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