Week 64: Hurricane and Sacrament

Well, Dear Friends and Family,

This week we are happy to say that we survived a Hurricane!!!! Everyone Everywhere was making it out to be a big deal. I'm sure it was down south and up the east coast, but we survived with very little damage of leaves in the yard. HAHA it stuck at night, so when we woke up it looked like nobody had raked the yard in years... HAHA It was pretty interesting :) We were stuck inside for quite sometime, so I recently took up the art of Crocheting, which is surprisingly super easy, fun and stress relieving :) I know i am like a grandmother :) HAHA but its fun :)

Missionary work was a bit slow this week due to the weather. HAHA I think everyone was either out of town or hunkered down inside their houses. We had all day full of appointments the day of the storm, but all of them fell through. I keep telling myself that blessings will come later:) HAHA

Well I love you all so dearly and hope that you are all doing well :) I found comfort and help through the Sacrament prayer this week as we had the opportunity to take the sacrament to some members who cant make it out to church. It reminded me of back at home, except it takes 3 hours here because of how far people live from each other. I have a testimony of the sacrament and the special ordinance that it is :) And I hope you all have the same :) I love you all so much!

Elder Stonely :)

Week 63: Insanely Busy

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been one full of just about any surprise EVER! We have been so busy its insane... First off, every day was pretty much booked with appointments that we had set up. Though many of them continued to fall through. But all we can do it keep going!!!!!!! Elder Lambson keeps me on my feet and he is a BOSS missionary. His phrase is "chump" so whenever we are slacking we call each other "chumps" HAHA not really. Its just a joke.

Well Exciting news from this week was that we had Ana and her husband, Beto come to stake conference. It was an amazing stake conference which talked about the temples and getting married in the temples and since that has been a topic for them both recently we both think good things are going to come out of that! Ana has been a huge example of faith to me as I have been able to get to know her and see how she goes through her trials and man... if any of you think your life is hard, first i would consider your savior Jesus Christ who had it worst, then think of Ana. Then think of how pretty much the only friends/family you have are your husband and the missionaries. I mean "we" are great! but us being the only friends she has is pretty sad. She has felt so welcome at church and she loves it here! So Be happy you all for how lucky your life is in the church, or with your family or how blessed you are! Lots of people don't have  it that way :)

Well before I turn this email into an epistle, just know that I love you all and am excited to continue to serve the lord :) He does miracles and they are blessing my life! I love you more than food!!!

P.S. just for my grandfather who is deaf, I will refrain from typing "GA" in place of Georgia because when they text through some machine, "GA" means "go ahead" HAHA I love my grandpa :) Hes the best! just like sister Bouton :)

Love you all!

Elder Stonely

More selfies!!!

Chillin with Elder Lambson.

Week 62: Tender-loins, Psych! Tender-mercies :)

Dear Friends and Family,

I have had such a wonderful experience this week! We have received SOOOOO many tender mercies in every way (side note, also received a couple tenderloins as well). I would definitely say that Elder Lambson is a strong pushing force to make sure that we are always busy and out teaching the gospel. And that in and of itself has brought many miracles. We have had the opportunity this week to see many peoples hearts softened. We met a family one day who seemed pretty interested in what we teach, but when we went by a second time, the father told us he was not interested and that "Mormons" was not for him or for his family. We, politely ignored him and went back on another occasion. When we did go back, he was out there with his wife. We talked with him and got to know him a little more and he got to see just how "human" us Mormons are. We shared the plan of salvation which cleared up a lot of his questions and doubts. It was awesome to see him have that change of heart, and at the end of the lesson, he committed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. WHAT???? That was a sick experience. But that was only one of the experiences that we had. We picked up a couple of families that we are now teaching which is going to be AWESOME!!!! I love teaching families. For some reason it feels like I'm with my own family when I teach families. :)

Well I know that this email was super small. Its weird cause this week went by so fast. And mother, I am sorry for the lack of pictures. I have completely forgotten to take any this week! I like to say that it was because we were super busy. :) HAHAHAHA But I promise to do better this week. :)

I love you all and appreciate the support from back home! I wish you all blessings and love from the greatest heart in Cairo!

Elder Stonely,

(biggest heart is still Sister Bouton) one day ill catch up to her...

Week 61: My new companion Elder Lambson is BOSS!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

I guess I lost track of weeks again because my dad told me I messed up on which week it was. HAHA Luckily, the brains of the operation (my dad) runs the show and not me :) HAHA I love you papa!

Ok, so yes, transfers were this past week, I'm blessed to stay in Cairo! My new companion is Elder Lambson who is the BOSS!!!!!! He is from Colorado, which I can continue to say that I have never been with a companion from Utah... That's been pretty weird. Elder Lambson is a genius who is very intelligent and amazing :) He is also like a Lamb, well a son of the lamb. HA. Yeah... dumb pun. 

Well this week, It sure has been a busy week! And I am positive that we haven't received so many tender mercies and blessings as we have this week. It all started Wed.

We got into Tallahassee at 7:30 am. so that Elder Valenzuela could catch the transfer buss across the mission, and my companion wasn't coming in till about 7:00 pm. Long story short, I had to go with some other elders for the day. They were White washing an area and had never stepped foot on any door we went to. So that was interesting. I felt a little out of place knocking on all the "rich" white people houses. Well by "rich" I mean normal houses in Utah, though I have been so accustomed to trailers that a house seems quite different. HAHA It has truly been an experience. HAHA Well my companion got in at 7 and we drove back up to Cairo and decided we were going to just go out and find someone to teach! (due to having a low teaching pool) we knocked on a couple peoples doors without success. And then we saw this lady smoking out on the front porch, so we decided to go talk to her. We immediately began to introduce a video about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and talked about how she could find a "new" life through him. She seemed really interested in the message and longer story short, she agreed to be baptized on September 10th. That was VERY cool to see. She also gave us referrals to her family whom we are just barely going over to help. Its been interesting to see how when we stop by, people don't want anything to do with us, but as we are just persistent enough, we become the best buds and they are so grateful for us coming over and talking with them! Sometimes, people just need a little bit of love :) even if they don't seem like the type of person you would be talking to. 

