Remember Who You Are

Howdy y'all!!  Oh wow that sounds way to southern, oh well!  What a great week we had here in Chamblee Georgia!

Updates on Transfers.  Everything for us here in Chamblee is staying the same!!!  that means that by the end of this next transfer i will have spent half my mission in one are haha!  I dont think i ever want to leave chamblee.  nope its decided, i will stay here my whole mission!  Wouldnt that be funny though??  

So it totally snowed Friday night and Saturday!  and you know what that means...when it snows in Atlanta....the city shuts down!  We had to be in our houses Friday night early and we couldnt leave Saturday until the evening because the Roads were all iced over and too dangerous to drive.  A skiff people!!!  it was a skiff of snow!! haha but when it ice storms like it did that is where it is dangerous and they dont have the proper things to deal with it.  So that was pretty funny!  

We had stake conference this weekend and that was so great!!  it was weird going to a church meeting in english.  It really was wonderful.  Our stake president (the Bishop off of meet the mormons) is so awesome!  and our mission president and wife spoke too.  it was really great! 

So the work is going really great!  we currently have 4 investigators that are progressing.  The Hernandez family a mom and dad and they have three kids a 16 year old girl, 14 year old boy and like 5 year old girl.  So we are teaching the mom(from Dominican republic)  and dad (from Guatemala) and the 14 year old!  they are so golden!!  they are reffered from a member.  of course!!  we would have any baptisms if it werent for members!!  go member misisonaries!!!  and they are amazing!!  we taught them about the plan of salvation and they just ate it up!!  we felt really inspired to talk about temple work and baptisms for the dead and wow that just hooked them deep.  the mom thought that it is so cool that her husband can go get baptized for her dad that has passed on.  and the 14 year old boy oh he is so cute and his eyes were just gleaming as he felt the spirit in the lesson.  We are going to have a FHE hopefully soon with them in a members home, the zunigas offerered their home.  once again awesome member missionaries!  They are so cool!!  The other investigator we are teaching is a lady in her 30s she is from Columbia and she is living with one of our members she is in the relief society presidency and she goes to all the single adults activities and because of that she met our of the single guys in our ward and now they are dating!!  woot woot!  she is super interested and she knows alot about this church and she loves it and shes practically a member haha!  Lots of things are happening here for us in the chamblee branch!!!  

I just want you all to know that i am doing fantastic!  Thank you for all of your prayers for me and my wonderful companions.  With the Lord we can overcome anything.  I know that to be true because i have seen it in my own life.  i know that the Atonement is there for us to to use daily.  This pass transfer not only have a gained a greater understanding of what the  atonemnet can really do, but a greater appreciation for it and my loving Savior Jesus Christ. I could not have done this transfer without him, i can not do anything without him. He comforts us, he makes our burdens light.  To often then not we wonder "why has the Lord foresaken me?"  but the real question we need to ask is "have i foresaken the Lord?"  He is always there with us.  He walks side by side us whispering in our hear "keep on going, dont you give up, i am with you always".  We are taught in the sciptutures that how the Lord never forgets us.  "behold, i have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." 1 nephi 21:16  

The atonement is not just there to make us clean, but it is there to help us progress, help us move forward, help us overcome challenges and adversities that we face daily.  It is infinite, without end.  There is no limit to the atonement.  "believe in Chist, the Son of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all mankind." 2 nephi 25:16  I love and use the Atonement of Jesus Christ everyday.  Something that i have learned and that i know to be true is that we can choose to be happy and grateful or we can choose to be angry or bitter.  We can choose to be submissive the the Lord and keep his commandments or we can choose to be miserable.  "and thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel; i have sent him, the Lord thy God who teacheh thee to profit, who leadeth the by the way thou shouldst go, hath done it.  oh that thou hads hearkened to my commandments-then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." 1 nephi 20:17-18.  I know that everything the Lord gives us is for us to learn and progress, become better.  I also know and testify that the way for us to have peace in this life is if we keep the commandments.  The Lord will bless us.  He will lead and guide us and walk beside us and help us find the way.  I know this church is true.  I know that the power of the Atonement is uncomprehending.  There is no end.  What a bright future ahead of each and everyone of us, and that is only possible because of a selfless, loving, and perfect man named Jesus Christ.  He "hath done it."  He knows each and everyone of us individually.  He knows our struggles and hardships.  He cries when we cry and he smiles when we smile.  He loves us behold anything we can ever imagine.  How blessed we are.  I know that these things are true, and this is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I love you all so much.  Dont ever forget the way.  Dont ever forget who you are and your potenial.  You are sons and daughters of our loving Heavenly Father.  You are wonderful and so special because you have this gospel, and you know the way.  Love it and treasure it up, share it with those that dont have it, and i promise, you will smile.  Have a wonderful week, and always remember who you are.

