Pictures from her June 17th letter

Zuster Stewart-Chester and Sister Carpenter:  Twins Separated at Birth

Aldste Blackburn

Elder Prestera going to the West Indies speaking Dutch!

Stephanie going to Mexico

 Sister Carpenter is headed to NORWAY!

 Twins separated at Birth!

Krispy Cream Win!  

The LAAAAAAAAASSSTTTT Sister:)

Hello everyone.

I hope everything is fantastic.  

This week all of the sisters left to their missions, so let me explain that for my mom since she said she didnt understand...

There is literally noooo other sisters in my entire zone.  I have been the only sister. So luckily there are some awesome italian sisters..(sisters going to italy..we always call people by their missions here) who have taken me in until the end of today.  I have been doing things with them that I cant do with the elders in my zone...like gym and sleeping etc.  

So on Monday the Sisters left....I had to move into the newer building because they are renovating the old one. It is super nice, but it has been crazy hectic. They moved me into this room by myself except the lock was busted. So i put my stuff in this random unlocked room with nobody in it. and slept in the room with the italians...except yesterday two sisters moved into the room with my junk in it.  They were a little freaked out. haha. But literally last night right before bedtime they fixed the lock. Hallelujah. Just in time as well, because two new sisters move in with me today.

I wont be alone anymore.

Oh I am the Zone Sister Training Leader...which is awesome. Maar (but) they didn't really have much choice since I am the only sister in the entire zone.  I do get to greet all of the new missionaries in our zone today though, so that will be nice to get to know them.

We are getting 32 new missionaries...and only 2 are sisters. 

This week I gave a talk in sacrament in dutch. They have you always prepare one each week, and then if you get called on during sacrament you go up and speak. I was the only one of course.  haha I had a feeling though all that morning that I was going to have to, so don't worry I was prepared. I messed up quite a bit, but it was great. I just talked about the Atonement and how important it is to me especially because through the atonement Jesus was then resurrected making it possible for eternal families. How grateful I am to know that. Especially with everything that has happened with the Openshaws. I am so excited to be able to tell the people of Belgium and the Netherlands about eternal families. Because what would I do without that knowledge...Im pretty sure I would lose all hope and life would not be worth living.  Families are Forever!!!

Congrats to fletchy for going through the temple. What an awesome thing. I love going to the temple each week. I get to go a little bit later today...and I am so excited. I feel more peace there than anywhere.  It is such an awesome way for me to get away from the frustrations of class and the language.

The mission Presidents come in for training this week, so its going to be insane. Luckily we get catered some yummy foods though for dinner because of it. The apostles and Prophet will be in a building right next to our classroom. They have a choir who gets to sing to them each morning, and Elder Sosa is in it, also one of the italian sisters who is practically my companion right now. So jealous.

We got 4 new Danish Elders this week, and they are awesome. Two of them are amazing at volleyball so it makes up for the absence of sister Carpenter.

The Elders in my zone are sooooo awesome. I am so grateful though for my amazing District.  They are so good to me, and they are hilarious. I literally almost pee my pants at meal times every day.

They do this thing called STRINGING.

They randomly found a huge pile of multi colored string and they have decided to make a game out of it. They leave it places for people to find and yell YOU GOT STRINGED...so funny.

Poor Elder Crowder, yesterday they literally went into the mail room and "mailed" a package to him with hearts all over it.  He opened it in front of us and they all yelled YOU GOT STRINGED...it was just a pile of string....so funny. Hopefully I will get the picture from Elder Wright that he caught of Elder Crowders reaction because it was hilarious. I died of laughter.

This week my onderzoeker(investigator) committed to baptism!! haha also my other one who was an athiast believes in christ as of yesterday and I committed her to think about picking a date for her baptism, because she said she would if she knew it was true...she does, it is just hard to express that in another language...but she is working on it....soooo awesome.

haha weird explaining about fake investigators but I get better every lesson.

Yesterday Sis. Schwaab helped me in my lesson. She studied with me as a companion would and we came up with the most amazing lesson. It didn't come out as amazing on paper because of the language, but it was still great and she was so awesome.  It is nice having a companion who can explain things better in dutch. haha

She was my tender mercy yesterday. All of the elders in my zone had gone to choir and I couldn't go to dinner by myself so she came with me. I seriously love her.

Fletcher I saw that picture of you camping out....please tell me that was not my guitar???

haha you are welcome to use it if you use it at the house, please don't take it up in the mountains where the wood will get warped...who am I kidding you wont listen. PLEASE!! haha I still love you!

Shout out to my dad Alex. Hope you have an amazing birthday today!! I love you!

Teddy!!! congrats on being called as the deacons quorum president. You are going to be so awesome. Our calling is kind of a like. We just have to look out for the younger missionaries or deacons and make sure they feel loved. I know you will be so amazing. I love you.

