder Daniel Stuart AUGUST 13,2012 Hey Everyone! This letter may be relatively short, in some ways, not a lot happened this week. But first off, Yes, the weather has been a little warm BUT! it has been cooling off! for the past few days with some rain in the night and a lot of cloud coverage through out the day. We try to be effective during the afternoon, but it can be challenging. This area is really hit and miss in a few ways. I'll be sure to let you know when I send my bike home, I may or may not send more stuff home, it's doubtful, but you never know. Man, It's so weird to know when all of my friends are coming home!! It literally feels like we all just left! I clearly remember being at the airport with you guys and Garrett! I also remember seeing Kelton in the MTC! I write in my journal everyday and I flipped back to a year exactly just to see what happened and I was shocked! That defiantly doesn't seem like a year!! Did you know that a year ago, I was in Owasso?!? Nuts... Our week was... interesting. On Monday we had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader and The Burns came ( They are the investigators getting baptised ) and we were going to teach them about temples and Celestial Marriages. Well as we were eating, Brian mentioned that he is on probation. When I heard that, my stomach dropped, investigators cannot be baptised if they are on probation, it's part of the repentance process. So we explained to him about it and he seemed pretty cool about it and is willing to wait. He told us that it makes sense. We told his wife that she can still get baptised if she wants to but we strongly recommend if she waits for her husband, she said that she can wait too. So we then continued on with the lesson. I asked President Shumway about it and he said that if he still wants to get baptised within 6 months, he will consider coming out to interview him. So I told Brian that when I found out and he was cool with it. Well Yesterday afternoon, they call and Brian tells me that they don't believe anymore. I asked what the problem was, he said that he doesn't like the fact that he cannot get baptised while on probation. So that really crushed me. I'm not upset that I'm losing a baptism, I'm upset that they are missing out on such a wonderful blessing... So yesterday I talked to the Bishop here and we talked about it for a while and said that it's not our fault, we did our part. I just hope that come 2014 when his probation is over, they will come back! Other than that, nothing else is really going on. We are trying to work with our investigators, mainly to come to church. It seems like that is the biggest challenge. Man I sure do a lot of praying for them. Thanks for feeding the missionaries out there, are they still not being fed a lot? It sure doesn't feel like my birthday is coming up next week. Oh that reminds me, I won't be able to email next Monday. but I will Tuesday. We have a Zone instruction meeting in the morning then after that we get to play capture the flag!!! It's going to rock!!! A family here is feeding us that day too and has invited some other members that I have become close friends with!! One of the members keeps telling me how he is going to take me out for my birthday for a few drinks and he will buy, so I'm really excited for that to! lol ;) Well, that's about it for me here. I hope that everyone is doing good out there in good ol' Idaho! I'll talk to you all later, have a great week!! Love always,

7/28/2012

Hey Everyone, That is so cool that you had a blast in Oregon camping. I miss camping a lot. Soon tho.... Well, I hope that you have learned your lesson, wear sunscreen next time so you don't fry. I sort of figured when I didn't see a package in the mail, you forgot to send it, or got to busy. I'll be looking for it this week. Thanks!! Are Grandma and Grandpa still up there? Have fun camping again this weekend! Geez, you're all crazy!! Just kidding. My week was incredible!! We have still been meeting with those investigator's that we picked up the week before, they are a younger couple, probably in there 30's. I don't really have the guts to ask them why they live where they are. Maybe they will tell me sometime, they came to church this week too and we have been teaching them a lot! We invited them to be baptised and they accepted!! We are going to shoot for the 25 of August, we were going to go for the 18th, but we have a huge ward event going on that day. We also picked up a new investigator this week! She also wants to be baptised!! We have done a lot of biking this week too, I gave CTR bikes a call and left a message, they still haven't called me back. But a member in the ward has lent me his bike and I have been using it, man that this is fast!! He has a speedometer on his bike and I clocked myself going 31 miles an hour!!! Down hill of course, I'm trying to go faster. When It's flat I can maybe go 20. I feel really bad for the missionaries in the ward back at home, It makes me really mad too because in a way, I know how they feel. Was that the wards decision or the mission presidents decision? Someone should really buy their groceries for them. I would do it in a heartbeat if I was home, if they liked it or not. Maybe I will when I get home!! Please take care of them. Things here as a District Leader are going well, I didn't hold a meeting last week because there was a district leader training meeting last week. President Shumway instructed us on some stuff and it went really good!!! I feel more prepared too, thank heavens!!! I haven't heard anything about my flight plans yet, but as you already know, I come home the 21st of September. My guess would probably be that I will leave early in the morning as the other missionaries in the past have done. I'll let you know when I get it tho. Can you all please pray for rain out here? We need it badly. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Thank you for your prayers!! Love, Elder Daniel Stuart

July 9th, 2012

Hey Everyone, Another week passes. It goes by too fast unfortunately, I've been looking back on my mission and thinking of all of the experiences that I have been through to make me stronger and learn more. What a blessing it has been! College can wait, I'm so grateful that I said "Yes" to my bishop to serve a mission. It's defiantly a adventure I will never forget. I've never been so stressed, so mad, so sad to the point I fall and cry, so happy, so confident, so exhausted, so excited, and so blessed in my whole life then right here while leaving my family and serving the Lord for two years of my life. I just wish I had the knowledge that I have now in the beginning of my mission. Anyways, we had a somewhat good week, it has been hot as usual, I remember one day, I was walking on the street and my feet were burning and I was wearing shoes!!! I looked in my closet the other day and noticed my hoodie jacket hanging up, it looks so lonely! It needs to be worn! Maybe I can crank my A/C to like 30 and then I'll wear it when I go to bed. We keep our A/C at like 68 all the time and when we come in from a hot days work, we open that door and wham! A cold front hitting me right in the face, all I can say is "Ahhhh....." Our investigators are doing well, we have had quite the challenge meeting some of them, some are super busy with finding jobs, some are having major a family crisis, and some are really sick but still puts forth the effort to come outside for at least 5 minutes to tell us that he is still reading and he prayed to know if it is true like we asked him to do and he told us that he knows it is, he's just really sorry that he can't see us as much as he wants to. He has some sort of a back disorder and is constantly seeing doctors, not to mention he is taking care of his wife who has M.S. Really badly. I pray for them and everyone else everyday and night. I also pray for my district and the missionaries I look over. Being a District Leader is quite interesting, I haven't yet held a meeting yet, we had Zone Conference on Saturday and we were able to see President and Sister Shumway for the first time, they are wonderful people! I hardly know them but I already know that he has been called by God to lead this mission in a very important cause. He's really funny and knows how to have a good time, he is also really obedient and blunt and bold but he does it in a very caring loving way. I'm kind of disappointed that I only get to serve under him for 2 1/2 months. Since that was my last Zone Conference, I was able to give my departing testimony, I'm the only one in this zone that is going home soon. Another person that gave his departing testimony was one of the Assistants who goes home at the end of this transfer. When President Shumway said that it's now time for departing testimonies, he looked right after me and said: "I don't know you, but I wish I would of gotten the opportunity to know you better" He was pretty bummed that I'm leaving and so am I. My 4th of July went pretty awesome, we are able to have a delicious BBQ with some members in the ward and watch them light off fireworks. It was much funner than last years 4th of July. I'm happy to hear that you guys had a great time watching them. How did the girls handle them this year? Still scared out of there minds? No, I'm not getting letters yet, I did get one from a kid from the singles ward name Chase but I haven't replied yet. Other than that, nope. I emailed Garrett and told him that I still haven't gotten his letter and he replied that it was actually sent back to him, so I think he will try again, or something like that, and he's like 3000 miles away!! At least he's putting forth the effort to write me and I have no doubt that he is busier than anyone back at home, yet he takes 2 hours out of his busy week to write me. What are best friends for, right? If you could try to get my college papers for NIC ready for me,then UofI, that would be great, Mom. Thanks! I don't think you really need to help me with a job, I feel that that is something I need to do on my own. I got the email with the info that you gave me, thanks! I got the rest of it on lds.org. It is needed so the mission office can notify them when I'm coming home. Thanks for all that you guys do, I really appreciate it and I love you all a lot, Have a great week! Love always, Elder Daniel Stuart