Love

Hermana Stewart

xoxo

Pictures!

​down town atlanta!  so much wind so much cold!  

Hermana Bringhurst flap kept flipping up ha!

world of coca cola!

Cool sign

down town atanta with the sandy springs sisters last p day.  it was FREEZING cold!!

we can never be normal at the same time in pictures haha

mashing potatoes

once again we can never be normal at the same time haha

 We totally ate this whole entire pizza.   it was so much fun!

Went to brockett on exchanges with Sister Howell.  she came out with me

us with a member Giovanna she is awesome!  she is teaching us better spanish and we are helping her with her english!

hermana Bringhurst made us Stuffed hotdogs!!!!!!ahhhh i could die of happiness!

​ahhhhh it totally snowed here!!!!!!!!!

and me and hermana Bringhurst doing back up duty haha

the first idaho licence plate ive seen in georgia!! boo ya!!

​our back porch view 

Front View of our apartments

Live in the World and not of it

Dear family

Wow I love you all so much.  I hope life is good for yall there. Life is still wonderful here.  This is going to probably going to be a very short email this week because not super alot happened  this week and we had to email at members homes due to the libraries being closed so I'm not very fast at emailing from a tablet touch haha.  We are teaching a family right now and they have great potential.  They are gonna be baptized in about 5 minutes so I will update yal next week of how the lesson goes tonight we are gonna try and get them on date!

Today I wanted to share with you something that I learned and studied and loved this mormimg.  We all live in this crazy world and it is getting crazier and crazier every moment.  I was reading the other day in this month's ensign a talk called "defense against pornogrwphy"  and we can combiNE all and just say defense against things of this world and something I remember from the talk as I was reading the book of Mormon is the scripture it memtions from 1 Nephi 15 when Nephi is telling his brothers about the vision he saw and they asked him what the river of water means and he says to them in verse 27 "and I said unto them that the water which my father saw was filthiness. And so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he behold not the filthiness of the water."  Sadly this world is so crazy now days that there is so much filthiness aroumd.  But we learn from this scripture that because Lehi was focusing so hard on just getting his family to the tree of life that he didn't pay attention to all the filthiness.  We habe to obviously do our part in making our homes and lives filled with enriched thimgs of god but filthinessmismdtill goimg to show up somehow.  And then this morning as I was rethinking back on that scripture it just hit me so hard thinking about all the scriptures that talk about making our foundation on the Lord and when the devil sends his torments that if we are truly built on the rock of our savior we won't fall!!  It is all about our focuss.  We can't control others agency but we can control our focus.  If we are like Lehi focusing so h a Rd to get him and his family family to that tree and taste that fruit which is of most richest joy then we are building ourselves on the foundation of our savior and suddenly we just stop paying attention to the filthiness.  The Devils traps will come but because we are so focused we become so strong.  We are as the army of helaman.   When we are focused that is how we live in the world but never will we become part of it.  

Anyway I just really wanted to share that with yall because it was just such a neat realization to me.  That is why I love being a missionary because I have to live my life in such a way that when I walk out my apartment door I have a spiritual armed of protection around me.  Georgia is alot different than Idaho or utah, but when we live our lives in harmony with the gospel and its teachings we don't pay attention to what is around us.  I am thankful that I am blinded at the craziness that is around me and I am thankful that I can feel so spiritually and physically protected when my foundation is built on my savior,.  I testify that this principle is true.  I have seen it work for me personally serving a mission here in grorgia.  I testify that if we make our focuss our goal in  this life, which is to make it back to heavenly father, that when filthiness is present and it will come, we won't fall victim to its trap because we are built on the foundation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We become the sons and daughters of God that he needs in these latter days .  We have to be stromg.  "the church of the Lamb of God, and it's numbers were few" but that "they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory"   I testify of this in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I love you all so much.  I love this gospel so much.  I love my savior so much.  have a beautiful week and remember live in the world not of it.

all my love and prayers always

Hermana Stewart :D

You Can Make The Pathway Bright

High Five from Chamblee, Georgia!!

