Home??

pictures:
*She arrived in Long Beach at 9:33pm on Sunday night
*She is doing lots of service projects here (she helped my mom make masks for medical workers)
*The only picture from her crazy travels. They were asked to not take any for safety reasons.  This was in the SLC Airport.

Her email remains the same: sydney.stewart@missionary.org

AHHH this has all been crazy! I have been sent home due to the corona virus outbreak and am now serving my mission from my very own home (or at least trying to--I'm not very tech-savvy). 

It all started last Tuesday with a text that said all foreign missionaries will be returning to their home land and should be ready to go at a minutes notice. I was in total shock! The next morning, after a sleepless night, we were taken in a shuttle back to the MTC and then one day later to a fancy hotel... all the while worrying about everyone we're leaving behind that we didn't get to say goodbye to. It wasn't until Saturday that we left the country. 

So now, here I am, in my own home surrounded by my family, with a nametag on, awaiting my future. What does the future hold? I could get reassigned to a mission in the States or just get released. I don't know yet. Right now, I'm contacting people from my old areas with FaceBook and whatever else I can figure out. 

I miss the Philippines so much and my heart is pained, but I know that God has a plan and that plan is perfect. I will return to the Philippines, but not as a missionary, and that's okay. I am eager to see what Heavenly Father has instore for me. He's always been good at keeping me on my toes!

Words can't describe how grateful I am for the opportunities that I have had in the Philippines. My heart is there with the culture and the people. Yes, I will still be eating rice as much as possible!

Thank you for your prayers. I will keep you updated on my reassignment or release.

I love you all!

Sister Stewart

Miracle Baptisms in the Midst of Chaos!

pictures:

*Before life got really crazy, they had Zone Conference last week.  The highlight was Mexican Food!!! A rare treat in the Philippines and Syd's favorite! 

* As you will read in her email, they were able to baptize her three friends from the factory on Sunday.  

Yesterday (her Monday), she was able to FaceTime us from an internet cafe (they tried 2 others first that were closed).  Everywhere they went, police were holding borders closed to other parts of the city and they would check their temperatures at every store entrance.  I woke up to word this morning that she is now on complete lockdown.  We have zero communication and have no way of knowing when we will hear from her again.  Her mission president will be checking on them daily (she does have a flip phone for Filipino calls), they did get 2 weeks worth of groceries, and she has 2 other sisters right across the hall from her and her companion.  Please keep them in your prayers. Boredom will be their biggest enemy (no tv or computers).  Airports are closed too, so she's a full fledged Filipino now.  HaHa

HELLOOOOOOO!!!! I'm physically healthy and still working hard. We had a devastating text come through that said all church meetings were canceled, including baptisms, and our hearts just SANK. Man, that was hard news to hear. BUT a couple hours later there was another text saying that only baptisms were allowed. PHEWW!!!! 

Lino, Edu, and Bores were baptized and confirmed! It was amazing. My companion and I had one of the most stressful/hardest weeks of our lives, but we were able to enjoy their baptism and take a nice, reassuring, deep breath! Heavenly Father's work will continue, no matter what happens in the world:)

Word of the Week: "daw" This word is GENIUS!! It means he, she, or they said. So if you don't feel confident about your own opinions, just add "daw" to the end!! Example: "the world is gonna end daw."

Love you all! Stay safe, healthy, and happy!!

Sister Stewart 

Coronavirus?

 Edu, Lino, & Bores at church (from the factory). They get baptized this week!

 Brother Mark's baptism with his cute family

 Tatay Rufino with his wife and grandchildren (he's the one that read the BofM in 6 days)

 Sister Tampis & Sister Stewart

 Sydney's mission work is on fire and so is her hair 😉

A typical modeling session in their tiny apartment

Hellllllllooooo!! Everyone, I am so uneducated about everything. We only know what is told to us. Like how two months ago we thought it was World War III... and it wasn't. So, I don't know a lot about the coronavirus, but I am praying for everyone affected and I hope you are all safe and healthy back home. They confirmed a case right next to our area in Cainta, so my companion and I are doing our best to stay vigilant. We as missionaries are not allowed to touch anyone, including handshakes (and each other) which has proved to be very difficult! Especially with old people because to show respect you take the back of their hand and press it to your forehead. A couple times I have felt very rude denying people handshakes but hopefully they understand!

Brother Mark was baptized!! WOOOHOOO he's awesome! Their family can now be sealed in the temple for all eternity in one year. I am so happy for them!

Tagalog is a genius language by the way. They have words that explain things perfectly that are hard to convey in English, so I've decided to make all of your English speaking lives easier by doing a "word of the week" for you to implement in your everyday language HAHA.