June 16th and 25th 2012 letters

*****THIS IS A COUPLE WEEKS OLD**** THERE IS NEW LETTER AFTER THIS POST. PLEASE READ THEM BOTH :)***** Hello!!! How the heck is everybody this week!? I hope you all had a great week, Sorry about the cool weather delaying you all from fishing and going to the beach, I would trade the weather that we have here with you! I'd gladly take weather in the 60's compared to 90's and humid, ugh... Man, last night it rained all night and this morning when we went out to bike to the store for some groceries, it was so humid! It wasn't even that hot too! when we came back to the apartment to drop off the groceries, the swear was literally dripping off me, oh well, 3 more months right? Anyways, thank you telling people to write me, I really appreciate it. I have officially taped my box shut! Hopefully, I'll send it off this week, It's a pretty big box so I need someone to take me out to the post office, I will be sure to send you a quick email when I send it off. Garrett got his release papers already? Dang. No, I still haven't gotten mine, don't worry, they will come. I'm almost certain that I will go home the 21st of September. I'll let you know when I get my papers! I swear, you're more excited for me to come home than I am JUST KIDDING! I think it's a bigger day for the family than it is for me sometimes. It's hard to explain, but I think it will be more harder for me to leave the mission than it was for me to leave home. That will be so cool if Garrett goes to U of I! I thought he had his heart set on BYU tho. I too was thinking of doing a semester of NIC and also working to save up money for U of I. If you ask me, that will be the smartest thing to do, especially since I'll be broke when I go home and I REALLY don't want to go into debt when I go to college. Please tell the Rooks that I still want them to be at the airport with you guys when I come home if they can make it. Also, tell the Griffitts that I said hello and I love them and miss them dearly. We had a pretty good week, it could of been better but we had to help some members move so that kind of put a damper on the work, but I enjoyed helping them and they needed it. We have a investigator here that is going to a really rough time with her family and gaining custody of some grand kids but i gave her a call the other week and she still wants to hear from us but she needs to get this taken care of. So I'm happy that she isn't blowing us off. One thing I'm trying to do is have more members come out with us during lessons. It was funny, I was telling Elder Ashby the other day that we need ward missionaries and I pointed one out in particular that would be a fantastic ward missionary and go figure, the next Sunday, he got called to be one! nuts huh? He is getting ready to go on a mission, his papers are in so he is just waiting for the call letter! In the mean time, we are going to have him come out with us as much as possible and The Bishop told me to use him a lot. Elder Ashby is doing pretty well, he is still really quiet, he told me that he has always been like that tho, I don't get it, when you get to know him or start a conversation he is so cool and hilarious! I need to get him to start talking soon, especially if he is going to take over this area, but who knows. I really do enjoy serving with him tho, I can't believe that this transfer is already half way through! Wow!! So, If you read the BofM, then you become better looking huh? Well, I can't lie about that one. I can see how that could work too. If you read it and live by it, that means that you are staying active in the church and so on and if guys do that, that means that they are honoring their priesthood and women love it when guys do that! That is so cool what Kaelyn said in her testimony! I miss her a lot, I miss all of them tho. I'll be sure to look for Grandma's letter, I need to write her too, by the way, I need to pick up some stamps! I'll be sure to drink plenty of water, don't worry :). I need some more sleep, sure I go to bed at 10:30, but I don't really fall asleep until 12:00 or later sometimes. I don't know what it is, my mind just runs like a million miles an hour. Something is constantly on my mind. I don't think I need anything, but thank you. I did put my suit pants in the box. If you could do me a huge favor, when you get the box, just put it away where nobody can get to it. Don't bother going through it, there is a lot in there! I really don't want the girls to go though it. I got to get going, I love you all and have a great week!!! Love, Elder Daniel Stuart

June 25, 2012

Hey Everyone!!! I'm happy to hear that everyone is doing well, I really miss watching the Iron Man competition. Did they have to cancel church again? Tell the Griffitts I said hello and I love them. Yeah, I heard through the grapevine that Matt is getting married. Congrats to him! If you could get his address for me? I'd appreciate that, also, could you please get the Connery's address? I seemed to have lost it. I still love that family a lot. That's great that Dwight has become friends with the EQP. I miss fishing too! Haha! soon... So yeah, the weather here is amazingly hot... More humid than anyting, but it's okay! We had a excellent week! We picked up 4 new investigators this week! That is terrific for us!!! I'm looking forward to working to each and everyone of them, I see a lot of potential with them. We did some service for a lady that became a investigator this week, she just purchased like half an acre and it needed mowed and she couldn't do it so we did and it took a while but it was fun, freaking humid that day might I add... She was mentioning how much she hates a certain tree in her yard and said that she is going to get rid of it this winter, well I volunteered to chop it down, that... was... really hard, mainly because I just mowed a huge lawn, now I had to open my mouth to chop down a tree, but I got it down. It was funny, I broke the axe when the tree was almost done, so I went to go and tell her and I heard this loud crack and crunch and I looked behind me and saw it fall down!!! What are the odds of that?!?! It was a pain in the butt to drag to the curb, but Elder Ashby and I got it done! Man that thing was heavy! She wanted to pay us but we refused, so she bought us a pizza and the three of us ate it, she has been asking us some questions lately too. Right before I was going to say that we have to go, she said "So, what are your beliefs?" Being exhausted, we then began to teach her the Restoration. She didn't have a problem with it and she has been asking us some other questions too. She's been to a lot of different churches in her life and told us how she has gotted screwed over in different churches but she said that she may make it to church sometime. When we finally left, we started to bike back to the apartment and Elder Ashby's piece of poo bike broke again, so we had to walk like a mile back home. We had a good day tho!!! Thank you for your prayers everyone!! I'm a firm believer in prayer and how it really can help. Well, Transfer calls came. When you get transferred, you get a phone call, but if you stay, no one calls you. Well, we got a call... I picked up the phone and it was one of the assistants, he said "Elder Stuart! I have great news! you both are staying in Lebanon, but, President Merkley wants you to be the District Leader in your district". Shockingly I said yes! It immediately felt as if someone placed a load of bricks on my shoulders. I'm really looking forward to it tho! We are defiantly going to be needing a car now. I have to do a load of exchanges and baptism interviews if there are any. I'm going to call the fleet coordinator in a bit. Hopefully we can get one. I was talking to members in the ward here and they can't recall there being any District Leaders in Lebanon. At least not for a long time. Wish me luck!! I'm almost out of time, but I love you all and I hope you have a excellent week! once again, I love you all. The Church is true!!! Elder Stuart

