Tips from the week:
1. While hunting for houses, always contact. 2. While contacting, hunt for houses. 3. When calling into a house, talk loud and clear. 4. Don't get your car towed. 5. Do something brave and out of your comfort zone once a day. 6. Water is your friend. 7. When in doubt, contact it out. 8. 2 Nephi 31:20 9. Find opportunities to do service. And last but certainly not least 10. Doctrine and Covenants 88:124 With this being a shorter week I assumed less would happen. Everyone knows what happens when you assume. Wednesday was preparation day and Sister Robinson and I were determined to find shoes! I desperately needed a pair of backless sandals and had been searching high and low for 3 weeks. Finally, after shopping with the elders for a while (they shop like women) we parted ways. After 30 whole minutes we found them! Black Birkenstock knock-offs. Best purchase I have made so far. After far too long of shopping we were happily strolling back to our lovely car. Stopping, we turned and looked at each other, turned back to our parking spot, and came to the same assumption. Our car was stolen! We didn't know what to do! After thinking about the situation we finally realized, our car wasn't stolen. It was towed. The people at the police station kindly took our information and called a tow truck driver to take us to the car lot. We walked outside when the driver arrived and we couldn't figure out where the tow truck was! No joke, the "tow truck" was a tiny little Chrysler. So that happened. Thursday was house hunting day. We have three more Elders arriving in the next week or so and need somewhere to live. So as missionaries, the elders and us were tasked with the duty to find a house. As usual Sister missionaries rock. We found the coolest house. It is up on a hill and has a fantastic view of St. Maarten. The ocean breeze cools the house off so you don't have to have air-conditioner. Basically, we found gold. All day searching for houses and luckily we found this one. We contacted while looking at a different house and the owner seems like she was interested. These past two days have been a challenge. Every single lesson we had planned yesterday fell through. They had various reasons for this so we rescheduled them for another day. Then we saw almost every single one of those people. Since we didn't have anyone that was available for lessons we decided to go contacting. During this time we ended up walking passed a lot of the people who rescheduled and had the opportunity to chat for a bit which was nice. Having the opportunity to contact was interesting as usual. I found out that I don't talk loud enough when calling into a home. Here you don't typically knock on the doors unless you have been there before or they don't have a gate. You yell, "Hello, good afternoon!". So it was my turn to call into a house and I probably said that 3 times and got no reply. They had their light on so they were definitely home. So Sister Robinson gave it a go and someone came out. Afterwards she explained to me, you have to shout loud and slow otherwise they won't come out. That was a good lesson to learn. Somehow during contacting I tripped (weird huh?) and ended up cutting my foot a tiny bit and somehow that caused a blister. Then, I tripped again and tore that open. Not my day for walking. After that we had an amazing lesson with a less-active member about enduring to the end. After we got home I dropped my planner on my foot and realized that I had a GIANT bruise on the top of my foot and it was swelling up. I guess you could say I am the most accident prone missionary in my area right now. Don't forget to drink water when it is hot out! I drank 7 glasses of water when we returned home from contacting. I was so thirsty. I started getting sick when we were walking home because I had forgotten to drink plenty. Saturday we had the opportunity to go back to a pre-school that we had done service at and paint again. That was a great experience. We set up an appointment with the owner and she is very excited for it. Even with the struggles of keeping appointments, car problems, and injuries this week was very rewarding. We had the opportunity to get to know some members better, do some contacting, and have a handful of amazing lessons. It never ceases to amaze me how, if we follow the commandments, do what we are suppose to, and love everyone, we will continue to receive blessings and have opportunities to bless others as well. I'm running low on time so I have to go. I hope everyone has a great week! Love and miss you all! Love, Sister Breana Stewart
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Where do I even start?