Bo you looked beautiful as a little duckling!!

I miss you all, but I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. It is hard, but each day gets better and better. 

Ik hou van jullie!!

tot ziens

Zuster Stewart-Chester

also I am sorry if none of this makes sense...hopefully not too many run on sentences. I just type whatever comes to mind I have so little time. I love you all!

Hilarious Triple Chin Selfies

Solo Sister....LITERALLY!!

Hello!!                              JUNE 17,2015

I hope that you all read the intro to this email in Chris Treagar's voice from Parks and Rec. 

So this week all of the Danish missionaries left. It was super sad to see them go because they were all hilarious. We all met up on the last day and sang spirit of God in our own language that we are learning, and it was soooooo awesome.

 All of the sisters and the District before me got their flight plans.  They leave this coming monday super early in the morning...and well we get four danish missionaries today and guess what. They are all Elders.  So until next Wednesday after the sisters leave, I will be the only sister in my whole zone.  Pretty insane, but luckily I only have to deal with it for a couple of days.

I love the sisters in my Zone they are seriously sooooo amazing and they are all here for the right reasons. They are here to work!!

Sis. Carpenter:

Makes me want to be better every day.  She is such an amazing example to me of not wasting time.

She is always always studying something.  Besides the fact that we are technically twin sisters separated at birth (I think) we get a long soooo well.  She plays all the sports that I play, and we kill it in basketball against the Elders...It is a blast.

Sis. Jackson:

Is soooo hilarious. There is this awesome service guy here who swipes our cards for breakfast named Allen. She is like obsessed with him and we always crack jokes about how Allen is her best friend. She has written hilarious lyrics about our mission to some catchy songs that I hope we will have the chance to record and make a music video before I leave. She is so awesome...p.s she is going Sweden and is actually from there...or lived there I cant remember. 

Sis. Woolsey:

She is the most sweet girl you will ever meet. She just has the most positive attitude.  She also has an amazing voice, and sang in a devotional here and rocked it.  She was actually my sister training leader when I got here and helped me get the hang of it with all the Elders a long with all the other sisters.

We always have awesome laughs in front of the mirrors brushing our teeth, while toothpaste and spit flies everywhere...haha I exaggerate, but we laugh a lot!!

This week we had TRC which means Teaching Resource center...We basically teach people who are either from our mission or speak our language and they are already members..so it is super nice, but hard...because they talk soooo fast.  One of mine was with a cute little old lady who just talked the entire time so that was awesome...she kept saying weet hoe veel? You know?? haha it was funny.  Or at least I think thats how she said it....I know thats what it meant...whoops.

Singing songs here at the MTC is awesome...We sung We'll bring the world its truth...so awesome because in stead of saying we will be the lords missionaries...we say we are now...it is so powerful!!!

One of the Danish Elders got here early because he is from Switzerland...he is super nice...and he only brought 3 ties...haha. So dont go buy him a tie mom, but if Fletch or dad want to get rid of one, I know he would love it. Especially since his family is half way across the world.

Mom your packages are the best but please dont stress over them...also I still have food from the first package...so no more food please...just the things I need!! haha The Elders loved the krispy creams...we got a picture for you dont worry. Also everyone loved your homemade salsa! haha 

The language is okay. I got really frustrated with myself yesterday, because I just feel like it is such a barrier and there is soooo much I want to say to my onderzoekers/investigators. My teachers are amazing though and they push me to be better every day.  I seriously believe in the gift of tongues, and being a solo has helped me grow more than I ever could have with a companion in my district.  

Something awesome that someone said in a devotional this week is:

Some people dont even know that prayer is a two-way communication. They dont even know who they are praying to. It made me sad that I dont even take advantage of that communication.

This week I challenge you all to make the time to wait for the answers after your prayers. I have completely seen the difference already in preparing for my lessons with fake onderzoekers.

I was soooo extremely sad to hear about the Openshaws. I will definitely be sending my prayers there way.  It really has helped me look outside myself here at the MTC...because sometimes I feel like I am having the worst days. It just made me realize that I am soooo extremely blessed.  It made me so grateful to know that this church is true, and families are forever. What would we do without that knowledge?!?!

I have so much love for all of the Fosters and Openshaws..please send my love to them all.

I am sooo extremely grateful for you all. I do not know what I would do without you. I pray for your safety every day...please be safe.

Ik hou van jullie.

Ik weet dat Families eeuwigheid zijn.

Zuster Stewart-Chester

 ELDER OCAMPO

  

 Sister Carpenter, me, Jaden Lynn and his Comp...also random Andy in the background.

 Elder Bruneau, Elder Crowder and Elder Fairbanks

​Sister Woolsey Sister Jackson Me and Sister Carpenter.

