Hey Guys From Elder Stewart!!

Hey Ya'll!

Well I have to say that this week I have had a great experience. So on Monday night at about 5 o clock I called the AP's and asked them about something that I needed to know. They didn't even answer my question but told me that I had two hours to find a bus to take my zone to Salvador the next day to see Elder Bednar who would be giving a conference to our mission. I asked why the short notice and they said that I didn't even know how lucky I was that we were getting the opportunity to go. It seems like the Area Presidency did want to let my zone go to the conference because of how far away we are from Salvador. But our President said that he was going to take the risk because it was a once in a life time opportunity and he was not going to exclude one zone from it. So I had two hours to get a van to go to Salvador and fortunately I live in the biggest tourist city of the mission so I went to a hotel and asked for some numbers. With in a half an hour we had already set up a guy and seen the van. The AP's were pretty impressed and said well we will see you there then. So we left on Tuesday night and traveled all night in a small van that holds about 15 people and we had 14 so it was tight. I got permission to rent some movies to watch and we had a good time for the most part.
So we got to Salvador in the morning and had the entire morning to practice and get ready for how everything would play out. When the moment came we all went outside and got organized to take a picture the minute that Elder Bednar and his wife arrived. It was a great experience when he got there he got out of the car and went right to take the picture. I was really close to him and after the picture was taken he simply said, "Let's go to church shall we?" It was really funny. He maintained the same humor through out the entire conference. His wife was the first to speak and she gave a great talk and bore a very strong testimony that almost made me cry. I was thinking the entire time, "I have to find a woman with a testimony like that." After she spoke it was finally the moment to hear Elder Bednar. He got up and said that he wanted us to pay attention to the Spirit more than to what he said. We were to only write our spiritual promptings rather than just writing like crazy what he said. Then he asked how he could help us and what we wanted to know. We asked specifically about missionary work and about using the Spirit more effectively. He took all the questions and wrote them all down on a paper. He said that we would cover all of them in a general way. He spoke about the atonement and the how we should teach with the Spirit rather than with our knowledge. He even told us that we are not as good as we think we are and that the Spirit was really what taught the people. He said that our goal should be to get out of the way and let the Spirit teach the people in their hearts the things that they need. He said that he was going to give an example being the teacher and we would be the investigators and he gave a great example. Everyone learned through the Spirit much more than was taught by his words. He spoke simply and used scriptures we were familiar with to help us understand his points. But the way he used the scriptures and the things he taught in them showed his immense knowledge from years of study. I was so impressed. I felt the Spirit very strongly as he bore is Apostolic Witness to us and told us that he loved us. After he left I was amazed to see how everyone seemed to have understood him in a personal way. They all received instruction more through the Holy Ghost than from him. He is a master teacher and he showed me a new way to teach and live my life. Afterwards I met many missionaries and took some pics with some old friends and got a lot of addresses. This was the only time during my mission that all of the mission was together at once! It was very cool. I got to know a lot of cool missionaries that I had not known prior. As I left I felt sad to be leaving the mission after such great council that I can apply now in my teaching.
I got home this morning and have just now had the opportunity to write but now I have to go get back to work and finish my mission with honor! I will write next week more. Later!

Elder Stewart