Maraming ipis!

 Sister Gaspar's birthday celebration. The boodle fight.

 One more shot from Sister Gaspar's party

 Sydney and Princess...they are becoming the best of friends.

 Sydney eating the intestines! 🤢

 The reason you have to check your shoes before putting them on

Her bucket shower bathroom, which is called a CR there, or Comfort Room

Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat! 

I am happy and HEALTHY yay haha I had been sick for like 3 and a half weeks! I hope you're all doing well. I'm so excited to share this week because some miracles have happened!

First, we found so many new people this week that seem so ready to hear the Gospel. I had exchanges with Sister Desuyo, our STL, and we found 7 people in just a couple hours. I love being able to testify to people I just barely met! I'm scared for the day that I'll have to take this name tag off. 

THEN Sister Gaspar and I had 6 people at church! It was amazing. I loved it so much I couldn't stop smiling. Our goal is always 12 but our area has been struggling. 6 was a big deal for us yay! I love seeing people coming closer to Christ, especially partaking of the Sacrament. 

I got to attend a baptism for the fist time in the Philippines! Sister Marelyn, baptized by our zone leaders.

Some fun things for this week! I tried some street food intestines. The chicken is delicious but the pork is absolutely disgusting because it smells "unclean" if you know what I mean YUCK.

It was Sister Gaspar's birthday!! YAYYYY we had a boodle fight which is pretty much a huge feast where everyone eats with their hands and mmm sooo yummy. So many members were there, it was awesome. The people here are so nice!

I love you all! Invite the missionaries to your home. It's a win win... you let them share a message and they bring such a strong spirit into your home! Being able to live with missionaries and be with one 24/7 has really helped me realize how great our calling is and how the Holy Ghost really is with us all the time. I'm so grateful for this chance to be a missionary. It's my favorite thing I've ever done. Thank you for all of your support and your prayers!

Mahal ko kayong lahat!!

Sister Stewart

Happy Easter po!

 *This is JC.  He is 26 and lives in Sydney's apartment building.  He greets them at the window every morning and tells them tomorrow is his birthday.  EVERY day.  So cute!  He also tells them he is turning 6.  Sydney said he is her best friend on her mission. 

 *Sister Nagareda left for her new area.  Syd is so sad to lose her as a roommate.

 *Another picture with Nanay Norma.  She has committed to baptism. 😊

*Just another random picture of amazon woman Sydney😂


Kumusta po kayong lahat!? This week has been an interesting one... Holy Week! There were really beautiful parades with people dressed in white and these big floats with statues of Jesus and Mary. Then the three days before Easter, people disappear. They stay in their houses as a symbol of when Christ was in the tomb before His Resurrection. So it was tricky to find trikes and jeepneys to get from place to place haha! And then on Easter, the people were back! The only real celebration thing that I was able to see was the fireworks at night. 

We had a national ministering day for Easter and that was awesome! We just visited a lot of people with some members and just checked to see how they were doing. The people here bring me so much joy with their beautiful (a lot of the time toothless) smiles and kind hearts! 

I am so grateful for my Savior. He helps me through everything. The Atonement of Jesus Christ isn't just for the big sins or big trials in our lives, but it's even for when your confidence doesn't feel as high as it should be one day or if you get a rude comment on your Instagram. If it matters to you, it matters to Him. I have a challenge for you all. Right now, if you can, or later tonight, kneel down in a quite place. Even if the only quiet place in your house is the bathroom, do it there. Kneel down and thank Heavenly Father for sending you His Son. Thank Him for the people who surround you. Just thank Him. I know that as you do so, you will feel His love. I have countless times.

I love you all and I pray for you often!

Love,

Sister Stewart

3 months?? WOW

pictures: 

*The 4 sisters over the Taguig Ward (and roommates)

*Typical hanging meat display

*Pigs feet....its what's for dinner 🤢

*Sydney's washing machine (they are very spoiled to have one)

email: sydney.stewart@missionary.org

HEYYYYYY Y'ALL!! I am so happy and so grateful for just... LIFE! I love life. Transfer week this week! Sister Nagareda is going to Mindoro!!! The island!! It's exciting and sad at the same time. Sister Smoot is coming in as Sister Baptista's follow up trainer and I met her once. She seems so sweet and fun! We will definitely miss Sister Nagareda. Anyways, by request, I am to explain some fun/interesting/different things about the Philippines. But there's so many!! I'll pick a few of my favorites...

There's an election happening soon, and each candidate produces a catchy song and these hired drivers blast it on the streets. So I always have one of these songs stuck in my head, but they are actually such good songs so I don't mind too bad!! I kind of wish America did this, but I don't know if the songs would be as good.

"Hey Joe" is a common greeting I get, which they say to any foreigner, male or female. I'm trying to think of a very common but short Filipino name so that I could say "Hoy (insert name)!" back. Please help me if you know a name I could use! 