 My Zone (two are missing)  

 Elder Bruneau

 Elder Fairbanks

 Elder Wright

 Elder Crowder

Elder Wright, Elder Sosa, Elder Crowder and my Dutch Braid studying....

HELLO!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FLETCHY!!!!

The big 18!! I hope you have an amzing day Fletch!

Well I have finally reached my week two mark. It feels like it has taking forever and yet it is going by fast.

On Sunday, I got super sick. I have a really bad sore throat and I have lost my voice, bad.  I believe I got sick from all of the Elders in my district...silly Elders. Maar (but) I think I have got the worst of it.  Cough drops are a life saver though, and I am pretty sure I could throw up straight mint cough drops I have had so many. But The Elders are so good to me.

Just to tell you who I am with pretty much 24/7...I want to give you a brief description of each Elder in my district. I will go in the order I see them in class.

Elder Crowder:

He is from somewhere in Northern California. I believe he said something about the Sacramento area. He is super thoughtful, and while I was sick this week he gave me Ni-quil so that I would be able to sleep. He is super funny...well all of them are. But him and Elder Sosa are awesome leaders and say some pretty powerful stuff.

Elder Sosa:

Elder Sosa is such a boss with the language. He is one of the Elders going to our mission speaking spanish, maar he already is fluent so he is learning dutch.  He studied duolingo 2 hours a day for a straight month...so he is the top of the class. He is the District Leader also. He is from Las Vegas.

Elder Wright:

Elder Wright is from Wisconsin. He wears a shirt that says I love my mom during gym time and it is great. He is such an intelligent guy and knows so much vocabulary and studies soooo hard. I admire him for that. He is also pretty brave. In class we have to speak pretty much all in dutch and he is not afraid to just speak...even if it is not perfect.

Elder Ocampo:

He is from Texas.  He is also learning dutch but speaking spanish and is fluent already. So now he just has to learn dutch.  He always makes hilarious comments like: "Shots Fired" and "Its getting deep" haha he is hilarious.

Elder Bruneau:

He is the youngest I think of us all. He just got out of High School and is from fruitland Idaho I think. He is such a sweetie and is super sensitive. He cries a lot, but it is great. He is also super strong and is here for the right reasons. He always has some amazing comments.

Elder Fairbanks:

Haha. I just think of Elder Fairbanks and laugh. He is soooo funny. He is from Wyoming. He always makes hilarious comments and never is scared to speak his mind. He tried to teach me how to spin my pen around my finger yesterday and he was getting so frustrated with me haha. Also I always manage to drop my books on the floor because we have so much stuff...I still seem to be the only one dropping things and because he sits next to me... he has taken it upon himself to get better reflexes to catch my stuff. He is getting a lot better. hahaha.

This week Broeder Norton/Sams cousin taught us a lesson on Justice and Mercy. He talked about how their is two sides Obedience and disobedience and the law is in the middle.  Because God is Just he can not break the Law...and the Law is stated that no unclean thing can enter into Gods presence. But because he is also merciful. He sent his son to Atone for our sins, and because of that we can return to our Heavenly Father. That is the only way. How grateful I am for Jesus Christ.

Everyone should go look up Character of Christ by Elder Bednar...It is amazing. He gave the same talk to missionaries a long time ago and it is even better and even longer...no one else can see it. SORRY. haha but it is great.

Zuster Moses is awesome. She is one of our dutch teachers. If you want to see what she looks like search Belgium/Netherlands mission on youtube...she is blond in the videos and now she has dark brown hair with highlights and cute glasses...Im sure ill get a picture with her later.

Sister Hansen is our other teacher, and her family is actually from Bolivia and the Netherlands so she lived there. She is amazing and she was actually our first fake investigator.

I now teach two investigators (zuster Moses and Zuster Hansen) It is going soooooo much better and I can really feel the spirit in my lessons so much more. I also can pray pretty well in dutch now so that is awesome!

Quick shout out to other people who have had or have birthdays coming up:

Aunt Jenny, Henry Chester, Sadie, Mimi, and Ally...

I hope you have the best day ever. I love you all and miss you.

Also guess what.... just this week someone asked me and sister carpenter our birthdays and she said Jan 12...I said nuh uh?! yep we have the same exact birthday. Same year and everything. What are the chances!!!

Also Everyone watch Meet the Mormons we watched it here on sunday and even though I had already seen it...it was sooooo much better the second time.

I love you all sooooo much and miss you! I hope you are well.

How is the play? and soccer and life/

Also Dad Alex should get the job with the points for flying so than you guys can save up enough for me to come back first so I can actually enjoy my country without being a missionary!!

