This week was an adventure!! A lot of our appointments fell through this week so we had the opportunity to meet some new people. That was lots of fun. I remember before my mission how the idea of talking to a complete stranger scared me! Now, I do it every single day and absolutely love it! Oh, the things missions do to you. We were having a lesson on Sunday with a lady named Perlisa (she goes by Lisa as well). Nothing out of the normal was happening, we were just talking about the plan of salvation, Rasta music was going on in the background, and a guy was gutting an octopus next to me. It took me until the end of the lesson to realize how weird the situation was. To me it was normal, but to anyone back home that would look bizarre. So, out of the kindness of my heart, I got a picture with the octopus guy (forgot his name....woops.). You're welcome:) Sunday after church, as we do every week, we went over to Sister Brathwaits house for lunch. We had the usual: Macaroni pie (which I now know how to make and will whip up for everyone back home when I return. You will be happy I learned how to make it), Cole slaw(I never knew how simple that was to make...still don't like it that much though), Broccoli and various vegetables which you don't have in the states( at least as far as I know), rice and beans, and a meat( 'twas fish. Merla fish if I recall correctly). Yummy yummy!! The ice cream of the week after that was Chocolate and the other one was fruit salad. They sure do have some weird Ice cream flavors here. I decided to stick with the chocolate. One spoonful of the fruit salad one was enough for me. Funny story time: SO, there is this Less-active lady named Sister Ramsey that we visit. She is wheel-chair bound which is the reason she is less-active, or so I could hope. Anywho, we visit her EVERY SINGLE THURSDAY. Every one. Havent missed one yet. As far as we knew, she was single, her daughter had passed away, she lived alone, and she had a care giver lady come in a couple times a week and help her out with stuff. So, we come as usual Thursday to see her and there is a Man in her house as well. We assumed it was a friend or something. NOPE! It was her HUSBAND. He has apparently been gone for 25 years in Canada and the States working. 25 YEARS. And he is just now coming back. Apparently for good (hopefully, because Sister Ramsey is super happy now). So that was a curve ball we weren't expecting. Shout out to the Canadian missionaries for talking to him and giving him a Book of Mormon. He said we can teach him as well when we come over. Bonus! Last Monday, I think...not too sure, time is weird on the mission, our car died because Sister Fisher left it on while we were sitting in a parking lot eating. So the Ap's had to come and jump start out car. 'Twas an adventure as well. Healthwise I am doing a lot better!!! My cough is almost completely gone! I only cough once in a blue moon. Haha While we were contacting on Saturday we stopped by to see a Lady named Onica that we had met a few days prior. She heard me cough, ran into her house, and came out with a tube that had red liquid in it. She randomly starts pouring it into my water bottle haha. My water was half frozen and as she was pouring it she said it was a flavoring that apparently helps with your immune system. I read the label and it looked safe so I was gonna try it out. She then made Sister Fisher pour a lot of her water into my bottle because mine "didn’t have enough". Poor Sister Fisher. It was hilarious though. We were dying afterwards because of how funny it was. Lol, you would have had to have been there. Anyways, this week should be awesome! Tuesday, Elder Martinez (FROM THE SEVENTY) and his wife are going to come out teaching with us for part of the day. No big deal :). Wednesday is MLC and we are car pooling people around for that and then I get to go on splits with my Sister from another Mister Sister Maughn. Thursday is Zone Conference! Stoked for that!! Friday...Sister Henry leaves for Utah to go to the MTC!! How exciting for her!! I am looking forward to the great times we will no doubt have this week. Love and miss ya! Love ya long time Sister Breana Stewart
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Mom. You rock. And you worry too much! I am doing great here. Haha But truthfully, I am doing really well. Yeah, I may not like every companion I end up with...but recently I have been really studying the atonement and it has helped me a lot. Even though companions can drive you crazy and are sometimes hard to deal with the minute you forget yourself and view them as Heavenly Father would, you begin to see their good qualities. Trust me on this...I have to do it every day, sometimes multiple times in a day haha. I absolutely love being a missionary and helping others through their hard times. Yes, there are difficult days, but during those days if I focus on the good and it becomes a whole lot easier. In perspective, there is very little time out here in the mission field! I only have less than a year left. SCARY!!! haha. Also good news!!! The St. Maarten Sisters are coming here to Barbados