An abundance of cake!

Oh, hello, hello, hello! :-) 

Lots of mixed feelings right now, and more as I´ve been reading your emails. Thanks so much for keeping me updated so I can be a part of life at home, even though I´m in engaged in something else right now. All my best to Grandma Greenwood, to Uncle Paul and all his family, and everyone! I´m praying for them!

I had a fantastic and very happy birthday on Tuesday! 

I woke up for the first time at 4:30 to the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the roof. That meant that I had to get up and rescue my clothes, which had been hanging up to dry. Then I thought, ´Hey, it´s my birthday!´ and went back to bed. 

I woke up again at the normal hour, and was interrupted during my morning prayers by the voice of David Archuletta singing ´Joy to the World´. I wrapped up my prayer and stood up to see a smiling Elder Carazas holding a birthday cake with a firework stuck in it. (The kind that shoots flames rather than the kind that explodes.) He sang, I made a wish, and we ate cake for breakfast. 

We studied, then saddled up to head to a zone conference in Castelar, which was fantastic. I´m getting to know and be friends with some other elders in the zone now, which is fun. This zone is really friendly. Some remember me from my first day in the mission, on the rainy day in Catán. But I don´t remember them! (There were a lot of things going through my head that day.) One of them, Elder Lee, is from Tucson - surprise! He lived in the Tucson Stake, I think. 

We came back and went to lunch with Hermana Valle. It was a normal lunch, with a spiritual thought afterward, and that was that. But afterward, rather than having us go around her parent´s house to get back to the street, she had us go through it. We entered and the room was dark - except for a brightly lit CAKE! Surprise! There was more singing and more cake. 

We had a lesson with Jonathan, our philosopher investigator. (More about him another week - he´s a very interesting character.)

We ended the day with the Castillo family. I decided to take my birthday package and open it with them. It was very fun! We celebrated together and then had a very good lesson.

And, that was about it! (Not the whole day, but the most interesting parts.) 

We had a similar day on Sunday, on Elder Carazas´s birthday!

 (With all the cake we ate this week, it´s a wonder we can still walk. And we still have 2 cakes in our fridge. I guess those will have to be refreshments at a family home evening this week.)




And other news ...

I had my first marriage proposal yesterday! There´s a lady who has gone kind of crazy. Now she sees the missionaries as angels and is in love with Elder Carazas. We bump into her on the street occasionally and stop to talk. Anyway, she asked me yesterday if I wouldn´t like to marry her. I told her yes, so we´re going to get married next week. I´ll send pictures! Or, wait. No, I´m pretty sure I told her no. Never mind. 

Abigail and Karen didn´t get baptized this last Saturday. Hermana Nora, their mom, 

doesn´t think they´re quite ready yet. She doesn´t think that she´s quite ready yet, either, although she´s been receiving many witnesses that the church is something good that she should follow. The thing that´s stopping her is that she hasn´t yet read all of the Book of Mormon. She says, ´I can´t baptize into the Church if I haven´t read the doctrine and know that it´s good.´ Makes sense. But she also needs to have faith and trust the answers she has received! We´re going to keep studying the Book of Mormon with the family.

Changes ... 

Sad news for us - After 10 months of working in Villa Amelia, Elder Carazas is being transferred out of the area. This resulted in some tender and heart-wrenching goodbyes to members who he´s helped and become friends with. (The saddest of all being the Vera family, who came knocking on our door at 11:30 last night while Elder Carazas was packing. Monroe, their 3-year-old girl, was so sad she wouldn´t come along, but sent a pair of her striped pink socks as something to remember her by.) But, after all the sadness, Elder Carazas has a good attitude. He says that the end of every chapter of life is the beginning of another. Very true. It´s good to appreciate and love the past, but you can´t hold onto it forever. You have to look forward to what is to come. And ´what is to come´, for me, is a new companion and the new challenge of being the one who knows the area. I´ll be finding out who my new companion is in a couple of hours at the transfer meeting. 

