What a week!!! I loved it. As you might have heard, Shemorlly was baptized this week! I am so proud of her and the decision she made. As Sister Layton and I were preparing her for baptism it felt like a lot of obstacles were being thrown in our way. It was a big learning experience. A while back, one of my good friends told me, "God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers". That has stuck with me ever since I heard it. I have also learned while on my mission that as we chose to follow God, it is not always an easy path. Sometimes it is the more difficult path, but for anyone that is living the gospel you know that it is always worth it. More blessings come into your life and you are happier. It isn't a worldly happiness but a spiritual happiness knowing that you are doing exactly what you Heavenly Father wants you to do. A couple weeks ago at church the lesson in Relief Society really stuck out to me. It was based on the principle of Agency. After hearing the lesson I committed myself to always choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong. That is how we show our Faith; through our trials. Shemorlly's baptism was beautiful! Her step-father, Brother Chris Vincent, had the opportunity to baptize her. Tyra, a member (and one of Shemorlly's friends) gave a talk as well as Shemorlly's brother Shemon. They both did awesome! Then, Sister Layton and Elder Kujanpaa sang Come thou Fount and I accompanied them on the piano. Sunday was Shemorlly's 21st birthday and she was confirmed a member of the church by Roger (one of the coolest people eva). Talk about getting the best birthday present ever! One that never gets old, needs replacing, or an upgrade. Shemorlly is so sweet and got me a birthday present :) She is such a great person and I have learned a lot from being around her here in Grenada. We were able to see our investigator Donalee a few times this week. Yesterday we were able to take the new senior couple (the Mills) with us as well. That was a huge blessing! I felt the spirit so strongly during the lesson and they were a huge help in having Donalee open up more and in finding more of her concerns. She is on the track to baptism but doesn't want to move to fast towards it. Friday was Sister Layton's birthday!! :) Now we are both 20! #unity. I made her a birthday ting for dessert and we ate it at Institute on Thursday with everyone that showed up. We visited Joycelyn a lot this week which is always awesome. She calls Sister Layton and I her "dudes". It is hilarious. She is so sassy! Her granddaughter, Zania, decided she wanted to be a missionary for a bit and went to one of our lessons for Donalee's with us. She is so cute. So at sports night and P-days we normally play basketball for part of it. Somehow I got the nick-name beef stew along the way.... We were shopping today after sports and we found a can of Beef stew at the store. Needless to say, we were dying in the isle. Saturday we spent a lot of the day preparing for the baptism and stopping by people. I have been studying the atonement a lot recently. Last week, in the email President Herrington sent out to all of us missionaries he included a quote from Elder Kim B. Clark: "There is no sin, no guilt, no shame, no fear, no loneliness, no heartache, no loss, no depression, no sadness, no terror, no pain, no challenge, no weakness that Jesus Christ has not experienced and overcome. If you turn to Christ and repent of your sins, He will forgive you and cleanse you and change your heart. This is the redeeming power of the Atonement. If you turn to Christ when you face challenges and need capacity beyond your own, He can strengthen you and magnify your capacity. This is the strengthening power of the Atonement." I love this quote. We are not perfect. I am not perfect. Everyone makes mistakes every day. This is why we have the Atonement. It is there for a reason. As missionaries we teach others how to access the power of the Atonement and let it work in their lives. We don't preach principles that we aren't willing to follow as well. The Atonement has changed me throughout the duration of my mission. Every day, as I allow it to work in my life, I draw closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The Atonement is amazing! One of my favorite examples of the power of the Atonement in the Book of Mormon is found in Alma 36:17-19. I love reading about Alma's own experience with the atonement. Anyways, I love you so much! I hope you have a fantastic week. Love, Sister Breana Stewart
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Hey Mom. Sorry I didn't tell you I was sick. I didn't want to worry you and I was told by the medical missionary not to tell my parents. They don't want to stress you out or worry you either. I don't know exactly what I had but it was some kind of mosquito borne illness. I had two small meals in the span of 5 or so days. My appetite completely left and I had very little energy. My body was very week and I had a pounding headache. So I slept a lot the past week and a half and am just now getting back to my normal self. I still don't have 100% of my energy but I am getting there slowly but surely. I am sorry I didn't tell you (and I'm not quite sure how you found out in the first place...) but I was just doing what I was told. :) I really wanted to tell you and it was hard not to but I did as I was asked. Yes, I got a lot, if not all, of the birthday cards :) What was cool was that I got them on my Birthday. Tuesday afternoon we flew out to St. Vincent for trade-offs with our Sister Training Leaders. That was awesome! We got back to Grenada late Friday night, just in time to be back home for my Birthday. The trade-offs were so much fun :) Carnival was going on when we got there so we were inside all day Tuesday, they had P-day Wednesday so we played Basketball and that was fun. Thursday was their Zone meeting. All in all a very awesome trip. Since Sister Robinson is my Sister Training Leader we were able to catch up and go teaching with each other again. Loved it! Saturday we help the Relief Society clean the church building and they were so nice. The Relief Society (who somehow knew it was my birthday) brought cookies for my birthday. That was so nice of her. :) We didn’t have a baptism on Saturday. The investigator decided they weren't ready to be baptized yet, hopefully at another date :) He is awesome. I am hoping I get my package this week as well!! I am so excited for it :) Honestly, it doesn't matter what the skirts look like, I will wear them. Anything new is appreciated when you've been wearing the same things for almost a year. I will let you know when I get the package as soon as I can. The fourth of July was fun. We were invited by the Branch President and his wife to a barbecue ting with some of the med students on the 4th since it was our p-day. It was fun. We hiked to a secluded area for it, by a river and it was nice to be in nature and lime with everyone for a bit. Very relaxing. We had a jam session there. We got transfer calls on Sunday! Sister Layton and I are staying together but a lot of other missionaries on the island are being switched up. It is sad to see some of them go but I am sure this next transfer and our zone will be great and we will work hard and see miracles. #vision #elevate Love you bunches and miss you tons!!!! Love you long time, Sister Breana Stewart |