Wow what a week!  Fermin got baptized!!!!  yay it was so beautiful!  I was thinking on Saturday morning while i was eating my cereal about the first time that I met Fermin.  It was July 27, 2015.  And he was a completely different person than he is now.  When i first met him, im not even going to lie, silly Hermana Stewart did not see much potential in him.  But what i have learned from this experience is that God can do anything he wants, and we don't decide who is prepared or not.  We first started teaching him on November 6, 2015.  And it all started with a little seed of faith that grew and grew and grew inside of him!!  It is just so wonderful to see people change because of this gospel.  Its my most favorite thing ever!  I love it!  The baptism was so wonderful!!  While he was in the font getting ready to be baptized i looked up and saw a perfectly bright glowing beam of light around him.  That was really cool.  So many people came and supported him and

​Hermana Bringhurst, Hermana Webb, Fermin, Manuel Mata(member that baptized him and we had all the lessons in their house) and Hermana Stewart.  Asuel and Amy (some of manuel's kids)

it was great!  His confirmation was really legit!!  Our branch mission leader just got the Melchizedek priesthood and he gave him the holy ghost.  It was his first confirmation and it was beautiful.  In the blessing he promised Him that he would be a leader in this church and that he was going to have a family and raise his kids in this gospel!!!  Wow so cool right!  I'm just so happy for him and his decision!  but more importantly is how happy our Heavenly Father is of him.  He bore is testimony after the baptism and that was so cool cuz hes such a shy lil guy!  He did so great!  Fermin will always have a special place in my heart because he is my brother and it has been a privileged to get to know.  I cant even imagine not having come on a mission and not having met Fermin, and our other recent converts Sally, Jessy, Ana, Edwin, Ayari!  Wow i love them all so much!!  

I hope that life is superb for all y'all!!  I wanted to share a scripture with you all.  Its one of my favorites and i read it this morning in my Personal Study.  It is found in 

Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby theymay dwell with God in a state of never ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."  I just love this scripture!  haha and the funny thing is i was just on lds.org so that i could copy and paste this scripture and the talk of the week on the Home page is "Be happy, keep the commandments" by our dear Prophet Thomas S. Monson.  I just want you all to know that I know because i have experienced the feeling of being truly happy and i know that it really does come from keeping the commandments.  When we do the right things we are happy.  It is as simple as that.  Obvously its not quite as easy done than said but its possible with our Savior.  

As i was sitting at my desk this morning thinking back on my week and thinking on what i wanted to share with yall, what i need to say and what yall need to hear and the song "you can make the pathway bright" came into my mind after i got done praying.  Sometimes life is hard and trials come and we just want to give up and be sad, but even among st all the hard things that come to us in life, You can make the pathway bright.  One of the greatest blessings we have as being members of this church is when worthy having the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit with us, a member of the Godhead, a comforter.  On my continued quest to recognize the spirit and the promptings that come in my daily life, i have gained a better appreciation for this wonderful gift.  This morning i recognized the comforter putting a beautiful song into my heart that immediately lifting my soul, and put a smile on my face.  I hope that this song can do the same with yall.  "

You can make the pathway bright, Fill the soul with heaven's light,  If there's sunshine in your heart; Turning darkness into day, As the shadows fly away, If there's sunshine in your heart today. You can speak the gentle word To the heart with anger stirred, If there's sunshine in your heart; Tho it seems a little thing,

It will heaven's blessings bring, If there's sunshine in your heart today.  You can do a kindly deed To your neighbor in his need, If there's sunshine in your heart;

And his burden you will share As you lift his load of care, If there's sunshine in your heart today.  You can live a happy life In this world of toil and strife, If there's sunshine in your heart; And your soul will glow with love From the perfect Light above, If there's sunshine in your heart today.  If there's sunshine in your heart,

You can send a shining ray That will turn the night to day; And your cares will all depart, If there's sunshine in your heart today."  The Pathway really is bright.  We have this gospel.  We have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.  I am thankful for all these wonderful things and people, and i am thankful to be a missionary.  I am thankful for my wonderful family.  I love you all so much!!  I hope you have a wonderful week!  Until next week.  Go spread a little sunshine to the people out there that most need it, and i promise you all that if you do this your pathway will turn from 60 watts to 120 watts!!   All my prayers and love always!