This past week was certainly an adventure. To start with, we have an amazing investigator named Pauline. She is from Jamaica and is such a kind lady. She already has such a strong testimony in Christ. Every time we have the opportunity to teach her is truly a blessing. I learn so much and can always feel the spirit strongly during them. She has given us two referrals already!!!! She truly is the perfect investigator. Now if we could only get our branch excited in missionary work we would be set! Every Tuesday all the missionaries and the youth get together at the church for youth activity. Typically there is Basketball and Futball for activities and halfway through we have a spiritual message. Last Tuesday it started raining during Youth activity and let me tell you, I have never seen so many people run so quickly in doors because of rain. Caribbean’s are paranoid about the rain. Literally paranoid....Only me, Sister Robinson, and one of our Jamaican investigators Roger stayed out in the rain and played futball. It was so much fun! I am getting so much better at it every week too! Un-coordinated me is an excellent goalie now :) Before that youth activity we had a lesson with Roger and he gave Sister Robinson a sick snap-back. Guess what I got?? A book I can't read because I am on a mission. It was a really nice gesture though. After Youth activity we had a jam session outside the church. It was epic. Elder Page was on the guitar and vocals, Elder Spencer on vocals, and Sister Robinson and I were on vocals as well. Let me tell you, we rocked ''I'm Yours'' by Jason Mraz. Best rendition I have ever heard haha. As we were walking to that Youth Activity we got invited to attend another church that we happen to live by. It is right across the street from our church. Sister Robinson and I had actually joked about attending this church because we can hear it all the way from our house. (It is a loud church). And low and behold, we actually got invited. So Wednesday night we attended just as we promised. These people sure know how to talk loudly! My ears were still ringing and hour after we left! It was an amazing experience though. They were all shouting out Amen’s and Hallelujahs while dancing around and throwing their hands up in the air. All the while me and Sister Robinson were sitting in the back smiling. #Hilarious I am so glad we had the opportunity to do it though. It was very entertaining and everybody there was very nice. I almost got eating by a GIANT DOG that day as well!!! I believe it was a mastiff but boy; I have never been so scared of a dog in my entire life! When they are that size and come barking at you...whew...not a fun experience. Pray for us as we go back to teach the lady that lives there that we will not get eaten by a giant beast. Thursday was interesting as well. I am truly grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost and the guidance it gives us. If we continue to listen to it we will be able to avoid harm and danger. For that I am truly grateful. We had the opportunity to go over to an investigator's (Isabel) house for language study today and that was great. We learned a lot more Spanish. Sister Robinson and I are trying to be able to argue with each other in Spanish for fun haha. She tried to call me an idiota but got her words mixed up and called me an idioma. That has been an ongoing joke since then. Anytime we mess up or do something embarrassing we are now idiomas. :) Then later that day we were walking around Cay Bay and an old investigator ran up and gave me a hug. At first I didn’t know who was hugging me but then she introduced herself as Micky and Sister Robinson informed me who she was. We got to know her better and then she told me my eyes looked like a jaguars #bestcomplimentever Also, The people here go crazy for Sister Robinson and I's hair! It is priceless. Friday we had a joint lesson with the Elders with our investo Roger and their investo Michael and I had the opportunity to learn self-control during this lesson. While we were teaching Elder Spencer was giving Michael a Gospel of Jesus Christ tract (We were on point and had already given Roger one :)), when Roger looked at the other Pamphlets Elder Spencer had. He proceeded to ask for one that I didn't have a good view of at the time and turned out to be the Chastity pamphlet. I almost busted up laughing. Elder Page started teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Roger leaned over and said, "pst...Spencer....What is Chastity?" The look on Elder Spencer's face was enough to make anyone's day. I truly learned how to control my laughter during that lesson as well as a couple of the other missionaries. SUNDAY This is where my bad luck and embarrassment starts. For starters it was fast Sunday which was amazing. Pauline (Jamaican investigator) and another investigator came to church so that was amazing. After Sister Robinson and I had broken our fast I went to pour myself a drink of water and SPILLED IT EVERYWHERE. Then before we left to drive to the airport for zone conference I was looking at the back of my hair with a hand held mirror making sure it look okay and BAM, dropped it. It shattered....7 years of bad luck here I come. Fast forward to the plane flight and as we were getting off the plane to get onto our connecting flight BAM, I hit my head on the overhead carry-on holder. The pilot was