Photos from Owego! NY!

Airica and Sis. Ashcraft! 

Best companionship yet. 

Airica's hair is getting so long. I love the water and the sunset in this picture! 

Found and amazing Mexican with the best soft shell tacos. They went two nights in a row! And everything is gluten free!!!!!

At the border!!!

Lizzi is in Columbia Mississippi

The true meaning of south is Mississippi!

Lizzi made it safely by plane and her first area is Columbia. She has two other sisters as companions and is loving it so far. Lizzi loves that everything is so green and hopes she can get used to the humidity. That isn't the hardest adjustment so I'm sure she will be just fine! 

What a large group of newcomers to this mission! The work shall go forth :)

MTC Time... Lizzi's Turn

Sister Lizzi Stewart entered the MTC on September 11th. She is the last of three children to go through this experience so it was less traumatizing, to say the least.  

Here are a few pictures of Tuesday night- getting set apart and going to McDonalds. 

Parlee, Apryl, and Jayson are going to miss Liz SOO much. She is a great aunt

Ciara is the most attached to Liz. They have such a close bond and friendship. They shared the same bed whenever Lizzi was home and shared everything. Poor Cee is the only one home with mom and dad and she is having separation issues not having Liz around. 

Lizzi chose Olive Garden to have her "last super" with the family for 18 months. Our server did an awesome job at getting us through our meal with more than enough time to spend with together. Lizzi was obviously anxious because she ate two full bowls of pasta before her departure!!!  

It has been rough on the whole family having three children on missions. With Liz finally gone it has been a sad reality that it really happened. We know they all will be blessed for their service and our family will be blessed as we support them. It is so fun hearing each of their experiences so far and we pray that they will be safe everyday! 

Kieson's MTC Experience

"We had our first TRC teaching thing yesterday and the guy we had we had already taught before in a big room with like 80 missionaries and man did he not budge at all. so when me and my companion Elder Beus found out we had him again and we kinda basically just wanted to give up on life haha like in the big room, he is basically a STONE. he has no feelings or anything else. like Elder McKinley and Elder Hale who share rooms with us but aren't in our district but our in our Zone and are going to Ventura didn't even get into the room for 10 minutes cause the guy was a stone so they were teaching him in the hall way. They got in and it still got worse!!! Elder McKinley even said he asked the guy if he wanted happiness and the guy who was being three-jay, (his nickname) just looked them up in the eye and said "no.' and told them he didn't want them back for another appointment when they asked why he said it was all pointless. But me and elder Beus got him to immediately let us into the room and we started talking to him.  It was slowly going downhill and then he asked why we were even there and I took a hold of the spirit and told him it is because we are spiritual brothers and that I feel happiness from this and I want to share the happiness from this true gospel with everyone because we are all brothers and sisters and oh MAN the spirit was in that room!!! being here for the first week this gospel really does make me happy!! I LOVE it!! And then 3-j talked about how his dad died and how he missed him and he told him he loved him for the last and first time on his death bed and then I told him I know EXACTLY how he feels. I told him that Grandpa died last year the week after prom. That growing up as a little kid I always thought Teancum, Helamen, or captain Moroni were my heroes but around 5th grade iIrealized that Grandpa was. (I started crying at this point because I miss him) and I told him that I cannot recall one time we grandpa said he loved me but I know he did cause fathers and men usually don't show they love you through their words but through their actions. that I could tell because EVERYTHING that Grandpa did was for our family; that there was no explanation for why he died and that we didn't even get to say our goodbyes. Then he said how much time it took out of his life because he had to spend some Friday nights at the hospital to watch his dad and then I told him about how we spent like a year spending weeks sleeping over at grandmas house so I knew how he felt (I was still crying)  and I bore testimony (with all the spirit that I had within me) of the afterlife and through Christ he can return to heaven and live with his whole family. Then my companion shared about how his dad died of Cancer when Elder Beus was 9 and his dad leaned up to him and said "Do better then me son" and we got another appointment tomorrow with him. I love this gospel and it brings me happiness!!  Tell Lizzi this place is great and not to be scared!!!"

