I don't have a lot of time to email this week because we had to go up the Castries this week for P-day. It is over an hour bus drive there plus the same amount back so it takes a lot out of our day. This week was pretty good, if I do say so myself. There were still a lot of struggles, that is the mission life, but as you focus on the good things you are better able to notice the blessings in your life. It started pouring rain the other day and Sister Nelson and I were soaking wet. Literally soaked. Somehow my little mini book of Mormon didn't get wet though! YEAH! We were on our way from on e appointment going to another one and if we sat the rain out and found cover we would be late. So, using our better judgment, obviously, we booked it in the pouring rain to the appointment. It turned out to be a great appointment with one of our investigators Kianna. First lesson we gave her was the Law of Chastity and she committed to live it, her boyfriend moved out, and they are planning on getting married soon. The day it was raining we had the Restoration lesson and it was amazing. She knows what we are teaching is true, has committed to read the B.O.M. and pray about it, and is coming to church on Sunday. Totally worth walking in the pouring rain. First of all, No joke, 5 dogs followed us all day on Wednesday. 5 DOGS! We had 3 homie dogs from one of our areas Cantonement. Two of which belong to some of our members, the Joseph Family. One is just a stray that hangs out with them. Then the other 2 dogs are stray dogs that live in our neighborhood and follow us everywhere. Basically I am the dog whisperer. Swag, I know. The two that live by us literally follow us the half hour it takes us to walk from our home to our area. Dedication. But all 5 dogs followed us ALL day everywhere we went. It was hilarious. We looked like we had a good squad going on. Nobody would dare rob us, let alone come near us with that many dogs. They were thinking #squadgoals Secondly, on Tuesday my companion and I were walking to an appointment that canceled on us and we were walking past a decent looking apartment area. We were on the other side of the street from it and noticed two mothers and their kids outside hanging out. We felt prompted to cross the street and talk to them. So we did and I am so happy about that. Celina was one of the mothers and she had questions about where we go after this life. We shared a short message with her testifying that we knew there was a place prepared for us after this life and that we could live with our families for eternity. We left her with a Plan of Salvation tract and set up a return appointment for Thursday. That lesson was amazing. The spirit was so strong and we were able to share with her, her friends two kids, and her son Ramsies (like off of Nacho Libre haha), God's plan for us and the steps we need to take to live with our Father in Heaven again. They accepted everything, had amazing questions, and committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We also committed them to baptism when they find these things to be true for themselves. It was one of the best lessons I have had on my mission. I know that as I go forward with faith and continue to learn more about the gospel I will be able to bring many more souls unto Christ. I also had transfer calls this week!!! YAY! I am finally going to BARBADOS!!! My first companion (my trainer/mom in the mission world) is now my Sister Training leader. My new companions are Sister Fischer and Sister Henry. I will be in a trio for a few weeks while Sister Henry prepares to leave for her Mission in the states. She is waiting on her Visa I think. I am so excited. Sister Fischer came out with my MTC group and is very nice. Everyone has told me that Sister Henry and I will get along super well. I am excited for that. Having a companion you work well and get along with makes the mission the BOMB. You are then able to work together more sufficiently and work in unity. Love, Sister Breana Stewart
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I live in Black Bay on the Island of St Lucia. My area is Cantonement and Augier (pronounced O-jay). There are two branches on the Island, one here in Vieux (pronounced view) Fort and one in Castries. I am in the Vieux Fort Branch. My MTC companion Sister Layton is in the branch with me. We have myself, Sister Nelson, Sister Layton, Sister Campbell, Elder Miller, Elder Whipple, Elder Tye, and Elder Aldredge (Not sure if I spelled their names right).