Love Zuster Stewart-Chester

Ik hou van jullie!!!!

excerpt from personal letter Dated Jun 1, 2015 Monday

The MTC is Good!  So Hard, but good...I am alone in teaching the lessons so that's hard and in dutch no less.  I was having a really hard time staying awake yesterday and it was a long day so I was super worried about how I was going to do it for a year and a half, but I prayed and had faith that Heavenly Father would help me and we even had to wake up earlier today to do service.  But I feel sooo good!  I want to tell you about Choir practice because I didn't get a chance to write it down in my journal because I literally had not time!

Our choir teacher is amazing. Somehow he made it so amazingly uplifting.  He talked about the little boy who was from Wales and wrote hymns.  His mother and father were so poor they had no money to buy shoes.  His mother would work all day in the fields and the money she earned she sent to Salt Lake for the temple and with the corners of the wheat she was allowed to take, she made one loaf of bread a day for her family.  The boy (somehow?) made it to Salt Lake and would go to church and paint shoe polish on his feet to make it look like he had shoes.  He would stand outside some meetings and when Brigham Young asked him to come inside he would say, "no I'm not dressed, I'm not wearing shoes."  and in reply he would get "it doesn't matter." but he refused to go in as an 11 year old boy.  He would sit by a tree and write hymns.  So powerful, made me want to sing those hymns with pride.  I believe his last name was Evans or something.  He wrote the song about the temple.  So awesome.  Anyways, I love you all, and miss you  even thought you might not believe me!  love, /Tate/ Zuster SC or Stewart-Chester

hello!!!!!

yep you have probably guessed it by now, but I am a solo sister. I still have an amazing companion, but she is not going to the same mission as me nor is she learning the same language.

Let me first just tell you what being a solo sister means...

It basically means that you are the only sister going to your mission. (So yep I am with a bunch of elders every day) (but its great).

I also have to teach all my "Investigators" all by myself.

But I still have a companion who I go to meals, gym time, and walk pretty much everywhere with.

My companion is Sister Carpenter.

She is amazing and so dedicated, she makes me want to be better every day. She is the most hard working missionary I know.  She is also a solo sister but she is the only sister and there are no Elders going to her district at all. So she is the only one...I think I have it hard, but she has had worse. She is going to Norway speaking Norwegian. She gets taught all by her self by four teachers and teaches them all lessons in Norwegian so well after only two weeks...she is such an inspiration to me.

Our zone is full of Elders as well. We are made up of mostly scandinavia, so its Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, and then the west indies speaking dutch, but there is only one elder going there so he is also a solo.

There are only two other sisters besides us...sister Jackson and Sister Woolsey, who are both going to sweden. We all room together and they are so amazing, I am pretty lucky.

Oh by the way my P-days are on wednesdays in case you couldnt already tell.

you questions...

My companion: 

Sister Carpenter.. She also plays volleyball and basketball so we have a lot of fun together during gym time...who knows if I am actually losing weight but it is fun, and I am trying to eat healthy.

My first day was insane: its mainly a lot of walking to places being showed by people and then going to meetings and class. where they speak only dutch to you. Crazy... but good. The first day was hard for me especially finding out that I am the only sister going to my mission, but it gets so much better every day.

I have already taught 4 lessons in dutch all by myself. WHAT? ha

It is coming a long so well, and yesterdays lesson was great, I barely used any notes!!  (When Tate was set apart as a missionary she was told that she would have such a command of the language that it would "roll off her tongue as gracefully as English...."  All I could think when I read this was WOW! -mum

I will have to send you a picture of my journal, dont worry mom. I wrote all of it down for you, but I dont have much time and there is so much I need to say.

FLETCHER!!!!!

call Sam Norton today! You should definitely start preparing with the language now, because if you dont you will so regret it even the first day.  It will be so helpful to know church related stuff as well in spanish before you get here. Also on the first day I met two sisters going to your mission speaking spanish. They told me they would for sure look out for you, and apparently it is only a third of even the people called to the west that speak spanish, so count your blessings;)

Was I sick: The first day I had a bad head ache but the LORD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!

The next day I had hardly anything wrong with me!! WHAT?!

You all should dear elder me;) so I can get letters...quick shout out to cameron for an awesome dear elder... haha what a waster of two letters but it was hilarious;) ask him about it if you want to know.

I see Jaden Lynn almost every day, and I run into Jessica at lunch every day. She is awesome and so nice to listen to me ramble about learning dutch;)

TUESDAY NIGHT DEVOTIONAL:

you are all going to be sooo jealous, because although I missid Elder Holland last week, this week we heard from Elder Christofferson...sooooo awesome.

I love you all I will try to send you pictures here in a little bit..

You have no idea how much I miss you... I cried today reading your letters and watching the videos of flynn...

I love you so much, and I am so grateful for you.

tot ziens

Zuster Stewart-Chester