Word of the Week: "kawawa" which means kind of like poor baby. It can be sarcastic or serious. Example: "she's so kawawa" 

You're welcome. ;)

Sister Stewart

Just pics this week

I love getting sweet picture surprises from members (Andrhea)

Sister Stewart was talking with some men when another man approached and said (in Tagalog), "You look just like my goddaughter!"  Just then his goddaughter walked up and everyone freaked out at their similarities (I don't really see it🤷‍♂️).  It just so happens the man was the Mayor of Taytay and Sydney is even more popular now because she talked to the 'celebrity'!  She plans on teaching him this week.  We shall see how that goes. 

Sister Stewart trying out a new look 👓

The factory worker friends at church

Valentine's Day in Taytay

A sweet member (Mercedita) of the Siniloan Branch that served a mission back in 1992

email:

sydney.stewart@missionary.org

mail:

Sister Sydney Stewart

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Antipolo Mission Office

Ligtasan St., Brgy. San Roque

Antipolo City 1870, Philippines 

New Challenge: Finish the Book of Mormon in 6 Days

pictures:

*Kristine's Baptism

*"Sister Rose- LOVE HER!! We extended a baptismal invitation the first time we taught her."

*"Tatay Rufino- THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND!!!! Finished the Book of Mormon in 6 days!!!!!!"

*Hangin' with the Elders

*Workin' hard

email: sydney.stewart@missionary.org 

WOW I have big news. One of the biggest miracles of my whole mission happened this week!! Tatay Rufino finished the whole Book of Mormon... IN SIX DAYS!!!!!! And he understood it! He told us very specific stories about what he read. We were blown away! I have never had anyone that I've taught finish the Book of Mormon, let alone in 6 days!! I think we can all give a little more time to the Book of Mormon, what do you think? We just met him last week. It's crazy to see how perfect Heavenly Father's plan is. We weren't able to find who we were looking for, we turned down a random street, he was sitting outside at that random time, my companion saw him out of the corner of her eye and said hi, his eyesight is still good enough to read... all these things worked out! There are no coincidences. Heavenly Father really does know all things!

On the bad side, we have a rat terrorizing our home. Rats are like 10x bigger here in the Philippines. I am very scared to see it. We set up a sticky trap to catch it, but my companion and I are the ones who have gotten trapped. Twice. Our apartment is too small to avoid stepping on the trap. I'll keep you updated if we catch it.

Many many miracles are happening! Stay in tune. I love you all!

Sister Stewart

MIRACLES and the Juice Thief

pictures:

*Teaching in one of the factories (who knew someone would take a picture of them praying 🤣)

*Temple visit yesterday

*They arrived at the temple at 4:45am, waking up at 3am

*A few of the factory friends

*The face of a missionary hoping to find a Jeepney with some open seats on a busy morning

email: sydney.stewart@missionary.org

Family and Friends,

Magandang hapon po sa ating lahat! Taytay 2 Ward is doing fantastic. We have so many miracles happening here. We have been doing a ton of finding. I'm going to tell you about two amazing people we found this week...

Brother Rufino: We were trying to find this person that had been taught back in the day but after looking for quite a while, we decided we would just try to teach a new person right when we meet them. We saw this tatay right away just sitting and staring at the wall in front of him. My companion called out to him and asked if he was ok. He immediately smiled and said that he was doing great. As we kept talking to him, he invited us to sit down and told us that he was excited to have visitors. We asked if we could share and he said, "of course!". As we started to introduce our message and our purpose, we both felt prompted to share about temples which I don't think I've ever done on the first lesson. We felt the Spirit strongly and left him with a Book of Mormon and an invitation to read it. He said he was available everyday and to come back anytime. Two days later, we walked up to his house and there he was reading the Book of Mormon, already in 1 Nephi 5. We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We came back the next day to follow up with him about going to church and he was now in chapter 11! Although he was not able to go to church this week, he was excited to make it the next week. Brother Rufino will be a strong member of the Church, I know it. The Book of Mormon is powerful!

Sister Rose: I LOVE Sister Rose! She is a beautiful, sweet girl who works at a small store with a member that we know. We went by their store and the member introduced us to her and helped us set an appointment. When we went back on Valentine's day, which also happened to be her birthday, she was so excited to hear what we had to say! Right away, we felt the Spirit so strongly and Sister Tampis and I both got a really strong impression to talk about baptism. The Spirit whispered to me and told me that we should extend the invitation to be baptized (even though this was the first time teaching her!) but then a distracting old man came in and wouldn't stop talking. He seemed to be very interested in me and my American heritage, so I kept talking to him and with telepathy that Sister Tampis and I have mastered, I told her to keep teaching. So, as I talked to him, I was praying that my companion would receive the same prompting that I had and extend the invitation to be baptized. I was only able to join them for the closing prayer and was able to see her excitedness about the Book of Mormon. She got tears in her eyes and explained how excited she was to be able to have a gift on her birthday, which she doesn't get very often. She held the book tight and told us that she would take good care of it. After leaving I asked my companion how it was. When she told me, "I extended the invitation for baptism and she said yes," my eyes couldn't help but tear up! My prayer had been answered and my companion was in tune with the Spirit. I knew she would be. We were so overwhelmingly happy!

