My investigators are doing pretty good. We have 2 progressing investigators right now!!! WOOP!! We are stoked about that. Zero baptism dates but we are working on that. Our investigator Nicole is doing very good and can feel the peace our message brings. She has been telling us that things have been going more smoothly in her life since we've been meeting with her.
We had our investigators Angela and her daughter come to the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference. That was amazing. A couple of the members are fellowshipping her and it is amazing the difference that makes. When members are involved in missionary work it truly skyrockets. They are essential!! I am committing you right now, if you have a desire to serve God and Jesus Christ more in your life, ask the missionaries what you can do for THEM. What could you do to help them in their missionary efforts? You could be the perfect person to form a friendship with someone they are teaching. You may already be friends with someone that could use the gospel in their life. Use the missionaries!! They are not there to just come over for dinner, they are there to bring others to Christ and the best way for them to do that is through the efforts of the members. Find out from the missionaries if the ward has a "ward mission plan". Then, go to work. Funny spiritual experiences from the week: 1) Wednesday morning we helped at Less-active named Sister John water her garden. I have mentioned said garden in previous emails and commented on how it looks like the Garden of Eden. With the blaring sun drying up the plants we offered to help her. So of course she said yes and we did. It was awesome. Doing service truly helps you feel God's love for you and for his children. So on our way home from this service we drove passed a pepper field...we actually drive passed this field a lot. It is about 15 minutes away from our house. We were almost home when me and my companion started talking about a lady that we saw in that garden. After a few minutes of contemplation we decided to turn around, go back to the pepper field, and talk to the lady. You are probably thinking the same thoughts I was..."we are going to look insane." Did we? Of course, but we followed the promptings of the spirit and met two new people from doing it. Lesson learned: Always follow the promptings of the spirit. It shows your willingness to follow the guidance given to you. In return, you will be trusted with more promptings in the future. 2) I received the additional promptings from the spirit on Sunday. Almost all of our appointments, as usual, had fallen through. So we decided to go visit an investigator named Mary. As we were walking down the street I turned and looked at a house on my left. In my head I thought, "that sounds fun. They must be having a good time." There was laughter coming from inside. After I turned away I had the distinct thought run through my mind, "Well what are you doing? You need to go talk to them." I kept walking since we had already passes the house and a second thought came.. It was a very urgent ,"GO! And don't forget a Book of Mormon". So, after learning my lesson and remembering to act on the promptings I said we need to go back and get some Books. We met the nicest lady inside that house. Her name was Elizabeth. She is a Catholic. She let us share a message with her so we had a lesson right there on her porch. The energy and excitement coming from my companion and I was very apparent and Elizabeth was getting excited as well. We ended with the song, "I know that my redeemer lives". I learned a lesson that night as well. When the spirit prompts you, do not delay!!! Act on the prompting and move immediately. Conference was such a blessing. What a blessing we have in our lives to hear from the Prophet and the Apostles. One point that stood out to me was: "You can have what you want, or you can have something better!" That was a comment from Donald L. Hallstrom's talk. What a powerful and true statement. The truth of it can be seen as we make choices in life. I have learned a lot about agency on my mission. Yes, I will continue to learn more as well. Depending on the choices we make we can receive temporary enjoyment or we can receive lasting happiness. You truly can have what you want, but as you humble yourselves and allow God to work through you the choices you make lead you to what you need and guide you to something better. Another thing I learned was: Differences can promote tolerance and learning. When you are around someone who is different than yourself you have the opportunity to work on those aspects. I have been around many people that are different than me during the past 8 months. Sometimes it can be difficult. Living with someone different than yourself and being with them 24/7 was not meant to be easy!! It is a learning opportunity, and one I am truly grateful for. When you find yourself in a situation when contention seems to be rising make it a learning situation. Have a humble and loving attitude. "Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble." Oh, and did anyone notice who gave the opening prayer at the afternoon session on Saturday. I do believe it was Elder Martinez :) Hmmm...That was pretty awesome. :):) I love and miss you! I hope you have a fantastic week filled with many great experiences. Love you long time!! Sister Breana Stewart