standing right behind me when I did that. So embarrassing. But that isn't the end. As we were all walking down the stairs to get off, my bag strap got caught on the railing and I had to get detached from that disaster. Once again, the pilot was still behind us and saw the whole thing. By this time I am thoroughly embarrassed. Then getting back on the plane I tripped going up the stairs. After everyone the pilot personally came over to me and asked if I was okay. THEN, a once in a life time thing happened. He literally asked me if I wanted to sit in the cockpit and ride the rest of the way up there. A once in a life time opportunity. There was only one seat up there. I have to stay with my companion. You see the dilemma? I said no. Plus I thought he was kidding. He wasn't. Finally I got to Martinique without further embarrassment and to our hotel. Monday was Zone conference and it was amazing! I also met an Elder on this mission who is from Tigard, Oregon. His name is Elder Sackley and I think he is a little over his year mark. During Zone conference I truly learned the importance of members getting involved in missionary work. If we done have support and help from the members of the church, our job is impossible. Members are essential to our success. For dinner that night had the opportunity to eat in the fancy French restaurant that was in our hotel. For an appetizer I had raw beef with lettuce and cheese. It was heavenly. Then, for my main course I had a chicken salad with bacon and Parmesan. Very American, I know. I didn't understand what the other options were so I went the safe route. But then for dessert, I had the most delicious cheesecake I had ever had. It was Cheesecake with passion fruit and mmmm it was divine. Best meal I have had while on my mission. Yesterday the embarrassment continued. After we got on our plane flight back home I cut my finger putting the seat belt on. Getting off the plane to get onto our connecting flight I scraped the back of my leg coming down the stairs. I've decided airplanes are not my friends right now. Right before we left Martinique Sister Robinson, being the genius she is, read an amazing verse in D&C 62. Verse 7 says, "I, the Lord, am willing, if any among you desire to ride upon horses, or upon mules, or in chariots, he shall receive this blessing, if he receive it from the hand of the Lord, with a thankful heart in all things." Then I, sensing the great opportunity pointed out the next scripture verse 8, "These things remain with you to do according to judgment and the directions of the Spirit." None other than our senior couple and the mission president's wife was present during this. So yeah, we got permission to ride horses on our mission. We were ecstatic. Literally the happiest missionaries at that moment in time. Then, last night, we get a call at 9:15 from Sister Herrington. She apologetically informed us that although she gave us permission, she read through the white handbook and it clearly states no horseback riding. That dream was snuffed out before it really began. Although both of us are sad about this we know that as we serve and follow the rules in the white hand book and the guidance of the Herrington's we will continue to be safe and be able to serve the people of the Caribbean to the best of our abilities. So that was my week in a nutshell :):) I love and miss everyone so much! Love, Sister Breana Stewart 8/31/15
Let me know how far you guys are in the Old Testament because I started to read it also. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! There are some amazing stories in there. The storm just barely passed us so all we had was wind. But this government is very careful so everybody was told to basically stay inside all day just in case. At first it was heading right for us but it ended up changing its mind. But yeah, we stayed inside all day Thursday. I am getting really good at monopoly with all of these storms passing. Everyone is okay here though. We were extremely lucky that it didn't hit us. Even though it was only a tropical storm, when it hit the Dominican Republic it killed a lot of people and about 20 more are presumed dead. I'm sure you have already heard about that though because it seems like you have been keeping up on the news. I am so grateful it didn't hit. Spanish is coming along pretty well. Yo quiero hablar en español con mi compañero. Está muy divertido. haha. Yo puedo decir que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial. I have been able to understand a lot more Spanish as I have been learning it over these past few weeks, Can you believe that Saturday I had been out on my mission for a whole month!? It has gone by so fast. I feel like I have been out for a while but at the same time it only feels like I have been out for two weeks. It is amazing how much I have learned in just this short amount of time. Thanks and love you a lot! Love, Sister Breana Stewart 8/24/15
