Week 57: Sister Bouton "Happiness is a choice"

Dear Friends and Family,

This week I wanted to dwell my thoughts on one of the members here in Cairo and an experience I had with her. Her name is Sister Bouton. She is an 70 year old lady who literally just keeps going and doesn't stop! Though something about her has just caught my attention since I first saw her. And that is just how good of an attitude she has. This week someone told me, "happiness is a choice" And I had a lot of time to think about that throughout the week and when I thought of Sister Bouton It just clicked. Happiness really is a choice. And for all of you out there who think otherwise, maybe Sister Bouton's story will be able to help you out :)

Like I said, Sister Bouton is a 70 year old lady who is married to a man who has back problems and  is totally dependent on her. They live really far from the main town and they live all alone. Sister Bouton also has heart problems. She has had five heart attacks since 2011, all of which, the doctors informed her, should have killed her. As she told the story of each of the heart attacks I sat there in amazement. I have seen many people like her in both the Nursing homes and Rehab that I have worked at, and she, like many in my places of employment just keeps going. On a couple of her heart attacks, she called the doctor, though the one she was going to see was booked for a couple days. So not thinking much of it and thinking her husband needed more attention than herself, she patiently waited for the day she could go. When she went into the doctors office, the doctors, upon finding the cause of the heart attack, were stunned to know what had kept her alive. They informed her that one of her Main Arteries was 100 % blocked. (this was the same thing for 3 of the 5 heart attacks.) Her doctor, was known for chewing people out for not taking care of their bodies and also their lives, so all of the nurses warned sister Bouton that she better prepare herself. So when the doctor came in, Sister Bouton was prepared. She asked the doctor," ok, what do i need to change?" The doctor, in reply, turned to her and said, "I don't know what you are doing or how you are living, but whatever you are doing, keep doing it. Because you should be dead right now." This happened on two occasions.

Now I don't think that she has come to the conclusion that I have or if the conclusion I have is the right one. Though I feel as if Sister Bouton is receiving the blessings from the hand of the lord for her strong testimony in the Gospel and for her continual desire to become like the savior. One big part of it is her choice to be happy. I have never met someone who has the burdens and loads of this dedicated wife, mother, grandmother and supporter of a falling branch than the Sister Bouton here. I asked her this week, "How do you always have a positive attitude?" she gave me her humble reply, "I didn't know i had one :)" And we both giggled over it.

My dear friends and families, if choosing to be happy is a lesson you haven't learned yet, I would think about it. Because I have already begun to see miracles and blessings poring into my daily life from trying my hardest to be happy through all that goes on. Yes, life is tough and sometimes unfair, but you choose whether or not what you have is gonna make you sad, or happy :) I constantly ask myself, "is there sunshine in my soul?"

I love you all so much and am so grateful for the lovely support that us as missionaries have. I am tremendously grateful for loving parents and friends who encourage me to push through every day. And I am also grateful for the savior, who is the support system for anyone and everyone. May you all receive blessings this week!

Much Love, 

Elder Stonely

Oh, yeah...I'm hip!

Homemade shake! Yum!

Another shake.

More weird selfies!

Week 56?? Lost count

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has gone by faster than any other week. It feels like I was just writing home. Well, one thing was super fun that we did! We did a family history activity, and though only one person showed up, it was a success! I also found out a little bit more on how to search and do family history as far as my Native American ancestor goes so mom and grandpa, watch out! I'm gonna find something whether it is on the mission or after! HAHA 

A lot of pondering has gone on this week in many different forms. Though one thing that I am grateful for is the fact that we are given challenges. They come in all shapes and forms. Some of them are great, and some are small. Though one thing is for sure, you will always learn something from your challenges. Even if its something you don't necessarily want to learn at the moment. Sadly, those seem to be more regular than not. HAHA Though the Savior knows how to shape you the way he needs you. And he does it in such marvelous ways that sometimes we miss them. I just want you all to know that I am grateful every day for the Lord and the challenges he puts in my paths so that I can overcome them and become stronger. 

I am also truly happy for his sacrifice so the challenges that I go through can also be a time for me to accept his support. Man, I learn something about the Atonement every day! its awesome!!!!! 

I love you all and look forward to hearing about your amazing adventures during these next few weeks! 

Much more love than ever,

Elder Stonely,

Cairo GA

P.S. Here are a BUNCH of pictures to make up for the lack of photos the last month or so...