These last two weeks were pretty crazy! First of all, we had bed bugs....or rather my bed had bugs. Last Friday I woke up with bug bites literally covering my whole body. I looked like I had a bad case of the chicken pocks! It was so nasty. They itched like crazy. Luckily I have self control and didn't scratch them so they went away quicker. They started going away about 3 days ago. They are all gone now!:) So because of that Fiasco my companion and I had to stay with the other sisters for 4 nights while our place was getting de-bugged. That was so much fun! POVER! Last P-day we hiked this intense mountain called the Piton. Locals thought we were insane for doing it. It was funny. Interestingly boring fact: My companion and I were unable to leave our house last Wednesday until 7 at NIGHT! Our land lords were having our house painted on the inside and told us that we had to stay there while the painters worked. We thought it would only take a couple of hours and they came in at 8. So we figured it would be the perfect time to do our weekly planning. But no, we were there all day. Happy point of the day was that the Sister Training Leader Sister Norris and her companion Sister Rindlisbacher came to St. Lucia to visit us. Sister Rindlisbacher was in my MTC group and apparently Sister Norris was in the MTC with Erik Egbert. She told me he was her District Leader there. Small World!!! So Sister Rindlisbacher came to our house at 7 that night and stayed with us until Friday morning. That was the best. Me and Sister Rindlisbacher get along so well. Maybe one day we will get the chance to be companions! That would be awesome. Thursday morning all three of us went and helped two of our members, Gaius and Unon, who make coals. It was so fun! We went a couple weeks back and helped him cut up all the wood and place it. I got to use a cutlass (basically a big Machete). This time we helped finish it and he is going to light it on Wednesday and we are going to be there. I will take pictures. Friday morning we went to a farm way out that two of our investigators, Miranda and Nigel, own. We had to walk through a huge swamp to get to it. It was really awesome. We were weeding around onions for a couple hours. We got to use a cutlass again haha. It was awesome. Then the sprinklers turned on while we were doing it which felt real nice. Closest thing to swimming we will get on our missions (besides when it is pouring rain). Miranda walked us to a little beach right after that which was about 5 minutes walking. We went out teaching all day after that of course but Sister Norris was with us instead of Sister Rindlisbacher. They switched places after our service project. After teaching all day we were headed back home about a half hour early to do language studies. We got a phone call from another Sister on the Island who wanted to talk to me about something important so I answered the phone talked to her. It was around 8 o'clock so it was super dark outside and here in the Caribbean the streets aren't really lit at all. I hear footsteps running up behind us but Sister Norris and Sister Nelson stopped in their tracks like they were waiting for the person, so I amused they knew who it was. All of a Sudden someone grabbed my arm and twisted it to turn me around and demanded that I give him our phone. After taking a minute to see who it was I realized that he had a ski mask on and a cutlass. I was going to tell the Sisters to book it and get out of there but since he has a cutlass there wasn't much we could do. So I gave him the phone and told him to calm down. He wasn't making like he was going to hit me with the cutlass but I got the impression he did not want to use it. I wasn't going to give him a reason to. After he got the phone he started yanking my bag off of my neck and it was starting to choke me and said for me to give him my bag. I took it off and he tore it away. I was so vexed! My scriptures and my favorite pen were in there! Then he turned to my companion and told her to give him her bag. She did. She and Sister Norris were in shock. The guy ran away after that and I had to herd them home. I wasn't really sure how to deal with someone in shock. Since we didn't have our phone anymore or the keys to our house I went straight to our landlords who live above us and told them what happened and asked if we could use their phone. I had to make all the phone calls and talk to the cops for us when they arrived because Sister Nelson and Sister Norris were still in shock and were super shaky. I was so grateful for my parents and my dad especially for teaching me not to freak out in a time of crisis. If I hadn't had a clear mind and been able to focus everything would not have gone as smoothly. We were so grateful to be safe and out of harms way. We ended up staying with the other sisters again. No joke, 6 Sister sleepover. It was crazy haha. Saturday morning the cop picked us up and we went to the police station to give our statements. They were very nice. Honestly, I don't think there is much they can do for us since the guy was wearing a mask. But I know that we will be fine as we continue to do the Lord's work. Saturday there was also two baptisms. What a blessing! Today for P-day so far we bused up to Castries to play soccer and volleyball with the whole zone. That was so much fun. The bus ride is about an hour long, on bumpy roads, with bus drives that don't know what a speed limit is. It is a blast haha. We had a lot of fun playing soccer. The field was super muddy since it was raining the past couple days so we are all muddy and gross haha. It is hilarious. All in all, we had a pretty good week. We had two baptisms (the elders did), two of our investigators came to church, we were able to do a lot of service, and that is a lot to be grateful for. Love and miss everyone so much. I am so grateful for all of you. Have another great week. Love, Sister Breana Stewart |