Eskinitas... these are really skinny alleyways where homes are. I love them!! It's super interesting. There's always interesting smells and dripping roofs. And there's random big holes in the cemented ground, so you have to constantly watch your step. AND YOUR HEAD!! One day I hit my head sooooo hard on something because I was focusing too much on the ground. OUCH!

The food is delicious! Some interesting things are pig ear, balut (look it up), liver (EWW that's the one thing I really don't like), intestines, full fried fish (mom you'd die if you saw some of the fish I eat), etc. Oh and the other day, at a market, there were all these fish laid out on a table and they were alive!! It was so weird. They just kept splashing them with water. 

Ok I'll save some more for later!

We got to watch General Conference this weekend yayyy!! This is where all the members of the Church all tune in the hear Prophet Russell M. Nelson and the apostles speak the things that God has told him to tell us. I have never been so excited for Conference in my entire life, and it was truly everything I hoped for. I love our prophet so much and every time I hear him and the apostles speak it's reaffirmed to me that they are truly called of God and are speaking His words. My favorite talk was Elder Holland's, especially when he talked about the name the Lamb of God and what that really means. I often feel overwhelmed (the good kind) when I think of God's sacrifice for us. I thank Him everyday for giving us what is most precious to Him and being willing to watch His Son suffer for people who are almost nothing in comparison. It just shows how valuable we truly are in His eyes. I truly believe that He gave us everything when He gave us His Son. The least we can do is give Him back everything, even though in comparison it is only bread crumbs.

Sister Stewart

Taguig Taguig TAGUIG!!!!!!

pictures:

*Sydney finally got to see Sister Doney (her friend from our ward with the exact same calling)

*Josephine- one of the sweet members of the ward

*Sydney and her roommates being spoiled by Josephine 

Sobrang masaya po ako! Always so happy! I love love LOVE it here!!!!!! So I know I've been driving my family crazy by telling them this every week, but I feel it is one of the most important things I can do as a missionary. I want to stress the importance of reading the Book of Mormon everyday. Even if it's just 1 verse a day, if you read it with the intent of getting the most you can out of it, it can change your life. Truly. It's through the Book of Mormon that people decide to repent. It's through the Book of Mormon that people decide to be baptized. And it's through the Book of Mormon that people find true happiness. Whatever your questions are, they can be answered there. So far in my mission, I have been able to see how much power comes from reading it. We talk to God through prayer and He talks back through the scriptures. I know this because it's happened countless times for me!

I want you all to know how much I love you! This week has been crazzyyy hot. Like WOW. I wake up in the middle of the night just sweating. It's a good thing I'm an Arizona girl at heart! I'm still as white as white can be though haha and no one fails to tell me it. I love Filipino food so much! Still trying to get used to the bones in almost every bite. Ano pa... OH Tagalog is wayyyy hard. I still understand close to nothing and can barely put together a sentence, but I know I'l get there someday! It's such a cool language though, I really love it.

Don't forget how amazing you are in God's eyes and in mine. Mahal ko kayong lahat!

Ingat po,

Sister Stewart

Hello po from the Philippines!!

 pictures:

*Sydney sitting on the back of a jeepney (their taxis) with a bunch of cute local kids

*Little May May in Sydney's neighborhood 

*Nanay Norma that she talked about a few weeks ago (Syd's a GIANT there)

Sobrang masaya po ako!!!!! This week has been interesting... my poor companion has been really dizzy and so there were a couple days where we stayed home while she rested. We thought maybe her eyes were the problem, so one day we traveled far to get them checked, but apparently there's nothing wrong there! It's hard for me because I love to work, but I'm just praying that she will feel better and it won't be anything serious.

While I have been home, I have gotten extra time to study. On Friday, I prayed before my study that I would read something that I need to hear, like I always do. I then noticed a pile of Liahona magazines that someone left on my desk. I was going to go put them away, but I decided I'd skim through them first to see if there was anything that interested me. The first one I picked up, as I flipped the pages, I saw a picture of my cousin Porter! It was Elder Neil L. Anderson's talk from the 2015 General Priesthood Session of Conference titled "Faith is not by Chance, but by Choice". He talked about how faithful my cousins were through the hardest trial anyone could face of losing their parents and siblings to a plane crash. To read my cousins' powerful testimonies was exactly what I needed. Heavenly Father is so aware of us. He answers my prayers time and time again. To see the pictures and read the inspiring words of Porter and Zane, amazing missionaries who I look up to, brought me to tears. I know that God is so present in our lives. He put that magazine, published years ago, right into my lap. 

Sorry about no email last week. I was stressed trying to figure out pictures, again with no success:( BUT today, meron!!!!!! YAYYYYYY

I love you all!!! Ingat po kayong lahat!

Sister Stewart