We drive along this road each day to and from our home.

Visiting with Domingo.

It's P-day. Yeah!!

On the roof of the church.

Study time!

Chilling with Sister Sgoggins.

Strawberry shake.

With Brother Day searching for venomous snakes.

Feeding goats.

July 4! Why not wear all three???

Me and the "Yearmark" crew. We all arrived about one year ago.

Continuing work on ramp.

Making progress...

I did that!!

Almost done!

Week 55: Spiritual Fireworks

Dear Friends and Family,

I always start off by saying that "this week was one to remember" or something like that, though the only thing that remembered my week was my journal. HAHA There wasn't too much that happened. 

One big thing that happened was our mission said goodbye to President and Sister Smith, and welcomed another President and Sister Smith! We had the opportunity to welcome in the new Mission President and His wife and get to know them a little more. He seems SUPER energetic and crazy! I'm excited to get to know him a little more. :) And sister Smith is VERY quite and calm. They are a perfect pair for each other! And I think that we are going to enjoy them a lot out here. It was a humbling experience for me to see just how humble of people they are and it was nice to get to know them. :) We will miss the old President and his wife, though its going to be a blast with the new one!

This Sunday we also had an investigator at church. Domingo is his name and he is 17. We love him and were supper excited that he wanted to come to church! So when we showed up, there was another less active member who was there named Robert. In the same grade at Domingo. We got super excited cause Domingo would have a friend to talk to his age instead of sitting next to a 70 year old woman! HAHA So we approached Robert and asked him if he knew Domingo before we introduced them, and when he found out who he was he went off about how big of a trouble maker he thought Domingo was and how bad he was at school. HAHA So we got a little worried about how the friendship thing would work. Though to our surprise, Robert helped him feel welcome! It was great. :)

I wish you all a Happy 4th of July!!! I envy all of you who get to watch amazing fireworks and have a blast, though I'm a little prideful of the spiritual fireworks that us missionaries get to set off every day!!! Totally kidding. HAHA We can all have spiritual fireworks :0 And I hope you all enjoy your week! 

I love you much! :)

Elder Stonely

Zone Conference with new Mission President and wife.

Week 54: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit...Blessed are the Meek

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was yet again another great week! Full of more and MORE learning. And so much work to be done. I wanted to share with you all something that I learned this week in my studies and throughout the days. 

On Sunday afternoon, right after church I was studying in the scriptures. One of the speakers who spoke during sacrament meeting had been assigned to give a talk based off of a couple chapters in the book of 3 Nephi 12-14. Chapter 12 includes the "Beatitudes." His talk fascinated me to the point where that day I decided to dive deeper into each "Beatitude" and study them a little bit more. Though as I studied them I found my mind dwelling on two in specific. They are found in Verses three and five.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" verse 3.

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" verse 5.

I probably spent a long time pondering these two because time was flying by during the hour of study that I had. These two touched me a bit harder than the rest because these past couple of weeks many challenges, difficulties and what you could call "trials" seem to have been never ending. I found myself most days with feelings of anger, envy, regret, and feeling in a way entitled to some help from above. 

My studies have been recently focused on Christlike attributes, though until now I didn't quite apply what I had been learning. After reflecting the two scriptures, I realized that I was personally holding in a lot of personal pride. I thought of how I could become "poor in spirit" and "come unto him" which led me to becoming more humble and meek. I realized that in so many ways, I was feeling "entitled" to help when the help was already here. Becoming meek and humble is submitting yourself to the savior and letting him teach and help you. I Learned that If I was a little more humble and meek in what I was doing and how I interacted with others, the help I thought I was "entitled" to, could be given to me in any needful moment. I also realized that If i were to have any of the blessings of the gospel or "the kingdom of heaven" or "inherit the earth" I was to become more Christlike. Especially humble and meek. 

Now I apologize for the crazy spread of thoughts! Though I hope that if any of you are experiencing the same feelings that I felt this week that you too can experience the blessings that come from forgiving others even when you weren't in the wrong or by looking at things that happen in a different perspective. There is no pride in the heart of the humble. and those who are humble and "come unto him" shall inherit the "kingdom of heaven" as well as the fruits of the atonement and the blessings of the gospel. I am so grateful for our savior, Jesus Christ, and all that he has shown me, taught me and especially for his amazing example. I know that he truly did suffer for our sins, how we feel and the sorrows around us. I am grateful as well to serve the people around me:)

I thank you all so much for the support you are to all the missionaries around the world. Have a great week this week and enjoy your summer :) 

Much love,

Elder Stonely

P.S. I left my camera at home, so pictures will have to wait another week.