Love

Hermana Stewart

Count Your Many Blessings Name them One by One!

Happy 2016 everyone!!!!  Wow that is sort of crazy!!

Alrighty so much happened this week!  I Just want to start off by saying that being in this Gospel is not easy.  it is never easy, but the blessing that come from being in this gospel are so worth it.  This week I have had the opportunity to have trial after trial come, but to be able to see those trials as no longer trials but just as stepping stones to greater things and to be able to see the blessings come from each one of those trials.  I have a new definition for trials, trial:something that can either be looked at hard, terrible, or impossible to get through on your own, or something that can be looked at as beautiful, a lesson, a blessing, and oh so possible to get through with our Savior.  We have to remember that in the scriptures we are taught that the Lord gives us trials not to punish us, but to refine us, to make us better, to bless us.  How wonderful is that!  

So the first trial we faced this week is that we had to push our Investigators baptism date back and re teach him a few things.  At first we were really sad about this, but you know what because of this "trial" there came something beautiful, a lesson learned, a blessing because we have our Savior to help us.  The beautiful thing that came from it is that now he knows after re praying about it that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  The lesson learned that came out of it is that we should probably review the Restoration with our investigators before their baptism interview if it has been a few months since we taught it.  And the blessing that came from it with the help of our Savior and Heavenly father through prayer he was able to gain his own testimony of this Gospel.  Wow it is just wonderful!  He will be getting baptized for sure January 9, 2015 at 5pm.  He is even more so ready and so excited to make this sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father.  I am so thankful for this trial.

The second "trial" we had to face this week is the discovery that we have lice!  This one took me a little while to dig in deep and figure out the beautiful thing that comes from this haha.  Getting lice has been one of my hugest fears all my life, and I honestly never thought i would ever get it haha!  The beautiful thing that has came from having lice is team work in our companionship.  I am thankful to have wonderful companions that we can always be there for one another.  There is nothing like spending hours and hours picking out each others lice in our little quarantine apartment listening to church music.  It really has been a beautiful thing seeing our companionship grow even closer together as we help one another out.  The lesson learned that came from this is caution.  We need to always be cautious where ever we are at.  The blessing that has came from discovering that we have lice is that one day we will not have itchy heads!  "but ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions" Alma 34:41  With the help of the Savior, and lice be gone kits, we can practice our patience and hope that we will one day be free of lice!

Blessing, Blessing, Blessing!  Blessing come to those that live the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I have seen it in myself.  I have seen it in my family back at home.  And i have seen it in the people i serve here in Georgia.  We have been super focusing on Book of Mormon with our investigators and members and less actives.  There is a part in the introduction that i never noticed until this week.  It says "it puts forth the doctrine of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come."  Why have i never noticed that before?!  That is an amazing blessing that comes from reading and abiding by the doctrine that is in the Book of Mormon.  As we went and followed up with a few less actives about reading the Book of Mormon daily they have seen a huge difference.  Two less actives pretty much said the same thing when we asked them if they have seen a difference in their lives since being in this gospel and reading the Book of Moron and they answered that yes that have seen a difference.  It was amazing to sit through these lessons and hear the power of their testimonies and the peace that they feel and how content they are with their current circumstances because they have this gospel!  Another huge blessing that just hit me so hard this week is seeing a particular family in our branch change over a course of time.  It is the family that we have had all of the lessons in their house for our investigator that is getting baptized on Saturday.  Not only has these lessons been strengthening our investigator and his testimony, but this family relationship and their testimonies have been strengthened so much because of this.  Wow it is incredible to have noticed this huge change take place.  What a blessing because they are living the gospel.

I just want you all to know that i have a testimony of this Gospel.  It really does make ones life happier by living it.  I have a testimony that blessings come from trials.  "When upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings; name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.  Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings; ev'ry doubt will fly, And you will be singing as the days go by.  So amid the conflict, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged; God is over all. Count your many blessings; angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey's end.  

Count your blessings; Name them one by one. Count your blessings; See what God hath done. Count your blessings; Name them one by one. Count your many blessings; See what God hath done."  We are so blessing to be part of this wonderful Gospel.  I hope you all have an amazing week!!  I love you all so much!  Count your many blessings name them one by one!

Love,

Hermana Stewart

Getting Lice out!