And, I thought you might like to know - I often bring my photos along with me to appointments and lunches to show off my family and friends. These are the most-often heard comments:
-That´s your mom? She´s so young!  Awww :)
-You look just like your dad!
-You look just like your mom!
-You look just like your Grandma!
-Your brother looks like a stud!
-You have the same smile as your Grandma.
:-) Kind of fun.


I love you all so very much. Thanks for your prayers and your news. Life is good in the mission. (Well, actually there are some problems in the mission because we´re down about 50 missionaries due to problems with Visas. But in my part, life is good.)


All of my best and highest-quality love,
Elder Andrew Stockton

Service with a smile :)

Old news . . . 
A couple weeks ago, I told you that two little girls from a very nice family came with us to church. Their names are Karen and Abigail - they´re 9 years old, and twins. Abigail especially is fantastic. Her mom told us that she loved going to Primary, and that since that first time going to church she has been excited to go again. She told her mom all about it and told them she wanted them to come too. She even wrote a little reminder note about church and put it on the fridge so that they would remember.

Yesterday, Karen and Abigail came to church again - but this time with their mom, older sister, and their cousin Ariana, who Abigail had invited to come to Primary. How fantastic! They all loved it. We were so happy, all walking to church. When Ariana saw the church for the first time, she cried, ´Que linda!´ (How cute!) The 3 little girls had a great time in Primary, and Nora and Noelia (the mom and sister) enjoyed the meetings as well. It sounds like they were welcomed into Relief Society and befriended, which is awesome. And, one more miracle - Nora and Karen recognized Karen´s schoolteacher among the ward members, who came and sat by them during Sacrament meeting. Ha! It was a good Easter Sunday.

More recent news . . .
We had a great week this week. Remember the family that I was telling you about last week? Abigail and Karen (the twins) have a baptismal date set for this Saturday. So we´re excited for that! I got them a copy of the ´Book of Mormon Stories´ book (the Book of Mormon, but in captioned pictures), and Abigail at least is reading it. They are fantastic.

Nora, the mom, told us recently about how she was reading one of the Restoration pamphlets before she went to bed, and that she felt something good in her heart. That night, she slept peacefully for the first time in a long time. 

Earlier in the week, Elder Carazas and I quit our studies early and went to do service for a family in the ward. I thought we were going to mow the lawn. When we arrived, I realized that, more accurately, we were going to cut down the small forest in front of their house. The grass was knee-high and very thick. After trying for a while to cut the grass with shovels, we went back home to grab our trusty machete. After a neighbor showed me how to actually use the machete, we made great progress. As a result of our service activity,

1) the Vera family now has a lawn instead of a forest
2) the Vera family knows we´re really willing to serve and work
3) my whole body ached for two days afterward, and
4) I incurred two giant blisters on my right hand.

It was great! It felt good to really do some service.

 A little bit of pixie dust, and...

I ate cat food yesterday. Well, no... not cat food, exactly. It was mashed liver, and it´s called paté like the food Margaret eats, and it smelled and tasted just like cat food. (Or, uh... like I would imagine cat food tastes. Definitely can´t speak from experience here.) And, it came in the same can. They eat it on bread. Mmmm!


These days I have to do my laundry by hand, which is a pain! It takes a long time, and then it has to dry. But, I suppose the experience is good for me. It builds character.

My shoes, clean, polished and spiffy. Even ´Brownie´ looks black again.

The other day I went to a feria - a place where everyone goes to sell whatever it is they have to sell. There are shoes, clothes, food, books, figurines, electronic equipment, toys, cutlery... a little bit of everything. It reminds me a lot of the Artisan´s Market at Harelson, except that it´s outside and most people didn´t make the things they´re selling. And the whole thing is like a huge maze! I bought a (new) frying pan because our old one was warped.


My companion and I have been singing a lot of hymns lately. It´s fun. :-) He likes to sing Christmas carols, which apparently they don´t sing very much here. So there are often Christmas carols playing in our apartment. Fun!