5/21/2012

Hey Everyone, So it sounds like you all had somewhat of a boring week hehe, other than the softball game. How is the weather out there? is it warming up pretty well? No, I have not gotten the letter from you yet, I was wondering what happened, if it was stolen or not, but I will still keep a eye out for it :). I'm in the process of making a Mormon.org profile, President Merkley gave us the okay to make them now, all tho, he doesn't want us posting any pictures of us in our missionary clothing or saying that we are currently serving a mission, there are a lot of profiles that have that and we don't want people to think that the only people that have them are missionaries, so when you read it, there is stuff in there that says that I recently served a mission and so forth. Mom, I think that is awesome that you are going to read the Book of Mormon again! You should totally do it! In a way, I agree with you, scriptures can get pretty boring to read sometimes. I don't know if I'm used to it or not, but I am enjoying it now. What I do is that I pray before I read it, to invite the spirit in so I may have a better understanding of what I am reading so I can take it in and apply it easier through out my life. Maybe what I'll do with you when I come home is read it with you every night and as we read I explain it to you so It will make more sense. But don't wait for me to come home to read it, start now and get a head start!! Yes, I did get a new companion, his name is Elder Ashby and he is from Weston, Idaho. Woot!!! Finally! not a Utard! Get this, Weston is "West" of Preston, funny huh? He has been out for 4 1/2 months and is pretty homesick. Honestly, I truly believe that that may be the one of the only reasons why President Merkley put me with him, because I was super homesick when I first came out too. He misses a lot of things. He is kind of a cowboy so he misses a lot of that type of stuff that he did back at home. He also misses mountains like I do, people say that we have mountains here but no, these are NOT mountains, they are hills, don't tell them that tho, they'll get angry. President called me Tuesday afternoon and wanted to tell me that he wants me to train Elder Ashby again, but not in a way to where I flat out tell him that I'm retraining him, that might make him feel bad. Missionaries are trained for 12 weeks so I asked President if I am going to be with him for that 12 weeks and he said that he would like that, so I asked him since I have one more transfer after that, will I be here for the rest of my mission and he said that that might happen. So, odds are, I'll stay here and die.... as a missionary. But I've been told that before and President has spiced things up a bit and thrown me into a different area. I'm kind of going to miss Elder Young, but there would be sometimes where he would annoy me a lot, so It was really good that he left. On Thursday, we went to transfer point in Mt. Vernon to drop off Elder Young and wait for Elder Ashby to get here, we got there at about 10:30 and waited there until almost 1:00! in the mean time, I hung out with other missionaries that I haven't seen since I was in Owasso and so forth. We also played woofle ball base ball, that was pretty fun, When Elder Ashby finally came, he was with Elder Denton! My first companion in Mountain Home! I literally flipped when I saw him. He was my favorite companion to serve with!! We spent time catching up and what not, he was serving with Elder Ashby and he told me a bit about him. He is quiet, real quiet, he doesn't talk much to people. So I will have to work on that... For most of the week, we went around town introducing Elder Ashby to members and others. It was pretty good, I've been explaining to him who everyone is, it will take a while for him to get a grasp on it, but he will get it. After we got back in town from Mt. Vernon, we immediately went to our set appointment with a less-active and a member, Brother Price took us there. It was the same less-active lady that we had a lesson with the other week, remember her? Well she was wanting to know about partiarchal blessings and what is the point pf them and so on, so we talked to her about it. Her kids were being somewhat of a distraction to her, so Brother Price entertained them and sort of played with them to keep them quiet. So since Elder Ashby doesn't talk much....yet, it was pretty much up to me to teach her. Guys, I'm not kidding when I tell you this, that was probably one of the best lessons that I have had on my mission yet! The Spirit was so strong there, she started to cry again. She had all of these side questions that didn't really pertain to our lesson, but I was fine with it, every question that she had, I was able to answer. She said to me: "Wow, you know a lot! I need to pick at your brain for a while". Surprisingly, I don't know a whole lot but enough to know what I'm talking about. She told us that she can feel the Spirit every time we come over and teach her and she wants it to stay with her. She also told us that whenever she does stuff that she is not supposed to do, she can feel the Spirit start to leave her and feels really bad. I testified to her that that is the Spirit telling her and warning her of danger and to stay away from those bad things. She understands that she needs to make some serious changes in her life in order to live the way she is supposed to live. At the end, Brother Price offered to give her a blessing of comfort and she agreed so we stood in and as he gave it, the spirit was even stronger, which caused her to cry some more. At the end of the blessing, she gave him and hug and said said some stuff to him and after that she gave me one as well and said thank you. I wasn't expecting it, but I didn't want to seem rude and push her off, so if didn't bother me much. Funny story, we were getting ready to bike to one of our investigators' house to introduce him to Elder Ashby and we biked maybe 200 yards and his bike chain broke! That was the first time that I ever saw that happen, it was a used bike tho, he got it from the mission office. The bike looked really familiar and I asked him if he remember who's bike it used to be and he said that he think it belonged to Elder Gordon. I flipped out! I said I served with him in Owasso almost a year ago! I knew I recognized that bike. So we had a member that was nice enough to take us to the store so Elder Ashby could get a new chain. Well he is still having bike troubles. He can bike, but not very well, we had another member take a look at it and he said that there are certain parts on it that are really worn out and he may have some spare parts. Hopefully he does, bikes don't come cheep. That is about it for the week, everything is going good, I really appreciate all of the support that you give me through letters. I wish more people would write me. It can get lonley out here sometimes. Please tell people to write me!!! Thanks for all that you do Mom. Have a great week!! I love you all!! The church is true! Elder Daniel Stuart