Week 53: Fathers Day

Dear Friends and Family,

I seem to have lost track of the weeks out here. It could be week 1 or week 100, I'm not sure. Though time seems to be flying by WAY too fast. I will hopefully get to work as hard as I can to get lots done!

 

This week has been a great one! As far as blessings, we have been seeing a lot of them. We showed up to church and the branch president told us that he had received a call from a man named "Adam" who said he was going to come to church. Well, Adam came to church and it turns out he is a Hispanic! And he is such a legit member! So, we FINALLY have a Hispanic member to take out to lessons where they will understand! We had planned on taking a bunch of the white old folks to our lessons and just translating everything. Don't get me wrong, we are still gonna do this. Though we have someone who speaks Spanish who can help us! He is awesome. :) And we are going fishing today; :) we are excited.

Well also, Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful father! And my wonderful grandfather! I am so proud of both of them for who they are and what they have done to help a kid like me. :) Thank you! 

Elder Valenzuela and I gave talks in sacrament meeting yesterday on the topic of fathers and they were amazing talks! The Branch President told us to tell our fathers that they would have been proud of us. Its very prideful of me to say that, though I love my dad! And I know you would be proud of me. :) We had a great Sunday! All the fathers received a gift for fathers day and they gave us both a gift and called us, "prospective fathers!" HAHA that was pretty fun. :)

I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! A lot of love is coming your way from an elder who lives next to a bunch of cows! Love you all!

Elder Stonely

Week 52: Being sick is no fun. Building ramps rocks! :)

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been such a long one! Elder Valenzuela and I both got sick from some virus and have been in and out all week! The funny part was that every day there was something that popped up that made us get out of the house and do missionary work or try to get something done, like building a ramp... HAHA so we never got better! Though today we are feeling just a tad bit better. :)

But like I said, We built a ramp this week! Well parts of a ramp. Since we are the only young people in the branch, the man who was in charge of building the ramp had us over three times this week to try to get this ramp done. This has been a 7 year long service activity that has been going on where this couple needs a ramp. Though its been all talk and no action until Brother Day moved in and he got put in charge of building the ramp! It has been an awesome service opportunity for us though. :) And we are looking forward to the finished product. I will have to send pictures once it comes through. :)

Other than that, we have had a slow week this week! I love you all so much and hope you keep care. :) I had a spiritual highlight to share then forgot it... So you all will have to wait till next week. :)

Love you much!

Elder Stonely

Week 51: Fried catfish is amazing, but our investigator is Boss

Dear Friends and Family,

I've been out a year and it doesn't feel like it... It has gone by TOOOO fast.

This week was quite the week! For those of you who have seen the pictures of the Catfish and are wondering if I have eaten them or not, YES! I have. :) They are amazing! I don't like seafood, but freshwater catfish is amazing! It doesn't even taste fishy! HAHA Or maybe it was just the way we cooked it. So our landlord said we could fish all we want and catch all we want and eat all we want. So it looks like we have a fresh market in our backyard ;) It will be good eating the next few weeks!

As far as missionary work goes, I had two really great experiences this week. One, I was able to go on a trade-off (which is where we switch companions for a day) with our zone leaders. And I really learned a lot from them on how to better my teaching and help my area and I am truly grateful for the leaders that we have! I know that they are inspired to help us every day and throughout our own responsibilities. :) And the second, was that we found a really sick investigator! His name is Jason. And Jason is 18 and just graduated from high school. He is a Boss. And we are teaching him and hoping that it will lead to baptism so he can liven up this old branch! He has gone through a lot of struggles in his life and took meeting us as a sign. I know that we were inspired to meet him and to help him out! Updates may be given to you all if I can remember :) Just know that he is awesome!

Other than that, I just wanted to bear my testimony of the Gospel. It is amazing and truly is a plan for us to receive the happiness here and the eternal life after death. I am grateful for all of you who have taught me the ways to become a better person. And I look forward to more. ; )

Much love from Elder Stonely,

Cairo GA.

Fried catfish. Yum!!!

Ramp building service project.

One of these things is not like the others...

One of these things is still not like the others...