So I just want you to take that situation, and add about 20 more of those. That sums up our week. Though the biggest thing I have noticed this week Has definitely been the Spirit. I am 100 % sure that if the spirit was not with us, that none of the people with whom we came in contact, we would still be teaching. And I am grateful for my new companion who works hard, is diligent, and is a great example of the type of missionary that we all can become! 

I love you all so much! And I know that all of you are missionaries like us and can experience these experiences on your own like those of missionaries! Hope you all have a great week this week and know that I love you! 

Elder Stonely,

The biggest heart in Cairo :) (Thats still sister Bouton)

Yeah, we are a litttle crazy. HAHA

Pictures with Ana before Elder V left :)

Week 60: I'm a Cowboy!

Dear Friends and Family,

Well I thought I would just let you know that I'm officially a Cowboy! HAHA As many of you know, we live in a little house, pretty much in the middle of a cow farm. Though there is a gate around the house to keep the cows out. So we got out of the house to come email today and I looked out by the gate and see a cow standing by the car. So Elder Valenzuela and I started to get unsure of what to do, so we called our landlord, but he couldn't make it out there in time, so we had to herd this cow back into the field. It took a couple of tries of me and the cow running at each other. HAHA They are pretty wimpy, so they get scared at a certain point. Though I hearded a cow! I'm a Cowboy mom! HAHA

The next biggest news is that transfer calls came in last night, Elder Valenzuela is being moved to Foley Alabama, my previous area and I will be staying here in Cairo with an elder Named, Elder Lambson. He looks like a pretty sick kid! I'm excited to serve with him. :)

As far as Missionary work goes, Ana came to church and is continuing to love it! We are going to start to work with her on getting her BCD date moved up closer. She has one set for November 19. So we are going to continue to work with her! She has been one of our tender mercies. And we also had the opportunity to take the sacrament to three of the members who can't make it out to church and even though it took up quite some time on Sunday, it was the best service we have ever done! So for all you young men out in the world, just know that the service you do with the sacred ordinance of the sacrament is a true blessing. Take advantage of it! 

I'm doing well! We are loving the work. :) It will all continue onward. :) I love you all so much! Thank you for your continual support. :) 

Elder Stonely

The biggest heart in Cairo, Sister Bouton!

That was random...

Week 59: Baptismal Invitation Accepted!

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been a great one for sure. First off, it was the only week that I have been here where we have had a member come out and teach with us. THAT was exciting! But it wasn't even the best of news. One of our investigators, Ana Fuentes, accepted the baptism invitation and will be getting baptized in November! It is quite far away, but that was when she said she felt like she should get baptized. So we are going with it! She was truly a tender mercy.

The week had been going hard. There wasn't much work to be done and we, as a companionship, were both feeling a bit down. The day we were to see Ana however, we prayed that the spirit would be able to guide us and help us. And Ana accepted the baptism invitation. She then came to church on Sunday where all of the members just about killed her with love! She participated in the lessons, even though we had to translate, and was not scared! It was by far the best Sunday we have had yet. And we have a feeling, every Sunday will be like that. Part of both of us this week wanted to stay here till November to see Ana get baptized! There were a lot of emotions running through the week.

Spiritual thought comes from these two scriptures:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. --Heleman 5:12

And this one which talks about partaking of the sacrament.

 

And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock. --3 Nephi 18:12

As we watched Ana partake of the sacrament and enjoy the blessings of the Gospel, I just want you to know that the blessings that can come from the Sacrament are tremendous! I am grateful for that opportunity. It truly is a way to build our foundation on the rock of the savior. :) 

 

I love you all! And hope all goes well back at home :)

 

Love,

 

Elder Stonely

 

My silly picture for the week.

Typical Georgia country side.

 

Week 58: Inviting Investigators to be Baptized

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been a busy schedule!!! To give you a perspective on how busy it was, we taught three lessons... HAHA We had Zone training, District meeting Training, Interviews with President, Weekly planning, joyous service projects, and the weekly stuff :) Then the rest of the time we spent going out finding people to teach. Cairo seems to be getting smaller and smaller as we go about getting to know all the areas. The Hispanic community is one of the nicest here too so I am yet again, truly grateful to be part of that one!

This week we have been blessed to receive a lot of council from our leaders and from those who taught us during the training. One main focus was inviting others to be baptized, so this week and throughout the next couple weeks, the zone will be focusing on inviting all to be baptized. I'm excited to see what it brings, because Cairo hasn't had a baptism in about two years! Its a long time, and we have a couple people who we really feel could join the lords fold!

Someone shared a quote with us this week that I have been putting into application throughout the week. Its simple, yet its taken for granted a lot of the time:

"He is reachable at any time and in any place." -unknown

We have the listening ears of our father in heaven truly at any time and in any place, whether we need him or not. I have been trying hard this week to keep a prayer of thanksgiving as well as asking for help and strength throughout every day. And I know that I have received help beyond my own ability because of that simple act. If you're not already trying it, JUST DO IT! 

I love you all so much :) Cant wait to hear from you next week :)

Much love and care,

Elder Stonely

The heart of Cairo GA