Awkward, Weird and Funny

Hi family!!  I hope you all had an amazing week full of awesomeness!  This week was really great!  The reason for the title this week is 3 words that Hermana Brighurst described each of us.  Guess which one I am!  Yep im the lucky weird one.  I just have to keep life interesting!  she said Hermana Gallardo is awkard which i can agree on because she is so awkward on phone calls and talking infront of people in district meeting and conference calls that we just have to give her a hard time.  Speaking of awkward we were talking about awkward moments on the mission the other day...and there is just too many.  I feel like the whole mission is just one big awkward moment.  haha but ya there is alot of awkward moments...especially when we go knocking.  I cant even get over it of how awkward it gets.  haha but its just so fun and so many good memories.  Ok sorry anyways moving on from the awkward subject.  Then hermana bringhurst says that she is funny.  I have never laughed so hard in my life since meeting this girl.  We just get along so well and she is so darn funny!!  

So this week was amazing!  This email is going to be all over again, because i forgot to make an outline again whoops!   

After we went knocking and it was 104 outside for 2 hours

So i will just start with highlights of this week.  On tuesday we got in contact with a less active that we have been trying to get in contact with for the 8 weeks ive been here, and we finally did and got an appointment with her.  We got a new phone number which is actually a blessing because now people dont know its the missionaries that are callingn and we have got in contact with so many more people becasue of it!  So we went to her house and she has 5 kids the oldest 2 are baptized but the 9 year old isnt.  Long story short i invited him to baptism and the mom and him both said yes!!  He is getting baptized on September 12 so that was a huge miracle in itslelf!  We went there not even thinking about getting someone on date!!  He is really excited and we are meeting with him again on tuesday!  His name is Jon :) we taught the whole entire family the restoration and the mom said she wants to start coming back to church and she has a car!!!  halaluja!!!!!  Someimes we spend hours trying to find rides for these wonderful people so there is another huge miracle!   

We treated ourselves to Arbys mmmmm mtn dew i miss you!

So on Friday we went on exchanges with the Sister training leaders.  Me and Hermana Brinhurst, our greenie, stayed here in Chamblee and sister lund came with us and Hermana Gallardo went english speaking with sister olsen!  It was one of the funnest days i have had being on the mission!!  We had so many appointments and it was just so fun!!  It was really a good confidence builder for me knowing that i can do this without a forein speaking companion.  It was also fun talking most of the time in the lessons and Hermana Bringhurst is amazing and she did so well!! We went knocking and i taught her how to do a door aproach and she did so well!!  We survived by ourselves and we had so much fun!!  Sister lund, the sister training leader, even took us out to ice cream after we were all done!  It was a way fun day, and i just learned that it is the spirit that teaches these lessons and thats why people invite us back.  It doenst matter how little of spanish we may know because its the spirit that they feel.  Oh and i got to drive the car!!!  Talk about stressfull!!!  Ya i would way rather make phone calls and not drive now that i experienced driving in geogia.  I made so many wrong turns becuase there is like so many differnent little roads on the gps and they all blend in haha!  I was happy to hand the keys back over to Hermana Gallardo.

On thursday we went over to la familia Ayala for dinner, they are a cute old peruvian couple that we go eat at every other thursday.  And we got there a little bit late and they we walked in and there was Hilda and Antonio (two of our investigators) sitting eating dinner.  Wow what an amazing miracle our members are amazing to go out of their way and friendshiop our investigators.  Our investigators are peruvian too.  We had an amazing lesson with them about how to gain a testimony of the book of mormon.  It was soo cool!  

Us with Sally one of the girls getting baptized 

So we invited and got so many people to commit to coming to church this week.  I thought for sure we would have 13 investigators there haha.  But we really did call and invited people like crazy on saturday night.  So on sunday during the closing song of sacrament, hermana bringhurst was playing the piano and i was looking out on the audiance.  I was kind of sad because the only investigators we had come to church were sally and jessy the ones getting baptized this saturday.  I thought for sure we would have a few more because we have so many investigators that are progressing and had committed to coming to church.  We were singing "grandes eres tu"   i think that is "how great thou art" in english and there walks in Hilda and Antonio with their two kids.  I litterally started crying.  I was so happy!  I think some of my happiest moments have been seeing our investigators coming to church or just making a huge step.  that was huge of them to come to church.  That just shows that they are actually interested!  They stayed for sunday school and priestood/ relief society. Our branch did so amazing at friendshipping them both.  WOw such a huge miracle!  We were all so happy!!

It was pretty a good week.  Im really excited for this week to have a baptism!!!!!  woot woot!!  I just love being a misisonary so much!  I love being able to represent our savior.  he did so much for us.  He is my rock and my example.  The more i focuss on stepping in his foot steps, doing what he would do if he were a missionary, i am led to places i would never find on my own.  That is always my goal, to do as if he was always standing beside me, say what he would want me to say.  The more i focuss on doing this, the happier i am to be in this service, the more my faith grows, and the more love i have for my Savior.  "and he world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and theysmite him, and he suffereth it.  yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereh i, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men." 1nephi 19:9 he suffered it all for us because he loves us so much.  "wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and love of god and of all men.  wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasing upon the word of christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the father: ye shall have eternal life.  and now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of god.  and now, behold this is the doctrine of christ, and the only and true doctrine of the father, and of the holy ghost, which is on god, without end. amen"  This is the way to happiness.  I know these things to be true.  I love my savior and i am so thankful to know this knowledge.  I love you all so much!  I hope you all have a blessed week, and always remeber that he suffereth it because he loves you.

Love

Hermana Stewart

xoxoxoxo

Me with my two cute companions