5/8/2012

Hey Everyone, Glad to hear that everyone is doing good. Mom, I think that is awesome that you and Dwight are hanging out with the Rooks more often, I love that family so much, they are practically my second family. I look forward to that day when I see everyone again and share the many stories that I've experienced through out my mission. I also look forward to seeing my other friends that are out on missions as well, like Garrett! I bet he has bizarre stories in South America, he's already told me some through letters. I don't think I will be getting a letter from him anymore, it takes too long and it can be hard sometimes to find time to write pages and pages to one another. I bet Adam has crazy stories too. After all, he is in the Philippians ;) I'm going pretty good, the ward is doing a fantastic job feeding us, I bought something that I have never tried before, its called Nutella, have you ever heard of it? It's kind of like peanut butter but its not, it's a coco hazel nut spread that you put on bread. Pardon my french, but, its freaking good! I put it on my ego waffles the other day, oh man it was good! :) I haven't sent off my package yet. I'd figure I would wait until you send me the money if that is okay, I may need it soon tho, transfer calls are this Saturday and if I leave, I have this huge box that I have to carry around with me. If you cannot send it to me, then I can send it, I have the money. So, clothing wise, I am doing pretty good, other than 2 of my suit pants zippers broke within a week. What the heck?! I'm not even gaining weight!!! I think what the deal is is that I may not of zipped up my pants all the way up and when I get on my bike, I may of bent the metal which caused the material around it to rip. I asked the lady here that is kind enough to mend our clothes if she can fix it and she told me that I am better off buying new ones because they really can't be fixed. So, Mom, if you don't mind, I'm going to put my suit pants in the box when I send it home and if you can, can you go to JC Penny's and get the exact kind please? Since I am going home soon, you only need to buy me one pair, not two, since it is getting hotter, I only wear my suit for church and other meetings, other than that, I wear slacks. So my week was a lot better then it has been since I've gotten here. We were able to teach more people this week then have in the ending of the other weeks I've been here, I don't know what it is, but it was freaking awesome!!! It defiantly made my week better, other then my allergies are starting to come again, I love spring time and everything, but I just hate the allergies. Also, this week was pretty sad and heart breaking, not for me, but for the ward. Two ward members passed away within a week of each other, one of them wasn't doing too good to begin with, I've never seen him but he was falling down hill fast. Another was a man that was mowing his lawn and had a heart attack and died in his backyard. I don't think I've met him either, but he was a less-active and was starting to come back, from what Elder Young told me, he was in the process to getting the priesthood again. There was a few sad faces at church this week. It makes me so grateful to know about the Plan of Salvation and to know that there is much much more after this life, if we look at all of this at a eternal perspective, life here is but a small part compared to eternity. It's like looking at a football field, imagine that the length of that field is eternity, now place a golf ball near the goal post, that golf ball represents our time here on Earth compared to what will happen after this life. So, we will see our loved ones again, it may seem forever, but it really isn't. There is a man in the ward that is older that is super cool, he has to move to a different town to be closer to the doctors due to his health falling fast too. Last week I saw him and talked with him and he was doing good. Yesterday at church I saw him and he has his walker and his oxygen tank with him again and he literally looked like he just went through a few stages of chemotherapy. He looked like a zombie. We stopped by his house yesterday evening to say good bye to him, he is leaving today, he still looked terrible and I asked him if he would like a blessing and he agreed without thinking about it. I gave him the blessing and when I finished, he still didn't look too good but he sure acted a whole lot better, he had his funny sense of humor and was cracking jokes again. I truly felt that that was what he needed, I'm going to miss him. Do you remember when I told you that we had a blitz the other week and the other set of missionaries came down and helped us out? Well I had the impression that we needed to see a certain lady that day, so we went over and nobody was home. Well last Sunday, we had a meeting and our ward mission leader told us to go and see her and I told him how I already tried but we will try again. So this time, I got her number and I gave her a call and I talked with her for a bit, I asked her if we can stop by and see her, she sounded really excited and said, " Yes! absolutely!! that would be great! when can you guys come over?!?!" Well we scheduled a time to see her and we had the stake patriarch come out with us to see her the next night. She told us that she has been wanting to come back to church, but she is afraid to. She lives with her boy friend and has two kids with him. He hates the church, so I think that is a huge reason why she is afraid to become active again, because that would mean that she has to make big changes in her life. Well I am glad that the Stake Patriarch came out with us, he really answered some questions that I didn't have the heart to tell her, but he did it in a nice way to where he said that there is hope. Well we invited her to church and she came!!! What a great lesson! The Spirit was definitely present. On Wednesday's we go to the church and talk with members during mutual and also have frequent meetings with the Bishop, we had another one that night and we were talking to him about the blitz and how it went. He has definitely gained more trust with us since I've gotten here, not to brag at all, there have been missionaries in the past that didn't do much, I think that may have lost the Bishop's trust. Well now, we are constantly asking what we can do for him and we get it done as soon as possible, I really think that he opened way up when I proposed the Book of Mormon challenge and now that it is a go, there are so many members constantly asking for more than one copy, I may of told you this last week, but the youth here are amazing and a few have asked for like five copies! Now, the three of us talk all the time, he is actually really funny has his own side job on Craig's List buying and selling stuff, it's hilarious! Anyways, he asked us if we could give a talk in Relief Society this Sunday, so yesterday. He also may want us to give a talk in sacrament in a few weeks, I'll tell you more on that in the future. Apparently there are a few sisters in the ward that don't really know how to give a copy to someone, including the Relief Society President. So, we agreed to do it. Well, our ward mission leader teaches the missionary prep class and he texted us on Thursday and said, "Elder Stuart, I need you to teach the mission prep class again this Sunday again, I'll be out of town" A few weeks ago I taught the class the Plan of Salvation and our ward mission leader liked it so much, I guess that is why he asked only me to teach it. Turns out that he will be gone for the next three weeks, so I'll be teaching it for a bit. So I agreed. Well at this time, I think that I bit off a little more then I can chew, we have to plan for two lessons this Sunday, well we got that all taken care of and the lessons went great! while I was in the Mission Prep class, Elder Young was in the Gospel Principles class teaching the less active that came. The Relief Society lesson went really good as well, I walked in that class for a second the other week and saw a sister reading her lesson out of a article and she was mono toned the entire time, I thought that was kind of boring, so when we were in there, we made sure it was exciting and funny in some aspects, kind of like a prep rally getting them ready for a football game, but in a reverent way to where the Spirit was still residing there. We got a lot of compliments on it too. I've made myself a personal goal to read the standard works before I go home, I did the math and if I read 17 pages a day, I will be able to finish it before I go home, I know, It's a huge goal but I want to do it and I really believe that I can do it!! Well, I got to go, this letter took up a huge amount of my computer time, I hope that all is well and I also hope that you all have a great week!! Talk to you on Sunday!!! The Church is true!!! Love always, Elder Daniel Stuart

4/24/2012

Hey Everyone! Thanks for those quotes, Mom. They really do make a lot of sense, I like the first one you put up. So it sounds like you all had a great week and the sun is finally shinning! That is always good to have. The weather here is pretty good, it was really cloudy and cold the other day for some reason, but for the most part, it has been shinny and windy as usual. I miss the mountains, they really block the wind in some areas. I could literally bike as hard as possible with the wind in my face and probably have a kid on a big wheel trike pass me. Its ridiculous. So how did your last day at work go? Are you pretty bummed to not have a paycheck with your name on it anymore? I was wondering if you could do me a favor? Can you try to get Allie McIntire's address? I haven't heard from here in a very long time and I would like to write her and see how she is doing. Do you think you could do that for me? That would be awesome! This letter will probably be short, not a whole lot has been happening this week, we have been teaching, but nothing has changed, sadly a few of our investigators have been sick so a bunch of set appointments have fallen through too. So as you may know, the Kansas City Temple open house has been going on for a few week. Well, since we don't have a single temple in our mission, we cannot even go to that! Oh man I am super bummer out about it! I've never been to a open house and this one has been viewed so much, they've had to extend it for a week or two. This has set the record of the most viewed temple before dedication, and i'm only two hours away and can't go! So lame... Oh well, they are building one in Star Valley, Wyoming and one of my companions is from there, so I will definatly go to that open house and visit him! Since this area has been pretty slow for a while, the other two set of missionaries in the other areas will be coming down here tomorrow to help blitz the area, and they both have vehicles, so we can go to places that we can't normally bike to. Don't worry, Mom, I'm not holding my breath for going back there, but it has been known to happen many times before! I'm looking forward to talking with you guys in a few week! Can you believe that this will be the last time I talk to you guys before I go home? It's quite sad how fast it's gone. Makes my eyes watery. A little over 19 weeks left! Well I got to get going, I'm sorry that I don't have a lot to report on, Maybe I should bring my journal with me, I write in it every single day, I've missed maybe a month total. So I have great memories to look back on! I love you all and I pray for you all daily, have a great week! Love always, Elder Daniel Stuart

4/18/2012

Hey Everyone! Hey! Thanks for the pictures! I was able to see all of them and it didn't take long at all to download them. I recognized most of the bridesmaids, except one I think. Was that Maelyn on the far left!? She's gotten really tall!! Yes Mom, I am still a pyro and I know how to handle it in case if things get out of hand. I've been thinking of buying a fire extinguisher but I realized that yesterday we have one outside our apartment. You should see the other things I've done, or maybe you shouldn't hehe... Glad to hear that you have still been working this whole time, Mom. I thought you were done months ago! Since it's ending today, I hope you can find a new one soon! You should get a job at Super One, I'm sure they would hire you, just don't tell them that I'm your son. They may not hire me back if I want to work there again. Do you ever go in there anymore? Are the same people working there? anything changed? That is awesome to hear that Dwight is starting to work again, I got a e-mail from him last week and it sounds like he is doing really good, I replied back but I haven't gotten anything, he must be busy. Oh, and yes, I am going to be sending off my package here pretty soon if I can, I called the post office and they said it should cost about $30.00 or $40.00. I'm betting $30.00 tho. I've got more than winter stuff in there. A few books, music, other clothes, and a whole bunch of miscellaneous stuff that I have collected through out my mission. I also have something for Dwight in there that I know he will like. It may be best if you don't open it? or do. I just don't want the girls to get into it, you know? So my week, it was much better then it has been in a long long time! We taught more people and picked up 4 new investigators! and others that we have are really interested! the ward has defiantly been feeding us more and it seems like they are more help full. We are also working with the Bishop more often, I don't know if I told you about the Book of Mormon challenge that I presented to Bishop? Well he loves the idea and I will launch on the last Sunday of this month. Our ward mission leader brought a non member friend to church yesterday named Aaron. He has been looking for a church for quite a while and the ones that he has gone to he doesn't enjoy. Well we were able to talk to him about scriptures and how we don't have a paid clergy in church and he said that is how it should be! and I said Yes, yes it should!! he is a awesome guy, a little bit older than me. Funny story with him real quick, I showed him where the bathroom was and I decided to wait outside and talk with a few members about random stuff, rain, tornadoes and so forth. Then a lady came walking down the hall, who is married and has like 4 kids and she asked me how I was doing and about missionary work and so forth. I told her about Aaron and he then came out of the bathroom and I introduced her to him. We all chatted for a while then we left. He then asked me if that was my wife! I couldn't believe it! I tried to hold back my laughing and I quickly corrected him and explained to him that as a missionary, we are not married. I think he felt embarrassed, but I brushed it off of him and acted as if it was no big deal. But we continued to finish the lesson and he is really interested! he told us that he wants to learn more and he told us that he already knows it's true! we should be seeing him this Tuesday and talking to him about more. Yes, I too am sad that President Merkley is leaving. He leaves in early July and the next mission president is President Shumway. I will only be with him for two months, It would be cool if I could leave with President Merkley. We are having a zone conference in a few weeks and this will be his last one. There he and Sister Merkley will give there departing testimonies to us, like all missionaries will when they leave soon. I won't give mine until late July, the next Zone conference. I honestly don't really know what will happen with transfers in the future. President Merkley told me that I might go back to Mountain Home towards the end of my mission, but there is no guarantee on that. Things can always change. But, who knows!! Tell Amber I said Happy Birthday! Sorry that I didn't sent out a card, but I did sing to her! hopefully she heard me... :) I have been getting the sleep that I need and I am drinking a lot of water too. It's been pretty stormy here for about a week, it's pretty nuts! We are becoming biking pros! it seems like I have more and more energy when I bike now. The only thing I hate is when it rains or when the wind blows really hard when biking, that bites. I would love to talk to that guy who is in social services. That would be great! I bet I'll have to do a lot of schooling, what do you think? Glad to hear that Joey and Lauren are doing good, tell them I said hello! I also wrote John and Katie a few weeks ago too. I got to get going, I love you all and I hope you have a great week! The Church is true!!! Elder Daniel Stuart