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Tuesday I was able to go on trade-offs. That was a blast! Me and Sister Robinson, back together again!! She is literally like a big Sister to me. I always have a great time when we are together. Friday we went on trade-offs again but that time I was with Sister Maughan. We had a great time as well. We baked treats for Fun night. At this rate, I am going to be eating Ramen noodles for the rest of the transfer haha. It costs so much to make treats for the activities. But it is the only way to get people to keep coming so it is worth the sacrifice. So if you know any easy and delicious recipes for treats, please email them to me!!! I am running out of ideas. To mix things up I made rice crispy treats with fruit loops instead and brownies with a layer of chocolate chip cookies on the top. The ants are crazy here though and we left a bowl of cookies on the counter and walked away from them for literally 15 minutes. We came back and hundreds of ants were in the bowl. So we "bopped" the bowl and threw them away. (Bop is a bug killing spray)
Saturday we got to go to two baptisms and our investigator and her daughter came to the first one. It was awesome. It was the baptism of Elder Kuru (from Australia) and Elder Odhiambo's (from Africa) investigator Kevin. Then Saturday night there was the Women's session of General Conference. How great was that?! I loved the theme of Service throughout it. Service is the Key! As we serve them, we show our love for them. Sunday was Easter!! I wonder what y’all ate for Easter Lunch. You want to know what I had? 2 Pieces of toast with mayo on them and a bowl of green beans. Living the life as a missionary. #bestmealever Sorry it took me so long to send this email. The email place wouldn't let me back on the computer....Don't ask me why haha. That is just the way it is for us sometimes. Anywho, we had to go to a different email place so I could send this so I don't have any time now to write anything else. I will update you more next week. I love and miss you so much!!! :) P.S. Please tell anyone that emailed me that I am very sorry I couldn't email them back. You are the only one I was able to email. I love you so much. I will hopefully have more success emailing next week :) Summer is upon us here in Barbados. We said goodbye to rainy season a while back. It was sad to leave and has still been blessing us here and there with an occasional sprinkle. But summer is cranking up the heat. Back home a few degrees wouldn't seem like that big of a difference, some might not ever notice a few degrees change. Here a few degrees are A LOT!!! We can feel the difference. I remember when I first got off the plane to Barbados back in August. The humidity was overwhelming and my arms felt all sticky from it. Now, it doesn't feel like that. I have adapted to the humidity. Now, it just feels extremely hot and sweaty all the time. Fun huh?
These past couple of weeks have taught me patience more than ever. When you pray for patience, trial are put in your path to help you become more patient. Well, I didn't really understand that a few weeks ago and...I prayed for patience. Barbados, while beautiful and amazing, is a hard island to keep appointments set. Since the first week of the transfer, about 95% of our appointments have fallen through, that includes most of our back-up appointments as well. Well, If any of you have ever seen the movie the Princess and the Pauper you will know what I am talking about next. Towards the end of the movie the Princess and her friend get trapped in a mine. There are a bunch of what look like rocks everywhere and they can't find a way out. The princess's friend is bothered by the fact that he is "a nobody". The fact that he doesn't have a lot of fortune and fame makes him feel like he is unimportant. The princess picks up one of the "rocks" and tells him that it doesn't matter what is on the outside. What matters is what is on the inside, what kind of person you are, and what your heart wants. She opens the rocks and inside is beautiful. Although you had to get through the hard, unpleasant outside, on the inside you find beauty. I will compare that to Barbados. Right now we are in the process of getting through the exterior of the rock so that we can open it and find the beautiful things inside. It takes time..and it also takes a lot of patience and hard work. Eventually, it will open. This week we have been doing a lot of finding, and being rejected a lot. Every once in a while we find