My companion made spaghetti last week, and it was delicious. I´m going to learn to make Argentine bread. 

Submitting my name for the Tri-Missionary Tournament

A visit to a very cool park . . .

Good stuff from the journal:

´We stopped to ask a lady mowing her lawn today if she needed help. When she realized we were in earnest and were actually willing to help, she was very warm and friendly to us. We wrote down her address and plan to go visit her.´

Service softens hearts, just like a little notecard on my desk says.




Thanks for all your prayers, and your emails, and letters, and love, and everything. I love you all so much, and you´re always in my prayers.

With all the love I can send via email,

Elder Andrew Stockton

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER STOCKTON!

Since we can't all be together to celebrate this momentous occasion, we decided to take a stroll down memory lane, and revisit April 17th (or thereabouts) of years past . . .

Our beautiful boy --- not yet a "MANDREW"  :)

Krista & Andrew

New brother ... why won't he do anything?
(Except maybe eat, cry, and make a mess in his diaper?)

First birthday

Age 2

Second birthday

3rd birthday - preschool party

Happy Birthday to me ..........

Age 4

Age 5

Age 7

Newly baptized and confirmed!

Age 9

Age 10

 And a few years later ...

4/17/2010

Atop Picacho Peak

Many hands to light those multitudinous candles :)
19, to be exact!  2011

Wish?
To be an amazing missionary by this time next year?
GRANTED!

It's been a wonderful ride ...
... filled with love, and smiles, and joy unmeasured!
Here's to many more happy years to come!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Big Storm in Buenos Aires

NEWS HEADLINES - APRIL 5, 2012

Buenos Aires hit by deadly storm
At least 14 people have been killed in severe storms in Argentina. Most of the victims died in the province of Buenos Aires, where winds reached speeds of more than 100km (60 miles) an hour, toppling trees and causing roofs to cave in.

APRIL 8, 2012

Thousands without power in Buenos Aires after storm

Municipal workers take part in an operation to clean fallen trees on April 8, 2012 in Moron municipality, Buenos Aires, after a storm. AFP PHOTO / NA

BUENOS AIRES—Thousands of people were still in the dark Sunday days after a major storm killed 17 people and knocked out electric service in many areas of Buenos Aires, authorities said.

The storm hit late Wednesday and flooded many neighborhoods in outlying areas of the capital city, toppling power lines and trees and damaging buildings.

“In many cases, the power distribution network has to be rebuilt from scratch,” said Eduardo Mirabelli, spokesman for the private power company Edenor which supplies 2.3 million clients.

In one hard hit town alone, Ituzaingo, just west of the capital, at least 4,000 power lines were blasted off their footings and power lines were downed mostly under trees, Mirabelli said.

“The damage really has outstripped our response capacity,” he said, adding that the company had 45 trucks out repairing the network.

More than 50,000 people in Merlo had no power or drinking water on Sunday due to the storm, local official Lucas Ghi said.

MESSAGES FROM SISTER CARTER, THE MISSION MOM

Saturday, April 7
We have been in contact with all of our missionaries. There are some without power as of this moment. We are delivering water and talking with them regularly to monitor the situation. There was a violent storm Wednesday night that caused significant power outages throughout the city. However, please be comforted and know that we are working our plan to best address the needs of each area and ensure the safety of each missionary.

Later in the day ...
The missionaries without power and water have now all been moved to fully functioning apartments.

Sunday, April 8
I want share a little more information about our storm. We are dealing with the effects of the “wind bursts” that came Wednesday evening after a day of unseasonably warm weather that gave way to dramatically cooler temperatures. The rain, hail and wind that followed caused severe damage including crumbled walls, collapsed ceilings, wind-thrown debris including masonry, crushed cars and fallen trees and power poles. (Some of the poles fell of their own accord and others were collapsed as the nearby trees toppled them.)