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for e-mailing me, I really do enjoy receiving mail from you guys, it makes my week a hundred times better. And for the Letter that you sent me in the mail last week, Thank you SO much!!! Oh my goodness I had to take a double check to see what you gave me! I was just thinking that morning that we only have ten or eleven days until the first comes around again and I then we could get food. But now, we are going to the store right after this to grab some stuff! Thanks for the money, I really appreciate it you guys, I almost cried when I saw that. It's funny, it seemed like the day I got you letter, people called us up and asked if we need to be fed! Thank you again, and thank you for your prayers!!! Our ward mission leader here is awesome and he has literally been on a crusade for getting us dinner appointments and the Relief Society president is... strange, her mood swings are on and off like a light switch, and according to our WML, she is always like this. On Sunday, we went into the Relief Society room with our ward mission leader to give her the dinner calendar and asked if we could pass it around and she said yes, but as if it was some sort of a heavy cross to bare. Well after class, the three of us went back in there and a lot more people signed it and we thanked the RS president and she said "Oh yes! it's our pleasure and duty to help feed the Missionaries!! don't hesitate to give it to us next week and we will be pleased to help!" What the heck!?!? Ugh... I don't get women... I thought I did, but, you think you understand them for a minute and then they come around with some diversion and they bite you in the back! Anyways, On with the letter...

My week was okay. It rained a butt load this week, I thought I had to build an ark there for a second just to go and visit people! So the rain really put a damper on our work this week, not to mention it's spring break here so everyone and there dog was gone too. I remember earlier this week we had to bike to the library to print something off and we were not in there too long, well when we walked out, it was pouring, big time! I filmed it so I'll try to send it to you when we got home, we were soaked! and I didn't bring my rain coat. Stupid mistake on my part for sure. The skies have been clear for about two days now and that is when we taught the most. On Thursday we had interviews but on Wednesday, the other four missionaries from the district came over and spent the night for travel purposes. Man, six missionaries in one apartment was....a....blast!!! I had so much fun! I've been out the longest out of everyone there and I was in the other room and I heard someone mention my name so I walked in the main room and one missionary that has been out for six months asked me what are the things makes me most trunky out of anything. Well, I told him and everyone else that excluding family, its girls, sports, movies, video games, and driving alone. (In that order too ) They all laughed and we had a good time.

The interviews on Thursday with President Merkley went really well! The Merkleys actually go home in July so I'll have a new Mission President for the last two months of my mission. Bummer, right? Turns out his name is President Shumway and he is from Utah. No surprise there, and he has two children that are still in school and will be coming out with the Shumways. When I was speaking with President during interviews, he asked me how I'm enjoying training. I told him that I love it, but it is really hard a lot harder then I thought it was. The smart man he is, he then asked me: "Didn't you ask me a few months ago if you could train?" He practically said it word for word in the letter I sent him. I grinned and laughed and said yeah, you did. He laughed at me and told me to be careful what you wish for what you wish for next time! I honestly love training tho, but it really is a hard thing to do! especially if his last companion didn't do anything with him. President has a lot of trust in me and is very proud of what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. I think back to when I first came out to now and how much I've grown, matured experienced things that will benefit me for the rest of my life. I remember when I was really homesick, and I told President that I don't think I am fit for being a missionary and I would like to go home. He bluntly but lovingly told me that I will be homesick for the rest of my mission but if I work as hard as I can, it will be time for me to go home, and when that time comes, I won't want to go home. Well, so far, he is 100% correct. I love this work and I don't really want to go home, because I know that I will NEVER have a chance to do this ever again, even if I go on a mission with my future wife. To answer your question Mom, yes, I have been thinking about work and college a lot and I am still unsure of what I want to do. I think Garrett is going to BYU in the near future and he really wants me to go there too and I've heard nothing but good about that place, but, my grades... I talked to President Merkley and I told him that I am not really sure what I want to do in with my life in the future and it is literally scaring me to where I don't want to go home at all sometimes. He told me to not worry and to study and become most knowledgeable in things that I enjoy doing and also, The Lord will help me where to go and what to do. I swear, whenever I have interviews with President Merkley, it seems like he looks into my soul when he looks at me. It's like he can read you like a book, so don't bother lying to him because he will call your bluff. I wish you guys could meet him and Sister Merkley, they are wonderful people!! So, am I worried about the future? Yes. But know that The Lord will help me in return with what I've done for him.

Can you believe that General Conference is coming up already!?!? where does the time go? I'm looking forward to watching it again. Mom, if you can, could you find some way to round up tickets for next time or next year? You'll need to speak with the bishop, he can direct you towards the right direction. I'd love to go there! Oh, and yes, I did hear about Manning going to Denver. Not only am I mad about it, I'm also really worried about him, they don't even know if he can play and the opposing team will do what ever it takes to crush him to where he will be forced to retire. So I'm still a huge Manning fan, and a huge Colts fan! But I just don't like the Broncos... at all... Well, that's about it, nothing new or exciting really happened. I hope that you all have a great week and I will talk to you later!!!

Love always,
Elder Daniel Stuart

3/5/2012 and 3/12/2012

***Two more wonderful letters from Elder Stuart!! The first one is from March 5th and the second one is from March 12th! I will be more consistant now that the wedding is over. Hope you all enjoy :)****

March 5th,
Hey Everyone!!

So how the heck is everyone?!?! From the letter you sent me, it sounds like you all are super busy, with the wedding and all, I can see why. That's okay that you haven't sent off the package yet, as long as I get at least one letter a week from you, it's fine with me. Oh, speaking of mail, I got three letters last week! Woohoo!!! and to top it off, they are ALL from females!!! well, one is from Grandma, but still, YEAH!!!! Haha. Well I normally average one letter a week, from Grandma, and your right, I do need to write her back, I've been thinking about that for a while. I've been pretty busy tho! So, I hear that Ashlee Gay is married now? Woah, so many of my friends are getting married like it's some sort of fad-like thing to do now.