 

Funny story para masaya: We had just been given juice by our friend and were walking up this hill. I downed my juice really fast, but my companion and Sister Angel, the member that was working with us, were slowly sipping. A man coming down the hill walked straight to my companion, took her juice, then took Angel's juice, and said "akin na iyan" which pretty much means "that's mine now." He walked away and we watched him drink both of the juices in two big gulps. We laughed for a good half hour and I said a silent prayer in my heart that that man enjoyed their juice:)

Dang sorry that was a long email! Just so many things to tell! I love you all! Ingat po, always!

Sister Stewart

BIG CITY

pictures:

*Sydney with her new companion Sister Tampis

*Huge grocery stores in the big city (not nearly as fresh of produce as in the province, though)

*Glamour Shots, Filipino style

email: sydney.stewart@missionary.org

*I didn't edit a thing in her email 😂

OH MY STARS I'm like a country girl who's never traveled anywhere in her whole life who's been dropped in the middle of New York City. I am in the real world. It's excitingly scary! I'm loving it so far. I do feel a little homesick (Siniloan homesick) but my area and my companion are amazing! So our area is huge and there's a lot of work to do which is AWESOME!! I love having a lot of work to do. There was supposed to be an added companionship here but it's just us two. But we can do it:)

The thing I am most excited about is FOOD!! Haha there's McDo!! And malls with a million restaurants!!!!!! WOW I'm like a kid in a GIANT candy store. A giant candy store that I am very prone to getting lost in... Luckily my companion knows where she's going. 

WE ARE TEACHING A WHOLE FACTORY!!! I didn't know that Taytay is the sewing center of the Philippines. There's this big factory where they make polos and we are teaching almost all of the employees! 6 of them already have a date to be baptized. Our goal is to bring all of them into the fold!! It's excited.

I love this work. Missionary work is the best thing in the world. Don't just take my word for it, find out for yourself!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Sister Stewart

ps. mother please fix all of my grammar mistakes. I'm forgetting English...

Farewell, Siniloan

Sister Stewart got the call that she was getting transferred to Taytay yesterday.  She has been in Siniloan for 7 months...that's a long time in the mission world.  It was hard for her to say goodbye to the many friends she has made there, but she looks forward to more adventures.  She is leaving the beautiful countryside for a big city and even more heat.  I'm sure she will love it there, though.  Her address and email stay the same.  Drop her a Valentine note if you get a chance.

sydney.stewart@missionary.org

Sister Sydney Stewart

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Antipolo Mission Office

Ligtasan St., Brgy San Roque

Antipolo City 1870, Philippines

SINGGGG

Pictures:
*TinTin's baptism

*visiting the Vergara Family

*2 more with TinTin....she's so cute!

email: sydney.stewart@missionary.org

HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!!

I'm a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have the opportunity to share some of the most precious principles that I know are true to people that I loved before I even met them. God loves us, we are literally His children. Jesus Christ suffered and died not only for our sins but for our hardships. He knows everything we feel because He felt it before. Even though He died on the cross, He lives again! And because of that, we will too!

I know with all of my heart that the things I share everyday are true. I have every inch of my testimony because Heavenly Father gave it to me. He gave me my faith, my strength, my life. EVERYTHING. He gave me His Son. And for that reason, I am here. I'm here in the Philippines, in a mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding atmosphere that is also the happiest thing I have ever been a part of. I'm here because I get to love people the way that my Savior loves me. 

Whatever we go through, the Savior is right there. Our Father is listening. He is proud of us, even for the small things we do. So let's keep going:)

Sister Stewart

Wars and Rumors of Wars..?

pictures:

*life in the province is beautiful (Laguna, Philippines)

*a trike with an American flag on the ceiling

*the tunnel from the MTC to the temple

*lucky girls got to go to the Manila Temple

email: sydney.stewart@missionary.org

Magandang hapon po!!! Si Sister Stewart po ito. Sorry it's been a while! 

According to the people on the streets in the Philippines, America is at war and we are lucky to be here where we are safe.  Glad I can call home and get the truth.  HaHa

This week my companion and I got to go to the temple! How amazing is that?! I love the temple so much. 

We have a baptism this next Saturday so let me tell you about her:

Her name is TinTin (Christine) and she is 13 years old. She's super smart and pretty and it's pretty much like teaching a member when we teach her. She had been baptized before but her records couldn't be found, so we get to reteach her and rebaptize her this Saturday!:) I wonder if the people I teach know how much I love them...

I wonder if you guys know how much I love YOU!!!!

Sister Stewart