tomorrow for trade-offs with Sister Robinson (who is the Sister Training Leader, how cool huh?:)) and they are bringing my package with them that has been there since Christmas time!!! I am so excited. Sister Clawson was able to get it out of the post office for me. So I will get my package on Wednesday when we see the sisters for lunch. I am excited. I have been waiting so long for it. I love getting stuff in the mail.:) On Friday I was on trade-offs with one of the other sisters and so we were in her area working. So, Barbados is super flat. Hardly any hills, and when there are hills the people tend to try and avoid them. So picture this....A stair case with 107 stairs to get up a small hill. Doesn't sound like a whole lot, but when it is super hot, you are super sweaty and tired from walking around for hours...it really gets to you haha. So me and Sister Maughn (not sure how to spell it but it sounds like mon) had to climb up these stairs to get to part of her area. Boy am I glad we did. We met so many great people up there as we were contacting! Some were so prepared!! It was such a great experience. We did great WORK!!!. And best of all, we had fun while doing it. :) Love ya!! Sister Breana Stewart This week was awesome.
Tuesday a Sister from French side came to Barbados for a little while because she doesn't have a French visa. This requires her to leave the country every 3-4 months and then she can go back. Since my companions and I live the closest to the airport we are designated to pick up the sisters. Well, Sister Fisher got the itinerary for picking up Sister Covey so we got to the airport at 8:20 to pick her up before district meeting. We waited for about an hour until Sister Fisher called someone and then looked down at the flight time. Sister Covey wasn't getting in until 8:20 AT NIGHT. So, we spent a lovely morning at the airport doing some of our studies haha. On Friday I had such an amazing experience. First of all, being in a trio is awesome. It is amazing what a difference it makes having a third witness and testimony in the lessons. Plus, I can just picture what we look like coming down a street. haha:) So Friday morning we met with an investigator named Juliette. Her Sister moved to Utah a while back, met missionaries, and is now a strong member. She is also the one who referred Juliette to the missionaries. When we arrived at her house, it was obvious from her state that she had been through something recently. It was so sad to see her trying to answer the door in the pain she was in. She had been though a lot throughout the span of 1 week and shared her experienced with us. Each of us Sisters felt such sorrow after hearing what she had gone though. We then asked her if we could share a song with her and then opened with a prayer. She told us after we had sang and prayed that she felt as though the weight of her burdens were lifted off of her and she felt peace and comfort. We shared with her the message of the atonement and shared Alma 7:11-12 with her. These are some of my favorite scriptures that I find myself reading and pondering often. We were able to bear out testimonies of the atonement and the spirit was incredibly strong. Through us the spirit was brought unto her and she felt that and let the spirit into her heart. We also were able to share the Mormon Message 'Because of Him' with her. I think one of the parts of being a missionary I love the most is sharing the message of the atonement. It has played a huge role in my life knowing, that no matter what, Jesus Christ knows exactly how I feel. The last part of the scriptures where it says, "that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities" always stands out to me. Saturday was very interesting. I have had a HUGE cough for the past two and a half weeks. I didn't pay it much attention (mostly because I don't like going to the doctors and knew I would need to) until I started throwing up blood because of it. So, using my head finally I asked Sister Clawson what I should take for it and was told....it was time for a visit to the doctors. So for a few hours we were at the doctors and I was getting checked up. Turns out I had strep throat. Who woulda thought?! So, I was basically quarantined to the bedroom for the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday (except church of course:)). I have to take 11 pills every day and 6 teaspoons of liquid medicine. Yup, good old liquid medicine that I love so very much:) On the bright side, I can already feel myself getting better. My cough has lessened and I am no longer contagious to the world, so that's good news. I can finally get back out and spread the gospel!!! :) We were able to do some service for a less-active this week helping her water her huge garden. It kinda looks like a mini Garden of Eden. Way cool. I would also like to extend a challenge to you and anyone who would like to accept it as well. Last general conference the topic of ponderizing was brought up. I have committed myself to choose a scripture or a passage every week and read it, ponder it, and memorize it as well. Every week. I would like you to