You all want to hear something nuts?!?! There was a tornado in Lebanon early Wednesday morning. Like 12:30 in the morning. But the night before, we were walking to a appointment and the weather felt really good, too good. Dwight will know what I'm talking about, when a tornado is about to come, the weather is warm in a comfortable way and I knew that it was tornado type material. I said to Elder Young, "Elder, I think we are going to get a tornado tonight" and I was just joking around. But around 12:30 at night, I was in a dead sleep and I heard the siren go on and off, I thought it was Elder Young Pulling a prank on me but it sounded too real. About 5 minutes later, a member called us and said "Elders there is a tornado heading right for Lebanon, you are more then welcome to come to my place, I have a basement. So discuss it with each other and I will some pick you both up." So we talked about it for like a second until we heard a huge gust of wind outside, It was loud. Real loud. So I called him and told him to come get us. About 2 minutes later, he was here. I threw on some street clothes, wallet and such stuff, I wanted to grab my camera and journal because I can't replace those, but I can always replace my Scriptures and suits. But I felt a prompting to leave everything and go! I heard it as if someone was gently, but boldly talking to me. So I left them and took off. When we were outside, it was hailing and the the wind was blowing hard, so we ran to his jeep and he sped off. When we got to his place, the storm actually started to calm down, and we stayed at his place for a hour or so. I wasn't really scared, but I did have adrenaline pumping through my veins big time. All in all, the storm was not that bad, we found out that it was on the east part of Lebanon and it barely got into town. I thing that it killed one person and it ripped off a bit of the roof to a Lowe's hardware store, there are a few trees ripped out of the ground and some fences are destroyed. But there is no reason to be worried, I'm perfectly fine, the Lord was defiantly watching over us.

So, we had a pretty good week. You know how I was telling you how Elder Young's last companion was really lazy? He never left the house and they would only teach like one or two lessons a week. I'm not bragging or boasting, But since I got here we have been working really hard together and was able to see a lot more people then that. I am still trying to get to know the area better and the members as well. This place has a lot of good potential. The other day, we met a man that is in a nursing home and he looked miserable there, I have been to a lot of nursing homes on my mission and they are all depressing to be in. Now I know why you guys tell me to NEVER put you in a nursing home. Well, this man was so miserable and in pain, I almost cried. No one deserves this, It made me think of the Resurrection that is mentioned in Alma 40. We will all have perfect bodies, no matter who you are. Its a free gift to everyone.

Well, other then all that shenanigans, Life is good, I'm staying in shape, and am loving the mission world, even tho I am getting cursed at almost everyday be teenagers driving by, If only they knew.... Well I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week! I'll be sure to write Lauren too. Bye!

Elder Daniel Stuart

MARCH 12th,
Hey Everyone!

I'm doing pretty good, the weather is defiantly warming up here, it's in the mid 70's right now. Crazy huh? But this weather wont make up it's mind to stay warm or cold. No tornado's here this week, thank heavens, I like it when that doesn't happen! When I do send off my package, I may just send it and when you see the price of it, you can just give me that much back, or something like that, I don't know yet. Speaking of package, did you get the one that I sent to Lauren yet? I sent it to you address. It's a small box.

So yeah, I was thinking about the wedding all day on Saturday, I keep forgetting that Lauren is married now. I really wish that I could of been there for the wedding and all but I love what I'm doing and I couldn't leave this place, even if I wanted to. Tell John and Katie that I said hello. I love them so much. I miss them too. So, Where did Lauren and Joey go for there honeymoon? I'm thrilled to hear that the wedding went well and the weather was fare. How wonderful it is to make those sacred covenants with the Lord for eternity. So who all came to the reception? Were the Rooks there? I bet a lot of Laurens friends were there? Who was her maid of honor? Who was the best man? Yes, please do send me pictures, I've been wanting some for a while now. Hopefully you all took a lot!

So that thing that you hear about my 'walking papers' are pretty true, I already know when I go home, It's September 18th or the 20th I think. Man, I have six months left! I can't believe it! Last time I checked, I just left the MTC. Where did the time go?! I had a pretty good week this week, We were still able to see some people. It's hard to travel around only on a bike when our area is so big, I talked to President Merkley about getting a vehicle and he said that we can't get one. There used to be one in this area but the missionaries wrecked it, and they also lived out of town. Now that we live in town, apparently there isn't a reason to have one now. I'm praying constantly for some sort of a way for us to see more people other than tracting, I'm sorry but tracting is so useless here. It may work in other areas of the country, but here, where everyone has a baptist religion doesn't want to hear from us at random hours in the day. I get so mad when the wards that I serve in don't want to help us with the work, they still think that missionaries tract all day long, and the way that members should help us is by feeding us once a month. NO!!!!! That is not how it works! Yes, it's fine and dandy for them to feed us, it really is a blessing, but, there is so much more then that. Every member has a non member friend, no matter who you are, It's not that hard to share the gospel with them, you won't lose them as a friend, the worst thing they will say is no. Ugh. Sorry, I've become very passionate about missionary work ever sense I've became one.

Anyways... The work is good. It may not be the best right now, investigators may not be coming to church like they said they will and other stuff like that, but it's good. I enjoy the work, I love what I do and what I do will bless me and others in the future. I Love you all and as you can see, I have a very strong testimony of this Gospel and Missionary work. I also know that through faith, prayer, your attitude, desire, and patience, a lot of patience, blessings will come. Have a great week everyone!

Much love,

Elder Daniel Stuart

2/13/2012 AND 2/21/2012

** Sorry everyone, I am 2 letters behind. Wedding plans have taken over my life haha! Enjoy his letters. He is so awesome!**
2/13/2012
Hello Everyone!

How is everyone doing today? I'm doing pretty good, It started to snow here last night but the weather for the rest of the week is supposed to be in the 50's so this snow will not last long at all! It's really not that cold right now and people are dressing up in thick thick layers, I guess that I'm just used to it from home. I think that is great that you have the missionaries over about once a week! It is a real blessing to do that, seeing that missionaries are broke for the most part, people that feed them really help out. Here, we have families that feed us on a certain day of the week every week. One of them is the Vivians, they are so awesome!!! They are a younger people in the ward and I have a lot in common with them, I can defiantly see myself hanging out with them when I come back to visit! Brother Vivians wife is investigating the church as well, she really likes it! Geez, that is really awesome news for home, I hope that Lauren has a good time out there. Also, I've heard of missionaries not telling you how long they have been out so they don't sound trunky, or so members don't make fun of the new missionaries by saying that they have a long way to go, but I didn't know that they would make it as a rule? That is a dumb rule if you ask me, but obedience is a must! and it's not a rule I have to follow thankfully. Yeah, be sure to follow up on who that missionary knows in this mission please, I'd like to know!! Oh, and if Peyton goes to Arizona, I'll flip out... in a bad way...

We had a pretty good week. We had to move our investigators baptism date to the 9th of March, Nothing bad happened, Just stuff has come up, they are not married yet and they want to be married before they get baptized, but they still love the gospel a lot! They have such a strong testimony of it, It literally radiates off of them! They are so ready! What I'm really excited for is in a year, they get to go to the temple and be sealed for all time and eternity and I will be there when that happens! Baptisms are great, but the real reward is when that happens! So I went on exchanges again this week to another missionaries area, and the missionary is brand new so his companion, the district leader, planned the whole day for us. Something that he planned for was tracting, when I heard that word, my eyes got really big. I haven't tracted for a long time, It wasn't because of a me being lazy or anything like that, its just because I've found more use full things to do other than that. I'd rather not tell you how long its been since I've gone tracting tho. Members still think that missionary work is all about tracting and it's really not! More effective ways are working with members and so forth.

