Our Georgia Peach: Don't dig pits, climb mountains

Dear Family,

What a week. Time is so fast i cant even function or comprend the time of a missioinary. Happy almost Saint Patricks day!!! I hope you all had a great week! I sure did. so our new companion is named Hermana Cuevas. that means cave in spanish, pretty cool huh! she is from Chile. She actually came out with me, but she was a english misisonary but just got switched to spanish with us. she is very sweet and we are happy to have her here in Chamblee with us.

This week we worked alot with less actives, well we always do but most of our work right now is ractivation. these lost souls are just as important. We love them all and we are seeing small and simple steps lead into great and marvoulous changes in each of them. We have been teaching them all the 5 lessons over again and we have seen huge miracles come from that. they are all regaining testimonies and desires to come back.

So funny stories from this week is that we accidentally made the mistake of visiting 2 families in a row that feed us the most food on friday.....haha so at the second appointment we were just dieing but we had to get seconds because she was just eyeing us down...so in the middle of us eating hermana cuevas's button popped off and we all just died lauging. haha it was just so funny. i serisouly think we each ate 10 pounds of food on Friday. Then on saturday we were eating lunch at a less actives house and it was no kidding a 6 inch mountain of rice and some meat thing with veggies. we were still full from friday haha, but in the middle of while we were eating she looked and Hermana Bringhurst and said that if she didnt eat everything she would be cast from the table. Her plate was nearly licked clean before all of us. then i ate 2 jalapeno peppers and mmm they werre good...but then i rubbed my eyes. lesson learned.

Awesome news!!!

So we have a date to go to the temple with Fermin and Hector and the Elders recent converts on March 26 to do baptisms for the dead. Ahh they are so excited and we are so excited too! Hector said he got called into work on sunday but he told them no that he was going to church. Yes he is soo awesome. Fermin is so cool he brings the bread for sacrament meeting now and he loves that! I love them so much. For some reason when Fermin walked into Sacrament meeting yesterday holding up the bread in the air like he was the man made me so rediculously happy. I am so so so glad that i made the choice to come on a mission. The people i have met and am going to meet and the experiences i have had and am going to have are so so dear to me and i will forever be greatful for each and everyone of them. The Lord is amazing you know. I count my blessings everyday and realize more and more of what a priveledge it is watching the Lord bring to pass his work. in language study the other day we were reading in Jacob 5 and i couldnt help but think how blessed we are to be working here in the Lords vineyard and how fast time goes by and we need to not waste any minute but continue working dilligently no matter how tired we may be.

I wanted to share some great scriputures i read this morning in my personal study with yall that just impacted me alot and i just love learning and reading from the book of Mormon everyday. I feel so empty when i dont read. yesterday i read in 1 nephi 13:29 that talks about apostasy and says in the last part of the verse "because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, and exceedingly great many do stumble, yeah, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them." And we clearly see there that this is the consiquenses of apostosy. Then this morning i read in 1 nephi 14:1 it says "if the Gentile shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unot the taking away of their stumbling blocks. and harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God..they shall be a bleed people upon the promised land forever, they shall be no more brought down into the captivity." I just really loved this because what a beautiful promise it is! If we hearken unto the Lord and humble ourselves he will take away those stumbling blocks we all have, the temptations of the world that can bring us into a state of personal apostosy. I love how the Lord is always the answer. i also thought it was funny that it says in verse three it says "that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it." We dig our own pits. We are the cause of our own destruction when we dont do what is right. I know that if we live Christ centered lives we can overcome any temptation or "stumbling block". I know that to be true because the spirit touched my heart this morning and bore testimony that it is true. The Lord is truely amazing. I always want him center in my life because that is the only way i can ever experience true feelings of joy.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Always know how much i love you, but more importantly always know how much your Savior loves you. I cant help but sing in my heart the lyrics from I stand all amazed "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me he was crucified, That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died. Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me Enough to die for me! Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!" I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he loves us. I know that he lives. in the name of Jesus Christ amen. The veiw is so much better at the top of a mountain than down in a pit. Salvation is hard, but it is posible through our Savior Jesus Christ. Dont dig pits, climb mountains. I love you all so much.

Love,

Hermana Stewart