accept this invitation as well. I can personally promise you that you will receive so many blessings from doing this. Your faith will increase as well as your knowledge of the scriptures. Not to mention the fact that if you know the scripture of reference, you can share it with a friend when prompted to! I am looking forward to hearing what scriptures you choose each week :) My scripture this week is Mosiah 4:9. There is a really cool song called, "I'm trying to be like Jesus", that I know a lot of people have heard. Look up the version by Mormon Channel. I love it! I love and miss ya so much! Have an amazing week :) Love, Sister Breana Stewart Well...Barbados is different from the other islands I have been to so far. Mainly the people are different. The majority of the people on St. Maarten and St. Lucia are humble and willing to talk to us, even if they aren't interested in what we have to say. A lot of the people here on Barbados are the opposite of that. They won't really give us the time of day. It is interesting to see how the poorer countries are more humble and the richer ones are more prideful. It is similar to what Jesus Christ was teaching in Luke. When a man asked him, "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered that he should keep the commandments. The man then said, "All these I have kept from my youth up." Jesus then told him, "Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me." When Jesus then saw that the man was saddened about this he taught," For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God." This lesson that he taught is so true. If we get caught up on worldly things and become prideful, we need to make a change in our life to align our will with God's will. As is every Island in the Caribbean it is very hot. But I guess everybody already knows that. Barbados is also as flat as a pancake.....literally...I'm not exaggerating. I have been blessed to be able to serve in places with hills and mountains that have reminded me of home. Now I have the opportunity to serve here. Although it is flat, it has its own blessings. Less hills to walk up:) I have TWO companions. Sister Henry and Sister Fisher were companions for 4 weeks before I came here. So now Sister Henry, Sister Fisher, and I are all companions. We are in a trio! Me and Sister Henry get along really well. She is actually from St. Lucia. She is serving in this mission until her visa goes through and she can transfer to where she was called: New Jersey! It is kinda fun being in a trio. There is a third testimony during lessons and it makes it really cool. Contacting is hilarious because the people just see three girls walking up to them and introducing themselves. I can't imagine how insane we look sometimes. I am now serving in the Oistins area. I am not sure what our other areas are called but we have a big area. We also have a car...not sure if that is a good or a bad thing yet. I won't be walking around as much with means I won't be getting as much exercise. It also enables us to get to all of our area though, so that is good. The people here on Barbados talk WAY differently than the people on St. Maarten and St. Lucia. When I was transferred to St. Lucia I had to learn to understand the people there. Now I am going through the same thing AGAIN! The people talk so much differently on the different islands. I learned how to speak a tea-tac (means a little haha) of Patois (creole) on St. Lucia while I was there and learned Spanish on St. Maarten. (I am still doing language study for Spanish so that is awesome.) Here on Barbados they just speak English, but it is the hardest thing to understand!! Literally, sometimes we will be talking to someone and I think in my head, "there is no way this is English", but apparently it is. I can pick up certain things already. Funny moment this week: We were having a lesson on my first day here. It was with a Less-Active member named Richie. He is an interesting fellow haha. We began the lesson with a prayer, as usual, but something odd happened. During the prayer I kept getting the impression that someone was watching us. It was the weirdest feeling ever and not a good one either. After the prayer ended I opened my eyes and looked up, and standing right behind Richie was an older lady. She kind of reminded me of my grandma...that was until she opened her mouth. My grandma never used those words before...She started going off on Richie and saying a lot of choice words which I will be sure to never use. I was really worried about how Richie was going to handle it and it was amazing to see how calm he stayed. He later explained to us that before he was a member of the church and heard the gospel he would have reacted very differently towards that situation. At the end of the lesson he shared some wise words with me pertaining to the Book of Mormon. "A chapter a day keeps the devil away." I think I am adopting that slogan. :) I had the opportunity to get to know a lot of great people this week and am looking forward to the many great experiences I know I will have this upcoming week. Love ya long time! Sister Breana Stewart |