                                                                      Me with my companion Elder Beus
 "Today we did a taught a guy in TRC .  The background is that someone referred them to us and I guess the priority for the people to volunteer to be actors here is that they actually need to be non-members and sign up or they can be converts, but they have to have been members for under a year.  I bore my testimony to him on the Book of Mormon and then he'd ask questions about our church and he was acting all confused (idk if he really was) and he didn't purposefully make it hard he was just asking tons of questions.  I bore my testimony to him and about the scriptures and if those were true then that means Joseph Smith was a prophet. Then he said that he believed me because he could see I know everything that i was bearing witness was true is true because he could see it in my eyes and then he said he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it too.  We taught him how to pray and we got him to say the closing prayer. I don't know if he was a member or not but he sure does know about religions. It was a cool experience."

                             This is my district (district 64 C)

                The 3 of us in my district who are going to Ventura

This is district A, my district and an older district in our zone that already left but they were all called to the Salt Lake Mission

This will be Kieson's Last day in the MTC then real mission life will begin.  We are so proud of Him and the choice he is making to serve His Heavenly Father for the the next to years.  Our prayers are with him and invite you to add yours to ours.  Good luck Elder Stewart!                                                                                               

Going to the MTC - Kieson

The night before an Elder or Sister leaves for a mission they have to be officially set apart as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. This means it is their calling and they receive a blessing of health and safety.

Family and close friends are invited to come to this event. It is a very spiritual moment and one of the last times a missionary will get to spend with loved ones. 

It is always tradition to go to McDonalds and get ice cream.

I can only imagine what was going through Kieson's head Tuesday night. This would be his last time, for two years, sleeping in the comfort of his own home with his family. Wednesday morning everything would change as he gets dropped off at the Missionary Training Center (MTC)

 Eating at Golden Corral. Missionaries eat free on Wednesdays. Probably because they feel bad that they won't get another good meal for quite a while!

And he is off! 

Bye Bud! 

Kieson and Lizzi - Farewell Time

Family Time

 Kieson's Family

Lizzi's Family

What a wonderful day to get together with loved ones! 

Kieson and Lizzi both had their birth families attend their farewells. There was so much support, love and a great spirit that what they were doing is the right thing. We had waffles, sausage and fresh fruit for breakfast. We had such a good turn out that mom was getting stressed about not having enough food. Everything turned out to be ok and every one was happy with the tasty food! 

 Kieson with his birth dad... and a photo bomb with Uncle Barry (dad's cousin)

 Lizzi with her birth grandpa Farnsworth

 Max, Bryan, Boyd and Mit. Can you see the resemblance?

 Ciara and cousin Ally

 Lizzi and Amber with Grandma and Grandpa Craig

Cami's birth family

All the kids together (minus Airica) for a long time. 

Both Kieson and Lizzi did GREAT on their talks in sacrament. Who knew Kie could be such a jokester. And Liz is really good in front of an audience. The spirit was so strong and testified that what they taught was true doctrine. They are going to be awesome missionaries and will be blessed for their service. 

Called to the Work

With THREE Stewart children being on missions at the same time, it is going to be rough updating the blog. I will try my best and ask for your patience!

>>> Airica<<<

She is doing great! Still in Hartford, but maybe not for long... Both her and Sister Lloyd are having bad transfer dreams because they are coming soon. Air has LOVED being with Sister Lloyd. They have so much in common and have fun together. Every transfer has trials and this one seems to be more spiritual than the last one. Meaning, they are having trouble finding and keeping investigators. One potential was put in the hospital, one ended a lesson early because they were offended by Hitler and a less active passed away. It is very frustrating not being able to teach the Gospel and not being successful. Not to mention half the ward speaks spanish and Air has NO clue what is going on.
Transfer day came and it brought good news. Airica gets to stay with Sister Lloyd and will be in a trio with Sister Acton. Hopefully we learn more about her but so far we know she plays the viola. I love the description Airica gives to us about her companions.
Can you say BED BUGS??? Apparently the apartment is infested with them. Even after spraying and washing everything twice they still won't go away. Poor Sisters- they are getting bit and itching like crazy. Hopefully all their prayers will magically make them disappear.

 A birthday present Air made for an investigators little brother. So creative and cute!

 Found a scooter on the lawn and went for a little ride. Trust Air

Hiding from Sister Lloyd... why?