This Week has been hectic but still amazing. With the Hurricane Danny frenzy that was going on it was hard to get appointments in. These last couple of weeks have been crazy and a lot of our appointments fell through during these last few days. Hurricane Danny was suppose to hit us as a category three hurricane today but we got lucky and it went down to a tropical storm instead of a hurricane and move just south of us. There are two more hurricanes that are supposed to be coming in the next week or two so hopefully not too much damage comes from them. Everyone was super stressed about this one and were rushing to get ready for it so they couldn't have lessons but we were able to do some service by helping people get ready. St. Maarten is probably the nicest of all the islands in my mission (or at least that is what the other missionaries keep telling me). It has a Burger King, several McDonalds, and Dominoes. The members don't feed us because is it too hard for them to so we are in charge of all of our meals.(hot pockets, roman noodles, and smoothies for days) It is crazy how generous the people here are. We will contact people and give them short lessons and then they offer to feed us. It is amazing. So far some investigators originally from Guyana fed us curry with fish and it was so delicious. I am not much of a fish person but it was pretty good. There is also a med school here, so there are quite a few Americans in the branch, that had is over for dinner and we had pasta, bread, and hummus with carrots. The weather is VERY HOT AND HUMID. 85% of the time you feel like you are melting but 15% of the time you have a nice breeze that comes by or you are in an air conditioned store. Right now is the wet/hurricane season so occasionally is will start raining super hard for only a couple minutes and then it goes back to being hot and humid. I am having a hard time sleeping at night sometimes because of how warm it is. I am not used to sleeping in a hot room. It isn't too bad though. I should get used to it soon. I am getting to know the members and investigators a lot more every day. It already feels like I have known them a lot longer than I have. I love them all so very much! Spanish is coming along better and better every day. I need to learn more of the gospel Spanish because I can do conversation decently. I am working hard to be able to teach the first lesson in Spanish. I know that with practice it will get there. Love and miss you so much Mom!!!:) 8/17/15
Mom, This week has been pretty amazing. On Wednesday of last week I got to St. Maarten and met my new companion Sister Robinson. She is super awesome and has been on her mission for about 3 months. When I got on the island I was informed that there is a need for Spanish speaking missionaries here so....I get to learn Spanish. It has been good so far and I have already learned so much. We are teaching an investigator named Isabel who only spoke Spanish when she was first taught but as we teach her English she is teaching us Spanish during the lessons. It is an amazing experience. I have to work really hard to pick up Spanish or else I won't be able to understand when she speaks it to me. We have been teaching a man names Brown for a little while now but we stopped teaching him last night because he isn't progressing. He is a Seventh Day Adventists and he is really set in what he believes so when we go over there he isn't able to accept the messages we try to leave with him. Such a good guy but he just isn't ready for our message yet. I know we met him for a reason because throughout the lessons we have had with him I have had to search the Bible and the Book of Mormon for answers to questions I myself had never thought of. He helped me to strengthen my testimony even further. I have met so many amazing people since I arrived here. It has been such a blessing to get to know everyone so well already. I love everyone here so much! Many people have been prepared and are just waiting for us to reach out and share our message with them. On Friday Sister Robinson, me, and the three elders here with us had to opportunity to help out a man who was building a house. We helped him clean out and area and did many other things for him. He is a great guy and we hope to be able to share the gospel with him soon. On Saturday we all went to a pre-school and helped paint it. That was probably the highlight of my week. The owner of the pre-school was such a sweet lady. She had been praying to God asking him for help because she didn't think she could get everything done by today by herself and she had so much to do and the elders felt they needed to stop and ask her if she needed help with anything last week. She was so grateful for their willingness to help. So on Saturday we went out there and painted the school for her. We are going back this Saturday to help her out with anything else she might need. After we finished painting she expressed how grateful she was towards us and that the neighborhood would be 100 times more willing to let missionaries into their homes now because they saw that we actually cared about them and loved them all so much. She said that she felt that they asked her to help out for a reason. So that the people in their area could recognize that we were good people so that they could have an open mind to the gospel. It was such an amazing experience and I am looking forward to going back there. The drivers are insane here!!!!! I literally feel like I am going to die at least 4 times a day in the car. There are no stop signs, lighted intersections, or crosswalks of any kind. It is kinda cool but sketchy at the same time because you have to be careful when you are crossing the street or driving. And nobody really uses addresses here. It is pretty interesting. Directions can get confusing at