There really isn't a whole lot to report this week. Its really just the usual stuff. We had to give a member in the ward a blessing, he is in a lot of pain and isn't doing too good, he asked me to give it and I don't tend to brag what so ever when I say this, but, it was probably one of the best blessing that I have ever given in my life, being in tuned with the spirit that much really helps. When It was done, he was in tears and I don't think it was because of the pain he was in. He has such a strong testimony of the gospel is so gung ho about missionary work. He told us that without the truthfulness of the gospel, he wouldn't be a member anymore. I am defiantly going to visit him when I come back also! I love this Gospel and for all that it has done for me. My testimony of it and of Jesus Christ has grown tremendously since I've decided to serve the Lord for the time that I have been given. I don't see how people could hate us or disagree with our beliefs so much, but notice how happy we really are as a family and as a person. I've met countless people who are strong in there own church but are really miserable. The church is true, and Jesus is the Christ. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet and he really did see the Father and the Son, all because he had the faith to know the truth. I Know how much of a blessing that this Gospel has played in my life and I will never leave it, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all and I hope that you all have a great week! I'll be looking out for that package!

Love,
Elder Stuart

2/21/2012

Hey,

Wow, that was a pretty short letter lol it's all good. Before I begin the letter, don't send my package off until next week, I'm getting transferred and I don't know the address yet. But I will know it by the next time I talk to you. If you have already sent it, Elder Payne should be able to forward it.

Not much has happened here this week, I'm a bit ticked that I have to leave this area when things are starting to pick up and we have a baptism in a few weeks.... I've been telling everyone and no one is happy about it at all... I told the investigators that will be baptized in a few weeks and they are really sad about me leaving. I was even going to baptize one of them, but, what can you do? they threatened to kidnap me and hide me in there house. I told them I'd be fine with that. Oh well, I'm going to keep in contact with them through out my mission. In church on Sunday, Bishop got up and told the congregation that I'm leaving and asked if I could give a departing testimony, I was more than happy to do it. Mountain Home is a fantastic place to serve in, I love the people here and the work and it saddens me that I have to leave. It feels like I'm leaving my family. I'm coming back here to visit for sure when I get off my mission. Hopefully sooner than later tho, as long as I can save my pennies up! But, I'm going to go into my area with a positive attitude and hopefully this will be my last area ha ha! I'm going to Lebanon, Missouri they pronounce it "Lebanen" Not to be confused with the Middle East. My companion is going to be Elder Young and I will be split training him. So he is very green. You are trained for 12 weeks and followed up trained for 6 weeks and I'll be training him for the last 6 of the 12 weeks. I don't know a whole lot about this place, other then it's about 100 miles from Mountain Home. I guess that you get what you ask for. I asked President Merkley if I can train someone in the near future. He said it would be possible but he wants me to focus on what I am doing know. So, in a way, I am training! I'll be Elder Young's step-dad. President Merkley told me that has a lot of confidence with me being in the next area a split training. It's funny, I've been telling a lot of non members and less-actives that I am leaving and they are way more upset about me leaving then the members are. I've worked a lot with them. One non member wanted to pray for my before I left her house, I let her do so and she gave probably one of the sweetest prayers that I have ever heard before. She had so much love into it.

Well, Sorry that this letter is so short, Not much has happened this week. Expect a package in the near future with all of my winter clothes in it and some of my books. It is really tough to drag that around with me he he. Anyways, I love you all and wish me luck in my new area. Have a great week!

I Love you always,
Elder Daniel Stuart

2/6/2012

Hello!

So yeah, I heard that the Giants won! That is fantastic news! I kept telling my companion that the Super bowl is on and It's driving me nuts. He doesn't like football so he just doesn't understand how much of football freaks we are... When I heard that they were in the lead 20-17 in the 4th quarter, I just pictured you freaking out and having a major asthma attack again. Oh good times! I'm happy to hear that the primary made me some pictures. I'll be looking forward to them! can you please send me pictures of the family, house, and so forth as well? I never get any mail anymore, except for Grandma Halls letter once a week (which I love!) and It literally seems like my companion averages a letter every other day. I'm not jealous tho. :) But the letter will be much appreciated!

So this week was quite, ummm.... interesting. We were not able to teach the normal amount as we usually do, due to the Super Bowl and we had a Zone Conference all the way in Springfield on Thursday. We had to wake up at 5:00 and leave at 6:30 AM and drove the two hours out there. The meeting went really well, I was able to see some Missionaries that I haven't seen for a while, I also saw Elder Denton again! that was good catching up with him. The Mountain Home ward misses him and he misses them also. There is also a Sister missionary that I got to know and get this, she is from Page, Arizona! Nuts huh!?!? Her last name is Boone, I cannot remember her first name but let me know if Grandma and Grandpa know that last name. Turns out that we went to the same Elementary and Middle school. She remembers the Thatchers and we talked about RD's restaurant and there delicious food haha. Also, her companion is from Las Vegas and she swears that she knows me from there. Turns out that she and I had the same Spanish class together. I vaguely remember her. If she didn't say anything, then I wouldn't of even noticed.

The person that is in charge of over seeing the mission vehicles has been given orders from the Missionary Department in Salt Lake City to install these small black boxes in our car named Telesystem International Wireless Incorporated. Or for short, TIWI. It is a GPS type of a device that lets the mission department and the Fleet Coordinator for our mission know where we are at all times, how fast we are going, if we accelerate too quickly, stop too quickly, go over huge bumps or pot holes, it even knows if we don't have our seat belts buckled we have also been given a card with our name on it so we can swipe it against the box so we can log on so it knows who is driving, and if we are doing any of these things that we are not supposed to do, TIWI talks and tells us something. For example "You are driving too fast, please slow down." And if it does that, TIWI will instantly notify our Mission President and the Fleet Coordinator and we have so many warnings before we are not allowed to drive for a certain period of time and its not for a day or two, it's like a few months or more. Of course, there are certain circumstances where you need to slam on your brakes or something like that, and they will understand. The Mission department is doing this to save money, apparently it is a great way to save money on insurance and so forth. I can see this being here for a good reason, these vehicles are a fantastic equipment to help us with the Lords work and they are very expensive, especially if there are 19 to 21 year or older kids handling them. There have been missionaries in different missions that were racing each other in the triple digits and then crashing. But then again, I can see a lot of missionaries getting really irritated with this thing going off all the time. It's literally a Big Brother. I'm just thankful that this I'm just not getting this towards the end of my mission instead of the beginning.

Other than that, the week was good. We were able to teach a few people, and the people that we taught went really well. We have a baptism date for two people for the 18th of this month. It may be changed but they still really want to be baptized. President Merkley keeps telling me that Elder Payne and I make a great team. So we are doing a fantastic job! But we really couldn't of done any of this without the Lords hand in it. So you can leave this in part in the blog or not, Mom, But I'm glad that you and Lauren are helping Dwight and continuing to be that influence on him, But, you both are right, don't push but you need to be bold with him, but not over bearing. You know what I mean? It's like a recipe, you need to have the exact amount of stuff to make a delicious cookie. If you add to much ingredient, or push him too much, the cookie will get ruined and he will run away. If you add too little or hardly mention the importance of the gospel, then the cookie will not turn our right and he will not even be fazed or even about what you have to say. Yes, it takes time, and lots of it, but continue to Bear testimony On how important this is to our life's. When the time is right, ask what is holding him back, what he disagrees about the church. It's a hard thing to do, but that is why I asked you to fast for Dwight. You also need to really pray about this as well. You can plant as many seeds as you want, but nothing is going to grow unless you actually get out there and water the seed and give it proper sunlight. Be the example and don't lower yourself to things that he may want to do that isn't what THE LORD wants you to do. Just remember to share this with Lauren and also know that I'm not saying this, Spirit is directing me to say this.

I hope that you guys have a fantastic week! How is the weather out there? Is there a lot of snow? Have a good one and I'll talk to you next week!

Love always,

Elder Daniel Stuart

1/30/2012

Hey Everyone!