As we were driving to the airport last night, I was amazed at the devastation that we witnessed. I grabbed my camera and was able to get a couple of pictures. It reminded me very much of what we see in Florida after a hurricane. The difference being that Florida is much more prepared for this kind of disaster and the aftereffects. "The level of virulence of this storm is not normal," said Diego Santilli, the city's environment minister, "The winds were similar to those of a tornado."

We saw downed power lines. Huge trees were uprooted as if they were nothing more than a pesky garden weed, and we saw other trees whose giant limbs were snapped as if they were nothing more than matchsticks. Besides the power restorations necessary, the cleanup effort is going to have to be massive.

The missionaries are very focused on their work and they are used to losing power from time to time. For them, this storm seemed like a minor inconvenience. When we began pulling them out of their areas yesterday, it seemed to be the first time that they realized that this storm was much more than they imagined.

We had been delivering water to some areas and the missionaries with the help of the members and their investigators had been creative in obtaining their necessities, nevertheless, their resources were quickly becoming depleted.

After many prayers and consulting with the area presidency here and the missionary department in Salt Lake, we decided to move 54 of our missionaries. There were a few companionships that actually had their power back already, but the majority of the areas where they lived were without power causing some serious knock-on effects.

You can imagine that it took us most of Saturday to coordinate this scale of a move. Between the missionaries being moved and the missionaries receiving additional occupants in their pensions, it was quite a day.

We moved the entire zone of Gonzalez Catan and almost the entire zone of Merlo. Lujan, Marcos Paz, Moreno and Ramos Mejia were able to house their missionaries in other parts of their zones.

The missionaries were extremely sad to have to leave their areas and more importantly, their investigators. It is a beautiful thing to witness the love that they have for this work. We have no idea how long it could be until power is restored having heard estimates from hours to weeks.

Of course, the prayers of our fast today included not only the petition that the visas for our waiting missionaries will come soon, but also, that all of our missionaries will be able to safely return to their areas very soon.

And so we go, limping forward at this moment in the mission, but we go forward with full faith that patience will have her perfect work. This work is perfect. We have the perfect plan of our Father and the perfect obedience of our Savior that truly leaves us wanting nothing. How blessed we are to be able to share this Good News.

ANDREW'S EXPERIENCE ...

As you heard, we had a pretty powerful storm this week, which turned out to be a lot more widespread than I had realized. I had no idea missionaries were being moved out of their areas. You´ll be pleased to know (as we are) that Elder Carazas and I are safe. Our pension is located in one of the few small areas in the whole zone of Castelar that still has water and electricity.

But wow, what a storm! We were in a member´s house at the time, teaching a less-active brother and his nonmember son. We had just shared the story about Alma the Younger´s visit by an angel (´Can ye therefore deny the power of God?´) when the storm picked up and the lights cut. We sat in silence for a few seconds, then the father said, ´Let´s not talk about Alma anymore.´ We waited out the storm (it all happened pretty quickly - less than an hour, I think), bagged up our possessions to protect them from the rain, and departed to make the journey home. Surprisingly, the rain stopped as soon as we left the house, but it was near pitch black outside and the streets were filled with water. I made it aaaalmost all the way home without actually having to submerse my feet in the water, but then we came to a street that was filled from one side to the other with water, ankle deep. (I looked around for Moses, but in vain.) It took about 3 days for my shoes to dry, but they seem to be okay now.

Much of Villa Amelia is without water and without light. But so far, that hasn´t affected our proselyting much. We had a lesson by candlelight, and we took some water from our pension to another family. But everywhere you go, there are trees ripped up and twisted and falling over. It´s pretty tremendous. And our area isn´t the worst! Apparently there was a small tornado in Ituzaingo and the whole central plaza was destroyed. Cripes. And the missionaries were moved out of Luján. Wow. We´re blessed to be where we are.

I was very confused for the first day after the storm due to misintrepreting ´poste de luz´ (light pole) as ´postre de luz´ (cake of light). I wondered why people were complaining if cakes of light were falling out of the sky. 

Needless to say, we are very grateful Andrew is safe ... and very thankful for inspired and experienced Priesthood leaders who know how to handle these kinds of situations.