times so I hope I can get to know the area quickly so I know where I am going. We were looking for a Spanish speaking investigator's (Steven) house the other night and we had to go to the French quarter. (We live on the Dutch quarter). We had no idea where we were going and were following directions written down by previous missionaries from this area that had been transferred to a different island. It was a journey. It took us a little bit, plus a phone call to one of the old missionaries, but eventually we found it. Everyone here on St. Maarten is so kind. It is nicknamed the friendly island and they definitely hold up to that standard. Most people are very generous and will invite you to stay for dinner or lunch sometimes or just send you off with a banana if that is all they have. It is amazing. The people here have very little but they give so much. It amazes me. It is definitely hot here but it is not as bad as I thought it would be. There is a nice breeze most of the time that feels really good and cools you down a bit. And luckily our apartment had air conditioning in it:) Mosquitoes are not fun!!!! I got 24 mosquito bites just within two days of being here. Mainly because when we were teaching brown the second night I was here it was dark out and we forgot to put bug spray on. They aren't that bad during the day but if you walk outside at night you definitely want bug spray on. Otherwise you get eaten alive. Church was definitely interesting yesterday. It is a lot different then back home. There are ceiling fans in the chapel, only synthesizers as pianos, the fridge got taken out today, the kitchen is also a classroom and where we have all of our district meetings, and the church is locked up like crazy at night. But you feel the spirit so strongly during church just like you would anywhere else. This morning all of us missionaries here went to the ocean and walked out to different tiny islands. It was awesome and so gorgeous. We had to be careful where we walked so we didn't step on any black sea urchins (they were everywhere). It was weird having warm ocean water!! :) It has been an amazing experience so far and I am looking forward to serving the people of St. Maarten as much as I can. Love and miss you so much and hope everything is going well with you. Have a great week! Love, Sister Breana Stewart 8/4/15
SO this week has been AMAZING! I love it here so much! The MTC is the best! Me and my companion Sister Layton and I got along so well right off the bat! It is pretty awesome. She is from Utah and she knows so many people here. I have seen Sister Lanae Sarvela a lot, at least twice a day haha! I have also seen Sister Rae Havran and Elder Clint Jacobson also. Dinner is at 4:30 and by 8:30 everyone is starving, WHO eats that early? For gym time me Sister Layton always go outside on the field and play either soccer or Volleyball. There are basically the only games we can play with the elders. Haha. Last night(since our gym time is at 8:15) our district played volleyball together and it was super funny. It rained a lot yesterday and it felt so nice. We were so thankful for it because it cooled us off pretty quickly. Haha Sister Layton and I had to go fill paperwork out for our visas yesterday and I forgot my license in our residence so we had to run clear across the MTC in the rain just to get it and when we finally got there she realized she left her key in her bag. Thankfully there was a custodian nearby who let us in so we didn't have to run all the way back to the other side. The food here is decent. I really wish they would have bacon at breakfast but so far they haven't yet. Oh and the Elders residence vending machines has hot pockets!!!!!! THE SISTER'S DOES NOT!!! Thankfully Elder Richie from my district was super cool and said he would get some and bring them out to me. I just can't believe the elders have way better food in their vending machines. I love my District so much. We are having a lot of fun and also having so many amazing spiritual moments too. They are all super cool. There is an Elder in my district named Elder Ludlow.....legit looks like harry potter. It's trippy. And then Elder Lindsey looks like the bad guy off of divergent with all of the tattoos on him. haha obviously Elder Lindsey doesn't have tattoo's thought. We have all had some pretty awesome times so far. We had the opportunity to go to the Provo temple today and it was amazing! Such a great experience. On my way to the MTC, Lanae Sarvela's Dad picked us up from the airport and took me and her on a speedy tour of temple square and it was amazing! I love class time so much! I have the best teachers ever. Sister Luft and Brother Rasmussen are the coolest and super spiritual too. Sister Layton and I have Brother Rasmussen for our progressing investigator. We had our first TRC lesson yesterday and it was super tough. Her name is Chrissy and she doesn't know anything about God and doesn't know if she believes he is real so we are trying to figure out how we are going to go about teaching her. I know if we pray about it and study the lessons we will figure it out though. We don't have to worry about my suitcase weighing too much anymore because I've figure out how to keep the weight down....#thiningmymakeupout. Anyways I can't think of anything else to say. LOL. This is the best experience ever! Love you, Sister Breana Stewart |