So this week wasn't as crazy as last week but it was pretty odd. But first off, Mom, that story that you told me is really bizarre! I have no clue what I would do if one of my investigators did that, I could be just plain blunt with him or some how sweet talk my way around it but I just hope that doesn't happen here ever!! Gross... But that cowboy bible study thing that I go to is not ran by our church what so ever but it is a pretty cool place, everyone is nice, the preacher dude used to not really like us and would try to avoid us, but he is now, slowly but surely, lightening up to us. He will now talk to us a little bit, shake my hand, smile and wave at us. The weirdest thing that happens there in my opinion is that all they play is country type of gospel music. Well you know me, I hate country. I'd prefer rock but I have no say in it. :P We actually have two baptisms coming up on February 18th. We have been working with them for a few weeks now, it's the couple with the child, remember me telling you about that the other week? Well things there are going well. They love every minute of it!

So I had a interesting week, I had to go on two exchanges, one with one of the Zone Leaders and the other with the District leader, So I was out of my area for two days this week, I am so burnt out with exchanges. I had too many on my first year of my mission lol. Oh well... On my exchange, I met a lady that has breast cancer, she just went through another phase of chemotherapy so she doesn't have a single hair on her, literally, not even her eye brows. I felt really bad for her but she seemed to be in a somewhat positive attitude with it. When I finally got back to my area, we continued to work hard and harder. We have started to finally see the blessing come through our hard working efforts! I really hope that I continue to see the blessings. We picked up a investigator that the missionaries in the past used to teach, he is really cool, we taught him the plan of salvation the other day and he loved it! We gave him a soft commitment to be baptized and he accepted it.

Well to be honest, nothing else really happened this week, we are just working a lot here! Oh! I got a letter from Garrett! it was great hearing from him again, He sound like he is doing a great job out there! He mentioned the old days when we did crazy stuff, It almost brought a tear to my eye because we may not do some of that stuff when we go home. I was really happy to get a letter from him tho. I'll see if I can give that stuffed monkey away, I'm glad that you enjoyed the pictures tho. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Daniel Stuart

1/23/2012

Hey Everyone!

Wow, so this week was extremely insane! a lot of wonderful things happened along with some sad things as well. But first off, it was great to hear about home! That is pretty neat and odd at the same time that Marisa and Nathan are in our ward now. At least I'll know someone in the ward when I get home. Thanks for giving Matt my address, Mom. I've been wondering how he has been doing, I haven't heard from him since I left home. Oh, and thank you for giving Jade my address, who is this Valeri person you mentioned? Thanks for doing that for me, be sure to encourage my friends to write me still. Page Rook sent me a letter a few weeks ago, I need to write her back, that was nice of her to do that. That is really awesome to hear about the primary class wanting to write me. I'll be looking forward to those letters! That is nice to hear about the snow, we haven't had any for a while, but there has been quite a bit of fog, it's really strange. Ah man, don't even get me started on football, guys. People have been telling me a bit about it off and on. Surprisingly, there are not many pro football fans out here, mainly college. Man I hope the Giants win... To answer your question, Mom, I haven't been as tired lately, I think what it going on is that we have been working so hard during the day, come night time we are so tired, I crash within ten minutes of being in bed and wake up pretty refreshed! I did speak with my mission president a few weeks back, but I never got a reply back, but it's okay. Yeah, it is pretty nuts how fast time is going on my mission, It really hit me the other day about how fast it is going. This only makes me want to work even harder and harder with the little time I have left. I told Elder Payne about that last night and he said that if we work harder then we are now, then we will die. Oh, speaking of my companion, we are both staying here for another transfer. So I'm pretty happy to be serving in this wonderful area for another six weeks.

So like I said before, this week was really insane! To start off with the beginning of the week, Did I ever tell you that every Monday night we go to a cowboy bible study? I don't think I've told you guys that. It's really cool, they start off with some music for a few minutes then they normally read a chapter our of the bible and then explain it, then at the end, there is more music and food! I've made a few friends there, a few people have become investigators!! Neat huh? Remember those two people that I was talking about that want to be baptized? well, we met with them and we talked about the Restoration. Tears were running down both of there faces and almost mine. The spirit was so strong in there, we mentioned baptism and they both still wanted to be baptized so set set a date with them for the 18th of February. They accepted and this is only a goal for them to reach, so nothing is set and stone yet, but if they cannot reach it, then we can always move it around. That was probably one of the best lessons that I have ever taught. So spiritual! We also did some service for a older man and help split some wood. Thank heavens that he had a wood splitter, he has a lot of wood!! I was exhausted at the end. The mans wife came out to see us, she told us that a member of our ward passed away this week and I knew her. She was a older lady that hadn't been to church for a few years due to health and her age. It was sad to hear about that, but at least she isn't in pain anymore, right? Bishop picked us up and we went to her funeral on Saturday, It was hardly a funeral, she was cremated and her earn wasn't even there, it was more of a gathering. Her non member family held it, so our church was not a part of it. Strange huh? we were only there for about 20 minutes.

So on Thursday, we went to another investigators house, and we talked for a while, she has some cats and she is a assistant veterinarian so she knows a lot and wanted me to grab her cat by the back of the neck to hand him to her to show us something. Well I grabbed him by the higher part of the back instead of the neck, I thought it was good enough, well no! the stupid cat freaked out and turned his head and bit me like four times on my left hand. I was more amazed then in pain to see this cat actually do it when this happened. As he was literally biting me, I looked at him and thought to myself: "Wow, this cat is actually biting me, this has never happened to me!" Then I realized that it is starting to hurt so I dropped him and he took off. I almost said some choice words and threw him at a wall as hard as possible, but still, I was in shock. Pretty stupid of me, right? well our investigator pulled me into the bathroom and put some special soap for reasons like that while she was cursing at the cat. All in all, it was pretty funny. We do service every Friday morning at a thrift shop and I told the man that works there who also talks to me about football, and I told him about what happened and showed him the marks on my left hand and he laughed so hard, I thought he was going to pee his pants. I hate cats so much...

So due to safety, I'm not mentioning any names in this story. The other morning, we received a text message from a less-active man. I lent him a book of mine and he told us to come and pick it up, his girl friend is cheating on him and he is leaving town in the afternoon. We immediately went to his place to see what is going on. His girl friend is in a different town for work and he found out that she has been cheating on him and also has been doing drugs again. He practically snapped. The whole place was a mess, as if a bomb went off, all of her belongings, mainly clothes were thrown in the backyard. It was a disaster. We asked him if there was anything that we could do, but there wasn't, so we left and called bishop and told him about what happened. He already found out and was going to see him in a few minutes. We met with Bishop later that day and he told us that the police came and arrested the man and bishop didn't know why. But he did see the police go in and some were wearing white rubber gloves. My first thought was drugs, well we found out the next day that it wasn't drugs, but he killed his girl friends dog by putting him in the washing machine. How demented is that!? and I was only two feet away from the washer! being mad is one thing, but to actually do that? no way. That is no excuse.

I forgot to mention, at the thrift shop, there was a huge stuffed gorilla for sale there, it's one of those that you get at a carnival, well I asked the manager about it and she sold it to me for only $7.00 when it was originally $20.00! I bought it for the girls, If I cannot send it, then I'll just return it. Other than all of that my week was terrific! a whole bunch of spiritual experience happened. We have a fantastic bishop in this ward, he and his wife recently returned from a mission in Kenya in July, so he is still very much gung ho about missionary work. The three of us really work hard together for the work to continue to progress. We were able to see a investigating couple that attend the Bible study, there hearts are defiantly soften for the gospel, so we are going to work with them more and more. The Field is defiantly white out here. D&C:4. Well I think that is all that has happened this week. When I get off, I'll remember something else, it always happens. I love you all! and Thank you for all of your support and all that you do Mom!

Love,

Elder Daniel Stuart