someone willing to listen to us. I think this is teaching me a good life lesson. I am going to be able to handle rejection like a pro when I get back home. Not much will be able to offend me :) I have also learned to appreciate those who truly care for you. That includes our investigators and simply people we meet on the street. We are hoping to have some more solid appointments this week and find the elect. People have been prepared for us, we just need to find them. Easter is coming up as well!! Stoked for that!! This week, Brother Turley(I think that is how it is spelt) who is the assistant history person in Salt lake....forgive me for not remembering his title. I don't have my study journal with me as I email today. WOW. I learned so much from him. He has so much knowledge! And a very strong testimony of the gospel. As missionaries we had a meeting with him Thursday morning where he shared with us some history of the church. I loved it!! I wrote down so many notes of things I want to learn about after my mission. He is going around the islands to learn of our history here. Can you believe that I am among the pioneers of the church here on Barbados. Brother Collucci, is a member that we visit often. He is so awesome and has such a strong testimony. He was one of the first missionaries from Barbados. He is a pioneer of the Barbados church. It is amazing to hear how the church has grown and changed first hand. This Sunday was District Conference (basically stake conference...but there are no stakes in this mission). We learned about Sabbath Day observance. I would invite everyone to reflect on their own Sabbath Day observance. What are you doing to remember Jesus Christ? How are you showing your love for God on this sacred day? *****Very important!!!: WE NEED SENIOR COUPLES IN THIS MISSION!!!:):):) If there is anyone that is willing and ready to serve a mission as a couple, please let me know! Senior couples are so important and play a big role as missionaries. So, if you would be so kind as to ask around for anyone that is interested in this that would be much appreciated :) Let me know how it goes :) Shout out to Megan turning a year older!! 17!!! She is practically an adult. Better watch out for that one. :) Love you long time, Sister Breana Stewart This week was a pretty good week.
We had committed our investigator Steven, who is trying to find a job, to fast and pray, and then go out and search for a job. We testified of the many blessings that come as we fast. Guess what?!?!?!?! HE FASTED!! He said that it was good but he didn't feel a whole lot different. We told him to be patience, continue looking, and the Lord will help and bless him. That was amazing that he had a strong enough faith to fast. We are so proud of him. Also, we have a Less-active named Shakira that we have been visiting recently. We also felt prompted to commit her to fast and pray and she took the challenge as well. She is a busy Mom of two and is going through a struggle right now. She said that she felt better after fasting and can feel God's love for her more abundantly right now as well. She is so sweet. Sunday was so amazing!!! First of all, our branch president asked me to give a talk this Sunday on Teaching by the Spirit. So, with the little time I have as a missionary I whipped up a little something Sunday Morning (I am not proud of this fact) and it actually went pretty well. The spirit truly was the teacher. AND....drum roll please!!!! We had 2 investigators at church!!! That was the first time I have had investigators come to church in a long time...since before I was here on Barbados. What a blessing that was. Sherri and Sandrene came to church. We were a little nervous at first because we had told both of them that we would bus with them. Obviously we couldn't be in two places at once. We were blessed because one of our members, Sister Griffith (who comes out teaching with us) lives near Sandrene and was willing to bus with her to church. I LOVE BUSING!! It is so fun haha. I feel like more of a missionary when I am walking around and busing. While it is a blessing to have a car, it can get a little boring after a while. You don't get to talk to as many people. Also, on Sunday we had 15 contacts. It was pretty sweet :) We met a really nice lady named Marcia and a guy named Shakeel who lives there too. They let us come in and share a message with them. I think Shakeel is Marcia's son or nephew or something like that. They were very nice. I am excited to go visit them again. Anywho, I hope you have a fantastic week. I love and miss you. Love, Sister Breana Stewart MOTHER!!! OH HOW I MISS YOU :P
This week. Oh boy, where do I start :) I probably won't go in order but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. For starters, sometimes I am just as awkward and clumsy as ever :) On Friday, February the 26th, after a long day of weekly planning and dropping Sister Henry off at the airport we were doing more weekly planning. Sometimes I am about to fall asleep, and for us as missionaries 9 o'clock can feel like 1 in the morning. I was trying to say that I loved sticky notes because I use them so much!! They are probably my favorite things as a missionary because without them my planner would look pretty chaotic (not that it doesn't anyways, but still). They keep me organized. LOVE 'EM!! Anyhow, whilst I was trying to express my love of sticky notes I ended up saying, "I love hickey notes"......not my proudest moment. Haha earlier that day we had "fun night" at church and sometimes me and Sister Fisher don't have time to change before it so we play in our skirts and such. So to make sure we are staying modest we have a phrase we say in case it is a windy day, if you catch my drift. (haha drift....okay probably not as funny to anyone else). So no joke, not even 20 seconds after we decided on a phrase (it is "that's a nice sunset". classic huh?) one of the elders said it!! Sister Fisher and I by that point were on opposite sides of the court and just looked at each other and busted up laughing because nobody knew about that phrase and it was just such perfect timing. Ah, the things we find funny as missionaries. Sunday magic happened. We decided to visit a member named Sister Griffith (who I love so much!) that comes out teaching with us when she can. While we were there she gave us the numbers and names to all her children, 2 of which are less-active and the other isn't as active as he should be. So, we were able to call them up and set up times to go see them. Her face when we finally got the chance to meet with them makes all the trials of being a missionary worth it. The happiness and gratitude in her eyes made me grateful that I am able to serve a mission. Monday was da bomb!!! It was my Seven month mark!!!!! Weird! Who knew time could fly by so quickly. I have so much to do so if anyone knows how to slow the time down would you be so kinds as to clue me in? We went to the wildlife preserve with the whole zone and it was awesome!! Monkeys, branches to swing on, turtles, weird deer looking animals, and lots of other cool things. My seven years of bad luck obviously hasn't ended yet because a few things happened while we were there. First of all, one of the missionaries was taking a picture of me and accidentally dropped my camera....it broke. :( So no camera anymore. Secondly, we were on the nature trail and my shoe slipped off my foot and I cut it open on a rock. I was determined to have a good time and a cut was not going to ruin my day!! So, I tied a bandanna on it and continued to enjoy myself despite the minor setback. Then, my shoe broke. At this point I knew for sure nothing else could go wrong. I had gotten all the bad luck done at the beginning so that I could enjoy the rest of the trip. So by this time I am walking with one shoe on, a cut open foot, and a broken camera. Somehow, don't even ask, I cut my hand on some metal while simply trying to look at some alligators. I'm happy to say, that was the last disaster of the day :) And I still had a great time throughout it. So this week was pretty difficultly teaching wise. For the majority of 4 days this past week, every single one of our appointments fell through. We literally called people for ages going though every single person in our teaching pool. That is a lot of people. We went through the area book and found people that past missionaries used to teach, still not much success. Come Saturday it was starting to take a toll on me. My faith to find could have been stronger sadly to say. Sunday, when people started to fall through again I was determined to have a successful night. After all, I was raised to never give up hope.:) So, after a few prayers and taking a few moments to think I felt the whispering of guidance. The Holy Ghost. It was time for us to meet some new people. Wow, was that an adventure! So, around 7 o'clock we got our walk on and began contacting until it was time to head in. I can testify that as we head to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, miracles WILL happen. We ended up being guided to a Less-active that we didn't even know lived in the area and whom we were trying to get in contact with for the past month. We also were able to meet new people to share the gospel with. As tedious as contacting can be, with the right attitude and the spirit on your side it becomes really fun :) We also received our transfer calls this past Saturday and...Drum roll please....Sister Fisher and I are staying companions and staying right where we are in Oistins, Barbados!!! I am so excited for this transfer and I know that as we continue being diligent and striving to be exactly obedient that miracles and blessings will come. Love ya long time!!!:) Sister Breana Stewart 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 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 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 |